bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Scientific Rationale for the Movable Pipeline Technology for Transporting CNG by Sea
Authors: Mandryk Oleh , Artym Volodymyr , Shtohry Mariana , Zaytsev Valerii 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
A new efficient CNG module design for the transportation of natural gas by sea is proposed and substantiated. A mathematical model for determining the technical and economic parameters of a movable pipeline module, which is designed for transporting natural gas in a compressed state and consists of a frame structure, the dimensions of which correspond to the 40-foot marine container size and a pipe coil is described. To facilitate construction, it is proposed that a large portion of the coil be made in the form of a two-layer composite construction. The inner layer consists of standard steel tubes or adapters, and the outer layer is fiberglass wound on them. On the basis of the mathematical model an algorithm and a program were compiled, which allowed to determine the technical and economic parameters of the movable pipeline module. The results obtained for the Caspian region are analyzed.
Evaluation the Stress-Strain State of Pumping Equipment in the Curvilinear Sections of the Wells
Authors: Dzhus Andriy , Rachkevych Ruslan , Andrusyak Andriy , Rachkevych Iryna , Hryhoruk Oleksandr , Kasatkin Serhii 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
The development of oil fields at a late stage is characterized by a number of complications that determine the features of the operation of downhole equipment in pumping units. The use of electric-centered pumps in wells with intervals of increased curvature intensity requires a preliminary analysis of the possibility of lowering and operating the equipment at design depths. The aim of research is development of a new approach to evaluation the stress-strain state of pumping equipment, taking into account the features of the inclinometry of the intervals of its location. The analysis of the results of previous studies of the influence of the well profile on the operation of pumping equipment and recommendations for ensuring its performance is carried out. Given the possibility of operating equipment with limited levels of deformation, a mechanism is proposed for evaluation its stress-strain state using software products based on the finite element method. The reliability of the results is confirmed by comparison with those obtained in the course of analytical studies performed according to a previously tested methodology. Application of the proposed approach will allow to assess the level of deformation of individual elements of the equipment installations, taking into account their design features and the results of inclinometry.
High-resolution Three-dimensional Surface Imaging Microscope Based on Digital Fringe Projection Technique
Authors: Liu Cheng-Yang , Yen Tzu-Ping , Chen Chien-Wen 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
The three-dimensional (3-D) micro-scale surface imaging system based on the digital fringe projection technique for the assessments of microfiber and metric screw is presented in this paper. The proposed system comprises a digital light processing (DLP) projector, a set of optical lenses, a microscope, and a charge coupled device (CCD). The digital seven-step fringe patterns from the DLP projector pass through a set of optical lenses before being focused on the target surface. A set of optical lenses is designed for adjustment and size coupling of fringe patterns. A high-resolution CCD camera is employed to picture these distorted fringe patterns. The wrapped phase map is calculated by seven-step phase-shifting calculation from these distorted fringe patterns. The unwrapping calculation with quality guided path is introduced to compute the absolute phase values. The dimensional calibration methods are used to acquire the transformation between real 3-D shape and the absolute phase value. The capability of complex surface measurement for our system is demonstrated by using ISO standard screw M1.6. The experimental results for microfiber with 3 μm diameter indicate that the spatial and vertical resolutions can reach about 3 μm in our system. The proposed system provides a fast digital imaging system to examine the surface features with high-resolution for automatic optical inspection industry.
Developments and Progress in Non-contact Eye Tonometer Calibration
Authors: Pavlásek Peter , Rybář Jan , Ďuriš Stanislav , Hučko Branislav , Chytil Miroslav , Furdová Alena , Ferková Sylvia Lea , Sekáč Juraj , Suchý Vítězslav , Grosinger Patrik 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
This paper focuses on the problematic of intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements, performed by non-invasive methods. More specifically, the devices that are connected with the presented finding are non-contact tonometers that use concentrated air stream and optical sensors to determine the IOP within a human’s eye. The paper analyzes various influential factors that have an effect on the determination of the IOP values originating from the patients themselves and from the non-contact tonometer devices. The paper furthermore elaborates on the lack of independent methods of calibration and control of these devices. In order to fill this gap a measurement standard device that is capable of calibrating and testing these devices with traceability to the basic SI unit is presented. A detailed characterization and the determination of the expected uncertainty of the device are provided. By introducing an independent and traceable calibration method and control of non-contact tonometers into the clinical practice, the reliability of the measured IOP that is the primary indicator of glaucoma can be improved.
Secure k-ish Nearest Neighbors Classifier
Authors: Shaul Hayim , Feldman Dan , Rus Daniela 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
The k-nearest neighbors (kNN) classifier predicts a class of a query, q, by taking the majority class of its k neighbors in an existing (already classified) database, S. In secure kNN, q and S are owned by two different parties and q is classified without sharing data. In this work we present a classifier based on kNN, that is more efficient to implement with homomorphic encryption (HE). The efficiency of our classifier comes from a relaxation we make to consider κ nearest neighbors for κ ≈k with probability that increases as the statistical distance between Gaussian and the distribution of the distances from q to S decreases. We call our classifier k-ish Nearest Neighbors (k-ish NN). For the implementation we introduce double-blinded coin-toss where the bias and output of the toss are encrypted. We use it to approximate the average and variance of the distances from q to S in a scalable circuit whose depth is independent of |S|. We believe these to be of independent interest. We implemented our classifier in an open source library based on HElib and tested it on a breast tumor database. Our classifier has accuracy and running time comparable to current state of the art (non-HE) MPC solution that have better running time but worse communication complexity. It also has communication complexity similar to naive HE implementation that have worse running time.
Mitigator: Privacy policy compliance using trusted hardware
Authors: Mazmudar Miti , Goldberg Ian 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Through recent years, much research has been conducted into processing privacy policies and presenting them in ways that are easy for users to understand. However, understanding privacy policies has little utility if the website’s data processing code does not match the privacy policy. Although systems have been proposed to achieve compliance of internal software to access control policies, they assume a large trusted computing base and are not designed to provide a proof of compliance to an end user. We design Mitigator, a system to enforce compliance of a website’s source code with a privacy policy model that addresses these two drawbacks of previous work. We use trusted hardware platforms to provide a guarantee to an end user that their data is only handled by code that is compliant with the privacy policy. Such an end user only needs to trust a small module in the hardware of the remote back-end machine and related libraries but not the entire OS. We also provide a proof-of-concept implementation of Mitigator and evaluate it for its latency. We conclude that it incurs only a small overhead with respect to an unmodified system that does not provide a guarantee of privacy policy compliance to the end user.
A Privacy-Focused Systematic Analysis of Online Status Indicators
Authors: Cobb Camille , Simko Lucy , Kohno Tadayoshi , Hiniker Alexis 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Online status indicators (or OSIs, i.e., interface elements that communicate whether a user is online) can leak potentially sensitive information about users. In this work, we analyze 184 mobile applications to systematically characterize the existing design space of OSIs. We identified 40 apps with OSIs across a variety of genres and conducted a design review of the OSIs in each, examining both Android and iOS versions of these apps. We found that OSI design decisions clustered into four major categories, namely: appearance, audience, settings, and fidelity to actual user behavior. Less than half of these apps allow users change the default settings for OSIs. Informed by our findings, we discuss: 1) how these design choices support adversarial behavior, 2) design guidelines for creating consistent, privacy-conscious OSIs, and 3) a set of novel design concepts for building future tools to augment users’ ability to control and understand the presence information they broadcast. By connecting the common design patterns we document to prior work on privacy in social technologies, we contribute an empirical understanding of the systematic ways in which OSIs can make users more or less vulnerable to unwanted information disclosure.
Publishing Community-Preserving Attributed Social Graphs with a Differential Privacy Guarantee
Authors: Chen Xihui , Mauw Sjouke , Ramírez-Cruz Yunior 
Published: August 2020

AbstractWe present a novel method for publishing differentially private synthetic attributed graphs. Our method allows, for the first time, to publish synthetic graphs simultaneously preserving structural properties, user attributes and the community structure of the original graph. Our proposal relies on CAGM, a new community-preserving generative model for attributed graphs. We equip CAGM with efficient methods for attributed graph sampling and parameter estimation. For the latter, we introduce differentially private computation methods, which allow us to release communitypreserving synthetic attributed social graphs with a strong formal privacy guarantee. Through comprehensive experiments, we show that our new model outperforms its most relevant counterparts in synthesising differentially private attributed social graphs that preserve the community structure of the original graph, as well as degree sequences and clustering coefficients.
Anonymous, Attribute Based, Decentralized, Secure, and Fair e-Donation
Authors: Biçer Osman , Küpçü Alptekin 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
E-cash and cryptocurrency schemes have been a focus of applied cryptography for a long time. However, we acknowledge the continuing need for a cryptographic protocol that provides global scale, decentralized, secure, and fair delivery of donations. Such a protocol would replace central trusted entities (e.g., charity organizations) and guarantee the privacy of the involved parties (i.e., donors and recipients of the donations). In this work, we target this online donation problem and propose a practical solution for it. First, we propose a novel decentralized e-donation framework, along with its operational components and security definitions. Our framework relies on a public ledger that can be realized via a distributed blockchain. Second, we instantiate our e-donation framework with a practical scheme employing privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies and attributebased signatures. Third, we provide implementation results showing that our operations have feasible computation and communication costs. Finally, we prove the security of our e-donation scheme via formal reductions to the security of the underlying primitives.
INFUSE: Invisible plausibly-deniable file system for NAND flash
Authors: Chen Chen , Chakraborti Anrin , Sion Radu 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Protecting sensitive data stored on local storage devices e.g., laptops, tablets etc. is essential for privacy. When adversaries are powerful enough to coerce users to reveal encryption keys/passwords, encryption alone becomes insufficient for data protection. Additional mechanisms are required to hide the very presence of sensitive data.
Plausibly deniable storage systems (PDS) are designed to defend against such powerful adversaries. Plausible deniability allows a user to deny the existence of certain stored data even when an adversary has access to the storage medium. However, existing plausible deniability solutions leave users at the mercy of adversaries suspicious of their very use. Indeed, it may be difficult to justify the use of a plausible deniability system while claiming that no sensitive data is being hidden.
This work introduces INFUSE, a plausibly-deniable file system that hides not only contents but also the evidence that a particular system is being used to hide data. INFUSE is “invisible” (identical layout with standard file system), provides redundancy, handles overwrites, survives data loss, and is secure in the presence of multi-snapshot adversaries. INFUSE is efficient. Public data operations are orders of magnitude faster than existing multi-snapshot resilient PD systems, and only 15% slower than a standard non-PD baseline, and hidden data operations perform comparably to existing systems.
Reputable List Curation from Decentralized Voting
Authors: Crites Elizabeth C. , Maller Mary , Meiklejohn Sarah , Mercer Rebekah 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Token-curated registries (TCRs) are a mechanism by which a set of users are able to jointly curate a reputable list about real-world information. Entries in the registry may have any form, so this primitive has been proposed for use—and deployed—in a variety of decentralized applications, ranging from the simple joint creation of lists to helping to prevent the spread of misinformation online. Despite this interest, the security of this primitive is not well understood, and indeed existing constructions do not achieve strong or provable notions of security or privacy. In this paper, we provide a formal cryptographic treatment of TCRs as well as a construction that provably hides the votes cast by individual curators. Along the way, we provide a model and proof of security for an underlying voting scheme, which may be of independent interest. We also demonstrate, via an implementation and evaluation, that our construction is practical enough to be deployed even on a constrained decentralized platform like Ethereum.
Anticoagulant protein S in COVID-19: low activity, and associated with outcome
Authors: Stoichitoiu Laura Elena , Pinte Larisa , Balea Marius Ioan , Nedelcu Valentin , Badea Camelia , Baicus Cristian 
Published: August 2020

Abstract

Introduction. COVID-19 disease was associated with both thrombo-embolic events and in-situ thrombi formation in small vessels. Antiphospholipidic antibodies were found in some studies.

Aim. Assessment of protein S activity in patients with COVID-19 as a cause of this prothrombotic state, and of the association of protein S activity with worse outcome.

Methods. All patients admitted for COVID-19 disease in a university hospital between 15th of May and 15th of July 2020 were prospectively enrolled into this cohort study. Patients treated with antivitamin K anticoagulants and with liver disease were excluded. All patients had protein S activity determined at admission. The main outcome was survival, while secondary outcomes were clinical severity and lung damage.

Results. 91 patients were included, of which 21 (23.3%) died. Protein S activity was decreased in 65% of the patients. Death was associated with lower activity of protein S (median 42% vs. 58%, p < 0.001), and the association remained after adjustment for age, inflammation markers and ALAT. There was a dose-response relationship between protein S activity and clinical severity (Kendall_tau coefficient = –0.320, p < 0.001; Jonckheere-Terpstra for trend: p < 0.001) or pulmonary damage on CT scan (Kendall_tau coefficient = –0.290, p < 0.001; Jonckheere-Terpstra for trend: p < 0.001). High neutrophil count was also independently associated with death (p = 0.002).

Conclusion. Protein S activity was lower in COVID-19 patients, and its level was associated with survival and disease severity, suggesting that it may have a role in the thrombotic manifestations of the disease.
Combining clinical features and MEST-C score in IgA nephropathy may be a better determinant of kidney survival
Authors: Yeter Hasan Haci , Gonul Ipek , Guz Gizem , Helvaci Ozant , Korucu Berfu , Akcay Omer Faruk , Derici Ulver , Arinsoy Turgay 
Published: August 2020

Abstract

Introduction. IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is a heterogeneous disease with highly variable clinical and histopathological features. We investigated the effects of Oxford classification and clinical features on renal survival in patients with IgAN.

Methods. This retrospective observational study conducted from 2013 to 2017. Ninety-seven patients who were followed up more than six months were examined.

Results. A total of 97 patients (68% male and median age 40 years) were enrolled in this study. 13% of patients developed end stage renal disease (ESRD) within the median of 37 months of follow-up. Need for renal replacement therapy at the time of diagnosis, serum creatinine level of higher than 1.97 mg/dl, serum albumin level less than 3.5 gr/dl, 24-hour urine protein level of higher than > 3.5 g/day, the percentage of glomerulosclerosis higher than 53%, T2 score and total MEST-C score higher than two were found to be significant predictors of development of ESRD. None of the clinical or histopathological features were found to be significant predictor of steroid treatment sensitivity except T1-2 scores.

Conclusion. We think that IgA nephropathy is a heterogeneous disease that requires clinical and histopathological features to be evaluated together, but not individually, to determine renal survival.

What is new. Iga nephropathy is a heterogeneous disease and modern pathologic classification systems is not enough to predict to prognosis. Histopathological features to be evaluated with clinical features, but not individually, to determine renal survival. Also glucocorticoid treatment response seems to be independent from clinical and histopathological features except T1-2 score.
The diagnosis of occupational asthma confirmed by serial peak expiratory flow rate monitoring
Authors: Rașcu Agripina , Naghi Eugenia , Handra Claudia Mariana , Arghir Ioan Anton , Mateș Dana , Moise Laura-Georgiana , Oțelea Marina Ruxandra 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Occupational asthma, the most common occupational respiratory disease in industrialized societies, accounts for 5-10% of all cases of asthma diagnosed in the world. The number of cases is increasing given the development of the “consumer society”. We aim to discuss a case of occupational asthma that we have confirmed using internationally validated methods.
Caplan’s Syndrome (rheumatoid pneumoconiosis), a rare disease entity: case report
Authors: Diaconu Mircea-Constantin , Moise Laura-Georgiana , Rașcu Agripina 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Caplan’s syndrome, known as rheumatoid pneumoconiosis, was first described by Anthony Caplan in 1953, who identified a rare lung disorder found in coal mine workers with rheumatoid arthritis. Although Caplan’s syndrome was found in patients with a variety of pneumoconioses, it mostly affects individuals with long exposure to crystalline silica. We present a case of Caplan’s syndrome in a patient with advanced stage of rheumatoid arthritis and silicosis.
Indications of the Caldwell-Luc procedure in the era of endoscopic sinus surgery
Authors: Bajan Andreea , Sarafoleanu Codrut , Melinte Violeta-Gabriela , Decuseara Roxana 
Published: August 2020

AbstractSurgical treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis is indicated after failure of correctly conducted maximal drug therapy or the occurrence of complications. Radical maxillary sinus surgery has been abandoned nowadays, to the detriment of endoscopic sinus surgery, for several reasons, such as: increased incidence of complications, decreased healing rate compared to the endoscopic technique. The literature cites many situations in which the Caldwell-Luc procedure is used as a first-line surgical technique: recurrent chronic rhinosinusitis, malignant tumors of the maxillary sinus extending to the lateral wall of the nasal fossa and the pterygomaxillary space, the cases where an extensive approach to the pterygopalatine fossa is required – for ligation of the internal maxillary artery or the approach of the vidian canal in vidian neurectomy.The authors highlight the use of Caldwell-Luc procedure in endoscopic sinus surgery era, by reviewing the complications rates, indications and long-term effectiveness of the two surgical techniques.
The influence of sexual dimorphism on the phenotypical properties of poplar
Authors: Tsarev Anatoly 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
The influence of sexual dimorphism on commercial-biological traits of the most widespread poplar of the world Populus tremula L. in the Central forest-steppe of the European territory of Russia was studied. The analysis was made of the distribution of male and female clones in general, the effects of humidity, the richness of the soil, and surrounding vegetation on their productive capacity as well as core rot damage. The study presents survey results of 620 aspen plots spread out over an area of 823 hectares as well as more detailed data obtained from 3 pairs of test plots in which the indicators of male and female aspen stands were compared under identical or similar conditions. The study showed that the area of male aspen in the studied region is 4.5 times larger than that of females. The former prevail in drier and less fertile conditions while females gravitate towards more favorable growing conditions. The comparison of the productive capacity of male and female clones of the same age class, growing in identical or similar growing conditions showed that the height, diameter, and volume of the trunks were higher in male trees. Female aspen trees were less affected by core rot in the best conditions of growth, and male ones were more resistant at the worse ones.
Beneath the Black Robes of Ignatius and Mariana: Limited Liberty within an Interventionist Order
Authors: Edgar L. B. 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
The Society of Jesus sprang from the devout faith of a sidelined soldier who traded in his weapons to form a militant order of Catholic Reformers sworn to serve the Papacy as missionary soldiers of Christ. Specialization in education led Jesuits to roles as theologians of the 16th Century, including as members of the School of Salamanca, whose Jesuit members mostly took pro-market positions on free enterprise. One learned Jesuit in particular deviated from his order’s default position of papal dirigisme to become an enemy of the state.