nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Novel Dental Cement to Combat Biofilms and Reduce Acids for Orthodontic Applications to Avoid Enamel Demineralization
Venue: Materials

Orthodontic treatments often lead to biofilm buildup and white spot lesions due to enamel demineralization. The objectives of this study were to develop a novel bioactive orthodontic cement to prevent white spot lesions, and to determine the effects of cement compositions on biofilm growth and acid production. 2 methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) nanoparticles of silver (NAg) and dimethylaminohexadecyl methacrylate (DMAHDM) were incorporated into a resin modified glass ionomer cement (RMGI) Enamel shear bond strength (SBS) was determined. Protein adsorption was determined using a micro bicinchoninic acid method. A dental plaque microcosm biofilm model with human saliva as inoculum was used to investigate metabolic activity, colony forming units (CFU) and lactic acid production. Incorporating 3% of MPC, 1.5% of DMAHDM, and 0.1% of NAg into RMGI, and immersing in distilled water at 37 degC for 30 days, did not decrease the SBS, compared to control (p 0.1) RMGI with 3% MPC 1.5% DMAHDM 0.1% NAg had protein amount that was 1/10 that of control. RMGI with triple agents (MPC DMAHDM NAg) had much stronger antibacterial property than using a single agent or double agents (p 0.05) Biofilm CFU on RMGI with triple agents was reduced by more than 3 orders of magnitude, compared to commercial control. Biofilm metabolic activity and acid production were also greatly reduced. In conclusion, adding MPC DMAHDM NAg in RMGI substantially inhibited biofilm viability and acid production, without compromising the orthodontic bracket bond strength to enamel. The novel bioactive cement is promising for orthodontic applications to hinder biofilms and plaque buildup and enamel demineralization.
Predicting Student Academic Performance in Blended Learning Using Artificial Neural Networks

Along with the spreading of online education, the importance of active support of students involved in online learning processes has grown. The application of artificial intelligence in education allows instructors to analyze data extracted from university servers, identify patterns of student behavior and develop interventions for struggling students. This study used student data stored in a Moodle server and predicted student success in course, based on four learning activities communication via emails, collaborative content creation with wiki, content interaction measured by files viewed and self evaluation through online quizzes. Next, a model based on the Multi Layer Perceptron Neural Network was trained to predict student performance on a blended learning course environment. The model predicted the performance of students with correct classification rate, CCR, of 98.3%
Underwater noise modelling for environmental impact assessment

Assessment of underwater noise is increasingly required by regulators of development projects in marine and freshwater habitats, and noise pollution can be a constraining factor in the consenting process. Noise levels arising from the proposed activity are modelled and the potential impact on species of interest within the affected area is then evaluated. Although there is considerable uncertainty in the relationship between noise levels and impacts on aquatic species, the science underlying noise modelling is well understood. Nevertheless, many environmental impact assessments (EIAs) do not reflect best practice, and stakeholders and decision makers in the EIA process are often unfamiliar with the concepts and terminology that are integral to interpreting noise exposure predictions. In this paper, we review the process of underwater noise modelling and explore the factors affecting predictions of noise exposure. Finally, we illustrate the consequences of errors and uncertainties in noise modelling, and discuss future research needs to reduce uncertainty in noise assessments.
High flow oxygen therapy and other inhaled therapies in intensive care units
Venue: The Lancet

In this Series paper, we review the current evidence for the use of high flow oxygen therapy, inhaled gases, and aerosols in the care of critically ill patients. The available evidence supports the use of high flow nasal cannulae for selected patients with acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure. Heliox might prevent intubation or improve gas flow in mechanically ventilated patients with severe asthma. Additionally, it might improve the delivery of aerosolised bronchodilators in obstructive lung disease in general. Inhaled nitric oxide might improve outcomes in a subset of patients with postoperative pulmonary hypertension who had cardiac surgery; however, it has not been shown to provide long term benefit in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) Inhaled prostacyclins, similar to inhaled nitric oxide, are not recommended for routine use in patients with ARDS, but can be used to improve oxygenation in patients who are not adequately stabilised with traditional therapies. Aerosolised bronchodilators are useful in mechanically ventilated patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but are not recommended for those with ARDS. Use of aerosolised antibiotics for ventilator associated pneumonia and ventilator associated tracheobronchitis shows promise, but the delivered dose can be highly variable if proper attention is not paid to the delivery method.
Ecological pathways to prevention: How does the SASA! community mobilisation model work to prevent physical intimate partner violence against women?
Venue: BMC Public Health

BackgroundIntimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a global public health concern. While community level gender norms and attitudes to IPV are recognised drivers of IPV risk, there is little evidence on how interventions might tackle these drivers to prevent IPV at the community level. This secondary analysis of data from the SASA! study explores the pathways through which SASA! a community mobilisation intervention to prevent violence against women, achieved community wide reductions in physical IPV.MethodsFrom 2007 to 2012 a cluster randomised controlled trial (CRT) was conducted in eight communities in Kampala, Uganda. Cross sectional surveys of a random sample of community members, aged 18 49, were undertaken at baseline (n 1583) and 4 years post intervention implementation (n 2532) We used cluster level intention to treat analysis to estimate SASA!'s community level impact on women's past year experience of physical IPV and men's past year perpetration of IPV. The mediating roles of community relationship and individual level factors in intervention effect on past year physical IPV experience (women)/perpetration (men) were explored using modified Poisson regression models.ResultsSASA! was associated with reductions in women's past year experience of physical IPV (0.48, 95 CI 0.16 1.39) as well as men's perpetration of IPV (0.39, 95 CI 0.20 0.73) Community level normative attitudes were the most important mediators of intervention impact on physical IPV risk, with norms around the acceptability of IPV explaining 70 of the intervention effect on women's experience of IPV and 95 of the effect on men's perpetration. The strongest relationship level mediators were men's reduced suspicion of partner infidelity (explaining 22 of effect on men's perpetration) and improved communication around sex (explaining 16 of effect on women's experience) Reduced acceptability of IPV among men was the most important individual level mediator (explaining 42 of effect on men's perpetration).ConclusionsThese results highlight the important role of community level norm change in achieving community wide reductions in IPV risk. They lend strong support for the more widespread adoption of community level approaches to preventing violence.
Self exciting threshold binomial autoregressive processes

We introduce a new class of integer valued self exciting threshold models, which is based on the binomial autoregressive model of order one as introduced by McKenzie (Water Resour Bull 21:645 650, 1985.  Basic probabilistic and statistical properties of this class of models are discussed. Moreover, parameter estimation and forecasting are addressed. Finally, the performance of these models is illustrated through a simulation study and an empirical application to a set of measle cases in Germany.
Handwritten Khmer text recognition
Venue: 2016 IEEE International WIE Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (WIECON ECE)

This paper proposes a model for an offline handwritten Khmer character recognition. We make use of two dimensional Fourier transformation for feature selection and feed forward Artificial Neural Net as classification tool. The recognition system allows using the nature of Khmer writing, which is an example of alphasyllabary (Abugida) writing systems. The recognition of the normalized handwritten images has been performed for comparison purposes. The results suggest that the recognition rate increases with reduced feature set.
Ascending Aortic Endoballoon Occlusion Feasible despite Moderately Enlarged Aorta to Facilitate Robotic Mitral Valve Surgery
Venue: Innovations

Aortic occlusion with an endoballoon is a well established technique to facilitate robotic and minimally invasive mitral valve surgery. Use of the endoballoon has several relative contraindications including ascending aortic dilatation greater than 38 mm in size. We sought to review our experience using the endoballoon in cases of totally endoscopic mitral valve surgery with aortic diameters greater than 38 mm.  A retrospective review of our single site database was conducted to identify patients undergoing totally endoscopic mitral valve surgery by a single surgeon using an endoballoon and who had ascending aortic dilation. We defined aortic dilation as greater than 38 mm. Computed tomography was done preoperatively on all patients to evaluate the aortic anatomy as well as iliofemoral access vessels. Femoral artery cannulation was done in a standardized fashion to advance and position the endoballoon, to occlude the ascending aorta, and to deliver cardioplegia.  From October 2011 through June 2015,196 patients underwent totally endoscopic mitral valve surgery using an endoballoon at our institution. Twenty two patients (11.2% had ascending aortic diameters greater than 38 mm (range, 38.1 16.6 mm; mean, 40.5 2.5 mm) In these cases, there were no instances of aortic dissection or other injury due to balloon rupture, balloon migration, device movement leading to loss of occlusion, or inability to complete planned surgery due to occlusion failure.  Our experience suggests that it is possible to successfully use endoaortic balloon occlusion in patients with ascending aortic dilation with proper preoperative imaging and planning.
Trace Metals in Total Atmospheric Depositions (TAD) of a Nigerian Island

The paucity of data on air quality studies in Nigeria prompted us to commence the monitoring of total atmospheric deposition (TAD) in Lagos Island, Nigeria. TAD samples were collected every 30 days for a period of two years using a local assembled gauge fashioned after the Australian model gauge. Elemental characterization was carried out by Particle Induced X ray Emission (PIXE) technique via an in vacuum ion beam set up. The TAD rates ranged from 1 to 62 g 1m3 month 1. Twenty eight elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Ga, As, Zn, Se, Br, Rb, Y, Nb, Mo, Sr, Zr and Pb) were detected in both fractions and their concentrations were assessed. Enrichment factors (EF) and pollution indices (PLI) were calculated and results revealed that most elements were anthropogenic with concentrations exceeding the World Health Organization guideline standards.
Circularly polarized monopole slot antenna for UHF RFID reader

This article proposes a circularly polarized monopole slot antenna which is suitable for ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) reader. In this antenna design, a meandering slot is being placed in the ground plane to produce good circularly polarized radiation characteristics, and the microstrip line feed can be adjusted to achieve good impedance matching. Measurement results showed that the 10 dB return loss bandwidth of the antenna is 10.3% (0.857 0.95 GHz) and the 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of the antenna 7.4% (0.878 0.945 GHz) The maximum gain and efficiency of the antenna is 2.09 dBic and 76% respectively. The overall antenna size is 120 x 80 x 0.8 mm3.
A review on circular economy: the expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems

El articulo muestra un estudio en donde se proporciona una revision extensa de la literatura de las dos ultimas decadas, con el proposito de captar las principales caracteristicas y perspectivas de la CE (Economia circular) origenes, principios basicos, ventajas y desventajas, Modelado e implementacion de CE en los diferentes niveles (micro, meso y macro) en todo el mundo. Los resultados demuestran que los origenes de la CE se basan principalmente en la economia ecologica y Ecologia industrial.
Evaluating the influence of YouTube advertising for attraction of young customers
Venue: Comput. Hum. Behav.

Nowadays, we have been faced with an increasing number of people who are spending tremendous amounts of time all around the world on YouTube. To date, the factors that persuade customers to accept YouTube advertising as an advertising medium are not yet fully understood. The present paper identified four dimensions towards YouTube advertising (i.e. entertainment, Informativeness, Customization and irritation) which may be affected on advertising value as well as brand awareness, and accordingly on purchase intention of consumers. The conceptual model hypothesizes that ad value strategies are positively associated with brand awareness, which in turn influence perceived usefulness of You Tube and continued purchase behavior. For this study, data were collected from students studying at the Sapienza University of Rome. In total, 315 usable questionnaires were chosen in order to analysis of data for the variables. The results show that entertainment, informativeness and customization are the strongest positive drivers, while irritation is negatively related to YouTube advertising. On the other hand, advertising value through YouTube affects both brand awareness and purchase intention of consumers accordingly. A novel model for the advertisement effectiveness analysis through social media.Brands are advised to note the massive potential for YouTube advertising can provide.Consumers' perception on YouTube advertising has been linked to purchase intention.Customization through YouTube advertising plays a main role on advertisement value.
Measurements and simulations correlation of high reliability reflector antenna
Venue: 2016 10th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP)

In antenna measurements, test procedures and best practices, validated by comparative measurements, constitute widely adopted tools to determine the uncertainty and thus the achieved accuracy of a given antenna measurement. For numerical simulations, there are no equivalent standards or tools to determine the accuracy of the numerical modelling of the same antenna. A highly stable reference antenna of which the mechanical deviations from the intended design has been minimized through careful manufacturing, has been identified as part of a EurAAP facility comparison campaign. The antenna has been measured in different facilities and simulated by different software vendors using different numerical methods. A comparison of simulations and measurements of this antenna at 10.7GHz and 18GHz has been reported in  In this paper, we report our findings on the correlation between measurement and simulation at 30GHz and 38GHz. The investigation comprises additional measurements ranges and software vendors.
Exploiting antenna correlation in measured massive MIMO channels
Venue: 2016 IEEE 27th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC)

We investigate antenna correlation of an M antenna massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) setup with the purpose of obtaining a low rank representation of the instantaneous massive MIMO channel. Low rank representation bases using short term and long term antenna correlation statistics are defined, and their performance is evaluated with data sets obtained from channel measurements in both indoor and outdoor environments at 2.6 GHz. Our results indicate that the short term bases can capture a larger amount of the channel energy compared to the long term ones, but they have a limited timespan, one coherence time or less. On the other hand, the long term bases are stable over time spans of a few seconds. Hence, they can be obtained relatively easily. We also investigate a rank p vector scalar LMMSE channel estimator that exploits antenna correlation. Our results show that the investigated estimator can achieve a performance similar to that of full rank LMMSE at a (2p 1)/M times lower cost. The investigated estimator may be used in conjunction with estimators that exploit correlation in the frequency and time domains or, alternatively, in situations in which these estimators cannot be used, e.g. when pilot separation is larger than the channel coherence bandwidth or time.
Shoot bending promotes flower bud formation by miRNA mediated regulation in apple (Malus domestica Borkh.
Venue: Plant biotechnology journal

Flower induction in apple (Malus domestica Borkh. trees plays an important life cycle role, but young trees produce fewer and inferior quality flower buds. Therefore, shoot bending has become an important cultural practice, significantly promoting the capacity to develop more flower buds during the growing seasons. Additionally, microRNAs (miRNAs) play essential roles in plant growth, flower induction and stress responses. In this study, we identified miRNAs potentially involved in the regulation of bud growth, and flower induction and development, as well as in the response to shoot bending. Of the 195 miRNAs identified, 137 were novel miRNAs. The miRNA expression profiles revealed that the expression levels of 68 and 27 known miRNAs were down regulated and up regulated, respectively, in response to shoot bending, and that the 31 differentially expressed novel miRNAs between them formed five major clusters. Additionally, a complex regulatory network associated with auxin, cytokinin, abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellic acid (GA) plays important roles in cell division, bud growth and flower induction, in which related miRNAs and targets mediated regulation. Among them, miR396, 160, 393, and their targets associated with AUX, miR159, 319, 164, and their targets associated with ABA and GA, and flowering related miRNAs and genes, regulate bud growth and flower bud formation in response to shoot bending. Meanwhile, the flowering genes had significantly higher expression levels during shoot bending, suggesting that they are involved in this regulatory process. This study provides a framework for the future analysis of miRNAs associated with multiple hormones and their roles in the regulation of bud growth, and flower induction and formation in response to shoot bending in apple trees.
Executive Labor Market Segmentation: How Local Market Density Affects Incentives and Performance

I study how the density of executive labor markets affects managerial incentives and thereby firm performance. I find that U.S. executive markets are locally segmented rather than nationally integrated, and that the density of a local market provides executives with non compensation incentives. Empirical results show that in denser labor markets, executives face stronger performance based dismissal threats as well as better outside opportunities. These incentives result in higher firm performance in denser markets, especially when executives have longer career horizons. Using state level variation in the enforceability of covenants not to compete, I find that the positive effects of market density on incentive alignment and firm performance are stronger in markets where executives are freer to move. This evidence further supports the argument that local labor market density works as an external incentive alignment mechanism.
Millennials and Boomers: increasing alumni affinity and intent to give by target market segmentation

This paper reports on research that seeks to improve our understanding of issues that impact upon the philanthropic gifts of university alumni. Prior research has examined such alumni characteristics as wealth and affinity to the alma mater. Such findings have guided development professionals to conduct different kinds of research that can reveal aspects of affluence (e.g. real estate holdings and professional positions) and institutional engagement (e.g. membership in alumni associations and season tickets to sporting events) This information is housed in databases that can be accessed by the fundraisers. The current research seeks to extend our understanding by examining the potential differences between generations. This article examines survey responses from university alumni in two age cohorts from two large comprehensive universities in the USA. Respondents were asked questions that inquired about their affinity toward their alma mater, intentions to give as well as alumni interest in participating in or attending different events at the university. Significant differences between younger and older alumni were found within each topic. From these results, the importance of market research and applications of alumni segmentation specifically are discussed for administrators and advancement professionals.
Adattarsi per resiliere: Nuovi approcci metodologici ed evidenze empiriche micro territoriali

The paper focuses on the regional economic resilience and, in particular, on its adaptive interpretation, which defines it as the property of a territorial system to react and to adapt to endogenous and exogenous disturbances, in order to achieve a new balance that makes it more prepared to deal with future changes in context. Empirically the paper aims to explore and classify the determinants of resilience in an innovative way and to build resilience indices of micro territories during the period of the economic crisis, in order to ascertain the existence of differences between the resilience municipalities in Lombardy and, therefore, confirm the importance of resilience even in micro contexts. To evaluate the role played by the adaptive capacity in influencing regional resilience,"Indicators of Adaptation" were built, to verify the importance exercised by the flexibility and adaptability of the territories to determine their resilience. The analysis at the micro regional level showed that Lombardy and its municipalities have exhibited resilience items during the economic crisis and that this property is crucial to enhance the economic development of micro territories. Therefore, governments and policymakers should pay attention to the regional resilience, in order to undertake new paths of growth and renewal.
Insider e outsider nel mercato del lavoro italiano

"Inequalities start in the labour market" has recently warned the ILO in the Global Wage Report 2014/2015. The most recent interpretations look at polarization as a growing social issue. On this track, we took up and dropped over the Italian labour market tools, concepts and methods (such as the insider outsider theory, vulnerable employment, decent work, labor market attachment) in order to rebuild, through the Istat's labour force survey, the occupational structure of the country up to the crisis's possible turning point. The hypothesis that emerges is the polarization of employment in which outsiderness might become a determinant factor in the prolonged stagnation of inequalities.