Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) models as a framework for designing cognitive rehabilitation therapy

Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) modelling has simulated developmental learning across a range of domains such as reading (e.g. Seidenberg & McClelland,1989) or Semantics (e.g. Rogers et al. 2004). However aside from two notable exceptions (Plaut, 1996; Welbourne & Lambon Ralph, 2005b) modelling research has not addressed the simulation of relearning during spontaneous recovery or rehabilitation after brain damage, and no research has considered the effect of the learning environment. This thesis used an established PDP model of semantic memory (Rogers et al., 2004) to simulate the influence of the learning environment. A novel quantitative measure (called representational economy) was developed to monitor efficiency during learning. Developmental learning is considered to be multimodal (e.g. Gogate et al., 2000) whereas rehabilitation is normally carried out through therapy sessions employing unimodal learning tasks (Best & Nickels, 2000). This thesis hoped to discover whether multimodal rehabilitation may be more efficient (as suggested by Howard et al., 1985). Three sets of simulations were conducted: The first set contrasted multimodal and unimodal learning in development and recovery, and tested internal representations for robustness to damage finding multimodal learning to be more efficient in all cases. The second set looked at whether this multimodal advantage could be approximated by reordering unimodal tasks at the item level. Findings indicated that the multimodal advantage is dependent upon simultaneous item presentation across multiple modalities. The third set of simulations contrasted multimodal and unimodal environments during rehabilitation while manipulating background spontaneous recovery, therapy set size and damage severity finding a multimodal advantage for all conditions of rehabilitation. The thesis findings suggest PDP models may be well-suited to predicting the effects of rehabilitation, and that clinical exploration of multimodal learning environments may yield substantial benefits in patient-related work.
Design and Development of a Person-Centered Patient Portal Using Participatory Stakeholder Co-Design

Background Patient portals are increasingly accepted as part of standard medical care. However, to date, most patient portals provide just passive access to medical data. The use of modern technology such as smartphones and data personalization algorithms offers the potential to make patient portals more person-centered and enabling. Objective The aim of this study is to share our experience in designing and developing a person-centered patient portal following a participatory stakeholder co-design approach. Methods Our stakeholder co-design approach comprised 6 core elements: (1) equal coleadership, including a cancer patient on treatment; (2) patient preference determination; (3) security, governance, and legal input; (4) continuous user evaluation and feedback; (5) continuous staff input; and (6) end-user testing. We incorporated person-centeredness by recognizing that patients should decide for themselves their level of medical data access, all medical data should be contextualized with explanatory content, and patient educational material should be personalized and timely. Results Using stakeholder co-design, we built, and are currently pilot-testing, a person-centered patient portal smartphone app called Opal. Conclusions Inclusion of all stakeholders in the design and development of patient-facing software can help ensure that the necessary elements of person-centeredness, clinician acceptability, and informatics feasibility are achieved.
Automatic Vehicle Tracking System Based on Fixed Thresholding and Histogram Based Edge Processing

Automatic detection, extraction and recognition of vehicle number plate region in traffic control systems is one of the prominent application in Computer vision. The drastic increase in number of vehicles in the current generation greatly increases the complexity in tracking the vehicles through the human visual system, manual procedure of controlling traffic and enforcement of various laws and rules is not sufficient for smooth control of traffic. This urges the need for development of technology that can automate this process. This paper mainly focuses on the development of an automatic number plate extraction and recognition algorithm by incorporating constructs like edge detection, horizontal and vertical edge processing using fixed threshold technique. The extracted number plate region is again processed using template matching algorithm for the recognition of the characters embossed on the number plate with respect to every individual piece of number plate. The algorithm developed has achieved an accuracy of around 100% and works for both front and rear images of the car.
Work-related impairment and employment-focused rehabilitation options for individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome: A review

Background: Over the past decade, the need to measure work-related impairment of individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and develop rehabilitation programs focusing directly on employment has become increasingly clear. Aims: Evidence in the scientific literature was sought to determine the extent of work-related impairment and the efficacy of rehabilitation programs that specifically focus on issues of work-related impairment and employment. Methods: Three evidence-based medical review sources and five specialist databases were searched. English-language studies of adults with CFS published between 1 January 1966 and 15 July 2004 were included if functional or work-related impairment and employment were primary variables measured in the study. Results: Few studies of work-related impairment and work-focused rehabilitation in CFS exist. Rates of unemployment ranged from 35 – 69% and rates of job loss ranged from 26 – 89%. Work-related impairment encompassed getting out of bed, transportation to work, communication at work, difficulties with energy and cognition at work, errors at work, falling asleep, lost work hours, and excessive dependence on coworkers. Most rehabilitation programs have not focused directly on employment outcomes but findings for improvement in work status following these programs offer promise for future research. Conclusions: CFS is associated with considerable work-related disability. Preliminary findings support the need for the development of comprehensive rehabilitative programs that focus on volitional, functional, social, and environmental aspects of re-employment. Declaration of interest: Financial support for this review was provided by the National Institutes of Health Grant #5R01HD43301.
Syntax of Idioms

Every language contains idiomatic expressions. In spite of their widespread occurrence, their linguistic properties have so far not been deeply and systematically investigated. The aim of this project is to increase our understanding of ‘the language of idioms’ by focusing on their behavior in syntax. Therefore, the main research question is: What is the syntax of idioms? This question can be naturally divided into two sub-questions, which correspond to two subprojects: (i) What is the internal syntax of idioms, i.e. what characterizes their internal organization and makeup? ; (ii) what is the external syntax of idioms, i.e. how does material contained within the idiom interact with material that is not part of the idiom? Subproject 1 aims to show that idioms, in spite of their superficially ‘special’ appearance, are built up by the very same syntactic and morphological structure building mechanisms that are responsible for non-idiomatic expressions. Subproject 2 aims to show that idiomatic expressions are essentially opaque domains, but that dependencies with idiom-external material is possible under certain narrowly defined circumstances. The empirical basis for our investigation into the syntax of idioms will consist of idioms from non-standard varieties of Dutch. On the basis of dialect grammars and dictionaries, and also on the basis of additional fieldwork, an electronic database will be developed which will serve as a tool for our systematic investigation into the syntax of idioms.
Diabetes surveillance and data validity among children and adolescents

Diabetes is a growing public health issue in Canada, and this concern is now extending to children and adolescents. Our goal was to conduct research projects aimed at pediatric diabetes surveillance in Alberta, Canada. To identify diabetes cases, we applied the National Diabetes Surveillance System (NDSS) case definition to retrospectively-collected, population-based datasets. Our first objective was to assess the regional variation in diabetes incidence and prevalence across urban and rural areas between 1995-2007. After observing an unexpected decrease in diabetes incidence between 2002-2006, our second objective was to investigate a possible association with changes in physician remuneration through Alternate Relationship Plans (ARPs) that may have affected the number of diabetes cases identified from administrative data. Our results indicated that there was no regional variation in diabetes incidence and prevalence over the period of study and that there was no association between ARPs and the observed decline in incident diabetes cases.
The Stiff-Legged Deadlift

THE MANAGEMENT OF LOWback pain is a major health and economic concern in the United States. From 60 to 80% of the population will experience low-back pain in their lifetimes (2). From 30 to 40% will have recurrent episodes (2). With low-back pain being so paramount in our society, every safeguard should be taken against it. The stiff-legged deadlift (SLD) is one exercise that—performed incorrectly—could cause severe low-back pain and possibly permanent debilitation. The SLD is a universal lift used in most high school, university, and professional-sports organizations. It is an excellent lift for lower-body development if performed correctly. However, it can be extremely dangerous if incorrect technique is used. The risk of injury in using this movement is high, but so are the strength gains to be made. Because of the high risk of injury, it is considered a controversial lift and may not be universally suited for every athlete’s resistance-training program. There are some requirements as well as contraindications for this lift. It is one of the most misunderstood lifts (3) that many individuals inadvertently perform incorrectly. This article will examine the spinal mechanics of this lift, disc pressures, ligamentous strains, and muscular requirements of this potentially dangerous resistance-training movement. Also, illustrations will be provided to assist in further understanding the biomechanics of this movement and to show the proper and improper techniques for performing it. Without a doubt, more education and supervision is needed in weight rooms across the country to reduce the number of back injuries incurred from this one particular lift. With such emphasis on the technique of this lift, we must first understand how the spine functions as a complete unit.
Incidence and predictors of intracranial bleeding after coronary artery bypass graft surgery

Background There is a paucity of direct data on the incidence and predictors of intracranial bleeding (ICB) after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). Methods The Korean National Health Insurance database was used to identify patients without prior ICB who underwent CABG. The outcomes of interest were the time-dependent incidence rates of ICB and the associated mortality. Results Among 35,021 patients who underwent CABG between 2007 and 2018, 895 (2.6%) experienced an ICB during a median follow-up of 6.0 years. The 1-year cumulative incidence of ICB was 0.76%, with a relatively high incidence rate (9.93 cases per 1,000 person-years) within the first 1–30 days. Subsequent incidence rates showed a sharp decline until 3 years, followed by a steady decrease up to 10 years. The 1-year mortality rate after ICB was 38.1%, with most deaths occurring within 30 days (23.6%). The predictors of ICB after CABG were age ≥ 75 years, hypertension, pre-existing dementia, history of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack, and end-stage renal disease. Conclusions In an unselected nationwide population undergoing CABG, the incidence of ICB was non-negligible and showed a relatively high incidence rate during the early postoperative period. Post-CABG ICB was associated with a high risk of premature death. Further research is needed to stratify high-risk patients and personalize therapeutic decisions for preventing ICB after CABG.
Semen Banking and Artificial Insemination by Donor in France: Social and Medical Discourse

Artificial insemination with donor semen (AID) has recently come into public view—particularly in France—because of its association with a newer technique, the cryopreservation of semen. One of the oldest and simplest of reproductive techniques, used most frequently as a means of compensating for male infertility, artificial insemination was previously confined to the private clinician's office, where maximum confidentiality could be ensured. This shielded all of the parties involved—recipients, donor, and physician—from moral reprobation and the possible legal complications arising from the use of donor sperm. However, in the mid-twentieth century, some physicians and researchers in cyrogenics came up with the idea that the freezing and stocking of donor semen in banks might greatly improve the psychological conditions and facilitate the material arrangements for performing AID. Essentially, the donor's availability would no longer have to coincide with the woman's ovulation, meaning less inconvenience for the donor, more time for screening his medical history and running the necessary tests on his semen, and possibly a certain tempering of AID's adulterous connotations. Although results with frozen semen were not as satisfactory as with fresh (the probability of a pregnancy at any cycle is almost twice as great with fresh semen), the material and psychological benefits were considered greatly to outweigh the lesser efficiency of frozen sperm.
Inheritance of esters and other volatile compounds responsible for the fruity aroma in strawberry

Cultivated strawberry, Fragaria × ananassa, has a complex aroma due to the presence of more than 350 volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, a mixture of only 19 compounds, called Key Volatile Compounds (KVC), can impart the main strawberry aroma. The octoploid nature of the cultivated strawberry species (2n = 8x = 56) adds complexity to the heritance of the accumulation of the volatiles responsible for aroma. An F1 population cross between two breeding parental lines, FC50 and FD54, was phenotyped for aroma by SPME GCMS during six harvests. A total of 58 compounds were identified: 33 esters, nine terpenes, seven aldehydes, four lactones, two furans, one acid, one alkane and one alcohol, of which 16 were KVCs. A total of 179 QTLs were found, and 85 of these were detected in at least three harvests, of which 50 QTLs were considered major (LOD > 4.0) and detected in five or six analyzed harvests. Several clusters of ester QTLs associated with fruity aroma were discovered, such as QTLs for esters that share hexanoate group that were mapped in LG4A (Hexanoate_4A), those that share acetate and octyl groups in LG6A (Acetate_6A and Octyl_6A) or those with the same methyl group in LG7B (Methyl_7B). Different terpene QTLs associated with floral aroma appear grouped in a cluster in LG3C (Terpene_3C). Some of these clusters of QTLs were validated in a second F2 population, a cross of “Camarosa” and “Dover,” that was also phenotyped for three years. Selected SNPs from floral and fruity aroma QTLs were tested in a third population, which will most likely be useful for marker-assisted breeding (MAB).
International Comparisons of Long-Term Care: Canada, with Specific Reference to Manitoba

RÉSUMÉ Les soins de longue durée au Canada sont donnés dans un contexte d'assurance publique universelle de soins médicaux. Le gouvernement fédéral établit des normes minimales en matière de soins de santé sur lesquelles il fonde sa part de financement des programmes de soins qui sont, par contre, administrés par les provinces. Les exemples cités sont tirés de situations prévalent au Manitoba. Bien que le taux de dépendence général diminue en raison du ralentissement de la croissance du nombre de personnes de moins de 17 ans, le pourcentage de la population âgée de plus de 65 ans continue de s'élever. Selon les projections démographiques, d'ici l'an 2031, le quart de la population aura franchi la barrière des 65 ans. Les coûts de soins de santé ont doublé de 1981 à 1990, tant au Manitoba que dans l'ensemble du Canada. La réaction politique à la croissance soutenue des coûts de prestation de soins de santé à une population vieillissante a été la recherche de nouvelles méthodes de prestation. Plus précisément, le rapport entre le nombre de lits de soins de longue durée et la population a été réduit, et les auteurs prévoient que le recours aux soins communautaires continuera d'augmenter. ABSTRACT Long-term care in Canada is situated within a universally accessible publicly insured program. The Government of Canada establishes certain minimum standards for health care as the basis for the federal share in funding health programs, although the programs themselves are administered provincially. Examples are drawn from the Province of Manitoba. While the dependency ratio has been decreasing due to a slower increase in the number of persons under 17 years of age, the percent of the population over 65 years continues to increase. Population projections forecast that by the year 2031, one-quarter of the population of Canada will be over 65 years of age. Expenditures on health care doubled from 1981 to 1990 for both Manitoba and Canada. The policy response to ever-increasing costs of delivering health care to an aging population has been to seek alternative methods of delivery. Specifically, the long-term care bed-to-population ratio has been reduced and the authors anticipate continued modest increases in the use of community care.
Characterizing the semantic and form-based similarity spaces of the mental lexicon by means of the multi-arrangement method

Collecting human similarity judgments is instrumental to measuring and modeling neurocognitive representations (e.g., through representational similarity analysis) and has been made more efficient by the multi-arrangement task. While this task has been tested for collecting semantic similarity judgments, it is unclear whether it also lends itself to phonological and orthographic similarity judgments of words. We have extended the task to include these lexical modalities and compared the results between modalities and against computational models. We find that similarity judgments can be collected for all three modalities, although word forms were considered more difficult to sort and resulted in less consistent inter- and intra-rater agreement than semantics. For all three modalities we can construct stable group-level representational similarity matrices. However, these do not capture significant idiosyncratic similarity information unique to each participant. We discuss the potential underlying causes for differences between modalities and their effect on the application of the multi-arrangement task.
Extension of Odyssée to the MPI Library -Direct mode-

Odyssee is an automatic differentiation (AD) package developed at INRIA. This tool is able to differentiate a sequential Fortran 77 code with respect to variables chosen by the user. In order to use Odyssee on parallel codes, the class of treatable programs has been extended. We have restrict ourselves to the differentiation of MPI code, but the same methodology can be applied to PVM or any other message passing library. An information base has been defined in order to make the system follow the dependencies between variables, in this way the code is properly analyzed and the generated code is correct. A library of derivative of MPI commands has been written in order to help the user compile and execute the generated code. The implementation of both the information base and the library presented in this documents could be modified by the user to fit his specific needs. We have tested the adapted version of Odyssee on a sample code that uses data partitioning to compute a polynomial. In the Appendix, we present the results obtained on this example. The size of this example allows us to show in the report the whole code. We have tested the adapted version of Odyssee on a pre-industr- ial code NS3D and show the feasibility of the method.
Photoacoustic microscopy reveals the hemodynamic basis of sphingosine 1-phosphate-induced neuroprotection against ischemic stroke

Rationale: Emerging evidence has suggested that sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), a bioactive metabolite of sphingolipids, may play an important role in the pathophysiological processes of cerebral hypoxia and ischemia. However, the influence of S1P on cerebral hemodynamics and metabolism remains unclear. Material and Methods: Uniquely capable of high-resolution, label-free, and comprehensive imaging of hemodynamics and oxygen metabolism in the mouse brain without the influence of general anesthesia, our newly developed head-restrained multi-parametric photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) is well suited for this mechanistic study. Here, combining the cutting-edge PAM and a selective inhibitor of sphingosine kinase 2 (SphK2) that can increase the blood S1P level, we investigated the role of S1P in cerebral oxygen supply-demand and its neuroprotective effects on global brain hypoxia induced by nitrogen gas inhalation and focal brain ischemia induced by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). Results: Inhibition of SphK2, which increased the blood S1P, resulted in the elevation of both arterial and venous sO2 in the hypoxic mouse brain, while the cerebral blood flow remained unchanged. As a result, it gradually and significantly reduced the metabolic rate of oxygen. Furthermore, pre-treatment of the mice subject to tMCAO with the SphK2 inhibitor led to decreased infarct volume, improved motor function, and reduced neurological deficit, compared to the control treatment with a less potent R-enantiomer. In contrast, post-treatment with the inhibitor showed no improvement in the stroke outcomes. The failure for the post-treatment to induce neuroprotection was likely due to the relatively slow hemodynamic responses to the SphK2 inhibitor-evoked S1P intervention, which did not take effect before the brain injury was induced. Conclusions: Our results reveal that elevated blood S1P significantly changes cerebral hemodynamics and oxygen metabolism under hypoxia but not normoxia. The improved blood oxygenation and reduced oxygen demand in the hypoxic brain may underlie the neuroprotective effect of S1P against ischemic stroke.