Sequential Programs Research Articles

Effects of a sequential square mat walking training program Fisior® on improving physical performance in older adults with Parkinson's disease: A pilot study

BackgroundThis study aimed to assess the efficacy of a 12-week functional walking training program utilizing a sequential square mat (Fisior® Mat) on the physical performance of older adults diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (PD). MethodsParticipants, aged over 60 and diagnosed with mild to moderate PD, underwent progressive resistance training sessions lasting 30-40 minutes, three times a week, using the Fisior® sequential square mat. A randomized clinical trial was conducted with participants from a patient association. Multiple linear regression models were employed to analyze physical performance variation between intervention and control groups. ResultsTwenty-eight patients (14 in each group) participated, with improvements observed in total Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) score, chair test score, gait speed score, and balance test score. Participants in the intervention group showed significant improvement in chair and balance test scores compared to controls. ConclusionThe Fisior® sequential square mat program, as an adjunct to conventional outpatient physiotherapy, effectively enhances physical performance in older adults with PD.

Postoperative early initiation of sequential exercise program in preventing persistent spinal pain syndrome type-2 after modified transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion: a prospective randomized controlled trial.

This prospective randomized controlled trial aimed to investigate the impact of early postoperative sequential motor control (starting first day post-operatively) and core stabilization training (starting fifth week post-operatively) compared to conventional exercise (starting fifth weeks post-operatively) on the risk of developing persistent spinal pain syndrome type-2 (PSPS-T2). 395 patients with lumbar degenerative diseases (LDDs) undergoing modified transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion and a 12-week postoperative exercise program (sequential vs. conventional exercise: 214 vs. 181) were evaluated for low back pain (LBP) intensity, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), pressure pain threshold (PPT), temporal summation (TS), fatty infiltration of paraspinal muscles, transversus abdominis (TrA) activation capacity and Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) pre-operatively, 3 months post-operatively, and 1 year post-operatively. At 3-month postoperative assessment, LBP in sequential exercise group were lower than those in conventional exercise group (P < 0.05), and sequential-exercise patients had greater local-area PPTs, lower TS, lower TrA activation capacities and less fatty infiltration of erector spinae than did the conventional-exercise patients (P < 0.05). At 1-year postoperative assessment, fewer sequential-exercise patients had PSPS-T2 compared with conventional-exercise patients (11/214 vs. 20/181; P < 0.05). LBP at rest and FABQ were lower in sequential-exercise patients than conventional-exercise patients (P < 0.05). Furthermore, both PPT and TS at 1-year postoperative assessment were associated with these measurements at 3-month postoperative assessment in patients with PSPS-T2 (P < 0.05). Postoperative sequential exercise has more positive effects to avoid PSPS-T2 than conventional exercise in patients with LDDs possibly because of its advantages in improving central and peripheral sensitization.

A Study of the Influence of Ion-Ozonized Water on the Properties of Pasta Dough Made from Wheat Flour and Pumpkin Powder.

Water treated with ion ozone improves the technological qualities of food products. Therefore, ion-ozonated water was used in the work, and whole-grain flour from soft wheat of the Almaly variety and pumpkin powder were used as raw materials to improve the quality and nutritional value of the pasta. This study investigated the effects of ion-ozone concentration in ion-ozonated water Cio, water temperature tw, pumpkin powder content Cpp and drying temperature td on various characteristics affecting the quality of pasta, including its organoleptic physical, chemical, and rheological properties. These characteristics were assessed by conducting multiple experiments, a total of 25 indicators were determined, such as humidity, acidity, cooking properties, deformation, and other basic quality indicators. To reduce the number of experiments and obtain a reliable assessment of the influence of individual factors on the quality indicators of pasta, methods involving the multifactorial design of experiments were applied. Data processing and all necessary calculations were carried out using the PLAN sequential regression analysis program. Consequently, our findings indicate that minimizing dry water (DM) loss in cooking water requires a dual approach: increasing ion-ozone concentration and optimizing pasta composition and drying conditions, specifically by reducing pumpkin powder content and drying temperature. As a result, it was established that to obtain high-quality pasta from whole-grain flour with high quality and rheological properties, it is necessary to use the following optimal production modes: ion-ozone concentration in ion-ozonated water Cio = 2.5 × 10-6 mg/cm3, water temperature tw = 50 °C, pumpkin powder content Cpp = 3.0%, and pasta drying temperature td = 50 °C. The resulting pasta is an environmentally friendly product with a high content of biologically active substances.

Disentangling Parallelism and Interference in Game Semantics

Game semantics is a denotational semantics presenting compositionally the computational behaviour of various kinds of effectful programs. One of its celebrated achievement is to have obtained full abstraction results for programming languages with a variety of computational effects, in a single framework. This is known as the semantic cube or Abramsky's cube, which for sequential deterministic programs establishes a correspondence between certain conditions on strategies (''innocence'', ''well-bracketing'', ''visibility'') and the absence of matching computational effects. Outside of the sequential deterministic realm, there are still a wealth of game semantics-based full abstraction results; but they no longer fit in a unified canvas. In particular, Ghica and Murawski's fully abstract model for shared state concurrency (IA) does not have a matching notion of pure parallel program-we say that parallelism and interference (i.e. state plus semaphores) are entangled. In this paper we construct a causal version of Ghica and Murawski's model, also fully abstract for IA. We provide compositional conditions parallel innocence and sequentiality, respectively banning interference and parallelism, and leading to four full abstraction results. To our knowledge, this is the first extension of Abramsky's semantic cube programme beyond the sequential deterministic world.

1567P Physicians' adenoma detection rate and the risk of colorectal cancer in sequential screening programs: An observational cohort study

1567P Physicians' adenoma detection rate and the risk of colorectal cancer in sequential screening programs: An observational cohort study

Structure of the step-by-step sequential program for future officers of military education institutions to engage in the military applied seventh school

High motivation, sufficient level of professional knowledge, excellent physical and functional condition of the main body systems of servicemen are an integral part of the combat readiness and combat capability of the personnel of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At many stages of the conduct of hostilities during the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the availability of the latest weapons and equipment, as well as the training of personnel to perform assigned tasks, the high level of training of units and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, are definitely essential components. The analysis carried out by specialists in physical training and sports (service branches) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine indicates the need for constant improvement and development of military applied (special) physical skills of servicemen. Specialists insist on the need to introduce in the training of military personnel the skills of overcoming obstacles, moving on the battlefield, throwing grenades, firing from small arms from different positions, swimming in uniform and with weapons. The reform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the training of future officers in military education institutions today makes it possible to abandon outdated approaches and methods of personnel training, and there are opportunities to introduce more effective methods into the military education system. More effective and innovative methods of training future officers of military educational institutions are organized for servicemen of the Armed Forces of NATO partner countries.

Long-Term Fuel-Optimal Collision Avoidance Maneuvers with Station-Keeping Constraints

This work presents a sequential convex program method to compute fuel-optimal collision avoidance maneuvers for long-term encounters. The low-thrust acceleration model is used to account for the control, but the method can compute high-thrust maneuvers by increasing the maximum available acceleration. Dealing with the long-term conjunction poses additional challenges compared to the short-term problem because the encounter is not instantaneous. Thus, under the assumption of Gaussian statistics, the probability of collision is replaced by a simpler metric, the instantaneous probability of collision (IPoC), and a keep-out zone constraint is formulated as a continuous condition to be respected throughout the time frame of interest. The robustness of the solution is improved by introducing a constraint on the sensitivity of IPoC. Furthermore, the collision avoidance problem is coupled with the classical station-keeping requirement for geostationary Earth orbit satellites and with a return to the nominal orbit condition for low Earth orbit satellites. Even though no guarantee is given for the recovery of the global optimum solution, numerical simulations in different orbital regimes show that the proposed approach can yield a local fuel-optimal solution with a run time suitable for autonomous applications.

Optimizing Three-Dimensional Stencil-Operations on Heterogeneous Computing Environments

Complex algorithms and enormous data sets require parallel execution of programs to attain results in a reasonable amount of time. Both aspects are combined in the domain of three-dimensional stencil operations, for example, computational fluid dynamics. This work contributes to the research on high-level parallel programming by discussing the generalizable implementation of a three-dimensional stencil skeleton that works in heterogeneous computing environments. Two exemplary programs, a gas simulation with the Lattice Boltzmann method, and a mean blur, are executed in a multi-node multi-graphics processing units environment, proving the runtime improvements in heterogeneous computing environments compared to a sequential program.

Crop safety and control of acetolactate synthase inhibitor-resistant Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) with very long-chain fatty acid-inhibiting herbicides in dry edible bean

Palmer amaranth is a relatively recent arrival in Western Nebraska, where acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibitor-resistant biotypes are common in the region. With limited effective postemergence (POST) herbicides for controlling ALS-inhibitor-resistant Palmer amaranth in dry edible bean, a sequential preemergence (PRE) followed by (fb) POST program of very long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA)-inhibiting herbicides shows promise. Currently, dimethenamid-P is the only VLCFA-inhibiting herbicide registered for POST use in dry edible bean in Nebraska. The objective of this study was to assess the crop safety and effectiveness in weed control of sequential PRE fb POST programs, including pendimethalin + dimethenamid-P applied PRE fb dimethenamid-P POST, pendimethalin + S-metolachlor PRE fb S-metolachlor POST, and pendimethalin + pyroxasulfone PRE fb POST, in comparison with pendimethalin + dimethenamid-P applied PRE fb imazamox + bentazon + fomesafen applied POST in dry edible bean. Results showed that sequential PRE fb POST programs were more effective in reducing both the density and biomass of Palmer amaranth compared to PRE-alone programs. Pendimethalin + dimethenamid-P applied PRE fb dimethenamid-P POST, along with pendimethalin + S-metolachlor PRE fb S-metolachlor POST, resulted in over 85% control of Palmer amaranth, similar to the effectiveness of pendimethalin + dimethenamid-P PRE fb fomesafen + imazamox + bentazon applied POST. Pendimethalin + pyroxasulfone applied PRE-alone and the application of pendimethalin + pyroxasulfone PRE fb pyroxasulfone POST showed inconsistent control of Palmer amaranth, causing high crop injury, stand loss, and delayed maturity, ultimately leading to yield loss. Dimethenamid-P and S-metolachlor demonstrated excellent crop safety when applied either PRE-only or sequentially. Pendimethalin + S-metolachlor PRE fb S-metolachlor POST provided control of Palmer amaranth comparable to that achieved with POST applications of dimethenamid-P and imazamox + bentazon + fomesafen.

Two sequential gene expression programs bridged by cell division support long-distance collective cell migration.

The precise assembly of tissues and organs relies on spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression to coordinate the collective behavior of cells. In Drosophila embryos, the midgut musculature is formed through collective migration of caudal visceral mesoderm (CVM) cells, but how gene expression changes as cells migrate is not well understood. Here, we have focused on ten genes expressed in the CVM and the cis-regulatory sequences controlling their expression. Although some genes are continuously expressed, others are expressed only early or late during migration. Late expression relates to cell cycle progression, as driving string/Cdc25 causes earlier division of CVM cells and accelerates the transition to late gene expression. In particular, we found that the cell cycle effector transcription factor E2F1 is a required input for the late gene CG5080. Furthermore, whereas late genes are broadly expressed in all CVM cells, early gene transcripts are polarized to the anterior or posterior ends of the migrating collective. We show this polarization requires transcription factors Snail, Zfh1 and Dorsocross. Collectively, these results identify two sequential gene expression programs bridged by cell division that support long-distance directional migration of CVM cells.

Experimental and numerical study on failure mechanism of steel cylindrical tanks subjected to earthquake-tsunami sequence

In coastal areas, earthquakes are very likely to cause deformation of the seafloor crust, which in turn triggers large-scale water displacement and forms tsunamis. Structural damage caused by an earthquake may diminish the resistance of steel cylindrical tanks to tsunami impact, resulting in more pronounced failure behavior. In this study, a sequential loading experimental program and corresponding Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian-based numerical model are developed to investigate the failure mechanism of steel cylindrical tanks subjected to earthquake-tsunami sequence. To be specific, failure characteristics of tank models under isolated tsunami loading are examined through experiments with different solitary wave heights and water velocities. The damage amplification effect of seismic pre-damage on subsequent tsunami impact is compared by subjecting earthquake-damaged tanks to tsunami loading. Results indicate that seismic-damaged tanks exhibit more significant failure behavior due to factors such as geometric deformation, residual stress, and wave breaking. Specifically, the protruding edges caused by seismic pre-damage induce concentrated stress, leading to higher maximum stresses and more pronounced displacement changes in the tank walls. Compared with considering the individual tsunami hazard only, peak displacement failure amplification exhibits fluctuations ranging from 17.1% to 94.5%, while peak stress amplification factors varied between 4.5% and 158.3%. This work lays the groundwork for overcoming the limitations of traditional single-hazard fragility analyses.

PSII-20 Feeding behavior of pigs fed dietary amino acid levels adjusted according to the circadian rhythm

Abstract Pigs are diurnal animals that present feed intake during daylight hours, with feeding peaks in the early morning and late afternoon. However, it is possible that the concentration of amino acids (AA) in the diet throughout the day changes the meal pattern of the pigs. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the feeding behavior of growing-finishing pigs subjected to adjustment of the concentration of AA in the diet according to the circadian rhythm. Sixty-eight (body weight = 25 kg ± 2.67) barrows were assigned to four treatments, being a daily feeding program (DP) and three sequential feeding programs (SEQ). In DP, dietary AA concentration was adjusted daily, providing 100% of the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) recommendation for the 24-h period. In SEQ, the daily dietary AA concentration was adjusted every 12 h, providing a low AA concentration from 0000 to 1159 h and a high AA concentration from 1200 to 2359 h. The low and high AA concentrations of the SEQ corresponded to ±20%, ±30% and ±40% of daily AA requirements. The experiment lasted 82 d and was divided into three phases. Meal pattern variables were recorded in real time by precision feeders. The information obtained was grouped into four periods: PE1, from 0000-0600 h; PE2, 0601-12:00 h; PE3, 1201-1800 h; and PE4, 1801-2359 h. From this database, the visits to the feeder (n), meals (n), amount of time feeding (min), feed intake (g), and feed intake rate (g/min) were calculated for each period, within each experimental phase. The analysis of variance was performed considering the effects of feeding programs (FP), periods (PE), and their interaction (FP×PE), considered significant when P &amp;lt; 0.05. There was no interaction between FP and PE (P &amp;gt; 0.05; Table1). The visits to the feeder were greater (P &amp;lt; 0.01) in PE2 and PE3 compared with PE1 in phase one and compared with PE1 and PE4 in phases two and three. The meals, amount of time feeding, and feed intake was greater (P &amp;lt; 0.01) in PE2 and PE3 in all phases. Regarding feed intake rate, an PE effect (P ≤ 0.01) was observed in all phases and there was an effect of FP (P &amp;lt; 0.01) in phases one and three. In phase one, pigs ingested feed faster in PE3 than PE1, and in phase three feed intake rate in PE1 was less than in the other (P &amp;lt; 0.01). During phase one, SEQ40 feed intake rate was lower than SEQ30, while in phase three SEQ40 showed lower feed intake rate compared with SEQ30 and DP. Pigs showed greater feeding activity from 0600 to 1800 h. The AA concentration in the diet adjusted according to the circadian rhythm did not change the meal pattern of the pigs throughout the day. However, a decreased feed intake rate was observed in SEQ40 group in phases one and three.

185 A Clinical and Translational Science manuscript writing support program for research staff

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The objective of this initiative was to promote MICHR staff’s production of Clinical and Translational Science publications. MICHR leadership approved this initiative, including an evaluation plan with measurable outcomes goals, and contracted with an experienced scientific writing coach with over 20 years of experience working with CTSAs. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: A sequential mixed methods program evaluation designs was used. Pre- and post-surveys were used to measure participating staff’s gain in skill, understanding &amp; satisfaction. An interview with the instructor was then conducted to characterize staff performance, and identify possible areas of programmatic improvement. This initial phase of the program evaluation was conducted in the Summer of 2023. The results were used to inform an expansion of the program to include more staff in the the Fall of 2023. Pre- and post-program surveys of the participants were conducted and interviews with each program participant were conducted. Finally, interviews with non-participating staff were conducted to assess their need for writing support and the challenges and facilitators of their scientific writing. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Preliminary evaluation results obtained in the summer of 2023 were positive. All participants completed the course, and spent an average of 3.3 hours working between sessions. Six manuscripts were developed, five of which are being readied for submission and one submitted as of August 2023. Analysis of the pre-and post-program surveys indicated that all participants gained writing skill and authorship knowledge. Specifically, they gained confidence in 7 writing skills and 6 first-author roles evaluated during the course. All participants were satisfied with their experience and recommended the course to their colleagues, and the course instructor was also satisfied with the course. However, the participants noted that competing work demands and variable preparation hindered their work in the course. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: With the increasing focus on Clinical and Translational Science taking place across the CTSA Consortium it is important to involve research staff in paper writing teams, including in first-author roles. Professional development in scientific writing can support Clinical and Translational Research staff contributing to this emerging science.

Adding parallelism to sequential programs – a combined method

The article outlines a contemporary method for creating software for multi-processor computers. It describes the identification of parallelizable sequential code structures. Three structures were found and then carefully examined. The algorithms used to determine whether or not certain parts of code may be parallelized result from static analysis. The techniques demonstrate how, if possible, existing sequential structures might be transformed into parallel-running programs. A dynamic evaluation is also a part of our process, and it can be used to assess the efficiency of the parallel programs that are developed. As a tool for sequential programs, the algorithms have been implemented in C#. All proposed methods were discussed using a common benchmark.

ASAP: An automatic sequential assignment program for congested multidimensional solid state NMR spectra

Accurate signal assignments can be challenging for congested solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectra. We describe an automatic sequential assignment program (ASAP) to partially overcome this challenge. ASAP takes three input files: the residue type assignments (RTAs) determined from the better-resolved NCACX spectrum, the full peak list of the NCOCX spectrum, and the protein sequence. It integrates our auto-residue type assignment strategy (ARTIST) with the Monte Carlo simulated annealing (MCSA) algorithm to overcome the hurdle for accurate signal assignments caused by incomplete side-chain resonances and spectral congestion. Combined, ASAP demonstrates robust performance and accelerates signal assignments of large proteins (>200 residues) that lack crystalline order.

On the parallelization of multipacting simulation codes for the design of particle accelerator components

Particle trajectory and collision simulation is a critical step of the design and construction of novel particle accelerator components. However it requires a huge computational effort which can slow down the design process. We started from a sequential simulation program which is used to study an event called Multipacting. Our work explains the physical problem that is simulated and the implications it can have on the behavior of the components. Then we analyze the original program’s operation to find the best options for parallelization. We first developed a parallel version of the Multipacting simulation and were able to accelerate the execution up to ∼35×\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\sim 35\ imes $$\\end{document} with 48 or 56 cores. In the best cases, parallelization efficiency was maintained up to 16 cores (∼95\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\sim 95$$\\end{document}%) and the speed-up plateaus at around 40–48 cores. When this first parallelization effort was tried for multi-power simulations, we found that parallelism was severely limited with a maximum of 20×\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$20\ imes $$\\end{document} speed-up. For this reason, we introduced a new method to improve the parallelization efficiency for this second use case. This method uses a shared processor pool for all simulations of electrons (OnePool). OnePool improved scalability by pushing the speed-up to over 32×\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$32\ imes $$\\end{document}.

Fast data-dependence profiling through prior static analysis

Data-dependence profiling is a program-analysis technique for detecting parallelism opportunities in sequential programs. It captures data dependences that actually occur during program execution, filtering parallelism-preventing dependences that purely static methods assume only because they lack critical runtime information, such as the values of pointers and array indices. Profiling, however, suffers from high runtime overhead. In our earlier work, we accelerated data-dependence profiling by excluding polyhedral loops that can be handled statically using certain compilers and eliminating scalar variables that create statically-identifiable data dependences. In this paper, we combine the two methods and integrate them into DiscoPoP, a data-dependence profiler and parallelism discovery tool. Additionally, we detect reduction patterns statically and unify the three static analyses with the DiscoPoP framework to significantly diminish the profiling overhead and for a wider range of programs. We have evaluated our unified approaches with 49 benchmarks from three benchmark suites and two computer simulation applications. The evaluation results show that our approach reports fewer false positive and negative data dependences than the original data-dependence profiler and reduces the profiling time by at least 43%, with a median reduction of 76% across all programs. Also, we identify 40% of reduction cases statically and eliminate the associated profiling overhead for these cases.

Evaluation of sequential mesotrione application rates and sequential tolpyralate and mesotrione applications for narrow-leaved goldenrod management in lowbush blueberry

Sequential mesotrione applications of 72 g a.i. ha−1 gave similar control of narrow-leaved goldenrod as sequential applications of 144 g a.i. ha−1. This use pattern is recommended for narrow-leaved goldenrod management in lowbush blueberry. Early POST tolpyralate applications exhibited good crop tolerance and could be considered as part of a sequential herbicide program for lowbush blueberry.

Extending the range of bugs that automated program repair can handle

Modern automated program repair (APR) is well-tuned to finding and repairing bugs that introduce observable erroneous behavior to a program. However, a significant class of bugs does not lead to observable behavior (e.g., termination bugs and non-functional bugs). Such bugs can generally not be handled with current APR approaches, so complementary techniques are needed. To stimulate the systematic study of alternative approaches and hybrid combinations, we devise a novel bug classification system that enables methodical analysis of their bug detection power and bug repair capabilities. To demonstrate the benefits, we study the repair of termination bugs in sequential and concurrent programs. Our analysis shows that integrating dynamic APR with formal analysis techniques, such as termination provers and software model checkers, reduces complexity and improves the overall reliability of these repairs. We empirically investigate how well the hybrid approach can repair termination and performance bugs by experimenting with hybrids that integrate different APR approaches with termination provers and execution time monitors. Our findings indicate that hybrid repair holds promise for handling termination and performance bugs. However, the capability of the chosen tools and the completeness of the available correctness specification affects the quality of the patches that can be produced.

Extending rely-guarantee thinking to handle real-time scheduling

The reference point for developing any artefact is its specification; to develop software formally, a formal specification is required. For sequential programs, pre and post conditions (together with abstract objects) suffice; rely and guarantee conditions extend the scope of formal development approaches to tackle concurrency. In addition, real-time systems need ways of both requiring progress and relating that progress to some notion of time. This paper extends rely-guarantee ideas to cope with specifications of—and assumptions about—real-time schedulers. Furthermore it shows how the approach helps identify and specify fault-tolerance aspects of such schedulers by systematically challenging the assumptions.