bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
CrowdStory
Authors: Guo Bin , Ouyang Yi , Zhang Cheng , Zhang Jiafan , Yu Zhiwen , Wu Di , Wang Yu
Published: September 2017

Event summarization based on crowdsourced microblog data is a promising research area, and several researchers have recently focused on this field. However, these previous works fail to characterize the fine-grained evolution of an event and the rich correlations among posts. The semantic associations among the multi-modal data in posts are also not investigated as a means to enhance the summarization performance. To address these issues, this study presents CrowdStory, which aims to characterize an event as a fine-grained, evolutionary, and correlation-rich storyline. A crowd-powered event model and a generic event storyline generation framework are first proposed, based on which a multi-clue--based approach to fine-grained event summarization is presented. The implicit human intelligence (HI) extracted from visual contents and community interactions is then used to identify inter-clue associations. Finally, a cross-media mining approach to selective visual story presentation is proposed. The experiment results indicate that, compared with the state-of-the-art methods, CrowdStory enables fine-grained event summarization (e.g., dynamic evolution) and correctly identifies up to 60% strong correlations (e.g., causality) of clues. The cross-media approach shows diversity and relevancy in visual data selection.
MindfulWatch
Authors: Hao Tian , Bi Chongguang , Xing Guoliang , Chan Roxane , Tu Linlin
Published: September 2017

With a wealth of scientifically proven health benefits, meditation was enjoyed by about 18 million people in the U.S. alone, as of 2012. Yet, there remains a stunning lack of convenient tools for promoting long-term and effective meditation practice. In this paper, we present MindfulWatch, a practical smartwatch-based sensing system that monitors respiration in real-time during meditation -- offering essential biosignals that can potentially be used to empower various future applications such as tracking changes in breathing pattern, offering real-time guidance, and providing an accurate bio-marker for meditation research. To this end, MindfulWatch is designed to be convenient for everyday use with no training required. Operating solely on a smartwatch, MindfulWatch can immediately reach the growing population of smartwatch users, making it ideal for longitudinal data collection for meditation studies. Specifically, it utilizes motion sensors to sense the subtle “micro” wrist rotation (0.01 rad/s) induced by respiration. To accurately capture breathing, we developed a novel self-adaptive model that tracks changes in both breathing pattern and meditation posture over time. MindfulWatch was evaluated based on data from 36 real-world meditation sessions (8.7 hours, 11 subjects). The results suggest that MindfulWatch offers reliable real-time respiratory timing measurement (70% errors under 0.5 seconds).
Zero-Effort In-Home Sleep and Insomnia Monitoring using Radio Signals
Authors: Hsu Chen-Yu , Ahuja Aayush , Yue Shichao , Hristov Rumen , Kabelac Zachary , Katabi Dina
Published: September 2017

Insomnia is the most prevalent sleep disorder in the US. In-home insomnia monitoring is important for both diagnosis and treatment. Existing solutions, however, require the user to either maintain a sleep diary or wear a sensor while sleeping. Both can be quite cumbersome. This paper introduces EZ-Sleep, a new approach for monitoring insomnia and sleep. EZ-Sleep has three properties. First, it is zero effort, i.e., it neither requires the user to wear a sensor nor to record any data. It monitors the user remotely by analyzing the radio signals that bounce off her body. Second, it delivers new features unavailable with other devices such as automatically detecting where the user sleeps and her exact bed schedule, while simultaneously monitoring multiple users in different beds. Third, it is highly accurate. Its average error in measuring sleep latency and total sleep time is 4.9 min and 10.3 min, respectively.
Progress Estimation and Phase Detection for Sequential Processes
Authors: Li Xinyu , Zhang Yanyi , Zhang Jianyu , Zhou Moliang , Chen Shuhong , Gu Yue , Chen Yueyang , Marsic Ivan , Farneth Richard A. , Burd Randall S.
Published: September 2017

Process modeling and understanding are fundamental for advanced human-computer interfaces and automation systems. Most recent research has focused on activity recognition, but little has been done on sensor-based detection of process progress. We introduce a real-time, sensor-based system for modeling, recognizing and estimating the progress of a work process. We implemented a multimodal deep learning structure to extract the relevant spatio-temporal features from multiple sensory inputs and used a novel deep regression structure for overall completeness estimation. Using process completeness estimation with a Gaussian mixture model, our system can predict the phase for sequential processes. The performance speed, calculated using completeness estimation, allows online estimation of the remaining time. To train our system, we introduced a novel rectified hyperbolic tangent (rtanh) activation function and conditional loss. Our system was tested on data obtained from the medical process (trauma resuscitation) and sports events (Olympic swimming competition). Our system outperformed the existing trauma-resuscitation phase detectors with a phase detection accuracy of over 86%, an F1-score of 0.67, a completeness estimation error of under 12.6%, and a remaining-time estimation error of less than 7.5 minutes. For the Olympic swimming dataset, our system achieved an accuracy of 88%, an F1-score of 0.58, a completeness estimation error of 6.3% and a remaining-time estimation error of 2.9 minutes.
Gazture
Authors: Li Yinghui , Cao Zhichao , Wang Jiliang
Published: September 2017

We present Gazture, a light-weight gaze based real-time gesture control system on commercial tablets. Unlike existing approaches that require dedicated hardware (e.g., high resolution camera), high computation overhead (powerful CPU) or specific user behavior (keeping head steady), Gazture provides gesture recognition based on easy-to-control user gaze input with a small overhead. To achieve this goal, Gazture incorporates a two-layer structure: The first layer focuses on real-time gaze estimation with acceptable tracking accuracy while incurring a small overhead. The second layer implements a robust gesture recognition algorithm while compensating gaze estimation error. To address user posture change while using mobile device, we design a online transfer function based method to convert current eye features into corresponding eye features in reference posture, which then facilitates efficient gaze position estimation. We implement Gazture on Lenovo Tab3 8 Plus tablet with Android 6.0.1, and evaluate its performance in different scenarios. The evaluation results show that Gazture can achieve a high accuracy in gesture recognition while incurring a low overhead.
Microinteraction Ecological Momentary Assessment Response Rates
Authors: Ponnada Aditya , Haynes Caitlin , Maniar Dharam , Manjourides Justin , Intille Stephen
Published: September 2017

Mobile-based ecological-momentary-assessment (EMA) is an in-situ measurement methodology where an electronic device prompts a person to answer questions of research interest. EMA has a key limitation: interruption burden. Microinteraction-EMA(µEMA) may reduce burden without sacrificing high temporal density of measurement. In µEMA, all EMA prompts can be answered with ‘at a glance' microinteractions. In a prior 4-week pilot study comparing standard EMA delivered on a phone (phone-EMA) vs. µEMA delivered on a smartwatch (watch-µEMA), watch-µEMA demonstrated higher response rates and lower perceived burden than phone-EMA, even when the watch-µEMA interruption rate was 8 times more than phone-EMA. A new 4-week dataset was gathered on smartwatch-based EMA (i.e., watch-EMA with 6 back-to-back, multiple-choice questions on a watch) to compare whether the high response rates of watch-µEMA previously observed were a result of using microinteractions, or due to the novelty and accessibility of the smartwatch. No statistically significant differences in compliance, completion, and first-prompt response rates were observed between phone-EMA and watch-EMA. However, watch-µEMA response rates were significantly higher than watch-EMA. This pilot suggests that (1) the high compliance and low burden previously observed in watch-µEMA is likely due to the microinteraction question technique, not simply the use of the watch versus the phone, and that (2) compliance with traditional EMA (with long surveys) may not improve simply by moving survey delivery from the phone to a smartwatch.
Robust Indoor Localization across Smartphone Models with Ellipsoid Features from Multiple RSSIs
Authors: Sugasaki Masato , Shimosaka Masamichi
Published: September 2017

Localization for mobile devices has become important as the basis technology for various ubiquitous computing applications. While GPS is leveraged as the de-facto standard technology in outdoor localization, its accuracy is poor indoors. For twenty years, researchers have tried to investigate indoor localization technology using fingerprinting from received signal strength indicators (RSSIs). With the widespread use of smartphones in the last decade, device dependency (e.g. antenna characteristics) must be considered to avoid performance degradation, while most of the recent localization approaches assume that all the smartphone models have the same device characteristics.

In this paper, we propose a novel feature representation based on multiple RSSIs for compensating performance degradation against smartphone models changes. In contrast to the previous feature representation based on a single RSSI, our new feature representation, which we call Ellipsoid features, employs tuples of pair of RSSIs to eliminate device dependence in the path loss model for wave propagation. In contrast to recent advances in machine learning methods such as domain adaptation, multi-task learning, and semi-supervised learning, our approach requires no additional dataset nor retraining for the new target models. This simplicity would promote ubiquity of indoor localization in the era of smartphones. Moreover, our feature representation works well compared to the state-of-the-arts in feature representations based on multiple RSSIs even when only a small number of access points (APs) are available. Experimental result using smartphone devices including Android Nexus5, Nexus5X, Nexus6P, and Xperia X Performance shows that our approach achieves superior performance over the state-of-the-art indoor localization models as well as robust performance against device changes.
SleepMonitor
Authors: Sun Xiao , Qiu Li , Wu Yibo , Tang Yeming , Cao Guohong
Published: September 2017

Respiratory rate and body position are two major physiological parameters in sleep study, and monitoring them during sleep can provide helpful information for health care. In this paper, we present SleepMonitor, a smartwatch based system which leverages the built-in accelerometer to monitor the respiratory rate and body position. To calculate respiratory rate, we design a filter to extract the weak respiratory signal from the noisy accelerometer data collected on the wrist, and use frequency analysis to estimate the respiratory rate from the data along each axis. Further, we design a multi-axis fusion approach which can adaptively adjust the estimates from the three axes and then significantly improve the estimation accuracy. To detect the body position, we apply machine learning techniques based on the features extracted from the accelerometer data. We have implemented our system on Android Wear based smartwatches and evaluated its performance in real experiments. The results show that our system can monitor respiratory rate and body position during sleep with high accuracy under various conditions.
InvisibleEye
Authors: Tonsen Marc , Steil Julian , Sugano Yusuke , Bulling Andreas
Published: September 2017

Analysis of everyday human gaze behaviour has significant potential for ubiquitous computing, as evidenced by a large body of work in gaze-based human-computer interaction, attentive user interfaces, and eye-based user modelling. However, current mobile eye trackers are still obtrusive, which not only makes them uncomfortable to wear and socially unacceptable in daily life, but also prevents them from being widely adopted in the social and behavioural sciences. To address these challenges we present InvisibleEye, a novel approach for mobile eye tracking that uses millimetre-size RGB cameras that can be fully embedded into normal glasses frames. To compensate for the cameras’ low image resolution of only a few pixels, our approach uses multiple cameras to capture different views of the eye, as well as learning-based gaze estimation to directly regress from eye images to gaze directions. We prototypically implement our system and characterise its performance on three large-scale, increasingly realistic, and thus challenging datasets: 1) eye images synthesised using a recent computer graphics eye region model, 2) real eye images recorded of 17 participants under controlled lighting, and 3) eye images recorded of four participants over the course of four recording sessions in a mobile setting. We show that InvisibleEye achieves a top person-specific gaze estimation accuracy of 1.79° using four cameras with a resolution of only 5 × 5 pixels. Our evaluations not only demonstrate the feasibility of this novel approach but, more importantly, underline its significant potential for finally realising the vision of invisible mobile eye tracking and pervasive attentive user interfaces.
DigiTouch
Authors: Whitmire Eric , Jain Mohit , Jain Divye , Nelson Greg , Karkar Ravi , Patel Shwetak , Goel Mayank
Published: September 2017

Input is a significant problem for wearable systems, particularly for head mounted virtual and augmented reality displays. Existing input techniques either lack expressive power or may not be socially acceptable. As an alternative, thumb-to-finger touches present a promising input mechanism that is subtle yet capable of complex interactions. We present DigiTouch, a reconfigurable glove-based input device that enables thumb-to-finger touch interaction by sensing continuous touch position and pressure. Our novel sensing technique improves the reliability of continuous touch tracking and estimating pressure on resistive fabric interfaces. We demonstrate DigiTouch’s utility by enabling a set of easily reachable and reconfigurable widgets such as buttons and sliders. Since DigiTouch senses continuous touch position, widget layouts can be customized according to user preferences and application needs. As an example of a real-world application of this reconfigurable input device, we examine a split-QWERTY keyboard layout mapped to the user’s fingers. We evaluate DigiTouch for text entry using a multi-session study. With our continuous sensing method, users reliably learned to type and achieved a mean typing speed of 16.0 words per minute at the end of ten 20-minute sessions, an improvement over similar wearable touch systems.
CovertBand
Authors: Nandakumar Rajalakshmi , Takakuwa Alex , Kohno Tadayoshi , Gollakota Shyamnath
Published: September 2017

This paper contributes a novel method for low-cost, covert physical sensing and, by doing so, surfaces new privacy threats. We demonstrate how a smartphone and portable speaker playing music with embedded, inaudible signals can track multiple individuals’ locations and activities both within a room and through barriers in 2D space. We achieve this by transforming a smartphone into an active sonar system that emits a combination of a sonar pulse and music and listens to the reflections off of humans in the environment. Our implementation, CovertBand, monitors minute changes to these reflections to track multiple people concurrently and to recognize different types of motion, leaking information about where people are in addition to what they may be doing. We evaluated CovertBand by running experiments in five homes in the Seattle area, showing that we can localize both single and multiple individuals through barriers. These tests show CovertBand can track walking subjects with a mean tracking error of 18 cm and subjects moving at a fixed position with an accuracy of 8 cm at up to 6 m in line-of-sight and 3 m through barriers. We test a variety of rhythmic motions such as pumping arms, jumping, and supine pelvic tilts in through-wall scenarios and show that they produce discernibly different spectrograms from walking in the acoustic reflections. In tests with 33 subjects, we also show that even in ideal scenarios, listeners were unlikely to detect a CovertBand attack.
Building Cognition-Aware Systems
Authors: Dingler Tilman , Schmidt Albrecht , Machulla Tonja
Published: September 2017

People’s alertness fluctuates across the day: at some times we are highly focused while at others we feel unable to concentrate. So far, extracting fluctuation patterns has been time and cost-intensive. Using an in-the-wild approach with 12 participants, we evaluated three cognitive tasks regarding their adequacy as a mobile and economical assessment tool of diurnal changes in mental performance. Participants completed the five-minute test battery on their smartphones multiple times a day for a period of 1-2 weeks. Our results show that people’s circadian rhythm can be obtained under unregulated non-laboratory conditions. Along with this validation study, we release our test battery as an open source library for future work towards cognition-aware systems as well as a tool for psychological and medical research. We discuss ways of integrating the toolkit and possibilities for implicitly measuring performance variations in common applications. The ability to detect systematic patterns in alertness levels will allow cognition-aware systems to provide in-situ assistance in accordance with users’ current cognitive capabilities and limitations.
Devices and Data and Agents, Oh My
Authors: Clark Meghan , Newman Mark W. , Dutta Prabal
Published: September 2017

With the advent of DIY smart homes and the Internet of Things comes the emergence of user interfaces for domestic human-building interaction. However, the design trade-offs between the different representations of a smart home’s capabilities are still not well-understood. In this work, we examine how four different smart home abstractions affect end users’ mental models of a hypothetical system. We develop four questionnaires, each of which describes the same hypothetical smart home using a different abstraction, and then we collect responses depicting desired smart home applications from over 1,500 Mechanical Turk workers. We find that the choice of abstraction strongly primes end users’ responses. In particular, the purely device-oriented abstraction results in the most limited scenarios, suggesting that if we want users to associate smart home technologies with valuable high-level applications we should shift the UI paradigm for the Internet of Things from device-oriented control to other abstractions that inspire a greater diversity of interactions.
Technology and Engineering of the Water-Energy Nexus
Authors: Rao Prakash , Kostecki Robert , Dale Larry , Gadgil Ashok
Published: September 2017

The global demand for water and energy is projected to grow, but there likely will be significant constraints in our ability to keep meeting it. These constraints will be imposed partly by the interdependence between water, energy, and climate change. If left unchecked, these connections can exacerbate water and energy shortages and aggravate climate change impacts: Energy is used to supply and treat water; moreover, emissions from energy generation contribute to climate change, which affects water supplies and increases the demand for energy to sustain Earth's growing population and economy. The linkage between water and energy can offer opportunities for better meeting expected demand while minimizing damage from shortages of either. This article focuses on the technological and engineering aspects of various connections in the water-energy nexus where advancements can enable greater supply of one or both. It also outlines the benefits and challenges associated with each connection.
Uterine Tumors Resembling Ovarian Sex Cord Tumors: Case Report of Rare Pathological and Clinical Entity
Authors: Sadeh Rotem , Segev Yakir , Schmidt Meirav , Schendler Jacob , Baruch Tamar , Lavie Ofer
Published: September 2017

Uterine tumors resembling ovarian sex cord tumors (UTROSCT) are rare uterine neoplasms. These tumors are usually benign, displaying a nodular or polypoid growth pattern; common occurrence is observed at the 4th to 6th decade of life. This entity is divided according to clinical behavior and pathological typical findings including different immunohistochemical staining. Traditionally type I tumors show a predominant endometrial stromal pattern with less than 50% ovarian sex cord component. This type has been shown to behave more aggressively with a decreased disease free survival period. Type II tumors, the classical UTROSCT, are less invasive but have the tendency to recur. We report a case of a 57-year-old patient presenting with postmenopausal bleeding. Hysteroscopic polypectomy showed the diagnosis of UTROSCT. This case presents a less morbid minimally invasive treatment plan and exemplifies that in patients where low malignant potential exists and their will is taken into consideration such management is both crucial and correct.
Kernel Parameter Optimization for Kriging Based on Structural Risk Minimization Principle
Authors: Su Hua , Gong Chunlin , Gu Liangxian
Published: September 2017

An improved kernel parameter optimization method based on Structural Risk Minimization (SRM) principle is proposed to enhance the generalization ability of traditional Kriging surrogate model. This article first analyses the importance of the generalization ability as an assessment criteria of surrogate model from the perspective of statistics and proves the applicability to Kriging. Kernel parameter optimization method is used to improve the fitting precision of Kriging model. With the smoothness measure of the generalization ability and the anisotropy kernel function, the modified Kriging surrogate model and its analysis process are established. Several benchmarks are tested to verify the effectiveness of the modified method under two different sampling states: uniform distribution and nonuniform distribution. The results show that the proposed Kriging has better generalization ability and adaptability, especially for nonuniform distribution sampling.
Investigating the Permeability of Marble under Moderate Pressure and Temperature
Authors: Yang Jianping , Chen Weizhong , Yang Diansen , Tian Hongming
Published: September 2017

The permeability of intact marble samples collected from the depth of 1.6 km in southwestern China is investigated under moderate confining pressures and temperatures. No microcracks initiate or propagate during the tests, and the variation of permeability is due to the change of aperture of microcracks. Test results show a considerable decrease of permeability along with confining pressure increase from 10 to 30 MPa and temperature increase from 15 to 40°C. The thermal effect on the permeability is notable in comparison with the influence of the stress. A simple permeability evolution law is developed to correlate the permeability and the porosity in the compressive regime based on the microphysical geometric linkage model. Using this law, the permeability in the compressive regime for crystalline rock can be predicted from the volumetric strain curve of mechanical tests.
The miRNA Expression Profile in Acute Myocardial Infarct Using Sheep Model with Left Ventricular Assist Device Unloading
Authors: Yan Xiaoqian , Gan Yu , Chen Haibo , Liu Guangmao , Hu Shengshou , Zhou Jianye
Published: September 2017

This study attempted to establish miRNA expression profiles in acute myocardial infarct (AMI) sheep model with left ventricular assist device (LVAD) unloading. AMI was established in sheep model and FW-II type axial flow pump was implanted to maintain continuous unloading for 3 days. The cardiomyocyte survival, inflammatory cell infiltration, and myocardial fibrosis were detected by tissue staining, and cardiomyocyte apoptosis was detected by TUNEL assay. High throughput sequencing technique was used to detect miRNA expression in cardiomyocytes and to establish miRNA expression profile. The Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were established. miRNA sequencing results identified 152 known mature miRNAs and 1582 new mature miRNAs. The unloading and control groups differentially expressed genes, of which RT-PCR verified oar-miR-19b and oar-miR-26a. The GO and KEGG pathway annotation and enrichment established that the regulating functions and signaling pathways of these miRNAs were closely related to cardiovascular diseases (CVD). In this study, LVAD effectively reduced the cell death degree of cardiomyocyte in MI. The established miRNA expression profiles of AMI and LVAD intervention in this study suggest that the expression profile could be used to explore the unknown miRNA and the regulatory mechanisms involved in AMI.
Crowdsensing Task Assignment Based on Particle Swarm Optimization in Cognitive Radio Networks
Authors: Zhai Linbo , Wang Hua
Published: September 2017

Cognitive radio technology allows unlicensed users to utilize licensed wireless spectrum if the wireless spectrum is unused by licensed users. Therefore, spectrum sensing should be carried out before unlicensed users access the wireless spectrum. Since mobile terminals such as smartphones are more and more intelligent, they can sense the wireless spectrum. The method that spectrum sensing task is assigned to mobile intelligent terminals is called crowdsourcing. For a large-scale region, we propose the crowdsourcing paradigm to assign mobile users the spectrum sensing task. The sensing task assignment is influenced by some factors including remaining energy, locations, and costs of mobile terminals. Considering these constraints, we design a precise sensing effect function with a local constraint and aim to maximize this sensing effect to address crowdsensing task assignment. The problem of crowdsensing task assignment is difficult to solve since we prove that it is NP-hard. We design an optimal algorithm based on particle swarm optimization to solve this problem. Simulation results show our algorithm achieves higher performance than the other algorithms.
Phase Transition of Black Holes in Brans–Dicke Born–Infeld Gravity through Geometrical Thermodynamics
Authors: Hendi S. H. , Talezadeh M. S. , Armanfard Z.
Published: September 2017

Using the geometrical thermodynamic approach, we study phase transition of Brans–Dicke Born–Infeld black holes. We apply introduced methods and describe their shortcomings. We also use the recently proposed new method and compare its results with those of canonical ensemble. By considering the new method, we find that its Ricci scalar diverges in the places of phase transition and bound points. We also show that the bound point can be distinguished from the phase transition points through the sign of thermodynamical Ricci scalar around its divergencies.
An Efficient Implementation of Track‐Oriented Multiple Hypothesis Tracker Using Graphical Model Approaches
Authors: Sun Jinping , Li Qing , Zhang Xuwang , Sun Wei
Published: September 2017

The multiple hypothesis tracker (MHT) is currently the preferred method for addressing data association problem in multitarget tracking (MTT) application. MHT seeks the most likely global hypothesis by enumerating all possible associations over time, which is equal to calculating maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimate over the report data. Despite being a well‐studied method, MHT remains challenging mostly because of the computational complexity of data association. In this paper, we describe an efficient method for solving the data association problem using graphical model approaches. The proposed method uses the graph representation to model the global hypothesis formation and subsequently applies an efficient message passing algorithm to obtain the MAP solution. Specifically, the graph representation of data association problem is formulated as a maximum weight independent set problem (MWISP), which translates the best global hypothesis formation into finding the maximum weight independent set on the graph. Then, a max‐product belief propagation (MPBP) inference algorithm is applied to seek the most likely global hypotheses with the purpose of avoiding a brute force hypothesis enumeration procedure. The simulation results show that the proposed MPBP‐MHT method can achieve better tracking performance than other algorithms in challenging tracking situations.
Effect of Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose-Beeswax Composite Edible Coatings Formulated with or without Antifungal Agents on Physicochemical Properties of Plums during Cold Storage
Authors: Gunaydin Sule , Karaca Hakan , Palou Lluís , de la Fuente Beatriz , Pérez-Gago María B.
Published: September 2017

The influence of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose- (HPMC-) beeswax (BW) composite edible coatings formulated with or without food additives with antifungal properties on physicochemical and sensory properties of plums(Prunus salicina)cv. “Friar” stored for 11 and 22 d at 1°C followed by a shelf life period of 5 d at 20°C was evaluated. Food preservatives selected from previous research included potassium sorbate (PS), sodium methyl paraben (SMP), and sodium ethyl paraben (SEP). Emulsions had 7% of total solid content and were prepared with glycerol and stearic acid as plasticizer and emulsifier, respectively. All the coatings reduced plum weight and firmness loss and coated fruit showed higher titratable acidity, soluble solids content, and hue angle values at the end of the storage period. In addition, physiological disorders such as flesh browning and bleeding were reduced in coated samples compared to uncoated controls. Paraben-based coatings were the most effective in controlling weight loss and the SMP-based coating was the most effective in maintaining plum firmness. Respiration rate, sensory flavor, off-flavors, and fruit appearance were not adversely affected by the application of antifungal coatings. Overall, these results demonstrated the potential of selected edible coatings containing antifungal food additives to extend the postharvest life of plums, although further studies should focus on improving some properties of the coatings to enhance gas barrier properties and further increase storability.
H2/H∞ Control for MJLS with Infinite Markov Chain
Authors: Hou Ting , Wang Jie , Liu Yueying , Shen Xiao
Published: September 2017

With the help of a stochastic bounded real lemma, we deal with finite horizon H2/H∞ control problem for discrete‐time MJLS, whose Markov chain takes values in an infinite set. Besides, a unified control design for H2, H∞, and H2/H∞ is given.
Effectiveness of 2 Osteopathic Treatment Approaches on Pain, Pressure-Pain Threshold, and Disease Severity in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Albers Jessica , Jäkel Anne , Wellmann Kai , von Hehn Ulrike , Schmidt Tobias
Published: September 2017

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of osteopathic intervention (OI) and general osteopathic treatment (GOT) in individuals with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). Methods: The trial was designed as a randomized controlled trial with 2 osteopathic interventions and 1 untreated control group. The patients in the two osteopathic groups received 10 osteopathic treatments (OI or GOT) within a time period of 12 weeks. The control group did not receive any osteopathic treatment. The primary outcome was the average pain intensity (API) assessed by visual analog scale (VAS). Secondary outcomes were the pressure-pain threshold rated by means of a tender point score, and disease severity, assessed by the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). Results: 50 patients were randomized. The primary outcome parameter API decreased from 7.2 to 4.7 in the OI group, from 6.3 to 4.3 in the GOT group, and increased slightly in the control group from 6.2 to 6.6. There were significant differences for the change in API between the OI group and the control group (VAS: 2.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.12-4.52), and between the GOT group and the control group (VAS: 2.4, 95% CI = 0.65-4.11), but no significant differences between the OI group and the GOT group. There were no significant differences for the secondary outcome parameters between the groups. Conclusion: A series of osteopathic treatments might be beneficial for patients suffering from FMS.
Certolizumab Pegol-Induced Folliculitis-Like Lichenoid Sarcoidosis in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Sakai Hiroyuki , Nomura Wakana , Sugawara Motoshi
Published: September 2017

Anti-tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) biologic agents are used for treating refractory sarcoidosis. However, sarcoidosis-like epithelioid cell granulomas may develop during anti-TNF-α treatment. A 63-year-old man suffering from rheumatoid arthritis was treated with oral methotrexate and methylprednisolone for 4 years. He subsequently started biweekly subcutaneous injections of certolizumab pegol. Three months later, light red follicular papules developed on his chest and they spread over the trunk and bilateral upper arms. Histopathology of a lesion showed a sharply demarcated noncaseating epithelioid cell granuloma with multi-nucleated giant cells in the upper perifollicular area. The follicular papules subsided following discontinuation of certolizumab pegol. Folliculitis-like lichenoid sarcoidosis should be included among the adverse cutaneous reactions of anti-TNF-α treatment.
An Unusual Presentation of Pyoderma Gangrenosum Leading to Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome
Authors: Didan Ali , Donnelly Alan , Chua Hock
Published: September 2017

This is a report of an atypical presentation of pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) in a 26-year-old male who had a negative septic screen. The patient had a life-threatening presentation requiring an intensive care unit (ICU) admission for vasopressor support. It was thought that the likely cause of circulatory collapse was an overwhelming cytokine reaction or systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) secondary to extensive PG lesions rather than septic shock. The patient presented with multiple large ulcers, the largest being 4 cm in diameter on the central chest. He developed fevers and circulatory shock preceding his ICU admission. Microbiological specimens, including blood cultures and wound swabs, were negative for any growth (bacterial, fungal, and tuberculosis). No infective foci could be identified as a cause of hemodynamic instability. During admission, the patient’s condition was complicated by multi-organ dysfunction. Wound debridement extending to the deep fascia on the anterior chest, back, bilateral shoulders, and right upper thigh was deemed necessary and performed by the plastic surgery team. Histopathology showed abundant neutrophils but could not confirm an infective process. Overall, the patient made an impressive recovery with almost complete healing of all lesions following oral prednisolone alone. Based on the history and clinical and laboratory findings, a diagnosis of PG complicated by a SIRS was favored. Very few cases of neutrophilic dermatoses have been described in this way. A similar presentation has been described in a 76-year-old female with lower-leg ulcers who developed circulatory shock and required an amputation. Lesions continued to appear despite antibiotics and surgical treatment. Septic screen was negative. She was subsequently diagnosed with PG and recovered rapidly after steroid therapy.
Safety and Feasibility of a Laparoscopy-Assisted Non-Anatomic Resection Technique for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Located at Right Posterior Segments in Cirrhotic Patients: A Case-Controlled Study with Propensity Score Matching
Authors: Jin Haosheng , Yin Zi , Zhou Yu , Ma Tingting , Jian Zhixiang
Published: September 2017

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the short- and long-term outcomes of laparoscopy-assisted resection for right posterior segment (LAR-RPS) with open resection (OR-RPS) performed by experienced hepatobiliary surgeons. Methods: This was a prospective comparative nonrandomized study. Results: The groups were comparable in terms of baseline demographics and clinicopathological data. Reduced operative time (254.88 ± 78.56 vs. 347.95 ± 82.56 min; p = 0.04) and estimated blood loss (477 ± 756 vs. 712 ± 836 mL; p = 0.03) were observed in LAR-RPS. Also, signiﬁcant less duration of hospital stay (7.53 ± 2.68 vs. 12.57 ± 3.21 days; p < 0.001) was associated with LAR-RPS compared to OR-RPS. Long-term oncologic outcomes were comparable in 2 groups, in terms of both the overall and disease-free survival rates (p = 0.450 and 0.463, respectively). Conclusions: This study confirms that laparoscopic-assisted resection is a safe and effective operative procedure in those cirrhotic patients with a lesion in the right posterior section of the liver. When compared to the open approach, the laparoscopic-assisted approach reduces operative time and blood loss, as well as the length of hospital stay.
Functional Preference for Object Sounds and Voices in the Brain of Early Blind and Sighted Individuals
Authors: Dormal Giulia , Pelland Maxime , Rezk Mohamed , Yakobov Esther , Lepore Franco , Collignon Olivier
Published: September 2017

Sounds activate occipital regions in early blind individuals. However, how different sound categories map onto specific regions of the occipital cortex remains a matter of debate. We used fMRI to characterize brain responses of early blind and sighted individuals to familiar object sounds, human voices, and their respective low-level control sounds. In addition, sighted participants were tested while viewing pictures of faces, objects, and phase-scrambled control pictures. In both early blind and sighted, a double dissociation was evidenced in bilateral auditory cortices between responses to voices and object sounds: Voices elicited categorical responses in bilateral superior temporal sulci, whereas object sounds elicited categorical responses along the lateral fissure bilaterally, including the primary auditory cortex and planum temporale. Outside the auditory regions, object sounds also elicited categorical responses in the left lateral and in the ventral occipitotemporal regions in both groups. These regions also showed response preference for images of objects in the sighted group, thus suggesting a functional specialization that is independent of sensory input and visual experience. Between-group comparisons revealed that, only in the blind group, categorical responses to object sounds extended more posteriorly into the occipital cortex. Functional connectivity analyses evidenced a selective increase in the functional coupling between these reorganized regions and regions of the ventral occipitotemporal cortex in the blind group. In contrast, vocal sounds did not elicit preferential responses in the occipital cortex in either group. Nevertheless, enhanced voice-selective connectivity between the left temporal voice area and the right fusiform gyrus were found in the blind group. Altogether, these findings suggest that, in the absence of developmental vision, separate auditory categories are not equipotent in driving selective auditory recruitment of occipitotemporal regions and highlight the presence of domain-selective constraints on the expression of cross-modal plasticity.
Cortical Local Field Potential Power Is Associated with Behavioral Detection of Near-threshold Stimuli in the Rat Whisker System: Dissociation between Orbitofrontal and Somatosensory Cortices
Authors: Rickard Rachel E. , Young Andrew M. J. , Gerdjikov Todor V.
Published: September 2017

There is growing evidence that ongoing brain oscillations may represent a key regulator of attentional processes and as such may contribute to behavioral performance in psychophysical tasks. OFC appears to be involved in the top–down modulation of sensory processing; however, the specific contribution of ongoing OFC oscillations to perception has not been characterized. Here we used the rat whiskers as a model system to further characterize the relationship between cortical state and tactile detection. Head-fixed rats were trained to report the presence of a vibrotactile stimulus (frequency = 60 Hz, duration = 2 sec, deflection amplitude = 0.01–0.5 mm) applied to a single vibrissa. We calculated power spectra of local field potentials preceding the onset of near-threshold stimuli from microelectrodes chronically implanted in OFC and somatosensory cortex. We found a dissociation between slow oscillation power in the two regions in relation to detection probability: Higher OFC but not somatosensory delta power was associated with increased detection probability. Furthermore, coherence between OFC and barrel cortex was reduced preceding successful detection. Consistent with the role of OFC in attention, our results identify a cortical network whose activity is differentially modulated before successful tactile detection.
A revision of the genus Radicipes Stearns, 1883 (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Chrysogorgiidae)
Authors: CORDEIRO RALF T. S. , CAIRNS STEPHEN D. , PEREZ CARLOS D.
Published: September 2017

Radicipes is an octocoral genus composed of whip-like chrysogorgiids. Representatives of this group, also called ‘pigtails’, occur in almost all continental margins around the globe. Since its description in the 19th century, no comprehensive revision of this genus has been made. Thus, we present herein a revision of Radicipes, with descriptions of previously known species and one new species, Radicipes stonei. Type specimens from several museums were examined and seven species are considered valid. A distribution map of the genus and illustrations for all species are provided and a brief discussion is given on the possibility of additional undescribed species.
Theodor Arldt (1878–1960): Parochial Pauker and Pioneering Palaeobiogeographer
Authors: EBACH MALTE C. , DOWDING ELIZABETH M.
Published: September 2017

The rise and fall of Theodor Karl Hermann Arldt (1878–1960) took place in Radeberg, a small town in Saxony between 1902 and 1945, where he supported his research by working as a school headmaster or Pauker. Within his many scientific papers and books Arldt pioneered palaeogeography and palaeobiogeography by introducing distributional data of living organisms to understand past continental connections. His writings influenced notable scientists such as Alfred Wegener and partially influenced the geological community in which palaeogeography was firmly rooted. While Arldt’s biogeographic approach was novel, and in hindsight surprisingly modern, it failed to engage biologists where such a method may have flourished. As a small town Pauker, Arldt had little or no contact with universities and university students, leaving a legacy of pioneering publications and ideas but no one to carry them forward into the post-tectonic world of the 1960s.
Interdecadal Variations of the Silk Road Pattern
Authors: Wang Lin , Xu Peiqiang , Chen Wen , Liu Yong
Published: September 2017

Based on several reanalysis and observational datasets, this study suggests that the Silk Road pattern (SRP), a major teleconnection pattern stretching across Eurasia in the boreal summer, shows clear interdecadal variations that explain approximately 50% of its total variance. The interdecadal SRP features a strong barotropic wave train along the Asian subtropical jet, resembling its interannual counterpart. Additionally, it features a second weak wave train over the northern part of Eurasia, leading to larger meridional scale than its interannual counterpart. The interdecadal SRP contributes approximately 40% of the summer surface air temperature’s variance with little uncertainty and 10%–20% of the summer precipitation’s variance with greater uncertainty over large domains of Eurasia. The interdecadal SRP shows two regime shifts in 1972 and 1997. The latter shift explains over 40% of the observed rainfall reduction over northeastern Asia and over 40% of the observed warming over eastern Europe, western Asia, and northeastern Asia, highlighting its importance to the recent decadal climate variations over Eurasia. The Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) does not show a significant linear relationship with the interdecadal SRP. However, the Monte Carlo bootstrapping resampling analysis suggests that the positive (negative) phases of the spring and summer AMO significantly facilitate the occurrence of negative (positive) phases of the interdecadal SRP, implying plausible prediction potentials for the interdecadal variations of the SRP. The reported results are insensitive to the long-term trends in datasets and thereby have little relevance to externally forced climate change.
A Calibration-Free Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (CF-LIBS) Quantitative Analysis Method Based on the Auto-Selection of an Internal Reference Line and Optimized Estimation of Plasma Temperature
Authors: Yang Jianhong , Li Xiaomeng , Xu Jinwu , Ma Xianghong
Published: September 2017

The quantitative analysis accuracy of calibration-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (CF-LIBS) is severely affected by the self-absorption effect and estimation of plasma temperature. Herein, a CF-LIBS quantitative analysis method based on the auto-selection of internal reference line and the optimized estimation of plasma temperature is proposed. The internal reference line of each species is automatically selected from analytical lines by a programmable procedure through easily accessible parameters. Furthermore, the self-absorption effect of the internal reference line is considered during the correction procedure. To improve the analysis accuracy of CF-LIBS, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is introduced to estimate the plasma temperature based on the calculation results from the Boltzmann plot. Thereafter, the species concentrations of a sample can be calculated according to the classical CF-LIBS method. A total of 15 certified alloy steel standard samples of known compositions and elemental weight percentages were used in the experiment. Using the proposed method, the average relative errors of Cr, Ni, and Fe calculated concentrations were 4.40%, 6.81%, and 2.29%, respectively. The quantitative results demonstrated an improvement compared with the classical CF-LIBS method and the promising potential of in situ and real-time application.