LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Speed-accuracy tradeoff in Fitts' law tasks-on the equivalency of actual and nominal pointing precision

Pointing tasks in human–computer interaction obey certain speed–accuracy tradeoff rules. In general, the more accurate the task to be accomplished, the longer it takes and vice versa. Fitts’ law models the speed–accuracy tradeoff effect in pointing as imposed by the task parameters, through Fitts’ index of difficulty (Id) based on the ratio of the nominal movement distance and the size of the target. Operating with different speed or accuracy biases, performers may utilize more or less area than the target specifies, introducing another subjective layer of speed–accuracy tradeoff relative to the task specification. A conventional approach to overcome the impact of the subjective layer of speed–accuracy tradeoff is to use the a posteriori ‘‘effective’’ pointing precision W e in lieu of the nominal target width W. Such an approach has lacked a theoretical or empirical foundation. This study investigates the nature and the relationship of the two layers of speed–accuracy tradeoff by systematically controlling both Id and the index of target utilization Iu in a set of four experiments. Their results show that the impacts of the two layers of speed–accuracy tradeoff are not fundamentally equivalent. The use of W e could indeed compensate for the difference in target utilization, but not completely. More logical Fitts’ law parameter estimates can be obtained by the W e adjustment, although its use also lowers the correlation between pointing time and the index of difficulty. The study also shows the complex interaction effect between see front matter r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. .ijhcs.2004.09.007 nding author. Tel.: +1408 927 1112; fax: +1 408 927 3033. dress: zhai@us.ibm.com (S. Zhai).
Classroom context, school engagement, and academic achievement in early adolescence.

Classroom context and school engagement are significant predictors of academic achievement. These factors are especially important for academically at-risk students. Grounded in an ecological systems perspective, this study examined links between classroom context, school engagement, and academic achievement among early adolescents. We took a multidimensional approach to the measurement of classroom context and school engagement, incorporating both observational and self-reported assessments of various dimensions of classroom context (instruction quality, social/emotional climate, and student-teacher relationship) and school engagement (psychological and behavioral engagement). Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we tested whether school engagement mediated the link between classroom context and academic achievement among 5th grade students, and whether these pathways were the same for students with previous achievement difficulties identified in 3rd grade. Participants included 1,014 children (50% female) in 5th grade (mean age = 11). The majority of the participants were white (77%) and 23% were children of color. Results indicated that psychological and behavioral engagement mediated the link between classroom context and academic achievement for students without previous achievement difficulties. However, for students with previous achievement difficulties psychological and behavioral engagement did not mediate the link between classroom context and academic achievement. These results suggest that improving classroom quality may not be sufficient to improve student engagement and achievement for students with previous achievement difficulties. Additional strategies may be needed for these students.
Prolonged melatonin administration decreases nocturnal blood pressure in women.

BACKGROUND
The nocturnal decline of blood pressure (BP) is almost coincident with the elevation of melatonin, which may exert vasodilatating and hypotensive effects. In this study we investigated whether prolonged nocturnal administration of melatonin could influence the daily rhythm of BP in women.


METHODS
In a randomized double-blind study, 18 women, 47 to 63 years of age and with normal BP (N = 9) or treated essential hypertension (N = 9), received a 3-week course of a slow-release melatonin pill (3 mg) or placebo 1 h before going to bed. They were then crossed over to the other treatment for another 3 weeks. In each woman ambulatory BP was recorded for 41 h at baseline at the end of each treatment period.


RESULTS
In comparison with placebo, melatonin administration did not influence diurnal BP but did significantly decrease nocturnal systolic (-3.77 +/- 1.7 mm Hg, P = .0423), diastolic (-3.63 +/- 1.3 mm Hg, P = .0153), and mean (-3.71 +/- 1.3 mm Hg, P = .013) BP without modifying heart rate. The effect was inversely related to the day-night difference in BP.


CONCLUSION
These data indicate that prolonged administration of melatonin may improve the day-night rhythm of BP, particularly in women with a blunted nocturnal decline.
Multilayered mucoadhesive hydrogel films based on thiolated hyaluronic acid and polyvinylalcohol for insulin delivery.

A multilayered hydrogel film system based on hyaluronic acid-cysteamine (HA-Cym) and polyvinylalcohol (PVA) was fabricated. It contained a drug-impermeable backing layer, a supporting layer preventing direct contact between the loaded drug and the backing layer, a drug-loading layer and a mucoadhesive layer. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated the presence of the distinct layers. The composition and preparation procedure of the films influenced their mucoadhesion, swelling, in vitro release of insulin and loaded insulin stability. Vacuum drying and crosslinked PVA with glutaraldehyde might reduce mucoadhesion, and they partially decreased the bioactivity of loaded insulin. Lyophilized hydrogel film with uncrosslinked PVA as a mucoadhesive layer possessed high mucoadhesion and showed no influence on the bioactivity of loaded insulin. The application of vacuum-dried PVA-crosslinked HA-Cym/PVA hydrogel film as a drug-impermeable backing layer would provide a controllable unidirectional insulin release. Therefore, such a multilayered hydrogel film system could be a promising mucoadhesive delivery system for controlled macromolecular drug release.
Lessons for an Aging Society: the Political Sustainability of Social Security Systems'

What is the future of social systems in OECD countries ? In our view, the answer belongs to the realm of politics. We evaluate how political constraints shape the social security system in six countries France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US under population aging. Two main aspects of the aging process are relevant to the analysis. First, the increase in the dependency ratio the ratio of retirees of workers reduces the average profitability of the unfunded social security system, thereby inducing the agents to reduce the size of the system by substituting their claims towards future pensions with more private savings. Second, an aging electorate leads to larger systems, since it increases the relevance of pension spending on the policy-makers' agenda. The overall assessment from our simulations is that the political aspect dominates in all countries, albeit with some differences. Spain, the fastest aging country, faces the largest increase in the social security con... Document type : Document de travail (Working Paper) Référence bibliographique Galasso, Vincenzo ; Profeta, Paola. Lessons for an aging society: the political sustainability of social security systems. ECON Discussion Papers ; 2003/82 (2003) Lessons for an Aging Society: the Political Sustainability of Social Security Systems Vincenzo Galasso (IGIER, Università Bocconi and CEPR) Paola Profeta (CORE, Università di Pavia and Università Bocconi) Preliminary version Prepared for the 38 Panel Meeting of Economic Policy in Italy
Efficient approaches to design a reversible floating point divider

In this paper, we propose a reversible n-bit divider, where n is the number of bits of the operands of dividend. Two approaches for constructing a compact reversible divider have been presented here. The first approach uses conventional division array and the second approach uses high speed division array. Both of the approaches can handle floating point numbers. Several theorems on the numbers of gates, garbage outputs and quantum cost of the reversible n-bit divider have been shown. The comparative study shows that the proposed designs can work with fractional numbers where as existing designs can not. Proposed designs are also much better than the existing approaches considering all the efficiency parameters of reversible logic design which includes numbers of gates used, quantum cost and garbage outputs.
Analysis and Design of an Energy System Based on PV/T Water Collector for Building Application

The efficiency of PV module is improved by combining a PV module and a thermal collector in one unit, resulting in a hybrid photovoltaic and thermal collector (PV/ T). The PV/ T system is a new solar and thermal technology which can provide simultanuously electrical and thermal energy. This kind of technologies can be used easily according to users demands. The aim of this paper is the design of an energy system based on PV/ T collector applied to a habitation. The proposed system in this study consists mainly of the PV/ T collector, thermal storage tank, battery and the electrical and thermal loads. Based on the developed model of PV / T system, both the thermal and electrical performances of the collector are investigated and the energy needs for the habitation are determined. The results show that the cogeneration system based on the hybrid collectors PV/ T is a complete energy system to supply electricity and heat at home.
Capsule-Oriented Programming

"Explicit concurrency should be abolished from all higher-level programming languages (i.e. everything except - perhaps- plain machine code.)." Dijkstra [1] (paraphrased). A promising class of concurrency abstractions replaces explicit concurrency mechanisms with a single linguistic mechanism that combines state and control and uses asynchronous messages for communications, e.g. active objects or actors, but that doesn't remove the hurdle of understanding non-local control transfer. What if the programming model enabled programmers to simply do what they do best, that is, to describe a system in terms of its modular structure and write sequential code to implement the operations of those modules and handles details of concurrency? In a recently sponsored NSF project we are developing such a model that we call capsule-oriented programming and its realization in the Panini project. This model favors modularity over explicit concurrency, encourages concurrency correctness by construction, and exploits modular structure of programs to expose implicit concurrency.
When should I do dynamic CT myelography? Predicting fast spinal CSF leaks in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Some patients with SIH have fast CSF leaks requiring dynamic CTM for localization; however, patients generally undergo conventional CTM before a dynamic study. Our aim was to determine whether findings on head MR imaging, spine MR imaging, or opening pressure measurements can predict fast spinal CSF leaks.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
A retrospective review was performed on 151 consecutive patients referred for CTM to evaluate for spinal CSF leak. Head MR imaging was evaluated for diffuse dural enhancement and "brain sag," and spine MR imaging for presence of an extradural fluid collection. The opening pressure was recorded. The CTM was scored as no leak, slow leak localized on conventional CTM, or fast leak that required dynamic CTM.


RESULTS
Fast CSF leaks were identified in 32 (21%), slow leaks in 36 (24%), and no leak in 83 (55%) of 151 patients on initial CTM. There was significant association between spinal extra-arachnoid fluid on MR imaging and the presence of a fast leak (sensitivity 85%, specificity 79%, P < .0001). There was not significant association between fast leak and findings on head MR imaging (P = .27) or opening pressure (P = .30).


CONCLUSIONS
If all patients with spinal extra-arachnoid CSF on MR imaging had been sent directly to dynamic CTM, repeat myelography would have been avoided in most patients with fast leaks (23 of 27; 85%). However, a minority of patients with slow or no leaks would have been converted from conventional to dynamic CTM (16 of 77; 21%). Spinal MR imaging is helpful in premyelographic evaluation of SIH.
An English and Spanish quality of life measure for rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE
To develop a rheumatoid arthritis-specific health-related quality of life instrument, translate the English instrument into Spanish, and test the scaling assumptions, reliability, validity, and feasibility of both the English and Spanish versions.


METHODS
The development of the Quality of Life-Rheumatoid Arthritis Scale (QOL-RA Scale) involved literature review, consultations with experts, 40 face-to-face interviews, and 5 focus group discussions with multiethnic and multilingual women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Translation design facilitated conceptual and linguistic equivalence. Data for the psychometrics came from telephone interviews of a sample of 107 Caucasian/English and 80 Hispanic/Spanish women with RA. The instruments were (a) the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales 2 (AIMS2), (b) the Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS), (c) the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), and (d) the QOL-RA Scale. Descriptive statistics, significance tests, Cronbach's alpha technique, correlation, and factor analysis were used.


RESULTS
The QOL-RA Scale, an 8-item scale, took 2 to 3 minutes to administer. Psychometric analysis revealed that the psychometric attributes and constructs of both English and Spanish questionnaires are comparable (i.e., equivalent). Both versions demonstrated the following: (a) normal distribution of the QOL-RA Scale, roughly symmetrical distributions of the items, equivalent means and standard deviations across items, and less than 10% floor and ceiling effects, (b) Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.87-0.90, (c) significant correlations of the QOL-RA Scale with the AIMS2 subscales, LSNS, and CES-D, ranging from 0.25 to 0.66 (P < or = 0.01), and (d) extraction of 2 factors, namely physio-psychological and socio-psychological, that explained 65% to 73% of the variance in the scale scores.


CONCLUSION
The QOL-RA Scale, in both English and Spanish versions, appears to meet the assumptions of a summated rating scale and the criteria of relevance, reliability, validity, feasibility, and adaptability to several languages.
Beyond Minecraft: Facilitating Computational Thinking through Modeling and Programming in 3D

Visual programming in 3D sounds much more appealing than programming in 2D, but what are its benefits? Here, University of Colorado Boulder educators discuss the differences between 2D and 3D regarding three concepts connecting computer graphics to computer science education: ownership, spatial thinking, and syntonicity.
Effect of increasing active travel in urban England and Wales on costs to the National Health Service

Increased walking and cycling in urban areas and reduced use of private cars could have positive effects on many health outcomes. We estimated the potential effect of increased walking and cycling in urban England and Wales on costs to the National Health Service (NHS) for seven diseases--namely, type 2 diabetes, dementia, cerebrovascular disease, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, depression, and ischaemic heart disease--that are associated with physical inactivity. Within 20 years, reductions in the prevalences of type 2 diabetes, dementia, ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and cancer because of increased physical activity would lead to savings of roughly UK£17 billion (in 2010 prices) for the NHS, after adjustment for an increased risk of road traffic injuries. Further costs would be averted after 20 years. Sensitivity analyses show that results are invariably positive but sensitive to assumptions about time lag between the increase in active travel and changes in health outcomes. Increasing the amount of walking and cycling in urban settings could reduce costs to the NHS, permitting decreased government expenditure on health or releasing resources to fund additional health care.
1 CRYPTOGRAPHIC HASH FUNCTIONS : AN OVERVIEW

Cryptographic hash functions are a useful building block for several cryptographic applications. The most important are certainly the protection of information authentication and digital signatures. This overview paper will discuss the definitions, describe some attacks on hash functions, and will give an overview of the existing practical constructions.
Novel ISO/IEEE 11073 Standards for Personal Telehealth Systems Interoperability

The formation of an ISO/IEEE 11073 personal health device data work group has been announced. The group aims at enabling plug-and-play interoperability for personal health devices by developing new standards within the family of existing ISO/IEEE 11073 standards for medical device communications. These new standards address transport-independent application and information profiles between personal telehealth devices and monitors. In this work we give an introduction and overview of these new standards under development.
Incremental Instant Radiosity for Real-Time Indirect Illumination

We present a method for rendering single-bounce indirect illumination in real time on currently available graphics hardware. The method is based on the instant radiosity algorithm, where virtual point lights (VPLs) are generated by casting rays from the primary light source. Hardware shadow maps are then employed for determining the indirect illumination from the VPLs. Our main contribution is an algorithm for reusing the VPLs and incrementally maintaining their good distribution. As a result, only a few shadow maps need to be rendered per frame as long as the motion of the primary light source is reasonably smooth. This yields real-time frame rates even when hundreds
Risk stratification for COPD diagnosis through an active search strategy in primary care

BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to identify the percentage of undiagnosed patients with COPD through the implementation of an active search strategy in a selected subject population.


METHODS
An observational, cross-sectional, multicenter study was conducted in a primary care setting in Spain. General practitioners gave their diagnostic impression of COPD (yes/no) on the basis of clinical criteria of subjects with respiratory symptoms and tobacco exposure. Subsequently, post-bronchodilator spirometry and quality-of-life tests were performed. Multivariate logistic regression techniques using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to identify the combination of variables that best discriminates COPD.


RESULTS
A total of 2,758 patients were screened at 368 primary care centers, of which 1,725 patients were included in the study. Seven hundred and ninety-three patients (46%) were diagnosed with COPD. Clinical judgment resulted in suspected COPD in 1,393 (81%) of the subjects. The best variables to discriminate COPD were a history of lower respiratory tract infections, cough, and dyspnea. This combination identified COPD with a ROCAUC of 0.61 denoting a poor discriminative ability.


CONCLUSION
Employing an active search strategy leads to a new COPD diagnosis in almost half of the subjects. Screening of COPD with post-bronchodilator spirometry should be considered mandatory for any high-risk subject visiting the general practitioner clinic for any reason.
Functions of intermediaries in eco-innovation: a study of business development organizations and cluster initiatives in a Swedish and a German region

Eco-innovation continues to gain support as a driving force for sustainable development. In this regard, pressing questions include how to stimulate the development, diffusion and use of eco-innova ...
On the use of computable features for film classification

This work presents a framework for the classification of feature films into genres, based only on computable visual cues. We view the work as a step toward high-level semantic film interpretation, currently using low-level video features and knowledge of ubiquitous cinematic practices. Our current domain of study is the movie preview, commercial advertisements primarily created to attract audiences. A preview often emphasizes the theme of a film and hence provides suitable information for classification. In our approach, we classify movies into four broad categories: Comedies, Action, Dramas, or Horror films. Inspired by cinematic principles, four computable video features (average shot length, color variance, motion content and lighting key) are combined in a framework to provide a mapping to these four high-level semantic classes. Mean shift classification is used to discover the structure between the computed features and each film genre. We have conducted extensive experiments on over a hundred film previews and notably demonstrate that low-level visual features (without the use of audio or text cues) may be utilized for movie classification. Our approach can also be broadened for many potential applications including scene understanding, the building and updating of video databases with minimal human intervention, browsing, and retrieval of videos on the Internet (video-on-demand) and video libraries.
Patient Assessments of the Most Important Medical Decision During a Hospitalization

How medical decisions are made in real-life situations is largely unexplored. We explored patients’ perceptions of decision-making during a hospitalization and examined the conformity of the decision process with expert recommendations. To describe the conformity of the decision-making process with current expert opinion and examine the associations between various aspects of the decision-making process and a global assessment of the decision. Mail survey of patients discharged from a teaching hospital in Geneva, Switzerland. Patients identified the main medical decision during their stay, and rated the decision process (11-item “decision process score”) and their satisfaction with the decision (five-item “decision satisfaction score”). Both scores were scaled between 0 (worst) and 100 (best). The survey had 1467 respondents. In total 862 (58.8%) of 1467 respondents reported having made a medical decision while in the hospital. The decision process score (mean 78.5, SD 21.5) and the decision satisfaction score (mean 86.5, SD 20.4) were moderately correlated (r = 0.62). Men, healthier patients, patients discharged from the department of surgery, and those who reported sharing the decision with their doctor gave the highest ratings on both scales. Five process variables were independently associated with high satisfaction with the decision: the doctor explained all possible treatments and examinations, the patient was aware of risks at the time of the decision, the doctor’s explanations were easy to understand, the patient was involved in the decision as much as desired or more, and the patient was not pressured into the decision. A majority of patients discharged from a general hospital were able to identify and rate a medical decision. Recommended features of the process of medical decision-making were associated with greater satisfaction with the decision.