bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dispersion of gold in Slesse Creek, British Columbia
Authors: Hobday J. , Fletcher W. K.
Published: May 2012

Because of the high costs and difficult logistics of geochemical surveys in remote regions, sediments collected from large streams must often suffice to determine the presence or absence of mineralization. Here we study this problem in Slesse Creek, a gold-rich river that drains north from the Mt. Baker District, Washington, USA, to enter the Chilliwack River, British Columbia,
c
. 90 km east of Vancouver. Anomalous Au values are derived from the abandoned Red Mountain Mine just south of the USA–Canada border. Sediments were collected from Slesse Creek and its tributaries, and from other large streams in the Chilliwack River basin. Concentrations of Au in tributaries from the Red Mountain Mine range from 250 to 2330 ppb and are much greater than in other tributaries. Sediments from Slesse Creek also have anomalous, but extremely erratic, Au values. This erratic distribution of Au is generally similar to that of magnetic grains and associated elements (e.g. V) but is negatively correlated with elements, such as Na, associated with light minerals.

Results are interpreted as an evolution in sediment geochemistry from the tributaries to Slesse Creek: composition of the former appears to be controlled by source (i.e. geology) whereas geochemistry of sediments in Slesse Creek has been strongly modified by fluvial processes that concentrate Au and other heavy minerals. This shift from source- to process-related geochemistry invalidates the traditional geochemical dilution model and gives long anomalous dispersion trains for Au. These provide suitable targets for low-density regional surveys, but are difficult to interpret because of their erratic character. The contribution of fluvial processes to the concentration of Au can, however, be evaluated by comparison with elements such as V, that are associated with ubiquitous heavy minerals, or by plotting data on
x
–
y
–
z
source–process plots.
The use of partial extraction geochemistry for copper exploration in northern Chile
Authors: Kelley David L. , Hall Gwendy E. M. , Closs L. Graham , Hamilton Ian C. , McEwen Robert M.
Published: May 2012

Future discoveries of copper resources in the richly endowed porphyry copper belts of northern Chile are likely to occur in areas covered by post-mineral sedimentary and volcanic rock. Most of northern Chile is within a region of interior drainage that has existed since at least mid-Tertiary time when many of the porphyry copper deposits were being uplifted, eroded and supergene enriched. This setting, combined with accumulation of metal-enriched material eroded from the tops of porphyry copper deposits, has produced regions with high geochemical background and geochemically complex post-mineral cover that includes alluvium, lake and playa sediments, evaporites, aeolian material, ignimbrites and volcanic ash. In addition, the climate changed from semi-arid to hyper-arid in mid-Miocene time, creating a surface environment that is saline and slightly alkaline.

The geochemical expression of the Chimborazo porphyry copper deposit in northern Chile was studied in detail using the following wet chemical extraction methods: 4-acid (HF-based), aqua regia, bulk cyanide leach, hot hydroxylamine hydrochloride, cold hydroxylamine hydrochloride, enzyme leach and de-ionized water. Limitations affecting several partial extraction methods include poor data quality, lack of pH control, re-adsorption, and the formation of colloids in the leachate. Experimentation with leach time and buffering capacity improved the robustness of some of the methods. Mechanical dispersion is the dominant secondary process in this region although chemical dispersion does occur laterally on a regional scale and vertically on a local scale. Vertical chemical dispersion is associated with dilatancy pumping of metalliferous groundwater along fractures. Supercedency, a process whereby the geochemical fingerprint of transported material is inherited from the underlying material, may have also played a role in the strong signature seen at Chimborazo.
A comparison of field methods used to define saline–fresh groundwater interfaces at two sites in North West England
Authors: Brassington F. C. , Taylor R.
Published: May 2012

Over the past few years, new abstractions from the Sherwood Sandstone aquifer in North West England have only been permitted in areas with known saline intrusion subject to the abstractor demonstrating that the new pumping will not cause deep-seated saline groundwater to up-cone. This requirement has necessitated drilling deep boreholes to prove the depth to the fresh–saline groundwater boundary and also to facilitate long-term monitoring. Vertical salinity profiles were defined during borehole construction in two such investigations by monitoring the conductivity of water samples obtained from drilling returns during air-flush drilling and later by the geophysical logging of the completed boreholes. Deep piezometers were constructed allowing samples to be taken from specific depths for chemical analysis, and the results have been compared with the earlier data. These methods successfully defined the broad features of vertical salinity profiles within the aquifer and showed that measurements during drilling provide a practical and economic indication of the position of the interface so that the borehole final depth can be determined.
Estimating water pollution risks arising from road and railway accidents
Authors: Lacey R.F. , Cole J.A.
Published: May 2012

A method is presented for estimating the frequency of spillage of toxic liquids from road tanker accidents. The calculation requires information about the vehicular flow of tankers, their accident rate and the probability that an accident will result in a spill. The available sources of input data are discussed.

Railway goods traffic, either involving liquids transported in tanker wagons, or hazardous freight packed in individual containers as part wagon loads, is amenable to similar analysis but relevant input data are much more difficult to obtain.

For any type of spill, the estimation of frequency should be accompanied by surface and groundwater pathway analyses, to assess the consequential damage to the aquatic environment and any possible hazard to public water supplies.

This paper serves as an outline of a subject calling for more thorough study, for which improved databases, geared to the needs of risk assessment, would be strongly desired.
Engineering classification of karst ground conditions
Authors: Waltham A.C. , Fookes P.G.
Published: May 2012

On a world scale, the dissolution of limestone and gypsum by natural waters creates extensive karst landforms that can be very difficult ground for civil engineers. Caves threaten foundation integrity, notably where their width is greater than their roof thickness. Sinkholes pose many problems, and are classified into six types, including subsidence sinkholes formed in soil cover within karst terrains. Rockhead morphology varies from uniform to pinnacled, also creating difficult ground to excavate or found upon. A proposed engineering classification of karst defines various complexities of ground conditions by the geohazards that they provide, mainly the caves, sinkholes and rockhead relief. Ground investigation techniques and foundation design philosophies are considered so that they are appropriate to the ground conditions provided by the different classes of karst.
Resolution enhancement by vibrating displays
Authors: Berthouzoz Floraine , Fattal Raanan
Published: May 2012

We present a method that makes use of the retinal integration time in the human visual system for increasing the resolution of displays. Given an input image with a resolution higher than the display resolution, we compute several images that match the display's native resolution. We then render these low-resolution images in a sequence that repeats itself on a high refresh-rate display. The period of the sequence falls below the retinal integration time and therefore the eye integrates the images temporally and perceives them as one image. In order to achieve resolution enhancement we apply small-amplitude vibrations to the display panel and synchronize them with the screen refresh cycles. We derive the perceived image model and use it to compute the low-resolution images that are optimized to enhance the apparent resolution of the perceived image. This approach achieves resolution enhancement without having to move the displayed content across the screen and hence offers a more practical solution than existing approaches. Moreover, we use our model to establish limitations on the amount of resolution enhancement achievable by such display systems. In this analysis we draw a formal connection between our display and super-resolution techniques and find that both methods share the same limitation, yet this limitation stems from different sources. Finally, we describe in detail a simple physical realization of our display system and demonstrate its ability to match most of the spectrum displayable on a screen with twice the resolution.
S
cala
E
xtrap
Authors: Wu Xing , Mueller Frank
Published: May 2012

Performance modeling for scientific applications is important for assessing potential application performance and systems procurement in high-performance computing (HPC). Recent progress on communication tracing opens up novel opportunities for communication modeling due to its lossless yet scalable trace collection. Estimating the impact of scaling on communication efficiency still remains nontrivial due to execution-time variations and exposure to hardware and software artifacts.

This work contributes a fundamentally novel modeling scheme. We synthetically generate the application trace for large numbers of nodes via extrapolation from a set of smaller traces. We devise an innovative approach for topology extrapolation of single program, multiple data (SPMD) codes with stencil or mesh communication. Experimental results show that the extrapolated traces precisely reflect the communication behavior and the performance characteristics at the target scale for both strong and weak scaling applications. The extrapolated trace can subsequently be (a) replayed to assess communication requirements before porting an application, (b) transformed to autogenerate communication benchmarks for various target platforms, and (c) analyzed to detect communication inefficiencies and scalability limitations.

To the best of our knowledge, rapidly obtaining the communication behavior of parallel applications at arbitrary scale with the availability of timed replay, yet without actual execution of the application, at this scale, is without precedence and has the potential to enable otherwise infeasible system simulation at the exascale level.
Leveraging Core Specialization via OS Scheduling to Improve Performance on Asymmetric Multicore Systems
Authors: Saez Juan Carlos , Fedorova Alexandra , Koufaty David , Prieto Manuel
Published: May 2012

Asymmetric multicore processors (AMPs) consist of cores with the same ISA (instruction-set architecture), but different microarchitectural features, speed, and power consumption. Because cores with more complex features and higher speed typically use more area and consume more energy relative to simpler and slower cores, we must use these cores for running applications that experience significant performance improvements from using those features. Having cores of different types in a single system allows optimizing the performance/energy trade-off. To deliver this potential to unmodified applications, the OS scheduler must map threads to cores in consideration of the properties of both. Our work describes a
Comprehensive
scheduler for
Asymmetric Multicore Processors
(CAMP) that addresses shortcomings of previous asymmetry-aware schedulers. First, previous schedulers catered to only one kind of workload properties that are crucial for scheduling on AMPs; either
efficiency
or
thread-level parallelism
(TLP), but not both. CAMP overcomes this limitation showing how using both efficiency and TLP in synergy in a single scheduling algorithm can improve performance. Second, most existing schedulers relying on models for estimating how much faster a thread executes on a “fast” vs. “slow” core (i.e., the
speedup factor
) were specifically designed for AMP systems where cores differ only in clock frequency. However, more realistic AMP systems include cores that differ more significantly in their features. To demonstrate the effectiveness of CAMP on more realistic scenarios, we augmented the CAMP scheduler with a model that predicts the speedup factor on a real AMP prototype that closely matches future asymmetric systems.
Self-organizing virtual macro sensors
Authors: Bicocchi Nicola , Mamei Marco , Zambonelli Franco
Published: May 2012

The future large-scale deployment of pervasive sensor network infrastructures calls for mechanisms enabling the extraction of general-purpose data at limited energy costs. The approach presented in this article relies on a simple algorithm to let a sensor network self-organize a virtual partitioning in correspondence to spatial regions characterized by similar sensing patterns, and to let distributed aggregation of sensorial data take place on a per-region basis. The result of this process is that a sensor network can be modeled as a collection of virtual macro sensors, each associated to a well-characterized region of the physical environment. Within each region, each physical sensor has the local availability of aggregated data about its region and is able to act as an access point to such data. This feature promises to be very suitable for a number of emerging usage scenarios. Our approach is described and evaluated in both a simulation environment and a real test bed, and quantitatively compared with related works in the area. Current limitations and areas of future development are also discussed.
Efficiency of optimistic fair exchange using trusted devices
Authors: Dashti Mohammad Torabi
Published: May 2012

Efficiency of asynchronous optimistic fair exchange using trusted devices is studied. It is shown that three messages in the optimistic subprotocol are sufficient and necessary for exchanging idempotent items. When exchanging nonidempotent items, however, three messages in the optimistic subprotocol are sufficient only under the assumption that trusted devices have unbounded storage capacity. This assumption is often not satisfiable in practice. It is then proved that exchanging nonidempotent items using trusted devices with a bounded storage capacity requires exactly four messages in the optimistic subprotocol.
3PC
Authors: Handte Marcus , Schiele Gregor , Matjuntke Verena , Becker Christian , Marrón Pedro José
Published: May 2012

A major characteristic of pervasive computing applications is their ability to adapt themselves to changing execution environments and physical contexts. In this article, we analyze different kinds of adaptations and introduce a multidimensional classification for them. On this basis, we propose a novel approach for peer-to-peer-based pervasive computing that provides support for the identified classes and integrates them in a multilevel architecture. We give a comprehensive overview of this architecture and its current realization in the Peer-to-Peer Pervasive Computing (3PC) project, discussing what adaptation is realized on each level, how the levels interact with each other, and how the overall system benefits from the integrated treatment of adaptation.
Reflective pervasive systems
Authors: Serbedzija Nikola , Fairclough Stephen
Published: May 2012

Pervasive adaptive systems are concerned with the construction of “smart” technologies capable of adapting to the needs of the individual in real time. In order to achieve this level of specificity, systems must be capable of monitoring the psychological status of the user and responding to these changes in real time and across multiple systems if necessary. This article describes a number of conceptual issues associated with this category of adaptive technology. The biocybernetic loop describes different approaches to monitoring the status of the user from physiological sensors to overt behavior. These data are used to drive real time system adaptation tailored to a specific user in a particular context. The rate at which the technology adapts to the individual user are described over three different phases of usage: awareness (short-term), adjustment (medium-term), and coevolution (long-term). An ontology is then proposed for the development of an adaptive software architecture that embodies this approach and may be extended to encompass several distinct loops working in parallel. The feasibility of the approach is assessed through implemented case studies of their performance and functionality.
Decentralized and optimal control of shared resource pools
Authors: Loureiro Emerson , Nixon Paddy , Dobson Simon
Published: May 2012

Resource pools are collections of computational resources (e.g., servers) which can be used by different applications in a shared way. A crucial aspect in these pools is to allocate resources so as to ensure their proper usage, taking into account workload and specific requirements of each application. An interesting approach, in this context, is to allocate the resources in the best possible way, aiming at optimal resource usage. Workload, however, varies over time, and in turn, resource demands will vary too. To ensure that optimal resource usage is always in place, resource shares should be defined dynamically and over time. It has been claimed that utility functions are the main tool for enabling such self-optimizing behavior. Whereas many solutions with this characteristic have been proposed to date, none of them presents true decentralization within the context of shared pools. In this article, we then propose a decentralized model for optimal resource usage in shared resource pools, providing practical and theoretical evidence of its feasibility.
HCI and sustainability
Authors: Mankoff Jennifer
Published: May 2012

Sustainability in (Inter)Action provides a forum for innovative thought, design, and research in the area of interaction design and environmental sustainability. The forum explores how HCI can contribute to the complex and interdisciplinary efforts to address sustainability challenges.

Elaine M. Huang, Editor
Motivating change with mobile
Authors: Morris Margaret E.
Published: May 2012

This forum is dedicated to personal health in all its many facets: decision-making, goal setting, celebration, discovery, reflection, coordination---even entertainment. We'll look at innovations in interactive technologies and how they help address current critical healthcare challenges.

Elizabeth D. Mynatt, Editor
Multiple description video coding based on base and enhancement layers of SVC and channel adaptive optimization
Authors: Varnamkhasti Mohammad Kazemi
Published: May 2012

Multiple distortion coding (MDC) is a promising solution for video transmission over lossy channels. In MDC, multiple descriptions of a source are generated which are dependently decodable and mutually refinable. When all descriptions are available, the corresponding quality is called central quality; otherwise it is called side quality. Generally, there exists a trade-off between side and central quality in all MDC schemes. MDC methods which provide better central-side quality trade-off are of more interest to designers.
Content-based visual search learned from social media
Authors: Li Xirong
Published: May 2012

In a world with increasing amounts of digital pictures, content-based visual search is an important and scientifically challenging problem in ICT research. This thesis tackles the problem by learning from social media. The fundamental question addressed in this thesis is: what is the value of socially tagged images for visual search?
Optimizing XML twig queries with full-text predicates
Authors: Chang Ya-Hui
Published: May 2012

Efficient query processing has been a critical issue for XML repositories. In this paper, we consider the XML query which can be represented as a query tree with twig patterns, and also consists of full-text constraints. Previously, the
structure-first
approach and the
keyword-first
approach have been proposed to process such kind of queries. The main focus of this paper is constructing an integrated system to support these two approaches and find the best execution plan. To achieve this goal, we first analyze the components of these two approaches and design a set of operators. We then derive the corresponding cost model and rewriting rules to perform costbased optimization. We also propose several heuristic rules by observing the behaviors of the two approaches. Via an extensive experimental study, we demonstrate that our cost-based system and heuristic system are both effective.
Quality-aware service-oriented data integration
Authors: Dustdar Schahram , Pichler Reinhard , Savenkov Vadim , Truong Hong-Linh
Published: May 2012

With a multitude of data sources available online, data consumers might find it hard to select the best combination of sources for their needs. Aspects such as price, licensing, service and data quality play a major role in selecting data sources. We therefore advocate qualityaware data services as a natural data source model for complex data integration tasks and mash-ups. This paper focuses on requirements, state of the art, and the main research challenges on the way to the realization of such services.
Proposed megakaryocytic regulon of p53: the genes engaged to control cell cycle and apoptosis during megakaryocytic differentiation
Authors: Apostolidis Pani A. , Lindsey Stephan , Miller William M. , Papoutsakis Eleftherios T.
Published: May 2012

During endomitosis, megakaryocytes undergo several rounds of DNA synthesis without division leading to polyploidization. In primary megakaryocytes and in the megakaryocytic cell line CHRF, loss or knock-down of p53 enhances cell cycling and inhibits apoptosis, leading to increased polyploidization. To support the hypothesis that p53 suppresses megakaryocytic polyploidization, we show that stable expression of wild-type p53 in K562 cells (a p53-null cell line) attenuates the cells' ability to undergo polyploidization during megakaryocytic differentiation due to diminished DNA synthesis and greater apoptosis. This suggested that p53's effects during megakaryopoiesis are mediated through cell cycle- and apoptosis-related target genes, possibly by arresting DNA synthesis and promoting apoptosis. To identify candidate genes through which p53 mediates these effects, gene expression was compared between p53 knock-down (p53-KD) and control CHRF cells induced to undergo terminal megakaryocytic differentiation using microarray analysis. Among substantially downregulated p53 targets in p53-KD megakaryocytes were cell cycle regulators CDKN1A (p21) and PLK2, proapoptotic FAS, TNFRSF10B, CASP8, NOTCH1, TP53INP1, TP53I3, DRAM1, ZMAT3 and PHLDA3, DNA-damage-related RRM2B and SESN1, and actin component ACTA2, while antiapoptotic CKS1B, BCL2, GTSE1, and p53 family member TP63 were upregulated in p53-KD cells. Additionally, a number of cell cycle-related, proapoptotic, and cytoskeleton-related genes with known functions in megakaryocytes but not known to carry p53-responsive elements were differentially expressed between p53-KD and control CHRF cells. Our data support a model whereby p53 expression during megakaryopoiesis serves to control polyploidization and the transition from endomitosis to apoptosis by impeding cell cycling and promoting apoptosis. Furthermore, we identify a putative p53 regulon that is proposed to orchestrate these effects.
Expression of the p53 Target CDIP Correlates with Sensitivity to TNFα-Induced Apoptosis in Cancer Cells
Authors: Brown-Endres Lauren , Schoenfeld David , Tian Fang , Kim Hyung-Gu , Namba Takushi , Muñoz-Fontela César , Mandinova Anna , Aaronson Stuart A. , Lee Sam W.
Published: May 2012

TNFα is a pleiotropic cytokine that signals for both survival and apoptotic cell fates. It is still unclear that the dual role of TNFα can be regulated in cancer cells. We previously described an apoptotic pathway involving p53→CDIP→TNFα that was activated in response to genotoxic stress. This pathway operated in the presence of JNK activation; therefore, we postulated that CDIP itself could sensitize cells to a TNFα apoptotic cell fate, survival, or death. We show that CDIP mediates sensitivity to TNFα-induced apoptosis and that cancer cells with endogenous CDIP expression are inherently sensitive to the growth-suppressive effects of TNFα in vitro and in vivo. Thus, CDIP expression correlates with sensitivity of cancer cells with TNFα, and CDIP seems to be a regulator of the p53-mediated death versus survival response of cells to TNFα. This CDIP-mediated sensitivity to TNFα-induced apoptosis favors pro- over antiapoptotic program in cancer cells, and CDIP may serve as a predictive biomarker for such sensitivity. Cancer Res; 72(9); 2373–82. ©2012 AACR.
Cardiovascular Health Behavior and Health Factor Changes (1988–2008) and Projections to 2020
Authors: Huffman Mark D. , Capewell Simon , Ning Hongyan , Shay Christina M. , Ford Earl S. , Lloyd-Jones Donald M.
Published: May 2012

Background—

The American Heart Association's 2020 Strategic Impact Goals target a 20% relative improvement in overall cardiovascular health with the use of 4 health behavior (smoking, diet, physical activity, body mass) and 3 health factor (plasma glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure) metrics. We sought to define current trends and forward projections to 2020 in cardiovascular health.

Methods and Results—

We included 35 059 cardiovascular disease–free adults (aged ≥20 years) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988–1994 and subsequent 2-year cycles during 1999–2008. We calculated population prevalence of poor, intermediate, and ideal health behaviors and factors and also computed a composite, individual-level Cardiovascular Health Score for all 7 metrics (poor=0 points; intermediate=1 point; ideal=2 points; total range, 0–14 points). Prevalence of current and former smoking, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension declined, whereas prevalence of obesity and dysglycemia increased through 2008. Physical activity levels and low diet quality scores changed minimally. Projections to 2020 suggest that obesity and impaired fasting glucose/diabetes mellitus could increase to affect 43% and 77% of US men and 42% and 53% of US women, respectively. Overall, population-level cardiovascular health is projected to improve by 6% overall by 2020 if current trends continue. Individual-level Cardiovascular Health Score projections to 2020 (men=7.4 [95% confidence interval, 5.7–9.1]; women=8.8 [95% confidence interval, 7.6–9.9]) fall well below the level needed to achieve a 20% improvement (men=9.4; women=10.1).

Conclusions—

The American Heart Association 2020 target of improving cardiovascular health by 20% by 2020 will not be reached if current trends continue.
Combined Effect of Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker and Either a Calcium Channel Blocker or Diuretic on Day-by-Day Variability of Home Blood Pressure
Authors: Matsui Yoshio , O'Rourke Michael F. , Hoshide Satoshi , Ishikawa Joji , Shimada Kazuyuki , Kario Kazuomi
Published: May 2012

Day-by-day home blood pressure (BP) variability (BPV) was reported to be associated with increased cardiovascular risk. We aimed to test the hypothesis that the angiotensin II receptor blocker/calcium-channel blocker combination decreases day-by-day BPV more than the angiotensin II receptor blocker/diuretic combination does and investigated the mechanism underlying the former reduction. We enrolled 207 hypertensive subjects treated with olmesartan monotherapy for 12 weeks. The subjects were randomly assigned to treatment with hydrochlorothiazide (n=104) or azelnidipine (n=103) for 24 weeks. Home BP was taken in triplicate with a memory-equipped device in the morning and evening, respectively, for 5 consecutive days before each visit. Visits occurred at 4-week intervals. Home BPV was defined as within-individual SD of the 5-day home BP. Arterial stiffness was assessed by aortic pulse wave velocity at baseline and 24 weeks later. The reductions in home systolic BP were similar between the 2 groups, whereas the SD of home systolic BP decreased more in the azelnidipine group than in the hydrochlorothiazide group during the follow-up period (follow-up mean: 6.3 versus 7.1 mm Hg;
P
=0.007). In the azelnidipine group, the change in aortic pulse wave velocity was independently associated with the change in SD of home systolic BP (regression coefficient±SE=0.79±0.37;
P
=0.036). This study demonstrated that the angiotensin II receptor blocker/calcium-channel blocker combination improved home BPV in addition to home BP reduction and that the reduction in home BPV was partly attributable to the arterial stiffness reduction by this combination.
James Bulger – a matter of public interest?
Authors: Rice Gerry , Thomas Terry
Published: May 2012

The British press continues to be fascinated by the 1993 murder of two year old James Bulger by two ten year old children. This article attempts to clarify the issues the case brought up and to examine why it has such resonance with the general public. The article does this by asking six framing questions that it then seeks to answer.
Ties That Bind: Towards a Child-Centred Approach to Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Families under the ECHR
Authors: Hodson Loveday
Published: May 2012

This paper examines the European Court’s of Human Rights approach towards lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender families and points to the absence of a child-centred approach in its judgments. While adult same-sex relationships are increasingly gaining recognition under the Convention and national laws, in matters concerning children the Court prefers a heteronormative outlook that, it is suggested, attaches special significance to the symbolic innocence of the child. Consequently, the Court’s case-law does not adequately reflect the reality of the increasing numbers of children raised in LGBT families. The consequences of this blind-spot are considerable: it endorses the patchwork of uneven protection for children in LGBT families under national laws. This paper points towards a child-centred approach that would broaden the Court’s understanding of family life and more accurately reflect the family lives of children raised in non-traditional families.
U.K. Rainfall Data: A Long-Term Persistence Approach
Authors: Gil-Alana Luis A.
Published: May 2012

This paper looks at the analysis of U.K. monthly rainfall data from a long-term persistence viewpoint. Different modeling approaches are considered, taking into account the strong dependence and the seasonality in the data. The results indicate that the most appropriate model is the one that presents cyclical long-run dependence with the order of integration being positive though small, and the cycles having a periodicity of about a year.
A Particle-Surface-Area-Based Parameterization of Immersion Freezing on Desert Dust Particles
Authors: Niemand Monika , Möhler Ottmar , Vogel Bernhard , Vogel Heike , Hoose Corinna , Connolly Paul , Klein Holger , Bingemer Heinz , DeMott Paul , Skrotzki Julian , Leisner Thomas
Published: May 2012

In climate and weather models, the quantitative description of aerosol and cloud processes relies on simplified assumptions. This contributes major uncertainties to the prediction of global and regional climate change. Therefore, models need good parameterizations for heterogeneous ice nucleation by atmospheric aerosols. Here the authors present a new parameterization of immersion freezing on desert dust particles derived from a large number of experiments carried out at the Aerosol Interaction and Dynamics in the Atmosphere (AIDA) cloud chamber facility. The parameterization is valid in the temperature range between −12° and −36°C at or above water saturation and can be used in atmospheric models that include information about the dust surface area. The new parameterization was applied to calculate distribution maps of ice nuclei during a Saharan dust event based on model results from the regional-scale model Consortium for Small-Scale Modelling–Aerosols and Reactive Trace Gases (COSMO-ART). The results were then compared to measurements at the Taunus Observatory on Mount Kleiner Feldberg, Germany, and to three other parameterizations applied to the dust outbreak. The aerosol number concentration and surface area from the COSMO-ART model simulation were taken as input to different parameterizations. Although the surface area from the model agreed well with aerosol measurements during the dust event at Kleiner Feldberg, the ice nuclei (IN) number concentration calculated from the new surface-area-based parameterization was about a factor of 13 less than IN measurements during the same event. Systematic differences of more than a factor of 10 in the IN number concentration were also found among the different parameterizations. Uncertainties in the modeled and measured parameters probably both contribute to this discrepancy and should be addressed in future studies.
Falling Flat
Authors: Eggers J. P.
Published: May 2012

This study theorizes about the behavioral and knowledge creation implications of betting on the losing technology in a competing technology situation and focuses on three main outcomes. First, in a situation with competing technological options, firms that invest initially in the losing technology will be less successful subsequently in building new knowledge in the winning technology because their experience with failure will lead them to update their expectations of the industry and choose to pursue less risky alternatives. Second, two classic risk-reducing strategies—investing in both technologies or entering after uncertainty is resolved—will not be completely effective. Firms investing in both technologies are likely to suffer the incentive and coordination-driven innovation penalties of generalists, while late entrants will suffer learning disadvantages. Third, the possession of key and relevant complementary assets—upstream and downstream—will positively moderate the observed inertial effect on firms that backed the failed technology and generalists that backed both technologies, as these complementary assets will increase incentives to adapt to the winning technology. I find empirical support for my hypotheses using a novel data set on the evolution of the global flat panel display industry from 1964 to 2003 to investigate the technological competition between plasma and liquid crystal displays. Results show that firms initially pursuing plasma generated less subsequent knowledge in liquid crystal displays, and that firms betting on both technologies were also slow to build knowledge in liquid crystal displays. Meanwhile, firms with upstream and downstream complementary assets were able to moderate, but not overcome, this barrier to knowledge creation. The findings have implications for our study of technological evolution and adaption, for learning from failure and reinforcement learning, and for the relationship between resource partitioning and adaptation.
A method for application reconfiguration in wireless sensor networks
Authors: Wu Xu , Li Feng
Published: May 2012

Wireless sensor networks are often deployed in physical environments that change over time. For this reason, wireless sensor networks need to be aware of these changes automatically and make a reconfiguration decisions to adapt to new applications. However, the existing approaches mainly focus on client/server-based reconfiguration architecture for sensor nodes. They are not flexible enough to cope automatically with unexpected changes in the environment. Moreover, periodically information exchanges between sensor nodes and the central control server produces expensive communication consumption and long response delays. In addition, client/server-based reconfiguration techniques need a wireless sensor network to maintain stable network connectivity. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes a mobile agent-based application reconfiguration method (MAAR) for wireless sensor networks. The main advantage of the proposed method is to change application requirements to adapt to new applications in dynamic environments. Experiments have been carried out to study the effectiveness and the benefits of the MAAR. An application scenario is implemented in the environment monitoring of intelligence building. A client/server-based application reconfiguration method (CSAR) and MAAR are used separately. We choose to use two metrics, the communication time and the energy cost, to evaluate the performance of CSAR and MAAR in the application reconfiguration. The simulation results show that the MAAR provides greater flexibility for collaboration between the sensors and a better performance than CSAR in terms of the communication time and energy cost.
Becoming Black Women
Authors: Wilkins Amy C.
Published: May 2012

In this article, I argue that intimate stories are an important resource for the achievement of intersectional identities. Drawing on in-depth interviews with black college students at two predominantly white universities, I examine the stories black college women tell about interracial relationships between black men and white women. I argue that interracial stories serve an array of social purposes that go well beyond black women’s intimate lives themselves. Interracial stories draw on public beliefs about gender, sexuality, and race to create a collective identity, imbue it with meaning, and socialize black women into common dispositions and practices. The transition to college makes race newly salient to black women; black women must coordinate raced gender identities with other black women across differences in backgrounds and dispositions. By learning and adopting interracial stories, black college women create alliances with other black women, draw boundaries against black men and white women, and craft black womanhood as strong and outspoken. Women’s identity work is constrained, however, by the contradictions within and among gender, race, and class meanings, which make it difficult for them to enact identities that are at once strong and respectable, pushing black women to tie interracial stories to sexual restraint. I conclude by examining the implications of interracial stories for understanding black women’s identities and the processes of intersectionality more broadly.
Social innovation, social entrepreneurship and the practice of contemporary entrepreneurial philanthropy
Authors: Maclean Mairi , Harvey Charles , Gordon Jillian
Published: May 2012

The economic crisis has accentuated the social and economic dislocation experienced by disadvantaged communities at a time of unprecedented political and public interest in philanthropy. This has concentrated attention on the contribution that philanthropists might make in addressing socio-economic challenges, and on the role that social innovation might play in regenerating communities. This article adds to the literature on social innovation and social entrepreneurship that aims to integrate theory and empirical practice. By examining social innovation through the lens of a case study of the Community Foundation for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, the article sheds light on how the sites and spaces of socially innovative philanthropic projects may have a bearing on their success; attention is drawn to the importance of community engagement on the part of social innovators, and the power of self-organization in re-embedding communities. It suggests that storytelling by committed philanthropists may serve as a powerful proselytizing tool for recruiting new donors.
Gendered Paths
Authors: Loscocco Karyn , Bird Sharon R.
Published: May 2012

The promise of small business ownership as a route to equality has yet to be realized. The authors draw from social construction perspectives and a detailed data set to model directly the various options individuals must balance—as owners and as family members—in the course of running their businesses. The authors’ findings suggest that gendered structural constraints exist not only in the labor markets in which people work before becoming owners but also “closer to home” in terms of decisions they make about whether to try to use ownership to achieve more work–family balance and how much time and effort to put into growing their businesses.
Preventing Smoking Among Hispanic Preadolescents
Authors: Lopez Stella G. , Garza Raymond T. , Gonzalez-Blanks Ana G.
Published: May 2012

The present study examined the role of individualism-collectivism (IC) and acculturation in smoking prevention programs for Hispanic preadolescents. The sixth graders received a collectivist or individualist curriculum. Both programs contained knowledge-based facts about smoking. The collectivist condition included an interdependent (group-oriented) perspective of smoking, while the individualist condition had an independent (individual-oriented) perspective. Measurements assessing attitudes and behaviors were taken before and after the implementation. Compared to the individualist program, Hispanic youth in the collectivist condition reported greater awareness about the dangers of smoking, revealed more accurate and healthier perceptions, and expressed restraint in engaging in unhealthy behaviors. Acculturation effects depended on participants’ IC characteristic. This research showed the utility of cultural dimensions in health programs for Hispanic youth. It also blends basic and applied research in furthering the prevention of smoking among minority youth.
Longitudinal control of an aerospace launch vehicle: a backstepping approach
Authors: Dezfuli Saeed Salavati , Bahrami Mohsen , Ebrahimi Behrouz
Published: May 2012

A backstepping controller for an aerospace launch vehicle in longitudinal motion is designed and implemented. The control scheme addresses atmospheric flight utilizing experimental setting. The motion is commanded by a pitch program and small perturbation method is used to render the non-linear nature of aerospace launch vehicle into a time-varying linear structure. Real wind gust profile and plant uncertainties are then introduced to the aerospace launch vehicle model. The control system explored, exhibits superior performance in comparison to that of sliding-mode and feedback linearization presented in the literature on the same benchmark. Moreover, the controller is applied to the non-linear platform of the two-stage launch vehicle and the results are compared to those of alternative control approach. Simulations are conducted and advantages of the backstepping controller are highlighted.
Chaotic Homes and Children’s Disruptive Behavior
Authors: Jaffee Sara R. , Hanscombe Ken B. , Haworth Claire M. A. , Davis Oliver S. P. , Plomin Robert
Published: May 2012

Chaotic home lives are correlated with behavior problems in children. In the study reported here, we tested whether there was a cross-lagged relation between children’s experience of chaos and their disruptive behaviors (conduct problems and hyperactivity-inattention). Using genetically informative models, we then tested for the first time whether the influence of household chaos on disruptive behavior was environmentally mediated and whether genetic influences on children’s disruptive behaviors accounted for the heritability of household chaos. We measured children’s perceptions of household chaos and parents’ ratings of children’s disruptive behavior at ages 9 and 12 in a sample of 6,286 twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). There was a phenotypic cross-lagged relation between children’s experiences of household chaos and their disruptive behavior. In genetically informative models, we found that the effect of household chaos on subsequent disruptive behavior was environmentally mediated. However, genetic influences on disruptive behavior did not explain why household chaos was heritable.
Policy route map for academic libraries’ digital content
Authors: Koulouris Alexandros , Kapidakis Sarantos
Published: May 2012

This paper presents a policy decision tree for digital information management in academic libraries. The decision tree is a policy guide, which offers alternative access and reproduction policy solutions according to the prevailing circumstances (for example acquisition method, copyright ownership). It refers to the digital information life cycle, focusing mostly on its creation (digitized or born-digital), acquisition, copyright and availability. The resulting decision tree is based on a policy model, which was initially divided into two branches – one for digitized and one for born-digital information. The decision tree simplifies and unifies commonly adopted rules which were identified through a questionnaire survey on the access and reproduction policies of 67 digital collections in 34 multidisciplinary libraries (national, academic, public, special, etc.) from 13 countries. The results of the decision tree are used to propose alternative policies.
Best interests determination within the Singapore context
Authors: Krishna Lalit RK
Published: May 2012

Familialism is a significant mindset within Singaporean culture. Its effects through the practice of familial determination and filial piety, which calls for a family centric approach to care determination over and above individual autonomy, affect many elements of local care provision. However, given the complex psychosocial, political and cultural elements involved, the applicability and viability of this model as well as that of a physician-led practice is increasingly open to conjecture. This article will investigate some of these concerns before proffering a decision-making process based upon a multidisciplinary team approach. It will be shown that such a multidimensional and multiprofessional approach is more in keeping with the inclusive and patient-centred ethos of palliative care than prevailing practices. It will be shown that such an approach will also be better placed to deliver holistic, coherent and sensitive end-of-life care that palliative care espouses.
Unpacking the theory on ambidexterity: An illustrative case on the managerial architectures, mechanisms and dynamics
Authors: Turner Neil , Lee-Kelley Liz
Published: May 2012

Research on ambidexterity has been focused primarily at the organisational level. There is little in the literature detailing ambidexterity in more complex forms of organising. While much is written on the ‘what’ of ambidexterity – its enactment has been shown to be beneficial – there is a gap in our understanding of the underlying mechanisms, architectures and dynamics by which organisations can achieve both exploration and exploitation. In this article, we use the lens of intellectual capital to extend current architectural theory. A case study of a project management office in an IT/IS multinational provides the context in which to qualitatively unpack the underpinning intellectual capital architecture, illustrating the interwoven application of human, social and organisational capital in a complicated organisational setting. We reveal the co-existence and mutual interdependence of multiple intellectual capital and process elements, further explaining the ‘how’ of this increasingly important area of study.
Alligators, hospital birth and other urban legends
Authors: Cohain Judy Slome
Published: May 2012

The belief that hospital birth for low risk pregnancies has better outcomes than planned, attended homebirth is an urban legend. The choice of low-risk women to deliver in hospital is a result of the dominant and irrational human propensities to gossip, to follow the crowd and to cling to irrational hope. Rational analysis shows that planned homebirth with experienced trained attendants has the best outcomes for both mother and newborn for low risk pregnancy.