Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Noninvasive Brain Stimulation for Neurorehabilitation in Post-Stroke Patients

Characterized by high morbidity, mortality, and disability, stroke usually causes symptoms of cerebral hypoxia due to a sudden blockage or rupture of brain vessels, and it seriously threatens human life and health. Rehabilitation is the essential treatment for post-stroke patients suffering from functional impairments, through which hemiparesis, aphasia, dysphagia, unilateral neglect, depression, and cognitive dysfunction can be restored to various degrees. Noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is a popular neuromodulatory technology of rehabilitation focusing on the local cerebral cortex, which can improve clinical functions by regulating the excitability of corresponding neurons. Increasing evidence has been obtained from the clinical application of NIBS, especially repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). However, without a standardized protocol, existing studies on NIBS show a wide variation in terms of stimulation site, frequency, intensity, dosage, and other parameters. Its application for neurorehabilitation in post-stroke patients is still limited. With advances in neuronavigation technologies, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and functional MRI, specific brain regions can be precisely located for stimulation. On the basis of our further understanding on neural circuits, neuromodulation in post-stroke rehabilitation has also evolved from single-target stimulation to co-stimulation of two or more targets, even circuits and the network. The present study aims to review the findings of current research, discuss future directions of NIBS application, and finally promote the use of NIBS in post-stroke rehabilitation.
Amyloid Formation of Stefin B Protein Studied by Infrared Spectroscopy.

BACKGROUND Stefin B, an established model protein for studying the stability and mechanism of protein folding, was used for monitoring protein aggregation and formation of amyloid structure by infrared spectroscopy. METHODS The analyses of the integral intensities of the low frequency part of the Amide I band, which is directly connected to the appearance of the cross-β structure reveals the temperature but not pH dependence of stefin B structure. RESULTS We show that pH value has significant role in the monomer stability of stefin B. Protein is less stable in acidic environment and becomes more stable in neutral or basic conditions. While in the case of the Amide I band area analysis we apply only spectral regions characteristic for only part of the protein in cross-β structure, the temperature study using multivariate curve resolution (MCR) analysis contains also information about the protein conformation states which do not correspond to native protein nor protein in cross-β structure. CONCLUSIONS These facts results in the slightly different shapes of fitted sigmoid functions fitted to the weighted amount of the second basic spectrum (sc2), which is the closed approximation of the protein spectra with cross-β structure. Nevertheless, the applied method detects the initial change of the protein structure. Upon the analysis of infrared data a model for stefin B aggregation is proposed.
PARAMETRIC ESTIMATE OF MULTIVARIATE AUTOREGRESSIVE MODELS WITH CONDITIONAL HETEROCOVARIANCE MATRIX ERRORS

This paper establish a class of multiple autoregressive models with conditional hetero-covariance matrix (MARCH). Conditions for the stationariness of the MARCH models arederived. The consistency and the asymptotic normality of the least squares (LS) estimatorand the maximum likelihood (ML) estimator are presented.
Picosecond Z-scan measurements on bulk GaN crystals

Bulk GaN crystals were characterized by using picosecond laser pulses at λ=0.527 μm and Z-scan techniques. The role of the free-carrier absorption was evaluated by a dynamical, pump-and-probe-type transmitivity measurement. The values of two-photon absorption coefficient (17–20 cm/GW) and refractive index changes at high optical irradiances due to bound (n2=−4×10−12 esu) and free (σr=−1.0×10−20 cm3) electrons in that material were determined.
Contourlet based image watermarking using QR decomposition

The paper presents an image watermarking algorithm based on Contourlet Transform (CT) and QR factorization method. Contourlet Transform is used to transform both the cover and watermark image into subbands. The watermarking is applied to the Contourlet Transform as the human visual system is comparatively less sensitive to edges of the image. The low frequency coefficients of an image contain the highest energy. Thus the lowest frequency coefficients of the contourlet transformed original and watermark image are selected for watermarking. The selected coefficients are then decomposed using QR factorization method. The QR factorized coefficients of watermark image is embedded into the QR factorized original image values. Inverse QR and inverse CT is then applied on the watermark embedded coefficients of image to obtain the watermarked image. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is a better technique as compared to other watermarking schemes based on Contourlet Transform. The proposed watermarking scheme is imperceptible and robust against image processing attacks such as Gaussian noise, scaling, compression, salt and pepper noise.
Polymeric electrochemical element for adaptive networks: Pulse mode

An electrochemically controlled polymeric heterojunction working as a memristor, i.e., having memory properties, was investigated in pulse mode, mimicking synaptic behavior of signal transmission in biological systems. Influence of parameters such as pulse duration, interval between pulses, and value of potential base level was analyzed. Learning capabilities were shown to be reversible and repeatable for both potentiation and inhibition of signal transmission. The adaptive behavior of the element was investigated and was shown to be more efficient than the dc mode.
Reaktionskinetische Vorgänge an der Grenzfläche zwischen nichtisothermem Plasma und Feststoff

An der Grenzflache nichtisothermes reaktives Molekulgasplasma – Feststoff bilden sich atzgasspezifische funktionelle Gruppen durch Anlagerung von Plasmaspezies als Vorstufe fur Abbauvorgange (chemische Abbaureaktionen und Sputterprozesse) oder fur die Bildung von (Polymer-) Schichten. Die z. B. bei verschiedenen Polymeren beobachteten langsam fortschreitenden Veranderungen der Struktur in oberflachennahen Schichten, bis etwa max. 100 μm, werden durch die energiereiche Plasma-Vakuum-UV-Strahlung hervorgerufen. Die Bildung funktioneller Gruppen an der Feststoffoberflache vollzieht sich sehr rasch. Daran schliest sich eine Periode der langsamen Penetration von Plasmaspezies in die obersten Feststoffschichten an (nm-Bereich). Der Abbau der Feststoffe verlauft nur dann nicht zeitlich linear, wenn der Festkorper eine schichtartige Struktur besitzt. On the boundary between nonthermal reactive plasma of molecular gases and solids gasspecific functional groups are formed by addition of plasmaspecies as pre-stages of destructive processes (chemical reactions and sputtering) or of formation of layers (polymeric). At various polymers it was observed that the vacuum ultra violet radiation occurs progressive changes in structure of layers near the surface (up to 100 μ). The formation of functional groups on the surface of solids is a quick process. It follows a period of slow penetration of plasma species in the first layers of the solid (some nm). The destruction of solids is not linear with time if the structure of solid is build up from some layers.
Object shape classification and scene shape representation for three-dimensional laser scanned outdoor data

Abstract. Shape analysis of a three-dimensional (3-D) scene is an important issue and could be widely used for various applications: city planning, robot navigation, virtual tourism, etc. We introduce an approach for understanding the primitive shape of the scene to reveal the semantic scene shape structure and represent the scene using shape elements. The scene objects are labeled and recognized using the geometric and semantic features for each cluster, which is based on the knowledge of scene. Furthermore, the object in scene with a different primitive shape could also be classified and fitted using the Gaussian map of the segmented scene. We demonstrate the presented approach on several complex scenes from laser scanning. According to the experimental result, the proposed method can accurately represent the geometric structure of the 3-D scene.
Impact of a Low-Insulin-Stimulating Bread on Weight Development—A Real Life Randomised Controlled Trial

The impact on body weight development is usually analysed by comparing different diet types. Our approach was to change only one component, namely bread, common to most diets. In a single-centre triple-blind randomised controlled trial the effects of two different breads on body weight were analyzed without further lifestyle modification. Overweight adult volunteers (n = 80) were randomised 1:1 to exchange previously consumed breads for either a rye bread from milled whole grain (control) or a medium-carbohydrate, low-insulin-stimulating bread (intervention). Pre-tests demonstrated that the two bread types strongly differed in the glucose and insulin response elicited, but had similar energy content, texture and taste. The primary endpoint was the estimated treatment difference (ETD) in change of body weight after 3 months of treatment. Whereas body weight remained unchanged in the control group (−0.1 ± 2.0 kg), significant weight reduction was observed in the intervention group (−1.8 ± 2.9 kg), with an ETD of −1.7 ± 0.2 kg (p = 0.007), that was more pronounced in participants ≥ 55 years (−2.6 ± 3.3 kg), paralleled by significant reductions in body mass index and hip circumference. Moreover, in the intervention group, the percentage of participants with significant weight loss (≥1 kg) was twice as high as in the control group (p < 0.001). No other statistically significant changes in clinical or lifestyle parameters were noted. Simply exchanging a common insulinogenic bread for a low-insulin-stimulating bread demonstrates potential to induce weight loss in overweight persons, especially those at older age.
Diversified Spectral Portfolios: An Unsupervised Learning Approach to Diversification

The question of how to diversify an investment portfolio is one with many possible answers. Over the past couple of years, the industry and academic literature have been shifting focus from an asset-driven answer to a factor-driven one, sparking special interest in the use of implicit factors identified through unsupervised learning. However, issues around the stability and implementation of these, in the context of diversification, have left a gap between what is an academic exercise and what is an implementable methodology. This article aims to fill this gap by presenting a diversification-focused portfolio construction methodology that takes advantage of singular value decomposition to identify implicit factors and uses hierarchical agglomerative clustering to address some of the challenges surrounding its implementation. In out-of-sample Monte Carlo simulations, this methodology can provide better risk-adjusted performance than other commonly used portfolio diversification approaches.
Absence of Diffusion in Certain Random Lattices

This paper presents a simple model for such processes as spin diffusion or conduction in the "impurity band. " These processes involve transport in a lattice which is in some sense random, and in them diffusion is expected to take place via quantum jumps between localized sites. In this simple model the essential randomness is introduced by requiring the energy to vary randomly from site to site. It is shown that at low enough densities no diffusion at all can take place, and the criteria for transport to occur are given.
The Baade-Wesselink method applied to RR lyrae variables in the globular clusters M5 and M92

An infrared Baade-Wesselink analysis is given for two RR Lyrae variables in the extremely metal-poor globular cluster M92 and four in the intermediate metallicity cluster M5. The method of analysis relies on the theoretical model atmospheres of Kurucz and on the absolute flux calibration of observed V- and K-magnitudes. The best results are obtained with V-K colors to obtain T eff and K-magnitudes to deduce absolute fluxes
Recent Douglas-fir Mortality in the Klamath Mountains Ecoregion of Oregon: Evidence for a Decline Spiral

Recent increases in Douglas-fir (Psuedotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) mortality in the Klamath Mountains ecoregion raise concerns about the long-term resilience of Douglas-fir in the ecoregion and increased potential for uncharacteristic wildfire. We used data from the USDA Forest Service Aerial Detection Survey and ninety-six field plots to explore the relationships between physiographic and climate variables and Douglas-fir mortality. Our results provide strong evidence for a decline spiral in which Douglas-fir growing on hot, dry sites (predisposing factor) are further stressed by drought (inciting factor) and are then exploited by the flatheaded fir borer (Phaenops drummondi) and other secondary biotic agents (contributing factors), resulting in decline and mortality. At the landscape scale, Douglas-fir mortality increased as average annual precipitation declined and average climatic water deficit increased. We developed a risk score integrating several environmental variables associated with drought and heat stress to predict the likelihood and intensity of mortality at the stand scale. Study Implications: Douglas-fir mortality in the Klamath Mountains ecoregion commonly occurs during and following drought on hot, dry sites that are already climatically marginal for the species. Landowners and managers can use climatic water deficit to identify high mortality risk sites at the landscape scale and our risk score integrating topographic and site factors for risk assessment at the stand scale. Steering management toward oak-pine restoration may be warranted in high risk locations. Projections of future climatic water deficit suggest that the area of marginal, high risk habitat for Douglas-fir will increase substantially by 2055.
Does Spanish knowledge contribute to accurate English word spelling in adult bilinguals?

Correctly spelling an English word requires a high-quality orthographic representation. When faced with spelling a complex word without a high-quality representation, spellers often rely on other knowledge sources (e.g., incomplete stored orthographic forms, phonological to orthographic relationships) to spell it. For bilinguals, another potentially facilitative source is knowledge of a word's lexical and sublexical representations in another language. In the current study we considered simultaneous effects of word-level (e.g., frequency, cognate status) and person-level (e.g., English spelling skill, prompting, bilingual status) predictors on college students’ complex English word spelling. Monolinguals (English; n = 42) significantly outperformed bilinguals (Spanish and English; n = 76) on non-cognate spelling; no group differences emerged for cognate spelling accuracy. Within bilinguals, significantly higher spelling performance on cognates compared to non-cognates suggests cognate facilitation, with no prompting effects. Findings expand an interdisciplinary framework of understanding bilinguals’ activation and use of cross-linguistic representations in spelling.
Application of Ambient Isotopy to Surface Approximation and Interval Solids

Given a nonsingular compact 2-manifold without boundary, we present methods for establishing a family of surfaces which can approximate so that each approximant is ambient isotopic to . The methods presented here offer broad theoretical guidance for a rich class of ambient isotopic approximations, for applications in graphics, animation and surface reconstruction. They are also used to establish sufficient conditions for an interval solid to be ambient isotopic to the solid it is approximating. Furthermore, the normals of the approximant are compared to the normals of the original surface, as these approximating normals play prominent roles in many graphics algorithms. The methods are based on global theoretical considerations and are compared to existing local methods. Practical implications of these methods are also presented. For the global case, a differential surface analysis is performed to find a positive number so that the offsets of at distances are nonsingular. In doing so, a normal tubular neighborhood, , of is constructed. Then, each approximant of lies inside . Comparisons between these global and local constraints are given.
Measuring white matter microstructure in 1,457 cannabis users and 1,441 controls: A systematic review of diffusion-weighted MRI studies

Introduction Cannabis is the most widely used regulated substance by youth and adults. Cannabis use has been associated with psychosocial problems, which have been partly ascribed to neurobiological changes. Emerging evidence to date from diffusion-MRI studies shows that cannabis users compared to controls show poorer integrity of white matter fibre tracts, which structurally connect distinct brain regions to facilitate neural communication. However, the most recent evidence from diffusion-MRI studies thus far has yet to be integrated. Therefore, it is unclear if white matter differences in cannabis users are evident consistently in selected locations, in specific diffusion-MRI metrics, and whether these differences in metrics are associated with cannabis exposure levels. Methods We systematically reviewed the results from diffusion-MRI imaging studies that compared white matter differences between cannabis users and controls. We also examined the associations between cannabis exposure and other behavioral variables due to changes in white matter. Our review was pre-registered in PROSPERO (ID: 258250; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/). Results We identified 30 diffusion-MRI studies including 1,457 cannabis users and 1,441 controls aged 16-to-45 years. All but 6 studies reported group differences in white matter integrity. The most consistent differences between cannabis users and controls were lower fractional anisotropy within the arcuate/superior longitudinal fasciculus (7 studies), and lower fractional anisotropy of the corpus callosum (6 studies) as well as higher mean diffusivity and trace (4 studies). Differences in fractional anisotropy were associated with cannabis use onset (4 studies), especially in the corpus callosum (3 studies). Discussion The mechanisms underscoring white matter differences are unclear, and they may include effects of cannabis use onset during youth, neurotoxic effects or neuro adaptations from regular exposure to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which exerts its effects by binding to brain receptors, or a neurobiological vulnerability predating the onset of cannabis use. Future multimodal neuroimaging studies, including recently developed advanced diffusion-MRI metrics, can be used to track cannabis users over time and to define with precision when and which region of the brain the white matter changes commence in youth cannabis users, and whether cessation of use recovers white matter differences. Systematic review registration www.crd. york.ac. uk/prospero/, identifier: 258250.
Numerical simulation of anisoplanatic imaging of astronomical telescope through atmospheric turbulence

Anisoplanatism refers to the fact that the turbulence-induced wavefront distortions for propagation paths from the observed object with even slightly different propagation directions can be considerably different. A numerical simulation method of anisoplanatic imaging through volume atmospheric turbulence has been developed in this paper. The propagation of optical rays through volume turbulence is considered as a process of successive scattering of the light wave by a set of phase screens. We give the calculation method of the optimal configuration for multiple phase screens, and t give the flow chart of the whole simulation process of anisoplantic imaging. Then, the anisoplanatic degradation as a function of the separated angle as seen from the receiving aperture of telescope for various numbers of phase screens and different aperture diameters is analyzed. The analyses of the simulation data show that three phase screens is adequate to the representation of the effect of volume turbulence. The simulation method presented here is applicable to a wide range of parameters of telescope imaging system and atmospheric turbulence.
Metabolomic and Proteomic Profiling of Porcine Intestinal Epithelial Cells Infected with Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection results in severe epidemic diarrhea and the death of suckling pigs. Although new knowledge about the pathogenesis of PEDV has been improved, alterations in metabolic processes and the functional regulators involved in PEDV infection with host cells remain largely unknow. To identify cellular metabolites and proteins related to PEDV pathogenesis, we synergistically investigated the metabolome and proteome profiles of PEDV-infected porcine intestinal epithelial cells by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification techniques. We identified 522 differential metabolites in positive and negative ion modes and 295 differentially expressed proteins after PEDV infection. Pathways of cysteine and methionine metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, and mineral absorption were significantly enriched by differential metabolites and differentially expressed proteins. The betaine-homocysteine S-methyltransferase (BHMT) was indicated as a potential regulator involved in these metabolic processes. We then knocked down the BHMT gene and observed that down-expression of BHMT obviously decreased copy numbers of PEDV and virus titers (p < 0.01). Our findings provide new insights into the metabolic and proteomic profiles in PEDV-infected host cells and contribute to our further understanding of PEDV pathogenesis.
The class groups of quaternion and dihedral 2-groups

Let be a = ℤ-order in A , a finite dimensional Q-algebra. K 0 ( ) denotes the Grothendieck group of projective right -modules. locally isomorphic to } is a subgroup of K 0 ( ) and is called the locally free classgroup of . (If = ℤΓ for some finite group Γ then as all ℤΓ projectives are locally free [12].)
Holographic exposure of subwavelength circular gratings using a cone based interferogram

Fabrication of circular gratings formed of radially periodic circular lines is presented. It is a very simple fringes projection set-up based on holistic printing method using a axicon to generate the self-interferogramm of a Bessel beam using a transmissive cone. The new holographic optical interference scheme has been designed to produce circular lines based interferogram from a azimuthally polarized beam. The angle of the cone is adapted to cover a restricted periods range. The principle of the method is described and applied to the fabrication of a radial polarizer of sub-micron period.
Lyapunov function construction for ordinary differential equations with linear programming

An algorithm that derives a linear program for an ordinary differential equation is presented, of which a feasible solution defines a continuous piecewise affine linear Lyapunov function for the differential equation. The linear program can be generated for an arbitrary region containing an equilibrium of the differential equation. The domain of the Lyapunov function is the region used in the generation of the linear program. The Lyapunov function secures the asymptotic stability of the equilibrium and gives a lower bound on its region of attraction.