bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Interferon-Inducible Protein Tetherin Inhibits Hepatitis B Virus Virion Secretion
Authors: Yan Ran , Zhao Xuesen , Cai Dawei , Liu Yuanjie , Block Timothy M. , Guo Ju-Tao , Guo Haitao
Published: June 2015

Interferon alpha (IFN-α) is an approved medication for chronic hepatitis B therapy. Besides acting as an immunomodulator, IFN-α elicits a pleiotropic antiviral state in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected hepatocytes, but whether or not IFN-α impedes the late steps of the HBV life cycle, such as HBV secretion, remains elusive. Here we report that IFN-α treatment of HepAD38 cells with established HBV replication selectively reduced HBV virion release without altering intracellular viral replication or the secretion of HBV subviral particles and nonenveloped capsids. In search of the interferon-stimulated gene(s) that is responsible for the reduction of HBV virion release, we found that tetherin, a broad-spectrum antiviral transmembrane protein that inhibits the egress of a variety of enveloped viruses, was highly induced by IFN-α in HepAD38 cells and in primary human hepatocytes. We further demonstrated that the expression of full-length tetherin, but not the C-terminal glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor-truncated form, inhibited HBV virion egress from HepAD38 cells. In addition, GPI anchor-truncated tetherin exhibited a dominant-negative effect and was incorporated into the liberated virions. We also found colocalization of tetherin and HBV L protein at the intracellular multivesicular body, where the budding of HBV virions takes place. In line with this, electron microscopy demonstrated that HBV virions were tethered in the lumen of the cisterna membrane under tetherin expression. Finally, knockdown of tetherin or overexpression of dominant negative tetherin attenuated the IFN-α-mediated reduction of HBV virion release. Taken together, our study suggests that IFN-α inhibits HBV virion egress from hepatocytes through the induction of tetherin.

IMPORTANCE
Tetherin is a host restriction factor that blocks the egress of a variety of enveloped viruses through tethering the budding virions on the cell surface with its membrane anchor domains. Here we report that interferon directly and selectively inhibits the secretion of HBV virions, but not subviral particles or nonenveloped capsids, through the induction of tetherin in hepatocyte-derived cells. The antiviral function of tetherin requires the carboxyl-terminal GPI anchor, while the GPI anchor deletion mutant exhibits dominant negative activity and attaches to liberated HBV virions. Consistent with the fact that HBV is an intracellular budding virus, microscopy analyses demonstrated that the tethering of HBV virions occurs in the intracellular cisterna and that tetherin colocalizes with HBV virions on the multivesicular body, which is the HBV virion budding site. Our study not only expands the antiviral spectrum of tetherin but also sheds light on the mechanisms of interferon-elicited anti-HBV responses.
Superoxide-Generating Nox5α Is Functionally Required for the Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1-Induced Cell Transformation Phenotype
Authors: Shigemura Tomonari , Shiohara Masaaki , Kato Masayoshi , Furuta Shuichi , Kaneda Kazuko , Morishita Kazuhiro , Hasegawa Hiroo , Fujii Masahiro , Gorlach Agnes , Koike Kenichi , Kamata Tohru
Published: June 2015

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is associated with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and transforms T cells
in vitro
. To our knowledge, the functional role of reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generating NADPH oxidase 5 (Nox5) in HTLV-1 transformation remains undefined. Here, we found that Nox5α expression was upregulated in 88% of 17 ATL patient samples but not in normal peripheral blood T cells. Upregulation of the Nox5α variant was transcriptionally sustained by the constitutive Janus family tyrosine kinase (Jak)-STAT5 signaling pathway in interleukin-2 (IL-2)-independent HTLV-1-transformed cell lines, including MT1 and MT2, whereas it was transiently induced by the IL-2-triggered Jak-STAT5 axis in uninfected T cells. A Nox inhibitor, diphenylene iodonium, and antioxidants such as N-acetyl cysteine blocked proliferation of MT1 and MT2 cells. Ablation of Nox5α by small interfering RNAs abrogated ROS production, inhibited cellular activities, including proliferation, migration, and survival, and suppressed tumorigenicity in immunodeficient NOG mice. The findings suggest that Nox5α is a key molecule for redox-signal-mediated maintenance of the HTLV-1 transformation phenotype and could be a potential molecular target for therapeutic intervention in cancer development.

IMPORTANCE
HTLV-1 is the first human oncogenic retrovirus shown to be associated with ATL. Despite the extensive study over the years, the mechanism underlying HTLV-1-induced cell transformation is not fully understood. In this study, we addressed the expression and function of ROS-generating Nox family genes in HTLV-1-transformed cells. Our report provides the first evidence that the upregulated expression of Nox5α is associated with the pathological state of ATL peripheral blood mononuclear cells and that Nox5α is an integral component of the Jak-STAT5 signaling pathway in HTLV-1-transformed T cells. Nox5α-derived ROS are critically involved in the regulation of cellular activities, including proliferation, migration, survival, and tumorigenicity, in HTLV-1-transformed cells. These results indicate that Nox5α-derived ROS are functionally required for maintenance of the HTLV-1 transformation phenotype. The finding provides new insight into the redox-dependent mechanism of HTLV-1 transformation and raises an intriguing possibility that Nox5α serves as a potential molecular target to treat HTLV-1-related leukemia.
Screening of the Human Kinome Identifies MSK1/2-CREB1 as an Essential Pathway Mediating Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Lytic Replication during Primary Infection
Authors: Cheng Fan , Sawant Tanvee Vinod , Lan Ke , Lu Chun , Jung Jae U. , Gao Shou-Jiang
Published: June 2015

Viruses often hijack cellular pathways to facilitate infection and replication. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is an oncogenic gammaherpesvirus etiologically associated with Kaposi's sarcoma, a vascular tumor of endothelial cells. Despite intensive studies, cellular pathways mediating KSHV infection and replication are still not well defined. Using an antibody array approach, we examined cellular proteins phosphorylated during primary KSHV infection of primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Enrichment analysis identified integrin/mitogen-activated protein kinase (integrin/MAPK), insulin/epidermal growth factor receptor (insulin/EGFR), and JAK/STAT as the activated networks during primary KSHV infection. The transcriptional factor CREB1 (cyclic AMP [cAMP]-responsive element-binding protein 1) had the strongest increase in phosphorylation. While knockdown of CREB1 had no effect on KSHV entry and trafficking, it drastically reduced the expression of lytic transcripts and proteins and the production of infectious virions. Chemical activation of CREB1 significantly enhanced viral lytic replication. In contrast, CREB1 neither influenced the expression of the latent gene LANA nor affected KSHV infectivity. Mechanistically, CREB1 was not activated through the classic cAMP/protein kinase A (cAMP/PKA) pathway or via the AKT, MK2, and RSK pathways. Rather, CREB1 was activated by the mitogen- and stress-activated protein kinases 1 and 2 (MSK1/2). Consequently, chemical inhibition or knockdown of MSKs significantly inhibited the KSHV lytic replication program; however, it had a minimal effect on LANA expression and KSHV infectivity. Together, these results identify the MSK1/2-CREB1 proteins as novel essential effectors of KSHV lytic replication during primary infection. The differential effect of the MSK1/2-CREB1 pathway on the expression of viral latent and lytic genes might control the robustness of viral lytic replication, and therefore the KSHV replication program, during primary infection.

IMPORTANCE
Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a human tumor virus associated with several cancers. Through genome-wide kinase screening, we found that KSHV activates the MSK1/2-CREB1 pathway during primary infection and that it depends on this pathway for viral lytic replication. Inhibition of this pathway blocks KSHV lytic replication. These results illustrate a mechanism by which KSHV hijacks a cellular pathway for its replication, and they identify a potential therapeutic target.
Patient-Specific Neutralizing Antibody Responses to Herpes Simplex Virus Are Attributed to Epitopes on gD, gB, or Both and Can Be Type Specific
Authors: Cairns Tina M. , Huang Zhen-Yu , Gallagher John R. , Lin Yixin , Lou Huan , Whitbeck J. Charles , Wald Anna , Cohen Gary H. , Eisenberg Roselyn J.
Published: June 2015

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2 infect many humans and establish a latent infection in sensory ganglia. Although some infected people suffer periodic recurrences, others do not. Infected people mount both cell-mediated and humoral responses, including the production of virus-neutralizing antibodies (Abs) directed at viral entry glycoproteins. Previously, we examined IgGs from 10 HSV-seropositive individuals; all neutralized virus and were directed primarily against gD or gD+gB. Here, we expand our studies and examine 32 additional sera from HSV-infected individuals, 23 of whom had no recurrent disease. Using an Octet RED96 system, we screened all 32 serum samples directly for both glycoprotein binding and competition with known neutralizing anti-gD and -gB monoclonal Abs (MAbs). On average, the recurrent cohort exhibited higher binding to gD and gB and had higher neutralization titers. There were similar trends in the blocking of MAbs to critical gD and gB epitopes. When we depleted six sera of Abs to specific glycoproteins, we found different types of responses, but always directed primarily at gD and/or gB. Interestingly, in one dual-infected person, the neutralizing response to HSV-2 was due to gD2 and gB2, whereas HSV-1 neutralization was due to gD1 and gB1. In another case, virus neutralization was HSV-1 specific, with the Ab response directed entirely at gB1, despite this serum blocking type-common anti-gD and -gB neutralizing MAbs. These data are pertinent in the design of future HSV vaccines since they demonstrate the importance of both serotypes of gD and gB as immunogens.

IMPORTANCE
We previously showed that people infected with HSV produce neutralizing Abs directed against gD or a combination of gD+gB (and in one case, gD+gB+gC, which was HSV-1 specific). In this more extensive study, we again found that gD or gD+gB can account for the virus neutralizing response and critical epitopes of one or both of these proteins are represented in sera of naturally infected humans. However, we also found that some individuals produced a strong response against gB alone. In addition, we identified type-specific contributions to HSV neutralization from both gD and gB. Contributions from the other entry glycoproteins, gC and gH/gL, were minimal and limited to HSV-1 neutralization. Knowing the variations in how humans see and mount a response to HSV will be important to vaccine development.
Retention in care prior to antiretroviral treatment eligibility in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review of the literature
Authors: Plazy Mélanie , Orne-Gliemann Joanna , Dabis François , Dray-Spira Rosemary
Published: June 2015

Objective

We aimed at summarising rates and factors associated with retention in HIV care prior to antiretroviral treatment (ART) eligibility in sub-Saharan Africa.

Design

We conducted a systematic literature review (2002–2014). We searched Medline/Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science, as well as proceedings of conferences. We included all original research studies published in peer-reviewed journals, which used quantitative indicators of retention in care prior to ART eligibility.

Participants

People not yet eligible for ART.

Primary and secondary outcomes

Rate of retention in HIV care prior to ART eligibility and associated factors.

Results

10 papers and 2 abstracts were included. Most studies were conducted in Southern and Eastern Africa between 2004 and 2011 and reported retention rates in pre-ART care up to the second CD4 measurement. Definition of retention in HIV care prior to ART eligibility differed substantially across studies. Retention rates ranged between 23% and 88% based on series ranging from 112 to 10 314 individuals; retention was higher in women, individuals aged >25 years, those with low CD4 count, high body mass index or co-infected with tuberculosis, and in settings with free cotrimoxazole use.

Conclusions

Retention in HIV care prior to ART eligibility in sub-Saharan Africa has been insufficiently described so far leaving major research gaps, especially regarding long-term retention rates and sociodemographic, economic, clinical and programmatic logistic determinants. The prospective follow-up of newly diagnosed individuals is required to better evaluate attrition prior to ART eligibility among HIV-infected people.
CAFÉ: a multicomponent audit and feedback intervention to improve implementation of healthy food policy in primary school canteens: protocol of a randomised controlled trial
Authors: Williams Christopher M , Nathan Nicole , Delaney Tessa , Yoong Sze Lin , Wiggers John , Preece Sarah , Lubans Nicole , Sutherland Rachel , Pinfold Jessica , Smith Kay , Small Tameka , Reilly Kathryn L , Butler Peter , Wyse Rebecca J , Wolfenden Luke
Published: June 2015

Introduction

A number of jurisdictions internationally have policies requiring schools to implement healthy canteens. However, many schools have not implemented such policies. One reason for this is that current support interventions cannot feasibly be delivered to large numbers of schools. A promising solution to support population-wide implementation of healthy canteen practices is audit and feedback. The effectiveness of this strategy has, however, not previously been assessed in school canteens. This study aims to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an audit and feedback intervention, delivered by telephone and email, in increasing the number of school canteens that have menus complying with a government healthy-canteen policy.

Methods and analysis

Seventy-two schools, across the Hunter New England Local Health District in New South Wales Australia, will be randomised to receive the multicomponent audit and feedback implementation intervention or usual support. The intervention will consist of between two and four canteen menu audits over 12 months. Each menu audit will be followed by two modes of feedback: a written feedback report and a verbal feedback/support via telephone. Primary outcomes, assessed by dieticians blind to group status and as recommended by the Fresh Tastes @ School policy, are: (1) the proportion of schools with a canteen menu containing foods or beverages restricted for sale, and; (2) the proportion of schools that have a menu which contains more than 50% of foods classified as healthy canteen items. Secondary outcomes are: the proportion of menu items in each category (‘red’, ‘amber’ and ‘green’), canteen profitability and cost-effectiveness.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval has been obtained by from the Hunter New England Human Research Ethics Committee and the University of Newcastle Human Research Ethics Committee. The findings will be disseminated in usual forums, including peer-reviewed publication and conference presentations.

Trial registration number

ACTRN12613000543785.
Video decision aids to assist with advance care planning: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Jain Ashu , Corriveau Sophie , Quinn Kathleen , Gardhouse Amanda , Vegas Daniel Brandt , You John J
Published: June 2015

Objective

Advance care planning (ACP) can result in end-of-life care that is more congruent with patients’ values and preferences. There is increasing interest in video decision aids to assist with ACP. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of video decision aids on patients’ preferences regarding life-sustaining treatments (primary outcome).

Design

Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Data sources

MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycInfo, CINAHL, AMED and CENTRAL, between 1980 and February 2014, and correspondence with authors.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies

Randomised controlled trials of adult patients that compared a video decision aid to a non-video-based intervention to assist with choices about use of life-sustaining treatments and reported at least one ACP-related outcome.

Data extraction

Reviewers worked independently and in pairs to screen potentially eligible articles, and to extract data regarding risk of bias, population, intervention, comparator and outcomes. Reviewers assessed quality of evidence (confidence in effect estimates) for each outcome using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework.

Results

10 trials enrolling 2220 patients were included. Low-quality evidence suggests that patients who use a video decision aid are less likely to indicate a preference for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (pooled risk ratio, 0.50 (95% CI 0.27 to 0.95); I2=65%). Moderate-quality evidence suggests that video decision aids result in greater knowledge related to ACP (standardised mean difference, 0.58 (95% CI 0.38 to 0.77); I2=0%). No study reported on the congruence of end-of-life treatments with patients’ wishes. No study evaluated the effect of video decision aids when integrated into clinical care.

Conclusions

Video decision aids may improve some ACP-related outcomes. Before recommending their use in clinical practice, more evidence is needed to confirm these findings and to evaluate the impact of video decision aids when integrated into patient care.
Comparison of methodological quality of positive versus negative comparative studies published in Indian medical journals: a systematic review
Authors: Charan Jaykaran , Chaudhari Mayur , Jackson Ryan , Mhaskar Rahul , Reljic Tea , Kumar Ambuj
Published: June 2015

Objectives

Published negative studies should have the same rigour of methodological quality as studies with positive findings. However, the methodological quality of negative versus positive studies is not known. The objective was to assess the reported methodological quality of positive versus negative studies published in Indian medical journals.

Design

A systematic review (SR) was performed of all comparative studies published in Indian medical journals with a clinical science focus and impact factor >1 between 2011 and 2013. The methodological quality of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, and the Newcastle-Ottawa scale for observational studies. The results were considered positive if the primary outcome was statistically significant and negative otherwise. When the primary outcome was not specified, we used data on the first outcome reported in the history followed by the results section. Differences in various methodological quality domains between positive versus negative studies were assessed by Fisher's exact test.

Results

Seven journals with 259 comparative studies were included in this SR. 24% (63/259) were RCTs, 24% (63/259) cohort studies, and 49% (128/259) case–control studies. 53% (137/259) of studies explicitly reported the primary outcome. Five studies did not report sufficient data to enable us to determine if results were positive or negative. Statistical significance was determined by p value in 78.3% (199/254), CI in 2.8% (7/254), both p value and CI in 11.8% (30/254), and only descriptive in 6.3% (16/254) of studies. The overall methodological quality was poor and no statistically significant differences between reporting of methodological quality were detected between studies with positive versus negative findings.

Conclusions

There was no difference in the reported methodological quality of positive versus negative studies. However, the uneven reporting of positive versus negative studies (72% vs 28%) indicates a publication bias in Indian medical journals with an impact factor of >1.
A multicentre, randomised controlled, non-inferiority trial, comparing high flow therapy with nasal continuous positive airway pressure as primary support for preterm infants with respiratory distress (the HIPSTER trial): study protocol
Authors: Roberts Calum T , Owen Louise S , Manley Brett J , Donath Susan M , Davis Peter G
Published: June 2015

Introduction

High flow (HF) therapy is an increasingly popular mode of non-invasive respiratory support for preterm infants. While there is now evidence to support the use of HF to reduce extubation failure, there have been no appropriately designed and powered studies to assess the use of HF as primary respiratory support soon after birth. Our hypothesis is that HF is non-inferior to the standard treatment—nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP)— as primary respiratory support for preterm infants.

Methods and analysis

The HIPSTER trial is an unblinded, international, multicentre, randomised, non-inferiority trial. Eligible infants are preterm infants of 28–36+6weeks’ gestational age (GA) who require primary non-invasive respiratory support for respiratory distress in the first 24 h of life. Infants are randomised to treatment with either HF or NCPAP. The primary outcome is treatment failure within 72 h after randomisation, as determined by objective oxygenation, blood gas, and apnoea criteria, or the need for urgent intubation and mechanical ventilation. Secondary outcomes include the incidence of intubation, pneumothorax, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, nasal trauma, costs associated with hospital care and parental stress. With a specified non-inferiority margin of 10%, using a two-sided 95% CI and 90% power, the study requires 375 infants per group (total 750 infants).

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval has been granted by the relevant human research ethics committees at The Royal Women's Hospital (13/12), The Royal Children's Hospital (33144A), The Mercy Hospital for Women (R13/34), and the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority (2013/1657). The trial is currently recruiting at 9 centres in Australia and Norway. The trial results will be published in peer-reviewed international journals, and presented at national and international conferences.

Trial registration number

Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ID: ACTRN12613000303741.
Topographic features of the sub-Athabasca Group unconformity surface in the southeastern Athabasca Basin and their relationship to uranium ore deposits
Authors: Li Zenghua , Bethune Kathryn M. , Chi Guoxiang , Bosman Sean A. , Card Colin D.
Published: June 2015

Topographic features of the sub-Athabasca unconformity surface, such as paleovalleys, topographic highs, and fault scarps, have been documented locally in the eastern Athabasca Basin, and available data indicate that they are spatially associated with mineralization. However, the mechanisms by which such topographic features were generated, their size and distribution at the regional scale, as well as their relationship to mineralization, are still not completely understood. A 100 by 60 square kilometre area of the southeastern Athabasca Basin, encompassing the McArthur River, Phoenix, and Key Lake deposits, was selected to study the relationship between these topographic features and U mineralization. In this region three dominant sets of sub-vertical faults were identified on the basis of aeromagnetic data: northeast-trending, north–northwest-trending, and northwest-trending. A detailed three-dimensional (3-D) model of this part of the basin was constructed using data from more than 1200 drill holes. This model reveals numerous dominantly northeast-trending ridges and valleys in the unconformity surface. Among these, a prominent northeast-trending ridge is situated close to the McArthur River – Key Lake deposits trend. Structural interpretation and cross-sections illustrate that the topographic features that have been documented in previous studies are a function of three principal factors: (i) pre-Athabasca group ductile-brittle faulting and alteration; (ii) differential weathering and erosion; and (iii) syn- to post-Athabasca ductile-brittle reactivation of pre-existing graphite-rich ductile shear zones. The topographic features and associated faults may have acted as conduits and barriers to fluid flow and thus controlled alteration patterns and uranium mineralization.
Seasonal oxidative capacity of skeletal muscles in hibernating Daurian ground squirrels (Spermophilus dauricus)
Authors: Jiang Shanfeng , Guo Shupan , Xue Wei , Wang Huiping , Goswami Nandu , Gao Yunfang
Published: June 2015

We investigated the mechanism of high oxidative capacity of skeletal muscles in hibernating Daurian ground squirrels (Spermophilus dauricus Brandt, 1843). Myoglobin (Mb) levels, as well as citrate synthase and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities, were measured by spectrophotometry. Mb content in the soleus (SOL) muscle lasted from the beginning of hibernation to spring. Mb content in SOL was 87% higher in the hibernating group than in the summer group. Mb content in the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle stayed at similar levels during the different periods of the year. Citrate synthase activity in SOL was 30% higher in the hibernating group than in the summer group. Meanwhile, citrate synthase activity in EDL did not change during hibernation. LDH activity in SOL was not different between the hibernating group and the summer active group, whereas LDH activity in EDL increased significantly (up to 11%) in the 2 days arousal after hibernation group compared with the hibernating group. We conclude that high oxidative capacity is provided by increased oxygen storage capacity of slow-twitch muscle fibers rather than from fast-twitch muscle fibers in hibernating animals.
Evidence for Toxoplasma gondii in migratory vs. nonmigratory herbivores in a terrestrial arctic ecosystem
Authors: Elmore S.A. , Samelius G. , Fernando C. , Alisauskas R.T. , Jenkins E.J.
Published: June 2015

It is currently unclear how Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle and Manceaux, 1908) persists in arctic tundra ecosystems in the absence of felid definitive hosts. To investigate potential transmission routes of T. gondii in a terrestrial arctic food web, we collected samples from two migratory herbivores, Ross’s Geese (Chen rossi (Cassin, 1861)) and Lesser Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens (L., 1758)), and from two resident herbivores, Nearctic brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus (Richardson, 1825)) and collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus (Traill, 1823)), trapped at Karrak Lake, Nunavut, Canada. Antibodies were detected in 76 of 234 (32.4%) serum samples from Ross’s Geese and 66 of 233 (28.3%) serum samples from Lesser Snow Geese. We did not detect T. gondii antibodies in filter-paper eluate tested from thoracic fluid samples collected from 84 lemmings. We did not detect T. gondii DNA in brain tissue from these lemmings. Although a small sample size, our findings suggest that lemmings in this terrestrial arctic ecosystem are not exposed to, or infected with, the parasite. This suggests that oocysts are not introduced into the terrestrial arctic ecosystem at Karrak Lake via freshwater runoff from temperate regions. This study demonstrated that live adult arctic-nesting geese are exposed to T. gondii and therefore migratory herbivorous hosts are potential sources of T. gondii infection for predators in terrestrial arctic ecosystems.
On the rigidity theorems for Lagrangian translating solitons in pseudo-Euclidean space II
Authors: Huang R. L. , Xu R. W.
Published: June 2015

Let u be a smooth convex function in ℝnand the graph M∇uof ∇u be a space-like translating soliton in pseudo-Euclidean space [Formula: see text] with a translating vector [Formula: see text], then the function u satisfies [Formula: see text] where ai, biand c are constants. The Bernstein type results are obtained in the course of the arguments.
A reconstruction theorem for complex polynomials
Authors: Boc Thaler Luka
Published: June 2015

Recently Takens' Reconstruction Theorem was studied in the complex analytic setting by Fornæss and Peters [Complex dynamics with focus on the real part, to appear in Ergodic Theory Dynam. Syst.]. They studied the real orbits of complex polynomials, and proved that for non-exceptional polynomials ergodic properties such as measure theoretic entropy are carried over to the real orbits mapping. Here we show that the result from [Complex dynamics with focus on the real part, to appear in Ergodic Theory Dynam. Syst.] also holds for exceptional polynomials, unless the Julia set is entirely contained in an invariant vertical line, in which case the entropy is 0. In [The reconstruction theorem for endomorphisms, Bull. Braz. Math. Soc. (N.S.) 33(2) (2002) 231–262.] Takens proved a reconstruction theorem for endomorphisms. In this case the reconstruction map is not necessarily an embedding, but the information of the reconstruction map is sufficient to recover the (2m + 1) th image of the original map. Our main result shows an analogous statement for the iteration of generic complex polynomials and the projection onto the real axis.
Security analysis of multi-party quantum private comparison protocol by model checking
Authors: Yang Fan , Yang Guowu , Hao Yujie , Luo Qingbin , Wang Yuqi
Published: June 2015

This paper presents an analysis method for quantum information protocols based on model checking, with special focus on the quantum privacy comparison (QPC). The security properties of these protocols can be proved but in ways with much difficulty. Here we will discuss a probabilistic model checking tool — PRISM to verify specific properties of QPC protocol with multi-body and PRISM to verify specific properties of quantum private comparison (QPC) protocol with multi-party and d-dimensional entangled states.
Thermodynamic instabilities in high energy heavy-ion collisions
Authors: Lavagno A. , Pigato D. , Gervino G.
Published: June 2015

One of the very interesting aspects of high energy heavy-ion collisions experiments is a detailed study of the thermodynamical properties of strongly interacting nuclear matter away from the nuclear ground state. In this direction, many efforts were focused on searching for possible phase transitions in such collisions. We investigate thermodynamic instabilities in a hot and dense nuclear medium where a phase transition from nucleonic matter to resonance-dominated [Formula: see text]-matter can take place. Such a phase transition can be characterized by both mechanical instability (fluctuations on the baryon density) and by chemical-diffusive instability (fluctuations on the strangeness concentration) in asymmetric nuclear matter. In analogy with the liquid–gas nuclear phase transition, hadronic phases with different values of antibaryon–baryon ratios and strangeness content may coexist. Such a physical regime could be, in principle, investigated in the future high-energy compressed nuclear matter experiments which will make it possible to create compressed baryonic matter with a high net baryon density.
On the Use of Transfer Approaches to Predict the Vibroacoustic Response of Poroelastic Media
Authors: Serra Q. , Ichchou M. N. , Deü J.-F.
Published: June 2015

The transfer matrix method (TMM) is a famous analytic method in the vibroacoustic community. It is classically considered as a high frequency approach, because of the hypothesis of acoustic plane waves impinging on a flat infinite panel. Thus, it cannot take into account directly finite-size effects or lateral boundary conditions (BCs), and it needs specific algorithms to correct its results in the low frequency range. Within the transfer matrix framework, the use of finite elements makes it possible to generalize the range of applications of transfer approaches. Thus, the study of wave propagation in poroelastic media, in presence of lateral BCs can be carried out. The links between theses waves and the acoustic response of a sample are investigated. Finally, it shows that transfer approaches are not limited in the low frequency range, as usually stated. In fact, the validity of analytic transfer approaches depends more on the material and on the geometry than on the frequency range.
Estimation and Stabilization of Humanoid Flexibility Deformation Using Only Inertial Measurement Units and Contact Information
Authors: Benallegue Mehdi , Lamiraux Florent
Published: June 2015

Most robots are today controlled as being entirely rigid. But often, as for HRP-2 robot, there are flexible parts, intended for example to absorb impacts. The deformation of this flexibility modifies the orientation of the robot and endangers balance. Nevertheless, robots have usually inertial sensors inertial measurement units (IMUs) to reconstruct their orientation based on gravity and inertial effects. Moreover, humanoids have usually to ensure a firm contact with the ground, which provides reliable information on surrounding environment. We show in this study how important it is to take into account these information to improve IMU-based position/orientation reconstruction. We use an extended Kalman filter to rebuild the deformation, making the fusion between IMU and contact information, and without making any assumption on the dynamics of the flexibility. We show how, with this simple setting, we are able to compensate for perturbations and to stabilize the end-effector's position/orientation in the world reference frame. We show also that this estimation is reliable enough to enable a closed-loop stabilization of the flexibility and control of the center of mass (CoM) position with the simplest possible model.
5,10,15,20-Tetrasulfonatophenylporphyrin regioisomers: How the location of the sulfonato groups determines the formation of their supramolecular aggregates
Authors: Cabrer Aina , Ribó Josep M. , El-Hachemi Zoubir , Crusats Joaquim
Published: June 2015

An improved method to obtain and purify the tetrasodium salts of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin (TPP-pS4) and 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin (TPP-mS4) is reported. With these substances as standards, the analysis of a typical reaction crude obtained in the sulfonation of tetraphenylporphyrin with hot sulfuric acid shows that the para/meta selectivity of sulfonation at each individual phenyl ring is 95:5. The pKa values of both TPP-pS4 and TPP-mS4 were spectrophotometrically measured (4.73 ± 0.01 and 4.85 ± 0.01 respectively). These results show that the sulfonato group has a stronger mesomeric electronic effect than the inductive one. The all-meta isomer of meso-tetrasulfonatophenylporphyrin in acidic aqueous solutions (10-3–10-4M) shows a total absence of aggregation under the same experimental conditions in which its all-para counterpart is fully aggregated, as inferred from the typical Soret J- and H-aggregation bands characteristic of the supramolecular homoassociates. The effect of the number of meta-sulfonato groups on the structure of the aggregates at different length-scales is discussed.
An Equilibrium Analysis of Scrip Systems
Authors: Kash Ian A. , Friedman Eric J. , Halpern Joseph Y.
Published: June 2015

A game-theoretic model of scrip (artificial currency) systems is analyzed. It is shown that relative entropy can be used to characterize the distribution of agent wealth when all agents use
threshold strategies
—that is, they volunteer to do work if and only if they have below a threshold amount of money. Monotonicity of agents' best-reply functions is used to show that scrip systems have pure strategy equilibria where all agents use threshold strategies. An algorithm is given that can compute such an equilibrium and the resulting distribution of wealth.
Using rhetorical structure in sentiment analysis
Authors: Hogenboom Alexander , Frasincar Flavius , de Jong Franciska , Kaymak Uzay
Published: June 2015

A deep, fine-grain analysis of rhetorical structure highlights crucial sentiment-carrying text segments.
Decoupling Capacitance Design Strategies for Power Delivery Networks with Power Gating
Authors: Xu Tong , Li Peng , Sundareswaran Savithri
Published: June 2015

Power gating is a widely used leakage power saving strategy in modern chip designs. However, power gating introduces unique power integrity issues and trade-offs between switching and rush current (wake-up) supply noises. At the same time, the amount of power saving intrinsically trades off with power integrity. In addition, these trade-offs significantly vary with supply voltage. In this article, we propose systemic decoupling capacitors (decaps) optimization strategies that optimally trade-off between power integrity and leakage saving. Specially, new global decap and reroutable decap design concepts are proposed to relax the tight interaction between power integrity and leakage saving of power gated PDNs with a single supply voltage level. Furthermore, we propose a flexible decap allocation technique to deal with the design trade-offs under multiple supply voltage levels. The proposed strategies are implemented in an automatic design flow for choosing the optimal amount of local decaps, global decaps and reroutable decaps. The conducted experiments demonstrate that leakage saving can be increased significantly compared with the conventional PDN design approach with a single supply voltage level using the proposed techniques without jeopardizing power integrity. For PDN designs operating at two supply voltage levels, the optimal performance is achieved at each voltage level.
Least Upper Delay Bound for VBR Flows in Networks-on-Chip with Virtual Channels
Authors: Jafari Fahimeh , Lu Zhonghai , Jantsch Axel
Published: June 2015

Real-time applications such as multimedia and gaming require stringent performance guarantees, usually enforced by a tight upper bound on the maximum end-to-end delay. For FIFO multiplexed on-chip packet switched networks we consider worst-case delay bounds for
Variable Bit-Rate
(VBR) flows with aggregate scheduling, which schedules multiple flows as an aggregate flow. VBR Flows are characterized by a maximum transfer size (
L
), peak rate (
p
), burstiness (σ), and average sustainable rate (ρ). Based on network calculus, we present and prove theorems to derive per-flow end-to-end
Equivalent Service Curves
(ESC), which are in turn used for computing
Least Upper Delay Bounds
(LUDBs) of individual flows. In a realistic case study we find that the end-to-end delay bound is up to 46.9% more accurate than the case without considering the traffic peak behavior. Likewise, results also show similar improvements for synthetic traffic patterns. The proposed methodology is implemented in C++ and has low run-time complexity, enabling quick evaluation for large and complex SoCs.
Bottom-Up Fault Management in Service-Based Systems
Authors: Alhosban Amal , Hashmi Khayyam , Malik Zaki , Medjahed Brahim , Benbernou Salima
Published: June 2015

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) enables the creation of distributed applications from independently developed and deployed services. As with any component-based system, the overall performance and quality of the system is an aggregate function of its component services. In this article, we present a novel approach for managing bottom-up faults in service-based systems. Bottom-up faults are a special case of system-wide exceptions that are defined as abnormal conditions or defects occurring in component services, which if not detected and/or managed, may lead to runtime failures. Examples of bottom-up faults include network outage, server disruption, and changes to service provisioning (e.g., new operation parameter required) that may have an impact on the way component services are consumed. We propose a soft-state signaling-based approach to propagate these faults from participants to composite services. Soft-state refers to a class of protocols where the state of a service is constantly refreshed by periodic messages, and user/service takes up the responsibility of communicating and maintaining its state. Soft-state-based protocols have a number of advantages including implicit error recovery and easier fault management, resulting in high availability for systems. Although soft-state has been widely used in various Internet protocols, this work is the first (to the best of our knowledge) to adopt soft-state for fault management in composite services. The proposed approach includes protocols for fault propagation (pure soft-state and soft-state with explicit removal) and fault reaction (rule-based). We also present experiment results to assess the performance and applicability of our approach.
Scheduling Globally Asynchronous Locally Synchronous Programs for Guaranteed Response Times
Authors: Park Heejong , Malik Avinash , Salcic Zoran
Published: June 2015

Safety-critical software systems need to guarantee functional correctness and bounded response times to external input events. Programs designed using reactive programming languages, based on formal mathematical semantics, can be automatically verified for functional correctness guarantees. Real-time guarantees on the other hand are much harder to achieve. In this article we provide a static analysis framework for guaranteeing response times for reactive programs developed using the Globally Asynchronous Locally Synchronous (GALS) model of computation. The proposed approach is applicable to scheduling of GALS programs for different target architectures with single or multiple processors or cores. A Satisfiability Modulo Theory (SMT) formulation in the quantifier free linear real arithmetic (QF_LRA) logic is used for scheduling. A novel technique to encode rendezvous used in synchronization of globally asynchronous processes in the presence of locally synchronous parallelism and arbitrary preemption into QF_LRA logic is presented. Finally, our SMT formulation is shown to produce schedules in reasonable time.
Low-latency distributed applications in finance
Authors: Brook Andrew
Published: June 2015

The finance industry has unique demands for low-latency distributed systems.
Snippets
Authors: Simon Doug , Wimmer Christian , Urban Bernhard , Duboscq Gilles , Stadler Lukas , Würthinger Thomas
Published: June 2015

When building a compiler for a high-level language, certain intrinsic features of the language must be expressed in terms of the resulting low-level operations. Complex features are often expressed by explicitly weaving together bits of low-level IR, a process that is tedious, error prone, difficult to read, difficult to reason about, and machine dependent. In the Graal compiler for Java, we take a different approach: we use
snippets
of Java code to express semantics in a high-level, architecture-independent way. Two important restrictions make snippets feasible in practice: they are compiler specific, and they are explicitly prepared and specialized. Snippets make Graal simpler and more portable while still capable of generating machine code that can compete with other compilers of the Java HotSpot VM.
Enabling GPGPU Low-Level Hardware Explorations with MIAOW
Authors: Balasubramanian Raghuraman , Gangadhar Vinay , Guo Ziliang , Ho Chen-Han , Joseph Cherin , Menon Jaikrishnan , Drumond Mario Paulo , Paul Robin , Prasad Sharath , Valathol Pradip , Sankaralingam Karthikeyan
Published: June 2015

Graphic processing unit (GPU)-based general-purpose computing is developing as a viable alternative to CPU-based computing in many domains. Today’s tools for GPU analysis include simulators like GPGPU-Sim, Multi2Sim, and Barra. While useful for modeling first-order effects, these tools do not provide a detailed view of GPU microarchitecture and physical design. Further, as GPGPU research evolves, design ideas and modifications demand detailed estimates of impact on overall area and power. Fueled by this need, we introduce MIAOW (Many-core Integrated Accelerator Of Wisconsin), an open-source RTL implementation of the AMD Southern Islands GPGPU ISA, capable of running unmodified OpenCL-based applications. We present our design motivated by our goals to create a realistic, flexible, OpenCL-compatible GPGPU, capable of emulating a full system. We first explore if MIAOW is realistic and then use four case studies to show that MIAOW enables the following: physical design perspective to “traditional” microarchitecture, new types of research exploration, and validation/calibration of simulator-based characterization of hardware. The findings and ideas are contributions in their own right, in addition to MIAOW’s utility as a tool for others’ research.
African Americans in the U.S. computing sciences workforce
Authors: Gilbert Juan E. , Jackson Jerlando F. L. , Dillon Edward C. , Charleston LaVar J.
Published: June 2015

An exploration of the education-to-work pipeline.
The dangers of military robots, the risks of online voting
Authors: Arquilla John , Buell Duncan A.
Published: June 2015

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

John Arquilla considers the evolution of defense drones, and why Duncan A. Buell thinks we are not ready for e-voting.
The new smart cities
Authors: Mone Gregory
Published: June 2015

How urban information systems are slowly revamping the modern metropolis.
Bringing big data to the big tent
Authors: Goth Gregory
Published: June 2015

Open source tools assist data science.
ACM announces 2014 award recipients
Authors: Fisher Lawrence M.
Published: June 2015

Recognizing excellence in technical and professional achievements and contributions in computer science and information technology.
Future Tense: Toy Box Earth
Authors: Clegg Brian
Published: June 2015

From the intersection of computational science and technological speculation, with boundaries limited only by our ability to imagine what could be.

What a young AI learned following Alice through the looking glass ...
ECIR 2015 Workshop on Gamification for Information Retrieval (GamifIR'15)
Authors: Kazai Gabriella , Hopfgartner Frank , Kruschwitz Udo , Meder Michael
Published: June 2015

The second workshop on Gamification for Information Retrieval took place at ECIR 2015 in Vienna, Austria on the 29th of March. The workshop program included two invited keynote presentations, seven oral presentations of refereed papers, lots of mini discussion sessions and a fishbowl session. The presentations covered diverse topics from playing around with an eye tracker to a game with IR papers and even a game of scientific hangman, generating lively and fun discussions. The workshop was a crowdpinion experiment itself, gathering participants' momentary opinions via an Android app. One of the main themes of the day was the interplay of gamification aspects and incentives, where the key challenge is to align player motivations with the goal of the task. Any misalignment may lead to gamification as a tool being more damaging than useful with users' focus shifting from the task to gaming the system.
Report on the Evaluation-as-a-Service (EaaS) Expert Workshop
Authors: Hopfgartner Frank , Hanbury Allan , Müller Henning , Kando Noriko , Mercer Simon , Kalpathy-Cramer Jayashree , Potthast Martin , Gollub Tim , Krithara Anastasia , Lin Jimmy , Balog Krisztian , Eggel Ivan
Published: June 2015

In this report, we summarize the outcome of the "Evaluation-as-a-Service" workshop that was held on the 5th and 6th March 2015 in Sierre, Switzerland. The objective of the meeting was to bring together initiatives that use cloud infrastructures, virtual machines, APIs (Application Programming Interface) and related projects that provide evaluation of information retrieval or machine learning tools as a service.