bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Double-edged sword of radiotherapy: a cause of secondary angiosarcoma after breast conservation therapy
Authors: Iqbal Fahad Mujtaba , Ahmed Balen , Vidya Raghavan
Published: April 2016

Angiosarcomas are rare and aggressive malignant tumours of vascular or endothelial origin that can originate in the breast. They can be classified as primary or secondary, with the latter most commonly due to postoperative radiotherapy as part of breast conservation therapy (wide local excision and adjuvant radiotherapy) for breast cancer. We report a case of postirradiation secondary angiosarcoma in a 56-year-old woman, alongside a review of the current literature, to inform clinicians of its clinical presentation and characteristics as a high index of clinical suspicion is required for an accurate diagnosis.
The SLC2A14 gene: genomic locus, tissue expression, splice variants, and subcellular localization of the protein
Authors: Amir Shaghaghi Mandana , Murphy Brent , Eck Peter
Published: April 2016

The SLC2A14 gene encodes for GLUT14, an orphan member of the facilitated membrane glucose transporter family, which was originally described to be exclusively expressed in human testis. However, genetic variations in SLC2A14 are associated with chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, which cannot be explained by a strictly testicular expression. Therefore we analyzed available information on the SLC2A14 gene to update knowledge of the locus and its encoded products. This report presents an expanded SLC2A14 gene locus and a more diverse tissue expression, concurring with the existing evidence for disease associations. The exon utilization is tissue specific, with major expression in testis. When the 2 major testicular protein isoforms were expressed in mammalian cells, they located to the plasmalemma membrane, providing early evidence that GLUT14 could function as a membrane transporter.
Experimental and analytical study of seismic site response of discontinuous permafrost
Authors: Dadfar Behrang , El Naggar M. Hesham , Nastev Miroslav
Published: April 2016

Seismic site response of discontinuous permafrost is discussed. The presence of frozen ground in soil deposits can significantly affect their dynamic response due to stiffer conditions characterized by higher shear-wave velocities compared to unfrozen soils. Both experimental and numerical investigations were conducted to examine the problem. The experimental program included a series of 1g shaking table tests on small-scale models. Nonlinear numerical analyses were performed employing FLAC software. The numerical model was verified using the obtained experimental results. Parametric simulations were then conducted using the verified model to study variations of the free-field spectral accelerations (on top of the frozen and unfrozen soil blocks) with the scheme of frozen–unfrozen soil, and to determine the key parameters and their effects on seismic site response. Results show that spectral accelerations were generally higher in frozen soils than in unfrozen ones. It was found that the shear-wave velocity of the frozen soil as well as the assumed geometry of the blocks and their spacing have a significant impact on the site response.
The Anti-Oxidant and Antitumor Properties of Plant Polysaccharides
Authors: Jiao Rui , Liu Yingxia , Gao Hao , Xiao Jia , So Kwok Fai
Published: April 2016

Oxidative stress has been increasingly recognized as a major contributing factor in a variety of human diseases, from inflammation to cancer. Although certain parts of signaling pathways are still under investigation, detailed molecular mechanisms for the induction of diseases have been elucidated, especially the link between excessive oxygen reactive species (ROS) damage and tumorigenesis. Emerging evidence suggests anti-oxidant therapy can play a key role in treating those diseases. Among potential drug resources, plant polysaccharides are natural anti-oxidant constituents important for human health because of their long history in ethnopharmacology, wide availability and few side effects upon consumption. Plant polysaccharides have been shown to possess anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation, cell viability promotion, immune-regulation and antitumor functions in a number of disease models, both in laboratory studies and in the clinic. In this paper, we reviewed the research progress of signaling pathways involved in the initiation and progression of oxidative stress- and cancer-related diseases in humans. The natural sources, structural properties and biological actions of several common plant polysaccharides, including Lycium barbarum, Ginseng, Zizyphus Jujuba, Astragalus lentiginosus, and Ginkgo biloba are discussed in detail, with emphasis on their signaling pathways. All of the mentioned common plant polysaccharides have great potential to treat oxidative stress and cancinogenic disorders in cell models, animal disease models and clinical cases. ROS-centered pathways (e.g. mitochondrial autophagy, MAPK and JNK) and transcription factor-related pathways (e.g. NF-[Formula: see text]B and HIF) are frequently utilized by these polysaccharides with or without the further involvement of inflammatory and death receptor pathways. Some of the polysaccharides may also influence tumorigenic pathways, such as Wnt and p53 to play their anti-tumor roles. In addition, current problems and future directions for the application of those plant polysaccharides are also listed and discussed.
Baicalein Reduces Liver Injury Induced by Myocardial Ischemia and Reperfusion
Authors: Lai Chang-Chi , Huang Po-Hsun , Yang An-Han , Chiang Shu-Chiung , Tang Chia-Yu , Tseng Kuo-Wei , Huang Cheng-Hsiung
Published: April 2016

Baicalein is a component of the root of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, which has traditionally been used to treat liver disease in China. In the present study, we investigated baicalein’ ability to reduce the liver injury induced by myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (I/R). Myocardial I/R was induced in this experiment by a 40[Formula: see text]min occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery and a 3[Formula: see text]h reperfusion in rats. The induced myocardial I/R significantly increased the serum levels of aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT), indicating the presence of liver injury. Hepatic apoptosis was significantly increased. The serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-[Formula: see text] (TNF-[Formula: see text]), interleukin-1[Formula: see text] (IL-1[Formula: see text]), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were significantly elevated, as was the TNF-[Formula: see text] level in the liver. Intravenous pretreatment with baicalein (3, 10, or 30[Formula: see text]mg/kg) 10[Formula: see text]min before myocardial I/R significantly reduced the serum level increase of AST and ALT, apoptosis in the liver, and the elevation of TNF-[Formula: see text], IL-1[Formula: see text], and IL-6 levels. Moreover, baicalein increased Bcl-2 and decreased Bax in the liver. Phosphorylation of the prosurvival kinases, including Akt and extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2), was also increased. In conclusion, we found that baicalein can reduce the liver injury induced by myocardial I/R. The underlying mechanisms are likely related to the inhibition of the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways, possibly via the inhibition of TNF-[Formula: see text] production, the modulation of Bcl-2 and Bax, and the activation of Akt and ERK1/2. Our findings may provide a rationale for the application of baicalein or traditional Chinese medicine containing large amounts of baicalein to prevent liver injury in acute myocardial infarction and cardiac surgery.
Lipin1-Mediated Repression of Adipogenesis by Rutin
Authors: Han Yo-Han , Kee Ji-Ye , Park Jinbong , Kim Dae-Seung , Shin Soyoung , Youn Dong-Hyun , Kang JongWook , Jung Yunu , Lee Young-Mi , Park Jin-Han , Kim Su-Jin , Um Jae-Young , Hong Seung-Heon
Published: April 2016

Rutin, also called rutoside or quercetin-3-O-rutinoside and sophorin, is a glycoside between the flavonol quercetin and the disaccharide rutinose. Although many effects of rutin have been reported in vitro and in vivo, the anti-adipogenic effects of rutin have not been fully reported. The aim of this study was to confirm how rutin regulates adipocyte related factors. In this study, rutin decreased the expressions of adipogenesis-related genes, including peroxisome proliferators, activated receptor [Formula: see text] (PPAR[Formula: see text], CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein [Formula: see text] (C/EBP[Formula: see text], fatty acid synthase, adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein, and lipoprotein lipase in 3T3-L1 cells. Rutin also repressed the expression of lipin1, which is an upstream regulator that controls PPAR[Formula: see text] and C/EBP[Formula: see text]. In addition, when 3T3-L1 was transfected with lipin1 siRNA to block lipin1 function, rutin did not affect the expressions of PPAR[Formula: see text] and C/EBP[Formula: see text]. These results suggest that rutin has an anti-adipogenic effect that acts through the suppression of lipin1, as well as PPAR[Formula: see text] and C/EBP[Formula: see text].
THE DETERMINATION OF THE VOLUMETRIC WEAR FOR SURGICALLY RETRIEVED HIP IMPLANTS BASED ON CMM
Authors: WANG LING , PENG XIFENG , SUN CHANGNING , WANG HUAYI , LI DICHEN , ZHU JINYU , JIN ZHONGMIN , MIHCIN SENAY , LIU CHAOZONG
Published: April 2016

The effects of wear mechanisms on the long-term survivorship of artificial hip implants emphasized the importance of determining the 3D volumetric wear in retrieved hip replacements. Traditional methods for determining the volumetric wear on acetabular cups require reference surface from a pre-worn model, which is not feasible for clinical retrieved implants. In this study, a methodology based on co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) measurement is proposed to reconstruct the reference surface by applying a mathematical model on those selected unworn regions of the acetabular liners. For validation purposes, three polyethylene liners from 5-million-cycle hip simulator testing were employed, whose wear volume at different measurement points was determined by applying the developed method and the results were compared to those determined via traditional approaches. Volumetric loss estimated by the developed method was found to correlate well with the results estimated by the traditional methods ([Formula: see text]). Moreover, two surgically retrieved inserts were analyzed using the developed methodology. The wear volume estimated from the two retrieved liners was also found to agree well with the observation from X-ray photograph. Results demonstrated that the proposed method is effective in determining the volumetric wear for retrieved components providing viable unworn regions on the liner.
AMERICA’S LARGEST BLACK-OWNED COMPANIES: A 40-YEAR LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS
Authors: SONFIELD MATTHEW C.
Published: April 2016

This longitudinal analysis of the largest black-owned businesses in the United States covers the period from 1974 through 2014, a time-span of forty years, and is a follow-up to an earlier inquiry published ten years ago in the Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship. This current study focuses on similarities and differences from the earlier analysis. This investigation probes the overall evolution of these companies, as well as various trends, patterns and other characteristics within the general data of both growth and decline; and provides data, information, analysis and resultant conclusions and implications, which should be both of interest and of value to: (a) black and other minority active and aspiring businesspeople, (b) researchers in the area of minority business, (c) consultants and advisors to such businesses and (d) those involved in related business development policy.
ESTABLISHING IN-HOUSE REFERENCE INTERVALS FOR DOGS IN VETERINARY CLINICS
Authors: Chung Shang-Hsiu , Chang Li-Wen , Cheng Tsun-Li , Lin Chen-Jou , Chen Wen-Ying , Chou Chi-Chung
Published: April 2016

Reference interval (RIs) were critical to the identification of illness. However, RIs set in one laboratory may not be appropriate for another because of biological, geographical and instrumental factors. Interpretation of clinical data using inappropriate RIs may cause misclassification of results and misdiagnosis that lead to improper treatment. RIs in Taiwan have been mostly referencing from foreign resources, it is desirable to establish one that is closer to the overall conditions in Taiwan (such as breed, climate, diseases, etc.) and to investigate its differences to foreign RIs. The present study used the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology (ASVCP) guidelines to establish in-house RIs for hematological, biochemical and coagulation parameters using dogs in middle Taiwan. The results were also compared to two foreign and one local RIs. The results suggested that the hematological RIs are more comparable to foreign RIs than the biochemical and hemostatic parameters. Differences were found for biochemical parameters including gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), lipase, uric acid, bile acid, bilirubin and magnesium; and coagulation parameters including prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin. In all, 18% (7/40) of the all tested parameters were different from the local RI while 38% (18/48) and 41% (19/46) of the parameters were different from the two foreign RIs. The differences in more than 30% RIs and better similarities to local RIs underscore the importance of having own RIs if possible.
Finite quotients of Bruhat–Tits buildings as geometric expanders
Authors: Evra Shai
Published: April 2016

In [5], Fox, Gromov, Lafforgue, Naor and Pach, in a response to a question of Gromov [7], constructed bounded degree geometric expanders, namely, simplical complexes having the affine overlapping property. Their explicit constructions are finite quotients of [Formula: see text]-buildings, for [Formula: see text], over local fields. In this paper, this result is extended to general high rank Bruhat–Tits buildings.
Homomorphisms from AH-algebras
Authors: Lin Huaxin
Published: April 2016

Let [Formula: see text] be a general unital AH-algebra and let [Formula: see text] be a unital simple [Formula: see text]-algebra with tracial rank at most one. Suppose that [Formula: see text] are two unital monomorphisms. We show that [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are approximately unitarily equivalent if and only if [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are continuous affine maps from tracial state space [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] to faithful tracial state space [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] induced by [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], respectively, and [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are induced homomorphisms s from [Formula: see text] into [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the space of all real affine continuous functions on [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] is the closure of the image of [Formula: see text] in the affine space [Formula: see text]. In particular, the above holds for [Formula: see text], the algebra of continuous functions on a compact metric space. An approximate version of this is also obtained. We also show that, given a triple of compatible elements [Formula: see text], an affine map [Formula: see text] and a homomorphisms [Formula: see text], there exists a unital monomorphism [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text].
Distributed Algorithms for End-to-End Packet Scheduling in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks
Authors: Kumar V. S. Anil , Marathe Madhav V. , Parthasarathy Srinivasan , Srinivasan Aravind
Published: April 2016

Packet scheduling is a particular challenge in wireless networks due to interference from nearby transmissions. A
distance-2 interference model
serves as a useful abstraction here, and we study packet routing and scheduling under this model of interference. The main focus of our work is the development of fully distributed (decentralized) protocols. We present polylogarithmic/constant factor approximation algorithms for various families of disk graphs (which capture the geometric nature of wireless-signal propagation), as well as near-optimal approximation algorithms for general graphs. A basic distributed coloring procedure, originally due to Luby [1993] (
Journal of Computer and System Sciences
, 47:250--286, 1993), underlies many of our algorithms. The work of Finocchi et al. [2002] (
Proc. ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms
, 2002) showed that a natural modification of this algorithm leads to improved performance. A rigorous explanation of this was left as an open question, and we prove that the modified algorithm is indeed provably better in the worst case.
Sparse Text Indexing in Small Space
Authors: Bille Philip , Fischer Johannes , Gørtz Inge Li , Kopelowitz Tsvi , Sach Benjamin , Vildhøj Hjalte Wedel
Published: April 2016

In this work, we present efficient algorithms for constructing sparse suffix trees, sparse suffix arrays, and sparse position heaps for
b
arbitrary positions of a text
T
of length
n
while using only
O
(
b
) words of space during the construction.

Attempts at breaking the naïve bound of Ω(
nb
) time for constructing sparse suffix trees in
O
(
b
) space can be traced back to the origins of string indexing in 1968. First results were not obtained until 1996, but only for the case in which the
b
suffixes were evenly spaced in
T
. In this article, there is no constraint on the locations of the suffixes.

Our main contribution is to show that the sparse suffix tree (and array) can be constructed in
O
(
n
log
2
b
) time. To achieve this, we develop a technique that allows one to efficiently answer
b
longest common prefix queries on suffixes of
T
, using only
O
(
b
) space. We expect that this technique will prove useful in many other applications in which space usage is a concern. Our first solution is Monte Carlo, and outputs the correct tree with high probability. We then give a Las Vegas algorithm, which also uses
O
(
b
) space and runs in the same time bounds with high probability when
b
=
O
(√ n). Additional trade-offs between space usage and construction time for the Monte Carlo algorithm are given.

Finally, we show that, at the expense of slower pattern queries, it is possible to construct sparse position heaps in
O
(
n
+
b
log
b
) time and
O
(
b
) space.
Optimal Orthogonal Graph Drawing with Convex Bend Costs
Authors: Bläsius Thomas , Rutter Ignaz , Wagner Dorothea
Published: April 2016

Traditionally, the quality of orthogonal planar drawings is quantified by the total number of bends or the maximum number of bends per edge. However, this neglects that, in typical applications, edges have varying importance. We consider the problem O
ptimal
F
lex
D
raw
that is defined as follows. Given a planar graph
G
on
n
vertices with maximum degree 4 (
4-planar graph
) and for each edge
e
a cost function cost
e
: N
0
→ R defining costs depending on the number of bends
e
has, compute a planar orthogonal drawing of
G
of minimum cost.

In this generality O
ptimal
F
lex
D
raw
is NP-hard. We show that it can be solved efficiently if (1) the cost function of each edge is convex and (2) the first bend on each edge does not cause any cost. Our algorithm takes time
O
(
n
, ⋅,
T
flow
(
n
) and
O
(
n
2
, ⋅,
T
flow
(
n
)) for biconnected and connected graphs, respectively, where
T
flow
(
n
) denotes the time to compute a minimum-cost flow in a planar network with multiple sources and sinks. Our result is the first polynomial-time bend-optimization algorithm for general 4-planar graphs optimizing over all embeddings. Previous work considers restricted graph classes and unit costs.
All-Or-Nothing Generalized Assignment with Application to Scheduling Advertising Campaigns
Authors: Adany Ron , Feldman Moran , Haramaty Elad , Khandekar Rohit , Schieber Baruch , Schwartz Roy , Shachnai Hadas , Tamir Tami
Published: April 2016

We study a variant of the
generalized assignment problem
(
gap
), which we label
all-or-nothing
gap
(
agap
). We are given a set of items, partitioned into
n
groups, and a set of
m
bins. Each item ℓ has size
s
ℓ
> 0, and utility
a

ℓ
j

⩾ 0 if packed in bin
j
. Each bin can accommodate at most one item from each group; the total size of the items in a bin cannot exceed its capacity. A group of items is
satisfied
if all of its items are packed. The goal is to find a feasible packing of a subset of the items in the bins such that the total utility from satisfied groups is maximized. We motivate the study of
agap
by pointing out a central application in scheduling advertising campaigns.

Our main result is an
O
(1)-approximation algorithm for
agap
instances arising in practice, in which each group consists of at most
m
/2 items. Our algorithm uses a novel reduction of
agap
to maximizing submodular function subject to a matroid constraint. For
agap
instances with a fixed number of bins, we develop a randomized
polynomial time approximation scheme (PTAS)
, relying on a nontrivial LP relaxation of the problem.

We present a (3 + ε)-approximation as well as PTASs for other special cases of
agap
, where the utility of any item does not depend on the bin in which it is packed. Finally, we derive hardness results for the different variants of
agap
studied in this paper.
A Constant Factor Approximation Algorithm for Fault-Tolerant
k
-Median
Authors: Hajiaghayi Mohammadtaghi , Hu Wei , Li Jian , Li Shi , Saha Barna
Published: April 2016

In this article, we consider the fault-tolerant
k
-median problem and give the
first
constant factor approximation algorithm for it. In the fault-tolerant generalization of the classical
k
-median problem, each client
j
needs to be assigned to at least

r
j

⩾ 1 distinct open facilities. The service cost of
j
is the sum of its distances to the

r
j

facilities, and the
k
-median constraint restricts the number of open facilities to at most
k
. Previously, a constant factor was known only for the special case when all

r
j

s are the same, and alogarithmic approximation ratio was known for the general case. In addition, we present the first polynomial time algorithm for the fault-tolerant
k
-median problem on a path or an HST by showing that the corresponding LP always has an integral optimal solution.

We also consider the fault-tolerant facility location problem, in which the service cost of
j
can be a weighted sum of its distance to the

r
j

facilities. We give a simple constant factor approximation algorithm, generalizing several previous results that work only for nonincreasing weight vectors.
Approximation Algorithms for Stochastic Submodular Set Cover with Applications to Boolean Function Evaluation and Min-Knapsack
Authors: Deshpande Amol , Hellerstein Lisa , Kletenik Devorah
Published: April 2016

We present a new approximation algorithm for the stochastic submodular set cover (SSSC) problem called
adaptive dual greedy
. We use this algorithm to obtain a 3-approximation algorithm solving the stochastic Boolean function evaluation (SBFE) problem for linear threshold formulas (LTFs). We also obtain a 3-approximation algorithm for the closely related stochastic min-knapsack problem and a 2-approximation for a variant of that problem.

We prove a new approximation bound for a previous algorithm for the SSSC problem, the adaptive greedy algorithm of Golovin and Krause.

We also consider an approach to approximating SBFE problems using the adaptive greedy algorithm, which we call the
Q
-value approach. This approach easily yields a new result for evaluation of CDNF (conjunctive / disjunctive normal form) formulas, and we apply variants of it to simultaneous evaluation problems and a ranking problem. However, we show that the
Q
-value approach provably cannot be used to obtain a sublinear approximation factor for the SBFE problem for LTFs or read-once disjunctive normal form formulas.
PPLib
Authors: Boer Patrick M. De , Bernstein Abraham
Published: April 2016

Crowdsourcing is increasingly being adopted to solve simple tasks such as image labeling and object tagging, as well as more complex tasks, where crowd workers collaborate in processes with interdependent steps. For the whole range of complexity, research has yielded numerous patterns for coordinating crowd workers in order to optimize crowd accuracy, efficiency, and cost. Process designers, however, often don't know which pattern to apply to a problem at hand when designing new applications for crowdsourcing.

In this article, we propose to solve this problem by systematically exploring the design space of complex crowdsourced tasks via automated recombination and auto-experimentation for an issue at hand. Specifically, we propose an approach to finding the optimal process for a given problem by defining the deep structure of the problem in terms of its abstract operators, generating all possible alternatives via the (re)combination of the abstract deep structure with concrete implementations from a Process Repository, and then establishing the best alternative via auto-experimentation.

To evaluate our approach, we implemented PPLib (pronounced “People Lib”), a program library that allows for the automated recombination of known processes stored in an easily extensible Process Repository. We evaluated our work by generating and running a plethora of process candidates in two scenarios on Amazon's Mechanical Turk followed by a meta-evaluation, where we looked at the differences between the two evaluations. Our first scenario addressed the problem of text translation, where our automatic recombination produced multiple processes whose performance almost matched the benchmark established by an expert translation. In our second evaluation, we focused on text shortening; we automatically generated 41 crowd process candidates, among them variations of the well-established Find-Fix-Verify process. While Find-Fix-Verify performed well in this setting, our recombination engine produced five processes that repeatedly yielded better results. We close the article by comparing the two settings where the Recombinator was used, and empirically show that the individual processes performed differently in the two settings, which led us to contend that there is no unifying formula, hence emphasizing the necessity for recombination.
On Sample-Based Testers
Authors: Goldreich Oded , Ron Dana
Published: April 2016

The standard definition of property testing endows the tester with the ability to make arbitrary queries to “elements” of the tested object. In contrast, sample-based testers only obtain independently distributed elements (a.k.a. labeled samples) of the tested object. While sample-based testers were defined by Goldreich, Goldwasser, and Ron (
JACM
1998), with few exceptions, most research in property testing has focused on query-based testers.

In this work, we advance the study of sample-based property testers by providing several general positive results as well as by revealing relations between variants of this testing model. In particular:

—We show that certain types of query-based testers yield sample-based testers of sublinear sample complexity. For example, this holds for a natural class of proximity oblivious testers.

—We study the relation between distribution-free sample-based testers and one-sided error sample-based testers w.r.t. the uniform distribution.

While most of this work ignores the time complexity of testing, one part of it does focus on this aspect. The main result in this part is a sublinear-
time
sample-based tester, in the dense graphs model, for
k
-colorability, for any
k
⩾ 2.
Off-Loading LET Generation to PEACH2
Authors: Tsuruta Chiharu , Miki Yohei , Kuhara Takuya , Amano Hideharu , Umemura Masayuki
Published: April 2016

A hardware local essential tree (LET) generator used in an N-body simulation is implemented on the FPGA of PEACH2 (PCI Express Adaptive Communication Hub ver2), a low latency switching hub for high performance GPU clusters. By using the pipelined on-the-fly execution with a multipole acceptance criterion judging module and a data updating module, the generation performance is 2.2 times faster than that with the CPU. When data communication is considered, the performance was 7.2 times as the case with the CPU.
Power Performance Profiling of 3-D Stencil Computation on an FPGA Accelerator for Efficient Pipeline Optimization
Authors: Okina Koji , Soejima Rie , Fukumoto Kota , Shibata Yuichiro , Oguri Kiyoshi
Published: April 2016

This paper discusses power-performance optimization for 3-D stencil computing on a stream-oriented FPGA accelerator with highlevel synthesis. Taking a heat conduction simulation and an FDTD electromagnetic field simulation as benchmark applications, powerperformance profiling results are presented focusing on the effect of high-level pipeline parameters. As a result, it is shown that the optimal power efficiency can be achieved basically by optimizing the execution performance. The relationship between power efficiency and the clock frequency is also discussed.
A Case Study in Reverse Engineering GPGPUs
Authors: Lashgar Ahmad , Salehi Ebad , Baniasadi Amirali
Published: April 2016

During recent years, GPU micro-architectures have changed dramatically, evolving into powerful many-core deep-multithreaded platforms for parallel workloads. While important micro-architectural modifications continue to appear in every new generation of these processors, unfortunately, little is known about the details of these innovative designs. One of the key questions in understanding GPUs is how they deal with outstanding memory misses. Our goal in this study is to find answers to this question. To this end, we develop a set of micro-benchmarks in CUDA to understand the outstanding memory requests handling resources. Particularly, we study two NVIDIA GPGPUs (Fermi and Kepler) and estimate their capability in handling outstanding memory requests. We show that Kepler can issue nearly 32X higher number of outstanding memory requests, compared to Fermi. We explain this enhancement by Kepler's architectural modifications in outstanding memory request handling resources.
ffLink
Authors: de la Chevallerie David , Korinth Jens , Koch Andreas
Published: April 2016

We describe the architecture and implementation of ffLink, a high-performance PCIe Gen3 interface for attaching reconfigurable accelerators on Xilinx Virtex 7 FPGA devices to Linux-based hosts. ffLink encompasses both hardware as well as flexible operating system components that allow a tailoring of the infrastructure to the specific data transfer needs of the application. When configured to use multiple DMA engines to hide transfer latencies, ffLink achieves a throughput of up to 7 GB/s, which is 95% of the maximum throughput of an eight-lane PCIe interface, while requiring just 11% of device area on a mid-size FPGA.
Exploring the Efficiency of the OpenCL Pipe Semantic on an FPGA
Authors: Momeni Amir , Tabkhi Hamed , Ukidave Yash , Schirner Gunar , Kaeli David
Published: April 2016

This paper evaluates the potential benefits of leveraging the OpenCL Pipe semantic to accelerate FPGA-based applications. Our work focuses on streaming applications in the embedded vision processing domain. These applications are well-suited for concurrent kernel execution support and inter-kernel communication enabled by using OpenCL pipes. We analyze the impact of multiple design factors and application optimizations to improve the performance offered by OpenCL Pipes. The design tradeoffs considered include: the execution granularity across kernels, the rate and volume of data transfers, and the Pipe size. For our case study application of vision ow, we observe a 2.8X increase in throughput for tuned pipelined kernels, as compared to non-pipelined execution. In addition, we propose a novel mechanism to efficiently capture the behavior for 2-dimensional (2D) vision algorithms to benefit Pipe-based execution.
Parallel Genetic Algorithms on Multiple FPGAs
Authors: Guo Liucheng , Funie Andreea Ingrid , Thomas David B. , Fu Haohuan , Luk Wayne
Published: April 2016

Genetic algorithms (GA) have been shown to be effective in the optimization of many large-scale real-world problems in a reasonable amount of time. Parallel GAs not only reduce the overall GA execution time, but also bring higher quality solutions due to parallel search in multiple parts of the solution space. This paper proposes a parallel GA system on hardware such as Field-Programmable-Gate-Arrays (FPGAs). Our approach targets multiple FPGAs by exploring different search areas of the same solution space with different behaviours. Each FPGA contains an optimised customisable GA which can be configured using run-time parameters, removing the need for expensive recompilation. This paper also explores adjustment of the migration gap, providing empirical guidance on good settings to users. Experiments on three problems show the high performance of our system, with a 30 times speedup achieved compared to a multi-core CPU-based implementation.
A Stunning Left Atrial Appendage Thrombus
Authors: Ali Sajid , Ugwu Justin , Kanjwal Yousuf
Published: April 2016

Background: Left atrial appendage thrombus formation is a known major complication of atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter which increases the risk of embolism and stroke. This risk of thrombosis is greatly increased with a lack of anticoagulation. After conversion to a normal sinus rhythm in these arrhythmias, the risk of thrombus formation in the left atrium persists through a phenomenon termed atrial myocardial stunning. Case: We present the case of a patient who previously underwent successful pulmonary vein isolation and was found to be in typical isthmus-dependent atrial flutter with a questionable recurrence of atrial fibrillation. The decision was made to return for atrial flutter ablation and for evaluation of prior pulmonary vein isolation. Initially, a transesophageal echocardiogram showed a normal ejection fraction, biatrial enlargement and no left atrial appendage thrombus. Ablation of the cavotricuspid isthmus was successfully accomplished with documented bidirectional block. A transesophageal echocardiogram probe was still in place prior to planned transseptal puncture for the evaluation of pulmonary veins. A large thrombus was now observed filling the left atrial appendage. Conclusion and Objective: Atrial stunning is a transient atrial contractile dysfunction that occurs whether sinus rhythm is restored spontaneously, electrically, pharmacologically or by ablation. We know after conversion that there is higher propensity to increased spontaneous echogenic contrast and decreased velocities; however, we do not have documented knowledge of exactly how soon after the conversion to a sinus rhythm a thrombus may be seen. We demonstrate a case of acute left atrial appendage thrombus formation immediately following the successful ablation of isthmus-dependent atrial flutter. Our report validates the belief that strategies of not interrupting anticoagulation prior to the conversion of these arrhythmias should be implemented.
Early Blood Pressure Reduction in Acute Ischemic Stroke with Various Severities: A Subgroup Analysis of the CATIS Trial
Authors: Bu Xiaoqing , Li Changwei , Zhang Yonghong , Xu Tan , Wang Dali , Sun Yingxian , Peng Hao , Xu Tian , Chen Chung-Shiuan , Bazzano Lydia A. , Chen Jing , He Jiang ,   on behalf of the CATIS Investigators
Published: April 2016

Background: Clinical trials have generally showed a neutral effect of blood pressure (BP) reduction on clinical outcomes among acute ischemic stroke patients. We conducted a prespecified subgroup analysis to assess whether disease severity modifies the effect of early antihypertensive treatment on death and disability among patients with acute ischemic stroke. Methods: In the China Antihypertensive Trial in Acute Ischemic Stroke, 4,071 patients with acute ischemic stroke and elevated BP were randomly assigned to receive antihypertensive treatment or to discontinue all hypertension medications within 48 h of symptom onset. The primary outcome was a combination of death and major disability at 14 days or hospital discharge. In this subgroup analysis, participants were categorized into 3 groups according to their baseline NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores (0-4, 5-15, or ≥16). Results: At 24 h after randomization, mean systolic BP differences (95% CIs) were -8.5 (-10.0 to -7.1), -9.8 (-11.4 to -8.3), and -9.1 (-14.4 to -3.8) mm Hg between the treatment and control groups (all p values <0.001) for patients with a baseline NIHSS score of 0-4, 5-15, and ≥16, respectively. At day 7 after randomization, the corresponding mean systolic BP differences were -9.3 (-10.5 to -8.2), -9.1 (-10.3 to -7.8), and -10.1 (-15.1 to -5.1) mm Hg between the treatment and control groups (all p values <0.001). The primary outcome was not significantly different between the treatment and control groups at day 14 or hospital discharge among all NIHSS subgroups (p value for homogeneity = 0.66). ORs (95% CI) associated with treatment were 1.14 (0.87-1.49, p = 0.33), 1.04 (0.86-1.25, p = 0.70), and 0.67 (0.18-2.44, p = 0.54) for patients with a baseline NIHSS score of 0-4, 5-15, and ≥16, respectively. The composite outcome of death and major disability at 3-month follow-up did not differ between the 2 comparison groups for all NIHSS subgroups. In addition, vascular events and recurrent stroke were not significantly different between the 2 comparison groups at the 3-month follow-up visit among all NIHSS subgroups except that there was a suggestive risk reduction for recurrent stroke among those with an NIHSS score of 5-15 (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.20-0.99, p = 0.05). Conclusion: Early BP reduction with antihypertensive medications did not reduce or increase the risk of death, major disabilities, recurrent instances of stroke, and vascular events in acute ischemic stroke patients with a variety of disease severities.
Mechanism and Therapy of Brain Edema after Intracerebral Hemorrhage
Authors: Zheng Haiping , Chen Chunli , Zhang Jie , Hu Zhiping
Published: April 2016

Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a subtype of stroke with a severe high mortality and disability rate and accounts for about 10-15% of all strokes. The oppression and destruction by hematoma to brain tissue cause the primary brain injury. The inflammation and coagulation response after ICH would accelerate the formation of brain edema around hematoma, resulting in a more severe and durable injury. Currently, treatments for ICH are focusing on the primary injury including reducing intracranial hypertension, blood pressure control, and rehabilitation. There is a short-of-effective medical treatment for secondary inflammation and reducing brain edema in ICH patients. So, it is very important to study on the relationship between brain edema and ICH. Summary: Many molecular and cellular mechanisms contribute to the formation and progress of brain edema after ICH; inhibition of brain edema provides favorable outcome of ICH. Key Messages: This review mainly discusses the pathology and mechanism of brain edema, the effects of brain edema on ICH, and the methods of treating brain edema after ICH.
Causes of Ischemic Stroke in Patients with Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation
Authors: Nakamura Asako , Kuroda Junya , Ago Tetsuro , Hata Jun , Matsuo Ryu , Arakawa Shuji , Kuwashiro Takahiro , Yasaka Masahiro , Okada Yasushi , Kitazono Takanari , Kamouchi Masahiro ,   on behalf of the Fukuoka Stroke Registry Investigators
Published: April 2016

Background: Oral anticoagulants (OACs) reduce the incidence of embolic events associated with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF); however, ischemic stroke can still occur in such patients. Although there are various causes of ischemic stroke in patients with NVAF, their medication status at onset has scarcely been studied. This retrospective study aimed to determine the underlying causes of ischemic stroke in patients with NVAF in relation to pre-stroke anticoagulation. Methods: Among Japanese patients with acute ischemic stroke enrolled in the Fukuoka Stroke Registry from June 2007 to May 2013, 1,302 patients with NVAF who had been hospitalized within 24 h of onset were included in this study, and their backgrounds, pre-stroke use of OACs and prothrombin time-international normalized ratio (PT-INR) on admission were investigated. Strokes were regarded as being non-cardioembolic (CE) type when causes other than NVAF had been identified. The sub-therapeutic range (TR) for warfarin was defined according to Japanese guidelines for pharmacotherapy of atrial fibrillation. Results: Atrial fibrillation had been diagnosed prior to onset of stroke in 704 of 1,302 patients (54%). However, it had not been detected before or on admission, but identified later during hospitalization in 270 patients (21%). Of the patients who had atrial fibrillation on admission but had not been diagnosed as having it, 108 (8%) had not received any medication before onset of stroke and 220 (17%) had received medications other than OACs. OACs had been administered to 415 (59%) of the patients with known atrial fibrillation. The proportion of pre-stroke CHADS2 or CHA2DS2-VASc scores ≥1 ranged from 93 to 99% depending on whether atrial fibrillation had been diagnosed or anticoagulation therapy administered before stroke onset. The PT-INR was in the sub-TR on admission in 283 of 399 patients (71%) receiving warfarin. Male sex, smoking and previous stroke were more prevalent in patients with values within or over the TR of PT-INR than in those in the sub-TR. Non-CE stroke was more prevalent in patients with values above the lower therapeutic limit of the recommended PT-INR than in those in the sub-TR (p < 0.001). The number of CE strokes was much smaller in patients with high admission PT-INR values; this was not observed for non-CE ischemic strokes (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In the clinical setting, under-diagnosis, underuse and sub-therapeutic doses of OACs are major causes of ischemic stroke in patients with NVAF. However, non-CE ischemic strokes may develop in patients receiving therapeutic doses of warfarin.
Profissionalização do escritor e publicidade editorial: dois capítulos da leitura pré-modernista no Brasil
Authors: Silva Maurício
Published: April 2016

O presente artigo analisa o contexto cultural brasileiro durante a passagem do século XIX para o XX, a partir de uma perspectiva da leitura. Para tanto, enfatiza dois aspectos do pré-modernismo brasileiro: a profissionalização do autor e a publicidade editorial.
Os espaços internos do poema
Authors: Bischof Betina
Published: April 2016

O ensaio, partindo da análise de um poema ("Rio e/ou poço"), procura mostrar a maneira pela qual a linguagem de João Cabral de Melo Neto vai aos poucos inserindo, na estrutura cerradamente trabalhada do poema, questões centrais para a sua poesia: o traço geométrico do verso, o espaço interior ao objeto, o fascínio pela pintura e arquite­ tura, o duro corte das palavras.
Memorial de Aires: a alucinação erudita da vida
Authors: Betella Gabriela Kvacek
Published: April 2016

Esaú e Jacó e Memorial de Aires possuem matéria comum - vida de pessoas das relações do conselheiro Aires, suposto autor dos manuscritos de origem dos livros, bem como diversos fatos marcantes do final do século XIX- sob duas formas diferentes de registro: um romance e o diário do conselheiro, crônica pessoal. Este trabalho des­ venda algumas peripécias narrativas de Machado de Assis, especialmente no que diz respeito à retomada da tradição literária e à criação do autor/narrador Aires, cujo ócio é o principal aliado na escrita cuidadosa, no fundo, saída pensada do anonimato.
Subjetividade e literatura: o "sujeito fraturado" e a criação literária contemporânea
Authors: Oliveira Leopoldo O. C. de
Published: April 2016

O objetivo deste texto é analisar as relações entre referencialidade e subjetividade em textos literários contemporâneos à luz das teorias de Luiz Costa Lima sobre o “sujeito fraturado” e de como, a partir disso, pode-se chegar a um entendimento mais amplo das teorias bakhtinianas de polifonia e dialogismo.
Arquitetos de ruínas: espaço e melancolia em Machado de Assis e Almeida Garrett (uma aproximação contrastiva)
Authors: Paz Ravel Giordano
Published: April 2016

O trabalho esboça uma aproximação entre romances de Machado de Assis e o romance Viagem na minha terra, de Almeida Garrett, considerando a relação entre espaço e subjetividade nessas obras.
Autor, autoria e autoridade: argumentação e ideologia em Roland Barthes
Authors: Gagliardi Caio
Published: April 2016

Esta é uma revisão crítica do artigo “A morte do autor” (1968), de Roland Barthes. A discussão proposta pretende posicionar em situação histórica e ideológica duas questões mais contemporâneas: a comunicabilidade da poesia e a falência da crítica.
Mário de Andrade e Adorno: cartas, prefácios e "O ensaio como forma"
Authors: Cunha Jakeline Fernandes
Published: April 2016

O objetivo do artigo será fazer uma aproximação entre os escritos dispersos de Mário de Andrade com “O ensaio como forma” de Adorno. Consideraremos que o Mário das cartas e, especialmente, o Mário dos dois prefácios esboçados para Macunaíma, escreve experimentando, intuindo, raciocinando e questionando.
Poemas de Ossian ou o primitivismo como forma
Authors: Cass Thiago Rhys Bezerra
Published: April 2016

Neste ensaio, discutirei como James Macpherson, em suas falsas traduções dos Poemas de Ossian, logrou criar um novo gênero literário: o primitivismo. Tal gênero, forjado numa conciliação entre a lírica e a épica, apresentou-se, aos leitores do século XVIII, como uma comunhão plena e definitiva entre forma, linguagem, temas, valores encerrados na obra e o tempo em que se passa a história. Discuto, ainda, como a formação desse novo gênero literário esteve intimamente relacionada à situação social, política e cultural da Escócia do século XVIII.
Morte e contemporaneidade em três narrativas: Teatro, de Bernardo Carvalho, Rútilo Nada, de Hilda Hilst e Aventura, de Rodrigo Naves
Authors: Nor Gabriela Ruggiero
Published: April 2016

O trabalho tem por objetivo discutir alguns aspectos implicados na relação entre morte e contemporaneidade, partindo de questões levantadas pelos romances Teatro, de Bernardo Carvalho, e Rútilo nada, de Hilda Hilst e pelo conto “Aventura”, de Rodrigo Naves. As teorias de Walter Benjamin oferecem produtivo aporte teórico para a discussão apresentada, contemplando a relação entre morte, experiência e a esfera coletiva, dados presentes nas três obras em análise. Elementos de teoria narrativa também são abordados, observando suas particularidades face à situação-limite representada pela proximidade da morte.
Posições
Authors: Sagayama Mario Augusto Pedrozo
Published: April 2016

Neste artigo, articulo algumas questões caras à obra de Samuel Beckett, buscando traçar questões estéticas e políticas que se apresentam no início de sua obra, mais especificamente na conhecida “Carta alemã”, de 1937, e que permanecem latentes em sua obra final, cujo enfoque, neste artigo, repousa sobretudo no livro O despovoador. Assim, busquei estabelecer uma relação entre a almejada “literatura da despalavra” e a figura do despovoador. Considero este texto o marco do início de minha pesquisa de Mestrado, momento em que me permito levantar diversas questões que serão revisadas e desenvolvidas posteriormente.
Samuel Beckett: de dramaturgo a encenador
Authors: Santos Felipe Augusto De Souza
Published: April 2016

Este artigo tem como objetivo abordar o percurso de Samuel Beckett como encenador de suas próprias peças de teatro, a partir de uma análise de aspectos do processo de encenação da peça A última gravação de Krapp [Krapp’s last tape], dirigida por Beckett em 1969 no Schiller-Theater Werkstatt de Berlim. A reflexão terá como ponto de partida a relação de Beckett com a encenação teatral, desde seu primeiro contato acompanhando processos de criação de encenadores renomados como Roger Blin, e a transição de observador e conselheiro de projetos de outros diretores a encenador, tendo como premissa um cuidadoso rigor estético sobre o material dramatúrgico e sobre a transposição desse material para o palco, a partir das particularidades relativas ao trabalho de interpretação dos atores e à própria encenação teatral, ou seja, a tensão entre texto e cena.