bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Methodology for Exposing Risk in Achieving Emergent System Properties
Authors: Layman Lucas , Basili Victor R. , Zelkowitz Marvin V.
Published: May 2014

Determining whether systems achieve desired emergent properties, such as safety or reliability, requires an analysis of the system as a whole, often in later development stages when changes are difficult and costly to implement. In this article we propose the Process Risk Indicator (PRI) methodology for analyzing and evaluating emergent properties early in the development cycle. A fundamental assumption of system engineering is that risk mitigation processes reduce system risks, yet these processes may also be a source of risk: (1) processes may not be appropriate for achieving the desired emergent property; or (2) processes may not be followed appropriately. PRI analyzes development process artifacts (e.g., designs pertaining to reliability or safety analysis reports) to quantify process risks that may lead to higher system risk. We applied PRI to the hazard analysis processes of a network-centric, Department of Defense system-of-systems and two NASA spaceflight projects to assess the risk of not achieving one such emergent property, software safety, during the early stages of the development lifecycle. The PRI methodology was used to create measurement baselines for process indicators of software safety risk, to identify risks in the hazard analysis process, and to provide feedback to projects for reducing these risks.
GreASE
Authors: Francesco Nicoletta de , Lettieri Giuseppe , Santone Antonella , Vaglini Gigliola
Published: May 2014

Equivalence checking plays a crucial role in formal verification to ensure the correctness of concurrent systems. However, this method cannot be scaled as easily with the increasing complexity of systems due to the state explosion problem. This article presents an efficient procedure, based on heuristic search, for checking Milner's strong and weak equivalence; to achieve higher efficiency, we actually search for a difference between two processes to be discovered as soon as possible, thus the heuristics aims to find a counterexample, even if not the minimum one, to prove nonequivalence. The presented algorithm builds the system state graph on-the-fly, during the checking, and the heuristics promotes the construction of the more promising subgraph. The heuristic function is syntax based, but the approach can be applied to different specification languages such as CCS, LOTOS, and CSP, provided that the language semantics is based on the concept of transition. The algorithm to explore the search space of the problem is based on a greedy technique; GreASE (Greedy Algorithm for System Equivalence), the tool supporting the approach, is used to evaluate the achieved reduction of both state-space size and time with respect to other verification environments.
Efficient Algorithms and Cost Models for Reverse Spatial-Keyword
k
-Nearest Neighbor Search
Authors: Lu Ying , Lu Jiaheng , Cong Gao , Wu Wei , Shahabi Cyrus
Published: May 2014

Geographic objects associated with descriptive texts are becoming prevalent, justifying the need for spatial-keyword queries that consider both locations and textual descriptions of the objects. Specifically, the relevance of an object to a query is measured by
spatial-textual similarity
that is based on both spatial proximity and textual similarity. In this article, we introduce the Reverse Spatial-Keyword
k
-Nearest Neighbor (RSK
k
NN) query, which finds those objects that have the query as one of their
k
-nearest spatial-textual objects. The RSK
k
NN queries have numerous applications in online maps and GIS decision support systems.

To answer RSK
k
NN queries efficiently, we propose a hybrid index tree, called IUR-tree (Intersection-Union R-tree) that effectively combines location proximity with textual similarity. Subsequently, we design a branch-and-bound search algorithm based on the IUR-tree. To accelerate the query processing, we improve IUR-tree by leveraging the distribution of textual description, leading to some variants of the IUR-tree called Clustered IUR-tree (CIUR-tree) and combined clustered IUR-tree (C
2
IUR-tree), for each of which we develop optimized algorithms. We also provide a theoretical cost model to analyze the efficiency of our algorithms. Our empirical studies show that the proposed algorithms are efficient and scalable.
Architecture-Level Configuration of Large-Scale Embedded Software Systems
Authors: Behjati Razieh , Nejati Shiva , Briand Lionel C.
Published: May 2014

Configuration in the domain of Integrated Control Systems (ICS) is largely manual, laborious, and error prone. In this article, we propose a model-based configuration approach that provides automation support for reducing configuration effort and the likelihood of configuration errors in the ICS domain. We ground our approach on component-based specifications of ICS families. We then develop a configuration algorithm using constraint satisfaction techniques over finite domains to generate products that are consistent with respect to their ICS family specifications. We reason about the termination and consistency of our configuration algorithm analytically. We evaluate the effectiveness of our configuration approach by applying it to a real subsea oil production system. Specifically, we have rebuilt a number of existing verified product configurations of our industry partner. Our experience shows that our approach can automatically infer up to 50% of the configuration decisions, and reduces the complexity of making configuration decisions.
Tight Bounds for Asynchronous Renaming
Authors: Alistarh Dan , Aspnes James , Censor-Hillel Keren , Gilbert Seth , Guerraoui Rachid
Published: May 2014

This article presents the first tight bounds on the time complexity of shared-memory renaming, a fundamental problem in distributed computing in which a set of processes need to pick distinct identifiers from a small namespace.

We first prove an individual lower bound of Ω(
k
) process steps for deterministic renaming into any namespace of size subexponential in
k
, where
k
is the number of participants. The bound is tight: it draws an exponential separation between deterministic and randomized solutions, and implies new tight bounds for deterministic concurrent fetch-and-increment counters, queues, and stacks. The proof is based on a new reduction from renaming to another fundamental problem in distributed computing: mutual exclusion. We complement this individual bound with a global lower bound of Ω(
k
log (
k
/
c
)) on the total step complexity of renaming into a namespace of size
ck
, for any
c
≥ 1. This result applies to randomized algorithms against a strong adversary, and helps derive new global lower bounds for randomized approximate counter implementations, that are tight within logarithmic factors.

On the algorithmic side, we give a protocol that transforms any sorting network into a randomized strong adaptive renaming algorithm, with expected cost equal to the depth of the sorting network. This gives a tight adaptive renaming algorithm with expected step complexity
O
(log
k
), where
k
is the contention in the current execution. This algorithm is the first to achieve sublinear time, and it is time-optimal as per our randomized lower bound. Finally, we use this renaming protocol to build monotone-consistent counters with logarithmic step complexity and linearizable fetch-and-increment registers with polylogarithmic cost.
Efficient and Dynamic Algorithms for Alternating Büchi Games and Maximal End-Component Decomposition
Authors: Chatterjee Krishnendu , Henzinger Monika
Published: May 2014

The computation of the winning set for Büchi objectives in alternating games on graphs is a central problem in computer-aided verification with a large number of applications. The long-standing best known upper bound for solving the problem is
Õ
(
n
·
m
), where
n
is the number of vertices and
m
is the number of edges in the graph. We are the first to break the
Õ
(
n
·
m
) boundary by presenting a new technique that reduces the running time to
O
(
n
2
). This bound also leads to
O
(
n
2
)-time algorithms for computing the set of almost-sure winning vertices for Büchi objectives (1) in alternating games with probabilistic transitions (improving an earlier bound of
Õ
(
n
·
m
)), (2) in concurrent graph games with constant actions (improving an earlier bound of
O
(
n
3
)), and (3) in Markov decision processes (improving for
m
>
n
4/3
an earlier bound of
O
(
m
· √
m
)). We then show how to maintain the winning set for Büchi objectives in alternating games under a sequence of edge insertions or a sequence of edge deletions in
O
(
n
) amortized time per operation. Our algorithms are the first dynamic algorithms for this problem. We then consider another core graph theoretic problem in verification of probabilistic systems, namely computing the maximal end-component decomposition of a graph. We present two improved static algorithms for the maximal end-component decomposition problem. Our first algorithm is an
O
(
m
· √
m
)-time algorithm, and our second algorithm is an
O
(
n
2
)-time algorithm which is obtained using the same technique as for alternating Büchi games. Thus, we obtain an
O
(min {m · √
m
,
n
2
})-time algorithm improving the long-standing
O
(
n
·
m
) time bound. Finally, we show how to maintain the maximal end-component decomposition of a graph under a sequence of edge insertions or a sequence of edge deletions in
O
(
n
) amortized time per edge deletion, and
O
(
m
) worst-case time per edge insertion. Again, our algorithms are the first dynamic algorithms for this problem.
The Cost of Fault Tolerance in Multi-Party Communication Complexity
Authors: Chen Binbin , Yu Haifeng , Zhao Yuda , Gibbons Phillip B.
Published: May 2014

Multi-party communication complexity involves distributed computation of a function over inputs held by multiple distributed players. A key focus of distributed computing research, since the very beginning, has been to tolerate failures. It is thus natural to ask “If we want to compute a certain function in a fault-tolerant way, what will the communication complexity be?” For this question, this article will focus specifically on (i) tolerating node crash failures, and (ii) computing the function over general topologies (instead of, e.g., just cliques).

One way to approach this question is to first develop results in a simpler failure-free setting, and then “amend” the results to take into account failures' impact. Whether this approach is effective largely depends on how big a difference failures can make. This article proves that the impact of failures is significant, at least for the Sum aggregate function in general topologies: As our central contribution, we prove that there exists (at least) an exponential gap between the non-fault-tolerant and fault-tolerant communication complexity of S
um
. This gap attests that fault-tolerant communication complexity needs to be studied separately from non-fault-tolerant communication complexity, instead of being considered as an “amended” version of the latter. Such exponential gap is not obvious: For some other functions such as the M
ax
aggregate function, the gap is only logarithmic.

Part of our results are obtained via a novel reduction from a new two-party problem U
nion
S
ize
CP that we introduce. U
nion
S
ize
CP comes with a novel
cycle promise
, which is the key enabler of our reduction. We further prove that this cycle promise and U
nion
S
ize
CP likely play a fundamental role in reasoning about fault-tolerant communication complexity.
SUOR
Authors: Wu Xiaowen , Xu Jiang , Ye Yaoyao , Wang Zhehui , Nikdast Mahdi , Wang Xuan
Published: May 2014

Chip multiprocessor (CMP) is becoming an attractive platform for applications seeking both high performance and high energy efficiency. In large-scale CMPs, the communication efficiency among cores is crucial for the overall system performance and energy consumption. In this article, we propose a ring-based optical network-on-chip, called SUOR, to fulfill the communication requirement of CMPs. SUOR effectively explores the distinctive properties of optical signals and photonic devices, and dynamically partitions each data channel into multiple sections. Each section can be utilized independently to boost performance as well as reduce energy consumption. We develop a set of distributed control protocols and algorithms for SUOR, but physically allocate the corresponding cluster agents close to each other to benefit from the strengths of optical interconnects at long distances as well as electrical interconnects at short distances. Simulation results show that SUOR outperforms the alternative optical networks under a wide range of traffic patterns. For example, compared with MWSR design, SUOR achieves 2.58× throughput as well as saves 64% energy consumption on average in a 256-core CMP. Compared with MWMR design, SUOR achieves 1.52× throughput and reduces 73% energy consumption on average.
First impressions, unexpected benefits
Authors: Reed Daniel , Stephenson Chris
Published: May 2014

The
Communications
Web site, http://cacm.acm.org, features more than a dozen bloggers in the BLOG@CACM community. In each issue of
Communications
, we'll publish selected posts or excerpts.

twitter

Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/blogCACM

http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm

Daniel Reed shares his experiences with Google Glass, while Chris Stephenson considers the kinds of support chapters of the Computer Science Teachers Association provide their members.
Domination in the Probabilistic World
Authors: Bartolini Ilaria , Ciaccia Paolo , Patella Marco
Published: May 2014

In a probabilistic database, deciding if a tuple
u
is
better
than another tuple
v
has not a univocal solution, rather it depends on the specific
Probabilistic Ranking Semantics
(PRS) one wants to adopt so as to combine together tuples' scores and probabilities.

In deterministic databases it is known that skyline queries are a remarkable alternative to (top-
k
) ranking queries, because they remove from the user the burden of specifying a scoring function that combines values of different attributes into a single score. The skyline of a deterministic relation
R
is the set of
undominated
tuples in
R
-- tuple
u
dominates tuple
v
iff on all the attributes of interest
u
is better than or equal to
v
and strictly better on at least one attribute. Domination is equivalent to having
s
(
u
) ≥
s
(
v
) for
all
monotone scoring functions
s
().

The skyline of a probabilistic relation

R
p

can be similarly defined as the set of
P-undominated
tuples in

R
p

, where now
u
P-dominates
v
iff, whatever monotone scoring function one would use to combine the skyline attributes,
u
is reputed better than
v
by the PRS at hand. This definition, which is applicable to arbitrary ranking semantics and probabilistic correlation models, is parametric in the adopted PRS, thus it ensures that ranking and skyline queries will always return consistent results.

In this article we provide an overall view of the problem of computing the skyline of a probabilistic relation. We show how, under mild conditions that indeed hold for all known PRSs, checking P-domination can be cast into an optimization problem, whose complexity we characterize for a variety of combinations of ranking semantics and correlation models. For each analyzed case we also provide specific
P-domination rules
, which are exploited by the algorithm we detail for the case where the probabilistic model is known to the query processor. We also consider the case in which the probability of tuple events can only be obtained through an oracle, and describe another skyline algorithm for this loosely integrated scenario. Our experimental evaluation of P-domination rules and skyline algorithms confirms the theoretical analysis.
Owning and using
Authors: Armour Phillip G.
Published: May 2014

On vital and supporting systems.
Motion fields for interactive character locomotion
Authors: Lee Yongjoon , Wampler Kevin , Bernstein Gilbert , Popović Jovan , Popović Zoran
Published: May 2014

We propose a novel representation of motion data and control of virtual characters that gives highly agile responses to user input and allows a natural handling of arbitrary external disturbances. In contrast to traditional approaches based on replaying segments of motion data directly, our representation organizes samples of motion data into a high-dimensional generalization of a vector field that we call a
motion field
. Our runtime motion synthesis mechanism freely flows through the motion field in response to user commands. The motions we create appear natural, are highly responsive to real-time user input, and are not explicitly specified in the data.
The curse of the excluded middle
Authors: Meijer Erik
Published: May 2014

"Mostly functional" programming does not work.
Domain-specific languages and code synthesis using Haskell
Authors: Gill Andy
Published: May 2014

Looking at embedded DSLs.
Demand-Insensitive price relationships in competitive private commons
Authors: Kavurmacioglu Emir , Alanyali Murat , Starobinski David
Published: May 2014

We introduce an economic model for private commons that consists of network providers serving a fixed primary demand and making strategic pricing decisions to improve their revenues by providing service to a secondary demand. For general forms of secondary demand, we establish the existence and uniqueness of two critical prices for each provider: the break-even price and the market sharing price. The prior determines service profitability while the latter determines a provider's willingness to share the market. We further show that the market sharing price is always greater than the break-even price, leading to a price interval in which a provider is both profitable and willing to share the market. Making use of these results, we shed insight into the nature of market outcomes (Nash equilibria) when two providers compete to attract secondary demand: (i) if the market sharing intervals of the two providers overlap, then the providers end up sharing the market; (ii) else, the provider with the lower break-even price captures the entire market as the result of a price war.
Incentive design for heterogeneous user-generated content networks
Authors: Xu Jie , van der Schaar Mihaela
Published: May 2014

This paper designs rating systems aimed at incentivizing users in UGC networks to produce content, thereby significantly improving the social welfare of such networks. We explicitly consider that monitoring user's production activities is imperfect. Such imperfect monitoring will lead to undesired rating drop of users, thereby reducing the social welfare of the network. The network topology constraint and users' heterogeneity further complicates the optimal rating system design problem since users' incentives are complexly coupled. This paper determines optimal recommendation strategies under a variety of monitoring scenarios. Our results suggest that, surprisingly, allowing a certain level of freeriding behavior may lead to higher social welfare than incentivizing all users to produce.
SDP
Authors: Chiang Mung
Published: May 2014

Fifty years ago, the transition from voice calls to bursty data traffic justified packet switched networks. As data traffic becomes more heterogeneous today, what are the implications to network architecture? Instead of just counting bytes, Smart Data Pricing (SDP) manages traffic by treating different bytes differently.

SDP can refer to (a) usage pricing like $10/GB, with throttling/booster, (b) time/location/app/congestion-dependent dynamic pricing, (c) two-sided 1-800 pricing, (d) WiFi of- oading/proactive caching, (e) quota-aware content distribution, (f) transaction-based pricing... or any of the above. It can help create happier users, less congestion and better QoE, lower CapEx/OpEx, higher revenue/profit margin, less churn, more consumption, and more ad revenue. But it also requires smart interfaces among pipe providers and content/app providers, and a combination of fundamental research, systems implementation, and user trials.

This talk summarizes what we learned about the win-win that awaits the whole ecosystem.
Optimizing cloud utilization via switching decisions
Authors: Feinberg Eugene , Zhang Xiaoxuan
Published: May 2014

This paper studies a control problem for optimal switching on and off a cloud computing services modeled by an M=M=1 queue with holding, running and switching costs. The main result is that an average-optimal policy either always runs the system or is an (M; N)- policy defined by two thresholds M and N, such that the system is switched on upon an arrival epoch when the system size accumulates to N and it is switched off upon a departure epoch when the system size decreases to M. We compare the optimal (M; N)-policy with the classical (0; N)-policy and show the non-optimality of it.
Dual direction big data download and analysis
Authors: Al-Jaroodi Jameela , Mohamed Nader , Eid Abdulla
Published: May 2014

The term Big Data was recently coined as the amount of generated and stored digital data has grown so rapidly that it has become very hard to store, manage and analyze without coming up with new techniques that can cope with such challenges. Finding innovative approaches to support big data analysis has become a priority as both the research community and the industry are trying to make use of these huge amounts of available data. In this paper we introduce a new approach to enhance the overall big data analysis performance. The approach calls for utilizing data set replication, parallel download, and parallel processing over multiple compute nodes. The main concept calls for simultaneously parallelizing the download of the data (in partitions) from multiple replicated sites to multiple compute nodes that will also perform the analysis in parallel. Then the results are given to the client that requested the analysis.
MITRA
Authors: Luiz Aldelir Fernando , Lung Lau Cheuk , Correia Miguel
Published: May 2014

Replication is often considered a cost-effective solution for building dependable systems with off-the-shelf hardware. Replication software is usually designed to tolerate crash faults, but Byzantine (or arbitrary) faults such as software bugs are well-known to affect transactional database management systems (DBMSs) as many other classes of software. Despite the maturity of replication technology, Byzantine fault-tolerant replication of databases remains a challenging problem. The paper presents MITRA, a middleware for replicating DBMSs and making them tolerant to Byzantine faults. MITRA is designed to offer transparent replication of off-theshelf DBMSs with replicas from different vendors.
Opportunistic data services in least developed countries
Authors: Anciaux Nicolas , Bouganim Luc , Delot Thierry , Ilarri Sergio , Kloul Leila , Mitton Nathalie , Pucheral Philippe
Published: May 2014

According to many studies, IT should become a key facilitator in establishing primary education, reducing mortality or supporting commercial initiatives in Least Developed Countries. The main barrier to the development of IT services in these regions is not only the lack of communication facilities, but also the lack of consistent information systems, security procedures, economic and legal support, as well as political commitment. In this paper, we propose the vision of an infrastructure-less data platform well suited for the development of innovative IT services in Least Developed Countries. We propose a participatory approach, called Folk-IS, where each individual implements a small subset of a complete information system thanks to highly secure, portable and low-cost personal devices as well as opportunistic networking, without the need for any form of infrastructure. In this paper, we focus on the exploitation and feasibility analysis of the Folk-IS vision. We also review the technical challenges that are specific to this approach.
Impact of DG Configuration on Maximum Use of Load Supply Capability in Distribution Power Systems
Authors: Liu Hong , Guo Yinchang , Ge Shaoyun , Zhao Mingxin
Published: May 2014

Traditional distributed generators (DGs) planning methods take network loss minimization as the main objective to optimize DG sites in feeders. The use of load supply capability (LSC) in DG planning will precisely answer the questions how many DGs should be integrated, which transformer they should be connected to, and which type of DGs should be adopted. The main work of this paper is to analyze the impact of DGs on LSC so as to answer the three key questions. It resolves the planning problem through three steps: (i) two LSC models considering DGs’ access are developed, in which two different transfer strategies are considered: direct load transfer and indirect load transfer; (ii) the method of combined simple method and point estimate method is proposed. At last, based on a base case, when the configuration of DGs is changing, the impact of DGs on system LSC is studied. After the case study, the conclusion concerning the impact of load transfer strategy, DG capacities, and DG types on LSC is reached.
Wavelet Methods for Solving Fractional Order Differential Equations
Authors: Gupta A. K. , Ray S. Saha
Published: May 2014

Fractional calculus is a field of applied mathematics which deals with derivatives and integrals of arbitrary orders. The fractional calculus has gained considerable importance during the past decades mainly due to its application in diverse fields of science and engineering such as viscoelasticity, diffusion of biological population, signal processing, electromagnetism, fluid mechanics, electrochemistry, and many more. In this paper, we review different wavelet methods for solving both linear and nonlinear fractional differential equations. Our goal is to analyze the selected wavelet methods and assess their accuracy and efficiency with regard to solving fractional differential equations. We discuss challenges faced by researchers in this field, and we emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary effort for advancing the study on various wavelets in order to solve differential equations of arbitrary order.
Measurement Performance Assessment: Dynamic Calibration Compared with Static Calibration Method for Roller Tester of Vehicle Brake Force
Authors: Xu Guan , Su Jian , Chen Rong , Pan Hongda , Zhang Libin , Wang Xing
Published: May 2014

The measurement performance of the roller tester for the vehicle brake force is evaluated by both proposed dynamic calibration and traditional static calibration to find an effective way for ensuring the vehicle safety. Three static parameters, brake force error of a single bench, difference of the left and right benches, and measurement repeatability, are verified to be eligible in the experiments. However, the experimental results of the dynamic calibration prove that the same brake tester fails on the repeatability with a 10.4% error. The dynamic calibration method improves the measurement performance of the brake tester in practical applications.
Synthetic Phage for Tissue Regeneration
Authors: Yoo So Young , Merzlyak Anna , Lee Seung-Wuk
Published: May 2014

Controlling structural organization and signaling motif display is of great importance to design the functional tissue regenerating materials. Synthetic phage, genetically engineered M13 bacteriophage has been recently introduced as novel tissue regeneration materials to display a high density of cell-signaling peptides on their major coat proteins for tissue regeneration purposes. Structural advantages of their long-rod shape and monodispersity can be taken together to construct nanofibrous scaffolds which support cell proliferation and differentiation as well as direct orientation of their growth in two or three dimensions. This review demonstrated how functional synthetic phage is designed and subsequently utilized for tissue regeneration that offers potential cell therapy.
ATP during Early Bladder Stretch Is Important for Urgency in Detrusor Overactivity Patients
Authors: Cheng Y. , Mansfield K. J. , Allen W. , Chess-Williams R. , Burcher E. , Moore K. H.
Published: May 2014

ATP is an important mediator of urgency in women with detrusor overactivity (DO). In order to understand how different degrees of bladder stretch elicited ATP release in DO patients compared with controls, sequential aliquots were collected during cystometry and ATP release was measured at each degree of bladder filling, in female patients with DO and controls. In both DO and control groups, ATP release was induced during bladder filling, suggesting that stretch stimulated further ATP release. However, the luminal ATP concentrations were already high at early filling stage (200 mL), which was even greater than those at the later filling stages (400 mL and maximum cystometric capacity, MCC), indicating that a substantial ATP release has been induced during early filling (200 mL) in both DO and controls. In DO, ATP release at 200 mL was significantly higher in those with low first desire to void (FDV) (≤200 mL) than in those with higher FDV (>200 mL); this may suggest that ATP release at early stretch may play an important role in urgency (early sensation) in DO. ATP concentrations remained unchanged after voiding, suggesting that voiding did not further induce ATP release into intraluminal fluid.
A Simpler Approach to Coefficient Regularized Support Vector Machines Regression
Authors: Tong Hongzhi , Chen Di-Rong , Yang Fenghong
Published: May 2014

We consider a kind of support vector machines regression (SVMR) algorithms associated withlq  (1≤q<∞)coefficient-based regularization and data-dependent hypothesis space. Compared with former literature, we provide here a simpler convergence analysis for those algorithms. The novelty of our analysis lies in the estimation of the hypothesis error, which is implemented by setting a stepping stone between the coefficient regularized SVMR and the classical SVMR. An explicit learning rate is then derived under very mild conditions.
Two Improved Multiple‐Differential Collision Attacks
Authors: Wang An , Wu Liji , Wang Zongyue , Zheng Xuexin , Chen Man , Ma Jing
Published: May 2014

In CHES 2008, Bogdanov proposed multiple‐differential collision attacks which could be applied to the power analysis attacks on practical cryptographic systems. However, due to the effect of countermeasures on FPGA, there are some difficulties during the collision detection, such as local high noise and the lack of sampling points. In this paper, keypoints voting test is proposed for solving these problems, which can increase the success ratio from 35% to 95% on the example of one implementation. Furthermore, we improve the ternary voting test of Bogdanov, which can improve the experiment efficiency markedly. Our experiments show that the number of power traces required in our attack is only a quarter of the requirement of traditional attack. Finally, some alternative countermeasures against our attacks are discussed.
Niacin Inhibits Vascular Inflammation via Downregulating Nuclear Transcription Factor-κB Signaling Pathway
Authors: Si Yanhong , Zhang Ying , Zhao Jilong , Guo Shoudong , Zhai Lei , Yao Shutong , Sang Hui , Yang Nana , Song Guohua , Gu Jue , Qin Shucun
Published: May 2014

The study aimed to investigate the effect of niacin on vascular inflammatory lesionsin vivoandin vitroas well as its lipid-regulating mechanism.In vivostudy revealed that niacin downregulated the levels of inflammatory factors (IL-6 and TNF-α) in plasma, suppressed protein expression of CD68 and NF-κB p65 in arterial wall, and attenuated oxidative stress in guinea pigs that have been fed high fat diet.In vitrostudy further confirmed that niacin decreased the secretion of IL-6 and TNF-αand inhibited NF-κB p65 and notch1 protein expression in oxLDL-stimulated HUVECs and THP-1 macrophages. Moreover, niacin attenuated oxLDL-induced apoptosis of HUVECs as well. In addition, niacin significantly lessened lipid deposition in arterial wall, increased HDL-C and apoA levels and decreased TG and non-HDL-C levels in plasma, and upregulated the mRNA amount of cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase A1 in liver of guinea pigs. These data suggest for the first time that niacin inhibits vascular inflammationin vivoandin vitrovia downregulating NF-κB signaling pathway. Furthermore, niacin also modulates plasma lipid by upregulating the expression of factors involved in the process of reverse cholesterol transport.
Recurrent Silent Thyroiditis as a Sequela of Postpartum Thyroiditis
Authors: Hanseree Preaw , Salvador Vincent Bryan , Sachmechi Issac , Kim Paul
Published: May 2014

Thyroiditis encompasses a group of disorders characterized by thyroid inflammation. Though clinically indistinguishable from silent thyroiditis, postpartum thyroiditis occurs in women within 12 months after delivery. Recurrent postpartum thyroiditis in subsequent pregnancies is common, but recurrent silent thyroiditis is rare. We reported a case of patient with recurrent episodes of thyroiditis, unrelated to pregnancy, after an episode of postpartum thyroiditis. It is of interest that postpartum thyroiditis and silent thyroiditis could occur closely to each other; however, the link between these disorders is not well established. This report is to remind physicians of the possibility of recurrent silent thyroiditis in women with a history of postpartum thyroiditis.
Fault Detection Enhancement in Rolling Element Bearings via Peak‐Based Multiscale Decomposition and Envelope Demodulation
Authors: Wang Hua-Qing , Hou Wei , Tang Gang , Yuan Hong-Fang , Zhao Qing-Liang , Cao Xi
Published: May 2014

Vibration signals of rolling element bearings faults are usually immersed in background noise, which makes it difficult to detect the faults. Wavelet‐based methods being used commonly can reduce some types of noise, but there is still plenty of room for improvement due to the insufficient sparseness of vibration signals in wavelet domain. In this work, in order to eliminate noise and enhance the weak fault detection, a new kind of peak‐based approach combined with multiscale decomposition and envelope demodulation is developed. First, to preserve effective middle‐low frequency signals while making high frequency noise more significant, a peak‐based piecewise recombination is utilized to convert middle frequency components into low frequency ones. The newly generated signal becomes so smoother that it will have a sparser representation in wavelet domain. Then a noise threshold is applied after wavelet multiscale decomposition, followed by inverse wavelet transform and backward peak‐based piecewise transform. Finally, the amplitude of fault characteristic frequency is enhanced by means of envelope demodulation. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by rolling bearings faults experiments. Compared with traditional wavelet‐based analysis, experimental results show that fault features can be enhanced significantly and detected easily by the proposed method.
Cervical Infection withHerpes simplexVirus,Chlamydia trachomatis, andNeisseria gonorrhoeaeamong Symptomatic Women, Dubai, UAE: A Molecular Approach
Authors: Mehrabani Davood , Behzadi Mohammad Amin , Azizi Saeed , Payombarnia Hamid , Vahdani Ali , Namayandeh Mandana , Ziyaeyan Mazyar
Published: May 2014

Tragically, genital tract infections are still a major public health problem in many regions. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of cervical infection withHerpes simplexvirus (HSV),Chlamydia trachomatis(CT), andNeisseria gonorrhoeae(NG) among married women referring to Iranian Hospital, Dubai, UAE. In a retrospective cross-sectional survey, 201 female patients aged 16–80 years who referred to the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Iranian Hospital, Dubai, UAE, in 2010 were enrolled. The patients were categorized into three age groups: 15–30 (group I), 31–40 (group II), and≥41 years old (group III). A cervical swab sample was collected from each woman and the prevalence of cervical infection with HSV, CT, and NG was determined by PCR method. HSV, CT, and NG were detected in 6.5%, 10.4%, and 5.5% of swab samples, respectively. Regarding age, a significant difference was noticed for prevalence of NG and HSV between groups I and III. Because of public health importance of sexual transmitted diseases (STDs), their long-lasting impact on quality of life, and their economic burden, preventing measures and education of women seem necessary.
18F-Labeling Using Click Cycloadditions
Authors: Kettenbach Kathrin , Schieferstein Hanno , Ross Tobias L.
Published: May 2014

Due to expanding applications of positron emission tomography (PET) there is a demand for developing new techniques to introduce fluorine-18 (t1/2=109.8 min). Considering that most novel PET tracers are sensitive biomolecules and that direct introduction of fluorine-18 often needs harsh conditions, the insertion of18F in those molecules poses an exceeding challenge. Two major challenges during18F-labeling are a regioselective introduction and a fast and high yielding way under mild conditions. Furthermore, attention has to be paid to functionalities, which are usually present in complex structures of the target molecule. The Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) and several copper-free click reactions represent such methods for radiolabeling of sensitive molecules under the above-mentioned criteria. This minireview will provide a quick overview about the development of novel18F-labeled prosthetic groups for click cycloadditions and will summarize recent trends in copper-catalyzed and copper-free click18F-cycloadditions.
Probabilistic Neural Network and Fuzzy Cluster Analysis Methods Applied to Impedance-Based SHM for Damage Classification
Authors: Palomino Lizeth Vargas , Steffen Valder , Finzi Neto Roberto Mendes
Published: May 2014

Impedance-based structural health monitoring technique is performed by measuring the variation of the electromechanical impedance of the structure caused by the presence of damage. The impedance signals are collected from patches of piezoelectric material bonded on the surface of the structure (or embedded). Through these piezoceramic sensor-actuators, the electromechanical impedance, which is directly related to the mechanical impedance of the structure, is obtained. Based on the variation of the impedance signals, the presence of damage can be detected. A particular damage metric is used to quantify the damage. Distinguishing damage groups from a universe containing different types of damage is a major challenge in structural health monitoring. There are several types of failures that can occur in a given structure, such as cracks, fissures, loss of mechanical components (e.g., rivets), corrosion, and wear. It is important to characterize each type of damage from the impedance signals considered. In the present paper, probabilistic neural network and fuzzy cluster analysis methods are used for identification, localization, and classification of two types of damage, namely, cracks and rivet losses. The results show that probabilistic neural network and fuzzy cluster analysis methods are useful for identification, localization, and classification of these types of damage.
Gleditsia sinensis: Transcriptome Sequencing, Construction, and Application of Its Protein-Protein Interaction Network
Authors: Zhu Liucun , Zhang Ying , Guo Wenna , Wang Qiang
Published: May 2014

Gleditsia sinensisis a genus of deciduous tree in the familyCaesalpinioideae, native to China, and is of great economic importance. However, despite its economic value, gene sequence information is strongly lacking. In the present study, transcriptome sequencing ofG. sinensiswas performed resulting in approximately 75.5 million clean reads assembled into 142155 unique transcripts generating 58583 unigenes. The average length of the unigenes was 900 bp, with an N50 of 549 bp. The obtained unigene sequences were then compared to four protein databases to include NCBI nonredundant protein (NRDB), Swiss-prot, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and the Cluster of Orthologous Groups (COG). Using BLAST procedure, 31385 unigenes (53.6%) were generated to have functional annotations. Additionally, sequence homologies between identified unigenes and genes of known species in a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network facilitatedG. sinensisPPI network construction. Based on this network construction, new stress resistance genes (including cold, drought, and high salinity) were predicted. The present study is the first investigation of genome-wide gene expression inG. sinensiswith the results providing a basis for future functional genomic studies relating to this species.
Essential Oil Composition and Antimicrobial Activities of Two Closely Related Species,Alpinia muticaRoxb. andAlpinia latilabrisRidl., from Peninsular Malaysia
Authors: Ibrahim Halijah , Sivasothy Yasodha , Syamsir Devi Rosmy , Nagoor Noor Hasima , Jamil Natasha , Awang Khalijah
Published: May 2014

The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of the unripe and ripe fruits ofAlpinia muticaRoxb. andAlpinia latilabrisRidl. were analysed by capillary GC and GC-MS. The oils were principally monoterpenic in nature. The unripe and ripe fruit oils ofA. muticawere characterized by camphor (21.0% and 15.8%), camphene (16.6% and 10.2%),β-pinene (8.6% and 13.5%), andtrans,trans-farnesol (8.0% and 11.2%), respectively. The oils of the unripe and ripe fruits were moderately active againstStaphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Trichophyton mentagrophytes,andTrichophyton rubrum. 1,8-Cineole (34.2% and 35.9%) andβ-pinene (20.2% and 19.0%) were the two most abundant components in the unripe and ripe fruit oils ofA. latilabris. The oil of the unripe fruits elicits moderate activity againstStaphylococcus aureusandTrichophyton mentagrophyteswhileCandida glabratawas moderately sensitive to the oil of the ripe fruits.
Enhanced Magnetization of Sol‐Gel Synthesized Pb‐Doped Strontium Hexaferrites Nanocrystallites at Low Temperature
Authors: Ramay Shahid M. , Atiq Shahid , Saleem Murtaza , Mahmood Asif , Siddiqi Saadat A. , Naseem Shahzad , Al-Zeghayer Yousef , Alzayed Nasser S. , Shahabuddin Mohammed
Published: May 2014

Effect of Pb doping on the structural and low temperature magnetic properties of SrPbxFe12−xO19 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and  0.4), synthesized by sol‐gel autocombustion technique, has been investigated. The powder samples were sintered at 800°C for 2 h in order to develop the stable hexagonal phase, characteristic of the SrFe12O19 structure. The consequences of Pb substitution (at iron sites) on various structural parameters like lattice constants, unit cell volume, crystallite size, and porosity have been discussed. Fourier transform infrared frequency bands were utilized to determine the formation of tetrahedral and octahedral clusters of M‐type ferrites. Hexagonal texture of the grains, a characteristic of the hexagonal crystal structure of SrFe12O19, was refined by Pb substitution. The magnetic properties, determined using a vibrating sample magnetometer, revealed that saturation magnetization decreased, while coercivity was increased with the increase of Pb contents. However, the increased squareness ratio and hence the energy product motivate the utilization of these ferrite compositions where hard magnetic characteristics are required. The increased values of saturation magnetization were observed at reduced temperature of 200 K, attributable to the better spin alignments of individual magnetic moments at low temperature.
Cryptanalysis of Loiss Stream Cipher-Revisited
Authors: Ding Lin , Jin Chenhui , Guan Jie , Wang Qiuyan
Published: May 2014

Loiss is a novel byte-oriented stream cipher proposed in 2011. In this paper, based on solving systems of linear equations, we propose an improved Guess and Determine attack on Loiss with a time complexity of 2231and a data complexity of 268, which reduces the time complexity of the Guess and Determine attack proposed by the designers by a factor of 216. Furthermore, a related key chosenIVattack on a scaled-down version of Loiss is presented. The attack recovers the 128-bit secret key of the scaled-down Loiss with a time complexity of 280, requiring 264chosenIVs. The related key attack is minimal in the sense that it only requires one related key. The result shows that our key recovery attack on the scaled-down Loiss is much better than an exhaustive key search in the related key setting.
Iterative Computation for Solving the Variational Inequality and the Generalized Equilibrium Problem
Authors: Pan Xiujuan , Kang Shin Min , Kwun Young Chel
Published: May 2014

An iterative algorithm for solving the variational inequality and the generalized equilibrium problem has been introduced. Convergence result is given.
Antiartherosclerotic Effects of Plant Flavonoids
Authors: Salvamani Shamala , Gunasekaran Baskaran , Shaharuddin Noor Azmi , Ahmad Siti Aqlima , Shukor Mohd Yunus
Published: May 2014

Atherosclerosis is the process of hardening and narrowing the arteries. Atherosclerosis is generally associated with cardiovascular diseases such as strokes, heart attacks, and peripheral vascular diseases. Since the usage of the synthetic drug, statins, leads to various side effects, the plants flavonoids with antiartherosclerotic activity gained much attention and were proven to reduce the risk of atherosclerosisin vitroandin vivobased on different animal models. The flavonoids compounds also exhibit lipid lowering effects and anti-inflammatory and antiatherogenic properties. The future development of flavonoids-based drugs is believed to provide significant effects on atherosclerosis and its related diseases. This paper discusses the antiatherosclerotic effects of selected plant flavonoids such as quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, rutin, naringenin, catechin, fisetin, and gossypetin.
Existence Results for Strong Mixed Vector Equilibrium Problem for Multivalued Mappings
Authors: Kılıçman Adem , Ahmad Rais , Rahaman Mijanur
Published: May 2014

We consider a strong mixed vector equilibrium problem in topological vector spaces. Using generalized Fan-Browder fixed point theorem (Takahashi 1976) and generalized pseudomonotonicity for multivalued mappings, we provide some existence results for strong mixed vector equilibrium problem without using KKM-Fan theorem. The results in this paper generalize, improve, extend, and unify some existence results in the literature. Some special cases are discussed and an example is constructed.
Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography in Patients with Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma and Its Effect on Development of Cholangitis
Authors: İpek Serkan , Alper Emrah , Cekic Cem , Cerrah Serkan , Arabul Mahmut , Aslan Fatih , Unsal Belkis
Published: May 2014

Objective.We aimed to determine the effectiveness of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in patients with inoperable perihilar cholangiocarcinoma and establish the incidence of cholangitis development following ERCP.Material and Method.This retrospective study enrolled patients diagnosed with inoperable perihilar cholangiocarcinoma who underwent endoscopic drainage (stenting) with ERCP. Patients were evaluated for development of cholangitis and the effectiveness of ERCP. The procedure was considered successful if bilirubin level fell more than 50% within 7 days after ERCP.Results.Post-ERCP cholangitis developed in 40.7% of patients. Cholangitis development was observed among 39.4% of patients with effective ERCP and in 60.6% of patients with ineffective ERCP. Development of cholangitis was significantly more common in the group with ineffective ERCP compared to the effective ERCP group (P=0.001). The average number of ERCP procedures was 2.33 ± 0.89 among patients developing cholangitis and 1.79 ± 0.97 in patients without cholangitis. The number of ERCP procedures was found to be significantly higher among patients developing cholangitis compared to those without cholangitis (P=0.012).Conclusion.ERCP may not provide adequate biliary drainage in some of the patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma and also it is a procedure associated an increased risk of cholangitis.