LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Working Paper / Document de travail 2013-26 Uncertain Fiscal Consolidations

Bank of Canada working papers are theoretical or empirical works-in-progress on subjects in economics and finance. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors. No responsibility for them should be attributed to the Bank of Canada. ii Acknowledgements We are grateful to Alberto Alesina and Silvia Ardagna for providing us with their dataset. For many useful comments, we thank the editor, Wouter Den Haan, and an anonymous referee, as well as Abstract The paper explores the macroeconomic consequences of fiscal consolidations whose timing and composition—either tax-or spending-based—are uncertain. We find that the composition of the fiscal consolidation, its duration, the monetary policy stance, the level of government debt, and expectations over the likelihood and composition of fiscal consolidations all matter in determining the extent to which a given consolidation is expansionary or successful in stabilizing government debt. We argue that the conditions that could render fiscal consolidation efforts expansionary are unlikely to apply in the current economic environment. Résumé L'étude explore les conséquences macroéconomiques de programmes d'assainissement budgétaire dont on ne connaît avec certitude ni le calendrier, ni la composition (l'État haussera-t-il les impôts ou réduira-t-il ses dépenses?). Les auteurs montrent que la composition d'un programme donné, sa durée, les anticipations relatives à la vraisemblance de sa mise en oeuvre et à sa composition, l'orientation de la politique monétaire et le niveau de la dette publique influent tous sur la mesure dans laquelle ce programme aura des effets expansionnistes ou réussira à stabiliser la dette publique. Ils jugent peu probable, dans le contexte économique actuel, que les conditions nécessaires pour que les efforts de redressement budgétaire stimulent l'activité économique soient réunies.
A stochastic neighborhood search approach for airport gate assignment problem

An appropriate and efficient gate assignment is of great importance in airports since it plays a major role in the revenue obtained from the airport operations. In this study, we have focused mainly on maximum gate employment, or in other words minimize the total duration of un-gated flights. Here, we propose a method that combines the benefits of heuristic approaches with some stochastic approach instead of using a purely probabilistic approach to top-down solution of the problem. The heuristic approaches are usually used in order to provide a fast solution of the problem and later stochastic searches are used in order to ameliorate the previous results of the heuristic approach whenever possible. The proposed method generates an assignment order for the whole planes that corresponds to assignment priority. The ordering process is followed by the allocation step. Since, in practice, each airport has its own physical architecture, there have been arisen many constraints mainly concerning airplane types and parking lots in this step. Sequentially handling the plane ordering and allocation phases provides us great modularity in handling the constraints. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology has been tried to be illustrated firstly on fictively generated flight schedule data and secondly on the real world data obtained from a real world application developed for _ Istanbul Atatürk Airport. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Designing Patient-Centered Personal Health Records (PHRs): Health Care Professionals’ Perspective on Patient-Generated Data

Currently, patients not only want access to various medical records their health care providers keep about them, but they also are willing to become active participants in managing their own health information and the health information of the ones they care for. Personal health records were developed to help fulfill this need. Health care professionals are instrumental in the successful adoption of PHRs. Nevertheless, a full understanding of different health care practitioners’ views of PHRs, including how PHRs could fit into the existing health care system, is lacking. The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate PHRs from the perspective of health care professionals. Twenty-one practitioners with 10 different specialties were interviewed. The results suggest that although PHRs were still a novel concept to the study participants, a majority of them did value information provided by patients and would recommend that patients keep such records. Participants with different specialties tended to look for different types of information to be included in PHRs, and wished the information to be presented in ways that supported their work, as well as supported knowledge discovery. The participants also expressed a need to share patient information, but had various concerns about sharing. The implications of the results of the study in regard to the design of future PHR systems are discussed.
Modification of soft drinks with xanthan gum to minimise erosion: a study in situ

Objective: To compare the erosive effect of a new blackcurrant/calcium drink with xanthan gum, on enamel in situ, with a low erosive product, a conventional fruit beverage and water.Design: The study was single centre, randomised, single blind, 4 treatment crossover design.Setting: This study, conducted in 2000, employed volunteers working at the Bristol Dental Hospital, UK.Subjects, materials and methods: 16 subjects (≥18 years) wore two enamel samples in a removable acrylic appliance. The drinks tested were (A) New blackcurrant/calcium/gum drink (test product), (B) Original blackcurrant/calcium drink, (C) Conventional blackcurrant drink (positive control) and (D) Water (negative control), for 15 day study periods. Drinking was supervised, with 250 ml imbibed four times/day between 9.00am–5.00pm. Profile measurements of specimens were made at baseline, 5, 10 and 15 days.Main outcome measures: Paired t-tests compared erosion by surfometry with selected pairs of formulations.Results: Of 16 screened subjects (3 male, 13 female), mean age 34.2 years, 1 subject failed to complete the study. A caused significantly less enamel loss than C, with no statistically significant differences from B at any time points measured. Of 43 treatment emergent adverse events, none were considered related to the study formulations.Conclusions: A retained low erosive properties similar to B, with additional benefits of taste flexibility and beverage stability.
Image-based clothes animation for virtual fitting

We propose an image-based approach for virtual clothes fitting, in which a user moves freely in front of a virtual mirror (i.e., video screen) that displays the user wearing a superimposed virtual garment. The motions and deformations of the virtual garment are synthesized by tracking the user's skeleton and utilizing corresponding video clips of the actual garment worn by a model. Our system overcomes challenges in generating a convincing garment animation. With our technique, we developed a real-time system using a Microsoft Kinect camera that demonstrates effective clothes fitting results with a variety of garment types.
Independent Prospective Multicenter Validation of Biochemical Markers (Fibrotest–Actitest) for the Prediction of Liver Fibrosis and Activity in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C: The Fibropaca Study

OBJECTIVES:Fibrotest (FT) and Actitest (AT) are biochemical markers of fibrosis and activity for use as a non-invasive alternative to liver biopsy in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). The aim of this study was to perform an external validation of FT and AT and to study the discordances between FT/AT and liver biopsy in patients with chronic hepatitis C.METHODS:A total of 519 consecutive patients with chronic HCV were prospectively included in five centers, with liver biopsy and biochemical markers taken at the same day. Fifteen patients were excluded because their biopsies could not be interpreted. Diagnostic accuracies were assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.RESULTS:Median biopsy size was 15 mm (range: 2–58), with 9 portal tracts (1–37) and 1 fragment (1–12). 46% (230/504) were classified F2–F4 in fibrosis and 39% A2–A3 in activity. FT area under ROC curve for diagnosis of activity (A2–A3), significant fibrosis (F2–F4), and severe fibrosis (F3–F4) were 0.73 [0.69–0.77], 0.79 [0.75–0.82], and 0.80 [0.76–0.83], respectively. Among the 92 patients (18%) with 2 fibrosis stages of discordance between FT and biopsy, the discordance was attributable to FT in 5% of cases, to biopsy in 4%, and undetermined in 9%.CONCLUSIONS:This prospective independent and multicenter study confirms the diagnostic value of FT and AT found in the princeps study and suggests that FT and AT can be an alternative to biopsy in most patients with chronic HCV.
The Persona Zero-Effect: Evaluating Virtual Character Benefits on a Learning Task with Repeated Interactions

Embodied agents have the potential to become a highly natural human-computer interaction device – they are already is use as tutors, presenters and assistants. However, it remains an open question whether adding an agent to an application has a measurable impact, positive or negative, in terms of motivation and learning performance. Prior studies are very diverse with respect to design, statistical power and outcome; and repeated interactions are rarely considered. We present a controlled user study of a vocabulary trainer application that evaluates the effect on motivation and learning performance. Subjects interacted either with a no-agent and with-agent version in a between-subjects design in repeated sessions. As opposed to prior work (e.g. Persona Effect), we found neither positive nor negative effects on motivation and learning performance, i.e. a Persona Zero-Effect. This means that adding an agent does not benefit the performance but also, does not distract.
Who cares?: theory, research, and educational implications of the ethic of care

Introduction by Mary Brabeck: Who Cares? Defining and Re-Defining the Ethic of Care Twenty Three Hundred Years of Women Philosophers: Toward a Gender Undifferentiated Moral Theory by Mary Ellen Waithe The Liberation of Caring: A Different Voice for Gilligan's "Different Voice" by Bill Puka Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child: The Call and Response for a Liberational Ethic of Care by Black Feminists by Toinette M. Eugene Pragmatism, Feminism and Sensitivity to Context by Charlene Haddock Seigfried Prolegomena to Future Caring by Barbara Houston Empirical Studies of Those Who Care Ways of Knowing, Learning and Making Moral Choices by Nona Lyons Gender Differences in Empathy and Prosocial Moral Reasoning: Empirical Investigations by Nancy Eisenberg, Richard Fabes and Cindy Shea Ethical Sensitivity and Moral Reasoning among Men and Women in the Professions by Muriel Bebeau and Mary Brabeck The Caring Self: Social Experiences of Power and Powerlessness by M. Brinton Lykes Educating for Care Transforming Moral Education by Jane Roland Martin The Just Community Educational Program: The Development of Moral Role-Taking as the Expression of Justice and Care by Ann Higgins Educating Moral People by Nel Noddings Selected Bibliography Index
Attitudes towards the administration of long-acting antipsychotics: a survey of physicians and nurses

BACKGROUND
Discontinuation of antipsychotic treatment for schizophrenia can interrupt improvement and exacerbate the illness. Reasons for discontinuing treatment are multifactorial and include adherence, efficacy and tolerability issues. Poor adherence may be addressed through non-pharmacological approaches as well as through pharmacological ones, ie ensured delivery of medication, such as that achieved with long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics. However, attitudes of healthcare professionals (HCPs) towards LAI antipsychotics may influence their prescribing decisions and may influence medication choices offered to patients. We therefore conducted a survey to investigate factors driving LAI use as well as physician and nurse attitudes to LAI antipsychotics and to different injection sites.


METHODS
An independent market research agency conducted the survey of HCPs across Europe. Participants were recruited by telephone and completed the survey online. Using conjoint analyses (a multivariate statistical technique analysing preferences on the basis of ranking a limited number of attributes which are presented repetitively), attitudes to oral versus LAI medication and gluteal versus deltoid injection routes were assessed.


RESULTS
A total of 891 HCPs across Europe were surveyed. Of these, 40% would choose LAI antipsychotics for first episode patients whereas 90% would select LAI antipsychotics for chronic patients with two to five psychotic episodes. Dominant elements in antipsychotic choice were low sedation but no tardive dyskinesia, no or mild pain at injection and low risk of embarrassment or impact upon therapeutic alliance. Eighty-six per cent of respondents considered that having the choice of a deltoid as well as gluteal administration site was beneficial over not having that choice. Two thirds of respondents said they agreed that medication administration via the deltoid muscle may reduce social embarrassment associated with LAI antipsychotics and most respondents (61%) believed that administration of LAI antipsychotics into the deltoid muscle as opposed to the gluteal muscle may be more respectful to the patient.


CONCLUSIONS
In this survey of physicians and nurses, attitudes towards LAI antipsychotics compared with oral medication were generally positive. Respondents considered that the availability of a deltoid administration route would offer increased choice in LAI antipsychotic administration and may be perceived as more respectful and less socially embarrassing.
Cardiac Depression Scale: Mokken scaling in heart failure patients

BACKGROUND
There is a high prevalence of depression in patients with heart failure (HF) that is associated with worsening prognosis. The value of using a reliable and valid instrument to measure depression in this population is therefore essential. We validated the Cardiac Depression Scale (CDS) in heart failure patients using a model of ordinal unidimensional measurement known as Mokken scaling.


FINDINGS
We administered in face-to-face interviews the CDS to 603 patients with HF. Data were analysed using Mokken scale analysis. Items of the CDS formed a statistically significant unidimensional Mokken scale of low strength (H<0.40) and high reliability (Rho>0.8).


CONCLUSIONS
The CDS has a hierarchy of items which can be interpreted in terms of the increasingly serious effects of depression occurring as a result of HF. Identifying an appropriate instrument to measure depression in patients with HF allows for early identification and better medical management.
Out in the cold: genetic variation of Nothofagus pumilio (Nothofagaceae) provides evidence for latitudinally distinct evolutionary histories in austral South America.

Nothofagus pumilio is the dominant and almost ubiquitous tree species in mountainous environments of temperate South America. We used two types of molecular markers (cpDNA and isozymes) to evaluate the effects of the Paleogene paleogeography of Patagonia and more recent climatic oscillations of the Neogene on such cold-tolerant species' genetic makeup. Phylogeographic analysis on sequences of three cpDNA non-coding regions at 85 populations yielded two latitudinally disjunct monophyletic clades north and south of c. 42 degrees S containing 11 and three haplotypes, respectively. This indicates a long-lasting vicariant event due to the presence of an extended open paleobasin at mid latitudes of Patagonia. Also distribution patterns of cpDNA haplotypes suggest regional spread following stepping-stone models using pre-Cenozoic mountains as corridors. Comparable genetic diversity measured along 41 sampled populations using seven polymorphic isozyme loci provides evidence of local persistence and spread from multiple ice-free locations. In addition, significantly higher heterozygosity and allelic richness at high latitudes, i.e. in areas of larger glacial extent, suggest survival in large and isolated refugia. While, higher cpDNA diversity in lower latitudes reflects the complex orogeny that historically isolated northern populations, lower isozyme diversity and reduced F(ST) values provide evidence of local glacial survival in numerous small locales. Therefore, current genetic structure of N. pumilio is the result of regional processes which took place during the Tertiary that were enhanced by contemporary local effects of drift and isolation in response to Quaternary climatic cycles.
AutoEpsDBSCAN : DBSCAN with Eps Automatic for Large Dataset

Emergence of modern techniques for scientific data collection has resulted in large scale accumulation of data pertaining to diverse fields. Conventional database querying methods are inadequate to extract useful information from huge data banks. Cluster analysis is a primary method for database mining [8]. It is either used as a stand-alone tool to get insight into the distribution of a data set or as a pre-processing step for other algorithms operating on the detected clusters. Almost all of the wellknown clustering algorithms require input parameters which are hard to determine but have a significant influence on the clustering result. Furthermore, for many real-data sets there does not even exist a global parameter setting for which the result of the clustering algorithm describes the intrinsic clustering structure accurately [1], [2]. DBSCAN (Density Based Spatial Clustering of Application with Noise) [1] is a base algorithm for density based clustering techniques. This paper gives a survey of density based clustering algorithms with the proposed enhanced algorithm that automatically selects the input parameters along with its implementation and comparison with the existing DBSCAN algorithm. The experimental results shows that the proposed algorithm can detect the clusters of varied density with different shapes and sizes from large amount of data which contains noise and outliers, requires only one input parameters and gives better output then the DBSCAN algorithm. KeywordsClustering Algorithms, Data mining, DBSCAN, Density, Eps, Minpts, and VDBSCAN.
Neuromuscular adaptations to eccentric strength training in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy.

AIM
To determine the neuromuscular outcomes of an eccentric strength-training programme for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP).


METHOD
In this randomised, parallel-group trial with waiting control, 14 participants with CP (six males, eight females; mean age 11y, SD 2y range 9-15y), diagnosed with upper-limb spasticity were compared with 14 age- and sex-matched typically developing participants. Participants with CP completed a 6-week progressive resistance-strengthening programme, performing eccentric lengthening contractions of their upper limb three times a week. Data from dynamometer and surface electromyography (EMG) assessments included peak torque normalised to body mass (T/Bm), work normalised to body mass (W/Bm), angle at peak torque, curve width, and EMG activation.


RESULTS
After training, children with CP had improved eccentric T/Bm (p=0.009) and W/Bm (p=0.009) to a level similar to that of the typically developing children. No change in angle of peak torque occurred, although curve width increased both concentrically (p=0.018) and eccentrically (p=0.015). EMG activity was elevated before training in children with CP but decreased with training to levels similar to those of the typically developing children.


INTERPRETATION
With eccentric strength training, children with CP increased torque throughout range of motion. Results suggest that eccentric exercises may decrease co-contraction, improving net torque development. Eccentric actions may be important in the maintenance of the torque-angle relationship. These results have significant implications for the prescription of strength-training programmes for people with CP.
Modeling and Dynamic Simulation of Electric Power Steering System of Automobile Using Bond Graph Technique

Electric Power Steering (EPS) systems have many merits over traditional hydraulic power steering systems in fuel economy, variable assist capabilities and favorable road feeling by virtue of adjustment assist characteristic with adopting assist motor in replacement of hydraulic pump. This paper aims at modeling the mechanical parts, the assist motor and electronic control unit by bond graph technique and simulating system dynamic performance regarding vehicle maneuverability and stability and driver’s steering feel by Matlab/Simulink. The simulation results provide that the bond graph EPS model can reflect stability and dynamic steering characteristic in effect.
Indoor localization for autonomous mobile robot based on passive RFID

In this paper, we propose a novel method using read-time of IC tags to reduce the localization error of an RFID navigation system. In order to reduce localization error, many approaches have been introduced. However, they do not deal with the problems that arise when the antenna can read at most one tag at any given moment. Using this, our passive RFID system is able to estimate the robot's location and orientation more accurately without the use of external sensors or a vision system. The experimental results show that the proposed method effectively estimates both the location and the pose of a mobile robot during navigation. We present results of trajectories of the robot in navigation and compare them with a generally utilized RFID algorithm.
Alterations in balance and mobility in people with epilepsy

PURPOSE
People with epilepsy (PWE) are burdened by physical disability and side effects of antiepileptic drugs (AED) such as drowsiness and blurred vision. These factors place them at risk for reduced mobility and falls. The purpose of this study was to evaluate mobility and balance in PWE.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study of PWE and age- and sex-matched controls. We evaluated mobility and balance using the Timed Up and Go Test (TUG) and the Tinetti Mobility Test (TMT). Self-reported confidence in balance was assessed using the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC). Clinical and demographic characteristics and particularly epilepsy-related variables were recorded.


RESULTS
We included 33 PWE and 33 controls. PWE had a mean age of 36.7years, and 61% were male. They had a mean of 1.52 of seizures per month and used a mean of 1.6 anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs). PWE scored significantly worse in all measures (TUG, TMT, ABC) when compared with controls. PWE had poor performance in 60.6% of cases in the TUG and in 48.5% of cases in the TMT, compared to none in the control group. There was good correlation between the three instruments. TUG scores were correlated with epilepsy duration, but not age, seizure control or AED use. On multivariate logistic regression, poor performance TMT was significantly associated with poor confidence in balance, according to the ABC.


CONCLUSIONS
PWE have significant alterations in balance and mobility, independently of AED use or seizure control. These alterations are reflected in a poor self-reported confidence in carrying out daily activities.