bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A low‐power V‐band CMOS low‐noise amplifier using current‐sharing technique
Authors: Yang Hong‐Yu , Lin Yo‐Sheng , Chen Chen Chi
Published: April 2008

A low‐power‐consumption 53‐GHz (V‐band) low‐noise amplifier (LNA) using standard 0.13 μm CMOS technology is reported. To achieve sufficient gain, this LNA is composed of four cascaded common‐source stages. Current‐sharing technique is adopted in the third and four stages to reduce the power dissipation. The output of each stage is loaded with an LC parallel resonance circuit to maximize the gain at the design frequency. This LNA achieved voltage gain (AV) of 14 dB, very low noise figure (NF) of 6.13 dB, input referred 1‐dB compression point (P1dB‐in) of −20 dBm, and input third‐order inter‐modulation point (IIP3) of −9 dBm at 53 GHz. It consumed only a very small dc power of 10.56 mW. In addition, the chip area was only 0.91 × 0.58 mm2, including all the test pads and bypass capacitors. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1876–1879, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23523
A band‐notched ring monoplole antenna
Authors: Wang Fa‐Jia , Yang Xue‐Xia , Zhang Jin‐Sheng , Gao Guo‐Ping , Xiao Jin‐Xiang
Published: April 2008

A printed circular‐ring monopole antenna with band‐notched feature for UWB application has been presented and investigated. The band‐notched characteristic is achieved by inserting a circular arc slot on the ring radiator. Experimental results show that the proposed antenna meets the requirement of wide‐working bandwidth of 3.1–10.6 GHz with VSWR <2, while avoiding the interference with the 5 GHz WLAN band. The transfer functions of the antenna systems are given experimentally, and the parametric studies are performed numerically in this article. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1882–1884, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23524
Neural network approach for comodeling design of multichip module
Authors: El Zoghbi M. , Baillargeat D. , Bila S. , Verdeyme S. , Villemazet J. F.
Published: April 2008

An original comodeling approach based on neural network is proposed in order to optimize multichip modules (MCM). This approach permits to characterize and to optimize millimeter‐wave module behavior by taking into account electromagnetic phenomena. All the design procedure is implemented in a circuit software to reduce the simulation time. Encouraging results are obtained. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1770–1774, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23530
High‐gain multilayered antenna for wireless applications
Authors: Gupta R. K. , Kumar G.
Published: April 2008

This paper proposes an efficient high‐gain multilayered antenna for wireless applications. The prototype antenna consists of a microstrip antenna which fed single or multiple parasitic patches fabricated on a low cost easily available FR4 superstrate. The patches on superstrate are suspended in air at an integral multiple of λo/2. The structured is designed, fabricated and tested. The measured VSWR [lt] 2 at 5.725–5.875‐GHz frequency band. The proposed antennas with single parasitic patch provide 87% efficiency, SLL of −17 dB with an associated gain of 13.5 dB. The gain increases to 17.1 dB with three parasitic patches. The proposed structure can be packaged inside an application platform. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1923–1929, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23536
Adaptive sampling bicubic spline interpolation method for fast calculation of monostatic RCS
Authors: Liu Z. W. , Ding D. Z. , Fan Z. F. , Chen R. S.
Published: April 2008

In this article, an adaptive technique combined with the bicubic spline interpolation method is proposed to efficiently calculate the scattering from electrically large objects. The bicubic spline interpolation method is used to approximate the 2D monostatic RCS data on a set of nonuniform sampling nodes. The adaptive technique is employed to generate new sampling points automatically by using a coarse‐to‐fine hierarchy. Compared with some conventional extrapolation/interpolation methods, such as asymptotic waveform evaluation (AWE) method, our method can avoid calculating derivatives at each control point by using spline technique. Numerical results demonstrate that the novel method proposed in this article is able to approximate the 2D RCS data with high accuracy and efficiency. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1851–1857, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23540
Enhancement of broadband performance for on‐chip spiral inductors with inner‐patterned‐ground
Authors: Shi Jinglin , Sun Sheng , Zhong Xiong Yong , Gan Yeoh Wooi , Seng Yeo Kiat
Published: April 2008

A set of on‐chip spiral inductors with novel inner‐patterned‐ground (IPG) is presented in this article to enhance the broadband performance. By grounding the simple center metal cross, the IPG structure, an additional inner ground path is formed, the input impedance of the spiral inductor is reduced at the higher frequency range. When compared with conventional inductors, the quality factor (Q) of the IPG inductors increases by 15–30% over the frequency range of 15–35 GHz. The IPG inductors can be modeled based on a simple lumped equivalent circuit. The extracted inductance and quality factors are verified by on‐wafer measurement up to 50 GHz. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1744–1746, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23545
An internal wideband monopole antenna for UMTS/WLAN dual‐mode mobile phone
Authors: Liu Yung‐Tao , Su Saou‐Wen
Published: April 2008

An internal wideband metal‐plate monopole antenna for mobile phone applications is presented. The antenna is easily fabricated by bending a single metal plate and suitable to be embedded within the casing of a mobile phone as an internal antenna. Moreover, the antenna shows a wide operating bandwidth of about 5 GHz (about 1.8–6.7 GHz), making it easy to cover the UMTS band (1920–2170 MHz) and the 2.4–GHz (2400–2484 MHz) and the 5.2/5.8‐GHz (5150–5350/5725–5825 MHz) WLAN bands for mobile/WLAN dual‐mode operation of a mobile phone. The proposed antenna is studied in detail, and the experimental and simulation results of the constructed prototype are also presented. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1741–1744, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23546
A linear, low‐power, wideband CMOS VCO for FM‐UWB applications
Authors: Georgiadis Apostolos , Detratti Marco
Published: April 2008

A linear, low‐power, wideband 0.18‐μm CMOS VCO for UWB applications is presented, as part of a PLL‐based direct FM modulator for the 3.1–5‐GHz UWB band. It consists of a frequency control circuit and a differential ring core, coupled to the antenna output and the PLL prescaler by two single‐ended inverter buffers. The measured VCO exhibits a linear tuning range of 0.5–5.0 GHz, low power consumption of 2.5–10.5 mW, and an output power of −10 ± 1 dBm. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1955–1958, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23547
The effects of information on a queue with balking and phase‐type service times
Authors: Guo Pengfei , Zipkin Paul
Published: April 2008

This article generalizes the models in Guo and Zipkin, who focus on exponential service times, to systems with phase‐type service times. Each arriving customer decides whether to stay or balk based on his expected waiting cost, conditional on the information provided. We show how to compute the throughput and customers' average utility in each case. We then obtain some analytical and numerical results to assess the effect of more or less information. We also show that service‐time variability degrades the system's performance. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008
Wood flour as a secondary filler in carbon black filled of styrene butadiene/chlorosulphonated polyethylene rubber blend
Authors: Radovanović B. , Marković G. , Radovanovic A.
Published: April 2008

A study is reported which aims to identify the optimum contents of wood flour (WF) to be introduced into styrene butadiene/chlorosulphonated polyethylene (SBR/CSM) rubber blend compounded with carbon black. A range of composite properties are considered including cure characteristics and mechanical properties, as well as the adhesion strength (rubber‐to‐metal bonding) behavior. Processing characteristic such as maximum torque increases with increasing of the concentration of WF up to 40 phr in SBR/CSM blend, whereas the scorch time and optimum cure time decreases. Results indicated that the tensile strength and tensile modulus, as well as shore hardness of the SBR/CSM composite in which SBR is predominant, increase in a compliance with the increase of WF. Adhesion strength value on peel between metal and WF filled SBR/CSM rubber blend increases when the filling level increases and the maximum value were observed at 40 phr of WF. The enhancement in mechanical properties was supported by data of crosslink density in these samples obtained from swelling measurement. Addition of WF was recommended as an economical and ecological benefit to industries as the properties of the rubber/carbon black composites remained unchanged with increasing WF content. POLYM. COMPOS., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers.
Thermal and dielectric properties of fiber reinforced polystyrene composites
Authors: Yu Suzhu , Hing Peter
Published: April 2008

Thermal and dielectric properties of polymer composites are important for many applications such as microelectronic packaging. In this work, glass fiber, alumina fiber, and carbon fiber reinforced polystyrene composites have been prepared with melt blending. The thermal conductivity, thermal expansion, and dielectric properties of the composites have been systematically studied as a function of fiber fraction. It is found that all the three types of the fibers, particularly the carbon fiber, can significantly increase the thermal conductivity and decrease the thermal expansion of the polymer. Moreover, the incorporation of the glass or alumina fibers does not have obviously adverse effect on the dielectric constant of the polymer. The thermal conductivities of the fibers reinforced composites have also been analyzed with Agari's model to reveal the conductive enhancement nature of the fibers to the polymer. POLYM. COMPOS., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers
Steroid‐sparing effect of omalizumab for allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis and cystic fibrosis
Authors: Zirbes Jacquelyn M. , Milla Carlos E.
Published: April 2008

Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) is a complication commonly encountered in patients with CF that produces significant respiratory morbidity. Chronic airway colonization with Aspergillus induces strong inflammatory responses with high IgE levels. Current guidelines for therapy include prolonged courses of systemic corticosteroids as the main therapeutic strategy. However this has the potential to induce significant detrimental side effects in children. Omalizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against IgE that prevents its binding to high‐ and low‐affinity receptors on effector cells. It has been shown to be effective in improving asthma control in patients with a strong allergic component. We present our long term experience with the use of Anti‐IgE therapy in three children with CF and ABPA (mean age at start of therapy 14.2 years) who were steroid dependent. All three were already experiencing significant side effects from chronic steroid therapy. After the start of Omalizumab these children have experienced significant and sustained clinical improvements at the same time that they were discontinued from chronic systemic steroids. Our experience suggests that IgE blockade has tremendous potential as a strategy to control this disease in steroid dependent patients. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2008; 43:607–610. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Absence of blood pressure, metabolic, and inflammatory marker changes after adenotonsillectomy for sleep apnea in Greek children
Authors: Apostolidou Maria T. , Alexopoulos Emmanouel I. , Damani Eleni , Liakos Nikolaos , Chaidas Konstantinos , Boultadakis Evangelos , Apostolidis Theoharis , Gourgoulianis Konstantinos , Kaditis Athanasios G.
Published: April 2008

Aim

Pediatric studies revealed associations of obstructive sleep‐disordered breathing (SDB) with inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and elevated blood pressure. Evidence about effects of adenotonsillectomy on these abnormalities is scarce. Aim of this investigation was to assess changes in C‐reactive protein (CRP), circulating intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (cICAM‐1), insulin and blood pressure levels after adenotonsillectomy for SDB in Greek children.

Methods

Polysomnography was performed pre‐ and postoperatively in children with SDB and controls undergoing adenotonsillectomy for recurrent tonsillitis or otitis. Outcome measures were changes in serum markers and blood pressure.

Results

Fifty‐eight patients (6.2 ± 2.5 years old) and 17 controls (6.5 ± 2) were studied. After surgery, apnea–hypopnea index (AHI) decreased (mean: −5.9 episodes/hr; 95% confidence interval: −7.8 to −4) in patients. Patients and controls were similar regarding outcomes: CRP (−0.11 mg/dl [−0.25 to 0.02] vs. 0.13 [−0.19 to 0.46]; P = 0.11), cICAM‐1 (−11.6 ng/ml [−38.6 to 15.4] vs. −46.6 [−101.7 to 8.6]; P = 0.23), insulin (2.49 mU/L [0.32–4.67] vs. −0.16 [−2.47 to 2.16]; P = 0.21), systolic blood pressure index (5.2% [2.1–8.3] vs. 10.8 [3.6–17.9]; P = 0.1) and diastolic blood pressure index (−3.2% [−7.2 to 0.8] vs. 2.8 [−5.5 to 11.2]; P = 0.16). Patients with CRP > 0.3 mg/dl had reduced values after AT (P = 0.003) and those with postoperative AHI ≤ 1 had a decrease in diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.02).

Conclusions

Although adenotonsillectomy improves SDB, it has variable effects on inflammatory and metabolic markers or blood pressure. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2008; 43:550–560. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An unusual case of chylothorax complicating childhood tuberculosis
Authors: Cakir Erkan , Gocmen Basar , Uyan Zeynep Seda , Oktem Sedat , Kiyan Gursu , Karakoc Fazilet , Ersu Refika , Karadag Bulent , Dagli Tolga , Dagli Elif
Published: April 2008

Endobronchial tuberculosis (EBTB) and chylothorax are rare clinical disorders. The concurrence of these two disorders as manifestations of childhood pulmonary tuberculosis has not been reported. We report a 4‐month‐old boy presenting with chylothorax as the initial presentation of tuberculosis that has been successfully treated with octreotide, antituberculosis drugs and steroid therapy. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2008; 43:611–614. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
HingeMaster: Normal mode hinge prediction approach and integration of complementary predictors
Authors: Flores Samuel C. , Keating Kevin S. , Painter Jay , Morcos Faruck , Nguyen Khang , Merritt Ethan A. , Kuhn Leslie A. , Gerstein Mark B.
Published: April 2008

Protein motion is often the link between structure and function and a substantial fraction of proteins move through a domain hinge bending mechanism. Predicting the location of the hinge from a single structure is thus a logical first step towards predicting motion. Here, we describe ways to predict the hinge location by grouping residues with correlated normal‐mode motions. We benchmarked our normal‐mode based predictor against a gold standard set of carefully annotated hinge locations taken from the Database of Macromolecular Motions. We then compared it with three existing structure‐based hinge predictors (TLSMD, StoneHinge, and FlexOracle), plus HingeSeq, a sequence‐based hinge predictor. Each of these methods predicts hinges using very different sources of information—normal modes, experimental thermal factors, bond constraint networks, energetics, and sequence, respectively. Thus it is logical that using these algorithms together would improve predictions. We integrated all the methods into a combined predictor using a weighted voting scheme. Finally, we encapsulated all our results in a web tool which can be used to run all the predictors on submitted proteins and visualize the results. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Investigation of transcription factor Ndt80 affinity differences for wild type and mutant DNA: A molecular dynamics study
Authors: Hart Katarina , Nilsson Lennart
Published: April 2008

Molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations have been performed on the transcription factor Ndt80 either in complex with the native DNA sequence or with a mutant DNA with a switched central base pair, C5‐G5′ to G5‐C5′. This mutant has been shown to have a 100‐fold decrease in binding affinity of Ndt80, and in this study we explain this both structurally and energetically. The major interactions between the protein and the DNA were maintained in the simulations, apart from around the mutation site. The crystal structure of the Ndt80‐DNA complex revealed that R177 makes a base specific bidentate interaction with G5′ which is part of a conserved 5′‐YpG‐3′ step. In the simulation with the mutant DNA, the side chain of R177 changes conformation and makes three new stable hydrogen bonds to the DNA backbone. This in turn induces a conformational change in the DNA backbone of the T6′‐G5′ step from the unusual BII state to the canonical BI state. The affinity difference for the protein–DNA complex with the native DNA compared with the mutant DNA is only about 3 kcal/mol. The free energy calculations of the base pair switch indicated a larger difference than what was found experimentally, about 7.7 kcal/mol, but this is explained in structural terms using the 10 ns simulations of the solvated complexes and the rearrangement of the R177 side chain. Proteins 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The presence of Rickettsia is associated with increased susceptibility of Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) to insecticides
Authors: Kontsedalov Svetlana , Zchori‐Fein Einat , Chiel Elad , Gottlieb Yuval , Inbar Moshe , Ghanim Murad
Published: April 2008

BACKGROUND: The presence of certain symbiotic microorganisms may be associated with insecticide resistance in insects. The authors compared the susceptibility of two isofemale lines, Rickettsia‐plus and Rickettsia‐free, of the sweet potato whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) to major insecticides from different chemical groups, including imidacloprid, acetamiprid, thiamethoxam, pyriproxyfen, spiromesifen and diafenthiuron.

RESULTS: While the Rickettsia‐plus and Rickettsia‐free lines showed no differences in their susceptibility to imidacloprid and diafenthiuron, higher susceptibility of the Rickettsia‐plus line to acetamiprid, thiamethoxam, spiromesifen and especially pyriproxyfen was observed. LC90 values indicated that the Rickettsia‐free line was 15‐fold more resistant to pyriproxyfen than the Rickettsia‐plus line.

CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that the infection status of B. tabaci populations by Rickettsia is an important consideration that should be taken into account when performing resistance monitoring studies, and may help in understanding the dynamics of B. tabaci resistance, symbiont‐pest associations in agricultural systems and the biological impact of Rickettsia on whitefly biology. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry
Laterally engineered field‐plate GaN HEMTs for millimeter‐wave applications
Authors: Boutros K. S. , Shinohara K. , Ha W. , Paniagua A. , Brar B.
Published: April 2008

A laterally Engineered Field Plate (EFP) design is implemented to obtain a field‐plated, 30 nm gate structure with a small added capacitance due to the presence of the field plate. By reducing the field plate length, and simultaneously placing it away from the gate, we are able to reduce the field plate capacitance while maintaining its effectiveness in reducing the peak electric field at the gate edge. GaN HEMT EFP devices were fabricated with 30 nm gate lengths, and 70nm field plates. A three‐terminal breakdown voltage (VBD) of 63 V was measured for the 30 nm EFP device. This VBD represents a 2x improvement over the breakdown of 100nm conventional T‐gate devices fabricated on the same wafer. The device had an extrinsic FT of 65 GHz and an FMAX of 120 GHz. Improvement in both Pout and PAE was also realized with this new gate design compared to conventional T‐gate devices. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
A trade‐off relation between tilt and twist angle fluctuations in InN grown by RF‐MBE
Authors: Hashimoto A. , Iwao K. , Yamamoto A.
Published: April 2008

In the InN growth on sapphire substrates, it is difficult to control both of tilt and twist angle fluctuations at same time. It is necessary to understand initial growth stage such as the role of nitridation process to improve the mosaicity. Low‐temperature nitridation technique brings the drastically improvement of the tilt angle fluctuation, although the twist angle fluctuation becomes worse. Such experimental results strongly indicate that there is some trade‐off relation between the tilt and the twist angle fluctuations as a function of the nitridation condition such as the nitridation time. In this paper, we discuss about such trade‐off relation in the direct growth of InN on the nitridation sapphire substrates and also propose a simple model of initial nitridation process to explain it. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
State‐space µ analysis for an experimental drive‐by‐wire vehicle
Authors: Halton M. , Hayes M. J. , Iordanov P.
Published: April 2008

This paper considers the application of the skewed structured singular value to the robust stability of systems subject to strictly real parametric uncertainty. Three state‐space formulations that counteract the discontinuous nature of this problem are detailed. It is shown that the calculation of the supremum of the structured singular value over a frequency range using these formulations transforms into a single skewed structured singular value calculation. Similar to the structured singular value, the exact calculation of the skewed structured singular value is an NP‐hard problem. In this work, two efficient algorithms that determine upper and lower bounds on the skewed structured singular value are presented. These algorithms are critically assessed using a series of robustness analysis tests on a safety‐critical experimental drive‐by‐wire vehicle. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A backstepping controller for path‐tracking of an underactuated autonomous airship
Authors: Azinheira José Raul , Moutinho Alexandra , de Paiva Ely Carneiro
Published: April 2008

In this paper we propose a nonlinear control approach for the path‐tracking of an autonomous underactuated airship. A backstepping controller is designed from the airship nonlinear dynamic model including wind disturbances, and further enhanced to consider actuators saturation. Control implementation issues related to airship underactuation are also addressed, namely control allocation and an attitude reference shaping to obtain a faster error correction with smoother input requests. The results obtained demonstrate the capacity of an underactuated unmanned airship to execute a realistic mission including vertical take‐off and landing, stabilization and path‐tracking, in the presence of wind disturbances, with a single robust control law. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A hybrid controller design for bi‐axial inverted pendulum system
Authors: Chang Long‐Hong , Lee An‐Chen
Published: April 2008

This study presents the use of Tustin's friction model and a disturbance observer (DOB) to improve the steady‐state error (SSE) of a bi‐axial inverted pendulum–cart system (IPCS). Furthermore, a hybrid controller contains a feedback linearization control for pendulum angle in the region of 3–12° to enlarge the angle of operation and an H∞ control using loop shaping design procedure (LSDP) for cart position and pendulum angle in the region of 0–3° to stabilize the IPCS, respectively. Experimental results reveal that the pendulum maximum angle of operation is improved from 7 to 12°; the SSE of the angle of the pendulum is reduced from 0.85 to 0.1°, and the SSE of the position of the cart is reduced from 10 to 1.4 mm. Experimental results are illustrated and films are provided at the web site http://hinfinity.myweb.hinet.net to show the effectiveness and robustness of the hybrid controller with Tustin's friction model and DOB compensation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Integrated fault detection and control for LPV systems
Authors: Wang Heng , Yang Guang‐Hong
Published: April 2008

This paper studies the integrated fault detection and control problem for linear parameter‐varying systems. A parameter‐dependent detector/controller is designed to generate two signals: residual and control signals that are used to detect faults and simultaneously meet some control objectives. The low‐frequency faults and certain finite‐frequency disturbances are considered. With the aid of the newly developed linearization techniques, the design methods are presented in terms of solutions to a set of linear matrix inequalities. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Delay‐dependent adaptive reliableH∞control of linear time‐varying delay systems
Authors: Ye Dan , Yang Guang‐Hong
Published: April 2008

This paper considers the problem of delay‐dependent adaptive reliableH∞controller design against actuator faults for linear time‐varying delay systems. Based on the online estimation of eventual faults, the parameters of adaptive reliableH∞controller are updating automatically to compensate the fault effects on the system. A new delay‐dependent reliableH∞controller is established using a linear matrix inequality technique and an adaptive method, which guarantees the stability and adaptiveH∞performance of closed‐loop systems in normal and faulty cases. A numerical example and its simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Value, rareness, competitive advantage, and performance: a conceptual‐level empirical investigation of the resource‐based view of the firm
Authors: Newbert Scott L.
Published: April 2008

The resource‐based view of the firm (RBV) hypothesizes that the exploitation of valuable, rare resources and capabilities contributes to a firm's competitive advantage, which in turn contributes to its performance. Despite this notion, few empirical studies test these hypotheses at the conceptual level. In response to this gap, this study empirically examines the relationships between value, rareness, competitive advantage, and performance. The results suggest that value and rareness are related to competitive advantage, that competitive advantage is related to performance, and that competitive advantage mediates the rareness‐performance relationship. These findings have important academic and practitioner implications which are then discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Reproducibility of sonographic assessment of fetal liver length in diabetic pregnancies
Authors: Anderson N. G. , Notley E. , Graham P. , McEwing R.
Published: April 2008

Objectives

Assessing fetal liver size might be useful in monitoring the effectiveness of the treatment of diabetes in pregnancy. We aimed to assess the reproducibility of fetal liver‐length measurement in pregnant women with diabetes.

Methods

From 3 April 2006 to 5 December 2006, we assessed intraobserver and interobserver variation of fetal liver‐length measurements on 55 sonograms in 44 pregnant women with diabetes, 34 of whom had gestational diabetes. The mean maternal age was 33 years, the mean maternal weight was 92 kg and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 33.7 kg/m−2. The effect of covariates BMI, gestational age and maternal age on the reproducibility of fetal liver length was assessed by calculating intraobserver SD ratios. We compared liver length with abdominal circumference and gestational age. Nine of 12 sonographers scanned, on average, six women (range, 3–12) as the first sonographer, and all 12 sonographers scanned, on average, four women (range, 1–10) as the second sonographer. The data were analyzed using a hierarchical linear model.

Results

Measurement of fetal liver length was reproducible. The intraobserver SD was 3.06 (95% CI, 2.68–3.59) mm; the interobserver SD was 2.17 (95% CI, 0.59–4.83) mm; the intraobserver correlation was 0.77 (95% CI, 0.63–0.87), and the interobserver correlation was 0.84 (95% CI, 0.51–0.99). The covariate effects were minimal, the SD for a 1‐unit increase in the covariate was 1.06 for gestational age, 0.98 for BMI, and 0.97 for maternal age.

Conclusions

Measurement of fetal liver length in the diabetic pregnancy is reproducible. It is worthy of further investigation as a parameter for monitoring the effectiveness of treatment of the diabetic pregnancy. Copyright © 2008 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Deductive verification of alternating systems
Authors: Slanina Matteo , Sipma Henny B. , Manna Zohar
Published: April 2008

Alternating systems are models of computer programs whose behavior is governed by the actions of multiple agents with, potentially, different goals. Examples include control systems, resource schedulers, security protocols, auctions and election mechanisms. Proving properties about such systems has emerged as an important new area of study in formal verification, with the development of logical frameworks such as the alternating temporal logic
ATL
*.

Techniques for model checking
ATL
* over finite-state systems have been well studied, but many important systems are infinite-state and thus their verification requires, either explicitly or implicitly, some form of deductive reasoning.

This paper presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of alternating infinite-state systems. It describes models of computation, of various degrees of generality, and alternating-time logics such as
ATL
* and its variations. It then develops a proof system that allows to prove arbitrary
ATL
* properties over these infinite-state models. The proof system is shown to be complete relative to validities in the weakest possible assertion language.

The paper then derives auxiliary proof rules and verification diagrams techniques and applies them to security protocols, deriving a new formal proof of fairness of a multi-party contract signing protocol where the model of the protocol and of the properties contains both game-theoretic and infinite-state (parameterized) aspects.
Subjective Memory Impairment. A review of its definitions indicates the need for a comprehensive set of standardised and validated criteria
Authors: Abdulrab Khaled , Heun Reinhard
Published: April 2008

Background

Subjective Memory Impairment (SMI) may hold value in the elderly as a predictor of dementia. There is yet to exist any standard definition of SMI for use in research or for clinical practice.

Objective

This study aims to identify previous and current definitions of SMI used in published research and to propose a set of criteria that may help increase SMI's predictive power of future cognitive decline.

Methods

Literature searches were conducted across a number of electronic databases including Medline.

Results

515 citations were identified, 336 papers were obtained, of which 44 were selected for containing definitions for SMI. These definitions varied widely in terms of the types of questions used to determine SMI and additional features pertaining to memory complaints included in the definition.

Conclusion

There is no consistency in how SMI is defined. We propose a set of criteria aimed to increase specificity of memory complainers for those at increased risk of dementia. Further research is required to refine and validate the different criteria suggested. An international consent on the necessary criteria by experts in the field might be useful.
Evidence for multiple peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor γ transcripts in bone: Fine‐tuning by hormonal regulation and mRNA stability
Authors: Bruedigam Claudia , Koedam Marijke , Chiba Hideki , Eijken Marco , van Leeuwen Johannes P.T.M.
Published: April 2008

The expression, regulation and functional significance of multiple peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor γ transcript variants in bone were studied. PPARG transcripts giving rise to PPARg‐1 protein were expressed in human osteoblasts, whereas PPARG‐2 transcript and protein remained virtually absent. PPARG expression underwent homologous regulation, was upregulated during differentiation and directly induced by the osteogenic hormone dexamethasone, suggesting a role for PPARg‐1 in osteogenesis. Differences between the stabilities of PPARG‐1, ‐3 and ‐4 were observed. We hypothesize that cell‐specific expression patterns of multiple PPARG transcript variants encoding for the same protein but differing in mRNA stabilities enable a fine‐tuning of PPARG action, which eventually supports a well‐adjusted signal transduction between the cell and its environment.
A comparative metabolomic study of NHR‐49 in Caenorhabditis elegans and PPAR‐α in the mouse
Authors: Atherton Helen J. , Jones Oliver A.H. , Malik Shahid , Miska Eric A. , Griffin Julian L.
Published: April 2008

Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry based metabolomics has been used in conjunction with multivariate statistics to examine the metabolic changes in Caenorhabditis elegans following the deletion of nuclear hormone receptor‐49 (nhr‐49). Deletion of the receptor produced profound changes in fatty acid metabolism, in particular an increase in the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids, a decrease in the concentration of glucose and increases in lactate and alanine. Given the proposed functional similarity between nhr‐49 and the mammalian peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptors (PPARs) these changes were compared with the metabolome of the PPAR‐α null mouse. The metabolomic approach demonstrated a number of similarities including the regulation of lipid synthesis, β‐oxidation of fatty acids and changes in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis.
Better cognitive performance in elderly taking antioxidant vitamins E and C supplements in combination with nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs: The Cache County Study
Authors: Fotuhi Majid , Zandi Peter P. , Hayden Kathleen M. , Khachaturian Ara S. , Szekely Christine A. , Wengreen Heidi , Munger Ronald G. , Norton Maria C. , Tschanz JoAnn T. , Lyketsos Constantine G. , Breitner John C.S. , Welsh‐Bohmer Kathleen
Published: April 2008

Studies have shown less cognitive decline and lower risk of Alzheimer's disease in elderly individuals consuming either antioxidant vitamins or nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The potential of added benefit from their combined use has not been studied. We therefore analyzed data from 3,376 elderly participants of the Cache County Study who were given the Modified Mini‐Mental State examination up to three times during a period of 8 years. Those who used a combination of vitamins E and C supplements and NSAIDs at baseline declined by an average 0.96 fewer points every 3 years than nonusers (P < .05). This apparent effect was attributable entirely to participants with the APOE ε4 allele, whose users declined by 2.25 fewer points than nonusers every 3 years (P < .05). These results suggest that among elderly individuals with an APOE ε4 allele, there is an association between using antioxidant supplements in combination with NSAIDs and less cognitive decline over time.
Health service utilization among Alzheimer's disease patients: Evidence from managed care
Authors: Frytak Jennifer R. , Henk Henry J. , Zhao Yang , Bowman Lee , Flynn Jennifer A. , Nelson Michael
Published: April 2008

Background

The objective of this study was to assess the disease burden of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a commercial managed care setting by comparing direct health care costs and adverse event outcomes between patients with AD and without AD.

Methods

The study design used eligibility, medical, and pharmacy claims data from a large, national, geographically diverse, fee‐for‐service U.S. managed health plan. Commercially insured patients aged 65 years and older with a pharmacy benefit with evidence of AD (n = 4,450) and a control group without AD (n = 13,650) were matched by age, gender, plan location, and length of enrollment. Adverse event outcomes, comorbid conditions, and annualized health care costs were compared. Incremental costs were calculated by using a two‐part model to estimate the burden of illness; incremental cost confidence intervals were estimated by bootstrap analysis.

Results

Patients with AD had generally higher health care costs and higher risk of acute adverse outcomes than the control cohort. Annual adjusted total health care costs per patient were approximately $1,418 greater for the AD cohort. Patients with AD had an unadjusted fracture risk of 14.6% versus 6.2% in the matched cohort and accidental injury/falls risk of 27.4% versus 11.4%.

Conclusions

Few studies have examined the disease burden of AD in commercial managed care settings. Similar to results of comparative studies with Medicare data, the disease burden is greater for patients with AD compared with a matched control cohort, with a different mix and a greater number of comorbid health care conditions partially accounting for this difference. As membership in commercial and Medicare managed care plans increases, plans will need to develop effective mechanisms to manage the health care of high‐risk, high‐cost patients with AD.
Populism, liberal democracy, and the rule of law in Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: Bugaric Bojan
Published: April 2008

Populism is on the rise in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Persistent attacks on legal institutions of liberal democracy represent the most troubling aspect of the rising populism in CEE. The democracies in CEE are not about to collapse because of the rise of populism, yet the populist challenge to liberal democracy has to be taken seriously. While there has been significant progress in the development of ‘electoral democracy’ in the region, constitutional liberalism and the rule of law still remain weak. Only strong, independent, and professional legal institutions and respect for the rule of law can bring further consolidation of democracy in the region.
The role of geography and history in determining the slower progress of post-communist transition in the Balkans
Authors: Petrovic Milenko
Published: April 2008

Central European and Baltic nations have progressed markedly faster than the other former communist states of Eastern Europe in post-communist transition. While five East Central European and three Baltic states have managed to successfully achieve the most important goals of political and economic transition and fulfil the criteria for EU membership, their counterparts from the Balkans continue to experience serious difficulties in implementing transitional reforms and merely hope for such an outcome.

Scholarly analyses of the reasons for this division of post-communist Eastern Europe have often tended to emphasise the decisive importance of the initial geo-political, economic and socio-cultural conditions dating back to the deep pre-communist histories of the countries in question. Not denying the relevance and structural impacts of some historical and geo-political facts concerning the establishment of these differences, this paper argues that there is a limited explanatory value to structural arguments of the role of initial conditions in assessing the reasons for the slower progress of the Balkan states in post-communist reform.
The Ethics of Nationalism By Margaret Moore. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 272p. $45.00.
Authors: Kukathas Chandran
Published: April 2008

This fine study purports to offer “a normative theory of nationalism.” Such a theory is needed, the author claims, because most of the literature on the ethics of secession proceeds on the mistaken assumption that the normative problem of state breakup is best addressed by applying established liberal arguments or values to the issue at hand. In fact, however, it makes little sense to derive a theory of secession in this way, rather than by considering directly the kinds of normative claims secessionists make. These are nationalist claims. We need, moreover, to recognize that well-known accounts of nationalism, such as those offered by Ernest Gellner, for whom nationalism is a political principle that holds that the political and national unit should be congruent, are inadequate—either because they include too much, or because, as in the case of Gellner (Nations and Nationalism, 1983), they associate it with a particular set of demands or principles. Nationalism, according to Margaret Moore, should be understood as “a normative argument that confers moral value on national membership, and on the past and future existence of the nation, and identifies the nation with a particular homeland or part of the globe” (p. 5). Once we have understood this, we will be in a better position to understand the key policies and demands of nationalists, including their occasional (and only occasional) demands for national self-determination, and to understand the normative limits of nationalism. And we will then be in a better position to understand the nature, and defensibility, of national self-determination, and of secession in particular.
The Ship of State: Statecraft and Politics from Ancient Greece to Democratic America By Norma Thompson. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. 256p. $35.00. Nature, Woman, and the Art of Politics Edited by Eduardo A. Velasquez. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2000. 385p. $80.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.
Authors: Zuckert Catherine
Published: April 2008

These books have similar aims and are written from a similar perspective. There are, however, important differences in content, emphasis, and form. Norma Thompson explicitly seeks to show that the Western intellectual tradition is not misogynist. One reason that it is not, she urges, is that it is not univocal. Within the tradition one can find several very different views of the character and relation of men and women. Introducing the volume he edited, Eduardo Velasquez states, “This collection of essays does not purport to give an answer to the question of what are ‘nature’ and ‘woman,’ at least not in an immediate, definitive sense. Rather, the comprehensive aim here is to reopen questions as to the ‘nature of nature,’ the ‘nature of woman’ with consideration given to the consequences of pairing some understanding of ‘nature’ with that of ‘woman’” (p. xi). A collection of essays necessarily contains a variety of voices.
Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando By Richard E. Foglesong. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001. 251p. $27.95.
Authors: Clarke Susan E.
Published: April 2008

This account of the development of Walt Disney World in Florida is an engaging contribution to the growing literature on tourism and urban politics. The many pleasures of reading this book include learning that Disney World was initially slated for St. Louis, that Henry Kissinger declared that Epcot would enhance world peace more than this shuttle diplomacy, that Disney prepared a proposal for a HUD planning grant for Disney World, and that even Walt Disney thought that Disneyland Anaheim was tacky. Foglesong meticulously details more than three decades of negotiations among the Walt Disney corporate conglomerate, the city of Orlando, and Orange and Osceola counties in Florida over the location and development of Walt Disney World and its spinoff theme parks. Not surprisingly, the Mouse wins most of the battles.
Who Speaks for the Poor?: National Interest Groups and Social Policy By R. Allen Hays. 277p. New York: Routledge, 2001. $75.00. Declarations of Dependency: The Civic Republican Tradition in U.S. Poverty Policy By Alan F. Zundel. 178p. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000. $50.50 cloth, $17.95 paper.
Authors: Imig Douglas R.
Published: April 2008

The new monographs by R. Allen Hays and Allen F. Zundel are welcome additions to our effort to understand the processes by which Americans make social welfare policy. Hays's work looks at the set of interest groups that testified before Congress on poverty policy during the 28-year period from 1970 to 1997, a period characterized by both incremental change and major upheaval in poverty policymaking. Zundel's work examines the rhetorical frames that have driven major social welfare reform efforts over the past century and a half.
The Race Card: Campaign Strategy, Implicit Messages, and the Norm of Equality By Tali Mendelberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. 320p. $52.50 cloth, $17.95 paper.
Authors: Hutchings Vincent L.
Published: April 2008

Tali Mendelberg's The Race Card offers a methodologically rich and convincing account of the impact of subtle race cues in contemporary American politics. Although her thesis is a controversial one, Mendelberg develops a careful and cogent argument that racial attitudes can have a substantial effect on candidate evaluations—provided that candidates craft a racial appeal that appears to be about something other than race. She argues that the success of implicit antiblack appeals, ones juxtaposing visual references to race with ostensibly nonracial verbal messages on issues such as crime or welfare, are due to four “A” factors: ambivalence about racial stereotypes, accessibility and priming, awareness of one's reliance on racial attitudes, and the ambiguity of the racial cue.
Reconciling Rights and Federalism during Review of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms: The Supreme Court of Canada and the Centralization Thesis, 1982 to 1999
Authors: Kelly James B.
Published: April 2008

This article considers the relationship between rights and federalism in the Supreme Court of Canada's review of cases invoking the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It considers whether the Supreme Court of Canada has compromised provincial autonomy by establishing Canada-wide standards in provincial areas of jurisdiction. It suggests that the centralization thesis associated with judicial review on Charter grounds is inconclusive, and combining several processes under the rubric of centralization, it misrepresents the Charter's effect on Canadian federalism and provincial autonomy. Further, the centralization thesis has lost much momentum during the course of Charter review, and, as a result, is a limited approach to understanding the relationship between rights and federalism in Canada. Specifically, the Supreme Court of Canada has demonstrated sensitivity to federalism in its Charter jurisprudence, most evident in a complex jurisprudence that has served to offset the centralization thesis and its implications for provincial autonomy. This threepart federalism jurisprudence is federalism as gatekeeper, an explicit federalism jurisprudence and an implicit federalism jurisprudence, which is most evident in the relationship between criminal rights and provincial responsibility for the administration of justice. This article demonstrates that the Court's approach to Charter review has seen a reconciliation between rights and federalism, most evident in the declining importance of the centralization thesis and the growing importance of the three-part federalism jurisprudence during Charter review. This sensitivity to federalism has existed since the beginning of the Court's Charter jurisprudence but has largely been overshadowed by the dominance of the centralization thesis in the Charter debate.