nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
CD147/EMMPRIN overexpression and prognosis in cancer: A systematic review and meta analysis
Venue: Scientific reports

CD147/EMMPRIN (extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer) plays an important role in tumor progression and a number of studies have suggested that it is an indicator of tumor prognosis. This current meta analysis systematically reevaluated the predictive potential of CD147/EMMPRIN in various cancers. We searched PubMed and Embase databases to screen the literature. Fixed effect and random effect meta analytical techniques were used to correlate CD147 expression with outcome measures. A total of 53 studies that included 68 datasets were eligible for inclusion in the final analysis. We found a significant association between CD147/EMMPRIN overexpression and adverse tumor outcomes, such as overall survival, disease specific survival, progression free survival, metastasis free survival or recurrence free survival, irrespective of the model analysis. In addition, CD147/EMMPRIN overexpression predicted a high risk for chemotherapy drugs resistance. CD147/EMMPRIN is a central player in tumor progression and predicts a poor prognosis, including in patients who have received chemo radiotherapy. Our results provide the evidence that CD147/EMMPRIN could be a potential therapeutic target for cancers.
Removal of phosphorus from water by using volcanic ash soil (VAS) batch and column experiments.
Venue: Water science and technology a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research

Using low cost and naturally available materials is considered an optimal adsorbent for removing phosphorus (P) from water due to its simplicity and economic efficiency. This study examined the removal of P from water using volcanic ash soil (VAS) by batch and column experiments. The maximum adsorption capacity of P was 2.94 mg g 1, estimated from the batch experiment according to a Langmuir isotherm. The column study showed a higher adsorption capacity of 5.57 mg g 1. The breakthrough curve showed that influent water containing 2 mg L 1 P was completely purified by VAS within 1,230 pore volumes (PV) The breakthrough and saturation points of the curves were 3,100 PV and 14,875 PV, respectively. After an adsorption column was loaded with 20,508 PV, a regeneration procedure was developed to determine whether an ion exchange of P with chloride occurred or adsorbed P in the columns could be eluted. Approximately 20% of P was recovered from columns by desorption tests, regardless of NaCl solution or deionized water. Specific surface area and mineral concentrations are both important characteristics that improve the adsorption capacity of VAS. The present study suggests that VAS is a promising adsorbent to remove P in water.
Acidified and ultrafiltered recovered coagulants from water treatment works sludge for removal of phosphorus from wastewater.
Venue: Water research

This study used a range of treated water treatment works sludge options for the removal of phosphorus (P) from primary wastewater. These options included the application of ultrafiltration for recovery of the coagulant from the sludge. The treatment performance and whole life cost (WLC) of the various recovered coagulant (RC) configurations have been considered in relation to fresh ferric sulphate (FFS) Pre treatment of the sludge with acid followed by removal of organic and particulate contaminants using a 2kD ultrafiltration membrane resulted in a reusable coagulant that closely matched the performance FFS. Unacidified RC showed 53% of the phosphorus removal efficiency of FFS, at a dose of 20 mg/L as Fe and a contact time of 90 min. A longer contact time of 8 h improved performance to 85% of FFS. P removal at the shorter contact time improved to 88% relative to FFS by pre acidifying the sludge to pH 2, using an acid molar ratio of 5.2:1 mol H(:Fe. Analysis of the removal of P showed that rapid phosphate precipitation accounted for >65% of removal with FFS. However, for the acidified RC a slower adsorption mechanism dominated; this was accelerated at a lower pH. A cost benefit analysis showed that relative to dosing FFS and disposing waterworks sludge to land, the 20 year WLC was halved by transporting acidified or unacidified sludge up to 80 km for reuse in wastewater treatment. A maximum inter site distance was determined to be 240 km above the current disposal route at current prices. Further savings could be made if longer contact times were available to allow greater P removal with unacidified RC.
Management control system and performance: Accountability attributes in local authorities

This study used the structural equation modeling (SEM) tool to examine the impact of MCS on performance in Malaysian local authorities. This study applies a questionnaire based survey to look for responses from 899 heads of departments attached to the local authorities within Peninsular Malaysia. Out of the 899 questionnaires distributed, 372 were returned, which resulted in 335 usable responses that were used for further analysis. Statistical results showed that the external control and formal internal control were significantly associated with all three performance dimensions financial, service quality, and procedural, as expected. However, the internal informal control only had a significant relationship with the service quality performance. This study also revealed that the external control, through the presence of the formal internal control, had a stronger relationship with all the three performance dimensions, as compared to the direct relationship between the external control and performance.  Performance, Accountability, Local authorities, Structural Equation Modeling JEL Classifications: M410, M490
Facial expression identification using 3D geometric features from Microsoft Kinect device
Venue: Commercial Scientific Sensing and Imaging

Facial expression identification is an important part of face recognition and closely related to emotion detection from face images. Various solutions have been proposed in the past using different types of cameras and features. Microsoft Kinect device has been widely used for multimedia interactions. More recently, the device has been increasingly deployed for supporting scientific investigations. This paper explores the effectiveness of using the device in identifying emotional facial expressions such as surprise, smile, sad, etc. and evaluates the usefulness of 3D data points on a face mesh structure obtained from the Kinect device. We present a distance based geometric feature component that is derived from the distances between points on the face mesh and selected reference points in a single frame. The feature components extracted across a sequence of frames starting and ending by neutral emotion represent a whole expression. The feature vector eliminates the need for complex face orientation correction, simplifying the feature extraction process and making it more efficient. We applied the kNN classifier that exploits a feature component based similarity measure following the principle of dynamic time warping to determine the closest neighbors. Preliminary tests on a small scale database of different facial expressions show promises of the newly developed features and the usefulness of the Kinect device in facial expression identification.
International business negotiation strategies based on bargaining power assessment: the case of attracting investments

At present business solutions are used for development and implementation of negotiating strategies for international business, which are not universally suitable for business development in all situations in context of globalization, with current challenges, which are characterized by increasing risk, uncertainty and cultural differences. The purpose of the research is to provide a theoretical model for developing and implementing international business negotiation strategies, based on bargaining power assessment, as well as to conduct an experiment and test the suitability and adaptability of the developed model in an international business negotiation situation in case of attracting investments. Research methods scientific literature analysis, comparative, logical analysis and synthesis, comparative and generalisation methods, mathematical and statistic data analysis methods. According to the results, the developed model can be used to reinforce international business negotiations and electronic business negotiations, as an independent systemic unit of the negotiation process (a measure that is autonomous or requires only partial intervention of the negotiator)
Understanding International Business Negotiation Behavior: Credible Commitments, Dispute Resolution, and the Role of Institutions

Developed mainly in the broad field of negotiation, the existing literature on international business negotiation has adopted theoretical perspectives that focus on differences between negotiating parties. In this article, we argue that opportunism is more fundamental than differences in our understanding of international business negotiation behavior. Parties' concerns over how to mitigate opportunism are the fundamental force that drives such negotiation behavior, and the likelihood of opportunism is affected mostly by the economic nature of the asset parties committed to the business exchange. By synthesizing transaction cost economics and new institutional economics, this paper develops an alternative theoretical model that complements the existing negotiation literature to explain negotiation behavior. Our model theorizes relationships between parties' ex ante credible commitments and ex post dispute resolution strategies and explores how institutions moderate such relationships in shaping international business negotiation behavior and process.
A Randomized Clinical Trial of an Integrative Group Therapy for Children With Severe Mood Dysregulation.
Venue: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Nonepisodic irritability is a common and impairing problem, leading to the development of the diagnoses severe mood dysregulation (SMD) and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) No psychosocial therapies have been formally evaluated for either, with medication being the most common treatment. This study examined the feasibility and efficacy of a joint parent child intervention for SMD.  A total of 68 participants aged 7 to 12 years with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and SMD were randomly assigned to the 11 week therapy or community based psychosocial treatment. All participants were first stabilized on psychostimulant medication by study physicians. Of the participants, 56 still manifested impairing SMD symptoms and entered the therapy phase. Masked evaluators assessed participants at baseline, midpoint, and endpoint, with therapy participants reassessed 6 weeks later.  All but 2 therapy participants attended the majority of sessions (n 29) with families reporting high levels of satisfaction. The primary outcome of change in mood symptoms using the Mood Severity Index (MSI) did not reach significance except in the subset attending the majority of sessions (effect size 0.53) Therapy was associated with significantly greater improvement in parent rated irritability (effect size 0.63) Treatment effects for irritability but not MSI diminished after therapy stopped. Little impact on ADHD symptoms was seen. Results may not be generalizable to youth with SMD and comorbidities different from those seen in this sample of children with ADHD, and are limited by the lack of a gold standard for measuring change in SMD symptoms.  While failing to significantly improve mood symptoms versus community treatment, the integrative therapy was found to be a feasible and efficacious treatment for irritability in participants with SMD and ADHD.
Onion ORAM: A Constant Bandwidth Blowup Oblivious RAM
Venue: TCC

We present Onion ORAM, an Oblivious RAM (ORAM) with constant worst case bandwidth blowup that leverages poly logarithmic server computation to circumvent the logarithmic lower bound on ORAM bandwidth blowup. Our construction does not require fully homomorphic encryption, but employs an additively homomorphic encryption scheme such as the Damgard Jurik cryptosystem, or alternatively a BGV style somewhat homomorphic encryption scheme without bootstrapping. At the core of our construction is an ORAM scheme that has "shallow circuit depth" over the entire history of ORAM accesses. We also propose novel techniques to achieve security against a malicious server, without resorting to expensive and non standard techniques such as SNARKs. To the best of our knowledge, Onion ORAM is the first concrete instantiation of a constant bandwidth blowup ORAM under standard assumptions (even for the semi honest setting)
Robust decoding of selective auditory attention from MEG in a competing speaker environment via state space modeling
Venue: NeuroImage

The underlying mechanism of how the human brain solves the cocktail party problem is largely unknown. Recent neuroimaging studies, however, suggest salient temporal correlations between the auditory neural response and the attended auditory object. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings of the neural responses of human subjects, we propose a decoding approach for tracking the attentional state while subjects are selectively listening to one of the two speech streams embedded in a competing speaker environment. We develop a biophysically inspired state space model to account for the modulation of the neural response with respect to the attentional state of the listener. The constructed decoder is based on a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimate of the state parameters via the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. Using only the envelope of the two speech streams as covariates, the proposed decoder enables us to track the attentional state of the listener with a temporal resolution of the order of seconds, together with statistical confidence intervals. We evaluate the performance of the proposed model using numerical simulations and experimentally measured evoked MEG responses from the human brain. Our analysis reveals considerable performance gains provided by the state space model in terms of temporal resolution, computational complexity and decoding accuracy.
Robust sensorless sliding mode control of PMSM with MRAS and Luenberger extended observer
Venue: 2016 8th International Conference on Modelling, Identification and Control (ICMIC)

The first method (MRAS) is based on the dynamic model of the salient pole PMSM, formulated in a reference frame linked to the rotor. The second method, based on a nonlinear Luenberger extended observer is used to estimate the speed and the load torque of the mechanical load from equations of the machine. Simulations results confirmed the feasibility of the sliding mode control of a PMSM sensorless speed provided with two observers MRAS and Luenberger extended and validate excellent dynamic performance.
A proposal of conceptual model for Pertuso Spring discharge evaluation in the Upper Valley of Aniene River

The Upper Aniene River basin is part of a large karst aquifer, which interacts with the river, and represents the most important water resource in the southeast part of Latium Region, Central Italy, used for drinking, agriculture and hydroelectric supplies. This work provides hydrogeochemical data and their interpretations for 1 spring and 2 cross section of Aniene River, monitored from July 2014 to December 2015, in the Upper Valley of Aniene River, to identify flow paths and hydrogeochemical processes governing groundwater surface water interactions in this region. These activities deal with the Environmental Monitoring Plan made for the catchment work project of the Pertuso Spring, in the Upper Valley of Aniene River, which is going to be exploited to supply an important drinking water network in the South part of Rome district. Discharge measurements and hydrogeochemical data were analyzed to develop a conceptual model of aquifer river interaction, with the aim of achieving proper management and protection of this important hydrogeological system. All groundwater samples are characterized as Ca HCO3 type. Geochemical modeling and saturation index computation of the water samples show that groundwater and surface water chemistry in the study area was evolved through the interaction with carbonate minerals. All groundwater samples were undersaturated with respect to calcite and dolomite, however some of the Aniene River samples were saturated with respect to dolomite. The analysis of Mg2+/Ca2+ ratios indicates that the dissolution of carbonate minerals is important for groundwater and surface water chemistry, depending on the hydrological processes, which control the groundwater residence time and chemical equilibria in the aquifer.
Research on Child and Adolescent Development and Public Policy in Latin America.
Venue: New directions for child and adolescent development

This commentary discusses the implication of child and adolescent development research for public policy in Latin America. As illustrated by the articles in this special issue, even though the research of child and adolescent development in Latin America is making significant progress, still more research is needed. Developmental research in the region faces the challenge of uncovering the mechanisms that affect child development in a context of high levels of poverty and inequality. In addition, researchers in the region should be particularly careful in using appropriate and rigorous methods, improving the design and adaptation of instruments that measure child and adolescent development, developing longitudinal datasets, and looking for causal evidence. Children and adolescents in Latin America will benefit from a further expansion of developmental research. Research in child and adolescent development using data from Latin America can advise policy makers and help improve the design and evaluation of interventions and public policies that promote child and adolescent well being in the region.
Toward Dynamic Adaptation of Psychological Interventions for Child and Adolescent Development and Mental Health
Venue: Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53

Children's and adolescents' mental health needs emphasize the necessity of a new era of translational research to enhance development and yield better lives for children, families, and communities. Developmental, clinical, and translational research serves as a powerful tool for managing the inevitable complexities in pursuit of these goals. This article proposes key ideas that will strengthen current evidence based intervention practices by creating stronger links between research, practice, and complex systems contexts, with the potential of extending applicability, replicability, and impact. As exemplified in some of the articles throughout this special issue, new research and innovative implementation models will likely contribute to better ways of assessing and dynamically adapting structure and intervention practice within mental health systems. We contend that future models for effective interventions with children and adolescents will involve increased attention to (a) the connection of research on the developmental needs of children and adolescents to practice models; (b) consideration of informed contextual and cultural adaptation in implementation; and (c) a rational model of evidence based planning, using a dynamic, inclusive approach with high support for adaptation, flexibility, and implementation fidelity. We discuss future directions for translational research for researchers, practitioners, and administrators in the field to continue and transform these ideas and their illustrations.
Development of an item bank for the EORTC Role Functioning Computer Adaptive Test (EORTC RF CAT)
Venue: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes

BackgroundRole functioning (RF) as a core construct of health related quality of life (HRQOL) comprises aspects of occupational and social roles relevant for patients in all treatment phases as well as for survivors. The objective of the current study was to improve its assessment by developing a computer adaptive test (CAT) for RF. This was part of a larger project whose objective is to develop a CAT version of the EORTC QLQ C30 which is one of the most widely used HRQOL instruments in oncology.MethodsIn accordance with EORTC guidelines, the development of the RF CAT comprised four phases. Phase I involved the conceptualization of RF. In Phase II, a provisional list of items was defined and revised by experts in the field. In phase III, feedback was obtained from cancer patients in various countries. Phase IV comprised field testing in an international sample, calibration of the item bank, and evaluation of the psychometric performance of the RF CAT.ResultsPhases I III yielded a list of 12 items eligible for phase IV field testing. The field testing sample included 1,023 patients from Austria, Denmark, Italy, and the UK. Psychometric evaluation and item response theory analyses yielded 10 items with good psychometric properties. The resulting item bank exhibits excellent reliability (mean reliability 0.85, median 0.95) Using the RF CAT may allow sample size savings from 11 up to 50 compared to using the QLQ C30 RF scale.ConclusionsThe RF CAT item bank improves the precision and efficiency with which RF can be assessed, promoting its integration into oncology research and clinical practice.
Interview with Edgar W. Schneider

Edgar W. Schneider is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Regensburg, Germany, after previous appointments in Bamberg, Athens (GA) and Berlin. He has written and edited several books, as well as published and lectured extensively on varieties of English, sociolinguistics, language variation and change, dialect geography, and the history of English. He is known especially as the author of the "Dynamic Model" of the evolution of postcolonial Englishes in the World Englishes paradigm. The following interview with Edgar W. Schneider was conducted via email by Viveka Velupillai between March and May 2016. The text of the interview has been edited only minimally from the original.
Mecanismos de Respostas das Plantas a Poluicao por Metais Pesados: Possibilidade de Uso de Macrofitas para Remediacao de Ambientes Aquaticos Contaminados

A contaminacao da agua por metais pesados vem despertando muita preocupacao dos governantes e de toda populacao devido ao seu alto potencial de toxicidade a todos os seres vivos e ao ambiente. As macrofitas aquaticas tem sido estudadas para serem utilizadas como alternativas de recuperacao desse ambiente, uma vez que possuem caracteristicas favoraveis a esse processo. As diferentes especies existentes podem responder de formas diversas ao ambiente contaminado por metais pesados, podendo ser sensiveis, exibindo sintomas de toxicidade e nao tolerando elevadas concentracoes de contaminacao; ou tolerantes, utilizando mecanismos extra ou intracelulares que possibilitem seu crescimento na presenca desses contaminantes. Nesta revisao nos apresentamos os principais mecanismos utilizados pelas plantas como resposta a contaminacao por metais pesados.