bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Epidemiology of UK Military Exercise SAIF SAREEA 3: future planning for hot climates
Authors: Chase S L , Kavanagh Williamson M , Smith M B
Published: May 2020

Introduction

Epidemiological data captured from military exercises and operations can highlight treatment requirements specific to operating in certain environmental conditions. Such data is invaluable to enable accurate planning for future exercises. Epidemiological data were collected during Exercise SAIF SAREEA 3 (SS3) to provide an insight into medical provision requirements for low-tempo military operations in hot, desert climates.

Method

Epidemiological data was collected from all consultations conducted during the exercise within the LAND Medical Reception Station, 24 August–14 November 2018, using Epi-NATO surveillance systems.

Results

Of the 1414 total consultations recorded, 759 were first presentations and 665 were follow-up consultations, with 35 referrals made to hospitals. 1348 days of limited duties were given and 258 working days were lost. The most common coding reported for consultations were ‘non-battle non-sport related injuries’, ‘sport related injuries’and ‘dermatological'.

Discussion

The data highlight the most common cause of injuries and the role of assets such as dental, sexual and mental health services for future deployments. A number of explanations are considered in relation to the patterns identified and the effect on future planning for working in hot climates. Furthermore, Exercise SS3 had reduced numbers of personnel requiring deployed Role 2 or host nation hospital services, which again raises further considerations for future deployments.
Postdeployment reintegration attitude of injured Dutch service members: a longitudinal study
Authors: de Kruijff Loes G M , Plat M-C , van Dongen T , Hoencamp R , van der Wurff P
Published: May 2020

Objective

After deployment, service members can experience difficulties reintegrating. Sustaining injuries on the battlefield can disrupt the reintegration period. The first aim was to follow-up the reintegration attitude towards family, work and on a personal level after deployment in Dutch battlefield casualties (BCs). The second was to compare their postdeployment reintegration attitude with that of healthy controls.

Methods

A questionnaire concerning reintegration attitude, the Postdeployment Reintegration Scale (PDRS), was provided to all service members who received rehabilitation after sustaining injuries in Op TASK FORCE URUZGAN. The questionnaire was administered in 27 BCs at a median of 2 years post incident and 5.5 years post incident. At 5.5 years post incident, the PDRS of the BCs was compared with a control group consisting of service members from the same combat units.

Results

A significant difference was found for the BCs with an increased negative personal attitude (p=0.02) and a decreased negative attitude towards work (p=0.02) at 5.5 years compared with 2 years post incident. No differences in postdeployment reintegration attitude was observed between the BCs and controls at 5.5 years post incident.

Conclusions

The results showed that for the BCs the personal attitude becomes more negative in time. However, the negative attitude towards work decreases in time after deployment. Particular attention should be paid to traumatic stress and aftercare.
Impact of trauma centre capacity and volume on the mortality risk of incoming new admissions
Authors: Chiu William C , Powers D B , Hirshon J M , Shackelford S A , Hu P F , Chen S Y , Chen H H , Mackenzie C F , Miller C H , DuBose J J , Carroll C , Fang R , Scalea T M
Published: May 2020

Introduction

Trauma centre capacity and surge volume may affect decisions on where to transport a critically injured patient and whether to bypass the closest facility. Our hypothesis was that overcrowding and high patient acuity would contribute to increase the mortality risk for incoming admissions.

Methods

For a 6-year period, we merged and cross-correlated our institutional trauma registry with a database on Trauma Resuscitation Unit (TRU) patient admissions, movement and discharges, with average capacity of 12 trauma bays. The outcomes of overall hospital and 24 hours mortality for new trauma admissions (NEW) were assessed by multivariate logistic regression.

Results

There were 42 003 (mean=7000/year) admissions having complete data sets, with 36 354 (87%) patients who were primary trauma admissions, age ≥18 and survival ≥15 min. In the logistic regression model for the entire cohort, NEW admission hospital mortality was only associated with NEW admission age and prehospital Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and Shock Index (SI) (all p<0.05). When TRU occupancy reached ≥16 patients, the factors associated with increased NEW admission hospital mortality were existing patients (TRU >1 hour) with SI ≥0.9, recent admissions (TRU ≤1 hour) with age ≥65, NEW admission age and prehospital GCS and SI (all p<0.05).

Conclusion

The mortality of incoming patients is not impacted by routine trauma centre overcapacity. In conditions of severe overcrowding, the number of admitted patients with shock physiology and a recent surge of elderly/debilitated patients may influence the mortality risk of a new trauma admission.
Phenomenological study of medical interns reflecting on their experiences, of open disclosure communication after medication error: linking rationalisation to the conscious competency matrix
Authors: Lane Andrew Stuart , Roberts Chris
Published: May 2020

Introduction and objectives

Errors are common within healthcare, especially those involving the prescribing of medications. Open disclosure is a policy stating doctors should apologise for such errors, discussing them with the harmed parties. Many junior doctors take part in open disclosure without any formal training or experience, which can lead to failure of the apology, and increased patient/family frustration. In this study, we explore the ways in which interns perceive the relationship between medication error and their experience of open disclosure.

Methods

Using known theoretical frameworks of apology and moral rationalisation, a qualitative study of medical interns who had been involved in open disclosure was conducted. Twelve medical interns volunteered, and were selected using purposive sampling. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews illuminated their clinical experiences of open disclosure after medication error. The data was coded and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Our data supported three super-ordinate themes: (1) Rationalisation of medical error, (2) Culture of medical error and (3) Apology in practice.

Results

The interns in this study rationalised their observations, their subsequent actions and their language. Rather than reframing their thinking, they became part of a healthcare environment that culturally accepted, promoted and perpetuated error. Rationalisation can lead to loss of context in apologising, which can be perceived as unempathic by the patients/families. However, when reflection and unpacking of their errors, they acknowledged that their reasoning was problematic, recognised the reasons why and were able to reframe their approach to apology for a future occasion.

Conclusion

Our data suggests the utility of a learning framework around open disclosure following medication error, for having a supervisor conversation about aspects of the interns’ rationalisation of their clinical practice, in their contextualised clinical environment. Further research could clarify whether interns are ‘unconsciously incompetent’ or ‘consciously incompetent’, when addressing medication error and preparing to apologise.
Documenting the untold histories of late-diagnosed autistic adults: a qualitative study protocol using oral history methodology
Authors: Pellicano Elizabeth , Lawson Wenn , Hall Gabrielle , Mahony Joanne , Lilley Rozanna , Davis Catherine , Arnold Samuel , Trollor Julian , Yudell Michael
Published: May 2020

Introduction

Receiving a diagnosis of autism in adulthood is increasingly common for a subset of individuals who were either misdiagnosed in childhood or missed out on a diagnosis altogether. This qualitative study, coproduced with autistic people, invites late-diagnosed autistic adults to share their life histories to (1) understand better the consequences of living without a diagnosis, (2) elucidate what precipitates an autism diagnosis in mid-to-late adulthood and (3) identify the perceived impact of receiving that diagnosis.

Methods and analysis

Oral histories have been a successful way to uncover overlooked and marginalised voices. We therefore adopt qualitative, oral history methodology in this study to understand these adults’ experiences, especially of living in an era when autism was not well known. We will recruit 24 participants who will (1) have been born before 1975, (2) have received a clinical, autism diagnosis after the age of 35, (3) be English-speaking and (4) have spent most of their childhood and adulthood living in Australia. Participants will take part in four sessions, including the main, qualitative, oral history interview, through a range of possible formats to facilitate inclusion. The interview data will be analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Ethics and dissemination

The protocol has received institutional research ethics approval from Macquarie University’s Human Research Ethics Committee (Ref.: 52019556310562). This study will yield understanding of the life experiences of autistic adults, especially middle-aged and older Australians, should inform more effective diagnostic practices and provide insight into the key factors that might promote resilience and enhance quality of life in autistic people. The findings will be disseminated to academic and clinical audiences through journal articles and conference presentations and to the autistic and autism communities through accessible reports. The interviews will also be prepared for digital archiving, which will enable ongoing access for future generations and communities.
Coronary and Peripheral Artery Plaques: Do Differences in Plaque Characteristics Translate to Differences in Lipid Management?
Authors: Tsai Shirling , Vega Gloria Lena
Published: May 2020

Optimal medical management of patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) includes statin therapy, which has been shown to decrease the risk of major cardiovascular events. However, the relationship between low-density lipoprotein (LDL) lowering, PAD progression and limb outcomes remains controversial. Although prevention of coronary and cerebrovascular events is a priority, limb outcomes are still important determinants of quality of life and healthcare spending. This review will highlight differences between coronary artery disease (CAD) and PAD, and in particular, the more prevalent role of lipids and LDL cholesterol in CAD versus calcification in PAD. This difference may contribute to the differential impact of LDL cholesterol levels on coronary events and outcomes versus limb outcomes. Beyond LDL lowering, immune modulators have emerged as another agent to treat atherosclerosis in CAD, however similar data in PAD are lacking. Small studies have suggested that other lipids besides LDL cholesterol, such as triglycerides or small dense LDL, may have a greater impact on limb outcomes in patients with PAD. Although statin therapy is central in the management of patients with PAD, current understanding of the distinctions between PAD and CAD suggest that there may be other non-LDL targets for risk reduction that require further study.
Interplay between glucocorticoids and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes on the prognosis of adrenocortical carcinoma
Authors: Landwehr Laura-Sophie , Altieri Barbara , Schreiner Jochen , Sbiera Iuliu , Weigand Isabel , Kroiss Matthias , Fassnacht Martin , Sbiera Silviu
Published: May 2020

Background

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare endocrine malignancy. Tumor-related glucocorticoid excess is present in ~60% of patients and associated with particularly poor prognosis. Results of first clinical trials using immune checkpoint inhibitors were heterogeneous. Here we characterize tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs) in ACC in association with glucocorticoids as potential explanation for resistance to immunotherapy.

Methods

We performed immunofluorescence analysis to visualize tumor-infiltrating T cells (CD3+), T helper cells (CD3+CD4+), cytotoxic T cells (CD3+CD8+) and regulatory T cells (Tregs; CD3+CD4+FoxP3+) in 146 ACC tissue specimens (107 primary tumors, 16 local recurrences, 23 metastases). Quantitative data of immune cell infiltration were correlated with clinical data (including glucocorticoid excess).

Results

86.3% of ACC specimens showed tumor infiltrating T cells (7.7 cells/high power field (HPF)), including T helper (74.0%, 6.7 cells/HPF), cytotoxic T cells (84.3%, 5.7 cells/HPF) and Tregs (49.3%, 0.8 cells/HPF). The number of TILs was associated with better overall survival (HR for death: 0.47, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.87), which was true for CD4+− and CD8+subpopulations as well. In localized, non-metastatic ACC, the favorable impact of TILs on overall and recurrence-free survival was manifested even independently of ENSAT (European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumors) stage, resection status and Ki67 index. T helper cells were negatively correlated with glucocorticoid excess (Phi=−0.290, p=0.009). Patients with glucocorticoid excess and low TILs had a particularly poor overall survival (27 vs. 121 months in patients with TILs without glucocorticoid excess).

Conclusion

Glucocorticoid excess is associated with T cell depletion and unfavorable prognosis. To reactivate the immune system in ACC by checkpoint inhibitors, an inhibition of adrenal steroidogenesis might be pivotal and should be tested in prospective studies.
CD40 agonist-induced IL-12p40 potentiates hepatotoxicity
Authors: Bonnans Caroline , Thomas Graham , He Wenqian , Jung Breanna , Chen Wei , Liao Min , Heyen Jonathan , Buetow Bernard , Pillai Smitha , Matsumoto Diane , Chaparro-Riggers Javier , Salek-Ardakani Shahram , Qu Yan
Published: May 2020

Background

CD40 is a compelling target for cancer immunotherapy, however, attempts to successfully target this pathway have consistently been hampered by dose-limiting toxicity issues in the clinic that prevents the administration of efficacious doses.

Methods

Here, using cytokine and cytokine receptor depletion strategies in conjunction with a potent CD40 agonist, we investigated mechanisms underlying the two primary sources of CD40 agonist-associated toxicity, hepatotoxicity and cytokine release syndrome (CRS).

Results

We demonstrate that CD40 agonist -induced hepatotoxicity and CRS are mechanistically independent. Historical data have supported a role for interleukin-6 (IL-6) in CRS-associated wasting, however, our findings instead show that an inflammatory cytokine network involving TNF, IL-12p40, and IFNγ underlie this process. Deficiency of TNF or IFNγ did not influence CD40-induced hepatitis however loss of IL-12p40 significantly decreased circulating concentrations of liver enzymes and reduced the frequency of activated CD14+MHCII+myeloid cells in the liver, indicating a role for IL-12p40 in liver pathology.

Conclusions

As clinical research programs aim to circumnavigate toxicity concerns while maintaining antitumor efficacy it will be essential to understand which features of CD40 biology mediate antitumor function to develop both safe and efficacious agonists.
Mistranslating tRNA identifies a deleterious S213P mutation in theSaccharomyces cerevisiaeeco1-1allele
Authors: Zhu Yanrui , Berg Matthew D. , Yang Phoebe , Loll-Krippleber Raphaël , Brown Grant W. , Brandl Christopher J.
Published: May 2020

Mistranslation occurs when an amino acid not specified by the standard genetic code is incorporated during translation. Since the ribosome does not read the amino acid, tRNA variants aminoacylated with a non-cognate amino acid or containing a non-cognate anticodon dramatically increase the frequency of mistranslation. In a systematic genetic analysis, we identified a suppression interaction between tRNASerUGG, G26A, which mistranslates proline codons by inserting serine, and eco1-1, a temperature sensitive allele of the gene encoding an acetyltransferase required for sister chromatid cohesion. The suppression was partial, with a tRNA that inserts alanine at proline codons and not apparent for a tRNA that inserts serine at arginine codons. Sequencing of the eco1-1 allele revealed a mutation that would convert the highly conserved serine 213 within β7 of the GCN5-related N-acetyltransferase core to proline. Mutation of P213 in eco1-1 back to the wild-type serine restored the function of the enzyme at elevated temperatures. Our results indicate the utility of mistranslating tRNA variants to identify functionally relevant mutations and identify eco1 as a reporter for mistranslation. We propose that mistranslation could be used as a tool to treat genetic disease.
Search for neutrino counterparts of gravitational-wave events detected by LIGO and Virgo during run O2 with the ANTARES telescope
Authors: Albert A. , André M. , Anghinolfi M. , Anton G. , Ardid M. , Aubert J.-J. , Aublin J. , Baret B. , Basa S. , Belhorma B. , Bertin V. , Biagi S. , Bissinger M. , Boumaaza J. , Bouta M. , Bouwhuis M. C. , Brânzaş H. , Bruijn R. , Brunner J. , Busto J. , Capone A. , Caramete L. , Carr J. , Celli S. , Chabab M. , Chau T. N. , Moursli R. Cherkaoui El , Chiarusi T. , Circella M. , Coleiro A. , Molla M. Colomer , Coniglione R. , Coyle P. , Creusot A. , Díaz A. F. , de Wasseige G. , Deschamps A. , Distefano C. , Palma I. Di , Domi A. , Donzaud C. , Dornic D. , Drouhin D. , Eberl T. , Khayati N. El , Enzenhöfer A. , Ettahiri A. , Fermani P. , Ferrara G. , Filippini F. , Fusco L. , Gay P. , Glotin H. , Gozzini R. , Ruiz R. Gracia , Graf K. , Guidi C. , Hallmann S. , van Haren H. , Heijboer A. J. , Hello Y. , Hernández-Rey J. J. , Hößl J. , Hofestädt J. , Huang F. , Illuminati G. , James C. W. , de Jong M. , de Jong P. , Jongen M. , Kadler M. , Kalekin O. , Katz U. , Khan-Chowdhury N. R. , Kouchner A. , Kreykenbohm I. , Kulikovskiy V. , Lahmann R. , Le Breton R. , Lefèvre D. , Leonora E. , Levi G. , Lincetto M. , Lopez-Coto D. , Loucatos S. , Maggi G. , Manczak J. , Marcelin M. , Margiotta A. , Marinelli A. , Martínez-Mora J. A. , Mele R. , Melis K. , Migliozzi P. , Moser M. , Moussa A. , Muller R. , Nauta L. , Navas S. , Nezri E. , Nielsen C. , Nuñez-Castiñeyra A. , O’Fearraigh B. , Organokov M. , Păvălaş G. E. , Pellegrino C. , Perrin-Terrin M. , Piattelli P. , Poirè C. , Popa V. , Pradier T. , Randazzo N. , Reck S. , Riccobene G. , Sánchez-Losa A. , Samtleben D. F. E. , Sanguineti M. , Sapienza P. , Schüssler F. , Spurio M. , Stolarczyk Th. , Strandberg B. , Taiuti M. , Tayalati Y. , Thakore T. , Tingay S. J. , Trovato A. , Vallage B. , Van Elewyck V. , Versari F. , Viola S. , Vivolo D. , Wilms J. , Zaborov D. , Zegarelli A. , Zornoza J. D. , Zúñiga J.
Published: May 2020

An offline search for a neutrino counterpart to gravitational-wave (GW) events detected during the second observation run (O2) of Advanced-LIGO and Advanced-Virgo performed with ANTARES data is presented. In addition to the search for long tracks induced by $$\nu _\mu $$νμ ($${\overline{\nu }}_{\mu }$$ν¯μ) charged current interactions, a search for showering events induced by interactions of neutrinos of any flavour is conducted. The severe spatial and time coincidence provided by the gravitational-wave alert allows regions above the detector horizon to be probed, extending the ANTARES sensitivity over the entire sky. The results of this all-neutrino-flavour and all-sky time dependent analysis are presented. The search for prompt neutrino emission within ±500 s around the time of six GW events yields no neutrino counterparts. Upper limits on the neutrino spectral fluence and constraints on the isotropic energy radiated via high-energy neutrinos (from a few TeV to a few tens of PeV) are set for each GW event analysed.
Bottomonia production and polarization in the NRQCD with $$k_T$$-factorization. II: $$\Upsilon (2S)$$ and $$\chi _b(2P)$$ mesons
Authors: Abdulov N. A. , Lipatov A. V.
Published: May 2020

The$$\Upsilon (2S)$$Υ(2S)production and polarization at high energies is studied in the framework of$$k_T$$kT-factorization approach. Our consideration is based on the non-relativistic QCD formalism for bound states formation and off-shell production amplitudes for hard partonic subprocesses. The direct production mechanism, feed-down contributions from radiative$$\chi _b(3P)$$χb(3P)and$$\chi _b(2P)$$χb(2P)decays and contributions from$$\Upsilon (3S)$$Υ(3S)decays are taken into account. The transverse momentum dependent gluon densities in a proton were derived from the Ciafaloni–Catani–Fiorani–Marchesini evolution equation, Kimber-Martin-Ryskin prescription and Parton Branching method. Treating the non-perturbative color octet transitions in terms of the mulitpole radiation theory, we extract the corresponding non-perturbative matrix elements for$$\Upsilon (2S)$$Υ(2S)and$$\chi _b(2P)$$χb(2P)mesons from a combined fit to$$\Upsilon (2S)$$Υ(2S)transverse momenta distributions measured by the CMS and ATLAS Collaborations at the LHC energies$$\sqrt{s} = 7$$s=7and 13 TeV and from the relative production rate$$R^{\chi _b(2P)}_{\Upsilon (2S)}$$RΥ(2S)χb(2P)measured by the LHCb Collaboration at$$\sqrt{s} = 7$$s=7and 8 TeV. Then we apply the extracted values to investigate the polarization parameters$$\lambda _\theta $$λθ,$$\lambda _\phi $$λϕand$$\lambda _{\theta \phi }$$λθϕ, which determine the$$\Upsilon (2S)$$Υ(2S)spin density matrix. Our predictions have a good agreement with the currently available data within the theoretical and experimental uncertainties.
Ghost-patterning and non-patterning in a draining film model
Authors: Hall Craig A. , Evans R. M. L.
Published: May 2020

Patterns can form when the uniform state of any system is unstable so that some non-uniform motif grows in amplitude. Here, we identify an alternative way to form non-trivial structures, which we call “ghost-patterns”. Ghost-patterns emerge from noisy initial conditions when all non-uniform modes decay in amplitude except for one non-trivial motif which fails to decay. Hence, in seeking structured states, it is not necessary to find positive growth rates. We demonstrate ghost-patterns in an idealized non-equilibrium model intended to emulate draining thin-film suspensions.

Graphical abstract
Ultra-Sensitive Point of Care Biosensor for Detecting Pathogeneses
Authors: Farzad Negin , Cui Chengde , Senejani Ali , Sinha Saion
Published: May 2020

Pathogen diseases cause considerable loses in production of food which impact human health from diverse bacterial/viral infections. Precise spotting and diagnosis of such infectious disease is significant to prevent it from further outbreak issues. Moreover, to detect this kind of diseases at an early stage with highly sensitive and selective basis is necessary to avoid the spread of invasive pathogens. The conventional methods such as ELISA, PCR techniques are currently in use to diagnose bacterial/viral disease with high throughput. Though these diagnostic techniques assist in detect and identify the diseases, there are few modern challenges to be meet in order to make this diagnostic more effective in recent days. In this paper, our designed device consists of Bionanosensor works on nucleic acid-based testing provides result with high specificity and selectivity which is vital for early stage identification in a rapid real-time effective manner
Threading Dislocation Behavior in InGaAs/GaAs (001) Superlattice Buffer Layers
Authors: Islam Md Tanvirul , Kujofsa Tedi , Chen Xinkang , Ayers J. E.
Published: May 2020

We conducted a modeling study of the threading dislocation behavior in chirped and unchirped InGaAs/GaAs (001) strained-layer superlattices (SLSs) using a Dodson & Tsao / Kujofsa & Ayers (DTKA) type plastic flow model. Four types of SLSs were investigated: type I was chirped using compositional modulation, type II was chirped using layer thickness modulation, type III was unchirped with alternating layers of InGaAs and GaAs, and type IV was unchirped with alternating layers of InGaAs having two different compositions. Generally the surface and average values of the dislocation density decreased with increasing total thickness. The dependence on top indium composition was more complex, due to dislocation compensation and multiplication effects, but for type II and IV superlattices, the average and surface threading dislocation densities increased in nearly monotonic fashion with top indium composition. Based on these results, the compositionally-modulated chirped (type I) and InGaAs/GaAs unchirped (type III) superlattices appear to be best suited as buffer layers for metamorphic devices, while the chirped superlattices with layer thickness modulation (type II) and InGaAs/InGaAs unchirped (type IV) superlattices appear to be poorly suited for use as buffer layers for devices containing high indium content.
Blockchain and the Emerging Trends for Improving “Smart Contract” Security
Authors: Chang Milton
Published: May 2020

Blockchain technology is believed to be a highly secured solution for it is a decentralized ledger guarded by cryptographic techniques. However, the recent successful ‘51% Attack’ [1] on Ethereum Blockchain network, raised concerns regarding the trustworthiness of this technology. This paper addresses the causes and solutions to that attack. Private Transactions like the techniques implemented in Parity Ethereum and Quorum are introduced. Proof of Stack (POS) is another approach using economic incentives instead of intensive computations to guard against attacks while reducing power consumed. They are considered mitigation to the ‘51% Attack’. The use of Second Factor Authentication at the Smart Contract level is also addressed.
Transformable Electronics Implantation in ROM for Anti-Reverse Engineering
Authors: Chen Shuai , Wang Lei
Published: May 2020

The protection of intellectual property (IP) is increasingly critical for IP vendors in the semiconductor industry. Read Only Memories (ROMs) serve as important non-volatile memory in various hardware systems to store predefined data and programs, which is critical to IP protection. Its pre-determined layout pattern makes unauthorized data extraction through chip-level reverse engineering easy to carry out. Advanced reverse engineering techniques can physically disassemble the chip and derive the IPs precisely at a much lower cost than the value of IP design that chips carry. This invasive hardware attack obtaining information from IC chips always violates the IP rights of vendors. This paper proposes a new security mechanism implanted ROM design to address the vulnerability to reverse energy attacks. Irreversible via in ROM layout transform triggered by reverse engineering completely changes the electrical properties and the physical structure of ROMs that determine the stored data. Newly-created patten will significantly increase the difficulty of reverse engineering, even lead the attackers to another working function mode. Furthermore, to improve the effectiveness of the proposed technique, a systematic design method is developed targeting integrated circuits with multiple design constraints. Two widely used ROM scheme cases have been studied to test the design method and its effectiveness. Simulations have been conducted to demonstrate the capability of the proposed technique, which generates extremely large complexity for reverse engineering with manageable overhead.

CCS Concepts: Security and privacy → Hardware reverse engineering; Hardware → Hard and soft IP
COMPETITION, RISK AND PROFITABILITY IN BANKING SYSTEM — EVIDENCE FROM VIETNAM
Authors: NGUYEN THI HIEN , TRAN HA GIANG
Published: May 2020

The development in information technology results in a significant increase in bank competition. The question of whether increased competition improves bank profitability and risk reduction is important in many aspects. This paper analyzes the impact of competition on profitability and risk in the context of Vietnam using OLS estimator on data set of 37 Vietnamese commercial banks. The main results present that banks with a higher competition index tend to have higher profitability which is measured by ROE and NIM. In addition, our empirical results also show that banks tend to take on more risk when facing increased competition.
High speed wind tunnel force test with traditional pressure-test-model
Authors: Su Jichuan , Huang Yong , Zhong Shidong , Shi Yujie , Li Yonghong
Published: May 2020

Usually, force tests and pressure tests are conducted with different model in wind tunnel which could cause trouble for aircraft design as the pressure test results always could not match the force test results. So attempts to do force tests along with pressure tests are conducted. Results show that it is possible to do force test based on pressure-test-model when some improvements are done with the model and sting. Both force and pressure test results can be measured at the same time. The amount of pressure test results need not be reduced, and yet precision and accuracy of the force tests are acceptable for aircraft design, and this technology can be popularized with low cost.
Factors Affecting Malaysia’s SMEs in Using Public Electronic Procurement
Authors: Soong Kai-Kit , Ahmed Elsadig Musa , Tan Khong-Sin
Published: May 2020

This study illustrates the perception to use public electronic procurement (e-Procurement) system by Malaysia’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and examines the six predictors for the SMEs employees’ perception to use e-procurement system in their daily activities. The study modified the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Usage Technology (UTAUT) by including two new variables that have been ignored by previous studies. As a result, 421 questionnaires were collected and analysed. The security construct has the strongest relationship among the rest. For moderation, it confirms that security has no moderation effect with the moderators. This study contributes to the available literature by filling the gap of past studies using UTAUT framework through adding two variables (system security and usage decision) in the revised framework and enhances transparency in the public sector acquisition.
Sol–Gel Preparation and Characterization of Tin-Doped Dimanganese Trioxide Thin Films
Authors: Benrabah Bedhiaf , Benhebal Hadj , Kharroubi Abdelmalek , Touati Mohamed
Published: May 2020

This work shows an investigation of tin-doped Mn2O3 thin layers synthesized via sol–gel process and deposited on glass substrates using dip-coating technique. The Sn concentration was changed from 0% to 9%. The obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Ultraviolet–Visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis) and impedance spectroscopy (IS). XRD showed that Mn2O3 was crystallized in the cubic form with directionally preferential orientation structure (222). The formation of Mn2O3 was also confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. The optical transmittance of the samples is greater than 70% and increases following doping, while the band gap energy decreases with an increase in Sn doping concentration. Complex IS indicates that the resulting circuit is a parallel RpCp where Cp is the capacitance of the layer and Rp its resistance.
Network Interface Architecture for Remote Indirect Memory Access (RIMA) in Datacenters
Authors: Xue Jiachen , Vijaykumar T. N. , Thottethodi Mithuna
Published: May 2020

Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) fabrics such as InfiniBand and Converged Ethernet report latency shorter by a factor of 50 than TCP. As such, RDMA is a potential replacement for TCP in datacenters (DCs) running low-latency applications, such as Web search and memcached. InfiniBand’s Shared Receive Queues (SRQs), which use two-sided send/recv verbs (i.e.,
channel semantics
), reduce the amount of pre-allocated, pinned memory (despite optimizations such as InfiniBand’s on-demand paging (ODP)) for message buffers. However, SRQs are limited fundamentally to a single message size per queue, which incurs either memory wastage or significant programmer burden for typical DC traffic of an arbitrary number (level of burstiness) of messages of arbitrary size.

We propose
remote indirect memory access (RIMA)
, which avoids these pitfalls by providing (1) network interface card (NIC) microarchitecture support for novel
queue semantics
and (2) a new “verb” called
append
. To append a sender’s message to a shared queue, the receiver NIC atomically increments the queue’s tail pointer by the incoming message’s size and places the message in the newly created space. As in traditional RDMA, the NIC is responsible for pointer lookup, address translation, and enforcing virtual memory protections. This
indirection
of specifying a queue (and not its tail pointer, which remains hidden from senders) handles the typical DC traffic of an arbitrary sender sending an arbitrary number of messages of arbitrary size. Because RIMA’s simple hardware adds only 1--2 ns to the multi-\mu
s
message latency, RIMA achieves the same message latency and throughput as InfiniBand SRQ with unlimited buffering. Running memcached traffic on a 30-node InfiniBand cluster, we show that at similar, low programmer effort, RIMA achieves significantly smaller memory footprint than SRQ. However, while SRQ can be crafted to minimize memory footprint by expending significant programming effort, RIMA provides those benefits with little programmer effort. For memcached traffic, a high-performance key-value cache (
FastKV
) using RIMA achieves either 3× lower 96 th-percentile latency or significantly better throughput or memory footprint than
FastKV
using RDMA.
Vulvet
Authors: Gajrani Jyoti , Tripathi Meenakshi , Laxmi Vijay , Somani Gaurav , Zemmari Akka , Gaur Manoj Singh
Published: May 2020

Data security and privacy of Android users is one of the challenging security problems addressed by the security research community. A major source of the security vulnerabilities in Android apps is attributed to bugs within source code, insecure APIs, and unvalidated code before performing sensitive operations. Specifically, the major class of app vulnerabilities is related to the categories such as inter-component communication (ICC), networking, web, cryptographic APIs, storage, and runtime-permission validation. A major portion of current contributions focus on identifying a smaller subset of vulnerabilities. In addition, these methods do not discuss how to remove detected vulnerabilities from the affected code.

In this work, we propose a novel vulnerability detection and patching framework,
Vulvet
, which employs static analysis approaches from different domains of program analysis for detection of a wide range of vulnerabilities in Android apps. We propose an additional light-weight technique,
FP-Validation,
to mitigate false positives in comparison to existing solutions owing to over-approximation. In addition to improved detection,
Vulvet
provides an automated patching of apps with safe code for each of the identified vulnerability using bytecode instrumentation. We implement
Vulvet
as an extension of Soot. To demonstrate the efficiency of our proposed framework, we analyzed 3,700 apps collected from various stores and benchmarks consisting of various weak implementations. Our results indicate that
Vulvet
is able to achieve vulnerability detection with 95.23% precision and 0.975 F-measure on benchmark apps; a significant improvement in comparison to recent works along with successful patching of identified vulnerabilities.
Runtime Design Space Exploration and Mapping of DCNNs for the Ultra-Low-Power Orlando SoC
Authors: Erdem Ahmet , Silvano Cristina , Boesch Thomas , Ornstein Andrea Carlo , Singh Surinder-Pal , Desoli Giuseppe
Published: May 2020

Recent trends in deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) impose hardware accelerators as a viable solution for computer vision and speech recognition. The Orlando SoC architecture from STMicroelectronics targets exactly this class of problems by integrating hardware-accelerated convolutional blocks together with DSPs and on-chip memory resources to enable energy-efficient designs of DCNNs. The main advantage of the Orlando platform is to have runtime configurable convolutional accelerators that can adapt to different DCNN workloads. This opens new challenges for mapping the computation to the accelerators and for managing the on-chip resources efficiently. In this work, we propose a runtime design space exploration and mapping methodology for runtime resource management in terms of on-chip memory, convolutional accelerators, and external bandwidth. Experimental results are reported in terms of power/performance scalability, Pareto analysis, mapping adaptivity, and accelerator utilization for the Orlando architecture mapping the VGG-16, Tiny-Yolo(v2), and MobileNet topologies.
ArmorAll
Authors: Kalra Charu , Previlon Fritz , Rubin Norm , Kaeli David
Published: May 2020

The vulnerability of GPUs to soft errors has become a first-class design concern as they are increasingly being used in accuracy-sensitive and safety-critical domains. Existing solutions used to enhance the reliability of GPUs come with significant overhead in terms of area, power, and/or performance. In this article, we propose ArmorAll, a light-weight, adaptive, selective, and portable software solution to protect GPUs against soft errors. ArmorAll consists of a set of purely compiler-based redundancy schemes designed to optimize instruction duplication on GPUs, thereby enabling much more reliable execution. The choice of the scheme determines the subset of instructions that must be duplicated in an application, allowing adaptable fault coverage for different applications. ArmorAll can intelligently select a redundancy scheme that provides the best coverage to an application with an accuracy of 91.7%. The high coverage provided by ArmorAll comes at an average improvement of 64.5% in runtime when using the selected redundancy scheme as compared to the state-of-the-art.
Efficient Nonnegative Tensor Factorization via Saturating Coordinate Descent
Authors: Balasubramaniam Thirunavukarasu , Nayak Richi , Yuen Chau
Published: May 2020

With the advancements in computing technology and web-based applications, data are increasingly generated in multi-dimensional form. These data are usually sparse due to the presence of a large number of users and fewer user interactions. To deal with this, the Nonnegative Tensor Factorization (NTF) based methods have been widely used. However existing factorization algorithms are not suitable to process in all three conditions of size, density, and rank of the tensor. Consequently, their applicability becomes limited. In this article, we propose a novel fast and efficient NTF algorithm using the element selection approach. We calculate the element importance using Lipschitz continuity and propose a saturation point-based element selection method that chooses a set of elements column-wise for updating to solve the optimization problem. Empirical analysis reveals that the proposed algorithm is scalable in terms of tensor size, density, and rank in comparison to the relevant state-of-the-art algorithms.
Put That Needle There
Authors: Herrlich Marc , Reinschluessel Anke V. , Willems Markus , Langhorst Nils , Black David , Döring Tanja , Rieder Christian , Kikinis Ron , Malaka Rainer
Published: May 2020

Informed by modern imaging techniques, current medical navigation systems support physicians during a variety of interventions, such as needle-based operations. During these, an abundance of information is often displayed on monitors placed in positions that are uncomfortable for the operator to view. In this article, we address these issues with the concept and prototype of a customized flexible display that is placed on the patient’s body to provide the essential information at just the right location. We present an empirical evaluation comparing the flexible display against a control condition using a standard interventional monitor setup and an additional condition that combines both. Our results show that the flexible display significantly reduces task load while improving overall usability. Furthermore, we found indications that the flexible display reduces task completion time while also observing a negative effect on accuracy, which needs to be balanced carefully.
The Role of Diagenesis in Shaping the Geochemistry of the Marine Carbonate Record
Authors: Fantle Matthew S. , Barnes B. Davis , Lau Kimberly V.
Published: May 2020

Carbonate sediments and rocks are valuable archives of Earth's past whose geochemical compositions inform our understanding of Earth's surface evolution. Yet carbonates are also reactive minerals and often undergo compositional alteration between the time of deposition and sampling and analysis. These changes may be mineralogical, structural, and/or chemical, and they are broadly referred to as diagenesis. Building on work over the past 40 years, we present an overview of key carbonate diagenesis terminology and a process-based framework for evaluating the geochemical impacts of carbonate diagenesis; we also highlight recent experimental and field observations that suggest metal isotopes as valuable diagenetic indicators. Our primary objectives are to demonstrate the value of coupling quantitative and analytical approaches, specifically with regard to metal isotopes and Mg/Ca, and to focus attention on key avenues for future work, including the role of authigenesis in impacting global geochemical cycles and the isotopic composition of the rock record. ▪  Quantitative frameworks utilizing well-understood diagenetic indicators and basic geochemical parameters allow us to assess the extent of diagenetic alteration in carbonate sediments. ▪  The reactivity, duration of reaction, and degree of isotopic or elemental/chemical disequilibrium determine the extent to which carbonates may be altered. ▪  Metal isotopic ratios (δ44Ca, δ26Mg, 87Sr/86Sr) can be used to constrain the extent and rate of carbonate recrystallization. ▪  Diagenetic signals may be globally synchronous, while diagenetic fluxes may impact global geochemical cycles.
Dynamic Topography and Ice Age Paleoclimate
Authors: Mitrovica J.X. , Austermann J. , Coulson S. , Creveling J.R. , Hoggard M.J. , Jarvis G.T. , Richards F.D.
Published: May 2020

The connection between the geological record and dynamic topography driven by mantle convective flow has been established over widely varying temporal and spatial scales. As observations of the process have increased and numerical modeling of thermochemical convection has improved, a burgeoning direction of research targeting outstanding issues in ice age paleoclimate has emerged. This review focuses on studies of the Plio-Pleistocene ice age, including investigations of the stability of ice sheets during ice age warm periods and the inception of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. However, studies that have revealed nuanced connections of dynamic topography to biodiversity, ecology, ocean chemistry, and circulation since the start of the current ice-house world are also considered. In some cases, a recognition of the importance of dynamic topography resolves enigmatic events and in others it confounds already complex, unanswered questions. All such studies highlight the role of solid Earth geophysics in paleoclimate research and undermine a common assumption, beyond the field of glacial isostatic adjustment, that the solid Earth remains a rigid, passive substrate during the evolution of the ice age climate system. ▪  Dynamic topography is the large-scale, vertical deflection of Earth's crust driven by mantle convective flow. ▪  This review highlights recent research exploring the implications of the process on key issues in ice age paleoclimate. ▪  This research includes studies of ice sheet stability and inception as well as inferences of peak sea levels during periods of relative ice age warmth. ▪  This review also includes studies on longer timescales, continental-scale ecology and biodiversity, the long-term carbon cycle, and water flux across oceanic gateways.
Hydrodynamic Noise of Pulsating Jets through Bileaflet Mechanical Mitral Valve
Authors: Voskoboinick Vladimir , Voskoboinyk Oleksandr , Chertov Oleg , Voskoboinick Andrey , Tereshchenko Lidiia
Published: May 2020

Experimental research results of hydrodynamic noise of pulsating flow through a bileaflet mechanical mitral valve are presented. The pulsating flow of pure water corresponds to the diastolic mode of the cardiac rhythm heart. The valve was located between the model of the left atrium and the model of the left ventricle of the heart. A coordinate device, on which a block of miniature sensors of absolute pressure and pressure fluctuations was installed, was located inside the model of the left ventricle. It is found that the hydrodynamic noise of the pulsating side jet of the semiclosed valve is higher than for the open valve. The pressure fluctuation levels gradually decrease with the removal from the mitral valve. It is established that at the second harmonic of the pulsating flow frequency, the spectral levels of the hydrodynamic noise of the semiclosed bileaflet mechanical mitral valve are almost 5 times higher than the open valve. With the removal from the mitral valve, spectral levels of hydrodynamic noise are decreased, especially strongly at the frequency of the pulsating water flow and its higher harmonics.
Magnitude and Predictors of Pneumonia among Under-Five Children in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Alamneh Yoseph Merkeb , Adane Fentahun
Published: May 2020

Background. Pneumonia is currently the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among under-five children in developing countries, including Ethiopia. Although these problems are easily preventable and treatable, it contributes to more than 18% of deaths of under-five children every year in Ethiopia. Regardless of these facts, there is a paucity of information regarding the magnitude and its predictors of pneumonia in Ethiopia. Therefore, the main objective of this review is to determine the pooled magnitude of pneumonia and its predictors among under-five children in Ethiopia. Methods. The international databases such as MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Science Direct were scientifically explored. Articles were also searched by examining the gray literature on institutional databases and by reviewing reference lists of already identified articles. We considered all primary studies reporting the magnitude of pneumonia among under-five children and its predictors in Ethiopia. We retrieved all necessary data by using a standardized data extraction format spreadsheet. STATA 14 statistical software was used to analyze the data, and Cochrane’s Q test statistics and I2 test were used to assess the heterogeneity between the studies. Significant variability was found between the studies in such a way that a random-effect model was used. Result. The pooled magnitude of pneumonia among under-five children was 20.68% (I2 = 97.9%; P≤0.001) out of 12 studies in Ethiopia. Children who have unvaccinated (OR = 2.45), food cooking in the main house (OR = 2.46), vitamin A supplementation status (OR = 2.85), malnutrition (OR = 2.98), mixed breastfeeding (OR = 2.46), and child history of respiratory tract infection (OR = 4.11) were potential determinates of pneumonia. Conclusion and Recommendations. This review showed that the magnitude of pneumonia was relatively high. Hence, appropriate intervention on potential determinates such as health education on exclusive breastfeeding and nutrition, place of food cooking, increased immunization and vitamin A supplementation, and early control of respiratory tract infection was recommended to prevent those risk factors.