Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surface Electromyographic Analysis of Core Trunk and Hip Muscles During Selected Rehabilitation Exercises in the Side-Bridge to Neutral Spine Position

Background: Strengthening of core hip, trunk, and abdominal muscles has been utilized with injury prevention and low back pain and has the potential to improve athletic performance. Hypothesis: During a side-bridge, trunk and thigh muscles on the ipsilateral weightbearing side would produce greater activation than their counterparts on the contralateral nonweightbearing side. Study Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Methods: Twelve females and 13 males participated. Electromyography (EMG) signals were gathered for 5 right-sided muscles (rectus abdominis [RA], external oblique [EO], longissimus thoracis [LT], lumbar multifidus [LM], and gluteus medius [GM]) during 3 repetitions of 4 side-bridging exercises (trunk-elevated side support [TESS], foot-elevated side support [FESS], clamshell, and rotational side-bridge [RSB]) performed bilaterally in random order using surface electrodes. EMG signals were normalized to peak activity in maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) trials and expressed as a percentage. Descriptive EMG data were calculated for EMG recruitment (% MVIC) and compared between right side up and right side down conditions and between exercises with 2-way repeated-measures analyses of variance at α = 0.05. Results: RSB created the most muscle activation in 3 of 4 recorded trunk muscles (RA, 43.9% MVIC; EO, 62.8 % MVIC; and LT, 41.3% MVIC). Activation of the GM exceeded 69% MVIC for TESS, FESS, and RSB. With the exception of the RA in RSB and LT in TESS, recruitment within muscles of the ipsilateral weightbearing trunk and thigh (% MVIC) was significantly greater than their counterparts on the nonweightbearing trunk and thigh for all muscles during the side-bridge exercise conditions. Conclusion: Muscle recruitment was greater within muscles of the ipsilateral weightbearing trunk and thigh for all examined muscles except RA during RSB and LT during TESS. Activation at or above 50% MVIC is needed for strengthening. Activation of the GM and EO meets these requirements. Clinical Relevance: Side-bridge exercises appear to provide strengthening benefits to core hip, trunk, and abdominal muscles on the ipsilateral weightbearing side.
As we may think

As Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Dr. Vannevar Bush has coordinated the activities of some six thousand leading American scientists in the application of science to warfare. In this significant article he holds up an incentive for scientists when the fighting has ceased. He urges that men of science should then turn to the massive task of making more accessible our bewildering store of knowledge. For years inventions have extended man's physical powers rather than the powers of his mind. Trip hammers that multiply the fists, microscopes that sharpen the eye, and engines of destruction and detection are new results, but not the end results, of modern science. Now, says Dr. Bush, instruments are at hand which, if properly developed, will give man access to and command over the inherited knowledge of the ages. The perfection of these pacific instruments should be the first objective of our scientists as they emerge from their war work. Like Emerson's famous address of 1837 on "The American Scholar," this paper by Dr. Bush calls for a new relationship between thinking man and the sum of our knowledge.
Computational modeling of nanocrystal superlattices

COMPUTATIONAL MODELING OF NANOCRYSTAL SUPERLATTICES Mehdi Bakhshi Zanjani Dr. Jennifer R. Lukes Nanocrystal superlattices (NCSLs) are materials formed by assembly of monodisperse nanocrystal building blocks that are tunable in composition, size, shape, and surface functionalization. Such materials offer the potential to realize unprecedented combinations of physical properties, however, theoretical prediction of such properties remains a challenge. Because of the different length scales involved in these structures, modeling techniques at different scales, from ab-initio methods up to continuum models, can be used to study their behavior. This presents a challenge of understanding when and for which properties we can use computationally inexpensive continuum or mesoscopic models and when we will have to use microscopic models. Our goal here is to develop models that can predict phononic and thermal properties of different NCSLs. This includes (1) predicting bulk mechanical properties of NCSLs such as Young’s and bulk modulus which are related to the behavior of low frequency acoustic phonons (2) predicting phononic band gaps through finding phonon dispersion curves of NCSL (3) predicting thermal conductivity of NCSLs. We also study the topic of one-way phononic devices that can possibly be implemented with acoustic metamaterials such as NCSLs or phononic crystals in general. This idea of one-way phonon isolation is investigated in a theoretical framework by considering systems such as acoustic waveguides and low dimensional materials.
Patient-specific dosimetry for 131I thyroid cancer therapy using 124I PET and 3-dimensional-internal dosimetry (3D-ID) software.

UNLABELLED Compared with conventional, whole-organ, S-factor-based dosimetry, 3-dimensional (3D), patient-specific dosimetry better accounts for radionuclide distribution and anatomic patient variability. Its accuracy, however, is limited by the quality of the cumulated activity information that is provided as input. This input has typically been obtained from SPECT and planar imaging studies. The objective was to implement and evaluate PET-based, patient-specific, 3D dosimetry for thyroid cancer patients. METHODS Three to 4 PET imaging studies were obtained over a 7-d period in 15 patients with metastatic thyroid carcinoma after administration of (124)I-NaI. Subsequently, patients were treated with (131)I on the basis of established clinical parameters. Retrospective dosimetry was performed using registered (124)I PET images that were corrected for the half-life difference between (124)I and (131)I. A voxel-by-voxel integration, over time, of the resulting (131)I-equivalent PET-derived images was performed to provide a single 3D dataset representing the spatial distribution of cumulated activity values for each patient. Image manipulation and registration were performed using Multiple Image Analysis Utility (MIAU), a software package developed previously. The software package, 3D-Internal Dosimetry (3D-ID), was used to obtain absorbed dose maps from the cumulated activity image sets. RESULTS Spatial distributions of absorbed dose, isodose contours, dose-volume histograms (DVHs), and mean absorbed dose estimates were obtained for a total of 56 tumors. Mean absorbed dose values for individual tumors ranged from 1.2 to 540 Gy. The absorbed dose distribution within individual tumors was widely distributed ranging from a minimum of 0.3 to a maximum of 4,000 Gy. CONCLUSION (124)I PET-based, patient-specific 3D dosimetry is feasible, and sequential PET can be used to obtain cumulated activity images for 3D dosimetry.
Cytokine levels in sites of chronic periodontitis of poorly controlled and well-controlled type 2 diabetic subjects.

AIM This study compared the levels of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-17 and IL-23 in the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) from well-controlled and poorly controlled type 2 diabetic subjects with chronic periodontitis, before and after periodontal therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS Eighteen well-controlled (glycated haemoglobin levels ≤8%) and 20 poorly controlled (glycated haemoglobin levels >8%) diabetic subjects were enrolled in this study. All subjects were submitted to non-surgical periodontal therapy. GCF sampling and clinical periodontal parameters were assessed before, 3 and 6 months post-therapy. Total amounts and concentrations of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-17 and IL-23 in the GCF were analysed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS The levels of IL-17 were higher in poorly than in well-controlled subjects (p<0.05), whereas the levels of IFN-γ were increased in well- compared with poorly controlled subjects at all experimental groups (p<0.05). In addition, IL-4 levels were lower in well- than poorly controlled diabetic subjects at baseline (p<0.05). There were no differences between groups for TNF-α and IL-23 at any time points (p>0.05). CONCLUSION These results indicate a predominance of pro-inflammatory T-helper type 1 (Th1)- or Th17-cytokines in sites of chronic periodontitis from type 2 diabetic subjects, according to their glycaemic control.
Principal Component Analysis on non-Gaussian Dependent Data

In this paper, we analyze the performance of a semiparametric principal component analysis named Copula Component Analysis (COCA) (Han & Liu, 2012) when the data are dependent. The semiparametric model assumes that, after unspecified marginally monotone transformations, the distributions are multivariate Gaussian. We study the scenario where the observations are drawn from non-i.i. d. processes (m-dependency or a more general ϕ-mixing case). We show that COCA can allow weak dependence. In particular, we provide the generalization bounds of convergence for both support recovery and parameter estimation of COCA for the dependent data. We provide explicit sufficient conditions on the degree of dependence, under which the parametric rate can be maintained. To our knowledge, this is the first work analyzing the theoretical performance of PCA for the dependent data in high dimensional settings. Our results strictly generalize the analysis in Han & Liu (2012) and the techniques we used have the separate interest for analyzing a variety of other multivariate statistical methods.
Flexible and transparent strain sensor made with silver nanowire–coated cellulose

Simple and versatile method of layer-by-layer deposition is used to coat silver nanowire on a cellulose film to fabricate a flexible and transparent strain sensor. Strain-sensing behaviors of such a simply fabricated cellulose film are analyzed in both stretching and bending modes. When 0.01 wt% silver nanowire is coated on the cellulose film, 70% transmittance is maintained with 2.4 kΩ/sq of sheet resistance, which is applicable for transparent electrode of the strain sensor. Conductivity of the transparent electrode is maintained after mechanical stretching, which demonstrates that the silver nanowire coating is securely adhered on the surface of cellulose film. The strain sensor shows high strain sensitivity and good gauge factor maintaining good transparency at low silver nanowire concentration, which might be associated with the tunneling resistance change in the silver nanowire. The morphology of the silver nanowire–coated cellulose strain sensor is investigated using an atomic force microscopy with an increase in silver nanowire concentration.
Efficient SVR model update approaches for respiratory motion prediction

In order to successfully ablate moving tumours in robotic radiosurgery, respiratory motion prediction is needed to compensate time delays. In this context, recent studies revealed a high potential of support vector regression (SVR). However, high computational cost is one major drawback, particularly caused by batch mode training. We evaluate two approaches to reduce the update rate as well as computation time, while keeping a low prediction error. The update rules are either based on information about the respiratory phase or based on the current prediction error. An evaluation on patient data sets revealed that the second approach on average decreases computation time by 88.53% compared to a batch mode implementation. The prediction error increased by 0.3%, hence indicating enhanced efficiency.
Health-Related Quality of Life After Stroke

A Danish version of the Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale (SSQOL-DK) has been developed for self-reporting; it contains 12 physical and psychosocial domains. The purpose of this study was (a) to assess the reliability of the proxy version of the SSQOL-DK and (b) to evaluate the influence of frequency of proxy contact on agreement. In all, 143 patients completed the SSQOL-DK 1 to 5 years post-stroke. A patient chosen proxy completed a proxy version of the same questionnaire. The proxy version showed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .85-.95). Agreement was generally high. Proxies rated the amount of trouble significantly smaller (higher score) than the patients only in the domain Social Roles. The amount of trouble in the domain Family Roles received significantly higher ratings from noncohabitant proxies when compared with patients (lower score). The proxy version of the SSQOL-DK appears to be reliable for use with stroke patients up to a few years following a stroke.
Decision , Risk & Operations Working Papers Series Approximate and Data-Driven Dynamic Programming for Queueing Networks

We develop an approach based on temporal difference learning to address scheduling problems in complex queueing networks such as those arising in service, communication, and manufacturing systems. One novel feature is the selection of basis functions, which is motivated by the gross behavior of the system in asymptotic regimes. Another is the use of polytopic structure to efficiently identify desired actions from an intractable set of alternatives. Application to input-queued crossbar switch models with up to hundreds of queues and quadrillions of alternative actions yield scheduling policies outperforming a heuristic recently shown to have certain optimality properties in the heavy traffic scale. We also extend the approach to a setting where aspects of the queueing network are not modeled and we must rely instead on empirical data. This data-driven approach is useful, for example, when the statistical structure of arrivals is poorly understood but historical data traces are available.
The electromyogram (EMG) as a control signal for functional neuromuscular stimulation. II. Practical demonstration of the EMG signature discrimination system

For pt.I see ibid., vol.35, no.4, p.230-7, 1988. The successful application of functional neuromuscular stimulation to the muscles of paraplegics depends to a large extent on the adequate provision of a means by which the subject can exercise control over the resulting movement. The use of above-lesion electromyographic signals as a solution to the control problem is considered. A practical demonstration of signature discrimination of electromyographic signals, based on the parameters of an autoregressive time series, is presented. The success of this method is dependent on the choice of electrode location. Various experiments to determine such an electrode location are described. <<ETX>>
Serum‐mediated Depression of Neutrophil Chemiluminescence Following Blunt Trauma

To investigate one possible mechanism responsible for decreased neutrophil bactericidal activity following trauma, the chemiluminescence response of normal neutrophils was measured following incubation in nonseptic and septic serum from 19 blunt trauma patients. Incubation of normal neutrophils in septic patients' sera (61 studies) resulted in a marked decrease in the chemiluminescence response (36 +/- 26% of control), compared to incubation in nonseptic sera (92 studies, 80 +/- 53% of control; p less than 0.005). This difference between nonseptic and septic serum was apparent immediately after injury, prior to the development of sepsis (47 +/- 4% versus 77 +/- 12%; p less than 0.05). The depression of the CL response was due to a suppressive factor present in septic patients' sera. This factor was nondialyzable and was present in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fractions containing protein of molecular weight 50 to 100,000. Removal of albumin using Affigel-blue did not remove the suppressive factor. In contrast to the suppressive effect of septic trauma serum, septic patients' neutrophils had a normal chemiluminescence response after their isolation and washing. We conclude that trauma results in the generation of a serum factor that suppresses neutrophil chemiluminescence and that is present in greater amounts in patients who eventually become septic. This factor may be responsible for the decreased bactericidal activity and depressed host defense following injury.
Stacked transformations for foreign accented speech recognition

Nowadays, large vocabulary speech recognizers exist that are performing reasonably well for specific conditions and environments. When the conditions change however, performance degrades quickly. For example, when the person to be recognized has a foreign accent the conditions could mismatch with the model, resulting in high error rates. The problem in recognizing foreign accented speech is the lack of sufficient training data. If enough data would be available of the same accent, from numerous different speakers, a well performing accented speech model could be built. Besides the lack of speech data, there are more problems with training a complete new model. It costs a lot of computational resources and storage space to train a new model. If speakers with different accents must be recognized, these costs explode as every accent needs retraining. A common solution for preventing retraining is to adapt (transform) an existing model, such that it better matches the recognition conditions. In this thesis multiple different adaptation transformations are considered. Speaker Transformations are using speech data from the target speaker, Accent Transformations use speech data from different speakers, who have the same accent as the speech that needs to be recognized. Neighbour Transformations are estimated with speech from different speakers that are automatically determined to be similar to the target speaker. Novelty in this work is the stack wise combination of these adaptations. Instead of using a single transformation, multiple transformations are ‘stacked together’. Because all adaptations except the speaker specific adaptation can be precomputed, no extra computational costs at recognition time occur compared to normal speaker adaptation and the adaptations that can be precomputed are much more refined as they can use more and better adaptation data. In addition, they need only a very small amount storage space, compared to a retrained model. The effect of Stacked Transformations is that the models have a better fit for the recognition utterances. When compared to no adaptation, improvements up to 30% in Word Error Rate can be achieved. In adaptation with a small number (5) of sentences, improvements up to 15% are gained.
Procedural modeling of cities

Modeling a city poses a number of problems to computer graphics. Every urban area has a transportation network that follows population and environmental influences, and often a superimposed pattern plan. The buildings appearances follow historical, aesthetic and statutory rules. To create a virtual city, a roadmap has to be designed and a large number of buildings need to be generated. We propose a system using a procedural approach based on L-systems to model cities. From various image maps given as input, such as land-water boundaries and population density, our system generates a system of highways and streets, divides the land into lots, and creates the appropriate geometry for the buildings on the respective allotments. For the creation of a city street map, L-systems have been extended with methods that allow the consideration of global goals and local constraints and reduce the complexity of the production rules. An L-system that generates geometry and a texturing system based on texture elements and procedural methods compose the buildings.
Correlative Filters for Convolutional Neural Networks

This paper introduces a regularization method called Correlative Filter (CF) for Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), which takes advantage of the relevance between the convolutional kernels belonging to the same convolutional layer. During the process of training with the proposed CF method, several pairs of filters are designed in a manner of randomness to contain opposite weights in low-level layers. Regarding higher level layers where synthetical features are processed, the relation between correlative filters is explored as translation of various directions. The proposed CF method attempts to optimize the inner structure of convolutional layers and it can work jointly with other regularization techniques, such as stochastic pooling, Dropout, etc. The experimental results on the competitive image classification benchmark dataset CIFAR-10 demonstrates the performance of the proposed CF method, additionally, it is also verified that the proposed CF method is wonderful to be employed to enhance several state-of-the-art regularization models.
LC-MS/MS method for simultaneous estimation of candesartan and hydrochlorothiazide in human plasma and its use in clinical pharmacokinetics.

BACKGROUND ATACAND HCT(®) (candesartan cilexetil-hydrochlorothiazide [CAN-HCTZ]) combines an angiotensin II receptor (type AT1) antagonist and a diuretic. Quantification of CAN and HCTZ in biological matrices has traditionally been difficult - developing a single method with the desired sensitivity has been the issue. RESULTS A high-throughput bioanalytical method for the analysis of CAN and HCTZ in human plasma using liquid-liquid extraction and LC coupled to negative ion mode MS/MS has been developed and validated according to US FDA guidelines. The method uses 100 µl plasma and covers the calibration range 1-160 ng/ml for CAN and 2-160 ng/ml for HCTZ for routine pharmacokinetic studies in humans. The intra- and inter-day precision values for CAN and HCTZ met the acceptance criteria. CAN and HCTZ were stable in a battery of stability studies (benchtop, autosampler and long-term). CONCLUSION The advantages of the described technique included a single method with a shorter run time (2.5 min), simple extraction technique, LLOQ of 1 ng/ml for CAN and 2 ng/ml for HCTZ and lower sample volume (0.10 ml), which overcomes drawbacks of two single methods for each analyte, such as higher analysis time, LOQ and sample volume, as in previously published methods. The developed assay was applied to an oral pharmacokinetic study in humans.
Indoor location recognition using fusion of SVM-based visual classifiers

We apply our general-purpose algorithm for visual category recognition using bag-of-visual-words and other visual features and fusion of SVM classifiers to the recognition of indoor locations. This is an important application in many emerging fields, such as mobile augmented reality and autonomous robots. We evaluate the proposed method with other location recognition systems in the ImageCLEF 2010 RobotVision contest. The results show that given a large enough training set, a purely appearance-based method can perform very well - ranked first for one of the contest's training sets.
Heady-Lines: A Creative Generator Of Newspaper Headlines

In this paper we present Heady-Lines, a creative system that produces news headlines based on well-known expressions. The algorithm is composed of several steps that identify keywords from a news article, select an appropriate well-known expression and modify it to produce a novel one, using state-of-the-art natural language processing and linguistic creativity techniques. The system has a simple web-interface that abstracts the technical details from users and lets them concentrate on the task of producing creative headlines.
Tight magnetic coupling in multiphase interleaved converters based on simple transformers

Magnetic integration and magnetic coupling are very promising concepts to be applied in multiphase converters. Tight magnetic coupling allows energy transfer among phases. Ideally the magnetic component can act as a voltage source, with very low output impedance and with a perfect sharing of output current ripple. The main advantages provided by magnetic coupling are size and losses reduction and dynamic improvement. In this paper two winding transformer arrangements to be used in multiphase converters are presented, and validated with a new integrated transformer.