bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development of Gated Pinned Avalanche Photodiode Pixels for High-Speed Low-Light Imaging
Authors: Resetar Tomislav , De Munck Koen , Haspeslagh Luc , Rosmeulen Maarten , Süss Andreas , Puers Robert , Van Hoof Chris
Published: August 2016

This work explores the benefits of linear-mode avalanche photodiodes (APDs) in high-speed CMOS imaging as compared to different approaches present in literature. Analysis of APDs biased below their breakdown voltage employed in single-photon counting mode is also discussed, showing a potentially interesting alternative to existing Geiger-mode APDs. An overview of the recently presented gated pinned avalanche photodiode pixel concept is provided, as well as the first experimental results on a 8 × 16 pixel test array. Full feasibility of the proposed pixel concept is not demonstrated; however, informative data is obtained from the sensor operating under −32 V substrate bias and clearly exhibiting wavelength-dependent gain in frontside illumination. The readout of the chip designed in standard 130 nm CMOS technology shows no dependence on the high-voltage bias. Readout noise level of 15 e - rms, full well capacity of 8000 e - , and the conversion gain of 75 µV / e - are extracted from the photon-transfer measurements. The gain characteristics of the avalanche junction are characterized on separate test diodes showing a multiplication factor of 1.6 for red light in frontside illumination.
Balance or Synergies between Environment and Economy—A Note on Model Structures
Authors: Wolf Sarah , Schütze Franziska , Jaeger Carlo
Published: August 2016

The UN sustainable development goals contain environmental, economic, and social objectives. They may only be reached, or at least it would be easier to reach them, if instead of a trade-off between these objectives that implies a need for balancing them, there are synergies to be reaped. This paper discusses how the structures of economic models typically used in policy analysis influence whether win–win strategies for the environment and the economy can be conceptualised and analysed. With a focus on climate policy modelling, the paper points out how, by construction, commonly used model structures find mitigation costs rather than benefits. This paper describes mechanisms that, when added to these model structures, can bring win–win options into a model’s solution horizon, and which provide a spectrum of alternative modelling approaches that allow for the identification of such options.
Balancing Economic Development and Environmental Conservation for a New Governance of Alpine Areas
Authors: Cantiani Maria , Geitner Clemens , Haida Christine , Maino Federica , Tattoni Clara , Vettorato Daniele , Ciolli Marco
Published: August 2016

In the Alpine environment, Man has always been directly dependent on mountain ecosystems. Social mechanisms have created specific models of governance, capable of assuring the persistence of ecosystems and their capacity to provide essential goods and services. In recent decades, however, dramatic changes have occurred, such as climate change and changes in land use. The complexity common to all linked human-natural environment systems is extremely marked in the Alpine areas and this makes it difficult to understand how resilient these systems may be. Many research questions arise, in particular as to the comprehension and quantification of the impact of changes on the capacity of ecosystems to produce goods and services in a sustainable way, and the possibility of local mechanisms of governance to adapt to both current and future changes. Reasons and effects of change are analysed from the perspective of the specific issues of governance. The importance of the Ecosystems Services (ESs) concept is acknowledged and the necessity for a dynamic assessment of ESs, taking into account people’s values and expectations, is particularly stressed. Through a careful analysis of selected papers and case studies, the main gaps in current knowledge are identified and directions for further research are provided.
Community Resilience to Cyclone Disasters in Coastal Bangladesh
Authors: Ahmed Bayes , Kelman Ilan , Fehr Heather , Saha Manik
Published: August 2016

Bangladesh is one of the poorest and most disaster-prone countries in the world. To address both problems simultaneously, sustainable livelihoods (SL) could be better connected with disaster risk reduction (DRR). For this purpose, one initiative implemented in Bangladesh is called the Vulnerability to Resilience (V2R) programme which ran from 2013 to 2016. This programme was primarily initiated and funded by the British Red Cross in a consortium with the Swedish Red Cross and the German Red Cross. This article presents the first evaluation of the V2R programme with three objectives. The first objective was to measure whether the selected communities have achieved community resilience characteristics as defined by the programme. The second objective was to conduct a cost-benefit analysis for the intervention. The third objective was to analyse V2R’s impact on the communities in terms of DRR and SL. Community-based focus group discussions and household-based surveys were conducted before and after the intervention (2013–2016) in two coastal communities in Patuakhali district, Nowapara and Pashurbunia. The analysis found that community members are now engaged with many hazard-resilient and vulnerability-reducing livelihood activities, using SL to implement DRR, yet these approaches were almost absent prior to V2R. Consequently, the communities have achieved resilience characteristics, being more well-organized and better connected; having better access to infrastructure, services, and economic opportunities; are more knowledgeable and healthier; and are better managing their available resources. Critiques of the concepts are discussed, although in this case, DRR based on SL has shown positive results, exactly as development theory suggests.
Spinal Cord Ventral Horns and Lymphoid Organ Involvement in Powassan Virus Infection in a Mouse Model
Authors: Santos Rodrigo , Hermance Meghan , Gelman Benjamin , Thangamani Saravanan
Published: August 2016

Powassan virus (POWV) belongs to the family Flaviviridae and is a member of the tick-borne encephalitis serogroup. Transmission of POWV from infected ticks to humans has been documented in the USA, Canada, and Russia, causing fatal encephalitis in 10% of human cases and significant neurological sequelae in survivors. We used C57BL/6 mice to investigate POWV infection and pathogenesis. After footpad inoculation, infected animals exhibited rapid disease progression and 100% mortality. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence revealed a very strong neuronal tropism of POWV infection. The central nervous system infection appeared as a meningoencephalitis with perivascular mononuclear infiltration and microglial activation in the brain, and a poliomyelitis-like syndrome with high level of POWV antigen at the ventral horn of the spinal cord. Pathological studies also revealed substantial infection of splenic macrophages by POWV, which suggests that the spleen plays a more important role in pathogenesis than previously realized. This report provides a detailed description of the neuroanatomical distribution of the lesions produced by POWV infection in C57BL/6 mice.
Water Level Loggers as a Low-Cost Tool for Monitoring of Stormwater Control Measures
Authors: Toran Laura
Published: August 2016

Stormwater control measures (SCMs) are a key component of watershed health in urbanized areas. SCMs are used to increase infiltration and reduce discharge to streams or storm sewer systems during rain events. Monitoring is important for the evaluation of design and causes of failure in SCMs. However, the expense of monitoring means it is not always included in stormwater control planning. This study shows how low-cost water level loggers can be used to answer certain questions about SCM performance. Five case studies are presented that use water level loggers to evaluate the overflow of basins, compare a traditional stormpipe trench with an infiltration trench, monitor timing of blue roof storage, show the effects of retrofitting a basin, and provide long term performance data. Water level loggers can be used to answer questions about the timing and location of stormwater overflows, which helps to evaluate the effectiveness of SCMs. More expensive monitoring and modeling can be used as a follow up if needed to more thoroughly assess a site. Nonetheless, low-cost monitoring can be a first step in identifying sites that need improvement or additional monitoring.
The New Role of Biomedical Informatics in the Age of Digital Medicine
Authors: Lopez-Campos Guillermo , Martin-Sanchez Fernando
Published: August 2016

Objectives: To reflect on the recent rise of Digital Medicine, as well as to analyse main research opportunities in this area. Through the use of several examples, this article aims to highlight the new role that Biomedical Informatics (BMI) can play to facilitate progress in research fields such as participatory and precision medicine. This paper also examines the potential impact and associated risks for BMI due to the development of digital medicine and other recent trends. Lastly, possible strategies to place BMI in a better position to face these challenges are suggested. Methods: The core content of this article is based on a recent invited keynote lecture delivered by one of the authors (Martin- Sanchez) at the Medical Informatics Europe conference (MIE 2015) held in Madrid in May 2015. Both authors (Lopez-Campos and Martin-Sanchez) have collaborated during the last four years in projects such as the ones described in section 3 and have also worked in reviewing relevant articles and initiatives to prepare this talk. Results and Conclusions: Challenges for BMI posed by the rise of technologically driven fields such as Digital Medicine are explored. New opportunities for BMI, in the context of two main avenues for biomedical and clinical research (participatory and precision medicine) are also emphasised. Several examples of current research illustrate that BMI plays a key role in the new area of Digital Medicine. Embracing these opportunities will allow academic groups in BMI to maintain their leadership, identify new research funding opportunities and design new educational programs to train the next genera -tion of BMI scientists.
Refining the Concepts of Self-quantification Needed for Health Self-management
Authors: Gray Kathleen , Martin-Sanchez Fernando J. , Almalki Manal
Published: August 2016

Background: Questions like ‘How is your health? How are you feeling? How have you been?’ now can be answered in a different way due to innovative health self-quantification apps and devices. These apps and devices generate data that enable individuals to be informed and more responsible about their own health.

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to review studies on health SQ, firstly, exploring the concepts that are associated with the users’ interaction with and around data for managing health; and secondly, the potential benefits and challenges that are associated with the use of such data to maintain or promote health, as well as their impact on the users’ certainty or confidence in taking effective actions upon such data.

Methods: To answer these questions, we conducted a comprehensive literature review to build our study sample. We searched a number of electronic bibliographic databases including Scopus, Web of Science, Medline, and Google Scholar. Thematic analysis was conducted for each study to find all the themes that are related to our research aims.

Results: In the reviewed literature, conceptualisation of health SQ is messy and inconsistent. Personal tracking, personal analytics, personal experimentation, and personal health activation are different concepts within the practice of health SQ; thus, a new definition and structure is proposed to set out boundaries between them. Using the data that are generated by SQS for managing health has many advantages but also poses many challenges.

Conclusions: Inconsistency in conceptualisation of health SQ – as well as the challenges that users experience in health self-management – reveal the need for frameworks that can describe the users’ health SQ practice in a holistic and consistent manner. Our ongoing work toward developing these frameworks will help researchers in this domain to gain better understanding of this practice, and will enable more systematic investigations which are needed to improve the use of SQS and their data in health self-management.
Excluding Anti-cytomegalovirus Immunoglobulin M-Positive Cord Blood Units Has a Minimal Impact on the Korean Public Cord Blood Bank Inventory
Authors: Shin Sue , Roh Eun Youn , Oh Sohee , Song Eun Young , Kim Eui Chong , Yoon Jong Hyun
Published: August 2016

Cord blood units (CBUs) for transplantation should be free of communicable disease and must contain a specific amount of total nucleated cells and CD34+ cells. Although posttransplantation cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections are from latent infection in patients, ensuring CMV-free CBUs by performing CMV-specific IgM and nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) is one of the mandatory procedures for the safety of CBUs. However, the exclusion policies (based on these test results) vary among nations and institutions. We tested 28,000 processed CBUs between May 2006 and June 2014. The cord blood leukocytes from CMV IgM-positive samples were then subjected to NAT. The total nucleated cell and CD34+ cell counts were measured for each CBU, and the results were compared to the CMV IgM and IgG results. The seroprevalence of CMV among pregnant women was 98.1% (18,459/18,818) for IgG and 1.7% (441/25,293) for IgM. The concentration and the total number of CD34+ cells were significantly higher in CBUs from IgM-negative mothers compared to those from IgM-positive mothers (72.4/μl vs. 57.2/μl, respectively, p < 0.0001; 1.45 × 106/unit vs. 1.15 × 106/unit, respectively, p < 0.0001). Among CBUs with positive CMV IgM in their mothers' plasma or cord blood plasma, only 0.58% of the samples (3/517) had a positive NAT. The number of excluded CBUs from inventory due to positive CMV IgM in the cord blood was 54 of 18,326 (0.3%). For inventory purposes, it is appropriate to remove CBUs with positive cord blood CMV IgM findings irrespective of the NAT status as well as positive maternal CMV IgM in South Korea.
Effect of Manufacturing Procedures on Human Islet Isolation from Donor Pancreata Standardized by the North American Islet Donor Score
Authors: Yeh Chun-Chieh , Wang Ling-Jia , Mcgarrigle James J. , Wang Yong , Liao Chien-Chang , Omami Mustafa , Khan Arshad , Nourmohammadzadeh Mohammad , Mendoza-Elias Joshua , Mccracken Benjamin , Marchese Enza , Barbaro Barbara , Oberholzer Jose
Published: August 2016

This study investigates manufacturing procedures that affect islet isolation outcomes from donor pancreata standardized by the North American Islet Donor Score (NAIDS). Islet isolations performed at the University of Illinois, Chicago, from pancreata with NAIDS ≥65 were investigated. The research cohort was categorized into two groups based on a postpurification yield either greater than (group A) or less than (group B) 400,000 IEQ. Associations between manufacturing procedures and islet isolation outcomes were analyzed using multivariate logistic or linear regressions. A total of 119 cases were retrieved from 630 islet isolations performed since 2003. Group A is composed of 40 cases with an average postpurified yield of 570,098 IEQ, whereas group B comprised 79 cases with an average yield of 235,987 IEQ. One third of 119 cases were considered successful islet isolations that yielded >400,000 IEQ. The prepurified and postpurified islet product outcome parameters were detailed for future reference. The NAIDS (>80 vs. 65–80) [odds ratio (OR): 2.91, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.27–6.70], cold ischemic time (≤10 vs. >10 h) (OR: 3.68, 95% CI: 1.61–8.39), and enzyme perfusion method (mechanical vs. manual) (OR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.01–5.56) were independent determinants for postpurified islet yield ≥400,000 IEQ. The NAIDS (>80, p < 0.001), cold ischemic time (≤10 h, p < 0.05), increased unit of collagenase ( p < 0.01), and pancreatic duct cannulation time (<30 min, p < 0.01) all independently correlated with better islet quantity parameters. Furthermore, cold ischemic time (≤10 h, p < 0.05), liberase MTF ( p < 0.001), increased unit of collagenase ( p < 0.05), duct cannulation time (<30 min, p < 0.05), and mechanical enzyme perfusion ( p < 0.05) were independently associated with better islet morphology score. Analysis of islet manufacturing procedures from the pancreata with standardized quality is essential in identifying technical issues within islet isolation. Adequate processing duration in each step of islet isolation, using liberase MTF, and mechanical enzyme perfusion all affect isolation outcomes.
Aggregation of Engineered Human β-Cells into Pseudoislets: Insulin Secretion and Gene Expression Profile in Normoxic and Hypoxic Milieu
Authors: Lecomte Marie-José , Pechberty Séverine , Machado Cécile , Da Barroca Sandra , Ravassard Philippe , Scharfmann Raphaël , Czernichow Paul , Duvillié Bertrand
Published: August 2016

Innovative treatments to cure type 1 diabetes are being actively researched. Among the different strategies, the replacement of β-cells has given promising results. Classically, islets from cadaveric donors are transplanted into diabetic patients, but recently phase I clinical trials that use stem cell-derived β-cells have been started. Such protocols require either an immunosuppressive treatment or the macroencapsulation of the β-cells. They involve cell aggregation and the exposure of the cells to hypoxia. Using an engineered human β-cell, we have addressed these two problems: a novel human β-cell line called EndoC-βH3 was cultured as single cells or aggregated clusters. EndoC-βH3 cells were also cultured at normal atmospheric oxygen tension (pO2 = 21%) or hypoxia (pO2 = 3%) in the presence or absence of modulators of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) pathway. Cell aggregation improved glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, demonstrating the benefit of cell–cell contacts. Low oxygen tension decreased β-cell viability and their sensitivity to glucose, but did not alter insulin production nor the insulin secretion capacity of the remaining cells. To investigate the role of HIF1α, we first used a HIF stabilizer at pO2 = 21%. This led to a mild decrease in cell viability, impaired glucose sensitivity, and altered insulin secretion. Finally, we used a HIF inhibitor on EndoC-βH3 pseudoislets exposed to hypoxia. Such treatment considerably decreased cell viability. In conclusion, aggregation of the EndoC-βH3 cells seems to be important to improve their function. A fraction of the EndoC-βH3 cells are resistant to hypoxia, depending on the level of activity of HIF1α. Thus, these cells represent a good human cell model for future investigations on islet cell transplantation analysis.
Prescriptive language attitudes in a dual language elementary school
Authors: Hudgens Henderson Mary
Published: August 2016

Language misconceptions are still very prevalent among the public, partially due to lack of linguistic education in schools. Language misconceptions can influence language attitudes, including the language attitudes of language-minority children towards their native language. In this study, 5th graders enrolled in a dual language program participated in an 18-lesson language awareness curriculum and completed Likert-type pre/posttest surveys and pretest/posttest interviews. Students’ prescriptive language attitude results are compared to those of an English-instruction control group that did not receive language awareness lessons. Both bilingual and monolingual students believed formal, school-based language to be superior to informal language. Despite having received language awareness instruction, students in the treatment group continued to hold prescriptivist language attitudes. Implications for future language awareness curricula are discussed.
Indefinite markers, grammaticalization, and language contact phenomena in Chinese
Authors: Wong Alan Lane
Published: August 2016

Grammaticalization and language contact are often treated separately, suggesting that these are two distinct, divergent phenomena (Heine & Kuteva, 2003). This however, is known not to be the case. The grammaticalization of an indefinite marker, for instance, can occur due to language contact or be hastened by it (Moravcsik, 2013:200). Contrary to assumptions of many grammarians working in Chinese linguistics, recent work on Standard Chinese (e.g. Chen 2003, Huang 1999) argues that Chinese makes use of determiners. However, few explanations have been given as to why this development has taken place. I suggest that contact with English has encouraged the grammaticalization of the indefinite marker, yi ‘one’ + CLASSIFIER. More specifically, the translation of English texts into Chinese has contributed to the development of an indefinite marker in Chinese (Hsu 1994).
Subject pronoun expression in Mexican Spanish: ¿Qué pasa en Xalapa?
Authors: Orozco Rafael
Published: August 2016

This study is the first variationist analysis of subject personal pronoun expression (SPE) in the Spanish of Xalapa, Mexico. The overall pronominal rate (25%)—the highest such rate found in Mexican Spanish so far—also constitutes one of the highest in a mainland Spanish variety. Six predictors—four internal and two external—significantly condition SPE. The internal conditioning—congruent with what occurs elsewhere—reveals grammatical number and person of the subject as the strongest predictor. It also shows that verb class has tendencies similar to those found in other communities. However, further analysis uncovers that lexical frequency provides more definite answers regarding how verbs condition SPE, as within the copulative verb class category ser ‘be’ favors overt subjects but estar ‘be’ favors null subjects. Moreover, the unusually robust effect of age sets Xalapa Spanish apart from most other varieties. Interestingly, the pronominal rate among teenagers (11%)—below the lowest overall pronominal rate anywhere—is consistent with what occurs in other Spanish varieties such as Colombian, European, Dominican, and Mexican. These findings call for further research on the effects of verb semantics and age on SPE.
In your own words: Investigating voice, intertextuality, and credibility of Rachel Jeantel in the George Zimmerman trial
Authors: Sullivan Grace Catherine
Published: August 2016

In February 2012, Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman, who, after a month of highly-publicized trial, was acquitted of second-degree murder. In this paper, I examine the testimony of Martin’s childhood friend and witness for the prosecution, Rachel Jeantel. I investigate the ways in which the intertextual strategy of voicing another, that is the representation of not only their words, but also the characteristics of their language variety, may effectively eliminate the witness’s credibility. This work is motivated by the literature on the interaction between intertextual strategies (Bakhtin 1981, Becker 1994, Tannen 2007[1989]) and language ideologies (Matoesian 1999, Tannen 2010), especially as they relate to institutional discourse of courtroom interactions (Conley and O’Barr 1990, Conley et al. 1978, Magenau 2003, Cotterill 2003). My analysis shows that the prosecuting attorney standardizes Jeantel’s African American English (AAE) and excuses the supposed lack of clarity of her testimony as due to her upbringing in a non-native English-speaking household. The defense attorney voices Jeantel in a much more adversarial manner and reflects her AAE as itself evidence for her testimony to be considered non-credible. And finally, the ways in which the court reporter, the “neutral” language authority of the court, requests clarification of Jeantel’s testimony may actually be effectively discrediting the witness as it further highlights Jeantel’s variety as non-standard and marked for the courtroom.
Two types of speaker’s ignorance over the epistemic space in Korean
Authors: Kang Arum , Yoon Suwon
Published: August 2016

The main goal of this paper is to propose a novel paradigm of the split epistemic ignorance, based on two morphologically related particles in Korean: inka in wh-indefinites vs. nka in modalized questions. Previous literature assumes the interrogative-indefinite affinity as a reflex of a semantic relationship between interrogative markers and indefinites by introducing a set of propositional alternatives (Alternative Semantics: Kratzer and Shimoyama 2002; Alonso-Ovalle 2006, a.o.). However, we challenge these claims by showing that inka and nka are distinct lexical items which are distributed in different clause types, hence, a new split for the ignorance system is called for. We propose a semantics under which inka and nka variants are relativized to the epistemic state of the speaker, M(i) (Giannakidou 1995 et seq.). In particular, we show that: (i) the common denominator of nka and inka is the fact that they both express the speaker’s epistemic indeterminacy; but (ii) the crucial difference arises from a strict dichotomy between the types of alternatives that nka and inka introduce, i.e., the propositional alternatives for nka vs. the individual alternatives for inka.
The typology of Mandarin infinitives
Authors: Ussery Cherlon , Ding Lydia , Liu Yining Rebecca
Published: August 2016

There has been a long-standing debate in the literature about whether Mandarin has infinitival clauses. Since there is no verbal morphology to distinguish finite and nonfinite clauses, this is an open question. Researchers have used diagnostics such as the availability of an overt embedded subject and the interpretation of aspect markers to argue both for and against the presence of infinitival clauses in Mandarin. Using some of these diagnostics, in addition to the availability of partial control interpretations, Grano (2012/2015) argues that the distinction between types of clauses in Mandarin is not based on finiteness, but rather based on whether there is restructuring: some complement clauses are vPs, while others are CPs. We provide new data based on the distribution and interpretation of the reflexive ziji, which suggests that there is a finite/nonfinite distinction. We argue for the existence of nonfinite control complements in Mandarin. Further, we evaluate the diagnostics used by previous researchers and illustrate that some of them are not reliable indicators of finiteness or of clause size.
Consonant effects on tonal registers in Jiashan Wu
Authors: Jiang Bing'er , Kuang Jianjing
Published: August 2016

Breathy phonation is known as the primary cue of the “voiced” stops in Wu dialects, and is associated with the lower tonal register. This study discusses the phonetic realization of the tonal register of Wu dialects by measuring relative prominence of the first harmonic to some higher-frequency components in the spectrum, F0 and periodicity (CPP) of Jiashan Wu monosyllabic words. We find that in Jiashan Wu, the phonetic targets for tonal register contrasts are a steeper spectral-slope and a lower F0, which is consistent cross all consonant manners, while the articulatory realization varies among different types of consonants.
Language Variation Suite: A theoretical and methodological contribution for linguistic data analysis
Authors: Scrivner Olga , Díaz-Campos Manuel
Published: August 2016

In recent years there has been growing interest in quantitative methods for analyzing linguistic data.  Advanced multifactorial statistical analyses, such as inferential trees and mixed-effects logistic regression models, have become more accessible for linguistic research as a result of the availability of an open source programming environment provided by the statistical software R. In the present paper, we introduce a novel toolkit, Language Variation Suite, a software program that offers a friendly environment for conducting quantitative analyses. We demonstrate how theory built on traditional monofactorial analysis can be extended to macro and micro multifactorial approaches allowing for a deeper understanding of language variation. The focus of the analysis is based on intervocalic /d/ deletion in Spanish from the Diachronic Study of the Speech of Caracas 1987 and 2004-2010. In contrast to traditional methodological approaches we have treated intervocalic /d/ as a continuous dependent variable according to the intensity ratio measurements obtained. Furthermore, we have integrated various syntactic, phonetic and sociolinguistic factors. Non-parametric and fixed-effects regression models revealed that overall age (younger speakers), sex (male speakers), phonetic context (low vowels), token frequency and morphosyntactic category (past participles) have a significant effect on the lenition of intervocalic /d/. In contrast, the mixed-effects model selected only phonetic context, frequency and category, showing that individual speaker variation is higher than group variation.
An acoustic analysis of tone and register in Louma Oeshi
Authors: Lew Sigrid , Gruber James
Published: August 2016

This study describes the acoustic properties associated with tone and register in Louma Oeshi, a previously unstudied Akoid language of Laos. Louma Oeshi uses three tones (High, Mid, and Low) which overlap with a tense/lax register distinction to yield a six-way suprasegmental contrast. In this paper, we (1) offer a first account of the pitch and voice quality characteristics associated with each Tone-Register pair, (2) examine further the variability in glottalization strategies signaling the constricted register, and (3) explore the influence of contrastive voice quality on pitch and vice versa, particularly as a predictor of the variation in glottalization.
A Comparison of Saudi and United States Faculty Use of Information and Communication Technology Tools
Authors: Bangert Art W. , Alshahri Mabark Fayaz
Published: August 2016

Research related to differences in how Saudi and US faculty use Information and Technology Communication (ICT) tools is discussed as well as their perceptions of ICT applications and ICT use. Saudi faculty from six universities in KSA and US faculty from five US universities completed a questionnaire designed to identify the ICT tools most frequently used and their perceptions toward the use of these tools. In addition, a path analysis based on Davis's (1993) Technology Acceptance Model was conducted to investigate the relationships between faculty attitudes toward ICT applications and actual ICT use. Findings from this study suggest that both Saudi faculty social media most often while US faculty use productivity tools more often. Both Saudi and US faculty and would benefit from training in the use of these applications for use within a Learning Management System.
Massive Open Online Courses and Completion Rates
Authors: Schulze Amanda Sue , Leigh Doug , Sparks Paul , Spinello Elio
Published: August 2016

Millions of adults have registered for massive open online courses, known as MOOCs, yet little research exists on how effective MOOCs are at meeting the needs of these learners. Critics of MOOCs highlight that completion rates can average fewer than 5%. Such low completion rates raise questions about the effectiveness of MOOCs and whether all adults have the skills and abilities needed for success. MOOCs have the potential to be powerful change agents for universities and students, but it has previously been unknown whether these online courses serve more than just the most persistent, self-directed learners. This study explored the relationship between self-directed learning readiness and MOOC completion percents among adults taking a single Coursera MOOC. By examining self-directed learning - the ability to take responsibility for one's own educational experiences - and MOOC completion rates, this research may help to confirm the knowledge and skills needed to be a successful adult learner in the 21st century, as well as how to improve online education offered to adult learners.
The Games Men Play
Authors: Niemi Eric
Published: August 2016

This chapter conveys the results of a study examining how male students use video games to construct their masculinity. Applying a critical discourse methodology, the study provides insight into how men construct their masculinity within video game discourse communities and how the construction applies to other discourses. It examines how men enter the discourse, what they learn in the discourse, and then how they apply that learning to other discourse communities. It concludes with recommendations and suggestions regarding how video games are a critical part of popular culture that facilitates construction of an identity through the multitude of encounters and relationships within the discourse.
Critical Thinking and Digital Technologies
Authors: Gökçearslan Şahin , Solmaz Ebru , Coşkun Burcu Karabulut
Published: August 2016

The aim of this study is to identify the new trends on technology use in developing critical thinking skills. By this purpose, the researches published between 2008-2014 in Science Direct database were examined by using content analysis. Also study was completed in three main parts. The first part consists of the conceptual framework about, technology use in education, critical thinking, the effect of technology on critical thinking and new technologies used to develop critical thinking skills. In the second part the content analysis method was used to examine the researches published in Science Direct database. In the final part, the conclusion and recommendations were given about the research and future studies.
The Lived Experiences of Authentic Leaders
Authors: Aguirre Sandra J.
Published: August 2016

Globalization presents an array of challenges and opportunities for today's leaders. Recurring corporate and government malfeasance on a global scale as well as the morally complex environments of organizations are imposing more significant demands on organizational actors. Authentic leadership is an emerging leadership category that is gaining much interest due to the demand for more authentic leaders. Authentic leaders attain greater performance from their followers and this is considered a leadership multiplier that produces a virtuous cycle of performance and learning for leaders, followers, and organizations. This chapter discusses a completed study that addresses the following research question: How do experiences inform authentic leadership development across the 4 dimensions of the authentic leadership multidimensional construct of self-awareness, balanced processing, relational transparency, and internalized moral/ethical perspectives?
Investigating the Adult Learners' Experience when Solving Mathematical Word Problems
Authors: Brook Ellen
Published: August 2016

The purpose of the study was to describe the experiences adult learners have while solving mathematical word problems. The focus of the study was on how these adult students used prior mathematical knowledge and how their past experiences with mathematics influenced their solving of mathematics word problems. The study found that the attitudes, feelings and beliefs that adult students in the study hold toward mathematics and problem solving are an integral part of their mathematics learning experience. This study also reports on the particular pattern observed within the participants' attitude toward mathematics education during their schooling years beginning from elementary school till college. The adult students participated in the study lacked the necessary knowledge of such concepts as motion and concentration. Finally, the study found that even after learning the topic during the college class, the participants had difficulties with applying algebraic approaches to word problem solving.
Cultural Hemorrhage of Religion and Spirituality on Healthcare and Wellness
Authors: Topor F. Sigmund
Published: August 2016

As life approaches expectancy and senescence actualizes, the regenerative capacity of the vital organs and their functionality is reduced. Such a reality gives rise the need to identify with a better purpose in life. Religion and spirituality assume a central role in the wellness and healthcare in such circumstances. Although societies and civilizations differ in their religious and spiritual orientations, all peoples everywhere ascribe to some God or gods. The globalization of religion was initiated sometime between the late Bronze Age and late classical antiquity. The pivotal point was characterized by a conversion from polytheism, or primary religions as practiced by the Ancient Egyptians; Phoenicians; Babylonians; Greek; and Romans on the one hand, to monotheism—secondary religions characterized by the worship of one supreme God. Religion and spirituality has now become the one and remaining source of solace for the terminally ill.
The Transformation of Russian Business Education and Its Outcomes
Authors: Kiregian Elise
Published: August 2016

This chapter looks at the transformation of Post-Soviet Russian business education. The extraordinary metamorphosis shapes the new generation of Russians profoundly. Russians are now far more likely to speak English, to hold personal investment portfolios and to be able to work outside of Russia in global businesses. The old-fashioned idea of central control of every aspect of life is largely gone as are business courses extolling the virtues of Marxism. Research shows the wide acceptance of western business concepts such as strategic planning and case analysis and the rapid growth of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. One unexpected outcome is the rise of Russian women to management positions in Russian corporations.
Tourism for Development in the Republic of Moldova
Authors: Pilkington Marc
Published: August 2016

Can globalization be socially inclusive through new 2.0 digital initiatives? This is the thought-provoking question we ask in this article, with a special focus on the Republic of Moldova. Part 1 begins with a reflection on the intersection between globalization, development studies and the current Moldovan context. Part 2 is devoted to the promising field of emergent tourism, and more particularly, tourism 2.0, a blossoming concept that we try to uncover. Part 3 presents a concrete application with the example of Moldova Tours 2.0, a digital initiative in the field of tourism 2.0 in the Republic of Moldova. Various aspects of this project are highlighted and analyzed.
On Seduction
Authors: Atay Simber
Published: August 2016

Seduction is a sexual act, a sex instinct expression, a love practice, a body performance, a psychoanalytical problematic, a philosophical issue, a creative strategy full of phantasies from art to politics, from advertising to entertainment, from personal intimacy to mass-media. Seduction is basis of strip-tease profession, of course! But it is also a cultural metaphor. Seduction is an indispensable part of acting in performing arts. In cinema, actors and actress seduce spectators. In photography, photographer and photographed one, they seduce reciprocally. Seduction has very strong mythological origins. On the other hand, superman of Nietzsche, gaze of Bataille, objet petit a of Lacan are some adequate contemporary parameters to discuss the seduction concept. In this context, Le Samura? (1967) of Jean-Pierre Melville, Magic Mike (2012) of Steven Soderbergh, Jupiter Ascending (2015) of Lana and Andy (Lilly) Wachowski are our cinematographic examples. Eikoh Hosoe's project ‘Barakei' (1961), Duane Michals' project ‘Questions without Answers' (2001), Mehmet Turgut's self-portrait series (2000's) are our photographic examples. Within the text, we evaluate all these popular culture examples by using the mentioned parameters to describe what the seduction is.
Horror's Seduction through Art
Authors: Lousa Teresa
Published: August 2016

Regarding the horror is possible to identify a paradox: the binomial repulsion and attraction. Art has always had a privileged role in Horror's representation, being a favorable medium to its transfiguration. The idea that beauty was an unshakable criteria of artistic representation is quite naive, particularly if we think about the artistic production since modernity. Not only art represented the horror and the macabre since immemorial times, but it also has been a way of reflection about death, the most inscrutable mystery of life. The Abject Art, for instance, search for a lost and desired territory: the body without guilt. Revealing the eschatological nature of the body, several contemporary artistic works put the spectator in constant ambiguity between pleasure and pain, desire and disgust, namely when such works use the death body as an artistic material, breaking, in a fatal seduction, the most feared of the social taboos.
Seduction and Surprise
Authors: Mendonça Dina
Published: August 2016

The chapter explores the meaning of seduction from a situated approach to emotions by tracing the way surprise uncovers emotional traits that enable commitment. The adoption of a Situated Approach reveals how emotions are intrinsically tied to the situations from which they arise and the crucial role of surprise. The emotion of surprise is central for the value of experience because it amplifies other emotions as well as other traits, and details of the lived situations fixing the meaning of the lived experience. The examination of how various emotions belong to the family of surprise further explains the established differences between persuasion, manipulation and seduction. Ultimately the chapter shows that seduction asks for the recognition of various layers of emotional reality, and how they are made visible by the way in which seduction establishes commitments.
Urban Design and the Entrepreneurial City
Authors: Bani Hashim Alamira Reem
Published: August 2016

This chapter reviews and synthesizes literature from the many disciplines that have contributed to the creation of knowledge in the domain of place branding, moving away from the conventional literature on place marketing and looking at the fields of environmental psychology, architecture and urban planning. The chapter is structured in two main parts. Part One situates branding in theories of place identity, city image, and city design. Part Two reviews three different approaches to place branding methodology that are all centered on the study of image, reputation or perception. The chapter argues that studies of place branding to date have not given the ‘place' component the attention it deserves and the question of how place branding influences urban form has not been sufficiently addressed. Only by bringing urban design analytical methods to bear on the question of how branding manifests itself in social and physical environments will a better ‘fit' be achieved in the city, between the images projected and the reality on the ground.
Building City Brand through Social Media
Authors: Muinonen Linda Lea Elisabet , Kumar Ashish
Published: August 2016

The recent transition from city marketing to city branding heralds a new era of representation and signification of cities as brands where conscious and planned practices are used to promote them as any other economic commodity. Given the tremendous impact of social media on brand image, city branding has to embrace this new channel to promote their cities as brands. On social media platforms users forming a brand community can significantly influence the brand image by co-creating the user-generated contents. Today, users search for information online and their behaviors and responses are influenced by online social networks and community practices. In addition, they perceive information from online social community highly credible and useful. As traditional firm generated information is losing its persuasive power to social media, it is never late for managers of city branding to embark on social media platforms to support online social media brand communities which in turn would influence city brand image positively by engaging users. Social media provides an excellent platform for users to form social media brand communities, where they can share inside knowledge and discuss about brands. The greater credibility of user generated contents on these platforms can significantly influence the user perception about the brands. The focus of this paper is to investigate challenges and opportunities of online social media brand communities in influencing brand image.
Country of Origin Effects
Authors: Clifton Nick
Published: August 2016

This chapter develops the concept of the county of origin effect, and explores how linkages between place and product may impact upon it. Country-of-origin research has tended to focus upon how geographical associations may assist the marketing of certain products (halo effects) and indeed protect brand images from negative place-based associations (shield effects). We seek to develop these ideas by investigating the existence of branding spillovers in the opposite direction i.e. from product to regional image. Thus we argue in favour of a more ‘holistic' view of country-of-origin effects. This is done using the illustrative case of Wales. The chapter then seeks to explore the resulting implications for city branding practitioners and policy-makers, and to speculate upon how the observed linkages between place and product can also lead to broader insights in terms of city branding in the international context. Finally how the findings presented might contribute to future research attempts on city branding is considered.
A Business Development Strategy for India's Rail Company Ircon in Expanding Businesses to Asia, Africa and Middle East
Authors: Chinnobaiah Sandeep
Published: August 2016

The Ircon is one of the key players in the market of transportation infrastructure development backed by Indian government and Indian railways. It has successful presence in various locations such as Malaysia, Algeria, Mozambique, Srilanka and India. The objective of the company is to expand globally to get lucrative projects simultaneously sustain competition locally and overseas. The idea is to devise a strategic marketing plan based on infrastructure spending data, location accessibility and market friendliness of the target market countries. The research design carried out was of comprehensive study of data collected from email survey, archive survey and depth interview analysis on various stages of business. The survey outcomes from exclusively selected respondents having international experience in construction business have indicated that infrastructure spending of a country is of utmost importance with 56% of survey response agreeing to it, similarly majority of respondents agreed that deciding factors like market entry plan, entry strategies and other attributes in markets.
Where the Interaction Is Not
Authors: Pineda Roger Gacula
Published: August 2016

The concept of interaction is foundational in technology interface design with its presuppositions being taken for granted. But the interaction metaphor has become ambiguous to the extent that its application to interface design contributes to misalignments between people's expected and actual experience with computers. This article re-examines the presuppositions governing human-computer interaction with the motivation of strengthening weaknesses in their foundational concepts. It argues for abandoning the interaction metaphor to refocus design discourse toward the mediation roles of technology interfaces. ‘Remediation', i.e. representation of one medium in another, is proposed as a conceptual model that more precisely describes the human-to-computer actions.