Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stroke Rehabilitation: Which is the Main Functional Outcome to Reach?

Background: Stroke rehabilitation targets range from treatment of spasticity to pain reduction, gait speed gain, or autonomy amelioration. A correct evaluation of individual residual capabilities is essential to select the most appropriate rehabilitative programme; furthermore the observation of rehabilitative outcomes can provide information about gait training effects and possible compensation mechanisms. Aim: To investigate the main outcome to reach in stroke rehabilitation. Methods: We examined retrospectively a heterogeneous sample of 119 subjects recovered for the treatment of stroke outcomes. Functional parameters were assessed before and after rehabilitative treatment, such as upper limbs motility impairment, lower limb sensitiveness, muscle trophism or tone, necessity of auxilium, Berg and Fugl-Meyer scale. Results: A consistent improvement of standing equilibrium was reported, regardless of gender, stroke nature, hemiparetic side, type of rehabilitation performed, botulin toxin use and initial conditions, with an average increase of Berg and Fugl-Meyer scales score of 14% and 21%, respectively. The variation of equilibrium and motility across treatment resulted directly proportional and negatively correlated to lower limbs sensitivity impairment. On the contrary, initial equilibrium resulted inversely correlated with the variation of motility and vice versa. Interestingly, older subjects seem to better increase equilibrium and sensitivity as measured by Fugl-Meyer scale. Conclusion: In stroke subjects any type of rehabilitation leads to a consistent improvement of standing balance. While proportional to motility and sensitivity increase, this result is inversely correlated to initial motility score, suggesting that an appropriate evaluation of the stroke patient’s functional parameters at admission contributes to select the main rehabilitation targets and the best therapeutic strategy.
A multi-agent and emergent approach to student modelling

User modelling has been a central issue in the development of user-adaptive systems, which behaviour is usually based on the user's preferences, goals, interests and knowledge. This is particularly the case when the user is a student and the system is a computer-based learning environment. The aim of this paper is to present a mechanism for diagnosing and modelling learner's conceptions based on a theoretical model of conceptions. Our approach takes the diagnosis of learner's conceptions as the emergent result of the collective actions of agents sharing an environment, transforming it and as a consequence influencing new actions. We apply techniques from voting theory for group-decision-making. This approach is at the core of the design of a distance learning platform for the learning of geometry.
China as an Integrated Area ?

This paper documents business cycles’ fluctuations in Chinese provinces. China’s de facto federalism, within a context of great geographical and economic diversity, suggests the great importance of policy coordination between provinces. We investigate the role of various potential determinants of provincial business cycles’ synchronization. We consider exogenous factors like distance and size as well as policy factors such as industrial, fiscal and trade policy. Results emphasize the benefits of domestic trade and local fiscal policy rationalization on the stabilization of output fluctuations. However, they also identify international trade and local economic policy heterogeneity as growing centrifugal forces. • JEL Classification: E32, F41, E63 •
SUZAKU VIEW OF X-RAY SPECTRAL VARIABILITY OF THE RADIO GALAXY CENTAURUS A: PARTIAL COVERING ABSORBER, REFLECTOR, AND POSSIBLE JET COMPONENT

We observed a nearby radio galaxy, Centaurus A (Cen A), three times with Suzaku in 2009 and measured the wide-band X-ray spectral variability more accurately than previous measurements. The Cen A was in an active phase in 2009, and the flux became higher by a factor of 1.5–2.0 and the spectrum became harder than that in 2005. The Fe–K line intensity increased by 20%–30% from 2005 to 2009. The correlation of the count rate between the XIS 3–8 keV and PIN 15–40 keV band showed a complex behavior with a deviation from a linear relation. The wide-band X-ray continuum in 2–200 keV can be fitted with an absorbed power-law model plus a reflection component, or a power law with a partial covering Compton-thick absorption. The difference spectra between high and low flux periods in each observation were reproduced by a power law with a partial covering Compton-thick absorption. Such a Compton-thick partial covering absorber was observed for the first time in Cen A. The power-law photon index of the difference spectra in 2009 is almost the same as that of the time-averaged spectra in 2005, but steeper by ∼0.2 than that of the time-averaged spectra in 2009. This suggests an additional hard power-law component with a photon index of <1.6 in 2009. This hard component could be a lower part of the inverse-Compton-scattered component from the jet, whose gamma-ray emission has recently been detected with the Fermi Large Area Telescope.
STUDY OF THE INTERACTIONS OF A MAJOR RUBBER PARTICLE PROTEIN (REF1) WITH SYNTHETIC PHOSPHOLIPIDS IN LANGMUIR MONOLAYERS

Rubber Elongation Factor (REF1) protein is located on the surface of rubber particles (RPs). As a RP-bound and hydrophobic protein, REF1 is suspected to be only partially eliminated by the water washing occurring during latex processing into raw natural rubber (NR) in the form of unsmoked rubber sheet (USS) and could thus affect raw NR properties. In this work, REF1 was identified as an abundant protein of raw NR and biophysical methods were used to describe the organization/structure of REF1 at the surface of RPs interacting with the lipid monolayer surrounding the poly-isoprene core. Therefore, an approach in Langmuir film was implemented to investigate the interactions between recombinant REF1 and synthetic phospholipids (POPC, POPG and POPA) by fluorescence (calcein-leakage measurements), ellipsometry, Brewster angle microscopy, and PM-IRRAS spectroscopy. REF1 was shown to interact differently depending on lipid headgroup type: no interaction with POPC, intermediate interactions with POPG and strong interactions associated to a conformational switch from -helices to -sheets with POPA. Keywords: Hevea brasiliensis, rubber particle , l angmuir monolayer , r ubber elongation factor , s ynthetic phospholipids.
Self-Improvement for the ADATE Automatic Programming System

Automatic Design of Algorithms Through Evolution (ADATE) is a system for automatic programming based on the neutral theory of evolution. This work examines methods of self-improvement for the ADATE system. Experiments are performed testing two of the suggested methods, named SIGrewriting and SIG-reshaping. SIG-rewriting synthesizes transformations to explore neutral networks, while SIG-reshaping creates a predicate for accepting or rejecting nonneutral mutations. It is found that SIGrewriting has created no significant improvement for the ADATE system, while SIGreshaping does have improved results.
Some more algebra on ultrafilters in metric spaces

We continue algebraization of the set of ultrafilters on a metric spaces initiated in [6]. In particular, we define and study metric counterparts of prime, strongly prime and right cancellable ultrafilters from the Stone-$\check{C}$ech compactification of a discrete group as a right topological semigroup [3]. Our approach is based on the concept of parallelity introduced in the context of balleans in [4].
Biomechanical Analysis of Knee Flexion in Osteoarthritic Patients: A Progressive Review

: Knee Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative and irreversible disease of knee complex in which there is wear and tear of cartilage around the patellar region resulting in to pain, swelling, stiffness, restricts mobility and, sometimes the formation of bone spurs. Significant proportion of population of the age band 45-55 years and above is affected by this non-fatal disease. Literature states that several mechanical factors as well chemical imbalance have been implicated in the progression of knee osteoarthritis. The main biomechanical factors which are mainly considered for knee OA analysis are Range of motion, Internal/External rotation as well as vibrations of knee complex, Change in center of gravity, Net muscle torque, Disturbance in pressure distribution and many more. Currently there exist mainly two kinds of techniques to diagnose the Knee OA which includes Radiographic and Biomechanical analysis. Radiographic technique has various limitations like its cost effectiveness nature, usage of ionizing radiation and longer diagnosis time. This has motivated us to use noninvasive approach in form of acquiring various biomechanical factors, analyzing them and developing possible correlates between them for successful and early diagnosis of knee OA. Proposed study aims to use (i) Centre of Gravity recording (ii) Measuring the knee activity and rotation by accelerometer data (iii) Video graphic analysis of Gait pattern to measure range of motion and to develop the possible co-relation between them to have accurate, robust as well as low cost diagnosis technique for Knee OA at early stage.
Assessing the Role of Online Banking Characteristics in the Target Selection of Banking Malware

Understanding target selection is a step before making a suitable proactive measure to address the complex issue of banking malware in online banking landscape. Despite several previous studies, gaps in the research of target selection are still present like the lack of attention to the non-targeted entities, the presence of other potential factors and the change in the landscape itself. Seeking to address the gaps, this research is conducted to find out what characteristics related to online banking services can affect the likelihood of the malware attack to them. The research starts with literature review to identify characteristics which can potentially explain the target selection, in accordance to aspects of Routine Activity Theory (RAT). Next, data about malware attack and the list of banks as well as several external data like language and authentication factor of online banking were collected and processed for quantitative analysis. Several metrics to approach the actual attack count were proposed and other metrics were extracted from the data. Some interesting findings were captured, like, within the period February 2014 – November 2017, from 5,039 banks in the EU, 1,188 banks were without any online banking services and from 3,851 banks with an online banking service, 1,802 banks were found targeted and 2,049 not targeted. Some malware variants were also seen performing targeted attacks. Meanwhile, it is found from explanatory analysis that some characteristics maintain their significance in explaining the likelihood of attack, like the presence of English and two-factor authentication. Services offering English language were seen to be more attacked. Contrarily, services which implemented 2-factor authentication were found to receive fewer attacks, although more entities with such authentication were targeted. Meanwhile, some other variables were getting less significant when more controlling factors are taken into account, indicating that some variables were relatively more or less important than others. Future work is needed in order to enhance the model so that more plausible conclusion can be obtained, such as improving and adding more data as well as including more factors, especially those that are financial and market related.
Impact of black carbon aerosol over Italian basin valleys: high resolution measurements along vertical profiles, radiative forcing and heating rate

Abstract. A systematic study of black carbon (BC) vertical profiles measured at high-resolution over three Italian basin valleys (Terni Valley, Po Valley and Passiria Valley) is presented. BC vertical profiles are scarcely available in literature. The campaign lasted 45 days and resulted in 120 measured vertical profiles. Besides the BC mass concentration, measurements along the vertical profiles also included aerosol size distributions in the optical particle counter range, chemical analysis of filter samples and a full set of meteorological parameters. Using the collected experimental data, we performed calculations of aerosol optical properties along the vertical profiles. The results, validated with AERONET data, were used as inputs to a radiative transfer model (libRadtran). The latter allowed an estimation of vertical profiles of the aerosol direct radiative effect, the atmospheric absorption and the heating rate in the lower troposphere. The present measurements revealed some common behaviors over the studied basin valleys. Specifically, at the mixing height, marked concentration drops of both BC (range: from −48.4 ± 5.3 to −69.1 ± 5.5%) and aerosols (range: from −23.9 ± 4.3 to −46.5 ± 7.3%) were found. The measured percentage decrease of BC was higher than that of aerosols: therefore, the BC aerosol fraction decreased upwards. Correspondingly, both the absorption and scattering coefficients decreased strongly across the mixing layer (range: from −47.6 ± 2.5 to −71.3 ± 3.0% and from −23.5 ± 0.8 to −61.2 ± 3.1%, respectively) resulting in a single-scattering albedo increase along height (range: from +4.9 ± 2.2 to +7.4 ± 1.0%). This behavior influenced the vertical distribution of the aerosol direct radiative effect and of the heating rate. In this respect, the highest atmospheric absorption of radiation was predicted below the mixing height (~ 2–3 times larger than above it) resulting in a heating rate characterized by a vertical negative gradient (range: from −2.6 ± 0.2 to −8.3 ± 1.2 K day−1 km−1). In conclusion, the present results suggest that the BC below the mixing height has the potential to promote a negative feedback on the atmospheric stability over basin valleys, weakening the ground-based thermal inversions and increasing the dispersal conditions.
Blood pressure responses after a session of functional training in young adults and the elderly: a pilot study

Purpose. The potential of functional training (FT) to improve health is evident. However, regarding post-exercise hypotension (PEH) in older adults, there are few data. The study aimed to determine the cardiometabolic demand imposed by an FT session and evaluate PEH, comparing it with exercise sessions with aerobic and resistance exercises in physically active practitioners. Methods. Fourteen young (23.3 ± 2 years) and 15 older (68 ± 4 years) adults underwent a control session and FT session randomly determined. Blood pressure, heart rate, and double product were recorded at rest, during exercise, and in every 10 minutes over 60 minutes of recovery. Additionally, we measured the rate of perceived exertion (RPE). Results. The FT protocol promoted systolic PEH in both groups in the last half of recovery, reaching a reduction of 10.4 ± 4.9 mm Hg in young and 13.4 ± 3.8 mm Hg in older adults (p < 0.05). No differences were observed between the groups (p > 0.05). There were no differences between the groups with reference to RPE at any time (p > 0.05). Conclusions. A single FT session is able to promote PEH in normotensive young and borderline hypertensive older adults but without changing the RPE in comparison over the time, owing to a great similarity of FT practices in the groups.
Hybrid EAs for backup sensorless control of PMSM drives

This paper presents a robust strategy to increase the reliability of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor drives against encoder or resolver failures. If the position sensor fails, the "failure and recovery manager" switches the drive in sensorless mode, i.e., the control system uses the speed and position feedback given by a Sliding-Mode observer in place of the sensor. As the accuracy of the sensorless control depends on the tuning of the observer parameters according to the motor conditions, the Sliding-Mode observer is periodically tuned during the sensor-based control of the drive. A fast and robust tuning of the observer can be obtained by Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithms. This prevents untimely sensored-to-sensorless switching due to speed transients and allows better performances of the sensorless control when the position sensor fails actually. The results carried out prove that the position sensor failures do not affect the drive operation, and proposed HEA outperforms the standard search algorithms.
A direct coupling method for 3D hydroelastic analysis of floating structures

This paper presents a complete formulation for three‐dimensional hydrodynamic analysis of floating flexible structures subjected to surface regular waves, as well as other excitation forces, by employing a direct tight coupling method. The continuum mechanics‐based finite element method is employed to model floating structures with arbitrary geometries, which can account for the geometric nonlinearities and initial stress effects that result from the hydrostatic analysis, whereas the boundary element method is used for the fluid via total potential formulation. The simplicity and generality of the present formulation are revealed as compared with the conventional formulation. Numerical examples demonstrate the general capability of the formulation proposed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Board and management gender diversity and financial performance of microfinance institutions

Abstract We investigate board and management gender diversity issues in the microfinance setting with data (2010–2014) drawn from 494 microfinance institutions across 76 countries. We find that board gender diversity positively predicts management gender diversity. On the effects of board and management gender diversity on the financial performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs), we find that whereas board gender diversity is negatively and significantly related to MFI financial performance, management gender diversity is negatively but insignificantly related to MFI financial performance. We show that 50% or higher diversity in either board or management is the threshold at which gender diversity is productive to MFIs. However, danger exists that an MFI that combines 50% or higher female representation on its board with 50% or higher female representation on its management team is likely to experience a tumble in its financial performance. The overall effect of these outcomes is that the push for more female representation on boards and management teams of MFIs should be done with a lot of tact and circumspection.
LOCALIZING OBJECTS IN SPACE AND TIME: A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL BASED ON A PREDICTIVE MECHANISM

A computational model is presented, which can account for spatial mislocalizations. In fact, there are small but consistent errors in position judgement for a moving object at both its starting point (both in- and opposite to- the direction of motion) and vanishing point (in the direction of motion). Our model is based on motion extrapolation, that we consider as a process, wherein each step of information processing contributes in minimizing the spatial error due to the neural delay. The model presented here mimics the first step of the extrapolation process, where an early mechanism is supposed to work at a very first level of the information processing, (i.e. at retinal and sub-cortical level). Our model can reproduce all the SP and VP mislocalizations, as a consequence of its described strategy, as well as their dependence on velocity.
Dynamics of Heart rate induced by Sahaja yoga meditation in healthy normal subjects above 40 years

Background: Ageing is associated with cganges in cardiac autonomic control as measured by Heart rate variability. Heart rate variability is an indicator of the dynamic interaction and balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic system.The HRV can be measured non invasively.Therefore it becomes an attractive measure to use in the study of the ANS to response to different stimuli.Sahaja yoga meditation creates a thoughtless awareness by virtue of which a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system is achieved. Aim and Objectives: To evaluate and compare the HRV parameters in healthy subjects above 40 years before and after practice of Sahaja yoga meditation and to correlate HRV parameters with age . Methods : The study included 30 healthy normal subjects above 40 years of age ,willing for Sahaja yoga meditation , selected from JNMC campus as well as wardha district.The study group was between 40-70 years of age.The time domain and frequency domain parmeters of HRV were evaluated in all 30 subjects using RMS polyrite machine. The subjects were trained to practice sahaja yoga meditation.After 3 months of meditation practice, they were again evaluated for HRV parameters.The results were analyzed using unpaired student t test & pearrson:s correlation coefficient. Results : The mean heart rate of the subjects decreased significantly from 72.59+ 10.5 to 68.30 + 7.5 ( p value
Hemoglobin E in Northeast India: A review on its origin, distribution, migration and health implication

Abstract A systematic review of the studies on hemoglobin E in Northeast India has been carried out to understand the magnitude of research undertaken on this aspect during the last seven decades. Owing to the high prevalence of hemoglobin E in this part of India different authors have studied this hemoglobin from different perspectives and found conflicting results. However a systematic review of such studies is lacking from a holistic point of view. Most of the epidemiological, in vitro as well as in vivo studies show signatures of selection with this hemoglobin locus. However, how this polymorphism is maintained at different rates at different geographical region is still a matter of contention. This review will fill the gap from all perspectives starting from the frequency distribution of hemoglobin E and its spread in different parts of Northeast India, its relationship with malaria hypothesis, the population migration, population affinity and most importantly the health implication arising out of it. A probable origin of hemoglobin E among an Austroasiatic population of Northeast India has been postulated with the help of advance molecular anthropological knowledge like the deep rooted markers of mt DNA and Y-chromosome haplotypes.