bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intravitreal anti‐VEGF therapy is not associated with a higher risk of all‐cause mortality in patients with macular oedema caused by posterior segment vascular diseases
Authors: Loukovaara Sirpa , Haukka Jari
Published: January 2021

Purpose

To examine whether real‐world clinical patients with macular oedema (MO) receiving intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy have a higher mortality compared with a matched reference population.

Methods

A population‐based, retrospective cohort study of 26 386 patients from Finland, from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2017. Index patients were identified through the Caring Epidemiology Project database, receiving at least one intravitreal anti‐VEGF injection for wet age‐related macular degeneration (AMD, n = 2243, 48.61%), diabetic MO (n = 744, 16.12%), MO due to retinal vascular occlusion (n = 589, 12.77%), or other MO (n = 1038, 22.5%). For each individual treated with intravitreal injection (n = 4614), five age‐ , sex‐ , calendar year‐ and hospital district‐ matched control individuals (n = 21 772) were chosen. Baseline data of chronic conditions were available. All‐cause and cause‐specific mortality was analysed using Cox´s proportional hazards model.

Results

In general, the anti‐VEGF treated patients had a higher prevalence of systemic conditions, including diabetes (60.1% vs. 46.8%, p < 0.001), chronic hypertension (38.4% vs. 34.6%, p < 0.001), in hospital‐treated ischaemic heart disease (23.1% vs. 21.5%, p = 0.014), and glaucoma (11.1% vs. 6.3%, p < 0.001) than controls. There was no difference in all‐cause mortality between the anti‐VEGF treated patients and matched controls (p = 0.62). In unadjusted Kaplan–Meier analysis of wet AMD subgroup, all‐cause mortality was lower in anti‐VEGF treated patients than matched controls (p = 0.015), but adjusted Cox´s proportional hazards model showed no difference in the risk of all‐cause mortality (HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.66–1.09).

Conclusions

Intravitreal anti‐VEGF therapy was not associated with an increase in the risk of mortality in patients with MO compared with age‐ and sex‐matched controls.
Bioethics and the argumentative legacy of atrocities in medical history: Reflections on a complex relationship
Authors: Schicktanz Silke , Michl Susanne , Stoff Heiko
Published: January 2021

Slippery slope‐, taboo‐breaking‐ or Nazi‐analogy‐arguments are common, but not uncontroversial examples of the complex relationship between bioethics and the various ways of using historical arguments in these debates. In our analysis we examine first the relationship between bioethics and medical history both as separate disciplines and as argumentative practices. Secondly, we then analyse six common types of historical arguments in bioethics (slippery slope‐, analogy‐, continuity‐, knockout/taboo‐, ethical progress‐ and accomplice‐arguments), some as arguments within the academic debate of bioethics, others as arguments within political and public debates over bioethical issues. We conclude by suggesting to bioethicists to better understand historical arguments as socially and culturally embedded practices of critical reflection of power, medical and government paternalism and possible future scenarios. More interdisciplinarity between ethicists and medical historians is needed to appropriately rationalize and understand the different legacies.
Categorizing Smells: A Localist Approach
Authors: Jraissati Yasmina , Deroy Ophelia
Published: January 2021

Humans are poorer at identifying smells and communicating about them, compared to other sensory domains. They also cannot easily organize odor sensations in a general conceptual space, where geometric distance could represent how similar or different all odors are. These two generalities are more or less accepted by psychologists, and they are often seen as connected: If there is no conceptual space for odors, then olfactory identification should indeed be poor. We propose here an important revision to this conclusion: We believe that the claim that there is no odor space is true only if by odor space, one means a conceptual space representing all possible odor sensations, in the paradigmatic sense used for instance for color. However, in a less paradigmatic sense, local conceptual spaces representing a given subset of odors do exist. Thus the absence of a global odor space does not warrant the conclusion that there is no olfactory conceptual map at all. Here we show how a localist account provides a new interpretation of experts and cross‐cultural categorization studies: Rather than being exceptions to the poor olfactory identification and communication usually seen elsewhere, experts and cross‐cultural categorization are here taken to corroborate the existence of local conceptual spaces.
“Two hours extra for working from home”: Reporting on gender, space, and time from the Covid‐field of Delhi, India
Authors: Islam Asiya
Published: January 2021

This article explores, through the case study of Prachi, a young woman working for an e‐commerce company in Delhi, India, the immediate and potential long‐term gendered implications of the coronavirus disease‐2019 pandemic. While one of the more “privileged” workers who did not lose her job during the crisis, Prachi had to suddenly and swiftly adapt to the practice of “work from home.” As a neophyte service worker with very limited infrastructure for working at home, Prachi experienced deterioration in her physical and mental health. While working long hours to keep her family afloat during this difficult time, she also had to negotiate the compulsion to participate in housework. Her employers' distrust and increased surveillance has left her feeling vulnerable, particularly as a woman whose work is not given due recognition in the organization. Prachi's account highlights that although the practice of work from home affords flexibility to workers, it can also result in the exacerbation of inequalities. This article outlines the need for closer examination of the gendered implications of work transitions during the pandemic.
Different age‐related impacts of lean and obesity on cardiovascular prognosis in Japanese patients with cardiovascular risks: The J‐HOP (Japan Morning Surge‐Home Blood Pressure) Study
Authors: Toriumi Shinichi , Kabutoya Tomoyuki , Hoshide Satoshi , Kario Kazuomi
Published: January 2021

The relationship between lean and cardiovascular events has been shown to vary with age, but the relationship between age‐related lean and cardiovascular events in Asia has not been established. We divided patients enrolled in the J‐HOP (Japan Morning Surge‐Home Blood Pressure) study with one or more cardiovascular disease risks into three groups based on their body mass index (BMI): lean (BMI < 21), normal‐weight (21 ≤ BMI <27), and obese (BMI ≥ 27). We stratified the risk of cardiovascular events of lean and obesity compared to normal weight into the patients < 65 years old and those aged ≥ 65 years. A total of 286 cardiovascular disease events were observed during the follow‐up period (73 ± 46 months). Regarding the relationship between BMI and cardiovascular disease risk, both lean and obesity were independent prognostic factors: lean: hazard ratio (HR) 1.43, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02‐2.01, p = .040; obesity: HR 1.55, 95%CI: 1.13‐2.12, p = .006. In patients < 65 years old, the risk of cardiovascular disease of the lean patients was lower than that of the normal‐weight patients (HR 0.39, 95%CI: 0.12‐1.29, p = .124) and the risk of obesity patients was significantly higher (HR 1.77, 95%CI: 1.08‐2.92, p = .024). In the patients aged ≥ 65 years, lean was a significant independent factor of cardiovascular events compared to normal‐weight (lean: HR 1.70, 95%CI: 1.18‐2.47, p = .005). In conclusion, lean was an independent predictor of cardiovascular events in patients aged ≥ 65 years.
Do investors and analysts value strategic corporate social responsibility disclosures? Evidence from China
Authors: Lu Yingjun , Abeysekera Indra
Published: January 2021

This paper examines whether strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures are value relevant for investors and analysts in the context of China. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from One Belt One Road (OBOR) theme indices, we construct a rating system of strategic CSR disclosures including five dimensions and 20 indicators and perform a principal component analysis and a non‐hierarchical cluster analysis to group sample firms. We find that the market has a positive reaction to strategic CSR disclosures, but the market fails to perceive whether such disclosures are credible. We also find that the number of analysts following a firm is positively associated with its strategic CSR disclosures, and the positive association between strategic CSR disclosures and analysts following is less pronounced for firms with lower credibility. Additional analyses demonstrate that the higher the strategic CSR disclosure quality the more the positive market reaction and that the higher the strategic CSR disclosure quality the more the numbers of analysts following, but this positive association between disclosure quality and analysts following is discounted by a firm's lower credibility. Additional analyses further confirm that the CSR disclosure mandate has a negative moderating effect on investors’ and analysts’ positive reactions to strategic CSR disclosures. We do not find convincing evidence that the ownership of foreign institutional investors (QFII) has a moderating effect on investors’ and analysts’ reactions to strategic CSR disclosures. Finally, our extended analyses reveal that strategic CSR disclosures have a positive effect on firm performance with a complementary mediation of innovation.
Intralesional combined digoxin and furosemide in plantar warts: Does it work?
Authors: Fathy Ghada , Abo‐Elmagd Wessam Moustafa , Afify Ahmed Abdelfattah
Published: January 2021

Background

Warts are small, benign growths caused by human papilloma virus. No treatment has yet proven 100% effective for a cure. DNA viruses rely on K + influx for replication. Both digoxin and furosemide inhibit the K + influx by interacting with cell membrane ion co‐transporters. Therefore, it is hypothesized that these two compounds may be valuable in the treatment of warts.

Aims

Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intralesional injection of a combination of digoxin and furosemide in treatment of plantar warts.

Patients/Methods

This two‐armed single blinded randomized clinical trial included 40 cases with multiple plantar warts (≥3warts) divided into 2 groups (20 cases each). The first group received intralesional normal saline and the second group received intralesional combined digoxin and furosemide, one session every week for maximum 5 injection sessions.

Results

On comparing between the 2 groups regarding response to treatment (reduction in number of warts), the first group showed no change in number of warts (82 warts before and after treatment), whereas, in the second group, the number of warts before treatment was 80 while after treatment it was 40 (50% reduction in number). There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups as regard the change in the total number of warts (P < .001).

Conclusions

Intralesional injection of combined digoxin and furosemide is safe and effective treatment option in multiple plantar warts.
Impact of liver fibrosis score on prognosis in patients with previous myocardial infarction: A prospective cohort study
Authors: Cao Ye‐Xuan , Zhang Meng , Zhang Hui‐Wen , Jin Jing‐Lu , Liu Hui‐Hui , Zhang Yan , Guo Yuan‐Lin , Wu Na‐Qiong , Zhu Cheng‐Gang , Xu Rui‐Xia , Gao Ying , Dong Qian , Sun Jing , Li Jian‐Jun
Published: January 2021

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Liver fibrosis score (LFS) has been used for predicting the cardiovascular outcomes (CVOs) in diverse populations. However, the association of LFS with CVOs in patients with previous myocardial infarction (MI) remains undetermined. We aimed to examine the prognostic value of LFS in patients with prior MI in a prospective cohort.

METHODS

A total of 3718 patients with previous MI were consecutively enrolled from March 2009 to January 2019. Five LFSs including the fibrosis‐4 (FIB‐4) score, non‐alcohol fatty liver disease fibrosis score (NFS), Forns score, HUI score and BARD score were used. The CVOs covered major adverse cardiac event (MACEs), cardiovascular mortality and all‐cause mortality. Cox proportional hazards model was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS

During a mean follow‐up of 47.4 ± 24.8 months, 431 (11.6%) MACEs occurred. Kaplan‐Meier analysis demonstrated that higher LFSs resulted in a significantly higher probability of CVOs. Compared to the lowest score group, multivariable‐adjusted HRs (95% CIs) of the highest group of FIB‐4, NFS, Forns score, HUI score and BARD score were 1.75 (1.32‐2.33), 2.37 (1.70‐3.33), 2.44 (1.61‐3.73), 1.58 (1.16‐2.14) and 1.27 (1.03‐1.57) respectively. These LFSs were also independent predictors of cardiovascular mortality and all‐cause mortality. Similar results were observed across subgroups analysis. The addition of LFSs to a prediction model significantly increased the C‐statistic for CVOs.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study firstly demonstrated that LFS could be used as a risk stratification tool for predicting CVOs in patients with previous MI, which should be evaluated further.
The impact of workplace culture on the accountability of mental health nurses to involve consumers in care planning: A focused ethnography
Authors: Rio Josephien H. M. , Fuller Jeffrey , Taylor Kerry , Muir‐Cochrane Eimear
Published: January 2021

Recovery‐oriented mental health practice guidelines recommend regular consumer involvement in care plans, yet in many acute settings, these are not routinely created thereby compromising accountability. This study explored the impact of workplace culture on the capacity of mental health nurses to involve consumers in care planning and consequently to work accountably. A focused ethnography was undertaken in one Australian inpatient unit involving mental health nurses and other health professionals. Data were derived from in‐depth semistructured interviews with 12 nurses and 6 months of nonparticipant observation of multidisciplinary meetings and clinical handovers. Workplace culture had an impact on mental health nurses' accountability practices. A culture that prioritized reduction in length of stay resulted in less recovery‐oriented care. Health professionals who paid more attention to crisis and risk management resulted in fewer opportunities for consumer‐involved care planning.
Letter from China: Response after the first wave of COVID‐19
Authors: Yang Zhaowei , Li Jing
Published: January 2021

See cover image
INFLUENCE OF WATER-CEMENT RATIO AND WATER REDUCING ADMIXTURES ON THE REBOUND NUMBER OF HARDENED CONCRETE
Authors: Olonade Kolawole Adisa
Published: January 2021

In this paper, effect of water-cement ratio (w/c) and type of water reducing admixtures (WRA) on the Schmidt hammer rebound number (RN) were investigated. Concrete of mix ratio 1:2:4 was prepared at the w/c of 0.45, 0.50, 0.55 and 0.60 and with each of the three WRA at the w/c of 0.45. Concrete cubes of size 150 mm were cast and cured in water for 3, 7 and 28 days. RNs of the cubes were determined and the compressive strengths (fc) corresponding to the RNs obtained from the conversion graph supplied by the manufacturer were compared with the compressive strengths obtained from crushing machine (CM). The results showed that as the w/c increased, the RN increased up to when w/c was 0.5 and began to drop, while there was no significant effect of all the WRA on the RN. It was also found that fc obtained from CM and those obtained using the conversion graph differed considerably. A new correlation graph was therefore proposed, which showed a correlation coefficient of 0.96, while coefficient of determination obtained for the regression equation between RN and fc, was as high as 0.92. The study concluded that w/c had effect on RN and that the equation developed could be used to determine fc, once RN is known.
SOME PROPERTIES OF PHOSPHORIC ACID STABILISED LATERIZED ADOBE BRICKS
Authors: Ayodele Adekemi Loretta , Mohammed Abdulhalim Oshioke , Fajobi Adeyemi Babayemi , Akindahunsi Akindehinde Ayotunde , Olajumoke Aderopo Musiliu
Published: January 2021

The changes in the compressive strength of laterized bricks produced from stabilised residual tropical laterite (RTL) are reported in this paper. The RTL was stabilised with different percentages (2, 4, 6 and 8%) by weight of dry soil of 1M phosphoric acid (PA). Some geotechnical properties and elemental oxide composition of the RTL were determined. Adobe bricks were produced from the PA stabilised, 5% cement stabilised and unstabilised RTL. Adobe bricks produced from 5% cement stabilised RTL served as the control. The bricks were cured under ambient air condition for 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. The pH, dry density, moisture content and compressive strength (fc) of the bricks were determined at the end of each curing period. The influence of PA was evaluated using the changes in the fc of the adobe bricks. The effectiveness of PA was also evaluated using a standard minimum requirement. Statistical analysis of the results was done using Analysis of variance. There was about 90 and 200% increase in fc of PA and cement stabilised Adobe bricks, respectively. The fc of 6% PA stabilised and cement stabilised adobe bricks met the minimum requirement. It is concluded that PA has great potential for stabilising Adobe bricks for building.
Behaviour of the First-order q-Dierence Equations
Authors: Belaghi Mahmoud , Sari Murat
Published: January 2021

Since the need to investigate many aspects of q-dierence equations cannot be ruled out, this article aims to explore response of the mechanism modelled by linear and nonlinear q-difference equations. Therefore, analysis of an important bundle of nonlinear q-difference equations, in particular the q-Bernoulli difference equation, has been developed. In this context, capturing the behaviour of the q-Bernoulli difference equation as well as linear q-difference equations are considered to be a significant contribution here. Illustrative examples related to the difference equations are also presented.
Scalable Belief Updating for Urban Air Quality Modeling and Prediction
Authors: Liu Xiuming , Ngai Edith , Zachariah Dave
Published: January 2021

Air pollution is one of the major concerns in global urbanization. Data science can help to understand the dynamics of air pollution and build reliable statistical models to forecast air pollution levels. To achieve these goals, one needs to learn the statistical models which can capture the dynamics from the historical data and predict air pollution in the future. Furthermore, the large size and heterogeneity of today’s big urban data pose significant challenges on the scalability and flexibility of the statistical models. In this work, we present a scalable belief updating framework that is able to produce reliable predictions, using over millions of historical hourly air pollutant and meteorology records. We also present a non-parametric approach to learn the statistical model which reveals interesting periodical dynamics and correlations of the dataset. Based on the scalable belief update framework and the non-parametric model learning approach, we propose an iterative update algorithm to accelerate Gaussian process, which is notorious for its prohibitive computation with large input data. Finally, we demonstrate how to integrate information from heterogeneous data by regarding the beliefs produced by other models as the informative prior. Numerical examples and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed method.
Enabledness-based Testing of Object Protocols
Authors: Godoy Javier , Galeotti Juan Pablo , Garbervetsky Diego , Uchitel Sebastián
Published: January 2021

A significant proportion of classes in modern software introduce or use object protocols, prescriptions on the temporal orderings of method calls on objects. This article studies search-based test generation techniques that aim to exploit a particular abstraction of object protocols (enabledness preserving abstractions (EPAs)) to find failures. We define coverage criteria over an extension of EPAs that includes abnormal method termination and define a search-based test case generation technique aimed at achieving high coverage. Results suggest that the proposed case generation technique with a fitness function that aims at combined structural and extended EPA coverage can provide better failure-detection capabilities not only for protocol failures but also for general failures when compared to random testing and search-based test generation for standard structural coverage.
Transfer Urban Human Mobility via POI Embedding over Multiple Cities
Authors: Jiang Renhe , Song Xuan , Fan Zipei , Xia Tianqi , Wang Zhaonan , Chen Quanjun , Cai Zekun , Shibasaki Ryosuke
Published: January 2021

Rapidly developing location acquisition technologies provide a powerful tool for understanding and predicting human mobility in cities, which is very significant for urban planning, traffic regulation, and emergency management. However, with the existing methodologies, it is still difficult to accurately predict millions of peoples’ mobility in a large urban area such as Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, especially when collected data used for model training are often limited to a small portion of the total population. Obviously, human activities in city are closely linked with point-of-interest (POI) information, which can reflect the semantic meaning of human mobility. This motivates us to fuse human mobility data and city POI data to improve the prediction performance with limited training data, but current fusion technologies can hardly handle these two heterogeneous data. Therefore, we propose a unique POI-embedding mechanism, that aggregates the regional POIs by categories to generate an artificial POI-image for each urban grid and enriches each trajectory snippet to a four-dimensional tensor in an analogous manner to a short video. Then, we design a deep learning architecture combining CNN with LSTM to simultaneously capture both the spatiotemporal and geographical information from the enriched trajectories. Furthermore, transfer learning is employed to transfer mobility knowledge from one city to another, so that we can fully utilize other cities’ data to train a stronger model for the target city with only limited data available. Finally, we achieve satisfactory performance of human mobility prediction at the citywide level using a limited amount of trajectories as training data, which has been validated over five urban areas of different types and scales.
Empty Vehicle Redistribution with Time Windows in Autonomous Taxi Systems
Authors: Babicheva Tatiana , Cebecauer Matej , Barth Dominique , Burghout Wilco , Kloul Leïla
Published: January 2021

In this article, we investigate empty vehicle redistribution algorithms with time windows for personal rapid transit or autonomous station-based taxi services, from a passenger service perspective. We present an Index Based Redistribution Time Limited algorithm that improves upon existing algorithms by incorporating expected passenger arrivals and predicted waiting times limitations. We evaluate 17 variations of algorithms on a test case in Stockholm, Sweden. The results show that the combination of Send The Nearest and Index Based Redistribution Time Limited algorithms provides promising results for both Poisson arrivals and real demand, outperforming the other tested methods, in terms of passenger waiting time and number of passengers not served within their time windows.
History-based Model Repair Recommendations
Authors: Ohrndorf Manuel , Pietsch Christopher , Kelter Udo , Grunske Lars , Kehrer Timo
Published: January 2021

Models in Model-driven Engineering are primary development artifacts that are heavily edited in all stages of software development and that can become temporarily inconsistent during editing. In general, there are many alternatives to resolve an inconsistency, and which one is the most suitable depends on a variety of factors. As also proposed by recent approaches to model repair, it is reasonable to leave the actual choice and approval of a repair alternative to the discretion of the developer. Model repair tools can support developers by proposing a list of the most promising repairs. Such repair recommendations will be only accepted in practice if the generated proposals are plausible and understandable, and if the set as a whole is manageable. Current approaches, which mostly focus on exhaustive search strategies, exploring all possible model repairs without considering the intention of historic changes, fail in meeting these requirements.

In this article, we present a new approach to generate repair proposals that aims at inconsistencies that have been introduced by past incomplete edit steps that can be located in the version history of a model. Such an incomplete edit step is either undone or it is extended to a full execution of a consistency-preserving edit operation. The history-based analysis of inconsistencies as well as the generation of repair recommendations are fully automated, and all interactive selection steps are supported by our repair tool called R
E
V
ISION
. We evaluate our approach using histories of real-world models obtained from popular open-source modeling projects hosted in the Eclipse Git repository, including the evolution of the entire UML meta-model. Our experimental results confirm our hypothesis that most of the inconsistencies, namely, 93.4, can be resolved by complementing incomplete edits. 92.6% of the generated repair proposals are relevant in the sense that their effect can be observed in the models’ histories. 94.9% of the relevant repair proposals are ranked at the topmost position.
Neural Abstractive Text Summarization with Sequence-to-Sequence Models
Authors: Shi Tian , Keneshloo Yaser , Ramakrishnan Naren , Reddy Chandan K.
Published: January 2021

In the past few years, neural abstractive text summarization with sequence-to-sequence (seq2seq) models have gained a lot of popularity. Many interesting techniques have been proposed to improve seq2seq models, making them capable of handling different challenges, such as saliency, fluency and human readability, and generate high-quality summaries. Generally speaking, most of these techniques differ in one of these three categories: network structure, parameter inference, and decoding/generation. There are also other concerns, such as efficiency and parallelism for training a model. In this article, we provide a comprehensive literature survey on different seq2seq models for abstractive text summarization from the viewpoint of network structures, training strategies, and summary generation algorithms. Several models were first proposed for language modeling and generation tasks, such as machine translation, and later applied to abstractive text summarization. Hence, we also provide a brief review of these models. As part of this survey, we also develop an open source library, namely, Neural Abstractive Text Summarizer (NATS) toolkit, for the abstractive text summarization. An extensive set of experiments have been conducted on the widely used CNN/Daily Mail dataset to examine the effectiveness of several different neural network components. Finally, we benchmark two models implemented in NATS on the two recently released datasets, namely, Newsroom and Bytecup.
STAR
Authors: Molinaro Cristian , Pulice Chiara , Subasic Anja , Bartolome Abigail , Subrahmanian V. S.
Published: January 2021

Timed association rules (TARs) generalize classical association rules (ARs) so that we can express temporal dependencies of the form “If
X
is true at time
t
, then
Y
will likely be true at time (
t
+τ).” As with ARs, solving the TAR mining problem can generate huge numbers of rules. We show that methods to summarize ARs cannot work directly with TARs, and we develop two notions—
strong
and
weak
summaries—to summarize a set of TARs. We show that the problems of finding strong/weak summaries are NP-hard, and we provide polynomial-time approximation algorithms. We show experimentally that the coverage provided by our summarization methods is very high. Both technical measures based on coverage and human experiments on six World Bank datasets using 100 subjects from Mechanical Turk and a separate experiment with terrorism experts on a terrorism dataset show that while both summarization methods perform well, weak summaries are preferred, despite their taking more time to compute than strong summaries.
Test Data Generation for Path Coverage of MPI Programs Using SAEO
Authors: Gong Dunwei , Sun Baicai , Yao Xiangjuan , Tian Tian
Published: January 2021

Message-passing interface (MPI) programs, a typical kind of parallel programs, have been commonly used in various applications. However, it generally takes exhaustive computation to run these programs when generating test data to test them. In this article, we propose a method of test data generation for path coverage of MPI programs using surrogate-assisted evolutionary optimization, which can efficiently generate test data with high quality. We first divide a sample set of a program into a number of clusters according to the multi-mode characteristic of the coverage problem, with each cluster training a surrogate model. Then, we estimate the fitness of each individual using one or more surrogate models when generating test data through evolving a population. Finally, a small number of representative individuals are selected to execute the program, with the purpose of obtaining their real fitness, to guide the subsequent evolution of the population. We apply the proposed method to seven benchmark MPI programs and compare it with several state-of-the-art approaches. The experimental results show that the proposed method can generate test data with reduced computation, thus improving the testing efficiency.
Adversarial Specification Mining
Authors: Kang Hong Jin , Lo David
Published: January 2021

There have been numerous studies on mining temporal specifications from execution traces. These approaches learn finite-state automata (FSA) from execution traces when running tests. To learn accurate specifications of a software system, many tests are required. Existing approaches generalize from a limited number of traces or use simple test generation strategies. Unfortunately, these strategies may not exercise uncommon usage patterns of a software system. To address this problem, we propose a new approach, adversarial specification mining, and develop a prototype, Diversity through Counter-examples (DICE). DICE has two components: DICE-Tester and DICE-Miner. After mining Linear Temporal Logic specifications from an input test suite, DICE-Tester adversarially guides test generation, searching for counterexamples to these specifications to invalidate spurious properties. These counterexamples represent gaps in the diversity of the input test suite. This process produces execution traces of usage patterns that were unrepresented in the input test suite. Next, we propose a new specification inference algorithm, DICE-Miner, to infer FSAs using the traces, guided by the temporal specifications. We find that the inferred specifications are of higher quality than those produced by existing state-of-the-art specification miners. Finally, we use the FSAs in a fuzzer for servers of stateful protocols, increasing its coverage.
Learning Convex Partitions and Computing Game-theoretic Equilibria from Best-response Queries
Authors: Goldberg Paul W. , Marmolejo-Cossío Francisco J.
Published: January 2021

Suppose that an
m
-simplex is partitioned into
n
convex regions having disjoint interiors and distinct labels, and we may learn the label of any point by querying it. The learning objective is to know, for any point in the simplex, a label that occurs within some distance ε from that point. We present two algorithms for this task: Constant-Dimension Generalised Binary Search (CD-GBS), which for constant
m
uses poly(
n
, log (1/ε)) queries, and Constant-Region Generalised Binary Search (CR-GBS), which uses CD-GBS as a subroutine and for constant
n
uses poly(
m
, log (1/ε)) queries.

We show via Kakutani’s fixed-point theorem that these algorithms provide bounds on the best-response query complexity of computing approximate well-supported equilibria of bimatrix games in which one of the players has a constant number of pure strategies. We also partially extend our results to games with multiple players, establishing further query complexity bounds for computing approximate well-supported equilibria in this setting.
New Clinical Classification for Ventricular Free Wall Rupture following Acute Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Gong Wei , Nie Shaoping
Published: January 2021

Ventricular free wall rupture (FWR) is a catastrophic complication after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, patients with FWR die of cardiac tamponade secondary to intrapericardial hemorrhage that can be treated if properly diagnosed. Unfortunately, FWR was still not diagnosed and classified quickly and accurately. The aim of this study was to present a new clinical classification for FWR. Seventy-eight patients with FWR after STEMI were enrolled in the study. We classified FWR, according to clinical situations after onset, into the cardiac arrest type, unstable type, and stable type. The cardiac arrest type was the most common type, accounting for about 83.3%. 90.8% of patients of this type were complicated with electromechanical dissociation at the time of FWR onset, and 100% of patients of this type died in the hospital. The unstable type was characterized by sudden clinical condition changes with moderate/massive pericardial effusion. In this study, 9.0% of patients were diagnosed as the unstable type. The average time from onset to death was 4.5 hours. This period was the “golden time” to rescue such patients. The stable types usually have stable hemodynamics, but may worsen, requiring rigorous detection of pericardial effusion and vital signs. In this study, 7.7% of patients were diagnosed as the stable type, and 83.5% of them survived in the hospital. The new clinical classification provides a basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment of FWR. The clinical application of the new classification is expected to improve the prognosis of FWR patients.
Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism and Oxidative Stress in Human Peripheral Blood Cells: Can Physical Activity Reactivate the Proteasome System through Epigenetic Mechanisms?
Authors: Piccarducci Rebecca , Daniele Simona , Polini Beatrice , Carpi Sara , Chico Lucia , Fusi Jonathan , Baldacci Filippo , Siciliano Gabriele , Bonuccelli Ubaldo , Nieri Paola , Martini Claudia , Franzoni Ferdinando
Published: January 2021

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by proteasome activity impairment, oxidative stress, and epigenetic changes, resulting in β‐amyloid (Aβ) production/degradation imbalance. Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is implicated in Aβ clearance, and particularly, the ApoE ε4 isoform predisposes to AD development. Regular physical activity is known to reduce AD progression. However, the impact of ApoE polymorphism and physical exercise on Aβ production and proteasome system activity has never been investigated in human peripheral blood cells, particularly in erythrocytes, an emerging peripheral model used to study biochemical alteration. Therefore, the influence of ApoE polymorphism on the antioxidant defences, amyloid accumulation, and proteasome activity was here evaluated in human peripheral blood cells depending on physical activity, to assess putative peripheral biomarkers for AD and candidate targets that could be modulated by lifestyle. Healthy subjects were enrolled and classified based on the ApoE polymorphism (by the restriction fragment length polymorphism technique) and physical activity level (Borg scale) and grouped into ApoE ε4/non‐ε4 carriers and active/non‐active subjects. The plasma antioxidant capability (AOC), the erythrocyte Aβ production/accumulation, and the nuclear factor erythroid 2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2) mediated proteasome functionality were evaluated in all groups by the chromatographic and immunoenzymatic assay, respectively. Moreover, epigenetic mechanisms were investigated considering the expression of histone deacetylase 6, employing a competitive ELISA, and the modulation of two key miRNAs (miR‐153‐3p and miR‐195‐5p), through the miRNeasy Serum/Plasma Mini Kit. ApoE ε4 subjects showed a reduction in plasma AOC and an increase in the Nrf2 blocker, miR‐153‐3p, contributing to an enhancement of the erythrocyte concentration of Aβ. Physical exercise increased plasma AOC and reduced the amount of Aβ and its precursor, involving a reduced miR‐153‐3p expression and a miR‐195‐5p enhancement. Our data highlight the impact of the ApoE genotype on the amyloidogenic pathway and the proteasome system, suggesting the positive impact of physical exercise, also through epigenetic mechanisms.
Editorial do n.40
Authors: Almeida Aline Novais de , Spineli Patricia Kiss , Dias Wagner Miranda
Published: January 2021

Editorial da Manuscrítica, edição 40, Rascunhos do Contemporâneo I.
Conversa com Paloma Vidal sobre Não Escrever: a performance participando da escrita
Authors: Kaspar Katerina Blasques
Published: January 2021

Documento editado a partir de conversa com a escritora e professora universitária Paloma Vidal acerca de seu projeto Não Escrever. A conversa ocorreu em 17 de setembro de 2019, em que a escritora apresentou seu arquivo pessoal e relatou sobre os processos empreendidos na concepção do projeto. O projeto se inicia em 2015, manifestando-se em formatos variados: um projeto acadêmico; uma série de palestras performáticas; um livro cartonero. Nossa conversa percorre essas três manifestações e também reflexões de Vidal sobre a presença da performance em sua prática de escrita e criação literária. O produto resultante dessa conversa foi primeiramente transcrito e possibilitou uma primeira exposição reflexiva, em formato de comunicação, no congresso "Rascunhos do contemporâneo", ocorrido em Curitiba em outubro de 2019. Mais tarde, o material foi analisado com mais cuidado, de modo que se percebeu a necessidade de editá-lo incluindo breves comentários e explicações adicionais. Pelo fato de que a conversa foi conduzida de modo a não interromper tanto a fala da entrevistada, por vezes observa-se que os conteúdos que apresenta estão espiralados, o que dificulta a leitura e compreensão do material. Assim, apresento este diálogo dentro do quadro de uma espécie de entrevista comentada.
Passado a limpo, n.40
Authors: Almeida Aline Novais de
Published: January 2021

Notícias de crítica genética
Ao redor do invisível: o tempo em suspensão no processo criativo de Cláudia França
Authors: Cirillo Aparecido José , Sanmartin Stela Maris
Published: January 2021

Nesse artigo nos aproximamos da reflexão de que uma obra colocada ao público, se vista pelos seus bastidores, por aquilo que a contém e que a gerou, pode fornecer dados inestimáveis para a História da Arte e para os estudos dos processos criativos. Assim, este artigo busca desenvolver um estudo reflexivo sobre o tempo como disparador e como matéria no processo criativo de Cláudia França, na exposição “Trabalho do Chão”, de 2019, quando recria um ambiente doméstico de forma simbólica, buscando gerar reflexões sobre as noções de paisagem e arquitetura e as relações humanas. Partimos da hipótese de que a artista corta o espaço e o reconstrói em uma espécie de tempo como instante, fragmento de uma duração interrompida. Estudamos os cadernos da artista e seus demais documentos de processo, para compreender algumas das escolhas que levaram ao formato final da obra apresentada ao público. Buscamos revelar como procedimentos tradicionais do desenho são incorporados em uma poética tridimensional que compartilha a intimidade da artista. Tratamos seu procedimento a partir de conceitos de criatividade e inovação que toma processos clássicos e os reelabora na construção de uma obra que questiona os limites do desenho e da escultura contemporâneos.
Criação em processo: das narrativas do desejo de Pedro Almodóvar
Authors: Smith Daniela Jaime
Published: January 2021

Pedro Almodóvar é um dos mais importantes cineastas espanhóis vivos. Pertence à extirpe de criadores que trabalham em processo criativo contínuo, estabelecendo relações entre um filme e outro, entre uma parte e o todo, já que a sua obra é construída por personagens e temas que se repetem sob diferentes perspectivas ao longo do tempo, traduzindo um universo temático inconfundível. O seu processo de criação é iniciado com a palavra para assim chegar na imagem, através de procedimentos de investigação e experimentação durante a criação e produção de seus filmes. Este estudo foi feito utilizando entrevistas do diretor e a análise de alguns de seus filmes. E a partir das teorias de Cecília Almeida Salles sobre processos de criação, que tem como base a semiótica de C.S. Peirce e propõe diálogos com autores como Edgard Morin, Vincent Colapietro, Zygmunt Bauman e Pierre Musso, olhamos para o projeto poético do cineasta, considerando suas escolhas artísticas e procedimentos de criação para a construção de seus universos fílmicos.
Josué e a nuvem: O ALJOG/UPF digitalizado (etapas de um processo)
Authors: Rettenmaier Miguel
Published: January 2021

Na proposta de classificação, conservação e digitalização dos itens do ALJOG/UPF (Acervo Literário de Josué Guimarães), sob a guarda da Universidade de Passo Fundo desde 2007, este trabalho pretende discutir e relatar a experiência de catalogação do acervo do autor, a partir de uma nova metodologia de trabalho decorrente dos estudos de Bordini, realinhada, contudo, às especificidades de pesquisa quanto à memória do autor de Camilo Mortágua. Assim, propondo-se a armazenar informações relativas ao arquivamento e acondicionamento dos itens, para preservação do patrimônio e da memória material de Josué Guimarães, a nova linha de trabalho dispõe-se, dentre outros objetivos, a reorganizar os itens do ALJOG/UPF, em classes e categorias,  visando a digitalização dos materiais em uma base de dados on line (Catalogador) que permita o tratamento e a abordagem dos materiais (documentação) e das informações (atributos/ campos das bases de dados), mediante vários tipos de análises e técnicas associadas a abordagens quantitativas (quantificação, ocorrências em número absoluto e percentual, frequências, gráficos), qualitativas (em função dos atributos e categorias estabelecidos no desenho do catalogador) e relacionais (combinando as duas anteriores e em relação com os vários eixos da estrutura do catalogador).
“Vozes de Pernambuco”: versão inicial de dois poemas de João Cabral de Melo Neto
Authors: Ribeiro Edneia Rodrigues
Published: January 2021

Este trabalho apresenta o fac-símile datilografado do poema "Vozes de Pernambuco", de João Cabral de Melo Neto, que se encontra no acervo desse poeta, sob os cuidados do Arquivo-Museu de Literatura Brasileira, da Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa. Publicado inicialmente no número  53 da Revista Colóquio-Letras, esse poema é desmembrado e aparece no livro A escola das facas (1980) com os títulos "A voz do canavial" e "A voz do coqueiral".
Editorial n. 41 - Rascunhos do Contemporâneo II
Authors: Pfutzenreuter Edson , Mendes Leonardo Cavalcante , Antunes Thiago Leão
Published: January 2021

Editorial do número 41.
Diálogos: Mário de Andrade e os parnasianos
Authors: Kimori Ligia Rivello Baranda
Published: January 2021

A marginália de Mário de Andrade nas obras do parnasianismo brasileiro e francês, bastante farta, possibilita implementar um capítulo nas relações entre modernistas e parnasianos quando oferece incursões que se ligam a tensões estabelecidas entre essas escolas. Nessa perspectiva, as anotações do leitor em seu percurso de formação e ao longo de sua trajetória como escritor ajudam a intervir, por meio desse viés genético, na historiografia literária vincada na potência crítica e criadora dos primeiros tempos modernistas quando nega espaço a produções de nossos parnasianos e se esquiva de observar enredamentos valiosos.
O processo criativo do poema “The Burglar of Babylon” a partir de uma abordagem sociocrítica
Authors: Barbosa Elisabete da Silva , Rodrigues Douglas Lima
Published: January 2021

Este artigo propõe analisar o poema “The Burglar of Babylon”, escrito em 1964 e publicado em 1965 pela escritora norte-americana Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979). Este estudo adota como abordagem teórico-metodológica a crítica genética, campo interdisciplinar que pode dialogar com outras teorias que ajudem a responder questões referentes à gênese analisada. Levando em consideração que a espacialidade é temática frequente na poética da autora, o conceito de multiterritorialidade torna-se importante para a análise do poema em questão. Além disso, a temática adotada é de cunho social, o que propicia o estudo do rastro sócio-histórico que se apresenta nos manuscritos. O texto trata da história de Micuçú, um criminoso pernambucano que, como tantas outras pessoas, migrou para o Rio de Janeiro em busca de melhores condições de vida, passando a residir no morro da Babilônia, favela carioca da qual Bishop, a partir de seu apartamento no bairro do Leme, tinha vista privilegiada. Propomos reconstituir alguns dos movimentos de gênese a fim de expor algumas das estratégias usadas pela escritora e, especialmente, encontrar elos intertextuais presentes na estruturação sócio-histórica do poema.
Colaboração como ato de “aprender de e com” o outro
Authors: Salgado Ariane Alfonso Azambuja de Oliveira
Published: January 2021

O artigo apresenta análise sobre um corpus de dezessete cartas publicadas por Paulo Freire no livro Cartas à Guiné-Bissau: registros de uma experiência em processo, de 1977. O objetivo do presente estudo é evidenciar como a ideia de “aprender de e com” o outro direcionou a criação de um projeto de alfabetização para adultos no citado país africano, atuando como uma tendência do movimento do gesto criador do educador, como integrante e líder de uma equipe. Para tanto, a escrita do artigo é norteada pelo conceito de “trajeto com tendência”, desenvolvido por Cecília Almeida Salles (1998), que diz respeito a um rumo vago que norteia processos de criação. Ao mesmo tempo, é discutido o conceito de colaboração implícito na prática de Paulo Freire com o auxílio das pesquisas sobre processos de criação em grupo de Salles (2017) e as leituras de Coelho (2011) e Berino (2017) sobre comunicação e estética na produção deste educador. O estudo das cartas explicitou um forte diálogo de Cartas à Guiné-Bissau com a obra Pedagogia do Oprimido e revelou a noção de colaboração como prática fundada na comunicação.
Obra-arquivo de Lygia Clark
Authors: Gonçalves Vinícius de Oliveira
Published: January 2021

O artigo tem como objetivo refletir sobre a relação entre arte e vida no âmbito do processo de criação de Lygia Clark. Primeiramente, será apresentado o contexto acadêmico em que a pesquisa está inserida, em seguida, será realizado um breve resgate histórico do desenvolvimento das pesquisas no campo da crítica genética e sua expansão: a crítica de processos. Tais pesquisas visam à análise de uma diversidade de documentos de processo, como cartas, esboços, rascunhos, manuscritos, etc., com a intenção de melhor compreender os processos de criação dos artistas estudados. Neste contexto, discutiremos uma diversidade de escritos da artista, correlacionando-os com a sua produção plástica, na intenção de flagrar o enredamento entre a sua vida e a sua prática artística e escrita.