bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Student feedback on an online group used to support a Medical Humanities module in a Nepalese medical school
Authors: Shankar PR , Piryani RM
Published: August 2012

Background: An online Google group was created to supplement a Medical Humanities module at KISTMedical College. Objectives: The present study was carried out to understand student perceptions about the online group, understand factors preventing its widespread use and obtain suggestions for improvement. Method: The study was carried out among first year undergraduate medical students. They were explained the aims and objectives of the study and invited to participate after obtaining written, informed consent. Student feedback was collected in the form of their responses to a set of 10 questions about the online group. The responses were analyzed and common ones tabulated. Results: Fifty-eight of the 75 students participated. Forty-nine students were aware of the group. Only 10 respondents were group members. The group was regarded as a virtual grouping for sharing ideas about Medical Humanities and could provide knowledge about the subject and act as a backup resource in case students were unable to attend a session. The group was felt to be unsuccessful. Problems of internet access, load shedding and problems of managing time were hindering factors. Better publicity about the group, demonstrating the group during Wednesday’s session and making students utilize the group by submitting assignments through it were suggested. Conclusions: The KISTMC MH group was not successful and steps for improvement must be taken in future sessions. Major reasons hindering use of the group were mentioned. The issue should be further explored as online groups are an important means to support curricular initiates in medical schools. Journal of College of Medical Sciences-Nepal,2011,Vol-6,No-4, 79-85 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jcmsn.v6i4.6734
The Geometry of Offending and Victimization
Authors: Andresen Martin A. , Felson Marcus , Frank Richard
Published: August 2012

The crime mobility triangle summarizes the spatial divergence of three locations: the offender's residence, the victim's residence, and the location of the delinquent act itself. The further these three locations are from one another, the greater the area covered by the mobility triangle. The original mobility triangle was not designed for cases with multiple offenders or multiple victims. Accordingly, the current paper defines the crime mobility polygon for such a crime and its corresponding area. We calculate the areas contained within mobility polygons for 26,476 index crime incidents. These calculations demonstrate the influence of extra-crime participants upon the area an incident covers. We find that not all crime classifications have substantial increases in their mobility area as the number of individuals increase.
Water management, migration and governance
Authors: Maganda Carmen , Koff Harlan
Published: September 2012

Regions & Cohesion aims to foster dialogue on the human and environmental impacts of regional integration processes. The mission of the journal is purposely defined broadly so as to create as wide an inter-regional dialogue as possible on issues affecting communities throughout the world. As the introduction to the first issue of volume one clearly stated, our goal is move people rather than territories to the center of debates on regional integration.
A Fuzzy Group Forecasting Model Based on Least Squares Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM) for Short-Term Wind Power
Authors: Zhang Qian , Lai Kin Keung , Niu Dongxiao , Wang Qiang , Zhang Xuebin
Published: September 2012

Many models have been developed to forecast wind farm power output. It is generally difficult to determine whether the performance of one model is consistently better than that of another model under all circumstances. Motivated by this finding, we aimed to integrate groups of models into an aggregated model using fuzzy theory to obtain further performance improvements. First, three groups of least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) forecasting models were developed: univariate LS-SVM models, hybrid models using auto-regressive moving average (ARIMA) and LS-SVM and multivariate LS-SVM models. Each group of models is selected by a decorrelation maximisation method, and the remaining models can be regarded as experts in forecasting. Next, fuzzy aggregation and a defuzzification procedure are used to combine all of these forecasting results into the final forecast. For sample randomization, we statistically compare models. Results show that this group-forecasting model performs well in terms of accuracy and consistency.
Sequential Hypothesis Testing Based Approach for Replica Cluster Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Ho Jun-Won
Published: September 2012

In wireless sensor networks, replica node attacks are very dangerous because the attacker can compromise a single node and generate as many replicas of the compromised node as he wants, and then exploit these replicas to disrupt the normal operations of sensor networks. Several schemes have been proposed to detect replica node attacks in sensor networks. Although these schemes are capable of detecting replicas that are widely spread in the network, they will likely fail to detect replica cluster attacks in which replicas form a cluster in a small region. These attacks are also harmful because the attacker can leverage a replica cluster to harmfully impact on the much of the network. To defend against replica cluster attacks, we propose an efficient and effective replica cluster detection scheme using the Sequential Hypothesis Testing. We evaluate our proposed scheme through analysis and simulation. The evaluation results demonstrate that it accomplishes robust replica cluster detection capability.
Effects of Velvet Antler with Blood on Bone in Ovariectomized Rats
Authors: Tseng Sung-Hui , Sung Hsin-Ching , Chen Lih-Geeng , Lai Ying-Jang , Wang Kun-Teng , Sung Chun-Hsien , Wang Ching-Chiung
Published: September 2012

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), both velvet antlers (VA) and VA blood can tonify qi, essence, and marrow, nourish the blood, and invigorate bones and tendons. In TCM, the combination of VA and VA blood is believed to have superior pharmacological effects. Scientific evidence supporting the traditional therapeutic preference for redder antler is needed. The effectiveness of the combination therapy of VA middle sections (VAMs) and VA blood (VAM-B) was first examined in promoting proliferation of mouse osteoblastic cells (MC3T3-E1). The anti-osteoporotic activity of VAM-B (ratio of VAM:VA blood = 1:0.2) was evaluated with ovariectomized (OVX) rats at a dose of 0.2 g/kg. In VAM-B-treated OVX rats, the body weight decreased 10.7%, and the strength of vertebrae and the femur respectively increased 18.1% and 15.4%, compared to the control. VAM-B treatment also recovered the estrogen-related loss of the right tibial trabecular bone microarchitecture. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) significantly decreased, but estradiol did not significantly change in serum of VAM-B-treated OVX rats. We also provide an effective strategy to enhance the anti-osteoporotic activity of VAM. In conclusion, our results provide scientific evidence supporting the traditional therapeutic preference of redder antler and indicate that VAM-B is a potential therapeutic agent for managing osteoporosis.
Different Dietary Protein and PUFA Interventions Alter the Fatty Acid Concentrations, but Not the Meat Quality, of Porcine Muscle
Authors: Dannenberger Dirk , Nuernberg Karin , Nuernberg Gerd , Priepke Antje
Published: September 2012

The present study investigated the effect of a reduced protein diet in combination with different vegetable oils (sunflower seed oil or linseed oil) on carcass traits, meat quality and fatty acid profile in porcine muscle. Forty male Landrace pigs were allocated into four experimental groups (each n = 8) and one control group (n = 8) at a live weight of approximately 60 kg. The pigs were fed ad libitum from 60 kg to 100 kg live weight and restricted to 2.8 kg/day until they reached 120 kg. In contrast to other studies, the intramuscular fat content (IMF) did not increase in animals of groups fed a reduced protein diet and vegetable oils. The IMF ranged between 1.2% and 1.4%. The growth performance and meat quality of the longissimus muscle was not affected by the diet, but the average daily gain (ADG) and drip loss were affected. The muscle fatty acid concentrations were significantly affected by the diet, resulting in higher n-3 FA concentrations up to 113 mg/100 g muscle and lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio for pigs fed linseed oil-containing high- and reduced protein diets, compared to sunflower seed oil-containing diets.
Ontological Representation of Light Wave Camera Data to Support Vision-Based AmI
Authors: Serrano Miguel Ángel , Gómez-Romero Juan , Patricio Miguel Ángel , García Jesús , Molina José Manuel
Published: September 2012

Recent advances in technologies for capturing video data have opened a vast amount of new application areas in visual sensor networks. Among them, the incorporation of light wave cameras on Ambient Intelligence (AmI) environments provides more accurate tracking capabilities for activity recognition. Although the performance of tracking algorithms has quickly improved, symbolic models used to represent the resulting knowledge have not yet been adapted to smart environments. This lack of representation does not allow to take advantage of the semantic quality of the information provided by new sensors. This paper advocates for the introduction of a part-based representational level in cognitive-based systems in order to accurately represent the novel sensors’ knowledge. The paper also reviews the theoretical and practical issues in part-whole relationships proposing a specific taxonomy for computer vision approaches. General part-based patterns for human body and transitive part-based representation and inference are incorporated to an ontology-based previous framework to enhance scene interpretation in the area of video-based AmI. The advantages and new features of the model are demonstrated in a Social Signal Processing (SSP) application for the elaboration of live market researches.
Routes for GMR-Sensor Design in Non-Destructive Testing
Authors: Pelkner Matthias , Neubauer Andreas , Reimund Verena , Kreutzbruck Marc , Schütze Andreas
Published: September 2012

GMR sensors are widely used in many industrial segments such as information technology, automotive, automation and production, and safety applications. Each area requires an adaption of the sensor arrangement in terms of size adaption and alignment with respect to the field source involved. This paper deals with an analysis of geometric sensor parameters and the arrangement of GMR sensors providing a design roadmap for non-destructive testing (NDT) applications. For this purpose we use an analytical model simulating the magnetic flux leakage (MFL) distribution of surface breaking defects and investigate the flux leakage signal as a function of various sensor parameters. Our calculations show both the influence of sensor length and height and that when detecting the magnetic flux leakage of µm sized defects a gradiometer base line of 250 µm leads to a signal strength loss of less than 10% in comparison with a magnetometer response. To validate the simulation results we finally performed measurements with a GMR magnetometer sensor on a test plate with artificial µm-range cracks. The differences between simulation and measurement are below 6%. We report on the routes for a GMR gradiometer design as a basis for the fabrication of NDT-adapted sensor arrays. The results are also helpful for the use of GMR in other application when it comes to measure positions, lengths, angles or electrical currents.
Voltamperometric Discrimination of Urea and Melamine Adulterated Skimmed Milk Powder
Authors: Hilding-Ohlsson Astrid , Fauerbach Jonathan A. , Sacco Natalia J. , Bonetto M. Celina , Cortón Eduardo
Published: September 2012

Nitrogen compounds like urea and melamine are known to be commonly used for milk adulteration resulting in undesired intoxication; a well-known example is the Chinese episode occurred in 2008. The development of a rapid, reliable and economic test is of relevance in order to improve adulterated milk identification. Cyclic voltammetry studies using an Au working electrode were performed on adulterated and non-adulterated milk samples from different independent manufacturers. Voltammetric data and their first derivative were subjected to functional principal component analysis (f-PCA) and correctly classified by the KNN classifier. The adulterated and non-adulterated milk samples showed significant differences. Best results of prediction were obtained with first derivative data. Detection limits in milk samples adulterated with 1% of its total nitrogen derived from melamine or urea were as low as 85.0 mg·L−1 and 121.4 mg·L−1, respectively. We present this method as a fast and robust screening method for milk adulteration analysis and prevention of food intoxication.
Automatic Correction of Gaps in Cerebrovascular Segmentations Extracted from 3D Time-of-Flight MRA Datasets
Authors: Schmidt-Richberg A. , Fiehler J. , Illies T. , Möller D. , Handels H. , Säring D. , Forkert N. D.
Published: August 2012

Objectives: Exact cerebrovascular segmentations are required for several applications in today’s clinical routine. A major drawback of typical automatic segmentation methods is the occurrence of gaps within the segmentation. These gaps are typically located at small vessel structures exhibiting low intensities. Manual correction is very time-consuming and not suitable in clinical practice. This work presents a post-processing method for the automatic detection and closing of gaps in cerebrovascular segmentations.

Methods: In this approach, the 3D centerline is calculated from an available vessel segmentation, which enables the detection of corresponding vessel endpoints. These endpoints are then used to detect possible connections to other 3D centerline voxels with a graph-based approach. After consistency check, reasonable detected paths are expanded to the vessel boundaries using a level set approach and combined with the initial segmentation.

Results: For evaluation purposes, 100 gaps were artificially inserted at non-branching vessels and bifurcations in manual cerebrovascular segmentations derived from ten Time-of-Flight magnetic resonance angiography datasets. The results show that the presented method is capable of detecting 82% of the non-branching vessel gaps and 84% of the bifurcation gaps. The level set segmentation expands the detected connections with 0.42 mm accuracy compared to the initial segmentations. A further evaluation based on 10 real automatic segmentations from the same datasets shows that the proposed method detects 35 additional connections in average per dataset, whereas 92.7% were rated as correct by a medical expert.

Conclusion: The presented approach can considerably improve the accuracy of cerebrovascular segmentations and of following analysis outcomes.
Isolation and characterization of a first set of polymorphic microsatellite markers in saffron, Crocus sativus (Iridaceae)
Authors: Nemati Zahra , Zeinalabedini Mehrshad , Mardi Mohsen , Pirseyediand Seyed M. , Marashi Seyed H. , Khayam Nekoui Seyed M.
Published: August 2012

• Premise of the study: Twelve novel polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed and characterized from a repeat‐enriched genomic library of Crocus sativus to study population and conservation genetics of this economically and medically important species.

• Methods and Results: The microsatellite loci were isolated using a modified Fast Isolation by AFLP of Sequences COntaining repeats (FIASCO) method. The average number of alleles per locus was 2.6. The observed and expected heterozygosities varied from 0.07 to 0.92 and 0.1 to 0.58, respectively. Polymorphic information content value ranged from 0.09 to 0.55 with an average of 0.34. Four out of twelve loci showed significant departures from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium.

• Conclusions: The microsatellite markers reported here will be useful for evaluating genetic diversity and will likely serve as an ideal resource for use in marker‐assisted breeding programs, germplasm analysis, and varietal identification.
Nuclear microsatellites for Pinus pinea (Pinaceae), a genetically depauperate tree, and their transferability to P. halepensis
Authors: Pinzauti F. , Sebastiani F. , Budde K. B. , Fady B. , González‐Martínez S. C. , Vendramin G. G.
Published: August 2012

• Premise of the study: Pinus pinea is one of the few widespread plant species that are also genetically depauperate. It is also an important commercial species with high market value seeds. A deeper knowledge of the existing population genetic variation was needed.

• Methods and Results: Twelve nuclear microsatellites were isolated from genomic and cDNA sequences and screened for variability in 729 individuals from 33 natural populations. Low level of genetic variability was confirmed with average expected heterozygosity of 0.11. Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium expectations were not met in only ∼10% of the possible locus/population combinations. All loci were in linkage equilibrium, and the frequency of null alleles was very low (≤1% in 332 out of 396 locus/population combinations). Nine out of the 12 microsatellites were successfully transferred to P. halepensis.

• Conclusions: Despite low polymorphism, these new markers will be useful to resolve population structure and hold potential for seed origin identification and traceability.
Development of microsatellite markers for Anadenanthera colubrina var. cebil (Fabaceae), a native tree from South America
Authors: Barrandeguy María E. , Prinz Kathleen , García María V. , Finkeldey Reiner
Published: August 2012

• Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were developed in the native legume tree Anadenanthera colubrina var. cebil to study the genetic diversity and genetic structure in natural populations in Argentina.

• Methods and Results: Nine microsatellite markers were identified using a genomic library enriched for tandemly repeated motifs, eight of which markers were polymorphic. The polymorphism of these markers was assessed by investigating 20 individuals for fragment polymorphism; three to 13 alleles were observed for each locus. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.300 to 1.000 and from 0.463 to 0.900, respectively.

• Conclusions: These results confirm that these primers will be useful for investigating the genetic diversity and genetic structure of natural populations of A. colubrina var. cebil in future studies.
The epiphytic microbiota of the globally widespread macroalga Cladophora glomerata (Chlorophyta, Cladophorales)
Authors: Zulkifly Shahrizim , Hanshew Alissa , Young Erica B. , Lee Philip , Graham Melissa E. , Graham Michael E. , Piotrowski Michael , Graham Linda E.
Published: September 2012

• Premise of the study: The filamentous chlorophyte Cladophora produces abundant nearshore populations in marine and freshwaters worldwide, often dominating periphyton communities and producing nuisance growths under eutrophic conditions. High surface area and environmental persistence foster such high functional and taxonomic diversity of epiphytic microfauna and microalgae that Cladophora has been labeled an ecological engineer. We tested the hypotheses that (1) Cladophora supports a structurally and functionally diverse epiphytic prokaryotic microbiota that influences materials cycling and (2) mutualistic host–microbe interactions occur. Because previous molecular sequencing‐based analyses of the microbiota of C. glomerata found as western Lake Michigan beach drift had identified pathogenic associates such as Escherichia coli, we also asked if actively growing lentic C. glomerata harbors known pathogens.

• Methods: We used 16S rRNA gene amplicon pyrosequencing to examine the microbiota of C. glomerata of Lake Mendota, Dane, Wisconsin, United States, during the growing season of 2011, at the genus‐ or species‐level to infer functional phenotypes. We used correlative scanning electron and fluorescence microscopy to describe major prokaryotic morphotypes.

• Key results: We found microscopic evidence for diverse bacterial morphotypes, and molecular evidence for ca. 100 distinct sequence types classifiable to genus at the 80% confidence level or species at the 96–97% level within nine bacterial phyla, but not E. coli or related human pathogens.

• Conclusions: We inferred that bacterial epiphytes of lentic C. glomerata have diverse functions in materials cycling, with traits that indicate the occurrence of mutualistic interactions with the algal host.
Les formes actuelles du malaise dans la culture
Authors: Richard François
Published: August 2012

Le malaise actuel dans la culture est-il la continuation de celui dépeint par Freud ou constitue-t-il quelque chose de différent ? Cet article reprend l’idée freudienne sur la contradiction entre barbarie et civilisation lorsqu’elle agit à l’intérieur même du Surmoi culturel collectif. Ceci éclaire les évolutions contemporaines, à condition de compléter la notion de pulsion de mort par celle de désengagement subjectal, de comprendre qu’à la névrose actuelle s’est substituée une modalité nouvelle de l’insatisfaction, et enfin d’envisager la complexité d’une situation où l’on trouve à la fois un souci moral croissant et l’expression d’un cynisme sans vergogne.
Traduction et traumatisme
Authors: Pestre Élise , Benslama Fethi
Published: August 2012

Les violences politiques et sociales ont le pouvoir d’engendrer des effets destructeurs sur le sujet mais, au-delà, sur sa descendance. Comment peut-on se construire lorsqu’on hérite de silences traumatiques ? Existe-t-il des possibilités de symbolisation et de traductions de ces traumatismes ? Et si oui, de quelle manière peuvent-elles s’instaurer ? L’étude de la trajectoire de Janine Altounian, auteur de plusieurs ouvrages sur les effets de ces violences transmises entre générations et elle-même descendante de parents rescapés du génocide arménien, rend compte des tentatives subjectives de traduction d’un héritage traumatique. Plus généralement, la clinique des réfugiés permettra d’envisager le déploiement de la traduction, à l’œuvre chez ceux dont les assises subjectives ont été profondément mises à mal par l’épreuve du réel.
Crée ! Stratégies de survie
Authors: Masson Céline
Published: August 2012

Dans cet article, nous nous intéressons aux stratégies du créer et du sujet en création. Le concept de création renvoie à l’impératif de créer, à ce que nous pourrions nommer une pulsion de créer. Il s’agit d’un engagement coûte que coûte pour ne pas céder à l’effondrement mélancolique ou à la destruction physique. Cette poussée du créer est un acte qui engage le sujet ; acte de vie/mort qui est un bouclier contre l’angoisse. La création fait acte dans le temps du sujet et l’inscrit dans une temporalité en produisant une constellation de signes reliés entre eux par des lignes imaginaires. Ces lignes sont des lignes de vie et tracer, c’est s’inscrire dans le temps. Qu’est-ce qui pousse à faire-forme, à produire des formes qui sont autant de repères internes, de lignes de conduite guidant vers le dehors ? Ce travail de lignes, de lignage est un ajustement qu’opère le sujet entre le dedans et le dehors, créant ainsi des points d’appui intérieurs par l’exploration de la matière. Cette surface devenant comme nous le disions dans un précédent travail une surface extra-topique psychique/plastique. À partir de l’autobiographie du peintre Gérard Garouste, nous explorerons les souvenirs que l’artiste nous livre dans ce livre et nous verrons comment l’acte de créer s’est imposé en urgence, pour la vie.
L'art : un témoin comme un autre « dans les profondeurs du cancer » ?
Authors: Lombard Marjorie
Published: August 2012

Il s’agit, dans cette recherche, de contribuer à une meilleure connaissance du vécu subjectif du sujet confronté à la traversée du cancer, dans les nuances qui composent son histoire personnelle et familiale. Autrefois témoins de la mort par cancer d’un proche, les sujets de notre étude s’incarnent acteurs dans l’occurrence de cette même pathologie, ainsi engagés dans un changement de statut. Ils détiennent un « savoir » sur le cancer et leur engagement dans la maladie implique une forme de retrouvaille « savante » avec celui d’autrefois. De quelle manière est-il marqué par ce « bout de savoir en plus », irréversiblement détenu ? Un tel passage nous interroge sur la voie par laquelle le sujet peut devenir son « propre témoin ». Et l’art, en tant que « voix » de passage possible, se poserait comme lieu d’inscription d’une situation de l’extrême. Pourquoi l’art ? Il serait, en fait, appréhendé à l’instar d’une parole paradigmatique parce que voie élue traduisant cette possibilité d’immersion dans l’univers abyssal qui a conduit le sujet hors de lui-même, déporté de sa propre histoire par un ancêtre qui ferait retour. L’impact avec la maladie grave pousserait l’œuvre au cœur d’un mouvement à triple destinée : l’art serait « atomisé », « intoxiqué » ou « immunisant » pour son créateur.
The “Out-of-Body Experience” – A New Orientation for the Clinic of the Body?
Authors: Le Maléfan Pascal
Published: August 2012

Deux hypothèses sont présentées dans cet article. D’abord celle postulant que la phénoménologie de « sortie hors du corps » connaît une actualité qui doit intéresser le clinicien. Les apports de Lacan sur l’ego peuvent trouver ici une contribution. Ensuite celle suggérant que cette actualité est corrélative d’une modification contemporaine du rapport au corps, celle promouvant une distanciation.
Le lien primordial dans son rapport à l'humanisation
Authors: Chevalérias Marie-Paule
Published: August 2012

À partir de l’étude de l’Esquisse de Freud, où sont mis particulièrement en valeur la prématurité de l’être humain et l’indispensable apport de l’autre pour la survie, nous exposons que la traversée de l’expérience de la confrontation à l’énigme de l’autre et à sa radicale altérité amène la mère à engager son désir avant toute satisfaction du besoin de son enfant. En prenant appui sur les repères symboliques constitutifs de son histoire, et en l’invitant à sortir de la jouissance pour l’investir en tant qu’être de désir, la mère occupe là une place fondamentale dans le processus d’humanisation.
The Mobile Learning Network
Authors: Petley Rebecca , Parker Guy , Attewell Jill
Published: September 2012

The Mobile Learning Network currently in its third year, is a unique collaborative initiative encouraging and enabling the introduction of mobile learning in English post-14 education. The programme, funded jointly by the Learning and Skills Council and participating colleges and schools and supported by LSN has involved nearly 40,000 learners and over 7,000 staff. MoLeNET projects have procured a range of handheld devices and supporting technologies since the initiative began in 2007, with a significant increase in purchases of games technologies (mainly the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, but also the Nintendo Wii) observed in the second year of the programme. Colleges and schools across England have exploited both the gaming potential of these devices for teaching and learning and the numerous opportunities afforded by their impressive additional functionality. This paper explores the key findings from the MoLeNET research and evaluation strand in relation to mobile games technologies and games based learning and the contribution of these to improvements in teaching practice and learning experiences.
The Magic Bullet
Authors: Becker Katrin
Published: September 2012

This paper outlines a simple and effective model that can be used to evaluate and design educational digital games. It also facilitates the formulation of strategies for using existing games in learning contexts. The model categorizes game goals and learning objectives into one or more of four possible categories. An overview of the model is provided and the four categories are defined. The model is used to analyze several games. The implications that this model has for the design and use of games as instructional technologies are then described.
Assessment through Achievement Systems
Authors: Evans Monica , Jennings Erin , Andreen Michael
Published: September 2012

Educational games have great potential as tools for motivating and engaging students, in addition to teaching learning content and objectives, but have had difficulty proving their potential through traditional means. This article proposes that recent advances in the achievement systems of entertainment games can be used to measure motivation and engagement in educational games, and can serve as a self-assessing tool for both students and teachers. Achievements may also be utilized as a way to measure things that have been traditionally difficult to measure, such as creativity, curiosity, and the nuances of problem-solving ability. This article proposes a structure for categorizing achievements in relation to assessment, and discusses future research directions for achievements as measures of assessment for educational games. The article covers both traditional and non-traditional measures of assessment as they relate to gaming achievement systems, as well as the psychological aspects of achievements and player behavior, good design principles for learning assessment achievements, and potential for achievements as an additional measure of motivational engagement by students.
A Software Tool to support Risks Analysis about what Should or Should Not go to the Cloud
Authors: Torrealba S. Miguel , Morales P. Mireya , Campos José M. , Meza S. Marina
Published: September 2012

This chapter proposes a software prototype called 2thecloud, programmed in HTML and PHP under free software guidelines, whose main objective is to allow end users to be aware of imminent cloud dangers. To do this, the user must undergo a metacognitive process of basic risk analysis, which suggested result would be to what cloud the object should go. Through the use of this tool is expected that he / she can develop a risk analysis capability, so that in this way he/she is the one who makes the final decision about selecting between different cloud models (public, private, hybrid, and community) where the object will be placed. An important aspect is that the user has to understand that different cloud models provide different levels of security and this will allow him/her to question safety in other settings, given that it is a work that goes beyond simply encrypting and filtering information. It also presented 2thecloud functions and a description of each step that indicate how it operates. Finally, the authors propose four alternatives in risk analysis calculation, which are plausibly adapted to 2thecloud and if they are implemented they will provide different advantages.
A Goal-Driven Risk Management Approach to Support Security and Privacy Analysis of Cloud-Based System
Authors: Islam Shareeful , Mouratidis Haralambos , Weippl Edgar R.
Published: September 2012

Cloud Computing is a rapidly evolving paradigm that is radically changing the way humans use their computers. Despite the many advantages, such as economic benefit, a rapid elastic resource pool, and on-demand service, the paradigm also creates challenges for both users and providers. There are issues, such as unauthorized access, loss of privacy, data replication, and regulatory violation that require adequate attention. A lack of appropriate solutions to such challenges might cause risks, which may outweigh the expected benefits of using the paradigm. In order to address the challenges and associated risks, a systematic risk management practice is necessary that guides users to analyze both benefits and risks related to cloud based systems. In this chapter the authors propose a goal-driven risk management modeling (GSRM) framework to assess and manage risks that supports analysis from the early stages of the cloud-based systems development. The approach explicitly identifies the goals that the system must fulfill and the potential risk factors that obstruct the goals so that suitable control actions can be identified to control such risks. The authors provide an illustrative example of the application of the proposed approach in an industrial case study where a cloud service is deployed to share data amongst project partners.
Real Time Risk Management in Cloud Computation
Authors: Kifayat Kashif , Shamsa Thar Baker , Mackay Michael , Merabti Madjid , Shi Qi
Published: September 2012

The rise of Cloud Computing represents one of the most significant shifts in Information technology in the last 5 years and promises to revolutionise how we view the availability and consumption of computing storage and processing resources. However, it is well-known that along with the benefits of Cloud Computing, it also presents a number of security issues that have restricted its deployment to date. This chapter reviews the potential vulnerabilities of Cloud-based architectures and uses this as the foundation to define a set of requirements for reassessing risk management in Cloud Computing. To fulfill these requirements, the authors propose a new scheme for the real-time assessment and auditing of risk in cloud-based applications and explore this with the use case of a triage application.
A Computational Cognitive Model of Human Translation Processes
Authors: Carl Michael
Published: September 2012

Human translation process research analyzes the translation behavior of translators, such as memory and search strategies to solve translation problems, types of units that translators focus on, etc., identifies the temporal (and/or contextual) structure of those activities, and describes inter- and intra-personal variation. Various models have been developed that explain translators’ behavior in terms of controlled and uncontrolled workspaces and with micro- and macro-translation strategies. However, only a few attempts have been made to ground and quantify translation process models in empirical user activity data. In order to close this gap, this chapter outlines a computational framework for a cognitive model of human translation. The authors investigate the structure of the translators’ keystrokes and gaze data, discuss possibilities for their classification and visualization, and explain how a translation model can be grounded and trained on the empirical data. The insight gained from such a computational translation model not only enlarges our knowledge about human translation processes, but also has the potential to enhance the design of interactive MT systems and help interpret user activity data in human-MT system interaction.
The Use of Mixed Methods in Organizational Communication Research
Authors: Salem Philip J.
Published: September 2012

Most organizational research employs either quantitative or qualitative methods. Furthermore, users of one methodology often dismiss those who use another. The purpose of this report was to describe how researchers could use mixed methods, especially online. Researchers often begin investigations with paradigmatic assumptions or multiple constructs that should lead to mixed methods. However, quantitative methodological assumptions may seem to contradict qualitative methodological assumptions, and scholars have found it easier and quicker to deliver results adopting only one methodology. Additionally, researchers may be resistant because making high quality inferences from mixed methods might seem too demanding. This chapter describes how one researcher grappled with these challenges when using mixed methods off-line. Online technologies contribute to resolving some difficulties more easily.
On Measurement Instruments for Fatalism
Authors: Shen Lijiang , Condit Celeste M.
Published: September 2012

In this chapter, fatalism is conceptualized as a set of health beliefs that encompass the dimensions of predetermination, luck, and pessimism. It is argued that such fatalistic beliefs can be extended from health issues to organizational context as well. A recently developed fatalism scale is assessed, as well as other existing instruments using three criteria: (a) item content, (b) associations among the items, and (c) associations between the items and external variables. Available empirical evidence shows that the new scale is uni-dimensional, and demonstrates good construct validity as well as scale reliability. Implications for procrastination are discussed.
The Economics of Cloud Computing
Authors: Etro Federico
Published: September 2012

This chapter examines the economic impact of the diffusion of a new technology as cloud computing. This will allow firms to rent computing power and storage from service providers, and to pay on demand, with a profound impact on the cost structure of all the industries, turning some of the fixed costs in marginal costs of production. Such a change will have a substantial impact on the incentives to create new business, and through this, on: investments and macroeconomic growth, job creation in all industries and job reallocation in the ICT sector, and public finance accounts, through the direct impact on the public sector spending and the indirect one on the tax revenues. In this study, the author investigates the consequences of the diffusion of cloud computing on market structures and competition and tries to disentangle the above mentioned aspects with a particular focus on a simulation run for the European economy.
City dwellers’ perception of urban environment in Bhubaneswar, India and its correlates
Authors: Rout Nihar Ranjan , Bhagat Ram Babu
Published: September 2012

This study is an attempt to explore the perception of city dwellers on different aspects of urban environment in the city of Bhubaneswar in India, and analyze its socio-economic correlates. The survey carried out for the purpose and the composite indices computed afterwards indicated that migrants were less satisfied with the urban environment and services, in comparison to the natives. It was clearly evident that there existed a wide disparity in service provision to slum and non-slum households. As regard the road transport service, the least satisfied were the affluent residents of the good residential area Interestingly, the respondents did not think lack of public transportation facility as a major problem, which could be attributed to the increasing tendency of using personal vehicles by them. It was also marked that with increasing age of the respondents, level of satisfaction with urban environment came down. Older people, who had been exposed to better environment earlier, were relatively unhappy with its current state. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/besl.v11i1.3071 Built - Environment - Sri Lanka, Vol. 11 , Issue 01 : 2012: 7-13
Colour associated emotional and behavioural responses: A study on the associations emerged via imagination
Authors: Hettiarachchi Anishka A , De Silva Nimal
Published: September 2012

Perception of colour stimuli is found to trigger correspond­ing emotional and behavioural responses within human beings. Literature establishes that red is stimulating while blue is pacifying. There seems to be divided theories on how these associations are being generated. It is argued widely that colour associated emotional responses are learnt and subjective while another theory is that it is a general innate response. A third theory discusses about a combination of both learnt and innate responses. The present paper reviews literature on the above three sup­positions and enlightens on a study done seeking innate, general emotional reactions triggered by colour stimuli. A questionnaire survey was conducted using guided imagination technique with a group of volunteer under­graduate students (n=86). The participants were guided to imagine five emotional/behavioural states spontane­ously and recognize the corresponding colour/colours. The findings to a greater extent support the general emotional responses triggered by colour stimuli. Red and orange (79%) was dominating in their imaginations as appetizing and blue as least appetizing (60%). None (0%) imagined red as a calming colour and blue (2%) as a violent colour. The study also revealed certain learnt emotional responses. For instance, white (51%) was found to be calming, suspect to be a religiously and so­cially learnt emotion. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/besl.v11i1.4583 Built - Environment - Sri Lanka, Vol. 11 , Issue 01 : 2012: 21-27
Comparative Study of Three High Order Schemes for LES of Temporally Evolving Mixing Layers
Authors: Yee Helen C. , Sjögreen Bjorn , Hadjadj Abdellah
Published: August 2012

Three high order shock-capturing schemes are compared for large eddy simulations (LES) of temporally evolving mixing layers for different convective Mach numbers ranging from the quasi-incompressible regime to highly compressible supersonic regime. The considered high order schemes are fifth-order WENO (WENO5), seventh-order WENO (WENO7) and the associated eighth-order central spatial base scheme with the dissipative portion of WENO7 as a nonlinear post-processing filter step (WENO7fi). This high order nonlinear filter method of Yee & Sjögreen is designed for accurate and efficient simulations of shock-free compressible turbulence, turbulence with shocklets and turbulence with strong shocks with minimum tuning of scheme parameters. The LES results by WENO7fi using the same scheme parameter agree well with experimental results compiled by Barone et al., and published direct numerical simulations (DNS) work of Rogers & Moser and Pantano & Sarkar, whereas results by WENO5 and WENO7 compare poorly with experimental data and DNS computations.
Non-Newtonian Effect on Hemodynamic Characteristics of Blood Flow in Stented Cerebral Aneurysm
Authors: Huang Changsheng , Chai Zhenhua , Shi Baochang
Published: August 2012

Stent placement is considered as a promising and minimally invasive technique to prevent rupture of aneurysm and favor coagulation mechanism inside the aneurysm. Many scholars study the effect of the stent on blood flow in cerebral aneurysm by numerical simulations, and usually regard blood as the Newtonian fluid, blood, however, is a kind of non-Newtonian fluid in practice. The main purpose of the present paper is to investigate the effect of non-Newtonian behavior on the hemodynamic characteristics of blood flow in stented cerebral aneurysm with lattice Boltzmann method. The Casson model is used to describe the blood non-Newtonian character, which is one of the most popular models in depicting blood fluid. In particular, hemodynamic characteristics derived with Newtonian and non-Newtonian models are studied, and compared in detail. The results show that the non-Newtonian effect gives a great influence on hemodynamic characteristics of blood flow in stented cerebral aneurysm, especially in small necked ones.
Lattice Boltzmann Study of Flow and Temperature Structures ofNon-Isothermal Laminar Impinging Streams
Authors: Zhang Wenhuan , Chai Zhenhua , Guo Zhaoli , Shi Baochang
Published: August 2012

Previous works on impinging streams mainly focused on the structures of flow field, but paid less attention to the structures of temperature field, which are very important in practical applications. In this paper, the influences of the Reynolds number (Re) and Prandtl number (Pr) on the structures of flow and temperature fields of non-isothermal laminar impinging streams are both studied numerically with the lattice Boltzmann method, and two cases with and without buoyancy effect are considered. Numerical results show that the structures are quite different in these cases. Moreover, in the case with buoyancy effect, some new deflection and periodic structures are found, and their independence on the outlet boundary condition is also verified. These findings may help to understand the flow and temperature structures of non-isothermal impinging streams further.
A Lattice Boltzmann Model to Study Sedimentation Phenomena in Irrigation Canals
Authors: Marcou Olivier , Chopard Bastien , Yacoubi Samira El , Hamroun Boussad , Lefèvre Laurent , Mendes Eduardo
Published: August 2012

Fresh water is one of the most significant resources for human activities and survival, and irrigation is among the most important uses of water. The sustainibility and performance of irrigation canals can be greatly affected by sediment transport and deposition. In our previous works, we proposed a Lattice Boltzmann model for simulating a free surface flow in an irrigation canal, as an alternative to more traditional models mainly based on shallow water equations. Here we introduce the sedimentation phenomenon into our model by adding a new algorithm, based on the earlier work by B. Chopard, A. Dupuis and A. Masselot [9,11,12,27]. Transport, erosion, deposition and toppling of sediments are taken into account and enable the global sedimentation algorithm to simulate different transport modes such as bed load and suspended load. In the present work, we study both the behaviour of a sediment deposit located at an underflow submerged gate (depending on the gate opening and the flow discharge) and the influence of the presence of such a deposit on the flow. Both numerical and experimental validations have been performed. The experiments were realized on the micro-canal of the LCIS laboratory at Valence, France. The comparisons between simulations and experiments give good qualitative agreement.
Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Nanoparticle Interactions with a Planar Wall: Does Shape Matter?
Authors: Fuchs Andreas , Kauzlarić David , Greiner Andreas , Succi Sauro , Korvink Jan. G.
Published: August 2012

We investigate the hydrodynamic interactions of spherical colloidal nano particles and nano tetrahedra near a planar wall by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of rigid particles within an all-atom solvent. For both spherical and nano-tetrahedral particles, we find that the parallel and perpendicular components of the local diffusion coefficient and viscosity, show good agreement with hydrodynamic theory of Faxén and Brenner. This provides further evidence that low perturbations from sphericality of a nanoparticle’s shape has little influence on its local diffusive behaviour, and that for this particular case, the continuum theory fluid dynamics is valid even down to molecular scales.
Effects of Inertia and Viscosity on Single Droplet Deformation in Confined Shear Flow
Authors: Farokhirad Samaneh , Lee Taehun , Morris Jeffrey F.
Published: August 2012

Lattice Boltzmann simulations based on the Cahn-Hilliard diffuse interface approach are performed for droplet dynamics in viscous fluid under shear flow, where the degree of confinement between two parallel walls can play an important role. The effects of viscosity ratio, capillary number, Reynolds number, and confinement ratio on droplet deformation and break-up in moderately and highly confined shear flows are investigated.
In Vitro and In Vivo Studies of the Trypanocidal Activity of Four Terpenoid Derivatives against Trypanosoma cruzi
Authors: Ramírez-Macías Inmaculada , Marín Clotilde , Chahboun Rachid , Messouri Ibtissam , Olmo Francisco , Rosales María José , Gutierrez-Sánchez Ramón , Alvarez-Manzaneda Enrique , Sánchez-Moreno Manuel
Published: September 2012

Four terpenoid derivatives were examined for their activity against Trypanosoma cruzi. Our results show that two compounds were very active in vitro against both extra- and intracellular forms. These compounds, non-toxic for the host cells, are more effective than the reference drug benznidazole. The capacity to infect cells was negatively affected and the number of amastigotes and trypomastigotes was reduced. A wide range of ultrastructural alterations was found in the epimastigote forms treated with these compounds. Some metabolic changes occurred presumably at the level of succinate and acetate production, perhaps caused by the disturbance of the enzymes involved in sugar metabolism inside the mitochondria. In vivo results were consistent with those observed in vitro. The parasitic load was significantly lower than in the control assay with benznidazole. The effects of these products showed the reduction of the anti-T. cruzi antibodies level during the chronic stage.