LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
System analysis approach for the identification of factors driving crude oil prices

0360-8352/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. A doi:10.1016/j.cie.2011.07.021 q Grant Sponsors: National Natural Science Foundat Grant No. 70825001. ⇑ Tel./fax: +86 10 62542627. E-mail address: jqwxnjq@163.com URL: http://www.ceep.cas.cn A system analysis approach is proposed to identify the main factors driving international crude oil prices by integrating a partial least squares model, an vector error correction model and the directed acyclic graph method. The different mechanisms driving international crude oil prices during the oil price falling and rising periods are analyzed in three aspects: contemporaneous information transmission mechanism, explanatory power of factors for oil price trend and their contributions to the oil price volatility. The results show that the original mechanism of crude oil markets is destroyed by the 2008 financial crisis and the contemporaneous causality between oil price and various factors are significantly strengthened after crisis. Before the crisis, speculation was the main factor boosting oil price volatility in the contemporaneous and short run, while fundamental factors played important roles in the long run. After the crisis, spillover effect among different markets exhibits more obvious. Stock market, exchange rate market and commodity market make greater contribution, while US dollar index is the main factor affecting oil price volatility in the short and long run. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
An Optimised Density Based Clustering Algorithm

The DBSCAN [1] algorithm is a popular algorithm in Data Mining field as it has the ability to mine the noiseless arbitrary shape Clusters in an elegant way. As the original DBSCAN algorithm uses the distance measures to compute the distance between objects, it consumes so much processing time and its computation complexity comes as O (N2). In this paper we have proposed a new algorithm to improve the performance of DBSCAN algorithm. The existing algorithms A Fast DBSCAN Algorithm[6] and Memory effect in DBSCAN algorithm[7] has been combined in the new solution to speed up the performance as well as improve the quality of the output. As the RegionQuery operation takes long time to process the objects, only few objects are considered for the expansion and the remaining missed border objects are handled differently during the cluster expansion. Eventually the performance analysis and the cluster output show that the proposed solution is better to the existing algorithms.
Intranasal Dexmedetomidine as a Sedative Premedication for Patients Undergoing Suspension Laryngoscopy: A Randomized Double-Blind Study

BACKGROUND
Intranasal dexmedetomidine, a well-tolerated and convenient treatment option, has been shown to induce a favorable perioperative anxiolysis in children. We investigate intranasal dexmedetomidine as a sedative premedication for anesthesia recovery in an adult population.


METHODS
A prospective randomized controlled trial; 81 adult patients scheduled for elective suspension laryngoscopy received intranasal dexmedetomidine (1 μg∙kg-1) or a placebo 45-60 min before anesthetic induction. Extubation time was used as the primary outcome measure. Secondary variables included the levels of sedation (Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation scale, OAA/S) and anxiety (4-point anxiety score), anesthetic and analgesic requirements, hemodynamic fluctuations, and anesthesia recovery as well as side effects.


RESULTS
The levels of sedation and anxiety differed significantly between the two groups at anesthesia pre-induction (p < 0.001 and = 0.001, respectively). Repeated-measure general linear model determined no significant interaction effect between group and time on the targeted concentration of propofol (F = 1.635, p = 0.200), but a significant main effect of group existed (F = 6.880, p = 0.010). A moderate but significant decrease in the heart rate was recorded in the dexmedetomidine group at pre-induction. Episodes of tachycardia and hypertension after tracheal intubation and extubation were more frequent in the placebo group.


CONCLUSIONS
Intranasal dexmedetomidine as a sedative premedication induced a favorable perioperative anxiolysis without prolongation in anesthesia recovery; the hemodynamic effect was modest.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT 02108171.
Security meter: a practical decision-tree model to quantify risk

Several security risk templates employ nonquantitative attributes to express a risk's severity, which is subjective and void of actual figures. The author's design provides a quantitative technique with an updated repository on vulnerabilities, threats, and countermeasures to calculate risk.
Stone Relation Algebras

We study a generalisation of relation algebras in which the underlying Boolean algebra structure is replaced with a Stone algebra. Many theorems of relation algebras generalise with no or small changes. Weighted graphs represented as matrices over extended real numbers form an instance. Relational concepts and methods can thus be applied to weighted graphs. All results are formally verified in Isabelle/HOL.
Risk of new primary nonbreast cancers after breast cancer treatment: a Dutch population-based study.

PURPOSE
To assess the risk of secondary nonbreast cancers (SNBCs) in a recently treated population-based cohort of breast cancer patients focused on the association with treatment and prognostic implications.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
In 58,068 Dutch patients diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 1989 and 2003, SNBC risk was quantified using standardized incidence ratios (SIRs), cumulative incidence, and Cox regression analysis, adjusted for competing risks.


RESULTS
After a median follow-up of 5.4 years, 2,578 SNBCs had occurred. Compared with the Dutch female population at large, in this cohort, the SIR of SNBCs was increased (SIR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.17 to 1.27). The absolute excess risk was 13.6 (95% CI, 9.7 to 17.6) per 10,000 person-years. SIRs were elevated for cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, lung, uterus, ovary, kidney, and bladder cancers, and for soft tissue sarcomas (STS), melanoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The 10-year cumulative incidence of SNBCs was 5.4% (95% CI, 5.1% to 5.7%). Among patients younger than 50 years, radiotherapy was associated with an increased lung cancer risk (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.31; 95% CI, 1.15 to 4.60) and chemotherapy with decreased risk for all SNBCs (HR = 0.78; 95% CI, 0.63 to 0.98) and for colon and lung cancer. Among patients age 50 years and older, radiotherapy was associated with raised STS risk (HR = 3.43; 95% CI, 1.46 to 8.04); chemotherapy with increased risks of melanoma, uterine cancer, and AML; and hormonal therapy with all SNBCs combined (HR = 1.10; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.21) and uterine cancer (HR = 1.78; 95% CI, 1.40 to 2.27). An SNBC worsened survival (HR = 3.98; 95%CI 3.77 to 4.20).


CONCLUSION
Breast cancer patients diagnosed in the 1990 s experienced a small but significant excess risk of developing an SNBC.
A First Evaluation of the Instructional Value of Negotiable Problem Solving Goals on the Exploratory Learning Continuum

We evaluate the effectiveness of a tutorial-dialogue based approach to guided exploratory learning involving problem solving goals that are negotiated between tutor and student rather than dictated by the tutor or freely chosen by the student. This approach, referred to as Negotiable Problem Solving Goals (NPSG), is located on a previously untested space on what we call The Exploratory Learning Continuum. The results of our empirical classroom investigation provide design recommendations for a new type of tutorial dialogue system and strong evidence in favor of tutorial dialogue support in exploratory learning environments.
Making the connection : the effectiveness of Internet training in small businesses

Aims to provide an analysis of the introduction of Internet-based skills into small firms. Seeks to contribute to the wider debate on the content and style of training most appropriate for employees and managers of SMEs.
Rationale for the RBAC96 family of access control models

A family of role-based access control (RBAC) models, referred to here as the RBAC96 models, was recently published by the author and his colleagues. This paper gives our rationale for the major decisions in developing these models and discusses alternatives that were considered.
Visualization of Chronic Myocardial Infarction Using the Intravascular Contrast Agent MS-325 (Gadofosveset) in Patients

AIMS
The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of visualizing chronic myocardial infarction in patients using the intravascular CA MS-325 (gadofosveset, EPIX Pharmaceuticals, Mass, USA).


METHODS
Nine patients were enrolled in a clinical phase II multicenter trial for MRCA and perfusion imaging using MS-325. They had objective evidence of chronic myocardial infarction as visualized by previously performed late gadolinium (Gd) enhancement imaging (LGE) with a conventional extracellular Gd-DTPA CA (Magnevist, Bayer Healthcare, Germany, 0.2 mmol/kg/body weight) serving as reference standard. A prepulse-optimized LGE study was performed immediately and at several time points after injection of MS-325 (0.05 mmol/kg/body weight). The number and localization of segments demonstrating LGE with MS-325 as well as signal intensities were compared with the reference standard (Gd-DTPA).


RESULTS
Using MS-325, LGE could be detected at every time point in all 9 patients. The accuracy of LGE with MS-325 as compared to LGE with Gd-DTPA was highest 54 ± 4 minutes after contrast injection, resulting in a sensitivity of 84% with a specificity of 98%.


CONCLUSION
The intravascular CA MS-325 has the potential to visualize chronic myocardial infarction. However, in comparison with Gd-DTPA, the transmural extent and the number of segments are smaller.
Agreement of visual estimation of coronary artery calcium from low-dose CT attenuation correction scans in hybrid PET/CT and SPECT/CT with standard Agatston score.

OBJECTIVES
We sought to evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of visual estimation of coronary artery calcium (CAC) from computed tomography attenuation correction (CTAC) scans performed for hybrid positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI).


BACKGROUND
At the time of MPI, hybrid systems obtain a low-dose, non-electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated CT scan that is used to perform attenuation correction. Utility of this CTAC scan in estimating actual CAC as measured by Agatston score (AS) on standard ECG-gated scans has not been previously studied.


METHODS
A total of 492 patients, from 3 centers, receiving both MPI with CTAC and a standard CAC scan were studied. At each site, experienced readers blinded to AS reviewed CTAC images, visually estimating CAC on a 6-level scale: classifying patients as estimated AS of 0, 1 to 9, 10 to 99, 100 to 300, 400 to 999, or ≥1,000. Agreement between visually estimated coronary artery calcium (VECAC) on CTAC and AS, measured standardly and converted to the same scale, was evaluated, as was inter-reader agreement.


RESULTS
Although CTAC images are low dose and nongated, a high degree of association was observed between VECAC and AS, with 63% of VECACs in the same category as the AS category and 93% within 1 category. Weighted kappa was 0.89 (95% confidence interval: 0.88 to 0.91, p < 0.0001). High weighted kappa statistics were observed for each site, scanner type, and sex. Readers reported identical scores in 65% of cases and scores within 1 category in 93%.


CONCLUSIONS
CAC can be visually assessed from low-dose CTAC scans with high agreement with AS. CTAC scans should be routinely assessed for VECAC.
The singular individual: Stand-point of a renounced authorship

S~bren Kierkegaard's authorship* traces a tortuous path between the hoary categories of traditional Christianity and the monumental system of Hegel's idealism to craft a single complete category: 1 the singular individual. As such, Kierkegaard's works stand as deeds, as concrete moments in the practice of individuality. His writings enact a repeated renunciation through which singular individuality comes to be lived, dissolving both the impact of Hegelianism and the religious illusion of Kierkegaard's contemporaries. Kierkegaard, more than Sartre, deserves to be called a scandalous author. More than Hegel, he deserves the title of systematic philosopher. Every public gesture with which the melancholic Dane appealed to artists and philosophers bore a Hegelian twist. In fact, Heget's philosophy became an essential property in Kierkegaard's religious scenario. Yet, Kierkegaard never became a Hegelian. He mimicked Hegel because that thinker had crafted the model of historical Christianism used by Kierkegaard's contemporaries to justify the givenness of their religious superiority vis-a-vis ancient religions and early Christianity. For t_he sake of Truth, ~ Kierkegaard assumed a disguise that enabled him to destroy the illusion of historical progress which had reduced religiosity to a philosophical thesis easily mouthed by indolent people. To shake his age out of that paralyzing religious tranquility, Kierkegaard became an author: a counter-Hegel disguised as a poet, a religious individual disguised as an historical Christian. His authorship was simply the copper bull inside which the singular individual slowly roasted so that his shrieks could sound as sweet music to the ears of an insensitive age (Either/Or, 1).3
Inkjet-Printed Polymer Films for the Detection of Organic Vapors

Inkjet printing has been used to prepare polymeric thin films for gas sensing. The conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) doped with polystyrene sulfonated acid (PEDOT-PSS) was used as the organic ink. The electrical resistance of the printed films was monitored during exposure to atmospheres containing alcohol vapors. Thin films (one to two printed layers) exhibited a sharp, nonreversible increase in film resistance (a "chemical fuse") which was attributed to a change in morphology of the PEDOT-PSS layer. The response time of the thin films was 6-10 min, depending on the film thickness. A longer response time was observed for three inkjet-printed layers. In contrast, thick films (> four printed layers) showed a reversible response (except for the initial exposure) to the same vapor. This was thought to originate from a screening effect between the positively charged PEDOT and negatively charged PSS dopant. The response times of the thick films were 8 and 6 min for methanol and ethanol, respectively. For both types of response, the inkjet-printed layers were found be more sensitive to methanol (0.05% ppm-1) than to ethanol (0.03% ppm-1)
Leaf shape based plant species recognition

Plant has plenty use in foodstuff, medicine and industry. And it is also vitally important for environmental protection. However, it is an important and difficult task to recognize plant species on earth. Designing a convenient and automatic recognition system of plants is necessary and useful since it can facilitate fast classifying plants, and understanding and managing them. In this paper, a leaf database from different plants is firstly constructed. Then, a new classification method, referred to as move median centers (MMC) hypersphere classifier, for the leaf database based on digital morphological feature is proposed. The proposed method is more robust than the one based on contour features since those significant curvature points are hard to find. Finally, the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method in recognizing different plants is demonstrated by experiments. 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
How to Teach the Usage of Project Management Tools in Computer Courses: A Systematic Literature Review

Project management tools are mandatory to properly manage a software project. The teaching of these tools is carried out in superior computer courses, but often the instructional strategies are used in an ad-hoc manner. This study aims to analyze the literature about teaching of the usage of project management tools and to identify the instructional strategies and the utilized tools. We conducted a systematic literature review to identify the most significant studies that report experiences on this context. After analyzing more than 2700 studies a total of 5 primary studies were selected, and then others were manually included. The instructional strategies and the utilized tools are presented, highlighting the main functionalities and educational features of these tools, as well as the instructional activities carried out to meet the educational goals. Concluding with a discussion of the advances and gaps that remain in this area. Keywords-Project Management; Project Management Tools; PMBOK; Systematic Literature Review; Teaching; Education.
Patterns of care in adults with renal cell carcinoma: findings in a population based sample.

PURPOSE
Treatment options in patients with renal cell carcinoma have changed in recent years. However, few studies include detailed information on patient, clinical and health system characteristics in the evaluation of surgical management and the use of systemic therapies in community practice.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
We evaluated surgical management and the use of systemic treatments in a national population based sample of 1,263 patients with renal cell carcinoma newly diagnosed in 2004. Patients were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program as part of the Patterns of Care studies. We used descriptive statistics to assess treatment in the entire sample and logistic regression analysis to evaluate the associations between patient demographic, clinical and health system characteristics, and surgery in the subset of 1,032 patients who were potentially eligible for partial or radical nephrectomy and an open or laparoscopic procedure.


RESULTS
Surgical treatment in 64.7% of patients (95% CI 60.0%, 69.1%) was radical nephrectomy and most underwent an open rather than a laparoscopic procedure. Although the proportion of all patients receiving systemic treatments was small, 34.3% (95% CI 23.1, 47.5) of those with stage IV disease received systemic treatment. Few patients participated in clinical trials. On multivariate analysis patients who were female, nonwhite, with larger tumors, without comorbid conditions and treated at hospitals without a residency training program were more likely to undergo radical rather than partial nephrectomy (p <0.05). Patients with larger tumors treated at smaller hospitals were more likely to undergo an open rather than a laparoscopic procedure (p <0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
In 2004 open radical nephrectomy was the most common surgical management for renal cell carcinoma. Few patients received systemic therapy. Patient demographic, clinical and health system characteristics were associated with surgery. Evaluation of the diffusion of surgical management and newer systemic agents, and trial participation in community practice will be important for future research.
Evolution of as-a-Service Era in Cloud

Abstract. Today, a paradigm shift is being observed in science, where the focus is gradually shifting toward the cloud environments to obtain appropriate, robust and affordable services to deal with Big Data challenges (Sharma et al. 2014, 2015a, 2015b). Cloud computing avoids any need to locally maintain the overly scaled computing infrastructure that include not only dedicated space, but the expensive hardware and software also. In this paper, we study the evolution of as-a-Service modalities, stimulated by cloud computing, and explore the most complete inventory of new members beyond traditional cloud computing stack.
A retrospective case study to empirically validate 4-5 requirements management measures

what, why, how, what results
Viewpoint - Why "open source" misses the point of free software

Decoding the important differences in terminology, underlying philosophy, and value systems between two similar categories of software.
Teaching Learning Strategies to Increase Success of First-Term College Students

In this study, the authors examined the effect of taking a learning strategies course on grade point average, retention, and graduation rate of 351 first-year students over their first 4 terms in comparison with 351 matched non–course takers. The course taught 4 learning strategies and 8 substrategies to help students overcome procrastination, build self-confidence, take responsibility, learn from lecture and text, prepare for exams, write papers, and manage their lives. First-year students who took the course in their first term had statistically significantly higher grade point averages in each of their first 4 terms. They also demonstrated statistically significantly higher retention rates and were six times more likely to be retained. In addition, they had statistically significantly higher graduation rates than did their matched controls. In particular, graduation rates were 50% higher for students initially in academic difficulty. These findings reveal the value of teaching learning strategies to first-year students by means of a structured course based on educational psychology. This research holds potential importance for other universities and colleges seeking to improve the performance and persistence of first-year students.
The expression of multiple functions in urban forested wetlands

Forested wetlands in metropolitan areas function to support biodiversity, protect water quality, store floodwaters, and maintain streamflow, but they also function to provide natural areas for passive recreation, education, and esthetic appreciation for the surrounding human populations. However, the presence of dense human populations in the watersheds of wetlands is usually associated with disturbance and the diminution of the capacity of the wetlands to provide socially-valued ecological functions. I have examined indicators of biological, hydrologic, biogeochemical, and social functions in a sample of twenty-one mature forested wetlands located in northeastern New Jersey, USA, part of the New York City metropolitan region, which supports over 2000 people km−2. The field data and the principal components analyses of the sets of indicator variables for each class of function showed that the wetlands were arrayed along welldefined complex gradients in each case and that some functions were being performed at high levels in some of the wetlands despite the urban setting. However, the arrangement of sites within each ordination space differed, suggesting complex relationships among the various functions, some of which may be contradictory. For example, high ability to store floodwaters and evidence of flooding is associated with greater plant diversity and presence of obligate wetland species but is also associated with poor habitat for vertebrates and the presence of water-borne trash and exotic species. Conversely, low wetness is associated with high quality of habitat for vertebrates but also increased disturbance from large-scale dumping of trash and human disturbance and the release of nitrate from the soils. High levels of human use in and around the wetlands, while providing opportunity for human use and appreciation of the sites, is associated with low plant diversity and high release of nitrate-nitrogen. I conclude that because the functions performed by urban wetlands include human use and presence, there will necessarily be trade-offs required among ecological and human functions.