bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins in Bcl-2 Regulated Apoptosis
Authors: Rautureau Gilles J. P. , Day Catherine L. , Hinds Mark G.
Published: April 2010

Intrinsic cell death is mediated by interaction between pro-apoptotic and pro-survival proteins of the B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) family. Members of this family are either intrinsically disordered or contain intrinsically disordered regions/domains that are critical to their function. Alternate splicing and post-translational modifications can determine the extent of these disordered regions and are critical for regulating Bcl-2 proteins. Conformational plasticity and structural transitions characterize the interactions within the Bcl-2 family, with conserved sequence motifs on both binding partners required for their molecular recognition.
Distribution and Abundance of MAAs in 33 Species of Microalgae across 13 Classes
Authors: Llewellyn Carole Anne , Airs Ruth Louise
Published: April 2010

We provide a direct comparison of the distribution and abundance of mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) in a diverse range of microalgal cultures (33 species across 13 classes) grown without supplementary ultraviolet radiation (UV). We compare the MAAs in cultures with those present in characterised natural phytoplankton populations from the English Channel. We detected 25 UV absorbing compounds including at least two with multiple absorption maxima. We used LC-MS to provide chemical characterisation of the six most commonly occurring MAAs, namely, palythene, palythine, mycosporine-glycine, palythenic acid, porphyra-334 and shinorine. MAAs were abundant (up to 7 pg MAA cell−1)in 10 species, with more minor and often unknown MAAs in a further 11 cultures. Shinorine was the most frequently occurring and abundant MAA (up to 6.5 pg cell−1) and was present in all but two of the MAA-containing species. The study provides further insight into the diversity and abundance of MAAs important from an ecological perspective and as potential source of natural alternatives to synthetic sunscreens.
A General and Simple Diastereoselective Reduction by L-Selectride: Efficient Synthesis of Protected (4S,5S)-Dihydroxy Amides
Authors: Yin Bo , Ye Dong-Nai , Yu Kai-Hui , Liu Liang-Xian
Published: April 2010

A general approach to (4S,5S)-4-benzyloxy-5-hydroxy-N-(4-methoxybenzyl) amides 10 based on a diastereoselective reduction of (5S,6RS)-6-alkyl-5-benzyloxy-6-hydroxy-2-piperidinones 6 and their tautomeric ring-opened keto amides 7 is described. The reduction with L-Selectride at -20 °C to room temperature afforded the products 10 in excellent yields and moderate to high syn-diastereoselectivities.
Ten Years of SeaWinds on QuikSCAT for Snow Applications
Authors: Bartsch Annett
Published: April 2010

The scatterometer SeaWinds on QuikSCAT provided regular measurements at Ku-band from 1999 to 2009. Although it was designed for ocean applications, it has been frequently used for the assessment of seasonal snowmelt patterns aside from other terrestrial applications such as ice cap monitoring, phenology and urban mapping. This paper discusses general data characteristics of SeaWinds and reviews relevant change detection algorithms. Depending on the complexity of the method, parameters such as long-term noise and multiple event analyses were incorporated. Temporal averaging is a commonly accepted preprocessing step with consideration of diurnal, multi-day or seasonal averages.
Gender-of-voice effects in an ACASI study of same-sex behavior
Authors: Fahrney Kristine , Uhrig Jennifer , Kuo Tzy-Mey
Published: April 2010

Audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) is a popular method for administering surveys of sex and other sensitive behaviors. One advantage of ACASI is that it removes the requirement that respondents divulge sensitive behaviors directly to another person. Thus, ACASI may reduce the extent to which interviewer effects compromise response accuracy. However, the literature on computers as social actors suggests that even subtle humanizing cues, such as the gender of the computer-generated voice, may cause users to react to the computer as they would to another person. The present randomized experiment examined whether the gender of the ACASI voice affects the reporting of socially undesirable HIV-risk behaviors in a sample of 405 men who have sex with men across 12 US cities. We randomly assigned participants to hear either a male or a female recorded voice. We tested for gender-of-voice effects on reports of same sex behaviors and number of sexual partners. The male ACASI voice elicited fewer instances of unprotected receptive anal sex with an HIV-status-unknown partner (p = .002), whereas the male voice elicited marginally higher numbers of HIV-negative partners in the past 30 days (p = .052). Overall, our results suggest that interviewer effects stemming from the gender of the ACASI voice were minimal in our study. The significant (or marginally significant) effects that we did detect are consistent with findings in prior research and seem to suggest that a female voice may elicit more accurate reports.
VILNIAUS SENAMIESČIO FASADŲ KOMPOZICINIS SAVITUMAS IR KAITA
Authors: Riaubienė Edita
Published: April 2010

The paper discusses the architectural originality of Vilnius old town with the main focus on the facade composition. More detailed analyses of street facades are performed by the aspects of rhythm and scale, also paying attention to different characteristics of the main (Pilis and Trakai) and secondary (St. Mykolas and Literatai) streets. As the main aim of this study is to assess the influence of new elements and other changes on the originality of the old town, the transformation facts were identified that appeared during the recent thirty years. Finally, these changes were evaluated according to their correlation with the originality of the old town of Vilnius.

Santrauka

Straipsnis skirtas Vilniaus senamiesčio architektūriniam savitumui aptarti, susitelkiant ties senojo miesto fasadų kompozicija. Detaliau analizuojama architektūrinė išklotinių raiška ritmo ir mastelio aspektais, išskiriant pagrindinių (Pilies ir Trakų) ir šalutinių (Šv. Mykolo ir Literatų) senamiesčio gatvių charakteristikas. Kadangi pagrindinis tyrimo tikslas yra nustatyti naujų elementų ar kitų pokyčių įtaką Vilniaus senamiesčio savitumui, todėl identifikuojami per paskutinius tris dešimtmečius įvykę fasadų pokyčiai. Nustatytos transformacijos vertinamos atitikties senamiesčio architektūros savitumui požiūriu.
Clinically Important Improvement in Function Is Common in People with or at High Risk of Knee OA: The MOST Study
Authors: WHITE DANIEL K. , KEYSOR JULIE J. , LAVALLEY MICHAEL P. , LEWIS CORA E. , TORNER JAMES C. , NEVITT MICHAEL C. , FELSON DAVID T.
Published: April 2010

Objective.

To calculate the frequency of clinically important improvement in function over 30 months and identify risk factors in people who have or are at risk of knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods.

Subjects were from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis (MOST), a longitudinal study of persons with or at high risk of knee OA. We defined minimal clinically important improvement (MCII) with the Western Ontario McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) physical function using 3 different methods. Baseline risk factors tested for improvement included age, sex, educational attainment, presence of radiographic knee OA (ROA), the number of comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), knee pain, walking speed, isokinetic knee extensor strength, depressive symptoms, physical activity, and medication usage. We used logistic regression to evaluate the association of baseline risk factors with MCII.

Results.

Of the 1801 subjects (mean age 63 yrs, BMI = 31, 63% women), most had mild limitations in baseline function (WOMAC = 19 ± 11). Regardless of how defined, a substantial percentage of subjects (24%–39%) reached MCII at 30 months. Compared to their counterparts, people with MCII were less likely to have ROA and to use medications, and were more likely to have a lower BMI, less knee pain, a faster walking speed, more knee strength, and fewer depressive symptoms. After adjustment, MCII was 40% to 50% less likely in those with ROA, and 1.9 to 2.0 times more likely in those walking 1.0 meters/second faster than counterparts.

Conclusion.

Clinically important improvement is frequent in people with or at high risk of knee OA. The absence of ROA and a faster walking speed appear to be associated with clinically important improvements.
Differences in MSU-induced Superoxide Responses by Neutrophils from Gout Subjects Compared to Healthy Controls and a Role for Environmental Inflammatory Cytokines and Hyperuricemia in Neutrophil Function and Survival
Authors: MARTIN WILLIAM JOHN , GRAINGER REBECCA , HARRISON ANDREW , HARPER JACQUIE L.
Published: April 2010

Objective.

To determine whether monosodium urate (MSU) crystal-induced superoxide production is greater for neutrophils from patients with gout compared to asymptomatic hyperuricemic and healthy controls, and whether neutrophil functions are altered by an MSU crystal-induced inflammatory environment.

Methods.

Neutrophils were purified from the whole blood of study participants, restimulated with 500 mg MSU crystalsex vivo, and superoxide production measured using the colorimetric dye WST-1. Purified neutrophils were exposed to conditioned media from MSU crystal-activated blood monocyte cultures with and without neutralizing antibodies for interleukin 1ß (IL-1ß), IL-8 (CXCL8), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Neutrophil superoxide production was measured and neutrophil apoptosis and IL-8 production were determined by flow cytometry. Serum samples were collected from participants and analyzed by Lincoplex bead array for IL-1ß, IL-8, IL-6, and TNF-α.

Results.

Neutrophils from gout and asymptomatic hyperuricemic subjects produced higher levels of MSU crystal-induced superoxide, and a weak trend toward elevated serum cytokines was observed compared to healthy controls. A correlation between serum uric acid and elevated neutrophil superoxide production was also observed. Neutrophils exposed to media from MSU crystal-activated monocytes exhibited enhanced superoxide production to MSU-crystal stimulation, increased IL-8 production, and extended cell survival that was predominantly dependent on IL-8, TNF-α and IL-6, respectively.

Conclusion.

Neutrophils from gout and asymptomatic hyperuricemic individuals are primed for enhanced MSU crystal-induced superoxide production that may be driven by a subclinical inflammatory cytokine environment combined with hyperuricemia. This inflammatory environment likely contributes to elevated neutrophil IL-8 production and survival in the absence of direct crystal stimulation. Asymptomatic hyperuricemia is not associated with suppressed neutrophil function.
Patient-reported Outcomes in a Randomized Trial of Etanercept in Psoriatic Arthritis
Authors: MEASE PHILIP J. , WOOLLEY J. MICHAEL , SINGH AMITABH , TSUJI WAYNE , DUNN MELEANA , CHIOU CHIUN-FANG
Published: April 2010

Objective.

To evaluate the effects of etanercept treatment on patient-reported outcomes (PRO) in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Methods.

A 24-week double-blind comparison to placebo was followed by a 48-week open-label phase in which all eligible patients received etanercept. PRO were measured using the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI), the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form (SF-36), the EQ-5D visual analog scale (VAS), and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) patient pain assessment.

Results.

Beginning at Week 4 and continuing through Week 24 of double-blind treatment, patients treated with etanercept had significantly higher mean percentage improvement in HAQ-DI relative to baseline than patients given placebo (53.6% vs 6.4% at Week 24; p < 0.001). After 48 weeks of open-label treatment with etanercept, the mean percentage change from study baseline was 52.8% for the original etanercept group and 46.9% for the original placebo group, with 41.2% of patients overall achieving a HAQ-DI of 0. Mean changes relative to baseline for SF-36 physical component summary scores, EQ-5D VAS, and ACR pain assessment were also significant in the double-blind period for etanercept compared with placebo (p < 0.001 for all 3 measures). Patients taking placebo achieved similar improvements once they began treatment with etanercept in the open-label period.

Conclusion.

Patients with PsA treated with etanercept reported significant improvements in physical function that were almost 10 times the improvement seen with placebo and were maintained for up to 2 years. Almost half of patients treated with etanercept reported no disability by the end of the study.
Association Study of Serotonin Transporter Gene (SLC6A4) in Systemic Sclerosis in European Caucasian Populations
Authors: WIPFF JULIEN , BONNET PIERRE , RUIZ BARBARA , DIEUDE PHILIPPE , AVOUAC JEROME , TIEV KIET , HACHULLA ERIC , CRACOWSKI JEAN-LUC , DIOT ELIZABETH , SIBILIA JEAN , MOUTHON LUC , MEYER OLIVIER , KAHAN ANDRE , BOILEAU CATHERINE , ALLANORE YANNICK
Published: April 2010

Objective.

Serotonin is a key contributing factor in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) by inducing pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cell (PA-SMC) proliferation. This relates specifically to the internalization process in PA-SMC of the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4 or 5-HTT). A long (L)/short (S) (44 base pair insertion) functional polymorphism within the promoter of the transporter SLC6A4 gene has been reported to be associated with familial and idiopathic PAH. Our objective was to determine whether polymorphisms of SLC6A4 confer susceptibility to SSc and its vascular phenotype.

Methods.

Three Tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) (rs2066713, rs1042173, rs6354) chosen using Hapmap and linkage disequilibrium data were genotyped in a total cohort of 667 SSc patients (56 with PAH, 207 with digital ulcerations) and 447 controls. All individuals were of French Caucasian origin. L/S polymorphism genotyping was determined by polymerase chain reaction in a random subgroup of 364 SSc patients (34 with PAH, 138 with digital ulcerations) and 218 controls.

Results.

Three polymorphisms (L/S, rs2066713, rs1042173) were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the control population, but rs6354 deviated. Allelic and genotypic frequencies for these 3 polymorphisms were similar in SSc patients and controls. Subphenotype analyses of subsets with PAH and digital ulceration did not detect any difference between SSc patients compared to controls.

Conclusion.

These results from a large cohort of European Caucasian SSc patients do not support the implication of SLC6A4 in the pathogenesis of SSc and its vascular subphenotypes. However, serotonin pathways remain good candidates to contribute to the vasculopathy of SSc.
Managing Resource Allocation and Task Prioritization Decisions in Large Scale Virtual Collaborative Development Projects
Authors: Melouk Sharif H. , Raja Uzma , Keskin Burcu B.
Published: April 2010

The authors use a simulation approach to determine effective management of resource allocation and task prioritization decisions for the development of open source enterprise solutions software in the context of a large scale collaborative development project (CDP). Unlike traditional software systems where users have limited access to the development team, in open source environments, the resolution of issues is a collaborative effort among users and the team. However, as the project grows in size, complexity, and usage, effective allocation of resources and prioritization of tasks become a necessity to improve the operational performance of the software system. In this paper, by mining an open source software repository, the authors analyze the effects of collaborative issue resolution in a CDP and its effects on resource allocation of the team developers. This article examines several scenarios to evaluate the effects of forum discussions, resource allocation, and task prioritization on operational performance of the software system.
Behavioral Implicit Communication (BIC)
Authors: Castelfranchi Cristiano , Pezzulo Giovanni , Tummolini Luca
Published: April 2010

A crucial part of the intelligence that smart environments should display is a specific form of social intelligence: the ability to read human behavior and its traces in terms of underlying intentions and assumptions. Such ability is crucial to enable human users to tacitly coordinate and negotiate with smart and proactive digital environments. In this paper, the authors argue that the necessary tool for this ability is behavioral and stigmergic implicit (i.e. non-conventional) communication. The authors present a basic theory of such a fundamental interactive means—the theory of Behavioral Implicit Communication (BIC).
iCampus
Authors: Bromuri Stefano , Urovi Visara , Stathis Kostas
Published: April 2010

iCampus is a prototype multi-agent system whose goal is to provide the ambient intelligence required to connect people in a university campus and make that campus inclusive and accessible. Software agents called guides run on mobile phones to help students with information about people, places, and events, thus providing people real-time, location-based advice that makes them more aware of what is going on in the campus. The work outlines how to specify iCampus in the Ambient Event Calculus and implement it using the agent environment GOLEM to deploy guide agents over a campus network. The work is illustrated by showing how iCampus improves the mobility of blind or partially sighted students within a campus, which has been the main motivation behind the work.
How Intelligent Are Ambient Intelligence Systems?
Authors: Santofimia María J. , Moya Francisco , Villanueva Félix J. , Villa David , López Juan C.
Published: April 2010

Since the appearance of the Ambient Intelligence paradigm, as an evolution of the Ubiquitous Computing, a great deal of the research efforts in this ?eld have been mainly aimed at anticipating user actions and needs, out of a pre?xed set. However, Ambient Intelligence is not just constrained to user behaviour pattern matching, but to wisely supervise the whole environment, satisfying those unforeseen requirements or needs, by means of rational decisions. This work points at the lack of commonsense reasoning, as the main reason underlying the existance of these idiots savant systems, capable of accomplishing very speci?c and complex tasks, but incapable of making decisions out of the pre?xed behavioral patterns. This work advocates for the integration of the commonsense reasoning and understanding capabilities as the key elements in bridging the gap between idiot savant systems and real Ambient Intelligence systems.
Three Novel Methods to Predict Traffic Time Series in Reconstructed State Spaces
Authors: Lan Lawrence W. , Lin Feng-Yu , Kuo April Y.
Published: April 2010

This article proposes three novel methods—temporal confined (TC), spatiotemporal confined (STC) and spatial confined (SC)—to forecast the temporal evolution of traffic parameters. The fundamental rationales are to embed one-dimensional traffic time series into reconstructed state spaces and then to perform fuzzy reasoning to infer the future changes in traffic series. The TC, STC and SC methods respectively employ different fuzzy reasoning logics to select similar historical traffic trajectories. Theil inequality coefficient and its decomposed components are used to evaluate the predicting power and source of errors. Field observed one-minute traffic counts are used to test the predicting power. The results show that overall prediction accuracies for the three methods are satisfactorily high with small systematic errors and little deviation from the observed data. It suggests that the proposed three methods can be used to capture and forecast the short-term (e.g., one-minute) temporal evolution of traffic parameters.
Modeling
Authors: Papajorgji Petraq , Pinet François , Miralles A. , Jallas E. , Pardalos P.M.
Published: April 2010

Enterprise information systems in agriculture and environment are becoming more complex and difficult to design and implement. This paper aims to show our vision on using model-based approaches to design complex and flexible agricultural and environmental information systems. At the center of this modeling approach is the Unified Modeling Language that facilitates expressing visually concepts of a problem domain and their relationships. UML has a core of notations that are generic and that can be used to model problems in any domain but can be extended to create profiles in order to take into consideration modeling concerns in a particular problem domain. UML profiles are created to use UML in designing spatial systems, ontologies, model driven architecture-based systems and Web-based systems and a recent profile makes it possible to use UML for business modeling purposes. UML is used to present design patterns; their use is crucial in designing complex and flexible information systems. Recently, UML is enriched with Object Constraint Language that is used to express constraints on modeling artifacts. The paper presents the state of the art in modeling agricultural and environmental systems and provides discussions for future directions.
A Family of Superstable n-D Mappings
Authors: Elhadj Zeraoulia
Published: April 2010

In this article it is rigorously shown that a family of n-D mappings is superstable for some ranges in its bifurcation parameters space. This result is also tested numerically through a 3-D mapping, which has a simple form and complicated behaviors.
A Survey on Evolutionary Instance Selection and Generation
Authors: Derrac Joaquín , García Salvador , Herrera Francisco
Published: April 2010

The use of Evolutionary Algorithms to perform data reduction tasks has become an effective approach to improve the performance of data mining algorithms. Many proposals in the literature have shown that Evolutionary Algorithms obtain excellent results in their application as Instance Selection and Instance Generation procedures. The purpose of this paper is to present a survey on the application of Evolutionary Algorithms to Instance Selection and Generation process. It will cover approaches applied to the enhancement of the nearest neighbor rule, as well as other approaches focused on the improvement of the models extracted by some well-known data mining algorithms. Furthermore, some proposals developed to tackle two emerging problems in data mining, Scaling Up and Imbalance Data Sets, also are reviewed.
Theorems Supporting r-flip Search for Pseudo-Boolean Optimization
Authors: Alidaee Bahram , Kochenberger Gary , Wang Haibo
Published: April 2010

Modern metaheuristic methodologies rely on well defined neighborhood structures and efficient means for evaluating potential moves within these structures. Move mechanisms range in complexity from simple 1-flip procedures where binary variables are “flipped” one at a time, to more expensive, but more powerful, r-flip approaches where “r” variables are simultaneously flipped. These multi-exchange neighborhood search strategies have proven to be effective approaches for solving a variety of combinatorial optimization problems. In this paper, we present a series of theorems based on partial derivatives that can be readily adopted to form the essential part of r-flip heuristic search methods for Pseudo-Boolean optimization. To illustrate the use of these results, we present preliminary results obtained from four simple heuristics designed to solve a set of Max 3-SAT problems.
A Sociopsychological Perspective on Collective Intelligence in Metaheuristic Computing
Authors: Wang Yingxu
Published: April 2010

In studies of genetic algorithms, evolutionary computing, and ant colony mechanisms, it is recognized that the higher-order forms of collective intelligence play an important role in metaheuristic computing and computational intelligence. Collective intelligence is an integration of collective behaviors of individuals in social groups or collective functions of components in computational intelligent systems. This paper presents the properties of collective intelligence and their applications in metaheuristic computing. A social psychological perspective on collected intelligence is elaborated toward the studies on the structure, organization, operation, and development of collective intelligence. The collective behaviors underpinning collective intelligence in groups and societies are analyzed via the fundamental phenomenon of the basic human needs. A key question on how collective intelligence is constrained by social environment and group settings is explained by a formal motivation/attitude-driven behavioral model. Then, a metaheuristic computational model for a generic cognitive process of human problem solving is developed. This work helps to explain the cognitive and collective intelligent foundations of metaheuristic computing and its engineering applications.
Information Infrastructure
Authors: Cordella Antonio
Published: April 2010

Recent work on information systems has discussed the nature and the complexity of the Information Infrastructures (II) concept. This research has mainly focused on two aspects: studying the process that both shapes and stabilizes information infrastructures, and studying the role played by information infrastructure in leveraging business performance. Using the ideas proposed by the Actor Network Theory (ANT), this article suggests a new way to conceptualise the nature of II, that is, its ontology. Using ANT as an ontological foundation to analyse the relations among actors, the article proposes the concept of information infrastructures in action to highlight their dynamic nature. This leads us to consider information infrastructures not as stable entities, but rather as entities performed in, by, and through relations. The aim of this work is to overcome the limitations associated with studying information infrastructures that rely on stability and manageability assumptions. Conceiving information infrastructures in terms of performative forces that evolve dynamically, this work provides a framework to examine information infrastructure in terms of dynamic relationships by looking at the process that shapes these relationships. The article suggests that information infrastructures should not be studied retrospectively to understand how they are established, but rather should be studied focussing on the process of making. Here we study the action of making rather than the processes that made.
Adoption of ICT in Rural Medical General Practices in Australia
Authors: Deering Patricia , Tatnall Arthur , Burgess Stephen
Published: April 2010

ICT has been used in medical General Practice throughout Australia now for some years, but although most General Practices make use of ICT for administrative purposes such as billing, prescribing and medical records, many individual General Practitioners themselves do not make full use of these ICT systems for clinical purposes. The decisions taken in the adoption of ICT in general practice are very complex, and involve many actors, both human and non-human. This means that actor-network theory offers a most suitable framework for its analysis. This article investigates how GPs in a rural Division of General Practice not far from Melbourne considered the adoption and use of ICT. The study reported in the article shows that, rather than characteristics of the technology itself, it is often seemingly unimportant human issues that determine if and how ICT is used in General Practice.
The User's Touch
Authors: Martínez Reyes Fernando , Greenhalgh Chris
Published: April 2010

The home of the future will be able to offer comfortable, safe and supportive home spaces. Smart systems and artefacts will know users’ routines and anticipate their needs. While the vision of the home of the future is promissory, it is the user who supports UbiComp systems, but certain technical and social challenges must be addressed before the smart home can become a reality. Unexpected human behavior makes it difficult to identify and predict domestic activity. Thus, if a system is not reliable or trusted enough to take actions on behalf of users, context-aware designs must allow for user participation to support the systems’ performance. In this article, the authors use their experience designing a context-aware system to illustrate how the users’ “touch”, that is, their active involvement, is still a requirement for today’s UbiComp designs. The configurable system described supports parents awareness of their children’s activity. Responses from a user study indicate that parents engaged positively with this kind of mediated, rather than proactive, computing-based support.
Technological and Educational Challenges of Resilient Computing
Authors: Simoncini Luca
Published: April 2010

The adjective resilient has been used in dependable computing essentially as a synonym of fault-tolerant, thus ignoring the unexpected aspect of the phenomena the systems may have to face. These phenomena are very relevant when moving to systems like the future large, networked, evolving systems constituting complex information infrastructures that are the emergence of the ubiquitous systems that will support Ambient Intelligence. From an educational point of view, very few Universities offer a comprehensive track that is able to prepare students able to cope with the challenges posed by the design of ubiquitous systems. To fill both gaps, a European Network of Excellence, ReSIST – Resilience for Survivability in IST was run from January 2006 to March 2009 (see http://www.resist-noe.org/). In this article the technological challenges, the related educational issues and a proposed MSc curriculum in Resilient Computing that arise from the results of ReSIST are presented and discussed.
Web Distributed Computing Systems Implementation and Modeling
Authors: Boldrin Fabio , Taddia Chiara , Mazzini Gianluca
Published: April 2010

This article proposes a new approach for distributed computing. The main novelty consists in the exploitation of Web browsers as clients, thanks to the availability of JavaScript, AJAX and Flex. The described solution has two main advantages: it is client-free, so no additional programs have to be installed to perform the computation, and it requires low CPU usage, so client-side computation is no invasive for users. The solution is developed using both AJAX and Adobe®Flex® technologies embedding a pseudo-client into a Web page that hosts the computation. While users browse the hosting Web page, computation takes place resolving single sub-problems and sending the solution to the server-side part of the system. Our client-free solution is an example of high resilient and auto-administrated system that is able to organize the scheduling of the processes and the error management in an autonomic manner. A mathematical model has been developed over this solution. The main goals of the model are to describe and classify different categories of problems on the basis of the feasibility and to find the limits in the dimensioning of the scheduling systems to have convenience in the use of this approach. The new architecture has been tested through different performance metrics by implementing two examples of distributed computing, the cracking of an RSA cryptosystem through the factorization of the public key and the correlation index between samples in genetic data sets. Results have shown good feasibility of this approach both in a closed environment and also in an Internet environment, in a typical real situation.
Simulating Normative Agents
Authors: Lotzmann Ulf , Möhring Michael , Troitzsch Klaus G.
Published: April 2010

The article discusses the sociological background and the general features of a new simulation toolbox, which was explicitly designed to describe, design and simulate multi-agent systems whose component agents are endowed with the capability to exchange norm invocations and to internalize norms, to develop codes of norms and to change them. This toolbox takes into account that normative behavior can only originate in the interpretation of norm invocations and the deliberate decision to abide by the emerging norms—otherwise what emerges is only a transitory regularity. Agents designed with the help of this toolbox are endowed with initial rule sets that they can vary over time, according to the experience gained.
Internalizing Norms
Authors: Conte Rosaria , Andrighetto Giulia , Campennì Marco
Published: April 2010

Internalization is at study in social-behavioural sciences and moral philosophy; lately, the debate was revamped within the rationality approach to the study of cooperation and compliance because internalization is a less costly and more reliable enforcement system than social control. But how does it work? So far, poor attention was paid to mental underpinnings of internalization. This article advocates a rich cognitive model of different types, degrees and factors of internalization. In future work, it will be implemented on a normative agent platform to simulate the individual and social effect of internalization.
Where Do I Begin? Designing Online Learning Courses Which Work
Authors: King Kathleen P.
Published: April 2010

One of the greatest needs of faculty in adult and higher education today is to understand how to design distance learning courses which address the needs of their current and prospective students while upholding academic excellence and remaining feasible to develop (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009; Palloff & Pratt, 2004). This article provides an overview of the rapidly changing field of distance learning with a focus on trends and lessons for faculty course design and facilitation. Beginning with distance learning, the article illustrates not only the possibilities for teaching and learning through a variety of inexpensive, popular and easy technologies, but will also leads into how to plan, design and facilitate courses which incorporate them. The basis for this model is 13 years of distance learning research, design and teaching, as well as extensive continued literature reviews. The aim is to assist faculty in identifying how to envision, plan, design and facilitate online classes which will best address the many demands they have to satisfy.
Critical Components of Curriculum Development for Career and Technical Education Instructors in the United States
Authors: Wang Viktor
Published: April 2010

Developing curriculum(s) requires instructors to take into several factors. These factors can be viewed as critical components of curriculum development for career and technical education (CTE) instructors. Without adequately addressing critical components such as curriculum history, curriculum theory, curriculum philosophies, curriculum processes, curriculum implementation and evaluation, CTE instructors will fail to develop sound/ meaningful curriculum(s). This article attempts to discuss those critical components in order to help instructors in the field. As curriculum development in the United States is characterized by both centralization and decentralization, it is essential that CTE instructors should be equipped with necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes to develop practical curriculum(s) that they can use to benefit their own teaching.
Business Intelligence and Organizational Decisions
Authors: Davenport Thomas H.
Published: April 2010

The focus on transactional systems in the earlier decades of information management is beginning to shift toward decisions. In order to study the relationship between information and decisions, the author interviewed 32 managers in 27 organizations where an attempt to use information to support decision-making had been made. A framework involving three different relationships between information and decisions is introduced: loosely-coupled, structured human, and automated. It is suggested that loosely-coupled information and decision environments, while productive for information providers, may require too much knowledge on the part of information users to be effective. A four-step process for bringing information and decisions in closer alignment is also advanced.
Decision Support as Knowledge Creation
Authors: Steiger David M.
Published: April 2010

The primary purpose of decision support systems (DSS) is to improve the quality of decisions. Since decisions are based on an individual’s mental model, improving decision quality is a function of discovering the decision maker’s mental model, and updating and/or enhancing it with new knowledge; that is, the purpose of decision support is knowledge creation. This article suggests that BI techniques can be applied to knowledge creation as an enabling technology. Specifically, the authors propose a business intelligence design theory for DSS as knowledge creation, a prescriptive theory based on Nonaka’s knowledge spiral that indicates how BI can be focused internally on the decision maker to discover and enhance his/her mental model and improve the quality of decisions.
Business Plus Intelligence Plus Technology Equals Business Intelligence
Authors: Yermish Ira , Miori Virginia , Yi John , Malhotra Rashmi , Klimberg Ronald
Published: April 2010

In this article the authors will show how the parallel developments of information technology at the operational business level and decision support concepts progressed through the decades of the twentieth century with only minimal success at strategic application. They will posit that the twin technological developments of the world-wide-web and very inexpensive mass storage provided the environment to facilitate the convergence of business operations and decision support into the strategic application of business intelligence.
Strategies for Document Management
Authors: Corral Karen , Schuff David , Schymik Gregory , St. Louis Robert
Published: April 2010

Keyword search has failed to adequately meet the needs of enterprise users. This is largely due to the size of document stores, the distribution of word frequencies, and the indeterminate nature of languages. The authors argue a different approach needs to be taken, and draw on the successes of dimensional data modeling and subject indexing to propose a solution. They test our solution by performing search queries on a large research database. By incorporating readily available subject indexes into the search process, they obtain order of magnitude improvements in the performance of search queries. Their performance measure is the ratio of the number of documents returned without using subject indexes to the number of documents returned when subject indexes are used. The authors explain why the observed tenfold improvement in search performance on our research database can be expected to occur for searches on a wide variety of enterprise document stores.
NRU ('near you')
Authors: Dahlström Mathias , Jones Richard Lewis , Balabanovic Marko
Published: April 2010

NRU (“near you”) is a new mobile phone application for finding nearby activities. The application displays restaurants, bars, cafes, and so forth close to the user, on a display that updates as the user rotates it and moves it around his or her body, encouraging real-world interaction. This device is a simplified form of augmented reality that works on an existing consumer phone handset, combining location and orientation sensors with a touchscreen interface. In this paper, the authors explain the design of the system and the technologies involved, and share some experiences from the application’s first 6 months in operation.
The Event Search Engine
Authors: Okadome Takeshi , Kishino Yasue , Maekawa Takuya , Kamei Koji , Yanagisawa Yutaka , Sakurai Yasushi
Published: April 2010

In a remote or local environment in which a sensor network always collects data produced by sensors attached to physical objects, the engine presented here saves the data sent through the Internet and searches for data segments that correspond to real-world events by using natural language (NL) words in a query that are input in an web browser. The engine translates each query into a physical quantity representation searches for a sensor data segment that satisfies the representation, and sends back the event occurrence time, place, or related objects as a reply to the query to the remote or local environment in which the web browser displays them. The engine, which we expect to be one of the upcoming Internet services, exemplifies the concept of symbiosis that bridges the gaps between the real space and the digital space.
Learning Hierarchical Lexical Hyponymy
Authors: Zhou Jiayu , Wang Shi , Cao Cungen
Published: April 2010

Chinese information processing is a critical step toward cognitive linguistic applications like machine translation. Lexical hyponymy relation, which exists in some Eastern languages like Chinese, is a kind of hyponymy that can be directly inferred from the lexical compositions of concepts, and of great importance in ontology learning. However, a key problem is that the lexical hyponymy is so commonsense that it cannot be discovered by any existing acquisition methods. In this paper, we systematically define lexical hyponymy relationship, its linguistic features and propose a computational approach to semi-automatically learn hierarchical lexical hyponymy relations from a large-scale concept set, instead of analyzing lexical structures of concepts. Our novel approach discovered lexical hyponymy relation by examining statistic features in a Common Suffix Tree. The experimental results show that our approach can correctly discover most lexical hyponymy relations in a given large-scale concept set.
RFID and Labor Management Systems Selection in the Logistics Industry
Authors: Tibus Cheryl A. , Brennan Linda L.
Published: April 2010

Faced with increasing competitive pressures, a logistics company in the United States sought to reduce its cost structure by implementing two information systems. The Labor Management System (LMS) was specifically designed to improve warehouse worker efficiency and the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system tracked the movement of products, pallets, and shipment. This case presents an overview of the logistics industry, background on the business need to consider new systems, and the requirements of the company in its system selection. Details of the technologies considered are included. The reader is then faced with the challenge of analyzing the options, and making a recommendation for systems selection. After analyzing this case study, the reader should be able to: • Define logistics functions, supply chain management, and third party logistics (3PL) services • Describe LMS and RFID systems • Identify the expected costs and benefits of the proposed technologies • Develop a multi-factor evaluation for vendor selection • Make a recommendation based on the evaluation, financial data, and other considerations.
Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Subjects with Osteoarthritis Stratified by Age and Sex
Authors: Joshi Ashish
Published: April 2010

The aim of the study was to determine association between osteoarthritis and metabolic syndrome stratified by age and gender categories. A final sample of 16,149 US residents aged 17 years or older was analyzed using the database National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NAHNES III). Variables assessed include age, gender, race, education, poverty income ratio, body mass index, smoking history, metabolic syndrome and its risk components. Continuous and categorical variables were compared in the 2 groups using T and chi-square statistics as appropriate. Multivariate analysis was performed after adjusting for the potential confounders. Five percent subjects self-reported of having osteoarthritis. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in subjects with osteoarthritis was 40% compared to 21% with no osteoarthritis. Subjects with osteoarthritis were significantly older; were females, non-Hispanic whites, less educated and had high prevalence of diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. Age, being female, higher education, being non-Hispanic White, absence of osteoporosis, and body mass index were significant predictors of osteoarthritis. Metabolic syndrome was a risk factor for osteoarthritis in males.
Identifying the Determinants of Customer Retention in a Developing Country Context
Authors: Kassim Norizan Mohd , Ismail Salaheldin , Abdullah Nor Asiah
Published: April 2010

This article investigates how image, perceived service quality and satisfaction determine customer retention in the retail banking industry in Malaysia. Data was obtained using a self-administered survey involving a convenience sample of 134 retail banking customers in Malaysia. The results show that image is both directly and indirectly related to retention through satisfaction while perceived service quality is indirectly related to retention through satisfaction. The article concludes that satisfaction is not the sole determinant of retention in retail banking. Some managerial implications of this research find that the interrelationships between the determinants (image, quality and satisfaction) allow bank managers to better understand the dynamics of customer retention formation.
A DFT-Based Analysis to Discern Between Camera and Scanned Images
Authors: Caldelli Roberto , Amerini Irene , Picchioni Francesco
Published: April 2010

Digital images are generated by different sensors, understanding which kind of sensor has acquired a certain image could be crucial in many application scenarios where digital forensic techniques operate. In this article a new methodology which permits to establish if a digital photo has been taken by a photo-camera or has been scanned by a scanner is presented. The specific geometrical features of the sensor pattern noise introduced by the sensor are investigated by resorting to a DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) analysis and consequently the origin of the digital content is assessed. Experimental results are provided to witness the reliability of the proposed technique.
Suspect sciences? Evidentiary Problems with Emerging Technologies
Authors: Edmond Gary
Published: April 2010

This article examines the standards governing the admission of new types of expert evidence. Based on the rules of evidence and procedure in Australia, it explains how judges have been largely uninterested in the reliability of expert opinion evidence. Focused on the use of CCTV images and covert sound recordings for the purposes of identification, but relevant to other forensic sciences, the article explains the need for interest in the reliability of incriminating expert opinion evidence. It also explains why many of the traditional trial safeguards may not be particularly useful for identifying or explaining problems and complexities with scientific and technical evidence. In closing, the article argues that those developing new types of evidence and new techniques, whether identification-based or derived from IT, camera or computer forensics, need to be able to explain why it is that the court can have confidence in any opinions expressed.
Energy and Latency Efficient Access of Wireless XML Stream
Authors: Park Jun Pyo , Park Chang-Sup , Chung Yon Dohn
Published: April 2010

In this article, we address the problem of delayed query processing raised by tree-based index structures in wireless broadcast environments, which increases the access time of mobile clients. We propose a novel distributed index structure and a clustering strategy for streaming XML data that enables energy and latencyefficient broadcasting of XML data. We first define the DIX node structure to implement a fully distributed index structure which contains the tag name, attributes, and text content of an element, as well as its corresponding indices. By exploiting the index information in the DIX node stream, a mobile client can access the stream with shorter latency. We also suggest a method of clustering DIX nodes in the stream, which can further enhance the performance of query processing in the mobile clients. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate that our approach is effective for wireless broadcasting of XML data and outperforms the previous methods.