LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Male interracial wage differentials: competing explanations

COMPETING EXPLANATIONS OF MALE INTERRACIAL WAGE DIFFERENTIALS: MISSING VARIABLE MODELS VERSUS JOB COMPETITION Persistent interracial wage differentials present a challenge for neoclassical models of discrimination, which claim that long run competition is not consistent with persistent discrimination. Accordingly, several missing variable explanations are proposed in the literature. These modifications have two implications. One, interracial wage inequality is due to interracial inequality in pre-labor market factors. Two, there is no correlation between intergroup segregation and interracial wage differentials. However, the job competition model of discrimination argues that persistent wage discrimination and racial and gender employment segregation are causally related. Also, this model shows that racial discrimination is linked to the profit maximizing behavior of firms and, thereby, is consistent with the existence of competitive labor markets. This study provides an empirical examination of the missing variable and job competition models of interracial wage inequality. The results argue strongly against the missing variables approach and strongly in favor of the job competition model. Specifically, this study finds that about one-half of the male African American white and Latino white interracial wage differentials are due to market discrimination African Americans and Latinos. Also, the positive and significant coefficients on the race-gender employment density variables strongly affirm the job competition model's contention that access to white (especially) male dominated jobs increases an individual's wage rate -regardless of race. Racial job segregation then is an important explanatory variable for racial wage discrimination.
Lunch Breaks Unpacked: The Role of Autonomy as a Moderator of Recovery during Lunch

Work recovery research has focused mainly on how after-work break activities help employees replenish their resources and reduce fatigue. Given that employees spend a considerable amount of time at work, understanding how they can replenish their resources during the workday is critical. Drawing on ego depletion (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000) and self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), we employed multi-source experience sampling methods to test the effects of a critical boundary condition, employee lunch break autonomy, on the relation between lunch break activities and end-of-workday fatigue. Although specific energy-relevant activities had a main effect on end-of-workday fatigue, each of these was moderated by the degree of autonomous choice associated with the break. Specifically, for activities that supported the psychological needs of relatedness and competence (i.e., social and work activities, respectively), as lunch break autonomy increased, effects switched from increasing fatigue to reducing fatigue. To the extent that lunch break activities involved relaxation, however, lunch break autonomy was only important when levels of relaxation were low. We conclude that lunch break autonomy plays a complex and pivotal role in conferring the potential energetic benefits of lunch break activities. Contributions to theory and practice are discussed.
Is brief advice in primary care a cost-effective way to promote physical activity?

AIM
This study models the cost-effectiveness of brief advice (BA) in primary care for physical activity (PA) addressing the limitations in the current limited economic literature through the use of a time-based modelling approach.


METHODS
A Markov model was used to compare the lifetime costs and outcomes of a cohort of 100 000 people exposed to BA versus usual care. Health outcomes were expressed in terms of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Costs were assessed from a health provider perspective (£2010/11 prices). Data to populate the model were derived from systematic literature reviews and the literature searches of economic evaluations that were conducted for national guidelines. Deterministic and probability sensitivity analyses explored the uncertainty in parameter estimates including short-term mental health gains associated with PA.


RESULTS
Compared with usual care, BA is more expensive, incurring additional costs of £806 809 but it is more effective leading to 466 QALYs gained in the total cohort, a QALY gain of 0.0047/person. The incremental cost per QALY of BA is £1730 (including mental health gains) and thus can be considered cost-effective at a threshold of £20 000/QALY. Most changes in assumptions resulted in the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) falling at or below £12 000/QALY gained. However, when short-term mental health gains were excluded the ICER was £27 000/QALY gained. The probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed that, at a threshold of £20 000/QALY, there was a 99.9% chance that BA would be cost-effective.


CONCLUSIONS
BA is a cost-effective way to improve PA among adults, provided short-term mental health gains are considered. Further research is required to provide more accurate evidence on factors contributing to the cost-effectiveness of BA.
Safety of infliximab in 10 years of clinical practice.

UNLABELLED
Assessment of the long-term safety of anti-tumour necrosis factor therapies is vital for the safe treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, a disease affecting a young cohort of patients.


AIMS
The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the safety and long-term outcome of infliximab use in clinical practice in our institution on an intention to treat basis over the 10-year period from December 1998 to 31 December 2008.


METHODS
All cases receiving infliximab for ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease over a 10-year period were identified from hospital pharmacy records. The study was based on a single centre cohort, with an unselected patient group.


RESULTS
A total of 271 patients were identified as receiving infliximab for either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis over the 10-year study period. In total, 2169 infusions were given to the patient cohort. Fifty adverse events led to discontinuation of infliximab therapy in 47 cases. Two patients stopped due to neurological complications. There were six malignancies diagnosed within the cohort during the study period. Four of these were diagnosed while the individual was receiving Infliximab and two occurred at an interval of 21-52 months post their final infliximab infusion. A total of five deaths (1.5%) were observed during the study period.


CONCLUSION
Infliximab therapy seems to be safe and efficacious in the long term. Although the development of malignancy remains a concern, we have not seen an increased risk of serious infection within our cohort.
On the Lcm-Sum Function

We consider a generalization of the lcm-sum function, and we give two kinds of asymptotic formulas for the sum of that function. Our results include a generalization ofBordelì es's results and a refinement of the error estimate of Alladi's result. We prove these results by the method similar to those ofBordelì es.
Scalable single linkage hierarchical clustering for big data

Personal computing technologies are everywhere; hence, there are an abundance of staggeringly large data sets-the Library of Congress has stored over 160 terabytes of web data and it is estimated that Facebook alone logs nearly a petabyte of data per day. Thus, there is a pertinent need for systems by which one can elucidate the similarity and dissimilarity among and between groups in these big data sets. Clustering is one way to find these groups. In this paper, we extend the scalable Visual Assessment of Tendency (sVAT) algorithm to return single-linkage partitions of big data sets. The sVAT algorithm is designed to provide visual evidence of the number of clusters in unloadable (big) data sets. The extension we describe for sVAT enables it to also then efficiently return the data partition as indicated by the visual evidence. The computational complexity and storage requirements of sVAT are (usually) significantly less than the O(n2) requirement of the classic single-linkage hierarchical algorithm. We show that sVAT is a scalable instantiation of single-linkage clustering for data sets that contain c compact-separated clusters, where c ≪ n; n is the number of objects. For data sets that do not contain compact-separated clusters, we show that sVAT produces a good approximation of single-linkage partitions. Experimental results are presented for both synthetic and real data sets.
Origin and fate of Lake Vostok water frozen to the base of the East Antarctic ice sheet

The subglacial Lake Vostok may be a unique reservoir of genetic material and it may contain organisms with distinct adaptations, but it has yet to be explored directly. The lake and the overlying ice sheet are closely linked, as the ice-sheet thickness drives the lake circulation, while melting and freezing at the ice-sheet base will control the flux of water, biota and sediment through the lake. Here we present a reconstruction of the ice flow trajectories for the Vostok core site, using ice-penetrating radar data and Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements of surface ice velocity. We find that the ice sheet has a significant along-lake flow component, persistent since the Last Glacial Maximum. The rates at which ice is frozen (accreted) to the base of the ice sheet are greatest at the shorelines, and the accreted ice layer is subsequently transported out of the lake. Using these new flow field and velocity measurements, we estimate the time for ice to traverse Lake Vostok to be 16,000–20,000 years. We infer that most Vostok ice analysed to date was accreted to the ice sheet close to the western shoreline, and is therefore not representative of open lake conditions. From the amount of accreted lake water we estimate to be exported along the southern shoreline, the lake water residence time is about 13,300 years.
A Variational Analysis of Stochastic Gradient Algorithms

Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) is an important algorithm in machine learning. With constant learning rates, it is a stochastic process that, after an initial phase of convergence, generates samples from a stationary distribution. We show that SGD with constant rates can be effectively used as an approximate posterior inference algorithm for probabilistic modeling. Specifically, we show how to adjust the tuning parameters of SGD such as to match the resulting stationary distribution to the posterior. This analysis rests on interpreting SGD as a continuoustime stochastic process and then minimizing the Kullback-Leibler divergence between its stationary distribution and the target posterior. (This is in the spirit of variational inference.) In more detail, we model SGD as a multivariate Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process and then use properties of this process to derive the optimal parameters. This theoretical framework also connects SGD to modern scalable inference algorithms; we analyze the recently proposed stochastic gradient Fisher scoring under this perspective. We demonstrate that SGD with properly chosen constant rates gives a new way to optimize hyperparameters in probabilistic models.
Universality of the Local Marginal Polytope

We show that solving the LP relaxation of the min-sum labeling problem (also known as MAP inference problem in graphical models, discrete energy minimization, or valued constraint satisfaction) is not easier than solving any linear program. Precisely, every polytope is linear-time representable by a local marginal polytope and every LP can be reduced in linear time to a linear optimization (allowing infinite costs) over a local marginal polytope. The reduction can be done (though with a higher time complexity) even if the local marginal polytope is restricted to have a planar structure.
Modular Neural Net System for Inverse Kinematics Learning

Inverse kinematics computation using an arti cial neural network that learns the inverse kinematics of a robot arm has been employed by many researchers. However, conventional learning methodologies do not pay enough attention to the discontinuity of the inverse kinematics system of typical robot arms with joint limits. The inverse kinematics system of the robot arms is a multi-valued and discontinuous function. Since it is di cult for a well-known multi-layer neural network to approximate such a function, a correct inverse kinematics model for the end-e ector's overall position and orientation cannot be obtained by using a single neural network. In order to overcome the discontinuity of the inverse kinematics function, we propose a novel modular neural network system for the inverse kinematics model learning. We also propose the on-line learning and control method for trajectory tracking.
Constrained model predictive control: Stability and optimality

Model predictive control is a form of control in which the current control action is obtained by solving, at each sampling instant, a "nite horizon open-loop optimal control problem, using the current state of the plant as the initial state; the optimization yields an optimal control sequence and the "rst control in this sequence is applied to the plant. An important advantage of this type of control is its ability to cope with hard constraints on controls and states. It has, therefore, been widely applied in petro-chemical and related industries where satisfaction of constraints is particularly important because e$ciency demands operating points on or close to the boundary of the set of admissible states and controls. In this review, we focus on model predictive control of constrained systems, both linear and nonlinear and discuss only brie#y model predictive control of unconstrained nonlinear and/or time-varying systems. We concentrate our attention on research dealing with stability and optimality; in these areas the subject has developed, in our opinion, to a stage where it has achieved su$cient maturity to warrant the active interest of researchers in nonlinear control. We distill from an extensive literature essential principles that ensure stability and use these to present a concise characterization of most of the model predictive controllers that have been proposed in the literature. In some cases the "nite horizon optimal control problem solved on-line is exactly equivalent to the same problem with an in"nite horizon; in other cases it is equivalent to a modi"ed in"nite horizon optimal control problem. In both situations, known advantages of in"nite horizon optimal control accrue. ( 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy versus interpersonal psychotherapy for early-onset chronic depression: a randomized pilot study.

BACKGROUND
The only psychotherapy specifically designed and evaluated for the treatment of chronic depression, the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP), has never been directly compared to another depression-specific psychological method.


METHODS
Thirty patients with early-onset chronic depression were randomized to 22 sessions of CBASP or Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) provided in 16 weeks. Primary outcome was the score on the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) assessed posttreatment by an independent blinded evaluator. Secondary endpoints were, among others, remission (HRSD≤8) rates and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The study included a prospective naturalistic 12-month follow-up.


RESULTS
Intent-to-treat analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that there was no significant difference in posttreatment HRSD scores between the CBASP and the IPT condition, but in self-rated BDI scores. We found significantly higher remission rates in the CBASP (57%) as compared to the IPT (20%) group. One year posttreatment, no significant differences were found in the self-reported symptom level (BDI) using ANCOVA.


LIMITATIONS
The study used only a small sample size and no placebo control. The generalizability of the results may be limited to patients with a preference for psychological treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
While the primary outcome was not significant, secondary measures showed relevant benefits of CBASP over IPT. We found preliminary evidence that in early-onset chronic depression, an approach specifically designed for this patient population was superior to a method originally developed for the treatment of acute depressive episodes. Long-term results suggest that chronically depressed patients may need extended treatment courses.
An exploratory study of the extent of information technology adoption in SMEs: an application of upper echelon theory

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate the effect of compositions of managerial/demographic characteristics of the top management team (TMT) on the extent of information technology (IT) adoption in small businesses (SMEs), where such strategic decisions made by TMT have direct and significant influence on all aspects of business operations and its competitive position in a market. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the upper echelon theory, the study formulated four hypotheses relating the compositions of TMT characteristics to the extent of IT adoption in different functional areas. Multiple regression analysis was employed to analyze the data. Findings – The age average and the education average of TMT in small businesses are significant predictors of the extent of IT adoption. However, the group heterogeneity (either gender or ethnicity), contrary to the prediction, has negative impact on the extent of IT adoption. Practical implications – The research findings indicate that the age and education composition of managers as current/future top management is critical to facilitate the extent of IT adoption in SMEs. Originality/value – The research contributes to the body of knowledge in IT adoption by complementing the results of prior research with the findings that the characteristic compositions of TMT affect the extent of IT adoption in SMEs, applying the upper echelon theory to examine issues surrounding IT adoption, and suggesting practical implications that SMEs could compose, educate, and rejuvenate their top management teams to achieve a high extent of IT adoption.
A phase II trial with new triptorelin sustained release formulations in prostatic carcinoma

Objectives:The objectives were to assess if a single intramuscular (IM) injection of the GnRH agonist triptorelin, as pamoate Sustained Release (RS) 11.25 mg, was able to induce pharmacological castration and to maintain the plasma testosterone levels in the castrate range (< 1.735 nmol/l) up to 3 months in prostatic carcinoma. Methods:Two different formulations of triptorelin pamoate 11.25 mg were assessed in 2 groups of 10 patients suffering from prostatic carcinoma. Each patient received one IM injection of triptorelin pamoate SR 11.25 mg. Triptorelin and testosterone levels were measured over 3 months. Pain, micturition difficulties, performance status, local and general tolerance, and the occurrence of adverse events were evaluated.Results: Both formulations were able to induce castration levels (< 1.735 nmol/l) of testosterone within 3 to 4 weekspost-injection, and to maintain levels below1.735 nmol/l till the end of 3rd month. The bioavailability of one formulation(DLGSD-3-95-21) tended to be greater.This may explain the quickeronset of castration and the slight better maintenance of low testosterone levels during the 3rd month observed with this formulation. In terms of clinical end-points, the local tolerance of both formulations was excellent. No serious adverse events were recorded except transient hot flushes in 2 cases and slight bone pain in one.Conclusion: Triptorelin pamoate 11.25 mg given in microgranules is a 3-month sustained-release administration form which appears to be safe and effective in advanced prostatic carcinoma. Based on the findings of this study, the formulation with greater bioavailability (DLGSD-3-95-21) was selected as formulation of choice to be used for clinical treatments and further clinical investigation.
Monitoring of therapy in androgen-dependent prostate tumor model by measuring tumor proliferation.

UNLABELLED
3'-Deoxy-3'-(18)F-fluorothymidine ((18)F-FLT) has been recently described as a radiopharmaceutical for measuring cellular proliferation using PET imaging. Evaluation of tumor proliferative activity by PET using (18)F-FLT could be a procedure to assess the viability of tumor, such as histologic grade, clinical stage, and prognosis as well as the early effects of cancer therapy. This study was undertaken to determine whether (18)F-FLT is useful in the detection of prostate cancer as well as monitoring therapeutic effects in a human tumor model.


METHODS
The androgen-dependent human prostate tumor, CWR22, was implanted into athymic mice. This well-established model of prostate cancer was used in all studies. To determine the optimal imaging times for (18)F-FLT, a biodistribution was performed in CWR22 mice. (18)F-FLT (740 kBq [20 micro Ci]) was administered via the tail vein and uptake was determined in selected tissues at 5 min, 20 min, and 1, 2, and 4 h after injection (n = 5, each time point). Androgen ablation studies were conducted in the CWR22 model with either diethylstilbestrol (DES) or surgical castration. Animals received DES every 2 d for 3 wk. The effectiveness of therapy was monitored using (18)F-FLT microPET as baseline, during treatment, and after treatment. Tracer accumulation in the tumor was then analyzed by comparing tumor-to-muscle ratios derived from reconstructed microPET data.


RESULTS
At 2 h after injection, the (18)F-FLT uptake in tumor was 0.69 +/- 0.14 percentage injected dose per gram of tissue, showing the highest activity of all organs measured. The microPET study with dynamic imaging showed that (18)F-FLT uptake in blood reached its plateau within 1 min and was rapidly cleared, whereas (18)F-FLT uptake in tumor reached its plateau in 30 min and remained up to 60 min. microPET using (18)F-FLT successfully imaged the implanted CWR22 tumor in the mice at both 1 and 2 h after injection. There was a marked reduction of (18)F-FLT uptake in tumor after castration or DES treatment; however, there were no differences in (18)F-FLT uptake in the tumor in the control group. These changes of (18)F-FLT uptake in tumor parallel the changes of actual tumor measurement.


CONCLUSION
These results indicate that (18)F-FLT is a useful tracer for detection of prostate cancer in an animal model. (18)F-FLT has the potential for monitoring the therapeutic effect of androgen ablation therapy in prostate cancer.
Defenses To Protect Against SQL Injection Attacks

Web applications are steadily increasing in our daily routines activities and continue to integrate them. Online Banking, On-line reservations, on-line shopping expect these web applications to be secure and reliable; the terror of SQL– Injection Attacks has become increasingly frequent and serious. SQL Injection Attacks are one of the topmost threats for web application security. Using SQL Injection attackers can leak confidential information: such as credit card numbers, ATM pins, User credentials from web applications and even corrupt the database. This paper presents a new technique to protect Web applications against SQL injection Attacks. SQL Injection Attacks are a class of attacks that many of these systems are highly vulnerable to, and there is no known foolproof defense against such attacks. In this paper, some predefined methods are discussed and integrated approach of encryption method with secure hashing is applied in the database to avoid attack on login phase. This combined method is applied to a system where user’s information is kept and the designing of this system are done by using PHP and MYSQL. Index –Terms: Database security, SQL injection attacks, Hashing, Encryption technique, Preventions.