Step Number and Aerobic Minute Exercise Prescription and Progression in Stroke: A Roadmap

Background While higher therapeutic intensity improves motor recovery after stroke, translating findings from successful studies is challenging without clear exercise intensity targets. We show in the DOSE trial 1 more than double the steps and aerobic minutes within a session can be achieved compared with usual care and translates to improved long-term walking outcomes. Objective We modeled data from this successful higher intensity multi-site RCT to develop targets for prescribing and progressing exercise for varying levels of walking impairment after stroke. Methods In twenty-five individuals in inpatient rehabilitation, twenty sessions were monitored for a total of 500 one-hour physical therapy sessions. For the 500 sessions, step number and aerobic minute progression were modeled using linear mixed effects regression. Using formulas from the linear mixed effects regression, targets were calculated. Results The model for step number included session number and baseline walking speed, and for aerobic minutes, session number and age. For steps, there was an increase of 73 steps per session. With baseline walking speed, for every 0.1 m/s increase, a corresponding increase of 302 steps was predicted. For aerobic minutes, there was an increase of .56 minutes of aerobic activity (ie, 34 seconds) per session. For every year increase in age, a decrease of .39 minutes (ie, 23 seconds) was predicted. Conclusions Using data associated with better walking outcomes, we provide step number and aerobic minute targets that future studies can cross-validate. As walking speed and age are collected at admission, these models allow for uptake of routine measurement of therapeutic intensity. Registration: www.clinicaltrials.gov ; NCT01915368.

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Whistle Modulation during a Trawl Bycatch Event in the Adriatic Sea

Marine mammal vocal elements have been investigated for decades to assess whether they correlate with stress levels or stress indicators. Due to their acoustic plasticity, the interpretation of dolphins’ acoustic signals of has been studied most extensively. This work describes the acoustic parameters detected in whistle spectral contours, collected using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), in a bycatch event that involved three Bottlenose dolphins during midwater commercial trawling. The results indicate a total number of 23 upsweep whistles recorded during the bycatch event, that were analyzed based on the acoustic parameters as follows: (Median; 25th percentile; 75th percentile) Dr (second), total duration (1.09; 0.88; 1.24); fmin (HZ), minimum frequency (5836.4; 5635.3; 5967.1); fmax (HZ), maximum frequency, (11,610 ± 11,293; 11,810); fc (HZ), central frequency; (8665.2; 8492.9; 8982.8); BW (HZ), bandwidth (5836.4; 5635.3; 5967.1); Step, number of step (5; 4; 6). Furthermore, our data show that vocal production during the capture event was characterized by an undescribed to date combination of two signals, an ascending whistle (upsweep), and a pulsed signal that we called “low-frequency signal” in the frequency band between 4.5 and 7 kHz. This capture event reveals a novel aspect of T. truncatus acoustic communication, it confirms their acoustic plasticity, and suggests that states of discomfort are conveyed through their acoustic repertoire.

Research on double-faced jacquard fabric with compound full-backed structure of three wefts

Weft-backed structures with compound weft colours can express the mixed colour effect. However, this structure is not suitable for jacquard fabrics with a double-faced shading effect in the traditional single layer design mode. Taking twenty-thread sateen with a step number (S) of 7 as an example, this paper investigates a design method for compound full-backed structure with three shaded-weave databases (SWDs) by selecting the primary weaves (PWs), designing the compound full-backed technical points and establishing the compound structure database with three SWDs. With this design method, a double-faced shading effect in combination with non-backed and full-backed effects on different sides of the jacquard fabric at the same position is generated. The fabric colour card was produced with three SWDs and three sets of different coloured wefts, and their colour values were measured, followed by an analysis of the compound structures on the reverse side, lightness, colour purity and colour difference (DE*ab) of the specimens. The results showed that the three covering effects on the reverse side, partly covered, critical position and totally covered, could be adjusted by controlling the step number and the transition direction of PW-C. For the specimens on the edges of the fabric colour card, their lightness and colour purity values showed a uniform transition effect along with the shading process; their colour differences ranged from 1.23 to 3.69, both in the range of 2–5, and showed a trace or slight colour difference between two adjacent fabric specimens, indicating that the colour shading effect with the three SWDs is stable.

Using coverage path planning methods for car park exploration

With the increasing number of vehicles on the roads, finding a free parking space has become a time-consuming problem. Traditional car parks are not equipped with occupancy sensors, so planning a systematic traversal of a car park can ease and shorten the search. Since car park exploration is similar to coverage path planning (CPP) problems, the core concepts of CPP algorithms can be used. This paper presents a method that divides maps into smaller cells using trapezoidal cell decomposition and then plans the traversal using wavefront algorithm core concepts. This method can be used for multi-storey car parks by planning the traversal of each floor separately and then the path from one floor to the next. Several alternative explorational paths can be generated by taking different personal preferences into account, such as the length of the driven route and the proximity to preferred locations. The planned traversals are compared by step number, the cell visitedness ratio, the number of visits to each cell and the cost function. The comparison of the methods is based on simulation results.

Two-valued number pyramids

Number pyramids are common in elementary school mathematics. Trying to express the value of the top block in terms of the values at the base leads to the binomial coefficients. It also seems natural to ask for the maximal number of odd numbers in a number pyramid of a given size. The answer is easy to state, but the proof is nontrivial: A $$k$$ k step number pyramid can have at most $$\left\lfloor\frac{k(k+1)+1}{3}\right\rfloor$$ k ( k + 1 ) + 1 3 odd numbers, which equals two thirds of the number of blocks rounded to the nearest integer. All maximal and almost maximal solutions are given explicitly. To this end, we rephrase the question in terms of colored tilings. In the outlook we present relations to other—mostly geometric—subjects and problems.

Criticality-based Varying Step-number Algorithm for Reinforcement Learning

In the context of reinforcement learning we introduce the concept of criticality of a state, which indicates the extent to which the choice of action in that particular state influences the expected return. That is, a state in which the choice of action is more likely to influence the final outcome is considered as more critical than a state in which it is less likely to influence the final outcome. We formulate a criticality-based varying step number algorithm (CVS) — a flexible step number algorithm that utilizes the criticality function provided by a human, or learned directly from the environment. We test it in three different domains including the Atari Pong environment, Road-Tree environment, and Shooter environment. We demonstrate that CVS is able to outperform popular learning algorithms such as Deep Q-Learning and Monte Carlo.

Computational Treatment of First Order Delay Differential Equations Using Hybrid Extended Second Derivative Block Backward Differentiation Formulae

This paper considers the computational solution of first order delay differential equations (DDEs) using hybrid extended second derivative backward differentiation formulae method in block form without the implementation of interpolation techniques in estimating the delay term. By matrix inversion approach, the discrete schemes were obtained through the linear multistep collocation approach from the continuous form of each step number which after implementation strongly revealed the convergence and region of absolute stability of the proposed method. Computational results are presented and compared to the exact solutions and other existing method to demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy.

New strategies of physical activity assessment in cystic fibrosis: a pilot study

Background Regular physical activity (PA) is a valued part of cystic fibrosis (CF) care. Although the accelerometer, SenseWear Armband (SWA), accurately measures habitual PA in CF, it is mostly used for research purposes. For the first time, we analyzed different methods of measuring PA in daily life by the use of smartphones and other electronic devices such as smartwatch and Fitbit. Methods Twenty-four stable adults with CF (mean age 37.5 ± 11.5SD yrs.; FEV1 58 ± 19% predicted, BMI 22.9 ± 3.2) were studied. Daily PA was monitored for seven consecutive days. All patients wore the accelerometer SWA and at the same time they monitored PA with the electronic device they used routinely. They were allocated into one of four arms according to their device: Smartwatch, Fitbit, Android smartphones and iOS smartphones. PA related measurements included: duration of PA, energy expenditure, number of steps. Results There was a good agreement between SWA and Fitbit for number of steps (p = 0.605) and energy expenditure (p = 0.143). iOS smartphones were similar to SWA in monitoring the number of steps (p = 0.911). Significant differences were found between SWA and both Smartwatch and Android smartphones. Conclusions Fitbit and iOS smartphones seem to be a valuable approach to monitor daily PA. They provide a good performance to measure step number compared to SWA.