bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Glove-Based Technology in Hand Rehabilitation
Authors: Taylor Jamie , Curran Kevin
Published: January 2015

Injuries to the hand are more common than those of any other body region and can have considerable financial, time-measured and psychological impact on not only the victim but the community as a whole. Hand rehabilitation aims to return people to their pre-injury roles and occupations and has proved largely successful in doing so with the potential for technology to improve these results further. However, most technology used in hand rehabilitation is based on expensive and non-durable glove-based systems and issues with accuracy are common among those which are not glove-based. The authors outline an accurate, affordable and portable solution wherein the authors use the Leap Motion as a tool for hand rehabilitation. User feedback will be given primarily through an animated 3d hand model as the user performs rehabilitative exercises. Exercise results will be recorded for later viewing by patients and clinicians. The system will also include Gamification aspects, techniques which (while proven to increase participation) have seen little to no use in hand-rehabilitation systems.
Towards Smart Service Networks
Authors: Wang Yan , Taher Yehia , van den Heuvel Willem-Jan
Published: January 2015

Service Networks (SNs) are open systems accommodating the co-production of new knowledge and services through organic peer-to-peer interactions. Key to broad success of SNs in practice is their ability to foster and ensure a high performance. By performance we mean the joint effort of tremendous interdisciplinary collaboration, cooperation and coordination among the network participants. However, due to the heterogeneous background of such participants (i.e., business, technical, etc.), operational gaps are likely to appear in the end-to-end service provisioning process. Especially when there are performance anomalies, the SNs lack of traceability to find out the root cause, due to the confusions in the multi-disciplinary communication of SNs participants. To deal with such a problem, we propose a novel method of diagnosing SNs performance on the basis of a systems thinking mindset. By using our diagnostics, the SNs essence and performance are identified and modeled in both static and dynamic manners. The SNs performance can be tuned and optimized with improved traceability to the involved service operations.
AnswerPro
Authors: AlSugair Balsam , Hopkins Gail , FitzGerald Elizabeth , Brailsford Tim
Published: January 2015

This paper describes the design and initial testing of AnswerPro, a mobile academic peer support system for school pupils aged 11-16 years. AnswerPro is a mobile optimised web application that enables pupils to seek support with school work from knowledgeable peers on various subjects. This paper presents research findings from the project, and in particular, details the design elements embedded within AnswerPro that are based upon teacher and pupil interviews examining motivation, and also from research into academic motivation. A pilot study was conducted with 7 school pupils over 3 weeks. Participants then engaged in a focus group, which discussed their experience using AnswerPro and the motivational elements embedded within it. The authors' findings highlighted some problems with the embedded motivational features. These findings have resulted in potential solutions for the next version of AnswerPro and design implications for practitioners intending to embed motivational elements in their own mobile learning tools.
Global MedAid
Authors: Colley Joanna , Bradley Claire , Stead Geoff , Wakelin Jessica
Published: January 2015

This paper outlines an m-learning solution, ‘Global MedAid', which aims to provide learning resources and tools for personnel in various roles in disaster or emergency situations. It outlines the development process and presents the design considerations and solutions for developing a cross-platform application combining a wide range of media types for on-line and off-line use, depending on whether or not there is access to a data signal. The design process took into account current mobile health and related applications, addressing the ways in which both educational resources and performance support tools could be combined and accessed in the field. The paper also shows how partners and users have been involved in the design process and in the evolution of the app. The resulting Proof of Concept has been evaluated with over a hundred users across 21 countries, and initial findings show that users thought it was both useful and effective.
Application of Information Technology to Global Financial Crisis
Authors: Sodhi Inderjeet Singh
Published: January 2015

The global financial crisis began to affect India from early 2008 through a withdrawal of capital from India's financial markets. IT is potentially being applied in every sector of the Indian economy for growth. There are many ICT and e-government projects/services like MCA 21 (Ministry of Corporate Affairs), Mission Mode Project for Computerisation of Commercial Taxes (MMPCT), Tax Information Exchange System (TINXSYS), eBiz, eTrade, etc. for the economic growth. The methodology focuses on analytical techniques and descriptive study of various e-government projects. The paper identifies issues based on the literature, theoretical concepts, and current financial crisis taking place throughout the world and its impact on developing countries in context of business and trade. The paper is based on analysis of relevant reports and documentation published by various ministries of government of India. The article looks into how e-government and IT are being applied and used to tackle in economic crisis in India which is very useful for the policy makers, planners, and administrators since it focuses on efforts made by various ministries and banks and it could help them to formulate policy and guidelines on the basis of the performance of e-government project for economic improvement.
Twenty Years After the Hype
Authors: Paulin Alois
Published: January 2015

In this study the authors analyze the effects of e-government reforms that began in mid-90ies by confronting the promises which these reforms made to government performance in the period before and after the reforms took place. The authors use fiscal and performance indicators of the Slovenian government and courts to argue that e-government did not yield any notable effects on the state performance. Finally, the authors analyze the reasons why e-government technology cannot be regarded as sustainable and suggest a different approach towards researching how to sustainably improve governance for generations to come.
Inter-organizational Transactions Cost Management with Public Key Registers
Authors: de Vries Walter T. , Ester Hanneke
Published: January 2015

Cross-organizational e-Government projects must comply with separate and alternative accounting systems. The compliance brings about two types of problems: the emergence of transaction costs because of having to create additional and often more complex, accounting systems and a reduction of financial autonomy and accountability of individual public agencies. Conceptually transaction cost theory, in particular through using the construction ‘asset specificity' and ‘uncertainty' can qualify these problems. Empirically, a case study approach helps to contextualize these problem in a given (inter-)organizational, economical and institutional environment. The present research employs these choices to explore how the Netherlands e-Government case of establishing national key registers affects the inter-organizational accounting practices and the financial autonomy of a single organization, the Dutch Kadaster. This domain study reveals that while cross-organizational e-Government projects indeed reach cost efficiency in back-office operations they also incur transaction costs in accounting. This increases the institutional uncertainty, while decreasing the asset specificity. Both effects imply a loss in autonomy and accountability of individual public organization, such as the Kadaster. Hence, while e-Government project may operate efficiently and effectively across organizations, it reduces that of individual organizations.
Analysis of a Code Review Tool Evolution
Authors: Mizuno Osamu , Liang Junwei
Published: January 2015

In this study, the authors intend to assess the improvements of Gerrit. The central concern is “Does Rietveld evolve into Gerrit as the developers intended?” To answer this question, the authors first compare qualitative features of two code review tools. The authors then conducted an interview with a developer of Gerrit and obtained the developer's original intention of improvements in Gerrit. By analyzing mined data from code review logs, the authors try to explain the effects of improvements quantitatively. The result of analysis showed the authors that the improvements of Gerrit that the developer is expected are not observed explicitly.
Classification of Bug Injected and Fixed Changes Using a Text Discriminator
Authors: Yamada Akihisa , Mizuno Osamu
Published: January 2015

Approaches to detect fault-prone modules have been studied for a long time. As one of these approaches, the authors proposed a technique using a text filtering technique. They assume that bugs relate to words and context that are contained in a software module. The technique treats a module as text information. Based on the dictionary which was learned by classifying modules which induce bugs, the bug inducing probability over a target module is calculated, and it judges whether the given module is a fault-prone module. The predictive granularity of this technique is a module. In this study, the authors aimed at prediction with the finer granularity of the portion that induces a bug. Specifically, they tried to predict bug-inducing changes by using source code differences of bug inducing changes and previous changes and a text filtering technique. Similarly, the authors tried to predict bug fixing by using source code differences of bug fixing changes and previous changes and a text filtering technique. To show the effectiveness of the approach, the authors conducted two experiments and compared their approach with fault-prone filtering by applying it to two open source projects, and obtained higher accuracy.
Social Responses to Conversational TV VUI
Authors: Park Eun Kyung , Lee Kwan Min , Shin Dong Hee
Published: January 2015

The study investigated whether apologetic synthetic gendered voices affect users' perception of an error-prone VUI. In a TV viewing task, participants interacted with the conversational TV, and executed eight menus in a 2 (apologetic error message: yes vs. no) by 2 (voice gender) by 2 (subject gender) gender balanced, between participants experiment. When participants encountered errors, the TV provided verbal error messages, with or without an apology. The results revealed significant two-way interaction effects of apology (yes) and voice gender (male) on perception of the TV, and the voice. Irrespective of gender, participants responded to a male voice more, when it offered apologies for errors. It is interpreted that the context in which genuineness of apology was regarded as important made participants perceive a male voice as being more trustworthy than a female voice. The participants seem to have applied gender stereotypical perceptions to gendered VUI, as they do to other humans.
A Study on User Preferential Choices about Rating Scales
Authors: Cena Federica , Vernero Fabiana
Published: January 2015

Websites usually offer the same rating scale for all users and all tasks, but users can have very different preferences. In this paper, the authors study rating scales from the point of view of preferential choices, investigating i) if user preferences for rating scales depend on the object to evaluate, and ii) if user preferences change after they have rated an object repeatedly, gaining a high level of experience with the evaluated object. The authors first defined a model of rating scales, identifying generic classes based on features like granularity and visual metaphor. Then, the authors had users choose between three scales, one for each class, for rating two objects with opposite features, first in a condition where users had a low level of experience, and then in a condition where their level of experience was high. Results showed that user choices depend on the evaluated objects, while their level of experience influences their overall preferences, but not their choices when they have to rate a specific object. The authors conclude with some insights and guidelines for designers of interactive systems.
Knowledge Sharing for Cultural Heritage 2.0
Authors: Bertacchini Francesca , Tavernise Assunta
Published: January 2015

The word “prosumer” indicates the mixture of the terms “producer” and “consumer”: even if the term is almost recent, prosumers were already present in the historical period of ancient Greece and Magna Græcia (between the VII century b.C. and the I century A.D.). In this view, the platform Cultural Heritage 2.0 can be considered a digital “agora”: like the Greek square-marketplace, where there was exchange of goods and ideas, the system allows the gathering of an extensive amount of digital data and an interesting exchange of culture. The aim of this paper is to present Cultural Heritage 2.0, that offers the opportunity to mix heterogeneous contents in unusual amalgams, according to the imagination and design of the users-prosumers in the Web community.
Corporate Blogs
Authors: Sinha Nidhi
Published: January 2015

As economic challenges and pressures for businesses mount, marketing teams are faced with major decisions. While widespread consumer anxiety results in dwindling businesses, marketing budget allocations are hit by cutbacks and marketers face the challenge of better market performance in a restrained economy. Investments and organizational objectives have been reframed. While retention of market share appears the biggest thought, equally important is to continue to build the product or service's customer base and avoid losing brand value during constrained times. The need is to reorganize brand portfolios, rethink spending approaches, generate more fine-grained customer insights, overhaul pricing and segment management and restructure sales, service, and channel strategies. Better brand positioning and appropriate use of technological tools enables shrinking the budgets for marketing resource allocation. In this context, brand positioning gains importance as a strategic marketing function. It further becomes vital for organizations to recognize the consumer as a significant dimension in evaluating and positioning organizational brands. This can be achieved through adoption of appropriate brand management strategies. In this paper, the authors explore the use of organizational blogs for increasing consumer brand knowledge. Blogging is shaping into a useful organizational tool for brand propagation and interaction with consumers with several corporates having effectively launched Corporate Blogs, thereby shaping consumer perception, by adding to consumer knowledge about organizations, brands and products. In this paper the researcher analyses the improvement in Consumer brand knowledge by exposure of the consumer to a corporate blog. A simulated lab environment is created where a set of consumers are exposed to a brand blog for a period of ten minutes. The variation in levels of consumer brand knowledge is calculated. Future scope of work is outlined in measuring the variation in consumer sentiment pertaining to a brand before and after increase in a consumer's knowledge pertaining to a brand. Subsequently Brand knowledge maps will be developed to measure the results empirically. In the era of consumer empowerment, the average consumer is faced with numerous product and brand choices. In a fiercely competitive environment, organizations who want to retain their consumers and increase consumer-brand loyalty need to focus on increasing the consumer's knowledge about the brand.
Website Attractiveness in E-Commerce Sites
Authors: Khanna Siddharth , Wahi Ashok Kumar
Published: January 2015

Website attractiveness has become the essence of online business and bringing in more customer base. Website attracting variables play a key role enhancing the online purchase among the consumers. Key website attracting variables influencing consumer purchase decision include: Services & Offers, Ease of Use (Usability) and Concerns & Issues. Services & Offers: The consumers are attracted by the services and offers that a website provides to its users. The higher the services and offers provided by a website, the more will be the attractiveness to its users. The services and offers play a vital role as an attracting force to influence consumers in their purchasing decision. Ease of Use (Usability) is redefined as trade-off between increasing the user's motivation to encourage exploration and purchasing in e-commerce, and the costs of usability errors (Sutcliffe, 2002). The perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are the two main factors on which usability counts. The quality of the website is also determined by its usability i.e. the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use to the customer. Concerns & Issues: The eradication of trust in Internet commerce applications may cause prudent business operators and clients to forgo use of the Internet for now and revert back to traditional methods of doing business. This loss of trust is being fueled by continued stories of hacker attacks on e-commerce sites and consumer data privacy abuse. Credibility can be defined as believability. Credible information is believable information. In discussing the credibility of an e-commerce site we will aim at the reliability of the information given about the products and services. The following study aims at analyzing the website attractiveness factors of Concerns & Issues, Services & Offers and Ease of Use (Usability) influencing the consumer purchasing decision. It also aims at finding the importance of these afro mentioned variables in attracting and winning over the consumer in the highly competitive Internet marketplace. A survey of focus group of participants who were regular users of E-commerce websites like E-Bay, Yebhi, and Snapdeal etc. helped in creating a web management score.
Evaluation of Long Term Evolution Cellular Network Performance when Transmitting Multi-view Video Content
Authors: Debono Carl James , Ellul Gloria-Anne
Published: January 2015

The Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular technology provides higher data rates than its predecessor technologies. This advancement paves the way for more data services, including improved multimedia services. Three-dimensional (3D) video transmission is one such service that can benefit from LTE deployment. For a positive uptake of 3D video transmission, the network must provide a good Quality of Service (QoS). In this paper the authors evaluate the LTE network's performance when transmitting Multi-view Video Coding (MVC) using simulcast and inter-view prediction coding. Furthermore, the authors evaluate the system using both the H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Coding) and the more recent High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and their MVC extensions. Results show that, in an urban environment, LTE can accommodate a maximum of 93 users per cell, with adequate QoS, when transmitting 3D HEVC video at Common Intermediate Format (CIF) resolution. Moreover, cross-layer techniques can be used to reduce the QoS degradation as the user moves away from the eNodeB by transmitting lower resolution video.
B2B E-Commerce Success among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Authors: Ghobakhloo Morteza , Hong Tang Sai , Standing Craig
Published: January 2015

E-commerce (EC) success and related influencing factors have not been investigated properly in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), while these businesses possess very different characteristics as compared to large businesses. The purpose of this study is to provide a better and clearer understanding of business-to-business (B2B) EC value and success within SMEs, particularly in emerging economies. Rooted in the information system (IS) diffusion and success literature and organizational research background, this paper develops an integrative research model to assess the success of B2B EC among Iranian and Malaysian SMEs. To interpret the success of B2B EC, we viewed EC success dimensions and relevant determinants from the perspectives of all users at the business network unit level. The result of testing this model on 130 business network units revealed that in addition to technological characteristics of EC including information, system and service quality, different SME-related organizational determinants such as perceived usefulness of EC, top management support and commitment and EC knowledge are crucial for successful B2B EC among SMEs. The findings offer valuable insights to managers, EC/IS experts and policy makers responsible for assisting SMEs with successfully engaging in B2B EC.
TAM Receptor–Dependent Regulation of SOCS3 and MAPKs Contributes to Proinflammatory Cytokine Downregulation following Chronic NOD2 Stimulation of Human Macrophages
Authors: Zheng Shasha , Hedl Matija , Abraham Clara
Published: January 2015

Microbial-induced cytokine regulation is critical to intestinal immune homeostasis. Acute stimulation of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 2 (NOD2), the Crohn’s disease–associated sensor of bacterial peptidoglycan, induces cytokines. However, cytokines are attenuated after chronic NOD2 and pattern recognition receptor stimulation of macrophages; similar attenuation is observed in intestinal macrophages. The role of Tyro3, Axl, and Mer (TAM) receptors in regulating chronic pattern recognition receptor stimulation and NOD2-induced outcomes has not been examined. Moreover, TAM receptors have been relatively less investigated in human macrophages. Whereas TAM receptors did not downregulate acute NOD2-induced cytokines in primary human macrophages, they were essential for downregulating signaling and proinflammatory cytokine secretion after chronic NOD2 and TLR4 stimulation. Axl and Mer were similarly required in mice for cytokine downregulation after chronic NOD2 stimulation in vivo and in intestinal tissues. Consistently, TAM expression was increased in human intestinal myeloid-derived cells. Chronic NOD2 stimulation led to IL-10– and TGF-β–dependent TAM upregulation in human macrophages, which, in turn, upregulated suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 expression. Restoring suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 expression under TAM knockdown conditions restored chronic NOD2-mediated proinflammatory cytokine downregulation. In contrast to the upregulated proinflammatory cytokines, attenuated IL-10 secretion was maintained in TAM-deficient macrophages upon chronic NOD2 stimulation. The level of MAPK activation in TAM-deficient macrophages after chronic NOD2 stimulation was insufficient to upregulate IL-10 secretion; however, full restoration of MAPK activation under these conditions restored c-Fos, c-Jun, musculoaponeurotic fibrosarcoma oncogene homolog K, and PU.1 binding to the IL-10 promoter and IL-10 secretion. Therefore, TAM receptors are critical for downregulating proinflammatory cytokines under the chronic NOD2 stimulation conditions observed in the intestinal environment.
Nitrogen availability from dairy cow dung and urine applied to forage grasses in eastern Canada
Authors: Bélanger Gilles , Rochette Philippe , Chantigny Martin , Ziadi Noura , Angers Denis , Charbonneau Édith , Pellerin Doris , Liang Chang
Published: January 2015

Bélanger, G., Rochette, P., Chantigny, M., Ziadi, N., Angers, D., Charbonneau, E., Pellerin, D. and Liang, C. 2015. Nitrogen availability from dairy cow dung and urine applied to forage grasses in eastern Canada. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 55–65. Nitrogen availability from dung and urine excreted by dairy cows has been studied extensively but few studies have been conducted in areas with short growing seasons and cold winters. We assessed N availability from dairy cow urine and dung applied to forage grasses under the cool conditions of eastern Canada, with a focus on soil- and plant-based indicators. The experiment was conducted with timothy (Phleum pratense L.)-dominated swards on two soil types (clay, sandy loam) with three periods of application (mid-September, early June, early July) and four treatments: Control, Dung (1.75 kg fresh weight m−2), Diluted urine (U-50; 50 g N m−2), and Urine (U-100; 100 g N m−2) from lactating cows. Dry matter (DM) yield and N concentration were measured from several successive clippings. Ion exchange membranes (IEM) and crop N nutrition index (NNI) were used, respectively, as soil-based and plant-based indicators of N availability. Relative cumulative DM yields, calculated as cumulative DM yield over all clippings for a given treatment divided by maximum cumulative DM yield among the four treatments, increased from Control (clay: 31 - 69%; sandy loam: 21–63%) to Dung (clay: 39–84%; sandy loam: 46–86%) and U-50 (clay: 81–83%; sandy loam: 78–100%). Relative values of cumulative N uptake were close to those of DM yields. The percentage of applied N taken up by the crop from all clippings was greater with urine (8–28%) than with dung (3–12%) on both soil types. Nitrogen from dung and urine was available to timothy at all periods of application, but urine N availability was greater than that of dung N. Nitrogen exposure, calculated as cumulative mineral N on IEMs, and NNI were both related to relative DM yield (R 2>0.61; P<0.001), confirming their capacity to assess N availability to forage grasses receiving dung and urine excreted by dairy cows.
Impact of temperature on the expression of Kennedy Pathway genes in developing soybean seeds
Authors: McNaughton Amy J. M. , Shelp Barry J. , Rajcan Istvan
Published: January 2015

McNaughton, A. J. M., Shelp, B. J. and Rajcan, I. 2015. Impact of temperature on the expression of Kennedy Pathway genes in developing soybean seeds. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 87–101. The main oil storage molecule, triacylglycerol (TAG), can be created by the Kennedy Pathway. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of growing temperature on the expression of the Kennedy Pathway genes, glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (G3PAT), lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase (LPAAT), and diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), in developing seed of four soybean genotypes with altered fatty acid composition using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The three growing temperatures were: high, 30°C day/25°C night; normal, 25°C day/20°C night; and low, 20°C day/15°C night. The expression of G3PAT steadily declined following 15 d after flowering (DAF), suggesting that it is likely to be more highly expressed earlier in development than was measured in the study. As a result, the expression of G3PAT did not correspond to fatty acid accumulation. LPAAT expression coincided with accumulation of oleic acid (18:1∆9) and linolenic acid (18:3∆9,12,15) in a temperature-dependent manner. The expression of DGAT1 corresponded to accumulation of linoleic acid (18:2∆9,12), which varied among the soybean genotypes, indicating a genotypic effect on the expression of DGAT1. This study suggests that the expression of the acyltransferase enzymes of the Kennedy Pathway influences the fatty acid composition in seed of four altered fatty acid soybean genotypes.
Morphological and agronomic variation of Puccinellia nuttalliana populations from the Canadian Great Plains
Authors: Liu Yining , Coulman Bruce E.
Published: January 2015

Liu, Y. and Coulman, B. E. 2015. Morphological and agronomic variation of Puccinellia nuttalliana populations from the Canadian Great Plains. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 67–76. Native grass species are adapted to local environments and have the potential for development as forage or turf grass cultivars for semiarid environments. Nuttall's alkali grass [Puccinellia nuttalliana (Shultes) Hitchc.] is a salt-tolerant grass with potential for forage or turf use, and is widely distributed across western North America. Understanding the morphological and agronomic variability of this species is a prerequisite for developing populations suitable for dry and saline regions of western Canada. A collection of 24 Puccinellia nuttalliana populations from the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta were established in a field nursery in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Plant height, crown diameter, tiller number, seed yield, dry matter yield, leaf colour, leaf length, leaf width, spring growth and late summer regrowth of individual plants or plots were measured for each collection in 2011 and 2012. Significant variation was found among the 24 populations for all measured characters in both years. The populations Eston and Westbourne09 had taller plants with greater basal diameter, high tiller number, and high seed and dry matter yields, which suggest they may be useful for forage purposes. The population St. Denis had shorter plants with more tillers, greater basal diameter darker green leaf colour and high seed yields; thus, it may useful as a turfgrass. Within certain populations, individual genotypes were identified which would have potential for production of synthetic cultivars for forage or turf purposes. Cluster analysis was conducted using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA). These analyses showed six distinct groups within the collected populations; however, there was no distinguishable pattern of clustering of populations by region.
Interpolation of Closed Subspaces and Invertibility of Operators
Authors: Asekritova Irina , Cobos Fernando , Kruglyak Natan
Published: January 2015

Let

(Y_{0},Y_{1})

be a Banach couple and let

X_{j}

be a closed complemented subspace of

Y_{j}

, (

j=0,1

). We present several results for the general problem of finding necessary and sufficient conditions on the parameters

( \theta,q)

such that the real interpolation space

(X_{0},X_{1})_{\theta,q}

is a closed subspace of

(Y_{0},Y_{1})_{\theta,q}.

In particular, we establish conditions which are necessary and sufficient for the equality

(X_{0},X_{1})_{\theta,q}=(Y_{0},Y_{1})_{\theta,q},

with the proof based on a previous result by Asekritova and Kruglyak on invertibility of operators. We also generalize the theorem by Ivanov and Kalton where this problem was solved under several rather restrictive conditions, such as that

X_{1}=Y_{1}

and

X_{0}

is a subspace of codimension one in

Y_{0}

.
Existence of Homoclinic Orbits of Superquadratic Second-Order Hamiltonian Systems
Authors: Guo Chengjun , O'Regan Donal , Wang Chengjiang , Agarwal Ravi P.
Published: January 2015

Using critical point theory, we study the existence of homoclinic orbits for the second-order Hamiltonian system

\ddot{z}-K_{z}(t,z)+V_{z}(t,z)=h(t),

where

V(t,z)

depends periodically on

t

and is superquadratic.
Moduli of Smoothness Related to Fractional Riesz-Derivatives
Authors: Runovski Konstantin V. , Schmeisser Hans-Jürgen
Published: January 2015

New moduli of smoothness

\omega_{\langle \beta \rangle}(f, \delta)_p

,

0<\beta<1

, related to the Riesz derivative of order

\beta

are introduced. Their properties are studied in

L_p

-spaces of

2\pi

-periodic functions for

0<p \le +\infty

. The modulus

\omega_{\langle \beta \rangle}(f, \delta)_p

is shown to be equivalent to the polynomial

K

-functional associated with the corresponding Riesz derivative. As a consequence direct Jackson-type and inverse Bernstein-type estimates are proved, the quality of approximation by methods generated by Riesz kernels is described in terms of the these moduli.
Rhinoschleroma
Authors: Cataño Juan Carlos , Gallego Sabrina
Published: January 2015

A 39 year-old man came to our institution because of a five-year history of a progressive painful growing mass on his left nostril, which cause airway obstruction with ulceration. Because of a suspicion of malignancy, surgery (mass resection and subtotal nasal reconstruction) was performed. Histologic samples ruled out malignancy, and tissue cultures for fungus and mycobacteria were negative, but regular aerobic cultures were positive for Klebsiella rhinoscleromatis. The patient was given a six-month regimen of ciprofloxacin, and a dramatic improvement was observed.
Tracing the second stage of ozone recovery in the Antarctic ozone-hole with a "big data" approach to multivariate regressions
Authors: de Laat A. T. J. , van der A R. J. , van Weele M.
Published: January 2015

Abstract. This study presents a sensitivity analysis of multivariate regressions of recent springtime Antarctic vortex ozone trends using a "big data" ensemble approach. Our results indicate that the poleward heat flux (Eliassen–Palm flux) and the effective chlorine loading respectively explain most of the short-term and long-term variability in different Antarctic springtime total ozone records. The inclusion in the regression of stratospheric volcanic aerosols, solar variability and the quasi-biennial oscillation is shown to increase rather than decrease the overall uncertainty in the attribution of Antarctic springtime ozone because of large uncertainties in their respective records. Calculating the trend significance for the ozone record from the late 1990s onwards solely based on the fit of the effective chlorine loading is not recommended, as this does not take fit residuals into account, resulting in too narrow uncertainty intervals, while the fixed temporal change of the effective chlorine loading does not allow for any flexibility in the trends. When taking fit residuals into account in a piecewise linear trend fit, we find that approximately 30–60% of the regressions in the full ensemble result in a statistically significant positive springtime ozone trend over Antarctica from the late 1990s onwards. Analysis of choices and uncertainties in time series show that, depending on choices in time series and parameters, the fraction of statistically significant trends in parts of the ensemble can range from negligible to a complete 100% significance. We also find that, consistent with expectations, the number of statistically significant trends increases with increasing record length. Although our results indicate that the use multivariate regressions is a valid approach for assessing the state of Antarctic ozone hole recovery, and it can be expected that results will move towards more confidence in recovery with increasing record length, uncertainties in choices currently do not yet support formal identification of recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole.
Constraints on Asian ozone using Aura TES, OMI and Terra MOPITT
Authors: Jiang Z. , Worden J. R. , Jones D. B. A. , Lin J.-T. , Verstraeten W. W. , Henze D. K.
Published: January 2015

Abstract. Rapid industrialization in Asia in the last two decades has resulted in a significant increase in Asian ozone (O3) precursor emissions with likely a corresponding increase in the export of O3 and its precursors. However, the relationship between this increasing O3, the chemical environment, O3 production efficiency, and the partitioning between anthropogenic and natural precursors is unclear. In this work, we use satellite measurements of O3, CO and NO2 from TES (Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer), MOPITT (Measurement of Pollution In The Troposphere) and OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) to quantify O3 precursor emissions for 2006 and their impact on free tropospheric O3 over northeastern Asia, where pollution is typically exported globally due to strong westerlies. Using the GEOS-Chem (Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry) global chemical transport model, we test the modeled seasonal and interannual variation of O3 based on prior and updated O3 precursor emissions where the updated emissions of CO and NOx are based on satellite measurements of CO and NO2. We show that the observed TES O3 variability and amount are consistent with the model for these updated emissions. However, there is little difference in the modeled ozone between the updated and prior emissions. For example, for the 2006 June time period, the prior and posterior NOx emissions were 14% different over China but the modeled ozone in the free troposphere was only 2.5% different. Using the adjoint of GEOS-Chem we partition the relative contributions of natural and anthropogenic sources to free troposphere O3 in this region. We find that the influence of lightning NOx in the summer is comparable to the contribution from surface emissions but smaller for other seasons. China is the primary contributor of anthropogenic CO, emissions and their export during the summer. While the posterior CO emissions improved the comparison between model and TES by 32%, on average, this change also had only a small effect on the free tropospheric ozone. Our results show that the influence of India and southeastern Asia emissions on O3 pollution export to the northwestern Pacific is sizeable, comparable with Chinese emissions in winter, about 50% of Chinese emissions in spring and fall, and approximately 20% of the emissions in the summer.
Estimating NH3 emissions from agricultural fertilizer application in China using the bi-directional CMAQ model coupled to an agro-ecosystem model
Authors: Fu X. , Wang S. X. , Ran L. M. , Pleim J. E. , Cooter E. , Bash J. O. , Benson V. , Hao J. M.
Published: January 2015

Abstract. Atmospheric ammonia (NH3) plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry. China is one of the largest NH3 emitting countries with the majority of NH3 emissions coming from the agricultural practices, such as fertilizer application and livestock. The current NH3 emission estimates in China are mainly based on pre-defined emission factors that lack the temporal or spatial details, which are needed to accurately predict NH3 emissions. In this study, we estimate, for the first time, the NH3 emission from the agricultural fertilizer application in China online using an agricultural fertilizer modeling system coupling a regional air quality model (the Community Multi-Scale Air Quality model, CMAQ) and an agro-ecosystem model (the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate model, EPIC), which improves the spatial and temporal resolution of NH3 emission from this sector. Cropland area data of 14 crops from 2710 counties and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land use data are combined to determine the crop distribution. The fertilizer application rate and method for different crop are collected at provincial or agriculture-regional level. The EPIC outputs of daily fertilizer application and soil characteristics are inputed into the CMAQ model and the hourly NH3 emission are calculated online with CMAQ running. The estimated agricultural fertilizer NH3 emission in this study is about 3 Tg in 2011. The regions with the highest modeled emission rates are located in the North China Plain. Seasonally, the peak ammonia emissions occur from April to July.Compared with previous researches, this method considers more influencing factors, such as meteorological fields, soil and the fertilizer application, and provides improved NH3 emission with higher spatial and temporal resolution.
Inter-comparison of laboratory smog chamber and flow reactor systems on organic aerosol yield and composition
Authors: Bruns E. A. , El Haddad I. , Keller A. , Klein F. , Kumar N. K. , Pieber S. M. , Corbin J. C. , Slowik J. G. , Brune W. H. , Baltensperger U. , Prévôt A. S. H.
Published: January 2015

Abstract. A variety of tools are used to simulate atmospheric aging, including smog chambers and flow reactors. Traditional, large-scale smog chambers age emissions over the course of hours to days, whereas flow reactors rapidly age emissions using high oxidant concentrations to reach higher degrees of oxygenation than typically attained in smog chamber experiments. The atmospheric relevance of the products generated under such rapid oxidation warrants further study. However, no previously published studies have compared the yields and chemical composition of products generated in flow reactors and smog chambers from the same starting mixture. The yields and composition of the organic aerosol formed from the photo-oxidation of α-pinene and of wood combustion emissions were determined using aerosol mass spectrometry in a smog chamber (SC) and two flow reactors: a potential aerosol mass reactor (PAM) and a micro-smog chamber (MSC). Reactants were sampled from the SC and aged in the MSC and PAM using a range of hydroxyl radical (OH) concentrations and then photo-chemically aged in the SC. The maximum yields/emission factors and the chemical composition of the products in both the α-pinene and wood combustion systems determined with the PAM and SC agreed reasonably well. High OH exposures have been shown previously to lower yields by breaking carbon-carbon bonds and forming higher volatility species, which reside largely in the gas phase, however, fragmentation in the PAM was not observed. The yields determined using the PAM for the α-pinene system were slightly lower than in the SC, possibly from increased wall losses of gas-phase species due to the higher surface area to volume ratios in the PAM, even when offset with better isolation of the sampled flow from the walls. The α-pinene SOA results for the MSC were not directly comparable, as particles were smaller than the optimal AMS transmission range. For the wood combustion system, emission factors measured by the MSC were typically lower than those from the SC, possibly due to nucleation mode particles not observed by the AMS or the condensational loss of gases to the walls inside or after the MSC. The chemical composition of products in the flow reactors and SC were in reasonable agreement in both systems. The emission factors determined using the flow reactors increased relative to the SC when the wood combustion emissions contained higher fractions of aromatic compounds, suggesting that the performance of the flow reactors may be dependent on the chemical composition of the reactants.
Impact of currents on surface fluxes computation and their feedback on coastal dynamics
Authors: Olita A. , Iermano I. , Fazioli L. , Ribotti A. , Tedesco C. , Pessini F. , Sorgente R.
Published: January 2015

Abstract. A twin numerical experiment was conducted in the seas of Sardinia (Western Mediterranean) to assess the impact, at coastal scales, of the use of relative winds (i.e. taking into account ocean surface currents) in the computation of heat and momentum fluxes through bulk formulas. The model, the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), was implemented at 2 km of resolution in order to well resolve (sub-)mesoscale dynamics. Small changes (1–2%) in terms of spatially-averaged fluxes correspond to quite large spatial differences of such quantities (up to 15–20%) and to comparably significant differences in terms of mean velocities of the surface currents. Wind power input of the wind stress to the ocean surface P results also reduced by a 15%, especially where surface currents are stronger. Quantitative validation with satellite SST suggests that such a modification on the fluxes improves the model solution especially in areas of cyclonic circulation, where the heat fluxes correction is predominant in respect to the dynamical correction. Surface currents changes above all in their fluctuating part, while the stable part of the flow show changes mainly in magnitude and less in its path. Both total and eddy kinetic energies of the surface current field results reduced in the experiment where fluxes took into account for surface currents. Dynamically, the largest correction is observed in the SW area where anticyclonic eddies approach the continental slope. This reduction also impacts the vertical dynamics and specifically the local upwelling that results diminished both in spatial extension as well in magnitude. Simulations suggest that, even at local scales and in temperate regions, it is preferable to take into account for such a component in fluxes computation. Results also confirm the tight relationship between local coastal upwelling and eddy-slope interactions in the area.
Stable climate and surface mass balance in Svalbard over 1979–2013 despite the Arctic warming
Authors: Lang C. , Fettweis X. , Erpicum M.
Published: January 2015

Abstract. With the help of the regional climate model MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional) forced by the ERA-Interim reanalysis (MARERA) and the MIROC5 (Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate) global model (MARMIROC5) from the CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) database, we have modelled the climate and surface mass balance of Svalbard at a 10 km resolution over 1979–2013. The integrated total surface mass balance (SMB) over Svalbard modelled by MARERA is negative (−1.6 Gt yr−1) with a large interannual variability (7.1 Gt) but, unlike over Greenland, there has been no acceleration of the surface melt over the past 35 years because of the recent change in atmospheric circulation bringing northwesterly flows in summer over Svalbard, contrasting the recent observed Arctic warming. However, in 2013, the atmospheric circulation changed to a south–southwesterly flow over Svalbard causing record melt, SMB (−20.4 Gt yr−1) and summer temperature. MIROC5 is significantly colder than ERA-Interim over 1980–2005 but MARMIROC5 is able to improve the near-surface MIROC5 results by simulating not significant SMB differences with MARERA over 1980–2005. On the other hand, MIROC5 does not represent the recent atmospheric circulation shift in summer and induces in MARMIROC5 a significant trend of decreasing SMB (−0.6 Gt yr−2) over 1980–2005.
Future projections of the climate and surface mass balance of Svalbard with the regional climate model MAR
Authors: Lang C. , Fettweis X. , Erpicum M.
Published: January 2015

Abstract. We have performed future projections of the climate and surface mass balance (SMB) of Svalbard with the MAR regional climate model forced by the MIROC5 global model, following the RCP8.5 scenario at a spatial resolution of 10 km. MAR predicts a similar evolution of increasing surface melt everywhere in Svalbard followed by a sudden acceleration of the melt around 2050, with a larger melt increase in the south compared to the north of the archipelago and the ice caps. This melt acceleration around 2050 is mainly driven by the albedo-melt feedback associated with the expansion of the ablation/bare ice zone. This effect is dampened in part as the solar radiation itself is projected to decrease due to cloudiness increase. The near-surface temperature is projected to increase more in winter than in summer as the temperature is already close to 0 °C in summer. The model also projects a strong winter west-to-east temperature gradient, related to the large decrease of sea ice cover around Svalbard. At the end of the century (2070–2099 mean), SMB is projected to be negative over the entire Svalbard and, by 2085, all glaciated regions of Svalbard are predicted to undergo net ablation, meaning that, under the RCP8.5 scenario, all the glaciers and ice caps are predicted to start their irreversible retreat before the end of the 21st century.
ŪMISUBDURINĖ HEMATOMA DĖL SMEGENŲ MAIŠINĖS ANEURIZMOS PLYŠIMO
Authors: Liutkus Danius , Staškevičius Arnas
Published: January 2015

Ūmi subdurinė hematoma (ūSDH) dėl plyšusios smegenų maišinės aneurizmos yra retai pasitaikanti ir gana dažnai turinti blogą baigtį komplikacija. Dažnai ligoniai patenka sunkios būklės su sutrikusia sąmone. Išoriniai galvos traumos požymiai gali maskuoti tikrąją ligos priežastį. Greitas subdurinės hematomos, sukeliančios kompresiją, šalinimas nuo gyvybiškai svarbių nervinių struktūrų – gyvybę gelbstinti operacija. Geriausios baigtys būna, kai vienos operacijos metu pašalinama hematoma ir „išjungiama“ aneurizma. Ligoniui, kuriam atlikus galvos smegenų kompiuterinę tomografiją (KT) randama ūSDH ir spontaninė subarachnoidinė hemoragija (SAH), nesant aiškios trauminės anamnezės, turėtų būti atliekama kompiuterinės tomografijos angiografija (KTA). Tai taip pat pirmo pasirinkimo tyrimas, esant nestabiliam pacientui, kadangi tai neinvazinis ir greitas tyrimas. Kai KTA tyrimo metu aneurizma nerandama, esant galimybei, atliekama konvencinė angiografija.