nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Impact of Public Relations Expenditure on Corporate Performance of Commercial Banks in Nigeria

Motivated by the high rate of bank distresses in Nigeria, the study dwelt on an appraisal of public relations practices on the corporate performance of commercial banks in the country. The objectives sought were to: Determine the effect of corporate image management practices on corporate performance of commercial banks in Nigeria; ascertain the effect of media relations practices on the corporate performance of commercial banks in Nigeria, and examine the impact of customer relations practices on the corporate performance of commercial banks in Nigeria. The study linked the expenditure on public relations to the importance accorded this activity, which should generate the desired level of good corporate image as a fundamental for customers' satisfaction. Survey research design were adopted in the study. The area of study was one of the major cosmopolitan cities in the country, Calabar in Cross River State, Nigeria. From a working population of 500 bank employees, a sample size of 60 was judgmentally determined. The data procured were analyzed with the chi square (X2) statistical tool. Results indicate that: The public relations practices, media relations practices and customer relations practices of commercial banks in Nigeria have significant effect on their corporate performance. It was then recommended among other things that: commercial banks in developing countries like Nigeria should employ public relations two way communications strategies as a tool for winning and sustaining the confidence, trust and patronage of their customers by shoring up their corporate image and performance. As a concomitance, a good business model should incorporate a reasonable public relations budget in order to shore up goodwill which is a vital variable in asset turnover equation.
Why do occupations dominated by women pay less? How 'female typical' work tasks and working time arrangements affect the gender wage gap among higher education graduates

Even though women today constitute the majority of higher education graduates, they still earn considerably less than their male counterparts. Previous research demonstrates that occupational sex segregation is important for understanding the gender wage gap, since occupations dominated by women pay less; yet less is known about why this is the case. This article explores two possible mechanisms: the devaluation of 'female typical' work tasks and working time arrangements. Hypotheses are tested by applying OLS regression and Blinder Oaxaca decomposition analyses to the log hourly wages of a representative sample of German higher education graduates from 2001. Results confirm that occupational overtime increases and occupational part time work decreases wages, indicating that occupations dominated by women pay less due to their 'female typical' working time arrangements. However, inconsistent with the devaluation thesis, tasks like teaching/educating increase wages for women, too, which speaks against a general lower value of 'female typical' tasks, at least among the highly qualified.
Asymmetric Game Analysis of China's Equipment Manufacturing Industry Hollowing Out

With the rapid development of global economic integration, industrial hollowing out problem has been paid much attention by foreign and domestic scholars. Based on the current situation of China's equipment manufacturing industry, the asymmetric game model is created in this paper which integrates the strong multinational companies and the weak Chinese local companies into a united system. Considering the influence of two main factors affecting unit production cost, technology and production factor cost, importance is attached on analyzing equilibrium solutions of the asymmetric game between multinational company and Chinese local company in R&D stage and processing stage of global value chain, so as to explain the formation mechanism of China's equipment manufacturing industry hollowing out. Suggestions for breaking through the hollowing out obstacle are put forward accordingly.
Analysis of Causes of Engine Overheating due to Cooling System Failure Using Pareto Principle

Cooling system plays an important role to control the temperature of the engine. The overheating of the engine can be prevented by using an efficient cooling system and assists the vehicle running at its optimal performance. The failure of cooling system component results in overheating of an engine. This paper presents the study conducted to find out the causes of engine overheating because of cooling system failure through Pareto analysis, cause and effect diagram is prepared to classify the causes into sub causes and the thermal analysis of the cylinder liner is done using Ansys two different materials gray cast iron and aluminium alloy 6061 were used.
Automatic Signal and Alarming System To Avoid Engine Overheating

Modern technology is largely depends on automation and control system. Automation and control system refers the use of various control systems for operating equipment such as machinery, processes in factories, boilers and heat treating ovens, switching on telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft, automobile and other applications with minimal or reduced human intervention. The greatest advantage of automation and control system is that it saves labor. However, it is also used to save energy and materials and to improve quality, accuracy and precision. Because of these advantages, nowadays automation and control system is using in every sector. Automobile sector is not out of it. The aim of this project is to design and to develop such type of automatic control system for an engine which will aid in protecting the engine from over heating by means of alarm and signal through a temperature sensor. This signal and alarming system mainly consists of temperature sensor circuit, micro controller and LCD. The temperature sensor is fixed to the engine, and operating temperature is measured by this. This produces the alarm and signal when the engine temperature exceeds the set temperature limit. LCD continuously shows the operating temperature of engine.
The legume NOOT BOP COCH LIKE genes are conserved regulators of abscission, a major agronomical trait in cultivated crops.
Venue: The New phytologist

Plants are able to lose organs selectively through a process called abscission. This process relies on the differentiation of specialized territories at the junction between organs and the plant body that are called abscission zones (AZ) Several genes control the formation or functioning of these AZ. We have characterized BLADE ON PETIOLE (BOP) orthologues from several legume plants and studied their roles in the abscission process using a mutant approach. Here, we show that the Medicago truncatula NODULE ROOT (NOOT) the Pisum sativum COCHLEATA (COCH) and their orthologue in Lotus japonicus are strictly necessary for the abscission of not only petals, but also leaflets, leaves and fruits. We also showed that the expression pattern of the M. truncatula pNOOT::GUS fusion is associated with functional and vestigial AZs when expressed in Arabidopsis. In addition, we show that the stip mutant from Lupinus angustifolius, defective in stipule formation and leaf abscission, is mutated in a BOP orthologue. In conclusion, this study shows that this clade of proteins plays an important conserved role in promoting abscission of all aerial organs studied so far.
Effects of laser procedure for female urodynamic stress incontinence on pad weight, urodynamics, and sexual function
Venue: International Urogynecology Journal

Introduction and hypothesisThe impact of the IncontiLaseTM procedure on lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) remains unclear. Our aim was to evaluate the effects of the IncontiLaseTM procedure for urodynamic stress incontinence (USI).MethodsAll consecutive women with USI prospectively underwent the IncontiLaseTM procedure. Urodynamic studies, pad testing, LUTS, and sexual function questionnaires were assessed before and after treatment.ResultsThirty five women underwent the IncontiLaseTM procedure. Among the 28 women with baseline pad weights >1 g, 11 (39.3 were objectively cured and 11 (39.3 improved. Among the 18 women with mild USI (i.e. baseline pad weight 1 10 g) nine (50 were cured and five (27.8 improved. Among ten women with baseline pad weight >10 g, two (20 were cured and six (60 improved. Among the 32 women with complete questionnaire data at 6 months, seven (21.9 were subjectively cured, and four (12.5 improved. Regarding LUTS, the majority of domains on the King's Health Questionnaire and female sexual desire and function exhibited significant improvements. Forty percent (12/30) of the partners of these patients felt their sexual function had improved at 6 months. Nonetheless, urodynamic values did not differ across the timeline.ConclusionsThe effect of the IncontiLaseTM procedure for mild USI was moderate at 6 month follow up but was not effective for pad weight >10 g. Moreover, it improved LUTS, quality of life, QoL, and sexual function of both partners. Further studies should be performed to assess long term sustained efficacy.
Morphology and properties of periwinkle shell asbestos free brake pad

The development of asbestos free automotive brake pad using periwinkle shell particles as frictional filler material is presented. This was with a view to exploiting the characteristics of the periwinkle shell, which is largely deposited as a waste, in replacing asbestos which has been found to be carcinogenic. Five sets of brake pads with different sieve size (710 125 mm) of periwinkle shell particles with 35% resin were produced using compressive moulding. The physical, mechanical and tribological properties of the periwinkle shell particle based brake pads were evaluated and compared with the values for the asbestos based brake pads. The results obtained showed that compressive strength, hardness and density of the developed brake pad samples increased with decreasing the particle size of periwinkle shell from 710 to 125 mm, while the oil soak, water soak and wear rate decreased with decreasing the particle size of periwinkle shell. The results obtained at 125 mm of periwinkle shell particles compared favourably with that of commercial brake pad. The results of this research indicate that periwinkle shell particles can be effectively used as a replacement for asbestos in brake pad manufacture.
Signal intensity alteration in the infrapatellar fat pad at baseline for the prediction of knee symptoms and structure in older adults: a cohort study
Venue: Annals of the rheumatic diseases

To describe the associations between infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) signal intensity alteration at baseline and knee symptoms and structural changes in older adults.  A total of 874 subjects (mean 62.1 years, 50.1% female) selected randomly from local community were studied at baseline and 770 were followed up (only 357 had MRI at follow up) over 2.6 years. T1 weighted or T2 weighted fat suppressed MRI was used to assess IPFP signal intensity alteration (0 3) cartilage volume, cartilage defects and bone marrow lesions (BMLs) at baseline and 2.6 years later. Knee pain was assessed by self administered Western Ontario and McMaster Osteoarthritis Index questionnaire. Radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) was assessed.  In cross sectional analyses, IPFP signal intensity alteration was significantly and positively associated with total knee pain as well as knee cartilage defects, BMLs and knee radiographic OA and negatively associated with patellar cartilage volume after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index and/or radiographic OA. Longitudinally, baseline signal intensity alteration within IPFP was significantly and positively associated with increases in knee pain when going upstairs/downstairs as well as increases in tibiofemoral cartilage defects and BMLs, and negatively associated with change in lateral tibial cartilage volume in multivariable analyses.  IPFP signal intensity alteration at baseline was associated with knee structural abnormalities and clinical symptoms cross sectionally and longitudinally in older adults, suggesting that it may serve as an important imaging biomarker in knee OA.
Virtual Adversarial Training for Semi Supervised Text Classification
Venue: ArXiv

Adversarial training provides a means of regularizing supervised learning algorithms while virtual adversarial training is able to extend supervised learning algorithms to the semi supervised setting. However, both methods require making small perturbations to numerous entries of the input vector, which is inappropriate for sparse high dimensional inputs such as one hot word representations. We extend adversarial and virtual adversarial training to the text domain by applying perturbations to the word embeddings in a recurrent neural network rather than to the original input itself. The proposed method achieves state of the art results on multiple benchmark semi supervised and purely supervised tasks. We provide visualizations and analysis showing that the learned word embeddings have improved in quality and that while training, the model is less prone to overfitting.
Artificial Neural Network Control Strategy for Multi converter Unified Power Quality Conditioner for Power Quality Improvements in 3 Feeder System

This paper presents about the power quality improvements of the 3 feeder system using the multi converter unified power quality conditioner (MC UPQC) based on voltage source converters in which the DC link is common. The control strategy for the converter is based on the artificial neural network (ANN) by using the Levenberg Marquardt back propagation algorithm for mitigation of the sag, swell, and unbalance in the system and maintaining the system voltage profile. The pulse generation is based on the hysteresis loop by comparing the error signals. The performance analysis of the MC UPQC using neural network as control strategy is verified using the MATLAB/SIMULINK.
A perceptual study of users' expectations of urban green infrastructure in Kalamaria, municipality of Greece

The purpose of this paper is to investigate residents' perceptions, preferences and satisfaction concerning the urban green infrastructure of Kalamaria, Greece, to evaluate the importance of urban parks for residents' well being and to suggest management improvements.  Following a random sampling method, 385 residents were interviewed. Green infrastructure number and size, design suitability, safety, variety and care of plants, noise pollution, facilities for people with disabilities and duration and frequency of visits to green areas were among the considered parameters. Factor and hierarchical log linear analyses were conducted.  The existing green spaces were insufficient in number, size and design, and their distribution was unsatisfactory. The facilities and equipment in the green spaces were evaluated as rather mediocre, and most respondents were unsatisfied with the overall planning and management of the green infrastructure in the municipality of Kalamaria. The results indicate that resident's well being relates to their satisfaction with urban green infrastructure. Frequent and longer visits of green spaces significantly improved the perceived well being. The residents expressed an intention to pay 20 40 percent more than the average price for a house with a view of a green area.  Public perception surveys enable green infrastructure managers to identify preferred management alternatives and to use this information in an urban planning framework. Local authorities can use the results of the present survey to manage the city's green infrastructure, enhance the city's resilience and anticipate climate change challenges and the future needs of residents.
Strong Mutation Based Test Data Generation Using Hill Climbing
Venue: 2016 IEEE/ACM 9th International Workshop on Search Based Software Testing (SBST)

Testing is an effective test criterion for finding faults and assessing the quality of a test suite. Every test criterion requires the generation of test cases, which turns to be a manual and difficult task. In literature, search based techniques are effective in generating structural based test data. This fact motivates their use for mutation testing. Thus, if automatic test data generation can achieve an acceptable level of mutation score, it has the potential to greatly reduce the involved manual effort. This paper proposes an automated test generation approach, using hill climbing, for strong mutation. It incremental aims at strongly killing mutants, by focusing on mutants' propagation, i.e. how to kill mutants that are weakly killed but not strongly. Furthermore, the paper reports empirical results regarding the cost and effectiveness of the proposed approach on a set of 18 C programs. Overall, for the majority of the studied programs, the proposed approach achieved a higher strong mutation score than random testing, by 19,02% on average, and the previously proposed test generation techniques that ignore mutants' propagation, by 7,2% on average. Our results also demonstrate the improved efficiency of the proposed scheme over the previous methods.
Risky online behaviors among adolescents: Longitudinal relations among problematic Internet use, cyberbullying perpetration, and meeting strangers online
Venue: Journal of behavioral addictions

This study aims to analyze the cross sectional and longitudinal relationship between three major risky online behaviors during adolescence: problematic Internet use, cyberbullying perpetration, and meeting strangers online. An additional objective was to study the role of impulsivity irresponsibility as a possible explanatory variable of the relationships between these risky online behaviors.  The study sample was 888 adolescents that completed self report measures at time 1 and time 2 with an interval of 6 months.  The findings showed a significant cross sectional relationship between the risky online behaviors analyzed. At the longitudinal level, problematic Internet use at time 1 predicted an increase in the perpetration of cyberbullying and meeting strangers online at time 2. Furthermore, meeting strangers online increased the likelihood of cyberbullying perpetration at time 2. Finally, when impulsivity irresponsibility was included in the model as an explanatory variable, the relationships previously found remained significant.  These results extend traditional problem behavior theory during adolescence, also supporting a relationship between different risky behaviors in cyberspace. In addition, findings highlighted the role of problematic Internet use, which increased the chances of developing cyberbullying perpetration and meeting strangers online over time. However, the results suggest a limited role of impulsivity irresponsibility as an explicative mechanism.  The findings suggest that various online risk activities ought to be addressed together when planning assessment, prevention and intervention efforts.
562 Associations of sleep disturbance, depression, problematic internet use with suicide ideation in young adolescents: a follow up survey

Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents. A number of studies indicate that sleep quality, mental health status and excessive Internet use are associated with suicide risk in this population, but less Longitudinal study is known to explore the associations of sleep disturbance, depression and problematic Internet use with subsequent suicide ideation among school adolescents in China. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between suicidal ideation and sleep disturbance, depression and problematic Internet use.  1700 individuals which covered the school aged adolescents from southeastern Chinese areas with self administered questionnaires were screened in 2012, and a follow up survey was conducted in June 2015. Information was collected on socio demographics and suicide ideation, planning and attempts in the past year, sleep quality, mental health status and problematic Internet use were separately assessed with PSQI, CESD 10 and IAT. Multivariate logistic regression analyses, controlling for confounding factors, were conducted to explore the associations of sleep quality, depression, problematic Internet use with suicide ideation.  Among the participants, 15.5% of adolescents had the suicide ideation in past year. After controlling for baseline suicide and other confounding factors, adolescents with sleep disturbance in 2012 had a higher tendency to subsequent suicide ideation in 2015 compared with those who had no sleep disturbance (OR: 5.11; 95% CI: 2.46 10.64) Suicidal ideation was highly associated with psychiatric disorders such as depression (OR: 3.57; 95% CI: 1.45 8.22) problematic Internet use also significantly predicted suicide ideation in 2015 (OR: 2.62; 95% CI: 1.26 5.45)  Preventing and mitigating adolescents' sleep disturbance, depression and controlling Internet use reasonably have the potentials to reduce suicide occurrence. Among adolescents already exposed to adversities, effective psychological intervening services which may be against future suicide behaviours, should be formulated according to the different needs of each individual. We also suggest that more consideration from parents and teachers should be given to young adolescents to support their sleep quality and good mental health status to reduce the potential risk factors of increased suicide rates.
Ecosystems off track: rate induced critical transitions in ecological models

Theory suggests that gradual environmental change may erode the resilience of ecosystems and increase their susceptibility to critical transitions. This notion has received a lot of attention in ecology in recent decades. An important question receiving far less attention is whether ecosystems can cope with the rapid environmental changes currently imposed. The importance of this question was recently highlighted by model studies showing that elevated rates of change may trigger critical transitions, whereas slow environmental change would not. This paper aims to provide a mechanistic understanding of these rate induced critical transitions to facilitate identification of rate sensitive ecosystems. Analysis of rate sensitive ecological models is challenging, but we demonstrate how rate induced transitions in an elementary model can still be understood. Our analyses reveal that rate induced transitions 1) occur if the rate of environmental change is high compared to the response rate of ecosystems, 2) are driven by rates, rather than magnitudes, of change and 3) occur once a critical rate of change is exceeded. Disentangling rate induced transitions from classical transitions in observations would be challenging. However, common features of rate sensitive models suggest that ecosystems with coupled fast slow dynamics, exhibiting repetitive catastrophic shifts or displaying periodic spatial patterns are more likely to be rate sensitive. Our findings are supported by experimental studies showing rate dependent outcomes. Rate sensitivity of models suggests that the common definition of ecological resilience is not suitable for a subset of real ecosystems and that formulating limits to magnitudes of change may not always safeguard against ecosystem degradation. Synthesis Understanding and predicting ecosystem response to environmental change is one of the key challenges in ecology. Model studies have suggested that slow, gradual environmental change beyond some critical threshold can trigger so called critical transitions and abrupt ecosystem degradation. An important question remains however whether ecosystems can cope with the ongoing rapid anthropogenic environmental changes to which they are currently imposed. In this study we demonstrate that in some ecological models elevated rates of change can trigger critical transitions even if slow environmental change of the same magnitude would not. Such rateinduced critical transitions in models suggest that concepts like resilience and planetary boundaries may not always be sufficient to explain and prevent ecosystem degradation.