Good Reference Point Research Articles

Predictive value of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, platelet to lymphocyte ratio, and systemic inflammatory index for detection of recurrence of pleomorphic adenoma of the major salivary glands: a multicenter study

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between inflammatory biomarkers such as the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and the recurrence of pleomorphic adenomas (PAs). MethodsRetrospective multicenter study. 608 patients diagnosed with PA and treated by tumor enucleation were included in the analyses. The patients. were extracted from a twenty-year database of two referral centers (January 2000 to January 2020). Data about age, sex, voluntary habits, tumor characteristics, tumor treatment and values of NLR, PLR and SII were collected. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to calculate the optimal cut-off values for SII, PLR and NLR. A linear regression model (LRM) and a non-linear logistic regression model (NLRM) were implemented for NLR, PLR and SII. ResultsAll three inflammatory parameters were statistically significant correlated to the recurrence of the tumor. The best performance was achieved by NLR (cut-off 2.960) with AUC = 0.91, accuracy of 96.1%, sensitivity of 78.4% and specificity of 97.2%, PPV = 64.4% and NPV = 98.6%. LRM and NLRM including all hematological parameters did not improve performance in terms of recurrence detection. ConclusionThe use of three inflammatory biomarkers could be a useful tool to predict recurrence of tumor in case of PA ≤ 3 cm. NLR in particular could be sensitive with a cut-off of 2.960. The use of NLR, PLR and SII could be a good reference point for surgical decision making and follow-up in clinical practice.

Football Player Classification

Clustering is an essential tool in data mining research and applications. It is the subject of active research in many fields of study, such as computer science, data science, statistics, pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Several clustering techniques have been proposed and implemented, and most of them successfully find excellent quality or optimal clustering results in the domains mentioned earlier. However, there has been a gradual shift in the choice of clustering methods among domain experts and practitioners alike, which is precipitated by the fact that most traditional clustering algorithms still depend on the number of clusters provided a priori. These conventional clustering algorithms cannot effectively handle real-world data clustering analysis problems where the number of clusters in data objects cannot be easily identified. Also, they cannot effectively manage problems where the optimal number of clusters for a high-dimensional dataset cannot be easily determined. Therefore, there is a need for improved, flexible, and efficient clustering techniques. Recently, a variety of efficient clustering algorithms have been proposed in the literature, and these algorithms produced good results when evaluated on real-world clustering problems. This study presents an up-to-date systematic and comprehensive review of traditional and state-of-the-art clustering techniques for different domains. This survey considers clustering from a more practical perspective. It shows the outstanding role of clustering in various disciplines, such as education, marketing, medicine, biology, and bioinformatics. It also discusses the application of clustering to different fields attracting intensive efforts among the scientific community, such as big data, artificial intelligence, and robotics. This survey paper will be beneficial for both practitioners and researchers. It will serve as a good reference point for researchers and practitioners to design improved and efficient state-of-the-art clustering algorithms.

Commissioning [Integrated] Care in England: An Analysis of the Current Decision Context

Background: The emergence of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) across England poses an additional challenge and responsibility for local commissioners to accelerate the implementation of integrated care programmes and improve the overall efficiency across the system. To do this, ICS healthcare commissioners could learn from the experience of the former local commissioning structures and identify areas of improvement in the commissioning process. 
 Aim & Audience: This study describes the investment decision process in integrated care amid the transition toward ICSs, highlights challenges, and provides recommendations to inform ICSs in their healthcare commissioning role. It is expected that this study encourages an open discussion within the emerging ICSs on the barriers and enablers of the local commissioning of integrated care. We also believe that findings of this study are likely to be of international interest as countries are gradually moving towards integrated care, and local purchasers of healthcare from high-income economies are likely to encounter similar challenges as the ones faced by local commissioners in England.
 Methods: We conducted twenty-six semi-structured interviews with local commissioners and other relevant stakeholders in South East England in 2021. Interviews were supplemented with existing evidence from the literature.
 Results: England’s local healthcare commissioning has made the transition towards a new organisational architecture, with some integrated care programmes running, and a dual top-down and bottom-up prioritisation process in place. The commissioning and consequent development of integrated care programmes have been hindered by various barriers, including difficulties in accessing and using information, operational challenges, and resource constraints. Investment decisions have mainly been driven by national directives and budget considerations, with a mixture of subjective and objective approaches. This contrasts with what seems to be a set of desirable prioritisation criteria, with the triple aim framework at the front. A systematic and data-driven framework could replace this ad-hoc prioritisation of integrated care and contribute to a more rational and transparent commissioning process. To develop such a framework, a good reference point could be the health technology assessment framework established at national level to guide priority-setting decisions. 
 Conclusion & next-steps: The local healthcare commissioning structures in England are complex, the evidence available is rich, and integrated care is undoubtedly the goal to achieve. However, the multiple barriers that commissioners face hinder the development of integrated care programmes and limit the local use of evidence in healthcare decision-making. The emerging ICSs seem to open an opportunity for local commissioners to strengthen the commissioning process of integrated care with evidence-based priority-setting approaches similar to the well-established health technology assessment framework at the national level. To support this, we are developing a data-driven framework to monitor and assess ‘integrated care programmes’. 

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Application of wireless sensors and deep learning algorithms in comfort analysis of wooden structures

In many buildings with wooden structures, the service life and comfort of the floor will be affected by the walking load of the human body. The vibration effect generated by the human walking on the floor will affect the comfort that the floor brings to people. This article primarily focuses on the study of the correlation between floor vibration and human walking load in wooden buildings. It provides an analysis and summary of research findings from both domestic and international sources. Furthermore, the data collected is utilized to establish a model for estimating human walking load. The advent of information technology has witnessed significant transformative changes spurred by shifts in societal needs. Notably, the establishment of wireless sensor networks stands as a significant milestone within the field of information technology, highlighting advancements in science and technology. The evolution of wireless sensor networks has proven instrumental in various sectors within China, including but not limited to the military, environmental monitoring, biological research and medical systems, disaster monitoring, and energy allocation. This paper uses deep learning algorithms to analyze the node deployment problems of wireless sensor networks, summarizes a reasonable node deployment plan through specific research and practice, and uses collaborative deep learning methods to improve the operating efficiency of the network. In addition, this article also tested the vibration effect of wood structure buildings, analyzed different influencing factors, and provided a good reference point for the formulation of wood structure comfort standards.

The Japanese history of Marxian value-form analysis: Focusing on the Unoist approach

This paper reviews the history of Unoist value-form analysis and explore how it is currently being redeveloped in the Japanese studies. It was more than 70 years ago that Kozo Uno, who was the most influential Japanese Marxian economist, published his value theory: some of the arguments are naturally outdated now. It was not only Uno’s opponents but also Uno’s followers who criticise Uno’s notions and try to shape the better understanding of today’s capitalism. In Section 1, we shall first give a brief overview of Uno’s theory of value and consider why it could be accepted as the foundation of Marxian economics in Japan. Uno’s drastic reformulation could not help encountering oppositions. The most important debate was the one between Uno and Samezo Kuruma. Though the Kuruma-Uno debate is not easy to understand, it is a good reference point to grasp how important it has been for Japanese Marxists to establish the value-form analysis as a subject of economics. Section 2 will focus on the development of Unoist valueform analysis. We see rising trends of reinvestigating it among Japanese Marxist scholars against the background of the changes in modern capitalism. Michiaki Obata launched a radical critique of Uno’s methodology and has led the developments in the 21st century. We shall pick out some of the recent arguments and evaluate its progress.

Flushing Efficiency of Run-of-River Hydropower Plants: Novel Approaches Based on Physical Laboratory Experiments

Periodic flushing operations during moderate flood events (≤annual flood flow HQ1) are an approach to counteract problems caused by disturbed sediment continuity in rivers, which is possibly an effect of run-of-river hydropower plants (RoR-HPPs). Considering ecology, flood risk, technical, and economical reasons, discharge values of 0.7 × HQ1 are a good reference point for the initiation of gate operations. This work aimed to investigate the role of different gate opening actions on the effectiveness of such flushing measures. Physical model tests were performed, to capture bed load rates, together with 2D velocity measurements in the vicinity of two movable radial gates above a fixed weir. The length scale of the idealized model arrangement was 1:20, and a conveyor-belt sediment feeder was used to supply a heterogeneous sediment mixture. Velocities were acquired using 2D laser doppler velocimetry (LDV). Based on the LDV measurements, mean velocity profiles and Reynolds stresses were derived. The full opening of both radial gates led to the highest bed load mobility. While the flushing efficiency drastically decreased, even for slightly submerged gates, an asymmetrical gate opening initially led to the formation of a flushing cone in the vicinity of the weir, accompanied by temporarily high flushing efficiency. In conclusion, our results stress the importance of full drawdowns in successfully routing incoming bed load downstream of the HPP. However, the combination of an asymmetric gate opening followed by a full drawdown could be a promising approach to further improve the flushing efficiency of RoR-HPPs.

실크 단백질을 이용한 친환경 나노 소재 물성 분석: 분자동역학 및 탄성네트워크 모델을 이용한 연구

The demand for silk peptide-based nanomaterials have been increasing owing to their excellent mechanical properties. However, analyzing the nanostructure and mechanical properties of new silk peptide-based materials remains a challenge. In this study, we examined silkworm silk peptide, a biocompatible and eco-friendly material, as a next-generation nanomaterial. The secondary structure of the silk peptide-based nanomaterial was analyzed. The results demonstrated that the content of the beta-sheet and hydrogen bonding significantly affected the mechanical properties, and the (GAGAGS) motif and (GAGAGY) motif forming the beta-sheet were the role of the motif. Additionally, elastic network modeling (ENM) was performed to approximate the mechanical properties of the silk peptide-based nanomaterial. Our results showed the output of 13.795 GPa on average for each mode shape. Furthermore, vdW and hydrophobic interactions were shown to be the reason for these excellent mechanical properties. Moreover, we gained important insight on the design of next-generation silk peptide-based nanomaterials. Our study serves as a good reference point for elucidating the structural stability and mechanical properties of silk peptide-based nanomaterials and applying them as next-generation nanomaterials in various research fields.

High resolution protein in-cell NMR in zebrafish embryos

In-cell NMR spectroscopy has emerged as a powerful tool to evaluate protein conformations and dynamics in the native environment of live cells. Here we extend these studies to a multicellular developing vertebrate. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos are complex organisms with dynamic tissue organization and may be well suited for the high resolution NMR analysis of microinjected, isotopically enriched proteins. We used the intrinsically disordered protein Alpha-synuclein (aSyn) as a test model. aSyn has been thoroughly evaluated inside bacterial and mammalian cells, providing good reference points for NMR comparisons and the critical analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the zebrafish system. High resolution 2D 1H-15N NMR showed that aSyn in zebrafish embryos had the same conformational and biological features previously observed in mammalian cells, including conserved interactions with cellular biomolecules and the establishment of physiological protein post-translational modifications. A direct comparative analysis of gamma-synuclein (gSyn), a naturally occurring homolog of aSyn, in bacteria, mammalian cells and zebrafish embryos confirmed these observations. Our results showed that high resolution in-cell NMR is attainable in embryonic cells within the native environment of a live animal. This system provides more physiological cellular environments for high resolution, in situ protein biophysical studies.

Limited Effectiveness of IT/IS Investments in an Emerging Economy

The business value of investments in information technology/information system (IT/IS) has been the subject of active research over several decades. Even though a plethora of similar studies analyzing the impact of promised IT/IS investments on firm performance exists, the results, largely inconclusive, mostly concentrate on the developed countries. In this backdrop, and with an expected manifold rise in IT/IS investments in India in the coming years, an assessment of the relationship between investments and firm performance can be noteworthy. The study explores this important issue by analyzing the impact of IT/IS investments on the firm's performance in India based on data of around 6500 IT/IS investments during 2000-2016. We deploy a series of univariate and multivariate analyses and complement those with several robustness tests. Our principal findings indicate that IT/IS investments on the average in India have been mostly unsuccessful in impacting firm performance positively, in line with "productivity paradox" phenomenon previously documented in the U.S. and other markets. We substantiate our principal results using several robustness tests. We offer several possible explanations of our results spanning across both IS as well as finance literature and discuss the implications of future investment prospects for firms. The results highlight the need for adoption of caution by firms operating in emerging economies like India while considering future IT/IS investment decisions. These suggestions are likely to serve as a good reference point in other emerging economies as well.

A Critical Analysis on the Factors Impacting the Consumers Adoption of Fitness Applications on Smartphones

Despite the all-pervasive impact of smartphones on day-today life of human beings, the adoption of mobile apps for fitness tracking has however been observed as low. The objective of this research paper is to look at some of the key factors that influence consumers at large in adopting mobile app for fitness tracking. Apart from undertaking a detailed data analysis on the various demographics to which the consumers belong, the content analysis validates the importance of behavioral characteristic techniques which have evolved over a period of time in recent years to describe the positive and negative impacts of both internal and external environment on the consumers. The paper is intended to be a good reference point for the marketing professionals as well as software vendors to have a thorough understanding on the adoption of fitness apps as per usage preferences.

Elements of child-friendly justice based on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights

Virtually every child is not immune to entering the justice system and this can happen in a variety of ways, covering all areas of justice from the start of a pre-trial investigation to the execution of a judgment in a civil case. In doing so, the justice system should be structured to take into account the «best interests of the child» as broadly understood and to distinguish it from justice where adults are involved. This requires the state, when organising justice, to create special elements in its system aimed at the «best interests of the child», which can be seen quite clearly in the «special features» of child-friendly justice. Alongside this, the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights is an important benchmark in the protection of human rights, not excluding children’s rights. They cover safeguards for a wide range of rights and in many cases it is through the practice of the Strasbourg Court that important trends in the protection of children’s rights can be seen. As a consequence, an analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights helps to highlight the special features of child-friendly justice, which will contribute to the formation of specific elements, establish their presence (or absence) in practice and the possibility to suggest ways to implement them, both in legislation and in law enforcement practice. A summary of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in cases involving children’s rights demonstrates to us first and foremost the need for special attention in proceedings involving a child. An analysis of the validity of interference with the various rights guaranteed by the Convention, which does not enshrine separate rights for children, highlights particular elements that need to be enshrined in a child-friendly justice system. The above elements are not an exhaustive list to be considered when implementing child-friendly justice, they may complement each other, depending on the specifics of each situation, and they are a good reference point to be reflected both in legislation and in practice, which may be the subject of further scientific discussion and development. Key words: European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, European Court of Human Rights, child rights, child-friendly justice, best interests of the child.

A linear outer approximation of line losses for DC-based optimal power flow problems

This paper proposes a novel and simple linear model to capture line losses for use in linearized DC models, such as optimal power flow (DC-OPF) and security-constrained economic dispatch (SCED). The Line Loss Outer Approximation (LLOA) model implements an outer approximation of the line losses lazily and typically terminates in a small number of iterations. Experiments on large-scale power systems demonstrate the accuracy and computational efficiency of LLOA and contrast it with classical line loss approaches. The results seem to indicate that LLOA is a practical and useful model for real-world applications, providing a good tradeoff between accuracy, computational efficiency, and implementation simplicity. In particular, the LLOA method may have significant advantages compared to the traditional loss factor formulation for multi-period, stochastic optimization problems where good reference points may not be available. The paper also provides a comprehensive overview and evaluation of approximation methods for line losses.

J. Paul Tanner. Daniel, Evangelical Exegetical Commentary

J. Paul Tanner. <i>Daniel, Evangelical Exegetical Commentary</i>

Research Progress in Semiconductor Materials with Application in the Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2

The large-scale burning of non-renewable fossil fuels leads to the gradual increase of the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, which is associated with negative impacts on the environment. The consequent need to reduce the emission of CO2 resulting from fossil fuel combustion has led to a serious energy crisis. Research reports indicate that the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 is one of the most effective methods to control CO2 pollution. Therefore, the development of novel high-efficiency semiconductor materials has become an important research field. Semiconductor materials need to have a structure with abundant catalytic sites, among other conditions, which is of great significance for the practical application of highly active catalysts for CO2 reduction. This review systematically describes various types of semiconductor materials, as well as adjustments to the physical, chemical and electronic characteristics of semiconductor catalysts to improve the performance of photocatalytic reduction of CO2. The principle of photocatalytic CO2 reduction is also provided in this review. The reaction types and conditions of photocatalytic CO2 reduction are further discussed. We believe that this review will provide a good basis and reference point for future design and development in this field.

Introducing Penetration Test with Case Study and Course Project in Cybersecurity Education

Teaching college students ethical hacking skills is considered a necessary component of a computer security curriculum and an effective method for teaching defensive techniques. However, there is a shortage of textbooks and technical papers that describe the teaching materials and implementation of penetration testing techniques for hands-on exercises. In our teaching practice, we have been using case studies and course projects as a means to help students learn the fundamental concepts of, primary techniques and commonly used tools for penetration testing. We think this is a beneficiary complement of a cybersecurity course that is taught in a defensive approach. Through these activities, students have gained hands-on experience and developed their ethical hacking skills. Feedback from them is positive and student learning outcomes are promising. In this paper, we describe the principles of developing and implementing case studies and course projects along with associated considerations for specified educational objectives when introducing penetration test. An example case study and course project that we have been using in our courses are described to introduce the major design ideas and activities to complete them. Experience, lessons and the feedback from students are discussed. Our results will provide a good point of reference for those educators who teach a cybersecurity course at a college or university and would like to offer an introduction to ethical hacking. This work can also be a reference for a college that wants to integrate

A comprehensive survey of clustering algorithms: State-of-the-art machine learning applications, taxonomy, challenges, and future research prospects

Clustering is an essential tool in data mining research and applications. It is the subject of active research in many fields of study, such as computer science, data science, statistics, pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Several clustering techniques have been proposed and implemented, and most of them successfully find excellent quality or optimal clustering results in the domains mentioned earlier. However, there has been a gradual shift in the choice of clustering methods among domain experts and practitioners alike, which is precipitated by the fact that most traditional clustering algorithms still depend on the number of clusters provided a priori. These conventional clustering algorithms cannot effectively handle real-world data clustering analysis problems where the number of clusters in data objects cannot be easily identified. Also, they cannot effectively manage problems where the optimal number of clusters for a high-dimensional dataset cannot be easily determined. Therefore, there is a need for improved, flexible, and efficient clustering techniques. Recently, a variety of efficient clustering algorithms have been proposed in the literature, and these algorithms produced good results when evaluated on real-world clustering problems. This study presents an up-to-date systematic and comprehensive review of traditional and state-of-the-art clustering techniques for different domains. This survey considers clustering from a more practical perspective. It shows the outstanding role of clustering in various disciplines, such as education, marketing, medicine, biology, and bioinformatics. It also discusses the application of clustering to different fields attracting intensive efforts among the scientific community, such as big data, artificial intelligence, and robotics. This survey paper will be beneficial for both practitioners and researchers. It will serve as a good reference point for researchers and practitioners to design improved and efficient state-of-the-art clustering algorithms.

Soft Tissue Sarcomas: A 16-Year Experience of a Tertiary Referral Hospital in North Jordan.

Background and Objectives: Sarcomas are rare malignant tumors of mesenchymal origin. Their low prevalence and histological heterogeneity make their diagnosis a challenging task. To the best of our knowledge, the epidemiology of soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) was not well studied in Jordan. This study thus aimed to determine STS epidemiologic trends at King Abdullah University Hospital (KAUH); a tertiary hospital that provides cancer healthcare for 70% of the population in Irbid Governorate, North Jordan. The findings of this study will provide a good reference point of the burden of STSs in Jordan and the Middle East region. Materials and Methods: All cases with confirmed STS diagnoses who attended KAUH from January 2003 until December 2018 were included in the initial analysis. Bone sarcomas, gastrointestinal stromal tumors and uterine sarcomas were not included in the study. Information collected from the pathology reports and electronic medical records was used to determine STS prevalence, incidence rate, age and gender distributions, histological types and anatomic location. Cases were reviewed by three pathologists with interest in soft tissue tumors. The findings were compared with literature. Results: In total, 157 STS cases were reported (1.9% of cancers diagnosed at KAUH during the 16-year study period). Crude annual incidence rate (IR) per 100,000 person-years ranged from 0.48 in 2015 to 1.83 in 2011 (average = 1.04). Age-standardized IR (ASR)(World WHO 2000–2025) was 1.37. Male:female ratio was 1.3:1. Median age was 39 years. Age ranged from <1 year to 90 years. Overall STS rates increased with age. The most common histological types were liposarcoma (19%), rhabdomyosarcoma (17%) and leiomyosarcoma (10%). The most common anatomic location was the extremity (40.1%), followed by the trunk (14.7%), then head and neck (10.8%). Conclusion: STSs are rare in North Jordan. A slight increase in their incidence was identified during the study period similar to global trends. The collection of relevant data on established risk factors along with a broader scale evaluation of the epidemiology of STS in the Middle East region is recommended to better evaluate disease burden and trends.

A Blessing or a Curse? Exploring the Impact of Environmental Regulation on China's Regional Green Development from the Perspective of Governance Transformation.

China’s rapid economic growth has caused serious problems, such as environmental pollution and resource exhaustion. Only by improving the green total factor productivity (GTFP) can China’s economic development get out of the dual dilemmas of environmental degradation and resources exhaustion. Although environmental regulation helps to improve China’s productivity, its impact on GTFP is still controversial and deserves careful investigation. In this context, this study adopts the global Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index to measure the GTFP change of China’s 30 provinces over the period of 2003 to 2017 and then it uses the fixed-effect dynamic panel model to investigate the impact of environmental regulation on GTFP from the perspective of governance transformation. The results show that: (1) there is a nonlinear U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and GTFP, indicating that the Porter hypothesis is verified in China. More notably, the values of environmental regulation are still located on the left side of the U-shaped curve at present, which means that the promotional effect of environmental regulation on GTFP has not been realized fully. (2) The U-shaped relationship shows significant regional heterogeneity. The western region demonstrates the highest level of significance, followed by the eastern region. However, the U-shaped relationship is insignificant in the central region. (3) Governance transformation can not only significantly improve GTFP but it can also accelerate the realization of the Porter hypothesis by inspiring the innovative enthusiasm of enterprises, which means that governance transformation can contribute to the achievement of the improved effects of environmental regulation on GTFP. (4) R&D investment can significantly improve GTFP, where the impacts of trade openness and factor endowment were significantly negative and the influence of foreign direct investment was not significant. These conclusions provide a good reference point for optimizing the relationship between the government and the market, as well as promoting regional green and high-quality development in China.

Survival strategies of producers involved in short food supply chains following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic: A Hungarian case-study.

Survival strategies of producers involved in short food supply chains following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic: A Hungarian case-study.

Analysis of Security Criteria for IoT-Based Supply Chain: A Case Study of FMCG Industries

Purpose: In supply chains, creating a secure space for data production, sending, storing, and analysis has always been a critical issue. The main goal of this research was to evaluate the importance of various security criteria in an intelligent supply chain system. Methodology: The main data collection method was the expert survey. Experts validated the security criteria and sub-criteria. Then, the importance of these criteria was evaluated using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method. Findings: The results revealed that reliability and privacy with their sub-criteria were the most important ones among the obtained security criteria for IoT-based supply chain management. Practical implications: The research results can provide valuable insight for supply chains’ decision-makers. The findings can also be a good reference point for researchers who work on the IoT-based supply chain concept in other countries and sectors. Research limitations: Limitations of this study are the purposive sampling method and the limited scope of studied companies and sectors. Therefore, the article provides initial insight on the matter. Originality: The study presents the research problem from a new perspective and gives possible solutions for IoT-based supply chain management.