bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Optimal Computing Budget Allocation for Ordinal Optimization in Solving Stochastic Job Shop Scheduling Problems
Authors: Yang Hong-an , Lv Yangyang , Xia Changkai , Sun Shudong , Wang Honghao
Published: March 2014

We focus on solving Stochastic Job Shop Scheduling Problem (SJSSP) with random processing time to minimize the expected sum of earliness and tardiness costs of all jobs. To further enhance the efficiency of the simulation optimization technique of embedding Evolutionary Strategy in Ordinal Optimization (ESOO) which is based on Monte Carlo simulation, we embed Optimal Computing Budget Allocation (OCBA) technique into the exploration stage of ESOO to optimize the performance evaluation process by controlling the allocation of simulation times. However, while pursuing a good set of schedules, “super individuals,” which can absorb most of the given computation while others hardly get any simulation budget, may emerge according to the allocating equation of OCBA. Consequently, the schedules cannot be evaluated exactly, and thus the probability of correct selection (PCS) tends to be low. Therefore, we modify OCBA to balance the computation allocation: (1) set a threshold of simulation times to detect “super individuals” and (2) follow an exclusion mechanism to marginalize them. Finally, the proposed approach is applied to an SJSSP comprising 8 jobs on 8 machines with random processing time in truncated normal, uniform, and exponential distributions, respectively. The results demonstrate that our method outperforms the ESOO method by achieving better solutions.
Reversible Dissociation and Ligand-Glutathione Exchange Reaction in Binuclear Cationic Tetranitrosyl Iron Complex with Penicillamine
Authors: Syrtsova Lidia , Sanina Natalia , Lyssenko Konstantin , Kabachkov Evgeniy , Psikha Boris , Shkondina Natal’ja , Pokidova Olesia , Kotelnikov Alexander , Aldoshin Sergey
Published: March 2014

This paper describes a comparative study of the decomposition of two nitrosyl iron complexes (NICs) with penicillamine thiolic ligands [Fe2(SC5H11NO2)2(NO)4]SO4·5H2O (I) and glutathione- (GSH-) ligands [Fe2(SC10H17N3O6)2(NO)4]SO4·2H2O (II), which spontaneously evolve to NO in aqueous medium. NO formation was measured by a sensor electrode and by spectrophotometric methods by measuring the formation of a hemoglobin- (Hb-) NO complex. The NO evolution reaction rate from (I)  k1= (4.6 ± 0.1)·10−3 s−1and the elimination rate constant of the penicillamine ligandk2= (1.8 ± 0.2)·10−3 s−1at 25°C in 0.05 M phosphate buffer,  pH 7.0, was calculated using kinetic modeling based on the experimental data. Both reactions are reversible. Spectrophotometry and mass-spectrometry methods have firmly shown that the penicillamine ligand is exchanged for GS−during decomposition of 1.5·10−4 M (I) in the presence of 10−3 M GSH, with 76% yield in 24 h. As has been established, such behaviour is caused by the resistance of (II) to decomposition due to the higher affinity of iron to GSH in the complex. The discovered reaction may impede S-glutathionylation of the essential enzyme systems in the presence of (I) and is important for metabolism of NIC, connected with its antitumor activity.
Image Watermarking in the Linear Canonical Transform Domain
Authors: Li Bing-Zhao , Shi Yu-Pu
Published: March 2014

The linear canonical transform, which can be looked at the generalization of the fractional Fourier transform and the Fourier transform, has received much interest and proved to be one of the most powerful tools in fractional signal processing community.
A novel watermarking method associated with the linear canonical transform is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the watermark
embedding and detecting techniques are proposed and discussed based on the discrete linear canonical transform. Then the Lena
image has been used to test this watermarking technique. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed schemes are robust
to several signal processing methods, including addition of Gaussian noise and resizing. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the single
and double parameters of the linear canonical transform is also discussed, and the results show that the watermark cannot be
detected when the parameters of the linear canonical transform used in the detection are not all the same as the parameters used
in the embedding progress.
Ankylosing Spondylitis and Rheumatoid Arthritis: Serum Levels of TNF-αand Its Soluble Receptors during the Course of Therapy with Etanercept and Infliximab
Authors: Schulz Martin , Dotzlaw Helmut , Neeck Gunther
Published: March 2014

The effects of the TNF-αblockers infliximab or etanercept on the levels of TNF-α, TNF-receptor 1 (TNF-R1), and TNF-receptor 2 (TNF-R2), as well as the levels of the inflammation markers CRP and IL-6, were measured in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving treatment with either compound. We found that RA patients tend to have higher levels of TNF-αthan both healthy individuals and AS patients prior to treatment (P<0.05). We measured greatly increased levels of TNF-αin both the AS and RA etanercept patient groups during the course of treatment, while in the infliximab treated patients, the amount of TNF-αmeasured remained unchanged. Elevated TNF-αin the etanercept treated patients does not appear to be a significant risk factor for the spontaneous development of further autoimmune diseases in our study group. Increased levels of TNF-R1 were determined in both AS (P<0.05) and RA (P<0.001) patients when compared to healthy controls. In AS patients, the levels of TNF-R1 dropped significantly when treated with either infliximab (P<0.01) or etanercept (P<0.001). In contrast, the levels of this receptor remained unchanged in RA patients treated with either compound.
Effects of Metformin on the Cerebral Metabolic Changes in Type 2 Diabetic Patients
Authors: Huang Yung-Cheng , Hsu Chien-Chin , Lin Wei-Che , Yin Tang-Kai , Huang Chi-Wei , Wang Pei-Wen , Chang Han-Hsuan , Chiu Nan-Tsing
Published: March 2014

Metformin, a widely used antidiabetic drug, has numerous effects on human metabolism. Based on emerging cellular, animal, and epidemiological studies, we hypothesized that metformin leads to cerebral metabolic changes in diabetic patients. To explore metabolism-influenced foci of brain, we used 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography for type 2 diabetic patients taking metformin (MET,n=18), withdrawing from metformin (wdMET,n=13), and not taking metformin (noMET,n=9). Compared with the noMET group, statistical parametric mapping showed that the MET group had clusters with significantly higher metabolism in right temporal, right frontal, and left occipital lobe white matter and lower metabolism in the left parahippocampal gyrus, left fusiform gyrus, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. In volume of interest (VOI-) based group comparisons, the normalized FDG uptake values of both hypermetabolic and hypometabolic clusters were significantly different between groups. The VOI-based correlation analysis across the MET and wdMET groups showed a significant negative correlation between normalized FDG uptake values of hypermetabolic clusters and metformin withdrawal durations and a positive but nonsignificant correlation in the turn of hypometabolic clusters. Conclusively, metformin affects cerebral metabolism in some white matter and semantic memory related sites in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Urinary Incontinence: Its Assessment and Relationship to Depression among Community-Dwelling Multiethnic Older Women
Authors: Laganà Luciana , Bloom David William , Ainsworth Andrew
Published: March 2014

Urinary Incontinence (UI) affects many older adults. Some of its deleterious consequences include stress, major depression, diminished quality of life, sexual dysfunction, and familial discord. Of the various mental health problems identified in the literature as being comorbid with UI, the most notable one continues to be depression. Despite a wealth of research contributions on this topic, the available literature is underrepresentative of ethnic minority older women. Culture has been shown to have a significant impact on a woman’s perception of her own UI symptoms; this demonstrates the necessity for the recruitment of ethnically and culturally diverse samples when studying UI. In the present study, we determined the prevalence of UI among 140 community-dwelling, ethnically diverse older women (28.2%), discovered that our new UI screener is reliable, and did not find the UI-depression link to be significant. The clinical and research implications of our findings are discussed.
Existence of Nontrivial Solutions for Perturbedp-Laplacian Equation inℝNwith Critical Nonlinearity
Authors: Zhang Huixing , Liu Xiaoqian
Published: March 2014

We consider a perturbedp-Laplacian equation with critical nonlinearity inℝN. By using variational method, we show that it has at least one positive solution under the proper conditions.
Empirical Mode Decomposition Combined with Local Linear Quantile Regression for Automatic Boundary Correction
Authors: Jaber Abobaker M. , Ismail Mohd Tahir , Altaher Alssaidi M.
Published: March 2014

Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) is particularly useful in analyzing nonstationary and nonlinear time series. However, only partial data within boundaries are available because of the bounded support of the underlying time series. Consequently, the application of EMD to finite time series data results in large biases at the edges by increasing the bias and creating artificial wiggles. This study introduces a new two-stage method to automatically decrease the boundary effects present in EMD. At the first stage, local polynomial quantile regression (LLQ) is applied to provide an efficient description of the corrupted and noisy data. The remaining series is assumed to be hidden in the residuals. Hence, EMD is applied to the residuals at the second stage. The final estimate is the summation of the fitting estimates from LLQ and EMD. Simulation was conducted to assess the practical performance of the proposed method. Results show that the proposed method is superior to classical EMD.
New Exact Penalty Functions for Nonlinear Constrained Optimization Problems
Authors: Liu Bingzhuang , Zhao Wenling
Published: March 2014

For two kinds of nonlinear constrained optimization problems, we propose two simple penalty functions, respectively, by augmenting the dimension of the primal problem with a variable that controls the weight of the penalty terms. Both of the penalty functions enjoy improved smoothness. Under mild conditions, it can be proved that our penalty functions are both exact in the sense that local minimizers of the associated penalty problem are precisely the local minimizers of the original constrained problem.
Seasonality of Freeze Tolerance in a Subarctic Population of the Wood Frog,Rana sylvatica
Authors: Costanzo Jon P. , do Amaral M. Clara F. , Rosendale Andrew J. , Lee Richard E.
Published: March 2014

We compared physiological characteristics and responses to experimental freezing and thawing in winter and spring samples of the wood frog,Rana sylvatica, indigenous to Interior Alaska, USA. Whereas winter frogs can survive freezing at temperatures at least as low as −16°C, the lower limit of tolerance for spring frogs was between −2.5°C and −5°C. Spring frogs had comparatively low levels of the urea in blood plasma, liver, heart, brain, and skeletal muscle, as well as a smaller hepatic reserve of glycogen, which is converted to glucose after freezing begins. Consequently, following freezing (−2.5°C, 48 h) tissue concentrations of these cryoprotective osmolytes were 44–88% lower than those measured in winter frogs. Spring frogs formed much more ice and incurred extensive cryohemolysis and lactate accrual, indicating that they had suffered marked cell damage and hypoxic stress during freezing. Multiple, interactive stresses, in addition to diminished cryoprotectant levels, contribute to the reduced capacity for freeze tolerance in posthibernal frogs.
Numerical Modeling of the Photothermal Processing for Bubble Forming around Nanowire in a Liquid
Authors: Chaari Anis , Giraud-Moreau Laurence , Grosges Thomas , Barchiesi Dominique
Published: March 2014

An accurate computation of the temperature is an important factor in determining the shape of a bubble around a nanowire immersed in a liquid. The study of the physical phenomenon consists in solving a photothermic coupled problem between light and nanowire. The numerical multiphysic model is used to study the variations of the temperature and the shape of the created bubble by illumination of the nanowire. The optimization process, including an adaptive remeshing scheme, is used to solve the problem through a finite element method. The study of the shape evolution of the bubble is made taking into account the physical and geometrical parameters of the nanowire. The relation between the sizes and shapes of the bubble and nanowire is deduced.
Assessment on Knowledge Network Sharing Capability of Industrial Cluster Based on Dempster-Shafer Theory of Evidence
Authors: Dai Shengli , Zhang Hailin
Published: March 2014

Based on Theory of Evidence and reviewing research papers concerned, a concept model of knowledge sharing network among industrial cluster firms, which can be applied to assess knowledge sharing capacity, has been built. Next, the authors create a set of assessment index systems including twelve subindexes under four principle indexes. In this study, ten experts in the same field were invited to score all the indexes of knowledge sharing capacity concerning one certain industrial cluster. The research result shows relatively high knowledge network sharing capacity among the certain industrial cluster firms. Another conclusion is that the assessment method with Theory of Evidence is feasible to conduct such a research.
Robust Guaranteed Cost Observer Design for Singular Markovian Jump Time-Delay Systems with Generally Incomplete Transition Probability
Authors: Li Yanbo , Kao Yonggui , Xie Jing
Published: March 2014

This paper is devoted to the investigation of the design of robust guaranteed cost observer for a class of linear singular Markovian jump time-delay systems with generally incomplete transition probability. In this singular model, each transition rate can be completely unknown or only its estimate value is known. Based on stability theory of stochastic differential equations and linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique, we design an observer to ensure that, for all uncertainties, the resulting augmented system is regular, impulse free, and robust stochastically stable with the proposed guaranteed cost performance. Finally, a convex optimization problem with LMI constraints is formulated to design the suboptimal guaranteed cost filters for linear singular Markovian jump time-delay systems with generally incomplete transition probability.
Performance Evaluation of Refrigeration Units in Natural Gas Liquid Extraction Plant
Authors: Ujile Awajiogak Anthony , Amesi Dirina
Published: March 2014

This paper has applied thermodynamics principles to evaluate the reliability of 390 m3/hr natural gas processing plant. The thermodynamics equations were utilized in the evaluation, characterization, and numerical simulation of key process parameters in natural gas liquid extraction plant. The results obtained show the comparison of the coefficient of performance, compression ratio, isentropic work, actual work, electrical power requirements, cooling water consumption in intercoolers, compressor power output, compressor capacity, and isentropic, volumetric, and mechanical efficiency of the two-stage refrigeration unit with a flash gas economizer and these were compared with the designed specifications. The second law of thermodynamics was applied in analyzing the refrigeration unit and the result shows that exergetic losses or lost work due to irreversibility falls within operating limit that is less than 1.0%. Similarly, the performance of expansion turbine (expander) parameters was monitored and the results indicate a considerable decrease in turbine efficiencies as the inlet gas pressure increases resulting in an increased power output of the turbine leading to a higher liquefaction rate.
Enhancement of Impinging Jet Heat Transfer Using Two Parallel Confining Plates Mounted near Rectangular Nozzle Exit
Authors: Haneda Yoshiaki , Souma Akiko , Kurasawa Hideo , Iio Shouichiro , Ikeda Toshihiko
Published: March 2014

Impinging jet heat transfer on a target plate was enhanced by using two parallel confining
plates mounted between a rectangular nozzle end plate and a jet target plate. The target
plate was set equal to 2, 3, 4, and 5 times the jet exit width, h, and the gap ratio of two parallel confining plates, W/h, were changed from 2.7 to 8.0 only by impinging length H=5h and from 2.7 to 6.7 by H≠5h. Two confining parallel plates mounted near the jet exit produced
swing-type flow under some conditions. As a result, the maximum Nusselt number
attained around the stagnation point was augmented by about 50% compared to the one
for normal impinging jet without the two parallel plates and then spatial mean Nusselt
number was increased by about 40%.
The Convergence of Double-Indexed Weighted Sums of Martingale Differences and Its Application
Authors: Yang Wenzhi , Wang Xinghui , Li Xiaoqin , Hu Shuhe
Published: March 2014

We investigate the complete moment convergence of double-indexed weighted sums of martingale differences. Then it is easy to obtain the Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund-type strong law of large numbers of double-indexed weighted sums of martingale differences. Moreover, the convergence of double-indexed weighted sums of martingale differences is presented in mean square. On the other hand, we give the application to study the convergence of the state observers of linear-time-invariant systems and present the convergence with probability one and in mean square.
Theoretical Study of One-Intermediate Band Quantum Dot Solar Cell
Authors: Aly Abou El-Maaty , Nasr Ashraf
Published: March 2014

The intermediate bands (IBs) between the valence and conduction bands play an important role in solar cells. Because the smaller energy photons than the bandgap energy can be used to promote charge carriers transfer to the conduction band and thereby the total output current increases while maintaining a large open circuit voltage. In this paper, the influence of the new band on the power conversion efficiency for the structure of the quantum dots intermediate band solar cell (QDIBSC) is theoretically investigated and studied. The time-independent Schrödinger equation is used to determine the optimum width and location of the intermediate band. Accordingly, achievement of maximum efficiency by changing the width of quantum dots and barrier distances is studied. Theoretical determination of the power conversion efficiency under the two different ranges of QD width is presented. From the obtained results, the maximum power conversion efficiency is about 70.42% for simple cubic quantum dot crystal under full concentration light. It is strongly dependent on the width of quantum dots and barrier distances.
Very Fast and Accurate Procedure for the Characterization of Photovoltaic Panels from Datasheet Information
Authors: Laudani Antonino , Riganti Fulginei Francesco , Salvini Alessandro , Lozito Gabriele Maria , Coco Salvatore
Published: March 2014

In recent years several numerical methods have been proposed to identify the five-parameter model of photovoltaic panels from manufacturer datasheets also by introducing simplification or approximation techniques. In this paper we present a fast and accurate procedure for obtaining the parameters of the five-parameter model by starting from its reduced form. The procedure allows characterizing, in few seconds, thousands of photovoltaic panels present on the standard databases. It introduces and takes advantage of further important mathematical considerations without any model simplifications or data approximations. In particular the five parameters are divided in two groups, independent and dependent parameters, in order to reduce the dimensions of the search space. The partitioning of the parameters provides a strong advantage in terms of convergence, computational costs, and execution time of the present approach. Validations on thousands of photovoltaic panels are presented that show how it is possible to make easy and efficient the extraction process of the five parameters, without taking care of choosing a specific solver algorithm but simply by using any deterministic optimization/minimization technique.
Polar Functions for Anisotropic Gaussian Random Fields
Authors: Chen Zhenlong
Published: March 2014

LetXbe an (N,d)-anisotropic Gaussian random field. Under some general conditions onX, we establish a relationship between a class of continuous functions satisfying the Lipschitz condition and a class of polar functions ofX. We prove upper and lower bounds for the intersection probability for a nonpolar function andXin terms of Hausdorff measure and capacity, respectively. We also determine the Hausdorff and packing dimensions of the times set for a nonpolar function intersectingX. The class of Gaussian random fields that satisfy our conditions includes not only fractional Brownian motion and the Brownian sheet, but also such anisotropic fields as fractional Brownian sheets, solutions to stochastic heat equation driven by space-time white noise, and the operator-scaling Gaussian random field with stationary increments.
Localization Accuracy of Range‐Only Sensors with Additive and Multiplicative Noise
Authors: Shi Xiufang , Zhang Rong , Yang Zaiyue
Published: March 2014

The localization accuracy of range‐only sensors with both additive and multiplicative noises is investigated. The main contributions consist of three parts. First, the Cramer‐Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) of range‐only localization system is derived, based on which the area of the uncertain ellipse about estimation is proposed as the metric to evaluate the localization accuracy. In addition, the analytical relationships between target‐sensor distance and localization accuracy and between noise and localization accuracy are derived. Second, the metric is utilized to evaluate the localization accuracy for three important regular patterns of sensor deployment, that is, triangle, square, and hexagon. Two aspects of localization accuracy have been examined and discussed, respectively, for three patterns by numerical methods, including (a) the geometric distribution of localization accuracy and (b) the average localization accuracy. Both theoretical and numerical results show that the multiplicative noise will influence significantly the localization accuracy. Third, on a lab‐scale ultrasonic range‐only sensor system the existence of additive and multiplicative noises is verified. It is also shown that the experimental localization accuracy is close to the previously analyzed theoretical accuracy.
Noncompact Equilibrium Points for Set-Valued Maps
Authors: Chebbi Souhail , Samet Bessem
Published: March 2014

We prove a generalized result on the existence of equilibria for a monotone set-valued map defined on noncompact domain and take its values in an order of topological vector space. As consequence, we give a new variational inequality.
Musculoskeletal Disorders in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Authors: Cielen Nele , Maes Karen , Gayan-Ramirez Ghislaine
Published: March 2014

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease characterized by airway obstruction and inflammation but also accompanied by several extrapulmonary consequences, such as skeletal muscle weakness and osteoporosis. Skeletal muscle weakness is of major concern, since it leads to poor functional capacity, impaired health status, increased healthcare utilization, and even mortality, independently of lung function. Osteoporosis leads to fractures and is associated with increased mortality, functional decline, loss of quality of life, and need for institutionalization. Therefore, the presence of the combination of these comorbidities will have a negative impact on daily life in patients with COPD. In this review, we will focus on these two comorbidities, their prevalence in COPD, combined risk factors, and pathogenesis. We will try to prove the clustering of these comorbidities and discuss possible preventive or therapeutic strategies.
Insensitive Bounds for the Stationary Distribution of a Single Server Retrial Queue with Server Subject to Active Breakdowns
Authors: Boualem Mohamed
Published: March 2014

The paper addresses monotonicity properties of the single server retrial queue with no waiting room and server subject to active breakdowns. The obtained results allow us to place in a prominent position the insensitive bounds for the stationary distribution of the embedded Markov chain related to the model in the study. Numerical illustrations are provided to support the results.
ATR Pathway Inhibition Is Synthetically Lethal in Cancer Cells with ERCC1 Deficiency
Authors: Mohni Kareem N. , Kavanaugh Gina M. , Cortez David
Published: March 2014

The DNA damage response kinase ATR and its effector kinase CHEK1 are required for cancer cells to survive oncogene-induced replication stress. ATR inhibitors exhibit synthetic lethal interactions, with deficiencies in the DNA damage response enzymes ATM and XRCC1 and with overexpression of the cell cycle kinase cyclin E. Here, we report a systematic screen to identify synthetic lethal interactions with ATR pathway–targeted drugs, rationalized by their predicted therapeutic utility in the oncology clinic. We found that reduced function in the ATR pathway itself provided the strongest synthetic lethal interaction. In addition, we found that loss of the structure-specific endonuclease ERCC1-XPF (ERCC4) is synthetic lethal with ATR pathway inhibitors. ERCC1-deficient cells exhibited elevated levels of DNA damage, which was increased further by ATR inhibition. When treated with ATR or CHEK1 inhibitors, ERCC1-deficient cells were arrested in S-phase and failed to complete cell-cycle transit even after drug removal. Notably, triple-negative breast cancer cells and non–small cell lung cancer cells depleted of ERCC1 exhibited increased sensitivity to ATR pathway–targeted drugs. Overall, we concluded that ATR pathway–targeted drugs may offer particular utility in cancers with reduced ATR pathway function or reduced levels of ERCC4 activity. Cancer Res; 74(10); 2835–45. ©2014 AACR.
The Dose-Dependent Tumor Targeting of Antibody–IFNγ Fusion Proteins Reveals an Unexpected Receptor-Trapping Mechanism In Vivo
Authors: Hemmerle Teresa , Neri Dario
Published: March 2014

Cytokines often display substantial toxicities at low concentrations, preventing their escalation for therapeutic treatment of cancer. Fusion proteins comprising cytokines and recombinant antibodies may improve the anticancer activity of proinflammatory cytokines. Murine IFNγ was appended in the diabody format at the C-terminus of the F8 antibody, generating the F8–IFNγ fusion protein. The F8 antibody is specific for the extra-domain A (EDA) of fibronectin, a tumor-associated antigen that is expressed in the vasculature and stroma of almost all tumor types. Tumor-targeting properties were measured in vivo using a radioiodinated preparation of the fusion protein. Therapy experiments were performed in three syngeneic murine models of cancer [F9 teratocarcinoma, WEHI-164 fibrosarcoma, and Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC)]. F8–IFNγ retained the biologic activity of both the antibody and the cytokine moiety in vitro, but, unlike the parental F8 antibody, it did not preferentially localize to the tumors in vivo. However, when unlabeled F8–IFNγ was administered before radioiodinated F8–IFNγ, a selective accumulation at the tumor site was observed. F8–IFNγ showed dose-dependent anticancer activity with a clear superiority over untargeted recombinant IFNγ. The anticancer activity was potentiated by combining with F8–IL4 without additional toxicities, whereas combination of F8–IFNγ with F8–TNF was lethal in all mice. Unlike other antibody–cytokine fusions, the use of IFNγ as payload for anticancer therapy is associated with a receptor-trapping mechanism, which can be overcome by the administration of a sufficiently large amount of the fusion protein without any detectable toxicity at the doses used. Cancer Immunol Res; 2(6); 559–67. ©2014 AACR.
Cardiopulmonary Fitness and Heart Rate Recovery as Predictors of Mortality in a Referral Population
Authors: Dhoble Abhijeet , Lahr Brian D. , Allison Thomas G. , Kopecky Stephen L.
Published: March 2014

Background

Exercise testing provides valuable information in addition to
ST
‐segment changes. The present study evaluated the associations among exercise test parameters and all‐cause mortality in a referral population.

Methods and Results

We examined conventional cardiovascular risk factors and exercise test parameters in 6546 individuals (mean age 49 years, 58% men) with no known cardiovascular disease who were referred to our clinic for exercise stress testing between 1993 and 2003. The association of exercise parameters with mortality was assessed during a follow‐up of 8.1±3.7 years. A total of 285 patients died during the follow‐up period. Adjusting for age and sex, the variables associated with mortality were: smoking, diabetes, functional aerobic capacity (
FAC
), heart rate recovery (
HRR
), chronotropic incompetence, and angina during the exercise. Adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors (diabetes, smoking, body mass index, blood pressure, serum total,
HDL
,
LDL
cholesterol, and triglycerides) and other exercise variables in a multivariable model, the only exercise parameters independently associated with mortality were lower
FAC
(adjusted hazard ratio [
HR
] per 10% decrease in
FAC
, 1.21; 95% confidence interval [
CI
], 1.13 to 1.29;
P
<0.001), and abnormal
HRR
, defined as failure to decrease heart rate by 12 beats at 1 minute recovery (adjusted
HR
per 1‐beat decrease, 1.05; 95%
CI
, 1.03 to 1.07;
P
<0.001). The additive effects of
FAC
and
HRR
on mortality were also highly significant when considered as categorical variables.

Conclusion

In this cohort of patients with no known cardiovascular disease who were referred for exercise electrocardiography,
FAC
and
HRR
were independently associated with all‐cause mortality.
Correcting Past Health Policy Mistakes
Authors: Hsiao William C.
Published: March 2014

China's health policy in the 1980s followed its economic policy of marketization. China shifted health financing from public to private and commercialized the country's public health services. Unwittingly, the Chinese government did not grasp the serious market failures in health care, which resulted in a profit-driven public health service in which patients pay directly for services. China's health policy created three major unintended consequences: disparity between rural and urban residents, poor quality of health care, and rapid inflation in health expenditures. Since 2003, China has tried to correct its policy mistakes through public financing and by establishing social health insurance. However, strong profit motives have become embedded within the culture of medical professionals and have eroded the professional ethics that prioritize medical practices for patients' benefits. Restoring medical ethics is a formidable challenge. This paper analyzes the transformation of the Chinese health system and its ongoing challenges.
Set-relevance Determines the Impact of Distractors on Episodic Memory Retrieval
Authors: Kwok Sze Chai , Shallice Tim , Macaluso Emiliano
Published: March 2014

We investigated the interplay between stimulus-driven attention and memory retrieval with a novel interference paradigm that engaged both systems concurrently on each trial. Participants encoded a 45-min movie on Day 1 and, on Day 2, performed a temporal order judgment task during fMRI. Each retrieval trial comprised three images presented sequentially, and the task required participants to judge the temporal order of the first and the last images (“memory probes”) while ignoring the second image, which was task irrelevant (“attention distractor”). We manipulated the content relatedness and the temporal proximity between the distractor and the memory probes, as well as the temporal distance between two probes. Behaviorally, short temporal distances between the probes led to reduced retrieval performance. Distractors that at encoding were temporally close to the first probe image reduced these costs, specifically when the distractor was content unrelated to the memory probes. The imaging results associated the distractor probe temporal proximity with activation of the right ventral attention network. By contrast, the precuneus was activated for high-content relatedness between distractors and probes and in trials including a short distance between the two memory probes. The engagement of the right ventral attention network by specific types of distractors suggests a link between stimulus-driven attention control and episodic memory retrieval, whereas the activation pattern of the precuneus implicates this region in memory search within knowledge/content-based hierarchies.
Disposed to Distraction: Genetic Variation in the Cholinergic System Influences Distractibility But Not Time-on-Task Effects
Authors: Berry Anne S. , Demeter Elise , Sabhapathy Surya , English Brett A. , Blakely Randy D. , Sarter Martin , Lustig Cindy
Published: March 2014

Both the passage of time and external distraction make it difficult to keep attention on the task at hand. We tested the hypothesis that time-on-task and external distraction pose independent challenges to attention and that the brain's cholinergic system selectively modulates our ability to resist distraction. Participants with a polymorphism limiting cholinergic capacity (Ile89Val variant [rs1013940] of the choline transporter gene SLC5A7) and matched controls completed self-report measures of attention and a laboratory task that measured decrements in sustained attention with and without distraction. We found evidence that distraction and time-on-task effects are independent and that the cholinergic system is strongly linked to greater vulnerability to distraction. Ile89Val participants reported more distraction during everyday life than controls, and their task performance was more severely impacted by the presence of an ecologically valid video distractor (similar to a television playing in the background). These results are the first to demonstrate a specific impairment in cognitive control associated with the Ile89Val polymorphism and add to behavioral and cognitive neuroscience studies indicating the cholinergic system's critical role in overcoming distraction.
The Thinking behind the Creation of a Basic Law for Social Organizations
Authors: Peifeng Liu , Bing Shui , Guosheng Deng , Ming Wang , Jianyin Ma
Published: March 2014

Abstract

This paper is the second from the “Salon Series on the Creation of Legislation on the Right of Association and Social Organizations”. This was a series of salons jointly hosted by Tsinghua University’s ngo Research Center, the Philanthropy and ngo Support Center, and the editorial office of the China Nonprofit Review. The formulation of a basic law on social organizations is an important issue for China’s social sector, and particularly for the social organization sector. It is also one of the conditions necessary for a transformation in the way social organizations are managed, from the current form of governance, which is achieved through administrative regulations, to management by ‘rule of law’ in the truest sense. Recently, in academic circles, many different lines of thought have developed about the formulation of a basic law for social organizations, including the argument for ‘governance through administrative law’, which adopts a public law perspective; the argument for ‘special civil laws’, which approaches the question from the perspective of private law; and the argument for a ‘combination of legal forms’. This paper explores the content of a basic law, as well as the objectives, nature of and skills involved in formulating such a law. It examines the necessity and feasibility of creating such legislation, and the key ideas that need to be transformed during the legislative process. At the same time, the paper considers the differences between this and the thinking behind other legislation such as the charity law.
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Authors: O'Leary Nataly , Mulgura Maria Ema
Published: March 2014

In the present work a revision of tribe Verbeneae for Peru is presented, descriptions and illustrations for each taxa are presented. In this country this tribe is represented by 16 taxa: four Glandularia species, five Junellia species, one Mulguraea species and four Verbena species and two varieties; six of these taxa are endemic to Peru. Three new combinations are presented: Glandularia cuneifolia, Junellia clavata and Verbena glabrata var. hayekii. Nine new synonyms are proposed, lectotypes are designated for Verbena cuneifolia, Verbena clavata and Verbena villifolia, and an epitype is designated for Verbena pogostoma.
Genesis of Hurricane Julia (2010) within an African Easterly Wave: Developing and Nondeveloping Members from WRF–LETKF Ensemble Forecasts
Authors: Cecelski Stefan F. , Zhang Da-Lin , Miyoshi Takemasa
Published: March 2014

In this study, the predictability of and parametric differences in the genesis of Hurricane Julia (2010) are investigated using 20 mesoscale ensemble forecasts with the finest resolution of 1 km. Results show that the genesis of Julia is highly predictable, with all but two members undergoing genesis. Despite the high predictability, substantial parametric differences exist between the stronger and weaker members. Notably, the strongest-developing member exhibits large upper-tropospheric warming within a storm-scale outflow during genesis. In contrast, the nondeveloping member has weak and more localized warming due to inhibited convective development and a lack of a storm-scale outflow. A reduction in the Rossby radius of deformation in the strongest member aids in the accumulation of the warmth, while little contraction takes place in the nondeveloping member. The warming in the upper troposphere is responsible for the development of meso-α-scale surface pressure falls and a meso-β surface low in the strongest-developing member. Such features fail to form in the nondeveloping member as weak upper-tropospheric warming is unable to induce meaningful surface pressure falls. Cloud ice content is nearly doubled in the strongest member as compared to its nondeveloping counterparts, suggesting the importance of depositional heating of the upper troposphere. It is found that the stronger member undergoes genesis faster due to the lack of convective inhibition near the African easterly wave (AEW) pouch center prior to genesis. This allows for the faster development of a mesoscale convective system and storm-scale outflow, given the already favorable larger-scale conditions.
Some Aspects of Western Hemisphere Circulation and the Madden–Julian Oscillation
Authors: Roundy Paul E.
Published: March 2014

Although the greatest variance in convection associated with the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) occurs over the Indo-Pacific warm pool, the MJO is associated with substantial circulation patterns in the tropics and the extratropics of the Western Hemisphere. Reanalysis data suggest that upper-tropospheric easterly wind anomalies on the equator between 40° and 140°W precede 86% of active convective phases of MJO events greater than one standard deviation in amplitude over the Indian Ocean basin during the Northern Hemisphere winter. Composites of those MJO events that are preceded by westerly wind anomalies and those events preceded by easterly wind anomalies are compared. Results show that those events that are preceded by westerly wind anomalies fail to thrive and do not yield the amplitude in convection or the canonical atmospheric circulation response that is associated with those preceded by easterly wind. The composite of events preceded by easterly winds reveals that these winds amplify coincident with arrival of an anticyclone into the tropics from a wave train that extends across the middle latitudes of the Pacific Ocean and North America. The resultant easterlies then radiate eastward across Africa to the Indian Ocean basin at the phase speed of convectively coupled Kelvin waves, where they are joined by other anticyclones propagating into the tropics, apparently facilitating westward outflow from the amplifying Indian Ocean basin convection.
Observation Operator for Visible and Near-Infrared Satellite Reflectances
Authors: Kostka Philipp M. , Weissmann Martin , Buras Robert , Mayer Bernhard , Stiller Olaf
Published: March 2014

Operational numerical weather prediction systems currently only assimilate infrared and microwave satellite observations, whereas visible and near-infrared reflectances that comprise information on atmospheric clouds are not exploited. One of the reasons for that is the absence of computationally efficient observation operators. To remedy this issue in anticipation of the future regional Kilometer-Scale Ensemble Data Assimilation (KENDA) system of Deutscher Wetterdienst, we have developed a version that is fast enough for investigating the assimilation of cloudy reflectances in a case study approach. The operator solves the radiative transfer equation to simulate visible and near-infrared channels of satellite instruments based on the one-dimensional (1D) discrete ordinate method. As input, model output of the operational limited-area Consortium for Small-Scale Modeling (COSMO) model of Deutscher Wetterdienst is used. Assumptions concerning subgrid-scale processes, calculation of in-cloud values of liquid water content, ice water content, and cloud microphysics are summarized, and the accuracy of the 1D simulation is estimated through comparison with three-dimensional (3D) Monte Carlo solver results. In addition, the effects of a parallax correction and horizontal smoothing are quantified. The relative difference between the 1D simulation in “independent column approximation” and the 3D calculation is typically less than 9% between 0600 and 1500 UTC, computed from four scenes during one day (with local noon at 1115 UTC). The parallax-corrected version reduces the deviation to less than 6% for reflectance observations with a central wavelength of 810 nm. Horizontal averaging can further reduce the error of the 1D simulation. In all cases, the bias is less than 1% for the model domain.
A Comparison of Vessel-Mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler and Satellite Altimeter Estimates of Sea Surface Height and Transports between New Jersey and Bermuda along the CMV Oleander Route
Authors: Worst Jessica S. , Donohue Kathleen A. , Rossby T.
Published: March 2014

In recent years the acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) has found increasing use on commercial vessels to measure currents and their variability along selected routes in the ocean. One such dataset, in operation since late 1992, is the ADCP record from the Container Motor Vessel (CMV) Oleander, which operates between New Jersey and Bermuda. Because the Oleander ADCP system measures upper-ocean currents of O(10−2) m s−1 accuracy every 2.5 km, it provides excellent coverage of the mesoscale and submesoscale velocity field, and also of transport. The question addressed here is how well do estimates of fluxes between the continental shelf break and Bermuda compare with corresponding geostrophic estimates derived from satellite altimeter measurements of sea level extracted from weekly mapped fields along the same route. The Oleander route spans three distinct deep-sea regions: the Slope Sea, the Gulf Stream, and the Sargasso Sea. Agreement in sea surface height variability depends principally upon the length of the section being compared, and not upon eddy kinetic energy levels. Thus, yearly averages for short subsections such as across the quiet Slope Sea and energetic Gulf Stream both have correlation coefficients in excess of 0.9, whereas across the longer Sargasso Sea the correlation coefficient drops to 0.64 and to 0.58 for the 950-km-long Slope–Bermuda section. The principal cause of decrease in correlation with increasing distance appears to be due to ageostrophic flow, principally the Ekman layer and inertial motion, measured by the ADCP but not represented in the altimeter-derived geostrophic fluxes.
Coping with bereavement of widows in the Chinese cultural context of Hong Kong
Authors: Ng Petrus , Ho Wing-Chung , Tsun Angela , Young Daniel KW
Published: March 2014

Although Hong Kong has developed into a Westernized city, many widows still feel the strong pull of cultural demands in coping with the loss of their husbands. The purpose of this study was to explore how Chinese women in Hong Kong cope with bereavement and widowhood. Results reveal that the coping methods of the 26 participants are pragmatic and culturally dependent, and can be grouped into four categories, namely, remaining lonely and stigmatized, submitting to predestination and fate, seeking a transition from feeling aggrieved to active coping, and searching for new family relationships. The implications for social work practice are discussed.
Rotary mode ultrasonic drilling of glass fiber-reinforced epoxy laminates
Authors: Debnath Kishore , Singh Inderdeep , Dvivedi Akshay
Published: March 2014

The use of polymer–matrix composites in structural applications necessitates certain degree of machining operations to meet the final product integrity. Drilling is an essential machining operation being used in composite industries for making of holes for bolted joints. The conventional drilling, which is frequently used for making holes in polymer–matrix composite parts, is not convenient anymore because of plethora of challenges encountered. The major drawback is the drilling-induced damage, which mainly occurs due to the direct interaction between the tool and composite laminate. Therefore, there exists a research opportunity to develop cost-effective high-quality machining methods for composite laminates. In the present research endeavor, rotary-mode ultrasonic drilling process has been conceptualized and developed for the drilling of fiber-reinforced polymer composites. The influence of various process parameters including power rating, slurry concentration, and abrasive size on material-removal rate, tool wear rate, and average surface roughness (Ra) has been experimentally investigated. It has been observed that the entry and exit delamination is prevented, and hole circumferential edge quality is improved when holes are produced through rotary-mode ultrasonic drilling as compared to the conventional drilling. It has also been found that with substantial modification in the conventional ultrasonic drilling process, the drilling performance in terms of material-removal rate of glass-epoxy laminates can be significantly improved. The major contribution of the present research endeavor is the development of a novel method of making clean-cut damage-free holes in fiber-reinforced composite laminates.
Doubt and the Resurrection of Jesus
Authors: Norman David J.
Published: March 2014

Debate on the resurrection of Jesus tends to focus either on the likelihood of Jesus' body rising physically from the tomb or on the form in which it appears to the witnesses. The first part of this article provides a snapshot of recent literature on Jesus' resurrection. The second part argues that there is no coming to faith in Jesus as Lord and God without accepting the necessity and reality of his death. The resurrection appearances alone are insufficient.