bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Automated Notation of Piano Recordings for Historic Performance Practice Study
Authors: Treviño Jeffrey , Sapp Craig
Published: November 2014

We describe a system that automatically notates a comparative visualization of multiple recorded performances of the same musical work. Written musical scores have transmitted basic performance information to musicians over the ages; however, these scores only provide skeletal instructions that must be fleshed out in performance, as musical notation describes phrasing, articulation, dynamics, accentuation, and other ornamentations in generalized and ambiguous forms. Consequently, musical performances derived from the same notation can vary widely from each other in the same manner that a written text may be spoken with intense emotion or in flat monotone. Prior to the advent of recording technology, musical performances were ephemeral, only occurring once, never to be heard again in exactly the same rendition. As a result, musical interpretations were informed only by live listening. Now, with more than a century of recorded performance practice, musicians can delve deeper into the history of their aural art to gain inspiration and insight from sources that would otherwise have been inaccessible. Performers have become interested in giving performances inspired by recordings of the past, which often obey a musical common sense alien to the standards of modern practice, and it is useful for historically informed performers to describe, analyze, emulate, and internalize the performance styles of the past through the detailed study of recordings. Although much can be learned by listening, a visual interface may reveal potentially inaudible details of a recording. Because performers interact daily with traditional musical notation—a sophisticated, if ambiguous, multidimensional visualization of musical information—one approach to the design of such an interface leverages performers' existing knowledge by reducing the gap between data visualization and traditional musical notation as much as possible. Using Abjad, a Python-based tool for musical composition, the symbols of conventional staff notation are augmented to illustrate the intensity and temporal proximity of performed musical events graphically, thus facilitating the comparison of individual performances and the study of changes in performance aesthetics over time.
Polynomial Sufficient Conditions of Well-Behavedness and Home Markings in Subclasses of Weighted Petri Nets
Authors: Hujsa Thomas , Delosme Jean-Marc , Munier-Kordon Alix
Published: November 2014

Join-Free Petri nets, whose transitions have at most one input place, model systems without synchronizations, while Choice-Free Petri nets, whose places have at most one output transition, model systems without conflicts. These classes respectively encompass the state machines (S-systems) and the marked graphs (T-systems).

Whereas a structurally bounded and structurally live Petri net is said to be “well-formed”, a bounded and live Petri net is said to be “well-behaved”. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the well-formedness of Join-Free and Choice-Free nets have been known for some time, yet the behavioral properties of these classes are still not well understood. In particular
polynomial
sufficient conditions for liveness, that is, polynomial in time and with a polynomial initial number of tokens, have not been found until now. Besides,
home markings
, which can be reached from every reachable marking thus allowing for the construction of systems that can return to their initial data distribution, are not well apprehended either for these subclasses.

We extend results on weighted T-systems to the class of weighted Petri nets and present transformations which preserve the language of the system and reduce the initial marking. We introduce a notion of
balancing
that makes possible the transformation of conservative systems into so-called “token-conservative” systems, whose number of tokens is invariant, while retaining the feasible transition sequences. This transformation is pertinent for all well-formed Petri nets and leads to polynomial sufficient conditions of liveness for well-formed Join-Free and Choice-Free nets. Finally, we also provide polynomial live and home markings for Fork-Attribution systems.
Algebra of Parameterised Graphs
Authors: Mokhov Andrey , Khomenko Victor
Published: November 2014

One of the difficulties in designing modern hardware systems is the necessity for comprehending and dealing with a very large number of system configurations, operational modes, and behavioural scenarios. It is often infeasible to consider and specify each individual mode explicitly, and one needs methodologies and tools to exploit similarities between the individual modes and work with groups of modes rather than individual ones. The modes and groups of modes have to be managed in a compositional way: the specification of the system should be composed from specifications of its blocks. This includes both structural and behavioural composition. Furthermore, one should be able to transform and optimise the specifications in a formal way.

In this article, we propose a new formalism, called
parameterised graphs
. It extends the existing conditional partial order graphs (CPOGs) formalism in several ways. First, it deals with general graphs rather than just partial orders. Moreover, it is fully compositional. To achieve this, we introduce an algebra of parameterised graphs by specifying the equivalence relation by a set of axioms, which is proved to be sound, minimal, and complete. This allows one to manipulate the specifications as algebraic expressions using the rules of this algebra. We demonstrate the usefulness of the developed formalism on several case studies coming from the area of microelectronics design.
Cofactor Sharing for Reversible Logic Synthesis
Authors: Shafaei Alireza , Saeedi Mehdi , Pedram Massoud
Published: November 2014

Improving circuit realization of known quantum algorithms by CAD techniques has benefits for quantum experimentalists. In this article, the problem of synthesizing a given function on a set of ancillea is addressed. The proposed approach benefits from extensive sharing of cofactors among cubes that appear on function outputs. Accordingly, it can be considered a multilevel logic optimization technique for reversible circuits. In particular, the suggested approach can efficiently implement any
n
-input,
m
-output lookup table (LUT) by a reversible circuit. This problem has interesting applications in the Shor's number-factoring algorithm and in quantum walk on sparse graphs. Simulation results reveal that the proposed cofactor-sharing synthesis algorithm has a significant impact on reducing the size of modular exponentiation circuits for Shor's quantum factoring algorithm, oracle circuits in quantum walk on sparse graphs, and the well-known MCNC benchmarks.
Opportunistic Routing in Wireless Networks: Models, Algorithms, and Classifications
Authors: Boukerche Azzedine , Darehshoorzadeh Amir
Published: November 2014

Opportunistic Routing (OR) is a new promising paradigm that has been proposed for wireless networks. OR has gained a lot of attention from the research communities for its ability to increase the performance of wireless networks. It benefits from the broadcast characteristic of wireless mediums to improve network performance. The basic function of OR is its ability to overhear the transmitted packet and to coordinate among relaying nodes. In OR, a candidate set is a potential group of nodes that is selected as the next-hop forwarders. Hence, each node in OR can use different potential paths to send packets toward the destination. Any of the candidates of a node that have received the transmitted packet may forward it. The decision of choosing the next forwarder is made by coordination between candidates that have successfully received the transmitted packet. In OR, by using a dynamic relay node to forward the packet, the transmission reliability and network throughput can be increased. In this article, we explain the fundamental idea of OR and its important issues by providing some examples. We then categorize each of the important issues and explain them in detail. Furthermore, we illustrate different protocols from each category and compare their benefits and drawbacks. Finally, some potential directions for future research in OR is explained.
Model-Based Annealing Random Search with Stochastic Averaging
Authors: Hu Jiaqiao , Zhou Enlu , Fan Qi
Published: November 2014

The model-based methods have recently found widespread applications in solving hard nondifferentiable optimization problems. These algorithms are population-based and typically require hundreds of candidate solutions to be sampled at each iteration. In addition, recent convergence analysis of these algorithms also stipulates a sample size that increases polynomially with the number of iterations. In this article, we aim to improve the efficiency of model-based algorithms by reducing the number of candidate solutions generated per iteration. This is carried out through embedding a stochastic averaging procedure within these methods to make more efficient use of the past sampling information. This procedure not only can potentially reduce the number of function evaluations needed to obtain high-quality solutions, but also makes the underlying algorithms more amenable for parallel computation. The detailed implementation of our approach is demonstrated through an exemplary algorithm instantiation called Model-based Annealing Random Search with Stochastic Averaging (MARS-SA), which maintains the per iteration sample size at a small constant value. We establish the global convergence property of MARS-SA and provide numerical examples to illustrate its performance.
Performance Evaluation of Congestion-Aware Routing with DVFS on a Millimeter-Wave Small-World Wireless NoC
Authors: Murray Jacob , Kim Ryan , Wettin Paul , Pande Partha Pratim , Shirazi Behrooz
Published: November 2014

The mm-wave small-world wireless NoC (mSWNoC) has emerged as an enabling interconnection infrastructure for designing high-bandwidth and energy-efficient multicore chips. In this mSWNoC architecture, long-range communication predominately takes place through the wireless shortcuts operating in the range of 10--100GHz, whereas short-range data exchange occurs through conventional metal wires. This results in performance advantages (lower latency and energy dissipation), mainly stemming from using the wireless links as long-range shortcuts between far-apart cores. The performance gain introduced by the wireless channels can be enhanced further if the wireline links of the mSWNoC are optimized according to the traffic patterns arising out of the application workloads. While there is significant energy savings, and hence temperature reduction, in the network due to the mSWNoC architecture, a load-imbalanced network is still susceptible to local temperature hotspots. In this work, we demonstrate that by incorporating congestion-avoidance routing with network-level dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) in an mSWNoC, the power and thermal profiles can be improved without a significant impact on the overall network performance. In this work, we demonstrate how novel interconnect architectures enabled by the on-chip wireless links coupled with power management strategies can improve the energy and thermal characteristics of an mSWNoC significantly without introducing any performance degradation with respect to the conventional mesh-based NoC.
Using Interaction Data to Explain Difficulty Navigating Online
Authors: Thomas Paul
Published: November 2014

A user's behaviour when browsing a Web site contains clues to that user's experience. It is possible to record some of these behaviours automatically, and extract signals that indicate a user is having trouble finding information. This allows for Web site analytics based on user experiences, not just page impressions.

A series of experiments identified user browsing behaviours—such as time taken and amount of scrolling up a page—which predict navigation difficulty and which can be recorded with minimal or no changes to existing sites or browsers. In turn, patterns of page views correlate with these signals and these patterns can help Web authors understand where and why their sites are hard to navigate. A new software tool, “LATTE,” automates this analysis and makes it available to Web authors in the context of the site itself.
Gradient Extrapolated Stochastic Kriging
Authors: Qu Huashuai , Fu Michael C.
Published: November 2014

We introduce an approach for enhancing stochastic kriging in the setting where additional direct gradient information is available (e.g., provided by techniques such as perturbation analysis or the likelihood ratio method). The new approach, called
gradient extrapolated stochastic kriging (GESK)
, incorporates direct gradient estimates by extrapolating additional responses. For two simplified settings, we show that GESK reduces mean squared error (MSE) compared to stochastic kriging under certain conditions on step sizes. Since extrapolation step sizes are crucial to the performance of the GESK model, we propose two different approaches to determine the step sizes: maximizing penalized likelihood and minimizing integrated mean squared error. Numerical experiments are conducted to illustrate the performance of the GESK model and to compare it with alternative approaches.
Topology-constrained synthesis of vector patterns
Authors: Zhou Shizhe , Jiang Changyun , Lefebvre Sylvain
Published: November 2014

Decorative patterns are observed in many forms of art, typically enriching the visual aspect of otherwise simple shapes. Such patterns are especially difficult to create, as they often exhibit intricate structural details and at the same time have to precisely match the size and shape of the underlying geometry. In the field of Computer Graphics, several approaches have been proposed to automatically synthesize a decorative pattern along a curve, from an example. This empowers non expert users with a simple brush metaphor, allowing them to easily paint complex structured decorations.

We extend this idea to the space of design and fabrication. The major challenge is to properly account for the topology of the produced patterns. In particular, our technique ensures that synthesized patterns will be made of exactly one connected component, so that once printed they form a single object. To achieve this goal we propose a two steps synthesis process, first synthesizing the topology of the pattern and later synthesizing its exact geometry. We introduce topology descriptors that efficiently capture the topology of the pattern synthesized so far.

We propose several applications of our method, from designing objects using synthesized patterns along curves and within rectangles, to the decoration of surfaces with a dedicated smooth frame interpolation. Using our technique, designers
paint
structured patterns that can be fabricated into solid, tangible objects, creating unusual and surprising designs of lamps, chairs and laces from examples.
Whippletree
Authors: Steinberger Markus , Kenzel Michael , Boechat Pedro , Kerbl Bernhard , Dokter Mark , Schmalstieg Dieter
Published: November 2014

In this paper, we present Whippletree, a novel approach to scheduling dynamic, irregular workloads on the GPU. We introduce a new programming model which offers the simplicity and expressiveness of task-based parallelism while retaining all aspects of the multi-level execution hierarchy essential to unlocking the full potential of a modern GPU. At the same time, our programming model lends itself to efficient implementation on the SIMD-based architecture typical of a current GPU. We demonstrate the practical utility of our model by providing a reference implementation on top of current CUDA hardware. Furthermore, we show that our model compares favorably to traditional approaches in terms of both performance as well as the range of applications that can be covered. We demonstrate the benefits of our model for recursive Reyes rendering, procedural geometry generation and volume rendering with concurrent irradiance caching.
Interactive intrinsic video editing
Authors: Bonneel Nicolas , Sunkavalli Kalyan , Tompkin James , Sun Deqing , Paris Sylvain , Pfister Hanspeter
Published: November 2014

Separating a photograph into its reflectance and illumination intrinsic images is a fundamentally ambiguous problem, and state-of-the-art algorithms combine sophisticated reflectance and illumination priors with user annotations to create plausible results. However, these algorithms cannot be easily extended to videos for two reasons: first, näively applying algorithms designed for single images to videos produce results that are temporally incoherent; second, effectively specifying user annotations for a video requires interactive feedback, and current approaches are orders of magnitudes too slow to support this. We introduce a fast and temporally consistent algorithm to decompose video sequences into their reflectance and illumination components. Our algorithm uses a hybrid
ℓ
2
ℓ
p
formulation that separates image gradients into smooth illumination and sparse reflectance gradients using look-up tables. We use a multi-scale parallelized solver to reconstruct the reflectance and illumination from these gradients while enforcing spatial and temporal reflectance constraints and user annotations. We demonstrate that our algorithm automatically produces reasonable results, that can be interactively refined by users, at rates that are two orders of magnitude faster than existing tools, to produce high-quality decompositions for challenging real-world video sequences. We also show how these decompositions can be used for a number of video editing applications including recoloring, retexturing, illumination editing, and lighting-aware compositing.
ConstructAide
Authors: Karsch Kevin , Golparvar-Fard Mani , Forsyth David
Published: November 2014

We describe a set of tools for analyzing, visualizing, and assessing architectural/construction progress with unordered photo collections and 3D building models. With our interface, a user guides the registration of the model in one of the images, and our system automatically computes the alignment for the rest of the photos using a novel Structure-from-Motion (SfM) technique; images with nearby viewpoints are also brought into alignment with each other. After aligning the photo(s) and model(s), our system allows a user, such as a project manager or facility owner, to explore the construction site seamlessly in time, monitor the progress of construction, assess errors and deviations, and create photorealistic architectural visualizations. These interactions are facilitated by automatic reasoning performed by our system: static and dynamic occlusions are removed automatically, rendering information is collected, and semantic selection tools help guide user input. We also demonstrate that our user-assisted SfM method outperforms existing techniques on both real-world construction data and established multi-view datasets.
A PPPM fast summation method for fluids and beyond
Authors: Zhang Xinxin , Bridson Robert
Published: November 2014

Solving the
N
-body problem, i.e. the Poisson problem with point sources, is a common task in graphics and simulation. The naive direct summation of the kernel function over all particles scales quadratically, rendering it too slow for large problems, while the optimal Fast Multipole Method has drastic implementation complexity and can sometimes carry too high an overhead to be practical. We present a new Particle-Particle Particle-Mesh (PPPM) algorithm which is fast, accurate, and easy to implement even in parallel on a GPU. We capture long-range interactions with a fast multigrid solver on a background grid with a novel boundary condition, while short-range interactions are calculated directly with a new error compensation to avoid error from the background grid. We demonstrate the power of PPPM with a new vortex particle smoke solver, which features a vortex segment-approach to the stretching term, potential flow to enforce no-stick solid boundaries on arbitrary moving solid boundaries, and a new mechanism for vortex shedding from boundary layers. Comparison against a simpler Vortex-in-Cell approach shows PPPM can produce significantly more detailed results with less computation. In addition, we use our PPPM solver for a Poisson surface reconstruction problem to show its potential as a general-purpose Poisson solver.
Robust iso-surface tracking for interactive character skinning
Authors: Vaillant Rodolphe , Guennebaud Gäel , Barthe Loïc , Wyvill Brian , Cani Marie-Paule
Published: November 2014

We present a novel approach to interactive character skinning, which is robust to extreme character movements, handles skin contacts and produces the effect of skin elasticity (sliding). Our approach builds on the idea of implicit skinning in which the character is approximated by a 3D scalar field and mesh-vertices are appropriately re-projected. Instead of being bound by an initial skinning solution used to initialize the shape at each time step, we use the skin mesh to directly track iso-surfaces of the field over time. Technical problems are two-fold: firstly, all contact surfaces generated between skin parts should be captured as iso-surfaces of the implicit field; secondly, the tracking method should capture elastic skin effects when the joints bend, and as the character returns to its rest shape, so the skin must follow. Our solutions include: new composition operators enabling blending effects and local self-contact between implicit surfaces, as well as a tangential relaxation scheme derived from the as-rigid-as possible energy to solve the tracking problem.
Assembling self-supporting structures
Authors: Deuss Mario , Panozzo Daniele , Whiting Emily , Liu Yang , Block Philippe , Sorkine-Hornung Olga , Pauly Mark
Published: November 2014

Self-supporting structures are prominent in historical and contemporary architecture due to advantageous structural properties and efficient use of material. Computer graphics research has recently contributed new design tools that allow creating and interactively exploring self-supporting
freeform
designs. However, the physical construction of such freeform structures remains challenging, even on small scales. Current construction processes require extensive formwork during assembly, which quickly leads to prohibitively high construction costs for realizations on a building scale. This greatly limits the practical impact of the existing freeform design tools. We propose to replace the commonly used dense formwork with a sparse set of temporary chains. Our method enables gradual construction of the masonry model in stable sections and drastically reduces the material requirements and construction costs. We analyze the input using a variational method to find stable sections, and devise a computationally tractable divide-and-conquer strategy for the combinatorial problem of finding an optimal construction sequence. We validate our method on 3D printed models, demonstrate an application to the restoration of historical models, and create designs of recreational, collaborative self-supporting puzzles.
Temporally coherent local tone mapping of HDR video
Authors: Aydin Tunç Ozan , Stefanoski Nikolce , Croci Simone , Gross Markus , Smolic Aljoscha
Published: November 2014

Recent subjective studies showed that current tone mapping operators either produce disturbing temporal artifacts, or are limited in their local contrast reproduction capability. We address both of these issues and present an HDR video tone mapping operator that can greatly reduce the input dynamic range, while at the same time preserving scene details without causing significant visual artifacts. To achieve this, we revisit the commonly used
spatial
base-detail layer decomposition and extend it to the
temporal domain
. We achieve high quality spatiotemporal edge-aware filtering efficiently by using a mathematically justified iterative approach that approximates a global solution. Comparison with the state-of-the-art, both qualitatively, and quantitatively through a controlled subjective experiment, clearly shows our method's advantages over previous work. We present local tone mapping results on challenging high resolution scenes with complex motion and varying illumination. We also demonstrate our method's capability of preserving scene details at user adjustable scales, and its advantages for low light video sequences with significant camera noise.
TrackCam
Authors: Liu Shuaicheng , Wang Jue , Cho Sunghyun , Tan Ping
Published: November 2014

Panning and tracking shots are popular photography techniques in which the camera tracks a moving object and keeps it at the same position, resulting in an image where the moving foreground is sharp but the background is blurred accordingly, creating an artistic illustration of the foreground motion. Such shots however are hard to capture even for professionals, especially when the foreground motion is complex (e.g., non-linear motion trajectories).

In this work we propose a system to generate realistic, 3D-aware tracking shots from consumer videos. We show how computer vision techniques such as segmentation and structure-from-motion can be used to lower the barrier and help novice users create high quality tracking shots that are physically plausible. We also introduce a pseudo 3D approach for relative depth estimation to avoid expensive 3D reconstruction for improved robustness and a wider application range. We validate our system through extensive quantitative and qualitative evaluations.
Yarn-level simulation of woven cloth
Authors: Cirio Gabriel , Lopez-Moreno Jorge , Miraut David , Otaduy Miguel A.
Published: November 2014

The large-scale mechanical behavior of woven cloth is determined by the mechanical properties of the yarns, the weave pattern, and frictional contact between yarns. Using standard simulation methods for elastic rod models and yarn-yarn contact handling, the simulation of woven garments at realistic yarn densities is deemed intractable. This paper introduces an efficient solution for simulating woven cloth at the yarn level. Central to our solution is a novel discretization of interlaced yarns based on yarn crossings and yarn sliding, which allows modeling yarn-yarn contact implicitly, avoiding contact handling at yarn crossings altogether. Combined with models for internal yarn forces and inter-yarn frictional contact, as well as a massively parallel solver, we are able to simulate garments with hundreds of thousands of yarn crossings at practical frame-rates on a desktop machine, showing combinations of large-scale and fine-scale effects induced by yarn-level mechanics.
Data-driven segmentation and labeling of freehand sketches
Authors: Huang Zhe , Fu Hongbo , Lau Rynson W. H.
Published: November 2014

We present a data-driven approach to derive part-level segmentation and labeling of free-hand sketches, which depict single objects with multiple parts. Our method performs segmentation and labeling simultaneously, by inferring a structure that best fits the input sketch, through selecting and connecting 3D components in the database. The problem is formulated using Mixed Integer Programming, which optimizes over both the local fitness of the selected components and the global plausibility of the connected structure. Evaluations show that our algorithm is significantly better than the straightforward approaches based on direct retrieval or part assembly, and can effectively handle challenging variations in the sketch.
Residual ratio tracking for estimating attenuation in participating media
Authors: Novák Jan , Selle Andrew , Jarosz Wojciech
Published: November 2014

Evaluating transmittance within participating media is a fundamental operation required by many light transport algorithms. We present
ratio tracking
and
residual tracking
, two complementary techniques that can be combined into an efficient, unbiased estimator for evaluating transmittance in complex heterogeneous media. In comparison to current approaches, our new estimator is unbiased, yields high efficiency, gracefully handles media with wavelength dependent extinction, and bridges the gap between closed form solutions and purely numerical, unbiased approaches. A key feature of ratio tracking is its ability to handle negative densities. This in turn enables us to separate the main part of the transmittance function, handle it analytically, and numerically estimate only the residual transmittance. In addition to proving the unbiasedness of our estimators, we perform an extensive empirical analysis to reveal parameters that lead to high efficiency. Finally, we describe how to integrate the new techniques into a production path tracer and demonstrate their benefits over traditional unbiased estimators.
Content Bias in Online Health Search
Authors: White Ryen W. , Hassan Ahmed
Published: November 2014

Search engines help people answer consequential questions. Biases in retrieved and indexed content (e.g., skew toward erroneous outcomes that represent deviations from reality), coupled with searchers' biases in how they examine and interpret search results, can lead people to incorrect answers. In this article, we seek to better understand biases in search and retrieval, and in particular those affecting the accuracy of content in search results, including the search engine index, features used for ranking, and the formulation of search queries. Focusing on the important domain of online health search, this research broadens previous work on biases in search to examine the role of search systems in contributing to biases. To assess bias, we focus on questions about medical interventions and employ reliable ground truth data from authoritative medical sources. In the course of our study, we utilize large-scale log analysis using data from a popular Web search engine, deep probes of result lists on that search engine, and crowdsourced human judgments of search result captions and landing pages. Our findings reveal bias in results, amplifying searchers' existing biases that appear evident in their search activity. We also highlight significant bias in indexed content and show that specific ranking signals and specific query terms support bias. Both of these can degrade result accuracy and increase skewness in search results. Our analysis has implications for bias mitigation strategies in online search systems, and we offer recommendations for search providers based on our findings.
Human Enhancement--The way ahead
Authors: Warwick Kevin
Published: November 2014

In this paper a look is taken at artificial intelligence and the ways it can be brought about, either by means of a computer or through biological growth. Ways of linking the two methods are also discussed, particularly the possibilities of linking human and artificial brains together. In this regard practical experiments are referred to in which human enhancement can be achieved though linking with artificial intelligence.
Consent to Specimen Storage and Continuing Studies by Race and Ethnicity: A Large Dataset Analysis Using the 2011-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Authors: Gabriel Andre , Cohen Catherine Crawford , Sun Carolyn
Published: November 2014

Purpose. To determine if significant differences exist in consent rates for biospecimen storage and continuing studies between non-Hispanic Whites and minority ethnic groups in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).Methods. Using logistic regression, we analyzed 2011-2012 NHANES data to determine whether race/ethnicity, age, gender, and education level influence consent to specimen storage or future testing.Results. Compared to non-Hispanic Whites, some minorities were less willing to donate a specimen for storage and continuing studies, including other Hispanics (non-Mexican) (OR 0.236, 95% CI: 0.079, 0.706), non-Hispanic Asians (OR 0.212, 95% CI: 0.074, 0.602), and other/multiracial ethnic groups (OR 0.189, 95% CI: 0.037, 0.957). Within race and ethnic groups, those aged 20–39 years (OR 2.215, 95% CI: 1.006–4.879) and 40–59 years (OR 9.375, 95% CI: 2.163–40.637) are more willing than those over 60 years to provide consent.Conclusion. Lower consent rates by other Hispanics, non-Hispanic Asians, and other/multiracial individuals in this study represent the first published comparison of consent rates among these groups to our knowledge. To best meet the health care needs of this segment of the population and to aid in designing future genetic studies, reassessment of ethnic minority groups concerning these issues is important.
A Review of Optimal Energy Management Strategies for Hybrid Electric Vehicle
Authors: Panday Aishwarya , Bansal Hari Om
Published: November 2014

Presence of an alternative energy source along with the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) appeals for optimal power split between them for minimum fuel consumption and maximum power utilization. Hence HEVs provide better fuel economy compared to ICE based vehicles/conventional vehicle. Energy management strategies are the algorithms that decide the power split between engine and motor in order to improve the fuel economy and optimize the performance of HEVs. This paper describes various energy management strategies available in the literature. A lot of research work has been conducted for energy optimization and the same is extended for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs). This paper concentrates on the battery powered hybrid vehicles. Numerous methods are introduced in the literature and based on these, several control strategies are proposed. These control strategies are summarized here in a coherent framework. This paper will serve as a ready reference for the researchers working in the area of energy optimization of hybrid vehicles.
A Multiposture Locomotor Training Device with Force-Field Control
Authors: Sui Jianfeng , Liu Yali , Yang Runze , Ji Linhong
Published: November 2014

This paper introduces a multiposture locomotor training device (MPLTD) with a closed-loop control scheme based on joint angle feedback, which is able to overcome various difficulties resulting from mechanical vibration and the weight of trainer to achieve higher accuracy trajectory. By introducing the force-field control scheme used in the closed-loop control, the device can obtain the active-constrained mode including the passive one. The MPLTD is mainly composed of three systems: posture adjusting and weight support system, lower limb exoskeleton system, and control system, of which the lower limb exoskeleton system mainly includes the indifferent equilibrium mechanism with two degrees of freedom (DOF) and the driving torque is calculated by the Lagrangian function. In addition, a series of experiments, the weight support and the trajectory accuracy experiment, demonstrate a good performance of mechanical structure and the closed-loop control.
Rapid Screening of Psychological Well-Being of Patients with Chronic Illness: Reliability and Validity Test on WHO-5 and PHQ-9 Scales
Authors: Wu Shu-Fang Vivienne
Published: November 2014

This study intended to test the reliability and validity of two simple psychological screening scales, the World Health Organization Well-being Index (WHO-5) and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), in patients with chronic illness in Taiwan and to understand the psychological well-being of patients with chronic illness (e.g., metabolic syndrome) in Taiwan and the incidences of psychological problems that follow. The research design of this study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The sample comprised 310 patients with metabolic syndrome (MS), aged 20 years or more, from the outpatient clinic of a municipal hospital in Taiwan. This study used questionnaires to collect basic information, including physiological indices, WHO-5 and PHQ-9 that were used. “Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS),” and “World Health Organization Quality of Life—Short-form Version for Taiwan (WHOQOL)”. Results are as follows: (1) compared to PHQ-9, the reliability and validity of WHO-5 are better for screening the psychological well-being of patients with chronic illness. (2) The features of WHO-5 are high sensitivity, briefness, and ease-of-use. The incidence of depression in patients with metabolic syndrome was approximately 1.0–6.5%, which is significantly lower than that of western countries.
Performance Modeling of Proposed GUISET Middleware for Mobile Healthcare Services in E-Marketplaces
Authors: Akingbesote Alaba Olu , Adigun Mathew Olusegun , Xulu Sibisuso , Jembere Edgar
Published: November 2014

GUISET is a proposed middleware engine currently under study in South Africa. The goal is to provide utility services for small, medium, and macroenterprises in the context of mobile e-services. Three things are important to make this engine effective and efficient: the implementation, performance, and the pricing strategy. The literature has delved richly into implementation issue of similar projects. Both the performance and the pricing strategy issues have not been fully discussed especially in the context of mobile healthcare services. Some literature has addressed the performance issue using the exogenous nonpriority and the preemptive model. However, with providers offering different services using that approach may prove to be difficult to implement. This work extends existing and widely adopted theories to non-preemptive model by using the queuing theory and the simulation model in the context of mobile healthcare services. Our evaluation is based on non-preemptive priority and nonpriority discipline. Our results reveal that the unconditional average waiting time remains the same with reduction in waiting time over the non-preemptive priority model in four out of the five classes observed. This is envisaged to be beneficial in mobile healthcare services where events are prioritized and urgent attention is needed to be given to urgent events.
Two Cases of Suprachoroidal Hemorrhage after Implantation of an Ex-Press Miniature Glaucoma Device and an Intraocular Lens
Authors: Dreyer Evan B. , Dreyer Rebecca E.
Published: November 2014

Suprachoroidal hemorrhage is a rare complication of ophthalmic surgery in general and of glaucoma filtration procedures in particular. We present herein two cases of suprachoroidal hemorrhage in aphakic patients after simultaneous implantation of an Ex-Press miniature glaucoma device and an intraocular lens. Although a rare complication, we have now seen two cases develop in previously aphakic patients when we have attempted to place an Ex-Press miniature glaucoma device in conjunction with placement of a secondary intraocular lens. These two cases suggest that greater caution is warranted when attempting to surgically implant an express mini shut in the aphakic patient.
Giant Subcutaneous Leiomyosarcoma of Anterior Abdominal Wall
Authors: Jena Sanghamitra , Bhattacharya Samir , Roy Shravasti
Published: November 2014

Subcutaneous leiomyosarcomas are rare tumors accounting for 1% to 2% of all superficial soft tissue malignancies. Although they may arise anywhere in the body, they most frequently occur in the lower extremities. The incidence of subcutaneous LMS affecting the anterior abdominal wall is very rare. We herein report the case of a patient with a giant subcutaneous leiomyosarcoma arising in the anterior abdominal wall. It was diagnosed by histopathology and immunohistochemistry and treated accordingly.
Asymptotic Behavior of Global Entropy Solutions for Nonstrictly Hyperbolic Systems with Linear Damping
Authors: De la Cruz Guerrero Richard Alexander , Juajibioy Otero Juan Carlos , Rendon Leonardo
Published: November 2014

We investigate the large time behavior of the global weak entropy solutions to the symmetric Keyfitz-Kranzer system with linear damping. It is proved that ast→∞the entropy solutions tend to zero in theLpnorm.
Mucinous Adenocarcinoma Arising in Chronic Perianal Fistula: Good Results with Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy Followed by Surgery
Authors: Santos Marisa D. , Nogueira Carlos , Lopes Carlos
Published: November 2014

Chronic perianal fistulas are a common clinical condition. However, their evolution to adenocarcinoma is rare. We report the case of a 48-year-old man with perianal chronic fistulas, who developed two perianal ulcerated lesions near the external orifices of the fistulas, which extended proximally as a pararectal tumor. No intestinal lesion was seen at endoscopic examination. Histopathological biopsy indicated mucinous adenocarcinoma. Staging was performed by pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and thoracoabdominal CT scan. The patient underwent a laparoscopic colostomy followed by neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and then laparoscopic abdominoperineal resection followed by adjuvant therapy. We have seen a favorable outcome with no recurrence at 3 years of follow-up.
Multidisciplinary Interventions in Motor Neuron Disease
Authors: Williams U. E. , Philip-Ephraim E. E. , Oparah S. K.
Published: November 2014

Motor neuron disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by loss of upper motor neuron in the motor cortex and lower motor neurons in the brain stem and spinal cord. Death occurs 2–4 years after the onset of the disease. A complex interplay of cellular processes such as mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, and impaired axonal transport are proposed pathogenetic processes underlying neuronal cell loss. Currently evidence exists for the use of riluzole as a disease modifying drug; multidisciplinary team care approach to patient management; noninvasive ventilation for respiratory management; botulinum toxin B for sialorrhoea treatment; palliative care throughout the course of the disease; and Modafinil use for fatigue treatment. Further research is needed in management of dysphagia, bronchial secretion, pseudobulbar affect, spasticity, cramps, insomnia, cognitive impairment, and communication in motor neuron disease.
Design and Synthesis of an Indole-Estrogen Derivative
Authors: Lauro Figueroa-Valverde , Francisco Díaz-Cedillo , Marcela Rosas-Nexticapa , Lenin Hau-Heredia , Elodia García-Cervera , Eduardo Pool-Gómez , Betty Sarabia-Alcocer
Published: November 2014

There are several methods reported for synthesis of aromatic-condensed derivatives; nevertheless, expensive reagents and special conditions are required. Therefore, in this study, an indole-estrogen derivative (3-[4-(2-butyl-3-cyclohexylimino-4-piperidin-1-yl-cyclobutylidencarbamoyl)]-phenoxy-NH-indolo[2′,3′:17,16]estra-1,3,5(10)triene) was synthesized using some strategies. The structure of all compounds obtained was confirmed by spectroscopic and spectrometric methods. In conclusion, a facile procedure for the formation of an indole-estrogen derivative was developed in this study.
A Framework for Structural Systems Based on the Principles of Statistical Mechanics
Authors: Andujar Rabindranath , Roset Jaume , Kilar Vojko
Published: November 2014

A framework is proposed in which certain well-known concepts of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics can be used and applied to characterize structural systems of interconnected Timoshenko beam elements. We first make the assimilation to a network of nodes linked by potential energy functions that are derived from the stiffness properties of the beams. Then we define a series of thermodynamic quantities inherent to a given structure (i.e., internal energy, heat, pressure, temperature, entropy, and kinetic energy). With the exception of entropy, all of them have the dimensions of energy. In order to test this new framework, a series of experiments was performed on four structural specimens within the elastic regime. Their configurations were taken from the seismic regulations known as Eurocode 8 in order to have a better based reference for our comparisons. The results are then explained within this new framework. Very interesting correlations have been found between the parameters given in the code and our concepts.
Distribution of Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidative Activities of Rice Kernel and Their Relationships with Agronomic Practice
Authors: Kesarwani Amit , Chiang Po-Yuan , Chen Shih-Shiung
Published: November 2014

The phenolic and antioxidant activity of ethanolic extract of twoJaponicarice cultivars, Taikeng no. 16 (medium and slender grain) and Kaohsiung no. 139 (short and round grain), grown under organic and conventional farming were examined. Analyses shows that Kaohsiung no. 139 contains the highest amount of secondary metabolites and continuous farming can increase its production. Results also suggest that phenolic content under different agronomic practices, has not shown significant differences but organically grown rice has proven to be better in higher accumulation of other secondary metabolites (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), flavonoid content, and ferrous chelating capacity). In nutshell, genetic traits and environment have significant effect on phenolic compounds and the least variation reported under agronomic practices.
The Arrowhead Ministernotomy with Rigid Sternal Plate Fixation: A Minimally Invasive Approach for Surgery of the Ascending Aorta and Aortic Root
Authors: Russo Mark J. , Gnezda John , Merlo Aurelie , Johnson Elizabeth M. , Hashmi Mohammad , Raman Jaishankar
Published: November 2014

Background. Ministernotomy incisions have been increasingly used in a variety of settings. We describe a novel approach to ministernotomy using arrowhead incision and rigid sternal fixation with a standard sternal plating system.Methods. A small, midline, vertical incision is made from the midportion of the manubrium to a point just above the 4th intercostal mark. The sternum is opened in the shape of an inverted T using two oblique horizontal incisions from the midline to the sternal edges. At the time of chest closure, the three bony segments are aligned and approximated, and titanium plates (Sternalock, Jacksonville, Florida) are used to fix the body of the sternum back together.Results. This case series includes 11 patients who underwent arrowhead ministernotomy with rigid sternal plate fixation for aortic surgery. The procedures performed were axillary cannulation (n=2), aortic root replacement (n=3), valve sparing root replacement (n=3), and replacement of the ascending aorta (n=11) and/or hemiarch (n=2). Thirty-day mortality was 0%; there were no conversions, strokes, or sternal wound infections.Conclusions. Arrowhead ministernotomy with rigid sternal plate fixation is an adequate minimally invasive approach for surgery of the ascending aorta and aortic root.
TALK: Topology Aware LKH Key Management
Authors: Tsitsipis Dimitris , Tzes Anthony , Koubias Stavros
Published: November 2014

Cryptographic key management for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) is a particularly challenging task, as they mostly consist of high counts of resource constrained nodes, especially when group communication and dynamic network membership capabilities are required. The logical key hierarchy (LKH) is a well-known class of protocols which aims to solve the key management problem and minimize rekeying overhead, using hierarchical structures and taking advantage of multicast communication. In this work we propose a method for obtaining LKH structures by taking into account the topology of the underlying network, leading to a further decrease in rekeying costs, in terms of packet transmissions.