LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Adopting Continuous Delivery and Deployment: Impacts on Team Structures, Collaboration and Responsibilities

Context: Continuous Delivery and Deployment (CD) practices aim to deliver software features more frequently and reliably. While some efforts have been made to study different aspects of CD practices, a little empirical work has been reported on the impact of CD on team structures, collaboration and team members' responsibilities. Goal: Our goal is to empirically investigate how Development (Dev) and Operations (Ops) teams are organized in software industry for adopting CD practices. Furthermore, we explore the potential impact of practicing CD on collaboration and team members' responsibilities. Method:We conducted a mixed-method empirical study, which collected data from 21 in-depth, semi-structured interviews in 19 organizations and a survey with 93 software practitioners. Results: There are four common types of team structures (i.e., (1) separate Dev and Ops teams with higher collaboration; (2) separate Dev and Ops teams with facilitator(s) in the middle; (3) small Ops team with more responsibilities for Dev team; (4) no visible Ops team) for organizing Dev and Ops teams to effectively initiate and adopt CD practices. Our study also provides insights into how software organizations actually improve collaboration among teams and team members for practicing CD. Furthermore, we highlight new responsibilities and skills (e.g., monitoring and logging skills), which are needed in this regard.
Some physical investigations of the behaviour of bacterial surfaces. VI. Chemical modification of surface components.

Abstract 1. 1. Cells of Aerobacter aerogenes were chemically modified using p -toluenesulphonyl chloride, fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, diazomethane, methanolic HCl, dicyclohexyl-carbodiimide, N ethyl-5-phenylisoxazolium-3′-sulphonate, ethylene and propylene oxides and ethyleneimine. 2. 2. The electrophoretic mobility of the modified cells was determined on suspensions in solution at various pH values. 3. 3. The infrared spectra of the modified cells was plotted to confirm the type of modification which had occurred. 4. 4. The results indicate that for cells of Aerobacter aerogenes there is no adsorption of ions from the suspension media onto the basic surface matrix, and that their mobility value is largely determined by the surface ionogenic groups, modified by gegenion association. 5. 5. Diazomethane and methanolic HCl were the most suitable reagents for the modification of the carboxyl groups on alcohol-stable surfaces, and fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and p -toluenesulphonyl chloride for amino groups.
Does British Sociology Count

The research reported here is from the first national survey of British undergraduate attitudes to the methodological character of the discipline and specifically to quantitative methods.The study found that most sociology students saw their subject as closer to the humanities than the sciences. However, whilst as anticipated many students expressed anxiety about quantitative methods and ‘number’, a slight majority nevertheless expressed no such anxiety. The methodological issue for sociology is perhaps less to do with a numeric deficit and more to do with a lack of student interest in the use of quantitative methods. It may be concluded that the views held by present undergraduates do not augur well for a methodologically pluralist discipline in the future, or more generally for key numeric and analytic skills sociology graduates can bring to other professions and occupations.
Is aggression in children with behavioural and emotional difficulties associated with television viewing and video game playing? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND
Possible associations between television viewing and video game playing and children's aggression have become public health concerns. We did a systematic review of studies that examined such associations, focussing on children and young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties, who are thought to be more susceptible.


METHODS
We did computer-assisted searches of health and social science databases, gateways, publications from relevant organizations and for grey literature; scanned bibliographies; hand-searched key journals; and corresponded with authors. We critically appraised all studies.


RESULTS
A total of 12 studies: three experiments with children with behavioural and emotional difficulties found increased aggression after watching aggressive as opposed to low-aggressive content television programmes, one found the opposite and two no clear effect, one found such children no more likely than controls to imitate aggressive television characters. One case-control study and one survey found that children and young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties watched more television than controls; another did not. Two studies found that children and young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties viewed more hours of aggressive television programmes than controls. One study on video game use found that young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties viewed more minutes of violence and played longer than controls. In a qualitative study children with behavioural and emotional difficulties, but not their parents, did not associate watching television with aggression. All studies had significant methodological flaws. None was based on power calculations.


CONCLUSION
This systematic review found insufficient, contradictory and methodologically flawed evidence on the association between television viewing and video game playing and aggression in children and young people with behavioural and emotional difficulties. If public health advice is to be evidence-based, good quality research is needed.
The PEX study – Exercise therapy for patellofemoral pain syndrome: design of a randomized clinical trial in general practice and sports medicine [ISRCTN83938749]

BACKGROUND
Patellofemoral complaints are frequently seen in younger and active patients. Clinical strategy is usually based on decreasing provoking activities as sports and demanding knee activities during work and leisure and reassuring the patient on the presumed good outcome. Exercise therapy is also often prescribed although evidence on effectiveness is lacking. The objective of this article is to present the design of a randomized clinical trial that examines the outcome of exercise therapy supervised by a physical therapist versus a clinically accepted "wait and see" approach (information and advice about the complaints only). The research will address to both effectiveness and cost effectiveness of supervised exercise therapy in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS).


METHODS/DESIGN
136 patients (adolescents and young adults) with patellofemoral pain syndrome are recruited in general practices and sport medicine centers. They will be randomly allocated receiving either 3 months of exercise therapy (or usual care. The primary outcome measures are pain, knee function and perception of recovery after 3 months and 12 months of follow up and will be measured by self reporting. Measurements will take place at baseline, 6 weeks, and 3 monthly until 1 year after inclusion in the study. Secondary outcome measurements include an economic evaluation.A cost-utility analysis will be performed that expresses health improvements in Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and incorporates direct medical costs and productivity costs


DISCUSSION
This study has been designed after reviewing the literature on exercise therapy for patellofemoral pain syndrome. It was concluded that to merit the effect of exercise therapy a trial based on correct methodological concept needed to be executed. The PEX study is a randomized clinical trial where exercise therapy is compared to usual care. This trial started in April 2005 and will finish in June 2007. The first results will be available around December 2007.
Colorectal Cancer Burden and Access to Federally Qualified Health Centers in California

Figure. Colorectal cancer burden and access to primary health care, California. A vast majority of Californians (96%) live within a 30-minute drive of a federally qualified health center (FQHC). This is true for areas in both the top and bottom quintiles (96% and 93% respectively) based on the percentage of colorectal cancers (CRC) diagnosed at a late stage. There was no meaningful connection found between geographic access to affordable CRC screening services and late-stage diagnosis percentages. This finding suggests that other barriers besides physical distance to affordable CRC screening need to be examined in order to reduce the geographic disparities in late-stage CRC diagnoses.  Background
Green silver nanoparticles of Phyllanthus amarus: as an antibacterial agent against multi drug resistant clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

BACKGROUND
Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in burn and immune-compromised patients. In recent studies, researchers have drawn their attention towards ecofriendly synthesis of nanoparticles and their activity against multidrug resistant microbes. In this study, silver nanoparticles were synthesized from aqueous extract of Phyllanthus amarus. The synthesized nanoparticles were explored as a potent source of nanomedicine against MDR burn isolates of P. aeruginosa.


RESULTS
Silver nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using P. amarus extract and the nature of synthesized nanoparticles was analyzed by UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, X- ray diffraction and fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy. The average size of synthesized nanoparticles was 15.7, 24 ± 8 and 29.78 nm by XRD, TEM and DLS respectively. The antibacterial activity of AgNPs was investigated against fifteen MDR strains of P. aeruginosa tested at different concentration. The zone of inhibition was measured in the range of 10 ± 0.53 to 21 ± 0.11mm with silver nanoparticles concentration of 12.5 to 100 μg/ml. The zone of inhibition increased with increase in the concentration of silver nanoparticles. The MIC values of synthesized silver nanoparticles were found in the range of 6.25 to12.5 μg/ml. The MIC values are comparable to the standard antibiotics.


CONCLUSION
The present study suggests that silver nanoparticles from P. amarus extract exhibited excellent antibacterial potential against multidrug resistant strains of P. aeruginosa from burn patients and gives insight of their potential applicability as an alternative antibacterial in the health care system to reduce the burden of multidrug resistance.
A variational-difference numerical method for designing progressive-addition lenses

We propose a variational-difference method for designing the optical free form surface of progressiveaddition lenses (PALs). The PAL, which has a front surface with three important zones including the far-view, near-view and intermediate zones, is often used to remedy presbyopia by distributing optical powers of the three zones progressively and smoothly. The problem for designing PALs could be viewed as a functional minimization problem. Compared with the existing literature which solved the problem by the B-spline finite elementmethod, the essence of the proposed variational-difference numerical method lies inminimizing the functional directly by finite differencemethod and/or numerical quadratures rather than in approximating the solution of the corresponding Euler–Lagrange equation to the functional. It is very easily understood and implemented by optical engineers, and the numerical results indicate that it can produce satisfactory designs for optical engineers in several seconds. We believe that our method can be a powerful candidate tool for designing various specifications of PALs. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Artificial Intelligence in Medical Diagnosis

The logical thinking of medical practitioner involves a lot of subjective decision making and its complexity makes traditional quantitative approaches of analysis inappropriate. The computer based diagnostic tools and knowledge base certainly helps for early diagnosis of diseases. The intelligent decision making systems can appropriately handle both the uncertainty and imprecision. This paper discusses about the application potential of artificial intelligence in medical diagnosis. The fuzzy expert system has been presented specific to liver disease diagnosis.
Modeling the Major Overhaul Cost of Gas-Fired Plants in the Unit Commitment Problem

The operation and maintenance (O&M) costs of gas-turbine-based generation technologies have traditionally been introduced in unit commitment problems by means of simplified formulations (such as the approach of including an additional energy cost adder component). We argue that, in the new context characterized by the increasing need for cycling operation, such simplified approaches do not realistically reflect the impact that these new operation regimes have on the O&M costs for both open and combined cycle gas turbines. We first review the role of the so-called long-term service agreements (LTSA), which is a commonly used type of contract offered by gas-turbine manufacturers to plant owners. We analyze how these contracts implicitly determine the maintenance intervals as a function of the operating regime, and, as a consequence, determine the impact of cycling operation on O&M costs. Based on this analysis, we develop a formulation based on linear constraints that makes possible a realistic modeling of O&M costs (as defined in LTSA contracts) in the unit commitment problem. This formulation is then tested using some examples, so as to illustrate how a proper modeling of these contracts significantly changes the scheduling resulting from the traditional unit commitment problem formulation.
Automated proofs in Lukasiewicz logic

In this paper we present some mechanical proofs in the many-valued logic defined by Lukasiewicz. The main result is the first mechanical proof of the fifth Lukasiewicz conjecture. All the presented proofs are obtained by the (AC-)Unfailing Knuth-Bendix completion method in the theorem prover SBR3. However, a proof of the conjecture cannot be obtained by a brute-force application of completion. We introduce auxiliary functions and reformulate the theorem in terms of the new auxiliary functions. No manual addition of lemmas is needed. These transformations are customary in mathematics and we feel they are useful in automated reasoning too. The paper is organized as follows: in section 1 we present the fifth Lukasiewicz conjecture, in section 2 we briefly present the prover SBR3 and in section 3 we present the proofs. 1 A problem in many-valued logic Many-valued propositional logic was first introduced by Jan Lukasiewicz in the 1920’s. All the following results about early work on many-valued logic are reported in [8]. The original definition of many-valued logic is purely semantical. No axioms and no inference rules are given. Lukasiewicz defines first a model and then the logic is defined as the set of all sentences in propositional calculus which are true on that model. More precisely, the n-valued logic Ln is defined as the set of all sentences satisfied by the structure Ln =< { k n − 1 |0 ≤ k ≤ n − 1}, g, f > where An = { k n−1 |0 ≤ k ≤ n − 1} is the domain, g : An → An is the unary function g(x) = 1 − x and f : An × An → An is the binary function f(x, y) = min(1 − x + y, 1). L1 is the set of all legal propositional sentences, L2 is classical two-valued propositional logic with model L2 =< {0, 1}, g, f > ∗Research supported in part by grants CCR-8805734 & INT-8715231, both funded by the National Science Foundation, and by Dottorato di ricerca in Informatica, Universitá degli Studi di Milano.
Doing Q methodology : theory , method and interpretation

This paper has a marked practical aspect. We wish to encourage and facilitate the use of Q methodology amongst psychologists interested in qualitative research. The paper duly answers a number of pertinent ‘how to do Q’ questions. Yet our primary intention is not to produce an exhaustive ‘how to do Q’ guide. In discussing issues of theory, method and interpretation in Q methodology, the main aim of the paper is rather to address some of the more common misunderstandings and misrepresentations that constitute obstacles to the use of one of the very first ‘alternative’ methods to have been developed in the context of psychology. In addressing such obstacles, the paper hopes to bring ‘Why do Q?’ questions to the fore. In so doing, Q methodology will also be ‘positioned’ in relation to a number of other qualitative research methods, each of which currently enjoys a degree of prominence within the psychological discipline. Qualitative Research in Psychology 2005; 2: 67!/91
Object-oriented change detection method based on multi-scale and multi-feature fusion

High resolution satellite images offer abundance information of the earth surface for remote sensing applications. Using change detection technology to extract the target area changes from high resolution remote sensing images and rapidly update map database has become a focus research of remote sensing information processing. However the traditional methods of change detection are not suitable for high resolution remote sensing images. To overcome the limitations of traditional pixel-level change detection methods and the difficulties of change detection of high resolution remote sensing images, based on object-oriented analysis method, this paper presents a novel way of multi-scale and multi-feature fusion for high resolution remote sensing images change detection. Experiments show that this method has a stronger advantage than the traditional pixel-level method of high resolution remote sensing image change detection.
A multicenter, randomized, double-blind clinical trial of combination therapy with Anbainuo, a novel recombinant human TNFRII:Fc fusion protein, plus methotrexate versus methotrexate alone or Anbainuo alone in Chinese patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis

This study aims to evaluate the clinical and radiological efficacy as well as safety profiles of Anbainuo, a recombinant human TNFRII:Fc fusion protein, combined with methotrexate (MTX) versus MTX alone or Anbainuo alone in the treatment of Chinese patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this 24-week, multicenter, double-blind, active comparator-controlled study, 396 RA patients were randomized into combination therapy group (Anbainuo plus MTX), Anbainuo group, or MTX group. Clinical response was assessed using the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)-N, ACR20, ACR50, ACR70, and van der Heijde modification of Sharp score, among which ACR-N and ACR20 were defined as primary major endpoints. After 24 weeks of treatment, the ACR-N in the combination therapy group (12.79 ± 9.24 %) was significantly higher than that in Anbainuo group (9.56 ± 11.16 %) and in MTX group (5.08 ± 11.1 %) (p = 0.00 and p = 0.00, respectively). Patients in Anbainuo group had significantly higher ACR-N than those in MTX group (p = 0.02). More patients in the combination therapy group (53.6 %) achieved ACR50 improvement response than those in the MTX group (30.8 %). ACR70 of combination therapy group (27.7 %) was significantly higher than that of Anbainuo group (15.8 %) and MTX group (7.70 %), with no significant difference between Anbainuo group and MTX group. DAS28-ESR in the combination therapy group was significantly reduced compared to either monotherapy groups. Moreover, DAS28-ESR was significantly lower in Anbainou group than in MTX group. The combination therapy group also showed significantly less radiographic progression than the MTX group (p = 0.03). The total adverse events (AE) in the combination group (40.9 %) was significantly higher than those in the MTX group (28.8 %) (p < 0.05). Anbainuo combined with MTX therapy can effectively control the disease activity and radiographic progression of RA, while the incidence of AE also increased compared to either Anbainuo or MTX.
The anti-proliferative effects of 1α,25(OH)2D3 on breast and prostate cancer cells are associated with induction of BRCA1 gene expression

The anti-proliferative action of the seco-steroid hormone 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1α,25(OH)2D3] extends to some, but not all breast and prostate cancer cell lines. By elucidating the molecular mechanisms mediating the sensitivity of these cells, we can identify critical target genes regulated directly or indirectly by 1α,25(OH)2D3 and pathways potentially disrupted during transformation. In this study, we demonstrated the induction of expression of BRCA1 mRNA and protein as well as transcriptional activation from the BRCA1-promoter by 1α,25(OH)2D3 in the sensitive breast cancer cell line MCF-7. This was not observed in the 1α,25(OH)2D3-resistant breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-436. The induction of BRCA1 mRNA was blocked by cyclohexamide. This indicated that transcriptional activation was mediated indirectly by the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Inhibition of VDR protein levels by stable transformation of the anti-sense VDR in MCF-7 reduced the sensitivity of MCF-7 to 1α,25(OH)2D3 by 50-fold. In addition, the induction of BRCA1 protein and transcriptional activation of a BRCA1 promoter-luciferase reporter construct was abrogated in the stable transformant with the greatest reduction of VDR levels. Examination of other breast and prostate cancer cell lines revealed that sensitivity to the anti-proliferative effects of 1α,25(OH)2D3 was strongly associated with an ability to modulate BRCA1 protein. Furthermore, the expression of the estrogen receptor in these cell lines strongly correlated with their sensitivity to 1α,25(OH)2D3 and their ability to modulate BRCA1 expression. Taken together, our data support a model whereby the anti-proliferative effects of 1α,25(OH)2D3 are mediated, in part, by the induction of BRCA1 gene expression via transcriptional activation by factors induced by the VDR and that this pathway is disrupted during the development of prostate and breast cancers.