Reinforcement learning has been applied to air combat problems in recent years,and the idea of curriculum learning is often used for reinforcement learning,but traditional curriculum learning suffers from the problem ...Reinforcement learning has been applied to air combat problems in recent years,and the idea of curriculum learning is often used for reinforcement learning,but traditional curriculum learning suffers from the problem of plasticity loss in neural networks.Plasticity loss is the difficulty of learning new knowledge after the network has converged.To this end,we propose a motivational curriculum learning distributed proximal policy optimization(MCLDPPO)algorithm,through which trained agents can significantly outperform the predictive game tree and mainstream reinforcement learning methods.The motivational curriculum learning is designed to help the agent gradually improve its combat ability by observing the agent's unsatisfactory performance and providing appropriate rewards as a guide.Furthermore,a complete tactical maneuver is encapsulated based on the existing air combat knowledge,and through the flexible use of these maneuvers,some tactics beyond human knowledge can be realized.In addition,we designed an interruption mechanism for the agent to increase the frequency of decisionmaking when the agent faces an emergency.When the number of threats received by the agent changes,the current action is interrupted in order to reacquire observations and make decisions again.Using the interruption mechanism can significantly improve the performance of the agent.To simulate actual air combat better,we use digital twin technology to simulate real air battles and propose a parallel battlefield mechanism that can run multiple simulation environments simultaneously,effectively improving data throughput.The experimental results demonstrate that the agent can fully utilize the situational information to make reasonable decisions and provide tactical adaptation in the air combat,verifying the effectiveness of the algorithmic framework proposed in this paper.展开更多
In electromagnetic countermeasures circumstances,synthetic aperture radar(SAR)imagery usually suffers from severe quality degradation from modulated interrupt sampling repeater jamming(MISRJ),which usually owes consid...In electromagnetic countermeasures circumstances,synthetic aperture radar(SAR)imagery usually suffers from severe quality degradation from modulated interrupt sampling repeater jamming(MISRJ),which usually owes considerable coherence with the SAR transmission waveform together with periodical modulation patterns.This paper develops an MISRJ suppression algorithm for SAR imagery with online dictionary learning.In the algorithm,the jamming modulation temporal properties are exploited with extracting and sorting MISRJ slices using fast-time autocorrelation.Online dictionary learning is followed to separate real signals from jamming slices.Under the learned representation,time-varying MISRJs are suppressed effectively.Both simulated and real-measured SAR data are also used to confirm advantages in suppressing time-varying MISRJs over traditional methods.展开更多
OBJECTIVE To access the efficacy and safety of the double-ProGlide technique for the femoral vein access-site closure in cryoballoon ablation with uninterrupted oral anticoagulants(OAC),and its impact on the electroph...OBJECTIVE To access the efficacy and safety of the double-ProGlide technique for the femoral vein access-site closure in cryoballoon ablation with uninterrupted oral anticoagulants(OAC),and its impact on the electrophysiology laboratory time as well as hospital stay after the procedure in this observational study.METHODS Patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing cryoballoon ablation with uninterrupted OAC at Department of Cardiology,Beijing Anzhen Hospital,Capital Medical University,Beijing,China from May 2019 to May 2021 were enrolled in this study.From October 2020,double-ProGlide technique was consistently used for hemostasis(ProGlide group),and before that conventional manual compression was utilized(manual compression group).The occurrence of vascular and groin complications was accessed during the hospital stay and until the three-month follow-up.RESULTS A total of 140 participants(69.30%of male,mean age:59.21±10.29 years)were evaluated,70 participants being in each group.Immediate hemostasis was achieved in all the patients with ProGlide closure.No major vascular complications were found in the ProGlide group while two major vascular complications were occurred in the manual compression group.The incidence of any groin complication was obviously higher in subjects with manual compression than patients with ProGlide devices(15.71%vs.2.86%,P=0.009).In addition,compared with the manual compression group,the ProGlide group was associated with significantly shorter total time in the electrophysiology laboratory[112.0(93.3–128.8)min vs.123.5(107.3–158.3)min,P=0.006],time from sheath removal until venous site hemostasis[3.8(3.4–4.2)min vs.8.0(7.6–8.5)min,P<0.001],bed rest time[8.0(7.6–8.0)h vs.14.1(12.0–17.6)h,P<0.001]and hospital stay after the procedure[13.8(12.5–17.8)h vs.38.0(21.5–41.0)h,P<0.001].CONCLUSIONS Utilization of the double-ProGlide technique for hemostasis after cryoballoon ablation with uninterrupted OAC is feasible and safe,which has the clinical benefit in reducing the total electrophysiology laboratory time and the hospital stay length after the procedure.展开更多
Objective:Adverse surgical events are a major cause of morbidity,mortality,and disability worldw ide.The cause of many such events can be attributed to interruptions in the operating room(OR),muli-tasking by surgeons,...Objective:Adverse surgical events are a major cause of morbidity,mortality,and disability worldw ide.The cause of many such events can be attributed to interruptions in the operating room(OR),muli-tasking by surgeons,etc.The objective of this study was to observe the types and frequency of intra-operative wor kflow interruptions in our ORs.Method:This ccoss-sectional study was conducted from March Do April of 2023.An observational approach using an audio-video recording device was employed to record OR flow disr uptions.One elective OR and one emergency OR under the Department of General Surgery were selected for the study.All open and laparoscopic surger ies conducted in the selected ORs were included.An Internet Protocol camera'was installed in the selec ted ORS with a view of the entire room,including the anesthesia station.Audio-video recording was started after the first indsion and stopped after closure of the surgical site.Result:Of the 51 cases that were studied,45(88.2%)were elective,and 18(35.3%)were laparoscopic cases.They could be classified into 8 types of open procedures and 4 types of lapar oscopic procedures.The mean maximum headcount inside the OR was 15.5土3.6 and doors opened on average of 15.8土6.0 times during a procedure.Other interruptions were surgeons attending phone calls(24,47.1%),leaving the sterile area(21,41.2%),technical disturbances(32,62.7%),anesthetic interruptions(18,35.3%),and faulty instruments(29,56.9%)Elective procedures had a signifcandy higher average number of in-terruptions per operating hour than emergency procedures(175±8.6vs.7.1±2.9,p<0.01).Condusion:Preventable factors such as faulty instruments,anesthetic interruption,and attending phone calls by the surgeon are commonly observed in ORs.They need to be addressed by timely surgical audits or the adoption of continued sureillance methods that can help take measures to minimize their occurrence.展开更多
Nowadays,the microgrid cluster is an important application scenario for energy trading.In trading,one of the most important research directions is the issue of pricing.To determine reasonable pricing for the microgrid...Nowadays,the microgrid cluster is an important application scenario for energy trading.In trading,one of the most important research directions is the issue of pricing.To determine reasonable pricing for the microgrid cluster,data communication is used to create the cyber-physical system(CPS),which can improve the observability of microgrids.Then,the following works are carried out in the CPS.In the physical layer:1)Regarding trading between microgrids and the load,based on the generalized game theory,an optimal pricing strategy is proposed,which takes into account the interactive relationships among microgrids and transforms the pricing problem into a Nikaido-Isoda function to obtain the optimal prices conveniently;2)Regarding peer-to-peer trading between two microgrids,based on evolutionary game theory and the penalty mechanism,the optimal sale price of the seller is selected with boundary rationality.In the cyber layer,regarding the communication interruption issue existing in pricing(i.e.,the game process),based on the principle of matching the performance of the path with the importance degree of the data,a dynamic regulating method of paths is proposed,i.e.,adopting a new path to re-transmit the interrupted data to the destination.Finally,the effect of the proposed strategies is verified by case studies.展开更多
Governments influence the economy by changing the level and types of taxes, the extent and composition of spending, and the degree and form of borrowing. Governments directly and indirectly influence the way resources...Governments influence the economy by changing the level and types of taxes, the extent and composition of spending, and the degree and form of borrowing. Governments directly and indirectly influence the way resources are used in the economy. Higher taxes, fees, and greater regulations can stymie businesses or entire industries and the resulting impact is reflected on the country’s economy status (strong or weak). The growth rate of GDP is often used as an indicator of the general health of the economy. In broad terms, an increase in real GDP is interpreted as a sign that the economy is doing well. So it is important to study and pay more attention to country’s GDP growth rate. In this paper, an intervention analysis approach was applied to Nigeria GDP data in order to evaluate the performances of military and civilian rules in the country. Data on Nigeria GDP were collected and subjected to interrupted (intervention) time series model. Based on the Alkaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and sigma<sup>2</sup> values, the interrupted time series model ARIMA (1, 1, 0) with exogenous variables (per capita per capita GDP, intervention, year and yearAfter) was identified as the best model amongst other competing models. It was observed that the intervention (civilian rule) was significant at the 10% level of significance in increasing the Nigeria GDP by 10B US$ on the average since 2005 till 2021 while controlling for the effects of other determinants. Also, the ARIMA (1, 1, 0) forecasts indicate that the Nigeria GDP will continue increasing during the civilian rule. As a result, changing from military rule to civilian rule in Nigeria significantly increased the GDP of the country.展开更多
Governments influence the economy by changing the level and types of taxes, the extent and composition of spending, and the degree and form of borrowing. Governments directly and indirectly influence the way resources...Governments influence the economy by changing the level and types of taxes, the extent and composition of spending, and the degree and form of borrowing. Governments directly and indirectly influence the way resources are used in the economy. Higher taxes, fees, and greater regulations can stymie businesses or entire industries and the resulting impact is reflected on the country’s economy status (strong or weak). The growth rate of GDP is often used as an indicator of the general health of the economy. In broad terms, an increase in real GDP is interpreted as a sign that the economy is doing well. So it is important to study and pay more attention to country’s GDP growth rate. In this paper, an intervention analysis approach was applied to Nigeria GDP data in order to evaluate the performances of military and civilian rules in the country. Data on Nigeria GDP were collected and subjected to interrupted (intervention) time series model. Based on the Alkaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and sigma<sup>2</sup> values, the interrupted time series model ARIMA (1, 1, 0) with exogenous variables (per capita per capita GDP, intervention, year and yearAfter) was identified as the best model amongst other competing models. It was observed that the intervention (civilian rule) was significant at the 10% level of significance in increasing the Nigeria GDP by 10B US$ on the average since 2005 till 2021 while controlling for the effects of other determinants. Also, the ARIMA (1, 1, 0) forecasts indicate that the Nigeria GDP will continue increasing during the civilian rule. As a result, changing from military rule to civilian rule in Nigeria significantly increased the GDP of the country.展开更多
Vacuum gaps have rapid dynamic dielectric recovery speed while SF6 gaps have high insulation strength. The series-connected vacuum and SF6 gaps are used as the main switch(MS), which combines their advantages. The wor...Vacuum gaps have rapid dynamic dielectric recovery speed while SF6 gaps have high insulation strength. The series-connected vacuum and SF6 gaps are used as the main switch(MS), which combines their advantages. The work aims to verify the feasibility of serial vacuum and SF6 gaps in mechanical HVDC interruption. The test circuit of the dynamic dielectric recovery performance(DDRP) is set up. The DDRP is tested under free recovery condition by the high voltage pulse source. The DDRP of the vacuum circuit breaker(VCB) and SF6 gas circuit breaker(GCB) in DC interruption with active current injection is analyzed and compared. The test results indicate that the dielectric recovery duration of the VCB is below 30 μs while that of the GCB is above 100 μs. In order to achieve the cooperation between the VCB and GCB, a novel hybrid HVDC circuit breaker(CB) based on series-connected vacuum and SF6 gaps is proposed. The ‘voltage-zero’ duration is created by introducing the follow current loop and there more recovery time for the dielectric recovery of the MS. The voltage distribution is controlled by the voltage dividing method so that the VCB undertakes the initial transient recovery voltage(TRV) and the later TRV is took by the GCB. The theoretical synergy characteristic of the novel HVDC CB is obtained. The paper supplies a new method to improve the custom mechanical HVDC CB, which is useful to achieve the HVDC CB with less serial breaks.展开更多
Objectives:To explore the knowledge,attitude and practice of Chinese nurses regarding nursing interruptions and related factors.Methods:A total of 6,400 nurses from 31 hospitals in China were investigated by using the...Objectives:To explore the knowledge,attitude and practice of Chinese nurses regarding nursing interruptions and related factors.Methods:A total of 6,400 nurses from 31 hospitals in China were investigated by using the Knowledge,Attitude and Practice(KAP)Questionnaire of Nursing Interruptions.The questionnaire consists of three dimensions,knowledge,attitude and practice,containing 10,9 and 7 items,with full score of 50,45 and 28,respectively.Results:The mean overall KAP score regarding nursing interruptions of Chinese nurses was 74.05±16.65(range:26-123),with scores for the knowledge,attitude,and practice component being 21.74±9.80,34.83±6.98,and 17.49±4.97,respectively.Among the nurses,70.8%of them experienced an average level of KAP toward nursing interruptions while 15.5%were at a poor level.The knowledge,attitude,and practice of nursing interruptions were better in chief nurses,managers,nurses with a master degree or above,nurses ever received training,and nurses with a strong agreement to leadership compared to nurses in other groups(P<0.05).In addition,employment type,professional title,position,standardized training and leaders'attention were predictors of KAP in nurses.Conclusion:Chinese nurses have a moderate level of KAP regarding nursing interruptions.Leaders'attention,standardized training,position,professional title and employment type could predict nurses'KAP state of nursing interruptions.Thus,a targeted training program should be implemented for clinical nurses by nursing leaders,with a particular focus on feasibility and professionalism.展开更多
BACKGROUND: Ischemic stroke is often followed by the abnormalities of neurons and corticospinal tract, which can lead to corresponding clinical symptoms and signs. Recently, with the continuous perfection of high-fiel...BACKGROUND: Ischemic stroke is often followed by the abnormalities of neurons and corticospinal tract, which can lead to corresponding clinical symptoms and signs. Recently, with the continuous perfection of high-field MRI instrument, it becomes possible to assess and investigate the cortical function and structural reconstruction following stroke by using MRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). OBJECTIVE: To observe the cortical motor function and changes of corticospinal tracts by using MRI and DTI in the patients with ischemic stroke at acute period, compare with the normal subjects, and assess the damage of corticospinal tract and muscle strength. DESIGN: A case-control observation. SETTING: Department of Medical Imaging, Fuzhou General Hospital of Nanjing Military Area Command of Chinese PLA. PARTICIPANTS: Nine inpatients (5 males and 4 females) with injury of motor function induced by acute ischemic stroke were selected from Fuzhou General Hospital of Nanjing Military Area Command of Chinese PLA between August and December in 2005, they aged 16-87 years with an average of 51 years old, and those with obvious conscious disturbances and severe cognitive disorders were excluded. At the same time, nine healthy right-handed physical examinees matched by age and gender with the patients were also selected, and they all had no nervous disease, epilepsy, mental diseases, cerebrovascular abnormalities and injury history, etc. All the subjects were informed with the detected items and agreed to participate in. METHODS: All the 9 patients with ischemic stroke at acute period and 9 healthy subjects were examined with MRI and DTI. ① A block-based design was used in the MRI, the passive finger-to-finger exercise was used as the stimulative task, and the static condition was taken as the baseline task. The GE 1.5T MRI system was used, all the data were processed after off-line, and analyzed with the SPM2 software, the association between the activated area and local anatomy of brain was observed. ② The DTI image was processed with the dTV.II.R1 software part of the anisotropic image and color anisotropic image were shown, and the three-dimensional white matter image of bilateral corticospinal tracts of the patients were reconstructed.③ The muscle strength of the affected hand of the stroke patients was judged with the Brunnstorm standard. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The manifestations of MRI, DTI and corticospinal tracts of the 9 stroke patients were mainly observed. RESULTS: All the 9 stroke patients and 9 healthy subjects were involved in the analysis of results. ① Results of MRI examination: The handed exercise of the healthy subjects mainly activated contralateral sensorimotor cortex, posterior parietal cortex and bilateral supplementary motor areas. For the exercise of ipsilateral hand of 7 stroke patients, contralateral sensorimotor cortex was weakly activated, but ipsilateral posterial parietal cortex was obviously activated, and the activation of cerebrum was observed in 3 of them. For the other two patients, bilateral sensorimotor cortexes were activated during the exercise of ipsilateral hand, and the ipsilateral activated area was greater than the controlateral one. The exercise of contralateral hand activated contralateral sensorimotor cortex, posterior parietal cortex and contralateral supplementary motor area, and no obvious ipsilateral activated area was observed. ② Results of DTI examination: The anisotropic values of the infarcted area were obviously lower than those of the contralateral part (t=4.570, P < 0.01). the anisotropic value of the infarcted area were obviously was obviously correlated with bilateral muscle strength (t=0.888, P < 0.05). ③ Results of the examination for corticospinal tracts: The reconstruction of bilateral corticospinal tracts, contralateral anatomic form were generally identical with those of normal subjects, the consistency of each continuous form from anterior central gyrus downward to internal capsule to bridge of varolius and bulbus medullae. Because of the involvement of infarcted area to different extent, ipsilateral corticospinal tract was manifested by the interruption of succession and loss of consistency of anatomic structural form. The severity for the injury of corticospinal tract was markedly correlated with the muscle strength of the ipsilateral hand (r=0.888, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: ① The MRI manifestations of stroke patients during the exercise of affected hand are different from those of normal subjects, suggesting that there is compensation and reconstruction of brain function. ② DTI examination is good for the judgement of the correlation between the damaged severity of infarction and muscle strength. ③ The damaged severity of corticospinal tracts is correlated with muscle strength, and it can be used to judge the prognosis of rehabilitative treatment.展开更多
The precipitation behavior of γ′ phase,under various interrupt cooling tests after 1170℃,solution treatment was examined.The results indicate that the size of secondary γ′ precipitates increases with the decrease...The precipitation behavior of γ′ phase,under various interrupt cooling tests after 1170℃,solution treatment was examined.The results indicate that the size of secondary γ′ precipitates increases with the decrease of interrupt temperature,and the shape changes from spherical to butterfly like.The fine tertiary γ′ can form either during the post cool air quenching at high interrupt-temperatures,or during the specified 5℃ min-1cooling.Air quenching at high temperatures cannot suppress further nucleation of tertiary γ′ phase.展开更多
The self-excited DC air circuit breaker(SE-DCCB)has been widely used in urban rail transit due to its excellent stability.It can realize forward and reverse interruption,but has difficulty interrupting small currents ...The self-excited DC air circuit breaker(SE-DCCB)has been widely used in urban rail transit due to its excellent stability.It can realize forward and reverse interruption,but has difficulty interrupting small currents due to the phenomenon of arc root sticking at the entrance of the arc chamber in the splitting process,which is known as arc root stagnation.A coupling model of the self-excited magnetic field and magnetohydrodynamics is established for the SE-DCCB with the traditional structure.The magnetic field,temperature and airflow distribution in the arc chamber are investigated with an interrupting current of 150 A.The simulation results show that the direction and magnitude of the magnetic blowout force are the dominant factors in the arc root stagnation.The local high temperature of the arc chamber due to arc root stagnation increases the obstruction effect of the airflow vortex on the arc root movement,which significantly increases the arc duration time of small current interruption.Based on the research,the structure of the magnetic conductance plate of the actual product is improved,which can improve the direction and magnitude of the magnetic blowout force at the arc root so as to restrain the development of the airflow vortex effectively and solve the problem of arc root stagnation when the small current is interrupted.The simulation results show that the circuit breaker with improved structure has a better performance for a small current interruption range from 100 A to 350 A.展开更多
Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome(PSIS)is a rare congenital abnormality characterized by thinning or disappearance of the pituitary stalk,hypoplasia of the anterior pituitary and an ectopic posterior pituitary.Alt...Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome(PSIS)is a rare congenital abnormality characterized by thinning or disappearance of the pituitary stalk,hypoplasia of the anterior pituitary and an ectopic posterior pituitary.Although the etiology of PSIS is still unclear,gene changes and perinatal adverse events such as breech delivery may play important roles in the pathogenesis of PSIS.PSIS can cause multiple hormone deficiencies,such as growth hormone,which then cause a series of changes in the human body.On the one hand,hormone changes affect growth and development,and on the other hand,they could affect human metabolism and subsequently the liver resulting in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD).Under the synergistic effect of multiple mechanisms,the progression of NAFLD caused by PSIS is faster than that due to other causes.Therefore,in addition to early identification of PSIS,timely hormone replacement therapy and monitoring of relevant hormone levels,clinicians should routinely assess the liver function while managing PSIS.展开更多
From 1986 to 1995, the author treated 60 cases of peripheral facial paralysis, of which 50 cases were treated with electric needles and 10 cases in the control group with filiform needles.
Objective: To evaluate retrospectively the feasibilityand effect of hepatic trisegmentectomy in therapy ofhuge neoplasms of the liver.Methods: From July 1993 to October 1999, 29 pa-tients with huge hepatic neoplasms u...Objective: To evaluate retrospectively the feasibilityand effect of hepatic trisegmentectomy in therapy ofhuge neoplasms of the liver.Methods: From July 1993 to October 1999, 29 pa-tients with huge hepatic neoplasms underwent hepatictrisegmentectomy. Of these, 23 patients sufferedfrom primary liver cancer, 1 hepatic infiltration ofgallbladder cancer, 1 metastasis of colon cancer, 1hepatic angiosarcoma, 1 hepatic neurofibroma, and2 huge liver cysts. Twenty-six patients were subjectedto right trisegmentectomy and the rest 3 left triseg-mentectomy. All trisegmentectomies were performedunder normothermic interruption of the porta hepatisat single time and these interruptions lasted 15 to 40minutes.Results: The relatively good effect was seen in our se-ries. The 1-, 3-, 5-year survival rates for primaryliver cancer patients were 63.6%, 36.4% and27.3 %, respectively. The survival period for the pa-tients with hepatic infiltration of gallbladder cancerand liver metastasis of colon cancer was 6 months.Those with hepatic angiosarcoma, hepatic neurofi-broma and huge liver cysts have been surviving 35,26, 25 and 40 months, respectively. Major complica-tions were noted in 5 patients, and one (3.4%,1/29) died.Conclusion: Hepatic trisegmentectomy is safe and ef-fective in treatment of huge hepatic neoplasms if itsindications and operative techniques are properlymastered.展开更多
Dinosaur extinction of the late Cretaceous is an enigma. A scorched earth layer was discovered at the end of the Cretaceous system from drilling cores in west of Nei Monggol in China. And there was a creature interrup...Dinosaur extinction of the late Cretaceous is an enigma. A scorched earth layer was discovered at the end of the Cretaceous system from drilling cores in west of Nei Monggol in China. And there was a creature interruption for 6-8 million years after that period through fossil analysis of the area and the adjacent area. Just in the same system of scorched earth layer, the Polish scientists found the abnormal geo chemical phenomena and high dense universal substances generally contained in meteorite. The authors think, at the end of Cretaceous, many celestial bodies ran into the earth. The collision caused fires all over the world and slowed down the speed of the earth rotation suddenly. The oxygen density decreased sharply. And because of the sudden increase of day length, the biological clock of dinosaur was in the state of chaos. That’s the reason why dinosaurs got extinct. It took a very long time both for the oxygen to return normal for most creatures to live and for the new species fit for new rotation speed of the earth to come into being. That’s why there was the creature interruption after the extinction of the dinosaur.展开更多
Purpose: One of the main indicators of scientific production is the number of papers published in scholarly journals. Turkey ranks 18 th place in the world based on the number of scholarly publications. The objective ...Purpose: One of the main indicators of scientific production is the number of papers published in scholarly journals. Turkey ranks 18 th place in the world based on the number of scholarly publications. The objective of this paper is to find out if the monetary support program initiated in 1993 by the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council(TüB?TAK) to incentivize researchers and increase the number, impact, and quality of international publications has been effective in doing so.Design/methodology/approach: We analyzed some 390,000 publications with Turkish affiliations listed in the Web of Science(Wo S) database between 1976 and 2015 along with about 157,000 supported ones between 1997 and 2015. We used the interrupted time series(ITS) analysis technique(also known as "quasi-experimental time series analysis" or "intervention analysis") to test if TüB?TAK's support program helped increase the number of publications. We defined ARIMA(1,1,0) model for ITS data and observed the impact of TüB?TAK's support program in 1994, 1997, and 2003(after one, four and 10 years of its start, respectively). The majority of publications(93%) were full papers(articles), which were used as the experimental group while other types of contributions functioned as the control group. We also carried out a multiple regression analysis.Findings: TüB?TAK's support program has had negligible effect on the increase of the number of papers with Turkish affiliations. Yet, the number of other types of contributions continued to increase even though they were not well supported, suggesting that TüB?TAK's support program is probably not the main factor causing the increase in the number of papers with Turkish affiliations.Research limitations: Interrupted time series analysis shows if the "intervention" has had any significant effect on the dependent variable but it does not explain what caused the increase in the number of papers if it was not the intervention. Moreover, except the"intervention", other "event(s)" that might affect the time series data(e.g., increase in the number of research personnel over the years) should not occur during the period of analysis, a prerequisite that is beyond the control of the researcher.Practical implications: TüB?TAK's "cash-for-publication" program did not seem to have direct impact on the increase of the number of papers published by Turkish authors, suggesting that small amounts of payments are not much of an incentive for authors to publish more. It might perhaps be a better strategy to concentrate limited resources on a few high impact projects rather than to disperse them to thousands of authors as "micropayments." Originality/value: Based on 25 years' worth of payments data, this is perhaps one of the first large-scale studies showing that "cash-for-publication" policies or "piece rates" paid to researchers tend to have little or no effect on the increase of researchers' productivity. The main finding of this paper has some implications for countries wherein publication subsidies are used as an incentive to increase the number and quality of papers published in international journals. They should be prepared to consider reviewing their existing support programs(based usually on bibliometric measures such as journal impact factors) and revising their reward policies.展开更多
文摘Reinforcement learning has been applied to air combat problems in recent years,and the idea of curriculum learning is often used for reinforcement learning,but traditional curriculum learning suffers from the problem of plasticity loss in neural networks.Plasticity loss is the difficulty of learning new knowledge after the network has converged.To this end,we propose a motivational curriculum learning distributed proximal policy optimization(MCLDPPO)algorithm,through which trained agents can significantly outperform the predictive game tree and mainstream reinforcement learning methods.The motivational curriculum learning is designed to help the agent gradually improve its combat ability by observing the agent's unsatisfactory performance and providing appropriate rewards as a guide.Furthermore,a complete tactical maneuver is encapsulated based on the existing air combat knowledge,and through the flexible use of these maneuvers,some tactics beyond human knowledge can be realized.In addition,we designed an interruption mechanism for the agent to increase the frequency of decisionmaking when the agent faces an emergency.When the number of threats received by the agent changes,the current action is interrupted in order to reacquire observations and make decisions again.Using the interruption mechanism can significantly improve the performance of the agent.To simulate actual air combat better,we use digital twin technology to simulate real air battles and propose a parallel battlefield mechanism that can run multiple simulation environments simultaneously,effectively improving data throughput.The experimental results demonstrate that the agent can fully utilize the situational information to make reasonable decisions and provide tactical adaptation in the air combat,verifying the effectiveness of the algorithmic framework proposed in this paper.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(61771372,61771367,62101494)the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project(61525105)+1 种基金Shenzhen Science and Technology Program(KQTD20190929172704911)the Aeronautic al Science Foundation of China(2019200M1001)。
文摘In electromagnetic countermeasures circumstances,synthetic aperture radar(SAR)imagery usually suffers from severe quality degradation from modulated interrupt sampling repeater jamming(MISRJ),which usually owes considerable coherence with the SAR transmission waveform together with periodical modulation patterns.This paper develops an MISRJ suppression algorithm for SAR imagery with online dictionary learning.In the algorithm,the jamming modulation temporal properties are exploited with extracting and sorting MISRJ slices using fast-time autocorrelation.Online dictionary learning is followed to separate real signals from jamming slices.Under the learned representation,time-varying MISRJs are suppressed effectively.Both simulated and real-measured SAR data are also used to confirm advantages in suppressing time-varying MISRJs over traditional methods.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.81100143)the Beijing Nova Program(Z121107002512053)+4 种基金the Beijing Health System High Level Health Technology Talent Cultivation Plan(No.2013-3-013)the Beijing Outstanding Talent Training Program(No.2014000021223ZK32)the Beijing National Science Foundation(No.7212100)the Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals Clinical Medicine Development of Special Funding Support(ZYLX201303)the National Key Clinical Speciality Construction Project。
文摘OBJECTIVE To access the efficacy and safety of the double-ProGlide technique for the femoral vein access-site closure in cryoballoon ablation with uninterrupted oral anticoagulants(OAC),and its impact on the electrophysiology laboratory time as well as hospital stay after the procedure in this observational study.METHODS Patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing cryoballoon ablation with uninterrupted OAC at Department of Cardiology,Beijing Anzhen Hospital,Capital Medical University,Beijing,China from May 2019 to May 2021 were enrolled in this study.From October 2020,double-ProGlide technique was consistently used for hemostasis(ProGlide group),and before that conventional manual compression was utilized(manual compression group).The occurrence of vascular and groin complications was accessed during the hospital stay and until the three-month follow-up.RESULTS A total of 140 participants(69.30%of male,mean age:59.21±10.29 years)were evaluated,70 participants being in each group.Immediate hemostasis was achieved in all the patients with ProGlide closure.No major vascular complications were found in the ProGlide group while two major vascular complications were occurred in the manual compression group.The incidence of any groin complication was obviously higher in subjects with manual compression than patients with ProGlide devices(15.71%vs.2.86%,P=0.009).In addition,compared with the manual compression group,the ProGlide group was associated with significantly shorter total time in the electrophysiology laboratory[112.0(93.3–128.8)min vs.123.5(107.3–158.3)min,P=0.006],time from sheath removal until venous site hemostasis[3.8(3.4–4.2)min vs.8.0(7.6–8.5)min,P<0.001],bed rest time[8.0(7.6–8.0)h vs.14.1(12.0–17.6)h,P<0.001]and hospital stay after the procedure[13.8(12.5–17.8)h vs.38.0(21.5–41.0)h,P<0.001].CONCLUSIONS Utilization of the double-ProGlide technique for hemostasis after cryoballoon ablation with uninterrupted OAC is feasible and safe,which has the clinical benefit in reducing the total electrophysiology laboratory time and the hospital stay length after the procedure.
文摘Objective:Adverse surgical events are a major cause of morbidity,mortality,and disability worldw ide.The cause of many such events can be attributed to interruptions in the operating room(OR),muli-tasking by surgeons,etc.The objective of this study was to observe the types and frequency of intra-operative wor kflow interruptions in our ORs.Method:This ccoss-sectional study was conducted from March Do April of 2023.An observational approach using an audio-video recording device was employed to record OR flow disr uptions.One elective OR and one emergency OR under the Department of General Surgery were selected for the study.All open and laparoscopic surger ies conducted in the selected ORs were included.An Internet Protocol camera'was installed in the selec ted ORS with a view of the entire room,including the anesthesia station.Audio-video recording was started after the first indsion and stopped after closure of the surgical site.Result:Of the 51 cases that were studied,45(88.2%)were elective,and 18(35.3%)were laparoscopic cases.They could be classified into 8 types of open procedures and 4 types of lapar oscopic procedures.The mean maximum headcount inside the OR was 15.5土3.6 and doors opened on average of 15.8土6.0 times during a procedure.Other interruptions were surgeons attending phone calls(24,47.1%),leaving the sterile area(21,41.2%),technical disturbances(32,62.7%),anesthetic interruptions(18,35.3%),and faulty instruments(29,56.9%)Elective procedures had a signifcandy higher average number of in-terruptions per operating hour than emergency procedures(175±8.6vs.7.1±2.9,p<0.01).Condusion:Preventable factors such as faulty instruments,anesthetic interruption,and attending phone calls by the surgeon are commonly observed in ORs.They need to be addressed by timely surgical audits or the adoption of continued sureillance methods that can help take measures to minimize their occurrence.
基金This work was supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2018YFA0702200)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(61933005,61833008)+6 种基金the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China(BK20220395)the Leading Technology Foundation Research Project of Jiangsu Province(BK20202011)the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Universities(22KJB470024)Jiangsu Provincial Key Research and Development Program(BE2020001)Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province of China(E2020203139)Natural Science Foundation of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications(NY222032)the National Research Foundation of Korea(2020R1A2B5B02002002).
文摘Nowadays,the microgrid cluster is an important application scenario for energy trading.In trading,one of the most important research directions is the issue of pricing.To determine reasonable pricing for the microgrid cluster,data communication is used to create the cyber-physical system(CPS),which can improve the observability of microgrids.Then,the following works are carried out in the CPS.In the physical layer:1)Regarding trading between microgrids and the load,based on the generalized game theory,an optimal pricing strategy is proposed,which takes into account the interactive relationships among microgrids and transforms the pricing problem into a Nikaido-Isoda function to obtain the optimal prices conveniently;2)Regarding peer-to-peer trading between two microgrids,based on evolutionary game theory and the penalty mechanism,the optimal sale price of the seller is selected with boundary rationality.In the cyber layer,regarding the communication interruption issue existing in pricing(i.e.,the game process),based on the principle of matching the performance of the path with the importance degree of the data,a dynamic regulating method of paths is proposed,i.e.,adopting a new path to re-transmit the interrupted data to the destination.Finally,the effect of the proposed strategies is verified by case studies.
文摘Governments influence the economy by changing the level and types of taxes, the extent and composition of spending, and the degree and form of borrowing. Governments directly and indirectly influence the way resources are used in the economy. Higher taxes, fees, and greater regulations can stymie businesses or entire industries and the resulting impact is reflected on the country’s economy status (strong or weak). The growth rate of GDP is often used as an indicator of the general health of the economy. In broad terms, an increase in real GDP is interpreted as a sign that the economy is doing well. So it is important to study and pay more attention to country’s GDP growth rate. In this paper, an intervention analysis approach was applied to Nigeria GDP data in order to evaluate the performances of military and civilian rules in the country. Data on Nigeria GDP were collected and subjected to interrupted (intervention) time series model. Based on the Alkaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and sigma<sup>2</sup> values, the interrupted time series model ARIMA (1, 1, 0) with exogenous variables (per capita per capita GDP, intervention, year and yearAfter) was identified as the best model amongst other competing models. It was observed that the intervention (civilian rule) was significant at the 10% level of significance in increasing the Nigeria GDP by 10B US$ on the average since 2005 till 2021 while controlling for the effects of other determinants. Also, the ARIMA (1, 1, 0) forecasts indicate that the Nigeria GDP will continue increasing during the civilian rule. As a result, changing from military rule to civilian rule in Nigeria significantly increased the GDP of the country.
文摘Governments influence the economy by changing the level and types of taxes, the extent and composition of spending, and the degree and form of borrowing. Governments directly and indirectly influence the way resources are used in the economy. Higher taxes, fees, and greater regulations can stymie businesses or entire industries and the resulting impact is reflected on the country’s economy status (strong or weak). The growth rate of GDP is often used as an indicator of the general health of the economy. In broad terms, an increase in real GDP is interpreted as a sign that the economy is doing well. So it is important to study and pay more attention to country’s GDP growth rate. In this paper, an intervention analysis approach was applied to Nigeria GDP data in order to evaluate the performances of military and civilian rules in the country. Data on Nigeria GDP were collected and subjected to interrupted (intervention) time series model. Based on the Alkaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and sigma<sup>2</sup> values, the interrupted time series model ARIMA (1, 1, 0) with exogenous variables (per capita per capita GDP, intervention, year and yearAfter) was identified as the best model amongst other competing models. It was observed that the intervention (civilian rule) was significant at the 10% level of significance in increasing the Nigeria GDP by 10B US$ on the average since 2005 till 2021 while controlling for the effects of other determinants. Also, the ARIMA (1, 1, 0) forecasts indicate that the Nigeria GDP will continue increasing during the civilian rule. As a result, changing from military rule to civilian rule in Nigeria significantly increased the GDP of the country.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51407163, 51777025)National Rail Transportation Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center (No. NEEC-2017B07)+1 种基金China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2017M622370)Key scientific research projects of colleges and universities in Henan(16A470014, 19A470008)
文摘Vacuum gaps have rapid dynamic dielectric recovery speed while SF6 gaps have high insulation strength. The series-connected vacuum and SF6 gaps are used as the main switch(MS), which combines their advantages. The work aims to verify the feasibility of serial vacuum and SF6 gaps in mechanical HVDC interruption. The test circuit of the dynamic dielectric recovery performance(DDRP) is set up. The DDRP is tested under free recovery condition by the high voltage pulse source. The DDRP of the vacuum circuit breaker(VCB) and SF6 gas circuit breaker(GCB) in DC interruption with active current injection is analyzed and compared. The test results indicate that the dielectric recovery duration of the VCB is below 30 μs while that of the GCB is above 100 μs. In order to achieve the cooperation between the VCB and GCB, a novel hybrid HVDC circuit breaker(CB) based on series-connected vacuum and SF6 gaps is proposed. The ‘voltage-zero’ duration is created by introducing the follow current loop and there more recovery time for the dielectric recovery of the MS. The voltage distribution is controlled by the voltage dividing method so that the VCB undertakes the initial transient recovery voltage(TRV) and the later TRV is took by the GCB. The theoretical synergy characteristic of the novel HVDC CB is obtained. The paper supplies a new method to improve the custom mechanical HVDC CB, which is useful to achieve the HVDC CB with less serial breaks.
基金Paper extracted from The New Xiangya Talent Projects of the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University(NO:JY201720).
文摘Objectives:To explore the knowledge,attitude and practice of Chinese nurses regarding nursing interruptions and related factors.Methods:A total of 6,400 nurses from 31 hospitals in China were investigated by using the Knowledge,Attitude and Practice(KAP)Questionnaire of Nursing Interruptions.The questionnaire consists of three dimensions,knowledge,attitude and practice,containing 10,9 and 7 items,with full score of 50,45 and 28,respectively.Results:The mean overall KAP score regarding nursing interruptions of Chinese nurses was 74.05±16.65(range:26-123),with scores for the knowledge,attitude,and practice component being 21.74±9.80,34.83±6.98,and 17.49±4.97,respectively.Among the nurses,70.8%of them experienced an average level of KAP toward nursing interruptions while 15.5%were at a poor level.The knowledge,attitude,and practice of nursing interruptions were better in chief nurses,managers,nurses with a master degree or above,nurses ever received training,and nurses with a strong agreement to leadership compared to nurses in other groups(P<0.05).In addition,employment type,professional title,position,standardized training and leaders'attention were predictors of KAP in nurses.Conclusion:Chinese nurses have a moderate level of KAP regarding nursing interruptions.Leaders'attention,standardized training,position,professional title and employment type could predict nurses'KAP state of nursing interruptions.Thus,a targeted training program should be implemented for clinical nurses by nursing leaders,with a particular focus on feasibility and professionalism.
基金the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, No. Z0516079
文摘BACKGROUND: Ischemic stroke is often followed by the abnormalities of neurons and corticospinal tract, which can lead to corresponding clinical symptoms and signs. Recently, with the continuous perfection of high-field MRI instrument, it becomes possible to assess and investigate the cortical function and structural reconstruction following stroke by using MRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). OBJECTIVE: To observe the cortical motor function and changes of corticospinal tracts by using MRI and DTI in the patients with ischemic stroke at acute period, compare with the normal subjects, and assess the damage of corticospinal tract and muscle strength. DESIGN: A case-control observation. SETTING: Department of Medical Imaging, Fuzhou General Hospital of Nanjing Military Area Command of Chinese PLA. PARTICIPANTS: Nine inpatients (5 males and 4 females) with injury of motor function induced by acute ischemic stroke were selected from Fuzhou General Hospital of Nanjing Military Area Command of Chinese PLA between August and December in 2005, they aged 16-87 years with an average of 51 years old, and those with obvious conscious disturbances and severe cognitive disorders were excluded. At the same time, nine healthy right-handed physical examinees matched by age and gender with the patients were also selected, and they all had no nervous disease, epilepsy, mental diseases, cerebrovascular abnormalities and injury history, etc. All the subjects were informed with the detected items and agreed to participate in. METHODS: All the 9 patients with ischemic stroke at acute period and 9 healthy subjects were examined with MRI and DTI. ① A block-based design was used in the MRI, the passive finger-to-finger exercise was used as the stimulative task, and the static condition was taken as the baseline task. The GE 1.5T MRI system was used, all the data were processed after off-line, and analyzed with the SPM2 software, the association between the activated area and local anatomy of brain was observed. ② The DTI image was processed with the dTV.II.R1 software part of the anisotropic image and color anisotropic image were shown, and the three-dimensional white matter image of bilateral corticospinal tracts of the patients were reconstructed.③ The muscle strength of the affected hand of the stroke patients was judged with the Brunnstorm standard. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The manifestations of MRI, DTI and corticospinal tracts of the 9 stroke patients were mainly observed. RESULTS: All the 9 stroke patients and 9 healthy subjects were involved in the analysis of results. ① Results of MRI examination: The handed exercise of the healthy subjects mainly activated contralateral sensorimotor cortex, posterior parietal cortex and bilateral supplementary motor areas. For the exercise of ipsilateral hand of 7 stroke patients, contralateral sensorimotor cortex was weakly activated, but ipsilateral posterial parietal cortex was obviously activated, and the activation of cerebrum was observed in 3 of them. For the other two patients, bilateral sensorimotor cortexes were activated during the exercise of ipsilateral hand, and the ipsilateral activated area was greater than the controlateral one. The exercise of contralateral hand activated contralateral sensorimotor cortex, posterior parietal cortex and contralateral supplementary motor area, and no obvious ipsilateral activated area was observed. ② Results of DTI examination: The anisotropic values of the infarcted area were obviously lower than those of the contralateral part (t=4.570, P < 0.01). the anisotropic value of the infarcted area were obviously was obviously correlated with bilateral muscle strength (t=0.888, P < 0.05). ③ Results of the examination for corticospinal tracts: The reconstruction of bilateral corticospinal tracts, contralateral anatomic form were generally identical with those of normal subjects, the consistency of each continuous form from anterior central gyrus downward to internal capsule to bridge of varolius and bulbus medullae. Because of the involvement of infarcted area to different extent, ipsilateral corticospinal tract was manifested by the interruption of succession and loss of consistency of anatomic structural form. The severity for the injury of corticospinal tract was markedly correlated with the muscle strength of the ipsilateral hand (r=0.888, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: ① The MRI manifestations of stroke patients during the exercise of affected hand are different from those of normal subjects, suggesting that there is compensation and reconstruction of brain function. ② DTI examination is good for the judgement of the correlation between the damaged severity of infarction and muscle strength. ③ The damaged severity of corticospinal tracts is correlated with muscle strength, and it can be used to judge the prognosis of rehabilitative treatment.
基金supported by the Science and Technology Project of Beijing (No. D09080300510901)National High Technology Research and Development Pro-gram of China (No. 2012AA03A514)
文摘The precipitation behavior of γ′ phase,under various interrupt cooling tests after 1170℃,solution treatment was examined.The results indicate that the size of secondary γ′ precipitates increases with the decrease of interrupt temperature,and the shape changes from spherical to butterfly like.The fine tertiary γ′ can form either during the post cool air quenching at high interrupt-temperatures,or during the specified 5℃ min-1cooling.Air quenching at high temperatures cannot suppress further nucleation of tertiary γ′ phase.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51977132)the Key Special Science and Technology Project of Liaoning Province(No.2020JH1/10100012)the General Program of the Education Department of Liaoning Province(No.LJKZ0126).
文摘The self-excited DC air circuit breaker(SE-DCCB)has been widely used in urban rail transit due to its excellent stability.It can realize forward and reverse interruption,but has difficulty interrupting small currents due to the phenomenon of arc root sticking at the entrance of the arc chamber in the splitting process,which is known as arc root stagnation.A coupling model of the self-excited magnetic field and magnetohydrodynamics is established for the SE-DCCB with the traditional structure.The magnetic field,temperature and airflow distribution in the arc chamber are investigated with an interrupting current of 150 A.The simulation results show that the direction and magnitude of the magnetic blowout force are the dominant factors in the arc root stagnation.The local high temperature of the arc chamber due to arc root stagnation increases the obstruction effect of the airflow vortex on the arc root movement,which significantly increases the arc duration time of small current interruption.Based on the research,the structure of the magnetic conductance plate of the actual product is improved,which can improve the direction and magnitude of the magnetic blowout force at the arc root so as to restrain the development of the airflow vortex effectively and solve the problem of arc root stagnation when the small current is interrupted.The simulation results show that the circuit breaker with improved structure has a better performance for a small current interruption range from 100 A to 350 A.
基金Supported by The Innovative Talent Support Program of The Institution of Higher Learning in Liaoning Province,No.2018-478The Innovative Talents of Science and Technology Support Program of Young and Middle People of Shenyang,No.RC170446.
文摘Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome(PSIS)is a rare congenital abnormality characterized by thinning or disappearance of the pituitary stalk,hypoplasia of the anterior pituitary and an ectopic posterior pituitary.Although the etiology of PSIS is still unclear,gene changes and perinatal adverse events such as breech delivery may play important roles in the pathogenesis of PSIS.PSIS can cause multiple hormone deficiencies,such as growth hormone,which then cause a series of changes in the human body.On the one hand,hormone changes affect growth and development,and on the other hand,they could affect human metabolism and subsequently the liver resulting in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD).Under the synergistic effect of multiple mechanisms,the progression of NAFLD caused by PSIS is faster than that due to other causes.Therefore,in addition to early identification of PSIS,timely hormone replacement therapy and monitoring of relevant hormone levels,clinicians should routinely assess the liver function while managing PSIS.
文摘From 1986 to 1995, the author treated 60 cases of peripheral facial paralysis, of which 50 cases were treated with electric needles and 10 cases in the control group with filiform needles.
文摘Objective: To evaluate retrospectively the feasibilityand effect of hepatic trisegmentectomy in therapy ofhuge neoplasms of the liver.Methods: From July 1993 to October 1999, 29 pa-tients with huge hepatic neoplasms underwent hepatictrisegmentectomy. Of these, 23 patients sufferedfrom primary liver cancer, 1 hepatic infiltration ofgallbladder cancer, 1 metastasis of colon cancer, 1hepatic angiosarcoma, 1 hepatic neurofibroma, and2 huge liver cysts. Twenty-six patients were subjectedto right trisegmentectomy and the rest 3 left triseg-mentectomy. All trisegmentectomies were performedunder normothermic interruption of the porta hepatisat single time and these interruptions lasted 15 to 40minutes.Results: The relatively good effect was seen in our se-ries. The 1-, 3-, 5-year survival rates for primaryliver cancer patients were 63.6%, 36.4% and27.3 %, respectively. The survival period for the pa-tients with hepatic infiltration of gallbladder cancerand liver metastasis of colon cancer was 6 months.Those with hepatic angiosarcoma, hepatic neurofi-broma and huge liver cysts have been surviving 35,26, 25 and 40 months, respectively. Major complica-tions were noted in 5 patients, and one (3.4%,1/29) died.Conclusion: Hepatic trisegmentectomy is safe and ef-fective in treatment of huge hepatic neoplasms if itsindications and operative techniques are properlymastered.
文摘Dinosaur extinction of the late Cretaceous is an enigma. A scorched earth layer was discovered at the end of the Cretaceous system from drilling cores in west of Nei Monggol in China. And there was a creature interruption for 6-8 million years after that period through fossil analysis of the area and the adjacent area. Just in the same system of scorched earth layer, the Polish scientists found the abnormal geo chemical phenomena and high dense universal substances generally contained in meteorite. The authors think, at the end of Cretaceous, many celestial bodies ran into the earth. The collision caused fires all over the world and slowed down the speed of the earth rotation suddenly. The oxygen density decreased sharply. And because of the sudden increase of day length, the biological clock of dinosaur was in the state of chaos. That’s the reason why dinosaurs got extinct. It took a very long time both for the oxygen to return normal for most creatures to live and for the new species fit for new rotation speed of the earth to come into being. That’s why there was the creature interruption after the extinction of the dinosaur.
文摘Purpose: One of the main indicators of scientific production is the number of papers published in scholarly journals. Turkey ranks 18 th place in the world based on the number of scholarly publications. The objective of this paper is to find out if the monetary support program initiated in 1993 by the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council(TüB?TAK) to incentivize researchers and increase the number, impact, and quality of international publications has been effective in doing so.Design/methodology/approach: We analyzed some 390,000 publications with Turkish affiliations listed in the Web of Science(Wo S) database between 1976 and 2015 along with about 157,000 supported ones between 1997 and 2015. We used the interrupted time series(ITS) analysis technique(also known as "quasi-experimental time series analysis" or "intervention analysis") to test if TüB?TAK's support program helped increase the number of publications. We defined ARIMA(1,1,0) model for ITS data and observed the impact of TüB?TAK's support program in 1994, 1997, and 2003(after one, four and 10 years of its start, respectively). The majority of publications(93%) were full papers(articles), which were used as the experimental group while other types of contributions functioned as the control group. We also carried out a multiple regression analysis.Findings: TüB?TAK's support program has had negligible effect on the increase of the number of papers with Turkish affiliations. Yet, the number of other types of contributions continued to increase even though they were not well supported, suggesting that TüB?TAK's support program is probably not the main factor causing the increase in the number of papers with Turkish affiliations.Research limitations: Interrupted time series analysis shows if the "intervention" has had any significant effect on the dependent variable but it does not explain what caused the increase in the number of papers if it was not the intervention. Moreover, except the"intervention", other "event(s)" that might affect the time series data(e.g., increase in the number of research personnel over the years) should not occur during the period of analysis, a prerequisite that is beyond the control of the researcher.Practical implications: TüB?TAK's "cash-for-publication" program did not seem to have direct impact on the increase of the number of papers published by Turkish authors, suggesting that small amounts of payments are not much of an incentive for authors to publish more. It might perhaps be a better strategy to concentrate limited resources on a few high impact projects rather than to disperse them to thousands of authors as "micropayments." Originality/value: Based on 25 years' worth of payments data, this is perhaps one of the first large-scale studies showing that "cash-for-publication" policies or "piece rates" paid to researchers tend to have little or no effect on the increase of researchers' productivity. The main finding of this paper has some implications for countries wherein publication subsidies are used as an incentive to increase the number and quality of papers published in international journals. They should be prepared to consider reviewing their existing support programs(based usually on bibliometric measures such as journal impact factors) and revising their reward policies.
