Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Physical Therapy with Energy Healing for Improving Range of Motion in Subjects with Restricted Shoulder Mobility

Two forms of energy healing, Reconnective Healing (RH) and Reiki, which involve light or no touch, were tested for efficacy against physical therapy (PT) for increasing limited range of motion (ROM) of arm elevation in the scapular plane. Participants were assigned to one of 5 groups: PT, Reiki, RH, Sham Healing, or no treatment. Except for no treatment, participants were blinded as to grouping. Range of Motion, self-reported pain, and heart rate variability (HRV) were assessed before and after a 10-minute session. On average, for PT, Reiki, RH, Sham Healing, and no treatment, respectively, ROM increased by 12°, 20°, 26°, 0.6°, and 3° and pain score decreased by 11.5%, 10.1%, 23.9%, 15.4%, and 0%. Physical therapy, Reiki, and RH were more effective than Sham Healing for increasing ROM (PT: F = 8.05, P = 0.008; Reiki: F = 10.48, P = 0.003; RH: F = 30.19, P < 0.001). It is possible that this improvement was not mediated by myofascial release because the subjects' HRV did not change, suggesting no significant increase in vagal activity. Sham treatment significantly reduced pain compared to no treatment (F = 8.4, P = 0.007) and was just as effective as PT, Reiki, and RH. It is the authors' opinion that the accompanying pain relief is a placebo effect.
Implication of Wnt signaling in neuronal polarization

Wnt ligands comprise a large family of secreted glycoproteins that control a variety of developmental processes including cell polarization in diverse organisms. Through various receptors present on receiving cells, Wnts initiate intracellular signaling cascades resulting in changes in gene transcription or cytoskeleton reorganization. Recently, several lines of evidence have suggested the role of Wnt signaling in establishing axon–dendrite polarity in developing neurons. In this review, we summarize the recent results related with the role of Wnt signaling in neuronal polarization. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 71: 495–507, 2011
Tuning Monte Carlo generator parameters to measured data by using genetic algorithms

Monte Carlo Generators are important tools for analyzing the data measured in High Energy Physics experiments. They describe complete physics events on the basis of various underlying physical models. All these event generators include several free parameters which can not be predicted by theory but have to be determined by comparing simulated events with measured data. Adjusting these parameters is a difficult task due to the complicated nonlinear correlations between different parameters, the multimodal structure of the search space, and the statistical fluctuations of the quality function. Using conventional fitting strategies for this optimization problem requires the knowledge, experience and to some extent the intuition of a human expert in order to reduce the huge amount of calculation time to a reasonable limit. In contrast, genetic algorithms offer an automated procedure which does not require any previous knowledge about the search space. The global character of the search procedure leads to several distinct solutions and reveals the multimodality of the parameter space. The specific sampling method of genetic algorithms allows a further analysis of the evaluated parameter sets yielding additional information on correlations between parameters. This leads to a deeper insight on the physics context and allows the identification of the global optimum.
A $X$ -Band Capacitor-Coupled QVCO Using Sinusoidal Current Bias Technique

This study introduces an X -band quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO) based on two novel techniques: capacitor coupling and sinusoidal current biasing. The proposed QVCO achieves an excellent figure-of-merit (FOM) of 190.5 dBc/Hz. This study analyzes the properties of this QVCO, including its phase noise, oscillation frequency, and amplitude. To generate quadrature phase signals with low phase noise, the proposed design uses two capacitor-coupled LC-tank cores instead of active device-coupled cores. Sinusoidal currents through these capacitors bias the oscillator, increasing oscillation amplitude and reducing the phase noise contribution from cross-coupled transistors compared to existing QVCOs or VCOs biased with a constant current. These two techniques allow the proposed QVCO to achieve at least a theoretical 3 dB phase noise improvement compared to conventional LC-QVCOs. Implemented in a standard 0.18 μm CMOS process, the proposed QVCO had a frequency tuning range of 9.2 ~ 10.4 GHz and a phase noise of -115.7 dBc/Hz@1 MHz from a carrier of 10.4 GHz while consuming 3.6 mW with 1.5 V voltage supply.
Storage Requirements for Key Distribution in Sensor Networks

Sensor networks are resource-constrained, which makes developing efficient key distribution scheme a challenging problem. In general, many key distribution techniques are designed to address the trade-off between limited resources and security, no key distribution technique is ideal to all the scenarios where sensor networks are used. In this paper, we primarily focus on storage requirements of several key distribution schemes in sensor networks, and obtain their lower bounds on the amount of information each user has to keep secret by modeling the key distribution schemes with an information theoretic framework.
High Glucose Induces CCL20 in Proximal Tubular Cells via Activation of the KCa3.1 Channel

Background Inflammation plays a key role in the development and progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN). KCa3.1, a calcium activated potassium channel protein, is associated with vascular inflammation, atherogenesis, and proliferation of endothelial cells, macrophages, and fibroblasts. We have previously demonstrated that the KCa3.1 channel is activated by TGF-β1 and blockade of KCa3.1 ameliorates renal fibrotic responses in DN through inhibition of the TGF-β1 pathway. The present study aimed to identify the role of KCa3.1 in the inflammatory responses inherent in DN. Methods Human proximal tubular cells (HK2 cells) were exposed to high glucose (HG) in the presence or absence of the KCa3.1 inhibitor TRAM34 for 6 days. The proinflammatory cytokine chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 20 (CCL20) expression was examined by real-time PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The activity of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) was measured by nuclear extraction and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). In vivo, the expression of CCL20, the activity of NF-κB and macrophage infiltration (CD68 positive cells) were examined by real-time PCR and/or immunohistochemistry staining in kidneys from diabetic or KCa3.1-/- mice, and in eNOS-/- diabetic mice treated with the KCa3.1 channel inhibitor TRAM34. Results In vitro data showed that TRAM34 inhibited CCL20 expression and NF-κB activation induced by HG in HK2 cells. Both mRNA and protein levels of CCL20 significantly decreased in kidneys of diabetic KCa3.1-/- mice compared to diabetic wild type mice. Similarly, TRAM34 reduced CCL20 expression and NF-κB activation in diabetic eNOS-/- mice compared to diabetic controls. Blocking the KCa3.1 channel in both animal models led to a reduction in phosphorylated NF-κB. Conclusions Overexpression of CCL20 in human proximal tubular cells is inhibited by blockade of KCa3.1 under diabetic conditions through inhibition of the NF-κB pathway.
Graph Classification Using Genetic Algorithm and Graph Probing Application to Symbol Recognition

We present in this paper a graph classification approach using genetic algorithm and a fast dissimilarity measure between graphs called graph probing. The approach consists in the learning of a set of synthetic graph prototypes which are used for a 1NN classification step. Some experiments are performed on real data sets, representing 10 symbols. These tests demonstrate the interest to produce prototypes instead of finding representatives which simply belong to the data set
ADAPTIVELY CHANGING SUBGROUP PROPORTIONS IN CLINICAL TRIALS

During the course of a fixed sample size clinical trial, differences in the size of the treatment effect between strata may become pronounced. If rejecting the null hypothesis of no treatment effect is of paramount concern, it may make sense to increase representation of the more responsive stratum to increase power of the trial. Additionally, strata in which treatment is harmful may need to be dropped for ethical reasons. This paper provides conditions under which such adaptation does not affect the type I error rate. The change in power resulting from adaptation under various strategies is investigated. Frequentist and Bayesian approaches to decision making are explored and a simulation is used to provide guidelines as to whether stratum proportions should be altered. A clinical trial with an early and substantial between stratum difference is reanalyzed under adaptation.
A small pool of vesicles maintains synaptic activity in vivo

Chemical synapses contain substantial numbers of neurotransmitter-filled synaptic vesicles, ranging from approximately 100 to many thousands. The vesicles fuse with the plasma membrane to release neurotransmitter and are subsequently reformed and recycled. Stimulation of synapses in vitro generally causes the majority of the synaptic vesicles to release neurotransmitter, leading to the assumption that synapses contain numerous vesicles to sustain transmission during high activity. We tested this assumption by an approach we termed cellular ethology, monitoring vesicle function in behaving animals (10 animal models, nematodes to mammals). Using FM dye photooxidation, pHluorin imaging, and HRP uptake we found that only approximately 1–5% of the vesicles recycled over several hours, in both CNS synapses and neuromuscular junctions. These vesicles recycle repeatedly, intermixing slowly (over hours) with the reserve vesicles. The latter can eventually release when recycling is inhibited in vivo but do not seem to participate under normal activity. Vesicle recycling increased only to ≈5% in animals subjected to an extreme stress situation (frog predation on locusts). Synapsin, a molecule binding both vesicles and the cytoskeleton, may be a marker for the reserve vesicles: the proportion of vesicles recycling in vivo increased to 30% in synapsin-null Drosophila. We conclude that synapses do not require numerous reserve vesicles to sustain neurotransmitter release and thus may use them for other purposes, examined in the accompanying paper.
Attitudes Towards Alternative Management Policies for Public Recreation Lands

Public recreation land management agencies have been searching for ways to increase revenue. User fees as implemented by the Fee Demonstration Program have received the most attention. Corporate sponsorships and private donations have also been implemented and other options, such as partial privatization, closure of some areas, and different forms of public-private partnerships have been debated. The present paper reports results from a 2002 mail survey of randomly selected Idaho and New Hampshire households, designed to elicit public attitudes about a wide variety of management policies for public (federal/state) recreation lands. The most socially acceptable forms for raising revenue were donation boxes (61.1%), corporate sponsorships for visitor centers (61.8%) and education facilities (61.1%), and adopt-a-site contracts (81.0%). Both increased taxes and user fees faced greater opposition (about 49% of respondents) than support (39%). In addition, user fees have resulted in (reported) changes in behavior among a quarter of the respondents, and may have stronger negative impact on low-income households and on the users of public recreation lands. This study is relevant to the current debate in Congress about the future of the Fee Demonstration Program. Our findings can also be used by policy makers interested in raising revenue through socially acceptable management policies. Our results suggest that donations, adopt-a-site and corporate sponsorships (for selected areas) should be used to raise additional revenues, and if additional funding is needed, policy makers may be justified to advocate for increased taxation rather than fees.
An Integrated Framework for Automated Firewall Testing and Validation

In today’s global world, more and more corporations are bound to have an internet presence. This has led to a significant increase in network attacks of all kinds. Firewalls are used to protect organization networks against these attacks. Firewall design is based on a set of filtering rules. Because of the nature of these rules, and due to the rising complexity of security policies, errors are introduced when configuring firewalls. Therefore, reliable and automated techniques for validating and testing firewall configurations become a necessity before any deployment. This paper presents a new approach for testing firewalls based on their configurations. Our method is fully automated—from the generation of the test set to the detection and correction of the error in the firewall file.
Integer Factorization and Computing Discrete Logarithms in Maple

As part of our MITACS research project at Simon Fraser University, we have investigated algorithms for integer factorization and computing discrete logarithms. We have implemented a quadratic sieve algorithm for integer factorization in Maple to replace Maple’s implementation of the MorrisonBrillhart continued fraction algorithm which was done by Gaston Gonnet in the early 1980’s. We have also implemented an indexed calculus algorithm for discrete logarithms in GF(q) to replace Maple’s implementation of Shanks’ baby-step giant-step algorithm, also done by Gaston Gonnet in the early 1980’s. In this paper we describe the algorithms and our optimizations made to them. We give some details of our Maple implementations and present some initial timings. Since Maple is an interpreted language, see [7], there is room for improvement of both implementations by coding critical parts of the algorithms in C. For example, one of the bottle-necks of the indexed calculus algorithm is finding and integers which are B-smooth. Let B be a set of primes. A positive integer y is said to be B-smooth if its prime divisors are all in B. Typically B might be the first 200 primes and y might be a 50 bit integer.
The inertia weight self-adapting in PSO

The particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) has successfully been applied to many engineering optimization problems. However, most of the existing improved PSO algorithms work well only for small-scale problems. In this new self-adaptive PSO, a special function, which is defined in terms of the particle fitness and swarm size, is introduced to adjust the inertia weight adaptively. In a given generation, the inertia weight for particles with good fitness is decreased to accelerate the convergence rate, whereas the inertia weight for particles with inferior fitness is increased to enhance the global exploration abilities. When the swarm size is large, a smaller inertia weight is utilized to enhance the local search capability for fast convergence rate. If the swarm size is small, a larger inertia weight is employed to improve the global search capability for finding the global optimum. This novel self-adaptive PSO can greatly accelerate the convergence rate and improve the capability to reach the global minimum for large-scale problems. Moreover, this new self-adaptive PSO exhibits a consistent methodology: a larger swarm size leads to a better performance.
Plant Hormone Homeostasis, Signaling, and Function during Adventitious Root Formation in Cuttings

Adventitious root (AR) formation in cuttings is a multiphase developmental process, resulting from wounding at the cutting site and isolation from the resource and signal network of the whole plant. Though, promotive effects of auxins are widely used for clonal plant propagation, the regulation and function of plant hormones and their intricate signaling networks during AR formation in cuttings are poorly understood. In this focused review, we discuss our recent publications on the involvement of polar auxin transport (PAT) and transcriptional regulation of auxin and ethylene action during AR formation in petunia cuttings in a broad context. Integrating new findings on cuttings of other plant species and general models on plant hormone networks, a model on the regulation and function of auxin, ethylene, and jasmonate in AR formation of cuttings is presented. PAT and cutting off from the basipetal auxin drain are considered as initial principles generating early accumulation of IAA in the rooting zone. This is expected to trigger a self-regulatory process of auxin canalization and maximization to responding target cells, there inducing the program of AR formation. Regulation of auxin homeostasis via auxin influx and efflux carriers, GH3 proteins and peroxidases, of flavonoid metabolism, and of auxin signaling via AUX/IAA proteins, TOPLESS, ARFs, and SAUR-like proteins are postulated as key processes determining the different phases of AR formation. NO and H2O2 mediate auxin signaling via the cGMP and MAPK cascades. Transcription factors of the GRAS-, AP2/ERF-, and WOX-families link auxin signaling to cell fate specification. Cyclin-mediated governing of the cell cycle, modifications of sugar metabolism and microtubule and cell wall remodeling are considered as important implementation processes of auxin function. Induced by the initial wounding and other abiotic stress factors, up-regulation of ethylene biosynthesis, and signaling via ERFs and early accumulation of jasmonic acid stimulate AR formation, while both pathways are linked to auxin. Future research on the function of candidate genes should consider their tissue-specific role and regulation by environmental factors. Furthermore, the whole cutting should be regarded as a system of physiological units with diverse functions specifically responding to the environment and determining the rooting response.
Preempt a Job or Not in EDF Scheduling of Uniprocessor Systems

The earliest-deadline-first (EDF) policy has been widely studied for the scheduling of real-time jobs for its effectiveness and simplicity. However, since each preemption incurs an additional delay to the execution of jobs, the effectiveness of EDF is affected greatly by the underlying preemption policy that determines if and when a higher-priority job is allowed to preempt a currently executing lower-priority job. To address this problem, we propose a new and better (in meeting job deadlines) preemption policy of EDF, given a non-zero preemption delay. Specifically, we propose a controlled preemption (CP) policy that controls the condition of preempting jobs, whereas existing approaches focus on that of preempted jobs. We define cp-EDF in which the CP policy is applied to EDF, and analyze its schedulability. This schedulability analysis is then utilized to develop an algorithm that assigns the optimal control parameters of cp-EDF. Our in-depth evaluation has demonstrated that cp-EDF with the optimal parameter assignment improves EDF schedulability over existing preemption policies by up to 7.4%.
Consumers’ attachment in the sporting equestrian context: a cluster analytic approach

ABSTRACT The purposes of this study were to develop the Point of Attachment Index in Equestrian Events (PAIEE); identify naturally occurring profiles of spectators based on PAIEE scores; and examine whether spectator profiles differed on socioeconomic characteristics. A preliminary PAIEE version was developed based on semi-structured interviews with spectators (N = 42), suggestions from an expert panel and spectators’ rating of the scale clarity (study 1). Results of the structural analyses revealed that a confirmatory factor analysis model with three dimensions (equestrian sport identification, organizational identification and rider identification) fitted the calibration and validation data well (N = 232 and 231; study 2). Cluster analyses revealed four different profiles (horse lover, social opportunist, equestrian insider and enthusiast rider) that statistically differed on socioeconomic variables (study 2). The present studies provided support for the reliability and validity of the PAIEE scores and highlighted that attachment profiles have implications for equestrian sports marketers.
Smoothing of xDAWN spatial filters for robust extraction of event-related potentials

The xDAWN algorithm is well-known as a method for designing spatial filters to improve signal-to-noise ratio and to reduce the dimension of observed EEG signals. This paper proposes a method for spatially smoothing xDAWN spatial filters to give a robustness against small sample problem. The proposed method gives a subspace constraint to the parameter space of the spatial filters. This subspace is given as a basis of the graph Fourier transform on a graph representing geometric structure of the electrodes. The spatial filters found in the subspace are smooth in the spatial domain. The proposed method is evaluated by experiments with artificial signals and BCI datasets.
Foreign Capitals, Savings and Economic Growth: A Dynamic Panel Study on the East Asian Countries

The global economies in the 1990s was characterised by a string of new style financial crises that plunged a number of rapidly growing and successful economies in the world into financial chaos and economic collapse. The challenge of reconciling international mobility with domestic economic stability and developmental priorities has now emerged as the most pressing and controversial topic in international economies and policymaking. At the heart of this new policy focus is a renewed emphasis on the conventional wisdom about the need to treat foreign direct investment (FDI) flows separately from other forms of capital flows (short run and long run debt) when designing national policies to monitor capital flows. This paper contributes to the debate by assessing the role of foreign capital inflows and outflows in generating sustainable saving and growth prior and during the crisis. Although there have been a large number of studies of foreign capital inflows, few have gone beyond qualitative assertions regarding FDI, long and short-term debt, saving and growth. The main results of this study may be summarizes as follows. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, economic growth has been a significant (positive) effect on savings ratio and the causality runs in both directions. Second, short-term debt temporarily displaced domestic savings, but the coefficient is less than one prior the crisis and significantly different from unity during the crisis period. Third, FDI contributes positively to savings ratios in the short run as well as in the long run, hence suggesting that a transitory or permanent change in FDI would augment the supply of domestic savings. Finally, the empirical result shows that FDI is indisputably beneficial to the East Asian countries as it helps to boost the economic growth.