LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Enhancing Cognition with Video Games: A Multiple Game Training Study

BACKGROUND
Previous evidence points to a causal link between playing action video games and enhanced cognition and perception. However, benefits of playing other video games are under-investigated. We examined whether playing non-action games also improves cognition. Hence, we compared transfer effects of an action and other non-action types that required different cognitive demands.


METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
We instructed 5 groups of non-gamer participants to play one game each on a mobile device (iPhone/iPod Touch) for one hour a day/five days a week over four weeks (20 hours). Games included action, spatial memory, match-3, hidden- object, and an agent-based life simulation. Participants performed four behavioral tasks before and after video game training to assess for transfer effects. Tasks included an attentional blink task, a spatial memory and visual search dual task, a visual filter memory task to assess for multiple object tracking and cognitive control, as well as a complex verbal span task. Action game playing eliminated attentional blink and improved cognitive control and multiple-object tracking. Match-3, spatial memory and hidden object games improved visual search performance while the latter two also improved spatial working memory. Complex verbal span improved after match-3 and action game training.


CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE
Cognitive improvements were not limited to action game training alone and different games enhanced different aspects of cognition. We conclude that training specific cognitive abilities frequently in a video game improves performance in tasks that share common underlying demands. Overall, these results suggest that many video game-related cognitive improvements may not be due to training of general broad cognitive systems such as executive attentional control, but instead due to frequent utilization of specific cognitive processes during game play. Thus, many video game training related improvements to cognition may be attributed to near-transfer effects.
Is pre-assessment for anti-TNF therapy in RA necessary in the UK? Analysis of DAS28 in six centres.

OBJECTIVES
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) state that two pre-assessments of Disease Activity Score (DAS28) should be performed a month apart. We performed a retrospective audit of data from six centres to determine the stability of DAS28 between assessments, and the proportion of patients still satisfying eligibility criteria at baseline.


METHODS
All RA patients assessed for anti-TNF from six centres had their pre-assessment DAS28 (DAS-1) compared with their baseline DAS28 (DAS0) using paired t-tests, and a similar analysis for the components of the DAS28. Patients who were no longer eligible for anti-TNF at DAS0 were noted.


RESULTS
Six hundred and seventy-nine RA patients showed no significant change in the DAS28, with a mean DAS-1 of 6.74 and DAS0 of 6.73. (P = 0.86). Of the patients, 97.2% fulfilled the UK eligibility criteria at DAS0. Comparison of the individual components of the DAS28 between the two pre-assessment dates showed that there was no significant difference between either the numbers of swollen joints or the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), but there was a significant increase in the numbers of tender joints of 1.41 (P < 0.001) and in the visual analogue scale (VAS) of 4.22 (P < 0.001).


DISCUSSION
The overwhelming majority of patients who fulfil eligibility criteria for anti-TNF drugs 1 month prior to baseline also fulfil the criteria at baseline. There is no significant change in the DAS28 over the month waiting to go onto anti-TNF therapy. A single assessment of the DAS28 would suffice to enable patients to go on to anti-TNF treatment.
BREDOLAB: Shopping in the Cybercrime Underworld

A recent emerging trend in the underground economy is malware dissemination as a service. Complex botnet infrastructures are developed to spread and install malware for third-party customers. In this research work, a botnet forensic investigation model is proposed to investigate and analyze large-scale botnets. The proposed investigation model is applied to a real-world law-enforcement investigation case that involves investigation of a large-scale malware dissemination botnet called BredoLab. The results of the forensic investigation show the effectiveness of the proposed model in assisting lawenforcement to conduct a successful forensic analysis of BredoLab botnet and its related resources.
Data pricing strategy based on data quality

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2017.08.008 0360-8352/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. q This work is supported by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (N150604003). ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: mengxiaozhang47@hotmail.com (M. Zhang). 1 https://www.factual.com. 2 http://www.infochimps.com. 3 http://www.xignite.com. 4 https://datamarket.azure.com. Haifei Yu, Mengxiao Zhang ⇑
Sleep hygiene education: efficacy on sleep quality in working women.

BACKGROUND
Although sleep hygiene education represents a promising approach for patients with poor sleep quality, little research has been devoted in understanding the sleep hygiene behavior and knowledge of working women.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a short-term sleep hygiene education program on working women with poor sleep quality.


METHODS
This pilot study was a prospective and an exploratory intervention study. The intervention was tested on 37 selected working women with poor sleep quality in the community. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (score > 5) was used to identify working women with poor sleep quality. After a pretest to assess sleep quality, researchers implemented a 5-week sleep hygiene education program that addressed good sleep environments/habits, emotional stress, the influence of diet/alcohol/tobacco on sleep, exercise, and alternative therapies. Tests administered midway through the program and after program completion provided the data used to analyze effective sleep quality changes.


RESULTS
Results showed sleep hygiene education to improve participant sleep quality significantly (p < .001). The sleep quality of all participants improved over both the 3- and the 5-week education program. The six components of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (i.e., subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medication, and daytime dysfunction) also improved.


CONCLUSION/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
A brief and effective sleep hygiene education program delivered by a nurse can improve sleep quality in working women with sleeping problems.
Sexual health in women reporting a history of child sexual abuse.

OBJECTIVE
The present study examined the association between child sexual abuse (CSA) and sexual health outcomes in young adult women. Maladaptive coping strategies and optimism were investigated as possible mediators and moderators of this relationship.


METHOD
Data regarding sexual abuse, coping, optimism and various sexual health outcomes were collected using self-report and computerized questionnaires with a sample of 889 young adult women from the province of Quebec aged 20-23 years old.


RESULTS
A total of 31% of adult women reported a history of CSA. Women reporting a severe CSA were more likely to report more adverse sexual health outcomes including suffering from sexual problems and engaging in more high-risk sexual behaviors. CSA survivors involving touching only were at greater risk of reporting more negative sexual self-concept such as experiencing negative feelings during sex than were non-abused participants. Results indicated that emotion-oriented coping mediated outcomes related to negative sexual self-concept while optimism mediated outcomes related to both, negative sexual self-concept and high-risk sexual behaviors. No support was found for any of the proposed moderation models.


CONCLUSIONS
Survivors of more severe CSA are more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behaviors that are potentially harmful to their health as well as to experience more sexual problems than women without a history of sexual victimization. Personal factors, namely emotion-oriented coping and optimism, mediated some sexual health outcomes in sexually abused women. The results suggest that maladaptive coping strategies and optimism regarding the future may be important targets for interventions optimizing sexual health and sexual well-being in CSA survivors.
Subject Guides: Model UN: IGOs

Compilation of resources to help Model UN participants research foreign policy positions of various nations.
Exergy analysis of a gas-turbine combined-cycle power plant with precombustion CO2 capture

A concept for natural-gas (NG) fired power plants with CO2 capture was investigated using exergy analysis. NG was reformed in an autothermal reformer (ATR), and the CO2 was separated before the hydrogenrich fuel was used in a conventional combined-cycle (CC) process. The main issue of the study was to investigate the integration of the reforming process and the combined cycle. A corresponding conventional CC power plant with no CO2 capture was simulated for comparison. A Base Case with CO2 capture was specified with turbine-inlet temperature (TIT) of 1250 °C and an air-compressor outlet pressure of 15.6 bar. In this case, the net electric-power production was 48.9% of the lower heating value (LHV) of the NG or 46.9% of its chemical exergy. The captured and compressed CO2 (200 bar) represented 3.1% of the NG chemical exergy, while the NG, due to its pressure (50 bar) had a physical exergy equal to 1.0% of its chemical exergy. The effects of changed NG composition and environmental temperature were investigated. Higher pressure in the gas-turbine and reformer increased the combustion in the ATR and reduced the overall efficiency. Supplementary firing (SF) was investigated as an alternative means of heating the ATR. This also reduced the efficiency. Heating the feeds of the ATR with its product stream was shown to reduce the irreversibility and improve the efficiency of the plant. Both this, and the effect of increased TIT to 1450 °C were investigated. Combining both measures, the net electric-power production was increased to 53.3% of the NG LHV or 51.1% of the NG chemical exergy. On the other hand, both increased TIT and the ATR product-feed heat exchange reduced the conversion of hydrocarbons to CO2.
Development of postural adjustments during reaching in sitting children

We evaluated the development of postural adjustments accompanying reaching movements in sitting children. Twenty-nine typically developing children aged, 2–11 years, and ten adults were studied with multiple surface electromyograms (EMGs) and kinematics during reaching in four conditions: sitting with the seat-surface oriented horizontally with and without an additional task load, and sitting with the seat-surface tilted 15° forward and 15° backward. The development of postural adjustments during reaching in a sitting position turned out to have a non-linear and protracted course, which is not finished by the age of 11 years. The development of these adjustments is characterised by variation, yet specific developmental sequences could be distinguished. Firstly, the development of postural adjustments during reaching from the age of 2 years onwards lacked a preference for an en bloc strategy, which consists of an in concert activation of the direction-specific neck and trunk muscles. Secondly, anticipatory postural muscle activity, which was consistently present in adults, was virtually absent between 2 and 11 years of age. Thirdly, the data demonstrated that with increasing age the head gradually becomes the dominant frame of reference. In addition, the study suggested that, in terms of postural control, the forward-tilted position is the most efficient one.
Effect of N-acetylcysteine on cardiac injury and oxidative stress after abdominal aortic aneurysm repair: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND
Several studies have reported that the antioxidant properties of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) can provide cardiac protection through scavenging of free radicals. The present study was aimed to assess the efficacy of NAC for cardiac protection in patients undergoing elective abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair.


METHODS
Fifty adult patients undergoing (AAA) repair were randomly allocated to receive NAC infusion (n = 25) or placebo infusion (n = 25). NAC infusion in group I (NAC group) was started at a rate of 0.3 mg/kg/min intravenously during surgery then decreased to a rate of 0.2 mg/kg/min for 24 h post-operatively. Group II (placebo group) received an equivalent rate of placebo infusion. The following parameters: myocardial-specific protein troponin-I, creatine phosphokinase-MB (CPK-MB), plasma pro-inflammatory cytokines [tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-1β], were assessed at the following time points: preoperatively and at 1 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 96 h after surgery. Furthermore, serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were measured preoperatively as a baseline, during aortic clamping, 30 min after declamping, at the end of surgery, 2 h after surgery, 12 h after surgery, and 24 h after surgery.


RESULTS
NAC infusion patients had significantly lower post-operative concentrations of myocardial-specific protein [cTnI, CPK-MB] and pro-inflammatory cytokines [TNF-α, IL-1β]. In addition, MDA level was less and TAC was higher in patients who received NAC infusion.


CONCLUSION
NAC infusion provided cardiac protection through scavenging of oxygen free radicals.
The potential for machine learning algorithms to improve and reduce the cost of 3-dimensional printing for surgical planning.

INTRODUCTION
3D-printed anatomical models play an important role in medical and research settings. The recent successes of 3D anatomical models in healthcare have led many institutions to adopt the technology. However, there remain several issues that must be addressed before it can become more wide-spread. Of importance are the problems of cost and time of manufacturing. Machine learning (ML) could be utilized to solve these issues by streamlining the 3D modeling process through rapid medical image segmentation and improved patient selection and image acquisition. The current challenges, potential solutions, and future directions for ML and 3D anatomical modeling in healthcare are discussed. Areas covered: This review covers research articles in the field of machine learning as related to 3D anatomical modeling. Topics discussed include automated image segmentation, cost reduction, and related time constraints. Expert commentary: ML-based segmentation of medical images could potentially improve the process of 3D anatomical modeling. However, until more research is done to validate these technologies in clinical practice, their impact on patient outcomes will remain unknown. We have the necessary computational tools to tackle the problems discussed. The difficulty now lies in our ability to collect sufficient data.
Interpolation of Parametric CNC Machining Path Under Confined Jounce

Aiming at reducing the CNC machining vibration and increasing machining quality, an interpolation method for parametric tool paths with confined jounce, jerk, acceleration, and speed is proposed. An acceleration/deceleration profile with confined jounce, jerk, acceleration, and speed is proposed and it is shown that this profile is time-optimal to change the speed from one value to another under the given constraints. For a given parametric tool path, the velocity function is obtained by first computing the critical points of the tool path where the radius of curvature reaches extremal values, then determining the feasible maximal speeds at the critical points, and finally using the jounce confined acceleration/deceleration profile to connect the speeds at the adjacent critical points. A vibration experiment is conducted, which shows that vibration of the CNC machine decreases significantly for motions under confined jounce than that under confined acceleration and jerk. Simulation for two real CNC models are given to show the feasibility of the method.
A Proposed Architecture for Big Data Driven Supply Chain Analytics

Advancement in information and communication technology (ICT) has given rise to explosion of data in every field of operations. Working with the enormous volume of data (or Big Data, as it is popularly known as) for extraction of useful information to support decision making is one of the sources of competitive advantage for organizations today. Enterprises are leveraging the power of analytics in formulating business strategy in every facet of their operations to mitigate business risk. Volatile global market scenario has compelled the organizations to redefine their supply chain management (SCM). In this paper, we have delineated the relevance of Big Data and its importance in managing end to end supply chains for achieving business excellence. A Big Data-centric architecture for SCM has been proposed that exploits the current state of the art technology of data management, analytics and visualization. The security and privacy requirements of a Big Data system have also been highlighted and several mechanisms have been discussed to implement these features in a real world Big Data system deployment in the context of SCM. Some future scope of work has also been pointed out. Keyword: Big Data, Analytics, Cloud, Architecture, Protocols, Supply Chain Management, Security, Privacy.
Long-term outcomes from a prospective trial of stereotactic body radiotherapy for low-risk prostate cancer.

PURPOSE
Hypofractionated radiotherapy has an intrinsically different normal tissue and tumor radiobiology. The results of a prospective trial of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for prostate cancer with long-term patient-reported toxicity and tumor control rates are presented.


METHODS AND MATERIALS
From 2003 through 2009, 67 patients with clinically localized low-risk prostate cancer were enrolled. Treatment consisted of 36.25 Gy in 5 fractions using SBRT with the CyberKnife as the delivery technology. No patient received hormone therapy. Patient self-reported bladder and rectal toxicities were graded on the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group scale (RTOG).


RESULTS
Median follow-up was 2.7 years. There were no grade 4 toxicities. Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Grade 3, 2, and 1 bladder toxicities were seen in 3% (2 patients), 5% (3 patients), and 23% (13 patients) respectively. Dysuria exacerbated by urologic instrumentation accounted for both patients with Grade 3 toxicity. Urinary incontinence, complete obstruction, or persistent hematuria was not observed. Rectal Grade 3, 2, and 1 toxicities were seen in 0, 2% (1 patient), and 12.5% (7 patients), respectively. Persistent rectal bleeding was not observed. Low-grade toxicities were substantially less frequent with QOD vs. QD dose regimen (p = 0.001 for gastrointestinal and p = 0.007 for genitourinary). There were two prostate-specific antigen (PSA), biopsy-proven failures with negative metastatic workup. Median PSA at follow-up was 0.5 ± 0.72 ng/mL. The 4-year Kaplan-Meier PSA relapse-free survival was 94% (95% confidence interval, 85%-102%).


CONCLUSION
Significant late bladder and rectal toxicities from SBRT for prostate cancer are infrequent. PSA relapse-free survival compares favorably with other definitive treatments. The current evidence supports consideration of stereotactic body radiotherapy among the therapeutic options for localized prostate cancer.
Multi(Scale)Gravity: A Telescope for the Micro-World

This is a talk presented at XXXVIth Rencontres de Moriond, ElectroWeak Interactions and Unified Theories, March 2001. A short review of modern status of multigravity, i.e. modification of gravity at both short and large distances is given.
Co-movements of Oil, Gold, the U.S. Dollar, and Stocks

This paper examines the co-movements of several macro-variables in the world economy over a period of more than twenty years. Long-term co movements are examined by tracking the cointegration, common trend factor and the spiller index over these variables (gold price, stock price, real exchange rate for dollar and the oil price of crude oil). Preminary examination suggests the possibility of cointegration among these variables indicating co-movements, although the spillover indices are found to be very small.
A FLEXIBLE APPROACH TO 3D RECONSTRUCTION FROM SINGLE IMAGES

Traditional image-based 3D reconstruction methods use multiple images to extract 3D geometry. However, it is not always possible to obtain such images, for example when reconstructing destroyed structures using existing photographs or paintings with proper perspective (figure 1), and reconstructing objects without actually visiting the site using images from the web or postcards (figure 2). Even when multiple images are possible, parts of the scene appear in only one image due to occlusions and/or lack of features to match between images. Methods for 3D reconstruction from a single image do exist (e.g. [1] and [2]). We present a new method that is more accurate and more flexible so that it can model a wider variety of sites and structures than existing methods. Using this approach, we reconstructed in 3D many destroyed structures using old photographs and paintings. Sites all over the world have been reconstructed from tourist pictures, web pages, and postcards.
Adaptive Mobile Learning

This paper presents a general framework for adaptive mobile learning. The mobile learner performs an educational activity using the infrastructure (e.g. handheld devices, networks) in an environment (e.g. outdoors). An adaptation engine personalizes the educational activity and the infrastructure to the learner according to the context. The adaptation engine may be deterministic or probabilistic. Learning automata are employed as probabilistic adaptation engines. The context is described by the learner's state, the educational activity's state, the infrastructure's state, and the environment's state