bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Investigating Privacy Perception and Behavior on Weibo
Authors: Amos Clinton , Zhang Lixuan , Pentina Iryna
Published: March 2015

More than half of Chinese Internet users participate in Weibo, the most popular social media and microblogging platform in China. Weibo encourages members to voluntarily contribute personal information, leading to potential privacy invasion. This study examines how trust in other members and perceptions of government intrusion affect privacy-related attitude and behavior on this social platform. Analysis of survey responses from 221 Weibo users confirm that perceived government intrusion is strongly correlated with privacy concern and self-protective behavior. Trust towards other Weibo participants is not significantly related to privacy concern; however it has a significant negative relationship with self-protective behavior. The study also reveals that privacy concern is positively related to self-protective behavior. Findings and their implications for future research and practice are provided.
Privacy in Participatory Sensing Systems
Authors: Sabrina Tishna , Murshed Manzur
Published: March 2015

Participatory sensing is a revolutionary new paradigm where ordinary citizens voluntarily sense their environment using readily available sensor devices such as mobile phones and systematically study, and then reflect on and share this information using existing wireless networks. It provides data collection, processing, and dissemination opportunities for socially-responsible applications spanning environmental monitoring, intelligent transportation, and public health, which are often not cost-viable using dedicated sensing infrastructure. The uniqueness of the participatory sensing system lies in its data communication infrastructure which is constituted by the deliberate participation of community people. However, the potential lack of privacy of the participants in such system makes it harder to ensure their voluntary contribution. Thus preserving privacy of the individuals contributing data has introduced a key challenge in this area. On the other hand, data integrity is desired imperatively to make the service trustworthy and user-friendly. Different interesting approaches have been proposed so far to protect privacy that will encourage participation of the owners of data sources in turn.
Trends in Information Security
Authors: Chakraborty Partha , Raghuraman Krishnamurthy
Published: March 2015

Information systems have transitioned from being designed for sophisticated users to systems for general populace. Have information security thoughts evolved likewise? The traditional understanding of security gravitated towards physical/network/platform/security and audit logging mechanisms. This chapter looks into evolution of information security, with the current impetus towards boundary-less enterprises, federated identities, the contemporary standards, and the need for federal governments to be involved in information security, ethics, and privacy concerns. With such a gamut of influencing forces, information security needs to be inbuilt with SDLC as a natural process rather than as an afterthought. This chapter covers information security trends in relation to cloud, mobile devices, and Bring Your Own Device. Convergence of information security with risk management and business process continuity is discussed. The authors indicate a few emerging research topics in the field of information security and outline the trends for future.
Privacy in the 21st Century
Authors: Kitsos Panagiotis , Yannoukakou Aikaterini
Published: March 2015

The events of 9/11 along with the bombarding in Madrid and London forced governments to resort to new structures of privacy safeguarding and electronic surveillance under the common denominator of terrorism and transnational crime fighting. Legislation as US PATRIOT Act and EU Data Retention Directive altered fundamentally the collection, processing and sharing methods of personal data, while it granted increased powers to police and law enforcement authorities concerning their jurisdiction in obtaining and processing personal information to an excessive degree. As an aftermath of the resulted opacity and the public outcry, a shift is recorded during the last years towards a more open governance by the implementation of open data and cloud computing practices in order to enhance transparency and accountability from the side of governments, restore the trust between the State and the citizens, and amplify the citizens' participation to the decision-making procedures. However, privacy and personal data protection are major issues in all occasions and, thus, must be safeguarded without sacrificing national security and public interest on one hand, but without crossing the thin line between protection and infringement on the other. Where this delicate balance stands, is the focal point of this paper trying to demonstrate that it is better to be cautious with open practices than hostage of clandestine practices.
Privacy-Aware Web Service Composition and Ranking
Authors: Costante Elisa , Paci Federica , Zannone Nicola
Published: March 2015

Service selection is a key issue in the Future Internet, where applications are built by composing services and content offered by different service providers. Most existing service selection schemas only focus on QoS properties of services such as throughput, latency and response time, or on their trust and reputation level. By contrast, the risk of privacy breaches arising from the selection of component services whose privacy policy is not compliant with customers' privacy preferences is largely ignored. In this paper, the authors propose a novel privacy-preserving Web service composition and selection approach which (i) makes it possible to verify the compliance between users' privacy requirements and providers' privacy policies and (ii) ranks the composite Web services with respect to the privacy level they offer. The authors illustrate their approach using an eCommerce Web service as an example of service composition. Moreover, the authors present a possible Java-based implementation of the proposed approach and present an extension to WS-Policy standard to specify privacy related assertions.
The Academic Views from Moscow Universities on the Future of DEE at Russia and Ukraine
Authors: Mkrttchian Vardan , Aysmontas Bronyus , Uddin Md Akther , Andreev Alexander , Vorovchenko Natalia
Published: March 2015

Distance higher education has been growing rapidly all over the world and the importance of understanding psycho-pedagogical issues of learners studying in Distance Education (DE) has been growing too. Moscow universities have always had and are crucial to the development of education in the vast area covering the entire territory of the former Soviet Union. In this chapter, an attempt is made to investigate the current studies on components of individual differences like self-actualization, self-regulation, locus of control, and motivation, and their influence in DE setting, academic views, and development visions for Cyber U-learning model on the future of distance education in Russia and Ukraine. The current review of the literature indicates that physical and psychological separation of learners and teachers initiate various psycho-pedagogical issues and special attention must be given to accommodate this in content development, pedagogical, instructional, and cyber ubiquitous learning design of DE.
New Communication Technologies' Influence on Distance Education (DE) Environments
Authors: Dogan Murat Ertan
Published: March 2015

This chapter considers the influence of communication technologies and new media technology through the new trend of distance learning environment design. The new communication technologies like Web 2.0 applications involve information sharing and collaboration between users. These technologies bring the informal communication and learning styles to the forefront. Under favor of the new communication technologies' enabled networking, the main driver for the learning process is shifting from instructor-centered approaches to carefully designed learner experiences with robust interactions between learners and content. In this sense, the chapter also explores the role of academics and media professionals as distance-learning leaders and distance education experts through this transitional stage. The chapter focuses on how distance education experts take part in distance learning environment design and what the main skills for distance education experts as leaders, instructors, and designers in the age of networks are, through the discussions of theoretical approaches.
Economic Importance of the Distance Education Expert
Authors: Tezcan Mediha
Published: March 2015

The communication and information technologies are undergoing a major innovation process in our day. The new education technologies have had positive reflections on the traditional and distance education systems and are being used extensively in these areas. In the global competition environment, knowledge has become an important commodity for the distance education institutions. The intellectual capital stocks to create and protect knowledge and to develop it into a competitive element are equally important as the physical capital stocks for the distance education institutions. In this chapter, the job skills, workplace effectiveness, economic and environment friendly actions, personal capital, intellectual capital, personal well-being of the distance education expert and his/her contribution to economic growth and human development are discussed.
An Action Research on Design, Delivery, and Evaluation of a Distance Course in a Vocational Higher Education Institution
Authors: Uzun Erman , Özden M. Yaşar , Yildirim Ali
Published: March 2015

In this chapter, the main purpose is to explain design, development, delivery, and evaluation process of a new distance web design course for the needs of students in a vocational higher education institution. It is important to highlight how wisely instructional technology was designed and used to mitigate problems to effectively support the course. Proactive action research was used as a framework of the study. This research focused on an analysis of the existing face-to-face course to mitigate its problems in the new design. Then, strengths and weaknesses of the new design in the new context were investigated. It is important to highlight that technology comes with its unique problems and opportunities. Thus, teaching in a technological environment confronts instructors with a wide range of pedagogical, technological, and physical challenges.
Model in SM of DEE Based on Service-Oriented Interactions at Dynamic Software Product Lines
Authors: Mkrttchian Vardan , Bershadsky Alexander , Bozhday Alexander , Fionova Ludmila
Published: March 2015

Creation of distance learning systems that have the properties of mobility, adaptability, and service-orientation are currently the actual scientific and practical problem and future direction of development of general e-learning. The chapter suggests a possible approach to the construction of a single pervasive intellectual environment for e-education services based on the concept of Triple H-Avatar. Structural basis of the proposed distance education system is an interconnected pair of intelligent software agents (avatars): avatar of student and avatar of teacher are implemented using a service-oriented architecture. Avatars are able to adapt to the current level of the student's knowledge, currently available software, and provide technical, telecommunications, and environmental requirements, and various educational standards. As a basis of self-adaptation of avatars, a model of variability, including the three basic characteristics of hierarchy: educational content, interface, and software and technical support. In this case, the mathematical description of the model variability is implemented using the theory of hypergraphs.
The Possibility of One-Size-Fits-All in ICT4D Design
Authors: Chepken Christopher , Nabwire Suzane
Published: March 2015

This paper presents design experiences for two Non-Governmental organizations and one day-labour organisation working for the informal job seekers and employers—day-labour market. The authors present the three design architectures implemented for the organisations and show that, even when users are portrayed as similar in the way they work and what they do, their Information Management Systems (IMS) functional software requirements remain contextual up to the details. The authors argue that, although non-functional requirements may be the same for seemingly similar users, there is need to focus on the different functional information needs, including the ones that may seem insignificant. They noted that designers need to know more about their users beyond the “about us” information. The authors conclude that there exists no “one size fits all” IMS, even for seemingly similar organisations.
ICT4D in China and the Capability Approach
Authors: Ting Carol
Published: March 2015

For more than a decade, the Chinese government has poured copious resources into rural informatization as a means to increase agricultural productivity and rural economic growth. Such efforts so far have not produced definite results in rural areas, but increasing economic inequality and rising environmental threats have already forced the government to rethink its growth-centered development policy. Indeed, recent government releases clearly state the resolve to departure from the “GDP obsession” of the past. Meanwhile, the past three decades saw the rise of a powerful alternative development approach—the Capability Approach (CA), which focuses on empowering individuals and sees economic growth as one element of well-being. Given that the CA can potentially help devising a more coherent and holistic framework for Information and communications technologies for development (ICT4D), this paper examines the compatibility between the Capability Approach and the top-down socialist approach towards rural informatization in China. Built on two case studies of rural informatization in rural China, the present paper identifies potential obstacles to the adoption of the Capability Approach and discusses policy implications and suggestions.
Iatrogenic nocturnal eneuresis- an overlooked side effect of anti histamines?
Authors: Italiano D , Italiano F , Genovese C , Calabro RS
Published: March 2015

Nocturnal enuresis is a common disorder in childhood, but its pathophysiological mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Iatrogenic nocturnal enuresis has been described following treatment with several psychotropic medications. Herein, we describe a 6-year-old child who experienced nocturnal enuresis during treatment with the antihistamine cetirizine. Drug rechallenge was positive. Several neurotransmitters are implicated in the pathogenesis of nocturnal enuresis, including noradrenaline, serotonin and dopamine. Antihistamine treatment may provoke functional imbalance of these pathways resulting in incontinence.
Prevalence of restless legs syndrome in somatoform pain disorder and its effect on quality of life
Authors: Chatterjee Seshadri Sekhar , Mitra Sayantanava , Guha Prathama , Chakraborty Kaustav
Published: March 2015

Background: Persistent somatoform pain disorder (SPD) is a condition in which the patient suffers from persistent, severe and distressing pain; and from associated physical and psychological distress. While presence of restless leg syndrome (RLS) in SPD is understudied, their association might have an impact on general well-being and quality of life (QoL) in SPD. Aims and Objectives: Present study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of RLS in SPD patients attending outpatient department services at a tertiary care institute in eastern India. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and forty consecutive patients with SPD were screened initially and after applying appropriate inclusion and exclusion criteria, 192 subjects (male = 85, female = 107) were included in the study. Severity of RLS was assessed using a questionnaire of the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group and QoL was measured on QoL Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form (Q-LES-Q-SF). Results: Revealed a 28% prevalence of RLS is in patients with SPD, which is much higher than its estimated population prevalence. A larger proportion of those with RLS had continuous course of SPD, longer duration of SPD, and higher daytime sleepiness. They also had poorer scores on Q-LES-Q-SF, indicating a poorer QoL overall. Discussion and Conclusion: This is the first report, to the best of our knowledge, on this aspect from India. While this association between RLS and SPD may have biological explanation based on abnormal monoaminergic neurotransmission system, the findings call for more vigilant approach to SPD patients in order to improve their QoL and add to their well-being.
Socio demography of mental retardation: A community-based study from a goitre zone in rural sub-Himalayan India
Authors: Sharma Shailja , Raina Sunil Kumar , Bhardwaj Ashok Kumar , Chaudhary Sanjeev , Kashyap Vipasha , Chander Vishav
Published: March 2015

Introduction: Mental retardation is one of the most common disabilities of childhood which can be prevented by timely identification of the causative agent and an adequate management accordingly. District Kangra lies in the sub-Himalayan belt and forms a part of the 2400 km long goitre belt along the southern slopes of the Himalayas. Objective: To study the prevalence of mental retardation among children (1-10) years of age. Materials and Methods: A two-phase cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural area of district Kangra. A 30-cluster sampling technique was used to screen a population of children 1-10 years of age from five randomly selected panchayats (village government units) of district Kangra. The screening was based on a modified version of the ten questions screen, adapted to the local population. In the first phase a door to door survey was done to identify suspects of mental retardation. In the second phase, the children found positive in the first phase were called for examination by the pediatrician to confirm mental retardation. Results: A total of 2420 children were screened in the first phase of which 95 tested positive. About 52 of these children were found to be mentally retarded in the second phase giving a prevalence of 2.15%. The 69% of these children belonged to the lower middle class and 28.3% belonged to middle class families using the Uday Parekh scale for assessment of the socio-economic status. Conclusion: Prevalence of mental retardation is high in district Kangra of Himachal Pradesh in comparison to other states of India. This could be attributed to the good primary health care in Himachal Pradesh where institutional deliveries are about 70%. This may have led to better survival of children with congenital disorders and those that suffer perinatal trauma.
Pupil to limbus ratio: Introducing a simple objective measure using two-box method for measuring early nisocoria and progress of pupillary change in the ICU
Authors: Mojumder Deb Kumar , Patel Saumil , Nugent Kenneth , Detoledo John , Kim Jongyeol , Dar Nabeel , Wilms Henrik
Published: March 2015

Introduction: Measurement of static pupillary size in the ICU is of importance in cases of acutely expanding intracranial mass lesions. The inaccuracies with subjective assessment of pupillary size by medical personnel preclude its use in emergent neurological situations. Objective: To determine if the ratio of pupil to limbus diameter (PLD ratio) measured by a two-box method is a reliable measure of pupil size for detecting early anisocoria and measuring pupillary changes. Materials and Methods: The PLD ratio was defined as the ratio of the pupillary diameter measured at a para-horizontal axial plane with the limbus diameter measured at the same or parallel axial plane. A two-box method was used to estimate the diameters of imaged pupils. Eyes were imaged using an iPhone 4S cellphone camera. Background illumination was measured and kept constant. The pupils of a 78-year-old woman, who presented with a large intra-axial parenchymal hemorrhage, were imaged. The patient had left pupillary miosis in dark but not in bright light. After presenting this case along with the images of the pupillary examination, a group of 21 medical staff were asked several questions on the pupillary examination. Reliability of PLD ratio were assessed via standard error of mean (S.E.M) of PLD ratios for 3 different subjects each imaged under constant illumination and fixation but from different angles to the optical axis. Results: Analysis of questionnaire data together with PLD ratios revealed that ~ 14% and 10% of participants could estimate the pupillary size in darkness and bright light respectively but none were simultaneously accurate indicating that subjective assessment of pupillary size was unreliable. The approach towards a systematic pupillary examination was inconsistent among the participants. The PLD ratio was found to be a reliable measure of pupillary size with standard error of mean below 0.1 mm for the three subjects tested. Conclusion: Static pupillary sizes can be objectively and consistently evaluated using PLD ratios using a two-box method. PLD ratios are resistant, within limits, to changes in imaging angle or choice of para-horizontal axes for measurement.
Narcissism and Sexual Harassment in Organizations: Their Dynamics and Coping Strategies
Authors: Nwaeke LI
Published: March 2015

This study examined the effects of narcissism and sexual harassment on employee behaviour in organizations. It also provides some strategic ways by which employees can cope with these not so subtle problems in their work places. It adopted a descriptive approach to the study and revealed that narcissism and sexual harassment are among the many common phenomena of most organizations in the world. Sexual harassment is tangible or quid pro quo in nature and occurs when an employee’s career path is directly impacted by a supervisor’s unwelcome request for sexual favours or other sexual advances. It also occurs under a hostile work – related environment where intimidation is applied to secure sexual favours from unwilling employees. The consequences of any of these forms of sexual harassment can be lasting emotional damages, depression, fear, frustration, and reduced productivity. Narcissism as a psycho – social problem on the job assumes the forms of an erotic self – love or a morbid and excessive self – admiration of employees at the work place or a compensatory reaction of minimal self – esteem which leads to covert jealousy towards others on the job. It was concluded that victims of these work – related psycho – social problems should seek professional or expert advice avoid environments under which they prevail or report such matters to their superior / management teams so that their cases could be effectively resolved based on some existing organizational policies on such related cases.Key words: Narcissism, sexual harassment, emotional damages, depression, intimidation, covert jealousy and reduced productivity.
Using Role Play to Teach Overpopulation to Basic Science Students: A Way Forward for Environmental Sustainability
Authors: Osuafor AM , Samuel NNC
Published: March 2015

Population is a major source of environmental degradation and it impacts primarily on the environment through the use of natural resources and production of wastes with its attendant health problems. The study examined population growth and overpopulation in Nigeria and its impact on the environment. To achieve environmental sustainability, the paper stressed the need for intensification of environmental education in Nigerian schools using Basic Science at the Junior secondary school level in order to ‘catch them young’. The paper advocated the use of role play, a method seen as one of the best ways to enable pupils in the classroom share in something of the reality of issues in the real world beyond the school, as a good strategy to impact environmental culture into the young ones. By so doing, the children will acquire relevant environmental skills, attitude and interest that will spur them into action towards maintaining a sustainable environment. The paper also made some recommendations on ways to combat environmental degradation among which is that basic science teachers should effectively teach the environmental topics/elements infused into the basic science curriculum to enable students acquire environmental knowledge, skills and attitudes for environmental sustainability.Key words: Environmental sustainability, overpopulation, Basic Science, role-play
Optical Properties of Lead Silver Sulphide Ternary Thin Films Deposited by Chemical Bath Method
Authors: Ezeobele EE , Ezenwa IA
Published: March 2015

Lead Silver Sulphide (PbAgS) thin films on glass substrate have been deposited by chemical bath deposition technique with EDTA and TEA as complexing agents, while ammonium solution served as pH adjuster. The films were deposited at room temperature of 300K. The deposited films were characterized using UV – VIS spectrophotometer. From the spectral analysis of the absorbance / transmittance values, the optical and solid state properties were deduced. The optical properties studied include reflectance, absorption coefficient, thickness, refractive index, extinction coefficient, optical conductivity and band gap energy. The films showed very high absorbance in the UV region, moderate in the VIS region and low in NIR region. Transmittance is low in the UV region and high in the VIS – NIR region, while reflectance is generally low in all spectral region studied. The films showed a direct band gap range of 2.20 eV – 2.40 eV, refractive index range of 2.1 – 2.60, while the thickness of the films increases with deposition time
Epidemiology of Deaths from Road Traffic Accidents in Nigeria: A Baseline Study of Lagos State
Authors: Atubi AO
Published: March 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine the epidemiology of deaths from Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) in Nigeria using Lagos State as a baseline study and to suggest preventive and corrective safety measures towards reducing the traffic accidents in the study area. The reported number of deaths from road traffic accidents in the 20 Local Government Areas of Lagos State from 1970-2010 were compared using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The result showed that for the two factors, Local Government Areas and Years, the f-calculated of 18.32 and 7.43 respectively were higher than the f-tabular of 1.64 and 1.32 respectively at 0.05 level of significance. It then implies that the means for each of the factors reported number of deaths across the 20 L.G.A.’s in Lagos State and across different years were significantly different. Based on the findings recommendations were proffered.Key words: Epidemiology; traffic; accidents; Lagos; Nigeria
Biodiversity Conservation and the Sacred Forests of Emohua, Rivers State, Niger Delta Region Nigeria – A Review
Authors: Omokhua GE , Asimiea AO
Published: March 2015

There are five (5) sacred forests in Emohua Local Government Area in Rivers, Nigeria. The area is situated in the Niger Delta region of the country. The forests include Abaka, Ovulikpo, Ohia, Ogbagoroggaro and Ogbagorigeri. These sacred sites are regarded as the temples of god by the local people due to their beliefs, but technically the forests are centres of biodiversity. In recent times, anthropogenic interference activities expose the forest to threat and challenges which make the development and adoption of conservation strategies inevitable. This paper focused on the various strategies necessary for conservation of the sacred sites at Emohua.
Transport and the Environment: Towards Reducing Road Traffic Emissions in Nigeria
Authors: Atubi AO
Published: March 2015

In Nigeria much attention is given on general industrial pollution and pollution in oil industries with little reference on damage of pollution caused by mobile transportation sources of air pollution. The situation of increased pollution from mobile transportation sources is on the increase in per capital vehicle ownership, thus resulting to high congestion on Nigeria city roads and increase in the concentration of pollutants in the air, consequently, increasing health risk on human population. The paper therefore examined the concept of pollution and agents of pollution. Attention was given to air pollutants with particular reference to vehicular pollution. This paper suggested that for Nigeria government to avoid negative effects of transport on urban environment should broaden and intensify environmental policies to meet the needs of the present without compromising that of the future generation.Key words: Environment; emissions; transport; reducing; Nigeria.
Adoption of Social Networking Technology in Teaching and Learning Process in Nigeria Tertiary Institutions
Authors: Ezike CO
Published: March 2015

Increase is the effectiveness of teaching and learning through the adoption of social networking technology in the teaching and learning process in Nigeria tertiary institutions, using Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike as case study, is one of the landmark achievements of information and communication technology and as innovative pedagogy aimed at redefining education. The study employed a survey research method and was aimed at finding out how advantageous and important adoption of social networking is to teaching and learning in Nigeria Universities, and the factors militating against this adoption. The instrument used for the study was structured questionnaires, and the instrument was validated by five scholars from the Federal University of Technology Owerri. A response rate of 80% was recorded. The responses from questionnaires were anlaysed using frequency distribution and parentages. The results from the study revealed that majority of the respondents gave positive response and agreed that adoption of social networking in teaching and learning in Nigeria Universities is important and advantageous and will ensure a closer link between lecturers and students and will help bridge the divide between the students and the lecturers. Use of social Networking media in teaching would also help sharpen the students’ skills in publication. Some top most militating factors against this adoption include epileptic power supply, high tariff on internet access and unwilling of lecturers to adopt changes. Some recommendations made were suggestions for improvement in power supply and other basic infrastructures by the government, improvement of technical know-how of both students and lecturers and increase in interest on this adoption and use.
Towards Restructuring Library and Information Science Curricula for the Challenges of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Environment in Nigeria
Authors: Akanwa CP
Published: March 2015

This paper deals with restructuring of library and information science curriculum for the challenge of ICT environment. The paper highlights the following areas: conceptual framework, qualities of Library and Information Science curriculum, rationale for restructuring library and information science curriculum, areas in library and information science curriculum that requires changes, rolls of National Association of Library and Information Science Educators (NALISE), Nigerian Library Association (NLA), Librarians Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN) and other related bodies in restructuring of library and information science curriculum. The following Information Communication Technology (ICT) courses: electronic resources management, management of social media tools, website design and management, networks and networking, software design and management, database design and management, innovation and creativity were identified as ICT fields that can be integrated into the curriculum. The paper reveals that the curricula of most library schools in Nigeria examined do not contain some ICT components that are relevant to librarians in training for them to be effective in the modern society. The implication of the paper is that heads of library schools in Nigeria should identify the loop-holes in the curricula and take pragmatic measures in reviewing and restructuring the curriculum for library and information science education professional that can deliver in ICT dominated society.Key words: Library Science, Library School, Information Science, Curriculum, ICT Environment
Prenatal Development of the Human Central Nervous System, Normal and Abnormal
Authors: Shiota Kohei
Published: March 2015

The organogenesis of the central nervous system (CNS) begins during the third week of development, but its maturation requires a considerably long period of time until after birth. Therefore the developing nervous system is vulnerable to the deleterious effects of environmental factors during the pre- and perinatal periods. In addition, molecular studies have revealed various gene mutations that are responsible for congenital CNS disorders. This chapter provides an overview of the prenatal development of the human brain and spinal cord.

How to cite this article

Shiota K. Prenatal Development of the Human Central Nervous System, Normal and Abnormal. Donald School J Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015;9(1):61-66.
Antenatal and Postnatal Assessment of Neurobehavior: Which One should be used?
Authors: Stanojevic Milan
Published: March 2015

It is obvious that this environment is quite different from one man is experiencing after birth, but, although different, intrauterine environment is ideal at that stage of human development. There is a question of the environmental discontinuity between intrauterine conditions characterized by existence of microgravity (baby astronaut hypothesis), and extrauterine life with gravity as developmental condition sine qua non. The human brain is one of the organs which is very sensitive to environmental changes affecting its growth and development. The brain of very tiny prematurely born babies is unable to follow the genetically determined growth pattern in extrauterine environment, even when postnatal nutrition and nurturing of the babies according to our best knowledge are appropriate. Is this fact of any significance to make distinction between normal and abnormal neurodevelopment pre- and postnatally is still unclear?

Kurjak antenatal neurodevelopmental test (KANET) using four-dimensional ultrasound (4D US) has been introduced using ten parameters and after attempt of standardization only eight parameters remained for neurodevelopmental assessment of low- and high-risk fetuses. We believe that at present level of knowledge, KANET test could be considered as a good test for the detection of fetuses with high neurological risk, without the possibility to define reliable long-term neurodevelopmental outcome. This is also hardly possible based on postnatal neurological assessment with 27 different postnatal tests. They were primarily neurobehavioral or neuromotor assessments that were suitable for use with preterm infants, and were discriminative, predictive or evaluative.

There was a high willingness of clinician to find postnatal neurodevelopmental test which could be predictive for short- term and long-term outcome of low and high-risk infants.

Although, there are many tests available for prenatal and postnatal assessment of neurodevelopment, none of them is reliable in the prediction of neurodevelopmental outcome in low-risk population, while many could be used with fairly acceptable predictivity in high-risk population. Although, many studies have been conducted in order to solve this problem, still there is a space for improvement. In postnatal period we are dealing with infant in front of the clinician with direct observation, while pretnatally we are dealing with quite different environment and less mature brain.

How to cite this article

Stanojevic M. Antenatal and Postnatal Assessment of Neurobehavior: Which One should be used? Donald School J Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015;9(1):67-74.
Fetal Isolated Ventriculomegaly: Is There any Neonatal Consequences?
Authors: Vladareanu Radu , Andrei Traistaru Vlad
Published: March 2015

Isolated fetal ventriculomegaly is the most common cerebral anomaly encountered in utero during a routine pregnancy scan. Ultrasonography remains the most easy to access tool in the examination of the fetal brain, although fetal MRI is a more accurate method of evaluating fetal ventriculomegaly— associated brain anomalies are found in 17% of the cases after performing fetal MRI. Amniocentesis with chromosomal evaluation must be performed, because kariotype anomalies are more frequently encountered in fetuses with enlargement of the ventricular atrium, but the ventriculomegaly can be a cosequence of congenital infection with CMV, Toxoplasma or Rubella. Fetal isolated ventriculomegaly is a significant risk factor for developmental delay in children.

How to cite this article

Vladareanu S, Traistaru VA, Vladareanu R. Fetal Isolated Ventriculomegaly: Is There any Neonatal Consequences? Donald School J Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015;9(1):75-79.
Use of portable FTIR spectrometers for detecting greenhouse gas emissions of the megacity Berlin – Part 1: Instrumental line shape characterisation and calibration of a quintuple of spectrometers
Authors: Frey M. , Hase F. , Blumenstock T. , Groß J. , Kiel M. , Mengistu Tsidu G. , Schäfer K. , Sha M. Kumar , Orphal J.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. Several low resolution spectrometers were used to investigate the CO2 and CH4 emissions of the megacity Berlin. Before and after the campaign the instruments were tested side-by-side. An excellent level of agreement and stability was found between the different spectrometers: the drifts in XCO2 and XCH4 are within 0.005 and 0.035%, respectively. The instrumental line shape characteristics of all spectrometers were found to be close to nominal. Cross-calibration factors for XCH4 and XCO2 were established for each spectrometer. An empirical airmass correction factor has been applied. As a last calibration step, using a co-located TCCON spectrometer as a reference, a common factor has been derived for the low-resolution campaign spectrometers, which ensures that the records are compatible to the WMO in-situ scale. Finally as a first result of the Berlin campaign we show the excellent agreement of ground pressure values obtained from total column measurements and in situ records.
Use of portable FTIR spectrometers for detecting greenhouse gas emissions of the megacity Berlin – Part 2: Observed time series of XCO2 and XCH4
Authors: Hase F. , Frey M. , Blumenstock T. , Groß J. , Kiel M. , Kohlhepp R. , Mengistu Tsidu G. , Schäfer K. , Sha M. K. , Orphal J.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. Five portable Bruker EM27/SUN FTIR spectrometers have been used for the accurate and precise observation of column averaged abundances of CO2 and CH4 around the megacity Berlin. In the first part of this work (Frey et al., 2015) we have presented the various measures that were undertaken to ensure that the observations are consistent between sites, accurate and precise. Here, we present the recorded time series of XCH4 and XCO2 and demonstrate that the CO2 emissions of Berlin can be clearly identified in the observations. A simple dispersion model is applied which indicates a total strength of the Berlin source of about 0.8 t CO2 s−1. In the Supplement of this work, we provide the measured dataset and auxiliary data. We hope that the model community will exploit this unique dataset for state-of-the art inversion studies of CO2 and CH4 sources in the Berlin area.
Assessment of the uncertainty of snowpack simulations based on variance decomposition
Authors: Sauter T. , Obleitner F.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. State of the art numerical snow models essentially rely on observational data for initialization, forcing, parametrization and validation. Such data are available in increasing amount, but the inherent propagation of related uncertainties on the simulation results has received rather limited attention so far. Depending on their complexity, even small errors can have a profound effect on simulations, which dilutes our confidence in the results. This paper quantifies the fractional contributions of some archetypical measurement uncertainties on key simulation results in a high Arctic environment. The contribution of individual factors on the model variance, either alone or by interaction, is decomposed using Global Sensitivity Analysis. The work focuses on the temporal evolution of the fractional contribution of different sources on the model uncertainty, which provides a more detailed understanding of the model's sensitivity pattern. The decompositions demonstrate, that the impact of measurement errors on calculated snow depth and the surface energy balance components varies significantly throughout the year. Some factors show episodically strong impacts, although there overall mean contribution is low while others constantly affect the results. However, these results are not yet to be generalized imposing the need to further investigate the issue for e.g. other glaciological and meteorological settings.
CONTEXTUAL CLASSIFICATION OF POINT CLOUDS USING A TWO-STAGE CRF
Authors: Niemeyer J. , Rottensteiner F. , Soergel U. , Heipke C.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. In this investigation, we address the task of airborne LiDAR point cloud labelling for urban areas by presenting a contextual classification methodology based on a Conditional Random Field (CRF). A two-stage CRF is set up: in a first step, a point-based CRF is applied. The resulting labellings are then used to generate a segmentation of the classified points using a Conditional Euclidean Clustering algorithm. This algorithm combines neighbouring points with the same object label into one segment. The second step comprises the classification of these segments, again with a CRF. As the number of the segments is much smaller than the number of points, it is computationally feasible to integrate long range interactions into this framework. Additionally, two different types of interactions are introduced: one for the local neighbourhood and another one operating on a coarser scale. This paper presents the entire processing chain. We show preliminary results achieved using the Vaihingen LiDAR dataset from the ISPRS Benchmark on Urban Classification and 3D Reconstruction, which consists of three test areas characterised by different and challenging conditions. The utilised classification features are described, and the advantages and remaining problems of our approach are discussed. We also compare our results to those generated by a point-based classification and show that a slight improvement is obtained with this first implementation.
CHALLENGES AND POTENTIALS USING MULTI ASPECT COVERAGE OF URBAN SCENES BY AIRBORNE SAR ON CIRCULAR TRAJECTORIES
Authors: Palm S. , Pohl N. , Stilla U.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. Airborne SAR on small and flexible platforms guarantees the evaluation of local damages after natural disasters and is both weather and daylight independent. The processing of circular flight trajectories can further improve the reconstruction of target scenes especially in complex urban scenarios as shadowing and foreshortening effects can be reduced by multiple views from different aspect angles (hyper- or full- aspect). A dataset collected with the Miranda 35 GHz radar system with 1 GHz bandwidth on a small ultralight aircraft on a circular trajectory over an urban scene was processed using a time domain approach. The SAR processing chain and the effects of the navigational data for such highly nonlinear trajectories and unstable platforms are described. The generated SAR image stack over the entire trajectory consists of 240 individual SAR images, each image visualizing the scene from a slightly different aspect angle. First results for the fusion of multiple aspect views to create one resulting image with reduced shadow areas and the possibility to find hidden targets are demonstrated. Further potentials of such particular datasets like moving target indication are discussed.
ROBUST SPARSE MATCHING AND MOTION ESTIMATION USING GENETIC ALGORITHMS
Authors: Shahbazi M. , Sohn G. , Théau J. , Ménard P.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. In this paper, we propose a robust technique using genetic algorithm for detecting inliers and estimating accurate motion parameters from putative correspondences containing any percentage of outliers. The proposed technique aims to increase computational efficiency and modelling accuracy in comparison with the state-of-the-art via the following contributions: i) guided generation of initial populations for both avoiding degenerate solutions and increasing the rate of useful hypotheses, ii) replacing random search with evolutionary search, iii) possibility of evaluating the individuals of every population by parallel computation, iv) being performable on images with unknown internal orientation parameters, iv) estimating the motion model via detecting a minimum, however more than enough, set of inliers, v) ensuring the robustness of the motion model against outliers, degeneracy and poorperspective camera models, vi) making no assumptions about the probability distribution of inliers and/or outliers residuals from the estimated motion model, vii) detecting all the inliers by setting the threshold on their residuals adaptively with regard to the uncertainty of the estimated motion model and the position of the matches. The proposed method was evaluated both on synthetic data and real images. The results were compared with the most popular techniques from the state-of-the-art, including RANSAC, MSAC, MLESAC, Least Trimmed Squares and Least Median of Squares. Experimental results proved that the proposed approach perform better than others in terms of accuracy of motion estimation, accuracy of inlier detection and the computational efficiency.
ON OUTLIER DETECTION IN A PHOTOGRAMMETRIC MOBILE MAPPING DATASET
Authors: Taglioretti C. , Manzino A. M. , Bellone T. , Colomina I.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. Various types of technology are used for Terrestrial Mobile Mapping (TMM) such as IMU, cameras, odometers, laser scanner etc., which are integrated in order to determine the attitude and the position of the vehicle in use, especially in the absence of GNSS signal i.e. in an urban canyon. The aim of this study is to use only photogrammetric measurements obtained with a low cost camera (with a reduced focal length and small frames) located on the vehicle, in order to improve the quality of TMM solution in the absence of a GNSS signal. It is essential to have good quality frames in order to solve this problem. In fact it is generally quite easy to extract a large number of common points between the frames (the so-called ‘tie points’), but this does not necessarily imply the goodness of the matching quality, which might be uncorrected due to the presence of obstacles that may occlude the camera sight. The Authors used two different methods for solving the problem of the presence of outliers: RANSAC and the Forward Search. In this article the Authors show the results obtainable with good quality frames (frames without occlusions) and under difficult conditions that simulate better reality.