bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Chromablur
Authors: Cholewiak Steven A. , Love Gordon D. , Srinivasan Pratul P. , Ng Ren , Banks Martin S.
Published: November 2017

Computer-graphics engineers and vision scientists want to generate images that reproduce realistic depth-dependent blur. Current rendering algorithms take into account scene geometry, aperture size, and focal distance, and they produce photorealistic imagery as with a high-quality camera. But to create immersive experiences, rendering algorithms should aim instead for perceptual realism. In so doing, they should take into account the significant optical aberrations of the human eye. We developed a method that, by incorporating some of those aberrations, yields displayed images that produce retinal images much closer to the ones that occur in natural viewing. In particular, we create displayed images taking the eye's chromatic aberration into account. This produces different chromatic effects in the retinal image for objects farther or nearer than current focus. We call the method
ChromaBlur.
We conducted two experiments that illustrate the benefits of ChromaBlur. One showed that accommodation (eye focusing) is driven quite effectively when ChromaBlur is used and that accommodation is not driven at all when conventional methods are used. The second showed that perceived depth and realism are greater with imagery created by ChromaBlur than in imagery created conventionally. ChromaBlur can be coupled with focus-adjustable lenses and gaze tracking to reproduce the natural relationship between accommodation and blur in HMDs and other immersive devices. It may thereby minimize the adverse effects of vergence-accommodation conflicts.
Approximate dissections
Authors: Duncan Noah , Yu Lap-Fai , Yeung Sai-Kit , Terzopoulos Demetri
Published: November 2017

A geometric dissection is a set of pieces which can be assembled in different ways to form distinct shapes. Dissections are used as recreational puzzles because it is striking when a single set of pieces can construct highly different forms. Existing techniques for creating dissections find pieces that reconstruct two input shapes exactly. Unfortunately, these methods only support simple, abstract shapes because an excessive number of pieces may be needed to reconstruct more complex, naturalistic shapes. We introduce a dissection design technique that supports such shapes by requiring that the pieces reconstruct the shapes only
approximately.
We find that, in most cases, a small number of pieces suffices to tightly approximate the input shapes. We frame the search for a viable dissection as a combinatorial optimization problem, where the goal is to search for the best approximation to the input shapes using a given number of pieces. We find a lower bound on the tightness of the approximation for a partial dissection solution, which allows us to prune the search space and makes the problem tractable. We demonstrate our approach on several challenging examples, showing that it can create dissections between shapes of significantly greater complexity than those supported by previous techniques.
Learning to group discrete graphical patterns
Authors: Lun Zhaoliang , Zou Changqing , Huang Haibin , Kalogerakis Evangelos , Tan Ping , Cani Marie-Paule , Zhang Hao
Published: November 2017

We introduce a
deep learning
approach for grouping discrete patterns common in graphical designs. Our approach is based on a
convolutional neural network
architecture that learns a
grouping measure
defined over a pair of pattern elements. Motivated by perceptual grouping principles, the key feature of our network is the encoding of element shape, context, symmetries, and structural arrangements. These element properties are all jointly considered and appropriately weighted in our grouping measure. To better align our measure with human perceptions for grouping, we train our network on a large, human-annotated dataset of pattern groupings consisting of patterns at varying granularity levels, with rich element relations and varieties, and tempered with noise and other data imperfections. Experimental results demonstrate that our deep-learned measure leads to robust grouping results.
Polarization imaging reflectometry in the wild
Authors: Riviere Jérémy , Reshetouski Ilya , Filipi Luka , Ghosh Abhijeet
Published: November 2017

We present a novel approach for on-site acquisition of surface reflectance for planar, spatially varying, isotropic samples in uncontrolled outdoor environments. Our method exploits the naturally occurring linear polarization of incident and reflected illumination for this purpose. By rotating a linear polarizing filter in front of a camera at three different orientations, we measure the polarization reflected off the sample and combine this information with multi-view analysis and inverse rendering in order to recover per-pixel, high resolution reflectance and surface normal maps. Specifically, we employ polarization imaging from two near orthogonal views close to the Brewster angle of incidence in order to maximize polarization cues for surface reflectance estimation. To the best of our knowledge, our method is the first to successfully extract a complete set of reflectance parameters with passive capture in completely uncontrolled outdoor settings. To this end, we analyze our approach under the general, but previously unstudied, case of incident partial linear polarization (due to the sky) in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the method under various outdoor conditions. We provide practical guidelines for on-site acquisition based on our analysis, and demonstrate high quality results with an entry level DSLR as well as a mobile phone.
Surveying Stylometry Techniques and Applications
Authors: Neal Tempestt , Sundararajan Kalaivani , Fatima Aneez , Yan Yiming , Xiang Yingfei , Woodard Damon
Published: November 2017

The analysis of authorial style, termed stylometry, assumes that style is quantifiably measurable for evaluation of distinctive qualities. Stylometry research has yielded several methods and tools over the past 200 years to handle a variety of challenging cases. This survey reviews several articles within five prominent subtasks: authorship attribution, authorship verification, authorship profiling, stylochronometry, and adversarial stylometry. Discussions on datasets, features, experimental techniques, and recent approaches are provided. Further, a current research challenge lies in the inability of authorship analysis techniques to scale to a large number of authors with few text samples. Here, we perform an extensive performance analysis on a corpus of 1,000 authors to investigate authorship attribution, verification, and clustering using 14 algorithms from the literature. Finally, several remaining research challenges are discussed, along with descriptions of various open-source and commercial software that may be useful for stylometry subtasks.
An Offensive and Defensive Exposition of Wearable Computing
Authors: Shrestha Prakash , Saxena Nitesh
Published: November 2017

Wearable computing is rapidly getting deployed in many—commercial, medical, and personal—domains of day-to-day life. Wearable devices appear in various forms, shapes, and sizes and facilitate a wide variety of applications in many domains of life. However, wearables raise unique security and privacy concerns. Wearables also hold the promise to help enhance the existing security, privacy, and safety paradigms in unique ways while preserving the system’s usability.

The contribution of this research literature survey is threefold. First, as a background, we identify a wide range of existing as well as upcoming wearable devices and investigate their broad applications. Second, we provide an exposition of the security and privacy of wearable computing, studying dual aspects, that is, both attacks and defenses. Third, we provide a comprehensive study of the potential security, privacy, and safety enhancements to existing systems based on the emergence of wearable technology. Although several research works have emerged exploring different offensive and defensive uses of wearables, there is a lack of a broad and precise literature review systematizing all those security and privacy aspects and the underlying threat models. This research survey also analyzes current and emerging research trends and provides directions for future research.
A Survey on Dialogue Systems
Authors: Chen Hongshen , Liu Xiaorui , Yin Dawei , Tang Jiliang
Published: November 2017

Dialogue systems have attracted more and more attention. Recent advances on dialogue systems are overwhelmingly contributed by deep learning techniques, which have been employed to enhance a wide range of big data applications such as computer vision, natural language processing, and recommender systems. For dialogue systems, deep learning can leverage a massive amount of data to learn meaningful feature representations and response generation strategies, while requiring a minimum amount of hand-crafting. In this article, we give an overview to these recent advances on dialogue systems from various perspectives and discuss some possible research directions. In particular, we generally divide existing dialogue systems into task-oriented and nontask- oriented models, then detail how deep learning techniques help them with representative algorithms and finally discuss some appealing research directions that can bring the dialogue system research into a new frontier
Podocytes exhibit a specialized protein quality control employing derlin-2 in kidney disease
Authors: Ren Guohui , Tardi Nicholas J. , Matsuda Fumihiko , Koh Kwi Hye , Ruiz Phillip , Wei Changli , Altintas Mehmet M. , Ploegh Hidde , Reiser Jochen
Published: November 2017

Podocytes are terminally differentiated cells of the kidney filtration barrier with a limited proliferative capacity and are the primary glomerular target for various sources of cellular stress. Accordingly, it is particularly important for podocytes to cope with stress efficiently to circumvent cell death and avoid compromising renal function. Improperly folded proteins within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are associated with increased cellular injury and cell death. To relieve ER stress, protein quality control mechanisms like ER-associated degradation (ERAD) are initiated. Derlin-2 is an important dislocation channel component in the ERAD pathway, having an indispensable role in clearing misfolded glycoproteins from the ER lumen. With studies linking ER stress to kidney disease, we investigated the role of derlin-2 in the susceptibility of podocytes to injury due to protein misfolding. We show that podocytes employ derlin-2 to mediate the ER quality control system to maintain cellular homeostasis in both mouse and human glomeruli. Patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) or diabetic nephropathy (DN) upregulate derlin-2 expression in response to glomerular injury, as do corresponding mouse models. In derlin-2-deficient podocytes, compensatory responses were lost under adriamycin (ADR)-induced ER dysfunction, and severe cellular injury ensued via a caspase-12-dependent pathway. Moreover, derlin-2 overexpression in vitro attenuated ADR-induced podocyte injury. Thus derlin-2 is part of a protein quality control mechanism that can rescue glomerular injury attributable to impaired protein folding pathways in the ER. Induction of derlin-2 expression in vivo may have applications in prevention and treatment of glomerular diseases.
State-Transition-Aware Spilling Heuristic for MLC STT-RAM-Based Registers
Authors: Ni Yuanhui , Gong Zhiyao , Chen Weiwen , Yang Chengmo , Qiu Keni
Published: November 2017

Multilevel Cell Spin-Transfer Torque Random Access Memory (MLC STT-RAM) is a promising nonvolatile memory technology to build registers for its natural immunity to electromagnetic radiation in rad-hard space environment. Unlike traditional SRAM-based registers, MLC STT-RAM exhibits unbalanced write state transitions due to the fact that the magnetization directions of hard and soft domains cannot be flipped independently. This feature leads to nonuniform costs of write states in terms of latency and energy. However, current SRAM-targeting register allocations do not have a clear understanding of the impact of the different write state-transition costs. As a result, those approaches heuristically select variables to be spilled without considering the spilling priority imposed by MLC STT-RAM. Aiming to address this limitation, this paper proposes a state-transition-aware spilling cost minimization (SSCM) policy, to save power when MLC STT-RAM is employed in register design. Specifically, the spilling cost model is first constructed according to the linear combination of different state-transition frequencies. Directed by the proposed cost model, the compiler picks up spilling candidates to achieve lower power and higher performance. Experimental results show that the proposed SSCM technique can save energy by 19.4% and improve the lifetime by 23.2% of MLC STT-RAM-based register design.
A Molecular and Clinical Review of Stem Cell Therapy in Critical Limb Ischemia
Authors: Parikh Punam P. , Liu Zhao-Jun , Velazquez Omaida C.
Published: November 2017

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is one of the major vascular complications in individuals suffering from diabetes and in the elderly that can progress to critical limb ischemia (CLI), portending significant burden in terms of patient morbidity and mortality. Over the last two decades, stem cell therapy (SCT) has risen as an attractive alternative to traditional surgical and/or endovascular revascularization to treat this disorder. The primary benefit of SCT is to induce therapeutic neovascularization and promote collateral vessel formation to increase blood flow in the ischemic limb and soft tissue. Existing evidence provides a solid rationale for ongoing in-depth studies aimed at advancing current SCT that may change the way PAD/CLI patients are treated.
Primary Cytomegalovirus Infection Causing Guillain-Barré Syndrome in a Living Renal Allograft Recipient
Authors: Merzkani Massini , Israel Ezra , Sachdeva Mala
Published: November 2017

Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is a common acute autoimmune polyneuropathy in adults. There have been few reported cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome associated with active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in renal transplant recipients. Here we present a case of active CMV viremia inducing Guillain-Barré Syndrome in a renal transplant recipient. We discuss the treatment regimen utilized. Furthermore, we performed a review of the literature and discuss the cases of CMV induced GBS in renal transplant recipients.
An Indexing Method to Construct Unbalanced Layers for High-Dimensional Data in Mobile Environments
Authors: Ihm Sun-Young , Hur Jae-Hee , Park Young-Ho
Published: November 2017

A top-k query processing is widely used in many applications and mobile environments. An index is used for efficient query processing and layer-based indexing methods are representative to perform the top-k query processing efficiently. However, the existing methods have a problem of high index building time for multidimensional and large data; thus, it is difficult to use them. In this paper, we proposed a new concept of constructing layer-based index, which is called unbalanced layer (UB-Layer). The existing methods construct a layer as a balanced layer with outermost data and wrap the rest of the input data. However, UB-Layer constructs a layer as an unbalanced layer that does not wrap the rest of the data. To construct UB-Layer, we fist divide the dimension of the input data into divided-dimensional data and compute the convex hull in each divided-dimensional data. And then, we combine divided-convex hull to build UB-Layer. We also propose UB-SelectAttribute algorithm for dividing the dimension with major attributes. We demonstrate the superiority of the proposed methods by the performance experiments.
The Effects of Different Factors on the Behavior of Neural Stem Cells
Authors: Huang Lixiang , Wang Gan
Published: November 2017

The repair of central nervous system (CNS) injury has been a worldwide problem in the biomedical field. How to reduce the damage to the CNS and promote the reconstruction of the damaged nervous system structure and function recovery has always been the concern of nerve tissue engineering. Multiple differentiation potentials of neural stem cell (NSC) determine the application value for the repair of the CNS injury. Thus, how to regulate the behavior of NSCs becomes the key to treating the CNS injury. So far, a large number of researchers have devoted themselves to searching for a better way to regulate the behavior of NSCs. This paper summarizes the effects of different factors on the behavior of NSCs in the past 10 years, especially on the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs. The final purpose of this review is to provide a more detailed theoretical basis for the clinical repair of the CNS injury by nerve tissue engineering.
A Disruptive Dinner Guest
Authors: Horgan Denis , Kent Alastair , McMahon Stephen
Published: November 2017

Healthcare in the EU would benefit from facilitating partnerships and innovation networks. These would encourage cross-disciplinary and cross-border collaboration in research and development using an “open innovation” approach. The goal would be to create and stimulate interface structures between academia-clinicians-industry in order to expedite research-based and patient-centred discoveries. This would improve tailored medicines and speed up patient access. Such a scenario would also allow for new levels of trust between the research community and participants and patients, the elimination of silos of single-use data and removal of country-specific gridlocks plus equal treatment of all health research data, including genetic information. Europe needs to encourage a systematic early dialogue between innovators, patients and decision-makers throughout all regulatory steps to provide guidance and clarity so as to avoid a disruptive scenario. Silos, as the authors will show, can often be counter-productive and stifle the appetite for innovation.
How Many Chances Has Europe Got
Authors: Horgan Denis
Published: November 2017

The European Union has, as one of its core values, the central ideal of equality and a strong way to measure success in this goal is through the well-being of all citizens. As part of that well-being, one key aspect is health. Politicians will tell you that, if you ask any citizen, health and healthcare will be high on the agenda - and as we live longer that will become more the case, rather than less. In the area of health much progress is being made scientifically, with breakthroughs in, for example, the way we can diagnose and treat rare diseases. New technologies are developing swiftly and coming more-and-more to the fore, while the potential value of Big Data cannot be underestimated. It is incumbent upon all stakeholders in the realm of healthcare - and especially the policymakers and legislators - to ensure that every citizen of Europe has the same rights and access to the same high quality care as his neighbour.
Health Literacy: Read All about It …
Authors: Horgan Denis , Bolanos Natacha , Mastris Ken , Mendao Luis , Malats Nuria
Published: November 2017

One of the key goals in the personalised medicine era is to improve communication between front-line healthcare professionals and their patients. The latter should have an equal role in any decisions made about their treatment, and this requires them to be able to input vital information, such as lifestyle and work circumstances, as well as to be properly informed from the other side. Discussions should be a two-way street. To help facilitate this, it is more important than ever to bring Europe together in a way that improves the already significant skills that healthcare professionals possess to permit co-decision-making which will effectively empower the patient. Clearly, the healthcare professional is trained to be an expert in diagnosing conditions and suggesting treatments. And yet the patient also knows more about his or her own lifestyle, work environment and how much he can rely on family-care resources, for example, so co-decision is a growing part of modern-day medicine. Ultimately, the two must work together to produce the optimal result.
Clinical and Imaging Outcomes of Endovascular Therapy in Patients with Acute Large Vessel Occlusion Stroke and Mild Clinical Symptoms
Authors: Bowen Meredith T. , Rebello Leticia C. , Bouslama Mehdi , Haussen Diogo C. , Grossberg Jonathan A. , Bianchi Nicolas A. , Belagaje Samir , Anderson Aaron , Frankel Michael R. , Nogueira Raul G.
Published: November 2017

Background: The minimal stroke severity justifying endovascular intervention remains elusive. However, a significant proportion of patients presenting with large vessel occlusion stroke (LVOS) and mild symptoms go untreated and face poor outcomes. We aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of patients presenting with LVOS and low symptom scores (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] score ≤8) undergoing endovascular therapy (ET). Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected ET database between September 2010 and March 2016. Endovascularly treated patients with LVOS and a baseline NIHSS score ≤8 were included. Baseline patient characteristics, procedural details, and outcome parameters were collected. Efficacy outcomes were the rate of good outcome (90-day modified Rankin Scale score 0-2) and of successful reperfusion (modified Treatment in Cerebral Infarction [mTICI] score 2b-3). Safety was assessed by the rate of parenchymal hematoma (parenchymal hematoma type 1 [PH-1] and parenchymal hematoma type 2 [PH-2]) and 90-day mortality. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of good clinical outcomes. Results: A total of 935 patients were considered; 72 patients with an NIHSS score ≤8 were included. Median [IQR] age was 61.5 years [56.2-73.0]; 39 patients (54%) were men. Mean (SD) baseline NIHSS score, computed tomography perfusion core volume, and ASPECTS were 6.3 (1.5), 7.5 mL (16.1), and 8.5 (1.3), respectively. Twenty-eight patients (39%) received intravenous tissue plasminogen activator. Occlusions locations were as follows: 29 (40%) proximal MCA-M1, 20 (28%) MCA-M2, 6 (8%) ICA terminus, and 9 (13%) vertebrobasilar. Tandem occlusion was documented in 7 patients (10%). Sixty-seven patients (93%) achieved successful reperfusion (mTICI score 2b-3); 52 (72%) had good 90-day outcomes. Mean final infarct volume was 32.2 ± 59.9 mL. Parenchymal hematoma occurred in 4 patients (6%). Ninety-day mortality was 10% (n = 7). Logistic regression showed that only successful reperfusion (OR 27.7, 95% CI 1.1-655.5, p = 0.04) was an independent predictor of good outcomes. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that ET is safe and feasible for LVOS patients presenting with mild clinical syndromes. Future controlled studies are warranted.
The Pros and Comms of Gene Sequencing
Authors: Horgan Denis , Codacci Pisanelli Giovanni , Esposito Giovanni , Moch Holger
Published: November 2017

Full-gene sequencing undoubtedly comes with its pluses and its minuses. In this article, the authors aim to weigh up the pros and cons not only from the point of view of the patient but also in view of the doctor's possible perspective. Either party may be for or against it for a variety of reasons - for example, a fear of knowing too much on the part of the patient, and concerns about possible over-treatment on the part of the healthcare professional. One thing is certain: the possibility of full-gene sequencing is here and here to stay. At the very least, doctors need to make patients aware of their options, while offering balanced advice.
Treatment Is Worth a Lot - But Just How Much
Authors: Horgan Denis
Published: November 2017

More than at any other time in history, science offers enormous potential to transform the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of many diseases. However, patients are urgently awaiting new therapies - and too often not getting them. And researchers and companies also face significant development obstacles as only one in ten drugs entering clinical trials ever makes it over the finish line. This article looks at the issues involved in bringing innovation into healthcare systems from a political and policy level. It takes a close look at Health Technology Assessment (HTA) across Member States, how it is working and, more to the point, how it isn't, and how it often serves to stymie the introduction of new medicines by undermining the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The article argues that the EU could strengthen HTA cooperation via a common framework, and promote higher quality and fairer assessments; while joint work could reduce duplication of efforts, and promote better synergies as well as better use of Member States' resources. The author also takes an in-depth look into criticism of private-sector pricing of innovative medicines in the light of discussions about what constitutes “value” in the context of new treatments - a discussion that shows no signs of abating - while advocating enhanced contact and the need for compromise between all stakeholders in the great value debate.
From the Data on Many, Precision Medicine for “One”: The Case for Widespread Genomic Data Sharing
Authors: Scollen Serena , Page Angela , Wilson Julia ,   on behalf of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health
Published: November 2017

Within the decade, genome sequencing promises to become a routine part of healthcare around the globe. Many millions of genomes linked to health records will soon be available for researchers and clinicians to make use of to advance precision medicine. To realise the full impact of genomic medicine, genomic and clinical data must be interoperable across traditional geographic, jurisdictional, sectoral, and domain boundaries. Extremely large and diverse data sets are needed to provide a context for interpretation of genetic sequences. No single country or institution can achieve the necessary scale and diversity alone. Data must be shared within an internationally federated, learning health system.
eHealth as a Facilitator of Precision Medicine in Epilepsy
Authors: Cavalleri Gianpiero L. , Petrovski Slave , Fitzsimons Mary , Delanty Norman
Published: November 2017

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological condition that affects approximately 50 million people worldwide. Current treatments are inadequate and around a third of patients continue to experience uncontrolled seizures. The genetic architecture of many of the epilepsies makes them amenable to next-generation sequencing technologies, enabling a molecular diagnosis in an increasing proportion of patients. As a result, rare but remarkable examples of precision therapeutics in epilepsy are emerging. Coordinated research efforts are required to increase the diagnostic yield of sequencing and translate diagnosis to improved prognosis. This review explores the potential of eHealth technologies in facilitating and accelerating precision therapeutics in epilepsy. We describe the state of the art in precision diagnostics and therapeutics in epilepsy and identify opportunities for eHealth to accelerate the realisation of precision therapeutics via patient registries, research-enabled electronic health records, and connected health solutions.
Precision Medicine in Oncology and Immuno-Oncology: Where We Stand and Where We're Headed
Authors: Scheuenpflug Jürgen
Published: November 2017

Background/Aims: Precision medicine has only been a clinical reality only since the start of the 21st century, spurred on by the coevolution of science and technologies, as well as the increasing medical needs of aging societies of industrialized countries. Its overarching objective, from the perspective of the pharmaceutical and diagnostic industry, is to develop innovative therapeutic “concepts” with increased value for patients in a global health economy context. This article analyzes the recent advances and remaining challenges from a research, medical, and regulatory perspective in the development and introduction of precision medicine in oncology, more precisely in immuno-oncology. Methods: Analysis of the most recent scientific publications and clinical evidence. Results and Conclusion: Stakeholders need to combine efforts in order to turn scientific insights, such as those related to predictive biomarkers, into superior and affordable therapeutic concepts. Policymakers should also help to bring this about by ensuring that a suitable regulatory framework and incentive system are in place in order to encourage groundbreaking innovation, and hence the availability of new treatment options for patients.
Early Elevated Troponin Levels After Ischemic Stroke Suggests a Cardioembolic Source
Authors: Yaghi Shadi , Chang Andrew D. , Ricci Brittany A. , Jayaraman Mahesh V. , McTaggart Ryan A. , Hemendinger Morgan , Narwal Priya , Dakay Katarina , Mac Grory Brian , Cutting Shawna M. , Burton Tina M. , Song Christopher , Mehanna Emile , Siket Matthew , Madsen Tracy E. , Reznik Michael , Merkler Alexander E. , Lerario Michael P. , Kamel Hooman , Elkind Mitchell S.V. , Furie Karen L.
Published: November 2017

Background and Purpose—

Elevated cardiac troponin is a marker of cardiac disease and has been recently shown to be associated with embolic stroke risk. We hypothesize that early elevated troponin levels in the acute stroke setting are more prevalent in patients with embolic stroke subtypes (cardioembolic and embolic stroke of unknown source) as opposed to noncardioembolic subtypes (large-vessel disease, small-vessel disease, and other).

Methods—

We abstracted data from our prospective ischemic stroke database and included all patients with ischemic stroke during an 18-month period. Per our laboratory, we defined positive troponin as ≥0.1 ng/mL and intermediate as ≥0.06 ng/mL and <0.1 ng/mL. Unadjusted and adjusted regression models were built to determine the association between stroke subtype (embolic stroke of unknown source and cardioembolic subtypes) and positive and intermediate troponin levels, adjusting for key confounders, including demographics (age and sex), clinical characteristics (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, renal function, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, current smoking, and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score), cardiac variables (left atrial diameter, wall-motion abnormalities, ejection fraction, and PR interval on ECG), and insular involvement of infarct.

Results—

We identified 1234 patients, of whom 1129 had admission troponin levels available; 10.0% (113/1129) of these had a positive troponin. In fully adjusted models, there was an association between troponin positivity and embolic stroke of unknown source subtype (adjusted odds ratio, 4.46; 95% confidence interval, 1.03–7.97;
P
=0.003) and cardioembolic stroke subtype (odds ratio, 5.00; 95% confidence interval, 1.83–13.63;
P
=0.002).

Conclusions—

We found that early positive troponin after ischemic stroke may be independently associated with a cardiac embolic source. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings using high-sensitivity troponin assays and to test optimal secondary prevention strategies in patients with embolic stroke of unknown source and positive troponin.
Introduction to Amir Esbati, “The Student Movement of May 1968
and the Fine Art Students”
Authors: Montazami Morad
Published: November 2017

This text introduces the translation of Amir Esbati's essay “The Student Movement [Revolt] of May 1968 and the Fine Art Students,” first published in Labour and Art in Tehran in 1980. In the midst of the Iranian Revolution political and aesthetic upheaval, Amir Esbati, a member of the Marxist Group 57 student organisation, observed the following in the local revue Labour and Art in December 1978: “The walls of the city have become like the pages of a popular history book, so specific that we can tell the date and time of each sign or inscription.” This introduction looks at the most powerful manifestation of street politics shaping visual culture in modern Iran and at the way in which political posters operated, were reproduced, and became the objects of commentary and speculation.
The Student Movement of May 1968 and the Fine Art Students
Authors: Esbati Amir
Published: November 2017

This text introduces the translation of Amir Esbati's essay “The Student Movement [Revolt] of May 1968 and the Fine Art Students,” first published in Labour and Art in Tehran in 1980. In the midst of the Iranian Revolution political and aesthetic upheaval, Amir Esbati, a member of the Marxist Group 57 student organisation, observed the following in the local revue Labour and Art in December 1978: “The walls of the city have become like the pages of a popular history book, so specific that we can tell the date and time of each sign or inscription.” This introduction looks at the most powerful manifestation of street politics shaping visual culture in modern Iran and at the way in which political posters operated, were reproduced, and became the objects of commentary and speculation.
Strengthening the Legal and Institutional Frame-work of the Southeast Pacific: Focus on the bbnj Package Elements
Authors: Durussel Carole , Soto Oyarzún Eulogio , Urrutia S. Osvaldo
Published: November 2017

The role of the regional level in addressing and strengthening the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (bbnj) should not be undermined. As a complementary approach to the ongoing negotiations for an implementing agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of bbnj under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it can provide useful lessons learnt and best practices that can inform the global negotiation process. Focusing on the highly productive Southeast Pacific region, this article highlights the institutional and legal challenges faced by this region in the adoption and implementation of the four bbnj elements and provides options on how to strengthen the legal and institutional framework of the Southeast Pacific to better address the conservation and sustainable use of bbnj.
On the Medical Works of Barhebraeus: With a Description of the Abridgement of Ḥunain’s Medical Questions
Authors: Takahashi Hidemi , Yaguchi Naohide
Published: November 2017

While the Syriac polymath Gregory Barhebraeus (1225/6–86) is better known for his contributions in other fields, his original training was probably in medicine, and he is known to have written a number of works on the subject. No Syriac work on medicine by Barhebraeus is known to have survived, but four such works written in Arabic have, and references to matters related to medicine are also to be found in his works in other fields. In this article, we present a brief overview of what is known about the medical works of Barhebraeus, along with a somewhat more detailed description of one of the surviving works, namely his abridgement of Ḥunain’s Medical Questions.
Using History as Evidence in Philosophy of Science: A Methodological Critique
Authors: McAllister James W.
Published: November 2017

This article offers a critical review of past attempts and possible methods to test philosophical models of science against evidence from history of science. Drawing on methodological debates in social science, I distinguish between quantitative and qualitative approaches. I show that both have their uses in history and philosophy of science, but that many writers in this domain have misunderstood and misapplied these approaches, and especially the method of case studies. To test scientific realism, for example, quantitative methods are more effective than case studies. I suggest that greater methodological clarity would enable the project of integrated history and philosophy of science to make renewed progress.
Is the taxonomy of Brachycephalus (Anura: Brachycephalidae) in need of rescue? A reply to Condez et al. (2017)
Authors: PIE MARCIO R. , RIBEIRO LUIZ F. , BORNSCHEIN MARCOS R.
Published: November 2017

Brachycephalus is a fascinating genus of miniaturized frogs endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Bornschein et al. 2016a). Given the many new species that have been recently discovered (20 species over the past 10 years [Frost 2017]) and their often microendemic distribution (see Bornschein et al. 2016a), there has been an increasing awareness about the need for more extensive field work to locate additional new species, to describe their geographical distributions, and to devise comprehensive efforts to ensure their conservation. In a recent correspondence in Zootaxa, Condez et al. (2017) singled out nine of those new species that have been described by our research group (Ribeiro et al. 2015; Pie & Ribeiro 2015; Bornschein et al. 2016b); two additional species (Ribeiro et al. 2017) were described after their paper was published. According to Condez et al. (2017), our species descriptions included “inadequate diagnoses, which lacked indispensable information for any further comparisons among species” (p. 395). Herein, we explore the extent to which their arguments would undermine the validity of those species.
Generic synopsis of the jumping plant-lice (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Psylloidea) from Colombia
Authors: RENDÓN-MERA DIANA ISABEL , SERNA FRANCISCO , BURCKHARDT DANIEL
Published: November 2017

Jumping plant-lice (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Psylloidea) are a group of phloem-feeding insects with nearly 4000        described species. Previous records from Colombia comprise 19 genera of all eight known families. The revision of material deposited in six Colombian and three foreign museums yielded another nine genera that constitute new country records. Material from 16 departments was examined. Each genus is diagnosed and information is provided on biology, damage and host-plants. Local distribution maps and a generic key for the identification of adults are provided.
Oligoaeschna sirindhornae sp. nov., a new dragonfly species from Thailand (Odonata: Anisoptera: Aeshnidae)
Authors: NGIAM ROBIN W. J. , ORR ALBERT G.
Published: November 2017

Oligoaeschna sirindhornae sp. nov. is described from a male from Sakaerat Silvicultural Research Station, Nakhon Ratchasima Province in Thailand. It is the only known Oligoaeschna species recorded from Thailand since Oligoaeschna pramoti (Yeh, 2000) and Oligoaeschna minuta (Hämäläinen & Pinratana, 1999) were transferred to the genus Sarasaeschna.
Comprehensive Study of Optical, Physical, Chemical, and Radiative Properties of Total Columnar Atmospheric Aerosols over China: An Overview of Sun–Sky Radiometer Observation Network (SONET) Measurements
Authors: Li Z. Q. , Xu H. , Li K. T. , Li D. H. , Xie Y. S. , Li L. , Zhang Y. , Gu X. F. , Zhao W. , Tian Q. J. , Deng R. R. , Su X. L. , Huang B. , Qiao Y. L. , Cui W. Y. , Hu Y. , Gong C. L. , Wang Y. Q. , Wang X. F. , Wang J. P. , Du W. B. , Pan Z. Q. , Li Z. Z. , Bu D.
Published: November 2017

An overview of Sun–Sky Radiometer Observation Network (SONET) measurements in China is presented. Based on observations at 16 distributed SONET sites in China, atmospheric aerosol parameters are acquired via standardization processes of operational measurement, maintenance, calibration, inversion, and quality control implemented since 2010. A climatology study is performed focusing on total columnar atmospheric aerosol characteristics, including optical (aerosol optical depth, ÅngstrÖm exponent, fine-mode fraction, single-scattering albedo), physical (volume particle size distribution), chemical composition (black carbon; brown carbon; fine-mode scattering component, coarse-mode component; and aerosol water), and radiative properties (aerosol radiative forcing and efficiency). Data analyses show that aerosol optical depth is low in the west but high in the east of China. Aerosol composition also shows significant spatial and temporal variations, leading to noticeable diversities in optical and physical property patterns. In west and north China, aerosols are generally affected by dust particles, while monsoon climate and human activities impose remarkable influences on aerosols in east and south China. Aerosols in China exhibit strong light-scattering capability and result in significant radiative cooling effects.
Predictability and Dynamics of Hurricane Joaquin (2015) Explored through Convection-Permitting Ensemble Sensitivity Experiments
Authors: Nystrom Robert G. , Zhang Fuqing , Munsell Erin B. , Braun Scott A. , Sippel Jason A. , Weng Yonghui , Emanuel Kerry
Published: November 2017

Real-time ensemble forecasts from the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) WRF EnKF system (APSU) for Hurricane Joaquin (2015) are examined in this study. The ensemble forecasts, from early in Joaquin’s life cycle, displayed large track spread, with nearly half of the ensemble members tracking Joaquin toward the U.S. East Coast and the other half tracking Joaquin out to sea. The ensemble forecasts also displayed large intensity spread, with many of the members developing into major hurricanes and other ensemble members not intensifying at all.

Initial condition differences from the regions greater than (less than) 300 km were isolated by effectively removing initial condition differences in desired regions through relaxing each ensemble member to GFS (APSU) initial conditions. The regions of initial condition errors contributing to the track spread were examined, and the dominant source of track errors arose from the region greater than 300 km from the tropical cyclone center. Further examination of the track divergence revealed that the region between 600 and 900 km from the initial position of Joaquin was found to be the largest source of initial condition errors that contributed to this divergence. Small differences in the low-level steering flow, originating from perturbations between 600 and 900 km from the initial position, appear to have resulted in the bifurcation of the forecast tracks of Joaquin. The initial condition errors north of the initial position of Joaquin were also shown to contribute most significantly to the track divergence. The region inside of 300 km, specifically, the initial intensity of Joaquin, was the dominant source of initial condition errors contributing to the intensity spread.
Relationship between Ocean Carbon and Heat Multidecadal Variability
Authors: Thomas Jordan , Waugh Darryn , Gnanadesikan Anand
Published: November 2017

The global ocean serves as a critical sink for anthropogenic carbon and heat. While significant effort has been dedicated to quantifying the oceanic uptake of these quantities, less research has been conducted on the mechanisms underlying decadal-to-centennial variability in oceanic heat and carbon. Therefore, little is understood about how much such variability may have obscured or reinforced anthropogenic change. Here the relationship between oceanic heat and carbon content is examined in a suite of coupled climate model simulations that use different parameterization settings for mesoscale mixing. The differences in mesoscale mixing result in very different multidecadal variability, especially in the Weddell Sea where the characteristics of deep convection are drastically changed. Although the magnitude and frequency of variability in global heat and carbon content is different across the model simulations, there is a robust anticorrelation between global heat and carbon content in all simulations. Global carbon content variability is primarily driven by Southern Ocean carbon variability. This contrasts with global heat content variability. Global heat content is primarily driven by variability in the southern midlatitudes and tropics, which opposes the Southern Ocean variability.
A rectangular-grid lattice spring model for modeling elastic waves in Poisson’s solids
Authors: Xia Muming , Zhou Hui , Chen Hanming , Zhang Qingchen , Li Qingqing
Published: November 2017

The lattice spring model (LSM) combined with the velocity Verlet algorithm is a newly developed scheme for modeling elastic wave propagation in solid media. Unlike conventional wave equations, LSM is established on the basis of micromechanics of the subsurface media, which enjoys better dynamic characteristics of elastic systems. We develop a rectangular-grid LSM scheme for elastic waves simulation in Poisson’s solids, and the direction-dependent elastic constants are deduced to keep the isotropy of the discrete grid. The stability condition and numerical dispersion properties of LSM are discussed and compared with other numerical methods. The 2D and 3D numerical simulations are carried out using the rectangular-grid LSM, as well as the second- and fourth-order accuracy staggered finite-difference method (FDM). Wavefields obtained by LSM are fairly similar with those by analytical solution and FDM, which demonstrates the correctness of the proposed scheme and its capability of modeling elastic wave propagation in heterogeneous media. Moreover, we perform plane P-wave simulation through a semi-infinite cavity model via LSM and FDM, the recorded wavefield snapshots indicate that our proposed rectangular-grid LSM obtains more reasonable wavefield details compared with those of FDM, especially in media with high compliance and structure complexity. Our main contribution lies in offering an alternative simulation scheme for modeling elastic wave propagation in media with some kinds of complexities, which conventional FDM may fail to simulate.
Διαταραχή Ελλειμματικής Προσοχής – Υπερκινητικότητας και Μαθησιακές Δυσκολίες
Authors: ΜΠΑΣΤΕΑ ΑΓΓΕΛΙΚΗ , ΠΑΠΑΔΑΤΟΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ
Published: November 2017

Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα πολλών ερευνών διαπιστώνεται μια αυξανόμενη διασύνδεση μεταξύ της Διαταραχής Ελλειμματικής Προσοχής – Υπερκινητικότητας (ΔΕΠ-Υ) και της εμφάνισης  Μαθησιακών Δυσκολιών. H διαταραχή της ΔΕΠ-Υ συνδέεται συχνά με χαμηλή σχολική επίδοση, λόγω των μαθησιακών δυσκολιών που εμφανίζονται τόσο στην ανάγνωση και στη γραφή, όσο και στα μαθηματικά, όπως αυτές διαγιγνώσκονται με κατάλληλες δοκιμασίες. Επιπλέον, η διαταραχή της ΔΕΠΥ έχει αρκετές πιθανότητες να εμφανίσει συννοσηρότητα με διαταραχές συμπεριφοράς, διαταραχές άγχους ή συναισθηματικές διαταραχές, οι οποίες επιβαρύνουν το μαθησιακό και γνωστικό επίπεδο του παιδιού.Η ΔΕΠ-Υ συνδέεται, επίσης, με αυξημένη χρήση των υπηρεσιών Eιδικής Αγωγής αυξημένα ποσοστά σχολικής διαρροής και τελικά, με σχετικά χαμηλά ποσοστά αποφοίτησης από την τριτοβάθμια εκπαίδευση.Σκοπός της  παρούσας έρευνας είναι ο εντοπισμός των μαθησιακών δυσκολιών σε παιδιά, τα οποία, σύμφωνα με τα κριτήρια του DSM-5, είχαν διαγνωστεί με ΔΕΠΥ, και η διερεύνηση του είδους των μαθησιακών δυσκολιών τους. Στην έρευνά μας συμμετείχαν 45 παιδιά με ΔΕΠΥ, τα οποία φοιτούσαν από την Β΄ μέχρι την ΣΤ΄ Δημοτικού. Τα παιδιά αξιολογήθηκαν με κατάλληλα διαγνωστικά εργαλεία.Από τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας διαφαίνεται η ύπαρξη μαθησιακών δυσκολιών στο σύνολο των παιδιών που συμμετείχαν στην έρευνα.Τα συμπεράσματα είναι ιδιαίτερα σημαντικά για την έγκαιρη διάγνωση των Μαθησιακών Δυσκολιών και την παροχή κατάλληλης και εξειδικευμένης παρέμβασης που θα ανταποκρίνεται στις ανάγκες των παιδιών με ΔΕΠΥ