bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Nanopore Dimensions on the Electrochemical Properties of Nanopore Arrays Studied by Impedance Spectroscopy
Authors: Kant Krishna , Priest Craig , Shapter Joe , Losic Dusan
Published: November 2014

The understanding of the electrochemical properties of nanopores is the key factor for better understanding their performance and applications for nanopore-based sensing devices. In this study, the influence of pore dimensions of nanoporous alumina (NPA) membranes prepared by an anodization process and their electrochemical properties as a sensing platform using impedance spectroscopy was explored. NPA with four different pore diameters (25 nm, 45 nm and 65 nm) and lengths (5 μm to 20 μm) was used and their electrochemical properties were explored using different concentration of electrolyte solution (NaCl) ranging from 1 to 100 μM. Our results show that the impedance and resistance of nanopores are influenced by the concentration and ion species of electrolytes, while the capacitance is independent of them. It was found that nanopore diameters also have a significant influence on impedance due to changes in the thickness of the double layer inside the pores.
Using Floating Car Data to Analyse the Effects of ITS Measures and Eco-Driving
Authors: Garcia-Castro Alvaro , Monzon Andres
Published: November 2014

The road transportation sector is responsible for around 25% of total man-made CO2 emissions worldwide. Considerable efforts are therefore underway to reduce these emissions using several approaches, including improved vehicle technologies, traffic management and changing driving behaviour. Detailed traffic and emissions models are used extensively to assess the potential effects of these measures. However, if the input and calibration data are not sufficiently detailed there is an inherent risk that the results may be inaccurate. This article presents the use of Floating Car Data to derive useful speed and acceleration values in the process of traffic model calibration as a means of ensuring more accurate results when simulating the effects of particular measures. The data acquired includes instantaneous GPS coordinates to track and select the itineraries, and speed and engine performance extracted directly from the on-board diagnostics system. Once the data is processed, the variations in several calibration parameters can be analyzed by comparing the base case model with the measure application scenarios. Depending on the measure, the results show changes of up to 6.4% in maximum speed values, and reductions of nearly 15% in acceleration and braking levels, especially when eco-driving is applied.
Mosquito-Borne Viruses and Suppressors of Invertebrate Antiviral RNA Silencing
Authors: O'Neal Scott , Samuel Glady , Adelman Zach , Myles Kevin
Published: November 2014

The natural maintenance cycles of many mosquito-borne viruses require establishment of persistent non-lethal infections in the invertebrate host. While the mechanisms by which this occurs are not well understood, antiviral responses directed by small RNAs are important in modulating the pathogenesis of viral infections in disease vector mosquitoes. In yet another example of an evolutionary arms race between host and pathogen, some plant and insect viruses have evolved to encode suppressors of RNA silencing (VSRs). Whether or not mosquito-borne viral pathogens encode VSRs has been the subject of debate. While at first there would seem to be little evolutionary benefit to mosquito-borne viruses encoding proteins or sequences that strongly interfere with RNA silencing, we present here a model explaining how the expression of VSRs by these viruses in the vector might be compatible with the establishment of persistence. We also discuss the challenges associated with interrogating these viruses for the presence of suppressor proteins or sequences, as well as the candidates that have been identified in the genomes of mosquito-borne pathogens thus far.
Effect of a single bout of exercise and chronic exercise training on insulin sensitivity in racing sled dogs
Authors: Pratt-Phillips S.E. , Geor R.J. , Buser M. , Zirkle A. , Moore A. , Love S.B. , Entin P. , Davis M.S.
Published: November 2014

Two experiments were designed to investigate the role of exercise on insulin sensitivity (IS) in Alaskan racing sled dogs. In both experiments, IS was quantified with an isoglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp (IHC), whereby IS was defined as the glucose infusion rate (GIR) divided by the mean insulin concentration during the clamp. In Experiment 1, IS was quantified in 12 racing sled dogs during three stages of exercise training: unexercised for 4 months over the summer (deconditioned), and after two and four months of exercise conditioning. At each stage IS was assessed in unexercised dogs (n=6) and 60 h following a standard exercise challenge (n=6) consisting of a 35.4 km run completed in 2.5 h. In Experiment 2, IS was assessed in deconditioned dogs (n=6) and in well-conditioned dogs that had either completed a 708 km race 5-days prior (n=3) or were unraced for the previous month (n=3). In Experiment 1, there were no significant differences (Pã0.05) in GIR or IS between the three levels of conditioning, nor were there any effects of the exercise bout 60 h prior to the IHC. In Experiment 2 there was no significant difference in IS between well-conditioned dogs and untrained dogs (Pã0.05). However, dogs that completed a 708 km race 5-days prior to the IHC had a significantly higher IS than dogs that were deconditioned and those that were conditioned but unraced. These results suggest that the workload of an exercise challenge is a factor in post-exercise changes in IS but that exercise conditioning has little impact on IS in Alaskan sled dogs.
Influence of footwear designed to boost energy return on the kinetics and kinematics of running compared to conventional running shoes
Authors: Sinclair J. , Franks C. , Goodwin J.F. , Naemi R. , Chockalingam N.
Published: November 2014

Runners have sought to utilise athletic footwear as one of the mechanisms by which they might attenuate their risk of injury and improve their performance. New commercially available footwear which claims to boost energy return have been designed utilising an expanded thermoplastic polyurethane midsole. These footwear have been shown to improve running economy, but their clinical efficacy has not yet been established. This study aimed to examine the 3-D kinetics and kinematics when running in footwear that claims to promote energy return in relation to conventional running trainers. Fifteen male participants ran at 4.0 m/s (±5%) in each footwear condition. Lower extremity kinematics were collected in the sagittal, coronal and transverse planes using a 3-D motion analysis system. Simultaneous tibial acceleration and vertical ground reaction force parameters were also obtained. Impact parameters and 3-D kinematics were contrasted using paired samples t-tests. The results indicate that tibial accelerations were significantly greater in the footwear designed to improve energy return. In addition the 3-D kinematic analysis also showed that peak eversion and tibial internal rotation were significantly greater in the footwear designed to improve energy return. On the basis of these observations the current investigation suggests that these new footwear may place runners at an increased risk from chronic injury.
Tourism Marketing
Authors: Adapa Sujana
Published: November 2014

Tourism is an important service sector in many countries across the world as this particular sector generates significant amounts of revenue that adds up to the country's national economy. Given the significance of this sector, it is important to consider how this sector can be promoted to the end users and what type of marketing strategies should be formulated in order to achieve maximum market share. Therefore, this chapter highlights the ever-changing needs and wants of customers in terms of their destination choices. Moreover, this chapter provides information related to the important factors that will influence customers' choices of destinations and elicit the relevance of the various marketing strategies that are evident as part of accessing and promoting online modes. These differential marketing strategies are important to consider as they cater to the needs of varied customer segments. Challenges associated with tourism marketing are discussed, and furthermore, relevant tourism-based examples are included that reflect the changes in the tourism marketing space.
Using the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) to Explain the Intention to Book Tourism Products Online
Authors: Sahli Alia Besbes , Legohérel Patrick
Published: November 2014

The purpose of this article is to investigate the factors influencing the intention to use the Internet to book tourism products online in Tunisian context. To this end, the authors selected the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) to help account for the intention to book online. The authors conduct an online survey. Data was obtained from 158 questionnaires and analyzed through regression. The study demonstrated the importance of causal relationships between predictor variables and the dependent variable, namely the intention to book online. A novel result, perceived usefulness does not admit a positive impact on the attitude towards online booking. Thus, the study has confirmed the explanatory power of the DTPB model in accounting for consumers' behavioral intention in the context of e-tourism.
A Semantic Framework for Touristic Information Systems
Authors: Lima Salvador , Moreira José
Published: November 2014

The Web is a crucial means for the dissemination of touristic information. However, most touristic information resources are stored directly in Web pages or in relational databases that are accessible through ad-hoc Web applications, and the use of automated processes to search, extract and interpret information can hardly be implemented. The Semantic Web technologies, aiming at representing the background knowledge about Web resources in a computational way, can be an important contribution to the development of such automated processes. This chapter introduces the concept of touristic object, giving special attention to the representation of temporal, spatial, and thematic knowledge. It also proposes a three-layered architecture for the representation of touristic objects in the Web. The central part is the domain layer, defining a Semantic Model for Tourism (SeMoT) to describe concepts, relationships, and constraints using ontologies. The data layer supports the mapping of touristic information in relational databases into Resource Description Framework (RDF) virtual graphs following the SeMoT specification. The application layer deals with the integration of information from different data sources into a unified knowledge model, offering a common vocabulary to describe touristic information resources. Finally, we also show how to use this framework for planning touristic itineraries.
Evaluating Destination Marketing Organizations' Websites
Authors: Charoula Drosopoulou , Eleonora-Ioulia Malama , Fotini Patsioura , Maro Vlachopoulou
Published: November 2014

Developing their e-marketing strategy, Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) invest in the establishment of their Websites to provide extended accessibility, real-time information/services, and personalization capabilities. This chapter aims to review prior tourism studies that refer to Website evaluation by taking DMOs' Websites as the focus of the investigation. A comprehensive literature review on theories, models, and surveys on evaluating tourism Websites is presented and analyzed. The major benefit of this study is the digest of multiple approaches regarding DMOs' Website evaluation within the tourism sector. The chapter gives an integrated overview of the historical development of Website evaluation studies in the tourism field in order to draw conclusions about the dimensions and key factors that drive Website success. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the DMOs' Websites of five Mediterranean countries are assessed through content analysis in terms of information, communication, transaction, relationship, and technical merit dimensions based on a modified approach of the ICTRT model (Li & Wang, 2010). The research findings should be of interest to DMOs as the findings shed light on the effectiveness of their Websites over a period of time facilitating continuous improvements and comparisons between competitive tourism destinations/countries.
E-Relationship for Web-Based Tourism Promotion
Authors: Sambhanthan Arunasalam , Good Alice
Published: November 2014

Tourism has been featured as a rapidly growing industry with excellent opportunities for business development. There are several success factors which determine the growth of the tourism promotional endeavors of the hotels. This chapter evaluates four of the key success factors related to web based tourism promotion: trust, electronic service quality, usability and accessibility. The theoretical models available for measuring the aforementioned success factors are evaluated along with the survey on the development of research activities in these four fronts. The theoretical frameworks within each concept categories are compared and contrasted to infer the competitive advantage of each model in modeling web based tourism promotion activities. Finally, the conclusions are made on the basis of the analysis undertaken on the conceptual models in each of these categories.
Discovering and Characterizing Places of Interest Using Flickr and Twitter
Authors: Van Canneyt Steven , Schockaert Steven , Dhoedt Bart
Published: November 2014

Databases of places have become increasingly popular to identify places of a given type that are close to a user-specified location. As it is important for these systems to use an up-to-date database with a broad coverage, there is a need for techniques that are capable of expanding place databases in an automated way. In this paper the authors discuss how geographically annotated information obtained from social media can be used to discover new places. In particular, the authors first determine potential places of interest by clustering the locations where Flickr photos have been taken. The tags from the Flickr photos and the terms of the Twitter messages posted in the vicinity of the obtained candidate places of interest are then used to rank them based on the likelihood that they belong to a given type. For several place types, their methodology finds places that are not yet contained in the databases used by Foursquare, Google, LinkedGeoData and Geonames. Furthermore, the authors' experimental results show that the proposed method can successfully identify errors in existing place databases such as Foursquare.
Communicating Nation Brands through Mass and Social Media
Authors: De Moya Maria , Jain Rajul
Published: November 2014

Nation branding efforts are the means through which many countries attempt to influence how foreign publics perceive them. However, in a media landscape that now includes not only traditional one-way media but also two-way social platforms, countries undertaking these efforts are presented with a series of new challenges. This environment makes it more difficult to manage the issues associated with a nation brand, challenges countries to better communicate their advantages, and allows the public to create its own, potentially competing, messages about a country. Building on previous work on nation and destination branding, this chapter discusses the changing media environment in which nation-branding efforts are taking place, and—through a combination of DICTION®-assisted, manual, and qualitative content analyses—provides evidence of the new media landscape in which nation branding is taking place. The challenges and opportunities created by this new context are detailed, and potential avenues for further research are discussed.
ICT and Skills Transfer
Authors: Ankomah Paul , Larson Trent
Published: November 2014

Ghana is continuously exploring new development models to generate economic growth and enhance the life of her citizens. Tourism has been identified as an area with the potential to prime the Ghanaian economy. However, a major impediment likely to stall the strategy is the lack of skilled labor. Ghana could address this problem by tapping into the skills, experiences, and resources of its diaspora. The objective of the chapter is to advocate the adoption of a virtual community framework (via ICT) to access the skills and expertise of Ghanaians resident abroad to train personnel in the tourism sector. The chapter outlines the virtual community creation process, instructional delivery strategies, identifies challenges to be encountered in these collaborative efforts, and provides some viewpoints for addressing such problems. The chapter ends with suggestions for future research and concluding remarks, including the study's implications.
The Role of Website Features in Creating Loyalty
Authors: Bilgihan Anil , Sukhu Anupama , Kandampully Jay
Published: November 2014

This study integrates shopping value dimensions and consumers' commitment to a theoretical model to understand consumer loyalty to e-shopping. E-commerce is established as an efficient sales platform for travel and hospitality vendors. However, extant literature found that it is difficult to attract new customers and retain existing customers in e-commerce. This paper investigates the antecedents of customer loyalty in e-commerce. An online survey with (n=520) was conducted with randomly selected US consumers. A structural equation model reveals that hedonic and utilitarian shopping values determine affective and calculative commitment of e-shoppers which in turn influence consumers' loyalty towards e-shopping. This study contributes to the present literature and provides important implication towards e-tailers and website developers. It is important to fulfill e-shoppers' hedonic and utilitarian needs to gain e-loyalty. Web based hospitality service offerings should provide a convenient and pleasing online environment to gain consumer e-loyalty.
Discovering Opinions from Customers' Unstructured Textual Reviews Written in Different Natural Languages
Authors: Žižka Jan , Dařena František
Published: November 2014

Gaining new and keeping existing clients or customers can be well-supported by creating and monitoring feedbacks: “Are the customers satisfied? Can we improve our services?” One of possible feedbacks is allowing the customers to freely write their reviews using a simple textual form. The more reviews that are available, the better knowledge can be acquired and applied to improving the service. However, very large data generated by collecting the reviews has to be processed automatically as humans usually cannot manage it within an acceptable time. The main question is “Can a computer reveal an opinion core hidden in text reviews?” It is a challenging task because the text is written in a natural language. This chapter presents a method based on the automatic extraction of expressions that are significant for specifying a review attitude to a given topic. The significant expressions are composed using significant words revealed in the documents. The significant words are selected by a decision-tree generator based on the entropy minimization. Words included in branches represent kernels of the significant expressions. The full expressions are composed of the significant words and words surrounding them in the original documents. The results are here demonstrated using large real-world multilingual data representing customers' opinions concerning hotel accommodation booked on-line, and Internet shopping. Knowledge discovered in the reviews may subsequently serve for various marketing tasks.
Critical Success Factors for Positive User Experience in Hotel Websites
Authors: Sambhanthan Arunasalam , Good Alice
Published: November 2014

This research presents the development of a critical success factor matrix for increasing positive user experience of hotel websites based upon user ratings. Firstly, a number of critical success factors for web usability have been identified through the initial literature review. Secondly, hotel websites were surveyed in terms of critical success factors identified through the literature review. Thirdly, Herzberg's motivation theory has been applied to the user rating and the critical success factors were categorized into two areas. Finally, the critical success factor matrix has been developed using the two main sets of data.
Simulating Impacts on Regional Economies
Authors: West Guy R. , Jackson Randall W.
Published: November 2014

Practitioners and academics apply a range of regional economic models for impacts assessment. These models extend from a simple economic base through to input-output and econometric models and computable general equilibrium models. All such models have strengths and weaknesses. Dimensions of which impact assessment models are often compared include level of industry detail, data availability, and complexity of behaviour modelled. This chapter presents a model for Simulating Impacts on Regional Economies (SIRE) that occupies an intermediate position between Input-Output (IO), arguably the most widely used model for regional impacts assessments, and Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models. With greater behavioural detail than the typical regional IO model, the SIRE model incorporates many of the features of CGE models without enforcing the strictly linear behavioural relationships of IO. Like most CGE models, the simulation framework presented here borrows a subset of parameters from an existing econometric model for the same region. The SIRE model falls short, however, of the complexity of capturing the full range of behaviours of CGE models.
Museum Communication
Authors: Siano Alfonso , Siglioccolo Mario , Tuccillo Carmela , Conte Francesca
Published: November 2014

The focus of museum communication has shifted from visitors to a variety of key stakeholders and new emphasis is being placed on museum-audience relationships. The literature on this topic has quite neglected to consider the evolution of museum communication activities up to date, and studies have not proceeded to identify stakeholder groups which may relate to museum in different ways. This chapter aims to fill this gap by providing a museum-specific framework for communication-management. The latter intends to be a practical tool to help in managing relations with stakeholder groups. Key concepts of corporate communication are contextualized to museums, starting with the depiction of museum personality, identity, image, and the process of development of museum reputation is explained. The latter may be considered as a multifaceted process; to understand the evolution of museum reputation and guide its correct development. Focus is given to information and communication technologies, which have changed the way people interact with museums.
A Case Study on Customer Experiential Management at High Five Hotels Pvt. Ltd, Nashik
Authors: Gadekar Sonali , Gadekar Sushil
Published: November 2014

Experiential Marketing is an extension of consumer orientation marketing. The organizations can use Experiential Marketing as one of models which has vast potential to serve as a link between improved customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. It can be described as one of the innovative ways of delivering the consumption experiences to the consumers before they buy a product or actually use the service. It works on the simple principle that the memories of experiences get preserved in the minds of prospective customers as well as repeat consumers which induces them to visit again and again for the same product or service. In this case study of High Five Hotel Pvt. Ltd., this innovative marketing strategy, known as experiential marketing, was applied by the management to establish itself in the market as a reputed brand. This case study presents various innovative promotional strategies followed in the hospitality industry. The ultimate outcome and the results after applying this ‘experiential techniques' were excellent in terms of financial returns as well as customer satisfaction.
Handling Customer Complaints in the Hospitality Industry
Authors: Dinnen Rosalynn , Hassanien Ahmed
Published: November 2014

Drawing on associated literature and empirical research, this paper examines the engagement and expertise of hotels in handling customer complaints. This is of considerable interest to practitioners and academics within the field of hospitality management. The study explores hotel management's attitudes and practices toward handling customer complaints within the hospitality industry in Scotland. In this paper, the authors analyze case study interviews with four and five star hotel managers in Scotland. The findings reveal that encouraging customer complaints and feedback should be seen as a way in which to develop a better relationship with and retain customers. The results also confirm the importance of having employee training in the area of customer complaints, recommending that employees handle complaints themselves. Furthermore, the study suggests that hotels must be well equipped for logging, processing and analyzing complaints. Management implications and areas for further research are also discussed.
Selecting the Optimal Vendor of Customer Relationship Management System for Medical Tourism Industry Using Delphi and AHP
Authors: Hsu Pi-Fang , Lan Kuo-Yu , Tsai Chia-Wen
Published: November 2014

This study builds a model to evaluate and select vendors of customer relationship management (CRM) system for the medical tourism industry from the viewpoint of medical tourism industry. Literature in related fields was reviewed, and the modified Delphi method was applied to find proper evaluation and selection criteria for the model. Then the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to determine weights of criteria in order to rank vendors and pick the optimal choice of vendor of CRM system for the medical tourism industry. The case used in this study was a teaching medical institution. This evaluation and selection model was applied for an empirical study. The results show that the five main criteria were, in order: system integrators' ability to provide services, system integrators' ability to develop software, economic factors of system implementation, ability to implement data mining, ability to implement CRM. Operators in the medical tourism industry could use this model to select the best vedor of CRM system.
Leisure Time Marketing in the Context of the Entertainment Industry
Authors: Cengel Ozgur , Oztek Yaman
Published: November 2014

Leisure time marketing is a big concern and an effective field of study in today's business environment due to the fact that emerging trends and applications may be applied. In this chapter, the concept of leisure time marketing is being revealed as well as its importance to marketers. Evidence from literature is included in this manner. In addition, several initiatives and implications have been debated by the putting the main focus on theory and practice of leisure time activities. Emerging marketing aspects and strategies are introduced as a means to satisfy the need of the target market in this field of study. Competitive dimensions of leisure time marketing are also noted in an attempt to meet the goal of exceeding the expectations of the market and its dynamics. Finally, a leisure time marketing categorization model is discussed.
A New Frontier in the Satisfaction of the Cultural Tourist
Authors: Tardivo Giuseppe , Scilla Angela , Viassone Milena
Published: November 2014

The world of cultural heritage is experiencing a fervent phase of promotion and enhancement of its assets, thanks to the innovative use of knowledge and information communication tools. Tourists do not need new products and new services for their satisfaction but demand new experiences. Thanks to ICT in the cultural sites and the diffusion of social media, mobile life, and Internet devices, the tourist can visit the same area feeling a new emotion and new experience. Given the increasing importance of the technologic innovation in cultural sector for a timely communication with the tourist, this chapter aims at measuring the tourist satisfaction towards the quality of the QR Code, while also providing important development strategies. The analysis is carried out through the administration of the SERVPERF questionnaire to 191 users aged between 18 and 40 years, asking them to express their level of satisfaction towards this service on the basis of a 7-points Likert scale. The tourism satisfaction for QR Codes is good but not uniform among the five dimensions.
Exploring the Development of New Tourism Activities in the Municipality of Kerkini by Using the Area's Natural Resources Sustainably, Municipality of Kerkini, Greece
Authors: Manou Dimitra , Papathanasiou Jason
Published: November 2014

Work in the 354 km2 Municipality of Kerkini studied ways to increase ecotourism without harming rich local biodiversity, in cooperation with government, NGOs and private stakeholders. Routes were mapped for hunting, horse-riding, walking and climbing.
Framework Oriented Approach to Eco-Tourism
Authors: Mohapatra Sanjay , Naswa Tripti
Published: November 2014

This paper discusses an approach for eco-tourism. The paper also addresses the cost-benefit analysis of different parameters which can help in designing a framework. The principles of eco tourism emphasizes on the win-win situation for both the Commercial and Environmental concerns; with focus on creating alternatives for sustainable ventures. The framework designed has two-pronged approach: sensitization a profit oriented business operator towards stakeholders like Environment & Local community and second one being providing necessary professional guidance to an entrepreneur whose focus is mainly on local community & environment. The framework not only gives a concept of tourism project but also stresses on strategic plans for developing tourism infrastructure.
Evaluative Profiling of Arsenic Sensing and Regulatory Systems in the Human Microbiome Project Genomes
Authors: Isokpehi Raphael D. , Udensi Udensi K. , Simmons Shaneka S. , Hollman Antoinesha L. , Cain Antia E. , Olofinsae Samson A. , Hassan Oluwabukola A. , Kashim Zainab A. , Enejoh Ojochenemi A. , Fasesan Deborah E. , Nashiru Oyekanmi
Published: November 2014

The influence of environmental chemicals including arsenic, a type 1 carcinogen, on the composition and function of the human-associated microbiota is of significance in human health and disease. We have developed a suite of bioinformatics and visual analytics methods to evaluate the availability (presence or absence) and abundance of functional annotations in a microbial genome for seven Pfam protein families: As(III)-responsive transcriptional repressor (ArsR), anion-transporting ATPase (ArsA), arsenical pump membrane protein (ArsB), arsenate reductase (ArsC), arsenical resistance operon transacting repressor (ArsD), water/glycerol transport protein (aquaporins), and universal stress protein (USP). These genes encode function for sensing and/or regulating arsenic content in the bacterial cell. The evaluative profiling strategy was applied to 3,274 genomes from which 62 genomes from 18 genera were identified to contain genes for the seven protein families. Our list included 12 genomes in the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) from the following genera: Citrobacter, Escherichia, Lactobacillus, Providencia, Rhodococcus, and Staphylococcus. Gene neighborhood analysis of the arsenic resistance operon in the genome of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron VPI-5482, a human gut symbiont, revealed the adjacent arrangement of genes for arsenite binding/transfer (ArsD) and cytochrome c biosynthesis (DsbD_2). Visual analytics facilitated evaluation of protein annotations in 367 genomes in the phylum Bacteroidetes identified multiple genomes in which genes for ArsD and DsbD_2 were adjacently arranged. Cytochrome c, produced by a posttranslational process, consists of heme-containing proteins important for cellular energy production and signaling. Further research is desired to elucidate arsenic resistance and arsenic-mediated cellular energy production in the Bacteroidetes.
Reactivity in Rapidly Collected Hygiene and Toilet Spot Check Measurements: A Cautionary Note for Longitudinal Studies
Authors: Arnold Benjamin F. , Khush Ranjiv S. , Ramaswamy Padmavathi , Rajkumar Paramasivan , Durairaj Natesan , Ramaprabha Prabhakar , Balakrishnan Kalpana , Colford John M.
Published: November 2014

Discreet collection of spot check observations to measure household hygiene conditions is a common measurement technique in epidemiologic studies of hygiene in low-income countries. The objective of this study was to determine whether the collection of spot check observations in longitudinal studies could itself induce reactivity (i.e., change participant behavior). We analyzed data from a 12-month prospective cohort study in rural Tamil Nadu, India that was conducted in the absence of any hygiene or toilet promotion activities. Our data included hygiene and toilet spot checks from 10,427 household visits. We found substantial evidence of participant reactivity to spot check observations of hygiene practices that were easy to modify on short notice. For example, soap observed at the household's primary handwashing location increased from 49% at enrollment to 81% by the fourth visit and remained at or above 77% for the remainder of the study.
Epidemiology of Meningitis in an HIV-Infected Ugandan Cohort
Authors: Rajasingham Radha , Rhein Joshua , Klammer Kate , Musubire Abdu , Nabeta Henry , Akampurira Andrew , Mossel Eric C. , Williams Darlisha A. , Boxrud Dave J. , Crabtree Mary B. , Miller Barry R. , Rolfes Melissa A. , Tengsupakul Supatida , Andama Alfred O. , Meya David B. , Boulware David R.
Published: November 2014

There is limited understanding of the epidemiology of meningitis among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected populations in sub-Saharan Africa. We conducted a prospective cohort study of HIV-infected adults with suspected meningitis in Uganda, to comprehensively evaluate the etiologies of meningitis. Intensive cerebrospiral fluid (CSF) testing was performed to evaluate for bacterial, viral, fungal, and mycobacterial etiologies, including neurosyphilis,16s ribosomal DNA (rDNA) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for bacteria, Plex-ID broad viral assay, quantitative-PCR for HSV-1/2, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), and Toxoplasma gondii; reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for Enteroviruses and arboviruses, and Xpert MTB/RIF assay. Cryptococcal meningitis accounted for 60% (188 of 314) of all causes of meningitis. Of 117 samples sent for viral PCR, 36% were EBV positive. Among cryptococcal antigen negative patients, the yield of Xpert MTB/RIF assay was 22% (8 of 36). After exclusion of cryptococcosis and bacterial meningitis, 61% (43 of 71) with an abnormal CSF profile had no definitive diagnosis. Exploration of new TB diagnostics and diagnostic algorithms for evaluation of meningitis in resource-limited settings remains needed, and implementation of cryptococcal diagnostics is critical.
Cysticercosis-Related Hospitalizations in the United States, 1998–2011
Authors: O'Keefe Kaitlin A. , Eberhard Mark L. , Shafir Shira C. , Wilkins Patricia , Ash Lawrence R. , Sorvillo Frank J.
Published: November 2014

Cysticercosis has become increasingly recognized as an important infection in the United States in recent decades. Despite its potential impact, there is a lack of comprehensive information on the nationwide burden of disease. To better define the burden of cysticercosis in the United States, we analyzed in-patient records using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample for 1998–2011 to estimate cysticercosis-related hospitalizations and patient/institutional characteristics. There were an estimated 33,060 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 29,610.5–36,510.3) cysticercosis-related hospitalizations nationwide, representing a hospitalization rate of 8.03 per million population. The highest proportion of cases were male (54.8%), Hispanic (62.0%), aged 18–44 (58.8%), and occurred in the West (45.1%). An estimated 459 deaths occurred, representing an in-hospital case-fatality rate of 1.4%. These findings indicate the burden of cysticercosis-related hospitalizations in the United States is considerable and may be greater than currently appreciated. Cysticercosis should be a nationally reportable disease.
A meta-analysis of particle water uptake reconciliation studies
Authors: Whitehead J. D. , Irwin M. , Allan J. D. , Good N. , McFiggans G.
Published: November 2014

Abstract. Water uptake by aerosol particles controls their ability to form cloud droplets, and reconciliation between different techniques for examining cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) properties is important to our understanding of these processes and our ability to measure and predict them. Reconciliation between measurements of sub-saturated and supersaturated aerosol particle water uptake was attempted at a wide range of locations between 2007 and 2013. The agreement in derived number of CCN (NCCN or particle hygroscopicity was mixed across the projects, with some data sets showing poor agreement across all supersaturations and others agreeing within errors for at least some of the supersaturation range. The degree of reconciliation did not seem to depend on the environment in which the measurements were taken. The discrepancies can only be attributable to differences in the chemical behaviour of aerosols and gases in each instrument, leading to under- or overestimated growth factors and/or CCN counts, though poorer reconciliation at lower supersaturations can be attributed to uncertainties in the size distribution at the threshold diameter found at these supersaturations. From a single instrument, the variability in NCCN calculated using particle hygroscopicity or size distribution averaged across a project demonstrates a greater sensitivity to variation in the size distribution than chemical composition in most of the experiments. However, the discrepancies between instruments indicate a strong requirement for reliable quantification of CCN in line with an improved understanding of the physical processes involved in their measurement. Without understanding the reason for discrepancies in the measurements, it is questionable whether quantification of CCN behaviour is meaningful.
Lidar profiling of aerosol optical properties from Paris to Lake Baikal (Siberia)
Authors: Dieudonné E. , Chazette P. , Marnas F. , Totems J. , Shang X.
Published: November 2014

Abstract. In June 2013, a ground-based mobile lidar performed the 10 000 km ride from Paris to Ulan-Ude, near Lake Baikal, profiling for the first time aerosol optical properties all the way from Western Europe to central Siberia. The instrument was equipped with N2-Raman and depolarization channels that enabled an optical speciation of aerosols in the low and middle troposphere. The backscatter-to-extinction ratio (BER) and particle depolarization ratio (PDR) at 355 nm have been retrieved. The BER in the lower boundary layer (300–700 m) was found to be 0.017 ± 0.009 sr−1 in average during the campaign, with slightly higher values in background conditions near Lake Baikal (0.021 ± 0.010 sr−1 in average) corresponding to dust-like particles. PDR values observed in Russian cities (>1.7%) are higher than the ones measured in European cities (<1.3%) due to the lifting of terrigenous aerosols by traffic on roads with a bad tarmac. Biomass burning layers from grassland or/and forest fires in southern Russia exhibit BER values ranging from 0.010 to 0.015 sr−1 and from 2 to 3% for the PDR. Desert dust aerosols originating from the Caspian and Aral seas regions were characterized for the first time, with a BER (PDR) of 0.022 sr−1 (21%) for pure dust, and 0.011 sr−1 (15%) for a mix between dust and biomass burning. The lidar observations also showed that this dust event extended over 2300 km and lasted for ~6 days. Measurements from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) show that our results are comparable in terms of aerosol optical thickness (between 0.05 and 0.40 at 355 nm) with the mean aerosol load encountered throughout our route.
Common mode chokes and optimisation aspects
Authors: Kut T. , Lücken A. , Dickmann S. , Schulz D.
Published: November 2014

Abstract. Due to the increasing electrification of modern aircraft, as a result of the More Electric Aircraft concept, new strategies and approaches are required to fulfil the strict EMC aircraft standards (DO-160/ED-14–Sec. 20). Common mode chokes are a key component of electromagnetic filters and often oversized because of the unknown impedance of the surrounding power electronic system. This oversizing results in an increase of weight and volume. It has to be avoided as far as possible for mobile applications. In this context, an advanced method is presented to measure these impedances under operating conditions. Furthermore, the different parameters of the inductance design is explained and an optimisation for weight and volume is introduced.
Fast near-field far-field transformation for phaseless and irregular antenna measurement data
Authors: Schnattinger G. , Lopez C. , Kılıç E. , Eibert T. F.
Published: November 2014

Abstract. The characterization of antenna radiation patterns by transformed near-field measurements requires accurate amplitude and phase data. This represents a problem since expensive measurement equipment is required, especially at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths (Isernia et al., 1996). Amplitude-only antenna field measurements are theoretically sufficient for the unique determination of antenna far-fields. Therefore, phaseless techniques are of special interest. However, the required field transformations are extremely challenging, since they are nonlinear and strongly ill-posed. In this work, the amplitude-only or phaseless near-field far-field transformation problem is formulated as a nonlinear optimization problem. The linear radiation operator within the nonlinear formulation is evaluated using the fast irregular antenna field transformation algorithm (FIAFTA). A hybrid solution procedure is described which combines a genetic algorithm with an iterative conjugate gradient (CG) search method. Numerical results prove the efficiency and flexibility of the formulation and it is shown that the algorithm remains stable when the noise level in the measurements is moderate. Nevertheless, regularization techniques might be beneficial to further improve the robustness of the algorithm.
Acoustic scattering of a complex-source beam by the edge of a plane angular sector
Authors: Brüns H. , Klinkenbusch L.
Published: November 2014

Abstract. The scattering and diffraction of a complex-source beam (CSB) by an acoustically soft or hard plane angular sector is treated by a rigorous spherical-multipole analysis in sphero-conal coordinates. By assigning a complex-valued radial source coordinate to the corresponding Green's function, the CSB is directed exactly towards the corner of the sector. Since the CSB can be interpreted as a localized plane wave, its interaction with the corner in the presence of the semi-infinite structure can be analyzed in detail. In opposite to the classical case of a non-localized incident plane wave, the resulting multipole series is strongly convergent and no summation techniques are necessary to obtain meaningful results. The numerical results include a convergence analysis, total near fields as well as scattered far fields and prove the applicability of this new approach.
Geometric considerations of polar mesospheric summer echoes in tilted beams using coherent radar imaging
Authors: Sommer S. , Stober G. , Chau J. L. , Latteck R.
Published: November 2014

Abstract. We present observations of polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE) using the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System in Northern Norway (69.30° N, 16.04° E). The radar is able to resolve PMSE at high spatial and temporal resolution and to perform pulse-to-pulse beam steering. In this experiment, 81 oblique beam directions were used with off-zenith angles up to 25°. For each beam pointing direction and range gate, coherent radar imaging was applied to determine the mean backscatter location. The location of the mean scatterer in the beam volume was calculated by the deviation from the nominal off-zenith angle of the brightest pixel. It shows that in tilted beams with an off-zenith angle greater than 5°, structures appear at the altitudinal edges of the PMSE layer. Our results indicate that the mean influence of the location of the maximum depends on the tilt of the beam and on the observed area of the PMSE layer. At the upper/lower edge of the PMSE layer, the mean backscatter has a greater/smaller off-zenith angle than the nominal off-zenith angle. This effect intensifies with greater off-zenith beam pointing direction, so the beam filling factor plays an important role in the observation of PMSE layers for oblique beams.
Planetary radio astronomy: Earth, giant planets, and beyond
Authors: Rucker H. O. , Panchenko M. , Weber C.
Published: November 2014

Abstract. The magnetospheric phenomenon of non-thermal radio emission is known since the serendipitous discovery of Jupiter as radio planet in 1955, opening the new field of "Planetary Radio Astronomy". Continuous ground-based observations and, in particular, space-borne measurements have meanwhile produced a comprehensive picture of a fascinating research area. Space missions as the Voyagers to the Giant Planets, specifically Voyager 2 further to Uranus and Neptune, Galileo orbiting Jupiter, and now Cassini in orbit around Saturn since July 2004, provide a huge amount of radio data, well embedded in other experiments monitoring space plasmas and magnetic fields. The present paper as a condensation of a presentation at the Kleinheubacher Tagung 2013 in honour of the 100th anniversary of Prof. Karl Rawer, provides an introduction into the generation mechanism of non-thermal planetary radio waves and highlights some new features of planetary radio emission detected in the recent past. As one of the most sophisticated spacecraft, Cassini, now in space for more than 16 years and still in excellent health, enabled for the first time a seasonal overview of the magnetospheric variations and their implications for the generation of radio emission. Presently most puzzling is the seasonally variable rotational modulation of Saturn kilometric radio emission (SKR) as seen by Cassini, compared with early Voyager observations. The cyclotron maser instability is the fundamental mechanism under which generation and sufficient amplification of non-thermal radio emission is most likely. Considering these physical processes, further theoretical investigations have been started to investigate the conditions and possibilities of non-thermal radio emission from exoplanets, from potential radio planets in extrasolar systems.