bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development of Speed and Accuracy in Pragmatic Comprehension in English as a Foreign Language
Authors: TAGUCHI NAOKO
Published: October 2015

This study examined development of pragmatic comprehension ability across time. Twenty native speakers and 92 Japanese college students of English completed a computerized listening task measuring ability to comprehend two types of implied meaning in dialogues: indirect refusals (k = 24) and indirect opinions (k = 24). The participants' comprehension was analyzed for accuracy (scores on the listening task) and comprehension speed (average time taken to answer each item correctly). L2 learners' accuracy and comprehension speed improved significantly over a 7‐week period. However, the magnitude of effect was lower for comprehension speed than for accuracy. This study also examined the relationships among general L2 proficiency (measured on the ITP TOEFL), speed of lexical judgment (measured on a word recognition task), and pragmatic comprehension ability. There was a significant relationship between proficiency and accuracy (r = 0.39), as well as between lexical access speed and comprehension speed (r = 0.40). However, L2 proficiency bore no relationship to comprehension speed, and lexical access speed had no relationship with accuracy. Moreover, accuracy and comprehension speed were not related to each other. These findings suggest that development of pragmatic knowledge and processing capacity of using the knowledge may not coincide perfectly in L2 development.
TESOL and Policy Enactments: Perspectives From Practice
Authors: RAMANATHAN VAIDEHI , MORGAN BRIAN
Published: October 2015

Prior research in the area of language policy and planning (LPP) has been focused primarily on macro decision‐making and the impact of national, local, and institutional policies in educational settings. Only recently have scholars begun examining the everyday contexts in which policies are interpreted and negotiated in ways that reflect local constraints and possibilities. The redirection of inquiry toward situated policy enactments in TESOL is the central theme of this special issue and the introductory article. In this article we address and expand on several key themes that arise from and unify the various contributions to the issue: (a) the enhanced status and implications of locality in policy research, (b) practitioner agency and the ethical concerns involved, (c) the globalization of particularistic agendas (i.e., neo‐liberalism) and their impact on nation‐state identities and policy enactments.
Preparing Teachers of Second Language Reading
Authors: JANZEN JOY
Published: October 2015

In preparing teachers of English language learners (ELLs), teacher educators face a formidable challenge in the area of reading. Reading is a complex skill that is critical to ELLs' academic achievement. Given the complexity and importance of reading and reading instruction, what topics should be addressed by teacher educators in methods courses? This article reports on a study designed to answer this question. The ESOL faculty in a small urban school district were interviewed about reading and observed in their classrooms over the course of 2 years. Six issues were identified as important to these teachers. They were (a) working with a range of learner proficiencies; (b) the use of materials; (c) instructional practices in the areas of decoding skills, vocabulary, writing, and thematic teaching; (d) developing students' love of reading; (e) coping with mainstream teachers and school demands; and (f) working with students who have limited proficiency or schooling in their first languages. The article compares issues raised by the practicing teachers in interviews and observations with the research literature and methods textbooks and outlines considerations for a methods curriculum.
Bricks or Mortar: Which Parts of the Input Does a Second Language Listener Rely on?
Authors: FIELD JOHN
Published: October 2015

There is considerable evidence from psycholinguistics that first language listeners handle function words differently from content words. This makes intuitive sense because content words require the listener to access a lexical meaning representation whereas function words do not. A separate channel of processing for functors would enable them to be detected faster. The question is of importance to our understanding of second language (L2) listening. Because what is extracted from the input by L2 listeners is generally less than complete, it is useful for the instructor to know which parts of the signal they are likely to recognize, and which parts are likely to be lost to them. On the one hand, L2 listeners might rely heavily on function words because high frequency renders them familiar. On the other, they might have difficulty identifying function words confidently within a piece of connected speech because functors in English are usually brief and of low perceptual prominence. The current study investigated intake by intermediate‐level L2 listeners to establish whether function or content words are processed more accurately and reported more frequently. It found that the recognition of functors fell significantly behind that of lexical words. The finding was remarkably robust across first languages and across levels of proficiency, suggesting that it may reflect the way in which L2 listeners choose to distribute their attention.
The Psycholinguistic Dimension in Second Language Writing: Opportunities for Research and Pedagogy Using Computer Keystroke Logging
Authors: MILLER KRISTYAN SPELMAN , LINDGREN EVA , SULLIVAN KIRK P. H.
Published: October 2015

This article discusses the use of computer logging as a means of investigating aspects of the second language (L2) writing process as writers are engaged in producing text at the keyboard. The observation of writing by means of this method provides researchers with detailed information concerning aspects of the planning, formulation, and revision processes. This function is illustrated by reference to a study in Sweden of school‐age learners of English as an additional language whose written production was recorded as part of a longitudinal study, and findings from the study are presented. The discussion highlights the potential uses of logging, not only not in relation to researching writers' processes, but also as a pedagogic tool given that its replay facility allows access to information about aspects of the writers' attention and strategies as they write.
Phonemic Awareness in Chinese L1 Readers of English: Not Simply an Effect of Orthography
Authors: MCDOWELL HEATHER J. , LORCH MARJORIE PERLMAN
Published: October 2015

The current study investigates the phonemic awareness and nonword processing of English as a foreign language students from Hong Kong and Mainland China, with reference to factors considered the main facilitators of phonemic awareness: written language experience, spoken language experience, and metalinguistic training. The Mainland Chinese students were literate in Pinyin, an alphabetic representation of Chinese, and were first language (L1) speakers of Mandarin. Half of the Mainland Chinese students had also been exposed to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in their second language (L2) reading education. The Hong Kong students were not Pinyin literate and spoke Cantonese. The Mainland Chinese IPA‐trained participants performed better than both the Hong Kong participants and the Mainland Chinese non‐IPA‐trained participants in initial phoneme deletion. However, both Mainland Chinese groups outperformed the Hong Kong group on a phoneme‐grapheme nonword matching task. This pattern of results suggests that phonemic awareness in Chinese L1 readers of English is not simply an effect of orthography, but rather, may be interpreted in terms of access to explicit demonstration of phonemes. Further, tests carried out in L2 which are intended to assess metalinguistic awareness may be susceptible to artefacts introduced by the participants' L1 spoken language.
Multimodal Genre Systems in EAP Writing Pedagogy: Reflecting on a Needs Analysis
Authors: MOLLE DANIELLA , PRIOR PAUL
Published: October 2015

This article reports on a genre‐based needs analysis for a graduate course in English for academic purposes (EAP) at a large public U.S. university. In particular, it describes the theoretical reconceptualizations of genre analysis that the data provoked. Using ethnographic methods, an investigation of academic genres in several classrooms in three academic disciplines (civil and environmental engineering, architecture, and music) found three complexities that challenged the original premises of the needs analysis: (a) that academic genres existed in genre sets and systems that involved process and pedagogical genres as well as genres of disciplinary or academic presentation; (b) that genres were routinely multimodal in process and form; and (c) that the discursive character of particular texts was routinely quite hybrid. This article discusses and illustrates each of these findings and argues for understanding them as dimensions of multimodal genre systems.
The Cultural and Intercultural Identities of Transnational English Teachers: Two Case Studies from the Americas
Authors: MENARD‐WARWICK JULIA
Published: October 2015

This article presents case studies of two long‐time English language teachers: a California English as a second language instructor originally from Brazil, and a Chilean English as a foreign language teacher who worked for many years in the United States before returning home. Based on interview and classroom observation data, this research explores teachers' perspectives on the connections between their transnational life experiences and their development of intercultural competence, how they define their own (inter)cultural identities; and how they approach cultural issues with their English language learners. Although both women self‐identify as bicultural, they were observed to have somewhat different approaches to teaching cultural issues: The California teacher emphasizes subjective comparisons between the many national cultures represented in her classroom, but the teacher in Chile focuses more on the cultural changes that she and her students have experienced as a result of globalization. Whereas previous studies of teacher identity in TESOL have focused primarily on the dichotomy between native‐ and nonnative‐English‐speaking teachers, this article argues that the profession needs to put more value on the pedagogical resources that transnational and intercultural teachers bring to English language teaching. I end with implications for educating intercultural teachers.
Teaching and Learning Sociolinguistic Skills in University EFL Classes in Taiwan
Authors: Yu MING‐CHUNG
Published: October 2015

The study reported in the present article was a process—product investigation of foreign language classroom practice and its effects on learners' development of sociolinguistic competence, which, though important for appropriateness of language use, has long been neglected in L2 teaching. Based on classroom observation, the study examined the extent to which college English classes in Taiwan were instructed in this specific aspect of communicative competence and how learners' performance might be linked to the instructions they received. The findings showed that no matter whether a given class was considered more communicatively oriented or less, sociolinguistic instruction was mostly neglected in classroom practice, and that, although the participants had different learning outcomes in speaking and listening skills, they did not differ in sociolinguistic performance.
Middle‐Class English Speakers in a Two‐Way Immersion Bilingual Classroom: “Everybody Should Be Listening to Jonathan Right Now …”
Authors: PALMER DEBORAH K.
Published: October 2015

Two‐way bilingual immersion education, offered in a fast‐growing number of primary schools in the United States, provides primary language maintenance to minority language speakers while simultaneously offering an enrichment “foreign” language immersion experience to English‐speaking children in the same classroom, generally with the same teacher. This fusion of two different groups of children, two different sets of expectations, is controversial: Is it possible to accomplish both goals at once, or will teacher and program inevitably end up serving the needs of dominant English‐speaking children first? The equation is further complicated when the English speakers in a program come from mainly highly educated middle‐class families, and the Spanish speakers come from mainly working‐class immigrant families, as is the case in many of these programs. Drawing on audio and video data from a year‐long study in a second‐grade two‐way classroom that shares this class gap between language groups, and using a methodology that fuses ethnography and discourse analysis, this article explores the ways English‐speaking children can impact classroom conversational dynamics.
The Cultures of English as a Lingua Franca
Authors: BAKER WILL
Published: October 2015

The cultural dimension of foreign and second language use and teaching has risen in prominence since the 1980s. More recently there has been much interest in and debate concerning the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF). However, there has been little empirical investigation into what communication through ELF might mean for an understanding of the relationships between languages and cultures. This article reports on a qualitative study investigating seven users of English in a higher education setting in Thailand engaged in intercultural communication. Analysis of these examples of intercultural communication, together with the participants' metadiscussions of culture, revealed cultural frames of reference perceived of and made use of in a hybrid, mixed, and liminal manner, drawing on and moving between global, national, local, and individual orientations. Although the limited number of instances reported means that further research is needed to confidently make generalisations, it is suggested that cultural forms, practices, and frames of reference through ELF may be viewed not as a priori defined categories, but as adaptive and emergent resources which are negotiated and context dependent. Therefore, ELF needs to move beyond the traditionally conceived target language—target culture relationship to incorporate an awareness of dynamic hybrid cultures and the skills to successfully negotiate them.
The Role of Pragmatics in the Master's TESOL Curriculum: Findings From a Nationwide Survey
Authors: VÁSQUEZ CAMILLA , SHARPLESS DONNA
Published: October 2015

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of publications about pragmatics and second language learning and teaching. Yet the extent to which English language teacher preparation programs incorporate explicit instruction about pragmatics into their curricula remains unknown. A nationwide survey of master's‐level TESOL programs was conducted to determine where and how pragmatics is covered in the TESOL curriculum, what resources are used to teach graduate TESOL students about pragmatics, as well as to determine some of the prevalent attitudes, beliefs, and opinions about pragmatics held by TESOL graduate program directors and faculty. Individuals from 94 master's‐level TESOL programs in the United States participated in the study. Participating programs represent a variety of geographic regions, institution types, and departments. The findings of the study indicate that pragmatics is covered in a wide range of courses across programs (Sociolinguistics, Discourse Analysis, Introduction to Linguistics, Teaching Methods, SLA, etc.), and that the time spent covering pragmatics varies from no time at all, to more than 8 weeks, depending on the program. A great deal of variation was also found in graduate program directors' and faculty members' beliefs about the role of pragmatics in the TESOL curriculum.
Fable Hospital 2.0: The Business Case for Building Better Health Care Facilities
Authors: SADLER BLAIR L. , BERRY LEONARD L. , GUENTHER ROBIN , HAMILTON D. KIRK , HESSLER FREDERICK A. , MERRITT CLAYTON , PARKER DEREK
Published: October 2015

Evidence shows that changes in the architecture, design, and decor of health care facilities can improve patient care and in the long run reduce expenses. These essays detail the state of the research, look inside two hospitals that put some of these innovations into practice, and consider how design fits into the moral mission ofhealth care.
Effects of Mindfulness‐Based Versus Interpersonal Process Group Intervention on Psychological Well‐Being With a Clinical University Population
Authors: Byrne Ciara , Bond Lynne A. , London Miv
Published: October 2015

This quasi‐experimental study compared a group mindfulness‐based intervention (MI) with an interpersonal process (IP) group intervention and a no‐treatment (NT) control condition in reducing psychological distress among 112 students at 2 universities. At postintervention, IP and MI group participants exhibited significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and interpersonal problems compared with the NT group. At the 6‐month follow‐up, only MI participants maintained the reduction in anxiety, depression, and academic problems; conversely, only IP participants maintained reductions in interpersonal problems.
The Racial and Ethnic Identity Formation Process of Second‐Generation Asian Indian Americans: A Phenomenological Study
Authors: Iwamoto Derek Kenji , Negi Nalini Junko , Partiali Rachel Negar , Creswell John W.
Published: October 2015

This phenomenological study elucidates the identity development processes of 12 second‐generation adult Asian Indian Americans. The results identify salient sociocultural factors and multidimensional processes of racial and ethnic identity development. Discrimination, parental, and community factors seemed to play a salient role in influencing participants’ racial and ethnic identity development. The emergent Asian Indian American racial and ethnic identity model provides a contextualized overview of key developmental periods and turning points within the process of identity development.

Este estudio fenomenológico dilucida los procesos de desarrollo de la indentidad de 12 individuos Americano‐Indoasiáticos adultos. Los resultados identifican factores socioculturales destacados y procesos multidimensionales del desarrollo de la identidad racial y étnica. Los factores de discriminación, paternos y comunitarios parecieron jugar un papel destacado en su influencia sobre el desarrollo de la identidad racial y étnica de los participantes. El modelo emergente de identidad racial y étnica Americano‐Indoasiática proporciona una visión general contextualizada de los periodos clave del desarrollo y los puntos de inflexión durante el proceso del desarrollo de la identidad.
Imagination: An Essential Dimension of a Counselor's Empathy
Authors: CLARK ARTHUR J. , SIMPSON TARA M.
Published: October 2015

As a component of an integral model of empathy, a counselor's imaginative faculty contributes to empathically understanding a diverse range of clients. Discussion of the literature and the therapeutic implications of imagination in counseling, including a case study, provide a humanistic perspective for using the counselor's imaginative potential.
The Impact of Mindfulness and Meditation Practice on Client Perceptions of Common Therapeutic Factors
Authors: GREASON PAIGE BENTLEY , WELFARE LAURA E.
Published: October 2015

Counselor mindfulness practice may help cultivate common therapeutic factors (e.g., empathy, working alliance). Researchers in this quantitative research study identified significant relationships between therapist mindfulness and client perceptions of the therapist's way of being and the working alliance. The impact of meditation training on these variables was also explored.
1.4.1 Preferential System Connectivity and its Impact on Performance
Authors: Flanigan David , Dixon Jeffery
Published: October 2015

During the course of developing system performance requirements, the requirements engineer often refers to the connectivity between external nodes of the system in question. This connectivity is often documented in an adjacency matrix, or N2 diagram, in order to show the one or two way connections between systems. However, there is no means to show preferential connectivity if the system had an option to connect with a different system during the course of the mission, and assess the impact of the overall performance based on the connection selected. This paper develops a means to describe and quantify the impact of the preferential connection on the final outcome through an illustrative example.
3.2.1 Developing empirical connections based on interrelation analysis between technical activities of systems engineering and FEED processes in plant ‐ construction industry
Authors: Hong Dae‐Geun , Byun Hee‐Chul , Suh Suk‐Hwan
Published: October 2015

Plant owners and engineering, procurement and construction contractors are facing increasing pressure to increase plant efficiency, reliability, availability and safety. Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) is a key process that identifies technical challenges and estimates investment cost. Systems engineering (SE) translates an operational need into a system designed to meet that need; therefore SE can help to implement FEED. This study develops guidelines about how to build and apply SE during the implementation of FEED. A House of Quality matrix is used to investigate causal connections between FEED processes in the plant‐construction industry and technical activities of SE, and a survey of engineering experts is used to quantitatively demonstrate the opportunity to increase the effectiveness of SE, and to demonstrate the implications of the relationship between FEED and SE in terms of plant type, business type, and area of expertise.
4.4.3 Coming in Under Par: What Golf Can Teach Us About Systems Engineering
Authors: Walden David D.
Published: October 2015

A popular quote related to the game of golf comes from one of its greatest players, Bobby Jones:

“Competitive golf is played mainly on a five‐and‐a‐half‐inch course, the space between your ears.”

Since the space between one's ears is also important in Systems Engineering, perhaps the game of golf can provide us with some useful insights.

This paper introduces a dozen of the more common phrases in the game of golf, such as, “keep your head down and follow through.” First, we describe what the phrase means in golf. Then, we postulate some analogies and applications of this phrase to the discipline of Systems Engineering.

While lighthearted in nature, this paper seeks to do more than just entertain. The analogies we use will help to shine a light on ways to approach the challenges that Systems Engineers face in today's dynamic environment.
5.2.1 How Does A System Engineer Really Identify Interface Needs?
Authors: Grady Jeffrey O.
Published: October 2015

The author has not observed in the literature a description of an organized systematic method for identifying a need for an interface during system development on a program. Most system engineers tend to do this using experience as the early product concept design work matures and they think of it as an obvious activity. The author reached this conclusion by conducting a survey of very experienced system engineers over a period of three INCOSE IS in past years. This paper offers an alternative that is organized with clear instructions on how to accomplish the work. One could argue that it could require considerable time to accomplish in an exhaustive fashion because it involves a possibly large number of evaluations of pairs of trios of information. So, there is an up side that the method does exhaustively evaluate all possible interface needs but the method also has a down side that may involve an increase in cost during the learning curve and even thereafter. One can choose to apply the intuitive process often applied today, switch to the systematic method described in this paper, or selectively apply the systematic method where new technologies and concepts are involved.
6.3.1 Shifting Decision Perspectives for the System Engineer ‐ Integrating System Security Into the Mix
Authors: Kepchar Kenneth J
Published: October 2015

System Engineering pursues balancing the forces that shape systems. As the basis of modern systems shift from analog technology to digital, the forces that drive how our systems look, feel, function, interact, and deliver value are changing rapidly. To be responsive to these changes, System Engineering needs to consider a “new reality” on the set of decision drivers for modern complex systems. Using transportation as a backdrop and system security as the example of how design considerations are necessarily changing, this paper explores the evolving application of System Engineering principles and practices.
7.1.2 Concept Selection ‐ Applying Pugh Matrices in the Subsea Processing Domain
Authors: Lønmo Linda , Muller Gerrit
Published: October 2015

This paper discusses the application of Pugh matrices in concept selections within the subsea processing department of FMC Technologies. The focus is not the concepts themselves or requirements management, but on applying Pugh matrices in conceptual system studies. Previous research by Master students in the oil & gas industry shows resistance amongst engineers and managers towards using Pugh matrices. The application of the Pugh matrix in these studies showed that if applied on the correct level of detail as part of the concept selection process, it is a powerful tool. It forces reasoning to be based on explicit criteria and also serves the purpose of documenting the decision making. This level of documentation and definition/selection of criteria goes beyond the normal practice today. The study teams gained a broader and deeper understanding of the design problems in addition to securing the quality of the concept selection process. The involved engineers readily adopted the Pugh matrix and they intend to continue using it, mainly due to its ability to force structural thinking in complex systems.
7.1.3 System Engineering Applied to Concept Design Optimization of Subsea Coolers
Authors: Bye Arne Kristian , AS Aker Subsea , Piciaccia Luca A. , AS Aker Subsea
Published: October 2015

Subsea equipment must continuously evolve to meet the challenging conditions of the deep underwater environments. The optimization of coolers is a continuous process needed to remain competitive in this technology domain. This paper reports on the results of a project to study concept design optimization for the anti‐surge cooler intended for a subsea compression station. The project followed the Aker Solutions project execution model, which begins with the creation of a concept of operations used to establish measures of performance, in addition to a valid requirements capture. The systems approach ensured that stakeholder needs were met, while identifying and refining parameters for the design. The refinement process, which resulted in a handful of design concepts, was evaluated through application of the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) Decision Modeling Tool. With this tool, the researcher arrived to a design concept recommendation, validated by stakeholders and sensitivity analysis.
7.2.3 Early Findings from Interviewing Systems Engineers who Support the U.S. Department of Defense
Authors: Hutchison Nicole , Henry Devanandham , Pyster Art , Pineda Ricardo
Published: October 2015

Helix, which is focused on examining the “DNA” of the systems engineering workforce, is a project of the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC). It is a multi‐year longitudinal study designed to build an understanding of the landscape of the systems engineering workforce, of what enables and inhibits the effectiveness of systems engineers, and of how organizations are attempting to improve their effectiveness. At the time of submission, the team has interviewed 112 individuals from 7 organizations. This paper outlines early findings based on these interviews. Insights include a characterization of the systems engineers in the study including career paths for senior systems engineers; the most important characteristics and competencies for systems engineers; what systems engineers believe their greatest contributions are; and what factors make systems engineers most and least effective.
7.3.2 Systems and Projects
Authors: Aslaksen Erik W.
Published: October 2015

This paper proposes a reorientation of systems engineering; a shift in focus achieved not by discarding any of the present Body of Knowledge, but by adding a further layer to the top‐down approach. This layer is concerned with two entities; the service to be provided, as defined by the Client or users, and the project that will provide it, while the physical plant that is required to support the project, the current “system of interest”, emerges only in the next level down. The nature of these two entities, and their relationships to similar entities found in the systems engineering literature, is highlighted. It is suggested that INCOSE could take the lead in this reorientation, and that a restructuring of the Handbook would be an effective first step.
7.3.3 Integrating Systems Engineering with Project Management: a Current Challenge!
Authors: Xue Rui , Baron Claude , Esteban Philippe , Prun Daniel
Published: October 2015

With increasingly complex systems, relying on systems engineering as an interdisciplinary method to manage engineering processes is essential for companies. However, too many projects still fail and industrial groups have argued that these failures may be related to the managerial techniques used. Indeed organizational processes are more or less specifically mentioned in System Engineering standards but in practice project managers tend to rely more on their own standards which sometime set forth practices not in line with those of the System Engineering domain, hence the reported discrepancies which very often lead to project failure. Thus to improve the companies' competitiveness when developing new products, cooperation between processes related to system development and project management is key to achieve performance and success. This paper presents arguments which tend to support this theory and details two ongoing projects that aim at integrating both domains.
7.4.1 Rapid Development Case Study: Lessons Learned From Arming the C‐145 Skytruck
Authors: West Timothy D. , Colombi John M.
Published: October 2015

This paper examines Project “Tropic Thunder,” a US Air Force effort to integrate a 0.50 caliber machine gun onto the C‐145 Skytruck. The paper compares the project with relevant literature to determine where the project does and does not alignment with other rapid development models, revealing shortfalls in stakeholder identification and requirements definition that significantly delayed the project. Ultimately, the system works as desired, the design proved to be flightworthy, and the User was happy with the results. However, more up‐front rigor in the systems engineering process could potentially have resulted in a similar level of technical performance, only faster and cheaper. The case depicts the importance of the initial steps in the systems engineering process to the overall success of a rapid development effort.
8.3.2 Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) in Complex System of Systems (SoS) Modeling and Simulation (M&S) Environments
Authors: Marvin Joseph , Morantz Brad , Whalen Thomas , Deiotte Ray , Garrett Robert K.
Published: October 2015

Prevailing Modeling and Simulation (M&S) techniques have struggled to provide meaningful quantitative results in M&S of complex System of Systems (SoSs) in the face of an environment filled with complex interacting uncertainties. This paper reports on systems thinking applied to “how” M&S techniques should shift to allow a next generation of quantitative tools and techniques. The imperative is to provide quantitative performance results across the constituent interfaces in a modeled architecture. A five step statistical and parametric algorithm tool that addresses Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) is presented. [Improving the utility of UQ data evaluation] A quantitative approach to managing complex uncertainties across modeled interfaces using graph theory is proposed. A future vision for SoS Engineering (SoSE) that uses graph theory based modeling is suggested to improve the utility of tools such as UQ is suggested.
9.1.2 Two‐stage Multi‐objective Analysis in the Assignment of Federal Air Marshals
Authors: Philie Mathieu , Kwinn Michael J. , Henderson Steven J.
Published: October 2015

The United States Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) plays a critical role in ensuring safe travel aboard United States (US) air carriers. Federal Air Marshall agents, who operate out of field offices throughout the US, are assigned to accompany flights in order to deter and respond to hostile acts. In an era of limited resources, the FAMS is interested in optimally locating its field offices and agents to minimize the overall risk to the US air transportation system. This represents a highly constrained and complex optimization problem that resists standard techniques. In this paper, we demonstrate an approach that leverages the value‐focused thinking to model risk and optimize risk mitigation. Our approach uses a novel two‐stage approach to risk analysis that reduces the optimization burden and provides a solution to the FAMS.
9.4.1 Why avoiding how when defining what? Towards an OSLC‐based approach to support Model‐Driven Requirements Engineering
Authors: Alvarez‐Rodríguez Jose María , Llorens Juan , Alejandres Manuela , Fuentes Jose
Published: October 2015

The present paper debates the concept of requirement in the contexts of software and systems engineering. Requirements are usually extracted from documents, stakeholders and existing systems generating a natural language specification. On the other hand system models are designed to define system behavior and to validate and verify the system against a specification. That is why requirements, as a basic unit of specification, must be aligned and linked to a model with the aim of supporting the whole development lifecycle of any product or service. Although some Model‐based systems engineering (MBSE) methodologies have tried to bridge the gap between natural language and models moving from document‐centric to model or requirement‐based approaches, there is still a lack of interoperability and integration between requirements and models that prevent a proper (re) use of requirements in the whole lifecycle. Furthermore this situation is becoming a major challenge in critical systems since a complete verification and validation must be ensured. In this light the Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) initiative pursues the creation of specifications to unify under a common and shared data model (the Resource Description Framework‐RDF) all pieces of information and data involved in the development of a system. This initiative applies the principles of Semantic Web and the Linked Data initiative to provide a web standards‐based environment for systems development. More specifically, OSLC defines the Requirements Management specification to deliver a common environment for managing and exchanging requirements. In this sense the on‐going work implementing this specification and an example of modeling a controlled vocabulary for requirements management under the principles of the Linked Data and OSLC specifications is provided to demonstrate the capabilities and intentions of both initiatives. Finally some discussion, conclusions and future directions are also presented.
FOXO1 Mediates Vitamin D Deficiency–Induced Insulin Resistance in Skeletal Muscle
Authors: Chen Songcang , Villalta S Armando , Agrawal Devendra K
Published: October 2015

Prospective epidemiological studies have consistently shown a relationship between vitamin D deficiency, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). This is supported by recent trials showing that vitamin D supplementation in prediabetic or insulin-resistant patients with inadequate vitamin D levels improves insulin sensitivity. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying vitamin D deficiency–induced insulin resistance and DM2 remain unknown. Skeletal muscle insulin resistance is a primary defect in the majority of patients with DM2. Although sustained activation of forkhead box O1 (FOXO1) in skeletal muscle causes insulin resistance, a relationship between vitamin D deficiency and FOXO1 activation in muscle is unknown. We generated skeletal muscle-specific vitamin D receptor (VDR)-null mice and discovered that these mice developed insulin resistance and glucose intolerance accompanied by increased expression and activity of FOXO1. We also found sustained FOXO1 activation in the skeletal muscle of global VDR-null mice. Treatment of C2C12 muscle cells with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (VD3) reduced FOXO1 expression, nuclear translocation, and activity. The VD3-dependent suppression of FOXO1 activation disappeared by knockdown of VDR, indicating that it is VDR-dependent. Taken together, these results suggest that FOXO1 is a critical target mediating VDR-null signaling in skeletal muscle. The novel findings provide the conceptual support that persistent FOXO1 activation may be responsible for insulin resistance and impaired glucose metabolism in vitamin D signaling-deficient mice, as well as evidence for the utility of vitamin D supplementation for intervention in DM2. © 2015 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
What is the future of the US dollar?
Authors: Lobo Bento J.
Published: October 2015

The end of the dollar's global prominence has been predicted for a long time. Will the dollar lose its status as the world reserve currency? And what will this mean for business in the United States and abroad? © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
International lessons for US housing finance
Authors: Ehrlich Michael , Anandarajan Asokan
Published: October 2015

The United States has not recovered from the effects of the recent housing bubble. Nor is there an optimistic forecast for the future of housing—which is characterized by lack of demand, falling prices, and foreclosures. This is not a problem for other Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries, which are recovering far more quickly. But why is this so? © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
International best practices for MD&A
Authors: Cole Cathy J.
Published: October 2015

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering whether to endorse international financial reporting standards (IFRSs) or support convergence of US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) with IFRSs. But it is important for preparers of financial reports to keep this in mind: financial statements are only part of the financial reporting package that investors in many countries have grown to expect. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Trapped Excess Cash as a Reporting Challenge
Authors: Le Guyader Louis P.
Published: October 2015

“Trapped excess cash” can give rise to reporting issues including the quality of earnings, tax reporting, foreign currency reporting, representations about “free cash flow,” and decisions related to investments in marketable securities and the allocation of “trapped excess cash” in corporate split‐ups. Increased vigilance is needed because every new management decision or reporting choice is an opportunity for a moral‐hazard stumble on the slippery slopes of corporate reporting, and after all, here we are dealing with cash—the “liquid” asset. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Truly Maximize the ROI of Sales' and Marketing's Expenditures With Demand‐Driven Planning
Authors: Dybvig Alan
Published: October 2015

This is a follow‐on article to the author's JCAF September/October 2015 article titled “Optimizing the Income Statement With Advanced Analytics to Truly Maximize Profit … and More: Reimaging the Enterprise Master Plan.” (See http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcaf.22082/abstract for a copy.) In it, the author observed that is possible to think of the optimized income Statement (OIS) from a demand standpoint—as an optimized demand‐driven plan (ODDP). This article elaborates on this premise, including: (1) how sales and marketing activities drive demand/forecast as a dependent variable; (2) how an OIS not only truly maximizes profit but also truly maximizes the return on investment (ROI) of sales and marketing expenditures. (As described in the previous article, the OIS proof‐of‐concept model improved ROI between 28% and 158%), (3) how an OIS aligns the entire organization's annual planning effort by driving much closer cross‐functional planning collaboration, particularly between the chief financial officer (CFO) and sales and marketing. This collaboration will take the firm, under the CFO's leadership, to the “next generation” of annual planning, that is, for the first time ever, truly optimized. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Dmp1‐SOST Transgene Interacts With and Downregulates the Dmp1‐Cre Transgene and the RosaNotch Allele
Authors: Zanotti Stefano , Canalis Ernesto
Published: October 2015

Activation of Notch1 in osteocytes of RosaNotch mice, where a loxP‐flanked STOP cassette and the Nicd coding sequence were targeted to the reverse orientation splice acceptor (Rosa)26 locus, causes osteopetrosis associated with suppressed Sost expression and enhanced Wnt signaling. To determine whether Sost downregulation mediates the effects of Notch activation in osteocytes, RosaNotch mice were crossed with transgenics expressing Cre recombinase or SOST under the control of the dentin matrix protein (Dmp)1 promoter. Dmp1‐SOST transgenics displayed vertebral osteopenia and a modest femoral cancellous and cortical bone phenotype, whereas hemizygous Dmp1‐Cre transgenics heterozygous for the RosaNotch allele (Dmp1‐Cre;RosaNotch) exhibited osteopetrosis. The phenotype of Notch activation in osteocytes was prevented in Dmp1‐Cre;RosaNotch mice hemizygous for the Dmp1‐SOST transgene. The effect was associated with downregulated Notch signaling and suppressed Dmp1 and Rosa26 expression. To test whether SOST regulates Notch expression in osteocytes, cortical bone cultures from Dmp1‐Cre;RosaNotch mice or from RosaNotch control littermates were exposed to recombinant human SOST. The addition of SOST had only modest effects on Notch target gene mRNA levels and suppressed Dmp1, but not Cre or Rosa26, expression. These findings suggest that prevention of the Dmp1‐Cre;RosaNotch skeletal phenotype by Dmp1‐SOST is not secondary to SOST expression but to interactions among the Dmp1‐SOST and Dmp1‐Cre transgenes and the Rosa26 locus. In conclusion, the Dmp1‐SOST transgene suppresses the expression of the Dmp1‐Cre transgene and of Rosa26. J. Cell. Biochem. 117: 1222–1232, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Resveratrol Increases Anti‐Proliferative Activity of Bestatin Through Downregulating P‐Glycoprotein Expression Via Inhibiting PI3K/Akt/mTOR Pathway in K562/ADR Cells
Authors: Wang Li , Wang Changyuan , Jia Yongming , Liu Zhihao , Shu Xiaohong , Liu Kexin
Published: October 2015

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major obstacle in the clinical therapy of hematological malignancies. P‐glycoprotein (P‐gp) overexpression results in reduction of intracellular drug concentration with a consequence that the cytotoxicity of anti‐tumor drugs is decreased, which leads to MDR in K562/ADR cells. In this study, we found that resveratrol enhanced the anti‐proliferative activity of bestatin in K562/ADR cells. Co‐treatment with resveratrol, IC50 values of bestatin in K562/ADR cells significantly decreased and activation of caspase‐3 and caspase‐8 increased, which indicated that resveratrol potentiated bestatin‐induced apoptosis. Resveratrol increased the intracellular concentration of bestatin through inhibiting P‐gp function and downregulating P‐gp expression at mRNA and protein levels, which increased anti‐proliferative activity of bestatin in K562/ADR cells. Resveratrol decreased the phosphorylation of Akt and mTOR but did not affect the phosphorylations of JNK or ERK1/2. These results demonstrated that resveratrol could increase the anti‐proliferative activity of bestatin through downregulating P‐gp expression via suppressing the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. J. Cell. Biochem. 117: 1233–1239, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
DOX: A new computational protocol for accurate prediction of the protein–ligand binding structures
Authors: Rao Li , Chi Bo , Ren Yanliang , Li Yongjian , Xu Xin , Wan Jian
Published: October 2015

Molecular docking techniques have now been widely used to predict the protein–ligand binding modes, especially when the structures of crystal complexes are not available. Most docking algorithms are able to effectively generate and rank a large number of probable binding poses. However, it is hard for them to accurately evaluate these poses and identify the most accurate binding structure. In this study, we first examined the performance of some docking programs, based on a testing set made of 15 crystal complexes with drug statins for the human 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR). We found that most of the top ranking HMGR–statin binding poses, predicted by the docking programs, were energetically unstable as revealed by the high theoretical‐level calculations, which were usually accompanied by the large deviations from the geometric parameters of the corresponding crystal binding structures. Subsequently, we proposed a new computational protocol, DOX, based on the joint use of molecular Docking, ONIOM, and eXtended ONIOM (XO) methods to predict the accurate binding structures for the protein–ligand complexes of interest. Our testing results demonstrate that the DOX protocol can efficiently predict accurate geometries for all 15 HMGR‐statin crystal complexes without exception. This study suggests a promising computational route, as an effective alternative to the experimental one, toward predicting the accurate binding structures, which is the prerequisite for all the deep understandings of the properties, functions, and mechanisms of the protein–ligand complexes. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Relative difference sets, graphs and inequivalence of functions between groups
Authors: Horadam K. J.
Published: October 2015

For cryptographic purposes, we want to find functions with both low differential uniformity and dissimilarity to all linear functions and to know when such functions are essentially different. For vectorial Boolean functions, extended affine equivalence and the coarser Carlet–Charpin–Zinoviev (CCZ) equivalence are both used to distinguish between nonlinear functions. It remains hard to tell when CCZ equivalent functions are EA‐inequivalent. This paper presents a framework for solving this problem in full generality, for functions between arbitrary finite groups. This common framework is based on relative difference sets (RDSs). The CCZ and EA equivalence classes of perfect nonlinear (PN) functions are each derived, by quite different processes, from equivalence classes of splitting semiregular RDSs. By generalizing these processes, we obtain a much strengthened formula for all the graph equivalences which define the EA equivalence class of a given function, amongst those which define its CCZ equivalence class. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 18: 260–273, 2010