bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Energy- and performance-aware scheduling of tasks on parallel and distributed systems
Authors: Sheikh Hafiz Fahad , Tan Hengxing , Ahmad Ishfaq , Ranka Sanjay , Bv Phanisekhar
Published: November 2012

Enabled by high-speed networking in commercial, scientific, and government settings, the realm of high performance is burgeoning with greater amounts of computational and storage resources. Large-scale systems such as computational grids consume a significant amount of energy due to their massive sizes. The energy and cooling costs of such systems are often comparable to the procurement costs over a year period. In this survey, we will discuss allocation and scheduling algorithms, systems, and software for reducing power and energy dissipation of workflows on the target platforms of single processors, multicore processors, and distributed systems. Furthermore, recent research achievements will be investigated that deal with power and energy efficiency via different power management techniques and application scheduling algorithms. The article provides a comprehensive presentation of the architectural, software, and algorithmic issues for energy-aware scheduling of workflows on single, multicore, and parallel architectures. It also includes a systematic taxonomy of the algorithms developed in the literature based on the overall optimization goals and characteristics of applications.
DAHM
Authors: Abbasi Zahra , Mukherjee Tridib , Varsamopoulos Georgios , Gupta Sandeep K. S.
Published: November 2012

Dynamic Application Hosting Management (DAHM) is proposed for geographically distributed data centers, which decides on the number of active servers and on the workload share of each data center. DAHM achieves cost-efficient application hosting by taking into account: (i) the spatio-temporal variation of energy cost, (ii) the data center computing and cooling energy efficiency, (iii) the live migration cost, and (iv) any SLA violations due to migration overhead or network delay. DAHM is modeled as
fixed-charge min-cost flow
and
mixed integer programming
for stateless and stateful applications, respectively, and it is shown NP-hard. We also develop heuristic algorithms and prove, when applications are stateless and servers have an identical power consumption model, that the approximation ratio on the minimum total cost is bounded by the number of data centers. Further, the heuristics are evaluated in a simulation study using realistic parameter data; compared to a performance-oriented application assignment, that is, hosting at the data center with the least delay, the potential cost savings of DAHM reaches 33%. The savings come from reducing the total number of active servers as well as leveraging the cost efficiency of data centers. Through the simulation study, the article further explores how relaxing the delay requirement for a small fraction of users can increase the cost savings of DAHM.
Analysis of capacity improvement by directional antennas in wireless sensor networks
Authors: Zhang Jun , Jia Xiaohua , Zhou Yuan
Published: November 2012

In this article we analyze capacity improvement by directional antennas over omni antennas in wireless sensor networks. The capacity in our analysis is the end-to-end per-node throughput. We analyze the typical traffic pattern for sensor networks, where traffics are destined to or originated from the sink. The main results of our analysis are summarized as follows. (1) The network capacity is
O
(1/
N
) for both omni and directional antennas, where
N
is the number of sensor nodes in the network. (2) In the case of line deployment, the capacity ratio of directional antennas over omni antennas is bounded by (2
q
+3)/(2
q
-1), where
q
is the ratio of the interference radius to the transmission radius. (3) In the case of two-dimensional deployment, the capacity for using directional antennas is
O
(1/θ) for
m
= 2, and
O
(lg
m
/θ
2
lg(1/θ)) for
m
> 2, where
m
is the number of radios (antennas) on each node and θ is the beamwidth of antennas. (4) When there are
n
> 1 sinks, the capacity has a non-monotonic relationship with the transmission radius. The optimal transmission radius depends on the ratio of
n/q
. (5) The capacity ratio of directional antennas over omni antennas in multi-channel networks decreases as the channel number/radio number ratio
c/m
increases.
Distributed state estimation in sensor networks with randomly occurring nonlinearities subject to time delays
Authors: Liang Jinling , Wang Zidong , Shen Bo , Liu Xiaohui
Published: November 2012

This article is concerned with a new distributed state estimation problem for a class of dynamical systems in sensor networks. The target plant is described by a set of differential equations disturbed by a Brownian motion and randomly occurring nonlinearities (RONs) subject to time delays. The RONs are investigated here to reflect network-induced randomly occurring regulation of the delayed states on the current ones. Through available measurement output transmitted from the sensors, a distributed state estimator is designed to estimate the states of the target system, where each sensor can communicate with the neighboring sensors according to the given topology by means of a directed graph. The state estimation is carried out in a distributed way and is therefore applicable to online application. By resorting to the Lyapunov functional combined with stochastic analysis techniques, several delay-dependent criteria are established that not only ensure the estimation error to be globally asymptotically stable in the mean square, but also guarantee the existence of the desired estimator gains that can then be explicitly expressed when certain matrix inequalities are solved. A numerical example is given to verify the designed distributed state estimators.
A new data aggregation scheme via adaptive compression for wireless sensor networks
Authors: Kasirajan Priya , Larsen Carl , Jagannathan S.
Published: November 2012

Data aggregation is necessary for extending the network lifetime of wireless sensor nodes with limited processing and power capabilities, since energy expended in transmitting a single data bit would be at least several orders of magnitude higher when compared to that needed for a 32-bit computation. Therefore, in this article, a novel nonlinear adaptive pulse coded modulation-based compression (NADPCMC) scheme is proposed for data aggregation in a wireless sensor network (WSN). The NADPCMC comprises of two estimators—one at the source or transmitter and the second one at the destination node. The estimator at the source node approximates the data value for each sample. The difference between the data sample and its estimate is quantized and transmitted to the next hop node instead of the actual data sample, thus reducing the amount of data transmission and rending energy savings. A similar estimator at the next hop node or base station reconstructs the original data. It is demonstrated that repeated application of the NADPCMC scheme along the route in a WSN results in data aggregation. Satisfactory performance of the proposed scheme in terms of distortion, compression ratio, and energy efficiency and in the presence of estimation and quantization errors for data aggregation is demonstrated using the Lyapunov approach. Then the performance of the proposed scheme is contrasted with the available compression schemes in an NS-2 environment through several benchmarking datasets. Simulation and hardware results demonstrate that almost 50% energy savings with low distortion levels below 5% and low overhead are observed when compared to no compression. Iteratively applying the proposed compression scheme at the cluster head nodes along the routes over the network yields an additional improvement of 20% in energy savings per aggregation with an overall distortion below 8%.
Traffic modeling and prediction using sensor networks
Authors: Shuai Zaihong , Yoon Sangseok , Oh Songhwai , Yang Ming-Hsuan
Published: November 2012

We propose a probabilistic framework for modeling and predicting traffic patterns using information obtained from wireless sensor networks. For concreteness, we apply the proposed framework to a smart building application in which traffic patterns of humans are modeled and predicted through human detection and matching of their images taken from cameras at different locations. Experiments with more than 100,000 images of over 40 subjects demonstrate promising results in traffic pattern prediction using the proposed algorithm. The algorithm can also be applied to other applications, including surveillance, traffic monitoring, abnormality detection, and location-based services. In addition, the long-term deployment of the network can be used for security, energy conservation, and utilization improvement of smart buildings.
A practical theory of micro-solar power sensor networks
Authors: Jeong Jaein , Culler David
Published: November 2012

Building a micro-solar power system is challenging because it must address long-term system behavior under highly variable solar energy and consider a large design space. We develop a practical theory of micro-solar power systems that is materialized in a simulation suite that models component and system behavior over a long time scale and in an external environment that depends on time, location, weather, and local variations. This simulation provides sufficient accuracy to guide specific design choices in a large design space. Unlike the many macro-solar calculators, this design tool models detailed behavior of milliwatt systems in the worst conditions, rather than typical behavior of kilowatt systems in the best conditions. Our simulation suite is validated with a concrete design of micro-solar power systems, the HydroWatch node. With our simulation suite, micro-solar power systems can be designed in a systematic fashion. Putting the model and empirical vehicle together, the design choices in each component of a micro-solar power system are studied to reach a deployable candidate. The deployment is evaluated by analyzing the effects of different solar profiles across the network. The analysis from the deployment can be used to refine the next system-design iteration.
Can more code mean fewer bugs?
Authors: Neville-Neil George V.
Published: November 2012

The bytes you save today may bite you tomorrow.
Why we need an ACM Special Interest Group for broadening participation
Authors: Dahlberg Teresa A.
Published: November 2012

A proposal for an international group focused on broadening participation.
Moving beyond the Turing test
Authors: French Robert M.
Published: November 2012

Computers interacting with, not imitating, humans is the way forward.
An introduction to data representation synthesis
Authors: Hawkins Peter , Rinard Martin , Aiken Alex , Sagiv Mooly , Fisher Kathleen
Published: November 2012

We consider the problem of specifying combinations of data structures with complex sharing in a manner that is declarative and results in provably correct code. In our approach, abstract data types are specified using relational algebra and functional dependencies. We describe a language of decompositions that permits the user to specify different concrete representations for relations, and show that operations on concrete representations soundly implement their relational specification. We also describe an auto-tuner that automatically identifies the best decomposition for a particular workload. It is easy to incorporate data representations synthesized by our compiler into existing systems, leading to code that is simpler, correct by construction, and comparable in performance to the code it replaces.
Efficient Entity Translation Mining
Authors: You Gae-Won , Hwang Seung-Won , Song Young-In , Jiang Long , Nie Zaiqing
Published: November 2012

This article studies the problem of mining entity translation, specifically, mining English and Chinese name pairs. Existing efforts can be categorized into (a) transliteration-based approaches that leverage phonetic similarity and (b) corpus-based approaches that exploit bilingual cooccurrences. These approaches suffer from inaccuracy and scarcity, respectively. In clear contrast, we use under-leveraged resources of monolingual entity cooccurrences crawled from entity search engines, which are represented as two entity-relationship graphs extracted from two language corpora, respectively. Our problem is then abstracted as finding correct mappings across two graphs. To achieve this goal, we propose a holistic approach to exploiting both transliteration similarity and monolingual cooccurrences. This approach, which builds upon monolingual corpora, complements existing corpus-based work requiring scarce resources of parallel or comparable corpus while significantly boosting the accuracy of transliteration-based work. In addition, by parallelizing the mapping process on multicore architectures, we speed up the computation by more than 10 times per unit accuracy. We validated the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed approach using real-life datasets.
Effectiveness and detection of denial-of-service attacks in tor
Authors: Danner Norman , Defabbia-Kane Sam , Krizanc Danny , Liberatore Marc
Published: November 2012

Tor is one of the more popular systems for anonymizing near-real-time communications on the Internet. Borisov et al. [2007] proposed a denial-of-service-based attack on Tor (and related systems) that significantly increases the probability of compromising the anonymity provided. In this article, we analyze the effectiveness of the attack using both an analytic model and simulation. We also describe two algorithms for detecting such attacks, one deterministic and proved correct, the other probabilistic and verified in simulation.
Dynamic enforcement of abstract separation of duty constraints
Authors: Basin David , Burri Samuel J. , Karjoth Günter
Published: November 2012

Separation of Duties (SoD) aims at preventing fraud and errors by distributing tasks and associated authorizations among multiple users. Li and Wang [2008] proposed an algebra (SoDA) for specifying SoD requirements, which is both expressive in the requirements it formalizes and abstract in that it is not bound to a workflow model. In this article, we bridge the gap between the specification of SoD constraints modeled in SoDA and their enforcement in a dynamic, service-oriented enterprise environment. We proceed by generalizing SoDA's semantics to traces, modeling workflow executions that satisfy the respective SoDA terms. We then refine the set of traces induced by a SoDA term to also account for a workflow's control-flow and role-based authorizations. Our formalization, which is based on the process algebra CSP, supports the enforcement of SoD on general workflows and handles changing role assignments during workflow execution, addressing a well-known source of fraud.

The resulting CSP model serves as blueprint for a distributed and loosely coupled architecture where SoD enforcement is provisioned as a service. This concept, which we call SoD as a Service, facilitates a separation of concerns between business experts and security professionals. As a result, integration and configuration efforts are minimized and enterprises can quickly adapt to organizational, regulatory, and technological changes. We describe an implementation of SoD as a Service, which combines commercial components such as a workflow engine with newly developed components such as an SoD enforcement monitor. To evaluate our design decisions and to demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, we present a case study of a drug dispensation workflow deployed in a hospital.
Survey of object-oriented metrics
Authors: Sharma Meenakshi , Gill Nasib S. , Sikka Sunil
Published: November 2012

To quantify various attributes of object-oriented software systems, numerous object-oriented metrics have been proposed by various researchers. This paper surveys existing object-oriented metrics by focusing on the two major issues-Validation and Formal Specification. This paper provides researchers with an understanding of existing object-oriented metrics in terms of validation and formal specification. Because few metrics are validated and formally specified, there is a need of both validation and formal specification of object-oriented metrics.
S2PF
Authors: Zhang Yufeng , Chen Zhenbang , Wang Ji
Published: November 2012

Recently, symbolic execution has gained a significant progress in its techniques and applications. However, in practice, scalability is still a key challenge for symbolic execution. In this paper, we present S2PF, which improves the scalability of Symbolic PathFinder by integrating speculative symbolic execution with the general heuristic search framework. In addition, two optimizations are proposed to improve the speculative symbolic execution in S2PF. Experimental results on six programs show that, S2PF can reduce the solver invocations by 36.4% to 48.7% (with an average of 40.3%), and save the search time by 30.6% to 43.5% (with an average of 35%).
Temporal and spatial distribution of murine placental and brain GLUT3-luciferase transgene as a readout of in vivo transcription
Authors: Thamotharan Shanthie , Stout David , Shin Bo-Chul , Devaskar Sherin U.
Published: November 2012

To investigate in vivo transcription of the facilitative glucose transporter isoform-GLUT3 gene, we created GLUT3-firefly luciferase transgenic mouse lines that demonstrate tissue-specific [adult: brain > testis ≥ skeletal muscle > placenta; postnatal (PN): skeletal muscle > brain = skin], temporal, and spatial distribution of the reporter gene/enzyme activity that is unique from endogenous GLUT3 mRNA/protein. In this mouse model, luciferase expression/activity serving as a readout of in vivo transcription peaked at 12 days gestation along with proliferating cell nuclear antigen (cell replication) in placenta and embryonic brain preceding peak GLUT3 protein expression at 18–19 days gestation. In contrast, a postnatal increase in brain luciferase mRNA peaked with endogenous GLUT3 mRNA, but after that of NeuroD6 protein (neurogenesis) at PN7. Luciferase activity paralleled GLUT3 protein expression with Na+-K+-ATPase (membrane expansion) and synaptophysin (synaptogenesis) proteins, peaking at PN14 and lasting until 60 days in the adult. Thus GLUT3 transcription in placenta and embryonic brain coincided with cell proliferation and in postnatal brain with synaptogenesis. Longitudinal noninvasive bioluminescence (BLI) monitoring of in vivo brain GLUT3 transcription reflected cross-sectional ex vivo brain luciferase activity only between PN7 and PN21. Hypoxia/reoxygenation at PN7 revealed transcriptional increase in brain GLUT3 expression reflected by in vivo BLI and ex vivo luciferase activity. These observations collectively support a temporal contribution by transcription toward ensuring adequate tissue-specific, developmental (placenta and embryonic brain), and postnatal hypoxic brain GLUT3 expression.
The mTORC1 signaling repressors REDD1/2 are rapidly induced and activation of p70S6K1 by leucine is defective in skeletal muscle of an immobilized rat hindlimb
Authors: Kelleher Andrew R. , Kimball Scot R. , Dennis Michael D. , Schilder Rudolf J. , Jefferson Leonard S.
Published: November 2012

Limb immobilization, limb suspension, and bed rest cause substantial loss of skeletal muscle mass, a phenomenon termed disuse atrophy. To acquire new knowledge that will assist in the development of therapeutic strategies for minimizing disuse atrophy, the present study was undertaken with the aim of identifying molecular mechanisms that mediate control of protein synthesis and mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to unilateral hindlimb immobilization for 1, 2, 3, or 7 days or served as nonimmobilized controls. Following an overnight fast, rats received either saline or l-leucine by oral gavage as a nutrient stimulus. Hindlimb skeletal muscles were extracted 30 min postgavage and analyzed for the rate of protein synthesis, mRNA expression, phosphorylation state of key proteins in the mTORC1 signaling pathway, and mTORC1 signaling repressors. In the basal state, mTORC1 signaling and protein synthesis were repressed within 24 h in the soleus of an immobilized compared with a nonimmobilized hindlimb. These responses were accompanied by a concomitant induction in expression of the mTORC1 repressors regulated in development and DNA damage responses (REDD) 1/2. The nutrient stimulus produced an elevation of similar magnitude in mTORC1 signaling in both the immobilized and nonimmobilized muscle. In contrast, phosphorylation of 70-kDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase 1 (p70S6K1) on Thr229 and Thr389 in response to the nutrient stimulus was severely blunted. Phosphorylation of Thr229 by PDK1 is a prerequisite for phosphorylation of Thr389 by mTORC1, suggesting that signaling through PDK1 is impaired in response to immobilization. In conclusion, the results show an immobilization-induced attenuation of mTORC1 signaling mediated by induction of REDD1/2 and defective p70S6K1 phosphorylation.
Asymmetric sleep in apneic human patients
Authors: Rial Rubén , González Julián , Gené Lluis , Akaârir Mourad , Esteban Susana , Gamundí Antoni , Barceló Pere , Nicolau Cristina
Published: November 2012

Unilateral sleep in marine mammals has been considered to be a defense against airway obstruction, as a sentinel for pod maintenance, and as a thermoregulatory mechanism. Birds also show asymmetric sleep, probably to avoid predation. The variable function of asymmetric sleep suggests a general capability for independence between brain hemispheres. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea share similar problems with diving mammals, but their eventual sleep asymmetry has received little attention. The present report shows that human sleep apnea patients also present temporary interhemispheric variations in dominance during sleep, with significant differences when comparing periods of open and closed airways. The magnitude of squared coherence, an index of interhemispheric EEG interdependence in phase and amplitude, rises in the delta EEG range during apneic episodes, while the phase lag index, a measure of linear and nonlinear interhemispheric phase synchrony, drops to zero. The L index, which measures generalized nonlinear EEG interhemispheric synchronization, increases during apneic events. Thus, the three indexes show significant and congruent changes in interhemispheric symmetry depending on the state of the airways. In conclusion, when confronted with a respiratory challenge, sleeping humans undergo small, but significant, breathing-related oscillations in interhemispheric dominance, similar to those observed in marine mammals. The evidence points to a relationship between cetacean unihemispheric sleep and their respiratory challenges.
A Case of Disseminated Histoplasmosis Detected in Peripheral Blood Smear Staining Revealing AIDS at Terminal Phase in a Female Patient from Cameroon
Authors: Ebenye Christine Mandengue
Published: November 2012

Histoplasmosis is endemic in the American continent and also in Sub-Saharan Africa, coexisting with the African histoplasmosis. Immunosuppressed patients, especially those with advanced HIV infection develop a severe disseminated histoplasmosis with fatal prognosis. The definitive diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis is based on the detection ofHistoplasma capsulatumfrom patient’ tissues samples or body fluids. Among the diagnostic tests peripheral blood smear staining is not commonly used. Nonetheless a few publications reveal thatHistoplasma capsulatumhas been discovered by chance using this method in HIV infected patients with chronic fever and hence revealed AIDS at the terminal phase. We report a new case detected in a Cameroonian woman without any previous history of HIV infection. Peripheral blood smear staining should be commonly used for the diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis in the Sub-Saharan Africa, where facilities for mycology laboratories are unavailable.
Simulated Annealing‐Based Ant Colony Algorithm for Tugboat Scheduling Optimization
Authors: Xu Qi , Mao Jun , Jin Zhihong
Published: November 2012

As the “first service station” for ships in the whole port logistics system, the tugboat operation system is one of the most important systems in port logistics. This paper formulated the tugboat scheduling problem as a multiprocessor task scheduling problem (MTSP) after analyzing the characteristics of tugboat operation. The model considers factors of multianchorage bases, different operation modes, and three stages of operations (berthing/shifting‐berth/unberthing). The objective is to minimize the total operation times for all tugboats in a port. A hybrid simulated annealing‐based ant colony algorithm is proposed to solve the addressed problem. By the numerical experiments without the shifting‐berth operation, the effectiveness was verified, and the fact that more effective sailing may be possible if tugboats return to the anchorage base timely was pointed out; by the experiments with the shifting‐berth operation, one can see that the objective is most sensitive to the proportion of the shifting‐berth operation, influenced slightly by the tugboat deployment scheme, and not sensitive to the handling operation times.
Lie Groups Analysis and Contact Transformations for Ito System
Authors: Al-Shomrani M. M.
Published: November 2012

Generalized Ito systems of four coupled nonlinear evaluation equations are proposed. New classes of exact invariant solutions by using Lie group analysis are obtained. Moreover, we investigate the existence of a one‐parameter group of contact transformations for a generalized Ito system. Consequently, we study the relationship between one‐parameter group of a contact transformation and a one‐parameter Lie point transformation for a generalized Ito system.
Image Restoration Based on the Hybrid Total‐Variation‐Type Model
Authors: Shi Baoli , Pang Zhi-Feng , Yang Yu-Fei
Published: November 2012

We propose a hybrid total‐variation‐type model for the image restoration problem based on combining advantages of the ROF model with the LLT model. Since two L1‐norm terms in the proposed model make it difficultly solved by using some classically numerical methods directly, we first employ the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) to solve a general form of the proposed model. Then, based on the ADMM and the Moreau‐Yosida decomposition theory, a more efficient method called the proximal point method (PPM) is proposed and the convergence of the proposed method is proved. Some numerical results demonstrate the viability and efficiency of the proposed model and methods.
New Rising Infection: Human Herpesvirus 6 Is Frequent in Myeloma Patients Undergoing Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation after Induction Therapy with Bortezomib
Authors: Horowitz Netanel , Oren Ilana , Lavi Noa , Zuckerman Tsila , Benyamini Noam , Kra-Oz Zipi , Held Viki , Avivi Irit
Published: November 2012

Herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infection is a common complication during immunosuppression. Its significance for multiple myeloma (MM) patients undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) after treatment with novel agents affecting immune system remains undetermined. Data on 62 consecutive MM patients receiving bortezomib-dexamethasone (VD) (; 66%) or thalidomide-dexamethasone (TD) (, 34%) induction, together with melphalan 200 mg/m2 autograft between 01.2005 and 09.2010, were reviewed. HHV-6 reactivation was diagnosed in patients experiencing postengraftment unexplained fever (PEUF) in the presence of any level of HHHV-6 DNA in blood. There were no statistically significant differences in patient characteristics between the groups, excluding dexamethasone dosage, which was significantly higher in patients receiving TD. Eight patients in TD and 18 in VD cohorts underwent viral screening for PEUF. HHV-6 reactivation was diagnosed in 10 patients of the entire series (16%), accounting for 35% of those screened; its incidence was 19.5% () in the VD group versus 9.5% () in the TD group. All patients recovered without sequelae. In conclusion, HHV-6 reactivation is relatively common after ASCT, accounting for at least a third of PEUF episodes. Further studies are warranted to investigate whether bortezomib has an impact on HHV-6 reactivation development.
Direct Quantitative Analysis of Arsenic in Coal Fly Ash
Authors: Hartuti Sri , Kambara Shinji , Takeyama Akihiro , Kumabe Kazuhiro , Moritomi Hiroshi
Published: November 2012

A rapid, simple method based on graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry is described for the direct determination of arsenic in coal fly ash. Solid samples were directly introduced into the atomizer without preliminary treatment. The direct analysis method was not always free of spectral matrix interference, but the stabilization of arsenic by adding palladium nitrate (chemical modifier) and the optimization of the parameters in the furnace program (temperature, rate of temperature increase, hold time, and argon gas flow) gave good results for the total arsenic determination. The optimal furnace program was determined by analyzing different concentrations of a reference material (NIST1633b), which showed the best linearity for calibration. The optimized parameters for the furnace programs for the ashing and atomization steps were as follows: temperatures of 500–1200 and 2150°C, heating rates of 100 and 500°C s−1, hold times of 90 and 7 s, and medium then maximum and medium argon gas flows, respectively. The calibration plots were linear with a correlation coefficient of 0.9699. This method was validated using arsenic-containing raw coal samples in accordance with the requirements of the mass balance calculation; the distribution rate of As in the fly ashes ranged from 101 to 119%.
Scanning Electron Microscopy and Kinetic Studies of Ketene-Acetylated Wood/Cellulose High-Density Polyethylene Blends
Authors: Azeh Yakubu , Olatunji Gabriel Ademola , Mamza Paul Andrew
Published: November 2012

Acetylated cellulose and wood cellulose as well as untreated cellulose polyethylene blends were subjected to kinetic studies using water, 0.5 M NaOH, and 0.5 M HCl solutions in order to investigate their absorbent properties at 0.5/1.0 cellulose/wood cellulose/polyethylene matrix. The results of the absorption studies showed that the untreated cellulose and wood cellulose blends absorbed water and the acid and alkali solutions higher than the treated samples, which showed a reduction in acid, alkali, and water uptake. In this work, the effects of acetylation on the morphological studies of the polyethylene blends were obvious. The presence of acetyl groups improved the interfacial bonding between the polymer matrix and cellulose as well as the wood cellulose fibers, as evidenced by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
BDKRB2+9/−9 Polymorphism Is Associated with Higher Risk for Diabetes Mellitus in the Brazilian General Population
Authors: Alvim Rafael de Oliveira , Santos Paulo C. J. L. , Nascimento Raimundo M. , Coelho George L. L. M. , Mill José G. , Krieger José E. , Pereira Alexandre C.
Published: November 2012

Some mechanisms have been proposed to explain the role of bradykinin on glucose homeostasis and some studies reported that theBDKRB2+9/−9 polymorphism was associated to the transcriptional activity of the receptor. In this scenario, the main aim of this study was to evaluate the association of theBDKRB2+9/−9 polymorphism with diabetes mellitus risk in the Brazilian general population. This study included 1,032 subjects of the general urban population. Anthropometrical, blood pressure, biochemical, and genotype analyses for theBDKRB2+9/−9 bp insertion/deletion polymorphism were performed. Individuals carrying +9/+9 or +9/−9 genotypes had higher glucose values (84.5 mg/dL versus 80.6 mg/dL, resp.) and higher frequency of diabetes mellitus (7.6% versus 3.6%, resp.) compared to individuals carrying −9/−9, adjusting for age and gender. In addition, higher diabetes mellitus risk was associated to presence of the +9/+9 or +9/−9 genotypes (OR = 1.91; 95% CI = 1.09–4.19;P=0.03). Our data suggest that theBDKRB2+9/-9 polymorphism may act as a genetic modulator of glucose homeostasis. It was previously associated to insulin sensitivity, glucose uptake, and insulin secretion, and, in this study, data suggest that the polymorphism may increase susceptibility to chronic metabolic conditions such as diabetes in the Brazilian population.
Fabric Tensor Characterization of Tensor‐Valued Directional Data: Solution, Accuracy, and Symmetrization
Authors: Leng Kuang-dai , Yang Qiang
Published: November 2012

Fabric tensor has proved to be an effective tool statistically characterizing directional data in a smooth and frame‐indifferent form. Directional data arising from microscopic physics and mechanics can be summed up as tensor‐valued orientation distribution functions (ODFs). Two characterizations of the tensor‐valued ODFs are proposed, using the asymmetric and symmetric fabric tensors respectively. The later proves to be nonconvergent and less accurate but still an available solution for where fabric tensors are required in full symmetry. Analytic solutions of the two types of fabric tensors characterizing centrosymmetric and anticentrosymmetric tensor‐valued ODFs are presented in terms of orthogonal irreducible decompositions in both two‐ and three‐dimensional (2D and 3D) spaces. Accuracy analysis is performed on normally distributed random ODFs to evaluate the approximation quality of the two characterizations, where fabric tensors of higher orders are employed. It is shown that the fitness is dominated by the dispersion degree of the original ODFs rather than the orders of fabric tensors. One application of tensor‐valued ODF and fabric tensor in continuum damage mechanics is presented.
A Systems Biology Approach to Uncovering Pharmacological Synergy in Herbal Medicines with Applications to Cardiovascular Disease
Authors: Wang Xia , Xu Xue , Tao Weiyang , Li Yan , Wang Yonghua , Yang Ling
Published: November 2012

Background. Clinical trials reveal that multiherb prescriptions of herbal medicine often exhibit pharmacological and therapeutic superiority in comparison to isolated single constituents. However, the synergistic mechanisms underlying this remain elusive. To address this question, a novel systems biology model integrating oral bioavailability and drug-likeness screening, target identification, and network pharmacology method has been constructed and applied to four clinically widely used herbs Radix Astragali Mongolici, Radix Puerariae Lobatae, Radix Ophiopogonis Japonici, and Radix Salviae Miltiorrhiza which exert synergistic effects of combined treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD).Results. The results show that the structural properties of molecules in four herbs have substantial differences, and each herb can interact with significant target proteins related to CVD. Moreover, the bioactive ingredients from different herbs potentially act on the same molecular target (multiple-drug-one-target) and/or the functionally diverse targets but with potentially clinically relevant associations (multiple-drug-multiple-target-one-disease). From a molecular/systematic level, this explains why the herbs within a concoction could mutually enhance pharmacological synergy on a disease.Conclusions. The present work provides a new strategy not only for the understanding of pharmacological synergy in herbal medicine, but also for the rational discovery of potent drug/herb combinations that are individually subtherapeutic.
Clinical Usefulness of the Serological Gastric Biopsy for the Diagnosis of Chronic Autoimmune Gastritis
Authors: Antico Antonio , Tampoia Marilina , Villalta Danilo , Tonutti Elio , Tozzoli Renato , Bizzaro Nicola
Published: November 2012

Aim. To assess the predictive value for chronic autoimmune gastritis (AIG) of the combined assay of anti-parietal-cell antibodies (PCA), anti-intrinsic-factor antibodies (IFA), anti-Helicobacter pylori(Hp) antibodies, and measurement of blood gastrin.Methods. We studied 181 consecutive patients with anemia, due to iron deficiency resistant to oral replacement therapy or to vitamin B12 deficiency.Results. 83 patients (45.8%) tested positive for PCA and underwent gastroscopy with multiple gastric biopsies. On the basis of the histological diagnosis, PCA-positive patients were divided into 4 groups: (1) 30 patients with chronic atrophic gastritis; they had high concentrations of PCA and gastrin and no detectable IFA; (2) 14 subjects with metaplastic gastric atrophy; they had high PCA, IFA, and gastrin; (3) 18 patients with nonspecific lymphocytic inflammation with increased PCA, normal gastrin levels, and absence of IFA; (4) 21 patients with multifocal atrophic gastritis with “borderline” PCA, normal gastrin, absence of IFA and presence of anti-Hp in 100% of the cases.Conclusions. The assay of four serological markers proved particularly effective in the diagnostic classification of gastritis and highly correlated with the histological profile. As such, this laboratory diagnostic profile may be considered an authentic “serological biopsy.”
New Solutions for (1+1)‐Dimensional and (2+1)‐Dimensional Ito Equations
Authors: Bhrawy A. H. , Alhuthali M. Sh. , Abdelkawy M. A.
Published: November 2012

Using the extended F‐expansion method based on computerized symbolic computation technique, we find several new solutions of (1+1)‐dimensional and (2+1)‐dimensional Ito equations. These solutions contain hyperbolic and triangular solutions. It is shown that the power of the extended F‐expansion method is its ease of use to determine shock or solitary type of solutions. In addition, as an illustrative sample, the properties for the extended F‐expansion solutions of the Ito equations are shown with some figures.
Noncompetitive Gametic Isolation between Sibling Species of Cricket: A Hypothesized Link between Within-Population Incompatibility and Reproductive Isolation between Species
Authors: Marshall Jeremy L. , DiRienzo Nicholas
Published: November 2012

Postmating, prezygotic phenotypes are a common mechanism of reproductive isolation. Here, we describe the dynamics of a noncompetitive gametic isolation phenotype (namely, the ability of a male to induce a female to lay eggs) in a group of recently diverged crickets that are primarily isolated from each other by this phenotype. We not only show that heterospecific males are less able to induce females to lay eggs but that there are male by female incompatibilities in this phenotype that occur within populations. We also identify a protein in the female reproductive tract that correlates with the number of eggs that she was induced to lay. Functional genetic tests using RNAi confirm that the function of this protein is linked to egg-laying induction. Moreover, the dysfunction of this protein appears to underlie both within-population incompatibilities and between-species divergence—thus suggesting a common genetic pathway underlies both. However, this is only correlative evidence and further research is needed to assess whether or not the same mutations in the same genes underlie variation at both levels.
Stable Zero Lagrange Duality for DC Conic Programming
Authors: Fang D. H.
Published: November 2012

We consider the problems of minimizing a DC function under a cone‐convex constraint and a set constraint. By using the infimal convolution of the conjugate functions, we present a new
constraint qualification which completely characterizes the Farkas‐type lemma and the stable zero Lagrange duality gap property for DC conical programming problems in locally convex spaces.
Osteosarcoma of the Mandible Masquerading as a Dental Abscess: Report of a Case
Authors: Anil Sukumaran , Krishnan Anitha P. , Rajendran R.
Published: November 2012

An aggressive and fatal case of osteosarcoma of the mandible in a 19-year-old female is reported. Six weeks after the clinical appearance of the swelling, the patient died. This paper is unique in that the age of occurrence and the biologic behavior of the tumor were not consistent with the reported literature. The case report is followed by a brief review of osteosarcoma of the jaw with a note on its clinical presentation, diverse radiologic appearance, varied histopathologic picture, and prognosis.
Global Attractors in H1(ℝN) for Nonclassical Diffusion Equations
Authors: Ma Qiao-zhen , Liu Yong-feng , Zhang Fang-hong
Published: November 2012

We study the existence of global attractors for nonclassical diffusion equations in H1(ℝN). The nonlinearity satisfies the arbitrary order polynomial growth conditions.
Representing Smoothed Spectrum Estimate with the Cauchy Integral
Authors: Li Ming
Published: November 2012

Estimating power spectrum density (PSD) is essential in signal processing. This short paper gives a theorem to represent a smoothed PSD estimate with the Cauchy integral. It may be used for the approximation of the smoothed PSD estimate.
An Association between Bevacizumab and Recurrent Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome in a Patient Presenting with Deep Vein Thrombosis: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Lazarus Mark , Amundson Stanley , Belani Rajesh
Published: November 2012

Background. The posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a syndrome characterized by hypertension, headache, seizures, and visual disturbances. Causes of PRES include preeclampsia/eclampsia, hypertension, and recently bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor. There is no information to date about PRES recurrence in patients taking bevacizumab or descriptions of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the setting of PRES. We reviewed data on a patient receiving bevacizumab who presented with a DVT and PRES and later developed recurrent PRES.Case. A 72-year-old man with metastatic pulmonary adenocarcinoma received maintenance bevacizumab following six cycles of carboplatin and paclitaxel. Following his eighth dose of bevacizumab, he developed a DVT as well as PRES. He made a rapid recovery and was discharged from the hospital but went on to develop PRES recurrence nine days following his original episode.Conclusion. Several mechanisms exist whereby exposure to bevacizumab could be related to the development of both DVT and PRES by inducing global endothelial dysfunction. Recurrent PRES may result from bevacizumab’s prolonged half-life (11–50 days) and suboptimal blood pressure control. In the setting of bevacizumab, PRES surveillance may play a similar role in preeclampsia screening as both diseases share similar antiangiogenic signaling pathways.
Association of Lipids with Oxidative Stress Biomarkers in Subclinical Hypothyroidism
Authors: Santi Adriana , Duarte Marta M. M. F. , de Menezes Charlene C. , Loro Vania Lucia
Published: November 2012

Objective. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the oxidative stress biomarkers in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (n=20) and health controls (n=20).Subjects and Methods. Total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TGs), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARSs), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and arylesterase (ARE) were analyzed.Results. TC, LDL-C, TBARS, and CAT were higher in subclinical hypothyroidism patients, whereas SOD did not change. Arylesterase activity was significantly lower in the SH group, compared with the control group. Correlation analyses revealed the association of lipids (TC and LDL-C) with both oxidative stress biomarkers and thyrotropin (TSH). Thyroid hormones were correlated only with triglyceride levels. In addition, TSH was significantly correlated with TBARS, CAT, and SOD. However, no significant correlations were observed after controlling TC levels.Conclusions. We found that SH patients are under increased oxidative stress manifested by reduced ARE activity and elevated lipoperoxidation and CAT activity. Secondary hypercholesterolemia to thyroid dysfunction and not hypothyroidismper seappears to be associated with oxidative stress in subclinical hypothyroidism.
Knowledge Reduction Based on Divide and Conquer Method in Rough Set Theory
Authors: Hu Feng , Wang Guoyin
Published: November 2012

The divide and conquer method is a typical granular computing method using multiple levels of abstraction and granulations. So far, although some achievements based on divided and conquer method in the rough set theory have been acquired, the systematic methods for knowledge reduction based on divide and conquer method are still absent. In this paper, the knowledge reduction approaches based on divide and conquer method, under equivalence relation and under tolerance relation, are presented, respectively. After that, a systematic approach, named as the abstract process for knowledge reduction based on divide and conquer method in rough set theory, is proposed. Based on the presented approach, two algorithms for knowledge reduction, including an algorithm for attribute reduction and an algorithm for attribute value reduction, are presented. Some experimental evaluations are done to test the methods on uci data sets and KDDCUP99 data sets. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed approaches are efficient to process large data sets with good recognition rate, compared with KNN, SVM, C4.5, Naive Bayes, and CART.
Development of Combination HIV Prevention Programs for People Who Inject Drugs through Government and Civil Society Collaboration in the Russian Federation
Authors: Volik M. V. , Karmanova G. A. , Berezina E. B. , Kresina T. F. , Sadykova R. G. , Khalabuda L. N. , Fattakhov F. Z.
Published: November 2012

Population Services International (PSI) has worked collaboratively with several government institutions of the Russian Federation to develop and implement a model program to access health services for individuals who are opioid dependent, including those with HIV infection. Through the development of partnership agreements between government organizations (GOs) and non-government organizations (NGOs), a model of the continuum of care has been developed that identifies a Recommended Package of HIV Prevention Services for Injecting Drug Users (RPS-IDU). The implementation of the RPS-IDU in the Russian Federation offers a model for other countries with HIV epidemics associated with injection drug use. This paper will describe the model program and its implementation in one of the pilot program regions.
Asymptotic Methods for Solitary Solutions and Compactons
Authors: He Ji-Huan
Published: November 2012

This paper is an elementary introduction to some new asymptotic methods for the search for the solitary solutions of nonlinear differential equations, nonlinear differential‐difference equations, and nonlinear fractional differential equations. Particular attention is paid throughout the paper to giving an intuitive grasp for the variational approach, the Hamiltonian approach, the variational iteration method, the homotopy perturbation method, the parameter‐expansion method, the Yang‐Laplace transform, the Yang‐Fourier transform, and ancient Chinese mathematics. Hamilton principle and variational principles are also emphasized. The reviewed asymptotic methods are easy to be followed for various applications. Some ideas on this paper are first appeared.