Structural Attention Neural Networks for improved sentiment analysis

We introduce a tree-structured attention neural network for sentences and small phrases and apply it to the problem of sentiment classification. Our model expands the current recursive models by incorporating structural information around a node of a syntactic tree using both bottom-up and top-down information propagation. Also, the model utilizes structural attention to identify the most salient representations during the construction of the syntactic tree. To our knowledge, the proposed models achieve state of the art performance on the Stanford Sentiment Treebank dataset.Comment: Submitted to EACL2017 for revie

Investigating the Governmental Accounting Reform of Greek National Health System (ESY): Some preliminary Evidence

During the last decades, several countries worldwide have introduced financial management reforms as an important part of the New Public Management (NPM) initiative at one or more levels of government sector, by replacing or transforming their traditional budgetary cash accounting systems towards business-like accrual accounting. Following the example of this upcoming managerial trend, the Greek government introduced in 1997 an accrual based accounting system (ABAS) and double-entry book-keeping method in all public hospitals. The hospital sector is one of the areas where NPM reforms have been introduced in search of higher efficiency in service production. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Our first goal is to provide an overview of the government sector reform initiatives in Greece and to present evidence regarding the adoption rate of the new accounting system by the Greek public health sector. The second goal of our research is to present the perceived usefulness of the accounting information provided by the proposed accounting reform as well as the implementation problems encountered in implementing ABAS. Our analysis is based on the results of an empirical survey that took place during 2008. For the purposes of this survey, a structured questionnaire was prepared and sent to the Finance Directors of 132 Greek public hospitals.Accrual Accounting, Public Sector Accounting, Public Hospitals, New Public Management.

EU-Russia energy diplomacy: The need for an active strategic partnership. EU Diplomacy Paper 4/2012, July 2012

This paper explains the conflictive and cooperative elements of energy diplomacy between the European Union (EU) and Russia. It argues that interdependence forms the underlying principle of this relationship and creates both sensitivity and vulnerability for the interdependent parties, thus carrying the sperms of both conflict and cooperation. Both sides would be negatively affected by the other side’s noncooperation within the current policy framework and the prevailing mistrust and recurring tensions can be explained by this sensitivity. However, even if both sides’ policies were adjusted, vulnerability interdependence would still prevent them from seriously reducing their energy cooperation. It is necessary then to see how EU and Russian energy diplomacy can converge and how their strategic energy partnership can be cemented

Quantitative analysis of competition in post-transcriptional regulation reveals a novel signature in target expression variation

When small RNAs are loaded onto Argonaute proteins they can form the RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs), which mediate RNA interference. RISC-formation is dependent on a shared pool of Argonaute proteins and RISC loading factors, and is thus susceptible to competition among small RNAs for loading. We present a mathematical model that aims to understand how small RNA competition for the PTR resources affects target gene repression. We discuss that small RNA activity is limited by RISC-formation, RISC-degradation and the availability of Argonautes. Together, these observations explain a number of PTR saturation effects encountered experimentally. We show that different competition conditions for RISC-loading result in different signatures of PTR activity determined also by the amount of RISC-recycling taking place. In particular, we find that the small RNAs less efficient at RISC-formation, using fewer resources of the PTR pathway, can perform in the low RISC-recycling range equally well as their more effective counterparts. Additionally, we predict a novel signature of PTR in target expression levels. Under conditions of low RISC-loading efficiency and high RISC-recycling, the variation in target levels increases linearly with the target transcription rate. Furthermore, we show that RISC-recycling determines the effect that Argonaute scarcity conditions have on target expression variation. Our observations taken together offer a framework of predictions which can be used in order to infer from experimental data the particular characteristics of underlying PTR activity.Comment: 23 pages, 3 Figures, accepted for publication to the Biophysical Journa

Resetting the neurohormonal balance in heart failure (HF). the relevance of the natriuretic peptide (NP) system to the clinical management of patients with HF

The natriuretic peptide (NP) system, which includes atrial natriuretic peptide, B-type natriuretic peptide, and C-type natriuretic peptide, has an important role in cardiovascular homeostasis, promoting a number of physiological effects including diuresis, vasodilation, and inhibition of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Heart failure (HF) is associated with defects in NP processing and synthesis, and there is a strong relationship between NP levels and disease state. NPs are useful biomarkers in HF, and their use in diagnosis and evaluation of prognosis is well established, particularly in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). There has also been interest in their use to guide disease management and therapeutic decision making. An understanding of NPs in HF has also resulted in interest in synthetic NPs for the treatment of HF and in treatments that target neprilysin, a protease that degrades NPs. A novel drug, the angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor sacubitril/valsartan (LCZ696), which simultaneously inhibits neprilysin and blocks the angiotensin II type I receptor, was shown to have a favorable efficacy and safety profile in patients with HFrEF and has been approved for use in such patients in Europe and the USA. In light of the development of treatments that target neprilysin and of recent data in relation to synthetic NPs, it is timely to review the current understanding of the role of NPs in HF and their use in diagnosis, evaluating prognosis and guiding treatment, as well as their place in HF therapy

Evolution of the Governmental Accounting Reform implementation in Greek Public Hospitals: Testing the institutional framework

Purpose – In an attempt to promote efficiency, effectiveness and economy in health service production, the Greek government imposed in 2003 an accrual basis financial and cost accounting system in all public hospitals of the National Health System (NHS). The purpose of this study is not to investigate thoroughly the accounting reform implementation and adoption in specific organizations, but rather to obtain an overall idea of the reform adoption process in Greek public hospitals by identifying major areas of non-compliance with the mandatory legislative accounting framework and various organisational contingencies that influence the level of reform adoption within a broad institutional framework. Design/methodology/approach – Our analysis is based on the results of an empirical survey that took place during 2009. For the purposes of this survey, a compliance index is constructed and applied on a sample of 94 Greek public hospitals using a structured questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with six public hospital Financial and Accounting executives. Findings – The empirical evidence reveals that the level of accrual basis financial and especially cost accounting adoption in Greek public hospitals is realized only to a limited extent. In particular, results show that the relationship between the institutional isomorphic pressures and accounting reform implementation process is restricted by organizational capability factors (i.e., the quality of existing Information Technology systems, the education level of finance and accounting staff, the extent of reform related training, and the professional support of consultants). Research limitations/implications – Although this study takes into consideration the work of previous researchers in the health care area, it acknowledges that empirical research on the subject in the Greek environment is limited. Therefore this study should be viewed as an initial step to address this limitation. Originality/value – This study draws on the information systems change, management accounting innovation, and public sector reform literatures to contribute to the current knowledge in public sector accounting by examining a number of factors that are expected to influence the implementation and adoption process of accrual and cost accounting practises in the Greek public healthcare sector within a broad institutional framework. Contribution - This study contributes to the international literature of New Public Management (NPM) initiatives in public health sector by providing, to our knowledge, the first large cross-sectional assessment of accrual accounting reform adoption and implementation in Greek public hospitals. Additionally, the empirical evidence of this study can enhance researchers’ and managers’ understanding of major implementation processes and challenges and thus help them refine models of effective implementation process and improve systems and processes on similar future projects.Accrual Accounting, Public Sector Accounting, Compliance Index, Public Hospitals, Isomorphism.

X-ray diagnostics of chemical composition of the accretion disk and donor star in ultra-compact X-ray binaries

Non-solar composition of the donor star in ultra-compact X-ray binaries may have a pronounced effect on the fluorescent lines appearing in their spectra due to reprocessing of primary radiation by the accretion disk and the white dwarf surface. We show that the most dramatic and easily observable consequence of the anomalous C/O abundance, is the significant, by more than an order of magnitude, attenuation of the Ka line of iron. It is caused by screening of the presence of iron by oxygen - in the C/O dominated material the main interaction process for a E ~ 7keV photon is absorption by oxygen rather than by iron, contrary to the solar composition case. Ionization of oxygen at high mass accretion rates adds a luminosity dependence to this behavior - the iron line is significantly suppressed only at low luminosity, log(LX) less than 37-37.5, and should recover its nominal strength at higher luminosity. The increase of the EW of the Ka lines of carbon and oxygen, on the other hand, saturates at rather moderate values. Screening by He is less important, due to its low ionization threshold and because in the accretion disk it is mostly ionized. Consequently, in the case of the He-rich donor, the iron line strength remains close to its nominal value, determined by the iron abundance in the accretion disk. This opens the possibility of constraining the nature of donor stars in UCXBs by means of X-ray spectroscopy with moderate energy resolution.Comment: Accepted by MNRA

Assessing Accrual Accounting Reform in Greek Public Hospitals: An Empirical Investigation

During the last decades, several countries worldwide have introduced financial management reforms, as an important part of the New Public Management (NPM) initiative at one or more levels of government sector, by either replacing or transforming their traditional budgetary cash accounting systems towards a business-like accrual accounting concept. Following the example of this upcoming managerial trend, the Greek government introduced in 2003 the accrual basis accounting into public hospitals, as the hospital sector is one of the areas where NPM reforms have been introduced in search of higher efficiency, effectiveness and economy in service production. The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first goal is to provide an overview of the government sector reform initiatives in Greece and to present empirical evidence regarding the adoption level of the accrual basis accounting standards in the Greek public Health sector. The second goal of the research is to investigate the impact of a range of potentially contingent factors on hospitals compliance with the accrual financial and cost accounting reform. The present analysis is based on the results of an empirical survey that took place during 2009. For the purposes of this survey, a structured questionnaire was prepared and sent to the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of 132 Greek public hospitals. In particular, a linear regression model analysis was used to examine the cross-sectional differences on a number of explanatory and implementation factors of the accounting reform adoption level. The empirical evidence reveals that the level of accrual and especially cost accounting adoption in Greek public hospitals is realized only to a limited extent. In particular, results show that the level of reform adoption is positively related to IT quality, reform related training, education level of accounting staff, and professional consultants’ support. However, no significant relationship was found between the level of reform adoption and hospital size, reform implementation cost, CEO educational background, experience effect, and absence of management-physicians conflict relationship. The main contribution of this study is the empirical evidence it provides on the approaches and processes used by the Government of Greece to implement accrual financial and cost accounting systems in the Greek National Health System (GNHS) and the role certain human, organizational and situational factors played in such implementations for enhancing researchers’ and managers’ understanding of major implementation processes and challenges as well as helping them refine models of effective implementation process and improve systems and processes on similar future projectsAccrual Accounting, Public Sector Accounting, Compliance, Public Hospitals, contingency factors