LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Capillary blood sampling as an alternative to venipuncture in the assessment of serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D levels

This study compared 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] measurements in capillary and venous blood samples collected, respectively by fingerprick and venipuncture. Capillary blood for measuring 25(OH)D has potential advantages by reducing blood volume required (2mL versus 0.3mL for venipuncture and capillary sampling, respectively), facilitating blood collection for those populations in whom venipuncture is difficult (e.g. infants and children), improving patient convenience and reducing costs associated with phlebotomy. The results demonstrated a highly significant relationship between 25(OH)D levels in serum derived from venous and capillary blood samples (r(2)=0.901). Despite statistically higher 25(OH)D levels in fingerprick samples (108+/-9nmol/L) compared with venipuncture samples (90+/-7nmol/L), the correlation between venous and capillary samples provides support for this approach as a practical alternative to venipuncture for vitamin D determination. However, clinical application may require the incorporation of a correction factor for the assessment of insufficiency, and research studies should avoid using the two methods interchangeably. Studying vitamin D's role in health and disease requires collection techniques and measurement methods that are reliable, reproducible, easily accessible, inexpensive and minimally burdensome to the patient. The option to collect patient samples by fingerprick may facilitate the collection process.
Efficacy of abdominal acupuncture for neck pain: A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE
This study aims to provide evidence regarding the clinical efficacy of abdominal acupuncture for neck pain.


METHODS
This randomized, patient and assessor-blind, sham-controlled trial was conducted at a Chinese medicine center in Hong Kong between November 2014 and March 2016. A total of 154 eligible participants (age range, 18-65 years) with neck pain were randomly assigned to receive abdominal (n = 77) or non-penetrating sham abdominal (sham group; n = 77) acupuncture. Each participant was administered treatment over six sessions by Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioners, in accordance with a standardized protocol. The primary outcome was mean improvement in neck pain disability scores evaluated by the Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ). Secondary outcomes included intensity of neck pain and health-related quality-of-life measures. The outcomes were assessed at baseline and at 2 and 6 weeks from baseline. Patients in the abdominal acupuncture group received additional follow-up evaluation at 14 weeks from baseline. Outcomes were evaluated by intention-to-treat analysis.


RESULTS
All participants provided informed consent for treatment and follow-up evaluation. Patients who received abdominal acupuncture exhibited greater improvement in NPQ scores than those who received sham treatment at both 2 and 6 weeks from baseline (intergroup mean differences, -5.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], -9.48 to -2.03; P = 0.008 and -8.65; 95% CI, -12.13 to -5.16; P < 0.001, respectively). The improvement in NPQ scores in the abdominal acupuncture group was even more significant at 14 weeks from baseline. Patients in the abdominal acupuncture group also exhibited significantly greater improvements in intensity of neck pain and a few quality-of-life measures than those in the sham abdominal acupuncture group, without any serious adverse events.


CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that abdominal acupuncture is an effective alternative treatment for neck pain.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR-TRC-14004932.
Cultural Evolution of Human Cooperation

Evolutionary theory relevant to the question of human cooperation is reviewed and compared to other theoretical perspectives. A compound explanation is distilled as a plausible account of human cooperation and selfishness. This account leans heavily on group selection on cultural variation but also includes lower-level forces driven by both micro-scale cooperation and purely selfish motives. It is proposed that innate aspects of human social psychology coevolved with group-selected cultural institutions to produce just the kinds of social and moral faculties originally proposed by Darwin. This is termed the “tribal social instincts” hypothesis. The account is systemic in the sense that human social systems are functionally differentiated, conflicted, and diverse. A successful explanation of human cooperation has to account for these complexities. For example, a tribal-scale cultural group selection process alone cannot account for human patterns of cooperation because, on one hand, much conflict exists within tribes and, on the other, people have proven able to organize cooperation on a much larger scale than tribes. Multilevel selection and gene-culture coevolution effects are included to account for some of these complexities and empirical tests of the resulting hypotheses are discussed. In particular, it is argued that strong support for the tribal social instincts hypothesis comes from the structure of modern social institutions. These institutions have conspicuous “work-arounds” that shed light on the underlying instincts.
Amplitudes of stellar oscillations: The Implications for asteroseismology

There are no good predictions for the amplitudes expected from solar-like oscillations in other stars. In the absence of a definitive model for convection, which is thought to be the mechanism that excites these oscillations, the amplitudes for both velocity and luminosity measurements must be estimated by scaling from the Sun. In the case of luminosity measurements, even this is difficult because of disagreement over the solar amplitude. This last point has lead us to investigate whether the luminosity amplitude of oscillations ( L=L) can be derived from the velocity amplitude (vosc). Using linear theory and observational data, we show that p-mode oscillations in a large sample of pulsating stars satisfy ( L=L)bol / vosc=Teff . Using this relationship, together with the best estimate of vosc; = (23:4 1:4) cm s 1, we estimate the luminosity amplitude of solar oscillations at 550 nm to be ( L=L) = (4:7 0:3) ppm. Next we discuss how to scale the amplitude of solar-like (i.e., convectively-powered) oscillations from the Sun to other stars. The only predictions come from model calculations by Christensen-Dalsgaard & Frandsen (1983, Sol. Phys. 82, 469). However, their grid of stellar models is not dense enough to allow amplitude predictions for an arbitrary star. Nevertheless, although convective theory is complicated, we might expect that the general properties of convection – including oscillation amplitudes – should change smoothly through the colourmagnitude diagram. Indeed, we find that the velocity amplitudes predicted by the model calculations are well fitted by the relation vosc / L=M . These two relations allow us to predict both the velocity and luminosity amplitudes of solar-like oscillations in any given star. We compare these predictions with published observations and evaluate claims for detections that have appeared in the literature. We argue that there is not yet good evidence for solar-like oscillations in any star except the Sun. For solartype stars (e.g., Cen A and Hyi), observations have not yet reached sufficient sensitivity to detect the amplitudes we predict. For some F-type stars, namely Procyon and several Send offprint requests to: Tim Bedding (tbedding@eso.org) ? Present address: Institute of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark (hans@obs.aau.dk) members of M67, detection sensitivities 30–40% below the predicted amplitudes have been achieved. We conclude that these stars must oscillate with amplitudes less than has generally been assumed.
Load balancing for multicast traffic in SDN using real-time link cost modification

In this paper we propose an approach for applying traffic load balancing to multicast traffic through real-time link cost modification in a software defined network (SDN) controller. We present an SDN controller architecture supporting traffic monitoring, group management, and multicast traffic routing. An implemented prototype is described, and this prototype is used to implement shortest path multicast routing techniques which make use of the real-time state of traffic flows in the network. This prototype is evaluated through experimentation in Mininet emulated wide area networks. Evaluation is presented in terms of resulting network performance metrics focusing on the distribution of traffic flows. Our results demonstrate that real-time modification of links costs produces statistically significant improvements in traffic distribution metrics, with an average improvement of up to 52.8% in traffic concentration relative to shortest-path routing. This indicates that SDN enables the use of real-time modification of link cost functions as an effective technique for implementing traffic load balancing for multicast traffic.
Computer tomography assessment of pedicle screw insertion in percutaneous posterior transpedicular stabilization

Percutaneous insertion of cannulated pedicle screws has been recently developed as a minimally invasive alternative to the open technique during instrumented fusion procedures. Given the reported rate of screw misplacement using open techniques (up to 40%), we considered it important to analyze possible side effects of this new technique. Placement of 60 pedicle screws in 15 consecutive patients undergoing lumbar or lumbosacral fusion, mainly for spondylolisthesis, were analyzed. Axial, coronal, and sagittal reformatted computer tomography images were examined by three observers. Individual and consensus interpretation was obtained for each screw position. Along with frank penetration, we also looked at cortical encroachment of the pedicular wall by the screw. Thirteen percent of the patients (2/15) had severe frank penetration from the screws, while 80% of them (12/15) had some perforation. On axial images the incidence of severe frank pedicle penetration was 3.3% while the overall rate of screw perforation was 23%. In coronal images the overall screw perforation rate rose to 30% while the rate of severe frank pedicle penetration remained unchanged. One patient (6.6%) suffered S1 root symptoms due to a frankly medially misplaced screw, requiring re-operation. This study has shown that percutaneous insertion of cannulated pedicle screws in the lumbar spine is an acceptable procedure. The overall rate of perforation in axial images is below the higher rates reported in the literature but does remain important. Frank penetration of the pedicle was nevertheless low. It remains a demanding technique and has to be performed with extreme care to detail.
Matching Ontologies for Emergency Evacuation Plans

A logic circuit incorporating carry look-ahead in which efficiency can be achieved regarding the hardware for generating the sum signals and carry signals by a suitable choice of the adder gate, making use of the already present signal &upbar& a1x &upbar& bi which is used for generating the carry look-ahead signal.
Efficient Mobile Robot Navigation using 3D Surfel Grid Maps

We present robust and efficient means for mobile robot navigation using a 3D representation of the environment. We build 3D surfel grid maps and propose Monte Carlo localization with probabilistic observation models for 2D and 3D sensors in such maps. In contrast to localization methods that utilize a 2D laser scanner in a static horizontal mounting, our method takes advantage of the 3D structure in the environment. This is useful, for instance, to localize in crowds of people: The robot can focus on the static parts of the environment above the person’s height. Finally, we extract navigation maps for 2D path planning from the 3D maps. Our approach avoids discretization effects and considers the complete height range of the robot to estimate traversability. In experiments, we demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of our approach for pose tracking and global localization – even in a crowded environment.
An advanced channel framework for improved Underwater Acoustic Network simulations

Underwater Acoustic Networks (UANs) are an emerging technology that are being used to facilitate new aquatic applications in our water world. This is accomplished by linking underwater sensors, vehicles and devices together using acoustic communication. Network protocol development for UANs often relies on simulations because deploying real systems in the ocean is a resource heavy operation. However, acoustic communication performance is dynamic and dependent upon the environment. Therefore, simulations may not be entirely accurate. In this paper we introduce an advanced channel model that considers environmental impacts and real system characteristics on acoustic communication performance for use in an established open-source simulation environment, Aqua-Sim. We provide detailed simulation results and compare the results of our channel model with the existing simulation environment and against the results from a field experiment in the Chesapeake Bay from 2011.
Safe for Generations to Come: Considerations of Safety for Millimeter Waves in Wireless Communications

With the increasing demand for higher data rates and more reliable service capabilities for wireless devices, wireless service providers are facing an unprecedented challenge to overcome a global bandwidth shortage. Early global activities on beyond fourth-generation (B4G) and fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication systems suggest that millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies are very promising for future wireless communication networks due to the massive amount of raw bandwidth and potential multigigabit-per-second (Gb/s) data rates [1]?[3]. Both industry and academia have begun the exploration of the untapped mmWave frequency spectrum for future broadband mobile communication networks. In April 2014, the Brooklyn 5G Summit [4], sponsored by Nokia and the New York University (NYU) WIRELESS research center, drew global attention to mmWave communications and channel modeling. In July 2014, the IEEE 802.11 next-generation 60-GHz study group was formed to increase the data rates to over 20 Gb/s in the unlicensed 60-GHz frequency band while maintaining backward compatibility with the emerging IEEE 802.11ad wireless local area network (WLAN) standard [5].
Why do people use information technology? A critical review of the technology acceptance model

Information systems (IS) implementation is costly and has a relatively low success rate. Since the seventies, IS research has contributed to a better understanding of this process and its outcomes. The early efforts concentrated on the identification of factors that facilitated IS use. This produced a long list of items that proved to be of little practical value. It became obvious that, for practical reasons, the factors had to be grouped into a model in a way that would facilitate analysis of IS use. In 1985, Fred Davis suggested the technology acceptance model (TAM). It examines the mediating role of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness in their relation between systems characteristics (external variables) and the probability of system use (an indicator of system success). More recently, Davis proposed a new version of his model: TAM2. It includes subjective norms, and was tested with longitudinal research designs. Overall the two explain about 40% of system’s use. Analysis of empirical research using TAM shows that results are not totally consistent or clear. This suggests that significant factors are not included in the models. We conclude that TAM is a useful model, but has to be integrated into a broader one which would include variables related to both human and social change processes, and to the adoption of the innovation model. # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
The Delphi Method for Graduate Research

Executive Summary The Delphi method is an attractive method for graduate students completing masters and PhD level research. It is a flexible research technique that has been successfully used in our program at the University of Calgary to explore new concepts within and outside of the information systems body of knowledge. The Delphi method is an iterative process to collect and distill the anonymous judgments of experts using a series of data collection and analysis techniques interspersed with feedback. The Delphi method is well suited as a research instrument when there is incomplete knowledge about a problem or phenomenon; however it is not a method for all types of IS research questions. The Delphi method works especially well when the goal is to improve our understanding of problems, opportunities, solutions, or to develop forecasts. In this paper, we provide a brief background of the Classical Delphi followed by a presentation of how it has evolved into a flexible research method appropriate for a wide variety of IS research projects, such as determining the criteria for IS prototyping decisions, ranking technology management issues in new product development projects, and developing a descriptive framework of knowledge manipulation activities. To illustrate the method's flexibility, we summarize distinctive non-IS, IS, and graduate studies Delphi research projects. We end by discussing what we have learned from using the Delphi method in our own research regarding this method's design factors and how it may be applied to those conducting graduate studies research: i) methodological choices such as a qualitative , quantitative or mixed methods approach; ii) initial question degree of focus whether it be broad or narrowly focused; iii) expertise criteria such as technical knowledge and experience, capacity and willingness to participate, sufficient time, and communication skills; vi) number of participants in the heterogeneous or homogeneous sample, v) number of Delphi rounds varying from one to 6, vi) mode of interaction such as through email, online surveys or groupware, vii) methodological rigor and a research audit trail, viii) results analysis, ix) further verification through triangulation or with another sample, and x) publishing of the results. We include an extensive bibliography and an appendix with a wide-ranging list of dissertations that have used the Delphi method (including brief research description, number of rounds and sample size). The Delphi method is a flexible , effective and efficient research method that can be successful used by IS graduate students …
Web Crawlers : Taxonomy , Issues & Challenges

with increase in the size of Web, the search engine relies on Web Crawlers to build and maintain the index of billions of pages for efficient searching. The creation and maintenance of Web indices is done by Web crawlers, the crawlers recursively traverses and downloads Web pages on behalf of search engines. The exponential growth of Web poses many challenges for crawlers.This paper makes an attempt to classify all the existing crawlers on certain parameters and also identifies the various challenges to web crawlers. Keywords— WWW, URL, Mobile Crawler, Mobile Agents, Web Crawler.
GTS: A Fast and Scalable Graph Processing Method based on Streaming Topology to GPUs

A fast and scalable graph processing method becomes increasingly important as graphs become popular in a wide range of applications and their sizes are growing rapidly. Most of distributed graph processing methods require a lot of machines equipped with a total of thousands of CPU cores and a few terabyte main memory for handling billion-scale graphs. Meanwhile, GPUs could be a promising direction toward fast processing of large-scale graphs by exploiting thousands of GPU cores. All of the existing methods using GPUs, however, fail to process large-scale graphs that do not fit in main memory of a single machine. Here, we propose a fast and scalable graph processing method GTS that handles even RMAT32 (64 billion edges) very efficiently only by using a single machine. The proposed method stores graphs in PCI-E SSDs and executes a graph algorithm using thousands of GPU cores while streaming topology data of graphs to GPUs via PCI-E interface. GTS is fast due to no communication overhead and scalable due to no data duplication from graph partitioning among machines. Through extensive experiments, we show that GTS consistently and significantly outperforms the major distributed graph processing methods, GraphX, Giraph, and PowerGraph, and the state-of-the-art GPU-based method TOTEM.
Clinical, MRI and arthroscopic correlation in internal derangement of knee.

BACKGROUND
The traumatic or degenerative internal derangement of the knee requires certain investigations for the establishment of diagnosis, in addition to clinical history and a thorough physical examination. The use of arthrography and arthroscopy improves the accuracy of the diagnosis. MRI scanning of the knee joint has often been regarded as the noninvasive alternative to diagnostic arthroscopy.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study was to correlate clinical and low field MRI findings with arthroscopy in internal derangement of the knee.


METHODS
Forty one patients with suspected internal derangement of the knee were subjected to MR examination followed by arthroscopy. Clinical criteria used were history, mode of injury, Mc Murray, Apley grinding, Thessaly test for meniscal injury. Drawer test was considered to be essential for clinical diagnosis of cruciate ligament injury. MRI of the knee was performed in low field open magnet (0.35T, Magnetom C, Seimens). Arthroscopy was done within two months of MR examination and was considered gold standard for the internal derangement of the knee.


RESULTS
The sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy of clinical examination were 96.1%, 33.3% and 73.1% respectively for medial meniscal tear; 38.4%, 96.4% and 78.1% respectively for lateral meniscal tear. The sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy of MRI were 92.3%,100% and 95.1% for medial meniscal tear; 84.6%96.4% and 92.6% respectively for lateral meniscal tear.


CONCLUSION
Clinical examination showed higher sensitivity for medial meniscal tear compared to MRI, however with low specificity and diagnostic accuracy. Low field MRI showed high sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy for meniscal and cruciate ligament injury, in addition to associated derangement like articular cartilage damage, synovial thickening.