bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluating Computer Intrusion Detection Systems
Authors: Milenkoski Aleksandar , Vieira Marco , Kounev Samuel , Avritzer Alberto , Payne Bryan D.
Published: September 2015

The evaluation of computer intrusion detection systems (which we refer to as intrusion detection systems) is an active research area. In this article, we survey and systematize common practices in the area of evaluation of such systems. For this purpose, we define a design space structured into three parts: workload, metrics, and measurement methodology. We then provide an overview of the common practices in evaluation of intrusion detection systems by surveying evaluation approaches and methods related to each part of the design space. Finally, we discuss open issues and challenges focusing on evaluation methodologies for novel intrusion detection systems.
Video Interaction Tools
Authors: Schoeffmann Klaus , Hudelist Marco A. , Huber Jochen
Published: September 2015

Digital video enables manifold ways of multimedia content interaction. Over the last decade, many proposals for improving and enhancing video content interaction were published. More recent work particularly leverages on highly capable devices such as smartphones and tablets that embrace novel interaction paradigms, for example, touch, gesture-based or physical content interaction. In this article, we survey literature at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction and Multimedia. We integrate literature from video browsing and navigation, direct video manipulation, video content visualization, as well as interactive video summarization and interactive video retrieval. We classify the reviewed works by the underlying interaction method and discuss the achieved improvements so far. We also depict a set of open problems that the video interaction community should address in future.
Scientists update views of light
Authors: Anthes Gary
Published: September 2015

Experiment sheds new light on wave-particle duality.
Keys under doormats
Authors: Abelson Harold , Anderson Ross , Bellovin Steven M. , Benaloh Josh , Blaze Matt , Diffie Whitfield "Whit" , Gilmore John , Green Matthew , Landau Susan , Neumann Peter G. , Rivest Ronald L. , Schiller Jeffrey I. , Schneier Bruce , Specter Michael A. , Weitzner Daniel J.
Published: September 2015

Mandating insecurity by requiring government access to all data and communications.
The Feet in Human--Computer Interaction
Authors: Velloso Eduardo , Schmidt Dominik , Alexander Jason , Gellersen Hans , Bulling Andreas
Published: September 2015

Foot-operated computer interfaces have been studied since the inception of human--computer interaction. Thanks to the miniaturisation and decreasing cost of sensing technology, there is an increasing interest exploring this alternative input modality, but no comprehensive overview of its research landscape. In this survey, we review the literature on interfaces operated by the lower limbs. We investigate the characteristics of users and how they affect the design of such interfaces. Next, we describe and analyse foot-based research prototypes and commercial systems in how they capture input and provide feedback. We then analyse the interactions between users and systems from the perspective of the actions performed in these interactions. Finally, we discuss our findings and use them to identify open questions and directions for future research.
Behavior Understanding for Arts and Entertainment
Authors: Salah Albert Ali , Hung Hayley , Aran Oya , Gunes Hatice , Turk Matthew
Published: September 2015

This editorial introduction complements the shorter introduction to the first part of the two-part special issue on Behavior Understanding for Arts and Entertainment. It offers a more expansive discussion of the use of behavior analysis for interactive systems that involve creativity, either for the producer or the consumer of such a system. We first summarise the two articles that appear in this second part of the special issue. We then discuss general questions and challenges in this domain that were suggested by the entire set of seven articles of the special issue and by the comments of the reviewers of these articles.
Spatiotemporal Traffic Matrix Synthesis
Authors: Tune Paul , Roughan Matthew
Published: September 2015

Traffic matrices describe the volume of traffic between a set of sources and destinations within a network. These matrices are used in a variety of tasks in network planning and traffic engineering, such as the design of network topologies. Traffic matrices naturally possess complex spatiotemporal characteristics, but their proprietary nature means that little data about them is available publicly, and this situation is unlikely to change.

Our goal is to develop techniques to synthesize traffic matrices for researchers who wish to test new network applications or protocols. The paucity of available data, and the desire to build a general framework for synthesis that could work in various settings requires a new look at this problem. We show how the principle of maximum entropy can be used to generate a wide variety of traffic matrices constrained by the needs of a particular task, and the available information, but otherwise avoiding hidden assumptions about the data. We demonstrate how the framework encompasses existing models and measurements, and we apply it in a simple case study to illustrate the value.
Practical, Real-time Centralized Control for CDN-based Live Video Delivery
Authors: Mukerjee Matthew K. , Naylor David , Jiang Junchen , Han Dongsu , Seshan Srinivasan , Zhang Hui
Published: September 2015

Live video delivery is expected to reach a peak of 50 Tbps this year. This surging popularity is fundamentally changing the Internet video delivery landscape. CDNs must meet users' demands for fast join times, high bitrates, and low buffering ratios, while minimizing their own cost of delivery and responding to issues in real-time. Wide-area latency, loss, and failures, as well as varied workloads ("mega-events" to long-tail), make meeting these demands challenging.

An analysis of video sessions concluded that a centralized controller could improve user experience, but CDN systems have shied away from such designs due to the difficulty of quickly handling failures, a requirement of both operators and users. We introduce VDN, a practical approach to a video delivery network that uses a centralized algorithm for live video optimization. VDN provides CDN operators with real-time, fine-grained control. It does this in spite of challenges resulting from the wide-area (e.g., state inconsistency, partitions, failures) by using a hybrid centralized+distributed control plane, increasing average bitrate by 1.7x and decreasing cost by 2x in different scenarios.
Encore
Authors: Burnett Sam , Feamster Nick
Published: September 2015

Despite the pervasiveness of Internet censorship, we have scant data on its extent, mechanisms, and evolution. Measuring censorship is challenging: it requires continual measurement of reachability to many target sites from diverse vantage points. Amassing suitable vantage points for longitudinal measurement is difficult; existing systems have achieved only small, short-lived deployments. We observe, however, that most Internet users access content via Web browsers, and the very nature of Web site design allows browsers to make requests to domains with different origins than the main Web page. We present Encore, a system that harnesses cross-origin requests to measure Web filtering from a diverse set of vantage points without requiring users to install custom software, enabling longitudinal measurements from many vantage points. We explain how Encore induces Web clients to perform cross-origin requests that measure Web filtering, design a distributed platform for scheduling and collecting these measurements, show the feasibility of a global-scale deployment with a pilot study and an analysis of potentially censored Web content, identify several cases of filtering in six months of measurements, and discuss ethical concerns that would arise with widespread deployment.
Enabling End-Host Network Functions
Authors: Ballani Hitesh , Costa Paolo , Gkantsidis Christos , Grosvenor Matthew P. , Karagiannis Thomas , Koromilas Lazaros , O'Shea Greg
Published: September 2015

Many network functions executed in modern datacenters, e.g., load balancing, application-level QoS, and congestion control, exhibit three common properties at the data-plane: they need to access and modify state, to perform computations, and to access application semantics -- this is critical since many network functions are best expressed in terms of application-level messages. In this paper, we argue that the end hosts are a natural enforcement point for these functions and we present Eden, an architecture for implementing network functions at datacenter end hosts with minimal network support. Eden comprises three components, a centralized controller, an enclave at each end host, and Eden-compliant applications called stages. To implement network functions, the controller configures stages to classify their data into messages and the enclaves to apply action functions based on a packet's class. Our Eden prototype includes enclaves implemented both in the OS kernel and on programmable NICs. Through case studies, we show how application-level classification and the ability to run actual programs on the data-path allows Eden to efficiently support a broad range of network functions at the network's edge.
InterTubes
Authors: Durairajan Ramakrishnan , Barford Paul , Sommers Joel , Willinger Walter
Published: September 2015

The complexity and enormous costs of installing new long-haul fiber-optic infrastructure has led to a significant amount of infrastructure sharing in previously installed conduits. In this paper, we study the characteristics and implications of infrastructure sharing by analyzing the long-haul fiber-optic network in the US. We start by using fiber maps provided by tier-1 ISPs and major cable providers to construct a map of the long-haul US fiber-optic infrastructure. We also rely on previously under-utilized data sources in the form of public records from federal, state, and municipal agencies to improve the fidelity of our map. We quantify the resulting map's connectivity characteristics and confirm a clear correspondence between long-haul fiber-optic, roadway, and railway infrastructures. Next, we examine the prevalence of high-risk links by mapping end-to-end paths resulting from large-scale traceroute campaigns onto our fiber-optic infrastructure map. We show how both risk and latency (i.e., propagation delay) can be reduced by deploying new links along previously unused transportation corridors and rights-of-way. In particular, focusing on a subset of high-risk links is sufficient to improve the overall robustness of the network to failures. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings on issues related to performance, net neutrality, and policy decision-making.
Low Latency Geo-distributed Data Analytics
Authors: Pu Qifan , Ananthanarayanan Ganesh , Bodik Peter , Kandula Srikanth , Akella Aditya , Bahl Paramvir , Stoica Ion
Published: September 2015

Low latency analytics on geographically distributed datasets (across datacenters, edge clusters) is an upcoming and increasingly important challenge. The dominant approach of aggregating all the data to a single datacenter significantly inflates the timeliness of analytics. At the same time, running queries over geo-distributed inputs using the current intra-DC analytics frameworks also leads to high query response times because these frameworks cannot cope with the relatively low and variable capacity of WAN links. We present Iridium, a system for low latency geo-distributed analytics. Iridium achieves low query response times by optimizing placement of both data and tasks of the queries. The joint data and task placement optimization, however, is intractable. Therefore, Iridium uses an online heuristic to redistribute datasets among the sites prior to queries' arrivals, and places the tasks to reduce network bottlenecks during the query's execution. Finally, it also contains a knob to budget WAN usage. Evaluation across eight worldwide EC2 regions using production queries show that Iridium speeds up queries by 3× -- 19× and lowers WAN usage by 15% -- 64% compared to existing baselines.
TIMELY
Authors: Mittal Radhika , Lam Vinh The , Dukkipati Nandita , Blem Emily , Wassel Hassan , Ghobadi Monia , Vahdat Amin , Wang Yaogong , Wetherall David , Zats David
Published: September 2015

Datacenter transports aim to deliver low latency messaging together with high throughput. We show that simple packet delay, measured as round-trip times at hosts, is an effective congestion signal without the need for switch feedback. First, we show that advances in NIC hardware have made RTT measurement possible with microsecond accuracy, and that these RTTs are sufficient to estimate switch queueing. Then we describe how TIMELY can adjust transmission rates using RTT gradients to keep packet latency low while delivering high bandwidth. We implement our design in host software running over NICs with OS-bypass capabilities. We show using experiments with up to hundreds of machines on a Clos network topology that it provides excellent performance: turning on TIMELY for OS-bypass messaging over a fabric with PFC lowers 99 percentile tail latency by 9X while maintaining near line-rate throughput. Our system also outperforms DCTCP running in an optimized kernel, reducing tail latency by $13$X. To the best of our knowledge, TIMELY is the first delay-based congestion control protocol for use in the datacenter, and it achieves its results despite having an order of magnitude fewer RTT signals (due to NIC offload) than earlier delay-based schemes such as Vegas.
Analysis of Game Bot's Behavioral Characteristics in Social Interaction Networks of MMORPG
Authors: Jeong Seong Hoon , Kang Ah Reum , Kim Huy Kang
Published: September 2015

MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) is one of the best platforms to observe human's behaviors. In collaboration with a leading online game company, NCSoft, we can observe all behaviors in a large-scale of commercialized MMORPG. Especially, we analyzed the behavioral differences between game bots and human users. We categorized the five groups, Bot-Bot, Bot-All, Human-Human, Human-All and All-All, and we observe the characteristics of six social interaction networks for each group. As a result, we found that there are significant differences in social behaviors between game bots and human.
Extreme Data-rate Scheduling for the Data Center
Authors: Manihatty Bojan Neelakandan , Zilberman Noa , Antichi Gianni , Moore Andrew W.
Published: September 2015

Designing scalable and cost-effective data center interconnect architectures based on electrical packet switches is challenging. To overcome this challenge, researchers have tried to harness the advantages of optics in data center environment. This has resulted in exploration of hybrid switching architectures that contains an optical circuit switch to serve long bursts of traffic along with an electrical packet switch serving short bursts of traffic. The performance of such hybrid switching architectures in data center is dependent on the schedulers. Building hybrid schedulers is challenging because of varying properties of data center traffic, increasing network demands, requirements imposed by hybrid network architecture etc. Slow schedulers can negatively impact the performance of the data center network because of poor resource utilization. With future demands, this problem is going to escalate motivating the need for faster schedulers. One approach to do this would be to use a hardware based scheduler. In this paper we propose a framework that can be used to explore and evaluate hardware based hybrid schedulers.
eSDN
Authors: Pirzada Hasnain Ali , Mahboob Muhammad Raza , Qazi Ihsan Ayyub
Published: September 2015

We propose eSDN; a practical approach for deploying new datacenter transports without requiring any changes to the switches. eSDN uses light-weight SDN controllers at the end-hosts for querying network state. It obviates the need for statistics collection by a centralized controller especially on short timescales. We show that eSDN can scale well and allow a range of datacenter transports to be realized.
BRB
Authors: Reda Waleed , Suresh Lalith , Canini Marco , Braithwaite Sean
Published: September 2015

A common pattern in the architectures of modern interactive web-services is that of large request fan-outs, where even a single end-user request (task) arriving at an application server triggers tens to thousands of data accesses (sub-tasks) to different stateful backend servers. The overall response time of each task is bottlenecked by the completion time of the slowest sub-task, making such workloads highly sensitive to the tail of latency distribution of the backend tier. The large number of decentralized application servers and skewed workload patterns exacerbate the challenge in addressing this problem. We address these challenges through BetteR Batch (BRB). By carefully scheduling requests in a decentralized and task-aware manner, BRB enables low-latency distributed storage systems to deliver predictable performance in the presence of large request fan-outs. Our preliminary simulation results based on production workloads show that our proposed design is at the 99th percentile latency within 38% of an ideal system model while offering latency improvements over the state-of-the-art by a factor of 2.
A Real-time 802.11 Compatible Distributed MIMO System
Authors: Hamed Ezzeldin , Rahul Hariharan , Abdelghany Mohammed A. , Katabi Dina
Published: September 2015

We present a demonstration of a real-time distributed MIMO system, DMIMO. DMIMO synchronizes transmissions from 4 distributed MIMO transmitters in time, frequency and phase, and performs distributed multi-user beamforming to independent clients. DMIMO is built on top of a Zynq hardware platform integrated with an FMCOMMS2 RF front end. The platform implements a custom 802.11n compatible MIMO PHY layer which is augmented with a lightweight distributed synchronization engine. The demonstration shows the received constellation points, channels, and effective data throughput at each client. It also shows how these vary as a function of interference, the timeliness of channel feedback, and the transmission rates used by the different transmitters.
Sub-Nanosecond Time of Flight on Commercial Wi-Fi Cards
Authors: Vasisht Deepak , Kumar Swarun , Katabi Dina
Published: September 2015

The time-of-flight of a signal captures the time it takes to propagate from a transmitter to a receiver. Time-of-flight is perhaps the most intuitive method for localization using wireless signals. If one can accurately measure the time-of-flight from a transmitter, one can compute the transmitter's distance simply by multiplying the time-of-flight by the speed of light. Today, GPS, the most widely used outdoor localization system, localizes a device using the time-of-flight of radio signals from satellites. However, applying the same concept to indoor localization has proven difficult. Systems for localization in indoor spaces are expected to deliver high accuracy (e.g., a meter or less) using consumer-oriented technologies (e.g., Wi-Fi on one's cellphone). Unfortunately, past work could not measure time-of-flight at such an accuracy on Wi-Fi devices. As a result, over the years, research on accurate indoor positioning has moved towards more complex alternatives such as employing large multi-antenna arrays to compute the angle-of-arrival of the signal. These new techniques have delivered highly accurate indoor localization systems. Despite these advances, time-of-flight based localization has some of the basic desirable features that state-of-the-art indoor localization systems lack. In particular, measuring time-of-flight does not require more than a single antenna on the receiver. In fact, by measuring time-of-flight of a signal to just two antennas, a receiver can intersect the corresponding distances to locate its source. Thus, a receiver can locate a wireless transmitter with no support from the surrounding infrastructure. This is quite unlike current indoor localization systems, which require multiple access points at known locations, to find the distance between a pair of mobile devices. Furthermore, each of these access points need to have many antennas -- far beyond what is supported in commercial Wi-Fi devices.

In this demo, we will present Chronos, a system that combines a set of novel algorithms to measure the time-of-flight to sub-nanosecond accuracy on commercial Wi-Fi cards. In particular, we will measure distance/time-of-flight between two devices equipped with commercial Wi-Fi cards, without any support from the infrastructure or environment fingerprinting.
Theoretical Foundations and Algorithms for Outlier Ensembles
Authors: Aggarwal Charu C. , Sathe Saket
Published: September 2015

Ensemble analysis has recently been studied in the context of the outlier detection problem. In this paper, we investigate the theoretical underpinnings of outlier ensemble analysis. In spite of the significant differences between the classification and the outlier analysis problems, we show that the theoretical underpinnings between the two problems are actually quite similar in terms of the bias-variance trade-off. We explain the existing algorithms within this traditional framework, and clarify misconceptions about the reasoning underpinning these methods. We propose more effective variants of subsampling and feature bagging. We also discuss the impact of the combination function and discuss the specific trade-offs of the average and maximization functions. We use these insights to propose new combination functions that are robust in many settings.
Report of the First International Workshop on Learning over Multiple Contexts (LMCE 2014)
Authors: Ferri Cèsar , Flach Peter , Lachiche Nicolas
Published: September 2015

The first international workshop on Learning over Multiple Contexts, devoted to generalization and reuse of machine learning models over multiple contexts, was held on September 19th, 2014, as part of the 7th European machine learning and data mining conference (ECML-PKDD 2014) in Nancy, France. This short report summarizes the presentations and discussions held during the LMCE 2014 workshop, as well as the workshop conclusions and nthe future agenda.
Pentoxifylline Neuroprotective Effects Are Possibly Related to Its Anti-Inflammatory and TNF-Alpha Inhibitory Properties, in the 6-OHDA Model of Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Neves Kelly Rose Tavares , Nobre Hélio Vitoriano , Leal Luzia Kalyne A. M. , de Andrade Geanne Matos , Brito Gerly Anne de Castro , Viana Glauce Socorro de Barros
Published: September 2015

Pentoxifylline (PTX) is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor with anti-TNF-alpha activity, associated with its anti-inflammatory action. Considering Parkinson’s disease (PD) as a neuroinflammatory disorder, the objectives were to evaluate PTX neuroprotective properties, in a model of PD. Male Wistar rats, divided into sham-operated (SO), untreated 6-OHDA, and 6-OHDA treated with PTX (10, 25, and 50 mg/kg) groups, received a unilateral 6-OHDA injection, except the SO group administered with saline. Treatments started 24 h after surgery and continued for 15 days when the animals were submitted to apomorphine-induced rotations, open field, and forced swimming tests. At the next day, they were euthanized and their striata processed for neurochemical (DA and DOPAC determinations), histological, and immunohistochemical (Fluoro-Jade, TH, DAT, OX-42, TNF-alpha, COX-2, and iNOS) studies. PTX reversed the behavioral changes observed in the untreated 6-OHDA animals. Furthermore, PTX partially reversed the decrease in DA contents and improved neuronal viability. In addition, decreases in immunostaining for TH and dopamine transporter (DAT) were reversed. The untreated 6-OHDA group showed intense OX-42, TNF-alpha, COX-2, and iNOS immunoreactivities, which were attenuated by PTX. In conclusion, we demonstrated a neuroprotective effect of PTX, possibly related to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions, indicating its potential as an adjunct treatment for PD.
Retrograde Transpubic Approach for Percutaneous Radiofrequency Ablation and Cementoplasty of Acetabular Metastasis
Authors: Bauones Salem , Freire Veronique , Moser Thomas P.
Published: September 2015

We report a case of painful and disabling anterior acetabular bone metastasis treated with bipolar radiofrequency ablation and cementoplasty. Due to the high risk of complications related to the proximity of the femoral neurovascular structures with a direct approach, we successfully performed a retrograde transpubic approach under combined CT and fluoroscopic guidance. In the present report, we describe this approach detailing its indications, advantages, and the technical tips to achieve a safe and satisfactory procedure.
Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Verification of Particle Damper-Based Energy Dissipation with Applications to Reduce Structural Vibration
Authors: Xiao Wangqiang , Jin Lina , Chen Binqiang
Published: September 2015

Particle damping technology can greatly reduce vibration of equipment and structure through friction and inelastic collisions of particles. An energy dissipation model for particle damper has been presented based on the powder mechanics and the collision theory. The energy dissipation equations of friction and collision motion are developed for the particle damper. The rationality of energy dissipation model has been verified by the experiment and the distributions for the energy dissipation of particles versus acceleration are nonlinear. As the experiment process includes lots of factors of energy dissipation, such as the noise and the air resistance, the experimental value is about 7% more than the simulation value. The simulation model can provide an effective method for the design of particle damper. And the particle parameters for damper have been investigated. The results have shown that choosing an appropriate particle density, particle size, and particle filling rate determined based on the simulation model will provide the optimal damping effect for the practical application of particle damping technology.
Short-Term Effects of Kinesio Taping and Cross Taping Application in the Treatment of Latent Upper Trapezius Trigger Points: A Prospective, Single-Blind, Randomized, Sham-Controlled Trial
Authors: Halski Tomasz , Ptaszkowski Kuba , Słupska Lucyna , Paprocka-Borowicz Małgorzata , Dymarek Robert , Taradaj Jakub , Bidzińska Gabriela , Marczyński Daniel , Cynarska Aleksandra , Rosińczuk Joanna
Published: September 2015

Kinesio taping (KT) may be a new treatment in patients with myofascial trigger points (MTrPs). A new method available for taping practitioners is cross taping (CT). The main objective was to determine how CT, KT, and medical adhesive tape (sham group) affect the subjective assessment of resting bioelectrical activity and pain of the upper trapezius muscle (UT) in patients with MTrPs. 105 volunteers were recruited to participate. The primary outcome was resting bioelectrical activity of UT muscle as assessed by surface electromyography (sEMG) in each group and pain intensity on a visual analog scale (VAS). Assessments were collected before and after intervention and after the 24-hours follow-up. No significant differences were observed in bioelectrical activity of UT between pre-, post-, and follow-up results. In three groups patients had significantly lower pain VAS score after the intervention (CT—p<0.001, KT—p<0.001, and sham—p<0.01). The Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA showed no significant differences in almost all measurements between groups. The application of all three types of tapes does not influence the resting bioelectrical activity of UT muscle and may not lead to a reduction in muscle tone in the case of MTrPs.
Prognostic Factors for Open Globe Injuries and Correlation of Ocular Trauma Score in Tianjin, China
Authors: Meng Yu , Yan Hua
Published: September 2015

Purpose. To investigate prognostic factors that influence the final visual acuity (VA) and to correlate the ocular trauma score (OTS) with the final VA in open globe injuries.Methods. A retrospective review of 298 patients with open globe injuries admitted to Tianjin Medical University General Hospital was carried out from January 1, 2010, till December 31, 2014. Prognostic factors influencing the final VA in patients with open globe injuries and the correlation between OTS and the final VA were examined.Results. Three hundred and fourteen eyes from 298 patients with open globe injuries were analyzed. Males had a higher rate of open globe injury than females (83.56% versus 16.44%). Mean age was 45.46 ± 17.48 years (5–95 years). In a univariate analysis, prognostic factors influencing the final VA included initial VA, relative afferent papillary defect (RAPD), vitreous hemorrhage, lens injury, endophthalmitis, hyphema, retinal detachment, and the zone of injury. In a multiple logistic regression analysis, initial VA, RAPD, and the zone of injury were considered to be independent risk factors. The OTS correlated with final VA (r=0.988,p=0.000).Conclusion. In our study, the most important prognostic factors influencing the final VA were initial VA, RAPD, and the zone of injury. The OTS was of great importance for patients and ophthalmologists.
Solving Civil Engineering Problems by Means of Fuzzy and Stochastic MCDM Methods: Current State and Future Research
Authors: Antucheviciene Jurgita , Kala Zdeněk , Marzouk Mohamed , Vaidogas Egidijus Rytas
Published: September 2015

The present review examines decision-making methods developed for dealing with uncertainties and applied to solve problems of civil engineering. Several methodological difficulties emerging from uncertainty quantification in decision-making are identified. The review is focused on formal methods of multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM). Handling of uncertainty by means of fuzzy logic and probabilistic modelling is analysed in light of MCDM. A sensitivity analysis of MCDM problems with uncertainties is discussed. An application of stochastic MCDM methods to a design of safety critical objects of civil engineering is considered. Prospects of using MCDM under uncertainty in developing areas of civil engineering are discussed in brief. These areas are design of sustainable and energy efficient buildings, building information modelling, and assurance of security and safety of built property. It is stated that before long the decision-making in civil engineering may face several methodological problems: the need to combine fuzzy and probabilistic representations of uncertainties in one decision-making matrix, the necessity to extend a global sensitivity analysis to all input elements of a MCDM problem with uncertainties, and an application of MCDM methods in the areas of civil engineering where decision-making under uncertainty is presently not common.
Can Total Wrist Arthroplasty Be an Option for Treatment of Highly Comminuted Distal Radius Fracture in Selected Patients? Preliminary Experience with Two Cases
Authors: Schmidt Ingo
Published: September 2015

We present two case reports of successful primary shortening of the forearm and total wrist arthroplasty (TWA) using the new angle-stable Maestro Wrist Reconstructive System (WRS) for treatment of highly comminuted distal radius fracture in selected autonomous patients. In a 56-year-old male patient with adequate bone stock, insertion of the noncemented Maestro WRS was combined with ulnar shortening osteotomy. In an 84-year-old female patient with poor osteoporotic bone stock, insertion of the radial cemented Maestro WRS was combined with ulnar head resection. Both patients could resume their work without additional surgery after TWA. At the 1-year follow-up, there were no changes in position of either implant without signs of loosening, no impingement, and no instability of the distal radioulnar joint or the distal ulna stump. All clinical parameters (DASH score, pain through VAS, and grip strength) were satisfactory. Both patients reported that they would have the same procedure again. Further experience is needed to validate this concept.
Downregulation of Lung Toll‐Like Receptor 4 Could Effectively Attenuate Liver Transplantation‐Induced Pulmonary Damage at the Early Stage of Reperfusion
Authors: Chi Xinjin , Yao Weifeng , Zhang Ailan , Ge Mian , Cai Jun , Zhou Shaoli , Xia Zhengyuan , Luo Gangjian , Hei Ziqing
Published: September 2015

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a severe complication of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) with unclear underline mechanism. Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) has been identified as a key receptor mediating inflammation. We hypothesized that TLR4‐mediated pulmonary inflammation may contribute to development of ALI during OLT. Patients with or without ALI were observed for serum cytokines and expression of TLR4 on peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs). Next, rats which underwent orthotopic autologous liver transplantation (OALT) were divided into sham and model groups. Pulmonary function and the level of TLR4 expression and cytokines were analyzed. Furthermore, the role of TLR4 in OALT‐mediated ALI was assessed in rats treated with TLR4‐siRNA before OALT. The PMNs TLR4 expression and the serum TNF‐α and IL‐β level were higher in patients with ALI than those with non‐ALI. Interestingly, lung TLR4 expression was significantly increased after 8 hours of OALT with increased levels of TNF‐α and IL‐β, which lead to lung pathological damage and an increase of lung myeloperoxidase content. Moreover, knockdown of TLR4 reduced lung cytokines release and reversed the above pathologic changes after OALT and finally improved rats’ survival rate. In conclusion, TLR4 overexpression, potentially by stimulating proinflammatory cytokine overproduction, contributes to the development of ALI after OLT.
Immunomodulation by Zearalenone in Carp (Cyprinus carpioL.)
Authors: Pietsch Constanze , Junge Ranka , Burkhardt-Holm Patricia
Published: September 2015

The mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEN) is a frequent contaminant of animal feeds, but its effects on fish have not yet been investigated extensively. In order to fill this gap a feeding trial with juvenile carp was conducted. Three groups of fish were fed feeds contaminated with ZEN at three concentrations (low: 332 μg kg−1, medium: 621 μg kg−1, and high: 797 μg kg−1feed) for four weeks. Possible reversible effects of ZEN were evaluated by feeding additional groups with the ZEN-contaminated feeds for four weeks, followed by the uncontaminated diet for two weeks. Immune function of isolated leukocytes from head kidney and trunk kidney was assessed using the assessment of NO production, the respiratory burst assay, the chemiluminescence assay, and the measurement of arginase activities. These investigations frequently revealed increased immune responses after exposure of fish to low ZEN concentrations and reduced immune responses after exposure to high mycotoxin concentrations. Moreover, the feeding of the uncontaminated diet for further two weeks did not improve the immune responses in most cases. These results indicate that cellular immune functions in ZEN-contaminated carp are influenced which may be relevant for fish health in aquaculture.
Proinflammatory Cytokine IL‐6 and JAK‐STAT Signaling Pathway in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms
Authors: Čokić Vladan P. , Mitrović-Ajtić Olivera , Beleslin-Čokić Bojana B. , Marković Dragana , Buač Marijana , Diklić Miloš , Kraguljac-Kurtović Nada , Damjanović Svetozar , Milenković Pavle , Gotić Mirjana , Raj Puri K.
Published: September 2015

The recent JAK1/2 inhibitor trial in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) showed that reducing inflammation can be more beneficial than targeting gene mutants. We evaluated the proinflammatory IL‐6 cytokine and JAK‐STAT signaling pathway related genes in circulating CD34+ cells of MPNs. Regarding laboratory data, leukocytosis has been observed in polycythemia vera (PV) and JAK2V617F mutation positive versus negative primary myelofibrosis (PMF) patients. Moreover, thrombocytosis was reduced by JAK2V617F allele burden in essential thrombocythemia (ET) and PMF. 261 significantly changed genes have been detected in PV, 82 in ET, and 94 genes in PMF. The following JAK‐STAT signaling pathway related genes had augmented expression in CD34+ cells of MPNs: CCND3 and IL23A regardless of JAK2V617F allele burden; CSF3R, IL6ST, and STAT1/2 in ET and PV with JAK2V617F mutation; and AKT2, IFNGR2, PIM1, PTPN11, and STAT3 only in PV. STAT5A gene expression was generally reduced in MPNs. IL‐6 cytokine levels were increased in plasma, as well as IL‐6 protein levels in bone marrow stroma of MPNs, dependent on JAK2V617F mutation presence in ET and PMF patients. Therefore, the JAK2V617F mutant allele burden participated in inflammation biomarkers induction and related signaling pathways activation in MPNs.
Will Septal Correction Surgery for Deviated Nasal Septum Improve the Sense of Smell? A Prospective Study
Authors: Gupta Neelima , Singh P. P. , Bagla Rahul Kumar
Published: September 2015

Background and Objectives. Nasal obstruction due to deviated nasal septum is a common problem bringing a patient to an otorhinolaryngologist. Occasionally, these patients may also complain of olfactory impairment. We proposed to study the effect of septal deviation on the lateralised olfactory function and the change in olfaction after surgery of the septum (septoplasty).Methods. Forty-one patients with deviated nasal septum were evaluated for nasal airflow, olfactory score, and nasal symptomatology. Septoplasty was done under local anesthesia. Pre- and postoperative olfactory scores, airflow and olfactory scores, and nasal symptomatology and olfactory scores were compared and correlated.Results. The range of preoperative composite olfactory score (COS) on the side of septal deviation was 4–14 (mean7.90±2.234) and on the nonobstructed side was 9–18 (mean14.49±2.378). Severity of deviated nasal septum and preoperative COS of diseased side were correlated and the correlation was found to be significant (rho = −0.690,p=0.000(<0.001)). The preoperative mean COS (7.90±2.234) was compared with the postoperative mean COS (12.39±3.687) and the improvement was found to be statistically significant (p=0.000(<0.001)).Conclusion. We found improvement in olfactory function in 70.6% patients after surgery, no change in 20.1%, and reduced function in 7.6%. With the limitation of a small sample size and a potential repeat testing bias, we would conclude that correction of nasal septal deviation may lead to improvement in sense of smell.
Prediction of Advisability of Returning Home Using the Home Care Score
Authors: Matsugi Akiyoshi , Tani Keisuke , Tamaru Yoshiki , Yoshioka Nami , Yamashita Akira , Mori Nobuhiko , Oku Kosuke , Ikeda Masashi , Nagano Kiyoshi
Published: September 2015

Purpose. The aim of this study was to assess whether the home care score (HCS), which was developed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Japan in 1992, is useful for the prediction of advisability of home care.Methods. Subjects living at home and in assisted-living facilities were analyzed. Binominal logistic regression analyses, using age, sex, the functional independence measure score, and the HCS, along with receiver operating characteristic curve analyses, were conducted.Findings/Conclusions. Only HCS was selected for the regression equation. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that the area under the curve (0.9), sensitivity (0.82), specificity (0.83), and positive predictive value (0.84) for HCS were higher than those for the functional independence measure, indicating that the HCS is a powerful predictor for advisability of home care.Clinical Relevance. Comprehensive measurements of the condition of provided care and the activities of daily living of the subjects, which are included in the HCS, are required for the prediction of advisability of home care.
Laser Based Energy Distribution Architecture for Decoupling Energy and Sensing Planes in WSN
Authors: Bhatti Naveed Anwar , Syed Affan A. , Alizai Muhammad Hamad
Published: September 2015

We propose decoupling energy and sensing planes in WSN. This decoupling represents a paradigm shift as it can alleviate the fundamental problem of energy depletion in WSN and can (in theory) offer a sensor network with infinite lifetime. We present energy transference as the mode of decoupling energy by allowing energy to move between energy-rich and energy-poor nodes. We present a first practical energy distribution architecture that allows us to decouple energy supply from sensing activities. Such a separation of responsibilities enables us to utilize abundant energy sources distant from the sensing location, allowing unrestricted lifetime and resolving unequal energy consumption in WSN. We demonstrate energy transfer for practical decoupling using low-cost and low-footprint, laser μ-power beaming that powers current WSN platforms at 100 m of range. We design and implement LAMP, a tiered architecture to manage energy supply to both mesh and clustered WSN deployments using an energy distribution protocol. We evaluate our system to show that, for an additional cost of $29 per mote, LAMP can support perpetual mesh functionality for up to 40 sensors or 120 nodes in clustered operation.
Acquired Hemophilia A with a Rare Presentation of Acute Subdural Hematoma
Authors: Sehara Yoshihide , Hayashi Yuka , Mimuro Jun
Published: September 2015

An 80-year-old man was admitted for acute subdural hematoma caused by a mild brain injury. His coagulation test showed an isolated prolongation of activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT). Though the subdural hematoma did not progress, oozing bleed from the wound of tracheostomy continued. Failure of correction on aPTT mixing test supported the presence of an inhibitor to a coagulation factor. Once the diagnosis of acquired hemophilia A (AHA) was made, steroid therapy was performed, which leads him to complete remission of AHA. Isolated prolongation of aPTT can be the key to diagnose a rare coagulopathy, such as AHA.
Optimization of Electrochemical Treatment Process Conditions for Distillery Effluent Using Response Surface Methodology
Authors: Arulmathi P. , Elangovan G. , Begum A. Farjana
Published: September 2015

Distillery industry is recognized as one of the most polluting industries in India with a large amount of annual effluent production. In this present study, the optimization of electrochemical treatment process variables was reported to treat the color and COD of distillery spent wash using Ti/Pt as an anode in a batch mode. Process variables such as pH, current density, electrolysis time, and electrolyte dose were selected as operation variables and chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color removal efficiency were considered as response variable for optimization using response surface methodology. Indirect electrochemical‐oxidation process variables were optimized using Box‐Behnken response surface design (BBD). The results showed that electrochemical treatment process effectively removed the COD (89.5%) and color (95.1%) of the distillery industry spent wash under the optimum conditions: pH of 4.12, current density of 25.02 mA/cm2, electrolysis time of 103.27 min, and electrolyte (NaCl) concentration of 1.67 g/L, respectively.
Efficient Design of Flexible and Low Cost Paper-Based Inkjet-Printed Antenna
Authors: Mansour A. M. , Shehata N. , Hamza B. M. , Rizk M. R. M.
Published: September 2015

A new, efficient, flexible, and cheap antenna designed at 1.57 GHz microstrip patch antenna based on simple inkjet printer with improved performance using silver nanoparticles ink is developed. The antenna is printed on a kind of flexible substrate “glossy paper,” to offer the advantage of light and flexibility for different applications. The performance of silver nanoparticles ink has been studied through inkjet printing versus postsynthesis annealing and multilayer printing. The conductivity has been improved to have promising values up to 2 Ω/cm at temperatures up to 180°C. The surface morphology of the circuits has been analyzed using SEM with mean diameter of the nanoparticles around 100 nm, uniform surface distribution, and mean thickness of the printed layer around 230 microns. Also, a simple design of a coplanar waveguide (CPW) monopole Z-shaped antenna has been considered as an application of fabricated printed antenna using the studied silver nanoparticles ink through a cheap printer.
Altered Traffic of Cardiolipin during Apoptosis: Exposure on the Cell Surface as a Trigger for “Antiphospholipid Antibodies”
Authors: Manganelli Valeria , Capozzi Antonella , Recalchi Serena , Signore Michele , Mattei Vincenzo , Garofalo Tina , Misasi Roberta , Degli Esposti Mauro , Sorice Maurizio
Published: September 2015

Apoptosis has been reported to induce changes in the remodelling of membrane lipids; after death receptor engagement, specific changes of lipid composition occur not only at the plasma membrane, but also in intracellular membranes. This paper focuses on one important aspect of apoptotic changes in cellular lipids, namely, the redistribution of the mitochondria-specific phospholipid, cardiolipin (CL). CL predominantly resides in the inner mitochondrial membrane, even if the rapid remodelling of its acyl chains and the subsequent degradation occur in other membrane organelles. After death receptor stimulation, CL appears to concentrate into mitochondrial “raft-like” microdomains at contact sites between inner and outer mitochondrial membranes, leading to local oligomerization of proapoptotic proteins, including Bid. Clustering of Bid in CL-enriched contacts sites is interconnected with pathways of CL remodelling that intersect membrane traffic routes dependent upon actin. In addition, CL association with cytoskeleton protein vimentin was observed. Such novel association also indicated that CL molecules may be expressed at the cell surface following apoptotic stimuli. This observation adds a novel implication of biomedical relevance. The association of CL with vimentin at the cell surface may represent a “new” target antigen in the context of the apoptotic origin of anti-vimentin/CL autoantibodies in Antiphospholipid Syndrome.
Amodiaquine and Ciprofloxacin Combination in Plasmodiasis Therapy
Authors: Ubulom Peace Mayen Edwin , Udobi Chinweizu Ejikeme , Madu Mark Iheukwumere
Published: September 2015

Objective. The study was designed to determine the efficacy of combined Amodiaquine and Ciprofloxacin in plasmodiasis therapy.Method. The in vivo antiplasmodial effect of different dosage levels of Amodiaquine, Ciprofloxacin, and their combinations againstPlasmodium berghei bergheiwas evaluated using Swiss albino mice.Results. Amodiaquine (a known antiplasmodial agent) had a fairly significant antiplasmodial effect reducing the parasites for every 100 red blood cells (RBC) from 66 to 16 (75.75%) at the tolerable dosage level of 7.5 mg/kg body weight while Ciprofloxacin (an antibiotic known to have antimalarial effect) showed an insignificant antiplasmodial effect reducing the parasites for every 100 RBC from 65 to 64 (1.53%) at the tolerable dosage level of 10.7 mg/kg body weight. Conversely, the combination therapy of Amodiaquine and Ciprofloxacin had a significant antiplasmodial effect at all the doses administered. The combination of 7.5 mg/kg of Amodiaquine and 12.8 mg/kg of Ciprofloxacin, however, showed the most significant antiplasmodial effect of the doses used reducing the number of parasites per 100 RBC from 60 to 10 (83.33%).Conclusions. Appropriate Amodiaquine and Ciprofloxacin combination will be effective for the treatment of malaria and better than either Amodiaquine or Ciprofloxacin singly at their recommended dosage levels.