LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Assessing dimensions of perceived visual aesthetics of web sites

Despite its centrality to human thought and practice, aesthetics has for the most part played a petty role in human–computer interaction research. Increasingly, however, researchers attempt to strike a balance between the traditional concerns of human–computer interaction and considerations of aesthetics. Thus, recent research suggests that the visual aesthetics of computer interfaces is a strong determinant of users’ satisfaction and pleasure. However, the lack of appropriate concepts and measures of aesthetics may severely constraint future research in this area. To address this issue, we conducted four studies in order to develop a measurement instrument of perceived web site aesthetics. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses we found that users’ perceptions consist of two main dimensions, which we termed ‘‘classical aesthetics’’ and ‘‘expressive aesthetics’’. The classical aesthetics dimension pertains to aesthetic notions that presided from antiquity until the 18th century. These notions emphasize orderly and clear design and are closely related to many of the design rules advocated by usability experts. The expressive aesthetics dimension is manifested by the designers’ creativity and originality and by the ability to break design conventions. While both dimensions of perceived aesthetic are drawn from a pool of aesthetic judgments, they are clearly distinguishable from each other. Each of the aesthetic dimensions is measured by a fiveitem scale. The reliabilities, factor structure and validity tests indicate that these items reflect the two perceived aesthetics dimensions adequately. r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ARTICLE IN PRESS This study was supported by a grant from the Burda Centre for Innovative Communications at BenGurion University of the Negev. *Corresponding author. Tel.: +972-8-6472226; fax: +972-8-6477527. E-mail address: noamt@bgumail.bgu.ac.il (N. Tractinsky). 1071-5819/$ see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2003.09.002
Low-dose propranolol and exercise capacity in postural tachycardia syndrome: a randomized study.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the effect of low-dose propranolol on maximal exercise capacity in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS).


METHODS
We compared the effect of placebo vs a single low dose of propranolol (20 mg) on peak oxygen consumption (VO2max), an established measure of exercise capacity, in 11 patients with POTS and 7 healthy subjects in a randomized, double-blind study. Subjects exercised on a semirecumbent bicycle, with increasing intervals of resistance to maximal effort.


RESULTS
Maximal exercise capacity was similar between groups following placebo. Low-dose propranolol improved VO2max in patients with POTS (24.5 ± 0.7 placebo vs 27.6 ± 1.0 mL/min/kg propranolol; p = 0.024), but not healthy subjects. The increase in VO2max in POTS was associated with attenuated peak heart rate responses (142 ± 8 propranolol vs 165 ± 4 bpm placebo; p = 0.005) and improved stroke volume (81 ± 4 propranolol vs 67 ± 3 mL placebo; p = 0.013). In a separate cohort of POTS patients, neither high-dose propranolol (80 mg) nor metoprolol (100 mg) improved VO2max, despite similar lowering of heart rate.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that nonselective β-blockade with propranolol, when used at the low doses frequently used for treatment of POTS, may provide a modest beneficial effect to improve heart rate control and exercise capacity.


CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE
This study provides Class II evidence that a single low dose of propranolol (20 mg) as compared with placebo is useful in increasing maximum exercise capacity measured 1 hour after medication.
Predicting the course of functional limitation among older adults with knee pain: do local signs, symptoms and radiographs add anything to general indicators?

OBJECTIVE
To determine the additional prognostic value of clinical history, physical examination and x-ray findings to a previously derived simple generic model (age, body mass index, anxiety and pain severity) in a cohort of older adults with knee pain.


METHODS
Prospective cohort study in community-dwelling adults in North Staffordshire. 621 participants (aged >or=50 years) reporting knee pain who attended a research clinic at recruitment and were followed up by postal questionnaire at 18 months. Poor functional outcome was measured by the Physical Functioning Scale of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) at 18-month follow-up defined in 60% of participants.


RESULTS
Three clinical history variables (bilateral knee pain, duration of morning stiffness and inactivity gelling) were independently associated with poor outcome. The addition of the "clinical history" model to the "generic" model led to a statistical improvement in model fit (likelihood ratio (LR) = 24.84, p = 0.001). Two physical examination variables (knee tender point count and single-leg balance) were independently associated with poor outcome but did not lead to a significant improvement when added to the "clinical history and generic" model (LR = 6.34, p = 0.50). Functional outcome was significantly associated with severity of knee radiographic osteoarthritis (OA), but did not lead to any improvement in fit when added to the "generic, clinical history and physical examination" model (LR = 1.86, p = 0.39).


CONCLUSIONS
Clinical history, physical examination and severity of radiographic knee OA are of limited value over generic factors when trying to predict which older adults with knee pain will experience progressive or persistent functional difficulties.
The prevalence of secondary dentinal lesions in cheek teeth from horses with clinical signs of pulpitis compared to controls.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY
With the advent of detailed oral examination in horses using dental mirrors and rigid endoscopy, secondary dentinal lesions are observed more frequently. More information regarding the association of secondary dentinal defects with apical dental disease would improve the sensitivity of oral examination as a diagnostic aid for pulpitis.


OBJECTIVES
To assess prevalence and severity of secondary dentinal defects observed on examination of occlusal surfaces of cheek teeth (CT) from horses showing clinical signs of pulpitis compared to asymptomatic controls.


METHODS
Records from all cases of equine CT exodontia at the University of Bristol over a 4 year period were examined. Case selection criteria included the presence of clinical signs of pulpitis, an intact extracted tooth and availability of a complete history and follow up. Cases where coronal fracture or periodontal pocketing featured were excluded. CT from cadavers with no history of dental disease served as normal controls. Triadan positions and eruption ages of control teeth were matched with those of teeth extracted from cases. CT from selected cases and control teeth were examined occlusally. Secondary dentinal defects were identified and graded. Prevalence of occlusal lesions in CT with pulpitis and controls was compared.


RESULTS
From the records of 120 horses where exodontia was performed, 40 cases matched selection criteria. Twenty-three mandibular and 21 maxillary CT were extracted from cases. The controls consisted of 60 mandibular and 60 maxillary CT from 7 cadaver skulls. Secondary dentinal defects were significantly over-represented in CT extracted from cases of pulpitis (P < 0.001). Of diseased mandibular CT, 56.5% had defects compared to none of the controls. Of diseased maxillary CT, 57% had defects compared with 1.6% of controls. Multiple defective secondary dentinal areas and severe lesions were more prevalent in diseased mandibular CT compared with diseased maxillary CT. CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Careful examination of occlusal secondary dentine is an essential component in investigation of suspected pulpitis in equine CT.
Expression of thymidylate synthase in gastric cancer patients treated with 5-fluorouracil and doxorubicin-based adjuvant chemotherapy after curative resection

We evaluated the expression of thymidylate synthase (TS) in locally advanced gastric cancer patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy after curative resection and investigated the association between TS expression and clinicopathologic characteristics including prognosis of the patients. TS expression was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining using TS106 monoclonal antibody in 103 locally advanced gastric cancer patients (stage IB–IV) who underwent 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and doxorubicin-based adjuvant chemotherapy after curative resection. 65 patients (63%) had primary tumours with high TS expression (≥ 25% of tumour cells positive), and 38 patients (37%) demonstrated low TS expression (< 25% of tumour cells positive or no staining). High TS expression was associated with male gender (P=0.002), poorly differentiated histology (P=0.015), and mixed type in Lauren's classification (P=0.027). There were no statistically significant differences in 4-year disease-free survival (60.0% vs 57.2%, P=0.548) and overall survival (59.6% vs 59.3%, P=0.792) between high-TS group and low-TS group. In conclusion, although high TS expression was associated with poorly differentiated histology and mixed type in Lauren's classification, it did not predict poor disease-free and overall survival in gastric cancer patients treated with 5-FU and doxorubicin-based adjuvant chemotherapy after curative resection. Further prospective studies including the evaluation of other biological markers associated with the resistance to 5-FU and doxorubicin are necessary. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.com
On the Benefits of Pre-Equalization for ACO-OFDM and Flip-OFDM Indoor Wireless Optical Transmissions Over Dispersive Channels

This paper analyzes the performances of indoor optical wireless data transmissions based on unipolar orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). In particular, it is shown that using frequency-domain pre-equalization can provide benefits in terms of the reduction in the required optical transmit power for a given desired bit error rate (BER) from uncoded transmissions. Known for its power efficiency, asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM) is considered as a unipolar modulation scheme for intensity modulation with direct detection (IM/DD). In addition, flip-OFDM is also considered as an alternative unipolar modulation scheme which is known to be as power efficient as ACO-OFDM. For both ACO-OFDM and flip-OFDM, analytical and simulation results show that using pre-equalization can save up to 2 dB of transmit optical power for a typical indoor optical wireless transmission scenario with the bit rate of 10 Mbps and the BER target of 10-5.
Simulink based VoIP Analysis

Voice communication over internet not be possible without a reliable data network, this was first available when distributed network topologies were used in conjunction with data packets. Early network used single centre node network in which a single workstation (Server) is responsible for the communication. This posed problems as if there was a fault with the centre node, (workstation) nothing would work. This problem was solved by the distributed system in which reliability increases by spreading the load between many nodes. The idea of packet switching & distributed network were combined, this combination were increased reliability, speed & responsible for voice communication over internet. Voice-over-IP (VoIP) These data packets travel through a packet-switched network such as the Internet and arrive at their destination where they are decompressed using a compatible Codec (audio coder/decoder) and converted back to analogue audio. This paper deals with the Simulink architecture for VoIP network. KeywordsVoIP, G.711, Wave file
Fertility and ovarian function are preserved in women treated with an intensified regimen of cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine and prednisone (Mega-CHOP) for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

BACKGROUND
Intensive chemotherapy is widely used to improve the outcome of aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Since these regimens may cause premature ovarian failure (POF), the ovarian function was studied in 13 consecutive women aged < or =40 years, treated with four cycles of intensified CHOP (cyclophosphamide 2000-3000 mg/m2 per cycle doxorubicin 50 mg/m2, vincristine 1.4 mg/m2 (maximum 2 mg) and prednisone 100 mg/day were given every 3 weeks).


METHODS
Patients aged <60 years with aggressive NHL were eligible for participating in a non-randomized phase II study if they had stage I, II, B, bulky, or stages III, IV disease with the age-adjusted international prognostic index of low-intermediate to high-risk score. Seven patients were concomitantly treated with D-TRP6-GnRH analogue (Decapeptyl; Ferring, Germany) for minimizing gonadal toxicity.


RESULTS
With a median follow-up of 70 months only one patient had POF, while 12 patients retained fertility and eight conceived spontaneously delivering 12 healthy babies.


CONCLUSION
It appears that high-dose cyclophosphamide does not affect the ovarian function or fertility in patients exposed to this medication during four consecutive cycles of intensified CHOP.
Health literacy and its influencing factors in Iranian diabetic patients

BACKGROUND
Health literacy is the ability to obtain, read, understand and use healthcare information to make appropriate health decisions and follow instructions for treatment. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of various factors on health literacy in patients with diabetes.


METHODS
407 patients with diabetes older than 15 years of age were identified from the Diabetes Clinic affiliated to the Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism (IEM) of Iran University of Medical Sciences. We assessed patients' health literacy using the Persian version of Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) questionnaire.


RESULTS
Mean age of the patients was 55.8 ± 11.3 years, and 61.7% the participants were female.. Overall, 18.2% of the patients had adequate health literacy skills, 11.8% had marginal and 70.0% inadequate health literacy skills. Male participants performed better than females (p< 0.01) and older patients had lower health literacy score than younger patients (p< 0.001). Furthermore, patients with higher educational and occupational levels had higher functional health literacy score than those with lower levels (p< 0.001).


CONCLUSION
Health literacy score in Iranian patients with diabetes seems inadequate. Therefrom effective interventions should be designed and implemented for this group of patients to improve diabetes outcomes.
How Big Are the Tax Benefits of Debt ?

I integrate under firm-specific benefit functions to estimate that the capitalized tax benefit of debt equals 9.7 percent of firm value ~or as low as 4.3 percent, net of personal taxes!. The typical firm could double tax benefits by issuing debt until the marginal tax benefit begins to decline. I infer how aggressively a firm uses debt by observing the shape of its tax benefit function. Paradoxically, large, liquid, profitable firms with low expected distress costs use debt conservatively. Product market factors, growth options, low asset collateral, and planning for future expenditures lead to conservative debt usage. Conservative debt policy is persistent. DO THE TAX BENEFITS of debt affect corporate financing decisions? How much do they add to firm value? These questions have puzzled researchers since the work of Modigliani and Miller ~1958, 1963!. Recent evidence indicates that tax benefits are one of the factors that affect financing choice ~e.g., MacKie-Mason ~1990!, Graham ~1996a!!, although opinion is not unanimous on which factors are most important or how they contribute to firm value ~Shyam-Sunder and Myers ~1998!, Fama and French ~1998!!. Researchers face several problems when they investigate how tax incentives affect corporate financial policy and firm value. Chief among these problems is the difficulty of calculating corporate tax rates due to data problems and the complexity of the tax code. Other challenges include quantifying the effects of interest taxation at the personal level and understanding the bankruptcy process and the attendant costs of financial distress. In this * Graham is at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. Early conversations with Rick Green, Eric Hughson, Mike Lemmon, and S. P. Kothari were helpful in formulating some of the ideas in this paper. I thank Peter Fortune for providing the bond return data and Eli Ofek for supplying the managerial entrenchment data. I also thank three referees for detailed comments; also, Jennifer Babcock, Ron Bagley, Alon Brav, John Campbell, John Chalmers, Bob Dammon, Eugene Fama, Roger Gordon, Mark Grinblatt, Burton Hollifield, Steve Huddart, Arvind Krishnamurthy, Rich Lyons, Robert MacDonald, Ernst Maug, Ed Maydew, Roni Michaely, Phillip O’Conner, John Persons, Dick Rendleman, Oded Sarig, René Stulz ~the editor!, Bob Taggart, S. Viswanathan, Ralph Walkling, and Jaime Zender; seminar participants at Carnegie Mellon, Chicago, Duke, Ohio State, Rice, the University of British Columbia, the University of North Carolina, Washington University, William and Mary, and Yale; seminar participants at the NBER Public Economics and Corporate workshops, the National Tax Association annual conference, the American Economic Association meetings, and the Eighth Annual Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting for helpful suggestions and feedback. Jane Laird gathered the state tax rate information. All errors are my own. This paper previously circulated under the title “tD or Not tD? Using Benefit Functions to Value and Infer the Costs of Interest Deductions.” THE JOURNAL OF FINANCE • VOL. LV, NO. 5 • OCT. 2000
Simultaneous transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation mitigates simulator sickness symptoms in healthy adults: a crossover study

BACKGROUND
Flight simulators have been used to train pilots to experience and recognize spatial disorientation, a condition in which pilots incorrectly perceive the position, location, and movement of their aircrafts. However, during or after simulator training, simulator sickness (SS) may develop. Spatial disorientation and SS share common symptoms and signs and may involve a similar mechanism of dys-synchronization of neural inputs from the vestibular, visual, and proprioceptive systems. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), a maneuver used for pain control, was found to influence autonomic cardiovascular responses and enhance visuospatial abilities, postural control, and cognitive function. The purpose of present study was to investigate the protective effects of TENS on SS.


METHODS
Fifteen healthy young men (age: 28.6 ± 0.9 years, height: 172.5 ± 1.4 cm, body weight: 69.3 ± 1.3 kg, body mass index: 23.4 ± 1.8 kg/m2) participated in this within-subject crossover study. SS was induced by a flight simulator. TENS treatment involved 30 minutes simultaneous electrical stimulation of the posterior neck and the right Zusanli acupoint. Each subject completed 4 sessions (control, SS, TENS, and TENS + SS) in a randomized order. Outcome indicators included SS symptom severity and cognitive function, evaluated with the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and d2 test of attention, respectively. Sleepiness was rated using the Visual Analogue Scales for Sleepiness Symptoms (VAS-SS). Autonomic and stress responses were evaluated by heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV) and salivary stress biomarkers (salivary alpha-amylase activity and salivary cortisol concentration).


RESULTS
Simulator exposure increased SS symptoms (SSQ and VAS-SS scores) and decreased the task response speed and concentration. The heart rate, salivary stress biomarker levels, and the sympathetic parameter of HRV increased with simulator exposure, but parasympathetic parameters decreased (p < 0.05). After TENS treatment, SS symptom severity significantly decreased and the subjects were more able to concentrate and made fewer cognitive test errors (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Sympathetic activity increased and parasympathetic activity decreased after simulator exposure. TENS was effective in reducing SS symptoms and alleviating cognitive impairment.


TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register: http://ACTRN12612001172897.
Intuitionistic fuzzy based DEMATEL method for developing green practices and performances in a green supply chain

Environmental topics have gained much consideration in corporate green operations. Globalization, stakeholder pressures, and stricter environmental regulations have made organizations develop environmental practices. Thus, green supply chain management (GSCM) is now a proactive approach for organizations to enhance their environmental performance and achieve competitive advantages. This study pioneers using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method with intuitionistic fuzzy sets to handle the important and causal relationships between GSCM practices and performances. DEMATEL evaluates GSCM practices to find the main practices to improve both environmental and economic performances. This study uses intuitionistic fuzzy set theory to handle the linguistic imprecision and the ambiguity of human being’s judgment. A case study from the automotive industry is presented to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed method. The results reveal ‘‘internal management support’’, ‘‘green purchasing’’ and ‘‘ISO 14001 certification’’ are the most significant GSCM practices. The practical results of this study offer useful insights for managers to become more environmentally responsible, while improving their economic and environmental performance goals. Further, a sensitivity analysis of results, managerial implications, conclusions, limitations and future research opportunities are provided. 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Role of endothelin-1 in exposure to high altitude: Acute Mountain Sickness and Endothelin-1 (ACME-1) study.

BACKGROUND
The degree of pulmonary hypertension in healthy subjects exposed to acute hypobaric hypoxia at high altitude was found to be related to increased plasma endothelin (ET)-1. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of ET-1 antagonism on pulmonary hypertension, renal water, and sodium balance under acute and prolonged exposure to high-altitude-associated hypoxia.


METHODS AND RESULTS
In a double-blind fashion, healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to receive bosentan (62.5 mg for 1 day and 125 mg for the following 2 days; n=10) or placebo (n=10) at sea level and after rapid ascent to high altitude (4559 m). At sea level, bosentan did not induce any significant changes in hemodynamic or renal parameters. At altitude, bosentan induced a significant reduction of systolic pulmonary artery pressure (21+/-7 versus 31+/-7 mm Hg, P<0.03) and a mild increase in arterial oxygen saturation versus placebo after just 1 day of treatment. However, both urinary volume and free water clearance (H2OCl/glomerular filtration rate) were significantly reduced versus placebo after 2 days of ET-1 antagonism (1100+/-200 versus 1610+/-590 mL; -6.7+/-3.5 versus -1.8+/-4.8 mL/min, P<0.05 versus placebo for both). Sodium clearance and segmental tubular function were not significantly affected by bosentan administration.


CONCLUSIONS
The present results indicate that the early beneficial effect of ET-1 antagonism on pulmonary blood pressure is followed by an impairment in volume adaptation. These findings must be considered for the prevention and treatment of acute mountain sickness.