bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pricing Strategy in Dual-Channel Supply Chains with Loss-Averse Consumers
Authors: Liu Chengli , Lee C. K. M. , Leung K. H.
Published: July 2019

In this paper, loss-averse consumer behavior during purchase decision-making process in the dual-channel supply chain is modeled. Loss-averse consumers prefer avoiding losses to gain utility with respect to their reference point while purchasing the product. Two product categories are classified: (1) basic product and (2) luxury goods which have lower and higher reference utility to consumers, respectively. The research objective is to determine the optimal price strategy in dual-channel supply chains and discuss the decision behind loss-averse consumers. To model consumers’ valuation of a product, prospect theory is adopted to calculate the demands of each channel. Then, the optimal pricing strategy and the corresponding profits are found out in a Stackelberg game manner. The results encourage manufacturers of basic goods to engage in dual-channel strategy. Effect of “double marginalization” is reduced if consumers are loss-averse in the dual-channel supply chain. Furthermore, the direct channel online contributes larger demand to the manufacturer. However, manufacturers of luxury goods are not suggested for dual-channel strategy because the demand for direct channel online is negligible and the demand for the retail channel remains unchanged. Nevertheless, retailers cannot obtain benefit from dual-channel and as a result, the profit of basic goods retailers will be reduced.
Assessment of Local Councillors’ Attitudes Towards Energy Efficiency Projects in Croatia
Authors: Kordej-De Villa Zeljka , Slijepcevic Suncana
Published: July 2019

Energy efficiency is an important element of Europe's Climate and Energy scheme to meet the target of a 20% reduction in energy demand by 2020. To achieve this goal, it is essential to transform to low-carbon economy and much of required transformations take place at the local and regional level, while regional authorities have the tools to influence and encourage this process.

The paper presents the results of a survey relating to the energy efficiency projects conducted among councilors at the regional level. The paper investigates local councilors' attitudes about the impact of energy efficiency projects, prerequisites for successful implementation of energy efficiency projects and preconditions for efficient public procurement in the field of energy efficiency. Survey results could provide some useful insights for policy recommendations in the field of energy efficiency.
A PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF DOLLAR-COST AVERAGING AND SELF-ANNUITIZATION
Authors: LU RICHARD , HSIEH MENG-SUNG
Published: July 2019

The return and risk of dollar-cost averaging (DCA) and self-annuitization (SA) investing are compared with the underlying return in this paper. The underlying return, which is assumed to be normally distributed, is generated by Monte Carlo simulations under six market scenarios including upward and mean reverting markets across several investment horizons. Owing to the multiple cash flows of DCA and SA, the annual internal rate of return is used to measure the DCA and SA returns. The results show that the mean return of DCA is slightly higher than the underlying return, while the SA is lower, particularly under short investment horizons. Both DCA and SA produce higher return volatility and riskiness than the underlying return. They also create negative skewness and excess kurtosis for the return distributions. For comparing their performances, we use the economic performance measure which can consider those high moments of distribution. Except for the mean reverting market, the underlying return is the best performer, while SA is the worst. This evidence becomes even clearer and convincing as the investment horizon increases. DCA can have lower riskiness and perform better only under the mean reverting market.
A Representation Theorem for Change through Composition of Activities
Authors: Aameri Bahar , Grüninger Michael
Published: July 2019

The expanding use of information systems in industrial and commercial settings has increased the need for interoperation between software systems. In particular, many social, industrial, and business information systems require a common basis for a seamless exchange of complex process information. This is, however, inhibited, because different systems may use distinct terminologies or assume different meanings for the same terms. A common solution to this problem is to develop logical theories that act as an intermediate language between different parties. In this article, we characterize a class of activities that can act as intermediate languages between different parties in those cases. We show that for each domain with finite number of elements there exists a class of activities, we called canonical activities, such that all possible changes within the domain can be represented as a sequence of occurrences of those activities. We use an algebraic structure for representing change and characterizing canonical activities, which enables us to abstract away domain-dependent properties of processes and activities, and demonstrate general properties of formalisms required for semantic integration of dynamic information systems.
On the Impact of Voice Encoding and Transmission on the Predictions of Speaker Warmth and Attractiveness
Authors: Gallardo Laura Fernández , Sanchez-Iborra Ramon
Published: July 2019

Modern human-computer interaction systems may not only be based on interpreting natural language but also on detecting speaker interpersonal characteristics in order to determine dialog strategies. This may be of high interest in different fields such as telephone marketing or automatic voice-based interactive services. However, when such systems encounter signals transmitted over a communication network instead of clean speech, e.g., in call centers, the speaker characterization accuracy might be impaired by the degradations caused in the speech signal by the encoding and communication processes. This article addresses a binary classification of high versus low warm--attractive speakers over different channel and encoding conditions. The ground truth is derived from ratings given to clean speech extracted from an extensive subjective test. Our results show that, under the considered conditions, the AMR-WB+ codec permits good levels of classification accuracy, comparable to the classification with clean, non-degraded speech. This is especially notable for the case of a Random Forest-based classifier, which presents the best performance among the set of evaluated algorithms. The impact of different packet loss rates has been examined, whereas jitter effects have been found to be negligible.
Continuous-Time Relationship Prediction in Dynamic Heterogeneous Information Networks
Authors: Sajadmanesh Sina , Bazargani Sogol , Zhang Jiawei , Rabiee Hamid R.
Published: July 2019

Online social networks, World Wide Web, media, and technological networks, and other types of so-called
information networks
are ubiquitous nowadays. These information networks are inherently
heterogeneous
and
dynamic
. They are heterogeneous as they consist of multi-typed objects and relations, and they are dynamic as they are constantly evolving over time. One of the challenging issues in such heterogeneous and dynamic environments is to forecast those relationships in the network that will appear in the future. In this article, we try to solve the problem of continuous-time relationship prediction in dynamic and heterogeneous information networks. This implies predicting the time it takes for a relationship to appear in the future, given its features that have been extracted by considering both heterogeneity and temporal dynamics of the underlying network. To this end, we first introduce a feature extraction framework that combines the power of meta-path-based modeling and recurrent neural networks to effectively extract features suitable for relationship prediction regarding heterogeneity and dynamicity of the networks. Next, we propose a supervised non-parametric approach, called
Non-Parametric Generalized Linear Model
(N
p
-G
lm
), which infers the hidden underlying probability distribution of the relationship building time given its features. We then present a learning algorithm to train N
p
-G
lm
and an inference method to answer time-related queries. Extensive experiments conducted on synthetic data and three real-world datasets, namely Delicious, MovieLens, and DBLP, demonstrate the effectiveness of N
p
-G
lm
in solving continuous-time relationship prediction problem vis-à-vis competitive baselines.
Multi-Resolution Modeling of Shapes in Contact
Authors: Li Yijing , Barbič Jernej
Published: July 2019

We describe an efficient method to model shapes undergoing contact and self-contact. Previous shape modeling methods mostly focused on deformations (without contact), and, if used directly for contact, suffer from excessively long calculation times when new contacts are detected. In our work, we demonstrate fast, output-sensitive shape modeling that does not substantially degrade when new contacts are detected and that degrades gracefully with contact complexity, even for complex geometries. We achieve this by constructing a rotationally invariant linear-precision multi-resolution hierarchy of shape deformation bases. Inspired by the active set method, we propose a new contact model suitable for shape modeling that greatly outperforms prior work in contact quality and smoothness. Our method requires no extensive precomputation and works with triangle meshes embedded in solid tetrahedral meshes. We apply our method to the widely used as-rigid-as-possible energy, enabling modeling of shapes in contact, with arbitrarily large rotations, smoothness and locality.
Narcissus: correct-by-construction derivation of decoders and encoders from binary formats
Authors: Delaware Benjamin , Suriyakarn Sorawit , Pit-Claudel Clément , Ye Qianchuan , Chlipala Adam
Published: July 2019

It is a neat result from functional programming that libraries of
parser combinators
can support rapid construction of decoders for quite a range of formats. With a little more work, the same combinator program can denote both a decoder and an encoder. Unfortunately, the real world is full of gnarly formats, as with the packet formats that make up the standard Internet protocol stack. Most past parser-combinator approaches cannot handle these formats, and the few exceptions require redundancy – one part of the natural grammar needs to be hand-translated into hints in multiple parts of a parser program. We show how to recover very natural and nonredundant format specifications, covering all popular network packet formats and generating both decoders and encoders automatically. The catch is that we use the Coq proof assistant to derive both kinds of artifacts using tactics, automatically, in a way that guarantees that they form inverses of each other. We used our approach to reimplement packet processing for a full Internet protocol stack, inserting our replacement into the OCaml-based MirageOS unikernel, resulting in minimal performance degradation.
Cubical agda: a dependently typed programming language with univalence and higher inductive types
Authors: Vezzosi Andrea , Mörtberg Anders , Abel Andreas
Published: July 2019

Proof assistants based on dependent type theory provide expressive languages for both programming and proving within the same system. However, all of the major implementations lack powerful extensionality principles for reasoning about equality, such as function and propositional extensionality. These principles are typically added axiomatically which disrupts the constructive properties of these systems. Cubical type theory provides a solution by giving computational meaning to Homotopy Type Theory and Univalent Foundations, in particular to the univalence axiom and higher inductive types. This paper describes an extension of the dependently typed functional programming language Agda with cubical primitives, making it into a full-blown proof assistant with native support for univalence and a general schema of higher inductive types. These new primitives make function and propositional extensionality as well as quotient types directly definable with computational content. Additionally, thanks also to copatterns, bisimilarity is equivalent to equality for coinductive types. This extends Agda with support for a wide range of extensionality principles, without sacrificing type checking and constructivity.
Selective applicative functors
Authors: Mokhov Andrey , Lukyanov Georgy , Marlow Simon , Dimino Jeremie
Published: July 2019

Applicative functors and monads have conquered the world of functional programming by providing general and powerful ways of describing effectful computations using pure functions. Applicative functors provide a way to compose independent effects that cannot depend on values produced by earlier computations, and all of which are declared statically. Monads extend the applicative interface by making it possible to compose dependent effects, where the value computed by one effect determines all subsequent effects, dynamically.

This paper introduces an intermediate abstraction called selective applicative functors that requires all effects to be declared statically, but provides a way to select which of the effects to execute dynamically. We demonstrate applications of the new abstraction on several examples, including two industrial case studies.
Quantitative program reasoning with graded modal types
Authors: Orchard Dominic , Liepelt Vilem-Benjamin , Eades III Harley
Published: July 2019

In programming, some data acts as a resource (e.g., file handles, channels) subject to usage constraints. This poses a challenge to software correctness as most languages are agnostic to constraints on data. The approach of linear types provides a partial remedy, delineating data into resources to be used but never copied or discarded, and unconstrained values. Bounded Linear Logic provides a more fine-grained approach, quantifying non-linear use via an indexed-family of modalities. Recent work on coeffect types generalises this idea to graded comonads, providing type systems which can capture various program properties. Here, we propose the umbrella notion of graded modal types, encompassing coeffect types and dual notions of type-based effect reasoning via graded monads. In combination with linear and indexed types, we show that graded modal types provide an expressive type theory for quantitative program reasoning, advancing the reach of type systems to capture and verify a broader set of program properties. We demonstrate this approach via a type system embodied in a fully-fledged functional language called Granule, exploring various examples.
"Learned"
Authors: Zhang Yiying , Huang Yutong
Published: July 2019

With operating systems being at the core of computer systems, decades of research and engineering efforts have been put into the development of OSes. To keep pace with the speed of modern hardware and application evolvement, we argue that a different approach should be taken in future OS development. Instead of relying solely on human wisdom, we should also leverage AI and machine learning techniques to automatically "learn" how to build and tune an OS. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges of the "learned" OS approach and makes recommendation for future researchers and practitioners on building such an OS.
A Machine Learning Approach to Recommending Files in a Collaborative Work Environment
Authors: Vengerov David , Jalagam Sesh
Published: July 2019

Recommendation of items to users is a problem faced by many companies in a wide spectrum of industries. This problem was traditionally approached in a one-shot manner, such as recommending movies to users based on all the movie ratings observed so far. The evolution of user activity over time was relatively unexplored. This paper presents a Machine Learning approach developed at Box Inc. for making repeated recommendations of files to users in a collaborative work environment. Our results on historical data show that this approach noticeably outperforms the approach currently implemented at Box and also the traditional Matrix Factorization approach.
The Case for Learning-and-System Co-design
Authors: Mike Liang Chieh-Jan , Xue Hui , Yang Mao , Zhou Lidong
Published: July 2019

While decision-makings in systems are commonly solved with explicit rules and heuristics, machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) have been driving a paradigm shift in modern system design. Based on our decade of experience in operationalizing a large production cloud system, Web Search, learning fills the gap in comprehending and taming the system design and operation complexity. However, rather than just improving specific ML/DL algorithms or system features, we posit that the key to unlocking the full potential of learning-augmented systems is a principled methodology promoting learning-and-system co-design. On this basis, we present the AutoSys, a common framework for the development of learning-augmented systems.
When the Power of the Crowd Meets the Intelligence of the Middleware
Authors: Du Yifan , Issarny Valérie , Sailhan Françoise
Published: July 2019

The data gluttony of AI is well known: Data fuels the artificial intelligence. Technologies that help to gather the needed data are then essential, among which the IoT. However, the deployment of IoT solutions raises significant challenges, especially regarding the resource and financial costs at stake. It is our view that mobile crowdsensing, aka phone sensing, has a major role to play because it potentially contributes massive data at a relatively low cost. Still, crowdsensing is useless, and even harmful, if the contributed data are not properly analyzed. This paper surveys our work on the development of systems facing this challenge, which also illustrates the virtuous circles of AI. We specifically focus on how intelligent crowdsensing middleware leverages on-device machine learning to enhance the reported physical observations. Keywords: Crowdsensing, Middleware, Online learning.
Haploid Selection in “Diploid” Organisms
Authors: Immler Simone
Published: July 2019

Evolutionary rates and strength of selection differ markedly between haploid and diploid genomes. Any genes expressed in a haploid state will be directly exposed to selection, whereas alleles in a diploid state may be partially or fully masked by a homologous allele. This difference may shape key evolutionary processes, including rates of adaptation and inbreeding depression, but also the evolution of sex chromosomes, heterochiasmy, and stable sex ratio biases. All diploid organisms carry haploid genomes, most notably the haploid genomes in gametes produced by every sexually reproducing eukaryote. Furthermore, haploid expression occurs in genes with monoallelic expression, in sex chromosomes, and in organelles, such as mitochondria and plastids. A comparison of evolutionary rates among these haploid genomes reveals striking parallels. Evidence suggests that haploid selection has the potential to shape evolution in predominantly diploid organisms, and taking advantage of the rapidly developing technologies, we are now in the position to quantify the importance of such selection on haploid genomes.
Island Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
Authors: Russell James C. , Kueffer Christoph
Published: July 2019

Biodiversity on marine islands is characterized by unique biogeographic, phylogenetic and functional characteristics. Islands hold a disproportionate amount of the world's biodiversity, and they have also experienced a disproportionate loss of it. Following human contact, island biodiversity has sustained negative human impacts increasing in rate and magnitude as islands transitioned from primary through secondary to tertiary economies. On islands, habitat transformation and invasive non-native species have historically been the major threats to biodiversity, and although these threats will continue in new forms, new impacts such as human-induced climate change and sea-level rise are emerging. Island biodiversity is changing with some species going extinct, others changing in abundance, non-native species becoming a part of many ecosystems, and humans shaping many ecological processes. Islands thus are microcosms for the emerging biodiversity and socioecological landscapes of the Anthropocene. Islands will require new strategies for the protection and restoration of their biodiversity, including maintaining biological and cultural heritage through regenerative practices, mainstreaming biodiversity in cultural and production landscapes, and engaging with the reality of novel ecosystems.
Solar Geoengineering: Social Science, Legal, Ethical, and Economic Frameworks
Authors: Flegal Jane A. , Hubert Anna-Maria , Morrow David R. , Moreno-Cruz Juan B.
Published: July 2019

Solar geoengineering research in the social sciences and humanities has largely evolved in parallel with research in the natural sciences. In this article, we review the current state of the literature on the ethical, legal, economic, and social science aspects of this emerging area. We discuss issues regarding the framing and futures of solar geoengineering, empirical social science on public views and public engagement, the evolution of ethical concerns regarding research and deployment, and the current legal and economic frameworks and emerging proposals for the regulation and governance of solar geoengineering.
Interactions and Coadaptation in Plant Metaorganisms
Authors: Hassani M. Amine , Özkurt Ezgi , Seybold Heike , Dagan Tal , Stukenbrock Eva H.
Published: July 2019

Plants associate with a wide diversity of microorganisms. Some microorganisms engage in intimate associations with the plant host, collectively forming a metaorganism. Such close coexistence with plants requires specific adaptations that allow microorganisms to overcome plant defenses and inhabit plant tissues during growth and reproduction. New data suggest that the plant immune system has a broader role beyond pathogen recognition and also plays an important role in the community assembly of the associated microorganism. We propose that core microorganisms undergo coadaptation with their plant host, notably in response to the plant immune system allowing them to persist and propagate in their host. Microorganisms, which are vertically transmitted from generation to generation via plant seeds, putatively compose highly adapted species and may have plant-beneficial functions. The extent to which plant domestication has impacted the underlying genetics of plant–microbe associations remains poorly understood. We propose that the ability of domesticated plants to select and maintain advantageous microbial partners may have been affected. In this review, we discuss factors that impact plant metaorganism assembly and function. We underline the importance of microbe–microbe interactions in plant tissues, as they are still poorly studied but may have a great impact on plant health.
Impact of heart rate on cross-bridge cycling kinetics in failing and nonfailing human myocardium
Authors: Chung Jae-Hoon , Milani-Nejad Nima , Davis Jonathan P. , Weisleder Noah , Whitson Bryan A. , Mohler Peter J. , Janssen Paul M. L.
Published: July 2019

The force-frequency relationship (FFR) is an important regulatory mechanism that increases the force-generating capacity as well as the contraction and relaxation kinetics in human cardiac muscle as the heart rate increases. In human heart failure, the normally positive FFR often becomes flat, or even negative. The rate of cross-bridge cycling, which has been reported to affect cardiac output, could be potentially dysregulated and contribute to blunted or negative FFR in heart failure. We recently developed and herein use a novel method for measuring the rate of tension redevelopment. This method allows us to obtain an index of the rate of cross-bridge cycling in intact contracting cardiac trabeculae at physiological temperature and assess physiological properties of cardiac muscles while preserving posttranslational modifications representative of those that occur in vivo. We observed that trabeculae from failing human hearts indeed exhibit an impaired FFR and a reduced speed of relaxation kinetics. However, stimulation frequencies in the lower spectrum did not majorly affect cross-bridge cycling kinetics in nonfailing and failing trabeculae when assessed at maximal activation. Trabeculae from failing human hearts had slightly slower cross-bridge kinetics at 3 Hz as well as reduced capacity to generate force upon K+ contracture at this frequency. We conclude that cross-bridge kinetics at maximal activation in the prevailing in vivo heart rates are not majorly impacted by frequency and are not majorly impacted by disease.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY In this study, we confirm that cardiac relaxation kinetics are impaired in filing human myocardium and that cross-bridge cycling rate at resting heart rates does not contribute to this impaired relaxation. At high heart rates, failing myocardium cross-bridge rates are slower than in nonfailing myocardium.
Effect of knockout of the ASIC3 on cardiovascular reflexes arising from hindlimb muscle in decerebrated rats
Authors: Kim Joyce S. , Harms Jonathan E. , Ruiz-Velasco Victor , Kaufman Marc P.
Published: July 2019

The exercise pressor reflex is initiated by the contraction-induced activation of group III and IV muscle afferents. The reflex is manifested by increases in arterial blood pressure and cardiac output, which, in turn, are generated by increases in the sympathetic outflow to the heart and vasculature and decreases in the vagal outflow to the heart. In previous experiments, we used a pharmacological approach to assess the role played by the acid-sensing ion channel 3 (ASIC3) on group III and IV afferents in evoking the exercise pressor reflex. In the present experiments, we used an alternative approach, namely functional knockout (KO) of the ASIC3 gene, to confirm and extend our previous finding that pharmacological blockade of the ASIC3 had only a small impact on the expression of the exercise pressor reflex when the arterial supply to the contracting hindlimb muscles of rats was patent. Using this alternative approach, we compared the magnitude of the exercise pressor reflex evoked in ASIC3 KO rats with that evoked in their wild-type (WT) counterparts. We found both WT and ASIC3 KO rats displayed similar pressor responses to static contraction (WT, n = 10, +12 ± 2 mmHg; KO, n = 9, +11 ± 2 mmHg) and calcaneal tendon stretch (WT, n = 9, +13 ± 2 mmHg; KO, n = 7, +11 ± 2 mmHg). Likewise, both WT and ASIC3 KO displayed similar pressor responses to intra-arterial injection of 12 mM lactic acid (WT, n = 9, +14 ± 3 mmHg; KO, n = 8, +18 ± 5 mmHg), 24 mM lactic acid (WT, n = 9,+24 ± 2 mmHg; KO, n = 8, +20 ± 5 mmHg), capsaicin (WT, n = 9,+27 ± 5 mmHg; KO, n = 10, +29 ± 5 mmHg), and diprotonated phosphate ([Formula: see text]; WT, n = 6,+22 ± 3 mmHg; KO, n = 6, +32 ± 6 mmHg). We conclude that redundant receptors are responsible for evoking the pressor reflexes arising from group III and IV afferents.
Predictive Models for the Medical Diagnosis of Dengue: A Case Study in Paraguay
Authors: Mello-Román Jorge D. , Mello-Román Julio C. , Gómez-Guerrero Santiago , García-Torres Miguel
Published: July 2019

Early diagnosis of dengue continues to be a concern for public health in countries with a high incidence of this disease. In this work, we compared two machine learning techniques: artificial neural networks (ANN) and support vector machines (SVM) as assistance tools for medical diagnosis. The performance of classification models was evaluated in a real dataset of patients with a previous diagnosis of dengue extracted from the public health system of Paraguay during the period 2012–2016. The ANN multilayer perceptron achieved better results with an average of 96% accuracy, 96% sensitivity, and 97% specificity, with low variation in thirty different partitions of the dataset. In comparison, SVM polynomial obtained results above 90% for accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity.
The Tumor Microenvironment Innately Modulates Cancer Progression
Authors: Hinshaw Dominique C. , Shevde Lalita A.
Published: July 2019

Cancer development and progression occurs in concert with alterations in the surrounding stroma. Cancer cells can functionally sculpt their microenvironment through the secretion of various cytokines, chemokines, and other factors. This results in a reprogramming of the surrounding cells, enabling them to play a determinative role in tumor survival and progression. Immune cells are important constituents of the tumor stroma and critically take part in this process. Growing evidence suggests that the innate immune cells (macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells, innate lymphoid cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and natural killer cells) as well as adaptive immune cells (T cells and B cells) contribute to tumor progression when present in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Cross-talk between cancer cells and the proximal immune cells ultimately results in an environment that fosters tumor growth and metastasis. Understanding the nature of this dialog will allow for improved therapeutics that simultaneously target multiple components of the TME, increasing the likelihood of favorable patient outcomes.
Potential Markers from Serum-Purified Exosomes for Detecting Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Metastasis
Authors: Li Cuiping , Zhou Yang , Liu Junjun , Su Xiaoping , Qin Hao , Huang Suhua , Huang Xuanping , Zhou Nuo
Published: July 2019

Background:

Blood contains exosomes that are related to tumor cells. Those exosomes can regulate communication between cells and have a great influence on a variety of tumor-associated proceedings through their target cells. Therefore, serum exosomes (SE) were supposed to play a crucial role in cancer development.

Methods:

This study presented a quantitative proteomics analysis to identify the protein content in SEs including 30 subjects from oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients with lymph node metastasis (LNM), OSCC patients with no LNM (NLNM), and healthy controls (HC). Differentially expressed proteins (DEP) were analyzed by bioinformatics, and then a total of 30 subjects were used for Western blot and 60 subjects for IHC, ELISA, and RT-PCR verifications. The correlations were assessed between DEP expression and clinicopathologic factors.

Results:

A total of 415 proteins were identified. Comparing with HC and OSCC-NLNM, we found 37 proteins and 28 proteins in the SEs of OSCC-LNM, respectively. There were significant correlations among the expression of PF4V1 with tumor differentiation level, PF4V1 and F13A1 with the number of positive nodes, and ApoA1 with smoking and drinking. ROC curve analysis indicated that the combinations of the different biomarkers or specimen were obviously superior to single biomarker or specimen for diagnosing OSCC-LNM.

Conclusions:

We conclude that PF4V1, CXCL7, F13A1, and ApoA1 from SEs may be related to the metastasis of OSCC, which would be helpful in the diagnosis of OSCC-LNM.

Impact:

Biomarkers from SEs could help with the diagnosis of metastasis in OSCC.
Parallel Analyses of Somatic Mutations in Plasma Circulating Tumor DNA (ctDNA) and Matched Tumor Tissues in Early-Stage Breast Cancer
Authors: Zhang Xianyu , Zhao Weiwei , Wei Wei , You Zilong , Ou Xiaohua , Sun Mingming , Yin Yanling , Tang Xiaoyan , Zhao Zhen , Hu Changming , Liu Feifei , Deng Junhao , Mao Linlin , Zhou Danyan , Ren Yuxia , Li Xiaoxia , Zhang Shangfei , Liu Chang , Geng Jingshu , Yao Guodong , Song Bingbing , Liu Yupeng , Li Dalin , Jiang Yongdong , Chen Yanbo , Zhao Yashuang , Yu Shihui , Pang Da
Published: July 2019

Purpose:

Early detection and intervention can decrease the mortality of breast cancer significantly. Assessments of genetic/genomic variants in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) have generated great enthusiasm for their potential application as clinically actionable biomarkers in the management of early-stage breast cancer.

Experimental Design: In this study, 861 serial plasma and matched tissue specimens from 102 patients with early-stage breast cancer who need chemotherapy and 50 individuals with benign breast tumors were deeply sequenced via next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques using large gene panels.

Results:

Cancer tissues in this cohort of patients showed profound intratumor heterogeneities (ITHGs) that were properly reflected by ctDNA testing. Integrating the ctDNA detection rate of 74.2% in this cohort with the corresponding predictive results based on Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System classification (BI-RADS) could increase the positive predictive value up to 92% and potentially dramatically reduce surgical overtreatment. Patients with positive ctDNA after surgery showed a higher percentage of lymph node metastasis, indicating potential recurrence and remote metastasis. The ctDNA-positive rates were significantly decreased after chemotherapy in basal-like and Her2+ tumor subtypes, but were persistent despite chemotherapy in luminal type. The tumor mutation burden in blood (bTMB) assessed on the basis of ctDNA testing was positively correlated with the TMB in tumor tissues (tTMB), providing a candidate biomarker warranting further study of its potentials used for precise immunotherapy in cancer.

Conclusions:

These data showed that ctDNA evaluation is a feasible, sensitive, and specific biomarker for diagnosis and differential diagnosis of patients with early-stage breast cancer who need chemotherapy.
Ultrasound-Guided Cervical Lymph Node Sampling Performed by Respiratory Physicians
Authors: Ahmed Mohammed , Daneshvar Cyrus , Breen David
Published: July 2019

Background: A variety of disease processes investigated by respiratory physicians can lead to cervical lymphadenopathy. Ultrasound (US) has revolutionised respiratory investigations, and neck ultrasound (NUS) is increasingly recognised as an additional important skill for respiratory physicians. Objectives: We aimed to assess the feasibility of NUS performed by respiratory physicians in the workup of patients with mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Methods: This is a single-centre retrospective cohort study. All patients that underwent US-guided cervical lymph node sampling were included. The diagnostic yield is reported, and specimen adequacy is compared for respiratory physicians and radiologists. Results: Over 5 years, 106 patients underwent NUS-guided lymph node sampling by respiratory physicians compared to 35 cases performed by radiologists. There was no significant difference in the adequacy of sampling between the two groups (respiratory physicians 91.5% [95% CI 84.5–96%] compared to 82.9% [95% CI 66.4–93.4%] for radiologists [p = 0.2]). In the respiratory physician group, a diagnosis was achieved based on lymph node sampling in 89 cases (84%). Neck lymph node sampling was the only procedure performed to obtain tissue in 48 cases (45.3%). Conclusion: NUS and sampling performed by respiratory physicians are feasible and associated with an adequacy rate comparable to that of radiologists. It can reduce the number of invasive procedures performed in a selected group of patients. Guidelines for training and competency assessment are required.
Overexpression of Orphan Receptor GPR61 Increases cAMP Levels upon Forskolin Stimulation in HEK293 Cells: in vitro and in silico Validation of 5-(Nonyloxy)Tryptamine as a Low-Affinity Inverse Agonist
Authors: Kozielewicz Pawel , Grafton Gillian , Sajkowska-Kozielewicz Joanna J. , Barnes Nicholas M.
Published: July 2019

GPR61 is an orphan receptor that belongs to Class A of G-protein-coupled receptors. It has been reported that GPR61 has a constitutive activity and couples to Gαs. In the present study, we characterized GPR61 function and ligand binding by experimental and molecular docking studies. We demonstrated that heterologous expression of GPR61 in HEK293 cells enhanced the cAMP synthesis response to forskolin, whereas the basal cAMP synthesis was unaffected. 5-(Nonyloxy)tryptamine inhibited forskolin-stimulated cAMP production in GPR61-expressing HEK293 cells. These studies highlight that the intrinsic activity of this receptor is only measurable following its synergy with Gαs.
Sobre a música dos gordos
Authors: Górki Maksim
Published: July 2019

Maksim Górki (1868 – 1936), cujo nome verdadeiro era Aleksei Maksimovitch Peshkov, foi um escritor russo naturalista, comunista e precursor do realismo soviético. A obra de Górki deu origem ao que se chama de literatura proletária, e ele tomou parte ativa na remodelagem da cultura na União Soviética, inclusive através da crítica literária e do jornalismo opinativo, como é o caso do presente artigo, publicado no jornal Pravda, nº 90, de 18 de abril 19281. Nele, Górki destila veneno contra o jazz e fenômenos morais que relaciona com ele e considera característicos da decadência da sociedade capitalista, contrapondo-os à exaltação do trabalho e dos avanços científicos e culturais do homem, em especial do homem proletário. O artigo não reflete apenas a opinião isolada de Górki, mas um posicionamento que se solidificou nos órgãos oficiais soviéticos com relação ao jazz, e serve como material de pesquisa para compreender a ideologia cultural da época stalinista.
Mito e Conto Maravilhoso
Authors: Meletínski Eleazar Moisseievitch
Published: July 2019

No presente artigo, Eleazar Meletínski discute a transformação do mito em conto maravilhoso. Para isso, ele apresenta diferentes pontos de vista sobre a distinção entre mitos e contos (skazka) primitivos. Como tentativa de síntese, ele propõe um sistema de traços distintivos capaz de distinguir os dois gêneros narrativos.
Театр Маяковского и синтез искусств: театр революции или революция театра?
Authors: Cavaliere Arlete
Published: July 2019

Театр Маяковского связан с наиболее передовыми эстетическими поисками того времени (как в России, так и на Западе), относившимися к исследованиям и новаторским экспериментам в поэзии, живописи и театре. «Футуристские сумасбродства» его драматургии, воплощенные при помощи театрального языка и режиссуры В. Е. Мейерхольда, демонстрировали уровень экспериментирования, доселе невообразимый на советской сцене. Драматург выстраивает диалоги между персонажами посредством яркого стихотворного языка, словно своеобразный фразеологический маскарад, направленный на то, чтобы охарактеризовать в пародийной форме разные социальные типы. Так, язык улиц насмешливо противопоставляется официальной речи, словам действующего политического строя, смешанным с церковнославянскими выражениями.
Spiders of Odisha: a preliminary checklist
Authors: Choudhury Sudhir Ranjan , Siliwal Manju , Das Sanjay Keshari
Published: July 2019

The present checklist of spiders of Odisha is the result of the compilation of all published literature on spiders and primary data collected during the present study carried out from July 2016 to March 2017 in Odisha.  A total of 138 species of spiders belonging to 95 genera and 33 families were recorded in the present study.  Of which, seven families, 36 genera and 80 species of spiders were reported for the first time from Odisha.  Of these 80 species, 78 spider species were exclusively reported from the Eastern Ghats of Odisha. With this study, spider diversity of Odisha comprised of 248 species belonging to 139 genera and 39 families.  Whereas, Eastern Ghats of Odisha comprised of 181 species belonging to 109 genera and 35 families.  Of total spiders from Odisha, 23 species were found to be endemic to southern Asia, 49 species endemic to India and 19 species endemic to Odisha.
Greater One-horned Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis (Mammalia: Perissodactyla: Rhinocerotidae) population census in the Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park, Assam, India
Authors: Dutta Deba Kumar , Kakati Parikshit
Published: July 2019

The complete-count of rhino or rhino census is an integral part of conservation and management of wild rhino-bearing areas of Assam.  The direct count of rhinos in their wild habitat continues as the accepted method of determining rhino population.  As a part of the periodic process, the Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park (RGONP) organized a one-day direct rhino count on 2 April 2018.  The results showed 1% increment of the population after a gap of six years.  Such slow increment is considered to be a matter of concern.  More research is necessary for better understanding of the population dynamics and identification of factors for better management of rhino population at RGONP.
Is canine distemper virus (CDV) a lurking threat to large carnivores? A case study from Ranthambhore landscape in Rajasthan, India
Authors: Sidhu Nadisha , Borah Jimmy , Shah Sunny , Rajput Nidhi , Jadav Kajal Kumar
Published: July 2019

Canine distemper virus (CDV) was reported in wild tigers from Russia and recently from India.  Very few studies, however, have been carried out to gain an insight into the prevalence of the disease in India, particularly in the wild.  CDV is the etiological agent of one of the most infectious diseases of domestic dogs.  With the aim of exploring the threat CDV poses for tigers, a preliminary assessment was carried out to determine its prevalence from villages near Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan, India.  Free-roaming dog populations within a 4-km-radius of the park’s periphery were tested for antibodies against CDV.  The seroprevalence of CDV antibodies in the sampled dogs was 86% (95% CI 78–91 %), indicating the probability of the dogs acting as a reservoir and having been exposed to CDV in the past.  The seroprevalence of CAV antibodies was 44.23% (95% CI 35–54 %) and CPV antibodies was 95.19% (95% CI 91–99 %).  This could threaten the tiger populations in the park, considering the close proximity of dogs to tigers.  It is, therefore, crucial to assess disease threats at the domestic-wildlife interface and to establish management strategies for more effective conservation practices in the landscape.
New record of Blanford’s Fox Vulpes cana (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae) in central Oman: a connection between the northern and southern populations
Authors: Alsaid Taimur , Aluwaisi Abdularahman , Albalushi Sultan , Alabdulsalam Zahran , Alharsusi Said , Ross Steven
Published: July 2019

The Blanford’s Fox Vulpes cana is known to be distributed in the Hajar Mountains and the mountains of Dhofar in northern and southern Oman, respectively.  We report the first record of the Blanford’s Fox in Al Wusta Wildlife Reserve in central Oman.  Despite a large survey effort of 169 camera traps set for 53,524 trap nights in an area of 5,400km2, only two camera traps detected Blanford’s Fox in a small area covering 46km2.  The survey suggests that the population is small and possibly isolated, as the northern and southern Blanford’s Fox populations are 310km and 330km away, respectively.
Safety of Amlodipine in Early Pregnancy
Authors: Mito Asako , Murashima Atsuko , Wada Yoshinao , Miyasato‐Isoda Mai , Kamiya Chizuko A. , Waguri Masako , Yoshimatsu Jun , Yakuwa Naho , Watanabe Omi , Suzuki Tomo , Arata Naoko , Mikami Masashi , Ito Shinya
Published: July 2019

Background

Amlodipine is used for the treatment of hypertension, but reports on its use in early pregnancy are limited.

Methods and Results

In the present study, we recruited 231 women with chronic hypertension, including those who received amlodipine or other antihypertensives during early pregnancy, and investigated frequencies of morphologic abnormalities in their 231 offspring. Specifically, we evaluated 48 neonates exposed to amlodipine in the first trimester (amlodipine group, Group A), 54 neonates exposed to antihypertensives other than amlodipine (other antihypertensive group, Group O), and 129 neonates not exposed to antihypertensives (no‐antihypertensive group, Group N). The number of morphologic abnormalities of offspring in each group were 2 in Group A (4.2%; 95%
CI
, 0.51–14.25); 3 in Group O (5.6%; 95%
CI
, 1.16–15.39) and 6 in Group N (4.7%; 95% CI, 1.73–9.85). The odds ratio of the primary outcome comparing Group A and Group O was 0.74 (95%
CI
: 0.118–4.621) and Group A and Group N was 0.89 (95%
CI
: 0.174–4.575).

Conclusions

The odds of birth defects in Group A in the first trimester were not significantly different from those with or without other antihypertensives.
Posterior Arterial Ischemic Stroke in Childhood
Authors: Fink Mirjam , Slavova Nedelina , Grunt Sebastian , Perret Eveline , Regényi Maria , Steinlin Maja , Bigi Sandra
Published: July 2019

Background and Purpose—

Literature on the clinical manifestation and neuroradiological findings in pediatric patients with posterior circulation arterial ischemic stroke is scarce. This study aims to describe epidemiological features, clinical characteristics, and neuroimaging data on pediatric posterior circulation arterial ischemic stroke in Switzerland using the population-based Swiss Neuropediatric Stroke Registry.

Methods—

Children aged from 1 month to 16 years presenting with an isolated posterior circulation arterial ischemic stroke between 2000 and 2016 were included. Epidemiology, clinical manifestation, stroke cause, and neuroradiological features were summarized using descriptive statistics. Stroke severity was assessed using the pediatric National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale. Correlation analysis was performed using the Spearman correlation coefficient.

Results—

Forty-three children with posterior circulation arterial ischemic stroke were included (27 boys [62.8%], median age 7.9 years, interquartile range, 5 to 11.7 years). The incidence of posterior circulation arterial ischemic stroke is Switzerland was 0.183/100 000 and represented 16% of all childhood arterial ischemic strokes. Most patients presented with nonspecific neurological complaints, such as headache (58.1%) and nausea/vomiting (46.5%). The most frequent clinical manifestations were ataxia (58.1%) and motor/sensory hemisyndrome (53.5%/51.2%). Unilateral focal cerebral arteriopathy was the most common cause (11 children, 25.6%). Most infarcts were located in the cerebellum (46.5%) and thalamus (39.5%). A shorter diagnostic delay correlated with more severe stroke symptoms at presentation (rho= −0.365,
P
=0.016).

Conclusions—

Pediatric posterior circulation arterial ischemic stroke was caused by focal cerebral arteriopathy in one quarter of the patients in our cohort. The frequently reported nonspecific clinical symptoms, especially when associated with mild neurological findings, risk delaying the diagnosis of stroke. A high index of suspicion and increased awareness are required for timely diagnosis and treatment initiation.
Trick Me If You Can: Human-in-the-Loop Generation of Adversarial Examples for Question Answering
Authors: Wallace Eric , Rodriguez Pedro , Feng Shi , Yamada Ikuya , Boyd-Graber Jordan
Published: July 2019

Adversarial evaluation stress-tests a model’s understanding of natural language. Because past approaches expose superficial patterns, the resulting adversarial examples are limited in complexity and diversity. We propose human- in-the-loop adversarial generation, where human authors are guided to break models. We aid the authors with interpretations of model predictions through an interactive user interface. We apply this generation framework to a question answering task called Quizbowl, where trivia enthusiasts craft adversarial questions. The resulting questions are validated via live human–computer matches: Although the questions appear ordinary to humans, they systematically stump neural and information retrieval models. The adversarial questions cover diverse phenomena from multi-hop reasoning to entity type distractors, exposing open challenges in robust question answering.
The Church Slavonic Song of Songs Translated from a Jewish Source in the Ruthenian Codex from the 1550s (RSL Mus. 8222)
Authors: Grishchenko Alexander I.
Published: July 2019

This paper presents the new and actually the first diplomatic publication of the unique 16th-century copy of the Church Slavonic Song of Songs translated from a Jewish original, most likely not the proper Masoretic Text but apparently its Old Yiddish translation. This Slavonic translation is extremely important for Judaic-Slavic relations in the context of literature and language contacts between Jews and Slavs in medieval Slavia Orthodoxa.