bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Immunopathology Features of Chronic Rhinosinusitis in High-altitude Dwelling Tibetans
Authors: Luo Ba , Feng Liu , Jintao Du , Yafeng Liu , Shixi Liu , Nan Zhang , Bachert Claus
Published: October 2013

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) presents distinct inflammatory and remodeling patterns in different populations and environments. Tibetan ethnic groups live at high altitudes and in cold weather conditions. We sought to examine whether Tibetans exhibit distinct CRS pathology or characteristics. Sinonasal polyps and mucosal tissue were obtained from 14 Tibetan patients with CRS and nasal polyps (CRSwNPs), 13 patients with CRS without nasal polyps (CRSsNPs), and 12 Tibetan controls. Tissue homogenates and serum samples were assayed for several T-helper (TH) cell cytokines and mediators using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay profiles were measured using quantity polymerase chain reaction. Several key inflammatory cells were examined for immunohistochemical markers. CRSwNPs were characterized by increased mediator promoting eosinophilic inflammation (interleukin [IL]-5, eosinophil cationic protein, and total immunoglobulin E) and slight synergism with expression of IL-8, IL-2sRa, IL-1beta, IL-6, and myeloperoxidase, and a predominance of eosinophils, mast cells, and neutrophils. GATA-3 transcription factor was significantly increased and Foxp3 showed a tendency to be impaired in CRSwNPs compared with controls. CRSsNPs were characterized by significantly high levels of transforming growth factor beta1, increased interferon γ, and a significant enhancement of Foxp3 and T-beta compared with CRSwNPs. There were reduced numbers of inflammatory cells but increased levels of macrophages in CRSsNPs. Compared with CRSsNPs, CRSwNPs present a severe inflammatory reaction and show a TH2 milieu with apparently impaired regulatory T cells (Treg) function and increased inflammatory cells infiltration predominated by eosinophilic and mast cells. In contrast, TH1 polarization with enhanced Treg function and increased levels of macrophages appear in CRSsNPs.
A 5-year Study of Systemic Reactions Using both Shared and Patient-Specific Vaccines
Authors: Melamed Julian , Mehra Ami , Ahuja-Malik Angela
Published: October 2013

The safety of shared specific vaccines (SSVs) has been questioned by some experts. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety of SSVs. Details of systemic allergic reactions after subcutaneous immunotherapy injections were captured on a standardized form from July 2005 to July 2010. Patient records were evaluated for factors that might be associated with increased rate of systemic reactions and, in addition, were examined for any errors. Systemic reaction rates (SRRs) using a combination of shared and patient-specific vaccines (PSVs) were similar to previously reported studies (0.23 reactions per 100 shots). There were no systemic reactions resulting from errors where the incorrect shared allergen was administered, but we did note one reaction after an erroneously administered PSV. There were two dosage errors associated with both shared and patient-specific immunotherapy. Most reactions were mild to moderate (World Allergy Organization grade, 1 or 2). Severe reactions with 911 activations were noted in six patients. Thirty percent of reactions occurred out of the office and the average time to reaction was 48 minutes. Epinephrine was administered in only 60% of patients. Epicutaneous reactivity to mites, cats, dogs, and pollen but not mold occurred significantly more in reactors. Differences in SRRs were encountered between satellite offices. Using a combination of SSV and PSV, SRRs were similar to previously reported studies; moreover, no systemic reactions occurred where a SSV was erroneously administered. SRR surveillance is a useful safety tool.
Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale Scores in Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Comparing Arthritis Self-Management Education With or Without Exercise
Authors: Brand Emily , Nyland John , Henzman Cameron , Mcginnis Mark
Published: October 2013

Study Design

Systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

Objective

To evaluate studies that used arthritis self-management education alone or with exercise to improve Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale scores of patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Background

Increasing self-efficacy may improve patient knee osteoarthritis symptom management and function.

Methods

MEDLINE (1946–March 2013), CINAHL (1981–March 2013), and PsycINFO (1967–March 2013) databases were searched.

Results

Twenty-four studies, including 3163 subjects (women, n = 2547 [80.5%]; mean ± SD age, 65.3 ± 6.5 years), met the inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis was performed to compare the standardized mean difference effect sizes (Cohen d) of randomized controlled studies that used the Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale pain (13 studies, n = 1906), other symptoms (13 studies, n = 1957), and function (5 studies, n = 399) subscales. Cohen d effect sizes were also calculated for cohort studies that used the Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale pain (10 studies, n = 1035), other symptoms (9 studies, n = 913), and function (3 studies, n = 141) subscales. Both randomized controlled studies and cohort studies were grouped by intervention type (intervention 1, arthritis self-management education alone; intervention 2, arthritis self-management education with exercise), and effect sizes were compared (Mann-Whitney U tests, P<.05). Interventions that used arthritis self-management education with exercise displayed higher methodological quality scale scores (76.8 ± 13.1 versus 61.6 ± 19.6, P = .03). Statistically significant standardized effect-size differences between intervention 1 and intervention 2 were not observed.

Conclusion

Small to moderate effect sizes were observed regardless of whether the intervention included exercise. Exercise interventions used in conjunction with arthritis self-management education programs need to be developed to better enhance the self-efficacy of patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Level of Evidence

Therapy, level 2b-. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2013;43(12):895–910. Epub 30 October 2013. doi:10.2519/jospt.2013.4471
Moral rightness and the significance of law: Why, how, and when mistake of law matters
Authors: Segev Re’em
Published: October 2013

The question of whether a mistake of law should negate or mitigate criminal liability is commonly considered to be pertinent to the culpability of the agent, often examined in light of the (epistemic) reasonableness of the mistake. I argue that this view disregards an important aspect of this question; namely, whether a mistake of law affects the rightness of the action, particularly in light of the moral significance of the mistake. I argue that several plausible premises regarding moral rightness under uncertainty, the nature of law, and the moral significance of law entail a positive answer to this question. Specifically, I consider this argument: (1) one (subjective) sense of moral rightness depends on the (epistemically justified) belief of the agent concerning a non-moral fact that is morally significant; (2) a law is (partly) a non-moral fact; (3) a legal fact might be morally significant; (4) therefore, an action that is compatible with an applicable moral standard, in light of the mistaken (justified) belief of the agent concerning a morally significant law, is (subjectively) right or less wrongful; (5) the (subjective) moral rightness of an action counts against criminal liability for this action; (6) therefore, an action that is compatible with the applicable moral standard, in light of the mistaken (epistemically justified) belief of the agent, counts against criminal liability for the action if the law is morally significant.
Epilepsy: Clinical Considerations in Women of Childbearing Age
Authors: Ahmad A
Published: October 2013

Epilepsy is the commonest chronic neurological disorder to complicate pregnancy, having an incidence of 0.15% to 10%. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy is the principal cause of death, and seizure control is the key to minimizing this risk. The aim of antenatal care is to optimize seizure control. The lowest dose of antiepileptic medication that protects against seizures should be chosen. Non-adherence to treatment may present a greater risk to the developing fetus than antiepileptic drug exposure. Adequate rest and sleep is mandatory for epileptic women. The normal anti epileptic drug regimen should be continued during labor. An elective cesarean section should be considered if there have been frequent tonic clonic or prolonged complex partial seizures towards the end of pregnancy. Breast feeding is not contraindicated. Appropriate contraceptive advice should be given. The importance of pre conceptual care in a subsequent pregnancy should be reiterated. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v12i4.12818 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 12 No. 04 October 13 Page 364-369
Infiltration of Inflammatory Cells in the Ovary Following Oral Administration of Monosodium Glutamate
Authors: Ilegbedion IG , Onyije FM , Chibuike OO
Published: October 2013

Background: Monosodium glutamate (MSG) a sodium salt of naturally occurring (non-essential) L-form of glutamic acid is one of the main flavor enhancer used as an ingredient in various food products. It is widely used in restaurants, packaged food industries and household kitchens, in Nigeria, most communities and individuals often use MSG as a bleaching agent for the removal of stains from clothes. Materials and Methods: Twenty (20) female adult wistar rats were used for this experiment. The rats with average weight of 181g were randomly assigned into four groups of five each (Groups A, B, C and D). Group A, B and C served as treatments groups while group D as the control. Each rat in the treatment groups A, B and C received 0.1g/kg, 0.15g/kg and 0.20g/kg of monosodium glutamate respectively in 0.5ml of water orally three times daily for two weeks. Result: The histopathological evaluation of the tissues of the ovary showed Infiltration of inflammatory cells in and around the oocyte as well as in the zonal granulosa layer. There was distortion of tissue architecture. Conclusion: MSG alters the histology of the ovary, therefore its consumption should be stopped and to work out safe level of consumption further in depth studies are recommended. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v12i4.14235 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 12 No. 04 October 13 Page 413-418
Assessment in Undergraduate Medical Education: Bangladesh Perspectives
Authors: Haque M , Yousuf R , Abu Baker SM , Salam A
Published: October 2013

Background: Medical education in Bangladesh is totally controlled by the Government and run a unique undergraduate curriculum throughout the country in both public and private sectors. This paper is aimed to briefly describe the medical education reform in Bangladesh and suggests further assessment changes. The present official form of undergraduate medical curriculum has first evolved in 1988 followed by revision in 2002 and 2012. Assessment and teaching are the two sides of the same coin. Assessment drives learning and learning drives practices. Following the curriculum reform since 2002, the assessment in undergraduate medical education has been greatly changed. There are a lot of in-course formative assessments which include item examination, card final and term final, designed to improve the quality of education. Ten percent marks of summative written examinations derive from formative assessment. Traditional oral examination has been changed to structured form to ensure greater reliability. Even then, teachers are not yet building up to conduct oral examination in such a structured way. Examiners differ in their personality, style and level of experience with variation of questioning and scoring from student to students. Weakness of reliability on oral examination still exists. Students also feel very stressful during the oral examinations. Moreover, to conduct such oral examination, three to four months times per year are lost by the faculties which can be efficiently utilised for teaching and research purposes. Worlds' leading medical schools now-a-days used oral examination only for borderline and distinction students. Bangladesh also must consider oral examination only for borderline and distinction students. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v12i4.16658 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 12 No. 04 October 13 Page 357-363
Prosthetic Rehabilitation of an Edentulous Veau's Class II - A Case Report
Authors: Neha D , Sunil D , Khetan J
Published: October 2013

Patients with acquired defects or congenital malformations of the palate exhibit disturbances in speech including hypernasality, nasal emission and decreased intelligibility of speech. Maxillofacial prosthesis is an art and science which not only replaces the lost structure but also sometimes restores the function.obturator is a prosthesis which closes the palate and pharyngeal defects and improving the speech and other function. This article presents a case report of a completely edentulous patient with palatal insufficiency rehabilitated prosthodontically with a hollow bulb obturator and a procedure for fabrication of closed hollow bulb obturator prosthesis. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v12i4.16665 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 12 No. 04 October 13 Page 435-438
Introduction of Aureobasidium pullulans to the Phyllosphere of Organically Grown Strawberries with Focus on Its Establishment and Interactions with the Resident Microbiome
Authors: Sylla Justine , Alsanius Beatrix , Krüger Erika , Reineke Annette , Bischoff-Schaefer Monika , Wohanka Walter
Published: October 2013

Currently, there is little knowledge of the establishment of repeatedly applied biological control agents (BCAs) in the phyllosphere of plants and, in particular, their interactions with the resident microbiome. Under field conditions, the BCA Aureobasidium pullulans was applied as a model organism to organically grown strawberries during two subsequent years (2011, 2012), either as single strain treatment or with the co-application of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana. Fungal and bacterial communities of strawberry leaves were investigated by means of plate counts and 454 pyrosequencing. The establishment of the introduced A. pullulans strains considerably differed between the two years, presumably due to distinct environmental conditions. Short-term and long-term effects of BCA applications on the composition and diversity of fungal communities could be observed as a result of successful establishment of A. pullulans, in 2011, showing, for instance, reduced diversity of fungal communities by competitive displacement shortly after BCA introduction. Due to considerable dynamics in untreated resident microbial communities in the phyllosphere in general, however, we suggest that even the effects caused by the applied BCA preparations in 2011 are negligible under practical conditions.
Exploring the Role of Rhodtestolin, A Cardio-Inhibitor from the Testes of Rhodnius prolixus, in Relation to the Structure and Function of Reproductive Organs in Insect Vectors of Chagas Disease
Authors: Chiang Ralem , Chiang Jennifer , Hoogendoorn Hugh , Lima Marli
Published: October 2013

Rhodtestolin is a cardio-inhibitor that was first discovered in testes extracts of the blood-feeding insect, Rhodnius prolixus. Its role in reproduction remains unconfirmed, but if delivered to the female during spermatophore formation, it may serve to calm the female and/or relax the vaginal muscles to facilitate delivery and storage of the spermatophore. We describe here the anatomy of reproductive organs in R. prolixus and show that rhodtestolin is present in a low-molecular weight fraction of testes extracts separated by gel filtration, as well as in spermatophores delivered to the female during spermatophore formation. We also report that a rhodtestolin-like factor is present in the testes of R. brethesi, Triatoma dimidiata, T. klugi and Nesotriatoma bruneri, other Reduviidae, which are vectors of Chagas disease. Male secretions in insects are known to modify female behavior after copulation, and the presence of rhodtestolin in several genera of Reduviidae suggests that it plays an important role in reproductive success. Determining this role could lead to developing additional population control strategies for these bugs.
New Diterpenoids from Soft Coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi
Authors: Wang Shang-Kwei , Hsieh Mu-Keng , Duh Chang-Yih
Published: October 2013

Continuing chemical investigation on the acetone extracts of the soft coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi collected off the coast of San-hsian-tai, Taitong County, Taiwan led to the isolation of two new diterpenoids, ehrenbergol C and acetyl ehrenberoxide B (1 and 2). The structures of these isolated metabolites were elucidated through extensive spectroscopic analyses. Moreover, in vitro tests show that compounds 1 and 2 displayed antiviral activity towards human cytomegalovirus, with EC50 of 20 and 8.0 µg/mL, respectively.
NMR Study on Small Proteins from Helicobacter pylori for Antibiotic Target Discovery: A Review
Authors: Kang Su-Jin , Kim Do-Hee , Lee Bong-Jin
Published: October 2013

Due to the widespread and increasing appearance of antibiotic resistance, a new strategy is needed for developing novel antibiotics. Especially, there are no specific antibiotics for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). H. pylori are bacteria that live in the stomach and are related to many serious gastric problems such as peptic ulcers, chronic gastritis, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, and gastric cancer. Because of its importance as a human pathogen, it’s worth studying the structure and function of the proteins from H. pylori. After the sequencing of the H. pylori strain 26695 in 1997, more than 1,600 genes were identified from H. pylori. Until now, the structures of 334 proteins from H. pylori have been determined. Among them, 309 structures were determined by X-ray crystallography and 25 structures by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), respectively. Overall, the structures of large proteins were determined by X-ray crystallography and those of small proteins by NMR. In our lab, we have studied the structural and functional characteristics of small proteins from H. pylori. In this review, 25 NMR structures of H. pylori proteins will be introduced and their structure-function relationships will be discussed.
Efficacy of Drospirenone-Containing Hormone Replacement Therapy to Reduce Vasomotor Symptoms of Menopause
Authors: Brown Dana , Henneman Amy , Desai Darshana
Published: October 2013

Hormone replacement therapy has been proven efficacious for controlling vasomotor symptoms such as hot flushes associated with menopause. Drospirenone is a progestin with antiandrogenic and antimineralocorticoid activity that may be used in combination with estrogen to control hot flushes and offers the potential benefit of minimizing breast tenderness, blood pressure elevations and weight gain. Six clinical trials were reviewed. Of these, four trials explicitly listed hot flushes as a primary outcome. Efficacy with regards to hot flushes was found to range from modest to large (i.e., 37.5% to 94.6%), and four of the studies utilized diary cards to assess hot flushes. Results from these studies must be interpreted cautiously as quite a few limitations existed such as small population sizes involving specific ethnic groups, lack of p values with regards to baseline characteristics lending question to homogeneity, and inclusion of mostly healthy participants. Additionally, while the studies were long enough to see an effect, the long term effects of drospirenone-containing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is unknown. The available data supports the use of drospirenone-containing HRT for the treatment of hot flushes associated with menopause.
Development of a Blended Learning Environment to Support Achievement of Graduate Outcomes through Optimal Learning in an Undergraduate Pharmacy Course
Authors: Brown Alyson , Vosper Helen
Published: October 2013

The development of graduate attributes through health professional courses requires the opportunity to engage with learning and teaching activities that reflect the work-based role to which the student aspires. Such activities allow the contextualisation of discipline-specific knowledge, forging a critical understanding of the underpinning theory, and providing a firm foundation for the development of lifelong learning skills. A blended learning approach can be particularly valuable in supporting achievement of the learning outcomes in modules where performance is measured in terms of competency in work-based scenarios. An action research approach was taken to develop and evaluate a cardiovascular risk assessment as the basis for clinically and professionally relevant problem-based learning. Support for this was provided by means of blended learning including a number of online activities. Talking wall focus groups were used to evaluate the student experience, and this was combined with quantitative data regarding student examination performance. Student performance in the cardiovascular section of the examination paper was significantly higher than in other sections. Students reported very favorably on the use of this approach to support not only examination preparation, but also in terms of developing professional identity and enhancing employability skills.
Bilateral Distance Based Filtering for Polarimetric SAR Data
Authors: Alonso-González Alberto , López-Martínez Carlos , Salembier Philippe , Deng Xinping
Published: October 2013

This paper introduces a non-linear Polarimetric SAR data filtering approach able to preserve the edges and small details of the data. It is based on exploiting the data locality in both, the spatial and the polarimetric domains, in order to avoid mixing heterogeneous samples of the data. A weighted average is performed over a given window favoring pixel values that are close on both domains. The filtering technique is based on a modified bilateral filtering, which is defined in terms of spatial and polarimetric distances. These distances encapsulate all the knowledge in both domains for an adaptation to the data structure. Finally, the proposed technique is employed to process a real RADARSAT-2 dataset.
A New Colorimetrically-Calibrated Automated Video-Imaging Protocol for Day-Night Fish Counting at the OBSEA Coastal Cabled Observatory
Authors: Del Río Joaquín , Aguzzi Jacopo , Costa Corrado , Menesatti Paolo , Sbragaglia Valerio , Nogueras Marc , Sarda Francesc , Manuèl Antoni
Published: October 2013

Field measurements of the swimming activity rhythms of fishes are scant due to the difficulty of counting individuals at a high frequency over a long period of time. Cabled observatory video monitoring allows such a sampling at a high frequency over unlimited periods of time. Unfortunately, automation for the extraction of biological information (i.e., animals’ visual counts per unit of time) is still a major bottleneck. In this study, we describe a new automated video-imaging protocol for the 24-h continuous counting of fishes in colorimetrically calibrated time-lapse photographic outputs, taken by a shallow water (20 m depth) cabled video-platform, the OBSEA. The spectral reflectance value for each patch was measured between 400 to 700 nm and then converted into standard RGB, used as a reference for all subsequent calibrations. All the images were acquired within a standardized Region Of Interest (ROI), represented by a 2 × 2 m methacrylate panel, endowed with a 9-colour calibration chart, and calibrated using the recently implemented “3D Thin-Plate Spline” warping approach in order to numerically define color by its coordinates in n-dimensional space. That operation was repeated on a subset of images, 500 images as a training set, manually selected since acquired under optimum visibility conditions. All images plus those for the training set were ordered together through Principal Component Analysis allowing the selection of 614 images (67.6%) out of 908 as a total corresponding to 18 days (at 30 min frequency). The Roberts operator (used in image processing and computer vision for edge detection) was used to highlights regions of high spatial colour gradient corresponding to fishes’ bodies. Time series in manual and visual counts were compared together for efficiency evaluation. Periodogram and waveform analysis outputs provided very similar results, although quantified parameters in relation to the strength of respective rhythms were different. Results indicate that automation efficiency is limited by optimum visibility conditions. Data sets from manual counting present the larger day-night fluctuations in comparison to those derived from automation. This comparison indicates that the automation protocol subestimate fish numbers but it is anyway suitable for the study of community activity rhythms.
P(VDF-TrFE) Polymer-Based Thin Films Deposited on Stainless Steel Substrates Treated Using Water Dissociation for Flexible Tactile Sensor Development
Authors: Tseng Hong-Jie , Tian Wei-Cheng , Wu Wen-Jong
Published: October 2013

In this work, deionized (DI) water dissociation was used to treat and change the contact angle of the surface of stainless steel substrates followed by the spin coating of P(VDF-TrFE) material for the fabrication of tactile sensors. The contact angle of the stainless steel surface decreased 14° at −30 V treatment; thus, the adhesion strength between the P(VDF-TrFE) thin film and the stainless steel substrate increased by 90%. Although the adhesion strength was increased at negative voltage treatment, it is observed that the crystallinity value of the P(VDF-TrFE) thin film declined to 37% at −60 V. In addition, the remanent polarization value of the P(VDF-TrFE) thin film declined from 5.6 mC/cm2 to 4.61 mC/cm2 for treatment voltages between −5 V and −60 V. A maximum value of approximately 1000 KV/cm of the coercive field value was obtained with the treatment at −15 V. The d33 value was approximately −10.7 pC/N for the substrate treated at 0 V and reached a minimum of −5 pC/N for treatment at −60 V. By using the P(VDF-TrFE) thin-film as the sensing material for tactile sensors, human pulse measurements were obtained from areas including the carotid, brachial, ankle, radial artery, and apical regions. In addition, the tactile sensor is suitable for monitoring the Cun, Guan, and Chi acupoints located at the radial artery region in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Waveform measurements of the Cun, Guan, and Chi acupoints are crucial because, in TCM, the various waveforms provided information regarding the health conditions of organs.
Homes for Ghosts: Walter Benjamin and Kurt Schwitters in the Cities
Authors: Leslie Esther
Published: October 2013

Under the influence of Freud’s dream analysis, Benjamin writes down a dream about Goethe’s house, which he has visited before and in whose visitor’s book he finds his name ‘already entered in big, unruly, childish scrawl’ and at whose dinner table he finds places set for his relatives, ancestors and descendants. This leads him to exclaim: when the ‘house of our life…is under assault and enemy bombs are taking their toll, what enervated, perverse antiquities do they not lay bare in the foundations!’. Benjamin’s other homes, his exile homes, real and those imaged—such as the cave-like arcades—are considered in this essay as repositories of ‘perverse antiquities’ and spaces inhabited by ghosts not just the ghosts of Goethe, but of friends who committed suicide in protest at war. These ghost-filled homes are set alongside those of a fellow exile, Kurt Schwitters, who built for himself three ‘Merzbau’ home-museums, each one as incomplete as Benjamin’s Arcades Project, each one wrecked by war, like that project too. Schwitters addresses the ghosts of the cities head on in his stories and artworks from exile—these are read alongside the effort to produce a safe domestic space, at whose centre is the death mask of his son.
The Role of Transacademic Interface Managers in Transformational Sustainability Research and Education
Authors: Brundiers Katja , Wiek Arnim , Kay Braden
Published: October 2013

Working towards sustainable solutions requires involving professionals and stakeholders from all sectors of society into research and teaching. This often presents a challenge to scholars at universities, as they lack capacity and time needed for negotiating different agendas, languages, competencies, and cultures among faculty, students, and stakeholders. Management approaches and quality criteria have been developed to cope with this challenge, including concepts of boundary organizations, transdisciplinary research, transition management, and interface management. However, few of these concepts present comprehensive proposals how to facilitate research with stakeholder participation while creating educational opportunities along the lifecycle of a project. The article focuses on the position of a transacademic interface manager (TIM) supporting participatory sustainability research and education efforts. We conceptualize the task portfolio of a TIM; outline the capacities a TIM needs to possess in order to successfully operate; and propose an educational approach for how to train students in becoming a TIM. For this, we review the existing literature on TIMs and present insights from empirical sustainability research and educational projects that involved TIMs in different functions. The article provides practical guidance to universities on how to organize these critical endeavors more effectively and to offer students an additional career perspective.
A Callixylon (Archaeopteridales, Progymnospermopsida) trunk with preserved secondary phloem from the Late Devonian of Morocco
Authors: Decombeix Anne‐Laure , Meyer‐Berthaud Brigitte
Published: October 2013

• Premise of the study: During the Devonian, the evolution of secondary phloem produced by a bifacial vascular cambium was a key innovation that increased the ability of plants within the lignophyte clade to redistribute photosynthates and other organic compounds throughout their body. Unraveling the secondary phloem anatomy of the first arborescent lignophytes is crucial to understand the evolution of this tissue and the physiology of early trees.

• Methods: A 10 cm wide stem of Callixylon with preserved secondary phloem from the Famennian of Morocco is described using thin‐sections.

• Key results: The secondary phloem of this Callixylon zalesskyi‐type of stem is composed of fibers, sclereids, rays, axial parenchyma, and putative sieve cells. Fibers differentiate early and are relatively abundant in the inner phloem. In the older phloem, fibers are arranged in tangential bands alternating with extensive layers of axial parenchyma. Changes between the young and old phloem involve the periclinal division and radial elongation of the axial parenchyma cells. The presence of fibers in the inner, presumably functional phloem, combined with evidence for rhythmicity in the production of different phloem cell types are documented for the first time in detail in an archaeopteridalean progymnosperm. No periderm was observed within the preserved seven millimeters of bark tissues.

• Conclusions: The secondary phloem anatomy supports a close affinity of archaeopteridalean progymnosperms with both aneurophytalean progymnosperms and seed plants. The production of secondary phloem might have provided an advantage to these first arborescent lignophytes over other types of Devonian early trees, especially in dry conditions.
MODELLING MICROWAVE DEVICES USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS / MIKROBANGŲ ĮTAISŲ MODELIAVIMAS, TAIKANT DIRBTINIŲ NEURONŲ TINKLUS
Authors: Katkevičius Andrius
Published: October 2013

Artificial neural networks (ANN) have recently gained attention as fast and flexible equipment for modelling and designing microwave devices. The paper reviews the opportunities to use them for undertaking the tasks on the analysis and synthesis. The article focuses on what tasks might be solved using neural networks, what challenges might rise when using artificial neural networks for carrying out tasks on microwave devices and discusses problem-solving techniques for microwave devices with intermittent characteristics.

Santrauka

Nagrinėjamos dirbtinių neuronų tinklų taikymo galimybės mikrobangų įtaisams tirti. Apžvelgiami eksperimentiniai ir teoriniai darbai. Pateikiama apibendrinta informacija apie uždavinius, sprendžiamus taikant neuronų tinklus, problemas, kylančias dirbtinius neuronų tinklus taikant mikrobangų uždaviniams spręsti, ir problemų sprendimo būdus. Pateikiama bendra neuronų tinklų struktūra ir konkretūs neuronų tinklų naudojimo pavyzdžiai.
Ouvrir des espaces de discussion pour manager le travail
Authors: Conjard Patrick , Journoud Ségolène
Published: October 2013

Les activités d’organisation du travail, de régulation des tensions et de soutien de leurs collaborateurs sont aujourd’hui le parent pauvre des activités managériales. À partir d’un exemple d’intervention, nous proposons une nouvelle approche articulée autour de différents espaces de discussion afin de placer le travail au cœur des activités de management.
Une approche prospective du métier de directeur d'entreprise de spectacle vivant
Authors: Horvath Isabelle
Published: October 2013

Alors que les entreprises de spectacle vivant sont confrontées à des contraintes de ressources, les professionnels et les acteurs du monde politique et économique s’interrogent sur la sécurisation des parcours professionnels dans ce secteur. L’objectif de notre article, axé sur le métier de directeur à partir d’une recherche-intervention, est d’identifier les conditions de sa mise en œuvre.
L'évolution du manager : un pilote de communauté de pratique entre l'expert et l'intrapreneur
Authors: Bootz Jean-Philippe
Published: October 2013

Malgré leur caractère récent, les communautés de pratique pilotées connaissent, avec l’avènement d’une économie fondée sur les connaissances, un développement significatif et rapide au sein des organisations. Elles constituent à ce titre un véritable « germe de changement » structurant pour l’évolution du management. Ces communautés pilotées ont par ailleurs la particularité d’être des structures hybrides qui conservent pour partie leur dimension auto-organisée tout en étant articulées à l’organisation formelle. L’objet de cet article est, à travers une investigation structurée de la littérature, de déterminer l’impact de ces structures hybrides, sur l’avenir du management et des managers. Nos réflexions portent en particulier sur les défis que constituent pour le management, le pilotage de ces communautés afin de parvenir à concilier deux éléments a priori antagonistes : l’auto-organisation et le pilotage. Elles portent également sur les conséquences de la multiplication de ces communautés pilotées sur l’évolution du profil des managers. Une synthèse des principales études empiriques récentes nous conduit à opérer une distinction entre communautés stratégiques d’exploration et communautés opérationnelles d’exploitation. Nous en déduisons deux figures de manager correspondants : l’intrapreneur et l’expert.
L'influence du contexte sur le management territorial en Méditerranée. Une analyse comparée de Barcelone, Marseille et Tlemcen
Authors: Hernandez Solange , Belkaid Esma
Published: October 2013

Cette communication porte sur les modalités de mise en œuvre des stratégies territoriales dans des organisations métropolitaines en Méditerranée. Nous souhaitons comprendre quels facteurs sont susceptibles d’influencer leurs modalités de gestion ? Et quels sont les outils managériaux leur permettant de gérer ces facteurs d’influence ? Pour apporter des réponses, nous menons trois études de cas sur les organisations publiques des métropoles de Barcelone (Espagne), Marseille (France) et Tlemcen (Algérie). Les résultats révèlent des caractéristiques spécifiques aux métropoles de cet espace géographique, telle la prégnance des facteurs d’influence exogène et des outils de gestion de l’interface avec l’environnement.
La politique de fixation des prix du médicament
Authors: Johanet Gilles
Published: October 2013

Le médicament remboursable représente une part importante des dépenses d’assurance maladie et de leur croissance. Son prix, fixé par le CEPS, tient compte su service médical rendu, évalué par la HAS, et des prix pratiqués dans les principaux pays de l’UE. Après les décennies 1970-2000 dominées par les blockbusters , le modèle actuel (produits à coûts unitaires élevés pour des populations restreintes) entraîne une recomposition du marché. Il apparaît que ce n’est pas tant le prix des médicaments que le coût global de la prescription qui est élevé, les médecins français prescrivant largement les médicaments les plus chers. Quelques contradictions dans la fixation des prix du médicament sont ici soulignées, de même que certaines failles dans la détermination des pouvoirs publics à y remédier.
Contrefaçon de médicaments sur Internet : prévenir une menace réelle sur la santé publique
Authors: Przyswa Éric , Guarnieri Franck
Published: October 2013

Cet article aborde l’impact d’Internet sur les trafics de médicaments contrefaits et démontre l’importance d’une analyse plus rigoureuse et mieux cadrée d’une réalité trop souvent perçue sous un angle anxiogène ou simplificateur. Dans un tel contexte il est essentiel de développer des logiques coopératives, notamment en termes de normes et d’implication des consommateurs, car les approches répressives classiques se révèleront de moins en moins pertinentes.
Scaffolding to Support English Language Learners in a Kindergarten Classroom
Authors: de Oliveira Luciana C. , Klassen Marshall , Gilmetdinova Alsu
Published: October 2013

This chapter presents a case study of a kindergarten classroom and examines how a kindergarten teacher uses scaffolding to diversify instruction in the classroom to support ELLs. The authors focus on the scaffolding resources used to support learning and describe the kinds of support provided and opportunities for students created so they can use their developing language in class with the teacher and classmates. The authors identify planned and interactional scaffolding resources used in the classroom.
Effective Teaching Practices for Academic Literacy Development of Young Immigrant Learners
Authors: Crosby Cate
Published: October 2013

Immigrant children are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. According to the U.S. Department of Education (2008), young immigrant learners represent 5 percent of all school-aged youth in the United States, and nearly one in four speaks English with difficulty. Furthermore, young immigrant learners are a diverse group. Some are born in the United States, while some come from other countries. Some are at grade level and educated in their native language, while others are not. Consequently, they offer complicated educational challenges because of their differing linguistic and cultural proficiency levels in their native languages as well as in English. With these considerations in mind, how do we effectively educate this growing group of learners in our schools? In particular, how do we effectively develop their academic literacy? The purpose of the study is threefold: 1) to identify the academic literacy needs of young immigrant learners, 2) to identify and categorize the pedagogical strategies the teachers used for meeting these needs and the underlying second language acquisition, literacy, educational theories, and 3) to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of these strategies.
NLP for Search
Authors: Hempelmann Christian F.
Published: October 2013

This chapter presents an account of key NLP issues in search, sketches current solutions, and then outlines in detail an approach for deep-meaning representation, ontological semantic technology (OST), for a specific, complex NLP application: a meaning-based search engine. The aim is to provide a general overview on NLP and search, ignoring non-NLP issues and solutions, and to show how OST, as an example of a semantic approach, is implemented for search. OST parses natural language text and transposes it into a representation of its meaning, structured around events and their participants as mentioned in the text and as known from the OST resources. Queries can then be matched to this meaning representation in anticipation of any of the permutations in which they can surface in text. These permutations centrally include overspecification (e.g., not listing all synonyms, which non-semantic search engines require their users to do) and, more importantly, underspecification (as language does in principle). For the latter case, ambiguity can only be reduced by giving the search engine what humans use for disambiguation, namely knowledge of the world as represented in an ontology.
Dialogue Acts and Dialogue Structure
Authors: Midgley T. Daniel
Published: October 2013

This chapter discusses historical and recent work in dialogue act tagging and dialogue structure inference. Dialogue act tagging is a classification task in which utterances in dialogue are marked with the intentions of the speaker. It is possible to classify utterances using only features relating to the utterance itself (for example, words and prosodic features), but much work has also utilized dialogue-level features such as previous speaker and previous dialogue acts. The structure of dialogue can be represented by dialogue grammar, segmentation, or with a hierarchical structure.
Text-to-Text Similarity of Sentences
Authors: Rus Vasile , Lintean Mihai , Graesser Arthur C. , McNamara Danielle S.
Published: October 2013

Assessing the semantic similarity between two texts is a central task in many applications, including summarization, intelligent tutoring systems, and software testing. Similarity of texts is typically explored at the level of word, sentence, paragraph, and document. The similarity can be defined quantitatively (e.g. in the form of a normalized value between 0 and 1) and qualitatively in the form of semantic relations such as elaboration, entailment, or paraphrase. In this chapter, we focus first on measuring quantitatively and then on detecting qualitatively sentence-level text-to-text semantic relations. A generic approach that relies on word-to-word similarity measures is presented as well as experiments and results obtained with various instantiations of the approach. In addition, we provide results of a study on the role of weighting in Latent Semantic Analysis, a statistical technique to assess similarity of texts. The results were obtained on two data sets: a standard data set on sentence-level paraphrase detection and a data set from an intelligent tutoring system.
The Gramulator
Authors: McCarthy Philip M. , Watanabe Shinobu , Lamkin Travis A.
Published: October 2013

Natural language processing tools, such as Coh-Metrix (see Chapter 11, this volume) and LIWC (see Chapter 12, this volume), have been tremendously successful in offering insight into quantifiable differences between text types. Such quantitative assessments have certainly been highly informative in terms of evaluating theoretical linguistic and psychological categories that distinguish text types (e.g., referential overlap, lexical diversity, positive emotion words, and so forth). Although these identifications are extremely important in revealing ability deficiencies, knowledge gaps, comprehension failures, and underlying psychological phenomena, such assessments can be difficult to interpret because they do not explicitly inform readers and researchers as to which specific linguistic features are driving the text type identification (i.e., the words and word clusters of the text). For example, a tool such as Coh-Metrix informs us that expository texts are more cohesive than narrative texts in terms of sentential referential overlap (McNamara, Louwerse, & Graesser, in press; McCarthy, 2010), but it does not tell us which words (or word clusters) are driving that cohesion. That is, we do not learn which actual words tend to be indicative of the text type differences. These actual words may tend to cluster around certain psychological, cultural, or generic differences, and, as a result, researchers and materials designers who might wish to create or modify text, so as to better meet the needs of readers, are left somewhat in the dark as to which specific language to use. What is needed is a textual analysis tool that offers qualitative output (in addition to quantitative output) that researchers and materials designers might use as a guide to the lexical characteristics of the texts under analysis. The Gramulator is such a tool.
Computationally Assessing Expert Judgments of Freewriting Quality
Authors: Weston Jennifer L. , Crossley Scott A. , McNamara Danielle S.
Published: October 2013

This study examines the relationship between the linguistic features of freewrites and human assessments of freewrite quality. Freewriting is a prewriting strategy that has received little experimental attention, particularly in terms of linguistic differences between high and low quality freewrites. This study builds upon the authors’ previous study, in which linguistic features of freewrites written by 9th and 11th grade students were included in a model of the freewrites’ quality (Weston, Crossley, & McNamara; 2010). The current study reexamines this model using a larger data set of freewrites. The results show that similar linguistic features reported in the Weston et al. model positively correlate with expert ratings in the new data set. Significant predictors in the current model of freewrite quality were total number of words and stem overlap. In addition, analyses suggest that 11th graders, as compared to 9th graders, wrote higher quality and longer freewrites. Overall, the results of this study support the conclusion that better freewrites are longer and more cohesive than poor freewrites.
Dynamic Effects of Repeating a Timed Writing Task in Two EFL University Courses
Authors: Baba Kyoko , Nitta Ryo
Published: October 2013

The longitudinal effects of repeating a timed writing activity on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ second language (L2) writing development were investigated. Data for 46 students in two university classes (23 in each class), each with a different course objective, were collected 30 times in the same way over one year. The students’ compositions were analyzed for fluency, grammatical complexity, and lexical complexity. Text analysis using Coh-Metrix showed that task repetition had an overall effect on L2 writing development. The text analysis was supplemented with a visual analysis using moving min-max graphs. Grammatical complexity developed more prominently than the other aspects of writing in both classes. This counter-predictive result points to the significance of the writers’ reflective consciousness towards their own writing. This study also emphasizes that it is important to study the dynamics in L2 writing development with multi-wave data.
Mining and Visualizing the Narration Tree of Hadiths (Prophetic Traditions)
Authors: Azmi Aqil , Al Badia Nawaf
Published: October 2013

Hadiths are narrations originating from the words and deeds of Prophet Muhammad. Each hadith starts with a list of narrators involved in transmitting it. A hadith scholar judges a hadith based on the narration chain along with the individual narrators in the chain. In this chapter, we report on a method that automatically extracts the transmission chains from the hadith text and graphically displays it. Computationally, this is a challenging problem. Foremost each hadith has its own peculiar way of listing narrators; and the text of hadith is in Arabic, a language rich in morphology. Our proposed solution involves parsing and annotating the hadith text and recognizing the narrators’ names. We use shallow parsing along with a domain specific grammar to parse the hadith content. Experiments on sample hadiths show our approach to have a very good success rate.