bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Incidence of rough and irregular atmospheric ice particles from Small Ice Detector 3 measurements
Authors: Ulanowski Z. , Kaye P. H. , Hirst E. , Greenaway R. S. , Cotton R. J. , Hesse E. , Collier C. T.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. The knowledge of properties of ice crystals such as size, shape, concavity and roughness is critical in the context of radiative properties of ice and mixed phase clouds. Limitations of current cloud probes to measure these properties can be circumvented by acquiring two-dimensional light scattering patterns instead of particle images. Such patterns were obtained in situ for the first time using the Small Ice Detector 3 (SID-3) probe during several flights in a variety of mid-latitude mixed phase and cirrus clouds. The patterns are analyzed using several measures of pattern texture, selected to reveal the magnitude of particle roughness or complexity. The retrieved roughness is compared to values obtained from a range of well-characterized test particles in the laboratory. It is found that typical in situ roughness corresponds to that found in the rougher subset of the test particles, and sometimes even extends beyond the most extreme values found in the laboratory. In this study we do not differentiate between small-scale, fine surface roughness and large-scale crystal complexity. Instead, we argue that both can have similar manifestations in terms of light scattering properties and also similar causes. Overall, the in situ data is consistent with ice particles with highly irregular or rough surfaces being dominant. Similar magnitudes of roughness were found in growth and sublimation zones of cirrus. The roughness was found to be negatively correlated with the halo ratio, but not with other thermodynamic or microphysical properties found in situ. Slightly higher roughness was observed in cirrus forming in clean oceanic airmasses than in a continental, polluted one. Overall, the roughness and complexity is expected to lead to increased shortwave cloud reflectivity, in comparison with cirrus composed of more regular, smooth ice crystal shapes. These findings put into question suggestions that climate could be modified through aerosol seeding to reduce cirrus cover and optical depth, as the seeding may result in decreased shortwave reflectivity.
Identification of response and timing issues at permanent European broadband stations from automated data analysis
Authors: Weidle C. , Soomro R. A. , Cristiano L. , Meier T.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. We apply automated two-station broadband phase velocity dispersion measurements to all available broadband data from permanent seismic stations in Europe, as available through the European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA, http://www.orfeus-eu.org/eida/) infrastructure. As part of our quality control we detect several typical patterns in our measurements that can be related to technical problems, incorrect metadata information or uncover inconsistencies in data processing routines. These effects include timing and various response issues, most prominently erroneous response information. Our procedure is thus able to identify potentially problematic (meta)data from a large set of seismic data and offers an applicable way to increase data quality at data centers.
Quantification of model uncertainty in aerosol optical thickness retrieval from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) measurements
Authors: Määttä A. , Laine M. , Tamminen J. , Veefkind J. P.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. We study uncertainty quantification in remote sensing of aerosols in the atmosphere with top of the atmosphere reflectance measurements from the nadir-viewing Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). Focus is on the uncertainty in aerosol model selection of pre-calculated aerosol models and on the statistical modelling of the model inadequacies. The aim is to apply statistical methodologies that improve the uncertainty estimates of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) retrieval by propagating model selection and model error related uncertainties more realistically. We utilise Bayesian model selection and model averaging methods for the model selection problem and use Gaussian processes to model the smooth systematic discrepancies from the modelled to observed reflectance. The systematic model error is learned from an ensemble of operational retrievals. The operational OMI multi-wavelength aerosol retrieval algorithm OMAERO is used for cloud free, over land pixels of the OMI instrument with the additional Bayesian model selection and model discrepancy techniques. The method is demonstrated with four examples with different aerosol properties: weakly absorbing aerosols, forest fires over Greece and Russia, and Sahara dessert dust. The presented statistical methodology is general; it is not restricted to this particular satellite retrieval application.
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF ORDERED WEIGHTED AVERAGING OPERATOR IN EARTHQUAKE VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT
Authors: Moradi M. , Delavar M. R. , Moshiri B.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. The main objective of this research is to find the extent to which the minimal variability Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) model of seismic vulnerability assessment is sensitive to variation of optimism degree. There are a variety of models proposed for seismic vulnerability assessment. In order to examine the efficiency of seismic vulnerability assessment models, the stability of results could be analysed. Seismic vulnerability assessment is done to estimate the probable losses in the future earthquake. Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods have been applied by a number of researchers to estimate the human, physical and financial losses in urban areas. The study area of this research is Tehran Metropolitan Area (TMA) which has more than eight million inhabitants. In addition, this paper assumes that North Tehran Fault (NTF) is activated and caused an earthquake in TMA. 1996 census data is used to extract the attribute values for six effective criteria in seismic vulnerability assessment. The results demonstrate that minimal variability OWA model of Seismic Loss Estimation (SLE) is more stable where the aggregated seismic vulnerability degree has a lower value. Moreover, minimal variability OWA is very sensitive to optimism degree in northern areas of Tehran. A number of statistical units in southern areas of the city also indicate considerable sensitivity to optimism degree due to numerous non-standard buildings. In addition, the change of seismic vulnerability degree caused by variation of optimism degree does not exceed 25 % of the original value which means that the overall accuracy of the model is acceptable.
SPATIAL DEFORESTATION MODELILNG USING CELLULAR AUTOMATA (CASE STUDY: CENTRAL ZAGROS FORESTS)
Authors: Naghdizadegan M. , Behifar M. , Mirbagheri B.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. Forests have been highly exploited in recent decades in Iran and deforestation is going to be the major environmental concern due to its role in destruction of natural ecosystem and soil cover. Therefore, finding the effective parameters in deforestation and simulation of this process can help the management and preservation of forests. It helps predicting areas of deforestation in near future which is a useful tool for making socioeconomic disciplines in order to prevent deforestation in the area. Recently, GIS technologies are widely employed to support public policies in order to preserve ecosystems from undesirable human activities. The aim of this study is modelling the distribution of forest destruction in part of Central Zagros Mountains and predicting its process in future. In this paper we developed a Cellular Automata (CA) model for deforestation process due to its high performance in spatial modelling, land cover change prediction and its compatibility with GIS. This model is going to determine areas with deforestation risk in the future. Land cover maps were explored using high spatial resolution satellite imageries and the forest land cover was extracted. In order to investigate the deforestation modelling, major elements of forest destruction relating to human activity and also physiographic parameters was explored and the suitability map was produced. Then the suitability map in combination with neighbourhood parameter was used to develop the CA model. Moreover, neighbourhood, suitability and stochastic disturbance term were calibrated in order to improve the simulation results. Regarding this, several neighbourhood configurations and different temporal intervals were tested. The accuracy of model was evaluated using satellite image. The results showed that the developed CA model in this research has proper performance in simulation of deforestation process. This model also predicted the areas with high potential for future deforestation.
MAXIMUM MARGIN CLUSTERING OF HYPERSPECTRAL DATA
Authors: Niazmardi S. , Safari A. , Homayouni S.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. In recent decades, large margin methods such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are supposed to be the state-of-the-art of supervised learning methods for classification of hyperspectral data. However, the results of these algorithms mainly depend on the quality and quantity of available training data. To tackle down the problems associated with the training data, the researcher put effort into extending the capability of large margin algorithms for unsupervised learning. One of the recent proposed algorithms is Maximum Margin Clustering (MMC). The MMC is an unsupervised SVMs algorithm that simultaneously estimates both the labels and the hyperplane parameters. Nevertheless, the optimization of the MMC algorithm is a non-convex problem. Most of the existing MMC methods rely on the reformulating and the relaxing of the non-convex optimization problem as semi-definite programs (SDP), which are computationally very expensive and only can handle small data sets. Moreover, most of these algorithms are two-class classification, which cannot be used for classification of remotely sensed data. In this paper, a new MMC algorithm is used that solve the original non-convex problem using Alternative Optimization method. This algorithm is also extended for multi-class classification and its performance is evaluated. The results of the proposed algorithm show that the algorithm has acceptable results for hyperspectral data clustering.
EXTRACTING ROAD FEATURES FROM AERIAL VIDEOS OF SMALL UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES
Authors: Rajamohan D. , Rajan K. S.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. With major aerospace companies showing interest in certifying UAV systems for civilian airspace, their use in commercial remote sensing applications like traffic monitoring, map refinement, agricultural data collection, etc., are on the rise. But ambitious requirements like real-time geo-referencing of data, support for multiple sensor angle-of-views, smaller UAV size and cheaper investment cost have lead to challenges in platform stability, sensor noise reduction and increased onboard processing. Especially in small UAVs the geo-referencing of data collected is only as good as the quality of their localization sensors. This drives a need for developing methods that pickup spatial features from the captured video/image and aid in geo-referencing. This paper presents one such method to identify road segments and intersections based on traffic flow and compares well with the accuracy of manual observation. Two test video datasets, one each from moving and stationary platforms were used. The results obtained show a promising average percentage difference of 7.01 % and 2.48 % for the road segment extraction process using moving and stationary platform respectively. For the intersection identification process, the moving platform shows an accuracy of 75 % where as the stationary platform data reaches an accuracy of 100 %.
WEIBULL MULTIPLICATIVE MODEL AND MACHINE LEARNING MODELS FOR FULL-AUTOMATIC DARK-SPOT DETECTION FROM SAR IMAGES
Authors: Taravat A. , Del Frate F.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. As a major aspect of marine pollution, oil release into the sea has serious biological and environmental impacts. Among remote sensing systems (which is a tool that offers a non-destructive investigation method), synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can provide valuable synoptic information about the position and size of the oil spill due to its wide area coverage and day/night, and all-weather capabilities. In this paper we present a new automated method for oil-spill monitoring. A new approach is based on the combination of Weibull Multiplicative Model and machine learning techniques to differentiate between dark spots and the background. First, the filter created based on Weibull Multiplicative Model is applied to each sub-image. Second, the sub-image is segmented by two different neural networks techniques (Pulsed Coupled Neural Networks and Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks). As the last step, a very simple filtering process is used to eliminate the false targets. The proposed approaches were tested on 20 ENVISAT and ERS2 images which contained dark spots. The same parameters were used in all tests. For the overall dataset, the average accuracies of 94.05 % and 95.20 % were obtained for PCNN and MLP methods, respectively. The average computational time for dark-spot detection with a 256 × 256 image in about 4 s for PCNN segmentation using IDL software which is the fastest one in this field at present. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is very fast, robust and effective. The proposed approach can be applied to the future spaceborne SAR images.
MAPPING FOREST SPECIES COMPOSITION USING IMAGING SPECTROMETRY AND AIRBORNE LASER SCANNER DATA
Authors: Torabzadeh H. , Morsdorf F. , Leiterer R. , Schaepman M. E.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. Accurate mapping of forest species composition is an important aspect of monitoring and management planning related to ecosystem functions and services associated with water refinement, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and wildlife habitats. Although different vegetation species often have unique spectral signatures, mapping based on spectral reflectance properties alone is often an ill-posed problem, since the spectral signature is as well influenced by age, canopy gaps, shadows and background characteristics. Thus, reducing the unknown variation by knowing the structural parameters of different species should improve determination procedures. In this study we combine imaging spectrometry (IS) and airborne laser scanning (ALS) data of a mixed needle and broadleaf forest to differentiate tree species more accurately as single-instrument data could do. Since forest inventory data in dense forests involve uncertainties, we tried to refine them by using individual tree crowns (ITC) position and shape, which derived from ALS data. Comparison of the extracted spectra from original field data and the modified one shows how ALS-derived shape and position of ITCs can improve separablity of the different species. The spatially explicit information layers containing both the spectral and structural components from the IS and ALS datasets were then combined by using a non-parametric support vector machine (SVM) classifier.
AN INTEROPERABLE ARCHITECTURE FOR AIR POLLUTION EARLY WARNING SYSTEM BASED ON SENSOR WEB
Authors: Samadzadegan F. , Zahmatkesh H. , Saber M. , Ghazi khanlou H. J.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. Environmental monitoring systems deal with time-sensitive issues which require quick responses in emergency situations. Handling the sensor observations in near real-time and obtaining valuable information is challenging issues in these systems from a technical and scientific point of view. The ever-increasing population growth in urban areas has caused certain problems in developing countries, which has direct or indirect impact on human life. One of applicable solution for controlling and managing air quality by considering real time and update air quality information gathered by spatially distributed sensors in mega cities, using sensor web technology for developing monitoring and early warning systems. Urban air quality monitoring systems using functionalities of geospatial information system as a platform for analysing, processing, and visualization of data in combination with Sensor Web for supporting decision support systems in disaster management and emergency situations. This system uses Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) framework of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), which offers a standard framework that allows the integration of sensors and sensor data into spatial data infrastructures. SWE framework introduces standards for services to access sensor data and discover events from sensor data streams as well as definition set of standards for the description of sensors and the encoding of measurements. The presented system provides capabilities to collect, transfer, share, process air quality sensor data and disseminate air quality status in real-time. It is possible to overcome interoperability challenges by using standard framework. In a routine scenario, air quality data measured by in-situ sensors are communicated to central station where data is analysed and processed. The extracted air quality status is processed for discovering emergency situations, and if necessary air quality reports are sent to the authorities. This research proposed an architecture to represent how integrate air quality sensor data stream into geospatial data infrastructure to present an interoperable air quality monitoring system for supporting disaster management systems by real time information. Developed system tested on Tehran air pollution sensors for calculating Air Quality Index (AQI) for CO pollutant and subsequently notifying registered users in emergency cases by sending warning E-mails. Air quality monitoring portal used to retrieving and visualize sensor observation through interoperable framework. This system provides capabilities to retrieve SOS observation using WPS in a cascaded service chaining pattern for monitoring trend of timely sensor observation.
Oil spill detection from SAR image using SVM based classification
Authors: Matkan A. A. , Hajeb M. , Azarakhsh Z.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. In this paper, the potential of fully polarimetric L-band SAR data for detecting sea oil spills is investigated using polarimetric decompositions and texture analysis based on SVM classifier. First, power and magnitude measurements of HH and VV polarization modes and, Pauli, Freeman and Krogager decompositions are computed and applied in SVM classifier. Texture analysis is used for identification using SVM method. The texture features i.e. Mean, Variance, Contrast and Dissimilarity from them are then extracted. Experiments are conducted on full polarimetric SAR data acquired from PALSAR sensor of ALOS satellite on August 25, 2006. An accuracy assessment indicated overall accuracy of 78.92% and 96.46% for the power measurement of the VV polarization and the Krogager decomposition respectively in first step. But by use of texture analysis the results are improved to 96.44% and 96.65% quality for mean of power and magnitude measurements of HH and VV polarizations and the Krogager decomposition. Results show that the Krogager polarimetric decomposition method has the satisfying result for detection of sea oil spill on the sea surface and the texture analysis presents the good results.
Development of an operational modelling system for urban heat islands: an application to Athens, Greece
Authors: Giannaros T. M. , Melas D. , Daglis I. A. , Keramitsoglou I.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. The urban heat island (UHI) effect is one prominent form of localized anthropogenic climate modification. It represents a significant urban climate problem since it occurs in that layer of the atmosphere where almost all daily human activities take place. This paper presents the development of a high-resolution modelling system that could be used for simulating the UHI effect in the context of operational weather forecasting activities. The modelling system is built around a state-of-the-art numerical weather prediction model, properly modified to allow for the better representation of the urban climate. The model performance in terms of simulating the near-surface air temperature and thermal comfort conditions over the complex urban area of Athens, Greece, is evaluated during a 1.5-month operational implementation in the summer of 2010. Results from this case study reveal an overall satisfactory performance of the modelling system. The discussion of the results highlights the important role that, given the necessary modifications, a meteorological model can play as a supporting tool for developing successful heat island mitigation strategies. This is further underlined through the operational character of the presented modelling system.
Antarctic ice-mass balance 2003 to 2012: regional reanalysis of GRACE satellite gravimetry measurements with improved estimate of glacial-isostatic adjustment based on GPS uplift rates
Authors: Sasgen I. , Konrad H. , Ivins E. R. , Van den Broeke M. R. , Bamber J. L. , Martinec Z. , Klemann V.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. We present regional-scale mass balances for 25 drainage basins of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) from satellite observations of the Gravity and Climate Experiment (GRACE) for time period January 2003 to September 2012. Satellite gravimetry estimates of the AIS mass balance are strongly influenced by mass movement in the Earth interior caused by ice advance and retreat during the last glacial cycle. Here, we develop an improved glacial-isostatic adjustment (GIA) estimate for Antarctica using newly available GPS uplift rates, allowing us to more accurately separate GIA-induced trends in the GRACE gravity fields from those caused by current imbalances of the AIS. Our revised GIA estimate is considerably lower than previous predictions, yielding an estimate of apparent mass change of 53 ± 18 Gt yr−1. Therefore, our AIS mass balance of −114 ± 23 Gt yr−1 is less negative than previous GRACE estimates. The northern Antarctic Peninsula and the Amundsen Sea sector exhibit the largest mass loss (−26 ± 3 Gt yr−1 and −127 ± 7 Gt yr−1, respectively). In contrast, East Antarctica exhibits a slightly positive mass balance (26 ± 13 Gt yr−1), which is, however, mostly the consequence of compensating mass anomalies in Dronning Maud and Enderby Land (positive) and Wilkes and George V Land (negative) due to interannual accumulation variations. In total, 6% of the area constitutes about half the AIS imbalance, contributing 151 ± 7 Gt yr−1 (ca. 0.4 mm yr−1) to global mean sea-level change. Most of this imbalance is caused by ice-dynamic speed-up expected to prevail in the near future.
Influence of high-order mechanics on simulation of glacier response to climate change: insights from Haig Glacier, Canadian Rocky Mountains
Authors: Adhikari S. , Marshall S. J.
Published: September 2013

Abstract. Evolution of glaciers in response to climate change has mostly been simulated using simplified dynamical models. Because these models do not account for the influence of high-order physics, corresponding results may exhibit some biases. For Haig Glacier in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, we test this hypothesis by comparing simulation results obtained from 3-D numerical models that deal with different assumptions concerning physics, ranging from simple shear deformation to comprehensive Stokes flow. In glacier retreat scenarios, we find a minimal role of high-order mechanics in glacier evolution, as geometric effects at our site (the presence of an overdeepened bed) result in limited horizontal movement of ice (flow speed on the order of a few meters per year). Consequently, high-order and reduced models all predict that Haig Glacier ceases to exist by ca. 2080 under ongoing climate warming. The influence of high-order mechanics is evident, however, in glacier advance scenarios, where ice speeds are greater and ice dynamical effects become more important. Although similar studies on other glaciers are essential to generalize such findings, we advise that high-order mechanics are important and therefore should be considered while modeling the evolution of active glaciers. Reduced model predictions may be adequate for other glaciologic and topographic settings, particularly where flow speeds are low and where mass balance changes dominate over ice dynamics in determining glacier geometry.
Identity, Forgiveness and Power in the Management of Child Sexual Abuse by Personnel in Christian Institutions
Authors: Death Jodi
Published: September 2013

The ongoing crises of child sexual abuse by Christian institutions leaders across the Anglophone world continue to attract public attention and public inquiries. The pervasiveness of this issue lends credence to the argument that the prevailing ethos functioning within some Christian Institutions is one which exercises influence to repeatedly mismanage allegations of child sexual abuse by Church leaders. This work draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 Personnel in Christian Institutions (PICIs) in Australia who were identified as being pro-active in their approach to addressing child sexual abuse by PICIs. From these data, themes of power and forgiveness are explored through a Foucaultian conceptualising of pastoral power and ‘truth’ construction. Forgiveness is viewed as a discourse which can have the power effect of either silencing or empowering victim/survivors. The study concludes that individual PICIs’ understandings of the role of power in their praxis influences outcomes from the deployment of forgiveness.
A Demography and Taxonomy of Long-term Immigration Detention in Australia
Authors: Bull Melissa , Schindeler Emily , Berkeman David , Ransley Janet
Published: September 2013

The practice of long-term immigration detention is a relatively recent aspect of Australian Government policy. There has been much debate about the wisdom of such policy, raising concerns regarding the health of detainees, the dereliction of human rights, and the legal robustness of such practice. Despite considerable interest, little detail is available describing who is being held and the reasons for their long-term detention. This paper addresses this noticeable gap through a systematic analysis of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s Immigration Reports over the period 2005 through 2009. From such reporting it has been possible to produce a demographic profile of people held in Australian detention and to develop a taxonomy of the reasons contributing to the ongoing containment.
Fraud Risk and the Visibility of Carbon
Authors: Martin Peter , Walters Reece
Published: September 2013

In recent years, carbon has been increasingly rendered ‘visible’ both discursively and through political processes that have imbued it with economic value. Greenhouse gas emissions have been constructed as social and environmental costs and their reduction or avoidance as social and economic gain. The ‘marketisation’ of carbon, which has been facilitated through various compliance schemes such as the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, the Kyoto Protocol, the proposed Australian Emissions Reduction Scheme and through the voluntary carbon credit market, have attempted to bring carbon into the ‘foreground’ as an economic liability and/or opportunity. Accompanying the increasing economic visibility of carbon are reports of frauds and scams – the ‘gaming of carbon markets’(Chan 2010). As Lohmann (2010: 21) points out, ‘what are conventionally classed as scams or frauds are an inevitable feature of carbon offset markets, not something that could be eliminated by regulation targeting the specific businesses or state agencies involved’. This paper critiques the disparate discourses of fraud risk in carbon markets and examines cases of fraud within emerging landscapes of green criminology.
Evaluación de riesgos en sistemas agrícolas asociados a la utilización de plaguicidas en el Municipio de Kukra Hill, Nicaragua, Centroamérica
Authors: Flores-Pacheco Juan Asdrúbal , Mairena Álvaro , Espluga J
Published: September 2013

La presente investigación pretende identificar y tipificar los riesgos humanos y ambientales asociados a la utilización de plaguicidas en las actividades agrícolas en el municipio de Kukra Hill, Región Autónoma del Atlántico Sur (RAAS), Nicaragua. Se trabajó desde la evaluación de sus concentraciones en suelos y escorrentías superficiales en áreas de uso agrícola, lo que es complementado con una investigación de las condiciones de seguridad laboral, tanto preventiva como correctiva, que los agro-aplicadores realizan en sus labores diarias. Se logró determinar que existen presencia y concentración de moléculas de plaguicida en concentraciones por debajo de los niveles de detección permisibles según valores guías canadienses de calidad de suelo de uso agrícola para la protección ambiental y salud humana. Se han incluido los testimonios de técnicos extensionistas privados y de instituciones gubernamentales. Los resultados muestran un escaso uso de protecciones personales y una importante exposición laboral y extra-laboral a pesticidas.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/nexo.v26i1.1034
Determination of Bovine Immunoglobulin G in Bovine Colostrum Powders, Bovine Milk Powders, and Dietary Supplements Containing Bovine Colostrum Products by an Automated Direct Immunoassay with Optical Biosensor: Collaborative Study
Authors: Gapper Leyton ,   Collaborators:, Chow A , Crooks S , Dupont D , Guthrie B , Haasnoot W , Indyk H , Marsh C , Wahlstrom L , Yuan J
Published: September 2013

Nine laboratories participated in an AOAC collaborative study to determine bovine immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels in selected dairy powders and dietary supplements by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) methodology. Each sample matrix was dissolved in buffer and suitably diluted to fit within the standard curve. The sample extract was injected over a surface functionalized with affinity-purified, polyclonal goat anti-bovine IgG (H+L) antibody; IgG was then detected. SPR detection was used for the direct immunoassay and quantification was made against a calibration curve prepared from bovine serum IgG. Between each standard and sample, the surface was regenerated using 10 mM glycine at pH 1.5. The samples analyzed included the likely matrixes for which the assay would find commercial use, namely, high- and low-protein-content colostrum powders, tablets containing colostrum powder, infant formula containing colostrum powder, and some IgG-containing dairy powders, i.e., milk protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, and skim milk powder. Each laboratory provided data for the study and assayed blind duplicates of seven materials. Due to gross outliers in the majority of results from one laboratory, the data from eight laboratories were used for the statistical analysis. The repeatability RSD (RSDr) values ranged from 3.2 to 7.3%, and the reproducibility RSDR values from 13.0 to 22.6%.
Principles, Concepts and Strategies of Stereoselective Synthesis
Authors: Andrushko Vasyl , Andrushko Natalia
Published: September 2013

The basic principles, concepts, and strategies of stereoselective synthesis needed to understand the stereochemistry of chiral drugs and natural products are defined in this chapter.
Asymmetric α‐Alkylation of Aldehydes, Ketones, and Carboxylic Acids
Authors: Kohler Mark C. , Wengryniuk Sarah E. , Coltart Don M.
Published: September 2013

Asymmetric carbon–carbon, bond‐forming reactions comprise one of the most important general classes of synthetic transformations. Among the various methods used for the construction of these bonds, those based on electrophilic addition to enolates (and their analogs) are especially pervasive. Indeed, the asymmetric α‐alkylation of aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids is firmly entrenched as a fundamental method for the stereocontrolled synthesis of natural products and drugs. This chapter provides an overview of the current state‐of‐the‐art approaches to achieving such transformations, which includes the firmly established and well‐tested auxiliary‐based methods, as well as more recent nonauxiliary strategies conducted in both a stoichiometric and a catalytic fashion.
Stereoselective Halogenations
Authors: Tan Chong Kiat , Zhao Yi , Zhou Jing , Yeung Ying‐Yeung
Published: September 2013

Halogen‐containing bioactive molecules (organohalogens) are part of an interesting chemical space for biological investigation. To date, there are more than 4000 such molecules in nature, and they are implicated in biological responses like cytotoxicity toward cancer cell lines and seafood poisoning. This chapter will describe the more established stereoselective CX bond formation (CCl, CBr, and CI) leading to bioactive natural products or molecules containing chiral halogens. Experimental details of selected methods are also provided. In brief, the methods described herein are classified in three major classes, namely, substrate‐controlled methods, reagent‐controlled methods, and catalytic methods.
A novel, cell‐free PCR‐based assay for evaluating the inhibitory activity of antiretroviral compounds against HIV reverse transcriptase
Authors: Frezza Caterina , Balestrieri Emanuela , Marino‐Merlo Francesca , Mastino Antonio , Macchi Beatrice
Published: September 2013

This study describes a novel, PCR‐based assay that evaluates the ability of compounds to inhibit cDNA generation by HIV reverse transcriptase (RT), of both commercial and viral lysate origin, from a known RNA template. The template consisted of RNA from stable transfectants ectopically expressing the US6 gene of herpes simplex virus‐1, coding for glycoprotein D. Controls were carried out to demonstrate that no residual DNA polymerase activity or DNA contamination was responsible for the amplified DNA in the tested, control samples. In this assay, 0.1 μM nevirapine totally inhibited the RT activity of 0.5 U commercial HIV RT, while 10 nM inhibited it by only 10%. Conversely, 10 pM efavirenz completely inhibited 0.5 U HIV RT. Similar results were obtained when a self‐prepared viral lysate was used as a source of HIV RT. A reference commercial kit directly measuring HIV RT activity, without amplification, was less sensitive than the new assay. As a consequence, the HIV RT 50% inhibitory concentration of nevirapine and efavirenz in the newly described assay was 8 and 5 × 103 times lower, respectively, than in the commercial assay. In conclusion, this novel method was sensitive, reproducible, and sufficiently rapid for screening in vitro the functional activity of known or potential antiretroviral compounds against HIV RT. J. Med. Virol. 86:1–7, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Sequential Fractionation of Cottonseed Meal to Improve Its Wood Adhesive Properties
Authors: He Zhongqi , Cheng Huai N. , Chapital Dorselyn C. , Dowd Michael K.
Published: September 2013

For better understanding of the adhesive properties of different fractions of cottonseed protein, cottonseed meals from both glanded and glandless cotton varieties were separated into several fractions. Each meal was sequentially extracted with water and 1 M NaCl solution, or with phosphate buffer and NaCl solution. Adhesives were prepared from the recovered fractions and hot‐pressed onto maple veneer strips and tested for their properties. The adhesive strength of the water‐ and buffer‐washed solid fractions (i.e., the un‐extractable residues of the meals) from the glanded seed ranged from 1.32 to 1.62 MPa and were unchanged or increased compared with the adhesive strength of the original meal that varied from 0.98 and 1.49 MPa. Soaking the wood specimens bonded at 80 °C revealed that the water resistance of these water‐ and buffer‐washed adhesives was significantly improved in that they exhibited no delamination during soaking compared with the meal adhesive that showed some delamination (20–30 % of the samples). Furthermore, the water resistance of these fractions with wet shear strength around 1.5 MPa was comparable to that of cottonseed protein isolate (>90 % protein) when the joints were bonded at 100 °C. The preparations from glandless cottonseed meals showed similar adhesive performances. Additional extraction of the meals with NaCl solution reduced adhesive performance. The results suggest that water‐ or buffer‐washed cottonseed meal fractions can be used as wood adhesives and would be less costly to prepare than cottonseed protein isolates.
Cohort Trends in Premarital First Births: What Role for the Retreat From Marriage?
Authors: England Paula , Wu Lawrence L. , Shafer Emily Fitzgibbons
Published: September 2013

We examine cohort trends in premarital first births for U.S. women born between 1920 and 1964. The rise in premarital first births is often argued to be a consequence of the retreat from marriage, with later ages at first marriage resulting in more years of exposure to the risk of a premarital first birth. However, cohort trends in premarital first births may also reflect trends in premarital sexual activity, premarital conceptions, and how premarital conceptions are resolved. We decompose observed cohort trends in premarital first births into components reflecting cohort trends in (1) the age-specific risk of a premarital conception taken to term; (2) the age-specific risk of first marriages not preceded by such a conception, which will influence women’s years of exposure to the risk of a premarital conception; and (3) whether a premarital conception is resolved by entering a first marriage before the resulting first birth (a “shotgun marriage”). For women born between 1920–1924 and 1945–1949, increases in premarital first births were primarily attributable to increases in premarital conceptions. For women born between 1945–1949 and 1960–1964, increases in premarital first births were primarily attributable to declines in responding to premarital conceptions by marrying before the birth. Trends in premarital first births were affected only modestly by the retreat from marriages not preceded by conceptions—a finding that holds for both whites and blacks. These results cast doubt on hypotheses concerning “marriageable” men and instead suggest that increases in premarital first births resulted initially from increases in premarital sex and then later from decreases in responding to a conception by marrying before a first birth.
Religious Tradition, Religiosity, or Everyday Theologies? Unpacking Religion's Relationship to Support for Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage among a College Student Sample
Authors: Walls N. Eugene , Woodford Michael R. , Levy Denise L.
Published: September 2013

This study explores the differential impact of religious tradition, religiosity, and everyday theologies on support for legalizing same-sex marriage among a sample of undergraduate college students. The findings suggest that among college students in the United States the group of everyday theologies—personal religious beliefs that emerge through individuals’ lived experiences and social interactions—that we examine has a larger influence on attitudes about legalizing same-sex marriage than do either religious tradition or religiosity (measured as attendance, prayer, and guidance). We operationalize the concept of everyday theologies as levels of endorsement for six different religious themes. Implications for social movements promoting same-sex marriage and future research are discussed.
Standardizing Documentation for Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting in the Electronic Health Record
Authors: DeBlieck Conni , LaFlamme Anne Fishman , Rivard Mary Jane , Monsen Karen A.
Published: September 2013

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) remains a common postoperative complication that causes patient discomfort and increases health care costs. Clinicians use the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses (ASPAN) guideline to help prevent and treat PONV. However, the lack of standardized terminology in the electronic health record (EHR) and the lack of clinical decision support tools make it difficult for clinicians to document guideline implementation and to determine the effects of nursing care on PONV. To address this, we created a concept map of the Perioperative Nursing Data Set (PNDS) that illustrates the relationship between elements of this standardized nursing terminology and the ASPAN guideline, using the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine—Clinical Terms multidisciplinary terminology to fill any gaps. This mapping results in a standardized dataset specific to PONV for use in an EHR, which links nursing care to nursing diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes. The mapping and documentation in the EHR also allows standardized data collection for research, evaluation, and benchmarking, which makes perioperative nursing care of patients who are at risk for or experiencing PONV measureable and visible. Distributing this information to perioperative and perianesthesia nursing personnel, in addition to implementing risk assessment tools for PONV and clinical support alerts in electronic documentation systems, will help support implementation of the PONV clinical practice guideline in the EHR.
Intramolecular clasp of the cellulosomal Ruminococcus flavefaciens ScaA dockerin module confers structural stability
Authors: Slutzki Michal , Jobby Maroor K. , Chitayat Seth , Karpol Alon , Dassa Bareket , Barak Yoav , Lamed Raphael , Smith Steven P. , Bayer Edward A.
Published: September 2013

The cellulosome is a large extracellular multi‐enzyme complex that facilitates the efficient hydrolysis and degradation of crystalline cellulosic substrates. During the course of our studies on the cellulosome of the rumen bacterium Ruminococcus flavefaciens, we focused on the critical ScaA dockerin (ScaADoc), the unique dockerin that incorporates the primary enzyme‐integrating ScaA scaffoldin into the cohesin‐bearing ScaB adaptor scaffoldin. In the absence of a high‐resolution structure of the ScaADoc module, we generated a computational model, and, upon its analysis, we were surprised to discover a putative stacking interaction between an N‐terminal Trp and a C‐terminal Pro, which we termed intramolecular clasp. In order to verify the existence of such an interaction, these residues were mutated to alanine. Circular dichroism spectroscopy, intrinsic tryptophan and ANS fluorescence, and NMR spectroscopy indicated that mutation of these residues has a destabilizing effect on the functional integrity of the Ca2+‐bound form of ScaADoc. Analysis of recently determined dockerin structures from other species revealed the presence of other well‐defined intramolecular clasps, which consist of different types of interactions between selected residues at the dockerin termini. We propose that this thematic interaction may represent a major distinctive structural feature of the dockerin module.
Different routes to metacognitive judgments: The role of accuracy motivation
Authors: Park Se‐Bum , Bae Sung Joo
Published: September 2013

The current research proposes that metacognitive difficulty affects product evaluation through two different routes—the feelings of ease‐of‐retrieval heuristic and the self‐validation process. The findings across four laboratory experiments show that metacognitive difficulty can undermine product evaluation through the feelings of ease‐of‐retrieval heuristic among low‐accuracy individuals, regardless of a perceived fit between expected and experienced difficulty. In contrast, the findings indicate that metacognitive difficulty can enhance (vs. undermine) product evaluation among high‐accuracy individuals through the self‐validation process when there is a perceived fit (vs. misfit) between expected and experienced difficulty. We suggest that individuals under high accuracy motivation are more likely than those under low accuracy motivation to draw less determined and more flexible interpretation of metacognitive difficulty in making their product evaluation.
Ein Blick auf den Produktionsprozess: Mehr Effizienz durch neue Aufgabenverteilung im Gesundheitssystem? Beispiele aus der Physiotherapie
Authors: Räbiger Jutta
Published: September 2013

Einleitung

Möglichkeiten, die Effektivität und Effizienz der Versorgung zu verbessern, liegen nicht nur in der (wettbewerblichen) Gestaltung des Gesundheitssystems. Dieser Beitrag untersucht, inwieweit die Organisation des ‘Produktionsprozesses‘, speziell die Umverteilung von Aufgaben zwischen den Gesundheitsberufen, die Wirksamkeit und Wirtschaftlichkeit der Versorgung steigern kann. Die bisher vorgelegten Ergebnisse zu den Modellen der Blanko-Verordnung und des Direktzugangs in der Physiotherapie, bei der die wesentlichen Entscheidungen über die therapeutische Behandlung (z.T.) vom Arzt auf den Physiotherapeuten verlagert werden, lassen positive Effekte für die Patienten und die Krankenversicherungen erwarten.
The rodents from the late middle Pleistocene hominid-bearing site of J'bel Irhoud, Morocco, and their chronological and paleoenvironmental implications
Authors: Geraads Denis , Amani Fethi , Ben-Ncer Abdelouahed , McPherron Shannon P. , Raynal Jean-Paul , Hublin Jean-Jacques
Published: September 2013

The rodents from the late middle Pleistocene hominin-bearing locality of J'bel Irhoud include the following species:Meriones shawii,Gerbillus grandis,Dipodillus campestris,Paraethomys ras,Lemniscomys barbarus,Muscf.spretus, andEliomyssp. We considerM. shawii, a living species, as identical with the middle PleistoceneMeriones maghrebianus. The mouse differs from the domesticMus musculusbut does not clearly fit intoMus spretus, either. The rareG. grandislooks identical with the form from the middle Pleistocene of Thomas quarries, which may suggest a rather early age for Irhoud. This is in agreement with the occurrence ofParaethomys, a genus unknown in the upper Pleistocene of Morocco, but the absence of the arvicolidEllobiussuggests that the site is younger than other middle Pleistocene sites, Doukkala II, Sidi Abderrahmane D2, and Irhoud-Derbala-Virage. Paleoecological indicators, such as the taxonomic habitat spectrum, or the relative abundances of Gerbillinae and Murinae, suggest a less xeric environment than in many earlier and later sites. Diversity indices, comparable to those of other middle Pleistocene sites, point to similarly favorable conditions before the major climatic crisis close to the middle/upper Pleistocene boundary that drastically reduced rodent diversity in North Africa.
Size and spatial structure of the soil and lacustrine charcoal pool across a boreal forest watershed
Authors: Ohlson Mikael , Kasin Isabella , Wist Anveig Nordtug , Bjune Anne E.
Published: September 2013

Forest fires convert a proportion of the burning vegetation into charcoal that is stored in forest soils and lake sediments. In this paper we use a geostatistical approach to present a detailed analysis of the size of the charcoal pool and its spatial variation in a boreal forest watershed including its lake sediment. The amount of soil charcoal averaged 179 g/m2and ranged from 0 to 3600 g/m2in the watershed. There was an extreme variation in the size of the charcoal pool over fine (cm) spatial scales. For example, the amount of charcoal in the soil could range from 34 to 1646 g/m2within a distance of 10 cm. Individually dated soil charcoal particles had radiocarbon ages that varied from 630 to 2930 cal yr BP. The lake sediment began accumulating at 10,600 cal yr BP and charcoal accumulation has been practically continuous ever since then, with the largest peak occurring at 6900 cal yr BP. The lake sediment contained more charcoal, 360 g/m2, than the average for forest soil. We interpret this as an indication of a relatively rapid degradation of charcoal in boreal forest soils.