LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Cross-protection between successive waves of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic: epidemiological evidence from US Army camps and from Britain.

BACKGROUND
The current worst-case scenario for pandemic influenza planning is based on the catastrophic 1918-1919 pandemic. In this article, we examine the strength of cross-protection between successive waves of the 1918-1919 pandemic, which has remained a long-standing issue of debate.


METHOD
We studied monthly hospitalization and mortality rates for respiratory illness in 37 army camps, as well as the rates of repeated episodes of influenza infection during January-December 1918 in 8 military and civilian settings in the United States and Britain.


RESULTS
A first wave of respiratory illness occurred in US Army camps during March-May 1918 and in Britain during May-June, followed by a lethal second wave in the fall. The first wave was characterized by high morbidity but had a lower fatality rate than the second wave (1.1% vs. 4.7% among hospitalized soldiers; P < .001). Based on repeated illness data, the first wave provided 35%-94% protection against clinical illness during the second wave and 56%-89% protection against death (P < .001).


CONCLUSION
Exposure to influenza in the spring and summer of 1918 provided mortality and morbidity protection during the fall pandemic wave. The intensity of the first wave may have differed across US cities and countries and may partly explain geographical variation in pandemic mortality rates in the fall. Pandemic preparedness plans should consider that immune protection could be naturally acquired during a first wave of mild influenza illnesses.
ABOD3: A Graphical Visualization and Real-Time Debugging Tool for BOD Agents

Current software for AI development requires the use of programming languages to develop intelligent agents. This can be disadvantageous for AI designers, as their work needs to be debugged and treated as a generic piece of software code. Moreover, such approaches are designed for experts; often requiring a steep initial learning curve, as they are tailored for programmers. This can be also disadvantageous for implementing transparency to agents, an important ethical consideration [1], [2], as additional work is needed to expose and represent information to end users. We are working towards the development of a new editor, ABOD3. It allows the graphical visualisation of Behaviour Oriented Design based plans [3], including its two major derivatives: Parallel-rooted, Ordered Slip-stack Hierarchical (POSH) and Instinct [4]. The new editor is designed to allow not only the development of reactive plans, but also to debug such plans in real time to reduce the time required to develop an agent. This allows the development and testing of plans from a same application.
Socioeconomic position, macroeconomic environment and overweight among adolescents in 35 countries

Objective:It is important to understand levels and social inequalities in childhood overweight within and between countries. This study examined prevalence and social inequality in adolescent overweight in 35 countries, and associations with macroeconomic factors.Design:International cross-sectional survey in national samples of schools.Subjects:A total of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds from 35 countries in Europe and North America in 2001–2002 (N=162 305).Measurements:The main outcome measure was overweight based on self-reported height and weight (body mass index cut-points corresponding to body mass index of 25 kg/m2 at the age of 18 years). Measures included family and school affluence (within countries), and average country income and economic inequality (between countries).Results:There were large variations in adolescent overweight, from 3.5% in Lithuanian girls to 31.7% in boys from Malta. Prevalence of overweight was higher among children from less affluent families in 21 of 24 Western and 5 of 10 Central European countries. However, children from more affluent families were at higher risk of overweight in Croatia, Estonia and Latvia. In Poland, Lithuania, Macedonia and Finland, girls from less affluent families were more overweight whereas the opposite was found for boys. Average country income was associated with prevalence and inequality in overweight when considering all countries together. However, economic inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient was differentially associated with prevalence and socioeconomic inequality in overweight among the 23-high income and 10-middle income countries, with a positive relationship among the high income countries and a negative association among the middle income countries.Conclusion:The direction and magnitude of social inequality in adolescent overweight shows large international variation, with negative social gradients in most countries, but positive social gradients, especially for boys, in some Central European countries. Macroeconomic factors are associated with the heterogeneity in prevalence and social inequality of adolescent overweight.
Proposal for an intelligent lighting system, and verification of control method effectiveness

In recent years, various types of equipment have become more intelligent. In this research, we propose an intelligent lighting system for providing the necessary illuminance to a desired location; actually construct a fundamental experiment system based on that concept; and verify the effectiveness of the newly developed control method. Verification tests were conducted using an optimization algorithm specialized for lighting control, and the results showed that the various illuminance sensors converged to the preset target illuminance. We also confirmed that the system can respond adaptively to the movement of illuminance sensors and contingencies like lighting malfunctions.
Generative Adversarial Privacy

We present a data-driven framework called generative adversarial privacy (GAP). Inspired by recent advancements in generative adversarial networks (GANs), GAP allows the data holder to learn the privatization mechanism directly from the data. Under GAP, finding the optimal privacy mechanism is formulated as a constrained minimax game between a privatizer and an adversary. We show that for appropriately chosen adversarial loss functions, GAP provides privacy guarantees against strong information-theoretic adversaries. We also evaluate the performance of GAP on multi-dimensional Gaussian mixture models and the GENKI face database. KeywordsData Privacy, Differential Privacy, Adversarial Learning, Generative Adversarial Networks, Minimax Games, Information Theory
Principles of survey research part 6: data analysis

This article is the last of our series of articles on survey research. In it, we discuss how to analyze survey data. We provide examples of correct and incorrect analysis techniques used in software engineering surveys.
Complications of scoliosis surgery in children with myelomeningocele

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether the high incidence of complications in scoliosis surgery in myelomeningocele (MMC) could be attributed to the surgical technique and whether improvements were possible. Between 1984 and 1996, 77 patients with MMC and scoliosis were treated surgically. The clinical and radiological follow-up ranged from 1 to 10 years with a mean follow-up of 3.6 years. The mean age at time of surgery was 12 years 8 months. The average preoperative scoliosis measured 90.20° and was corrected by 47%. The first four patients were stabilized with Harrington rods after anterior correction with a Zielke device (group 1). Twenty-five patients were operated only from posterior, using Cotrel-Dubousset (CD) instrumentation (group 2). In 13 patients an anterior release and discectomy was performed prior to CD posterior instrumentation (group 3). In 26 patients (group 4) this was combined with an anterior instrumentation. The 9 patients of group 5 had congenital vertebral malformations which made a special treatment necessary. Complications could be divided into hardware problems, such as implant failure, dislocation or pseudarthrosis, infections, anesthetic, and neurologic complications. Hardware problems were seen in 29% of all patients. More hardware problems were seen with the Harrington rod (75%) and after solitary posterior instrumentation (30%). The occurrence of pseudarthrosis was dependent on the surgical technique, the extent of posterior spondylodesis, and lumbosacral fusion. Patients with hardware problems had a mean loss of correction of 49% compared to 13% in the other patients. Depending on the different surgical techniques a loss of more than 30% was seen in 12–75% of the cases. Early postoperative shunt failure occurred in four cases; delayed failure – after more than 1 year – in three cases. One patient died within 1 day due to an acute hydrocephalus, another died after 21/2 years because of chronic shunt insufficiency with herniation. Wound problems were not dependent on the surgical technique, but on the extent of posterior spondylodesis and the lumbosacral fusion. Based on this analysis we believe our current practice of instrumented anterior and posterior fusion is justified. Further, we are very careful to check shunt function prior to acute correction of spinal deformity.
The role of project management in achieving project success

The role of different project management techniques to implement projects successfully has been widely established in areas such as the planning and control of time, cost and quality. In spite of this the distinction between the project and project management is less than precise. This paper aims to identify the overlap between the definition of the project and project management and to discuss how the confusion between the two may affect their relationship. It identifies the different individuals involved on the project and project management, together with their objectives, expectations and influences. It demonstrates how a better appreciation of the distinction between the two will bring a higher possibility of project success. Copyright © Elsevier Science Ltd and IPMA
Development of the Ground Coil for Practical Use by the Combined Propulsion , Levitation and Guidance System ( * )

It is required to reduce the cost of ground coils used in the superconducting maglev system given their large quantity in use. They should also have high reliability and improved workability at installation. Therefore, we developed a ground coil for practical use by the combined Propulsion, Levitation and Guidance system (PLG coil) to reduce the construction cost of the superconducting maglev line. After repeating calculation and examination, we made some PLG coils on trial, and examined them to confirm their initial performance. As a result, we confirmed that their initial insulation strength was satisfactory and they were able to be put into practical use.
Augmentation in the Wild : User Centered Development and Evaluation of Augmented Reality Applications

Augmented Reality (AR) technology has, despite many applications in the research domain, not made it to a widespread end user market. The one exception is AR applications for mobile phones. One of the main reasons for this development is technological constraints of the non-mobile phone based systems the devices used are still neither mobile nor lightweight enough or simply not usable enough. This thesis addresses the latter issue by taking a holistic approach to the development and evaluation of AR applications for both single user and multiple user tasks. The main hypothesis is that in order for substantial wide spread use of AR technology, the applications must be developed with the aim to solve real world problems with the end user and goal in focus. Augmented Reality systems are information systems that merge real and virtual information with the purpose of aiding users in different tasks. An AR system is a general system much like a computer is general; it has potential as a tool for many different purposes in many different situations. The studies in this thesis describe user studies of two different types of AR applications targeting different user groups and different application areas. The first application, described and evaluated, is aimed at giving users instructions for use and assembly of different medical devices. The second application is a study where AR technology has been used as a tool for supporting collaboration between the rescue services, the police and military personnel in a crisis management scenario. Both applications were iteratively developed with end user representatives involved throughout the process and the results illustrate that users both in the context of medical care, and the emergency management domain, are positive towards AR systems as a technology and as a tool in their work related tasks. The main contributions of the thesis are not only the end results of the user studies, but also the methodology used in the studies of this relatively new type of technology. The studies have shown that involving real end users both in the design of the application and in the user task is important for the user experience of the system. Allowing for an iterative design process is also a key point. Although AR technology development is often driven by technological advances rather than user demands, there is room for a more user centered approach, for single user applications as well as for more dynamic and complex multiple user applications.
Better knowledge with social media? Exploring the roles of social capital and organizational knowledge management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore social media’s impact on organizational knowledge quality through the theoretical lens of social capital and resource exchange. Design/methodology/approach – Theory-confirming, quantitative study using panel data collected through web-based survey Findings – The results show that while social media affect structural capital and cognitive capital directly, it only affects relational capital indirectly through structural and cognitive capital. Moreover, overall social media and the enhanced social capital do help promote organizational efforts in knowledge management, which subsequently leads to higher level of organizational knowledge quality. Research limitations/implications – All survey respondents were from the U.S., which may limit the generalizability of the findings. The authors also call for more research in establishing the time sequence in the proposed causal relations and in the individual level mechanism through which social media promotes organizational knowledge quality.
Diagnostic blood loss from phlebotomy and hospital-acquired anemia during acute myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND
Hospital-acquired anemia (HAA) during acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is associated with higher mortality and worse health status and often develops in the absence of recognized bleeding. The extent to which diagnostic phlebotomy, a modifiable process of care, contributes to HAA is unknown.


METHODS
We studied 17,676 patients with AMI from 57 US hospitals included in a contemporary AMI database from January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2008, who were not anemic at admission but developed moderate to severe HAA (in which the hemoglobin level declined from normal to <11 g/dL), a degree of HAA that has been shown to be prognostically important. Patients' total diagnostic blood loss was calculated by multiplying the number and types of blood tubes drawn by the standard volume for each tube type. Hierarchical modified Poisson regression was used to test the association between phlebotomy and moderate to severe HAA, after adjusting for site and potential confounders.


RESULTS
Moderate to severe HAA developed in 3551 patients (20%). The mean (SD) phlebotomy volume was higher in patients with HAA (173.8 [139.3] mL) vs those without HAA (83.5 [52.0 mL]; P < .001). There was significant variation in the mean diagnostic blood loss across hospitals (moderate to severe HAA: range, 119.1-246.0 mL; mild HAA or no HAA: 53.0-110.1 mL). For every 50 mL of blood drawn, the risk of moderate to severe HAA increased by 18% (relative risk [RR], 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-1.22), which was only modestly attenuated after multivariable adjustment (RR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.12-1.18).


CONCLUSIONS
Blood loss from greater use of phlebotomy is independently associated with the development of HAA. These findings suggest that HAA may be preventable by implementing strategies to limit blood loss from laboratory testing.
Comparison of Different Scheduling Algorithm for LTE

In this paper we evaluate the performance of Packet Scheduling (PS) for different packet scheduling algorithms of 3GPP UTRAN Long Term Evolution (LTE) Downlink. Packet scheduling is importance in 3G LTE, because different types of traffic with different Quality of Service requirements are competing of the resources. In this paper, packet scheduler for LTE downlink is described. Comparison of three basic packet scheduling algorithm with their simulation result with different amount of fairness is explained. This paper shows that by dividing the packet scheduler into a time domain, frequency domain and also utilizing those using different algorithms, the throughput fairness between users can be effectively controlled. Keywords—LTE, round robin, proportional fair, best CQI, scheduling.
Kinetic Energy of Wind-Turbine Generators for System Frequency Support

As wind power penetration increases and fossil plants are retired, it is feared that there will be insufficient kinetic energy (KE) from the plants to support the system frequency. This paper shows the fear is groundless because the high inertias (H cong 4 seconds) of wind turbine-generators (WTGs) can be integrated to provide frequency support during generation outage.
Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework/Graphene Oxide Hybrid Nanosheets as Seeds for the Growth of Ultrathin Molecular Sieving Membranes.

A defect-free zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8)/graphene oxide (GO) membrane with a thickness of 100 nm was prepared using two-dimensional (2D) ZIF-8/GO hybrid nanosheets as seeds. Hybrid nanosheets with a suitable amount of ZIF-8 nanocrystals were essential for producing a uniform seeding layer that facilitates fast crystal intergrowth during membrane formation. Moreover, the seeding layer acts as a barrier between two different synthesis solutions, and self-limits crystal growth and effectively eliminates defects during the contra-diffusion process. The resulting ultrathin membranes show excellent molecular sieving gas separation properties, such as with a high CO2 /N2 selectivity of 7.0. This 2D nano-hybrid seeding strategy can be readily extended to the fabrication of other defect-free and ultrathin MOF or zeolite molecular sieving membranes for a wide range of separation applications.
Weight loss with a low-carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or low-fat diet.

BACKGROUND
Trials comparing the effectiveness and safety of weight-loss diets are frequently limited by short follow-up times and high dropout rates.


METHODS
In this 2-year trial, we randomly assigned 322 moderately obese subjects (mean age, 52 years; mean body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], 31; male sex, 86%) to one of three diets: low-fat, restricted-calorie; Mediterranean, restricted-calorie; or low-carbohydrate, non-restricted-calorie.


RESULTS
The rate of adherence to a study diet was 95.4% at 1 year and 84.6% at 2 years. The Mediterranean-diet group consumed the largest amounts of dietary fiber and had the highest ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fat (P<0.05 for all comparisons among treatment groups). The low-carbohydrate group consumed the smallest amount of carbohydrates and the largest amounts of fat, protein, and cholesterol and had the highest percentage of participants with detectable urinary ketones (P<0.05 for all comparisons among treatment groups). The mean weight loss was 2.9 kg for the low-fat group, 4.4 kg for the Mediterranean-diet group, and 4.7 kg for the low-carbohydrate group (P<0.001 for the interaction between diet group and time); among the 272 participants who completed the intervention, the mean weight losses were 3.3 kg, 4.6 kg, and 5.5 kg, respectively. The relative reduction in the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was 20% in the low-carbohydrate group and 12% in the low-fat group (P=0.01). Among the 36 subjects with diabetes, changes in fasting plasma glucose and insulin levels were more favorable among those assigned to the Mediterranean diet than among those assigned to the low-fat diet (P<0.001 for the interaction among diabetes and Mediterranean diet and time with respect to fasting glucose levels).


CONCLUSIONS
Mediterranean and low-carbohydrate diets may be effective alternatives to low-fat diets. The more favorable effects on lipids (with the low-carbohydrate diet) and on glycemic control (with the Mediterranean diet) suggest that personal preferences and metabolic considerations might inform individualized tailoring of dietary interventions. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00160108.)
Prospective study of positron emission tomography for evaluation of the activity of lapatinib, a dual inhibitor of the ErbB1 and ErbB2 tyrosine kinases, in patients with advanced tumors.

BACKGROUND
To evaluate the role of FDG-PET in assessing anti-tumor efficacy of molecular targeted drugs, we prospectively performed FDG-PET and CT for response evaluation in patients treated with lapatinib, a dual inhibitor of ErbB1 and ErbB2 tyrosine kinases.


METHODS
Lapatinib was given orally once a day at doses ranging from 1200 to 1800 mg in a phase I study. CT and FDG-PET were performed before treatment, and at 1, 2 and 3 months after the initiation of the treatment and every 2 months thereafter.


RESULTS
A total of 29 FDG-PET examinations were performed in eight patients with various solid tumors and the metabolic activity in the tumor was evaluated as SUVmax. The best responses, as assessed by CT, were as follows; one partial response, four stable disease and three disease progression. The partial response was observed in a patient with trastuzumab-resistant breast cancer, whose SUVmax was decreased by 60% from baseline. In all of the four patients whose best response was stable disease, the SUVmax was decreased by 6-42% one month after the start of treatment. Prolonged stable disease (10 months) was observed in a patient with colon cancer, whose SUVmax was decreased by 42%. In the patient group with disease progression, SUVmax was increased in two out of three patients.


CONCLUSIONS
FDG-PET detected decreases in the metabolic activity of the tumors in patients who experienced clinical benefits on treatment with lapatinib. Thus, FDG-PET may be useful for the evaluation of molecular targeted drugs, such as lapatinib.