bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Serum membrane osmotic pressure is lower in patients with shock associated with systemic inflammation
Authors: Clegg Gareth
Published: October 2021

Introduction

Shock syndromes are a common feature of critically ill patients presenting to the Emergency Department. We suggest that the lack of consensus around the optimum strategy for fluid resuscitation exists because previous work has not taken into account the pathophysiological state of the microcirculation in shocked patients. Aetiologies characterised by marked systemic inflammation – such as sepsis or anaphylaxis – are likely to have greater initial capillary leak than those caused by haemorrhage or sudden cardiac pump failure. Membrane osmotic pressure (MOP) is a marker of capillary leak, with acute changes reflecting the loss of large circulating molecules from the intravascular space. We hypothesise that in patients with shock syndromes osmolality could provide a tool for guiding initial resuscitation.

Methods

In this prospective observational study we enrolled 55 non-pregnant patients over 16 years of age with a mean arterial pressure of 2.9 mmol/l, or shock index (heart rate/systolic blood pressure) >0.9 presenting to our Emergency Department between 2 February, 2010 and 9 September, 2010. MOP, and serum levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-8 were measured 24 h after presentation.

Results

We compared the MOP in those patients with levels of IL-8 consistent with significant systemic inflammation (>100 pg/ml) to those with lower levels. MOP was significantly lower in patients with greater systemic inflammation (18.58 (CI 17.03 to 20.12) CF 21.24 (CI 20.03 to 22.44) p=0.016).

Discussion

Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that patients whose shock is associated with marked systemic inflammation have a greater degree of capillary leak leading to an acute drop in serum osmotic pressure.
Comparing the prognostic performance of S100B with prognostic models in traumatic brain injury
Authors: Lesko Mehdi
Published: October 2021

Introduction

There are currently two prognostic tools available for predicting outcome in traumatic brain injury (TBI): prognostic models combining clinico-demographic characteristics of patients for outcome prediction and brain injury biomarkers (eg, S100B).

Objective

To identify which method has better prognostic strength.

Methods

We analysed data from 100 TBI patients, all of whom were admitted to the intensive care unit and had venous S100B levels recorded at 24-h after injury. TBI prognostic models A and B, constructed in Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN)1, were run on the dataset and then S100B was added as an independent predictor to each model. Furthermore, another model was developed containing only S100B and subsequently, other important TBI predictors were added to assess their ability to enhance the predictive power of this model. The outcome measures were survival and favourable outcome at 3 months.

Results

Among all the prognostic variables (including age, cause of injury, Glasgow Coma Scale, pupillary reactivity, Injury Severity Score (ISS) and CT classifications); S100B has the highest predictive strength on multivariate analysis. No difference between performance of prognostic models or S100B in isolation was observed. Addition of S100B to the prognostic models improves the performance (eg, area under the roc curve (AUC), R2 Nagelkerke and classification accuracy of TARN model A to predict survival increase from 0.64, 0.08 and 71% to 0.72, 0.20 and 74.7% respectively). Similarly, the predictive power of S100B increases by adding other predictors to S100B (eg, AUC (0.69 vs 0.78), R2 Nagelkerke (0.15 vs 0.30) and classification accuracy (73% vs 77%) for survival prediction).

Conclusion

S100B appears to be the strongest prognostic variable in TBI. A better prognostic tool than those which are currently available may be a combination of both clinicodemographic predictors with S100B.
The introduction and impact of a “hot” qualitative mortality reporting system for patients dying within 24 h of admission
Authors: Turner Chris
Published: October 2021

Introduction

In late 2008 the consultant body at Stafford Hospital Emergency Department introduced and implemented a rapid qualitative review of all patients dying within 24 h of admission to Stafford Hospital. The aim was to identify recurrent themes and implement systematic change to address them.

Method

Notes are delivered within 24 h of death to the acute and emergency medicine consultants. Reviews are based on the notes of staff delivering care an supplemented by additional interviews where clarification was required. The aim is to conduct those reviews within days of death. The rapid nature of these reviews means it is often possible to speak with staff while their memory of events is clear.

Analysis

Codes and concepts were derived from this and recurrent themes identified. These themes were then investigated and, where possible, a systematic change was introduced to reduce the possibility of this happening again. These issues were reported to departmental governance bimonthly. The following month's mortality data was reviewed with a specific check on the issues that had previously been noted to be a problem. Audits around the solutions put in place were conducted.

Results

Problems identified included unreported ECGs, unrecognised sepsis, inappropriate level Drs assessing the sickest patients and inappropriate cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Where issues required input from other departments or services partnerships were formed and we worked in tandem to attempt to resolve systems failures. The outcome of this system has been the introduction of a variety of novel solutions to patient care problems (see other abstract presentations) and a reduction in the HSMR of emergency patients at Stafford Hospital from 150 to 60 for emergency admissions.

Clinical bottom line

qualitative mortality reporting when performed by senior clinicians has the potential to identify systematic failings and significantly improve quality of care.
Nursing satisfaction with the introduction of the Liverpool care pathway to emergency medicine
Authors: Strachan Stuart
Published: October 2021

Introduction

The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) has been effective in bringing a framework to the provision of care for the dying patient. Over the last 10 years the LCP has been adapted to assist in clinical areas that were not traditionally thought of as providing palliative care. In 2005 it was adapted and developed to reflect the specialised and unique environment of the Emergency Department (ED).

Methods

This qualitative study collated the response to an anonymous web based questionnaire and focus group discussions with ED nursing staff. The groups facilitated discussion on day to day nursing perception and satisfaction with the LCP. The results were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results

Common themes were identified in the questionnaire's results and focus groups. The staff believe that the adapted LCP provides a complete framework for delivery of care to the dying patient. They felt able to utilise their clinical judgment and that their opinions were valued within the LCP. Following implementation the staff felt a closer working relationship when supporting and communicating with the patient and their family.

Conclusion

Nursing satisfaction improved with the provision of care the LCP enabled them to provide. The development of a specifically tailored pathway was described as being enabling. The focus groups also felt that the knowledge base was good, however further updates and formalised training would increase the overall understanding within the department. This adapted LCP is regularly reviewed and updated to ensure the highest level of patient care, resulting in staff having the opportunity to influence the care they are providing. The feedback and review allows continual development to insure it meets the needs of the busy environment of Emergency Medicine (EM). This regular review and feedback will allow the model of the LCP in EM to be transferred to other ED's throughout the UK.
Back to basics – ECG impedance analysis for CPR quality control and feedback after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a pilot study
Authors: Lyon Richard
Published: October 2021

Background

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remains a leading cause of mortality. Survival from OHCA depends on good quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation from ambulance personnel. The ‘time on the chest’ and interruption time for defibrillation have recently been shown to be pivotal to survival. Electrocardiograph impedance analysis software allows retrospective quality control and feedback to ambulance crews after a resuscitation attempt. Telemetry and analysis of prehospital resuscitation episodes has not yet been employed in the UK.

Aims

To establish the feasibility of using impedance software for prehospital resuscitation quality control and to gain baseline data on prehospital resuscitation practice in the Lothians region of Scotland.

Methods

Prospective, observational 3-month pilot study. Broadband modems were placed on ambulance defibrillators and configured on the Lifenet (Physio Control) data network. After a resuscitation attempt the attending EMS crew was asked to telemetry the resuscitation trace to a research computer. The impedance trace was then analysed using computer software (Codestat-Physio Control) and a report on the resuscitation attempt generated.

Results

17 OHCA were included in pilot. All EMS crews agreed to use telemetry. Ten cases met the target of over 70% compression time. Only two cases met the target of a compression rate of 90–110 /min. The defibrillator was used in manual mode in the majority of cases. The mean time from cessation of chest compressions to delivery of defibrillatory shock was 46s.

Conclusion

Telemetry of ECG impedance analysis is a straightforward, accurate, accepted method of assessing quality of prehospital resuscitation by ambulance personnel. Baseline data from our region suggests that the quality of advanced life support could be improved by focusing on basic elements of resuscitation. Using software-generated resuscitation reports could be useful for ambulance personnel feedback and monitoring effectiveness of training programmes. Further research is warranted on the widespread use of this technique.
The role of biochemical markers in the identification of intracranial pathology following minor head injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Pickering Alastair
Published: October 2021

Introduction

Biochemical markers may have a role to play as objective tools for ruling out significant complications following minor head injury, while reducing the rate of ‘unnecessary’ CT scans. This study aimed to systematically identify and analyse the data from studies investigating biochemical markers as a screening tool for intracranial injury on CT.

Methods

Potentially relevant studies were identified by an electronic search of key databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL. Papers in English were included if they consisted of a cohort of more than 20 patients with more than 50% having suffered a minor head injury (GCS 13–15). Studies must describe the use of a biochemical marker to screen for the identification of intracranial or neurosurgical injury.

Results

A total of 7800 citations were identified of which 13 were included. Ten of these were investigating the role of protein S100B, two Neuron-Specific Enolase and one for dopamine and epinephrine. No useful, validated data could be extracted from the non-S100B studies. Mild head injury (GCS of 13–15) was generally consistently defined and included mild symptoms. All recruited patients received the reference standard of CT scan, mostly within 6 h of injury, along with the index test. Analysis techniques varied but are now practical for real-time results in the ED. Meta-analysis of these pooled data gives a sensitivity of 97.7% (95% CI 95.1% to 99.3%) and specificity of 43.4% (95% CI 31.4% to 56.2%) with a negative likelihood ratio of 0.053 (95% CI 0.015 to 0.117).

Discussion

There is a mounting body of evidence to support the addition of protein S100B as a triage tool for CT, in minor head injury patients, within 4 h of their injury. While the quality of studies so far is good, results are mixed and the marker needs further testing in conjunction with clinical decision rules.
Creating safer decision support systems for paediatric emergency care: the Paeds ED project
Authors: Samie Haidar
Published: October 2021

Introduction

Paediatric emergency care requires precision in prescribing but this can be prone to error. Traditional ‘aide memoires’ for resuscitation of ill and injured children have limitations. We identified a need to develop a clinical decision support system (CDSS) that could be more accurate and replace these more traditional approaches.

Objective

To describe the development of a novel application (Paeds ED) designed to support clinicians making real time calculations in resuscitation of critically ill and injured children.

Methods

The iPhone platform was chosen to develop an application that would meet the needs of emergency medicine physicians managing certain categories of ill and injured children. Key time dependent emergency conditions were identified. An iterative development cycle was used, structured to address accuracy, reliability, interactivity and rapidity of accessing key information.

Results

The Paeds ED decision aid contains an age to weight converter and drug formulary list. The age to weight conversions are based on the WHO 50th percentile tables. Once the user enters the age or weight the application is able to construct a formulary list for that patient. The formulary can be accessed directly or by a modular interface which is situation specific using standard internationally recognised resuscitation algorithms. The application was launched onto the Apple store for purchase under the terms of a ‘not for profit’ basis. A total of over 16 000 downloads of the two main applications have occurred in 50 different countries worldwide in the first 10 months since launch. Reviews have rated the application as being 4+ out of 5.

Conclusions

We have developed a CDSS application designed for use by staff involved in the management of critically ill and injured children. The Paeds ED application provides rapidity of accessing key information in acute situations and helps create safer working practices in emergency care.
An evaluation of the UK national pandemic flu algorithm among paediatric emergency admissions, and comparison with the National Institute of Clinical Excellence fever guideline
Authors: Mann Chantelle
Published: October 2021

Aim

To evaluate the efficacy of the UK Swine Flu Algorithm as a screening tool in a population of unwell children, and to compare the management advice given by the Swine Flu algorithm to that advice from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) feverish illness guideline.

Method

We analysed all emergency paediatric medical admissions with a fever, over the age of 1 year, to our unit during 2 calendar weeks in November (n=72). We retrospectively applied both the Swine Flu Algorithm and the NICE fever guidance for the under 5s.

Results

71 of 72 children would have had a diagnosis of swine flu according to the Flu Algorithm. Two patients had confirmed swine flu on testing, and 32 patients definitely did not have swine flu. Positive predictive value of the algorithm is therefore between 2.8% and 54.9% in this population. Of 57 under 5 s, 22 children would have been advised to have a face to face consultation by the NICE guidance, who would not have been advised an urgent consultation by the Swine Flu guidance. At least 79% of patients had treatments only available in hospitals.

Conclusions

The Swine Flu algorithm is of little use in distinguishing children sick enough to be admitted to hospital. The advice given correlates poorly with that of the NICE feverish illness guideline. With this level of false positive diagnoses, there is a significant risk of harm, and potential delays in commencing appropriate treatment. We were unable to obtain the data and rationale behind the algorithm, and believe that this should be published. Where the construction of a clinically safe algorithm proves impossible, then although inconvenient, face to face emergency consultations may be the only way to reliably ensure the safety of our patients.
Defending two dilemmas
Authors: Baron Teresa , Dierckxsens Geoffrey
Published: October 2021

Ashley’s response to our recent paper argues that a fuller appreciation of the available clinical data, of the rights of children to autonomy, and of the primary purpose of gender-affirming endocrine treatment supports the rejection of both the pathway and consent dilemmas for the treatment of gender dysphoria, as raised in this journal. In this response, we highlight certain misrepresentations of our argument, and defend our conclusions against Ashley’s main objections.
Infections due to dysregulated immunity: an emerging complication of cancer immunotherapy
Authors: Morelli Tommaso , Fujita Kohei , Redelman-Sidi Gil , Elkington Paul T
Published: October 2021

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionised cancer treatment. However, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are a common side effect which can mimic infection. Additionally, treatment of irAEs with corticosteroids and other immunosuppressant agents can lead to opportunistic infection, which we have classed as immunotherapy infections due to immunosuppression. However, emerging reports demonstrate that some infections can be precipitated by ICIs in the absence of immunosuppressive treatment, in contrast to the majority of reported cases. These infections are characterised by a dysregulated inflammatory immune response, and so we propose they are described as immunotherapy infections due to dysregulated immunity. This review summarises the rapidly emerging evidence of these phenomena and proposes a new framework for considering infection in the context of cancer immunotherapy.
Exposure of 4-year to 24-year olds to tobacco imagery on prime-time Chilean television
Authors: Peruga Armando , Urrejola Oscar , Delgado Iris , Matute Isabel , Castillo-Laborde Carla , Molina Xaviera , Hirmas Macarena , Olea Andrea , González Claudia , Aguilera Ximena , Sargent James D
Published: October 2021

Introduction

The extent of the population’s exposure to tobacco imagery across all genres of regular TV programming and the contribution of each of these genres is unknown, except for UK broadcast channels. The objective of this study is to estimate the exposure of young people to tobacco imagery on Chilean prime-time television and the programme source contributing to such exposure.

Methods

Programmes aired during 3 weeks in 2019 from the 15 highest audience channels in Chile were content-analysed for the occurrence of tobacco categorised as actual use, implied use, tobacco paraphernalia, tobacco brand appearances and whether they violated Chilean smoke-free law for each 1 min interval (92 639). The exposure of young people to tobacco content was estimated using media viewership figures.

Results

Young people received 29, 11 and 4 million tobacco impressions of any type, explicit use and smoke-free violation, respectively, at a rate of 21.8, 8.0 and 2.1 thousand impressions per hour of TV viewing. The main sources of exposure to tobacco impressions were feature films and animated productions, which were almost entirely non-Chilean. Finally, young people were exposed to tobacco brand impressions primarily through films, effectively circumventing the advertising ban in Chile.

Discussion

Television programming is a source of significant youth exposure to tobacco imagery, including branding impressions. To conform to the WHO FCTC, Chile should prohibit tobacco branding in any TV programme and require strong anti-tobacco advertisements prior to any TV programme portraying tobacco.
Deuteron disintegration by reactor antineutrinos
Authors: Slad L. M.
Published: October 2021

The existence of a new interaction involving the electron neutrino and the nucleons, which has received a convincing confirmation through a good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results concerning all observable processes with solar neutrinos, should also inevitably manifest itself in the deuteron disintegration by the neutral currents of reactor antineutrinos. The special attention is drawn to the problem of finding the neutron registration efficiency, discussed in the preparation of the experiment at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory and in a number of special studies. Lessons are noted that can be learned from three long-standing experiments on the deuteron disintegration by reactor neutrinos.
Elastic scattering of light nuclei by deuterons with different models
Authors: Amar A. , Ibraheem Awad A.
Published: October 2021

Deuteron elastic scattering from various targets has been reanalyzed in the context of the double folding optical model (DFOM) and the cluster folding model (CFM) over the 8–50[Formula: see text]MeV energy range. 6Li, 7Li, 9Be and [Formula: see text]B are the four targets considered. In DFOM calculations, the real part of the nuclear potential is constructed based on the M3Y effective interaction in addition to an imaginary volume part which has a conventional Woods–Saxon form to simulate the reduction in flux. Special attention has been paid to the cluster structure of the considered targets which leads in many cases to a significant rise in differential cross-section at backward angles due to different transfer probabilities. Spectroscopic amplitudes for the following configurations: [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are extracted and compared to the previously available reported values. The energy dependence on real and imaginary volume integrals is studied. Using the phenomenological optical model, DFOM and CFM, a reasonable fit for the angular distribution of the various considered nuclear systems was obtained.
Regression with Stable Errors Based on Order Statistics
Authors: Noughabi Reza Alizadeh , Mohammadpour Adel
Published: October 2021

Classical regression approaches are not robust when errors are heavy-tailed or asymmetric. That may be due to the non-existence of the mean or variance of the error distribution. Estimation based on trimmed data, which ignored outlier or leverage points, has an old history and frequently used. This procedure chooses fixed cut-off points. In this work, we use this idea recently applied for initial estimates of regression coefficients with heavy-tailed stable errors. We propose an effective procedure to calculate the cut-off points based on the tail index and skewness parameters of errors. We use the property of the existence of some moments of stable distribution order statistics. Data are trimmed based on ordered residuals of a least square regression. However, the trimmed data’s optimal number is determined based on the number of error order statistics whose variance exists. Then, we use the rest of the ordered data to estimate the regression coefficients. Based on these order statistics’ joint distribution, we analytically compute the bias and variance of the introduced estimator of regression parameters that was impossible for regression with stable errors.
The role of the fiber ply configurations on the biomechanics of the hip prosthesis
Authors: Hassani Kamran , Nikkhoo Mohammad , Karimi Alireza
Published: October 2021

The total hip replacement is the only approved procedure for restoring a degenerated hip joint through operation. The life span of a prosthesis could depend on the geometry and material properties of the implant. This study aims to analyze the biomechanics of the carbon/polyetheretherketone (PEEK) composite prosthesis having three different fiber ply configurations compared to traditional stainless steel (SS) ones. The implant-bone system was established and subjected to a load from the head of the femur and abductor muscle sides. The stresses and strains in the implant-bone systems were calculated and compared. The results revealed lower stresses and strains in composite prostheses compared to SS ones. The fiber ply orientation of the carbon/PEEK composite prosthesis is shown to be a key asset in stress and strain distribution of the 13 implant-bone systems. The fiber plies which orientated multidirectionally with −45 and +45 degrees exhibited uniform stress and strain distributions. The results suggested the advantage of using composite prostheses in implant designs as they not only invoke lower stresses and strains in the implant-bone system but also amplify the life span of implants in the body.
GaitSense: Towards Ubiquitous Gait-Based Human Identification with Wi-Fi
Authors: Zhang Yi , Zheng Yue , Zhang Guidong , Qian Kun , Qian Chen , Yang Zheng
Published: October 2021

Gait, the walking manner of a person, has been perceived as a physical and behavioral trait for human identification. Compared with cameras and wearable sensors, Wi-Fi-based gait recognition is more attractive because Wi-Fi infrastructure is almost available everywhere and is able to sense passively without the requirement of on-body devices. However, existing Wi-Fi sensing approaches impose strong assumptions of fixed user walking trajectories, sufficient training data, and identification of already known users. In this article, we present
GaitSense
, a Wi-Fi-based human identification system, to overcome the above unrealistic assumptions. To deal with various walking trajectories and speeds,
GaitSense
first extracts target specific features that best characterize gait patterns and applies novel normalization algorithms to eliminate gait irrelevant perturbation in signals. On this basis,
GaitSense
reduces the training efforts in new deployment scenarios by transfer learning and data augmentation techniques.
GaitSense
also enables a distinct feature of illegal user identification by anomaly detection, making the system readily available for real-world deployment. Our implementation and evaluation with commodity Wi-Fi devices demonstrate a consistent identification accuracy across various deployment scenarios with little training samples, pushing the limit of gait recognition with Wi-Fi signals.
Fast Sampling and Counting
k
-SAT Solutions in the Local Lemma Regime
Authors: Feng Weiming , Guo Heng , Yin Yitong , Zhang Chihao
Published: October 2021

We give new algorithms based on Markov chains to sample and approximately count satisfying assignments to
k
-uniform CNF formulas where each variable appears at most
d
times. For any
k
and
d
satisfying
kd
< n
o(1)
and
k
≥ 20 log
k
+ 20 log
d
+ 60, the new sampling algorithm runs in close to linear time, and the counting algorithm runs in close to quadratic time.

Our approach is inspired by Moitra (JACM, 2019), which remarkably utilizes the Lovász local lemma in approximate counting. Our main technical contribution is to use the local lemma to bypass the connectivity barrier in traditional Markov chain approaches, which makes the well-developed MCMC method applicable on disconnected state spaces such as SAT solutions. The benefit of our approach is to avoid the enumeration of local structures and obtain fixed polynomial running times, even if
k
= ω (1) or d = ω (1).
Human Factors in Phishing Attacks: A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Desolda Giuseppe , Ferro Lauren S. , Marrella Andrea , Catarci Tiziana , Costabile Maria Francesca
Published: October 2021

Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information by disguising oneself as a trustworthy entity in digital communication. It is a type of cyber attack often successful because users are not aware of their vulnerabilities or are unable to understand the risks. This article presents a systematic literature review conducted to draw a “big picture” of the most important research works performed on human factors and phishing. The analysis of the retrieved publications, framed along the research questions addressed in the systematic literature review, helps in understanding how human factors should be considered to defend against phishing attacks. Future research directions are also highlighted.
Enabling Cross-technology Communication from LoRa to ZigBee via Payload Encoding in Sub-1 GHz Bands
Authors: Shi Junyang , Mu Di , Sha Mo
Published: October 2021

Low-power wireless mesh networks (LPWMNs) have been widely used in wireless monitoring and control applications. Although LPWMNs work satisfactorily most of the time thanks to decades of research, they are often complex, inelastic to change, and difficult to manage once the networks are deployed. Moreover, the deliveries of control commands, especially those carrying urgent information such as emergency alarms, suffer long delay, since the messages must go through the hop-by-hop transport. Recent studies show that adding low-power wide-area network radios such as LoRa onto the LPWMN devices (e.g., ZigBee) effectively overcomes the limitation. However, users have shown a marked reluctance to embrace the new heterogeneous communication approach because of the cost of hardware modification. In this article, we introduce LoRaBee, a novel LoRa to ZigBee cross-technology communication (CTC) approach, which leverages the energy emission in the Sub-1 GHz bands as the carrier to deliver information. Although LoRa and ZigBee adopt distinct modulation techniques, LoRaBee sends information from LoRa to ZigBee by putting specific bytes in the payload of legitimate LoRa packets. The bytes are selected such that the corresponding LoRa chirps can be recognized by the ZigBee devices through sampling the received signal strength. Experimental results show that our LoRaBee provides reliable CTC communication from LoRa to ZigBee with the throughput of up to 281.61 bps in the Sub-1 GHz bands.
Querying a Matrix through Matrix-Vector Products
Authors: Sun Xiaoming , Woodruff David P. , Yang Guang , Zhang Jialin
Published: October 2021

We consider algorithms with access to an unknown matrix M ε F
n×d
via
matrix-vector products
, namely, the algorithm chooses vectors v
1
, ⃛ , v
q
, and observes Mv
1
, ⃛ , Mv
q
. Here the v
i
can be randomized as well as chosen adaptively as a function of Mv
1
, ⃛ , Mv
i-1
. Motivated by applications of sketching in distributed computation, linear algebra, and streaming models, as well as connections to areas such as communication complexity and property testing, we initiate the study of the number
q
of queries needed to solve various fundamental problems. We study problems in three broad categories, including linear algebra, statistics problems, and graph problems. For example, we consider the number of queries required to approximate the rank, trace, maximum eigenvalue, and norms of a matrix M; to compute the AND/OR/Parity of each column or row of M, to decide whether there are identical columns or rows in M or whether M is symmetric, diagonal, or unitary; or to compute whether a graph defined by M is connected or triangle-free. We also show separations for algorithms that are allowed to obtain matrix-vector products only by querying vectors on the right, versus algorithms that can query vectors on both the left and the right. We also show separations depending on the underlying field the matrix-vector product occurs in. For graph problems, we show separations depending on the form of the matrix (bipartite adjacency versus signed edge-vertex incidence matrix) to represent the graph.

Surprisingly, very few works discuss this fundamental model, and we believe a thorough investigation of problems in this model would be beneficial to a number of different application areas.
Evolutionary Large-Scale Multi-Objective Optimization: A Survey
Authors: Tian Ye , Si Langchun , Zhang Xingyi , Cheng Ran , He Cheng , Tan Kay Chen , Jin Yaochu
Published: October 2021

Multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) have shown promising performance in solving various optimization problems, but their performance may deteriorate drastically when tackling problems containing a large number of decision variables. In recent years, much effort been devoted to addressing the challenges brought by large-scale multi-objective optimization problems. This article presents a comprehensive survey of stat-of-the-art MOEAs for solving large-scale multi-objective optimization problems. We start with a categorization of these MOEAs into decision variable grouping based, decision space reduction based, and novel search strategy based MOEAs, discussing their strengths and weaknesses. Then, we review the benchmark problems for performance assessment and a few important and emerging applications of MOEAs for large-scale multi-objective optimization. Last, we discuss some remaining challenges and future research directions of evolutionary large-scale multi-objective optimization.
Approximating Geometric Knapsack via L-packings
Authors: Gálvez Waldo , Grandoni Fabrizio , Ingala Salvatore , Heydrich Sandy , Khan Arindam , Wiese Andreas
Published: October 2021

We study the two-dimensional geometric knapsack problem, in which we are given a set of
n
axis-aligned rectangular items, each one with an associated profit, and an axis-aligned square knapsack. The goal is to find a (non-overlapping) packing of a maximum profit subset of items inside the knapsack (without rotating items). The best-known polynomial-time approximation factor for this problem (even just in the cardinality case) is 2+ε [Jansen and Zhang, SODA 2004]. In this article we present a polynomial-time 17/9+ε < 1.89-approximation, which improves to 558/325+ε < 1.72 in the cardinality case.

Prior results pack items into a constant number of rectangular containers that are filled via greedy strategies. We deviate from this setting and show that there exists a large profit solution where items are packed into a constant number of containers
plus
one L-shaped region at the boundary of the knapsack containing narrow-high items and thin-wide items. These items may interact in complex manners at the corner of the L. The best-known approximation ratio for the subproblem in the L-shaped region is 2+ε (via a trivial reduction to one-dimensional knapsack); hence, as a second major result we present a PTAS for this case that we believe might be of broader utility.

We also consider the variant with rotations, where items can be rotated by 90 degrees. Again, the best-known polynomial-time approximation factor (even for the cardinality case) is 2+ε [Jansen and Zhang, SODA 2004]. We present a polynomial-time (3/2+ε)-approximation for this setting, which improves to 4/3+ε in the cardinality case.
Adjacency Labelling for Planar Graphs (and Beyond)
Authors: Dujmović Vida , Esperet Louis , Gavoille Cyril , Joret Gwenaël , Micek Piotr , Morin Pat
Published: October 2021

We show that there exists an adjacency labelling scheme for planar graphs where each vertex of an
n
-vertex planar graph
G
is assigned a (1 + o(1)) log
2
n
-bit label and the labels of two vertices
u
and
v
are sufficient to determine if
uv
is an edge of
G
. This is optimal up to the lower order term and is the first such asymptotically optimal result. An alternative, but equivalent, interpretation of this result is that, for every positive integer
n
, there exists a graph
U
n
with
n
1+o(1)
vertices such that every
n
-vertex planar graph is an induced subgraph of
U
n
. These results generalize to a number of other graph classes, including bounded genus graphs, apex-minor-free graphs, bounded-degree graphs from minor closed families, and
k
-planar graphs.
Link Quality Estimation of Cross-Technology Communication: The Case with Physical-Level Emulation
Authors: Zhang Jia , Guo Xiuzhen , Jiang Haotian , Zheng Xiaolong , He Yuan
Published: October 2021

Research on
cross-technology communication
(
CTC
) has made rapid progress in recent years. While the CTC links are complex and dynamic, how to estimate the quality of a CTC link remains an open and challenging problem. Through our observation and study, we find that none of the existing approaches can be applied to estimate the link quality of CTC. Built upon the physical-level emulation, transmission over a CTC link is jointly affected by two factors: the emulation error and the channel distortion. Furthermore, the channel distortion can be modeled and observed through the signal strength and the noise strength. We, in this article, propose a new link metric called C-LQI and a joint link model that simultaneously takes into account the emulation error and the channel distortion in the

In-phase and Quadrature

(
IQ
) domain. We accurately describe the superimposed impact on the received signal. We further design a lightweight link estimation approach including two different methods to estimate C-LQI and in turn the
packet reception rate
(
PRR
) over the CTC link. We implement C-LQI and compare it with two representative link estimation approaches. The results demonstrate that C-LQI reduces the relative estimation error by 49.8% and 51.5% compared with s-PRR and EWMA, respectively.
Wax, Wings, and Swarms: Insects and Their Products as Art Media
Authors: Klein Barrett Anthony
Published: October 2021

Every facet of human culture is in some way affected by our abundant, diverse insect neighbors. Our relationship with insects has been on display throughout the history of art, sometimes explicitly but frequently in inconspicuous ways. This is because artists can depict insects overtly, but they can also allude to insects conceptually or use insect products in a purely utilitarian manner. Insects themselves can serve as art media, and artists have explored or exploited insects for their products (silk, wax, honey, propolis, carmine, shellac, nest material), body parts (e.g., wings), and whole bodies (dead, alive, individually, or as collectives). This review surveys insects and their products used as media in the visual arts and considers the untapped potential for artistic exploration of media derived from insects. The history, value, and ethics of insect media art are relevant topics at a time when the natural world is at unprecedented risk.
Website Fingerprinting Attacks Based on Homology Analysis
Authors: Guo Maohua , Fei Jinlong
Published: October 2021

Website fingerprinting attacks allow attackers to determine the websites that users are linked to, by examining the encrypted traffic between the users and the anonymous network portals. Recent research demonstrated the feasibility of website fingerprinting attacks on Tor anonymous networks with only a few samples. Thus, this paper proposes a novel small-sample website fingerprinting attack method for SSH and Shadowsocks single-agent anonymity network systems, which focuses on analyzing homology relationships between website fingerprinting. Based on the latter, we design a Convolutional Neural Network-Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (CNN-BiLSTM) attack classification model that achieves 94.8% and 98.1% accuracy in classifying SSH and Shadowsocks anonymous encrypted traffic, respectively, when only 20 samples per site are available. We also highlight that the CNN-BiLSTM model has significantly better migration capabilities than traditional methods, achieving over 90% accuracy when applied on a new set of monitored sites with only five samples per site. Overall, our experiments demonstrate that CNN-BiLSTM is an efficient, flexible, and robust model for website fingerprinting attack classification.
Solutions of Two-Dimensional Nonlinear Sine-Gordon Equation via Triple Laplace Transform Coupled with Iterative Method
Authors: Deresse Alemayehu Tamirie , Mussa Yesuf Obsie , Gizaw Ademe Kebede
Published: October 2021

This article presents triple Laplace transform coupled with iterative method to obtain the exact solution of two-dimensional nonlinear sine-Gordon equation (NLSGE) subject to the appropriate initial and boundary conditions. The noise term in this equation is vanished by successive iterative method. The proposed technique has the advantage of producing exact solution, and it is easily applied to the given problems analytically. Four test problems from mathematical physics are taken to show the accuracy, convergence, and the efficiency of the proposed method. Furthermore, the results indicate that the introduced method is promising for solving other type systems of NLPDEs.
Description, distribution and ecology of endemic Tasmanian quillwort, Isoetes jarmaniae, sp. nov. (Isoetaceae; Lycopodiopsida)
Authors: BRUNTON DANIEL F. , GARRETT MICHAEL , SOKOLOFF PAUL C. , KANTVILAS GINTARAS
Published: October 2021

Isoetes jarmaniae sp. nov. is described as a new lycophyte endemic to Tasmania, Australia, where it is confined to peat-bound karstic wetlands in several river valleys in the south-west wilderness. While seemingly morphologically closest to I. drummondii, this quillwort has features that are globally uncommon in Isoetes and unknown in other Australasian taxa. Most notable are its markedly flattened, strongly recurved leaves and disproportionately large sporangium ligules that are more suggestive of South American than Australian taxa. As well, the exceptionally thin and wide (alate) megaspore equatorial ridge is swollen at suture intersections, presenting a slightly triangular shape suggestive of the Indian taxon I. udupiensis. The microspores of I. jarmaniae exhibit exceptionally, perhaps uniquely, fine-papillate ornamentation. An original key placing I. jarmaniae in context with the other Tasmanian Isoetes species is provided. This diminutive, apparently diploid species is evidently maintaining a self-sustaining population within a regionally unique habitat and small geographic range.
Two new species of Neotraginops Prado from Costa Rica and Brazil (Diptera: Odiniidae: Traginopinae)
Authors: FLORES HELOÍSA FERNANDES , PIRANI GABRIELA , GAIMARI STEPHEN D. , DE SOUZA AMORIM DALTON
Published: October 2021

Two new species of Neotraginops Prado (Neotraginops fachini sp. nov. and Neotraginops arikemi sp. nov.) are added to the known Neotropical diversity of the Traginopinae (Odiniidae), and the range is expanded for Neotraginops mexicanus Hernández-Ortiz & Dzul-Cauich. A key to the species of the genus is provided. Along with descriptions, photographs and detailed illustrations of the male terminalia are included for the new species.
Market development, state formation, and the historical abolition of the debtors’ prison
Authors: Roehrkasse Alexander F.
Published: October 2021

In the late 18th century, lenders’ right to imprison borrowers for defaulting on debts was taken for granted. By the mid-19th century, this power was widely and permanently revoked. Using a variety of archival evidence, this study explains the historical demise of the debtors’ prison in New York State, the first Western jurisdiction to permanently abolish imprisonment for debt. Tracing seven decades of contestation over moral aspects of credit exchange and incarceration, it shows that the development of capitalist markets, including their cultural and technological consequences, was necessary but not sufficient to render the debtor's prison obsolete. Rather, the development of a liberal polity and a penal state institutionalized new moral views about the use of force in economic exchange, consolidating the legitimacy of bodily detention around the punishment of crimes rather than the coercion of private agreements. The analysis has implications for theories of states, markets, and violence, as well as for recent trends in penal debt, debt resistance, and prison abolition.
Social Media, Mobile Phones and Migration in Africa: A Review of the Evidence
Authors: Stremlau Nicole , Tsalapatanis Anna
Published: October 2021

The role of new technologies, including mobile phones and social media, in migration moved to the fore during the European migrant crisis in 2015. Images of Syrians fleeing civil war, along with Iraqis and Afghans, guided by their mobile phones became common in the international media. While much has been made about the importance of mobile phones for migrants, including by humanitarian organizations, what evidence do we have about the role such technologies have in migration, particularly for migrants in, and from, Africa? This article uses a semi-systematic approach to evaluate the strength of the evidence around the use (or not) of mobile phones and social media in the migratory pathways of Africans, primarily to Europe. This includes detailed systematic database searches, submissions from experts such as academics and practitioners as well as the use of snowball citation searches. We argue that given the intensity of the claims affirming the role of new technologies in migration, the evidence remains surprisingly anecdotal and weak. In short, the use of mobile phones, and social media, on migratory pathways cannot be generalized and further investigation is urgently required to better determine whether, and how, such technologies are shaping and transforming migration in the ways so frequently argued.
Thermomechanical performance analysis and experiment of electrothermal shape memory alloy helical spring actuator
Authors: Xiong Yang , Huang Jin , Shu Ruizhi
Published: October 2021

In this paper, an electrothermal shape memory alloy helical spring actuator constructed from shape memory alloy with copper-cored enameled wire is presented and fabricated. Based on the shear constitutive model of a shape memory alloy, the Thermo equilibrium equation and the geometrical equation of helical spring establish the thermomechanical theoretical model of helical spring actuator with electrothermal shape memory alloys under different scenarios. The thermomechanical behaviors of the actuator were verified by numerical simulation with experimental tests, and the actuator thermomechanical properties were derived from the analysis with current, temperature, response time, restoring force, and axial displacement as parameters. The experimental results show that the actuator produces a maximum recovery force of 70.2 N and a maximum output displacement of 7.7 mm at 100°C. The actuator response time is 26 s at a current of 3A. It is also demonstrated that the theoretical model can effectively characterize the complex thermo-mechanical properties of the actuator due to the strong nonlinearity of the shape memory alloy. The experimental temperature-force response and temperature-displacement response, as well as the force-displacement response at different temperatures, provide references for the design and fabrication of electrothermal shape-memory alloy coil spring actuators.
Molecular diagnosis of T-cell lymphoma: a correlative study of PCR-based T-cell clonality assessment and targeted NGS
Authors: Syrykh Charlotte , Gorez Pauline , Péricart Sarah , Grand David , Escudié Frédéric , Cabarrou Bastien , Obéric Lucie , Ysebaert Loïc , Lamant Laurence , Laurent Camille , Evrard Solène M. , Brousset Pierre
Published: October 2021

Immunomorphological diagnosis of T-cell lymphoma (TCL) may be challenging, especially on needle biopsies. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to assess T-cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangements are now widely used to detect T-cell clones and provide diagnostic support. However, PCR assays detect only 80% of TCL, and clonal lymphocyte populations may also appear in nonneoplastic conditions. More recently, targeted next-generation sequencing (t-NGS) technologies have been deployed to improve lymphoma classification. To the best of our knowledge, the comparison of these techniques’ performance in TCL diagnosis has not been reported yet. In this study, 82 TCL samples and 25 nonneoplastic T-cell infiltrates were divided into 2 cohorts (test and validation) and analyzed with both multiplex PCR and t-NGS to investigate TCR gene rearrangements and somatic mutations, respectively. The detection of mutations appeared to be more specific (100.0%) than T-cell clonality assessment (41.7%-45.5%), whereas no differences were observed in terms of sensitivity (95.1%-97.4%). Furthermore, t-NGS provided a reliable basis for TCL diagnosis in samples with partially degraded DNA that was impossible to assess with PCR. Finally, although multiplex PCR assays appeared to be less specific than t-NGS, both techniques remain complementary, as PCR recovered some t-NGS negative cases.