Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surface EMG and spatial resolution analysis with estimation of electromyographic descriptors

Spatial filtering has become a common way to improve the resolution of surface electromyographic signals (SEMG) when used in connection with electrode arrays. The goal of this study is to observe the behavior of S-EMG amplitude and spectral descriptors when signals are submitted to a longitudinal quadruple differentiating spatial filter. Signals were acquired at 20% and 60% of the maximum voluntary contraction using a linear array of eight surface electrodes in order to understand the impact of the filtering technique in the S-EMG variables during fatiguing and non-fatiguing contractions. The final results show that the filtering procedure yields better selectivity, suggesting that single motor units can be better observed if spatial filters and measurement configurations with smaller pick-up areas are used. During fatiguing contractions, however, further analysis is needed.
Espoused and practiced stakeholder engagement in support of corporate social responsibility within the United States healthcare sector

This qualitative study provides a snapshot into what corporations say and what they do with regard to stakeholder engagement in the context of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and considers the difference in the promises made and the actions taken by corporations in the minds of stakeholders. As the research of CSR questions what a corporation is responsible for and Stakeholder Theory (ST) questions whom the corporation is responsible to, CSR and ST provide conceptual frameworks for the study. A genuine commitment to CSR and stakeholder engagement contributes to sustainability, impacting the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) of an organization. According to the National Research Council, there is an urgent need for corporations within the U.S. Healthcare sector to make such a commitment. As large corporations are established organizations with greater resources to engage stakeholders in support of CSR, many believe they should take the lead. Consequently, this study identified six large-capitalization (large-cap) corporations within the U.S. Healthcare sector, representing six different industries within the sector that complied with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, the study’s sampling criteria. Content analysis of Annual Reports to Shareholders, CSR Reports, and RepRisk Reports of the corporations selected for study allowed the researcher to formulate several conclusions. A corporation’s commitment to ESG issues evolves over time, while their level of engagement with stakeholders fluctuates. Further, the communication style of a corporation can influence perceived commitment to ESG issues and stakeholder engagement. Finally, corporations committed to ESG issues and stakeholder engagement are not immune to incidents of ESG risk, which in turn, negatively impacts a corporation’s reputation and impairs sustainability. A critical management approach to improve our nation’s healthcare system is the adoption of a stakeholder orientation in support of CSR efforts. This study reveals
Ascribed Meaning: A Critical Factor in Coping and Pain Attenuation in Patients with Cancer-Related Pain

Advanced cancer is frequently associated with severe pain, and some patients suffer markedly more than others. The experience of pain is a multifactorial phenomenon involving not only sensory but also cognitive, affective, motivational, and behavioral dimensions. The latter variables were investigated within the framework of Melzack and Wall's gate control model of pain and Lazarus’ coping psychology model. Quantitative measures of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, a self-report depression scale, and a coping strategy questionnaire were employed, and a face-to-face interview was conducted in which patients ascribed meaning to their pain. One hundred terminal cancer patients in the Winnipeg, Manitoba area were studied, all of whom received care at home, with one half having access to support from a hospital palliative care unit (PCU) and one half not. Analgesic medication levels were recorded and converted to a common standard. Statistical results showed that the ability to cope with the pain experience was little influenced by access to the PCU; nor was medication level a confounding variable. Variance analysis showed that the strongest impact on pain, depression, and coping scores was made by the meaning ascribed to pain by patients (p=0.0001). The most frequently ascribed meanings were challenge (n=30), punishment (n=26), and enemy (n=20). Successful pain attenuation thus depends in part on understanding the cognitive processing of pain by individual patients.
Effect of a Core Conditioning Intervention on Tests of Trunk Muscular Endurance in School-Aged Children

Abstract Allen, BA, Hannon, JC, Burns, RD, and Williams, SM. Effect of a core conditioning intervention on tests of trunk muscular endurance in school-aged children. J Strength Cond Res 28(7): 2063–2070, 2014—Trunk and core muscular development has been advocated to increase athletic performance and for maintenance of musculoskeletal health, especially related to the prevention of low back pain (LBP). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a simple core conditioning routine on tests of trunk and core muscular endurance in school-aged children. Participants included 164 students (86 girls, 78 boys; mean age, 11.5 ± 2.5 years) recruited from a grade school in a metropolitan area located in the southwestern United States. Students performed an equipment-free, moderate-to-high intensity, dynamic core conditioning warm-up routine once a week for a period of 6 weeks during the start of their physical education classes. The intervention consisted of 10 different dynamic core conditioning exercises performed at a 30-second duration per exercise totaling 5 minutes per session. Pre- and post-assessments of muscular endurance consisted of 5 different trunk and core muscular endurance tests: Parallel Roman Chair Dynamic Back Extension, Prone Plank, Lateral Plank, Dynamic Curl-Up, and Static Curl-up. A generalized estimation equation was used to analyze differences in pre- and post-intervention muscular fitness assessments controlling for gender and grade level. Analysis of the data revealed significant increases in muscular fitness test performance for each of the 5 measured outcomes (p < 0.001). Because risk factors of LBP are thought to commence during childhood, results of this study suggest that it may be desirable for children and adolescents to perform moderate-to-high intensity dynamic core exercises during physical education warm-up to improve trunk and core muscular endurance.
The roles of enjoyment and shared goals as an integration mechanism between transactive memory system and ambidextrous innovation in open innovation teams: An exploratory study on Cross-Field student team contests

The development of an effective and efficient mechanism to approach ambidextrous innovation plays an important role in interdisciplinary learning. The mechanism under consideration is comprised of enjoyment and shared goals. Enjoyment makes teammates feel comfortable with regard to learning, and shared goals help them focus in the same direction. With the support of a transactive memory system, we attempted to verify relationships involving whether or not these two powerful roles of integration mechanisms enhance learning attitudes and lead teammates to both improve existing knowledge and acquire new knowledge and in turn, lead to the development of ambidexterity. Therefore, we adopted purposive sampling and received 36 responses from questionnaire surveys in the Promotional Program for Cross-Field Creative Scenario Value-Adding of the National Science Council in Taiwan. The results verified only that the role of enjoyment serves a function as a significant mediator between transactive memory systems and ambidextrous innovation.
It's immoral, but I'd do it! Psychopathy traits affect decision‐making in sacrificial dilemmas and in everyday moral situations

This research investigated whether emotional hyporeactivity affects moral judgements and choices of action in sacrificial moral dilemmas and in everyday moral conflict situations in which harm to other's welfare is differentially involved. Twenty-six participants with high trait psychopathy (HP) and 25 with low trait psychopathy (LP) were selected based on the primary psychopathy scale of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale. HP participants were more likely to sacrifice one person to save others in sacrificial dilemmas and to pursue a personal advantage in everyday moral situations entailing harm to another's good. While deciding in these situations, HP participants experienced lower unpleasantness as compared to LP participants. Conversely, no group differences emerged in choice of action and unpleasantness ratings for everyday moral situations that did not entail harm to others. Importantly, moral judgements did not differ in the two groups. These results suggest that high psychopathy trait affects choices of action in sacrificial dilemmas because of reduced emotional reactivity to harmful acts. The dissociation between choice of action and moral judgement suggests that the former is more closely related to emotional experience. Also, emotion seems to play a critical role in discriminating harmful from harmless acts and in driving decisions accordingly.
Age-associated increase in the expression of T-cell antigen receptor gamma-chain gene in conventional and germfree mice

To determine whether environmental antigens such as intestinal microflora contribute to expansion of the T-cell repertoire, age-related changes in the expression level of T-cell antigen receptor genes encoding gamma, beta, and alpha chains were compared in the lymphoid tissues of conventional versus germfree mice. Irrespective of the conditions of maintenance, an age-associated increase in the expression of the gamma-chain gene was evident in the thymus and spleen. Both conventional and germfree old mice (age, 40 weeks) had a relatively high proportion of Thy1+ L3T4- Lyt2- cells but a reduced level of Thy1+ L3T4- Lyt2+ cells in the thymus compared with their counterparts (age 8 weeks). The thymic dysfunction but not the stimulation by intestinal microflora may contribute to this age-related increase in gamma-gene transcripts in these tissues. On the other hand, an age-associated increase in the expression of gamma RNA was not evident in the mesenteric lymph nodes of germfree mice, although a remarkable increase in the gamma-chain gene messages was detected in the lymph nodes of the aged conventional mice. These results suggest that the expression of gamma RNA in cells of gut-associated lymphoid tissue is partly influenced by intestinal microflora.
Time‐dependent hemispheric shift of the cortical control of volitional swallowing

An important part of the cortical processing of swallowing takes place in the sensorimotor cortex, predominantly in the left hemisphere. However, until now, only deglutition related brain activation with low time resolution exceeding a time interval of 1 s has been reported. In this study, we have examined the chronological sequence of cortical swallowing processing in humans by means of high temporal resolution magnetoencephalography (MEG). The cortical MEG activity was recorded during self‐paced volitional swallowing in 10 healthy subjects. Data were analyzed using synthetic aperture magnetometry and the group analysis was performed using a permutation test. Swallowing‐related muscle activity was recorded by electromyography. Within the time interval of 1 s of the most pronounced muscular swallowing execution, the MEG analysis revealed neural activation in the primary sensorimotor cortex. During the first 600 ms, only left hemispheric activation was found, bihemispheric activation during the next 200 ms and a right hemispheric activation during the last 200 ms. Thus, our results demonstrate a time‐dependent shift of neural activation from left to right sensorimotor cortex during deglutition with left hemispheric dominance in the early stage of volitional swallowing and right hemispheric dominance during its later part. Hum Brain Mapp 2009. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Automatic root cause analysis based on traces for LTE self-organizing networks

Within the functionality of self-healing in self-organizing networks, automatic root cause analysis is typically focused on identifying problems at the cell level, based on the statistics gathered by the operation, administration, and maintenance system. Therefore, mobile operators lose visibility of the problems that directly affect users' performance. Conversely, this article presents a complete strategy to systematically identify, on the basis of information at the user level (by means of mobile traces), why user disconnection occurs (i.e., the cause of the connection's release). The proposed automatic root cause analysis is characterized by a top-down model and provides a comprehensive classification of faults when they are caused by radio-related problems. First, it classifies the connections according to the type of release, and subsequently, it determines the specific fault cause based on the event information for those connections abnormally released. The proposed method for identification of the radio-related cause has been applied in both an LTE simulator and a real LTE network, illustrating the usefulness of the approach.
The anterior superior parietal lobule and its interactions with language and motor areas during writing

Past neuroimaging studies of writing demonstrate activation foci in several regions of the posterior parietal cortex (PPC). The present study aimed to dissociate the role of the superior parietal lobule (SPL) from the other PPC regions using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional connectivity. First, parametric event‐related fMRI permitted the categorical comparison of experimental writing conditions with control conditions that were carefully chosen to match the experimental conditions in terms of variables extraneous to the motor act of writing, such as visual stimulus characteristics, and generating and retrieving verbal information. A selective focus of increased activation in the PPC restricted to the rostral part of the SPL (area PE) in the left hemisphere was demonstrated. Subsequently, functional connectivity analysis showed that area PE flexibly interacts with different language areas depending on the linguistic demands of the writing task. Activity in area PE correlates with the left angular gyrus, a region implicated in reading, when the writing is in response to words that are read; in sharp contrast, when the writing is in response to pictured objects, then area PE correlates with the supramarginal gyrus, a region involved in the articulatory and phonological loop, as well as with prefrontal regions that are involved in the retrieval and selection of semantic information. The results suggest that area PE serves as a critical interface between posterior cortical regions in the left hemisphere involved in language processing and the central motor and sensory regions that are directly involved in the control of movement.
The prediction method for folding boundaries of Escherichia coli chromosome based on multi-source information

The circular Escherichia coli chromosome has been suggested to form a partition of the genome where it folds into a collection of sequentially consecutive domains. This paper presents a prediction method to give the location of the folding boundaries. Because genes involved in one domain tend to be co-expressed, the information of activation and co-expression level is extracted from multi-source data especially. The activation level of genes is described by frequencies of attending the pathways in different database, while Intensity Co-expression is defined for co-expression level. The two types of data are processed by wavelet analysis and are used to improve the optimization model for prediction. The objective function of this model is to minimize both the total number of unfoldings of these domains in the chromosome and total frequencies of folding boundaries. The multi-source information is also designed for the experimental verification. The experiment results show the good effect of the prediction method in Computational Biology.
Reaching Florida Urban Opinion Leaders: Uncovering Preferred Communication Channels

Opinion leadership is a common concept in communication theory and research. This study examines the communication channels and sources of information that opinion leaders access for general information and specifically for agricultural information. Through a mailed survey opinion leaders’ pre-existing knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions toward agriculture were measured as well as their concern with several agricultural issues. This information was used to construct a foundation for an agricultural campaign in the state of Florida. By understanding the important issues that could make effective agricultural messages and the means for disseminating those messages, agricultural communicators can more successfully implement public relations campaigns to garner support for the agricultural industry. Survey findings suggest that opinion leaders do not have high knowledge levels about agriculture; however, they feel it is an important industry and have an interest in knowing more. The results indicate that an agricultural campaign to reach Florida urban opinion leaders should consist of a message dealing with agriculture’s role in water quality and the primary means of message dissemination should be through print media, primarily newspapers. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. This research is available in Journal of Applied Communications: http://newprairiepress.org/jac/vol88/iss4/1 Reaching Florida Urban Opinion Leaders: Uncovering Preferred Communication
Characterization of the mouse adenylyl cyclase type VIII gene promoter: regulation by cAMP and CREB

Adenylyl cyclase (AC) type VIII has been implicated in several forms of neural plasticity, including drug addiction and learning and memory. In the present study, we directly examined the role for the transcription factor CREB (cAMP response element binding protein) in regulating ACVIII expression by cloning a 5.2 kilobase region upstream of the translation start site of the mouse ACVIII gene. Analysis of this fragment revealed consensus elements for several transcription factors, including a canonical cAMP response element (CRE) in close proximity to the transcription initiation region. Next, ACVIII promoter activity was studied in two neural‐derived cell lines and in primary cultures of rat striatal neurons. Activation of the cAMP pathway by forskolin treatment increased promoter activity, and a series of deletion and point mutants demonstrated that this activation is mediated specifically via the canonical CRE site. Gel shift assays confirmed that this site can bind CREB and several CREB family proteins. Further, activation of the ACVIII promoter by forskolin was potentiated by expression of a constitutively active form of CREB, CREB‐VP16, whereas it was inhibited by expression of a dominant‐negative form of CREB, A‐CREB. Finally, over‐expression of CREB in vivo, by viral‐mediated gene transfer, induced ACVIII promoter activity in the brains of ACVIII‐LacZ transgenic mice. These results suggest that the ACVIII gene is regulated by CREB in vitro and in vivo and that this regulation may contribute to CREB‐dependent neural plasticity.
Random Telegraph Signal Noise in Gate-All-Around Si-FinFET With Ultranarrow Body

For the first time, the random telegraph signal (RTS) and its corresponding flicker noise (1/f) were investigated in gate-all-around p-type Si-FinFETs. For a device with gate width of ~ 100 nm (fin height) and length of ~ 200 nm, the typical RTS capture/emission time constants were ~ 0.1-1 ms. Very large RTS amplitudes (DeltaId/Id up to 25%) were observed, which is an effect attributable to the extreme device scaling and/or interface quality of FinFETs. The estimated scattering coefficients (alpha~10-12-10-13 ) are found to be higher than typical values obtained from MOSFETs. These findings demonstrate the relevance of RTS for FinFET operation
Regulation of Norovirus Virulence by the VP1 Protruding Domain Correlates with B Cell Infection Efficiency

ABSTRACT Human noroviruses are a leading cause of gastroenteritis across the globe, but the pathogenic mechanisms responsible for disease are not well established. The availability of a murine norovirus model system provides the opportunity to elucidate viral and host determinants of virulence in a natural host. For example, previous studies have revealed that the protruding domain of the murine norovirus capsid protein VP1, specifically residue 296 of VP1, regulates virulent infection. We identified a panel of nonsynonymous mutations in the open reading frame 2 (ORF2) gene encoding VP1 that arose in persistently infected mice and tested whether these mutations conferred phenotypic changes to viral replication and virulence. Consistent with previous studies, we demonstrate that a glutamic acid at position 296 results in attenuation. For the first time, we also demonstrate that a lysine at this position is sufficient to confer virulence on an otherwise attenuated murine norovirus strain. Moreover, our studies reveal a direct correlation between the efficiency of viral replication in B cells and virulence. These data are especially striking because mutations causing reduced B cell replication and attenuation had minimal effects on the ability of the virus to replicate in macrophages. Thus, norovirus infection of B cells may directly contribute to disease outcome. IMPORTANCE Human noroviruses are a major global cause of disease, yet we know very little about their pathogenic mechanisms. The availability of a murine norovirus model system facilitates investigation of noroviruses in a natural host organism and the identification of viral and host determinants of pathogenesis. We have identified a panel of mutations arising in the viral capsid protein VP1 during persistent infection of mice. Our data reveal that the protruding domain of VP1 regulates the ability of the virus to replicate in B cells, and this directly correlates with virulence. Importantly, mutations impairing B cell infection had minimal effects on macrophage infection, revealing a potentially critical role for B cell infection in norovirus pathogenesis.
Effect of Exercise Intensity on Percent Body Fat Determined by Leg-to-Leg and Segmental Bioelectrical Impedance Analyses in Adults

Purpose: We examined the impact that cycle ergometry exercise had on percent body fat (%BF) estimates when assessed using either leg-to-leg or segmental bioelectrical impedance analysis (LBIA; SBIA) and whether the intensity of the exercise bout impacts the %BF magnitude of change. Method: Seventy-four college-aged adults participated in this study. Participants visited the laboratory on three separate occasions. Testing included two 30-min exercise sessions (70% HRmax and 85% HRmax) and a 30-min no-exercise session, which served as the control. Results: Following exercise, significant (p < .05) reductions in mean %BF were observed when using LBIA (70% HRmax = 0.3%; 85% HRmax = 0.5%) and SBIA (70% HRmax = 0.8%; 85% HRmax = 1.4%). The mean %BF reductions were significantly (p < .04) greater following exercise at the higher intensity for both analyzers. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that cycle exercise performed before LBIA and SBIA body composition assessment reduces mean %BF estimates. In addition, the %BF reductions were found to be larger at the higher end of the American College of Sports Medicine/American Heart Association recommended intensity range (85% HRmax) and when the SBIA analyzer was used to conduct the assessment.