bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Synergistic Interactions of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus in an
In Vitro
Wound Model
Authors: DeLeon Stephanie , Clinton Allie , Fowler Haley , Everett Jake , Horswill Alexander R. , Rumbaugh Kendra P.
Published: August 2014

In individuals with polymicrobial infections, microbes often display synergistic interactions that can enhance their colonization, virulence, or persistence. One of the most prevalent types of polymicrobial infection occurs in chronic wounds, where
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
and
Staphylococcus aureus
are the two most common causes. Although they are the most commonly associated microbial species in wound infections, very little is known about their interspecies relationship. Evidence suggests that
P. aeruginosa
–
S. aureus
coinfections are more virulent than monoculture infection with either species; however, difficulties in growing these two pathogens together
in vitro
have hampered attempts to uncover the mechanisms involved. Here we describe a simple and clinically relevant
in vitro
wound model that supported concomitant growth of
P. aeruginosa
and
S. aureus
. We observed that the ability of
P. aeruginosa
and
S. aureus
to survive antibiotic treatment increased when they were grown together in planktonic cocultures and that antibiotic tolerance was further enhanced when they were grown together in the wound model. We attributed this enhanced tolerance to both the “host-derived” and “bacterium-derived” matrix components. Taken together, our data indicate that
P. aeruginosa
and
S. aureus
may benefit each other by coinfecting wounds and that the host-derived matrix may serve as important a role as the bacterium-derived matrix in protecting bacteria from some antibiotics.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae, an Underutilized Model for Bacterial Cell Biology
Authors: Balish Mitchell F.
Published: August 2014

In recent decades, bacterial cell biology has seen great advances, and numerous model systems have been developed to study a wide variety of cellular processes, including cell division, motility, assembly of macromolecular structures, and biogenesis of cell polarity. Considerable attention has been given to these model organisms, which include
Escherichia coli
,
Bacillus subtilis
,
Caulobacter crescentus
, and
Myxococcus xanthus
. Studies of these processes in the pathogenic bacterium
Mycoplasma pneumoniae
and its close relatives have also been carried out on a smaller scale, but this work is often overlooked, in part due to this organism's reputation as minimalistic and simple. In this minireview, I discuss recent work on the role of the
M. pneumoniae
attachment organelle (AO), a structure required for adherence to host cells, in these processes. The AO is constructed from proteins that generally lack homology to those found in other organisms, and this construction occurs in coordination with cell cycle events. The proteins of the
M. pneumoniae
AO share compositional features with proteins with related roles in model organisms. Once constructed, the AO becomes activated for its role in a form of gliding motility whose underlying mechanism appears to be distinct from that of other gliding bacteria, including
Mycoplasma mobile
. Together with the FtsZ cytoskeletal protein, motility participates in the cell division process. My intention is to bring this deceptively complex organism into alignment with the better-known model systems.
Evidence against Translational Repression by the Carboxyltransferase Component of Escherichia coli Acetyl Coenzyme A Carboxylase
Authors: Smith Alexander C. , Cronan John E.
Published: August 2014

In
Escherichia coli
, synthesis of the malonyl coenzyme A (malonyl-CoA) required for membrane lipid synthesis is catalyzed by acetyl-CoA carboxylase, a large complex composed of four subunits. The subunit proteins are needed in a defined stoichiometry, and it remains unclear how such production is achieved since the proteins are encoded at three different loci. Meades and coworkers (G. Meades, Jr., B. K. Benson, A. Grove, and G. L. Waldrop, Nucleic Acids Res. 38:1217–1227, 2010, doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkp1079
) reported that coordinated production of the AccA and AccD subunits is due to a translational repression mechanism exerted by the proteins themselves. The AccA and AccD subunits form the carboxyltransferase (CT) heterotetramer that catalyzes the second partial reaction of acetyl-CoA carboxylase. Meades et al. reported that CT tetramers bind the central portions of the
accA
and
accD
mRNAs and block their translation
in vitro
. However, long mRNA molecules (500 to 600 bases) were required for CT binding, but such long mRNA molecules devoid of ribosomes seemed unlikely to exist
in vivo
. This, plus problematical aspects of the data reported by Meades and coworkers, led us to perform
in vivo
experiments to test CT tetramer-mediated translational repression of the
accA
and
accD
mRNAs. We report that increased levels of CT tetramer have no detectable effect on translation of the CT subunit mRNAs.
Phenotypic Interactions among Mutations in a Thermus thermophilus 16S rRNA Gene Detected with Genetic Selections and Experimental Evolution
Authors: Gregory Steven T. , Connetti Jacqueline L. , Carr Jennifer F. , Jogl Gerwald , Dahlberg Albert E.
Published: August 2014

During protein synthesis, the ribosome undergoes conformational transitions between functional states, requiring communication between distant structural elements of the ribosome. Despite advances in ribosome structural biology, identifying the protein and rRNA residues governing these transitions remains a significant challenge. Such residues can potentially be identified genetically, given the predicted deleterious effects of mutations stabilizing the ribosome in discrete conformations and the expected ameliorating effects of second-site compensatory mutations. In this study, we employed genetic selections and experimental evolution to identify interacting mutations in the ribosome of the thermophilic bacterium
Thermus thermophilus
. By direct genetic selections, we identified mutations in 16S rRNA conferring a streptomycin dependence phenotype and from these derived second-site suppressor mutations relieving dependence. Using experimental evolution of streptomycin-independent pseudorevertants, we identified additional compensating mutations. Similar mutations could be evolved from slow-growing streptomycin-resistant mutants. While some mutations arose close to the site of the original mutation in the three-dimensional structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit and probably act directly by compensating for local structural distortions, the locations of others are consistent with long-range communication between specific structural elements within the ribosome.
Fifty-five per cent return to competitive sport following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis including aspects of physical functioning and contextual factors
Authors: Ardern Clare L , Taylor Nicholas F , Feller Julian A , Webster Kate E
Published: August 2014

Background

The aim of this study was to update our original systematic review of return to sport rates following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery.

Method

Electronic databases were searched from April 2010 to November 2013 for articles reporting the number of patients returning to sport following ACL reconstruction surgery. Return to sport rates, physical functioning and contextual data were extracted and combined using random-effects meta-analyses. Data from the original review (articles published up to April 2010) were combined with data from the updated search.

Results

Sixty-nine articles, reporting on 7556 participants, were reviewed. On average, 81% of people returned to any sport, 65% returned to their preinjury level of sport and 55% returned to competitive level sport after surgery. Symmetrical hopping performance (d=0.3) and the contextual factors of younger age (d=−0.3), male gender (OR=1.4), playing elite sport (OR=2.5) and having a positive psychological response (d=0.3) favoured returning to the preinjury level sport. Receiving a hamstring tendon autograft favoured returning to competitive level sport (OR=2.4), whereas receiving a patellar tendon autograft favoured returning to the preinjury level sport (OR=1.2).

Conclusions

Returning to sport varied according to different physical functioning and contextual factors, which could warrant additional emphasis in postoperative rehabilitation programmes to maximise participation.
Dilated eye examination screening guideline compliance among patients with diabetes without a diabetic retinopathy diagnosis: the role of geographic access
Authors: Lee David J , Kumar Naresh , Feuer William J , Chou Chiu-Fang , Rosa Potyra R , Schiffman Joyce C , Morante Alexis , Aldahan Adam , Staropoli Patrick , Fernandez Cristina A , Tannenbaum Stacey L , Lam Byron L
Published: August 2014

Objective

To estimate the prevalence of, and factors associated with, dilated eye examination guideline compliance among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), but without diabetic retinopathy.

Research design and methods

Utilizing the computerized billing records database, we identified patients with International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9 diagnoses of DM, but without any ocular diagnoses. The available medical records of patients in 2007–2008 were reviewed for demographic and ocular information, including visits through 2010 (n=200). Patients were considered guideline compliant if they returned at least every 15 months for screening. Participant street addresses were assigned latitude and longitude coordinates to assess their neighborhood socioeconomic status (using the 2000 US census data), distance to the screening facility, and public transportation access. Patients not compliant, based on the medical record review, were contacted by phone or mail and asked to complete a follow-up survey to determine if screening took place at other locations.

Results

The overall screening compliance rate was 31%. Patient sociodemographic characteristics, insurance status, and neighborhood socioeconomic measures were not significantly associated with compliance. However, in separate multivariable logistic regression models, those living eight or more miles from the screening facility were significantly less likely to be compliant relative to those living within eight miles (OR=0.36 (95% CI 0.14 to 0.86)), while public transit access quality was positively associated with screening compliance (1.34 (1.07 to 1.68)).

Conclusions

Less than one-third of patients returned for diabetic retinopathy screening at least every 15 months, with transportation challenges associated with noncompliance. Our results suggest that reducing transportation barriers or utilizing community-based screening strategies may improve compliance.
Unusually low prevalence ofMycoplasma genitaliumin urine samples from infertile men and healthy controls: a prevalence study
Authors: Plecko Vanda , Zele-Starcevic Lidija , Tripkovic Vesna , Skerlev Mihael , Ljubojevic Suzana , Plesko Sanja , Marekovic Ivana , Jensen Jorgen Skov
Published: August 2014

Objective

To detectMycoplasma genitaliumin urine samples of infertile men and men without any signs of infection in order to investigate whetherM. genitaliumand other genital mycoplasmas (Mycoplasma hominisandUreaplasmaspp) are found more often in urine samples of infertile men than in asymptomatic controls and to determine resistance to macrolides.

Methods

The study included first void urine samples taken from 145 infertile men and 49 men with no symptoms of urethritis.M. genitalium, Chlamydia trachomatisandNeisseria gonorrhoeaewere detected by commercial PCR.Trichomonas vaginaliswas detected by microscopy and culture.M. hominisandUreaplasmaspp were detected by culture.M. genitaliumwas detected by in-house conventional and real-time PCR.

Results

TwoM. genitaliumpositive samples were found among samples obtained from infertile men. All asymptomatic men wereM. genitaliumnegative. Macrolide resistance was not found in either of the two positive samples.

Conclusions

In comparison with reported data, an unusually low prevalence ofM. genitaliumwas found in infertile men. The reasons for this unexpected result are not known; possibly, local demographic and social characteristics of the population influenced the result. Further studies to investigateM. genitaliumin infertile and other groups of patients are needed.
Electronic cigarette use among adult population: a cross-sectional study in Barcelona, Spain (2013–2014)
Authors: Martínez-Sánchez Jose M , Ballbè Montse , Fu Marcela , Martín-Sánchez Juan Carlos , Saltó Esteve , Gottlieb Mark , Daynard Richard , Connolly Gregory N , Fernández Esteve
Published: August 2014

Objective

This study seeks to analyse the prevalence and correlates of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use, purchase location and satisfaction with its use in a sample of the general population of the city of Barcelona, Spain.

Design, setting and participants

We used participants from a longitudinal study of a representative sample of the adult (≥16 years old) population of Barcelona (336 men and 400 women). The field work was conducted between May 2013 and February 2014. We computed the prevalence, adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results

The prevalence of ever e-cigarette use was 6.5% (95% CI 4.7% to 8.3%): 1.6% current use, 2.2% past use and 2.7% only e-cigarette experimentation. 75% (95% CI 62.8% to 87.3%) of ever e-cigarette users were current cigarette smokers at the moment of the interview. E-cigarette use was more likely among current smokers (OR=54.57; 95% CI 7.33 to 406.38) and highly dependent cigarette smokers (OR=3.96; 95% CI 1.60 to 9.82). 62.5% of the ever users charged their e-cigarettes with nicotine with 70% of them obtaining the liquids with nicotine in a specialised shop. 39.6% of ever e-cigarette users were not satisfied with their use, a similar percentage of not satisfied expressing the smokers (38.9%) and there were no statistically significant differences in the satisfaction between the users of e-cigarettes with and without nicotine.

Conclusions

E-cigarette use is strongly associated with current smoking (dual use) and most users continue to be addicted to nicotine. Six out of 10 e-cigarette users preferred devices that deliver nicotine. The satisfaction with e-cigarette use is very low.
Improving quality in a national intestinal failure unit: greater efficiency, improved access and reduced mortality
Authors: Donaldson Emma , Taylor Michael , Abraham Arun , Carlson Gordon , Fletcher Olivia , Varden Jacqui , Teubner Antje , Lal Simon
Published: August 2014

Problem

In 2010, there was a significant waiting list for admission to the intestinal failure unit (IFU) at the Salford Royal National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust. There had been a steady increase in the number of new patients referred to the IFU (89 patients 2005; 152 patients 2012) and the number of established patients requiring home parenteral nutrition (HPN) (135 patients 2005; 206 patients 2012) over the last decade. The impact of the resulting long waiting list for these complex patients was that patient deaths occurred in those awaiting admission.

Design

Continuous improvement methodology using the model for improvement and sequential plan–do–study–act cycles.

Setting

Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust IFU; a large NHS teaching hospital in Northwest England.

Key measures for improvement

The primary outcome measures were inpatient length of stay and time spent on waiting list prior to admission.

Strategies for change

A continuous improvement programme, supported by a project manager.

Results

There has been a 21% reduction in average length of stay on the IFU from 55.7 to 44.0 days and a reduction of 72% in the average length of time new patients spent on the waiting list for admission from 65.7 to 18.5 days. These changes were associated with concomitant reduction in 30-day readmission rate from 12.1% to 4.5% and early suggestions of reduced inpatient and waiting list mortality.

Conclusions

It is possible to improve the efficiency of a large national service for complex patients using quality improvement methodology, resulting in improved access and reduced waiting list mortality.
The transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 6 (TRPV6): Genetics, biochemical properties, and functions of exceptional calcium channel proteins
Authors: Stoerger Christof , Flockerzi Veit
Published: August 2014

The transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 6 (TRPV6) gene and cDNA were identified 15 years ago and exceptional observations on TrpV6 proteins and their function as a Ca2+-selective cation channel have been made since then. In this review we will summarize recent studies regarding the genetics, biochemical properties, and physiological functions of murine and human TrpV6 channel proteins. We will focus on TRPV6 gene polymorphisms, the start of TRPV6 translation at a non-AUG codon and the functions of TRPV6 in intestinal Ca2+uptake, sperm maturation, and male fertility.
Genetic structure of the endangered Greater Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosomahernandesi) in Canada: evidence from mitochondrial and nuclear genes
Authors: Leung M.N.-Y. , Paszkowski C.A. , Russell A.P.
Published: August 2014

The northern edge of the range of the Greater Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi Girard, 1858) occurs in western Canada, where the species has “endangered” status and exhibits a patchy distribution. Phylogenetic inference and genetic analyses were employed to investigate the genetic structure of P. hernandesi throughout its Canadian range. One nuclear and two mitochondrial DNA genes were sequenced from 94 lizard tail tips. Overall, sequences from lizards from both Alberta and Saskatchewan displayed very little variability, and the consistent clustering of all the P. hernandesi mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences from Canada in both phylogenetic and population genetic analyses is consistent with the lizards from all sampled localities having originated from a single glacial refugium, and with being, until recently (or currently) interconnected genetically. The genetic data obtained so far furnish no information useful for interpreting the species’ present-day patchy distribution patterns or for formulating conservation strategies.
The actively foraging desert lizardPedioplanis husabensis(Husab Sand Lizard) behaviorally optimizes its energetic economy
Authors: Murray Ian W. , Fuller Andrea , Lease Hilary M. , Mitchell Duncan , Wolf Blair O. , Hetem Robyn S.
Published: August 2014

The Husab Sand Lizard (Pedioplanis husabensis Berger-Dell’Mour and Mayer, 1989) is a recently described lacertid lizard endemic to a small region in the central Namib Desert. Although this species is of conservation concern, very little is known about how this lizard functions in its environment. We used the doubly labeled water method to measure the field energetics in this lizard species and we report on its foraging behavior. Pedioplanis husabensis had summer field metabolic rates (330 ± 140 J·d−1) that were similar to those of other similarly sized sit-and-wait foraging lizards (360 J·d−1), but only 43% that of an active foraging lizard of the same mass (770 J·d−1), despite using a movement-intensive, active foraging strategy. Additionally, the mean water influx rate (0.06 ± 0.03 mL·d−1) was 67% that of a desert reptile of the same size (0.09 mL·d−1). Active body temperatures were significantly lower in summer (34.3 ± 1.7 °C) than they were in autumn (36.8 ± 1.6 °C), and daily activity of lizards increased from 2.6 ± 0.9 h·d−1in summer to 4.3 ± 1.9 h·d−1in autumn. Relative to other species of actively foraging desert lizards, P. husabensis has lower energy requirements.
Review of a species in peril: what we do not know about lake sturgeon may kill them
Authors: Pollock Michael S. , Carr Meghan , Kreitals Natasha M. , Phillips Iain D.
Published: August 2014

Lake sturgeon are arguably the largest and most unique freshwater fish in North America. Unfortunately their uniqueness includes many characteristics that make them especially vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts including overfishing, habitat fragmentation, and degradation. For approximately 100 years lake sturgeon populations across North America have either been in decline and (or) have experienced a sluggish recovery. While this is partly due to lake sturgeon life history, most researchers agree that habitat fragmentation and degradation are currently the highest risk to the species. Though most lake sturgeon populations are depressed, there are a few exceptions that offer a glimpse into what a stable population or recovery may look like. The following review highlights such instances as well as what is known and more importantly what is not known about this unique species. Specifically, we highlight the need for improved and organized sharing of raw data given the fact that many researchers do not have access to the plethora of information available to others (e.g., otoliths for aging). We examine the varying life history and diet choices of this plastic species offering hypotheses for differences in migration routes and distances as well the differing recovery rates found across their range. We highlight myths about the species providing evidence that they may not be as long lived and fecund as previously thought. We examine the lake sturgeon’s current legal status across North America including the efforts of nonprofit groups that have had success in increasing population numbers. Most importantly, we highlight logistical problems faced by researchers and data gaps in the literature that must be filled to increase the odds of a successful recovery. Alongside the data gaps, the recovery of this species is fraught with political and industrial road blocks that are as varied as its current recovery. Subsequently, as is the case with many species, its survival will come down to solid scientific knowledge and the value placed on it by society.
GREEK LABOR MARKET, THE EURO AND THE CURRENT CRISIS
Authors: PAPANIKOS GREGORY T.
Published: August 2014

This paper is based on two strands of relative literature. The first examines the effect of sticky wages on international trade, unemployment and trade policy. The second strand looks at the effect of the exchange rate on wages. Related to this literature is the discussion in the European Union on establishing a common currency. In this paper, a theoretical and empirical model is developed which is tested using the Greek Labor Market as a case study. Also, a policy section discuss the options available to both the Greek policy makers and the leaders of Greek trade unions.
SAGE DOCTRINE, SOCIAL CAPITAL, AND LABOR — MANAGEMENT RELATIONS IN 21ST CENTURY TAIWAN
Authors: LEE JOSEPH S.
Published: August 2014

Within just four decades Taiwan was able to transform itself from a poor and backward economy into a high income, newly-industrialized economy. Taiwan's outstanding economic performance during this period prompted the World Bank and other international organizations to refer to this transformation as the "Taiwan miracle," and other developing countries have been encouraged to learn from Taiwan's experience. Harmonious and stable labor–management relations was — one of the major factors contributed to this successful development because they facilitated the inflow of a large amount of direct foreign investment (DFI) and therefore provided the island with the capital and appropriate advanced technologies that were urgently needed, and generated a large number of employment opportunities. In this paper, we use the concept of social capital to explain the causes of the harmonious labor–management relations in the past, and discuss the possible future of Taiwan's labor–management relations.
IMPACT OF TRADE UNIONS ON ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF SINGAPORE
Authors: CHEW SOON BENG
Published: August 2014

Trade unions may exact a heavy cost on an economy, but there is one mode of trade unionism that will enable the trade union to play a positive role in economic development. This mode of unionism, which may be characterized as macro-focused, requires the trade union to work closely with the ruling party in order to contribute to economic development. The required symbiosis between such a trade union and the ruling party may not be sustainable when there is a change in government. This paper argues that a union can remain macro-focused as long as it is not part of any political party and therefore can work with any government regardless of which political party is in power. The paper will examine the various conditions, both economic and non-economic, under which such an outcome can exist and be sustainable. The paper will also analyze how a macro-focused union induces workers to join the union based on the results of a field survey of 690 respondents in Singapore.
A MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF A MACRO-FOCUSED LABOR UNION
Authors: YAO SHUNTIAN , CHEW SOON BENG
Published: August 2014

This paper investigates the roles played by a macro-focused union in the stabilization of the employment level and wages during periods of demand shocks. A macro focused union sets the wage at the level which maximizes employment and provides union benefits to union members to counter free ridership. We set up a solid micro-foundation to derive the industry labor demands in normal periods and in periods with shocks. We argue that the roles played by the macro focused union lead to a more stable employment level which is beneficial to both the employers and employees.
The modulation of soliton dynamics in Bose–Einstein condensate by a double square well potential
Authors: Zhang Zhi-Qiang , Yang Tie-Zhu , Meng Shu-Sheng , Zhang Wei-Xi
Published: August 2014

By using multiple-scale method, we analytically study the soliton dynamics of Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped in a double square well potential. It is shown that dark soliton can be stable, which is generated in BEC trapped in a double square well. The amplitude and the width of dark soliton are related to the initial position of the soliton. Within the double square well, because of the confinement of the potential, the amplitude of the dark soliton is larger, while the width of the dark soliton is smaller. Furthermore, we also find that the amplitude and the width of the soliton are closely related to the depth of the double square well. With the increase of the depth, the amplitude of the dark soliton increases remarkably, while the width of the dark soliton decreases slowly.
Solutions, Potentializability and Axiomatizations under Interval Uncertainty
Authors: Liao Yu-Hsien
Published: August 2014

In the framework of interval transferable-utility (TU) games, we propose an equivalence theorem to characterize the family of all interval solutions that admit a potential. Further, we also provide several axiomatizations of the interval Shapley value based on this equivalence theorem.
CARPAL TUNNEL RELEASE USING THE RADIAL SIDED APPROACH COMPARED WITH THE TWO-INCISION APPROACH
Authors: Calleja Henry , Tsai Tsu-Min , Kaufman Christina
Published: August 2014

We compared carpal tunnel release using a radial sided approach (RCTR) with a two-incision approach with regards to complications, grip strength, and functional outcomes. Retrospective chart review was done and data was collected pre-operatively, and post-operatively at six weeks and three months. A total of 32 and 26 patients were included in the two-incision and RCTR groups respectively. At six weeks, the RCTR group showed an increased grip strength (+32.24%) while the two-incision group was weaker (-6.75%). Both groups showed an increased strength at three months, RCTR at 98.4% while the two-incision group was significantly lower at 38.6% increase. Both techniques provided improvement in outcome scores, with no statistical difference. RCTR was associated with a significantly earlier return of grip strength and had better grip strength at six weeks and three months post-operatively. Both techniques provided symptom relief and good functional outcome.
TREATMENT OF ATROPHIC NONUNION OF MIDDLE PHALANX IN A NINE-YEAR-OLD BOY WITH EXTERNAL DISTRACTION AND BONE GRAFTING
Authors: Dhamangaonkar Anoop C. , Patankar Hemant S.
Published: August 2014

Nonunion of phalangeal fractures is uncommon and even rarer in the paediatric age group. There is paucity of literature relating to the treatment of atrophic non-union of phalangeal fractures in the paediatric age group. We present a case of five years old atrophic non-union of the middle phalanx of the index finger of the dominant hand in a nine-year-old male child, managed with a staged treatment protocol of initial fracture site distraction with a threaded external fixator followed by delayed bone grafting. This treatment was successful in attaining length and bony union in case of atrophic non-union of the middle phalanx with a good pinch strength and gaining a good range of motion at the proximal interphalangeal joint with little soft tissue dissection.
LUMBAR PLEXUS LESION ASSOCIATED WITH SPINAL MANIPULATION: A CASE REPORT
Authors: Ahadi Tannaz , Mollahoseini Reza , Mianehsaz Elaheh , Raissi Gholam Reza
Published: August 2014

This is the first report of a lumbar plexus injury as a result of spinal manipulation. The 39-year-old female patient reported right lower limb pain after receiving a deep massage and spinal manipulation. The manipulation including back hyperextension had been done in a prone position 4 months before our visit. At that time she felt sudden onset pain in the low back radiating to the posteromedial side of right knee. The patient had numbness in the medial side of the knee and leg. Muscle force of hip flexion and knee extension as well as the muscle stretch reflex of right patella were reduced. Lumbosacral X-ray and MRI were normal. However, electrodiagnostic study revealed unobtainable sensory response of right sapheneus and lateral femoral cutaneous nerve as well as decreased amplitude of right quadriceps motor response. Needle electromyography revealed denervation potential in the vastus medialis, adductor longus and illiopsoas muscles compatible with severe partial axonal type right lumbar plexus injury. Considering potentially serious complications of manipulation and massage, these techniques should be performed only by expert hands.
FOOT LOADING PATTERNS WITH DIFFERENT UNSTABLE SOLES STRUCTURE
Authors: MEI QICHANG , FENG NENG , REN XUEJUN , LAKE MAK , GU YAODONG
Published: August 2014

Foot loading patterns can be changed by using different unstable sole structures, detailed quantification of which is of great significance for research and technological development in falling prevention and lower limb disorders rehabilitation. In this study, unstable soles constructions are adjusted through unstable elements in heel and medial, neutral and lateral forefoot and the foot loading patterns are comparatively studied. A total of 22 healthy male subjects participated in this test. Subjects are asked to walk over a 12 m walkway with control shoes and experimental shoes in self-adapted speed. Significant peak pressure, contact area and pressure-time integral differences in middle foot are found between control shoes and experimental shoes. In addition, peak pressure and pressure-time integral are found to increase significantly with unstable elements adding to center forefoot. The results showed that adjusting the unstable elements in coronal plane of forefoot could effectively alter the distribution of plantar pressure, this could potentially offer a mechanism for preventing falling of elderly and rehabilitation of lower extremity malfunctions. This study also demonstrates a novel concept that unstable element could be effectively adjusted in terms of position to meet different functional requirement.
Foreign Banks in China
Authors: CHEN Chien-Hsun
Published: August 2014

As Chinese government policy has evolved, so have the models adopted by foreign banks for developing their branch networks in China. Burdensome regulation and unequal treatment compared to those for Chinese banks have impeded the speed and scope of foreign banks' operation. China's deepening financial reforms could provide a fair and competitive environment for foreign banks' penetration, offering openings for foreign banks to participate more extensively in the Chinese economy.
The Three Myths of France's China Policy
Authors: LIM Yves-Heng
Published: August 2014

Visiting China for the first time in spring 2013, French President François Hollande reaffirmed France's commitment to a policy defined more than 15 years ago by the Jacques Chirac administration. The Paris' unshaken position towards Beijing is nonetheless puzzling. This “global strategic partnership” has incurred significant economic, ideational and political costs for France, while benefits have remained at best meagre and questionable.
An Optimization Framework for Combining Ensembles of Classifiers and Clusterers with Applications to Nontransductive Semisupervised Learning and Transfer Learning
Authors: Acharya Ayan , Hruschka Eduardo R. , Ghosh Joydeep , Acharyya Sreangsu
Published: August 2014

Unsupervised models can provide supplementary soft constraints to help classify new “target” data because similar instances in the target set are more likely to share the same class label. Such models can also help detect possible differences between training and target distributions, which is useful in applications where concept drift may take place, as in transfer learning settings. This article describes a general optimization framework that takes as input class membership estimates from existing classifiers learned on previously encountered “source” (or training) data, as well as a similarity matrix from a cluster ensemble operating solely on the target (or test) data to be classified, and yields a consensus labeling of the target data. More precisely, the application settings considered are nontransductive semisupervised and transfer learning scenarios where the training data are used only to build an ensemble of classifiers and are subsequently discarded before classifying the target data. The framework admits a wide range of loss functions and classification/clustering methods. It exploits properties of Bregman divergences in conjunction with Legendre duality to yield a principled and scalable approach. A variety of experiments show that the proposed framework can yield results substantially superior to those provided by naïvely applying classifiers learned on the original task to the target data. In addition, we show that the proposed approach, even not being conceptually transductive, can provide better results compared to some popular transductive learning techniques.
Survey of Temporal Information Retrieval and Related Applications
Authors: Campos Ricardo , Dias Gaël , Jorge Alípio M. , Jatowt Adam
Published: August 2014

Temporal information retrieval has been a topic of great interest in recent years. Its purpose is to improve the effectiveness of information retrieval methods by exploiting temporal information in documents and queries. In this article, we present a survey of the existing literature on temporal information retrieval. In addition to giving an overview of the field, we categorize the relevant research, describe the main contributions, and compare different approaches. We organize existing research to provide a coherent view, discuss several open issues, and point out some possible future research directions in this area. Despite significant advances, the area lacks a systematic arrangement of prior efforts and an overview of state-of-the-art approaches. Moreover, an effective end-to-end temporal retrieval system that exploits temporal information to improve the quality of the presented results remains undeveloped.
High-Level Test Synthesis
Authors: Ravi Selvaraj , Joseph M.
Published: August 2014

High-level test synthesis is a special class of high-level synthesis having testability as one of the important components. This article presents a detailed survey on recent developments in high-level test synthesis from a synthesis process flow perspective. It also presents a survey on controller synthesis techniques for testability.
Scalable Power Management Using Multilevel Reinforcement Learning for Multiprocessors
Authors: Pan Gung-Yu , Jou Jing-Yang , Lai Bo-Cheng
Published: August 2014

Dynamic power management has become an imperative design factor to attain the energy efficiency in modern systems. Among various power management schemes, learning-based policies that are adaptive to different environments and applications have demonstrated superior performance to other approaches. However, they suffer the scalability problem for multiprocessors due to the increasing number of cores in a system. In this article, we propose a scalable and effective online policy called MultiLevel Reinforcement Learning (MLRL). By exploiting the hierarchical paradigm, the time complexity of MLRL is
O
(
n
lg
n
) for
n
cores and the convergence rate is greatly raised by compressing redundant searching space. Some advanced techniques, such as the function approximation and the action selection scheme, are included to enhance the generality and stability of the proposed policy. By simulating on the SPLASH-2 benchmarks, MLRL runs 53% faster and outperforms the state-of-the-art work with 13.6% energy saving and 2.7% latency penalty on average. The generality and the scalability of MLRL are also validated through extensive simulations.
Uncovering Hierarchical and Overlapping Communities with a Local-First Approach
Authors: Coscia Michele , Rossetti Giulio , Giannotti Fosca , Pedreschi Dino
Published: August 2014

Community discovery in complex networks is the task of organizing a network’s structure by grouping together nodes related to each other. Traditional approaches are based on the assumption that there is a global-level organization in the network. However, in many scenarios, each node is the bearer of complex information and cannot be classified in disjoint clusters. The top-down global view of the partition approach is not designed for this. Here, we represent this complex information as multiple latent labels, and we postulate that edges in the networks are created among nodes carrying similar labels. The latent labels are the communities a node belongs to and we discover them with a simple local-first approach to community discovery. This is achieved by democratically letting each node vote for the communities it sees surrounding it in its limited view of the global system, its ego neighborhood, using a label propagation algorithm, assuming that each node is aware of the label it shares with each of its connections. The local communities are merged hierarchically, unveiling the modular organization of the network at the global level and identifying overlapping groups and groups of groups. We tested this intuition against the state-of-the-art overlapping community discovery and found that our new method advances in the chosen scenarios in the quality of the obtained communities. We perform a test on benchmark and on real-world networks, evaluating the quality of the community coverage by using the extracted communities to predict the metadata attached to the nodes, which we consider external information about the latent labels. We also provide an explanation about why real-world networks contain overlapping communities and how our logic is able to capture them. Finally, we show how our method is deterministic, is incremental, and has a limited time complexity, so that it can be used on real-world scale networks.
Bayesian Variable Selection in Linear Regression in One Pass for Large Datasets
Authors: Ordonez Carlos , Garcia-Alvarado Carlos , Baladandayuthapani Veerabhadaran
Published: August 2014

Bayesian models are generally computed with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. The main disadvantage of MCMC methods is the large number of iterations they need to sample the posterior distributions of model parameters, especially for large datasets. On the other hand, variable selection remains a challenging problem due to its combinatorial search space, where Bayesian models are a promising solution. In this work, we study how to accelerate Bayesian model computation for variable selection in linear regression. We propose a fast Gibbs sampler algorithm, a widely used MCMC method that incorporates several optimizations. We use a Zellner prior for the regression coefficients, an improper prior on variance, and a conjugate prior Gaussian distribution, which enable dataset summarization in one pass, thus exploiting an augmented set of sufficient statistics. Thereafter, the algorithm iterates in main memory. Sufficient statistics are indexed with a sparse binary vector to efficiently compute matrix projections based on selected variables. Discovered variable subsets probabilities, selecting and discarding each variable, are stored on a hash table for fast retrieval in future iterations. We study how to integrate our algorithm into a Database Management System (DBMS), exploiting aggregate User-Defined Functions for parallel data summarization and stored procedures to manipulate matrices with arrays. An experimental evaluation with real datasets evaluates accuracy and time performance, comparing our DBMS-based algorithm with the R package. Our algorithm is shown to produce accurate results, scale linearly on dataset size, and run orders of magnitude faster than the R package.
Health Vlogs as Social Support for Chronic Illness Management
Authors: Huh Jina , Liu Leslie S. , Neogi Tina , Inkpen Kori , Pratt Wanda
Published: August 2014

Studies have shown positive impact of video blogs (vlogs) on patient education. However, we know little on how patient-initiated vlogs shape the relationships among vloggers and viewers. We qualitatively analyzed 72 vlogs on YouTube by users diagnosed with HIV, diabetes, or cancer and 1,274 comments posted to the vlogs to understand viewers’ perspectives on the vlogs. We found that the unique video medium allowed intense and enriched personal and contextual disclosure to the viewers, leading to strong community-building activities and social support among vloggers and commenters, both informationally and emotionally. Furthermore, the unique communication structure of the vlogs allowed ad hoc small groups to form, which showed different group behavior than typical text-based social media, such as online communities. We provide implications to the Health Care Industry (HCI) community on how future technologies for health vlogs could be designed to further support chronic illness management.
Optimistic Programming of Touch Interaction
Authors: Li Yang , Lu Hao , Zhang Haimo
Published: August 2014

Touch-sensitive surfaces have become a predominant input medium for computing devices. In particular, multitouch capability of these devices has given rise to developing rich interaction vocabularies for “real” direct manipulation of user interfaces. However, the richness and flexibility of touch interaction often comes with significant complexity for programming these behaviors. Particularly, finger touches, though intuitive, are imprecise and lead to ambiguity. Touch input often involves coordinated movements of multiple fingers as opposed to the single pointer of a traditional WIMP interface. It is challenging in not only detecting the intended motion carried out by these fingers but also in determining the target objects being manipulated due to multiple focus points. Currently, developers often need to build touch behaviors by dealing with raw touch events that is effort consuming and error-prone. In this article, we present Touch, a tool that allows developers to easily specify their desired touch behaviors by demonstrating them live on a touch-sensitive device or selecting them from a list of common behaviors. Developers can then integrate these touch behaviors into their application as resources and via an API exposed by our runtime framework. The integrated tool support enables developers to think and program
optimistically
about how these touch interactions should behave, without worrying about underlying complexity and technical details in detecting target behaviors and invoking application logic. We discuss the design of several novel inference algorithms that underlie these tool supports and evaluate them against a multitouch dataset that we collected from end users. We also demonstrate the usefulness of our system via an example application.
A Survey on DHT-Based Routing for Large-Scale Mobile Ad Hoc Networks
Authors: Abid Shahbaz Akhtar , Othman Mazliza , Shah Nadir
Published: August 2014

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are infrastructureless and distributed communication systems that require sophisticated approaches to routing to cope with node mobility and heterogeneous application requirements. In the past few years, distributed hash table (DHT) has come forth as a useful additional technique to the design and specification of spontaneous and self-organized networks. Researchers have exploited its advantages by implementing it at the network layer and developing scalable routing protocols for MANETs. The implementation of DHT-based routing in a MANET requires different algorithms and specifications compared to routing in the Internet because a MANET has its unique characteristics, such as node mobility, spontaneous networking, decentralized architecture, limited transmission range, dynamic topology, and frequent network partitioning/merging.

In this article, we present a comprehensive survey of research related to DHT-based routing that aims at enhancing the scalability of MANETs. We present a vivid taxonomy of DHT-based routing protocols and the guidelines to design such protocols for MANETs. We compare the features, strengths, and weaknesses of existing DHT-based routing protocols and highlight key research challenges that are vital to address. The outcome of the analysis serves as a guide for anyone willing to delve into research on DHT-based routing in MANETs.
Power and Area Efficiency NoC Router Design for Application-Specific SoC by Using Buffer Merging and Resource Sharing
Authors: Tsai Kun-Lin , Chen Hao-Tse , Lin Yo-An
Published: August 2014

Network-on-Chip (NoC) is an efficient on-chip communication architecture specifically for System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design. However, the input buffers of a NoC router often take a significant portion of the silicon area and power consumption. Besides, the performance of a NoC is also greatly affected by the buffer size. In this article, a static buffer merging and resource sharing method is proposed for the application-specific SoC minimizing the NoC buffer. When given an application-specific task graph and the dataflow distribution, the proposed method statically merges rarely used buffers and generates the suitable number of input buffers for each router at design timely. The merged buffer is shared by several input directions. The experimental result shows that the buffer can be utilized more effectively after the resource sharing. Based on the synthesized design with TSMC 90nm technology, the proposed method reduces an average of 42.23% area and 35.13% power while providing similar performance.