nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
A Comparative Study of Teachers' and Learners' Perceptions towards the Role of Culture in English Language Teaching

The general principal is that the way people perceive something positively or negatively would influence their behavior toward that thing. Given the fact that English is the dominant foreign language taught in Iran, it is of enormous use to investigate the possible contributions of teachers' and learners' attitudes toward teaching the target culture. This study was an attempt to uncover the Iranian English teachers' and learners' perceptions of teaching culture. Alongside, the possible differences between the teachers' and learners' perceptions of teaching culture in language classrooms were also inspected. The participants of the study included 8 language teachers and 30 language learners from Iranian institutes. Teachers' and learners' perceptions toward teaching target culture in language classes were collected through attitude questionnaires and interviews. Data analysis revealed that both language teachers and learners held positive attitudes toward teaching culture and the statistical test of independent samples t test also indicated that there was no significant difference between language teachers and learners in terms of perceptions toward teaching culture in language classes. Moreover, language learners expressed that they preferred dialogue based learning of culture rather than using other channels such as reading about culture.
Car drivers with higher perceived safety tend to drive their vehicles with higher risk, a unique phenomenon on the roads in Jakarta, Indonesia

this study was conducted to examine the hypothetical model of how an individual's perceived safety and job satisfaction level influence his/her driving behavior. A survey with four instruments through purposive sampling technique was conducted on 396 car drivers. The hypothetical model was tested through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using Linear Structural Relation (LISREL) software. The result of the hypothetical model test significantly shows that an increase in perceived safety tends to be followed by an increasingly reckless driving behavior. On the other hand, job satisfaction tends to be followed by an increasingly good driving behavior. The resulting fit indices, such as from Root Mean Square Error of Approximation or (RMSEA) and Critical Number (CN) shows that this hypothetical model can be accepted as a field data suitable model (RMSEA 0.60; CN 274.75) and significant. Theoretical and practical implications for future directions are discussed. Keywords collective culture, conservation of resources theory, driving behavior, job satisfaction, job secutiry, perceived safety
Open domain question answering system using cognitive computing
Venue: 2016 6th International Conference Cloud System and Big Data Engineering (Confluence)

Technology has advanced so much that in recent times use Internet search engines as primary medium of reference for understanding of any concept and knowledge level doubts. In this paper the main idea is to present an architecture which is the new way of searching for the information present on the Internet and it is based on the new era of computing i.e. cognitive computing. Cognitive computing resolves the situation where ambiguity and uncertainty is present and attempts to mimic the mechanism of human brain. Recent information requirements need an efficient mechanism which should be capable of interacting with users in a more natural way. Our system is intended to manage large amount of textual data and mining suitable knowledge. Thus resulting in a new level of refinement to search results for the user by providing exact answer to the natural language query that are specified by users. Our system will be helpful to the users because system is able to provide succinct answers which do not require end users to wade through a huge amount of data present on the Internet. This paper briefly summarizes the characteristics of cognitive computing and how it is implemented in our open domain question answering system developed using open source software.
10 Year Outcomes after Monitoring, Surgery, or Radiotherapy for Localized Prostate Cancer.
Venue: The New England journal of medicine

The comparative effectiveness of treatments for prostate cancer that is detected by prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing remains uncertain.  We compared active monitoring, radical prostatectomy, and external beam radiotherapy for the treatment of clinically localized prostate cancer. Between 1999 and 2009, a total of 82,429 men 50 to 69 years of age received a PSA test; 2664 received a diagnosis of localized prostate cancer, and 1643 agreed to undergo randomization to active monitoring (545 men) surgery (553) or radiotherapy (545) The primary outcome was prostate cancer mortality at a median of 10 years of follow up. Secondary outcomes included the rates of disease progression, metastases, and all cause deaths.  There were 17 prostate cancer specific deaths overall: 8 in the active monitoring group (1.5 deaths per 1000 person years; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.7 to 3.0) 5 in the surgery group (0.9 per 1000 person years; 95% CI, 0.4 to 2.2) and 4 in the radiotherapy group (0.7 per 1000 person years; 95% CI, 0.3 to 2.0) the difference among the groups was not significant (P=0.48 for the overall comparison) In addition, no significant difference was seen among the groups in the number of deaths from any cause (169 deaths overall; P=0.87 for the comparison among the three groups) Metastases developed in more men in the active monitoring group (33 men; 6.3 events per 1000 person years; 95% CI, 4.5 to 8.8) than in the surgery group (13 men; 2.4 per 1000 person years; 95% CI, 1.4 to 4.2) or the radiotherapy group (16 men; 3.0 per 1000 person years; 95% CI, 1.9 to 4.9) (P=0.004 for the overall comparison) Higher rates of disease progression were seen in the active monitoring group (112 men; 22.9 events per 1000 person years; 95% CI, 19.0 to 27.5) than in the surgery group (46 men; 8.9 events per 1000 person years; 95% CI, 6.7 to 11.9) or the radiotherapy group (46 men; 9.0 events per 1000 person years; 95% CI, 6.7 to 12.0) (P<0.001 for the overall comparison)  At a median of 10 years, prostate cancer specific mortality was low irrespective of the treatment assigned, with no significant difference among treatments. Surgery and radiotherapy were associated with lower incidences of disease progression and metastases than was active monitoring. (Funded by the National Institute for Health Research;
Sexy, Strong, and Secondary: A Content Analysis of Female Characters in Video Games across 31 Years

We analyzed in game content from titles released between 1983 and 2014 (n 571) featuring playable female characters. Results indicate that sexualization has diminished since an observed height in the 1990s. Traditionally male oriented genres (e.g. fighting) have more sexualized characters than role playing games. Games rated Teen or Mature did not differ in sexualization and featured more sexualization than Everyone games. Despite an increase in games featuring playable female characters, games still depict female characters more often in secondary roles and sexualized them more than primary characters. A positive relationship emerged between the sexualization of female characters and their physical capability. Critical success of games was unrelated to sexualization. We discuss these findings in light of social identity and objectification theories.
The neural dynamics of reward value and risk coding in the human orbitofrontal cortex.
Venue: Brain a journal of neurology

The orbitofrontal cortex is known to carry information regarding expected reward, risk and experienced outcome. Yet, due to inherent limitations in lesion and neuroimaging methods, the neural dynamics of these computations has remained elusive in humans. Here, taking advantage of the high temporal definition of intracranial recordings, we characterize the neurophysiological signatures of the intact orbitofrontal cortex in processing information relevant for risky decisions. Local field potentials were recorded from the intact orbitofrontal cortex of patients suffering from drug refractory partial epilepsy with implanted depth electrodes as they performed a probabilistic reward learning task that required them to associate visual cues with distinct reward probabilities. We observed three successive signals: (i) around 400 ms after cue presentation, the amplitudes of the local field potentials increased with reward probability; (ii) a risk signal emerged during the late phase of reward anticipation and during the outcome phase; and (iii) an experienced value signal appeared at the time of reward delivery. Both the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex encoded risk and reward probability while the lateral orbitofrontal cortex played a dominant role in coding experienced value. The present study provides the first evidence from intracranial recordings that the human orbitofrontal cortex codes reward risk both during late reward anticipation and during the outcome phase at a time scale of milliseconds. Our findings offer insights into the rapid mechanisms underlying the ability to learn structural relationships from the environment.
Imbalanced phosphorus and nitrogen deposition in China's forests

Acceleration of anthropogenic emissions in China has substantially increased nitrogen (N) deposition during the last 3 decades and may result in an imbalance of atmospheric N and phosphorus (P) inputs in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the status of P deposition in China is poorly understood. This study synthesized data on total P and total N concentrations in bulk precipitation and throughfall from published literature to assess the characteristics of P deposition, N deposition and N P deposition ratio in China's forests. Our results show relatively high mean rates of bulk P deposition (0.38 kg P ha 1 yr 1) and total P deposition (0.69 kg P ha 1 yr 1) but they were accompanied by even more elevated N inputs via bulk deposition (16.5 kg N ha 1 yr 1) and total deposition (21.6 kg N ha 1 yr 1) resulting in high N P ratios in bulk deposition (44.4) and total deposition (32.8) Based on the difference between total deposition and bulk deposition, canopy captured dry P and N deposition was estimated to be 0.31 kg P ha 1 yr 1 and 5.1 kg N ha 1 yr 1, respectively. We found significantly higher P deposition and lower N P ratios at sites nearby than those far from semiarid regions. The estimated bulk and total deposition of P and N both showed a significant power law increase with decreasing distance to the nearest large cities either in the areas nearby or far from semiarid regions. Our results suggest an anthropogenic alternation of regional P and N cycling, which may shift large areas of China's forests towards human induced P limitation especially in southern China.
IMPACT OF BRAND PERSONALITY ON SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY OF CONSUMERS (CASE STUDY: LUXURY BRANDS OF WATCHES IN THE CITY ISFAHAN)

The purpose of this research is to review the impact of various dimensions of brand personality which includes: honesty, qualification, being exciting, perfection, and strength on customer's satisfaction and its impact on customer's loyalty. The statistical population of this research includes customers who have used luxury brands of watches in the city Isfahan. For selecting the sample of this research, a number of 150 questionnaires were distributed and ultimately, 135 questionnaires were analyzed. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the industry experts. Also, the validity of its content was confirmed by the KMO test. The reliability of this questionnaire is 0.922 for the variable customer loyalty, 0.934 for customer satisfaction. For the change of brand personality, we reviewed its indexes and the reliability of the index brand honesty is 0.762, 0.767 for being exciting, 0.745 for brand qualification, 0.770 for brand perfection and 0.898 for brand strength. The hypotheses were reviewed by using the first order and second order factor analysis, path analysis method and by using the LISREL 8.54 and SPSS 18. The results indicate that the independent variables which include dimensions of brand personality (honesty, qualification, being exciting, perfection and strength) have a positive and significant impact on the dependent variables including customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Also, the rate of impact of each of the variables on one another is calculated.  Brand; Brand Personality; Satisfaction; Customer's Loyalty
Exercise echocardiography for the assessment of pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis: a systematic review
Venue: Arthritis Research Therapy

BackgroundPulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) complicates the course of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and is associated with poor prognosis. The elevation of systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (sPAP) during exercise in patients with SSc with normal resting haemodynamics may anticipate the development of PAH. Exercise echocardiography (ExEcho) has been proposed as a useful technique to identify exercise induced increases in sPAP, but it is unclear how to clinically interpret these findings. In this systematic review, we summarize the available evidence on the role of exercise echocardiography to estimate exercise induced elevations in pulmonary and left heart filling pressures in patients with systemic sclerosis.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review of the literature using MEDLINE, Cochrane Library and Web of Knowledge, using the vocabulary terms: 'systemic sclerosis' OR 'scleroderma' AND 'exercise echocardiography' AND 'pulmonary hypertension' Studies including patients with SSc without a prior diagnosis of PAH, and subjected to exercise echocardiography were included. All searches were limited to English and were augmented by review of bibliographic references from the included studies. The quality of evidence was assessed by the Effective Public Health Practice Project system.ResultsWe identified 15 studies enrolling 1242 patients, who were mostly middle aged and female. Several exercise methods were used (cycloergometer, treadmill and Master's two step) with different protocols and positions (supine, semi supine, upright) definition of a positive test also varied widely. Resting estimated sPAP levels varied from 18 to 35 mm Hg, all in the normal range. The weighted means for estimated sPAP were 22.2 2.9 mmHg at rest and 43.0 4.3 mmHg on exercise; more than half of the studies reported mean exercise sPAP =40 mmHg. The assessment of left ventricular diastolic function on peak exercise was reported in a minority of studies; however, when assessed, surrogate variables of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction were associated with higher sPAP on exercise.ConclusionsWe found very high heterogeneity in the methods, the protocols and the estimated sPAP response to exercise. LV diastolic dysfunction was common and was associated with greater elevation of sPAP on exercise.
Serum levels of interleukin 18 binding protein isoform a: Clinical association with inflammation and pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis
Venue: The Journal of dermatology

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease characterized by extensive tissue fibrosis and various vascular complications. A wealth of evidence suggests the substantial contribution of pro inflammatory cytokines to the development of SSc, but the role of interleukin (IL) 18 signaling in this disease still remains elusive. To address this issue, we herein determined serum levels of IL 18 binding protein isoform a (IL 18BPa) a soluble decoy receptor for IL 18, by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in 57 SSc patients and 20 healthy controls and evaluated their clinical correlation. Serum IL 18BPa levels were higher in SSc patients than in healthy controls, while comparable between diffuse cutaneous SSc and limited cutaneous SSc patients. Although serum IL 18BPa levels were not associated with dermal and pulmonary fibrotic parameters in SSc patients, there was a significant positive correlation between serum IL 18BPa levels and right ventricular systolic pressure estimated by echocardiography. Furthermore, in 24 SSc patients who underwent right heart catheterization, serum IL 18BPa levels positively correlated with mean pulmonary arterial pressure. As for systemic inflammatory markers, significant positive correlations of circulating IL 18BPa levels with erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C reactive protein were noted. These results suggest that the inhibition of IL 18 signaling by IL 18BPa may be involved in the development of pulmonary vascular involvement leading to pulmonary hypertension and modulate the systemic inflammation in SSc.
Terahertz frequency wavelet domain deconvolution for stratigraphic and subsurface investigation of art painting.
Venue: Optics express

Terahertz frequency wavelet deconvolution is utilized specifically for the stratigraphic and subsurface investigation of art paintings with terahertz reflective imaging. In order to resolve the optically thin paint layers, a deconvolution technique is enhanced by the combination of frequency domain filtering and stationary wavelet shrinkage, and applied to investigate a mid 20th century Italian oil painting on paperboard, After Fishing, by Ausonio Tanda. Based on the deconvolved terahertz data, the stratigraphy of the painting including the paint layers is reconstructed and subsurface features are clearly revealed, demonstrating that terahertz frequency wavelet deconvolution can be an effective tool to characterize stratified systems with optically thin layers.
Identifying Pigment Mixtures in Art Using SERS: A Treatment Flowchart Approach.
Venue: Analytical chemistry

A novel treatment flowchart approach for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is used to identify both blue and yellow organic pigments in a single microscopic sample from a series of reference oil paints as well as an actual 18th century oil painting. In particular, several treatment strategies using acids and solvents are integrated into a specific flowchart designed to enable the minimally invasive identification of unknown blue (i.e. indigo, Prussian blue) and yellow organic (i.e. Reseda lake, Stil de Grain, gamboge) pigments in one sample. We demonstrate the first successful identification of a yellow lake pigment in a historic painting using SERS as well as the utility of our treatment flowchart approach for identifying pigments of varying resonance conditions, surface affinities, and treatment requirements in a single microscopic sample from a historic oil painting.
Time Varying Betas of US REITs from 1972 to 2013

This study estimates the time varying REIT betas with a structural time series model using monthly REIT return data for the periods from 1972 to 2013. Based on the FTSE NAREIT return indices for the equity REIT (EREIT) and mortgage REIT (MREIT) we found corroborative evidence of the temporal declines in the betas of the two REITs up to 1999. The time varying beta characteristics of the two REIT betas are fundamentally different in the 2000s. While the MREIT betas continued to decline, the EREIT betas showed a sharp reversal of the downward trend. Coinciding with the low interest regime in the US, EREITs used more external debt to fund new acquisitions and development activities, and as a result, the EREIT betas increased sharply in 2000s. The EREIT betas hit the peak in 2009; and declined thereafter when active deleveraging occurred in the market. Using firm level data, we construct two leverage sorted EREIT portfolios, and our empirical results do not reject the leverage effects on time varying EREIT betas. However, we find that the leverage effect is not triggered by the declines in stock prices as proposed in the finance literature.
Methods for estimating aboveground biomass and its components for Douglas fir and lodgepole pine trees

Estimating aboveground biomass and its components requires sound statistical formulation and evaluation. Using data collected from 55 destructively sampled trees in different parts of Oregon, we evaluated the performance of three groups of methods to estimate total aboveground biomass and (or) its components based on the bias and root mean squared error (RMSE) that they produced. The first group of methods used an analytical approach to estimate total and component biomass using existing equations and produced biased estimates for our dataset. The second group of methods used a system of equations fitted with seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) and were superior to the first group of methods in terms of bias and RMSE. The third group of methods predicted the proportion of biomass in each component using beta regression, Dirichlet regression, and multinomial log linear regression. The predicted proportions were then applied to the total aboveground biomass to obtain the amount of biomass in each component.
Gait recognition using wifi signals
Venue: UbiComp

In this paper, we propose WifiU, which uses commercial WiFi devices to capture fine grained gait patterns to recognize humans. The intuition is that due to the differences in gaits of different people, the WiFi signal reflected by a walking human generates unique variations in the Channel State Information (CSI) on the WiFi receiver. To profile human movement using CSI, we use signal processing techniques to generate spectrograms from CSI measurements so that the resulting spectrograms are similar to those generated by specifically designed Doppler radars. To extract features from spectrograms that best characterize the walking pattern, we perform autocorrelation on the torso reflection to remove imperfection in spectrograms. We evaluated WifiU on a dataset with 2,800 gait instances collected from 50 human subjects walking in a room with an area of 50 square meters. Experimental results show that WifiU achieves top 1, top 2, and top 3 recognition accuracies of 79.28% 89.52% and 93.05% respectively.
Monitoring vital signs using millimeter wave
Venue: MobiHoc

Continuous monitoring of human's breathing and heart rates is useful in maintaining better health and early detection of many health issues. Designing a technique that can enable contactless and ubiquitous vital sign monitoring is a challenging research problem. This paper presents mmVital, a system that uses 60 GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) signals for vital sign monitoring. We show that the mmWave signals can be directed to human's body and the RSS of the reflections can be analyzed for accurate estimation of breathing and heart rates. We show how the directional beams of mmWave can be used to monitor multiple humans in an indoor space concurrently. mmVital relies on a novel human finding procedure where a human can be located within a room by reflection loss based object/human classification. We evaluate mmVital using a 60 GHz testbed in home and office environment and show that it provides the mean estimation error of 0.43 Bpm (breathing rate) and 2.15 bpm (heart rate) Also, it can locate the human subject with 98.4% accuracy within 100 ms of dwell time on reflection. We also demonstrate that mmVital is effective in monitoring multiple people in parallel and even behind the wall.