bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Patient allocation based on preoperative assessment of pancreatic fibrosis to secure pancreatic anastomosis performed by trainee surgeons: a prospective study
Authors: Tajima Yoshitsugu , Kuroki Tamotsu , Kitasato Amane , Adachi Tomohiko , Isomoto Ichiro , Uetani Masataka , Kanematsu Takashi 
Published: March 2010

AbstractBackgroundA fragile or non‐fibrotic pancreas increases the risk of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) after pancreatic head resection, whereas pancreatic fibrosis decreases the risk. The degree of pancreatic fibrosis can be estimated using the time‐signal intensity curve (TIC) of the pancreas, obtained with dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We have investigated whether trainee surgeons can perform pancreatic anastomosis safely, without the occurrence of POPF, when patients are selected carefully based on a preoperative assessment of pancreatic fibrosis.MethodsSeventy‐two consecutive patients who underwent pancreatic head resection were enrolled in this prospective trial. Dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI of the pancreas was performed preoperatively in all patients who, based on their pancreatic TIC profile, were then allocated to one of two groups: Group A comprised patients with type I pancreatic TIC, signifying a normal pancreas without fibrosis (n = 46); Group B comprised patients with type II or III pancreatic TIC, signifying a fibrotic pancreas (n = 26). An end‐to‐side duct‐to‐mucosa pancreaticojejunostomy was performed in all patients, with all patients in Group A operated on by two experienced surgeons, and all patients in Group B operated on by one of eight trainee surgeons at various stages of training.ResultsThere was no operative mortality. POPF developed in 19 patients: 12 patients with grade A POPF and seven with grade B. All except one of the POPF occurred in Group A patients. The POPF in the one patient from Group B was grade A (p < 0.001).ConclusionsA trainee surgeon can perform a secure pancreatic anastomosis without the occurrence of POPF in patients with a pancreas displaying a fibrotic pancreatic TIC on dynamic MRI scans.
Gene Expression Profiles of Soybeans with Mid‐Oleic Acid Seed Phenotype
Authors: Upchurch Robert G. , Ramirez Martha E. 
Published: March 2010

AbstractSeeds of the mid‐oleic acid soybean mutant M23 accumulate higher levels of oleic acid (50–60% oleate) by virtue of a deletion of GmFAD2‐1A, an allele of the microsomal omega‐6 oleate desaturase gene. In other less well characterized soybean varieties that are phenotypically mid‐oleic, little is known about the expression levels of omega‐6 desaturase GmFAD2 genes and other candidate genes that determine seed oleic acid content. We compared the steady‐state transcript abundance during seed development of the oleate‐ACP thioesterase (GmFATB1a), delta‐9 stearoyl acyl carrier protein desaturase (GmSACPD) and the omega‐6 fatty acid desaturase (GmFAD2) genes in five natural mid‐oleic varieties and mutant M23 to gene expression data for the conventional non mid‐oleic cultivar Dare. We found that, relative to Dare, there were instances where lower expression of GmFATB1a, GmFAD2‐1A, GmFAD2‐1B, GmFAD2‐2, and GmFAD2‐3 and higher expression of the GmSACPD‐C might be associated with the mid‐oleic seed phenotype. This finding suggests that of the several soybean genomic loci known or suspected to be involved in oleic acid phenotype, some are likely to encode genes involved in regulation of transcription of the oleate biosynthetic genes.
Pediatric Rehabilitation: 2. Environmental Factors Affecting Participation
Authors: Murphy Nancy , Trovato Melissa , Kim Heakyung , Kim Chong Tae , Moberg‐Wolff Elizabeth 
Published: March 2010

ObjectiveThis self‐directed learning module highlights the environmental factors that influence the participation of children and youth with disabilities in life situations, including activities of self‐care, mobility, socialization, education, recreation, and community life. It is part of the study guide on pediatric rehabilitation in the Self‐Directed Physiatric Education Program for practitioners and trainees in physical medicine and rehabilitation and pediatric medicine. This module emphasizes the participation of children with disabilities in adapted sports and reviews mobility devices to promote function, in the context of the International Classification of Functioning and in reference to the Americans with Disabilities Act. It provides the physiatrist with strategies to promote community participation, functional independence and healthcare transitions for children with disabilities as they approach adulthood. The goal of this article is to improve the learner's treatment strategies to maximize the participation of children and youth with disabilities in all settings, particularly schools and communities.
Pediatric Rehabilitation: 3. Facilitating Family‐Centered Treatment Decisions
Authors: Moberg‐Wolff Elizabeth , Kim Chong Tae , Murphy Nancy , Trovato Melissa , Kim Heakyung 
Published: March 2010

ObjectiveThis self‐directed learning module focuses on the role of accurate diagnosis, psychological support, and family integration of children who have chronic impairments such as pain, spasticity, or cognitive disability. It is part of the study guide on pediatric rehabiliation in the Self‐Directed Physiatric Education Program for practitioners and trainees in physical medicine and rehabilitation and pediatric medicine. The role of therapeutic, medical (traditional and nontraditional) and psychological interventions that improve family and individual function are emphasized. The goal of this article is to refine a learner's knowledge of the impact family‐centered care can have on the medical, psychological, financial, and functional capabilities of families to improve treatment decisions in the context of children with disability.
Postinjury Personality and Outcome in Acquired Brain Injury: The Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic
Authors: Beck Kelley D. , Franks Susan F. , Hall James R. 
Published: March 2010

ObjectiveTo examine the relationship between postinjury personality and outcome in individuals with acquired brain injury. It was hypothesized that patients with differing levels of Introversive, Dejected, and Oppositional coping styles as described by Millon's Theory of Personality would show different outcomes after completion of a rehabilitation program.DesignA retrospective chart review and completion of an outcome assessment was undertaken to examine study hypotheses.SettingA postacute brain injury rehabilitation program.ParticipantsFifty patients who completed the rehabilitation program between 2005 and 2008, who were 18 years of age or older, who possessed at least a sixth‐grade reading level, and who completed a valid Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic (MBMD) were selected. Rehabilitation therapists who worked with these patients were also recruited to assess patient outcomes.MethodsCharts of patients that met inclusion criteria were reviewed. Rehabilitation therapists completed the outcome measure retrospectively. The MBMD was used to predict outcome. The MBMD is a self‐report questionnaire designed to assess psychosocial factors that relate to the course of medical treatment in chronic illness.Main Outcome MeasurementsThe Mayo‐Portland Adaptability Inventory (MPAI‐4) was used to assess patient outcome. It is a 29‐item assessment designed to evaluate the common physical, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social issues after acquired brain injury.ResultsFindings supported our hypotheses that patients with differing levels of Introversive and Oppositional Coping Styles would have significantly different outcomes after rehabilitation. Thus, individuals with mild/moderate to moderate/severe limitations had significantly greater scores on the Introversive and Oppositional coping compared with individuals with more successful outcomes.ConclusionsThe results of this study support the idea that postinjury personality is an important factor in understanding outcome after completion of a brain‐injury rehabilitation program. Personality variables accounted for significant variance above and beyond variance accounted for by the severity of the injury alone. These findings have important implications for the development and implementation of rehabilitation treatment planning.
The Diagnostic Validity of Hip Provocation Maneuvers to Detect Intra‐Articular Hip Pathology
Authors: Maslowski Erin , Sullivan William , Forster Harwood Jeri , Gonzalez Peter , Kaufman Marla , Vidal Armando , Akuthota Venu 
Published: March 2010

ObjectiveTo determine which hip provocation maneuvers best predict the presence of an intra‐articular hip pathology.DesignProspective diagnostic study.SettingMusculoskeletal clinic at a university‐based multispecialty group practice.ParticipantsFifty subjects referred for intra‐articular hip injection under fluoroscopic guidance.InterventionsSubjects were examined with 4 pain provocation maneuvers before and after anesthetic intra‐articular hip injection administered under fluoroscopic guidance.Main Outcome MeasurementsPresence of intra‐articular hip pain generator was confirmed by ≥80% improvement on visual analog scale after intra‐articular hip injection.ResultsThe most sensitive tests were flexion abduction external rotation (FABER) test and internal rotation over pressure (IROP) maneuver. For the FABER test, sensitivity was 0.82 (95% CI 0.57‐0.96); sensitivity for the IROP maneuver was 0.91 (95% CI 0.68‐0.99). The most specific test was the Stinchfield maneuver, with specificity at 0.32 (95% CI 0.14‐0.55). FABER and IROP had the highest positive predictive value, with 0.46 (95% CI 0.28‐0.65) and 0.47 (95% CI 0.29‐0.64), respectively. IROP had the highest negative predictive value at 0.71 (95% CI 0.25‐0.98).ConclusionsIROP and FABER may be worthwhile components of the clinical evaluation of hip pain to determine intra‐articular hip pathology. These tests are nonspecific and therefore not necessarily negative in the absence of intra‐articular hip pathology. These hip provocation maneuvers are a useful part of an evaluation that includes history, further examination findings, and other diagnostic studies.
How does evaluation ‘Work’? A case study of homeless services in Ireland
Authors: Rhodes Mary Lee , Brooke Simon 
Published: March 2010

AbstractThis paper describes how the processes of evaluation interact with the complex processes of policy and implementation, with a view to exploring the implications relating to the nature of evidence, the impact of evaluation on policy and practice and the challenges inherent in evaluation activities. Recent studies of evaluation and evidence-based policy have suggested that there are significant issues and complexities in determining ‘what works’ specifically with regard to the impact of evaluations and the evidence bases for policy and/or practice. The aim of this paper is to examine a detailed case in which these three activities of policy formulation, implementation and evaluation have evolved and interacted in a particular policy domain over time. To this end we examine homeless policy, implementation, outcomes and evaluation in Ireland between 1988, the year ‘homelessness’ was defined first in legislation, and 2008, the year of launching the second national homeless strategy.
Fund Flow Volatility and Performance
Authors: Rakowski David 
Published: March 2010

AbstractThis paper provides a detailed analysis of the impact of daily mutual fund flow volatility on fund performance. I document a significant negative relationship between the volatility of daily fund flows and cross-sectional differences in risk-adjusted performance. This relationship is driven by domestic equity funds, as well as small funds, well-performing funds, and funds that experience inflows over the sample period. My results are consistent with performance differences arising from the transaction costs of nondiscretionary trading driven by daily fund flows, but not with performance differences arising from the suboptimal cash holdings that arise from fund flows.
Pharmaceutical R&D Spending and Threats of Price Regulation
Authors: Golec Joseph , Hegde Shantaram , Vernon John A. 
Published: March 2010

AbstractDo threats of pharmaceutical price regulation affect subsequent research and development (R&D) spending? This study uses the Clinton administration’s Health Security Act (HSA) of 1993 as a natural experiment to study this issue. We link events surrounding the HSA to pharmaceutical stock price changes and then examine the cross-sectional relation between firms’ stock price changes and their subsequent unexpected R&D spending changes. Results show that the HSA had significant negative effects on stock prices and firm-level R&D spending. Conservatively, the HSA reduced R&D spending by about $1 billion even though it never became law.
Disagreement, Portfolio Optimization, and Excess Volatility
Authors: Duchin Ran , Levy Moshe 
Published: March 2010

AbstractDisagreement, a key factor inducing trading, has been receiving ever increasing attention in recent years. Most research has focused on disagreement about the expected returns. Several authors have shown that if the average belief coincides with the true expected return, in the portfolio context prices are unaffected by disagreement. In this paper we study the pricing effects of disagreement about return variances. We show that i) disagreement about variances has systematic and significant pricing effects—more disagreement leads to higher prices, and ii) prices are very sensitive to the degree of disagreement: Even if the average belief about the variance is constant, tiny fluctuations in the disagreement about the variance lead to substantial price fluctuations. This second result may offer an explanation for the excess volatility puzzle: When small changes in the degree of disagreement occur, they induce relatively large price changes. Yet, the changes in disagreement may be hard to directly detect empirically, leading to apparent “excess volatility.”
Friend or Foe? The Role of State and Mutual Fund Ownership in the Split Share Structure Reform in China
Authors: Firth Michael , Lin Chen , Zou Hong 
Published: March 2010

AbstractThe recent split share structure reform in China involves the nontradable shareholders proposing a compensation package to the tradable shareholders in exchange for the listing rights of their shares. We find that state ownership (the major owners of nontradable shares) has a positive effect on the final compensation ratio. In contrast, mutual fund ownership (the major institutional owner of tradable shares) has a negative effect on the compensation ratio and especially in state-owned firms. The evidence is consistent with our predictions that state shareholders have incentives to complete the reform quickly and exert political pressure on mutual funds to accept the terms without a fight.
Dynamic Factors and Asset Pricing
Authors: He Zhongzhi (Lawrence) , Huh Sahn-Wook , Lee Bong-Soo 
Published: March 2010

AbstractThis study develops an econometric model that incorporates features of price dynamics across assets as well as through time. With the dynamic factors extracted via the Kalman filter, we formulate an asset pricing model, termed the dynamic factor pricing model (DFPM). We then conduct asset pricing tests in the in-sample and out-of-sample contexts. Our analyses show that the ex ante factors are a key component in asset pricing and forecasting. By using the ex ante factors, the DFPM improves upon the explanatory and predictive power of other competing models, including unconditional and conditional versions of the Fama and French (1993) 3-factor model. In particular, the DFPM can explain and better forecast the momentum portfolio returns, which are mostly missed by alternative models.
A Longer Look at the Asymmetric Dependence between Hedge Funds and the Equity Market
Authors: Kang Byoung Uk , In Francis , Kim Gunky , Kim Tong Suk 
Published: March 2010

AbstractThis paper reexamines, at a range of investment horizons, the asymmetric dependence between hedge fund returns and market returns. Given the current availability of hedge fund data, the joint distribution of longer-horizon returns is extracted from the dynamics of monthly returns using the filtered historical simulation; we then apply the method based on copula theory to uncover the dependence structure therein. While the direction of asymmetry remains unchanged, the magnitude of asymmetry is attenuated considerably as the investment horizon increases. Similar horizon effects also occur on the tail dependence. Our findings suggest that nonlinearity in hedge fund exposure to market risk is more short term in nature, and that hedge funds provide higher benefits of diversification, the longer the horizon.
Should Christians do Natural Theology?
Authors: Moore Andrew 
Published: March 2010

AbstractNatural theology is enjoying something of a resurgence at present but this article seeks to question its place in Christian philosophy and theology. Antecedent natural theology accepts that it is necessary for Christian beliefs to be rationally warranted. Romans 1:18ff. is often cited in favour of natural theology. However, examination of this text shows that Paul argues here on the basis of a prior revelation. Not only does he not endorse natural theology but what he does say implies that arguments for a God's existence are not likely to lead to the God revealed in Jesus Christ. Such arguments are in any case tainted by the noetic effects of sin. It is therefore not clear that these arguments lead to the God of Christian belief who calls us to simple discipleship. Consequent natural theology holds that Christians are under an epistemological obligation to their surrounding culture to show that they are reflectively rational. But the arguments put up for this by Michael Sudduth ignore theological arguments which should bear on Christian epistemology. Apart from God's self-revelation we find ourselves sceptics, and natural theology is unable to overcome this. Historical research has shown the damaging effects that arguing from nature has had on Christian theology. So, for both theological and historical reasons, Christians need not accept the epistemological obligations imposed on them by unbelievers which lead them to do natural theology.
Using artificial intelligence techniques to support project management
Authors: Levitt Raymond E. , Kunz John C. 
Published: March 2010

AbstractThis paper develops a philosophy for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques as aids in engineering project management.First, we propose that traditional domain-independent, ‘means–and’ planners, may be valuable aids for planning detailed subtasks on projects, but that domain-specific planning tools are needed for work package or executive level project planning. Next, we propose that hybrid computer systems, using knowledge processing techniques in conjunction with procedural techniques such as decision analysis and network-based scheduling, can provide valuable new kinds of decision support for project objective-setting and project control, respectively. Finally we suggest that knowledge-based interactive graphics, developed for providing graphical explanations and user control in advanced knowledge processing environments, can provide powerful new kinds of decision support for project management.The first claim is supported by a review and analysis of previous work in the area of automated AI planning techniques. Our experience with PLATFORM I, II and III, a series of prototype AI-leveraged project management systems built using the IntelliCorpKnowledge Engineering Environment(KEE™), provides the justification for the latter two claims.
Expert database concepts for engineering design
Authors: Nguyen G. T. , Rieu D. 
Published: March 2010

The specific semantics of CAD objects are analysed concerning their nature their dynamicity and their consistency during the design process. The nature of CAD objects is concerned with their structure and relationships. The dynamicity is concerned with the evolving nature of the objects, i.e. their behavior. The consistency is concerned with their completeness and relationships with integrity constraints.A new methodology for semantic constraints management and control is defined. It relies extensively on database and expert system technologies for the implementation of new concepts, e.g. logical prototypes of objects and object equivalence class.It provides a sound and unified basis for modelling the dynamic nature of complex objects, concerning both the management of their structure and the certification of the update operations, i.e. the control of their correctness.The functionalities of CADB, a prototype expert database system that supports these features, are detailed. CADB is currently implemented in Prolog on VAX™ 11/785 and APOLLO™ workstations.
Building an expert system for the preliminary design of ships
Authors: Akagi Shinsuke , Fujita Kikuo 
Published: March 2010

An expert system for the preliminary design of ships developed. The design process is understood as determining design variables and the relationships among design parameters. The relationships among the elements of design knowledge are represented by a network model. The object-oriented knowledge representations are introduced in the computer system to manipulate design variables such as the principle particulars of a ship in the network model. The expert system based on the above concept provides the following functions: (1) flexibility for building a model and easy modification of the model; (2) effective diagnosis of the design process by using rule-based knowledge representations; (3) hybrid function with both symbolic treatment of the design knowledge and numerical computations by coupling the systems programmed in LISP and FORTRAN and (4) a supporting method for determination of the design variables.Finally the system's validity and effectiveness is ascertained by applying it to the preliminary design of a bulk carrier ship.
Engineering design is a computable function
Authors: Fitzhorn Patrick A. 
Published: March 2010

AbstractComputational abstraction of engineering design leads to an elegant theory defining (1) the process of design as an abstract model of computability, the Turing machine; (2) the artifacts of design as enumerated strings from a (possibly multidimensional) grammar; and (3) design specifications or constraints as formal state changes that govern string enumeration. Using this theory, it is shown that engineering design is a computable function. A computational methodology based on the theory is then developed that can be described as a form follows function design paradigm.
An agent-based approach to concurrent cable harness design
Authors: Park Hisup , Cutkosky Mark R. , Conru Andrew B. , Lee Soo-Hong 
Published: March 2010

AbstractAn approach to providing computational support for concurrent design is discussed in the context of an industrial cable harness design problem. Key issues include the development of an architecture that supports collaboration among specialists, the development of hierarchical representations that capture different characteristics of the design, and the decomposition of tasks to achieve a trade-off between efficiency and robustness. An architecture is presented in which the main design tasks are supported by agents – asynchronous and semiautonomous modules that automate routine design tasks and provide specialized interfaces for working on particular aspects of the design. The agent communication and coordination mechanisms permit members of an engineering team to work concurrently, at different levels of detail and on different versions of the design. The design is represented hierarchically, with detailed models maintained by the participating agents. Abstractions of the detailed models, called “agent model images,” are shared with other agents. In conjunction with the architecture and design representations, issues pertaining to the exchange of information among different views of the design, management of dependencies and constraints, and propagation of design changes are discussed.