bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multi-Step Pathogenesis and Induction of Local Immune Response by Systemic Candida Albicans Infection in an Intravenous Challenge Mouse Model
Authors: Chin Voon-Kin , Foong Kuan-Jeang , Maha Abdullah , Rusliza Basir , Norhafizah Mohtarrudin , Chong Pei
Published: August 2014

Different murine species differ in their susceptibility to systemic infection with Candida albicans, giving rise to varied host immune responses, and this is compounded by variations in virulence of the different yeast strains used. Hence, this study was aimed at elucidating the pathogenesis of a clinical C. albicans isolate (HVS6360) in a murine intravenous challenge model by examining the different parameters which included the counts of red blood cells and associated components as well as the organ-specific expression profiles of cytokines and chemokines. Kidneys and brains of infected mice have higher fungal recovery rates as compared to other organs and there were extensive yeast infiltration with moderate to severe inflammation seen in kidney and brain tissues. Red blood cells (RBCs) and haemoglobin (Hb) counts were reduced throughout the infection period. Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), chemokines and cytokine transcription profiles were varied among the different organs (kidney, spleen and brain) over 72 h post infections. Transcription of most of the PRRs, cytokines and chemokines were suppressed at 72 h post infection in spleen while continuous expression of PRRs, cytokines and chemokines genes were seen in brain and kidney. Reduction in red blood cells and haemoglobin counts might be associated with the action of extracellular haemolysin enzyme and haeme oxygenase of C. albicans in conjunction with iron scavenging for the fungal growth. Renal cells responsible for erythropoietin production may be injured by the infection and hence the combined effect of haemolysis plus lack of erythropoietin-induced RBC replenishment leads to aggravated reduction in RBC numbers. The varied local host immune profiles among target organs during systemic C. albicans infection could be of importance for future work in designing targeted immunotherapy through immunomodulatory approaches.
Xia, J.; et al., Arsenic Trioxide Inhibits Cell Growth and Induces Apoptosis through Inactivation of Notch Signaling Pathway in Breast Cancer. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13, 9627–9641
Authors: Xia Jun , Li Youjian , Yang Qingling , Mei Chuanzhong , Chen Zhiwen , Bao Bin , Ahmad Aamir , Miele Lucio , Sarkar Fazlul , Wang Zhiwei
Published: August 2014

The authors wish to change Figure 5D of the paper published in IJMS [1]. In Figure 5D, the bands for NF-κB and Bcl-2 are similar with Notch-1 bands. The authors have carefully checked the original files and found that it is an inadvertent mistake in the published version of Figure 5D. Figure 5 is revised as follows. The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused to the readers by these changes.[...]
Alterations in Skin Temperature and Sleep in the Fear of Harm Phenotype of Pediatric Bipolar Disorder
Authors: Murphy Patricia , Frei Mark , Papolos Demitri
Published: August 2014

In children diagnosed with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD), disturbances in the quality of sleep and wakefulness are prominent. A novel phenotype of PBD called Fear of Harm (FOH) associated with separation anxiety and aggressive obsessions is associated with sleep onset insomnia, parasomnias (nightmares, night-terrors, enuresis), REM sleep-related problems, and morning sleep inertia. Children with FOH often experience thermal discomfort (e.g., feeling hot, excessive sweating) in neutral ambient temperature conditions, as well as no discomfort during exposure to the extreme cold, and alternate noticeably between being excessively hot in the evening and cold in the morning. We hypothesized that these sleep- and temperature-related symptoms were overt symptoms of an impaired ability to dissipate heat, particularly in the evening hours near the time of sleep onset. We measured sleep/wake variables using actigraphy, and nocturnal skin temperature variables using thermal patches and a wireless device, and compared these data between children with PBD/FOH and a control sample of healthy children. The results are suggestive of a thermoregulatory dysfunction that is associated with sleep onset difficulties. Further, they are consistent with our hypothesis that alterations in neural circuitry common to thermoregulation and emotion regulation underlie affective and behavioral symptoms of the FOH phenotype.
N2-tert-Butoxycarbonyl-N5-[N-(9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl)-2-aminoethyl]-(S)-2,5-diaminopentanoic Acid
Authors: Maity Jyotirmoy , Stromberg Roger
Published: August 2014

N2-tert-Butoxycarbonyl-N5-[N-(9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl)-2-aminoethyl]-(S)-2,5-diaminopentanoic acid (5) has been synthesized by the reaction of N2-tert-butoxycarbonyl-L-2,5-diaminopentanoic acid (Boc-L-ornithine, 3) and N-Fmoc-2-aminoacetaldehyde (N-Fmoc-glycinal, 4) in the presence of sodium cyanoborohydride in methanol containing 1% acetic acid at room temperature.
Localization and Characterization of Ferritin in Demospongiae: A Possible Role on Spiculogenesis
Authors: Natalio Filipe , Wiese Stefanie , Friedrich Norman , Werner Peter , Tahir Muhammad
Published: August 2014

Iron, as inorganic ion or as oxide, is widely used by biological systems in a myriad of biological functions (e.g., enzymatic, gene activation and/or regulation). In particular, marine organisms containing silica structures—diatoms and sponges—grow preferentially in the presence of iron. Using primary sponge cell culture from S. domuncula–primmorphs—as an in vitro model to study the Demospongiae spiculogenesis, we found the presence of agglomerates 50 nm in diameter exclusively inside sponge specialized cells called sclerocytes. A clear phase/material separation is observed between the agglomerates and the initial stages of intracellular spicule formation. STEM-HRTEM-EDX analysis of the agglomerates (30–100 nm) showed that they are composed of pseudohexagonal nanoparticles between 5 and 15 nm in size, displaying lattice parameters corresponding to hematite (Fe2O3) and mixed iron oxide phases typically attributed to ferritin. Further analysis, using western blotting, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), sequence alignment analysis, immunostaining and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), of mature spicule filaments confirm the presence of ferritin within these organic structures. We suggest that S. domuncula can be classified as a dual biomineralizating organism, i.e., within the same cellular structure two distinct biomineralizing processes can occur as a result of the same cellular/metabolic function, spiculogenesis.
Characterization of an Alginate Lyase, FlAlyA, from Flavobacterium sp. Strain UMI-01 and Its Expression in Escherichia coli
Authors: Inoue Akira , Takadono Kohei , Nishiyama Ryuji , Tajima Kenji , Kobayashi Takanori , Ojima Takao
Published: August 2014

A major alginate lyase, FlAlyA, was purified from the periplasmic fraction of an alginate-assimilating bacterium, Flavobacterium sp. strain UMI-01. FlAlyA showed a single band of ~30 kDa on SDS-PAGE and exhibited the optimal temperature and pH at 55 °C and pH 7.7, respectively. Analyses for substrate preference and reaction products indicated that FlAlyA was an endolytic poly(mannuronate) lyase (EC 4.2.2.3). A gene fragment encoding the amino-acid sequence of 288 residues for FlAlyA was amplified by inverse PCR. The N-terminal region of 21 residues except for the initiation Met in the deduced sequence was predicted as the signal peptide and the following region of six residues was regarded as propeptide, while the C-terminal region of 260 residues was regarded as the polysaccharide-lyase-family-7-type catalytic domain. The entire coding region for FlAlyA was subjected to the pCold I—Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) expression system and ~eight times higher yield of recombinant FlAlyA (recFlAlyA) than that of native FlAlyA was achieved. The recFlAlyA recovered in the periplasmic fraction of E. coli had lost the signal peptide region along with the N-terminal 3 residues of propeptide region. This suggested that the signal peptide of FlAlyA could function in part in E. coli.
Analytical Model of Large Data Transactions in CoAP Networks
Authors: Ludovici Alessandro , Marco Piergiuseppe , Calveras Anna , Johansson Karl
Published: August 2014

We propose a novel analytical model to study fragmentation methods in wireless sensor networks adopting the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) and the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for medium access control (MAC). The blockwise transfer technique proposed in CoAP and the 6LoWPAN fragmentation are included in the analysis. The two techniques are compared in terms of reliability and delay, depending on the traffic, the number of nodes and the parameters of the IEEE 802.15.4 MAC. The results are validated trough Monte Carlo simulations. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study that evaluates and compares analytically the performance of CoAP blockwise transfer and 6LoWPAN fragmentation. A major contribution is the possibility to understand the behavior of both techniques with different network conditions. Our results show that 6LoWPAN fragmentation is preferable for delay-constrained applications. For highly congested networks, the blockwise transfer slightly outperforms 6LoWPAN fragmentation in terms of reliability.
Immunogenetics of Small Ruminant Lentiviral Infections
Authors: Stonos Nancy , Wootton Sarah , Karrow Niel
Published: August 2014

The small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) include the caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) and the Maedi-Visna virus (MVV). Both of these viruses limit production and can be a major source of economic loss to producers. Little is known about how the immune system recognizes and responds to SRLVs, but due to similarities with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), HIV research can shed light on the possible immune mechanisms that control or lead to disease progression. This review will focus on the host immune response to HIV-1 and SRLV, and will discuss the possibility of breeding for enhanced SRLV disease resistance.
Divergence of Primary Cognate B- and T-Cell Proliferative Responses to Subcutaneous and Intravenous Immunization with Virus-Like Particles
Authors: Temchura Vladimir , Kalinin Svetlana , Nabi Ghulam , Tippler Bettina , Niezold Thomas , Überla Klaus
Published: August 2014

A major advantage of virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines against HIV is their structural identity to wild-type viruses, ensuring that antigen-specific B-cells encounter the envelope protein in its natural conformation. For the induction of affinity-matured antibodies, the B-cells must also obtain help from T-cells that are restricted by linear epitopes. Using B- and T-cell transgenic mouse models, we compared the efficacy of modified HIV-VLPs delivered by subcutaneous and intravenous immunization to stimulate primary B- and T-cell proliferative responses in different lymphoid organs. VLPs containing an influenza virus hemagglutinin epitope within the HIV-Gag protein induced comparable primary cognate T-cell proliferative responses in the draining lymph node and the spleen, irrespective of the delivery route. In contrast, after subcutaneous immunization with HIV-Gag VLPs containing hen egg lysozyme (HEL) on their surface, the proliferative response of transgenic HEL-specific B-cells was restricted to the draining lymph nodes, while intravenous VLP immunization primarily induced a B-cell proliferative response in the spleen. In vitro co-culture experiments further revealed that the presentation of VLP-associated surface antigens by dendritic cells to cognate B-cells is inefficient. This is consistent with a direct triggering of the B-cell proliferative response by the VLPs and suggests that HIV VLPs may indeed be suitable to directly promote the expansion of B-cells specific for conformational epitopes that are unique to functionally-active Env spikes on the virion. Further investigations are warranted to explore potential differences in the quality and protective potency of HIV-specific antibody responses induced by the two routes.
Visitors to cultural heritage attractions: an activity-based integrated typology
Authors: Nyaupane Gyan P. , Andereck Kathleen L.
Published: August 2014

The purpose of this article is to broaden understanding of cultural heritage tourists through an activity based a priori segmentation approach. Data were collected from a survey conducted with 1,938 tourists visiting cultural heritage sites and events in Arizona (USA). This study suggests
that tourists visiting cultural heritage attractions can be divided into two groups: “true cultural heritage tourists” and “spurious cultural heritage tourists.” Furthermore, true cultural tourists can be subgrouped into two types: “tangible heritage” and
“intangible heritage” tourists. Similarly, spurious cultural heritage tourists are divided into three subgroups: “nature,” “sport,” and “business” tourists. These groups are compared in terms of demographics, importance of attractions, and motivations,
and it is found that these typologies are distinct. The implications for cultural tourism attraction managers and marketers are discussed.
Representations of a Destination Brand in Online Tourism Information Sources: The Case of Slovenia
Authors: Nelson Velvet
Published: August 2014

In the highly competitive global tourism industry, place branding has become a widely used tool in the promotion of tourism destinations. The creation and communication of a unique, positive, and recognizable identity is considered key for destinations to remain competitive and vital
for relatively unknown destinations to raise awareness among international audiences. However, the brand-building process has become more challenging than ever, as destinations around the world seek to promote themselves in much the same way. Consequently, destinations have begun to move away
from traditional marketing strategies towards experiential marketing that seeks to engage potential tourists by not only communicating the characteristics of the place but also appealing to their senses and emotions. The Internet has become the key medium for the communication of destination
brands, typically through national tourism websites. However, in the modern information search process, tourists have a multitude of resources available to them that do not always correspond with the internally created brand identity. This article considers the case of Slovenia. Tourism stakeholders
have engaged in the process of building and communicating a rich and coherent experiential brand. Yet, Slovenia as a tourism destination is subject to the representations of external sources that have not adopted or successfully incorporated the essence of Brand Slovenia. In this article,
tourism information websites are examined through the use of content analysis to investigate the differences in representations of the destination between the internally and externally produced sources.
Surface topography and contact mechanics of dry and wet human skin
Authors: Kovalev Alexander E , Dening Kirstin , Persson Bo N J , Gorb Stanislav N
Published: August 2014

The surface topography of the human wrist skin is studied by using optical and atomic force microscopy (AFM) methods. By using these techniques the surface roughness power spectrum is obtained. The Persson contact mechanics theory is used to calculate the contact area for different magnifications, for the dry and wet skin. The measured friction coefficient between a glass ball and dry and wet skin can be explained assuming that a frictional shear stress σf ≈ 13 MPa and σf ≈ 5 MPa, respectively, act in the area of real contact during sliding. These frictional shear stresses are typical for sliding on surfaces of elastic bodies. The big increase in friction, which has been observed for glass sliding on wet skin as the skin dries up, can be explained as result of the increase in the contact area arising from the attraction of capillary bridges. Finally, we demonstrated that the real contact area can be properly defined only when a combination of both AFM and optical methods is used for power spectrum calculation.
Les fondements et les processus de l'intégration organisationnelle : la banque de détail France du Crédit Agricole
Authors: Bovais Hélène
Published: August 2014

L’intégration figure parmi les concepts clés de la théorie des organisations. Constatant la difficulté de fédérer les ensembles humains, les chercheurs ont exploré les conditions de l’unité, de la coopération, et de la formulation d’un accord. Leurs travaux ont dévoilé la complexité et les multiples facettes de l’intégration, ainsi que la variété de ses fondements. Pourtant, l’usage contemporain réduit l’intégration au contrôle, lui prêtant les attributs d’homogénéité, de discipline et d’harmonie relationnelle. L’étude longitudinale du pluralisme intégré de la banque de détail du Crédit Agricole corrige ces déformations. (1) Elle rappelle la fonction fondamentale de l’intégration, qui consiste à rendre compatibles des logiques hétérogènes et à concilier la diversité, afin de permettre le fonctionnement collectif. (2) Elle fournit une base à l’actualisation des théories de l’intégration et à la formalisation d’une méthode d’analyse. (3) Enfin, elle esquisse un modèle prescriptif généralisable à toute organisation qui souhaite accroître son pluralisme sans pénaliser sa cohésion.
Nueva especie de Metapyroppia Woolley, 1969 (Acari, Oribatida, Peloppiidae) del Nepal
Authors: Ermilov Sergey G. , Martens Jochen
Published: August 2014

Se describe una nueva especie de ácaro oribátido de la familia Peloppiidae, Metapyroppia gigantea n. sp., procedente de Nepal. Es la primera cita del género Metapyroppia en la región Oriental. Metapyroppia gigantea n. sp. se diferencia de la especie tipo, Metapyroppia doratosa Woolley, 1969, por la ausencia de las setas notogastrales c2 y c3, la presencia de un rostro puntiagudo y las lirifisuras adanales separadas de las placas anales. Por vez primera se describe detalladamente la morfología del gnathosoma y las patas en un miembro de este género.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EEE741F4-4C86-4625-B3FD-48E1DDA1D2D3
Nueva especie iraní de Uroleucon Mordvilko, 1914 (Hemiptera, Aphididae) descrita a partir de ejemplares de la colección del Natural History Museum
Authors: Nieto Nafría Juan M. , Pérez Hidalgo Nicolás
Published: August 2014

Se establece la especie Uroleucon helichrysi n. sp. (Hemiptera: Aphididae: Aphidinae: Macrosiphini) con la descripción de sus hembras vivíparas ápteras y aladas recogidas en Irán sobre Helichrysum sp. (Asteraceae), conservadas en la colección del Natural History Museum de Londres. La nueva especie se diferencia de otras especies paleárticas del subgénero Uromelan por la cantidad de setas en el primer segmento tarsal (5), la cantidad de setas caudales (20 a 28), por el tamaño de las celdillas de la reticulación cornicular (que son relativamente pequeñas) y por la presencia de papilas marginales (presentes en los segmentos abdominales 2 a 4) Se incluye una modificación a la clave de Blackman and Eastop para las ápteras que viven sobre Helichrysum.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E2B89D59-05FD-4A9E-AD78-B3C302219A10
Utilization of Instructional Media and Academic Performance of Students in Basic Science
Authors: Adenle Stephen Oyeyemi , Ughelu Jennifer N. L.
Published: August 2014

The use of instructional media is of vital importance for the teaching and learning of the basic sciences in primary and secondary schools, as it drives home the lesson point of the subject being taught and reduces stress for both teacher and student. The imaginative use of well-planned visual aids during classroom lessons does boost academic performances of students learning physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. This chapter investigates the impact of instructional media or design usage on the learning outcomes of students in the basic sciences in Lagos, Nigeria. The research design is Quasi-Experimental. The sample population consists of an experimental and a control group. The experimental group is taught with instructional media for a fortnight. The findings show that the use of instructional media positively impacted the learning outcomes of the students, thus highlighting the vital essence of using instructional media during lessons for enhancement of students' learning.
Information and Communication Technology in Teaching and Learning
Authors: Li Xiaobin
Published: August 2014

This chapter provides an overview of the current development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) utilized in teaching and learning in the People's Republic of China. Specifically, the chapter describes and discusses the effects contemporary ICT has on Chinese elementary and secondary education, as well as the existing challenges in ICT applications. The chapter also examines ICT's application in higher education, particularly in distance education, and the issues that have to be dealt with. The chapter discusses the potential for further developing education with ICT. In addition, it makes recommendations with regard to providing better education with ICT in China.
Challenges and Prospects of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Teaching Technical Education towards Globalisation
Authors: Olabiyi Oladiran Stephen
Published: August 2014

The relevance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the field of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) cannot be overemphasised in the knowledge-based and globalised society. The world of works is in as continuous a state of change as ICT itself, thus posing more challenges to the workers in the 21st century and the institutions responsible for their preparation. Therefore, this chapter discusses the challenges and prospects of ICT in teaching TVE towards globalisation. The chapter points out clearly the meaning, philosophy, and objectives of TVET, concept and types of ICT, the need for effective utilisation of ICTs and its role in TVET, the challenges and solutions to the effective utilisation of ICTs in TVET, and the prospect of using ICT in teaching TVET. The chapter concludes by suggesting solutions for proper planning, management, and effective utilisation of ICTs resources in TVET.
M-Health Technology as a Transforming Force for Population Health
Authors: Folami Florence F.
Published: August 2014

Information and communication technologies in health practices are known as mobile health. Mobile health (m-Health) is the use of portable electronic devices for mobile voice or data communication over a cellular or other wireless network of base stations to provide health information. Evidence suggests that the use of m-health offers new opportunities for population health. However, resistance to m-health among health professionals is considered to be a main barrier. Evidence shows that m-Health technology would grant patients the long-term support needed during treatment without jeopardizing patient autonomy. The practice of m-health requires a rethinking of the existing frames of reference and adoption of new frames of reference in health practice. This chapter is a descriptive study in which a quantitative technique was used to collect data. The study shows the potential scale and impact of m-health in accelerating the rate of patient education. Healthcare providers can maximize the benefits of electronic tools by educating themselves to better understand the potential uses, challenges, and benefits.
Influence of Globalisation on Teaching and Learning
Authors: Issa A. O. , Igwe K. N.
Published: August 2014

This chapter examines the influence of globalization on teaching and learning and the poor state of Information Literacy skills (IL) of students owing to the neglect of IL programmes in Nigerian tertiary institutions. Conceptualizing IL and situating it within the framework of the Nigerian higher institutions, the chapter discusses the implementation of IL programmes in these institutions and the likely attendant challenges. It concludes on the poor state of IL skills of students, which is due to the lack of implementation of IL programmes in higher institutions of learning in Nigeria. It recommends, among others, that administrators and planners of tertiary education in Nigeria should begin to see IL as more of an academic issue, rather than being a library thing, and urges regulatory agencies of these institutions to become more responsible in embracing contemporary issues like the IL programmes.
Horses for Courses
Authors: Reinau Kristian Hegner , Harder Henrik , Overgård Christian Hansen
Published: August 2014

During the last decade, GPS tracking has become a key technology for data collection. In this chapter, the authors develop a practice-ready guideline for how to design and conduct GPS tracking investigations. They do so by first developing a V-model for GPS tracking, which describes the different phases of a GPS tracking data collection and the choices that have to be made in each phase. Thereafter, the authors show how this model can be applied in practice in a case study. The V-model is the first model that systematically combines methodological insights from the literature on GPS tracking and practical experiences from a number of GPS tracking projects into a practical guideline. Researchers can use this model as a starting point when designing a GPS tracking data collection. The authors hope that the model can constitute a first step towards the development of best practice.
Collecting Activity-Travel and Planning Process Data Using GPS-Based Prompted Recall Surveys
Authors: Auld Joshua , Mohammadian Abolfazl (Kouros)
Published: August 2014

This chapter details the design, implementation, and evaluation of an Internet-based prompted recall survey that utilized GPS data collection. The design of the survey was unique in terms of prompted recall surveys using GPS with the use of instantaneous data processing, learning algorithms to reduce respondent burden, and the inclusion of questions relating to activity-planning behavior in a prompted recall survey. In the Urban Travel Route and Activity Choice Survey (UTRACS), data was collected on long-term activity-travel behavior and planning processes for 112 individuals over an average of 10 days. The results of the survey show that the planning data obtained from the survey respondents appear to be reliable, with minimal fatigue and conditioning effects. The documentation of the survey design process, coupled with the promising results, show how GPS-based prompted recall surveys using an Internet-based survey mode can collect useful activity processing data over long timeframes.
Space-Time Behavior Survey for Smart Travel Planning in Beijing, China
Authors: Chai Yanwei , Chen Zifeng , Liu Yu , Tana  , Ma Xiujun
Published: August 2014

In China, smart travel planning, trying to influence traveler behavior using information and communication technologies, has attracted growing interest from governments and scholars because of its potential to alleviate urban transportation problems. The implementation of smart travel planning should be based on in-depth investigations and analysis of activity-travel behavior; it is necessary to use space-time behavior data and studies in smart travel planning. This chapter argues the necessity of space-time behavior surveys for smart travel planning in China and discusses a recent example. The survey was carried out in the Shangdi-Qinghe area of Beijing and involved 709 residents recruited through a multi-stage cluster sampling procedure. GPS tracking technologies were integrated with Web-based activity-travel diaries to collect data of high spatial and temporal resolution. The data shows that, on average, respondents participated in 8.19 activities and 2.66 trips per person per day. Despite several defects, the data provides a good quantitative foundation for smart travel planning in the study area.
Multi-Week Travel Surveys Using GPS Devices
Authors: Feng Tao , Timmermans Harry
Published: August 2014

Previous research has demonstrated that the value of GPS technology in collecting activity-travel data as an alternative to traditional travel surveys depends largely on the accuracy of data imputation and good survey management. In this chapter, the authors discuss experiences in the use of GPS-devices in a large-scale study aimed at collecting multi-week activity-travel diaries in two regions in The Netherlands. GPS devices were used to collect basic movement information, which was processed using Bayesian Belief Network to derive daily activity-travel diaries, and validated using a Web-based prompted recall instrument. The large-scale travel survey was administered across one year. The chapter addresses several issues regarding the design and management of GPS data collection. Reported experiences are expected to provide a useful source of reference for future multi-week travel surveys using GPS technology.
A New Algorithm for Mode Detection in Travel Surveys
Authors: Kohla Birgit , Gerike Regine , Hössinger Reinhard , Meschik Michael , Sammer Gerd , Unbehaun Wiebke
Published: August 2014

New technologies offer various opportunities for advancing travel surveys. This chapter presents a new approach for automated identification of trip stages and travel modes as the core outcome from travel surveys and a key requirement for subsequent steps, such as the automated assignment of trips. Mode prediction of eight modes of transport is realized by two multinomial logistic regression models, based on only nine features from GPS and acceleration data. The algorithm achieved an overall detection rate of 79 percent. The authors found that motorcycle and moped, railway, bicycle, and pedestrian obtained better results, whereas urban public transport caused some difficulties in detection.
Individual Mobility Analysis Using Smartphone Data
Authors: Kazagli Evanthia , Chen Jingmin , Bierlaire Michel
Published: August 2014

This chapter provides an overview of the capabilities and limitations of smartphone data for individual mobility analysis and choice modeling. First, the Lausanne Data Collection Campaign (LDCC) that yielded one of the richest smartphone datasets with respect to the assortment of the available data is introduced. Next, the opportunities and challenges associated with this type of data are assessed, and the resolved problems for each challenge are summarized. The objective of the present chapter is to share lessons and experiences related to the LDCC data to support future use of smartphones in mobility research and travel demand analysis. Specific attention is given to the exploitation of such data for the purpose of route choice modeling within the context of discrete choice analysis.
GPS Travel Diaries in Rural Transportation Research
Authors: Hanson Trevor , Hildebrand Eric
Published: August 2014

Global Positioning System (GPS)-based travel diaries have emerged as valuable tools for urban transportation planning but have had little uptake in rural transportation planning. This chapter describes the methodology and effectiveness of employing vehicle-instrumented passive GPS units and participant-prompted recall with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in a rural travel diary study focused on understanding older driver travel behaviour. A convenience sample of 60 rural older drivers in New Brunswick, Canada participated for an average of 5.3 days. The GPS devices recorded 1649 “stops” of 1 minute or more, with 8% of all “stops” due to stoplights or traffic delay. Remaining “stops” were organized into 1494 trips (one origin with one destination), with participants supplying travel purposes and driver and passenger details for 99.1% of trips. An external battery for the GPS unit minimized satellite acquisition delay but was exhausted in 10% of cases. Results from the study permitted an exploratory analysis of the impact of select license restrictions on older drivers, the potential for rural older drivers to meet their needs without a car, and exposure analysis by road class.
A Role for GPS Data in Qualitative Research
Authors: Venter Christoffel , Minora Nyasha , Shukrani Kory , du Toit Jacques
Published: August 2014

This chapter describes the use of GPS in a multi-method approach to explore environmental factors affecting walking patterns in South Africa. Quantitative measures of walking activity are derived from multiday GPS tracks of a sample of people in three case study areas in Pretoria, South Africa. The data suggests that a significant amount of walking takes place across a range of neighbourhood types. The authors then describe a methodology that marries the strengths of GPS data—notably its detail and its suitability for visualisation—with the benefits of more open-ended qualitative research methods to obtain richer insights into the motivations behind the observed behaviours, and the extent to which these are related to built environment factors. A key finding is that personal security and fear of crime is a critically important factor driving both the perceptions and behaviour of pedestrians, especially women. Specific adaptive behaviours are observed that warrant further research.
Using a GPS Active Logger to Implement Travel Behaviour Change Programs
Authors: Meloni Italo , Sanjust Benedetta
Published: August 2014

Implementing behavioural strategies aimed at reducing car use represents one of the most topical challenges for current transport research. Most of the current Voluntary Travel Behaviour Change (VTBC) programs are moving towards ICT devices for data collection. The advantages of using ICT have been recognized for implementing behavioural strategies and VTBC in order to improve observation of pre- and post-implementation behaviour. This chapter describes the implications of a personal Active Logger (AL) implemented by CRiMM (University of Cagliari, Italy) for the collection of individual activity-travel patterns before and after a VTBC implementation. In particular, VTBC data collected through an active tracking system (GPS tracking + real time activity diary completion) are compared with data collected using a hybrid tracking system (GPS-only system + deferred activity-travel patterns). The results show that, despite the greater effort involved in real time compilation, the information collected by the active logger is more in line with VTBC requirements and expectations.
From Online Social Presence to Network Social Presence
Authors: Tu Chih-Hsiung , Yen Cherng-Jyh , Blocher Michael , Chan Junn-Yih
Published: August 2014

Open Network Learning Environment (ONLE) empowers network learners to create, edit, and share their knowledge via social network connection. This chapter examines the predictive relationship between social presence and ONLE interaction and scrutinizes the relationships between social presence and four dimensions of ONLE's interaction. The chapter concludes that online social presence could not serve as a predictor for all four open network learning's interactions. The results suggest both online and ONLE social presences have distinguishing dynamics in social interaction. ONLE focuses on “social” and “networking” linkages to transform online learners into “network learners” to project their preferred “network social presence” rather than online social presence. This chapter proposes the Open network linkage design model, which is a “Linkage Architecture” that links multiple network resources, network learners, and Web 2.0 tools to allow learners, instructors, and other stakeholders to construct and to share their Personal Learning Environments within the human network.
Virtual Worlds
Authors: Gupta Manish , Jin Sung , Sanders G. Lawrence , Sherman Barbara A. , Simha Anand
Published: August 2014

Virtual Worlds have emerged as important socio-technical artifacts with the potential to impact many important facets of contemporary society and to enable unique, novel business models in the digital economy. The authors present a rich account of the ways in which virtual worlds interact with modern society, their present heuristics, and future promise, with examples of successes and failures. The present and projected impact of virtual worlds on corporate business models, on the academic sphere, on cutting-edge healthcare, and on society in general are examined based upon existing literature, and legal issues arising from virtual worlds are summarized. This is done to develop a broad understanding of this emerging and serviceable new artifact, its numerous applications, and possible consequences. Based on this extensive review, the authors propose a research agenda for the information systems discipline vis-à-vis virtual worlds and identify critical issues connected with virtual world technologies and strategic management practices. The objective of this review is to establish a foundation for future research on virtual worlds.
High Levels of Work Motivation reduce the Perceived Stress
Authors: Wallgren Lars Göran
Published: August 2014

The aim of the longitudinal study covered in this chapter was to test whether job characteristics (job demand, job control), with “motivators” (e.g. recognition, achievement, possibility for growth) as the mediating variable, can predict perceived stress (e.g. stressed, tense). The sample was composed of 320 Information Technology (IT) consultants in Sweden. Data were collected at 2 time points, with a time lag of 6 months. Results of structural equation modeling analyses show that job demand was most strongly related to perceived stress in the 6-month follow-up. Furthermore, “motivators” were negatively related (i.e. expected direction) to perceived stress at follow-up. Cross-sectional studies have been presented earlier, but a contribution of this study is that it is a 2-wave data set. The chapter uses a model that covers more information than a cross-sectional design, and the results add another aspect to existing work motivation and stress research by using a longitudinal data set and by relating job characteristics to perceived stress both directly and indirectly. The presented model can be used to examine potential causes of job stress among IT consultants and may generate important lessons for managing the general workforce of tomorrow. Finally, methodological considerations and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Foundations for the Logic of Questions and Commands
Authors: Girle Roderic A. , McKeown-Green Jonathan
Published: August 2014

Recent interest in logics for questions and commands has been prompted partly by a recognition that reasoned argument often involves moves that are not truth-evaluable, and partly by the use of questions and commands in most procedural programming. The authors argue that certain methodological issues must be addressed before we can agree on the purpose and nature of logics for questions and commands. They deny that formulas in such logics should correspond to sentences in ordinary language. They consider how formulas should be interpreted, focusing especially on questions. The authors argue that logics designed to capture the conditions for correct reasoning involving questions require a semantics that treats question-answer pairs as values. This emphasis brings to the fore issues about questions in premise-conclusion arguments. In both premise-conclusion and dialogical argumentation, the authors argue that logic should aim to capture moves in reasoning, not facts about sentences.
Residential Dynamics in the Wake of Katrina
Authors: Strait John Byron , Gong Gang
Published: August 2014

The increased racial and ethnic diversity experienced by the United States in recent decades has vividly transformed this nation's urban landscapes. In New Orleans, Louisiana this transformative process was dramatically enhanced and accelerated by the disruptive impact of Hurricane Katrina, a tropical storm that devastated many of the area's residential neighborhoods. The displacement and turmoil brought on by this event, and the rebuilding efforts that followed, generated a residential geography that varied considerably from the one that existed prior to the storm. This chapter builds upon earlier work that investigates the impacts these processes had on the changing levels of residential segregation evident among racial and/or ethnic groups in New Orleans from 2000 to 2010. Empirical analysis entailed the measurement of two dimensions of segregation evident among Non-Hispanic whites, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. Measures of residential exposure were decomposed in order to investigate the relative impacts of metropolitan-wide compositional change and intra-urban redistributive change on segregation among the four groups. Irrespective of media reports suggesting otherwise, New Orleans did exhibit very modest forms of residential integration during the decade. However, results also suggest that some groups within New Orleans continue to exhibit “ethnic (or racial) self-selectivity,” a form of residential behavior that concentrates these groups residentially. This chapter provides compelling evidence that residential landscapes across New Orleans continue to be impacted by complex forces operating at both the neighborhood and metropolitan scales.
Visualizing Information Science Knowledge by Modelling Domain Ontology (OIS)
Authors: Sawsaa Ahlam F. , Lu Joan
Published: August 2014

Information Science (IS) is one of the areas that need a unified ontology model to facilitate information in order to access the heterogeneous data resources, and share a common understanding of the domain knowledge. The aim of the study is to develop a generic model of ontology that serves as a foundation of knowledge modelling for applications and aggregation with other ontologies. This study adopts the Methontology methodology to develop an Ontology of Information Science (OIS). To support ontology development, the virtual community of practice of Information science (Ontocop) was employed. The Ontology was coded using Protégé and the OWL web ontology language. The main achievement of the study is that a new model of Information Science Ontology (OIS) has been constructed, which is a generic model that contains only the key objects and associated attributes with their relationships. The model defines the 706 concept, which will be widely used in Information Science applications. The research reveals that OIS ontology is a model that meets the ontology quality criteria for the subject area. It is concluded that OIS ontology unifies information science knowledge, which is composed of Library, Computer, and Archival science, by creating a theoretical base that is useful for further practical systems. The OIS ontology can be reused as the basis for any domain development.
Latent Topic Model for Indexing Arabic Documents
Authors: Ayadi Rami , Maraoui Mohsen , Zrigui Mounir
Published: August 2014

In this paper, the authors present latent topic model to index and represent the Arabic text documents reflecting more semantics. Text representation in a language with high inflectional morphology such as Arabic is not a trivial task and requires some special treatments. The authors describe our approach for analyzing and preprocessing Arabic text then we describe the stemming process. Finally, the latent model (LDA) is adapted to extract Arabic latent topics, the authors extracted significant topics of all texts, each theme is described by a particular distribution of descriptors then each text is represented on the vectors of these topics. The experiment of classification is conducted on in house corpus; latent topics are learned with LDA for different topic numbers K (25, 50, 75, and 100) then the authors compare this result with classification in the full words space. The results show that performances, in terms of precision, recall and f-measure, of classification in the reduced topics space outperform classification in full words space and when using LSI reduction.
Dynamic Clustering Based on Minimum Spanning Tree and Context Similarity for Enhancing Document Classification
Authors: Chakrabarty Anirban , Roy Sudipta
Published: August 2014

Document Classification is the task of assigning a text document to one or more predefined categories according to its content and the labeled training samples. Traditional classification schemes use all training samples for classification, thereby increasing storage requirements and calculation complexity as the number of features increase. Moreover, the commonly used classification techniques consider the number of categories is known in advance, this may not be so in actual reality. In the practical scenario, it is very much essential to find the number of clusters for unknown dataset dynamically. Identifying these limitations, the proposed work evolves a text clustering algorithm where clusters are generated dynamically based on minimum spanning tree incorporating semantic features. The proposed model can efficiently find the significant matching concepts between documents and can perform multi category classification. The formal analysis is supported by applications to email and cancer data sets. The cluster quality and accuracy values were compared with some of the widely used text clustering techniques which showed the efficiency of the proposed approach.
Design of an Embedded Solar Tracking System Based on GPS and Astronomical Equations
Authors: Al-Naima Fawzi M. , Ali Ramzy S. , Abid Ahmed J.
Published: August 2014

This article presents the design of a reliable, accurate, and easy to install solar dual axis tracking system. The system utilizes the GPS for fixing the time, date and location in terms of longitude and latitude. Approximations having high accuracy of the astronomical equations to represent the declination angle and the equation of time are selected to determine the sun locations needed by the designed tracking system in any chosen location on earth. The proposed system is standalone, accurate, durable, reliable, and cost efficient. Annual energy assessments of the system are also given.
Blog Snippets Based Drug Effects Extraction System Using Lexical and Grammatical Restrictions
Authors: Kitajima Shiho , Rzepka Rafal , Araki Kenji
Published: August 2014

Obtaining medical information has a beneficial influence on patients' treatment and QOL (quality of life). The authors aim to make a system that helps patients to collect narrative information. Extracting information from data written by patients will allow the acquisition of information which is easy to understand and provides encouragement. Additionally, by using large-scale data, the system can be utilized for discovering unknown effects or patterns. As the first step, the purpose of this paper is to extract descriptions of the effects caused by taking drugs as a triplet of expressions from illness survival blogs' snippets. This paper proposes a method to extract the triplets using specific clue words and parsing the results in order to extract from blogs written in free natural language. Moreover, recall was improved by combining their proposed method and a baseline system, and precision was improved by filtering using dictionaries we created from existing medical documents.