bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fish oil supplementation reduces cortisol basal levels and perceived stress: A randomized, placebo‐controlled trial in abstinent alcoholics
Authors: Barbadoro Pamela , Annino Isidoro , Ponzio Elisa , Romanelli Roberto M. L. , D'Errico Marcello M. , Prospero Emilia , Minelli Andrea
Published: February 2013

Behavioral distress and dysfunctions of hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenocortical (HPA) axis play a central role in alcohol abuse. Omega‐3 fatty acids are proposed as having antistress, regulatory effects on HPA responsiveness, but a possible protective role in ethanol addiction is unexplored.A randomized, doubleblind, placebo‐controlled trial was performed in male alcoholics undergoing residential rehabilitation program, to evaluate the effects of 3‐week supplementation with fish‐oil providing eicosapentaenoic (60 mg/day) and docosahexaenoic acid (252 mg/day) on perceived stress/anxiety and HPA activity, assessed by measuring saliva basal cortisol levels at various daytimes (0730 h, 1130 h, 1600 h, 2000 h, and 2400 h) and the acute cortisol response to Trier Social Stress Test.Results showed that in supplemented subjects, before versus after decrease of stress/anxiety ratings was accompanied by reduction of cortisol basal levels throughout the day; no changes were observed in placebo group. At the end of intervention, amplitude, and duration of stress‐evoked cortisol response did not differ between groups; however, the peak of cortisol response was temporally anticipated in supplemented subjects. In conclusion, an elevated omega‐3 intake may reduce distress symptoms and basal cortisol secretion in abstinent alcoholics, thus providing a valid subsidiary measure to increase the efficacy of rehabilitation programs in ethanol addicts.
Cationized ferritin as a magnetic resonance imaging probe to detect microstructural changes in a rat model of non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis
Authors: Beeman Scott C. , Mandarino Lawrence J. , Georges Joseph F. , Bennett Kevin M.
Published: February 2013

Purpose

The goal of this work was to detect disease‐related microstructural changes to the liver using magnetic resonance imaging. Chronic liver disease can cause microstructural changes in the liver that reduce plasma access to the perisinusoidal space—the site of exchange between the blood plasma and the hepatic parenchyma. The reduced plasma access to the perisinusoidal space inhibits hepatic function and contributes to the ∼30,000 chronic liver disease‐related deaths per year.

Methods

The extracellular matrix‐specific cationized ferritin magnetic resonance imaging probe was injected intravenously into healthy rats and a rat model of the chronic liver disease non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis. Rats were subsequently imaged with
‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

Results

This work demonstrates that the binding of cationized ferritin to the perisinusoidal extracellular matrix is reduced by 55% in a rat model of non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis compared to healthy controls. This reduced binding is detectable in vivo with magnetic resonance imaging. Immunofluorescence and electron microscopy indicated that the reduced binding is due to inhibited macromolecular access to the perisinusoidal space caused by non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis‐related microstructural changes.

Conclusions

The reduced accumulation of intravenously injected cationized ferritin may report on changes in macromolecular access to the liver parenchyma in chronic liver disease. Magn Reson Med 70:1728–1738, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The cooperative international neuromuscular research group duchenne natural history study—a longitudinal investigation in the era of glucocorticoid therapy: Design of protocol and the methods used
Authors: McDonald Craig M. , Henricson Erik K. , Abresch R. Ted , Han Jay J. , Escolar Diana M. , Florence Julaine M. , Duong Tina , Arrieta Adrienne , Clemens Paula R. , Hoffman Eric P. , Cnaan Avital ,   the Cinrg Investigators
Published: February 2013

Contemporary natural history data in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is needed to assess care recommendations and aid in planning future trials.

Methods

The Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group (CINRG) DMD Natural History Study (DMD‐NHS) enrolled 340 individuals, aged 2–28 years, with DMD in a longitudinal, observational study at 20 centers. Assessments obtained every 3 months for 1 year, at 18 months, and annually thereafter included: clinical history; anthropometrics; goniometry; manual muscle testing; quantitative muscle strength; timed function tests; pulmonary function; and patient‐reported outcomes/health‐related quality‐of‐life instruments.

Results

Glucocorticoid (GC) use at baseline was 62% present, 14% past, and 24% GC‐naive. In those ≥6 years of age, 16% lost ambulation over the first 12 months (mean age 10.8 years).

Conclusions

Detailed information on the study methodology of the CINRG DMD‐NHS lays the groundwork for future analyses of prospective longitudinal natural history data. These data will assist investigators in designing clinical trials of novel therapeutics. Muscle Nerve, 2013
Aging of low‐density polyethylene in natural weather, underground soil aging and sea water: Effect of a starch‐based prodegradant additive
Authors: Elanmugilan M. , Sreekumar P.A. , Singha N.K. , Al‐Harthi Mamdouh A. , De S.K.
Published: February 2013

This article reports the results of studies on the degradation of the blend of low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) with a starch based prodegradant additive, named commercially as Polystarch plus H and abbreviated as PSH, under natural weather, underground soil aging, and sea water aging in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The work includes measurements of tensile properties, thermal behavior, and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) studies on the unaged and aged LDPE and the LDPE/PSH blend having 25% (w/w) of PSH. Results of the preliminary experiments showed that changes in properties are not prominent at lower loadings of PSH. In the case of the blend, incorporation of the additive PSH caused a reduction in elongation at break, which is accentuated under aging. The effectiveness of the prodegradant additive in the degradation behavior follows the order, natural aging > underground soil aging > sea water aging. It is believed that the prodegradant additive is effective in chain scission in sunlight under natural weathering conditions, in contrast to underground soil aging and sea water. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 53:2389–2397, 2013. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers
Down‐regulation of miR‐200b‐3p by low p73 contributes to the androgen‐independence of prostate cancer cells
Authors: He Minyi , Liu Yun , Deng Xinjun , Qi Songtao , Sun Xuegang , Liu Gang , Liu Yongguang , Liu Yawei , Zhao Ming
Published: February 2013

BACKGROUND

An increasing body of evidence indicates that microRNAs play critical roles in androgen‐independent prostate cancer (AIPC) growth. However, the regulation of the expression of microRNAs in AIPC is not very clear. In this study, we investigated the role that the interaction between miR‐200b‐3p and p73 plays in the proliferation of AIPC.

METHODS

We compared several relevant microRNAs and cancer related genes between the androgen‐dependent prostate cancer (ADPC) cell line and the AIPC cell line using quantitative real‐time PCR (Q‐PCR) and Western blot. Then we examined the effect of p73 and miR‐200b‐3p on the proliferation of AIPC and ADPC using CCK‐8. Furthermore we investigated the regulation of miR‐200b‐3p by p73.

RESULTS

p73 and miR‐200b‐3p were both downregulated in the PC3 cell line (AIPC). Down‐regulation of both p73 and miR‐200b‐3p increased the proliferation of ADPC cells cultured with androgen‐free medium, while up‐regulation of p73 and miR‐200b‐3p decreased the proliferation of AIPC cells. When p73 was over‐expressed in the AIPC cell subline, miR‐200b‐3p expression increased accordingly, while p73 was inhibited in ADPC cells cultured with androgen‐free medium and miR‐200b‐3p expression decreased significantly.

CONCLUSION

miR‐200b‐3p is down‐regulated by low expression of p73 in AIPC cells, and this interaction contributes to the proliferation of AIPC. Prostate 73: 1048–1056, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Bayesian multivariate meta‐analysis with multiple outcomes
Authors: Wei Yinghui , Higgins Julian P.T.
Published: February 2013

There has been a recent growth in developments of multivariate meta‐analysis. We extend the methodology of Bayesian multivariate meta‐analysis to the situation when there are more than two outcomes of interest, which is underexplored in the current literature. Our objective is to meta‐analyse summary data from multiple outcomes simultaneously, accounting for potential dependencies among the data. One common issue is that studies do not all report all of the outcomes of interests, and we take an approach relying on marginal modelling of only the reported data. We employ a separation prior for the between‐study variance–covariance matrix, which offers an improvement on the conventional inverse‐Wishart prior, showing robustness in estimation and flexibility in incorporating prior information. Particular challenges arise when the number of outcomes is large relative to the number of studies because the number of parameters in the variance–covariance matrix can become substantial and there can be very little information with which to estimate between‐study correlation coefficients. We explore assumptions that reduce the number of parameters in this matrix, including assumptions of homogenous variances, homogenous correlations for certain outcomes and positive correlation coefficients. We illustrate the methods with an example data set from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Chemical Solution Deposition of Epitaxial Metal‐Oxide Nanocomposite Thin Films
Authors: Fei Ling , Naeemi Maitham , Zou Guifu , Luo Hongmei
Published: February 2013

Epitaixial metal‐oxide nanocomposite films, which possess interesting multifunctionality, have found applications in a wide range of devices. However, such films are typically produced by using high‐vacuum equipment, like pulse‐laser deposition, molecular‐beam epitaxy, and chemical vapor deposition. As an alternative approach, chemical solution methods are not only cost‐effective but also offer several advantages, including large surface coating, good control over stoichiometry, and the possible use of dopants. Therefore, in this Personal Account, we review the chemistry behind several of the main solution‐based approaches, that is, sol‐gel techniques, metal‐organic decomposition, chelation, polymer‐assisted deposition, and hydrothermal methods, including the seminal works that have been reported so far, to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of these different routes.
NREL VI rotor blade: numerical investigation and winglet design and optimization using CFD
Authors: Elfarra Monier A. , Sezer‐Uzol Nilay , Akmandor I. Sinan
Published: February 2013

The main objectives of this study were to aerodynamically design and optimize a winglet for a wind turbine blade by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and to investigate its effect on the power production. For validation and as a baseline rotor, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Phase VI wind turbine rotor blade is used. The Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations are solved, and k–ε Launder–Sharma turbulence model was used. The numerical results have shown a considerable agreement with the experimental data. The genetic algorithm was used as the optimization technique with the help of artificial neural network to reduce the computational cost. In the winglet design, the variable parameters are the cant and twist angles of the winglet and the objective function the torque. Multipoint optimization is carried out for three different operating wind speeds, and a total of 24 CFD cases are run in the design. The final optimized winglet showed around 9% increase in the power production. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A bivariate mixed distribution with a heavy‐tailed component and its application to single‐site daily rainfall simulation
Authors: Li Chao , Singh Vijay P. , Mishra Ashok K.
Published: February 2013

Key Points

An improved bivariate mixed distribution with a heavy‐tailed component

A daily rainfall generator based on the improved bivariate mixed distribution

Extensitive comparison with three alternative daily rainfall generators
Withdrawn: Controls on topographic dependence and temporal instability in catchment‐scale soil moisture patterns
Authors: Coleman Michael L. , Niemann Jeffrey D.
Published: February 2013

Key Points

Type of topographic dependence mainly depends on soil & vegetation properties

Temporal instability increases if lateral flow & radiative ET are balanced

Soil & vegetation properties mainly determine if the dominant process changes
Evolution of physical controls for soil moisture in humid and subhumid watersheds
Authors: Gaur Nandita , Mohanty Binayak P.
Published: February 2013

Key Points

Soil moisture physical controls evolve with spatial scale and wetness condition

Soil was found the most dominant physical control for most wetness condition

Entropy method could be a good tool to soil moisture numerical analysis
Mapping evaporation and estimation of surface control of evaporation using remotely sensed land surface temperature from a constellation of satellites
Authors: Bateni S. M. , Entekhabi D. , Castelli F.
Published: February 2013

Key Points

LST is assimilated to heat diffusion equation to estimate evaporation.

Evaporation estimations are used to study the surface control on evaporation.

Dependence of EF‐soil moisture relationship on vegetation cover is examined.
Transient groundwater dynamics in a coastal aquifer: The effects of tides, the lunar cycle, and the beach profile
Authors: Abarca Elena , Karam Hanan , Hemond Harold F. , Harvey Charles F.
Published: February 2013

Key Points

The intertidal saline cell is not a permanent feature of a coastal aquifer

The intertidal saline cell cycle is linked to the lunar cycle of tides

The cell cycle modulates the fresh and salt groundwater fluxes to the ocean
Links between soil properties and steady‐state solute transport through cultivated topsoil at the field scale
Authors: Koestel J. K. , Norgaard T. , Luong N. M. , Vendelboe A. L. , Moldrup P. , Jarvis N. J. , Lamandé M. , Iversen B. V. , Wollesen de Jonge L.
Published: February 2013

Key Points

64 of 65 undisturbed soil columns exhibited preferential transport

The strength of preferential transport was correlated with the bulk density

The dominant transport process was inferred to be transport through macropores
Comparison of confined and unconfined infiltration in transparent porous media
Authors: Siemens G. A. , Peters S. B. , Take W. A.
Published: February 2013

Key Points

New technique of unsaturated transparent porous media

Results showing effect of air entrapment on infiltration

Green‐Ampt model and a second gradation confirm results
Contribution of mechanical dispersion of vapor to soil evaporation
Authors: Grifoll Jordi
Published: February 2013

Key Points

Mechanical dispersion of vapor could make a large contribution to evaporation

Stefan flow can generate significant mechanical dispersion flux

Mechanical dispersion and diffusion behave in a complementary way
Data assimilation and parameter estimation via ensemble Kalman filter coupled with stochastic moment equations of transient groundwater flow
Authors: Panzeri M. , Riva M. , Guadagnini A. , Neuman S. P.
Published: February 2013

Key Points

Embedding stochastic moment equations of flow in ensemble Kalman filter

Avoiding need for Monte Carlo simulations in ensemble Kalman filter

Avoiding need for batch inversion of Moment Equations
Incorporating uncertainty of distribution parameters due to sampling errors in flood‐damage‐reduction project evaluation
Authors: Su Hsin‐Ting , Tung Yeou‐Koung
Published: February 2013

Key Points

A decision making framework considering the epistemic uncertainty is proposed.

The effects of sample size on potential risk of alternatives and ranking result.

The ranking of project alternatives can be changed by adjusting the sample size.
A nonparametric kernel regression model for downscaling multisite daily precipitation in the Mahanadi basin
Authors: Kannan S. , Ghosh Subimal
Published: February 2013

Key Points

Multi‐site statistical downscaling to preserve spatio‐temporal variability

Simulations with kernel regression

Climate Change Impacts on rainfall in Mahanadi Basin, India
Spatial associations among major tree species in a cool‐temperate forest community under heterogeneous topography and canopy conditions
Authors: Torimaru Takeshi , Akada Shinji , Ishida Kiyoshi , Matsuda Shuichi , Narita Machiko
Published: February 2013

Analysis of the spatial pattern of plants may provide insight into the processes and mechanisms that promote species coexistence and community organization. Using torus‐translation tests and point‐pattern analyses for a heterogeneous Poisson process, we investigated habitat association and intra‐ and inter‐specific spatial relationships of six major tree species in a cool‐temperate forest community. All stems ≥5 cm in diameter at breast height were mapped on a 1.4‐ha (100 × 140 m) plot and the topographic conditions (convexity and slope degree) and canopy state were assessed. Our results showed that all six species exhibited habitat associations with topographic and/or canopy conditions except for Magnolia salicifolia. Intra‐specific aggregation was found for Acer japonicum, M. salicifolia, and Hamamelis japonica var. obtusata. Community‐wide analysis of the inter‐specific spatial patterns showed mainly mixed or partially overlapped patterns at a scale of up to 30 m, whereas individual pairwise analyses of inter‐specific patterns revealed that Fagus crenata was positively associated with two Acer species and M. salicifolia at a spatial scale of up to 5 m. These results highlight that scale‐dependant ecologically important processes, such as species‐specific habitat preference, regeneration mode, seed dispersal, facilitation and niche complementarity, may operate simultaneously to shape tree distributional patterns, although their presence/absence as well as relative importance vary among species. Given the complexity of the process and mechanisms promoting species coexistence and community organization, more attention should be given to the effect of spatial scale in analyzing the spatial patterns of tree species in forest communities.
Constrained Candecomp/Parafac via the Lasso
Authors: Giordani Paolo , Rocci Roberto
Published: February 2013

The Candecomp/Parafac (CP) model is a well-known tool for summarizing a three-way array by extracting a limited number of components. Unfortunately, in some cases, the model suffers from the so-called degeneracy, that is a solution with diverging and uninterpretable components. To avoid degeneracy, orthogonality constraints are usually applied to one of the component matrices. This solves the problem only from a technical point of view because the existence of orthogonal components underlying the data is not guaranteed. For this purpose, we consider some variants of the CP model where the orthogonality constraints are relaxed either by constraining only a pair, or a subset, of components or by stimulating the CP solution to be possibly orthogonal. We theoretically clarify that only the latter approach, based on the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and named the CP-Lasso, is helpful in solving the degeneracy problem. The results of the application of CP-Lasso on simulated and real life data show its effectiveness.
English and identity in East Asian popular music
Authors: Benson Phil
Published: February 2013

Linguistic diversity poses a significant but not insuperable obstacle to transnational flows of popular music in East Asia. This paper reviews strategies that are used to overcome language barriers, especially the use of English by mainstream artists. Although this strategy has met with some success, it can be problematic in that it involves the negotiation of new artist identities with audiences. This negotiation of identities is illustrated by an analysis of YouTube comments on two English-language music videos by established Asian-language singers – Tata Young's ‘Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy’ and Utada Hikaru's ‘Easy Breezy’, which indicates that language, ethnic and gender identities are all problematised when these singers choose to sing in English.
‘A new stereophonic sound spectacular’: Shibuya-kei as transnational soundscape
Authors: Roberts Martin
Published: February 2013

This paper focuses on Shibuya-kei, a style of independent popular music that emerged in Japan in the late 1980s and which has been influential in the popularisation of J-pop worldwide. Although usually treated as a uniquely Japanese musical genre, Shibuya-kei was from its inception defined by an ostentatious internationalism, fusing jazz, easy listening and bossa nova with British, American and French retro-pop styles. Tracing the international itineraries of Shibuya-kei musicians and the role of Western musicians and labels in promoting it outside Japan, this paper characterises Shibuya-kei not as just another J-pop genre but as a transnational soundscape, a collaborative project produced by a network of musicians circulating between Japan and the UK, the US, France, Germany, Spain and Brazil. As such, the paper suggests, it requires us to rethink the place of the national in relation to popular music.
Giant coronary artery aneurysms in Kawasaki disease: the cost of a missed diagnosis
Authors: Marta Liliana , Francisco Andreia , Anjos Rui
Published: February 2013

Giant coronary aneurysms secondary to Kawasaki disease are rare, but a very severe complication. Delayed diagnosis and appropriate treatment of the disease is a well-known risk factor for coronary aneurysms.
Evaluation of left ventricular torsion in children with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Authors: Prinz Christian , Faber Lothar , Horstkotte Dieter , Körperich Hermann , Moysich Axel , Haas Nikolaus , Kececioglu Deniz , Thorsten Laser Kai
Published: February 2013

Aims

To evaluate the role of torsion in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in children.

Methods

A total of 88 children with idiopathic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (n = 24) and concentric hypertrophy (n = 20) were investigated with speckle-tracking echocardiography and compared with age- and gender-matched healthy controls (n = 44).

Results

In hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, we found increased torsion (2.8 ± 1.6 versus 1.9 ± 1.0°/cm [controls], p < 0.05) because of an increase in clockwise basal rotation (−8.7 ± 4.3° versus −4.9 ± 2.5° [controls], p < 0.001) and prolonged time to peak diastolic untwisting (3.7 ± 2.4% versus 1.7 ± 0.6% [controls] of cardiac cycle, p < 0.01), but no differences in peak untwisting velocities. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients demonstrated a negative correlation between left ventricular muscle mass and torsion (r = −0.7, p < 0.001). In concentric hypertrophy, torsion was elevated because of increased apical rotation (15.1 ± 6.4° versus 10.5 ± 5.5° [controls], p < 0.05) without correlation with muscle mass. Peak untwisting velocities (− 202 ± 88 versus −145 ± 67°/s [controls], p < 0.05) were higher in concentric hypertrophy and time to peak diastolic untwisting was delayed (1.8 ± 0.8% versus 1.2 ± 0.6% [controls], p < 0.05).

Conclusions

In contrast to an increased counterclockwise apical rotation in concentric hypertrophy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is characterised by predominantly enhanced systolic basal clockwise rotation. Diastolic untwisting is delayed in both groups. Torsion may be an interesting marker to guide patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Identified mortality risk factors associated with presentation, initial hospitalisation, and interstage period for the Norwood operation in a multi-centre registry: a report from the National Pediatric Cardiology-Quality Improvement Collaborative
Authors: Cross Russell R. , Harahsheh Ashraf S. , McCarter Robert , Martin Gerard R. ,   for the National Pediatric Cardiology Quality Improvement Collaborative (NPC-QIC)
Published: February 2013

Introduction

Despite improvements in care following Stage 1 palliation, interstage mortality remains substantial. The National Pediatric Cardiology-Quality Improvement Collaborative captures clinical process and outcome data on infants discharged into the interstage period after Stage 1. We sought to identify risk factors for interstage mortality using these data.

Materials and methods

Patients who reached Stage 2 palliation or died in the interstage were included. The analysis was considered exploratory and hypothesis generating. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was used to screen for univariate predictors, and Cox multiple regression modelling was used to identify potential independent risk factors.

Results

Data on 247 patients who met the criteria between June, 2008 and June, 2011 were collected from 33 surgical centres. There were 23 interstage mortalities (9%). The identified independent risk factors of interstage mortality with associated relative risk were: hypoplastic left heart syndrome with aortic stenosis and mitral atresia (relative risk = 13), anti-seizure medications at discharge (relative risk = 12.5), earlier gestational age (relative risk = 11.1), nasogastric or nasojejunal feeding (relative risk = 5.5), unscheduled readmissions (relative risk = 5.3), hypoplastic left heart syndrome with aortic atresia and mitral stenosis (relative risk = 5.2), fewer clinic visits with primary cardiologist identified (relative risk = 3.1), and fewer post-operative vasoactive medications (relative risk = 2.2).

Conclusion

Interstage mortality remains substantial, and there are multiple potential risk factors. Future efforts should focus on further exploration of each risk factor, with potential integration of the factors into surveillance schemes and clinical practice strategies.
Alarming weight gain in women of a post-transitional country
Authors: Garmendia Maria L , Alonso Faustino T , Kain Juliana , Uauy Ricardo , Corvalan Camila
Published: February 2013

Objective

In post-transitional countries, obesity disproportionally affects women. Longitudinal studies can detect high-risk groups in whom to target actions. We investigated the magnitude and velocity of BMI changes in Chilean women of reproductive age and evaluated whether these trends vary in specific groups.

Design

Longitudinal study. We measured weight and height in 2007 (baseline) and again in 2010 (follow-up); we estimated change in BMI (weight/height2) within the 3-year period and assessed its relationship with age, years of education and parity, collected at baseline and follow-up using a questionnaire.

Setting

Population-based cohort of low- to middle-income Chilean women.

Subjects

Seven hundred and sixty-one women of reproductive age (mean 32·0 (sd 7·0) years), mothers of children who participate in the Growth and Obesity Cohort Study (GOCS).

Results

At baseline, 61 % of women had BMI ≥ 25·0 kg/m2. After 3 years, women gained on average 2·6 kg and obesity (BMI ≥ 30·0 kg/m2) increased by 23 % (12 % new obesity cases). Women with normal nutritional status gained more BMI than obese women (1·4 v. 0·6 kg/m2, P < 0·001). An increase in parity was positively associated with BMI change, independently of age, nutritional status and education (P < 0·05). Age and education were not associated with BMI change after controlling for other factors (P > 0·05).

Conclusions

In Chile, a post-transitional country, we observed an alarming increase in obesity among women of reproductive age. Our results indicate that in this population actions need to be targeted at all women irrespective of their nutritional status. A key component of these policies should be avoiding excessive weight gain during pregnancy.
RELATIONS IN THE 2-CLASS GROUP OF QUADRATIC NUMBER FIELDS
Authors: LEMMERMEYER F.
Published: February 2013

We construct a family of ideals representing ideal classes of order two in quadratic number fields and show that relations between their ideal classes are governed by certain cyclic quartic extensions of the rationals.
Production of a human neutralizing monoclonal antibody and its crystal structure in complex with ectodomain 3 of the interleukin-13 receptor α1
Authors: Redpath Nicholas T. , Xu Yibin , Wilson Nicholas J. , Fabri Louis J. , Baca Manuel , Andrews Arna E. , Braley Hal , Lu Ping , Ireland Cheryl , Ernst Robin E. , Woods Andrea , Forrest Gail , An Zhiqiang , Zaller Dennis M. , Strohl William R. , Luo Cindy S. , Czabotar Peter E. , Garrett Thomas P. J. , Hilton Douglas J. , Nash Andrew D. , Zhang Jian-Guo , Nicola Nicos A.
Published: February 2013

Gene deletion studies in mice have revealed critical roles for IL (interleukin)-4 and -13 in asthma development, with the latter controlling lung airways resistance and mucus secretion. We have now developed human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against human IL-13Rα1 (IL-13 receptor α1) subunit that prevent activation of the receptor complex by both IL-4 and IL-13. We describe the crystal structures of the Fab fragment of antibody 10G5H6 alone and in complex with D3 (ectodomain 3) of IL-13Rα1. Although the structure showed significant domain swapping within a D3 dimer, we showed that Arg230, Phe233, Tyr250, Gln252 and Leu293 in each D3 monomer and Ser32, Asn102 and Trp103 in 10G5H6 Fab are the key interacting residues at the interface of the 10G5H6 Fab–D3 complex. One of the most striking contacts is the insertion of the ligand-contacting residue Leu293 of D3 into a deep pocket on the surface of 10G5H6 Fab, and this appears to be a central determinant of the high binding affinity and neutralizing activity of the antibody.
Electrical stimulation of mental nerve to produce inhibitory action in bruxism treatment
Authors: Aqueveque P. , López R. , Pino E. , Ogalde A.
Published: February 2013

Bruxism is an excessive clenching and involuntary parafunctional grinding of the teeth during sleep. It can cause damage to dental structures and temporomandibular joint dysfunction. An evaluation was performed on the effects over the masseter and temporalis anterior muscles in subjects with and without bruxism when electrical stimulation is applied to the right mental nerve. The results showed that, on average, the percentage decrease in the bruxist group for the right masseter was 25.02% and for the left masseter 25.87%. These results indicate that the inhibitory system produces an important decrease in the electrical activity of the two muscles, so it is a good starting point for a possible treatment in patients with bruxism and to develop new electronic stimulators.
Analysis of classical incoherent integrator radar detectors in compound Gaussian clutter
Authors: Weinberg G.V.
Published: February 2013

The classical incoherent integrator is an important detection scheme in radar signal processing, owing to its simplicity and ease of implementation. In the context of compound Gaussian clutter, a new expression for the probability of detection is derived. This is applied to analyse the detector's performance in Pareto intensity clutter.
Motion pattern analysis using partial trajectories for abnormal movement detection in crowded scenes
Authors: Bae G.T. , Kwak S.Y. , Byun H.R.
Published: February 2013

A motion pattern analysis method for abnormal movement detection is introduced. It analyses motion patterns and detects abnormal movement using partial trajectories, which can be obtained in crowded scenes and are more effective than local motion. In addition, the proposed method is able to deal with noisy data, which is a major cause of false alarms. The experimental results from real‐world traffic scene datasets show that the proposed method improves on previous, local motion‐based methods.
RIN‐reduced light source for ultra‐low noise interferometric fibre optic gyroscopes
Authors: Hakimi F. , Moores J.D.
Published: February 2013

Incoherent broadband light sources are used in interferometric fibre optic gyroscopes (IFOGs) to mitigate the deleterious effects of Kerr and polarisation nonreciprocity, and backscattering effects in gyroscopes. However, incoherent broadband sources suffer from excess noise or relative intensity noise (RIN), caused by the beating of different spectral components on the photodetector. Unless RIN noise is suppressed, IFOG performance cannot be improved once light on the photodetector exceeds one photon per coherence time (∼μW's). Demonstrated is a low RIN light source capable of significantly improving angle random walk of an IFOG by 12 dB.
Noise reduction for ellipse fitting on medical images
Authors: Tang T.B. , Lu C.K. , Laude A. , Dhillon B. , Murray A.F.
Published: February 2013

Proposed is a simple yet effective method to reduce noise for ellipse fitting to scattered data on medical images. The method is developed specifically to address the challenge due to variation in the sharpness, magnitude and continuity of edges, when studying the medical images of a large population. The proposed method exploits prior knowledge to eliminate the inhomogeneity within the region of interest, and uses a k‐means clustering technique to eliminate background noise. The objective is to create a ‘noise‐free’ edge map for ellipse fitting. The method has been applied to retinal fundus images for optic‐disc segmentation. Experiment results demonstrate the benefits of the proposed method.
Collusion‐resistant fingerprinting based on OFDM‐IDMA modulation
Authors: Lin Pei , He Qianhua , Li Yanxiong
Published: February 2013

Most of the fingerprinting schemes in the literature are not specifically designed for multimedia file protection, as they rely on the marking assumption and only consider static collusion attack. In this reported work, an anti‐collusion fingerprinting scheme based on OFDM‐IDMA technology is investigated, which overcomes these disadvantages of traditional schemes.
Integrated asynchronous high‐voltage DC–DC buck converter for energy harvesting applications
Authors: Stanzione S. , van Liempd C. , Hoof C. Van
Published: February 2013

Reported is a high‐voltage DC–DC buck converter to interface energy harvesters in ultra‐low‐power wireless sensing applications. A measured efficiency between 61 and 91% has been obtained for input power between 10 and 1000 µW and for a large input voltage range between 5 and 60 V. To minimise the power consumption of the control circuits, an asynchronous implementation was used with a zero static power high‐voltage level shifter and a widely applicable ultra‐low‐power n‐switch control circuit architecture.
Efficient RF voltage transformer with bandpass filter characteristics
Authors: Moreira M. , Bjurström J. , Katardjiev I. , Yantchev V.
Published: February 2013

A microwave bandpass filter with a large ratio between the output and the input impedance has been designed and fabricated. Consequently, it functions both as a voltage transformer and a bandpass filter, or transfilter for brevity. It represents a two‐port micro‐acoustic resonator employing Lamb waves in a thin piezoelectric AlN film grown onto a Si carrier substrate with a centre frequency of around 887 MHz. The transfilter has a transformer ratio of 10 and a voltage efficiency of over 80%. The component has a small size (< 0.5 mm2) and is shown to sustain power levels of 250 mW. It can be used in a variety of cases where both voltage amplification and frequency filtering are required. Examples include: charge pumps in RFID tags, energy scavenging, remotely triggered switches, wake‐up radios in wireless networks, stand‐by units in home electronics etc.
Broadband permittivity measurement of dielectric materials using discontinuity in substrate integrated waveguide
Authors: Fesharaki F. , Akyel C. , Wu Ke
Published: February 2013

The substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is exploited for the broadband determination of the complex dielectric permittivity of lossy material. The effective measurement frequency covers the passband of the fundamental mode in the SIW. This method is an operative technique for characterising the material in millimetre‐waves.
GaAs Fabry‐Pérot cavity photoconductors: switching with picojoule optical pulses
Authors: Peytavit E. , Formont S. , Lampin J.‐F.
Published: February 2013

It is shown that low‐temperature‐grown GaAs photoconductors using a Fabry‐Pérot cavity are very efficient optical switches in comparison with planar photoconductors. A switching efficiency of about 60% was measured with a pulse energy as low as 1.2 pJ and about 100% efficiency is achieved with a pulse energy of 14.2 pJ. Efficient optical sampling of microwave signals is now achievable with a low power pulsed laser.
50 Gbit/s uncooled operation (5–85°C) of 1.3 µm electroabsorption modulator integrated with DFB laser
Authors: Fujisawa T. , Kanazawa S. , Kobayashi W. , Takahata K. , Ohki A. , Iga R. , Ishii H.
Published: February 2013

The first uncooled operation (5–85°C) at 50 Gbit/s of a 1.3 µm electroabsorption modulator integrated with a DFB laser is achieved and 10 km transmission on singlemode fibre with very clear eye openings is demonstrated.
Room‐temperature operation of transistor vertical‐cavity surface‐emitting laser
Authors: Yu X. , Xiang Y. , Berggren J. , Zabel T. , Hammar M. , Akram N. , Shi W. , Chrostowski L.
Published: February 2013

The first room‐temperature operation of a transistor vertical‐cavity surface‐emitting laser (T‐VCSEL) is demonstrated. Fabricated using an epitaxial regrowth process, the T‐VCSEL is electrically a pnp‐type bipolar junction transistor and consists of an undoped AlGaAs/GaAs bottom DBR, an InGaAs triple‐quantum‐well active layer, an Si/SiO2 dielectric top DBR, and an intracavity contacting scheme with three electrical terminals. The output power is controlled by the base current in combination with the emitter‐collector voltage, showing a voltage‐controlled operation mode. A low threshold base‐current of 0.8 mA and an output power of 1.8 mW have been obtained at room temperature. Continuous‐wave operation was performed up to 50°C.
A study of pressure-shear vertical wave propagation in periodically layered fluid and piezoelectric structure
Authors: Zhao J. , Pan Y. , Zhong Z.
Published: February 2013

In this paper, the pressure (P) and shear vertical (SV) wave propagation in the periodically layered fluid and piezoelectric structure are theoretically studied. A single piezoelectric layer is first analyzed for three scenarios: piezoelectricity-ignored, electrically open, or electrically closed. It is observed that both the Lamb wave dispersion curves and the transmission coefficients are affected by piezoelectricity and electrical boundary conditions under any incident angle. From the analyses of the periodically layered structure, it is further found that the piezoelectricity and the electrical boundary conditions have influence on band gaps for a given incident angle.
A relative entropy rate method for path space sensitivity analysis of stationary complex stochastic dynamics
Authors: Pantazis Yannis , Katsoulakis Markos A.
Published: February 2013

We propose a new sensitivity analysis methodology for complex stochastic dynamics based on the relative entropy rate. The method becomes computationally feasible at the stationary regime of the process and involves the calculation of suitable observables in path space for the relative entropy rate and the corresponding Fisher information matrix. The stationary regime is crucial for stochastic dynamics and here allows us to address the sensitivity analysis of complex systems, including examples of processes with complex landscapes that exhibit metastability, non-reversible systems from a statistical mechanics perspective, and high-dimensional, spatially distributed models. All these systems exhibit, typically non-Gaussian stationary probability distributions, while in the case of high-dimensionality, histograms are impossible to construct directly. Our proposed methods bypass these challenges relying on the direct Monte Carlo simulation of rigorously derived observables for the relative entropy rate and Fisher information in path space rather than on the stationary probability distribution itself. We demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed methodology by focusing here on two classes of problems: (a) Langevin particle systems with either reversible (gradient) or non-reversible (non-gradient) forcing, highlighting the ability of the method to carry out sensitivity analysis in non-equilibrium systems; and, (b) spatially extended kinetic Monte Carlo models, showing that the method can handle high-dimensional problems.
Diffusion barrier properties of molybdenum back contacts for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells on stainless steel foils
Authors: Blösch P. , Pianezzi F. , Chirilă A. , Rossbach P. , Nishiwaki S. , Buecheler S. , Tiwari A. N.
Published: February 2013

Flexible Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells on stainless steel foils face the problem of efficiency deterioration when iron impurities diffuse into the absorber layer. The influence of the magnetron sputtering conditions and the design of Mo-based back contacts on the property of the diffusion barrier against iron is reported here for high efficiency CIGS solar cells grown at low substrate temperatures (Tmax = 475 °C). The overall material density of the Mo back contact was identified as the dominant parameter for the impurity diffusion barrier performance. It was found that this is also true for Mo bilayer contacts, which show enhanced film densities at low residual stress. The iron diffusion profile in the back contact and CIGS was measured by secondary ion mass spectroscopy, where a linear decrease in the iron impurity concentration in the CIGS towards the CdS buffer layer was found. Furthermore, this iron distribution in CIGS and its consequences on the solar cell efficiency is discussed, supported by defect analysis measurements and photovoltaic device simulations. With a stress-free ∼500 nm thick Mo bilayer back contact, best solar cell efficiencies above 15% were achieved with antireflection coating.
Radio frequency cavity analysis, measurement, and calibration of absolute Dee voltage for K-500 superconducting cyclotron at VECC, Kolkata
Authors: Som Sumit , Seth Sudeshna , Mandal Aditya , Paul Saikat , Duttagupta Anjan
Published: February 2013

Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre has commissioned a K-500 superconducting cyclotron for various types of nuclear physics experiments. The 3-phase radio-frequency system of superconducting cyclotron has been developed in the frequency range 9–27 MHz with amplitude and phase stability of 100 ppm and ±0.20, respectively. The analysis of the RF cavity has been carried out using 3D Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Microwave Studio code and various RF parameters and accelerating voltages (“Dee” voltage) are calculated from simulation. During the RF system commissioning, measurement of different RF parameters has been done and absolute Dee voltage has been calibrated using a CdTe X-ray detector along with its accessories and known X-ray source. The present paper discusses about the measured data and the simulation result.
Ablation dynamics in coiled wire-array Z-pinches
Authors: Hall G. N. , Lebedev S. V. , Suzuki-Vidal F. , Swadling G. , Chittenden J. P. , Bland S. N. , Harvey-Thompson A. , Knapp P. F. , Blesener I. C. , McBride R. D. , Chalenski D. A. , Blesener K. S. , Greenly J. B. , Pikuz S. A. , Shelkovenko T. A. , Hammer D. A. , Kusse B. R.
Published: February 2013

Experiments to study the ablation dynamics of coiled wire arrays were performed on the MAGPIE generator (1 MA, 240 ns) at Imperial College, and on the COBRA generator at Cornell University's Laboratory of Plasma Studies (1 MA, 100 ns). The MAGPIE generator was used to drive coiled wires in an inverse array configuration to study the distribution of ablated plasma. Using interferometry to study the plasma distribution during the ablation phase, absolute quantitative measurements of electron line density demonstrated very high density contrasts between coiled ablation streams and inter-stream regions many millimetres from the wire. The measured density contrasts for a coiled array were many times greater than that observed for a conventional array with straight wires, indicating that a much greater axial modulation of the ablated plasma may be responsible for the unique implosion dynamics of coiled arrays. Experiments on the COBRA generator were used to study the complex redirection of plasma around a coiled wire that gives rise to the ablation structure exhibited by coiled arrays. Observations of this complex 3D plasma structure were used to validate the current model of coiled array ablation dynamics [Hall et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 065003 (2008)], demonstrating irrefutably that plasma flow from the wires behaves as predicted. Coiled wires were observed to ablate and implode in the same manner on both machines, indicating that current rise time should not be an issue for the scaling of coiled arrays to larger machines with fast current rise times.
Hydrodynamics of double emulsion droplet in shear flow
Authors: Chen Yongping , Liu Xiangdong , Shi Mingheng
Published: February 2013

Hydrodynamic behaviors of double emulsion droplets in shear flow, both deformation and breakup, are investigated numerically. We find that the inner drop is deformed in a uniform vortical flow interior to the outer drop under steady state deformation conditions and provides an additional deformation resistance for the integral droplet especially when its volume fraction is large. In particular, we report four types of breakup modes via three mechanisms (i.e., necking, end pinching, and capillary instability), respectively, and present the corresponding phase diagrams to describe the breakup criteria (critical capillary numbers) and morphologies.
Conservation of energy and momentum in nonrelativistic plasmas
Authors: Sugama H. , Watanabe T.-H. , Nunami M.
Published: February 2013

Conservation laws of energy and momentum for nonrelativistic plasmas are derived from applying Noether's theorem to the action integral for the Vlasov-Poisson-Ampère system [Sugama, Phys. Plasmas 7, 466 (2000)]. The symmetric pressure tensor is obtained from modifying the asymmetric canonical pressure tensor with using the rotational symmetry of the action integral. Differences between the resultant conservation laws and those for the Vlasov-Maxwell system including the Maxwell displacement current are clarified. These results provide a useful basis for gyrokinetic conservation laws because gyrokinetic equations are derived as an approximation of the Vlasov-Poisson-Ampère system.
Quick asymptotic expansion aided by a variational principle
Authors: Hameiri Eliezer
Published: February 2013

It is shown how expanding asymptotically a variational functional can yield the asymptotic expansion of its Euler equation. The procedure is simple but novel and requires taking the variation of the expanded functional with respect to the leading order of the originally unknown function, even though the leading order of this function has already been determined in a previous order. An example is worked out that of a large aspect ratio tokamak plasma equilibrium state with relatively strong flows and high plasma beta.