LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
UseLearn: A novel checklist and usability evaluation method for eLearning systems by criticality metric analysis

This paper proposes a new usability evaluation checklist, UseLearn, and a related method for eLearning systems. UseLearn is a comprehensive checklist which incorporates both quality and usability evaluation perspectives in eLearning systems. Structural equation modeling is deployed to validate the UseLearn checklist quantitatively. The experimental results show that the UseLearn method supports the determination of usability problems by criticality metric analysis and the definition of relevant improvement strategies. The main advantage of the UseLearn method is the adaptive selection of the most influential usability problems, and thus significant reduction of the time and effort for usability evaluation can be achieved. At the sketching and/or design stage of eLearning systems, it will provide an effective guidance to usability analysts as to what problems should be focused on in order to improve the usability perception of the end-users. Relevance to industry: During the sketching or design stage of eLearning platforms, usability problems should be revealed and eradicated to create more usable and quality eLearning systems to satisfy the end-users. The UseLearn checklist along with its quantitative methodology proposed in this study would be helpful for usability experts to achieve this goal. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The psychological and neurophysiological concomitants of mindfulness forms of meditation.

OBJECTIVE
To provide a comprehensive review and evaluation of the psychological and neurophysiological literature pertaining to mindfulness meditation.


METHODS
A search for papers in English was undertaken using PsycINFO (from 1804 onward), MedLine (from 1966 onward) and the Cochrane Library with the following search terms: Vipassana, Mindfulness, Meditation, Zen, Insight, EEG, ERP, fMRI, neuroimaging and intervention. In addition, retrieved papers and reports known to the authors were also reviewed for additional relevant literature.


RESULTS
Mindfulness-based therapeutic interventions appear to be effective in the treatment of depression, anxiety, psychosis, borderline personality disorder and suicidal/self-harm behaviour. Mindfulness meditation per se is effective in reducing substance use and recidivism rates in incarcerated populations but has not been specifically investigated in populations with psychiatric disorders. Electroencephalography research suggests increased alpha, theta and beta activity in frontal and posterior regions, some gamma band effects, with theta activity strongly related to level of experience of meditation; however, these findings have not been consistent. The few neuroimaging studies that have been conducted suggest volumetric and functional change in key brain regions.


CONCLUSIONS
Preliminary findings from treatment outcome studies provide support for the application of mindfulness-based interventions in the treatment of affective, anxiety and personality disorders. However, direct evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation per se in the treatment of psychiatric disorders is needed. Current neurophysiological and imaging research findings have identified neural changes in association with meditation and provide a potentially promising avenue for future research.
Reassessing the Ins and Outs of Unemployment

This paper uses readily accessible data to measure the probability that an employed worker becomes unemployed and the probability that an unemployed worker finds a job, the ins and outs of unemployment. The job finding probability is strongly procyclical and the separation probability is nearly acyclical, particularly during the last two decades. Using the underlying microeconomic data, the paper shows that these results are not due to compositional changes in the pool of searching workers, nor are they due to movements of workers in and out of the labor force. These results contradict the conventional wisdom that has guided the development of macroeconomic models of the labor market during the last fifteen years. ∗My title borrows from Darby, Haltiwanger, and Plant (1986). I am grateful for comments from Fernando Alvarez, Gadi Barlevy, Francesco Belviso, Tito Boeri, Robert Hall, David Laibson, and Randall Wright and from seminar participants at the Bank of Italy, Bocconi University, the Chicago Fed, Harvard University, the St. Louis Fed, and the University of Texas-Austin on an earlier version of this paper. This paper is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Sloan Foundation.
An ontology-based framework for context-aware adaptive e-learning system

In web-based e-learning environment every learner has a distinct background, learning style and a specific goal when searching for learning material on the web. The goal of personalization is to tailor search results to a particular user based on that user's contextual information. The effectiveness of accessing learning material involves two important challenges: identifying the user context and modeling the user context as ontological profiles. This work describes the ontology-based framework for context-aware adaptive learning system, with detailed discussions on the categorization contextual information and modeling along with the use of ontology to explicitly specify learner context in an e-learning environment. Finally we conclude by showing the applicability of the proposed ontology with appropriate architectural overview of e-learning system.
Towards a comprehensive theory of nurse/patient empowerment: applying Kanter's empowerment theory to patient care.

AIM
The purpose of this theoretical paper is to propose an integrated model of nurse/patient empowerment that could be used as a guide for creating high-quality nursing practice work environments that ensure positive outcomes for both nurses and their patients.


BACKGROUND
There are few integrated theoretical approaches to nurse and patient empowerment in the literature, although nurse empowerment is assumed to positively affect patient outcomes.


EVALUATION
The constructs described in Kanter's (1993) work empowerment theory are conceptually consistent with the nursing care process and can be logically extended to nurses' interactions with their patients and the outcomes of nursing care.


KEY ISSUES
We propose a model of nurse/patient empowerment derived from Kanter's theory that suggests that empowering working conditions increase feelings of psychological empowerment in nurses, resulting in greater use of patient empowerment strategies by nurses, and, ultimately, greater patient empowerment and better health outcomes.


CONCLUSIONS
Empirical testing of the model is recommended prior to use of the model in clinical practice.


IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
We argue that empowered nurses are more likely to empower their patients, which results in better patient and system outcomes. Strategies for managers to empower nurses and for nurses to empower patients are suggested.
Temporal trends in the use of high-dose potent statins following acute coronary syndrome in Israel.

OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to evaluate factors associated with the prescription of high-dose potent statin (HDPS) therapy following hospitalization for acute coronary events.


STUDY DESIGN
Sub-analysis was made using the data of 3,525 patients enrolled in the 2008 and 2010 Acute Coronary Syndrome Israeli Surveys (ACSIS).


METHODS
Analyses were carried out to identify demographic and clinical factors associated with the prescription of HDPS therapy (atorvastatin 40-80 mg/day or rosuvastatin 20-40 mg/day) at discharge compared with the prescription of lower-dose statins.


RESULTS
Among the study patients, 1,387 (39%) were discharged on HDPS, 1,860 (53%) with lower-dose statin regimens and 278 (8%) with no recommendation for statin therapy. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that pre-admission usage of HDPS and participation in the more recent (2010) ACSIS survey were independently associated with a higher likelihood of HDPS prescription at discharge from the index event (odds ratio, OR, 21.07, p < 0.001, and 5.61, p < 0.001, respectively), whereas factors independently associated with a lack of HDPS prescription included age >75 years (OR 0.76, p = 0.03), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels <100 mg/dl on admission (OR 0.67, p < 0.001) and a history of heart failure prior to the index hospitalization (OR 0.54, p = 0.0018). The 30-day compliance with the HDPS regimen was 98%.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings show increased use of HDPS therapy in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients, although this mode of medical therapy is still underutilized in the important subset of high-risk ACS patients.
Energy-Efficient Subcarrier Assignment and Power Allocation in OFDMA Systems With Max-Min Fairness Guarantees

In next-generation wireless networks, energy efficiency optimization needs to take individual link fairness into account. In this paper, we investigate a max-min energy efficiency-optimal problem (MEP) to ensure fairness among links in terms of energy efficiency in OFDMA systems. In particular, we maximize the energy efficiency of the worst-case link subject to the rate requirements, transmit power, and subcarrier assignment constraints. Due to the nonsmooth and mixed combinatorial features of the formulation, we focus on low-complexity suboptimal algorithms design. Using a generalized fractional programming theory and the Lagrangian dual decomposition, we first propose an iterative algorithm to solve the problem. We then devise algorithms to separate the subcarrier assignment and power allocation to further reduce the computational cost. Our simulation results verify the convergence performance and the fairness achieved among links, and particularly reveal a new tradeoff between the network energy efficiency and fairness by comparing the MEP with the existing algorithms.
Hyperuricemia and the metabolic syndrome in Hangzhou.

The aim of this study was to investigate prevalences of hyperuricemia and the metabolic syndrome (MS) in the Hangzhou population, and the relationship between serum uric acid and the MS. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 4155 subjects (2614 men and 1541 women) aged 20-80 years, recruited through a health check program in Hangzhou, China. Biochemical and haematological parameters were measured by standard methods. The diagnosis of the MS is made when three or four of the following criteria are met: 1) body mess index (BMI) >or= 25; 2) systolic blood pressure >or= 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure >or= 90 mmHg; 3) fasting triacyglycerol >or= 1.7 mmol/L (150 mg/dL), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) < 0.9 mmol/L (35 mg/dL) in men and <1.0 mmol/L (39 mg/dL) in women; 4) fasting glucose >or= 6.1 mmol/L (109 mg/dL). Hyperuricemia is defined by cut-off values of > 420 mumol/L for men and > 360 mumol/L for women. Prevalences were 16.9% (N=702) for hyperuricemia and 8.4% (N=349) for the MS. Serum uric acid concentration was significantly higher in males than in females (p<0.0001), and significantly higher in subjects with obesity, dyslipidemia and hypertension compared with those without. In the partial correlation analysis, after controlling for gender, age and creatinine, serum uric acid concentration was significantly positively correlated with BMI (r=0.301, p<0.0001), systolic blood pressure (r=0.151, p<0.0001), diastolic blood pressure (r=0.168, p<0.0001), total cholesterol (r=0.144, p<0.0001) and triacyglycerol (r=0.234, p<0.0001). Results suggest that increased serum uric acid concentration is associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic disorders such as obesity, dyslipidemia and hypertension in the Hangzhou population.
Both ramipril and telmisartan reverse indices of early diabetic cardiomyopathy: a comparative study.

AIMS
We tested the hypothesis that renin-angiotensin system inhibition could reverse left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Forty asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes were recruited in this double-blind cross-over trial. Left ventricular diastolic function was assessed at baseline with Doppler echocardiography; ratios of early to late peak flow velocity through the mitral orifice (E/A) and velocity time integral of early to late transmitral diastolic flow (VTIE/VTIA) were evaluated. In addition, plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) was measured. Patients received randomly either ramipril (2.5 mg/day), or telmisartan (40 mg/day) or their combination for 3 months. Subsequently, every patient was crossed over to alternative regimens after a 2-week washout period. Measurements were repeated at the end of each treatment period. Both E/A and VTIE/VTIA ratios were increased (29 and 20% with ramipril, 25 and 23% with telmisartan and 36 and 28% with combination treatment, respectively, p < 0.001), whereas plasma BNP levels were significantly reduced with all 3 regimens (9% with ramipril, 25% with telmisartan and 36% with combination, p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Both ramipril and telmisartan improve echocardiographic left ventricular diastolic indices and reduce plasma BNP levels in diabetic patients; their combination yields an even better therapeutic effect.
Advanced on-site diagnosis of transformer on-load tap changer

It is known that many failures of power transformers are related to aging effects of the on-load tap changer contacts. This paper discusses the recently developed analysis method for service aged power transformers. In particular, the effect of several aging stages of the tap changer change-over selector contacts on dynamic resistance have been considered. As a result, to assess on-site the condition of a power transformer, the following approaches are combined: - The dynamic resistance measurement, to detect deviant contact resistances inside an on-load tap changer; - The velocity measurement to the driving axis of the tap changer drive mechanism and the motor power measurement on the drive motor of the tap changer, to detect mechanical wear or damage inside the drive mechanism; - Transformer turns ratio measurement and DC winding resistance measurement, to diagnose the transformer windings. This paper also presents decision support rules for dynamic resistance measurements to make an unambiguous decision about the status of the tap changer contacts.
Sensitivity Determination of Linear Variable Differential Transducer (LVDT) in Fluid Level Detection Techniques

The fluid level measurement technique has a wide range applications at home, schools, in automobiles and industries. It determines the levels of water in a domestic’s services tanks and the levels of fuel in our mobile and stationary Vehicles. A small scale Linear Variable Differential Transducer (LVDT) was locally constructed and used to detect the levels of water, petroleum and gasoline. The sensitivity of the LVDT due to linear displacement and induce Electromotive Force (EMF) in each case was investigated. The result showed that while water was used as reference fluid, the transducer displayed (2.63V) output EMF due to (11.86μWeber) flux linkage while a ferrite core was displaced for about (12.86cm) at sensitivity of (2.99V/cm). But by considering petroleum as reference fluid the transducer displayed (2.43V) induced EMF due to a flux linkage of (11.02 μWeber) for a core displacement of (12.75cm) at a sensitivity of (2.79V/cm) and when gasoline was considered, an EMF of (2.96V) was displayed due to a flux linkage of (11.86μWeber) for (12.53cm) displacement at sensitivity of 3.46V/cm). The result also showed that for water, petroleum and gasoline level measurements, the transducer works with good precision as the linear displacement of ferrite core is proportional to flux linkage, induced EMF as well as the sensitivity of the LVDT.
Forecasting daily streamflow using hybrid ANN models

In this paper, the classic ‘divide and conquer (DAC)’ paradigm is applied as a top-down black-box technique for the forecasting of daily streamflows from the streamflow records alone, i.e. without employing exogenous variables of the runoff generating process such as rainfall. To this end, three forms of hybrid artificial neural networks (ANNs) are used as univariate time series models, namely, the threshold-based ANN (TANN), the cluster-based ANN (CANN), and the periodic ANN (PANN). For the purpose of comparison of forecasting efficiency, the normal multi-layer perceptron form of ANN (MLP–ANN) is selected as the baseline ANN model. Having first applied the MLP–ANN models without any data-grouping procedure, the influence of various data preprocessing procedures on the MLP–ANN model forecasting performance is then investigated. The preprocessing procedures considered are: standardization, log-transformation, rescaling, deseasonalization, and combinations of these. In the context of the single streamflow series considered, deseasonalization without rescaling was found to be the most effective preprocessing procedure. Some discussions are presented (i) on data preprocessing and (ii) on selection of the best ANN model. Overall, among the three variations of hybrid ANNs tested, the PANN model performed best. Compared with the MLP–ANN fitted to the deseasonalized data, the PANN based on the soft seasonal partitioning performed better for short lead times (%3 days), but the advantage vanishes for longer lead times. q 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.
HIGH PRESSURE OIL-INJECTED SCREW GAS COMPRESSORS ( API 619 DESIGN ) FOR HEAVY DUTY PROCESS GAS APPLICATIONS

Compressor Engineering Group with Kobe Steel Ltd., in Hyogo, Japan. He is in charge of both oil-free and oil-flooded screw compressor engineering for process gas and industrial refrigeration. Previously in his 22 year career, Mr. Ohama was an engineer for oilflooded gas screw compressors and managed a screw compressor engineering group. He, along with his staff, developed the highpressure screw compressor “EH series” in 1997, which was the first in the world applied to 60 barg as a series. Mr. Ohama also participated in the Task Force for the preparation of API 619 Third Edition. Mr. Ohama graduated with a B.S. degree (Mechanical Engineering, 1979) and an M.S. degree (Mechanical Engineering, 1981) from the Saga University, Japan.
Soviet Seismic Studies of the Earth's Crust in the Pacific Ocean During the International Upper Mantle Project-A Summary

Abstract Kosminskaya, LP., Zverev, S.M. and Udintsev, G.B., 1973. Soviet seismic studies of the earth's crust in the Pacific Ocean during the International Upper Mantle Project — a summary. In: S. Mueller (Editor), The Structure of the Earth's Crust, based on Seismic Data. Tectonophysics , 20 (1–4): 147–151. The main results of seismic investigations in the transition zone from the Asian continent to the Pacific Ocean and in several regions of the Pacific Ocean are reported briefly. One of the most surprising findings is the existence of a layer with a P-velocity of 9 km/sec only 12–15 km below the oceanic crust-mantle boundary. Some recommendations for future investigations are given.
The eigenvalue for a class of singular p-Laplacian fractional differential equations involving the Riemann-Stieltjes integral boundary condition

Keywords: Upper and lower solutions p-Laplacian operator Fractional differential equation Integral boundary condition Eigenvalue a b s t r a c t In this paper, we are concerned with the eigenvalue problem of a class of singular p-Lapla-cian fractional differential equations involving the Riemann–Stieltjes integral boundary condition. The conditions for the existence of at least one positive solution is established together with the estimates of the lower and upper bounds of the solution at any instant of time. Our results are derived based on the method of upper and lower solutions and the Schauder fixed point theorem.
Effects of S-ketamine as an anesthetic adjuvant to propofol on treatment response to electroconvulsive therapy in treatment-resistant depression: a randomized pilot study.

OBJECTIVE
Ketamine in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) anesthesia has been reported to be associated with better seizure quality and longer duration compared with methohexital anesthesia. Furthermore, ketamine may enhance the efficacy of ECT while having rapid independent antidepressant properties itself. However, data on the effects of ketamine with ECT are inconsistent, and there are no reports of S-ketamine. The aim of the present pilot study was to explore the effects of S-ketamine as an adjuvant to propofol on the efficacy, seizure duration, and quality of electroencephalography in patients with treatment-resistant depression.


METHODS
Thirty-two patients with a recurrent severe or psychotic major depressive disorder with treatment resistance to antidepressants were included in the study. For induction of anesthesia, the patients were randomized into 2 study groups. The S-ketamine group first received S-ketamine (0.4 mg/kg) as a bolus and then propofol. The treatment-as-usual group first received saline and then propofol.


RESULTS
A statistically significant and clinically relevant reduction in the depression symptom scores was found in both study groups during ECT. There was no difference in the magnitude or speed of response between the study groups, nor was there any difference in the numbers of ECT treatments, seizure thresholds, seizure durations, and the electrical doses either. The patients recovered from anesthesia equally, but the degree of posttreatment disorientation and restlessness was more marked in the S-ketamine group.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, a subanesthetic adjuvant dose of S-ketamine with propofol may not increase the effects of ECT in patients with treatment-resistant depression. However, S-ketamine was associated with increased posttreatment disorientation and restlessness.
Interpretive Error in Radiology.

OBJECTIVE
Although imaging technology has advanced significantly since the work of Garland in 1949, interpretive error rates remain unchanged. In addition to patient harm, interpretive errors are a major cause of litigation and distress to radiologists. In this article, we discuss the mechanics involved in searching an image, categorize omission errors, and discuss factors influencing diagnostic accuracy. Potential individual- and system-based solutions to mitigate or eliminate errors are also discussed.


CONCLUSION
Radiologists use visual detection, pattern recognition, memory, and cognitive reasoning to synthesize final interpretations of radiologic studies. This synthesis is performed in an environment in which there are numerous extrinsic distractors, increasing workloads and fatigue. Given the ultimately human task of perception, some degree of error is likely inevitable even with experienced observers. However, an understanding of the causes of interpretive errors can help in the development of tools to mitigate errors and improve patient safety.