bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison of the intradermal irritant threshold concentrations of nine allergens from two different manufacturers in clinically nonallergic dogs in the USA
Authors: Foust‐Wheatcraft Desirae A. , Dell Darin L. , Rosenkrantz Wayne S. , Griffin Craig E.
Published: June 2017

Background

The intradermal irritant threshold concentration for many allergens is unknown.

Objective

To determine the intradermal irritant threshold concentration (ITC) of nine allergens from two different manufacturers.

Animals

Twenty privately owned clinically nonallergic dogs.

Methods

Alternaria, cat dander, Dermatophagoides farinae, Chenopodium album (lamb's quarter), Xanthium strumarium (cocklebur), Prosopis glandulosa (mesquite), Morus alba (white mulberry), Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda grass) and Phleum pretense (Timothy grass) from two manufacturers (ALK; Round Rock, TX, USA and Greer® Laboratories; Lenoir, NC, USA) were injected intradermally at two dilutions and at 15 and 30 min evaluated subjectively (1–4) and objectively (horizontal wheal diameter) by two blinded investigators. A subjective score of 3 or 4 by either investigator at either timed reading was considered positive. If both concentrations resulted in positive reactions, two additional dilutions were performed. The ITC was defined as the lowest tested concentration that elicited a positive reaction in ≥10% of animals.

Results

The ITCs were Alternaria >2,000 PNU/mL; cat dander 750 PNU/mL (ALK) and 2,000 PNU/mL (Greer®); D. farinae <1:10,000 w/v; C. album <6,000 PNU/mL; X. strumarium <6,000 PNU/mL; P. glandulosa <500 PNU/mL; M. alba <6,000 PNU/mL; C. dactylon <10,000 PNU/mL (ALK) and <6,000 PNU/mL (Greer®); and P. pretense <6,000 PNU/mL.

Conclusions and clinical significance

There were significant differences in subjective scoring and objective measurement between manufacturers for Alternaria, cat dander and P. pretense. Results revealed significant positive correlation between subjective scoring and objective measurement for each time, investigator and manufacturer separately.
Hypofractionated radiation therapy in the treatment of canine thymoma: Retrospective study of eight cases
Authors: Goto Sho , Murakami Mami , Kawabe Mifumi , Iwasaki Ryota , Heishima Kazuki , Sakai Hiroki , Mori Takashi
Published: June 2017

Thymomas are one of the most common tumors of the cranial mediastinum in dogs; however there is limited information available on the use of radiation therapy for treating this neoplasm. Objectives of the current retrospective observational study were to describe outcomes and side effects of a hypofractionated radiation therapy protocol in a group of dogs with confirmed thymoma. A total of eight dogs were included. To generate individualized treatment plans, we designed the planning target volume according to the limits on mean lung dose and the percentage of the total lung volume exceeding 20 Gy (V20). The total administered dose was 48–49 Gy, with one fraction per week for a total of six to seven fractions. After therapy, two dogs achieved complete responses, two achieved partial responses, and the disease remained stable in two. Two dogs died during the radiation therapy protocol and were not classified. The median mean lung dose and V20 were 6.0 Gy (range: 3.1–15.0 Gy) and 12.4% (range: 2.3–27.5%), respectively. The overall response rate was 50.0%, and the median time to response following treatment initiation was 22 days (range: 14–115 days). Acute and late side effects were common in the skin and/or lung and were self‐limiting or asymptomatic. The median survival time was not reached (range: 8–1128 days) and the 1 year survival rate was 75.0%. Hypofractionated radiation therapy was well tolerated in this sample of dogs with thymoma and may be considered when owners decline surgical treatment or the tumor is deemed unresectable.
Holomorphic Legendrian curves
Authors: Alarcón Antonio , Forstnerič Franc , López Francisco J.
Published: June 2017

In this paper we study holomorphic Legendrian curves in the standard holomorphic contact structure on$\mathbb{C}^{2n+1}$for any$n\in \mathbb{N}$. We provide several approximation and desingularization results which enable us to prove general existence theorems, settling some of the open problems in the subject. In particular, we show that every open Riemann surface$M$admits a proper holomorphic Legendrian embedding$M{\hookrightarrow}\mathbb{C}^{2n+1}$, and we prove that for every compact bordered Riemann surface$M={M\unicode[STIX]{x0030A}}\,\cup \,bM$there exists a topological embedding$M{\hookrightarrow}\mathbb{C}^{2n+1}$whose restriction to the interior is a complete holomorphic Legendrian embedding${M\unicode[STIX]{x0030A}}{\hookrightarrow}\mathbb{C}^{2n+1}$. As a consequence, we infer that every complex contact manifold$W$carries relatively compact holomorphic Legendrian curves, normalized by any given bordered Riemann surface, which are complete with respect to any Riemannian metric on$W$.
Laser-driven resonance of dye-doped oil-coated microbubbles: Experimental study
Authors: Lajoinie Guillaume , Lee Jeong-Yu , Owen Joshua , Kruizinga Pieter , de Jong Nico , van Soest Gijs , Stride Eleanor , Versluis Michel
Published: June 2017

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging offers several attractive features as a biomedical imaging modality, including excellent spatial resolution and functional information such as tissue oxygenation. A key limitation, however, is the contrast to noise ratio that can be obtained from tissue depths greater than 1–2 mm. Microbubbles coated with an optically absorbing shell have been proposed as a possible contrast agent for PA imaging, offering greater signal amplification and improved biocompatibility compared to metallic nanoparticles. A theoretical description of the dynamics of a coated microbubble subject to laser irradiation has been developed previously. The aim of this study was to test the predictions of the model. Two different types of oil-coated microbubbles were fabricated and then exposed to both pulsed and continuous wave (CW) laser irradiation. Their response was characterized using ultra high-speed imaging. Although there was considerable variability across the population, good agreement was found between the experimental results and theoretical predictions in terms of the frequency and amplitude of microbubble oscillation following pulsed excitation. Under CW irradiation, highly nonlinear behavior was observed which may be of considerable interest for developing different PA imaging techniques with greatly improved contrast enhancement.
Next-generation probes, particles, and proteins for neural interfacing
Authors: Rivnay Jonathan , Wang Huiliang , Fenno Lief , Deisseroth Karl , Malliaras George G.
Published: June 2017

Multimodal and multidisciplinary approaches lead to next-generation technologies for reading and modulating neural function.
Fully gapped superconductivity with no sign change in the prototypical heavy-fermion CeCu
2
Si
2
Authors: Yamashita Takuya , Takenaka Takaaki , Tokiwa Yoshifumi , Wilcox Joseph A. , Mizukami Yuta , Terazawa Daiki , Kasahara Yuichi , Kittaka Shunichiro , Sakakibara Toshiro , Konczykowski Marcin , Seiro Silvia , Jeevan Hirale S. , Geibel Christoph , Putzke Carsten , Onishi Takafumi , Ikeda Hiroaki , Carrington Antony , Shibauchi Takasada , Matsuda Yuji
Published: June 2017

Heavy electrons with extremely strong Coulomb repulsions can condense into a fully gapped s-wave superconducting state.
Directional mechanical stability of Bacteriophage φ29 motor’s 3WJ-pRNA: Extraordinary robustness along portal axis
Authors: Xu Zhonghe , Sun Yang , Weber Jeffrey K. , Cao Yi , Wang Wei , Jasinski Daniel , Guo Peixuan , Zhou Ruhong , Li Jingyuan
Published: June 2017

φ29 motor’s three-way junction serves as an effective connecting rod through its superb rigidity in the coaxial direction.
Reconstructed storm tracks reveal three centuries of changing moisture delivery to North America
Authors: Wise Erika K. , Dannenberg Matthew P.
Published: June 2017

Multicentury reconstruction of Pacific storm tracks shows recent changes were influenced by underlying multidecadal variability.
Mechanical deformation induces depolarization of neutrophils
Authors: Ekpenyong Andrew E. , Toepfner Nicole , Fiddler Christine , Herbig Maik , Li Wenhong , Cojoc Gheorghe , Summers Charlotte , Guck Jochen , Chilvers Edwin R.
Published: June 2017

In vivo–mimicking mechanical deformations quickly depolarize neutrophils—a mechanism potentially failing in acute lung injury.
An innovative biologic system for photon-powered myocardium in the ischemic heart
Authors: Cohen Jeffrey E. , Goldstone Andrew B. , Paulsen Michael J. , Shudo Yasuhiro , Steele Amanda N. , Edwards Bryan B. , Patel Jay B. , MacArthur John W. , Hopkins Michael S. , Burnett Casey E. , Jaatinen Kevin J. , Thakore Akshara D. , Farry Justin M. , Truong Vi N. , Bourdillon Alexandra T. , Stapleton Lyndsay M. , Eskandari Anahita , Fairman Alexander S. , Hiesinger William , Esipova Tatiana V. , Patrick William L. , Ji Keven , Shizuru Judith A. , Woo Y. Joseph
Published: June 2017

Solar-powered heart? Harnessing light to create myocardial renewable energy.
MnTiO
3
-driven low-temperature oxidative coupling of methane over TiO
2
-doped Mn
2
O
3
-Na
2
WO
4
/SiO
2
catalyst
Authors: Wang Pengwei , Zhao Guofeng , Wang Yu , Lu Yong
Published: June 2017

TiO
2
doping improves low-temperature OCM activity for Mn
2
O
3
-Na
2
WO
4
/SiO
2
due to MnTiO
3
formation that triggers the Mn
2+
↔Mn
3+
cycle.
Instant tough bonding of hydrogels for soft machines and electronics
Authors: Wirthl Daniela , Pichler Robert , Drack Michael , Kettlguber Gerald , Moser Richard , Gerstmayr Robert , Hartmann Florian , Bradt Elke , Kaltseis Rainer , Siket Christian M. , Schausberger Stefan E. , Hild Sabine , Bauer Siegfried , Kaltenbrunner Martin
Published: June 2017

A strategy for bonding water-rich hydrogels to diverse materials for electronic skins, energy storage, and soft optics is reported.
Probing nanocrystalline grain dynamics in nanodevices
Authors: Yeh Sheng-Shiuan , Chang Wen-Yao , Lin Juhn-Jong
Published: June 2017

We demonstrate the concept and experimental method to quantitatively characterize mobile nanograins in RuO
2
nanowires.
Splitting of the O–O bond at the heme-copper catalytic site of respiratory oxidases
Authors: Poiana Federica , von Ballmoos Christoph , Gonska Nathalie , Blomberg Margareta R. A. , Ädelroth Pia , Brzezinski Peter
Published: June 2017

We present a mechanism by which oxygen is reduced to water in living organisms.
Above 400-K robust perpendicular ferromagnetic phase in a topological insulator
Authors: Tang Chi , Chang Cui-Zu , Zhao Gejian , Liu Yawen , Jiang Zilong , Liu Chao-Xing , McCartney Martha R. , Smith David J. , Chen Tingyong , Moodera Jagadeesh S. , Shi Jing
Published: June 2017

Topological surface states reveal proximity-induced ferromagnetism with perpendicular anisotropy persisting above 400 K.
High particulate iron(II) content in glacially sourced dusts enhances productivity of a model diatom
Authors: Shoenfelt Elizabeth M. , Sun Jing , Winckler Gisela , Kaplan Michael R. , Borunda Alejandra L. , Farrell Kayla R. , Moreno Patricio I. , Gaiero Diego M. , Recasens Cristina , Sambrotto Raymond N. , Bostick Benjamin C.
Published: June 2017

Diatoms can access mineral iron from dust if it is reduced, and reduced particulate iron is common in glacial dust sources.
Nonvolatile ferroelectric domain wall memory
Authors: Sharma Pankaj , Zhang Qi , Sando Daniel , Lei Chi Hou , Liu Yunya , Li Jiangyu , Nagarajan Valanoor , Seidel Jan
Published: June 2017

A nonvolatile highly scalable multilevel memory based on ferroelectric domain walls is demonstrated.
A cyclic oligonucleotide signaling pathway in type III CRISPR-Cas systems
Authors: Kazlauskiene Migle , Kostiuk Georgij , Venclovas Česlovas , Tamulaitis Gintautas , Siksnys Virginijus
Published: June 2017

Bacterial defense amplification

Prokaryotic type III CRISPR systems use the effector complex and additional proteins such as Csm6 to destroy both the genome and the transcripts of invaders. However, how the effector complex and Csm6 coordinate CRISPR activity remains a mystery. Kazlauskiene
et al.
found that a cyclic oligonucleotide–based signaling pathway can regulate the defense response (see the Perspective by Amitai and Sorek). Upon target recognition, the Cas10 subunit of the effector complex synthesizes cyclic oligoadenylates, which act as second messengers to initiate and amplify the nuclease activity of Csm6.

Science
, this issue p.
605
; see also p.
550
Workplace violence against physicians in Turkey’s emergency departments: a cross-sectional survey
Authors: Bayram Başak , Çetin Murat , Çolak Oray Neşe , Can İsmail Özgür
Published: June 2017

Objective

We aimed to determine the prevalence of violence directed at emergency department (ED) physicians in Turkey and confirm the factors influencing such violence.

Design

Cross-sectional survey study.

Setting

Country of Turkey.

Participants

Physicians currently practising in EDs in Turkey.

Main outcome measures

The prevalence of violence directed at physicians and factors that may influence it, such as physicians’ personal characteristics, ED characteristics and physicians’ opinions regarding the causes of and suggested methods of preventing violence.

Results

A total of 713 physicians participated. Of these, 78.1% reported being subjected to violence in the past year and 65.9% reported more than one such incident. Being subjected to violence was related to age (p=0.008), working in an ED with a high patient admission rate (p=0.018), current position (p<0.001), working outside regular work hours (p<0.001), working in a state hospital (p<0.001) and level of experience (p<0.001). Gender, type of patient typically seen, region and patient waiting period did not influence subjection to violence. The present safety precautions against violence do not appear to influence the prevalence of violence.

Conclusions

Our results indicated that ED physicians’ experience of violence is related to personal characteristics such as age and level of expertise, and hospital and ED characteristics such as high patient admission rates. Presently, no measures taken to reduce this violence have been proven effective.
Clinical use of nintedanib in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Authors: Hajari Case Amy , Johnson Peace
Published: June 2017

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a rare lung disease characterised by progressive loss of lung function, dyspnoea and cough. IPF has a variable clinical course but a poor prognosis. Nintedanib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is one of two drugs approved for the treatment of IPF. In clinical trials, nintedanib slowed disease progression by reducing the rate of decline in forced vital capacity (FVC) in patients with IPF and mild or moderate lung function impairment. The effect of nintedanib was consistent across patient subgroups defined by baseline characteristics including FVC % predicted, diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide % predicted and the presence of emphysema. Recently, it has been shown that the rate of decline in FVC and the treatment effect of nintedanib are the same in patients with preserved lung volume (FVC >90% predicted) as in patients with greater impairment in FVC, supporting the value of early treatment of IPF. The adverse events most commonly associated with nintedanib, both in clinical trials and real-world clinical practice, are mild gastrointestinal events, particularly diarrhoea. Side effects are manageable in a majority of patients through symptomatic treatment, dose reductions and treatment interruptions, enabling most patients to stay on treatment in the long term.
Hyperaemic microvascular resistance predicts clinical outcome and microvascular injury after myocardial infarction
Authors: de Waard Guus A , Fahrni Gregor , de Wit Douwe , Kitabata Hironori , Williams Rupert , Patel Niket , Teunissen Paul F , van de Ven Peter M , Umman Sabahattin , Knaapen Paul , Perera Divaka , Akasaka Takashi , Sezer Murat , Kharbanda Rajesh K , van Royen Niels
Published: June 2017

Objectives

Early detection of microvascular dysfunction after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) could identify patients at high risk of adverse clinical outcome, who may benefit from adjunctive treatment. Our objective was to compare invasively measured coronary flow reserve (CFR) and hyperaemic microvascular resistance (HMR) for their predictive power of long-term clinical outcome and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)-defined microvascular injury (MVI).

Methods

Simultaneous intracoronary Doppler flow velocity and pressure measurements acquired immediately after revascularisation for AMI from five centres were pooled. Clinical follow-up was completed for 176 patients (mean age 60±10 years; 140(80%) male; ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) 130(74%) and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction 46(26%)) with median follow-up time of 3.2 years. In 110 patients with STEMI, additional CMR was performed.

Results

The composite end point of death and hospitalisation for heart failure occurred in 17 patients (10%). Optimal cut-off values to predict the composite end point were 1.5 for CFR and 3.0 mm Hg cm−1•s for HMR. CFR <1.5 was predictive for the composite end point (HR 3.5;95% CI 1.1 to 10.8), but not for its individual components. HMR ≥3.0 mm Hg cm−1 s was predictive for the composite end point (HR 7.0;95% CI 1.5 to 33.7) as well as both individual components. HMR had significantly greater area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for MVI than CFR. HMR remained an independent predictor of adverse clinical outcome and MVI, whereas CFR did not.

Conclusions

HMR measured immediately following percutaneous coronary intervention for AMI with a cut-off value of 3.0 mm Hg cm−1 s, identifies patients with MVI who are at high risk of adverse clinical outcome. For this purpose, HMR is superior to CFR.
Quick starting hormonal contraception after using oral emergency contraception: a systematic review
Authors: Murphy Lauren EE , Chen Zhong E , Warner Valerie , Cameron Sharon T
Published: June 2017

Introduction

Unprotected intercourse after oral emergency contraception (EC) significantly increases pregnancy risk. This underlies the importance of promptly starting effective, ongoing contraception – known as ‘quick starting’. However, theoretical concern exists that quick starting might interact with EC or hormonal contraception (HC) potentially causing adverse side effects.

Method

A systematic review was conducted, evaluating quick starting HC after oral EC [levonorgestrel 1.5 mg (LNG) or ulipristal acetate 30 mg (UPA)]. PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, ICTRP, ClinicalTrials.gov and relevant reference lists were searched in February 2016. A lack of comparable studies prevented meta-analysis.

Results

Three randomised controlled trials were identified. Two biomedical studies suggested HC action was unaffected by quick starting after UPA; one study examined ovarian quiescence (OR 1.27; 95% CI 0.51–3.18) while taking combined oral contraception (COC). Another assessed cervical mucus impenetrability (OR 0.76; 95% CI 0.27–2.13) while taking progestogen-only pills (POP). Quick starting POP reduced the ability of UPA to delay ovulation (OR 0.04; 95% CI 0.01–0.37). Side effects (OR 1.22; 95% CI 0.48–3.12) and unscheduled bleeding (OR 0.53; 95% CI 0.16–1.81) were unaffected by quick starting COC after UPA. Another study reported higher self-reported contraceptive use at 8 weeks among women quick starting POP after LNG, compared with women given LNG alone (OR 6.73; 95% CI 2.14–21.20).
Functional limitations in the phase of clinically suspect arthralgia are as serious as in early clinical arthritis; a longitudinal study
Authors: ten Brinck Robin M , van Steenbergen Hanna W , Mangnus Lukas , Burgers Leonie E , Reijnierse Monique , Huizinga Tom WJ , van der Helm-van Mil Annette HM
Published: June 2017

Introduction

A phase of arthralgia may precede the emergence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although several studies have focused on biomarkers, the relevance of this phase for patients is less studied. It is unknown if patients already have functional limitations and if this is correlated to the extent of subclinical inflammation. Therefore, we assessed functional disability in patients with clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA), its association with MRI-detected subclinical inflammation and its course during progression to clinical arthritis.

Methods

From April 2012 to March 2015, 241 patients had arthralgia for <1 year and were, based on clinical presentation, considered at risk for RA by their rheumatologists. At baseline, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) scores were determined and unilateral 1.5 T MRI of metacarpophalangeal, wrist and metatarsophalangeal joints were made. Presence of MRI-detected subclinical inflammation was assessed by summing synovitis, tenosynovitis and bone marrow oedema scores (range 0–189). Patients were followed on arthritis development and HAQ scores were repeated when clinical arthritis had developed.

Results

The median HAQ score at presentation with CSA was 0.50. Higher MRI-inflammation scores were associated with higher HAQ scores (β=0.017, 95% CI=0.004 to 0.030). During median 103 weeks follow-up, 44 patients progressed to clinical arthritis. HAQ scores ≥1.0 were associated with arthritis development (HR=2.50, 95% CI=1.03 to 6.10). Within converters, median HAQ scores did not increase from presentation with CSA to arthritis development (0.88 and 0.75, p=0.36).

Conclusions

HAQ scores ≥1.0 at presentation were associated with the development of clinical arthritis. Functional limitations in the prearthritis phase of CSA were as serious as in the early clinical phase, demonstrating the relevance of CSA from patients’ perspectives.
Antimonotonicity, Crisis and Multiple Attractors in a Simple Memristive Circuit
Authors: Volos Christos K. , Akgul Akif , Pham Viet-Thanh , Baptista Murilo S.
Published: June 2017

In this work a memristive circuit consisting of a first-order memristive diode bridge is presented. The proposed circuit is the simplest memristive circuit containing the specific circuitry realization of the memristor to be so far presented in the literature. Characterization of the proposed circuit confirms its complex dynamic behavior, which is studied by using well-known numerical tools of nonlinear theory, such as bifurcation diagram, Lyapunov exponents and phase portraits. Various dynamical phenomena concerning chaos theory, such as antimonotonicity, which is observed for the first time in this type of memristive circuits, crisis phenomenon and multiple attractors, have been observed. An electronic circuit to reproduce the proposed memristive circuit was designed, and experiments were conducted to verify the results obtained from the numerical simulations.
Compact Hardware Implementations of MISTY1 Block Cipher
Authors: Yasir  , Wu Ning , Zhang Xiaoqiang
Published: June 2017

This paper proposes compact hardware implementations of 64-bit NESSIE proposed MISTY1 block cipher for area constrained and low power ASIC applications. The architectures comprise only one round MISTY1 block cipher algorithm having optimized FO/FI function by re-utilizing S9/S7 substitution functions. A focus is also made on efficient logic implementations of S9 and S7 substitution functions using common sub-expression elimination (CSE) and parallel AND/XOR gates hierarchy. The proposed architecture 1 generates extended key with independent FI function and is suitable for MISTY1 8-rounds implementation. On the other hand, the proposed architecture 2 uses a single FO/FI function for both MISTY1 round function as well as extended key generation and can be employed for MISTY1 [Formula: see text] rounds. To analyze the performance and covered area for ASICs, Synopsys Design Complier, SMIC 0.18[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m @ 1.8[Formula: see text]V is used. The hardware constituted 3041 and 2331 NAND gates achieving throughput of 171 and 166 Mbps for 8 rounds implementation of architectures 1 and 2, respectively. Comprehensive analysis of proposed designs is covered in this paper.
Belt and Road Initiative: A New Impetus to Strengthen China-Malaysia Relations
Authors: Tuan Yuen KONG
Published: June 2017

China-Malaysia relations would be strengthened through the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese industrial overcapacity is a factor in infrastructure investment in Malaysia which needs international collaboration projects for domestic economic development. Challenges include the unstable Malaysian political economy and ethnic issue as well as the economic slowdown of China, and the geopolitics of the South China Sea.
Xi Jinping’s Centralisation of Chinese Foreign Policy Decision-Making Power
Authors: WANG Shichen
Published: June 2017

In the past three years, a trend towards the centralisation of decision-making power in Chinese foreign policy instituted by Xi Jinping has become more and more apparent. The driver of the shift in Chinese foreign policy is the reform of its decision-making system. The ‘reform’ not only refers to institution building but also includes change of the former procedures of foreign policy decisionmaking to create a more efficient decision-making system.
Brain Drain: Are Mutual Funds Losing Their Best Minds?
Authors: Kostovetsky Leonard
Published: June 2017

I investigate the effect of labor market competition from hedge funds on the mutual fund industry. I find evidence of an increasing flight of top-performing young managers from mutual funds, a drop in mutual fund returns, and deterioration in recruiting standards. These findings are not explained by differences in fund characteristics, risk loadings, fund styles, or the intervening dot-com bubble. The results suggest that industry-specific government regulations, especially ones focused on employee compensation, can lead to brain drains that have crippling effects on the health of the regulated sector.
U–Pb dating of metamorphic monazite establishes a Pan-African age for tectonism in the Nallamalai Fold Belt, India
Authors: Sheppard S. , Rasmussen B. , Zi Jian-Wei , Soma Sekhar V. , Srinivasa Sarma D. , Ram Mohan M. , Krapež B. , Wilde S.A. , McNaughton N.J.
Published: June 2017

The Nallamalai Fold Belt comprises late Palaeoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic sedimentary rocks deformed into a fold-and-thrust belt along the eastern side of Peninsular India. The age of thin-skinned thrusting, folding and low- to medium-grade metamorphism in the belt is unclear, with estimates ranging from Palaeoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic. A possible Pan-African age for thrusting has previously been inferred from Rb–Sr dating of muscovite in shear zones from the adjacent Krishna Province (501 – 474 Ma) but these structures are separated from the Nallamalai Fold Belt by a major thrust. Here, we present
in situ
U–Pb dating of metamorphic monazite within a low-grade metasedimentary rock in the Nallamalai Fold Belt at the Mangampeta barite mine. Our date of 531 ± 7 Ma for the monazite is the first direct evidence that west- to NW-directed nappe stacking, folding and low-grade metamorphism in the fold belt are related to Pan-African incorporation of India into the Gondwana supercontinent.
Unveiling Correlations via Mining Human-Thing Interactions in the Web of Things
Authors: Yao Lina , Sheng Quan Z. , Ngu Anne H. H. , Li Xue , Benattalah Boualem
Published: June 2017

With recent advances in radio-frequency identification (RFID), wireless sensor networks, and Web services, physical things are becoming an integral part of the emerging ubiquitous Web. Finding correlations among ubiquitous things is a crucial prerequisite for many important applications such as things search, discovery, classification, recommendation, and composition. This article presents
DisCor-T
, a novel graph-based approach for discovering
underlying connections
of things via mining the rich content embodied in the human-thing interactions in terms of user, temporal, and spatial information. We model this various information using two graphs, namely a spatio-temporal graph and a social graph. Then, random walk with restart (RWR) is applied to find proximities among things, and a relational graph of things (RGT) indicating implicit correlations of things is learned. The correlation analysis lays a solid foundation contributing to improved effectiveness in things management and analytics. To demonstrate the utility of the proposed approach, we develop a flexible feature-based classification framework on top of RGT and perform a systematic case study. Our evaluation exhibits the strength and feasibility of the proposed approach.
Transfer Learning for Behavior Ranking
Authors: Pan Weike , Yang Qiang , Duan Yuchao , Tan Ben , Ming Zhong
Published: June 2017

Intelligent recommendation has been well recognized as one of the major approaches to address the information overload problem in the big data era. A typical intelligent recommendation engine usually consists of three major components, that is, data as the main input, algorithms for preference learning, and system for user interaction and high-performance computation. We observe that the data (e.g., users’ behavior) are usually in different forms, such as examinations (e.g., browse and collection) and ratings, where the former are often much more abundant than the latter. Although the data are in different representations, they are both related to users’ true preferences and are also deemed complementary to each other for preference learning. However, very few ranking or recommendation algorithms have been developed to exploit such two types of user behavior.

In this article, we focus on jointly modeling the examination behavior and rating behavior and develop a novel and efficient ranking-oriented recommendation algorithm accordingly. First, we formally define a new recommendation problem termed
behavior ranking
, which aims to build a ranking-oriented model by exploiting both the examination behavior and rating behavior. Second, we develop a simple and generic
transfer to rank
(ToR) algorithm for behavior ranking, which transfers knowledge of candidate items from a global preference learning task to a local preference learning task. Compared with the previous work on integrating heterogeneous user behavior, our ToR algorithm is the first ranking-oriented solution, which can effectively generate recommendations in a more direct manner than those regression-oriented methods. Extensive empirical studies show that our ToR algorithm performs significantly more accurately than the state-of-the-art methods in most cases. Furthermore, our ToR algorithm is very efficient in terms of the time complexity, which is similar to those for homogeneous user behavior alone.
Query-Driven Learning for Predictive Analytics of Data Subspace Cardinality
Authors: Anagnostopoulos Christos , Triantafillou Peter
Published: June 2017

Fundamental to many predictive analytics tasks is the ability to estimate the cardinality (number of data items) of multi-dimensional data subspaces, defined by query selections over datasets. This is crucial for data analysts dealing with, e.g., interactive data subspace explorations, data subspace visualizations, and in query processing optimization. However, in many modern data systems, predictive analytics may be (i) too costly money-wise, e.g., in clouds, (ii) unreliable, e.g., in modern Big Data query engines, where accurate statistics are difficult to obtain/maintain, or (iii) infeasible, e.g., for privacy issues. We contribute a novel, query-driven, function estimation model of analyst-defined data subspace cardinality. The proposed estimation model is highly accurate in terms of prediction and accommodating the well-known selection queries: multi-dimensional range and distance-nearest neighbors (radius) queries. Our function estimation model: (i) quantizes the vectorial query space, by learning the analysts’ access patterns over a data space, (ii) associates query vectors with their corresponding cardinalities of the analyst-defined data subspaces, (iii) abstracts and employs query vectorial similarity to predict the cardinality of an unseen/unexplored data subspace, and (iv) identifies and adapts to possible changes of the query subspaces based on the theory of optimal stopping. The proposed model is decentralized, facilitating the scaling-out of such predictive analytics queries. The research significance of the model lies in that (i) it is an attractive solution when data-driven statistical techniques are undesirable or infeasible, (ii) it offers a scale-out, decentralized training solution, (iii) it is applicable to different selection query types, and (iv) it offers a performance that is superior to that of data-driven approaches.
A Survey on Malware Detection Using Data Mining Techniques
Authors: Ye Yanfang , Li Tao , Adjeroh Donald , Iyengar S. Sitharama
Published: June 2017

In the Internet age, malware (such as viruses, trojans, ransomware, and bots) has posed serious and evolving security threats to Internet users. To protect legitimate users from these threats, anti-malware software products from different companies, including Comodo, Kaspersky, Kingsoft, and Symantec, provide the major defense against malware. Unfortunately, driven by the economic benefits, the number of new malware samples has explosively increased: anti-malware vendors are now confronted with millions of potential malware samples per year. In order to keep on combating the increase in malware samples, there is an urgent need to develop intelligent methods for effective and efficient malware detection from the real and large daily sample collection. In this article, we first provide a brief overview on malware as well as the anti-malware industry, and present the industrial needs on malware detection. We then survey intelligent malware detection methods. In these methods, the process of detection is usually divided into two stages:
feature extraction
and
classification/clustering
. The performance of such intelligent malware detection approaches critically depend on the extracted features and the methods for classification/clustering. We provide a comprehensive investigation on both the feature extraction and the classification/clustering techniques. We also discuss the additional issues and the challenges of malware detection using data mining techniques and finally forecast the trends of malware development.
Cross Domain Recommender Systems
Authors: Khan Muhammad Murad , Ibrahim Roliana , Ghani Imran
Published: June 2017

Cross domain recommender systems (CDRS) can assist recommendations in a target domain based on knowledge learned from a source domain. CDRS consists of three building blocks: domain, user-item overlap scenarios, and recommendation tasks. The objective of this research is to identify the most widely used CDRS building-block definitions, identify common features between them, classify current research in the frame of identified definitions, group together research with respect to algorithm types, present existing problems, and recommend future directions for CDRS research. To achieve this objective, we have conducted a systematic literature review of 94 shortlisted studies. We classified the selected studies using the tag-based approach and designed classification grids. Using classification grids, it was found that the category-domain contributed a maximum of 62%, whereas the time domain contributed at least 3%. User-item overlaps were found to have equal contribution. Single target domain recommendation task was found at a maximum of 78%, whereas cross-domain recommendation task had a minor influence at only 10%. MovieLens contributed the most at 22%, whereas Yahoo-music provided 1% between 29 datasets. Factorization-based algorithms contributed a total of 37%, whereas semantics-based algorithms contributed 6% among seven types of identified algorithm groups. Finally, future directions were grouped into five categories.
A Survey of Power and Energy Predictive Models in HPC Systems and Applications
Authors: O’brien Kenneth , Pietri Ilia , Reddy Ravi , Lastovetsky Alexey , Sakellariou Rizos
Published: June 2017

Power and energy efficiency are now critical concerns in extreme-scale high-performance scientific computing. Many extreme-scale computing systems today (for example: Top500) have tight integration of multicore CPU processors and accelerators (mix of Graphical Processing Units, Intel Xeon Phis, or Field Programmable Gate Arrays) empowering them to provide not just unprecedented computational power but also to address these concerns. However, such integration renders these systems highly heterogeneous and hierarchical, thereby necessitating design of novel performance, power, and energy models to accurately capture these inherent characteristics.

There are now several extensive research efforts focusing exclusively on power and energy efficiency models and techniques for the processors composing these extreme-scale computing systems. This article synthesizes these research efforts with absolute concentration on predictive power and energy models and prime emphasis on node architecture. Through this survey, we also intend to highlight the shortcomings of these models to correctly and comprehensively predict the power and energy consumptions by taking into account the hierarchical and heterogeneous nature of these tightly integrated high-performance computing systems.
Human Competitiveness of Genetic Programming in Spectrum-Based Fault Localisation
Authors: Yoo Shin , Xie Xiaoyuan , Kuo Fei-Ching , Chen Tsong Yueh , Harman Mark
Published: June 2017

We report on the application of Genetic Programming to Software Fault Localisation, a problem in the area of Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE). We give both empirical and theoretical evidence for the human competitiveness of the evolved fault localisation formulæ under the single fault scenario, compared to those generated by human ingenuity and reported in many papers, published over more than a decade. Though there have been previous human competitive results claimed for SBSE problems, this is the first time that evolved solutions have been formally proved to be human competitive. We further prove that no future human investigation could outperform the evolved solutions. We complement these proofs with an empirical analysis of both human and evolved solutions, which indicates that the evolved solutions are not only theoretically human competitive, but also convey similar practical benefits to human-evolved counterparts.
Using Thermal Stimuli to Enhance Photo-Sharing in Social Media
Authors: Akazue Moses , Halvey Martin , Baillie Lynne
Published: June 2017

Limited work has been undertaken to show how the emotive ability of thermal stimuli can be used for interaction purposes. One potential application area is using thermal stimuli to influence emotions in images shared online such as social media platforms. This paper presents a two-part study, which examines how the documented emotive property of thermal stimuli can be applied to enhance social media images. Participants in part-one supplied images from their personal collection or social media profiles, and were asked to augment each image with thermal stimuli based on the emotions they wanted to enhance or reduce. Part-one participants were interviewed to understand the effects they wanted augmented images to have. In part-two, these augmented images were perceived by a different set of participants in a simulated social media interface. Results showed strong agreement between the emotions augmented images were designed to evoke and the emotions they actually evoked as perceived by part-two participants. Participants in part-one selected thermal stimuli augmentation intended to modulate valence and arousal in images as a way of enhancing the realism of the images augmented. Part-two results indicate this was achieved as participants perceived thermal stimuli augmentation reduced valence in negative images and modulated valence and arousal in positive images.
Every Byte Counts
Authors: Baumann Paul , Santini Silvia
Published: June 2017

Quick responses to user actions are instrumental to the success of mobile applications. To ensure such responsiveness, applications often prefetch data objects before the user requests them. This way, applications can avoid the need to retrieve data through slow network connections during user interactions. However, prefetches may also harm. They increase launch delays and might cause substantial amounts of data to be downloaded through energy-hungry, cellular connections. In this paper, we propose EBC, a novel algorithm to schedule application prefetches and overcome their drawbacks. EBC computes application usage probabilities and traffic volume estimates to determine when and for which applications prefetches should be triggered. Thereby, it applies different strategies depending on whether a cellular or Wi-Fi connection is available. We evaluate the performance of EBC on two publicly available, large-scale data sets: LiveLab and Device Analyzer. Our results show that EBC can lower launch delays and ensure freshness of application content. At the same time, it reduces the amount of data downloaded through cellular connections. On the Device Analyzer data set, for instance, EBC achieves a 10% reduction in cellular traffic and a 36% better average freshness with respect to its closest competitor.
Ensembles of Deep LSTM Learners for Activity Recognition using Wearables
Authors: Guan Yu , Plötz Thomas
Published: June 2017

Recently, deep learning (DL) methods have been introduced very successfully into human activity recognition (HAR) scenarios in ubiquitous and wearable computing. Especially the prospect of overcoming the need for manual feature design combined with superior classification capabilities render deep neural networks very attractive for real-life HAR applications. Even though DL-based approaches now outperform the state-of-the-art in a number of recognition tasks, still substantial challenges remain. Most prominently, issues with real-life datasets, typically including imbalanced datasets and problematic data quality, still limit the effectiveness of activity recognition using wearables. In this paper we tackle such challenges through Ensembles of deep Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) networks. LSTM networks currently represent the state-of-the-art with superior classification performance on relevant HAR benchmark datasets. We have developed modified training procedures for LSTM networks and combine sets of diverse LSTM learners into classifier collectives. We demonstrate that Ensembles of deep LSTM learners outperform individual LSTM networks and thus push the state-of-the-art in human activity recognition using wearables. Through an extensive experimental evaluation on three standard benchmarks (Opportunity, PAMAP2, Skoda) we demonstrate the excellent recognition capabilities of our approach and its potential for real-life applications of human activity recognition.
Semi-Automated 8 Collaborative Online Training Module for Improving Communication Skills
Authors: Zhao Ru , Li Vivian , Barbosa Hugo , Ghoshal Gourab , Hoque Mohammed Ehsan
Published: June 2017

This paper presents a description and evaluation of the ROC Speak system, a platform that allows ubiquitous access to communication skills training. ROC Speak (available at rocspeak.com) enables anyone to go to a website, record a video, and receive feedback on smile intensity, body movement, volume modulation, filler word usage, unique word usage, word cloud of the spoken words, in addition to overall assessment and subjective comments by peers. Peer comments are automatically ranked and sorted for usefulness and sentiment (i.e., positive vs. negative). We evaluated the system with a diverse group of 56 online participants for a 10-day period. Participants submitted responses to career oriented prompts every other day. The participants were randomly split into two groups: 1) treatment - full feedback from the ROC Speak system; 2) control – written feedback from online peers. When judged by peers (p < .001) and independent raters (p < .05), participants from the treatment group demonstrated statistically significant improvement in overall speaking skills rating while the control group did not. Furthermore, in terms of speaking attributes, treatment group showed an improvement in friendliness (p < .001), vocal variety (p < .05) and articulation (p < .01).
Spott
Authors: Vandecasteele Florian , Vandenbroucke Karel , Schuurman Dimitri , Verstockt Steven
Published: June 2017

Spott is an innovative second screen mobile multimedia application which offers viewers relevant information on objects (e.g., clothing, furniture, food) they see and like on their television screens. The application enables interaction between TV audiences and brands, so producers and advertisers can offer potential consumers tailored promotions, e-shop items, and/or free samples. In line with the current views on innovation management, the technological excellence of the Spott application is coupled with iterative user involvement throughout the entire development process. This article discusses both of these aspects and how they impact each other. First, we focus on the technological building blocks that facilitate the (semi-) automatic interactive tagging process of objects in the video streams. The majority of these building blocks extensively make use of novel and state-of-the-art deep learning concepts and methodologies. We show how these deep learning based video analysis techniques facilitate video summarization, semantic keyframe clustering, and (similar) object retrieval. Secondly, we provide insights in user tests that have been performed to evaluate and optimize the application’s user experience. The lessons learned from these open field tests have already been an essential input in the technology development and will further shape the future modifications to the Spott application.
Design and Performance Evaluation of Network-assisted Control Strategies for HTTP Adaptive Streaming
Authors: Cofano Giuseppe , Cicco Luca De , Zinner Thomas , Nguyen-Ngoc Anh , Tran-Gia Phuoc , Mascolo Saverio
Published: June 2017

This article investigates several network-assisted streaming approaches that rely on active cooperation between video streaming applications and the network. We build a Video Control Plane that enforces Video Quality Fairness among concurrent video flows generated by heterogeneous client devices. For this purpose, a max-min fairness optimization problem is solved at runtime. We compare two approaches to actuate the optimal solution in an Software Defined Networking network: The first one allocates network bandwidth slices to video flows, and the second one guides video players in the video bitrate selection. We assess performance through several QoE-related metrics, such as Video Quality Fairness, video quality, and switching frequency. The impact of client-side adaptation algorithms is also investigated.
On Optimizing Adaptive Algorithms Based on Rebuffering Probability
Authors: Wisniewski Piotr , Batalla Jordi Mongay , Beben Andrzej , Krawiec Piotr , Chydzinski Andrzej
Published: June 2017

Traditionally, video adaptive algorithms aim to select the representation that better fits to the current download rate. In recent years, a number of new approaches appeared that take into account the buffer occupancy and the probability of video rebuffering as important indicators of the representation to be selected. We propose an optimization of the existing algorithm based on rebuffering probability and argue that the algorithm should avoid the situations when the client buffer is full and the download is stopped, since these situations decrease the efficiency of the algorithm. Reducing full buffer states does not increase the rebuffering probability thanks to a clever management of the client buffer, which analyses the buffer occupancy and downloads higher bitrate representations only in the case of high buffer occupancy.