bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nursing Home Employee Perceptions of Culture Change
Authors: Palmer Jennifer A. , Meterko Mark , Zhao Shibei , Berlowitz Dan , Mobley Esther , Hartmann Christine W.
Published: June 2013

This study examined nursing home staff members’ comfort levels with specific culture change scenarios and observed whether there were differences by occupation. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 218 staff members in all occupational categories at four Veterans Health Administration Community Living Centers (i.e., nursing homes). Staff indicated their comfort level using a 9-point scale (1 =
not at all comfortable
to 9 =
extremely comfortable
). The culture change scenarios were divided into three subscales: Resident Safety (5 items), Resident Experience (5 items), and Staff Experience (2 items). Overall, respondents were slightly uncomfortable with the scenarios (overall mean = 4.57). Staff reported least comfort with the Resident Safety subscale (mean = 3.63) and most comfort with the Resident Experience subscale (mean = 5.65), with significant differences within these two subscales by occupational category. Existent power differentials among staff may influence comfort levels with culture change. Assessing staff comfort with culture change may help guide implementation efforts in a strategic manner.

[Res Gerontol Nurs. 2013; 6(3):152–160.]
Electronic Government Systems for e-Procurement Procedure in the EU
Authors: Martín Sergio Bravo , Peñalvo Francisco José García
Published: June 2013

Public Electronic Procurement provides a new means of communication between contracting authorities and economic operators, as well as being one of the most important areas in the development in the business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce like buyers and suppliers entities respectively. European Union (EU) has been working hard for the adoption of e-Procurement in the governments of member states; overall action plans for the development of e-government occurred during the new millennium. However, this transition, from the traditional model of procurement management procedure to electronic means is very complicated; the impact of any new technology brings much change and the required regulatory policies, both within the EU and in Member States. This study presents the e-procurement from the e-government regulatory contexts in EU. Then, it outlines the basic pillars of both the public e-procurement process and the management systems, and finally, introduces large-scale pilot projects by the European Commission (EC) that provide technology solutions for many of the stages of the procurement process.
New Organisational Culture for New Public E-Procurement
Authors: Previtali Pietro
Published: June 2013

Effective e-government involves rethinking organizations and processes, and changing behavior so that public services are delivered more efficiently to the people who need to use them. But the nature of the public sector is not a simple one. Lots of variables have to be considered: the number of entities involved in public sector procurement, the complexity of relationships among them, historical events that impacted on the public sector and different tensions between central and local parts of the public sector. In general, the most striking feature is the sheer complexity of the public sector. In the author’s opinion, it required a reconceptualisation of market exchange, evolving the procurement scenario from competition to collaboration. Nowadays public (e) procurement is still an under-researched area which has not spread out yet. Therefore, the aim of the chapter is to conduct a reflection to identify the features of purchasing and supply in the public sector and its further developments toward forms of collaboration and group purchasing.
E-Procurement
Authors: Aloini Davide , Dulmin Riccardo , Mininno Valeria
Published: June 2013

Although the implementation of e-auction events is not all that new, a current interest in understanding main issues involved in its implementation exists, especially in a business to business (B2B) environment. A clear will to classify and systematize the numerous variables directly or indirectly affecting e-auction suitability and final performance determination is evident also from previous conceptual literature contributions. Nevertheless a lack of empirical work in this field is evident. This work provides a contribution to the body of knowledge on critical factors impacting on e-Reverse Auctions (e-RA) performance in a B2B context. Based on an explorative factor analysis addressed to a panel of academic experts and practitioners, it aims at identifying the main factors affecting price and process performance in B2B e-RA.
Electronic Tax Filing
Authors: Ramoo Viveka , Ramayah T. , Lo May-Chiun , Ping Teoh Ai
Published: June 2013

Governments are seeking to benefit from information technology by incorporating various government services online for the benefits of the citizen. The Malaysian government as part of its Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project introduced e-filing in 2006, which is the process of filing taxes using the Internet as one of the e-government services. This is an exploratory study to model the determinants of intention to use an Internet tax filing system. The authors used 4 variables as predictors or intention to use which were perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, and facilitating condition. Data was collected from 100 respondents using non probability purposive sampling via a structured questionnaire. As hypothesized, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and facilitating condition were positively related to intention to use. The findings show that perceived usefulness has the strongest influence on intention to use (ß = 0.341), followed by perceived ease of use (ß = 0.278) and facilitating condition (ß = 0.234). As hypothesized, perceived risk was negatively related (ß =-0.223) to intention to use indicating that users are concerned by the risk involved in filing taxes online. The regression results show that the four variables can explain 52.2% of the variation in intention to use which indicates good explanatory power. Understanding these factors can extend the knowledge, which can lead to better planning and implementation of e-Filing in Malaysia.
A Complex Adaptive System Thinking Approach of Government E-Procurement in a Cloud Computing Environment
Authors: Rabaey Marc
Published: June 2013

The main focus on e-Procurement in this chapter will be the public (government) e-Procurement, which is part of a larger whole, namely e-Government. e-Procurement and e-Government are very important tools for the government to act in this fast changing society. But as for must business, the tools may be important, but the vision and the strategy to use these tools are much more important. Therefore the chapter discusses e-Government and e-Procurement in their strategic contexts, in which intelligence (contextual integrated information) is a key factor to survive. The reason is because the government is a Complex Adaptive System (CAS). Without intelligence and the agility of its structure and processes, the government will not survive, or at least it will be less efficient and effective in developing strategies and in executing these strategies. The game theory discussion will show that the flexibility and agility of the e-Procurement system (together with a good strategy) are key factors for a successful system; otherwise e-Procurement is more of weakness in the government’s value chain of procurement of goods and services. In the last part of the discussion on Cloud Computing and e-Procurement, the author argues that ERP systems (so called best practices) are not well adapted to other contexts than the simple context of the Cynefin Framework. Service Oriented Architecture solutions can provide better (adapted) solutions for e-Procurement. Cloud Computing in combination with SOA may be the next generation solution.
E-procurement Systems as Tools for the Development of Supply Chains
Authors: Sánchez-Ramírez Cuauhtémoc , Alor-Hernandez Giner , Cortes-Robles Guillermo , García-Alcaráz Jorge Luis , Rodríguez-González Alejandro
Published: June 2013

The Supply Chain Management is a strategy that has allowed the organizations that have established in their business models a competitive advantage. The supply chain is a network of elements, where different key process such as: procurement, manufacturing, distribution, inventory, customer services, and information should be managed and controlled to meet customer requirements. To achieve this goal, different tools have been developed to help to the key processes of the supply chain; one of these tools is the e-procurement system, which helps an organization to control the interactions with the most crucial suppliers.
Commercial and Distributed Storage Systems
Authors: Gogouvitis Spyridon V. , Voulodimos Athanasios , Kyriazis Dimosthenis
Published: June 2013

Distributed storage systems are becoming the method of data storage for the new generation of applications, as it appears a promising solution to handle the immense volume of data produced in today’s rich and ubiquitous digital environment. In this chapter, the authors first present the requirements end users pose on Cloud Storage solutions. Then they compare some of the most prominent commercial distributed storage systems against these requirements. Lastly, the authors present the innovations the VISION Cloud project brings in the field of Storage Clouds.
Business Models and Billing Challenges
Authors: Elicegui Javier Martínez , Xu Lei , Escobar Emilio García
Published: June 2013

The advent of the Cloud has leveraged a number of challenges, both for customers and service providers. Companies willing to embrace the new paradigm must face some entrance barriers, such as security, privacy and trust concerns, vendor locking risk, legal issues, etc. While service providers may work to minimize these barriers, they must be especially careful when defining what may constitute the most crucial aspect for the success of their offerings: the business model. Different incarnations of the cloud (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS) add to the possibility of offering public or private solutions, or even federated models. On top of this is the billing strategy: the ubiquitous pay-per-use approach (either in its most common post-paid incarnation, or in a novel pre-paid version) is only the starting point for a wide range of innovative solutions, including bundling or QoS considerations, which European project VISION Cloud is tackling as part of its research efforts. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive discussion on the most relevant business factors that the Cloud confronts.
SLA Management in Storage Clouds
Authors: Mavrogeorgi Nikoletta , Gogouvitis Spyridon V. , Voulodimos Athanasios , Alexandrou Vasilios
Published: June 2013

The need for online storage and backup of data constantly increases. Many domains, such as media, enterprises, healthcare, and telecommunications need to store large amounts of data and access them rapidly any time and from any geographic location. Storage Cloud environments satisfy these requirements and can therefore provide an adequate solution for these needs. Customers of Cloud environments do not need to own any hardware for storing their data or handle management tasks, such as backups, replication levels, etc. In order for customers to be willing to move their data to Cloud solutions, proper Service Level Agreements (SLAs) should be offered and guaranteed. SLA is a contract between the customer and the service provider, where the terms and conditions of the offered service are agreed upon. In this chapter, the authors present existing SLA schemas and SLA management mechanisms and compare various features that Cloud providers support with existing SLAs. Finally, they address the problem of managing SLAs in cloud computing environments exploiting the content term that concerns the stored objects, in order to provide more efficient capabilities to the customer.
Telecommunication Industry
Authors: Solsvik Fredrik , Dao Michel
Published: June 2013

The operators Telefónica, Orange, and Telenor represent the telecommunication industry in the VISION Cloud project. Together, they provide a telco-oriented use case, which provides feedback and requirements to the work on the reference architecture being developed. The use cases are developed based on the challenges and opportunities that are identified that relate to storage and mobility technologies. The use cases validate the reference architecture of VISION Cloud based on prototype tests and experimentations that enable the use case to be evaluated in scenarios. Telecommunication industry challenges are being addressed by the advancements made in the VISION Cloud project iterations, which takes the inputs from the telco use case and other use cases into consideration. This chapter is a study in the telecommunication industry challenges and possibilities with respect to the cloud storage technology advancements made in VISION Cloud.
Cloud Computing for Earth Observation
Authors: Cossu Roberto , Di Giulio Claudio , Brito Fabrice , Petcu Dana
Published: June 2013

This chapter elaborates on the impact and benefits Cloud Computing may have on Earth Observation. Earth Observation satellites generate in fact Tera- to Peta-bytes of data, and Cloud Computing provides many capabilities that allow an efficient storage and exploitation of such data. Several scenarios related to Earth Observation activities are analyzed in order to identify the possible benefits from the adoption of Cloud Computing. As concrete proofs-of-concept, several activities related to Cloud Computing in the context of Earth Observation are exposed and discussed. Technical details are provided for a particular framework used by Earth Observation applications that has made the transition from using Grid services towards using Cloud services. A special attention is given to the avoidance of the vendor-lock-in problem.
Cloud-TM
Authors: Barreto João , Di Sanzo Pierangelo , Palmieri Roberto , Romano Paolo
Published: June 2013

By shifting data and computation away from local servers towards very large scale, world-wide spread data centers, Cloud Computing promises very compelling benefits for both cloud consumers and cloud service providers: freeing corporations from large IT capital investments via usage-based pricing schemes, drastically lowering barriers to entry and capital costs; leveraging the economies of scale for both services providers and users of the cloud; facilitating deployment of services; attaining unprecedented scalability levels. However, the promise of infinite scalability catalyzing much of the recent hype about Cloud Computing is still menaced by one major pitfall: the lack of programming paradigms and abstractions capable of bringing the power of parallel programming into the hands of ordinary programmers. This chapter describes Cloud-TM, a self-optimizing middleware platform aimed at simplifying the development and administration of applications deployed on large scale Cloud Computing infrastructures.
Taking Public Health Learning Global through Branding and Identity Management
Authors: Hai-Jew Shalin
Published: June 2013

“Pathways to Public Health” involves undergraduate and graduate degrees offered fully online through Kansas State University (K-State) to both meet the needs of traditional-age learners and professionals in the public health field who will need formal credentialing. This curriculum offers learning with global implications and has a wide potential to benefit global learners. In light of this, this chapter explores potential methods for online branding and identity management for this course series as a central analytical aspect of the program’s development and launch. This chapter will address the following issues: an environmental scan of the global public health environment; the definition of the core identity; a branding strategy using the World Wide Web (WWW), Internet, and Web 2.0 affordances (to reach both internal and external “publics”); an initial risk assessment; legal considerations; work implications of the global branding; the engagement of students and graduates in the branding outreach, and the maintenance of this brand over time.
Exploring Key Issues in Destination Branding
Authors: Nangru Piyush , Rustagi Vaibhav , Makhija Manish , Nafees Lubna , Krishnan Omkumar
Published: June 2013

In response to increased competition among destinations, destination marketing organizations (DMO) are required to effectively communicate the competitive advantage of destinations and market them as brands. Destination branding, unlike product branding, is a very recent concept. This chapter aims to study and analyse key issues in destination branding which makes it different from branding a product or a service and also identifies certain areas in destination branding where further research is required. The analytical framework of the chapter was developed by reviewing literature on destination branding and case studies in destination branding.
The Brand Stakeholder Approach
Authors: Wilson Jonathan A. J.
Published: June 2013

With the emergence of schools of thought which examine brands and branding according to relationships, brand communities, and popular culture, consumers are becoming more significant in shaping the brand agenda. Furthermore, the evolutionary growth and mutations spawned by Web 2.0 draw non-brand users, social networks, and anti-branding movements towards engagement and the possession of greater social capital. When gifting stakeholders with a larger share of voice, consumption definitions become judged less by tangible transactions; and more by figurative, intangible, and co-dependent communication drivers. In addition, with the increase in interactivity afforded by media channels, two-way communication, and the inclusion of more parties; a normalisation and levelling of information also occurs. Therefore, this chapter presents stakeholders as occupying grouped, interconnected, and dynamic states, which are subject to time-specific communication, influence, and self defined legitimacy. Following this, the creation of brands becomes a collaborative process with brands seeking to engage consumers in new and innovative ways in order to gain authenticity.
Enhanced Social Presence Through eBranding the Consumer in Virtual Communities
Authors: Pennington Robert
Published: June 2013

eBranding affords consumers the necessary tools to represent themselves by communicating their roles and relationships in virtual consumer culture environments for transfer to actual consumer culture environments. Consumption in actual environments results in brand viability and marketing success.
Air and near surface ground temperatures, indices and summary statistics from 1993 to 2012 for the Mackenzie Valley Corridor, Northwest Territories
Authors: Duchesne C , Riseborough D W , Smith S L
Published: June 2013

Since the early 1990s the Geological Survey of Canada has maintained a network of air and ground surface temperature monitoring sites along a transect in the Mackenzie corridor stretching from the outer Mackenzie Delta to northern Alberta. Data collected from
these sites have been utilized to investigate the relationship between air and ground surface temperature for a range of terrain, vegetation and climatic conditions throughout the region. This report presents the data collected up to 2012.
Does conventional defecography has a role to play in evaluation of evacuatory disorders in Indian population?
Authors: Kumar Sheo , Sharma Pankaj , Andreisek Gustav
Published: June 2013

Barium studies are one of the best investigations for evaluating submucosal and extrinsic mass lesions. However, barium studies bring less money, are operator dependent and one of the more difficult investigations for radiologists to master. Economic factors have acted as powerful disincentives for performing gastrointestinal (GI) fluoroscopy in most radiology practices. In this pictorial essay, we discuss the role of conventional defecography in evaluating evacuatory disorders in the Indian population.
A simplified staging system based on the radiological findings in different stages of ochronotic spondyloarthropathy
Authors: Jebaraj Isaac , Chacko Binita Riya , Chiramel George Koshy , Matthai Thomas , Parameswaran Apurve
Published: June 2013

This study describes a group of 26 patients with ochronotic spondyloarthropathy who were on regular treatment and follow-up at a tertiary level hospital and proposes a simplified staging system for ochronotic spondyloarthropathy based on radiographic findings seen in the thoracolumbar spine. This proposed classification makes it easy to identify the stage of the disease and start the appropriate management at an early stage. Four progressive stages are described: an inflammatory stage (stage 1), the stage of early discal calcification (stage 2), the stage of fibrous ankylosis (stage 3), and the stage of bony ankylosis (stage 4). To our knowledge, this is the largest reported series of radiological description of spinal ochronosis, and emphasizes the contribution of the spine radiograph in the diagnosis and staging of the disease.
Gallbladder carcinoma: An attempt of WHO histological classification on fine needle aspiration material
Authors: Yadav Rajni , Jain Deepali , Mathur Sandeep R. , Sharma Atul , Iyer Venkateswaran K.
Published: June 2013

Background:

Carcinoma of the gallbladder (CaGB) is common in India and its prognosis depends primarily on the extent of the disease and histological type. We aim to study the role of guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) for diagnosis of CaGB and to evaluate the feasibility of applying world health organization (WHO) classification on fine needle aspiration (FNA) material to predict the outcome of the tumor.

Materials and Methods:

Retrospective cytomorphologic analysis was performed in all cases of CaGB diagnosed by ultrasound (US) guided FNAC over a period of 2 years. A specific subtype was assigned according to WHO classification based on characteristic cytologic features. These included papillary or acinar arrangement, intra and extracellular mucin, keratin, rosettes and columnar, signet ring, atypical squamous, small, clear, spindle and giant cells. Correlation with histopathology was performed when available.

Results:

A total of 541 aspirations with clinical or radiological suspicion of primary CaGB were studied. Of these, 54 aspirates were unsatisfactory. Fifty cases were negative for malignancy. Remaining 437 aspirates were positive for carcinoma. Histopathologic diagnosis was available in 32 cases. Adenocarcinoma was the most frequent diagnosis in 86.7% of cases. Mucinous, signet ring, adenosquamous, squamous, small cell, mixed adenoneuroendocrine and undifferentiated carcinoma including spindle and giant cell subtypes were diagnosed identifying specific features on FNAC. Correlation with histopathology was present in all, but one case giving rise to sensitivity of 96.8%. No post-FNA complications were recorded.

Conclusions:

US guided FNAC is a safe and effective method to diagnose CaGB. Although, rare, clinically and prognostically significant variants described in WHO classification can be detected on cytology.
Random Harmonic Functions in Growth Spaces and Bloch-type Spaces
Authors: Solberg Eikrem Kjersti
Published: June 2013

Abstract. Let h∞v (D) and h∞v (B) be the spaces of harmonic functions in the unit disk and multidimensional unit ball admitting a two-sided radial majorant v(r). We consider functions v that fulfill a doubling condition. In the two-dimensional case let

where ξ ={ξji} is a sequence of random subnormal variables and aji are real. In higher dimensions we consider series of spherical harmonics. We will obtain conditions on the coefficients aji that imply that u is in h∞v (B) almost surely. Our estimate improves previous results by Bennett, Stegenga, and Timoney, and we prove that the estimate is sharp. The results for growth spaces can easily be applied to Bloch-type spaces, and we obtain a similar characterization for these spaces that generalizes results by Anderson, Clunie, and Pommerenke and by Guo and Liu.
On Complex Explicit Formulae Connected with the Möbius Function of an Elliptic Curve
Authors: Łydka Adrian
Published: June 2013

We study analytic properties function m(z, E), which is defined on the upper half-plane as an integral from the shifted L-function of an elliptic curve. We show that m(z, E) analytically continues to a meromorphic function on the whole complex plane and satisfies certain functional equation. Moreover, we give explicit formula for m(z, E) in the strip |ℑz| < 2π.
Duality of Preenvelopes and Pure Injective
Modules
Authors: Huang Zhaoyong
Published: June 2013

Let R be an arbitrary ring and let (–)+ = Homℤ(–ℚ/ℤ), where ℤ is the ring of integers and ℚ is the ring of rational numbers. Let ᘓ be a subcategory of left R-modules and 𝒟 a subcategory of right R-modules such that X+ ∈ 𝓓 for any X ∈ ᘓ and all modules in ᘓ are pure injective. Then a homomorphism f : A → C of left R-modules with C ∈ ᘓ is a ᘓ-(pre)envelope of A provided f+: C+→ A+ is a 𝒟-(pre)cover of A+. Some applications of this result are given.
 Amálgama entre o professor inclusivo e o universo da educação física
Authors: Souza Calixto Júnior de , Martins Morgana de Fátima Agostini
Published: June 2013

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/1984686X4411O objetivo timoneiro deste trabalho é compreender os liames entre a formação de professores e o processo de inclusão, almejando tecer uma gama de elementos que irão contribuir para a compreensão do objeto de estudo buscando responder a problemática do estudo, dos quais muitos deles permanecem conflituosos perante a área de Educação Física não possibilitando a compreensão da simbiose entre o professor inclusivo e o universo da Educação Física. Para tanto, faz se uso de uma pesquisa com um cunho bibliográfico como forma de coletar dados que possam subsidiar o entendimento da análise que será trabalhada neste estudo. Por meio do estudo é possível apontar que a área de Educação Física necessita superar uma série de conflitos que impossibilitam a aproximação com o processo de inclusão, entendendo-se, aqui, como um processo que almeja incluir todos aqueles alunos que sempre foram segregados e marginalizados do âmbito do ensino regular, e contextualizando com a Educação Física tal processo se torna mais sensível considerando que é uma área que sempre se caracterizou por destacar os mais hábeis e mais habilidosos, enquanto os outros eram (são) considerados derrotados não se adaptando aos moldes concebidos pelo esporte de alto-rendimento. Portanto, ao se pensar na formação de professores em Educação Física é preciso considerar todas as nuanças que podem levar a exclusão dos alunos com necessidades especiais com o intuito de fortalecer o processo de inclusão com transparência com a diversidade que permeia no âmbito escolar.
Altas Habilidades/Superdotação: abordagem ao longo da vida
Authors: Mosquera Juan José , Stobäus Claus Dieter , Freitas Soraia Napoleão
Published: June 2013

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/1984686X5371 O artigo revisa ideias perspectivas em Altas habilidades/Superdotação, possibilitando entender sua evolução ao longo da vida, dentro da denominada Abordagem ao Longo da Vida (Lifespan Approach), levando em conta autores destacados nesta área de AH/SD, bem como em Educação e em Psicologia. Procuramos aprofundar em aspectos do desenvolvimento humano e o da personalidade ao longo da vida, para logo aprofundar na temática das AH/SD, comentando ao final algumas possibilidades de atenção a estas pessoas.Palavras-chave: Altas habilidades. Superdotação. Adultez. Abordagem ao Longo da Vida.
Experiências pela Educação – Para quê? Formação e Inclusão na perspectiva da Teoria Crítica  Formação e Inclusão na perspectiva da Teoria Crític
Authors: Costa Valdelúcia Alves da
Published: June 2013

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/1984686X8029Este ensaio discute as possibilidades de experiências formativas pela educação e sua relação com a inclusão, tendo como referência a Teoria Crítica, com ênfase no pensamento de Adorno (2002; 2000), quanto à sua dimensão emancipatória no processo de formação dos professores e em sua atuação na perspectiva da educação inclusiva. Adorno analisa os fins da educação tendo como questão central – ‘Educação - Para quê?’, partindo da ideia inicial quanto às experiências formativas, como marcadas por ações de resistência que se constituem contraditoriamente e dialeticamente contra ao que é estandartizado, padronizado, imposto, regulado e cristalizado na sociedade de classes e sob a égide do capital.  Adorno, ao considerar a educação após Auschwitz, afirma que as causas que geraram a barbárie continuam existindo, enquanto persistirem no que têm de fundamental as condições que geram essa regressão. Apesar da não-visibilidade atual dos infortúnios em sua totalidade, a pressão social continua se impondo à totalidade dos indivíduos, com ou sem deficiência, sendo que no atual estágio civilizatório a educação tem sentido unicamente se voltada à auto-reflexão crítica e ao combate ao preconceito na escola e demais instâncias sociais. Nesse sentido, o único poder efetivo contra o princípio de Auschwitz seria a autonomia, o poder para a reflexão e a autodeterminação dos indivíduos em sociedade em prol da inclusão social e a educação inclusiva. Palavras-chave: Experiências pela Educação; Formação e Inclusão; Teoria Crítica.
Visualizing Domain Coherence: Social Informatics as a Case Study
Authors: Hoeffner Lori Ann Rung , Smiraglia Richard P
Published: June 2013

Using bibliometric methods of inquiry, one of the eleven approaches of domain-analytic research offered by HjØrland (2002), we were able to visualize the emerging field of social informatics (SI). Past research has demonstrated the breadth and depth of biblometric tools by investigating a variety of research communities (White and Griffith 1981; Tsay 1989; McCain 1991; Borgman and Rice 1992; White and McCain 1998; Smiraglia 2006, 2009, Moore 2007; Jank 2010). Using the published literature produced in SI from 1997 through 2009, allowed visualization of domain-coherence in SI. Concepts that were utilized by which to measure domain coherence include the number of ideas espoused (Collins 1998, 42), scholarly productivity (Crane 1972), and the number of scholars participating (Price 1986; Collins 1998). In this lightning paper based on a recent dissertation (Hoeffner 2012) we will present a visualization based on the analysis of social informatics’ literature, showing growth in publication productivity, evidence of intellectually and socially connected scholars, reliance on scholars from within the fields of information science, and computer science, and two or three topical areas of interest that pertained to communication and aspects of computer mediation, as well as policy and access. Discourse among scholars was evident, and although the Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology overwhelming published the largest number of SI work, there was representation in a few key journals. Author co-citation patterns revealed a core group of scholars commonly cited together, and an investigation of self-citation practices revealed slightly less evidence among SI’s most prolific authors than in science overall. Recently, Smiraglia (2012) defined a domain as “a domain is a group with an ontological base that reveals an underlying teleology, a set of common hypotheses, epistemological consensus on methodological approaches, and social semantics.” Our visualization demonstrates continued coherence of SI as a domain.
Evolution of Classification Systems
Authors: Scharnhorst Andrea , Smiraglia Richard P
Published: June 2013

The question of how to order our knowledge is as old as systematic acquisition, circulation, and storage of knowledge. Classification systems are known since ancient times. Web technologies foster self-organized knowledge production and folksonomies are pictured as counter examples to expert-based designed knowledge ordering systems, such as library classifications or domain-specific ontologies. However, a closer look into the structure of user-generated content (e.g., the category system of Wikipedia) and its temporal evolution reveals surprising similarities to more traditional classification systems. In related work we have used evolutionary analysis of the UDC, treating it as a stable reference system over against the volatility of the knowledge landscape represented by the constantly shifting knowledge network in Wikipedia (Akdag Salah et al. 2011; Scharnhorst et al. 2011). We also have used the UDC as a case study in ontogeny to demonstrate the instantiating evolutionary tree of the UDC over time (Akdag Salah et al. 2012), reflecting the socio-cultural knowledge landscape of the 20th century in which it developed. We see KOSs functioning like artificial languages to describe information objects in a controlled way, rather than as hierarchical trees designed to allocate documents. In this manner both the user-generated category system of Wikipedia and stable reference classifications give evidence of gradual evolution of intension over time as lexical content mutates rather than sudden or jarring theoretical shifts in base knowledge. In this talk we feature work done to visualize the evolution of classification systems, to compare them and to develop new interfaces to collections that make use of available metadata, including classifications.
Cardiac effects in perinatally HIV‐infected and HIV‐exposed but uninfected children and adolescents: a view from the United States of America
Authors: Lipshultz Steven E , Miller Tracie L , Wilkinson James D , Scott Gwendolyn B , Somarriba Gabriel , Cochran Thomas R , Fisher Stacy D
Published: June 2013

Introduction

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a primary cause of acquired heart disease, particularly of accelerated atherosclerosis, symptomatic heart failure, and pulmonary arterial hypertension. Cardiac complications often occur in late‐stage HIV infections as prolonged viral infection is becoming more relevant as longevity improves. Thus, multi‐agent HIV therapies that help sustain life may also increase the risk of cardiovascular events and accelerated atherosclerosis.

Discussion

Before highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the two‐to‐five‐year incidence of symptomatic heart failure ranged from 4 to 28% in HIV patients. Patients both before and after HAART also frequently have asymptomatic abnormalities in cardiovascular structure. Echocardiographic measurements indicate left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction in 18%, LV hypertrophy in 6.5%, and left atrial dilation in 40% of patients followed on HAART therapy. Diastolic dysfunction is also common in long‐term survivors of HIV infection. Accelerated atherosclerosis has been found in HIV‐infected young adults and children without traditional coronary risk factors. Infective endocarditis, although rare in children, has high mortality in late‐stage AIDS patients with poor nutritional status and severely compromised immune systems. Although lymphomas have been found in HIV‐infected children, the incidence is low and cardiac malignancy is rare. Rates of congenital cardiovascular malformations range from 5.6 to 8.9% in cohorts of HIV‐uninfected and HIV‐infected children with HIV‐infected mothers. In non‐HIV‐infected infants born to HIV‐infected mothers, foetal exposure to ART is associated with reduced LV dimension, LV mass, and septal wall thickness and with higher LV fractional shortening and contractility during the first two years of life.

Conclusions

Routine, systematic, and comprehensive cardiac evaluation, including a thorough history and directed laboratory assays, is essential for the care of HIV‐infected adults and children as cardiovascular illness has become a part of care for long‐term survivors of HIV infection. The history should include traditional risk factors for atherosclerosis, prior opportunistic infections, environmental exposures, and therapeutic and illicit drug use. Laboratory tests should include a lipid profile, fasting glucose, and HIV viral load. Asymptomatic cardiac disease related to HIV can be fatal, and secondary effects of HIV infection often disguise cardiac symptoms, so systematic echocardiographic monitoring is warranted.
Simple adaptive control – a stable direct model reference adaptive control methodology – brief survey
Authors: Barkana Itzhak
Published: June 2013

In spite of successful proofs of stability and even successful demonstrations of performance, the eventual use of model reference adaptive control methodologies in practical real‐world systems has met a rather strong resistance from practitioners and has remained very limited. Apparently, the practitioners have a hard time understanding the conditions that can guarantee stable operations of adaptive control systems under realistic operational environments. Besides, it is difficult to measure the robustness of adaptive control system stability and allow it to be compared with the common and widely used measure of phase margin and gain margin that is utilized by present, mainly LTI, controllers. Furthermore, recent counterexamples seem to show that adaptive systems may diverge even when all required conditions are fulfilled. This paper attempts to revisit the fundamental qualities of the common direct model reference adaptive control methodology based on gradient and to show that some of its basic drawbacks have been addressed and eliminated within the so‐called simple adaptive control methodology. The sufficient conditions that guarantee stability are clearly stated and lead to similarly clear proofs of stability. The main claim of the paper is that if sufficient information exists for a robust classical design control, same information can be used to implement robust simple adaptive controllers. As many real world applications show, the added value of using add‐on adaptive control techniques, the use is pushing the desired performance beyond any previous limits. The paper also shows that the previous counterexamples to model reference adaptive control become just simple, successful, and stable applications of simple adaptive control. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Thieno[3,2‐b]thiophene‐diketopyrrolopyrrole Containing Polymers for Inverted Solar Cells Devices with High Short Circuit Currents
Authors: Bronstein Hugo , Collado‐Fregoso Elisa , Hadipour Afshin , Soon Ying W. , Huang Zhenggang , Dimitrov Stoichko D. , Ashraf Raja Shahid , Rand Barry P. , Watkins Scott E. , Tuladhar Pabitra S. , Meager Iain , Durrant James R. , McCulloch Iain
Published: June 2013

The synthesis and characterization four diketopyrrolopyrrole containing conjugated polymers for use in organic photovoltaics is presented. Excellent energy level control is demonstrated through heteroatomic substitution whilst maintaining similar solid state properties as shown by X‐ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. Inverted solar cells were fabricated with the best devices having short circuit currents exceeding 16 mA cm−2 and efficiencies of over 5% irrespective of whether [6,6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PC60BM) or [6,6]‐phenyl‐C71‐butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM) is used. Transient absorption spectroscopy on the bulk heterojunction blends shows efficient charge photo‐generation, with the variations in short circuit current correlated to the energetic offset between polymer and fullerene.
Materials‐Scale Implications of Solvent and Temperature on [6,6]‐Phenyl‐C61‐butyric Acid Methyl Ester (PCBM): A Theoretical Perspective
Authors: Tummala Naga Rajesh , Mehraeen Shafigh , Fu Yao‐Tsung , Risko Chad , Brédas Jean‐Luc
Published: June 2013

The ability to detail how molecules pack in the bulk and at the various materials interfaces in the active layer of an organic solar cell is important to further understanding overall device performance. Here, [6,6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), a preferred electron‐acceptor material in organic solar cells, is studied through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations; the goal is to examine the effects of temperature and trace solvents on the packing and morphological features of bulk PCBM. Solubility (miscibility) parameters, melting and order‐disorder transitions, surface energies, and orientational distributions as a function of different starting configurations are discussed. On the basis of the derived morphologies, electronic structure calculations and a kinetic Monte Carlo approach are combined to evaluate the parameters impacting electron mobility in crystalline and amorphous PCBM structures.
Synthesis, characterization and electrorheological effect of sulfosalt‐type liquid‐crystalline ionomers containing polyaniline units
Authors: Meng Fan‐Bao , Zhou Nai‐Yu , Du Chang , Gao Hong‐Mei , He Xiao‐Zhi
Published: June 2013

A series of main‐chain liquid‐crystalline polymers (LCPs) with pendant sulfonic acid groups have been synthesized by use of biphenyl‐4,4′‐diol, 6,7‐dihydroxynaphthalene‐2‐sulfonic acid, and bis(4‐(chlorocarbonyl)phenyl) decanedioate in a one‐step esterification reaction. Emeraldine base form of polyaniline (PAN) is doped by the synthesized sulfonic acid‐containing LCPs to obtain PAN–LCP ionomers. A series of electrorheological (ER) fluids are prepared using the synthesized PAN–LCP ionomers and silicone oil. The chemical structure, liquid‐crystalline behavior, dielectric property of LCPs, and PAN–LCP ionomers, and ER effect of the ER fluids are characterized by use of various experimental techniques. The synthesized sulfonic acid‐containing LCPs and PAN–LCP ionomers display nematic mesophase. The PAN–LCP ionomers show a slight elevation of glass transition temperatures and decrease of enthalpy changes of nematic–isotropic phase transition compared with corresponding sulfonic acid‐containing LCPs. The relative permittivity of the PAN–LCP ionomers is much higher than that of the corresponding sulfonic acid‐containing LCPs. The ER effect of the PAN–LCP ionomer dispersions is better than PAN dispersions, suggesting a synergistic reaction should be occurred among liquid crystalline component, and PAN part under electric fields. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 3395–3403, 2013
Effect of Preculture and Loading on Expression of Matrix Molecules, Matrix Metalloproteinases, and Cytokines by Expanded Osteoarthritic Chondrocytes
Authors: Jeon June E. , Schrobback Karsten , Meinert Christoph , Sramek Viviana , Hutmacher Dietmar W. , Klein Travis J.
Published: June 2013

Objective

One of the pathologic changes that occurs during osteoarthritis (OA) is the degeneration of the pericellular matrix (PCM). Since the PCM is likely to be involved in mechanotransduction, this study was undertaken to investigate the effects of PCM‐like matrix accumulation in zonal OA chondrocytes and their influence on chondrocyte response to compression.

Methods

Superficial and middle/deep zone chondrocytes from macroscopically normal cartilage of OA knees were expanded and encapsulated in alginate gels. The effects of compression (short‐term or long‐term) and preculture on chondrocyte expression of various matrix molecules, cytokines, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) were assessed. Additionally, nonexpanded chondrocytes were encapsulated in alginate and cultured in the presence or absence of transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) and dexamethasone and analyzed following short‐term compression experiments.

Results

Expanded OA chondrocytes (superficial and middle/deep zone) that were precultured for 2 weeks under free‐swelling conditions prior to dynamic compression responded more sensitively to loading and had increased matrix accumulation, increased interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β) and IL‐4 levels, and decreased levels of MMP‐2 (in the middle/deep zone) compared to the nonloaded controls. Compression also decreased MMP‐3 and MMP‐13 levels even without preculture. Nonexpanded chondrocytes did not respond to compression, but differences in gene expression were found depending on the zone of harvest, time in culture, and medium composition.

Conclusion

Our findings demonstrate that with predeposited PCM‐like matrix, compressive stimulation can enhance matrix protein accumulation in expanded OA chondrocytes. Investigations into how PCM or other matrix components differentially affect this balance under mechanical loading may provide invaluable insight into OA pathogenesis and the use of expanded cells in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine–based applications.
Fluid surface reconstruction based on specular reflection model
Authors: Yu Mingqi , Quan Hongyan
Published: June 2013

This paper puts forward a hierarchical method of fluid surface modeling in natural landscapes. The proposed method produces a visually plausible surface geometry with the texture from a single video image recorded by a standard video device. In contrast with the conventional physically based fluid simulation, our method computes preliminary results using empirical method and adopts Stokes wave model to obtain the reconstruction result. We illustrate the working of system with a wide range of possible scene, and a qualitative evaluation of our method is provided to verify the quality of the surface geometry. The experiment shows that the method can meet the requirement of real‐time performance and the reality of the fluid. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Simulating colliding flows in smoothed particle hydrodynamics with fractional derivatives
Authors: Ozgen Oktar , Sumengen Selcuk , Kallmann Marcelo , Coimbra Carlos FM , Balcisoy Selim
Published: June 2013

We propose a new method based on the use of fractional differentiation for improving the efficiency and realism of simulations based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). SPH represents a popular particle‐based approach for fluid simulation and a high number of particles is typically needed for achieving high quality results. However, as the number of simulated particles increase, the speed of computation degrades accordingly. The proposed method employs fractional differentiation to improve the results obtained with SPH in a given resolution. The approach is based on the observation that effects requiring a high number of particles are most often produced from colliding flows, and therefore, when the modeling of this behavior is improved, higher quality results can be achieved without changing the number of particles being simulated. Our method can be employed to reduce the resolution without significant loss of quality, or to improve the quality of the simulation in the current chosen resolution. The advantages of our method are demonstrated with several quantitative evaluations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Genetic Diversity and Chemical Polymorphism of Some Thymus Species
Authors: Rustaiee Ali Reza , Yavari Alireza , Nazeri Vahideh , Shokrpour Majid , Sefidkon Fatemeh , Rasouli Musa
Published: June 2013

To ascertain whether there are chemical and genetic relationships among some Thymus species and also to determine correlation between these two sets of data, the essential‐oil composition and genetic variability of six populations of Thymus including: T. daenensis Čelak. (two populations), T. fallax Fisch. & C.A.Mey., T. fedtschenkoi Ronniger, T. migricus Klokov & Des.‐Shost., and T. vulgaris L. were analyzed by GC and GC/MS, and also by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Thus, 27 individuals were analyzed using 16 RAPD primers, which generated 264 polymorphic scorable bands and volatiles isolated by distillation extraction were subjected to GC and GC/MS analyses. The yields of oils ranged from 2.1 to 3.8% (v/w), and 34 components were identified, amounting to a total percentage of 97.8–99.9%. RAPD Markers allowed a perfect distinction between the different species based on their distinctive genetic background. However, they did not show identical clustering with the volatile‐oil profiles.