bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Complex one-frequency cocycles
Authors: Avila Artur , Jitomirskaya Svetlana , Sadel Christian
Published: October 2014

We show that on a dense open set of analytic one-frequency complex valued cocycles in arbitrary dimension Oseledets filtration is either
dominated
or
trivial
. The underlying mechanism is different from that of the Bochi-Viana Theorem for continuous cocycles, which links non-domination with discontinuity of the Lyapunov exponent. Indeed, in our setting the Lyapunov exponents are shown to depend continuously on the cocycle, even if the initial irrational frequency is allowed to vary. On the other hand, this last property provides a good control of the periodic approximations of a cocycle, allowing us to show that
domination
can be characterized, in the presence of a gap in the Lyapunov spectrum, by additional regularity of the dependence of sums of Lyapunov exponents.
Variations of Mixed Hodge Structure and Semipositivity Theorems
Authors: Fujino Osamu , Fujisawa Taro
Published: October 2014

We discuss variations of mixed Hodge structure for cohomology with compact support of quasi-projective simple normal crossing pairs. We show that they are graded polarizable admissible variations of mixed Hodge structure. Then we prove a generalization of the Fujita–Kawamata semipositivity theorem.
The Implementation of an Integrated Information System for Substance Use Screening in General Medical Settings
Authors: Sorensen-Alawad A. , Carney B.L. , Persand I. , Cruz A. , Botticelli M. , Pressman K. , Adams W.G. , Brolin M. , Alford D.P. , Shanahan C.W.
Published: October 2014

The Massachusetts Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (MASBIRT) Program, a substance use screening program in general medical settings, created a web-based, point-of-care (POC), application – the MASBIRT Portal ( the “Portal”) to meet program goals.

Objectives: We report on development and implementation of the Portal.

Methods: Five year program process outcomes recorded by an independent evaluator and an anonymous survey of Health Educator’s (HEs) adoption, perceptions and Portal use with a modified version of the Technology Readiness Index are described. [8] Specific management team members, selected based on their roles in program leadership, development and implementation of the Portal and supervision of HEs, participated in semi-structured, qualitative interviews.

Results: At the conclusion of the program 73% (24/33) of the HEs completed a survey on their experience using the Portal. HEs reported that the Portal made recording screening information easy (96%); improved planning their workday (83%); facilitated POC data collection (84%); decreased time dedicated to data entry (100%); and improved job satisfaction (59%). The top two barriers to use were “no or limited wireless connectivity” (46%) and “the tablet was too heavy/bulky to carry” (29%). Qualitative management team interviews identified strategies for successful HIT implementation: importance of engaging HEs in outlining specifications and workflow needs, collaborative testing prior to implementation and clear agreement on data collection purpose, quality requirements and staff roles.

Discussion: Overall, HEs perceived the Portal favorably with regard to time saving ability and improved workflow. Lessons learned included identifying core requirements early during system development and need for managers to institute and enforce consistent behavioral work norms.

Conclusion: Barriers and HEs’ views of technology impacted the utilization of the MASBIRT Portal. Further research is needed to determine best approaches for HIT system implementation in general medical settings.

Citation: Shanahan CW, Sorensen-Alawad A, Carney BL, Persand I, Cruz A, Botticelli M, Pressman K, Adams WG, Brolin M, Alford DP. The implementation of an integrated information system for substance use screening in general medical settings. Appl Clin Inf 2014; 5: 878–894

http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2014-03-RA-0025
Cultural Science
Authors: Hartley John , Potts Jason
Published: October 2014

Cultural Science introduces a new way of thinking about culture. Adopting an evolutionary and systems approach, the authors argue that culture is the population-wide source of newness and innovation; it faces the future, not the past. Its chief characteristic is the formation of groups or ‘demes’ (organised and productive subpopulation; ‘demos’). Demes are the means for creating, distributing and growing knowledge. However, such groups are competitive and knowledge-systems are adversarial.

Starting from a rereading of Darwinian evolutionary theory, the book utilises multidisciplinary resources: Raymond Williams’s ‘culture is ordinary’ approach; evolutionary science (e.g. Mark Pagel and Herbert Gintis); semiotics (Yuri Lotman); and economic theory (from Schumpeter to McCloskey).

Successive chapters argue that:

–Culture and knowledge need to be understood from an externalist (‘linked brains’) perspective, rather than through the lens of individual behaviour;

–Demes are created by culture, especially storytelling, which in turn constitutes both politics and economics;

–The clash of systems – including demes – is productive of newness, meaningfulness and successful reproduction of culture;

–Contemporary urban culture and citizenship can best be explained by investigating how culture is used, and how newness and innovation emerge from unstable and contested boundaries between different meaning systems;

–The evolution of culture is a process of technologically enabled ‘demic concentration’ of knowledge, across overlapping meaning-systems or semiospheres; a process where the number of demes accessible to any individual has increased at an accelerating rate, resulting in new problems of scale and coordination for cultural science to address.

The book argues for interdisciplinary ‘consilience’, linking evolutionary and complexity theory in the natural sciences, economics and anthropology in the social sciences, and cultural, communication and media studies in the humanities and creative arts. It describes what is needed for a new 'modern synthesis' for the cultural sciences. It combines analytical and historical methods, to provide a framework for a general reconceptualisation of the theory of culture – one that is focused not on its political or customary aspects but rather its evolutionary significance as a generator of newness and innovation.
Modeling and sensitivity analysis of transport and deposition of radionuclides from the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident
Authors: Hu X. , Li D. , Huang H. , Shen S. , Bou-Zeid E.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. The atmospheric transport and ground deposition of radioactive isotopes 131I and 137Cs during and after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident (March 2011) are investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting-Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model. The aim is to assess the skill of WRF in simulating these processes and the sensitivity of the model's performance to various parameterizations of unresolved physics. The WRF-Chem model is first upgraded by implementing a radioactive decay term into the advection–diffusion solver and adding three parameterizations for dry deposition and two parameterizations for wet deposition. Different microphysics and horizontal turbulent diffusion schemes are then tested for their ability to reproduce observed meteorological conditions. Subsequently, the influence of emission characteristics (including the emission rate, the gas partitioning of 131I and the size distribution of 137Cs) on the simulated transport and deposition is examined. The results show that the model can predict the wind fields and rainfall realistically and that the ground deposition of the radionuclides can also be captured reasonably well. The modeled precipitation is largely influenced by the microphysics schemes, while the influence of the horizontal diffusion schemes on the wind fields is subtle. However, the ground deposition of radionuclides is sensitive to both horizontal diffusion schemes and microphysical schemes. Wet deposition dominated over dry deposition at most of the observation stations, but not at all locations in the simulated domain. To assess the sensitivity of the total daily deposition to all of the model physics and inputs, the averaged absolute value of the difference (AAD) is proposed. Based on AAD, the total deposition is mainly influenced by the emission rate for both 131I and 137Cs; while it is not sensitive to the dry deposition parameterizations since the dry deposition is just a minor fraction of the total deposition. Moreover, for 131I, the deposition is moderately sensitive (AAD between 10 and 40% between different runs) to the microphysics schemes, the horizontal diffusion schemes, gas-partitioning and wet deposition parameterizations. For 137Cs, the deposition is very sensitive (AAD exceeding 40% between different runs) to the microphysics schemes and wet deposition parameterizations, but moderately sensitive to the horizontal diffusion schemes and the size distribution.
The decreasing albedo of the Zhadang glacier on western Nyainqentanglha and the role of light-absorbing impurities
Authors: Qu B. , Ming J. , Kang S.-C. , Zhang G.-S. , Li Y.-W. , Li C.-D. , Zhao S.-Y. , Ji Z.-M. , Cao J.-J.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. A large change in albedo has a significant effect on glacier ablation. Atmospheric aerosols – e.g. black carbon (BC) and dust – can reduce the albedo of glaciers and thus contribute to their melting. In this study, two main themes were explored: (1) the decrease in albedo of the Zhadang glacier on Mt. Nyainqentanglha between 2001 and 2012, as observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on-board the Terra satellite, and the correlation of this albedo with mass balance; and (2) the concentrations of BC and dust in the glacier measured during 2012, and the associated impacts of these impurities on albedo and radiative forcings (RF). The average albedo of the Zhadang glacier from the MODIS increased with the altitude and fluctuated but had a decreasing trend (−0.003 a−1) during the period 2001–2012, with the highest (0.722) in 2003 and the lowest (0.597) in 2009 and 2010. The mass balance of the glacier has a positively significant correlation with its surface albedo derived from MODIS. Snow samples were collected on the Zhadang glacier to measure the BC and dust in the summer of 2012. The impacts of BC and dust on albedo reduction in different melting conditions were identified with the SNow ICe Aerosol Radiative (SNICAR) model initiated by in situ observation data. The sensitivity analysis showed that BC was a major factor in albedo reduction when the glacier was covered by newly fallen snow. Nevertheless, the contribution of dust to albedo reduction can reach as high as 56%, much exceeding that of BC (28%), when the glacier experiences strong surficial melting and its surface is almost bare ice. The average RF caused by dust could increase from 1.1 to 8.6 W m−2, exceeding the RF caused by BC after snow was deposited and surface melting occurred in the Zhadang glacier. This implies that it may be dust that primarily dominates the melting of some glaciers in the inner Tibetan Plateau during melting seasons, rather than BC.
Analysis of double-step response to an interplanetary shock in the dayside magnetosphere
Authors: Andréeová K. , Juusola L. , Kilpua E. K. J. , Koskinen H. E. J.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. We present an analysis of double-step magnetic field enhancement caused by interplanetary (IP) shock impacts on the Earth's magnetosphere. The structures were observed by the GOES-8, 10, 11, and 12 spacecraft in the dayside geostationary orbit, particularly during northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. The double-step structures, similar to what is observed in the ground horizontal magnetic field (H) component at low and mid latitudes, were observed preferentially on the dayside. Structures observed around 12–15 magnetic local time (MLT) displayed the steepest initial enhancement step, followed by a magnetic field strength decrease before the second enhancement step. At other dayside MLTs of the geostationary orbit, the initial response was smoother, and no decrease was observed before the second step. We suggest that this MLT asymmetry in the decrease of the total magnetic field is caused by the pushing of the plasmaspheric ions over the geostationary orbit due to the magnetospheric compression.
Methanotrophic activity and diversity of methanotrophs in volcanic geothermal soils at Pantelleria (Italy)
Authors: Gagliano A. L. , D'Alessandro W. , Tagliavia M. , Parello F. , Quatrini P.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. Volcanic and geothermal systems emit endogenous gases by widespread degassing from soils, including CH4, a greenhouse gas twenty-five times as potent as CO2. Recently, it has been demonstrated that volcanic or geothermal soils are not only a source of methane, but are also sites of methanotrophic activity. Methanotrophs are able to consume 10–40 Tg of CH4 a−1 and to trap more than 50% of the methane degassing through the soils. We report on methane microbial oxidation in the geothermally most active site of Pantelleria (Italy), Favara Grande, whose total methane emission was previously estimated at about 2.5 Mg a−1 (t a−1). Laboratory incubation experiments with three top-soil samples from Favara Grande indicated methane consumption values of up to 59.2 nmol g−1 soil d.w. h−1. One of the three sites, FAV2, where the highest oxidation rate was detected, was further analysed on a vertical soil profile, the maximum methane consumption was measured in the top-soil layer, and values greater than 6.23 nmol g−1 h−1 were still detected up to a depth of 13 cm. The highest consumption rate was measured at 37 °C, but a still detectable consumption at 80 °C (> 1.25 nmol g−1 h−1) was recorded. The soil total DNA extracted from the three samples was probed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) using standard proteobacterial primers and newly designed verrucomicrobial primers, targeting the unique methane monooxygenase gene pmoA; the presence of methanotrophs was detected at sites FAV2 and FAV3, but not at FAV1, where harsher chemical–physical conditions and negligible methane oxidation were detected. The pmoA gene libraries from the most active site (FAV2) pointed to a high diversity of gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs, distantly related to Methylocaldum-Metylococcus genera, and the presence of the newly discovered acido-thermophilic Verrucomicrobia methanotrophs. Alphaproteobacteria of the genus Methylocystis were isolated from enrichment cultures under a methane-containing atmosphere at 37 °C. The isolates grow at a pH range of 3.5 to 8 and temperatures of 18–45 °C, and consume 160 nmol of CH4 h−1 mL−1 of culture. Soils from Favara Grande showed the largest diversity of methanotrophic bacteria detected until now in a geothermal soil. While methanotrophic Verrucomicrobia are reported as dominating highly acidic geothermal sites, our results suggest that slightly acidic soils, in high-enthalpy geothermal systems, host a more diverse group of both culturable and uncultivated methanotrophs.
Responses of coccolithophores to ocean acidification: a meta-analysis
Authors: Meyer J. , Riebesell U.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. Concerning their sensitivity to ocean acidification, coccolithophores, a group of calcifying single-celled phytoplankton, are one of the best-studied groups of marine organisms. However, in spite of the large number of studies investigating coccolithophore physiological responses to ocean acidification, uncertainties still remain due to variable and partly contradictory results. In the present study we have used all existing data in a meta-analysis to estimate the effect size of future pCO2 changes on the rates of calcification and photosynthesis and the ratio of particulate inorganic to organic carbon (PIC/POC) in different coccolithophore species. Our results indicate that ocean acidification has a negative effect on calcification and the cellular PIC/POC ratio in the most abundant coccolithophore species Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica. In contrast the more heavily calcified species Coccolithus braarudii did not show a distinct response when exposed to elevated pCO2/reduced pH. Photosynthesis in Gephyrocapsa oceanica was positively affected by high CO2, while no effect was observed for the other coccolithophore species. There was no indication that the method of carbonate chemistry manipulation was responsible for the inconsistent results regarding observed responses in calcification and the PIC/POC ratio. The perturbation method, however, appears to affect photosynthesis, as responses varied significantly between total alkalinity (TA) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) manipulations. These results emphasize that coccolithophore species respond differently to ocean acidification, both in terms of calcification and photosynthesis. Where negative effects occur, they become evident at CO2 levels in the range projected for this century in case of unabated CO2 emissions. As the data sets used in this meta-analysis do not account for adaptive responses and ecological fitness, the questions remains how these physiological responses play out in the natural environment.
Climate impacts on human livelihoods: where uncertainty matters in projections of water availability
Authors: Lissner T. K. , Reusser D. E. , Schewe J. , Lakes T. , Kropp J. P.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. Climate change will have adverse impacts on many different sectors of society, with manifold consequences for human livelihoods and well-being. However, a systematic method to quantify human well-being and livelihoods across sectors is so far unavailable, making it difficult to determine the extent of such impacts. Climate impact analyses are often limited to individual sectors (e.g. food or water) and employ sector-specific target measures, while systematic linkages to general livelihood conditions remain unexplored. Further, recent multi-model assessments have shown that uncertainties in projections of climate impacts deriving from climate and impact models, as well as greenhouse gas scenarios, are substantial, posing an additional challenge in linking climate impacts with livelihood conditions. This article first presents a methodology to consistently measure what is referred to here as AHEAD (Adequate Human livelihood conditions for wEll-being And Development). Based on a trans-disciplinary sample of concepts addressing human well-being and livelihoods, the approach measures the adequacy of conditions of 16 elements. We implement the method at global scale, using results from the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP) to show how changes in water availability affect the fulfilment of AHEAD at national resolution. In addition, AHEAD allows for the uncertainty of climate and impact model projections to be identified and differentiated. We show how the approach can help to put the substantial inter-model spread into the context of country-specific livelihood conditions by differentiating where the uncertainty about water scarcity is relevant with regard to livelihood conditions – and where it is not. The results indicate that livelihood conditions are compromised by water scarcity in 34 countries. However, more often, AHEAD fulfilment is limited through other elements. The analysis shows that the water-specific uncertainty ranges of the model output are outside relevant thresholds for AHEAD for 65 out of 111 countries, and therefore do not contribute to the overall uncertainty about climate change impacts on livelihoods. In 46 of the countries in the analysis, water-specific uncertainty is relevant to AHEAD. The AHEAD method presented here, together with first results, forms an important step towards making scientific results more applicable for policy decisions.
Simulation of tropospheric chemistry and aerosols with the climate model EC-Earth
Authors: van Noije T. P. C. , Le Sager P. , Segers A. J. , van Velthoven P. F. J. , Krol M. C. , Hazeleger W. , Williams A. G. , Chambers S. D.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. We have integrated the atmospheric chemistry and transport model TM5 into the global climate model EC-Earth version 2.4. We present an overview of the TM5 model and the two-way data exchange between TM5 and the IFS model from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the atmospheric general circulation model of EC-Earth. In this paper we evaluate the simulation of tropospheric chemistry and aerosols in a one-way coupled configuration. We have carried out a decadal simulation for present-day conditions and calculated chemical budgets and climatologies of tracer concentrations and aerosol optical depth. For comparison we have also performed offline simulations driven by meteorological fields from ECMWF's ERA-Interim reanalysis and output from the EC-Earth model itself. Compared to the offline simulations, the online-coupled system produces more efficient vertical mixing in the troposphere, which reflects an improvement of the treatment of cumulus convection. The chemistry in the EC-Earth simulations is affected by the fact that the current version of EC-Earth produces a cold bias with too dry air in large parts of the troposphere. Compared to the ERA-Interim driven simulation, the oxidizing capacity in EC-Earth is lower in the tropics and higher in the extratropics. The atmospheric lifetime of methane in EC-Earth is 9.4 years, which is 7% longer than the lifetime obtained with ERA-Interim but remains well within the range reported in the literature. We further evaluate the model by comparing the simulated climatologies of surface radon-222 and carbon monoxide, tropospheric and surface ozone, and aerosol optical depth against observational data. The work presented in this study is the first step in the development of EC-Earth into an Earth system model with fully interactive atmospheric chemistry and aerosols.
Development and testing of a large, transportable rainfall simulator for plot-scale runoff and parameter estimation
Authors: Wilson T. G. , Cortis C. , Montaldo N. , Albertson J. D.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. There is increased interest in the interplay between vegetation conditions and overland flow generation. The literature is unclear on this relationship, and there is little quantitative guidance for modeling efforts. Therefore, experimental efforts are needed, and these call for a lightweight transportable plot-scale (>10 m2) rainfall simulator that can be deployed quickly and quickly redeployed over various vegetation cover conditions. Accordingly, a variable-intensity rainfall simulator and collection system was designed and tested in the laboratory and in the field. The system was tested with three configurations of common pressure washing nozzles producing rainfall intensities of 62, 43, and 32 mm h-1 with uniformity coefficients of 76, 65, and 62%, respectively, over a plot of 15.12 m2. Field tests were carried out on a grassy field with silt–loam soil in Orroli, Sardinia, in July and August 2010, and rainfall, soil moisture, and runoff data were collected. The two-term Philip infiltration model was used to find optimal values for the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil surface and bulk soil, soil water retention curve slope, and air entry suction head. Optimized hydraulic conductivity values were similar to both the measured final infiltration rate and literature values for saturated hydraulic conductivity. This inexpensive (less than USD 1000) rainfall simulator can therefore be used to identify field parameters needed for hydrologic modeling.
Brief Communication: On the source characteristics and impacts of the magnitude 7.2 Bohol earthquake, Philippines
Authors: Lagmay A. M. F. , Eco R.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. A devastating earthquake struck Bohol, Philippines, on 15 October 2013. The earthquake originated at 12 km depth from an unmapped reverse fault, which manifested on the surface for several kilometers and with maximum vertical displacement of 3 m. The earthquake resulted in 222 fatalities with damage to infrastructure estimated at USD 52.06 million. Widespread landslides and sinkholes formed in the predominantly limestone region during the earthquake. These remain a significant threat to communities as destabilized hillside slopes, landslide-dammed rivers and incipient sinkholes are still vulnerable to collapse, triggered possibly by aftershocks and heavy rains in the upcoming months of November and December. The most recent fatal temblor originated from a previously unmapped fault, herein referred to as the Inabanga Fault. Like the hidden or previously unmapped faults responsible for the 2012 Negros and 2013 Bohol earthquakes, there may be more unidentified faults that need to be mapped through field and geophysical methods. This is necessary to mitigate the possible damaging effects of future earthquakes in the Philippines.
Technical Note: An operational landslide early warning system at regional scale based on space–time variable rainfall thresholds
Authors: Segoni S. , Battistini A. , Rossi G. , Rosi A. , Lagomarsino D. , Catani F. , Moretti S. , Casagli N.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. We set up an early warning system for rainfall-induced landslides in Tuscany (23 000 km2). The system is based on a set of state-of-the-art intensity-duration rainfall thresholds (Segoni et al., 2014b), makes use of LAMI rainfall forecasts and real-time rainfall data provided by an automated network of more than 300 rain-gauges. The system was implemented in a WebGIS to ease the operational use in civil protection procedures: it is simple and intuitive to consult and it provides different outputs. Switching among different views, the system is able to focus both on monitoring of real time data and on forecasting at different lead times up to 48 h. Moreover, the system can switch between a very straightforward view where a synoptic scenario of the hazard can be shown all over the region and a more in-depth view were the rainfall path of rain-gauges can be displayed and constantly compared with rainfall thresholds. To better account for the high spatial variability of the physical features, which affects the relationship between rainfall and landslides, the region is subdivided into 25 alert zones, each provided with a specific threshold. The warning system reflects this subdivision: using a network of 332 rain gauges, it allows monitoring each alert zone separately and warnings can be issued independently from an alert zone to another. An important feature of the warning system is the use of thresholds that may vary in time adapting at the conditions of the rainfall path recorded by the rain-gauges. Depending on when the starting time of the rainfall event is set, the comparison with the threshold may produce different outcomes. Therefore, a recursive algorithm was developed to check and compare with the thresholds all possible starting times, highlighting the worst scenario and showing in the WebGIS interface at what time and how much the rainfall path has exceeded or will exceed the most critical threshold. Besides forecasting and monitoring the hazard scenario over the whole region with hazard levels differentiated for 25 distinct alert zones, the system can be used to gather, analyze, visualize, explore, interpret and store rainfall data, thus representing a potential support to both decision makers and scientists.
Using daily air temperature thresholds to evaluate snow melting occurrence and amount on Alpine glaciers by T-index models: the case study of the Forni Glacier (Italy)
Authors: Senese A. , Maugeri M. , Vuillermoz E. , Smiraglia C. , Diolaiuti G.
Published: October 2014

Abstract. Glacier melt conditions (i.e., null surface temperature and positive energy budget) can be assessed by analyzing data acquired by a supraglacial automatic weather station (AWS), such as the station installed on the surface of Forni Glacier (Italian Alps). When an AWS is not present, the assessment of actual melt conditions and the evaluation of the melt amount is more difficult and simple methods based on T-index (or degree days) models are generally applied. These models require the choice of a correct temperature threshold. In fact, melt does not necessarily occur at daily air temperatures higher than 0 °C. In this paper, we applied both energy budget and T-index approaches with the aim of solving this issue. We start by distinguishing between the occurrence of snowmelt and the reduction in snow depth due to actual ablation (from snow depth data recorded by a sonic ranger). Then we find the daily average temperature thresholds (by analyzing temperature data acquired by an AWS on Forni Glacier) which, on the one hand, best capture the occurrence of significant snowmelt conditions and, on the other, make it possible, using the T-index, to quantify the actual snow ablation amount. Finally we investigated the applicability of the mean tropospheric lapse rate to reproduce air temperature conditions at the glacier surface starting from data acquired by weather stations located outside the glacier area. We found that the mean tropospheric lapse rate allows for a good and reliable reconstruction of glacier air temperatures and that the choice of an appropriate temperature threshold in T-index models is a very important issue. From our study, the application of the +0.5 °C temperature threshold allows for a consistent quantification of snow ablation while, instead, for detecting the beginning of the snow melting processes a suitable threshold has proven to be at least −4.6 °C.
Web-based, mobile-device friendly, self-report survey system incorporating avatars and gaming console techniques
Authors: Savel Craig , Mierzwa Stan , Gorbach Pamina , Lally Michelle , Zimet Gregory , Meyer Kristin , Souidi Samir
Published: October 2014

We describe building an avatar-based self-report data collection tool to be used for a specific HIV prevention research project that is evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of this novel approach to collect self-reported data among youth.  We discuss the gathering of requirements, the process of building a prototype of the envisioned system, and the lessons learned during the development of the solution.  Specific knowledge is shared regarding technical experience with software development technologies and possible avenues for changes that could be considered if such a self-report survey system is used again. Examples of other gaming and avatar technology systems are included to provide further background.
Emergency Medical Text Classifier: New system improves processing and classification of triage notes
Authors: Haas Stephanie W , Travers Debbie , Waller Anna , Mahalingam Deepika , Crouch John , Schwartz Todd A. , Mostafa Javed
Published: October 2014

Objective: Automated syndrome classification aims to aid near real-time syndromic surveillance to serve as an early warning system for disease outbreaks, using Emergency Department (ED) data. We present a system that improves the automatic classification of an ED record with triage note into one or more syndrome categories using the vector space model coupled with a ‘learning’ module that employs a pseudo-relevance feedback mechanism.Materials and Methods: Terms from standard syndrome definitions are used to construct an initial reference dictionary for generating the syndrome and triage note vectors. Based on cosine similarity between the vectors, each record is classified into a syndrome category. We then take terms from the top-ranked records that belong to the syndrome of interest as feedback. These terms are added to the reference dictionary and the process is repeated to determine the final classification. The system was tested on two different datasets for each of three syndromes: Gastro-Intestinal (GI), Respiratory (Resp) and Fever-Rash (FR). Performance was measured in terms of sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp).Results: The use of relevance feedback produced high values of sensitivity and specificity for all three syndromes in both test sets:  GI: 90% and 71%, Resp: 97% and 73%, FR: 100% and 87%, respectively, in test set 1, and GI: 88% and 69%, Resp: 87% and 61%, FR: 97% and 71%, respectively, in test set 2.Conclusions: The new system for pre-processing and syndromic classification of ED records with triage notes achieved improvements in Se and Sp. Our results also demonstrate that the system can be tuned to achieve different levels of performance based on user requirements.
Effect of Audit Expectation Gap in Nigerian Capital Market
Authors: Onulaka Paul N.
Published: October 2014

Audit expectation gap is a phenomenon that presently attracts the attention of researchers all over the world. The basic problem is in the area of how the public perceives the role of the auditor, which in most cases centers on the prevention of fraud and irregularities. On the other hand the auditor and the auditing profession always exonerate themselves from the fact and perception of the public towards their work. However, the continued litigation against the auditor and the auditing profession has called on a rethink on the relationship of the auditor and the audit work he performs This paper is structured to briefly establish what auditing and its expectations gap is and the relationship audited financial statement has on capital market and to investigate if the identified gaps have any significant effect in the volume of transactions in the Nigerian capital market.It sought to establish the perception of the capital market operators on its existence. Respondents view was also sought on how the gap could be narrowed. Chi-square (χ2) was used to analyze the data obtained from the study. The data were obtained through questionnaire. Two hundred and ninety (290) copies of the instrument were found useful out of 350 copies distributed using purposive sampling technique. In this study, a cross-sectional survey was conducted in Lagos and Abuja stock Exchange to capture the perceptions of key users of financial statements in Nigerian capital market. The tests of hypothesis were done using Microsoft Excel 2010 version. Tests were carried out at a significant level of 5% and twelve degree of freedom. The findings of the study indicated that there is a wide expectation gap in the areas of auditors’ responsibility for fraud prevention and detection. Audit expectation gap has negative impact on the volume of transactions in Nigerian stock exchange.
Coping Styles: A Better Understanding of Stress and Anxiety in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Conditions Through Sport and Exercise Models
Authors: Roncaglia Irina
Published: October 2014

The aim of this paper is to present an understanding of the coping mechanisms and coping styles adopted by individuals on the Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) by looking to draw parallels with sports performance psychology and how different sources of stress and anxiety can lead to the adoption of different coping styles. Firstly, an overview of current understanding of what constitute a stressor and how this can affect an individual is presented from sport and exercise psychology literature. Secondly, a model of coping styles is illustrated with the aim to shed light at how different perceptions of levels of stress and anxiety are managed both on an individual and group level. Thirdly, within the context of this understanding, some examples about how to support individuals on the ASC will be illustrated. Finally, implications for future research and reflection will be presented by highlighting the importance of teaching and learning coping and tolerance skills as part of a comprehensive and holistic psycho-educational program.
The Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale: Issues of Reliability and Validity Within a Turkish Sample Group
Authors: Totan Tarık
Published: October 2014

The purpose of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the Turkish version of the Regulatory Emotional Self-efficacy Scale (RESE). The RESE, the Emotional Self-efficacy Scale, the Self-liking/Self-competence Scale, and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire were applied to 303 university students in total, 180 were women (59.4%) and 123 were men (40.6%). According to results of confirmatory factor analysis applied in the study are founded enough conformity between the priori hypothesis model and the data. In addition, the metric invariance model shows that there were no gender differences on this confirmatory model. Internal consistency coefficients were all above the acceptable for the RESE’s sub-scale and total. Moreover, positive correlations were found between regulatory emotional self-efficacy dimensions and emotional self-efficacy, self-esteem, and happiness. According to these research findings, the RESE is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring regulatory self-efficacy in Turkish.
Off shore Wind Power Plant in the Adriatic Sea: An Opportunity for the Croatian Economy
Authors: Liščić Božidar , Senjanović Ivo , Čorić Većeslav , Kozmar Hrvoje , Tomić Marko , Hadžić Neven
Published: October 2014

The significant growth of renewable energy production in the past decades is present mainly due to the global depletion of fossil fuel reserves. One of interesting and well developed renewable energy technologies are wind turbines which are mainly built onshore. Due to more favorable wind characteristics at sea, off shore wind power plants are an interesting and challenging option for meeting future energy demands. In particular, less turbulent wind with higher average velocity enhances energy production and reduces structural fatigue of wind energy structures. In this study, benefits and drawbacks of off shore wind turbine units and power plants are pointed out. Based on the available climate data, sea depths and existing sea traffic routes, two possible wind power plants, i.e. one with fixed and another with floating turbines, are proposed for installation in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea. Benefits for the Croatian shipbuilding industry and its economy are pointed out.
Contribution to ECDIS Reliability using Markov Model
Authors: Sumić Dean , Peraković Dragan , Jurčević Marinko
Published: October 2014

An Integrated Bridge System (IBS) contains a fully duplicated Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). Although duplication should increase system reliability, reliability and availability are not improved. Proper ECDIS maintenance includes updating both: the information system and the provided chart system. This procedure, in practice, tends to decrease reliability and availability. A Markov ECDIS simulation model is given. A new design concept is presented and proposed. The entire ECDIS system is improved by adding a cold standby system preventing the occurrence of errors due to updating and upgrading of the system device.
Shallow or Rational Public Spheres? Indonesian Political Parties in the Twitter-Sphere
Authors: Beers Steve
Published: October 2014

Despite the impressive democratic gains of the Indonesian political system since the fall of the authoritarian New Order regime, a noted weakness of the current political party system is the lack of clear ideological positions across parties and the difficulty that voters face in differentiating policy programs in order to hold parties accountable. Yet, with the increasing popularity of social media, new channels of communication are opening up between political parties and their constituents, reshaping Indonesia’s political communication landscape. This raises the question of whether these new forms of media offer spaces that allow, or even encourage, parties to articulate ideological positions and discuss issues of public concern with constituents. This paper addresses this question through a mixed-methods analysis of how political parties are using the popular social media website Twitter and how users are responding to party messaging strategies. Based on a content analysis of party messages, qualitative observation of party-constituent interactions, and a quantitative analysis of user response, the findings suggest that there is reason for modest optimism that the medium of Twitter encourages a less superficial brand of party communication. Whereas other studies have found that the goals or the size of the party as the best explanation for the social media strategy and performance, the Indonesian case suggests that parties that attempt to differentiate themselves ideologically, regardless of their ideological content, and engage the public directly perform better on Twitter. It also finds that tweets about electoral politics receive the most reaction from users. This suggests that Twitter is a medium that will reward more programmatic and engaged party messaging, with potentially positive impacts on the Indonesian political communications landscape.
New SERS-active junction based on cerium dioxide facet dielectric films for biosensing
Authors: Kurochkin I. , Ryzhikov I. , Sarychev A. , Afanasiev K. , Budashov I. , Sedova M. , Boginskaya I. , Amitonov S. , Lagarkov A.
Published: October 2014

Further enhance of the Raman scattering is the priority for the development of the modern molecular diagnostic methods. Expected increasing in detection sensitivity of the biological and chemical agents provides substantial progress in such areas as: proteomics (discovery of new disease markers), pharmacokinetics of drugs, analysis of toxins and infections agents, drug analysis, food safety, and environmental safety.In this paper we investigated the possibility of the facet structures, based on cerium dioxide to further enhance the SERS signal. During the studies a new metamaterial was developed. The metamaterial is based on the facet cerium dioxide films and plasmonic nanoparticles that are immobilized on its surface. The new metamaterial provides additional SERS signal amplification factor of 211. Thus developed material offers the prospect of increasing the sensitivity and selectivity of biochemical and immunological analysis.
The effects of urbanization on the rise of the European temperature since 1960
Authors: Chrysanthou A. , van der Schrier G. , van den Besselaar E. J. M. , Klein Tank A. M. G. , Brandsma T.
Published: October 2014

The effects of urbanization on the rise of the European daily mean temperature is quantified by comparing European‐averaged temperatures based on all meteorological stations in the European Climate Assessment and Dataset with those based on three subsets of stations: from rural areas, from areas with low growth in urbanization, and from areas characterized by relatively low‐temperature increase. Land cover information is obtained using the CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) data set, showing that most stations (75%) have a small percentage (up to 10%) of urban area within a 10 km radius and 81% saw no more than 1% change in urbanization between 1990 and 2006. The results show that urbanization explains 0.0026°C/decade of the annual‐averaged pan‐European temperature trend of 0.179°C/decade. This trend has a strong seasonality, being the largest in summer. Averaged over time, the effects of urbanization on the European‐averaged temperature has a strong seasonality as well.
Sources and composition of submicron organic mass in marine aerosol particles
Authors: Frossard Amanda A. , Russell Lynn M. , Burrows Susannah M. , Elliott Scott M. , Bates Timothy S. , Quinn Patricia K.
Published: October 2014

The sources and composition of atmospheric marine aerosol particles (aMA) have been investigated with a range of physical and chemical measurements from open‐ocean research cruises. This study uses the characteristic functional group composition (from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) of aMA from five ocean regions to show the following: (i) The organic functional group composition of aMA that can be identified as mainly atmospheric primary marine (ocean derived) aerosol particles (aPMA) is 65 ± 12% hydroxyl, 21 ± 9% alkane, 6 ± 6% amine, and 7 ± 8% carboxylic acid functional groups. Contributions from photochemical reactions add carboxylic acid groups (15%–25%), shipping effluent in seawater and ship emissions add additional alkane groups (up to 70%), and coastal or continental emissions mix in alkane and carboxylic acid groups. (ii) The organic composition of aPMA is nearly identical to model‐generated primary marine aerosol particles from bubbled seawater (gPMA, which has 55 ± 14% hydroxyl, 32 ± 14% alkane, and 13 ± 3% amine functional groups), indicating that its overall functional group composition is the direct consequence of the organic constituents of the seawater source. (iii) While the seawater organic functional group composition was nearly invariant across all three ocean regions studied and the ratio of organic carbon to sodium (OC/Na+) in the gPMA remained nearly constant over a broad range of chlorophyll a concentrations, the gPMA alkane group fraction appeared to increase with chlorophyll a concentrations (r = 0.66). gPMA from productive seawater had a larger fraction of alkane functional groups (42 ± 9%) compared to gPMA from nonproductive seawater (22 ± 10%), perhaps due to the presence of surfactants in productive seawater that stabilize the bubble film and lead to preferential drainage of the more soluble (lower alkane group fraction) organic components. gPMA has a hydroxyl group absorption peak location characteristic of monosaccharides and disaccharides, where the seawater organic mass hydroxyl group peak location is closer to that of polysaccharides. This may result from the larger saccharides preferentially remaining in the seawater during gPMA and aPMA production.
Interpreting the 35 year SBUV PMC record with SOFIE observations
Authors: Hervig Mark E. , Stevens Michael H.
Published: October 2014

Observations of polar mesospheric clouds (PMC) from the solar backscatter ultraviolet (SBUV) instruments are compared to the Solar Occultation For Ice Experiment (SOFIE). SBUV measurements are used to determine the PMC vertical column ice mass abundance (or ice water content, IWC) for comparison with SOFIE. Improved SBUV simulations are employed that accounted for nonspherical particles, and the multiwavelength measurements are used to retrieve particle size as the median radius (rm) of a Gaussian distribution. SBUV IWC retrievals incorporated rm as temporally smoothed values, to reduce propagation of rm errors but capture the effects of variable rm in IWC. For seasonal averages the SBUV‐SOFIE rm differences are 22 ± 6% in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and 22 ± 12% in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), and IWC differences were 3 ± 6% in the NH and 7 ± 12% in the SH. The SBUV record was used to derive IWC and particle size for 1979–2013 for 64–74°N. The results indicate a secular increase in rm of 0.23 ± 0.16 nm decade−1 and a linear IWC trend of 2.6 ± 1.2% decade−1. Multiple regression of IWC to solar and trend terms reveals that 1.6% decade−1 of the IWC trend can be attributed to a decline in solar Lyman α since 1979. The residual IWC trend from multiple regression (1.0% decade−1), presumably due to other external forcing such as changing atmospheric composition, is a factor of six less than PMC trends previously reported from a shorter time series of SBUV data.