bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Providing fairness on shared-memory multiprocessors via process scheduling
Authors: Xu Di , Wu Chenggang , Yew Pen-Chung , Li Jianjun , Wang Zhenjiang
Published: July 2012

Competition for shared memory resources on multiprocessors is the most dominant cause for slowing down applications and makes their performance varies unpredictably. It exacerbates the need for Quality of Service (QoS) on such systems. In this paper, we propose a fair-progress process scheduling (FPS) policy to improve system fairness. Its strategy is to force the equally-weighted applications to have the same amount of slowdown when they run concurrently. The basic approach is to monitor the progress of all applications at runtime. When we find an application suffered more slowdown and accumulated less effective work than others, we allocate more CPU time to give it a better parity. Our policy also allows different weights to different threads, and provides an effective and robust tuner that allows the OS to freely make tradeoffs between system fairness and higher throughput. Evaluation results show that FPS can significantly improve system fairness by an average of 53.5% and 65.0% on a 4-core processor with a private cache and a 4-core processor with a shared cache, respectively. The penalty is about 1.1% and 1.6% of the system throughput. For memory-intensive workloads, FPS also improves system fairness by an average of 45.2% and 21.1% on 4-core and 8-core system respectively at the expense of a throughput loss of about 2%.
Don't let the negatives bring you down
Authors: Cohen Edith , Cormode Graham , Duffield Nick
Published: July 2012

Random sampling has been proven time and time again to be a powerful tool for working with large data. Queries over the full dataset are replaced by approximate queries over the smaller (and hence easier to store and manipulate) sample. The sample constitutes a flexible summary that supports a wide class of queries. But in many applications, datasets are modified with time, and it is desirable to update samples without requiring access to the full underlying datasets. In this paper, we introduce and analyze novel techniques for sampling over dynamic data, modeled as a stream of modifications to weights associated with each key.

While sampling schemes designed for stream applications can often readily accommodate positive updates to the dataset, much less is known for the case of negative updates, where weights are reduced or items deleted altogether. We primarily consider the turnstile model of streams, and extend classic schemes to incorporate negative updates. Perhaps surprisingly, the modifications to handle negative updates turn out to be natural and seamless extensions of the well-known positive update-only algorithms. We show that they produce unbiased estimators, and we relate their performance to the behavior of corresponding algorithms on insert-only streams with different parameters. A careful analysis is necessitated, in order to account for the fact that sampling choices for one key now depend on the choices made for other keys.

In practice, our solutions turn out to be efficient and accurate. Compared to recent algorithms for L
p
sampling which can be applied to this problem, they are significantly more reliable, and dramatically faster.
Efficient rank aggregation using partial data
Authors: Ammar Ammar , Shah Devavrat
Published: July 2012

The need to rank items based on user input arises in many practical applications such as elections, group decision making and recommendation systems. The primary challenge in such scenarios is to decide on a global ranking based on partial preferences provided by users. The standard approach to address this challenge is to ask users to provide explicit numerical ratings (cardinal information) of a subset of the items. The main appeal of such an approach is the ease of aggregation. However, the rating scale as well as the individual ratings are often arbitrary and may not be consistent from one user to another. A more natural alternative to numerical ratings requires users to compare pairs of items (ordinal information). On the one hand, such comparisons provide an "absolute" indicator of the user's preference. On the other hand, it is often hard to combine or aggregate these comparisons to obtain a consistent global ranking.

In this work, we provide a tractable framework for utilizing comparison data as well as first-order marginal information (see Section 2) for the purpose of ranking. We treat the available information as partial samples from an unknown distribution over permutations. We then reduce ranking problems of interest to performing inference on this distribution. Specifically, we consider the problems of (a) finding an aggregate ranking of
n
items, (b) learning the mode of the distribution, and (c) identifying the top
k
items. For many of these problems, we provide efficient algorithms to infer the ranking directly from the data
without
the need to estimate the underlying distribution. In other cases, we use the Principle of Maximum Entropy to devise a concise parameterization of a distribution consistent with observations using only O(n
2
) parameters, where
n
is the number of items in question. We propose a distributed, iterative algorithm for estimating the parameters of the distribution. We establish the correctness of the algorithm and identify its rate of convergence explicitly.
Fair sampling across network flow measurements
Authors: Duffield Nick
Published: July 2012

Sampling is crucial for controlling resource consumption by internet traffic flow measurements. Routers use Packet Sampled NetFlow, and completed flow records are sampled in the measurement infrastructure. Recent research, motivated by the need of service providers to accurately measure both small and large traffic subpopulations, has focused on distributing a packet sampling budget amongst subpopulations. But long timescales of hardware development and lower bandwidth costs motivate post-measurement analysis of complete flow records at collectors instead. Sampling in collector databases then manages data volumes, yielding general purpose summaries that are rapidly queried to trigger drill-down analysis on a time limited window of full data. These are sufficiently small to be archived. This paper addresses the problem of distributing a sampling budget over subpopulations of flow records. Estimation accuracy goals are met by fairly sharing the budget. We establish a correspondence between the type of accuracy goal, and the flavor of fair sharing used. A streaming Max-Min Fair Sampling algorithm fairly shares the sampling budget across subpopulations, with sampling as a mechanism to deallocate budget. This provides timely samples and is robust against uncertainties in configuration and demand. We illustrate using flow records from an access router of a large ISP, where rates over interface traffic subpopulations vary over several orders of magnitude. We detail an implementation whose computational cost is no worse than subpopulation-oblivious sampling.
Towards a statistical characterization of the competitiveness of oblivious routing
Authors: Németh Gábor , Rétvári Gábor
Published: July 2012

Oblivious routing asks for a static routing that serves arbitrary user demands with minimal performance penalty. Performance is measured in terms of the competitive ratio, the proportion of the maximum congestion to the best possible congestion. In this paper, we take the first steps towards extending this worst-case characterization to a more revealing statistical one. We define new performance metrics and we present numerical evaluations showing that, in statistical terms, oblivious routing is not as competitive as the worst-case performance characterizations would suggest.
A scalable architecture for maintaining packet latency measurements
Authors: Lee Myungjin , Duffield Nick , Kompella Ramana Rao
Published: July 2012

Latency has become an important metric for network monitoring since the emergence of new latency-sensitive applications (e.g., algorithmic trading and high-performance computing). In this paper, to provide latency measurements at both finer (e.g., packet) as well as flexible (e.g., flow subsets) levels of granularity, we propose an architecture called MAPLE that essentially stores packet-level latencies in routers and allows network operators to query the latency of arbitrary traffic sub-populations. MAPLE is built using a scalable data structure called SVBF with small storage needs.
Performance evaluation of the random replacement policy for networks of caches
Authors: Gallo Massimo , Kauffmann Bruno , Muscariello Luca , Simonian Alain , Tanguy Christian
Published: July 2012

Caching is a key component for Content Distribution Networks and new Information-Centric Network architectures. In this paper, we address performance issues of caching networks running the RND replacement policy. We first prove that when the popularity distribution follows a general power-law with decay exponent α > 1, the miss probability is asymptotic to O( C
1-α
) for large cache size C. We further evaluate network of caches under RND policy for homogeneous tree networks and extend the analysis to tandem cache networks where caches employ either LRU or RND policies.
Optimized cloud placement of virtual clusters using biased importance sampling
Authors: Tantawi Asser N.
Published: July 2012

We introduce an algorithm for the placement of constrained, networked virtual clusters in the cloud, that is based on importance sampling (also known as cross-entropy). Rather than using a straightforward implementation of such a technique, which proved inefficient, we considerably enhance the method by biasing the sampling process to incorporate communication needs and other constraints of placement requests to yield an efficient algorithm that is linear in the size of the cloud. We investigate the quality of the results of using our algorithm on a simulated cloud.
Power and energy containers for multicore servers
Authors: Shen Kai , Shriraman Arrvindh , Dwarkadas Sandhya , Zhang Xiao
Published: July 2012

Power capping and energy efficiency are critical concerns in server systems, particularly when serving dynamic workloads on resource-sharing multicores. We present a new operating system facility (power and energy containers) that accounts for and controls the power/energy usage of individual fine-grained server requests. This facility is enabled by novel techniques for multicore power attribution to concurrent tasks, measurement/modeling alignment to enhance predictability, and request power accounting and control.
Distributed wide-area traffic management for cloud services
Authors: Narayana Srinivas , Jiang Joe Wenjie , Rexford Jennifer , Chiang Mung
Published: July 2012

The performance of interactive cloud services depends heavily on which data centers handle client requests, and which wide-area paths carry traffic. While making these decisions, cloud service providers also need to weigh operational considerations like electricity and bandwidth costs, and balancing server loads across replicas. We argue that selecting data centers and network routes independently, as is common in today's services, can lead to much lower performance or higher costs than a coordinated decision. However, fine-grained joint control of two large distributed systems---e.g., DNS-based replica-mapping and data center multi-homed routing---can be administratively challenging. In this paper, we introduce the design of a system that jointly optimizes replica-mapping and multi-homed routing, while retaining the functional separation that exists between them today. We show how to construct a provably optimal distributed solution implemented through local computations and message exchanges between the mapping and routing systems.
Content-aware traffic engineering
Authors: Frank Benjamin , Poese Ingmar , Smaragdakis Georgios , Uhlig Steve , Feldmann Anja
Published: July 2012

Recent studies show that a large fraction of Internet traffic is originated by Content Providers (CPs) such as content distribution networks and hyper-giants. To cope with the increasing demand for content, CPs deploy massively distributed server infrastructures. Thus, content is available in many network locations and can be downloaded by traversing different paths in a network. Despite the prominent server location and path diversity, the decisions on how to map users to servers by CPs and how to perform traffic engineering by ISPs, are independent. This leads to a lose-lose situation as CPs are not aware about the network bottlenecks nor the location of end-users, and the ISPs struggle to cope with rapid traffic shifts caused by the dynamic CP server selection process.

In this paper we propose and evaluate Content-aware Traffic Engineering (CaTE), which dynamically adapts the traffic demand for content hosted on CPs by utilizing ISP network information and end-user location during the server selection process. This leads to a win-win situation because CPs are able to enhance their end-user to server mapping and ISPs gain the ability to partially influence the traffic demands in their networks. Indeed, our results using traces from a Tier-1 ISP show that a number of network metrics can be improved when utilizing CaTE.
Classifying internet one-way traffic
Authors: Glatz Eduard , Dimitropoulos Xenofontas
Published: July 2012

In this work we analyze a massive data-set that captures 5.23 petabytes of traffic to shed light into the composition of one-way traffic towards a large network based on a novel one-way traffic classifier. We find that one-way traffic makes a very large fraction of all traffic in terms of flows, it can be primarily attributed to malicious causes, and it has declined since 2004 because of relative decrease of scan traffic. In addition, we show how our classifier is useful for detecting network outages.
Fast cost efficient designs by building upon the plackett and burman method
Authors: Arora Manish , Wang Feng , Rychlik Bob , Tullsen Dean
Published: July 2012

CPU processor design involves a large set of increasingly complex design decisions, and simulating all possible designs is typically not feasible. Sensitivity analysis, a commonly used technique, can be dependent on the starting point of the design and does not necessarily account for the cost of each parameter. This work proposes a method to simultaneously analyzes multiple parameters with a small number of experiments by leveraging the Plackett and Burman (P&B) analysis method. It builds upon the technique in two specific ways. It allows a parameter to take multiple values and replaces the unit-less impact factor with cost-proportional values.
Multi-hop network tomography
Authors: Keller Matthias , Beutel Jan , Thiele Lothar
Published: July 2012

In the context of low-power wireless sensor networks, this paper presents multi-hop network tomography (MNT), a novel, non-intrusive algorithm for reconstructing the path, the per-hop arrival order, and the per-hop arrival time of individual packets at runtime. While explicitly transmitting this information over the radio would negatively impact the performance of the system under investigation, information is instead reconstructed after packets have been received at the sink.
Basic theory and some applications of martingales
Authors: Hayden Richard A.
Published: July 2012

This tutorial surveys the fundamental results of the theory of martingales from the perspective of the performance engineer. We will present the fundamental results and illustrate their power through simple and elegant proofs of important and well-known results in performance analysis. The remainder of the tutorial will introduce the martingale functional central limit theorem and semi-martingale decomposition methodology for the characterization and proof of heavy-traffic limit results for Markovian queueing systems.
Anterior Chamber Angle Evaluation with Fourier-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography
Authors: Bald Matthew , Li Yan , Huang David
Published: July 2012

New advances in anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology development allow visualizing the anterior chamber angle of the eye with high speed and high resolution. Fourier-domain (FD) OCT instruments working at 840 nm can reliably identify fine angle structures such as the Schwalbe's line. This paper demonstrates quantitative angle assessment with 840 nm FD-OCT and provides diagnostic cutoff values for occludable angle detection. This is useful for angle closure glaucoma diagnosis and management. Moreover, 840 nm FD-OCT is a useful tool for postsurgical evaluation in glaucoma patients.
Breast Milk Jaundice and Maternal Diet with Chinese Herbal Medicines
Authors: Weng Yi-Hao , Chiu Ya-Wen , Cheng Shao-Wen
Published: July 2012

Our objective was to identify the association between maternal diet with Chinese herbal medicines and prolonged jaundice of breast-fed infants. Healthy infants at 25 to 45 days of age were eligible for enrollment into this prospective study. Jaundice was defined as a transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) value ≥ 5 mg/dL. A questionnaire survey asking feeding type, stool pattern, and maternal diet was conducted at the time of TcB measurement. A total of 1148 infants were enrolled, including 151 formula-fed, 436 combination-fed, and 561 breast-fed infants. The incidences of jaundice were 4.0% in formula-fed infants, 15.1% in combination-fed infants, and 39.8% in breast-fed infants (P<0.001). In addition, jaundice was noted in 37.1% of preterm infants and 25.0% of term infants (P<0.001). Furthermore, jaundice was more common in breast-fed infants whose mothers did not consume the traditional Chinese herbal medicines than in breast-fed infants whose mothers did consume such medicines (P<0.001). In conclusion, this cohort study has identified late-preterm birth and breast feeding as the contributory factors for prolonged jaundice of apparently well infants. The data indicate that postpartum diet with Chinese herbal medicines is associated with breast milk jaundice.
Intracellular Ca2+Stores and Ca2+Influx Are Both Required for BDNF to Rapidly Increase Quantal Vesicular Transmitter Release
Authors: Amaral Michelle D. , Pozzo-Miller Lucas
Published: July 2012

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is well known as a survival factor during brain development as well as a regulator of adult synaptic plasticity. One potential mechanism to initiate BDNF actions is through its modulation of quantal presynaptic transmitter release. In response to local BDNF application to CA1 pyramidal neurons, the frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSC) increased significantly within 30 seconds; mEPSC amplitude and kinetics were unchanged. This effect was mediated via TrkB receptor activation and required both full intracellular Ca2+stores as well as extracellular Ca2+. Consistent with a role of Ca2+-permeable plasma membrane channels of the TRPC family, the inhibitor SKF96365 prevented the BDNF-induced increase in mEPSC frequency. Furthermore, labeling presynaptic terminals with amphipathic styryl dyes and then monitoring their post-BDNF destaining in slice cultures by multiphoton excitation microscopy revealed that the increase in frequency of mEPSCs reflects vesicular fusion events. Indeed, BDNF application to CA3-CA1 synapses in TTX rapidly enhanced FM1-43 or FM2-10 destaining with a time course that paralleled the phase of increased mEPSC frequency. We conclude that BDNF increases mEPSC frequency by boosting vesicular fusion through a presynaptic, Ca2+-dependent mechanism involving TrkB receptors, Ca2+stores, and TRPC channels.
On Univalence Criteria for a General Integral Operator
Authors: Macarie Vasile Marius , Breaz Daniel
Published: July 2012

We consider a new general integral operator, and we give sufficient conditions for the univalence of this integral operator in the open unit disk of the complex plane. Several consequences of the main results are also shown.
It Takes a Mouth to Eat and a Nose to Breathe: Abnormal Oral Respiration Affects Neonates' Oral Competence and Systemic Adaptation
Authors: Trabalon Marie , Schaal Benoist
Published: July 2012

Mammalian, including human, neonates are considered to be obligate nose breathers. When constrained to breathe through their mouth in response to obstructed or closed nasal passages, the effects are pervasive and profound, and sometimes last into adulthood. The present paper briefly surveys neonates' and infants' responses to this atypical mobilisation of the mouth for breathing and focuses on comparisons between human newborns and infants and the neonatal rat model. We present the effects of forced oral breathing on neonatal rats induced by experimental nasal obstruction. We assessed the multilevel consequences on physiological, structural, and behavioural variables, both during and after the obstruction episode. The effects of the compensatory mobilisation of oral resources for breathing are discussed in the light of the adaptive development of oromotor functions.
Evaluation of the Chinese Medicinal Herb,Graptopetalum paraguayense, as a Therapeutic Treatment for Liver Damage in Rat Models
Authors: Su Li-Jen , Yang Chih-Hsueh , Huang Shiu-Feng , Yuo Ya-Ling , Hsieh Hui-Chu , Tseng Tzu-Ling , Chen Chang-Han , Hsu Shih-Lan , Huang Chi-Ying F.
Published: July 2012

The incidence of cirrhosis is rising due to the widespread occurrence of chronic hepatitis, as well as the evident lack of an established therapy for hepatic fibrosis. In the search for hepatoprotective therapeutic agents,Graptopetalum paraguayense(GP) showed greater cytotoxicity toward hepatic stellate cells than other tested herbal medicines. Histopathological and biochemical analyses suggest that GP treatment significantly prevented DMN-induced hepatic inflammation and fibrosis in rats. Microarray profiling indicated that expression of most of metabolism- and cell growth and/or maintenance-related genes recovered to near normal levels following GP treatment as classified by gene ontology and LSM analysis, was observed. ANOVA showed that expression of 64% of 256 liver damage-related genes recovered significantly after GP treatment. By examining rat liver samples with Q-RT-PCR, five liver damage-related genes were identified. Among them,Egr1andNrg1may serve as necroinflammatory markers, andBtg2may serve as a fibrosis marker.Oldr1andHmgcs1were up- and down-regulated markers, respectively. A publicly accessible website has been established to provide access to these data Identification of 44 necroinflammation-related and 62 fibrosis-related genes provides useful insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying liver damage and provides potential targets for the rational development of therapeutic drugs such as GP.
Modeling of Thermel Transport for GMAW
Authors: Ghosh Aniruddha
Published: July 2012

Investigation of temperature distribution of submerged arc welded plates is essential while designing submerged arc welding joint because the key parameter for the change of weld bead geometry dimension, thermal stress, residual stress, tensile stress, hardness, and so forth is heat input, and heat input is the function of temperature distribution of GMAW process. An attempt is made in this paper to find out the exact solution of the thermal field induced in a semi‐infinite body by a moving heat source with Gaussian distribution by selecting appropriate inside volume for submerged arc welding process. It has been revealed that for GMAW, best suitable heat source shape is a combination of semispherical and semioval.
Numerical Modeling of Tsunami Waves Interaction with Porous and Impermeable Vertical Barriers
Authors: del Jesus Manuel , Lara Javier L. , Losada Inigo J.
Published: July 2012

Tsunami wave interaction with coastal regions is responsible for very important human and economic losses. In order to properly design coastal defenses against these natural catastrophes,
new numerical models need to be developed that complement existing laboratory measurements and field data. The use of numerical models based on the Navier‐Stokes equations appears as a reasonable approach due to their ability to evaluate complex flow patterns around coastal structures without the inherent limitations of the classical depth‐averaged models. In the present study, a Navier‐Stokes‐based model, IH‐3VOF, is applied to study the interaction of tsunami waves with porous and impermeable structures. IH‐3VOF is able to simulate wave flow within the porous structures by means of the volume‐averaged Reynolds‐averaged Navier‐Stokes (VARANS) equations. The equations solved by the model and their numerical implementation are presented here. A numerical analysis of the interaction of a tsunami wave with both an impermeable and porous vertical breakwater is carried out. The wave‐induced three‐dimensional wave pattern is analysed from the simulations. The role paid by the porous media is also investigated. Finally, flow around the breakwater is analyzed identifying different flow behaviors in the vicinity of the breakwater and in the far field of the structure.
Coupled Fixed Points for Meir‐Keeler Contractions in Ordered Partial Metric Spaces
Authors: Abdeljawad Thabet , Aydi Hassen , Karapınar Erdal
Published: July 2012

In this paper, we prove the existence and uniqueness of a new Meir‐Keeler type coupled fixed point theorem for two mappings F : X × X → X and g : X → X on a partially ordered partial metric space. We present an application to illustrate our obtained results. Further, we remark that the metric case of our results proved recently in Gordji et al. (2012) have gaps. Therefore, our results revise and generalize some of those presented in Gordji et al. (2012).
Soft and Hard Tissue Management in Implant Therapy—Part II: Prosthetic Concepts
Authors: Manicone Paolo Francesco , Raffaelli Luca , Ghassemian Marjan , D'Addona Antonio
Published: July 2012

The ongoing pursuit of aesthetic excellence in the field of implant therapy has incorporated prosthetic concepts in the early treatment-planning phase, as well as the previously discussed surgical concepts. The literature has addressed these prosthetic and laboratory approaches required to enhance and perfect the soft and hard tissue management (SHTM). After surgically providing an acceptable hard tissue architecture and adequate timing of loading of the implant, the prosthetic phase is responsible for the soft tissue modeling, through correctly planned and executed procedures, which induce a satisfactory soft tissue profile by considering the microvasculature, the abutment connection and positioning, and the implementation of an adequate provisional phase. The objectives are the modeling of the soft tissues through the use of a conforming periorestorative interface which will produce desired and stable results.
In SituExpression of Regulatory Cytokines by Heart Inflammatory Cells in Chagas' Disease Patients with Heart Failure
Authors: Rodrigues Denise Bertulucci Rocha , dos Reis Marlene Antonia , Romano Audrey , Pereira Sanívia Aparecida de Lima , Teixeira Vicente de Paula Antunes , Tostes Junior Sebastião , Rodrigues Virmondes
Published: July 2012

Chagas' disease is caused by the protozoan parasiteTrypanosoma cruzi. The immune system plays an important role in the reduction of parasite load, but may also contribute to the development of lesions observed during the chronic phase of the disease. We analyzed cytokines produced by inflammatory heart cells in 21 autopsy samples obtained from patients with Chagas' disease divided according to the presence or absence of heart failure (HF). Left ventricular sections were analyzed by immunohistochemistry using antibodies against human IL-4, IFN-γ, TGF-β, TNF-α, and NOS2.In situmRNA expression was quantified by a Low Density Array. The number of IFN-γ-positive cells was significantly higher than IL-4 positive cells. TNF-α, TGF-βand NOS2 were detected in 65%, 62% and 94% of samples respectively. There was an association between TNF-α-producing cells and the presence of HF. Subjects with HF presented higher levels of STAT4 mRNA, whereas FoxP3 and STAT6 levels were similar in the two groups. A Th1 cytokine pattern predominated in the cardiac inflammatory cell infiltrate of Chagas’ disease patients associated with HF. High degree of fibrosis was associated with low NOS2 expression. These results support the idea that Th1 immune responses are involved in heart lesions of Chagas' disease patients.
Features of the Atrophic Corpus Mucosa in Three Cases of Autoimmune Gastritis Revealed by Magnifying Endoscopy
Authors: Yagi Kazuyoshi , Nakamura Atsuo , Sekine Atsuo , Graham David
Published: July 2012

Atrophic gastritis, whether caused byHelicobacter pyloriinfection or as a result of an autoimmune process, is associated with corpus atrophy. However, whereas atrophic gastritis caused byH. pyloriinvolves the antrum, the antrum is spared in autoimmune gastritis. Here, we report the use of magnifying endoscopy to identify and distinguish atrophic gastritis caused byH. pylorifrom autoimmune gastritis. The mucosal pattern in autoimmune gastritis is that of closely arranged small round and oval pits, thus differing from the pattern seen in atrophic mucosa due toH. pyloriinfection. We speculate that this reflects differences in inflammation between the two types of gastritis. In autoimmune gastritis the inflammation is directed primarily against gastric glands, whereas inH. pyloriinfection the inflammation is directed against the bacteria on or near the surface and the damage initially affects the surface epithelium. During repair, the normal regular round pits are destroyed, whereas they remain largely intact in mucosa with autoimmune-associated atrophy. Confirmation of the features of autoimmune gastritis revealed by magnifying endoscopy would not only make the endoscopic diagnosis of autoimmune gastritis more accurate, but also help to elucidate changes in the surface epithelial structure of gastritis due to various causes.
The Integration of Cognitive Remediation Therapy into the Whole Psychosocial Rehabilitation Process: An Evidence-Based and Person-Centered Approach
Authors: Penadés Rafael , Catalán Rosa , Pujol Núria , Masana Guillem , García-Rizo Clemente , Bernardo Miquel
Published: July 2012

Cognitive remediation therapies seem to ameliorate cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia. Interestingly, some improvement in daily functioning can also be expected as a result. However, to achieve these results it is necessary that cognitive remediation is carried out in the context of broader psychosocial rehabilitation involving the learning of other communication, social, and self-control skills. Unfortunately, little is known about how to integrate these different rehabilitation tools in broader rehabilitation programs. Based on both the neurocognitive behavioral approach and the action theory framework, a hierarchical flowchart is represented in this paper to integrate CRT with other evidence-based psychological therapies in outpatient settings. Finally, some evidence is provided in which cognitive abilities need to be targeted in remediation programs to improve functioning. In summary, to improve daily functioning, according to these studies, cognitive remediation needs to include the teaching of some cognitive strategies that target executive skills.
Synthesis of Bulk Nanostructured DO22 Superlattice of Ni3(Mo, Nb) with High Strength, High Ductility, and High Thermal Stability
Authors: Tawancy H. M.
Published: July 2012

We show that a bulk nanostructured material combining high strength, high ductility, and high thermal stability can be synthesized in a Ni‐Mo‐Nb alloy with composition approaching Ni3(Mo, Nb). By means of a simple aging treatment at 700°C, the grains of the parent face‐centered cubic phase are made to transform into nanosized ordered crystals with DO22 superlattice maintaining a size of 10–20 nm after up to 100 hours of aging and corresponding room‐temperature yield strength of 820 MPa and tensile ductility of 35%. Deformation of the superlattice is found to predominantly occur by twinning on {111} planes of the parent phase. It is concluded that, although the respective slip systems are suppressed, most of the twinning systems are preserved in the DO22 superlattice enhancing the ductility.
Thrombocytopenia as an Indicator of Malaria in Adult Population
Authors: Khan Shiraz Jamal , Abbass Yasir , Marwat Mumtaz Ali
Published: July 2012

Objectives. To evaluate the predictive value of thrombocytopenia in malaria.
Patients and Methods. It was a prospective observational study on all febrile patients with thrombocytopenia presenting to the Medical Unit of Hayat Abad Medical Complex during November 2008 to November 2010.
Results. Of the total of 228 patients with fever and thrombocytopenia, 121 patients (53%) proved to be suffering from malaria. Of them 82 patients (68%) had falciparum malaria while 39 patients (32%) had vivax infection. Of these 121 patients, platelet counts ranged between 25,000 and 150,000/dL with a mean value of 101,000/dL () and a median of 75,000/dL. Of the 107 patients who were not suffering from malaria, the counts ranged between 10,000 and 150,000/dL with a mean value of 58,000/dL () and median of 50,000/dL.
Conclusions. The presence of thrombocytopenia may be a predictor of malaria in adult population.
Adaptive Sliding Mode Control of Mobile Manipulators with Markovian Switching Joints
Authors: Ding Liang , Gao Haibo , Xia Kerui , Liu Zhen , Tao Jianguo , Liu Yiqun
Published: July 2012

The hybrid joints of manipulators can be switched to either active (actuated) or passive (underactuated) mode as needed. Consider the property of hybrid joints, the system switches stochastically between active and passive systems, and the dynamics of the jump system cannot stay on each trajectory errors region of subsystems forever; therefore, it is difficult to determine whether the closed‐loop system is stochastically stable. In this paper, we consider stochastic stability and sliding mode control for mobile manipulators using stochastic jumps switching joints. Adaptive parameter techniques are adopted to cope with the effect of Markovian switching and nonlinear dynamics uncertainty and follow the desired trajectory for wheeled mobile manipulators. The resulting closed‐loop system is bounded in probability and the effect due to the external disturbance on the tracking errors can be attenuated to any preassigned level. It has been shown that the adaptive control problem for the Markovian jump nonlinear systems is solvable if a set of coupled linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) have solutions. Finally, a numerical example is given to show the potential of the proposed techniques.
Hepatocellular Adenoma: Evaluation with Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound and MRI and Correlation with Pathologic and Phenotypic Classification in 26 Lesions
Authors: Manichon Anne-Frédérique , Bancel Brigitte , Durieux-Millon Marion , Ducerf Christian , Mabrut Jean-Yves , Lepogam Marie-Annick , Rode Agnès
Published: July 2012

Purpose. To review the contrast-enhanced ultrasonographic (CEUS) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings in 25 patients with 26 hepatocellular adenomas (HCAs) and to compare imaging features with histopathologic results from resected specimen considering the new immunophenotypical classification. Material and Methods.
Two abdominal radiologists reviewed retrospectively CEUS cineloops and MR images in 26 HCA. All pathological specimens were reviewed and classified into four subgroups (steatotic or HNF 1α mutated, inflammatory, atypical or β-catenin mutated, and unspecified). Inflammatory infiltrates were scored, steatosis, and telangiectasia semiquantitatively evaluated. Results. CEUS and MRI features are well correlated: among the 16 inflammatory HCA, 7/16 presented typical imaging features: hypersignal T2, strong arterial enhancement with a centripetal filling, persistent on delayed phase. 6 HCA were classified as steatotic with typical imaging features: a drop out signal, slight arterial enhancement, vanishing on late phase. Four HCA were classified as atypical with an HCC developed in one. Five lesions displayed important steatosis (>50%) without belonging to the HNF1α group. Conclusion. In half cases, inflammatory HCA have specific imaging features well correlated with the amount of telangiectasia and inflammatory infiltrates. An HCA with important amount of steatosis noticed on chemical shift images does not always belong to the HNF1α group.
Development of Probiotic Candidate in Combination with Essential Oils from Medicinal Plant and Their Effect on Enteric Pathogens: A Review
Authors: Shipradeep  , Karmakar Sourish , Sahay Khare Rashmi , Ojha Sumedha , Kundu Kanika , Kundu Subir
Published: July 2012

Medicinal plants and probiotics both have very high potential in terms of their antimicrobial activity against antibiotic-resistant enteric pathogens. The probiotics being enteric microorganism do not have any parasitic effect on human beings. They have been an integral part of daily food for centuries. They have been shown to have health beneficiary properties. The probiotics retard the growth of the microorganisms, while essential oil kills them. Combining the effect of medicinal plant extract and probiotics may be a new approach due to their complementary antimicrobial effects and practically no side effects. The synergistic effect of the essential oil and probiotics will be necessarily higher than using them alone as health product.
An Efficient PageRank Approach for Urban Traffic Optimization
Authors: Pop Florin , Dobre Ciprian
Published: July 2012

The cities are not static environments. They change constantly. When we talk about traffic in the city, the evolution of traffic lights is a journey from mindless automation to increasingly intelligent, fluid traffic management. In our approach, presented in this paper, reinforcement‐learning mechanism based on cost function is introduced to determine optimal decisions for each traffic light, based on the solution given by Larry Page for page ranking in Web environment (Page et al. (1999)). Our approach is similar with work presented by Sheng‐Chung et al. (2009) and Yousef et al. (2010). We consider that the traffic lights are controlled by servers and a score for each road is computed based on efficient PageRank approach and is used in cost function to determine optimal decisions. We demonstrate that the cumulative contribution of each car in the traffic respects the main constrain of PageRank approach, preserving all the properties of M matrix consider in our model.
A Q-Methodology Study of Patients’ Subjective Experiences of TIA
Authors: Spurgeon Laura , Humphreys Glyn , James Gill , Sackley Cath
Published: July 2012

Background. An expanding body of research has focused on a range of consequences of TIA. However, no work has been conducted on the patient’s subjective experience of TIA.Aim. To capture patients’ first-hand experiences of TIA.Method. Using Q-methodology which employs both qualitative and quantitative approaches, 39 statements relating to the clinical, physical, affective, and psychological impact of TIA were distilled from the literature and from patient narratives. Consistent with conventional Q-methodology, a purposive sample of twentythree post-TIA patients sorted these statements into a normally-distributed 39-cell grid, according to the extent to which each represented their experience of TIA.Results. Casewise factoranalysis was conducted on the sorted statements. Eight factors emerged which were labelled: lack of knowledge/awareness of TIA; life impact; anxiety; interpersonal impact; depression; physical consequences; cognitive avoidance/denial; constructive optimism.Conclusions. Five of the eight factors confirmed existing research on the impact of TIA, but three new issues emerged: deep-seated anxiety, denial and constructive optimism. The emerging perspectives highlight areas to target in the management of TIA and could inform health education messages, patient information, individualised caremanagement, and enhancement of coping strategies. With development, the findings could be used as a basis for psychometric risk assessment of TIA patients.
Comparison of Serum Apolipoprotein Levels of Diabetic Children and Healthy Children with or without Diabetic Parents
Authors: Hashemi Mohammad , Saadat Mohammad , Behjati Mohaddeseh , Kelishadi Roya
Published: July 2012

Introduction. The association of diabetes and atherosclerosis with disorders of lipids and lipoproteins, notably high apolipoprotein B (apoB) and low apolipoprotein A1(apoA1) is well established. Because of the beginning of the atherosclerosis' process from early life, in this study, the plasma levels of apoA1 and apoB were compared in diabetic children with type I diabetes mellitus(DM), healthy children with diabetic parents (HDPs),and healthy children with nondiabetic parents (HNDPs). Methods. This case-control study was conducted among 90 children aged 9–18 years. Serum levels of apoA and apoB were compared among 30 diabetic children (DM), 30 healthy children with diabetic parents (HDPs), and 30 healthy children with nondiabetic parents (HNDP). Results. The mean serum apoA1 was higher in DM (153±69 mg/dL) followed by HNDPs (138±58 mg/dL) and HDPs (128±56 mg/dl), but the difference was not statistically significant. The mean apoB value in HNDPs was significantly lower than DM and HDPs (90±21 mg/dL versus 127±47 and 128±38 mg/dL, P<0.05, respectively). The mean apoB levels in DM (127±47 mg/dl) and HDP (128±38 mg/dL) were not statistically significantly different (P>0.05). Conclusions. Diabetic children and healthy children with diabetic parent(s) are at higher risk of dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis. Thus for primordial and primary prevention of atherosclerosis, we suggest screening these children for low plasma apoA1 and high plasma apoB levels.
An Unusual Presentation of Giant Cell Arteritis
Authors: Prabhavalkar Siddhesh , Bogusz Pawel , Merard Reena , Gormley Mark
Published: July 2012

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a chronic vasculitis that typically presents with headache, fever and polymyalgia although atypical presentations are known. We present a case of GCA with nonproductive cough and pyrexia of unknown origin emphasizing this atypical nature of presentation. We report a rare association of GCA with granulomatous hepatitis. We also support the use of PET scanning in diagnosing and monitoring this condition.
Asymptotic Optimality of Estimating Function Estimator for CHARN Model
Authors: Amano Tomoyuki
Published: July 2012

CHARN model is a famous and important model in the finance, which includes many financial time series models and can be assumed as the return processes of assets. One of the most fundamental estimators for financial time series models is the conditional least squares (CL) estimator. However, recently, it was shown that the optimal estimating function estimator (G estimator) is better than CL estimator for some time series models in the sense of efficiency. In this paper, we examine efficiencies of CL and G estimators for CHARN model and derive the condition that G estimator is asymptotically optimal.
Developments in Sensitivity Methodologies and the Validation of Reactor Physics Calculations
Authors: Palmiotti Giuseppe , Salvatores Massimo
Published: July 2012

The sensitivity methodologies have been a remarkable story when adopted in the reactor physics field. Sensitivity coefficients can be used for different objectives like uncertainty estimates, design optimization, determination of target accuracy requirements, adjustment of input parameters, and evaluations of the representativity of an experiment with respect to a reference design configuration. A review of the methods used is provided, and several examples illustrate the success of the methodology in reactor physics. A new application as the improvement of nuclear basic parameters using integral experiments is also described.
Plant Growth Promoting of EndophyticSporosarcina aquimarinaSjAM16103 Isolated from the Pneumatophores ofAvicennia marina L.
Authors: Janarthine S. Rylo Sona , Eganathan P.
Published: July 2012

EndophyticSporosarcina aquimarinaSjAM16103 was isolated from the inner tissues of pneumatophores of mangrove plantAvicennia marinaalong withBacillussp. andEnterobactersp. EndophyticS. aquimarinaSjAM16103 was Gram variable, and motile bacterium measured 0.6–0.9 μm wide by 1.7–2.0 μm long and light orange-brown coloured in 3-day cultures on tryptone broth at 26°C. Nucleotide sequence of this strain has been deposited in the GenBank under accession number GU930359. This endophytic bacterium produced 2.37 μMol/mL of indole acetic acid and siderophore as it metabolites. This strain could solubilize phosphate molecules and fixes atmospheric nitrogen. EndophyticS. aquimarinaSjAM16103 was inoculated into four different plants underin vitromethod to analyse its growth-promoting activity and role inside the host plants. The growth of endophyticS. aquimarinaSjAM16103 inoculated explants were highly significant than the uninoculated control explants. Root hairs and early root development were observed in the endophyticS. aquimarinaSjAM16103 inoculated explants.
Alternative Splicing: A Potential Source of Functional Innovation in the Eukaryotic Genome
Authors: Chen Lu , Tovar-Corona Jaime M. , Urrutia Araxi O.
Published: July 2012

Alternative splicing (AS) is a common posttranscriptional process in eukaryotic organisms, by which multiple distinct functional transcripts are produced from a single gene. The release of the human genome draft revealed a much smaller number of genes than anticipated. Because of its potential role in expanding protein diversity, interest in alternative splicing has been increasing over the last decade. Although recent studies have shown that 94% human multiexon genes undergo AS, evolution of AS and thus its potential role in functional innovation in eukaryotic genomes remain largely unexplored. Here we review available evidence regarding the evolution of AS prevalence and functional role. In addition we stress the need to correct for the strong effect of transcript coverage in AS detection and set out a strategy to ultimately elucidate the extent of the role of AS in functional innovation on a genomic scale.
Prenatal Rosiglitazone Administration to Neonatal Rat Pups Does Not Alter the Adult Metabolic Phenotype
Authors: Sierra Hernan , Sakurai Reiko , Lee W. N. Paul , Truong Nghia C. , Torday John S. , Rehan Virender K.
Published: July 2012

Prenatally administered rosiglitazone (RGZ) is effective in enhancing lung maturity; however, its long-term safety remains unknown. This study aimed to determine the effects of prenatally administered RGZ on the metabolic phenotype of adult rats.Methods. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rat dams were administered either placebo or RGZ at embryonic days 18 and 19. Between 12 and 20 weeks of age, the rats underwent glucose and insulin tolerance tests andde novofatty acid synthesis assays. The lungs, liver, skeletal muscle, and fat tissue were processed by Western hybridization for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ, adipose differentiation-related protein (ADRP), and surfactant proteins B (SPB) and C (SPC). Plasma was assayed for triglycerides, cholesterol, insulin, glucagon, and troponin-I levels. Lungs were also morphometrically analyzed.Results. Insulin and glucose challenges,de novofatty acid synthesis, and all serum assays revealed no differences among all groups. Western hybridization for PPARγ, ADRP, SPB, and SPC in lung, liver, muscle, and fat tissue showed equal levels. Histologic analyses showed a similar number of alveoli and septal thickness in all experimental groups.Conclusions. When administered prenatally, RGZ does not affect long-term fetal programming and may be safe for enhancing fetal lung maturation.