Adversarially Robust Submodular Maximization under Knapsack Constraints

We propose the first adversarially robust algorithm for monotone submodular maximization under single and multiple knapsack constraints with scalable implementations in distributed and streaming settings. For a single knapsack constraint, our algorithm outputs a robust summary of almost optimal (up to polylogarithmic factors) size, from which a constant-factor approximation to the optimal solution can be constructed. For multiple knapsack constraints, our approximation is within a constant-factor of the best known non-robust solution. We evaluate the performance of our algorithms by comparison to natural robustifications of existing non-robust algorithms under two objectives: 1) dominating set for large social network graphs from Facebook and Twitter collected by the Stanford Network Analysis Project (SNAP), 2) movie recommendations on a dataset from MovieLens. Experimental results show that our algorithms give the best objective for a majority of the inputs and show strong performance even compared to offline algorithms that are given the set of removals in advance.Comment: To appear in KDD 201

An investigation of trends and issues of technology education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the current technology education movement and its impacts, problems, directions, as well as prospects for future development of technology education;A survey questionnaire consisting of three parts was used for collecting the data pertaining to program characteristics, objectives, problems, solutions, and prospects of technology education. Factor analysis was performed to verify the underlying structure of the instrument. Four orthogonal factors were extracted from the analysis for philosophical objectives of technology education. These four factors were: (1) technological literacy, (2) conventional IA objective, (3) intellectual development, and (4) use of tools and machines;Six problem factors derived from factor analysis were labeled as: (1) teaching content, (2) perception of program, (3) teacher education program, (4) student recruitment, (5) facility, and (6) teacher shortage;Six solution factors for solving TE problems were also extracted from factor analysis. They included: (1) curriculum development, (2) public relations, (3) teacher education, (4) perspective teacher recruitment, (5) female student recruitment, and (6) facility planning and innovation;Three prospect factors were extracted from factor analysis and were identified as: (1) program quality and image, (2) facility and curriculum, and (3) graduate and enrollment. These derived factors were used for further hypothesis testing;Eight hypotheses were formulated and tested in this study;Results of the study indicated that the responses of the three subject groups were very uniform. Their perceptions on most of the objective, problem, solution, and prospect factors of technology education were not significantly different from one another;A technology education curriculum development framework was presented along with the teaching scope and sequence for K-12

Minimal clinically important difference of the EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 for worsening peripheral neuropathy in patients receiving neurotoxic chemotherapy.

Context/objectivesThis is the first study to determine the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of the European Organisation of Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-CIPN twenty-item scale (EORTC QLQ-CIPN20), a validated instrument designed to elicit cancer patients' experience of symptoms and functional limitations related to chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.MethodsCancer patients receiving neurotoxic chemotherapy completed EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity [FACT/GOG-NTX] at baseline, second cycle of chemotherapy (T2, n = 287), and 12 months after chemotherapy (T3, n = 191). Anchor-based approach used the validated FACT/GOG-NTX neurotoxicity (Ntx) subscale to identify optimal MCID cutoff for deterioration. Distribution-based approach used one-third standard deviation (SD), half SD, and one standard error of measurement of the total EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 score.ResultsThere was a moderate correlation between the change scores of the Ntx subscale and sensory and motor subscales of QLQ-CIPN20 (T2: r = - 0.722, p < 0.001 and r = - 0.518, p < 0.001, respectively; T3: r = - 0.699; p < 0.001 and r = - 0.523, p < 0.001, respectively). The correlation between the change scores of the Ntx subscale and the QLQ-CIPN20 autonomic subscale was poor (T2: r = - 0.354, p < 0.001; T3: r = 0.286, p < 0.001). Based on the MCID derived using distribution-based method, the MCID for the QLQ-CIPN20 sensory subscale was 2.5-5.9 (6.9% to 16.4% of the subdomain score) and for motor subscale was 2.6-5.0 (8.1%-15.6% of the subdomain score).ConclusionThe MCID for the EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 established using distribution-based approaches was 2.5-5.9 for the sensory subscale and 2.6-5.0 for the motor subscale. When noted in assessments even with small change in scores, clinicians can be alerted for appropriate intervention

Early intervention for psychotic disorders: Real-life implementation in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is among the first few cities in Asia to have implemented early intervention for psychosis in 2001. Substantial changes in psychosis service have since taken place. We reviewed available outcome data in Hong Kong, with reference to the philosophy of early intervention in psychosis, discussing experience and lessons learned from the implementation process, and future opportunities and challenges. Data accumulated in the past decade provided evidence for the benefits and significance of early intervention programmes: patients under the care of early intervention service showed improved functioning, milder symptoms, and fewer hospitalizations and suicides. Early intervention is more cost-effective compared with standard care. Stigma and misconception remains an issue, and public awareness campaigns are underway. In recent years, a critical mass is being formed, and Hong Kong has witnessed the unfolding of public service extension, new projects and organizations, and increasing interest from the community. Several major platforms are in place for coherent efforts, including the public Early Assessment Service for Young people with psychosis (EASY) programme, the Psychosis Studies and Intervention (PSI) research unit, the independent Hong Kong Early Psychosis Intervention Society (EPISO), the Jockey Club Early Psychosis (JCEP) project, and the postgraduate Psychological Medicine (Psychosis Studies) programme. The first decade of early intervention work has been promising; consolidation and further development is needed on many fronts of research, service and education. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.postprin

Multi-scale symbolic entropy analysis provides prognostic prediction in patients receiving extracorporeal life support

Introduction: Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) can temporarily support cardiopulmonary function, and is occasionally used in resuscitation. Multi-scale entropy (MSE) derived from heart rate variability (HRV) is a powerful tool in outcome prediction of patients with cardiovascular diseases. Multi-scale symbolic entropy analysis (MSsE), a new method derived from MSE, mitigates the effect of arrhythmia on analysis. The objective is to evaluate the prognostic value of MSsE in patients receiving ECLS. The primary outcome is death or urgent transplantation during the index admission. Methods: Fifty-seven patients receiving ECLS less than 24 hours and 23 control subjects were enrolled. Digital 24-hour Holter electrocardiograms were recorded and three MSsE parameters (slope 5, Area 6–20, Area 6–40) associated with the multiscale correlation and complexity of heart beat fluctuation were calculated. Results: Patients receiving ECLS had significantly lower value of slope 5, area 6 to 20, and area 6 to 40 than control subjects. During the follow-up period, 29 patients met primary outcome. Age, slope 5, Area 6 to 20, Area 6 to 40, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II score, multiple organ dysfunction score (MODS), logistic organ dysfunction score (LODS), and myocardial infarction history were significantly associated with primary outcome. Slope 5 showed the greatest discriminatory power. In a net reclassification improvement model, slope 5 significantly improved the predictive power of LODS; Area 6 to 20 and Area 6 to 40 significantly improved the predictive power in MODS. In an integrated discrimination improvement model, slope 5 added significantly to the prediction power of each clinical parameter. Area 6 to 20 and Area 6 to 40 significantly improved the predictive power in sequential organ failure assessment. Conclusions: MSsE provides additional prognostic information in patients receiving ECLS. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13054-014-0548-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Using malware for software-defined networking–based smart home security management through a taint checking approach

Numerous security concerns exist in smart home systems in which Internet of Things devices are connected through a home network to enable control using a centralised gateway with a handset device from the Internet. Safeguarding personal information privacy is an increasing concern in smart living services. To guarantee the mobile security of smart living services, security managers use taint checking approaches with dynamic taint propagation analysis operations to examine how a software-defined networking app uses sensitive information and investigate suspicious security vulnerabilities of devices and the effects of the spread of taint propagation over the Internet by identifying taint paths. For solving the dynamic taint propagation analysis problem, most approaches focus on cloud computing applications (apps) with malware threat analysis that involves program vulnerability analyses, rather than on the risk posed by suspicious apps connected to the cloud computing server. Accordingly, this article proposes a taint propagation analysis model incorporating a weighted spanning tree analysis scheme for tracking data with taint marking using several taint checking tools with an open software-defined networking architecture for solving the dynamic taint propagation analysis problem. In the proposed model, Android programs perform dynamic taint propagation to analyse the spread of risks posed by suspicious apps connected to the centralised gateway in a smart home system. In probabilistic risk analysis, risk and defence capability are used for each taint path to assist a defender in recognising the attack results against network threats caused by malware infection and to estimate the losses of associated taint sources. A case of threat analysis of a typical cyber security attack is presented to demonstrate the proposed approach. A new approach was used for verifying the details of an attack sequence for malware infection by incorporating a finite state machine to appropriately represent the real dynamic taint propagation analysis situations at various configuration settings and safeguard deployment. The experimental results proved that the threat analysis model enables a defender to convert the spread of taint propagation to loss and estimate the risk of a specific threat using behavioural analysis associated with 60 families of real malware. Consequently, our scheme was significantly effective in predicting the risk and loss of tainted data propagation for security concerns in smart home systems when the number of taint paths associated with the propagation rules discovered through taint analysis was increased

Protection of the Extracts of Lentinus edodes Mycelia against Carbon-Tetrachloride-Induced Hepatic Injury in Rats

Lentinus edodes is the medicinal macrofungus showing potential for therapeutic applications in infectious disorders including hepatitis. In an attempt to develop the agent for handling hepatic injury, we used the extracts of Lentinus edodes mycelia (LEM) to screen the effect on hepatic injury in rats induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Intraperitoneal administration of CCl4 not only increased plasma glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) but also decreased hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels in rats. Similar to the positive control silymarin, oral administration (three times daily) of this product (LEM) for 8 weeks significantly reduced plasma GOT and GPT. Also, the activities of antioxidant enzymes of SOD and GPx were elevated by LEM. in liver from CCl4-treated rats, indicating that mycelium can increase antioxidant-like activity. Moreover, the hepatic mRNA and protein levels of SOD and GPx were both markedly raised by LEM. The obtained results suggest that oral administration of the extracts of Lentinus edodes mycelia (LEM) has the protective effect against CCl4-induced hepatic injury in rats, mainly due to an increase in antioxidant-like action