nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
A prospective time series quality improvement trial of a standardized analgesia protocol to reduce postoperative pain among neurosurgery patients.
Venue: Journal of neurosurgery

The inclusion of the pain management domain in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey now ties patients' perceptions of pain and analgesia to financial reimbursement for inpatient stays. Therefore, the authors wanted to determine if a quality improvement initiative centered on a standardized analgesia protocol could significantly reduce postoperative pain among neurosurgery patients.  The authors implemented a 10 month, prospective, interrupted time series trial of a quality improvement initiative. The intervention consisted of a multimodal, interdepartmental, standardized analgesia protocol with process improvements from preadmission to discharge. All neurosurgical floor patients participated in the quality improvement intervention, with data collected on a systematically randomly sampled subset of 96 patients for detailed analysis. Patient reported numeric rating scale pain on the first postoperative day (POD) served as the primary outcome.  Implementation of the analgesia protocol resulted in improved preoperative and postoperative documentation of pain (p 0.001) and improved use of multimodal analgesia, including use of NSAIDs (p 0.009) and gabapentin (p 0.027) This intervention also correlated with a 32% reduction in reported pain on the 1st POD for all neurosurgical patients (mean pain scale scores 4.31 vs 2.94; p 0.000) and a 43% reduction among spinal surgery patients (mean pain scale scores 5.45 vs 3.10; p 0.036) After controlling for covariates, implementation of the protocol was a significant predictor of lowered postoperative pain (p 0.05) on the 1st POD. This reduction in pain correlated with protocol compliance (p 0.028) and a significant decrease in the monthly number of naloxone doses suggests improved safety (mean dose SD 1.5 1.0 vs 0.33 0.5; p 0.04) Furthermore, a significant and persistent reduction in the pain management component of the HCAHPS scores suggests a durability of results extending beyond the life of the study (72.1% vs 82.0% p 0.033)  The implementation of a standardized analgesia protocol can significantly reduce postoperative pain among neurosurgical patients while increasing safety. Given the current climate of patient centered outcomes, this study has broad implications for the continuum of care model proposed in the Affordable Care Act.
Emerging Methods and Principles in Food Contact Surface Decontamination/Prevention

Food contact surfaces comprise all surfaces that may come into contact with food products during production, processing, and packaging. These surfaces are typically made of stainless steel or some kind of plastic material, but contact surfaces may also consist of other materials like wood, rubber, ceramics, or glass. Recent developments in food contact surface decontamination are described in this chapter, with an emphasis on emerging methods. Cleaning is not covered, nor is biofilm. The chapter is focused on emerging methods and agents and does not cover widely used agents like chlorine, iodine, quaternary ammonium compounds, carboxylic acid, and acid anionic sanitizers. The methods are grouped as nonthermal and thermal, and there is also an attempt to separate methods that rely on direct contact (liquid, foam) and those that do not (plasma, steam, and fogging) Furthermore, aspects of prevention of recontamination through hygienic design and physical barriers are described, as are future trends and sources of more information.
ANVIL: Software Based Protection Against Next Generation Rowhammer Attacks
Venue: ASPLOS

Ensuring the integrity and security of the memory system is critical. Recent studies have shown serious security concerns due to "rowhammer" attacks, where repeated accesses to a row of memory cause bit flips in adjacent rows. Recent work by Google's Project Zero has shown how to leverage rowhammer induced bit flips as the basis for security exploits that include malicious code injection and memory privilege escalation. Being an important security concern, industry has attempted to defend against rowhammer attacks. Deployed defenses employ two strategies: (1) doubling the system DRAM refresh rate and (2) restricting access to the CLFLUSH instruction that attackers use to bypass the cache to increase memory access frequency (i.e. the rate of rowhammering) We demonstrate that such defenses are inadequte: we implement rowhammer attacks that both avoid using the CLFLUSH instruction and cause bit flips with a doubled refresh rate. Our next generation CLFLUSH free rowhammer attack bypasses the cache by manipulating cache replacement state to allow frequent misses out of the last level cache to DRAM rows of our choosing. To protect existing systems from more advanced rowhammer attacks, we develop a software based defense, ANVIL, which thwarts all known rowhammer attacks on existing systems. ANVIL detects rowhammer attacks by tracking the locality of DRAM accesses using existing hardware performance counters. Our detector identifies the rows being frequently accessed (i.e. the aggressors) then selectively refreshes the nearby victim rows to prevent hammering. Experiments running on real hardware with the SPEC2006 benchmarks show that ANVIL has less than a 1% false positive rate and an average slowdown of 1% ANVIL is low cost and robust, and our experiments indicate that it is an effective approach for protecting existing and future systems from even advanced rowhammer attacks.
The Effects of Virtual Reality Learning Environment on Student Cognitive and Linguistic Development

Virtual reality (VR) has brought about numerous alternative learning opportunities in the last decade, and with modern products such as Oculus Rift and other wearable Virtual Reality technologies being introduced into society, VR will promisingly continue to provide yet unseen opportunities in the next few decades and therefore is a technology that deserves serious consideration and study. In an attempt to better understand how virtual worlds positively affect student learning, this study used an online 3D VR English language learning platform and conducted an experiment to evaluate the student learning effectiveness based on Bloom's cognitive complexity level. t test analysis was used to determine the effectiveness of the learning platform, while structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was used to determine the learning model behind the pedagogy. Participants were 448 students at a science and technology university in Taiwan. Results show that students improved their phonological, morphological, grammar and syntax knowledge, and virtual world learning assisted in the development of a more complex and higher level of thinking. The SEM analysis results indicated the virtual learning environment with unique features of immersion and ease of use, together with help seeking positively affected student language cognition.
Suicide, Self Harm and Survival Strategies in Contemporary Heavy Metal Music: A Cultural and Literary Analysis
Venue: The Journal of medical humanities

This paper seeks to think creatively about the body of research which claims there is a link between heavy metal music and adolescent alienation, self destructive behaviours, self harm and suicide. Such research has been criticised, often by people who belong to heavy metal subcultures, as systematically neglecting to explore, in a meaningful manner, the psychosocial benefits for individuals who both listen to contemporary heavy metal music and socialize in associated groups. We argue that notions of survival, strength, community, and rebellion are key themes in contemporary heavy metal music. Through literary lyrical analysis of a selection of heavy metal tracks, this paper aims to redress the balance of risk and benefit. We argue that listening to this type of music, the accompanying social relationships, sense of solidarity and even the type of dancing can ameliorate tumultuous and difficult emotions. Songs which could be read as negative can induce feelings of relief through the sense that someone else has felt a particular way and recovered enough to transform these emotions into a creative outlet. This genre of music may therefore not increase the risk of untoward outcomes in any simple sense but rather represent a valuable resource for young people in difficulty.
Finite time disturbance observer based non singular integral terminal sliding mode trajectory tracking control of unmanned surface vehicles
Venue: 2016 IEEE Chinese Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference (CGNCC)

In this paper, a finite time disturbance observer based non singular integral terminal sliding mode tracking control scheme for trajectory tracking of an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) is proposed. The salient features of the proposed scheme are as follows: 1) The proposed control scheme contributes to precise trajectory tracking control of an USV. 2) Under the proposed control law, tracking errors can be stabilized to zero with a faster convergence rate than conventional backstepping based approaches. 3) It ensures that external disturbances can be identified exactly in a finite time, thereby leading to better robustness to complex disturbances. Simulation studies and comprehensive comparisons demonstrate the feasibility and superiority of the proposed control scheme for tracking an USV.
Mexico, proceso y afianzamiento de un nuevo regimen politico

En los anos ochenta, Mexico se debatia entre dos regimenes politicos: uno estatista, populista y autoritario, y otro neoliberal, tecnocratico y menos autoritario que el viejo regimen. El interes de los grandes y poderosos grupos empresariales, tanto mexicanos como extranjeros, que hicieron suyo el dogma neoliberal, fue de tal magnitud que impusieron, mediante el Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) (renovado) y una eleccion fraudulenta, a Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988) en la presidencia de la republica. La tecnocracia, primero del PRI y luego del Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) se afianzaria en el poder y no vacilo en darle un golpe de Estado ex ante a Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador para impedirle ganar la presidencia del pais en 2006. La razon no es dificil de entender: este candidato representaba algo que los poderes facticos no estaban ni estan dispuestos a conceder: que se echara abajo el nuevo regimen para regresar a un mayor intervencionismo de Estado y al resguardo de la soberania nacional, sobre todo en materia energetica. El dilema de los dos regimenes politicos superpuestos se resolvio, con trampas y fraudes desde el poder, a favor del neoliberal tecnocratico, desde el 2000 en manos del derechista Partido Accion Nacional. El gran problema es que el partido de centro izquierda, de Cuauhtemoc Cardenas y de Lopez Obrador, no parece estar a la altura del reto historico que tiene enfrente
Antagonism between Staphylococcus epidermidis and Propionibacterium acnes and its genomic basis
Venue: BMC Genomics

BackgroundPropionibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis live in close proximity on human skin, and both bacterial species can be isolated from normal and acne vulgaris affected skin sites. The antagonistic interactions between the two species are poorly understood, as well as the potential significance of bacterial interferences for the skin microbiota. Here, we performed simultaneous antagonism assays to detect inhibitory activities between multiple isolates of the two species. Selected strains were sequenced to identify the genomic basis of their antimicrobial phenotypes.ResultsFirst, we screened 77 P. acnes strains isolated from healthy and acne affected skin, and representing all known phylogenetic clades (I, II, and III) for their antimicrobial activities against 12 S. epidermidis isolates. One particular phylogroup (I 2) exhibited a higher antimicrobial activity than other P. acnes phylogroups. All genomes of type I 2 strains carry an island encoding the biosynthesis of a thiopeptide with possible antimicrobial activity against S. epidermidis.Second, 20 S. epidermidis isolates were examined for inhibitory activity against 25 P. acnes strains. The majority of S. epidermidis strains were able to inhibit P. acnes. Genomes of S. epidermidis strains with strong, medium and no inhibitory activities against P. acnes were sequenced. Genome comparison underlined the diversity of S. epidermidis and detected multiple clade or strain specific mobile genetic elements encoding a variety of functions important in antibiotic and stress resistance, biofilm formation and interbacterial competition, including bacteriocins such as epidermin. One isolate with an extraordinary antimicrobial activity against P. acnes harbors a functional ESAT 6 secretion system that might be involved in the antimicrobial activity against P. acnes via the secretion of polymorphic toxins.ConclusionsTaken together, our study suggests that interspecies interactions could potentially jeopardize balances in the skin microbiota. In particular, S. epidermidis strains possess an arsenal of different mechanisms to inhibit P. acnes. However, if such interactions are relevant in skin disorders such as acne vulgaris remains questionable, since no difference in the antimicrobial activity against, or the sensitivity towards S. epidermidis could be detected between health and acne associated strains of P. acnes.
Propionibacterium acnes in primary shoulder arthroplasty: rates of colonization, patient risk factors, and efficacy of perioperative prophylaxis.
Venue: Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery

Recent literature has shown that Propionibacterium acnes can be cultured from superficial and deep layers of the shoulder. Our aims were to assess the rate of P. acnes colonization in patients undergoing primary shoulder arthroplasty, to identify patient related risk factors, and to evaluate the efficacy of our perioperative antisepsis protocol.  Thirty consecutive patients undergoing primary shoulder arthroplasty were included in our study. Swabs were taken perioperatively (4 superficial and 2 deep wound swabs) and analyzed quantitatively for P. acnes. Cefazolin minimum inhibitory concentration was determined for P. acnes isolates from positive deep cultures.  Twenty two patients (73% had positive cultures for P. acnes. Male gender (P .024) and presence of hair (P .005) had significantly higher rates of P. acnes superficial cultures. Subjects with positive superficial P. acnes cultures (P .076) and presence of hair with a history of steroid injection (P .092) were more likely to have deep P. acnes positive cultures, but this was not statistically significant. Local topical antisepsis measures did not eradicate P. acnes (P .12) Mean cefazolin minimum inhibitory concentration for P. acnes was 0.32 mg/mL.  P. acnes is commonly isolated from the skin and deep surgical wounds of patients undergoing primary total shoulder arthroplasty who have not had previous shoulder surgery. Male gender and presence of hair were significant risk factors for P. acnes colonization. Perioperative local topical antisepsis and cefazolin administration were not effective in eliminating P. acnes colonization.
Frequent isolation of Propionibacterium acnes from the shoulder dermis despite skin preparation and prophylactic antibiotics.
Venue: Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery

In vitro, Propionibacterium acnes (P acnes) is highly susceptible to commonly used antibiotics and antiseptics, yet in vivo, it still causes postsurgical infections of the shoulder. We hypothesized that the local environment within the pilosebaceous glands protects P acnes and that incision of the skin transects these glands, exposing viable P acnes to the wound.  Fifty consecutive patients undergoing open shoulder surgery were prospectively studied. Prophylactic antibiotics were administered to all patients. Microbiologic swabs of the skin surface were taken before and after skin preparation with 70% alcoholic chlorhexidine. The skin was incised, and a further swab and dermal biopsy specimen were taken.  P acnes was cultured in 21 of 50 prepreparation skin surface swabs (42% 7 of 50 postpreparation skin surface swabs (14% 26 of 50 dermal swabs (52% and 20 of 50 dermal biopsy specimens (40% There was a significantly higher incidence of P acnes growth from the skin surface (P .009) and dermis (P .01) of patients aged =50 years old and in the dermal biopsy specimens of patients undergoing revision surgery (P .01) and a trend toward increased incidence of P acnes in men. P acnes growth from a prepreparation skin surface swab had a sensitivity of 69% specificity of 88% positive predictive value of 86% and negative predictive value of 72% at predicting subsequent P acnes growth from the dermal swab or biopsy specimen.  P acnes persists within the skin dermis, despite standard antimicrobial precautions. These findings suggest that incising the skin is likely to lead to deep seeding of the surgical wound, which has implications for the pathogenesis and prevention of postsurgical shoulder infections.
Ethos at stake: Performance management and academic work in universities

Higher education has been subject to substantial reforms as new forms of performance management are implemented in universities across the world. Extant research suggests that in many cases performance management systems have disrupted academic life. We complement this literature with an extensive mixed methods study of how the performance management system is understood by academics across universities and departments in Finland at a time when new management principles and practices are being forcefully introduced. While our survey results enabled us to map the generally critical and negative view that Finnish scholars have of performance management, the qualitative inquiry allowed us to disentangle how and why our respondents resent the ways and means of measuring their work, the assumptions that underlie the measurement, and the university ideal on which the performance management system is rooted. Most significantly, we highlight how the proliferation of performance management can be seen as a catalyst for changing the very ethos of what it is to be an academic and to do academic work.
The performance management revolution

Hated by bosses and subordinates alike, traditional performance appraisals have been abandoned by more than a third of U.S. companies. The annual review's biggest limitation, the authors argue, is its emphasis on holding employees accountable for what they did last year, at the expense of improving performance now and in the future. That's why many organizations are moving to more frequent, development focused conversations between managers and employees. The authors explain how performance management has evolved over the decades and why current thinking has shifted: (1) Today's tight labor market creates pressure to keep employees happy and groom them for advancement. (2) The rapidly changing business environment requires agility, which argues for regular check ins with employees. (3) Prioritizing improvement over accountability promotes teamwork. Some companies worry that going numberless may make it harder to align individual and organizational goals, award merit raises, identify poor performers, and counter claims of discrimination though traditional appraisals haven't solved those problems, either. Other firms are trying hybrid approaches for example, giving employees performance ratings on multiple dimensions, coupled with regular development feedback. INSET: CAN YOU TAKE COGNITIVE BIAS OUT OF ASSESSMENTS?
Foundations and trends in performance management. A twenty five years bibliometric analysis in business and public administration domains
Venue: Scientometrics

Our paper analyses 25 years of performance management research published in the English language journals, included in SSCI database, separating the business domain from public sector one. We used a content analysis for showing the relationships between the subfields of performance management and the time evolution. Through a multiple correspondence analysis based on keywords we provide a framework to track this literature over the 25 year period. We conclude the paper with a discussion on future pathways in the performance management literature.
Performance Management, Caseloads and the Frontline Provision of Social Services

Caseloads and performance management are important working conditions of workers delivering public social services in street level organizations. The literature on these working conditions argues that high caseloads and performance management have considerable consequences for workers' performance in terms of the quality of services they provide and the results they realize. This article empirically investigates and compares these consequences, drawing on the results of a quantitative study of frontline workers in 14 local welfare agencies in the Netherlands. These workers are responsible for the delivery of welfare to work policies to social assistance recipients. The findings show that high caseloads do, indeed, have a detrimental effect on workers' performance, whereas the impact of performance management is more modest, though confirming some of the findings reported in other studies on performance management. The results also show that by focusing service provision on a proportion of their caseload, workers are able to reduce the negative impact of high caseloads somewhat. Overall, the article finds that the negative impact of high caseloads is more pervasive than that of performance management. The article concludes that the recent focus in the literature on performance management and its consequences for public services should not turn scholars' attention away from the 'traditional' public administration problem of high caseload sizes.
A content aware hybrid architecture for answering questions from open domain texts
Venue: 2016 19th International Conference on Computer and Information Technology (ICCIT)

The current work blends the different paradigms of Question Answering systems and presents a content aware hybrid architecture for an open domain factoid questions. It combines a knowledge based, information extraction based and a web based approach in a pipelined architecture to construct an answer to a question keeping the context and discourse of the question in view. The proposed semantic aware hybrid architecture was compared with other QA systems designed over standard benchmark data. The work has shown enough potential in terms of accuracy and time domain complexity and can be used effectively as a semantic understanding based QA system.
Question Recommendation and Answer Extraction in Question Answering Community

Every day, there are a large number of new questions produce in question answering community, how to find the answer user for the question and sort candidate answers is the research content of this paper. First of all ,we use statistical language model to model for user interest, make full use of the abundant personalized information in question answering community to find out user interest distribution, and obtain the user list of question recommendation by introducing the query likelihood language model to calculate the degree of user interest to the new question. Secondly, we calculate the matching degree of question and candidate answers through fusing the feature of word form, word order, distance and semantic. The candidate answers of question will be sorted automatically, making it easier for users to choose the best answer. Experiments are performed on data sets extracted from the Baidu know, experimental results show that the method proposed in this paper has better performance.