Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tai Chi as a Fall Prevention Intervention: An In-depth Literature Review of Randomized Controlled Trials and Suggestion to Taekwondo

KINESIOLOGY, 2013, 15(1): 1-11 . Tai Chi as a Fall Prevention Intervention: An In-depth Literature Review of Randomized Controlled Trials and Suggestion to Taekwondo. [INTRODUCTION] Tai Chi as non-pharmaceutical approach has frequently appeared in fall prevention literature in last two decades and has been reported to have positive effects on fall prevention. While there is abundant amount of evidence as to effects of Tai Chi on falls, there are also so many varia-tions in research design, implementation of various types of Tai Chi and outcomes of the studies in Tai Chi studies. Hence, the current study attempted to thoroughly review to examine if Tai Chi still appears to have positive effects when applying exclusive research criteria. [METHOD] In-depth literature review was employed for the current study. Total of 7 studies were selected and reviewed for the final inclusion of the study. [RESULT] The current study confirmed existing current literature that Tai Chi indeed appears to have positive impacts on fall prevention among older adults. [CONCLUSION] Thanks to similarity of Tai Chi to Taekwnodo, the current study also suggested that Taekwonodo could also be another option alternative to Tai Chi for fall prevention since Tai Chi is not commonly practiced in Korea.
Impact of Combination Interferon Therapy on the Body Weight, Body Fat and Lean Body Mass of Chronic HCV Infected Patients

Changes in body weight in HCV patients on interferon therapy are well established. However, these are not reported extensively in patients from developing societies, where the infection may have different dimensions. Also, most of the previous studies reported changes in body weight only but not in other compartments of body composition, which have numerous clinical implications. We, therefore, prospectively investigated these changes in current study. The study comprised 30 HCV positive patients, recruited from Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) Peshawar, Pakistan. Patients were screened for antibodies against HCV. The positive samples were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for detection of HCV-RNA and were entered into two groups: one group (‘on therapy’ (n=20) received Interferon (IFN) therapy, while the other group (‘no therapy’ (n=10) did not. Data were collected for weight, height, nutrition and other socio-demographic parameters. Body composition was assessed using bio-electric impedance analysis (BIA) and monitored for the six months of treatment. The major findings of this research study are significant (p ≤ 0.05) reduction in body weight, body fat (BF) and lean body mass (LBM) in HCV patients on interferon-α (IFN-α) therapy. These parameters changed non-significantly (p, trends for all>0.05) in ‘no therapy’ group. The greatest effects of these changes were demonstrated in month 1-4 of treatment. In conclusion, interferon therapy causes significant reduction in compartments of body composition and that these changes may be considered to be used as surrogate indicators for monitoring the treatment efficacy.
Development of EM simulation model for vehicle radiated emission test

Electrification is a main trend in the automotive development. This results in more EMC considerations during the vehicle design. In this report, a simulation method is proposed for simulating radiated emission from a component installed in a car body. CAD cleaning and pre-processing are bottle necks when performing simulations in automotive industry. This project is aimed to find synergy effect by using the geometry with CAD cleaning already performed for mechanical simulation and modify it for EM simulation. A study based on a simplified model consisting of a wire and sheets is first performed to check the influence of different ways to connect sheets on radiation properties. It is found that the modeling of electrical connection between the sheets is essential for EM radiation. After that, several techniques to ensure electrical connection between the sheets are investigated. Two techniques of connecting sheets are further studied to understand the computational complexity and possible results. This project has established a feasible method to process vehicle geometry for EM simulation regarding radiated emission in low frequency range. It is an initial but significant step for further investigation on the EMC performance in the automotive industry.
Interaction between FTO gene polymorphism and life style may contribute to obesity in Kazakh schoolchildren

Objective The fat mass-and obesity-associated( FTO) gene is related to increased body mass index( BMI) and elevated energy intake. This study explored the contribution of the interaction between FTO gene polymorphism and life style to the risk of obesity in the Kazakh schoolchildren. Methods A total of 279 Kazakh schoolchildren aged 6- 13 years were selected from Yili Kazakh Child Obesity Study and divided into an obesity group( n = 141) and a normal weight group( n = 138) based on the BMI cutoffs recommended by the Chinese Working Group on Obesity for Children. The children were subjected to anthropometric measurement,questionnaire investigation,and determination of the rs9939609 polymorphism of the FTO gene. Results Six risk factors of obesity were extracted by factor analysis,including harmful eating habits,appetite status,outdoor activities,fussiness about food,activity mode,and hours of sleep. Logistic regression analysis showed that the interaction between rs9939609 polymorphism and appetite status constituted an obesity risk of 76. 49%,and that between rs9939609 polymorphism and outdoor activities constituted an obesity risk of 79. 95%. Conclusion Appetite status and outdoor activities might modify the relationship of the FTO gene with the risk of obesity in Kazakh schoolchildren. However,further prospective interventions are needed verify the influence of the interaction between the FTO gene and life style on the risk of obesity.
Diagnostic, Surgical, and Medicinal Approaches of Human Cystic Echinococcosis: A Review of 203 Cases in Tehran, Iran

BackgroundCystic echinococcosis (CE) is a significant zoonotic disease in various parts of the world including Iran. The aim of this study was to review the results of different diagnostic techniques and treatment management of the disease. MethodsMedical records of 203 patients (117 females and 86 males) who underwent surgical treatment for CE between 1999 and 2009 in Tehran were explored and analyzed. Outcomes measured were recurrence, antiparasitic drug, hospital stay, and diagnostic and surgical techniques. ResultsDiagnosis of CE in the region is largely dependent on ultrasonography (US) followed by computed tomographic scan, so that 69% of the cases are diagnosed by US alone (39.5%) and in conjunction with computed tomographic scan (29.5%). Among surgical procedures for human CE, evacuation and drainage are mostly preferred in general hospitals of Tehran. Mean ± SD total hospital stay was 11.11 ± 8.62 days (range, 1–68 days). Most (61.6%) of the patients are required to stay in hospitals from 1 to 10 days after surgery. In contrast, 22.2% of them estimated hospitalization of more than 15 days of postoperative hospital stay. Recurrent CE was observed in 48 patients (25%) in this 10-year period, and 10 (5.2%) of them were operated on for at least the third time. However, a decreasing trend in the incidence of recurrence after 2003–2004 was observed. Eighty-one patients (39.9%) received albendazole (76 patients with albendazole alone and 5 cases with metronidazole) among the surgically treated cases. ConclusionHydatid cyst should be in mind for differential diagnosis of tissue masses and suitable treatment, particularly for patients who lived in, or traveled to, an endemic area. Surgery is an effective treatment for CE in patients. The high rate of relapse of the disease may provide new insights on diagnostic methods and treatment management and may also be useful for assessing the cost effectiveness of designing effective intervention programs to reduce recurrence and to control the disease in this and other endemic areas.
Non-stationary quasi-periodic pulsations in solar and stellar flares

Often the enhanced electromagnetic radiation generated in solar and stellar flares shows a pronounced (quasi)-oscillatory pattern—quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP), with characteristic periods ranging from a fraction of a second to several tens of minutes. We review recent advances in the empirical study of QPP in solar and stellar flares, addressing the intrinsic non-stationarity of the signal, i.e. the variation of its amplitude, period or phase with time. This non-stationarity could form a basis for a classification of QPP, necessary for revealing specific physical mechanisms responsible for their appearance. We could identify two possible classes of QPP, decaying harmonic oscillations, and trains of symmetric triangular pulsations. Apparent similarities between QPP and irregular geomagnetic pulsations Pi offer a promising avenue for the knowledge transfer in both analytical techniques and theory. Attention is also paid to the effect of the flare trend on the detection and analysis of QPP.
Comparison of Different Definitions of Pseudocharacter

We prove that the definitions of a $d$-dimensional pseudocharacter (or pseudorepresentation) given by Chenevier and V. Lafforgue agree over any ring. We also compare the scheme of Lafforgue's $G$-pseudocharacters of a group with its $G$-character variety.
External Constraint Handling for Solving Optimal Control Problems with Interior Point Methods

Inactive constraints do not contribute to the solution but increase the problem size and burden the numerical computations. We present a novel strategy for handling inactive constraints efficiently by systematically removing the inactive constraints and redundant constraint sets under a mesh refinement framework. The method is tailored for interior point-based solvers, which are known to be very sensitive to the choice of initial points in terms of feasibility. In the example problem shown, the proposed scheme achieves more than 40% reduction in computation time.
Design by decay, decay by design

THE USE of biological agents, such as bacteria, fungi, plant material, and insects, is proposed as a viable design methodology that can include end-of-life material treatment and re-use as part of the design process. Decay, typically thought of as a destructive process with spatially and temporally unpredictable results can be potentially designed to high levels of spatial and temporal tunability, such that the product of decay can still be of value to the designer. In particular, could microbes, in combination with water, be guided to selectively disintegrate, and potentially also then be harnessed as agents of assembly, enabling design construction instead of destruction? What would the ecology of this system that includes the microbes, biocompatible substrate, and contextual environment, look like? How might it behave and how might this affect how architects design the built environment? The main goal of this thesis is to understand how water-induced decay of biocomposite-based artifacts might be designed such that the deterioration process has use-value for the designed artifact and how this decay might be harnessed as a formative agent instead of only as a deconstructive one. This understanding will be informed by the execution and analysis of a series of case study projects that include: Aguahoja: Artifacts and Hexes Aguahoja: Colonization Aguahoja: Pavilion For these projects, water-based composites of chitosan, cellulose, and pectin, will be additively printed into architectural-scale artifacts and panels which are used as the skin of a small pavilion. The use of the chitin-cellulose-pectin composite introduces a water-dependent biocompatible material system that can act as the base scaffold for biofilms and microbial colonies. A series of material characterization tests were done to understand the nuances of the different bio-composites. Working challenges for this system included warping and uncontrolled deflections due to changing relative humidity and the gradual and constant dehydration of the material. This hydration dependent activity also dictated flexibility rigidity, and colour. Water is used to initiate the disintegration of the panels as well as initiate the growth of microbial cultures on the panels. The projects described here are intended to serve as examples of how a designer might be able to incorporate biological agency into her process. It is not intended as a comprehensive guidebook, but rather as case studies of how one might use nascent biological tools in current design methodology and how that methodology might have to change in order to leverage biology in her process.
PDQP/qpoly=ALL

We show that combining two different hypothetical enhancements to quantum computation---namely, quantum advice and non-collapsing measurements---would let a quantum computer solve any decision problem whatsoever in polynomial time, even though neither enhancement yields extravagant power by itself. This complements a related result due to Raz. The proof uses locally decodable codes.
Isoflurane preconditioning induces neuroprotection against middle cerebral artery occlusion damage in rat

Objective To investigate if isoflurane preconditioning induces ischemic tolerance against neuronal damage produced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats Methods Thirty male SD rats weighing 350 400g were randomly divided into three groups: control group (no pretreatment,n=10),isoflurane preconditioning group (ISO group) (inhalation of 2% isoflurane and 98% O 2 1h per day lasting 5d,n=10), oxygen preconditioning group (O 2 group) (inhalation of 98% O 2 1h per day lasting 5d ,n=10) Right MCAO was induced by a 3 0 nylon thread with round tip inserted cranially into right internal carotid artery under isoflurane anesthesia and maintained for 120 min The neurologic deficit score (NDS) was evaluated 1, 3, 6, 12, 16 and 24h after reperfusion and the infarct volume was calculated at 24th following reperfusion Results The NDS of ISO group was lower than that of other two groups at each time interval (P0 01) The infarct volume of control, O 2 and ISO group was (147 1±35 7) mm 3, (155 4±32 8) mm 3 and (17 4±20 7) mm 3 respectively The difference between ISO and control groups was significant (P0 001), but there was no significant difference between O 2 and control groups (P0 05) Conclusions Isoflurane pretreatment can induce ischemic tolerance against neuronal damage produced by transient MCAO in rats
Recovering Subjective Probability Distributions

This study proposes a direct estimation method for recovering subjective probability distributions from option prices. We find that the subjective cumulative distribution function and subjective statistics are represented as static portfolios composed of plain vanilla options. The portfolio weights of the options are determined by the levels of the reciprocal of the pricing kernel and their differentiations. Using options data, we investigate the historical behavior of subjective probability distributions of returns on the S&P 500 index. We also analyze subjective equity risk premiums and subjective variance risk premiums, which can be regarded as ex-ante risk premiums.
Stationary distributions and condensation in autocatalytic CRN.

We investigate a broad family of non weakly reversible stochastically modeled reaction networks (CRN), by looking at their steady-state distributions. Most known results on stationary distributions assume weak reversibility and zero deficiency. We first give explicitly product-form steady-state distributions for a class of non weakly reversible autocatalytic CRN of arbitrary deficiency. Examples of interest in statistical mechanics (inclusion process), life sciences and robotics (collective decision making in ant and robot swarms) are provided. The product-form nature of the steady-state then enables the study of condensation in particle systems that are generalizations of the inclusion process.
Optical Biopsy of Colorectal Polyps

Abstract Early detection and prevention of colorectal cancer are the primary goals and most impactful strategies for the reduction of mortality from colorectal cancer. Distinguishing high-risk polyps from benign lesions is essential for proper management. This has become largely important with respect to the increase in pathology costs, in addition to the risk of procedural complications. Various technologies and techniques have been developed with the intent of direct visualization and better analysis of the targeted tissue. Optical biopsy has become a potential tool to allow in vivo polyp diagnosis, allowing for proper selection of those polyps that require resection and definitive diagnosis of resected polyps without histology. In this review, we will discuss enhancement technologies in colonoscopy, focusing on the “optical biopsy” methods. High-resolution and high-definition technologies enabled the development of such a myriad of methods. Diagnosis of early neoplastic changes in vivo during endoscopic procedures is currently possible owing to the “optical biopsy” technologies. One should still be careful when considering them as conclusive diagnoses because the criterion standard remains to be the pathology analysis. Despite its promising use, high cost and training are still significant challenges. In addition, further research is required regarding the analysis of cellular and molecular levels and the need for a more precise contrast. Although the indications for the use of these new technologies are still being established, the necessity of lowering costs and improving efficiency will likely counterweigh this new challenge.
Giant Enhancement and Sign Inversion of Optical Kerr Nonlinearity in Random High Index Nanocomposites near Mie Resonances

High‐index dielectric nanoantennas excited at Mie‐type resonances have exhibited enormous enhancement of optical nonlinearity. Such nanostructures have been actively studied by researchers in recent years. Here, a numerical analysis study of the optical Kerr effect of nanocomposites consisting of high refractive index (GaP) spheres at the wavelength of 532 nm is presented. This is done by means of 3D finite‐difference time‐domain simulations. The effective nonlinear refractive index of 0.8 µm thick nanocomposites and metasurfaces is evaluated. It is shown that the optical Kerr nonlinearity of the nanocomposites rises by orders in proximity to Mie resonances and may exceed the second‐order refractive index of the bulk material. It is revealed that the sign of the effective optical Kerr coefficient is inverted near the Mie resonances. This effect may be of interest in developing nonlinear optical metadevices.
Study of scale modelling, verification and control of a heaving point absorber wave energy converter

This study focuses on scale modelling of a heaving Point Absorber Wave Energy Converter (PAWEC), model verification via wave tank tests and power maximisation control development. Starting from the boundary element method simulation of the wave-PAWEC interaction, linear and non-linear modelling approaches of WaveTo-Excitation-Force (W2EF), Force-To-Motion (F2M), Wave-To-Motion (W2M) are studied. To verify the proposed models, a 1/50 scale PAWEC has been designed, simulated, constructed and tested in a wave tank under a variety of regular and irregular wave conditions. To study the coupling between the PAWEC hydrodynamics and the Power Take-Off (PTO) mechanism, a Finite Element Method (FEM) is applied to simulate and optimise a Tubular Permanent Magnet Linear Generator (TPMLG) as the PTO system and control actuator. Thus linear and non-linear Wave-To-Wire (W2W) models are proposed via combining the W2M and PTO models for the study and development of power maximisation control. The main contributions of this study are summarised as follows: Linear and non-linear F2M models are derived with the radiation force approximated by a finite order state-space model. The non-linear friction is modelled as the Tustin model, a summation of the Stribeck, Coloumb and damping friction forces, whilst the non-linear viscous force is simulated as the drag term in the Morison equation. Thus a non-linear F2M model is derived considering the non-linear friction and viscous forces as a correction or calibration to the linear F2M model. A wide variety of free-decay tests are conducted in the wave tank and the experimental data fit the non-linear F2M modelling results to a high degree. Further, the mechanism how these non-linear factors influence the PAWEC dynamics and energy dissipations is discussed with numerical and experimental results. Three approaches are proposed in this thesis to approximate the wave excitation force: (i) identifying the excitation force from wave elevation, referred to as the W2EF method,
Massively Parallel Implementation of Sequence Alignment with Basic Local Alignment Search Tool Using Parallel Computing in Java Library

Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) is an essential algorithm that researchers use for sequence alignment analysis. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)-BLAST application is the most popular implementation of the BLAST algorithm. It can run on a single multithreading node. However, the volume of nucleotide and protein data is fast growing, making single node insufficient. It is more and more important to develop high-performance computing solutions, which could help researchers to analyze genetic data in a fast and scalable way. This article presents execution of the BLAST algorithm on high performance computing (HPC) clusters and supercomputers in a massively parallel manner using thousands of processors. The Parallel Computing in Java (PCJ) library has been used to implement the optimal splitting up of the input queries, the work distribution, and search management. It is used with the nonmodified NCBI-BLAST package, which is an additional advantage for the users. The result application-PCJ-BLAST-is responsible for reading sequence for comparison, splitting it up and starting multiple NCBI-BLAST executables. Since I/O performance could limit sequence analysis performance, the article contains an investigation of this problem. The obtained results show that using Java and PCJ library it is possible to perform sequence analysis using hundreds of nodes in parallel. We have achieved excellent performance and efficiency and we have significantly reduced the time required for sequence analysis. Our work also proved that PCJ library could be used as an effective tool for fast development of the scalable applications.
Relationship Between SES and Academic Achievement of Junior High School Students in China: The Mediating Effect of Self-Concept

Over the past decades, the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and academic achievement in school-age children has been well documented. However, the underlying mechanism of how family SES works on academic achievement remains unclear. In this study, we examine the possible role of self-concept in the relationship between SES and school academic achievement among 345 junior high school students in China. The results showed that both family SES and self-concept were significantly associated with the children’s Chinese and mathematics performance, and family SES was also significantly correlated with self-concept. The mediation analysis showed that self-concept partially mediated the relationship between SES and school academic achievement. These findings suggest that interventions targeting self-concept may be an effective way in which to improve children’s school academic achievement.