LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
STRATEGIC PLANNING IN A TURBULENT ENVIRONMENT : EVIDENCE FROM THE OIL MAJORS

The long-running debate between the ‘rational design’ and ‘emergent process’ schools of strategy formation has involved caricatures of firms’ strategic planning processes, but little empirical evidence of whether and how companies plan. Despite the presumption that environmental turbulence renders conventional strategic planning all but impossible, the evidence from the corporate sector suggests that reports of the demise of strategic planning are greatly exaggerated. The goal of this paper is to fill this empirical gap by describing the characteristics of the strategic planning systems of multinational, multibusiness companies faced with volatile, unpredictable business environments. In-depth case studies of the planning systems of eight of the world’s largest oil companies identified fundamental changes in the nature and role of strategic planning since the end of the 1970s. The findings point to a possible reconciliation of ‘design’ and ‘process’ approaches to strategy formulation. The study pointed to a process of planned emergence in which strategic planning systems provided a mechanism for coordinating decentralized strategy formulation within a structure of demanding performance targets and clear corporate guidelines. The study shows that these planning systems fostered adaptation and responsiveness, but showed limited innovation and analytical sophistication. Copyright  2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Man-made lakes in Mediterranean semi-arid climate: the strange case of Dr Deep Lake and Mr Shallow Lake

The lack of any protection against eutrophication is progressively compromising the water quality of Sicilian reservoirs. These water bodies provide the population with an adequate supply of drinking water and support most of the irrigation requirements of local agriculture. Moreover, they respond to the Mediterranean climate, with sequential, seasonally predictable events of flooding and drying and whose intensity varies markedly between years. As a consequence of summer drought and the policy to meet water demand throughout the season, the reservoirs experience massive dewatering, resulting in a reduction in the spring storage volume of 90%. Thus, they start the hydrological season as water bodies deep enough to form stable stratification but a thermocline has generally disappeared by the middle of summer and, as a consequence of the intense drawdown, they are transformed into shallow water bodies. This dual behaviour, driven by a progressive and conspicuous depth decrease, interferes with nutrient and phytoplankton dynamics, enhancing eutrophication phenomena and contributing to the selection of planktic cyanobacteria that are potentially dangerous to human health.
A Study of Skew in MapReduce Applications

This paper presents a study of skew — highly variable task runtimes — in MapReduce applications. We describe various causes and manifestations of skew as observed in real world Hadoop applications. Runtime task distributions from these applications demonstrate the presence and negative impact of skew on performance behavior. We discuss best practices recommended for avoiding such behavior and their limitations.
Efficient similarity measure via Genetic algorithm for content based medical image retrieval with extensive features

Nowadays, quick search and retrieval is needed in all kinds of growing database to find relevant details quickly. Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) plays a significant role in the image processing field. Based on image content, CBIR extracts images that are relevant to the given query image from large image archives. Images relevant to a given query image are retrieved by the CBIR system utilizing either low level features such as shape, color, texture and homogeneity or high level features such as human perception. Most of the CBIR systems available in the literature extract only concise feature sets that limit the retrieval efficiency. In this paper, we are using Medical images for retrieval and the feature extraction is used along with color, shape and texture feature extraction to extract the query image from the database medical images. When a query image is given, the features are extracted and then the Genetic Algorithm-based similarity measure is performed between the query image features and the database image features. The Squared Euclidean Distance (SED) computes the similarity measure in determining the Genetic Algorithm fitness. Hence, from the Genetic Algorithm-based similarity measure, the database images that are relevant to the given query image are retrieved. The proposed CBIR technique is evaluated by querying different medical images and the retrieval efficiency is evaluated in the retrieval results.
Searching RDF Graphs with SPARQL and Keywords

The proliferation of knowledge-sharing communities like Wikipedia and the advances in automated information extraction from Web pages enable the construction of large knowledge bases with facts about entities and their relationships. The facts can be represented in the RDF data model, as so-called subject-property-object triples, and can thus be queried by structured query languages like SPARQL. In principle, this allows precise querying in the database spirit. However, RDF data may be highly diverse and queries may return way too many results, so that ranking by informativeness measures is crucial to avoid overwhelming users. Moreover, as facts are extracted from textual contexts or have community-provided annotations, it can be beneficial to consider also keywords for formulating search requests. This paper gives an overview of recent and ongoing work on ranked retrieval of RDF data with keyword-augmented structured queries. The ranking method is based on statistical language models, the state-of-the-art paradigm in information retrieval. The paper develops a novel form of language models for the structured, but schema-less setting of RDF triples and extended SPARQL queries. 1 Motivation and Background Entity-Relationship graphs are receiving great attention for information management outside of mainstream database engines. In particular, the Semantic-Web data model RDF (Resource Description Format) is gaining popularity for applications on scientific data such as biological networks [14], social Web2.0 applications [4], large-scale knowledge bases such as DBpedia [2] or YAGO [13], and more generally, as a light-weight representation for the “Web of data” [5]. An RDF data collection consists of a set of subject-property-object triples, SPO triples for short. In ER terminology, an SPO triple corresponds to a pair of entities connected by a named relationship or to an entity connected to the value of a named attribute. As the object of a triple can in turn be the subject of other triples, we can also view the RDF data as a graph of typed nodes and typed edges where nodes correspond to entities and edges to relationships (viewing attributes as relations as well). Some of the existing RDF collections contain more than a billion triples. As a simple example that we will use throughout the paper, consider a Web portal on movies. Table 1 shows a few sample triples. The example illustrates a number of specific requirements that RDF data poses for querying: Copyright 0000 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. Bulletin of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Data Engineering
Networked control systems with communication constraints: Tradeoffs between transmission intervals and delays

There are many communication imperfections in networked control systems (NCSs) such as varying delays, varying transmission intervals, packet loss, communication constraints and quantization effects. Most of the available literature on NCSs focuses on only one of these aspects, while ignoring the others. In this paper we present a general framework that incorporates both communication constraints (only one node accessing the network per transmission), varying delays and varying transmission intervals. Based on a newly developed NCS model including these three network phenomena, we will provide an explicit (Lyapunov-based) procedure to compute bounds on the maximally allowable transmission interval (MATI) and the maximally allowable delay (MAD) that guarantee stability of the NCS. The developed results lead to tradeoff curves between MATI and MAD as will be illustrated using a benchmark example.
Effects of dental local anaesthetics in cardiac transplant recipients

Objective To investigate the cardiovascular responses of cardiac transplant recipients to dental local anaesthetic solutions with and without epinephrine (adrenaline).Materials and methods A clinical study employing 30 patients (20 cardiac transplant recipients and ten healthy) awaiting gingival or minor oral surgery under local anaesthesia receiving either 4.4 ml lidocaine (lignocaine) with 1:80,000 epinephrine or 4.4 ml 3% prilocaine with 0.03IU/ml felypressin.Results Cardiac transplant patients experienced a significant tachycardia 10 minutes after injection of the epinephrine-containing solution. No significant change in heart rate was detected after the injection of an epinephrine-free solution. Blood pressure was not affected. Periodontal surgery did not affect the responses to the local anaesthetics in the transplant recipients.Conclusions The cardiovascular response to dental local anaesthesia in cardiac transplant recipients is governed by the solution injected.
Inhibiting effect of palladium additions on embrittlement of Fe–Ni low expansion alloys by copper containing brazing alloys

AbstractThe Pd containing brazing alloys were invented as filler materials that (i) had good spreading and gap filling properties, (ii) did not badly erode the high temperature metals for which their use was intended, (iii) were ductile, and (iv) did not contain volatiles, which made their use in radio valves attractive particularly for glass–metal seals, where the Ag–Cu eutectic was a favoured alternative, but could lead to cracking of parent metal during the brazing cycle unless preplated with Ni. The work reported here traced the mechanism of attack of Fe–Ni alloy by Ag–Cu eutectic with three modifications containing nominally 5, 10, and 25 wt-%Pd. A static beam loading technique was used in conjunction with scanning electron and optical microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, X-ray (XPS), and Auger (AES) spectroscopy. The alloys containing 5%Pd or less were hot short, but were ductile when cold bend tested; those containing 10 and 25%Pd were ductile at all temperatures tested. Ductility was associat...
Potential mechanism of acute stent thrombosis with bivalirudin following percutaneous coronary intervention in acute coronary syndromes.

BACKGROUND
Clinical trials have demonstrated an excess of acute stent thrombosis (AST) in acute coronary syndromes patients (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with bivalirudin compared to heparin. We aimed to investigate the potential mechanisms responsible for thrombus formation under bivalirudin.


METHODS
We compared heparin and bivalirudin during PCI for ACS in a prospective monocentre randomized study. Twenty patients were included after coronary angiography and received a loading dose (LD) of 180mg of ticagrelor at the time of PCI. They were randomly assigned to heparin (70UI/kg) intra-venous (IV) bolus or bivalirudin IV bolus of 0.75mg/kg followed by an infusion of 1.75mg/kg/h until the end of the PCI. The VASP index and thrombin generation test were used to assess the course of platelet reactivity (PR) and thrombin generation.


RESULTS
Thrombin generation and PR were identical in both groups at baseline. There was no difference in the course of PR following the LD over time. An optimal PR inhibition was reached 4h after the LD of ticagrelor. Heparin and bivalirudin infusion effectively inhibited thrombin generation during PCI. However, 4h after the end of bivalirudin infusion, thrombin generation had returned to its baseline value whereas in the heparin group it remained significantly inhibited compared to baseline and to the bivalirudin group 4h after the end of the infusion (p<0.01 and p<0.02 respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The present study suggests that the short half-life of bivalirudin and the quick restoration of thrombin activity at a time when optimal PR is not reached may be responsible for acute stent thrombosis. Clinicaltrial.gov: NCT02428725.
Adverse events during the Scleroderma Lung Study.

BACKGROUND
The Scleroderma Lung Study (SLS) was a 1-year, randomized, controlled trial of oral cyclophosphamide for scleroderma-related pulmonary alveolitis. It concluded that oral cyclophosphamide slowed the decline in the forced vital capacity (% predicted) and had a beneficial effect on dyspnea, skin changes, and several quality of life measures of systemic sclerosis. We now report an in-depth assessment of the toxicity of cyclophosphamide during the year of therapy and the year after therapy was completed, during which time the investigators were still masked to the treatment assignment.


METHODS
One-year, double-blind, randomized controlled trial of oral cyclophosphamide versus placebo with 1-year masked follow-up. Adverse events (AEs) were tabulated, described, and compared using descriptive statistics (eg, mean and median) and t, Wilcoxon rank sum, chi-squared, or Fisher's exact tests as appropriate.


RESULTS
During year 1, treatment-related overall AEs occurred more frequently in cyclophosphamide (CYC)-treated patients (overall AEs for CYC=154 events vs placebo=60 events; P=0.002), and especially for mild to moderate leukopenia (CYC=19 subjects vs placebo=0 subjects; P < .0001). For cancer, we followed patients beyond 2 years. There were no differences in the occurrence of cancer (CYC=4 subjects vs placebo=2 subjects), serious related AEs (CYC=8 events vs placebo=13 events), or deaths (CYC=6 subjects vs placebo=6 subjects).


CONCLUSION
Over 2 years, cyclophosphamide was associated with more AEs than placebo, including overall AEs and relative leukopenia. There were no differences in other AEs, including serious AEs, cancers, or deaths.
Spheno-orbital meningiomas: outcome after microsurgical treatment: a clinical review of 30 cases.

OBJECTIVE
Spheno-orbital meningiomas represent a delicate subtype of intracranial meningiomas involving the sphenoid wing, orbit and important neurovascular structures such as cavernous sinus, carotid artery or optic nerve. Insidious and aggressive dural, bone and orbital involvement contains several defiances to adequate resection, which provides high rates of recurrence.


METHODS
This retrospective case analysis consisted of 30 patients, who were surgically treated for spheno-orbital meningiomas performing a fronto-pterional approach by or under the supervision of the senior author (J. Meixensberger) between May 2001 and February 2006. There were 22 woman and eight men with a mean age of 54.4 years. The follow-up period ranged from 3 to 75 months (mean: 33.7 months).


RESULTS
The majority of patients presented with a clinical triad of visual impairment (74%), progressive proptosis (55%) and visual field defects (40%). Total microscopic tumor resection was achieved in ten patients (33%). Visual acuity improved in 65% of the patients, and 40% of these returned to normal vision. Pre-existing cranial nerve deficits remained unchanged in the majority of patients (88%) and improved in 12%. Temporary new cranial nerve deficits occurred in three patients. The rate of permanent non-visual morbidity was 10% (three of 30 patients). Eight patients (27%) received post-operative radiotherapy with an overall tumor growth control rate of 63%. The overall recurrence rate was 27% (eight of 30 patients).


CONCLUSION
Sufficient tumor control can be achieved with minimal morbidity and satisfying functional results.
Analysing the role of ICT in bridging the digital divide amongst learners

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is changing every facet of our lives. It is changing the way we do business, the way we live and, more importantly, the way we learn. In this new Golden Age of technology, we see more and more an increasing rift between those who have access to ICT and those who do not. This digital divide can be seen as an educational divide and thus we examine how ICT is influencing education. We also investigate the nature of this digital divide while focusing on the local perspective. A short pilot study was done at four schools and one adult education centre in South Africa regarding their access to ICT. The results are used to indicate how and why ICT can be used in South Africa to overcome the digital divide that currently exists between resource-deprived and resource-advantaged learners. In addition, we examine the implications of the rift and propose a framework for a solution.
High-strength porous biomaterials for bone replacement: A strategy to assess the interplay between cell morphology, mechanical properties, bone ingrowth and manufacturing constraints.

UNLABELLED
High-strength fully porous biomaterials built with additive manufacturing provide an exciting opportunity for load-bearing orthopedic applications. While factors controlling their mechanical and biological response have recently been the subject of intense research, the interplay between mechanical properties, bone ingrowth requirements, and manufacturing constraints, is still unclear. In this paper, we present two high-strength stretch-dominated topologies, the Tetrahedron and the Octet truss, as well as an intuitive visualization method to understand the relationship of cell topology, pore size, porosity with constraints imposed by bone ingrowth requirements and additive manufacturing. 40 samples of selected porosities are fabricated using Selective Laser Melting (SLM), and their morphological deviations resulting from SLM are assessed via micro-CT. Mechanical compression testing is used to obtain stiffness and strength properties, whereas bone ingrowth is assessed in a canine in vivo model at four and eight weeks. The results show that the maximum strength and stiffness ranged from 227.86±10.15 to 31.37±2.19MPa and 4.58±0.18 to 1.23±0.40GPa respectively, and the maximum 0.2% offset strength is almost 5 times stronger than that of tantalum foam. For Tetrahedron samples, bone ingrowth after four and eight weeks is 28.6%±11.6%, and 41.3%±4.3%, while for the Octet truss 35.5%±1.9% and 56.9%±4.0% respectively. This research is the first to demonstrate the occurrence of bone ingrowth into high-strength porous biomaterials which have higher structural efficiency than current porous biomaterials in the market.


STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
We present two stretch-dominated cell topologies for porous biomaterials that can be used for load-bearing orthopaedic applications, and prove that they encourage bone ingrowth in a canine model. We also introduce an intuitive method to visualize and understand the relationship of cell topology, pore size, porosity with constraints imposed by bone ingrowth requirements and additive manufacturing. We show this strategy helps to gain insight into the interaction of exogenous implant factors and endogenous system factors that can affect the success of load-bearing orthopaedic devices.
Understanding Post-Adoption Behavior in the Context of Online Services

This paper examines post-adoption behavior (continued adoption versus discontinuance) within the context of online service use. Innovation diffusion theory is used as a theoretical framework to extend information technology adoption research to the case of post-adoption behavior. This theory is used to formulate 11 research hypotheses distinguishing discontinuers from continuing adopters and exploring reasons behind their discontinuance (replacement versus disenchantment). These hypotheses were then empirically tested using data collected from a field survey of online service users. Our results indicate that potential discontinuers can be discriminated from continued adopters based on their sources of influence (external and interpersonal), perceived service attributes (usefulness and compatibility), service utilization, and network externality (complementary product usage), during their time of initial adoption. We also found that later adopters are more likely to discontinue due to disenchantment than replacement, and are more influenced by interpersonal sources and utilize the service less during their adoption period than replacement discontinuers. Implications for research and practice are drawn. (Discontinuance; Post-Adoption; Information Technology Adoption; Innovation Diffusion Theory; Multiple Discriminant Analysis)
Do the effects of working memory training depend on baseline ability level?

There is a debate about the ability to improve cognitive abilities such as fluid intelligence through training on tasks of working memory capacity. The question addressed in the research presented here is who benefits the most from training: people with low cognitive ability or people with high cognitive ability? Subjects with high and low working memory capacity completed a 23-session study that included 3 assessment sessions, and 20 sessions of training on 1 of 3 training regiments: complex span training, running span training, or an active-control task. Consistent with other research, the authors found that training on 1 executive function did not transfer to ability on a different cognitive ability. High working memory subjects showed the largest gains on the training tasks themselves relative to the low working memory subjects-a finding that suggests high spans benefit more than low spans from training with executive function tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record
The combination of bendamustine, bortezomib, and rituximab for patients with relapsed/refractory indolent and mantle cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Given the significant activity and tolerability of bendamustine, rituximab, and bortezomib in patients with relapsed indolent and mantle cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and laboratory studies suggesting synergistic activity, we conducted a multicenter phase 2 study of the bendamustine/bortezomib/rituximab combination. Patients with relapsed or refractory indolent and mantle cell lymphoma with adequate organ function were treated with bendamustine 90 mg/m² days 1 and 4; rituximab 375 mg/m² day 1, and bortezomib 1.3 mg/m² days 1, 4, 8, 11. Six 28-day cycles were planned. Thirty patients (7 with mantle cell lymphoma) were enrolled and treated. Eight patients experienced serious adverse events, including one event of grade 5 sepsis. Common nonhematologic adverse events were generally grade 1 or grade 2 and included nausea (50%), neuropathy (47%), fatigue (47%), constipation (40%), and fever (40%). Of 29 patients evaluable for efficacy, 24 (83%) achieved an objective response (including 15 with complete response). With median follow-up of 24 months, 2-year progression-free survival is 47% (95% confidence interval, 25%-69%). On the basis of these promising results, the US cooperative groups have initiated randomized trials to evaluate this regimen in follicular and mantle cell lymphoma. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00547534.