Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrostimulation at sensory level improves function of the upper extremities in children with cerebral palsy: a pilot study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of electrical stimulation (ES) on the function of the upper extremities in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The participants were 12 children (seven females and five males) with spastic hemiplegia (mean age 5 years 7 months, SD 3 years 9 months). Indications were weak wrist dorsiflexion and elbow extension. The ES was given at sensory level (20–40 minutes) on the infraspinatus muscle and on the wrist dorsiflexors during 12 regularly scheduled physical and occupational therapy sessions (during 4–5 weeks). The Goal Attainment Scale, the Zancolli classification of hand function, muscle testing according to Daniels and Worthington, and King hypertonicity scale were used for evaluation. Assessments were made twice before (between 4 weeks) and twice after (between 12 weeks) the stimulation period except the King hypertonicity scale, which was used once before and 3 months after the stimulation period. Active elbow extension, wrist dorsiflexion, and forearm supination with the elbow flexed and extended improved when the results of assessments before ES were compared with those made immediately before (p < 0.001) and three months after (p < 0.01) this treatment. Results of this pilot uncontrolled study suggest that ES at sensory level can be used as an adjunct to physiotherapy and/or occupational therapy in children with spastic hemiplegia. These results will be used as basis for further research.
Development of real-time admittance analysis system for residential load monitoring

Residential load management plays an important role in Demand Side Management (DSM) when a more optimized Smart Grid (SG) is envisaged. Actions must be done to address the local and remote control to obtain a load profile matching the available power. The identification of the working cycles of controllable and non-controllable loads, out of an aggregated load profile, is a desirable feature for the implementation of DSM technologies. A detailed knowledge of the loads can be obtained by means of intrusive or non-intrusive methods. Non-intrusive ones are preferred by customers and utilities due to the lower cost, lower hardware complexity, and easy installation. Non-Intrusive Appliances Load Monitoring (NIALM) is not a new concept in order to extract loads signature; it is lately taking more importance with the evolution of the SG technologies. Most of the literature works are devoted to the off-line NILM algorithms. Nevertheless, real-time load monitoring becomes necessary to feed the future Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS); the consumers and the utilities with accurate consumption information. This paper proposes the implementation in Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) of real-time admittance analysis for residential load monitoring. Explorative experimental results of Non-intrusive Load Monitoring are provided and discussed.
Inference on Syntactic and Semantic Structures for Machine Comprehension

Hidden variable models are important tools for solving open domain machine comprehension tasks and have achieved remarkable accuracy in many question answering benchmark datasets. Existing models impose strong independence assumptions on hidden variables, which leaves the interaction among them unexplored. Here we introduce linguistic structures to help capturing global evidence in hidden variable modeling. In the proposed algorithms, question-answer pairs are scored based on structured inference results on parse trees and semantic frames, which aims to assign hidden variables in a global optimal way. Experiments on the MCTest dataset demonstrate that the proposed models are highly competitive with state-of-the-art machine comprehension systems.
Identification and Characterization of the Sex-Determiner Transformer-2 Homologue in Chinese Shrimp, Fenneropenaeus chinensis

The transformer-2 gene, encoding a protein (Tra-2) which directs sex-specifically alternative splicing of doublesex (dsx) pre-mRNA in combination with the transformer (Tra) protein, has been proved to play important roles on sex differentiation and sex development in Drosophila melanogaster. In the present study, a tra-2 homologue (FcTra-2) was cloned and characterized in the Chinese shrimp, Fenneropenaeus chinensis. A FcTra-2 genomic DNA sequence with a length of 8,871 bp was obtained and verified to consist of 7 exons and 6 introns. Three alternatively spliced mRNA transcripts, designated as FcTra-2a, FcTra-2b and FcTra-2c, were isolated and characterized. Sequence analysis showed that FcTra-2 included a RNA recognition motif and a linker region, which shared high sequence identities with Tra-2 from other species and 2 arginine/serine rich regions. Further studies were performed on the isoform FcTra-2c, since it exhibited a significantly higher expression level in ovary than in other tissues. In early developmental stages of the shrimp, FcTra-2c was detected to suddenly increase its expression level at the mysis stage. In juvenile stage, FcTra-2c displayed a significantly higher expression level in female Chinese shrimp than in males. These data indicated that FcTra-2 might be involved in female sex determination in Chinese shrimp.
Advanced Microwave Atmospheric Sounder (AMAS) Channel Specifications and T/V Calibration Results on FY-3C Satellite

The Advanced Microwave Atmospheric Sounder (AMAS) is the new generation of Microwave Humidity Sounder (MWHS) onboard the Feng Yun 3 C/D (FY-3C/D) satellite and follows the heritage and development of MWHS onboard the FY-3(A/B) satellite. AMAS onboard the FY-3C satellite is a 15-channel total power microwave radiometer in the range of 89-191 GHz scheduled to be launched on September 23, 2013. Compared to MWHS onboard FY-3A/B, AMAS improves channel characteristics by adding eight horizontal polarized channels near 118.75 GHz, which is the first operational polar-orbiting satellite-based sensor to observe the atmosphere in Earth-scanning mode in the 118-GHz oxygen band. Also, AMAS has more channels at 183 GHz than MWHS. This paper analyzes the channel capability and radiometric characteristics of AMAS at 118.75 GHz. Before the launch of FY-3C, the intensive thermal vacuum (T/V) tests for AMAS were carried out in a 2-m T/V chamber, and the basic parameters were obtained, such as the receiver nonlinearity and sensitivity of each channel for AMAS. Furthermore, system nonlinear error correction and bias correction of warm and cold targets are derived after the T/V data analysis and will be used for calibration processing, playing an important role in level 1 and 2 data processing. Accuracies of calibrated channels in AMAS range from 0.48 K to 2.7 K.
Simulation analysis of the impact of volatility clustering upon the finite-sample distribution of threshold cointegration tests

Using Monte Carlo simulation, the finite-sample sizes of asymmetric cointegration tests are examined in the presence volatility clustering. The findings obtained show the asymmetric tests of Enders and Siklos (2001) to exhibit greater oversizing than the previously examined implicitly symmetric cointegration test of Engle and Granger (1987). Further, it is found that oversizing is driven by the size of the volatility parameter of the GARCH processes considered, rather than their degree of persistence. Interestingly, the application of consistent-threshold estimation is shown to increase the size distortion of the asymmetric tests, with the consistent-threshold MTAR test displaying the greatest size distortion of all tests considered.
Dilemmas of East African Cooperation: Domestic Audience and Prisoner's Dilemma Approaches on Regional Integration

Regional cooperation in East Africa before and after independence has been through various institutions. The first East African Community (EAC) existed from 1967 to 1977; it was revived in 1999. Since then, there has been a mixture of cooperation, and intransigence in reforming internal processes for full EAC treaty implementation. No member state has utilised referenda to validate their positions, despite stated actions in ‘public interest’. This research uses theoretical assumptions of domestic audience and Prisoner's Dilemma approaches to evaluate two instances where Tanzania cooperated with partner states, and two non-cooperation instances. I hypothesise that domestic audience and Prisoner's Dilemma approaches provide insight into Tanzania's choices. This research applies paradigms of studying cooperation problems to regional institutions in Third World Countries (TWCs). I argue that just as in great powers, TWCs contend with problems of cooperation and sanctions from their audiences, given the potential effect on the various constituencies in the country.
The Use of Sumudu Transform for Solving Certain Nonlinear Fractional Heat-Like Equations

We make use of the properties of the Sumudu transform to solve nonlinear fractional partial differential equations describing heat-like equation with variable coefficients. The method, namely, homotopy perturbation Sumudu transform method, is the combination of the Sumudu transform and the HPM using He’s polynomials. This method is very powerful, and professional techniques for solving different kinds of linear and nonlinear fractional differential equations arising in different fields of science and engineering.
The implications between C-SPR and CRn (n′, n) visited

The compression function is wildly used via many kinds of iterations in the construction of the modern hash function intended for use with standard digital signatures following the hash-and-sign mode. Some variants of second-preimage resistance(SPR)[1] assumptions of the keyless compression function, called c-SPR, r-SPR and e-SPR, have been put forth by Halevi and Krawczyk[2], in order to obtain higher security properties for the dedicated-key hash function by iteration. In this paper, we compare one variant, called c-SPR, with CRn (n′, n) which has been raised by Mironov[3]. We give several different schemes of the dedicated-key compression functions firstly, the relations between c-SPR and CRn (n′, n) differ in different schemes. In the second part of this paper, we provide a full picture of the relations between c-SPR and CRn (n′, n), and give the additional restrictions that ensure c-SPR of the keyless compression function to be the necessary or sufficient conditions of CRn (n′, n) of the dedicated-key compression function separately.
INCENTIVOS FISCALES EN I+D Y DECISIONES DE INNOVACIÓN

Este articulo analiza la eficacia de los incentivos fiscales a la I+D sobre la inversion privada de las empresas a traves de dos decisiones: realizar o no actividades de I+D y el esfuerzo tecnologico de las empresas que las llevan a cabo. El ejercicio empirico mide el coste de capital con incentivos fiscales de las inversiones en I+D y estudia el impacto de esta variable sobre las dos decisiones apuntadas utilizando una muestra representativa de empresas manufactureras espanolas en el periodo 1990-1998. El resultado del ejercicio muestra un efecto positivo de los incentivos fiscales que parece ser mayor en la decision de realizacion, especialmente en las pequenas empresas, que en la del esfuerzo. Se observa, ademas, que la eficacia de los incentivos fiscales aumenta en las dos decisiones en las empresas que presentan restricciones de liquidez.
The Gautreaux Legacy: What Might Mixed‐Income and Dispersal Strategies Mean for the Poorest Public Housing Tenants?

Abstract The current transformation of public and assisted housing reflects the legacy of the Gautreaux case, which created the first mobility and scattered‐site programs. Mixed‐income and dispersal strategies now dominate federal housing policy, although their focus has shifted. Drawing on evidence from two preliminary studies of public housing transformation in Chicago, we argue that these new strategies seem to offer benefits for distressed public housing communities but also involve risks for the most vulnerable current tenants. Increased screening and/or the need to compete with private market tenants may force these families out of the assisted housing market. Addressing the complex needs of the most troubled public housing tenants will call for a more comprehensive solution. The intent of the Gautreaux case was to increase opportunity and enhance quality of life for public housing tenants; policy makers should take steps to ensure that current programs reflect these fundamental goals.
Plasticity for Recovery, Plasticity for Development: Cognitive Outcome in Twins Discordant for Mid-Childhood Ischemic Stroke

Cognitive and language profiles in a set of likely monozygotic 13-year-old twins raised together and discordant for an extensive left hemisphere stroke are described 6 years post-stroke. Recovery differed across four skill profiles, created based on a model of plasticity. Full recovery of lost skills and full or partial development of new skills typically involved either semantic memory or right hemisphere lateralized functions such as visual perception skills. Limited development of new skills and full or partial recovery of lost skills took place in either active verbal memory or oral language skills that are left hemisphere lateralized. Language skills concerned with real-time lexical retrieval, or the use and understanding of morphology and grammar, phonological processing skills, and auditory working memory were least likely to recover and continue to develop.
Freedom Is Not Enough: Black Voters, Black Candidates, and American Presidential Politics

Chapter 1 Black Empowerment and the 1965 Voting Rights Act Chapter 2 Leverage Politics and the 1984 and 1988 Jackson Campaigns Chapter 3 Black Mobilization in the Presidential Elections of 1992, 1996, and 1998 Chapter 4 Diluting Black Voting Power: The Supreme Court in the 1990s and the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida Chapter 5 Election Reform: Revisiting the Right to Vote Chapter 6 Leverage Politics and the 2004 Primary Election Scenario: The Sharpton and Moseley Braun Campaigns Chapter 7 Black Turnout and the 2004 Presidential Election Chapter 8 The 1965 Voting Rights Act: Leveraging the Power of the Black Vote
Subunit of an alpha-interferon-responsive transcription factor is related to interferon regulatory factor and Myb families of DNA-binding proteins

Alpha interferon stimulates transcription by converting the positive transcriptional regulator ISGF3 from a latent to an active form. This receptor-mediated event occurs in the cytoplasm, with subsequent translocation of the activated factor to the nucleus. ISGF3 has two components, termed ISGF3 alpha and ISGF3 gamma. ISGF3 gamma serves as the DNA recognition subunit, while ISGF3 alpha, which appears to consist of three polypeptides, is a target for alpha interferon signaling and serves as a regulatory component whose activation is required to form ISGF3. ISGF3 gamma DNA-binding activity was identified as a 48-kDa polypeptide, and partial amino acid sequence has allowed isolation of cDNA clones. ISGF3 gamma translated in vitro from recombinant clones bound DNA with a specificity indistinguishable from that of ISGF3 gamma purified from HeLa cells. Sequencing of ISGF3 gamma cDNA clones revealed significant similarity to the interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family of DNA binding proteins in the amino-terminal 117 residues of ISGF3 gamma. The other IRF family proteins bind DNA with a specificity related to but distinct from that of ISGF3 gamma. We note sequence similarities between the related regions of IRF family proteins and the imperfect tryptophan repeats which constitute the DNA-binding domain of the c-myb oncoprotein. These sequence similarities suggest that ISGF3 gamma and IRF proteins and the c-myb oncoprotein use a common structural motif for DNA recognition. Recombinant ISGF3 gamma, like the natural protein, interacted with HeLa cell ISGF3 alpha to form the mature ISGF3 DNA-binding complex. We suggest that other IRF family members may participate in signaling pathways by interacting with as yet unidentified regulatory subunits analogous to ISGF3 alpha.
Prices in Financial Markets

This textbook on financial markets has two purposes: one is to introduce students to the latest theory of financial markets, and the other is to explain the advanced mathematics that is the language of this theory. It requires students to have a familiarity with the elementary ideas of ordinary calculus, linear algebra, probability, and microeconomics. The theory in the book is the basis for some very successful applications to a large and growing segment of financial markets: futures markets in commodities, interest rates, and stock indexes; and the options markets in the same areas.
On the Distributional Effects of Income in an Aggregate Consumption Relation

In this paper we analyze the relevance of characteristics of the income distribution in an aggregate consumption relation. In particular, we use a statistical distributional approach toward aggregation in order to model the aggregate consumption relation of a heterogeneous population, and apply it to UK-Family Expenditure Survey data for the years 1974-1993. We consider a nonparametric estimation methodology, which accounts for the presence of continuous and discrete variables, and, for comparison purposes, a linear parametric method. A bootstrap test on the nonparametrically estimated parameters suggests that, in addition to the mean, the dispersion of income is also relevant. Additionally, the time-invariance of the parameters of the aggregate relation is rejected. These findings have important implications for constructing empirically sound models of aggregate consumption expenditure.
Single-Layer Focusing Gradient Metasurface for Ultrathin Planar Lens Antenna Application

A single-layer focusing gradient metasurface (MS) built by one element-group is proposed. The element-group is designed by well connecting the phase shift range of two similar single-layer elements under the condition of transmitting efficiencies over 0.7. The proposed MS can focus the propagating plane wave on a point and a patch antenna is placed at its focus to build a high-gain planar lens antenna. This lens antenna achieves pencil-shaped far-field radiation pattern with a simulation peak gain of 16.7 dB at 10 GHz. The single-layer structure makes it easy to fabricate the MS with low profile and satisfying performances. Finally, the MS and the patch antenna are fabricated, assembled, and measured. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulations.
Organization, sequence and nuclease hypersensitivity of repetitive elements flanking the chicken apoVLDLII gene: extended sequence similarity to elements flanking the chicken vitellogenin gene

Analysis of nuclease hypersensitivity of regions flanking the estrogen-dependent, chicken apoVLDLII gene has revealed an hepatic, DNaseI hypersensitive site whose sensitivity is influenced by both the developmental stage and sex of the bird. The site is located 3.0kb upstream from the gene, in a block of middle repetitive elements. Contact hybridization studies indicate that the block consists of contiguous copies of two elements with reiteration frequencies of 500-1000 and 10,000-30,000 copies per haploid genome. Sequencing of 1.8kb spanning the repeats has revealed that the higher frequency element is a member of the CR1 family. The adjacent lower frequency repeat can also be found next to another member of the CR1 family located in the 3' flanking region of the vitellogenin gene. The hypersensitive site has been mapped to one of the two most highly conserved regions of the CR1 element. This region displays homology with a silencer sequence recently identified in a CR1 element flanking the chicken lysozyme gene.
The Economic Structure of the Law

Judge Richard A. Posner is internationally regarded as a leading exponent and a founding father of the law and economics movement. This volume draws together a selection of his most important papers on the methodology and the theory of law and economics to create a valuable collection for scholars and practitioners in the field. It includes a coherent and informative introduction by Professor Francesco Parisi containing salient insights into Judge Posner’s work.
Genome Sequences of Two Novel Papillomaviruses Isolated from Healthy Skin of Pudu puda and Cervus elaphus Deer

ABSTRACT We report the complete genome sequences of Pudu puda papillomavirus 1 (PpudPV1) and Cervus elaphus papillomavirus 2 (CelaPV2), isolated from healthy skin hair follicles of a Southern pudu and a red deer, respectively. PpudPV1 is basal to the DyokappaPVs, whereas CelaPV2 is basal to the XiPVs (Beta-XiPV crown group).
The potential use of bone marrow stromal cells for cochlear cell therapy

This study investigated the potential of bone-marrow stromal cell transplantation for cell replacement therapy in the cochlea. Bone-marrow stromal cells labeled with enhanced green fluorescent protein were injected into the perilymphatic space of normal cochleae in mice. Histological analysis 2 weeks after transplantation demonstrated that transplanted cells settled within the cochlear tissues, especially in the spiral ligament and the spiral limbus, although most transplants were located in the perilymphatic space. Some of the transplanted cells expressed the cochlear gap-junction protein connexin 26. These findings indicate the potential of bone-marrow stromal cells for delivering therapeutic molecules and for the restoration of cochlear cells, particularly in the spiral ligament and the spiral limbus.
Predominance Tag Maps

A predominance map expresses the predominant data category for each geographical entity and colors are used to differentiate a small number of data categories. In tag maps, many data categories are present in the form of different tags, but related tag map approaches do not account for predominance, as tags are either displaced from their respective geographical locations or visual clutter occurs. We propose predominance tag maps, a layout algorithm that accounts for predominance for arbitrary aggregation granularities. The algorithm is able to utilize the font sizes of the tags as visual variable and it is further configurable to implement aggregation strategies beyond visualizing predominance. We introduce various measures to evaluate numerically the qualitative aspects of tag maps regarding local predominance, global features, and layout stability and we comparatively analyze our method to the tag map approach by Thom et al. [1] on the basis of real world data sets.
Extensive Horizontal Gene Transfer in Ureaplasmas from Humans Questions the Utility of Serotyping for Diagnostic Purposes

ABSTRACT Ureaplasma parvum and Ureaplasma urealyticum are sexually transmitted, opportunistic pathogens of the human urogenital tract. There are 14 known serovars distributed between the two species. For decades, it has been postulated based upon limited data that virulence is related to serotype specificity. The results were often inconclusive due to the small sample size and extensive cross-reactivity between certain serovars. We developed real-time quantitative PCRs that allow reliable differentiation of the two species and type strains of each of the 14 serovars. To investigate species and serovar distributions, we typed 1,061 clinical isolates of human ureaplasmas from diverse patient populations. There was only a tenuous association between individual Ureaplasma serovars and certain patient populations. This may in part be explained by the fact that almost 40% of the isolates were genetic mosaics, apparently arising from the recombination of multiple serovars. This explains the extensive cross-reactivity based upon serotyping and the lack of consistent association of given serotypes with disease.