bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mepolizumab rescue therapy for acute pneumonitis secondary to DRESS
Authors: Thein Onn Shaun , Sutton Benjamin , Thickett David R , Parekh Dhruv
Published: October 2019

Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome represents a severe adverse drug reaction driven by eosinophilia. Treatment is focused on withdrawal of medication, supportive care and immunosuppression such as high-dose corticosteroid therapy. Here we report a 56-year-old male patient who initially presented with breathlessness and eosinophilia, subsequent development of respiratory failure and admission to ITU for non-invasive ventilation. The patient continued to deteriorate despite high-dose prednisolone and methylprednisolone. Other causes of hypereosinophilia were normal. He was diagnosed with DRESS syndrome secondary to pregabalin and was treated with subcutaneous mepolizumab. We observed the rapid resolution of eosinophilia and clinical improvement; the patient was discharged home within a month of administration. This represents the successful use of mepolizumab in the acute setting of pulmonary failure secondary to DRESS. A similar approach could be adopted in other acute conditions with refractory eosinophilic inflammation where standard steroid therapy has failed.
Conjunctival squamous cell carcinoma: prognostic factors for the recurrence and metastasis and clinicopathological characteristics at an oncological hospital in Peru
Authors: Cruzado-Sanchez Deivy , Tellez Walter Andree , Villarreal-Aguilar Beltran , Melendez Monica , Olivera Anibal , Moran Fiorella , Serpas-Frias Solon , Cordero-Garcia Raul
Published: October 2019

Background/aims

Conjunctival squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) is the most frequent malignant tumour of the conjunctiva, with scarce recurrence and infrequent metastasis. The purpose of this study is to describe the clinical and pathological characteristics of this neoplasm and to identify the prognostic factors for recurrence and metastasis in a cancer hospital in Peru.

Materials and method

A longitudinal, retrospective study of 176 consecutive patients diagnosed with SCC of the conjunctiva. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were evaluated. In addition, Kaplan-Meier curves were performed, and Cox regression was used to determine prognostic factors for recurrence and metastasis over time.

Result

Only 12.5% presented tumour size ≤5 mm. The highest proportion according to the histopathological type was the well-differentiated infiltrative forms (40.9%), and according to tumour, node, metastases (TNM), stage T3 was the most frequent (31.3%). The most performed initial treatment was orbital exenteration (38.6%). The proportion of recurrence was 6.8% and 8.0% for metastasis. The annual survival rate was 7% and the annual metastasis rate was 6%; for recurrence after 5 years, the survival rate was 11% and the metastasis rate was 14%. No prognostic factor evaluated was significant.

Conclusion

This is the most extensive patient study in Latin America with CSCC, with a high proportion of advanced histopathological grade, TNM stages, and radical treatments such as exenteration. Recurrence rates on average are similar to other reported studies, and it describes the rates of metastasis that have been poorly described in the literature.
Do we underestimate maximal oxygen uptake in cancer survivors? Findings from a supramaximal verification test
Authors: Schneider Justine , Schlüter Kathrin , Wiskemann Joachim , Rosenberger Friederike
Published: October 2019

Cancer survivors demonstrate a reduced maximal oxygen uptake, which is clinically relevant in terms of overall survival. However, it remains uncertain whether they attain their “true maximal oxygen uptake” in a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). In the present study, a supramaximal verification bout (Verif) was applied in cancer survivors to confirm attainment of maximal oxygen uptake. Seventy-five participants (age, 61 ± 12 years; n = 43 females with breast cancer and n = 32 males with prostate cancer, 6–52 weeks after primary therapy) performed a CPET on a cycle ergometer and a Verif at 110% peak power output. As verification criterion, maximal oxygen uptake in Verif should not exceed maximal oxygen uptake in CPET by >3%. On average, maximal oxygen uptake was significantly lower in Verif compared with CPET (1.60 ± 0.38 L·min–1 vs. 1.65 ± 0.36 L·min–1, p = .023). On the individual level, n = 51 (68%) satisfied the verification criterion, whereas n = 24 (32%) demonstrated a higher maximal oxygen uptake in Verif. n = 69 (92%) fulfilled ≥2 secondary criteria for maximal exhaustion in the CPET. While maximal oxygen uptake was not underestimated in the CPET on average, one-third of cancer survivors did not attain their true maximal oxygen uptake. Verif appears feasible and beneficial to confirm true maximal oxygen uptake in this population. Furthermore, it might be more reliable than secondary criteria for maximal exhaustion.

Novelty In about one-third of cancer survivors, maximal oxygen uptake is underestimated by a CPET. This underestimation of maximal oxygen uptake is not necessarily indicated by secondary criteria for maximal exhaustion. A supramaximal verification bout appears feasible and helpful for the determination of maximal oxygen uptake in cancer survivors.
DOMAINS AND MOTIVES OFMUSHARAKAHSPUR IN THE ISLAMIC BANKING INDUSTRY OF PAKISTAN
Authors: NOUMAN MUHAMMAD , ULLAH KARIM , JAN SHAFIULLAH
Published: October 2019

Participatory financing schemes, including Musharakah and Mudarabah, are theoretically claimed to be the ideal modes of Islamic financing, but their practice is restrained by several factors. That is why Islamic banks have a consistent tendency to avoid participatory financing on the assets side throughout the world. However, recently this trend has started changing in Pakistan and Indonesia where the share of participatory finance has raised significantly in the financing portfolio of Islamic banks. The present paper explores this recent spur of participatory finance in Pakistan in terms of its domains of applications and the responsible factors. The findings lead to a novel posteriori framework which shows that the shift toward participatory financing is primarily characterized by increase in working capital financing and commodity operations financing through Musharakah mode Islamic banks. Moreover, five factors contribute to the spur of participatory financing including: (i) introducing varieties in Musharakah, (ii) enhanced applicability, (iii) high volume projects, (iv) government interventions, and (v) regulator’s role. The framework can significantly advance understanding with respect to the implementation theory of participation financing within Islamic banking and related Shariah compliance and regulation.
Holography of low-centrality heavy ion collisions
Authors: McInnes Brett
Published: October 2019

Large vorticities in the Quark–Gluon Plasma produced in peripheral collisions studied by the STAR collaboration at the RHIC facility have been deduced from observations of polarizations of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] hyperons. Recently, the STAR collaboration has reported on the dependence of these polarizations on centrality, at impact energy 200 GeV and relatively large centralities [Formula: see text]. The polarizations increase slowly with centrality, up to perhaps [Formula: see text]. Here we use a holographic model of the vortical QGP to make predictions regarding these polarizations for smaller centralities, ranging from 5–20%. The model predicts that as one moves downwards from 20%, [Formula: see text] polarizations at first decrease but then increase sharply, in a characteristic pattern which should be readily detected if collisions can be studied at impact energies below 200 GeV and centrality as low as 5–10%. The effect should be most evident at moderate impact energies below 200 GeV, so we give predictions for impact energy 27 GeV.
High Load Fast Startup Sensorless Control of Wheel BLDC Motor with Line-to-Line Back EMF Extraction Using Least Pth-Norm IIR Digital Filter
Authors: Soni Umesh Kumar , Tripathi Ramesh Kumar
Published: October 2019

In this paper, an effective scheme of on-load startup with reduced current has been proposed for BLDC motor and the steady as well as dynamic performance in all four quadrants was verified. Hysteresis band-limited back EMF noise provides the starting pulses, the frequency of which depends on the threshold factor in speed proportional threshold. Scheme is quite fast, comparatively to the state-of-the art schemes of startup and less complex than time-consuming initial position detection (IPD) algorithm. Second-order least [Formula: see text]th-norm infinite impulse response (IIR) digital low pass filter realized in MATLAB/Simulink has been used for extraction of line-to line back EMF from line-to-line terminal voltages measured with two voltage sensors. Proposed filter has wide flexibility of online variation of cut-off frequency, gain and phase without any circuit-based modification due to variability of filter coefficients. This enables the smooth filtering with minimized phase delay in low speed range irrespective of any duty cycle and PWM frequency. Linear compensation of phase error or phase advancement for desired current profile can easily be achieved by the varying the threshold factor. In this experiment, the threshold factor of 1/1460 has been found most suitable for smooth sensorless startup without jerk, vibration and reverse rotation, as the motor operates in advanced mode with this value. First, the performance of Hall sensor-based drive was studied using open loop variable duty cycle speed control. The controller was designed in MATLAB/Simulink platform and implemented using TMS320F28069M DSP control stick with Code composer Studio V5. Later on, a complete controller for proposed sensorless scheme was developed in MATLAB/Simulink environment and was implemented using NI-PCI6221 Controller installed in PC. The proposed sensorless drive has been found capable of operating at very low speed of 50[Formula: see text]rpm in voltage control mode and 85[Formula: see text]rpm in current chopping PWM mode. Approximately 85[Formula: see text]ms less time was taken by sensorless drive to reach the same speed when compared with Hall-based control for identical loading. Also less overshoots during startup was observed. Overlap time of 0.05[Formula: see text]ms between phase currents has been achieved during commutation period.
Aggregation of Dependent Risks with Heavy-Tail Distributions
Authors: Guillen Montserrat , Sarabia José María , Prieto Faustino , Jordá Vanesa
Published: October 2019

Straightforward methods to evaluate risks arising from several sources are specially difficult when risk components are dependent and, even more if that dependence is strong in the tails. We give an explicit analytical expression for the probability distribution of the sum of non-negative losses that are tail-dependent. Our model allows dependence in the extremes of the marginal beta distributions. The proposed model is flexible in the choice of the parameters in the marginal distribution. The estimation using the method of moments is possible and the calculation of risk measures is easily done with a Monte Carlo approach. An illustration on data for insurance losses is presented.
Self-Tuning Possibilistic c-Means Clustering Models
Authors: Szilágyi László , Lefkovits Szidónia , Szilágyi Sándor M.
Published: October 2019

The relaxation of the probabilistic constraint of the fuzzy c-means clustering model was proposed to provide robust algorithms that are insensitive to strong noise and outlier data. These goals were achieved by the possibilistic c-means (PCM) algorithm, but these advantages came together with a sensitivity to cluster prototype initialization. According to the original recommendations, the probabilistic fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm should be applied to establish the cluster initialization and possibilistic penalty terms for PCM. However, when FCM fails to provide valid cluster prototypes due to the presence of noise, PCM has no chance to recover and produce a fine partition. This paper proposes a two-stage c-means clustering algorithm to tackle with most problems enumerated above. In the first stage called initialization, FCM with two modifications is performed: (1) extra cluster added for noisy data; (2) extra variable and constraint added to handle clusters of various diameters. In the second stage, a modified PCM algorithm is carried out, which also contains the cluster width tuning mechanism based on which it adaptively updates the possibilistic penalty terms. The proposed algorithm has less parameters than PCM when the number of clusters is [Formula: see text]. Numerical evaluation involving synthetic and standard test data sets proved the advantages of the proposed clustering model.
A NOVEL METHOD FOR PRODUCING NANOSTRUCTURED CdSe THIN FILM
Authors: KARİPER İSHAK AFŞIN
Published: October 2019

In this study, we produced Cadmium selenide (CdSe) crystalline thin film on commercial glass substrates via chemical bath deposition. Transmittance, absorbance, refractive index and optical bandgap of thin films were examined by UV/vis spectrum. XRD revealed a hexagonal form. The pH level of the baths in which CdSe thin films were deposited varied and optical and structural properties of the resulting thin films were analyzed. SEM analysis was used for surface analysis. Some features of the films were supposed to change with pH and these properties were investigated by testing different pH levels, which were 8, 9, 10 and 11. The variation of the optical bandgap changed between 1.60 and 1.75[Formula: see text]eV, according to the pH of deposition bath. Film thickness varied from 60[Formula: see text]nm to 93[Formula: see text]nm, with the variation of deposition bath’s pH. Moreover, it has been found that refractive index values were also changed with film thickness; these were calculated as 2.28, 2.19, 2.22 and 2.36 for 93.27, 60.97, 61.09 and 60.18[Formula: see text]nm, respectively. Dielectric constant also varied with refractive index, taking values 0.85, 0.75, 0.78, 0.93 for refractive indexes 2.28, 2.19, 2.22 and 2.36, respectively.
PREPARATION AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF ANTIMONY-DOPED TIN OXIDE NANOPARTICLES BY TWO VARIOUS MODIFIED COPRECIPITATION METHODS
Authors: GUO YU , LIU SHIMIN , LIANG DONGDONG , WANG ZHINUO , JIANG WEIWEI , LIU CHAOQIAN , WANG HUALIN , WANG NAN , DING WANYU , WANG LI , XU SHICHONG
Published: October 2019

This paper describes the synthesis and electrical properties of antimony-doped tin oxide nanoparticles by precipitate-modified coprecipitation and solution-modified coprecipitation starting from different amounts of nitric acid and ethanol as modified additives. The aim of this study was to decrease the electrical resistivity of antimony-doped tin oxide nanoparticles and determine the relationship between the crystalline size and electrical properties. Results indicated that all samples revealed the existence of tetragonal antimony-substituted SnO2 crystals. Antimony-doped tin oxide nanoparticles were 4.6–5.8 nm in diameter depending on both the amounts of nitric acid and ethanol as well as coprecipitation methods. The electrical resistivity changed dramatically from 0.86 [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]cm to 0.31 [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]cm depending on the amounts of nitric acid and ethanol as well as coprecipitation methods.

Interestingly, the smaller the ratio between the crystal size calculated according to (110) plane and the crystal size calculated according to (101) plane was, the smaller the electrical resistivity of antimony-doped tin oxide nanoparticles was achieved as a function of the amounts of nitric acid and ethanol as well as coprecipitation methods.
Standing waves with a critical frequency for a quasilinear Schrödinger equation
Authors: Fang Xiang-Dong
Published: October 2019

We consider the following quasilinear Schrödinger equation [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] satisfies a weaker growth condition than the Ambrosetti–Rabinowitz type condition in Byeon and Wang [Standing waves with a critical frequency for nonlinear Schrödinger equations, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 165(4) (2002) 295–316; Standing waves with a critical frequency for nonlinear Schrödinger equations, II, Calc. Var. 18(2) (2003) 207–219]. We obtain the existence of the localized bound state solutions concentrating at an isolated component of the local minimum of [Formula: see text] and whose amplitude goes to 0 as [Formula: see text].
Higher-dimensional Clifford–Severi equalities
Authors: Barja Miguel Ángel , Pardini Rita , Stoppino Lidia
Published: October 2019

Let [Formula: see text] be a smooth complex projective variety, [Formula: see text] a morphism to an abelian variety such that [Formula: see text] injects into [Formula: see text] and let [Formula: see text] be a line bundle on [Formula: see text]; denote by [Formula: see text] the minimum of [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text]. The so-called Clifford–Severi inequalities have been proven in [M. A. Barja, Generalized Clifford–Severi inequality and the volume of irregular varieties, Duke Math. J. 164(3) (2015) 541–568; M. A. Barja, R. Pardini and L. Stoppino, Linear systems on irregular varieties, J. Inst. Math. Jussieu (2019) 1–39; doi:10.1017/S1474748019000069]; in particular, for any [Formula: see text] there is a lower bound for the volume given by: [Formula: see text] and, if [Formula: see text] is pseudoeffective, [Formula: see text] In this paper, we characterize varieties and line bundles for which the above Clifford–Severi inequalities are equalities.
On constructions of Lie (super) algebras and (𝜀,δ)-Freudenthal–Kantor triple systems defined by bilinear forms
Authors: Kamiya Noriaki , Mondoc Daniel
Published: October 2019

In this work, we discuss a classification of [Formula: see text]-Freudenthal–Kantor triple systems defined by bilinear forms and give all examples of such triple systems. From these results, we may see a construction of some simple Lie algebras or superalgebras associated with their Freudenthal–Kantor triple systems. We also show that we can associate a complex structure into these ([Formula: see text]-Freudenthal–Kantor triple systems. Further, we introduce the concept of Dynkin diagrams associated to such [Formula: see text]-Freudenthal–Kantor triple systems and the corresponding Lie (super) algebra construction.
Extracellular Mycosynthesis of Antibacterial Silver Nanoparticles UsingAspergillus flavusand Evaluation of their Characteristics
Authors: Soltani-Horand Parya , Vaghari Hamideh , Soltani-Horand Jahanbakhsh , Adibpour Mohammad , Jafarizadeh-Malmiri Hoda
Published: October 2019

Fungi extracellular synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Aspergillus flavus mycelia extract was evaluated. Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy revealed the presence of hydroxyl and amide I groups in the prepared fungi mycelia extract which those had key roles in the reduction of silver ions and stabilizing of the formed AgNPs. Response surface methodology (RSM) has been used to optimize and evaluate the effects of the prepared mycelia extract amount (5–7[Formula: see text]mL) and autoclave heating time (10–20[Formula: see text]min) on the particle size of the synthesized AgNPs. Obtained results revealed that the spherical mono-dispersed AgNPs with high stability were synthesized using 6[Formula: see text]mL of fungal mycelia extract and hydrothermally heating for 15[Formula: see text]min. At this obtained optimum synthesis conditions, broad emission peaks ([Formula: see text], mean particle size, concentration and zeta potential values for the fabricated AgNPs were 450[Formula: see text]nm, 44[Formula: see text]nm, 72[Formula: see text]ppm and [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mV, respectively. The synthesized AgNPs also indicated high antibacterial activity against both Gram positive and negative bacteria.
Facial expression recognition based on Gabor wavelet transform and 2-channel CNN
Authors: Qin Shu , Zhu Zhengzhou , Zou Yuhang , Wang Xiaowei
Published: October 2019

Facial expression recognition is one of the hotspots in the fields of computer vision and deep learning. It has very important applications in the domains of learning service recommendation, human–computer interaction and medical industry. Aiming at the problem that the traditional expression recognition method is not accurate, this paper proposes a method combining Gabor wavelet transform and convolutional neural network. Firstly, face positioning, cropping, histogram equalization and other preprocessing are performed on the expression image. Then we extract key frames of expression sequences. After that the Gabor wavelet transform is performed on the expression image to obtain magnitude and phase characteristics. Finally, we design a 2-channel CNN for training and classification. The experiment achieves an accuracy of 96.81% on the CK+ database and it has a certain improvement compared with the Gabor wavelet transform and the traditional CNN alone.
Study of (1 + 2)-dimensional charged string cloud with minimal geometric deformation
Authors: Sharif M. , Ama-Tul-Mughani Qanitah
Published: October 2019

This paper is devoted to exploring exact charged solutions in a cloud of strings through minimal geometric deformation technique in three-dimensional gravity. For this purpose, we first evaluate the exact charged isotropic solution for static circular symmetry using Takabayashi equation of state and extend it to obtain three concrete anisotropic charged models. We investigate energy conditions as well as speed of sound constraint to check the viability of the respective solutions. It is concluded that the second model is a realistic one as it fulfills all the physical characteristics as well as stability criterion while the rest of two solutions do not satisfy the physical constraints.
The Cross-Sectional Spillovers of Single Stock Circuit Breakers
Authors: Brugler James , Linton Oliver , Noss Joseph , Pedace Lucas
Published: October 2019

This paper uses transaction data to estimate how single stock circuit breakers on the London Stock Exchange affect other stocks that remain in continuous trading. This “spillover” effect is estimated by calculating the effect of a trading halt on the market quality of stocks that remain in continuous trading and comparing this with the effect of a stock whose absolute returns are of a magnitude nearly sufficient to trigger a trading halt but do not do so. Market quality is measured using a combination of trading costs, volatility and volume. In the two-month period we study, characterized by a relatively volatile trading environment, we find that circuit breakers lead to a significant improvement in the liquidity, and reduction in the volatility, of stocks that remain in continuous trading. This suggests that — at least over the period covered by our data — single stock circuit breakers can play an important role in reducing the spillover of poor market quality across stocks.
The Next 700 Accelerated Layers
Authors: Vasilache Nicolas , Zinenko Oleksandr , Theodoridis Theodoros , Goyal Priya , Devito Zachary , Moses William S. , Verdoolaege Sven , Adams Andrew , Cohen Albert
Published: October 2019

Deep learning frameworks automate the deployment, distribution, synchronization, memory allocation, and hardware acceleration of models represented as graphs of computational operators. These operators wrap high-performance libraries such as cuDNN or NNPACK. When the computation does not match any predefined library call, custom operators must be implemented, often at high engineering cost and performance penalty, limiting the pace of innovation. To address this productivity gap, we propose and evaluate: (1) a domain-specific language with a tensor notation close to the mathematics of deep learning; (2) a Just-In-Time optimizing compiler based on the polyhedral framework; (3) carefully coordinated linear optimization and evolutionary algorithms to synthesize high-performance CUDA kernels; (4) the transparent integration of our flow into PyTorch and Caffe2, providing the fully automatic synthesis of high-performance GPU kernels from simple tensor algebra. The performance is comparable to, and often exceeds the performance of, highly tuned libraries.
Evaluating Auto-Vectorizing Compilers through Objective Withdrawal of Useful Information
Authors: Siso Sergi , Armour Wes , Thiyagalingam Jeyarajan
Published: October 2019

The need for compilers to generate highly vectorized code is at an all-time high with the increasing vectorization capabilities of modern processors. To this end, the information that compilers have at their disposal, either through code analysis or via user annotations, is instrumental for auto-vectorization, and hence for the overall performance. However, the information that is available to compilers at compile time and its accuracy varies greatly, as does the resulting performance of vectorizing compilers. Benchmarks like the Test Suite for Vectorizing Compilers (TSVC) have been developed to evaluate the vectorization capability of such compilers. The overarching approach of TSVC and similar benchmarks is to evaluate the compilers under the best possible scenario (i.e., assuming that compilers have access to all useful contextual information at compile time). Although this idealistic view is useful to observe the capability of compilers for auto-vectorization, it is not a true reflection of the conditions found in real-world applications.

In this article, we propose a novel method for evaluating the auto-vectorization capability of compilers. Instead of assuming that compilers have access to a wealth of information at compile time, we formulate a method to objectively supply or withdraw information that would otherwise aid the compiler in the auto-vectorization process. This method is orthogonal to the approach adopted by TSVC, and as such, it provides the means of assessing the capabilities of modern vectorizing compilers in a more detailed way.

Using this new method, we exhaustively evaluated five industry-grade compilers (GNU, Intel, Clang, PGI, and IBM) on four representative vector platforms (AVX-2, AVX-512 (Skylake), AVX-512 (KNL), and AltiVec) using the modified version of TSVC and application-level proxy kernels. The results show the impact that withdrawing information has on the vectorization capabilities of each compiler and also prove the validity of the presented technique.
Layup
Authors: Jiang Wenbin , Ma Yang , Liu Bo , Liu Haikun , Zhou Bing Bing , Zhu Jian , Wu Song , Jin Hai
Published: October 2019

Although GPUs have emerged as the mainstream for the acceleration of
convolutional neural network
(CNN) training processes, they usually have limited physical memory, meaning that it is hard to train large-scale CNN models. Many methods for memory optimization have been proposed to decrease the memory consumption of CNNs and to mitigate the increasing scale of these networks; however, this optimization comes at the cost of an obvious drop in time performance. We propose a new memory optimization strategy named Layup that realizes both better memory efficiency and better time performance. First, a fast layer-type-specific method for memory optimization is presented, based on the new finding that a single memory optimization often shows dramatic differences in time performance for different types of layers. Second, a new memory reuse method is presented in which greater attention is paid to multi-type intermediate data such as convolutional workspaces and cuDNN handle data. Experiments show that Layup can significantly increase the scale of extra-deep network models on a single GPU with lower performance loss. It even can train ResNet with 2,504 layers using 12GB memory, outperforming the state-of-the-art work of SuperNeurons with 1,920 layers (batch size = 16).
Efficient lock-free durable sets
Authors: Zuriel Yoav , Friedman Michal , Sheffi Gali , Cohen Nachshon , Petrank Erez
Published: October 2019

Non-volatile memory is expected to co-exist or replace DRAM in upcoming architectures. Durable concurrent data structures for non-volatile memories are essential building blocks for constructing adequate software for use with these architectures. In this paper, we propose a new approach for durable concurrent sets and use this approach to build the most efficient durable hash tables available today. Evaluation shows a performance improvement factor of up to 3.3x over existing technology.
Asphalion: trustworthy shielding against Byzantine faults
Authors: Vukotic Ivana , Rahli Vincent , Esteves-Veríssimo Paulo
Published: October 2019

Byzantine fault-tolerant state-machine replication (BFT-SMR) is a technique for hardening systems to tolerate arbitrary faults. Although robust, BFT-SMR protocols are very costly in terms of the number of required replicas (3f+1 to tolerate f faults) and of exchanged messages. However, with "hybrid" architectures, where "normal" components trust some "special" components to provide properties in a trustworthy manner, the cost of using BFT can be dramatically reduced. Unfortunately, even though such hybridization techniques decrease the message/time/space complexity of BFT protocols, they also increase their structural complexity.

Therefore, we introduce Asphalion, the first theorem prover-based framework for verifying implementations of hybrid systems and protocols. It relies on three novel languages: (1) HyLoE: a Hybrid Logic of Events to reason about hybrid fault models; (2) MoC: a Monadic Component language to implement systems as collections of interacting hybrid components; and (3) LoCK: a sound Logic of events-based Calculus of Knowledge to reason about both homogeneous and hybrid systems at a high-level of abstraction (thereby allowing reusing proofs, and capturing the high-level logic of distributed systems). In addition, Asphalion supports compositional reasoning, e.g., through mechanisms to lift properties about trusted-trustworthy components, to the level of the distributed systems they are integrated in. As a case study, we have verified crucial safety properties (e.g., agreement) of several implementations of hybrid protocols.
On the complexity of checking transactional consistency
Authors: Biswas Ranadeep , Enea Constantin
Published: October 2019

Transactions simplify concurrent programming by enabling computations on shared data that are isolated from other concurrent computations and are resilient to failures. Modern databases provide different consistency models for transactions corresponding to different tradeoffs between consistency and availability. In this work, we investigate the problem of checking whether a given execution of a transactional database adheres to some consistency model. We show that consistency models like read committed, read atomic, and causal consistency are polynomial-time checkable while prefix consistency and snapshot isolation are NP-complete in general. These results complement a previous NP-completeness result concerning serializability. Moreover, in the context of NP-complete consistency models, we devise algorithms that are polynomial time assuming that certain parameters in the input executions, e.g., the number of sessions, are fixed. We evaluate the scalability of these algorithms in the context of several production databases.
AutoPandas: neural-backed generators for program synthesis
Authors: Bavishi Rohan , Lemieux Caroline , Fox Roy , Sen Koushik , Stoica Ion
Published: October 2019

Developers nowadays have to contend with a growing number of APIs. While in the long-term they are very useful to developers, many modern APIs have an incredibly steep learning curve, due to their hundreds of functions handling many arguments, obscure documentation, and frequently changing semantics. For APIs that perform data transformations, novices can often provide an I/O example demonstrating the desired transformation, but may be stuck on how to translate it to the API. A programming-by-example synthesis engine that takes such I/O examples and directly produces programs in the target API could help such novices. Such an engine presents unique challenges due to the breadth of real-world APIs, and the often-complex constraints over function arguments. We present a generator-based synthesis approach to contend with these problems. This approach uses a program candidate generator, which encodes basic constraints on the space of programs. We introduce neural-backed operators which can be seamlessly integrated into the program generator. To improve the efficiency of the search, we simply use these operators at non-deterministic decision points, instead of relying on domain-specific heuristics. We implement this technique for the Python pandas library in AutoPandas. AutoPandas supports 119 pandas dataframe transformation functions. We evaluate AutoPandas on 26 real-world benchmarks and find it solves 17 of them.
Sound and reusable components for abstract interpretation
Authors: Keidel Sven , Erdweg Sebastian
Published: October 2019

Abstract interpretation is a methodology for defining sound static analysis. Yet, building sound static analyses for modern programming languages is difficult, because these static analyses need to combine sophisticated abstractions for values, environments, stores, etc. However, static analyses often tightly couple these abstractions in the implementation, which not only complicates the implementation, but also makes it hard to decide which parts of the analyses can be proven sound independently from each other. Furthermore, this coupling makes it hard to combine soundness lemmas for parts of the analysis to a soundness proof of the complete analysis.

To solve this problem, we propose to construct static analyses modularly from
reusable analysis components
. Each analysis component encapsulates a single analysis concern and can be proven sound independently from the analysis where it is used. We base the design of our analysis components on
arrow transformers
, which allows us to compose analysis components. This composition preserves soundness, which guarantees that a static analysis is sound, if all its analysis components are sound. This means that analysis developers do not have to worry about soundness as long as they reuse sound analysis components. To evaluate our approach, we developed a library of 13 reusable analysis components in Haskell. We use these components to define a
k
-CFA analysis for PCF and an interval and reaching definition analysis for a While language.
Rifampicin, not vitamin E, suppresses parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease development through the pregnane X receptor pathway in piglets
Authors: Guthrie Gregory , Stoll Barbara , Chacko Shaji , Lauridsen Charlotte , Plat Jogchum , Burrin Douglas
Published: October 2019

Infants receiving long-term parenteral nutrition (PN) develop PN-associated liver disease (PNALD). We previously (Ng K et al. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr 40: 656–671, 2016. doi: 10.1177/0148607114567900 .) showed that PN containing soy-based lipid supplemented with vitamin E (α-tocopherol) prevents the development of PNALD. We hypothesize that this occurs via vitamin E activation of pregnane X receptor (PXR)-mediated pathways involved in bile acid metabolism. Neonatal piglets received PN for 14 days containing Intralipid (IL; soy-based lipid emulsion), IL supplemented with 12.6 mg·kg−1·day−1vitamin E (VITE), or IL with 10 mg·kg−1·day−1Rifadin IV (RIF), a PXR agonist. Pigs treated with IL and VITE, but not RIF, developed cholestasis and hyperbilirubinemia, markers of liver disease. The hepatic PXR target genes CYP3A29 and UGT1A6 increased during RIF treatment. RIF also modestly increased metabolism of chenodeoxycholic acid to the more hydrophilic bile acid hyocholic acid. Serum fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-19, a key regulator in suppressing hepatic bile acid synthesis, significantly increased in the RIF group. We conclude rifampicin modified markers of PNALD development by increased metabolism of bile acids and potentially suppressed bile acid synthesis. Vitamin E was ineffective at high lipid doses in preventing PNALD.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY Intravenous vitamin E and rifampicin were administered to neonatal piglets receiving parenteral nutrition to determine their efficacy in reducing the progression of parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease (PNALD). Rifampicin increased serum FGF-19 concentrations and synthesis of the bile acid hyocholic acid which led to a reduction of PNALD parameters at 2 wk of administration. This result has potential clinical implications for the use of rifampicin as a safe and inexpensive treatment for short-term development of PNALD.
Hepatitis B virus-triggered PTEN/β-catenin/c-Myc signaling enhances PD-L1 expression to promote immune evasion
Authors: Sun Yishuang , Yu Mengxue , Qu Mengmeng , Ma Yuhong , Zheng Dandan , Yue Yanan , Guo Shuting , Tang Li , Li Guorui , Zheng Weishuai , Wang Min , Guo Deyin , Li Changyong
Published: October 2019

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) exploits multiple strategies to evade host immune surveillance. Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) signaling plays a critical role in regulating T cell homeostasis. However, it remains largely unknown as to how HBV infection elevates PD-L1 expression in hepatocytes. A mouse model of HBV infection was established by hydrodynamic injection with a vector containing 1.3-fold overlength HBV genome (pHBV1.3) via the tail vein. Coculture experiments with HBV-expressing hepatoma cells and Jurkat T cells were established in vitro. We observed significant decrease in the expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) and increase in β-catenin/PD-L1 expression in liver tissues from patients with chronic hepatitis B and mice subjected to pHBV1.3 hydrodynamic injection. Mechanistically, decrease in PTEN enhanced β-catenin/c-Myc signaling and PD-L1 expression in HBV-expressing hepatoma cells, which in turn augmented PD-1 expression, lowered IL-2 secretion, and induced T cell apoptosis. However, β-catenin disruption inhibited PTEN-mediated PD-L1 expression, which was accompanied by decreased PD-1 expression, and increased IL-2 production in T cells. Luciferase reporter assays revealed that c-Myc stimulated transcriptional activity of PD-L1. In addition, HBV X protein (HBx) and HBV polymerase (HBp) contributed to PTEN downregulation and β-catenin/PD-L1 upregulation. Strikingly, PTEN overexpression in hepatocytes inhibited β-catenin/PD-L1 signaling and promoted HBV clearance in vivo. Our findings suggest that HBV-triggered PTEN/β-catenin/c-Myc signaling via HBx and HBp enhances PD-L1 expression, leading to inhibition of T cell response, and promotes HBV immune evasion.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study demonstrates that during HBV infection, HBV can increase PD-L1 expression via PTEN/β-catenin/c-Myc signaling pathway, which in turn inhibits T cell response and ultimately promotes HBV immune evasion. Targeting this signaling pathway is a potential strategy for immunotherapy of chronic hepatitis B.
Y han pasado diez años de la implementación de las NIIF en Chile
Authors: Santander Cruz Luis
Published: October 2019

Para enfrentar la globalización de los mercados y la necesidad de disponer de información financiero contable para los diferentes interesados en la información de las Empresas, preparada en base de un lenguaje contable común, surge la necesidad de implementar las Normas Internacionales de Información Financiera. Tal proceso, no exento de dificultades e indecisiones, implico un cambio y un desafío importante para los profesionales de la contabilidad y de la auditoría, (profesionales de la información y del control), así como también para las Universidades formadoras de estos profesionales, por su responsabilidad de entregar al mercado, profesionales actualizados en tales normas, para su accionar profesional.
Repensar a Universidade II: Impactos para a Sociedade
Authors:   Universidade de São Paulo, Marcovitch Jacques , Segurado Aluísio Cotrim ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Marques Antônio Carlos ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Luque Carlos Antônio ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Vergani arlos Augusto ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Planeta Cleópatra da Silva ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Balbachevsky Elizabeth ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Gamba Estêvão ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Rosas Fábio Sampaio ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Hashimoto Fernando ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Kaiser Franz ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Brelàz Gabriela De ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Bueno Guilherme Wolff ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Holland Helber ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Ferreira João Eduardo ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Gontijo José Antônio Rocha ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Guimarães José Augusto Chaves ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Axel-Berg Justin ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Silva Lidiane C. ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Moura Mariluce ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Beppu Marisa Masumi ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Serafim Milena Pavan ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Ranieri Nina ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Kolster Renze ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Mugnaini Rogério ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Righetti Sabine ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Santos Solange Maria dos ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Smaili Soraya Soubhi ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Atvars Teresa Dib Zambon ,   Universidade de São Paulo, Kohtamäki Vuokko ,   Universidade de São Paulo
Published: October 2019

Para resumir o conceito inovador deste projeto enfatiza-se que nenhuma universidade evolui, de fato, sem ser comparada a outras na aferição de seus avanços. No plano comparativo se inserem não apenas instituições brasileiras, mas congêneres de outros países que há muito frequentam os primeiros postos em rankings globais. O desempenho ganha maior consistência e credibilidade quando é cotejado na cena internacional com o de instituições de igual porte e perfil assemelhado. O impacto social, nestes casos, será um trunfo decisivo. A obra mostra a universidade pública unida pela qualidade, em busca de instrumentos que a tornem cada vez mais competitiva e merecedora da confiança geral. O novo volume deste projeto das três universidades estaduais de São Paulo fixa novas métricas de desempenho para ampliar sua presença em comparações internacionais com desdobramentos que se cumprirão até 2022. As ideias e recomendações nas páginas seguintes atendem a este desafio. Alinhadas pela primeira vez na intenção comum de aperfeiçoar seu desempenho acadêmico, as três instituições repensam seu futuro nesta obra.
Sándor Ferenczi: as passarelas criativas
Authors: Pechberty Bernard Gérard
Published: October 2019

Este artigo discute algumas contribuições centrais de Sándor Ferenczi presentes na primeira parte de sua obra. Discípulo de Sigmund Freud, ele conquistou a sua independência e desenvolveu uma reflexão sobre o traumatismo. A partir de sua experiência clínica, ele acentua a dimensão terapêutica essencial à psicanálise, diante ao intelectualismo dominante dos praticantes. Ele define uma nova relação entre a criança e os adultos, em contraposição ao infantil freudiano. Em decorrência disso, resultaram em algumas consequências: a importância do corpo em um sujeito dividido, a convergência da psicanálise da criança e do adulto, a nova postura do praticante e a relevância de sua formação são colocadas em destaque. O papel essencial dos primeiros ambientes de humanização, a educação e a transmissão, também foram colocados em primeiro plano em sua reflexão.
Autismos: uma estrutura de existência e a legitimidade dos sujeitos
Authors: Romano Lucas Silva , Paravidini João Luiz Leitão , Próchno Caio César Souza Camargo
Published: October 2019

Este artigo visa estender a noção de estrutura do sujeito – entendida como efeito de um encontro contingencial, marcado pela ruptura e fadado à repetição – para o campo dos autismos. Apresenta-se uma investigação do processo que leva à constituição do falante, associada à hipótese de que o autismo evidencia fortes indícios de um processo de subjetivação particular. Tal proposição incide sob a direção do tratamento, como um modo de abordar os sujeitos autistas com uma presença de demanda calculada
Shared Decision-Making About End-of-Life Care Scenarios Compared Among Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Patients
Authors: Thompson Jessica Harman , Thylén Ingela , Moser Debra K.
Published: October 2019

Background:

Authors of expert guidelines and consensus statements recommend that decisions at the end-of-life (EOL) be discussed before and after implantation of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and include promotion of shared decision-making. The purpose of this study was to describe experiences, attitudes, and knowledge about the ICD at EOL in ICD recipients and to compare experiences, attitudes, and knowledge in ICD recipients with and without heart failure (HF). We further sought to determine factors associated with having discussions about EOL.

Methods and Results:

Using a national registry in Sweden of all ICD recipients (n=5355) in 2012, an EOL questionnaire, along with other ICD-related measures, was completed by 2403 ICD recipients. Of the participants, 1275 (n=53%) had HF. Their responses in the knowledge, experience, and attitude domains were almost identical to those without HF. Forty percent of patients with and without HF did not want to discuss their illness trajectory or deactivation of their ICD ever. In logistic regression analyses, we found that having had an ICD shock (OR, 2.05; CI, 1.64–2.56), having high levels of anxiety (OR, 1.41; CI, 1.04–1.92), and having high levels of ICD concerns (OR, 1.53; CI, 1.22–1.92) were the only significant predictors of having discussions with providers about EOL scenarios (
P
<0.001 for full model).

Conclusions:

HF was not a predictor of having an EOL conversation. Further research is needed to determine if attitudes related to not wanting to discuss EOL interfere with good quality of life and of death, or if shared decision-making should be encouraged in these individuals.
Personality is associated with dominance in a social feeding context in the great tit
Authors: Bibi Nehafta , Wei Yusheng , Xu Hongwei , Liang Jingnan , Hussain Ijaz , Ahmad Munawar Saleem , Wang Haitao
Published: October 2019

Despite the growing interest in consistent individual differences in behaviour (animal personality), the influence of social context on different behavioural types remains poorly understood. The suite of correlated behaviours within and across contexts is called behavioural syndromes. Most personality studies have investigated consistent individual behavioural types and their consequences in a asocial context, however few studies have considered the influence of social context on individual behaviour. In addition, the evolutionary and ecological consequences of personality differences in social context remain unknown. In the present study, we confirm individual personality in Great tits (Parus major) using room exploration and neophobia tests. As a result of these two tests, repeatability and correlational structure of two personality traits were investigated. Additionally we assessed the extent to which personality influences dominance in a social feeding context.

Great tits remained consistent in their personality traits (exploration and neophobia). Individuals who explored a novel environment faster also approached a novel object faster, while those who spent more time exploring a novel environment were also slower to approach a novel object. In a social feeding context personality was linked to dominance: with proactive individuals being more likely to be dominant. Our result provides evidence of the importance of social context in a wild population of birds and may have fitness consequence, both for focal individuals and their conspecifics.