LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Electric powertrains : opportunities and challenges in the US light-duty vehicle fleet

Managing impending environmental and energy challenges in the transport sector requires a dramatic reduction in both the petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of in-use vehicles. This study quantifies the potential of electric and hybrid-electric powertrains, such as gasoline hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs), and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), to offer such reductions. The evolution of key enabling technologies was evaluated over a 30 year time horizon. These results were integrated with software simulations to model vehicle performance and tank-towheel energy consumption; the technology evaluation was also used to estimate costs. Well-towheel energy and GHG emissions of future vehicle technologies were estimated by integrating the vehicle technology evaluation with assessments of different fuel pathways. While electric powertrains can reduce or eliminate the transport sector's reliance on petroleum, their GHG and energy reduction potential are constrained by continued reliance on fossil-fuels for producing electricity and hydrogen. In addition, constraints on growth of new vehicle technologies and slow rates of fleet turnover imply that these technologies take decades to effect meaningful change. As such, they do not offer a silver bullet: new technologies must be deployed in combination with other aggressive measures such as improved conventional technology, development of low-carbon fuels and fuel production pathways, and demand-side reductions. The results do not suggest a clear winner amongst the technologies evaluated, although the hybrid vehicle is most likely to offer a dominant path through the first half of the century, based on its position as an established technology, a projection that shows continued improvement and narrowing cost relative to conventional technologies, and similar GHG reduction benefits to other technologies as long as they rely on traditional fuel pathways. The plug-in hybrid, while more costly than hybrid vehicles, offers greater opportunity to reduce GHG emissions and petroleum use, and faces lower technical risk and fewer infrastructure hurdles than fuel-cell or battery-electric vehicles. Fuel-cell vehicle technology has shown significant improvement in the last several years, but questions remain as to its technical feasibility and the relative benefit of hydrogen as a transportation fuel. Thesis Supervisor: John Heywood Sun Jae Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Predicting the course of technology

Report on Technological Forecasting, Institute of Physics, 25 February at the Bloomsbury Centre Hotel, London.
Factors associated with completion of a behavioral intervention for caregivers of urban children with asthma.

BACKGROUND
Rates of preventive follow-up asthma care after an acute emergency department (ED) visit are low among inner-city children. We implemented a novel behavioral asthma intervention, Pediatric Asthma Alert (PAAL) intervention, to improve outpatient follow-up and preventive care for urban children with a recent ED visit for asthma.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this article is to describe the PAAL intervention and examine factors associated with intervention completers and noncompleters.


METHODS
Children with persistent asthma and recurrent ED visits (N = 300) were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of the PAAL intervention that included two home visits and a facilitated follow-up visit with the child's primary care provider (PCP). Children were categorized as intervention completers, that is, completed home and PCP visits compared with noncompleters, who completed at least one home visit but did not complete the PCP visit. Using chi-square test of independence, analysis of variance, and multiple logistic regression, the intervention completion status was examined by several sociodemographic, health, and caregiver psychological variables.


RESULTS
Children were African-American (95%), Medicaid insured (91%), and young (aged 3-5 years, 56%). Overall, 71% of children randomized to the intervention successfully completed all home and PCP visits (completers). Factors significantly associated with completing the intervention included younger age (age 3-5 years: completers, 65.4%; noncompleters, 34.1%; p < .001) and having an asthma action plan in the home at baseline (completers: 40%; noncompleters: 21%; p = .02). In a logistic regression model, younger child age, having an asthma action plan, and lower caregiver daily asthma stress were significantly associated with successful completion of the intervention.


CONCLUSIONS
The majority of caregivers of high-risk children with asthma were successfully engaged in this home and PCP-based intervention. Caregivers of older children with asthma and those with high stress may need additional support for program completion. Further, the lack of an asthma action plan may be a marker of preexisting barriers to preventive care.
Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Networks

We introduce a new algorithm named WGAN, an alternative to traditional GAN training. In this new model, we show that we can improve the stability of learning, get rid of problems like mode collapse, and provide meaningful learning curves useful for debugging and hyperparameter searches. Furthermore, we show that the corresponding optimization problem is sound, and provide extensive theoretical work highlighting the deep connections to different distances between distributions.
Inflation, forecast intervals and long memory regression models

We examine recursive out-of-sample forecasting of monthly postwar U.S. core inflation and log price levels. We use the autoregressive fractionally integrated moving average model with explanatory variables (ARFIMAX). Our analysis suggests a significant explanatory power of leading indicators associated with macroeconomic activity and monetary conditions for forecasting horizons up to two years. Even after correcting for the effect of explanatory variables, there is conclusive evidence of both fractional integration and structural breaks in the mean and variance of inflation in the 1970s and 1980s and we incorporate these breaks in the forecasting model for the 1980s and 1990s. We compare the results of the fractionally integrated ARFIMA(0,d,0) model with those for ARIMA(1,d,1) models with fixed order of d = 0 and d = 1 for inflation. Comparing mean squared forecast errors, we find that the ARMA(1,1) model performs worse than the other models over our evaluation period 1984-1999. The ARIMA(1,1,1) model provides the best forecasts, but its multi-step forecast intervals are too large. Acknowledgements A first version of this paper was presented at the International Symposium on Forecasting in Lisbon (2000). We thank two referees and the participants at the symposium for their
WI-FI ENERGY HARVESTER FOR LOW POWER RFID APPLICATION

In recent years, active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags have crossed into ultra low power domain. With obvious advantages over passive tags, a setback for active tag growth is the need for battery replacement and limited operational life. Battery life could be extended by scavenging surrounding Wi-Fi signals using rectenna architecture which consists of a receiving antenna attached to a rectifying circuit. A seven stage Cockroft-Walton voltage multiplier optimized for low input power (below 0 dBm) is proposed. Prototype was fabricated on RT/Duroid 5880 (RO5880) printed circuit board (PCB) substrate with dielectric constant and loss tangent of 2.2 and 0.0009 respectively. Experimental results show that 2 V output voltage can be harvested from an operating frequency of 2.48 GHz with −9 dBm (0.13 mW) sensitivity with 1.57 mm board thickness.
'Does surgical management of the hand in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy affect muscle coordination and quality of reaching?'.

Judith C van Munster MD, Carel GB Maathuis MD PHD, Nienke Haga MD, Leo A Van Eykern, Mijna Hadders-Algra MD PHD 1 Center for Rehabilitation, University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) Groningen, the Netherlands. 2 Rehabilitation Centre Revalidatie Friesland, Beetsterzwaag, the Netherlands. 3 Department of Paediatrics – Developmental Neurology, UMCG, Groningen, the Netherlands. Correspondence to: j.vanmunster@maartenskliniek.nl
An open-label study of lapatinib in women with HER-2-negative early breast cancer: the lapatinib pre-surgical study (LPS study).

BACKGROUND
This phase II, open-label, multicentre study aimed to evaluate changes in cell proliferation and biomarkers, as well as efficacy of lapatinib in treatment-naïve patients with HER-2-negative primary breast cancer.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients received 1500 mg lapatinib for 28-42 days before surgery with repeat biopsies and measurements. The primary end point was inhibition of cell proliferation measured by Ki67; the secondary end points included clinical response, adverse events and changes in FOXO3a, FOXM1, p-AKT and HER-3.


RESULTS
Overall, there was no significant reduction in Ki67 with treatment (assessment carried out in 28 of 31 subjects enrolled). However, four patients (14%) showed a reduction in Ki67 ≥50%. Four of 25 patients (16%) had a partial response to treatment judged by sequential ultrasound measurements. Response, in terms of either Ki67 or ultrasound, did not relate to changes in any biomarker assessed at baseline, including the estrogen receptor (ER) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). However, all four clinical responders were HER-3 positive, as were three of four Ki67 responders.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, a pre-surgical course of lapatinib monotherapy had little effect on this group of patients; however, in subsets of patients, especially those with HER-3-positive tumors, we observed either reduction in proliferation (Ki67) or tumor size; EGFR/ER status had no impact.
Development of an Undergraduate Curriculum in Mechatronics Systems Engineering

The Mechanical Engineering Program at the San Jose State University (SJSU), located in the hub of the world renown Silicon Valley, has recently completed a three-year project in developing a mechatronics systems engineering curriculum stem in its undergraduate curriculum. This development is the first and still the only such case in this country. This paper will deal with our experience in developing such unique curriculum at the undergraduate level. Also included are the strategies in initiating, developing and implementing this new curriculum in an existing mechanical engineering program.
Development and Climate Factors to Consider for the Successful Future of the Addicks Reservoir and Dam

Houston's Addicks Reservoir and Dam need to be re-evaluated to work effectively against changing weather patterns and an increase in storm intensity.
Fatty acid patterns and risk of prostate cancer in a case-control study nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

BACKGROUND
Fatty acids in blood may be related to the risk of prostate cancer, but epidemiologic evidence is inconsistent. Blood fatty acids are correlated through shared food sources and common endogenous desaturation and elongation pathways. Studies of individual fatty acids cannot take this into account, but pattern analysis can. Treelet transform (TT) is a novel method that uses data correlation structures to derive sparse factors that explain variation.


OBJECTIVE
The objective was to gain further insight in the association between plasma fatty acids and risk of prostate cancer by applying TT to take data correlations into account.


DESIGN
We reanalyzed previously published data from a case-control study of prostate cancer nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. TT was used to derive factors explaining the variation in 26 plasma phospholipid fatty acids of 962 incident prostate cancer cases matched to 1061 controls. Multiple imputation was used to deal with missing data in covariates. ORs of prostate cancer according to factor scores were determined by using multivariable conditional logistic regression.


RESULTS
Four simple factors explained 38% of the variation in plasma fatty acids. A high score on a factor reflecting a long-chain n-3 PUFA pattern was associated with greater risk of prostate cancer (OR for highest compared with lowest quintile: 1.36; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.86; P-trend = 0.041).


CONCLUSION
Pattern analyses using TT groupings of correlated fatty acids indicate that intake or metabolism of long-chain n-3 PUFAs may be relevant to prostate cancer etiology.
Automatic sleep classification using a data-driven topic model reveals latent sleep states

BACKGROUND
The golden standard for sleep classification uses manual scoring of polysomnography despite points of criticism such as oversimplification, low inter-rater reliability and the standard being designed on young and healthy subjects.


NEW METHOD
To meet the criticism and reveal the latent sleep states, this study developed a general and automatic sleep classifier using a data-driven approach. Spectral EEG and EOG measures and eye correlation in 1s windows were calculated and each sleep epoch was expressed as a mixture of probabilities of latent sleep states by using the topic model Latent Dirichlet Allocation. Model application was tested on control subjects and patients with periodic leg movements (PLM) representing a non-neurodegenerative group, and patients with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) representing a neurodegenerative group. The model was optimized using 50 subjects and validated on 76 subjects.


RESULTS
The optimized sleep model used six topics, and the topic probabilities changed smoothly during transitions. According to the manual scorings, the model scored an overall subject-specific accuracy of 68.3 ± 7.44 (% μ ± σ) and group specific accuracies of 69.0 ± 4.62 (control), 70.1 ± 5.10 (PLM), 67.2 ± 8.30 (iRBD) and 67.7 ± 9.07 (PD).


COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD
Statistics of the latent sleep state content showed accordances to the sleep stages defined in the golden standard. However, this study indicates that sleep contains six diverse latent sleep states and that state transitions are continuous processes.


CONCLUSIONS
The model is generally applicable and may contribute to the research in neurodegenerative diseases and sleep disorders.
Birds in Anthropogenic Landscapes: The Responses of Ecological Groups to Forest Loss in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Habitat loss is the dominant threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in terrestrial environments. In this study, we used an a priori classification of bird species based on their dependence on native forest habitats (forest-specialist and habitat generalists) and specific food resources (frugivores and insectivores) to evaluate their responses to forest cover reduction in landscapes in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. From the patch-landscapes approach, we delimited 40 forest sites, and quantified the percentage of native forest within a 2 km radius around the center of each site (from 6 - 85%). At each site, we sampled birds using the point-count method. We used a null model, a generalized linear model and a four-parameter logistic model to evaluate the relationship between richness and abundance of the bird groups and the native forest amount. A piecewise model was then used to determine the threshold value for bird groups that showed nonlinear responses. The richness and abundance of the bird community as a whole were not affected by changes in forest cover in this region. However, a decrease in forest cover had a negative effect on diversity of forest-specialist, frugivorous and insectivorous birds, and a positive effect on generalist birds. The species richness and abundance of all ecological groups were nonlinearly related to forest reduction and showed similar threshold values, i.e., there were abrupt changes in individuals and species numbers when forest amount was less than approximately 50%. Forest sites within landscapes with forest cover that was less than 50% contained a different bird species composition than more extensively forested sites and had fewer forest-specialist species and higher beta-diversity. Our study demonstrated the pervasive effect of forest reduction on bird communities in one of the most important hotspots for bird conservation and shows that many vulnerable species require extensive forest cover to persist.
Mealtime glucose regulation by nateglinide in type-2 diabetes mellitus

Objectives: Pharmacodynamic effects of nateglinide, a novel antidiabetic agent, were investigated in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: Ten patients participated in this single-center, double-blind, crossover study. Plasma glucose and insulin levels were measured over 24 h following five 7-day treatment periods with nateglinide (30, 60, or 120 mg) or placebo given three times daily before breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A fifth treatment consisted of 120 mg nateglinide four times daily, with the fourth dose given before an evening snack. Results: Taken 10 min before meals, doses of 30–120 mg nateglinide caused dose-dependent increases in plasma insulin levels that were significantly greater than with placebo. Higher doses were more effective and had a longer duration of action than lower doses. Nateglinide was also significantly better than placebo in lowering plasma glucose levels; the 60-mg and 120-mg doses were similarly effective and superior to the 30-mg nateglinide treatment. Following the fourth 120-mg dose, the glucose-lowering effects of treatment were maintained through the night. No serious adverse events occurred during the study. There were no events of hypoglycemia and no clinically meaningful changes in safety parameters. Conclusions: Nateglinide produced rapid, short-lived, dose-related increases in plasma insulin that significantly lowered mealtime glucose excursions compared with placebo with no incidence of hypoglycemia. The decrease in mealtime glucose levels produced a significant improvement in overall 24-h glycemia.
Community pharmacy detection of erectile dysfunction in men with risk factors or who seek treatment or advice but lack a valid prescription.

INTRODUCTION
Pharmacists may be the first health care contact consulted about erectile dysfunction (ED).


AIM
To assess pharmacists' ability to detect ED and encourage patients to seek medical evaluation.


METHODS
This observational study conducted in Greece and Spain included men without a valid prescription for an ED medication but with a history indicating ED risk and/or who consulted a pharmacist about ED. Pharmacists completed a questionnaire about the patient. Patients completed the Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM); men with a score ≤21 (cutoff for ED) were educated (by case pharmacists) and referred and encouraged to see a physician (by case and control pharmacists).


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Proportion of men with a SHIM score ≤21 and, of those, the proportion who visited a physician and credited the pharmacist for their visit. ANCOVA and chi-square test were used for continuous and categorical data, respectively.


RESULTS
Among the 451 men (mean ± SD age, 54.9 ± 12.9 years) questioned about ED, 90% had a risk factor (usually hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes), 28% had a previous diagnosis, 36% sought internet information, 38% self-medicated, 10% took medication obtained outside the pharmacy setting, and the first health care professional approached was a pharmacist (50%), physician (18%), or nurse (1%) at a median of 6 (range, 0-360) months after symptom onset. The SHIM score was ≤21 in 348 (77%) men. A lower score (indicating increased ED severity) was associated with increased age and with benign prostate hyperplasia, depression, diabetes, or prostate cancer. In the minority of men contacted for follow-up, less than one-third had visited their physician, despite pharmacist encouragement.


CONCLUSIONS
Pharmacists are often the first health care contact regarding ED and are highly accurate in its detection. Further research is needed to optimize the pharmacist's role in early detection, education, and motivating patients to be evaluated by a physician.
Motivation in a language MOOC : issues for course designers Book Section

Whilst several existing studies on foreign language learning have explored motivation in more traditional settings (Dörnyei, 2003), this paper presents one of the first studies on the motivation of participants in a MOOC. The MOOC, Travailler en français (https://sites.google.com/site/mooctravaillerenfrancais/home), was a 5-week open online course for learners of French at level B1 of the CEFR, and aimed to develop language and employability skills for working in a francophone country. It took place in early 2014 and attracted more than 1000 participants. Intrinsic motivation (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) is directly linked to one’s enjoyment of accomplishing a task. We conducted a study based on the cognitive variables of the Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), and adapted the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory to the context of a MOOC in order to understand the expectancy beliefs and task values of participants engaging with the MOOC. Participants answered a 40 Likert-type questions on enjoyment/ interest (i.e. I will enjoy doing this MOOC very much), perceived competence (i.e. I think I will be able to perform successfully in the MOOC), effort (i.e. I will put a lot of effort in this MOOC), value/usefulness (i.e. I think that doing this MOOC will be useful for developing my skills), felt pressure and tension (i.e. I think I might feel pressured while doing the MOOC) and relatedness (i.e. I think I will feel like I can really trust the other participants). Results highlight significant factors that could directly influence intrinsic motivation for learning in a MOOC environment. The chapter makes recommendations for LMOOC designers based on the emerging profile of MOOC participants, on their motivation and self-determination, as well as on the pressures they might feel, including time pressures. Finally, the extent to which participants relate to each other, and are able to engage in social learning and interaction, is a real challenge for LMOOC designers.
Assessment of hypokinesia in parkinsonism

The measurement of movement time provides a satisfactory objective measure of hypokinesia in parkinsonism. It is relatively constant in normal subjects, and it is often greatly prolonged in parkinsonism and correlates with clinical disability. The reaction time is only of limited value, because of small difference from normal values and wide individual variations.