bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Soil Reinforcing Materials on the Surface Hardness, Soil Bulk Density, and Water Content of a Sand Root Zone
Authors: McNitt A. S. , Landschoot P. J.
Published: February 2014

This study was conducted to determine the effect of various types and rates of soil reinforcing materials on soil bulk density, soil water content, surface hardness, and turfgrass density of a high‐sand root zone exposed to three levels of simulated traffic (wear). Six soil reinforcing materials were mixed at varying rates with a high‐sand root zone. These included DuPont Shredded Carpet, Netlon, Nike Lights, Nike Heavies, Turfgrids, and Sportgrass. Three levels of wear were imposed on each treatment. The types and rates of reinforcing materials had varying effects on surface hardness, bulk density, water content, and turf density of the root zone. Surface hardness and soil bulk density were correlated during the 2‐yr test period (r = 0.63). The reinforcing treatments that lowered soil bulk density and surface hardness were DuPont Shredded Carpet, Nike Lights, and Nike Heavies. Reinforcing material treatments that increased or did not affect soil bulk density generally resulted in increased surface hardness compared with nonamended controls. These treatments included Netlon and Turfgrids. Surface hardness generally became more pronounced as the level of wear increased for Netlon, Turfgrids, and Sportgrass treatments. The Sportgrass treatment consistently measured lower in soil water content than the control and had a turfgrass density lower than the control on all rating dates in 1996 but did not differ from the control in 1997. Athletic field managers considering using reinforcing materials should be aware that the type of material and rate influence athletic field surface hardness.
Supplemental Calcium Applications to Creeping Bentgrass Established on Calcareous Sand
Authors: St. John R. A. , Christians N. E. , Taber H. G.
Published: February 2014

Sand‐based athletic fields and golf course greens may contain large amounts of CaCO3Calcium is frequently applied to these areas based on the belief that the Ca within the CaCO3is not readily available for plant use. Our objectives were to determine if Ca applied to creeping bentgrass grown on calcareous sand increases Ca uptake, affects the clipping yield or quality of the grass plant, or affects the availability of other nutrients. A 2‐yr field trial was initiated on a calcareous sand‐based green established with ‘Crenshaw’ creeping bentgrass {Agrostis palustrisHuds. [= Agrostis stolonifera var. palustris (Huds.) Farw.]}. Treatments included gypsum (CaSO4), CaCO3, Ca nitrate [Ca(NO3)2·4H2O], and liquid Ca chelate applied across five months at 4.5 g Ca m−2per month and an untreated control. Urea was added to balance the N found in the Ca(NO3)2and Ca chelate treatments. Throughout the experiment, there were no differences in tissue Ca content, visual quality, or clipping yield in response to the Ca treatments. With the exception of the CaSO4treatment in 1999, application of Ca did not significantly affect the leaf concentrations of the other nutrients. During the first year, creeping bentgrass grown in plots receiving CaSO4contained 11% less tissue Mg than the creeping bentgrass in the control plots. Supplemental Ca applications to creeping bentgrass established on calcareous sand had no beneficial effects.
Longer Exposure Durations Increase Freeze Damage to Turf Bermudagrasses
Authors: Anderson Jeffrey A. , Taliaferro Charles M. , Martin Dennis L.
Published: February 2014

Bermudagrasses, Cynodon sp, are susceptible to winter injury in the transition zone for warm‐ and cool‐season turfgrasses. Our objectives were to determine relative freeze tolerance of recently released and standard cultivars using laboratory‐based methodology, and to determine the effect of extended exposure duration on survival. Plants were clonally propagated, then established and acclimated in growth chambers before exposure to a range of temperatures in a freeze chamber. ‘Tifway’ and ‘TifSport’ (−7.9°C) were significantly hardier than ‘Princess’ (−6.9°C), but less freeze tolerant than ‘U‐3’ (−8.9°C), ‘Patriot’ (−9.7°C), and ‘Midlawn’ (−10.3°C). Riviera (−8.3°C) was significantly hardier than Princess, but less freeze tolerant than Patriot and Midlawn. In a second set of experiments, acclimated plants were held at constant, subfreezing temperatures for various periods of time in a refrigerated bath. Survival of U‐3 and Riviera decreased to 25% or less when exposed to −7.0°C for 2 or 5 d, compared with 100 and 83% survival, respectively, when plants were removed from the bath immediately after equilibrating at −7.0°C. Princess exhibited 89% survival when removed immediately after equilibrating at −5.4°C, but survival after 2, 24, and 72 h was 67, 30, and 11%, respectively. Although minimum exposure temperature is a primary determinant of survival, freeze damage to turf bermudagrasses increased as exposure duration increased.
Improving Drought Resistance and Persistence in Turf‐Type Tall Fescue
Authors: Carrow R. N. , Duncan R. R.
Published: February 2014

Improving tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) drought resistance is important for water conservation and persistence under drought stress. A 1996 to 1998 field study was conducted at Griffin, GA, to (i) assess effectiveness of a unique breeding/selection protocol designed to enhance drought/high temperature stress tolerances in tall fescue, and (ii) to determine the most drought resistant and persistent cultivars or ecotypes among 12 tall fescues. Six experimentals developed under various cycles of the GA breeding protocol (‘Southeast’ or 96‐2, 96‐3 to 96‐7) were compared with five commercial cultivars and a Rutgers germplasm pool (RGP‐1). The five grasses with the least average leaf firing (LF) during repeated dry‐downs in 1997 and 1998 were from the GA gene pool, with average LF of four grasses exhibiting LF ≤ 14% compared with LF ≥ 29% for the commercial/RGP‐1 pool. Persistence (percentage turf coverage) after 24 mo of repeated drought stress cycles revealed an average of 91 and 76% for the GA and commercial/RGP‐1 pools, respectively, with Southeast and experimental 96‐6 exhibiting the highest canopy coverage at 93%. Grasses demonstrating the best combined ranking of LF ≤ 14%; least change of turf quality (TQ) under repeated drought stress events with ΔTQ < 1.4; highest average TQ at TQ ≥ 6.4; and within the lowest evapotranspiration (ET) group (ET ≤ 2.72 mm d−1) were all from the GA gene pool (Southeast, 96‐5, 96‐6, 96‐7). This research provided strong documentation that significant enhancement of drought resistance and tall fescue persistence can be achieved by use of the GA breeding/selection protocol.
Psychometric Properties of the Feedback Orientation Scale among South African Salespersons
Authors: Lilford Neil , Caruana Albert , Pitt Leyland
Published: February 2014

Feedback to employees is an important management tool, and the literature demonstrates that it has a positive effect on learning, motivation, and job performance. This study investigates in a non-U.S. context the psychometric properties of the Feedback Orientation Scale. Data were gathered from a sample of 202 salespersons from a large South African firm within the industrial fuels and lubricants sector. Confirmatory Factor Analysis provided evidence for the intended dimensionality, reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of the scale.
Media Preferences in Scenarios Involving Relationship Closeness and Information Valence: Evidence of Strategic Self-Presentation and Sex Differences
Authors: Johnsen Jan-Are K. , Kummervold Per Egil , Wynn Rolf
Published: February 2014

The study investigated strategic self-presentation (relationship closeness, information valence, and sex) on hypothetical choice of media used. 145 participants (73 women, 72 men; M age = 22.3 yr.) were randomly assigned to experimental conditions where they indicated their preference for communicating with either a friend or a stranger using Short Messaging Service (SMS), e-mail, or telephone, compared to face-to-face. Information valence was manipulated as a within-subjects variable by scenarios where information was self-referential and either negative or positive. Preference to mediated channels in the two scenarios was measured as an average of self-reported scores on a scale from 1–5 where 3 indicated face-to-face communication. Relationship closeness and scenario affected media preferences. Participants had higher preference scores for mediated channels when communicating with strangers than with friends and when sharing self-referential and negative information. Only women's preferences appeared to be affected by the manipulation of relationship closeness.
Variability in spectral characteristics of trampled high-mountain grasslands
Authors: Kycko Marlena , Zagajewski Bogdan , Kozłowska Anna
Published: February 2014

The goal of the paper is a presentation of field remote sensing methods for the analysis of the trampled plants of a highly protected mountain meadow ecosystem (M&B UNESCO Reserve and one of the most important Polish National Parks). The research area covers a core part of the Western Tatras - the Gąsienicowa Valley and Kasprowy Wierch summit, which are among the most visited destinations of the Polish Tatras. The research method is based on field hyperspectral measurements, using the ASD FieldSpec 3 spectrometer, on the dominant plant species of alpine swards. Sampling sites were located on trampled areas (next to trails) and reference plots, with the same species, but located more than 10 m from the trail (where the probability of trampling was very low, but the same composition of analysed plants). In each case, homogenous plots with a domination of one plant species were investigated. Based on the hyperspectral measurements, spectral characteristics as well as vegetation indices were analysed with the ANOVA statistical test. This indicated a varied resistance to trampling of the studied plant species. The analysis of vegetation indices enabled the selection of those groups which are the most useful for research into mountain vegetation condition: the broadband greenness group; the narrowband greenness group, measuring chlorophyll content and cell structure; and the canopy water content group. The results of the analyses show that vegetation of the High Tatras is characterised by optimal ranges of remote sensing indices. Only plants located nearest to the trails were in a worse condition (chlorophyll and water content was lower for the reference targets). These differences are statistically significant, but the measured values indicate a good condition of vegetation along trampled trails, within the range of optimum plant characteristics.
Digital Cultural Heritage Roadmap for Preservation
Authors: Fresa Antonella
Published: February 2014

The amount of data produced by the Cultural Heritage sector is continually increasing thanks to the numerous initiatives put in place by the cultural institutions for the digitization of their content. This process has also been accelerated by the emergence of cultural portals including regional, national and thematic portals and the European cultural portal Europeana. The Digital Cultural Heritage (DCH) sector also has the challenge of the complexity of the information itself. This is because of the relationship that each cultural object has with the collections it is part of, with the memory institutions where it is held, with the other objects of the same nature and/or culturally connected with it, and the many other types of relationships that represent the real scientific value of the digitised cultural object (be it a book, an archival record, an artefact from a museum, a sound recording or a video). Further, the investment in the production of the digital cultural heritage data is extremely high because the description of each object requires the human intervention of experts in the sector in order to associate the necessary metadata. Automatic extraction of knowledge (metadata) from the digital representation of cultural items is still far from being at a production level. It is not yet commonly available or seamless to the cultural institutions that are engaged in the digitisation of their collections. In addition to the DCH content that derive from digitisation processes applied to the tangible heritage, also born digital cultural heritage is more and more a reality, particularly in the artistic scenario. Plastic artists are commonly using 3D modelling for their studies. Architects, writers, multimedia artists, graphic designers and almost all other artistic expressions produce data that need to be preserved for the researchers of today and for the future generations. Digital cultural data is therefore extremely precious and its preservation is more and more an imperative priority. This paper intends to discuss these matters in the light of the ongoing work carried out by the DCH-RP project ( www.dch-rp.eu ) funded by the European Commission.
e-Learning for College Physics: Bridging Knowledge Gap in Science
Authors: Koh Hock Lye , Teh Su Yean
Published: February 2014

E-learning technology has evolved to become a robust tool for complementing traditional face-to-face knowledge delivery in Teaching and Learning (T&L). Confident in the capability of this technological advancement, the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education has mandated that by year 2015 all universities must have the capacity to deliver 30% of T&L via e-learning. Significant resources are allocated to empower research and implementation towards the attainment of this aspiration. The choice of general physics at the pre-U level as the domain of e-learning appears promising. This paper presents the implementation of a suite of e-learning modules within the framework of blended learning for pre-U general physics. General physics at the pre-U level provides an important knowledge interface and linkage between high-school and university science curriculum. Success at this entrance level would pave the way to better knowledge attainment and dissemination at higher levels in subsequent years.
Web Application for Measuring Learners' Knowledge of English Syntax: Analyzing the Relationship between Mouse Trajectories and Learners' Understanding
Authors: Zushi Mitsumasa , Miyazaki Yoshinori , Norizuki Ken
Published: February 2014

A major goal of this study is to provide a practical Web application for English word-reordering problems that records and reproduces learners' mouse trajectories. The authors believe that trajectories include useful clues to the nature of learners' processes for solving problems, including any hesitation they may experience in completing a task. In this paper, we will introduce the Web application we have developed so far and discuss ways in which to analyse the recorded mouse trajectories, such as the numbers of U-turns and drag and drops, in relation to the scores and newly incorporated ‘degree of confidence’ parameter. Empirical findings and statistical, correlation analysis from two experiments will support the conclusion that the mouse trajectories help to reflect learners' understanding more accurately than when their understanding is measured merely by their scores (that is, measured merely by their percentage of correct answers). It is our hope that the system will be applied as a tool for on-site teachers to develop their teaching strategies.
The Three Laws of Thought, Plus One: The Law of Comparisons
Authors: Saaty Thomas
Published: February 2014

The rules of logic are nearly 2500 years old and date back to Plato and Aristotle who set down the three laws of thought: identity, non-contradiction, and excluded middle. The use of language and logic has been adequate for us to develop mathematics, prove theorems, and create scientific knowledge. However, the laws of thought are incomplete. We need to extend our logical system by adding to the very old laws of thought an essential yet poorly understood law. It is a necessary law of thought that resides in our biology even deeper than the other three laws. It is related to the rudiments of how we as living beings, and even nonliving things, respond to influences as stimuli. It helps us discriminate between being ourselves and sensing that there is something else that is not ourselves that even amoebas seem to know. It is the intrinsic ability to sense and distinguish. This fourth law is the law of comparisons. Although it has been missing from our logical deductions it underlies the other three laws of thought because without it we cannot know what is and what is not.
R-Based Software for the Integration of Pathway Data into Bioinformatic Algorithms
Authors: Kramer Frank , Bayerlová Michaela , Beißbarth Tim
Published: February 2014

Putting new findings into the context of available literature knowledge is one approach to deal with the surge of high-throughput data results. Furthermore, prior knowledge can increase the performance and stability of bioinformatic algorithms, for example, methods for network reconstruction. In this review, we examine software packages for the statistical computing framework R, which enable the integration of pathway data for further bioinformatic analyses. Different approaches to integrate and visualize pathway data are identified and packages are stratified concerning their features according to a number of different aspects: data import strategies, the extent of available data, dependencies on external tools, integration with further analysis steps and visualization options are considered. A total of 12 packages integrating pathway data are reviewed in this manuscript. These are supplemented by five R-specific packages for visualization and six connector packages, which provide access to external tools.
Reconstructing Protein Structures by Neural Network Pairwise Interaction Fields and Iterative Decoy Set Construction
Authors: Mirabello Claudio , Adelfio Alessandro , Pollastri Gianluca
Published: February 2014

Predicting the fold of a protein from its amino acid sequence is one of the grand problems in computational biology. While there has been progress towards a solution, especially when a protein can be modelled based on one or more known structures (templates), in the absence of templates, even the best predictions are generally much less reliable. In this paper, we present an approach for predicting the three-dimensional structure of a protein from the sequence alone, when templates of known structure are not available. This approach relies on a simple reconstruction procedure guided by a novel knowledge-based evaluation function implemented as a class of artificial neural networks that we have designed: Neural Network Pairwise Interaction Fields (NNPIF). This evaluation function takes into account the contextual information for each residue and is trained to identify native-like conformations from non-native-like ones by using large sets of decoys as a training set. The training set is generated and then iteratively expanded during successive folding simulations. As NNPIF are fast at evaluating conformations, thousands of models can be processed in a short amount of time, and clustering techniques can be adopted for model selection. Although the results we present here are very preliminary, we consider them to be promising, with predictions being generated at state-of-the-art levels in some of the cases.
Molecular Dynamics Simulations Capture the Misfolding of the Bovine Prion Protein at Acidic pH
Authors: Cheng Chin , Daggett Valerie
Published: February 2014

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that is transmissible to humans and that is currently incurable. BSE is caused by the prion protein (PrP), which adopts two conformers; PrPC is the native innocuous form, which is α-helix rich; and PrPSc is the β-sheet rich misfolded form, which is infectious and forms neurotoxic species. Acidic pH induces the conversion of PrPC to PrPSc. We have performed molecular dynamics simulations of bovine PrP at various pH regimes. An acidic pH environment induced conformational changes that were not observed in neutral pH simulations. Putative misfolded structures, with nonnative β-strands formed in the flexible N-terminal domain, were found in acidic pH simulations. Two distinct pathways were observed for the formation of nonnative β-strands: at low pH, hydrophobic contacts with M129 nucleated the nonnative β-strand; at mid-pH, polar contacts involving Q168 and D178 facilitated the formation of a hairpin at the flexible N-terminus. These mid- and low pH simulations capture the process of nonnative β-strand formation, thereby improving our understanding of how PrPC misfolds into the β-sheet rich PrPSc and how pH factors into the process.
Circulating Tumor Cells Detection and Counting in Uveal Melanomas by a Filtration-Based Method
Authors: Mazzini Cinzia , Pinzani Pamela , Salvianti Francesca , Scatena Cristian , Paglierani Milena , Ucci Francesca , Pazzagli Mario , Massi Daniela
Published: February 2014

Uveal melanoma is one of the most deadly diseases in ophthalmology for which markers able to predict the appearance of metastasis are needed. The study investigates the role of circulating tumor cells (CTC) as a prognostic factor in this disease. We report the detection of circulating tumor cells by Isolation by Size of Epithelial Tumor cells (ISET) in a cohort of 31 uveal melanoma patients: we identified single CTCs or clusters of cells in 17 patients, while the control population, subjects with choroidal nevi, showed no CTC in peripheral blood. The presence of CTCs did not correlate with any clinical and pathological parameter, such as tumor larger basal diameter (LBD), tumor height and TNM. By stratifying patients in groups on the basis of the number of CTC (lower or higher than 10 CTC per 10 mL blood) and the presence of CTC clusters we found a significant difference in LBD (p = 0.019), Tumor height (p = 0.048), disease-free and overall survival (p < 0.05). In conclusion, we confirm the role of CTC as a negative prognostic marker in uveal melanoma patients after a long follow-up period. Further characterization of CTC will help understanding uveal melanoma metastasization and improve patient management.
HspB1, HspB5 and HspB4 in Human Cancers: Potent Oncogenic Role of Some of Their Client Proteins
Authors: Arrigo André-Patrick , Gibert Benjamin
Published: February 2014

Human small heat shock proteins are molecular chaperones that regulate fundamental cellular processes in normal unstressed cells as well as in many cancer cells where they are over-expressed. These proteins are characterized by cell physiology dependent changes in their oligomerization and phosphorylation status. These structural changes allow them to interact with many different client proteins that subsequently display modified activity and/or half-life. Nowdays, the protein interactomes of small Hsps are under intense investigations and will represent, when completed, key parameters to elaborate therapeutic strategies aimed at modulating the functions of these chaperones. Here, we have analyzed the potential pro-cancerous roles of several client proteins that have been described so far to interact with HspB1 (Hsp27) and its close members HspB5 (αB-crystallin) and HspB4 (αA-crystallin).
STAT3 Activation in Glioblastoma: Biochemical and Therapeutic Implications
Authors: Kim Jennifer , Patel Mira , Ruzevick Jacob , Jackson Christopher , Lim Michael
Published: February 2014

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a potent regulator of gliomagenesis through its induction of angiogenesis, host immunosuppression, and tumor invasion. Gain of function mutations result in constitutive activation of STAT3 in glioma cells, making STAT3 an attractive target for inhibition in cancer therapy. Nevertheless, some studies show that STAT3 also participates in terminal differentiation and apoptosis of various cell lines and in glioma with phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)-deficient genetic backgrounds. In light of these findings, the utility of STAT3 as a prognostic indicator and as a target of drug therapies will be contingent on a more nuanced understanding of its pro- and anti-tumorigenic effects.
Biodiversity of the Hypersaline Urmia Lake National Park (NW Iran)
Authors: Asem Alireza , Eimanifar Amin , Djamali Morteza , De los Rios Patricio , Wink Michael
Published: February 2014

Urmia Lake, with a surface area between 4000 to 6000 km2, is a hypersaline lake located in northwest Iran. It is the saltiest large lake in the world that supports life. Urmia Lake National Park is the home of an almost endemic crustacean species known as the brine shrimp, Artemia urmiana. Other forms of life include several species of algae, bacteria, microfungi, plants, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. As a consequence of this unique biodiversity, this lake has been selected as one of the 59 biosphere reserves by UNESCO. This paper provides a comprehensive species checklist that needs to be updated by additional research in the future.
Robust Control of a Class of Uncertain Fractional-Order Chaotic Systems with Input Nonlinearity via an Adaptive Sliding Mode Technique
Authors: Tian Xiaomin , Fei Shumin
Published: February 2014

In this paper, the problem of stabilizing a class of fractional-order chaotic systems with sector and dead-zone nonlinear inputs is investigated. The effects of model uncertainties and external disturbances are fully taken into account. Moreover, the bounds of both model uncertainties and external disturbances are assumed to be unknown in advance. To deal with the system’s nonlinear items and unknown bounded uncertainties, an adaptive fractional-order sliding mode (AFSM) controller is designed. Then, Lyapunov’s stability theory is used to prove the stability of the designed control scheme. Finally, two simulation examples are given to verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control approach.
Autonomous Search for a Diffusive Source in an Unknown Structured Environment
Authors: Ristic Branko , Skvortsov Alex , Walker Andrew
Published: February 2014

The paper presents a framework for autonomous search for a diffusive emitting source of a tracer (e.g., aerosol, gas) in an environment with an unknown map of randomly placed and shaped obstacles. The measurements of the tracer concentration are sporadic, noisy and without directional information. The search domain is discretised and modelled by a finite two-dimensional lattice. The links in the lattice represent the traversable paths for emitted particles and for the searcher. A missing link in the lattice indicates a blocked path due to an obstacle. The searcher must simultaneously estimate the source parameters, the map of the search domain and its own location within the map. The solution is formulated in the sequential Bayesian framework and implemented as a Rao-Blackwellised particle filter with entropy-reduction motion control. The numerical results demonstrate the concept and its performance.
Nanofibrillated Cellulose (NFC): A High-Value Co-Product that Improves the Economics of Cellulosic Ethanol Production
Authors: Song Qiong , Winter William , Bujanovic Biljana , Amidon Thomas
Published: February 2014

Cellulosic ethanol is a sustainable alternative to petroleum as a transportation fuel, which could be made biologically from agricultural and forestry residues, municipal waste, or herbaceous and woody crops. Instead of putting efforts on steps overcoming the natural resistance of plants to biological breakdown, our study proposes a unique pathway to improve the outcome of the process by co-producing high-value nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC), offering a new economic leverage for cellulosic ethanol to compete with fossil fuels in the near future. In this study, glucose has been produced by commercial enzymes while the residual solids are converted into NFC via sonification. Here, we report the morphology of fibers changed through the process and yield of glucose in the enzymatic hydrolysis step.
An FMEA-Based Risk Assessment Approach for Wind Turbine Systems: A Comparative Study of Onshore and Offshore
Authors: Shafiee Mahmood , Dinmohammadi Fateme
Published: February 2014

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) has been extensively used by wind turbine assembly manufacturers for analyzing, evaluating and prioritizing potential/known failure modes. However, several limitations are associated with its practical implementation in wind farms. First, the Risk-Priority-Number (RPN) of a wind turbine system is not informative enough for wind farm managers from the perspective of criticality; second, there are variety of wind turbines with different structures and hence, it is not correct to compare the RPN values of different wind turbines with each other for prioritization purposes; and lastly, some important economical aspects such as power production losses, and the costs of logistics and transportation are not taken into account in the RPN value. In order to overcome these drawbacks, we develop a mathematical tool for risk and failure mode analysis of wind turbine systems (both onshore and offshore) by integrating the aspects of traditional FMEA and some economic considerations. Then, a quantitative comparative study is carried out using the traditional and the proposed FMEA methodologies on two same type of onshore and offshore wind turbine systems. The results show that the both systems face many of the same risks, however there are some main differences worth considering.
Development and Field Test of Voltage VAR Optimization in the Korean Smart Distribution Management System
Authors: Yun Sang-Yun , Hwang Pyeong-Ik , Moon Seung-Il , Kwon Seong-Chul , Song Il-Keun , Choi Joon-Ho
Published: February 2014

This paper is a summary of the development and demonstration of an optimization program, voltage VAR optimization (VVO), in the Korean Smart Distribution Management System (KSDMS). KSDMS was developed to address the lack of receptivity of distributed generators (DGs), standardization and compatibility, and manual failure recovery in the existing Korean automated distribution system. Focusing on the lack of receptivity of DGs, we developed a real-time system analysis and control program. The KSDMS VVO enhances manual system operation of the existing distribution system and provides a solution with all control equipment operated at a system level. The developed VVO is an optimal power flow (OPF) method that resolves violations, minimizes switching costs, and minimizes loss, and its function can vary depending on the operator’s command. The sequential mixed integer linear programming (SMILP) method was adopted to find the solution of the OPF. We tested the precision of the proposed VVO on selected simulated systems and its applicability to actual systems at two substations on the Jeju Island. Running the KSDMS VVO on a regular basis improved system stability, and it also raised no issues regarding its applicability to actual systems.
Perceptions of Community Health Workers (CHWs/PS) in the U.S.-Mexico Border HEART CVD Study
Authors: Balcazar Hector , Wise Sherrie , Redelfs Alisha , Rosenthal E. , De Heer Hendrik , Burgos Ximena , Duarte-Gardea Maria
Published: February 2014

Although prior research has shown that Community Health Workers/Promotores de Salud (CHW/PS) can facilitate access to care, little is known about how CHW/PS are perceived in their community. The current study reports the findings of a randomized telephone survey conducted in a high-risk urban community environment along the U.S.-Mexico border. In preparation for a community-based CHW/PS intervention called the HEART ecological study, the survey aimed to assess perceptions of CHW/PS, availability and utilization of community resources (recreational and nutrition related) and health behaviors and intentions. A total of 7,155 calls were placed to complete 444 surveys in three zip codes in El Paso, Texas. Results showed that participants felt that healthful community resources were available, but utilization was low and variable: 35% reported going to a park, 20% reported having taken a health class, few reported using a gym (12%), recreation center (8%), or YMCA/YWCA (0.9%). Awareness and utilization of CHW/PS services were low: 20% of respondents had heard of CHW/PS, with 8% reporting previous exposure to CHW/PS services. Upon review of a definition of CHW/PS, respondents expressed positive views of CHW/PS and their value in the healthcare system. Respondents who had previous contact with a CHW/PS reported a significantly more positive perception of the usefulness of CHW/PS (p = 0.006), were more likely to see CHW/PS as an important link between providers and patients (p = 0.008), and were more likely to ask a CHW/PS for help (p = 0.009). Participants who utilized CHW/PS services also had significantly healthier intentions to reduce fast food intake. Future research is needed to evaluate if CHW/PS can facilitate utilization of available community resources such as recreational facilities among Hispanic border residents at risk for CVD.
Predicting the Function of 4-Coumarate:CoA Ligase (LJ4CL1) in Lonicera japonica
Authors: Yuan Yuan , Yu Shulin , Yu Jun , Zhan Zhilai , Li Minhui , Liu Guiming , Wang Xumin , Huang Luqi
Published: February 2014

4-Coumarate:CoA ligases (4CLs) are a group of essential enzymes involved in the pathway of phenylpropanoid-derived compound metabolisms; however it is still difficult to identify orthologs and paralogs of these important enzymes just based on sequence similarity of the conserved domains. Using sequence data of 20 plant species from the public databases and sequences from Lonicera japonica, we define 1252 adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-dependent synthetase/ligase sequences and classify them into three phylogenetic clades. 4CLs are in one of the four subgroups, according to their partitioning, with known proteins characterized in A. thaliana and Oryza sativa. We also defined 184 non-redundant sequences that encode proteins containing the GEICIRG motif and the taxonomic distribution of these GEICIRG-containing proteins suggests unique catalytic activities in plants. We further analyzed their transcription levels in L. japonica and L. japonica. var. chinensis flowers and chose the highest expressed genes representing the subgroups for structure and binding site predictions. Coupled with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis of the L. japonica flowers, the structural study on putative substrate binding amino acid residues, ferulate, and 4-coumaric acid of the conserved binding-site of LJ4CL1 leads to a conclusion that this highly expressed protein group in the flowers may process 4-coumarate that represents 90% of the known phenylpropanoid-derived compounds. The activity of purified crude LJ4CL1 protein was analyzed using 4-coumarate as template and high activity indicating that 4-coumarate is one of the substrates of LJ4CL1.
Wear Debris Characterization and Corresponding Biological Response: Artificial Hip and Knee Joints
Authors: Nine Md , Choudhury Dipankar , Hee Ay , Mootanah Rajshree , Osman Noor
Published: February 2014

Wear debris, of deferent sizes, shapes and quantities, generated in artificial hip and knees is largely confined to the bone and joint interface. This debris interacts with periprosthetic tissue and may cause aseptic loosening. The purpose of this review is to summarize and collate findings of the recent demonstrations on debris characterization and their biological response that influences the occurrence in implant migration. A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature is performed, based on inclusion and exclusion criteria addressing mainly debris isolation, characterization, and biologic responses. Results show that debris characterization largely depends on their appropriate and accurate isolation protocol. The particles are found to be non-uniform in size and non-homogeneously distributed into the periprosthetic tissues. In addition, the sizes, shapes, and volumes of the particles are influenced by the types of joints, bearing geometry, material combination, and lubricant. Phagocytosis of wear debris is size dependent; high doses of submicron-sized particles induce significant level of secretion of bone resorbing factors. However, articles on wear debris from engineered surfaces (patterned and coated) are lacking. The findings suggest considering debris morphology as an important parameter to evaluate joint simulator and newly developed implant materials.
Nanocomposite Electrospun Nanofiber Membranes for Environmental Remediation
Authors: Homaeigohar Shahin , Elbahri Mady
Published: February 2014

Rapid worldwide industrialization and population growth is going to lead to an extensive environmental pollution. Therefore, so many people are currently suffering from the water shortage induced by the respective pollution, as well as poor air quality and a huge fund is wasted in the world each year due to the relevant problems. Environmental remediation necessitates implementation of novel materials and technologies, which are cost and energy efficient. Nanomaterials, with their unique chemical and physical properties, are an optimum solution. Accordingly, there is a strong motivation in seeking nano-based approaches for alleviation of environmental problems in an energy efficient, thereby, inexpensive manner. Thanks to a high porosity and surface area presenting an extraordinary permeability (thereby an energy efficiency) and selectivity, respectively, nanofibrous membranes are a desirable candidate. Their functionality and applicability is even promoted when adopting a nanocomposite strategy. In this case, specific nanofillers, such as metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, precious metals, and smart biological agents, are incorporated either during electrospinning or in the post-processing. Moreover, to meet operational requirements, e.g., to enhance mechanical stability, decrease of pressure drop, etc., nanofibrous membranes are backed by a microfibrous non-woven forming a hybrid membrane. The novel generation of nanocomposite/hybrid nanofibrous membranes can perform extraordinarily well in environmental remediation and control. This reality justifies authoring of this review paper.
Dynamics of Microvalve Operations in Integrated Microfluidics
Authors: Lau Alan , Yip Hon , Ng Kathy , Cui Xin , Lam Raymond
Published: February 2014

Pneumatic microvalves are widely used key components for automating liquid manipulation and flow control in microfluidics for more than one decade. Due to their robust operations and the ease of fabrication, tremendous microfluidic systems have been developed with the multiple microvalves for higher throughput and extended functionalities. Therefore, operation performance of the microvalves in the integrated microfluidic devices is crucial to the related applications, in fields such as micro-flows, cell analyses, drug discovery, and physical/chemical detections. It has been reported that operation performance of the microvalves are highly sensitive to the device configuration and pressurization scheme. This implies the further development of integrated microfluidics with a larger number of the valves may suffer the problems of undetermined microvalve behaviors during operations, which can become an unavoidable hurdle in the device design and optimization processes. Herein, we characterize responses of the individual microvalves for different operation configurations, e.g., membrane thicknesses and driving pressures. We investigate also the effects in microfluidics integrated with the more valves, through experiments, modeling and simulations. We show that dynamics of the microvalves is indeed influenced by the configurations, levels of design complexity and positions in the devices. Overall, taken dynamics of the microvalve responses into considerations, this work provides insights and guidelines for better designs of integrated microfluidics for the future applications requiring higher throughput and improved operation performance.
Use of EST-SSR Markers for Evaluating Genetic Diversity and Fingerprinting Celery (Apium graveolens L.) Cultivars
Authors: Fu Nan , Wang Ping-Yong , Liu Xiao-Dan , Shen Huo-lin
Published: February 2014

Celery (Apium graveolens L.) is one of the most economically important vegetables worldwide, but genetic and genomic resources supporting celery molecular breeding are quite limited, thus few studies on celery have been conducted so far. In this study we made use of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers generated from previous celery transcriptome sequencing and attempted to detect the genetic diversity and relationships of commonly used celery accessions and explore the efficiency of the primers used for cultivars identification. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) of Apium graveolens L. var. dulce showed that approximately 43% of genetic diversity was within accessions, 45% among accessions, and 22% among horticultural types. The neighbor-joining tree generated by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), and population structure analysis, as well as principal components analysis (PCA), separated the cultivars into clusters corresponding to the geographical areas where they originated. Genetic distance analysis suggested that genetic variation within Apium graveolens was quite limited. Genotypic diversity showed any combinations of 55 genic SSRs were able to distinguish the genotypes of all 30 accessions.
Caffeine Reduces Reaction Time and Improves Performance in Simulated-Contest of Taekwondo
Authors: Santos Victor , Santos Vander , Felippe Leandro , Almeida Jr. Jose , Bertuzzi Rômulo , Kiss Maria , Lima-Silva Adriano
Published: February 2014

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of caffeine on reaction time during a specific taekwondo task and athletic performance during a simulated taekwondo contest. Ten taekwondo athletes ingested either 5 mg·kg−1 body mass caffeine or placebo and performed two combats (spaced apart by 20 min). The reaction-time test (five kicks “Bandal Tchagui”) was performed immediately prior to the first combat and immediately after the first and second combats. Caffeine improved reaction time (from 0.42 ± 0.05 to 0.37 ± 0.07 s) only prior to the first combat (P = 0.004). During the first combat, break times during the first two rounds were shorter in caffeine ingestion, followed by higher plasma lactate concentrations compared with placebo (P = 0.029 and 0.014, respectively). During the second combat, skipping-time was reduced, and relative attack times and attack/skipping ratio was increased following ingestion of caffeine during the first two rounds (all P < 0.05). Caffeine resulted in no change in combat intensity parameters between the first and second combat (all P > 0.05), but combat intensity was decreased following placebo (all P < 0.05). In conclusion, caffeine reduced reaction time in non-fatigued conditions and delayed fatigue during successive taekwondo combats.
Auxin and Cell Wall Invertase Related Signaling during Rice Grain Development
Authors: French Sarah , Abu-Zaitoon Yousef , Uddin Md. , Bennett Karina , Nonhebel Heather
Published: February 2014

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) synthesis is required for grain-fill in maize and appears to be regulated by cell-wall invertase (CWIN) activity. OsYUC12 is one of three IAA biosynthesis genes we previously reported as expressed during early rice grain development, correlating with a large increase in IAA content of the grain. This work aimed to investigate further the role of OsYUC12 and its relationship to CWIN activity and invertase inhibitors (INVINH). The analysis shows a brief peak of OsYUC12 expression early in endosperm development. Meta-analysis of microarray data, confirmed by quantitative expression analysis, revealed that OsYUC12 is coexpressed with OsIAA29, which encodes an unusual AUX/IAA transcription factor previously reported as poorly expressed. Maximum expression of OsYUC12 and OsIAA29 coincided with maximum CWIN activity, but also with a peak in INVINH expression. Unlike ZmYUC1, OsYUC12 expression is not reduced in the rice CWIN mutant, gif1. Several reports have investigated CWIN expression in rice grains but none has reported on expression of INVINH in this species. We show that rice has 54 genes encoding putative invertase/pectin methylesterase inhibitors, seven of which are expressed exclusively during grain development. Our results suggest a more complex relationship between IAA, CWIN, and INVINH than previously proposed.
Biobased Contents of Natural Rubber Model Compound and Its Separated Constituents
Authors: Kunioka Masao , Taguchi Kazuhiro , Ninomiya Fumi , Nakajima Mari , Saito Akira , Araki Shunji
Published: February 2014

Production of rubber products with biobased constituents from biomass resources is desirable for conserving our planet’s limited resources and preventing global warming. Herein, a natural rubber model compound was produced to determine the biobased contents as per various indices for calculating the amount of biomass resources used in rubber products. The biobased mass and biobased carbon contents of the natural rubber model compound were 38.7% and 39.2%, respectively, which were calculated from the feed amounts of the constituents as per the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/the draft of International Standard (DIS) 16620-2 and 16620-4. The model compound was separated into its constituents such as polymer, additive, carbon black, and zinc oxide using ISO 1407, 4650, 7720-2, and 9924-3. The biobased carbon content of this model compound was 37.6%, calculated from the percent of modern carbon (pMC), which was measured directly using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The calculated values for this model compound agreed with those calculated from the feed amounts of the constituents. Thus, it was confirmed that these calculation and determination methods of the biobased mass and the biobased carbon contents for rubber products should be published as new ISO international standards after a discussion at technical committee 45, “rubber and rubber products” to evaluate rubber products with larger biobased contents of natural rubber and other biobased ingredients.
Saint Anselm of Canterbury and Charismatic Authority
Authors: Aird William
Published: February 2014

The early career of Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033–1109) provides an opportunity to explore the operation of charismatic authority in a monastic setting. It is argued that the choice of Anselm for the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury in 1093 was the result of his growing reputation cultivated during his years as prior and abbot of the influential Norman monastery of Bec. The article explores various aspects of Anselm’s charismatic authority including his performance of charisma, the charisma derived from his fame as a scholar, and his reputation as a miracle-working holy man.