bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Treatment Integrity Assessment of a Daily Report Card Intervention
Authors: Sanetti Lisa M. Hagermoser , Chafouleas Sandra M. , O’Keeffe Breda V. , Kilgus Stephen P.
Published: September 2013

Although intuitively appealing, teacher self-report of treatment integrity is not currently recommended as a method for collecting treatment integrity data. Education researchers have not, however, evaluated features of a treatment integrity self-reporting system that may facilitate accurate self-report. In this preliminary investigation, four treatment integrity assessment conditions were investigated: (a) weekly verbal self-report, (b) weekly written self-report, (c) daily verbal self-report, and (d) daily written self-report. Results indicated that teachers who reported treatment integrity daily had the highest overall treatment integrity levels, but neither the frequency nor method of treatment integrity assessment significantly influenced the teachers’ level of treatment integrity. However, results suggested that frequency and method of treatment integrity self-report may be related to accuracy of teacher report.
Leptospirosis in the western Indian Ocean islands: what is known so far?
Authors: Desvars Amélie , Michault Alain , Bourhy Pascale
Published: September 2013

In the past decade, leptospirosis has emerged as a major zoonosis with a worldwide distribution. The disease is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. The western Indian Ocean includes more than one hundred tropical or subequatorial islands where leptospirosis constitutes a major public health problem. The clinical signs of the human disease are generally similar to an influenza-like syndrome, but acute forms of the disease are reported and mortality remains significant in this region. In animals, clinical forms are mainly asymptomatic but leptospirosis reduces the fertility of livestock, resulting in economic losses. The data available about human and animal leptospirosis in the western Indian Ocean islands are diverse: human leptospirosis has been extensively studied in Reunion Island, Mayotte, and the Seychelles, whereas the human clinical disease has never been described in Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, or Rodrigues, mainly because of the deficiency in appropriate medical and diagnostic structures. The rat is recognized as the major reservoir host for the bacteria on all islands, but recent data from Reunion Island indicates that almost all mammals can be a source of contamination. The incidence of leptospirosis in humans is highly seasonal, and linked to the rainy season, which is favorable for the environmental maintenance and transmission of the bacteria. The epidemiology of leptospirosis is fully island-dependent, related to the number of mammalian species, the origins of the introduced mammalian species, the relationships between humans and fauna, and environmental as well as cultural and socio-economic factors.
Identification of a novel variant of LMP-1 of EBV in patients with endemic Burkitt lymphoma in western Kenya
Authors: Wohlford Eric M , Asito Amolo S , Chelimo Kiprotich , Sumba Peter O , Baresel Paul C , Oot Rebecca A , Moormann Ann M , Rochford Rosemary
Published: September 2013

Background

Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is a gammaherpesvirus that is associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and endemic Burkitt lymphoma (eBL). EBV carries several latent genes that contribute to oncogenesis including the latent membrane protein 1 (LMP-1), a known oncogene and constitutively active CD40 homolog. Variation in the C terminal region of LMP-1 has been linked to NPC pathogenesis, but little is known regarding LMP-1 variation and eBL.

Results

In the present study, peripheral blood samples were obtained from 38 eBL patients and 22 healthy controls in western Kenya, where the disease is endemic. The LMP-1 C-terminal region from these samples was sequenced and analyzed. The frequency of a 30 base pair deletion of LMP-1 previously linked to NPC was not associated with eBL compared to healthy controls. However a novel LMP-1 variant was identified, called K for Kenya and for the G318K mutation that characterizes it. The K variant LMP-1 was found in 40.5% of eBL sequences and 25.0% of healthy controls. All K variant sequences contained mutations in both of the previously described minimal T cell epitopes in the C terminal end of LMP-1. These mutations occurred in the anchor residue at the C-terminal binding groove of both epitopes, a pocket necessary for MHC loading.

Conclusions

Overall, our results suggest that there is a novel K variant of LMP-1 in Kenya that may be associated with eBL. Further studies are necessary to determine the functional implications of the LMP-1 variant on early events in eBL genesis.
Clinical correlations with Porphyromonas gingivalis antibody responses in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Arvikar Sheila L , Collier Deborah S , Fisher Mark C , Unizony Sebastian , Cohen George L , McHugh Gail , Kawai Toshihisa , Strle Klemen , Steere Allen C
Published: September 2013

Introduction

Prior studies have demonstrated an increased frequency of antibodies to Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), a leading agent of periodontal disease, in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. However, these patients generally had long-standing disease, and clinical associations with these antibodies were inconsistent. Our goal was to examine Pg antibody responses and their clinical associations in patients with early RA prior to and after disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy.

Methods

Serum samples from 50 DMARD-naïve RA patients were tested using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with whole-Pg sonicate. For comparison, serum samples were tested from patients with late RA, patients with other connective tissue diseases (CTDs), age-similar healthy hospital personnel and blood bank donors. Pg antibody responses in early RA patients were correlated with standard RA biomarkers, measures of disease activity and function.

Results

At the time of enrollment, 17 (34%) of the 50 patients with early RA had positive immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody responses to Pg, as did 13 (30%) of the 43 patients with late RA. RA patients had significantly higher Pg antibody responses than healthy hospital personnel and blood bank donors (P < 0.0001). Additionally, RA patients tended to have higher Pg antibody reactivity than patients with other CTDs (P = 0.1), and CTD patients tended to have higher Pg responses than healthy participants (P = 0.07). Compared with Pg antibody-negative patients, early RA patients with positive Pg responses more often had anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibody reactivity, their anti-CCP levels were significantly higher (P = 0.03) and the levels of anti-Pg antibodies correlated directly with anti-CCP levels (P < 0.01). Furthermore, at the time of study entry, the Pg-positive antibody group had greater rheumatoid factor values (P = 0.04) and higher inflammatory markers (erythrocyte sedimentation rate, or ESR) (P = 0.05), and they tended to have higher disease activity scores (Disease Activity Score based on 28-joint count (DAS28)-ESR and Clinical Disease Activity Index) and more functional impairment (Health Assessment Questionnaire). In Pg-positive patients, greater disease activity was still apparent after 12 months of DMARD therapy.

Conclusions

A subset of early RA patients had positive Pg antibody responses. The responses correlated with anti-CCP antibody reactivity and to a lesser degree with ESR values. There was a trend toward greater disease activity in Pg-positive patients, and this trend remained after 12 months of DMARD therapy. These findings are consistent with a role for Pg in disease pathogenesis in a subset of RA patients.
Integrating Stephen Douglas
Authors: Hanlon Christopher
Published: September 2013

This article contends that the pedagogical discourse of “integrative learning” fails to promote cross-disciplinary learning on university campuses, taking as a case study a recent controversy over the proposed renaming of a university dormitory named after famed anti-abolitionist Stephen Douglas.
Translation and the Future of Early World Literature
Authors: Hrach Susan E.
Published: September 2013

Even if the United States remains mostly monolingual, it seems imperative—politically, economically, and ethically—that American college students begin to develop some understanding of the processes of translation. A focus on linguistic and cultural translation can serve as a fruitful approach for teaching early world literature, since students need some invitation to enter into a conversation with the reading and crave some sense of present relevance. Encountering a text in multiple English translations directs our attention away from an arrested sense of its existence in the past and toward a more dynamic sense of its present in cultural circulation.
Voices Out of a Barren Land
Authors: Brisbois Michael
Published: September 2013

This essay provides an approach to teaching T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. The approach is designed to disassociate the student from the annotation usually provided by either Eliot or an editor. The assignment is presented in multiple frameworks and hopes to make students deal with the poem’s specific lines. The process described has students identify voice shifts in the poem. It is certainly true that there are differing opinions about voice in The Waste Land, but the point of the assignment is not to involve the student in this debate (at least initially). The explicit pedagogical goal of the approach described in this essay is to enable students to develop their own views on the poem and to create a reading that is independent of editorial direction. This develops their ability to read critically and increases their comfort level with a difficult text.
Figural Aesthetics
Authors: Ionescu Vlad
Published: September 2013

Jean-François Lyotard's figural is read in relation to discourse. The figural introduces in aesthetics a sense of cultivating those moments of intensity that resist and escape all regulating power, be it linguistic discourse or the order of the conscious or political constraints. The figural is the matrix of Lyotard's broader notion of philosophy but also the sign of Gilles Deleuze's conception of painting and Paul Valéry's essays on drawing. In this sense, the figural is a generic concept applicable to all reflection on the sensible that temporarily abandons the structuring power of language.
Art Before the Sublime
Authors: Tanke Joseph J.
Published: September 2013

This essay is a critical examination of Jean-François Lyotard's little-known text on the American artist Edward Kienholz, Pacific Wall (Le mur du pacifique). It argues in favor of the experimental methodology that Lyotard developed in his encounter with Kienholz's installation Five Car Stud, suggesting that attention to this aspect of Lyotard's writings might allow us to avoid some of the impasses created by the emphasis upon the sublime aspect of aesthetic experience. Reading Pacific Wall in terms of the problems set out in Lyotard's Libidinal Economy, I contend that one can detect an ethics of thought and commentary at work in these early writings, one according to which the thinker must somehow find a way to imbue his text with a libidinal intensity equal to or greater than the work of art in question.
EFFECT OF LASER HARDENING ON THE PROPERTIES OF PM STEELS
Authors: Rodziňák Dušan , Čerňan Jozef , Zahradníček Rudolf
Published: September 2013

The article deals with the influence of laser beams, which when acting on materials affect their surface. Depending on the intensity of exposure and the speed of displacement of the beam, due to the heating of the material and the subsequent cooling, there occurs the change in the pattern of the surface and of course to a change in the properties in the volume that was exposed to the temperature changes. For the tests the sintered material based on iron powder type Astaloy CrL and CrM containing 0.7% C was used. Results showed that by the appropriate combination of laser parameters it was be possible to obtain the same structures as by using the technology of "sinterhardening". Compared to sintered state, the hardness of the surface of a material CrL +0.7% C values increased from 248 to 911 - 1000 and at material CrM +0.7% C values from 450 to 1043 - 1100 HV 0.05, depending on the velocity of displacement of the beam. The same is true for the values of microhardness. Hardness values reflect the structural changes that occur in the material due to rapid heating and subsequent rapid cooling. The first tests of this technology demonstrated its high variability and the potentials of replacing classical procedures.
Clinical forum: canine pancreatitis and biliary duct obstruction
Authors: Anderson Davina , Nelissen Pieter , Ragni Rosangela , Bowlt Kelly
Published: September 2013

Part 3: The surgeon's perspective

The first two of these three articles have looked at the issues of management of extrahepatic biliary tract obstruction from diagnostic and therapeutic view points. By the time the case has been transferred to the surgical team, the patient may still be in a critical condition. Extra hepatic biliary duct obstruction (EHBDO) has a number of systemic physiologic effects, other than the obvious clinical sign of jaundice ( Figure 1 ). Patients may be inappetant, and in a cachectic condition, they may have an anaemia of chronic disease, intestinal sloughing or haemorrhage, hepatic compromise, coagulopathy, endotoxaemia, decreased myocardial contractility, acute tubular necrosis and be at risk of biliary tract rupture.
It’s a Snap! An Inquiry-Based, Snapping Shrimp Bioacoustics Activity
Authors: Fox Bradley K. , Gorospe Kelvin D. , Haverkort-Yeh Roxanne D. , Rivera Malia Ana J.
Published: September 2013

This bioacoustics activity combines concepts in invertebrate taxonomy, animal communication, and acoustical physics while providing a unique opportunity for physics and biology teachers to collaborate and introduce their students to an exciting, interdisciplinary research field. Here, we propose a lab- and field-based activity that uses hydrophones to explore how shrimp snapping behavior changes in response to different stimuli and introduces students to the process of scientific inquiry. Using free software, students use spectrograms to visualize and analyze their experimental data. Furthermore, we propose potential modifications to the lab for classrooms without easy access to marine environments or snapping shrimp.
Too New for Textbooks
Authors: Loftin Madelene , Lamb Neil E.
Published: September 2013

The Biotechnology Discoveries and Applications guidebook aims to provide teachers with an overview of the recent advances in genetics and biotechnology, allowing them to share these findings with their students. The annual guidebook introduces a wealth of modern genomic discoveries and provides teachers with tools to integrate exciting content into the classroom. Released annually by the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Alabama, the guidebook presents new findings in jargon-free, student-friendly language. The guidebook is introduced along with strategies for classroom use.
State Formation and Education in Hong Kong
Authors: Lau Tracy
Published: September 2013

This article examines the connection between pro-Beijing schools and national education, focusing on the shaping of national education in the history of Hong Kong. The study also illuminates the similarities in national educational practices between the government-approved post-1997 model and the traditions of these pro-Beijing schools.
The Disengagement of Jihadis in Poso, Indonesia
Authors: Hwang Julie Chernov , Panggabean Rizal , Fauzi Ihsan Ali
Published: September 2013

To what extent are jihadists in Indonesia disengaging from violence? Based on original fieldwork in Jakarta and Central Sulawesi, including interviews with 23 current and former Poso-based jihadists, we examine the emotional, psychological, rational, and relational factors that can lead militants to turn away from terror tactics.
China’s Pragmatic Tactics in International Climate Change Negotiations
Authors: Wu Fuzuo
Published: September 2013

Although China has consistently rejected any binding emissions cut commitments in international climate change negotiations, it has made some compromises so as to maintain unity with the Group of 77 and to extract concessions and benefits from developed countries in general, and the U.S. in particular.
Arming Technology in Yeast—Novel Strategy for Whole-cell Biocatalyst and Protein Engineering
Authors: Kuroda Kouichi , Ueda Mitsuyoshi
Published: September 2013

Cell surface display of proteins/peptides, in contrast to the conventional intracellular expression, has many attractive features. This arming technology is especially effective when yeasts are used as a host, because eukaryotic modifications that are often required for functional use can be added to the surface-displayed proteins/peptides. A part of various cell wall or plasma membrane proteins can be genetically fused to the proteins/peptides of interest to be displayed. This technology, leading to the generation of so-called “arming technology”, can be employed for basic and applied research purposes. In this article, we describe various strategies for the construction of arming yeasts, and outline the diverse applications of this technology to industrial processes such as biofuel and chemical productions, pollutant removal, and health-related processes, including oral vaccines. In addition, arming technology is suitable for protein engineering and directed evolution through high-throughput screening that is made possible by the feature that proteins/peptides displayed on cell surface can be directly analyzed using intact cells without concentration and purification. Actually, novel proteins/peptides with improved or developed functions have been created, and development of diagnostic/therapeutic antibodies are likely to benefit from this powerful approach.
Functional Diversity of Genes for the Biosynthesis of Paeoniflorin and Its Derivatives in Paeonia
Authors: Yuan Yuan , Yu Jun , Jiang Chao , Li Minhui , Lin Shufang , Wang Xumin , Huang Luqi
Published: September 2013

The Paeonia root, with or without bark, are considered vital traditional Chinese medicine materials; the examples are those of Bai Shao, Chi Shao, and Dan Pi. In this study, we examine 24 genes and their expressions involved in the biosynthesis of paeoniflorin and its derivatives, which are active compounds of the Paeonia root, in Paeonia lactiflora and P. suffruticosa, as well as other related plants, Punica granatum, Rhus radicans, and Coriaria nepalensis. Our phylogenetic analyses suggest that these genes have functional diversity, and analysis of the transcriptional level shows paeoniflorin and gallic acid biosynthesis-related genes exhibit different transcription profiles in flowers, carpels, bark-free roots, and bark of P. lactiflora. The correlation analysis of gene expression and active compound contents support the idea that hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase and phosphomevalonate kinase in the mevalonate pathway and 3-dehydroquinate dehydratase/shikimate dehydrogenase in shikimate biosynthesis are potentially closely related to the accumulation of paeoniflorin and benzoylpaeoniflorin. Coupling gene diversity with chemical analysis, we show that paeoniflorin and its derived aromatic amino acids are predominant in bark.
RETRACTED: Al-Salahi et al. Cytotoxicity and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Methylsulfanyl-Triazoloquinazolines. Molecules 2013, 18, 1434–1446
Authors: Lin Shu-Kun
Published: September 2013

We have been made aware of the fact that a large proportion of the Introduction section and corresponding references of the title paper [...]
The Inhibitory Effects of Phenolic and Terpenoid Compounds from Baccharis trimera in Siha Cells: Differences in Their Activity and Mechanism of Action
Authors: De Oliveira Cristiane , Comunello Lucimara , Maciel Érica , Giubel Scheron , Bruno Alessandra , Chiela Eduardo , Lenz Guido , Gnoatto Simone , Buffon Andréia , Gosmann Grace
Published: September 2013

Baccharis trimera is used in folk medicine as a tea for digestive and liver diseases. It possesses anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that are related to the presence of phenolic compounds. The aim of this work was to investigate the anti-proliferative properties of phenolic (PHE) and terpenoid (SAP) compounds from B. trimera on human cervical cancer. The treatment of SiHa cells with PHE for 24 h suppressed colony formation in a dose-dependent manner, inhibited proliferation and inhibited cell motility. Although SAP inhibited the proliferation of SiHa cells in a dose-dependent manner, it increased colony formation and did not inhibit cell motility. PHE and SAP also promoted a significant increase in lactate dehydrogenase levels in the culture medium in a dose-dependent manner, indicating a loss of cell membrane integrity. Moreover, PHE promoted necrotic cell death, whereas SAP induced apoptosis. These compounds are new anticancer prototypes due their significant anticancer activity demonstrated herein.
Hydrothermal Synthesis of Nanoclusters of ZnS Comprised on Nanowires
Authors: Ibupoto Zafar , Khun Kimleang , Liu Xianjie , Willander Magnus
Published: September 2013

Cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide cationic (CTAB) surfactant was used as template for the synthesis of nanoclusters of ZnS composed of nanowires, by hydrothermal method. The structural and morphological studies were performed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques. The synthesized ZnS nanoclusters are composed of nanowires and high yield on the substrate was observed. The ZnS nanocrystalline consists of hexagonal phase and polycrystalline in nature. The chemical composition of ZnS nanoclusters composed of nanowires was studied by X-ray photo electron microscopy (XPS). This investigation has shown that the ZnS nanoclusters are composed of Zn and S atoms.
The Effects of High Concentrations of Vitamin C on Cancer Cells
Authors: Park Seyeon
Published: September 2013

The effect of high doses of vitamin C for the treatment of cancer has been controversial. Our previous studies, and studies by others, have reported that vitamin C at concentrations of 0.25–1.0 mM induced a dose- and time-dependent inhibition of proliferation in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines and in leukemic cells from peripheral blood specimens obtained from patients with AML. Treatment of cells with high doses of vitamin C resulted in an immediate increase in intracellular total glutathione content and glutathione-S transferase activity that was accompanied by the uptake of cysteine. These results suggest a new role for high concentrations of vitamin C in modulation of intracellular sulfur containing compounds, such as glutathione and cysteine. This review, discussing biochemical pharmacologic studies, including pharmacogenomic and pharmacoproteomic studies, presents the different pharmacological effects of vitamin C currently under investigation.
Assessing Regional Climate and Local Landcover Impacts on Vegetation with Remote Sensing
Authors: Lin Pei-Ling , Brunsell Nathaniel
Published: September 2013

Landcover change alters not only the surface landscape but also regional carbon and water cycling. The objective of this study was to assess the potential impacts of landcover change across the Kansas River Basin (KRB) by comparing local microclimatic impacts and regional scale climate influences. This was done using a 25-year time series of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and precipitation (PPT) data analyzed using multi-resolution information theory metrics. Results showed both entropy of PPT and NDVI varied along a pronounced PPT gradient. The scalewise relative entropy of NDVI was the most informative at the annual scale, while for PPT the scalewise relative entropy varied temporally and by landcover type. The relative entropy of NDVI and PPT as a function of landcover showed the most information at the 512-day scale for all landcover types, implying different landcover types had the same response across the entire KRB. This implies that land use decisions may dramatically alter the local time scales of responses to global climate change. Additionally, altering land cover (e.g., for biofuel production) may impact ecosystem functioning at local to regional scales and these impacts must be considered for accurately assessing future implications of climate change.
Why Quality? Why Value? Is it Information Related to These Aspects?
Authors: Jamil George Leal
Published: September 2013

Writing about information quality and value will always be challenging: how does one combine such concepts, so classically applied, debated, defined, and also related to a dynamic, fast-changing world? In this chapter, a first call for the study developed along this book is made. An initial approach about quality, value, and information is conducted in order to show the already defined conceptual bases and the possible relationship among them. Along with this discussion based on traditional approaches, a discussion is introduced motivating the reader to think about how this concept and its relationship perform today. It is the “rethinking” of the conceptual base, which is the final goal of this book that is initially provoked in the present chapter. To do so, first the traditional concept view is approached and some of the criticism and motivations to change its understanding is presented. In the end, with case studies, this new relationship is debated, opening the book development of the desired rethinking process.
Quality Improves the Value of Patent Information to Promote Innovation
Authors: Maravilhas Sérgio
Published: September 2013

Information, a tool to reduce uncertainty and develop knowledge in organizations, is an important aid in the decision making process. There are several characteristics that describe the quality of information that will allow the analysis of its value. Quality information warrants us best results when competing with other organizations. Its value is related to the results that it will allow us to obtain, and it depends on the context. Patent information must be of high quality to permit the search and retrieval of the documents needed to solve a problem or stimulate new ideas and solutions. Old inventions can generate new ideas; technologies for one application can be introduced for a new domain and can be applied in ecologically sustainable solutions. The current high number of patent applications reduces the quality of patent information due to the time needed to filter and search for all the prior art available. Some standards, together with machine translation, have been set up to avoid this situation and improve the quality of the patent information retrieved by the interested public. A comprehensive survey of the relevant literature available made us aware that commercial databases supply some value-added information to help the researchers and improve the efficiency of the search queries. Some of these features could be applied by the national and international intellectual property offices.
Information Value and Quality for the Health Sector
Authors: Pestana Olívia
Published: September 2013

The approaches of information value and quality can be discussed in any area of activity. The health sector is one of them, and the scientific literature has always been seen as a valuable tool in patient care. A number of studies highlight the impact of scientific literature on clinical decision-making and patient care costs. An important part of the literature in question is a result of online literature searching. The PubMed database contains over 22 million citations for biomedical literature and is widely used. The author, therefore, present its main features and review the leading studies developed to evaluate the retrieved information and to find optimal search strategies. Finally, she presents a study in the specific area of critical care, describing the strategies used by a group of doctors and the retrieval results achieved on two different occasions.
Maintaining Organizational Viability and Performance
Authors: Páscoa Carlos , Tribolet José
Published: September 2013

A certain state of an organization, in its strategic, tactical, and operational components results from a combination of elements that makes it a very complex entity. Its components should co-exist in a dynamic and constant balance, whose configuration must have flexible and adaptable reaction mechanisms. As processes increase in complexity, it becomes more difficult to manage an organization, almost in real time, in its many dimensions and configurations. It is therefore essential to identify, given its current complexity, how to guarantee holistic organizational adaptation, agent roles in configuration change, and also, how to design, organize, and manage an organization, in the resource domain, considering: 1) multiple restrictions, 2) critical needs of real time, and 3) various configurations. Using design and action research, this chapter proposes the concept of organizational configuration that, based on a macrogenesis capability, allows the creation and adaptation of transversal transformation mechanisms that, harnessing complexity, are able to maintain the necessary balance to guarantee viability and performance.
Change and Information Value in Military Organizations’ Transformation Processes
Authors: Páscoa Carlos , Tribolet José
Published: September 2013

The external environment to organizations is constantly changing; it is important that organizations adapt to the demands of the present day in order to get the best performance and benefit of their available resources. For this purpose there is the need to begin a process of change in the Portuguese Air Force. The aim of this project was to obtain better information to support decision processes aiming to increase self-awareness, agility, and flexibility of the organization by adapting information systems to strategy. The comparison of the methodology for its implementation on the ground with consolidated and verified theories of change is very important to analyze, in a systematic way, including all the relevant factors to its understanding, and it is also imperative to take into account success or failure issues. This chapter describes the change process, its contributions to improve the value of information, and the role of Academia through conceptual thinking reflected on the work done in master theses.
Paranga
Authors: Fujita Kazuyuki , Itoh Yuichi , Kidokoro Hiroyuki
Published: September 2013

The authors propose a novel book-shaped device for flipbooks called Paranga that embodies both physical features of paper and e-book interactivity. Paranga detects how quickly a user is riffling and provides the user with visual, tactile, and auditory feedbacks of turned pages by employing an LCD monitor and a rotatable roller mechanism with pieces of real paper. Using this device, the authors created several electronic flipbook installations in which the story changes depending on page-turning speed. This paper details the implementation of this device, describes the users’ reactions at a conference exhibition, and discusses Paranga's possible applications.
Using Graph-Based Analysis to Enhance Automatic Level Generation for Platform Videogames
Authors: Mourato Fausto , Birra Fernando , Próspero dos Santos Manuel
Published: September 2013

The combination of graph representations with level geometry provide additional information that can enhance automatic level generation processes. In particular, perceiving the main paths that are represented in a certain geometry allows content adaptation to apply certain game design patterns, such as the existence of path detours or the inclusion of optional content. This article explores that approach for the specific genre of platform videogames, focusing the adaptation algorithm that the authors have developed. Starting with a primal level structure and a corresponding graph that sketches the user path, our algorithm detects mandatory and optional path sections and adapts them in order to create more elaborate challenges to the user, forcing detours to gather specific objects or trigger certain events. In addition, the authors present the graph related analysis that support the referred algorithm. Their experiments showed interesting results on some popular games, where it is possible to observe the previous principles put into practise. The approach is generic and can be expanded to other videogames where similar graph structures can be used.
Multi-Response Optimization of Electrochemical Machining of Al-Si/B4C Composites Using RSM
Authors: Rao Sadineni Rama , Padmanabhan G.
Published: September 2013

The present work reports the electrochemical machining (ECM) of the aluminium-silicon alloy/boron carbide (Al-Si /B4C) composites, fabricated by stir casting process with different weight % of B4C particles. The influence of four machining parameters including applied voltage, electrode feed rate, electrolyte concentration and percentage of reinforcement on the responses surface roughness (SR) and radial over cut (ROC) were investigated. The process parameters are optimized based on the response surface methodology (RSM) and the optimum values for minimizing surface roughness and radial over cut are voltage 15.25 V, feed rate 1.0 mm/min, electrolyte concentration 13.56g/lit and percentage of reinforcement 7.36 wt%. The quality of the machined surfaces is studied by using scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images. The surface plots are generated to study the effect of process parameters and their interaction on the surface roughness and radial over cut, for the machined Al-Si/B4C composites.
A Novel Approach to Active Noise Control using Normalized Clipped Adaptive Algorithm
Authors: Mouli A. Chandra , Ratnam Ch.
Published: September 2013

In this paper, an efficient normalization based adaptive algorithm is used for active noise control in mechanical systems in order to reject extensive disturbances. The proposed implementations are suitable in applications like various motors, generators, aircrafts, battle field and elevators, etc where noise reduction is very important. In the experiments, the authors used several variants of the familiar Filtered X Least Mean Square (FXLMS) algorithm. In FXLMS the vector of past inputs is first filtered by the secondary path transfer function, hence it is named as filtered X LMS. These modified results normalized FXLMS (NFXLMS) and normalized clipped FXLMS (NCFXLMS) algorithms, leads to fast convergence, better noise rejection capability. The NCFXLMS algorithm requires only half of the multiplications requires than NFXLMS. This type of low complexity strategy is not used in active noise control application in mechatronic systems. Simulation results prove that the proposed active noise cancellers provide better performance in terms of signal to noise ratio than the conventional FXLMS.
A Usability Analysis Framework for Healthcare Information Technology
Authors: Sarnikar Surendra , Murphy Maureen
Published: September 2013

Healthcare organizations are investing in healthcare information technology (HIT) to improve quality and outcomes. However, HIT has also been known to introduce unintended consequences and adverse effects. The adverse effects range from process changes to serious clinical errors. In order to ensure the safety of healthcare information technologies, the authors propose a usability analysis framework for healthcare information technology that can help identify, classify and prioritize potential errors. Such a framework can help design better usability studies specifically targeted at studying technology-induced errors and therefore help in the design of safer healthcare information technologies.
Usability Evaluation of Hospital Websites in Pakistan
Authors: Saeed Saqib , Jamshaid Iram , Sikander Saira
Published: September 2013

Usability is defined as the easiness with which a system is used by end users to achieve their goals. This important attribute helps end users to effectively use the software systems. Usability has become vital because end users of software systems are quite varied in their technology skills. Similarly, usability of websites is also becoming more important. In today’s world when people hardly get time to visit a doctor, hospitals can facilitate them by making online appointments and discuss their health issues with the doctors via internet. This paper has conducted a survey on some of the hospital websites of Pakistan and has provided some suggestions about how these hospitals can improve their online services by increasing the usability aspects of their websites.
The Digital Divide and Its Influence on Public Education Diffusion
Authors: Abu-Shanab Emad
Published: September 2013

It is evident that information and communication technologies (ICTs) have improved performance and efficiency for different types of organizations. One of the important applications of ICT in public and private businesses is related to education, where electronic learning (e-learning) is a domain that became a paradigm more than a specific application. To utilize the full benefits of e-learning in public education and to exploit the diverse options of e-learning and specifically the synchronization of learning, digital divide is becoming an important obstacle that prevents teachers, students, and society members from benefiting from this phenomenon. Governments are striving to bridge the digital divide so that equal opportunities for education are guaranteed for their citizens in urban and rural areas. It is vital to explore the influence of digital divide on rural areas and how it affects the learning process. This study will explore the digital divide phenomenon, its relationship to e-learning concepts, how governments bridge this divide through e-government options, and finally, conduct an empirical test that explores the perceptions of students living in rural areas around the digital divide and its relationship to e-learning and education.
Ammonite faunas of the upper middle jurassic beds of the Fernie group in western Canada
Authors: Frebold H
Published: September 2013

The upper part of the Middle Jurassic beds of the Fernie Group contains several ammonite faunas on which five to six ammonite zones are based. These are from the bottom to the top: the Parricephalites glabrescerzs zone, the Warrenoceras Izenryi zone, the
Kepplerites aff. K. tychonis zone, the Kepplerites rnclearni zone, and the Imlayocercis rnieftense zone. A sixth zone, characterized by perisphinctids, yet undescribed, seems to be present in Jasper Park. The ammonite faunas contain two new genera, i.e., Warrenocercrs, whose representatives had
formerly been placed in the genus Arcticoceras Spath, and Zmlayoceras that belongs to the Macrocephalitidae. Many of the ammonites are identical or similar to those of corresponding beds (Sawtooth and Rierdon Formations) of the western interior of the United States, but lnzlayoceras seems to be
restricted to more northerly parts of the Fernie. The Montana ammonites described as Go~vericerasa re absent or only poorly represented in Canada. The ammonite faunas of the Fernie Group and their equivalents in the western interior of the United States belong in the writer's opinion to a
special faunal province that does not appear to have been connected with the Arctic Sea.
Illustrations of Canadian fossils cretaceous foraminifera from Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Authors: North B R , Caldwell W G E
Published: September 2013

Sixteen foraminiferal faunas, composed collectively of nearly two hundred genera and species, can be distinguished in the Cretaceous System of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. These faunas are the basis of successive assemblage zones which can be traced from the
Manitoba escarpment, through Saskatchewan, to the borderlands with Alberta. The Iowest four faunas, mainly Albian in age, are composed exclusively of arenaceous-walled, benthonic species. Their distribution provides evidence of increasing marine influence on Albian sedimentation and is in keeping
with the long-postulated southward transgression of a "boreal" sea through the Canadian interior in Early Cretaceous time. The succeeding three faunas, late Cenomanian to Late Santonian in age, include the only ones dominated by pelagic species. Although widespread in distribution, these species
seem to have invaded the Canadian interior from the south during episodes of widespread inundation following union of northwardand southward-transgressive seas to form the Western Interior Sea\1ay. The remaining nine faunas, Campanian to early Maestrichtian in age, are composed of varying
proportions of arenaceous- and calcareous walled, benthonic species. Particularly abundant and varied faunas mark times of westward transgression before and after the proto-Laramide movements of mid-Campanian time that resulted in an eastward spread of deltaic sediments from the site of the Rocky
Mountains to beyond the mid-line of Saskatchewan. The Campanian-Maestrichtian faunas suggest a growing influence of Gulfian waters in the Canadian interior toward the close of the Late Cretaceous Epoch. Together with the more refined molluscan range zones, the foraminiferal assemblage zones permit
biostratigraphic analysis of rock sequences; these sequences being partly in different facies and ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 feet (609-1,219 m) in thickness. Well-preserved foraminifera are common, molluscs rare, in subsurface sections. Foraminifera, therefore, are a particularly useful means of
correlation because, throughout the plains of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the Cretaceous rocks are buried beneath remnants of a Tertiary cover and a mantle of Pleistocene drift.
Marine geology of Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, Eastern Arctic Canada: Late Quaternary sediments, depositional environments, and late glacial-deglacial history derived from marine and terrestrial studies
Authors: MacLean B
Published: September 2013

Hudson Strait is a major waterway that links Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin with the Labrador Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. Ungava Bay forms a large embayment adjoining the eastern part of the strait. In the past, Hudson Strait has been a major discharge route for
glacial ice from the northeast sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet to the North Atlantic Ocean. Extensive surveys with high-resolution seismic equipment and sampling of seabed sediments, mainly by piston coring techniques, have delineated the principal surficial sediment units, their distribution and
depositional environments, and provide information regarding glacial ice margins, glacial-marine interactions, and late glacial-deglacial history, including relationships with events recognized in adjoining terrestrial and marine areas. This paper reviews the bathymetric and oceanographic settings,
seasonal ice conditions, methods of investigation, and the results of previous marine studies. It also acknowledges the significant contributions to this study by many other workers.
Abortion care training framework for nurses within the context of higher education in the Western Cape
Authors: Smit I. , Bitzer E. M. , Boshoff E. L. D. , Steyn D. W.
Published: September 2013

The high morbidity and mortality rate due to illegal abortions in South Africa necessitated the implementation of abortion legislation in February 1997. Abortion legislation stipulates that registered nurses who had undergone the proposed abortion care training — certified nurses — may carry out abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Currently it seems that an inadequate number of nurses are being trained in the Western Cape to provide pregnant women with counselling, to perform abortions and/or refer problem cases. No real attempts have since been made by higher education institutions in the Western Cape to offer abortion care training for nurses. This case study explores the situation of certified nurses and the context in which they provide abortion care in different regions of the Western Cape. The sampling included a random, stratified (non-proportional) number of designated state health care facilities in the Western Cape, a non-probability purposive sampling of nurses who provided abortion care, a non-probability convenience sample of women who had received abortion care, and a non-probability purposive sampling of final-year pre-registration nursing students. Data was generated by means of questionnaires, a checklist and semi-structured interviews. The main findings of this study indicate that the necessary infrastructure required for legal abortion is in place. However, the ongoing shortage of trained health care practitioners hampers abortion care services. Deficiencies were identified in the existing provincial protocol as some of the guidelines were either not in use or had become obsolete. Certified midwives who had been trained by the regional offices of the Department of Health: Western Cape were skilled in carrying out the abortion procedure, but other aspects of abortion care mainly carried out by other categories of nurses required more attention. This article suggests a training framework that should provide focus for the development of a formal programme or programmes for the training of nurses in abortion care at higher education institutions in the Western Cape.
George Duke, Dummett on Abstract Objects
Authors: Hale Bob
Published: September 2013

Review of G. Duke: Dummett on Abstract Objects ReferencesG. Frege. Über Sinn und Bedeutung. Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik, 100, 25–50, 1892. Translated in G.Frege, Collected Papers on Mathematics, Logic and Philosophy, edited by B. McGuinness. Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 157–77.G. Frege. Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik. Breslau, Verlag von W. Koebner, 1884. Translated by J.L. Austin as The Foundations of Arithmetic, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, second revised edition 1953.M. Dummett. Frege: Philosophy of Language. London, Duckworth, 1973.M. Dummett. Frege: Philosophy of Mathematics. London: Duckworth, 1991.B. Hale. Abstract Objects. Oxford: Basil Blackwells, 1987.B. Hale. Dummett's critique of Wright's attempt to resuscitate Frege. Philosophia Mathematica 2 (2):122–47 , 1994http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/philmat/2.2.122B. Hale and C. Wright. The Reason's Proper Study: Essays towards a Neo-Fregean Philosophy of Mathematics. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001.B. Hale and C. Wright. The Metaontology of Abstraction. In D. Chalmers, D. Manley & R. Wasserman, editors, Metametaphysics: New essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 178–213, 2009.C. Wright. Frege’s Conception of Numbers as Objects. Scots Philosophical Monographs. Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press, 1983.
Aircraft Pneumatic Subsystems
Authors: Moir Ian , Seabridge Allan
Published: September 2013

The aircraft pneumatic systems are those that require air to perform their function. The air may be pressurized and used to perform the functions of pressurization, cooling, or actuation, or it may be used as a sensing system to provide information about the speed and altitude of the aircraft. Pressurized air can be obtained from the aircraft engines and is used to provide energy to perform a number of functions on the aircraft. Although most power transfer systems make use of hydraulic and electrical power sources of energy, there are a number of functions that still draw their supply of energy from engine bleed air. In addition, there is a system that uses atmospheric air pressure to provide a source of air data to instruments and flight control systems.