bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A small wideband planar monopole antenna for mobile wireless devices
Authors: Jung Jihak , Yu Yeonsik , Choi Jaehoon
Published: February 2006

A small wideband planar monopole antenna for mobile wireless devices is designed and implemented. The proposed antenna satisfies the −10‐dB return‐loss requirement from 1.62 to 10.9 GHz. The antenna can easily cover the DCS1800/1900, IMT‐2000, WiBro, WLAN, DMB, and UWB bands at the same time. The experimental and numerical results of the designed wideband antenna are presented and analyzed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 736–740, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21460
Dual‐frequency design of a shorted triangular patch antenna
Authors: Liou Yen‐Yu , Row Jeen‐Sheen , Chen Tsair‐Rong
Published: February 2006

A single‐feed shorted triangular patch antenna that can be operated at two different frequency bands is proposed and studied. The radiation patterns at the two operating frequencies are similar to those of a normal triangular patch antenna operated at its TM11 and TM21 modes, which are a monopolelike conical pattern and a broadside pattern, respectively. In addition, the impedance bandwidth, referring to the 10‐dB return loss, is 18% at the lower operating frequency and 9.4% at the high operating frequency. Details of the antenna designs and the obtained results are presented. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 749–751, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21463
Alternative implementation of combined‐field integral equation using Rao–Wilton–Glisson basis functions for conducting scatterers
Authors: Tan Eng Leong , Ning Jing
Published: February 2006

This paper presents an alternative combined‐field integral equation (CFIE) for conducting scatterers to surmount the nonuniqueness problem around the interior resonance frequencies. The implementation of an alternative CFIE is simplified by transforming the integrals of electric‐field (EFIE) and magnetic‐field (MFIE) integral equations to be of the same type. Through the method of moments (MoM), the commonly used Rao–Wilton–Glisson (RWG) basis and testing functions are exploited in the calculation of the alternative CFIE impedance matrix. The numerical results are illustrated and compared with those of the MFIE. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 753–756, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21465
A novel ultra‐wideband microstrip‐line fed wide‐slot antenna
Authors: Chen D. , Cheng C. H.
Published: February 2006

A novel ultra‐wideband wide‐slot antenna fed with a microstrip‐line is presented. The antenna is composed of a circular microstrip patch and a semicircular arc cut on the ground of the microstrip line. The measured results show that the proposed antenna has an impedance bandwidth of more than 150% (|S11| < −10 dB) and stable radiation patterns over its whole frequency band. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 776–777, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21472
Impact of the pump reflector in double‐pass discrete Raman amplifiers
Authors: Md Ali M. I. , Ahmad A. , Zamzuri A. K. , Mohamad R. , Mahdi M. A.
Published: February 2006

We present the experimental investigation of a counter‐pumped double‐pass discrete Raman amplifier with and without a pump reflector. The pump reflector is constructed with high‐reflectivity fiber Bragg grating. Gain improvement is obtained as a result of pump recycling, in comparison to the conventional double‐pass Raman amplifier. Noise‐figure degradation is found for large signals in the proposed Raman amplifier due to the enhanced double‐Rayleigh scattering and bidirectional pumping caused by the pump reflector. The impact of pump‐to‐signal relative intensity noise in the experimental work is minimized by utilizing Fabry–Perot pump lasers. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 777–779, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21473
A rank‐revealing preconditioner for the fast integral‐equation‐based characterization of electromagnetic crystal devices
Authors: Pissoort Davy , Michielssen Eric , Vande Ginste Dries , Olyslager Femke
Published: February 2006

A novel rank‐revealing shielded‐block preconditioner that accelerates the iterative integral‐equation‐based analysis of wave propagation in electromagnetic crystal (EC) devices is presented. The proposed shielded‐block preconditioner exploits the bandgap character of the background electromagnetic crystal in order to achieve both rapid convergence of the iterative solver as well as a low matrix‐vector multiplication cost. The versatility and computational efficiency of the shielded‐block preconditioner are demonstrated by its application to the analysis of wave propagation in a defectless electromagnetic crystal along an electromagnetic crystal waveguide and out of an electromagnetic crystal horn antenna array. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 783–789, 2006; Pubished online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/mop.21475
Highly efficient LDMOS power amplifier based on class‐E topology
Authors: Lee Jongwoo , Kim Sungwoo , Nam Jungjin , Kim Jangheon , Kim Ildu , Kim Bumman
Published: February 2006

This paper describes a highly efficient class‐E power amplifier. The design has been carried out at 1 GHz using a LDMOS transistor with 10 W of peak envelope power (PEP). Drain efficiency of 76.1%, power‐added efficiency (PAE) of 73.6%, and gain of 14.8 dB are achieved at an output power of 39.1 dBm for a continuous wave (CW) signal. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 783–789, 2006; Pubished online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/mop.21476
Optical fibre PPM using a PIN‐FET receiver and central decision detection
Authors: Cryan R. A. , Sibley M. J. N.
Published: February 2006

An analysis is presented, for the first time, for an optical fibre PPM system employing central decision detection. Firstly, an ideal matched filter in conjunction with a noise‐whitening filter is considered and secondly a raised cosine filter to eliminate intersymbol interference is modelled. It is shown that the latter offers superior performance. The results for a 155.52 Mb/s system predict a sensitivity of −57.6 dBm, an improvement of 6 dB over an equivalent PCM system. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 791–794, 2006; Pubished online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/mop.21477
Even‐mode multiport network model for slotted dual‐band rectangular microstrip antennas
Authors: Deshmukh Amit A. , Kumar Girish
Published: February 2006

An even‐mode multiport network model (MNM) for rectangular microstrip antenna, which reduces computation time to evaluate the input impedance, is discussed. This concept is used to analyze various dual‐band slotted antennas such as a U‐slot loaded rectangular microstrip antenna, an E‐shaped microstrip antenna, and a rectangular microstrip antenna with a pair of slots. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 798–804, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21479
Novel modeling methodology of LC differential oscillator noise
Authors: Mukherjee Jayanta , Roblin Patrick
Published: February 2006

A novel model for analyzing differential LC oscillator noise is presented. The proposed analysis enables us to separately compute the impacts of white and flicker noise on the oscillator phase noise in terms of simple analytical expressions. Further, the analysis also takes into account the contribution of the tail noise of a differential LC oscillator to the total phase noise. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 806–808, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21480
Remarks on “PAE improvement and compensation of small‐signal gain drift due to temperature on power amplifiers through active biasing”
Authors: Bera S. C.
Published: February 2006

In the paper of German Torregrosa‐Penalva et al. 1, a confusing result has been presented. The paper demonstrates the compensation of the small‐signal gain drift with change of temperature and improvement of the FET amplifier's PAE using active biasing, which contradicts the previous published work and our experimental results. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 827–828, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21487
Solid‐state NMR studies of the molecular structure of Taxol
Authors: Ho Yu , Tzou Der‐Lii M. , Chu Feng‐I
Published: February 2006

Solid‐state 13C{1H} cross‐polarization/magic angle spinning spectroscopy (CP/MAS) has been utilized to extract the molecular structure information of Taxol, which is an anti‐tumor therapeutic medicine extracted from the yew bark. The 13C signals have chemical shift values quite consistent with those measured in solution phase, and the overall chemical shift range is over 200 ppm. Notably, most of the 13C resonances of the taxane ring have two clearly resolved spectral components except the resonance peaks of C‐15, C‐16 and C‐17, which are located at the central part of the taxane ring. On the basis of our NMR data, we propose that these doublets originate from two slightly different molecular conformations of the taxane ring and still the central part of the ring remains structurally similar. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the 13C chemical shift difference deduced from the doublet splittings can serve as a direct measure of the structural difference between the two conformations, which could possibly correlate with the anti‐tumor activity of Taxol. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Expression and downregulation of WNT signaling pathway genes in rhesus monkey oocytes and embryos
Authors: Zheng Ping , Vassena Rita , Latham Keith
Published: March 2006

Mammalian WNT genes encode secreted glycoproteins that are conserved homologues of the Drosophila Wingless gene, which plays a crucial role in Drosophila development. Recently, WNT pathway signaling has been implicated in ovarian development, oogenesis, and early development. We sought to evaluate whether these genes may contribute to the formation of healthy human oocytes or embryos, and whether the expression of these genes could provide informative markers of human oocyte and embryo quality. To do this, we employed the primate embryo gene expression resource (PREGER; www.preger.org) to examine expression of mRNAs encoding 38 components of the WNT signaling pathway in rhesus monkey oocytes and embryos as a nonhuman primate model. We observed considerable conservation between rhesus monkey and mouse of expression of WNT, FZD, and effector gene mRNAs, and a generalized downregulation of genes encoding key components of the WNT signaling pathway during preimplantation development. Our results support a role for WNT signaling during oocyte growth or maturation, but not during preimplantation development. Additionally, we observed differences between in vitro cultured and in vivo developing blastocysts, indicating possible effects of culture on WNT signaling during the peri‐implantation period. Mol. Reprod. Dev. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Prediction of specific absorption rate in mother and fetus associated with MRI examinations during pregnancy
Authors: Hand J.W. , Li Y. , Thomas E.L. , Rutherford M.A. , Hajnal J.V.
Published: February 2006

There is uncertainty regarding the risk posed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations to pregnant patients. The most frequently used methods, such as single‐shot fast spin echo (ssFSE), often require operation at the specific absorption rate (SAR) limits imposed by safety guidelines. With the introduction of higher‐field systems, such limits will be even more significant for fetal imaging. An electromagnetic solver based on the time domain finite integration technique (FIT) was used to predict SAR in an anatomically realistic model of a pregnant patient (28 weeks' gestation) associated with the radiofrequency (RF) fields from birdcage body coils typical of 1.5 T and 3 T MRI systems (i.e., operating at approximately 64 and 127 MHz, respectively). The results suggest that 1) the highest local SAR is in the mother, with the fetus being exposed to a peak of approximately 40–60% of that value at 64 MHz, increasing to approximately 50–70% at 127 MHz; 2) compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines requires control of SAR values averaged over 1 g or 10 g of tissue, respectively; and 3) compliance with Medical Device Agency (MDA) guidelines requires control of the maximum SAR10g within the fetus. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Feasibility of the single‐bolus strategy for measuring the partition coefficient of Gd‐DTPA in patients with myocardial infarction: Independence of image delay time and maturity of scar
Authors: Thornhill Rebecca E. , Prato Frank S. , Wisenberg Gerald , White James A. , Nowell Judith , Sauer Anya
Published: February 2006

The partition coefficient of Gd‐DTPA (λ) is elevated in infarcted relative to normal myocardium. Although MRI following an infusion of Gd‐DTPA allows for the quantification of λ, infarct imaging is more routinely performed using a bolus. In this study we sought to determine how image delay time and time postinfarction influence the estimation of λ by the bolus strategy. Both infusion and bolus imaging were performed twice in the same group of patients (N = 9): once at 3–4 weeks and again 6 months after reperfusion therapy for myocardial infarction (MI). Bolus estimates of λ were compared with those calculated after 60 min infusion, and comparisons were repeated at 6 months. The λ of infarcted myocardium was significantly greater than that of normal tissue, irrespective of either the technique used or the time postinfarction (P < 0.0001, for each). The concordance (Rc) between bolus and infusion estimates of λ was >0.83 for all image delays >4 min postinjection, and Rc at 2 min (0.78 ± 0.04) was significantly less than Rc determined for longer image delay times (P = 0.009). Rc did not change with time postinfarction (P = 0.604). Thus, the bolus strategy can be used to provide estimates of λ that are stable from 1–6 months postinfarction and independent of image delay time. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Noninvasive 1H/13C magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging of the intratumoral distribution of temozolomide
Authors: Kato Yoshinori , Okollie Baasil , Artemov Dmitri
Published: February 2006

Among the primary reasons for failure of anticancer chemotherapy are insufficient drug delivery to the tumor because of inadequate tumor vascularization and/or the antivascular effects of chemotherapy. Thus, determining the spatial intratumoral distribution of anticancer agents by noninvasive methods such as MRI/MRSI is important for monitoring cancer chemotherapy. We therefore studied the distribution of the 13C‐labeled anticancer agent temozolomide ([13C]TMZ) in MCF‐7 tumor‐bearing mice using 1H/13C MRSI. In phantom studies inverse 13C detection with heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence (HMQC) provided a 2.3‐fold gain in signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) over direct nuclear overhauser effect (NOE)‐enhanced 13C‐MRS. This enabled detection of [13C]TMZ in the micromolar range. Three‐dimensional (3D) maps of drug distribution with a nominal 2.5‐mm isotropic resolution were obtained following intraperitoneal administration of [13C]TMZ, for a total dose of 200 mg/kg. The status of the blood supply of tumors was assessed by gadolinium (Gd)‐enhanced dynamic MRI. Nonuniform distributions of the drug and the contrast agent were detected in the tumors. Although carbon‐13 MRSI has an inherently low sensitivity for detection, the novel technique described here demonstrates the feasibility of studying the delivery of 13C‐labeled drugs and contrast uptake during the course of chemotherapy. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Comparison of MRI and positron emission tomography for measuring myocardial perfusion reserve in healthy humans
Authors: Pärkkä Jussi P. , Niemi Pekka , Saraste Antti , Koskenvuo Juha W. , Komu Markku , Oikonen Vesa , Toikka Jyri O. , Kiviniemi Tuomas O. , Knuuti Juhani , Sakuma Hajime , Hartiala Jaakko J.
Published: February 2006

Myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR, defined as the ratio of the maximum myocardial blood flow (MBF) to the baseline) is an indicator of coronary artery disease and myocardial microvascular abnormalities. First‐pass contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE‐MRI) using gadolinium (Gd)‐DTPA as a contrast agent (CA) has been used to assess MPR. Tracer kinetic models based on compartmental analysis of the CA uptake have been developed to provide quantitative measures of MBF by MRI. To study the accuracy of Gd‐DTPA first‐pass MRI and kinetic modeling for quantitative analysis of myocardial perfusion and MPR during dipyridamole infusion, we conducted a comparison with positron emission tomography (PET) in 18 healthy males (age = 40 ± 14 years). Five planes were acquired at every second heartbeat with a 1.5T scanner using a saturation recovery turboFLASH sequence. A perfusion‐related parameter, the unidirectional influx constant (Ki), was computed in three coronary artery territories. There was a significant correlation for both dipyridamole‐induced flow (0.70, P = 0.001) and MPR (0.48, P = 0.04) between MRI and PET. However, we noticed that MRI provided lower MPR values compared to PET (2.5 ± 1.0 vs. 4.3 ± 1.8). We conclude that MRI supplemented with tracer kinetic modeling can be used to quantify myocardial perfusion. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy
Authors: Tawil Rabi , Van Der Maarel Silvère M.
Published: February 2006

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a dominantly inherited disorder with an initially restricted pattern of weakness. Early involvement of the facial and scapular stabilizer muscles results in a distinctive clinical presentation. Progression is descending, with subsequent involvement of either the distal anterior leg or hip‐girdle muscles. There is wide variability in age at onset, disease severity, and side‐to‐side symmetry, which is evident even within affected members of the same family. Although FSHD is considered a relatively benign dystrophy by some, as many as 20% of patients eventually become wheelchair‐bound. Associated nonskeletal muscle manifestations include high‐frequency hearing loss as well as retinal telangiectasias, both of which are rarely symptomatic. The causal genetic lesion in FSHD was described over a decade ago, raising hope that knowledge about its molecular and cellular pathophysiology was soon to follow. In the vast majority of cases, FSHD results from a heterozygous partial deletion of a critical number of repetitive elements (D4Z4) on chromosome 4q35; yet, to date, no causal gene has been identified. The accumulating evidence points to a complex, perhaps unique, molecular genetic mechanism. The absence of detectable expressed sequences from D4Z4, the association of FSHD‐causing 4q35 deletions with a specific distal genomic sequence (4qA allele), altered DNA methylation patterns on 4q35, as well as other direct and indirect evidence point to epigenetic mechanisms. As a consequence, partial deletion of D4Z4 results in a (local) chromatin change and ultimately results in the loss of appropriate control of gene expression. There is at present no effective treatment for FSHD. A better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology is needed to design targeted interventions. Despite these limitations, however, two randomized controlled clinical trials have been conducted on FSHD. These trials, along with a previous natural history study, have helped to better define outcome measures for future trials in FSHD as well as other dystrophies. Muscle Nerve, 2006
Variations of the prize‐collecting Steiner tree problem
Authors: Chapovska Olena , Punnen Abraham P.
Published: February 2006

The prize‐collecting Steiner tree problem is well known to be NP‐hard. We consider seven variations of this problem generalizing several well‐studied bottleneck and minsum problems with feasible solutions as trees of a graph. Four of these problems are shown to be solvable in O(m+n log n) time and the remaining are shown to be NP‐hard where n is the number of nodes and m is the number of edges in the underlying graph. For one of these polynomially solvable cases, we also provide an O(m) algorithm generalizing and unifying known linear time algorithms for the bottleneck spanning tree problem, bottleneck s−t path problem, and bottleneck Steiner tree problem. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 47(4), 199–205 2006
The role of earnings and financial risk in distributional analyses of Social Security reform measures
Authors: Hungerford Thomas L.
Published: March 2006

The Social Security Trustees project that the Social Security program faces longterm financing difficulties. Several proposals that have been offered to shore‐up the finances of the Social Security program would create individual retirement accounts funded with part of the payroll tax. The authors of many of these proposals claim that future beneficiaries will be better off under their new system than under the current system. This study examines the consequences of differing earnings patterns and year‐to‐year differences in asset returns have for Social Security retired worker benefits in three Social Security reform proposals. Incorporating both actual earnings histories and variation in asset returns shows that none of the three individual account plans can always deliver benefits that are higher than payable current‐law benefits. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
Does a more centralized urban form raise housing prices?
Authors: Wassmer Robert W. , Baass Michelle C.
Published: March 2006

This paper examines the relationship between various quantitative measures of urban centralization and urban housing prices through the use of a 2000 data set from the 452 Census designated urbanized areas in the United States. An empirical study of this type is necessary because: (1) the theoretical influence of creating more centralized urban areas—or what many would consider less “sprawl”—on what people pay for housing is indeterminate, (2) now popular “Smart Growth” policies advocate more centralized urban areas, and (3) some have argued that a cost of this centralization is an increase in the price of homes. After controlling for differences across United States urbanized areas in residents' economic status and demographics, number and type of households, climate, household growth, nonresidential land uses, and the structural characteristics of houses, we find that a more centralized area exhibits a lower median home value and percentage of homes in an upper‐end price category. Therefore, we offer no evidence to support the contention that a successful effort to further centralize an urban area raises the price of homes in that urban area. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
Total activin A in maternal blood as a marker of preterm delivery in low‐risk asymptomatic patients
Authors: Farina Antonio , Lambert‐Messerlian Geralyn M. , Canick Jacob A. , Banzola Irina , Carletti Angela , Concu Manuela , Tempesta Annalisa , Gabrielli Sandro , Morano Danila , Rizzo Nicola
Published: February 2006

Objectives

To retrospectively evaluate whether increased serum levels of total activin A (t‐activin A) are found in women who subsequently experience preterm delivery (PTD).

Methods

Data on maternal serum t‐activin A concentrations were available from a total of 84 singleton pregnant women and included 14 PTD pregnancies, each matched for gestational age and length of freezer storage, with 5 control pregnancies having term delivery (TD). Analyte values were expressed as multiple(s) of the control median.

Results

The median t‐activin A for controls and cases was 1.00 ± 0.45 and 1.27 ± 0.53 MoM, respectively. Univariate analysis of the MoM values was performed using the Kaplan‐Meier algorithm. Differences in the rate of delivery using a t‐activin A MoM cut‐off of ≥1 SD (equivalent to 1.26 MoM) were analysed using the log rank test. The cumulative rate of PTD (<37 weeks) was significantly higher for women with t‐activin A concentrations ≥1.26 MoM than those with t‐activin A concentrations below this cut‐off (40% vs.. 10%, p‐value = 0.0218 log rank test).

Conclusions

T‐activin A concentration is higher in women who will develop PTD in a low‐risk population. T‐activin A values are inversely proportional to the time elapsed from blood test to delivery. Prospective studies would determine the precise discriminability of this marker for PTD and the best week for performing the blood test, allowing for a proper calculation of the detection rate and a positive predictive value. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Abnormal abdominal situs: what and how should we look for?
Authors: Salomon Laurent J. , Baumann Clarisse , Delezoide Anne‐Lise , Oury Jean‐François , Pariente Danièle , Sebag Guy , Garel Catherine
Published: February 2006

Background

Prenatal management of abnormal abdominal situs is challenging since prognosis is highly variable depending on the associated malformations.

Methods

The authors report on two cases of ambiguous abdominal situs. Prenatal management included specialized ultrasound examination of fetal anatomy and heart, amniocentesis for determination of the fetal karyotype and fetal abdominal MR.

Results

In both cases, abnormal situs was associated with other abdominal anomalies such as azygous continuation, biliary atresia, bowel obstruction and polysplenia. Fetal MR was a useful additional tool in the assessment of fetal abdominal anatomy in both cases.

Conclusions

On the basis of these reports, the literature is reviewed and a prenatal management scheme is proposed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prenatal diagnosis of a large de novo terminal deletion of chromosome 11q
Authors: Bœhm D. , Laccone F. , Burfeind P. , Herold S. , Schubert C. , Zoll B. , Männer J. , Pauer H. U. , Bartels I.
Published: February 2006

Objective

To describe the prenatal phenotype of the 11q deletion syndrome (Jacobsen syndrome) and present the molecular characterization of the deletion in the case presented.

Case

Ultrasound at 18 and 20 weeks of gestation, on a 34‐year‐old woman who presented for amniocentesis, revealed slow movements, oligohydramnios and dilatation of the cerebral ventricles in the fetus. Maternal and paternal ages were 34 and 38 years, respectively.

Results

Prenatal karyotyping of cultured amniotic fluid cells revealed an 11q terminal deletion, 46,XX,del(11)(q23) (Jacobsen syndrome). Real‐time quantitative PCR analysis was used to identify and map the breakpoint physically to a 45‐kb region located 14.5 Mb from the 11q telomere. Polymorphic DNA marker analysis showed that DNA sequences on the paternally derived chromosome are deleted.

At autopsy, facial dysmorphism without major malformations was recorded. Examination of the internal organs disclosed the following abnormalities: a Meckels' diverticulum of 4‐mm length, adhesion between the gall bladder and the transverse colon, and bilaterally bilobed lungs without further situs anomalies.

Conclusion

Our case demonstrates significant phenotypic variability of Jacobsen syndrome at midtrimester pregnancy; the syndrome may be manifested at this stage only by mild to moderate ventriculomegaly of the brain. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Methods for evaluation of medication adherence and persistence using automated databases
Authors: Andrade Susan E. , Kahler Kristijan H. , Frech Feride , Chan K. Arnold
Published: March 2006

Purpose

Our aim was to perform a systematic review of the methods currently being used to assess adherence and persistence in pharmacoepidemiological and pharmacoeconomic studies using automated databases.

Methods

A MEDLINE search of English language literature was performed to identify studies published between January 1, 1980 and March 31, 2004 that evaluated adherence, compliance, persistence, switching, or discontinuations of medications using automated dispensing data (pharmacy records). Two study investigators independently reviewed the abstracts and articles to determine relevant studies according to specified criteria.

Results

A total of 136 articles met the criteria for evaluation. The types of measures of adherence and persistence commonly reported include the medication possession ratio and related measures of medication availability (77 studies), discontinuation/continuation (58 studies), switching (34 studies), medication gaps (13 studies), refill compliance (7 studies), and retentiveness/turbulence (4 studies). Specific issues considered include the assessment of exposed time to drug therapy and specification of the follow‐up period.

Conclusions

The terminology, definitions, and methods to determine adherence and persistence differ greatly in the published literature. The appropriateness and choice of the specific measure employed should be determined by the overall goals of the study, as well as the relative advantages and limitations of the measures. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The extracellular proteome of Bacillus licheniformis grown in different media and under different nutrient starvation conditions
Authors: Voigt Birgit , Schweder Thomas , Sibbald Mark J. J. B. , Albrecht Dirk , Ehrenreich Armin , Bernhardt Jörg , Feesche Jörg , Maurer Karl‐Heinz , Gottschalk Gerhard , van Dijl Jan Maarten , Hecker Michael
Published: March 2006

No abstracts.
Formation of honeycomb‐structured, porous films via breath figures with different polymer architectures
Authors: Stenzel Martina H. , Barner‐Kowollik C. , Davis Thomas P.
Published: March 2006

Honeycomb‐structured, porous films with pore sizes ranging from 200 nm to 7 μm were prepared with breath figures. The regularity of the hexagonal array and the pore size was influenced by the polymer architecture and the casting conditions. A nanoscaled suborder next to the microarray was obtained with amphiphilic block copolymers. These films were shown to be suitable as surfaces for cell growth. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2363–2375, 2006
Poly(arylene thioether) synthesis via nitro‐displacement reaction
Authors: In Insik , Kim Sang Youl
Published: March 2006

High molecular weight poly(arylene thioether)s containing trifluoromethyl groups were prepared through the aromatic nucleophilic nitro‐displacement reaction of a dinitro monomer with aromatic dithiols. The high reactivity of the monomer, 4,4′‐dinitro‐3,3′‐bis(trifluoromethyl)biphenyl(1), activated by o‐trifluoromethyl groups and complete exclusion of oxygen was critical for the successful polymerization without any disulfide formation. The resulting trifluoromethylated poly(arylene thioether)s (P1 and P2) were amorphous, dissolved in common organic solvents, and showed superior thermal properties compared to commercial poly(phenylene sulfide). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2440–2447, 2006
Synthesis and optical and electroluminescent properties of novel conjugated polyelectrolytes and their neutral precursors derived from fluorene and benzoselenadiazole
Authors: Huang Fei , Hou Lintao , Shen Huilin , Yang Renqiang , Hou Qiong , Cao Yong
Published: March 2006

Novel copolymers derived from amino‐functionalized fluorene‐ and selenium‐containing heterocycles [2,1,3‐benzoselenadiazole (BSeD)] were synthesized by the palladium‐catalyzed Suzuki coupling method. Their quaternized salt polyelectrolytes of corresponding compositions were obtained by a postpolymerization treatment. The resulting copolymers were soluble in polar solvents. An efficient energy transfer due to exciton trapping on the BSeD sites was observed. Devices from such copolymers emitted orange‐red light peaked at 560–610 nm. All the polymers showed good device performance with high‐work‐function metal Al as a cathode without the use of an additional electron‐injection layer and are promising candidates for polymer light‐emitting diode applications. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2521–2532, 2006
Effect of the polymer matrix on the formation of silver nanoparticles in polymer–silver salt complex membranes
Authors: Kim Jong Hak , Min Byoung Ryul , Won Jongok , Kang Yong Soo
Published: February 2006

When polymer–silver salt complex membranes were exposed to UV irradiation, the separation performances of both the permeance and selectivity for propylene–propane decreased, which was primarily attributed to the reduction of the silver ions in the membranes to silver nanoparticles. Here, the effect of the polymer matrix on the formation of silver nanoparticles in the polymer–silver salt complex membranes was investigated. This effect was assessed for the complexes of two kinds of silver salts (AgBF4 and AgCF3SO3) with several polymeric ligands containing three different carbonyl groups, including poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) with an amide group, poly(vinyl methyl ketone) (PVMK) with a ketone group, and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with an ester group. UV–vis spectra and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images clearly indicated that the reduction rate of the silver ions has the following order in the various polymer matrices: PVP > PVMK > PMMA, whereas the size and the distribution of the nanoparticles exhibited the reverse order. The tendency to form silver nanoparticles was explained in terms of the differences between the comparative strengths of the interactions of the silver ions with the different carbonyl oxygens in the matrices, as well as that of the silver ions with counteranions, which was characterized by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and FT‐Raman spectroscopy. It was concluded that when the concentration of free silver ions was low due to weak polymer–silver ion and strong silver ion–anion interactions, as found with PMMA, the reduction rate of silver ions to silver nanoparticles was slow. Therefore, the PMMA–silver complex membranes were less sensitive to decreases in separation performance upon UV irradiation than compared to the PVP membranes. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 1168–1178, 2006
PET/SiO2 nanocomposites prepared by cryomilling
Authors: Zhu Y. G. , Li Z. Q. , Zhang D. , Tanimoto T.
Published: February 2006

The mixed powders of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and SiO2 has been subjected to cryomilling. The evolution of microstructure with time was characterized using scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, field emission scanning electron microscope, and laser diffraction particle size analyzer. It was shown that, upon cryomilling for 10 h, SiO2 nano particles were well deconglomerated into single particles (∼30 nm) that get homogeneously dispersed in PET matrix. The resulted PET/SiO2 primary particles were flake‐shaped with a size of 400 nm. These primary composite particles agglomerated to form secondary composite particles with an average size about 7.6 μm. A three‐stage model was purposed for the formation mechanism of the nanocomposite structures induced by cryomilling. Our evidences suggest that cryomilling is a capable and promising technique for the production of polymer/inorganic nanocomposites. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 1161–1167, 2006
Chemical compound navigator: A web‐based chem‐BLAST, chemical taxonomy‐based search engine for browsing compounds
Authors: Prasanna M.D. , Vondrasek Jiri , Wlodawer Alexander , Rodriguez H. , Bhat T. N.
Published: February 2006

A novel technique to annotate, query, and analyze chemical compounds has been developed and is illustrated by using the inhibitor data on HIV protease‐inhibitor complexes. In this method, all chemical compounds are annotated in terms of standard chemical structural fragments. These standard fragments are defined by using criteria, such as chemical classification; structural, chemical, or functional groups; and commercial, scientific or common names or synonyms. These fragments are then organized into a data tree based on their chemical substructures. Search engines have been developed to use this data tree to enable query on inhibitors of HIV protease (http://xpdb.nist.gov/hivsdb/hivsdb.html). These search engines use a new novel technique, Chemical Block Layered Alignment of Substructure Technique (Chem‐BLAST) to search on the fragments of an inhibitor to look for its chemical structural neighbors. This novel technique to annotate and query compounds lays the foundation for the use of the Semantic Web concept on chemical compounds to allow end users to group, sort, and search structural neighbors accurately and efficiently. During annotation, it enables the attachment of “meaning” (i.e., semantics) to data in a manner that far exceeds the current practice of associating “metadata” with data by creating a knowledge base (or ontology) associated with compounds. Intended users of the technique are the research community and pharmaceutical industry, for which it will provide a new tool to better identify novel chemical structural neighbors to aid drug discovery. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
QBES: Predicting real values of solvent accessibility from sequences by efficient, constrained energy optimization
Authors: Xu Zhigang , Zhang Chi , Liu Song , Zhou Yaoqi
Published: March 2006

Solvent accessibility, one of the key properties of amino acid residues in proteins, can be used to assist protein structure prediction. Various approaches such as neural network, support vector machines, probability profiles, information theory, Bayesian theory, logistic function, and multiple linear regression have been developed for solvent accessibility prediction. In this article, a much simpler quadratic programming method based on the buriability parameter set of amino acid residues is developed. The new method, called QBES (Quadratic programming and Buriability Energy function for Solvent accessibility prediction), is reasonably accurate for predicting the real value of solvent accessibility. By using a dataset of 30 proteins to optimize three parameters, the average correlation coefficients between the predicted and actual solvent accessibility are about 0.5 for all four independent test sets ranging from 126 to 513 proteins. The method is efficient. It takes only 20 min for a regular PC to obtain results of 30 proteins with an average length of 263 amino acids. Although the proposed method is less accurate than a few more sophisticated methods based on neural network or support vector machines, this is the first attempt to predict solvent accessibility by energy optimization with constraints. Possible improvements and other applications of the method are discussed. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Reducing CDK4/6‐p16INK4a interface. Computational alanine scanning of a peptide bound to CDK6 protein
Authors: Villacañas Óscar , Rubio‐Martinez Jaime
Published: February 2006

The tumor suppressor gene p16INK4a is commonly found altered in numerous and different types of cancer. The encoded protein arrests cell cycle in G1 phase by binding to CDK4 and CDK6, inhibiting their kinase function. In 1995, a 20‐residue peptide, extracted from p16INK4a protein sequence, was discovered that retains the cell cycle inhibition properties of the endogenous tumor suppressor. However, its structure has not been determined yet. In this article, the features of a theoretical structure of the peptide bound to CDK6 are reported. The complex was modeled from CDK6‐p16INK4a X‐ray crystal structure and through molecular dynamics. Final structure was assessed by comparing computed binding free energy changes, when single‐alanine substitutions were brought about on the peptide, to experimental data. Better concordance was obtained when including a high level of solvation effects. Solute–solvent vdW energy and electrostatic energy between solute and first shells of water, computed through a force field and considering explicit waters, were also to be included to achieve reasonably good concordance between theoretical and experimental data. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Electronic and mechanical properties of wurtzite type SiC nanowires
Authors: Durandurdu Murat
Published: March 2006

Pure and hydrogen terminated silicon carbide (SiC) nanowires grown along [0001] direction in the wurtzite structure are studied using ab initio density functional theory calculations. The pure wires preserve their crystalline‐like topology with only small relaxations on their surface. Also, the pure wires are semiconducting, but their band gap energy decreases with decreasing diameter due to the presence of surface states. As expected, hydrogen saturation induces a broadening of the band gap energy because of the quantum confinement effect. SiC nanowires are also predicted to be very rigid. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Multipurpose image recognition based on active search and adaptive fuzzy inference neural network
Authors: Iyatomi Hitoshi , Hagiwara Masafumi
Published: February 2006

This paper presents a versatile image recognition method, combining conventional pattern matching and a learning system. The proposed system first quickly determines candidate regions containing the target object in the image, and then examines the result by using the learning system. In the pattern matching, “active search” is used, which quickly extracts the target object using multiple two‐dimensional reference images. As a learning system, an adaptive fuzzy inference neural network (AFINN) is used, which can perform knowledge processing. The AFINN automatically constructs the inference model, such as the selection of the necessary input information, and automatically acquires the inference rules through learning. Consequently, by applying the AFINN to the image recognition problem, highly versatile object recognition is realized without requiring explicit knowledge for recognition. The proposed system can be applied to a wide range of problems, since diversified objects can be recognized by simply modifying the registered reference images. In this paper, the method is applied to a sample problem, consisting of an image of the laboratory containing various objects, such as computers, monitors, and chairs, and it is verified that high recognition accuracy can be realized. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 37(3): 69–79, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.20269
Rapid discriminative learning based on misclassification measure
Authors: Rokui Jun
Published: February 2006

The current research is based on Minimum Classification Error Learning (MCE/GPD) using Generalized Probabilistic Descent (GPD), which is known as a high‐performance discriminative learning method. MCE/GPD is an excellent recognition technique that has been applied to speech recognition because of its high recognition performance and its ability to deal with variable‐length vectors. However, like other recognition techniques, it suffers from the problem that recognition performance drops for untrained data (generalization ability problem). There is also the practical fault that training time is lengthy due to the complexity of the algorithm. In the current research, the authors propose a new learning method that improves the generalization ability by introducing regularized learning to avoid ill‐posed problems and increases learning speed according to a hierarchical model arrangement, which should solve these two problems. They used a hierarchical neural network for performance evaluation. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 37(3): 58–68, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.20353
Reasoning with inconsistent knowledge base
Authors: Tahara Ikuo , Nobesawa Shiho
Published: February 2006

There are several approaches to reasoning from an inconsistent knowledge base, such as the consistency‐based method and the argument‐based method, from the point of view of the definition of conclusions derived from an inconsistent knowledge base. This paper proposes a treatment focusing on the condition for assuring the validity of conclusions derived from an inconsistent knowledge base. A consistency‐based method performs deductive reasoning with consistent subsets selected from an inconsistent knowledge base. There exist maximal consistent sets which derive different conclusions inconsistent with each other. Thus, we propose a condition to distinguish these sets in order to assure the validity of conclusions. On the other hand, an argument‐based method takes an argument that consists of a conclusion and a consistent knowledge base which derives the conclusion. This method selects an acceptable argument according to the alternative relation of possible arguments, as a conclusion has arguments from which it is derived and alternative arguments. Thus, we propose a condition which undercuts alternative arguments, in order to assure the validity of a conclusion. We show that these two methods are essentially identical with regard to the validity of a given conclusion by proving these conditions' equivalence. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 37(3): 41–48, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.20391
An extraction method for apoptotic cells from videomicroscopy images
Authors: Haseyama Miki , Sasamura Yukari , Kitajima Hideo
Published: February 2006

An automatic extraction method for apoptotic cells from videomicroscopy images is proposed. The edges of the apoptotic cells in the microscopy images are gentle and thick because of the fluorescence enzyme used for the observation; their shapes are distorted circles; the apoptotic cells also neighbor on the other cells. Since the apoptotic cells cannot be easily extracted, they are generally extracted by visual recognition. Therefore, we propose a method to automatically extract only apoptotic cells based on shape features. The proposed method, in the first stage, extracts areas with strong possibilities that apoptotic cells are included. In the second stage, the method applies shape‐feature analysis to the extracted areas. By using these two stages, the proposed method can accurately extract the apoptotic cells without increasing computational costs. Further, when videomicroscopy images are acquired as an image sequence, the proposed method can extract the cells more accurately by comparing the extraction results in neighboring frames. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 37(3): 32–40, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.20410
Grunderneuerung der Bahnsteighallen im Hauptbahnhof Frankfurt am Main – Ein Jahrhundertbauwerk aus Stahl und Glas erstrahlt in neuem Glanz
Authors: Ableidinger Gerhard , Reiter Heinrich , Labonte Michael
Published: March 2006

Den Charme gründerzeitlicher Ingenieurkunst zu erhalten unter gleichzeitiger Anpassung eines Bauwerkes in seiner Funktion an die Anforderungen des 20. Jahrhunderts und darüber hinaus – eine solche Aufgabe erfordert individuelle Denk‐ und Lösungsansätze ganz besonderer Art. Die MCE Industrietechnik Linz GmbH & Co, federführend in der Arge Bahnsteighallen Hbf Frankfurt (M), hat sich dieser Aufgabe gestellt und geht nach inzwischen über vierjähriger Bauzeit davon aus, dieser Aufgabe in vollem Umfang auch gerecht geworden zu sein.