Promoting functional outcome of stroke patients: The effect of regulatory focus, therapy frequency and message framing

The purpose of this study was to find out how stroke patients' chronic regulatory focus interacted with message framing had impact on the therapy frequency and functional outcome. A one factor (chronic regulatory focus) x 2 (message framing: gain vs. loss) between-subject design was employed with questionnaire and evaluation form. Ninety-six stroke patients recruited from different medical units in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan were randomly assigned to read one of two messages. Therapy frequency and functional outcome, Barthel Index were used as dependent variables. One way ANOVA repeated measure, regression analyses and simple slope analysis were used to examine the effects. The results indicated that chronic regulatory focus had long term effects on the therapy frequency, and Barthel Index. The mediating effect of therapy frequency and the interaction effect between chronic regulatory focus and message framing were not supported, but the simple slope analysis showed that gain-framed message was more likely to prompt therapy frequency on patients with stroke. This study provided the practitioners guidelines to design the persuasive message to facilitate therapy and sustain the behavior

Using Hybrid Angle/Distance Information for Distributed Topology Control in Vehicular Sensor Networks

In a vehicular sensor network (VSN), the key design issue is how to organize vehicles effectively, such that the local network topology can be stabilized quickly. In this work, each vehicle with on-board sensors can be considered as a local controller associated with a group of communication members. In order to balance the load among the nodes and govern the local topology change, a group formation scheme using localized criteria is implemented. The proposed distributed topology control method focuses on reducing the rate of group member change and avoiding the unnecessary information exchange. Two major phases are sequentially applied to choose the group members of each vehicle using hybrid angle/distance information. The operation of Phase I is based on the concept of the cone-based method, which can select the desired vehicles quickly. Afterwards, the proposed time-slot method is further applied to stabilize the network topology. Given the network structure in Phase I, a routing scheme is presented in Phase II. The network behaviors are explored through simulation and analysis in a variety of scenarios. The results show that the proposed mechanism is a scalable and effective control framework for VSNs

Genetic Variation of Wood Density in Luanta Fir Tested in Central Taiwan

Forty-nine wind-pollinated families representing 8 provenances of Luanta fir (Cunninghamia konishii) were sampled from the species' range in Taiwan. The study plantation was established in central Taiwan with 49 ten-tree linear plots in each of 5 blocks in the randomized complete block design. In July 1998 at plantation age 25, a 0.45-cm caliber increment core sample was extracted at breast height in the east cardinal direction from the best tree per plot; altogether 245 cores (1 core/family/plot X 49 families X 5 blocks) were sampled. From each core, only the 6 outermost growth rings (near the bark) were used to determine extracted specific gravity according to the maximum moisture content method. Genetic variations among provenances and among families within provenances were tested following a general linear model. There was no apparent geographic variation pattern, and the main source of specific gravity variation was attributable to differences among families within provenance. Overall specific gravity was 0.36 and the narrow-sense family heritability was 0.46. Wood specific gravity is strongly controlled by additive genetic variance, suggesting that this trait would respond to selection breeding. The importance of family selection was emphasized in the improvement of this wood property in Taiwan

Dynamic Tolling in Arc-based Traffic Assignment Models

Tolling in traffic networks offers a popular measure to minimize overall congestion. Existing toll designs primarily focus on congestion in route-based traffic assignment models (TAMs), in which travelers make a single route selection from their source to destination. However, these models do not reflect real-world traveler decisions because they preclude deviations from a chosen route, and because the enumeration of all routes is computationally expensive. To address these limitations, our work focuses on arc-based TAMs, in which travelers sequentially select individual arcs (or edges) on the network to reach their destination. We first demonstrate that marginal pricing, a tolling scheme commonly used in route-based TAMs, also achieves socially optimal congestion levels in our arc-based formulation. Then, we use perturbed best response dynamics to model the evolution of travelers' arc selection preferences over time, and a marginal pricing scheme to the social planner's adaptive toll updates in response. We prove that our adaptive learning and marginal pricing dynamics converge to a neighborhood of the socially optimal loads and tolls. We then present empirical results that verify our theoretical claims.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2304.0470

Img2Logo:Generating Golden Ratio Logos from Images

Logos are one of the most important graphic design forms that use an abstracted shape to clearly represent the spirit of a community. Among various styles of abstraction, a particular golden-ratio design is frequently employed by designers to create a concise and regular logo. In this context, designers utilize a set of circular arcs with golden ratios (i.e., all arcs are taken from circles whose radii form a geometric series based on the golden ratio) as the design elements to manually approximate a target shape. This error-prone process requires a large amount of time and effort, posing a significant challenge for design space exploration. In this work, we present a novel computational framework that can automatically generate golden ratio logo abstractions from an input image. Our framework is based on a set of carefully identified design principles and a constrained optimization formulation respecting these principles. We also propose a progressive approach that can efficiently solve the optimization problem, resulting in a sequence of abstractions that approximate the input at decreasing levels of detail. We evaluate our work by testing on images with different formats including real photos, clip arts, and line drawings. We also extensively validate the key components and compare our results with manual results by designers to demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework. Moreover, our framework can largely benefit design space exploration via easy specification of design parameters such as abstraction levels, golden circle sizes, etc

Outward foreign direct investment and product quality of domestic productions: An empirical investigation

While conceptual and theoretical studies have claimed that outward foreign direct investment (FDI) is an effective way to improve the quality of domestic production, there has been less systematic investigation into that claim. The statistical analysis of a survey of Taiwan's outward FDI activity shows that FDI had a positive effect on the quality of only 33.4% of investing firms. We further employ the microeconometric technique to analyze what kinds of globalization behaviors improve the quality of domestic firms’ products. The empirical results show that the strategy of expansionary FDI is more effective than defensive FDI at improving product quality because it allows domestic firms to learn advanced technologies from guest countries. Moreover, the reallocation of export between foreign affiliates and the parent company is an effective way for investing firms to focus on improving domestic product quality. Santrauka Remiantis koncepciniu ir teoriniu tyrimu rezultatais, ieinančios tiesiogines užsienio investicijos yra veiksmingas būdas vidaus produkcijos kokybei gerinti, tačiau tokiam teiginiui pagristi nebuvo atlikti sistemingi tyrimai. Taivanio ieinančiu tiesioginiu užsienio investiciju veiklos tyrimo statistines analizes duomenimis, tiesioginiu užsienio investiciju iš visu imones investiciju itaka kokybei sudaro tik 33,4 %. Toliau buvo taikoma mikroekonometrine metodika, siekiant ištirti, kokios rūšies globalizacijos elgsena pagerina vietines imoniu produkcijos kokybe. Empirinio tyrimo rezultatai parode, kad, gerinant produkcijos kokybe, pletros tiesiogines užsienio investicijos yra efektyvesnes nei apsaugines tiesiogines užsienio investicijos. Taip yra todel, kad jos leidžia šalies vidaus imonems sužinoti apie pažangias kitu šaliu technologijas. Be to, eksporto perskirstymas tarp užsienio filialu ir pagrindines imones yra veiksmingas būdas investuojančiai imonei daugiausia demesio skirti vidaus produkcijos kokybei. First Published Online: 10 Feb 2011 Reikšminiai žodžiai: ieinančios tiesiogines užsienio investicijos, produkto kokybe, globalizacija, gamybos tinkla

The Dual-mediation Effect of Perceived Accuracy and Perceived Connectedness on Consumer Attitude Toward Social Network Advertising

Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this paper investigates the dual mediation effect of perceived accuracy and perceived connectedness in the effect of endorsement from satisfied customers, review credibility, and social influence on consumers’ social media advertising attitudes. A study was conducted and received 1597 returned surveys with 1031 valid surveys. The results show that endorsement from satisfied customers, review credibility, and social influence are antecedents of perceived accuracy and perceived connectedness. These five variables are also antecedents of consumer attitude toward social network advertising. Furthermore, perceived accuracy and connectedness are partially mediating these relationships between endorsement from satisfied customers/review credibility/social influence and consumer attitude toward social network advertising

S-allylcysteine Improves Blood Flow Recovery and Prevents Ischemic Injury by Augmenting Neovasculogenesis.

Studies suggest that a low level of circulating human endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) is a risk factor for ischemic injury and coronary artery disease (CAD). Consumption of S-allylcysteine (SAC) is known to prevent CAD. However, the protective effects of SAC on the ischemic injury are not yet clear. In this study, we examined whether SAC could improve blood flow recovery in ischemic tissues through EPC-mediated neovasculogenesis. The results demonstrate that SAC significantly enhances the neovasculogenesis of EPCs in vitro. The molecular mechanisms for SAC enhancement of neovasculogenesis include the activation of Akt/endothelial nitric oxide synthase signaling cascades. SAC increased the expression of c-kit, β-catenin, cyclin D1, and Cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) proteins in EPCs. Daily intake of SAC at dosages of 0.2 and 2 mg/kg body weight significantly enhanced c-kit protein levels in vivo. We conclude that dietary consumption of SAC improves blood flow recovery and prevents ischemic injury by inducing neovasculogenesis in experimental models