bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
IMAGING DIAGNOSIS—RADIOGRAPHIC, ULTRASONOGRAPHIC, COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC, AND FLUOROSCOPIC APPEARANCE OF A DISTAL PELVIC LIMB ARTERIOVENOUS MALFORMATION IN A YOUNG GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG
Authors: Shaikh Layla S. , Holmes Shannon P. , Selberg Kurt T. , Jarrett Carla , Holladay Steven D. , Thomason Justin , Coleman Amanda E.
Published: September 2015

A German shepherd puppy presented for evaluation of a suspected arteriovenous fistula on the distal aspect of the right pelvic limb. Radiographs demonstrated expansion and resorption of the tarsal and metatarsal bones, and ultrasound detected a vascular abnormality. Using computed tomographic angiography, a complex arteriovenous malformation (AVM) involving the distal tibia, tarsus, and the metatarsus and an osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) lesion of the talus were identified. Based on these findings, therapeutic limb amputation was performed. Fluoroscopic angiography, vascular casting, and dissection were then used to further characterize features of this previously unreported AVM with concurrent bony lesions and OCD.
Effect of the burial depth and environmental factors on the seasonal germination of bearded sprangletop (Leptochloa fusca [L.] Kunth ssp. fascicularis [Lam.] N. Snow)
Authors: Altop Emine Kaya , Mennan Husrev , Phillippo Colin J. , Zandstra Bernard H.
Published: September 2015

Bearded sprangletop recently was introduced to Turkey, where it has adapted to rice cultivation and become an important weed in many regions of the country. Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of light, temperature, osmotic stress, salt stress, pH and flooding on bearded sprangletop germination and emergence. Mature bearded sprangletop seeds were collected from rice fields in August 2008. Approximately 1250 seeds were wrapped in plastic fabric and buried at 2 or 10 cm in pots in flooded or non‐flooded conditions. In this experiment, seed germination in the light from the flooded and non‐flooded treatments began in the spring, peaked in summer and decreased in the fall. This pattern was repeated the following year after exposing the seeds to natural seasonal temperature changes. As either the level of water stress or NaCl concentration increased, cumulative seed germination decreased. No seed germinated when the NaCl concentration exceeded 400 mole. The level of seedling emergence decreased with an increasing burial depth. Under the flooded conditions, emergence began in late April and continued until early July, with peak emergence in the first week of June. Under the non‐flooded conditions, bearded sprangletop emerged later than under the flooded conditions and the overall level of emergence was lower. The depth of burial and water stress appear to be the most important factors that limit seed germination. Germination was stimulated by light, suggesting that the seeds are positively photoblastic.
Ion flux kinetics in blue light‐grown field dodder (Cuscuta campestris) seedlings
Authors: Haidar Mustapha , Shabala Sergey
Published: September 2015

Previous studies have revealed that blue light stimulates coiling and prehaustoria development in young de‐etiolated dodder seedlings prior to host attachment. In this study, the Ca2+ and H+ flux kinetics that are associated with blue light‐mediated coiling and prehaustoria development in de‐etiolated dodder seedlings were measured uninvasively using the ion‐selective, vibrating microelectrode ion flux system. The findings showed that blue light induces rapid transient changes in the net Ca2+ and H+ fluxes. A clearly pronounced lag of about several minutes was observed between the blue light‐induced changes in the Ca2+ and H+ fluxes, with H+ being a leading ion. The addition of 1 mol L−1 vanadate, a known blocker of the plasma‐membrane H+‐ATPase, to the bathing solution completely prevented both the H+ and the Ca2+ flux responses and inhibited coiling and prehaustoria development, suggesting a causal relationship between the blue light‐induced changes in the net Ca2+ and H+ fluxes and seedling movements. It is concluded that the plasma‐membrane H+‐ATPase plays a key role in a dodder's parasitic mode of growth and its adaptive response to the environment.
Early Modern Poetic Exegesis: Henry Vaughan’s Leprous Pharisee and Marcan Wilderness
Authors: Cop Michael Andrew
Published: September 2015

Early modern English poets often put events from the life of Jesus to verse. They drew liberally from the four canonical gospels to do so, but those gospels sometimes relate events with unique or seemingly conflicting details (e.g., a man who is both leprous and a Pharisee). The shortest of the four gospels, the Gospel of Mark, often has the fewest unique details for poets to use. This relative paucity of unique details did not mean that early modern poets neglected Mark’s possible contributions to their work—even if more modern literary critics seem to neglect Mark’s possible contributions to early modern biblically based poetry. By contextualizing Henry Vaughan’s “The Search” in biblically based early modern verse and exegesis, this article argues that the fullest reading of “The Search” relies on an understanding that Vaughan followed Mark’s terse account of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness instead of Matthew’s and Luke’s much more full accounts.
Entropy rate defined by internal wave scattering in long-range propagation
Authors: Morozov Andrey K , Colosi John A.
Published: September 2015

The reduction of information capacity of the ocean sound channel due to scattering by internal waves is a potential problem for acoustic communication, navigation, and remote sensing over long ranges. In spite of recent progress in research on acoustic signal scattering by random internal waves and the fact that random internal waves are ubiquitous in the world oceans, there is no clear understanding of how these waves influence data communication performance. The entropy decrease resulting from scattering by internal waves is an important measure of information loss. Here a rigorous calculation of the entropy is carried out using second moment transport theory equations with random sound-speed perturbations obeying the Garrett–Munk internal-wave model. It is shown that full-wave rate of entropy is of the same order of magnitude as the Kolmogorov–Sinai entropy and Lyapunov exponents for the relevant ray trajectories. The correspondence between full-wave and ray entropies suggests a correspondence between full-wave scattering and ray chaos near statistical saturation. The relatively small level of entropy rate during propagation through the random internal-wave field shows that scattering by internal waves is likely not an essential limitation for data rate and channel capacity.
An electronically tunable duct silencer using dielectric elastomer actuators
Authors: Lu Zhenbo , Godaba Hareesh , Cui Yongdong , Foo Choon Chiang , Debiasi Marco , Zhu Jian
Published: September 2015

A duct silencer with tunable acoustic characteristics is presented in this paper. Dielectric elastomer, a smart material with lightweight, high elastic energy density and large deformation under high direct current/alternating current voltages, was used to fabricate this duct silencer. The acoustic performances and tunable mechanisms of this duct silencer were experimentally investigated. It was found that all the resonance peaks of this duct silencer could be adjusted using external control signals without any additional mechanical part. The physics of the tunable mechanism is further discussed based on the electro-mechanical interactions using finite element analysis. The present promising results also provide insight into the appropriateness of the duct silencer for possible use as next generation acoustic treatment device to replace the traditional acoustic treatment.
Science Signaling
Podcast for 8 September 2015: Ubiquitin ligase RNF43 in Wnt signaling
Authors: Gerhard Markus , VanHook Annalisa M.
Published: September 2015

RNF43 inhibits Wnt–β-catenin signaling by sequestering the transcription factor TCF4 in the nucleus.
Notch signals to Yap too
Authors: VanHook Annalisa M.
Published: September 2015

An interaction between the Notch intracellular domain and Yap promotes the expression of genes involved in vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation.
Inducing tumor heterogeneity with PI3K
Authors: Gough Nancy R.
Published: September 2015

A mutant form of the enzyme phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) induces multipotency, resulting in breast tumors with cellular heterogeneity.
Neutrophils lay down the tracks
Authors: Mueller Kristen L.
Published: September 2015

Trails of chemokines left behind by neutrophils guide T cells to sites of viral infection.
Renovascular hypertension: a case with atypical neurological signs
Authors: Jerónimo Mónica , Dionísio Teresa , Gomes Clara , Farela Neves José
Published: September 2015

Secondary hypertension is the most frequent form of hypertension in children. Renovascular disease accounts for 5–10% of all childhood hypertension and should be suspected in the presence of severe hypertension found difficult to manage with medical therapy. Uncontrolled hypertension can lead to severe target organ damage. We describe the case of a 13-month-old baby boy with failure to thrive, recent muscular weakness of the lower extremities and irritability. Hypertension was detected and he was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit with a refractory hypertensive emergency, despite multiple antihypertensive therapies. Bilateral renal artery stenosis was diagnosed through renal angiography and balloon dilation was performed, leading to lower blood pressure. He is currently withdrawing from antihypertensive medication, and slowly gaining weight and recovering from target organ damage. However, weakness of the lower extremities persists and he has been diagnosed with a neurogenic bladder.
Inpatient HbA1c testing: a prospective observational study
Authors: Nanayakkara Natalie , Nguyen Hang , Churilov Leonid , Kong Alvin , Pang Nyuk , Hart Graeme K , Owen-Jones Elizabeth , White Jennifer , Ross Jane , Stevenson Victoria , Bellomo Rinaldo , Lam Que , Crinis Nicholas , Robbins Raymond , Johnson Doug , Baker Scott T , Zajac Jeffrey D , Ekinci Elif I
Published: September 2015

Objective

To use admission inpatient glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) testing to help investigate the prevalence of unrecognized diabetes, the cumulative prevalence of unrecognized and known diabetes, and the prevalence of poor glycemic control in both. Moreover, we aimed to determine the 6-month outcomes for these patients. Finally, we aimed to assess the independent association of diabetes with these outcomes.

Research, design, and methods

Prospective observational cohort study conducted in a tertiary hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Patients

A cohort of 5082 inpatients ≥54 years admitted between July 2013 and January 2014 underwent HbA1c measurement. A previous diagnosis of diabetes was obtained from the hospital medical record. Patient follow-up was extended to 6 months.

Results

The prevalence of diabetes (known and unrecognized) was 34%. In particular, we identified that unrecognized but HbA1c-confirmed diabetes in 271 (5%, 95% CI 4.7% to 6.0%) patients, previously known diabetes in 1452 (29%, 95% CI 27.3% to 29.8%) patients; no diabetes in 3359 (66%, 95% CI 64.8–67.4%) patients. Overall 17% (95% CI 15.3% to 18.9%) of patients with an HbA1c of >6.5% had an HbA1c ≥8.5%. After adjusting for age, gender, Charlson Index score, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and hemoglobin levels, with admission unit treated as a random effect, patients with previously known diabetes had lower 6-month mortality (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.87, p=0.001). However, there were no significant differences in proportions of intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation or readmission within 6 months between the 3 groups.

Conclusions

Approximately one-third of all inpatients ≥54 years of age admitted to hospital have diabetes of which about 1 in 6 was previously unrecognized. Moreover, poor glycemic control was common. Proportions of intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, or readmission were similar between the groups. Finally, diabetes was independently associated with lower 6-month mortality.
Do specific parenting practices and related parental self-efficacy associate with physical activity and screen time among primary schoolchildren? A cross-sectional study in Belgium
Authors: De Lepeleere Sara , De Bourdeaudhuij Ilse , Cardon Greet , Verloigne Maïté
Published: September 2015

Objectives

To assess the association between specific parenting practices and related parental self-efficacy with children's physical activity (PA) and screen time. Parental body mass index (BMI), family socioeconomic status (SES), and child's age and gender were examined as possible influencing factors.

Design

Cross-sectional.

Setting

January 2014, Flanders (Belgium).

Participants

207 parents (87.4% mothers) of children aged 6–12 years.

Outcome measures

Specific parenting practices, related parental self-efficacy, and children's PA and screen time.

Results

The majority of investigated parenting practices and related parental self-efficacy were not significantly associated with children's PA or screen time. However, children were more physically active if sports equipment was available at home (p<0.10) and if parents did not find it difficult to motivate their child to be physically active (p<0.05). Children had a lower screen time if parents limited their own gaming (p<0.01). The associations between parenting practices and related parental self-efficacy with children's PA or screen time were significant for parents with a normal BMI, for medium-high SES families and for parents of younger children. Furthermore, the association between the parenting relating factors and children's PA and screen time differed for boys and girls.

Conclusions

In contrast to what we expected, the findings of the current study show that only a very few specific parenting practices and related parental self-efficacy were associated with children's PA and screen time. It was expected that parental self-efficacy would play a more important role. This can be due to the fact that parental self-efficacy was already high in this group of parents. Therefore, it is possible that parents do not realise how difficult it is to perform certain parenting practices until they are faced with it in an intervention.

Trial registration number

EC/2012/317.
Rapid HIV antibody testing among men who have sex with men who visited a gay bathhouse in Hangzhou, China: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Ma Qiaoqin , Xia Shichang , Pan Xiaohong , Cai Gaofeng , Zhou Xin , Wang Hui , Peng Zhihang
Published: September 2015

Objective

To understand the prevalence and correlates of rapid HIV antibody testing (RHT) among men who have sex with men (MSM) clients of gay bathhouses.

Design

Cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

Setting

This study was conducted in a gay bathhouse in Hangzhou, China.

Participants

354 MSM were validly recruited from October to December 2012. Inclusion criteria were (1) men who visited the gay bathhouse, (2) men who had engaged in sex with men during the previous 6 months, (3) first-time participants in this survey and (4) men who were HIV-negative if already tested.

Measures

Sociodemographic measures included factors related to sexual behaviour and HIV risk perception, and the scales of HIV-related knowledge and behavioural intervention that each participant received.

Results

Of the 354 participants, 222 (62.7%) were rapid tested during the previous 6 months; of them, 66.2% were tested at the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), and 46.8% at gay venues. The following factors were independently associated with rapid testing within the previous 6 months: sexual initiation at 20–29 years of age, ever having undergone standard testing, ever having seen a sexually transmitted disease doctor, consistent use of condom during the past 6 months, familiarity with RHT and perception of possible HIV infection.

Conclusions

Publicity of RHT and risk education for HIV infection are necessary to promote RHT among MSM who visit gay bathhouses. The characteristics of sexual behaviours among those who do and do not undergo RHT should be taken into consideration while promoting the service in this group.
The Horsens-Aarhus Femoro Acetabular Impingement (HAFAI) cohort: outcome of arthroscopic treatment for femoroacetabular impingement. Protocol for a prospective cohort study
Authors: Kierkegaard Signe , Lund Bent , Dalgas Ulrik , Sørensen Henrik , Søballe Kjeld , Mechlenburg Inger
Published: September 2015

Introduction

During the past decade, it has become increasingly more common to offer hip arthroscopic surgery when treating people with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI). Nevertheless, the latest reviews conclude that it still remains to be properly investigated how surgery affects the patients. Specifically, detailed information on the functional, muscular and mechanical impact of surgery in larger groups is lacking. Furthermore, the long-term outcome of the surgery is still to be investigated.

Methods and analysis

In this prospective cohort study, a total of 60 patients with FAI scheduled for arthroscopic surgery will be followed and tested preoperatively, and again after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Assessment includes isokinetic dynamometry evaluating hip flexion and extension; evaluation of functional capacity in a three-dimensional motion laboratory; pain assessment; self-reported function, quality of life, expectation and satisfaction with the surgery; recording of previous and present sporting activities and accelerometry. In addition, data on surgical procedure, rehabilitation progress, adverse events and failure will be recorded. Patients will be compared with an age-matched and gender-matched reference group of 30 persons with no hip, knee, ankle or back problems. Long-term follow-up of this cohort may evaluate possible reoperations and development of hip osteoarthritis. Furthermore, analysis on how subgroups respond to the treatment could be performed together with identification of possible “non-responders”.

Ethics and dissemination

The study is approved by the Central Denmark Region Committee on Biomedical Research Ethics (Journal No 1-10-72-239-14). The results from this study will be presented at national and international congresses and published in peer-reviewed journals.

Trial registration number

NCT02306525.
Effectiveness of peri-abortion counselling in preventing subsequent unplanned pregnancy: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials
Authors: Stewart Hannah , McCall Stephen J , McPherson Calum , Towers Lucinda C , Lloyd Bethany , Fletcher Jack , Bhattacharya Sohinee
Published: September 2015

Objective

This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed whether enhanced peri-abortion contraceptive counselling had an effect on subsequent unplanned pregnancies and the uptake and continuation of contraceptive methods.

Methods and materials

A systematic review of English-language articles published prior to May 2014 was conducted, using MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. Only randomised controlled trials (RCTs) involving enhanced pre- and post-abortion contraceptive counselling were included. The authors independently applied the inclusion and exclusion criteria to the identified records, and extracted data from each included paper using a predefined extraction form. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool. Meta-analyses were undertaken where appropriate and based on random effects models.

Results

Six RCTs met the inclusion criteria. Three RCTs investigated the effect of enhanced counselling on subsequent unplanned pregnancy. The results of the meta-analysis were non-significant [pooled odds ratio (OR) 0.47; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.12–1.90]. Four RCTs reported results relating to the uptake of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and continuation of chosen method of contraception at 3 months. Findings were non-significant (pooled OR 1.07; 95% CI 0.20–5.69 and pooled OR 3.22; 95% CI 0.85–12.22, respectively).

Conclusions

This review found no evidence of effect resulting from enhanced peri-abortion contraceptive counselling on subsequent unplanned pregnancy rate or the uptake of LARC. However, these findings are limited by the small number of relevant studies available and the marked heterogeneity between published studies. Further, larger-scale RCTs should be undertaken to ensure that there is sufficient power to detect an effect.
Metal artifact reduction for flat panel detector intravenous CT angiography in patients with intracranial metallic implants after endovascular and surgical treatment
Authors: Pjontek Rastislav , Önenköprülü Belgin , Scholz Bernhard , Kyriakou Yiannis , Schubert Gerrit A , Nikoubashman Omid , Othman Ahmed , Wiesmann Martin , Brockmann Marc A
Published: September 2015

Background

Flat panel detector CT angiography with intravenous contrast agent injection (IV CTA) allows high-resolution imaging of cerebrovascular structures. Artifacts caused by metallic implants like platinum coils or clips lead to degradation of image quality and are a significant problem.

Objective

To evaluate the influence of a prototype metal artifact reduction (MAR) algorithm on image quality in patients with intracranial metallic implants.

Methods

Flat panel detector CT after intravenous application of 80 mL contrast agent was performed with an angiography system (Artis zee; Siemens, Forchheim, Germany) using a 20 s rotation protocol (200° rotation angle, 20 s acquisition time, 496 projections). The data before and after MAR of 26 patients with a total of 34 implants (coils, clips, stents) were independently evaluated by two blinded neuroradiologists.

Results

MAR improved the assessability of the brain parenchyma and small vessels (diameter <1 mm) in the neighborhood of metallic implants and at a distance of 6 cm (p<0.001 each, Wilcoxon test). Furthermore, MAR significantly improved the assessability of parent vessel patency and potential aneurysm remnants (p<0.005 each, McNemar test). MAR, however, did not improve assessability of stented vessels.

Conclusions

When an intravenous contrast protocol is used, MAR significantly ameliorates the assessability of brain parenchyma, vessels, and treated aneurysms in patients with intracranial coils or clips.
UNDERSTANDING THE HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR IN URBAN CHINA
Authors: XU JIN , KONG DONGMIN
Published: September 2015

Using the panel urban households’ aggregate data at the province level in China, this paper attempts to identify the source of the rejection of permanent income hypothesis (PIH) in urban households’ consumption. We introduce liquidity constraints, myopia and loss aversion into testable hypotheses and document that: First, the PIH fails in urban China and the consumption is consistent with the liquidity constraints. Second, in regions with the high and moderate economic levels, the consumption behaviors show liquidity constraints in the early period of market-oriented economic reforms (i.e., 1980s). However, with time, the consumption pattern changed to myopia. Third, in region with low economic level, the reverse is observed: a period of myopia gave way to a period of liquidity constraints. Our results suggest that neither myopia nor liquidity constraints are an adequate characterization of consumption in different regions of urban China, and offer clear policy implications for governments who are concerned with boosting the household income and expanding domestic demand.
DOES OUTSOURCING HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTION HARM FUTURE HUMAN CAPITAL? EVIDENCE FROM MALAYSIA
Authors: TAN PECK-LEONG , GIBSON JOHN
Published: September 2015

In some Asian countries, households import young women from poorer countries to work as live-in caregivers and maids. These caregivers are typically less educated than the child’s mother, so academic performance may suffer. The effects of ever having a foreign maid, a private tutor or a working mother are examined for Malaysian teenagers. Contrary to expectations, those ever having a foreign maid perform better in school examinations, recent private tutoring has positive impacts but earlier tutoring does not, and there is little effect of maternal employment. These results suggest no adverse effects on human capital from outsourcing household production.
DETERMINANTS OF SOUTH KOREA’S INTRA-INDUSTRY TRADE WITH HER MAJOR TRADING COUNTRIES IN THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR
Authors: KIM SEUNG JIN , CHO BYUNG TAK
Published: September 2015

This paper analyzed how South Korea’s intra-industry trade (IIT) with her major trading countries (i.e., China, the USA, and Japan (CUJ)) in the manufacturing sector changed over time for the period of 1994–2011. It was found that South Korea’s IIT with China mainly increased through economies of scale (ES), the ratio of inward and outward foreign direct investment to total investment (FDI), the ratio of intermediate cost to total cost (II), and R&D intensity (RD). On the other hand, South Korea’s IIT with the USA was found to mainly increase through ES, FDI, and RD. Finally, RD, FDI, and II variables are found to be the most important determinants for South Korea’s IIT with Japan.
FIRM SPECIFIC VARIATION IN RETURNS AND FUNDAMENTALS IN KOREA STOCK MARKET
Authors: LEE DOOWON , HASSAN M KABIR , RAHMAN M ARIFUR
Published: September 2015

We explore the link between firm-specific variations in stock returns and firm fundamentals in the context of a simple present value framework and test the effect of market openness and firms' industry belonging on stock price informativeness in Korea. Using detailed accounting data and an extensive control for firm-specific characteristics, we find that alternative proxies of cash flow shocks explain a significant part of the variation in firm-specific returns. The effect, however, is not uniform across market sectors. Although greater foreign shareholding in a firm is important to establish a stronger positive linkage between cash flow shocks and stock returns variation prior to the Asian financial crisis, this condition is not necessary after the Korean market was fully opened up to the foreign investors in the post-crisis period.
APEC HAS INDEED CREATED INTRA-REGIONAL TRADE: A SYSTEMATIC EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
Authors: HUR JUNG , LEE HYUN-HOON
Published: September 2015

The Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, whose approach is voluntary and non-binding in open regionalism, has been criticized for its alleged failure to develop a rapid liberalization process and to contribute to a greater level of intra-regional trade in the APEC region. Nonetheless, we find that APEC has been contributing to intra-regional trade creation, particularly in trade in manufactured goods as compared to trade in non-manufactured goods. This finding is robust to the various fixed-effect models and the first-differencing models which are applied to the gravity equation.
Structural properties of Alq3 nanocrystals prepared by physical vapor deposition and facile solution method
Authors: Xie Wanfeng , Pang Zhiyong , Fan Jihui , Song Hui , Jiang Feng , Yuan Huimin , Li Jianfei , Ji Ziwu , Han Shenghao
Published: September 2015

Tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum [Formula: see text] nanostructures are promising materials for nanooptoelectronic devices and molecular spintronics. In this paper, we report [Formula: see text] nanocrystals prepared by both physical vapor deposition (PVD) and facile solution method. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements show that the [Formula: see text] nanomaterials prepared by PVD technique are [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text] nanoflowers, while the [Formula: see text] nanostructures prepared by solution method are [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text] nanorods. Our experiments indicate that the [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text] nanomaterials prepared by using solution method are more suitable for the fabrication of molecular spintronic devices than that of PVD method.
Fluorescence quenching of 9-cyanoanthracene by metallo-octaethylporphyrins in cyanobenzene
Authors: Ghosh Mihir , Roy Biswajit , Majhi Koushik , Mora Aruna K. , Nath Sukhendu , Sinha Subrata
Published: September 2015

Investigations are carried out on the nature of photoinduced electron transfer reactions within some metallo-octaethylporphyrin (zinc octaethylporphyrin and magnesium octaethylporphyrin) donors and acceptor 9-cyanoanthracene in cyanobenzene at 300 K by steady state and time-resolved spectroscopic methods. Acceptor is selectively excited at 366 nm and 374 nm for steady state and time-resolved measurements, respectively, where donor metalloporphyrins possess negligible absorbance. Evidence is found for simultaneous occurrence of Förster's type singlet–singlet energy transfer process along with electron transfer. High exergonic values of Gibbs free energy change for both forward and back electron transfer reactions indicate the possibility of occurrences of these two consecutive processes in the Marcus inverted region.
Guidelines for Coverage-Based Comparisons of Non-Adequate Test Suites
Authors: Gligoric Milos , Groce Alex , Zhang Chaoqiang , Sharma Rohan , Alipour Mohammad Amin , Marinov Darko
Published: September 2015

A fundamental question in software testing research is how to compare test suites, often as a means for comparing test-generation techniques that produce those test suites. Researchers frequently compare test suites by measuring their
coverage
. A coverage criterion
C
provides a set of test requirements and measures how many requirements a given suite satisfies. A suite that satisfies 100% of the feasible requirements is called
C-adequate
. Previous rigorous evaluations of coverage criteria mostly focused on such
adequate
test suites: given two criteria
C
and
C
′, are
C
-adequate suites on average more effective than
C
′-adequate suites? However, in many realistic cases, producing adequate suites is impractical or even impossible.

This article presents the first extensive study that evaluates coverage criteria for the common case of
non-adequate
test suites: given two criteria
C
and
C
′, which one is better to use to compare test suites? Namely, if suites
T
1
,
T
2
,…,

T
n

have coverage values
c
1
,
c
2
,…,

c
n

for
C
and
c
1
′,
c
2
′,…,
c
n
′ for
C
′, is it better to compare suites based on
c
1
,
c
2
,…,

c
n

or based on
c
1
′,
c
2
′,…,

c
n
′

? We evaluate a large set of plausible criteria, including basic criteria such as statement and branch coverage, as well as stronger criteria used in recent studies, including criteria based on program paths, equivalence classes of covered statements, and predicate states. The criteria are evaluated on a set of Java and C programs with both manually written and automatically generated test suites. The evaluation uses three correlation measures. Based on these experiments, two criteria perform best: branch coverage and an intraprocedural acyclic path coverage. We provide guidelines for testing researchers aiming to evaluate test suites using coverage criteria as well as for other researchers evaluating coverage criteria for research use.
Spintronics
Authors: Kang Wang , Zhang Yue , Wang Zhaohao , Klein Jacques-Olivier , Chappert Claude , Ravelosona Dafiné , Wang Gefei , Zhang Youguang , Zhao Weisheng
Published: September 2015

Conventional MOS integrated circuits and systems suffer serve power and scalability challenges as technology nodes scale into ultra-deep-micron technology nodes (e.g., below 40nm). Both static and dynamic power dissipations are increasing, caused mainly by the intrinsic leakage currents and large data traffic. Alternative approaches beyond charge-only-based electronics, and in particular, spin-based devices, show promising potential to overcome these issues by adding the spin freedom of electrons to electronic circuits. Spintronics provides data non-volatility, fast data access, and low-power operation, and has now become a hot topic in both academia and industry for achieving ultra-low-power circuits and systems. The ITRS report on emerging research devices identified themagnetic tunnel junction(MTJ) nanopillar (one of the Spintronics nanodevices) as one of the most promising technologies to be part of future micro-electronic circuits. In this review we will give an overview of the status and prospects of spin-based devices and circuits that are currently under intense investigation and development across the world, and address particularly their merits and challenges for practical applications. We will also show that, with a rapid development of Spintronics, some novel computing architectures and paradigms beyond classic Von-Neumann architecture have recently been emerging for next-generation ultra-low-power circuits and systems.
Dynamic Cache Pooling in 3D Multicore Processors
Authors: Zhang Tiansheng , Meng Jie , Coskun Ayse K.
Published: September 2015

Resource pooling, where multiple architectural components are shared among cores, is a promising technique for improving system energy efficiency and reducing total chip area. 3D stacked multicore processors enable efficient pooling of cache resources owing to the short interconnect latency between vertically stacked layers. This article first introduces a 3D multicore architecture that provides poolable cache resources. We then propose a runtime management policy to improve energy efficiency in 3D systems by utilizing the flexible heterogeneity of cache resources. Our policy dynamically allocates jobs to cores on the 3D system while partitioning cache resources based on cache hungriness of the jobs. We investigate the impact of the proposed cache resource pooling architecture and management policy in 3D systems, both with and without on-chip DRAM. We evaluate the performance, energy efficiency, and thermal behavior for a wide range of workloads running on 3D systems. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed architecture and policy reduce system
energy-delay product
(EDP) and
energy-delay-area product
(EDAP) by 18.8% and 36.1% on average, respectively, in comparison to 3D processors with static cache sizes.
Effective Techniques for Static Race Detection in Java Parallel Loops
Authors: Radoi Cosmin , Dig Danny
Published: September 2015

Despite significant progress in recent years, the important problem of static race detection remains open. Previous techniques took a general approach and looked for races by analyzing the effects induced by low-level concurrency constructs (e.g., java.lang.Thread). But constructs and libraries for expressing parallelism at a higher level (e.g., fork-join, futures, parallel loops) are becoming available in all major programming languages. We claim that specializing an analysis to take advantage of the extra semantic information provided by the use of these constructs and libraries improves precision and scalability.

We present I
te
R
ace
, a set of techniques that are specialized to use the intrinsic thread, safety, and dataflow structure of collections and of the new loop parallelism mechanism introduced in Java 8. Our evaluation shows that I
te
R
ace
is fast and precise enough to be practical. It scales to programs of hundreds of thousands of lines of code and reports very few race warnings, thus avoiding a common pitfall of static analyses. In five out of the seven case studies, I
te
R
ace
reported no false warnings. Also, it revealed six bugs in real-world applications. We reported four of them: one had already been fixed, and three were new and the developers confirmed and fixed them.

Furthermore, we evaluate the effect of each specialization technique on the running time and precision of the analysis. For each application, we run the analysis under 32 different configurations. This allows to analyze each technique's effect both alone and in all possible combinations with other techniques.
Resource-Competitive Algorithms
Authors: Bender Michael A. , Fineman Jeremy T. , Movahedi Mahnush , Saia Jared , Dani Varsha , Gilbert Seth , Pettie Seth , Young Maxwell
Published: September 2015

The point of adversarial analysis is to model the worst-case performance of an algorithm. Unfortunately, this analysis may not always reect performance in practice because the adversarial assumption can be overly pessimistic. In such cases, several techniques have been developed to provide a more refined understanding of how an algorithm performs e.g., competitive analysis, parameterized analysis, and the theory of approximation algorithms.

Here, we describe an analogous technique called resource competitiveness, tailored for distributed systems. Often there is an operational cost for adversarial behavior arising from bandwidth usage, computational power, energy limitations, etc. Modeling this cost provides some notion of how much disruption the adversary can inict on the system. In parameterizing by this cost, we can design an algorithm with the following guarantee: if the adversary pays T, then the additional cost of the algorithm is some function of T.

Resource competitiveness yields results pertaining to secure, fault tolerant, and efficient distributed computation. We summarize these results and highlight future challenges where we expect this algorithmic tool to provide new insights.
Pulmonary Venous Obstruction in Cancer Patients
Authors: Liaw Chuang-Chi , Chang Hung , Yang Tsai-Sheng , Wen Ming-Sheng
Published: September 2015

Background. We study the clinical significance and management of pulmonary venous obstruction in cancer patients.Methods. We conducted a prospective cohort study to characterize the syndrome that we term “pulmonary vein obstruction syndrome” (PVOS) between January 2005 and March 2014. The criteria for inclusion were (1) episodes of shortness of breath; (2) chest X-ray showing abnormal pulmonary hilum shadow with or without presence of pulmonary edema and/or pleural effusion; (3) CT scan demonstrating pulmonary vein thrombosis/tumor with or without tumor around the vein.Results. Two hundred and twenty-two patients developed PVOS. Shortness of breath was the main symptom, which was aggravated by chemotherapy in 28 (13%), and medical/surgical procedures in 21 (9%) and showed diurnal change in intensity in 32 (14%). Chest X-rays all revealed abnormal pulmonary hilum shadows and presence of pulmonary edema in 194 (87%) and pleural effusion in 192 (86%). CT scans all showed pulmonary vein thrombosis/tumor (100%) and surrounding the pulmonary veins by tumor lesions in 140 patients (63%). PVOS was treated with low molecular weight heparin in combination with dexamethasone, and 66% of patients got clinical/image improvement.Conclusion. Physicians should be alert to PVOS when shortness of breath occurs and chest X-ray reveals abnormal pulmonary hilum shadows.
Computational Framework for Optimal Carbon Taxes Based on Electric Supply Chain Considering Transmission Constraints and Losses
Authors: Wu Yu-Chi , Huang Wen-Liang , Hsu Yi-Fan , Wang Sheng-Ching , Lin Jin-Yuan , Chen Meng-Jen
Published: September 2015

A modeling and computational framework is presented for the determination of optimal carbon taxes that apply to electric power plants in the context of electric power supply chain with consideration of transmission constraints and losses. In order to achieve this goal, a generalized electric power supply chain network equilibrium model is used. Under deregulation, there are several players in electrical market: generation companies, power suppliers, transmission service providers, and consumers. Each player in this model tries to maximize its own profit and competes with others in a noncooperative manner. The Nash equilibrium conditions of these players in this model form a finite-dimensional variational inequality problem (VIP). By solving this VIP via an extragradient method based on an interior point algorithm, the optimal carbon taxes of power plants can be determined. Numerical examples are provided to analyze the results of the presented modeling.
Constrictive Pericarditis: A Challenging Diagnosis in Paediatrics
Authors: Faustino Mariana , Carmo Mendes Inês , Anjos Rui
Published: September 2015

Constrictive pericarditis is an uncommon disease in children, usually difficult to diagnose. We present the case of a 14-year-old boy with a previous history of tuberculosis and right heart failure, in whom constrictive pericarditis was diagnosed. The case highlights the need to integrate all information, including clinical data, noninvasive cardiac imaging, and even invasive hemodynamic evaluation when required, in order to establish the correct diagnosis and proceed to surgical treatment.
Low-Cost and Energy-Saving Wireless Sensor Network for Real-Time Urban Mobility Monitoring System
Authors: Lee Joyoung , Zhong Zijia , Du Bo , Gutesa Slobodan , Kim Kitae
Published: September 2015

This paper presents a low-cost and energy-saving urban mobility monitoring system based on wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The primary components of the proposed sensor unit are a Bluetooth sensor and a Zigbee transceiver. Within the WSN, the Bluetooth sensor captures the MAC addresses of Bluetooth units equipped in mobile devices and car navigation systems. The Zigbee transceiver transmits the collected MAC addresses to a data center without any major communications infrastructures (e.g., fiber optics and 3G/4G network). A total of seven prototype sensor units have been deployed on roadway segments in Newark, New Jersey, for a proof of concept (POC) test. The results of the POC test show that the performance of the proposed sensor unit appears promising, resulting in 2% of data drop rates and an improved Bluetooth capturing rate.
Plasma Interleukin-37 Is Elevated in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Its Correlation with Disease Activity and Th1/Th2/Th17-Related Cytokines
Authors: Xia Ting , Zheng Xing-feng , Qian Bao-hua , Fang He , Wang Jun-jie , Zhang Lan-ling , Pang Ya-fei , Zhang Ju , Wei Xiao-qing , Xia Zhao-fan , Zhao Dong-bao
Published: September 2015

Interleukin- (IL-) 37 is a novel anti-inflammatory cytokine that suppresses immune response and inflammation. This study was performed to determine whether IL-37 was elevated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and investigate the correlation between IL-37 level and disease activity and the concentration of Th1/Th2/Th17-related cytokines. Clinical parameters of disease activity, including the 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28) and C-reactive protein (CRP), were collected in 34 RA patients and 34 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Plasma IL-37 was measured by ELISA. Plasma levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, IL-17, G-CSF, GM-CSF, IFN-γ, MCP-1, and MIP-1βwere analyzed using the Bio-Plex suspension array system. It was found that IL-37 levels were elevated markedly in RA patients and almost undetectable in healthy controls. In addition, IL-37 levels in patients with active RA were significantly enhanced as compared with those in patients of remission. More importantly, IL-37 showed a significant correlation with disease activity (DAS28) and IL-4, IL-7, IL-10, IL-12, and IL-13 concentrations in RA patients. These findings suggest that IL-37 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of RA and may prove to be a potential biomarker of active RA.
Rituximab as Single Agent in Primary MALT Lymphoma of the Ocular Adnexa
Authors: Annibali Ombretta , Chiodi Francesca , Sarlo Chiara , Cortes Magdalena , Quaranta-Leoni Francesco M. , Quattrocchi Carlo , Bianchi Antonella , Bonini Stefano , Avvisati Giuseppe
Published: September 2015

Ocular Adnexal Lymphomas are the first cause of primary ocular malignancies, and among them the most common are MALT Ocular Adnexal Lymphomas. Recently systemic immunotherapy with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody has been investigated as first-line treatment; however, the optimal management for MALT Ocular Adnexal Lymphomas is still unknown. The present study evaluated retrospectively the outcome of seven consecutive patients with primary MALT Ocular Adnexal Lymphomas, of whom six were treated with single agent Rituximab. All patients received 6 cycles of Rituximab 375 mg/mq every 3 weeks intravenously. The overall response rate was 100%; four patients (67%) achieved a Complete Remission, and two (33%) achieved a partial response. In four patients an additional Rituximab maintenance every 2-3 months was given for two years. After a median follow-up of 29 months (range 8–34), no recurrences were observed, without of therapy- or disease-related severe adverse events. None of the patients needed additional radiotherapy or other treatments. Rituximab as a single agent is highly effective and tolerable in first-line treatment of primary MALT Ocular adnexal Lymphomas. Furthermore, durable responses are achievable with the same-agent maintenance. Rituximab can be considered the agent of choice in the management of an indolent disease in whom the “quality of life” matter is of primary importance.
Degradation Characteristics of Aniline with Ozonation and Subsequent Treatment Analysis
Authors: Jing Zhaoqian , Cao Shiwei , Yu Ting , Hu Jing
Published: September 2015

Owing to the toxicity and low biodegradability of aniline in water, its removal usually needs high cost processes such as adsorption and advanced oxidation. The degradation characteristics of aniline during ozonation were studied. The influence of operation parameters such as contact time, initial concentration, ozone dosage, temperature, and pH was also investigated. With ozone dosage of 22 mg/L, neutral pH, and room temperature, the ozonation removed aniline efficiently. After two hours’ ozonation, aniline removal reached 93.57%, and the corresponding COD removal was 31.03%, which indicated most of aniline was transformed into intermediates. At alkaline conditions, the aniline was more susceptible to being removed by ozonation owing to more hydroxyl radicals’ production. The results of GC-MS indicated many intermediates appeared during the process of ozonation such as butane diacid, oxalic acid, and formic acid. The intermediates produced during ozonation were more biodegradable than aniline; thus the ozonation of such organic compounds as aniline could be integrated with biological processes for further removal.
Remission einer intrakardialen Melanommetastase nach Tremelimumab-Therapie
Authors: Spethmann Sebastian , Trefzer Uwe , Knebel Fabian
Published: September 2015

Tremelimumab ist ein vollständig humaner monoklonaler Antikörper mit Spezifität für das menschliche zytotoxische T-Lymphozyten-assoziierte Antigen 4. Mit Tremelimumab sind bei einem Teil der Patienten mit lokal fortgeschrittenem und metastasiertem Melanom bereits dauerhafte objektive Tumorregressionen erzielt worden. Unsere echokardiografischen Aufnahmen belegen eindrucksvoll die Wirkung dieses neuen Antikörpers bei einer Patientin mit kardialer Metastasierung eines malignen Melanoms.