bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stress corrosion behavior of narrow-gap rotating laser welding of thick Al-Mg alloy joint
Authors: Yang Xiaoyi , Chen Hui , Zhu Zongtao , Cai Chuang , Zhang Chengzhu , Huang Ruisheng , Li Liqun
Published: December 2019

The stress corrosion resistance of 30 mm-thick narrow-gap rotating laser welding (NG-RLW) 5A06 aluminum (Al) joint was investigated by slow strain rate testing (SSRT). The results show that the average ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the joints in 3.5% NaCl solution is about 11% lower than that in air, and its elongation is only half of that in air. The stress corrosion index [Formula: see text] of the joint is [Formula: see text], which is at the middle level of the range of [Formula: see text]. Moreover, the failure positions of the SSRT specimens in air are weld metal (WM), while the failure positions in the corrosive medium are base metal (BM). This indicates that the stress corrosion resistance of BM is slightly lower than that of WM due to the different microstructures. Many dimples are formed on the fracture surface of the specimen in air, which is a typical ductile fracture. But the fracture surface shows the characteristics of ductile and brittle mixture with obvious corrosion products. This result indicates that the NG-RLW 5A06 Al joint has a tendency to brittle fracture in 3.5% NaCl solution.
Modulation instability and some dark and bright optical solitons in weakly nonlocal media with general polynomial law nonlinearity
Authors: Kader A. H. Abdel , Latif M. S. Abdel , Baleanu Dumitru
Published: December 2019

In this paper, the modulation instability (MI) of a [Formula: see text]-dimensional nonlocal nonlinear Schrödinger equation with general polynomial law nonlinearity and an external potential is investigated. Some new dark and bright soliton solutions are obtained for polynomial law nonlinearities of third and fifth orders.
Fractional Matching Preclusion for Möbius Cubes
Authors: LI YALAN , YE CHENGFU , WU MIAOLIN , HAN PING
Published: December 2019

Let F be an edge subset and F′ a subset of vertices and edges of a graph G. If G − F and G − F′ have no fractional perfect matchings, then F is a fractional matching preclusion (FMP) set and F′ is a fractional strong matching preclusion (FSMP) set of G. The FMP (FSMP) number of G is the minimum size of FMP (FSMP) sets of G. In this paper, we study the fractional matching preclusion number and the fractional strong matching preclusion number for the Möbius cube MQn. In adddition, all the optimal fractional strong preclusion sets of these graphs are categorized.
Three-Tier Delaunay Network as a Topology for Peer-to-Peer Overlay
Authors: FUJITA SATOSHI
Published: December 2019

This paper considers the problem of improving the routing performance of hierarchical Delaunay networks. Delaunay network is a network topology for peer-to-peer systems based on the Delaunay triangulation of a set of points associated with a set of peers. It is known that Delaunay networks have a favorable property as a topology for peer-to-peer systems such that a greedy routing scheme always delivers a given message to its destination without encountering a dead-end. The key idea used in the proposed method is to apply a hash function to the address of participant peers. More concretely, by applying a hash function to the coordinate point of the peers and by associating several points to each peer, we could realize an overlay so that the number of hops to the destination in the original network could be significantly reduced.
Knowledge Management in Eco-Innovation Practice: An Analysis of the Contribution of Eco-Innovation Tools in the Early Stages of the Product Development Process
Authors: Nagano Marcelo Seido , Iacono Antonio
Published: December 2019

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between eco-innovation process and knowledge management (KM) from the perspective of tools and practices, in the initial stages of the product development process. Knowledge management can help to develop behaviours and practices that stimulate green knowledge and improve organisations’ eco-innovation performance. The analysis of the relationship between eco-innovation process and knowledge management in the initial stages of the product development process was performed using three tools: the Standard Design Process Form (SDPS), The STRETCH Methodology and the Product Ideas Tree (PIT) Diagram. The results show that the eco-innovation tools contribute significantly to the creation of knowledge in the early stages of the product development process, as evidenced in the selection of the best ideas and in the reduction of uncertainties on environmental and market opportunities.
Video-rate multimodal multiphoton imaging and three-dimensional characterization of cellular dynamics in wounded skin
Authors: Li Joanne , Wilson Madison N. , Bower Andrew J. , Marjanovic Marina , Chaney Eric J. , Barkalifa Ronit , Boppart Stephen A.
Published: December 2019

To date, numerous studies have been performed to elucidate the complex cellular dynamics in skin diseases, but few have attempted to characterize these cellular events under conditions similar to the native environment. To address this challenge, a three-dimensional (3D) multimodal analysis platform was developed for characterizing in vivo cellular dynamics in skin, which was then utilized to process in vivo wound healing data to demonstrate its applicability. Special attention is focused on in vivo biological parameters that are difficult to study with ex vivo analysis, including 3D cell tracking and techniques to connect biological information obtained from different imaging modalities. These results here open new possibilities for evaluating 3D cellular dynamics in vivo, and can potentially provide new tools for characterizing the skin microenvironment and pathologies in the future.
A comparative study on water and dry coupling in photoacoustic tomography of the finger joints
Authors: Shang Qiquan , Wu Man , Yang Jinge , Pan Ten , Zhang Guang , Wu Dan , Jiang Huabei
Published: December 2019

We present a systematical study on comparison between water and dry coupling in photoacoustic tomography of the human finger joints. Compared to the direct water immersion of the finger for water coupling, the dry coupling is realized through a transparent PDMS film-based water bag, which ensures water-free contact with the skin. The results obtained suggest that the dry coupling provides image quality comparable to that by water coupling while eliminating the wrinkling of the finger joint caused by the water immersion. In addition, the dry coupling offers more stable hemodynamic images than the water coupling as the water immersion of the finger joint causes reduction in blood vessel size.
Recent advances on animal models related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Authors: Jiang Shan , Mohammadtursun Nabjian , Qiu Jian , Li Qiuping , Sun Jing , Dong Jingcheng
Published: December 2019

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has become an important public health problem in the world. According to reports, COPD ranks fourth in the global cause of death, causing a serious economic burden on society. The pathogenesis of COPD is complex, making it difficult to simulate the pathological changes and clinical features of COPD. Moreover, the COPD animal model has an irreplaceable role in the study of etiology, pathology and treatment. It is worth noting that the risk factors for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease persist, and the economic burden of global chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is expected to continue to increase in the coming decades. Establishing a standardized, a clinically realistic COPD animal model has always been a research direction that scholars are keen on. Therefore, it is essential to establish an economical animal model. The establishment of a suitable animal model can accurately simulate the pathological features of human chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and help to develop effective interventions and treatments in a short period of time. This review integrates the experimental animal species selected in the animal models used in COPD studies. Subsequently, different methods and mechanisms for establishing animal models were summarized according to different modeling factors. Finally, the criteria for evaluating existing animal models are discussed. It is hoped that the summary of this paper will guide the establishment of relevant animal models for future COPD research.
Competitive Rent-Seeking, Socioeconomic Infrastructures, and Post-Communist Transition in Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: Chen Jia , Xin Ge
Published: December 2019

The political and economic transformation of former Soviet Bloc Europe has been far-reaching in the last 30 years. Although most former socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe abandoned the Communist ancien régime, not all of them managed to fully integrate liberal democracy and market economy into society. Some scholars explained this divergence in development through the dichotomous regime types. From the perspective of what propels the retreat of political power from market and with the theory of competitive rent-seeking, we demonstrate that the retreating logic is underlain by the competition between rent-seekers. A competitive rent-seeking regime dissipates the rent through distorting market mechanism and dampens both political authority and rent-seeker’s enthusiasm, providing a better prospect for economic liberalization. Through a comparative case study of transitional experiences of Hungary and Belarus, we find that countries with pre-existing socioeconomic infrastructures that facilitate the formation of competitive rent-seeking regime are more successful in economic liberalization. We suggest that the academic interest previously paid to dichotomous regime-type argument should be diverted into a deeper inquiry of the evolution of socioeconomic institutions that shape the state–market interaction.
DSL-Based Hardware Generation with Scala
Authors: Serre François , Püschel Markus
Published: December 2019

We present a hardware generator for computations with regular structure including the fast Fourier transform (FFT), sorting networks, and others. The input of the generator is a high-level description of the algorithm; the output is a token-based, synchronized design in the form of RTL-Verilog. Building on prior work, the generator uses several layers of domain-specific languages (DSLs) to represent and optimize at different levels of abstraction to produce a RAM- and area-efficient hardware implementation. Two of these layers and DSLs are novel. The first one allows the use and domain-specific optimization of state-of-the-art streaming permutations. The second DSL enables the automatic pipelining of a streaming hardware dataflow and the synchronization of its data-independent control signals. The generator including the DSLs are implemented in Scala, leveraging its type system, and uses concepts from lightweight modular staging (LMS) to handle the constraints of streaming hardware. Particularly, these concepts offer genericity over hardware number representation, including seamless switching between fixed-point arithmetic and FloPoCo generated IEEE floating-point operators, while ensuring type-safety. We show benchmarks of generated FFTs, sorting networks, and Walsh-Hadamard transforms that outperform prior generators.
The reliability of enterprise applications
Authors: Sha Sanjay
Published: December 2019

Understanding enterprise reliability.
Formal verification of a constant-time preserving C compiler
Authors: Barthe Gilles , Blazy Sandrine , Grégoire Benjamin , Hutin Rémi , Laporte Vincent , Pichardie David , Trieu Alix
Published: December 2019

Timing side-channels are arguably one of the main sources of vulnerabilities in cryptographic implementations. One effective mitigation against timing side-channels is to write programs that do not perform secret-dependent branches and memory accesses. This mitigation, known as "cryptographic constant-time", is adopted by several popular cryptographic libraries.

This paper focuses on compilation of cryptographic constant-time programs, and more specifically on the following question: is the code generated by a realistic compiler for a constant-time source program itself provably constant-time? Surprisingly, we answer the question positively for a mildly modified version of the CompCert compiler, a formally verified and moderately optimizing compiler for C. Concretely, we modify the CompCert compiler to eliminate sources of potential leakage. Then, we instrument the operational semantics of CompCert intermediate languages so as to be able to capture cryptographic constant-time. Finally, we prove that the modified CompCert compiler preserves constant-time. Our mechanization maximizes reuse of the CompCert correctness proof, through the use of new proof techniques for proving preservation of constant-time. These techniques achieve complementary trade-offs between generality and tractability of proof effort, and are of independent interest.
Persistency semantics of the Intel-x86 architecture
Authors: Raad Azalea , Wickerson John , Neiger Gil , Vafeiadis Viktor
Published: December 2019

Emerging non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies promise the durability of disks with the performance of RAM. To describe the persistency guarantees of NVM, several memory persistency models have been proposed in the literature. However, the persistency semantics of the ubiquitous x86 architecture remains unexplored to date. To close this gap, we develop the Px86 (‘persistent x86’) model, formalising the persistency semantics of Intel-x86 for the first time. We formulate Px86 both operationally and declaratively, and prove that the two characterisations are equivalent. To demonstrate the application of Px86, we develop two persistent libraries over Px86: a persistent transactional library, and a persistent variant of the Michael–Scott queue. Finally, we encode our declarative Px86 model in Alloy and use it to generate persistency litmus tests automatically.
Program synthesis by type-guided abstraction refinement
Authors: Guo Zheng , James Michael , Justo David , Zhou Jiaxiao , Wang Ziteng , Jhala Ranjit , Polikarpova Nadia
Published: December 2019

We consider the problem of type-directed component-based synthesis where, given a set of (typed) components and a query
type
, the goal is to synthesize a
term
that inhabits the query. Classical approaches based on proof search in intuitionistic logics do not scale up to the standard libraries of modern languages, which span hundreds or thousands of components. Recent graph reachability based methods proposed for Java do scale, but only apply to monomorphic data and components: polymorphic data and components infinitely explode the size of the graph that must be searched, rendering synthesis intractable. We introduce
type-guided abstraction refinement
(TYGAR), a new approach for scalable type-directed synthesis over polymorphic datatypes and components. Our key insight is that we can overcome the explosion by building a graph over
abstract types
which represent a potentially unbounded set of concrete types. We show how to use graph reachability to search for candidate terms over abstract types, and introduce a new algorithm that uses
proofs of untypeability
of ill-typed candidates to iteratively
refine
the abstraction until a well-typed result is found.

We have implemented TYGAR in H+, a tool that takes as input a set of Haskell libraries and a query type, and returns a Haskell term that uses functions from the provided libraries to implement the query type. Our support for polymorphism allows H+ to work with higher-order functions and type classes, and enables more precise queries due to parametricity. We have evaluated H+ on 44 queries using a set of popular Haskell libraries with a total of 291 components. H+ returns an interesting solution within the first five results for 32 out of 44 queries. Our results show that TYGAR allows H+ to rapidly return well-typed terms, with the median time to first solution of just 1.4 seconds. Moreover, we observe that gains from iterative refinement over exhaustive enumeration are more pronounced on harder queries.
Fast, sound, and effectively complete dynamic race prediction
Authors: Pavlogiannis Andreas
Published: December 2019

Writing concurrent programs is highly error-prone due to the nondeterminism in interprocess communication. The most reliable indicators of errors in concurrency are
data races
, which are accesses to a shared resource that can be executed concurrently. We study the problem of predicting data races in lock-based concurrent programs. The input consists of a concurrent trace
t
, and the task is to determine all pairs of events of
t
that constitute a data race. The problem lies at the heart of concurrent verification and has been extensively studied for over three decades. However, existing polynomial-time sound techniques are highly incomplete and can miss simple races.

In this work we develop
M
2: a new polynomial-time algorithm for this problem, which has no false positives. In addition, our algorithm is
complete
for input traces that consist of two processes, i.e., it provably detects
all
races in the trace. We also develop sufficient criteria for detecting completeness
dynamically
in cases of more than two processes. We make an experimental evaluation of our algorithm on a challenging set of benchmarks taken from recent literature on the topic. Our algorithm soundly reports
hundreds
of real races, many of which are missed by existing methods. In addition, using our dynamic completeness criteria,
M
2 concludes that it has detected
all
races in the benchmark set, hence the reports are both sound and complete. Finally, its running times are comparable, and often smaller than the theoretically fastest, yet highly incomplete, existing methods. To our knowledge,
M
2 is the first sound algorithm that achieves such a level of performance on both running time and completeness of the reported races.
Par means parallel: multiplicative linear logic proofs as concurrent functional programs
Authors: Aschieri Federico , Genco Francesco A.
Published: December 2019

Along the lines of Abramsky’s “Proofs-as-Processes” program, we present an interpretation of multiplicative linear logic as typing system for concurrent functional programming. In particular, we study a linear multiple-conclusion natural deduction system and show it is isomorphic to a simple and natural extension of λ-calculus with parallelism and communication primitives, called λpar. We shall prove that λpar satisfies all the desirable properties for a typed programming language: subject reduction, progress, strong normalization and confluence.
CompCertM: CompCert with C-assembly linking and lightweight modular verification
Authors: Song Youngju , Cho Minki , Kim Dongjoo , Kim Yonghyun , Kang Jeehoon , Hur Chung-Kil
Published: December 2019

Supporting multi-language linking such as linking C and handwritten assembly modules in the verified compiler CompCert requires a more compositional verification technique than that used in CompCert just supporting separate compilation. The two extensions, CompCertX and Compositional CompCert, supporting multi-language linking take different approaches. The former simplifies the problem by imposing restrictions that the source modules should have no mutual dependence and be verified against certain well-behaved specifications. On the other hand, the latter develops a new verification technique that directly solves the problem but at the expense of significantly increasing the verification cost.

In this paper, we develop a novel lightweight verification technique, called RUSC (Refinement Under Self-related Contexts), and demonstrate how RUSC can solve the problem without any restrictions but still with low verification overhead. For this, we develop CompCertM, a full extension of the latest version of CompCert supporting multi-language linking. Moreover, we demonstrate the power of RUSC as a program verification technique by modularly verifying interesting programs consisting of C and handwritten assembly against their mathematical specifications.
Deciding memory safety for single-pass heap-manipulating programs
Authors: Mathur Umang , Murali Adithya , Krogmeier Paul , Madhusudan P. , Viswanathan Mahesh
Published: December 2019

We investigate the decidability of automatic program verification for programs that manipulate heaps, and in particular, decision procedures for proving memory safety for them. We extend recent work that identified a decidable subclass of uninterpreted programs to a class of alias-aware programs that can update maps. We apply this theory to develop verification algorithms for memory safety— determining if a heap-manipulating program that allocates and frees memory locations and manipulates heap pointers does not dereference an unallocated memory location. We show that this problem is decidable when the initial allocated heap forms a forest data-structure and when programs are
streaming-coherent
, which intuitively restricts programs to make a single pass over a data-structure. Our experimental evaluation on a set of library routines that manipulate forest data-structures shows that common single-pass algorithms on data-structures often fall in the decidable class, and that our decision procedure is efficient in verifying them.
A simple differentiable programming language
Authors: Abadi Martín , Plotkin Gordon D.
Published: December 2019

Automatic differentiation plays a prominent role in scientific computing and in modern machine learning, often in the context of powerful programming systems. The relation of the various embodiments of automatic differentiation to the mathematical notion of derivative is not always entirely clear---discrepancies can arise, sometimes inadvertently. In order to study automatic differentiation in such programming contexts, we define a small but expressive programming language that includes a construct for reverse-mode differentiation. We give operational and denotational semantics for this language. The operational semantics employs popular implementation techniques, while the denotational semantics employs notions of differentiation familiar from real analysis. We establish that these semantics coincide.
A language for probabilistically oblivious computation
Authors: Darais David , Sweet Ian , Liu Chang , Hicks Michael
Published: December 2019

An oblivious computation is one that is free of direct and indirect information leaks, e.g., due to observable differences in timing and memory access patterns. This paper presents Lambda Obliv, a core language whose type system enforces obliviousness. Prior work on type-enforced oblivious computation has focused on deterministic programs. Lambda Obliv is new in its consideration of programs that implement probabilistic algorithms, such as those involved in cryptography. Lambda Obliv employs a substructural type system and a novel notion of probability region to ensure that information is not leaked via the observed distribution of visible events. Probability regions support reasoning about probabilistic correlation and independence between values, and our use of probability regions is motivated by a source of unsoundness that we discovered in the type system of ObliVM, a language for implementing state of the art oblivious algorithms. We prove that Lambda Obliv's type system enforces obliviousness and show that it is expressive enough to typecheck advanced tree-based oblivious RAMs.
Synthesizing replacement classes
Authors: Samak Malavika , Kim Deokhwan , Rinard Martin C.
Published: December 2019

We present a new technique for automatically synthesizing replacement classes. The technique starts with an original class O and a potential replacement class R, then uses R to synthesize a new class that implements the same interface and provides the same functionality as O. Critically, our technique works with a synthe- sized inter-class equivalence predicate between the states of O and R. It uses this predicate to ensure that original and synthesized methods leave corresponding O and R objects in equivalent states. The predicate therefore enables the technique to synthesize individual replacement methods in isolation while still obtain- ing a replacement class that leaves the original and replacement objects in equivalent states after arbitrarily long method invocation sequences. We have implemented the technique as part of a tool, named Mask, and evaluated it using open-source Java classes. The results highlight the effectiveness of Mask in synthesizing replacement classes.
A probabilistic separation logic
Authors: Barthe Gilles , Hsu Justin , Liao Kevin
Published: December 2019

Probabilistic independence is a useful concept for describing the result of random sampling—a basic operation in all probabilistic languages—and for reasoning about groups of random variables. Nevertheless, existing verification methods handle independence poorly, if at all. We propose a probabili stic separation logic PSL, where separation models probabilistic independence. We first give a new, probabilistic model of the logic of bunched implications (BI). We then build a program logic based on these assertions, and prove soundness of the proof system. We demonstrate our logic by verifying information-theoretic security of cryptographic constructions for several well-known tasks, including private information retrieval, oblivious transfer, secure multi-party addition, and simple oblivious RAM. Our proofs reason purely in terms of high-level properties, like independence and uniformity.
Label-dependent session types
Authors: Thiemann Peter , Vasconcelos Vasco T.
Published: December 2019

Session types have emerged as a typing discipline for communication protocols. Existing calculi with session types come equipped with many different primitives that combine communication with the introduction or elimination of the transmitted value.

We present a foundational session type calculus with a lightweight operational semantics. It fully decouples communication from the introduction and elimination of data and thus features a single communication reduction, which acts as a rendezvous between senders and receivers. We achieve this decoupling by introducing label-dependent session types, a minimalist value-dependent session type system with subtyping. The system is sufficiently powerful to simulate existing functional session type systems. Compared to such systems, label-dependent session types place fewer restrictions on the code. We further introduce primitive recursion over natural numbers at the type level, thus allowing to describe protocols whose behaviour depends on numbers exchanged in messages. An algorithmic type checking system is introduced and proved equivalent to its declarative counterpart. The new calculus showcases a novel lightweight integration of dependent types and linear typing, with has uses beyond session type systems.
Feedback for foxes
Authors: Shasha Dennis
Published: December 2019

Searching for the best strategy for shifty maneuvers.
A Guide to Designing Top-k Indexes
Authors: Rahul Saladi , Tao Yufei
Published: December 2019

Top-k search, which reports the k elements of the highest importance from all the elements in an underlying dataset that satisfy a certain predicate, has attracted significant attention from the database community. The search efficiency crucially depends on the quality of an index structure that can be utilized to filter the underlying data by both the user-specified predicate and the ranking of importance. This article introduces the reader to a list of techniques for designing such indexes with strong performance guarantees. Several promising directions for future work are also discussed.
False News On Social Media
Authors: Pierri Francesco , Ceri Stefano
Published: December 2019

In the past few years, the research community has dedicated growing interest to the issue of false news circulating on social networks. The widespread attention on detecting and characterizing deceptive information has been motivated by considerable political and social backlashes in the real world. As a matter of fact, social media platforms exhibit peculiar characteristics, with respect to traditional news outlets, which have been particularly favorable to the proliferation of false news. They also present unique challenges for all kind of potential interventions on the subject.

As this issue becomes of global concern, it is also gaining more attention in academia. The aim of this survey is to offer a comprehensive study on the recent advances in terms of detection, characterization and mitigation of false news that propagate on social media, as well as the challenges and the open questions that await future research on the field. We use a data-driven approach, focusing on a classification of the features that are used in each study to characterize false information and on the datasets used for instructing classification methods. At the end of the survey, we highlight emerging approaches that look most promising for addressing false news.
Pregnancy in Noncommunicating Rudimentary Horn of Unicornuate Uterus: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Tesemma Melese Gezahegn
Published: December 2019

Pregnancy implanted in the rudimentary horn of unicornuate uterus is very rare with an incidence of 1 in 75,000 to 1 in 150,000 pregnancies. Both prerupture and postrupture diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy in the rudimentary horn of a unicornuate uterus is difficult. Here is a case of a 21-year-old gravida 5 para 3 abortion 1 mother presented with abdominal pain of 2 days duration following a falling accident. The patient was severely anemic and was in hypovolemic shock at the time of presentation. She had diffused lower abdominal tenderness with hemoperitonium. After clinical and ultrasound evaluation, emergency laparotomy was decided for preop diagnosis of ruptured cornual ectopic pregnancy to rule out uterine rupture at gestational age of 16 weeks. Intraoperatively, ruptured ectopic pregnancy in noncommunicating rudimentary horn was diagnosed. Resection of rudimentary horn and ipsilateral salpingectomy was done. She was transfused with 5 units of compatible blood. It is better to increase awareness about pregnancy occurring in this rare uterine anomaly, so as to have a high index of suspicion as early detection before it gets ruptured is difficult.
Effect of Fiber Angles on Hybrid Double‐Tube Concrete Columns under Monotonic Axial Compression
Authors: Zhang Bing , Qi Yu-Jun , Huang Tao , Zhang Qian-Biao , Hu Yu , Hu Xia-Min
Published: December 2019

Hybrid double‐tube concrete columns (hybrid DTCCs) are a novel form of hybrid columns that combine fiber‐reinforced polymer (FRP) composites with two traditional construction materials (i.e., concrete and steel). Hybrid DTCCs consist of an outer FRP tube and an inner steel tube aligned concentrically, with the space between the two tubes and inside of the steel tube filled with concrete. The three materials (i.e., FRP, concrete, and steel) in hybrid DTCCs are combined optimally to deliver excellent performances, such as excellent ductility and remarkable corrosion resistance. Recently, hybrid DTCCs have received increasing research attention on their compressive behavior. Existing studies, however, are focused on hybrid DTCCs with fibers of the FRP tube oriented in the hoop direction or close to the hoop direction. Against this background, this paper presents a series of monotonic axial compression tests on hybrid DTCCs with a particular focus on the effect of fiber angles (i.e., the angle of the fiber orientations to the longitudinal axis of the FRP tube). Three types of fiber angles (i.e., ±45°, ±60°, or ±80°) and two FRP tube thicknesses (i.e., 4 mm and 8 mm) were employed in the present study. Experimental results show that the concrete in hybrid DTCCs is well confined by both the FRP tube and the steel tube, leading to excellent ductility; the confinement effect of the FRP tube increases with the increase of the absolute value of fiber angles, whereas the ultimate axial strain decreases with the increase of the absolute value of fiber angles. An existing analysis‐oriented model, which considers the different confining states of the concrete between the two tubes and that inside of the steel tube, is verified using the present test results. The model is capable of providing accurate predictions for hybrid DTCCs with a ±80° FRP tube. For hybrid DTCCs with a ±45° or ±60° FRP tube, the model yields reasonable accurate predictions for the peak axial load but underestimates the ultimate axial strain consistently.
Synthesis and Application in Anticounterfeiting of RGB Upconversion Nanoparticles
Authors: Zhang Yongling , Lv Peng , Qin Zhengkun
Published: December 2019

In this paper, we synthesized ~105±15 nm cubic phase KMnF3:Yb3+,Er3+ NPs, ~195±10 nm hexagonal phase NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+ NPs, and ~200±10 nm hexagonal phase NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ NPs. Under the excitation of 980 nm, the strong red upconversion luminescence (4F9/2⟶4I15/2, the peak is located at ~653 nm) of Er3+ ions of KMnF3:Yb3+,Er3+ NPs can be seen, the strong blue upconversion luminescence (1D2⟶3F4, 1G4⟶3H6; the peaks are located at ~451 nm and ~477 nm, respectively) of Tm3+ ions of NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+ NPs can be observed, and the strong green upconversion luminescence (4I11/2⟶4I15/2, 4S3/2⟶4I15/2; the peaks are located at ~524 nm and ~541 nm, respectively) of Er3+ ions of NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ NPs can be found. The mixed white upconversion luminescent materials can be obtained by adjusting the doping ratio of the above NPs. Cyclohexane solution of red, blue, green, and the mixed white NPs can be used as ink, and “JLNU” is written on paper with a pen. Without 980 nm radiation, nothing could be seen. Under 980 nm irradiation, the colored letters “JLNU” can be seen. Red, blue, green, and the mixed white upconversion NPs can be used in security anticounterfeiting.
Physics of Gyroscope’s “Antigravity Effect”
Authors: Usubamatov Ryspek
Published: December 2019

The physics of gyroscopic effects are more complex than presented in existing mathematical models. The effects presented by these models do not match the real forces acting on gyroscopic devices. New research in this area has demonstrated that a system of inertial torques, which are generated by the rotating mass of spinning objects, acts upon a gyroscope. The actions of the system of inertial forces are validated by practical tests of the motions of a gyroscope with one side support. The action of external load torque on a gyroscope with one side support demonstrates that the gyroscope’s upward motion is wrongly called an “antigravity” effect. The upward motion of a gyroscope is the result of precession torque around its horizontal axis. The novelty of the present work is related to the mathematical models for the upward and downward motions of gyroscopes influenced by external torque around the vertical axis. This analytical research describes the physics of gyroscopes’ upward motion and validates that gyroscopes do not possess an antigravity property.
Networked Output Feedback Control for a Class of Uncertain Nonlinear Time-Delay Systems
Authors: Chu Hongyan , Wang Yan , Li Weiling
Published: December 2019

This paper studies the global stabilization problem for a class of uncertain time-delay nonlinear systems by designing a sampled-data output feedback controller via network. Under a lower triangular linear growth condition, when only the output is measurable, a sampled-data output feedback network controller, whose observer and control law are both linear, is constructed to solve the stabilization problem. Using a feedback domination design approach which substantially differs from the separation principle, we explicitly construct a Lyapunov–Krasovskill functional to prove the global asymptotic stability with the help of inductive proof method. The control law is discrete-time and linear, hence simulation examples be easily implemented with computers to show the effectiveness of our proposed method.
The Impact of Emergency Interventions and Patient Characteristics on the Risk of Heart Failure in Patients with Nontraumatic OHCA
Authors: Hsu Chen Cheng , Chang Chih-Yu , Yang Mei-Chueh , Wu Jr-Hau , Liao Ching-Hui , Su Chih-Pei , Chen Yu-Chih , Ho Shinn-Ying , Huang Cheng-Chieh , Lee Tsung-Han , Chen Wen-Liang , Chou Chu-Chung , Lin Yan-Ren
Published: December 2019

Background. Since out-of-hospital cardiac arrest- (OHCA-) related dysfunction (ischemic/reperfusion injury and inflammatory response) might result in long-term impairment, we suspect that new-onset heart failure might be common in long-term survivors. However, these relationships had not been well addressed, and we aimed to analyze the impact of emergency interventions and patient characteristics on the risk of new-onset heart failure in patients with nontraumatic OHCA.Methods. The Taiwanese government healthcare database contains data for 49,101 nontraumatic OHCA adult patients from 2011-2012, which were analyzed in this study. Nontraumatic OHCA patients who survived to the intensive care unit (ICU) were included as the study group (n = 7,321). Matched patients (n = 21,963) were recruited as a comparison group. Patients with any history of heart failure or cardiac arrest were not included in either group. All patients were followed-up for 6 months for the identification of new-onset heart failure. Adjustments were made for demographics, age, emergency interventions, and comorbidities as potential risk factors.Results. In all, 3.84% (n = 281) of OHCA patients suffered new-onset heart failure, while only 1.24% (n = 272) of matched patients in the comparison group suffered new-onset heart failure. Strong risk factors for heart failure were age (60–75 years, HR: 11.4; 95% CI: 9–14.4), medical history (myocardial infarction, HR: 2.47; 95% CI: 2.05–2.98 and cardiomyopathy, HR: 2.94; 95% CI: 1.45–5.94), and comorbidities during hospitalization (ischemic heart disease, HR: 4.5; 95% CI: 3.46–5.86). Only extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) decreased the risk of heart failure. Most (53.6%) heart failure events occurred within 60 days after OHCA.Conclusion. An age from 61 to 75 years, a history of myocardial infarction or cardiomyopathy, and ischemic heart disease or infection as comorbidities occurring during hospitalization were strong risk factors for new-onset heart failure in OHCA patients. However, ECMO could decrease this risk. More importantly, most heart failure events occurred within 60 days after OHCA.
Risk Factors Associated with Under-Five Stunting, Wasting, and Underweight Based on Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey Datasets in Tigray Region, Ethiopia
Authors: Woldeamanuel Berhanu Teshome , Tesfaye Tigist Tigabie
Published: December 2019

Background. Stunting, wasting, and underweight among children are major problems in most regions of Ethiopia, including the Tigray region. The main objective of this study was to assess the risk factors associated with stunting, wasting, and underweight of children in the Tigray region. Methods. The information collected from 1077 children born 5 years before the survey was considered in the analysis. Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was fitted to identify significant risk factors associated with stunting, wasting, and underweight. Results. Male children and rural born were having a higher burden of both severe and moderate stunting, wasting, and underweight than females and urban born. Among male children, 27.6%, 4.10%, and 14.2% of them were stunted, wasted, and underweight, respectively. Protected drinking water (odds ratio (OR) = 0.68; 95% confidence interval (CI): (0.50, 0.92)) was associated with stunting. Maternal age at birth less than 20 years (OR = 0.66; 95% CI: (0.45, 0.97)) and being male (OR = 2.04; 95% CI: (1.13, 3.68)) were associated with high risk of underweight. No antenatal care follow-up (OR = 2.20; 95% CI: (1.04, 4.64)) was associated with wasting, while the poor wealth index, diarrhea, low weight at birth (<2.5 kg), lower age of a child, and 3 or more under-five children in a household were significantly associated with stunting, wasting, and underweight. Conclusions. Being born in rural, being male, unprotected drinking water, smaller weight at birth, no antenatal follow-ups, diarrhea, and poor household wealth were factors associated with increased stunting, wasting, and underweight. Thus, interventions that focus on utilization of antenatal care services, improving household wealth, and improving access to protected drinking water were required by policymakers to decrease stunting, wasting, and underweight more rapidly.
Effects of DCM Leaf Extract ofGnidia glauca(Fresen) on Locomotor Activity, Anxiety, and Exploration-Like Behaviors in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Rats
Authors: Arika Wycliffe Makori , Kibiti Cromwell Mwiti , Njagi Joan Murugi , Ngugi Mathew Piero
Published: December 2019

Obesity is the main component of metabolic syndromes involving distinct etiologies that target different underlying behavioral and physiological functions within the brain structures and neuronal circuits. An alteration in the neuronal circuitry stemming from abdominal or central obesity stimulates a cascade of changes in neurochemical signaling that directly or indirectly mediate spontaneously emitted behaviors such as locomotor activity patterns, anxiety, and exploration. Pharmacological agents available for the treatment of neurologic disorders have been associated with limited potency and intolerable adverse effects. These have necessitated the upsurge in the utilization of herbal prescriptions due to their affordability and easy accessibility and are firmly embedded within wider belief systems of many people.Gnidia glaucahas been used in the management of many ailments including obesity and associated symptomatic complications. However, its upsurge in use has not been accompanied by empirical determination of these folkloric claims. The present study, therefore, is aimed at determining the modulatory effects of dichloromethane leaf extract ofGnidia glaucaon locomotor activity, exploration, and anxiety-like behaviors in high-fat diet-induced obese rats in an open-field arena. Obesity was experimentally induced by feeding the rats with prepared high-fat diet and waterad libitumfor 6 weeks. Thein vivoantiobesity effects were determined by oral administration ofG. glaucaat dosage levels of 200, 250, and 300 mg/kg body weight in high-fat diet-induced obese rats from the 6thto 12thweek. Phytochemical analysis was done using gas chromatography linked to mass spectroscopy. Results indicated thatGnidia glaucashowed anxiolytic effects and significantly increased spontaneous locomotor activity and exploration-like behaviors in HFD-induced obese rats. The plant extract also contained phytocompounds that have been associated with amelioration of the main neurodegenerative mediators, viz., inflammation and oxidative stress. These findings provide “qualified leads” for the synthesis of new alternative therapeutic agents for the management of neurologic disorders. However, there is a need to conduct toxicity studies ofGnidia glaucato establish its safety profiles.
Characterization and Anticancer Potential of Silver Nanoparticles Biosynthesized from Olea chrysophylla and Lavandula dentata Leaf Extracts on HCT116 Colon Cancer Cells
Authors: Al Sufyani Noha Moslah , Hussien Nahed Ahmed , Hawsawi Yousef Mohammed
Published: December 2019

Cancer was ranked as the second leading cause of death, and colon cancer has been reported as the third most frequent cancer worldwide. Chemotherapeutic drugs act on normal and cancerous cells similarly; therefore, they have various adverse side effects. Nanoparticles were identified to have a controlled effect on different cancer cell lines. The present study is aimed at studying biosynthesis silver nanoparticles by using aqueous Olea chrysophylla and Lavandula dentata leaf extracts, separately, and evaluating their anticancer potential. Silver nanoparticles were characterized by using SEM, XRD, FTIR, zeta potential, and size distribution mean, and their antiproliferative and apoptotic potentials were evaluated on HCT116 cells. Results show the formation of silver nanoparticles Olea-AgNPs and Lav-AgNPs due to the change of color to dark brown, and characterization revealed their crystalline shape with a mean size of 284.5 nm for Lav-AgNPs and 328.6 nm for Olea-AgNPs. Lav-AgNPs shows more stability than Olea-AgNPs due to its higher negative zeta potential (-14.3 mV) than nanoparticles biosynthesized from Olea leaves (-0.877 mV). Conversely, Lav-AgNPs shows more effective antiproliferative potential on HCT116 with (IC50 = 59.79 μg/ml) than Olea-AgNPs (IC50 = 99.35 μg/ml). However, Olea-AgNPs significantly increased the late stage of apoptotic and necrotic cells in comparison to Lav-AgNPs-treated cells in flow cytometry assay. Silver nanoparticles biosynthesized from Olea and lavender show anticancer potential with a more effective potential reported compared to Lav-AgNPs.
Massive Lipomatosis of the Small Intestine Causing Intussusception
Authors: Pagacz Michael , Willis Irvin , Alexis John
Published: December 2019

Lipomatosis is a rare condition characterized by diffuse, unencapsulted adipose tissue deposition. Intestinal involvement is rare, and presentation as intussusception is rarer still. We report a 40-year-old man who presented with abdominal pain and fecal urgency. Abdominal CT scan showed a protuberant ileo-cecal valve, with intussusception of the ileum into the cecum. The mucosal surface of the resected bowel was bulbous and protuberant, showing loss of mucosal folds, and there was an 8 × 5 × 5 cm mass prolapsing into the ileo-cecal valve. Microscopically there was abundant adipose tissue in the submucosa with an unremarkable mucosa. The patient recovered uneventfully with only occasional cramping in the left abdomen.
Cattell-Braasch Maneuver: A Gadget to Manipulate Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in a Patient with a Left-Sided Inferior Vena Cava
Authors: Tobe Akiko , Shirasu Takuro , Furuya Takatoshi , Nagai Motoki , Nomura Yukihiro
Published: December 2019

A 76-year-old man was diagnosed with abdominal aortic aneurysm and a left-sided inferior vena cava. He underwent open surgery, and we employed the Cattell-Braasch maneuver to approach the abdominal aortic aneurysm from the right side. This enabled securing of the abdominal aortic aneurysm neck without mobilizing or dissecting the inferior vena cava. His postoperative course was uneventful. Although abdominal aortic aneurysm is typically approached from the left side in open surgery, approaching from the right side is beneficial in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm and a left-sided inferior vena cava.
N- and O-Acetylated 3-Iodothyronamines Have No Metabolic or Thermogenic Effects in Male Mice
Authors: Gachkar Sogol , Oelkrug Rebecca , Herrmann Beate , Scanlan Thomas S. , Sun Qian , Biebermann Heike , Hoefig Carolin S. , Schomburg Lutz , Mittag Jens
Published: December 2019

Introduction: Injection of 3-iodothyronamine into experimental animals profoundly affects their metabolism and body temperature. As 3-iodothyronamine is rapidly acetylated in vivo after injection, it was hypothesized that the metabolites N- or O-acetyl-3-iodothyronamines could constitute the active hormones. Methods: Adult male mice were injected once daily with one of the metabolites (5 mg/kg body weight intraperitoneally dissolved in 60% DMSO in PBS) or solvent. Metabolism was monitored by indirect calorimetry, body temperature by infrared thermography, and body composition by nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. Signaling activities in brown fat or liver were assessed by studying target gene transcription by qPCR including uncoupling protein 1 or deiodinase type 1 or 2, and Western blot. Results: The markers of metabolism, body composition, or temperature tested were similar in the mice injected with solvent and those injected with one of the acetylated 3-iodothyronamines. Conclusions: In our experimental setup, N- and O-acetyl-3-iodothyronamine do not constitute compounds contributing to the metabolic or temperature effects described for 3-iodothyronamine. The acetylation of 3-iodothyronamine observed in vivo may thus rather serve degradation and elimination purposes.