bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Initiation and persistence with dual antiplatelet therapy after acute myocardial infarction: a Danish nationwide population-based cohort study
Authors: Green Anders , Pottegård Anton , Broe Anne , Diness Thomas Goldin , Emneus Martha , Hasvold Pål , Gislason Gunnar H
Published: May 2016

Objectives

The study investigated dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) patterns over time and patient characteristics associated with the various treatments in a myocardial infarction (MI) population.

Design

A registry-based observational cohort study was performed using antecedent data.

Setting

This study linked morbidity, mortality and medication data from Danish national registries.

Participants

All 28 449 patients admitted to a Danish hospital with a first-time MI and alive at discharge from 2009 through 2012 were included.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Primary outcome was initiation of DAPT and secondary outcomes comprised persistence in DAPT treatment and switches between DAPT treatments.

Results

The overall proportion of patients prescribed DAPT increased from 68% (CL 95% 67–69%) to 73% (CL 95% 72–74%) from 2009 to 2012. For treatment of patients with and without percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), the corresponding numbers were from 87% (CL 95% 86–88%) to 91% (CL 95% 90–92%) and from 49% (CL 95% 47–50%) to 52% (CL 95% 51–54%), respectively. Non-PCI patients had a higher cardiovascular risk compared with PCI patients. Among PCI patients, age>75 years, atrial fibrillation, diabetes and peripheral arterial disease were associated with a higher risk of treatment breaks for DAPT. Among patients without PCI, ticagrelor treatment was associated with an increased risk of treatment breaks during the first 12 months compared with clopidogrel treatment.

Conclusions

From 2009 to 2012, there was an increase in the proportion of patients with MI receiving DAPT, and a longer duration of DAPT. Still, a large proportion of patients without PCI are discharged either without DAPT or with a short DAPT duration. These findings may indicate the need for more careful attention to DAPT for patients with MI not undergoing PCI in Denmark.
Sipjeondaebo-tang in patients with cancer with anorexia: a protocol for a pilot, randomised, controlled trial
Authors: Cheon Chunhoo , Park Sunju , Park Yu Lee , Huang Ching-Wen , Ko Youme , Jang Bo-Hyoung , Shin Yong-Cheol , Ko Seong-Gyu
Published: May 2016

Introduction

Cancer-related anorexia is the loss of appetite or desire to eat in patients with cancer. Although treatments for cancer-related anorexia do exist, patients have sought complementary and alternative medicine including herbal remedies, due to safety concerns. Sipjeondaebo-tang is one among other popular herbal medicines that are beneficial to management of anorexia in Korea. The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility for a full randomised clinical trial of Sipjeondaebo-tang for cancer-related anorexia.

Methods and analysis

This study is a randomised, double-blinded and placebo-controlled trial of Sipjeondaebo-tang. For the study, 40 patients with cancer, aged 20–80 years, who reported anorexia, will be recruited. The participants will receive either 3 g of Sipjeondaebo-tang or a placebo, 3 times a day for 4 weeks. The primary end point is a change in the anorexia/cachexia subscale (A/CS) of Functional Assessment of Anorexia/Cachexia Therapy (FAACT). The secondary end points include changes in the visual analogue scale (VAS) of appetite, cortisol and ghrelin. The outcomes will be measured on every visit. Each participant will visit once a week during 4 weeks.

Ethics and dissemination

The present study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Dunsan Korean Medicine Hospital of Daejeon University (reference DJDSKH-15-03-2 (V.2.0)). The results will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal and scientific conference.

Trial registration number

NCT02468141; Pre-results.
Inequalities in family practitioner use by sexual orientation: evidence from the English General Practice Patient Survey
Authors: Urwin Sean , Whittaker William
Published: May 2016

Objective

To test for differences in primary care family practitioner usage by sexual orientation.

Design

Multivariate logistic analysis of pooled cross-sectional postal questionnaire responses to family practitioner usage.

Setting

Patient-reported use and experience of primary care in England, UK. Data from several waves of a postal questionnaire (General Practice Patient Survey) 2012–2014.

Population

2 807 320 survey responses of adults aged 18 years and over, registered with a family practitioner.

Main outcome measures

Probability of a visit to a family practitioner within the past 3 months.

Results

Lesbian women were 0.803 times (95% CI 0.755 to 0.854) less likely to have seen a family practitioner in the past 3 months relative to heterosexual women (bisexual women OR=0.887, 95% CI 0.817 to 0.963). Gay men were 1.218 times (95% CI 1.163 to 1.276) more likely to have seen a family practitioner relative to heterosexual men (bisexual men OR=1.084, 95% CI 0.989 to 1.188). Our results are robust to the timing of the family practitioner visit (0–3, 0–6, 0–12 months). Gay men were more likely to have seen a family practitioner than heterosexual men where the proportion of women practitioners in the practice was higher (OR=1.238, 95% CI 1.041 to 1.472).

Conclusions

Inequalities in the use of primary care across sexual orientation in England exist having conditioned on several measures of health status, demographic and family practitioner characteristics. The findings suggest these differences may be reduced by policies targeting a reduction of differences in patient acceptability of primary care. In particular, further research is needed to understand whether lower use among heterosexual men represents unmet need or overutilisation among gay men, and the barriers to practitioner use seemingly occurring due to the gender distribution of practices.
Doctors’ experience of the contraceptive consultation: a qualitative study in Australia
Authors: Kelly Marguerite , Inoue Kumiyo , Black Kirsten I , Barratt Alexandra , Bateson Deborah , Rutherford Alison , Stewart Mary , Richters Juliet
Published: May 2016

Background

Contraception is a field in which good doctor–patient communication is crucial and core to shared decision making. Despite the centrality of contraception to primary health care in Australia, little is known about how doctors manage the contraceptive consultation. In particular, little is known about how doctors discuss sexual issues related to contraception.

Methods

Fifteen contraceptive providers participated in qualitative interviews averaging 45 min. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using an inductive thematic approach.

Results

We found doctors were aware that they had to modify their illness-based ‘scripts’ in consultations about contraception, and said it was challenging always to adhere to a shared model of decision making. Prescribing behaviour reflected personal preferences in relation to some forms of contraception, and doctors were enthusiastic about the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system. Doctors identified gaps in training in relation to sexuality and reported feeling tentative in raising sexual issues, even within contraceptive consultations.

Conclusions

A range of factors—including tendencies to use illness scripts, personal preferences, and discomfort with communications about sexuality—appear to influence doctors' approaches to contraceptive management. Medical training that enables doctors to move out of an illness-treating framework and to improve their understanding of and comfort in discussing sexuality issues will improve their management of healthy women seeking contraception.
Analysis of Mmp2-1306C/T and Timp2G-418C Polymorphisms with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis
Authors: Aksoy Dürdane , Ateş Ömer , Kurt Semiha , Çevik Betül , Sümbül Orhan
Published: May 2016

Aims

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune, inflammatory disease characterized by loss of myelin forming oligodendrocytes and changes in the blood–brain barrier. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) -2 and -9 are known to cause disruption of the blood–brain barrier, remodeling of the basal lamina, regeneration of axons, and remyelination in MS. The imbalance between MMPs and tissue inhibitor metalloproteinases (TIMPs) may lead to the emergence of pathological processes such as MS. The roles of MMP2-1306 C/T and TIMP2-418 G/C genetic variants in MS have not been studied before. We aimed to investigate whether MMP2-1306C/T and TIMP2-418 G/C gene variants are risk factors for patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

Methods

The study included 102 RRMS and 102 healthy controls. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral leukocytes from ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid anticoagulated blood. Genotyping of the MMP2-1306C/T and TIMP2G-418C polymorphisms was performed using real-time PCR.

Results

There were significant differences in terms of distribution of genotype (MMP2-1306- CT, TT) and T allele frequency between the patients with RRMS and the control group (p<0.0001; p<0.0001). The groups were not different in terms of TIMP2G-418C polymorphisms.

Conclusions

In the RRMS group, the genotype and allele frequencies of MMP2-1306C/T polymorphism showed significant differences from the controls. These results indicate that MMP2 might play a role in the pathogenesis of MS even during the inflammation stage.
Equine herpesvirus – a constant threat
Authors: Strang Camilla
Published: May 2016

Camilla Strang of the Animal Health Trust provides an overview of the diagnosis and control of conditions associated with infection by equine herpesvirus
Desuspensions of S1 ∧ (ℙℚ1 −{0,1,∞})
Authors: Wickelgren Kirsten
Published: May 2016

We use the Galois action on [Formula: see text] to show that the homotopy equivalence [Formula: see text] coming from purity, does not desuspend to a map [Formula: see text].
A comparative study on the electrical parameters of Au/n-Si Schottky diodes with and without interfacial (Ca1.9Pr0.1Co4Ox) layer
Authors: Kaya A. , Çetinkaya H. G. , Altındal Ş. , Uslu İ.
Published: May 2016

In order to compare the main electrical parameters such as ideality factor [Formula: see text], barrier height (BH) [Formula: see text], series [Formula: see text] and shunt [Formula: see text] resistances and energy density distribution profile of surface states [Formula: see text], the [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text] (MS) Schotthy diodes (SDs), with and without interfacial [Formula: see text] layer were obtained from the current–voltage [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] measurements at room temperature. The other few electrical parameters such as Fermi energy level [Formula: see text], BH [Formula: see text]), [Formula: see text] and voltage dependence of [Formula: see text] profile were also obtained from the capacitance–voltage [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] measurements. The voltage dependence of [Formula: see text] profile has two distinctive peaks in the depletion region for two diodes and they were attributed to a particular distribution of [Formula: see text] located at metal–semiconductor (MS) interface. All of these results have been investigated at room temperature and results have been compared with each other. Experimental results confirmed that interfacial [Formula: see text] layer enhanced diode performance in terms of rectifier rate [Formula: see text] at [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]at [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] with values of 265, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] for MS type Schottky barrier diode and [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] for metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) type SBD, respectively. It is clear that the rectifying ratio of MIS type SBD is about 9660 times greater than MS type SBD. The value of barrier height (BH) obtained from [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] data is higher than the forward bias [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] data and it was attributed to the nature of measurements. These results confirmed that the interfacial [Formula: see text] layer has considerably improved the performance of SD.
Conduction band population in graphene in ultrashort strong laser field: Case of massive Dirac particles
Authors: Ahmadi Z. , Goudarzi H. , Jafari A.
Published: May 2016

The Dirac-like quasiparticles in honeycomb graphene lattice are taken to possess a non-zero effective mass. The charge carriers involve to interact with a femtosecond strong laser pulse. Due to the scattering time of electrons in graphene ([Formula: see text]10–100 fs), the one femtosecond optical pulse is used to establish the coherence effect and, consequently, it can be realized to use the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for electron coupled with strong electromagnetic field. Generalized wave vector of relativistic electrons interacting with electric field of laser pulse causes to obtain a time-dependent electric dipole matrix element. Using the coupled differential equations of a two-state system of graphene, the density of probability of population transition between valence (VB) and conduction bands (CB) of gapped graphene is calculated. In particular, the effect of bandgap energy on dipole matrix elements at the Dirac points and resulting CB population (CBP) is investigated. The irreversible electron dynamics is achieved when the optical pulse end. Increasing the energy gap of graphene results in decreasing the maximum CBP.
“Multi-Circuit”: Automatic Generation of an Application Specific Configurable Core for Known Set of Application Circuits
Authors: Iqbal Muhammad Mazher , Parvez Husain , Rashid Muhammad
Published: May 2016

Many digital systems provide multiple but closely related functionalities, not all of them are required simultaneously. Dedicated hardware solution for each functionality will waste too much silicon area. This work presents automatic generation of a shared hardware solution for a set of functionalities which will execute only one functionality at a time. This shared hardware solution is termed as “Multi-Circuit”. A Multi-Circuit can be embedded as a configurable component in a System-on-Chip (SoC) design. Multi-Circuit is generated by initially mapping a given set of application functionalities on a common reconfigurable platform. Later on, all the unused logic and routing resources are efficiently removed from the reconfigurable hardware. Experiments reveal that Multi-Circuit is 18–42% smaller than the previously proposed technique named Application Specific Inflexible FPGA (ASIF). Multi-Circuit is 73–84% smaller than its corresponding FPGA design.
Technique for Increasing the Output Impedance of CMOS Regulated Cascode Circuits
Authors: Ben-Esmael M. , Mathew M. , Hart B. L. , Hayatleh K.
Published: May 2016

A technique is proposed for the design of a modified CMOS regulated cascode having an output impedance significantly greater than that of a conventional regulated cascode. Simulation results for an illustrative design, operating at 10[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]A from a 1[Formula: see text]V supply, show an increase in output resistance from 636 M[Formula: see text] and output bandwidth of 55[Formula: see text]kHz for a conventional circuit to 6.68 G[Formula: see text] and 389[Formula: see text]kHz, respectively, for the proposed design.
On the lexicographic degree of two-bridge knots
Authors: Brugallé Erwan , Koseleff Pierre-Vincent , Pecker Daniel
Published: May 2016

We study the degree of polynomial representations of knots. We obtain the lexicographic degree for two-bridge torus knots and generalized twist knots. The proof uses the braid theoretical method developed by Orevkov to study real plane curves, combined with previous results from [Chebyshev diagrams for two-bridge knots, Geom. Dedicata 150 (2010) 405–425; E. Brugallé, P.-V. Koseleff, D. Pecker, Untangling trigonal diagrams, to appear in J. Knot Theory and its Ramifications]. We also give a sharp lower bound for the lexicographic degree of any knot, using real polynomial curves properties.
A Study of Smart Home Environment and its Security Threats
Authors: Ul Rehman Shafiq , Manickam Selvakumar
Published: May 2016

As the world is moving towards Internet of Things, smart home is now rapidly becoming a reality. Home appliances and devices are interconnected, i.e., home area network, via proprietary or standard TCP/IP protocols allowing for better management and monitoring. Nevertheless, as with any form of network, smart home is also prone to security threats and vulnerabilities. This paper aims at presenting the importance of security in smart home environment. Herein, we will discuss (a) the concepts of smart home environment, (b) various smart home communication mechanisms, (c) security challenges and concerns in smart home environment, (d) security threats in smart home environment, (e) current security measures to encounter such security attacks and finally, conclusion and future work.
Analyzing Reactive Routing Protocols for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks
Authors: Kapur Raj Kamal , Khatri Sunil Kumar
Published: May 2016

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are ad hoc networks in which the nodes co-operatively route the traffic to the destination nodes which are beyond the wireless range of source nodes. The nodes in the network act as both end devices and routers. The routing mechanism in MANETs differentiates it from other wireless networks. Developing a routing protocol which is light on resources and efficient is a challenging task. Several routing protocols have been developed but the reactive routing protocols have found favor in most applications since these obtain the route when a node has data to send. This results in lower routing load and better conservation of meagre resources of the nodes. The two prominent reactive routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks-Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) and Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing. Both the protocols have similar on-demand behavior, but the differences in the protocol mechanism can lead to significant performance differentials. The performance differentials are analyzed using varying network load and mobility.
PORTFOLIO OPTIMIZATION UNDER NONLINEAR UTILITY
Authors: HEYNE GREGOR , KUPPER MICHAEL , TANGPI LUDOVIC
Published: May 2016

This paper studies the utility maximization problem of an agent with nontrivial endowment, and whose preferences are modeled by the maximal subsolution of a backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE). We prove existence of an optimal trading strategy and relate our existence result to the existence of a maximal subsolution to a controlled decoupled forward–BSDE (FBSDE). Using BSDE duality, we show that the utility maximization problem can be seen as a robust control problem admitting a saddle point if the generator of the BSDE additionally satisfies a specific growth condition. We show by convex duality that any saddle point of the robust control problem agrees with a primal and a dual optimizer of the utility maximization problem, and can be characterized in terms of a BSDE solution.
A Differential Game Model for The Extraction of Nonrenewable Resources with Random Initial Times — The Cooperative and Competitive Cases
Authors: Gromova Ekaterina Viktorovna , López-Barrientos José Daniel
Published: May 2016

In this work, we propose a model for the extraction of a nonrenewable resource in an economy where, initially, only one agent is enabled to perform extraction tasks. However, at certain nonpredictable (random) times, more companies receive the government’s approval for extracting the country’s resources. We provide a setup suitable for the use of standard dynamic programming results for both, the competitive and cooperative schemes; we develop the corresponding HJB equations, prove a verification theorem, and give an example. Our framework is inspired by the trends that oil industries are experiencing in countries like Mexico and Russia.
A vector p-Laplacian type approach to multiple periodic solutions for the p-relativistic operator
Authors: Jebelean Petru , Mawhin Jean , Şerban Călin
Published: May 2016

We prove the existence of at least [Formula: see text] geometrically distinct [Formula: see text]-periodic solutions for a differential inclusions system of the form [Formula: see text] Here, [Formula: see text] is a monotone homeomorphism, [Formula: see text] is periodic with respect to each component of the second variable and [Formula: see text] stands for the generalized Clarke gradient of [Formula: see text] at [Formula: see text]. The monotonicity assumptions on [Formula: see text] highlight the vector [Formula: see text]-Laplacian as being the prototype differential operator. The main interesting feature of this approach is that it also provides a useful framework to treat the case of the [Formula: see text]-relativistic singular operator.
Simple superelliptic Lie algebras
Authors: Cox Ben , Guo Xiangqian , Lu Rencai , Zhao Kaiming
Published: May 2016

Let [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]. Then we have the algebraic curve [Formula: see text], and its coordinate algebras (the Riemann surfaces) [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] The Lie algebras [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are called the [Formula: see text]th superelliptic Lie algebras associated to [Formula: see text]. In this paper, we determine the necessary and sufficient conditions for such Lie algebras to be simple, and determine their universal central extensions and their derivation algebras. We also study the isomorphism and automorphism problem for these Lie algebras, which will help to understand the birational equivalence of some algebraic curves of the form [Formula: see text].
Higher extensions of Lie algebroids
Authors: Sheng Yunhe , Zhu Chenchang
Published: May 2016

We study the extension of a Lie algebroid by a representation up to homotopy, including semidirect products of a Lie algebroid with such representations. The extension results in a higher Lie algebroid. We give exact Courant algebroids and string Lie 2-algebras as examples of such extensions. We then apply this to obtain a Lie 2-groupoid integrating an exact Courant algebroid.
On the asymptotic analysis of problems involving fractional Laplacian in cylindrical domains tending to infinity
Authors: Chowdhury Indranil , Roy Prosenjit
Published: May 2016

The paper is an attempt to investigate the issues of asymptotic analysis for problems involving fractional Laplacian where the domains tend to become unbounded in one-direction. Motivated from the pioneering work on second-order elliptic problems by Chipot and Rougirel in [On the asymptotic behaviour of the solution of elliptic problems in cylindrical domains becoming unbounded, Commun. Contemp. Math. 4(1) (2002) 15–44], where the force functions are considered on the cross-section of domains, we prove the non-local counterpart of their result.

Recently in [Asymptotic behavior of elliptic nonlocal equations set in cylinders, Asymptot. Anal. 89(1–2) (2014) 21–35] Yeressian established a weighted estimate for solutions of non-local Dirichlet problems which exhibit the asymptotic behavior. The case when [Formula: see text] was also treated as an example to show how the weighted estimate might be used to achieve the asymptotic behavior. In this paper, we extend this result to each order between [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text].
Asymptotic behavior of the curves in the Fučík spectrum
Authors: Pinasco Juan Pablo , Salort Ariel Martin
Published: May 2016

In this work, we study the asymptotic behavior of the curves of the Fučík spectrum for weighted second-order linear ordinary differential equations. We prove a Weyl type asymptotic behavior of the hyperbolic type curves in the spectrum in terms of some integrals of the weights. We present an algorithm which computes the intersection of the Fučík spectrum with rays through the origin, and we compare their values with the asymptotic ones.
Centers of Leavitt path algebras and their completions
Authors: Alahmadi Adel , Alsulami Hamed
Published: May 2016

In [9,10] Corrales Garcia, Barquero, Martin Gonzalez, Siles Molina, Solanilla Hernandez described the center of a Leavitt path algebra and characterized it in terms of the underlying graph. We offer a different characterization of the center. In particular, we prove that the Boolean algebra of central idempotents of a Leavitt path algebra of a finite graph is isomorphic to the Boolean algebra of finitary annihilator hereditary subsets of the graph.
Centers of Cuntz–Krieger C*-algebras
Authors: Alahmadi Adel , Alsulami Hamed
Published: May 2016

In this paper, for a finite directed graph [Formula: see text], we determine the center of the Cuntz–Krieger [Formula: see text]-algebra CK[Formula: see text].
Representations of simple anti-Jordan triple systems of m × n matrices
Authors: Elgendy Hader A.
Published: May 2016

We show that the universal associative envelope of the simple anti-Jordan triple system of all [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text] is even, [Formula: see text]) matrices over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0 is finite-dimensional. The monomial basis and the center of the universal envelope are determined. The explicit decomposition of the universal envelope into matrix algebras is given. The classification of finite-dimensional irreducible representations of an anti-Jordan triple system is obtained. The semi-simplicity of the universal envelope is shown. We also show that the universal associative envelope of the simple polarized anti-Jordan triple system of [Formula: see text] matrices is infinite-dimensional.
A new Composition-Diamond lemma for associative conformal algebras
Authors: Ni Lili , Chen Yuqun
Published: May 2016

Let [Formula: see text] be the free associative conformal algebra generated by a set [Formula: see text] with a bounded locality [Formula: see text]. Let [Formula: see text] be a subset of [Formula: see text]. A Composition-Diamond lemma for associative conformal algebras is first established by Bokut, Fong and Ke in 2004 [L. A. Bokut, Y. Fong and W.-F. Ke, Composition-Diamond Lemma for associative conformal algebras, J. Algebra 272 (2004) 739–774] which claims that if (i) [Formula: see text] is a Gröbner–Shirshov basis in [Formula: see text], then (ii) the set of [Formula: see text]-irreducible words is a linear basis of the quotient conformal algebra [Formula: see text], but not conversely. In this paper, by introducing some new definitions of normal [Formula: see text]-words, compositions and compositions to be trivial, we give a new Composition-Diamond lemma for associative conformal algebras, which makes the conditions (i) and (ii) equivalent. We show that for each ideal [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] has a unique reduced Gröbner–Shirshov basis. As applications, we show that Loop Virasoro Lie conformal algebra and Loop Heisenberg–Virasoro Lie conformal algebra are embeddable into their universal enveloping associative conformal algebras.
A note on division algebras of dimension four
Authors: Tvalavadze Marina , Vickery Patrick
Published: May 2016

In this paper we consider a four-dimensional real algebra [Formula: see text] and prove that if the quaternion group acts on a certain subset of End[Formula: see text] transitively, then [Formula: see text] is a division algebra. We will also show that under certain technical conditions [Formula: see text] has no identity. Using these results we can explicitly construct a 16-parameter family of four-dimensional real division algebras. In addition, we will find a one-parameter family of such algebras with trivial derivation algebras.
Variable Weight Decision Making and Balance Function Analysis Based on Factor Space
Authors: Zeng Wenyi , Li Deqing , Wang Peizhuang
Published: May 2016

In this paper, we introduce the summing-type and multiplying-type decomposable balance function, discuss their properties in detail, and investigate the effectiveness of the balance function for the orness measure of variable weight vector and for the factor weights. These results will be used to provide some principles for selecting the balance function in decision making and support systems.
Malmquist and Hicks–Moorsteen Productivity Indexes for Clusters Performance Evaluation
Authors: Ferreira Diogo Cunha , Marques Rui Cunha
Published: May 2016

Measuring the performance of clusters characterized by the unbalancedeness and units with no correspondence in other clusters (“uncorrespondencedeness”) has not achieved the desired attention in the literature. Particularly, the operational research has been almost exclusively focused on performance evolution over time, where clusters are generally balanced and the units repeat themselves over these groups. Such analysis has been based on the Malmquist and the Hicks–Moorsteen indexes (MI and HMI), which are solely based on Shephard’s radial distance functions and do not account for all inefficiency sources. Making use of the so-called geometric distance functions (GDFs) and the GDF-based MI, we propose a generalization of the Hicks–Moorsteen index (HMI), based on targets instead of distances to the efficient frontier, allowing the introduction of all inefficiency sources in the productivity model. Moreover, we propose a Monte Carlo-based framework to achieve the pseudo-corresponding units for general cluster performance analysis. This framework is then a generalization of the conventional performance evolution over time. Then, we show that the HMI can be decomposed into economically meaningful indexes and can be rewritten as the geometric mean of the input and the output-oriented MIs. Given these conclusions and our proposed framework, the employment of the HMI to the general clusters analysis is straightforward. Other economically meaningful conclusions are also obtained in this paper.
On Extending Power-Geometric Operators to Interval-Valued Hesitant Fuzzy Sets and Their Applications to Group Decision Making
Authors: Xiong Sheng-Hua , Chen Zhen-Song , Li Yan-Lai , Chin Kwai-Sang
Published: May 2016

Developing aggregation operators for interval-valued hesitant fuzzy sets (IVHFSs) is a technological task we are faced with, because they are specifically important in many problems related to the fusion of interval-valued hesitant fuzzy information. This paper develops several novel kinds of power geometric operators, which are referred to as variable power geometric operators, and extends them to interval-valued hesitant fuzzy environments. A series of generalized interval-valued hesitant fuzzy power geometric (GIVHFG) operators are also proposed to aggregate the IVHFSs to model mandatory requirements. One of the important characteristics of these operators is that objective weights of input arguments are variable with the change of a non-negative parameter. By adjusting the exact value of the parameter, the influence caused by some “false” or “biased” arguments can be reduced. We demonstrate some desirable and useful properties of the proposed aggregation operators and utilize them to develop techniques for multiple criteria group decision making with IVHFSs considering the heterogeneous opinions among individual decision makers. Furthermore, we propose an entropy weights-based fitting approach for objectively obtaining the appropriate value of the parameter. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.
All in One: Mining Multiple Movement Patterns
Authors: Phan Nhathai , Poncelet Pascal , Teisseire Maguelonne
Published: May 2016

Recent improvements in positioning technology have led to a much wider availability of massive moving object data. A crucial task is to find the moving objects that travel together. In common, these object sets are called object movement patterns. Due to the emergence of many different kinds of object movement patterns in recent years, different approaches have been proposed to extract them. However, each approach only focuses on mining a specific kind of patterns. It is costly and time consuming to mine and manage various number of patterns, since we have to execute a large number of different pattern mining algorithms. Moreover, we have to execute these algorithms again whenever new data are added to the existing database. To address these issues, we first redefine movement patterns in the itemset context. Second, we propose a unifying approach, named GeT_Move, which uses a frequent closed itemset-based object movement pattern-mining algorithm to mine and manage different patterns. GeT_Move is developed in two versions which are GeT_Move and Incremental GeT_Move. To optimize the efficiency and to free the parameters setting, we further propose a Parameter Free Incremental GeT_Move algorithm. Comprehensive experiments are performed on real and large synthetic datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approaches.
Behavior of Gabor frame operators on Wiener amalgam spaces
Authors: Poria Anirudha
Published: May 2016

It is well-known that the Gabor expansions converge to identity operator in weak* sense on the Wiener amalgam spaces as sampling density tends to infinity. In this paper, we prove the convergence of Gabor expansions to identity operator in the operator norm as well as weak* sense on [Formula: see text] as the sampling density tends to infinity. Also we show the validity of the Janssen’s representation and the Wexler–Raz biorthogonality condition for Gabor frame operator on [Formula: see text].
AN EXTENDED CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR PRODUCT-MARKET INNOVATION
Authors: DE WAAL GERRIT A.
Published: May 2016

Recognising the greater variety and sophistication of product innovation strategies to target existing and previously untapped markets, the author presents an extended version of the Ansoff product-market expansion grid that highlights the different approaches for developed world and emerging markets. The proposed model consists of seven distinct categories of growth options and depicts alternative strategic possibilities within each category, where appropriate. Categories that are new to the matrix include resource-constrained innovation, necessity innovation and reverse innovation. Necessity innovation is a new concept and a special case of user-innovation, defined as innovation by resource-constrained consumers in emerging markets to serve their own unmet needs. Utilising recent industry examples from a variety of media, the author demonstrates the traits of each strategic approach to grow revenue streams through product-market innovation.
CURRENT CHALLENGES IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES OF SWISS SMEs
Authors: HECK JOHANNES , MEBOLDT MIRKO
Published: May 2016

Conducting innovation activities receives increasing attention in SMEs. These activities can be formalized in the product development processes (PDPs), but especially challenges in PDPs affect the SMEs’ innovation capability (IC). Based on a thorough understanding of these challenges, we aim at improving the SMEs’ IC. We address our research question ‘what are the current challenges in PDPs of SMEs?’ with conducting in 13 SMEs semi-structured in-depth interviews with CEOs, innovation managers, and heads of R&D. We identify 30 challenges, aggregated in the themes: iteration, decision making, and stakeholder involvement. While our results extend recent literature regarding current challenges in PDP, they also reveal the SMEs’ needed for effective means to tackle their challenges, and in turn to enhance their IC.
Periodic shadowing and standard shadowing property
Authors: Darabi Ali , Forouzanfar Abdol-Mohammad
Published: May 2016

In this paper we study the periodic shadowing property and show that expansive dynamical systems that have the pseudo-orbit tracing property (POTP) also have the periodic shadowing. In addition, the convers is proved for chain transitive systems.
On one class of commutative operads
Authors: Gaynullina Alina
Published: May 2016

In this paper, we study one class of commutative operads, namely, the operads of multidimensional (hollow) cubes in Euclidean spaces and their generalization. We describe the varieties of universal algebras rational equivalent to the varieties of algebras over commutative operads.
On a generalization of the Gauss formula
Authors: Tărnăuceanu Marius
Published: May 2016

In this paper, we study a group theoretical generalization of the well-known Gauss formula, that uses the generalized Euler’s totient function introduced in [M. Tărnăuceanu, A generalization of the Euler’s totient function, Asian-Eur. J. Math. 8(4) (2015) 13, Article ID: 1550087].
Twisted tensor biproduct monoidal Hom–Hopf algebras
Authors: Ma Tianshui , Liu Linlin , Xu Shaoxian
Published: May 2016

Let [Formula: see text] be a monoidal Hom-bialgebra, [Formula: see text] a monoidal Hom-algebra and a monoidal Hom-coalgebra. Let [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] be two linear maps. First, we construct the [Formula: see text]-smash product monoidal Hom-algebra [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]-smash coproduct monoidal Hom-coalgebra [Formula: see text]. Second, the necessary and sufficient conditions for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] to be a monoidal Hom-bialgebra are obtained, which generalizes the results in [8, 11]. Lastly, we give some examples and applications.
Jointly Modeling Label and Feature Heterogeneity in Medical Informatics
Authors: Yang Pei , Yang Hongxia , Fu Haoda , Zhou Dawei , Ye Jieping , Lappas Theodoros , He Jingrui
Published: May 2016

Multiple types of heterogeneity including label heterogeneity and feature heterogeneity often co-exist in many real-world data mining applications, such as diabetes treatment classification, gene functionality prediction, and brain image analysis. To effectively leverage such heterogeneity, in this article, we propose a novel graph-based model for Learning with both Label and Feature heterogeneity, namelyL2F. It models the label correlation by requiring that any two label-specific classifiers behave similarly on the same views if the associated labels are similar, and imposes the view consistency by requiring that view-based classifiers generate similar predictions on the same examples. The objective function forL2Fis jointly convex. To solve the optimization problem, we propose an iterative algorithm, which is guaranteed to converge to the global optimum. One appealing feature ofL2Fis that it is capable of handling data with missing views and labels. Furthermore, we analyze its generalization performance based on Rademacher complexity, which sheds light on the benefits of jointly modeling the label and feature heterogeneity. Experimental results on various biomedical datasets show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Algorithm 959
Authors: Álvarez-Cubero José Antonio , Zufiria Pedro J.
Published: May 2016

VBF is a collection of C++ classes designed for analyzing vector Boolean functions (functions that map a Boolean vector to another Boolean vector) from a cryptographic perspective. This implementation uses the NTL library from Victor Shoup, adding new modules that call NTL functions and complement the existing ones, making it better suited to cryptography. The class representing a vector Boolean function can be initialized by several alternative types of data structures such as
Truth Table, Trace Representation, and Algebraic Normal Form (ANF)
, among others. The most relevant cryptographic criteria for both block and stream ciphers as well as for hash functions can be evaluated with VBF: it obtains the nonlinearity, linearity distance, algebraic degree, linear structures, and frequency distribution of the absolute values of the Walsh Spectrum or the Autocorrelation Spectrum, among others. In addition, operations such as equality testing, composition, inversion, sum, direct sum, bricklayering (parallel application of vector Boolean functions as employed in Rijndael cipher), and adding coordinate functions of two vector Boolean functions are presented. Finally, three real applications of the library are described: the first one analyzes the KASUMI block cipher, the second one analyzes the Mini-AES cipher, and the third one finds Boolean functions with very high nonlinearity, a key property for robustness against linear attacks.
Internal Parallelism of Flash Memory-Based Solid-State Drives
Authors: Chen Feng , Hou Binbing , Lee Rubao
Published: May 2016

A unique merit of a solid-state drive (SSD) is its
internal parallelism
. In this article, we present a set of comprehensive studies on understanding and exploiting internal parallelism of SSDs. Through extensive experiments and thorough analysis, we show that exploiting internal parallelism of SSDs can not only substantially improve input/output (I/O) performance but also may lead to some surprising side effects and dynamics. For example, we find that with parallel I/Os, SSD performance is no longer highly sensitive to access patterns (random or sequential), but rather to other factors, such as data access interferences and physical data layout. Many of our prior understandings about SSDs also need to be reconsidered. For example, we find that with parallel I/Os, write performance could outperform reads and is largely independent of access patterns, which is opposite to our long-existing common understanding about slow random writes on SSDs. We have also observed a strong interference between concurrent reads and writes as well as the impact of physical data layout to parallel I/O performance. Based on these findings, we present a set of case studies in database management systems, a typical data-intensive application. Our case studies show that exploiting internal parallelism is not only the key to enhancing application performance, and more importantly, it also fundamentally changes the equation for optimizing applications. This calls for a careful reconsideration of various aspects in application and system designs. Furthermore, we give a set of experimental studies on new-generation SSDs and the interaction between internal and external parallelism in an SSD-based Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) storage. With these critical findings, we finally make a set of recommendations to system architects and application designers for effectively exploiting internal parallelism.
Storage Workload Identification
Authors: Basak Jayanta , Wadhwani Kushal , Voruganti Kaladhar
Published: May 2016

Storage workload identification is the task of characterizing a workload in a storage system (more specifically, network storage system—NAS or SAN) and matching it with the previously known workloads. We refer to storage workload identification as “workload identification” in the rest of this article. Workload identification is an important problem for cloud providers to solve because (1) providers can leverage this information to colocate similar workloads to make the system more predictable and (2) providers can identify workloads and subsequently give guidance to the subscribers as to associated best practices (with respect to configuration) for provisioning those workloads.

Historically, people have identified workloads by looking at their read/write ratios, random/sequential ratios, block size, and interarrival frequency. Researchers are well aware that workload characteristics change over time and that one cannot just take a point in time view of a workload, as that will incorrectly characterize workload behavior. Increasingly, manual detection of workload signature is becoming harder because (1) it is difficult for a human to detect a pattern and (2) representing a workload signature by a tuple consisting of
average
values for each of the signature components leads to a large error.

In this article, we present workload signature detection and a matching algorithm that is able to correctly identify workload signatures and match them with other similar workload signatures. We have tested our algorithm on nine different workloads generated using publicly available traces and on real customer workloads running in the field to show the robustness of our approach.
A User-Friendly Log Viewer for Storage Systems
Authors: Basak Jayanta , Nagesh P. C.
Published: May 2016

System log files contains messages emitted from several modules within a system and carries valuable information about the system state such as device status and error conditions and also about the various tasks within the system such as program names, execution path, including function names and parameters, and the task completion status. For customers with remote support, the system collects and transmits these logs to a central enterprise repository, where these are monitored for alerts, problem forecasting, and troubleshooting.

Very large log files limit the interpretability for the support engineers. For an expert, a large volume of log messages may not pose any problem; however, an inexperienced person may get flummoxed due to the presence of a large number of log messages. Often it is desired to present the log messages in a comprehensive manner where a person can view the important messages first and then go into details if required.

In this article, we present a user-friendly log viewer where we first hide the unimportant or inconsequential messages from the log file. A user can then click a particular hidden view and get the details of the hided messages. Messages with low utility are considered inconsequential as their removal does not impact the end user for the aforesaid purpose such as problem forecasting or troubleshooting. We relate the utility of a message to the probability of its appearance in the due context. We present machine-learning-based techniques that computes the usefulness of individual messages in a log file. We demonstrate identification and discarding of inconsequential messages to shrink the log size to acceptable limits. We have tested this over real-world logs and observed that eliminating such low value data can reduce the log files significantly (30% to 55%), with minimal error rates (7% to 20%). When limited user feedback is available, we show modifications to the technique to learn the user intent and accordingly further reduce the error.
Fully Exploiting PCM Write Capacity Within Near Zero Cost Through Segment-Based Page Allocation
Authors: Khouzani Hoda Aghaei , Xue Yuan , Yang Chengmo
Published: May 2016

Improving the endurance of phase change memory (PCM) is a fundamental issue when PCM technology is considered as an alternative to main memory usage. Existing wear-leveling techniques overcome this challenge through constantly remapping hot virtual pages, thus engendering a fair amount of extra write operations to PCM and imposing considerable performance and energy overhead. Our observation is that it is unnecessary to fully balance the accesses to different physical page frames during the execution of each process. Instead, since endurance is a lifetime factor, the hot virtual pages of different processes can be mapped to different physical pages in the PCM. Leveraging this property, we develop a wear-resistant page allocation algorithm, which exploits the diverse write characteristics of different program segments to improve PCM write endurance within almost no extra remapping cost in terms of energy and performance. The results of experiments conducted based on SPEC benchmarks show that the proposed technique can prolong PCM lifetime by hundreds of times within nearly zero searching and remapping overhead.