bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Successful Treatment of Severe Spontaneous Periampullary Bleeding with Argon Plasma Coagulation
Authors: Abadir Amir
Published: August 2014

Periampullary bleeding is an uncommon cause of upper gastrointestinal (GI) hemorrhage, which is typically iatrogenic in origin occurring as the result of endoscopic intervention of the papilla. Spontaneous, non-iatrogenic periampullary bleeding is extraordinarily rare with only a few cases reported in the literature to date. Vascular malformations, including angiodysplasia and Dieulafoy's lesions, have been implicated in several reports as the etiology but endoscopic intervention is often unsuccessful in achieving durable hemostasis with surgery being required for definitive management in many cases. Herein is reported the case of a 67-year-old male on anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation who presented with severe upper GI bleeding determined to be arising from underneath the hood of the major papilla. No distinct lesion was seen endoscopically but the presumed etiology was an unidentified vascular malformation. Successful treatment was achieved with argon plasma coagulation (APC) applied circumferentially around the papilla. No subsequent endoscopic or surgical intervention was required for durable hemostasis and the patient was able to resume anticoagulation shortly after the procedure. This is the first reported case of spontaneous periampullary bleeding successfully treated with APC.
Republic of Madagascar
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: August 2014

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.
Republic of Kazakhstan
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: August 2014

Kazakhstani banks continue to suffer from a high and rising stock of nonperforming loans. A centralized approach to asset resolution is warranted, and could be based on a reinvigorated Distressed Asset Fund. A robust and transparent public financial management system should be an integral part of any effective fiscal framework. Deeper and sophisticated domestic financial markets will help decline in dollarization and the associated risks. A sound medium-term fiscal framework, supportive monetary and exchange rate policies, and overall financial sector reform is required.
Organosulfates and organic acids in Arctic aerosols: speciation, annual variation and concentration levels
Authors: Hansen A. M. K. , Kristensen K. , Nguyen Q. T. , Zare A. , Cozzi F. , Nøjgaard J. K. , Skov H. , Brandt J. , Christensen J. H. , Ström J. , Tunved P. , Krejci R. , Glasius M.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. Sources, composition and occurrence of secondary organic aerosols in the Arctic were investigated at Zeppelin Mountain, Svalbard, and Station Nord, northeastern Greenland, during the full annual cycle of 2008 and 2010, respectively. Speciation of organic acids, organosulfates and nitrooxy organosulfates – from both anthropogenic and biogenic precursors were in focus. A total of 11 organic acids (terpenylic acid, benzoic acid, phthalic acid, pinic acid, suberic acid, azelaic acid, adipic acid, pimelic acid, pinonic acid, diaterpenylic acid acetate and 3-methyl-1,2,3-butanetricarboxylic acid), 12 organosulfates and 1 nitrooxy organosulfate were identified in aerosol samples from the two sites using a high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) coupled to a quadrupole Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer. At Station Nord, compound concentrations followed a distinct annual pattern, where high mean concentrations of organosulfates (47 ± 14 ng m−3) and organic acids (11.5 ± 4 ng m−3) were observed in January, February and March, contrary to considerably lower mean concentrations of organosulfates (2 ± 3 ng m−3) and organic acids (2.2 ± 1 ng m−3) observed during the rest of the year. At Zeppelin Mountain, organosulfate and organic acid concentrations remained relatively constant during most of the year at a mean concentration of 15 ± 4 ng m−3 and 3.9 ± 1 ng m−3, respectively. However during four weeks of spring, remarkably higher concentrations of total organosulfates (23–36 ng m−3) and total organic acids (7–10 ng m−3) were observed. Elevated organosulfate and organic acid concentrations coincided with the Arctic haze period at both stations, where northern Eurasia was identified as the main source region. Air mass transport from northern Eurasia to Zeppelin Mountain was associated with a 100% increase in the number of detected organosulfate species compared with periods of air mass transport from the Arctic Ocean, Scandinavia and Greenland. The results from this study suggested that the presence of organic acids and organosulfates at Station Nord was mainly due to long-range transport, whereas indications of local sources were found for some compounds at Zeppelin Mountain. Furthermore, organosulfates contributed significantly to organic matter throughout the year at Zeppelin Mountain (annual mean of 13 ± 8%) and during Arctic haze at Station Nord (7 ± 2%), suggesting organosulfates to be important compounds in Arctic aerosols.
Simplifying the calculation of light scattering properties for black carbon fractal aggregates
Authors: Smith A. J. A. , Grainger R. G.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. Black carbon fractal aggregates have complicated shapes that make the calculation of their optical properties particularly computationally expensive. Here, a method is presented to estimate fractal aggregate light scattering properties by optimising simplified models to full light scattering calculations. It is found that there are no possible spherical models (at any size or refractive index) that well represent the light scattering in the visible or near-thermal infrared. As such, parameterisations of the light scattering as a function of the number of aggregate particles is presented as the most pragmatic choice for modelling distributions of black carbon when the large computational overheads of rigorous scattering calculations cannot be justified. This parameterisation can be analytically integrated to provide light scattering properties for lognormal distributions of black carbon fractal aggregates and return extinction cross sections with 0.1% accuracy for typical black carbon size distributions. Scattering cross sections and the asymmetry parameter can be obtained to within 3%.
Dune dynamics and roughness under gradually varying flood waves, comparing flume and field observations
Authors: Warmink J. J.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. Accurate forecasts of bed forms and their roughness during a flood wave are essential for flood management. Bed forms remain dynamic even under steady discharge and are subject to a continuous process of creations and destructions of individual bed forms. Dune evolution during the rising limb of a flood wave is quite well understood and can be modeled. However, dune evolution during the falling limb remains poorly understood. The objective of this paper is to explain the bed form evolution and roughness during the receding limb of fast flood waves. Therefore, bed profiles of two flume experiments were analyzed in detail and individual dune creations and destructions were classified. The results showed that for fast flood waves in subcritical water flow: (1) dune length grows during both rising and falling limb due to amalgamation of bed forms, (2) dune length has a longer adaptation time than dune height, resulting in short, high dunes during the peak discharge, and (3) this hysteresis difference between dune height and length results in a larger roughness than predicted by equilibrium bed form dimension equations, which may result in a larger roughness of the main channel during floods than expected.
Volatile Organic Compound emissions from soil: using Proton-Transfer-Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS) for the real time observation of microbial processes
Authors: Veres P. R. , Behrendt T. , Klapthor A. , Meixner F. X. , Williams J.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. In this study we report on the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitric oxide (NO) from two contrasting soils (equatorial rainforest and arid cotton field) analyzed in a laboratory based dynamic chamber system. The effect of soil moisture and soil temperature on VOC and NO emission was examined in laboratory incubation experiments by measuring as a pre-saturated soil dried out. Our results suggest that real time monitoring of VOC emissions from soil using a proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-TOF-MS) instrument can be used to improve our understanding of the release mechanisms of trace gases (e.g. NO, N2O) that are involved in the nitrogen cycle. Moreover, we report on the release rate of various VOC species, many of which exhibit a temperature dependent response indicative of biological production, namely a temperature amplification factor (Q10) ∼ 2–3. Contrary to the conventional modeling of NO emissions from soils, that the release of NO from the overall community across the range of soil water content can be modeled as an optimum function, we suggest that VOC measurements indicate there exist multiple distinct contributing microbial guilds releasing NO. These microbial guilds could likely be individually identified with the observed VOC profiles. Using a cotton field soil sample from a Sache oasis (Taklimakan desert, Xinijang, P. R. China), we identify five VOC emission groups with varying degrees of NO co-emission. An equatorial rainforest soil (Suriname) was shown to emit a variety of VOC including acetaldehyde, acetone, DMS, formaldehyde, and isoprene that vary strongly and individually as a function of temperature and soil moisture content. PTR-TOF-MS with high time resolution, sensitivity, and molecular specificity is an ideal tool for the real time analysis of VOC and NO emitting processes in soil systems. These experiments can be used as a template for future experiments to more completely and specifically identify the active microbial guilds in soils and to characterize the impact of soil VOC emissions on the atmosphere.
Decadal regime shift linkage between global marine fish landings and atmospheric planetary wave forcing
Authors: Powell A. M. , Xu J.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. This investigation focuses on a global forcing mechanism for decadal regime shifts and their subsequent impacts. The proposed global forcing mechanism is the global atmospheric planetary waves that can lead to changes in the global surface air–sea conditions and subsequently fishery changes. In this study, the five decadal regime shifts (1956–1957, 1964–1965, 1977–1978, 1988–1989, and 1998–1999) in the recent 59 years (1950–2008) have been identified based on student t tests and their association with global marine ecosystem change has been discussed. Changes in the three major oceanic (Pacific, Atlantic and Indian) ecosystems will be explored with the goal of demonstrating the linkage between stratospheric planetary waves and the ocean surface forcing that leads to fisheries impacts. Due to the multidisciplinary audience, the global forcing mechanism is described from a top-down approach to help the multidisciplinary audience follow the analysis. Following previous work, this analysis addresses how changes in the atmospheric planetary waves may influence the vertical wind structure, surface wind stress, and their connection with the global ocean ecosystems based on a coupling of the atmospheric regime shifts with the decadal regime shifts determined from marine life changes. The multiple decadal regime shifts related to changes in marine life are discussed using the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) global fish capture data (catch/stock). Analyses are performed to demonstrate the interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, and fisheries are a plausible approach to explaining decadal climate change in the global marine ecosystems and its impacts. The results show a consistent mechanism, ocean wind stress, responsible for marine shifts in the three major ocean basins. Changes in the planetary wave pattern affect the ocean wind stress patterns. A change in the ocean surface wind pattern from long wave (relatively smooth and less complex) to shorter wave (more convoluted and more complex) ocean surface wind stress creates changes in the ocean marine fisheries.
Identification and simulation of space–time variability of past hydrological drought events in the Limpopo River basin, southern Africa
Authors: Trambauer P. , Maskey S. , Werner M. , Pappenberger F. , van Beek L. P. H. , Uhlenbrook S.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. Droughts are widespread natural hazards and in many regions their frequency seems to be increasing. A finer-resolution version (0.05° × 0.05°) of the continental-scale hydrological model PCRaster Global Water Balance (PCR-GLOBWB) was set up for the Limpopo River basin, one of the most water-stressed basins on the African continent. An irrigation module was included to account for large irrigated areas of the basin. The finer resolution model was used to analyse hydrological droughts in the Limpopo River basin in the period 1979–2010 with a view to identifying severe droughts that have occurred in the basin. Evaporation, soil moisture, groundwater storage and runoff estimates from the model were derived at a spatial resolution of 0.05° (approximately 5 km) on a daily timescale for the entire basin. PCR-GLOBWB was forced with daily precipitation and temperature obtained from the ERA-Interim global atmospheric reanalysis product from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Two agricultural drought indicators were computed: the Evapotranspiration Deficit Index (ETDI) and the Root Stress Anomaly Index (RSAI). Hydrological drought was characterised using the Standardized Runoff Index (SRI) and the Groundwater Resource Index (GRI), which make use of the streamflow and groundwater storage resulting from the model. Other more widely used meteorological drought indicators, such as the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI), were also computed for different aggregation periods. Results show that a carefully set-up, process-based model that makes use of the best available input data can identify hydrological droughts even if the model is largely uncalibrated. The indicators considered are able to represent the most severe droughts in the basin and to some extent identify the spatial variability of droughts. Moreover, results show the importance of computing indicators that can be related to hydrological droughts, and how these add value to the identification of hydrological droughts and floods and the temporal evolution of events that would otherwise not have been apparent when considering only meteorological indicators. In some cases, meteorological indicators alone fail to capture the severity of the hydrological drought. Therefore, a combination of some of these indicators (e.g. SPEI-3, SRI-6 and SPI-12 computed together) is found to be a useful measure for identifying agricultural to long-term hydrological droughts in the Limpopo River basin. Additionally, it was possible to undertake a characterisation of the drought severity in the basin, indicated by its time of occurrence, duration and intensity.
The effect of training image and secondary data integration with multiple-point geostatistics in groundwater modelling
Authors: He X. L. , Sonnenborg T. O. , Jørgensen F. , Jensen K. H.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. Multiple-point geostatistical simulation (MPS) has recently become popular in stochastic hydrogeology, primarily because of its capability to derive multivariate distributions from a training image (TI). However, its application in three-dimensional (3-D) simulations has been constrained by the difficulty of constructing a 3-D TI. The object-based unconditional simulation program TiGenerator may be a useful tool in this regard; yet the applicability of such parametric training images has not been documented in detail. Another issue in MPS is the integration of multiple geophysical data. The proper way to retrieve and incorporate information from high-resolution geophysical data is still under discussion. In this study, MPS simulation was applied to different scenarios regarding the TI and soft conditioning. By comparing their output from simulations of groundwater flow and probabilistic capture zone, TI from both sources (directly converted from high-resolution geophysical data and generated by TiGenerator) yields comparable results, even for the probabilistic capture zones, which are highly sensitive to the geological architecture. This study also suggests that soft conditioning in MPS is a convenient and efficient way of integrating secondary data such as 3-D airborne electromagnetic data (SkyTEM), but over-conditioning has to be avoided.
Assessment of the mapping potential of Pléiades stereo and triplet data
Authors: Perko R. , Raggam H. , Gutjahr K. , Schardt M.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. The Pléiades satellites provide very high resolution optical data at a swath width of 20 km and a ground sampling distance of about 0.7 m at nadir direction. The sensors are remarkable agile as their pointing angle can be changed in a range of ±47 degrees. Thus, they are able to collect three images in one over flight representing tri-stereo data. In the presented work the mapping potential of Pléiades stereo and tri-stereo data is assessed in detail. The assessment is performed on two test sites and contains discussions on 2D initial geo-location accuracy, sensor model optimization, 3D geo-location accuracy, and a novel workflow for dense reconstruction of digital surface models (DSMs). The main outcomes are that the sensor accuracy is within the range as defined by Astrium, however a sensor model optimization is obligatory when it comes to highly accurate 3D mapping. The derived DSMs show a high level of detail thus enabling varying applications on a large scale, like change detection or forest assessment.
Fast registration of laser scans with 4-point congruent sets - what works and what doesn't
Authors: Theiler P. W. , Wegner J. D. , Schindler K.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. Sampling-based algorithms in the mould of RANSAC have emerged as one of the most successful methods for the fully automated registration of point clouds acquired by terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). Sampling methods in conjunction with 3D keypoint extraction, have shown promising results, e.g. the recent K-4PCS (Theiler et al., 2013). However, they still exhibit certain improbable failures, and are computationally expensive and slow if the overlap between scans is low. Here, we examine several variations of the basic K-4PCS framework that have the potential to improve its runtime and robustness. Since the method is inherently parallelizable, straight-forward multi-threading already brings down runtimes to a practically acceptable level (seconds to minutes). At a conceptual level, replacing the RANSAC error function with the more principled MSAC function (Torr and Zisserman, 2000) and introducing a minimum-distance prior to counter the near-field bias reduce failure rates by a factor of up to 4. On the other hand, replacing the repeated evaluation of the RANSAC error function with a voting scheme over the transformation parameters proved not to be generally applicable for the scan registration problem. All these possible extensions are tested experimentally on multiple challenging outdoor and indoor scenarios.
Combinatorial clustering and Its Application to 3D Polygonal Traffic Sign Reconstruction From Multiple Images
Authors: Vallet B. , Soheilian B. , Brédif M.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. The 3D reconstruction of similar 3D objects detected in 2D faces a major issue when it comes to grouping the 2D detections into clusters to be used to reconstruct the individual 3D objects. Simple clustering heuristics fail as soon as similar objects are close. This paper formulates a framework to use the geometric quality of the reconstruction as a hint to do a proper clustering. We present a methodology to solve the resulting combinatorial optimization problem with some simplifications and approximations in order to make it tractable. The proposed method is applied to the reconstruction of 3D traffic signs from their 2D detections to demonstrate its capacity to solve ambiguities.
Automatic Georeferencing of a Heritage of old analog aerial Photographs
Authors: Cléri I. , Pierrot-Deseilligny M. , Vallet B.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. Historical photographs become widely used in geographical and environmental applications. Their enhancement involves converting them into georeferenced data, such as orthoimages or digital models. However no ground control points are available unlike in current image processing, and many problems such as image noise, landscape modifications, perspective distortion and unknown sensor calibration prevent automatic tie-point retrieval with current orthoimages. That is why photograph georeferencing remains a manual and time-consuming task. A novel method is presented in this paper to register photographs with current topographic database using line feature matching. Indeed, geometrical considerations only let avoid high radiometric difference issues when dealing with current orthoimages. Besides topographic database use lets selecting stable through time features, such as road network and historical buildings. A multi-scale approach allows very coarse georeferencing initialization, which can be set manually by a minimum number of ground control points per image set. At each scale an iterative processing improves the line matching and the registration model estimation at the same time. Finally, building integration makes registration more reliable for off-ground objects. Results are promising as georeferencing is much improved and its estimation converges in all test cases.
An automatic and modular stereo pipeline for pushbroom images
Authors: de Franchis C. , Meinhardt-Llopis E. , Michel J. , Morel J.-M. , Facciolo G.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. The increasing availability of high resolution stereo images from Earth observation satellites has boosted the development of tools for producing 3D elevation models. The objective of these tools is to produce digital elevation models of very large areas with minimal human intervention. The development of these tools has been shaped by the constraints of the remote sensing acquisition, for example, using ad hoc stereo matching tools to deal with the pushbroom image geometry. However, this specialization has also created a gap with respect to the fields of computer vision and image processing, where these constraints are usually factored out. In this work we propose a fully automatic and modular stereo pipeline to produce digital elevation models from satellite images. The aim of this new pipeline, called Satellite Stereo Pipeline and abbreviated as s2p, is to use (and test) off-the-shelf computer vision tools while abstracting from the complexity associated to satellite imaging. To this aim, images are cut in small tiles for which we proved that the pushbroom geometry is very accurately approximated by the pinhole model. These tiles are then processed with standard stereo image rectification and stereo matching tools. The specifics of satellite imaging such as pointing accuracy refinement, estimation of the initial elevation from SRTM data, and geodetic coordinate systems are handled transparently by s2p. We demonstrate the robustness of our approach on a large database of satellite images and by providing an online demo of s2p.
Comparison of 3D interest point detectors and descriptors for point cloud fusion
Authors: Hänsch R. , Weber T. , Hellwich O.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. The extraction and description of keypoints as salient image parts has a long tradition within processing and analysis of 2D images. Nowadays, 3D data gains more and more importance. This paper discusses the benefits and limitations of keypoints for the task of fusing multiple 3D point clouds. For this goal, several combinations of 3D keypoint detectors and descriptors are tested. The experiments are based on 3D scenes with varying properties, including 3D scanner data as well as Kinect point clouds. The obtained results indicate that the specific method to extract and describe keypoints in 3D data has to be carefully chosen. In many cases the accuracy suffers from a too strong reduction of the available points to keypoints.
An energy minimization approach to automated extraction of regular building footprints from airborne LiDAR data
Authors: He Y. , Zhang C. , Fraser C. S.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. This paper presents an automated approach to the extraction of building footprints from airborne LiDAR data based on energy minimization. Automated 3D building reconstruction in complex urban scenes has been a long-standing challenge in photogrammetry and computer vision. Building footprints constitute a fundamental component of a 3D building model and they are useful for a variety of applications. Airborne LiDAR provides large-scale elevation representation of urban scene and as such is an important data source for object reconstruction in spatial information systems. However, LiDAR points on building edges often exhibit a jagged pattern, partially due to either occlusion from neighbouring objects, such as overhanging trees, or to the nature of the data itself, including unavoidable noise and irregular point distributions. The explicit 3D reconstruction may thus result in irregular or incomplete building polygons. In the presented work, a vertex-driven Douglas-Peucker method is developed to generate polygonal hypotheses from points forming initial building outlines. The energy function is adopted to examine and evaluate each hypothesis and the optimal polygon is determined through energy minimization. The energy minimization also plays a key role in bridging gaps, where the building outlines are ambiguous due to insufficient LiDAR points. In formulating the energy function, hard constraints such as parallelism and perpendicularity of building edges are imposed, and local and global adjustments are applied. The developed approach has been extensively tested and evaluated on datasets with varying point cloud density over different terrain types. Results are presented and analysed. The successful reconstruction of building footprints, of varying structural complexity, along with a quantitative assessment employing accurate reference data, demonstrate the practical potential of the proposed approach.
Scene-Layout Compatible Conditional Random Field for Classifying Terrestrial Laser Point Clouds
Authors: Luo C. , Sohn G.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) rapidly becomes a primary surveying tool due to its fast acquisition of highly dense threedimensional point clouds. For fully utilizing its benefits, developing a robust method to classify many objects of interests from huge amounts of laser point clouds is urgently required. Conditional Random Field (CRF) is a well-known discriminative classifier, which integrates local appearance of the observation (laser point) with spatial interactions among its neighbouring points in classification process. Typical CRFs employ generic label consistency using short-range dependency only, which often causes locality problem. In this paper, we present a multi-range and asymmetric Conditional Random Field (CRF) (maCRF), which adopts a priori information of scene-layout compatibility addressing long-range dependency. The proposed CRF constructs two graphical models, one for enhancing a local labelling smoothness within short-range (srCRF) and the other for favouring a global and asymmetric regularity of spatial arrangement between different object classes within long-range (lrCRF). This maCRF classifier assumes two graphical models (srCRF and lrCRF) are independent of each other. Final labelling decision was accomplished by probabilistically combining prediction results obtained from two CRF models. We validated maCRF's performance with TLS point clouds acquired from RIEGL LMS-Z390i scanner using cross validation. Experiment results demonstrate that synergetic classification improvement can be achievable by incorporating two CRF models.
Flood analysis of the Limpopo River basin through past evolution reconstruction and a geomorphological approach
Authors: Spaliviero M. , De Dapper M. , Maló S.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. This research reconstructs the past evolution of the Limpopo River, a transboundary system located in south-eastern Africa, and describes its geomorphological settings through a literature review and field work activities, with the aim of analysing flood hazard in the basin. Major changes have occurred since the late Jurassic–early Cretaceous period due to successive tectonic events. The paper demonstrates that the apparently abandoned drainage conformation of the palaeo-Limpopo in the upper and middle stretches of the river today constitutes preferential flood-prone areas in the case of major rainfall events. An important palaeo-delta is identified in the lower Limpopo, which imposes a particular drainage pattern onto the floodplain in Mozambique and influences the flood dynamics at present. The adopted method is helpful in determining flood hazard in a data-scarce area showing complex fluvial dynamics, and allows for the identification of unsuitable locations for human settlements.
Fractal dimensions of wildfire spreading
Authors: Wang S.-L. , Lee H.-I. , Li S.-P.
Published: August 2014

Abstract. The time series data of 31 wildfires in 2012 in the US were analyzed. The fractal dimensions (FD) of the wildfires during spreading were studied and their geological features were identified. A growth model based on the cellular automata method is proposed here. Numerical study was performed and is shown to give good agreement with the fractal dimensions and scaling behaviors of the corresponding empirical data.
Impacts of Inflationary Trends on Banks’ Performance(Large Banks Segment) in Pakistan
Authors: Khan Waseem Ahmad , Shahid Maria , Bari Rafia , Anam Waqasia , Shehzad Nimra , Siddique Samnia
Published: August 2014

Inflation is an economic period in which prices raised interest rate increases and affects some businesses positively and some negatively. This paper examines the overall Inflationary trends that have great influence on the performance of the large banking segment of Pakistan. This study is directed to verify the impact of inflationary trends on the top rated banks in Pakistan and return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and net interest margin as key performance indicators of banking sectors are selected as variable. Researchers calculate the figures of these variables and then discuss these figures with bank representatives. The research sample consists of large banks in Bahawalpur district. Through discussion and calculated results, a strong positive relation has found among the variables, i.e. inflation over bank's performance. The limitation of the study is that data of limited years have been taken the due to the unavailability of data and time constraint as well as only banks of Bahawalpur district considered.
Starbucks sustained during economic crisis
Authors: Latif Madiha , Qurat-ul-ain Hafiza , Gulzar Hina , Bukhari Syeda Rabia , Sameen Syeda Nudrat
Published: August 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the understand that how companies compute their financial ratios and use these financial ratios to identify company’s financial situation. The company is also compared with the competitor’s financial statements to identify current position in markets. Design/ Methodology: The case study method is used to better understand the company. In this study researchers developed that how company’s operations and position is effected by the great economic downfall in overall world’s economy. Moreover they discussed that how they are trying to survive in markets to retain their leading position. Findings: After considering all financial aspects researchers found that the company is no doubt badly effected with the worse economic situations but still they adopted strategies from top to operational level that keep them a right hand to sustain in market as a leader. Suggestions: Developing advertisement strategies, international price stability, target to all economic classes and all aged persons, and diversify business rather then only beverages or confectionary item related businesses.
Why is Academic labor process becoming hectic in Pakistani Universities?
Authors: Shahid Maria , Shafiq Hamna , Khan Ayesha , Asghar Mubashir , Bari Rafia , Umer Javeria , Waheed Zainab
Published: August 2014

Due to academic labor process, the working conditions of universities are changing means now the working conditions of universities are becoming standardized. This research paper is qualitative in which researchers tried to explore the concepts that making the academic labor process hectic day by day in the context of Pakistani universities. The aim of this study is to explore that what is the effect of this changing working environment on the lecturers. The convenience sampling method based on self-administrated questionnaires is used to evaluate the effect of different variables on the academic labor process and data collected from the lecturers through interview. Concept analysis technique is used for discussion and conclusion. After allresearch, researchers came to know that HEC policies have a negative effect on university autonomy because according to HEC policies they want more research work in a less time which depressed the lecturers and they create a bad research work. Working conditions also have a bad impact on research work because lecturers are unable to do their work attentively. So, if the workload increases lecturers are unable to do their work properly. Incentives and bonuses play a motivational role to motivate lecturers to work well. Based on the results of thisstudy, researchers suggest to universities that they give the autonomy to their lecturers, so they  work with full devotion. And separate the teaching and research work and give the lecturers a good working environment.
Advanced Oxidation of Olive Mill Wastewater OMW by an Oxidative Free- Radical Process Induced With Zero Valent Iron
Authors: Rima Jamil , Rahme Kamil , Assaker Karrine
Published: August 2014

The degradation of olive mill wastewater (OMW) with hydroxyl radicals generated from zero-valent iron and hydrogen peroxide has been investigated by means of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and phenolic compounds analyses. The mechanism uses zero-valent iron activated by oxygen at room temperature to generate Hydroxyl-free radicals that subsequently oxidize organic constituents and clean wastewater. The effects of the iron mass, the pH and the organic matter concentration have been studied. Our experimental results demonstrate that the continuous presence of oxygen and iron in an acidic solution with a pH 2-4 allows the generation of maximum hydroxyl free radicals. The lack of oxygen prevents oxidative reaction, and then the generation of free radicals cannot occur. Coloration of OMW disappeared and phenolic compound decreased after 40 minutes of reaction time. The results show that Fe0/H+ /air or oxygen, could be considered as an effective alternative solution for the treatment of OMW.
Trust, Individual Guilt, Collective Guilt and Dispositions Toward Reconciliation Among Rwandan Survivors and Prisoners Before and After Their Participation in Postgenocide Gacaca Courts in Rwanda
Authors: Kanyangara Patrick , Rimé Bernard , Paez Dario , Yzerbyt Vincent
Published: August 2014

A field experiment compared the level of personal and collective guilt in survivors (N = 200) and accused perpetrators (N = 184) of the Rwandan genocide before and after participation in Gacaca community courts and in control groups of survivors (N = 195) and prisoners (N = 179) who did not participate in Gacaca. Participation in Gacaca led to a marked reduction in survivors’ personal and collective guilt and to an increase in prisoners' personal guilt. Prisoners’ collective guilt was unaffected by participation but collective guilt was higher for prisoners participating in Gacaca suggesting an effect of the mere anticipation of participation. Survivors who participated in Gacaca had greater doubts about Gacaca, trusted the prisoners' apologies less, were less inclined to forgive, were more revengeful, and opted more for intragroup contact and less for intergroup contact. In sum, participation in Gacaca failed to have direct effects upon dispositions to reconciliation but it produced important indirect effects in this direction by drastically reducing survivors' guilt feelings, which may have enhanced their empowerment.
Que serait une oeuvre sans son cadre ?
Authors: Delorme André , Gilbert Michel
Published: August 2014

Une réforme ne peut voir le jour et atteindre ses objectifs sans être soutenue de diverses façons. Au Québec, le Plan d’action en santé mentale 2005-2010 – La force des liens a introduit de nombreuses réformes de fond et de forme dans le réseau de services en santé mentale. Cet article voudra explorer quelles formes d’encadrement peuvent soutenir cette réforme et à quel point ces formes ont été exploitées ou devraient l’être. Il pourra ainsi soutenir la réflexion sur les moyens d’encadrement qu’il faudra utiliser pour soutenir le prochain plan d’action actuellement en rédaction au ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux.
Politiques et plans d’action en santé mentale dans l’OCDE : leçons pour le Québec ?
Authors: Thiebaut Georges-Charles , Farand Lambert , Fleury Marie-Josée
Published: August 2014

Cette étude examine les politiques de santé mentale énoncées au cours des quinze dernières années par les pays de l’OCDE et les provinces canadiennes afin d’en décrire les variations, d’identifier certaines configurations et d’en tirer des leçons pour le Québec. Vingt et une politiques sont analysées en faisant appel à un modèle conceptuel dérivé de la théorie de l’action sociale de Parsons. Les politiques varient en termes de différenciation (besoins et groupes priorisés, niveaux d’intervention, finalités, bases factuelles, niveaux de spécification), en termes d’intégration (mécanismes d’efficacité variable allant du fonctionnement en créneaux à l’intégration complète de certaines composantes) et en termes de gouvernance (théories de programme plus ou moins explicites ou fondées, importance variable donnée aux structures, aux processus et aux résultats, mécanismes d’imputabilité et de financement, systèmes d’information et gouvernance clinique variables). Cinq configurations sont identifiées : santé publique, professionnelle, technocratique structurelle, technocratique fonctionnelle et politique. La politique québécoise actuelle, correspondant à une configuration technocratique structurelle, pourrait être bonifiée par le renforcement de ses aspects de santé publique, professionnels et fonctionnels si les obstacles politiques pouvaient être surmontés.
Réflexions et recommandations des Instituts universitaires en santé mentale du Québec sur le document de consultation du Forum national sur le plan d’action en santé mentale 2014-2020
Authors: Fortin Denise , McVey Lynne , Racine Simon , Luyet André J. , Israël Mimi , Villeneuve Evens , Trudel Jean-François , Fortier Linda
Published: August 2014

Les trois Instituts universitaires en santé mentale (IUSM Douglas, de Montréal et de Québec) et le Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke ont déposé un mémoire au Forum national de consultation sur le prochain plan d’action en santé mentale (PASM) 2014-2020, organisé en janvier 2014 par le ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS). À titre d’acteurs-clés du réseau de la santé mentale, ils commentent chacun des éléments présentés dans le document de consultation.

Ils considèrent que les orientations proposées sont en continuité avec le PASM 2005-2010 et les thématiques présentées reflètent bien les enjeux actuels. Ils suggèrent des principes plus explicites quant à l’organisation de services souhaitée, soit l’exercice de la pleine citoyenneté, une organisation en réseaux intégrés de services, la performance, l’amélioration continue et l’innovation, ainsi qu’une vision globale et intégrée de la santé. La complexité des problématiques actuelles commande une offre de services souple, complémentaire et en continuité, particulièrement pour les jeunes, les autochtones et les personnes présentant des troubles concomitants. Ils insistent donc sur l’importance d’agir en prévention, d’offrir des programmes d’intervention précoce et de consolider le soutien offert aux omnipraticiens et aux professionnels de la première ligne. Ils rappellent cependant de ne pas négliger l’offre de services spécialisés en ambulatoire et en hospitalisation. Les services offerts dans la communauté doivent être structurés autour des niveaux de soutien variés, tels que le SIV et le SIM, mais aussi autour de programmations spécialisées disponibles dans les services de consultations externes des hôpitaux. Aussi, la consolidation des services surspécialisés, l’enseignement et la recherche sont à inclure dans le prochain plan d’action en santé mentale. Finalement, une perspective de santé globale doit dépasser le cadre du MSSS pour devenir un engagement gouvernemental interministériel, s’appuyant sur une vision de santé publique de la santé mentale qui examine les conditions de santé de la population et tient compte des déterminants sociaux. Ce plan sera la base d’un réel soutien à l’exercice de la pleine citoyenneté et à la lutte à la stigmatisation, en collaboration avec les personnes utilisatrices de services et leurs proches.
Rôle du communautaire en santé mentale dans un système en évolution : état des connaissances et recommandations
Authors: Grenier Guy , Fleury Marie-Josée
Published: August 2014

Cet article a pour objectifs 1) de tracer l’historique et la place des organismes communautaires en santé mentale (OCSM) ainsi que leurs valeurs et pratiques spécifiques et 2) d’étudier l’impact du Plan d’action en santé mentale (PASM) 2005-2010 sur leur fonctionnement et leurs relations avec le réseau public. Les auteurs abordent la diversité des OSCM en fonction des dimensions suivantes : historique des OCSM au Québec, typologie, territoires couverts et financement, modalité de pratiques, et regroupement. L’étude montre que malgré la place qu’ils occupent dans la dispensation des services, les OCSM perçoivent un certain recul quant à la reconnaissance de leur expertise par le réseau public depuis la mise en place du PASM 2005-2010. Leurs critiques concernent surtout les questions de leur sous-financement, la crainte d’une perte de leur autonomie lors de la signature d’une entente de services ainsi que des lacunes sur le plan de la gouvernance et de la concertation. Un financement plus adéquat des OCSM, principalement pour les groupes d’entraide et les OCSM offrant de la réadaptation psychosociale, de l’intégration aux études et au travail, la reconnaissance de la nécessité d’une pluralité d’approches, ainsi que la reconstitution de tables de concertation ayant des pouvoirs décisionnels sont des outils pouvant permettre aux OCSM de jouer plus adéquatement leurs rôles.
Modernizing the Data Infrastructure for Clinical Research to Meet Evolving Demands for Evidence
Authors: Franklin Joseph B. , Marra Caroline , Abebe Kaleab Z. , Butte Atul J. , Cook Deborah J. , Esserman Laura , Fleisher Lee A. , Grossman Cynthia I. , Kass Nancy E. , Krumholz Harlan M. , Rowan Kathy , Abernethy Amy P. ,   JAMA Summit on Clinical Trials Participants, Abbasi Ali B , Abebe Kaleab Z , Abernethy Amy P , Adam Stacey J. , Angus Derek C , Ard Jamy , Bender Ignacio Rachel A , Berkwits Michael , Berry Scott M , Bhatt Deepak L. , Bibbins-Domingo Kirsten , Bonow Robert O. , Bonten Marc , Brangman Sharon A. , Brownstein John , Buntin Melinda J. B. , Butte Atul J , Califf Robert M. , Campbell Marion K , Cappola Anne R. , Chiang Anne C , Cook Deborah , Cummings Steven R , Curfman Gregory , Esserman Laura J , Fleisher Lee A , Franklin Joseph B , Gonzalez Ralph , Grossman Cynthia I , Haddad Tufia C. , Herbst Roy S. , Hernandez Adrian F. , Holder Diane P , Horn Leora , Huang Grant D. , Huang Alison , Kass Nancy , Khera Rohan , Koroshetz Walter J. , Krumholz Harlan M. , Landray Martin , Lewis Roger J. , Lieu Tracy A , Malani Preeti N. , Martin Christa Lese , McClellan Mark , McDermott Mary M. , Morain Stephanie R. , Murphy Susan A , Nicholls Stuart G , Nicholls Stephen J , O'Dwyer Peter J. , Patel Bhakti K , Peterson Eric , Prindiville Sheila A. , Ross Joseph S. , Rowan Kathryn M , Rubenfeld Gordon , Seymour Christopher W. , Taylor Rod S , Waldstreicher Joanne , Wang Tracy Y.
Published: August 2024

Importance

The ways in which we access, acquire, and use data in clinical trials have evolved very little over time, resulting in a fragmented and inefficient system that limits the amount and quality of evidence that can be generated.

Observations

Clinical trial design has advanced steadily over several decades. Yet the infrastructure for clinical trial data collection remains expensive and labor intensive and limits the amount of evidence that can be collected to inform whether and how interventions work for different patient populations. Meanwhile, there is increasing demand for evidence from randomized clinical trials to inform regulatory decisions, payment decisions, and clinical care. Although substantial public and industry investment in advancing electronic health record interoperability, data standardization, and the technology systems used for data capture have resulted in significant progress on various aspects of data generation, there is now a need to combine the results of these efforts and apply them more directly to the clinical trial data infrastructure.

Conclusions and Relevance

We describe a vision for a modernized infrastructure that is centered around 2 related concepts. First, allowing the collection and rigorous evaluation of multiple data sources and types and, second, enabling the possibility to reuse health data for multiple purposes. We address the need for multidisciplinary collaboration and suggest ways to measure progress toward this goal.
Early Circulating Biomarkers of Language Development in Single Ventricle Heart Disease
Authors: Wolfe Kelly R. , Thomson Lindsay M. , Niemiec Sierra , Mancuso Christopher A. , Khailova Ludmila , Frank Benjamin S. , Davidson Jesse A.
Published: August 2024

This cohort study assesses proteins measured in infancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes in single ventricle heart disease.
A review of longitudinal studies on flashbulb memories. Where we started, are, and are going?
Authors: Frinco Rebecca , Muzzulini Barbara , Tinti Carla , Luminet Olivier , Schmidt Susanna
Published: August 2024

Since Brown and Kulik (1977) coined the term ‘Flashbulb memories’ (FBMs), there are still heated debates about their nature. We thus considered it useful to take stock of almost 50 years of research by reviewing 57 test–retest studies on FBMs for public events. The review aimed to answer six research questions by examining the target events and populations investigated (RQ1); the methods used to assess differences among groups and the effect of time on memory (RQ2); the assessment of FBMs' contents (RQ3), consistency (RQ4), vividness and confidence (RQ5); the criteria used to draw studies' conclusions (RQ6). Results show a huge methodological heterogeneity which may have contributed to the different conclusions about the special status of FBMs. The in‐depth comparison of 9/11 studies suggests that results may differ depending on the methods used. Finally, the paper provides methodological suggestions for future FBMs studies and seeks to stimulate critical theoretical reflections.