bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Frequency and specificity of the Trima Accel “verify WBCs” advisory: considerations for product management
Authors: Galel Susan A. , Gaitan Juliana , Yu Darlene T. , Tolentino Lorna , Webster Jan , Sugasawara Elaine , Wilson Jo Ann , Boone Cynthia , Lendio Patricia
Published: October 2011

BACKGROUND: The Trima Accel displays a “verify WBCs” message if the plateletpheresis product (PLT) may not be leukoreduced (LR). Most blood banks require sensitive white blood cell (WBC) testing of these PLTs by flow or Nageotte. We evaluated how often these PLTs were non‐LR by European or US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) criteria and whether sensitive WBC testing is necessary.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Phase 1 reviewed the frequency of this message with various procedure types and the flow WBC results for PLTs with or without the message. Phase 2 assessed how many FDA LR failures were detectable by a hematology analyzer. In Phase 3, PLTs were managed by hematology analyzer results.

RESULTS: In Phase 1, 3.8% of PLT‐only and 11.1% of PLT‐plasma collections had the “verify WBCs” message. Only 1% of “verify” PLTs contained more than 1 × 106 WBCs and only 0.5% were FDA LR failures. In Phase 2, 10 of 670 “verify” PLTs and one nonflagged PLT were FDA LR failures. Six of 11 LR failures had hematology analyzer WBC concentrations of 0.4 × 109/L or higher. In Phase 3, “verify” PLTs were allowed in inventory if hematology analyzer WBC concentration was below 0.4 × 109/L; inventory quality control showed no FDA LR failures by flow. Trima Version 6.0 software lowered the “verify” message frequency in PLT‐plasma procedures but not in PLT‐only procedures.

CONCLUSION: Four percent of Trima PLT collections have the “verify WBCs” message but almost all of these are LR by European and FDA criteria. Fifty percent of FDA LR failures were detectable by a hematology analyzer. Sensitive WBC testing of all “verify WBCs” PLTs may not be necessary to satisfy LR quality assurance requirements.
Allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell therapy for refractory cytopenias after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Authors: Sánchez‐Guijo Fermin M. , López‐Villar Olga , López‐Anglada Lucía , Villarón Eva M. , Muntión Sandra , Díez‐Campelo María , Perez‐Simón Jose A. , San Miguel Jesús F. , Caballero Dolores , del Cañizo Maria‐Consuelo
Published: October 2011

BACKGROUND: Posttransplant cytopenias are a severe complication after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo‐SCT) and their origin is often multifactorial or unknown. They are frequently refractory to standard therapy, which may include steroids and/or immunoglobulins. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are an attractive therapeutic tool in the allo‐SCT setting for the ability to enhance engraftment as well as acting as immunosuppressants for graft‐versus‐host disease. There is no prior experience in the literature of the use of MSCs to treat cytopenias after allo‐SCT.

CASE REPORTS: In this work we report for the first time four cases of refractory posttransplant cytopenias (three patients with thrombocytopenia and one with neutropenia) that were treated with MSCs from a third‐party donor. MSCs were expanded from 100 mL of marrow obtained under standard good manufacturing practice conditions. Most patients received more than one cell dose, and median dose of MSCs administered was 1 × 106/kg.

RESULTS: All patients recovered normal blood counts, with a mean follow‐up of 12.5 months. There were no adverse events related to MSC administration.

CONCLUSION: MSC therapy may contribute to the recovery of refractory posttransplant peripheral cytopenias in patients undergoing allo‐SCT.
Using Our Brains to Develop Better Policy
Authors: Linkov Igor , Cormier Susan , Gold Joshua , Satterstrom F. Kyle , Bridges Todd
Published: October 2011

Current governmental practices often use a method called weight of evidence (WoE) to integrate and weigh different sources of information in the process of reaching a decision. Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience have identified WoE‐like processes in the brain, and we believe that these advances have the potential to improve current decision‐making practices. In this article, we describe five specific areas where knowledge emerging from cognitive neuroscience may be applied to the challenges confronting decisionmakers who manage risks: (1) quantifying evidence, (2) comparing the value of different sources of evidence, (3) reaching a decision, (4) illuminating the role of subjectivity, and (5) adapting to new information. We believe that the brain is an appropriate model for structuring decision‐making processes because the brain's network is designed for complex, flexible decision making, and because policy decisions that must ultimately depend on human judgment will be best served by methods that complement human abilities. Future discoveries in cognitive neuroscience will likely bring further applications to decision practice.
Significance of decreased apoptosis, role of Bid expression and Bcl‐Xl/Bid ratio in human jejunal stromal tumors
Authors: GAO CHUN , GUO WEN‐JUAN , WANG AI‐YING
Published: October 2011

Gao C, Guo W‐J, Wang A‐Y. Significance of decreased apoptosis, role of Bid expression and Bcl‐Xl/Bid ratio in human jejunal stromal tumors. APMIS 2012; 120: 171–81.

Given that the studies on human small intestinal stromal tumors are very limited, our study was designed to determine the significance of apoptosis, the role of some apoptosis‐related proteins, including Bax, Bad, Bid, Bcl‐2, Bcl‐Xl, and Bcl‐W, in jejunal stromal tumors (JST). For this purpose, 52 samples were examined by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP nick end labeling and immunohistochemistry, including 40 cases from normal jejunum and 12 cases from the JST. The results showed that a significantly decreased apoptosis was observed in JST compared with normal jejunum (median of apoptotic index, 0.13% vs 15.17%, p < 0.001). In univariate analysis, statistically significant differences were shown in percentage of positive‐expression of Bid (0.0% vs 77.5%, p < 0.001), Bcl‐2 (91.7% vs 42.5%, p = 0.003), and Bcl‐Xl (75.0% vs 35.0%, p = 0.014), but not in Bax, Bad, and Bcl‐W. Moreover, Bcl‐Xl was an independent parameter associated with JST by multivariate Logistic analysis. For the role of ratios of anti‐apoptotic proteins to pro‐apoptotic proteins, Bcl‐Xl/Bid ratio was the most preferable index. In conclusion, decreased apoptosis and expression of Bid, increased level of Bcl‐Xl may play some important roles in human JST, and Bcl‐Xl/Bid ratio may be as a new potentially associated index, although they should be validated in more studies.
Oral hygiene, periodontal health and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations
Authors: Liu Zhiqiang , Zhang Wei , Zhang Jing , Zhou Xuan , Zhang Liangqiong , Song Yiqing , Wang Zuomin
Published: October 2011

Aim

To assess the associations of oral hygiene and periodontal health with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations.

Material and Methods

In total, 392 COPD patients were divided into frequent and infrequent exacerbation (≥2 times and <2 times in last 12 months) groups. Their lung function and periodontal status were examined. Information on oral hygiene behaviours was obtained by interview.

Results

In the univariate analysis, fewer remaining teeth, high plaque index (PLI) scores, low tooth brushing times, and low regular supra‐gingival scaling were significantly associated with COPD exacerbations (all p‐values <0.05). After adjustment for age, gender, body mass index, COPD severity and dyspnoea severity, the associations with fewer remaining teeth (p = 0.02), high PLI scores (p = 0.02) and low tooth brushing times (p = 0.008) remained statistically significant. When stratified by smoking, fewer remaining teeth (OR = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.04–4.02) and low tooth brushing times (OR = 4.90, 95% CI: 1.26–19.1) among past smokers and high PLI scores (OR = 3.43, 95% CI: 1.19–9.94) among never smokers were significantly associated with COPD exacerbations.

Conclusions

Fewer remaining teeth, high PLI scores, and low tooth brushing times are significant correlates of COPD exacerbations, indicating that improving periodontal health and oral hygiene may be a potentially preventive strategy against COPD exacerbations.
Utilization of Digital Technologies for Fabrication of Definitive Implant‐Supported Restorations
Authors: RAMSEY CHRISTOPHER D. , RITTER ROBERT G.
Published: October 2011

The introduction 7 years ago of specially coded healing abutments dramatically simplified the task of obtaining implant impressions. Such coded abutments eliminated the need for impression copings, instead enabling supragingival impressions to be made and sent to the laboratory for fabrication of patient‐specific abutments and restorations. Combining this technology with digital oral scanning has the potential to further simplify the time between impression‐making and delivery of a definitive restoration, and it offers additional benefits to both patients and clinicians. This article explains how oral scanners can be used to obtain digital impressions of encoded healing abutments. A case report illustrating this approach is also presented.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE

This article describes a new technological approach to implant dentistry utilizing intraoral scanning modalities. The clinical workflow will highlight the digital transfer of necessary information to fabricate a patient‐specific implant abutment and final prosthesis.

(J Esthet Restor Dent ••:••–••, 2011)
Not only accumulation, but also saturation status of intramuscular lipids is significantly affected by PPARγ activation
Authors: Chabowski A. , Żendzian‐Piotrowska M. , Nawrocki A. , Górski J.
Published: October 2011

Aim:  Intramuscular lipid accumulation has been associated with insulin resistance, and after thiazolidinediones (TZD) treatment, it was shown to be reduced in some, but not all, studies. This work was undertaken to investigate the relationships between intramuscular lipids [free fatty acids (FFA), diacylglycerols (DAG), triacylglycerol (TAG) and phospholipids] and plasmalemmal expression of fatty acid (FA) transporter [FAT/CD36 and FABPpm] in the muscles of varying oxidative capacity, after peroxisome proliferator–activated receptors gamma (PPARγ) activation (rosiglitazone) in an animal model of high‐fat‐diet‐induced insulin resistance. Endurance training was also included to further explore the differences in these relationships.

Methods:  We have used gas liquid chromatography to estimate FA content and composition in each lipid fraction. For sarcolemmal expression of FA transporters, subfractionation of skeletal muscles with subsequent western blot technique was applied.

Results:  High‐fat diet induced intramuscular accumulation of FFA, DAG and TAG, irrespective of muscle’s fibre composition. PPARγ activation (rosiglitazone) and, to a lesser extent, endurance training further increased TAG accumulation, while it reduced DAG in oxidative muscles (soleus and red gastrocnemius). Aforementioned interventions increased also sarcolemmal FAT/CD36 and FABPpm expressions in particular muscles. Irrespective of diet, rosiglitazone and exercise decreased significantly FA saturation status favouring proportionate enhancement in monounsaturated FA (rosiglitazone) or polyunsaturated FAs (endurance training).

Conclusion:  These findings support the conclusion that not only the change in total lipid content (DAG and TAG), but also FA composition is affected by rosiglitazone in an animal model of high‐fat‐diet‐induced insulin resistance.
Stabilising total ossicular replacement prosthesis for ossiculoplasty with an absent malleus in canal wall down tympanomastoidectomy – a randomised controlled study
Authors: Babighian G. , Albu S.
Published: October 2011

Clin. Otolaryngol. 2011, 36, 543–549

Objectives:  To compare two titanium total ossicular replacement prosthesis (TORP) stabilisation techniques in canal wall down mastoidectomy presenting with footplate only and absent malleus handle.

Design:  Prospective, controlled, randomised study.

Setting:  Tertiary Otology Department.

Participants:  Patients operated on with canal wall down mastoidectomy between 1999 and 2009 were randomised into two groups. Two techniques enhancing the TORP stability were compared: Hüttenbrink’s method (63 patients, Group 1) and author’s (GB) procedure (62 patients, Group 2). Hüttenbrink’s technique consists in placing a cartilage shave with a hole in the middle over the footplate. Through this hole, the end of the TORP is accommodated. The author’s method involves using a cartilage split in the middle, to lodge the TORP’s shaft at one end and to lay the opposite end over the fallopian canal.

Main outcome measures:  Mean postoperative air–bone gap, hearing gain and air–bone gap closure within 20 dB. Auditory outcomes were evaluated at 1 year postoperatively.

Results:  Postoperative air–bone gap closure within 20 dB (successful outcome) at 1 year was achieved in 59% of patients in Group 1 and 72% in Group 2 (P = 0.03). Mean postoperative air–bone gap was 24.4 ± 10.8 dB for Group 1 and 20.17 ± 9.8 dB for Group 2. The difference is 4.23 dB (95% confidence interval, 0.65–07.81), statistically significant: P = 0.02. Hearing gain was 20.3 ± 9.5 in Group 1 and 25.1 ± 10.2 in Group 2, significantly superior: P = 0.007.

Conclusion:  Better hearing outcomes for author’s method could be demonstrated, but our sample size cannot exclude small and possible trivial, group differences.
Does Information Asymmetry Matter to Equity Pricing? Evidence from Firms’ Geographic Location*
Authors: El Ghoul Sadok , Guedhami Omrane , Ni Yang , Pittman Jeffrey , Saadi Samir
Published: October 2011

The scarcity of suitable proxies for asymmetric information has impeded empirical research from providing reliable evidence on whether information risk shapes equity pricing. In reexamining this unresolved question, we rely on firms’ geographic distance from financial centers to gauge information asymmetry. We provide strong, robust evidence supporting the prediction that equity financing is cheaper for firms nearer central locations, implying that investors rationally require more compensation when information asymmetry is worse. The equity pricing role of geographic proximity is economically large, with our coefficient estimates translating into firms located within 100 kilometers of the city center of the nearest of six major financial centers, or in their metropolitan statistical areas, enjoying equity financing costs that are seven basis points lower. Our inferences are insensitive to measuring both the cost of equity capital and distance in several ways, controlling for corporate governance quality, and addressing endogeneity. Collectively, our analysis suggests that investors discount the price that they pay for their securities to reflect the greater information asymmetry that ensues when firms are far from major financial centers.
Mineralocorticoid receptor activation is crucial in the signalling pathway leading to the Anrep effect
Authors: Caldiz Claudia I. , Díaz Romina G. , Nolly Mariela B. , Chiappe de Cingolani Gladys E. , Ennis Irene L. , Cingolani Horacio E. , Pérez Néstor G.
Published: October 2011

Non‐technical summary  Myocardial stretch increases force in two phases. The first one is immediate and attributed to an increase in myofilament Ca2+ responsiveness (Frank–Starling mechanism). The second phase gradually develops and is known as slow force response (SFR) or Anrep effect due to an increase in intracellular Ca2+ transient. We previously showed that Ca2+ entry through reverse Na+/Ca2+ exchange underlies the SFR, as the final step of an autocrine/paracrine loop involving release of angiotensin II/endothelin, transactivation of the epidermal growth factor receptor, increased mitochondrial oxidative stress and a Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE‐1) activation‐mediated rise in Na+. In the present study we show that mineralocorticoid receptor activation is a necessary step between endothelin and epidermal growth factor receptor activation in the stretch‐triggered reactive oxygen species‐mediated NHE‐1 activation leading to the SFR.
La2Cu0.8Co0.2O4+δ by Pechini Method
Authors: Pegoraro Stefano , Natile Marta Maria , Galenda Alessandro , Glisenti Antonella
Published: October 2011

Cobalt-doped lanthanum cuprates of the type La2Cu1-xCoxO4 are Ruddlesden-Popper compounds characterized by several interesting properties. In particular, thanks to the presence of copper and cobalt, they can be utilized as catalysts in redox reactions. Moreover, from an electrical point of view, cobalt-doped lanthanum cuprates are Mixed-Electronic-Ionic-Conductors. These important characteristics could be gainfully employed in improving the Intermediate-Temperature-Solid-Oxide-Fuel-Cells electrodes performances, from both the catalytic and electrical sides. A La2.0Cu0.8Co0.2O4+δpowder was prepared by Pechini procedure. Besides the wide scan spectra, detailed spectra for the La 3d, La 4d, Cu 2p, Co 2p, O 1s and C 1s regions and related data are presented and discussed. XP analysis confirms the presence of La (III) and Cu (II); the peak shapes are consistent with a residual presence of hydroxide and carbonate species, as confirmed by the O 1s and C 1s signals. The XPS atomic composition supports this hypothesis: in fact the O/(La+Cu+Co) atomic ratio (= 1.86) is higher than the expected value (= 1.33). Also the La/(Cu+Co) atomic ratio (= 0.80) is higher than the nominal value (= 0.66) and suggests La surface segregation.
Regulation of Insulin-Like Growth Factor Signaling by Yap Governs Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Embryonic Heart Size
Authors: Xin Mei , Kim Yuri , Sutherland Lillian B. , Qi Xiaoxia , McAnally John , Schwartz Robert J. , Richardson James A. , Bassel-Duby Rhonda , Olson Eric N.
Published: October 2011

A transcriptional coactivator in the Hippo pathway promotes cardiac growth.
Science Signaling
Podcast: 25 October 2011
Authors: Friedman Adam A. , Perrimon Norbert , VanHook Annalisa M.
Published: October 2011

A combination of functional and proteomics approaches identifies regulators of ERK signaling in
Drosophila
.
Holding Back NFAT
Authors: Foley John F.
Published: October 2011

Loss of the kinase LRRK2 promotes the activity of the transcription factor NFAT, leading to enhanced inflammatory bowel disease.
Tumor Necrosis Factor Response
Authors: Ray L. Bryan
Published: October 2011

Noise limits information transfer through a single signaling pathway in a single cell to just one bit.
Pharmacodynamics of β-Lactamase Inhibition by NXL104 in Combination with Ceftaroline: Examining Organisms with Multiple Types of β-Lactamases
Authors: Louie Arnold , Castanheira Mariana , Liu Weiguo , Grasso Caroline , Jones Ronald N. , Williams Gregory , Critchley Ian , Thye Dirk , Brown David , VanScoy Brian , Kulawy Robert , Drusano G. L.
Published: October 2011

New broad-spectrum β-lactamases such as KPC enzymes and CTX-M-15 enzymes threaten to markedly reduce the utility of our armamentarium of β-lactam agents, even our most potent drugs, such as carbapenems. NXL104 is a broad-spectrum non-β-lactam β-lactamase inhibitor. In this evaluation, we examined organisms carrying defined β-lactamases and identified doses and schedules of NXL104 in combination with the new cephalosporin ceftaroline, which would maintain good bacterial cell kill and suppress resistance emergence for a clinically relevant period of 10 days in our hollow-fiber infection model. We examined three strains of
Klebsiella pneumoniae
and one isolate of
Enterobacter cloacae. K. pneumoniae
27-908M carried KPC-2, SHV-27, and TEM-1 β-lactamases. Its isogenic mutant,
K. pneumoniae
4207J, was “cured” of the plasmid expressing the KPC-2 enzyme.
K. pneumoniae
24-1318A carried a CTX-M-15 enzyme, and
E. cloacae
2-77C expressed a stably derepressed AmpC chromosomal β-lactamase. Dose-ranging experiments for NXL104 administered as a continuous infusion with ceftaroline at 600 mg every 8 h allowed identification of a 24-h area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) for NXL104 that mediated bactericidal activity and resistance suppression. Dose fractionation experiments identified that “time > threshold” was the pharmacodynamic index linked to cell kill and resistance suppression. Given these results, we conclude that NXL104 combined with ceftaroline on an 8-hourly administration schedule would be optimal for circumstances in which highly resistant pathogens are likely to be encountered. This combination dosing regimen should allow for optimal bacterial cell kill (highest likelihood of successful clinical outcome) and the suppression of resistance emergence.
Lack of Antimicrobial Resistance in Yersinia pestis Isolates from 17 Countries in the Americas, Africa, and Asia
Authors: Urich Sandra K. , Chalcraft Linda , Schriefer Martin E. , Yockey Brook M. , Petersen Jeannine M.
Published: October 2011

Yersinia pestis
is the causative agent of plague, a fulminant disease that is often fatal without antimicrobial treatment. Plasmid (IncA/C)-mediated multidrug resistance in
Y. pestis
was reported in 1995 in Madagascar and has generated considerable public health concern, most recently because of the identification of IncA/C multidrug-resistant plasmids in other zoonotic pathogens. Here, we demonstrate no resistance in 392
Y. pestis
isolates from 17 countries to eight antimicrobials used for treatment or prophylaxis of plague.
Does smoking kill? A study of death certification and smoking
Authors: Proctor Ian , Sharma Vijay , KhoshZaban Mohammad , Winstanley Alison
Published: October 2011

Aim

To assess how frequently smoking is cited as a cause of death (COD) on death certificates.

Methods

A retrospective study of 2128 death certificates and 236 postmortem reports issued at a large teaching hospital between 2003 and 2009.

Results

Smoking was identified as the underlying COD on only 2 (0.1%) death certificates and included in part II of the death certificate on 10 (0.5%). The two death certificates citing smoking as the underlying COD were in cases of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The study included 279 deaths in which these diagnoses were cited on the death certificate and in the majority of these cases the deceased was a smoker or ex-smoker. A review of postmortem reports from the same period failed to identify a single case in which the pathologist cited smoking as causing or contributing to death. In marked contrast to smoking, 57.4% (vs 0.5%) of death certificates, which included diagnoses linked to alcohol use, cited alcohol in part I of the death certificate.

Conclusion

This study demonstrates that smoking is rarely cited on death certificates, even in cases where the causal link with smoking is very strong. There are many reasons why smoking is not cited on death certificates. One frequently cited reason is the reluctance of doctors to stigmatise the deceased. Interestingly, such reluctance did not extend to citing alcohol as a COD. By not recording smoking on death certificates doctors are failing to gather important epidemiological and pathological data.
Ready or not! Here comes ICD-10
Authors: Manchikanti Laxmaiah , Falco Frank J E , Hirsch Joshua A
Published: October 2011

The International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10) is a new system that is a federally mandated change affecting all payers and providers, and is expected to exceed both the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Y2K in terms of costs and risks. In 2003, HIPAA named ICD-9 as the code set for supporting diagnoses and procedures in electronic administrative transactions. However, on 16 January 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services published a regulation requiring the replacement of ICD-9 with ICD-10 as of 1 October 2013. While ICD-9 and ICD-10 have a similar type of hierarchy in their structures, ICD-10 is more complex and incorporates numerous changes. Overall, ICD-10 contains more than 141 000 codes, a whopping 712% increase over the <20 000 codes in ICD-9, creating enormous complexities, confusion and expense. Published statistics illustrate that there are instances where a single ICD-9 code can map to more than 50 distinct ICD-10 codes. Also, there are multiple instances where a single ICD-10 code can map to more than one ICD-9 code. Proponents of the new ICD-10 system argue that the granularity should lead to improvements in the quality of healthcare whereas detractors of the system see the same granularity as burdensome. The estimated cost per physician is projected to range from $25 000 to $50 000.
MANAGING THE CHANGE OF ARCHITECTURE KNOWLEDGE
Authors: SHIBATA TOMOATSU
Published: October 2011

With the advent of new technologies, one successful case of technological transition is Fanuc Ltd., a company that successfully introduced Intel MPUs (Microprocessor Units) to NC (Numerical Control) machines in 1975 and has since continued to achieve sustained growth. This adoption of MPU caused a change in NC architecture.

Through an in-depth case study of Fanuc, we show how adopting MPU to an NC system destroys the usefulness of accumulated hard-wired architectural knowledge in that firm due to changes in architecture. We also show how Fanuc developed the new architectural knowledge necessary for MPU-based soft-wired NC systems. This study is not an analysis of the causes of failure, but rather focuses on the aspects of successful management of architectural change. By analyzing and studying a successful case, we can gain valuable insights into managing architectural knowledge.
2011 ACM TODAES best paper award
Authors: Qiu Meikang , Sha Edwin H.-M.
Published: October 2011

In high-level synthesis for real-time embedded systems using heterogeneous functional units (FUs), it is critical to select the best FU type for each task. However, some tasks may not have fixed execution times. This article models each varied execution time as a probabilistic random variable and solves the
heterogeneous assignment with probability
(HAP) problem. The solution of the HAP problem assigns a proper FU type to each task such that the total cost is minimized while the timing constraint is satisfied with a guaranteed confidence probability. The solutions to the HAP problem are useful for both hard real-time and soft real-time systems. Optimal algorithms are proposed to find the optimal solutions for the HAP problem when the input is a tree or a simple path. Two other algorithms, one is optimal and the other is near-optimal heuristic, are proposed to solve the general problem. The experiments show that our algorithms can effectively reduce the total cost while satisfying timing constraints with guaranteed confidence probabilities. For example, our algorithms achieve an average reduction of 33.0% on total cost with 0.90 confidence probability satisfying timing constraints compared with the previous work using the worst-case scenario.
Dynamic data folding with parameterizable FPGA configurations
Authors: Bruneel Karel , Heirman Wim , Stroobandt Dirk
Published: October 2011

In many applications, subsequent data manipulations differ only in a small set of parameter values. Because of their reconfigurability, FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) can be configured with a specialized circuit each time the parameter values change. This technique is called dynamic data folding. The specialized circuits are smaller and faster than their generic counterparts. However, the overhead involved in generating the configurations for the specialized circuits at runtime is very large when conventional tools are used, and this overhead will in many cases negate the benefit of using optimized configurations.

This article introduces an automatic method for generating runtime parameterizable configurations from arbitrary Boolean circuits. These configurations, in which some of the configuration bits are expressed as a closed-form Boolean expression of a set of parameters, enable very fast run-time specialization, since specialization only involves evaluating these expressions. Our approach is validated on a ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM). We show that the specialized configurations, produced by our method use 2.82 times fewer LUTs than the generic configuration, and even 1.41 times fewer LUTs than the implementation generated by Xilinx Coregen. Moreover, while Coregen needs hand-crafted generators for each type of circuit, our toolflow can be applied to any VHDL design. Using our automatic and generally applicable method, run-time hardware optimization suddenly becomes feasible for a large class of applications.
Analog layout retargeting using geometric programming
Authors: Wang Shaoxi , Jia Xinzhang , Yeh Arthur B. , Zhang Lihong
Published: October 2011

To satisfy the requirements of complex and special analog layout constraints, a new analog layout retargeting method is presented in this article. Our approach uses geometric programming (GP) to achieve new technology design rules, implement device symmetry and matching constraints, and manage parasitics optimization. The GP, a class of nonlinear optimization problem, can be transferred or fitted into a convex optimization problem. Therefore, a global optimum solution can be achieved. Moreover, the GP can address problems with large-scale variables and constraints without setting an initialization variable range. To meet the prerequisites of the GP methodology for analog layout automation, we propose three kinds of mathematical transformations, including negative coefficient transformation, fraction transformation, and maximum of posynomial transformation. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, as compared with the other existing methods, are demonstrated by a basic case-study example: a two-stage Miller-compensated operational amplifier and a single-ended folded cascode operational amplifier.
In support of open reviews; better teaching through large-scale data mining
Authors: Meyer Bertrand , Linden Greg
Published: October 2011

The
Communications
Web site, http://cacm.acm.org, features more than a dozen bloggers in the BLOG@CACM community. In each issue of
Communications
, we'll publish selected posts or excerpts.

twitter

Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/blogCACM

http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm

Bertrand Meyer writes about his long-standing decision not to provide anonymous reviews. Greg Linden considers how educational practices could be improved through the data mining of students' schoolwork.
Security risks in next-generation emergency services
Authors: Tschofenig Hannes
Published: October 2011

Sounding the alert on emergency calling system deficiencies.
What gets measured gets done
Authors: Wallsten Scott
Published: October 2011

Stop focusing on irrelevant broadband metrics.
Will software engineering ever be engineering?
Authors: Davis Michael
Published: October 2011

Considering whether software engineering and engineering can share a profession.
Gender demographics trends and changes in U.S. CS departments
Authors: Baumann Douglas , Hambrusch Susanne , Neville Jennifer
Published: October 2011

Using the past 10 years of Taulbee Survey data to evaluate female student enrollment across varied academic institutions and departments.
Java security architecture revisited
Authors: Gong Li
Published: October 2011

Difficult technical problems and tough business challenges.
Online reconstruction of 3D objects from arbitrary cross-sections
Authors: Bermano Amit , Vaxman Amir , Gotsman Craig
Published: October 2011

We describe a simple algorithm to reconstruct the surface of smooth three-dimensional multilabeled objects from sampled planar cross-sections of arbitrary orientation. The algorithm has the unique ability to handle cross-sections in which regions are classified as being inside the object, outside the object, or unknown. This is achieved by constructing a scalar function on R
3
, whose zero set is the desired surface. The function is constructed independently inside every cell of the arrangement of the cross-section planes using transfinite interpolation techniques based on barycentric coordinates. These guarantee that the function is smooth, and its zero set interpolates the cross-sections. The algorithm is highly parallelizable and may be implemented as an incremental update as each new cross-section is introduced. This leads to an efficient online version, performed on a GPU, which is suitable for interactive medical applications.
Camera Brand Congruence and Camera Model Propagation in the Flickr Social Graph
Authors: Singla Adish , Weber Ingmar
Published: October 2011

Given that my friends on Flickr use cameras of brand X, am I more likely to also use a camera of brand X? Given that one of these friends changes her brand, am I likely to do the same? Do new camera models pop up uniformly in the friendship graph? Or do early adopters then “convert” their friends? Which factors influence the conversion probability of a user? These are the kind of questions addressed in this work. Direct applications involve personalized advertising in social networks.

For our study, we crawled a complete connected component of the Flickr friendship graph with a total of 67M edges and 3.9M users. 1.2M of these users had at least one public photograph with valid model metadata, which allowed us to assign camera brands and models to users and time slots. Similarly, we used, where provided in a user’s profile, information about a user’s geographic location and the groups joined on Flickr.

Concerning brand congruence, our main findings are the following. First, a pair of friends on Flickr has a higher probability of being congruent, that is, using the same brand, compared to two random users (27% vs. 19%). Second, the degree of congruence goes up for pairs of friends (i) in the same country (29%), (ii) who both only have very few friends (30%), and (iii) with a very high cliqueness (38%). Third, given that a user changes her camera model between March-May 2007 and March-May 2008, high cliqueness friends are more likely than random users to do the same (54% vs. 48%). Fourth, users using high-end cameras are far more loyal to their brand than users using point-and-shoot cameras, with a probability of staying with the same brand of 60% vs 33%, given that a new camera is bought. Fifth, these “expert” users’ brand congruence reaches 66% for high cliqueness friends. All these differences are statistically significant at 1%.

As for the propagation of new models in the friendship graph, we observe the following. First, the growth of connected components of users converted to a particular, new camera model differs distinctly from random growth. Second, the decline of dissemination of a particular model is close to random decline. This illustrates that users influence their friends to change to a particular new model, rather than from a particular old model. Third, having many converted friends increases the probability of the user to convert herself. Here differences between friends from the same or from different countries are more pronounced for point-and-shoot than for digital single-lens reflex users. Fourth, there was again a distinct difference between arbitrary friends and high cliqueness friends in terms of prediction quality for conversion.
Understanding and Improving Computational Science Storage Access through Continuous Characterization
Authors: Carns Philip , Harms Kevin , Allcock William , Bacon Charles , Lang Samuel , Latham Robert , Ross Robert
Published: October 2011

Computational science applications are driving a demand for increasingly powerful storage systems. While many techniques are available for capturing the I/O behavior of individual application trial runs and specific components of the storage system, continuous characterization of a production system remains a daunting challenge for systems with hundreds of thousands of compute cores and multiple petabytes of storage. As a result, these storage systems are often designed without a clear understanding of the diverse computational science workloads they will support.

In this study, we outline a methodology for scalable, continuous, systemwide I/O characterization that combines storage device instrumentation, static file system analysis, and a new mechanism for capturing detailed application-level behavior. This methodology allows us to identify both system-wide trends and application-specific I/O strategies. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our methodology by performing a multilevel, two-month study of Intrepid, a 557-teraflop IBM Blue Gene/P system. During that time, we captured application-level I/O characterizations from 6,481 unique jobs spanning 38 science and engineering projects. We used the results of our study to tune example applications, highlight trends that impact the design of future storage systems, and identify opportunities for improvement in I/O characterization methodology.
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Authors: Zhang Xuechen , Xu Yuehai , Jiang Song
Published: October 2011

Currently the QoS requirements for storage systems are usually presented in the form of service-level agreement (SLA) to bound I/O measures such as latency and throughput of I/O requests. However, SLA is not an effective performance interface for users to specify their required I/O service quality for two major reasons. First, for users it is difficult to determine appropriate latency and throughput bounds to ensure their required application performance without resource over-provisioning. Second, for storage system administrators it is a challenge to estimate a user’s real resource demand because the specified SLA measures are not consistently correlated with the user’s resource demand. This makes resource provisioning and scheduling less informative and can greatly reduce system efficiency.

We propose the concept of reference storage system (RSS), which can be a storage system chosen by users and whose performance can be measured offline and mimicked online, as a performance interface between applications and storage servers. By designating an RSS to represent I/O performance requirement, a user can expect the performance received from a shared storage server servicing his I/O workload is not worse than the performance received from the RSS servicing the same workload. The storage system is responsible for implementing the RSS interface. The key enabling techniques are a machine learning model that derives request-specific performance requirements and an RSS-centric scheduling that efficiently allocates resource among requests from different users. The proposed scheme, named as
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, supports the user-chosen performance interface through efficiently implementing and migrating virtual storage devices in a host storage system. Our evaluation based on trace-driven simulations shows that
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can precisely implement the RSS performance interface, achieve a strong performance assurance and isolation, and improve the efficiency of a consolidated storage system consisting of different types of storage devices.
Speech retrieval from unsegmented finnish audio using statistical morpheme-like units for segmentation, recognition, and retrieval
Authors: Turunen Ville T. , Kurimo Mikko
Published: October 2011

This article examines the use of statistically discovered morpheme-like units for Spoken Document Retrieval (SDR). The morpheme-like units (
morphs
) are used both for language modeling in speech recognition and as index terms. Traditional word-based methods suffer from out-of-vocabulary words. If a word is not in the recognizer vocabulary, any occurrence of the word in speech will be missing from the transcripts. The problem is especially severe for languages with a high number of distinct word forms such as Finnish. With the morph language model, even previously unseen words can be recognized by identifying its component morphs. Similarly in information retrieval queries, complex word forms, even unseen ones, can be matched to data after segmenting them to morphs. Retrieval performance can be further improved by expanding the transcripts with alternative recognition results from
confusion networks
. In this article, a novel retrieval evaluation corpus consisting of unsegmented Finnish radio programs, 25 queries and corresponding human relevance assessments was constructed. Previous results on using morphs and confusion networks for Finnish SDR are confirmed and extended to the unsegmented case. As previously, using morphs or base forms as index terms yields about equal performance but combination methods, including a new one, are found to work better than either alone. Using alternative morph segmentations of the query words is found to further improve the results. Lexical similarity-based story segmentation was applied and performance using morphs, base forms, and their combinations was compared for the first time.
Analyzing web accessibility in Finnish higher education
Authors: Hashemian Behzad Joze
Published: October 2011

The usability and accessibility of web services and online applications benefits millions of internet users including persons with disability. Regarding the importance of higher education systems in equalization of opportunities for persons with disability, the research's intent is to evaluate web accessibility of the Finnish higher education system by examining accessibility of websites and online services of all universities in Finland according to recommendations of Finnish quality criteria for web services. Automatic evaluation method is used to analyze web accessibility based on WCAG 1.0. The result shows 30% of tested websites have full automatic accessibility in priority 1 level and none of tested website has 'AA' compliance. Most of the tested websites have low inaccessibility issues. Meaning most of the websites need some modifications to become full automatic accessible.
Introducing the W3C web accessibility initiative research and development working group
Authors: Harper Simon
Published: October 2011

For the last four years we have been working with the W3C to try and restart the Research and Development Interest Group which was previously, and ably, chaired by Markku Hakkinen. I'm glad to say that after much discussion within the W3C the group has been relaunched as a working group. This new group has a two-year charter, had its first weekly meeting in June, and has already chosen its first topic to be focused on. Here I'd like to introduce the group and the way in which it works, and encourage any researcher with an interest in accessibility to contribute via the mailing list, or to jump in and participate as a core working group member.
Announcement
Authors: Bergamaschi Reinaldo
Published: October 2011

Odysci is a new web portal for search and rank of scientific articles published in journals and conferences worldwide. Our objective is to provide the best academic search engine available, along with a productive technical social-network environment.
Attenuation of Cross-Flow Fan Noise Using Porous Stabilizers
Authors: Lai Huanxin , Wang Meng , Yun Chuye , Yao Jin
Published: October 2011

This paper presents a qualitative analysis of controlling the cross-flow fan noise by using porous stabilizers. The stabilizer was originally a folded plate. It is changed into a porous structure which has a plenum chamber and vent holes on the front wall. In order to investigate the influences of using the porous stabilizers, experiments are carried out to measure the cross-flow fan aerodynamic performances and sound radiation. Meanwhile, the internal flow field of the fan is numerically simulated. The results show that the porous stabilizers have not produced considerable effect on the cross-flow fan's performance curve, but the noise radiated from the fan is strongly affected. This indicates the feasibility of controlling the cross-flow fan noise by using the porous stabilizers with selected porosity.
Tuberculosis in Otorhinolaryngology: Clinical Presentation and Diagnostic Challenges
Authors: Michael Rajiv C. , Michael Joy S.
Published: October 2011

Tuberculosis affects all tissues of the body, although some more commonly than the others. Pulmonary tuberculosis is the most common type of tuberculosis accounting for approximately 80% of the tuberculosis cases. Tuberculosis of the otorhinolaryngeal region is one of the rarer forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis but still poses a significant clinical and diagnostic challenge. Over three years, only five out of 121 patients suspected to have tuberculosis of the otorhinolaryngeal region (cervical adenitis excluded) hadMycobacterium tuberculosisculture-proven disease. Additional 7 had histology-proven tuberculosis. Only one patient had concomitant sputum-positive pulmonary tuberculosis. We look at the various clinical and laboratory aspects of tuberculosis of the otorhinolaryngeal region that would help to diagnose this uncommon but important form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis.
Prenatal Programming of Hypertension in the Rat: Effect of Postnatal Rearing
Authors: Habib Sabeen , Zhang Qiuyu , Baum Michel
Published: October 2011

Background/Aims: Dietary protein deprivation during pregnancy causes hypertension in offspring when they become adults. This study examined if postnatal rearing had an effect on blood pressure and glomerular number in male rats whose mothers were fed either a control diet or a low protein diet. Methods: Neonates were cross fostered at 1 day of age to a different mother. After birth, all nursing and weaned rats were fed a control diet. Blood pressure and glomerular number were measured in adult offspring. Results: Control rats cross fostered to another control mother had a lower blood pressure than low protein rats cross fostered to another low protein mother (133 ± 4 vs. 151 ± 4 mm Hg, p < 0.05) and a greater number of glomeruli (28,388 ± 989 vs. 25,045 ± 851, p < 0.05). Fostering pups from the 20% group to mothers that were fed a 6% diet during pregnancy did not cause hypertension or a reduction in the number of glomeruli. However, fostering the 6% group on to mothers that were fed a 20% protein diet during pregnancy resulted in normalization of the blood pressure and number of glomeruli. Conclusion: The hypertension and reduced glomerular number resulting from prenatal dietary protein deprivation can be normalized by improving the postnatal environment.
Art, Science, Cartography, and the Eye of the Beholder
Authors: Withers Charles W. J.
Published: October 2011

Map history is fertile interdisciplinary terrain. No longer the preserve of map historians presiding as custodian-interpreters of a simple mimetic truth, map history now involves historians, historians of art and of science, geographers, literary scholars, and, just as important, new forms of curatorial scholarship and responsibility. The purpose and interpretation of the large maps on display in one form or another between c.1450 and 1850 throughout Europe depended greatly upon the physical and social environments of their viewing. Insights from the history of the book and the history of science offer new possibilities for the continued interdisciplinary interrogation of these maps as visual and textual sources.