bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Concolic Test Generation and the Cloud
Authors: Kosmatov Nikolai
Published: October 2012

Software testing in the cloud can reduce the need for hardware and software resources and offer a flexible and efficient alternative to the traditional software testing process. A major obstacle to the wider use of testing in the cloud is related to security issues. This chapter focuses on test generation techniques that combine concrete and symbolic execution of the program under test. Their deployment in the cloud leads to complex technical and security issues that do not occur for other testing methods. This chapter describes recent online deployment of such a technique implemented by the PathCrawler test generation tool for C programs, where the author faced, studied, and solved many of these issues. Mixed concrete/symbolic testing techniques not only constitute a challenging target for deployment in the cloud, but they also provide a promising way to improve the reliability of cloud environments. The author argues that these techniques can be efficiently used to help to create trustworthy cloud environments.
Soft-Checkpointing Based Hybrid Synchronous Checkpointing Protocol for Mobile Distributed Systems
Authors: Kumar Parveen , Garg Rachit
Published: October 2012

Minimum-process coordinated checkpointing is a suitable approach to introduce fault tolerance in mobile distributed systems transparently. In order to balance the checkpointing overhead and the loss of computation on recovery, the authors propose a hybrid checkpointing algorithm, wherein an all-process coordinated checkpoint is taken after the execution of minimum-process coordinated checkpointing algorithm for a fixed number of times. In coordinated checkpointing, if a single process fails to take its checkpoint; all the checkpointing effort goes waste, because, each process has to abort its tentative checkpoint. In order to take the tentative checkpoint, an MH (Mobile Host) needs to transfer large checkpoint data to its local MSS over wireless channels. In this regard, the authors propose that in the first phase, all concerned MHs will take soft checkpoint only. Soft checkpoint is similar to mutable checkpoint. In this case, if some process fails to take checkpoint in the first phase, then MHs need to abort their soft checkpoints only. The effort of taking a soft checkpoint is negligibly small as compared to the tentative one. In the minimum-process coordinated checkpointing algorithm, an effort has been made to minimize the number of useless checkpoints and blocking of processes using probabilistic approach.
Resource Management in Real Time Distributed System with Security Constraints
Authors: Tripathi Sarsij , Yadav Rama Shankar , Ranvijay  , Jana Rajib L.
Published: October 2012

The world has become a global village. Today applications are developed which require sharing of resources dispersed geographically to fulfill the need of the users. In most cases applications turn out to be time bound thus leading to Real Time Distributed System (RTDS). Online Banking, Online Multimedia Applications, Real Time Databases, and Missile tracking systems are some examples of these types of applications. These applications face many challenges in the present scenario particularly in resource management, load balancing, security, and deadlock. The heterogeneous nature of the system exacerbates the challenges. This paper provides a widespread survey of research work reported in RTDS. This review has covered the work done in the field of resource management, load balancing, deadlock, and security. The challenges involved in tackling these issues is presented and future directions are discussed.
A Meta-Design Model for Creative Distributed Collaborative Design
Authors: Zhu Li , Barricelli Barbara R. , Iacob Claudia
Published: October 2012

As collaboration in creating software systems becomes more complex and frequent among multidisciplinary teams, finding new strategies to support this collaboration becomes crucial. The challenge is to bridge the communication gaps among stakeholders with diverse cultural and professional backgrounds. Moreover, future uses and issues cannot be completely anticipated at design time, and it is necessary to develop open-ended software environments that can be evolved and tailored in opportunistic ways to tackle co-evolution of users and systems. A conceptual meta-design model, the Hive-Mind Space (HMS) model, has been proposed to support multidisciplinary design teams’ collaboration and foster their situated innovation. The model provides localized habitable environments for diverse stakeholders and tools for them to tailor the system, allowing the co-evolution of systems and practices. The authors explore the possibility of utilizing boundary objects within the HMS model to facilitate the communication amongst stakeholders as well as their participation in the creative distributed design process. Two concrete case studies, a factory automation and the Valchiavenna Portal, demonstrate the implementation of the HMS model and provide a possible solution to overcome the complex, evolving and emerging nature of the collaborative design.
Information Communication Technology and a Systemic Disaster Management System Model
Authors: Santos-Reyes Jaime , Beard Alan N.
Published: October 2012

This paper presents some aspects of the ‘communication’ processes within a Systemic Disaster Management System (SDMS) model. Information and communication technology (ICT) plays a key part in managing natural disasters. However, it has been contended that ICT should not be used in ‘isolation’ but it should be seen as ‘part’ of the ‘whole’ system for managing disaster risk. Further research is needed in order to illustrate the full application of the ICT within the context of the developed model.
Global e-Agriculture and Rural Development
Authors: Maumbe Blessing
Published: October 2012

E-agriculture is a newly emerging field that is receiving increasing attention from governments, agribusiness industry, and the agriculture community worldwide. Over the past decade, the world has witnessed major growth and expansion of e-agriculture projects that integrate information and communication technologies in agriculture value chains and rural development. The rise of e-agriculture has led to increased focus on the need to fully understand its impact on rural development, food security, and poverty alleviation by policy makers, researchers, and farmers. Global institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Summit for Information Society (WSIS), and the World Bank have identified the development of e-agriculture as a key priority. This chapter sets the platform for a key publication designed to advance the global debate on e-agriculture development and policy. The chapter outlines key insights into the conceptualization of e-agriculture, innovative project initiatives, e-value creation, lessons learnt, and emerging challenges associated with e-agriculture implementation in various parts of the world. The main lesson is that e-agriculture is a growing field that is pivotal to the global agriculture development agenda in the 21st century.
ICTs in Agribusinesses
Authors: Wims Pádraig
Published: October 2012

This chapter critiques the level of adoption of ICTs among the farming community in Ireland and compares this with adoption by the general population. It was found that although computer access and internet use among Irish households have been increasing rapidly in recent years, farm households have been lagging behind in adoption of these technologies. Broadband access has been particularly problematic in rural areas, where farm households are located. The development of a novel extranet service by a large agribusiness is also evaluated in this chapter; this service allows dairy farmer clients to access all information relevant to their accounts with this agribusiness through a secure website. A structured survey of clients was carried out, and respondents were stratified on the basis of their usage of this extranet service. It was found that three factors are constraining adoption and use of ICTs among Irish farmers: low levels of computer skills; lack of awareness of the potential of ICTs to contribute to the farm business; and thirdly, access to Broadband in rural areas. These are fundamental problems that constrain adoption of ICT.
Implementation of E-Learning in Forest Workers’ Training for Sustainable Forest Management
Authors: Tsioras Petros A.
Published: October 2012

Forest workers training is recognized as a necessary precondition for sustainable forest management. As sustainable forest management sets higher levels of standards, the adoption of new information and communication technologies (ICT) in forest workers’ training and extension systems is a necessity in the Information Age, which will help the current and future workforce to better fit in the increasingly digitalized and demanding world of forest work. However, limitations on the use of ICTs do exist and should be seriously taken into consideration. Digital divide is evident both in developed and developing countries, making the implementation of ICT applications difficult, especially in the case of African and Asian countries. Furthermore, the development of e-learning systems for forest professionals must adhere to very specific design standards and educational theories. In this context, research should focus on the needs of the end-users at regional or national level. However, all efforts will be ineffective unless they are incorporated and facilitated by a stable framework of political and financial support. The combination of long-term planning, clear target setting, and cost effectiveness is critical for the successful promotion of sustainable forest management through e-learning.
Culture Clashes
Authors: Reich Pauline C.
Published: October 2012

This chapter reviews fundamental U.S. constitutional law in relation to privacy; the various United States federal privacy laws in relation to government surveillance of online communications by private citizens; cases related to these issues, recent amendments and proposed amendments to U.S. law; comparisons to law in other countries. It concludes that this particular area of law, at least in the United States, United Kingdom, India, Australia and Canada, which continues to be hotly debated, has no resolution in sight, and the difficult problem of balancing national security and privacy while maintaining constitutional protections in democracies is still a problem in search of a solution.
What is Cyberterrorism and How Real is the Threat?
Authors: Conway Maura
Published: October 2012

This chapter critically analyzes the academic literature on cyberterrorism produced between 1996 and 2009. It begins by detailing the origins of the concept and follows up with a brief overview of the cyberterrorism literature produced to date. The remainder of the chapter is divided into five major sections. The first of these is concerned with the definitional debates surrounding cyberterrorism, particularly the question of whether disruption of data is too minimal, given the necessary motivational factors are present, to be classed as cyberterrorism and destruction is necessary. The second and third sections are devoted to untangling cyberterrorism from hacking and cyberterrorism from cybercrime, respectively. Section four is focused upon strategies for separating the cyberterrorism hype from the reality, while section five departs from the cyberterrorism literature to draw attention to an argument from the “terrorism as communication” approach that, although it dismisses cyberterrorism as an imminent threat and thus bears similarities to much of the literature discussed in this chapter, introduces a new and different rationale for same.
Optimal Management of Cloud Centers with Different Arrival Modes for Cloud Computing Environment
Authors: Goswami Veena , Patra Sudhansu Shekhar , Mund G. B.
Published: October 2012

Cloud computing is a new computing paradigm in which information and computing services can be accessed from a Web browser by clients. Understanding of the characteristics of computer service performance has become critical for service applications in cloud computing. For the commercial success of this new computing paradigm, the ability to deliver guaranteed Quality of Services (QoS) is crucial. Based on the Service level agreement, the requests are processed in the cloud centers in different modes. This paper analyzes a finite-buffer multi-server queuing system where client requests have two arrival modes. It is assumed that each arrival mode is serviced by one or more Virtual machines, and both the modes have equal probabilities of receiving service. Various performance measures are obtained and optimal cost policy is presented with numerical results. The genetic algorithm is employed to search the optimal values of various parameters for the system.
The Alpha-Flow Approach to Inter-Institutional Process Support in Healthcare
Authors: Neumann Christoph P. , Lenz Richard
Published: October 2012

Inter-institutional collaboration among physicians becomes increasingly important and yet, it’s unrealistic to assume that cooperation can be supported via a homogeneous system which is pre-installed in every organization. Instead physicians will typically have their own autonomous systems that support internal processes. Traditional activity-oriented workflow models or content-oriented process models do not resolve inter-institutional integration challenges. The authors present the a-Flow approach for distributed process management, which enables ad hoc collaboration via active electronic documents without the need to integrate local systems. A distributed case file, the a-Doc, is used to coordinate cooperating parties. Using this case file does not require any preinstalled system components, so true ad-hoc information interchange is enabled. The case file contains both, the inter-organizational process schema as a document, as well as arbitrary content documents that are shared among the cooperating parties. To illustrate the approach an inter-institutional use case is provided by cooperative breast-cancer treatment. The authors explain the rationale behind separating content, decision support, and coordination work and in large-scale inter-institutional scenarios its necessary to decouple collaboration functionality from the existing applications and to resolve the duality between content-oriented and activity-oriented process models.
Fingerprint Liveness Detection Based on Fake Finger Characteristics
Authors: Marcialis Gian Luca , Coli Pietro , Roli Fabio
Published: October 2012

The vitality detection of fingerprints is currently acknowledged as a serious issue for personal identity verification systems. This problem, raised some years ago, is related to the fact that the 3d shape pattern of a fingerprint can be reproduced using artificial materials. An image quite similar to that of true, alive, fingerprint, is derived if such “fake fingers” are submitted to an electronic scanner. Since introducing hardware dedicated to liveness detection in scanners is expensive, software-based solutions, based on image processing algorithms, have been proposed as alternative. So far, proposed approaches are based on features exploiting characteristics of a live finger (e.g., finger perspiration). Such features can be named live-based, or vitality-based features. In this paper, the authors propose and motivate the use of a novel kind of features exploiting characteristics noticed in the reproduction of fake fingers, that they named fake-based features. Then the authors propose a possibile implementation of this kind of features based on the power spectrum of the fingerprint image. The proposal is compared and integrated with several live-based features at the state-of-the-art, and shows very good liveness detection performances. Experiments are carried out on a data set much larger than commonly adopted ones, containing images from three different optical sensors.
Knowledge Transfer to Vendors in Offshore Information Systems Outsourcing
Authors: Deng Chun-Ping , Mao Ji-Ye
Published: October 2012

Despite the importance of knowledge transfer for the success of offshore information systems (IS) outsourcing, only limited research has been conducted to date. This research investigates knowledge transfer to vendors from their client, in terms of learning from client and learning about client. More specifically, it examines the effects of client support and vendors’ learning mechanisms on knowledge transfer, along with the impact of knowledge transfer on performance. Results show that client support is important for both types of knowledge transfer. In addition, it is the deliberate cognitive learning rather than the relative passive learning of interaction experience that promotes knowledge transfer significantly. Furthermore, whereas learning about client has a positive impact on vendors’ cost control, learning from client contributes to project quality if a vendor maintains a high level of interaction experience with the client.
Factors Influencing the Success of National Healthcare Services Information Systems
Authors: Hung Wei-Hsi , Chang Li-Min , Lee Mei-Hui
Published: October 2012

By extending the updated D&M IS success model, this study examines the multi-dimensional aspects to identify influential factors and construct a suitable model for explaining NHSS success in Taiwan. Through the empirical results from the perspective of 1215 public healthcare workers, this study has arrived at several findings. First, eight salient factors were found which influenced NHSS success from the dimensions of user characteristics, organizational context, and system characteristics. Second, the factors of user experience, user training, information quality, service quality, and user satisfaction have a strong positive effect on system use, whereas user attitude and facilitating conditions have a significant and negative effect. Further, user attitude, user training, top management support, system quality, information quality, and service quality are also significantly correlated to user satisfaction. The results of this study can assist governments in other countries in developing more effective NHSS and better e-Government practices.
Customer Relationship Management through Mobile Technologies
Authors: Khare Arpita , Rakesh Sapna
Published: October 2012

Companies are increasingly using technology to target their customers and build relationship with them. Customer relationship management is perceived as a strategy which harnesses technology for providing more value to customers through customized products and services. However, technology now extends beyond the peripheries of Internet to mobile-based systems. The research was directed towards understanding the viability and scope of mobile marketing strategies in India. The acceptance of mobile marketing as a medium for dissemination of promotional information and product launches by companies was studied.
Building Resilience in Large High-Technology Projects
Authors: Crosby Phil
Published: October 2012

Success in mega-projects is frequently discussed among project theoreticians and practitioners. This research focuses on high-technology projects and draws on recent literature and fieldwork at ten contemporary mega-science projects in Chile, Australia, and Europe. This study concludes that project success is not random, and early adoption of certain approaches, activities, and launch conditions will position a project for success and resilience. Nine resilience factors (beyond a priori programmatical artefacts) are grouped into three ‘attitudinal’ factors, and six ‘conditioning’ factors and then examined in detail against three case study projects. The study’s conclusion show that attitudinal factors remain a challenge, especially within institutional type high-tech projects, and launch conditioning shows mixed levels of application. Through the nine factors, this paper offers newly consolidated insights for high-tech project start-ups and presents the case for co-application of contingency funding and ‘proto’ task forces in response to unknown risks, and advocates the establishment of more formal information ‘traffic’ management through an empowered centralised project information office.
Software Development Project Risk
Authors: Thomas Sam , Bhasi M.
Published: October 2012

Software development risk points to an aspect of a development task, process or environment which, if ignored, tends to adversely affect the project performance. Observations from literature show that while many studies on software project risk construct have been done in developed countries, there is scarcity of literature from Asian countries, especially India. Hence, this research was formulated with an objective of studying software development project risk in the Indian context. Data related to the presence of risk items was collected from 527 software development projects in India. This data was factor analyzed to identify five major risk dimensions namely Team risk, Project planning and Execution Risk, External risk, User risk and Project complexity risk. The resulting factor structure was validated through Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Software project risk was seen to be best represented by a second order factor model with five first order factors.
Knowledge of IT Project Success and Failure Factors
Authors: Al-Ahmad Walid
Published: October 2012

Traditionally, project success/failure is considered only after the project is completed or cancelled. Integrating project success and failure factors knowledge and software engineering activities would result in a situation where project success/failure is considered as part of the development process, leading to more successful software projects. This article aims to identify the common issues responsible for IT projects’ success/failure to develop a deeper understanding of these root causes. Knowledge about success can be used to understand failure and vice versa. Therefore, generic taxonomies of the root causes are developed for that purpose. Knowledge of these taxonomies is integrated into software development and management activities to help software developers and project managers complete projects successfully.
Om te gee: ’n Godsdiens- en sendingwetenskaplike perspektief
Authors: Beyers Jaco
Published: October 2012

To give: A science of religion and missiological perspective. Human nature has been depicted as being utilitarian. This means that man considers all social action in terms of an optimalisation of privilege for the self. Marcel Mauss challenged this theory by investigating the possibility of human nature as being anti-utilitarian. Man does not give in order to receive. Human social action is not necessarily motivated by what man stands to gain. The diaconate of the church can be seen as the social action of giving. There is a close connection between the diaconate and the apostolate as actions of giving by the church. This article wants to determine whether these actions by the church are utilitarian in nature. Sundermeier’s use of the concept of convivence is used to illustrate how the church acts in an anti-utilitarian fashion when engaging in the diaconate and the apostolate. The social theory of Mauss, the missionary perspective of Sundermeier and the theology on the diaconate by Moltmann are brought into conversation with one another in order to illustrate the anti-utilitarian activities of the church in society.
Supporting Ethnic Minority Families with Disabled Children: Learning from Pakistani Families
Authors: Kramer-Roy Debbie
Published: October 2012

Introduction:

This article describes how an emancipatory research approach was used to explore the support needs of Pakistani families with disabled children in the United Kingdom. These families are among the most disadvantaged in the United Kingdom and research indicates that their needs tend to remain unmet through current services.

Method:

A participatory action research study was undertaken with six families. After an exploratory phase of individual interviews and activities, three action research groups were formed for women, men and non-disabled siblings respectively, in which they engaged in their own research activities. This increased their insight into their situation and enabled them to gain more control.

Findings:

The study highlights the importance of family-centred practice when working with ethnic minority families. Key issues are continuity of intervention between school and home settings, facilitating communication within and with the family, and ensuring peer support for parents and siblings. An occupational science perspective indicates that a lack of belonging in their community affects the families' wellbeing, and that faith is an important, mostly positive, aspect of their sense of being.

Conclusion:

The study affirms the importance of a family-centred and occupation-centred approach when working with families from diverse ethnic minority backgrounds.
Mothering when Mothers and Children Both have Sensory Processing Challenges
Authors: Turner Karen A , Cohn Ellen S , Koomar Jane
Published: October 2012

Introduction:

The aim of this study was to understand the perspectives of mothers when mother and child both have sensory processing challenges, and how the mother's coping strategies for managing her sensory needs influence mothering co-occupations and parenting ideals.

Method:

Four mothers with sensory processing challenges participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using grounded theory principles.

Findings:

Mothers described managing their sensory needs while negotiating the conflicting sensory preferences of their children. Coping strategies included understanding sensory processing patterns of behaviour and structuring daily activities and the environment. Some coping strategies had secondary consequences of a ripple effect, a reverberating impact that exacerbated the challenges of unmet sensory needs and interfered with co-occupations and parenting ideals.

Conclusion:

Implications for mothers include understanding how their sensory processing transacts with their children's sensory preferences. Implications for practitioners include attending to the sensory processing patterns and coping strategies of both children and parents.
Morals, medicine, metaphors, and the history of the disease model of problem gambling
Authors: Ferentzy Peter , Turner Nigel E.
Published: October 2012

Over the past 200 years, society has come to accept the idea that addictions such as alcoholism and pathological gambling (PG) are a type of disease that is chronic, progressive, and somewhat mysterious in terms of etiology. This conception has been most strongly associated with organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous. The chronic disease model alleviated stigma and encouraged many to seek help, but has been challenged by some experts. Confusing the issue is that the public health model, often presented as the main alternative to the disease model, is rooted in epidemiology and clearly a disease model itself. In this paper, we trace the history of ideas about PG as a disease and examine some of the assumptions and metaphors that underlie these models. In the final section, we examine what aspects of addiction in general, and PG in particular, are either revealed or hidden by these models.
Évaluation d'un site Web de sensibilisation sur le jeu excessif s'adressant aux jeunes adultes
Authors: Giroux Isabelle , Ferland Francine , Savard Cathy , Beaulieu Geneviève , LaBoissonnière Anne-Marie , Dussault Anne-Marie , Côt_ Karina , Leclerc Martin
Published: October 2012

Transmettre de l'information sur les jeux de hasard et d'argent (JHA) semble être une façon efficace de sensibiliser la population aux problèmes de jeu. L'utilisation d'un site Web comme outil de sensibilisation peut être une approche adaptée pour atteindre les jeunes adultes puisqu'ils naviguent souvent sur Internet. Avant de lancer un tel site Web à l'ensemble de la population, il est important d'évaluer si la transmission d'informations par cet outil de communication est efficace pour informer les jeunes adultes sur les problèmes de jeu. Le but de la présente étude est d'évaluer si la transmission d'informations sur les JHA par le biais d'un site Web de sensibilisation permet d'améliorer les connaissances et de favoriser la reconnaissance des mythes associés au jeu. L'étude vise également à vérifier la satisfaction des utilisateurs envers le site Web. Cent joueurs réguliers âgés de 18 à 25 ans ont été répartis entre le groupe expérimental (consultation du site Web) et le groupe contrôle (lecture de magazines). Les participants devaient, pendant 30 minutes, naviguer sur le site ou lire des articles de revues et remplir les questionnaires expérimentaux avant et après leur tâche. Conformément au postulat de départ, les participants du groupe expérimental sont plus nombreux que ceux du groupe contrôle à rapporter des connaissances justes en matière de JHA et à pouvoir identifier les mythes reliés aux JHA après la consultation du site. Lors du post-test, les participants du groupe expérimental sont également plus nombreux à manifester des connaissances plus justes et à identifier correctement les mythes comparativement au prétest. En outre, ils ont aimé la présentation visuelle et la facilité de navigation du site. Les implications des résultats sont discutées.
Shame-prone gamblers and their coping with gambling loss
Authors: Yi Sunghwan
Published: October 2012

Applying recent research on self-conscious emotions (e.g., Tangney & Dearing, 2002) to the literature of gambling, the proposal that painful self-conscious emotions brought about by chronic awareness of personal inferiority and inadequacy, deemed as a major predisposing factor for problem gambling (Jacobs, 1986), appears to be compatible with the chronic affective trait of shame-proneness but incompatible with guilt-proneness. This premise led to the hypothesis that shame-proneness is strongly associated with problem-gambling severity, whereas guilt-proneness is minimally associated with problem gambling. Further, it was hypothesized that shame-prone gamblers frequently use avoidant coping strategies following gambling loss and chase losses, whereas this tendency is minimal among guilt-prone gamblers. These hypotheses were supported by the data from a retrospective survey of recent gambling loss occasions (N=284). The findings indicate that shame-proneness is one of the predisposing risk factors for problem gambling, whereas guilt-proneness may mitigate gambling problems.
Gambling motives and symptoms of problem gambling in frequent slots players
Authors: MacLaren Vance V. , Harrigan Kevin A. , Dixon Michael
Published: October 2012

Motives for gambling were examined among patrons of slots venues who reported playing electronic gaming machines at least weekly (N=849). According to scores on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), there were 331 (39.0%) participants at low risk, 330 (38.9%) at moderate risk, and 188 (22.1%) at high risk of Pathological Gambling. Scores on the Coping and Enhancement scales of the Gambling Motives Questionnaire (GMQ) had independent effects on PGSI scores. Cluster analysis of Coping and Enhancement scores identified Low Emotion Regulation (LER; n=189), Primarily Enhancement (PE; n=338), and Coping and Enhancement (CE; n=322) subtypes. More CE gamblers (80.1%) had PGSI scores that suggested problem or Pathological Gambling than the PE (56.8%) or LE (36.0%) subtypes. Gamblers who frequently play slot machines are at elevated risk of Pathological Gambling if they play slots as a means of self-regulating their negative emotional states.
A French adaptation of the Gambling-Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS): a useful tool for assessment of irrational thoughts among gamblers
Authors: Grall-Bronnec Marie , Bouju Gaëlle , Sébille-Rivain Véronique , Gorwood Philip , Boutin Claude , Vénisse Jean-Luc , Hardouin Jean-Benoît
Published: October 2012

Irrational thinking might be central in the maintenance of pathological gambling and should therefore be assessed, as other gambling-related cognitions (GRC), before treatment, especially when cognitive-behavioural therapy is proposed. Assessment tools investigating GRC exist but none are in French. Raylu and Oei have developed the Gambling-Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS), consisting of 23 items and a five-factor model. We aimed to determine if the French version of the GRCS had psychometric properties similar to those of the original version. Three hundred seventy-nine undergraduate students and 13 problem/pathological gamblers seeking treatment at the University Hospital of Nantes completed the GRCS. Confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and multitrait analysis were performed. The French adaptation of the GRCS is a useful instrument for assessing GRC in order to appreciate the severity of pathological gambling, and it has the potential capacity to measure the treatment effect. Other studies are required to confirm test-retest reliability and sensitivity to change.
Multi-generation gas-phase oxidation, equilibrium partitioning, and the formation and evolution of secondary organic aerosol
Authors: Cappa C. D. , Wilson K. R.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. A new model of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation is developed that explicitly takes into account multi-generational oxidation as well as fragmentation of gas-phase compounds, and assumes equilibrium gas-particle partitioning. The model framework requires specification of a limited number of tunable parameters to describe the kinetic evolution of SOA mass, the average oxygen-to-carbon atomic ratio and the mean particle volatility as oxidation proceeds. These parameters describe (1) the relationship between oxygen content and volatility, (2) the probability of fragmentation and (3) the amount of oxygen added per reaction. The time-evolution and absolute value of the simulated SOA mass depends sensitively on all tunable parameters. Of the tunable parameters, the mean O : C is most sensitive to the oxygen/volatility relationship, exhibiting only a weak dependence on the other relationships. The model mean particle O : C produced from a given compound is primarily controlled by the number of carbon atoms comprising the SOA precursor, with some sensitivity to the specified oxygen/volatility relationship. The model is tested against laboratory measurements of time-dependent SOA formation from the photooxidation of α-pinene and n-pentadecane and performs well (after tuning). The model can also accurately simulate the carbon-number dependence of aerosol yields previously observed for oxidation of straight-chain alkanes. This model may provide a generalized framework for the interpretation of laboratory SOA formation experiments in which explicit consideration of multiple-generations of products is required, which is true for all photo-oxidation experiments.
Iodine monoxide in the Western Pacific marine boundary layer
Authors: Großmann K. , Frieß U. , Peters E. , Wittrock F. , Lampel J. , Yilmaz S. , Tschritter J. , Sommariva R. , von Glasow R. , Quack B. , Krüger K. , Pfeilsticker K. , Platt U.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. A latitudinal cross-section and vertical profiles of iodine monoxide (IO) are reported from the marine boundary layer of the Western Pacific. The measurements were taken using Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) during the TransBrom cruise of the German research vessel Sonne, which led from Tomakomai, Japan (42° N, 141° E) through the Western Pacific to Townsville, Australia (19° S, 146° E) in October 2009. In the marine boundary layer within the tropics (between 20° N and 5° S), IO mixing ratios ranged between 1 and 2.2 ppt, whereas in the subtropics and at mid-latitudes typical IO mixing ratios were around 1 ppt in the daytime. The profile retrieval reveals that the bulk of the IO was located in the lower part of the marine boundary layer. Photochemical simulations indicate that the organic iodine precursors observed during the cruise (CH3I, CH2I2, CH2ClI, CH2BrI) are not sufficient to explain the measured IO mixing ratios. Reasonable agreement between measured and modelled IO can only be achieved, if an additional sea-air flux of inorganic iodine (e.g. I2) is assumed in the model. Our observations add further evidence to previous studies that reactive iodine is an important oxidant in the marine boundary layer.
Improved SAGE II cloud/aerosol categorization and observations of the asian tropopause aerosol layer: 1989–2005
Authors: Thomason L. W. , Vernier J.-P.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. Observations by CALIPSO have recently been used to identify an aerosol enhancement associated with the Asian Monsoon anticyclone. The Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL) is analogous to observed enhancements in long-lived trace gas species like CO. Since the CALIPSO record only begins in 2006, the question of how long this aerosol feature has been present requires a new look at the long-lived SAGE II data sets despite significant hurdles to its use in the subtropical upper troposphere. We found that a new and more robust method for identifying and eliminating cloud effects from the SAGE II data set was required and, herein, we describe a cloud identification method that appears to capture cloud/aerosol events more effectively than early methods. In addition, we summarize additional challenges to observing the ATAL layer using SAGE II observations. Finally, we perform analyses of the upper troposphere, focusing on periods in which the UTLS is relatively free of volcanic material (1989–1990 and after 1996). We find that there is no evidence of ATAL in the SAGE II data prior to 1998. After 1998, it is clear that aerosol in the upper troposphere in the ATAL region is substantially enhanced relative to the period before that time. In addition, the data generally supports the presence of the ATAL layer beginning in 1999 and continuing through the end of the mission though some years (e.g. 2003) are complicated by the presence of episodic enhancements most likely of volcanic origin.
Characterization of ozone profiles derived from Aura TES and OMI Radiances
Authors: Fu D. , Worden J. R. , Liu X. , Kulawik S. S. , Bowman K. W. , Natraj V.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. We present satellite based ozone profile estimates derived by combining radiances measured at thermal infrared (TIR) wavelengths from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths measured by the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). The advantage of using these combined wavelengths and instruments for sounding ozone over either instrument alone is improved sensitivity near the surface as well as the capability to consistently resolve the lower troposphere, upper troposphere, and lower stratosphere for scenes with varying geophysical states. For example, the vertical resolution for ozone estimates from either TES or OMI vary strongly by surface albedo and temperature and typically provide 1.6 degrees-of-freedom for signal (DOFS) for TES or less than 1 DOFS for OMI in the troposphere. The combination typically provides 2 degrees-of-freedom for signal (DOFS) in the troposphere with approximately 0.4 DOFS for near surface ozone (surface to 700 hPa). We evaluate these new ozone profile estimates with ozonesonde measurements and find that calculated errors for the joint TES and OMI ozone profile estimates are in approximate agreement with actual errors as derived by the root-mean-square difference between the ozonesondes and the joint TES/OMI ozone estimates. We find that the vertical resolution of the joint TES/OMI ozone profile estimate is sufficient for quantifying variations in near-surface ozone with a precision of 26% (15.6 ppb) and a bias of 9.6% (5.7 ppb).
Comparing two years of Saharan dust source activation obtained by regional modeling and satellite observations
Authors: Tegen I. , Schepanski K. , Heinold B.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. A regional-scale dust model is used to simulate Saharan dust emissions and atmospheric distributions in the years 2007 and 2008. The model results are compared to dust source activation events compiled from infrared dust index imagery from the geostationary Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite. The observed morning maximum in dust source activation frequencies indicates that the breakdown of nocturnal low-level jets is responsible for a considerable number of dust source activation events in the Sahara. The comparison shows that the time of the day of the onset of dust emission is delayed in the model compared to the observations. Also, the simulated number of dust emission events associated with nocturnal low level jets in mountainous regions is underestimated in the model. The MSG dust index observations indicate a strong increase in dust source activation frequencies in the year 2008 compared to 2007, the difference between the two years is less pronounced in the model. The quantitative comparison of simulated dust optical thicknesses with observations at stations of the sunphotometer network AERONET shows, however, good agreement for both years, indicating that the number of observed dust activation events is only of limited use for estimating actual dust emission fluxes in the Sahara.
Oxidation of SO2 by stabilized Criegee Intermediate (sCI) radicals as a crucial source for atmospheric sulphuric acid concentrations
Authors: Boy M. , Mogensen D. , Smolander S. , Zhou L. , Nieminen T. , Paasonen P. , Plass-Dülmer C. , Sipilä M. , Petäjä T. , Mauldin L. , Berresheim H. , Kulmala M.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. The effect of increased reaction rates of stabilised Criegee Intermediates (sCI) with SO2 to produce sulphuric acid is investigated using data from two different locations, SMEAR II, Hyytiälä, Finland and Hohenpeissenberg, Germany. Results from MALTE, a zero dimensional model, show that using previous values for the rate coefficients of sCI + SO2, the model underestimates gas phase H2SO4 by up to a factor of two when compared to measurements. Using the rate coefficients recently calculated by Mauldin et al. (2012) increases sulphuric acid by 30–40%. Increasing the rate coefficient for formaldehyde oxide (CH2OO) with SO2 by a factor of ten further increases the H2SO4 yield by 16%. Taken together, these increases lead to the conclusion that, depending on their concentrations, the reaction of stabilized Criegee intermediates with SO2 could contribute as much as 50% to atmospheric sulphuric acid gas phase concentrations at ground level. Using the SMEAR II data, results from SOSA, a one-dimensional model, show that contribution from sCI reactions to sulphuric acid production is most important in the canopy where the concentration of organic compounds are the highest, but can have significant effects on sulphuric acid concentrations up to 100 m. The recent findings that the reaction of sCI + SO2 is much faster than previously thought together with these results show that the inclusion of this new oxidation mechanism is crucial in regional, as well as, global models.
Particle and gaseous emissions from individual diesel and CNG buses
Authors: Hallquist Å. M. , Jerksjö M. , Fallgren H. , Westerlund J. , Sjödin Å.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. In this study size-resolved particle and gaseous emissions from 28 individual diesel-fuelled and 7 compressed natural gas (CNG)-fuelled buses, selected from an in-use bus fleet, were characterised for real-world dilution scenarios. The method used was based on using CO2 as a tracer of exhaust gas dilution. The particles were sampled by using an extractive sampling method and analysed with high time resolution instrumentation EEPS (10 Hz) and CO2 with non-dispersive infrared gas analyser (LI-840, LI-COR Inc. 1 Hz). The gaseous constituents (CO, HC and NO) were measured by using a remote sensing device (AccuScan RSD 3000, Environmental System Products Inc.). Nitrogen oxides, NOx, were estimated from NO by using default NO2/NOx ratios from the road vehicle emission model HBEFA 3.1. The buses studied were diesel-fuelled Euro II–V and CNG-fuelled Enhanced Environmental Friendly Vehicles (EEVs) with different after-treatment, including selective catalytic reduction (SCR), exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and with and without diesel particulate filter (DPF). The primary driving mode applied in this study was accelerating mode. However, regarding the particle emissions also a constant speed mode was analysed. The investigated CNG buses emitted on average higher number of particles but less mass compared to the diesel-fuelled buses. Emission factors for number of particles (EFPN) were EFPN, DPF = 8.0 ± 3.1 × 1014, EFPN, no DPF =2.8 ± 1.6 × 1015 and EFPN, CNG = 7.8 ± 5.7 × 1015 (kg fuel−1). In the accelerating mode size-resolved EFs showed unimodal number size distributions with peak diameters of 70–90 nm and 10 nm for diesel and CNG buses, respectively. For the constant speed mode bimodal average number size distributions were obtained for the diesel buses with peak modes of ~10 nm and ~60 nm. Emission factors for NOx expressed as NO2 equivalents for the diesel buses were on average 27 ± 7 g (kg fuel)−1 and for the CNG buses 41 ± 26 g (kg fuel)−1. An anti-relationship between EFNOx and EFPM was observed especially for buses with no DPF and there was a positive relationship between EFPM and EFCO.
1 km fog and low stratus detection using pan-sharpened MSG SEVIRI data
Authors: Schulz H. M. , Thies B. , Cermak J. , Bendix J.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. In this paper a new technique for the detection of fog and low stratus in 1 km resolution from MSG SEVIRI data is presented. The method relies on the pan-sharpening of 3 km narrow-band channels using the 1 km high-resolution visible (HRV) channel. As solar and thermal channels had to be sharpened for the technique, a new approach based on an existing pan-sharpening method was developed using local regressions. A fog and low stratus detection scheme originally developed for 3 km SEVIRI data was used as the basis to derive 1 km resolution fog and low stratus masks from the sharpened channels. The sharpened channels and the fog and low stratus masks based on them were evaluated visually and by various statistical measures. The sharpened channels deviate only slightly from reference images regarding their pixel values as well as spatial features. The 1 km fog and low stratus masks are therefore deemed of high quality. They contain many details, especially where fog is restricted by complex terrain in its extent, that cannot be detected in the 3 km resolution.
Thermodynamic phase retrieval of convective clouds: impact of sensor viewing geometry and vertical distribution of cloud properties
Authors: Jäkel E. , Walter J. , Wendisch M.
Published: October 2012

Abstract. The potential to use combined passive and active remote sensing measurements to retrieve microphysical parameters of convective clouds in particular thermodynamic phase, is investigated by three-dimensional (3-D) radiative transfer simulations. The 3-D simulations are used to quantify the effect of different viewing geometries and distributions of the cloud microphysical properties on the derived ice index. Measurement examples of spectral solar and radiance reflected by cloud sides (passive) in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral range are synchronized with collocated Lidar observations (active). A retrieval method to distinguish the cloud thermodynamic phase (liquid water or ice) using the reported reflectivity measurements is applied which uses the different spectral slopes of water and ice clouds in the NIR. The concurrent depolarization backscattering Lidar provides geometry information about the cloud distance and height as well as the depolarization.