bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
GamingAnywhere
Authors: Huang Chun-Ying , Chen Kuan-Ta , Chen De-Yu , Hsu Hwai-Jung , Hsu Cheng-Hsin
Published: February 2014

We present the first open source cloud gaming system, called GamingAnywhere. In addition to its openness, we have designed, GamingAnywhere for high extensibility, portability, and reconfigurability. We implemented it on Windows, Linux, OS X, and Android. We conducted extensive experiments to evaluate its performance. Our experimental results indicate that GamingAnywhere is efficient, scalable, adaptable to network conditions, and achieves high responsiveness and streaming quality. GamingAnywhere can be employed by researchers, game developers, service providers, and end users for setting up cloud gaming testbeds, which we believe, will stimulate more research into innovations for cloud gaming systems and applications.
Saving disk energy in video servers by combining caching and prefetching
Authors: Song Minseok , Lee Yeongju , Kim Euiseok
Published: February 2014

Maintenance and upgrades to the significant storage infrastructure in a video server often create a heterogenous disk array. We show how to manage the energy consumption of such an array by combining caching and prefetching techniques. We first examine how seek operations affect disk energy consumption, and then analyze the relationship between the amount of prefetched data and the number of seeks, and the effect of the size of the prefetching buffer on energy consumption. Based on this, we propose a new data prefetching scheme in which the amount of data prefetched for each video stream is dynamically adjusted to allow for the bit-rates of streams and the power characteristics of different disks. We next examine the impact of caching on disk power consumption and propose a new caching scheme that prioritizes each stream based on the ratio of the amount of energy that can be saved to its cache requirement, so as to make effective use of limited caching space. We address the trade-off between caching and prefetching and propose an algorithm that dynamically divides the entire buffer space into prefetching and caching regions, with the aim of minimizing overall disk energy consumption. Experimental results show that our scheme can reduce disk energy consumption between 26% and 31%, compared to a server without prefetching and caching.
Deletion without rebalancing in multiway search trees
Authors: Sen Siddhartha , Tarjan Robert E.
Published: February 2014

Some database systems that use a form of B-tree for the underlying data structure do not do rebalancing on deletion. This means that a bad sequence of deletions can create a very unbalanced tree. Yet such databases perform well in practice. Avoidance of rebalancing on deletion has been justified empirically and by average-case analysis, but to our knowledge, no worst-case analysis has been done. We do such an analysis. We show that the tree height remains logarithmic in the number of insertions, independent of the number of deletions. Furthermore, the amortized time for an insertion or deletion, excluding the search time, is
O
(1), and nodes are modified by insertions and deletions with a frequency that is exponentially small in their height. The latter results do not hold for standard B-trees. By adding periodic rebuilding of the tree, we obtain a data structure that is theoretically superior to standard B-trees in many ways. Our results suggest that rebalancing on deletion not only is unnecessary but may be harmful.
User-profile-based perceived olfactory and visual media synchronization
Authors: Murray Niall , Qiao Yuansong , Lee Brian , Muntean Gabriel-Miro
Published: February 2014

As a step towards enhancing users' perceived multimedia quality levels, this article presents the results of a study which looked at user's perception of inter-stream synchronization between scent and video. The ability to detect and the perception of and impact of skew on user's quality of experience is analyzed considering user's age, sex, and culture (user profile). The results indicate that skews beyond a certain level between olfaction and video have a negative impact on user-perceived experience. Olfaction before video is more noticeable to users than olfaction after video, and assessors are more tolerable of olfactory data presented after video.
Bagadus
Authors: Stensland Håkon Kvale , Gaddam Vamsidhar Reddy , Tennøe Marius , Helgedagsrud Espen , Næss Mikkel , Alstad Henrik Kjus , Mortensen Asgeir , Langseth Ragnar , Ljødal Sigurd , Landsverk Østein , Griwodz Carsten , Halvorsen Pål , Stenhaug Magnus , Johansen Dag
Published: February 2014

The importance of winning has increased the role of performance analysis in the sports industry, and this underscores how statistics and technology keep changing the way sports are played. Thus, this is a growing area of interest, both from a computer system view in managing the technical challenges and from a sport performance view in aiding the development of athletes. In this respect, Bagadus is a real-time prototype of a sports analytics application using soccer as a case study. Bagadus integrates a sensor system, a soccer analytics annotations system, and a video processing system using a video camera array. A prototype is currently installed at Alfheim Stadium in Norway, and in this article, we describe how the system can be used in real-time to playback events. The system supports both stitched panorama video and camera switching modes and creates video summaries based on queries to the sensor system. Moreover, we evaluate the system from a systems point of view, benchmarking different approaches, algorithms, and trade-offs, and show how the system runs in real time.
OSM
Authors: Arefin Ahsan , Rivas Raoul , Nahrstedt Klara
Published: February 2014

Different 3D tele-immersive (3DTI) activities pose different prioritized requirements for application and network-level quality of service (QoS) to ensure a strong quality of experience (QoE) for participants. Some applications put heavy weight on audio quality, some consider higher quality for upper body video streams, and some seek very low end-to-end interactivity delay. In addition, a variation in streaming content may arise in the 3DTI space due to the participants' change in interests (e.g., view change). Therefore, there is a need for an adaptive multistream, multisite 3DTI session management strategy that is not only unobtrusive, but also optimizes prioritized QoS parameters in 3DTI content distribution based on user activity and content variation. To address this next generation session management problem, we revisit the design space of multistream and multisite 3DTI session layer. We present an evolutionary 3DTI session optimization approach using Open Session Management (OSM) architecture that uses a global view of participants and overlays network conditions to optimize QoS parameters. Experimental results with PlanetLab traces show that our optimization process is unobtrusive, and the optimized TI sessions provide higher satisfaction to the participants (in some cases up to 50% higher) compared to the current solutions in the 3DTI space.
Exploring demand flexibility in heterogeneous aggregators
Authors: Wu Chenye , Shi Yiyu , Kar Soummya
Published: February 2014

With the proposed penetration of electric vehicles and advanced metering technology, the demand side is foreseen to play a major role in flexible energy consumption scheduling. On the other hand, the past several years have witnessed utility companies' growing interests to integrate more renewable energy resources. These renewable resources, for example, wind or solar, due to their intermittent nature, brought great uncertainty to the power grid system. In this article, we propose a mechanism that attempts to mitigate the grid operational uncertainty induced by renewable energies by properly exploiting demand flexibility with the help of advanced smart-metering technology. To address the challenge, we develop a novel locational marginal price (LMP)-based pricing scheme that involves active demand-side participation by casting the network objective as a two-stage Stackelberg game between the local grid operator and several aggregators. In contrast to the conventional notion that generation follows load, our game formulation provides more flexibility for the operators and tries to provide adequate incentives for the loads to follow the (stochastic renewable) generation. We use the solution concept of subgame perfect equilibrium to analyze the resulting game. Subsequently, we discuss the optimal real-time conventional capacity planning for the local grid operator to achieve the minimal mismatch between supply and demand with the wind power integration. Finally, we assess our proposed scheme with field data. The simulation results show that our proposed scheme works reasonably well in the long term, even with simple heuristics.
Reconfigurable vertical profiling framework for the android runtime system
Authors: Su Tzu-Hsiang , Tsai Hsiang-Jen , Yang Keng-Hao , Chang Po-Chun , Chen Tien-Fu , Zhao Yi-Ting
Published: February 2014

Dalvik virtual machine in the Android system creates a profiling barrier between VM-space applications and Linux user-space libraries. It is difficult for existing profiling tools on the Android system to definitively identify whether a bottleneck occurred in the application level, the Linux user-space level, or the Linux kernel level. Information barriers exist between VM-space applications and Linux native analysis tools due to runtime virtual machines' dynamic memory allocation mechanism. Furthermore, traditional vertical profiling tools targeted for Java virtual machines cannot be simply applied on the Dalvik virtual machine due to its unique design. The proposed the Reconfigurable Vertical Profiling Framework bridges the information gap and streamlines the hardware-software co-design process for the Android runtime system.
Personalized optimization for android smartphones
Authors: Song Wook , Kim Yeseong , Kim Hakbong , Lim Jehun , Kim Jihong
Published: February 2014

As a highly personalized computing device, smartphones present a unique new opportunity for system optimization. For example, it is widely observed that a smartphone user exhibits very regular application usage patterns (although different users are quite different in their usage patterns). User-specific high-level app usage information, when properly managed, can provide valuable hints for optimizing various system design requirements. In this article, we describe the design and implementation of a personalized optimization framework for the Android platform that takes advantage of user's application usage patterns in optimizing the performance of the Android platform. Our optimization framework consists of two main components, the application usage modeling module and the usage model-based optimization module. We have developed two novel application usage models that correctly capture typical smartphone user's application usage patterns. Based on the application usage models, we have implemented an app-launching experience optimization technique which tries to minimize user-perceived delays, extra energy consumption, and state loss when a user launches apps. Our experimental results on the Nexus S Android reference phones show that our proposed optimization technique can avoid unnecessary application restarts by up to 78.4% over the default LRU-based policy of the Android platform.
Reducing asynchrony in channel garbage-collection for improving internal parallelism of multichannel solid-state disks
Authors: Chang Li-Pin , Wen Chen-Yi
Published: February 2014

Solid-state disks use multichannel architectures to boost their data transfer rates. Because realistic disk workloads have numerous small write requests, modern flash-storage devices adopt a write buffer and a set of independent channels for better parallelism in serving small write requests. When a channel is undergoing garbage collection, it stops responding to inbound write traffic and accumulates page data in the write buffer. This results in contention for buffer space and creates idle periods in channels. This study presents a channel-management strategy, called
garbage-collection advancing
, which allows early start of garbage collection in channels for increasing the overlap among channel activities of garbage collection and restoring the balance of buffer-space usage among channels. This study further introduces
cycle filling
, which is a version of garbage-collection advancing tailored for the operation model of flash planes. Experimental results show that the proposed methods greatly outperformed existing designs of multichannel systems in terms of response and throughput. We also successfully implemented the proposed methods in a real solid-state disk and proved their feasibility in real hardware.
Tractable schedulability analysis and resource allocation for real-time multimodal systems
Authors: Ahmed Masud , Fisher Nathan
Published: February 2014

Real-time multimedia subsystems often require support for switching between different resource and application execution modes. To ensure that timing constraints are not violated during or after a subsystem mode change, real-time schedulability analysis is required. However, existing time-efficient multimode schedulability analysis techniques for application-only mode changes are not appropriate for subsystems that require changes in the resource execution behavior (e.g., processors with dynamic power modes). Furthermore, all existing multimode schedulability analysis that handles both resource and application mode changes is highly exponential and not scalable for subsystems with a moderate or large number of modes. As a result, the notion of
resource optimality
is still unaddressed for real-time multimodal systems. In this report, we first address the lack of tractable schedulability analysis for such subsystems by proposing a model for characterizing multiple resource and application modes and by deriving a sufficient schedulability test that has pseudo-polynomial time complexity. Finally, we propose an algorithm which leverages this pseudo-polynomial schedulability analysis to optimize the resource usages (e.g., to minimize peak-power load) of a multimodal real-time system. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithms for schedulability analysis and resource allocation, when compared with previously-proposed approaches, require significantly less time and are just as precise.
Passive code in synchronous programs
Authors: Brandt Jens , Schneider Klaus , Bai Yu
Published: February 2014

The synchronous model of computation requires that in every step, inputs are read and outputs are synchronously computed as the reaction of the program. In addition, all internal variables are updated in parallel even though not all of these values might be required for the current and the future reaction steps. To avoid unnecessary computations, we present a compile-time optimization procedure that computes for every variable a condition that determines whether its value is required for current or future computations. In this sense, our optimizations allow us to identify passive code that can be disabled to avoid unnecessary computations and therefore to reduce the reaction time of programs or their energy consumption.
Throughput maximization for periodic real-time systems under the maximal temperature constraint
Authors: Huang Huang , Chaturvedi Vivek , Quan Gang , Fan Jeffrey , Qiu Meikang
Published: February 2014

In this article, we study the problem of how to maximize the throughput of a periodic real-time system under a given peak temperature constraint. We assume that different tasks in our system may have different power and thermal characteristics. Two scheduling approaches are presented. The first is built upon processors that can be in either
active
or
sleep
mode. By judiciously selecting tasks with different thermal characteristics as well as alternating the processor's
active
/
sleep
mode, the sleep period required to cool down the processor is kept at a minimum level, and, as the result, the throughput is maximized. We further extend this approach for processors with dynamic voltage/frequency scaling (DVFS) capability. Our experiments on a large number of synthetic test cases as well as real benchmark programs show that the proposed methods not only consistently outperform the existing approaches in terms of throughput maximization, but also significantly improve the feasibility of tasks when a more stringent temperature constraint is imposed.
Energy-aware task mapping and scheduling for reliable embedded computing systems
Authors: Das Anup , Kumar Akash , Veeravalli Bharadwaj
Published: February 2014

Task mapping and scheduling are critical in minimizing energy consumption while satisfying the performance requirement of applications enabled on heterogeneous multiprocessor systems. An area of growing concern for modern multiprocessor systems is the increase in the failure probability of one or more component processors. This is especially critical for applications where performance degradation (e.g., throughput) directly impacts the quality of service requirement. This article proposes a design-time (offline) multi-criterion optimization technique for application mapping on embedded multiprocessor systems to minimize energy consumption for all processor fault-scenarios. A scheduling technique is then proposed based on self-timed execution to minimize the schedule storage and construction overhead at runtime. Experiments conducted with synthetic and real applications from streaming and nonstreaming domains on heterogeneous MPSoCs demonstrate that the proposed technique minimizes energy consumption by 22% and design space exploration time by 100x, while satisfying the throughput requirement for all processor fault-scenarios. For scalable throughput applications, the proposed technique achieves 30% better throughput per unit energy, compared to the existing techniques. Additionally, the self-timed execution-based scheduling technique minimizes schedule construction time by 95% and storage overhead by 92%.
On self-tuning networks-on-chip for dynamic network-flow dominance adaptation
Authors: Wang Xiaohang , Yang Mei , Jiang Yingtao , Liu Peng , Daneshtalab Masoud , Palesi Maurizio , Mak Terrence
Published: February 2014

Modern network-on-chip (NoC) systems are required to handle complex runtime traffic patterns and unprecedented applications. Data traffics of these applications are difficult to fully comprehend at design time so as to optimize the network design. However, it has been discovered that the majority of dataflows in a network are dominated by less than 10% of the specific pathways. In this article, we introduce a method that is capable of identifying critical pathways in a network at runtime and can then dynamically reconfigure the network to optimize for network performance subject to the identified dominated flows. An online learning and analysis scheme is employed to quickly discover the emerging dominated traffic flows and provides a statistical traffic prediction using regression analysis. The architecture of a self-tuning network is also discussed which can be reconfigured by setting up the identified point-to-point paths for the dominance dataflows in large traffic volumes. The merits of this new approach are experimentally demonstrated using comprehensive NoC simulations. Compared to the conventional network architectures over a range of realistic applications, the proposed self-tuning network approach can effectively reduce the latency and power consumption by as much as 25% and 24%, respectively. We also evaluated the configuration time and additional hardware cost. This new approach demonstrates the capability of an adaptive NoC to handle more complex and dynamic applications.
Classification of annotation semirings over containment of conjunctive queries
Authors: Kostylev Egor V. , Reutter Juan L. , Salamon András Z.
Published: February 2014

We study the problem of query containment of conjunctive queries over annotated databases. Annotations are typically attached to tuples and represent metadata, such as probability, multiplicity, comments, or provenance. It is usually assumed that annotations are drawn from a commutative semiring. Such databases pose new challenges in query optimization, since many related fundamental tasks, such as query containment, have to be reconsidered in the presence of propagation of annotations.

We axiomatize several classes of semirings for each of which containment of conjunctive queries is equivalent to existence of a particular type of homomorphism. For each of these types, we also specify all semirings for which existence of a corresponding homomorphism is a sufficient (or necessary) condition for the containment. We develop new decision procedures for containment for some semirings which are not in any of these classes. This generalizes and systematizes previous approaches.
The Space Complexity of Long-Lived and One-Shot Timestamp Implementations
Authors: Helmi Maryam , Higham Lisa , Pacheco Eduardo , Woelfel Philipp
Published: February 2014

This article is concerned with the problem of implementing an unbounded timestamp object from multiwriter atomic registers, in an asynchronous distributed system of
n
processes with distinct identifiers where timestamps are taken from an arbitrary universe. Ellen et al. [2008] showed that √
n
/2 −
O
(1) registers are required for any obstruction-free implementation of long-lived timestamp systems from atomic registers (meaning processes can repeatedly get timestamps).

We improve this existing lower bound in two ways. First we establish a lower bound of
n
/6 − 1 registers for the obstruction-free long-lived timestamp problem. Previous such linear lower bounds were only known for constrained versions of the timestamp problem. This bound is asymptotically tight; Ellen et al. [2008] constructed a wait-free algorithm that uses
n
− 1 registers. Second we show that √2
n
− log
n
−
O
(1) registers are required for any obstruction-free implementation of one-shot timestamp systems (meaning each process can get a timestamp at most once). We show that this bound is also asymptotically tight by providing a wait-free one-shot timestamp system that uses at most ⌈2√
n
⌉ registers, thus establishing a space complexity gap between one-shot and long-lived timestamp systems.
A Unified Buffer Cache Architecture that Subsumes Journaling Functionality via Nonvolatile Memory
Authors: Lee Eunji , Bahn Hyokyung , Noh Sam H.
Published: February 2014

Journaling techniques are widely used in modern file systems as they provide high reliability and fast recovery from system failures. However, it reduces the performance benefit of buffer caching as journaling accounts for a bulk of the storage writes in real system environments. To relieve this problem, we present a novel buffer cache architecture that subsumes the functionality of caching and journaling by making use of nonvolatile memory such as PCM or STT-MRAM. Specifically, our buffer cache supports what we call the in-place commit scheme. This scheme avoids logging, but still provides the same journaling effect by simply altering the state of the cached block to frozen. As a frozen block still provides the functionality of a cache block, we show that in-place commit does not degrade cache performance. We implement our scheme on Linux 2.6.38 and measure the throughput and execution time of the scheme with various file I/O benchmarks. The results show that our scheme improves the throughput and execution time by 89% and 34% on average, respectively, compared to the existing Linux buffer cache with ext4 without any loss of reliability.
Ffsck
Authors: Ma Ao , Dragga Chris , Arpaci-Dusseau Andrea C. , Arpaci-Dusseau Remzi H. , Mckusick Marshall Kirk
Published: February 2014

Failures, errors, and bugs can corrupt file systems and cause data loss, despite the presence of journals and similar preventive techniques. While consistency checkers such as fsck can detect corruption and repair a damaged image, they are generally created as an afterthought, to be run only at rare intervals. Thus, checkers operate slowly, causing significant downtime for large scale storage systems.

We address this dilemma by treating the checker as a key component of the overall file system, rather than a peripheral add-on. To this end, we present a modified ext3 file system,
rext
3, to directly support the fast file-system checker,
ffsck
. Rext3 colocates and self-identifies its metadata blocks, removing the need for costly seeks and tree traversals during checking. These modifications allow ffsck to scan and repair the file system at rates approaching the full sequential bandwidth of the underlying device. In addition, we demonstrate that rext3 generally performs competitively with ext3 and exceeds it in handling random reads and large writes. Finally, we apply our principles to FreeBSD’s FFS file system and its checker, doing so in a lightweight fashion that preserves the file-system layout while still providing some of the performance gains from ffsck.
The computational geometry algorithms library CGAL
Authors: Fogel Efi , Teillaud Monique
Published: February 2014

The Computational Geometry Algorithms Library (CGAL) is an open source software library that provides industrial and academic users with easy access to reliable implementations of efficient geometric algorithms.
Annihilating monomials with the integro-differential Weyl algebra
Authors: Middeke Johannes
Published: February 2014

The integro-differential Weyl algebra provides an algebraic model for differential and integral operators with polynomial coefficients. It has a natural action on the ring of polynomials. We are interested in computing the annihilator of a given polynomial with respect to this action. This contribution contains a first step towards that goal---namely we give a description of the annihilator of a monomial.
Implementation of a solution to the conjugacy problem in Thompson's group F
Authors: Belk James , Hossain Nabil , Matucci Francesco , McGrail Robert
Published: February 2014

We present an efficient implementation of the solution to the conjugacy problem in Thompson's group F. This algorithm checks for conjugacy by constructing and comparing directed graphs called strand diagrams. We provide a description of our solution algorithm, including the data structure that represents strand diagrams and supports simplifications.
Holonomic functions in mathematica
Authors: Koutschan Christoph
Published: February 2014

We present the Mathematica package HolonomicFunctions which provides a powerful framework for the automatic manipulation of multivariate holonomic functions, in the spirit of Zeilberger's holonomic systems approach. Its top-level functionalities are: converting a mathematical expression into a holonomic description, executing holonomic closure properties, and creative telescoping for general holonomic functions. To achieve these goals, many other, lower-level, functionalities had to be implemented which were not available in the Mathematica system: finding rational solutions of linear systems of (q-) difference / differential equations, noncommutative arithmetic in Ore algebras and computing Gröbner bases in such domains.
Aspect-driven, data-reflective and context-aware user interfaces design
Authors: Cerny Tomas , Cemus Karel , Donahoo Michael J. , Song Eunjee
Published: February 2014

The increasing use of Web-based applications continues to broaden the user groups of enterprise applications at large. Since ordinary users often equate the quality of user interface (UI) with the quality of the entire application, the importance of providing easy-to-use UIs has been significantly increasing. Unfortunately, designing a single UI satisfying all end users remains challenging. To address this issue, researchers and developers are looking to Context-aware/Adaptive UIs (CUIs) that aim to provide end users with more personalized user interaction experiences. Although multiple proposals have been made, very few production systems provide such malleable interfaces due to the excessive cost of development and maintenance.

In this paper, we propose a technique that aims to reduce development and maintenance efforts of CUI to a level comparable with a single UI. Unlike most of the existing CUI approaches, our technique does not involve an external UI model. Instead, it aims to reflect runtime-information and structures already captured in the application, while extending them to provide an appropriate CUI. With this technique, developers do not design forms or tables directly for each page or panel. Instead they design generic and reusable transformation rules capable of presenting application data instances in the UI while considering the runtime context. To demonstrate our technique and its impact on CUI development and maintenance, we provide a case study. Moreover, we present our experience from its application to an existing production-level enterprise application, with high demands on performance.
Factors Influencing the Duration of Urine Leakage following Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy
Authors: Uyeturk Ugur , Gucuk Adnan , Kemahli Eray , Dagistan Emine , Yildiz Mevlut , Yilmaz Burak , Metin Ahmet
Published: February 2014

Purpose.The duration of urine leakage following the removal of the nephrostomy tube after percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) shows significant variations depending on the techniques used. We aimed to assess the factors likely to influence the duration of urine leakage.Material and Methods.In total, 103 patients who underwent PCNL were reviewed retrospectively. DUL was evaluated regarding patient characteristics, thickness of the access line, presence of hydronephrosis, and residual stones.Results.DUL was significantly prolonged in accordance with a decrease in the thickness of parenchyma tissue (R=-0.716,P<0.001). DUL was prolonged as the degree of hydronephrosis (R=0.526,P<0.001) and the number of patients with residual stones (R=0.273,P=0.005) increased. Median DUL was significantly longer in patients with residual stones than those without residual stones (P=0.002). In the receiving operating curve analysis, the optimum cut-off value of parenchymal thickness for hospitalization ≤12 h was 17.2 mm (sensitivity, 90.2%; specificity, 69.4%;P=0.001).Conclusions.We found that parenchymal thickness of the access line, hydronephrosis, and residual stones were the most influential factors determining DUL following PCNL, respectively.
Implant R100 Predicts Rectal Bleeding in Prostate Cancer Patients Treated with IG-IMRT to 45 Gy and Pd-103 Implant
Authors: Packard Matthew , Valakh Vladimir , Fuhrer Russell
Published: February 2014

Purpose. To define factors associated with rectal bleeding in patients treated with IG-IMRT followed by Pd-103 seed implant. Methods and Materials. We retrospectively reviewed 61 prostate adenocarcinoma patients from 2002 to 2008. The majority (85.2%) were of NCCN intermediate risk category. All received IG-IMRT to the prostate and seminal vesicles followed by Pd-103 implant delivering a mean D90 of 100.7 Gy. Six patients received 45 Gy to the pelvic nodes and 10 received androgen deprivation. Results. Ten patients (16.4%) developed rectal bleeding: 4 were CTCAE v.3 grade 1, 5 were grade 2, and 1 was grade 3. By univariate analysis, age, stage, Gleason sum, PSA, hormonal therapy, pelvic radiation, postoperative prostate volume, D9, V100, individual source activity, total implanted activity per cm3, and duration of interval before implant did not impact rectal bleeding. Implant R100 was higher in patients with rectal bleeding: on average, 0.885 versus 0.396 cm3, P=.02, odds ratio of 2.26 per .5 cm3 (95% CI, 1.16–4.82). A trend for significance was seen for prostate V200 and total implanted activity. Conclusion. Higher implant R100 was associated with development of rectal bleeding in patients receiving IG-IMRT to 45 Gy followed by Pd-103 implant. Minimizing implant R100 may reduce the rate of rectal bleeding in similar patients.
The Presence of Mutations in the K-RAS Gene Does Not Affect Survival after Resection of Pulmonary Metastases from Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Zabaleta Jon , Aguinagalde Borja , Izquierdo José M. , Bazterargui Nerea , Laguna Stephany M. , Martin-Arruti Maialen , Lobo Carmen , Emparanza José I.
Published: February 2014

Introduction. Our objective was to identify mutations in the K-RAS gene in cases of pulmonary metastases from colorectal cancer (CRC) and determine whether their presence was a prognostic factor for survival. Methods. We included all patients with pulmonary metastases from CRC operated on between 1998 and 2010. K-RAS mutations were investigated by direct sequencing of DNA. Differences in survival were explored with the Kaplan-Meier method log-rank tests and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Results. 110 surgical interventions were performed on 90 patients. Factors significantly associated with survival were disease-free interval (P=0.002), age (P=0.007), number of metastases (P=0.001), lymph node involvement (P=0.007), size of the metastases (P=0.013), and previous liver metastasis (P=0.003). Searching in 79 patients, K-RAS mutations were found in 30 cases. We did not find statistically significant differences in survival (P=0.913) comparing native and mutated K-RAS. We found a higher rate of lung recurrence (P=0.040) and shorter time to recurrence (P=0.015) in patients with K-RAS mutations. Gly12Asp mutation was associated with higher recurrence (P=0.022) and lower survival (P=0.389). Conclusions. The presence of K-RAS mutations in pulmonary metastases does not affect overall survival but is associated with higher rates of pulmonary recurrence.
Clinicopathological Characteristics and Outcomes of Chinese Patients with Scanty Immune Deposits Lupus Nephritis: A Large Cohort Study from a Single Center
Authors: Li Qiuyu , Song Di , Wang Fengmei , Tan Ying , Yu Feng , Zhao Minghui
Published: February 2014

Objective. To assess clinicopathological characteristics of lupus nephritis patients with scanty immune deposits.Methods. The data of patients with scanty immune deposits lupus nephritis were retrospectively analyzed. Plasma ANCA and complement components were detected.Results. Among 316 cases with renal biopsy-proven lupus nephritis, 40 cases were diagnosed as scanty immune deposits. There were significantly higher value of serum creatinine (P=0.002) and lower hemoglobin level (P=0.009) and higher score of cellular crescents (P=0.015) in scanty immune deposits group compared with immune complex deposits group. The frequency of positive plasma ANCA was significantly higher in scanty immune deposits group than that in immune complex deposits group (52.5% versus 10.1%,P<0.001). As for comparisons of plasma complement components, there were significantly higher levels of C1q (P=0.005) and Bb (P=0.02) and lower level of factor H (P=0.003) in scanty immune deposits group. The ratio of treatment failure was significantly higher in scanty immune deposits group than that in immune deposits group (42.5% versus 19.20%,P=0.001). The renal outcomes were similar between the two groups.Conclusions. Patients with scanty immune deposits lupus nephritis had more severe kidney damage. ANCA and activation of complement alternative pathway might be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.
Iterative Learning Tracking Control of a Hybrid-Driven Based Three-Cable Parallel Manipulator
Authors: Zi Bin , Cao Jianbin , Qian Sen
Published: February 2014

The aim of this work was to present iterative learning tracking control of a hybrid-driven based three-cable parallel manipulator (HDCPM). The HDCPM has the advantages of both cable parallel manipulator and hybrid-driven planar five-bar mechanism. Design of the HDCPM is described and dynamic model is developed on the basis of Lagrange method. Consider the HDCPM system with nonlinear, time-varying characteristics and repetitive unknown disturbances; an adaptive iterative learning control strategy, which can control gains change with the iterations, is designed. By means of Lyapunov function, the stability of the controller is proved. Finally, simulation results indicate that a perfect trajectory tracking of the HDCPM is achieved by the adaptive iterative learning controller, which also illustrate the correctness of the dynamic modeling and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.
The Symmetric Versions of Rouché’s Theorem via ∂--Calculus
Authors: Mortini Raymond , Rupp Rudolf
Published: February 2014

Let (f,g) be a pair of holomorphic functions. In this expositional paper we apply the ∂--calculus to prove the symmetric version “|f+g|<|f|+|g| on ∂K” as well as the homotopic version of Rouché's theorem for arbitrary planar compacta K. Using Eilenberg's representation theorem we also give a converse to the homotopic version. Then we derive two analogs of Rouché's theorem for continuous-holomorphic pairs (a symmetric and a nonsymmetric one). One of the rarely presented properties of the non-symmetric version is that in the fundamental boundary hypothesis, |f+g|≤|g|, equality is allowed.
Analysis and Experimental Verification of New Power Flow Control for Grid-Connected Inverter with LCL Filter in Microgrid
Authors: Gu Herong , Guan Yajuan , Wang Huaibao , Wei Baoze , Guo Xiaoqiang
Published: February 2014

Microgrid is an effective way to integrate the distributed energy resources into the utility networks. One of the most important issues is the power flow control of grid-connected voltage-source inverter in microgrid. In this paper, the small-signal model of the power flow control for the grid-connected inverter is established, from which it can be observed that the conventional power flow control may suffer from the poor damping and slow transient response. While the new power flow control can mitigate these problems without affecting the steady-state power flow regulation. Results of continuous-domain simulations in MATLAB and digital control experiments based on a 32-bit fixed-point TMS320F2812 DSP are in good agreement, which verify the small signal model analysis and effectiveness of the proposed method.
An Unusual Cause of Transient Ischemic Attack in a Patient with Pacemaker
Authors: Kalavakunta Jagadeesh Kumar , Gupta Vishal , Paulus Basil , Lapenna William
Published: February 2014

Pacemaker lead malposition in various locations has been described in the literature. Lead malposition in left ventricle is a rare and an underdiagnosed complication. We present a 77-year-old man with history of atrial fibrillation and pacemaker placement who was admitted for transient ischemic attack. He was on aspirin, beta blocker, and warfarin with subtherapeutic international normalized ratio. His paced electrocardiogram showed right bundle-branch block, rather than the typical pattern of left bundle-branch block, suggesting pacemaker lead malposition. Further, his chest X-ray and echocardiogram confirmed the pacemaker lead position in the left ventricle instead of right ventricle. He refused surgical removal of the lead and we increased his warfarin dose. Diagnosis of lead malposition in left ventricle, though easy to identify in echocardiogram, requires high index of clinical suspicion. In asymptomatic patients, surgical removal may be deferred for treatment with lifelong anticoagulation.
Growth Abnormalities in Children with Type 1 Diabetes, Juvenile Chronic Arthritis, and Asthma
Authors: Giannini Cosimo , Mohn Angelika , Chiarelli Francesco
Published: February 2014

Children and adolescents with chronic diseases are commonly affected by a variable degree of growth failure, leading to an impaired final height. Of note, the peculiar onset during childhood and adolescence of some chronic diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and asthma, underlines the relevant role of healthcare planners and providers in detecting and preventing growth abnormalities in these high risk populations. In this review article, the most relevant common and disease-specific mechanisms by which these major chronic diseases affect growth in youth are analyzed. In addition, the available and potential targeting strategies to restore the physiological, hormonal, and inflammatory pattern are described.
Minimizing Cardiovascular Adverse Effects of Atypical Antipsychotic Drugs in Patients with Schizophrenia
Authors: Khasawneh Fadi T. , Shankar Gollapudi S.
Published: February 2014

The use of atypical antipsychotic agents has rapidly increased in the United States and worldwide in the last decade. Nonetheless, many health care practitioners do not appreciate the significance of the cardiovascular side effects that may be associated with their use and the means to minimize them. Thus, atypical antipsychotic medications can cause cardiovascular side effects such as arrhythmias and deviations in blood pressure. In rare cases, they may also cause congestive heart failure, myocarditis, and sudden death. Patients with schizophrenia have a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality than healthy individuals, possibly because of excessive smoking, the underlying disorder itself, or a combination of both factors. Increased awareness of these potential complications can allow pharmacists and physicians to better manage and monitor high risk patients. Accurate assessments are very important to avoid medications from being given to patients inappropriately. Additionally, monitoring patients regularly via blood draws and checking blood pressure, heart rate, and electrocardiogram can help catch any clinical problems and prevent further complications. Finally, patient and family-member education, which pharmacists in particular can play key roles in, is central for the management and prevention of side effects, which is known to reflect positively on morbidity and mortality in these patients.
General Decay and Blow-Up of Solutions for a System of Viscoelastic Equations of Kirchhoff Type with Strong Damping
Authors: Liu Wenjun , Li Gang , Hong Linghui
Published: February 2014

The general decay and blow-up of solutions for a system of viscoelastic equations of Kirchhoff type with strong damping is considered. We first establish two blow-up results: one is for certain solutions with nonpositive initial energy as well as positive initial energy by exploiting the convexity technique, the other is for certain solutions with arbitrarily positive initial energy based on the method of Li and Tsai. Then, we give a decay result of global solutions by the perturbed energy method under a weaker assumption on the relaxation functions.
Physicochemical, Spectral, and Biological Studies of Mn(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), Zr(OH)2(IV), and UO2(VI) Compounds with Ligand Containing Thiazolidin-4-one Moiety
Authors: Kumar Dinesh , Kumar Amit
Published: February 2014

The Schiff base (I) upon reacting with mercaptoacetic acid in dry benzene undergoes cyclization and forms N-(2-carbamoylthienyl)-C-(3′-carboxy-2′-hydroxyphenyl)thiazolidin-4-one, LH3(II). A MeOH solution ofIIreacts with Mn(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), Zr(OH)2(IV), and UO2(VI) ions and forms the coordination compounds, [Mn(LH)(MeOH)2], [Cu(LH)]2, [Cd(LH)], [Zr(OH)2(OAc)2(LH3)], and [UO2(NO3)(LH2)(MeOH)]. The compounds have been characterized on the basis of elemental analyses, molar conductance, molecular weight, spectral (IR, reflectance, and EPR) studies and magnetic susceptibility measurements. LH3behaves as a neutral tridentate ONS donor ligand in [Zr(OH)2(OAc)2(LH3)], monobasic tridentate ONS donor ligand in [UO2(NO3)(LH2)(MeOH)], dibasic tridentate OOS donor ligand in [Cu(LH)]2and dibasic tetradentate OONO donor ligand in [Mn(LH)(MeOH)2] and [Cd(LH)]. [Cu(LH)]2is dimer, while all other compounds are monomers in diphenyl. A square-planar structure for [Cu(LH)]2, a tetrahedral structure for [Cd(LH)], an octahedral structure for [Mn(LH)(MeOH)2], a pentagonal-bipyramidal structure for [Zr(OH)2(OAc)2(LH3)], and an eight-coordinate structure for [UO2(NO3)(LH2)(MeOH)] are proposed. The ligand (II) and its compounds show antibacterial activities towardsE. coli. (Gram negative) andS. aureus(Gram positive).
Comparison of CFBP, FFBP, and RBF Networks in the Field of Crack Detection
Authors: Thatoi Dhirendranath , Guru Punyaslok , Jena Prabir Kumar , Choudhury Sasanka , Das Harish Chandra
Published: February 2014

The issue of crack detection and its diagnosis has gained a wide spread of industrial interest. The crack/damage affects the industrial economic growth. So early crack detection is an important aspect in the point of view of any industrial growth. In this paper a design tool ANSYS is used to monitor various changes in vibrational characteristics of thin transverse cracks on a cantilever beam for detecting the crack position and depth and was compared using artificial intelligence techniques. The usage of neural networks is the key point of development in this paper. The three neural networks used are cascade forward back propagation (CFBP) network, feed forward back propagation (FFBP) network, and radial basis function (RBF) network. In the first phase of this paper theoretical analysis has been made and then the finite element analysis has been carried out using commercial software, ANSYS. In the second phase of this paper the neural networks are trained using the values obtained from a simulated model of the actual cantilever beam using ANSYS. At the last phase a comparative study has been made between the data obtained from neural network technique and finite element analysis.
Cooperative Downloading by Multivehicles in Urban VANET
Authors: Wu Di , Bi Yingrong , Liang Jie
Published: February 2014

In VANET (vehicular ad hoc network), RSUs (road side units) have limited coverage and high deployment cost, so they are deployed sparsely in urban area, which leads to blind zone (BZ) between adjacent RSUs, where vehicles cannot connect to Internet by RSUs. In this paper, we study how to use RSUs and vehicles to download big files cooperatively in BZ. In order to choose the cooperative vehicles with minimum total delay, we propose a sequential decision vehicle selection method based on the residual file (SSRF). The method divides the process of selection into several stages and selects cooperative vehicles from the candidates; the decision sequence generated by SSRF determines the set of cooperative vehicles. Simulation and data analysis show that our method is effective in terms of delivered ratio and file delivered delay.
Strongyloidiasis: The Cause of Multiple Gastrointestinal Ulcers in an Immunocompetent Individual
Authors: Sheth Shail , Asslo Fady , Hallit Rabih , Sison Raymund , Afridi Muhammad , Spira Robert , DePasquale Joseph , Slim Jihad , Boghossian Jack
Published: February 2014

Strongyloidiasis is a common parasitic disease in tropical regions of the world. Infection withStrongyloides stercoralisusually remains asymptomatic with peripheral eosinophilia and uncontrolled growth. Consequently, immunocompromised individuals are at a higher risk of complications of this disease. We present a case of an immunocompetent patient whose complaint of acute abdominal pain was found to be due to gastric and duodenal ulcerations. Laboratory examination revealed significantly elevated absolute eosinophil count at 11,466/mm3(normal 0–700/mm3). The duodenal biopsy revealed parasitic ova and adult worms suggestive ofStrongyloides stercoralisnematode with increased eosinophils in the tissue. We report the first case of multiple gastric and duodenal ulcerations due toStrongyloides stercoralisin an immunocompetent patient. We suggest that the elevated eosinophil count played a central role in the pathogenesis.