LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Long-Term Outcome of 4,040 Children Diagnosed With Pediatric Low-Grade Gliomas: An Analysis of the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Database

BACKGROUND
Children with pediatric low-grade gliomas (PLGG) are known to have excellent 10-year survival rates; however the outcomes of adult survivors of PLGG are unknown. We identified patients diagnosed with PLGG diagnosed between 1973 and 2008 through the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database to examine outcomes of adult survivors of PLGG.


PROCEDURE
Four thousand and forty patients with either WHO grade I or II PLGG were identified and outcome data retrieved. Two analyses were performed to assess survival and risk of death from tumor. Competing risks analysis was conducted and cumulative incidence curves of death due to disease were generated. Cox proportional hazards regression was performed, with adjustment for non-disease death. Kaplan-Meier curves for overall cancer specific survival (OS) were also generated.


RESULTS
The 20-year OS was 87% ± 0.8% and the 20-year cumulative incidence of death due to glioma was 12% ± 0.8%. The incidence of death after transition to adulthood (age greater than 22 years) was slightly lower, with 20-year cumulative incidence of disease death of 7% ± 1.8%. Year of diagnosis, age of diagnosis, histology, WHO grade, primary site, radiation, and degree of initial resection were prognostic in univariate analysis, while the administration of radiation was the greatest risk of death in multivariate analysis of OS (hazard ratio = 3.9).


CONCLUSIONS
PLGGs are associated with an excellent long-term survival, with a low likelihood of PLGG related death in adult survivors. Treatment strategies for pediatric tumors should therefore aim for disease control during childhood and adolescence with an emphasis on minimizing long-term treatment induced toxicities.
Stator Design for a 1000 kW HTSC Motor With Air-gap Winding

An air-gap winding (air-core) stator for a 1000 kW high temperature superconducting synchronous motor is designed by the Global R&D Center, TECO-Westinghouse Motor Company. This motor uses HTSC wire in the rotor field coils and Litz-wire cable in the stator coils. The rotor's cryogenic system cools the superconducting field coils to low temperature. Stator winding and back iron both are in a `warm stator' state. The stator coil chooses Roebel type Litz-wire with to eliminate the harmonics, cogging torque caused by slot opening, and to reduce vibration/noise. A quick algorithm is developed to design the stator. Electromagnetic and mechanical analyses are based on 3D FEA and thermal analysis is based on 2D FEA. Manufacture techniques for Litz wires are being developed, e.g., coil winding, crimping, testing and installation. The stator coil is in the manufacturing stage currently, and the complete machine will be tested by the end of 2010.
Energy-efficient resource scheduling for NOMA systems with imperfect channel state information

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is considered as a promising technology for the fifth generation mobile communications. Energy-efficient resource allocation scheme is studied for a downlink NOMA wireless network, where multiple users can be multiplexed on the same subchannel by applying successive interference cancellation technique at the receivers. Most previous works focus on resource allocation for sum rate maximization with perfect channel state information (CSI) in NOMA systems. We formulate the energy-efficient resource allocation as a probabilistic mixed non-convex optimization problem by considering imperfect CSI. To solve this problem, we decouple it into user scheduling and power allocation sub-problems. We propose a low-complexity suboptimal user scheduling algorithm and a power allocation scheme to maximize the system energy efficiency under the maximum transmitted power limit, imperfect CSI and the outage probability constraints. Simulation results are provided to show that the proposed algorithms yield much improved energy efficiency performance over the conventional orthogonal frequency division multiple access scheme.
A Transport Layer Approach for Improving End-to-End Performance and Robustness Using Redundant Paths

Recent work on Internet measurement and overlay networks has shown that redundant paths are common between pairs of hosts and that one can often achieve better end-to-end performance by adaptively choosing an alternate path [8, 28]. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end transport layer protocol, mTCP, which can aggregate the available bandwidth of those redundant paths in parallel. By striping one flow’s packets across multiple paths, mTCP can not only obtain higher end-to-end throughput but also become more robust under path failures. When some paths fail, mTCP can continue sending packets on other living paths and the recovery process normally takes only a few seconds. Because mTCP could obtain an unfair share of bandwidth under shared congestion, we integrate a shared congestion detection mechanism into our system. It allows us to dynamically detect and suppress paths with shared congestion so as to alleviate the aggressiveness problem. mTCP can also passively monitor the performance of several paths in parallel and discover better paths than the path provided by the underlying routing infrastructure. We also propose a heuristic to find disjoint paths between pairs of nodes using traceroute. We have implemented our system on top of overlay networks and evaluated it in both PlanetLab and Emulab.
Workplace stress in nursing: a literature review.

BACKGROUND
Stress perception is highly subjective, and so the complexity of nursing practice may result in variation between nurses in their identification of sources of stress, especially when the workplace and roles of nurses are changing, as is currently occurring in the United Kingdom health service. This could have implications for measures being introduced to address problems of stress in nursing.


AIMS
To identify nurses' perceptions of workplace stress, consider the potential effectiveness of initiatives to reduce distress, and identify directions for future research.


METHOD
A literature search from January 1985 to April 2003 was conducted using the key words nursing, stress, distress, stress management, job satisfaction, staff turnover and coping to identify research on sources of stress in adult and child care nursing. Recent (post-1997) United Kingdom Department of Health documents and literature about the views of practitioners was also consulted.


FINDINGS
Workload, leadership/management style, professional conflict and emotional cost of caring have been the main sources of distress for nurses for many years, but there is disagreement as to the magnitude of their impact. Lack of reward and shiftworking may also now be displacing some of the other issues in order of ranking. Organizational interventions are targeted at most but not all of these sources, and their effectiveness is likely to be limited, at least in the short to medium term. Individuals must be supported better, but this is hindered by lack of understanding of how sources of stress vary between different practice areas, lack of predictive power of assessment tools, and a lack of understanding of how personal and workplace factors interact.


CONCLUSIONS
Stress intervention measures should focus on stress prevention for individuals as well as tackling organizational issues. Achieving this will require further comparative studies, and new tools to evaluate the intensity of individual distress.
Design and construction of high performance HTS pseudo-elliptic band-stop filters

Elliptic function band-stop filters play an important role in cellular front end filtering. The AMPS B frequency allocation requires a very narrow (less then 0.2% fractional bandwidth) bandstop filter. The filter developed was a 6th order pseudo-elliptic band-stop design, and presented in this paper will be the design technique used to synthesize this filter. The design techniques described can be extended to any order band-stop filter and a large range of frequencies. Also discussed will be the issues related to the practical implementation of building the physical filter.
Feasibility and acceptability of using bronchial hyperresponsiveness to manage asthma in primary care: a pilot study.

AIMS
To determine if indirect testing for bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) to monitor inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) treatment in asthma is feasible and acceptable in primary care.


METHODS
Fourteen adult patients with asthma aged 22-70 years (4M:10F, forced expiratory volume in 1 s >70% predicted) taking ICS performed a test for BHR using mannitol on three visits 6 weeks apart. ICS dose adjustments were made based on the presence of BHR. The Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) and the Asthma Control Questionnaire were used at each visit. A semi structured interview at study exit assessed subject acceptability.


RESULTS
BHR did not return in those with no BHR at study entry (n=9) with decreasing ICS dose. Improvements in BHR with increasing ICS dose (n=5) were observed with clinically significant improvements in AQLQ (mean score increase >0.5, p=0.02). Feasibility and acceptability of BHR testing was demonstrated.


CONCLUSIONS
It is feasible and acceptable to perform BHR testing using mannitol to help identify patients with asthma who would benefit from ICS dose increases and those with no BHR who could have a dose reduction.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ACTRN12610000807055.
Mometasone furoate nasal spray reduces the ocular symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis.

BACKGROUND
Mometasone furoate nasal spray (MFNS), a potent intranasal corticosteroid with proved efficacy in relieving nasal allergic rhinitis symptoms, has demonstrated effectiveness in improving ocular symptoms associated with seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) in retrospective analyses.


OBJECTIVE
We sought to evaluate prospectively the efficacy of MFNS in reducing total ocular symptom scores (TOSSs) and individual ocular symptoms in subjects with SAR.


METHODS
Subjects 12 years or older (n = 429) with moderate-to-severe baseline symptoms were randomized to MFNS, 200 microg once daily, or placebo in this 15-day, double-blind, parallel-group study. Subjects evaluated morning instantaneous TOSSs and daily reflective TOSSs, total nasal symptom scores (TNSSs; both instantaneous TNSSs and reflective TNSSs, respectively), and individual ocular and nasal symptoms. Mean changes from baseline averaged over days 2 to 15 (instantaneous) and days 1 to 15 (reflective) were calculated. Quality of life was assessed by using the Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire.


RESULTS
MFNS treatment yielded significant reductions from baseline versus placebo in instantaneous TOSSs (-0.34, P = .026, coprimary end point), instantaneous TNSSs (-0.88, P < .001, coprimary end point), reflective TOSSs (-0.44, P = .005), and reflective TNSSs (-1.06, P < .001). Significant decreases in all individual reflective ocular symptoms and instantaneous eye itching/burning and eye watering/tearing were observed for MFNS versus placebo (P < .05). Numeric improvements in instantaneous eye redness were seen but did not reach statistical significance. Improvements in Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire total scores and individual symptom domains were achieved with MFNS treatment versus placebo (P < .001). MFNS was well tolerated.


CONCLUSION
This prospective study demonstrates that MFNS significantly reduces ocular symptoms in subjects with SAR.
Alcohol consumption is associated with lower self-reported disease activity and better health-related quality of life in female rheumatoid arthritis patients in Sweden: data from BARFOT, a multicenter study on early RA

BACKGROUND
Earlier studies have found a positive effect of alcohol consumption, with a reduced disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of this study was to assess alcohol consumption and its association with disease activity and health related quality of life (HRQL) in Swedish RA patients.


METHODS
Between 1992 and 2005, 2,800 adult patients were included in the BARFOT study of early RA in Sweden. In 2010 a self-completion postal questionnaire was sent to all 2,102 prevalent patients in the BARFOT study enquiring about disease severity, HRQL, and lifestyle factors. Alcohol consumption was assessed using the validated AUDIT-C questionnaire.


RESULTS
A total of 1,238 out of 1,460 patients answering the questionnaire had data on alcohol consumption: 11% were non-drinkers, 67% had a non-hazardous drinking, and 21% were classified as hazardous drinkers. Women who drank alcohol reported lower disease activity and better HRQL, but there were no association between alcohol consumption and disease activity in men. For current smokers, alcohol use was only associated with fewer patient-reported swollen joints. The outcome was not affected by kind of alcohol consumed.


CONCLUSIONS
There was an association between alcohol consumption and both lower self-reported disease activity and higher HRQL in female, but not in male, RA patients.
Apron: A Library of Numerical Abstract Domains for Static Analysis

This article describes Apron, a freely available library dedicated to the static analysis of the numerical variables of programs by abstract interpretation. Its goal is threefold: provide analysis implementers with ready-to-use numerical abstractions under a unified API, encourage the research in numerical abstract domains by providing a platform for integration and comparison, and provide teaching and demonstration tools to disseminate knowledge on abstract interpretation.
The effects of 60 minutes of brisk walking per week, accumulated in two different patterns, on cardiovascular risk.

BACKGROUND
Current ACSM guidelines recommend that adults should exercise for 20-60 min on 3-5 days.week(-1) (M.L. Pollock, et al., The recommended quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, and flexibility in healthy adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 30 (6) (1998) 975-991.). For individuals constrained by a busy lifestyle, an exercise prescription that delivers benefits with the minimum investment of time is attractive. The purpose of the present study, therefore, was to examine the effect of instructing sedentary individuals to undertake 20 min of brisk walking, in two different patterns, 3 days per week, on fitness and other cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors.


METHODS
Forty-eight subjects (31 women) mean (+/-SD) age 45.7 +/- 9.4 year were randomly assigned to either one 20-min walk (single bout), two 10-min walks (accumulated bouts) 3 days week(-1) for 12-week, or no training (control). Oxygen consumption (VO2), heart rate (HR), and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were measured during a 4-stage treadmill test at pre- and post-intervention. Body composition, resting blood pressure and fasting lipoproteins were also assessed. Thirty-two subjects completed the study.


RESULTS
There was a significant difference between single-bout and accumulated-bout walkers in the reduction of HR at stages 2 and 3 of the treadmill test from pre- to post-intervention (P < 0.05). There were no differences between groups for changes in VO2 or RPE from pre- to post-intervention. There were also no changes in body mass, adiposity, blood pressure, waist and hip circumferences, or lipid/lipoproteins.


CONCLUSION
Brisk walking for 20 min on 3 days of the week fails to alter cardiovascular disease risk factors in previously sedentary adults.
A robust soft hash algorithm for digital image signature

Watermarking is largely used for copyright protection and fast search of images in databases. Another method for securely identifying images is to use hash functions. Digital Signature Standard, used in cryptosystem to dispute authen tication documents, is based on hash functions. A digital signature is a bit stream dependent on key and content of document. For each document, the digital signature algorithm provides a unique output bit stream. In order to be efficient in images, the digital signature should be differe nt if and only if the image content, and not the input bit stream, is different. Our new method is a one-way function for images. Using the Radon transform and Principal Component Analysis, we extract characteristics robust against geome trical transformation (rotation and scaling) and image processing attacks (compression, filtering, blurring).
遼陽은 옛 襄平이 아니다

It is wrong to accept what China is saying about Liaoyang being the old Xiangping without questioning, comparing, analyzing and investigating. 
 It...
Analyzing an automotive testing process with evidence-based software engineering

Context: Evidence-based software engineering (EBSE) provides a process for solving practical problems based on a rigorous research approach. The primary focus so far was on mapping and aggregating evidence through systematic reviews. Objectives: We extend existing work on evidence-based software engineering by using the EBSE process in an industrial case to help an organization to improve its automotive testing process. With this we contribute in (1) providing experiences on using evidence based processes to analyze a real world automotive test process; and (2) provide evidence of challenges and related solutions for automotive software testing processes. Methods: In this study we perform an in-depth investigation of an automotive test process using an extended EBSE process including case study research (gain an understanding of practical questions to define a research scope), systematic literature review (identify solutions through systematic literature), and value stream mapping (map out an improved automotive test process based on the current situation and improvement suggestions identified). These are followed by reflections on the EBSE process used. Results: In the first step of the EBSE process we identified 10 challenge areas with a total of 26 individual challenges. For 15 out of those 26 challenges our domain specific systematic literature review identified solutions. Based on the input from the challenges and the solutions, we created a value stream map of the current and future process. Conclusions: Overall, we found that the evidence-based process as presented in this study helps in technology transfer of research results to industry, but at the same time some challenges lie ahead (e.g. scoping systematic reviews to focus more on concrete industry problems, and understanding strategies of conducting EBSE with respect to effort and quality of the evidence).
The effects of activated carbon surface features on the reactive adsorption of carbamazepine and sulfamethoxazole

Abstract Two commercial carbons, coconut shell- and wood-based were chosen to evaluate the mechanisms of carbamazepine (CBZ) and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) adsorption from a low (ppm level) concentration of these pharmaceuticals. The initial sample and those after adsorption were extensively characterized using potentiometric titration, thermal analysis combined with mass spectroscopy, FTIR, and XPS. It was found that not only porosity but also surface chemistry plays an important role in the adsorption process. The results show that extensive surface reactions take place during adsorption and adsorbates undergo significant transformations in the pore system. The ability of carbon surfaces to form superoxide ions results in the oxidation of CBZ and SMX, and their partial decomposition. Surface chemistry also promotes dimerization of the latter species. Moreover, functional groups of CBZ and SMX, mainly amines, react with oxygen groups of the carbon surface. Thus not only microporous carbons with sizes of pores similar to those of adsorbate molecules, but the carbons with large pores, rich in oxygen groups, can efficiently remove these pharmaceuticals following the reactive adsorption mechanism.
FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: SPENDING VERSUS REVENUE DECENTRALIZATION

This article examines whether the efficiency gains accompanying fiscal decentralization generate higher growth in more decentralized economies, applying pooled-mean group techniques to a panel dataset of 23 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, 1972–2005. We find that spending decentralization has tended to be associated with lower economic growth while revenue decentralization has been associated with higher growth. Since OECD countries are substantially more spending than revenue decentralized, this is consistent with Oates’ (1972) hypothesis that maximum efficiency gains require a close match between spending and revenue decentralization. It suggests reducing expenditure decentralization, and simultaneously increasing the fraction financed locally, would be growth-enhancing. (JEL E62, H71, H72)
Algorithms for simultaneous sparse approximation. Part I: Greedy pursuit

A simultaneous sparse approximation problem requests a good approximation of several input signals at once using different linear combinations of the same elementary signals. At the same time, the problem balances the error in approximation against the total number of elementary signals that participate. These elementary signals typically model coherent structures in the input signals, and they are chosen from a large, linearly dependent collection. The first part of this paper proposes a greedy pursuit algorithm, called Simultaneous Orthogonal Matching Pursuit, for simultaneous sparse approximation. Then it presents some numerical experiments that demonstrate how a sparse model for the input signals can be identified more reliably given several input signals. Afterward, the paper proves that the S-OMP algorithm can compute provably good solutions to several simultaneous sparse approximation problems. The second part of the paper develops another algorithmic approach called convex relaxation, and it provides theoretical results on the performance of convex relaxation for simultaneous sparse approximation. Date: Typeset on March 17, 2005.
Association study between genome-wide significant variants of vitamin B12 metabolism and gastric cancer in a han Chinese population.

Gastric cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality worldwide. Accumulating evidence suggests that vitamin B12 plays an important role in the development of gastric cancer. Genome-wide association studies on metabolites in the one-carbon metabolism pathway identified several vitamin B12-related polymorphisms. Therefore, we investigated the association between variants within vitamin B12-related genes and gastric cancer in a Han Chinese population. Eight variants within the genome were significant vitamin B12-related genes, and they were selected for analysis in this case-control study. This study used a total of 492 gastric cancer patients and 550 noncancer controls. The variant rs526934 from the TCN1 gene was associated with an increased risk of developing gastric cancer. Increased risks of gastric cancer occurrence were observed in the minor G allele (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.03-1.52, P = 0.031) and GG genotype (OR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.24-3.42, P = 0.0043) compared with the wild-type A allele and AA-GA genotype, respectively. In the haplotypic analysis, we found that the CUBN haplotypes were associated with an altered gastric cancer risk. The rs1801222T/rs11254363A (OR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.05-1.86, P = 0.021) and rs1801222C/rs11254363G (OR = 4.39, 95% CI = 2.32-8.30, P < 0.0001) haplotypes exhibited an increased gastric cancer risk, while rs1801222T/rs11254363G showed protective effects against gastric cancer (OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.25-0.73, P = 0.002) compared with the wild-type rs1801222C/rs11254363A haplotype. The circulating vitamin B12 concentration-related variants were associated with the occurrence of gastric cancer. This finding shed light on the unexpected role of vitamin B12 metabolism genes in gastric carcinogenesis and highlighted the interplay of diet, genetics, and human cancers.