bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The effect of social motives, communication and group size on behaviour in an N‐person multi‐stage mixed‐motive game
Authors: Liebrand Wim B. G.
Published: May 2007

Two experiments investigated the impact of social motives or individuals' preferences for specific self—other outcome distributions, on behaviour in an n‐person game. Subjects' social motives (altruistic, cooperative, individualistic, competitive) were assessed prior to the decision‐making in either 7‐person games (Experiment 1) or 20‐person games (Experiment 2). A modification of the n‐person game format normally employed is introduced in this research to permit the choices made by players on a given trial to modify the payoff matrix available to self and others on subsequent trials. The game format, a simulated social dilemma, was presented in terms of a conservation of resources problem. In Experiment 1 communication opportunities were manipulated.

As predicted, there were consistent differences between the four classes of social motivation in the amount of the resources taken for self competitive subjects took the most, individualistic subjects took less than the competitive ones but more than the average, while cooperative and altruistic subjects took the smallest amount of the resources for themselves. Moreover, competitive subjects expected the others to take fewer resources than they intended to themselves, and altruistic subjects expected the others to take more resources than they intended to themselves. These findings are only partly consistent with existing theories concerning the relationship between behaviour and expected behaviour of others.

In addition, when communication was allowed, significantly fewer resources were taken for self Contrary to the predictions based on previous research findings, subjects in the 20‐person groups did not take more resources for self than subjects in the 7‐person groups.
Variability in payoff disbursement in coalition formation experiments
Authors: Rapoport Amnon
Published: May 2007

Results from 680 plays, gathered in four different 3‐person characteristic function game experiments, are summarized to show that there is considerable inter‐group variability in payoff disbursement in coalition formation experiments that does not decrease with practice. This Variability is inconsistent with models predicting unique payoff vectors, one for each coalition structure. Data from a 3‐person game experiment by Komorita and Kravitz are then employed to test and corroborate a recently proposed model, which predicts a range of payoff vectors in which each point depends on a single parameter interpretable as a standard of fairness.
Actor or victim of aggression: Divergent perspectives—divergent evaluations
Authors: Mummendey Amélie , Linneweber Volker , Löschper Gabi
Published: May 2007

The present study investigated the general assumption of perspective‐specific dissent between actor and victim in evaluating aggressive interactions. Four experimental designs were established to test the relation of evaluations between (a) actor versus victim when judging a single act, (b) initiator versus reactor when judging action and reaction, and (c) actor as well as recipient when judging own versus other's behaviour. Results of 2 × 2 ANOVAs supported the hypotheses showing a consistently more favourable evaluation of identical actions by actors versus recipients with respect to the dependent variable ‘appropriateness’. For the second dependent variable ‘aggressiveness’ differences were not significant.
The eliciting cue value of aggressive slides reconsidered in a personological perspective: The weapons effect and irritability
Authors: Caprara G. V. , Renzi P. , Amolini P. , D'Imperio G. , Travaglia G.
Published: May 2007

A study was conducted, according to a 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 design and using the Buss aggression machine paradigm, to investigate the aggression‐eliciting properties of slides of firearms.

One hundred and twenty highly irritable and 120 low irritable subjects, equally divided between males and females, were given the opportunity to deliver electric shocks to an experimental confederate after having been randomly assigned to one of the six different conditions resulting from presence versus absence of previous instigation to aggress and from exposure to aggressive slides versus exposure to non‐aggressive slides versus non‐exposure to slides.

It was found that aggressive cues, were sufficient per se to increase subsequent aggressive behaviours in observers, whether or not previously instigated to aggress. While sex differences did not seem to play any relevant role, the importance of irritability was stressed, especially where exposure to aggressive slides followed a previous instigation to aggress.
Personal relationships: Remarks on the current state of research
Authors: Mikula Gerold
Published: May 2007

This article evaluates the present state of research on personal relationships on the basis of a selection of recently published books. After shortly sketching the historical development of socio‐psychological research on interpersonal attraction and relationships, eight volumes dealing with relationships are reviewed and salient conceptual, methodological, and theoretical trends in recent research are discussed.
Social‐consensual conceptions concerning the progress of aggressive interactions
Authors: Mummendey Amélie , Löschper Gabi , Linneweber Volker , Bornewasser Manfred
Published: May 2007

The present study investigated social consensual conceptions concerning the appropriateness relation between an initiative aggressive action and the reaction to it. To this end subjects were asked to choose between four configurations of mediatory information between B's initial act and A's reaction (i.e. ‘A's offence at B's behaviour’, ‘inappropriateness of B's behaviour’, ‘A's personal standards’, ‘A's fear of negative consequences’), so as to combine identical initial acts with incompatible reactions (i.e. ‘escalation’, ‘breaking’ of, and ‘compensation’) into meaningful episodes.

The statistical procedure used, configural frequency analysis, shows that as compared with the number of theoretically possible configurations, very few were selected by subjects (with a high degree of unanimaty) as being specific to a particular type of reaction.

Apparently subjects have definite and uniform conceptions about the appropriateness of incompatible reactions to certain aggressive actions in interpersonal conflicts.
Attribution theories of lay epistemology?
Authors: Effler Manfred
Published: May 2007

Different attribution theories differ from each other less by their relation to different epistemic problems than by their taking account of different goals to which causal attributions can be functional. The process of causal attribution is influenced by the goals to which causal attributions are functional. A second criteria for differentiating attributions theories is that they proceed from different information bases.
Contents, logic and motivation in the process of knowledge acquisition: A reply to Effier
Authors: Kruglanski Arie W.
Published: May 2007

Effler's recent criticisms of the lay‐epistemic model are considered. It is argued that various attributional models indeed address various attributional goals but this is because of (and not instead of) their concern with different attributional problems. Furthermore, while some attributional models deal with causal dimensions rather than with specific causes, and/or attend to the influences of important human needs this does not satisfactorily establish the non‐arbitrary character of goals featured in those models. Finally, while noncommon deducibility constitutes a principle applicable only to a multi‐propositional problem rather than universally, logic, motivation and cognitive contents enter conjunctively into the process of human inference. This view is juxtaposed to the suggestion that they represent disjunctive strategies of inference on which the knower may draw in various circumstances.
Re‐evaluation of decision alternatives dependent upon the reversibility of a decision and the passage of time
Authors: Frey Dieter , Kumpf Martin , Irle Martin , Gniech Gisla
Published: May 2007

In the present experiment subjects made a decision between two alternatives which was either reversible or irreversible. After the choice, subjects evaluated the attractiveness of both alternatives once more under different time levels. It was found that with increasing time level, re‐evaluation of alternatives increased under irreversible and decreased under reversible conditions. The results are discussed in the framework of dissonance theory.
Children's understanding of motives for deception
Authors: Webley Paul , Burke Margaret
Published: May 2007

This study examines the problem of why some motives are understood at an earlier age than others. Currently, the accepted explanation for this is that general cognitive level constrains children's reasoning in the social domain. An alternative explanation is that an important process in understanding others is projection. To investigate this young boys and girls from two age groups were presented with cartoon stories depicting situations involving altruistic deception and self‐centred deception. Pairs of matched cartoon stories, each of which came in two versions, differing only in motive type were constructed. As predicted, self‐centred deception was understood earlier than altruistic deception. These results are congruent with the idea that the underlying process in understanding others is projection.
What people think about an unjust event: Toward a better understanding of the phenomenology of experiences of injustice
Authors: Mikula Gerold , Schlamberger Klaus
Published: May 2007

This article reports on an initial attempt to improve our knowledge of the cognitive processes which are elicited by the perception of an unjust event. High school students were given a story describing an unfair treatment of a student by his teacher and were asked to place themselves either in the role of the unfairly treated student or in that of a non‐affected fellow‐student. They were then asked to write down all questions and thoughts coming to their minds in the described situation. The reported questions and thoughts were classified into three categories: attributions, action‐oriented thoughts, and assessments and evaluations. Statistical analyses of the frequencies and the temporal sequence of occurrence of these categories of responses revealed that victims of an unjust event reported attributions and action‐related thoughts more frequently and in an earlier position than non‐affected observers. Assessments and evaluations, on the other hand, were more frequently reported by observers than by victims.
Children's ideas about the bank: A new zealand replication
Authors: Ng Sik Hung
Published: May 2007

A Hong Kong study by Ng (1983) showed that the development of the understanding of bank interest and profit was essentially similar to that of a Scottish sample reported by Jahoda (1981). It also uncovered two minor stages in addition to Jahoda's six. The present study confirmed the presence of these two stages as well as the others; and, like the Scottish sample, showed a New Zealand ‘lag’ behind Hong Kong.
Cognitive representation of personal stereotypes
Authors: Berninger Virginia Wise , Desoto Clinton
Published: May 2007

A production task analogue of the traditional multiple choice trait checklist method was used to investigate stereotypes. Subjects were asked to supply rather than to select the most characteristic attributes of specified social groups. In a departure from tradition, stability of the content of stereotypes was analysed for personal stereotypes held by individuals rather than for social stereotypes shared by a cultural group. In contrast to the widely held belief that social stereotypes are fixed and unchanging, personal stereotypes were found to be only moderately stable over time. Only about two‐fifths of the most characteristic attributes were duplicated in sessions separated by one week, and only about one‐fifth of the most Characteristic attributes were duplicated in sessions separated by one‐month or two‐month intervals. Findings also supported the notion that general attributes, most characteristic attributes, and least characteristic attributes of a social category are not totally redundant and are represented quasi‐independently in memory. Only about half of the most characteristic responses had also occurred on free response protocols and over half of the least characteristic responses tended not to be polar opposites of the most characteristic responses. It was the case, however, that with a production analogue of the multiple‐choice trait checklist, trait‐adjectives were the most frequent class of person information and accounted for between 50 and 60 per cent of the responses. However, eleven other classes of person information also occurred. Empirical results were applied toward a reexamination of the concepts of stereotype (data structure for the most characteristic attributes of a social group) and stereotyping (rigid procedures for processing data structures) and to a conceptual analysis of how stereotypes and social categories are structurally related.
Causes and affects under manipulated arousal and achievement‐related outcomes
Authors: Boski P.
Published: May 2007

A revised version of earlier models by Stephan and Gollwitzer, and Weiner, has been proposed to study the relations between cognitions and emotions in the achievement‐related contexts. Accordingly, factors classified along the arousal—relaxation dimension should modify the intensity of initial emotional response to the outcome, and the degree of egotism/positive evaluation in the pattern of causal attributions. Then, specific affective modalities are seen as joint products of the former cognitive—emotional interaction.

A 5 (arousal conditions) × 2 (outcomes) experiment was designed to test the model. 160 male undergraduates from University of Jos in Nigeria served as subjects.

Results have showed that the highly aroused subjects suppressed their negative emotions after failure, while the relaxed ones reported lower intensity of success‐related affects. The hypothesis of attributional egotism did not get support from the causal ascription data. The causal dimension of Evaluation was found to be a better predictor for affects than Locus was.
Social interaction, social observation, and cognitive development in young children
Authors: Weinstein Barry D. , Bearison David J.
Published: May 2007

Eighty first‐grade childen were pretested on a variety of conservation tasks. Subjects who were either nonconservers or intermediate conservers were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: social interaction, social observation, and individual control. Subjects in the social interaction condition worked collaboratively on conservation tasks with a same sex partner. Subjects in the social observation condition individually observed pairs of subjects working together and control subjects worked individually on conservation tasks. The purpose of the social observation condition was to control for the effects of task relevant information that was expressed during dyadic interactions. All subjects were individually post‐tested on conservation tasks that were the same form but different content than the pretest items.

Subjects in the social interaction condition had significantly greater cogntive change scores (post‐test less pretest) than subjects in the social observation and control conditions. There were no significant differences between change scores of subjects in the latter two conditions. Also, subjects in the social interaction condition gave significantly more novel explanations for conservation judgments than subjects in the social observation condition. These findings supported a socio‐cognitive conflict model of cognitive development in young children.
Group‐serving attributions across intergroup contexts: Cultural differences in the explanation of sex‐typed behaviours
Authors: Bond Michael H. , Hewstone Miles , Wan Kwok‐Choi , Chiu Chi‐Kwan
Published: May 2007

This research attempted to integrate Tajfel's (1978) social identity theory with self‐presentational concerns by exploring attributions about perceived group differences in behaviour. As such, it dealt with group‐level rather than individual‐level attributions, exploring whether bias in making such verbal attributions varied as a function of the interviewer's group identity and the presence of an ingroup audience. Undergraduate men and women at The Chinese University of Hong Kong rated the appropriateness of ingroup‐favouring and outgroup‐favouring explanations for male‐typed and female‐typed behaviors in a face‐to‐face interview. A group‐serving bias was found for female‐typed behaviours, but only when the same‐sex audience was absent. A conceptual replication of the experiment was run in the United States to examine the possible cultural basis for the Chinese moderation of favouritism in the audience condition. The group‐serving bias was more robust for the American undergraduates, extending across male‐ and female‐typed behaviours and also across audience conditions, It was argued that these cultural differences in attributional bias appear to reflect the strength of the movement for women's liberation and norms surrounding the avoidance of conflict in the United States and Hong Kong.
Individual differences in customer sociability
Authors: Hester Laura , Koger Pamela , McCauley Clark
Published: May 2007

Two studies examined the quality of clerk‐customer interactions. In the first study, customers in a mall were followed from one purchase to another and retest reliability of customer sociability was found to be 0.73. A second study of the same and another mall found a retest reliability of 0.56 for customer sociability and a correlation of 0.57 between sociability of different salespersons serving the same customer. These results indicate that the sociability of salesperson—customer interactions is determined by stable individual differences in customer sociability, and suggest that salespeople do better to echo than to escalate customer sociability.
Direct and indirect influence in the Asch paradigm: Effects of ‘valid’ or ‘denied’ information
Authors: Mugny Gabriel
Published: May 2007

In an experiment using the Asch paradigm, a source whose response was ‘denied’ (source younger than subjects, in an experiment context implying the development of visual acuity) was found to have less direct influence than a ‘validated’ source (older or same age as subjects), tending to specialize in a pattern of influence similar to the so‐called conversion phenomenon (i.e. direct influence only).
Unequal bit error probability in coherent QPSK fiber‐optic systems using phase modulator based transmitters
Authors: Zhao Hongxia , Agrell Erik , Karlsson Magnus
Published: May 2007

We report on the occurrence of unequal bit error probability in a coherent quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) fiber‐optic system. The bit error rates (BER) of two QPSK bits are derived individually based on the developed system model, and they turn out to differ by more than an order of magnitude for a phase modulator based transmitter. The phenomenon, previously unreported, arises because such a transmitter introduces a controlled form of inter‐symbol‐interference (ISI), and the receiver low‐pass filters affect this ISI differently for the two bits. The optimum bandwidth of the receiver low‐pass filter is obtained from the analytic derivation, which is about 0.7 times the symbol rate. We propose two simple system modifications, one in the transmitter and one in the receiver, to compensate for the phenomenon and equalize the two BER's. Those modifications improve the system performance by about 2 dB without adding any extra hardware. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Görtler vortices in Falkner–Skan flows with suction and blowing
Authors: Matsson O. John E.
Published: May 2007

In this paper, we use nonlinear calculations to study curved boundary‐layer flows with pressure gradients and self‐similar suction or blowing. For an accelerated outer flow, stabilization occurs in the linear region while the saturation amplitude of vortices is larger than for flows with a decelerating outer flow. The combined effects of boundary‐layer suction and a favourable pressure gradient can give a significant stabilization of the flow. Streamwise vortices can be amplified on both concave and convex walls for decelerated Falkner–Skan flow with an overshoot in the velocity profile. The disturbance amplitude is generally lower far downstream compared with profiles without overshoot. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Suicidality in middle aged and older patients with schizophrenia and depressive symptoms: relationship to functioning and Quality of Life
Authors: Kasckow J. , Montross L. , Golshan S. , Mohamed S. , Patterson T. , Sollanzano E. , Zisook S.
Published: May 2007

Background

Suicidality is a health concern in patients with schizophrenia. We examined the hypotheses: (1) Middle aged and older patients with schizophrenia, depressive symptoms and suicidality would exhibit worse quality of life and worse everyday functioning, social skills and medication management relative to those without suicidality; (2) higher levels of suicidality would be significantly associated with worse functioning, worse quality of life and older age.

Methods

We examined 146 outpatients with schizophrenia and depression. Patients were at least 40 years old and were diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and had two or more depressive symptoms based on DSM‐IV criteria for major depression. We assessed suicidality with the Intersept Suicide Scale (ISS) and functioning with the UCSD Performance‐based Skills Assessment (UPSA), Social Skills Performance Assessment (SSPA), and Medication Management Ability Assessment (MMAA). Quality of life was assessed with the Heinrichs Quality of Life Scale (QLS).

Results

The mean age of patients was 52.4+ 6.9 years. Subjects with suicidality (ISS scores > 0) had lower QLS scores compared to those without suicidality. However, there were no differences in UPSA, SSPA nor MMAA scores between the two groups. In addition, based on Spearman's rho correlational analysis, there were significant associations of QLS scores with ISS scores (r = − 0.236) and with MMAA “total errors” scores (r = 0.174). Logistic regression demonstrated that only QLS scores predicted suicidality.

Conclusion

Thirty‐six percent of our sample had at least mild degrees of suicidality. Lower quality of life appears to be an important predictor of suicidality. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Religiosity of depressed elderly inpatients
Authors: Payman Vahid , George Kuruvilla , Ryburn Bridget
Published: May 2007

Objectives

To determine the prevalence of religious practices and beliefs of depressed elderly Australian inpatients and their relationship to physical, social, and cognitive variables known to influence the prognosis of depression in the elderly. To compare the results obtained with those from similar North American studies.

Methods and procedures

Inpatients with a DSM‐IV diagnosis of major depression were interviewed on admission to the psychogeriatric unit of a Melbourne geriatric centre. Information collected included patient demographics, intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, cognitive function, severity of depression, number of chronic illnesses, physical function, and numbers and quality of social support. Pearson correlation and multivariate analysis using a standard regression model were used to examine relationships between the religious and other variables.

Results

Of the 86 patients who completed the assessment, 25% attended church regularly and 37% prayed, meditated, or read the Bible, at least once a day. Just over half rarely or never engaged in such behaviours. Three out of every eight patients were ‘intrinsically’ religious. Religious patients expressed higher levels of social support and physically disabled patients were more likely to be religious.

Conclusions

Depressed elderly Australian inpatients are less religious than their North American counterparts. Nevertheless, religion remains important for a large minority of such individuals. Clinicians need to be aware that such individuals may turn to religion when depressed, especially to cope with the presence of physical disability. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Integrated air stripping and biofiltration for remediation of soils contaminated by organic compounds
Authors: Massabò Marco , Nicolella Cristiano , Zilli Mario
Published: May 2007

This paper presents the results of a laboratory scale investigation on the remediation of a soil contaminated by a mixture of organic compounds using a two‐step process consisting of stripping and biofiltration. The biofilter was packed with the soil under examination in order to use autochthonous microorganisms. To assess the effects of both temperature and superficial velocity of the air stream on process performance different sets of experimental tests were carried out at two air temperatures (50 and 80 °C), and at two superficial air velocities (41.0 and 82.0 m h−1), corresponding to apparent air residence times in the biofilter column of 38 and 19 s respectively. The stripping rate proves to be inversely correlated with the soil–water partitioning coefficient, while no evident correlation was found with the Henry coefficient. It can therefore be concluded that soil–water partitioning is limited by mass transfer while air–water partitioning reaches equilibrium. Temperature influences both stripping rate in the stripping column and degradation capacity in the biofilter. A stripping temperature of 80 °C combined with a biofiltration temperature of 34 °C provides the best process performance. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry
Poly (methacrylic acid) modified biomass for enhancement adsorption of Pb2+, Cd2+ and Cu2+
Authors: Yu Junxia , Tong Mi , Sun Xiaomei , Li Buhai
Published: May 2007

In this study, the graft copolymerization of methacrylic acid onto the biomass of baker's yeast was carried out in aqueous medium using potassium persulfate (PPS) as initiator. The poly (methacrylic acid) modified biomass obtained was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and microscopic analyses. The number of functional groups was determined by potentiometric titration. The adsorption capacity of the modified biomass for Pb2+, Cd2+ and Cu2+ showed a significant increase compared with the pristine biomass, due to the presence of a large number of functional groups. According to the Langmuir equation, the maximum uptake capacities (qm) for Pb2+, Cd2+ and Cu2+ were 243.9, 108.7 and 73.5 mg g−1, respectively. Adsorption kinetics study showed that completion of the adsorption process needed only 30 min. The loaded biosorbent was regenerated using EDTA solution and used repeatedly three times with little loss of uptake capacity. Good results were obtained when the modified biomass was used to treat simulated wastewater containing Pb2+, Cd2+ and Cu2+. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry
Predicting PSA response of prostate cancer to radiation therapy with doppler sonography
Authors: Krisch Robert E. , Sehgal Chandra M. , Arger Peter H.
Published: May 2007

Objective.

We report a prospective investigation of the correlation between pretreatment Doppler vascular density (DVD) of the entire prostate gland and subsequent prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) response following external beam radiation therapy, for patients with low‐ or intermediate‐risk prostate cancer. This report updates a previous report (Sehgal et al., Acad Radiol 2003;10:366) with longer patient follow‐up and additional quantitative and clinically relevant end points.

Methods.

Before radiation therapy, we imaged 12 patients with transrectal Doppler sonography and measured the mean DVD of the prostate for each. For analysis, patients were separated into 3 groups by low, intermediate, and high DVD. The mean DVD for each group was linearly correlated with mean values for time above a PSA threshold of 1.0 ng/ml, post‐therapy plateau PSA, and nadir PSA.

Results.

We previously observed that pretreatment mean DVD had a strong inverse correlation with initial rate of post‐therapy decline in PSA. With substantially longer follow‐up on the same cohort of patients (median, 52 months), we now observe that pretreatment mean DVD also correlates with post‐therapy nadir PSA (R = 0.94) and with time above a PSA threshold of 1.0 ng/mL (R = 0.99).

Conclusion.

The results of the current study are consistent with our earlier suggestion that pretreatment measurement of DVD of the entire prostate gland may be a clinically useful prognostic indicator in early prostate cancer treated with radiation. However, additional data from larger numbers of patients are needed to draw firm conclusions © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2007
Effect of variability in anatomical landmark location on knee kinematic description
Authors: Morton Nicholas A. , Maletsky Lorin P. , Pal Saikat , Laz Peter J.
Published: May 2007

Small variability associated with identifying and locating anatomical landmarks on the knee has the potential to affect the joint coordinate systems and reported kinematic descriptions. The objectives of this study were to develop an approach to quantify the effect of landmark location variability on both tibiofemoral and patellofemoral kinematics and to identify the critical landmarks and associated degrees of freedom that most affected the kinematic measures. The commonly used three‐cylindric open‐chain kinematic description utilized measured rigid body kinematics from a cadaveric specimen during simulated gait. A probabilistic analysis was performed with 11 anatomical landmarks to predict the variability in each kinematic. The model predicted the absolute kinematic bounds and offset kinematic bounds, emphasizing profile shape, for each kinematic over the gait cycle, as well as the range of motion. Standard deviations of up to 2 mm were assumed for the anatomical landmark locations and resulted in significant variability in clinically relevant absolute kinematic parameters of up to 6.5° and 4.4 mm for tibiofemoral and 7.6° and 6.5 mm for patellofemoral kinematics. The location of the femoral epicondylar prominences had the greatest effect on both the tibiofemoral and patellofemoral kinematic descriptions. A quantitative understanding of the potential changes in kinematic description caused by anatomical landmark variability is important not only to the accuracy of kinematic gait studies and the evaluation of total knee arthroplasty implant performance, but also may impact component placement decision‐making in computer‐assisted surgery. © 2007 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 25:1221–1230, 2007
The fundamental aspects and applications of Agilent HPLC‐Chip
Authors: Yin Hongfeng , Killeen Kevin
Published: May 2007

It has been over 3 years since the first publication of the polymer microfluidic HPLC‐Chip technology and more than 1 year since this technology became commercially available. Here, we summarize the design principle and fabrication processes of the Agilent HPLC‐Chip and review the applications published so far.
Identification of phenolics and nucleoside derivatives in Gastrodia elata by HPLC‐UV‐MS
Authors: Wang Li , Xiao Hongbin , Liang Xinmiao , Wei Lixin
Published: May 2007

An HPLC‐UV‐MS method for simultaneous identification of predominant phenolics and minor nucleoside derivatives in Gastrodia elata was developed, which was based on their UV and MS characteristics summarized through a series of homemade reference standard experiments. Phenolics showed characteristic UV λmax at 267 nm, [M + NH4]+ base peak in positive mode and [M–H]– base peak in negative mode while nucleosides exhibited UV λmax at 255 nm, [M + H]+, [M–H + 2H2O]– or [M–H + CH3COOH]–. Phenolics conjugates mainly underwent the consecutive loss of gastrodin residue (–268 U) and the combined loss of H2O and CO2 from the citric acid unit under negative MS/MS conditions whereas nucleosides simply lost the ribose (–132 U) under positive MS/MS conditions. According to these characteristics, a special pattern under MS/MS conditions and reported compound data for G. elata in the literature, not only 15 phenolics were identified but also 6 nucleoside derivatives were identified. Among these compounds, seven phenolics and three nucleoside derivatives have not been reported yet from G. elata.
Analysis of non‐anthocyanin phenolic compounds in wine samples using high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet and fluorescence detection
Authors: Rodríguez‐Bernaldo de Quirós Ana , López‐Hernández Julia , Ferraces‐Casais Patricia , Lage‐Yusty M. Asunción
Published: May 2007

A simple and rapid HPLC method with UV and fluorescence detection (FLD) for the separation of ten phenolic compounds including gallic acid, catechin, epicatechin, caffeic acid, coumaric, trans‐piceid, cis‐piceid, trans‐resveratrol, cis‐resveratrol and quercetin is reported. The UV and fluorescence detector in series provided a high selectivity for the determination of these compounds. Precisions, recoveries and LODs achieved for all the analytes were satisfactory. The proposed method was applied to the determination of these compounds in commercially available red wines.
Automatic assessment of dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI in an ischemic rat hindlimb model: an exploratory study of transplanted multipotent progenitor cells
Authors: Hsu Li‐Yueh , Wragg Andrew , Anderson Stasia A. , Balaban Robert S. , Boehm Manfred , Arai Andrew E.
Published: May 2007

This study presents computerized automatic image analysis for quantitatively evaluating dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI in an ischemic rat hindlimb model. MRI at 7 T was performed on animals in a blinded placebo‐controlled experiment comparing multipotent adult progenitor cell‐derived progenitor cell (MDPC)‐treated, phosphate buffered saline (PBS)‐injected, and sham‐operated rats. Ischemic and non‐ischemic limb regions of interest were automatically segmented from time‐series images for detecting changes in perfusion and late enhancement. In correlation analysis of the time–signal intensity histograms, the MDPC‐treated limbs correlated well with their corresponding non‐ischemic limbs. However, the correlation coefficient of the PBS control group was significantly lower than that of the MDPC‐treated and sham‐operated groups. In semi‐quantitative parametric maps of contrast enhancement, there was no significant difference in hypo‐enhanced area between the MDPC and PBS groups at early perfusion‐dependent time frames. However, the late‐enhancement area was significantly larger in the PBS than the MDPC group. The results of this exploratory study show that MDPC‐treated rats could be objectively distinguished from PBS controls. The differences were primarily determined by late contrast enhancement of PBS‐treated limbs. These computerized methods appear promising for assessing perfusion and late enhancement in dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI. Published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
States can be initiators in vital federal system
Authors: Dwight Donald R.
Published: May 2007

State government has an overall perspective that can bridge the gap in solving regional and metropolitan crises by coordinating programs and ameliorating local jealousies and interests, and suburban‐urban tensions.
Massachusetts home rule: A look at the record
Authors: Booth David A.
Published: May 2007

After five years, some progress and non‐progress can be reported in revising charters and modernizing local structures under Massachusetts' home rule constitutional amendment.
Recycling of refuse: Will it solve the problem?
Authors: Schiller Ronald
Published: May 2007

With more stringent disposal regulations being imposed and the volume of solid waste increasing each year, recycling may be the only efficient solution. But costs of using recycled materials are still prohibitively high.
States make progress with reorganization plans
Authors: Bell George A.
Published: May 2007

There has been more reorganization activity in the states in the past five years than in any comparable period. But the question of what has really changed still needs to be explored.
New york group produces ‘instant’ court reforms
Authors: Miller James Nathan
Published: May 2007

New York businessmen, members of the Economic Development Council, produced recommendations for the city's criminal court system that have resulted in unprecedented administrative changes.
Education, housing reform offer new regional prospect
Authors: Zukosky Jerome
Published: May 2007

Court decisions on public school finance and integration, and pending federal housing legislation, point to increasing tendency to consider metropolitan areas as the proper framework for planning and management of resources.
Regions within states: A look at alternatives
Authors: Long Norton E. , Heilig Peggy A.
Published: May 2007

An analysis of various methods of substate regional organization, the federal impetus for their creation, their shortcomings and potentials.
Reform efforts continue on state party structures
Authors: David Paul T.
Published: May 2007

Inventory of current issues and activities dealing with change in party organizations at the state level; indicates areas where continued research is needed.
Are at‐large elections best for council‐manager cities?
Authors: Rehjuss John
Published: May 2007

Study of 14 Chicago suburbs indicates that ward elections do not significantly affect the social status of councilmen elected in council‐manager cities.
Population resettlement plans may save dying towns
Authors: Schiller Ronald
Published: May 2007

Two rural Kansas towns, through local initiative and leadership, fought decline and attracted new industry and people. Most small towns do not have such success. A comprehensive, national population resettlement plan may help.
Administering justice: The judges and the courts
Authors: Winters Glenn R.
Published: May 2007

Report of progress and problems in the “who” and “how” of the administration of justice—judicial selection, compensation and discipline, and court facilities and procedures.
State constitutional modernization by commission: 1966‐1972
Authors: Sturm Albert L.
Published: May 2007

Traditionally, most states have used constitutional conventions to do major revisions. More recently, state legislatures assisted by constitutional commissions have been involved increasingly. This summarizes some of the principal findings from data assembled in a research project on commissions, especially those since 1965.
In defense of the progressives
Authors: Bellush Jewel
Published: May 2007

The current governmental abuses in Washington have sent up new smoke simals to justify the fear of political power that runs deep through American history. Though it may not be popular, it seems crucial to keep a proper perspective on the role of government and the need for continuing a strong, effective and responsible government.
Adaptive superposition of finite element meshes in non‐linear transient solid mechanics problems
Authors: Yue Z. , Robbins D. H.
Published: May 2007

An s‐adaptive finite element procedure is developed for the transient analysis of 2‐D solid mechanics problems with material non‐linearity due to progressive damage. The resulting adaptive method simultaneously estimates and controls both the spatial error and temporal error within user‐specified tolerances. The spatial error is quantified by the Zienkiewicz–Zhu error estimator and computed via superconvergent patch recovery, while the estimation of temporal error is based on the assumption of a linearly varying third‐order time derivatives of the displacement field in conjunction with direct numerical time integration. The distinguishing characteristic of the s‐adaptive procedure is the use of finite element mesh superposition (s‐refinement) to provide spatial adaptivity. Mesh superposition proves to be particularly advantageous in computationally demanding non‐linear transient problems since it is faster, simpler and more efficient than traditional h‐refinement schemes. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the performance characteristics of the s‐adaptive method for quasi‐static and transient problems with material non‐linearity. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Growing a practice development strategy for community hospitals
Authors: Webster Jonathan , Dewing Jan
Published: May 2007

This article describes the process of ‘growing’ a practice development strategy for three community hospitals managed by a primary care trust through joint working with the Royal College of Nursing Practice Development Team. It focuses on the early process of developing the strategy, up until the implementation stage. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Deconstructing spiritual well‐being: existential well‐being and HRQOL in cancer survivors
Authors: Edmondson Donald , Park Crystal L. , Blank Thomas O. , Fenster Juliane R. , Mills Mary Alice
Published: May 2007

We demonstrate the utility of partitioning the spiritual well‐being (SpWB) construct into spiritual and religious components using results from a study of the relationship of existential well‐being to health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) in a sample of 237 cancer survivors. Existential and religious well‐being were measured using the FACIT‐Sp‐12 and HRQOL was measured using the mental and physical component scores of the SF‐12. In hierarchical linear regression analyses, existential well‐being fully mediated religious well‐being's effect on HRQOL and explained unique variance in both the mental and physical HRQOL domains, controlling for demographic, disease, and psychosocial variables previously shown to impact HRQOL. Religious well‐being was not predictive of HRQOL. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The funnel experiment: The Markov‐based SPC approach
Authors: Singer Gonen , Ben‐Gal Irad
Published: May 2007

The classical funnel experiment was used by Deming to promote the idea of statistical process control (SPC). The popular example illustrates that the implementation of simple feedback rules to stationary processes violates the independence assumption and prevents the implementation of conventional SPC. However, Deming did not indicate how to implement SPC in the presence of such feedback rules. This pedagogical gap is addressed here by introducing a simple feedback rule to the funnel example that results in a nonlinear process to which the traditional SPC methods cannot be applied. The proposed method of Markov‐based SPC, which is a simplified version of the context‐based SPC method, is shown to monitor the modified process well. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The application of the Six Sigma concept to port security process quality control
Authors: Ung S.‐T. , Bonsall S. , Williams V. , Wall A. , Wang J.
Published: May 2007

Greater heed has been paid to the matter of maritime security since the tragedy in the U.S.A. on 11 September 2001. A number of measures have been put into practice by ports to enhance security. More regulations and measures sometimes imply an increased probability of influencing port operations. Thus, the quality of the port security process regulated by measures is becoming essential. In this paper, the quality control in the port security process is demonstrated using the Six Sigma concept. It is concluded that it is crucial to distinguish each step of a security process clearly from the outset, furthermore, gathering quantitative data at each stage is the first priority. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Design of electronic systems based on functional capability
Authors: Gilbert James M.
Published: May 2007

An important measure of design quality is the extent to which a circuit design is able to meets its specification in the presence of component parameter variations. Of equal importance is knowing how to improve this capability most effectively. This paper presents an analysis technique and visualization method which give the designer information about design quality and possible routes to improved quality. The paper introduces two new measures of functional capability, based on the process capability measure Cpk, and shows how these may be linked to the statistical variations in individual component parameters. It then shows how this information may be used to assess the effectiveness of altering the nominal value and variability in each of the component parameters in order to improve circuit performance capability. The analysis required is straightforward and the information is presented in a clear manner which can readily be interpreted by the designer. The effectiveness of the technique has been evaluated through analysis of a number of printed circuit board level analogue and mixed signal circuits and the results of a case study are shown. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
HIV integrase inhibitors as therapeutic agents in AIDS
Authors: Nair Vasu , Chi Guochen
Published: May 2007

HIV‐1 integrase is a protein of Mr 32 000 encoded at the 3′‐end of the pol gene. Integration of HIV DNA into the host cell chromosomal DNA apparently occurs by a carefully defined sequence of DNA tailoring (3′‐processing (3′P)) and coupling (integration) reactions. Integration of HIV DNA into human DNA represents the biochemical completion of the invasion of the human cell (e.g., T‐cell) by HIV. Unlike major successes seen in the development of clinically approved anti‐HIV agents against HIV reverse transcriptase and HIV protease, there are no FDA‐approved anti‐HIV drugs in clinical use where the mechanism of action is inhibition of HIV integrase. This review summarises some key advances in the area of integrase inhibitors with the major focus being on new generation inhibitors. Special emphasis is placed on diketo acids with aromatic and heteroaromatic moieties, diketo acids with nucleobase scaffolds, bis‐diketo acids, functionalised naphthyridines and other isosteres of diketo acids. Data pertaining to integrase inhibition and in vitro anti‐HIV activity are discussed. Mention is made of drugs in clinical trials, both past (S‐1360, L‐870,810 and L‐870,812 and present (GS‐9137 and MK‐0518). Other promising drugs, including those from the authors' laboratory, are referred. Resistant mutants arising from key integrase inhibitors and cross‐resistance are indicated. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Semiconducting Cyanide–Transition‐Metal Nanotubes
Authors: Mo Yina , Kaxiras Efthimios
Published: May 2007

We propose a new type of structurally simple and energetically stable cyanide–transition‐metal nanotube, based on the planar structure of M(CN)2, (M=Ni, Pd, Pt). These nanotubes have a semiconducting character with a large bandgap (2–3 eV) that is insensitive to chirality and diameter. The energetic, electronic, and mechanical properties of these materials in both planar and tubular forms are studied through first‐principles density functional theory calculations. The calculations reveal interesting multicenter bonding features, which should lead to preferential growth of tubes of a particular chirality. These intrinsically semiconducting nanotubes can be readily p‐ or n‐doped, which makes them good candidates for nanoscale elements in electronic devices.