Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Intensive Lower Limb Training on the Speech of Patients with Parkinson's Disease

THE EFFECTS OF INTENSIVE LOWER LIMB TRAINING ON THE SPEECH OF PATIENTS WITH PARKINSON’S DISEASE Lauren Fjeldsted Allen Department of Communication Disorders Master of Science Research has documented the positive effects of physical therapy as a treatment for limb motor symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Previous studies have shown that speech and voice measures can be reflective of overall cardiovascular health and fitness in young, middle-aged, and older adults. In healthy individuals, increased respiratory drive has been found to influence vocal function and speech articulation. The rationale for the present study was that improved lower limb function might lead to improvements in overall fitness, which then may influence speech in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. To investigate this premise, 10 participants diagnosed with mild to moderate idiopathic PD were involved in an intensive lower limb training program called Resistance Exercise via Negative-Eccentric Work (RENEW). The speech of the participants was recorded before and after the RENEW treatment in both medication-on and medication-off conditions. Following treatment there was a statistically significant increase in spirantization of the stop gap in DDK repetition in the medication-on condition and a decrease in diphthong duration in the medication-off condition. After treatment in the medication-on condition there was an increase in spirantization and a reduction in first and second formant transitions for the diphthong /ɔ/ compared to the medication-off condition. These results represented a slight worsening of articulatory precision and movement following treatment in response to PD medication. Overall, the present study found that intensive lower limb training did not influence the acoustic measures of speech articulation examined in the present study.
New ionic polymer–metal composite actuators based on PVDF/PSSA/PVP polymer blend membrane

Ionic polymer–metal composite (IPMC) actuators that display continuously large actuation displacements without back relaxation and with large blocking force at low direct current (DC) voltages are used as biomimetic sensors, actuators and biomedical devices. This article reports the preparation and actuation performance of new IPMC actuators based on the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/polystyrene sulfonic acid (PSSA)/polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) polymer blend membrane, which requires low voltage DC. The performance results of the proposed IPMC actuators are compared with Nafion-based IPMC actuators. In the blend membrane, PVDF is the hydrophobic polymer, PSSA is the polyelectrolyte, and PVP is the hydrophilic basic polymer. The proposed IPMC actuators based on the PVDF/PSSA/PVP blend membrane of polymer mixture ratios of 60/15/25 and 50/25/25 gave higher actuation displacement and higher blocking force at low DC voltages than the Nafion-based IPMC actuator. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers
Why Company Should Adopt Integrated Reporting

Sustainability and transparency issues have been evolving the nature of corporate reporting. On these issues stakeholders are very keen to get access financial and nonfinancial information on companies’ business activities and sustainable value creation. Despite availability of information, yet many stakeholders cannot use pertinently the disclosed information due to separation of reports. Thus, ‘Integrated Report’ brings together financial and nonfinancial measure in one-piece of the report. It also shows the links among financial and nonfinancial performance metrics. This paper highlights integrated reporting as the holistic reporting approach for company and discusses the potentiality of a single report. Specifically, what integrated report can do for companies and stakeholder, for instance, integrated report for sustainability and CSR reporting, improvement in stakeholder engagement process and integrated thinking lead to changes in corporate behaviour as well as for enchancing reputation and performance. Hence, the paper justifies reasons why companies should adopt integrated reporting as reporting tools. Keywords: Integrated reporting; integrated thinking; stakeholder engagement; sustainability reporting JEL Classifications: G3, G380, M480
Selection of Next Generation Anti-Virus against Virus Attacks in Networks Using AHP

Defending against virus attacks in network is a vital part of network security. With the rapid evolution of viruses, its defense mechanism has also been evolved over the years. But given the diversity and complexity of virus propagation and its attack behavior, no defense mechanism is equipped fully to protect the network from such attacks. Several antiviruses are available in the market. But none can give full proof solution to malicious attacks in communication networks. In this paper we present a mechanism to measure and compare the relative ability of antivirus against various kinds of viruses. We construct a hierarchical structure for different virus defense mechanism. Using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) we construct a pair wise comparison matrix and find the value of corresponding Eigen vectors; we then apply the theory of AHP to calculate weight of each defense index. We validated our technique with an example. Our method can provide a strong reference to design an optimal network security solution.
Trade, Capital Redistribution and Firm Structure

A model of heterogeneous firms with multiple products and two production factors (labor and capital) is used to study how trade liberalization affects firms’choices through both product and factor markets. Trade liberalization is shown to always redistribute capital toward more efficient firms and always to improve an industry’s total factor productivity. However, it may reduce capital prices and cause labor productivity to drop. Low efficiency firms are affected mainly by changes in the factor market, while high efficiency firms are affected mainly by changes in the product market. In response to trade liberalization, low efficiency firms always reduce their product scope, but high efficiency firms may expand their scope. The model demonstrates the importance of the interplay between product and factor markets.
Role of Antioxidant Phytochemicals in Prevention, Formation and Treatment of Cancer

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) played an important role in cancer. Although low levels of ROS can be beneficial in normal physiological functions, chronic exposure to ROS is associated with increased risk of cancers. Increased ROS levels can also induce apopto- sis and cell death in various types of cancer. Taken together, the role of ROS in cancer prevention, formation and therapy is extremely complex and very challenging to study. Although the antioxidant activity of phytochemicals is well recognized and generally used to prevent cancer, they can have pro-oxidant and ROS generating activities under certain conditions, especially at high doses or in the presence of metal ions. The basal redox levels of cancer cells are also different from those of normal cells. Therefore, higher levels of free form of metal ions and higher levels of endogenous ROS production in cancer cells sensitizes them to phytochemicals mediated pro-oxidant cytotoxicity. In con- clusion, people tend to intake of antioxidant phytochemicals for the detrimental effects of ROS. However, excessive intake of phytochemicals could have cancer development or therapeutic potential by generating ROS. In this section, the role of phytochemicals in the prevention, development and removal of cancer has been discussed.
Synergies and trade-offs in the promotion of the economic and environmental performance of Swiss dairy farms in the mountain area

Promoting both the environmental and economic performance of Swiss agriculture is one of the core objectives of Swiss agricultural policy. In the present paper we identify the synergies and trade-offs in the promotion of these two dimensions of corporate sustainable performance for Swiss dairy farming in the mountain area. Performance is thereby defined as the efficiency of a farm in using its economic and environmental resources to produce agricultural goods or services. The results of our investigation show the existence of several synergies and rather few trade-offs. By increasing farm size, promoting full-time farming and decreasing the intensity of the use of concentrates, major enhancements in terms of both economic and environmental performance can be achieved. Only two variables are shown to present a trade-off in terms of promotion of farm economic and environmental performance: the production of silage-free milk intended for the manufacture of raw milk cheese and the stocking rate. The production of silage-free milk has a positive effect on farm economic performance but a negative one on farm environmental performance. Conversely, the stocking rate negatively impacts on the economic performance but seems to have a positive effect on the environmental one.
Estimating the effects of single farm payments on multi-output agricultural production function

This study has evaluated impacts of the Single Farm Payment. It used a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model calibrated on Scottish data and focussed on a multioutput agricultural production function. Simulation results from a standard CGE were compared with those from an alternative optimisation framework proposed in this study. The latter yielded a policy effect that is likely to represent behaviour of a profit maximising farmer. A parameter sensitivity analysis was conducted for agricultural supply response. This revealed the importance of differences in supply conditions and a need to conduct further econometric studies to estimate supply parameters.
Generalized ( , )-convexity in nonsmooth vector optimization over cones

In this paper, new classes of cone-generalized (,)-convex functions are introduced for a nonsmooth vector optimization problem over cones, which subsume several known studied classes. Using these generalized functions, various sufficient Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) type nonsmooth optimality conditions are established wherein Clarke's generalized gradient is used. Further, we prove duality results for both Wolfe and Mond-Weir type duals under various types of cone-generalized (,)-convexity assumptions.
Antibiotic Susceptibility and Plasmid Profiles of Staphylococcus aureus Strains Isolated from Bovine Subclinical Mastitis in Tabriz, Iran

Background and Objectives : Mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus is a widely distributed disease in cattle, goats and sheep. The infection is often subclinical in cattle, leading to reduced milk production and quality, but acute catarrhal or even gangrenous inflammation may also occur. The aim of this study was to investigate resistance of S. aureus isolates from bovine subclinical mastitis to a number of antibiotics. Methods : Milk samples were collected from 120 cows in different regions of Tabriz, Iran. Milk samples were cultured and bacteriological identification was performed. Antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was assessed by determining minimum inhibitory concentration. Plasmid DNA was extracted by an alkaline lysis method. Results: The highest frequency of resistance was observed against gentamicin (100%) and β - lactam antibiotics including amoxicillin (96%), ampicillin (40%) and penicillin (96%). The isolates mostly contained large plasmids, which might harbor acquired antibiotic resistance. Conclusion: The results confirm the high frequency of antibiotic resistance among staphylococci isolated from bovine subclinical mastitis.
Does Anyone Read the Fine Print? Consumer Attention to Standard-Form Contracts

A cornerstone of the law and economics approach to standard-form contracts is the informed-minority hypothesis: in competitive markets, a minority of term-conscious buyers is sufficient to discipline sellers from using unfavorable boilerplate terms. This argument is often invoked to limit intervention or regulate consumer transactions, but there has been little empirical investigation of its validity. We track the Internet browsing behavior of 48,154 monthly visitors to the Web sites of 90 online software companies to study the extent to which potential buyers access the end-user license agreement. We find that only one or two of every 1,000 retail software shoppers access the license agreement and that most of those who do access it read no more than a small portion. Since the cost of comparison shopping online is so low, the limiting factor in becoming informed thus seems not to be the cost of accessing license terms but reading and comprehending them.
THE IMPACTS OF THE EU ETS ON NORWEGIAN PLANTS’ ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE

This paper examines the impacts of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) on the envi- ronmental and economic performance of Norwegian plants. The EU ETS is regarded as the cornerstone climate policy both in the EU and in Norway, but there has been considerable de- bate regarding its eects due to low quota prices and substantial allocation of free allowances to the manufacturing industry. Both quota prices and allocation rules have changed signicantly between the three phases of the ETS. The rich data allow us to investigate potential eects of the ETS on several important aspects of plant behavior. The results indicate a weak tendency of emissions reductions among Norwegian plants in the second phase of the ETS, but not in the other phases. We nd no signicant eects on emissions intensity in any of the phases, but positive eects on value added and productivity in the second phase. Positive eects on value added and productivity may be due to the large amounts of free allowances, and that plants may have passed on the additional marginal costs to consumers.
Utilisation de cellulose pour l'élaboration de matériaux photoluminescents ou conducteurs

Ce travail de these s'inscrit dans le contexte de la fonctionnalisation de materiaux cellulosiques dans le domaine de l'electronique imprimee. Une premiere approche a mis en evidence la possibilite d'imprimer des formulations aqueuses a base de nanoparticules de polymeres semi-conducteurs photoluminescents. L'influence de la taille des nanoparticules, ainsi que leur composition (ajout d'un polymere derive de la cellulose) sur la couleur de l'emission a ete mise en evidence. Les applications potentielles peuvent etre l'elaboration de papiers securises. Une seconde approche s'est portee sur l'utilisation de microfibrilles de cellulose et de microparticules de cuivre afin d'elaborer des films composites conducteurs autoportants grâce aux excellentes proprietes mecaniques des microfibrilles. L'influence d'un calandrage (pression et temperature de calandrage) des films sur la conductivite electrique a en particulier ete etudiee.
Utilisation d'un compas visuel pour la navigation d'un robot mobile

Dans cette these, nous nous interessons a la navigation et a l'orientation d'un robot a l'aide de mesures d'angles, sans information de distance ni reconstitution de l'environnement. Des modeles issus d'experiences sur des abeilles ont montre qu'une approche minimaliste suffit pour une tâche de retour au nid a orientation connue. Nous analysons les consequences d'une erreur d'orientation et les modes de fonctionnement degrades qui restent possibles mais insatisfaisants. Nous elaborons une methode originale et minimale de reorientation, appelee « compas visuel ». L'observation de trois panoramas d'orientation connue et une approximation au premier ordre suffisent pour memoriser de quoi s'orienter. Nous comparons le compas visuel avec une seconde methode plus simple et approximative. Nous montrons formellement et experimentalement que leur precision est suffisante pour naviguer et que leur champ d'action peut etre arbitrairement etendu par construction d'une carte cognitive.
Food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation in the Philippines

Poverty, food and nutrition insecurity remain as critical problems in the Philippines. The average Filipino in 1997 needed an annual income of at least P7710 to meet food requirements or P11 319 to meet both food and non-food requirements. Approximately 4 511 000 families (31.8%) are poor and most of these are in the rural areas. Economic growth in the country has been characterized as a ‘boom and bust’ cycle with growth derailed by a combination of natural calamities, adverse domestic political factors, energy shortages, and external shocks such as the Asian currency crisis. In 1988 the gross national product (GNP) reached a peak of 7.2% and then declined to less than 1% in 1991. The economy started to recover in 1992, and the GNP peaked at 7.2% in 1996. The Asian financial crisis, compounded by the drought in 1998, led to a fall in the output of the agricultural sector by 6.6%. A stronger world economy, however, in 1999 helped the Philippine economy to recover. The Food Balance Sheet 1997 indicates that there has been a steady increase in the aggregate net food supply in 1992−1997 with the cereals group contributing approximately 25% of the total food supply. Translating this into calorie supply, this has provided approximately 2400 kcal/person per day or approximately 25% more than 2000 kcal/day. The fact that mean per capita intake is low indicates a gap between supply, distribution and consumption. The 1998 Food and Nutrition Research Institute survey showed that nutritional deficiencies still persist. Among 0−5-year-old children, underweight was approximately 32.0%; stunting 34.0% and wasting 6.0%. Underweight among 6−10-year-olds was 30.2% while stunting was 40.8%. Vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency anaemia and iodine deficiency disorder continue as public health concerns. Food security and poverty alleviation are among the top priority programmes. The Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (1999−2004) enunciates the country's vision of creating a modern and humane society through improved quality of life characterized by food-secure and poverty-free Filipinos, in an ecologically healthy state. The different government programmes are the following: the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997 provides the blueprint for developing and modernizing the agriculture and fisheries sectors; the National Anti-Poverty Alleviation Commission was created as the coordinating and advisory body for the implementation of poverty eradication programmes of the different sectors; the vision of the Medium-Term Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition is of a nutritionally improved country whose people are well nourished, healthy, intelligent, and socially and economically productive with a strong sense of human dignity.
Eddy heat and salt transports in the South China Sea and their seasonal modulations

This study describes characteristics of eddy (turbulent) heat and salt transports, in the basin-scale circulation as well as in the embedded mesoscale eddy found in the South China Sea (SCS). We first showed the features of turbulent heat and salt transports in mesoscale eddies using sea level anomaly (SLA) data, in situ hydrographic data, and 375 Argo profiles. We found that the transports were horizontally variable due to asymmetric distributions of temperature and salinity anomalies and that they were vertically correlated with the thermocline and halocline depths in the eddies. An existing barrier layer caused the halocline and eddy salt transport to be relatively shallow. We then analyzed the transports in the basin-scale circulation using an eddy diffusivity method and the sea surface height data, the Argo profiles, and the climatological hydrographic data. We found that relatively large poleward eddy heat transports occurred to the east of Vietnam (EOV) in summer and to the west of the Luzon Islands (WOL) in winter, while a large equatorward heat transport was located to the west of the Luzon Strait (WLS) in winter. The eddy salt transports were mostly similar to the heat transports but in the equatorward direction due to the fact that the mean salinity in the upper layer in the SCS tended to decrease toward the equator. Using a 21/2-layer reduced-gravity model, we conducted a baroclinic instability study and showed that the baroclinic instability was critical to the seasonal variation of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) and thus the eddy transports. EOV, WLS, and WOL were regions with strong baroclinic instability, and, thus, with intensified eddy transports in the SCS. The combined effects of vertical velocity shear, latitude, and stratification determined the intensity of the baroclinic instability, which intensified the eddy transports EOV during summer and WLS and WOL during winter.
Isolation and identification of new beneficial bacterial strains from rhizosphere of Citrus sinensis orchards

The rhizosphere is the area around the root of a plant occupied by a unique population of usefulbacteria known as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). In this study, the isolation andidentification of rhizobacteria from orange (Citrus sinensis) orchards using 16S rRNA gene, as well asbiological and biochemical assays is reported. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene was confirmed bybiological and biochemical assays and showed that the isolated bacteria belong to the genera Bacilli,Enterobacter and Pseudomonas. Accordingly, Enterobacterkobei MR-R2, Pseudomonas putida MRR5,Bacillus cereus MR-R, Bacillus thuringiensis MR-R1 and Bacillus mycoides MR-R4 wereidentified and registered in GenBank. The results of phosphate solubilization testing revealed that themaximum rate of phosphate solubilization was observed for B. thuringiensis, and E. kobei; however,B. cereus, B. mycoides, and P. putida indicated the least activity. It can be concluded that the isolatedstrains (especially B. thuringiensis) are newly identified phosphate solubilizing bacterial strains,among which B. thuringiensis can be used for growth promotion of orange trees.
Antinociceptive and Antiinflammatory Activity of Methanolic Extract of Leaves of Shorea Robusta

Summary A methanol extract of the dried leaves of Shorea robusta was investigated for anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities. The extract (200 and 400 mg/kg, p.o) produced a dose dependent inhibition of carrageenan – induced paw edema in rats. At the same doses, antinociceptive effect was also observed with hotplate device maintained at 55 0 C, Aetic acid induced writhing, formaline induced paw licking, Tail clip and Tail flick models in mice. The results of the present study confirm the use of Shorea robusta traditionally for the treatment of painful inflammatory conditions.
Saul Steinberg: Illuminations

Best known for his barbed and brilliant art for The New Yorker, Saul Steinberg (1914--1999) did much more. He executed public murals, designed fabrics and stage sets, was an inventive collagist and printmaker, and turned his magic touch to the fields of painting, sculpture, advertising, and even wartime propaganda. This is the first comprehensive look at Steinberg's extraordinary contribution to 20th-century art, which was that of a modern-day illuminator, putting word and image in play to create art that spoke to the eyes, and minds, of readers. An introduction by poet Charles Simic tracks the origins of Steinberg's darkly comic sensibility in the "Balkan bazaar" of his native Romania. Joel Smith shows how architectural training and an early rise to fame as a cartoonist in Fascist-era Milan honed the artist's gift for subtle graphic invention, and explores why one of the most visible, prolific, potent, and cosmopolitan careers in postwar American art has so thoroughly evaded serious study. Tracing the evolving motives that underlie Steinberg's multi-layered activity, this handsome volume also raises fundamental questions about the historiography of modernism and the vexed status of "the middlebrow avant-garde" in an age of museum-bound art. Previously unseen sketches, documents, and printed matter from the artist's papers illustrate the essay, career chronology, and entries for 120 objects featured in this important book.