LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
A Comparative Study of Piperidinium and Imidazolium Based Ionic Liquids: Thermal, Spectroscopic and Theoretical Studies

Ionic liquids (ILs) comprise an extremely broad class of molten salts that are attractive for many practical applications because of their useful combinations of properties [1-3]. The ability to mix and match the cationic and anionic constituents of ILs and functionalize their side chains. These allow amazing tenability of IL properties, including conductivity, viscosi‐ ty, solubility of diverse solutes and miscibility/ immiscibility with a wide range of solvents. [4] Over the past several years, room temperature ILs (RTILs) has generated considerable excitement, as they consist entirely of ions, yet in liquid state and possess minimal vapour pressure. Consequently, ILs can be recycled, thus making synthetic processes less expensive and potentially more efficient and environmentally friendly. Considerable progress has been made using ILs as solvents in the areas of monophasic and biphasic catalysis (homoge‐ neus and heterogeneous).[5-6] The ILs investigated herein provides real practical advantag‐ es over earlier molten salt (high temperature) systems because of their relative insensitivity to air and water. [6-7] A great deal of progress has been made during last five years towards identifying the factors that cause these salts to have low melting points and other useful properties.[8] ILs are subject of intense current interest within the physical chemistry com‐ munity as well. There have been quite a lot of photophysical studies in ionic liquids. [8] The most important properties of ionic liquids are: thermal stability, low vapour pressure, elec‐ tric conductivity, liquid crystal structures, high electro-elasticity, high heat capacity and in‐ flammability properties enable the use of ionic liquids in a wide range of applications, as shown in Figure 1. It is also a suitable solvent for synthesis, [5, 8, 9-12] catalysis [6, 8, 13] and purification. [14-18] It is also used in electrochemical devices and processes, such as re‐ chargeable lithium batteries and electrochemical capacitors, etc.[19] Rechargeable Lithium
Defining business process maturity. A journey towards excellence

Defining business process maturity. A journey towards excellence Amy Van Looy a b , Manu De Backer a b c d & Geert Poels b a Faculty of Business Administration and Public Administration, Department of Management and Informatics, University College Ghent, Ghent, Belgium b Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Department of Management Information Science and Operations Management, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium c Faculty of Applied Economics, Department of Management Informatics, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium d Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Management Informatics, K.U.Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
The Regai Dzive Shiri project: results of a randomized trial of an HIV prevention intervention for youth.

BACKGROUND
HIV prevention among young people in southern Africa is a public health priority. There is little rigorous evidence of the effectiveness of different intervention approaches. We describe findings of a cluster randomized trial of a community-based, multicomponent HIV, and reproductive health intervention aimed at changing social norms for adolescents in rural Zimbabwe.


METHODS
Thirty rural communities were randomized to early or deferred implementation of the intervention in 2003. Impact was assessed in a representative survey of 18-22-year-olds after 4 years. Participants self-completed a questionnaire and gave a dried blood spot sample for HIV and herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) antibody testing. Young women had a urinary pregnancy test. Analyses were by intention-to-treat and were adjusted for clustering.


FINDINGS
Four thousand six hundred and eighty-four, 18-22-year-olds participated in the survey (97.1% of eligible candidates, 55.5% women). Just over 40% had been exposed to at least 10 intervention sessions. There were modest improvements in knowledge and attitudes among young men and women in intervention communities, but no impact on self-reported sexual behavior. There was no impact of the intervention on prevalence of HIV or HSV-2 or current pregnancy. Women in intervention communities were less likely to report ever having been pregnant.


INTERPRETATION
Despite an impact on knowledge, some attitudes, and reported pregnancy, there was no impact of this intervention on HIV or HSV-2 prevalence, further evidence that behavioral interventions alone are unlikely to be sufficient to reverse the HIV epidemic. The challenge remains to find effective HIV prevention approaches for young people in the face of continued and unacceptably high HIV incidence, particularly among young women.
Intranasal oxytocin reduces provoked symptoms in female patients with posttraumatic stress disorder despite exerting sympathomimetic and positive chronotropic effects in a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe psychiatric disease accompanied by neuroendocrine changes such as adrenergic overdrive and hence an elevated cardiovascular morbidity. Current pharmacotherapeutic options for PTSD are less than suboptimal, necessitating the development of PTSD-specific drugs. Although the neuropeptide oxytocin has been repeatedly suggested to be effective in PTSD treatment, there are, to our knowledge, only three studies that have assessed its efficacy on the intensity of PTSD symptoms in PTSD patients - among them one symptom provocation study in male veterans.


METHODS
To evaluate for the first time how oxytocin influences the intensity of provoked PTSD symptoms and, furthermore, cardiac control in female PTSD patients, we assessed their psychic and cardiac response to trauma-script exposure with and without oxytocin pretreatment in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study. We used a within-subject design to study 35 female PTSD patients who received oxytocin and placebo in a 2-week interval. Furthermore, we performed a small pilot study to get an idea of the relation of the stress-modulated endogenous oxytocin levels and heart rate - we correlated oxytocin serum levels with the heart rate of 10 healthy individuals before and after exposure to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST).


RESULTS
Intranasal oxytocin treatment was followed by a reduction of provoked total PTSD symptoms, in particular of avoidance, and by an elevation in baseline and maximum heart rate together with a drop in the pre-ejection period, a marker for sympathetic cardiac control. Furthermore, we found a positive correlation between endogenous oxytocin levels and heart rate both before and after TSST challenge in healthy control subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides the first evidence that oxytocin treatment reduces the intensity of provoked PTSD symptoms in female PTSD patients. The small size of both samples and the heterogeneity of the patient sample restrict the generalizability of our findings. Future studies have to explore the gender dependency and the tolerability of the oxytocin-mediated increase in heart rate. This randomized controlled trial was retrospectively registered at the German Trials Register (DRKS00009399) on the 02 October 2015.
Physical activity monitoring in adolescents with juvenile fibromyalgia: findings from a clinical trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy.

OBJECTIVE
Juvenile fibromyalgia (JFM) is a chronic musculoskeletal pain condition that is associated with reduced physical function. Recent research has demonstrated that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective in improving daily functioning among adolescents with JFM. However, it is not known whether these improvements were accompanied by increased physical activity levels. Our objective was to analyze secondary data from a randomized clinical trial of CBT to examine whether CBT was associated with improvement in objectively measured physical activity and whether actigraphy indices corresponded with self-reported functioning among adolescents with JFM.


METHODS
Participants were 114 adolescents (ages 11-18 years) recruited from pediatric rheumatology clinics that met criteria for JFM and were enrolled in a clinical trial. Subjects were randomly (1:1) assigned to receive either CBT or fibromyalgia education (FE). Participants wore a hip-mounted accelerometer for 1 week as part of their baseline and posttreatment assessments.


RESULTS
The final sample included 68 subjects (94% female, mean age 15.2 years) for whom complete actigraphy data were obtained. Actigraphy measures were not found to correspond with self-reported improvements in functioning. While self-reported functioning improved in the CBT condition compared to FE, no significant changes were seen in either group for activity counts, sedentary, moderate, or vigorous activity. The CBT group had significantly lower peak and light activity at posttreatment.


CONCLUSION
Actigraphy monitoring provides a unique source of information about patient outcomes. CBT intervention was not associated with increased physical activity in adolescents with JFM, indicating that combining CBT with interventions to increase physical activity may enhance treatment effects.
Could ultrasonic elastography help the diagnosis of small (≤2 cm) breast cancer with the usage of sonographic BI-RADS classification?

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the additive value of ultrasound strain elastography (USE) to BI-RADS for the differentiation of benign and malignant breast small lesions.


METHODS
Breast masses (≤2 cm) with histological diagnosis examined by ultrasonography and USE in our department from April 2004 to December 2009 were reviewed. Conventional B-mode ultrasound findings were classified according to the BI-RADS classification. USE findings were classified according to the 5-point scale. Histological diagnosis was used as the reference standard.


RESULTS
401 (246 benign (61.3%), 155 malignant (38.7%)) from 370 consecutive patients were included in the study. Sensitivity and specificity were 90.3%, 68.3% for BI-RADS; 72.3%, 91.9% for USE. The sensitivity of BI-RADS was better than that of USE (P<0.05), while the specificity of USE was better than that of BI-RADS (P<0.05). A revised BI-RADS combined with USE results was proposed in this study. Sensitivity and specificity were 83.9% and 87.8% for revised BI-RADS. The diagnostic performance of revised BI-RADS was better than BI-RADS (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
USE could give BI-RADS some help in the differentiation of benign and malignant breast small lesions. The addition of elastography to BI-RADS could improve the diagnostic performance in <2 cm lesions.
Image based Arabic Sign Language Recognition System

Through history, humans have used many ways of communication such as gesturing, sounds, drawing, writing, and speaking. However, deaf and speaking impaired people cannot use speaking to communicate with others, which may give them a sense of isolation within their societies. For those individuals, sign language is their principal way to communicate. However, most people (who can hear) do not know the sign language. In this paper, we aim to automatically recognize Arabic Sign Language (ArSL) alphabets using an image-based methodology. More specifically, various visual descriptors are investigated to build an accurate ArSL alphabet recognizer. The extracted visual descriptors are conveyed to One-Versus-All Support Vector Machine (SVM). The analysis of the results shows that Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG) descriptor outperforms the other considered descriptors. Thus, the ArSL gesture models that are learned by One-Versus-All SVM using HOG descriptors are deployed in the proposed system. Keywords—Component; Arabic sign language; image; visual descriptor; recognition
An Initial Look at Alternative Computing Technologies for the Intelligence Community

Abstract : We have broadly surveyed the landscape of computing as it relates to the problems of interest to the intelligence community (IC). We find there is no single alternative computing technology (ACT) that is universally applicable to the wide range of IC applications, although there are particular solutions that are suited to individual application classes. We therefore recommend that the IC consider an application-driven, holistic design approach that spans a broad range of technologies and computational models. The application classes we considered were discrete math, big data, distributed sensing and processing, scientific/numerical simulation, robotics/autonomous systems. Holistic design could extend beyond a single technology to include integration of multiple, heterogeneous ACTs as needed to meet application/architecture requirements.
A Robot Exploration Strategy Based on Q-learning Network

This paper introduces a reinforcement learning method for exploring a corridor environment with the depth information from an RGB-D sensor only. The robot controller achieves obstacle avoidance ability by pre-training of feature maps using the depth information. The system is based on the recent Deep Q-Network (DQN) framework where a convolution neural network structure was adopted in the Q-value estimation of the Q-learning method. We separate the DQN into a supervised deep learning structure and a Q-learning network. The experiments of a Turtlebot in the Gazebo simulation environment show the robustness to different kinds of corridor environments. All of the experiments use the same pre-training deep learning structure. Note that the robot is traveling in environments which are different from the pre-training environment. It is the first time that raw sensor information is used to build such an exploring strategy for robotics by reinforcement learning.
Research of a Novel Multidisk Axial Flux Compensated Pulsed Alternator

In this paper, a novel multidisk axial flux compensated pulsed alternator (MAFCPA), excited by permanent magnet (PM), is proposed and investigated in aspects of operational principle and pulsed performance. The design purpose of MAFCPA mainly focuses on reducing the subtransient reactance while discharging, which contributes to increasing discharging power. In detail, the compensated shield made of aluminum alloy can decouple the mutual-inductance among windings in different disks. By connecting the windings with little mutual-inductance in parallel, the purpose of reducing the subtransient reactance is achieved. Besides, to some extent, the shield helps protecting the PM as well. Both functions above are proved in analytical equations and equivalent models. Based on the equations and the models, a 0.6-MW MAFCPA in finite element analysis (FEA) is built and simulated. It appears to be a feasible scheme for pulsed alternator.
Raphidiopsis mediterranea Skuja represents non-heterocytous life-cycle stages of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii (Woloszynska) Seenayya et Subba Raju in Lake Kastoria (Greece), its type locality: Evidence by morphological and phylogenetic analysis

The taxonomical relationship of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii and Raphidiopsis mediterranea was studied by morphological and 16S rRNA gene diversity analyses of natural populations from Lake Kastoria, Greece. Samples were obtained during a bloom (23,830 trichomes mL ) in August 2003. A high diversity of apical cell, trichome, heterocyte and akinete morphology, trichome fragmentation and reproduction was observed. Trichomes were grouped into three dominant morphotypes: the typical and the non-heterocytous morphotype of C. raciborskii and the typical morphotype of R. mediterranea. A morphometric comparison of the dominant morphotypes showed significant differences in mean values of cell and trichome sizes despite the high overlap in the range of the respective size values. Additionally, two new morphotypes representing developmental stages of the species are described while a new mode of reproduction involving a structurally distinct reproductive cell is described for the first time in planktic Nostocales. A putative life-cycle, common for C. raciborskii and R. mediterranea is proposed revealing that trichome reproduction of R. mediterranea gives rise both to R. mediterranea and C. raciborskii non-heterocytous morphotypes. The phylogenetic analysis of partial 16S rRNA gene (ca. 920 bp) of the co-existing Cylindrospermopsis and Raphidiopsis morphotypes revealed only one phylotype which showed 99.54% similarity to R. mediterranea HB2 (China) and 99.19% similarity to C. raciborskii form 1 (Australia). We propose that all morphotypes comprised stages of the life cycle of C. raciborkii whereas R. mediterranea from Lake Kastoria (its type locality) represents non-heterocytous stages of Cylindrospermopsis complex life cycle. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Outcome analysis in 93 facial rejuvenation patients treated with a deep-plane face lift.

BACKGROUND
This prospective study assessed outcomes in patients undergoing a deep-plane face lift and other simultaneous facial cosmetic procedures. It is the first prospective outcome study to assess and compare these patients and provide data on patient satisfaction and quality of life—the most important determinants of surgical success.


METHODS
From 2002 to 2007, in-person interviews were conducted with 93 patients who attended a follow-up appointment at least 1 month after surgery from a total of 122 consecutive patients treated with a deep-plane face lift and other facial rejuvenation procedures (response rate, 76 percent). Questions were asked in six categories: patient data, indications, recovery, results, complications, and psychological effects. Responses were analyzed in four groups: face lift alone; face lift and blepharoplasties; face lift and forehead lift; and face lift, blepharoplasties, and endoscopic forehead lift.


RESULTS
The average subjective reduction in apparent age was 11.9 years (range, 0 to 27.5 years). Seventy-seven patients (82.8 percent) reported an improvement in self-esteem, and 64 patients (69.6 percent) reported an improved quality of life. There was no significant correlation between result rating and procedure groups, age, gender, smoking history, previous face lift, body mass index, or the occurrence of a complication.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite a significant recovery period, patient satisfaction was high, with 96.7 percent of patients reporting a more youthful appearance after surgery. Scar dissatisfaction was rare (2.2 percent). With proper patient preparation and education, facial rejuvenation effectively meets patient expectations. These findings support the recommendation of surgical facial rejuvenation to patients who wish to look younger.
Complexity of free radical Metabolism in human Erythrocytes

Kratak sadr`aj: Produkcija slobodnih radikala u eritroci tima uglavnom se odnosi na nastajanje superoksid anjon radikala (O2 .–) putem autooksidacije oksihemoglobina u methemoglobin. Ljudski eritrociti izlo`eni su prooksidacio nom delovanju vodonik-peroksida nastalog dismutacijom O2 .– ili iz cirkulacije, kao i azot oksidu (NO) iz cirkulacije. Od di rektnih reakcija slobodnih radikala, reakcija O2 .– i NO uz nastajanje peroksinitrita je reakcija sa primarno {tetnim po sledicama po eritrocite. U eritrocitima se nalaze enzimi za{tite od oksidacionih o{te}enja, kao {to su superoksid dis mu taza (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1), katalaza (CAT, EC 1.11.1.6), glutation peroksidaza (GSHPx, EC 1.11.1.9) i glutation re duktaza (GR, EC 1.6.4.2) kao i komponente male mo lekul ske mase (glutation, vitamini E i C). Njihovim sadej stvom se kanali{u reakcije slobodnih radikala tako da di rektna o{te }enja biomakromolekula budu {to manja. Me|u tim, kako nema de novo sinteze enzima u maturiranim eri trocitima, kapacitet ovih sistema je ograni~en, jer slobo d noradikalske vrste i direktno inhibiraju neke od enzima. Promene na enzimima i njihova inhibicija slobodnim radi kalima uti~u na kapacitet za{tite od oksidacionih o{te}enja i relativni udeo pojedinih komponenti u ukupnom antioksi da tivnom poten ci jalu. To se mo`e pratiti i preko promena aktiv nosti pojedi na~nih komponenti, ali i me |u sobnih odnosa izme|u kom ponenti antioksidativne odbrane diskrimina cio nim sta ti sti ~kim metodama, koje ukazuju na sveukupnost i kompleksnost odnosa antioksida tivnih kompo nenti u eritro citima i njihov sistemski zna~aj.
Analysis and optimization of a composite leaf spring

A four-leaf steel spring used in the rear suspension system of light vehicles is analyzed using ANSYS V5.4 software. The finite element results showing stresses and deflections verified the existing analytical and experimental solutions. Using the results of the steel leaf spring, a composite one made from fiberglass with epoxy resin is designed and optimized using ANSYS. Main consideration is given to the optimization of the spring geometry. The objective was to obtain a spring with minimum weight that is capable of carrying given static external forces without failure. The design constraints were stresses (Tsai–Wu failure criterion) and displacements. The results showed that an optimum spring width decreases hyperbolically and the thickness increases linearly from the spring eyes towards the axle seat. Compared to the steel spring, the optimized composite spring has stresses that are much lower, the natural frequency is higher and the spring weight without eye units is nearly 80% lower. 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Linear Problems in Valued Fields

A quantifier elimination procedure for a class M over a language L is an algorithm that given an L-formula φ computes a quantifier-free L-formula φ′ such that M |= φ′ ←→ φ. An L-formula is called linear if it contains no products or reciprocals of quantified variables. Quantifier elimination methods for valued fields have been extensively investigated in the past. The existence of a quantifier elimination procedure for the general case including non-linear formulas has been shown independently by Ax and Kochen (1966) and Ershov (1965). The first explicit procedure has been given by Cohen (1969). Considerable progress has been made by Macintyre (1976) turning to a more reasonable language including root predicates in analogy to the reals. This has been made explicit by Weispfenning (1984). The procedures given there are primitive recursive, but far beyond feasibility. Based on ideas of Ferrante and Rackoff (1979) for decision problems, quantifier elimination by elimination sets containing test terms has been introduced for linear formulas by Weispfenning (1988). This technique is very attractive due to its comparatively low complexity a O(c) , where a is the number of atomic formulas, q is the number of quantifiers, and c is the number of quantifier type changes in a prenex input formula. For ordered fields these algorithms have turned out to be feasible, and implementations including powerful simplification algorithms (Dolzmann and Sturm, 1997b) are applicable to a wide range of both academic and non-academic problems, cf. Dolzmann and Sturm (1997a); Dolzmann et al. (1998a,b); Sturm (1996, 1999); Sturm and Weispfenning (1998).
State of the art in statistical methods for language and speech processing

Recent years have seen rapid growth in the deployment of statistical methods for computational language and speech processing. he current popularity of such methods can be traced to the convergence of several factors, including the increasing amount of ata now accessible, sustained advances in computing power and storage capabilities, and ongoing improvements in machine earning algorithms. The purpose of this contribution is to review the state of the art in both areas, point out the top trends in tatistical modelling across a wide range of problems, and identify their most salient characteristics. The paper concludes with some rognostications regarding the likely impact on the field going forward. 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.