Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using a multi-task adaptive VR system for upper limb rehabilitation in the acute phase of stroke

Nowadays, stroke has become one the main causes of adult disability leading to life-lasting effects, including motor and cognitive deficits. Here we explore the benefits of the use of virtual reality (VR) for the rehabilitation of motor deficits following stroke. We have developed the rehabilitation gaming system (RGS), a VR-based apparatus designed for the treatment of the upper extremities. The RGS is a multi-level adaptive system that provides a task oriented training of graded complexity that is online adjusted to the capabilities of the patients. We show results from an ongoing study that evaluates the impact of this system on the recovery of patients in the acute phase of stroke (n=14). The results suggest that the system induces a sustained improvement during treatment, with observed benefits in the performance of activities of daily living.
Quantifying Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Spillovers on India

The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will impact on substantive market regulations in a wide a range of areas bearing on market access, both by establishing substantive new horizontal and sectoral standards and by establishing requirements regarding institutional and procedural approaches to domestic market regulation. Network effects, including through other agreements involving TPP/TTIP economies, and global supply chains organized by firms in the TPP/TTIP jurisdictions, will have the effect of broadening the reach of TPP/TTIP measures beyond the immediate parties to the agreement. This study employs the global dynamic multi-region multi-sector model, GDyn, to draw inferences concerning the impact on India of the likely outcome of the TPP and TTIP in respect of market regulation. Both tariff and NTB reductions associated with TPP/TTIP as well as the rise in standards have an overall negative effect on India. Compliance with labour standards is the most costly scenario for India. On the other hand, not complying with the emerging global standards would prove counter-productive for India’s exports. Based on this analysis, the study considers the preparations that India might contemplate to maintain its competitive position in global markets. The study comments on priorities based on the scale of likely impacts in different areas.
Dynamic Stream Weighting for Turbo-Decoding-Based Audiovisual ASR

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) enables very intuitive human-machine interaction. However, signal degradations due to reverberation or noise reduce the accuracy of audio-based recognition. The introduction of a second signal stream that is not affected by degradations in the audio domain (e.g., a video stream) increases the robustness of ASR against degradations in the original domain. Here, depending on the signal quality of audio and video at each point in time, a dynamic weighting of both streams can optimize the recognition performance. In this work, we introduce a strategy for estimating optimal weights for the audio and video streams in turbo-decodingbased ASR using a discriminative cost function. The results show that turbo decoding with this maximally discriminative dynamic weighting of information yields higher recognition accuracy than turbo-decoding-based recognition with fixed stream weights or optimally dynamically weighted audiovisual decoding using coupled hidden Markov models.
On PMHSS Iteration Methods for Continuous Sylvester Equations

The modified Hermitian and skew-Hermitian splitting (MHSS) iteration method and preconditioned MHSS (PMHSS) iteration method were introduced respectively. In the paper, on the basis of the MHSS iteration method, we present a PMHSS iteration method for solving large sparse continuous Sylvester equations with non-Hermitian and complex symmetric positive definite/semi-definite matrices. Under suitable conditions, we prove the convergence of the PMHSS iteration method and discuss the spectral properties of the preconditioned matrix. Moreover, to reduce the computing cost, we establish an inexact variant of the PMHSS iteration method and analyze its convergence property in detail. Numerical results show that the PMHSS iteration method and its inexact variant are efficient and robust solvers for this class of continuous Sylvester equations. Mathematics subject classification: 65F10, 65F50.
The Persistence of Customer Profitability: Empirical Evidence and Implications From a Financial Services Firm

This study addresses three research questions related to persistence in customer profitability. How well does current customer profitability explain future customer profitability? Does current customer profitability fully reflect the future customer profitability implications of demographics and other customer characteristics? How do different components of customer profitability affect its persistence over time? The authors find that a substantial amount of variation in 1-year ahead customer profitability is left unexplained by current customer profitability. They also find that different components of customer profitability have vastly different levels of persistence and that data on customer demographics and other characteristics have little incremental value relative to current profitability in explaining future profitability. Segmenting customers based on how their profitability is generated within a profit tier reveals that the efficacy of predicting future profit tier based on current profit tier varies greatly even among customers in the same current profit tier.
Combining Service and Sales at the Point of Customer Contact

In this article, the authors examine the organizational factors contributing to the successful commingling of employee service and sales responsibilities at the point of customer contact. Findings indicate that the key to successful commingling is a balanced orientation among customer contact personnel where their service and sales roles are viewed as complementary rather than contradictory. To ensure this, the organizational environment must support both service and sales roles, or it might run the risk of encouraging the cross-selling of additional products without creating employee concern for delivering customer satisfaction. In addition, the performance of both service and sales roles in an environment that is not conducive to these roles appears to adversely affect contact employee levels of felt stress.
Communication behaviors associated with successful conversation in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia

ABSTRACT Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) affects a range of language and cognitive domains that impact on conversation. Little is known about conversation breakdown in the semantic variant of PPA (svPPA, also known as semantic dementia). This study investigates conversation of people with svPPA. Methods: Dyadic conversations about everyday activities between seven individuals with svPPA and their partners, and seven control pairs were video recorded and transcribed. Number of words, turns, and length of turns were measured. Trouble-indicating behaviors (TIBs) and repair behaviors were categorized and identified as successful or not for each participant in each dyad. Results: In general, individuals with svPPA were active participants in conversation, taking an equal proportion of turns, but indicating a great deal of more trouble in conversation, shown by the significantly higher number of TIBs than evidenced by partners or control participants. TIBs were interactive (asking for confirmation with a shorter repetition of the original utterance or a repetition which included a request for specific information) and non-interactive (such as failing to take up or continue the topic or a minimal response) and unlike those previously reported for people with other PPA variants and dementia of the Alzheimer type. Communication behaviors of the partner were critical to conversational success. Conclusions: Examination of trouble and repair in 10-min conversations of individuals with svPPA and their important communication partners has potential to inform speech pathology interventions to enhance successful conversation, in svPPA and should be an integral part of the comprehensive care plan.
Molecular determinants of cAMP‐mediated regulation of the Na+–Ca2+ exchanger expressed in human cell lines

The cardiac Na+–Ca2+ exchanger (NCX1) is one of the major sarcolemmal Ca2+ transporters of cardiomyocytes. Structure–function studies suggest that β‐adrenergic inhibition of NCX1, as reported for frog, but not mammalian hearts, may be associated with a unique splice variant of frog cardiac NCX1 where insertion of an extra exon completes the coding of a nucleotide binding P‐loop. To test the involvement of the P‐loop in cAMP‐mediated regulation of NCX1 we used four stably transfected human cell lines (a previously established line of baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells and three new lines of human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells) expressing: (1) wild‐type dog NCX1 (dog NCX1); (2) wild‐type frog NCX1 (frog NCX1); (3) chimeric frog‐dog NCX1 incorporating the completed P‐loop from the frog NCX1 into the dog NCX1 sequence (frog/dog NCX1); and (4) a mutated frog NCX1 where a putative protein kinase A (PKA) site was disrupted by substitution of a single serine residue with glycine (S374G frog NCX1). Structural expression of these NCX1 constructs was confirmed using Western blot analysis of extracted proteins and immunofluorescence imaging. The NCX1‐generated current (INa–Ca) was reliably measured in cells expressing dog (2.0 ± 0.15 pA pF−1), frog (0.6 ± 0.1 pA pF−1) and frog/dog (0.6 ± 0.1 pA pF−1) NCX1, but less so in those expressing S374G frog NCX1 (0.3 ± 0.1 pA pF−1). Addition of 100 μm 8‐bromoadenosine 3′,5′ cyclic monophosphate (8‐Br‐cAMP) suppressed INa–Ca of frog and frog/dog NCX1 by 60–80 %. The suppression of INa–Ca was smaller and transient in cells expressing S374G frog NCX1, and absent in cells expressing dog NCX1. Intracellular Ca2+ (Ca2+1)‐transients, activated by rapid withdrawal of Na+, were also downregulated in the frog and frog/dog NCX1 and to a smaller and transient extent in S374G frog NCX1. Our findings suggest that the suppressive effect of β‐adrenergic agonists requires the presence of the P‐loop domain of the frog NCX1, and provide evidence that the putative PKA site, present in both dog and frog NCX1, might also be critical in the cAMP‐mediated regulation of the exchanger.
Strategy, strategy‐making, and performance in a business game

In a recent study, Segev (1987) examined the relationships among strategy, strategy-making, and performance, focusing on the connection between two important typologies: Miles and Snow's (1978) concept of strategic types and Mintzberg's (1973) concept of strategy-making modes. The findings of that study clearly indicated links between the two, and partially supported propositions asserting the effects of the strategy/stategy-making fit on organizational performance. In the current study a business game served as the vehicle for examining this tripartite relationship. The two typologies were applied to the firms' in the game, and then an inquiry was made into the relationships between them. An hypothesis regarding the effect of fit on performance was tested, and the findings compared with previously reported empirical results.
Bayesian latent variable models for learning dependencies between multiple data sources

Aalto University, P.O. Box 11000, FI-00076 Aalto www.aalto. fi Author Seppo Virtanen Name of the doctoral dissertation Bayesian latent variable models for learning dependencies between multiple data sources Publisher School of Science Unit Department of Information and Computer Science Series Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS 110/2014 Field of research Computer and Information Science Manuscript submitted 10 April 2014 Date of the defence 25 August 2014 Permission to publish granted (date) 6 June 2014 Language English Monograph Article dissertation (summary + original articles) Abstract Machine learning focuses on automated large-scale data analysis extracting useful information from data collections. The data are frequently high-dimensional and may correspond, for example, to images, text documents, or measurements of neural responses. In many applications data can be collected from multiple data sources, that is, views.Machine learning focuses on automated large-scale data analysis extracting useful information from data collections. The data are frequently high-dimensional and may correspond, for example, to images, text documents, or measurements of neural responses. In many applications data can be collected from multiple data sources, that is, views. This thesis presents novel machine learning methods for analyzing multiple data sources, especially for understanding relationships between them. The analysis provides a comprehensive summary of the data generating process, which may be used for exploring the relationships and for predicting observations of one or more sources. The methods are based on two assumptions: each view provides complementary information of the data generating process, and each view is corrupted by noise. The methods aim to utilize all available information (views), accumulating partly overlapping information and reducing view-specific noise. In particular, this thesis presents several Bayesian latent variable models that learn a decomposition of latent variables; some of the variables capture information shared by multiple sources, whereas the remaining variables explain noise in each view. The latent variables may be efficiently inferred based on the observed data by using sparsity assumptions and Bayesian inference. The models are applied for analyzing neural responses to natural stimulation as well as for jointly modeling images and text documents.
Supply Base Strategies to Maximize Supplier Performance

Competing in the mid‐to‐late 1990s will require world‐class firms to rely increasingly on their suppliers while at the same time developing more aggressive and executive supported purchasing, supply base and sourcing strategies, because suppliers′ performance is not meeting expectations of purchasers. This finding was one result of a research effort with over 100 different firms over a five‐year period to determine the importance of the supply base, current supplier performance and emerging supply base/sourcing strategies being used by leading firms to contribute to competitive advantage. It was further determined that significant opportunities exist to accelerate development of supplier capabilities and performance. Identifies and discusses continuous improvement and breakthrough supply base and sourcing strategies to achieve supply base improvement.
Changes in symptoms and interpersonal problems during the first 2 years of long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.

OBJECTIVES Longitudinal measurements can provide important information regarding variations in developmental trajectories of patients in long-term treatment. The present study investigated changes in general symptoms, depression, anxiety, and interpersonal problems during the first 2 years of long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy (PP) and psychoanalysis (PA). It was expected that interpersonal problems would diminish more slowly compared to symptomatic dysfunction. DESIGN An accelerated longitudinal design with five consecutive measurement points across two cohorts of patients was used. METHODS Changes on the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-64 (IIP-64) were investigated during the first 2 years of long-term PP (n = 73) and PA (n = 40). Linear regression analysis was performed to model the different courses of improvement. RESULTS After 2 years of treatment, patients in both groups still presented moderate to high levels of symptoms and interpersonal problems compared to non-clinical populations. As expected, interpersonal problems changed less rapidly. PP patients changed both with regard to symptomatic and interpersonal problems, whereas the only significant change in the PA group was on one of the symptomatic subscales. Slopes in the PA group and in PP group did not differ significantly from each other, except for the IIP-64 scale intrusive, with PP patients showing significantly more improvement than PA patients. The height of intake values of the outcome variables appeared to predict the speed of symptomatic recovery. CONCLUSIONS Symptoms and interpersonal problems did not decrease notably within the first 2 years of psychoanalytic treatment. This is consistent with the idea that significant change takes time for patients with chronic mental disorders and personality pathology. In regular practice, it is advisable to monitor changes routinely in order to identify slow responders more quickly and change the treatment plan, if necessary.
A cell-based odor sensing system using fluorescent technique and lock-in measurement robust against disturbance

We have developed an odor sensing system based on insect olfactory receptor (OR) and fluorescent instrumentation. When an odorant is captured by an OR (OR56a) expressed on Sf21 cell, calcium indicator protein (GCaMP6) is activated by calcium ion flowing through the OR into the cell. The intensity change of the fluorescent light can be regarded as a sensor output. Since fluorescent light from the cell was very weak, the measurement should be done in the dark condition. The measurement quality deteriorates if the ambient light is included. Thus, a lock-in measurement technique was incorporated to the system to overcome the problem of the ambient light together with the fluorescent image. The lock-in technique enables the detection of light synchronous with the modulated excitation light under the ambient light. This technique is also useful to improve the signal to noise ratio. In this work, we were successful in the detection of 500 nM geosmin even under the condition with the ambient light, whereas it was not clearly detected by the system without lock-in technique.
THE ROLE OF COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE IN THE COURSE OF BUSINESS PROCESS

Business being in the process of reorganization frequently experiences a lack of analytic data and managerial intuition. Working out and implementing business process capable of satisfying the needs of the market most completely presupposes a close cooperation and an active support on the part of the highest management strata of business organization. Basic changes in the attitude of management to the structure of business organization and information data basis is a prerequisite for achieving positive results. It is in this case only that competitive analysis and outside information is sure to become the main condition for accurate understanding of the possibilities of competitive intelligence and the risk of investments necessary for achieving the ultimate goal so that business organization after certain reconstruction could gain competitive advantage in the dynamically developing market economy. Some business organizations operating in western countries have implemented a similar model of business organization applicable to concrete kinds of production. The basic principles of this model have been verified and applied for a concrete section of the market, i.e. for evaluating the situation of competitiveness and applying basic economic principles in it. The principles of analysis of competitive intelligence embrace information about the rivalry situation on the market, the potential changes in the demand for different kinds of production, as well as about a comparative scenario in modelling going over from one system to another that would also embrace the analysis of a particular portion of the market.
ACKING S TRATEGIES VIA T ARGETING S CANNING P ROPERTIES

Network infrastructures have played important part in most daily communications for business industries, social networking, government sectors and etc. Despites the advantages that came from such functionalities, security threats have become a daily struggle. One major security threat is hacking. Consequently, security experts and researchers have suggested possible security solutions such as Firewalls, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDP) and Honeynet. Yet, none of these solutions have proven their ability to completely address hacking. The reason behind that, there is a few researches that examine the behavior of hackers. This paper formally and practically examines in details the behavior of hackers and their targeted environments. Moreover, this paper formally examines the properties of one essential pre-hacking step called scanning and highlights its importance in developing hacking strategies. Also, it illustrates the properties of hacking that is common in most hacking strategies to assist security experts and researchers towards minimizing the risk of hack.
Exchange protein directly activated by cAMP plays a critical role in bacterial invasion during fatal rickettsioses

Significance Our studies combining genetic and pharmacological manipulations provide convincing evidence that exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac) 1 plays a critical role in fatal spotted fever group rickettsioses. Inhibition of Epac1 suppresses bacterial adhesion and/or invasion. Most importantly, we show that a small-molecule Epac inhibitor can prevent and suppress rickettsial infection. Our results demonstrate that Epac1-mediated signaling represents a mechanism for host–pathogen interactions and that Epac1 is a potential target for the prevention and treatment of fatal rickettsioses. This is significant from the biodefense viewpoint because it suggests that Epac1 inhibitor can be potentially used as a prophylaxis to thwart initial bacterial infection in the event of a bioterrorism threat. Rickettsiae are responsible for some of the most devastating human infections. A high infectivity and severe illness after inhalation make some rickettsiae bioterrorism threats. We report that deletion of the exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac) gene, Epac1, in mice protects them from an ordinarily lethal dose of rickettsiae. Inhibition of Epac1 suppresses bacterial adhesion and invasion. Most importantly, pharmacological inhibition of Epac1 in vivo using an Epac-specific small-molecule inhibitor, ESI-09, completely recapitulates the Epac1 knockout phenotype. ESI-09 treatment dramatically decreases the morbidity and mortality associated with fatal spotted fever rickettsiosis. Our results demonstrate that Epac1-mediated signaling represents a mechanism for host–pathogen interactions and that Epac1 is a potential target for the prevention and treatment of fatal rickettsioses.
Collaborative Corporate Strategy Research Programmes (C.C.S.R.P.) a Conceptual Integrative Strategic Framework for a Practical Research Agenda

Researchers have been studying the strategies and the strategic behaviours of corporate firms for more than sixty years. Within the generated literature, contrasting philosophical positions and alternative assumptions underpin contested differences in strategic definition. Although this has created a rich tapestry of theoretical frameworks and schools of thought, the variety has further contributed to making practical research narrowly focused, complex and increasingly fragmented. In this paper we review the scholarly literature to establish an integrative definition of strategy and conceptualise our holistic novel corporate strategy research framework. We call this the Collaborative Corporate Strategy Research Programme (C.C.S.R.P.) which serves as a useful organising framework for corporate strategy research within the institution. This may further enable better structured and more meaningful longer term collaborative research between different institutions. Where corporation has outgrown government and operates across diverse markets, the research agenda has to innovatively adapt to better inform its stakeholders.