LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
System Reliability Theory: Models, Statistical Methods, and Applications

Description: A thoroughly updated and revised look at system reliability theory Since the first edition of this popular text was published nearly a decade ago, new standards have changed the focus of reliability engineering and introduced new concepts and terminology not previously addressed in the engineering literature. Consequently, the Second Edition of System Reliability Theory: Models, Statistical Methods, and Applications has been thoroughly rewritten and updated to meet current standards. To maximize its value as a pedagogical tool, the Second Edition features:-Additional chapters on reliability of maintained systems and reliability assessment of safety-critical systems-Discussion of basic assessment methods for operational availability and production regularity-New concepts and terminology not covered in the first edition-Revised sequencing of chapters for better pedagogical structure-New problems, examples, and cases for a more applied focus-An accompanying Web site with solutions, overheads, and supplementary information With its updated practical focus, incorporation of industry feedback, and many new examples based on real industry problems and data, the Second Edition of this important text should prove to be more useful than ever for students, instructors, and researchers alike.
Validating WCAG versions 1.0 and 2.0 through usability testing with disabled users

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has become the de-facto standard for accessibility on the Web. WCAG version 1.0 has become significant both as a practical tool and as an academic set of principles and is presently the basis of Web accessibility evaluations and guidelines in many countries. WCAG version 2.0 was released in 2008. This paper reports on a study that empirically validated the usefulness of using WCAG as a heuristic for website accessibility. Through controlled usability tests of two websites with disabled users (N = 7) and a control group (N = 6), it was found that only 27% of the identified website accessibility problems could have been identified through the use of WCAG 1.0. A similar analysis of conformance to WCAG 2.0 showed a marginal 5% improvement concerning identified website accessibility problems. Compensating for the low number of test subjects with confidence tests gave results that were still low (42% for WCAG 1.0 and 49% for WCAG 2.0, with 95% confidence). It is concluded from this that the application of WAI accessibility guidelines is not sufficient to guarantee website accessibility. It is recommended that future versions of the accessibility guidelines should be based on empirical data and validated empirically and that WAI expand their definition of accessibility to include “usability for all” in accordance with ISO 9241-171:2008.
Form Construction and Its Application in Project Teaching

Among all categories of modern art, including displaying design, interior and exterior environmental design, packaging design, industrial modeling design and other specialized fields, form construction is the foundation of teaching. This paper gives an in-depth analysis of form construction and its application in practice. Form construction lays a solid foundation for design with its irreplaceable unique function.
Characterizing the Chain of Evidence for Software Safety Cases: A Conceptual Model Based on the IEC 61508 Standard

Increasingly, licensing and safety regulatory bodies require the suppliers of software-intensive, safety-critical systems to provide an explicit software safety case – a structured set of arguments based on objective evidence to demonstrate that the software elements of a system are acceptably safe. Existing research on safety cases has mainly focused on how to build the arguments in a safety case based on available evidence; but little has been done to precisely characterize what this evidence should be. As a result, system suppliers are left with practically no guidance on what evidence to collect during software development. This has led to the suppliers having to recover the relevant evidence after the fact – an extremely costly and sometimes impractical task. Although standards such as the IEC 61508 – which is widely viewed as the best available generic standard for managing functional safety in software – provide some guidance for the collection of relevant safety and certification information, this guidance is mostly textual, not expressed in a precise and structured form, and is not easy to specialize to context-specific needs. To address these issues, we present a conceptual model to characterize the evidence for arguing about software safety. Our model captures both the information requirements for demonstrating compliance with IEC 61508 and the traceability links necessary to create a seamless chain of evidence. We further describe how our generic model can be specialized according to the needs of a particular context, and discuss some important ways in which our model can facilitate software certification.
Biofuels in Brazil

Brazil achieved important success in the implementation of ethanol as a reality renewable energy source after the inception of the National Alcohol Program (PROÁLCOOL) in 1970. Today, ethanol produced from sugarcane replaces almost 50 % of gasoline in Brazil. More than 448 bioethanol production (firstgeneration ethanol) units are functional, which fulfill the 25 % ethanol blending to gasoline that eventually reduces the import of 550 million oil barrels improving the socioeconomic status and saving foreign exchange reserves. Brazil has more than 80 % of its light vehicles running on bioethanol, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At present, this demand for ethanol is being met through first-generation (1G) ethanol which is directly produced from sugarcane juice and molasses. However, significant research in bioenergy in the last two decades has shown the possibilities of commercialization of second-generation (2G) ethanol, which can be produced from sugarcane bagasse (SB) and straw (SS), complementing 1G ethanol. Nevertheless, both the residues (SB and SS) are an excellent source for cogeneration of heat and power (CHP) in sugarcane processing units. Process simulation studies have provided additional source of information on the overall use of sugarcane for ethanol production and CHP. For the evaluation of the fullest utilization of sugarcane and its by-products, CTBE (Brazilian Bioethanol Science A. Kumar Chandel (&) S. S. da Silva (&) Department of Biotechnology, Engineering School of Lorena, University of São Paulo, Estrada Municipal do Campinho, Lorena, SP 12602-810, Brazil e-mail: anuj.kumar.chandel@gmail.com S. S. da Silva e-mail: silvio@debiq.eel.usp.br T. L. Junqueira E. R. Morais V. L. R. Gouveia O. Cavalett E. C. Rivera V. C. Geraldo A. Bonomi Laboratório Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol–CTBE, P. O. Box 6170, Campinas, SP 13083-970, Brazil S. S. da Silva and A. K. Chandel (eds.), Biofuels in Brazil, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-05020-1_1, Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 1 and Technology Laboratory) has developed the Virtual Sugarcane Biorefinery (VSB), a comprehensive assessment framework to evaluate a sustainability standpoint (economic, environmental, and social), different biorefinery alternatives. This chapter reviews the important insights made into bioethanol production in Brazil. Technical configuration for 1G and 2G ethanol production and sustainability of ethanol (economic and environmental assessment) have also been discussed.
A practical, robust implementation and sustainability model (PRISM) for integrating research findings into practice.

BACKGROUND
Although numerous studies address the efficacy and effectiveness of health interventions, less research addresses successfully implementing and sustaining interventions. As long as efficacy and effectiveness trials are considered complete without considering implementation in nonresearch settings, the public health potential of the original investments will not be realized. A barrier to progress is the absence of a practical, robust model to help identify the factors that need to be considered and addressed and how to measure success. A conceptual framework for improving practice is needed to integrate the key features for successful program design, predictors of implementation and diffusion, and appropriate outcome measures.


DEVELOPING PRISM
A comprehensive model for translating research into practice was developed using concepts from the areas of quality improvement, chronic care, the diffusion of innovations, and measures of the population-based effectiveness of translation. PRISM--the Practical, Robust Implementation and Sustainability Model--evaluates how the health care program or intervention interacts with the recipients to influence program adoption, implementation, maintenance, reach, and effectiveness.


DISCUSSION
The PRISM model provides a new tool for researchers and health care decision makers that integrates existing concepts relevant to translating research into practice.
Nurse versus doctor management of HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (CIPRA-SA): a randomised non-inferiority trial

BACKGROUND
Expanded access to combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-poor settings is dependent on task shifting from doctors to other health-care providers. We compared outcomes of nurse versus doctor management of ART care for HIV-infected patients.


METHODS
This randomised non-inferiority trial was undertaken at two South African primary-care clinics. HIV-positive individuals with a CD4 cell count of less than 350 cells per microL or WHO stage 3 or 4 disease were randomly assigned to nurse-monitored or doctor-monitored ART care. Patients were randomly assigned by stratified permuted block randomisation, and neither the patients nor those analysing the data were masked to assignment. The primary objective was a composite endpoint of treatment-limiting events, incorporating mortality, viral failure, treatment-limiting toxic effects, and adherence to visit schedule. Analysis was by intention to treat. Non-inferiority of the nurse versus doctor group for cumulative treatment failure was prespecified as an upper 95% CI for the hazard ratio that was less than 1.40. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00255840.


FINDINGS
408 patients were assigned to doctor-monitored ART care and 404 to nurse-monitored ART care; all participants were analysed. 371 (46%) patients reached an endpoint of treatment failure: 192 (48%) in the nurse group and 179 (44%) in the doctor group. The hazard ratio for composite failure was 1.09 (95% CI 0.89-1.33), which was within the limits for non-inferiority. After a median follow-up of 120 weeks (IQR 60-144), deaths (ten vs 11), virological failures (44 vs 39), toxicity failures (68 vs 66), and programme losses (70 vs 63) were similar in nurse and doctor groups, respectively.


INTERPRETATION
Nurse-monitored ART is non-inferior to doctor-monitored therapy. Findings from this study lend support to task shifting to appropriately trained nurses for monitoring of ART.


FUNDING
National Institutes of Health; United States Agency for International Development; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
EEG alpha power during maintenance of information in working memory in adults with ADHD and its plasticity due to working memory training: A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE
The present study examined whether neural indices of working memory maintenance differ between young adults with ADHD and their healthy peers (Study 1), and whether this neural index would change after working memory training (Study 2).


METHODS
Study 1 involved 136 college students with ADHD and 41 healthy peers (aged 18-35 years) and measured their posterior alpha activity during a visual delayed-match-to-sample task using electroencephalography (EEG). Study 2 involved 99 of the participants with ADHD who were randomized into a standard-length or shortened-length Cogmed working memory training program or a waitlist control group.


RESULTS
The ADHD group tended to be less accurate than the peers. Similarly, the ADHD group exhibited lower posterior alpha power at a trend level compared to their healthy peers. There were no training effects on participants' performance and only marginal increases in posterior alpha power in training groups compared to the waitlist group.


CONCLUSIONS
Considering that the training effects were small and there was no load and dose effect, we conclude that the current study provides no convincing evidence for specific effects of Cogmed.


SIGNIFICANCE
These findings provide unique insights into neuroplasticity, or lack thereof, with near-transfer tasks in individuals with ADHD.
Case finding for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in primary care: a pilot randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. However, much of the disease burden remains undiagnosed.


AIM
To compare the yield and cost effectiveness of two COPD case-finding approaches in primary care.


DESIGN AND SETTING
Pilot randomised controlled trial in two general practices in the West Midlands, UK.


METHOD
A total of 1634 ever-smokers aged 35-79 years with no history of COPD or asthma were randomised into either a 'targeted' or 'opportunistic' case-finding arm. Respiratory questionnaires were posted to patients in the 'targeted' arm and provided to patients in the 'opportunistic' arm at routine GP appointments. Those reporting at least one chronic respiratory symptom were invited for spirometry. COPD was defined as pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC)<0.7 and FEV1<80% of predicted. Primary outcomes were the difference in the proportion of patients diagnosed with COPD and the cost per case detected.


RESULTS
Twenty-six per cent (212/815) in the 'targeted' and 13.6% (111/819) in the 'opportunistic' arm responded to the questionnaire and 78.3% (166/212) and 73.0% (81/111), respectively, reported symptoms; 1.2% (10/815) and 0.7% (6/819) of patients in the 'targeted' and 'opportunistic' arms were diagnosed with COPD (difference in proportions = 0.5% [95% confidence interval {CI} = -0.5% to 3.08%]). Over a 12-month period, the 'opportunistic' case-finding yield could be improved to 1.95% (95% CI = 1.0% to 2.9%). The cost-per case detected was £424.56 in the 'targeted' and £242.20 in the 'opportunistic' arm.


CONCLUSION
Opportunistic case finding may be more effective and cost effective than targeting patients with a postal questionnaire alone. A larger randomised controlled trial with adequate sample size is required to test this.
On Some Categories of Games and Corresponding Equilibria

Some new generalisations of non-cooperative games are introduced to study the categorical properties of non-cooperative games and equilibrium in them. The corresponding equilibria in the categories of these games are proved to be functors to the category of sets.
Interpersonal problems as predictors of therapeutic alliance and symptom improvement in cognitive therapy for depression.

BACKGROUND
The degree to which interpersonal problems of depressed patients improve over the course of cognitive therapy (CT) and relate to the quality of the therapeutic alliance and to symptom improvement, remains unclear.


METHODS
We analyzed data of adult outpatients (N=523) with major depressive disorder participating in a clinical trial to determine the factor structure of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex (IIP-C) and to relate the observed factor scores to the quality of the therapeutic alliance and symptom improvement over the course of CT. Patients received 16-20 sessions protocol (50-60 min each) of individual CT according to the treatment manual by Beck et al. (1979).


RESULTS
We found a three-factor structure (interpersonal distress, agency, and communion) of interpersonal problems. Interpersonal distress decreased (d=.90), but interpersonal style did not change substantively during CT (communion d=.03; agency d=.14). High initial agency scores related negatively to the therapeutic alliance (β=-.12), whereas high initial communion scores related positively to the therapeutic alliance (β=.15). Elevated pre-treatment interpersonal distress scores were related to both weaker therapeutic alliances (β=.13) and higher symptom levels throughout treatment (β=.10).


LIMITATIONS
All patients in this study had recurrent MDD and it is therefore uncertain whether the results would generalize to patients with other psychiatric disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
This study supports the use of the IIP-C as a comprehensive measure of patients' interpersonal style and interpersonal distress. The IIP-C measured before CT showed some predictive validity with respect to therapeutic alliance measured at the midpoint and therapy outcome. The clinical importance of these findings is discussed.
Tests of Chiral Perturbation Theory at DAΦNE

Presented at the XXIII International School of Theoretical Physics "Recent Development in Theory of Fundamental Interactions" Ustron. Poland, september 15-22, 1999.
Effect of cervical spinal cord stimulation on regional blood flow and oxygenation in advanced head and neck tumours.

BACKGROUND
Tumour ischaemia leads to decreased delivery of oxygen, chemotherapy and radiosensitisers. Hypoxia in head and neck (H&N) tumours is an important adverse prognostic factor. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a well-established neurosurgical technique in the treatment of several ischaemic syndromes. This prospective study evaluated the effect of cervical-SCS on common carotid artery (CCA) blood flow and tumour oxygenation in patients with advanced H&N cancer.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
Sixteen patients with advanced H&N tumours were enrolled. Cervical-SCS devices were inserted subcutaneously prior to commencement of scheduled chemoradiotherapy. Pre- and post-SCS measurements were as follows: (i) tumour oxygenation (mmHg) using polarographic probes; (ii) blood flow quantification (ml/min) and diastolic and systolic velocimetry (cm/s) in the CCA using colour Doppler.


RESULTS
After SCS, median tumour oxygenation increased in two-thirds of patients (34%; P = 0.023), all patients had improved CCA blood flow (50%; P <0.001) and almost all patients showed an increased CCA diastolic velocity (26%; P = 0.003) and systolic velocity (20%; P = 0.011).


CONCLUSIONS
Cervical-SCS increased tumour oxygenation and CCA blood flow, and could enhance the loco-regional delivery of oxygen, radiosensitising and chemotherapeutic drugs. Cervical-SCS as adjuvant in chemoradiotherapy of these tumours warrants further investigation.
Adaptive Estimation of Personalized Maximum Tolerated Dose in Cancer Phase I Clinical Trials Based on All Toxicities and Individual Genomic Profile

BACKGROUND
Many biomarkers have been shown to be associated with the efficacy of cancer therapy. Estimation of personalized maximum tolerated doses (pMTDs) is a critical step toward personalized medicine, which aims to maximize the therapeutic effect of a treatment for individual patients. In this study, we have established a Bayesian adaptive Phase I design which can estimate pMTDs by utilizing patient biomarkers that can predict susceptibility to specific adverse events and response as covariates.


METHODS
Based on a cutting-edge cancer Phase I clinical trial design called escalation with overdose control using normalized equivalent toxicity score (EWOC-NETS), which fully utilizes all toxicities, we propose new models to incorporate patient biomarker information in the estimation of pMTDs for novel cancer therapeutic agents. The methodology is fully elaborated and the design operating characteristics are evaluated with extensive simulations.


RESULTS
Simulation studies demonstrate that the utilization of biomarkers in EWOC-NETS can estimate pMTDs while maintaining the original merits of this Phase I trial design, such as ethical constraint of overdose control and full utilization of all toxicity information, to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the pMTD estimation.


CONCLUSIONS
Our novel cancer Phase I designs with inclusion of covariate(s) in the EWOC-NETS model are useful to estimate a personalized MTD and have substantial potential to improve the therapeutic effect of drug treatment.
Contributing to Discourse

ground in on orderly way. To do this, we argue, they try to establish for each utterance the mutual belief that the addressees hove understood what the speaker meant well enough for current purposes. This is accomplished by the collective actions of the current contributor and his or her partners, and these result in units of conversation called contributions. We present a model of contributions and show how it accounts for o variety of features of everyday conversations.
Renewing and Revising SemLink

This research describes SemLink, a comprehensive resource for Natural Language Processing that maps and unifies several highquality lexical resources: PropBank, VerbNet, FrameNet, and the recently added OntoNotes sense groupings. Each of these resources was created for slightly different purposes, and therefore each carries unique strengths and limitations. SemLink allows users to leverage the strengths of each resource and provides the groundwork for incorporating these lexical resources effectively into linked data resources. SemLink and the resources included therein are discussed with a focus on the value of using lexical resources in a complementary fashion. Recent improvements to SemLink, including the addition of a new resource, the OntoNotes sense groupings, are described. Work to address future goals, including further expansion of SemLink, is also discussed.
Micromachined jets for liquid impingement cooling of VLSI chips

Two-phase microjet impingement cooling is a potential solution for removing heat from high-power VLSI chips. Arrays of microjets promise to achieve more uniform chip temperatures and very high heat transfer coefficients. This paper presents the design and fabrication of single-jets and multijet arrays with circular orifice diameters ranging from 40 to 76 /spl mu/m, as well as integrated heater and temperature sensor test devices. The performance of the microjet heat sinks is studied using the integrated heater device as well as an industry standard 1 cm/sup 2/ thermal test chip. For single-phase, the silicon temperature distribution data are consistent with a model accounting for silicon conduction and fluid advection using convection coefficients in the range from 0.072 to 4.4 W/cm/sup 2/K. For two-phase, the experimental results show a heat removal of up to 90 W on a 1 cm/sup 2/ heated area using a four-jet array with 76 /spl mu/m diameter orifices at a flowrate of 8 ml/min with a temperature rise of 100/spl deg/C. The data indicate convection coefficients are not significantly different from coefficients for pool boiling, which motivates future work on optimizing flowrates and flow regimes. These microjet heat sinks are intended for eventual integration into a closed-loop electroosmotically pumped cooling system.
A few home truths.

There will be those who nod sagely at news that the UKCC is concerned about the number of complaints received about nurses in care homes, particularly in the independent sector. Nurses who find themselves working in this sector, whether by necessity or choice, are olten seen by health service colleagues as a race apart, and a second-class race at that.