LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Population ecology and the new economics: guidelines for a steady-state economy.

Abstract This article is concerned with the necessity of modifying the well known classical theory of demographic transition because of recent developments, particularly in the worldwide ecological situation. It affects statements about developing as well as industrialized countries and is urgently needed in view of the dominant role transition theory plays in practice, planning and forecasting. The basic ideas of a demoecological transition theory is developed. The final part is a draft, with necessary consequences, of the new guidelines for economic action, that is alternatives and room to manoeuvre within a steady-state economy.
The Precinematic Novel: Zola's La Beêête humaine

ABSTRACT This essay is a study of Zola9s 1890 crime novel as it anticipates the aesthetics of cinema. Theoretical reflections on technology and violence are drawn from the works of Walter Benjamin and Reneee Girard.
Continuous Wave Potassium Titanyl Phosphate Laser Treatment is Safe and Effective for Xanthelasma Palpebrarum.

BACKGROUND
Although not an accepted standard treatment, the 532-nm continuous wave potassium titanyl phosphate (CW-KTP) laser might be a powerful device to treat xanthelasma palpebrarum (XP).


OBJECTIVE
To determine the safety and efficacy of CW-KTP laser treatment for XP.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
Between January 2013 and January 2015, 30 consecutive patients with XP were treated with a 532-nm CW-KTP laser (spot size: 0.9 mm, power: 5.0 W, fluence: 36-38 J/cm, pulse width: 46 milliseconds, frequency: 2.0 Hz, passes per session: 3). In a retrospective study design, safety and efficacy data were collected and analyzed.


RESULTS
Overall, 29/30 (97%) of patients had an excellent cosmetical result. Downtime was 1 week with crusted lesions. Although slight hypopigmentation was common, only 1/30 (3%) patients had hypopigmentation that was more than expected. Recurrences (13/30; 43%) were frequent, so that yearly maintenance therapy was warranted. No major side effects were noticed.


CONCLUSION
Continuous wave KTP laser therapy is safe and highly effective for XP, although regular follow-up treatments are often necessary to maintain the achieved cosmetic results.
Baltic foreign policy making establishments of the 1990s: Influential institutional and individual actors

Abstract This article examines, evaluates, and compares the role of political institutions in the foreign policy making process of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the 1990s. The central claim advanced is that the extent of influence exercised by political institutions in transitional states was largely conditioned by, and depended on, the individuals who headed these institutions. It is argued that the stronger the personality at the top of a political institution, the greater and more influential role it played in the foreign policy making process of the country.
Smart Interactive Comprehensive Learning Aid: Practical Application of Bruner's Theories in Primary Education

H.K.T.C. Halloluwa, A.P. Kaushalya, P.K.B.P.S. Bandara, K.D.S. Yapa, S. S. Sumanadasa Abstract— Smart Interactive Comprehensive Learning Aid (SICLA) is learning and teaching aid, implemented based on Bruner’s theory on the development of the children (1996), in education. The main objective is to provide an automated interactive learning tool for children who can learn and acquire knowledge with minimum teacher support. According to the Bruner’s theory, for effective teaching and learning can be done through three modes of representation: enactive representation (action based), iconic representation (image based), and symbolic representation (language based) and that is the main focus for this automated tool. This interactive solution focuses mainly the development of language skills, enactive skills and cognitive skills of a child through some software based activities. Activities selected carefully by focusing above underline skill and the level of knowledge that the child has and the age child is in. Therefore the selected activities leads to acquire new knowledge within interactive environment and the performance of the child evaluate with the aid of intelligent components of the software application. Some of the activities includes are the Letter identifier by object tracking, speech capturing, story builder and a smart story board, memory activities and innovative object designing. The implemented solution capable of expanding to capture new knowledge of parent/ teacher and that can be acquired by the child with or without their support. Advanced neural network techniques help to capture child knowledge and evaluate them with the constructive feedbacks in the execution time. One of the key intentions of this automated tool is to deliver a user friendly automated learning tool grounded with proven effective teaching techniques in affordable cost.
CONNECT: re-examining conventional wisdom for designing nocs in the context of FPGAs

An FPGA is a peculiar hardware realization substrate in terms of the relative speed and cost of logic vs. wires vs. memory. In this paper, we present a Network-on-Chip (NoC) design study from the mindset of NoC as a synthesizable infrastructural element to support emerging System-on-Chip (SoC) applications on FPGAs. To support our study, we developed CONNECT, an NoC generator that can produce synthesizable RTL designs of FPGA-tuned multi-node NoCs of arbitrary topology. The CONNECT NoC architecture embodies a set of FPGA-motivated design principles that uniquely influence key NoC design decisions, such as topology, link width, router pipeline depth, network buffer sizing, and flow control. We evaluate CONNECT against a high-quality publicly available synthesizable RTL-level NoC design intended for ASICs. Our evaluation shows a significant gain in specializing NoC design decisions to FPGAs' unique mapping and operating characteristics. For example, in the case of a 4x4 mesh configuration evaluated using a set of synthetic traffic patterns, we obtain comparable or better performance than the state-of-the-art NoC while reducing logic resource cost by 58%, or alternatively, achieve 3-4x better performance for approximately the same logic resource usage. Finally, to demonstrate CONNECT's flexibility and extensive design space coverage, we also report synthesis and network performance results for several router configurations and for entire CONNECT networks.
Particle Swarm Optimization for Nonlinear Model Predictive Control

The paper proposes two Nonlinear Model Predictive Control schemes that uncover a synergistic relationship between on-line receding horizon style computation and Particle Swarm Optimization, thus benefiting from both the performance advantages of on-line computation and the desirable properties of Particle Swarm Optimization. After developing these techniques for the unconstrained nonlinear optimal control problem, the entire design methodology is illustrated by a simulated inverted pendulum on a cart, and compared with a particular numerical linearization technique exploiting conventional convex optimization methods. This is then extended to input constrained nonlinear systems, offering a promising new paradigm for nonlinear optimal control design.
Why Firms Mandate ISO 14001 Certification

Thousands of facilities worldwide have certified to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001, the international environmental management system standard, and previous research typically has studied these certification decisions at the facility level. However, significant anecdotal evidence indicates that firms may have a strong role, and if so, prior studies may be drawing inappropriate conclusions about the rationale for ISO 14001 certification. Drawing on institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm, this study offers a conceptual framework that explains why parent companies would mandate—rather than simply encourage—their operational units to certify to ISO 14001. The framework is tested using survey data of corporate environmental managers. The results show that firms have a central role in nearly half of all facility-level certifications and that firms that mandate ISO 14001 endure greater external pressures and have stronger complementary resources and capabilities that support their organization-wide ISO 14001 policies.
Training generative neural networks via Maximum Mean Discrepancy optimization

We consider training a deep neural network to generate samples from an unknown distribution given i.i.d. data. We frame learning as an optimization minimizing a two-sample test statistic—informally speaking, a good generator network produces samples that cause a twosample test to fail to reject the null hypothesis. As our two-sample test statistic, we use an unbiased estimate of the maximum mean discrepancy, which is the centerpiece of the nonparametric kernel two-sample test proposed by Gretton et al. [2]. We compare to the adversarial nets framework introduced by Goodfellow et al. [1], in which learning is a two-player game between a generator network and an adversarial discriminator network, both trained to outwit the other. From this perspective, the MMD statistic plays the role of the discriminator. In addition to empirical comparisons, we prove bounds on the generalization error incurred by optimizing the empirical MMD.
The ironic spectator: Solidarity in the age of post-humanitarianism [Book Review]

Review(s) of: The ironic spectator: Solidarity in the age of post-humanitarianism, by Chouliaraki, Lilie, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2012, ISBN 9 7807 4564 2116, 248 pp.
Renal function at the time of a myocardial infarction maintains prognostic value for more than 10 years

BACKGROUND
Renal function is an important predictor of mortality in patients with myocardial infarction (MI), but changes in the impact over time have not been well described.We examined the importance of renal function by estimated GFR (eGFR) and se-creatinine as an independent long-term prognostic factor.


METHODS
Prospective follow-up of 6653 consecutive MI patients screened for entry in the Trandolapril Cardiac Evaluation (TRACE) study. The patients were analysed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, landmark analysis and Cox proportional hazard models. Outcome measure was all-cause mortality.


RESULTS
An eGFR below 60 ml per minute per 1.73 m2, consistent with chronic renal disease, was present in 42% of the patients. We divided the patients into 4 groups according to eGFR. Overall, Cox proportional-hazards models showed that eGFR was a significant prognostic factor in the two groups with the lowest eGFR, hazard ratio 1,72 (confidence interval (CI) 1,56-1,91) in the group with the lowest eGFR. Using the eGFR group with normal renal function as reference, we observed an incremental rise in hazard ratio. We divided the follow-up period in 2-year intervals. Landmark analysis showed that eGFR at the time of screening continued to show prognostic effect until 16 years of follow-up. By multivariable Cox regression analysis, the prognostic effect of eGFR persisted for 12 years and of se-creatinine for 10 years. When comparing the lowest group of eGFR with the group with normal eGFR, prognostic significance was present in the entire period of follow-up with a hazard ratio between 1,97 (CI 1,65-2,35) and 1,35 (CI 0,99-1,84) in the 2-year periods.


CONCLUSIONS
One estimate of renal function is a strong and independent long-term prognostic factor for 10-12 years following a MI.
Scalable Hardware Trojan Diagnosis

Hardware Trojans (HTs) pose a significant threat to the modern and pending integrated circuit (IC). Due to the diversity of HTs and intrinsic process variation (PV) in IC design, detecting and locating HTs is challenging. Several approaches have been proposed to address the problem, but they are either incapable of detecting various types of HTs or unable to handle very large circuits. We have developed a scalable HT detection and diagnosis approach that uses segmentation and gate level characterization (GLC). We ensure the detection of arbitrary malicious circuitry by measuring the overall leakage current for a set of different input vectors. In order to address the scalability issue, we employ a segmentation method that divides the large circuit into small sub-circuits using input vector selection. We develop a segment selection model in terms of properties of segments and their effects on GLC accuracy. The model parameters are calibrated by sampled data from the GLC process. Based on the selected segments we are able to detect and diagnose HTs by tracing gate level leakage power. We evaluate our approach on several ISCAS85/ISCAS89/ITC99 benchmarks. The simulation results show that our approach is capable of detecting and diagnosing HTs accurately on large circuits.
Modeling and Simulation of DC Microgrids for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

This paper focuses on the evaluation of theoretical and numerical aspects related to an original DC microgrid power architecture for efficient charging of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The proposed DC microgrid is based on photovoltaic array (PVA) generation, electrochemical storage, and grid connection; it is assumed that PEVs have a direct access to their DC charger input. As opposed to conventional power architecture designs, the PVA is coupled directly on the DC link without a static converter, which implies no DC voltage stabilization, increasing energy efficiency, and reducing control complexity. Based on a real-time rule-based algorithm, the proposed power management allows self-consumption according to PVA power production and storage constraints, and the public grid is seen only as back-up. The first phase of modeling aims to evaluate the main energy flows within the proposed DC microgrid architecture and to identify the control structure and the power management strategies. For this, an original model is obtained by applying the Energetic Macroscopic Representation formalism, which allows deducing the control design using Maximum Control Structure. The second phase of simulation is based on the numerical characterization of the DC microgrid components and the energy management strategies, which consider the power source requirements, charging times of different PEVs, electrochemical storage ageing, and grid power limitations for injection mode. The simulation results show the validity of the model and the feasibility of the proposed DC microgrid power architecture which presents good performance in terms of total efficiency and simplified control. OPEN ACCESS Energies 2015, 8 4336
Relational coordination promotes quality of chronic care delivery in Dutch disease-management programs.

BACKGROUND
Previous studies have shown that relational coordination is positively associated with the delivery of hospital care, acute care, emergency care, trauma care, and nursing home care. The effect of relational coordination in primary care settings, such as disease-management programs, remains unknown.


PURPOSE
This study examined relational coordination between general practitioners and other professionals in disease-management programs and assessed the impact of relational coordination on the delivery of chronic illness care.


METHODOLOGY
Professionals (n = 188; response rate = 57%) in 19 disease-management programs located throughout the Netherlands completed surveys that assessed relational coordination and chronic care delivery. We used a cross-sectional study design.


FINDINGS
Our study demonstrated that the delivery of chronic illness care was positively related to relational coordination. We found positive relationships with community linkages (r = .210, p < .01), self-management support (r = .217, p < .01), decision support (r = .190, p < .01), delivery system design (r = .278, p < .001), and clinical information systems (r = .193, p < .01). Organization of the health delivery system was not significantly related to relational coordination. The regression analyses showed that even after controlling for all background variables, relational coordination still significantly affected chronic care delivery (β = .212, p ≤ .01). As expected, our findings showed a lower degree of relational coordination among general practitioners than between general practitioners and other core disease-management team members: practice nurses (M = 2.69 vs. 3.73; p < .001), dieticians (M = 2.69 vs. 3.07; p < .01), physical therapists (M = 2.69 vs. 3.06; p < .01), medical specialists (M = 2.69 vs. 3.16; p < .01), and nurse practitioners (M = 2.69 vs. 3.19; p < .001).


PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
The enhancement of relational coordination among core disease-management professionals with different disciplines is expected to improve chronic illness care delivery.
Assessment of cationic dye biosorption characteristics of untreated and non-conventional biomass: Pyracantha coccinea berries.

This work reports on the assessment of the dye methylene blue biosorption properties of Pyracantha coccinea berries under different experimental conditions. Equilibrium and kinetic studies were carried out to determine the biosorption capacity and rate constants. The highest biosorption yield was observed at about pH 6.0, while the biosorption capacity of the biomass decreased with decreasing initial pH values. Batch equilibrium data obtained at different temperatures (15, 25, 35 and 45 degrees C) were modeled by Freundlich, Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherms. Langmuir isotherm model fitted the equilibrium data, at the all studied temperatures, better than the other isotherm models indicating monolayer dye biosorption process. The highest monolayer biosorption capacity was found to be 127.50mg/g dry biomass at 45 degrees C. Kinetic studies indicate that the biosorption process followed the pseudo-second-order model, rather than the pseudo-first-order model. DeltaG degrees , DeltaH degrees and DeltaS degrees parameters of biosorption show that the process is spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The biosorbent-dye interaction mechanisms were investigated using a combination of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The biosorption procedure was applied to simulated wastewater including several pollutants. The results obtained indicated that the suggested inexpensive and readily available biomaterial has a good potential for the biosorptive removal of basic dye.
The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in Human Pathology: Description, Pathogenesis, Oncogenic Role, Epidemiology and Detection Techniques

Persistent infection by human papilloma virus (HPV) is considered to be the main causative agent of cervical cancer and other anogenital cancers. Of more than 30 genotypes capable of infecting the anogenital tract it is estimated that, worldwide, HPV 16 and 18 cause 70 percent of the cervical cancers. So far, more than 100 types and subtypes of HPVs have been wholly or partially sequenced. All of them, approximately 40 types, have been isolated from lesions to the lower genital tract and between 15 and 20, according to different studies, have been detected in carcinomas. According to their oncogenic risk, they are classified as low-risk HPV (LR-HPV) and high-risk HPV (HR-HPV). We must take into account that certain viral types may appear in cancerous lesions as a result of a co-infection and not be the causative etiologic agents for tumour transformation. As is logical, epidemiological studies attribute important population variations to the prevalence and cause/effect of different viral types, however, there is no doubt about the high prevalence or involvement of types 16 and 18 in high level pathologies and carcinomas in our population. The detection of HPV DNA through techniques of Molecular Biology, regardless of the method used, are based on the specificity of the complementarity among the nucleic acids. A DNA sequence has the ability to specifically hybridise with other DNAs or RNAs so specifically that at a certain temperature they only form hybrids if 100 percent of the bases are complementary. The way of detecting these hybrids, the composition of the DNA probes, and the existence or not of amplification of the signal mark the difference between the different detection techniques. The assessment of the viral load, integration, and other molecular parameters are shaping up as excellent complementary diagnoses in daily clinical
Quality-of-life benefits of catheter ablation of persistent atrial fibrillation: a reanalysis of data from the SARA study.

AIMS
The recently published SARA study was a prospective, multi-centre randomized controlled trial that compared CA to antiarrhythmic drug therapy (ADT) in 146 patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). The study found that recurrence of AF or atrial flutter occurred significantly less often in the CA arm compared to the ADT arm (29.6% vs. 56.3%, p = 0.002). Despite this clear superiority in terms of efficacy, the authors were not able to demonstrate a corresponding Quality of Life (QoL) improvement. We sought to investigate this apparent disparity using alternative analytical methods.


METHODS AND RESULTS
We were able to show that a high coefficient of variation existed for all QoL measures at each time point which may explain the lack of statistical difference originally reported. We reanalyzed the raw QoL data from the SARA study using paired sample t-tests for the change in QOL for individual patients between baseline and 12 month (final) follow up. For patients randomized to ADT the difference in QoL after 12 months was not significant for any of the four QoL domains (global, physical, psychological and sexual) whereas for patients randomized to CA all comparisons were significant (global, p < 0.001; physical, p = 0.001; psychological, p < 0.001; sexual, p = 0.003).


CONCLUSION
In the SARA study, after 12 months' follow up, CA significantly improved QoL for patients with persistent AF whereas medical therapy had no appreciable effect.
Oxidation of Columbium and coated Columbium Alloys

Abstract : microscopy, high temperatureniobium alloy su-31, niobium alloy fs-85, fluorescence, x raysOxidation of columbium alloys FS-85, SU-31, and a complex disilicide coating/SU-31 and FS-85 alloy systems has been studied in the temperature range 1400 to 2700 F at 1 atm and 50 Cm/sec flow rate of air. For studies of the uncoated alloys, the flow rate and pressure dependence of the alloys was also investigated. The experimental methods included thermogravimetric measurements of oxidation rates and studies on reacted specimens by means of X-ray diffraction, metallographic techniques, and electron microprobe analysis. Two anomalies in the temperature dependence of the oxidation. rate were observed for both alloys and were related to the oxides formed. The SU-31 alloy has the best oxidation resistance. The oxidation mechanism of the alloys is discussed along with the mechanism of protection afforded by the complex disilicide coating system. The coating did not fail after 1000 hours of oxidation
A Framework for Mining Signatures from Event Sequences and Its Applications in Healthcare Data

This paper proposes a novel temporal knowledge representation and learning framework to perform large-scale temporal signature mining of longitudinal heterogeneous event data. The framework enables the representation, extraction, and mining of high-order latent event structure and relationships within single and multiple event sequences. The proposed knowledge representation maps the heterogeneous event sequences to a geometric image by encoding events as a structured spatial-temporal shape process. We present a doubly constrained convolutional sparse coding framework that learns interpretable and shift-invariant latent temporal event signatures. We show how to cope with the sparsity in the data as well as in the latent factor model by inducing a double sparsity constraint on the β-divergence to learn an overcomplete sparse latent factor model. A novel stochastic optimization scheme performs large-scale incremental learning of group-specific temporal event signatures. We validate the framework on synthetic data and on an electronic health record dataset.