Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimizing recovery potential through simultaneous occupational therapy and non-invasive brain-stimulation using tDCS.

PURPOSE It is thought that following a stroke the contralesional motor region exerts an undue inhibitory influence on the lesional motor region which might limit recovery. Pilot studies have shown that suppressing the contralesional motor region with cathodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) can induce a short lasting functional benefit; greater and longer lasting effects might be achieved with combining tDCS with simultaneous occupational therapy (OT) and applying this intervention for multiple sessions. METHODS We carried out a randomized, double blind, sham controlled study of chronic stroke patients receiving either 5 consecutive days of cathodal tDCS (for 30 minutes) applied to the contralesional motor region and simultaneous OT, or sham tDCS+OT. RESULTS we showed that cathodal tDCS+OT resulted in significantly more improvement in Range-Of-Motion in multiple joints of the paretic upper extremity and in the Upper-Extremity Fugl-Meyer scores than sham tDCS+OT, and that the effects lasted at least one week post-stimulation. Improvement in motor outcome scores was correlated with decrease in fMRI activation in the contralesional motor region exposed to cathodal stimulation. CONCLUSIONS This suggests that cathodal tDCS combined with OT leads to significant motor improvement after stroke due to a decrease in the inhibitory effect that the contralesional hemisphere exerts onto the lesional hemisphere.
‹Through the Interface› – Medienbildung in der digitalisierten Kultur

Wenn Digitale Medien in der Medienpadagogik haufig verstanden werden als blosse Erweiterung bisheriger Medien – ‹Multimedia› und Vernetzung – wird die fundamentale Neuartigkeit dieses Computer-basierten Mediums, das seinen Ursprung in der Rationalisierung geistiger Tatigkeiten hat, verkannt: Es ist seine Programmierbarkeit, die die Verarbeitung von Daten, die Prozessierbarkeit im Medium selbst und die Interaktionsfahigkeit zur Folge hat. In meinem Beitrag mache ich diese fundamentale Bedeutung fur die Kultur der zweiten Halfte des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts deutlich und die Konsequenzen fur Bildungsprozesse. Medienbildung heisst dann auch, grundlegende informatische Prozesse zu verstehen, um sich in dieser Welt finden, sich positionieren und sie mit gestalten zu konnen. Dazu werden auch die Rolle der Informatik und ihrer neuen Entwicklungen im Physical Computing und Body Interaction mit Beispielen erwahnt, um zu zeigen, dass die Mittel sowohl fur einen handlungs- und design-orientierten wie auch fur einen, die Reflexion fordernden Umgang mit dem Computermedium heute vorhanden sind. Medienpadagogik kann – wenn sie sich mit der informatischen Bildung zusammen schliesst – zu einer aufregenden und fur Bildung im 21. Jahrhundert hochst relevanten Gestaltungswissenschaft werden.
Laminin alpha 2 chain (M chain) is found within the pathway of avian and murine retinal projections

Laminin-1 is found at the end-feet of neuroepithelial cells along the outer margin of the optic pathway during early stages of development. Prior to the establishment of most retinal projections in vivo, laminin- 1 expression becomes restricted to basement membranes associated with the eye and optic pathway. We report that, in contrast to the alpha 1, beta 1, and gamma 1 chains of laminin-1, laminin alpha 2 chain (formerly laminin M chain) is expressed within the pathway of avian and murine retinal ganglion cell (RGC) growth cones as they extend into the optic nerve, across the optic chiasm and into the brain. Expression of laminin alpha 2 chain is reduced soon after formation of the visual projections but nevertheless maintained at non-basal lamina sites within the adult optic nerve. Laminin alpha 2 chain, in contrast to laminin-1 chains, is also highly expressed in the developing avian tectobulbar pathway. Chick optic nerve derived type-1 astrocytes in culture express laminin alpha 2 chains as extracellular fibrils on their surface. Laminin alpha 2 chain was also detected on the surface of cultured embryonic retinal neurons and developing RGCs. These results suggest that astrocytes and/or RGCS may synthesize laminin alpha 2 chain along the developing optic pathway, and imply that laminin alpha2--in a complex with non-beta1 and non-gamma1 laminin chains-may serve as an adhesive substrate and possibly as a guidance cue for elongating RGC growth cones in vivo.
An error control scheme for Ethernet-based real-time communication

This paper describes a low-cost error control scheme for transmission control based real-time communication, especially for TDMA-implemented Ethernet. As the bandwidth allocation scheme decides the capacity vector (or slot time) based on the worst case condition, there is usually extra available transmission time for each message stream. The proposed error control scheme uses this extra bandwidth for the retransmission of a subpacket, while it needs allocation of additional bandwidth for a retransmission request message. Simulation shows that the proposed scheme enhances the success ratio by 28% at maximum, exhibiting almost error-free transmission when error rate is less than 10/sup -5/ for the given stream sets.
Dense 3D reconstruction from images by normal aided matching

3D models play an increased role in today's computer applications. As a result, there is a need for flexible and easy to use measuring devices that produce 3D models of real world objects. 3D scene reconstruction is a quickly evolving field of computer vision, which aims at creating 3D models from images of a scene. Although many problems of the reconstruction process have been solved, the use of photographs as an information source involves some practical difficulties. Therefore, accurate and dense 3D reconstruction remains a challenging task. We discuss dense matching of surfaces in the case when the images are taken from a wide baseline camera setup. Some recent studies use a region-growing based dense matching framework, and improve accuracy through estimating the apparent distortion by local affine transformations. In this paper we present a way of using pre-calculated calibration data to improve precision. We demonstrate that the new method produces a more accurate model.
EVIDENCE FOR A SATISFIABILITY THRESHOLD FOR RANDOM 3CNF FORMULAS

This paper presents empirical evidence of a satisfiability threshold in random 3CNF formulas. The paper also expands on and supports the conjecture of Mitchell, Selman, and Levesque that *hard* randomly generated CNF formulas will be hard for any reasonable satisfiability algorithm. We report statistics for a much larger set of variables than have been previously reported; in particular, we show that for each clause to variable ratio less than 4.2, the percentage of satisfiable formulas increases, and for each clause to variable ratio greater than 4.2, the percentage of satisfiable formulas decreases as a function of number of variables. We found that several algorithms behaved qualitatively in the same fashion. We report on the relative performance of each algorithm.
The Effect of Trust , Satisfaction , and Switching Cost on Consumer ’ s Loyalty — A Model of On-line Auction

The purpose of this paper is to discuss what are the factors influencing, consumer’s loyalty of on-line auction users and to explore the relationship among trust, satisfaction, switching cost and consumer’s loyalty. There were 500 questionnaires distributed, and 412 were valid (82%). The findings of this study are shown as follows: (1) Trust has no significant influence on loyalty intention. (2) Trust was both positively and significantly influence on satisfaction and switching cost. (3) Satisfaction has no significant influence on loyalty intention. (4) Switching cost has no significant influence on loyalty intention. Finally, we provided some managerial implications of practice and discussed some suggestions for the future studies.
Tackling the challenge of bufferbloat in Multi-Path Transport over heterogeneous wireless networks

Today, most of the smart phones are equipped with two network interfaces: Mobile Broadband (MBB) and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). Multi-path transport protocols provide increased throughput or reliability, by utilizing these interfaces simultaneously. However, multi-path transmission over networks with very different QoS characteristics is a challenge. In this paper, we studied Multi-Path TCP (MPTCP) in heterogeneous networks, specifically MBB networks and WLAN. We first investigate the effect of bufferbloat in MBB on MPTCP performance. Then, we propose a bufferbloat mitigation algorithm: Multi-Path Transport Bufferbloat Mitigation (MPT-BM). Using our algorithm, we conduct experiments in real operational networks. The experimental results show that MPT-BM outperforms the current MPTCP implementation by increasing the application goodput quality and decreasing MPTCP's buffer delay, jitter and buffer space requirements.
Asymmetry in the mechanism for anion exchange in human red blood cell membranes. Evidence for reciprocating sites that react with one transported anion at a time

The kinetics of chloride and bromide transport were examined in intact human red blood cells and resealed ghosts. Because the influx and efflux of halide ions are almost equal (less than 0.01% difference), the stimulation of the exchange flux by external halides could be determined by measuring 36Cl or 82Br efflux. When the external halide concentration was increased by replacement of isoionic, isotonic solutions of sucrose and the nontransported anion citrate, the stimulation of the exchange flux was hyperbolic and was maximum at 20 mM halide externally. The K 1/2-out, the external concentration of chloride or bromide which stimulated the efflux to half of its maximum value, was 3 and 1 mM respectively, 15-fold smaller than K 1/2-in which we found to be about equal to the K 1/2 of halide self-exchange with nearly equal internal and external concentrations. Thus, the transport mechanism behaves asymmetrically with respect to these transported halides. Bromide flux was two-fold greater in bromide-chloride heteroexchange than in bromide-bromide self-exchange but it was still much smaller than the chloride self-exchange flux. The maximum influx and efflux of bromide in exchange for chloride were roughly eqal. Thus, since the maximum transport rates in the two directions are nearly equal, the kinetics of bromide equilibrium exchange with equal concentrations on the two sides are controlled on the inside where K 1/2 is greatest. The K 1/2-out Cl was a hyperbolic function of internal chloride concentration and was proportional to the maximum flux at each internal chloride concentration. These results are evaluated in terms of two broad categories of models. We conclude that, in contrast to other ion transport systems which have been shown to have kinetics of a sequential mechanism, anion exchange is compatible with a ping-pong mechanism in which a single site reciprocates between inside- and outside-facing orientations with asymmetric K 1/2 values.
Detecting Graph-based Spatial Outliers yShashi

Identiication of outliers can lead to the discovery of unexpected and interesting knowledge. Existing methods are designed for detecting spatial outliers in multidimensional geometric data sets, where a distance metric is available. In this paper, we focus on detecting spatial outliers in graph structured data sets. We deene statistical tests, analyze the statistical foundation underlying our approach, design a fast algorithm to detect spatial outliers, and provide cost models for outlier detection procedures. In addition, we provide experimental results from the application of our algorithm on a Minneapolis-St. Paul (Twin Cities) traac data set to show its eeectiveness and usefulness.
Similarity Determination in Activity Sequences - A Supportive Framework

An increasing number of information systems support their users by helping them in reusing existing knowledge and experience. Often this is done by retrieving similar instances like similar documents, similar process executions or similar persons. While the recommendations use similarity as central concept, the selection of a suitable measure is often done by intuition. This paper introduces a framework that supports the application engineer in selecting and configuring a suitable similarity measure. The requirements of the intended framework are gathered before the architectural implications are detailed. The resulting framework is applied in a case study in which project performance prediction is to be supported by the similarity of the projects? activity sequences. The results show the framework? s utility by allowing a comparably simple configuration to yield a considerable support in selecting and configuring a suitable similarity measure.
An ECC-Time Stamp Based Mutual Authentication and Key Management Scheme for WSNs

Although the security in WSNs is currently being provided through mostly Symmetric Key Cryptography but still Public Key Cryptography plays a vital role in providing security in secure communication in a Wireless Sensor Network. Due to the memory constraints in wireless sensor nodes, the proposed protocols in the literature are based on the idea of pre-distribution of keys before the deployment of the WSNs but are not able to achieve perfect secrecy and also face the key management problem in large scale WSNs. Whereas Asymmetric Key Cryptography offers a flexible but clean interface for the security component in the WSNs. This paper proposes a new mutual authentication and key management scheme for a particular session between any two corresponding nodes of a WSN based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography with a novel time stamp mechanism.
A Sampling Method of Finding Top-k Frequent Items on Timestamp-Based Stream

Data streams with high volume and complicated items become more and more common, and typical algorithms of finding top-k frequent items on streams, such as counter-based algorithms and sketch algorithms, are gradually not keeping up with efficiency requirements. Our paper focuses on finding top-k frequent items on timestamp-based complicated streams, and proposes an approximate solution by sampling. Specifically, we design a multi-treap parallel priority algorithm to maintain uniform sample on timestamp-based sliding windows. The top-k answers are approximated through processing on samples. We also theoretically analyze the relationship between item accuracy and sample size. Through experimental analysis on real data, our method provides flexible sample size to satisfy different accuracy requirements and ensure a good running efficiency.
From Daily Language to Scientific Jargon: The Role of Peer Interaction in Web Forum

The paper presents the activities and the results of the “Child Observation in school context workshop”, an on line course realized during the last academic years at Macerata University. The contribution is articulated into two parts: the first one describes the theoretical frame (Arfelli Galli, 1997; Bruner, 1990; Carugati et Selleri, 1996; Doise et Mugny, 1982; Mason, 2001, 2006; Mason et Boscolo, 2000) and the on line activities aims and design (Moroni et Nicolini, 2008; Nicolini et Lapucci, 2008; Nicolini et Moroni, 2006; Nicolini et al., 2007a; Nicolini et al., 2007b; Nicolini et al., 2007c); the second section illustrates some of the outcomes, in terms of changes in the language used by the participants while they are engaged in discursive interactions within the web forum. Our approach outlines the power of discursive interactions in teaching-learning process (Ajello et al., 1991; Galatolo et Pallotti, 1999; Nussbaum et Novick, 1982; Pontecorvo et al., 1995; Pontecorvo, 1999; Pontecorvo, 2005), confirming the conception of knowledge as a progressive development towards different communities of practice (Bereiter et Scardamalia, 1987; Scardamalia et Bereiter, 2002). In fact the analysis of the web forum texts permits to show a continuing homogenization towards a technical jargon, which characterizes the subject matter. These processes demonstrate the progressive sharing of a common encyclopaedia and point out the moment in which the knowledge of the single individual (Gardner, 1993) is shared to the benefit of the whole group (Nicolini et Pojaghi, 2006). We intend to present both a qualitative and a quantitative analysis, mainly based on psycholinguistic instruments.
Identifying Social Satisfaction from Social Media

We demonstrate the critical need to identify social situation and instability factors by acquiring public social satisfaction in this research. However, subject to the large amount of manual work cost in subject recruitment and data processing, conventional self-reported method cannot be implemented in real time or applied in large scale investigation. To solve the problem, this paper proposed an approach to predict users' social satisfaction, especially for the economy-related satisfaction based on users' social media records. We recruited 2,018 Cantonese active participants from each city in Guangdong province according to the population distribution. Both behavioral and linguistic features of the participants are extracted from the online records of social media, i.e., Sina Weibo. Regression models are used to predict Sina Weibo users' social satisfaction. Furthermore, we consult the economic indexes of Guangdong in 2012, and calculate the correlations between these indexes and the predicted social satisfaction. Results indicate that social satisfaction can be significantly expressed by specific social media features; local economy satisfaction has significant positive correlations with several local economy indexes, which supports that it is reliable to predict social satisfaction from social media.
Subjective Bayes Method for Word Semantic Similarity Measurement

Measuring semantic similarity between words is a classical problem in nature language processing, the result of which can promote many applications such as machine translation, word sense disambiguation, ontology mapping, computational linguistics, etc. This paper combines knowledge-based methods with statistical methods in measuring words similarity, the novel aspect of which is that subjective Bayes method is employed. Firstly, extract evidences based on Word Net, secondly, analyze reasonableness of candidate evidence using scatter plot, thirdly, generate sufficiency measure by statistics and piecewise linear interpolation technique, fourthly, obtain comprehensive posteriori by integrating uncertainty reasoning with conclusion uncertainty synthetic strategy, finally, we quantify word semantic similarity. On data set R&G (65), we conducted experiment through 5-fold cross validation, and the correlation of our experimental results with human judgment is 0.912, with 0.4% improvements over existing best practice, which show that using subjective Bayes method to measure word semantic similarity is reasonable and effective.
Relationship between body collagen and urinary hydroxyproline excretion in young rats fed on a low-protein or low-calorie diet

1. Hydroxyproline was determined in urine, carcass, and skin of young rats fed on low-protein and low-calorie diets. 2. Protein and calorie deprivation in young rats resulted in a marked fall in the soluble as well as insoluble collagen content of the skin. 3. The collagen content of the carcass (excluding skin) was slightly greater in the deficient rats than in the weanling rats, but very much lower than in the well-fed rats. 4. In rats subjected to protein and calorie deficiency, urinary hydroxyproline was markedly reduced. In these rats, most of the reduction in urinary hydroxyproline was observed within 1 week of feeding the deficient diet. Protein deficiency had affected urinary excretion of hydroxyproline more severely than calorie deficiency. 5. The reduction of urinary hydroxyproline in the deficient animals can be attributed to decreased turnover rate of their body collagen. This apparent decrease in turnover rate is explained as being due to an increase in the proportion of collagen of slow turnover in these animals. 6. Protein and calorie deficiency had also resulted in the depletion of non-collagen nitrogen of both carcass and skin.
Creating distributed rendering applications

This article discusses the aspect of visualization appliance by the usage of distributed computing systems. It describes possible practical scope for several visualization technologies on the basis of an example for the construction such an application exploiting modern technologies and ready-made solutions. An extra attention is paid to the selection of software packages and to the provisioning of a final result to the end user taking in mind the issue of unusual computer graphics output approaches. In the light of these questions this study is carrying out an analysis of implementation’s hardware and software features.
Stimulus size matters: do life-sized stimuli induce stronger embodiment effects in mental rotation?

ABSTRACT Against the background of the embodied cognition approach this experiment investigated the influence of motor expertise on object-based vs. egocentric transformations in a chronometric mental rotation (MR) task using images of either the own or another person’s body as stimulus material. The present study aimed to clarify two issues: (1) whether stimulus size (life size vs. small) is able to induce embodiment effects and (2) which role self-awareness processes play when using stimuli of the own body. The same design was conducted twice using both small stimuli (Study 1) and life-size human figures (Study 2). Using life-sized figures in Study 2 resulted in an explicit advantage of self-related stimuli and improved performance for motor experts compared to non-motor experts in both object-based and egocentric transformations. In conclusion, these results suggest that life-sized figures do indeed induce stronger embodiment effects in MR.
A Mur Regulator Protein in the Extremophilic Bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans

Ferric uptake regulator (Fur) is a transcriptional regulator that controls the expression of genes involved in the uptake of iron and manganese, as well as vital nutrients, and is essential for intracellular redox cycling. We identified a unique Fur homolog (DR0865) from Deinococcus radiodurans, which is known for its extreme resistance to radiation and oxidants. A dr0865 mutant (Mt-0865) showed a higher sensitivity to manganese stress, hydrogen peroxide, gamma irradiation and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation than the wild-type R1 strain. Cellular manganese (Mn) ion (Mn2+) analysis showed that Mn2+, copper (Cu2+), and ferric (Fe3+) ions accumulated significantly in the mutant, which suggests that the dr0865 gene is not only involved in the regulation of Mn2+ homeostasis, but also affects the uptake of other ions. In addition, transcriptome profiles under MnCl2 stress showed that the expression of many genes involved in Mn metabolism was significantly different in the wild-type R1 and DR0865 mutant (Mt-0865). Furthermore, we found that the dr0865 gene serves as a positive regulator of the manganese efflux pump gene mntE (dr1236), and as a negative regulator of Mn ABC transporter genes, such as dr2283, dr2284 and dr2523. Therefore, it plays an important role in maintaining the homoeostasis of intracellular Mn (II), and also other Mn2+, zinc (Zn2+) and Cu2+ ions. Based on its role in manganese homeostasis, DR0865 likely belongs to the Mur sub-family of Fur homolog.