LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Static Verification for Code Contracts

The Code Contracts project [3] at Microsoft Research enables programmers on the .NET platform to author specifications in existing languages such as C# and VisualBasic. To take advantage of these specifications, we provide tools for documentation generation, runtime contract checking, and static contract verification. This talk details the overall approach of the static contract checker and examines where and how we trade-off soundness in order to obtain a practical tool that works on a full-fledged object-oriented intermediate language such as the .NET Common Intermediate Language.
Spatial evolution of the US urban system

We test implications of economic geography models for location, size and growth of cities with US Census data for 1900 – 1990. Our tests involve non-parametric estimations of stochastic kernels for the distributions of city sizes and growth rates, conditional on various measures of market potential and on features sizes of neighbors. We show that while these relationships change during the twentieth century, by 1990 they stabilize such that the size distribution of cities conditional on a range of spatial variables are all roughly independent of these conditioning variables. In contrast, similar results suggest that there is a spatial element to the city wage distribution. Our parametric estimations for growth rates against market potential, entry of neighbors, and own lagged population imply a negative effect of market potential on growth rates, unless own lagged population is also included, in which case market potential has a positive effect and own lagged population a negative one. Cities grow faster when they are small relative to their market potential. In total, our results support some theoretical predictions, but also provide a number of interesting puzzles. This paper was produced as part of the Centre’s Globalisation Programme Spatial Evolution of the US Urban System Yannis Ioannides and Henry G. Overman
Association between a chloride-liberal vs chloride-restrictive intravenous fluid administration strategy and kidney injury in critically ill adults.

CONTEXT
Administration of traditional chloride-liberal intravenous fluids may precipitate acute kidney injury (AKI).


OBJECTIVE
To assess the association of a chloride-restrictive (vs chloride-liberal) intravenous fluid strategy with AKI in critically ill patients.


DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS
Prospective, open-label, sequential period pilot study of 760 patients admitted consecutively to the intensive care unit (ICU) during the control period (February 18 to August 17, 2008) compared with 773 patients admitted consecutively during the intervention period (February 18 to August 17, 2009) at a university-affiliated hospital in Melbourne, Australia.


INTERVENTIONS
During the control period, patients received standard intravenous fluids. After a 6-month phase-out period (August 18, 2008, to February 17, 2009), any use of chloride-rich intravenous fluids (0.9% saline, 4% succinylated gelatin solution, or 4% albumin solution) was restricted to attending specialist approval only during the intervention period; patients instead received a lactated solution (Hartmann solution), a balanced solution (Plasma-Lyte 148), and chloride-poor 20% albumin.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The primary outcomes included increase from baseline to peak creatinine level in the ICU and incidence of AKI according to the risk, injury, failure, loss, end-stage (RIFLE) classification. Secondary post hoc analysis outcomes included the need for renal replacement therapy (RRT), length of stay in ICU and hospital, and survival. RESULTS Chloride administration decreased by 144 504 mmol (from 694 to 496 mmol/patient) from the control period to the intervention period. Comparing the control period with the intervention period, the mean serum creatinine level increase while in the ICU was 22.6 μmol/L (95% CI, 17.5-27.7 μmol/L) vs 14.8 μmol/L (95% CI, 9.8-19.9 μmol/L) (P = .03), the incidence of injury and failure class of RIFLE-defined AKI was 14% (95% CI, 11%-16%; n = 105) vs 8.4% (95% CI, 6.4%-10%; n = 65) (P <.001), and the use of RRT was 10% (95% CI, 8.1%-12%; n = 78) vs 6.3% (95% CI, 4.6%-8.1%; n = 49) (P = .005). After adjustment for covariates, this association remained for incidence of injury and failure class of RIFLE-defined AKI (odds ratio, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.37-0.75]; P <.001) and use of RRT (odds ratio, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.33-0.81]; P = .004). There were no differences in hospital mortality, hospital or ICU length of stay, or need for RRT after hospital discharge. CONCLUSION The implementation of a chloride-restrictive strategy in a tertiary ICU was associated with a significant decrease in the incidence of AKI and use of RRT.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00885404.
Humans: Still Vital After All These Years of Automation

OBJECTIVE
The authors discuss empirical studies of human-automation interaction and their implications for automation design.


BACKGROUND
Automation is prevalent in safety-critical systems and increasingly in everyday life. Many studies of human performance in automated systems have been conducted over the past 30 years.


METHODS
Developments in three areas are examined: levels and stages of automation, reliance on and compliance with automation, and adaptive automation.


RESULTS
Automation applied to information analysis or decision-making functions leads to differential system performance benefits and costs that must be considered in choosing appropriate levels and stages of automation. Human user dependence on automated alerts and advisories reflects two components of operator trust, reliance and compliance, which are in turn determined by the threshold designers use to balance automation misses and false alarms. Finally, adaptive automation can provide additional benefits in balancing workload and maintaining the user's situation awareness, although more research is required to identify when adaptation should be user controlled or system driven.


CONCLUSIONS
The past three decades of empirical research on humans and automation has provided a strong science base that can be used to guide the design of automated systems.


APPLICATION
This research can be applied to most current and future automated systems.
Palliative pelvic radiotherapy for symptomatic incurable prostate cancer – A prospective multicenter study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Radiotherapy is used to palliate pelvic symptoms of castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). However, magnitude and time course of effects and toxicities are poorly documented. Study aims were to evaluate changes in patient-reported target symptoms (TS), health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and toxicity following palliative pelvic radiotherapy (PPRT) of CRPC.


MATERIAL AND METHODS
47 patients with CRPC and a symptomatic pelvic mass prescribed PPRT with 30-39 Gy were prospectively included. Primary endpoint was patient-reported improvement or complete resolution of the TS twelve weeks after PPRT. HRQOL changes were explored. Toxicity was physician-evaluated.


RESULTS
Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) (45%), hematuria (26%) and pain (19%) were the most common TS. In the 40 evaluable patients, overall TS response twelve weeks after PPRT was 70%. TS responses were 8/18 for LUTS, 11/12 for hematuria, and 7/9 for pain. Global HRQOL improved transiently. The most common toxicity was grade 1 or 2 diarrhea (50%). There was no grade 4 toxicity.


CONCLUSIONS
In the majority of patients with CRPC and a symptomatic pelvic tumor, PPRT with 30-39 Gy contributes to relief of hematuria, pain and other pelvic symptoms, with acceptable toxicity. Future studies should investigate whether PPRT regimens can be simplified.
Neural networks, nativism, and the plausibility of constructivism

Recent interest in PDP (parallel distributed processing) models is due in part to the widely held belief that they challenge many of the assumptions of classical cognitive science. In the domain of language acquisition, for example, there has been much interest in the claim that PDP models might undermine nativism. Related arguments based on PDP learning have also been given against Fodor's anti-constructivist position--a position that has contributed to the widespread dismissal of constructivism. A limitation of many of the claims regarding PDP learning, however, is that the principles underlying this learning have not been rigorously characterized. In this paper, I examine PDP models from within the framework of Valiant's PAC (probably approximately correct) model of learning, now the dominant model in machine learning, and which applies naturally to neural network learning. From this perspective, I evaluate the implications of PDP models for nativism and Fodor's influential anti-constructivist position. In particular, I demonstrate that, contrary to a number of claims, PDP models are nativist in a robust sense. I also demonstrate that PDP models actually serve as a good illustration of Fodor's anti-constructivist position. While these results may at first suggest that neural network models in general are incapable of the sort of concept acquisition that is required to refute Fodor's anti-constructivist position, I suggest that there is an alternative form of neural network learning that demonstrates the plausibility of constructivism. This alternative form of learning is a natural interpretation of the constructivist position in terms of neural network learning, as it employs learning algorithms that incorporate the addition of structure in addition to weight modification schemes. By demonstrating that there is a natural and plausible interpretation of constructivism in terms of neural network learning, the position that nativism is the only plausible model of acquisition can no longer be defended. Indeed, I briefly discuss a number of learning-theoretic reasons indicating that constructivist models so characterized uniquely possess a number of important learning characteristics.
The Relationship Between Organisational Culture and the Deployment of Systems Development Methodologies

This paper analyses the relationship between organisational culture and the perceptions of use, support and impact of systems development methodologies (SDMs) interpreting organisational culture in terms of the competing values model. The results show that organisations with different culture differ in their perceptions concerning the support provided by SDMs and in their perceptions concerning the impact of SDMs on the quality of developed systems and the quality and productivity of the systems development process. The results depend, however, on the respondent groups (developers vs. managers). The findings also suggest that the deployment of SDMs is primarily associated with the hierarchical culture which is oriented toward security, order and routinisation. Also managers’ criticality towards the deployment of SDMs in organisation with high rational culture (focusing on productivity, efficiency and goal achievement) is noteworthy.
Triggers for an episode of sudden onset low back pain: study protocol

BACKGROUND
Most research on risk factors for low back pain has focused on long term exposures rather than factors immediately preceding the onset of low back pain. The aim of this study is to quantify the transient increase in risk of a sudden episode of low back pain associated with acute exposure to a range of common physical and psychological factors.


METHODS/DESIGN
This study uses a case-crossover design. One thousand adults with a sudden onset of low back pain presenting to primary care clinicians will be recruited. Basic demographic and clinical information including exposure to putative triggers will be collected using a questionnaire. These triggers include exposure to hazardous manual tasks, physical activity, a slip/trip or fall, consumption of alcohol, sexual activity, being distracted, and being fatigued or tired. Exposures in the case window (0-2 hours from the time when participants first notice their back pain) will be compared to exposures in two control time-windows (one 24-26 hours and another 48-50 hours before the case window).


DISCUSSION
The completion of this study will provide the first-research based estimates of the increase in risk of a sudden episode of acute low back pain associated with transient exposure to a range of common factors thought to trigger low back pain.
Simulation and control of an electro-hydraulic actuated clutch

The basic function of any type of automotive transmission is to transfer the engine torque to the vehicle with the desired ratio smoothly and efficiently and the most common control devices inside the transmission are clutches and hydraulic pistons. The automatic control of the clutch engagement plays a crucial role in Automatic Manual Transmission (AMT) vehicles, being seen as an increasingly important enabling technology for the automotive industry. It has a major role in automatic gear shifting and traction control for improved safety, drivability and comfort and, at the same time, for fuel economy. In this paper, a model for a wet clutch actuated by an electrohydraulic valve used by Volkswagen for automatic transmissions is presented. Starting from the developed model, a simulator was implemented in Matlab/Simulink and the model was validated against data obtained from a test-bench provided by Continental Automotive Romania, which includes the Volkswagen wet clutch actuated by the electro-hydraulic valve. Then, a predictive control strategy is applied to the model of the electro-hydraulic actuated clutch with the aims of controlling the clutch piston displacement and decreasing the influence of the network-induced delays on the control performances. The simulation results obtained with the proposed method are compared with the ones obtained with different networked controllers and it is shown that the strategy proposed in this paper can indeed improve the performances of the control system. & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Effects of peer education intervention on HIV/AIDS related sexual behaviors of secondary school students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND
Worldwide, about 50% of all new cases of HIV occur in youth between age 15 and 24 years. Studies in various sub-Saharan African countries show that both out of school and in school adolescents and youth are engaged in risky sexual behaviors. School-based health education has been a cornerstone of youth-focused HIV prevention efforts since the early 1990s. In addition, peer-based interventions have become a common method to effect important health-related behavior changes and address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate efficacy of peer education on changing HIV related risky sexual behaviors among school youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.


METHODS
A quasi experimental study with peer education intervention was conducted in purposively selected four secondary schools (two secondary schools for the intervention and other two for the control group) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Five hundred sixty students from randomly selected sections of grade 11 were assessed through anonymous questionnaires conducted in pre- and post-intervention periods. Pertinent data on socio-demographic and sexual behavior related factors were collected. The statistical packages used for data entry and analysis were epi-info version 3.5.4 and SPSS version 20.0 respectively. Chi-square test and multivariable logistic regressions were used for testing association between peer education intervention and sexual behaviors of students. In addition to testing association between dependent and independent variables, multi-variable analysis was employed to control for the effects of confounding variables.


RESULTS
When the pre and post intervention data of each group were compared, comprehensive Knowledge of HIV (P-Values =0.004) and willingness to go for HIV counseling and testing (P-value = 0.01) showed significant differences among intervention group students during post intervention period. Moreover, students in the intervention group were more likely to use condoms during post intervention period compared to students of the control group [AOR = 4.73 (95% CI (1.40-16.0)].


CONCLUSION
Despite short follow up period, students in the intervention group demonstrated positive changes in HIV related comprehensive knowledge and showed better interest to go for HIV testing in the near future. Furthermore, positive changes on risky sexual behaviors were reported from the intervention group. Implementing secondary school targeted peer education by allocating appropriate amounts of resources (money, man power, materials and time) could play significant role to prevent and control HIV/AIDS among school youth.
Hepatoprotective effects of the dual peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha/delta agonist, GFT505, in rodent models of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

UNLABELLED
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) covers a spectrum of liver damage ranging from simple steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and cirrhosis. To date, no pharmacological treatment is approved for NAFLD/NASH. Here, we report on preclinical and clinical data with GFT505, a novel dual peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha/delta (PPAR-α/δ) agonist. In the rat, GFT505 concentrated in the liver with limited extrahepatic exposure and underwent extensive enterohepatic cycling. The efficacy of GFT505 was assessed in animal models of NAFLD/NASH and liver fibrosis (Western diet [WD]-fed human apolipoprotein E2 [hApoE2] transgenic mice, methionine- and choline-deficient diet-fed db/db mice, and CCl4 -induced fibrosis in rats). GFT505 demonstrated liver-protective effects on steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis. In addition, GFT505 improved liver dysfunction markers, decreased hepatic lipid accumulation, and inhibited proinflammatory (interleukin-1 beta, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and F4/80) and profibrotic (transforming growth factor beta, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2, collagen type I, alpha 1, and collagen type I, alpha 2) gene expression. To determine the role of PPAR-α-independent mechanisms, the effect of GFT505 was assessed in hApoE2 knock-in/PPAR-α knockout mice. In these mice, GFT505 also prevented WD-induced liver steatosis and inflammation, indicating a contribution of PPAR-α-independent mechanisms. Finally, the effect of GFT505 on liver dysfunction markers was assessed in a combined analysis of four phase II clinical studies in metabolic syndrome patients. GFT505 treatment decreased plasma concentrations of alanine aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, and alkaline phosphatase.


CONCLUSION
The dual PPAR-α/δ agonist, GFT505, is a promising liver-targeted drug for treatment of NAFLD/NASH. In animals, its protective effects are mediated by both PPAR-α-dependent and -independent mechanisms.
Head-of-bed elevation and early outcomes of gastric reflux, aspiration and pressure ulcers: a feasibility study.

BACKGROUND
Guidelines recommending head of bed (HOB) elevation greater than 30º to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia conflict with guidelines to prevent pressure ulcers, which recommend HOB elevation less than 30º.


OBJECTIVES
To examine the feasibility of 45º HOB elevation and describe and compare the occurrence of reflux, aspiration, and pressure ulcer development at 30º and 45º HOB elevation.


METHODS
A randomized 2-day crossover trial was conducted. HOB angle was measured every 30 seconds. Oral and tracheal secretions were analyzed for pepsin presence. Skin was assessed for pressure ulcers. Wilcoxon signed rank tests and Kendall τ correlations were conducted.


RESULTS
Fifteen patients were enrolled; 11 completed both days. Patients were maintained at 30º (mean, 30º) for 96% of minutes and at 45º (mean, 39º) for 77% of minutes. No patients showed signs of pressure ulcers. A total of 188 oral secretions were obtained, 82 (44%) were pepsin-positive; 174 tracheal secretions were obtained, 108 (62%) were pepsin-positive. The median percentage of pepsin-positive oral secretions was not significantly higher (P = .11) at 30º elevation (54%) than at 45º elevation (20%). The median percentage of pepsin-positive tracheal secretions was not significantly higher (P = .37) at 30º elevation (71%) than 45º elevation (67%). Deeper sedation correlated with increased reflux (P = .03).


CONCLUSIONS
HOB elevation greater than 30º is feasible and preferred to 30º for reducing oral secretion volume, reflux, and aspiration without pressure ulcer development in gastric-fed patients receiving mechanical ventilation. More deeply sedated patients may benefit from higher HOB elevations.
Strategic integration of knowledge management and customer relationship management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of strategic integration of knowledge management (KM ) and customer relationship management (CRM). The integration is a strategic issue that has strong ramifications in the long-term competitiveness of organizations. It is not limited to CRM; the concept can also be applied to supply chain management (SCM), product development management (PDM), eterprise resource planning (ERP) and retail network management (RNM) that offer different perspectives into knowledge management adoption. Design/methodology/approach – Through literature review and establishing new perspectives with examples, the components of knowledge management, customer relationship management, and strategic planning are amalgamated. Findings – Findings include crucial details in the various components of knowledge management, customer relationship management, and strategic planning, i.e. strategic planning process, value formula, intellectual capital measure, different levels of CRM and their core competencies. Practical implications – Although the strategic integration of knowledge management and customer relationship management is highly conceptual, a case example has been provided where the concept is applied. The same concept could also be applied to other industries that focus on customer service. Originality/value – The concept of strategic integration of knowledge management and customer relationship management is new. There are other areas, yet to be explored in terms of additional integration such as SCM, PDM, ERP, and RNM. The concept of integration would be useful for future research as well as for KM and CRM practitioners.
Self-compassion and intuitive eating in college women: examining the contributions of distress tolerance and body image acceptance and action.

Self-compassion has been linked to higher levels of psychological well-being. The current study evaluated whether this effect also extends to a more adaptive food intake process. More specifically, this study investigated the relationship between self-compassion and intuitive eating among 322 college women. In order to further clarify the nature of this relationship this research additionally examined the indirect effects of self-compassion on intuitive eating through the pathways of distress tolerance and body image acceptance and action using both parametric and non-parametric bootstrap resampling analytic procedures. Results based on responses to the self-report measures of the constructs of interest indicated that individual differences in body image acceptance and action (β = .31, p < .001) but not distress tolerance (β = .00, p = .94) helped explain the relationship between self-compassion and intuitive eating. This effect was retained in a subsequent model adjusted for body mass index (BMI) and self-esteem (β = .19, p < .05). Results provide preliminary support for a complementary perspective on the role of acceptance in the context of intuitive eating to that of existing theory and research. The present findings also suggest the need for additional research as it relates to the development and fostering of self-compassion as well as the potential clinical implications of using acceptance-based interventions for college-aged women currently engaging in or who are at risk for disordered eating patterns.