bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intercultural Relations among Ukrainian Immigrants Living in Portugal
Authors: Neto Félix
Published: March 2020

The purpose of this research was to test specific predictions based on three general hypotheses: the integration hypothesis, the contact hypothesis, and the multiculturalism hypothesis. The sample included 218 Ukrainian immigrants with an average of 39 years. The average length of time residing in Portugal was 10 years. As regards the integration hypothesis, psychological adaptation and intercultural adaptation were predicted by integration, while sociocultural adaptation was only predicted by marginalization. Thus, the integration hypothesis was partially supported for Ukrainian immigrants living in Portugal. The contact hypothesis tended to be supported, as intercultural contact was predicted by higher positive attitudes toward Portuguese, and assimilation. However, integration has not emerged as a significant predictor of intercultural contact. This sample displayed a relatively low level of perceived discrimination. In line with the multiculturalism hypothesis, perceived discrimination was negatively related to tolerance, attitude towards Portuguese, attitude towards other immigrants, and positively related to preference for separation and marginalization. Findings are discussed considering the existing literature.
The Role of Interpersonal Problem Solving in Using the Immature Defense Mechanisms in Adolescents
Authors: Bedel Ahmet
Published: March 2020

The purpose of this study was to examine associations between interpersonal problem solving and immature defense mechanisms in addition to whether interpersonal problem solving are predictors of immature defense mechanisms. The participants of the study consists of 428 high schools students (184 of the students were females). Interpersonal Problem Solving Inventory and Defense Style Questionnaire were applied. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that all variables of interpersonal problem solving skills together accounted for 32% of the variance in defense mechanisms. Specifically, significant predictors of immature defense mechanisms levels were lack of self-confidence, negative approach to the problems, constructive problem solving respectively. Generally, the levels of adolescents resort to immature defense mechanisms, lack of self-confidence and negative approach to the problem of the increase, a decrease in constructive problem-solving skills are seen to be effective. The results of the study was discussd within the results of the previous studies.
Revisión sobre las características metodológicas y la eficacia de intervenciones orientadas a reducir el consumo de agua
Authors: Vila-Tojo Sergio , Andrade Elena , Sabucedo Jose-Manuel , González-García Sara , Moreira María Teresa , Feijoo Gumersindo
Published: March 2020

Las intervenciones para promover conductas conservadoras del agua han seguido 3 tipos de estrategias: feedback, normas sociales y campañas de sensibilización. Esta revisión pretende evaluar las características metodológicas y valorar la eficacia alcanzada por estas estrategias. De una búsqueda sistemática de literatura, obtuvimos 31 artículos. En cada estrategia, analizamos 6 variables metodológicas esenciales, y calculamos el tamaño del efecto promedio. Encontramos ausencia destacada de grupo control y de medidas pre-post. El tamaño del efecto fue medio en las intervenciones de feedback y bajo en intervenciones basadas en normas sociales y campañas de sensibilización. Las intervenciones de feedback presentan mejores condiciones metodológicas. No obstante, se impone la necesidad de cuidar aspectos metodológicos esenciales, y de informar de estadísticos que permitan una estimación más fiable de la eficacia. Pese a ello, la tendencia de las tres estrategias es positiva, donde las intervenciones basadas en feedback son las de mayor efecto.
One-Dimensional Porous TiNb2O7–Carbon Nanofiber Arrays as High-Performance Anode for Lithium Ion Batteries
Authors: Qi Meili , Wang Hengxu , Yin Jinghua
Published: March 2020

High-energy density lithium ion batteries (LIBs) rely heavily on innovations of electrode materials. Herein, the porous TiNb2O7/carbon nanofibers (TNO/CNFs) have been prepared through the hydrothermal method and electrostatic spinning method as the anode for the Li-ion battery. The structure of porous TNO/CNFs after annealing at 700 °C for 2 h is intact, and lots of holes are found on that surface of nanofibers. Porous TNO/CNFs as the anode show better electrochemical performance than TNO/CNFs, the capacity retention of porous TNO/CNFs is 81.6% (147 mA h/g) with an exceptionally high rate (at 20 C rate). And the capacity retention of porous TNO/CNFs is higher than ≈77% that of TNO/CNFs (112 mA h/g). The superior electrochemical performance of these porous TNO/CNFs can be attributed to the unique porous carbon nanofiber structure: this structure of porous nanofibers not only provides a larger effective area for contact with the electrolyte but also reduces the rate-limiting Li diffusion path, leading to faster charge transfer.
A Comprehensive Investigation on Tribological Performance of Nano-Silver and Nano-Gold Additivated Fluids on Wearing Surfaces
Authors: Korkmaz Seyma , Cetin M. Huseyin , Dogan Sevval , Ozen Kadir , Ayhan Enes , Ozgul Mertcan , Ozdemir Süleyman Furkan
Published: March 2020

In this study, the tribological performances of the colloidal suspensions with the additives of nano-silver and nano-gold were examined via wear experiments of AA7075-T6 material. The nanoparticles were penetrated in the wear region using suspensions prepared in distilled water and ethylene glycol environment. The wear experiments were performed under 30 N load and 20 rpm speed condition in 1000 m wear distance using the ball-on-plate method. The worn surfaces were analyzed with a three-dimensional profilometer, scanning electron microscope/energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and atomic force microscope (AFM) methods. According to the results, the colloidal dispersed nano-gold particles in ethylene glycol performed 28.85% better on reducing the surface roughness, 2.32% on reducing the weight loss, 4.85% on increasing the heat transfer, and 1.22% on reducing the friction coefficient than the nano-silver particles.
A Carbon Injection System on a COHPAC-Equipped Waste-to-Energy Facility
Authors: Honeycheck Thomas S. , Gesell Gregory H. , Turner Mark C.
Published: March 2020

The SEMASS Resource Recovery Facility (SEMASS) is a processed refuse fuel (PRF) waste-to-energy plant serving much of Southeastern Massachusetts. Units 1 and 2 at the plant were designed with spray dryer absorbers (SDAs) and electrostatic precipitators (ESPs). A review of historical data from the plant indicated that in order to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Municipal Waste Combustor (MWC) Rule (40 CFR Part 60, Subpart Cb), which is known as the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT), improved emission performance would be required from the flue gas cleaning system on Units 1 and 2. A pilot test program was conducted which led to the installation of COHPAC, or COmpact Hybrid PArticulate Collector units (i.e. flue gas polishing devices) downstream of the ESPs on these two combustion trains. The COHPAC units were successfully started up in June, 2000. In addition to these modifications, it was determined that further control of mercury emissions would be required. A system to inject powdered activated carbon into the flue gas was added to the plant. This paper describes that carbon injection system. A comparison between test data obtained at SEMASS is made with predictions based upon the EPA testing at the Ogden Martin Systems of Stanislaus, Inc. Municipal Waste Combustor Facility near Crows Landing, California and the EPA testing at the Camden County Municipal Waste Combustor in Camden, New Jersey. These are waste-to-energy plants, the former utilizing an SDA and a baghouse while the latter contains an SDA followed by an ESP. In addition, the effect of carbon injection location upon mercury reduction was investigated. The results of that study are also included.
Complying With EPA’s Small MWC Units Emission Guidelines in Dutchess County, N.Y.
Authors: Rose John L.
Published: March 2020

Dutchess County is located in New York State on the east side of the Hudson River about halfway between New York City and Albany, with a population of about 250,000. County residents are a mix of exurbanites, who commute to jobs in Westchester County or New York City; high techs, who work at one of the county’s two large IBM complexes, and farmers and gentleman farmers who live in the eastern half of the county.
Mercury CEMs: Technology Update
Authors: Ryan Jeffrey V. , Kilgroe James D.
Published: March 2020

Continuous emission monitors (CEMs) for mercury (Hg) are receiving increased attention and focus. Their potential use as a compliance assurance tool is of particular interest. While Hg CEMs are currently used in Europe for compliance purposes, use of Hg CEMs in the United States (U.S.) has focused on combustion research and Hg control technology evaluation applications. Hg CEMs are now receiving increased attention as compliance assurance tools. Several programs exist to evaluate Hg CEM measurement performance. It is through these efforts that application-specific measurement issues are investigated. Collectively, these efforts have served to advance the state-of-the-art of the technology as evidenced by the number and types of CEMs now available and the various applications in use.
“Ergo Nightmare”: Starting a Grass Roots Ergonomics Program ... and Beyond
Authors: Sisler Joy L.
Published: March 2020

Prior to OSHA’s issuance of the new ergonomics standard, American Ref-Fuel devised and implemented an ergonomics program. In doing this, we accomplished two major goals:

1. We protected our employees from cumulative and repetitive work related injuries.

2. We saved money.
Pervasive artifacts revealed from magnetometry measurements of rare earth-transition metal thin films
Authors: Mandru Andrada-Oana , Yıldırım Oğuz , Marioni Miguel A. , Rohrmann Hartmut , Heigl Michael , Ciubotariu Oana-Tereza , Penedo Marcos , Zhao Xue , Albrecht Manfred , Hug Hans J.
Published: March 2020

A class of artifacts manifesting as soft magnetic components are revealed from magnetometry measurements of rare earth-transition metal (TbFe) thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering. They are not inherent to TbFe, but are a direct result of the manner in which the substrates are mounted prior to sample fabrication, with a material deposited at the substrate sides giving rise to a significant magnetic moment. The authors find the same artifacts to also be present in rare earth-free [Co/Pt] multilayers. Trying to supress the appearance of this type of artifact has an influence on the coercivity and, in some cases, on the shape of the reversal curves. Care needs to be taken during fabrication to ensure reliable and reproducible samples so that sensitive magnetic parameters, such as coercivity and compensation points, can be extracted accurately and that data are not misinterpreted for even more complex systems. This type of artifact is not limited to samples prepared by sputtering but can extend to other conventional thin-film deposition methods.
Protection from vomiting and β-cell death
Authors: Wong Wei
Published: March 2020

The roles of the cytokine GDF15 in emesis and inflammation-induced pancreatic β-cell death are elucidated.
Structural Insights into Ceftobiprole Inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Penicillin-Binding Protein 3
Authors: Kumar Vijay , Tang Christie , Bethel Christopher R. , Papp-Wallace Krisztina M. , Wyatt Jacob , Desarbre Eric , Bonomo Robert A. , van den Akker Focco
Published: March 2020

Ceftobiprole is an advanced-generation broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic with potent and rapid bactericidal activity against Gram-positive pathogens, including methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
, as well as susceptible Gram-negative pathogens, including
Pseudomonas
sp. pathogens. In the case of
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
, ceftobiprole acts by inhibiting
P. aeruginosa
penicillin-binding protein 3 (PBP3). Structural studies were pursued to elucidate the molecular details of this PBP inhibition.
Pseudorabies Virus Infection of Epithelial Cells Leads to Persistent but Aberrant Activation of the NF-κB Pathway, Inhibiting Hallmark NF-κB-Induced Proinflammatory Gene Expression
Authors: Romero Nicolás , Van Waesberghe Cliff , Favoreel Herman W.
Published: March 2020

The NF-κB transcription factor is activated via different key inflammatory pathways and typically results in the fast expression of several proinflammatory genes as well as negative feedback loop genes to prevent excessive inflammation. In the current report, we describe that infection of cells with the porcine alphaherpesvirus pseudorabies virus (PRV) triggers a gradual and persistent aberrant activation of NF-κB, which does not result in expression of hallmark proinflammatory or negative feedback loop genes. In addition, although PRV-induced NF-κB activation shares some mechanistic features with canonical NF-κB activation, it also shows remarkable differences; e.g., it is largely independent of the canonical IκB kinase (IKK) and even renders infected cells resistant to canonical NF-κB activation by the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α. Aberrant PRV-induced NF-κB activation may therefore paradoxically serve as a viral immune evasion strategy and may represent an important tool to unravel currently unknown mechanisms and consequences of NF-κB activation.
Draft Genome Sequence of an Extensively Drug-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolate, 3485_MTB, from Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
Authors: Tarlykov Pavel , Atavliyeva Sabina , Alenova Arike , Ramankulov Yerlan
Published: March 2020

Here, we report the draft genome sequence of an extensively drug-resistantMycobacterium tuberculosisclinical isolate, 3485_MTB, from Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The genome sequence is composed of 4,836,003 bp. The genome will provide more data on the genetic variations occurring in local drug-resistant isolates.
Genome Sequence of Vibrio cholerae Strain RFB16, Isolated from North Park Lake in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Authors: Bina Rachel F. , Bina James E. , Weng Yuding
Published: March 2020

Vibrio cholerae
is an aquatic organism and facultative human pathogen that typically resides in coastal areas and brackish water. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of
V. cholerae
strain RFB16, which was isolated from a freshwater lake in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Twitching and Swimming Motility Play a Role in Ralstonia solanacearum Pathogenicity
Authors: Corral Jordi , Sebastià Pau , Coll Núria S. , Barbé Jordi , Aranda Jesús , Valls Marc
Published: March 2020

Twitching and swimming are two bacterial movements governed by pili and flagella. The present work identifies for the first time in the Gram-negative plant pathogen
Ralstonia solanacearum
a pilus-mediated chemotaxis pathway analogous to that governing flagellum-mediated chemotaxis. We show that regulatory genes in this pathway control all of the phenotypes related to pili, including twitching motility, natural transformation, and biofilm formation, and are also directly implicated in virulence, mainly during the first steps of the plant infection. Our results show that pili have a higher impact than flagella on the interaction of
R. solanacearum
with tomato plants and reveal new types of cross-talk between the swimming and twitching motility phenotypes: enhanced swimming in bacteria lacking pili and a role for the flagellum in root attachment.
Ultra-slow throw rates of polygonal fault systems
Authors: King James J. , Cartwright Joe A.
Published: March 2020

Polygonal fault systems (PFSs) are an enigmatic class of small nontectonic extensional faults. PFSs are predominantly hosted in fine-grained sedimentary tiers and are prevalent along many continental margin basins. The genesis of PFSs is widely debated, and little is known about the time frame for polygonal fault growth. We present the first measurements of throw rates for polygonal faults by measuring the vertical offset of seven age-calibrated horizons mapped using three-dimensional seismic reflection data from the Norwegian Sea. Individual polygonal faults exhibit a range of throw rate profiles through time, ranging from near linear to singly or multiply stepped. The stepped profiles have short-term throw rates ranging from 0 to 18 m/m.y. Time-averaged throw rates of 180 polygonal faults over the entire 2.61–0 Ma interval are normally distributed and range between 1.4 and 10.9 m/m.y. We convert our PFS throw rates to displacement rates and compare these to published displacement rates for gravity-driven and tectonic normal faults. We find that the displacement rates of polygonal faults mark the lower limit of a continuous spectrum of extensional fault displacement rates; they are as much as two orders of magnitude slower than those of gravity-driven faults, and as much as three orders of magnitude slower than those of the fastest-growing tectonic faults. We attribute the ultra-slow kinematic behavior to the nontectonic nature of polygonal faults, where throw accumulates primarily through dewatering of the largely fine-grained sediments composing the host layers for the PFSs, and through differential volumetric strain between the fault footwalls and hanging walls.
An unusual cause of stridor
Authors: Garde Alison , Hilliard Tom N , Saunders Michael , Chopra Mark , Langton Hewer Simon C
Published: March 2020

A 12-month-old infant was referred with a 6-week history of
recurrent admissions with worsening stridor. On each previous admission,
the stridor responded well, but transiently, to oral dexamethasone. At
this presentation, he required high-dependency unit care with high flow
oxygen due to marked increased work of breathing.

He was born at term, previously well, and up to date with
immunisations. There was no significant family history. There were no
smokers and two cats at home.

He was afebrile with moderate subcostal recession and tracheal tug.
On auscultation, breath sounds were normal with transmitted sounds of
inspiratory and expiratory stridor. The rest of his examination was
normal.

He commenced dexamethasone 0.15 μg/kg three times a day, which was
weaned as his clinical status improved.

Blood tests showed total white cell count 9 x 10ˆ9/L, CRP <1
mg/L, lactate dehydrogenase level and blood film normal. Chest
radiograph showed left lung hyperexpansion and apparent right-sided
bronchial narrowing (figure 1). Flexible nasendoscopy was unremarkable.
Microlaryngoscopy and bronchoscopy showed external airway compression at
the level of the carina (figure 2). CT thorax demonstrated a
non-enhancing mediastinal mass extrinsic to the airway, approximately
3cmx2.5cmx1.5cm, compressing the carina and main-stem bronchi (figure
3).

Figure 1

Chest radiograph showing left lung hyperexpansion and
apparent right-sided bronchial narrowing (arrow).

Figure 2

Rigid bronchoscopy image showing external airway compression
at the level of the carina. Incidental finding of small mucosal
lesion—felt to be making no contribution to critical airway
narrowing.

Figure 3

Contrast axial CT image with lung windowing which shows a
large subcarinal soft tissue density mass (arrow) flattening and
splaying both proximal bronchi into a crescentic appearance.
Reflux of contrast to the azygos vein is seen at the right
lateral aspect.

Question 1

Please list four differentials for this child's mediastinal
mass.

Question 2

Which of these approaches would be suitable at this stage?

CT-guided biopsy

Bronchoscopic biopsy

Excision biopsy

Watch and wait and monitor response to steroids

Question 3

What is first line treatment for Mycobacterium
avium complex lymphadenitis?

Complete excision

Clarithromycin and complete excision

Clarithromycin, rifampicin, ethambutol and complete
excision

Isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol and
complete excision

Answers can be found on page 2.
Evaluation and prospect of scientific research capacity ranking for community healthcare centres in China
Authors: Liu Qian , Shi Jianwei , Yu Dehua , Jin Hua , Ge Xuhua , Zhang Hanzhi , Wang Zhaoxin
Published: March 2020

The National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China has proposed to improve the medical capacity of general practitioners and the establishment of general practice in recent health reform. For the first time, the ability to conduct scientific research was included in this reform, which demands community healthcare centres (CHCs) to strengthen their research capacity. The evaluation of community scientific research capacity has become an important endeavour to promote the implementation of research in CHCs. Since 2016, our research team has been working on an evaluation system and has published the scientific research capacity ranking for the top 100 CHCs in China. The latest released ranking of scientific research capacities of China CHCs has aroused great attention in the country.
Associations between greenspace and mortality vary across contexts of community change: a longitudinal ecological study
Authors: Hartig Terry , Astell-Burt Thomas , Bergsten Zara , Amcoff Jan , Mitchell Richard , Feng Xiaoqi
Published: March 2020

Background

Concerns about loss of greenspace with urbanisation motivate much research on nature and health; however, contingency of greenspace-health associations on the character of community change remains understudied.

Methods

With aggregate data from governmental sources for 1432 Swedish parishes, we used negative binomial regression to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality during 2000–2008 in relation to percentage area (in 2000) of urban residential greenspace, urban parks and rural greenspace, looking across parishes with decrease, stability or increase in population density. We also assessed interactions between land use and population change.

Results

Parishes with ≥1 decile increase in population density had lower incidence of all-cause (IRR=0.91, 95% CI 0.87 to 0.95) and CVD mortality (IRR=0.89, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.94) compared with parishes with stable populations. In stable parishes, all-cause mortality was lower with higher percentages of urban green (IRR=0.998, 95% CI 0.996 to 1.000) and rural green land uses (IRR=0.997, 95% CI 0.996 to 0.999). These results were inverted in densifying parishes; higher all-cause mortality attended higher initial percentages of urban (IRR=1.081, 95% CI 1.037 to 1.127) and rural greenspace (IRR=1.042, 95% CI 1.007 to 1.079) as measured in 2000. Similar associations held for CVD mortality.

Conclusions

More greenspace was associated with lower all-cause and CVD mortality in communities with relatively stable populations. In densifying communities, population growth per se may reduce mortality, but it may also entail harm through reductions in amount per capita and/or quality of greenspace.
Experimental and numerical investigation of the Saint-Adelphe landslide after the 1988 Saguenay earthquake
Authors: Abdellaziz Mustapha , Karray Mourad , Hussien Mahmoud N. , Delisle Marie-Christine , Ledoux Catherine , Locat Pascal , Mompin Rémi , Chekired Mohamed
Published: March 2020

On 25 November 1988, after the Saguenay earthquake, a landslide occurred in the municipality of Saint-Adelphe. The soil profile indicated that the deposit was composed of a stiff clay crustal layer overlying sensitive plastic clay with a soft-to-stiff consistency. A geotechnical investigation was carried out in situ and in the laboratory and included the use of a new seismic simulator to develop a geotechnical model of the Saint-Adelphe clay. The model was incorporated in a finite-difference slope stability analysis before and during the earthquake. The results showed the development of plastic zones and the generation of pore water pressure, but the global safety factor remained above unity. A post-seismic analysis that utilized a strain-softening behavior model showed the initiation and propagation of the plastic zone, as well as the development of a failure surface close to the observed failure surface. Therefore, it is proposed that the Saint-Adelphe landslide could be explained by a progressive failure mechanism.
UV-emitting polyelectrolyte-modified MoS2 quantum dots for selective determination of nitrophenol in water samples based on inner filter effect
Authors: Ning Keke , Xiang Guoqiang , Wang Cuicui , Wang Jingxing , Qiao Xiaohong , Zhang Ruofei , Jiang Xiuming , He Lijun , Zhao Wenjie
Published: March 2020

In this work, poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) modified molybdenum disulfide quantum dots (MoS2-PSS QDs) were synthesized via a simple hydrothermal method using l-cysteine and anhydrous sodium molybdate as precursors and PSS as a modification reagent, and a selective and sensitive fluorescent sensing method for the determination of p-nitrophenol (p-NP) based on their UV emission was developed. The obtained MoS2-PSS QDs have an obvious UV emission peak (390 nm) with quantum yield of 5.13%. The strong absorption peak of p-NP at 400 nm has large spectral overlap with the UV emission peak (390 nm) of MoS2-PSS QDs. Because of this p-NP absorption, the fluorescence of MoS2-PSS QDs at 390 nm is quenched with the introduction of p-NP via the inner filter effect (IFE) and the decreased fluorescence intensity was linearly proportional to the p-NP concentration in the range of 1–20 μmol/L, leading to a detection limit of 0.13 μmol/L for p-NP. The MoS2 QDs-based fluorescent probe for p-NP is sensitive and selective and was successfully applied in the determination of p-NP in the pond water samples with satisfactory results.
Homogeneous and isotropic space-time, modified torsion field and complete cosmic scenario
Authors: Bose Akash , Chakraborty Subenoy
Published: March 2020

The paper deals with cosmological solutions describing different phases of the Universe for the homogeneous and isotropic FLRW model of the Universe with torsion. Normally, torsion field is not suitable for maximally symmetric space time model. However, one may use a specific profile of vectorial torsion field, derived from a scalar function. By proper choices of the torsion scalar function, it is shown that a continuous cosmic evolution starting from the emergent scenario to the present late time acceleration is possible. Also thermodynamics of the system is analyzed and equivalence with Einstein gravity is discussed.
PARAMETER ESTIMATION SPACE FOR UNKNOWN INTERNAL EVOLUTION ON IOT DOMOTIC SYSTEMS
Authors: AGUILERA R. CARREÑO , JUAREZ J. J. MEDEL , CORONEL S. L. GOMEZ
Published: March 2020

This paper describes the parameter estimation modeling concerning a domotic designer bot system with internet of things (IoT) assistance using the probabilistic operator based on the stochastic parameter estimation through the moments and the recursive conditions. Light, CCTV, presence, and temperature are IoT data monitored, shared, and accessed by the internet for a smart office designer performance that evolves based on historical web data. The relationship established by Wiener between covariance and variance found the parameter time evolution by observing through the time. The development is viewed in the visible results between non-recursive and recursive mathematical structures. In both cases, the convergence rate is based on probabilistic estimation, the functional error presents a high convergence rate which is viewed as an effect of the function of a density function. The estimate considered a non-invasive perspective, and it helps in different applications such as health diagnosis in humans and animals with internal problems, or systems which are unknown for internal evolution such as for IoT model adoption. Therefore, our objective is to propose a black box, inner approximation through the parameter estimation without a no invasive stochastic method based in Wiener approximation.
Every zero-dimensional homogeneous space is strongly homogeneous under determinacy
Authors: Carroy Raphaël , Medini Andrea , Müller Sandra
Published: March 2020

All spaces are assumed to be separable and metrizable. We show that, assuming the Axiom of Determinacy, every zero-dimensional homogeneous space is strongly homogeneous (i.e. all its non-empty clopen subspaces are homeomorphic), with the trivial exception of locally compact spaces. In fact, we obtain a more general result on the uniqueness of zero-dimensional homogeneous spaces which generate a given Wadge class. This extends work of van Engelen (who obtained the corresponding results for Borel spaces), complements a result of van Douwen, and gives partial answers to questions of Terada and Medvedev.
Resampling-aware Weighting Functions for Bidirectional Path Tracing Using Multiple Light Sub-Paths
Authors: Nabata Kosuke , Iwasaki Kei , Dobashi Yoshinori
Published: March 2020

Bidirectional path tracing (BPT) with multiple importance sampling (MIS) is a popular technique for rendering realistic images. Recently, it has been shown that BPT can be improved by preparing multiple light sub-paths and by resampling a small number of light sub-paths from them to generate full paths with large contribution. Traditionally, for MIS weights, the balance heuristic has widely been used to minimize the upper bound of variance, where each full path is weighted in proportion to the probability of the path. Although the probability of the path can change due to the resampling process, the weighting functions used in the previous methods remain unaffected by the change in probability, resulting in less efficiency. To address this problem, we propose new weighting functions for BPT with multiple light sub-paths. Our main contribution is a precise formulation of the variance and the derivation of the weighting functions that can appropriately treat the change in probability. We demonstrate that our weighting functions significantly improve the image quality. We will release a simple version of our implementation as open source to ensure reproducibility.
LFGAN
Authors: Chen Bin , Ruan Lingyan , Lam Miu-Ling
Published: March 2020

We present a deep neural network called the
light field generative adversarial network
(LFGAN) that synthesizes a 4D light field from a single 2D RGB image. We generate light fields using a single image super-resolution (SISR) technique based on two important observations. First, the small baseline gives rise to the high similarity between the full light field image and each sub-aperture view. Second, the occlusion edge at any spatial coordinate of a sub-aperture view has the same orientation as the occlusion edge at the corresponding angular patch, implying that the occlusion information in the angular domain can be inferred from the sub-aperture local information. We employ the Wasserstein GAN with gradient penalty (WGAN-GP) to learn the color and geometry information from the light field datasets. The network can generate a plausible 4D light field comprising 8×8 angular views from a single sub-aperture 2D image. We propose new loss terms, namely epipolar plane image (EPI) and brightness regularization (BRI) losses, as well as a novel multi-stage training framework to feed the loss terms at different time to generate superior light fields. The
EPI loss
can reinforce the network to learn the geometric features of the light fields, and the
BRI loss
can preserve the brightness consistency across different sub-aperture views. Two datasets have been used to evaluate our method: in addition to an existing light field dataset capturing scenes of flowers and plants, we have built a large dataset of toy animals consisting of 2,100 light fields captured with a plenoptic camera. We have performed comprehensive ablation studies to evaluate the effects of individual loss terms and the multi-stage training strategy, and have compared LFGAN to other state-of-the-art techniques. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation demonstrates that LFGAN can effectively estimate complex occlusions and geometry in challenging scenes, and outperform other existing techniques.
Learning Shared Semantic Space with Correlation Alignment for Cross-Modal Event Retrieval
Authors: Yang Zhenguo , Lin Zehang , Kang Peipei , LV Jianming , Li Qing , Liu Wenyin
Published: March 2020

In this article, we propose to learn shared semantic space with correlation alignment (
S
3
CA
) for multimodal data representations, which aligns nonlinear correlations of multimodal data distributions in deep neural networks designed for heterogeneous data. In the context of cross-modal (event) retrieval, we design a neural network with convolutional layers and fully connected layers to extract features for images, including images on Flickr-like social media. Simultaneously, we exploit a fully connected neural network to extract semantic features for text documents, including news articles from news media. In particular, nonlinear correlations of layer activations in the two neural networks are aligned with correlation alignment during the joint training of the networks. Furthermore, we project the multimodal data into a shared semantic space for cross-modal (event) retrieval, where the distances between heterogeneous data samples can be measured directly. In addition, we contribute a Wiki-Flickr Event dataset, where the multimodal data samples are not describing each other in pairs like the existing paired datasets, but all of them are describing semantic events. Extensive experiments conducted on both paired and unpaired datasets manifest the effectiveness of
S
3
CA
, outperforming the state-of-the-art methods.
Visualizing Distributed System Executions
Authors: Beschastnikh Ivan , Liu Perry , Xing Albert , Wang Patty , Brun Yuriy , Ernst Michael D.
Published: March 2020

Distributed systems pose unique challenges for software developers. Understanding the system’s communication topology and reasoning about concurrent activities of system hosts can be difficult. The standard approach, analyzing system logs, can be a tedious and complex process that involves reconstructing a system log from multiple hosts’ logs, reconciling timestamps among hosts with non-synchronized clocks, and understanding what took place during the execution encoded by the log. This article presents a novel approach for tackling three tasks frequently performed during analysis of distributed system executions: (1) understanding the relative ordering of events, (2) searching for specific patterns of interaction between hosts, and (3) identifying structural similarities and differences between pairs of executions. Our approach consists of
XVector
, which instruments distributed systems to capture partial ordering information that encodes the happens-before relation between events, and
ShiViz
, which processes the resulting logs and presents distributed system executions as interactive time-space diagrams. Two user studies with a total of 109 students and a case study with 2 developers showed that our method was effective, helping participants answer statistically significantly more system-comprehension questions correctly, with a very large effect size.
Inception U-Net Architecture for Semantic Segmentation to Identify Nuclei in Microscopy Cell Images
Authors: Punn Narinder Singh , Agarwal Sonali
Published: March 2020

With the increasing applications of deep learning in biomedical image analysis, in this article we introduce an inception U-Net architecture for automating nuclei detection in microscopy cell images of varying size and modality to help unlock faster cures, inspired from Kaggle Data Science Bowl Challenge 2018 (KDSB18). This study follows from the fact that most of the analysis requires nuclei detection as the starting phase for getting an insight into the underlying biological process and further diagnosis. The proposed architecture consists of a switch normalization layer, convolution layers, and inception layers (concatenated 1x1, 3x3, and 5x5 convolution and the hybrid of a max and Hartley spectral pooling layer) connected in the U-Net fashion for generating the image masks. This article also illustrates the model perception of image masks using activation maximization and filter map visualization techniques. A novel objective function segmentation loss is proposed based on the binary cross entropy, dice coefficient, and intersection over union loss functions. The intersection over union score, loss value, and pixel accuracy metrics evaluate the model over the KDSB18 dataset. The proposed inception U-Net architecture exhibits quite significant results as compared to the original U-Net and recent U-Net++ architecture.
Optimizing the SSD Burst Buffer by Traffic Detection
Authors: Shi Xuanhua , Liu Wei , He Ligang , Jin Hai , Li Ming , Chen Yong
Published: March 2020

Currently, HPC storage systems still use
hard disk drive
(HDD) as their dominant storage device.
Solid state drive
(SSD) is widely deployed as the buffer to HDDs.
Burst buffer
has also been proposed to manage the SSD buffering of bursty write requests. Although burst buffer can improve I/O performance in many cases, we find that it has some limitations such as requiring large SSD capacity and harmonious overlapping between computation phase and data flushing phase.

In this article, we propose a scheme, called SSDUP+.
1
SSDUP+ aims to improve the burst buffer by addressing the above limitations. First, to reduce the demand for the SSD capacity, we develop a novel method to detect and quantify the data randomness in the write traffic. Further, an adaptive algorithm is proposed to classify the random writes dynamically. By doing so, much less SSD capacity is required to achieve the similar performance as other burst buffer schemes. Next, to overcome the difficulty of perfectly overlapping the computation phase and the flushing phase, we propose a pipeline mechanism for the SSD buffer, in which data buffering and flushing are performed in pipeline. In addition, to improve the I/O throughput, we adopt a traffic-aware flushing strategy to reduce the I/O interference in HDD. Finally, to further improve the performance of buffering random writes in SSD, SSDUP+ transforms the random writes to sequential writes in SSD by storing the data with a log structure. Further, SSDUP+ uses the AVL tree structure to store the sequence information of the data.

We have implemented a prototype of SSDUP+ based on OrangeFS and conducted extensive experiments. The experimental results show that our proposed SSDUP+ can save an average of 50% SSD space while delivering almost the same performance as other common burst buffer schemes. In addition, SSDUP+ can save about 20% SSD space compared with the previous version of this work, SSDUP, while achieving 20–30% higher I/O throughput than SSDUP.
Exploring Deep Learning for View-Based 3D Model Retrieval
Authors: Gao Zan , Li Yinming , Wan Shaohua
Published: March 2020

In recent years, view-based 3D model retrieval has become one of the research focuses in the field of computer vision and machine learning. In fact, the 3D model retrieval algorithm consists of feature extraction and similarity measurement, and the robust features play a decisive role in the similarity measurement. Although deep learning has achieved comprehensive success in the field of computer vision, deep learning features are used for 3D model retrieval only in a small number of works. To the best of our knowledge, there is no benchmark to evaluate these deep learning features. To tackle this problem, in this work we systematically evaluate the performance of deep learning features in view-based 3D model retrieval on four popular datasets (ETH, NTU60, PSB, and MVRED) by different kinds of similarity measure methods. In detail, the performance of hand-crafted features and deep learning features are compared, and then the robustness of deep learning features is assessed. Finally, the difference between single-view deep learning features and multi-view deep learning features is also evaluated. By quantitatively analyzing the performances on different datasets, it is clear that these deep learning features can consistently outperform all of the hand-crafted features, and they are also more robust than the hand-crafted features when different degrees of noise are added into the image. The exploration of latent relationships among different views in multi-view deep learning network architectures shows that the performance of multi-view deep learning outperforms that of single-view deep learning features with low computational complexity.
Cops-Robber Games and the Resolution of Tseitin Formulas
Authors: Galesi Nicola , Talebanfard Navid , Torán Jacobo
Published: March 2020

We characterize several complexity measures for the resolution of Tseitin formulas in terms of a two person cop-robber game. Our game is a slight variation of the one Seymour and Thomas used in order to characterize the tree-width parameter. For any undirected graph, by counting the number of cops needed in our game in order to catch a robber in it, we are able to exactly characterize the width, variable space, and depth measures for the resolution of the Tseitin formula corresponding to that graph. We also give an exact game characterization of resolution variable space for any formula.

We show that our game can be played in a monotone way. This implies that the associated resolution measures on Tseitin formulas correspond exactly to those under the restriction of Davis-Putnam resolution, implying that this kind of resolution is optimal on Tseitin formulas for all the considered measures.

Using our characterizations, we improve the existing complexity bounds for Tseitin formulas showing that resolution width, depth, and variable space coincide up to a logarithmic factor, and that variable space is bounded by the clause space times a logarithmic factor.
Electrokinetic Carbohydrates Sensor by Streaming Potential with 3MPBA-PtNPs-CNTs Composite Material
Authors: Silva-Carrillo Carolina , Félix-Navarro Rosa María , Pérez Sicairos Sergio , Trujillo-Navarrete Balter , Paraguay-Delgado Francisco , Lin-Ho Shu Wai , Reynoso-Soto Edgar Alonso
Published: March 2020

In this work, a sensitive and highly stable non-enzymatic glucose sensor is reported. It is based on self-assembled 3-mercaptophenylboronic acid (3MPBA) self-assembled on small Pt nanoparticles supported on a multi-wall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) surface. The materials characterization was performed by thermal analysis (TGA), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and Z potential measurements. Glucose and fructose evaluation was carried out by hydrodynamic zeta potential measurements using the streaming potential, presenting high selectivity to glucose in the alkaline medium. The 3MPBA-PtNPs-CNTs electrode exhibit a linear response in the glucose concentration range of 0 to 10 mM, high sensitivity to 22.25 mV mM−1, and ultra-low detection of 4.5 μM.
Communication—An Organosilane-Based Fuel Cell Ionomer that Mitigates Carbon Corrosion
Authors: Acheampong Richard , Alipour Moghadam Esfahani Reza , Moghaddam Reza B. , Easton E. Bradley
Published: March 2020

Sulfonated silica-ceramic carbon electrode (SS-CCE) consist of Pt/C catalyst and an organosilicate-based ionomer (instead of Nafion). We compared the durability of an SS-CCE and a Nafion-based electrode (NBE) composed of the same Pt/C catalyst. Each were subjected to an accelerated stress test (AST) that aggressively promotes carbon corrosion. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that while the NBE displayed severe carbon corrosion, the SS-CCE showed only slight signs of carbon corrosion. The SS-CCE’s enhanced durability arises from the covalent linkage of the organosilicate ionomer to the Pt/C surface, which served as a protective barrier that mitigated corrosion.
Adenosine A2B receptor activation stimulates alveolar fluid clearance through alveolar epithelial sodium channel via cAMP pathway in endotoxin-induced lung injury
Authors: Wang Mengnan , Guo Xiaoxia , Zhao Huiying , Lv Jie , Wang Huixia , An Youzhong
Published: March 2020

Clinical studies have established that the capacity of removing excess fluid from alveoli is impaired in most patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Impaired alveolar fluid clearance (AFC) correlates with poor outcomes. Adenosine A2B receptor (A2BAR) has the lowest affinity with adenosine among four adenosine receptors. It is documented that A2BAR can activate adenylyl cyclase (AC) resulting in elevated cAMP. Based on the understanding that cAMP is a key regulator of epithelial sodium channel (ENaC), which is the limited step in sodium transport, we hypothesized that A2BAR signaling may affect AFC in acute lung injury (ALI) through regulating ENaC via cAMP, thus attenuating pulmonary edema. To address this, we utilized pharmacological approaches to determine the role of A2BAR in AFC in rats with endotoxin-induced lung injury and further focused on the mechanisms in vitro. We observed elevated pulmonary A2BAR level in rats with ALI and the similar upregulation in alveolar epithelial cells exposed to LPS. A2BAR stimulation significantly attenuated pulmonary edema during ALI, an effect that was associated with enhanced AFC and increased ENaC expression. The regulatory effects of A2BAR on ENaC-α expression were further verified in cultured alveolar epithelial type II (ATII) cells. More importantly, activation of A2BAR dramatically increased amiloride-sensitive Na+ currents in ATII cells. Moreover, we observed that A2BAR activation stimulated cAMP accumulation, whereas the cAMP inhibitor abolished the regulatory effect of A2BAR on ENaC-α expression, suggesting that A2BAR activation regulates ENaC-α expression via cAMP-dependent mechanism. Together, these findings suggest that signaling through alveolar epithelial A2BAR promotes alveolar fluid balance during endotoxin-induced ALI by regulating ENaC via cAMP pathway, raising the hopes for treatment of pulmonary edema due to ALI.