bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sentence Relations for Extractive Summarization with Deep Neural Networks
Authors: Ren Pengjie , Chen Zhumin , Ren Zhaochun , Wei Furu , Nie Liqiang , Ma Jun , de Rijke Maarten
Published: April 2018

Sentence regression is a type of extractive summarization that achieves state-of-the-art performance and is commonly used in practical systems. The most challenging task within the sentence regression framework is to identify discriminative features to represent each sentence. In this article, we study the use of sentence relations, e.g., Contextual Sentence Relations (CSR), Title Sentence Relations (TSR), and Query Sentence Relations (QSR), so as to improve the performance of sentence regression. CSR, TSR, and QSR refer to the relations between a main body sentence and its local context, its document title, and a given query, respectively.

We propose a deep neural network model, Sentence Relation-based Summarization (SRSum), that consists of five sub-models, PriorSum, CSRSum, TSRSum, QSRSum, and SFSum. PriorSum encodes the latent semantic meaning of a sentence using a bi-gram convolutional neural network. SFSum encodes the surface information of a sentence, e.g., sentence length, sentence position, and so on. CSRSum, TSRSum, and QSRSum are three sentence relation sub-models corresponding to CSR, TSR, and QSR, respectively. CSRSum evaluates the ability of each sentence to summarize its local contexts. Specifically, CSRSum applies a CSR-based word-level and sentence-level attention mechanism to simulate the context-aware reading of a human reader, where words and sentences that have anaphoric relations or local summarization abilities are easily remembered and paid attention to. TSRSum evaluates the semantic closeness of each sentence with respect to its title, which usually reflects the main ideas of a document. TSRSum applies a TSR-based attention mechanism to simulate people’s reading ability with the main idea (title) in mind. QSRSum evaluates the relevance of each sentence with given queries for the query-focused summarization. QSRSum applies a QSR-based attention mechanism to simulate the attentive reading of a human reader with some queries in mind. The mechanism can recognize which parts of the given queries are more likely answered by a sentence under consideration. Finally as a whole, SRSum automatically learns useful latent features by jointly learning representations of query sentences, content sentences, and title sentences as well as their relations.

We conduct extensive experiments on six benchmark datasets, including generic multi-document summarization and query-focused multi-document summarization. On both tasks, SRSum achieves comparable or superior performance compared with state-of-the-art approaches in terms of multiple ROUGE metrics.
News from the SIGs
Authors: Walker Ellen , Settle Amber , Zilora Steve
Published: April 2018

In this issue of News from the SIGs, we present news from SIGCSE and SIGITE. Amber Settle, Chair of SIGCSE discusses the benefits of SIGCSE for practitioners and highlights some resources. Steven Zilora reflects on the growth and maturity of SIGITE as he completes his term as chair.
Evaluation of native and transfer students' success in a computer science course
Authors: Catanese Helen , Hauser Carl , Gebremedhin Assefaw H.
Published: April 2018

This study is motivated by a practical question faced by a computer science curriculum committee at a major research university. And that question is, are students who transfer credits for the first two courses into the computer science program at a disadvantage in their likelihood for success in the third course compared to students who took all three courses locally at the university? A retrospective longitudinal study using data from 2012 to 2016 revealed that transfer students succeeded in the third course in just about the same way as native students. The study also suggests interesting ideas for future exploration and avenues for further inquiries on broader topics.
Upward mobility for underrepresented students
Authors: Narayanan Sathya , Cunningham Kathryn , Arteaga Sonia , Welch William J. , Maxwell Leslie , Chawinga Zechariah , Su Bude
Published: April 2018

CSin3 is a cohort-based, three-year computer science bachelor's degree program that has increased graduation rates of traditionally underrepresented computer science students. A collaborative effort between a community college and a public university, CSin3 provides a clear pathway for upward socio-economic mobility into the high-paying technology industry. CSin3 students are 90% from traditionally underrepresented groups, 80% first-generation, 32% female, and have a three-year graduation rate of 71%, compared to a 22% four-year graduation rate for traditional computer science students. Upon graduation, CSin3 students score similarly on a standardized exam of computer science knowledge as compared to traditional students who graduate in 4 years or more. The first graduates had a job placement rate of 78% within two months of graduation, including positions at large technology companies like Apple, Salesforce, and Uber. By implementing a cohort-based learning community, a pre-defined course pathway, just-in-time academic and administrative support, comprehensive financial aid, and a focus on 21st century skills, the CSin3 program has demonstrated promising results in addressing the capacity, cost, quality, and diversity challenges present in the technology industry.
Local Fast Failover Routing With Low Stretch
Authors: Foerster Klaus-Tycho , Pignolet Yvonne-Anne , Schmid Stefan , Tredan Gilles
Published: April 2018

Network failures are frequent and disruptive, and can significantly reduce the throughput even in highly connected and regular networks such as datacenters. While many modern networks support some kind of local fast failover to quickly reroute flows encountering link failures to new paths, employing such mechanisms is known to be non-trivial, as conditional failover rules can only depend on local failure information.

While over the last years, important insights have been gained on how to design failover schemes providing high resiliency, existing approaches have the shortcoming that the resulting failover routes may be unnecessarily long, i.e., they have a large stretch compared to the original route length. This is a serious drawback, as long routes entail higher latencies and introduce loads, which may cause the rerouted flows to interfere with existing flows and harm throughput.

This paper presents the first deterministic local fast failover algorithms providing provable resiliency and failover route lengths, even in the presence of many concurrent failures. We present stretch-optimal failover algorithms for different network topologies, including multi-dimensional grids, hypercubes and Clos networks, as they are frequently deployed in the context of HPC clusters and datacenters. We show that the computed failover routes are optimal in the sense that no failover algorithm can provide shorter paths for a given number of link failures.
A Scalable VPN Gateway for Multi-Tenant Cloud Services
Authors: Arashloo Mina Tahmasbi , Shirshov Pavel , Gandhi Rohan , Lu Guohan , Yuan Lihua , Rexford Jennifer
Published: April 2018

Major cloud providers offer networks of virtual machines with private IP addresses as a service on the cloud. To isolate the address space of different customers, customers are required to tunnel their traffic to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) gateway, which is typically a middlebox inside the cloud that internally tunnels each packet to the correct destination. To improve performance, an increasing number of enterprises connect directly to the cloud provider's network at the edge, to a device we call the provider's edge (PE). PE is a chokepoint for customer's traffic to the cloud, and therefore a natural candidate for implementing network functions concerning customers' virtual networks, including the VPN gateway, to avoid a detour to middleboxes inside the cloud.

At the scale of today's cloud providers, VPN gateways need to maintain information for around a million internal tunnels. We argue that no single commodity device can handle these many tunnels while providing a high enough port density to connect to hundreds of cloud customers at the edge. Thus, in this paper, we propose a hybrid architecture for the PE, consisting of a commodity switch, connected to a commodity server which uses Data-Plane Development Kit (DPDK) for fast packet processing. This architecture enables a variety of network functions at the edge by offering the benefits of both hardware and software data planes. We implement a scalable VPN gateway on our proposed PE and show that it matches the scale requirements of today's cloud providers while processing packets close to line rate.
Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome Causing Hypovolemic Shock and Methemoglobinemia
Authors: Malin Stefan W. , Lutfi Riad , Friedman Matthew L. , Teagarden Alicia M.
Published: April 2018

A 5-week-old previously healthy male presented with vomiting and diarrhea leading to hypovolemic shock and profound metabolic acidosis. He was subsequently found to have severe methemoglobinemia. The acidosis and shock improved with fluid resuscitation and methemoglobinemia was successfully treated with methylene blue. An extensive workup, including evaluations for infectious and metabolic etiologies, was unremarkable. However, a detailed dietary history revealed a recent change in diet, supporting a diagnosis of food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES). We present this case to highlight the importance of considering FPIES in an infant with vomiting and diarrhea, in the setting of a recent dietary change, leading to profound dehydration, metabolic acidosis, and methemoglobinemia. Diagnosis of FPIES, although difficult to make and one of exclusion, can be potentially life-saving.
Empirical Study on Indicators Selection Model Based on Nonparametric K‐Nearest Neighbor Identification and R Clustering Analysis
Authors: Liu Yan , Li Zhan-jiang , Zhen Xue-jun
Published: April 2018

The combination of the nonparametric K‐nearest neighbor discriminant method and R cluster analysis is used to construct a double‐combination index screening model. The characteristics of the article are as follows: firstly, the nonparametric K‐nearest neighbor discriminant method is used to select the indicators which have significant ability to discriminate the default loss rate, which makes up the shortcomings of the previous research that only focuses on the indicators with significant ability to discriminate default state. Additionally, the R cluster analysis applied in this paper sorts the indicators by criterion class, rather than sorting the indicator by the whole index system. This approach ensures that indicators which are clustered in one class have the same economic implications and data characteristics. This approach avoids the situation where indicators that are clustered in one class only have the same data characteristics but have different economic implications.
Optimization of Airport Shuttle Bus Routes Based on Travel Time Reliability
Authors: Bao Danwen , Gu Jiayu , Di Zhiwei , Zhang Tianxuan
Published: April 2018

An optimization model of airport shuttle bus routes is constructed by taking operational reliability maximization as a main goal in this paper. Also, a hybrid genetic algorithm is designed to solve this problem. Then the theoretical method is applied to the case of Nanjing Lukou International Airport. During the research, a travel time reliability estimation method is proposed based on back propagation (BP) neural network. Absolute error and regression fitting methods are used to test the measurement results. It is proved that this method has higher accuracy and is applicable to calculate airport bus routes reliability. In algorithm design, the hill-climbing algorithm with strong local search ability is integrated into genetic algorithm. Initial solution is determined by hill-climbing algorithm so as to avoid the search process falling into a local optimal solution, which makes the accuracy of calculation result improved. However, the calculation results show that the optimization process of hybrid genetic algorithm is greatly affected by both the crossover rate and mutation rate. A higher mutation rate or lower crossover rate will decrease the stability of the optimization process. Multiple trials are required to determine the optimal crossover rate and mutation rate. The proposed method provides a scientific basis for optimizing the airport bus routes and improving the efficiency of airport’s external transportation services.
Successful Spontaneous Pregnancy after Treatment for Ewing Sarcoma including Sacrectomy
Authors: Hockertz T. , Velickovic M.
Published: April 2018

Ewing sarcomas are highly malignant bone tumors and usually occur in childhood. Radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgical methods increase the survival rate of the affected patient, but infertility and reduced reproductive capacity are common late effects of pediatric cancer treatment.
The Role of Monocyte/Macrophage and CXCR3 in Differentiation between Recurrent Hepatitis C and Acute Cellular Rejection Postliver Transplantation
Authors: Gomaa Asmaa Ibrahim , Ehsan Nermine Ahmed , Elrefaei Ahmed A. , Sultan Mervat Mohamed , Elsabaawy Maha Mohamed
Published: April 2018

Objective. Liver transplantation (LT) is the recommended treatment for patients with advanced liver disease and cirrhosis in all guidelines, mostly as a complication of HCV. The distinction between reinfection of the graft with HCV and acute cellular rejection (ACR) is essential because they are managed differently. Hepatic macrophages, which can either arise from circulating blood-derived monocytes (BDM) or from resident tissue Kupffer cells, are central in the pathogenesis of chronic liver injury. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether the origin of macrophages and the immune mediator CXCR3 could help in differentiating between acute recurrent HCV and ACR after liver transplantation. Methods. Twenty-nine cases of recurrent hepatitis C and 26 cases of ACR were included in this study. The expression of CD 68 (macrophage marker), CD11b (BDM marker), and CxCR3 in the postliver transplant biopsy using immunohistochemistry was determined. Results. CD11b expression highlighting macrophages of BDM origin was in favor of recurrent hepatitis C (P<0.001) than in ACR (P=0.44), while CXCR3 expression by hepatocytes was in favor of ACR (P=0.001). Conclusion. Macrophage infiltrating liver tissue post LT can distinguish between ACR by upregulation of CXCR3 and recurrent hepatitis C by predominant CD11b.
Association of Metformin Treatment with Reduced Severity of Diabetic Retinopathy in Type 2 Diabetic Patients
Authors: Li Yue , Ryu Christina , Munie Metasebia , Noorulla Salma , Rana Satyesh , Edwards Paul , Gao Hua , Qiao Xiaoxi
Published: April 2018

Purpose. To evaluate effects of long-term metformin on the severity of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in high-risk type 2 diabetic (T2D) patients. Methods. A retrospective chart review study was conducted involving 335 DR patients with T2D ≥ 15 years from 1990 to 2013. The severity of DR was determined by Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study scale. The associations between metformin and DR severity were evaluated. Comparison with stratification for the use of sulfonylurea and insulin was performed to identify possible confounding effects. Results. Severe nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy or proliferative diabetic retinopathy (SNPDR/PDR) was more often diagnosed in nonmetformin users (67/142, 47%) versus metformin users (48/193, 25%) (p<0.001), regardless of gender and race of the patients. The odds ratio of metformin associated with SNPDR/PDR was 0.37 in all cases (p<0.001), 0.35 in sulfonylurea use cohort (p<0.05), 0.45 in nonsulfonylurea use cohorts (p<0.01), and 0.42 in insulin use cohort (p<0.01). Insulin users had a higher rate of SNPDR/PDR. Metformin had no influence on the occurrence of clinical significant diabetic macular edema. Conclusions. Long-term use of metformin is independently associated with a significant lower rate of SNPDR/PDR in patients with type 2 diabetes ≥ 15 years.
Intestinal Permeability of Artesunate-Loaded Solid Lipid Nanoparticles Using the Everted Gut Method
Authors: Masiiwa Wadzanayi L. , Gadaga Louis L.
Published: April 2018

Background. Artesunate is one of the most potent, rapidly acting and therapeutically versatile antimalarial drugs. Its efficacy is hampered by poor aqueous solubility and stability resulting in low oral bioavailability. Recent efforts to nanoformulate artesunate have shown great potential of improving its dissolution profile and bioavailability. However, no study has yet been done to investigate the intestinal permeability of these nanoformulations, which is a critical determinant of systemic absorption. Objective of the Study. The main aim of the study was to determine the intestinal permeability of artesunate-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN). Method. The microemulsion dilution technique was used to fabricate artesunate-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles. In vitro drug release studies were performed at pH 1.2 and 6.8 using the dialysis membrane method. The everted gut sac method was used to assess the intestinal permeability of the prepared nanoparticles. Results. The average particle size was 1109 nm and the polydispersity index (PDI) was 0.082. The zeta potential was found to be −20.7 mV. The encapsulation efficiency of the solid lipid nanoparticles obtained was 51.7%. At both pH 1.2 and 6.8, pure artesunate was rapidly released within the first 30 mins while the SLN showed a biphasic release pattern with an initial burst release during the first hour followed by a prolonged release over time. The rate of drug release increased with increasing pH. The apparent permeability (Papp) of SLN was found to be greater (0.169 mg/cm2) as compared to that of pure artesunate (0.117 mg/cm2) at the end of the experiment. Conclusion. The results obtained in this study showed that the microemulsion dilution technique can be used to formulate artesunate solid lipid nanoparticles. The formulation exhibited a sustained drug release profile. The intestinal permeability of artesunate could be enhanced by the nanoformulation.
An Improvement Approach for Wide-Angle Impedance Matching Using ELC Metasurface Slabs for SIW Slot Array Antennas
Authors: Liu Yi , Yang Hu , Jin Zusheng , Zhu Jiang
Published: April 2018

The effects of mutual coupling in beam scanning arrays increase degradation in gain as the beam is scanned off the broadside. A simple and effective approach for a deployed SIW slot array antenna through the use of artificially structured materials is proposed to improve its performance of wide-angle scanning in the E-plane. Metasurface slabs of one-tenth wavelength electric-inductive-capacitive (ELC) resonators are vertically placed halfway between the adjacent waveguides without changing the antenna structure to realize wide-angle impedance matching (WAIM). The ELC metasurface is designed to operate at a linear region rather than at a resonance region to use its transmission property for greatly weakening mutual couplings. Inserting metasurface slabs between two adjacent waveguides to reduce the mutual coupling can achieve impedance matching at large scan angles. A 10 × 10 SIW slot array operating at X-band is modelled and simulated to study how the vertically placed ELC metasurface slabs over the antenna affect the array’s beam scanning performance. The simulated results show that the scan range of the antenna is extended from −50° to 50° to −70° to 70° under the criteria that radiating efficiency is greater than 80%.
New Optic Nerve Sonography Quality Criteria in the Diagnostic Evaluation of Traumatic Brain Injury
Authors: Soliman Ibrahim , Johnson Garrett G. R. J. , Gillman Lawrence M. , Zeiler Frederick A. , Faqihi Fahad , Aletreby Waleed Tharwat , Balhamar Abdullah , Mahmood Nasir Nasim , Ahmad Mumtaz Shahzad , Alharthy Abdulrahman , Lazaridis Christos , Karakitsos Dimitrios
Published: April 2018

Background. New sonographic quality criteria to optimize optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) measurements were suggested. The latter were correlated to elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Aim. We investigated whether ONSD measurements were correlated to simultaneous ICP measurements in severe TBI. Methods. Forty patients with severe TBI (Marshall Scale ≥II and GCS ≤8) participated in the study. All patients had an intraparenchymal ICP catheter inserted, while ONSD was measured bilaterally, upon admission and over the next 48 hours, based on the new sonographic criteria. A total of 400 ONSD measurements were performed, while mean ONSD values of both eyes were used in the analysis. Results. ONSD measurements were strongly correlated to ICP values (r=0.74,  p<0.0001). Receiver operator curve (ROC) analysis revealed that the ONSD cutoff value for predicting elevated ICP was 6.4 mm when using the mean of both eyes (AUC = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.80 to 0.95; sensitivity = 85.3%, specificity = 82.6%). Linear regression analysis nested models revealed that sex (p=0.006) and height (p=0.04) were significant predictors of ONSD values. Conclusion. When applying the new sonographic quality criteria, ONSD is strongly correlated to ICP in severe TBI. Whether to use such criteria to monitor ONSD as a proxy for ICP trend in TBI remains to be further explored.
Contractual Efficiency of PPP Infrastructure Projects: An Incomplete Contract Model
Authors: Shi Lei , Zhang Lu , Onishi Masamitsu , Kobayashi Kiyoshi , Dai Dashuang
Published: April 2018

This study analyses the contractual efficiency of public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects, with a focus on two financial aspects: the nonrecourse principal and incompleteness of debt contracts. The nonrecourse principal releases the sponsoring companies from the debt contract when the special purpose vehicle (SPV) established by the sponsoring companies falls into default. Consequently, all obligations under the debt contract are limited to the liability of the SPV following its default. Because the debt contract is incomplete, a renegotiation of an additional loan between the bank and the SPV might occur to enable project continuation or liquidation, which in turn influences the SPV’s ex ante strategies (moral hazard). Considering these two financial features of PPP infrastructure projects, this study develops an incomplete contract model to investigate how the renegotiation triggers ex ante moral hazard and ex post inefficient liquidation. We derive equilibrium strategies under service fees endogenously determined via bidding and examine the effect of equilibrium strategies on contractual efficiency. Finally, we propose an optimal combination of a performance guarantee, the government’s termination right, and a service fee to improve the contractual efficiency of PPP infrastructure projects.
Adverse Effects of Proton Pump Inhibitors on Platelet Count: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Mukherjee Subhajit , Jana Tanima , Pan Jen-Jung
Published: April 2018

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are the most effective and preferred class of drugs used to treat peptic ulcer disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and other diseases associated with increased production of gastric acid. PPIs in general have an excellent long-term safety profile and are well-tolerated. However, studies have shown some adverse reactions (e.g., osteoporosis, Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea, Vitamin B12 and iron deficiency, and acute interstitial nephritis) on long-term PPI use. Thrombocytopenia attributed to use of PPIs has been described in a few case reports and a retrospective study. In this case report, we describe a case of PPI-induced thrombocytopenia. In our patient, thrombocytopenia immediately developed after the initiation of PPI on two separate occasions and resolved after its discontinuation. The strong association found in our case implies the potential role of PPI in causing this rare but serious adverse reaction. Based on this case report and the observation from other studies, a PPI-induced adverse event should be considered as a possible etiology for new-onset idiopathic thrombocytopenia.
The Impact of Pathologic Upgrading of Gleason Score 7 Prostate Cancer on the Risk of the Biochemical Recurrence after Radical Prostatectomy
Authors: Park Juhyun , Yoo Sangjun , Cho Min Chul , Cho Min Hyun , Jeong Chang Wook , Ku Ja Hyeon , Kwak Cheol , Kim Hyeon Hoe , Jeong Hyeon
Published: April 2018

Objective. To investigate the impact of pathologic upgrading of Gleason score (GS) 7 prostate cancer on the risk of the biochemical recurrence. Materials and Methods. A total of 1678 patients with postoperative GS 7 prostate cancer without lymph node metastasis were reviewed retrospectively. The patients were categorized into four groups depending on pathologic upgrading: upgraded GS 3+4, nonupgraded GS 3+4, upgraded GS 4+3, and nonupgraded GS 4+3. Kaplan-Meier multivariate model was created. Results. The mean age was significantly higher in the nonupgraded GS 4+3 group than in other groups, whereas the mean prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level was lower in the upgraded GS 3+4 group. Pathologic findings, such as extracapsular extension, seminal vesical invasion, and the surgical margin rate, were different from each other. Five-year biochemical recurrence-free survival rate was 85%, 73%, 69%, and 60% in upgraded GS 3+4, nonupgraded GS 3+4, upgraded GS 4+3, and nonupgraded GS 4+3 group, respectively. There was significant difference between the nonupgraded 4+3 and upgraded 4+3 group, as well as between upgraded 3+4 and nonupgraded 3+4 group. However, the two middle patient groups, that is, the nonupgraded GS 3+4 group and the upgraded GS 4+3 group, did not show the statistical difference (Log-rank test, p value = 0.259). Conclusion. The information on pathologic upgrading in the biopsy reports of patients could help to provide more detailed analysis for the biochemical recurrence of GS 7 prostate cancer.
Cooperative Virtual Sensor for Fault Detection and Identification in Multi-UAV Applications
Authors: Suarez Alejandro , Heredia Guillermo , Ollero Anibal
Published: April 2018

This paper considers the problem of fault detection and identification (FDI) in applications carried out by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with visual cameras. In many cases, the UAVs have cameras mounted onboard for other applications, and these cameras can be used as bearing-only sensors to estimate the relative orientation of another UAV. The idea is to exploit the redundant information provided by these sensors onboard each of the UAVs to increase safety and reliability, detecting faults on UAV internal sensors that cannot be detected by the UAVs themselves. Fault detection is based on the generation of residuals which compare the expected position of a UAV, considered as target, with the measurements taken by one or more UAVs acting as observers that are tracking the target UAV with their cameras. Depending on the available number of observers and the way they are used, a set of strategies and policies for fault detection are defined. When the target UAV is being visually tracked by two or more observers, it is possible to obtain an estimation of its 3D position that could replace damaged sensors. Accuracy and reliability of this vision-based cooperative virtual sensor (CVS) have been evaluated experimentally in a multivehicle indoor testbed with quadrotors, injecting faults on data to validate the proposed fault detection methods.
Combined Acceleration Methods for Solid Rocket Motor Grain Burnback Simulation Based on the Level Set Method
Authors: Wei Ran , Bao Futing , Liu Yang , Hui Weihua
Published: April 2018

A detailed study of a set of combined acceleration methods is presented with the objective of accelerating the solid rocket motor grain burnback simulation based on the level set method. Relevant methods were improved by making use of unique characteristics of the grains, and graphical processing unit (GPU) parallelization is utilized to perform the computationally intensive operations. The presented flow traced the expansion of burning surfaces, and then Boolean operations were applied on the resulting surfaces to extract various geometric metrics. The initial signed distance field was built by an improved distance field generating method, and a highly optimized GPU kernel was used for estimating the gradient required by the level set method. An innovative Boolean operation method, thousands of times faster than ordinary ones, was ultimately proposed. Performance tests show that the overall speedup was close to 15 on desktop-class hardware, simulation results were proven to converge to analytical results, and the error boundary was 0.25%.
A Large Retrospective Study of 12714 Cases of LEEP Conization Focusing on Cervical Cancer That Colposcopy-Directed Biopsy Failed to Detect
Authors: Cong Qing , Song Yu , Wang Qing , Zhang Hongwei , Gao Shujun , Du Ming , Xie Feng , Dong Jing , Feng Hua , Diao Wenjing , Zhu Caiying , Sui Long
Published: April 2018

Punch biopsy is important in the diagnosis of cervical cancer. However, it may fail to detect early cervical cancers. A retrospective study was performed in the largest academic women’s hospital in China to demonstrate cervical cancer that colposcopy-directed biopsy failed to detect. Methods. Patients who were diagnosed with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS), and persistent low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) via colposcopy-directed biopsy and had further undergone loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) conization were included. These procedures were performed at Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University from July 1, 2013, to December 31, 2016. In total, 5.98% (760/12714) of patients who underwent conization were diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer. Persistent LSIL (0.24%), HSIL (6.37%), and AIS (24.31%) were detected cancer by conization. Histological subtypes included squamous cell carcinoma (92.0%), adenocarcinoma (5.1%), adenosquamous carcinoma (1.8%), adenoid basal type carcinoma (0.9%), and small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (0.1%). Cytology reports consisted of HSIL (45.4%), atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) (16.1%), and LSIL (11.6%), and atypical squamous cells cannot exclude HSIL (ASC-H) (9.3%), squamous cell carcinoma (0.9%), AGC (atypical glandular cells, 0.9%), AIS (0.4%), and NILM (negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy, 15.4%). The sensitivity of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) screening (96.4%) was significantly higher than that of cytology (84.6%) (P<0.01), with sensitivity of cotesting at 99.8% and a ratio of double-negative results at 0.2%. The sensitivity of cytology and hrHPV screening of different cervical cancer histologic subtypes was also demonstrated. In this large retrospective study, we systematically reported the cytology, hrHPV, pathology, and stages of cervical cancer that colposcopy-directed biopsy failed to detect.
Flexible, Secure, and Reliable Data Sharing Service Based on Collaboration in Multicloud Environment
Authors: Wei Qiang , Shao Huaibin , Zhang Gongxuan
Published: April 2018

Due to the abundant storage resources and high reliability data service of cloud computing, more individuals and enterprises are motivated to outsource their data to public cloud platform and enable legal data users to search and download what they need in the outsourced dataset. However, in “Paid Data Sharing” model, some valuable data should be encrypted before outsourcing for protecting owner’s economic benefits, which is an obstacle for flexible application. Specifically, if the owner does not know who (user) will download which data files in advance and even does not know the attributes of user, he/she has to either remain online all the time or import a trusted third party (TTP) to distribute the file decryption key to data user. Obviously, making the owner always remain online is too inflexible, and wholly depending on the security of TTP is a potential risk. In this paper, we propose a flexible, secure, and reliable data sharing scheme based on collaboration in multicloud environment. For securely and instantly providing data sharing service even if the owner is offline and without TTP, we distribute all encrypted split data/key blocks together to multiple cloud service providers (CSPs), respectively. An elaborate cryptographic protocol we designed helps the owner verify the correctness of data exchange bills, which is directly related to the owner’s economic benefits. Besides, in order to support reliable data service, the erasure‐correcting code technic is exploited for tolerating multiple failures among CSPs, and we offer a secure keyword search mechanism that makes the system more close to reality. Extensive security analyses and experiments on real‐world data show that our scheme is secure and efficient.
The Challenges and Opportunities in the Clinical Application of Noncoding RNAs: The Road Map for miRNAs and piRNAs in Cancer Diagnostics and Prognostics
Authors: Krishnan Preethi , Damaraju Sambasivarao
Published: April 2018

Discoveries on nonprotein-coding RNAs have induced a paradigm shift in our overall understanding of gene expression and regulation. We now understand that coding and noncoding RNA machinery work in concert to maintain overall homeostasis. Based on their length, noncoding RNAs are broadly classified into two groups—long (>200 nt) and small noncoding RNAs (<200 nt). These RNAs perform diverse functions—gene regulation, splicing, translation, and posttranscriptional modifications. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are two classes of small noncoding RNAs that are now classified as master regulators of gene expression. They have also demonstrated clinical significance as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for several diseases, including cancer. Despite these similarities, both these RNAs are generated through contrasting mechanisms, and one of the aims of this review is to cover the distance travelled since their discovery and compare and contrast the various facets of these RNAs. Although these RNAs show tremendous promise as biomarkers, translating the findings from bench to bedside is often met with roadblocks. The second aim of this review therefore is to highlight some of the challenges that hinder application of miRNA and piRNA as in guiding treatment decisions.
On‐Demand Mobile Data Collection in Cyber‐Physical Systems
Authors: He Liang , Kong Linghe , Tao Jun , Xu Jingdong , Pan Jianping
Published: April 2018

The collection of sensory data is crucial for cyber‐physical systems. Employing mobile agents (MAs) to collect data from sensors offers a new dimension to reduce and balance their energy consumption but leads to large data collection latency due to MAs’ limited velocity. Most existing research effort focuses on the offline mobile data collection (MDC), where the MAs collect data from sensors based on preoptimized tours. However, the efficiency of these offline MDC solutions degrades when the data generation of sensors varies. In this paper, we investigate the on‐demand MDC; that is, MAs collect data based on the real‐time data collection requests from sensors. Specifically, we construct queuing models to describe the First-Come-First-Serve‐based MDC with a single MA and multiple MAs, respectively, laying a theoretical foundation. We also use three examples to show how such analysis guides online MDC in practice.
Crystal Structure and Cyclic Voltammetric Studies on the Metal Complexes of N-(Dimethylcarbamothioyl)-4-fluorobenzamide
Authors: Binzet Gun , Turunc Ersan , Flörke Ulrich , Külcü Nevzat , Arslan Hakan
Published: April 2018

We synthesized N-(dimethylcarbamothioyl)-4-fluorobenzamide compound and its copper(II) and nickel(II) complexes. The structures of compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis and spectral data (IR, 1H NMR). Furthermore, crystal and molecular structure of the synthesized complexes have been identified by using single crystal X-ray diffraction data. In the complexes formation the metal atom was coordinated via two sulfur atoms and two oxygen atoms. The single crystal structure of copper(II) and nickel(II) complex exhibits slightly distorted square planar geometry. The oxygen atoms are in a cis configuration. It appeared that the lengths of the thiocarbonyl and carbonyl bonds are longer than the average for C=S and C=O; meanwhile the C‐N bonds in the complex ring appeared to be shorter than the average for C‐N single bonds. These data show that C-O, C-S, and C-N bond lengths of the complexes suggest considerable electronic delocalization in the chelate ring. All bond lengths and angles obtained as a result of the analyses are found to be within experimental error limits. The obtained crystal analysis data shows that the structure of complex compounds is compatible with similar compounds in literature. Electrochemical behavior of complexes has been investigated by cyclic voltammetry technique in aprotic media. From the cyclic voltammetric investigation, both of the complexes have demonstrated electroactive properties.
Minimally Invasive Treatment of Sporadic Burkitt’s Lymphoma Causing Ileocaecal Invagination
Authors: Panaccio Paolo , Fiordaliso Michele , Testa Domenica , Mazzola Lorenzo , Battilana Mariangela , Cotellese Roberto , Selvaggi Federico
Published: April 2018

Introduction. Primary NHL (non-Hodgkin lymphoma) of the colon represents only 0.2% to 1.2% of all colonic malignancies. Burkitt’s lymphoma (BL) is usually a disease reported in children and young people, most of them associated with EBV or HIV infection. We describe a rare case of intestinal obstruction due to sporadic Burkitt’s lymphoma causing ileocaecal invagination explaining our experienceMethods. A 31-year-old man presented with diffuse colic pain and weight loss. Clinical examination revealed an abdominal distension with pain in the right iliac fossa. Colonoscopy documented a caecal large lesion with ulcerated mucosa. Computed tomography (CT) have shown a 60 × 50 mm right colic parietal lesion with signs of ileocolic intussusception.Results. Laparoscopic right hemicolectomy was performed. Postoperative period was uneventful. CD20+ high-grade B-cell Burkitt’s lymphoma was confirmed by immunohistochemistry (CD20+, CD79+, and CD10+) and FISH test (t (8;14) (q24; q32). The patient was subsequently treated with adjuvant combination chemotherapy (Hyper-CVAD) and is alive and disease-free at 8 months follow-up.Discussion. Adult sporadic Burkitt’s lymphoma (BL) causing intestinal obstruction due to ileocaecal intussusception is an extremely rare occurrence and a diagnostic dilemma. Despite the surgical approach is selected based on patient’s conditions and surgeon’s expertise, minimally invasive method could be preferred.
Hybrid Obfuscation Using Signals and Encryption
Authors: Hashemzade Bahare , Maroosi Ali
Published: April 2018

Obfuscation of software and data is one of the subcategories of software security. Hence, the outlines of the obfuscation problem and its various methods have been studied in this article. This paper proposes a hybrid of two signals and encryption obfuscation to hide the behaviour program and prevent reconstruction of the normal code by hackers. The usual signal method is strong enough for obfuscation, but its problem is the high complexity because of a lot of call and return instructions. In this study, a new dispatcher was added to the source code to reconstruct the original control flow graph from the hidden one to solve the problem of the signal method. This dispatcher code is encrypted to preclude access by the hacker. In this paper, the potency that makes the obfuscation strong has been increased and the resilience that makes the obfuscation poor has been decreased. The results of a comparison of the similarity among the ambiguous data with its original code and with available efficient methods present a performance advantage of the proposed hybrid obfuscation algorithm.
Multiple Cutaneous Metastases as Initial Presentation in Advanced Colon Cancer
Authors: Nambiar Sudheer , Karippot Asha
Published: April 2018

Skin metastases from advanced colorectal cancer are relatively rare and occur most often when the cancer is advanced, following the spread to other organs. Cutaneous metastases occur in about 3% of advanced colorectal cancers. We present an extremely rare case of a 68-year-old woman with advanced ascending colon adenocarcinoma that presented with multiple rapidly progressing painless cutaneous metastatic lesions with no other distant metastases. Of all the tumors, breast cancer most commonly spreads as cutaneous metastasis is followed by lung, colorectal, renal, ovarian, and bladder cancers. Cutaneous metastases can present in a variety of clinical manifestations, such as a rapidly growing painless dermal or subcutaneous nodule with intact overlying epidermis or as ulcers. In cases where the cutaneous deposit is isolated, as in visceral metastasis, there is a role for radical management such as wide local excision and reconstruction. In our patient, since she had multiple cutaneous metastases she began treatment with palliative systemic combination chemotherapy.
Belt Conveyor Dynamic Characteristics and Influential Factors
Authors: Li Junxia , Pang Xiaoxu
Published: April 2018

This paper uses the Kelvin‐Voigt viscoelastic model to establish the continuous dynamic equations for tail hammer tension belt conveyors. The viscoelastic continuity equations are solved using the generalized coordinate method. We analyze various factors influencing longitudinal vibration of the belt conveyor by simulation and propose a control strategy to limit the vibration. The proposed approach and control strategy were verified by several experimental researches and cases. The proposed approach provides improved accuracy for dynamic design of belt conveyors.
Mathematical Performance Evaluation Model for Mobile Network Firewall Based on Queuing
Authors: Xuan Shichang , Man Dapeng , Zhang Jiangchuan , Yang Wu , Yu Miao
Published: April 2018

While mobile networks provide many opportunities for people, they face security problems huge enough that a firewall is essential. The firewall in mobile networks offers a secure intranet through which all traffic is handled and processed. Furthermore, due to the limited resources in mobile networks, the firewall execution can impact the quality of communication between the intranet and the Internet. In this paper, a performance evaluation mathematical model for firewall system of mobile networks is developed using queuing theory for a multihierarchy firewall with multiple concurrent services. In addition, the throughput and the package loss rate are employed as performance evaluation indicators, and discrete‐event simulated experiments are conducted for further verification. Lastly, experimental results are compared to theoretically obtained values to identify a resource allocation scheme that provides optimal firewall performance and can offer a better quality of service (QoS) in mobile networks.
MicroRNA Mediated Regulation of Schwann Cell Migration and Proliferation in Peripheral Nerve Injury
Authors: Sohn Eun Jung , Park Hwan Tae
Published: April 2018

Schwann cells (SCs) contribute to nerve repair following injury; however, the underlying molecular mechanism is poorly understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which are short noncoding RNAs, have been shown to play a role in neuronal disease. In this work, we show that miRNAs regulate the peripheral nerve system by modulating the migration and proliferation of SCs. Thus, miRNAs expressed in peripheral nerves may provide a potential therapeutic target for peripheral nerve injury or repair.
The Involvement of Arginase and Nitric Oxide Synthase in Breast Cancer Development: Arginase and NO Synthase as Therapeutic Targets in Cancer
Authors: Avtandilyan Nikolay , Javrushyan Hayarpi , Petrosyan Gayane , Trchounian Armen
Published: April 2018

It is well established that, during development of malignancies, metabolic changes occur, including alterations of enzyme activities and isoenzyme expression. Arginase and nitric oxide (NO) synthase (NOS) are two of those enzymes considered to be involved in tumorigenesis. The goal of this article was to study the involvement of arginase and NOS in the development of different stages of breast cancer. Our results have shown that human serum arginase activity and NO (resp., and NOS activity) and polyamines quantities increased in parallel with cancer stage progression and decreased after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. For breast cancer, the only isoenzyme of arginase expressed in serum before and after chemotherapy was in a cationic form. The data of Lineweaver-Burk plot with aKmvalue of 2 mM was calculated, which is characteristic for human liver type isoform of arginase. During electrophoresis at pH 8.9, the enzyme exhibited high electrophoretic mobility and was detected near the anode. The presented results demonstrated that arginase in human serum with breast cancer and after chemotherapy is not polymorphic. We suggest that arginase and NOS inhibition has antitumor effects on cancer development, as it can inhibit polyamines and NO levels, a precursor of cancer cell proliferation, metastasis, and tumor angiogenesis.
Synchronization of a Class of Memristive Stochastic Bidirectional Associative Memory Neural Networks with Mixed Time-Varying Delays via Sampled-Data Control
Authors: Yuan Manman , Wang Weiping , Luo Xiong , Ge Chao , Li Lixiang , Kurths Jürgen , Zhao Wenbing
Published: April 2018

The paper addresses the issue of synchronization of memristive bidirectional associative memory neural networks (MBAMNNs) with mixed time-varying delays and stochastic perturbation via a sampled-data controller. First, we propose a new model of MBAMNNs with mixed time-varying delays. In the proposed approach, the mixed delays include time-varying distributed delays and discrete delays. Second, we design a new method of sampled-data control for the stochastic MBAMNNs. Traditional control methods lack the capability of reflecting variable synaptic weights. In this paper, the methods are carefully designed to confirm the synchronization processes are suitable for the feather of the memristor. Third, sufficient criteria guaranteeing the synchronization of the systems are derived based on the derive-response concept. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism is validated with numerical experiments.
Viruses Seen by Our Cells: The Role of Viral RNA Sensors
Authors: Said Elias A. , Tremblay Nicolas , Al-Balushi Mohammed S. , Al-Jabri Ali A. , Lamarre Daniel
Published: April 2018

The role of the innate immune response in detecting RNA viruses is crucial for the establishment of proper inflammatory and antiviral responses. Different receptors, known as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), are present in the cytoplasm, endosomes, and on the cellular surface. These receptors have the capacity to sense the presence of viral nucleic acids as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). This recognition leads to the induction of type 1 interferons (IFNs) as well as inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. In this review, we provide an overview of the significant involvement of cellular RNA helicases and Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 3, 7, and 8 in antiviral immune defenses.