bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Central nervous system tumors: Radiologic pathologic correlation and diagnostic approach
Authors: Pant Ishita , Chaturvedi Sujata , Jha Deepak Kumar , Kumari Rima , Parteki Samta
Published: March 2015

Objectives: This study was conducted to formulate location-wise radiologic diagnostic algorithms and assess their concordance with the final histopathological diagnosis so as to evaluate their utility in a rural setting where only basic facilities are available. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis to assess the concordance of radiology (primarily MRI) with final histopathology report was done. Based on the most common incidence of tumor location and basic radiology findings, diagnostic algorithms were prepared. Results: For supratentorial intraaxial parenchymal location concordance was seen in all high-grade astrocytomas, low- and high-grade oligodendrogliomas, metastatic tumors, primitive neuroectodermal tumors, high-grade ependymomas, neuronal and mixed neuro-glial tumors and tumors of hematopoietic system. Lowest concordance was seen in low-grade astrocytomas. In the supratentorial intraaxial ventricular location, agreement was observed in choroid plexus tumors, ependymomas, low-grade astrocytomas and meningiomas; in the supratentorial extraaxial location, except for the lack of concordance in the only case of metastatic tumor, concordance was observed in meningeal tumors, tumors of the sellar region, tumors of cranial and paraspinal nerves; the infratentorial intraaxial parenchymal location showed agreement in low- as well as high-grade astrocytomas, metastatic tumors, high-grade ependymoma, embryonal tumors and hematopoietic tumors; in the infratentorial intraaxial ventricular location, except for the lack of concordance in one case of low-grade astrocytoma and two cases of medulloblastomas, agreement was observed in low- and high-grade ependymoma; infratentorial extraaxial tumors showed complete agreement in all tumors of cranial and paraspinal nerves, meningiomas, and hematopoietic tumors. Conclusion: A location-based approach to central nervous system (CNS) tumors is helpful in establishing an appropriate differential diagnosis.
The effects of needle deformation during lumbar puncture
Authors: Özdemir Hasan Hüseyin , Demir Caner F. , Varol Sefer , Arslan Demet , Yıldız Mustafa , Akil Eşref
Published: March 2015

Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess deformation of the tip and deflection from the axis of 22-gauge Quincke needles when they are used for diagnostic lumbar puncture (LP). Thus, it can be determined whether constructional alterations of needles are important for predicting clinical problems after diagnostic LP. Materials and Methods: The 22-gauge Quincke needles used for diagnostic LP were evaluated. A specially designed protractor was used for measurement and evaluation. Waist circumference was measured in each patient. Patients were questioned about headaches occurring after LP. Results: A total of 115 Quincke-type spinal needles used in 113 patients were evaluated. No deflection was detected in 38 (33.1%) of the needles. Deflection between 0.1° and 5° occurred in 43 (37.3%) of the needles and deflection ≥ 5.1° occurred in 34 patients (29.6%). Forty-seven (41.5%) patients experienced post lumbar puncture headache (PLPH) and 13 (11.5%) patients experienced intracranial hypotension (IH). No statistically significant correlation between the degree of deflection and headache was found (P > 0.05). Epidural blood patch was performed for three patients. Deformity in the form of bending like a hook occurred in seven needles and IH occurred in six patients using these needles. Two of the needles used in three patients requiring blood patch were found to be bent. Conclusion: Deformation of needles may increase complications after LP. Needle deformation may lead to IH. In case of deterioration in the structure of the needle, termination of the puncture procedure and the use of a new needle could reduce undesirable clinical consequences, especially IH.
Relationship between injury severity, random blood glucose and management outcome in a cohort of Nigerian patients with head injury
Authors: Adeolu Augustine A , Rabiu T B , Orhorhoro O I , Malomo A O , Shokunbi M T
Published: March 2015

Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between injury severity, admission Random Blood Glucose [RBG] and management outcome in a cohort of Nigerian patients with Head Injury [HI]. Materials and Methods: RBG was determined at admission, twenty four hours as well as seventy two hours after admission in patients with head injury. Severity of injury was graded using Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). Outcome of management was determined by Glasgow Outcome Score at discharge. Serum glucose level of ≥ 11.1 mmol/l was taken as hyperglycaemia. Analyses of variance [ANOVA] was used to determine level of significance and a P value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: There were 146 male and 30 female patients (range: 2 years to 78 years; mean; 34.4 years, SD: 16.4 years). Most (36.4%) of the patients had severe HI. Only 2.5% of the patients had hyperglycaemia at admission. Death occurred in 25% of the patients, moderate disability occurred in 30.1% and good outcome occurred in 35.8%. Hyperglycaemia occurred in one patient each in mild and severe head injuries and in two patients with moderate head injury. All the patients with hyperglycaemia had favourable outcome. Conclusion: Random blood glucose of ≥ 11.1 mmol/l was not common at admission in head injured patients in this cohort of patients and the value was not associated with severe injury or poor outcome.
Intraventricular racemose type neurocysticercosis with anterior interhemispheric fissure cyst: A rare case report
Authors: Gupta Pankaj , Agrawal Manish , Sinha V. D. , Gupta Ashok
Published: March 2015

Racemose type of neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a rare form of parasitic infestation of central nervous system. Most commonly it is found in fourth ventricle and cisterns. On reviewing the PubMed and Google databases, we found that this would be the first reported case of racemose type NCC in occipital horn of lateral ventricle with obstructive hydrocephalus, along with an incidental interhemispheric fissure arachnoid cyst.
Determinants of Effective Internal Control System in Nigerian Banks
Authors: Akani FN , Akaninyene OU
Published: March 2015

This study was aimed at investigating the determinants of effective internal control system in Nigerian banks and the impact of such determinants. In order to generate the necessary data for the study, a questionnaire designed in modified Likert-scale was administered on twenty-one (21) chief internal auditors of selected recapitalized banks currently operating in Port Harcourt. The data were analysed using the mean scores and the multiple regression. Our findings in this study revealed that presentation of early report, respect for authority, willingness to effect changes, lack of workers collusion, workers competence, independence of internal control staff, management observance of control, good remuneration of internal control staff, cost of instituting internal control measures, willingness to enforce controls, control measures for unusual transactions, and well-designed organizational structure have a significant impact on the effectiveness of internal control system in Nigerian banks. Based on the finding of this study, the following recommendations were made: internal control staff should be made to be answerable to authorities outside management to promote independence, internal control staff should be given the autonomy to operate so that proper investigation of the activities of executive members can be carried out, high level ethical standards should be enshrined in Nigerian banks to make internal control more effective.Key words: Determinants, internal control, Nigerian banks
Optical Properties of Silver Aluminium Sulphide Ternary Thin Films Deposited by Chemical Bath Method
Authors: Ezeobele EE , Ezenwa IA
Published: March 2015

Ternary thin films of Silver Aluminium Sulphide (AgAlS2) have been prepared by chemical bath deposition techniques. Aqueous solution of 41.5 mls containing AgNO3, Al2(SO4)3, thiourea and EDTA was used, where AgNO3, Al2(SO4)3, thiourea were the source of Ag+, Al+ and S- respectively and EDTA was used as a complexing agent. NaOH served as pH adjuster. The films were deposited at 300K of temperature. The deposited film properties were studied using a Janway UV – VIS spectrophotometer. From the spectral analysis of absorbance and transmittance, the optical and solid properties were obtained. The properties studied include the reflectance, absorption coefficient, thickness, refractive index, extinction coefficient, optical conductivity and band gap energy. The films show high absorbance in the UV region and high transmittance in the VIS – NIR regions, while reflectance is generally low. The films showed direct band gap energy range of 2.15 eV – 2.40 eV and a refractive index of 2.64.Key words: Chemical Bath, Ternary Thin Film, Optical Properties, Surface Morphology, Compositional properties
Fetal Neurology: Past, Present and Future
Authors: Antsaklis Panagiotis , Kurjak Asim
Published: March 2015

Neurological failure is the most apprehension complication of pregnancy, labor and the neonatal period. The origin and outcome correlation is frequently doubtful. The arrival of four-dimensional ultrasonography (4D US) and its function to study fetal behavior patterns have initiated to offer insight into the structural and functional fetal brain development. Although many fetal behavioral studies have been conducted, it is still questionable whether the assessment of continuity from fetal to neonatal behavior could improve our ability of early detection of brain pathology. Neurological assessment of fetusin uterois extremely difficult even having such sophisticated equipment like 4D ultrasound. As it is well known that quantity of GMs is not so informative and predictive for neurological impairment, their quality should be assessed. Gestalt perception of premature GMs we are dealing within uteroand several weeks postnatally are not as predictive for the detection of neurologically abnormal fetuses or newborns as fidgety GMs. Therefore, some additional parameters should be added to the prenatal neurological examination in order to improve our ability to make the distinction between normal and abnormal fetuses.

How to cite this article

Kurjak A, Antsaklis P, Stanojevic M. Fetal Neurology: Past, Present and Future. Donald School J Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015;9(1):6-29.
Development of a grid-independent GEOS-Chem chemical transport model (v9-02) as an atmospheric chemistry module for Earth system models
Authors: Long M. S. , Yantosca R. , Nielsen J. E. , Keller C. A. , da Silva A. , Sulprizio M. P. , Pawson S. , Jacob D. J.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. The GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model (CTM), used by a large atmospheric chemistry research community, has been re-engineered to also serve as an atmospheric chemistry module for Earth system models (ESMs). This was done using an Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) interface that operates independently of the GEOS-Chem scientific code, permitting the exact same GEOS-Chem code to be used as an ESM module or as a stand-alone CTM. In this manner, the continual stream of updates contributed by the CTM user community is automatically passed on to the ESM module, which remains state of science and referenced to the latest version of the standard GEOS-Chem CTM. A major step in this re-engineering was to make GEOS-Chem grid independent, i.e., capable of using any geophysical grid specified at run time. GEOS-Chem data sockets were also created for communication between modules and with external ESM code. The grid-independent, ESMF-compatible GEOS-Chem is now the standard version of the GEOS-Chem CTM. It has been implemented as an atmospheric chemistry module into the NASA GEOS-5 ESM. The coupled GEOS-5–GEOS-Chem system was tested for scalability and performance with a tropospheric oxidant-aerosol simulation (120 coupled species, 66 transported tracers) using 48–240 cores and message-passing interface (MPI) distributed-memory parallelization. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the GEOS-Chem chemistry module scales efficiently for the number of cores tested, with no degradation as the number of cores increases. Although inclusion of atmospheric chemistry in ESMs is computationally expensive, the excellent scalability of the chemistry module means that the relative cost goes down with increasing number of cores in a massively parallel environment.
Prediction of extreme floods based on CMIP5 climate models: a case study in the Beijiang River basin, South China
Authors: Wu C. H. , Huang G. R. , Yu H. J.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. The occurrence of climate warming is unequivocal, and is expected to be experienced through increases in the magnitude and frequency of extreme events, including flooding. This paper presents an analysis of the implications of climate change on the future flood hazard in the Beijiang River basin in South China, using a variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model. Uncertainty is considered by employing five global climate models (GCMs), three emission scenarios (representative concentration pathway (RCP) 2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5), 10 downscaling simulations for each emission scenario, and two stages of future periods (2020–2050, 2050–2080). Credibility of the projected changes in floods is described using an uncertainty expression approach, as recommended by the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The results suggest that the VIC model shows a good performance in simulating extreme floods, with a daily runoff Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) of 0.91. The GCMs and emission scenarios are a large source of uncertainty in predictions of future floods over the study region, although the overall uncertainty range for changes in historical extreme precipitation and flood magnitudes are well represented by the five GCMs. During the periods 2020–2050 and 2050–2080, annual maximum 1-day discharges (AMX1d) and annual maximum 7-day flood volumes (AMX7fv) are expected to show very similar trends, with the largest possibility of increasing trends occurring under the RCP2.6 scenario, and the smallest possibility of increasing trends under the RCP4.5 scenario. The projected ranges of AMX1d and AMX7fv show relatively large variability under different future scenarios in the five GCMs, but most project an increase during the two future periods (relative to the baseline period 1970–2000).
PHASE NOISE INVESTIGATION OF MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATION METHOD FOR AIRBORNE MULTIBASELINE SAR INTERFEROMETRY
Authors: Magnard C. , Small D. , Meier E.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. The phase estimation of cross-track multibaseline synthetic aperture interferometric data is usually thought to be very efficiently achieved using the maximum likelihood (ML) method. The suitability of this method is investigated here as applied to airborne single pass multibaseline data. Experimental interferometric data acquired with a Ka-band sensor were processed using (a) a ML method that fuses the complex data from all receivers and (b) a coarse-to-fine method that only uses the intermediate baselines to unwrap the phase values from the longest baseline. The phase noise was analyzed for both methods: in most cases, a small improvement was found when the ML method was used.
STATISTICAL BUILDING ROOF RECONSTRUCTION FROM WORLDVIEW-2 STEREO IMAGERY
Authors: Partovi T. , Huang H. , Krauß T. , Mayer H. , Reinartz P.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. 3D building reconstruction from point clouds is an active research topic in remote sensing, photogrammetry and computer vision. Most of the prior research has been done on 3D building reconstruction from LiDAR data which means high resolution and dense data. The interest of this work is 3D building reconstruction from Digital Surface Models (DSM) of stereo image matching of space borne satellite data which cover larger areas than LiDAR datasets in one data acquisition step and can be used also for remote regions. The challenging problem is the noise of this data because of low resolution and matching errors. In this paper, a top-down and bottom-up method is developed to find building roof models which exhibit the optimum fit to the point clouds of the DSM. In the bottom up step of this hybrid method, the building mask and roof components such as ridge lines are extracted. In addition, in order to reduce the computational complexity and search space, roofs are classified to pitched and flat roofs as well. Ridge lines are utilized to estimate the roof primitives from a building library such as width, length, positions and orientation. Thereafter, a topdown approach based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo and simulated annealing is applied to optimize roof parameters in an iterative manner by stochastic sampling and minimizing the average of Euclidean distance between point cloud and model surface as fitness function. Experiments are performed on two areas of Munich city which include three roof types (hipped, gable and flat roofs). The results show the efficiency of this method in even for this type of noisy datasets.
HYPERSPECTRAL HYPERION IMAGERY ANALYSIS AND ITS APPLICATION USING SPECTRAL ANALYSIS
Authors: Pervez W. , Khan S. A. ,   Valiuddin
Published: March 2015

Abstract. Rapid advancement in remote sensing open new avenues to explore the hyperspectral Hyperion imagery pre-processing techniques, analysis and application for land use mapping. The hyperspectral data consists of 242 bands out of which 196 calibrated/useful bands are available for hyperspectral applications. Atmospheric correction applied to the hyperspectral calibrated bands make the data more useful for its further processing/ application. Principal component (PC) analysis applied to the hyperspectral calibrated bands reduced the dimensionality of the data and it is found that 99% of the data is held in first 10 PCs. Feature extraction is one of the important application by using vegetation delineation and normalized difference vegetation index. The machine learning classifiers uses the technique to identify the pixels having significant difference in the spectral signature which is very useful for classification of an image. Supervised machine learning classifier technique has been used for classification of hyperspectral image which resulted in overall efficiency of 86.6703 and Kappa co-efficient of 0.7998.
PANTIR - A DUAL CAMERA SETUP FOR PRECISE GEOREFERENCING AND MOSAICING OF THERMAL AERIAL IMAGES
Authors: Weber I. , Jenal A. , Kneer C. , Bongartz J.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. Research and monitoring in fields like hydrology and agriculture are applications of airborne thermal infrared (TIR) cameras, which suffer from low spatial resolution and low quality lenses. Common ground control points (GCPs), lacking thermal activity and being relatively small in size, cannot be used in TIR images. Precise georeferencing and mosaicing however is necessary for data analysis. Adding a high resolution visible light camera (VIS) with a high quality lens very close to the TIR camera, in the same stabilized rig, allows us to do accurate geoprocessing with standard GCPs after fusing both images (VIS+TIR) using standard image registration methods.
ADAPTIVE HIERARCHICAL DENSE MATCHING OF MULTI-VIEW AIRBORNE OBLIQUE IMAGERY
Authors: Zhang Z. C. , Dai C. G. , Ji S. , Zhao M. Y.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. Traditional single-lens vertical photogrammetry can obtain object images from the air with rare lateral information of tall buildings. Multi-view airborne photogrammetry can get rich lateral texture of buildings, while the common area-based matching for oblique images may lose efficacy because of serious geometric distortion. A hierarchical dense matching algorithm is put forward here to match two oblique airborne images of different perspectives. Based on image hierarchical strategy and matching constraints, this algorithm delivers matching results from the upper layer of the pyramid to the below and implements per-pixel dense matching in the local Delaunay triangles between the original images. Experimental results show that the algorithm can effectively overcome the geometric distortion between different perspectives and achieve pixel-level dense matching entirely based on the image space.
EXTRACTING SEMANTICALLY ANNOTATED 3D BUILDING MODELS WITH TEXTURES FROM OBLIQUE AERIAL IMAGERY
Authors: Frommholz D. , Linkiewicz M. , Meissner H. , Dahlke D. , Poznanska A.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. This paper proposes a method for the reconstruction of city buildings with automatically derived textures that can be directly used for façade element classification. Oblique and nadir aerial imagery recorded by a multi-head camera system is transformed into dense 3D point clouds and evaluated statistically in order to extract the hull of the structures. For the resulting wall, roof and ground surfaces high-resolution polygonal texture patches are calculated and compactly arranged in a texture atlas without resampling. The façade textures subsequently get analyzed by a commercial software package to detect possible windows whose contours are projected into the original oriented source images and sparsely ray-casted to obtain their 3D world coordinates. With the windows being reintegrated into the previously extracted hull the final building models are stored as semantically annotated CityGML ”LOD-2.5” objects.
USE OF AERIAL IMAGES FOR REGULAR UPDATES OF BUILDINGS IN THE FUNDAMENTAL BASE OF GEOGRAPHIC DATA OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Authors: Hron V. , Halounova L.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. Digital aerial images (DAI) include position, elevation and also spectral information (visible bands and near-infrared band) about the captured area. The aim of this paper is to present the possibilities of automatic analysis of DAI for updating of the Fundamental Base of Geographic Data of the Czech Republic with a focus on buildings. Regular updates of buildings (automatic detection of new and demolished buildings) are based on the analysis of coloured point clouds created by an automatic image matching technique from each time period. The created approach compares point clouds from different time periods to each other. The advantage of this solution is that it is independent of the manner of keeping the buildings in the database. It does not matter whether the buildings in the database have correct positions and their footprints correspond to the roof shapes or external walls. The involved method is robust because a digital surface model generated by image matching techniques can contain numerous errors. Shaded areas and objects with blurred textures are problematic for automatic image correlation algorithms and lead to false results. For this reason, derived layers containing additional information are used. Shadow masks (layers with modelled shadows) are used for the verification of indications and to filter out errors in the shaded areas using a contextual evaluation. Furthermore, additional information about the road and railway networks and morphological operations of opening and closing were used to achieve more accurate results. All these information sources are then evaluated using decision logic, which uses the generally applicable rules that are available for different datasets without the need for modification. The method was tested on different datasets with various types of buildings (villages, suburbs and city centres) which cover more than 20 square kilometres. The developed solution leads to very promising results without the need of acquiring new data.
A MODIFIED PROJECTIVE TRANSFORMATION SCHEME FOR MOSAICKING MULTI-CAMERA IMAGING SYSTEM EQUIPPED ON A LARGE PAYLOAD FIXED-WING UAS
Authors: Jhan J. P. , Li Y. T. , Rau J. Y.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. In recent years, Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) has been applied to collect aerial images for mapping, disaster investigation, vegetation monitoring and etc. It is a higher mobility and lower risk platform for human operation, but the low payload and short operation time reduce the image collection efficiency. In this study, one nadir and four oblique consumer grade DSLR cameras composed multiple camera system is equipped on a large payload UAS, which is designed to collect large ground coverage images in an effective way. The field of view (FOV) is increased to 127 degree, which is thus suitable to collect disaster images in mountainous area. The synthetic acquired five images are registered and mosaicked as larger format virtual image for reducing the number of images, post processing time, and for easier stereo plotting. Instead of traditional image matching and applying bundle adjustment method to estimate transformation parameters, the IOPs and ROPs of multiple cameras are calibrated and derived the coefficients of modified projective transformation (MPT) model for image mosaicking. However, there are some uncertainty of indoor calibrated IOPs and ROPs since the different environment conditions as well as the vibration of UAS, which will cause misregistration effect of initial MPT results. Remaining residuals are analysed through tie points matching on overlapping area of initial MPT results, in which displacement and scale difference are introduced and corrected to modify the ROPs and IOPs for finer registration results. In this experiment, the internal accuracy of mosaic image is better than 0.5 pixels after correcting the systematic errors. Comparison between separate cameras and mosaic images through rigorous aerial triangulation are conducted, in which the RMSE of 5 control and 9 check points is less than 5 cm and 10 cm in planimetric and vertical directions, respectively, for all cases. It proves that the designed imaging system and the proposed scheme have potential to create large scale topographic map.
AUTOMATIC VEHICLE TRAJECTORY EXTRACTION FOR TRAFFIC ANALYSIS FROM AERIAL VIDEO DATA
Authors: Apeltauer J. , Babinec A. , Herman D. , Apeltauer T.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. This paper presents a new approach to simultaneous detection and tracking of vehicles moving through an intersection in aerial images acquired by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Detailed analysis of spatial and temporal utilization of an intersection is an important step for its design evaluation and further traffic inspection. Traffic flow at intersections is typically very dynamic and requires continuous and accurate monitoring systems. Conventional traffic surveillance relies on a set of fixed cameras or other detectors, requiring a high density of the said devices in order to monitor the intersection in its entirety and to provide data in sufficient quality. Alternatively, a UAV can be converted to a very agile and responsive mobile sensing platform for data collection from such large scenes. However, manual vehicle annotation in aerial images would involve tremendous effort. In this paper, the proposed combination of vehicle detection and tracking aims to tackle the problem of automatic traffic analysis at an intersection from visual data. The presented method has been evaluated in several real-life scenarios.
A geographical and seasonal comparison of nitrogen uptake by phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean
Authors: Philibert R. , Waldron H. , Clark D.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. The impact of light and nutrients (such as silicate and iron) availability on nitrogen uptake and primary production vary seasonally and regionally in the Southern Ocean. The seasonal cycle of nitrogen uptake by phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean is not fully resolved over an annual scale due to the lack of winter in situ measurements. In this study, nitrate and ammonium uptake rates were measured using 15N tracers during a winter cruise in July 2012 and a summer cruise in February–March 2013. The winter cruise consisted of two legs: leg 1 extended from Cape Town to the ice margin along the GoodHope line and leg 2 stretched from the ice margin to Marion Island. The summer cruise was mostly focused on the subantarctic zone of the Atlantic sector. In winter, nitrogen uptake rates were measured at 55 and 1% of the surface photosynthetically active radiation (sPAR). The summer uptake rates were measured at four light depths corresponding to 55, 30, 10 and 3% sPAR. The integrated nitrate uptake rates during the winter cruise ranged from 0.17 to 5.20 mmol N m−2 d−1 (average 1.14 mmol N m−2 d−1) while the ammonium uptake rates ranged from 0.60 to 32.86 mmol N m−2 d−1 (average 6.73 mmol N m−2 d−1). During the summer cruise, the mean-integrated nitrate uptake rate was 0.20 mmol N m−2 d−1 with a range between 0.10 and 0.38 mmol N m−2 d−1. The integrated ammonium uptake rate averaged 4.39 mmol N m−2 d−1 and ranged from 1.12 to 9.05 mmol N m−2 d−1. The factors controlling nitrogen uptake in winter and summer were investigated. During the winter cruise, it was found that the different nitrogen uptake regimes were not separated by the fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). Light (in terms of day length) and ammonium concentration had the most influence on the nitrogen uptake. In the summer, increases in the mixed layer depth (MLD) resulted in increased nitrogen uptake rates. This suggests that the increases in the MLD could be alleviating nutrient limitations experienced by the phytoplankton at the end of summer.
Praktische aanwijzingen rondom aandeelhoudersovereenkomsten
Authors: Van den Bergh M. , Jongen P.
Published: March 2015

Praktische aanwijzingen rondom aandeelhoudersovereenkomsten

De auteurs bespreken een veelvoorkomende bepalingen in aandeelhoudersovereenkomsten, zoals afspraken ter invulling van bestuursfuncties, aanvulling van het recht op informatie van aandeelhouders, financiering van de vennootschap, beïnvloeding van het dividendbeleid, verzekering van de tijdelijke niet-overdraagbaarheid van aandelen, aanbieding van aandelen aan mede-aandeelhouders, voorkoming of beslechting van geschillen en non-concurrentie. Waar relevant worden voorbeeldbepalingen aangehaald.
Uitstel is niet hetzelfde als afstel
Authors: Spanjaard J.H.M.
Published: March 2015

Uitstel is niet hetzelfde als afstel

Het opschortingsrecht en het verrekeningsrecht vormen twee verschillende rechtsfiguren, die niet zomaar op elkaar mogen worden gelegd. Het opnemen van een verrekeningsverbod impliceert niet automatisch een opschortingsverbod, zelfs niet indien schadevergoeding (al dan niet via verrekening) de enige remedie is. Ook in dat geval dient de rechter te onderzoeken of het beroep door de opschorter op zijn opschortingsrecht terecht is, aldus de Hoge Raad in zijn arrest Eurostrip/Velenturf q.q. Indien de contractanten naast een verrekeningsverbod ook een opschortingsverbod in hun overeenkomst of algemene voorwaarden willen opnemen, moeten zij dat met zoveel woorden bepalen.
Library Anxiety: A Grounded Theory and Its Development
Authors: Mellon Constance A.
Published: March 2015

This qualitative study explored the feelings of students about using the library for research. Personal writing, collected in beginning composition courses over a two-year period, was analyzed for recurrent themes. It was found that 75 to 85 percent of the students in these courses described their initial response to library research in terms of fear. Three concepts emerged from these descriptions: (1) students generally feel that their own library-use skills are inadequate while the skills of other students are adequate, (2) the inadequacy is shameful and should be hidden, and (3) the inadequacy would be revealed by asking questions. A grounded theory of library anxiety was constructed from these data.
Inventing the Electronic University
Authors: Lewis David W.
Published: March 2015

Higher education is confronting a fundamental change. The transition from print on paper to digital and electronic technologies is transforming instruction, scholarly communication, and the storage and preservation of knowledge. What is required is not the automation of old systems, but the restructuring of institutions. The drive for autonomy, needed for effective scholarship, and the push for standardization, needed to assure easy and open access to information, will create conflicts difficult to resolve. Universities must find new ways of funding and financing information services and new staffing patterns if they are to continue as effective learning and research centers.
The McDonaldization of Academic Libraries?
Authors: Quinn Brian
Published: March 2015

George Ritzer, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, has proposed an influential thesis that suggests that many aspects of the fast food industry are making their way into other areas of society. This article explores whether his thesis, known as the McDonaldization thesis, is applicable to academic libraries. Specifically, it seeks to determine to what extent academic libraries may be considered McDonaldized, and if so, what effect McDonaldization may be having on them. It also investigates some possible alternatives to McDonaldization, and their implications for academic libraries.
The Role of the Academic Library in Promoting Student Engagement in Learning
Authors: Kuh George D. , Gonyea Robert M.
Published: March 2015

This study examines the nature and value of undergraduate students’ experiences with the academic library. The data represent responses from more than 300,000 students between 1984 and 2002 to the College Student Experiences Questionnaire. Although library use did not appear to make independent contributions to desirable outcomes of college, such experiences were related to important educationally valuable activities. Because the emphasis a campus places on information literacy is a strong predictor of students becoming information literate, librarians should redouble their collaborative efforts to promote the value of information literacy and help create opportunities for students to evaluate the quality of the information they obtain.
Leading Change in the System of Scholarly Communication: A Case Study of Engaging Liaison Librarians for Outreach to Faculty
Authors: Malenfant Kara J.
Published: March 2015

This narrative, single-case study examines how liaison librarians at the University of Minnesota (UMN) came to include advocating for reform of the scholarly communication system among their core responsibilities. While other libraries may hire a coordinator or rely on a committee to undertake outreach programs, UMN has defined baseline expertise in scholarly communication for all librarians who serve as liaisons to disciplinary faculty members. By “mainstreaming” scholarly communication duties, UMN is declaring these issues central to the profession.1 This intrinsic study uses evidence gathered from open-ended interviews with three participants, supplemented by documentation. It explores the context of these changes, systems thinking, and new mental models.
Scrutinizing the Nanostructural and Nanomechanical Features of Regenerated Cellulose Ultrafiltration Membranes
Authors: Silva Luciano Paulino
Published: March 2015

Ultrafiltration (UF) membranes have been widely used for many separation processes in which high performance is required. Commercial regenerated cellulose UF membranes with variable molecular weight cut-offs were characterized by high performance atomic force microscopy (AFM) using the novel quantitative nanomechanical mapping mode and the versatility of its signal channels towards nanoscale features elucidation of the materials surface. In addition, Raman spectroscopy was applied in order to investigate some possible chemical behavior changes associated with the UF membranes’ cut-offs. Overall, the results showed that the proposed AFM method was reliable to gain qualitative and quantitative data at unprecedented nanoscale resolution and such information can be used to distinguish UF membranes according to their specific molecular weight cut-offs and properties even on situations in which the molecular behavior were not influenced by the UF membrane’ cut-off. This approach can be useful on quality control procedures of researchers and manufacturers producing or modifying these polymeric materials.
Global Macroeconomic Performance: A Comparative Study Based on Composite Scores
Authors: Chattopadhyay Somnath , Bose Suchismita
Published: March 2015

This paper proposes a composite indicator designed to summarise in a single statistic a variety of different facets of macroeconomic performance and assesses relative performances of countries with respect to six macroeconomic variables, viz., the growth rate of real GDP, real per capita GDP, unemployment rate, fiscal balance, rate of inflation, and current account balance. An appropriate mathematical model to aggregate these variables to form composite scores has been implemented by adopting the MCDM (Multiple Criteria Decision Making) technique of TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution). This allows a parsimonious representation of a variety of different facets of macroeconomic performance and its inter-temporal comparison across countries. The distinctive features of the indicator relate to the domains covered, the normalisation methodology and the weights used for aggregation. Some existing indices like the Okun index and the Calmfors index turn out to be special cases of our proposed index. The data comprising a wide spectrum of countries and spanning the pre- and post- crisis years allow us to capture the effect of the recent global financial and economic crisis on the overall macroeconomic performance of countries relative to others. Not only do the relative performance scores show tremendous variability during the post-crisis years, but the measures of disarray are also at their highest, despite there being overall stability in the country rankings in terms of indicators, which are traditionally relied on, like GDP growth or per-capita GDP. A single graphical plot easily identifies countries that have performed consistently over time, and those whose overall macroeconomic performances have deteriorated sharply relative to others during the post-crisis years.
Balanced Scorecard Usage and Performance of Hotels: A Study from the Tourist State of Uttarakhand, India
Authors: Kala Devkant , Bagri Satish Chandra
Published: March 2015

Tourism is a major driver of economic growth and livelihood promotion in the Uttarakhand state of India. The contribution of tourism to the state gross domestic product (GDP) and employment generation is significant. The expansion of tourism inevitably brings about the development of the hotel industry. Hotels must create effective competitive strategies for survival and use a performance measurement system that meets the requirements of a changing environment. Several studies have been conducted to study the rich tourist potential of the state. However, no research studies are available regarding performance measurement practices adopted by hospitality managers in Uttarakhand for measuring the performance of their establishments. The present study examines existing performance measurement practices used by hotel managers that employ the balanced scorecard (BSC) − an innovative and comprehensive performance measurement framework for assessing the performance and progress of hotels in this mountainous state of India. The results indicate that in spite of using measures from different perspectives inherent to the original BSC, hospitality managers are not aware of the concept of BSC in a formal manner. The study reveals that hotels in Uttarakhand still focus on the use of financial measures as compared to non-financial measures for measuring performance. The study supports the link between hotel performance and BSC measures usage.
Frontal structures associated with coastal upwelling and ice‐edge subduction events in southern Beaufort Sea during the Canadian Arctic Shelf Exchange Study
Authors: Sévigny Caroline , Gratton Yves , Galbraith Peter S.
Published: March 2015

The near‐surface temperature structure in the southeastern Beaufort Sea is shown to have been largely dependent on frontal dynamics in spring 2004, which may be typical for the region. Easterly wind events generated coastal upwelling along the Cap Bathurst peninsula; a recurring event in that area. Further west, a large mesoscale anticyclone simultaneously developed and subsequently controlled the sea‐surface circulation in the central Amundsen Gulf. Sharp temperature and density fronts were created at the surface at both eastern and western ends of the domain. Sampling north of Cape Bathurst and Cape Parry showed evidence of frontal intensification. Frontal features were detected near the 50–200 m isobaths, at the mouth of the gulf, where density‐compensated near‐surface intrusions driven by agesotrophic vertical circulation were identified. These warm water tongues intruded into the outcropping isopycnal layers, which dipped down between 5 and 25 m over the Mackenzie Shelf. They then crossed the density surfaces with an inverse slope consistent with N/f as predicted for quasi‐geostrophic flows. The front event ended prior to the breakup of the landfast‐ice bridge in late June with sea‐surface temperature undergoing quick and widespread changes throughout the Amundsen Gulf.
Absolute model ages from lunar crater morphology
Authors: Trang David , Gillis‐Davis Jeffrey J. , Boyce Joseph M.
Published: March 2015

The degradation state of an impact crater is an indicator of its age. Previous workers have used crater degradation states to estimate ages of surfaces or geomorphological features; one example is the degree of freshness method developed by Pohn and Offield (). Here we attempted to produce an empirical calibration that yields absolute model ages based upon the degree of freshness technique for craters ~8–20 km in diameter. To produce the calibration, we first selected 15 craters with degree of freshness values ranging from 2.5 to 6.3. Next, we used the Kaguya Terrain Camera data to measure crater density on the ejecta of these craters, from which absolute model age could be calculated. The resulting absolute model ages ranged from 0.9 to 4.0 Ga. We used two linear regressions to describe the relationship between the absolute model age and degree of freshness of the craters. We fitted each trend with two linear least‐squares regressions, where the first regression represents craters with a degree of freshness from 0.0 to 4.9 and the second regression from 5.0 to 7.0. The 95% confidence belt shows that the calibrations are accurate to ±0.5 Ga to ±1.1 Ga for the fresh crater regression (5.0–7.0) and slightly more accurate, to ±0.3 Ga to ±0.1 Ga, for the degraded crater regression (0.0–4.9). However, the degraded crater regression is likely based upon craters with continuous ejecta that are crater saturated, thus implying that craters with a degree of freshness <5.0 is likely to be >3.8 Ga.
Southwest Atlantic water mass evolution during the last deglaciation
Authors: Lund D. C. , Tessin A. C. , Hoffman J. L. , Schmittner A.
Published: March 2015

The rise in atmospheric CO2 during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1; 14.5–17.5 kyr B.P.) may have been driven by the release of carbon from the abyssal ocean. Model simulations suggest that wind‐driven upwelling in the Southern Ocean can liberate 13C‐depleted carbon from the abyss, causing atmospheric CO2 to increase and the δ13C of CO2 to decrease. One prediction of the Southern Ocean hypothesis is that water mass tracers in the deep South Atlantic should register a circulation response early in the deglaciation. Here we test this idea using a depth transect of 12 cores from the Brazil Margin. We show that records below 2300 m remained 13C‐depleted until 15 kyr B.P. or later, indicating that the abyssal South Atlantic was an unlikely source of light carbon to the atmosphere during HS1. Benthic δ18O results are consistent with abyssal South Atlantic isolation until 15 kyr B.P., in contrast to shallower sites. The depth dependent timing of the δ18O signal suggests that correcting δ18O for ice volume is problematic on glacial terminations. New data from 2700 to 3000 m show that the deep SW Atlantic was isotopically distinct from the abyss during HS1. As a result, we find that mid‐depth δ13C minima were most likely driven by an abrupt drop in δ13C of northern component water. Low δ13C at the Brazil Margin also coincided with an ~80‰ decrease in Δ14C. Our results are consistent with a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and point toward a northern hemisphere trigger for the initial rise in atmospheric CO2 during HS1.
The influence of multiyear drought on the annual rainfall‐runoff relationship: AnAustralian perspective
Authors: Saft Margarita , Western Andrew W. , Zhang Lu , Peel Murray C. , Potter Nick J.
Published: March 2015

Most current long‐term (decadal and longer) hydrological predictions implicitly assume that hydrological processes are stationary even under changing climate. However, in practice, we suspect that changing climatic conditions may affect runoff generation processes and cause changes in the rainfall‐runoff relationship. In this article, we investigate whether temporary but prolonged (i.e., of the order of a decade) shifts in rainfall result in changes in rainfall‐runoff relationships at the catchment scale. Annual rainfall and runoff records from south‐eastern Australia are used to examine whether interdecadal climate variability induces changes in hydrological behavior. We test statistically whether annual rainfall‐runoff relationships are significantly different during extended dry periods, compared with the historical norm. The results demonstrate that protracted drought led to a significant shift in the rainfall‐runoff relationship in ∼46% of the catchment‐dry periods studied. The shift led to less annual runoff for a given annual rainfall, compared with the historical relationship. We explore linkages between cases where statistically significant changes occurred and potential explanatory factors, including catchment properties and characteristics of the dry period (e.g., length, precipitation anomalies). We find that long‐term drought is more likely to affect transformation of rainfall to runoff in drier, flatter, and less forested catchments. Understanding changes in the rainfall‐runoff relationship is important for accurate streamflow projections and to help develop adaptation strategies to deal with multiyear droughts.
Multiannual forecasts of Atlantic U.S. tropical cyclone wind damage potential
Authors: Caron Louis‐Philippe , Hermanson Leon , Doblas‐Reyes Francisco J.
Published: March 2015

There are strong decadal variations in Atlantic hurricane activity, with an active period in the 1950s and 1960s, a quiescent period from the 1970s through the early 1990s and a resurgence in activity since the mid‐1990s. Using an index that relies on subpolar gyre temperature and subtropical sea level pressure, two quantities with links to hurricane activity, we show that it is possible to construct reliable 5 year mean forecasts of both basin‐wide tropical cyclone activity as well as wind energy associated with hurricanes making landfall along the U.S. coastline. Furthermore, the index is capable of reproducing the major decadal shifts in activity observed over the last 50 years. This is the first time that a forecast system shows significant skill of a landfalling hurricane characteristic at the multiannual time scale and, as such, shows great promise as a valuable climate service product.