bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ultrasound-Guided Arterial Line Catheterization in the Critically Ill: Technique and Review
Authors: Hofmann Luke J. , Reha Jeffery L. , Hetz Stephen P.
Published: January 2018

Arterial line catheterization in the critically ill patient is often an arduous task. Here we identify risk factors in the critical care patient that may predict a more difficult arterial catheter insertion. We also describe our ultrasound technique and review of the literature with regard to location of access, complications, and the use of ultrasound guidance.
Ischemic Monomelic Neuropathy: An Underappreciated Cause of Pain and Disability following Vascular Access Surgery
Authors: Kirksey Lee
Published: January 2018

The establishment and maintenance of a functioning arteriovenous access site is essential for the care of the hemodialysis (HD) patient. Ischemic monomelic neuropathy (IMN) represents an underappreciated complication and an unrecognized source of short- and long-term disability because of its protean manifestations in the post-operative period. Delayed diagnosis of IMN greatly reduces the chance of avoiding irreversible disability. Prompt diagnosis and early management of IMN can avoid morbidity for the patient, diminish healthcare costs for the system and avoid medical liability for care providers. A multidisciplinary awareness of the symptoms of IMN is essential to permit prompt diagnosis and management.
The effect of offset cues on saccade programming and covert attention
Authors: Smith Daniel T , Casteau Soazig
Published: January 2018

Salient peripheral events trigger fast, “exogenous” covert orienting. The influential premotor theory of attention argues that covert orienting of attention depends upon planned but unexecuted eye-movements. One problem with this theory is that salient peripheral events, such as offsets, appear to summon attention when used to measure covert attention (e.g., the Posner cueing task) but appear not to elicit oculomotor preparation in tasks that require overt orienting (e.g., the remote distractor paradigm). Here, we examined the effects of peripheral offsets on covert attention and saccade preparation. Experiment 1 suggested that transient offsets summoned attention in a manual detection task without triggering motor preparation planning in a saccadic localisation task, although there were a high proportion of saccadic capture errors on “no-target” trials, where a cue was presented but no target appeared. In Experiment 2, “no-target” trials were removed. Here, transient offsets produced both attentional facilitation and faster saccadic responses on valid cue trials. A third experiment showed that the permanent disappearance of an object also elicited attentional facilitation and faster saccadic reaction times. These experiments demonstrate that offsets trigger both saccade programming and covert attentional orienting, consistent with the idea that exogenous, covert orienting is tightly coupled with oculomotor activation. The finding that no-go trials attenuates oculomotor priming effects offers a way to reconcile the current findings with previous claims of a dissociation between covert attention and oculomotor control in paradigms that utilise a high proportion of catch trials.
Antibiotic use in a tertiary healthcare facility in Ghana: a point prevalence survey
Authors: Labi Appiah-Korang , Obeng-Nkrumah Noah , Nartey Edmund Tetteh , Bjerrum Stephanie , Adu-Aryee Nii Armah , Ofori-Adjei Yaw Adjei , Yawson Alfred E. , Newman Mercy J.
Published: January 2018

Background

The global rise and spread of antibiotic resistance is limiting the usefulness of antibiotics in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. The use of antibiotic stewardship programs guided by local data on prescribing practices is a useful strategy to control and reduce antibiotic resistance. Our objective in this study was to determine the prevalence and indications for use of antibiotics at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Accra, Ghana.

Methods

An antibiotic point prevalence survey was conducted among inpatients of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital between February and March 2016. Folders and treatment charts of patients on admission at participating departments were reviewed for antibiotics administered or scheduled to be administered on the day of the survey. Data on indication for use were also collected. Prevalence of antibiotic use was determined by dividing the number of inpatients on antibiotics at the time of survey by the total number of patients on admission.

Results

Of the 677 inpatients surveyed, 348 (51.4%, 95% CI, 47.6–55.2) were on treatment with antibiotics. Prevalence was highest among Paediatric surgery where 20/22 patients (90.9%, 95% CI, 70.8–98.9) were administered antibiotics and lowest among Obstetrics patients with 77/214 (36%, 95% CI, 29.5–42.8). The indications for antibiotic use were 245/611 (40.1%) for community-acquired infections, 205/611 (33.6%) for surgical prophylaxis, 129/611 (21.1%) for healthcare associated infections and 33/611 (5.4%) for medical prophylaxis. The top five antibiotics prescribed in the hospital were metronidazole 107 (17.5%), amoxicillin-clavulinic acid 82 (13.4%), ceftriaxone 17(12.1%), cefuroxime 61 (10.0%), and cloxacillin 52 (8.5%) respectively. Prevalence of meropenem and vancomycin use was 12(2%) and 1 (.2%) respectively. The majority of patients 181 (52%) were being treated with two antibiotics.

Conclusion

This study indicated a high prevalence of antibiotic use among inpatients at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Metronidazole was the most commonly used antibiotic; mainly for surgical prophylaxis. There is the need to further explore factors contributing to the high prevalence of antibiotic use and develop strategies for appropriate antibiotic use in the hospital.
Phase III, Randomized, Double-Blind Study Comparing the Efficacy, Safety, and Immunogenicity of SB3 (Trastuzumab Biosimilar) and Reference Trastuzumab in Patients Treated With Neoadjuvant Therapy for Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2–Positive Early Breast Cancer
Authors: Pivot Xavier , Bondarenko Igor , Nowecki Zbigniew , Dvorkin Mikhail , Trishkina Ekaterina , Ahn Jin-Hee , Vinnyk Yuriy , Im Seock-Ah , Sarosiek Tomasz , Chatterjee Sanjoy , Wojtukiewicz Marek Z. , Moiseyenko Vladimir , Shparyk Yaroslav , Bello Maximino , Semiglazov Vladimir , Song Sujeong , Lim Jaeyun
Published: January 2018

Purpose

This phase III study compared SB3, a trastuzumab (TRZ) biosimilar, with reference TRZ in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–positive early breast cancer in the neoadjuvant setting ( ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02149524).

Patients and Methods

Patients were randomly assigned to receive neoadjuvant SB3 or TRZ for eight cycles concurrently with chemotherapy (four cycles of docetaxel followed by four cycles of fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide) followed by surgery, and then 10 cycles of adjuvant SB3 or TRZ. The primary objective was comparison of breast pathologic complete response (bpCR) rate in the per-protocol set; equivalence was declared if the 95% CI of the ratio was within 0.785 to 1.546 or the 95% CI of the difference was within ± 13%. Secondary end points included comparisons of total pathologic complete response rate, overall response rate, event-free survival, overall survival, safety, pharmacokinetics, and immunogenicity.

Results

Eight hundred patients were included in the per-protocol set (SB3, n = 402; TRZ, n = 398). The bpCR rates were 51.7% and 42.0% with SB3 and TRZ, respectively. The adjusted ratio of bpCR was 1.259 (95% CI, 1.085 to 1.460), which was within the predefined equivalence margins. The adjusted difference was 10.70% (95% CI, 4.13% to 17.26%), with the lower limit contained within and the upper limit outside the equivalence margin. The total pathologic complete response rates were 45.8% and 35.8% and the overall response rates were 96.3% and 91.2% with SB3 and TRZ, respectively. Overall, 96.6% and 95.2% of patients experienced one or more adverse event, 10.5% and 10.7% had a serious adverse event, and 0.7% and 0.0% had antidrug antibodies (up to cycle 9) with SB3 and TRZ, respectively.

Conclusion

Equivalence for efficacy was demonstrated between SB3 and TRZ on the basis of the ratio of bpCR rates. Safety and immunogenicity were comparable.
AP-2α and AP-2β cooperatively orchestrate homeobox gene expression during branchial arch patterning
Authors: Van Otterloo Eric , Li Hong , Jones Kenneth L. , Williams Trevor
Published: January 2018

The evolution of a hinged moveable jaw with variable morphology is considered a major factor behind the successful expansion of the vertebrates. DLX homeobox transcription factors are crucial for establishing the positional code that patterns the mandible, maxilla and intervening hinge domain, but how the genes encoding these proteins are regulated remains unclear. Herein, we demonstrate that the concerted action of the AP-2α and AP-2β transcription factors within the mouse neural crest is essential for jaw patterning. In the absence of these two proteins, the hinge domain is lost and there are alterations in the size and patterning of the jaws correlating with dysregulation of homeobox gene expression, with reduced levels of Emx, Msx and Dlx paralogs accompanied by an expansion of Six1 expression. Moreover, detailed analysis of morphological features and gene expression changes indicate significant overlap with various compound Dlx gene mutants. Together, these findings reveal that the AP-2 genes have a major function in mammalian neural crest development, influencing patterning of the craniofacial skeleton via the DLX code, an effect that has implications for vertebrate facial evolution, as well as for human craniofacial disorders.
Taking a goal-centred dynamic snapshot as a possibility for local homing in initially naïve bumblebees
Authors: Lobecke Anne , Kern Roland , Egelhaaf Martin
Published: January 2018

It is essential for central place foragers, such as bumblebees, to return reliably to their nest. Bumblebees, leaving their inconspicuous nest hole for the first time need to gather and learn sufficient information about their surroundings to allow them to return to their nest at the end of their trip, instead of just flying away to forage. Therefore, we assume an intrinsic learning program that manifests itself in the flight structure immediately after leaving the nest for the first time.

In this study, we recorded and analysed the first outbound flight of individually marked naïve bumblebees in an indoor environment. We found characteristic loop-like features in the flight pattern that appear to be necessary for the bees to acquire environmental information and might be relevant for finding the nest hole after a foraging trip.

Despite common features in their spatio-temporal organisation, first departure flights from the nest are characterised by a high level of variability in their loop-like flight structure across animals. Changes in turn direction of body orientation, for example, are distributed evenly across the entire area used for the flights without any systematic relation to the nest location. By considering the common flight motifs and this variability, we came to the hypothesis that a kind of dynamic snapshot is taken during the early phase of departure flights centred at the nest location. The quality of this snapshot is hypothesised to be ‘tested’ during the later phases of the departure flights concerning its usefulness for local homing.
Implications of US Tax Policy for House Prices, Rents, and Homeownership
Authors: Sommer Kamila , Sullivan Paul
Published: January 2018

This paper studies the impact of the mortgage interest tax deduction on equilibrium house prices, rents, homeownership, and welfare. We build a dynamic model of the housing market that features a realistic progressive tax system in which owner-occupied housing services are tax-exempt and mortgage interest payments are tax-deductible. We simulate the effect of tax reform on the housing market. Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction causes house prices to decline, increases homeownership, decreases mortgage debt, and improves welfare. Our findings challenge the widely held view that repealing the preferential tax treatment of mortgages would depress homeownership. (JEL H24, H31, R21, R31)
Option-Based Credit Spreads
Authors: Culp Christopher L. , Nozawa Yoshio , Veronesi Pietro
Published: January 2018

We present a novel empirical benchmark for analyzing credit risk using “pseudo firms” that purchase traded assets financed with equity and zero-coupon bonds. By no-arbitrage, pseudo bonds are equivalent to Treasuries minus put options on pseudo firm assets. Empirically, like corporate spreads, pseudo bond spreads are large, countercyclical, and predict lower economic growth. Using this framework, we find that bond market illiquidity, investors' overestimation of default risks, and corporate frictions do not seem to explain excessive observed credit spreads but, instead, a risk premium for tail and idiosyncratic asset risks is the primary determinant of corporate spreads. (JEL E23, E32, E44, G13, G24, G32)
An Efficient Ascending-Bid Auction for Multiple Objects: Comment
Authors: Okamoto Noriaki
Published: January 2018

Ausubel (2004) introduces a new ascending-bid auction rule for multiple homogeneous objects, called the Ausubel auction, which is a dynamic counterpart of the Vickrey auction. He claims that in the Ausubel auction with private values, sincere bidding by all bidders is an ex post perfect equilibrium. However, we show that this claim does not hold in general by providing a counterexample. We then modify the Ausubel auction so that sincere bidding by all bidders is an ex post perfect equilibrium. (JEL D44)
Certified Random: A New Order for Coauthorship
Authors: Ray Debraj , Robson Arthur
Published: January 2018

Alphabetical name order is the norm for joint publications in economics. However, alphabetical order confers greater benefits on the first author. In a two-author model, we introduce and study certified random order: the uniform randomization of names made universally known by a commonly understood symbol. Certified random order (i) distributes the gain from first authorship evenly over the alphabet; (ii) allows either author to signal when contributions are extremely unequal; (iii) will invade an environment where alphabetical order is dominant; (iv) is robust to deviations; (v) may be ex ante more efficient than alphabetical order; and (vi) is no more complex than the existing alphabetical system modified by occasional reversal of name order. (JEL A14, Z13)
The Effects of Pre-Trial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges
Authors: Dobbie Will , Goldin Jacob , Yang Crystal S.
Published: January 2018

Over 20 percent of prison and jail inmates in the United States are currently awaiting trial, but little is known about the impact of pretrial detention on defendants. This paper uses the detention tendencies of quasi-randomly assigned bail judges to estimate the causal effects of pretrial detention on subsequent defendant outcomes. Using data from administrative court and tax records, we find that pretrial detention significantly increases the probability of conviction, primarily through an increase in guilty pleas. Pretrial detention has no net effect on future crime, but decreases formal sector employment and the receipt of employment- and tax-related government benefits. These results are consistent with (i) pretrial detention weakening defendants' bargaining positions during plea negotiations and (ii) a criminal conviction lowering defendants' prospects in the formal labor market. (JEL J23, J31, J65, K41, K42)
An Efficient Ascending-Bid Auction for Multiple Objects: Reply
Authors: Ausubel Lawrence M.
Published: January 2018

In a comment, Okamoto (2018 ) identifies and corrects a misspecification of the rationing rule in Ausubel (2004 ). This reply elaborates on the observation that the optimality of truthful bidding in dynamic auctions may be sensitive to the fine details of the rationing rule. It then discusses the wider role of sequential bid processing in restoring truthful bidding. (JEL D44)
Shorter Versus Longer Courses of Antibiotics for Infection in Hospitalized Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Royer Stephanie , DeMerle Kimberley M. , Dickson Robert P. , Prescott Hallie C.
Published: January 2018

BACKGROUND

Infection is a leading cause of hospitalization with high morbidity and mortality, but there are limited data to guide the duration of antibiotic therapy.

PURPOSE

Systematic review to compare outcomes of shorter versus longer antibiotic courses among hospitalized adults and adolescents.

DATA SOURCES

MEDLINE and Embase databases, 1990‐2017.

STUDY SELECTION

Inclusion criteria were human randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in English comparing a prespecified short course of antibiotics to a longer course for treatment of infection in hospitalized adults and adolescents aged 12 years and older.

DATA EXTRACTION

Two authors independently extracted study characteristics, methods of statistical analysis, outcomes, and risk of bias.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Of 5187 unique citations identified, 19 RCTs comprising 2867 patients met our inclusion criteria, including the following: 9 noninferiority trials, 1 superiority design trial, and 9 pilot studies. Across 13 studies evaluating 1727 patients, no significant difference in clinical efficacy was observed (d = 1.6% [95% confidence interval (CI), ‐1.0%‐4.2%]). No significant difference was detected in microbiologic cure (8 studies, d = 1.2% [95% CI, ‐4.1%‐6.4%]), short‐term mortality (8 studies, d = 0.3% [95% CI, ‐1.2%‐1.8%]), longer‐term mortality (3 studies, d = ‐0.4% [95% CI, ‐6.3%‐5.5%]), or recurrence (10 studies, d = 2.1% [95% CI, ‐1.2%‐5.3%]). Heterogeneity across studies was not significant for any of the primary outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the available literature, shorter courses of antibiotics can be safely utilized in hospitalized patients with common infections, including pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and intra‐abdominal infection, to achieve clinical and microbiologic resolution without adverse effects on mortality or recurrence.
Repair of syndesmosis injury in ankle fractures
Authors: Mak May Fong , Stern Richard , Assal Mathieu
Published: January 2018

Conventional treatment of syndesmosis injuries in rotationally unstable ankle fractures is associated with an unacceptably high rate of malreduction, and this has led to a paradigm shift in the approach to a newer concept of anatomical repair. In the anatomical approach, the principle is to ‘directly fix what is broken and repair what is torn’. The approach is effective in reducing the rate of syndesmosis malreduction, increasing the biomechanical strength of syndesmosis fixation and avoiding the need for trans-syndesmotic fixation and its secondary removal. The objective of this review article is to compare the conventional treatment of these injuries (accepted usage, general consent, traditional, generally accepted) with a newer anatomical approach to be considered as a shift in thinking.

Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2018;3:24-29. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.3.170017
‘Silent Revolution’: The Transformation of the Québécois Identity
Authors: Létourneau Jocelyn
Published: January 2018

Abstract

Since the early 2000s, the people of Québec appear to have been engaged in the transition or perhaps even the transformation of their collective identity. This is not to suggest that the Québécois now define and present themselves in an entirely new way, but that, steeped in two different fundamental realities – generational change and the place held by immigrants in modern Québec – they are open to new answers to the three questions that have continually echoed through their self-reflections as a collective subject of and in history: Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going? As a result, Québec – or so this article submits – is in transition. It is somewhere between the tree of its past and the bark of its future, hesitating to choose between the known impossibilities of the past and the unknown possibilities of the future. Québec is facing options that each person, based on their own perspective, views with hope or dread.
Molecular Characterization of ESBL Gene in Citrobacter Spp and Antibacterial Activity of Omega-3 Against Resistant Isolates
Authors: Darwees Mayyada Farhan
Published: January 2018

This study aimed to investigated the prevalence and resistance pattern of different Citrobacter species phenotypically and genotypically to β-lactam and some most common antibiotics then evaluate the antibacterial activity of omega-3 extracted from flaxseed against isolates that harboring resistance genes. 19 Citrobacter isolates were isolated from100 stool and urine samples taken from patients attended to AL-Sadar Hospital during June-December 2016. Clinical samples were cultured on specific media, thereafter isolates were identified depending on morphological, biochemical characteristics and VITK-2. The results showed that the Citrobacter comprise 24% of isolated bacteria which divided into 11 (14.1%) were C. freundii, 5 (6.41%) C. kosaeri and C. farmeri were 3 (3.8%). The antagonistic activity was evaluated by observing a clear zone of inhibition growth, the results showed that all Citrobacter (100%) isolates were resistant to Ampicillin, cefoxitin and sensitive to Imipinim, also the isolates showed different degrees of resistant to β-lactam antibiotics initially. By confirmatory test the results observed 17/19 (89.4%) isolated were ESBL producers finally using PCR technique to detect bla–genes (blaCTX-M, OXA, SHV and Z). The results revealed that 14/17 (82.3) of potential ESBL producing Citrobacter were harbor one or more of ESBL genes they included 10 of C. freundii and 4 of C. koseri. The extraction of essential fatty acid semicarbazide (omega-3) from Linum usitatissium (Flax seed) were tested to evaluate their activity against resistant isolates, results explained broad spectrum antibacterial property of EFASC compounds against resistant bacteria. In conclusion, this study found increase prevalence of MDR Citrobacter spp as causative agents in clinical cases. Considering antibacterial activity of EFASC, it was observed highly activity against resistant pathogens deservedly, therefore attention must be paid to development their used as alternative antibiotics.
Application of Fuzzy Rayleigh Distribution in the Nonisothermal Pyrolysis of Loose Biomass
Authors: Dhaundiyal Alok , Singh Suraj Bhan
Published: January 2018

This paper studied the implementation of fuzzy logic on the relevant parameter of biomass pyrolysis. Frequency factor, the upper limit of ‘dE’, and the scale parameter of Rayleigh distribution are fuzzified in order to estimate the randomness in estimating the parametric values. Distribution function, f(E), of activation energies is assumed to follow the Rayleigh distribution. Thermo-analytical data has been found experimentally with the help of TGA/DTG analysis. The approximated solution of distributed activation energy model (DAEM) is obtained by using asymptotic approach.
Study on the current use of four important medicinal plants of Lamiaceae in Bulgaria
Authors: Nanova Zheni , Dragoeva Asya , Koleva Vanya , Chipev Nesho , Georgiev Borislav , Yotova Irina , Ivanov Milen
Published: January 2018

In contemporary society various demographic factors lead to changes of people habits to use medicinal plants. A matter of interest is to establish how specific demographic features of people influence the use of herbs. The present survey aimed at determining the current trends regarding the use of four valuable medicinal Lamiaceae species in Bulgaria: thyme, mint, lemon balm and oregano. In the survey, 220 people were interviewed. Demographic profiles of the respondents were evaluated. Then the participants were questioned for the following item: “Do you use any of these herbs: thyme, mint, lemon balm and oregano.” In order to disclose correlations between demographic features of the participants and their answers cross-relationships were analyzed. The majority of respondents reported to use these plants. Mint and thyme were more commonly used herbs. We identified that age of respondents had sufficient influence on the answer to the questionary. Level of education and living regions had moderate impact on the use of relatively lesser utilized herbs – oregano and lemon balm. The analysis showed the persistence of traditional knowledge for these plants. At the same time, the results revealed better knowledge on medicinal plants in groups of better educated people and in urban population.
The medicinal plants of Chepan Mountain (Western Bulgaria)
Authors: Zahariev Dimcho
Published: January 2018

Bulgaria is one of the European countries with the greatest biodiversity, including biodiversity of medicinal plants. The object of this study is Chepan Mountain. It is located in Western Bulgaria and it is part of Balkan Mountain. On the territory of the Chepan Mountain (only 80 km2) we found 344 species of medicinal plants from 237 genera and 83 families. The floristic analysis indicates, that the most of the families and the genera are represented by a small number of inferior taxa. The hemicryptophytes dominate among the life forms with 49.71%. The biological types are represented mainly by perennial herbaceous plants (60.47%). There are 7 types of floristic elements divided in 27 groups. The largest percentage of species are of the European type (58.43%). Among the medicinal plants, there are two Balkan endemic species and 18 relic species. We described 23 species with protection statute. The anthropophytes among the medicinal plants are 220 species (63.95%).
The medicinal plants of Frangensko Plateau (Northeastern Bulgaria)
Authors: Zahariev Dimcho , Kacheva Cvetelina
Published: January 2018

The Frangensko Plateau is located in the northeastern part of Bulgaria and covers an area of 360 km2. On the territory of the plateau there are two protected areas, as well as two areas of the European ecological network NATURA 2000. The study of the medicinal plants on the territory of the Frangensko Plateau is made for the first time. As a result of our research we found 362 species of vascular plants from 242 genera and 80 families. The most of the families and the genera are represented by a small number of inferior taxa. The analysis of their life form indicates that the hemicryptophytes dominate with 39.50%, followed by the phanerophytes (22.10%). The biological types are represented mainly by perennial herbaceous plants (52.21%), annual herbaceous plants (14.09%) and trees (10.50%). There are 8 types of floristic elements divided in 32 groups. The largest percentage of species is of European type (51.93%). Among the medicinal plants, there are two Balkan endemic species, one Bulgarian endemic species and 30 relic species. Thirty four species with protection statute are described. The anthropophytes among the medicinal plants are 242 species (66.85%).
Ecotourism revisited: Last twenty-five years
Authors: Chandel Abhinav , Mishra Sita
Published: January 2018

The concept of ecotourism evolves differently in developing and developed nations due to which the basic principles of ecotourism are in question. The existing literature on ecotourism suggests ambiguity in conceptual understanding of ecotourism. Due to this qualm, ecotourism is evolving into various forms. Different stakeholders with varying objectives related to ecotourism make it further difficult to form the consensus on what constitutes ecotourism. Without the clear understanding of ecotourism, it is difficult to evolve ethics on which the ecotourism principles are based. The focus of this research is to find out the principle components or themes of ecotourism using a content analysis for the development of ecotourism policy and applications. This study identified six key components of ecotourism which are widely accepted by researchers and could be used to shape the fundamental understanding of ecotourism. These themes are: (1) Nature oriented travel; (2) Support of conservation; (3) Learning and appreciation; (4) Socio-economic development of local area; (5) Support and respect for local culture and (6) Local people (area) participation.
Non-Standard Measures of the Monetary Policy – Mechanism for Overcoming Problems in the Implementation of the Neoliberal Concept of Monetary Policy During a Financial Crisis
Authors: Milošević Andriana , Jemović Mirjana
Published: January 2018

After multiple decreases in the reference interest rate and its reaching zero bounds in certain countries during the recent global financial crisis, central banks in developed countries have started applying non-standard measures of monetary policy. This does not refer to introducing new monetary policy instruments, but rather to a certain relativisation within the framework of standard instruments, in terms of maturity of liquidity provision, collateral policy and counterparties. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine the role of non-standard measures of monetary policy as a mechanism for overcoming problems in the implementation of the neoliberal concept of monetary policy in the conditions of the financial crisis. The answer to this question is rather sensitive, considering the fact that the neoliberal concept was supported by the most developed countries, that is, in fact, their central banks were using non-standard instruments of monetary policy for the greatest part.
Cationic Surfactant-modified Clay as an Adsorbent for the Removal of Synthetic Dyes from Aqueous Solutions
Authors: Biglari Hamed , RodríguezíCouto Susana , Khaniabadi Yusef Omidi , Nourmoradi Heshmatollah , Khoshgoftar Mohammad , Amrane Abdeltif , Vosoughi Mehdi , Esmaeili Shirin , Heydari Rouhollah , Mohammadi Mohammad Javad , Rashidi Rajab
Published: January 2018

In this study, the potential of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide modified montmorillonite (HDTMA-Mt) to remove the synthetic dyes Alizarin Red S (ARS) and Bromocresol Green (BCG) from aqueous media was assessed. The effect of different factors including surfactant loading rate onto the clay, contact time, pH, adsorbent dosage and dye concentrations, on the removal of ARS and BCG in batch systems were investigated. The adsorbent was characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). The equilibrium time for ARS and BCG was reached at 40 and 20 min, respectively, under optimized conditions (i.e. pH = 3, adsorbent dosage=1 g/L, surfactant loading rate onto the clay 70% of the cation exchange capacity (CEC) for ARS and 120% of the CEC for BCG, ARS concentration 50 mg/L and BCG concentration 500 mg/L). The adsorption rate of both dyes fitted the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the equilibrium data was described by the Freundlich isotherm equation. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities were equal to 666.6 and 1250 mg/g for ARS and BCG, respectively. Therefore, the HDTMA-Mt can be considered as an effective adsorbent for the removal of ARS and BCG from aqueous solutions.
Investigation on the Removal of Chromium from Wastewater using Electrocoagulation
Authors: Thirugnanasambandham K. , Shine K.
Published: January 2018

Nowadays, treatment of chromium wastewater is very critical also important. The current study investigates the influence of electrocoagulation process parameters to reduce the chromium from wastewater. It has been observed that the initial pH (6), current density (25 mA/cm2), electrode distance (4 cm) and electrolysis time (30 min) were found to be optimum for a 97 % chromium removal. For the above said optimum condition, the electrical energy consumption was found to be 0.12 kWh/m3. A comparison between BBD and ANN shows high correlation coefficient values (R2 (ANN) > 0.90 and R2 (RSM) > 0.90). Results indicated that electrocoagulation process is a cheap and effective method to treat chromium wastewater.
Violence against Nursing Students in the Workplace: An Iranian Experience
Authors: Samadzadeh Samira , Aghamohammadi Masoumeh
Published: January 2018

Background

Workplace violence has a great impact on the quality of patient care and satisfaction. This study aimed to determine the extent of violence experienced by nursing students, and its predisposing factors.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study which was conducted on 150 nursing students in teaching hospitals of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences. A questionnaire form was used for data collection.

Results

Participants stated they were abused physically (12.7%), verbally (73.3%), racial (40.7%), and sexually (5.3%). The lack of awareness of the population about the tasks of the nursing students (40.0%) was the most important risk factor for violence against them.

Conclusion

The violence against nursing students is a common problem in the workplace. It is mainly caused by the lack of awareness of people from the duties of the nursing students. Therefore, it is necessary to educate the population about the responsibilities of nurses and nursing students.
Georgian Dialect Corpus: Linguistic and Encyclopedic Information in Online Dictionaries
Authors: Beridze Marina , Nadaraia David , Bakuradze Lia
Published: January 2018

The Georgian Dialect Corpus (GDC) has been created within the framework of the project “Linguistic Portrait of Georgia”. It was the first attempt to create a structured corpus of Georgian dialects. The work of this project includes building the technical framework for a corpus, collecting the corpus (text) data of Georgian dialects including the lexicographic data (dictionaries), their linguistic processing, digitizing, developing annotation framework, making decision on the morphosyntactic annotation. Currently, the Georgian Dialect Corpus is a platform consisting of the dialect corpus, the text library, the lexicographical database/online dialect dictionaries. For the purposes of developing the lexicographical database and dialect dictionaries, we have created a new program – the Lexicographic Editor. It allows us to structure and improve the dictionaries with multiple linguistic and lexicographic information. The lexicographic concept of the GDC has been developed taking into consideration linguistic and social features of the Georgian dialects.
New Spoken Corpora of Czech: ORTOFON and DIALEKT
Authors: Komrsková Zuzana , Kopřivová Marie , Lukeš David , Poukarová Petra , Goláňová Hana
Published: January 2018

The paper introduces the ORTOFON corpus of spontaneous spoken Czech and the DIALEKT corpus of Czech dialects, their design principles and practical solutions adopted during data collection.
Subcategorization of Adverbial Meanings Based on Corpus Data
Authors: Mikulová Marie , Bejček Eduard , Kolářová Veronika , Panevová Jarmila
Published: January 2018

We introduce a corpus based description of selected adverbial meanings in Czech sentences. Its basic repertory is one of a long lasting tradition in both scientific and school grammars. However, before the corpus era, researchers had to rely on their own excerption; but nowadays, current syntax has a vast material basis in the form of electronic corpora available. On the case of spatial adverbials, we describe our methodology which we used to acquire a detailed, comprehensive, well-arranged description of meanings of adverbials including a list of formal realizations with examples. Theoretical knowledge stemming from this work will lead into an improval of the annotation of the meanings in the Prague Dependency Treebanks which serve as the corpus sources for our research. The Prague Dependency Treebanks include data manually annotated on the layer of deep syntax and thus provide a large amount of valuable examples on the basis of which the meanings of adverbials can be defined more accurately and subcategorized more precisely. Both theoretical and practical results will subsequently be used in NLP, such as machine translation.
Annotation of the Evaluative Language in a Dependency Treebank
Authors: Šindlerová Jana
Published: January 2018

In the paper, we present our efforts to annotate evaluative language in the Prague Dependency Treebank 2.0. The project is a follow-up of the series of annotations of small plaintext corpora. It uses automatic identification of potentially evaluative nodes through mapping a Czech subjectivity lexicon to syntactically annotated data. These nodes are then manually checked by an annotator and either dismissed as standing in a non-evaluative context, or confirmed as evaluative. In the latter case, information about the polarity orientation, the source and target of evaluation is added by the annotator. The annotations unveiled several advantages and disadvantages of the chosen framework. The advantages involve more structured and easy-to-handle environment for the annotator, visibility of syntactic patterning of the evaluative state, effective solving of discontinuous structures or a new perspective on the influence of good/bad news. The disadvantages include little capability of treating cases with evaluation spread among more syntactically connected nodes at once, little capability of treating metaphorical expressions, or disregarding the effects of negation and intensification in the current scheme.
TEDxSK and JumpSK: A New Slovak Speech Recognition Dedicated Corpus
Authors: Staš Ján , Hládek Daniel , Viszlay Peter , Koctúr Tomáš
Published: January 2018

This paper describes a new Slovak speech recognition dedicated corpus built from TEDx talks and Jump Slovakia lectures. The proposed speech database consists of 220 talks and lectures in total duration of about 58 hours. Annotated speech database was generated automatically in an unsupervised manner by using acoustic speech segmentation based on principal component analysis and automatic speech transcription using two complementary speech recognition systems. The evaluation data consisting of 50 manually annotated talks and lectures in total duration of about 12 hours, has been created for evaluation of the quality of Slovak speech recognition. By unsupervised automatic annotation of TEDx talks and Jump Slovakia lectures we have obtained 21.26% of new speech segments with approximately 9.44% word error rate, suitable for retraining or adaptation of acoustic models trained beforehand.
Slavic Phraseology: A View Through Corpora
Authors: Zakharov Victor
Published: January 2018

The study of word collocability is one of the main tasks of linguistics. The combinatory ability of language units, collocability, is one of the linguistic syntagmatic laws. This phenomenon is the main object of the phraseology and lexicography. The article deals with set phrases of different types in Russian, Czech and Slovak from the point of view of their quantitative evaluation. Corpus linguistics understand set phrases as statistically determined unities. This approach is the basic point of different automatic ways to extract idioms and collocations. The paper describes experiments which show how text corpora and corpus methods and tools can be used to expand the entries in existing dictionaries and how set phrases could be evaluated quantitatively. It is shown and maintained that corpus linguistics methods and tools allow to create dictionaries of new type which have to include a larger amount of set phrases and collocations than before.
Slovak Dependency Treebank in Universal Dependencies
Authors: Zeman Daniel
Published: January 2018

We describe a conversion of the syntactically annotated part of the Slovak National Corpus into the annotation scheme known as Universal Dependencies. Only a small subset of the data has been converted so far; yet it is the first Slovak treebank that is publicly available for research. We list a number of research projects in which the dataset has been used so far, including the first parsing results.
Embeddings into monothetic groups
Authors: Doucha Michal
Published: January 2018

We provide a very short elementary proof that every separable abelian group with a bounded invariant metric isometrically embeds into a monothetic group with a bounded invariant metric, in such a way that the result of Morris and Pestov that every separable abelian topological group embeds into a monothetic group is an immediate corollary. We show that the boundedness assumption cannot be dropped.
Graded Soft Expert Set as a Generalization of Hesitant Fuzzy Set
Authors: Qayyum Afshan , Shaheen Tanzeela
Published: January 2018

Hesitant fuzzy sets play a vital role in decision analysis. Although they have been proved to be a landmark in evaluating information, there are certain deficiencies in their structure. Also, in decision analysis with the aid of hesitant fuzzy sets, the relative importance of the decision makers according to their area of expertise is ignored completely, which may be misleading in some situations. These sorts of issues have been resolved in this work by using graded soft expert (GSE) sets. The proposed structure is a modified form of soft expert sets. Some basic operations have been introduced, and certain laws satisfied by them have carefully been investigated. With the aid of GSE sets, a decision-making algorithm (accompanied with an example) has been developed in which experts have been given due weightage according to their area of expertise.
SMPPM a Modified Optical Wireless Multi-pulse PPM
Authors: Rouissat Mehdi , Borsali Ahmed R.
Published: January 2018

Synchronized multi-pulse PPM “SMPPM” is a new proposed modulation scheme based on MPPM proposed for wireless optical systems. The proposed scheme resolves the symbol synchronization problem which may simplify the encoding and the decoding operations. It shows an important improvement in terms of data speed and bandwidth efficiency compared with conventional MPPM. On the other hand, SMPPM modulation shows a moderate power efficiency. In this article, we present the coding algorithm, expressions of spectral efficiency, normalized power requirements, and the data rate normalized to PPM, and we also present comparison of results with conventional MPPM.
Design of a High-Quality Optical Filter Based on 2D Photonic Crystal Ring Resonator for WDM Systems
Authors: Fallahi Vahid , Seifouri Mahmood
Published: January 2018

In this article, a 2D photonic crystal (PC)-based optical filter has been designed using a PC ring resonator. The resonator used is of square type with a square lattice constant, which has been designed by increasing the radius of the inner rods of the resonator. The filter designed can separate the light of the wavelength of 1545.3 nm with a transmission coefficient of 98 %. The bandwidth of the above wavelength is equal to 0.5 nm and hence the quality factor of the device at this wavelength is equal to 3091. The effects of the structural parameters, such as the refractive index, the lattice constant, the radius of the dielectric rods, the radius of the inner rods of the resonator on the behavior of the proposed device, are fully investigated. To obtain the photonic band gap, the plane wave expansion method is used. In addition, the finite difference time domain method is used to examine, simulate, and to obtain the output spectrum of the structure. The designed structure has both high transmission coefficient and quality factor. Comparatively speaking, it is also simple to design which justifies its use in other photonic crystal-based optical devices.
Red Blood Cell Distribution Width Improves Reclassification of Patients Admitted to the Emergency Department with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure
Authors: Turcato Gianni , Cervellin Gianfranco , Bonora Antonio , Prati Danieli , Zorzi Elisabetta , Ricci Giorgio , Salvagno Gian Luca , Maccagnani Antonio , Lippi Giuseppe
Published: January 2018

The usual history of chronic heart failure (HF) is characterized by frequent episodes of acute decompensation (ADHF), needing urgent management in the emergency department (ED). Since the diagnostic accuracy of routine laboratory tests remains quite limited for predicting short-term mortality in ADHF, this retrospective study investigated the potential significance of combining red blood cell distribution width (RDW) with other conventional tests for prognosticating ADHF upon ED admission. We conducted a retrospective study including visits for episodes of ADHF recorded in the ED of the Uni versity Hospital of Verona throughout a 4-year period. Demo - graphic and clinical features were recorded upon patient presentation. All patients were subjected to standard Chest X-ray, electrocardiogram (ECG) and laboratory testing in - cluding creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), complete blood cell count (CBC), sodium, chloride, potassium and RDW. The 30-day overall mortality after ED presentation was defined as primary endpoint. Results: The values of sodium, creatinine, BNP and RDW were higher in patients who died than in those who survived, whilst hypochloremia was more frequent in patients who died than in those who survived. The multivariate model, incorporating these parameters, displayed a modest efficiency for predicting 30-day mortality after ED admission (AUC, 0.701; 95% CI, 0.662-0.738; p=0.001). Notably, the inclusion of RDW in the model significantly enhanced prediction efficiency, with an AUC of 0.723 (95% CI, 0.693-0.763; p<0.001). These results were confirmed with net reclassification improvement (NRI) analysis, showing that combination of RDW with conventional laboratory tests resulted in a much better prediction performance (net reclassification index, 0.222; p=0.001). The results of our study show that prognostic assessment of ADHF patients in the ED can be significantly improved by combining RDW with other conventional laboratory tests.
Comparison of Widely Used Biochemical Analytes in the Serum and Saliva Samples of Dialysis Patients
Authors: Alpdemir Medine , Eryilmaz Mehmet , Alpdemir Mehmet Fatih , Topçu Güler , Azak Alper , Yücel Doğan
Published: January 2018

The aim of this study is to determine whether the saliva analysis is an alternative to routine biochemical and immunoassay analyses in patients undergoing perito - neal dialysis (PD) or hemodialysis (HD). Study group consisted of 40 healthy control, 44 PD and 44 HD patients. Routine biochemical analytes, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free T3, free T4, vitamin B12, ferritin and folic acid were measured. Compared to pre-HD, urea, creatinine, uric acid, potassium levels were lower in post-HD, and calcium, magnesium, vitamin B12 levels were higher in post-HD both in saliva and serum. Positive correlations between saliva and serum were found for TSH and ferritin in control; urea, LDH, K in PD; urea, creatinine, alkaline phosphatase in pre-HD, and gamma-glutamyl transferase, iron, TSH in post-HD. There was a negative correlation only for creatine kinase and Mg in pre-HD and calcium in post-HD. In all groups, a positive correlation was found for urea, creatinine and a negative correlation was found for magnesium. Our study showed higher salivary urea and creatinine levels in patient groups, consistent with serum levels. Based on these results, salivary urea and creatinine levels may be useful in the evaluation of azotemia in dialysis patients.