PS-TRUST: Provably Secure Solution for Truthful Double Spectrum Auctions

Truthful spectrum auctions have been extensively studied in recent years. Truthfulness makes bidders bid their true valuations, simplifying greatly the analysis of auctions. However, revealing one's true valuation causes severe privacy disclosure to the auctioneer and other bidders. To make things worse, previous work on secure spectrum auctions does not provide adequate security. In this paper, based on TRUST, we propose PS-TRUST, a provably secure solution for truthful double spectrum auctions. Besides maintaining the properties of truthfulness and special spectrum reuse of TRUST, PS-TRUST achieves provable security against semi-honest adversaries in the sense of cryptography. Specifically, PS-TRUST reveals nothing about the bids to anyone in the auction, except the auction result. To the best of our knowledge, PS-TRUST is the first provably secure solution for spectrum auctions. Furthermore, experimental results show that the computation and communication overhead of PS-TRUST is modest, and its practical applications are feasible.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Infocom 201

Application of 3D Navigation and Vascular Reconstruction Technology in Precision Resection of Lung Segment

With the rapid development of imaging technology and the improvement of people's health awareness, more early lung cancers are found. For very early lung cancer (mainly manifested as ground glass nodules), lobectomy is still the standard surgical treatment for lung cancer, and segmental resection has been used clinically as a treatment method. 3D navigation is an effective tool for precise lung segment and sub-segment resection. Three-dimensional vascular reconstruction technology is an advanced imaging technology. Accurate segment resection under thoracoscopy is considered the best surgical treatment for early stage lung cancer. It is difficult to accurately estimate the morphology, nature and other characteristics of the tumor and its surroundings by two-dimensional imaging alone. Therefore, the precise resection operation adds great difficulty and risk to the surgeon. In recent years, 3D navigation and vascular reconstruction techniques have been widely developed and applied in the medical field, and they are rarely used in thoracic surgery. This article has conducted a more in-depth study on the application of 3D navigation technology and vascular reconstruction technology in precision lung resection, and has achieved certain research results

Experimental Study on a New Damper Using Combinations of Viscoelastic Material and Low-Yield-Point Steel Plates

To enhance the seismic resilience of coupled reinforced concrete shear walls, a new damper working in the replaceable coupling beam is proposed in present study. The new damper is a combination of metallic damper and viscoelastic (VE) damper. The metallic damper consists of an I-shaped steel beam with multiple low-yield-point steel plate webs paralleled to each other; the VE damper is composed of multiple layers of VE material bonded between multiple steel plates. Through the composite use of viscoelastic material and low-yield-point steel, the new damper is expected to work effectively against both the earthquake and the wind. To study the respective mechanical behavior of each component of the combined new damper, eight metallic dampers, two VE dampers, and one combined damper are tested under cyclic loading first. The variable parameters of the metallic damper are strength grade of web steel, web dimensions, and end stiffener configuration. It is found that the effect of the strength grade of web steel is most significant. Compared with the metallic damper using the steel web with normal strength grade, the ductility, ultimate plastic shear rotation, and cumulative plastic shear rotation of the damper using the low-yield-point steel web are much larger. The effect of web dimensions on the deformation capacity is slight. With the addition of end stiffener, plasticity concentrates thereby, which prevents the flange-to-end plate weld fracture. The VE damper exhibits extraordinary deformability. The storage modulus, shear loss modulus and loss factor of the VE material decrease with the increase of strain amplitude. The storage modulus and shear loss modulus of the VE material decrease slightly as the excitation frequency increases within the range between 0.1 and 1 Hz, and the effect of the excitation on the loss factor is not significant. At last, the combined damper, an assembly of one metallic damper component and two VE damper components, is tested, which exhibits stable hysteretic behavior and excellent deformability. The predicted yield shear strength and elastic stiffness agree well with test results

Clinical characteristics and survival outcomes in patients aged 75 years or older with advanced colorectal cancer treated using traditional Chinese medicine: an observational retrospective study

Limited evidence suggests that elderly patients with advanced colorectal cancer (ACRC) may benefit from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This study investigated the efficacy and safety of TCM in old ACRC patients treated in the Oncology Department of Xiyuan Hospital between January 2012 and December 2021. The clinical characteristics of these patients were retrospectively reviewed. Their progression-free survival (PFS) and total duration of TCM therapy (TTCM) were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier curve. Forty-eight patients (F:M 13:35) with a mean age of 78.75 ± 2.99 years (range, 75–87) met the inclusion criteria. There were 18 cases of rectal cancer and 30 of colon cancer. The median PFS was 4 months (range, 1–26; 95% CI 3.26–4.73). The median TTCM was 5.5 months (range, 1–50; 95% CI 1.76–8.24). Subgroup analysis revealed that PFS and TTCM were shorter in patients with bone metastases and an ECOG performance status score of 2–3 (p < 0.05). No hematological toxicity or serious adverse reactions occurred during the study period. This real-world study demonstrates that TCM may be a potentially beneficial therapy for old ACRC patients, including when the ECOG performance status score is 2–3

A Semi-Empirical Inversion Model for Assessing Surface Soil Moisture using AMSR-E Brightness Temperatures

In 2004-2005, 2007 and 2009, three major drought disasters occurred in Guangdong Province of southern China, which caused serious economic losses. Hence, it has recently become an important research subject in China to monitor surface soil moisture (SSM) and the drought disaster quickly and accurately. SSM is an effective indicator for characterizing the degree of drought. First, using the brightness temperatures (T[subscript b]) of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on the EOS Aqua Satellite (AMSR-E), a modified surface roughness index was developed to map the land surface roughness. Then by combining microwave polarization difference indices (MPDI)-based vegetation cover classification and the modified surface roughness index, a simple semi-empirical model of SSM was derived from the passive microwave radiative transfer equation using AMSR-E C-band T[subscript b] and observed surface soil temperature (T[subscript s]). The model was inverted to calculate SSM. The results show the ability to discriminate over a broad range of SSM (7%~73%) with an accuracy of 2.11% in bare ground and flat areas (R² =0.87), 2.89% in sparse vegetation and flat surface areas (R²=0.85), about 6%~9% in dense vegetation areas and rough surface areas (0.80≤R²≤0.83). The simulation results were also validated using in-situ SSM data (R²=0.87, RMSE=6.36%). Time series mapping of SSM from AMSR-E imageries further demonstrated that the presented method was effective to detect the initiation, duration and recovery of the drought events.This is the author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by Elsevier and can be found at: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-hydrology/.Keywords: Drought disaster, Brightness temperature (T[subscript b]), South China, Semi-Empirical model, Surface soil moisture (SSM), AMSR-E, Passive microwave remote sensin

Antiretroviral Choice for HIV Impacts Antimalarial Exposure and Treatment Outcomes in Ugandan Children.

BACKGROUND: The optimal treatment of malaria in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children requires consideration of critical drug-drug interactions in coinfected children, as these may significantly impact drug exposure and clinical outcomes. METHODS: We conducted an intensive and sparse pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic study in Uganda of the most widely adopted artemisinin-based combination therapy, artemether-lumefantrine. HIV-infected children on 3 different first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens were compared to HIV-uninfected children not on ART, all of whom required treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Pharmacokinetic sampling for artemether, dihydroartemisinin, and lumefantrine exposure was conducted through day 21, and associations between drug exposure and outcomes through day 42 were investigated. RESULTS: One hundred forty-five and 225 children were included in the intensive and sparse pharmacokinetic analyses, respectively. Compared with no ART, efavirenz (EFV) reduced exposure to all antimalarial components by 2.1- to 3.4-fold; lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) increased lumefantrine exposure by 2.1-fold; and nevirapine reduced artemether exposure only. Day 7 concentrations of lumefantrine were 10-fold lower in children on EFV vs LPV/r-based ART, changes that were associated with an approximate 4-fold higher odds of recurrent malaria by day 28 in those on EFV vs LPV/r-based ART. CONCLUSIONS: The choice of ART in children living in a malaria-endemic region has highly significant impacts on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of artemether-lumefantrine treatment. EFV-based ART reduces all antimalarial components and is associated with the highest risk of recurrent malaria following treatment. For those on EFV, close clinical follow-up for recurrent malaria following artemether-lumefantrine treatment, along with the study of modified dosing regimens that provide higher exposure, is warranted

Application of 3D Navigation and Vascular Reconstruction Technology in Precision Resection of Lung Segment

With the rapid development of imaging technology and the improvement of people's health awareness, more early lung cancers are found. For very early lung cancer (mainly manifested as ground glass nodules), lobectomy is still the standard surgical treatment for lung cancer, and segmental resection has been used clinically as a treatment method. 3D navigation is an effective tool for precise lung segment and sub-segment resection. Three-dimensional vascular reconstruction technology is an advanced imaging technology. Accurate segment resection under thoracoscopy is considered the best surgical treatment for early stage lung cancer. It is difficult to accurately estimate the morphology, nature and other characteristics of the tumor and its surroundings by two-dimensional imaging alone. Therefore, the precise resection operation adds great difficulty and risk to the surgeon. In recent years, 3D navigation and vascular reconstruction techniques have been widely developed and applied in the medical field, and they are rarely used in thoracic surgery. This article has conducted a more in-depth study on the application of 3D navigation technology and vascular reconstruction technology in precision lung resection, and has achieved certain research results