bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
La marche de Cao Bằng
Authors: Nguyễn Thị Hải
Published: November 2018

Située à la frontière du nord du Vietnam et dotée d’un relief accidenté, la province de Cao Bằng, pays des Tày, a longtemps été considérée comme une zone reculée, barbare, insalubre et potentiellement dangereuse pour les Kinh venus du delta. Pour bien administrer cette zone frontalière, le souverain dût accepter les privilèges des chefs autochtones en maintenant ses propres prérogatives comme les éléments symboliques. Mais, à partir de 1820, en visant à intégrer cette région au système administratif officiel du pays, l’empereur Minh Mạng (1820‑1840) a réalisé une politique pour éliminer le pouvoir des gardiens de frontière. Cette réforme est considérée comme la première offensive, et d’ailleurs la plus violente, du pouvoir central à l’encontre des chefs autochtones en zone montagneuse. Cette monographie met en lumière la relation entre la monarchie et les pouvoirs locaux de Cao Bằng des origines aux conséquences de la réforme de Minh Mạng, y compris la rivalité politique entre des chefs locaux sur le plan local. Cette étude rétrospective offre un nouveau regard sur le processus d’intégration des marches frontières du nord du Vietnam et sur les difficultés rencontrées par la cour de Hué dans sa gestion des régions frontalières.
A Human Rights-Based Approach to Bridge Gender Digital Divide
Authors: Luk Ching Yuen
Published: November 2018

Using India as a case study, this chapter examines four elements of gender digital divide, the causes of gender digital divide, and ways to bridge gender digital divide. It finds that girls and women do not have equal access to the internet and mobile technologies like men do. This is due to social norms favoring men in the distribution of resources and opportunities, women's lack of the economic means, and ineffective law enforcement. This study calls for a human rights-based approach to bridge gender digital divide, which emphasizes women's rights to ICT-related education and training, internet privacy and freedom of expression, and mobile phone ownership.
Gender Differences in ICT Studies
Authors: George Tayo O. , Onwumah Anthony C. , Fagbohun Michael O. , Adebayo Mercy E. , Olonade Olawale Yinusa
Published: November 2018

This study provides an empirical investigation of gender differences in ICT studies in selected public secondary schools. It describes gender differences in terms of students' attitude, perception, and choice of ICT subjects, parental influence, age, and religion. The study engages survey of selected public secondary schools in the region and in-depth interview of relevant stakeholders for the primary data. The study findings are anchored on existing literature, relevant theoretical positions, and data from statistical analyses. It concludes that equal opportunities in ICT studies for male and female students will empower all groups to contribute maximally to science and technology revolution for achieving needed economic and national development in the country.
A Survey of the Literature on Human Capital-Intensive Firms
Authors: Cézanne Cécile , Saglietto Laurence
Published: November 2018

The aim of this chapter is to provide a survey of the academic research dedicated to human capital-intensive firms (HCIF) both at a theoretical and empirical level. The authors conduct a thematic inventory of the published works in this area to assess the dynamism of the field research and provide an exploratory analysis. They develop a bibliometric analysis based on the three widely used databases (Econlit, Science Direct, and Wiley) over the time period 1992-2018. From a cluster analysis, the chapter draws a portrait of HCIF based on the highlighted distinctive features. It also gets more information on the scope of existing research and the issues, limits, and prospects involved.
The Role of Human Resource Accounting in the Business Environment
Authors: Özcan Ahmet
Published: November 2018

In this chapter, human resources accounting is comprehensively analyzed. Human capital has been often neglected or inaccurately reported in the financial statements due to its nature. In the new economy, financial market participants such as investors, creditors, and shareholders would like to get information about the firm's investment in human capital. Over the last decades, some accounting methods have been developed for human capital. In this chapter, the methods used in the accounting treatment of human capital are analyzed, and a total of 288 operating reports of banks listed on Borsa Istanbul for the period between 2010 and 2017 are examined through content analysis. The results of content analysis indicate that there is a growing trend in human capital disclosure by banks listed on Borsa Istanbul between the period of 2010 and 2017, implying that banks listed on Borsa Istanbul have become more aware of the importance of human capital.
Organizational Learning and Collective Human Capital Relationship With Firm Performance Among MNEs in the Northern Region of Malaysia
Authors: Dass Phynthamilkumaran Siea , Chelliah Shankar
Published: November 2018

The main objective in this chapter is to understand the organizational learning challenges of multinational enterprises and their performance in Malaysia. At the same time, it also explores how organizational learning and collective human capital with competitive advantage as a mediating factor affect MNEs' performance in Malaysia through employee movement. This research concluded knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution, and organizational memory is positively significant towards competitive advantage. Only knowledge acquisition and organizational memory are positively significant when competitive advantage mediates organizational learning towards firm performance. Collective human capital is positively significant towards competitive advantage as well as towards firm performance when competitive advantage mediates. Through this research it was found that MNEs in Malaysia are weak in knowledge interpretation and knowledge distribution due to employee movement in the northern region of Malaysia.
Cognitive Social Mining Analysis Using Data Mining Techniques
Authors: Singh Dharmpal
Published: November 2018

Social media are based on computer-mediated technologies that smooth the progress of the creation and distribution of information, thoughts, idea, career benefits and other forms of expression via implicit communities and networks. The social network analysis (SNA) has emerged with the increasing popularity of social networking services like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Therefore, information about group cohesion, contribution in activities, and associations among subjects can be obtained from the analysis of the blogs. The analysis of the blogs required well-known knowledge discovery tools to help the administrator to discover participant collaborative activities or patterns with inferences to improve the learning and sharing process. Therefore, the goal of this chapter is to provide the data mining tools for information retrieval, statistical modelling and machine learning to employ data pre-processing, data analysis, and data interpretation processes to support the use of social network analysis (SNA) to improve the collaborative activities for better performance.
Machine Learning Techniques for Healthcare Applications
Authors: Rajamohana S. P.  , Dharani A.  , Anushree P.  , Santhiya B.  , Umamaheswari K.
Published: November 2018

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the common disorders in brain. Early detection of ASD improves the overall mental health, which is very important for the future of the child. ASD affects social coordination, emotions, and motor activity of an individual. This is due to the difficulties in getting self-evaluation results and expressive experiences. In the first case study in this chapter, an efficient method to automatically detect the expressive states of individuals with the help of physiological signals is explored. In the second case study of the chapter, the authors explore breast cancer prediction using SMO and IBK. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide and occurs in nearly one out of eight. In this proposed system, the tumor is the feature that is used to identify the breast cancer presence in women. Tumors are basically of two types (i.e., benign or malignant). In order to provide appropriate treatment to the patients, symptoms must be studied properly, and an automatic prediction system is required that will classify the tumor into benign or malignant using SMO and IBK.
A Discussion on the Relationship Between Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Entrepreneurship
Authors: Eryılmaz Mehmet
Published: November 2018

Entrepreneurship has recently become one of the hot topics in several disciplines such as business administration, economy, sociology, etc. Thus, several studies in several fields focus on antecedents and consequences of entrepreneurial intentions and activities to get deeper insights about the phenomenon. Furthermore, another rising field of study is Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Thus, the main objective of the present article was to discuss possible relationships between these two crucial concepts, namely entrepreneurship and ICT.
Gender Differences in ICT Use Among Small Business Owners in Ghana
Authors: Etim Alice , Etim David N. , Heilman George
Published: November 2018

In the last two decades, microfinance institutions across regions have helped to financially build small businesses in areas of disadvantaged populations. The efforts in providing entrepreneurs with small non-collateralized loans (or micro-loans) along with developing cooperative programs for entrepreneurs were reported in earlier studies as being helpful in alleviating some borrowers from extreme economic poverty. However, early warning signals were raised about whether microfinance institutions were benefiting themselves more than the poor. This article assesses the differences in attitudes toward the use of information and communication technology among small business owners in Ghana that have access to micro-loans. The findings indicate significant differences between interest payers and interest non-payers based on region of the country, age, education, and membership in an entrepreneurship program.
An Analysis of The Relation Between Foreign Direct Investment and Sociopolitical Variables in MENA Countries by Panel Regression
Authors: Gür Betül
Published: November 2018

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays the role of an accelerator for the economic growth in host countries. Countries that provide the suitable environment economically and politically get ahead in this race. Over the last five years, the weighted importance of sociopolitical variables in the decision-making process has increased. The countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, although they have a potential to develop, are regarded as country groups that have not yet fully achieved this. This article reveals and interprets the relationship between FDI and sociopolitical variables such as political risk, human development index, terrorism risk index, multidimensional poverty index, the rule of law, regulatory quality, and control of corruption, utilizing panel regression analysis. In the analysis of the MENA countries covering the years 2010-2016, it was concluded that all independent variables except the human development index and multidimensional poverty index were statistically significant and effective on FDI.
Information and Communication Technology Driven Process Reengineering for Content Monitoring
Authors: Gjurkovikj Lucija , Malinovski Toni
Published: November 2018

When organizations analyze and significantly change their business processes with latest information and communication technology (ICT) in mind, they can reduce process time and cost, as well as increase efficiency and output quality. This study elaborates an ICT-enabled reengineering project in the Agency for audio and audiovisual media services in the Republic of Macedonia for the program monitoring process. It aims to investigate the motivation to use ICT as a way to shape the process redesign and find associations among ICT adaptation, process reengineering, organizational growth and efficiency. Hence, the new process structure can help the agency deliver greater public value while meeting its strategic goals to protect citizens' interests in the area of audio and audiovisual media services. It provides an example of a case study that surpasses standard industrial report to an article that contains valuable information that companies, especially in the public sector, can use in replicating experiences while undertaking similar BPR initiatives.
CRM Systems in the Area of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
Authors: Valsamidis Stavros Ioannis , Mandilas Athanasios Antonios , Mosxou Eirini I , Tsourgiannis Lambros
Published: November 2018

Nowadays, companies have as key element for their marketing techniques the customer relationship management (CRM) systems. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that affect the implementation of CRM in a business. A survey was conducted with the completion of structured questionnaires by collecting data from business in the area of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (EMT). The findings showed that companies of EMT implement satisfactorily strategic methods relating to CRM, putting their customers at the heart of their business. Moreover, they invest heavily in the management of their customers, wanting to gain a long-term relationship with them and simultaneously to integrate customer-oriented approach to the culture and the structure of the company. The external and internal factors that act strongly in maintaining and developing the customer relationship with the business, were identified. The number of employees and the year of foundation are critical factors in the implementation of CRM.
Integrating Knowledge Management into Information Security
Authors: Au Cheuk Hang , Fung Walter S. L.
Published: November 2018

Repeated information security (InfoSec) incidents have harmed the confidence of people on enterprises' InfoSec capability. While most organisations adopt control frameworks such as ISO27001 and COBIT, the role and contribution of knowledge management on InfoSec was inadequately considered. The authors integrated the concepts of knowledge-centric information security and IT Governance (ITG) into an ITG-driven knowledge framework (ITGKF) for reinforcing InfoSec maturity and auditability of enterprises. The authors also tried to assess whether ITG can embrace proper knowledge circulation within the InfoSec community. The authors confirmed the positive influence of IT governance on knowledge-centric information security (KCIS) and information security maturity and audit result (ISMAR), the positive influence of KCIS on ISMAR, and the mediating role of KCIS between ITG and ISMAR. These indicated the significance of KM in InfoSec area. Based on the findings, they proposed possible changes of integrating KM in different InfoSec practices and audit standard.
Advancing Automated Content Analysis in Knowledge Management Research
Authors: Fteimi Nora , Basten Dirk , Lehner Franz
Published: November 2018

This article reports on the development of a knowledge management (KM) dictionary and its application to automated content analysis to investigate topical foci of KM publications and provide an overview of the current research landscape. While automated content analysis gains importance, a problem prevails concerning the use and analysis of compound concepts (e.g., organizational learning). Using a self-developed dictionary of KM-related compound concepts, a sample of 4,290 publications from ten top-ranked KM journals and one KM conference was analyzed using text-mining software. Based on the dictionary approach, this study investigates core research themes of the KM discipline and compares key research interests throughout the IJKM community and those of other outlets. The investigation provides guidance to identify research opportunities in KM and provides useful implications concerning the application of dictionaries. Practitioners might adapt their organizations' approaches to KM accordingly, with regard to prevailing themes and trends in KM research.
Disruption and Strategic Outsourcing to the Competitor in the Common Market
Authors: Qin Zhaoqiong
Published: November 2018

There are circumstances that one firm will outsource (purchase) products to its competitor in the common market when experiencing an unexpected supply disruption. Such strategies to hedge against the unexpected supply disruption commonly suffers from the higher wholesale price charged by its competitor although it helps maintain its presence on the market. Its competitor also is concerned about encroachment to sell the products to the firm as a rival in the common market. Mathematical models are formulated to maximize each party's profit in both cases of outsourcing and not outsourcing under decentralization and centralization. The results show that both parties benefit from the strategy of outsourcing at the time of disruption. More interestingly, the results also show that the competitor's centralized decision-making is preferred.
Stochastic Model for Preventing Blackouts
Authors: Sony Michael , Mariappan V.
Published: November 2018

Power system blackouts cause huge financial losses for the society and power utilities. Two types of blackouts have been identified. One involving load loss due to transmission lines reaching its limits and other involving failures of multiple transmission lines. Technologically advanced electricity transmission networks work in a financially just manner if a high rate of availability of the transmission networks is accomplished. Keeping this concept in mind, it is imperative to conduct the examination of transmission network availability, to design reliable electrical systems. This article discusses the stochastic availability modeling and analysis in transmission lines. The same is applied to a case of GED and the results obtained are discussed with the proper conclusion.
Massive Online Open Courses Platforms
Authors: El Emrani Soumaya , El Merzouqi Ali , Khaldi Mohamed
Published: November 2018

This article presents a comparative and analytical study that was carried out for six massive online open course (MOOC) platforms: Coursera, edX, Udacity, Canvas, FutureLearn and Riwaq. The main objective of this article was to analyze the attitudes, perspectives, and different technical and pedagogical characteristics of these platforms. This analysis was achieved by examining a sample of 16 courses from these platforms in the fields of: computing sciences, business, art and humanities. The results show the differences and similarities among these platforms in terms of interface ergonomics and interface reliability, computing tools, information systems, costs, course duration, variety of learning activities and pedagogical components, evaluation types, social interaction, and the degree of instructors' participation. This has helped us to finally choose the platform on which our Adaptive Connectivist MOOC (ACM) approach can be applied.
The Impact of Social Media on Knowledge Culture
Authors: Engel Samantha , Lee-Davies Linda
Published: November 2018

Culture is not static and technological innovations have greatly changed culture throughout history, no more so than in recent years. Modern culture is very much influenced and defined by recent technology and media use, primarily through social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Twitter. Although use and impact vary around the world, globalization brings this cultural change into wider and faster channels. Social media has transformed the way people interact and learn in local, national and international terms as well as evolving new social practices. Echo chambers, filter bubbles, and fake news dominate the internet and people's lives, determining and even limiting the content of learning that people are exposed to on social media platforms. This, in itself, channels cultural practice into homogenized tranches creating a cyclical influence which feeds back into evolving technology. This article sets out to discuss the current cultural impact of social media, its limitation on learning and surface the ethical issues surrounding its use.
An Exploration of Data Interoperability for GDPR
Authors: Pandit Harshvardhan J. , Debruyne Christophe , O'Sullivan Declan , Lewis Dave
Published: November 2018

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) specifies obligations that shape the way information is collected, shared, provided, or communicated, and provides rights for receiving a copy of their personal data in an interoperable format. The sharing of information between entities affected by GDPR provides a strong motivation towards the adoption of an interoperable model for the exchange of information and demonstration of compliance. This article explores such an interoperability model through entities identified by the GDPR and their information flows along with relevant obligations. The model categorises information exchanged between entities and presents a discussion on its representation using existing standards. An investigation of data provided under the Right to Data Portability for exploring interoperability in a real-world use-case. The findings demonstrate how the use of common data formats hamper its usability due to a lack of context. The article discusses the adoption of contextual metadata using a semantic model of interoperability to remedy these identified shortcomings.
Interaction Between Standardisation and Research
Authors: Hoel Tore , Chen Weiqin
Published: November 2018

Standards-making is a design practice that relies on input from research and end-users, involving experts that represent diverse stakeholders spread all over the globe. However, the standards-setting culture and formal rules are sometimes at odds with the culture and practice of research. Based on previous research identifying the lack of openness and transparency, and a suboptimal interaction with academic research as issues that could explain a lack of success in a European setting, this article studies how an ongoing international standards project on privacy and data protection policies for learning analytics has interacted with an international academic research community. The results of this study show that establishing feedback loops between standardisation, research, and development is essential in order to produce results. However, the study also shows that in individual projects, internal processes and culture in the standard setting group could be of crucial importance for the outcome.
Standardization
Authors: de Vries Henk , Jakobs Kai , Egyedi Tineke M. , Eto Manabu , Fertig Stephan , Kanevskaia Olia , Klintner Louise , Koch Claudia , Mijatovic Ivana , Mirtsch Mona , Morone Piergiuseppe , Orviska Marta , Riillo Cesare , Scaramuzzino Gianluca
Published: November 2018

Standardization research is a fairly new and is a still-evolving field of research, with possibly major practical ramifications. This article presents a summary of the authors' subjective views of the most pressing research topics in the field. These include, among others, standards (e.g. incorporation of ethical issues), the potential impact of standards, the corporate management of standardization and legal issues like Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). In addition, gaps have been identified with a respect to a basic understanding of standardization, suggesting a need for better education in the field.
Autonomous Human Flow Counting Service With Deep Neural Network
Authors: Doong Shing Hwang
Published: November 2018

Human flow counting has many applications in space management. This study applied channel state information (CSI) available in IEEE 802.11n networks to characterize the flow count. Raw features including the mean, standard deviation and five-number summary were extracted from CSI magnitudes in a time window. Due to the large number of raw features, stacked denoising autoencoders were used to extract higher level features and a final layer of softmax regression was used to classify the flow count. The resulting neural network beat many popular classification algorithms in predicting the correct flow size. In addition to CSI magnitudes, this study also explored the feasibility of using CSI phase-based features. It is found that the magnitude neural network provided a better prediction result than the phase neural network, and combining both networks yielded an even better solution to the flow counting problem.
Business Intelligence and Analytics Cost Accounting
Authors: Grytz Raphael , Krohn-Grimberghe Artus
Published: November 2018

As data driven decision-making using business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) becomes standard in companies, the importance of mitigating the accompanying growth in costs increases. Research shows that the increasing transparency of individual BI&A artefacts such as reports or analytic applications is necessary, but in practice and implementation lags behind. This article addresses the status quo for three types of stakeholders: users, developers, and managers. The results show where a strong need for action exists and this article identifies challenges for further research. These findings indicate that managers see BI&A cost accounting as having a high potential benefit - and believe the degree of implementation to be higher than other stakeholder types do. The authors identified comprehensibility as an important factor for user acceptance of BI&A cost accounting systems; this could be supported by a service-oriented approach. The authors conclude that BI&A professionals have to consider these different perceptions and their implications in order to gain traction for BI&A cost accounting.
Teacher Perceptions of Virtual Credit Recovery Program Equivalency
Authors: Vigilante Jr. Richard J.
Published: November 2018

This article examines the equivalency of virtual credit recovery (VCR) programs as a viable alternative to earning back failed credits needed to graduate on time. Utilization of interviews and questionnaires assisted with collecting perspective data of 10 teachers facilitating the VCR program. Artifact analysis provided a third source of numeric data and allowed for triangulation of results. Data underwent thematic analysis and pattern matching, which led to the development of five main themes: (1) knowledge of students, (2) instructional design procedures, (3) facilitator communication and support, (4) instructional assistance, and (5) outcomes. Data analysis revealed the existence of both positive and negative learning experiences, both of which affect the overall equivalency of the VCR program. Although learning experiences varied in value, results indicated VCR programs provide an equivalent and viable alternative to earning back failed credits needed to graduate on time.
Understanding the Use of Online Tools Embedded Within a Virtual Learning Environment
Authors: Dommett Eleanor Jane
Published: November 2018

Different learning tools are available within virtual learning environments, including forums, quizzes, and ePortfolios. This article investigates perceptions of helpfulness and ease of use of these three tools, including how they are impacted by learner characteristics and what predicts frequency of use of each tool. Critically, the relationship between perceived helpfulness of the three tools and their ability to support achievement of learning outcomes and development of employability skills is assessed. The findings support previous work showing an impact of learner characteristics on perceived helpfulness and ease of use for all tools. Results also show that the ability of forums to support achievement of learning outcomes predicts their perceived helpfulness, whilst development of employability skills predicts helpfulness of quizzes. In turn, helpfulness but not ease of use predicted frequency of these tools.
An Empirical Study on the Effect of Innovation Financing on Technology Innovation Competency
Authors: Lee Jaesik , Lee Chulung , Kim Jaejin , Kim Seiho , Im Hyeonu
Published: November 2018

This article paper investigates the effectiveness of innovation financing systems by examining the structural equation modeling (SEM) that imputes relationships among latent variables including innovation financing, technology innovation competency, financial performance and non-financial performance of innovative SMEs in Korea. It is identified that innovation financing increases not only technological innovation competency but also business performance of innovative SMEs in Korea. Meanwhile, innovation competency decreases financial performance of firms and increases non-financial performance. These findings are helpful to policy makers in developing countries which should allocate scarce resources efficiently for its economic growth. Providing innovation financing through technology appraisal to innovative SMEs has the potential to grow into one of the most efficient financial policies.
The Impact of Contextual Offer on Purchase Intention Through Consumption Value in Mobile Service
Authors: Jang Sung-Hee , Shin Jae-Ik
Published: November 2018

Location-based services (LBSs) on the basis of the ubiquity and portability in mobile devices can play a useful role in fulfilling user needs such as convenience, social networking, and digital entertainment effectively and efficiently. Users of mobile LBSs filled out a survey, which produced 200 valid samples. The results of this study demonstrated that contextual offer positively informs utilitarian value and hedonic value. Since contextual offers have more influence on utilitarian value than hedonic value, this means that contextual offers should be based on developing a more utilitarian value. Second, consumption value positively affects purchase intentions. Purchase intention is more effected by hedonic value than utilitarian value. This implies that hedonic value is more important predictor of purchase intention in mobile LBSs. Thus, the service providers should put emphasis on strengthening contextual offer to improve purchase intentions through the consumption value of mobile LBSs. This study may deliver some useful implications to both research and practice.
Research on Recommendation Algorithm Based on Ranking Learning
Authors: Zhang Xiaoli
Published: November 2018

After analyzing the logistic regression and support vector machine's limitation, the author has chosen the learning to rank method to solve the problem of news recommendations. The article proposes two news recommendation methods which were based on Bayesian optimization criterion and RankSVM. In addition, the article also proposes two methods to solve the dynamic change of user interest and recommendation novelty and diversity. The experimental results show that the two methods can get ideal results, and the overall performance of the method based on Bayesian optimization criterion is better than that based on RankSVM.
Determination of 27 Elements in Animal Feed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry
Authors: King Thomas , Sheridan Robert
Published: November 2018

A method was developed to determine 27 elements (aluminum, arsenic, boron, cadmium, calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, magnesium, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium, sulfur, vanadium, zinc, antimony, uranium, beryllium, thallium, and thorium) in animal feeds and pet foods using closed vessel microwave digestion and inductively coupled plasma-massspectrometry. These elements can adversely affect animal health when amounts become excessive or deficient in food. For potentially toxic elements, the target LOQ was determined to be 1/10 the lowest maximum tolerable level (MTL) for the most sensitive animal species. For nutritionally essential elements,the target LOQ was determined to be 1/10 the concentration that would be considered deficient in feed if that level is lower than 1/10 the lowest MTL. The targeted high end of the quantitation range wasselected as twice the highest MTL. A single-laboratory validation (SLV) was performed to determine theaccuracy and precision of the method, and the resultswere evaluated with respect to predetermined performance characteristics. The test materials used in the SLV included two National Institute of Standardsand Technology certified reference materials, two Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) check samples, and one in-house previously analyzed feed sample. The concentrations of each elementdetermined were the result of spiked analyte,incurred analyte, or a combination of spiked and incurredanalyte. All samples were analyzed seven times on different days at 2 × LOQ and at the midrangeconcentration. For most data, the results of the SLV met or exceeded the criteria for accuracy and repeatability. For accuracy, K at the midrange level had a mean recovery of 95%, which is just below the low preferred accuracy threshold of 97%. For repeatability, all the 2 × LOQ CVr values were below the preferred values. Be, Cr, Ni, Na,Mn, and S all had midrange CVr values exceeding the preferred values. Be had the highest midrange CVr value of 9.93. Eight AAFCO check samples were also analyzed to determine the method’s accuracy and repeatability for elements at the manufacturer’s claimed levels. For accuracy, all results had z-scores <1.5. For repeatability, three CVr values from two AAFCO check samples were greater than the preferred limits.
Sample Processing and Preparation Considerations for Solid Cannabis Products
Authors: Atkins Patricia L
Published: November 2018

Background: The nascent cannabis industry is often challenged by a lack of guidance, unproven methodologies and conflicting legal challenges. The actual sampling and sample preparationof cannabis can be a difficult endeavor due the economic value, material complexity and heterogeneous nature of a plant based material. Objective: Examine the challenges of cannabis material sampling and sample processing as it relates toother similar materials. Method: In this paper, the complexity of sampling and samplepreparation are reviewed for use in the cannabis industry. The mechanisms for sample processing are examined and compared for the best preparation techniques for targeted analytes in cannabis analysis. Results: Cryogenic grinding is one of the best methods for sample processing for the preservation of volatile compounds. Conclusions: Proper sampling techniques and procedures, including the use of standards, ensure homogeneity and improve analysis accuracy. Highlights: Methods of sample processing and preparation for cannabis plant material were examined to ensure homogeneity, accuracy and reproducibility.
Analytical Eco-Scale for Assessing the Greenness of a Developed Potentiometric Method for Lomefloxacin Hydrochloride Determination in its Different Dosage Forms, Plasma, and Dissolution Medium
Authors: Boltia Shereen A , Soudi Aya T , Elzanfaly Eman S , Zaazaa Hala E
Published: November 2018

Background: Traditional methods for Lomefloxacin hydrochloride (LOM) determination involve pretreatment steps, which extend analysis time and use hazardous chemicals. Objective: The ability to provide a rapid route without sample pretreatment for quantitative determination of compounds via a low-cost instrument is a challenging task. In this work, a simple potentiometric method was developed to determine the antibacterial LOM via in-house fabricated ion selective electrodes. Methods: Different sensors were fabricated using a poly vinyl chloride-based membrane, potassium tetrakis(4-chlorophenyl) borate as a cation exchanger, and 2-Nitrophenyl octyl ether as a plasticizer (sensor 1). To increase the selectivity of sensor 1, a selective molecular recognition component 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin was used as ionophore (sensor 2). Results: The proposed method was validated according to International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry recommendations, in which the proposed sensors show a linear dynamic range from 1 × 10−5 to 1 × 10−2 mol/L, with Nernstian slopes of 55.829 and 58.229 mV/decade for sensors 1 and 2, respectively. It was applied to determine LOM in bulk powder, in different dosage forms, and in plasma with no sample pretreatment. Also, the suggested method can be used as a green, in-line bench top real-time analyzer for in-process monitoring of LOM release from its tablets, under U.S. Food and Drug Administration dissolution regulations, with clear discrimination from common excipients. Results obtained by the proposed potentiometric method were compared with those obtained by a reported HPLC method. Conclusions: The proposed method is considered as a perfect alternative to traditional reported methods for LOM determination.
Single-Laboratory Validation of a Gas Chromatographic Method of Direct Determination of Volatile Compounds in Spirit Drinks: Need for an Improved Interlaboratory Study
Authors: Charapitsa Siarhei V , Sytova Svetlana N , Korban Anton L , Sobolenko Lidia N
Published: November 2018

Background: The quality and safety control of an alcoholic drink is mainly the establishment of its chemical content, particularly the quantity of volatile compounds. Objective: A single-laboratory validation of a gas chromatographic method of direct determination of volatile compounds in spirit drinks was conducted. The discussed method applies ethanol, the major volatile component of an alcoholic beverage, as an internal standard. Possible algorithms of method validation based on interlaboratory study were proposed and described. Methods: Seven standard solutions of the following volatile compounds were prepared gravimetrically in 40% (v/v) water–ethanol solution: acetaldehyde, methyl acetate,ethyl acetate, methanol, 2-propanol, 1-propanol, isobutanol, 1-butanol, and isoamylol. Each sample wasmeasured with the proposed method 30 times in repeatability conditions. Results: Flame ionization detector response was linearly correlated with assigned concentrations at a range of 2 to5000 mg/L of absolute alcohol (AA) with coefficients of determination (R2)more than 0.995 for all analyzed components. Repeatability (RSDr ≤ 4.5%; RSDr ≤ 2.0%), reproducibility (RSDR ≤ 5.0%; RSDR ≤ 2.0%), and trueness (relative bias ≤ 2.6%; relative bias ≤ 1.4%) were obtained for low (10–25 mg/L AA for methanol and 2–10 for othervolatiles) and high (25–5000 mg/L AA for methanol and 10–5000 for other volatiles) ranges of concentrations, correspondingly. Conclusions: The method increases the reliability of measurements and eliminates manual proceduresof internal standard addition into both calibrationstandard solutions and spirit drinks.
Homogeneous Catalytic Hydrogenation of CO2 to Methanol – Improvements with Tailored Ligands
Authors: Scharnagl Florian Korbinian , Hertrich Maximilian Franz , Neitzel Gordon , Jackstell Ralf , Beller Matthias
Published: November 2018

Improved molecularly‐defined cobalt catalysts for the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to methanol have been developed. A key factor for increased productivity (up to twofold compared to previous state‐of‐the‐art‐system) is the specific nature of substituents on the triphos ligand. In addition, the effect of metal precursors, and variations of additives have been investigated.

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Pd‐Catalyzed β‐Selective C−H Arylation of Thiophenes with Triarylantimony Difluorides
Authors: Kitamura Yuki , Murata Yuki , Oguri Ayaka , Matsumura Mio , Kakusawa Naoki , Naka Hiroshi , Yasuike Shuji
Published: November 2018

Regioselective C−H arylation using pentavalent organoantimony compounds as a new class of arylating reagents is described. The reaction of thiophenes with triarylantimony difluorides in the presence of 5 mol% of
and 2 equiv. CuCl2 at 80 °C under aerobic conditions afforded the β‐arylated thiophene derivatives in moderate‐to‐high yields. The reaction is sensitive to the electronic nature of the triarylantimony difluorides – those bearing an electron‐donating group on the phenyl ring showed higher reactivity than those have an electron‐withdrawing group.
Borane‐Catalyzed Cross‐Metathesis Strategy for Facile Transformation of Cyclic (Alkyl)(Amino)Germylenes
Authors: Rao Bin , Wang Liliang , Kinjo Rei
Published: November 2018

A borane B(C6F5)3‐catalyzed metathesis reaction between the Si−C bond in the cyclic (alkyl)(amino)germylene (CAAGe) 1 and the Si−H bond in a silane (R3SiH; 2) is reported. Mechanistic studies propose that the initial step of the reaction involves Si−H bond activation to furnish an ionic species [1‐SiR3]+[HB(C6F5)3]−, from which [Me3Si]+[HB(C6F5)3]− and an azagermole intermediate are generated. The former yields Me3SiH concomitant with the regeneration of B(C6F5)3 whereas the latter undergoes isomerization to afford CAAGes bearing various silyl groups on the carbon atom next to the germylene center. This strategy allows the straightforward synthesis of eight new CAAGes starting from 1.
Cooperative Chirality and Sequential Energy Transfer in a Supramolecular Light‐Harvesting Nanotube
Authors: Ji Lukang , Sang Yutao , Ouyang Guanghui , Yang Dong , Duan Pengfei , Jiang Yuqian , Liu Minghua
Published: November 2018

By constructing a supramolecular light‐harvesting chiral nanotube in the aqueous phase, we demonstrate a cooperative energy and chirality transfer. It was found that a cyanostilbene‐appended glutamate compound (CG) self‐assembled into helical nanotubes exhibiting both supramolecular chirality and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL). When two achiral acceptors, ThT and AO, with different energy bands were co‐assembled with the nanotube, the CG nanotube could transfer its chirality to both of the acceptors. The excitation energy could be transferred to ThT but only be sequentially transferred to AO. During this process, the CPL ascribed to the acceptor could be sequentially amplified. This work provides a new insight into the understanding the cooperative chirality and energy transfer in a chiral supramolecular system, which is similar to the natural light‐harvesting antennas.
Anatomy and Functional Morphology of the Mysticete Rorqual Whale Larynx: Phonation Positions of the U‐Fold
Authors: DAMIEN JULIETTE , ADAM OLIVIER , CAZAU DORIAN , WHITE PAUL , LAITMAN JEFFREY T. , REIDENBERG JOY S.
Published: November 2018

Many Mysticetes (baleen whales) are acoustically active marine mammals. This is epitomized by rorquals, and specifically male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) whose complex songs comprise a wide range of vocalizations. The sound production mechanism of odontocetes (toothed whales, including dolphins and porpoises) is well described, in contrast to that of mysticetes whose vocalization mechanism remains a subject of active scientific investigation. Anatomical observations and acoustic signal processing have led to divergent hypotheses under the framework of a production‐based approach. We attempt to unify these hypotheses by broadening existing data with our new anatomical investigation, interpreted in light of known acoustical properties of mysticete vocalizations. We examined 15 specimens of four rorqual species: sei whale (Baleanoptera borealis), fin whale (Baleanoptera physalus), minke whale (Baleanoptera acutorostrata), and humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae). Based on these data and on previous literature, we propose a description of three functional positions (rest, breathing, and recirculation), unidirectional egressive airflow for sound production (from lungs to laryngeal sac), and new nomenclature for different parts of the U‐fold (distal section, midsection, and corniculate flaps). Each of these sections has specific morphological and acoustical properties that support the concept of “mode variation” in baleen whale vocalizations. Anat Rec, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Anat Rec, 302:703–717, 2019. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Design, Microwave‐Assisted Synthesis and in Vitro Antibacterial and Antifungal Activity of 2,5‐Disubstituted Benzimidazole
Authors: Shi Yanpeng , Jiang Kai , Zheng Ran , Fu Jiaxu , Yan Liuqing , Gu Qiang , Zhang Yumin , Lin Feng
Published: November 2018

Seventeen novel 2,5‐disubstituted benzimidazole derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their antibacterial activities. The tested compounds B1–B4 and C2–C6 exhibited not only good antifungal activity but also favorable broad‐spectrum antibacterial activity. Also, the lowest MIC of antibacterial and antifungal activity was 2 μg/mL and 4 μg/mL, respectively. It suggested that the structure of compound including the different substituent and its sites directly affected the efficacy of the synthesized compounds.
Three‐Dimensional Graphene@Carbon Nanotube Aerogel‐Supported Layered MoS2/Co9S8 Composite as an Efficient pH‐Universal Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution
Authors: Cheng Yuan‐Sheng , Ling Min , Jiang Bin‐Bin , Wu Fang‐Hui , Zhao Zi‐Hao , Li Xiao‐Ning , He Peng‐Fei , Wei Xian‐Wen
Published: November 2018

Developing high‐performance non‐noble‐metal electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which can be stably operated under various conditions is highly required in realistic production. In this work, a hierarchical architecture consisting of MoS2 and Co9S8 anchored on a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) substrate was first synthesized, then by introducing blank graphene oxide (GO) and multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs), interconnected three‐dimensional (3D) composite aerogels with high conductivity were obtained, showing a high activity for the HER, with low overpotentials (η10) at about 90 mV (0.5 M H2SO4), 176 mV (1.0 M PBS), and 102 mV (1.0 M KOH). The high performance might be caused by special hierarchical 3D structures maximally exposing the active edges of both MoS2 and Co9S8. Additionally, 3D MoS2/Co9S8/rGO‐CNTs showed a superior stability and could work stably under different conditions for more than 20 h or 1000 cycles, which is attributed to the good crystallinity after annealing, the highly symmetrical structures between Co9S8 and MoS2, and robust protection provided by the 3D carbon substrate. The results presented herein may provide an eﬀective way to develop non‐noble‐metal electrocatalysts for different fields including the HER.
Coordination‐Self‐Assembly Approach toward Aggregation‐Free Metal Nanoparticles in Ordered Mesoporous Carbons
Authors: Wu Wei , Yi Yikun , Wang Tao , Gao Tunan , Huo Qisheng , Song Shuyan , Li Mingtao , Qiao Zhen‐An
Published: November 2018

Multifunctional ordered mesoporous carbon materials that feature high surface area, uniform pores, good conductivity of the carbon skeletons, and specific host‐gust interactions, which are of interest for a wide variety of applications, for instance, catalysis, photonics, bioscience, and energy storage, are presented. Here, we establish a facile and generalizable “coordination‐assisted self‐assembly” for encapsulation of aggregation‐free and highly dispersed metal nanoparticles inside the mesoporous carbon frameworks. The choice of pyrogallol as phenolic resin precursor is essential for the in situ encapsulation, because the strong coordination between the three hydroxide groups of pyrogallol and metal ions favors the immobilization of transition metal into the mesopores, and then suppress the sintering of metal nanoparticles at high carbonization temperatures. The metal supported mesoporous composites possess the very high loading content of 1.25 %–7.27 %, tiny particle sizes of 4.3–15.6 nm and high surface area of 475–589 m2/g. The unique structure in deed endows high sulfur loading content in the conductive mesoporous carbon channels, and meanwhile metal nanoparticles as catalyst effectively promotes the electrochemical conversion of polysulfides, resulting in a high reversible capacity, excellent rate capability and good cycling stability for Li−S batteries.