bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Proximity‐based cloud resource provisioning for deep learning applications in smart healthcare
Authors: Sivan Durga , Sellappa Mohan , J Dinesh Peter 
Published: January 2020

AbstractDeep learning is a powerful technology that enables intelligent data processing in the smart healthcare domain. Inspired by the tremendous processing power of cloud computing, the training process and the model repository of deep learning are moved to the cloud. Cloud‐assisted deep learning applications enable smart mobile users to experience quick predictive results. Health professionals use smart mobile devices to convey recordings of the patient and to receive the best inference results. The mobility of these devices causes severe performance degradation as it increases the distance between its current location and the edge cloud where the virtual machines are provisioned. Therefore, mobility‐based resource provisioning to identify a suitable server based on deadline constraints, available resources, and cost metrics is crucial. This paper proposes a proximity‐based resource provisioning technique that guarantees minimal delay in obtaining inference results with a local mobile cloud system. The proposed technique comprises two algorithms (a) deadline‐based initial resource provisioning and (b) resource migration and provisioning at suitable cloudlet during location change. The proposed technique is implemented in a mobile cloud platform running the inference method of a smart mobile healthcare application. The performance results show that the proposed technique outperforms the state‐of‐the‐art techniques in terms of the response time, deadline meeting percentage, and system utilization.
A novel completeness definition of event logs and corresponding generation algorithm
Authors: Li Chuanyi , Ge Jidong , Wen Lijie , Kong Li , Chang Victor , Huang Liguo , Luo Bin 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAs the promotion of technologies and applications of Big Data, the research of business process management (BPM) has gradually deepened to consider the impacts and challenges of big business data on existing BPM technologies. Recently, parallel business process mining (e.g. discovering business models from business visual data, integrating runtime business data with interactive business process monitoring visualisation systems and summarising and visualising historical business data for further analysis, etc.) and multi‐perspective business data analytics (e.g. pattern detecting, decision‐making and process behaviour predicting, etc.) have been intensively studied considering the steep increase in business data size and type. However, comprehensive and in‐depth testing is needed to ensure their quality. Testing based solely on existing business processes and their system logs is far from sufficient. Large‐scale randomly generated models and corresponding complete logs should be used in testing. To test parallel algorithms for discovering process models, different log completeness and generation algorithms were proposed. However, they suffer from either state space explosion or non‐full‐covering task dependencies problem. Besides, most existing generation algorithms rely on random executing strategy, which leads to low and unstable efficiency. In this paper, we propose a novel log completeness type, that is, #TAR completeness, as well as its generation algorithm. The experimental results based on a series of randomly generated process models show that the #TAR complete logs outperform the state‐of‐the‐art ones with lower capacity, fuller dependencies covering and higher generating efficiency.
Elevated levels of tumour apolipoprotein D independently predict poor outcome in breast cancer patients
Authors: Jankovic‐Karasoulos Tanja , Bianco‐Miotto Tina , Butler Miriam S , Butler Lisa M , McNeil Catriona M , O’Toole Sandra A , Millar Ewan K A , Sakko Andrew J , Ruiz Alexandra I , Birrell Stephen N , Sutherland Robert L , Hickey Theresa E , Tilley Wayne D , Ricciardelli Carmela 
Published: January 2020

AimsApolipoprotein D (ApoD) is a protein that is regulated by androgen and oestrogen, and is a major constituent of breast cysts. Although ApoD has been reported to be a marker of breast cancer, its prognostic importance in invasive breast cancer is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between ApoD protein expression, oestrogen receptor‐α (ERα) expression and androgen receptor (AR) expression in predicting breast cancer outcome.Methods and resultsApoD levels were measured by the use of immunohistochemistry and video image analysis on tissue sections from a breast cancer cohort (n = 214). We assessed the associations of ApoD expression with disease‐free survival (DFS), metastasis‐free survival (MFS), and overall survival (OS). We also assessed the relationship between ApoD expression, AR expression and ERα expression in predicting OS. ApoD expression (>1% ApoD positivity) was found in 72% (154/214) of tissues. High ApoD positivity (≥20.7%, fourth quartile) was an independent predictor of MFS and OS, and conferred a 2.2‐fold increased risk of developing metastatic disease and a 2.1‐fold increased risk of breast cancer‐related death. ApoD positivity was not associated with AR or ERα nuclear positivity. However, patients with (≥1%) ERα‐positive cancers with low (<20.7%) ApoD positivity, or those showing high (≥78%) AR positivity and low (<20.7%) ApoD positivity had better OS than other patient groups.ConclusionsApoD expression could be used to predict breast cancer prognosis independently of ERα and AR expression.
Study of effects of fipronil and fipronil sulphone on meat nutritional quality and validation of confirmatory GC‐MS/MS method for their analysis
Authors: Nardelli Valeria , Albenzio Marzia , Gesualdo Giuseppe , d’Angelo Francesca , della Malva Antonella , Della Rovere Ines , Scarpiello Alessandro , Casamassima Francesco , Marino Rosaria 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe aim of this study was to validate the method for detection and quantification of fipronil and fipronil sulphone in meat products and study the effects of these pollutants on meat nutritional quality. The determination coefficients (R2) of the analytes were 0.999, while intra‐laboratory CV% for repeatability and reproducibility ranged from 0.83% to 19.19%. Meat nutritional quality was assessed before and after the addition of analytes in meat samples. Both total and essential amino acids in meat decreased (P < 0.001) with increasing levels of added analytes, suggesting their detrimental effect on meat amino acid composition. The amino acid composition of meat did not show an univocal behaviour as consequence of fipronil and fipronil sulphone addition. In particular, aspartate, glutamate, arginine (P < 0.05), threonine, alanine, lysine and proline (P < 0.001) showed a significant decrease with increasing levels of added analytes, while serine (P < 0.001) evidenced an opposite trend.
Temporomandibular dysfunction assessment in children treated with the Hall Technique: A pilot study
Authors: Kaya Mustafa Sarp , Kınay Taran Pınar , Bakkal Meltem 
Published: January 2020

AbstractBackgroundThe Hall technique (HT) involves the placement of stainless steel crowns for treating asymptomatic carious primary teeth without tooth preparation or caries excavation.AimTo investigate whether temporomandibular dysfunction (TM‐D) manifests in children after HT.DesignHealthy children (age: 5‐9 years) with dentin caries were treated with HT in a university clinic, and TM‐D signs and symptoms were monitored in this cohort clinical trial. The primary outcome was TM‐D signs recorded using the clinical dysfunction index (Di) at pre‐treatment: 0‐, 1‐, 3‐, 6‐, and 12‐month follow‐up visits. The secondary outcome was TM‐D symptoms recorded using a questionnaire. The Di and symptoms were compared over time using McNemar's tests.ResultsThirty‐nine children were followed for 12 months after HT treatment. Four children were detected as having dysfunction signs throughout the study: muscle pain on palpation and clicking. The symptoms ‘hearing a sound within the jaw joint’ or ‘bite felt uncomfortable or unusual’ were reported by another four children. The Di and TM‐D symptoms were not significantly different between pre‐treatment and follow‐up visits (P > .05).ConclusionsThe HT does not seem to be connected to TM‐D. Alternative TM‐D assessment tools for studying non‐persistent symptoms more comprehensively might be useful for future studies.
An integrated experimental‐computational study of the microclimate under dressings applied to intact weight‐bearing skin
Authors: Schwartz Dafna , Gefen Amit 
Published: January 2020

AbstractPressure ulcers (PUs) are one of the most prevalent adverse events in acute and chronic care. The root aetiological cause of PUs is sustained cell and tissue deformations, which triggers a synergistic tissue damage cascade that accelerates over relatively short time periods. Changes in skin microclimate conditions are known to indirectly contribute to PU‐risk levels or to exacerbation of existing wounds. It is therefore surprising that information concerning heat accumulation under dressings is poor. Here, we aimed to investigate the effects of dressings on the microclimate of weight‐bearing buttocks skin in 1‐hour supine lying sessions. Using a novel and originally developed experimental‐computational approach, we compared the combined influence of the mechanical and thermal properties of a polymeric membrane dressing (PolyMem, Ferris Mfg. Corp., Fort Worth, TX) on skin microclimate under and near the dressings with those of a standard placebo foam dressing. We specifically identified the thermal conductivity properties of dressings as being highly important in the context of protective dressing performances, given its association with potential heat accumulation under dressings. Accordingly, this article highlights, for the first time in the literature, the relevance of thermal properties of a dressing in effectively mitigating the risk of developing PUs or aggravating an injury, and offers a systematic, methodological bioengineering process for assessing the thermal performances of dressings.
Market Analysis, Technical Change and Income Distribution in Semi‐Subsistence Agriculture: the Case of Bangladesh
Authors: Alauddin Mohammad , Tisdell Clem 
Published: January 2020

AbstractFor the first time, the model developed by Hayami and Herdt is applied to determine gains from modern varieties of rice in Bangladesh and the distribution of these gains between consumers and producers. The results suggest that consumers' surplus is much greater than it would have been had the high yielding crop varieties (HYVs) not been introduced. By keeping the real price lower than it would have been otherwise, the modern varieties have tended to be income equalizing for urban consumers. The Hayami‐Herdt partial model even suggests that, given the relatively inelastic demand for rice in Bangladesh, the real cash income of producers has risen slightly as a result of these new technologies. In reality, however, the impact of these changes on incomes of farmers and the distribution of income between those involved in production is more complex. It is suggested that if a less partial view is taken and if account is taken of lower cost of obtaining home‐consumed produce, the increase in income may be greater. In any event, there are dangers in using such a partial model to predict the developmental consequences of technological changes affecting a staple crop, and attention needs also to be given to the possibility that the supply curve may not have the simple form and pivot in the way supposed by Hayami and Herdt. While the Hayami‐Herdt model is simple to apply, it is best used as a first approximation or starting point rather than a final solution. It ignores a number of criteria that could be important in assessing new agricultural technologies, such as their impact on the variability of benefits to producers and consumers and their consequences for sustainability of production. Furthermore, the Hayami‐Herdt model does not deal specifically with changes in factor shares in farm production. Nor does it consider the impact on income distribution of the ownership and control of critical input like irrigation and imperfection in the rural credit market. It is pointed out in our paper that the adoption of HYVs has been associated with important variations in factor shares in Bangladeshi rice production. Analysis of available farm level data indicates that the relative share of labour has fallen, suggesting an uneven distribution of gains from technological changes between the owners of non‐labour resources and those of labour resources. However, the absolute share of labour has increased, and it seems that rural employment has risen as result of the new technologies.
Risk‐Taking Preferences of Farmers in Northern Thailand: Measurements and Implications
Authors: Grisley William , Kellog Earl 
Published: January 2020

AbstractRisk‐taking preferences were elicited from small semi‐commercial farmers in Northern Thailand using an experimental procedure that included real monetary payoffs of meaningful magnitudes. A total of five sets of lotteries with increasing payoffs were offered. The farmers were found to be risk averters, and their preferences conformed to the hypothesis of increasing (nondecreasing) partial relative risk aversion. Using regression analysis, farmers' expected variation of rice yields and farm size were found to be directly related to a decrease in risk aversion, while the extent of multiple cropping, availability of non‐land household assets, and tested mathematical ability were found to be indirectly related to a decrease in risk aversion. The variables expected variation of rice prices, farmers' age, and tested abstract ability scores were not related to risk‐taking preferences.
The Evolution and Implications of the U.S. Food Security Act of 1985
Authors: Spitze R.G.F. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe Food Security Act of 1985 sets the United States (U.S.) policy course for the five years, 1986–1990, in the areas of farm product prices and farmer incomes, agricultural production, food aid, and trade in agricultural products. It is clearly an evolution of past policy, deeply rooted in the institutional processes of participatory policymaking. The Act will have important implications for not only domestic producers, consumers, agribusinesses, and taxpayers, but alto product agricultural exporters and importers around the world. Just as it was substantially, affected by the current loss of export markets and the economic crisis in the U.S. agricultural sector, its implementation and impacts will be affected in the future by the unpredictable weather, macroeconomic conditions around the world, and international trading policies. This article examines the development of the policy embodied in the Act and analyzes its primary economic implications.Although most provisions of the U.S. agricultural price and income policy that had evolved over the past half century were continued, important changes were made. The resulting policy closely mirrored the preferences revealed from research concerning farmers and leaders of national agricultural and food interest groups. Primary changes from the previous 1981 Act were: lengthening the duration to five years; substantial lowering of the minimum price support levels; permitting a gradual decline in the minimum target prices; providing for a whole dairy herd buyout program; establishing export enhancement initiatives through credit, promotion, and export payment‐in‐kind (PIK); and initiating major efforts to increase farmland conservation and withdrawal of fragile lands from production.Likely implications of the new Act include: (1) lower product prices for agricultural producers around the world, and also farmer incomes if there is no income protection from national policies; (2) a similar but a less proportionate impact on consumers; (3) a substantial burden on the U.S. Treasury, and possibly those of the other nations as well, depending upon the type of policies followed; and (4) likely intensification in the immediate future of the economic conflicts and negotiations between major agricultural trading nations of the world.Research played a vital role in the development of the U.S. 1985 Act. Given the turbulent, uncertain, and important nature of the agricultural and food sector in the world, research is challenged to provide more and better knowledge for future policymaking.
Spatial Organization of Marketing Facilities in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Oilseeds in Sudan
Authors: Baldwin E. Dean , Babiker Babiker I. , Larson Donald W. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractLittle attention has been devoted to the study of spatial organization of marketing facilities in developing countries, even though such studies would be most useful for a wide range of marketing problems. The results of such studies could be valuable to private and public decision‐makers in developing countries whose policies and decisions determine the number, size and location of marketing facilities. The spatial organization model developed in this paper for application to the oilseeds industry in Sudan demonstrates the relevance of this research technique for developing country studies of marketing facilities. A linear programming transshipment model is utilized to determine the optimal spatial organization of oilseeds in Sudan when the costs of oilseed assembly, processing and distribution of oil and cake to final destinations are considered simultaneously. The optimal spatial organization of oilseed processing plants was determined for six alternative solutions. Model results indicate that the optimal organization of processing plants would be obtained with fewer and larger plants, resulting in lower transportation costs.
Labour‐Related Structural Trends in South African Maize Production
Authors: Van Zyl J. , Vink N. , Fényes T.I. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe substitution of capital goods, including new technology, for land and labour has played an important role and has influenced the structure of Sout African agriculture.Farm labour‐related trends in the summer rainfall grain‐producing area of South Africa are considered. The amount of labour used, the remuneration of labour, the substitution of capital for labour and productivity trends are analyzed. Growth rates were obtained by fitting exponential functions with time as independent variable. The decline in the number of farm employees per 1000 hectares under cultivation since 1970 probably resulted from mechanization and thus capital‐labour substitution in maize production, especially in harvesting. Tax concessions on new capital improvements, the subsidization of agriculture in general and the increasing rate of urbanization contributed to this trend.The scarcity of capital relative to unskilled labour, which has been reinforced by policy measures favouring capital intensity (capital formation has increased by 4.0% per annum between 1950 and 1980, compared with an increase of 0.71% per annum in the number of farm employees in the same period); this implies that corrective policy changes are required to improve the present distorted situation.This will enable the commercial agricultural sector of South Africa to play a more meaningful role in the socio‐economic development of the whole subcontinent.
Wheat and Maize Price Policies in Hungary: Tradeoffs between Foreign Exchange and Government Revenue
Authors: Braverman Avishay , Hammer Jeffrey S. , Morduch Jonathan J. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThis paper reports on a methodology designed to examine the effects of selected agricultural policies in Hungary. The purpose of the paper is twofold. The first is to explain the methodology, dubbed multi‐market analysis in previous work, which is implemented on personal computers to support discussions on policy reforms.The second is to examine wheat and maize policies in Hungary. While the model is constructed to focus on these policies, it will also be possible to outline ways to use the model to address other problems.
The U.S. Demand for Imported and Domestically Produced Foods: An Investigation of Intertemporal and Substitution Effects
Authors: Isard Peter , Lowrey Barbara , Swamy P.A.V.B. , Conway Roger 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThis article extends the literature on time series estimation of U.S. consumer demand by presenting a coherent theoretical structure with a multi‐period planning horizon for consumer choice and a more general treatment of the aggregation problem that allows the possibility that consumers' tastes change over time and vary across individuals. Based on our theoretical model, an econometric model is used to obtain estimates in a multi‐period context of U.S. demand for imported foods and domestically produced foods. The hypothesis that current purchases depend on expected future prices is supported by the empirical results for imported foods.
What do Agricultural Income and Productivity Measurements Really Mean?
Authors: Schmitt Günther H. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractStatistical data on labour productivity and income in agriculture reveal large discrepancies between various EC member states, both with respect to their absolute levels and in relation to non‐farm productivity and income in the respective countries. Insofar as they appear to reflect the failure of markets in allocating agricultural resources efficiently, and seem to be inconsistent with conventional wisdom concerning structural adjustment of agriculture, however, it can be seen that those data are misleading to a large extent. Based on a simple model of optimal time allocation between farm and non‐farm activities of members of farm households, it is demonstrated that farm labour productivity and income must be different according to differences in the relation of farm to non‐farm labour supply. The implications concerning international, interregional, intersectoral and intertemporal comparisons of income and productivity are discussed as well as the relevance of market failure in agriculture.
The Calculation of Returns to Research in Distorted Markets
Authors: Oehmke James F. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractMost of the empirical literature calculating rates of return to publicly sponsored research assumes that research is the only relevant government intervention. For most countries this assumption is untenable. This paper shows that improperly measuring government induced market distortions can severely bias research rate of return calculations. If the interaction between successful research and other government interventions increases the cost of the other interventions, then neglecting market distortions unambigously increases the calculated rate of return.Three examples of government induced distortions show that the magnitude of the upward bias in calculated rates of return can be extremely large ‐ in some cases more than 100 percentage points. A normative implication is that governments should account for interactions between research and price interventions when determining research support levels. A positive implication is that existing government research funding patterns are more readily explainable as reasonable behavior by a government that accounts for these interactions.