bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sexually transmitted infections in HIV-infected patients in Kabale Hospital, Uganda
Authors: Osinde Michael Odongo , Kakaire Othman , Kaye Dan Kabonge
Published: March 2012

Introduction: Acquisition of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is an epidemiological marker of high-risk sexual behavior in HIV-infected patients. We assessed the prevalence of STIs among patients attending an HIV care and support centre. Methodology: From January to August 2009, we assessed socio-demographic variables, sexuality, disclosure of sero-status and STI treatment for 400 patients attending the HIV care and support centre. Characteristics of those who had been treated and those who had never been treated for STIs were compared to identify factors independently associated with STIs.  Results: Of the 400 respondents, 25.3% were male, 47.3% were aged 25-34 years, over 85% were currently married or had ever been married, and 62% had primary level of education or less. Though 82.5% were on antiretroviral drugs, only 53.1% disclosed their sero-status to their regular partners and only 41.9% knew the sero-status of their regular partners. Furthermore, 151 (37.7%) had been treated for STIs. The STIs were gonorrhoea (15; 9.7%), chlamydia (11; 7.1%), Trichomonas vaginalis (5; 3.3%), syphilis (99; 64.3%), and mixed infections (21; 13.6%). Factors associated with STI treatment on univariable analysis were age at sexual debut, whether the respondent had had sex in the previous six months, frequency of sexual intercourse, having changed sexual partners, number of sexual partners, and age when the respondent had a first child. Conclusion: Unprotected sexual intercourse and STIs are common among patients seeking HIV care in Uganda. Only the age of sexual debut (odds ratio0.82, confidence limits 0.71, 0.94) was independently (though inversely) associated with STIs.
Apoptosis as a Mechanism of Action of Tumor Necrosis Factor Antagonists in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Figure 1.
Authors: MAKRYGIANNAKIS DIMITRIOS , CATRINA ANCA IRINEL
Published: March 2012

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists are drugs developed to block endogenous TNF, an essential proinflammatory molecule with a central role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although extensive studies have been performed concerning the mode of action of TNF-blocking agents, there are still many unresolved questions and potential differences between different TNF-blocking drugs. One unresolved issue is to what extent apoptosis is affected by TNF blockade in RA. We provide an overview of studies that have investigated the proapoptotic effect of different anti-TNF drugs in RA, searching for a unified interpretation of somewhat contradictory data.
Clinical, Functional, and Radiographic Differences Among Juvenile-onset, Adult-onset, and Late-onset Ankylosing Spondylitis
Authors: CHEN HUNG-AN , CHEN CHUN-HSIUNG , LIAO HSIEN-TZUNG , LIN YEONG-JANG , CHEN PEI-CHIH , CHEN WEI-SHENG , CHIEN CHIH-CHIANG , CHOU CHUNG-TEI
Published: March 2012

Objective.

The aim of our study was to compare the clinical, functional, and radiographic outcomes at different ages of onset in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Methods.

A total of 546 patients were enrolled consecutively and classified into 3 groups based on their age at symptom onset: (1) juvenile-onset AS (age ≤ 16 years; JoAS); (2) adult-onset AS (> 16 but < 40 years; AoAS); and (3) late-onset AS (≥ 40 years; LoAS). We compared the differences among the 3 groups. OR for disease outcomes were calculated and adjusted for sex, HLA-B27, and disease duration.

Results.

There were 67 patients (12.3%) with JoAS, 460 (84.2%) with AoAS, and 19 (3.5%) with LoAS. Male sex and HLA-B27 were associated with a younger age at onset (p < 0.001). Compared to patients with AoAS, patients with JoAS were more likely to present with peripheral arthritis, while patients with JoAS and LoAS were less likely to have back pain at the onset of AS (p < 0.05). After controlling for multiple covariates, JoAS was found to be associated with a worse functional outcome and global assessment, and a high serum immunoglobulin A level (p < 0.05). Patients with JoAS had less lumbar spinal radiographic severity (p < 0.05). There were no statistical differences in clinical or functional outcome between the LoAS and AoAS groups. None of the LoAS patients had radiographic hip involvement.

Conclusion.

Sex and HLA-B27 are significantly associated with age at onset of AS. Both JoAS and LoAS have their distinctive symptoms/signs at onset and different disease outcomes.
How Do Physicians Weigh Benefits and Risks Associated with Treatments in Patients with Osteoarthritis in the United Kingdom?
Authors: ARDEN NIGEL K. , HAUBER A. BRETT , MOHAMED ATEESHA F. , JOHNSON F. REED , PELOSO PAUL M. , WATSON DOUGLAS J. , MAVROS PANAGIOTIS , GAMMAITONI ARNOLD , SEN SHUVAYU S. , TAYLOR STEPHANIE D.
Published: March 2012

Objective.

To quantify the relative importance that UK physicians attach to the benefits and risks of current drugs when making treatment decisions for patients with osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods.

Physicians treating at least 10 patients with OA per month completed an online discrete-choice experiment survey and answered 12 treatment-choice questions comparing medication profiles. Medication profiles were defined by 4 benefits (reduction in ambulatory pain, resting pain, stiffness, and difficulty doing daily activities) and 3 treatment-related risks [bleeding ulcer, stroke, and myocardial infarction (MI)]. Each physician made medication choices for 3 of 9 hypothetical patients (varied by age, history of MI, hypertension, and history of gastrointestinal bleeding). Importance weights were estimated using a random-parameters logit model. Treatment-related risks physicians were willing to accept in exchange for various reductions in ambulatory and resting pain also were calculated.

Results.

The final sample was 475. A reduction in ambulatory pain from 75 mm to 25 mm (1.6 units) was 1.1 times as important as an increase in MI risk from 0% to 1.5% (1.5 units). The greatest importance was for eliminating a 3% treatment-related risk of MI or stroke. On average, physicians were willing to accept an increase in bleeding ulcer risk of 0.7% (95% CI 0.4%–1.7%) for a reduction in ambulatory pain of 75 mm to 50 mm.

Conclusion.

When presented with well-known benefits and risks of OA treatments, physicians placed greater importance on the risks than on the analgesic properties of the drug. This has implications for the reporting of the results of clinical research to physicians.
Heads of Corporate Security in the Era of Global Security
Authors: Ocqueteau Frédéric
Published: March 2012

Based on an unpublished survey of the internal security services of some major French corporations, this article analyzes the status, position and role of the “security director”. Although relatively unknown, this person is an important figure in various police entities in an age of emerging ideology on global security, propagated by various neo-conservative think-tanks with close links to the military-industrial complex as well as corporate leaders with international influence. The article explores three dimensions. Firstly, it addresses the cognitive, normative and ethical issues faced by the holder of this position from the perspective of preventing risk and threats within the corporation. Secondly, it identifies the tension that exists between two logics of action: convincing management of the relative value of investing in security, while complying with non-negotiable protection imperatives within areas of critical importance identified by governments. Finally, it offers an explanation for the massive redeployment of military and police officers into these positions, an honorable organizational compromise that is likely, with public safety in mind, to reduce conflicts of interest between the logic of the State and the logic of the market.
Grid Computing
Authors: Goteng Gokop , Tiwari Ashutosh , Roy Rajkumar
Published: March 2012

The emerging grid technology provides a secured platform for multidisciplinary experts in the security intelligence profession to collaborate and fight global terrorism. This chapter developed grid architecture and implementation strategy on how to connect the dots between security agents such as the CIA, FBI, police, custom officers and transport industry to share data and information on terrorists and their movements. The major grid components that featured in the architecture are the grid security portal, data grid, computational grid, semantic grid and collaboratory. The challenges of implementing this architecture are conflicting laws, cooperation among governments, and information on terrorist’s network and interoperability problem.
Taxonomy of Grid Systems
Authors: Kurdi Heba , Li Maozhen , Al-Raweshidy H. S.
Published: March 2012

Advances in Grid computing are stimulating the emergence of novel types of Grids. Accessible Grids, manageable Grids, interactive Grids and personal Grids represent a significant evolution of Grid computing. More and more researchers are realising the potentials of emerging Grids in bridging the current gap between Grid technologies and end users. Nevertheless, no reviews or classifications on emerging Grids are available. Therefore, this chapter aims to give a review on Grid systems. It sets out to develop a comprehensive classification of both traditional and emerging Grid systems with an aim to motivate further research and to assist in establishing a solid foundation in such a rapidly developing and expanding field.
Reliability and Performance Models for Grid Computing
Authors: Dai Yuan-Shun , Dongarra Jack
Published: March 2012

Grid computing is a newly developed technology for complex systems with large-scale resource sharing, wide-area communication, and multi-institutional collaboration. It is hard to analyze and model the Grid reliability because of its largeness, complexity and stiffness. Therefore, this chapter introduces the Grid computing technology, presents different types of failures in grid system, models the grid reliability with star structure and tree structure, and finally studies optimization problems for grid task partitioning and allocation. The chapter then presents models for star-topology considering data dependence and tree-structure considering failure correlation. Evaluation tools and algorithms are developed, evolved from Universal generating function and Graph Theory. Then, the failure correlation and data dependence are considered in the model. Numerical examples are illustrated to show the modeling and analysis.
Healthcare Collaborative Framework Based on Web 2.0, Grid Computing and SOA
Authors: Omar Wail M.
Published: March 2012

Web 2.0 has been adopted by many as the best way for forming a collaborative framework e.g., sharing resources, experiences, information, knowledge and feedback. A collaborative framework for application to e-health is necessary to provide patients with the awareness that assists in improving their health. Moreover, collaborative framework can be used by physician to exchange experiences and discuss challenge cases. However, the use of Web 2.0 with healthcare applications is not simple as the use of Web 20 with other enterprise applications according to the privacy of healthcare applications, which requires high quality and security of data, availability of resources, maintainability of services, system security, and Quality of Services (QoS). To offer the required requirements, grid computing is proposed here. Grid computing supporting enterprise applications through offering massive resources through resources collaborative framework that is offering power computing, storage devices, and services. The use of grid computing by Web 2.0 requires robust model that is able to deploy, discover, invoke, and integrate resources in open standard format. Therefore, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is adopted as a model for managing the mixing between Web 2.0 and grid computing technologies. SOA for Web 2.0 and Grid Computing (SOAW2G) are used throughout this work to offer a fabric for e-health applications.
Runtime Service Discovery for Grid Applications
Authors: Dooley James , Zisman Andrea , Spanoudakis George
Published: March 2012

This chapter describes a framework to support runtime service discovery for Grid applications based on service discovery queries in both push and pull modes of query execution. The framework supports six different types of trigger conditions that may prompt service replacement during run-time of grid business application, and evaluates the relevance of a set of candidate services against service discovery queries. The chapter also describes the language used to express service discovery queries and the three types of fitness measurement used to evaluate the candidate services against these queries. Both synchronous (pull) and asynchronous (push) mechanisms for service discovery are presented and shown to be complimentary in dealing with all six service discovery trigger conditions. The chapter is illustrated through examples.
On Construction of Cluster and Grid Computing Platforms for Parallel Bioinformatics Applications
Authors: Yang Chao-Tung , Shih Wen-Chung
Published: March 2012

Biology databases are diverse and massive. As a result, researchers must compare each sequence with vast numbers of other sequences. Comparison, whether of structural features or protein sequences, is vital in bioinformatics. These activities require high-speed, high-performance computing power to search through and analyze large amounts of data and industrial-strength databases to perform a range of data-intensive computing functions. Grid computing and Cluster computing meet these requirements. Biological data exist in various web services that help biologists search for and extract useful information. The data formats produced are heterogeneous and powerful tools are needed to handle the complex and difficult task of integrating the data. This paper presents a review of the technologies and an approach to solve this problem using cluster and grid computing technologies. The authors implement an experimental distributed computing application for bioinformatics, consisting of basic high-performance computing environments (Grid and PC Cluster systems), multiple interfaces at user portals that provide useful graphical interfaces to enable biologists to benefit directly from the use of high-performance technology, and a translation tool for converting biology data into XML format.
The Socio-Technical Virtual Organisation
Authors: Smith Rob , Wilson Rob
Published: March 2012

A Virtual Organisation (VO) or Virtual Enterprise is a loosely-coupled group of collaborating organisations, acting to some extent as though they were part of a single organisation. This implies that they exhibit some properties of a conventional organisation without actually being one. In practice, this involves overcoming organisational boundaries, which tend to make collaborative working difficult. The authors of this chapter propose that this is a socio-technical problem, requiring both a technical (software) infrastructure and a sociological approach to building, deploying and operating the VOs supported by it. This joint approach can help to overcome some of the problems associated with collaborative working, ranging from poorly coordinated activity, to ineffective problem solving and decision-making. The authors describe a socio-technical approach to building and operating VOs in highly dynamic environments and present two factual scenarios from the chemical and health industries. They describe a platform supporting such VOs, which was developed as part of the EPSRC E-Science Pilot Project GOLD.
The Financial Clouds Review
Authors: Chang Victor , Li Chung-Sheng , De Roure David , Wills Gary , Walters Robert John , Chee Clinton
Published: March 2012

This paper demonstrates financial enterprise portability, which involves moving entire application services from desktops to clouds and between different clouds, and is transparent to users who can work as if on their familiar systems. To demonstrate portability, reviews for several financial models are studied, where Monte Carlo Methods (MCM) and Black Scholes Model (BSM) are chosen. A special technique in MCM, Least Square Methods, is used to reduce errors while performing accurate calculations. Simulations for MCM are performed on different types of Clouds. Benchmark and experimental results are presented for discussion. 3D Black Scholes are used to explain the impacts and added values for risk analysis. Implications for banking are also discussed, as well as ways to track risks in order to improve accuracy. A conceptual Cloud platform is used to explain the contributions in Financial Software as a Service (FSaaS) and the IBM Fined Grained Security Framework. This study demonstrates portability, speed, accuracy, and reliability of applications in the clouds, while demonstrating portability for FSaaS and the Cloud Computing Business Framework (CCBF).
Computational Methods and Tools for Decision Support in Biomedicine
Authors: Dimou Ioannis , Zervakis Michalis , Lowe David , Tsiknakis Manolis
Published: March 2012

The automation of diagnostic tools and the increasing availability of extensive medical datasets in the last decade have triggered the development of new analytical methodologies in the context of biomedical informatics. The aim is always to explore a problem’s feature space, extract useful information and support clinicians in their time, volume, and accuracy demanding decision making tasks. From simple summarizing statistics to state-of-the-art pattern analysis algorithms, the underlying principles that drive most medical problems show trends that can be identified and taken into account to improve the usefulness of computerized medicine to the field-clinicians and ultimately to the patient. This chapter presents a thorough review of this field and highlights the achievements and shortcomings of each family of methods. The authors’ effort has been focused on methodological issues as to generalize useful conclusions based on the large number of notable, yet case-specific developments presented in the field.
Hands-On Experience in Building Institutional Grid Infrastructure
Authors: Yang Xiaoyu , Chiang Gen-Tao
Published: March 2012

It will become increasingly popular that scientists in research institutes will make use of Grid computing resources for running computer simulations and managing data. Although there are some production Grids available, it is often the case that many organizations and research projects need to build their own Grids. However, building Grid infrastructure is not a trivial job as it involves sharing and managing heterogeneous computing and data resources across different organizations, and involves installing many specific software packages and various middleware. This can be quite complicated and time-consuming. Building a Grid infrastructure also requires good knowledge and understanding of distributed computing, parallel computing and Grid technologies. Apart from building physical Grid, how to build a user infrastructure that can facilitate the use of and easy access to these physical infrastructures is also a challenging task. In this chapter, the authors summarize some hands-on experience in building an institutional Grid infrastructure. They describe knowledge and experience obtained in the installations of Condor pools, PBS clusters, Globus Toolkit, and SRB (Storage Resource Broker) for computing Grid and data Grid. The authors also propose to use a User-Centered Design (UCD) approach to develop a Grid user infrastructure which can facilitate the use of the Grid to improve the usability.
Two Approaches for Workflow Scheduling with Quality of Service in the Grid
Authors: Dong Fangpeng , Akl Selim G.
Published: March 2012

Over the past decade, Grid Computing has earned its reputation by facilitating resource sharing in larger communities and providing non-trivial services. However, for Grid users, Grid resources are not usually dedicated, which results in fluctuations of available performance. This situation raises concerns about the quality of services (QoS). The meaning of QoS varies with different concerns of different users. Objective functions that drive job schedulers in the Grid may be different from each other as well. Some are system-oriented, which means they make schedules to favor system metrics such as throughput, load-balance, resource revenue and so on. To narrow the scope of the problem to be discussed in this chapter and to make the discussion substantial, the scheduling objective function considered is minimizing the total completion time of all tasks in a workflow (also known as the makespan). Correspondingly, the meaning of QoS is restricted to the ability that scheduling algorithms can shorten the makespan of a workflow in an environment where resource performance is vibrant. This chapter introduces two approaches that can provide QoS features at the workflow scheduling algorithm level in the Grid. One approach is based on a workflow rescheduling technique, which can reallocate resources for tasks when a resource performance change is observed. The other copes with the stochastic performance change using pre-acquired probability mass functions (PMF) and produces a probability distribution of the final schedule length, which will then be used to handle the different QoS concerns of the users.
A Graphical Workflow Modeler for Docking Process in Drug Discovery
Authors: Wang Qiang , Ye Yunming , Yu Kunqian , Huang Joshua Z.
Published: March 2012

A drug discovery process is aimed to find from a large set of molecules the candidate leads that have strong interaction with the target proteins. The process of drug discovery is characterized by its complexity in data and computation. A useful tool to simplify the handling of intensive data and complex algorithms is necessary for domain scientists to build proper drug discovery procedures, carry through the data intensive computation tasks and produce fruitful results. This chapter presents a graphical workflow modeler for domain scientists to perform drug discovery tasks on high performance grid computing grid platforms. A client/server system is described as the platform for implementation of the graphical workflow modeler. A case study on drug discovery for avian influenza virus is given to demonstrate the use of this tool in drug discovery research.
QoS-Oriented Service Computing
Authors: Yang Xiaoyu
Published: March 2012

The idea of cloud computing aligns with new dimension emerging in service-oriented infrastructure where service provider does not own physical infrastructure but instead outsources to dedicated infrastructure providers. Cloud computing has now become a new computing paradigm as it can provide scalable IT infrastructure, QoS-assured services, and customizable computing environment. However, it still remains a challenging task to provide QoS assured services to serve customers with minimized cost, while also to guarantee the maximization of the business objectives (e.g. margin profit) to service provider and infrastructure provider within certain constraints. In order to address these issues, this chapter proposes a QoS-oriented service computing methodology, and discusses associated topics including service level agreement and associated reference architecture, green service, service metering and metrics, service monitoring, and on-demand resource provisioning. In the case study, we demonstrate how we employ QoS-oriented service computing in a multi-server, multi-user on-line game to facilitate the on-demand resource provisioning to maintain quality of service and quality of experience.
Service-Oriented Networking for the Next Generation Distributed Computing
Authors: Duan Qiang
Published: March 2012

With the rapid development of various emerging technologies, such as Web services, Grid computing, and cloud computing, computer networks have become the integrant of the next generation distributed computing systems. Networking systems have a significant impact on distributed application performance; therefore, they must be integrated with other computational resources in distributed computing systems to support the requirements of high-performance distributed applications. This chapter presents a new Service-Oriented Networking (SON) paradigm that enables the integration of networking and distributed computing systems. The SON applies the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) principle and employs network virtualization for abstracting networking resources in the form of network services, which can be described, discovered, and composed in distributed computing environments. This chapter particularly discusses network service description and discovery as key technologies for realizing the SON, and describes a network service broker system for discovering the network services that meet the performance requirements of distributed applications. A general modeling approach to describing network service capabilities and an information updating mechanism are also presented in this chapter, which can improve the performance of the network service broker system in heterogeneous and dynamic networking environments.
Securing Real-Time Interactive Applications in Federated Clouds
Authors: Boniface Michael , Nasser Bassem , Surridge Mike , Oliveros Eduardo
Published: March 2012

Enterprise adoption of cloud computing for real-time interactive applications processes is limited by their ability to meet inter-enterprise security requirements. Although some clouds’ offerings comply with security standards, no solution today allows businesses to assess security compliance of applications at the business level and dynamically link to security countermeasures on-demand. In this chapter we examine cloud security, privacy, and trust issues from three levels: business, jurisdiction, and technical. Firstly, we look at the business level to identify issues arising from the motivations and concerns of business stakeholders. Secondly, we explore jurisdictional level to identify risks that arise from legislation, gaps in legislation, or conflicts between legislation in different jurisdictions related to a cloud deployment, given the concerns of stakeholders. Finally, we examine the technical level to identify issues that arise from technical causes such as ICT vulnerabilities, and/or require technical solutions, such as data confidentiality and integrity protection.
Multimedia Services Offer Mixing Telco and Internet Assets
Authors: Galindo Luis Angel , Salvachúa Joaquín
Published: March 2012

Traditionally, Internet has offered multimedia services independently of the services offered by companies associated to Telco (companies that traditionally offer telephony and associated services). In the last years, the technical community has assumed that the convergence of both worlds is a fact; however, there are many barriers to be removed. On one hand the emergence of cloud computing technologies will change the way of providing multimedia services. On the other hand economic issues are very important in this convergence process. In this chapter we describe how multimedia services are offered from Internet and the Telco. The convergence of Web 2.0 and Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem on the WIMS 2.0 initiative focuses on creating value for Internet and Telco and making multimedia services a reality for end users, independent of the underlying environment. We propose a novel strategy that uses cloud computing to facilitate the development and deployment of converged multimedia services. We also observe a sustainable business model accompanying the converged proposals to offer innovative multimedia services.
Critical Concepts in M-Health Technology Development
Authors: Martins Henrique M. G.
Published: March 2012

This chapter is a theoretical in-depth review of three conceptual groups that serve as the fundamental basis for m-health technology development—both at hardware and software levels—as well as for technology adaptation to work/life practices, and for adoption and usage studies. Objectively the review will focus on the concepts of Time (clock, event, practice-based, and timeless time), experiences of time (subjective construction of the “past,” “present,” and “future,” time aggregation/“episodification” frequency, rhythm, cycles, “spiraling,” and mono-polichronicity), space, and mobility (namely physical mobility, remote versus local, modalities of travelling/visiting/ wandering, micro-mobility).
State Aid Control in the Broadcasting Sector
Authors: Bania Konstantina
Published: March 2012

The application of the State aid rules to public service broadcasting has never been a straightforward exercise for the European Commission (hereafter the Commission). The picture became more complex in the digital era in light of the expansion of public broadcasting organizations to new media markets. Yet, in spite of the challenges it faced, the Commission has not limited itself to a marginal compatibility assessment checking solely whether the provision of related services outweighs the harm to competition. Through its decision-making and the adoption of a soft law instrument, the Broadcasting Communication, the Commission gradually managed to inject into national schemes supporting broadcasting activities its own perspective of “good” State aid policy. This chapter discusses the impact that the Commission State aid practice has had on national systems and reflects on whether the latter has struck the right balance between the conflicting values involved, namely competition and public service broadcasting. The chapter argues that, while in several instances the Commission went beyond the Treaty letter, its control over relevant State measures has contributed substantially to ensuring a level playing field between public broadcasters and commercial undertakings operating in the wider context of the media market.
E-Government for Social Inclusion?
Authors: Papandreou Marios , Mylonas Naoym
Published: March 2012

This chapter aims at examining the relationship between two concepts which at a first glance appear as irrelevant; on the one hand, it is the effort to achieve social inclusion—as part of a wider anti-poverty perspective—and, on the other hand, it is the notion of e-government, as a modern side of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). In the first part of the chapter, it is explained that anti-poverty strategies and policies are in fact trying to facilitate access to human rights and to a series of goods which are necessary for life in dignity. In the second part, the theoretical foundations of e-government are examined and there are also given some first views on how e-government might eliminate social exclusion and facilitate social inclusion. The third part is a synthesis of the previous two; it is devoted to the fundamental notion of access which appears as an aim and outcome of both anti-exclusion policies and e-government policies; if there is access, there is inclusion and if there is e-government, there is access. This means that e-government can, under certain circumstances, promote inclusion. The whole chapter is underlined by the concept that human capabilities for access are mainly understood as access to capabilities.
A Multi-Objective Decision and Analysis Approach for the Berth Scheduling Problem
Authors: Golias Mihalis M. , Boilé Maria , Theofanis Sotirios , Taboada Heidi A.
Published: March 2012

Berth scheduling can be described as the resource allocation problem of berth space to vessels in a container terminal. When defining the allocation of berths to vessels container terminal operators set several objectives which ideally need to be optimized simultaneously. These multiple objectives are often non-commensurable and gaining an improvement on one objective often causes degrading performance on the other objectives. In this paper, the authors present the application of a multi-objective decision and analysis approach to the berth scheduling problem, a resource allocation problem at container terminals. The proposed approach allows the port operator to efficiently select a subset of solutions over the entire solution space of berth schedules when multiple and conflicting objectives are involved. Results from extensive computational examples using real-world data show that the proposed approach is able to construct and select efficient berth schedules, is consistent, and can be used with confidence.
The Role of User Review on Information System Project Outcomes
Authors: Hsu Jack Shih-Chieh , Chen Houn-Gee , Jiang James , Klein Gary
Published: March 2012

The effect of user participation on system success is one of the most studied topics in information systems, yet still yields inconclusive results. Contingency-based concepts attempt to resolve this issue by providing a plausible explanation which indicates that users can only generate expected results when there is a need for users to participate in the development process. As a different approach, this study adopts a mediating perspective and asserts that influence due to the effectiveness of participation determines the final outcomes. Based on control theory, and viewing user participation in reviews as one kind of control, we propose that the influence users can generate through participation determines project outcomes. Data collected from 151 information systems personnel confirms the relationships and that an ability to achieve quality interactions among developers and users heightens the achievement of user influence.
Establishing Preconditions for Spanning the Boundaries in Public Private IT Megaprojects
Authors: Beck Roman , Marschollek Oliver , Gregory Robert Wayne
Published: March 2012

Inter-organizational cooperations between public and private partners, called public private partnerships (PPP), are increasingly gaining more importance concerning renewal, standardization, and optimization of the information technology (IT) infrastructure of public sector organizations. Reasons for this trend include the search for partners with necessary technological and innovative knowledge of sourcing IT and the identification of cost-saving potentials. Unfortunately, IT-PPP-cooperations are particularly susceptible to failure due to the clash of different cultures. Divergent understandings, expectations, and pressure from the relevant stakeholders hinder a working partnership. Therefore, in this exploratory, qualitative single-case study from the German TollCollect IT megaproject, the authors draw on findings from boundary spanning literature to explain how establishing preconditions for boundary spanning and actively bridging the gap between the partners, moderated by external stakeholder support, affects the formation of mutual trust and success of an IT-PPP-megaproject.
Field assessment of partial resistance to mycosphaerella blight inPisumsubspecies accessions
Authors: Conner R. L. , Gossen B. D. , Hwang S. F. , Chang K. F. , McRae K. B. , Penner W. C.
Published: March 2012

Conner, R. L., Gossen, B. D., Hwang, S. F., Chang, K. F., McRae, K. B. and Penner, W. C. 2012. Field assessment of partial resistance to mycosphaerella blight in Pisum subspecies accessions. Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 289–296. Mycosphaerella blight, caused by Mycosphaerella pinodes (Berk. & Bloxam) Vestergr., the teleomorph of Ascochyta pinodes Jones, is an important foliar disease of field pea in the major production areas of the world. Partial resistance to mycosphaerella blight has been reported in some field pea cultivars, but, at best, they are only moderately susceptible. A 3-yr field study was conducted to evaluate the mycosphaerella blight reactions of 28 accessions from a number of subspecies of Pisum sativum L. and one accession of P. fulvum Sibth. A few of the accessions carried mutations for the genes af, tl, and st that affect the morphology of the leaflets, stipules and tendrils. Reactions to mycosphaerella blight were characterized based on the mean of the severity ratings taken on the two final assessment dates before the crop matured and also on the change in mycosphaerella blight severity between these two dates. In many of the accessions, severity ratings were similar to that of the moderately susceptible check cultivar, CDC Peko, while a few had high severity ratings similar to those of the susceptible check cultivars. The accession PI 512079, which has small stipules, branched petioles with many leaflets but no tendrils, had the lowest ratings for mycosphaerella blight severity. Four other accessions exhibited the smallest change in mycosphaerella blight severity at the end of the growing season. Differences in leaf morphology likely influenced the change in disease severity, since all the semi-leafless and leafless accessions had smaller changes in mycosphaerella blight severity than the susceptible check cultivars. In a detached leaf assay with two isolates of Mycosphaerella pinodes (Berk. & Bloxam) Vestergr., the smallest lesions formed on PI 512079, but otherwise the results failed to show a relationship with the observed severity values in the field trials.
A method to assess cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in asparagus seedlings
Authors: Landry Erik J. , Wolyn David. J.
Published: March 2012

Landry, E. J. and Wolyn, D. J. 2012. A method to assess cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in asparagus seedlings. Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 271–277. Assessment of winter-hardiness using field-grown asparagus is complicated by variable, yearly climatic conditions and the large crown growing below the soil surface. The development of a seedling assay in controlled environments would be beneficial to study the physiology of winter-hardiness and to facilitate the selection of superior genotypes in breeding programs. Two cultivars, Guelph Millennium (GM) and Jersey Giant (JG), with differing patterns of autumn fern senescence in the field, where GM senesces earlier than JG, were compared. Seedlings were analyzed for physiological parameters after cold acclimation (10°C day/5°C night) or cold acclimation followed by sub-freezing (3°C to −3°C) in controlled environment chambers. Cold acclimation induced greater chlorophyll loss in GM than JG, consistent with previous field observations. LT50, the temperature at which 50% mortality occurs, decreased to approximately −8°C for both cultivars after the initial cold acclimation treatment. Subsequent subfreezing acclimation increased the LT50for JG to −5°C, decreased freezing tolerance, while that for GM did not change. Early senescence and high proline concentration as well as stable protein and reducing sugar concentrations were associated with the freezing tolerance observed in GM. Further studies are required to establish if the cultivar differences for freezing tolerance identified here are correlated with experiments from field-grown plants.
Craniocerebral missile injuries in civilian Kashmir – India
Authors: Rashid BA , Wani MA , Kirmani AR , Raina TH , Raina S
Published: March 2012

Background The missile injuries of the cranium and brain in the modern era have shifted from soldiers to the civilians and from the battle grounds to the populated zones due to increase in the terrorist and military strikes. The management of the victims depends on the resuscitation at the site of injury and the distance and transportation to the tertiary care centre. This article presents the details of the missile injuries to the brain, the third-world problems and the management. Material and methods A retrospective analysis of 3794 craniocerebral missile injuries, managed by the Department of Neurosurgery at Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Kashmir, India, over a period of more than 21 years from September 1988 to September 2009. Patients were triaged in emergency CT-room, resuscitated and operated. Statistical software programme SPSS 11.5 was used to derive the numerical significance. Results Revealed an overall mortality of 87.69% (3327 out of 3794). Most of the deaths 79.14% (2633 out of 3327) occurred within 30 minutes of the patient’s arrival to the hospital and only 694 patients lived beyond one hour of arrival. Conclusion Presently the quantum of outcome i.e, survival and good recovery in craniocerebral missile injuries appears a meager heap compared to the huge amount of death and disability. And the situation will continue to be so unless tertiary care hospitals are set up within and around the armed and conflict zones, war torn areas and battle fields, rather than risking transportation, time of resuscitation, intervention and the results.Key words: Craniocerebral, Kashmir, Missile Injuries, Outcome.
La craniectomie decompressive dans la prise en charge des traumatismes craniens graves avec signes radiologiques d’engagement cerebral.
Authors: Motah M , Ndoumbe A , Ibrahima F , Fokam P , Nkoumou S , Kengni Kebiwo O , Ngounou E , Ebana Mvogo C
Published: March 2012

Introduction La craniectomie décompressive peut- elle améliorer le pronostic des patients victimes d’un traumatisme crânien fermé grave avec engagement cérébral ? Objectif Le but de la présente étude était d’évaluer l’efficacité de la craniectomie décompressive dans la prise en charge du traumatisme crânien grave, isolé et fermé avec signes radiologiques d’engagement cérébral. Méthodes Il s’agissait d’une étude réalisée à l’Hôpital Général de Douala pendant 36 mois, de janvier 2007 à décembre 2009, incluant 13 patients victimes d’un traumatisme crânien grave, isolé et fermé, présentant les signes radiologiques d’engagement cérébral. La craniectomie décompressive était indiquée devant l’aggravation ou la persistance du tableau clinique et radiologique malgré le traitement médical conventionnel. Résultats Après deux à dix mois de suivi, l’évolution fut classée selon le score du coma évolutif ; "Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) score ". Dix patients (76, 93 %) ont évolué favorablement GOS (4-5).Un patient (07,69%) est resté végétatif GOS3. Deux décès (15,38%) ont été observé GOS1. Les principales complications étaient : une hydrocéphalie, une hernie cérébrale à travers le foramen de craniectomie, un abcès du cerveau et un état de mal convulsif. Conclusion La craniectomie décompressive est une méthode efficace pouvant améliorer le pronostic des patients victimes de traumatisme crânien grave avec signes radiologiques d’engagement cérébral.Mots clés : craniectomie-décompressive-engagement cérébral-traumatisme crânien.
Resultat du traitement d’un craniopharyngiome kystique par de la bleomycine
Authors: Bouaziz M , Belhouchet AA , Chaouchi I
Published: March 2012

Introduction Le craniopharyngiome est une tumeur bénigne qui provient de nids épithéliaux ou de zones de métaplasies squameuses liées à l’embryogenèse hypophysaire. Touchant surtout l’enfant, peut être potentiellement agressive et caractérisée par un taux élevé de récidive après traitement chirurgical. La bléomycine représente une des molécules de chimiothérapie utilisée souvent dans le traitement insitu dans le craniopharyngiome kystique. L’objectif de notre étude est d’évaluer les résultats clinique et radiologique du traitement d’un craniopharyngiome par la bléomycine et comparer notre expérience à celle de la littérature. Observation Nous avons analysé le dossier de la patiente B. Rania âgée de 11 ans. Elle présente un craniopharyngiome kystique intra et supra sellaire à extension frontale, traité par chimiothérapie intra tumorale (bléomycine), durant la période allant de 2003 à 2004 et suivi jusqu’à présent au service de neurochirurgie du CHU de Annaba- Algérie. Résultat La patiente présentait à son admission une hypertension intracrânienne et une somnolence depuis 24 heures d’où sa ponction en urgence à travers le réservoir d’Ommaya déjà placé auparavant dans un autre service de neurochirurgie. Quatre mois plus tard, la patiente a bénéficié d’un cycle de chimiothérapie étalé sur une période de 20 jours, la dose totale de bléomycine était de 51,5mg soit 2 à 3 mg par dose avec un espacement de 48 à 72 heures ; le volume de la tumeur avant la chimiothérapie était de 46 mm dans son grand axe, à la fin du traitement par la bléomycine, nous constatons une calcification total du kyste après un contrôle scannographique en 2007. Conclusion Le traitement du craniopharyngiome par la bléomycine insitu a donné des résultats satisfaisants. Notre expérience est la première à l’échelle nationale. En espérant que cette expérience se généralise en Algérie afin de mieux nous éclairés à l’avenir.Mots clés : Craniopharyngiome, réservoir d’Ommaya, bléomycine, calcification.
Impact of climate change on sediment yield in the Mekong River Basin: a case study of the Nam Ou Basin, Lao PDR
Authors: Shrestha B. , Babel M. S. , Maskey S. , van Griensven A. , Uhlenbrook S. , Green A. , Akkharath I.
Published: March 2012

Abstract. This paper evaluates the impact of climate change on sediment yield in the Nam Ou Basin located in Northern Laos. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is used to assess future changes in sediment flux attributable to climate change. Future precipitation and temperature series are constructed through a delta change approach. As per the results, in general, temperature as well as precipitation show increasing trends in both scenarios, A2 and B2. However, monthly precipitation shows both increasing and decreasing trends. The simulation results exhibit that the wet and dry seasonal and annual stream discharges are likely to increase (by up to 15, 17 and 14% under scenario A2; and 11, 5 and 10% under scenario B2 respectively) in the future, which will lead to increased wet and dry seasonal and annual sediment yields (by up to 39, 28 and 36% under scenario A2; and 23, 12 and 22% under scenario B2 respectively). A higher discharge and more sediment flux are expected during the wet seasons, although the changes, percentage-wise, are observed to be higher during the dry months. In conclusion, the sediment yield from the Nam Ou Basin is likely to increase with climate change, which strongly suggests the need for basin-wide sediment management strategies in order to reduce the negative impact of this change.
Cloud-to-ground lightning in Portugal: patterns and dynamical forcing
Authors: Santos J. A. , Reis M. A. , Sousa J. , Leite S. M. , Correia S. , Janeira M. , Fragoso M.
Published: March 2012

Abstract. An analysis of the cloud-to-ground discharges (CGD) over Portugal is carried out using data collected by a network of sensors maintained by the Portuguese Meteorological Institute for 2003–2009 (7 yr). Only cloud-to-ground flashes are considered and negative polarity CGD are largely dominant. The total number of discharges reveals a considerable interannual variability and a large irregularity in their distribution throughout the year. However, it is shown that a large number of discharges occur in the May–September period (71%), with a bimodal distribution that peaks in May and September, with most of the lightning activity recorded in the afternoon (from 16:00 to 18:00 UTC). In spring and autumn the lightning activity tends to be scattered throughout the country, whereas in summer it tends to be more concentrated over northeastern Portugal. Winter generally presents low lightning activity. Furthermore, two significant couplings between the monthly number of days with discharges and the large-scale atmospheric circulation are isolated: a regional forcing, predominantly in summer, and a remote forcing. In fact, the identification of daily lightning regimes revealed three important atmospheric conditions for triggering lightning activity: regional cut-off lows, cold troughs induced by remote low pressure systems and summertime regional low pressures at low-tropospheric levels combined with a mid-tropospheric cold trough.