bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Self‐Assembled Photonic Structures
Authors: Galisteo‐López Juan F. , Ibisate Marta , Sapienza Riccardo , Froufe‐Pérez Luis S. , Blanco Álvaro , López Cefe
Published: September 2010

Photonic crystals have proven their potential and are nowadays a familiar concept. They have been approached from many scientific and technological flanks. Among the many techniques devised to implement this technology self‐assembly has always been one of great popularity surely due to its ease of access and the richness of results offered. Self‐assembly is also probably the approach entailing more materials aspects owing to the fact that they lend themselves to be fabricated by a great many, very different methods on a vast variety of materials and to multiple purposes. To these well‐known material systems a new sibling has been born (photonic glass) expanding the paradigm of optical materials inspired by solid state physics crystal concept. It is expected that they may become an important player in the near future not only because they complement the properties of photonic crystals but because they entice the researchers’ curiosity. In this review a panorama is presented of the state of the art in this field with the view to serve a broad community concerned with materials aspects of photonic structures and more so those interested in self‐assembly.
Recent Progress on ZnO‐Based Metal‐Semiconductor Field‐Effect Transistors and Their Application in Transparent Integrated Circuits
Authors: Frenzel Heiko , Lajn Alexander , von Wenckstern Holger , Lorenz Michael , Schein Friedrich , Zhang Zhipeng , Grundmann Marius
Published: September 2010

Metal‐semiconductor field‐effect transistors (MESFETs) are widely known from opaque high‐speed GaAs or high‐power SiC and GaN technology. For the emerging field of transparent electronics, only metal‐insulator‐semiconductor field‐effect transistors (MISFETs) were considered so far. This article reviews the progress of high‐performance MESFETs in oxide electronics and reflects the recent advances of this technique towards transparent MESFET circuitry. We discuss design prospects as well as limitations regarding device performance, reliability and stability. The presented ZnO‐based MESFETs and inverters have superior properties compared to MISFETs, i.e., high channel mobilities and on/off‐ratios, high gain, and low uncertainty level at comparatively low operating voltages. This makes them a promising approach for future low‐cost transparent electronics.
Divergent patrilineal signals in three Roma populations
Authors: Regueiro Maria , Stanojevic Aleksandar , Chennakrishnaiah Shilpa , Rivera Luis , Varljen Tatjana , Alempijevic Djordje , Stojkovic Oliver , Simms Tanya , Gayden Tenzin , Herrera Rene J.
Published: September 2010

Previous studies have revealed that the European Roma share close genetic, linguistic and cultural similarities with Indian populations despite their disparate geographical locations and divergent demographic histories. In this study, we report for the first time Y‐chromosome distributions in three Roma collections residing in Belgrade, Vojvodina and Kosovo. Eighty‐eight Y‐chromosomes were typed for 14 SNPs and 17 STRs. The data were subsequently utilized for phylogenetic comparisons to pertinent reference collections available from the literature. Our results illustrate that the most notable difference among the three Roma populations is in their opposing distributions of haplogroups H and E. Although the Kosovo and Belgrade samples exhibit elevated levels of the Indian‐specific haplogroup H‐M69, the Vojvodina collection is characterized almost exclusively by haplogroup E‐M35 derivatives, most likely the result of subsequent admixture events with surrounding European populations. Overall, the available data from Romani groups points to different levels of gene flow from local populations. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Synthesis, spectral characterization, CC coupling, oxidation reactions and antibacterial activities of new ruthenium(III) Schiff base complexes
Authors: Manimaran Arumugam , Chinnusamy Vaiyapuri , Jayabalakrishnan Chinnasamy
Published: September 2010

A new series of hexa‐coordinated stable Ru(III) Schiff base complexes of the type [RuX(EPh3)(L)] (where X = Cl/Br; E = P/As; L = tetradentate N2O2 donor Schiff ligands) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, magnetic susceptibility measurement, FT‐IR, UV–vis, 13C{1H}‐NMR, ESR spectra, electrochemical and powder X‐ray diffraction pattern studies. The selective oxidation of alcohols to their corresponding carbonyl compounds occurred in the presence of N‐methylmorpholin‐N‐oxide (NMO), H2O2 and O2 atmosphere at ambient temperature as co‐oxidants and CC coupling reactions. Further, these new Schiff base ligands and their Ru(III) complexes were also screened for their antibacterial activity against K. pneumoniae, Shigella sp., M. luteus, E. coli and S. typhi. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bioethanol production from acid‐pretreated rice hull
Authors: Moon Hee Cheon , Re Jeong Hong , Kim Du Hyun
Published: September 2010

Ethanol for fuel uses is normally produced from sugar‐ and starch‐containing crops, which are expensive raw materials and require the consumption of traditional food sources. Rice hull, an abundant agricultural waste, consists of 32.3 ± 0.5% glucan and 13.0 ± 1.3% xylan (dry weight) and has the potential for use as a low‐cost feedstock in ethanol production. Processing challenges need to be addressed in order to achieve commercial rice hull conversion to fermentable sugars. In the present study, the effect of various acid‐to‐biomass ratios and impregnation and hydrolysis durations was evaluated from glucan and xylan conversion yields of rice hull to monomeric sugars and the production of fermentation inhibitors. Additionally, the effect of the inhibitors, 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), furfural, and acetic acid, on fermentability by Saccharomyces cerevisiae was evaluated by the comparison between fermentation parameters of rice‐hull hydrolysate and a reference medium. Under optimal conditions of acid pretreatment (2:1 of acid‐to‐biomass ratio, 5‐h impregnation, and 2‐h hydrolysis), high glucan and xylan conversion yields of 92 and 95% were achieved, respectively. Extreme acidity and increased retention time under high temperature were the most important factors influencing the degradation of glucose and xylose, increasing HMF and furfural concentrations, respectively. Although rice‐hull hydrolysate was sufficient for ethanol production, the presence of inhibitors in rice‐hull hydrolysate decreased the specific growth rate and cell growth of S. cerevisiae, and the ethanol yield (0.47 g‐ethanol/g‐glucose) of rice‐hull hydrolysate was slightly lower than that of the reference medium (0.49 g/g). These results confirm that rice hull is a promising and alternative biomass for ethanol production by means of the acid impregnation and hydrolysis technique. The data obtained can be used for the design of an acid hydrolysis reactor for lignocellulosic biomass. Copyright © 2010 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Melt spinning of conducting polymeric composites containing carbonaceous fillers
Authors: Strååt Martin , Toll Staffan , Boldizar Antal , Rigdahl Mikael , Hagström Bengt
Published: September 2010

Fibers produced by melt spinning of conductive polymer composites are attractive for several applications; the main drawback is however reduced processability at high filler concentrations. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered suitable fillers for conductive polymer composites, replacing conductive grades of carbon black (CB). In this study, the fiber‐forming properties of conductive polymer composites based on a conductive grade of CB and two masterbatches with CNT in a polyethylene matrix were investigated. The CB was also used in a polypropylene matrix for comparison. The rheological properties of the filler‐containing melts in shear and their extensional behavior were evaluated. A piston‐driven device was used to extrude the molten materials through a capillary; different capillary geometries were tested. Fibers were produced at various draw ratios, and their conductivity was determined. To assess the ultimate extensibility, a modified Rheotens method was used. The results showed that a conductive CB grade can have a lower percolation threshold and higher conductivity than a material with CNT. Conductivity decreased with increasing melt draw ratio for both types of fillers. The spinnability of the materials decreased with increasing concentration of filler material and correlations were found between spinnability and melt elasticity. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011
Effect of tetraacid on the properties of ODPA/4,4′‒ODA polyimide foams
Authors: Liu Xiao‒Yan , Zhan Mao‒Sheng , Shen Yan‒Xia , Wang Kai
Published: September 2010

In this research, a new flexible polyimide (PI) foams was successfully prepared and characterized based on precursor powder foaming. This foams were derived from 3,3',4,4'‒oxydiphethalic anhydride (ODPA), 3,3',4,4'‒oxydiphethalic tetraacid (ODPA‒tetraacid), and 4,4'‒oxydianiline (4,4'‒ODA). With varying molar percentage of ODPA‒tetraacid in (ODPA + ODPA‒tetraacid), the changes of properties of PI precursor powders and PI foams were comparatively investigated. The foaming processes of PI foams were observed by a self‒made visualization device. The decomposition products of precursor powders were analyzed by thermogravimetry‒Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TG‒FTIR). The crystallinity of precursor powders was investigated by wide‒angle X‒ray diffraction (WXRD). The chemical structure of PI precursor powders and foams was analyzed by FTIR. The thermal properties of PI foams were tested by the methods of dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and TG/differential thermogravimetry (DTG) analysis. The cell structure of PI foams was observed by a scanning electron microscopy. The rebound resilience of PI foams was studied by a self‒made drop‒ball instrument. With the increasing of ODPA‒tetraacid, the inflation onset temperatures and inflation degrees of PI foams decreased from 210°C to 118°C and increased from 10 to 14.8 times, respectively. The crystallinity of PI precursor powders increased. The thermal stability of PI foams decreased. The cell structure of PI foams became more uniform and the rebound rates increased linearly. Besides, ODPA‒tetraacid did not yield any negative effect on the complete imidization of the PI precursor powder by the FTIR spectra. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011
Mechanism analysis of poly(lactic acid) particles formation by mesoscale simulation
Authors: Zhu Aimei , Weng Jian , Liu Qinglin
Published: September 2010

In this work, the mechanism analysis of Poly(DL‐lactic acid) (PLA) particles formation is investigated by dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. The polymer PLA is usually as a carrier at the drug deliver system (DDS), first, the mechanism analysis of PLA particles formation was preceded on the basis of the blank PLA particles. At the same time, the formation of PLA particles for drug delivery systems has been investigated. The results of DPD simulations indicate that the formation of PLA particles with drug or not, consists of three steps: (1) aggregation‐individual PLA chains got aggregated with each other in solution; (2) formation and disruption of PLA particles; (3) solidification of PLA particles. At the same time, the effects of PLA, drug content on the aggregation morphology are investigated, which indicates the PLA particles with drug or not aggregated and formed is spherical particles, drug molecules are amorphously and homogeneously distributed inside the PLA matrix, the size of PLA particles increases with increasing the initial PLA content and drug content in the solution. The content of DMF is gotten when PLA chains and drug molecules begin to aggregate and form the particles. These could be used to guide the experimental preparation of PLA blank particles and DDS with desired properties. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011
A new context‐dependent term weight computed by boost and discount using relevance information
Authors: Dang E.K.F. , Luk R.W.P. , Allan J. , Ho K.S. , Chan S.C.F. , Chung K.F.L. , Lee D.L.
Published: September 2010

We studied the effectiveness of a new class of context‐dependent term weights for information retrieval. Unlike the traditional term frequency–inverse document frequency (TF–IDF), the new weighting of a term t in a document d depends not only on the occurrence statistics of t alone but also on the terms found within a text window (or “document‐context”) centered on t. We introduce a Boost and Discount (B&D) procedure which utilizes partial relevance information to compute the context‐dependent term weights of query terms according to a logistic regression model. We investigate the effectiveness of the new term weights compared with the context‐independent BM25 weights in the setting of relevance feedback. We performed experiments with title queries of the TREC‐6, ‐7, ‐8, and 2005 collections, comparing the residual Mean Average Precision (MAP) measures obtained using B&D term weights and those obtained by a baseline using BM25 weights. Given either 10 or 20 relevance judgments of the top retrieved documents, using the new term weights yields improvement over the baseline for all collections tested. The MAP obtained with the new weights has relative improvement over the baseline by 3.3 to 15.2%, with statistical significance at the 95% confidence level across all four collections.
A new short proof of Naranan's theorem, explaining Lotka's law and Zipf's law
Authors: Egghe Leo
Published: September 2010

Naranan's important theorem, published in Nature in 1970, states that if the number of journals grows exponentially and if the number of articles in each journal grows exponentially (at the same rate for each journal), then the system satisfies Lotka's law and a formula for the Lotka's exponent is given in function of the growth rates of the journals and the articles. This brief communication re‐proves this result by showing that the system satisfies Zipf's law, which is equivalent with Lotka's law. The proof is short and algebraic and does not use infinitesimal arguments.
Member activities and quality of tags in a collection of historical photographs in Flickr
Authors: Stvilia Besiki , Jörgensen Corinne
Published: September 2010

To enable and guide effective metadata creation it is essential to understand the structure and patterns of the activities of the community around the photographs, resources used, and scale and quality of the socially created metadata relative to the metadata and knowledge already encoded in existing knowledge organization systems. This article presents an analysis of Flickr member discussions around the photographs of the Library of Congress photostream in Flickr. The article also reports on an analysis of the intrinsic and relational quality of the photostream tags relative to two knowledge organization systems: the Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM) and the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Thirty seven percent of the original tag set and 15.3% of the preprocessed set (after the removal of tags with fewer than three characters and URLs) were invalid or misspelled terms. Nouns, named entity terms, and complex terms constituted approximately 77% of the preprocessed set. More than a half of the photostream tags were not found in the TGM and LCSH, and more than a quarter of those terms were regular nouns and noun phrases. This suggests that these terms could be complimentary to more traditional methods of indexing using controlled vocabularies.
The effect of spelling and retrieval system familiarity on search behavior in online public access catalogs: A mixed methods study
Authors: Willson Rebekah , Given Lisa M.
Published: September 2010

Although technology can often correct spelling errors, the complex tasks of information searching and retrieval in an online public access catalog (OPAC) are made more difficult by these errors in users' input and bibliographic records. This study examines the search behaviors of 38 university students, divided into groups with either easy‐to‐spell or difficult‐to‐spell search terms, who were asked to find items in the OPAC with these search terms. Search behaviors and strategy use in the OPAC and on the World Wide Web (WWW) were examined. In general, students used familiar Web resources to check their spelling or discover more about the assigned topic. Students with difficult‐to‐spell search terms checked spelling more often, changed search strategies to look for the general topic and had fewer successful searches. Students unable to find the correct spelling of a search term were unable to complete their search. Students tended to search the OPAC as they would search a search engine, with few search terms or complex search strategies. The results of this study have implications for spell checking, user‐focused OPAC design, and cataloging. Students' search behaviors are discussed by expanding Thatcher's (2006) Information‐Seeking Process and Tactics for the WWW model to include OPACs.
Principal pathogenetic components and biological endophenotypes in autism spectrum disorders
Authors: Sacco Roberto , Curatolo Paolo , Manzi Barbara , Militerni Roberto , Bravaccio Carmela , Frolli Alessandro , Lenti Carlo , Saccani Monica , Elia Maurizio , Reichelt Karl‐Ludvig , Pascucci Tiziana , Puglisi‐Allegra Stefano , Persico Antonio M.
Published: September 2010

Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder, likely encompassing multiple pathogenetic components. The aim of this study is to begin identifying at least some of these components and to assess their association with biological endophenotypes. To address this issue, we recruited 245 Italian patients with idiopathic autism spectrum disorders and their first‐degree relatives. Using a stepwise approach, patient and family history variables were analyzed using principal component analysis (“exploratory phase”), followed by intra‐ and inter‐component cross‐correlation analyses (“follow‐up phase”), and by testing for association between each component and biological endophenotypes, namely head circumference, serotonin blood levels, and global urinary peptide excretion rates (“biological correlation phase”). Four independent components were identified, namely “circadian & sensory dysfunction,” “immune dysfunction,” “neurodevelopmental delay,” and “stereotypic behavior,” together representing 74.5% of phenotypic variance in our sample. Marker variables in the latter three components are positively associated with macrocephaly, global peptiduria, and serotonin blood levels, respectively. These four components point toward at least four processes associated with autism, namely (I) a disruption of the circadian cycle associated with behavioral and sensory abnormalities, (II) dysreactive immune processes, surprisingly linked both to prenatal obstetric complications and to excessive postnatal body growth rates, (III) a generalized developmental delay, and (IV) an abnormal neural circuitry underlying stereotypies and early social behaviors.
Teaching children with autism a basic component skill of perspective‐taking
Authors: Gould Evelyn , Tarbox Jonathan , O'Hora Denis , Noone Steve , Bergstrom Ryan
Published: September 2010

Perspective‐taking is an area of human functioning that is rarely studied by behavior analysts but likely entails a complex repertoire of verbal and relational behavior. Perspective‐taking is generally acknowledged to be an important skill for successful social functioning and a significant amount of research has documented deficits in these skills in individuals with autism. However, little previous research has examined behavioral intervention procedures for remediating these deficits. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a multiple exemplar training procedure for teaching three children with autism to identify what other people can see, a simple component skill of perspective‐taking. All participants demonstrated generalization to novel table‐top tasks but generalization to natural environment probes was less consistent. Results are discussed in terms of the behavioral history required to develop perspective‐taking repertoires, as well as for the development of effective interventions. Descriptors: Perspective‐taking, autism, Theory of Mind, conditional discrimination, and multiple exemplar training. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Studies on the mass and temperature dependence of lyoluminescence intensity of microcrystalline powder of KCl
Authors: Nayar V. , Chowdhary P. S. , Bhujbal P. M. , Dhoble S. J.
Published: September 2010

The temperature and mass dependence of lyoluminescence intensity of γ‐irradiated colored potassium chloride powder have been studied using a photomultiplier tube connected to an x–y recorder. The peak lyoluminescence intensity increases with increasing amount of solute added up to 50 mg and then tends to saturate. The lyoluminescence (LL) glow curves with mass of KCl microcrystals show that initially the LL intensity increases with time and then decreases exponentially with time. The decay time consists of two components for all the masses. The dependence of decay time, especially the longer component on mass, has been investigated. The temperature dependence of LL intensity shows that initially the peak LL intensity increases with temperature up to 60°C, and then decreases with further increase in temperature. The decay time tends to decrease with increasing temperature. An explanation for the experimental results has been attempted. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Aqueous synthesis of CdTe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots and their optical and chemical properties
Authors: Li Zhong , Dong Chaoqing , Tang Lichuan , Zhu Xin , Chen Hongjin , Ren Jicun
Published: September 2010

In this paper, we described a strategy for synthesis of thiol‐coated CdTe/CdS/ZnS (core–shell–shell) quantum dots (QDs) via aqueous synthesis approach. The synthesis conditions were systematically optimized, which included the size of CdTe core, the refluxing time and the number of monolayers and the ligands, and then the chemical and optical properties of the as‐prepared products were investigated. We found that the mercaptopropionic acid (MPA)‐coated CdTe/CdS/ZnS QDs presented highly photoluminescent quantum yields (PL QYs), good photostability and chemical stability, good salt tolerance and pH tolerance and favorable biocompatibility. The characterization of high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) showed that the CdTe/CdS/ZnS QDs had good monodispersity and crystal structure. The fluorescence life time spectra demonstrated that CdTe/CdS/ZnS QDs had a longer lifetime in contrast to fluorescent dyes and CdTe QDs. Furthermore, the MPA‐stabilized CdTe/CdS/ZnS QDs were applied for the imaging of cells. Compared with current synthesis methods, our synthesis approach was reproducible and simple, and the reaction conditions were mild. More importantly, our method was cost‐effective, and was very suitable for large‐scale synthesis of CdTe/CdS/ZnS QDs for future applications. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A sensitive fluorescence reagent, 2‐[2‐(7H‐dibenzo[a,g]carbazol‐7‐yl)‐ethoxy]ethyl chloroformate, for amino acids determination in Saussurea involucrate and Artemisia capillaris Thunb using high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection and identification with mass spectroscopy/electrospray ionization source
Authors: Li Guoliang , Sun Zhiwei , Song Cuihua , Xia Lian , Zheng Jie , Suo Yourui , You Jinmao
Published: September 2010

Recent researches shows that amino acids (AA) are not only cell signaling molecules but are also regulators of gene expression and the protein phosphorylation cascade. More precise analysis of AA composition is reckoned to be one of the most important applications in the biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. In this paper, we develop a sample, sensitive and mild method using 2‐[2‐(7H‐dibenzo[a,g]carbazol‐7‐yl)‐ethoxy]ethyl chloroformate (DBCEC) as A labeling reagent for AA determination by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection (FLD) and identification with mass spectroscopy. The maximum excitation and emission wavelengths for DBCEC‐AA derivatives were 300 and 395 nm, respectively. This method, in conjunction with a gradient elution, offered a baseline resolution of 20 AA on a reversed‐phase Hypersil BDS C18 column. LC separation for the derivatized AA showed good reproducibility, and all AA were found to give excellent linear responses with correlation coefficients > 0.9993. The calculated detection limits with a 25.0 fmol injection of each AA (at a signal‐to‐noise ratio of 3:1) ranged from 2.62 to 22.6 fmol. This method was applied to determine the AA composition in Saussurea involucrate and Artemisia capillaris Thunb. Meanwhile, this method exhibits a powerful potential for trace analysis of AA from biomedicine, foodstuff and other complex samples. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A reliable method of liquid chromatography for the quantification of acetaminophen and identification of its toxic metabolite N‐acetyl‐p‐benzoquinoneimine for application in pediatric studies
Authors: Flores‐Pérez Carmen , Chávez‐Pacheco Juan Luis , Ramírez‐Mendiola Blanca , Alemón‐Medina Radamés , García‐Álvarez Raquel , Juárez‐Olguín Hugo , Flores‐Pérez Janett
Published: September 2010

The aim of the present study was to develop a simple, selective and reliable method to quantify acetaminophen and its toxic metabolite N‐acetyl‐p‐benzoquinoneimine (NAPQI) for pediatric studies using 100 µL plasma samples, by reverse‐phase HPLC and UV detection. The assay was performed using a C18 column and an isocratic elution with water–methanol–formic acid (70:30:0.15; v/v/v) as mobile phase. Linearity of the method was assayed in the range of 1–30 µg/mL for acetaminophen and 10–200 µg/mL for NAPQI, with a correlation coefficient r = 0.999 for both compounds, and inter‐ and intra‐day coefficients of variation of less than 13%. Several commonly co‐administered drugs were analyzed for selectivity and no interference with the determinations was observed. The detection and quantification limits for acetaminophen and NAPQI were 0.1 and 1 µg/mL, and 0.1 and 10 µg/mL respectively. The present method can be used to monitor acetaminophen levels using 100 µL plasma samples, which may be helpful when very small samples need to be analyzed, as in pharmacokinetics determination or drug monitoring in plasma in children. This assay is also able to detect the NAPQI for drug monitoring in patients diagnosed with acetaminophen intoxication. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Quantitative analysis of nine coumarins in rat urine and bile after oral administration of Radix Glehniae extract by high‐performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry
Authors: Liu Man , Shi Xiaowei , Yang Wei , Liu Songchen , Wang Na , Shi Rui , Qiao Shi , Wang Qiao , Wang Yongli
Published: September 2010

Coumarins are the primary bioactive ingredients in Radix Glehniae, named Beishashen in China, which possesses many pharmacological activities, including anticancer, anti‐inflammation and antivirus activities. In the present study, we employed a sensitive and selective high‐performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC‐ESI‐MS/MS) method for the quantification of nine coumarins in rat urine and bile: scopoletin (1), xanthotoxol (2), xanthotoxin (3), psoralen (4), isoimpinellin (5), bergapten (6), oxypeucedanin (7), imperatorin (8) and isoimperatorin (9). Pimpinellin (10) was used as the internal standard (IS). The urine and bile samples were pretreated by liquid–liquid extraction with ethyl acetate (EtOAc). The chromatographic separation was carried out on a C18 column with gradient elution. The detection of analytes was performed on a tandem mass system equipped with a turbo ion spray interface in positive mode using multiple‐reaction monitoring (MRM). The specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, recovery, matrix effect and several stabilities were validated for coumarins in rat urine and bile samples. The results showed that this method is robust, specific and sensitive and it can successfully fulfill the requirements of the excretion study of the nine coumarins in Radix Glehniae. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Highly sensitive method for the determination of a novel triple kinase inhibitor with anti‐cancer activity, JI‐101, in rat plasma by liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry: application to a pharmacokinetic study
Authors: Gurav Sandip Dhondiram , Gilibili Ravindranath Reddy , Jeniffer Sherine , Giri Sanjeev , Srinivas Nuggehally R , Mullangi Ramesh
Published: September 2010

A highly sensitive, rapid assay method has been developed and validated for the estimation of JI‐101 in rat plasma with liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization in the positive‐ion mode. The assay procedure involves extraction of JI‐101 and phenacetin (internal standard, IS) from rat plasma with a solid‐phase extraction process. Chromatographic separation was achieved using a binary gradient using mobile phase A (acetonitrile) and B (0.2% formic acid in water) at a flow rate of 0.30 mL/min on a Prodigy ODS column with a total run time of 4.0 min. The MS/MS ion transitions monitored were 466.1 → 265 for JI‐101 and 180.1 → 110.1 for IS. Method validation and sample analysis were performed as per FDA guidelines and the results met the acceptance criteria. The lower limit of quantitation achieved was 5.03 ng/mL and the linearity range extended from 5.03 to 2014 ng/mL. The intra‐day and inter‐day precisions were in the ranges of 1.17–19.6 and 3.09–10.4%, respectively. This method has been applied to a pharmacokinetic study of JI‐101 in rats. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Rapid determination and pharmacokinetics study of lignans in rat plasma after oral administration of Schisandra chinensis extract and pure deoxyschisandrin
Authors: Mao Shilong , Zhang Hai , Lv Lei , Zhu Zhenyu , Zhao Liang , Zhang Guoqing , Chai Yifeng
Published: September 2010

A simple, sensitive and rapid method for analysis of six lignans in rat plasma after oral administration of Schisandra chinensis extracts, utilizing liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS), was established and validated. Plasma samples were prepared by one‐step protein precipitation using acetonitrile and the analytes were separated on an SB‐C18 column (100 mm × 3.0 mm, 3.5 µm) with the mobile phase of acetonitrile–water at a flow‐rate of 0.8 mL/min. Analytes were determined in a single‐quadrupole mass spectrometer in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode using electrospray source with positive mode. The method was proved to be rapid, sensitive and reproducible, and it was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic studies of six lignans in rat plasma after oral administration of Schisandra chinensis extracts. In this research, the pharmacokinetics of deoxyschisandrin was also studied following oral administration of the pure deoxyschisandrin. It was found that most of the pharmacokinetic parameters of deoxyschisandrin in the extract were changed significantly compared with those in monomer. The content assay also revealed that the concentrations of the lignan in the extract increased in vivo compared with the pure monomer. Some ingredients in the extract may increase the dissolution of deoxyschisandrin, delay its elimination and enhance its bioavailability in rat. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Simultaneous quantification of multiple active components from Xiexin decoction in rat plasma by LC‐ESI‐MS/MS: application in pharmacokinetics
Authors: Zan Bin , Shi Rong , Wang Tianming , Wu Jiasheng , Ma Yueming , Cheng Nengneng
Published: September 2010

A sensitive and specific liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometric (LC‐ESI‐MS/MS) method was developed and validated to simultaneously quantify 11 active compounds (coptisine, jatrorrhizine, berberine, palmatine, baicalin, baicalein, wogonoside, wogonin, rhein, emodin and aloeemodin) from Xiexin decoction (XXD) in rat plasma. Plasma samples extracted by a single‐step protein precipitation procedure were separated using the gradient mode on a Dikma ODS‐C18 column. Selected reaction monitoring scanning was employed for quantification with switching electrospray ion source polarity between positive and negative modes in a single run. Calibration curves offered satisfactory linearity (r > 0.995) at linear range of 0.47–60 ng/mL for coptisine, jatrorrhizine, berberine and palmatine, 15–1930 ng/mL for baicalin, 20–2560 ng/mL for baicalein, 14–1790 ng/mL for wogonoside, 0.57–72.8 ng/mL for wogonin, 10–1280 ng/mL for rhein, 0.6–76.8 ng/mL for emodin and 3.0–384 ng/mL for aloeemodin. The intra‐ and interday precisions were less than 10.2% in terms of relative standard deviation (RSD), and the accuracies were within ±10.84% in terms of relative error (RE). It was successfully applied to the evaluation of pharmacokinetics after single oral doses of XXD were administered to rats. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Determination of ciprofloxacin in plasma by micro‐liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry: An adapted method for neonates
Authors: Grondin Christel , Zhao Wei , Fakhoury May , Jacqz‐Aigrain Evelyne
Published: September 2010

There are many limitations to conducting pharmacokinetic studies in neonates, both ethical and technical. Regarding technical aspects, the number and volume of samples are limited, and the analytical method to measure drug concentration should be both specific and highly sensitive. In the present report, an analytical method adapted to neonates was developed for the determination of ciprofloxacin plasma concentration. After a simple protein precipitation, analytes were separated on a micro‐liquid chromatography and quantified by mass spectrometry, with D8‐ciprofloxacin as internal standard. The calibration range was linear from 25 to 3000 ng/mL. Intra‐ and inter‐day precision was less than 2.4 and 4.1%, respectively. The acceptance criteria of accuracy (between 85 and 115%) were met in all cases. A plasma volume of 150 µL was required to achieve the limit of quantification of 25 ng/mL. The method was successfully applied to routine monitoring of ciprofloxacin in pediatric patients and also used in preclinical studies. It will be used to determine the population pharmacokinetic parameters of ciprofloxacin in neonates. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Competence to proceed in SVP commitment hearings: Irrelevant or fundamental due process right?
Authors: Fanniff Amanda M. , Otto Randy K. , Petrila John
Published: September 2010

Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) civil commitment, intended to incapacitate offenders and protect the public, has been implemented in 21 jurisdictions. While respondents in traditional civil commitment proceedings need not be competent to proceed, SVP commitment may present a greater deprivation of liberty and therefore greater procedural protections may be merited. Statutes and case law regarding competence in this context address two issues: competence to challenge unproven sexual offense allegations and competence to participate in the SVP commitment process. Of the 14 states that have addressed the issue, one concluded that respondents must be competent to challenge unproven allegations and one concluded that all SVP respondents must be competent to participate in the commitment process. Differences between SVP and traditional civil commitment, the rationale underlying the competence requirement, and decisions regarding competence in SVP commitment are reviewed to inform debate regarding whether SVP respondents must be competent to proceed with the commitment process. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Capturing environmental affordances: Low‐income families identify positive characteristics of a hotel housing solution
Authors: Lewinson Terri
Published: September 2010

This qualitative study describes the positive characteristics of an extended‐stay hotel as identified by low‐income families that resided there. Interviews were conducted with ten hotel residents using a semi‐structured interview guide and participant photographs to elicit a deeper understanding of experiencing home at a hotel. Framed in the theoretical perspective of environmental affordances, findings suggest that despite discomforts of the hotel environment, residents were still able to enjoy family independence, social engagement, a sense of safety and connection to a community context. The findings of this study may help practitioners gain a balanced perspective of non‐ideal housing conditions for planning interventions. Even in these conditions, positive characteristics can be identified to reinforce family functioning and well‐being. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Fuzzy cognitive maps for the simulation of individual adaptive behaviors
Authors: Buche C. , Chevaillier P. , Nédélec A. , Parenthoën M. , Tisseau J.
Published: September 2010

This paper focuses on the simulation of behavior for autonomous entities in virtual environments. The behavior of these entities must determine their responses not only to external stimuli, but also with regard to internal states. We propose to describe such behavior using fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs), whereby these internal states might be explicitly represented. This paper presents the use of FCMs as a tool to specify and control the behavior of individual agents. First, we describe how FCMs can be used to model behavior. We then present a learning algorithm allowing the adaptation of FCMs through observation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Increased risk of severe depression in male partners of women with breast cancer
Authors: Nakaya Naoki , Saito‐Nakaya Kumi , Bidstrup Pernille Envold , Dalton Susanne Oksbjerg , Frederiksen Kirsten , Steding‐Jessen Marianne , Uchitomi Yosuke , Johansen Christoffer
Published: September 2010

BACKGROUND:

A few small studies published to date have suggested that major psychosocial problems develop in the partners of cancer patients; however, to the authors' knowledge, no studies to date have addressed their risk for severe depression. In a retrospective cohort study, the risk for hospitalization with an affective disorder of the male partners of women with breast cancer was investigated, using unbiased, nationwide, population‐based information.

METHODS:

Followed were 1,162,596 men born between 1925 and 1973 who were aged ≥30 years at study entry, resided in Denmark between 1994 and 2006, had no history of hospitalization for an affective disorder, and had lived continuously with the same partner for at least 5 years. A Cox regression analysis included detailed clinical information regarding the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and on annually updated socioeconomic and health‐related indicators obtained from national administrative and disease registers.

RESULTS:

During the 13 years of follow‐up, breast cancer was diagnosed in the partners of 20,538 men. On multivariable analysis, men whose partner was diagnosed with breast cancer were found to be at an increased risk of being hospitalized with an affective disorder (hazards ratio, 1.39; 95%confidence interval, 1.20‐1.61), with a dose‐response pattern for the severity of breast cancer. Furthermore, men whose partner died after breast cancer had a significant, 3.6‐fold increase in risk for an affective disorder when compared with men whose partner survived breast cancer.

CONCLUSIONS:

The results of the current study supported the hypothesis that men whose partner had breast cancer were at an increased risk for hospitalization with an affective disorder. Cancer 2010. © 2010 American Cancer Society.
High genomic grade index associated with poor prognosis for lymph node‐negative and estrogen receptor‐positive breast cancers and with good response to chemotherapy
Authors: Naoi Yasuto , Kishi Kazuki , Tanei Tomonori , Tsunashima Ryo , Tominaga Naoomi , Baba Yosuke , Kim Seung Jin , Taguchi Tetsuya , Tamaki Yasuhiro , Noguchi Shinzaburo
Published: September 2010

BACKGROUND:

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic value of the genomic grade index for lymph node‐negative and estrogen receptor (ER)‐positive breast cancers of Japanese women treated with adjuvant hormonal therapy alone, as well as the relation between genomic grade index and pathological complete response (CR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

METHODS:

Genomic grade index was determined by DNA microarray (U133plus2.0; Affymetrix, Santa Clara, Calif) in tumor tissues obtained from lymph node‐negative and ER‐positive breast cancers (n = 105) treated with adjuvant hormonal therapy alone or in breast tumor biopsy specimens (n = 84, Mammotome) obtained before neoadjuvant chemotherapy (paclitaxel followed by 5‐fluorouracil/epirubicin/cyclophosphomide) to investigate the prognostic and predictive values of genomic grade index.

RESULTS:

Recurrence‐free survival of patients with high genomic grade index tumors was significantly (P < .001) lower than that of patients with low genomic grade index tumors (55% vs 88%, 10 years after surgery). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that genomic grade index was the most important and significant predictive factor for disease recurrence (P = .013) independently of other prognostic factors, including tumor size, histological grade, progesterone receptor, human epidermal growth receptor 2, and Ki67. High genomic grade index tumors showed a significantly (P = .022) higher pathological CR rate for neoadjuvant chemotherapy than low genomic grade index tumors (31.9% [15 of 47] vs 10.8% [4 of 37]).

CONCLUSIONS:

Genomic grade index is a powerful prognostic factor for lymph node‐negative and ER‐positive tumors treated with adjuvant hormonal therapy alone, and high genomic grade index tumors are more likely to respond to chemotherapy. Genomic grade index also appears to be very useful for decision making regarding the need for adjuvant chemotherapy for lymph node‐negative and ER‐positive breast cancers. Cancer 2011. © 2010 American Cancer Society.
Control and data flow compatibility in the interaction between dynamic business processes
Authors: Ibáñez María José , Álvarez Pedro , Bañares José Ángel , Ezpeleta Joaquín
Published: September 2010

In the coming years, one of the challenges for business processes is to obtain a high degree of flexibility and ability to adapt to the changing contexts. Two key elements for achieving this are the use of Semantic Web technologies and the possibility of decoupling the business and the interaction aspects in a business process. Nevertheless, these solutions open up new challenges related to the necessity of checking whether a set of processes can successfully cooperate. Compatibility questions should be considered from a control flow point of view (the order of the interactions should be appropriate) and also from a data flow point of view (the information exchanged should be—semantically—adequate). In this paper, we concentrate on the compatibility of a set of processes executed in DENEB, a platform for the Development and ExecutioN of wEB processes based on the Net‐within‐Nets formalism and that follows a conversational approach. More specifically, this paper examines whether a set of interactions among a set of processes is compatible and also whether a given (imposed) interaction logic is compatible with a given business logic. Processes and their interactions have been semantically enhanced by means of domain ontologies and compatibility questions are studied using standard Petri net analysis techniques. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Basic operations, completeness and dynamicity of cyber physical socio semantic link network CPSocio‐SLN
Authors: Zhuge Hai , Xu Bei
Published: September 2010

Cyber Physical Socio Semantic Link network (CPSocio‐SLN) is a model and method for self‐organizing cyber physical socio resources in Cyber Physical Society (CP‐Society). This paper views CPSocio‐SLN as an evolution process through a series of operations, and investigates its basic operations, completeness, and dynamicity. A strategy for efficiently storing and managing CPSocio‐SLN based on the basic operation set is proposed to support efficient query and maintenance. An approach is suggested for simplifying CPSocio‐SLN reasoning by estimating the importance of reasoning at multiple levels. The study of the dynamicity can help understand its basic characteristics. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Performance‐based parallel loop self‐scheduling using hybrid OpenMP and MPI programming on multicore SMP clusters
Authors: Yang Chao‐Tung , Wu Chao‐Chin , Chang Jen‐Hsiang
Published: September 2010

Parallel loop self‐scheduling on parallel and distributed systems has been a critical problem and it is becoming more difficult to deal with in the emerging heterogeneous cluster computing environments. In the past, some self‐scheduling schemes have been proposed as applicable to heterogeneous cluster computing environments. In recent years, multicore computers have been widely included in cluster systems. However, previous researches into parallel loop self‐scheduling did not consider certain aspects of multicore computers; for example, it is more appropriate for shared‐memory multiprocessors to adopt Open Multi‐Processing (OpenMP) for parallel programming. In this paper, we propose a performance‐based approach using hybrid OpenMP and MPI parallel programming, which partition loop iterations according to the performance weighting of multicore nodes in a cluster. Because iterations assigned to one MPI process are processed in parallel by OpenMP threads run by the processor cores in the same computational node, the number of loop iterations allocated to one computational node at each scheduling step depends on the number of processor cores in that node. Experimental results show that the proposed approach performs better than previous schemes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Design, implementation and evaluation of a virtual storage system
Authors: Huang H. Howie , Grimshaw Andrew S.
Published: September 2010

Large organizations always have a strong demand for storage from data‐intensive applications and instruments. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation of a new virtual storage system, Storage@desk, which can aggregate a large number of distributed machines within an organization to provide storage services with quality of service guarantees. Because storage virtualization is the prominent goal, Storage@desk provides clients with the abstraction of a hard drive by utilizing the Internet SCSI protocol. As such, data access to new storage services is transparent so that clients do not need to modify any existing applications nor change their current practices. Storage@desk replicates data and employs version‐based journaling for high availability. It utilizes a market‐based model for resource management and a feedback controller for automated performance control. We have developed a prototype of Storage@desk that implements the core components. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.