bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Semiotic Analysis of a Model for Understanding User Behaviours in Ubiquitously Monitored Environments
Authors: Nakata Keiichi , Moran Stuart
Published: December 2012

Improvements in electronics and computing have increased the potential of monitoring and surveillance technologies. Although now widely used, these technologies have been known to cause unintended effects, such as increases in stress in those being observed. Further advancements in technology lead people towards the ‘pervasive era’ of computing, where a new means of monitoring ubiquitously becomes possible. This monitoring differs from existing methods in its distinct lack of physical boundaries. To address the effects of this kind of monitoring, this paper proposes a model consisting of a series of factors identified in the monitoring and pervasive literature believed to influence behaviour. The model aims to understand and predict behaviour, thereby preventing any potential undesirable effects, but also to provide a means to analyse the problem. Various socio-technical frameworks have been proposed to guide research within ubiquitous computing; this paper uses the semiotic framework to analyse the model in order to better understand and explain the behavioural impact of ubiquitous monitoring.
Innovation or Imitation
Authors: Ghili Soheil , Shams Hengameh , Tavana Madjid
Published: December 2012

This paper develops a mathematical model of innovation in technology with two main characteristics. First, it discusses the endogenously made decision on not only how much to innovate, but also, how much to imitate. Second, it demonstrates that the decision to innovate or imitate are not mutually exclusive and a firm can innovate and imitate simultaneously. A mathematical model is presented, and the authors explain the barriers to innovation development and diffusion. The model is further used to investigate the effectiveness of two technology innovation and imitation policies. It is shown that an intellectual property right (IPR) policy will better function if the price of innovation is set to a level lower than the cost of innovation. The concept “superfluous innovation” (innovations whose costs are higher than their benefits) is also proposed and developed through investigating the policy of levying subsidies on innovation.
Internet History
Authors: Cohen-Almagor Raphael
Published: December 2012

This paper outlines and analyzes milestones in the history of the Internet. As technology advances, it presents new societal and ethical challenges. The early Internet was devised and implemented in American research units, universities, and telecommunication companies that had vision and interest in cutting-edge research. The Internet then entered into the commercial phase (1984-1989). It was facilitated by the upgrading of backbone links, the writing of new software programs, and the growing number of interconnected international networks. The author examines the massive expansion of the Internet into a global network during the 1990s when business and personal computers with different operating systems joined the universal network. The instant and growing success of social networking-sites that enable Netusers to share information, photos, private journals, hobbies, and personal as well as commercial interests with networks of mutual friends and colleagues is discussed.
Laboring in Cyberspace
Authors: Schulzke Marcus
Published: December 2012

This paper examines property relations in massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) through the lens of John Locke’s theory of property. It argues that Locke’s understanding of the common must be modified to reflect the differences between the physical world that he dealt with and the virtual world that is now the site of property disputes. Once it is modified, Locke’s theory provides grounds for recognizing player ownership of much of the intellectual material of virtual worlds, the goods players are responsible for creating, and the developer-created goods that players obtain through an exchange of labor or goods representing labor value.
Socio-Technical Influences of Cyber Espionage
Authors: Lin Xue , Luppicini Rocci
Published: December 2012

Technoethical inquiry deals with a variety of social, legal, cultural, economic, political, and ethical implications of new technological applications which can threaten important aspects of contemporary life and society. GhostNet is a large-scale cyber espionage network which has infiltrated important political, economic, and media institutions including embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices in 103 countries and infected at least 1,295 computers. The following case study explores the influences of GhostNet on affected organizations by critically reviewing GhostNet documentation and relevant literature on cyber espionage. The research delves into the socio-technical aspects of cyber espionage through a case study of GhostNet. Drawing on Actor Network Theory (ANT), the research examined key socio-technical relations of Ghostnet and their influence on affected organizations. Implications of these findings for the phenomenon of GhostNet are discussed in the hope of raising awareness about the importance of understanding the dynamics of socio-technical relations of cyber-espionage within organizations.
Infosphere to Ethosphere
Authors: White Jeffrey Benjamin
Published: December 2012

This paper reviews the complex, overlapping ideas of two prominent Italian philosophers, Lorenzo Magnani and Luciano Floridi, with the aim of facilitating the nonviolent transformation of self and world, and with a focus on information technologies in mediating this process. In Floridi’s information ethics, problems of consistency arise between self-poiesis, anagnorisis, entropy, evil, and the narrative structure of the world. Solutions come from Magnani’s work in distributed morality, moral mediators, moral bubbles and moral disengagement. Finally, two examples of information technology, one ancient and one new, a Socratic narrative and an information processing model of moral cognition, are offered as mediators for the nonviolent transformation of self and world respectively, while avoiding the tragic requirements inherent in Floridi’s proposal.
College Students, Piracy, and Ethics
Authors: Reiss Jeffrey , Cintrón Rosa
Published: December 2012

This study explores the nature of piracy prevention tools used by IT departments in the Florida State University System to determine their relative effectiveness. The study also examines the opinions of the Information Security Officer in terms of alternative piracy prevention techniques that do not involve legal action and monitoring. It was found that most institutions do not use a formal piece of software that monitors for infringing data. Furthermore, institutions agreed that students lack proper ethics and concern over the matter of copyright, but were not fully convinced that other prevention methods would be effective. The authors conclude that monitoring techniques are a short-term solution and more research must put into finding long-term solutions.
Without Informed Consent
Authors: Belfrage Sara
Published: December 2012

The requirement of always obtaining participants’ informed consent in research with human subjects cannot always be met, for a variety of reasons. This paper describes and categorises research situations where informed consent is unobtainable. Some of these kinds of situations, common in biomedicine and psychology, have been previously discussed, whereas others, for example, those more prevalent in infrastructure research, introduce new perspectives. The advancement of new technology may lead to an increase in research of these kinds. The paper also provides a review of methods intended to compensate for lack of consent, and their applicability and usefulness for the different categories of situations are discussed. The aim of this is to provide insights into one important aspect of the question of permitting research without informed consent, namely, how well that which informed consent is meant to safeguard can be achieved by other means.
Site-Specific Performance, Narrative, and Social Presence in Multi-User Virtual Environments and the Urban Landscape
Authors: Sermon Paul , Gould Charlotte
Published: December 2012

This chapter brings together the practice-based creative research of artists Charlotte Gould and Paul Sermon, culminating in collaborative interactive installations for urban screens that investigate new forms of social and/or political narratives in site-specific urban environments. The authors’ current creative practice looks specifically at the concepts of social presence and performance and attempts to bridge two remote locations either virtually (using online virtual environments such as Second Life) or in the physical space through mixed reality techniques and interfaces that allow the public to direct the narrative and creative outcomes of the artwork.
LPDT2 La Plissure du Texte 2
Authors: Ayiter Elif , Glasauer Stefan , Moswitzer Max
Published: December 2012

This chapter will discuss the artistic processes involved in the creation of the three dimensional, virtual art installation La Plissure du Texte 2, which is the sequel to Roy Ascott’s ground breaking telematically networked art work La Plissure du Texte, created in 1983 and shown in Paris at the Musée de l’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris during that same year. While the underlying concepts of the original art work, as well as its capability of regenerating itself as an entirely novel manifestation based upon the concepts of distributed authorship, textual mobility, emergent semiosis, multiple identity, and participatory poesis will be underlined, the main focus of the text will be upon the creative strategies as well as the technological means through which the architecture was brought about in the contemporary creative environment of the metaverse. A further topic that will be covered is the challenge of exhibiting what is after all an art work that requires full virtual immersion to bring about a deep level experience and understanding of it, in the physical world, i.e. ‘Real Life’4—in a gallery or museum space in which such a virtual immersion cannot be readily obtained.
The Virtual and Interdisciplinarity
Authors: Payne Alistair
Published: December 2012

This chapter explores the philosophical notion of The Virtual in response to the writings of Gilles Deleuze and unfolds this thinking through its interdisciplinary and transformative affects upon contemporary fine art. The Virtual will be discussed in relation to forms of contemporary painting, yet provides a model for thinking through interdisciplinarity within, and from, other media. The Virtual acts as an instigator for change, which effectively destabilises the pre-formity1 attached to medium-specific practices. It is for this reason that The Virtual forces external relationships and connections to come to the fore in order to radically alter and transform the physical and conceptual constructs of different disciplines. This chapter will highlight these important ideas and present new ways to consider The Virtual in relation to contemporary fine art practice, with a particular focus upon current issues in Painting.
Behind the Sonic Veil
Authors: Winning Ross
Published: December 2012

Drawing firstly on animation, this chapter will consider how applications of sound may demand new conceptual frameworks for animated work to develop. Making reference to audio-visual sound theory, the acousmatic and cinematic histories, the discussion surveys aspects of animation sound, and suggests the potential for exposing the sonic elements of the form to evaluation using means beyond current film-sound concepts. The application of recorded sound and the role it performs in the re-creation of synthetic life in new animated situations brings unconsidered possibilities for sound-image concepts. How sound functions and how it combines with an image on screen, in order to create a listening involvement in animation, is central to this consideration. Nevertheless, as the form transgresses, it is evolving from the structured sound space of the traditional screen; new spaces may present different challenges that motivate different sound to picture equations.
Database Narrative, Spatial Montage, and the Cultural Transmission of Memory
Authors: Aston Judith
Published: December 2012

This chapter discusses ways in which the database narrative techniques of virtual media can be used to explore the relationship between real-world oral storytelling and embodied performance in the cultural transmission of memory. It is based on an ongoing collaboration between the author and the historical anthropologist, Wendy James, to develop a multilayered associative narrative, which considers relationships between experience, event, and memory among a displaced community. The work is based on a substantial living archive of photographs, audio, cine, and video recordings collected by Wendy James in the Sudan/Ethiopian borderlands from the mid-1960s to the present day. Its critical context relates to the ’sensory turn’ in anthropology and to ’beyond text’ debates within the arts and humanities regarding ways in which we can capture and represent the sensory experiences of the past.
Exploring Liminality from an Anthropological Perspective
Authors: Arya Rina
Published: December 2012

The transition from the real to the digital requires a shift of consciousness that can be theorised with recourse to the concept of liminality, which has multidisciplinary currency in psychology and other disciplines in the social sciences, cultural, and literary theory. In anthropology the notion of liminality was introduced by the ethnographer Arnold van Gennep in the context of the development of the rite of passage. Since van Gennep’s discussion of the concept, the term has been used in a variety of contexts and disciplines that range from psychology, religion, sociology, and latterly in new media, where it has a renewed emphasis because of the transition from the real to the virtual space of the digital interface.
The Mirror between Two Worlds
Authors: Ch’ng Eugene
Published: December 2012

The information society manufactures, manipulates, and commodifies information. Heritage is one such area that is undergoing digital transformation. Heritage is increasingly being transmuted through digitisation devices such as laser and structured light scans into multiple representations of information. The rich information of a heritage object or an environment can be restructured, transmitted, and recomposed into a mediated form both textual and non-textual. Once digitised, it becomes free from its physical predecessor; it enters another world that defies the physical laws of nature where the imagination of the maker is a limit. Such worlds accompanied by their objects are accessible in new yet intuitive ways via surface computers. The horizontal nature of the multitouch-multiuser surface computer then becomes the mirror that links both worlds, allowing access into a virtual space via the touch-table computing paradigm. This chapter explores 3D surface computing, its technology, capabilities, and limits with developments of two multitouch applications incorporating heritage objects and environments, and the observation of the reactions of initial users. It addresses new issues and challenges surrounding the use of surface computing and how the access and transmission of heritage information via multitouch-multiuser tables are able to contribute to the accessibility, teaching, and learning of heritage.
Using Positive and Negative Sequence Components of Currents and Voltages for High Impedance Fault Analysis via ANFIS
Authors: Ismail Mohamed M. , Hassan M. A. Moustafa
Published: December 2012

High Impedance Faults are defined as unwanted electrical contact between an energized conductor and a non-conducting foreign object. Non-conducting foreign object present high impedances to current flow due to their material, so a fault of this type will not appear to the classical protection equipment as abnormal conditions. Presented is an approach for detection, classification, and location of high impedance faults in a distribution system using Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) based on positive and negative sequence components of voltages and currents. The proposed scheme was trained by data from simulation of a distribution system under different faults conditions and different distances in a short and long transmission lines. Details of the design procedure and the results of performance using the proposed method are discussed in this paper.
A Comparison of 3D Collaborative Virtual Learning Environments
Authors: Mavridis Apostolos , Konstantinidis Andreas , Tsiatsos Thrasyvoulos
Published: December 2012

This paper focuses on 3D Collaborative Virtual Learning Environments, examining the state of the art in both open source and proprietary software. Issues pertaining to the use of open source Collaborative Virtual Learning Environments are discussed, rationalizing the choice of executing a collaborative learning scenario in Second Life. The scenario is then presented and evaluation results assess the appropriateness of the chosen platform with regards to its technical and pedagogical affordances. Finally, students’ suggestions and reactions towards such a novel didactical approach are discussed.
Optimization of Total RNA Isolation Method from the Aromatic Medicinal Plant Artemisia annua L.
Authors: Appalasamy Suganthi , Shu Ping Ning , Bhatt Arvind , Othman Ahmad Sofiman , Jelodar Nad-Ali Babaeian , Lai Keng Chan
Published: December 2012

This paper is the first report on the development of a protocol that allows rapid and simplified extraction of total RNA from Artemisia annua L., an aromatic medicinal plant. This innovative protocol ensures a consistently high quantity and good quality of total RNA without any contamination of polyphenols, polysaccharides and proteins. The total RNA obtained is also free of fungal RNA even when extracted from fungal infested plants. The extraction buffer used in the proposed modified protocol was made up of non-hazardous chemicals. High concentrations of polyphenols of A. annua L. could be successfully eliminated and the prepared total RNA could be used for downstream reactions.
GGE Biplot as a Novel Tool for the Investigation of Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) Seedling Growth on Composted Corn Stalk as a Substrate
Authors: Hou Jianwei , Yang Guochen , Chen Lifei , Zhao Chunli
Published: December 2012

This project investigated the feasibility of using ground corn stalks as the substrate to cultivate marigold (Tagetes erecta L.). Five treatments including peat moss, composted corn stalks and freshly ground corn stalks were tested for their effects on marigold seedling growth. Seedling quality was described by several morphological and physiological parameters. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and GGE biplot analysis. There were significant differences among the treatments for several growth parameters, such as seedling biomass, root biomass, stem diameter, leaf area, seedling vigor, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, root activity, stomatal conductance, and intercellular CO2 concentration. Treatment T3, which contained composted ground corn stalks, had the best effect on marigold seedling growth. The results showed that corn stalk was a good substrate for marigold seedlings. GGE biplot demonstrated the substrate effects on marigold seedling quality, and graphically displayed the interrelationships among morphological and physiological parameters. T3 treatment was the best because four morphological parameters, including seedling biomass, roots biomass, stem diameter and seedling vigor, along with six physiological parameters fall into this sector. These results were consistent with the results analyzed by Statistical Analysis Software. For morphological parameters, the correlations are complicated. For physiological parameters, they were all positively correlated between each of two parameters.
Die belang van die verrekening van metateoretiese vertrekpunte vir prediking en wetenskaplike navorsing in Homiletiek
Authors: De Wet Fritz W. , Pieterse Hennie J.C.
Published: December 2012

Hierdie artikel vorm deel van die tweede fase van die navorsingsprojek Metateoretiese vertrekpunte in Praktiese Teologie. Die probleem wat ondersoek word, het te doen met die onvermoë  om  rekening  te  hou  met  verskuiwings  in  die  onderliggende  metateoretiese voorveronderstellings in die praksis van prediking, sowel as in die aanpak van wetenskaplike navorsing in die vakgebied van Homiletiek. Ons fokus op die invloed van metateoretiese voorveronderstellings  in  die  kommunikatiewe  dimensie  van  werklikheidsbeskouing, hermeneutiese beskouinge rakende die kommunikatiewe veld wat werksaam is tydens die homiletiese proses, asook op die verrekening van wetenskapsteoretiese beskouinge met die oog op ’n verantwoordelike uitvoer van die wetenskaplike taak. Die artikel kulmineer in ’n beskrywing van hoe een van die navorsers ’n voorbeeld van sy eie onlangse homiletiese navorsing rakende profetiese prediking in ’n konteks van armoede interpreteer, wanneer die onderliggende metateoretiese standpunte eksplisiet verreken word.The importance of reckoning with metatheoretical assumptions in preaching and scientific research in Homiletics. This article forms part of the second phase of the research project Metatheoretical assumptions in Practical Theology. The research problem has to do with the inability to reckon with shifts in underlying metatheoretical assumptions in the praxis of preaching as well as in embarking on scientific research in the field of homiletics. We focus on the influence of metatheoretical assumptions in the communicative dimension of worldview, hermeneutic notions regarding the communicative field at work in the homiletic process and theoretical notions underlying the researcher’s approach in complying with the scientific task of homiletics in a responsible manner. The article culminates in a description of one of the researchers’ interpretation of an example of his own recent research in prophetic preaching in a context of poverty when the underlying metatheoretical assumptions were explicitly reckoned with.
Die noodsaak daarvan om metateoretiese vertrekpunte in ’n prakties-teologiese wetenskapsbeskouing en -beoefening te verreken
Authors: De Klerk Ben J. , De Wet Fritz W. , Pieterse Hennie J.C.
Published: December 2012

Hierdie artikel is die vierde publikasie wat uit die navorsingsprojek Metateoretiese vertrekpunte in die praktiese teologie voortvloei. In die voorafgaande artikels is ’n saak uitgemaak vir die noodsaak daarvan om rekening te hou met die eie metateoretiese vertrekpunte rakende werklikheidsbeskouing  en  met  kriteria  waarvolgens  die  hermeneutiese  proses  wat  in handelinge in die navorsingsveld van die praktiese teologie ter sprake kom, geïnterpreteer word. In hierdie artikel verskuif die fokus na die metateoretiese vertrekpunte wat in die navorser se wetenskapsbeskouing en -beoefening ter sprake kom. Die rol wat metateoretiese faktore speel in die manier waarop die wese en taak van die wetenskap gedefinieer word, kry aandag. ’n Poging word aangewend om ’n model te ontwerp waarin die teenwoordigheid en uitwerking van die navorser se metateoretiese vertrekpunte integraal verreken word in die proses van prakties-teologiese wetenskapsbeoefening. ’n Huidige navorsingsprojek, waarmee een van die medeskrywers van hierdie artikel besig is, word bespreek as voorbeeld van die impak wat metateoretiese vertrekpunte op die ontwerp van ’n studie kan hê.The necessity of taking account of meta-theoretical assumptions in the scientific approach and task envisaged for practical theology. This article is the fourth in the research project Meta-theoretical assumptions in practical theology. In the preceding articles, a case was made for the necessity of expressing the own meta-theoretical assumptions regarding the view on reality and the hermeneutical process involved in understanding the actions of faith in the research field of practical theology. In this article, the focus is on the meta-theoretical assumptions at play in the researchers’ vision for engaging the research field on a scientific level. The role that meta-theoretical factors play in defining the nature and task of scientific activity, is discussed. An attempt is made to develop a model that integrates the presence and effects of meta-theoretical assumptions in the researchers’ specific vision regarding the scientific task of practical theology. An example of an actual research project is given to illustrate the impact that meta-theoretical assumptions can have on the design of a scientific study.
Methods of Combinatorial Optimization to Reveal Factors Affecting Gene Length
Authors: Bolshoy Alexander , Tatarinova Tatiana
Published: December 2012

In this paper we present a novel method for genome ranking according to gene lengths. The main outcomes described in this paper are the following: the formulation of the genome ranking problem, presentation of relevant approaches to solve it, and the demonstration of preliminary results from prokaryotic genomes ordering. Using a subset of prokaryotic genomes, we attempted to uncover factors affecting gene length. We have demonstrated that hyperthermophilic species have shorter genes as compared with mesophilic organisms, which probably means that environmental factors affect gene length. Moreover, these preliminary results show that environmental factors group together in ranking evolutionary distant species.
Effectiveness of HP-hMG vs r-FSH in Patients undergoing IVF/ICSI Cycles with Moderate Male Factor Infertility
Authors: Dalal Rutvij Jay
Published: December 2012

Aim

The aim of this case-control study was to compare the efficacy of highly purified human menopausal gonadotropin (HPhMG) vs recombinant follicle stimulating hormone (r-FSH) treatments following GnRH agonist suppression in patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with moderate male factor infertility in terms of oocyte and embryo quality and clinical pregnancy outcomes.

Materials and methods

A total of 240 infertile women were treated with HP-hMG group (n: 120 patients) or (r-FSH group, n: 120 patients) following GnRH agonist suppression (long regimen). Inclusion criteria for the study groups were infertility due to moderate oligoastheno-teratospermia with no associated female infertility factor, previous ART cycles <2, female patients aged 19 to 35 years with normal basal FSH, regular ovulatory cycles and BMI <30 kg/m2.

Results

Treatment durations and gonadotropin doses were similar in both groups. Cycle cancellation rates, clinical pregnancy and miscarriage rates, total and metaphase II oocytes retrieved, fertilization rate, number of embryos transferred were all similar in both groups. The clinical pregnancy rates were 45.9% (n: 50/109) in the r-FSH group and 40.4% (n: 44/109) in the HP-hMG group.

Conclusion

HP-hMG is effective as r-FSH in terms of oocyte and embryo quality and clinical pregnancy outcomes in patients undergoing ICSI with moderate male factor infertility.

How to cite this article

Dalal RJ, Pai H, Palshetkar N. Effectiveness of HP-hMG vs r-FSH in Patients undergoing IVF/ICSI Cycles with Moderate Male Factor Infertility. Int J Infertility Fetal Med 2012;3(2):51-56.
First Postembryo Transfer Beta-hCG Level and Pregnancy Outcome in an Assisted Reproductive Technology Program
Authors: Pandiyan Radha , Jayachandran Krithika Devi , Natarajan Pandiyan
Published: December 2012

Aim

To evaluate the prognostic value of first postembryo transfer beta human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels in pregnancy outcome in an assisted reproductive technology (ART) program.

Subjects

Seventy-one women with an initial beta-hCG value of greater than 5 mIU/ml postembryo transfer in the ART program were taken in to the study. The beta-hCG test was done 14 days after embryo transfer. The period of study was from January 2008 to August 2010.

Observations

A significant correlation was found in beta-hCG values between viable and nonviable pregnancies. In women who had a day 2 embryo transfer the mean beta-hCG value was 608 ± 580 mIU/ml, in comparison to women who had a day 5 transfer 1,527 ± 2,024 mIU/ml, and this was statistically significant.

Women who had a single embryo transfer had a mean betahCG level of 168 mIU/ml, two embryos 464 mIU/ml and three embryos 612 mIU /ml.

Mean beta-hCG value was highest in women who developed gestational diabetes [2,074 mIU/ml] women with pregnancyinduced hypertension (PIH) had a mean beta-hCG value of 674 mIU/ml, and with antepartum hemorrhage the value was lower 220 mIU/ml.

Conclusion

To summarize, beta-hCG level is an useful marker for prognosticating early pregnancy well being, for predicting multiple pregnancies. When interpreting the first beta-hCG level uniformly after 2 weeks of embryo transfer, day of transfer of embryos should be taken into account. The number of embryos transferred does not alter the beta-hCG level significantly. BetahCG level implications in pregnancy complications, like gestational diabetes (GDM), PIH, APH, require further research and would be a useful tool for early screening and surveillance of pregnancy.

How to cite this article

Jayachandran KD, Natarajan P, Pandiyan R. First Postembryo Transfer Beta-hCG Level and Pregnancy Outcome in an Assisted Reproductive Technology Program. Int J Infertility Fetal Med 2012;3(2): 57-62.
Observationally-constrained estimates of global small-mode AOD
Authors: Lee K. , Chung C. E.
Published: December 2012

Abstract. Small aerosols are mostly anthropogenic, and an area average of the small-mode aerosol optical depth (sAOD) is a powerful and independent measure of anthropogenic aerosol emission. We estimate AOD and sAOD globally on a monthly time scale from 2001 to 2010 by integrating satellite-based (MODIS and MISR) and ground-based (AERONET) observations. For sAOD, three integration methods were developed to maximize the influence of AERONET data and ensure consistency between MODIS, MISR and AERONET sAOD data. We evaluated each method by applying the technique with fewer AERONET data and comparing its output with the unused AERONET data. The best performing method gives an overall error of 13 ± 2%, compared with an overall error of 62% in simply using MISR sAOD, and this method takes advantage of an empirical relationship between the Ångström exponent (AE) and fine mode fraction (FMF). This relationship is obtained by analyzing AERONET data. Using our integrated data, we find that the global 2001–2010 average of 500 nm AOD and sAOD is 0.17 and 0.094, respectively. sAOD over eastern China is several times as large as the global average. The linear trend from 2001 to 2010 is found to be slightly negative in global AOD or global sAOD. In India and eastern China combined, however, sAOD increased by more than 4% against a backdrop of decreasing AOD and large-mode AOD. On the contrary to India and China, the west (Western Europe and US/Canada combined) is found to have a sAOD reduction of −20%. These results quantify the overall anthropogenic aerosol emission reduction in the west, and rapidly deteriorating conditions in Asia. Moreover, our results in the west are consistent with the so-called surface brightening phenomenon in the recent decades.
The global distribution of pteropods and their contribution to carbonate and carbon biomass in the modern ocean
Authors: Bednaršek N. , Možina J. , Vogt M. , O'Brien C. , Tarling G. A.
Published: December 2012

Abstract. Pteropods are a group of holoplanktonic gastropods for which global biomass distribution patterns remain poorly described. The aim of this study was to collect and synthesise existing pteropod (Gymnosomata, Thecosomata and Pseudothecosomata) abundance and biomass data, in order to evaluate the global distribution of pteropod carbon biomass, with a particular emphasis on temporal and spatial patterns. We collected 25 939 data points from several online databases and 41 scientific articles. These data points corresponded to observations from 15 134 stations, where 93% of observations were of shelled pteropods (Thecosomata) and 7% of non-shelled pteropods (Gymnosomata). The biomass data has been gridded onto a 360 × 180° grid, with a vertical resolution of 33 depth levels. Both the raw data file and the gridded data in NetCDF format can be downloaded from PANGAEA, doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.777387. Data were collected between 1950–2010, with sampling depths ranging from 0–2000 m. Pteropod biomass data was either extracted directly or derived through converting abundance to biomass with pteropod-specific length to carbon biomass conversion algorithms. In the Northern Hemisphere (NH), the data were distributed quite evenly throughout the year, whereas sampling in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) was biased towards winter and summer values. 86% of all biomass values were located in the NH, most (37%) within the latitudinal band of 30–60° N. The range of global biomass values spanned over four orders of magnitude, with mean and median (non-zero) biomass values of 4.6 mg C m−3 (SD = 62.5) and 0.015 mg C m−3, respectively. The highest mean biomass was located in the SH within the 70–80° S latitudinal band (39.71 mg C m−3, SD = 93.00), while the highest median biomass was in the NH, between 40–50° S (0.06 mg C m−3, SD = 79.94). Shelled pteropods constituted a mean global carbonate biomass of 23.17 mg CaCO3 m−3 (based on non-zero records). Total biomass values were lowest in the equatorial regions and equally high at both poles. Pteropods were found at least to depths of 1000 m, with the highest biomass values located in the surface layer (0–10 m) and gradually decreasing with depth, with values in excess of 100 mg C m−3 only found above 200 m depth. Tropical species tended to concentrate at greater depths than temperate or high-latitude species. Global biomass levels in the NH were relatively invariant over the seasonal cycle, but more seasonally variable in the SH. The collected database provides a valuable tool for modellers for the study of marine ecosystem processes and global biogeochemical cycles. By extrapolating regional biomass to a global scale, we established global pteropod biomass to add up to 500 Tg C.
The first complete inventory of the local glaciers and ice caps on Greenland
Authors: Rastner P. , Bolch T. , Mölg N. , Machguth H. , Le Bris R. , Paul F.
Published: December 2012

Abstract. Glacier inventories provide essential baseline information for the determination of water resources, glacier-specific changes in area and volume, climate change impacts as well as past, potential and future contribution of glaciers to sea-level rise. Although Greenland is heavily glacierised and thus highly relevant for all of the above points, a complete inventory of its glaciers was not available so far. Here we present the results and details of a new and complete inventory that has been compiled from more than 70 Landsat scenes (mostly acquired between 1999 and 2002) using semi-automated glacier mapping techniques. A digital elevation model (DEM) was used to derive drainage divides from watershed analysis and topographic attributes for each glacier entity. To serve the needs of different user communities, we assigned to each glacier one of three connectivity levels with the ice sheet (CL0, CL1, CL2; i.e. no, weak, and strong connection) to clearly, but still flexibly, distinguish the local glaciers and ice caps (GIC) from the ice sheet and its outlet glaciers. In total, we mapped ~ 20 300 glaciers larger than 0.05 km2 (of which ~ 900 are marine terminating), covering an area of 130 076 ± 4032 km2, or 89 720 ± 2781 km2 without the CL2 GIC. The latter value is about 50% higher than the mean value of more recent previous estimates. Glaciers smaller than 0.5 km2 contribute only 1.5% to the total area but more than 50% (11 000) to the total number. In contrast, the 25 largest GIC (> 500 km2) contribute 28% to the total area, but only 0.1% to the total number. The mean elevation of the GIC is 1700 m in the eastern sector and around 1000 m otherwise. The median elevation increases with distance from the coast, but has only a weak dependence on mean glacier aspect.
Risk Factors for Ceramic Liner Fracture after Total Hip Arthroplasty
Authors: Traina Francesco , De Fine Marcello , Bordini Barbara , Toni Aldo
Published: December 2012

The aim of this study was to detect risk factors for ceramic liner fractures. 26 cementless ceramic on ceramic (COC) total hip arthroplasties (THA) revised because of ceramic liner fracture in 24 patients were compared with 49 well-functioning COC THA performed in 49 patients.

Demographic parameters, type of ceramic of the liner, size and neck length of the femoral head, cup abduction angle, cup anteversion, femoral off-set, height of the centre of rotation and the incidence of noisy hips during follow-up examination were compared.

A greater number of cups placed outside the optimal range of cup anteversion was found in the fracture group (p = 0.03). An audible noise was detected in 21 cases (80.7%) in the fracture group and in 3 cases (6.1%) in the non-fracture group (p = 0.001).

A cup anteversion angle out of the optimal range of 15°+/-10° was found to be a risk factor for ceramic liner fracture and the presence of a noisy hip frequently anticipated the failure. In our opinion neck-to-cup impingement with head subluxation and edge loading on the liner rim could have an important role in the onset of noise and subsequent liner failure, and cup malposition contributes to this mechanism of failure.
Combinatorial Synthesis of Photo-Crosslinked Biodegradable Networks
Authors: Zant Erwin , Bosman Mirjam J. , Grijpma Dirk W.
Published: December 2012

Purpose

Photo-crosslinking is a technique that can accelerate the development of novel polymeric biomaterials.

Methods

Here we show the development of a combinatorial platform to synthesize numerous synthetic biodegradable and biocompatible networks by photo-crosslinking mixtures of macromers.

Results

Combinations of dimethacrylate-terminated macromers based on hydrophobic D,L-lactide (DLLA), trimethylene carbonate (TMC), ∊-caprolactone (CL), and hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG) were crosslinked into polymer networks with widely differing properties. The interaction of cells with the network surfaces was assessed by an in vitro cell seeding experiment in which cell proliferation was assessed using a DNA proliferation assay.

Conclusions

In this way, a hydrophilic material was identified that unexpectedly supported the proliferation of cells very well.
The “Sovereign Individual” and the “Ascetic Ideal”: On a Perennial Misreading of the Second Essay of Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality
Authors: Rukgaber Matthew
Published: December 2012

This article supports Lawrence Hatab's and Christa Davis Acampora's interpretation that the “sovereign individual” is not Nietzsche's positive ethical ideal. I draw on overlooked evidence from the Nachlass that bears on the notion of sovereignty, in conjunction with offering a close reading of the passages concerning this figure within the second and third essays of On the Genealogy of Morality. I argue that the second essay is not concerned with the fundamentals of agency; rather, it is focused on promising as a moral phenomenon. I demonstrate how the ambiguous traits attributed to the sovereign individual are deconstructed one after another, resulting in this figure appearing to be the culmination of the history of asceticism and moral responsibility. The sovereign individual is the modern individual who only stands apart from the herd insofar as the herd instinct has been perfectly internalized.
Apollinian Scientia Sexualis and Dionysian Ars Erotica?: On the Relation Between Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality and Friedrich Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy
Authors: Haueis Philipp
Published: December 2012

This article explores how a nonreductionist account of Nietzsche's influence on Michel Foucault can enrich our understanding of key concepts in singular works of both philosophers. I assess this exegetical strategy by looking at the two dichotomies Apollinian/Dionysian and ars erotica/scientia sexualis in The Birth of Tragedy and volume 1 of The History of Sexuality, respectively. After exploring the relation between these two dichotomies, I link the science of sexuality to the Apollinian art instinct via the existence of Socratic culture and argue against the “pleasure of analysis” as a sublated form of (Dionysian) ars erotica. These considerations lead to the notions of history in Nietzsche's and Foucault's philosophies that result in situating the polyvalent Ursprung of Greek tragedy and the descent of ars erotica and scientia sexualis in an antimetaphysical and nonteleological picture of historical development.
The Centrality and Development of Anschauung in Nietzsche's Epistemology
Authors: Jensen Anthony K.
Published: December 2012

This article traces the evolution of a single concept—Anschauung—in Nietzsche's thinking. It shows that Nietzsche relies to a great extent in his early epistemology on Schopenhauer's romantic notion of Anschauung as a way of apprehending timeless and universal ideas. After The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche begins to use the term to designate the mental process of transference by which stimulation becomes a choate representation. In a third phase of development, Nietzsche abandons any positive use of the term and employs Anschauung instead as a sarcastic watchword for essentialist epistemologies generally. Although it has been nearly ignored in anglophone literature, the changing context of its employment is an essential aspect of Nietzsche's development as a thinker.
Highlights in Seagrasses’ Phylogeny, Physiology, and Metabolism: What Makes Them Special?
Authors: Papenbrock Jutta
Published: December 2012

The marine seagrasses form an ecological and therefore paraphyletic group of marine hydrophilus angiosperms which evolved three to four times from land plants towards an aquatic and marine existence. Their taxonomy is not yet solved on the species level and below due to their reduced morphology. So far also molecular data did not completely solve the phylogenetic relationships. Thus, this group challenges a new definition for what a species is. Also their physiology is not well understood due to difficult experimental in situ and in vitro conditions. There remain several open questions concerning how seagrasses adapted secondarily to the marine environment. Here probably exciting adaptation solutions will be detected. Physiological adaptations seem to be more important than morphological ones. Seagrasses contain several compounds in their secondary metabolism in which they differ from terrestrial plants and also not known from other taxonomic groups. Some of these compounds might be of interest for commercial purposes. Therefore their metabolite contents constitute another treasure of the ocean. This paper gives an introduction into some of the most interesting aspects from phylogenetical, physiological, and metabolic points of view.
Mathematical Modeling and Computational Simulation of a New Biomedical Instrument Design
Authors: Li Zheng Jeremy
Published: December 2012

Endo surgiclip instrument is the biomedical instrument that can be applied for endoscopic surgery to assist surgeons in homeostasis and secure mucosal gap surfaces during surgical operations. Since some clinic feedbacks show the surgiclip drop-off incidents which can potentially sever organ and tissue, the improvement of endo surgiclip instrument has been made in these years. Since few research papers were involved in the study of endo surgiclip instrument performance via mathematical modeling and computational simulation, currently some instrumental modifications are mainly based on clinic lab tests which prolong the improvement cycle and increase additional manufacturing cost. This paper introduces a new biomedical surgiclip instrument based on mathematical modeling, computer-aided simulation, and prototype testing. The analytic methodology proposed in this paper can help engineers in biomedical industry develop and improve biomedical instrument. Compared to the current conventional surgiclip instruments, this new surgiclip instrument can properly assist surgeon in surgical procedure with less operational force and no surgiclip drop-off incident. The prototype has also been built and tested. Both computational simulation and prototype testing show close results which validate the feasibility of this newly developed endo surgiclip instrument and the methodologies of mathematical modeling based computational simulation proposed in this paper.
Application of a Reliable LC-MS/MS Method for Determination of Rizatriptan in Healthy Subject Samples: Demonstration of Assay Reproducibility by Incurred Sample Reanalysis
Authors: Patel Dinesh S. , Sharma Naveen , Patel Mukesh C. , Patel Bhavin N. , Shrivastav Pranav S. , Sanyal Mallika
Published: December 2012

A reliable, rapid, and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay has been proposed for the determination of rizatriptan in human plasma using sumatriptan as internal standard (IS). The analyte and IS were extracted from 300 μL human plasma via liquid-liquid extraction and the chromatography was achieved on Hypurity C18 (50 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) column under isocratic conditions. Detection of rizatriptan and IS was done by tandem mass spectrometry, operating in positive ionization and multiple-reaction monitoring mode. The limit of detection and lower limit of quantitation of the method were 0.04 and 0.20 ng/mL, respectively, with a linear dynamic range of 0.20–60.0 ng/mL. The intrabatch and interbatch precision (% CV) was ≤8.4% while the mean extraction recovery was >78% across quality control levels. Bench top stability, freeze and thaw stability, processed sample stability, and long-term stability in plasma were evaluated at two quality control levels. It was successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of 10 mg rizatriptan orally disintegrating tablet formulation in 40 and 32 healthy Indian male subjects under fasting and fed conditions, respectively. The reproducibility in the measurement of study data was demonstrated by reanalysis of 254 incurred samples.
Implementing the Agenda for Global Action on human resources for health: analysis from an international tracking survey
Authors: Witter Sophie , Cometto Giorgio , Zaman Rashid U , Sheikh Mubashar R , Wibulpolprasert Suwit
Published: December 2012

Objective:A survey was conducted to analyse the governance and policy environment for human resources for health (HRH) development in 57 priority countries, with the objective of understanding the linkages between policy and context factors.Methods:Responses to a questionnaire tracking proxy indicators were received from 51 (89%) countries. Findings are presented by frequency; correlations were investigated through cross tabulations and multiple regression analysis.Results:The results indicate uneven performance among countries and across different domains of health workforce development. The only indicator showing a significant correlation with other areas of performance was implementing an HRH plan. No significant correlation with contextual factors was found.Discussion:Progress in addressing HRH challenges appears to be independent of contextual factors, suggesting that countries can improve their performance through concerted action by stakeholders. Having and implementing an HRH plan appears to be a key factor in galvanising that action.