nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Extended Release Naltrexone: A Qualitative Analysis of Barriers to Routine Use.
Venue: Journal of substance abuse treatment

The Medication Research Partnership (a national health plan and nine addiction treatment centers contracted with the health plan) sought to facilitate the adoption of pharmacotherapy for alcohol and opioid use disorders. Qualitative analysis of interviews with treatment center change leaders, individuals working for the manufacturer and its technical assistance contractor, and health plan managers extracted details on the processes used to order, store, bill for, and administer extended release naltrexone. Qualitative themes were categorized using domains from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (intervention characteristics, outer setting, inner setting, and provider characteristics) Characteristics of XR NTX that inhibited use included the complexity of ordering and using the medication; cost was also a barrier. Outer setting barriers reflected patient needs and external health plan policies on formulary coverage, benefit management, and reimbursement. Program structures, the lack of physician linkages, a culture resistant to the use of medication, and unease with change were inner setting elements that limited use of XR NTX. Patient stereotypes and a lack of knowledge about XR NTX affected practitioner willingness to treat patients and prescribe XR NTX. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research provided a useful lens to understand and interpret the processes affecting access to XR NTX.
Variational Graph Auto Encoders
Venue: ArXiv

We introduce the variational graph auto encoder (VGAE) a framework for unsupervised learning on graph structured data based on the variational auto encoder (VAE) This model makes use of latent variables and is capable of learning interpretable latent representations for undirected graphs. We demonstrate this model using a graph convolutional network (GCN) encoder and a simple inner product decoder. Our model achieves competitive results on a link prediction task in citation networks. In contrast to most existing models for unsupervised learning on graph structured data and link prediction, our model can naturally incorporate node features, which significantly improves predictive performance on a number of benchmark datasets.
Collaborative Denoising Auto Encoders for Top N Recommender Systems
Venue: WSDM

Most real world recommender services measure their performance based on the top N results shown to the end users. Thus, advances in top N recommendation have far ranging consequences in practical applications. In this paper, we present a novel method, called Collaborative Denoising Auto Encoder (CDAE) for top N recommendation that utilizes the idea of Denoising Auto Encoders. We demonstrate that the proposed model is a generalization of several well known collaborative filtering models but with more flexible components. Thorough experiments are conducted to understand the performance of CDAE under various component settings. Furthermore, experimental results on several public datasets demonstrate that CDAE consistently outperforms state of the art top N recommendation methods on a variety of common evaluation metrics.
CARACTERIZACAO FISICO QUIMICA DE GABIROBA (Campomanesia lineatifolia) E MURTA (Blepharocalyx salicifolius) NATIVAS DA REGIAO SERRANA DE IBIAPABA CE

In Brazil, consumer preference of tropical native fruits has increased; however, many fruits are not commercially exploited, such as gabiroba (Campomanesia lineatifolia) and myrtle (Blepharocalyx salicifolius) from the Myrtaceae family. The present study aimed to evaluate the physical, physico chemical, and functional characteristics of gabiroba and myrtle, harvested from native plants in the mountainous region of Ibiapaba CE. The following characters were analyzed: pH, soluble solids, total acidity, total extractable polyphenols, ascorbic acid, and antioxidant activity by using the ABTS method. After pulping, the samples were divided into two groups. From the results, it was found that gabiroba had a low total acidity value (0.12 0.01% indicating a higher level of sweetness relative to myrtle. Myrtle presented values of longitudinal (0.94 cm) and transverse(1.35 cm) diameters, fresh weight (0.85g) pulp yield (68.0% pH (4.5 0.0) and total soluble solids (23.6 1.7 degBx) similar to those obtained in other studies. Bioactive compounds in gabiroba and myrtle included phenolics (GAE 229.37 1.04and 511.65 1.34mg/100g) ascorbic acid (74.44 0.03 369.1 0.28 mg/100g) and antioxidants (14.54 1.0 and 16.05 0.63 m Mtrolox/g) Therefore, these fruits have the potential to be used as functional foods characterized by various health benefits.
In the eye of the beholder: Visual biases in package and portion size perceptions
Venue: Appetite

As the sizes of food packages and portions have changed rapidly over the past decades, it has become crucial to understand how consumers perceive and respond to changes in size. Existing evidence suggests that consumers make errors when visually estimating package and portion sizes, and these errors significantly influence subsequent food choices and intake. We outline four visual biases (arising from the underestimation of increasing portion sizes, the dimensionality of the portion size change, labeling effects, and consumer affect) that shape consumers' perceptions of package and portion sizes. We discuss the causes of these biases, review their impact on food consumption decisions, and suggest concrete strategies to reduce them and to promote healthier eating. We conclude with a discussion of important theoretical and practical issues that should be addressed in the future.
Air toxics in Canada measured by the National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) program and their relation to ambient air quality guidelines
Venue: Journal of the Air Waste Management Association

This study reports ambient concentrations of 63 air toxics that were measured in Canada by the National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) program over the period 2009 2013. Measured concentrations are compared with ambient air quality guidelines from Canadian jurisdictions, and compounds that exceeded guidelines are identified and discussed. Although this study does not assess risk or cumulative effects, air toxics that approached guidelines are also identified so that their potential contribution to ambient air toxics pollution can be considered. Eleven air toxics exceeded at least one guideline, and an additional 16 approached guidelines during the study period. Four compounds were measured using methods whose detection limits exceeded a guideline value, three of which could not be compared with guidelines, since they were not detected in any samples. The assessment of several metal(loid) concentrations is tentative, since they were measured only in fine particulate matter (PM) but compared with guidelines based on coarse or total PM. Improvements to sampling and analysis techniques for the latter compounds as well as for those whose methods are subject to known uncertainties would improve confidence in reported concentrations and their relation to applicable guidelines. Analysis of sampling strategies for all compounds found to exceed or approach guidelines would contribute to ensuring that their spatiotemporal coverage is adequate. Examination of the air toxics not measured by NAPS but having guidelines in Canadian jurisdictions or being included in other programs such as the U.S. National Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) would contribute to ensuring that the full suite of pollutants relevant to ambient air quality in Canada is subject to adequate study. The results of this study can be applied to evaluating the effectiveness of toxic substances management in Canada.  Recent measurements of 63 air toxics in Canada by the National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) program showed that 11 compounds exceeded daily or annual ambient air quality guidelines and that an additional 16 compounds approached such guidelines within an order of magnitude. The results of this study can be applied to evaluating the effectiveness of toxic substances management in Canada and to identifying compounds that merit further investigation.
Improved self snake based anisotropic diffusion model for edge preserving image denoising using structure tensor
Venue: Multimedia Tools and Applications

The performance of classifier algorithms used for predictive analytics highly dependent on quality of training data. This requirement demands the need for noise free data or images. The existing partial differential equation based diffusion models can remove noise present in an image but lacking in preserving thin lines, fine details and sharp corners. The classifier algorithms can able to make correct judgement to which class the image belongs to only if all edges are preserved properly during denoising process. To satisfy this requirement the authors proposed a new improved partial differential equation based diffusion algorithm for edge preserving image denoising. The proposed new anisotropic diffusion algorithm is an extension of self snake diffusion filter which estimates edge and gradient directions as eigenvectors of a structure tensor matrix. The unique feature of this proposed anisotropic diffusion algorithm is diffusion rate at various parts of an image matches with the speed of level set flow. In the proposed algorithm an efficient edge indicator function dependent on the trace of the structure tensor matrix is used. The proposed model performs best in preserving thin lines, sharp corners and fine details since diffusion happens only along edges and diffusion is totally stopped across edges in this model. The additional edge stopping term which is a vector dot product of derivative of an edge stopping function and derivative of an image computed along gradient and edge orthogonal directions is used in this model as shock filter which enables increased sharpness at all discontinuities. The performance of proposed diffusion algorithm is compared with other classical diffusion filters like conventional perona malik diffusion, conventional self snake diffusion methods.
Anisotropic Diffusion Model Based on a New Diffusion Coefficient and Fractional Order Differential for Image Denoising
Venue: Int. J. Image Graph.

This paper presents an improved anisotropic diffusion model which is based on a new diffusion coefficient and fractional order differential for image denoising. In the proposed model, the new diffusion coefficient can protect edges and fine characteristics from being over smoothed. The fractional order differential is applied to weaken the staircasing effect, preserve fine characteristics. Additionally, the automatic set method of diffusion coefficient threshold is developed. Comparative experiments show that the proposed model succeeds in denoising and preserving fine characteristics.
Inventory control for returnable transport items in a closed loop supply chain

An inventory control model for returnable transport items (RTI) where the manager selects the optimal length for inspection, repair, and purchase cycles is described. Repaired and newly obtained RTI are used in combination to satisfy current production requirements. Uncertain returns are incorporated into the model by determining a satisfactory safety stock level to buffer the inventory of used and repairable containers. The minimum cost solution is obtained when inspection and repair runs begin simultaneously. Cycle times are a function of the expected return rate and repairable percentage, while variability in these random assumptions affects the required safety stock.
Exploring Framing Effects in Inventory Control Decisions: Violations of Procedure Invariance

Recent research on decision framing has shown that (i) there are multiple types of framing effects and (ii) the context of the decision can influence framing effects. This research examines decision framing effects in inventory control contexts by questioning the assumption of procedure invariance, that preference should not be impacted by how options are presented to a supply chain manager making an inventory control decision. Study 1 uses three single shot decision experiments to establish that all three types of framing effects identified by Levin et al. (1998) apply in basic inventory control contexts. Results were consistent with theory in all three cases. Given this evidence that framing effects have potential to impact inventory control decisions, two laboratory experiments in Study 2 utilize multi period decision tasks to demonstrate that framing effects can impact performance in a dynamic inventory decision setting similar to practice. One of the experiments in Study 2 was conducted with student subjects, while the other with inventory managers from a large retail firm. Results from both experiments provide evidence that even when initial framing effects on order quantities fade, there can be longer term effects on inventory levels and performance. Furthermore, these effects are robust to education and professional experience. The findings suggest that although a manager might select appropriate inventory control metrics, prudence must be exercised in the presentation of these metrics, and that mere presentation can be used to alleviate known human biases in inventory control decisions.
Optimality Conditions for Inventory Control

This tutorial describes recently developed general optimality conditions for Markov Decision Processes that have significant applications to inventory control. In particular, these conditions imply the validity of optimality equations and inequalities. They also imply the convergence of value iteration algorithms. For total discounted cost problems only two mild conditions on the continuity of transition probabilities and lower semi continuity of one step costs are needed. For average cost problems, a single additional assumption on the finiteness of relative values is required. The general results are applied to periodic review inventory control problems with discounted and average cost criteria without any assumptions on demand distributions. The case of partially observable states is also discussed.
Ginkgo Biloba Extract Attenuates Oxidative Stress and Apoptosis in Mouse Cochlear Neural Stem Cells
Venue: Phytotherapy research PTR

In the organ or Corti, oxidative stress could result in damage to the hearing, and neural stem cells (NSCs) hold great therapeutic potential in treating hearing loss. Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) has been widely shown to exhibit anti oxidative and anti apoptotic effects in treatments of neural damage and disorder. Using hydrogen peroxide to induced oxidative stress as a model, we investigated the anti oxidative role of GBE in isolated mouse cochlear NSCs. GBE treatment was found to significantly promote viability of NSCs, by markedly attenuating hydrogen peroxide induced oxidative stress. In addition, this anti oxidative function of GBE was also able to prevent mitochondrial depolarization and subsequent apoptosis. Moreover, the anti apoptotic role of GBE was mediated by antagonizing the intrinsic mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, where GBE could reverse the changes in key intrinsic apoptosis pathway factors including Bcl 2, Bax, and Caspase 3. Our data provided the first report on the beneficial role of GBE in protecting cochlear NSCs, by attenuating oxidative stress triggered intrinsic apoptosis, therefore supporting the potential therapeutic value of GBE in preventing oxidative stress related hearing loss.
The nephroprotective effects of ginkgo biloba extract (EGb761) against l NG nitroarginine methyl ester induced hypertension in rats: role of oxidative stress and inflammatory markers

Ginkgo biloba extract 761 (EGb761) was studied for its nephroprotective effects in experimentally induced hypertension. Hypertension is increasingly a cause of end stage renal diseases. Increased cytokine release and oxidative stress are mechanisms that appear to be involved in the pathogenesis of hypertensive renal damage. EGb has antioxidant and anti inflammatory effects and can attenuate hypertensive renal damage.  Male adult Wistar rats were used in this study. Hypertension was induced in these rats by administering l NG nitroarginine methyl ester (l NAME) (10 mg/kg/day, intraperitoneal) for 12 weeks. Another group of rats received l NAME and EGb761 (100 mg/kg/day, orally) starting from the ninth week to the end of treatment. It was found that the blood pressure was reduced at the end of 12th week in rats treated with EGb761 compared with l NAME treated (hypertensive) rats. EGb761 treated rats showed lower renal tissue malondialdehyde level and renal tissue tumor necrosis factor a level when compared with l NAME treated rats (hypertensive)  EGb761 has antihypertensive effect; it can protect the kidney from hypertension through the reduction of renal inflammation and oxidative stress.
[Protective effect and mechanism of compound Ginkgo biloba granules on oxidative stress injury of HUVEC]
Venue: Zhongguo Zhong yao za zhi Zhongguo zhongyao zazhi China journal of Chinese materia medica

To reveal the protective and anti apoptosis effect of compound Ginkgo biloba granules on oxidative stress injury of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) Negative control group, H2O2 model group and 4 drug pretreatment groups (80, 160, 320, 640 mg* L 1) were established. The cell proliferation, morphological changes in each group after oxidative stress injury was detected by MTT assay and through microscope observation respectively. The content of LDH, MDA, SOD and NO and SOD activity in supernatant were detected to judge the protection effect of the drugs on endothelial cells. The protective effect on HUVEC apoptosis was analyzed by Caspase 3 activity test and Annexin V FITC/PI staining. Western blot was used to observe the expression of apoptosis related proteins Bcl 2 and Bax. Results showed that 1 200 mmol* L 1 H2O2 can induce oxidative stress injury in endothelial cells and reduce the cell survival rate; cell proliferation inhibition degree is positively correlated with the effect time of H2O2. Besides, 80, 160, 320 640 mg*L 1 compound Ginkgo biloba granules can protect HUVEC from oxidative stress injury, recover the normal proliferation level of cells, improve their state, prohibit cell apoptosis, and can up regulate and down regulate the expression level of Bcl 2 and Bax respectively. In conclusion, compound G. biloba granules can protect HUVEC from the oxidative stress injury induced by H2O2, its mechanism may be correlated with inhibition of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway in HUVEC.
EVIDENCE FOR A DISTANT GIANT PLANET IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Recent analyses have shown that distant orbits within the scattered disk population of the Kuiper Belt exhibit an unexpected clustering in their respective arguments of perihelion. While several hypotheses have been put forward to explain this alignment, to date, a theoretical model that can successfully account for the observations remains elusive. In this work we show that the orbits of distant Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) cluster not only in argument of perihelion, but also in physical space. We demonstrate that the perihelion positions and orbital planes of the objects are tightly confined and that such a clustering has only a probability of 0.007% to be due to chance, thus requiring a dynamical origin. We find that the observed orbital alignment can be maintained by a distant eccentric planet with mass 10 m_ whose orbit lies in approximately the same plane as those of the distant KBOs, but whose perihelion is 180deg away from the perihelia of the minor bodies. In addition to accounting for the observed orbital alignment, the existence of such a planet naturally explains the presence of high perihelion Sedna like objects, as well as the known collection of high semimajor axis objects with inclinations between 60deg and 150deg whose origin was previously unclear. Continued analysis of both distant and highly inclined outer solar system objects provides the opportunity for testing our hypothesis as well as further constraining the orbital elements and mass of the distant planet.
Ocean worlds in the outer solar system

Many outer solar system bodies are thought to harbor liquid water oceans beneath their ice shells. This article first reviews how such oceans are detected. We then discuss how they are maintained, when they formed, and what the oceans' likely characteristics are. We focus in particular on Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan, and Enceladus, bodies for which there is direct evidence of subsurface oceans. We also consider candidate ocean worlds such as Pluto and Triton.
Understanding TERT Promoter Mutations: A Common Path to Immortality
Venue: Molecular Cancer Research

Telomerase (TERT) activation is a fundamental step in tumorigenesis. By maintaining telomere length, telomerase relieves a main barrier on cellular lifespan, enabling limitless proliferation driven by oncogenes. The recently discovered, highly recurrent mutations in the promoter of TERT are found in over 50 cancer types, and are the most common mutation in many cancers. Transcriptional activation of TERT, via promoter mutation or other mechanisms, is the rate limiting step in production of active telomerase. Although TERT is expressed in stem cells, it is naturally silenced upon differentiation. Thus, the presence of TERT promoter mutations may shed light on whether a particular tumor arose from a stem cell or more differentiated cell type. It is becoming clear that TERT mutations occur early during cellular transformation, and activate the TERT promoter by recruiting transcription factors that do not normally regulate TERT gene expression. This review highlights the fundamental and widespread role of TERT promoter mutations in tumorigenesis, including recent progress on their mechanism of transcriptional activation. These somatic promoter mutations, along with germline variation in the TERT locus also appear to have significant value as biomarkers of patient outcome. Understanding the precise molecular mechanism of TERT activation by promoter mutation and germline variation may inspire novel cancer cell specific targeted therapies for a large number of cancer patients.  (c)2016 AACR.
A Literature Review: Website Design and User Engagement.
Venue: Online journal of communication and media technologies

Proper design has become a critical element needed to engage website and mobile application users. However, little research has been conducted to define the specific elements used in effective website and mobile application design. We attempt to review and consolidate research on effective design and to define a short list of elements frequently used in research. The design elements mentioned most frequently in the reviewed literature were navigation, graphical representation, organization, content utility, purpose, simplicity, and readability. We discuss how previous studies define and evaluate these seven elements. This review and the resulting short list of design elements may be used to help designers and researchers to operationalize best practices for facilitating and predicting user engagement.