bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Freshwater diatom biogeography in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Authors: Bouchard Giselle , Gajewski K. , Hamilton P. B.
Published: November 2004

Aim  Document the biogeographical distributions of diatoms in the Canadian Arctic in relation to environmental factors.

Location  The Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

Methods  Diatoms were extracted from lake sediments and treated using standard methods. Rarefaction‐estimated species richness, diatom concentrations (valves cc−1), and diatom abundance were mapped using a Geographic Information System. The physical and chemical parameters of the lakes were measured.

Results  A total of 326 taxa from 63 genera were found in 62 lakes of the study area. Up to 85 and as low as eight taxa were identified in any one lake, and rarefaction‐estimated species richness correlated with lake size. Nearby lakes could have greatly different diatom assemblages. Many taxa showed limited distributions. Response surfaces and ordination techniques indicate that a large number of taxa prefer colder regions of the Arctic while the abundance of others was influenced by lake water chemical parameters such as TKN and SiO2.

Main conclusions  Although many taxa were common and found across the study area, diatom assemblages showed regional differences in the Arctic. Some taxa were not found in either the northern or southern parts of the Archipelago and others were restricted to particular regions. Newly delineated genera showed interpretable geographical patterns and could be related to environmental factors, suggesting that this more natural grouping may enhance our understanding of diatom ecology. Geographical, physical, and chemical factors are needed to explain diatom distributions in the Arctic.
Implication of Internet growth on enhancing health of disadvantaged groups in China: a global perspective
Authors: Lai Claudia K.Y. , Arthur David G. , Chau Wing W.H.
Published: November 2004

The Internet is promising to play a prominent role in health care in the future, but there is an imbalance in its use between the East and the West, between genders, the rich and poor, the educated and uneducated and the urban and rural. This paper looks at the use of the Internet from the perspective of these subgroups across the world, and outlines some of the problems facing disadvantaged groups in particular older people and their caregivers in China. Older people and their predominantly family caregivers have limited access to computers which is compounded by lack of access to good health care. However, it is suggested that this will become a growth area as older people and their caregivers may well bypass traditional care for telehealth care and Internet information‐based systems.
Sedimentation and recent history of a freshwater wetland in a semi‐arid environment: Loboi Swamp, Kenya, East Africa
Authors: Ashley G. M. , Maitima Mworia J. , Muasya A. M. , Owen R. B. , Driese S. G. , Hover V. C. , Renaut R. W. , Goman M. F. , Mathai S. , Blatt S. H.
Published: November 2004

Loboi Swamp is a 1·5 km2 freshwater wetland situated near the equator in the Kenya Rift Valley. The climate is semi‐arid: precipitation is ≈ 700 mm year−1, and evapotranspiration is ≈ 2500 mm year−1. Some of the wetland water is currently used for irrigation. An interdisciplinary study was conducted on the geology, hydrology, pedology and biology of the wetland to determine its origin and history and to assess its longevity under present hydrological conditions. Sedimentary records from two piston cores (1·8 and 4 m long) indicate that the present wetland developed during the late Holocene on a low‐relief alluvial plain. Floodplain deposits (sandy silts) are capped with wetland sediments (organic‐rich clay and peat), which began to form at ≈ 700 BP. The swamp is dominated by Typha domingensis Pers. (≈ 80%) and floating Cyperus papyrus L. (20%). It is fed by warm springs (T ≈ 35 °C; pH ≈ 6·4–6·9) emanating from grid faults of the rift floor. Water compositions suggest that sources are dominated by shallow meteoric water, with little contribution from deeper geothermal fluids. Siderite concretions in the floodplain silts reflect the Fe‐reducing conditions that developed as the surface became submerged beneath the water table. The pollen record captured both local and more regional vegetation, showing the prevailing dry rift valley climate despite development of the wetter conditions on the valley floor. The diatom record also suggests a dramatic change in local hydrology. The combined biological records of this semi‐arid wetland indicate an abrupt change to wetter conditions, most probably as a result of a regional change in climate. Rift tectonics provided accommodation space, maintained the wetland at or below the water table and enabled spring recharge. The size of the modern wetland has been reduced by about 60% since 1969, which suggests that the system may now be under hydrological stress due to anthropogenic impacts from land‐use change.
Role of phenolics in the antioxidative status of the resurrection plant Ramonda serbica during dehydration and rehydration
Authors: Sgherri Cristina , Stevanovic Branka , Navari‐Izzo Flavia
Published: November 2004

Ramonda serbica plants dehydrated for 14 days reached a relative water content of 4.2% and entered into anabiosis prior to being rehydrated for 48 h. Total ascorbate (AsA + DHA) and glutathione (GSH + GSSG) contents increased during dehydration and approached control values by the end of rehydration. Reduced ascorbate (AsA) and glutathione (GSH) were consumed during the first 13 days of dehydration when guaiacol‐, syringaldazine‐ and phenolic peroxidases (EC 1.11.1.7) increased. At the end of dehydration AsA and GSH accumulated whereas peroxidases decreased to half the value of controls. In this period, plants of R. serbica face a phase of reduced metabolism and, thus, of reduced consumption of antioxidants. During rehydration, both AsA and GSH were utilized reaching, after 48 h, about 20 and 40% of their total pools, respectively; moreover peroxidases increased showing the recovery of metabolic activities. In the dehydration process total phenolic acids decreased, but accumulated after 5 h of rehydration and returned to control values at the end of rehydration. In R. serbica leaves, the most representative phenolic acids were protocatechuic, p‐hydroxybenzoic and chlorogenic acids. Most concentrated phenolic acids, such as protocatechuic and chlorogenic acids, accumulated during the first period of rehydration when AsA decreased. These results suggest a role of ascorbate in inhibiting oxidation when phenolic peroxidases remain at low levels. As a consequence of this inhibition, ascorbate was oxidized and when most of it was consumed, oxidation of phenols resumed.
Changes in the water binding characteristics of the cell walls from transgenic Nicotiana tabacum leaves with enhanced levels of peroxidase activity
Authors: Mercado José A. , Matas Antonio J. , Heredia Antonio , Valpuesta Victoriano , Quesada Miguel A.
Published: November 2004

Pore size in the cell wall matrix may affect cell wall–water relations, particularly under osmotic stress. Cross linkage of plant cell wall matrix polymers is an important step in the formation of this structure and peroxidases have been proposed to catalyse the cross‐linking of phenolic constituents. Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants expressing a basic tomato peroxidase gene (TPX2) showed increased apoplastic ferulic acid peroxidase activity in mature leaves. This enhanced activity was not associated with a decreased leaf growth. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of control dried cell walls showed a putative glass transition, after Ca2+ removal, that was absent in the transgenic line. This would indicate that transgenic walls were more rigid. DSC analysis of water‐hydrated cell wall preparations distinguished two pools of water, freezable and non‐freezable water. The amount of non‐freezable water, which corresponds to strongly bound water, was higher in the transgenic line (64 versus 55%). DSC thermograms of the transgenic cell wall were displaced to lower temperatures, and this may be interpreted as the result of a stronger interaction between this freezable water and this wall. Water sorption and desorption isotherms, obtained at relative humidity ranging from 5 to 93%, demonstrated the presence of very strongly bound water in the transgenic cell walls that was absent in controls. Water sorption–desorption hysteresis of the isotherms was evident in the control wall but not in the transgenic line. These changes in cell wall–water interaction seem to be relevant at the organ level because leaf discs of transgenic plants maintained higher relative water content than control discs, at water potentials between −1.05 and−2.31 MPa.
A novel FY allele in Brazilians
Authors: Castilho L. , Rios M. , Pellegrino J. , Saad S. T. O. , Costa F. F. , Reid M. E.
Published: November 2004

The GATA box single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at position −33 (T>C) in Blacks silences the expression of FY*B in erythrocytes, and the substitution 265 C>T, together with 298 G>A, weakens the Fyb antigen (Fyx). Individuals with these phenotypes/genotypes who receive Fy(b+) blood are unlikely to be alloimmunized to Fyb because, in the presence of 265 T, the Fyb antigen is expressed, and in the case of −33 C, other tissues express Duffy protein and probably the Fyb antigen. We studied samples from 361 blood donors (182 of African ancestry and 179 of Caucasian ancestry) by haemagglutination and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Forty Caucasian and 130 donors of African ancestry were serologically Fy(b–); among these, the majority of the donors of African ancestry had FY*B with the GATA SNP, while the majority of Caucasians typing Fy(b–) had FY*B with 265 T/298 A SNPs. Six of the Fy(b–) donors (three Africans and three Caucasians) had both GATA and 265/298 SNPs, and six donors of Caucasian ancestry apparently had a GATA SNP. Samples from two donors – one African and one Caucasian with an unusual MspA1I‐RFLP pattern – were sequenced and found to have a novel SNP (145 G>T) co‐existent with 265 C>T and 298 G>A SNPs. These findings highlight the importance of establishing the incidence and nature of molecular events that impact on Duffy expression in different populations.
The platelet count accuracy of platelet concentrates obtained by using automated analysis is influenced by instrument bias and activated platelet components
Authors: Hervig T. , Haugen T. , Liseth K. , Kjeldsen‐Kragh J. , Scott C. S. , Johannessen B.
Published: November 2004

Background and Objectives  The blood platelet content (in numbers) of platelet concentrates is required for production quality control and to predict clinical responses.

Materials and Methods  This study compared the performance of automated counting from impedance and optical instruments to data from immunoplatelet reference analysis.

Results  All methods showed good linearity with evidence of significant instrument‐specific deviations from the line of agreement. Relational formulae largely corrected bias, but did not resolve platelet count variability. A second confounding factor, related to the proportion of small (activated) platelets, was also shown to contribute to intermethod discrepancies.

Conclusions  Blood processing centres should establish correction factors for each instrument compared to reference methods, such as the immunoplatelet count.
CAPTOPRIL REVERSES THE REDUCED VASODILATOR RESPONSE TO BRADYKININ IN HYPERTENSIVE PREGNANT RATS
Authors: Resende AC , Pimentel AML , Soares de Moura R
Published: November 2004

1. Pregnancy in rats is characterized by a reduction in arterial pressure that is associated with a decreased response to vasoconstrictors. However, the responses to vasodilators in isolated vessels remain controversial and are not well established in hypertensive pregnant rats.

2. In the present study, we investigated the effect of pregnancy on the bradykinin (BK)‐induced vasodilator responses of the isolated mesenteric arterial bed (MAB) from Wistar normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and determined the role of nitric oxide (NO), endothelium‐derived hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF) and angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) in these responses.

3. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) in pregnant normotensive and pregnant hypertensive rats (93 ± 1 and 122 ± 2 mmHg, respectively) was lower than in non‐pregnant controls (128 ± 1 and 163 ± 2 mmHg, respectively; P < 0.05). In MAB isolated from normotensive rats and precontracted with phenylephrine, the effects of bradykinin, acetylcholine (ACh) and nitroglycerine (NG) were not influenced by pregnancy. In contrast, the vasodilator responses to BK were significantly reduced in pregnant compared with non‐pregnant SHR and seemed to be specific to BK.

4. The ACE inhibitor captopril potentiated BK vasodilator responses and abolished the differences between pregnant and non‐pregnant SHR. Inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) synthase by NG‐nitro‐l‐arginine methyl ester (l‐NAME) significantly reduced the vasodilator effect of BK in all groups. In the presence of l‐NAME plus high K+ solution (47 mmol/L), BK‐induced vasodilation was completely blocked. The NO‐dependent component of the responses seems to be more important in hypertensive rats and pregnancy does not modify this profile.

5. Our results suggest that increased ACE activity may be involved in the pregnancy associated reduction in vasodilator responses to BK in the MAB of hypertensive rats. Pregnancy does not modify the relative contribution of the EDHF and NO to the vasodilator effect of BK.
THE ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES TO COOPERATIVE AND NONCOOPERATIVE R&D*
Authors: ATALLAH GAMAL
Published: November 2004

The precompetitive R&D literature has viewed cooperative and noncooperative R&D as substitutes. In this paper a more realistic approach is taken, where both cooperative and noncooperative R&D are performed in parallel. In the first stage, firms determine the optimal investments in both types of R&D and in the second stage they compete in output. It is found that information sharing between cooperating firms contributes not only to cooperative R&D, but also to noncooperative R&D. The two types of R&D reinforce each other. The level of cooperative R&D may be higher or lower than noncooperative R&D. In a Cournot duopoly, the share of cooperative R&D lies between 20% and 80% of total R&D and this share increases with spillovers and information sharing. It is always optimal to subsidize half the costs of cooperative R&D, while the subsidy to noncooperative R&D is unchanged from the standard model. Consumers prefer intermediate levels of spillovers and information sharing, while firms prefer higher levels of spillovers, which entail lower levels of information sharing.
Supply and Operations: Parallel Paths and Integrated Strategies
Authors: Brown Steve , Cousins Paul D.
Published: November 2004

This paper provides evidence of links between the nature of strategic formulation within firms and subsequent plant performance. The research focuses on how some firms have managed to link operations and supply into an integrated set of mutually supportive strategies. In the current competitive arena firms can no longer rely wholly on internal resource‐based capabilities but must instead form strategic partnerships within what are often complex networks. The paper explores how operations and supply functions have pursued parallel paths but have often not been fully integrated within firms. It is argued that such integration, which forms part of what has been termedstrategic resonance, can reap enormous benefits in terms of plant‐level capabilities for firms.
W. ARTHUR LEWIS VERSUS THE LEWIS MODEL: AGRICULTURAL OR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT?
Authors: FIGUEROA MARK
Published: November 2004

The well‐known Lewis model was inspired by one of the models which W. Arthur Lewis presented in 1954. Yet it fails to capture his basic insights, leaving generations of students with the misapprehension that he saw industrialization as a panacea. If we avoid the limitations of the neoclassical recasting and reflect on the variations of Lewis's models, which he presented within the classical tradition, we can re‐evaluate some of Lewis's neglected contributions. These relate to accumulation and trade as historical and contemporary problems and to the fundamental role that agriculture plays in development.
Recognition of transposed melodies by absolute‐pitch possessors
Authors: MIYAZAKI KEN'ICHI
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  Melody recognition experiments were carried out to investigate how absolute‐pitch listeners deal with melodies in a tonal context. In each trial, a short standard melody was presented auditorily with piano sounds in Experiment 1 and visually in the format of musical notation in Experiment 2, and a comparison melody followed, always in piano sounds. Listeners were required to determine whether the two melodies were the same or different with respect to relative pitch. The listeners who had absolute pitch performed more poorly in comparing transposed melodies than in comparing nontransposed melodies, and their performance for transposed melodies was significantly poorer than that of the listeners who did not have absolute pitch. These results suggest that absolute pitch may work to a serious disadvantage to musicians in dealing with melodies in different tonal contexts.
Parsing and memorizing tonal and modal melodies1
Authors: OURA YOKO , HATANO GIYOO
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  The role that style‐specific (form‐ and syntactic rules‐based) parsing strategies play in melodic memory was investigated. Two melodies of different styles, a tonal melody in the style of Western tonal music and a modal (Japanese traditional) melody, were used as materials. The results showed that: (i) musically experienced students who had years of experience playing pieces of Western tonal piano music could parse the tonal melody promptly and appropriately, but could not achieve stable parsing for the modal melody; (ii) inexperienced students took a little longer to segment the tonal melody, but could memorize the tonal melody easily when parsing preceded the memorizing task; however, (iii) the inexperienced students could not parse the modal melody stably, and their recall performance was not enhanced even when their parsing was led to be stable and appropriate by demonstrating successive phrases in the melody. These results indicate that stable parsing is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for prompt melodic memory.
Diagnostic and Prognostic Impact of Nuclear Cardiology in the Management of Acute Coronary Syndromes and Acute Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Pirich C. , Graf S. , Behesthi M.
Published: November 2004

Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) using nuclear techniques is a well‐established diagnostic tool in the management of patients after acute coronary syndromes (ACS) or acute myocardial infarction (AMI) providing non‐invasively information about perfusion and function. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is routinely applied for MPI allowing the characterization of localization, extent and severity of perfusion abnormalities. During recent years gated SPECT MPI has emerged to a technique that can accurately define individual patient risk among clinically stable survivors of AMI by the assessment of total left ventricular (LV) perfusion defect size, the extent of inducible ischaemia, and the degree of LV dysfunction. The documented prognostic value of these scintigraphic parameters is of clinical importance to guide decision‐making in the cardiac patient. Moreover, the cost‐effectiveness of implemented MPI in the work‐up of patients after AMI has been demonstrated.
Studies on preliminary concentration methods for recovery of fetal nucleated red blood cells in maternal blood
Authors: Wachi Toshiki , Kitagawa Michihiro
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACT  Non‐invasive prenatal diagnostic methods posing no danger to the embryo have been desired for many years in the field of prenatal medicine. We are in the process of improving the lectin method that we developed for recovering fetus‐derived nucleated red blood cells (NRBC) in the maternal peripheral blood. We previously used Ficoll density‐gradient centrifugation for preliminary concentration in the lectin method. In the present study, we developed a molecular filter method, compared it with the Ficoll method, and tested its applicability to prenatal diagnosis. We tested the usefulness of a high molecular filter method for preliminary concentration. First, in a basic study, we prepared three kinds of non‐woven cloth (NWC1‐3) and a multi‐porous filter (MP) to determine the optimal filter. Next, we compared the recovery rates of the Ficoll and filter methods as preliminary concentration methods in 34 normal pregnant women. Then, to examine whether the recovered NRBC were derived from the fetus, we attempted prenatal diagnosis by the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique in 12 women pregnant with a male fetus (determined later by ultrasound) at between 8 and 16 weeks of gestation. Among the four devices used in the basic study of the high molecular filter method, NWC‐2 had the best recovery rate. Therefore, we compared the numbers of NRBC recovered by the lectin method after preliminary concentration with NWC‐2 or by Ficoll centrifugation, and found that the mean recovery rate of NWC‐2 was 4.2 ± 5.0 times as high as that of the Ficoll method, indicating that the NWC‐2 filter method is superior as a preliminary concentration method. Next, FISH analysis of the 12 pregnant women with a male fetus for the Y chromosome showed that 19.5 ± 12.8 NRBC were recovered, in 12.7 ± 8.1 (63.6%) of which a Y signal was confirmed, suggesting the NWC‐2 filter method can be applied to prenatal diagnosis. We consider the filter–lectin method to be a superior method for isolation and recovery of NRBC in the maternal blood which can be applied to prenatal diagnosis.
Comparative toxicity study of 2,4,6‐trinitrophenol (picric acid) in newborn and young rats
Authors: Takahashi Mika , Ogata Hidehiro , Izumi Hiroyuki , Yamashita Kotaro , Takechi Masato , Hirata‐Koizumi Mutsuko , Kamata Eiichi , Hasegawa Ryuichi , Ema Makoto
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACT  The toxicity of oral 2,4,6‐trinitrophenol (TNP) was determined in newborn rats, and compared with that in young rats. In newborn rats, males and females were given TNP at 0, 16.3, 81.4 or 407 mg/kg per day on postnatal days (PND) 4–17 for the dose‐finding study, and at 0, 4.1, 16.3 or 65.1 mg/kg per day on PND 4–21 for the main study. Deaths, lower body weight (BW) and behavioral changes were found at 81.4 and 407 mg/kg per day in the dose‐finding study, and lower BW was observed in males at 65.1 mg/kg per day during the dosing period of the main study. In young rats, 5‐week‐old males and females were given TNP at 0, 20, 100 or 500 mg/kg per day for 14 days as the dose‐finding study and at 0, 4, 20 or 100 mg/kg per day for 28 days as the main study. Deaths were observed at 500 mg/kg per day in the dose‐finding study. Deaths or changes in BW were not found at 100 mg/kg per day or less. At 100 mg/kg per day, hemolytic anemia and testicular toxicity were found. In conclusion, toxicity profiles induced by TNP were markedly different between newborn and young rats.
Regional, disease specific patterns of smoking-attributable mortality in 2000
Authors: Ezzati M , Lopez A D
Published: November 2004

Background:Smoking has been causally associated with increased mortality from several diseases, and has increased considerably in many developing countries in the past few decades. Mortality attributable to smoking in the year 2000 was estimated for adult males and females, including estimates by age and for specific diseases in 14 epidemiological subregions of the world.

Methods:Lung cancer mortality was used as an indirect marker of the accumulated hazard of smoking. Never-smoker lung cancer mortality was estimated based on the household use of coal with poor ventilation. Estimates of mortality caused by smoking were made for lung cancer, upper aerodigestive cancer, all other cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), other respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and selected other medical causes. Estimates were limited to ages 30 years and above.

Results:In 2000, an estimated 4.83 million premature deaths in the world were attributable to smoking, 2.41 million in developing countries and 2.43 million in industrialised countries. There were 3.84 million male deaths and 1.00 million female deaths attributable to smoking. 2.69 million smoking attributable deaths were between the ages of 30–69 years, and 2.14 million were 70 years of age and above. The leading causes of death from smoking in industrialised regions were cardiovascular diseases (1.02 million deaths), lung cancer (0.52 million deaths), and COPD (0.31 million deaths), and in the developing world cardiovascular diseases (0.67 million deaths), COPD (0.65 million deaths), and lung cancer (0.33 million deaths). The share of male and female deaths and younger and older adult deaths, and of various diseases in total smoking attributable deaths exhibited large inter-regional heterogeneity, especially in the developing world.

Conclusions:Smoking was an important cause of global mortality in 2000, affecting a large number of diseases. Age, sex, and disease patterns of smoking-caused mortality varied greatly across regions, due to both historical and current smoking patterns, and the presence of other risk factors that affect background mortality from specific diseases.
An international analysis of cigarette affordability
Authors: Blecher E H , van Walbeek C P
Published: November 2004

Objective:To investigate how affordable cigarettes are in developed and developing countries, and to calculate by how much the affordability of cigarettes has changed between 1990 and 2001; and secondly, to investigate the relation between cigarette affordability and consumption.

Design:Affordability was defined as the cost of cigarettes relative to per capita income. Trends in cigarette affordability, and affordability elasticities of demand, were estimated using regression techniques.

Subjects:Seventy countries were investigated, of which 28 are categorised as high income developed countries, while 42 are categorised as developing countries. Cigarette prices were obtained for the main city/cities in the countries.

Results:Despite the fact that cigarettes are more expensive in developed countries, the high levels of income make cigarettes more affordable in these countries vis-à-vis developing countries. Of the 28 developed countries, cigarettes became more affordable in 11 and less affordable in 17 countries during the 1990s. Of the 42 developing countries, cigarettes became more affordable in 24 and less affordable in 18 countries. Based on a cross sectional analysis, a 1% increase in the relative income price (the inverse of cigarette affordability) is expected to decrease cigarette consumption by between 0.49–0.57%.

Conclusions:Cigarette affordability, more than just the price, determines cigarette consumption. While cigarettes have become more affordable in many developing countries, some developing countries (for example, South Africa, Poland, and Thailand) have implemented strong and effective tobacco control policies, and have been able to decrease cigarette consumption as a result.
Tobacco use in popular movies during the past decade
Authors: Mekemson C , Glik D , Titus K , Myerson A , Shaivitz A , Ang A , Mitchell S
Published: November 2004

Objective:The top 50 commercially successful films released per year from 1991 to 2000 were content coded to assess trends in tobacco use over time and attributes of films predictive of higher smoking rates.

Design:This observational study used media content analysis methods to generate data about tobacco use depictions in films studied (n  =  497). Films are the basic unit of analysis. Once films were coded and preliminary analysis completed, outcome data were transformed to approximate multivariate normality before being analysed with general linear models and longitudinal mixed method regression methods.

Main outcome measures:Tobacco use per minute of film was the main outcome measure used. Predictor variables include attributes of films and actors. Tobacco use was defined as any cigarette, cigar, and chewing tobacco use as well as the display of smoke and cigarette paraphernalia such as ashtrays, brand names, or logos within frames of films reviewed.

Results:Smoking rates in the top films fluctuated yearly over the decade with an overall modest downward trend (p < 0.005), with the exception of R rated films where rates went up.

Conclusions:The decrease in smoking rates found in films in the past decade is modest given extensive efforts to educate the entertainment industry on this issue over the past decade. Monitoring, education, advocacy, and policy change to bring tobacco depiction rates down further should continue.
Impacts of the Master Settlement Agreement on the tobacco industry
Authors: Sloan F A , Mathews C A , Trogdon J G
Published: November 2004

Objective:To assess effects of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) and the four individual state settlements on tobacco company decisions and performance.

Design:10-K reports filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, firm and daily data from the Center for Research in Security Prices, stock price indices, market share and advertising data, cigarette export and domestic consumption data, and newspaper articles were used to assess changes before (1990–98) and after (1999–2002) the MSA was implemented.

Subjects:Five major tobacco manufacturers in the USA.

Main outcome measures:Stockholder returns, operating performance of defendant companies, exports, market share of the original participants in the MSA, and advertising/promotion expenditures.

Results:Returns to investments in the tobacco industry exceeded returns from investments in securities of other companies, using each of four indexes as comparators. Domestic tobacco revenues increased during 1999–2002 from pre-MSA levels. Profits from domestic sales rose from levels prevailing immediately before the MSA. There is no indication that the MSA caused an increase in tobacco exports. Total market share of the original participating manufacturers in the MSA decreased. Total advertising expenditures by the tobacco companies increased at a higher rate than the 1990–98 trend during 1999–2002, but total advertising expenditures net of spending on coupons and promotions decreased.

Conclusion:The experience during the post-MSA period demonstrates that the MSA did no major harm to the companies. Some features of the MSA appear to have increased company value and profitability.
A nicotine delivery device without the nicotine? Tobacco industry development of low nicotine cigarettes
Authors: Dunsby J , Bero L
Published: November 2004

Background:Defining harm reduction and regulating potentially reduced exposure products (PREPs), including low nicotine products, are key issues in tobacco control policy. The US Congress has been considering legislation authorising the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products.

Objective:To investigate tobacco industry perceptions, interests, motivations, and knowledge regarding the marketability of low nicotine tobacco products.

Methods:Qualitative analysis of internal tobacco industry documents identified in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library between February 2002 and June 2004. Search terms included low-, no-, reduced-nicotine; denicotinization; low-, reduced- alkaloids; Next; de-nic; and key names of people, organisations, projects, and their common abbreviations and acronyms.

Results:The tobacco industry has made repeated efforts to develop low nicotine cigarettes. Reasons for doing so include consumer appeal and economic importance in a highly competitive cigarette market for “healthier” products. The industry considered the development of a new “denic” market segment a critical challenge.

Conclusions:The tobacco industry exploits consumer misunderstanding of the health effects of nicotine in development and marketing efforts. The industry has risked the development of a less addictive product to expand the market reach of tobacco products based on perceived health benefits and appeal to quitters.
A mire of highly subjective and ineffective voluntary guidelines: tobacco industry efforts to thwart tobacco control in Malaysia: Figure 1
Authors: Assunta M , Chapman S
Published: November 2004

Objective:To describe tobacco industry efforts in Malaysia to thwart government efforts to regulate tobacco promotion and health warnings.

Methods:Systematic keyword and opportunistic website searches of formerly private tobacco industry internal documents made available through the Master Settlement Agreement and secondary websites; relevant information from news articles and financial reports.

Results:Commencing in the 1970s, the industry began to systematically thwart government tobacco control. Guidelines were successfully promoted in the place of legislation for over two decades. Even when the government succeeded in implementing regulations such as health warnings and advertising bans they were compromised and acted effectively to retard further progress for years to come.

Conclusion:Counter-measures to delay or thwart government efforts to regulate tobacco were initiated by the industry. Though not unique to Malaysia, the main difference lies in the degree to which strategies were used to successfully counter stringent tobacco control measures between 1970 and 1995.
A “clean cigarette” for a clean nation: a case study of Salem Pianissimo in Japan
Authors: Assunta M , Chapman S
Published: November 2004

Objective:To illustrate, through internal industry documents, how RJ Reynolds exploited the concerns of the Japanese society about cleanliness to market the concept of cleaner, implicitly healthier cigarettes in Japan.

Design:Systematic keyword and opportunistic website searches of formerly private internal industry documents.

Results:Industry documents show that RJ Reynolds developed marketing plans based upon their cultural assumptions of Japanese people as fastidious about hygiene and manners, and with relatively high penchants to try new products. RJ Reynolds found there was also a growing concern for health, the environment, and smokers were conscious about annoying others. Deodorised consumer products were one of Japan’s biggest trends. These characteristics presented RJ Reynolds with a profitable formula for marketing Salem Pianissimo, a clean cigarette with less smell and smoke. Salem Pianissimo, a 100 mm cigarette claiming to contain 1 mg tar and 0.1 mg nicotine, targeted women since menthol cigarettes were popular among 18–24 year old female smokers, although Japan’s law prohibited those below 20 years to smoke and the tobacco industry had a voluntary code disallowing advertising to women and youth.

Conclusion:RJ Reynolds successfully launched its clean cigarette, Salem Pianissimo, in Japan aiming to exploit perceived cultural characteristics such as a penchant for cleanliness, an eagerness to try new products, and social harmony.
The tobacco industry’s accounts of refining indirect tobacco advertising in Malaysia
Authors: Assunta M , Chapman S
Published: November 2004

Objective:To explore tobacco industry accounts of its use of indirect tobacco advertising and trademark diversification (TMD) in Malaysia, a nation with a reputation for having an abundance of such advertising.

Methods:Systematic keyword and opportunistic website searches of formerly private tobacco industry internal documents made available through the Master Settlement Agreement.

Results:132 documents relevant to the topic were reviewed. TMD efforts were created to advertise cigarettes after advertising restrictions on direct advertising were imposed in 1982. To build public credibility the tobacco companies set up small companies and projected them as entities independent of tobacco. Each brand selected an activity or event such as music, travel, fashion, and sports that best suited its image. RJ Reynolds sponsored music events to advertise its Salem brand while Philip Morris used Marlboro World of Sports since advertising restrictions prevented the use of the Marlboro man in broadcast media. Despite a ban on tobacco advertisements in the mass media, tobacco companies were the top advertisers in the country throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The media’s dependence on advertising revenue and support from the ruling elite played a part in delaying efforts to ban indirect advertising.

Conclusion:Advertising is crucial for the tobacco industry. When faced with an advertising ban they created ways to circumvent it, such as TMDs.
Complicity in contraband: British American Tobacco and cigarette smuggling in Asia
Authors: Collin J , LeGresley E , MacKenzie R , Lawrence S , Lee K
Published: November 2004

Objectives:To examine the complicity of British American Tobacco (BAT) in cigarette smuggling in Asia, and to assess the centrality of illicit trade to regional corporate strategy.

Methods:Analysis of previously confidential documents from BAT’s Guildford depository. An iterative strategy combined searches based on geography, organisational structure, and key personnel, while corporate euphemisms for contraband were identified by triangulation.

Results:BAT documents demonstrate the strategic importance of smuggling across global, regional, national, and local levels. Particularly important in Asia, contraband enabled access to closed markets, created pressure for market opening, and was highly profitable. Documents demonstrate BAT’s detailed oversight of illicit trade, seeking to reconcile the conflicting demands of control and deniability.

Conclusions:BAT documents demonstrate that smuggling has been driven by corporate objectives, indicate national measures by which the problem can be addressed, and highlight the importance of a coordinated global response via WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
“Almost a role model of what we would like to do everywhere”: British American Tobacco in Cambodia
Authors: MacKenzie R , Collin J , Sopharo C , Sopheap Y
Published: November 2004

Objectives:To examine British American Tobacco’s (BAT’s) renewed interest in Cambodia from the early 1990s, reviewing negotiations to establish a joint venture and the subsequent conduct of BAT Cambodia (BATC).

Methods:Analysis of previously confidential BAT documents relevant to the Cambodian market.

Results:With the advent of comparative political stability in the early 1990s, BAT was quick to explore the possibilities for investment. The Cambodian government urgently required foreign investment, offering inducements and assistance to investors. In developing a joint venture, BAT saw a cost effective opportunity to dominate the local market and to defend its regional interests, Cambodia being viewed as strategically located to support smuggling. Given minimal advertising regulation, BATC have undertaken wide ranging promotions and sought to prevent advances in tobacco control.

Conclusions:BATC is presented as a contribution to Cambodia’s regeneration, but the documents highlight its exploitation of state incapacity and an escalating threat to public health.
FAITHFUL IDEAL MODELS FOR RECURSIVE POLYMORPHIC TYPES
Authors: ABADI MARTÍN , PIERCE BENJAMIN , PLOTKIN GORDON
Published: November 2004

We explore ideal models for a programming language with recursive polymorphic types, variants of the model studied by MacQueen, Plotkin, and Sethi. The use of suitable ideals yields a close fit between models and programming language. Two of our semantics of type expressions are faithful, in the sense that programs that behave identically in all contexts have exactly the same types.
PSPACE SURVIVES CONSTANT-WIDTH BOTTLENECKS
Authors: CAI JIN-YI , FURST MERRICK
Published: November 2004

We discuss the relationship between constant-width branching programs and a hierarchy of languages lying between P and PSPACE. We introduce a notion of serializability. A computation is [Formula: see text]-serializable if it can be organized into a sequence of local computations, c1, c2,…, cr, each of limited power (imposed by the complexity class [Formula: see text]), each passing only a few bits of information (a bottleneck) as the result of its computation to the next local computation.

By an application of Barrington’s method on branching programs we show that PSPACE is LOGSPACE-serializable with a constant-width bottleneck.
EDGE-DELETION GRAPH PROBLEMS WITH FIRST-ORDER EXPRESSIBLE SUBGRAPH PROPERTIES
Authors: ARVIND V. , BISWAS S.
Published: November 2004

In this paper edge-deletion problems are studied with a new perspective. In general an edge-deletion problem is of the form: Given a graph G, does it have a subgraph H obtained by deleting zero or more edges such that H satisfies a polynomial-time verifiable property? This paper restricts attention to first-order expressible properties. If the property is expressed by π, which in prenex normal form is Q(Φ) where Q is the quantifier-prefix, then we prove results on the quantifier structure that characterize the complexity of the edge-deletion problem. In particular we give polynomial-time algorithms for problems for which Q is ‘simple’ and in other cases we encode certain NP-complete problems as edge-deletion problems, essentially using the quantifier structure of π. We also present evidence that Q alone cannot capture the complexity of the edge-deletion problem.
A RELATIONAL MODEL OF DEMONIC NONDETERMINISTIC PROGRAMS
Authors: NGUYEN THANH TUNG
Published: November 2004

The paper gives a self-contained account of a calculus of relations from basic operations through the treatment of recursive relation equations. This calculus serves as an algebraic apparatus for defining the denotational semantics of Dijkstra’s nondeterministic sequential programming language. Nondeterministic programs are modeled by binary relations, objects of an algebraic structure founded upon the operations “union”, “left restriction”, “demonic composition”, “demonic union”, and the ordering “restriction of”. Recursion and iteration are interpreted as fixed points of continuous relationals. Developed in the framework of set theory, this calculus may be regarded as a systematic generalization of the functional style.
EFFICIENT DETECTORS AND CONSTRUCTORS FOR SIMPLE LANGUAGES
Authors: Huynh Dung T.
Published: November 2004

In this paper, we investigate the complexity of computing the detector, constructor and lexicographic constructor functions for a given language. The following classes of languages will be considered: (1) context-free languages, (2) regular sets, (3) languages accepted by one-way nondeterministic auxiliary pushdown automata, (4) languages accepted by one-way nondeterministic logspace-bounded Turing machines, (5) two-way deterministic pushdown automaton languages, (6) languages accepted by uniform families of constant-depth polynomial-size Boolean circuits, and (7) languages accepted by multihead finite automata. We show that for the classes (1)–(4), efficient detectors, constructors and lexicographic constructors exist, whereas for (5)– (7) polynomial-time computable detectors, constructors and lexicographic constructors exist iff there are no sparse sets in NP−P (or equivalently, E=NE). Our results provide sharp boundaries between classes of languages which have efficient detectors, constructors and classes of languages for which efficient detectors and constructors do not appear to exist.
ON THE STAR OPERATION IN FREE PARTIALLY COMMUTATIVE MONOIDS
Authors: MÉTIVIER YVES , ROZOY BRIGITTE
Published: November 2004

Let X be a finite set of traces. In this paper we show that each connected iterative factor of X* has a power which may be expressed as the conjugate of a product of the elements of X. From this property we deduce that if the star of a finite set of traces is recognizable then maximal connected factors of iterative factors of X* have a power which is the conjugate of a product of the elements of X.
OPTIMAL PARALLEL ENCODING AND DECODING ALGORITHMS FOR TREES
Authors: OLARIU STEPHAN , SCHWING JAMES L. , ZHANG JINGYUAN
Published: November 2004

Encoding the shape of a binary tree is a basic step in a number of algorithms in integrated circuit design, automated theorem proving, and game playing. We propose cost-optimal parallel algorithms to solve the binary tree encoding/decoding problem. Specifically, we encode the relevant shape information of an n-node binary tree in a 2n bitstring. Conversely, given an arbitrary 2n bitstring we reconstruct the shape of the corresponding binary tree, if such a tree exists. All our algorithms run in O (log n) time using O (n/log n) processors in the EREW-PRAM model of computation.
LEARNING CLASSES OF LINEARLY SEPARABLE BOOLEAN FUNCTIONS FROM POSITIVE EXAMPLES
Authors: CAMPADELLI PAOLA , MORPURGO ANNA
Published: November 2004

This paper deals with learnability from positive examples of subclasses of linearly separable boolean functions in the framework of the probably approximately correct learning model. We prove that classes of functions defined by binary threshold neurons with n inputs and g(n) unknown weights are learnable in polynomial time iff g(n)=O(log n) and give an upper and a lower bound on the sample size.
WHEN IS A CATEGORY OF MANY-SORTED ALGEBRAS CARTESIAN CLOSED?
Authors: OLES FRANK J.
Published: November 2004

The category of all S-sorted Σ-algebras is Cartesian closed iff all the operation symbols in Σ are strictly unary.
ROUTING ALGORITHMS FOR DOUBLE LOOP NETWORKS
Authors: CHENG Y. , HWANG F.K. , AKYILDIZ I.F. , HSU D.F.
Published: November 2004

We give a new routing algorithm for double loop networks with n nodes which requires O(log n) time for preprocessing and constant processing time at each node on the route. A simple modification of the algorithm works for the case of a single fault (either node or link). The routing is always through a shortest path and the only information needed by a node to process is the address of the destination.
UPDATING BINARY TREES WITH CONSTANT LINKAGE COST
Authors: OTTMANN THOMAS , WOOD DERICK
Published: November 2004

We present a unifying framework for balanced binary trees from which we obtain general conditions under which insertions and deletions make a constant number of promotions and, hence, a constant number of link changes. In addition, the update algorithms also take logarithmic time in the worst case. This general result provides insight into the known constant-linkage-cost update algorithms for red-black, red-h-black, and half-balanced trees. Moreover, we can design new constant-linkage-cost update algorithms for these classes of trees as well as for other classes; for example, we give constant-linkage-cost update algorithms for α-balanced trees.
CONSTRAINED HEBBIAN LEARNING: GRADIENT DESCENT TO GLOBAL MINIMA IN AN n-DIMENSIONAL LANDSCAPE
Authors: Chauvin Yves
Published: November 2004

This behavior of a constrained linear computing unit is analysed during “Hebbian” learning by gradient descent of a cost function corresponding to the sum of a variance maximization and a weight normalization term. The n-dimensional landscape of this cost function is shown to be composed of one local maximum and of n saddle points plus one global minimum aligned with the principal components of the input patterns. Furthermore, the landscape can be described in terms of hyperspheres, hypercrests, and hypervalleys associated with each of these principal components. Using this description, it is shown that the learning trajectory will converge to the global minimum of the landscape corresponding to the main principal component of the input patterns, provided some conditions on the starting weights and on the learning rate of the descent procedure. Extensions and implications of the algorithm are discussed.