bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nuclear ribonucleoprotein RALY downregulates foot-and-mouth disease virus replication but antagonized by viral 3C protease
Authors: Wu Jin'en , Sun Chao , Guan Junyong , Abdullah Sahibzada Waheed , Wang Xuefei , Ren Mei , Qiao Lu , Sun Shiqi , Guo Huichen
Published: February 2024

The internal ribosome entry site (IRES) element constitutes a cis-acting RNA regulatory sequence that recruits the ribosomal initiation complex in a cap-independent manner, assisted by various RNA-binding proteins and IRES
trans
-acting factors. Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) contains a functional IRES element and takes advantage of this element to subvert host translation machinery. Our study identified a novel mechanism wherein RALY, a member of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNP) family belonging to RNA-binding proteins, binds to the domain 3 of FMDV IRES via its RNA recognition motif residue. This interaction results in the downregulation of FMDV replication by inhibiting IRES-driven translation. Furthermore, our findings reveal that the inhibitory effect exerted by RALY on FMDV replication is not attributed to the FMDV IRES-mediated assembly of translation initiation complexes but rather to the impediment of 80S ribosome complex formation after binding with 40S ribosomes. Conversely, 3C
pro
of FMDV counteracts RALY-mediated inhibition by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Therefore, these results indicate that RALY, as a novel critical IRES-binding protein, inhibits FMDV replication by blocking the formation of 80S ribosome, providing a deeper understanding of how viruses recruit and manipulate host factors.

IMPORTANCE

The translation of FMDV genomic RNA driven by IRES element is a crucial step for virus infections. Many host proteins are hijacked to regulate FMDV IRES-dependent translation, but the regulatory mechanism remains unknown. Here, we report for the first time that cellular RALY specifically interacts with the IRES of FMDV and negatively regulates viral replication by blocking 80S ribosome assembly on FMDV IRES. Conversely, RALY-mediated inhibition is antagonized by the viral 3C protease by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. These results would facilitate further understanding of virus-host interactions and translational control during viral infection.
Duration of Sturtian “Snowball Earth” glaciation linked to exceptionally low mid-ocean ridge outgassing
Authors: Dutkiewicz Adriana , Merdith Andrew S. , Collins Alan S. , Mather Ben , Ilano Lauren , Zahirovic Sabin , Müller R. Dietmar
Published: February 2024

The Sturtian “Snowball Earth” glaciation (ca. 717–661 Ma) is regarded as the most extreme interval of icehouse climate in Earth’s history. The exact trigger and sustention mechanisms for this long-lived global glaciation remain obscure. The most widely debated causes are silicate weathering of the ca. 718 Ma Franklin large igneous province (LIP) and changes in the length and degassing of continental arcs. A new generation of two independent Neoproterozoic full-plate tectonic models now allows us to quantify the role of tectonics in initiating and sustaining the Sturtian glaciation. We find that continental arc length remains relatively constant from 850 Ma until the end of the glaciation in both models and is unlikely to play a role. The two plate motion models diverge in their predictions of the timing and progression of Rodinia break-up, ocean-basin age, ocean-basement depth, sea-level evolution, and mid-ocean ridge (MOR) carbon outflux. One model predicts MOR outflux and ocean basin volume–driven sea level lower than during the Late Cenozoic glaciation, while the other predicts outgassing and sea level exceeding those of the Late Cretaceous hothouse climate. The second model would preclude a major glaciation, while the first model implies that the trigger for the Sturtian glaciation could have been a combination of an extremely low MOR outflux (~9 Mt C/yr) and Franklin LIP weathering. Such minimal outflux could have maintained an icehouse state for 57 m.y. when silicate weathering was markedly reduced, with a gradual build-up of MOR CO2 in the atmosphere paired with terrestrial volcanism leading to its termination.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical management trends for acute appendicitis among the under-25s: a retrospective study
Authors: Faitna Puji , Harwood Rachel , Kenny Simon E , Viner Russell M , Aylin Paul P , Hargreaves Dougal S , Bottle Alex
Published: February 2024

Objective

To describe the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on acute appendicitis management on children and young people (CYP).

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

All English National Health Service hospitals.

Patients

Acute appendicitis admissions (all, simple, complex) by CYP (under-5s, 5–9s, 10–24s).

Exposure

Study pandemic period: February 2020–March 2021. Comparator pre-pandemic period: February 2015–January 2020.

Main outcome measures

Monthly appendicectomy and laparoscopic appendicectomy rate trends and absolute differences between pandemic month and the pre-pandemic average. Proportions of appendicitis admissions comprising complex appendicitis by hospital with or without specialist paediatric centres were compared.

Results

101 462 acute appendicitis admissions were analysed. Appendicectomy rates fell most in April 2020 for the 5–9s (−18.4% (95% CI −26.8% to −10.0%)) and 10–24s (−28.4% (−38.9% to −18.0%)), driven by reductions in appendicectomies for simple appendicitis. This was equivalent to −54 procedures (−68.4 to −39.6) and −512 (−555.9 to −467.3) for the 5–9s and 10–24s, respectively. Laparoscopic appendicectomies fell in April 2020 for the 5–9s (−15.5% (−23.2% to −7.8%)) and 10–24s (−44.8% (−57.9% to −31.6%) across all types, which was equivalent to −43 (−56.1 to 30.3) and −643 (−692.5 to −593.1) procedures for the 5–9s and 10–24s, respectively. A larger proportion of complex appendicitis admissions were treated within trusts with specialist paediatric centres during the pandemic.

Conclusions

For CYP across English hospitals, a sharp recovery followed a steep reduction in appendicectomy rates in April 2020, due to concerns with COVID-19 transmission. This builds on smaller-sized studies reporting the immediate short-term impacts.
Using the providers’ perspective on video review of neonatal procedures to create a roadmap: a qualitative study
Authors: Heesters Veerle , van Zanten Henriëtte A , den Boer Maria C , te Pas Arjan B , Witlox Ruben SGM
Published: February 2024

Objective

To examine the providers’ perceptions and experiences on implementation of video review (VR) of procedures in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Design

Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with neonatal care providers about their experiences with VR. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed using the data analysis software Atlas.ti V.22.2.

Setting

Providers working in the NICU of the Leiden University Medical Center were interviewed during implementation of VR.

Results

In total, 28 NICU staff members were interviewed. The interviewed providers appreciated VR and valued the focus on a safe learning environment. Five overarching themes were identified: (1) added value: providers reported that VR is a powerful tool for reflection on daily practice and serves as a magnifying glass on practice, provides a helicopter view and VR with nursing and medical staff together led to new insights and was seen as highly valuable; (2) preconditions and considerations: the existing culture of trust on the NICU positively influenced providers’ perception; (3) adjustment: it was recommended to first let providers attend a VR session, before being recorded; (4) experiences with VR: suggestions were made by the providers regarding the preparation and organisation of VR and the role of the chair; (5) embedding VR: providers considered how to embed VR on the long-term while maintaining a safe learning environment and provided suggestions for expanding.

Conclusion

Neonatal care providers appreciated the use of VR and provided viewpoints on how to implement VR successfully, which were used to develop a roadmap with recommendations.
Hoffman syndrome with the classic sign of myoedema and an unusual finding of systolic heart failure
Authors: Paul Anna , Nair Aditya Vijayakrishnan , Krupa Jesu , Iyadurai Ramya
Published: February 2024

A man in his 20s presented with a 6-year history of calf muscle hypertrophy, proximal muscle weakness and muscle cramps. Along with this, he also had patchy hair loss, facial puffiness and slurring of speech. On examination, he had mild symmetrical proximal muscle weakness, a delayed relaxation phase of his deep tendon reflexes and a rare neurological sign of myoedema. His laboratory investigations revealed elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone levels with high creatine kinase levels, and an echocardiogram showed left ventricular systolic dysfunction. He was diagnosed with Hoffman syndrome, a rare pseudohypertrophic myopathy associated with severe and prolonged hypothyroidism. He had an excellent response to thyroid hormone replacement.
Transnasal endoscopic drainage of neonatal orbital abscess
Authors: Balaraj Soujanya , Sridhar Aishwarya , Sajith Milu , Channegowda Chandrakiran
Published: February 2024

Neonatal orbital complications are rare and potentially fatal, demanding prompt diagnosis and adequate treatment. A 25-day-old neonate presented with rapidly progressive orbital complications as evidenced by proptosis, chemosis, lid oedema and restricted eye movements, developing within 3 days. There was no significant medical history or risk factors for developing infection. An initial conservative approach with antimicrobial therapy failed to show any resolve. An MRI brain, orbits and paranasal sinuses demonstrated that there were features suggestive of right orbital cellulitis with possibility of abscess formation with right ethmoidal mucoinflammatory disease and mass effect on the optic nerve causing stretching and compression by the surrounding inflammation.

The patient was treated successfully with transnasal endoscopic drainage and decompression. Endoscopic access was challenging owing to the restrictive anatomy. Postoperatively, the patient showed improvement, with gradual decrease in proptosis and resolve in eye movements.
Violence and delusional jealousy in Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Laurell Axel Anders Stefan , Watson Emily , Hatfield Catherine F , Dudas Robert B
Published: February 2024

Psychosis in Parkinson’s disease (PD) can have a hugely detrimental effect on patient outcomes and quality of life. It can be a feature of PD itself, or can be exacerbated by the very pharmacological agents that are prescribed to treat the motor symptoms of the disease. The treatment of psychosis in PD is often complex, with clinicians having to balance the debilitating physical symptoms of PD against the risk of exacerbating the psychosis. We describe the case of an octogenarian who presented with violence motivated by delusional jealousy in the context of PD, who was treated in a specialist psychiatric inpatient environment.
Rhodococcus erythropolisseptic arthritis
Authors: Grant Leah M , Seville Maria T , Graf Erin H , Vikram Holenarasipur R
Published: February 2024

A woman in her 50s presented with a 4-day history of left knee pain, erythema, swelling as well as malaise and rigours 1 month after undergoing a left knee meniscectomy. She was diagnosed with left native knee septic arthritis and underwent arthroscopic irrigation and debridement of the knee; cultures from synovial tissue grewRhodococcus erythropolis. Rhodococcusspp are soil-dwelling and livestock-dwelling bacteria which occasionally cause disease in immunocompromised hosts. Infection in immunocompetent hosts is rare, and septic arthritis secondary toRhodococcus erythropolishas not been reported previously.
Suitability of paediatric legislation beyond the USA and Europe: a qualitative study on access to paediatric medicines
Authors: Volodina Anna , Jahn Albrecht , Jahn Rosa
Published: February 2024

Background

Paediatric legislation has contributed to better access to appropriate treatments in the European Union and the USA by requiring paediatric research in return for financial incentives. This study explored whether similar policies could improve access to medicines in other countries.

Methods

We conducted 46 interviews with representatives from healthcare practice, patient organisations and health authorities from six countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Kenya, Russia and South Africa) as well as multinational pharmaceutical companies exploring their views regarding access barriers to paediatric medicines. Emphasis was placed on regulation-related barriers and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Where participants were familiar with paediatric legislation, views regarding its relevance for domestic context were explored in depth.

Results

Insufficient paediatric research and development, regulatory hurdles and reimbursement constraints were reported to be relevant access barriers in all studied settings. In the absence of marketing registration or reimbursement, access to paediatric medicines was associated with increased legal, financial and informational barriers. Brazil, Kenya, Russia and South Africa additionally described overarching deficiencies in medicines provision systems, particularly in procurement and supply. The COVID-19 pandemic was said to have reduced regulatory hurdles while further heightening global access inequalities.

Views regarding paediatric legislation were mixed. Concerns regarding the implementation of such policies focused on regulatory resource constraints, enforceability and potential reduction of industry activity.

Conclusions

The study findings suggest that paediatric legislation may be most impactful in mature health systems and should be accompanied by measures addressing access barriers beyond marketing registration. This could include strengthening domestic manufacturing capacities and technology transfer for medicines with high public health relevance. Ideally, legislative changes would build on global harmonisation of paediatric legislation, which could be achieved through existing WHO structures.
Coping strategies of fathers and siblings of children with cancer: a literature review
Authors: Rea Teresa , Sansone Vincenza , Zibaldo Andrea , Bellingrath Anna , Guillari Assunta
Published: February 2024

Introductions

The impact of paediatric cancer diagnosis on the family system is universally recognised, as well as the need for the family to find a new balance. Paediatric nurses, being promoters of the care of family and children diagnosed with cancer, need to deepen the experiences of siblings, fathers and mothers to offer better holistic child and family centred care. Although other literature reviews on this topic are present, none of these take into consideration the coping strategies of fathers and siblings in an aggregative way, as we do in this paper. The aim of this study is to look into the coping strategies of healthy siblings and fathers during the therapeutic process of a child with cancer.

Methods

An aggregative literature review was conducted through the consultation of some of the main electronic databases. Studies satisfying the following criteria were included: (a) primary studies conducted in the last 10 years, (b) published in English or Italian, (c) focusing on coping strategies adopted at diagnosis and during therapy by fathers and siblings of children with cancer.

Results

The results were collected in three main categories looking at the problem from the parents’, the siblings’ and eventually the whole family’s points of view. The three categories have in common the expression of contrasting feelings by each member of the family that generates changes in roles and responsibilities.

Conclusions

Further studies are needed to better understand how nurses can lead a family centred care approach to improve the general familiar management and coping strategies.
Trajectories of antidepressant use before and after union dissolution and re-partnering in later life: a prospective total population register-based cohort study
Authors: Hu Yaoyue , Metsä-Simola Niina , Malmberg Satu , Martikainen Pekka
Published: February 2024

Background

Grey divorce and later remarriage have become increasingly common in high-income countries, but previous evidence on their impacts on mental health is scarce. Even less is known about the effects of non-marital separation and re-partnering in later life.

Methods

Using Finnish registry data from 1996 to 2018 on 228 644 individuals aged 50–70 in 2000–2014, trajectories of antidepressant (AD) use 4 years before and 4 years after divorce, non-marital separation, bereavement and subsequent re-partnering were examined using individual fixed-effects (FE) linear probability models.

Results

In adjusted FE models, for both genders AD use increased during the 4 years before divorce (men: 5.00 percentage points (95% CI 4.50 to 5.50); women: 6.96 (95% CI 6.34 to 7.59)), non-marital separation (men: 3.20 (95% CI 2.72 to 3.69); women: 5.98 (95% CI 5.30 to 6.66)) and bereavement (men: 4.53 (95% CI 3.97 to 5.09); women: 5.64 (95% CI 5.25 to 6.04)), with the increase accelerating immediately before the event. AD use gradually declined after union dissolution, after which it stabilised on a persistently higher level compared with pre-dissolution. Re-partnering was only associated with a small and transitory reduction in AD use (0.1–1.5 percentage points). The increases in AD use associated with union dissolution were larger in women than in men, whereas the small reductions in AD use associated with re-partnering were particularly short-lived among women.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that union dissolution in later life is associated with large and persistent increases in AD use, whereas the reductions associated with re-partnering are limited both in magnitude and duration.
Prognostic value of right ventricular free-wall longitudinal strain in patients with pulmonary hypertension: systematic review and meta-analyses
Authors: Nabeshima Yosuke , Kitano Tetsuji , Node Koichi , Takeuchi Masaaki
Published: February 2024

Background

Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is associated with adverse outcomes in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the prognostic value of RV free-wall longitudinal strain (RVfwLS), compared with other RV parameters in PH.

Methods

We searched for articles presenting the HR of two-dimensional RVfwLS in PH. HRs were standardised using the within-study SD. The ratio of HRs of a 1 SD change in RVfwLS versus systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (SPAP), systolic tricuspid annular velocities (s’-TV), RV fractional area change (FAC) or tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) was calculated for each study, after which we conducted a random model meta-analysis. Subgroup analysis regarding the type of outcome, aetiology of PH and software vendor was also performed.

Results

Twenty articles totalling 2790 subjects were included. The pooled HR of a 1 SD decrease of RVfwLS was 1.80 (95% CI: 1.62 to 2.00, p<0.001), and there was a significant association with all-cause death (ACD) and composite endpoints (CEs). The ratio of HR analysis revealed that RVfwLS has a significant, strong association with ACD and CE per 1 SD change, compared with corresponding values of SPAP, s’-TV, RVFAC or TAPSE. RVfwLS was a significant prognostic factor regardless of the aetiology of PH. However, significant superiority of RVfwLS versus other parameters was not observed in group 1 PH.

Conclusions

The prognostic value of RVfwLS in patients with PH was confirmed, and RVfwLS is better than other RV parameters and SPAP. Further accumulation of evidence is needed to perform a detailed subgroup analysis for each type of PH.

Trial registration number

UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000052679).
Axion-polaritons in quark stars: a possible solution to the missing pulsar problem
Authors: Ferrer E. J. , Incera V. de la
Published: February 2024

This paper proposes an alternative mechanism to solve the so-called missing pulsar problem, a standing paradox between the theoretical expectations about the number of pulsars that should exist in the galaxy center of the Milky Way and their absence in the observations. The mechanism is based on the transformation of incident $$\gamma $$
γ
rays into hybridized modes, known as axion-polaritons, which can exist inside highly magnetized quark stars with a quark matter phase known as the magnetic dual chiral density wave phase. This phase, which is favored over several other dense matter phases candidates at densities a few times nuclear saturation density, has already passed several important astrophysical tests. In the proposed mechanism, the absence of young magnetars occurs because as electromagnetic waves inside the star can only propagate through the hybridized modes, incident photons coming from a $$\gamma $$
γ
-ray burst get transformed into massless and massive axion polaritons by the Primakoff effect. Once thermalized, the massive axion-polaritons can self-gravitate up to a situation where their total mass overpasses the Chandrasekhar limit for these bosons, producing a mini blackhole that collapses the star.
How long do neutrinos live and how much do they weigh?
Authors: Pompa Federica , Mena Olga
Published: February 2024

The next-generation water Cherenkov Hyper-Kamiokande detector will be able to detect thousands of neutrino events from a galactic Supernova explosion via Inverse Beta Decay processes followed by neutron capture on Gadolinium. This superb statistics provides a unique window to set bounds on neutrino properties, as its mass and lifetime. We shall explore the capabilities of such a future detector, constraining the former two properties via the time delay and the flux suppression induced in the Supernovae neutrino time and energy spectra. Special attention will be devoted to the statistically sub-dominant elastic scattering induced events, normally neglected, which can substantially improve the neutrino mass bound via time delays. When allowing for a invisible decaying scenario, the 95% CL lower bound on $$\tau /m$$

τ
/
m

is almost one order of magnitude better than the one found with SN1987A neutrino events. Simultaneous limits can be set on both $$m_\nu $$

m
ν

and $$\tau _{\nu }$$

τ
ν

, combining the neutrino flux suppression with the time-delay signature: the best constrained lifetime is that of $$\nu _1$$

ν
1

, which has the richest electronic component. We find $$\tau _{\nu _1}\gtrsim 4\times 10^5$$

τ

ν
1

≳
4
×

10
5

 s at 95% CL. The tightest 95% CL bound on the neutrino mass we find is 0.34 eV, which is not only competitive with the tightest neutrino mass limits nowadays, but also comparable to future laboratory direct mass searches. Both mass and lifetime limits are independent on the mass ordering, which makes our results very robust and relevant.
Correlation of horizons and black hole thermodynamics
Authors: Hashemi S. Sedigheh , Azarnia Sanam
Published: February 2024

For black holes with more than one horizon, the existence of a global temperature is not fully understood. This can affect the thermodynamics of these black holes to be unclear. In this paper, using the method of quantum tunneling, we find a global temperature for asymptotically AdS multi-horizon black holes appeared in three-dimensional quasitopological gravities given by [Formula: see text], in which the effective surface gravity is related to the surface gravity of each horizon. We also find a global temperature for the asymptotically warped AdS3 black holes, having the same expression as the AdS multi-horizon black holes. In all of the cases the global temperature differs from the conventional Hawking temperature.
New Class of Discrete-Time Memristor Circuits: First Integrals, Coexisting Attractors and Bifurcations Without Parameters
Authors: Di Marco Mauro , Forti Mauro , Pancioni Luca , Tesi Alberto
Published: February 2024

The use of ideal memristors in a continuous-time (CT) nonlinear circuit is known to greatly enrich the dynamic behavior with respect to the memristorless counterpart, which is a crucial property for applications in future analog electronic circuits. This can be explained via the flux–charge analysis method (FCAM), according to which CT circuits with ideal memristors have for structural reasons first integrals (or invariants of motion, or conserved quantities) and their state space can be foliated in infinitely many invariant manifolds where they can display different dynamics. The paper introduces a new discretization scheme for the memristor which, differently from those adopted in the literature, guarantees that the first integrals of the CT memristor circuits are preserved exactly in the discretization, and that this is true for any step size. This new scheme makes it possible to extend FCAM to discrete-time (DT) memristor circuits and rigorously show the existence of invariant manifolds and infinitely many coexisting attractors (extreme multistability). Moreover, the paper addresses standard bifurcations varying the discretization step size and also bifurcations without parameters, i.e. bifurcations due to varying the initial conditions for fixed step size and circuit parameters. The method is illustrated by analyzing the dynamics and flip bifurcations with and without parameters in a DT memristor–capacitor circuit and the Poincaré–Andronov–Hopf bifurcation in a DT Murali–Lakshmanan–Chua circuit with a memristor. Simulations are also provided to illustrate bifurcations in a higher-order DT memristor Chua’s circuit. The results in the paper show that DT memristor circuits obtained with the proposed discretization scheme are able to display even richer dynamics and bifurcations than their CT counterparts, due to the coexistence of infinitely many attractors and the possibility to use the discretization step as a parameter without destroying the foliation in invariant manifolds.
Some Properties of a Discrete Lorenz System Obtained by Variable Midpoint Method and Its Application to Chaotic Signal Modulation
Authors: Rybin Vyacheslav , Butusov Denis , Babkin Ivan , Pesterev Dmitry , Arlyapov Viacheslav
Published: February 2024

Various discretization effects caused by applying numerical integration techniques to continuous chaotic systems are broadly studied in nonlinear science. Along with the negative impact on the precision of the various finite-difference schemes, such effects may have surprisingly fruitful practical applications, e.g. pseudo-random number generation, image encryption with improved diffusion and confusion properties, chaotic path planning, and many others. One such application is chaos-based communication systems which gained attention in recent decades due to their high covertness and broadband transmission capability. A crucial problem in the design of chaotic communication systems is the modulation of carrier signals. Due to the noise-like properties of chaotic signals, they can barely be modulated using the same methods as conventional harmonic signals. Thus, developing new modulation techniques is of great interest in the field of chaotic communications. In this study, we investigate the discrete model of the Lorenz oscillator obtained using controllable midpoint numerical integration and develop a novel modulation technique for chaos-based communication systems. We discover and analyze the multistability phenomenon in the dynamics of the investigated finite-difference Lorenz model through bifurcation, the basin of attraction, and Lyapunov spectrum analysis procedures. Using a specially designed testbench, we explicitly show that the proposed modulation method outperforms commonly used parametric modulation and is nearly equal to the state-of-the-art symmetry-based modulation in terms of covertness and noise resistivity. In addition, the proposed modulation technique is much easier to implement using computer arithmetics, especially in fixed-point hardware. The reported results may be efficiently applied to designing advanced chaos-based communications systems or improving the characteristics of existing communication system architectures.
A New Memristive System with Extreme Multistability and Hidden Chaotic Attractors and with Application to Image Encryption
Authors: Zhao Guangzhe , Zhao He , Zhang Yunzhen , An Xinlei
Published: February 2024

Chaotic systems have proven highly beneficial in engineering applications. Pseudo-random numbers produced by chaotic systems have been used for secure communication, notably image encryption. Specific characteristics can increase the chaotic behavior of the system by adding complexity and nonlinearity. The three most well-known characteristics are memristive properties, multistability (coexisting attractors), and hidden attractors. These characteristics strengthen the produced time series’ unpredictability and randomness, strengthening an encryption algorithm’s resistance to many attacks. This study introduces a unique four-dimensional chaotic system with extreme multistability with respect to three initial conditions (including the memristor initial condition) and all previously known properties. It is rare to find an extreme multistable system like this. This system is coupled with a quadratic flux-controlled memristor based on the well-known Sprott J system. This system has a line of unstable equilibrium points with hidden attractors. The memristor displays the characteristic pinched hysteresis loops, where the area inside a loop and the voltage frequency are inversely related. A comprehensive dynamical analysis thoroughly examines all system characteristics and initial conditions. The numerical findings are carefully verified, and an analog circuit is successfully built and simulated. The chaotic sequences generated by this system are combined with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) operations and the global bit scrambling (GBS) technique to create an image encryption algorithm that has strong resistance to a variety of potential attacks, including noise, statistical, exhaustive, differential, and cropping attacks.
Generating Chaos with Saddle-Focus Homoclinic Orbit
Authors: Zhang Chaoxia , Zhang Shangzhou , Zhang Yuqing
Published: February 2024

This paper develops an anticontrol approach to design a 3D continuous-time autonomous chaotic system with saddle-focus homoclinic orbit, based on two chaotification criterions for all orbits to be globally bounded with positive Lyapunov exponents. By using the Shil’nikov theorem, a Poincaré return map near the origin is found in the designed controlled system, confirming the existence of chaos in sense of the Smale horseshoe.
Global Dynamics of a Fisheries Economic Model with Gradient Adjustment
Authors: Zhou Huan , Li Xian-Feng , Jiang Jun , Leung Andrew Y. T.
Published: February 2024

Taking into account the nonlinear demand function, we have developed a multi-agent fishery economic model, where a multitude of agents are bounded by rationality. The fishing decisions of these agents are driven by a profit gradient mechanism. To assess the local stability of the system, stability analysis is performed with the Jury criterion. The investigation has revealed the presence of two conventional paths to chaos, namely, the flip bifurcation and the Neimark–Sacker bifurcation. This was achieved by mapping the stability regions and stability curves of the Nash equilibrium. The multistability of the system is further explored on two-dimensional planes on which the influence of joint parameters on the system’s stability is demonstrated. The existence of Arnold’s tongue has demonstrated unparalleled complexity and intricate interactions across different scales of the system. Both critical curves and basins of attraction are illustrated to gain insight into global bifurcations. The chaotic attractor is found to be confined within specific boundaries. The findings clearly show higher maximum instantaneous demand, relatively slower adjustment speed, and lower price sensitivity. Arguably, a controlled cost would lead to sustainable fishing resources. Moreover, the results also suggest that the agents would benefit more from confined conditions.
Multi-Instance Learning with One Side Label Noise
Authors: Luan Tianxiang , Gu Shilin , Tang Xijia , Zhuge Wenzhang , Hou Chenping
Published: February 2024

Multi-instance Learning (MIL) is a popular learning paradigm arising from many real applications. It assigns a label to a set of instances, which is called a bag, and the bag’s label is determined by the instances within it. A bag is positive if and only if it has at least one positive instance. Since labeling bags is more complicated than labeling each instance, we will often face the mislabeling problem in MIL. Furthermore, it is more common that a negative bag has been mislabeled to a positive one, since one mislabeled instance will lead to the change of the whole bag label. This is an important problem that originated from real applications, e.g., web mining and image classification, but little research has concentrated on it as far as we know. In this article, we focus on this MIL problem with one side label noise that the negative bags are mislabeled as positive ones. To address this challenging problem, we propose, to the best our our knowledge, a novel multi-instance learning method with one side label noise. We design a new double weighting approach under traditional framework to characterize the “faithfulness” of each instance and each bag in learning the classifier. Briefly, on the instance level, we employ a sparse weighting method to select the key instances, and the MIL problem with one size label noise is converted to a mislabeled supervised learning scenario. On the bag level, the weights of bags, together with the selected key instances, will be utilized to identify the real positive bags. In addition, we have solved our proposed model by an alternative iteration method with proved convergence behavior. Empirical studies on various datasets have validated the effectiveness of our method.
Try with Simpler - An Evaluation of Improved Principal Component Analysis in Log-based Anomaly Detection
Authors: Yang Lin , Chen Junjie , Gao Shutao , Gong Zhihao , Zhang Hongyu , Kang Yue , Li Huaan
Published: February 2024

With the rapid development of deep learning (DL), the recent trend of log-based anomaly detection focuses on extracting semantic information from log events (i.e., templates of log messages) and designing more advanced DL models for anomaly detection. Indeed, the effectiveness of log-based anomaly detection can be improved, but these DL-based techniques further suffer from the limitations of more heavy dependency on training data (such as data quality or data labels) and higher costs in time and resources due to the complexity and scale of DL models, which hinder their practical use. On the contrary, the techniques based on traditional machine learning or data mining algorithms are less dependent on training data and more efficient but produce worse effectiveness than DL-based techniques, which is mainly caused by the problem of unseen log events (some log events in incoming log messages are unseen in training data) confirmed by our motivating study. Intuitively, if we can improve the effectiveness of traditional techniques to be comparable with advanced DL-based techniques, then log-based anomaly detection can be more practical. Indeed, an existing study in the other area (i.e., linking questions posted on Stack Overflow) has pointed out that traditional techniques with some optimizations can indeed achieve comparable effectiveness with the state-of-the-art DL-based technique, indicating the feasibility of enhancing traditional log-based anomaly detection techniques to some degree.

Inspired by the idea of “try-with-simpler,” we conducted the first empirical study to explore the potential of improving traditional techniques for more practical log-based anomaly detection. In this work, we optimized the traditional unsupervised PCA (Principal Component Analysis) technique by incorporating a lightweight semantic-based log representation in it, called
SemPCA
, and conducted an extensive study to investigate the potential of
SemPCA
for more practical log-based anomaly detection. By comparing seven log-based anomaly detection techniques (including four DL-based techniques, two traditional techniques, and
SemPCA
) on both public and industrial datasets, our results show that
SemPCA
achieves comparable effectiveness as advanced supervised/semi-supervised DL-based techniques while being much more stable under insufficient training data and more efficient, demonstrating that the traditional technique can still excel after small but useful adaptation.
DeepGD: A Multi-Objective Black-Box Test Selection Approach for Deep Neural Networks
Authors: Aghababaeyan Zohreh , Abdellatif Manel , Dadkhah Mahboubeh , Briand Lionel
Published: February 2024

Deep neural networks (DNNs) are widely used in various application domains such as image processing, speech recognition, and natural language processing. However, testing DNN models may be challenging due to the complexity and size of their input domain. In particular, testing DNN models often requires generating or exploring large unlabeled datasets. In practice, DNN test oracles, which identify the correct outputs for inputs, often require expensive manual effort to label test data, possibly involving multiple experts to ensure labeling correctness. In this article, we propose
DeepGD
, a black-box multi-objective test selection approach for DNN models. It reduces the cost of labeling by prioritizing the selection of test inputs with high fault-revealing power from large unlabeled datasets.
DeepGD
not only selects test inputs with high uncertainty scores to trigger as many mispredicted inputs as possible but also maximizes the probability of revealing distinct faults in the DNN model by selecting diverse mispredicted inputs. The experimental results conducted on four widely used datasets and five DNN models show that in terms of fault-revealing ability, (1) white-box, coverage-based approaches fare poorly, (2)
DeepGD
outperforms existing black-box test selection approaches in terms of fault detection, and (3)
DeepGD
also leads to better guidance for DNN model retraining when using selected inputs to augment the training set.
Incorporating Multi-Level Sampling with Adaptive Aggregation for Inductive Knowledge Graph Completion
Authors: Sun Kai , Jiang Huajie , Hu Yongli , Yin Baocai
Published: February 2024

In recent years, Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have achieved unprecedented success in handling graph-structured data, thereby driving the development of numerous GNN-oriented techniques for inductive knowledge graph completion (KGC). A key limitation of existing methods, however, is their dependence on pre-defined aggregation functions, which lack the adaptability to diverse data, resulting in suboptimal performance on established benchmarks. Another challenge arises from the exponential increase in irrelated entities as the reasoning path lengthens, introducing unwarranted noise and consequently diminishing the model’s generalization capabilities. To surmount these obstacles, we design an innovative framework that synergizes
M
ulti-
L
evel
S
ampling with an
A
daptive
A
ggregation mechanism (MLSAA). Distinctively, our model couples GNNs with enhanced set transformers, enabling dynamic selection of the most appropriate aggregation function tailored to specific datasets and tasks. This adaptability significantly boosts both the model’s flexibility and its expressive capacity. Additionally, we unveil a unique sampling strategy designed to selectively filter irrelevant entities, while retaining potentially beneficial targets throughout the reasoning process. We undertake an exhaustive evaluation of our novel inductive KGC method across three pivotal benchmark datasets and the experimental results corroborate the efficacy of MLSAA.
A Systematic Mapping Study on Social Network Privacy: Threats and Solutions
Authors: Rodrigues Andrey , Villela Maria Lúcia , Feitosa Eduardo
Published: February 2024

Online Social Networks (OSNs) are becoming pervasive in today’s world. Millions of people worldwide are involved in different forms of online networking. However, this ease of use of OSNs comes with a cost in terms of privacy. Users of OSNs become victims of identity theft, cyberstalking, and information leakage, which are real threats to privacy. These threats can obtain a user’s personal information and disclose it for malicious purposes. To understand how researchers are addressing this question, the state of the art of the existing privacy threats in OSNs described in the literature and the existing academic research-based solutions to address such threats were reviewed. To this end, we performed a systematic mapping study to identify, classify and analyze them. From the initial set of 1,117 papers, we selected and extracted 45 publications reporting different threats and solutions. Based on this, this is the first systematic mapping study, to provide: a) well-defined categories of specific privacy threats in the OSN domain; and b) the available academic solutions for preventing these threats. Our results serve as a guide for researchers and analysts in academia and industry to understand the most important privacy threats in OSNs and make moves towards mitigating them.
Generalized Video Anomaly Event Detection: Systematic Taxonomy and Comparison of Deep Models
Authors: Liu Yang , Yang Dingkang , Wang Yan , Liu Jing , Liu Jun , Boukerche Azzedine , Sun Peng , Song Liang
Published: February 2024

Video Anomaly Detection (VAD) serves as a pivotal technology in the intelligent surveillance systems, enabling the temporal or spatial identification of anomalous events within videos. While existing reviews predominantly concentrate on conventional unsupervised methods, they often overlook the emergence of weakly-supervised and fully-unsupervised approaches. To address this gap, this survey extends the conventional scope of VAD beyond unsupervised methods, encompassing a broader spectrum termed Generalized Video Anomaly Event Detection (GVAED). By skillfully incorporating recent advancements rooted in diverse assumptions and learning frameworks, this survey introduces an intuitive taxonomy that seamlessly navigates through unsupervised, weakly-supervised, supervised and fully-unsupervised VAD methodologies, elucidating the distinctions and interconnections within these research trajectories. In addition, this survey facilitates prospective researchers by assembling a compilation of research resources, including public datasets, available codebases, programming tools, and pertinent literature. Furthermore, this survey quantitatively assesses model performance, delves into research challenges and directions, and outlines potential avenues for future exploration.
Timing Side-channel Attacks and Countermeasures in CPU Microarchitectures
Authors: Zhang Jiliang , Chen Congcong , Cui Jinhua , Li Keqin
Published: February 2024

Microarchitectural vulnerabilities, such as Meltdown and Spectre, exploit subtle microarchitecture state to steal the user’s secret data and even compromise the operating systems. In recent years, considerable discussion lies in understanding the attack-defense mechanisms and exploitability of such vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, there have been few investigations into a systematic elaboration of threat models, attack scenarios and requirements, and defense targets of the resulting attacks. In this article, we fill this gap and make the following contributions. We first propose two sets of taxonomies for classifying microarchitectural timing side-channel attacks and their countermeasures according to various attack conditions. Based on the taxonomies proposed, we then review published attacks and existing defenses and systematically analyze their internals. In particular, we also provide a comprehensive analysis of the similarities and differences among those attacks, uncovering the corresponding practicality and severity by identifying the attack targets/platforms and the security boundaries that can be bypassed to reveal information. We further examine the scalability of those defenses through specifying expected defense goals and costs. We also discuss corresponding detection methods based on different classifications. Finally, we propose several key challenges of existing countermeasures and the attack trends, and discuss directions for future research.
Understanding Learning Experience Design (LXD): Three learning leader perspectives
Authors: Howles Les
Published: February 2024

This article focuses on learning experience design (LXD) as an emergent concept and professional practice in need of greater clarity. At a 2023 national learning and development conference three prominent learning leaders were interviewed and asked to share their unique perspectives on LXD (Michael Allen, David Kelly, and Megan Torrance). Excerpts from these interviews are featured throughout the article. The author also provides background information on LXD, an analysis of perspectives, and a concluding synthesis on the current state of LXD where it is approached within the context of digital transformation as an emergent new form of learning design.
Periodic and aperiodic changes to cortical EEG in response to pharmacological manipulation
Authors: Salvatore Sofia V. , Lambert Peter M. , Benz Ann , Rensing Nicholas R. , Wong Michael , Zorumski Charles F. , Mennerick Steven
Published: February 2024

Neuropsychiatric illness may be associated with altered excitation/inhibition balance. A single electroencephalogram (EEG) parameter, the aperiodic exponent of power spectra, may predict the ratio between excitation and inhibition. Here, we use cortical EEGs in mice to evaluate this hypothesis, using pharmacological manipulations of known mechanism. We show that the aperiodic exponent of EEG power spectra is not a reliable marker of excitation/inhibition ratio. Thus, alternative markers of this ratio must be sought.
Lived Experiences of Widows Living in Mzuzu City, Malawi
Authors: Chipolombwe Vivien , Botha Janet , Chilinda Ides
Published: February 2024

The aim of the study was to understand the experiences of widows in Mzuzu city, Malawi. The study utilizes a qualitative narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of widows. Participants were identified in Chibanja, Zolozolo, and Chasefu townships within the city of Mzuzu. Ten participants were purposively selected and consented to be interviewed. Data were analyzed using Reisman’s approach of thematic narrative analysis. The study has revealed that some widows had their property seized following the death of their husbands. The findings have shown that most of the deceased husbands had small‐scale businesses and were living on what they had earned that day. This study recommends the Government of Malawi introduce social service programs where widows could be economically empowered through grants and monthly upkeep to help widows who are facing challenges in meeting their needs and to reinforce policies to prevent widows from facing challenges.