bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Characterizing User Behaviors in Mobile Personal Livecast
Authors: Ma Ming , Zhang Lei , Liu Jiangchuan , Wang Zhi , Pang Haitian , Sun Lifeng , Li Weihua , Hou Guangling , Chu Kaiyan
Published: July 2018

Mobile personal livecast (MPL) services are emerging and have received great attention recently. In MPL, numerous and geo-distributed ordinary people broadcast their video contents to worldwide viewers. Different from conventional social networking services like Twitter and Facebook, which have a tolerance for interaction delay, the interactions (e.g., chat messages) in a personal livecast must be in real-time with low feedback latency. These unique characteristics inspire us to: (1) investigate how the relationships (e.g., social links and geo-locations) between viewers and broadcasters influence the user behaviors, which has yet to be explored in depth; and (2) explore insights to benefit the improvement of system performance. In this article, we carry out extensive measurements of a representative MPL system, with a large-scale dataset containing 11M users. In the current costly and limited cloud-based MPL system, which is faced with scalability problem, we find: (1) the long content uploading distances between broadcasters and cloud ingesting servers result in an impaired system QoS, including a high broadcast latency and a frequently buffering events; and (2) most of the broadcasters in MPL are geographically locally popular (the majority of the views come from the same region of the broadcaster), which consume vast computation and bandwidth resources of the clouds and Content Delivery Networks. Fortunately, the emergence of edge computing, which provides cloud-computing capabilities at the edge of the mobile network, naturally sheds new light on the MPL system; i.e., localized ingesting, transcoding, and delivering locally popular live content is possible. Based on these critical observations, we propose an edge-assisted MPL system that collaboratively utilizes the core-cloud and abundant edge computing resources to improve the system efficiency and scalability. In our framework, we consider a dynamic broadcaster assignment to minimize the broadcast latency while keeping the resource lease cost low. We formulate the broadcaster scheduling as a stable matching with migration problem to solve it effectively. Compared with the current pure cloud-based system, our edge-assisted delivery approach reduces the broadcast latency by about 35%.
Welcome to AI matters 4(2)
Authors: McGovern Amy
Published: July 2018

Welcome to the second issue of the fourth volume of the AI Matters Newsletter. This issue focuses on AI and Ethics, which is very timely given how often these subjects are appearing in the news lately. What really is fairness? How does an algorithm make a decision that can affect human's lives forever? Can it make a decision about whether or not to kill a person, in the case of autonomous weapons or in the case of autonomous cars? These and other other issues are discussed in the Larry Medsker's Policy column, Abhinav Maurya's report on the IEEE Big Data panel discussion about bias and transparency, Toby Walsh's opinion piece of AI as related to robber barons, and Bianca Helena Ximenes' contributed paper on autonomous car decision making.
Events
Authors: Rovatsos Michael
Published: July 2018

This section features information about upcoming events relevant to the readers of AI Matters, including those supported by SIGAI. We would love to hear from you if you are are organizing an event and would be interested in cooperating with SIGAI, or if you have announcements relevant to SIGAI. For more information about conference support visit sigai.acm.org/activities/requesting_sponsorship.html.
Conference reports
Authors: Rovatsos Michael
Published: July 2018

This section features brief reports from recent events sponsored or run in cooperation with ACM SIGAI.
IEEE big data 2017 panel discussion on bias and transparency
Authors: Maurya Abhinav
Published: July 2018

In January 2017, the ACM US Public Policy Council released a report on algorithmic transparency and accountability (ACM US Public Policy Council, 2017) which outlined several characteristics for algorithms to be considered transparent and accountable:
Is there an AI cosmology?
Authors: Hughes Cameron , Hughes Tracey
Published: July 2018

In the past fifteen years artificial intelligence has changed from being the preoccupation of a handful of scientists to a thriving enterprise that has captured the imagination of world leaders and ordinary citizens alike.
Filtering and planning for resource-constrained mobile robots
Authors: Alam Tauhidul
Published: July 2018

Note: This article is a summary of Tauhidul Alam's full dissertation that was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements to obtain Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, and defended in April 2018 at the Florida International University. This work was advised by Professor Leonardo Bobadilla from the same institution.
Parametric polymorphism and operational improvement
Authors: Hackett Jennifer , Hutton Graham
Published: July 2018

Parametricity, in both operational and denotational forms, has long been a useful tool for reasoning about program correctness. However, there is as yet no comparable technique for reasoning about program
improvement
, that is, when one program uses fewer resources than another. Existing theories of parametricity cannot be used to address this problem as they are agnostic with regard to resource usage. This article addresses this problem by presenting a new operational theory of parametricity that is sensitive to time costs, which can be used to reason about time improvement properties. We demonstrate the applicability of our theory by showing how it can be used to prove that a number of well-known program fusion techniques are time improvements, including fixed point fusion, map fusion and short cut fusion.
Incremental relational lenses
Authors: Horn Rudi , Perera Roly , Cheney James
Published: July 2018

Lenses are a popular approach to bidirectional transformations, a generalisation of the
view update
problem in databases, in which we wish to make changes to
source
tables to effect a desired change on a
view
. However, perhaps surprisingly, lenses have seldom actually been used to implement updatable views in databases. Bohannon, Pierce and Vaughan proposed an approach to updatable views called
relational lenses
, but to the best of our knowledge this proposal has not been implemented or evaluated to date. We propose
incremental relational lenses
, that equip relational lenses with change-propagating semantics that map small changes to the view to (potentially) small changes to the source tables. We also present a language-integrated implementation of relational lenses and a detailed experimental evaluation, showing orders of magnitude improvement over the non-incremental approach. Our work shows that relational lenses can be used to support expressive and efficient view updates at the language level, without relying on updatable view support from the underlying database.
Elaborating dependent (co)pattern matching
Authors: Cockx Jesper , Abel Andreas
Published: July 2018

In a dependently typed language, we can guarantee correctness of our programs by providing formal proofs. To check them, the typechecker elaborates these programs and proofs into a low level core language. However, this core language is by nature hard to understand by mere humans, so how can we know we proved the right thing? This question occurs in particular for dependent copattern matching, a powerful language construct for writing programs and proofs by dependent case analysis and mixed induction/coinduction. A definition by copattern matching consists of a list of
clauses
that are elaborated to a
case tree
, which can be further translated to primitive
eliminators
. In previous work this second step has received a lot of attention, but the first step has been mostly ignored so far.

We present an algorithm elaborating definitions by dependent copattern matching to a core language with inductive datatypes, coinductive record types, an identity type, and constants defined by well-typed case trees. To ensure correctness, we prove that elaboration preserves the first-match semantics of the user clauses. Based on this theoretical work, we reimplement the algorithm used by Agda to check left-hand sides of definitions by pattern matching. The new implementation is at the same time more general and less complex, and fixes a number of bugs and usability issues with the old version. Thus we take another step towards the formally verified implementation of a practical dependently typed language.
Finitary polymorphism for optimizing type-directed compilation
Authors: Ohori Atsushi , Ueno Katsuhiro , Mima Hisayuki
Published: July 2018

We develop a type-theoretical method for optimizing type directed compilation of polymorphic languages, implement the method in SML#, which is a full-scale compiler of Standard ML extended with several advanced features that require type-passing operational semantics, and report its effectiveness through performance evaluation. For this purpose, we first define a predicative second-order lambda calculus with finitary polymorphism, where each type abstraction is explicitly constrained to a finite type universe, and establishes the type soundness with respect to a type-passing operational semantics. Different from a calculus with stratified type universes, type universes of the calculus are terms that represent a finite set of instance types. We then develop a universe reconstruction algorithm that takes a term of the standard second-order lambda calculus, checks if the term is typable with finitary polymorphism, and, if typable, constructs a term in the calculus of finitary polymorphism. Based on these results, we present a type-based optimization method for polymorphic functions. Since our formalism is based on the second-order lambda calculus, it can be used to optimize various polymorphic languages. We implement the optimization method for native (tag-free) data representation and record polymorphism, and evaluate its effectiveness through benchmarks. The evaluation shows that 83.79% of type passing abstractions are eliminated, and achieves the average of 15.28% speed-up of compiled code.
Strict and lazy semantics for effects: layering monads and comonads
Authors: Hirsch Andrew K. , Tate Ross
Published: July 2018

Two particularly important classes of effects are those that can be given semantics using a monad and those that can be given semantics using a comonad. Currently, programs with both kinds of effects are usually given semantics using a technique that relies on a distributive law. While it is known that not every pair of a monad and a comonad has a distributive law, it was previously unknown if there were any realistic pairs of effects that could not be given semantics in this manner. This paper answers that question by giving an example of a pair of effects that cannot be given semantics using a distributive law. Our example furthermore is intimately tied to the duality of strictness and laziness. We discuss how to view this duality through the lens of effects.
Parallel complexity analysis with temporal session types
Authors: Das Ankush , Hoffmann Jan , Pfenning Frank
Published: July 2018

We study the problem of parametric parallel complexity analysis of concurrent, message-passing programs. To make the analysis local and compositional, it is based on a conservative extension of binary session types, which structure the type and direction of communication between processes and stand in a Curry-Howard correspondence with intuitionistic linear logic. The main innovation is to enrich session types with the
temporal modalities
next
(◯
A
),
always
(□
A
), and
eventually
(◇
A
), to additionally prescribe the timing of the exchanged messages in a way that is precise yet flexible. The resulting
temporal session types
uniformly express properties such as the message rate of a stream, the latency of a pipeline, the response time of a concurrent queue, or the span of a fork/join parallel program. The analysis is parametric in the cost model and the presentation focuses on communication cost as a concrete example. The soundness of the analysis is established by proofs of progress and type preservation using a timed multiset rewriting semantics. Representative examples illustrate the scope and usability of the approach.
Competitive parallelism: getting your priorities right
Authors: Muller Stefan K. , Acar Umut A. , Harper Robert
Published: July 2018

Multi-threaded programs have traditionally fallen into one of two domains: cooperative and competitive. These two domains have traditionally remained mostly disjoint, with cooperative threading used for increasing throughput in compute-intensive applications such as scientific workloads and cooperative threading used for increasing responsiveness in interactive applications such as GUIs and games. As multicore hardware becomes increasingly mainstream, there is a need for bridging these two disjoint worlds, because many applications mix interaction and computation and would benefit from both cooperative and competitive threading.

In this paper, we present techniques for programming and reasoning about parallel interactive applications that can use both cooperative and competitive threading. Our techniques enable the programmer to write rich parallel interactive programs by creating and synchronizing with threads as needed, and by assigning threads user-defined and partially ordered priorities. To ensure important responsiveness properties, we present a modal type system analogous to S4 modal logic that precludes low-priority threads from delaying high-priority threads, thereby statically preventing a crucial set of priority-inversion bugs. We then present a cost model that allows reasoning about responsiveness and completion time of well-typed programs. The cost model extends the traditional work-span model for cooperative threading to account for competitive scheduling decisions needed to ensure responsiveness. Finally, we show that our proposed techniques are realistic by implementing them as an extension to the Standard ML language.
Fault tolerant functional reactive programming (functional pearl)
Authors: Perez Ivan
Published: July 2018

Highly critical application domains, like medicine and aerospace, require the use of strict design, implementation and validation techniques. Functional languages have been used in these domains to develop synchronous dataflow programming languages for reactive systems. Causal stream functions and Functional Reactive Programming capture the essence of those languages in a way that is both elegant and robust.

To guarantee that critical systems can operate under high stress over long periods of time, these applications require clear specifications of possible faults and hazards, and how they are being handled. Modeling failure is straightforward in functional languages, and many Functional Reactive abstractions incorporate support for failure or termination. However, handling
unknown types of faults
, and incorporating
fault tolerance
into Functional Reactive Programming, requires a different construction and remains an open problem.

This work presents extensions to an existing functional reactive abstraction to facilitate tagging reactive transformations with hazard tags or confidence levels. We present a prototype framework to quantify the reliability of a reactive construction, by means of numeric factors or probability distributions, and demonstrate how to aid the design of fault-tolerant systems, by constraining the allowed reliability to required boundaries. By applying type-level programming, we show that it is possible to improve static analysis and have compile-time guarantees of key aspects of fault tolerance. Our approach is powerful enough to be used in systems with realistic complexity, and flexible enough to be used to guide their analysis and design, to test system properties, to verify fault tolerance properties, to perform runtime monitoring, to implement fault tolerance during execution and to address faults during runtime. We present implementations in Haskell and in Idris.
Keep your laziness in check
Authors: Foner Kenneth , Zhang Hengchu , Lampropoulos Leonidas
Published: July 2018

We introduce StrictCheck: a property-based random testing framework for observing, specifying, and testing the strictness of Haskell functions. Strictness is traditionally considered a non-functional property; StrictCheck allows it to be tested as if it were one, by reifying demands on data structures so they can be manipulated and examined within Haskell.

Testing strictness requires us to 1) precisely specify the strictness of functions, 2) efficiently observe the evaluation of data structures, and 3) correctly generate functions with random strictness. We tackle all three of these challenges, designing an efficient generic framework for precise dynamic strictness testing. StrictCheck can specify and test the strictness of any Haskell function---including higher-order ones---with only a constant factor of overhead, and requires no boilerplate for testing functions on Haskell-standard algebraic data types. We provide an expressive but low-level specification language as a foundation upon which to build future higher-level abstractions.

We demonstrate a non-trivial application of our library, developing a correct specification of a data structure whose properties intrinsically rely on subtle use of laziness: Okasaki's constant-time purely functional queue.
Reflection on new research trends
Authors: Gasco-Hernandez Mila
Published: July 2018

Open innovation practices and research have only minimally been expanded to the public sector. Interestingly enough, the few works that have focused on this topic have granted technology a key role that expands the benefits of open innovation processes but, also, adds challenges. This article summarizes some of the contributions to the idea of ICT-enabled open innovation to show that further research is still needed to understand the dynamics and contribution of ICT-enabled open innovation to e-governance and public innovation.
Disclosure and disavowal
Authors: Heron Michael James , Belford Pauline
Published: July 2018

The Scandal in Academia is a large-scale fictional ethical case study of around 17,000 words and fourteen separate revelations. They are delivered as newspaper extracts from a newspaper reporting on an ongoing crisis at a Scottish educational institution. The scandal case study as presented in its original form comes with only limited commentary on the ethical issues raised, concentrating instead on providing the scenario in isolation. This paper is a companion piece to that case study, discussing the 7
th
and 8
th
revelations with reference to the issues raised, the mainstream media, and the formal academic literature. The discussion presented here is not intended to be exhaustive or definitive. It is instead indicative of an approach that could be taken within a formal educational context, and illustrative of the kind of discussions that ideally emerge from the effective use of the material.
The future of human labor
Authors: Nardi Bonnie , Ekbia Hamid
Published: July 2018

We consider changes in labor through two cases that purport to embody the future: the manufacture of Tesla cars and military deployment of drones.
Exchanging IRL for VR
Authors: Volkman Richard
Published: July 2018

Virtual Reality (VR) experiences have arrived for a wide audience, and some worry that VR experience entices us to abandon experience In Real Life (IRL). While such worries cannot be dismissed out of hand, they are liable to be imprecise and distorted without careful analysis of the opportunity costs of VR experience. Generally, we are not liable to abandon real experience for its virtual analogue. Even a perfect VR experience is generally not a perfect substitute for a like experience IRL. Instead, the success of VR will depend on its ability to produce experiences valued for what they actually are.
Ethical dimensions of user centric regulation
Authors: Urquhart Lachlan
Published: July 2018

In this paper, we question the role of information technology (IT) designers in IT regulation. Through our concept of user centric regulation (UCR) we unpack what a closer alignment of IT design and regulation could mean. We also situate how they can respond to their ethical and legal duties to end users. Our concept asserts that human computer interaction (HCI) designers are now regulators and as designers are not traditionally involved in the practice of regulation hence the nature of their role is ill-defined. We believe designers need support in understanding what their new role entails, particularly managing ethical dimensions that go beyond law and compliance. We use conceptual analysis to consolidate perspectives from across Human Computer Interaction and Information Technology Law and Regulation, Computer Ethics, Philosophy of Technology, and beyond. We focus in this paper on the importance of mediation and responsibility and illustrate our argument by drawing on the emerging technological setting of smart cities.
"Sex robots" revisited
Authors: Klein Wilhelm E. J. , Lin Vivian Wenli
Published: July 2018

In this article, we revisit the call for a ban of robots used for sex, as introduced by Kathleen Richardson, director of the Campaign Against Sex Robots, during Ethicomp 2015. This campaign provides a case against the production, sale and use of "sex robots". To support its main claims, the materials made available by the campaign present arguments that are built on a number of specific premises, definitions and assumptions, which this paper outlines and discusses. It aims to test these premises for internal validity and logical coherence as well as to provide alternative viewpoints leading to opposing conclusions.
Digital privacy
Authors: Robison Wade L.
Published: July 2018

In 1963, Chief Justice Earl Warren called the 'fantastic advances in the field of electronic communication' a danger to the privacy of the individual. If we use the privacy torts as developed in American law --- intrusion, disclosure, false light, appropriation --- we can see how dangerous those advances have been regarding our privacy. We will see how readily so many can do so much more to invade the privacy of so many more. We will also see a thread running through the privacy torts that was not readily visible before: invasions of privacy treat us as objects to be observed, revealed, manipulated, and used.
Certifying "ethical hackers"
Authors: Slayton Rebecca
Published: July 2018

This was originally published as "The Paradoxical Authority of the Certified Ethical Hacker," Limn 8, Febuary 2017 http://limn.it/the-paradoxical-authority-of-the-certified-ethical-hacker/
What do parrots and BGP routers have in common?
Authors: Hauweele David , Quoitin Bruno , Pelsser Cristel , Bush Randy
Published: July 2018

The Border Gateway Protocol propagates routing information accross the Internet in an incremental manner. It only advertises to its peers changes in routing. However, as early as 1998, observations have been made of BGP announcing the same route multiple times, causing router CPU load, memory usage and convergence time higher than expected.

In this paper, by performing controlled experiments, we pinpoint multiple causes of duplicates, ranging from the lack of full RIB-Outs to the discrete processing of update messages. To mitigate these duplicates, we insert a cache at the output of the routers. We test it on public BGP traces and discuss the relation of the cache performance with the existence of bursts of updates in the trace.
EZ-PC
Authors: Sekar Vyas
Published: July 2018

Selecting a technical program committee (PC) for a conference or a workshop can be an intimidating and time consuming process. PC selection needs to balance several potential considerations; e.g., industry vs. academic participation, inclusion of under-represented communities, ensuring coverage over topic areas, among others. This paper presents the design of an open-source tool called EZ-PC which formulates these considerations as a simple constraint satisfaction problem to help PC chairs systematize this selection process. We report on some of the features we have incorporated and our experience in using the tool.
Research topics related to real-time communications over 5G networks
Authors: Davids Carol , Gurbani Vijay K. , Ormazabal Gaston , Rollins Andrew , Singh Kundan , State Radu
Published: July 2018

In this article we describe the discussion and conclusions of the "Roundtable on Real-Time Communications Research: 5G and Real-Time Communications --- Topics for Research" held at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Real-Time Communications Conference and Expo, co-located with the IPT-Comm Conference, October 5--8, 2015.
Report on the workshop on research and applications of internet measurements (RAIM)
Authors: Ford Mat , Eggert Lars
Published: July 2018

This report is a brief summary of the Internet Research Task Force and Internet Society workshop on Research and Applications of Internet Measurements (RAIM) in co-operation with ACM SIGCOMM that took place on Saturday, October 31, 2015 in Yokohama, Japan. The workshop provided an opportunity for researchers and practitioners in the field of Internet measurements to become acquainted and share their work.
The BGP hackathon 2016 report
Authors: Dainotti Alberto , Katz-Bassett Ethan , Dimitropolous Xenofontas
Published: July 2018

Internet routes - controlled by the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) - carry our communication and our commerce, yet many aspects of routing are opaque to even network operators, and BGP is known to contribute to performance, reliability, and security problems. The research and operations communities have developed a set of tools and data sources for understanding and experimenting with BGP, and on February 2016 we organized the first BGP Hackathon, themed around live measurement and monitoring of Internet routing. The Hackathon included students, researchers, operators, providers, policymakers, and funding agencies, working together on projects to measure, visualize, and improve routing or the tools we use to study routing. This report describes the tools used at the Hackathon and presents an overview of the projects. The Hackathon was a success, and we look forward to future iterations.
Media Use and Physical Activity Behaviour of Adolescent Participants in Obesity Therapy: Impact Analysis of Selected Socio-Demographic Factors
Authors: Wulff Hagen , Wagner Petra
Published: July 2018

Background: To address the challenge of juvenile obesity, effective therapeutic concepts focusing on lifestyle changes are necessary. A relevant aspect is the media use, which is associated with nutrition and physical activity patterns and is influenced by socio-demographic factors. To optimise obesity therapy, the use of media depending on these socio-demographic factors needs to be analysed to adjust the aims, content and methods of interventions as well as to harness the potential of media use in obesity therapy. The question considered in this research is: What media and physical activity patterns show 11- to 17-year-old obesity therapy participants in dependence on socio-demographic factors? Methods: A national multicentre study was conducted in 2015. A questionnaire was used to survey 432 participants' aged 13.75 ± 1.4 years. Standardised instruments were used to assess the variables: physical activity, media use and socio-demographic factors. Results: The participants were 1-hour physically active for 3.9 ± 1.9 days/week, 14.1% daily. Televisions, mobile phones and computers were available in all socio-demographic groups and used for 2 h/day. Socio-demographic differences emerged in the duration of media use (h/day). Girls were found to use mobile phones for longer (2.49 vs. 1.90; p < 0.01) and spend less time on game consoles than boys (0.55 vs. 1.65; p < 0.01). Conclusion: Compared to current recommendations, the sample shows reduced physical activity and increased media use, which vary between the groups. Hence, differentiated therapy approaches appear recommendable. Future research needs to evaluate, how media (despite its risks) can facilitate therapy, training and aftercare concepts.
Penile Metastasis from Rectal Carcinoma: Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Kuliavas Justas , Dulskas Audrius , Drachneris Julius , Miseikyte-Kaubriene Edita , Samalavicius Narimantas E.
Published: July 2018

Background: Metastasis of rectal cancer to the penis is a very rare condition with less than 40 cases found in the literature. Case Report: We here report a case of a 41-year-old man who was diagnosed with rectal cancer which later metastasized to the penis. The patient was treated with neoadjuvant radiotherapy, underwent rectal resection, had adjuvant chemotherapy, and, despite that, had penile metastasis 2 years later. Palliative penectomy as well as bilateral orchiectomy with suprapubic cystostomy were performed. The patient died 2 months after the diagnosis. All the previous cases mentioned in the literature are reviewed as well. Conclusion: The prognosis of penile metastasis from rectal cancer is poor and life expectancy is short. The mechanism of rectal cancer metastasis spread to the penis is unknown. The most acceptable theory is retrograde venous spread. There are several treatment options; however, no single treatment option is associated with superior results.
Neogenin-1 Promotes Cell Proliferation, Motility, and Adhesion by Up-Regulation of Zinc Finger E-Box Binding Homeobox 1 Via Activating the Rac1/PI3K/AKT Pathway in Gastric Cancer Cells
Authors: Qu Hengyi , Sun Huabo , Wang Xueping
Published: July 2018

Background/Aims: Neogenin-1 (Neo1) has been reported to be involved in diverse physiology and pathology functions, including cell proliferation, differentiation and migration. The present study aimed to explore the functional role of neogenin-1 (Neo1) in gastric cancer (GC), together with underlying mechanisms. Methods: Neo1 expression was analyzed by qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis in both human GC cell lines and normal gastric epithelial cell line. Neo1 was respectively overexpressed or silenced by transfection with pcDNA3.1 or siRNA, and then the cells were incubated with or without different concentrations of cisplatin, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, and/or inhibitors of Rac-1 and PI3K. Thereafter, cell viability, invasion, and adhesion were measured by CCK-8, wound healing and adhesion assays, respectively. The expression levels of key factors involved in epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the PI3K/AKT pathway were analyzed by Western blot analysis. Results: The results showed that the Neo1 level was significantly increased in GC cell lines, with the highest level in SGC-7901 cells. Overexpression of Neo1 significantly reduced the GC cell sensitivity to cisplatin and increased the cell viability, motility and adhesion ability, and while silencing of Neo1 showed contrary results. Moreover, overexpression of Neo1 dramatically downregulated the E-Cadherin level and upregulated the levels of N-Cadherin and Vimentin. In addition, the data revealed that Neo1 positively regulated the expression of Zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) by activating the Rac1/PI3K/AKT pathway. Conclusions: Neo1 could promote cell proliferation, motility, and adhesion by up-regulation of ZEB1 via activating the Rac1/PI3K/AKT pathway in GC cells.
Brain Mechanisms of Arithmetic: A Crucial Role for Ventral Temporal Cortex
Authors: Pinheiro-Chagas Pedro , Daitch Amy , Parvizi Josef , Dehaene Stanislas
Published: July 2018

Elementary arithmetic requires a complex interplay between several brain regions. The classical view, arising from fMRI, is that the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and the superior parietal lobe (SPL) are the main hubs for arithmetic calculations. However, recent studies using intracranial electroencephalography have discovered a specific site, within the posterior inferior temporal cortex (pITG), that activates during visual perception of numerals, with widespread adjacent responses when numerals are used in calculation. Here, we reexamined the contribution of the IPS, SPL, and pITG to arithmetic by recording intracranial electroencephalography signals while participants solved addition problems. Behavioral results showed a classical problem size effect: RTs increased with the size of the operands. We then examined how high-frequency broadband (HFB) activity is modulated by problem size. As expected from previous fMRI findings, we showed that the total HFB activity in IPS and SPL sites increased with problem size. More surprisingly, pITG sites showed an initial burst of HFB activity that decreased as the operands got larger, yet with a constant integral over the whole trial, thus making these signals invisible to slow fMRI. Although parietal sites appear to have a more sustained function in arithmetic computations, the pITG may have a role of early identification of the problem difficulty, beyond merely digit recognition. Our results ask for a reevaluation of the current models of numerical cognition and reveal that the ventral temporal cortex contains regions specifically engaged in mathematical processing.
Early Numerosity Encoding in Visual Cortex Is Not Sufficient for the Representation of Numerical Magnitude
Authors: Fornaciai Michele , Park Joonkoo
Published: July 2018

Recent studies have demonstrated that the numerosity of visually presented dot arrays is represented in low-level visual cortex extremely early in latency. However, whether or not such an early neural signature reflects the perceptual representation of numerosity remains unknown. Alternatively, such a signature may indicate the raw sensory representation of the dot-array stimulus before becoming the perceived representation of numerosity. Here, we addressed this question by using the connectedness illusion, whereby arrays with pairwise connected dots are perceived to be less numerous compared with arrays containing isolated dots. Using EEG and fMRI in two independent experiments, we measured neural responses to dot-array stimuli comprising 16 or 32 dots, either isolated or pairwise connected. The effect of connectedness, which reflects the segmentation of the visual stimulus into perceptual units, was observed in the neural activity after 150 msec post stimulus onset in the EEG experiment and in area V3 in the fMRI experiment using a multivariate pattern analysis. In contrast, earlier neural activity before 100 msec and in area V2 was strictly modulated by numerosity regardless of connectedness, suggesting that this early activity reflects the sensory representation of a dot array before perceptual segmentation. Our findings thus demonstrate that the neural representation for numerosity in early visual cortex is not sufficient for visual number perception and suggest that the perceptual encoding of numerosity occurs at or after the segmentation process that takes place later in area V3.
Interactive Art—Smiling Buddha: Recording the Moment at Which an Observer Smiles through Sight Detection and Smile Recognition
Authors: Luo He-Lin , Lin Jinyao , Hung Yi-Ping
Published: July 2018

In the interactive installation Smiling Buddha, we aimed to “pass on” a smile from one observer to the next. Thus, we have designed a natural interactive process that keeps passing on smiles. The system captures the moment at which an observer smiles before kinetically recording the moment and saving the images. The system does not merely record an image from a single angle; instead, the device records the user’s smile from various angles during the interaction. The final smile features different angles of smiles from previous users together with the smile of the present user. After completing the interactive experience, the user’s data will be saved and transmitted to the “Smiling Database,” where the smiles of past users will then be reproduced in the display area. Through the vast quantity of smiles, we wish to achieve our core concept of “passing on a smile.”
Movement from the Double Object Construction Is Not Fully Symmetrical
Authors: Holmberg Anders , Sheehan Michelle , van der Wal Jenneke
Published: July 2018

A movement asymmetry arises in some languages that are otherwise symmetrical for both A- and Ā-movement in the double object construction, including Norwegian, North-West British English, and a range of Bantu languages including Zulu and Lubukusu: a Theme object can be Ā-moved out of a Recipient (Goal) passive, but not vice versa. Our explanation of this asymmetry is based on phase theory— more specifically, a stricter version of the Phase Impenetrability Condition proposed by Chomsky (2001) . The effect is that, in a Theme passive, a Recipient object destined for the C-domain gets trapped within the lower V-related phase by movement of the Theme. The same effect is observed in Italian, a language in which only Theme passives are possible. A similar effect is also found in some Bantu languages in connection with object marking/agreement: object agreement with the Theme in a Recipient passive is possible, but not vice versa. We show that this, too, can be understood within the theory that we articulate.
Evangelical Worship: A Conversation with Three Publics
Authors: Ross Melanie
Published: July 2018

In this article the author makes an argument for evangelical worship as a form of public theology. The analysis proceeds in three parts. The first section examines depictions of evangelicals in American public media in order to show how evangelicalism and worship are closely linked in society’s imagination. The second section draws on debates between David Tracy and George Lindbeck to explain evangelicals’ distinctive approach to worship and witness. The third section presents a case study of a Sunday service at an evangelical megachurch, and suggests that increased attention to congregational worship practices can mitigate tensions between populist and academic understandings of public theology.
The Violence of Bureaucracy and the Gospel of Peace: A Theological Response to an Academic Problem
Authors: Edwards Aaron
Published: July 2018

Why do academic theologians spend most of their time complying with (and complaining about) bureaucracy? To what extent are the bureaucratic pressures upon theology a form of violence, and how might theology respond? This article engages social anthropologist David Graeber’s creative critique of bureaucracy in The Utopia of Rules (2016) and applies it towards a distinctly theological reading of the bureaucratic problem. Drawing widely on a number of thinkers, including Arendt, Foucault, Webster, Calvin, Hauerwas, Ellul, and others, the article diagnoses the inherent complexity of any theological response to bureaucracy, before offering an alternative mode of revolutionary compliance via the Biblical proclamation of the gospel of peace. If unspoken violence is indeed the heart of the bureaucratic problem, theology might respond with its own imaginatively interruptive language which proclaims how Christ—the Giver of peace armed with a gospel of peace—confronts all totalitarian systems, especially the unacknowledged.
Human Identity, Political Recognition and Social Symbiosis: A Public Theological Perspective
Authors: Vorster Nico
Published: July 2018

Muslim radicalization has forced western states to rethink policies on integrating minority communities into their societies. As a result, some European countries are in the process of replacing the traditional multiculturalist state paradigms with a civic integration model. This article warns against integration policies that: i) create parallel societies; ii). impose the identity of the majority group on minority groups; iii). or impose a difference-blind universal identity on all its citizens. Drawing on the Christian-informed political philosophies of John Althusius and Charles Taylor, the case is made for an inclusionary political mindset that addresses the challenges of globalization and pluralization. The approach proposed is termed symbiotic politics and is based on a common respect for political values such as human dignity, equality and freedom that are essential for human coexistence, a shared commitment to non-aggression and mutual aid, and the political recognition of collective identities.
Developmental stage does not affect resting metabolic rate in the monitor lizard, Varanus salvator
Authors: Yao Yun-Tao , Du Yu , Fang Meng-Chao , Lin Long-Hui , Ji Xiang
Published: July 2018

We have studied resting metabolic rate (RMR) of the water monitor lizard (Varanus salvator) at different developmental stages (hatchling, juvenile and adult) to test whether individuals at different ages differ in RMR when controlling for the effects of body mass. We found that: 1) resting metabolic rates of hatchlings, juveniles and adults were all positively related to their body mass with the same coefficients and that 2) developmental stage had a non-significant influence on the resting metabolic rate when controlling for the effects of body mass. Our results suggest that variation in resting metabolic rate forV. salvatoris directly caused by body mass differences, which conforms to previous findings in mammal species and birds.
Rethinking Justice in International Environmental Negotiations: Toward a More Comprehensive Framework
Authors: Tritschoks Annkatrin
Published: July 2018

Justice is of central importance in international environmental negotiations. Key characteristics of this type of negotiation augment the complexities of justice issues and warrant a customized approach. Based on a discussion of these characteristics, the article derives four components that are central to a more comprehensive theoretical framework for analyzing justice in environmental negotiations: 1) going beyond narrow self-interest, 2) extending the notion of reciprocity, 3) linking backward- and forward-orientation, and 4) connecting process and outcome. The usefulness of the framework is illustrated by applying it to two important Conferences of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – COP15 in Copenhagen and COP21 in Paris – which are compared. The framework is suited for a systematic analysis of the complex role played by justice issues in international environmental negotiation, as a key avenue for addressing global threats emerging from anthropogenic environmental change.
Architecture of Jesuit Churches in the Former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1564–1773
Authors: Betlej Andrzej
Published: July 2018

The article presents the history and accomplishments of Jesuit architecture in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the late sixteenth to the late eighteenth century. The author sees Jesuit architecture as a distinct and homogeneous element within Polish architecture. The paper starts with a brief presentation of the existing research in the subject. It moves on to enumerate the activities of the Society in the field of construction, divided into three major booms: the first roughly between 1575 and 1650, the second between 1670 and 1700, and the third from 1740 to 1770, divided by periods of relative decline caused by a succession of devastating wars. The paper identifies the most important architects involved in the construction of Jesuit churches, as well as their most notable works. The paper ends with a brief note concerning the fate of the Jesuit churches after the suppression of the Society and the partitions of Poland.
The Jesuit Musical Tradition in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Authors: Jeż Tomasz
Published: July 2018

The article sums up the current state of research into the music of Jesuit communities in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the years 1556–1773. In this region, the Society’s engagement in cultivating various forms of musical culture was dictated primarily by considerations of pastoral and confessional natures in a country in which the Reformation remained a strong presence. Strategies of cultural activity were applied in the Polish and Lithuanian provinces with more freedom than in the remaining regions of the Society’s German assistancy. These freedoms referred primarily to everyday forms of cultivating music in Jesuit-administered churches and schools, as ratified in the books of customs. A special role in the didactic and formative process was played by the school drama, rich in musical elements, as well as the so-called musical boarding schools. Although the surviving repertoire of Jesuit provenance is unrepresentative of the artistic tradition under scrutiny, we have reconstructed its character on the basis of intermediary sources.
Jesuit Education in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1565–1773)
Authors: Niedźwiedź Jakub
Published: July 2018

This article examines the impact of the Jesuit educational system on the culture of the multi-religious and multi-ethnic federation, through four problems. The first part of the paper presents the beginnings and development of the educational network and the Jesuit monopoly of education in the country. In the second part, it is shown how the Ratio studiorum was adapted to local conditions and how Latin culture was promoted in the Orthodox provinces of eastern Poland and Lithuania. One of the major consequences of these processes was the unification of a literary language and literature in Polish (Polish became the second language of Latinitas). The third part raises the question of the impact of rhetorical studies on political activity of the gentry, through the formation of the citizen-orator ideal. The development of literature, theatre, music, and the sciences forms the subject of the fourth part, which also lists the main achievements of Jesuit scholars and alumni. In conclusion, some observations are offered on the specific nature of Jesuit education in this part of Europe and its legacy after the dissolution of the Society of Jesus.
‘Black is my Home Country’: Re-Membering Race on Gospel Grounds
Authors: Hickman-Maynard Theodore
Published: July 2018

This essay presents partial findings from a study of historically black collegiate gospel choirs (HBCGCs) at predominantly white universities in northeastern United States. HBCGCs utilize the worship practices of the Black Church as resources for cultivating black communal racial identity in the context of racial difference. I theorize that HBCGCs practice a ‘narrative discipline’ that grounds their communal life together in corporate engagement with the faith stories that inspire their music. I interpret this practice in light of Walter Fluker’s proposal for reforming black ecclesiology. Fluker advances the reclamation of black identity as an existential ‘home,’ which avoids both the essentializing postures of ontological blackness and the equally dangerous narrative of post-racialism through the practice of ‘re-membering’ stories of black experience. I argue that the creative practice of narrative discipline by HBCGCs provides practical shape to Fluker’s ecclesiological hope.
Successful Church Mergers: Case Study Research from Australian Baptists
Authors: Hussey Ian
Published: July 2018

After surveying the theology and literature related to church mergers this article reports on the case studies of four recent mergers in the Queensland Baptist context. The research assesses how successful the church mergers have been, what were the motivators for the mergers, how were the obstacles overcome and what success-factors can be confirmed and/or developed. The article concludes with recommendations for congregations undertaking this difficult but rewarding task.