Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time Course and Influence of Pusher Behavior on Outcome in a Rehabilitation Setting: A Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract Objective: To examine the prevalence and the time course of pusher behavior (PB) among patients with hemiparesis in a rehabilitation setting and the influence of this behavior on rehabilitation outcome. Methods: Over a 1-year period, 448 inpatients with hemiparesis after stroke and nonstroke etiologies were screened in the first week after admission to a neurological rehabilitation hospital. The Clinical Scale for Contraversive Pushing was used to differentiate pusher from nonpusher patients. If PB was present, the patient was examined weekly. The prevalence and duration of PB was assessed, and influence on rehabilitation efficiency and effectiveness according to the Motor Function Assessment Scale and Barthel Index was calculated. Results: PB was present in 16% of all examined, in 17% of the stroke patients, and in 31% of patients (33% of stroke patients) unable to stand erect without support. PB duration within the rehabilitation hospital was 5 ± 4.3 weeks (median = 4; range, 1-20). PB is a negative predictor for the rehabilitation outcome: PB patients are only half as efficient and effective as nonpusher patients. The effect worsened if PB had been present for a longer period of time. Conclusion: The prevalence of PB and its influence on rehabilitation outcome reveal PB as a relevant disorder in stroke rehabilitation. However, the duration of the behavior differed widely among the PB patients. Further studies are needed to establish prognostic criteria for identifying patients with a potential for developing long-term PB.
Cardiac tissue slices: preparation, handling, and successful optical mapping

Cardiac tissue slices are becoming increasingly popular as a model system for cardiac electrophysiology and pharmacology research and development. Here, we describe in detail the preparation, handling, and optical mapping of transmembrane potential and intracellular free calcium concentration transients (CaT) in ventricular tissue slices from guinea pigs and rabbits. Slices cut in the epicardium-tangential plane contained well-aligned in-slice myocardial cell strands (“fibers”) in subepicardial and midmyocardial sections. Cut with a high-precision slow-advancing microtome at a thickness of 350 to 400 μm, tissue slices preserved essential action potential (AP) properties of the precutting Langendorff-perfused heart. We identified the need for a postcutting recovery period of 36 min (guinea pig) and 63 min (rabbit) to reach 97.5% of final steady-state values for AP duration (APD) (identified by exponential fitting). There was no significant difference between the postcutting recovery dynamics in slices obtained using 2,3-butanedione 2-monoxime or blebistatin as electromechanical uncouplers during the cutting process. A rapid increase in APD, seen after cutting, was caused by exposure to ice-cold solution during the slicing procedure, not by tissue injury, differences in uncouplers, or pH-buffers (bicarbonate; HEPES). To characterize intrinsic patterns of CaT, AP, and conduction, a combination of multipoint and field stimulation should be used to avoid misinterpretation based on source-sink effects. In summary, we describe in detail the preparation, mapping, and data analysis approaches for reproducible cardiac tissue slice-based investigations into AP and CaT dynamics.
Leveraging Existing Web Frameworks for a SIOC Explorer to Browse Online Social Communities

Since online Semantic Web applications are based on existing Web infrastructure, developing these applications could leverage experiences with and infrastructure of existing frameworks. These frameworks need to be extended to deal with the different nature of Semantic Web data. We introduce several extensions to the Ruby on Rails Web development framework to support Semantic Web application development, and demonstrate them by developing a SIOC explorer. This online application integrates information from heterogeneous communities, allowing users to explore this information and find relevant posts and topics across these sites without the need to manually visit the different sites.
Symptomatic antiproteinuric treatment decreases serum lipoprotein (a) concentration in patients with glomerular proteinuria.

Elevated serum levels of the atherogenic and thrombogenic lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)) have been recognized as a feature of the nephrotic syndrome associated hyperlipidaemia. To examine a possible relationship between serum Lp(a) concentration and proteinuria, serum albumin, or blood pressure, we studied nine patients with nephrotic-range proteinuria both at baseline and after various forms of antihypertensive and antiproteinuric treatment. In fixed order, patients received conventional antihypertensive treatment (either alpha-methyldopa or clonidine), subsequently ACE-inhibition therapy (lisinopril), ACE inhibition combined with an NSAID (indomethacin), and finally NSAID plus conventional antihypertensive therapy. Measurements were performed at the end of each 2-month study period. When compared to controls (n = 29), proteinuric patients before treatment showed increased levels of total cholesterol, very-low and low-density lipoprotein (VLDL+LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoprotein B (apoB), while high-density lipoprotein (HDL) HDL cholesterol was lower. Lp(a) was significantly higher in patients (107 (95% CI: 55-208) mg/l) as compared to controls (25 (13-49) mg/l, P < 0.01). Conventional antihypertensive treatment did not reduce proteinuria, while Lp(a) remained unaffected. ACE-inhibitor treatment lowered proteinuria, raised serum albumin, while La(a) tended to fall (-11 +/- 8%). Addition of an NSAID induced a further fall in proteinuria and a rise in serum albumin. Lp(a) now fell by 40 +/- 5% from baseline values (P < 0.01). Both serum total, HDL and VLDL+LDL cholesterol fell significantly. Finally, during subsequent single therapy with NSAID most parameters, including proteinuria and Lp(a), returned towards values obtained during single therapy with ACE inhibiton. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Teaching and Applying Computer Graphics using the Visualization Toolkit

In the last two years, we have been using the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) as a tool for teaching and applying Computer Graphics, for Computer Engineering students who chose to attend the elective “3D Modeling and Visualization” course. Students have not only to use VTK in about half of their lab classes, in order to accomplish some tasks and gain some knowledge on VTK’s features and functionalities, but they are also required to develop a visualization application based on VTK. We present first the motivation for using VTK and the main features of the “3D Modeling and Visualization” course. Afterwards, we describe some of the most successful projects developed by our students. Then, we globally analyze the effectiveness of using VTK, and present the results of the questionnaire handed out to the students who attended the course in the last semester.
Biological Treatments of Oilfield Produced Water: A Comprehensive Review

Crude–oil extraction leads to the production of water, called produced water (PW). PW–flow rate increases along with the time of operation, up to more than 20 times the flow rate of crude oil. PW is often considered toxic because of its complex composition. At the moment, only dispersed hydrocarbons are targeted by water regulation. However, as regulations are becoming more stringent, they are also targeting dissolved compounds and/or the whole effluent toxicity. Consequently, PW treatments have to be more efficient, also allowing for high reliability of installations and high compactness (offshore processes). Biological treatments are often considered to offer the best compromise between removal performances and operating costs. However, their lack of compactness is unsuitable for offshore implementation. Hybrid processes, defined here as the combination of two or more processes, show promising performance and should be further studied to overcome the drawbacks noted in the case of other technologies.
Strategy to design formally verified hardware/software implementation of network protocols on reconfigurable hardware

Kernel-based network protocol implementation has led to major performance limitations in high-performance networking owing to excessive transaction latencies. Designing such protocols in reconfigurable hardware such as FPGA has been attempted to overcome these limitations. The use of reconfigurable hardware is needed in the development phase and could eventually lead to ASICs for better performance. However, mission critical nature of such applications needs a performance guarantee on design. This paper proposes a strategy to design formally verified reconfigurable hardware/software based implementation of network protocols in a compositional manner.
Modeling Hierarchical Caches in Content-Centric Networks

Content-Centric Network (CCN) provides a cleanslate design for the Internet, where content becomes the primitive of communications. In CCN, routers are equipped with content stores, which act as caches for frequently requested content. This design enables the Internet to provide content distribution services without any application-layer support. On the other hand, as caches are integrated into routers, the overall performance of CCN will be influenced by the caching efficiency. This paper studies the performance issues of caches in CCN, with the aim to gain some understanding on how caches should be designed to maintain a high performance in a cost-efficient way. Specifically, we use a two-dimensional discrete-time Markov chain to model the two-layer cache hierarchy formed by CCN routers, and develop an efficient algorithm to calculate the hit ratios of these caches. Simulations validate the accuracy of our modeling method, and convey some understanding on cache design in CCN.
Downward Comparison Principles in Social Psychology

The literature of social psychology contains a number of phenomena that appear to be paradoxical. For example, persons who face a threatening experience prefer to affiliate with threatened others rather than with nonthreatened others (Schachter, 1959), and persons in groups in which reward is equally distributed are less satisfied compared with persons in groups that include one particularly unfortunate member (Brickman, 1975). The purpose of this article is to show that these phenomena are best construed as social comparison processes and that various phenomena derive from one basic process termed downward comparison; the essence of this process is that persons can enhance their own subjective well-being by comparing themselves with a less fortunate other. In this article I show that downward comparison is a process evoked by negative affect, that there is considerable evidence for self-enhancing comparison processes, and that downward comparison effects are involved in several areas of social-psycho logical research.
Sistem Rekomendasi Nilai Mata Kuliah Menggunakan Metode Content-based Filtering

Sistem rekomendasi merupakan sistem yang bertujuan memperkirakan informasi yang menarik bagi penggunanya dan juga membantu calon konsumen dalam memutuskan barang apa saja yang akan dibelinya. Pada awal semester, setiap mahasiswa mendaftar untuk menempuh suatu mata kuliah. Saat inilah, mahasiswa membutuhkan suatu rekomendasi mengenai nilai yang akan diperolehnya. Penelitian ini bertujuan membuat perkiraan nilai mata kuliah yang akan ditempuh oleh seorang mahasiswa. Metode yang digunakan adalah metode content-based filltering. Metode content-based filering diimplementasikan dengan masukan sistem adalah dokumen silabus mata kuliah. Dokumen-dokumen ini selanjutnya diproses penghapusan stop word, stemming dan pengindeksan. Proses pengindeksan mengasilkan sebuah daftar kata dan frekuensinya pada dokumen tersebut. Setelah proses pengindeksan selesai, sistem akan melakukan penghitungan bobot kata dalam semua dokumen dengan algoritma TF-IDF. Menggunakan bobot kata ini, dokumen dapat dimodelkan dalam vekor yang dikenal dengan istilah vector space model. Berdasarkan model ini, setiap mata kuliah dihitung tingkat kemiripannya satu sama lain. Nilai tingkat kemirian ini selanjutnya digunakan untuk membangkitkan rekomendasi nilai menggunakan algoritma K Nearest Neighborhood. Sistem ini telah diujicobakan pada 10 mahasiswa T. Informatika USD angkatan 2006. Sistem membangkitkan rekomendasi untuk nilai-nilai semester 3 dan semester 4. Nilai yang dibangkitkan sebanyak 176 buah dengan tingkat akurasi sebesar 53%. Tingkat akurasi ini sangat jelek karena masih belum tepatnya algoritma pembangkitan rekomendasi dalam hal ini algoritma K Nearest neighborhood. Masih diperlukan penelitian lanjutan untuk menyempurnakan sistem ini.
A comparative analysis of the accuracy of implant master casts fabricated from two different transfer impression techniques

Aim: This study evaluated and compared two impression techniques in terms of their dimensional accuracies to reproduce implant positions on working casts. Materials and Methods: A master model was designed to simulate a clinical situation. Impressions were made using four techniques: (1) Stock open tray (SOT) technique; (2) stock closed tray (SCT) technique; (3) custom open tray (COT) technique; and (3) custom closed tray (CCT) technique. Reference points on the hexagonal silhouette of the implant on master model and onto the analogs of the obtained master casts were compared after using the four impression techniques. Measurements were made using an optical microscope, capable of recording under 50x magnifications. The means and standard deviations of all the groups and subgroups were calculated and statically analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's test. Results: The open tray impressions showed significantly less variation from the master model and all the techniques studied were comparable. Conclusion: All the techniques studied shown some distortion. COT showed the most accurate results of all the techniques.
Exploring a statistical test for modality

EXPLORING A STATISTICAL TEST FOR MODALITY James E. Petkus, M.S. Division of Statistics Northern Illinois University, 2014 Alan Polansky, Director This thesis explores the possibility of testing the statistical significance of modality based on the smoothed bootstrap test for modality. There is little information available on the plausibility of Silverman‟s test, potentially due to the computational requirements essential to perform the required bootstrap testing. Using the statistical package R, and incorporating parallel processing to perform large bootstrap simulations, the goal is to determine if a statistical test to estimate modality based on significance may exist. Simulation studies reveal properties of critical bandwidth and show modifications to the smoothed bootstrap test for modality make it possible to perform a statistical test for modality. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DEKALB, ILLINOIS
SURFACE CHARACTERIZATION USING HANSEN SOLUBILITY ( COHESION ) PARAMETERS

Surfaces can be reliably characterized by the cohesion energy parameters, of the type commonly called Hansen Solubility parameters (HSP). Data for many fillers fibers, pigments and other surfaces are available. The implication for composites is that the physical affinity or cohesion between fibers and polymer matrix will be a maximum when the energy parameters match. The HSP parameters assigned to many liquids and polymers have recently been confirmed by statistical thermodynamic treatments.
Hormone Therapy and Maximal Eccentric Exercise Alters Myostatin-Related Gene Expression in Postmenopausal Women

Abstract Dieli-Conwright, CM, Spektor, TM, Rice, JC, Sattler, FR, and Schroeder, ET. Hormone therapy and maximal eccentric exercise alters myostatin-related gene expression in postmenopausal women. J Strength Cond Res 26(5): 1374–1382, 2012—We sought to evaluate baseline mRNA values and changes in gene expression of myostatin-related factors in postmenopausal women taking hormone therapy (HT) and not taking HT after eccentric exercise. Fourteen postmenopausal women participated including 6 controls not using HT (59 ± 4 years, 63 ± 17 kg) and 8 women using HT (59 ± 4 years, 89 ± 24 kg). The participants performed 10 sets of 10 maximal eccentric repetitions of single-leg extension on a dynamometer. Muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis were obtained from the exercised leg at baseline and 4 hours after the exercise bout. Gene expression was determined using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for myostatin, activin receptor IIb (ActRIIb), follistatin, follistatin-related gene (FLRG), follistatin-like-3 (FSTL3), and GDF serum–associated protein-1 (GASP-1). In response to the exercise bout, myostatin and ActRIIb significantly decreased (p < 0.05), and follistatin, FLRG, FSTL3, and GASP-1 significantly increased in both groups (p < 0.05). Significantly greater changes in gene expression of all genes occurred in the HT group than in the control group after the acute eccentric exercise bout (p < 0.05). These data suggest that postmenopausal women using HT express greater myostatin-related gene expression, which may reflect a mechanism by which estrogen influences the preservation of muscle mass. Further, postmenopausal women using HT experienced a profoundly greater myostatin-related response to maximal eccentric exercise.
Study on Compressive Property of Aluminum Alloy Lattice Structure Additively Manufactured by 3D Printing Technology

In order to discuss the quality assurance of additively manufactured lattice structure made by aluminum alloy (AlSi10Mg) using 3D printing technology or selective laser sintering technique, compression test, micro-CT imaging and finite element analysis were carried out. The specimens were manufactured by 2 printing service companies with different expertise, which led to the choice of different process parameters such as the building direction, support structure, powder bed temperature and laser scanning speed. The largely scattered compressive peak loads were in good linear positive correlation with the weight, which is the easiest and convenient index for the quality assurance. On the other hand, the apparent density was almost the same. The reason why the weight of the products was largely scattered was investigated by micro-CT image analysis and finite element analysis. Also by comparison with the CAD data, the influence of manufacturer-dependent process parameters on the strength was discussed.
An innovative bio-inspired fault tolerant unitronics architecture

This paper presents the first implementation results of a novel Unitronics (Unicellular Electronics) architecture based system that uses a bio-inspired prokaryotic model. It is a programmable cellular FPGA-like system inspired by unicellular bacterial organisms, and transposes self-healing and fault tolerant properties of nature to electronics systems. An e-puck object avoidance robot controller was built to demonstrate all the underlying theories of our research, the validity of the bioinspired model and the capabilities of the Unitronics architecture that it facilitated. The robot successfully demonstrated that it was able to cope with multiple, simultaneously occurring faults. Integrity of the system is continuously monitored on-line, and if a fault is detected its location is automatically identified. Detection will trigger a self-repair mechanism and only when it is complete will normal system operation resume.
Walkie-Talkie: An Efficient Defense Against Passive Website Fingerprinting Attacks

Website fingerprinting (WF) is a traffic analysis attack that allows an eavesdropper to determine the web activity of a client, even if the client is using privacy technologies such as proxies, VPNs, or Tor. Recent work has highlighted the threat of website fingerprinting to privacy-sensitive web users. Many previously designed defenses against website fingerprinting have been broken by newer attacks that use better classifiers. The remaining effective defenses are inefficient: they hamper user experience and burden the server with large overheads. In this work we propose Walkie-Talkie, an effective and efficient WF defense. Walkie-Talkie modifies the browser to communicate in half-duplex mode rather than the usual full-duplex mode; half-duplex mode produces easily moldable burst sequences to leak less information to the adversary, at little additional overhead. Designed for the open-world scenario, Walkie-Talkie molds burst sequences so that sensitive and non-sensitive pages look the same. Experimentally, we show that Walkie-Talkie can defeat all known WF attacks with a bandwidth overhead of 31% and a time overhead of 34%, which is far more efficient than all effective WF defenses (often exceeding 100% for both types of overhead). In fact, we show that Walkie-Talkie cannot be defeated by any website fingerprinting attack, even hypothetical advanced attacks that use site link information, page visit rates, and intercell timing.
Prevalence and Correlates of Suicidal Ideation Among Young Injection vs. Noninjection Drug Users

The objective of this study was to identify correlates of suicidal ideation and to examine the hypothesis that injection drug users (IDUs) were more likely to report suicidal ideation than noninjection drug users (NIDUs). Participants included IDUs (n = 244) and NIDUs (n = 73) from Baltimore, Maryland, aged 15–30 who began snorting or smoking heroin or cocaine/crack (NIDUs) or injecting drugs (IDUs) within the past 5 years who were recruited between August 2000 and March 2002. Among the 317 participants, 42% were female, 59% were white, and median age was 24. The prevalence of suicidal ideation was 27%. IDUs were more likely to report suicidal ideation than NIDUs (31% vs. 14%, p = 0.003). Adjusting for age, gender, and race, IDUs were 2.4 times more likely than NIDUs to report suicidal ideation [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.1–5.2]. However, on further adjustment for homelessness, depressive symptoms, and gay/lesbian/bisexual identity, IDU status was no longer independently associated with suicidal ideation. These results suggest that factors associated with injection drug users' lifestyles and mental health status may account for the higher prevalence of suicidal ideation in IDUs vs. NIDUs. Further study into these associations is warranted in identifying avenues for suicide prevention among these populations.
Investigation of the Transport Properties of Silicon Nanowires Using Deterministic and Monte Carlo Approaches to the Solution of the Boltzmann Transport Equation

We investigate the transport properties of silicon- nanowire FETs by using two different approaches to the solution of the Boltzmann equation for the quasi-1-D electron gas, namely, the Monte Carlo method and a deterministic numerical solver. In both cases, we first solve the coupled Schrodinger-Poisson equations to extract the profiles of the 1-D subbands along the channel; next, the coupled multisubband Boltzmann equations are tackled with the two different procedures. A very good agreement is achieved between the two approaches to the transport problem in terms of mobility, drain-current, and internal physical quantities, such as carrier-distribution functions and average velocities. Some peculiar features of the low-field mobility as a function of the wire diameter and gate bias are discussed and justified based on the subband energy and wave-function behavior within the cylindrical geometry of the nanowire, as well as the heavy degeneracy of the electron gas at large gate biases.