bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Incidence, determinants and outcomes of pregnancy‐associated hepatitis B flares: A regional hospital‐based cohort study
Authors: Kushner Tatyana , Shaw Pamela A. , Kalra Ankush , Magaldi Lora , Monpara Pooja , Bedi Gurneet , Krok Karen , Centkowski Sierra , Dalldorf Katherine , D'souza Julia , Halegoua‐De Marzio Dina , Goldberg David S. , Trooskin Stacey , Levine Lisa D. , Srinivas Sindhu K. , Lewis James D. , Forde Kimberly A. , Lo Re Vincent
Published: September 2017

Background & Aims

There is limited knowledge about hepatitis B virus (HBV) flare among pregnant women. We evaluated the incidence, determinants and outcomes ofHBVflare in a multicultural cohort of pregnantHBV‐infected women in the United States.

Methods

We performed a retrospective cohort study of pregnant hepatitis B surface antigen‐positive women cared for at hospital‐based clinics of 4 medical centres in Southeastern Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2015. The main outcome was incidentHBVflare (alanine aminotransferase [ALT] ≥2 times upper limit of normal) during pregnancy or within 6 months after delivery. Among patients with flare, we determined development of jaundice (total bilirubin ≥2.5 mg/dL) and hepatic decompensation. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) ofHBVflare for risk factors of interest, including timing of flare (during pregnancy versus post‐delivery), nulliparity, younger age,HBVe antigen (HBeAg) status, and lack of anti‐HBVtherapy.

Results

Among 310 pregnant predominantly AfricanHBV‐infected women with 388 pregnancies, the incidence ofHBVflare was 14% (95%CI, 10‐18%) during pregnancy and 16% (95%CI, 11‐24%) post‐delivery. Jaundice developed in 12% and hepatic decompensation in 2%. PositiveHBeAg was associated withHBVflare (OR, 2.55; 95%CI, 1.04‐6.20).HBV DNAwas measured in 55% of patients, and only 50% were referred forHBVspecialty care.

Conclusions

Pregnancy‐associated hepatitis B flare occurred in 14% during pregnancy and 16% post‐delivery and rarely led to hepatic decompensation. PositiveHBeAg was the main risk factor identified. Women did not have adequateHBVmonitoring or follow‐up during pregnancy.
Identification of bottlenecks in the accumulation of cyclic fatty acids in camelina seed oil
Authors: Yu Xiao‐Hong , Cahoon Rebecca E. , Horn Patrick J. , Shi Hai , Prakash Richa R. , Cai Yuanheng , Hearney Maegan , Chapman Kent D. , Cahoon Edgar B. , Schwender Jorg , Shanklin John
Published: September 2017

Modified fatty acids (mFA) have diverse uses; for example, cyclopropane fatty acids (CPA) are feedstocks for producing coatings, lubricants, plastics and cosmetics. The expression of mFA‐producing enzymes in crop and model plants generally results in lower levels of mFA accumulation than in their natural‐occurring source plants. Thus, to further our understanding of metabolic bottlenecks that limit mFA accumulation, we generated transgenic Camelina sativa lines co‐expressing Escherichia coli cyclopropane synthase (EcCPS) and Sterculia foetida lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase (SfLPAT). In contrast to transgenic CPA‐accumulating Arabidopsis, CPA accumulation in camelina caused only minor changes in seed weight, germination rate, oil accumulation and seedling development. CPA accumulated to much higher levels in membrane than storage lipids, comprising more than 60% of total fatty acid in both phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) versus 26% in diacylglycerol (DAG) and 12% in triacylglycerol (TAG) indicating bottlenecks in the transfer of CPA from PC to DAG and from DAG to TAG. Upon co‐expression of SfLPAT with EcCPS, di‐CPA‐PC increased by ~50% relative to lines expressing EcCPS alone with the di‐CPA‐PC primarily observed in the embryonic axis and mono‐CPA‐PC primarily in cotyledon tissue. EcCPS‐SfLPAT lines revealed a redistribution of CPA from the sn‐1 to sn‐2 positions within PC and PE that was associated with a doubling of CPA accumulation in both DAG and TAG. The identification of metabolic bottlenecks in acyl transfer between site of synthesis (phospholipids) and deposition in storage oils (TAGs) lays the foundation for the optimizing CPA accumulation through directed engineering of oil synthesis in target crops.
Identifying when it is financially beneficial to increase or decrease fungicide dose as resistance develops
Authors: van den Bosch F. , Lopez‐Ruiz F. , Oliver R. , Paveley N. , Helps J. , van den Berg F.
Published: September 2017

When fungicide efficacy declines due to the development of resistance in the pathogen population, growers have to either change to an alternative mode of action or adjust their treatment programme. Adjustments may include either decreasing (or stopping) use of the mode of action, or increasing the total dose applied (by increasing number of applications and/or dose per application, where permitted) to try to maintain effective disease control. This study explores the circumstances under which increasing/decreasing total applied fungicide is financially optimal. A model based on field data is used to optimize the dose of fungicide applied when fungicide resistance develops in a pathogen population. The model is used to explore contrasting pathosystems and fungicide classes. When qualitative fungicide resistance develops, the shape of the disease–yield loss relationship determines whether the optimal total dose increases or decreases with increasing frequency of resistance in the pathogen population. When quantitative fungicide resistance develops, such that effective control can still be obtained with doses close to the maximum permitted dose, the optimal dose increases with increasing frequency of resistance in the pathogen population.
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over inferior frontal cortex impairs the suppression (but not expression) of action impulses during action conflict
Authors: van Campen A. Dilene , Kunert Richard , van den Wildenberg Wery P. M. , Ridderinkhof K. Richard
Published: September 2017

In the recent literature, the effects of noninvasive neurostimulation on cognitive functioning appear to lack consistency and replicability. We propose that such effects may be concealed unless dedicated, sensitive, and process‐specific dependent measures are used. The expression and subsequent suppression of response capture are often studied using conflict tasks. Response‐time distribution analyses have been argued to provide specific measures of the susceptibility to make fast impulsive response errors, as well as the proficiency of the selective suppression of these impulses. These measures of response capture and response inhibition are particularly sensitive to experimental manipulations and clinical deficiencies that are typically obfuscated in commonly used overall performance analyses. Recent work using structural and functional imaging techniques links these behavioral outcome measures to the integrity of frontostriatal networks. These studies suggest that the presupplementary motor area (pre‐SMA) is linked to the susceptibility to response capture whereas the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC) is associated with the selective suppression of action impulses. Here, we used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to test the causal involvement of these two cortical areas in response capture and inhibition in the Simon task. Disruption of rIFC function specifically impaired selective suppression of conflicting action tendencies, whereas the anticipated increase of fast impulsive errors after perturbing pre‐SMA function was not confirmed. These results provide a proof of principle of the notion that the selection of appropriate dependent measures is perhaps crucial to establish the effects of neurostimulation on specific cognitive functions.
Commentary: Asking the Right Question on Performance Pay—and Getting a Surprising Answer
Authors: Walsh Kate
Published: September 2017

Related Content: Jones and Hartney (PAR November/December 2017)
Financial frictions, interest rate dynamics, and international business cycle synchronization
Authors: Rouillard Jean‐François
Published: September 2017

A two‐country real business cycle model with national endogenous borrowing constraints and working capital requirements can account for the high level of international co‐movements. The effects of technology shocks are transmitted internationally through the dynamics of the interest rate. Specifically, the borrowing mechanism brings about a wedge between the real interest rate and the expected marginal product of capital, such that interest rates fall following positive technology shocks. A lower interest rate induces more investment by Foreign firms, which in turn contribute to greater synchronization of economic activities across countries. Moreover, terms of trade amplify the effects of technology shocks.
Effects of menthol application on the skin during prolonged immersion in cool and cold water
Authors: Botonis P. G. , Kounalakis S. N. , Cherouveim E. D. , Koskolou M. D. , Geladas N. D.
Published: September 2017

The aim of the study was to compare the effect of skin surface menthol application on rectal temperature (Tre) during prolonged immersion in cool and cold water. We hypothesized that menthol application would lead to a slower Tre decline due to the reduced heat loss as a consequence of the menthol‐induced vasoconstriction and that this effect would be attenuated during cold‐water immersion. Six male subjects were immersed for 55 minutes in stirred cool (24°C) or cold (14°C) water immediately after attaining a Tre of 38°C by cycling at 60% of maximum heart rate on two occasions: without (ΝM) and with (M) whole‐body skin application of menthol cream. Tre, the proximal‐distal skin temperature gradient, and oxygen uptake were continuously measured. ANOVA with repeated measures was employed to detect differences among variables. Significance level was set at 0.05. The area under the curve for Tre was calculated and was greater in 24°C M (−1.81 ± 8.22 a.u) compared to 24°C NM (−27.09 ± 19.09 a.u., P = .03, r = .90), 14°C NM (−18.08 ± 10.85 a.u., P = .03, r = .90), and 14°C M (−11.71 ± 12.58 a.u, P = .05, r = .81). In cool water, oxygen uptake and local vasoconstriction were increased (P ≤ .05) by 39 ± 25% and 56 ± 37%, respectively, with menthol compared to ΝM, while no differences were observed in cold water. Menthol application on the skin before prolonged immersion reduces heat loss resulting in a blunted Tre decline. However, such a response is less obvious at 14°C water immersion, possibly because high‐threshold cold‐sensitive fibers are already maximally recruited and the majority of cold receptors saturated.
Building Bridges: Linking Old Heads to Collective Efficacy in Disadvantaged Communities,
Authors: Carter TaLisa J. , Parker Karen F. , Zaykowski Heather
Published: September 2017

Recent reports of police shootings and urban unrest have increased public awareness of the nonwhite experience in communities long plagued by disadvantage and racial inequality. Given current times, there is little research that examines how community residents maintain social ties and trust. Race relations literature finds that support and trust come from “old heads,” community residents who have a reputation of respect and serve as mentors. Although traditionally old heads are defined as older, minority males with a history of employment, “redeemed” old heads exist. This research provides in‐depth interviews with old heads to better understand the residents who characterize this group but also to illustrate the roles they play in their communities. Our results suggest that old heads engage in, and build up, their communities through three themes: linking people to resources, solving problems, and establishing social ties. Attempts are made to link old heads to research on collective efficacy, which captures community level efforts to advance social cohesion and a willingness to engage in informal social control when combating crime and disorder. We conclude with a discussion of how future research can better incorporate old heads as an aspect of community life.
Geomorphometry from unmanned aerial surveys
Authors: Florinsky Igor V. , Kurkov Vladimir M. , Bliakharskii Dmitrii P.
Published: September 2017

Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) are widely used for remote sensing, including the production of high‐resolution digital elevation models (DEMs). We study the possibilities of UAS‐based aerial surveys to produce photogrammetrically sound, high‐resolution DEMs intended for geomorphometric modeling. The study was conducted at the Zaoksky testing ground (Russia). To carry out an aerial survey, we used a UAS Geoscan‐101 equipped with a Sony DSC‐RX1 camera and a Topcon GNSS receiver. Aerial photographs were processed using Agisoft PhotoScan Professional software. Applying dense point cloud generation and classification, we produced DEMs with resolutions of 6 cm, 20 cm, and 1 m. Using a universal spectral analytical method, we derived models of several morphometric variables (i.e., slope gradient, horizontal, vertical, minimal, and maximal curvatures) from DEMs with resolutions of 20 cm and 1 m. We found that it is possible to produce noiseless models and well‐readable maps of morphometric variables for grassy areas with separately standing groups of trees and shrubs. However, UAS‐based DEMs cannot be applied for modeling of forested areas: there occur pronounced unrecoverable artifacts due to errors of automated classification of the dense point cloud. Finally, we present recommendations for the production of UAS‐derived, photogrammetrically sound, high‐resolution DEMs intended for geomorphometry.
Does l‐citrulline supplementation improve exercise blood flow in older adults?
Authors: Gonzales Joaquin U. , Raymond Andrea , Ashley John , Kim Youngdeok
Published: September 2017

New Findings

What is the central question of this study?

Does short‐term supplementation with l‐citrulline in order to increase l‐arginine improve exercise blood flow and peripheral dilatation responses to exercise in older adults?

What is the main finding and its importance?

l‐Citrulline increased femoral blood flow by 11% and vascular conductance by 14% during lower‐limb exercise in older men, whereas no changes were observed in older women. This modest improvement in bulk muscle blood flow in older men has implications for altering muscle metabolism that may result in enhanced exercise tolerance in older adults.

l‐Citrulline (Cit) increases l‐arginine (Arg), the primary substrate for nitric oxide biosynthesis. We tested the hypothesis that muscle blood flow during exercise would be enhanced by Cit supplementation in older adults. Femoral artery blood flow was measured during calf exercise using Doppler ultrasound, and vascular conductance (FVC) was calculated in 25 older adults (13 women and 12 men) before and after 14 days of Cit (6 g day−1) and placebo (maltodextrin) in a randomized, double‐blind, crossover study. Plasma [Arg] and resting blood pressure were also measured before and after each condition. Women and men were analysed separately because of significant sex‐by‐condition interactions for the change in exercise blood flow and FVC. Plasma [Arg] was increased by 30 and 35% after Cit (P < 0.01) in women and men, respectively, with no change after placebo. Citrulline lowered diastolic blood pressure in men (75 ± 9 versus 71 ± 6 mmHg, P = 0.02), but this variable remained unchanged in women. Blood flow and FVC during exercise at higher workloads were increased after Cit in men (flow, 521 ± 134 versus 584 ± 166 ml min−1, P = 0.04; FVC, 5.0 ± 1.5 versus 5.8 ± 1.7 m, min mmHg−1, P = 0.01) but were not different after placebo. These variables were not altered by Cit in women. Adjusting for baseline diastolic blood pressure removed (P = 0.10) the difference in FBF and FVC following Cit in men. These results indicate that l‐citrulline has a modest effect of improving muscle blood flow during submaximal exercise in older men.
Protection against a mixed SHIV challenge by a broadly neutralizing antibody cocktail
Authors: Julg Boris , Liu Po-Ting , Wagh Kshitij , Fischer William M. , Abbink Peter , Mercado Noe B. , Whitney James B. , Nkolola Joseph P. , McMahan Katherine , Tartaglia Lawrence J. , Borducchi Erica N. , Khatiwada Shreeya , Kamath Megha , LeSuer Jake A. , Seaman Michael S. , Schmidt Stephen D. , Mascola John R. , Burton Dennis R. , Korber Bette T. , Barouch Dan H.
Published: September 2017

A combination of HIV-1–specific broadly neutralizing antibodies is necessary to protect rhesus monkeys against a mixed SHIV challenge.
Cerebral ischemia comes in waves
Authors: Choi Huimahn Alex
Published: September 2017

Subarachnoid blood induces spreading depolarizations, which are associated with cortical infractions.
Blocking cell death to enhance cell death
Authors: Sarosiek Kristopher
Published: September 2017

Inhibiting caspase activation during apoptosis may enhance the ability of the immune system to target cancer cells.
Influenza Virus Hemagglutinin Stalk-Specific Antibodies in Human Serum are a Surrogate Marker for
In Vivo
Protection in a Serum Transfer Mouse Challenge Model
Authors: Jacobsen Henning , Rajendran Madhusudan , Choi Angela , Sjursen Haakon , Brokstad Karl A. , Cox Rebecca J. , Palese Peter , Krammer Florian , Nachbagauer Raffael
Published: September 2017

The immunogenicity of current influenza virus vaccines is assessed by measuring an increase of influenza virus-specific antibodies in a hemagglutination inhibition assay. This method exclusively measures antibodies against the hemagglutinin head domain. While this domain is immunodominant, it has been shown that hemagglutination inhibition titers do not always accurately predict protection from disease. In addition, several novel influenza virus vaccines that are currently under development do not target the hemagglutinin head domain, but rather more conserved sites, including the hemagglutinin stalk. Importantly, antibodies against the hemagglutinin stalk do not show activity in hemagglutination inhibition assays and will require different methods for quantification. In this study, we tested human serum samples from a seasonal influenza virus vaccination trial and an avian H5N1 virus vaccination trial for antibody activities in multiple types of assays, including binding assays and also functional assays. We then performed serum transfer experiments in mice which then received an H1N1 virus challenge to assess the
in vivo
protective effects of the antibodies. We found that hemagglutinin-specific antibody levels measured in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) correlated well with protection from weight loss in mice. In addition, we found that weight loss was also inversely correlated with the level of serum antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) as measured in a reporter assay. These findings indicate that protection is in part conferred by Fc-dependent mechanisms. In conclusion, ELISAs can be used to measure hemagglutinin-specific antibody levels that could serve as a surrogate marker of protection for universal influenza virus vaccines.

IMPORTANCE
Influenza viruses are a serious concern for public health and cause a large number of deaths worldwide every year. Current influenza virus vaccines can confer protection from disease, but they often show low efficacy due to the ever-changing nature of the viruses. Novel vaccination approaches target conserved epitopes of the virus, including the hemagglutinin stalk domain, to elicit universally protective antibodies that also bind to mutated viruses or new subtypes of viruses. Importantly, the hemagglutination inhibition assay—the only assay that has been accepted as a correlate of protection by regulatory authorities—cannot measure antibodies against the hemagglutinin stalk domain. Therefore, novel correlates of protection and assays to measure vaccine immunogenicity need to be developed. In this study, we correlated the results from multiple assays with protection in mice after transfer of human serum and a lethal virus challenge to investigate potential novel serological surrogate markers for protection.
Recombinant human TNK tissue-type plasminogen activator (rhTNK-tPA) versus alteplase (rt-PA) as fibrinolytic therapy for acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (China TNK STEMI): protocol for a randomised, controlled, non-inferiority trial
Authors: Wang Hai-bo , Ji Ping , Zhao Xing-Shan , Xu Haiyan , Yan Xiao-Yan , Yang Qin , Yao Chen , Gao Run-Lin , Wu Yang-feng , Qiao Shu-Bin
Published: September 2017

Aim

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of recombinant human TNK tissue-type plasminogen activator (rhTNK-tPA) in lowering major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) in Chinese acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients.

Methods and analysis

The study is designed as a multicentre, randomised, controlled non-inferiority phase IV trial with balanced randomisation (1:1) in patients with STEMI. The planned sample size is 6200 participants (or 3100 per arm). Participants with STEMI will be randomised to receive either rhTNK-tPA or alteplase (rt-PA), with stratification by research centre, age and the time from symptom onset to randomisation. All patients will receive concomitant antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapy before fibrinolytic therapy. The participants assigned to the intervention group will receive an intravenous bolus of 16 mg rhTNK-tPA, while those assigned to the control group will receive an intravenous bolus of 8 mg rt-PA followed by 42 mg infusion over 90 mins. Other medications can also be administered at the discretion of the cardiologists in charge. All participants will be followed up for the primary study endpoint, the occurrence of MACCEs within 30 days after fibrinolytic therapy, which is defined as all-cause mortality, non-fatal re-infarction, non-fatal stroke, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) due to thrombolysis failure, and PCI due to reocclusion. Both intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses will be done for the primary analyses.

Ethics and dissemination

The study procedures and informed consent form were approved by all participating hospitals. The results will be disseminated in peer review journals and academic conferences. This multicentre randomised controlled trial will provide high-quality data about the efficacy and safety of rhTNK-tPA and, once approved, its easier use should help improve the application of reperfusion therapy and hence the treatment outcomes of STEMI patients.

Trial registration number

NCT02835534.
Gastro‐oesophageal intussusception in a 25‐week‐old Briard
Authors: Walker Joshua James Allen , Ryan Tony Matthew
Published: September 2017

A 25‐week‐old, male entire, Briard was referred following acute‐onset vomiting of 72 hours’ duration. Radiographic and endoscopic investigation revealed a suspected gastro‐oesophageal intussusception (GEI). The intussusception was surgically reduced and a left‐sided gastropexy and oesodiaphragmatopexy was performed. The patient survived to discharge despite aspiration pneumonia and megaoesophagus, and 12 months following surgery was doing well with only minor regurgitation. GEI is a rare condition with a guarded prognosis, but successful outcomes are possible. To the authors’ knowledge this is the first report of GEI in a Briard.
Sublingual infiltrative lipoma in a dog mimicking a ranula
Authors: Muñiz Moris Laura , Barker David , Taeymans Olivier , Demetriou Jackie , Llabres‐Diaz Francisco
Published: September 2017

A 7‐year‐old neutered female Staffordshire Bull Terrier was referred for a suspected sublingual sialocoele or ranula. The patient had a three‐week history of a soft, non‐painful, left submandibular swelling that had extended to the intermandibular and sublingual areas. Cytopathological findings from fine‐needle aspiration were indicative of either non‐representative subcutaneous fat or a lipoma. CT of the head and neck was performed to evaluate these two clinical possibilities further, confirming the presence of a focal, mainly intermandibular, lipoma with a mean precontrast attenuation of −114 Hounsfield Units (HU). Despite the clinical presentation of this patient being more suggestive of a ranula, this case highlights that other differentials should be considered when facing an intermandibular lesion. Advanced imaging modalities can help in assessing the extension and internal characteristics of submandibular swelling in dogs.
LncRNA SNHG1 enhances cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in cervical cancer
Authors: Liu Yang , Yang Yanling , Li Lei , Liu Yuan , Geng Peng , Li Guilin , Song Hongjuan
Published: September 2017

Objective: This study investigated the effects of lncRNA SNHG1 on the proliferation, migration, and invasiveness of cervical cancer cells. Methods: Three pairs of cervical cancer tissue samples and their corresponding adjacent samples were analyzed using Human LncRNA Microarray V3.0 chip for differential analysis. The expression of SNHG1 in cervical cancer cell lines was verified by qRT–PCR. CCK8 assays and colony formation assays were used to study the changes in cell proliferation. Cell migration and Transwell assays were used to study changes in cell migration and invasiveness. Results: SNHG1 was highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues and cervical cancer cell lines. SNHG1 siRNA could knock-down the expression level of SNHG1 in cervical cancer cell lines HeLa and C33-A. After knock-down of SNHG1, cell proliferation and migration as well as invasiveness in HeLa and C-33A cells decreased. Conclusion: LncRNA SNHG1 promotes the development of cervical cancer cells.
Denoising of Raman spectroscopy for biological samples based on empirical mode decomposition
Authors: León-Bejarano Fabiola , Ramírez-Elías Miguel , Mendez Martin O. , Dorantes-Méndez Guadalupe , Rodríguez-Aranda Ma. del Carmen , Alba Alfonso
Published: September 2017

Raman spectroscopy of biological samples presents undesirable noise and fluorescence generated by the biomolecular excitation. The reduction of these types of noise is a fundamental task to obtain the valuable information of the sample under analysis. This paper proposes the application of the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) for noise elimination. EMD is a parameter-free and adaptive signal processing method useful for the analysis of nonstationary signals. EMD performance was compared with the commonly used Vancouver algorithm (VRA) through artificial data (Teflon), synthetic (Vitamin E and paracetamol) and biological (Mouse brain and human nails) Raman spectra. The correlation coefficient ([Formula: see text]) was used as performance measure. Results on synthetic data showed a better performance of EMD ([Formula: see text]) at high noise levels compared with VRA ([Formula: see text]). The methods with simulated fluorescence added to artificial material exhibited a similar shape of fluorescence in both cases ([Formula: see text] for VRA and [Formula: see text] for EMD). For synthetic data, Raman spectra of vitamin E were used and the results showed a good performance comparing both methods ([Formula: see text] for EMD and [Formula: see text] for VRA). Finally, in biological data, EMD and VRA displayed a similar behavior ([Formula: see text] for EMD and [Formula: see text] for VRA), but with the advantage that EMD maintains small amplitude Raman peaks. The results suggest that EMD could be an effective method for denoising biological Raman spectra, EMD is able to retain information and correctly eliminates the fluorescence without parameter tuning.
Behavior of very high energy hadronic cross-sections
Authors: Stodolsky L.
Published: September 2017

Analysis of the data for proton and antiproton scattering leads to a simple picture for very high energy hadronic cross-sections. There is, asymptotically, a simple “black disc” with a smooth “edge”. The radius of the “disc” is expanding logarithmically with energy, while the “edge” is constant. These conclusions follow from extensive fits to accelerator and cosmic ray data, combined with the observation that a certain combination of elastic and total cross-sections allows extraction of the “edge”.

An interesting feature of the results is that the “edge” is rather large compared to the “disc”. This explains the slow approach to “asymptopia” where the “disc” finally dominates.
Parametrization and Evaluation of Intermediate Level Obfuscator
Authors: Dunaev Dmitriy , Lengyel László
Published: September 2017

Obfuscation is a technology that secures software artifacts from reverse engineering by making its cost prohibitively high. Intermediate level obfuscator implements the defensive mechanisms inside the software, and owing to high potency and resilience, can successfully secure the sensitive software components. This paper provides an analysis and parametrization of the obfuscator, as well as a method of fine-tuning and evaluating obfuscating transformations in terms of potency, resilience and cost.
Structure2Content: An Incremental Method for Detecting Outlier Correlation in Heterogeneous Network
Authors: Liu Lu , Zuo Wanli , Peng Tao
Published: September 2017

Heterogeneous networks are ubiquitous. People like to discover rare but meaningful objects and patterns from such networks. Regardless of high structure similarity or high content similarity, the corresponding objects can be used in data analysis. However, the vast differences between structure and contents should be paid more attention. In this paper, we propose an outlier correlation detection method, called Structure2Content, which discovers outlier correlation incrementally in structure-level and content-level. Structure2Content addresses three important challenges: (1) how can we measure the target object’s structure and content similarity? (2) how can we find the representative features of target objects? (3) how can we insert new data or delete the obsoleted data incrementally. To tackle these challenges, Structure2Content applies four main techniques: (1) two matrices are used to store structure and content similarity, respectively, (2) 3-tuples are used to represent the closeness degree between objects, (3) a mirror step and an iterative process are combined to obtain the top-K outlier correlations, and (4) only updating 3-tuples can help insert or delete data incrementally instead of training all data from the beginning. Substantial experiments show that our proposed method is very effective for outlier correlations detection.
STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF NONHYDROGEN GexC1−x FILMS PREPARED BY PLD
Authors: CHENG YONG , HUANG GUOJUN , LU YIMIN , GUO YANLONG , MI CHAOWEI , CAO HAIYUAN
Published: September 2017

Nonhydrogen germanium carbide (GexC[Formula: see text]) films were prepared by KrF pulsed lasers deposition (PLD), and the effects of different germanium contents on the microstructures, optical properties and adhesion properties of the GexC[Formula: see text] films were studied. XRD measurements showed that the GexC[Formula: see text] films with different germanium contents were of amorphous structure. XPS analysis showed that the C/Ge atomic ratios of GexC[Formula: see text] films were close to those of corresponding targets. The intensity of Ge3[Formula: see text] peak in the GexC[Formula: see text] films increased and the intensity of C1s peak decreased with the increase of the germanium content. The GexC[Formula: see text] films’ [Formula: see text]C bond contents increased from 46.4% to 69.7%. Ellipsometry and infrared transmission spectral measurements showed that the refractive index of GexC[Formula: see text] films increased from 2.5 to 3.5 at the wavelength of 1[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m with the increase of germanium content. The extinction coefficient of GexC[Formula: see text] film was of the order of 10[Formula: see text] in the infrared band when the germanium content was less than 10[Formula: see text]at.%. The adhesion tests showed that the adhesion performances of GexC[Formula: see text] films were better when the germanium content increased.
HIGH UNCERTAINTY FINANCING
Authors: GEORGIOPOULOS NICK
Published: September 2017

In this paper, we study the financing of high uncertainty projects. High uncertainty is defined as the lack of knowledge of whether growth options exist. In this paper, we will describe this uncertainty by a probability distribution which describes the arrival of a growth option at a deterministic time. Once the option arrives, an additional uncertainty exists since it is not certain that it is profitable to exercise it. We value the corporate securities with contingent claims valuation both for a whole equity-financed firm and a debt-equity-financed firm. Unlike traditional capital structure models, we find nonconvex value functions for the firm vis-a-vis the debt coupon under specific parametrizations. High and low leverage can yield similar firm value maximizing policies.
Memristor Equations: Incomplete Physics and Undefined Passivity/Activity
Authors: Sundqvist Kyle M. , Ferry David K. , Kish Laszlo B.
Published: September 2017

In his seminal paper, Chua presented a fundamental physical claim by introducing the memristor, “The missing circuit element”. The memristor equations were originally supposed to represent a passive circuit element because, with active circuitry, arbitrary elements can be realized without limitations. Therefore, if the memristor equations do not guarantee that the circuit element can be realized by a passive system, the fundamental physics claims about the memristor as “missing circuit element” loses all its weight. The question of passivity/activity belongs to physics thus we incorporate thermodynamics into the study of this problem. We show that the memristor equations are physically incomplete regarding the problem of passivity/activity. As a consequence, the claim that the present memristor functions describe a passive device lead to unphysical results, such as violating the Second Law of thermodynamics, in infinitely large number of cases. The seminal memristor equations cannot introduce a new physical circuit element without making the model more physical such as providing the Fluctuation–Dissipation Theory of memristors.
COOPERATION IN THE WELL-MIXED TWO-POPULATION SNOWDRIFT GAME WITH PUNISHMENT ENFORCED THROUGH DIFFERENT MECHANISMS
Authors: DA SILVA ROCHA ANDRÉ BARREIRA
Published: September 2017

I study two mechanisms based on punishment to promote cooperation in the well-mixed two-population snowdrift game (SG). The first mechanism follows a standard approach in the literature and is based on the inclusion of a third additional pure strategy in the payoff matrix of the stage-game. Differently, the second mechanism consists of letting cooperators punish defectors with a given exogenous frequency. In the latter, the pure strategy cooperation is replaced by a mixed strategy in which cooperators randomize between cooperation and punishment against defectors. While both mechanisms share the same result regarding the minimum required level of punishment in order to eliminate defectors in both populations, stability in the mechanism following the second approach is more robust in the sense that extinction of defectors is a globally asymptotically stable state for any interior initial conditions in the phase space. Thus, the second mechanism displays a topologically simpler model but the robustness of the evolutionary equilibrium is improved. Results were obtained analytically through nonlinear differential equations and also using an agent-based simulation. There was a good level of agreement between both approaches with respect to the evolutionary pattern over time and the possible steady-states.
Do market competition and development indicators matter for banks’ risk, capital, and efficiency relationship?
Authors: Zheng Changjun , Das Gupta Anupam , Moudud-Ul-Huq Syed
Published: September 2017

This study investigates the effect of market competition and development indicators on bank risk-taking behavior, capital regulation, and efficiency of banks in Asian emerging economies in light of their recent financial liberalization. Using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) for measuring cost and profit inefficiency and regressed simultaneous equations by following the approach of generalized methods of the moment (GMM) the study covers a sample of 191 banks for the period between 2000 and 2014 in three Asian emerging economies such as Bangladesh, China, and India. The robust empirical results of GMM panel estimator reveal three core findings: first, intense competition of Asian banks has a positive association with risk-taking but has a negative correlation with regulatory capital and inefficiency. Second, it provides evidence that in economic progression, sample banks having a strong tendency of taking the risk. But no significant relationship found between GDP growth and capital, and GDP growth and inefficiency. This paper thus provides compelling insights to the policy makers and bank managers in setting appropriate strategy for a financial institution in the region.
Joint Optimization of Sensing and Power Allocation in Energy-Harvesting Cognitive Radio Networks
Authors: Hu Hang , Zhang Hang , Guo Jianxin , Wang Feng
Published: September 2017

The energy-harvesting cognitive radio (CR) network is proposed to improve the spectrum efficiency and energy efficiency. We focus on the optimization of sensing time and power allocation to maximize the throughput of the energy-harvesting CR network subject to the energy causality constraint and collision constraint. Based on the classification of operating regions, the optimization problem is divided into two sub-problems. Then, the efficient iterative Algorithm 1 and Algorithm 2 are proposed to solve sub-problem (A) and sub-problem (B), respectively. Numerical results show that a significant improvement in the throughput is achieved via joint optimization of sensing time and power allocation.
Measuring, Characterizing, and Detecting Facebook Like Farms
Authors: Ikram Muhammad , Onwuzurike Lucky , Farooqi Shehroze , Cristofaro Emiliano De , Friedman Arik , Jourjon Guillaume , Kaafar Mohammed Ali , Shafiq M. Zubair
Published: September 2017

Online social networks offer convenient ways to reach out to large audiences. In particular, Facebook pages are increasingly used by businesses, brands, and organizations to connect with multitudes of users worldwide. As the number of likes of a page has become a de-facto measure of its popularity and profitability, an underground market of services artificially inflating page likes
(“like farms
”) has emerged alongside Facebook’s official targeted advertising platform. Nonetheless, besides a few media reports, there is little work that systematically analyzes Facebook pages’ promotion methods. Aiming to fill this gap, we present a honeypot-based comparative measurement study of page likes garnered via Facebook advertising and from popular like farms. First, we analyze likes based on demographic, temporal, and social characteristics and find that some farms seem to be operated by bots and do not really try to hide the nature of their operations, while others follow a stealthier approach, mimicking regular users’ behavior. Next, we look at fraud detection algorithms currently deployed by Facebook and show that they do not work well to detect stealthy farms that spread likes over longer timespans and like popular pages to mimic regular users. To overcome their limitations, we investigate the feasibility of timeline-based detection of like farm accounts, focusing on characterizing content generated by Facebook accounts on their timelines as an indicator of genuine versus fake social activity. We analyze a wide range of features extracted from timeline posts, which we group into two main categories: lexical and non-lexical. We find that like farm accounts tend to re-share content more often, use fewer words and poorer vocabulary, and more often generate duplicate comments and likes compared to normal users. Using relevant lexical and non-lexical features, we build a classifier to detect like farms accounts that achieves a precision higher than 99% and a 93% recall.
PLACID
Authors: Motamedi Mohammad , Gysel Philipp , Ghiasi Soheil
Published: September 2017

Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNNs) exhibit remarkable performance in a number of pattern recognition and classification tasks. Modern DCNNs involve many millions of parameters and billions of operations. Inference using such DCNNs, if implemented as software running on an embedded processor, results in considerable execution time and energy consumption, which is prohibitive in many mobile applications. Field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based acceleration of DCNN inference is a promising approach to improve both energy consumption and classification throughput. However, the engineering effort required for development and verification of an optimized FPGA-based architecture is significant.

In this article, we present PLACID, an automated PLatform for Accelerator CreatIon for DCNNs. PLACID uses an analytical approach to characterization and exploration of the implementation space. PLACID enables generation of an accelerator with the highest throughput for a given DCNN on a specific target FPGA platform. Subsequently, it generates an RTL level architecture in Verilog, which can be passed onto commercial tools for FPGA implementation. PLACID is fully automated, and reduces the accelerator design time from a few months down to a few hours. Experimental results show that architectures synthesized by PLACID yield 2× higher throughput density than the best competing approach.
On Gradient-Based Optimization
Authors: Jordan Michael
Published: September 2017

Many new theoretical challenges have arisen in the area of gradient-based optimization for large-scale statistical data analysis, driven by the needs of applications and the opportunities provided by new hardware and software platforms. I discuss several recent results in this area, including: (1) a new framework for understanding Nesterov acceleration, obtained by taking a continuous-time, Lagrangian/Hamiltonian perspective, (2) a general theory of asynchronous optimization in multi-processor systems, (3) a computationally-efficient approach to stochastic variance reduction, (4) a primal-dual methodology for gradient-based optimization that targets communication bottlenecks in distributed systems, and (5) a discussion of how to avoid saddle-points in nonconvex optimization.
Accelerating Performance Inference over Closed Systems by Asymptotic Methods
Authors: Casale Giuliano
Published: September 2017

Recent years have seen a rapid growth of interest in exploiting monitoring data collected from enterprise applications for automated management and performance analysis. In spite of this trend, even simple performance inference problems involving queueing theoretic formulas often incur computational bottlenecks, for example upon computing likelihoods in models of batch systems. Motivated by this issue, we revisit the solution of multiclass closed queueing networks, which are popular models used to describe batch and distributed applications with parallelism constraints. We first prove that the normalizing constant of the equilibrium state probabilities of a closed model can be reformulated exactly as a multidimensional integral over the unit simplex. This gives as a by-product novel explicit expressions for the multiclass normalizing constant. We then derive a method based on cubature rules to efficiently evaluate the proposed integral form in small and medium-sized models. For large models, we propose novel asymptotic expansions and Monte Carlo sampling methods to efficiently and accurately approximate normalizing constants and likelihoods. We illustrate the resulting accuracy gains in problems involving optimization-based inference.
Expected Values Estimated via Mean-Field Approximation are 1/N-Accurate
Authors: Gast Nicolas
Published: September 2017

In this paper, we study the accuracy of mean-field approximation. We show that, under general conditions, the expectation of any performance functional converges at rate O(1/N) to its mean-field approximation. Our result applies for finite and infinite-dimensional mean-field models. We provide numerical experiments that demonstrate that this rate of convergence is tight.
Analysis of a Stochastic Model of Replication in Large Distributed Storage Systems
Authors: Sun Wen , Simon Véronique , Monnet Sébastien , Robert Philippe , Sens Pierre
Published: September 2017

Distributed storage systems such as Hadoop File System or Google File System (GFS) ensure data availability and durability using replication. Persistence is achieved by replicating the same data block on several nodes, and ensuring that a minimum number of copies are available on the system at any time. Whenever the contents of a node are lost, for instance due to a hard disk crash, the system regenerates the data blocks stored before the failure by transferring them from the remaining replicas. This paper is focused on the analysis of the efficiency of replication mechanism that determines the location of the copies of a given file at some server. The variability of the loads of the nodes of the network is investigated for several policies. Three replication mechanisms are tested against simulations in the context of a real implementation of a such a system: Random, Least Loaded and Power of Choice. The simulations show that some of these policies may lead to quite unbalanced situations: if ß is the average number of copies per node it turns out that, at equilibrium, the load of the nodes may exhibit a high variability. It is shown in this paper that a simple variant of a power of choice type algorithm has a striking effect on the loads of the nodes: at equilibrium, the distribution of the load of a node has a bounded support, most of nodes have a load less than 2ß which is an interesting property for the design of the storage space of these systems. Stochastic models are introduced and investigated to explain this interesting phenomenon.
On the Capacity Requirement for Arbitrary End-to-End Deadline and Reliability Guarantees in Multi-hop Networks
Authors: Deng Han , Hou I-Hong
Published: September 2017

It has been shown that it is impossible to achieve both stringent end-to-end deadline and reliability guarantees in a large network without having complete information of all future packet arrivals. In order to maintain desirable performance in the presence of uncertainty of future packet arrivals, common practice is to add redundancy by increasing link capacities. This paper studies the amount of capacity needed to provide stringent performance guarantees and propose a low-complexity online algorithm. Without adding redundancy, we further propose a low-complexity order-optimal online policy for the network.
Hour-Ahead Offering Strategies in Electricity Market for Power Producers with Storage and Intermittent Supply
Authors: Yang Lin , Hajiesmaili Mohammad H. , Yi Hanling , Chen Minghua
Published: September 2017

This paper proposes online offering strategies for a storage-assisted renewable power producer that participates in hour-ahead electricity market. The online strategy determines the offering price and volume, while no exact or stochastic future information is available in a time-coupled setting in the presence of the storage. The proposed online strategy achieves the best possible competitive ratio of O(log θ), where θ is the ratio between the maximum and minimum clearing prices. Trace-driven experiments demonstrate that the proposed strategy achieves close-to-optimal performance.