Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Virtual reality to improve lower extremity function , kinematic parameters , and walking speed post-stroke : A case series

Introduction: Virtual reality (VR) is an innovative tool that can enrich physiotherapy treatment in individuals with stroke. The increased use of feedback provides them with useful additional information to improve walking speed, kinematics, a nd functionality of the lower limb. Our aim is to eval u te these changes in two individuals with stroke. Case description: A 58year-old man (4.5 months post-stroke) and a 49-year old man (3 months post-stroke) followed a virtual reality trai ning to improve kinematics, functionality, and gait speed. Each par ticipant underwent 15 sessions (three weeks) of conventional physiotherapy combined with training and virtual re ality. Outcomes: The lower extremity Fugl-Meyer scale (FM) improved in both participants; in motor evaluation, particip ant 1 increased 4 points and patient 2 increased 6 points. Participan t 1 was highly functional but had difficulty in the race at baseli n , while participant 2 improved on the Ambulatory Functional Scale (FAC) from 3/5 to 4/5 and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) fr om 50 to 53, with a constant permanent score of 122/126 on the F unctional Independence Measure scale (FIM). Both participants improved the kinematic parameters in leg stance on plegic lo wer extremity and walking speed > Minimally Clinically Important Difference (MCID) (participant 1: improvement of 0.16m/s, part icipant 2: 0.34m/s). Discussion: Our results suggest that VR can contribute to improving kinematics and functionality which are linked to significant clinical increases in gait speed.
Embodiment of a humanoid robot is preserved during partial and delayed control

Humanoid robot surrogates promise a plethora of new applications in the field of disaster management and human robot interactions. However, whole body embodiment for teleoperation or telepresence with mobile robot avatars is yet to be fully explored and understood. In this study we investigated whether partial and delayed control, necessitated by the large degree of freedom of a humanoid system, affects embodiment of a walking humanoid robot surrogate. For this, we asked participants to embody a walking humanoid robot in two conditions, one in which they had no control of its movement, and another in which they could control its direction of walking, but with delays. We utilized an embodiment questionnaire to evaluate the embodiment of the humanoid in each condition. Our results show first person visual feedback and congruent visuo-audio feedback to be sufficient for embodiment of the moving robot. Interestingly, participants reported a sense of agency even when they did not control the robot, and critically the sense of agency and embodiment were not affected by partial and delayed control typical of humanoid robots.
RSA ALGORITHM OPTIMIZATION ON ASSEMBLER OF TI TMS 320 C 54 X SIGNAL PROCESSORS

Possible optimization techniques for RSA algorithm realization on assembler of Texas Instruments TMS320C54x family of signal processors are considered. Obtained results justify the use of the proposed optimization methods and also show that the TMS320C54x family of signal processors is suitable for the RSA algorithm realization. Therefore, they are proposed for realization of some coprocessor module in computer networks with “client-server” architecture requiring some public-key cryptographic applications.
Pre-Altitude Serum Ferritin Levels and Daily Oral Iron Supplement Dose Mediate Iron Parameter and Hemoglobin Mass Responses to Altitude Exposure

Purpose To investigate the influence of daily oral iron supplementation on changes in hemoglobin mass (Hbmass) and iron parameters after 2–4 weeks of moderate altitude exposure. Methods Hematological data collected from 178 athletes (98 males, 80 females) exposed to moderate altitude (1,350–3,000 m) were analysed using linear regression to determine how altitude exposure combined with oral iron supplementation influenced Hbmass, total iron incorporation (TII) and blood iron parameters [ferritin and transferrin saturation (TSAT)]. Results Altitude exposure (mean ± s: 21 ± 3 days) increased Hbmass by 1.1% [-0.4, 2.6], 3.3% [1.7, 4.8], and 4.0% [2.0, 6.1] from pre-altitude levels in athletes who ingested nil, 105 mg and 210 mg respectively, of oral iron supplement daily. Serum ferritin levels decreased by -33.2% [-46.9, -15.9] and 13.8% [-32.2, 9.7] from pre-altitude levels in athletes who supplemented with nil and 105 mg of oral iron supplement daily, but increased by 36.8% [1.3, 84.8] in athletes supplemented with 210 mg of oral iron daily. Finally, athletes who ingested either 105 mg or 210 mg of oral iron supplement daily had a greater TII compared with non-supplemented athletes (0 versus 105 mg: effect size (d) = -1.88 [-2.56, -1.17]; 0 versus 210 mg: effect size (d) = -2.87 [-3.88, -1.66]). Conclusion Oral iron supplementation during 2–4 weeks of moderate altitude exposure may enhance Hbmass production and assist the maintenance of iron balance in some athletes with low pre-altitude iron stores.
Effectiveness of relaxation as an active coping skill.

In light of current conflicting evidence, the status of relaxation training as an effective treatment procedure is unclear. A possible reason for the inconsistent findings may rest with the way in which the training procedure is presented, or at least with the way in which the subject or client may construe it. Using public-speaking anxiety as a target behavior, the present study presented relaxation training in two ways: In the first condition, subjects were told that the relaxation exercises would more or less automatically reduce their anxiety level. The second relaxation condition was presented within a self-control context, in which subjects were told that they were learning an active coping skill. A third condition involved group discussion and was included as a means of controlling for attention-placebo factors. On a variety of different measures, within-group changes consistantly favored the selfcontrol relaxation condition. This was true of the speech anxiety measures as well as indicators of anxiety in other types of situations. The finding that subjects in the self-control relaxation condition continued to improve even after termination was interpreted as being consistent with a view of selfcontrol that involves a learned skill that improves with repeated practice.
Real-time micro-expression detection from high speed cameras

This work presents an original real time, robust micro-expression detection algorithm. The algorithm analyses the movement modifications that occur around the most prominent facial regions using two absolute frame differences. Next, a machine learning algorithm is used to predict if a micro-expression occurred at a given frame t. Two classifiers were evaluated: decision tree and random forest classifier. The robustness of the proposed solution is increased by further processing the preliminary predictions of the classifier: the appropriate predicted micro-expression intervals are merged together and the interval that are too short are filtered out. The proposed solution achieved an 86.95% true positive rate on CASME2 dataset. The mean execution time of the proposed solution on 640×480 images is 9 milliseconds.
Design of Balanced and Balun Filters Using Dual-Mode Cross-Shaped Dielectric Resonators

In this paper, a dual-mode cross-shaped dielectric resonator (DR) that consists of two identical rectangular DRs is investigated to design balanced and balun bandpass filters (BPFs) for the first time. According to the dominant TE<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{11\delta }$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-mode electromagnetic field of a single rectangular DR, the driven signals for the DR through two probes on the two sides of the DR should be antiphase. Equivalently, the extracted signals from the DR operating at TE<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{11\delta }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mode are positively out-of-phase. Based on this, a four-port balanced TE<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{11\delta }$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-mode BPF using a single dual-mode DR cavity can be constructed. Furthermore, by converting the balanced BPF into a three-port device, a novel balun BPF using the same DR cavity is designed, showcasing excellent performance of amplitude balance and 180° phase difference. To validate the proposed idea, the balanced and balun BPFs are designed and implemented, respectively. Both of them have a miniaturized circuit size due to the adoption of the dual-mode DR. Good agreement can be obtained between their respective simulated and measured results.
Title The syntax of stock selection : grammatical evolution of astock picking model

A significant problem in the area of stock selection is that of identifying the factors that affect a security’s return. While modern portfolio theory suggests a linear multi-factor model in the form of Arbitrage Pricing Theory it does not suggest the identity, or even the number, of risk factors in the model. Candidate factors for inclusion in a fundamental model can include hundreds of data points for each firm and with thousands of firms in the fund manager’s selection universe the model specification problem encompasses a large, computationally intense search space. Grammatical Evolution (GE) is a form of evolutionary computing that has been used successfully in model induction problems involving large search spaces. GE is applied to evolve a stock selection model with a customized mapping process developed specifically to enhance the performance of evolutionary operators for this problem. Stock selection models are rated using fitness functions commonly employed in asset management; the information coefficient and the inter-quantile return spread. The findings of the paper indicate that evolutionary computing is an excellent tool for the development of stock picking models.
An Organizing Framework for Literacy Research-in-Progress

Computer literacy, digital literacy, information literacy, and a host of other terms have all been used to attempt to appropriately describe particular competencies that an individual must know in the information age. However, literacy, of any type, in the information era should not be defined without including the tools that allow one to become more literate and eventually reap the benefits of improved literacy. This research attempts to put forth a unifying framework for literacy that encompasses the reality that there can be no distinction among literacies. A framework is put forth combining three significant components/antecedents that constitute literacy in the information age. This study will demonstrate how computer self-efficacy (CSE), information filtering, and access to tools (or access to Information & Communication Technology (ICT)) has a positive impact on literacy and results in the ability to engage in capital-enhancing activities.
Association between Tumorigenic Potential and the Fate of Cancer Cells in a Syngeneic Melanoma Model

The self-renewal potential of a cancer cell can be estimated by using particular assays, which include xenotransplantation in immunocompromised animals or culturing in non-adherent serum-free stem-cells media (SCM). However, whether cells with self-renewal potential actually contribute to disease is unknown. Here we investigated the tumorigenic potential and fate of cancer cells in an in-vivo melanoma model. We examined cell lines which were derived from the same parental line: a non-metastatic cell line (K1735/16), a metastatic cell line (K1735/M4) and a cell line which was selected in non-adherent conditions (K1735/16S). All cell lines exhibited similar proliferation kinetics when grown on culture plates. K1735/16 cells grown in soft agar or in suspension non-adherent conditions failed to form colonies or spheroids, whereas the other cell lines showed prominent colonogenicity and spheroid formation capacity. By using sphere limiting dilution analysis (SLDA) in serum-free media, K1735/16S and K1735/M4 cells grown in suspension were capable of forming spheroids even in low frequencies of concentrations, as opposed to K1735/16 cells. The tumorigenic potential of the cell lines was determined in SCID mice using intra footpad injections. Palpable tumors were evident in all mice. In agreement with the in-vitro studies, the K1735/M4 cell line exhibited the highest growth kinetics, followed by the K1735/16S cell line, whereas the K1735/16 cell line had the lowest tumor growth potential (P<0.001). In contrast, when we repeated the experiments in syngeneic C3H/HeN mice, the K1735/16 cell line produced macroscopic tumors 30–100 days after injection, whereas K1735/M4 and K1735/16S derived tumors regressed spontaneously in 90–100% of mice. TUNEL analysis revealed significantly higher number of apoptotic cells in K1735/16S and K1735/M4 cell line-derived tumors compared to K1735/16 tumors (P<0.001). The models we have examined here raised the possibility, that cells with high-tumorigenic activity may be more immunogenic and hence are more susceptible to immune-regulation.
Eigenvoice modeling with sparse training data

We derive an exact solution to the problem of maximum likelihood estimation of the supervector covariance matrix used in extended MAP (or EMAP) speaker adaptation and show how it can be regarded as a new method of eigenvoice estimation. Unlike other approaches to the problem of estimating eigenvoices in situations where speaker-dependent training is not feasible, our method enables us to estimate as many eigenvoices from a given training set as there are training speakers. In the limit as the amount of training data for each speaker tends to infinity, it is equivalent to cluster adaptive training.
Stress Reduction in the Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: Randomized, Controlled Trial of Transcendental Meditation and Health Education in Blacks

Background—Blacks have disproportionately high rates of cardiovascular disease. Psychosocial stress may contribute to this disparity. Previous trials on stress reduction with the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program have reported improvements in cardiovascular disease risk factors, surrogate end points, and mortality in blacks and other populations. Methods and Results—This was a randomized, controlled trial of 201 black men and women with coronary heart disease who were randomized to the TM program or health education. The primary end point was the composite of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, or stroke. Secondary end points included the composite of cardiovascular mortality, revascularizations, and cardiovascular hospitalizations; blood pressure; psychosocial stress factors; and lifestyle behaviors. During an average follow-up of 5.4 years, there was a 48% risk reduction in the primary end point in the TM group (hazard ratio, 0.52; 95% confidence interval, 0.29–0.92; P=0.025). The TM group also showed a 24% risk reduction in the secondary end point (hazard ratio, 0.76; 95% confidence interval, 0.51–0.1.13; P=0.17). There were reductions of 4.9 mmHg in systolic blood pressure (95% confidence interval −8.3 to –1.5 mmHg; P=0.01) and anger expression (P<0.05 for all scales). Adherence was associated with survival. Conclusions—A selected mind–body intervention, the TM program, significantly reduced risk for mortality, myocardial infarction, and stroke in coronary heart disease patients. These changes were associated with lower blood pressure and psychosocial stress factors. Therefore, this practice may be clinically useful in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Clinical Trial Registration—URL: www.clinicaltrials. gov Unique identifier: NCT01299935.
SUDS: automatic parallelization for raw processors

A computer can never be too fast or too cheap. Computer systems pervade nearly every aspect of science, engineering, communications and commerce because they perform certain tasks at rates unachievable by any other kind of system built by humans. A computer system's throughput, however, is constrained by that system's ability to find concurrency. Given a particular target work load the computer architect's role is to design mechanisms to find and exploit the available concurrency in that work load. This thesis describes SUDS (Software Un-Do System), a compiler and runtime system that can automatically find and exploit the available concurrency of scalar operations in imperative programs with arbitrary unstructured and unpredictable control flow. The core compiler transformation that enables this is scalar queue conversion. Scalar queue conversion makes scalar renaming an explicit operation through a process similar to closure conversion, a technique traditionally used to compile functional languages. The scalar queue conversion compiler transformation is speculative, in the sense that it may introduce dynamic memory allocation operations into code that would not otherwise dynamically allocate memory. Thus, SUDS also includes a transactional runtime system that periodically checkpoints machine state, executes code speculatively, checks if the speculative execution produced results consistent with the original sequential program semantics, and then either commits or rolls back the speculative execution path. In addition to safely running scalar queue converted code, the SUDS runtime system safely permits threads to speculatively run in parallel and concurrently issue memory operations, even when the compiler is unable to prove that the reordered memory operations will always produce correct results. Using this combination of compile time and runtime techniques, SUDS can find concurrency in programs where previous compiler based renaming techniques fail because the programs contain unstructured loops, and where Tomasulo's algorithm fails because it sequentializes mispredicted branches. Indeed, we describe three application programs, with unstructured control flow, where the prototype SUDS system, running in software on a Raw microprocessor, achieves speedups equivalent to, or better than, an idealized, and unrealizable, model of a hardware implementation of Tomasulo's algorithm. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Tracking ARFI induced shear wave propagation by using maximum likelihood estimation

Shear wave propagation speed in tissue provides valuable diagnostic information to clinicians and has been investigated in many clinical studies. While shear velocity measurement based on acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging produces reliable results in homogeneous media, it is still a challenge to accurately detect the shear wave propagation velocity in heterogeneous tissue. The reflection of the shear wave in heterogeneous media can severely alter the displacement temporal profile shape from location to location and makes detection methods perform poorly when estimating shear wave propagation time. In this work a parametric model was developed to minimize the affect of altered displacement profile on the estimate. The new method uses shear velocities between the excitation and detection spaces as model parameters and uses the normalized displacement temporal profiles at detection locations as probability distribution functions. A joint density (likelihood) function is then constructed based on the shear velocities and the displacement profiles. Searching for the maximum value of the likelihood function by using an iterative method produces estimates of the shear velocity which are more robust to shear wave reflections.
Impact of Interview Mode on Accuracy of Child and Parent Report of Adherence with Asthma Controller Medication Early Rattles, Purrs and Whistles as Predictors of Later Wheeze

Asthma screening in children relies on parental recognition of asthma symptoms. The authors pointed out that parents often underrecognize symptoms of asthma in their child. However, when confronted with information of a possible asthma diagnosis, the majority of parents sought advice from their GP. Asthma screening programs can be a useful tool for helping children with undiagnosed asthma to seek professional care. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY. To examine the effect of different modes of reporting adherence on the accuracy of self-administration of inhaled corticosteroids in asthmatic children under conditions mimicking a clinical trial. STUDY POPULATION. A total of 104 asthmatic children, 8 to 18 years old, who were being treated for asthma with regular use of inhaled corticosteroids were studied. One parent was required to participate with each child. METHODS. Each parent/child pair was assigned to 1 of 3 self-reporting modes: audio computer-assisted self-interview (ACASI), face-to-face interview with a member of the study staff, or self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaire. The same mode was administered at each study visit for any given parent/child pair: baseline and at 1, 2, 3, and 4 months. Corticosteroid metered-dose inhalers were fitted with an electronic chronometer that captured the time and date of metered-dose inhaler dispensing , freshly initialized at baseline and at each study visit. Adherence was determined by dividing the number of puffs recorded by the number of puffs prescribed. Self-assessment of adherence was determined similarly for the 3 modes. The recall time frames were 1 week and 1 day. The primary outcome was self-reporting discrepancy (percent adherence recorded minus percent self-adherence self-reported). A positive discrepancy score represented underreporting, a negative score represented overreporting, and zero represented exact reporting. Adequate accuracy was considered when the discrepancy score was Ϯ25%. RESULTS. Children and parents overrepresented adherence for both the 1-week and 1-day monitoring periods. Adherence discrepancy was the greatest in the ACASI mode (adequate accuracy for children and parents, respectively , was 32% and 27% for 1-day recall and 47% and 38% for 1-week recall). The best accuracy was for the 1-day recall in children interviewed face-to-face (50% adequate). Larger discrepancies were observed in both children and parent with the other modes. CONCLUSIONS. Self-reporting of adherence was insufficient even under the best of circumstances regardless of the mode of self-reporting used in this study. REVIEWER COMMENTS. The recently updated National Asthma Education and Prevention Program report underscored the need to address adherence when considering a …