LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Incidence of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in Taiwan: physicians’ and nurses’ estimation vs. patients’ reported outcomes

The major objective of the study was to determine the incidence and prevalence of acute and delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) among patients receiving chemotherapy and assess the accuracy with which medical providers perceive the incidence of CINV in their practice. Specialists, residents and nurses (medical providers) from two cancer centers in Taiwan estimated the incidence of acute and delayed CINV. Chemotherapy-naïve patients from the same centers then completed a 5-day nausea and vomiting diary following highly and moderately emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC and MEC) to determine the actual incidence of acute and delayed CINV. Daily nausea ratings were recorded on a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS). No nausea was defined as a nausea VAS score <5 mm. Vomiting episodes were also recorded. Nausea and vomiting were defined as acute and delayed based on whether they occurred during the first 24 h after chemotherapy, or during days 2–5 after chemotherapy, respectively. In the two oncology centers, 37 medical providers (13 specialists, 4 residents, 20 nurses) and 107 patients were enrolled. The mean patient age was 49.2 years with 76% female and 74% having breast cancer. Of the 107 patients, 39% received HEC and 61% received MEC, and 77% received a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist and 94% received dexamethasone. There were no significant differences between patients with acute CINV and delayed CINV in terms of demographics, chemotherapy treatment or antiemetic treatment. The proportion of patients without alcohol use was significantly higher among patients with delayed CINV than among those with non-delayed CINV. Good control of CINV during the acute period correlated with the control of delayed emesis. There were no significant differences between specialists’, residents’, and nurses’ estimations of the incidence rates of CINV. For HEC given to chemotherapy-naïve patients, the medical providers estimated acute CINV to be 44/41% and delayed CINV to be 61/53%, respectively. However, patient diaries revealed acute CINV to be 43/21% and delayed CINV to be 64/60%, respectively. For MEC given to chemotherapy-naïve patients, medical providers estimated acute CINV to be 39/36% and delayed CINV to be 44/39%, respectively. However, patient diaries revealed acute CINV to be 55/18% and delayed CINV to be 74/55%, respectively. Medical providers significantly overestimated the incidence of acute vomiting by 20% and 18% in HEC and MEC patients, respectively. While they correctly estimated the rate of delayed vomiting in HEC patients, they underestimated it by 16% in MEC patients. With respect to nausea, medical providers correctly estimated rates of both acute and delayed nausea in HEC patients, but significantly underestimated rates of acute and delayed nausea by 16% and 30%, respectively, in MEC patients.
Trend following algorithms in automated derivatives market trading

Trend following (TF) is trading philosophy by which buying/selling decisions are made solely according to the observed market trend. For many years, many manifestations of TF such as a software program called Turtle Trader, for example, emerged in the industry. Surprisingly little has been studied in academic research about its algorithms and applications. Unlike financial forecasting, TF does not predict any market movement; instead it identifies a trend at early time of the day, and trades automatically afterwards by a pre-defined strategy regardless of the moving market directions during run time. Trend following trading has been popular among speculators. However it remains as a trading method where human judgment is applied in setting the rules (aka the strategy) manually. Subsequently the TF strategy is executed in pure objective operational manner. Finding the correct strategy at the beginning is crucial in TF. This usually involves human intervention in first identifying a trend, and configuring when to place an order and close it out, when certain conditions are met. In this paper, we evaluated and compared a collection of TF algorithms that can be programmed in a computer system for automated trading. In particular, a new version of TF called trend recalling model is presented. It works by partially matching the current market trend with one of the proven successful patterns from the past. Our experiments based on real stock market data show that this method has an edge over the other trend following methods in profitability. The results show that TF however is still limited by market fluctuation (volatility), and the ability to identify trend signal. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Disease relapses in multiple sclerosis can be influenced by air pollution and climate seasonal conditions.

BACKGROUND/AIM
Environmental factors may influence the disease activity in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the in- fluence of air pollution and seasonal climate factors of any on number of relapses in MS patients during a consecutive 5 years of observation.


METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed data of MS patients from the town of Niš, hospitalized at the Clinic of Neurology, Clinical Center Niš, Serbia, from 2005 to 2009. Climate data: mean daily sun shining; mean monthly sun shining, mean whole daily cloudiness, daily cloudiness at 7 a.m, 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. and air pollution expressed by NSR (New Source Review) were obtained from the Meteorology Observatory Niš.


RESULTS
During a 5-year of observation there were 260 relapses in 101 MS patients. The number of relapses showed a significantly negative correlation with the number of days with NSR < 2 (p = -0.31; p < 0.01) and a positive correlation with the mean whole daily cloudiness (p < 0.05), mean daily cloudiness at 7 a.m. (p < 0.05) and 2 p.m. (p < 0.01). We found a significantlly positive correlation (p < 0.05) between the reduced number of relapses during the period of high vitamin D season, i.e. July-October. There was a statistically significant increase (p < 0.01) of the number of relapses during spring (x = 6.53; SD = 3.98) compared to the other three seasons. The joint presence of lower number of days with NSR < 2 during low vitamin D season (January- April) correlated with a statistically significant increase of the number of relapses in MS patients (F = 5.06, p < 0.01). CON- CLUSION: The obtained results confirmed the influence of air pollution and climate seasonal conditions on disease relapses in MS patients based on a long-term observation. Lower numbers of days with low air pollution during the periods with low vitamin D (January-April), especially with increased cloudiness at 2 p.m, induce a higher risk of MS relapses in southern continental parts of Europe.
An analysis of sources of risk in the consumer electronics industry

The consumer electronics industry is a $ 240 billion global industry with a small number of highly competitive global players. We describe many of the risks associated with any global supply chain in this industry. As illustration, we also list steps that Samsung Electronics and its subsidiary, Samsung Electronics UK, have taken to mitigate these risks. Our description of the risks and illustration of mitigation efforts provides the backdrop to identify areas of future research.
Is early detection of abused children possible?: a systematic review of the diagnostic accuracy of the identification of abused children

BACKGROUND
Early detection of abused children could help decrease mortality and morbidity related to this major public health problem. Several authors have proposed tools to screen for child maltreatment. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the evidence on accuracy of tools proposed to identify abused children before their death and assess if any were adapted to screening.


METHODS
We searched in PUBMED, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, FRANCIS and PASCAL for studies estimating diagnostic accuracy of tools identifying neglect, or physical, psychological or sexual abuse of children, published in English or French from 1961 to April 2012. We extracted selected information about study design, patient populations, assessment methods, and the accuracy parameters. Study quality was assessed using QUADAS criteria.


RESULTS
A total of 2 280 articles were identified. Thirteen studies were selected, of which seven dealt with physical abuse, four with sexual abuse, one with emotional abuse, and one with any abuse and physical neglect. Study quality was low, even when not considering the lack of gold standard for detection of abused children. In 11 studies, instruments identified abused children only when they had clinical symptoms. Sensitivity of tests varied between 0.26 (95% confidence interval [0.17-0.36]) and 0.97 [0.84-1], and specificity between 0.51 [0.39-0.63] and 1 [0.95-1]. The sensitivity was greater than 90% only for three tests: the absence of scalp swelling to identify children victims of inflicted head injury; a decision tool to identify physically-abused children among those hospitalized in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit; and a parental interview integrating twelve child symptoms to identify sexually-abused children. When the sensitivity was high, the specificity was always smaller than 90%.


CONCLUSIONS
In 2012, there is low-quality evidence on the accuracy of instruments for identifying abused children. Identified tools were not adapted to screening because of low sensitivity and late identification of abused children when they have already serious consequences of maltreatment. Development of valid screening instruments is a pre-requisite before considering screening programs.
Joint Face Detection and Facial Expression Recognition with MTCNN

The Multi-task Cascaded Convolutional Networks (MTCNN) has recently demonstrated impressive results on jointly face detection and alignment. By using the hard sample ming and training a model on FER2013 datasets, we exploit the inherent correlation between face detection and facial express-ion recognition, and report the results of facial expression recognition based on MTCNN.
Designing augmented reality interfaces

Most interactive computer graphics appear on a screen separate from the real world and the user's surroundings. However this does not always have to be the case. In augmented reality (AR) interfaces, three-dimensional virtual images appear superimposed over real objects. AR applications typically use head-mounted or handheld displays to make computer graphics appear in the user's environment.
A decrease in serum creatinine after ICU admission is associated with increased mortality

BACKGROUND
The elevation of serum creatinine (SCr), acute kidney injury (AKI), is associated with an increase of mortality in critically ill patients. However, it is uncertain whether a decrease in SCr in the intensive care unit (ICU) has an effect on outcomes.


METHODS
In a retrospective study, we enrolled 486 patients who had been admitted to an urban tertiary center ICU between Jan 2014 and Dec 2014. The effect of changes in SCr after ICU admission on 90 day mortality was analyzed. Patients were classified into 3 groups based on change in SCr after ICU admission: a stable SCr group (Δ SCr < 0.3mg/dL during ICU stay), a decreased SCr group (Δ SCr ≥ -0.3 mg/dL during ICU stay) and an increased SCr group with criteria based on the KDIGO AKI criteria.


RESULTS
In total, 486 patients were identified. SCr decreased in 123 (25.3%) patients after ICU admission. AKI developed in 125 (24.4%) patients. The overall 90-day mortality rate was 29.0%. In a Kaplan-Meyer analysis, the mortality of the AKI group was higher than that of other groups (p<0.0001). Patients with a decrease in SCr had a higher mortality rate than those with stable SCr (p<0.0001). A Cox analysis showed that both a decrease in SCR (HR, 3.56; 95% CI, 1.59-7.97; p = 0.002) and an increase in SCr (AKI stage 1, HR, 9.35; 95% CI, 4.18-20.9; p<0.0001; AKI stage 2, HR, 11.82; 95% CI, 3.85-36.28; p<0.0001; AKI stage 3, HR, 17.41; 95% CI, 5.50-55.04; p<0.0001) were independent risk factors for death compared to stable SCr.


CONCLUSION
Not only an increase in SCr, but also a decrease in SCr was associated with mortality in critically ill patients.
RFID in the supply chain: panacea or Pandora's box?

Preliminary results suggest that Wal-Mart is benefiting from its RFID initiatives 4 and many retailers around the world have begun RFID trials. If RFID investments are to payoff through better supply chain management, firms will have to modify many of their processes to take advantage of the real-time individual item information that will be available. It is through these RFID-enabled process innovations that firms can gain competitive advantages. Consequently, supply chain processes and data can be among the most confidential information for firms. To date, supply chain process innovations have been protected from competitors by U.S. laws. However, with RFID deployment, current laws may no longer offer protection. Corporate intelligence (legal information gathering about competitors) and espionage are common across all sizes of firms. 6, 8 Until now, gathering intelligence about a competitor's supply chain has been limited by both cost and legal constraints. The time, effort and visual or physical actions necessary to gather useful information about a com-petitor's supply chain make it costly. In addition, it can also be illegal, because current laws against burglary, theft of trade secrets, copyright infringement and unfair competition limit corporate intelligence. However, because RFID data is passed wirelessly between the tag and the tag reader, and because tag data may be created by many different firms in a supply chain, RFID deployment will make it easier for competitors to gather intelligence at a low cost. 12 Striking a balance between supporting innovation and facilitating competition is at the heart of capitalism as well as the production and use of knowledge. On one hand, scientific and technological innovations expand the frontiers of knowledge and contribute to the technological progress that affects how people live and work. On the other, competition in the marketplace enhances economic welfare; it is through competition that some of the benefits of innovation are passed on to consumers. Estimates suggest that ap-Managing supply chains effectively is becoming increasingly challenging as outsourcing and offshoring increases, and globalization makes marketplaces more competitive. Supply chain management has emerged as one of the key areas for firms to gain a competitive advantage (9). For over two decades, information technology (IT) has provided the impetus for more effective supply chain management. In the 1980s, electronic data interchange initiatives enabled firms to deal more effectively with suppliers. In the 1990s, supply chain innovations such as vendor-managed and co-managed inventory and configure-to-order supply chains would have …
Introducing wearable force sensors in martial arts

In a collaborative effort, the Stanford Taekwondo Program, the Palo Alto Research Center, and Impact Measurement recently developed and introduced sensor technology for the unforgiving environment of the martial arts sparring ring. Our system, called SensorHogu, uses piezoelectric force sensors on body protectors to help Taekwondo judges and referees score tournament matches. We have two objectives for the technology: it should support the judges in accurately scoring the sparring matches, and it should merge with and minimize changes to existing equipment and thus blend into the activity's background. We are currently working with the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) and United States Taekwondo Union (USTU) to validate and certify the equipment for tournament adoption.
Employees' Perception of Performance Appraisal System: A Case Study

Performance appraisals are essential for effective evaluation and management of staff. Since perceptions influence people’s judgement and attitudes towards particular phenomena, it could be expected that the staff of an educational institution might hold diverse opinions about the performance appraisal system in the institution. This study focused on employees’ perceptions of performance appraisal biases or errors, and examined the implications for developing and implementing an effective appraisal system in a polytechnic in Takoradi, Ghana. The study also sought to identify pragmatic ways to ameliorate any appraisal biases that may be present in the institution’s appraisal system. Data was collected from 140 employees of the institution, which included both academic and administrative staff who had worked in the institution for at least two consecutive years, and whose work had been appraised previously. A content validated semi-structured interview schedule was used to interview the respondents. The data collected was analysed, using descriptive statistics, in order to address the research questions. The results of the study indicate that employees of the institution perceive that the performance appraisal system of the institution is affected by subjectivity, and is influenced by some major errors. The findings have serious managerial implications for training, motivation and provision of resources for effective performance appraisal. A major limitation of the study is that, due to financial constraints, it was conducted in only one institution. Therefore, the findings may not be described as a reflection of the general state of affairs in the other educational institutions in the country.
A wavelet-based ECG delineation algorithm for 32-bit integer online processing

BACKGROUND
Since the first well-known electrocardiogram (ECG) delineator based on Wavelet Transform (WT) presented by Li et al. in 1995, a significant research effort has been devoted to the exploitation of this promising method. Its ability to reliably delineate the major waveform components (mono- or bi-phasic P wave, QRS, and mono- or bi-phasic T wave) would make it a suitable candidate for efficient online processing of ambulatory ECG signals. Unfortunately, previous implementations of this method adopt non-linear operators such as root mean square (RMS) or floating point algebra, which are computationally demanding.


METHODS
This paper presents a 32-bit integer, linear algebra advanced approach to online QRS detection and P-QRS-T waves delineation of a single lead ECG signal, based on WT.


RESULTS
The QRS detector performance was validated on the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database (sensitivity Se = 99.77%, positive predictive value P+ = 99.86%, on 109010 annotated beats) and on the European ST-T Database (Se = 99.81%, P+ = 99.56%, on 788050 annotated beats). The ECG delineator was validated on the QT Database, showing a mean error between manual and automatic annotation below 1.5 samples for all fiducial points: P-onset, P-peak, P-offset, QRS-onset, QRS-offset, T-peak, T-offset, and a mean standard deviation comparable to other established methods.


CONCLUSIONS
The proposed algorithm exhibits reliable QRS detection as well as accurate ECG delineation, in spite of a simple structure built on integer linear algebra.
Active versus expectant management of third stage of labour: the Hinchingbrooke randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND
This study tested the hypotheses that active management of the third stage of labour lowers the rates of primary postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) and longer-term consequences compared with expectant management, in a setting where both managements are commonly practised, and that this effect is not mediated by maternal posture.


BACKGROUND
1512 women judged to be at low risk of PPH (blood loss >500 mL) were randomly assigned active management of the third stage (prophylactic oxytocic within 2 min of baby's birth, immediate cutting and clamping of the cord, delivery of placenta by controlled cord traction or maternal effort) or expectant management (no prophylactic oxytocic, no cord clamping until pulsation ceased, delivery of placenta by maternal effort). Women were also randomly assigned upright or supine posture. Analyses were by intention to treat.


FINDINGS
The rate of PPH was significantly lower with active than with expectant management (51 [6.8%] of 748 vs 126 [16.5%] of 764; relative risk 2.42 [95% CI 1.78-3.30], p<0.0001). Posture had no effect on this risk (upright 92 [12%] of 755 vs supine 85 [11%] of 757). Objective measures of blood loss confirmed the results. There was more vomiting in the active group but no other important differences were detected.


INTERPRETATION
Active management of the third stage reduces the risk of PPH, whatever the woman's posture, even when midwives are familiar with both approaches. We recommend that clinical guidelines in hospital settings advocate active management (with oxytocin alone). However, decisions about individual care should take into account the weights placed by pregnant women and their caregivers on blood loss compared with an intervention-free third stage.
A Bending-Gradient model for thick plates. Part I: Theory

This is the first part of a two-part paper dedicated to a new plate theory for out-of-plane loaded thick plates where the static unknowns are those of the Kirchhoff-Love theory (3 in-plane stresses and 3 bending moments), to which six components are added representing the gradient of the bending moment. The new theory, called the Bending-Gradient plate theory is described in the present paper. It is an extension to arbitrarily layered plates of the Reissner-Mindlin plate theory which appears as a special case of the Bending-Gradient plate theory when the plate is homogeneous. However, we demonstrate also that, in the general case, the Bending-Gradient model cannot be reduced to a Reissner-Mindlin model. In part two (Lebée and Sab, 2010a), the Bending-Gradient theory is applied to multilayered plates and its predictions are compared to those of the Reissner-Mindlin theory and to full 3D Pagano’s exact solutions. The main conclusion of the second part is that the Bending-Gradient gives good predictions of both deflection and shear stress distributions in any material configuration. Moreover, under some symmetry conditions, the BendingGradient model coincides with the second-order approximation of the exact solution as the slenderness ratio L/h goes to infinity.
Computing the Matrix Cosine

An algorithm is developed for computing the matrix cosine, building on a proposal of Serbin and Blalock. The algorithm scales the matrix by a power of 2 to make the ∞-norm less than or equal to 1, evaluates a Padé approximant, and then uses the double angle formula cos (2A)=2cos (A)2−I to recover the cosine of the original matrix. In addition, argument reduction and balancing is used initially to decrease the norm. We give truncation and rounding error analyses to show that an [8,8] Padé approximant produces the cosine of the scaled matrix correct to machine accuracy in IEEE double precision arithmetic, and we show that this Padé approximant can be more efficiently evaluated than a corresponding Taylor series approximation. We also provide error analysis to bound the propagation of errors in the double angle recurrence. Numerical experiments show that our algorithm is competitive in accuracy with the Schur–Parlett method of Davies and Higham, which is designed for general matrix functions, and it is substantially less expensive than that method for matrices of ∞-norm of order 1. The dominant computational kernels in the algorithm are matrix multiplication and solution of a linear system with multiple right-hand sides, so the algorithm is well suited to modern computer architectures.