bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Employment of Marine Polysaccharides to Manufacture Functional Biocomposites for Aquaculture Feeding Applications
Authors: Paolucci Marina , Fasulo Gabriella , Volpe Maria
Published: April 2015

In this study, polysaccharides of marine origin (agar, alginate and κ-carrageenan) were used to embed nutrients to fabricate biocomposites to be employed in animal feeding. The consistency of biocomposites in water has been evaluated up to 14 days, by several methods: swelling, nutrient release and granulometric analysis. Biocomposites were produced with varying percentages of nutrients (5%–25%) and polysaccharides (1%–2%–3%). All possible biopolymer combinations were tested in order to select those with the best network strength. The best performing biocomposites were those manufactured with agar 2% and nutrients 10%, showing the lowest percentage of water absorption and nutrient release. Biocomposites made of agar 2% and nutrients 10% were the most stable in water and were therefore used to analyze their behavior in water with respect to the release of quercetin, a phenolic compound with demonstrated high antibacterial and antioxidant activities. The leaching of such molecules in water was therefore employed as a further indicator of biocomposite water stability. Altogether, our results confirm the suitability of agar as a binder for biocomposites and provide a positive contribution to aquaculture.
Recent Advances and Applications of Experimental Technologies in Marine Natural Product Research
Authors: Li Ke , Chung-Davidson Yu-Wen , Bussy Ugo , Li Weiming
Published: April 2015

Marine natural products are a rich source of novel and biologically active compounds. The number of identified marine natural compounds has grown 20% over the last five years from 2009 to 2013. Several challenges, including sample collection and structure elucidation, have limited the development of this research field. Nonetheless, new approaches, such as sampling strategies for organisms from extreme ocean environments, nanoscale NMR and computational chemistry for structural determination, are now available to overcome the barriers. In this review, we highlight the experimental technology innovations in the field of marine natural products, which in our view will lead to the development of many new drugs in the future.
Pharmacokinetics, Tissue Distribution and Excretion of Isoalantolactone and Alantolactone in Rats after Oral Administration of Radix Inulae Extract
Authors: Xu Renjie , Zhou Guisheng , Peng Ying , Wang Mengyue , Li Xiaobo
Published: April 2015

Radix Inulae is endemic to China and has been used in traditional medicine to treat upper body pain, emesis and diarrhoea, and to eliminate parasites. Here, an UPLC-MS/MS method was developed and applied to study the pharmacokinetics, distribution and excretion of isoalantolactone and alantolactone, which are two main active sesquiterpene lactones in Radix Inulae, in Sprague-Dawley rats following oral administration of total Radix Inulae extract. Isoalantolactone, alantolactone and osthole (internal standard) were prepared using acetonitrile precipitation, and the separation of isoalantolactone and alantolactone was achieved by isocratic elution using water (containing 0.1% formic acid) and acetonitrile as the mobile phase using a ZORBAX Eclipse Plus C18 column. The total run time was 6.4 min. The present study showed poor absorption of isoalantolactone and alantolactone in vivo. The apparent Cmax, Tmax, T1/2 and total exposure (AUC0–12h) in rat plasma were 37.8 ng/mL, 120 min, 351.7 min and 6112.3 ng-min/mL for isoalantolactone and 25.9 ng/mL, 90 min, 321.0 min and 4918.9 ng-min/mL for alantolactone, respectively. It was shown that the highest concentration was achieved in the small intestine and feces clearance was shown to be the dominant elimination pathway of the lactones.
Development of a Novel Antimicrobial Screening System Targeting the Pyoverdine-Mediated Iron Acquisition System and Xenobiotic Efflux Pumps
Authors: Sato Kazuki , Ushioda Kenichi , Akiba Keiji , Matsumoto Yoshimi , Maseda Hideaki , Ando Tasuke , Isogai Emiko , Nakae Taiji , Yoneyama Hiroshi
Published: April 2015

The iron acquisition systems in Pseudomonas aeruginosa are inducible in response to low-iron conditions and important for growth of this organism under iron limitation. OprM is the essential outer membrane subunit of the MexAB-OprM xenobiotic efflux pump. We designed and constructed a new model antimicrobial screening system targeting both the iron-uptake system and xenobiotic efflux pumps. The oprM gene was placed immediately downstream of the ferri-pyoverdine receptor gene, fpvA, in the host lacking chromosomal oprM and the expression of oprM was monitored by an antibiotic susceptibility test under iron depleted and replete conditions. The recombinant cells showed wild-type susceptibility to pump substrate antibiotics, e.g., aztreonam, under iron limitation and became supersusceptible to them under iron repletion, suggesting that expression of oprM is under control of the iron acquisition system. Upon screening of a chemical library comprising 2952 compounds using this strain, a compound—ethyl 2-(1-acetylpiperidine-4-carboxamido)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophene-3-carboxylate—was found to enhance the efficacy of aztreonam under iron limitation, suggesting that the compound inhibits either the iron acquisition system or the MexAB-OprM efflux pump. This compound was subsequently found to inhibit the growth of wild-type cells in the presence of sublethal amounts of aztreonam, regardless of the presence or absence of dipyridyl, an iron-chelator. The compound was eventually identified to block the function of the MexAB-OprM efflux pump, showing the validity of this new method.
Gd-Complexes of New Arylpiperazinyl Conjugates of DTPA-Bis(amides): Synthesis, Characterization and Magnetic Relaxation Properties
Authors: Ba-Salem Abdullah , Ullah Nisar , Shaikh M. , Faiz Mohamed , Ul-Haq Zaheer
Published: April 2015

Two new DTPA-bis(amide) based ligands conjugated with the arylpiperazinyl moiety were synthesized and subsequently transformed into their corresponding Gd(III) complexes 1 and 2 of the type [Gd(L)H2O]·nH2O. The relaxivity (R1) of these complexes was measured, which turned out to be comparable with that of Omniscan®, a commercially available MRI contrast agent. The cytotoxicity studies of these complexes indicated that they are non-toxic, which reveals their potential and physiological suitability as MRI contrast agents. All the synthesized ligands and complexes were characterized with the aid of analytical and spectroscopic methods, including elemental analysis, 1H-NMR, FT-IR, XPS and fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry.
Potential Grape-Derived Contributions to Volatile Ester Concentrations in Wine
Authors: Boss Paul , Pearce Anthony , Zhao Yanjia , Nicholson Emily , Dennis Eric , Jeffery David
Published: April 2015

Grape composition affects wine flavour and aroma not only through varietal compounds, but also by influencing the production of volatile compounds by yeast. C9 and C12 compounds that potentially influence ethyl ester synthesis during fermentation were studied using a model grape juice medium. It was shown that the addition of free fatty acids, their methyl esters or acyl-carnitine and acyl-amino acid conjugates can increase ethyl ester production in fermentations. The stimulation of ethyl ester production above that of the control was apparent when lower concentrations of the C9 compounds were added to the model musts compared to the C12 compounds. Four amino acids, which are involved in CoA biosynthesis, were also added to model grape juice medium in the absence of pantothenate to test their ability to influence ethyl and acetate ester production. β-Alanine was the only one shown to increase the production of ethyl esters, free fatty acids and acetate esters. The addition of 1 mg∙L−1 β-alanine was enough to stimulate production of these compounds and addition of up to 100 mg∙L−1 β-alanine had no greater effect. The endogenous concentrations of β-alanine in fifty Cabernet Sauvignon grape samples exceeded the 1 mg∙L−1 required for the stimulatory effect on ethyl and acetate ester production observed in this study.
Staphylococcus aureus is More Prevalent in Retail Beef Livers than in Pork and other Beef Cuts
Authors: Abdalrahman Lubna , Wells Harrington , Fakhr Mohamed
Published: April 2015

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the top five pathogens contributing to acquired foodborne illnesses causing an estimated quarter million cases every year in the US. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of Methicillin Susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and Methicillin Resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in retail beef livers, beef, and pork meats sold in Tulsa, Oklahoma and to characterize the recovered strains for their virulence and antimicrobial resistance. Ninety six chilled retail beef (50 beef livers and 46 beef other cuts), and 99 pork meat samples were collected. The prevalence in beef livers was 40/50 (80%) followed by other beef cuts 23/46 (50%) then pork 43/99 (43.3%). No isolates were positive for MRSA since none harbored the mecA or mecC gene. A total of 334 recovered S. aureus isolates (143 beef livers, 76 beef, and 115 pork isolates) were screened for their antimicrobial susceptibility against 16 different antimicrobials and their possession of 18 different toxin genes. Multidrug resistance was more prevalent in the pork isolates followed by beef then beef livers. The prevalence of enterotoxin genes such as seg, seh, and sei and the toxic shock syndrome gene tst was higher in the pork isolates than in the beef ones. The hemolysin genes, particularly hlb, were more prevalent in isolates from beef livers. Molecular typing of a subset of the recovered isolates showed that they are highly diverse where spa typing was more discriminatory than PFGE. The alarmingly high incidence of S. aureus in retail beef livers in this study should raise awareness about the food safety of such meat products.
Addition of Zinc Improves the Physical Stability of Insulin in the Primary Emulsification Step of the Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) Microsphere Preparation Process
Authors: Manoharan Chandrasekar , Singh Jagdish
Published: April 2015

In this study, the effect of zinc on insulin stability during the primary emulsification step of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) microspheres preparation by the water-in-oil-in-water (w/o/w) double emulsion solvent evaporation technique was evaluated. Insulin was emulsified at homogenization speeds of 5000 and 10,000 rpm. Insulin was extracted from the primary w/o emulsion by a method previously reported from our laboratory and analyzed by comprehensive analytical techniques. The differential scanning calorimetry thermograms of insulin with zinc showed a single peak around 83 °C with calorimetric enthalpy values similar to native insulin. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of extracted insulin showed a single intense band around 6 kDa, demonstrating the preservation of primary structure. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis revealed that no degradation products were formed during the homogenization process. Insulin aggregates residing at the w/o interfaces were found to be of non-covalent nature. In addition, observation of a single characteristic peak for insulin at m/z 5808 in the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrum confirmed the absence of insulin degradation products and covalent dimers. Presence of zinc preserved the secondary structure of insulin as indicated by circular dichroism. In conclusion, these results show that with the addition of zinc, insulin stability can be improved during the primary emulsification step.
“There Is a Higher Height in the Lord”: Music, Worship, and Communication with God
Authors: Smith Therese
Published: April 2015

Music is so vital in the services of African American Baptist churches that there are few moments in the service when music—either congregational or choral singing, or instrumental music of some sort—is not being performed. Sustained as an auditory or imagined presence, music acts almost as a timbral membrane for the presence of the Holy Spirit throughout the service. The Holy Spirit is physically manifested (inspiration by the Holy Spirit) in the church membership, predominantly (if not exclusively) in a musical context. In order to ground the general in the particular, I will give detailed consideration to two musical instances or events from the Sunday morning service at Clear Creek Missionary Baptist Church on 4 November 2012, contextualising those within a broader context.
Temporal Variability of Uncertainty in Pixel-Wise Soil Moisture: Implications for Satellite Validation
Authors: Feng Huihui , Liu Yuanbo , Wu Guiping
Published: April 2015

In-situ soil moisture was widely used to validate and calibrate the satellite-retrieved data of different footprints. However, it contained unavoidable uncertainty when used as spatial representative. This paper examined the uncertainty in pixel-wise soil moisture designed for satellite validation in the HiWATER project. Two in-situ data sets were used for the examination, which were carefully designed to capture the spatial heterogeneity of soil moisture at different scales. Our results indicated that the pixel-wise uncertainty increased with increasing extent. At a small area, the uncertainty referred to the natural spatial variability of in-situ soil moisture. With respect to a large area, sampling error of spatial soil moisture played an important role, particularly of dry condition. Temporally, the uncertainty was higher during rainfall than that after then. It suggested that in-situ soil moisture could be more spatially representative at a small area after rainfall, valuable for satellite validation. Uncertainty was correlated to soil moisture. It was strongly correlated to spatial mean at a small scale and was to the spatial pattern at a large scale. Results of this study offered some clues to examine the uncertainty of in-situ soil moisture for satellite validation.
Daytime Land Surface Temperature Extraction from MODIS Thermal Infrared Data under Cirrus Clouds
Authors: Fan Xiwei , Tang Bo-Hui , Wu Hua , Yan Guangjian , Li Zhao-Liang
Published: April 2015

Simulated data showed that cirrus clouds could lead to a maximum land surface temperature (LST) retrieval error of 11.0 K when using the generalized split-window (GSW) algorithm with a cirrus optical depth (COD) at 0.55 μm of 0.4 and in nadir view. A correction term in the COD linear function was added to the GSW algorithm to extend the GSW algorithm to cirrus cloudy conditions. The COD was acquired by a look up table of the isolated cirrus bidirectional reflectance at 0.55 μm. Additionally, the slope k of the linear function was expressed as a multiple linear model of the top of the atmospheric brightness temperatures of MODIS channels 31–34 and as the difference between split-window channel emissivities. The simulated data showed that the LST error could be reduced from 11.0 to 2.2 K. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the total errors from all the uncertainties of input parameters, extension algorithm accuracy, and GSW algorithm accuracy were less than 2.5 K in nadir view. Finally, the Great Lakes surface water temperatures measured by buoys showed that the retrieval accuracy of the GSW algorithm was improved by at least 1.5 K using the proposed extension algorithm for cirrus skies.
Beyond Where to How: A Machine Learning Approach for Sensing Mobility Contexts Using Smartphone Sensors
Authors: Guinness Robert
Published: April 2015

This paper presents the results of research on the use of smartphone sensors (namely, GPS and accelerometers), geospatial information (points of interest, such as bus stops and train stations) and machine learning (ML) to sense mobility contexts. Our goal is to develop techniques to continuously and automatically detect a smartphone user’s mobility activities, including walking, running, driving and using a bus or train, in real-time or near-real-time (<5 s). We investigated a wide range of supervised learning techniques for classification, including decision trees (DT), support vector machines (SVM), naive Bayes classifiers (NB), Bayesian networks (BN), logistic regression (LR), artificial neural networks (ANN) and several instance-based classifiers (KStar, LWLand IBk). Applying ten-fold cross-validation, the best performers in terms of correct classification rate (i.e., recall) were DT (96.5%), BN (90.9%), LWL (95.5%) and KStar (95.6%). In particular, the DT-algorithm RandomForest exhibited the best overall performance. After a feature selection process for a subset of algorithms, the performance was improved slightly. Furthermore, after tuning the parameters of RandomForest, performance improved to above 97.5%. Lastly, we measured the computational complexity of the classifiers, in terms of central processing unit (CPU) time needed for classification, to provide a rough comparison between the algorithms in terms of battery usage requirements. As a result, the classifiers can be ranked from lowest to highest complexity (i.e., computational cost) as follows: SVM, ANN, LR, BN, DT, NB, IBk, LWL and KStar. The instance-based classifiers take considerably more computational time than the non-instance-based classifiers, whereas the slowest non-instance-based classifier (NB) required about five-times the amount of CPU time as the fastest classifier (SVM). The above results suggest that DT algorithms are excellent candidates for detecting mobility contexts in smartphones, both in terms of performance and computational complexity.
Sensitive, Fast, and Specific Immunoassays for Methyltestosterone Detection
Authors: Kong Na , Song Shanshan , Peng Juan , Liu Liqiang , Kuang Hua , Xu Chuanlai
Published: April 2015

An indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA) and an immunochromatographic strip assay using a highly specific monoclonal antibody, were developed to detect methyltestosterone (MT) residues in animal feed. The optimized icELISA had a half-inhibition concentration value of 0.26 ng/mL and a limit of detection value of 0.045 ng/mL. There was no cross-reactivity with eight analogues, revealing high specificity for MT. Based on icELISA results, the recovery rate of MT in animal feed was 82.4%–100.6%. The results were in accordance with those obtained by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The developed immunochromatographic strip assay, as the first report for MT detection, had a visual cut-off value of 1 ng/mL in PBS, 2.5 ng/g in fish feed, and 2.5 ng/g in pig feed. Therefore, these immunoassays are useful and fast tools for MT residue detection in animal feed.
A New Indoor Positioning System Architecture Using GPS Signals
Authors: Xu Rui , Chen Wu , Xu Ying , Ji Shengyue
Published: April 2015

The pseudolite system is a good alternative for indoor positioning systems due to its large coverage area and accurate positioning solution. However, for common Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, the pseudolite system requires some modifications of the user terminals. To solve the problem, this paper proposes a new pseudolite-based indoor positioning system architecture. The main idea is to receive real-world GPS signals, repeat each satellite signal and transmit those using indoor transmitting antennas. The transmitted GPS-like signal can be processed (signal acquisition and tracking, navigation data decoding) by the general receiver and thus no hardware-level modification on the receiver is required. In addition, all Tx can be synchronized with each other since one single clock is used in Rx/Tx. The proposed system is simulated using a software GPS receiver. The simulation results show the indoor positioning system is able to provide high accurate horizontal positioning in both static and dynamic situations.
Silver Nanoparticle-Enhanced Resonance Raman Sensor of Chromium(III) in Seawater Samples
Authors: Ly Nguyễn , Joo Sang-Woo
Published: April 2015

Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Tris-EDTA), upon binding Cr(III) in aqueous solutions at pH 8.0 on silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), was found to provide a sensitive and selective Raman marker band at ~563 cm−1, which can be ascribed to the metal-N band. UV-Vis absorption spectra also supported the aggregation and structural change of EDTA upon binding Cr(III). Only for Cr(III) concentrations above 500 nM, the band at ~563 cm−1 become strongly intensified in the surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectra. This band, due to the metal-EDTA complex, was not observed in the case of 50 mM of K+, Cd2+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Mn2+, Co2+, Na+, Cu2+, NH4+, Hg2+, Ni2+, Fe3+, Pb2+, Fe2+, and Zn2+ ions. Seawater samples containing K, Mg, Ca, and Na ion concentrations higher than 8 mM also showed the characteristic Raman band at ~563 cm−1 above 500 nM, validating our method. Our approach may be useful in detecting real water samples by means of AgNPs and Raman spectroscopy.
Unsupervised Classification of Surface Defects in Wire Rod Production Obtained by Eddy Current Sensors
Authors: Saludes-Rodil Sergio , Baeyens Enrique , Rodríguez-Juan Carlos
Published: April 2015

An unsupervised approach to classify surface defects in wire rod manufacturing is developed in this paper. The defects are extracted from an eddy current signal and classified using a clustering technique that uses the dynamic time warping distance as the dissimilarity measure. The new approach has been successfully tested using industrial data. It is shown that it outperforms other classification alternatives, such as the modified Fourier descriptors.
Cyclic Testing for Structural Detail Improvement of CFT Column-Foundation Connections
Authors: Kim Hee-Ju , Hu Jong-Wan , Hwang Won-Sup
Published: April 2015

In this study, concrete-filled tube (CFT) column-to-foundation connections were investigated experimentally to improve the design of their structural details. Initially, five different types of foundation connections, which were classified according to the design parameters incorporating the types of anchor bolts, shear connectors, base members, and reinforced bars used, were fabricated. After conducting structural experiments on these foundation models, the performance and capacity of the individual model cases from the test results were compared with each other. The test results showed that some of the test models designed according to current design guidelines had problems related to the structural details. Therefore, this study proposed an adequate design methodology to improve the performance of foundation components, such as high tension bolt, base frame members, and embedded plate. An analytical investigation of the force-deformation relationship as well as the characteristic strains distributed over the individual foundation components was performed.
Aflatoxin Biosynthesis Is a Novel Source of Reactive Oxygen Species—A Potential Redox Signal to Initiate Resistance to Oxidative Stress?
Authors: Roze Ludmila , Laivenieks Maris , Hong Sung-Yong , Wee Josephine , Wong Shu-Shyan , Vanos Benjamin , Awad Deena , Ehrlich Kenneth , Linz John
Published: April 2015

Aflatoxin biosynthesis in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus parasiticus involves a minimum of 21 enzymes, encoded by genes located in a 70 kb gene cluster. For aflatoxin biosynthesis to be completed, the required enzymes must be transported to specialized early and late endosomes called aflatoxisomes. Of particular significance, seven aflatoxin biosynthetic enzymes are P450/monooxygenases which catalyze reactions that can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) as byproducts. Thus, oxidative reactions in the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway could potentially be an additional source of intracellular ROS. The present work explores the hypothesis that the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway generates ROS (designated as “secondary” ROS) in endosomes and that secondary ROS possess a signaling function. We used specific dyes that stain ROS in live cells and demonstrated that intracellular ROS levels correlate with the levels of aflatoxin synthesized. Moreover, feeding protoplasts with precursors of aflatoxin resulted in the increase in ROS generation. These data support the hypothesis. Our findings also suggest that secondary ROS may fulfill, at least in part, an important mechanistic role in increased tolerance to oxidative stress in germinating spores (seven-hour germlings) and in regulation of fungal development.
Do the A Subunits Contribute to the Differences in the Toxicity of Shiga Toxin 1 and Shiga Toxin 2?
Authors: Basu Debaleena , Tumer Nilgun
Published: April 2015

Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 (STEC) is one of the leading causes of food-poisoning around the world. Some STEC strains produce Shiga toxin 1 (Stx1) and/or Shiga toxin 2 (Stx2) or variants of either toxin, which are critical for the development of hemorrhagic colitis (HC) or hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Currently, there are no therapeutic treatments for HC or HUS. E. coli O157:H7 strains carrying Stx2 are more virulent and are more frequently associated with HUS, which is the most common cause of renal failure in children in the US. The basis for the increased potency of Stx2 is not fully understood. Shiga toxins belong to the AB5 family of protein toxins with an A subunit, which depurinates a universally conserved adenine residue in the α-sarcin/ricin loop (SRL) of the 28S rRNA and five copies of the B subunit responsible for binding to cellular receptors. Recent studies showed differences in the structure, receptor binding, dependence on ribosomal proteins and pathogenicity of Stx1 and Stx2 and supported a role for the B subunit in differential toxicity. However, the current data do not rule out a potential role for the A1 subunits in the differential toxicity of Stx1 and Stx2. This review highlights the recent progress in understanding the differences in the A1 subunits of Stx1 and Stx2 and their role in defining toxicity.
Genetic Characterization of the Tick-Borne Orbiviruses
Authors: Belaganahalli Manjunatha , Maan Sushila , Maan Narender , Brownlie Joe , Tesh Robert , Attoui Houssam , Mertens Peter
Published: April 2015

The International Committee for Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) recognizes four species of tick-borne orbiviruses (TBOs): Chenuda virus, Chobar Gorge virus, Wad Medani virus and Great Island virus (genus Orbivirus, family Reoviridae). Nucleotide (nt) and amino acid (aa) sequence comparisons provide a basis for orbivirus detection and classification, however full genome sequence data were only available for the Great Island virus species. We report representative genome-sequences for the three other TBO species (virus isolates: Chenuda virus (CNUV); Chobar Gorge virus (CGV) and Wad Medani virus (WMV)). Phylogenetic comparisons show that TBOs cluster separately from insect-borne orbiviruses (IBOs). CNUV, CGV, WMV and GIV share low level aa/nt identities with other orbiviruses, in ‘conserved’ Pol, T2 and T13 proteins/genes, identifying them as four distinct virus-species. The TBO genome segment encoding cell attachment, outer capsid protein 1 (OC1), is approximately half the size of the equivalent segment from insect-borne orbiviruses, helping to explain why tick-borne orbiviruses have a ~1 kb smaller genome.
The July 2012 Libyan Election and the Origin of Post-Qadhafi Appeasement
Authors: Pack Jason , Cook Haley
Published: April 2015

The July 2012 parliamentary election in Libya was free and fair. Nonetheless, the election exacerbated various local, tribal, and religious cleavages. The National Transitional Council's policy of appeasement successfully averted widespread armed conflict, yet it inadvertently derailed
Libya's future constitutional process. This article surveys the main scholarly paradigms for analyzing both Libya after the fall of Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi and the role of elections in societies in transition. It concludes that the outcome of the 2012 Libyan election calls into question the ability
of post-conflict elections to function as tools of democratization or as mechanisms to unify social fissures, especially in societies lacking in formal institutions.
Tunable magnetism on the lateral mesoscale by post-processing of Co/Pt heterostructures
Authors: Dobrovolskiy Oleksandr V , Kompaniiets Maksym , Sachser Roland , Porrati Fabrizio , Gspan Christian , Plank Harald , Huth Michael
Published: April 2015

Controlling magnetic properties on the nanometer-scale is essential for basic research in micro-magnetism and spin-dependent transport, as well as for various applications such as magnetic recording, imaging and sensing. This has been accomplished to a very high degree by means of layered heterostructures in the vertical dimension. Here we present a complementary approach that allows for a controlled tuning of the magnetic properties of Co/Pt heterostructures on the lateral mesoscale. By means of in situ post-processing of Pt- and Co-based nano-stripes prepared by focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) we are able to locally tune their coercive field and remanent magnetization. Whereas single Co-FEBID nano-stripes show no hysteresis, we find hard-magnetic behavior for post-processed Co/Pt nano-stripes with coercive fields up to 850 Oe. We attribute the observed effects to the locally controlled formation of the CoPt L10 phase, whose presence has been revealed by transmission electron microscopy.
SUBCONTRACTOR SELECTION USING THE INTEGRATION OF THE AHP AND PROMRTHEE METHODS
Authors: POLAT Gul
Published: April 2015

On many construction projects, especially building projects, 80–90% of the tasks are performed by subcontractors. Since the success of the project highly depends on the performances of the subcontractors, selecting the right subcontractor for the right job is critical. Main contractors generally tend to select the subcontractors that offer the lowest bid price. However, working with unqualified and insufficiently financed subcontractors may result in inefficiencies and failures. Thus, a combination of several compromising and conflicting criteria underpinning financial capacity and competencies of the subcontractors should be considered during the subcontractor selection process. This paper proposes an integrated decision approach, which employs analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE) together, for the subcontractor selection problem. In the proposed approach, AHP is used to analyze the structure of the subcontractor selection problem and to determine the weights of the criteria, and PROMETHEE is employed to obtain complete ranking and perform sensitivity analysis by changing the weights of criteria. The proposed approach is applied to a problem of selecting the most appropriate subcontractor to be worked with in an international construction project. Company management found the proposed decision approach satisfactory and implementable in future subcontractor selection problems.
Arrêt traumatique du récit et de la symbolisation : un dérivé de la pulsion de mort ?
Authors: Laub Dori
Published: April 2015

À travers une autobiographie clinique, Dori Laub montre comment il a cheminé vers un travail analytique mesurant pleinement l’impact de la transmission intergénérationnelle de trauma. Son expérience clinique auprès de soldats est en cela décisive. Au sujet de sa première patiente, il montre comment dérive de la pulsion de mort son « aveuglement contre-transférentiel » (partagé avec son superviseur) et étend le champ d’application du « complexe de la mère morte » de Green, le rattachant d’une nouvelle manière aux pulsions de mort.
Développer les compétences psychosociales des enfants et des parents : pourquoi et comment ?
Authors: Lamboy Béatrice , Guillemont Juliette
Published: April 2015

Introduite dans les années 90 par l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), la notion de compétences psychosociales prend aujourd’hui une ampleur considérable dans le champ de la prévention et de l’éducation pour la santé. Les données accumulées ces dernières années montrent que les compétences psychosociales (de l’enfant et des parents) occupent une place centrale dans le développement de l’enfant et sont un déterminant majeur de la santé physique et psychique. Les résultats de la recherche interventionnelle confirment la nécessité d’agir précocement si l’on souhaite favoriser les comportements favorables à la santé et promouvoir efficacement la santé et le bien-être. En effet, de nombreuses actions de prévention visant à développer les compétences psychosociales de l’enfant et des parents ont fait la preuve de leur efficacité dans différents domaines : santé mentale, addictions, santé sexuelle... Cet article présente une synthèse des connaissances sur les compétences psychosociales (définition, données d’observation, données d’intervention en prévention).
L’Union douanière européenne : bilan et perspectives d’avenir
Authors: Radu Ghenadie
Published: April 2015

Créée à la fin des années 1960, l’Union douanière européenne (UDE) constitue la base de la construction européenne. Dotée d’un territoire douanier commun et d’un tarif douanier extérieur, interdisant les droits de douane et les taxes d’effet équivalent entre les États membres, l’évolution de l’UDE n’a jamais été un processus facile. Sur le plan réglementaire, c’est toujours le Code des douanes communautaire (1992) qui continue à s’appliquer ; le Code des douanes modernisé (2008) s’est vu abandonner ; le Code des douanes de l’Union (2013) sera effectivement applicable à partir de 2016 seulement. Afin d’améliorer le fonctionnement de l’UDE, plusieurs programmes ont été lancés, de Douane 2000 à Douane 2020. Mais, pour mieux préparer l’UDE aux défis de l’avenir, il est important de se diriger vers un seul et unique Code des douanes européen, d’harmoniser les sanctions douanières au niveau européen et de créer une administration des douanes européenne unique.
Prenatal Diagnosis of Nasal Glioma Associated with Metopic Craniosynostosis: Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Boyer Andrew C , Krishnan Anant , Goncalves Luis F , Williams Lindsay , Chaiyasate Kongkrit
Published: April 2015

Nasal gliomas (nasal glial heterotopia) are rare benign congenital frontonasal lesions occurring in approximately 1: 20.000 - 40,000 live births. The diagnosis is rarely reported prenatally.  Nasal gliomas are typically isolated lesions, with syndromic association being exceedingly rare.  Metopic craniosynostosis can occur as an isolated abnormality or in association with multiple syndromes.  This case is the first reported case of nasal glioma in association with craniosynostosis in the published literature.
Perceived Barriers for Employment in Tourism Industry among Rural Communities
Authors: Wijesundara Shamila Rasanjani , Ranasinghe Ruwan
Published: April 2015

Present Tourism Strategy focuses on increasing tourism related employment in Sri Lanka. It is difficult to attract entry level employees to tourism industry given many reasons. This study aims identifying barriers for potential employment for people in rural areas and it will facilitate human resource builders in tourism industry. As a rural area with pool of job seekers, Kotmale was selected for this study. The sample size has been determined by using stratified sampling method and convenience sampling method was used to select respondents. Primary data collected through a pre-tested structured questionnaire and secondary data were used for the study. Mixed methodology was employed to analyze data. The results revealed social considerations, recruitment process, skills development, progression pathways, cultural barriers and lack of infrastructure facilities are significant barriers for tourism employment in rural areas. It is recommended to address the above to make tourism employment attractive for rural job seekers.
Green Marketing Mix
Authors: Kumar Prashant , Ghodeswar Bhimrao
Published: April 2015

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a systematic review of literature in green marketing domain and to propose directions for future research. Green marketing issues are delineated from literature extending marketing orientation and marketing mix frameworks. As society becomes more concerned with the natural environment, businesses modify their behaviour in an attempt to address society's concerns. Based on the literature review, the conceptual review and direction for future research have been delineated and discussed. The paper concludes with the evidences of integration between sustainability and marketing in forms of corporate environmental actions and green marketing practices in businesses. The paper deals with the concept of 4-Ps and the green marketing practice as business response to the increasing environmental consciousness of consumers in the market. The discussion highlights future research avenues and consequent implications for marketers of green products in designing their marketing strategies.
Application of Six Sigma to Achieve Sales Lifecycle Optimization
Authors: Nacarelli Victoria
Published: April 2015

The objective of this paper is to optimize sales lifecycle performance at United Biosource Corporation through the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology to produce fact based, and data driven approaches with reduced process inconsistency. This methodology was applied to identify inefficiencies within the current sales lifecycle process, including excessive data collection and workflow activities. Evaluations of these inefficiencies identified critical to quality and critical to process inputs. On average, 285.33 hours per month are lost as a result of Smartweb related data and workflow performance activities. The identified drivers of these activities are: (i) external workflows; (ii) data cleaning; and (iii) outside reporting. The goal is to decrease the total number of hours per month spent performing these activities by 75% by the end of 2014. These results will be included in a subsequent publication. To date, the application of the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology to optimize sales lifecycle helped identify inefficiencies, develop solutions and a control plan to ensure the improvements are sustainable.
The Effect of Behavioral Factors on Stock Price Prediction using Generalized Regression and Backpropagation Neural Networks Models
Authors: Hanafizadeh Payam , Hashemi Ahmad
Published: April 2015

With regard to the importance of behavioral factors on stock price, which has been mentioned by researchers, this study includes four behavioral factors (overconfidence, representativeness, over reaction and under reaction) in addition to fundamental and technical factors as inputs for neural network models to evaluate the effectiveness of these behavioral factors on stock price prediction accuracy of 10 companies of DJIA index. Multi-layer perceptron (MlP) and generalized regression neural networks are used in this research as models to find the best model for each company based on unique characteristics of its own financial data. This study shows the mentioned behavioral factors are effective on accuracy of predictions of 8 out of 10 companies.
Integrating Smartphone Talking Applications, Trust, Switching Cost and Customer Switching Behaviour in the Mobile Phone Market
Authors: Abdelkader Ali
Published: April 2015

In recent years, free talking applications via smartphones and tablets have emerged. These applications are considered as a substitute service for phone calls. This study investigates the effect of providing smartphone talking applications (as a substitute service) upon the switching behaviour of mobile phone service users, from phone call to free talking applications call, in Egypt. Additionally, it investigates the impact of trust and switching cost on the strength and trend of this relationship, in order to develop a conceptual model in the mobile phone market in Egypt. Three hypotheses were tested and developed by using a sample of 353 Egyptian mobile phone users. Results found that providing smartphone talking applications (as a substitute service) has a significant impact upon the switching behaviour of mobile phone service users in all communication services, except urgent calls. The strength of this relationship is increased when the trust and the switching cost (as intervening or mediating variables) are available. Recommendations are made to help mobile phone companies in Egypt prevent customers from switching to competitors.
Antecedents and Consequences of Relationship Quality in B2B Markets
Authors: Abd-El-Salam Eman Mohamed
Published: April 2015

The purpose of this paper is to examine how service quality, relationship value, relationship quality and customer loyalty play a vital role in the Egyptian business to business market-and to test it empirically in agricultural business customers of chemical manufacturer with respect to their main supplier. The findings of this study show significant positive relationships among the variables under investigation. An international manufacturing company can manage its buyer-seller relationships to gain the trust, commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty of its business customers by offering high service quality. When the goal is to improve corporate marketing performance and increase business with an existing customer, managers should focus on the role of value as a key building block in their relationships. Relationship quality (satisfaction, trust and commitment) appears to be an important antecedent in establishing a sustainable business relationship. The paper adds to the understanding of business relationships in the Egyptian context by studying customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer trust, and customer commitment from the perspective of relationship-value-based dimensions. This approach emphasizes the pivotal role of relationship value as well as relationship quality, which has not been studied before in Egyptian business to business relationship markets.
A Critical Comparison of Trusted Computing and Trust Management Technologies
Authors: Tomaiuolo Michele
Published: April 2015

Mainly justified by the growing concern about vulnerabilities of IT systems, some new technologies are being integrated into computing devices, for realizing so-called Trusted Computing systems. However, they are raising questions about intrusive cyber-control over individual user activities and data, but also about consequences in cyber-war scenarios. The aim of this article is to confront Trusted Computing systems with distributed Trust Management systems, which realize access control for local resources on the basis of delegation of access rights, according to local trust decisions. Both technologies are discussed from various points of view: architecture, vision, ethics, politics and law. Some experimentations are also presented, to show the applicability of Trust Management techniques to modern Service-Oriented Architectures.
Analysis of a Secure Virtual Desktop Infrastructure System
Authors: Tong Yi Jie , Yan Wei Qi , Yu Jin
Published: April 2015

With an increasing number of personal computers introduced in schools, enterprises and other large organizations, workloads of system administrators have been on the rise due to the issues related to energy costs, IT expenses, PC replacement expenditures, data storage capacity, and information security, etc. However, Application Virtualization (AV) has been proved as a successful cost-effective solution to solve these problems. In this paper, the analytics of a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) system will be taken into consideration for a campus network. Our developed system will be introduced and justified. Furthermore, the rationality for these improvements will be introduced.
Cell Segmentation in Phase Contrast Microscopy by Constrained Optimization
Authors: Adiya Enkhbolor , Vongphachah Bouasone , Al-Shidaifat Alaaddin , Rentsen Enkhbat , Choi Heung-Kook
Published: April 2015

Utilization of automatic cell segmentation process is difficult to identify in a cell due to halo and shade-off distortions when observing the phase contrast microscopy images. Therefore, it is an important step to restore artifact-free images made ready for segmentation process. The main focus of this paper is to define a gradient projection algorithm to restore images based on the minimization problem of quadratic objective function with non-negative constraints. The proposed algorithm converges to a global minimum solution independent on initialization. The experimental result shows that the proposed algorithm can restore artifact-free images, which could produce high quality segmentation results using a simple thresholding method.
Effectiveness of the Serious Game ‘Rejuvenesce Village' in Cognitive Rehabilitation for the Elderly
Authors: Park Sung-Jun , Chang Hee-Dong , Kim KyungSik
Published: April 2015

The existing computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation tools are almost training-purposed ones which the users may feel boring and are repetitive with no fun. The authors have developed a serious game called 'Rejuvenesce Village' for cognitive rehabilitation with fun and good feelings for the elderly. This study is for verifying the effectiveness of the serious game 'Rejuvenesce Village' in cognitive rehabilitation for the elderly. The experiments for the verification were performed for 5 months, in Seoul Asan Medical Center, numbering to 100 elderly participants. The results showed the improvement of the cognitive functions and also the improvement of life satisfaction and the decrease of depression.
Consumer Demographics and Internet Based Health Information Search in the United States
Authors: Morgan Allison J. , Ferguson Yuvay Meyers , Trauth Eileen M.
Published: April 2015

Prescriptions for the successful provision of e-health information must integrate the varying needs of individuals for maintaining their personal health. Research emanating from both individual differences and health information searching literature suggests that a person's characteristics influence the pursuit of online health information. This paper addresses the factors influencing variation in health information searching strategies based on demographic differences among healthcare information consumers in the United States of America. Specifically, the authors evaluate variation in health information searching about diabetes within a population that varies by race, gender, age, socio-economic status, and education. The theory utilized in this research was the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT. Findings from this interpretive, qualitative study showed that differences such as race, gender, age, socio economic class, and geographic location all have an influence on searching behavior. However, it was found that these factors work together to influence behavior, rather than independently.
Designing of Vague Logic Based Fair-Share CPU Scheduler: VFS CPU Scheduler
Authors: Raheja Supriya , Dadhich Reena , Rajpal Smita
Published: April 2015

CPU scheduler is the primary component of an operating system which supports multitasking. Fair Share CPU scheduler uses static policy to share the CPU time among different levels of system. Static sharing of CPU time can affect the performance of system. Moreover, Fair share scheduler does not consider the impreciseness and uncertainty related to tasks. The objective is to design a vague based fair share scheduler (VFS). VFS scheduler extends the research in the field of fair sharing of CPU time where the functions of VFS scheduler are threefold: firstly, it deals with the impreciseness of task. Secondly, it dynamically shares the CPU time among users as well as among tasks. Thirdly, it supplies the dynamic priority to each task. It improves the performance of system. The VFS scheduler has three modules, VIS-DCS vague inference system for sharing CPU time; VIS-DP vague inference system for assigning dynamic priority to each task and scheduling algorithm to schedule the tasks. The novelty of this approach is to introduce the vague logic based CPU scheduler. Simulation results show that the VFS scheduler has improved performance over the fair share scheduler.