bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Neurointerventional procedures for unruptured intracranial aneurysms under procedural sedation and local anesthesia: a large-volume, single-center experience
Authors: Ogilvy Christopher S. , Yang Xinyu , Jamil Osama A. , Hauck Erik F. , Hopkins L. Nelson , Siddiqui Adnan H. , Levy Elad I.
Published: April 2010

Object

In this paper, the authors' goal was to report the outcome of patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms undergoing endovascular treatment under conscious sedation (local anesthesia).

Methods

Between November 5, 2001, and February 5, 2009, the authors treated 340 patients with 358 unruptured aneurysms by using neurointerventional procedures at Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital (Buffalo, New York). The data were retrospectively reviewed for periprocedural safety and long-term follow-up.

Results

A total of 496 procedures were performed under local anesthesia. Of those, 370 procedures (74.6%) were completed successfully. In 82 procedures (16.5%), an associated medical or technical event occurred. Forty-four procedures (8.9%) were aborted. Rates of overall procedure-related morbidity and mortality were 1.2% (6 of 496) and 0.6% (3 of 496), respectively. The average hospital stay was 1.5 ± 2.5 days. Long-term follow-up was available in 261 (82.1%) of 318 patients whose procedures were performed with local anesthesia. Of those, 246 patients (94.3%) had a good outcome (modified Rankin Scale score ≤ 2), 6 patients (2.3%) had an unfavorable outcome, not related to the procedure, and 9 patients (3.4%) had a poor outcome (modified Rankin Scale score > 2) as a result of the intervention.

Conclusions

Interventional treatment under conscious sedation (local anesthesia) can be effectively performed in most patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms and is associated with a short hospital stay and low morbidity and mortality.
A novel technique for planning surgical approaches to the pineal region by using external cranial landmarks
Authors: Nayar Vikram V. , Benveniste Ronald J. , Lang Frederick F.
Published: April 2010

Object

The infratentorial supracerebellar approach to the pineal region presents special challenges during patient positioning. The head must be flexed and the body positioned to allow an operative trajectory under the straight sinus. Image guidance is not useful during positioning because registration and navigation take place after the head is fixed in its final position. Therefore, a reliable method of positioning based on external, easily identifiable landmarks to estimate the surgical trajectory along the straight sinus toward the pineal region is needed. Based on observation, the authors hypothesized that a line between 2 palpable external landmarks, the inion and the bregma, often approximates the surgical trajectory along the straight sinus. They tested this hypothesis by quantifying the relationship between the straight sinus and the bregma, and describe a method for estimating the working angle during patient positioning.

Methods

The midsagittal, Gd-enhanced, T1-weighted MR images of 102 patients were analyzed. Demographic data and the presence or absence of tentorial pathological entities was recorded. The slant of the straight sinus was classified as common, high, or low, based on a previously described classification system. A line along the bottom of the straight sinus (that is, the straight-sinus line) was extended superiorly to its intersection with the calvaria, and the distance from this intersection point to the bregma was measured.

Results

The intersection point of the straight-sinus line and the calvaria was on average 2 ± 8.2 mm (these values are expressed as the mean ± SD throughout) anterior to the bregma (range 19.9 mm anterior to 19.1 mm posterior). The distance from the intersection point to the bregma was not statistically significantly different in younger or older patients, or in patients with or without tumors involving the pineal region. In patients with a low slant of the straight sinus, the intersection point was 5.3 ± 6.3 mm anterior to the bregma, whereas in patients with a high slant of the straight sinus, the intersection point was 0.21 ± 9.1 mm posterior to the bregma (p = 0.015).

Conclusions

The straight-sinus line, which defines the working angle for the supracerebellar infratentorial approach, intersects the calvaria very close to the bregma in the majority of patients. Therefore, ideal patient positioning can be achieved by flexing the patient's head to optimize the working angle defined by an imaginary line connecting the torcula (inion) to the bregma.
Performance of two promising mutants of sesame under some on-station and on-farm environments
Authors: Malek MA , Monshi FI
Published: April 2010

An experiment was conducted in different farms of BINA sub-station at Magura and Ishurdi and in the farmers' field at Nachole upazila of Chapai Nowabgonj and Tetulia upazila of Panchagor during kharif-I to evaluate the performance of sesame mutant lines (SM-5 and SM-12). The tested parameters included: plant height, branches per plant, capsules per plant, seeds per capsule, days to maturity and yield per ha. Highly significant variations were observed both in individual location and combined over locations for all traits except number of capsules per plant in on-station trial. On the other hand, highly significant variations were observed for all traits except capsules per plant in Nachole upazila of Chapai Nowabgonj and combined over locations. The mutant line SM-12 can be registered as a new variety of sesame in respect of higher number of branches per plant, capsules per plant and higher seed yield. Keyword: Mutant; Sesame; On-station; On-farm DOI: 10.3329/jbau.v7i1.4792 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 7(1): 19-22, 2009
Comparative efficacy of Neem leaves and Ivermectin (Ivomec®) against ectoparasites in calves
Authors: Rahman MM , Mostofa M , Jahan MS , Kamal MASM
Published: April 2010

The experiment was carried out for 28 days from August to September 2007 to investigate the efficacy of Ivermectin and Neem plants against ectoparasites in calves. Effect of Ivermectin and Neem plants on certain blood parameters hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), total leukocyte count (TEC) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were studied in calves. A total of 15 calves were examined for the presence of ticks by physical examination and were divided into three equal groups as, Group A (infected control group), Group B (treated with Neem) and Group C (treated with Ivermectin). The therapeutic efficacy of Ivermectin was 100% against ectoparasites in calves on day 7, 14, 21 and 28 after the treatment of Ivermectin. Ivermectin and Neem showed significant effectiveness at 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th day of post treatment. The effects on TEC, Hb level was increased significantly at 7th, 14th and 28th day of treatment and PCV level was increased significantly on 28th day of treatment. On the other hand indigenous medicinal plant Neem leaves shown the efficacy of 68% at day 28 and body weight of Ivermectin and Neem treated calves also increased. All the calves after Ivermectin injection and Neem spray remained healthy, no adverse effect and calves appetite increased, growth and coat color improved rapidly. Keywords: Ivermectin; Neem; Ectoparasites; Haemoglobin DOI: 10.3329/jbau.v7i1.4802 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 7(1): 73-78, 2009
Free Movement? on the Liberal Impasse in Coping with the Immigration Dilemma
Authors: Verlinden An
Published: April 2010

This paper focuses on the relevance of borders and national membership as barriers to first admission. Strengths and weaknesses of the different liberal arguments for open and restricted borders will be analysed, focusing on the ‘liberal paradox’ which holds that an asymmetrical view on entry and exit is compatible with the liberal commitment to equality and individual liberties. Finally, a proposal will be formulated in order to find a middle way between the idealism of open borders and more realist versions of liberal egalitarianism by incorporating a hermeneutical account of human morality as a relational, contextual matter which does not think in terms of borders but instead of trans-boundary dialogical spaces.
A Family of Tools for Supporting the Learning of Programming
Authors: Rößling Guido
Published: April 2010

Both learning how to program and understanding algorithms or data structures are often difficult. This paper presents three complementary approaches that we employ to help our students in learning to program, especially during the first term of their study. We use a web-based programming task database as an easy and risk-free environment for taking the first steps in programming Java. The Animal algorithm visualization system is used to visualize the dynamic behavior of algorithms and data structures. We complement both approaches with tutorial videos on using the Eclipse IDE. We also report on the experiences with this combined approach.
Entropy in the Present and Early Universe: New Small Parameters and Dark Energy Problem
Authors: Shalyt-Margolin Alexander
Published: April 2010

It is demonstrated that entropy and its density play a significant role in solving the problem of the vacuum energy density (cosmological constant) of the Universe and hence the dark energy problem. Taking this in mind, two most popular models for dark energy—Holographic Dark Energy Model and Agegraphic Dark Energy Model—are analysed. It is shown that the fundamental quantities in the first of these models may be expressed in terms of a new small dimensionless parameter that is naturally occurring in High Energy Gravitational Thermodynamics and Gravitational Holography (UV-limit). On this basis, the possibility of a new approach to the problem of Quantum Gravity is discussed. Besides, the results obtained on the uncertainty relation of the pair “cosmological constant–volume of space-time”, where the cosmological constant is a dynamic quantity, are reconsidered and generalized up to the Generalized Uncertainty Relation.
Thermoelectric Oxide Modules (TOMs) for the Direct Conversion of Simulated Solar Radiation into Electrical Energy
Authors: Tomeš Petr , Trottmann Matthias , Suter Clemens , Aguirre Myriam Heidi , Steinfeld Aldo , Haueter Philipp , Weidenkaff Anke
Published: April 2010

The direct conversion of concentrated high temperature solar heat into electrical energy was demonstrated with a series of four–leg thermoelectric oxide modules (TOM). These temperature stable modules were not yet optimized for high efficiency conversion, but served as proof-of-principle for high temperature conversion. They were constructed by connecting two p- (La1.98Sr0.02CuO4) and two n-type (CaMn0.98Nb0.02O3) thermoelements electrically in series and thermally in parallel. The temperature gradient ΔT was applied by a High–Flux Solar Simulator source (HFSS) which generates a spectrum similar to solar radiation. The influence of the graphite layer coated on the hot side of the Al2O3 substrate compared to the uncoated surface on ΔT, Pmax and η was studied in detail. The measurements show an almost linear temperature profile along the thermoelectric legs. The maximum output power of 88.8 mW was reached for a TOM with leg length of 5 mm at ΔT = 622 K. The highest conversion efficiency η was found for a heat flux of 4–8 W cm-2 and the dependence of η on the leg length was investigated.
Conventional and Unconventional Antimicrobials from Fish, Marine Invertebrates and Micro-algae
Authors: Smith Valerie J. , Desbois Andrew P. , Dyrynda Elisabeth A.
Published: April 2010

All eukaryotic organisms, single-celled or multi-cellular, produce a diverse array of natural anti-infective agents that, in addition to conventional antimicrobial peptides, also include proteins and other molecules often not regarded as part of the innate defences. Examples range from histones, fatty acids, and other structural components of cells to pigments and regulatory proteins. These probably represent very ancient defence factors that have been re-used in new ways during evolution. This review discusses the nature, biological role in host protection and potential biotechnological uses of some of these compounds, focusing on those from fish, marine invertebrates and marine micro-algae.
p-Aminoacetophenonic Acids Produced by a Mangrove Endophyte Streptomyces sp. (strain HK10552)
Authors: Wang Fangfang , Xu Minjuan , Li Qingshan , Sattler Isable , Lin Wenhan
Published: April 2010

Four new p-aminoacetophenonic acids, named (2E)-11-(4′-aminophenyl)-5,9-dihydroxy-4,6,8-trimethyl-11-oxo-undec-2-enoic acid (1), 9-(4′-aminophenyl)-3,7-dihydroxy-2,4,6-trimethyl-9-oxo-nonoic acid(2), (2E)-11-(4′-aminophenyl)-5,9-O-cyclo-4,6,8-trimethyl-11-oxo-undec-2-enoic acid (3) and 9-(4′-aminophenyl)-3,7-O-cyclo-2,4,6-trimethyl-9-oxo-nonoic acid(4), were isolated from an endophyte Streptomyces sp. (strain HK10552) of the mangrove plant Aegiceras corniculatum. The structures of 1–4 were elucidated by using spectroscopic analyses. The relative stereoconfigurations of compounds 3 and 4 were determined by NOESY experiments. In the bioassay test, 1–4 showed no cytotoxicity against the Hela cell lines. Compound 4 also showed no inhibitory bioactivity on HCV protease and SecA ATPase and wasn’t active against VSVG/HIV-luc pseudotyping virus.
Neuroprotective Effects of Herbal Ethanol Extracts from Gynostemma pentaphyllum in the 6-Hydroxydopamine-Lesioned Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease
Authors: Choi Hyun Sook , Park Mi Sook , Kim Seung Hwan , Hwang Bang Yeon , Lee Chong Kil , Lee Myung Koo
Published: April 2010

6-Hydroxydopamine administration for 28 days (8 μg/2 μL) reduced the number of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunopositive neurons to 40.2% in the substantia nigra compared to the intact contralateral side. Dopamine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, homovanillic acid and norepinephrine levels were reduced to 19.1%, 52.3%, 47.1% and 67.4% in the striatum of 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats compared to the control group, respectively. However, an oral administration of herbal ethanol extracts from Gynostemma pentaphyllum (GP-EX) (10 mg/kg and 30 mg/kg) starting on day 3 post-lesion for 28 days markedly ameliorated the reduction of TH-immunopositive neurons induced by 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rat brain from 40.2% to 67.4% and 75.8% in the substantia nigra. GP-EX administration (10 and 30 mg/kg) also recovered the levels of dopamine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, homovanillic acid and norepinephrine in post-lesion striatum to 64.1% and 65.0%, 77.9% and 89.7%, 82.6% and 90.2%, and 88.1% and 89.2% of the control group. GP-EX at the given doses did not produce any sign of toxicity such as weight loss, diarrhea and vomiting in rats during the 28 day treatment period and four gypenoside derivatives, gynosaponin TN-1, gynosaponin TN-2, gypenoside XLV and gypenoside LXXIV were identified from GP-EX. These results suggest that GP-EX might be helpful in the prevention of Parkinson’s disease.
Forest Roads Mapped Using LiDAR in Steep Forested Terrain
Authors: White Russell A. , Dietterick Brian C. , Mastin Thomas , Strohman Rollin
Published: April 2010

LiDAR-derived digital elevation models can reveal road networks located beneath dense forest canopy. This study tests the accuracy of forest road characteristics mapped using LiDAR in the Santa Cruz Mountains, CA. The position, gradient, and total length of a forest haul road were accurately extracted using a 1 m DEM. In comparison to a field-surveyed centerline, the LiDAR-derived road exhibited a positional accuracy of 1.5 m, road grade measurements within 0.53% mean absolute difference, and total road length within 0.2% of the field-surveyed length. Airborne LiDAR can provide thorough and accurate road inventory data to support forest management and watershed assessment activities.
On BER Performance of EBPSK-MODEM in AWGN Channel
Authors: Wu Lenan , Feng Man
Published: April 2010

In order to satisfy the higher and higher demand for communication systems, an Extended Binary Phase Shift Keying (EBPSK) system with very high spectra efficiency has been proposed. During the research, a special kind of filters was found, which can amplify the signal characteristics and remove utmost noise, i.e., at the point of the phase jumping corresponding to code “1”, produce the amplitude impulse much higher than code “0”, therefore, the aim of our study was to analyze the BER performance of the impacting filter assisted EBPSK-MODEM. Considering the receiver filtered “0” and “1”signal with Rice amplitude distribution, just having different mean values, so the BER performance of EBPSK is deduced based on the classic detection theory, and compared with the traditional BPSK modulation both in spectra efficiency and in BER performance, which lays the theoretical foundation for the feasibility of Ultra Narrow Band communications based on EBPSK modulation.
Design, Fabrication, and Testing of a Bulk Micromachined Inertial Measurement Unit
Authors: Chang Honglong , Shen Qiang , Zhou Zhiguang , Xie Jianbing , Jiang Qinghua , Yuan Weizheng
Published: April 2010

A bulk micromachined inertial measurement unit (MIMU) is presented in this paper. Three single-axis accelerometers and three single-axis gyroscopes were simultaneously fabricated on a silicon wafer using a bulk micromachining process; the wafer is smaller than one square centimeter. In particular, a global area optimization method based on the relationship between the sensitivity and layout area was proposed to determine the layout configuration of the six sensors. The scale factors of the X/Y-axis accelerometer and Z-axis accelerometer are about 213.3 mV/g and 226.9 mV/g, respectively. The scale factors of the X/Y-axis gyroscope and Z-axis gyroscope are about 2.2 mV/o/s and 10.8 mV/o/s, respectively. The bias stability of the X/Y-axis gyroscope and the Z-axis gyroscope are about 2135 deg/h and 80 deg/h, respectively. Finally, the resolutions of X/Y-axis accelerometers, Z-axis accelerometers, X/Y-axis gyroscopes, and Z-axis gyroscopes are 0.0012 g/ √Hz, 0.0011 g/ √Hz, 0.314 °/s/ √Hz, and 0.008 °/s/ √Hz, respectively.
The Symmetry Group of the Non-Isothermal Navier–Stokes Equations and Turbulence Modelling
Authors: Al Sayed Nazir , Hamdouni Aziz , Liberge Erwan , Razafindralandy Dina
Published: April 2010

In this work, the non-isothermal Navier–Stokes equations are studied from the group theory point of view. The symmetry group of the equations is presented and discussed. Some standard turbulence models are analyzed with the symmetries of the equations. A class of turbulence models which preserve the physical properties contained in the symmetry group is built. The proposed turbulence models are applied to an illustrative example of natural convection in a differentially heated cavity, and the results are presented.
Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in the common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca (Apocynaceae)
Authors: Kabat Susan M. , Dick Christopher W. , Hunter Mark D.
Published: April 2010

• Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were developed for the common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca L., to assist in genet identification and the analysis of spatial genetic structure.

• Methods and Results: Using an enrichment cloning protocol, eight microsatellite loci were isolated and characterized in a Michigan population of A. syriaca. The primers amplified di‐ and trinucleotide repeats with 4–13 alleles per locus.

• Conclusions: The primers will be useful for studies of clonality and gene flow in natural populations.
VILNIAUS TAPATUMO SLUOKSNIAI BRAUNO IR HOGENBERGO ATLASE
Authors: Rekevičius Lukas
Published: April 2010

The paper analyses the layers of Vilnius identity revealed in the city atlas of Braun-Hogenberg. The information of the text and graphical figures is reviewed through a certain model of the structure of identity. Attempts are made to find natural (relief, waters, flora), cultural (political, economic, social, etnical-confessional) and anthropogenical (urban, architectural) peculiarities of Vilnius city, rendered in the atlas, and compare it with the other cities from the same source. The paper reveals the peculiarities of urban situation, the types and morfology of buildup, city poly-central character and features of capital city, characterization of citizenry as well as inaccuracies on confessional balance, network of streets, size of the city.

Santrauka

Analizuojama prielaida apie Brauno ir Hogenbergo atlaso Vilniaus plane perteikiamus miesto savitumų bruožus. Naudojant pasirinktą tapatumo struktūros modelį, analizuojama grafinėje ir tekstinėje atlaso dalyje pateikta informacija apie Vilnių. Ieškoma atlase pateiktų gamtinių (reljefo, vandenų, augmenijos), kultūrinių (socialinių, politinių, ekonominių, tautinių ir konfesinių), antropogeninių (urbanistinių, architektūrinių) Vilniaus savitumo apraiškų, pateikti Vilniaus ir kitų atlase pavaizduotų miestų palyginimai. Nustatyti plane atskleisti miesto urbanizacijos ypatumai, užstatymo tipai ir morfologija, miesto policentriškumas, miesto kaip sostinės bruožai, gyventojų grupių charakteristikos, taip pat rasta plano netikslumų konfesinio balanso, gatvių tinklo, miesto dydžio atžvilgiais.
Effects of CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) inhibitors on the dynamics of CCR5 and CC-chemokine–CCR5 interactions
Authors: Nakata Hirotomo , Kruhlak Michael , Kamata Wakako , Ogata-Aoki Hiromi , Li Jianfeng , Maeda Kenji , Ghosh Arun K , Mitsuya Hiroaki
Published: April 2010

Background

This study aimed to examine how CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) inhibitors (aplaviroc [APL], TAK779 and maraviroc [MVC]) interact with CCR5 and affect its dynamics and physiological CC-chemokine–CCR5 interactions.

Methods

A yellow fluorescent protein (YFP)-tagged CCR5-expressing U373-MAGI cell line was generated and a stable CCR5-expressing clonal population, YFPCCR5-UM16, was prepared. YFPCCR5-UM16 cells were exposed to RANTES, macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α or MIP-1β (all 100 ng/ml) with or without CCR5 inhibitors and YFPCCR5 internalization was visualized with realtime by laser scanning confocal microscopy. The mobility of YFPCCR5 was also examined in the presence of CCR5 inhibitors with fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) imaging.

Results

Following the addition of each CC chemokine, intracellular fluorescence intensity increased whereas membranous fluorescence decreased, signifying YFPCCR5 internalization. All three CCR5 inhibitors failed to induce YFPCCR5 internalization. All three CCR5 inhibitors blocked the CC-chemokine-induced internalization at a high concentration of 1 μM; however, the ratio of APL concentration that blocked RANTES-induced internalization by 50% over APL concentration that blocked HIV type-1 (HIV-1) replication by 50% was 16.4, indicating that APL permits CC-chemokine-induced internalization to a much greater extent compared with TAK779 and MVC, having ratios of 1.1 and 0.9, respectively. The examination of YFPCCR5 mobility with FRAP imaging revealed that YFPCCR5 continuously underwent rapid redistribution, which none of the three inhibitors blocked.

Conclusions

The finding that APL moderately blocked the RANTES-triggered YFPCCR5 internalization despite the highly potent anti-HIV-1 activity of APL strongly suggests that development of CCR5 inhibitors, which do not overly inhibit physiological CC-chemokine–CCR5 interactions, is practically feasible.
Managing the Impact of Rapid IT Change
Authors: Benamati John , Lederer Albert L.
Published: April 2010

Rapidly changing information technology is increasing the complexity of IT management. Research has suggested that such change causes nine different problem types for IT managers. It also suggested that these problems cause IT managers to use five categories of coping mechanisms to alleviate the problems. The current study used responses from 246 IT professionals to a survey about the problems and coping mechanisms related to rapid IT change. As examples, new integration refers to the incompatibility or need for interfaces between multiple ITs, and Education and training refers to staying informed of new IT as it becomes available and instructing or providing guidance for its use. The study developed and found support for an overarching hypothesis stating that the more extensively organizations experience the problems of rapid IT change, the more extensively they use coping mechanisms to address them. It also found support for ten specific sub-hypotheses about the effect of individual problems and on individual coping mechanisms. For example, organizations appear to address the problem of new integration needs with the increased use of the coping mechanism of Consultant support. They also cope with User resistance via Vendor support, and with Vendor oversell via internal procedures. The findings provide IT managers, vendors, and consultants with alternative perspectives about the problems of rapid IT change and how others address them. Future research should focus on how specific coping mechanisms ameliorate specific problems.
Offshoring and Transfer of Intellectual Property
Authors: Wiederhold Gio , Gupta Amar , Neuhold Erich
Published: April 2010

Offshore outsourcing of work to support software development and services is seen primarily as a transfer of labor to another shore. But with every outsourced job, intellectual property is transferred as well. Such transfers have significant long term effects on the balance of intellectual property (IP) generation and consumption. The value of intangibles is based on the income that these intangibles are expected to generate in the future. This paper relates the key issues of IP found in software, an important intangible, to business models used for offshoring. The use of a quantitative model for software valuation allows formal exploration of business alternatives. The motivation for this paper is to increase the awareness of the need for software valuation when developers of software and the users of that software reside in different countries. A scenario that involves Controlled Foreign Corporations as the mechanism for IP transfer is analyzed in detail.
Context-Awareness in Ambient Intelligence
Authors: Traynor Declan , Xie Ermai , Curran Kevin
Published: April 2010

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) deals with the issue of how we can create context-aware, electronic environments which foster seamless human-computer interaction. Ambient Intelligence encompasses the fields of ubiquitous computing, artificially intelligent systems, and context awareness among others. This paper discusses context-awareness and examines how discoveries in this area will be key in propelling the development of true AmI environments. This will be done by examining the background and reasoning behind this particular strand of AmI research along with an overview of the technologies being explored alongside possible applications of context awareness in computing as well as technological and socio- ethical challenges in this field.
Data Mining Techniques in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Authors: Chinchuluun Altannar , Xanthopoulos Petros , Tomaino Vera , Pardalos P.M.
Published: April 2010

Data mining techniques are largely used in different sectors of the economy and they increasingly are playing an important role in agriculture and environment-related areas. This paper aims to show our vision on the importance of knowing and efficiently using data mining and machine learning-related techniques for knowledge discovery in the field of agriculture and environment. Efforts for searching hidden patterns in data are not a recent phenomenon. History shows that extensive observations on data have helped discover empirical laws in different fields of research. Therefore, it is important to provide researchers in agriculture and environmental-related areas with the most advanced knowledge discovery techniques. Data mining is the process of extracting important and useful information from large sets of data. This information can be converted into useful knowledge that could help to better understand the problem in study and to better predict future developments. The paper presents the state of the art in data mining and knowledge discovery techniques and provides discussions for future directions.
The Role of Crop Systems Simulation in Agriculture and Environment
Authors: Boote K.J. , Jones J.W. , Hoogenboom G. , White J.W.
Published: April 2010

Simulation of crop systems has evolved from a neophyte science into a robust and increasingly accepted discipline. Our vision is that crop systems simulation can serve important roles in agriculture and environment. Important roles and uses of crop systems simulation are in five primary areas: 1) basic research synthesis and integration, where simulation is used to synthesize our understanding of physiology, genetics, soil characteristics, management, and weather effects, 2) strategic tools for planning and policy to evaluate strategies and consequences of genetic improvement or resource management, 3) applications for management purposes, where crop systems simulations are used to evaluate impacts of weather and management on production, water use, nutrient use, nutrient leaching, and economics, 4) real time decision support to assist in management decisions (irrigation, fertilization, sowing date, harvest, yield forecast, pest management), and 5) education in class rooms and farms, to explain how crop systems function and are managed.
Mining RFID Behavior Data using Unsupervised Learning
Authors: Cabanes Guénaël , Bennani Younès , Fresneau Dominique
Published: April 2010

Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is an advanced tracking technology that can be used to study the spatial organization of individual’s spatio-temporal activity. The aim of this work is firstly to build a new RFID-based autonomous system which can follow individuals’ spatio-temporal activity, a tool not currently available. Secondly, the authors aim to develop new tools for automatic data mining. In this paper, they study how to transform these data to investigate the division of labor, the intra-colonial cooperation and conflict in an ant colony. They also develop a new unsupervised learning data mining method (DS2L-SOM: Density based Simultaneous Two-Level - Self Organizing Map) to find homogeneous clusters (i.e., sets of individual which share a similar behavior). According to the experimental results, this method is very fast and efficient. It also allows a very useful visualization of the results.
A "Society of Mind" Cognitive Architecture Based on the Principles of Artificial Economics
Authors: Davis Darryl N. , Venkatamuni Vijayakumar Maragal
Published: April 2010

This research investigates the concept of mind as a control system using the “Society of Agents” metaphor, whereby the whole is described as the collective behavior of simple and intelligent agents. This powerful concept for mind research benefits from the use of metacognition, and eases the development of a self configurable computational model. A six tiered SMCA (Society of Mind Cognitive Architecture) control model is designed that relies on a society of agents operating using metrics associated with the principles of artificial economics in animal cognition. Qualities such as level of decision making, its cost function and utility behavior (the microeconomic level), physiological and goal oriented behavior are investigated. The research builds on current work, and shows the use of affect norms as metacontrol heuristics enables the computational model to adapt and learn in order to optimize its behavior.
Context-Aware Identity Management in Pervasive Ad-hoc Environments
Authors: Arabo Abdullahi , Shi Qi , Merabti Madjid
Published: April 2010

Contextual information and Identity Management (IM) is of paramount importance in the growing use of portable mobile devices for sharing information and communication between emergency services in pervasive ad-hoc environments. Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANets) play a vital role within such a context. The concept of ubiquitous/pervasive computing is intrinsically tied to wireless communications. Apart from many remote services, proximity services (context-awareness) are also widely available, and people rely on numerous identities to access these services. The inconvenience of these identities creates significant security vulnerability as well as user discomfort, especially from the network and device point of view in MANet environments. In this article, the authors address how contextual information is represented to facilitate IM and present a User-centered and Context-aware Identity Management (UCIM) framework for MANets.
Mobile Novelty Mining
Authors: Kwee Agus T. , Tsai Flora S.
Published: April 2010

Service-oriented Web applications allow users to exploit applications over networks and access them from a remote system at the client side, including mobile phones. Individual services are built separately with comprehensive functionalities. In this article, the authors transform a standalone offline novelty mining application into a service-oriented application and allow users to access it over the Internet. A novelty mining application mines the novel, yet relevant, information on a topic specified by users. In this article, the authors propose a design for a service-oriented novelty mining application. After deploying their service-oriented novelty mining system on a server, use case scenarios are provided to demonstrate the system. The authors’ service-oriented novelty mining system increases the efficiency of gathering novel information from incoming streams of texts on their mobile devices for users.
An Investigation of User Behaviour Consistency for Context-Aware Information Retrieval Systems
Authors: Grzywaczewski Adam , Iqbal Rahat , James Anne , Halloran John
Published: April 2010

Users interact with the Internet in dynamic environments that require the IR system to be context aware. Modern IR systems take advantage of user location, browsing history or previous interaction patterns, but a significant number of contextual factors that impact the user information retrieval process are not yet available. Parameters like the emotional state of the user and user domain expertise affect the user experience significantly but are not understood by IR systems. This article presents results of a user study that simplifies the way context in IR and its role in the systems’ efficiency is perceived. The study supports the hypothesis that the number of user interaction contexts and the problems that a particular user is trying to solve is related to lifestyle. Therefore, the IR system’s perception of the interaction context can be reduced to a finite set of frequent user interactions.
Adaptive Modeling of Routing Algorithms for Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Cinque Marcello , Di Martino Catello
Published: April 2010

Recent years have witnessed a proliferation of routing algorithms for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), hence complicating the choice of the proper algorithm to be used for a given application. Simulation frameworks represent a viable solution to anticipate crucial choices, however existing solutions do not encompass the impact of changes (e.g., route updates, node crashes) on the nodes behavior and vice-versa. This article proposes a novel adaptive modeling approach to master the complexity of the thorough simulation of routing algorithms for WSN. Experimental results are provided showing the effectiveness of the proposed approach at managing changes, and dealing with detailed aspects, during the simulation and comparison of several routing algorithms.
Handoff Cost Minimization and Planning of Next Generation Heterogeneous Integrated Overlay Networks
Authors: Paul Ayan , Maitra Madhubanti , Mandal Swarup , Sadhukhan Samir K.
Published: April 2010

Next-generation wireless technologies have seen a paradigm shift as multiple standards and protocols emerge almost every day. Each standard has its limitations and merits, which can be either masked or complemented by other standards. For commercialization, various services should be provided in a cost effective manner, compelling a service provider to roll out integrated next generation wireless networks to exploit the virtues of each. This paper discusses the planning problem of overlay network integrating, particularly 3G, WiMAX and WLAN, establishing proper connectivity among the three networks. In the proposed planning approach, the authors focused on the initial phase and have minimized the cost for vertical handoff generated, and the cost for wire line connection amongst the various network gateways of the overlay hierarchy. To validate the planning problem, the simulated annealing (SA), a well-cited meta-heuristic H-II are presented and compared with a variant of distance based planning (DBP).
Process Scheduling in Heterogeneous Multiprocessor Systems Using Task Duplication
Authors: Chaudhuri Pranay , Elcock Jeffrey
Published: April 2010

Scheduling tasks in heterogeneous parallel and distributed computing environments continues to be a challenging problem. In this paper, the authors investigate the Heterogeneous Earliest Finish Time (HEFT) algorithm, along with alternative scheduling policies for task prioritising phases and the Critical Path on a Processor (CPOP) for scheduling tasks on a heterogeneous multiprocessor system. The authors show that by combining the HEFT algorithm selection policy with the task duplication strategy, it is possible to further reduce the schedule length produced by both HEFT and CPOP. The process scheduling algorithm presented in this paper compares favourably with other algorithms that use a similar strategy. The proposed algorithm has a time complexity of ?(¦V¦2(p + d)), whererepresents the number of tasks, p represents the number of processors and d the maximum in-degree of tasks.
Organix
Authors: Hendley Robert J. , Wilkins Barry , Beale Russell
Published: April 2010

This article presents a mechanism for generating visually appealing but also effective representations for document visualisation. The mechanism is based on an organic growth model which is driven by features of the object to be visualised. In the examples used, the authors focus on the visualisation of text documents, but the methods are readily transferable to other domains. They are also scaleable to documents of any size.The objective of this research is to build visual representations that enable the human visual system to efficiently and effectively recognise documents without the need for higher level cognitive processing. In particular, the authors want the user to be able to recognise similarities within sets of documents and to be able to easily discriminate between dissimilar objects.
Calligraphic Video
Authors: Wei Sha Xin
Published: April 2010

Since 1984, Graphical User Interfaces have typically relied on visual icons that mimic physical objects like the folder, button, and trash can, or canonical geometric elements like menus, and spreadsheet cells. GUI’s leverage our intuition about the physical environment. But the world can be thought of as being made of stuff as well as things. Making interfaces from this point of view requires a way to simulate the physics of stuff in realtime response to continuous gesture, driven by behavior logic that can be understood by the user and the designer. The author argues for leveraging the corporeal intuition that people learn from birth about heat flow, water, smoke, to develop interfaces at the density of matter that leverage in turn the state of the art in computational physics.
Incremental Knowledge Construction for Real-World Event Understanding
Authors: Kamei Koji , Yanagisawa Yutaka , Maekawa Takuya , Kishino Yasue , Sakurai Yasushi , Okadome Takeshi
Published: April 2010

The construction of real-world knowledge is required if we are to understand real-world events that occur in a networked sensor environment. Since it is difficult to select suitable ‘events’ for recognition in a sensor environment a priori, we propose an incremental model for constructing real-world knowledge. Labeling is the central plank of the proposed model because the model simultaneously improves both the ontology of real-world events and the implementation of a sensor system based on a manually labeled event corpus. A labeling tool is developed in accordance with the model and is evaluated in a practical labeling experiment.
Adoption of a New Online Travel Management System for FED-AK
Authors: Kell Aundrea , Pierre Shari , Hoanca Bogdan
Published: April 2010

This case describes the implementation of an online travel management system at FED-AK, the Alaska office of a U.S. government agency. The previous system was intended to accomplish the same functionality, but due to employee resistance, it was used only as a forms generator in conjunction with a paper- and mail-based process. The new system is integrated, which compels employees to use all the functionality provided. It also incorporates many lessons learned from the old system—in particular, extensive training and online help functions. The system is expected to significantly reduce the cost of travel by minimizing errors, enforcing policies, and reducing transaction costs. The system will also lead to faster reimbursement of employee travel expenses.
A Partial Optimization Approach for Privacy Preserving Frequent Itemset Mining
Authors: Mukherjee Shibnath , Gangopadhyay Aryya , Chen Zhiyuan
Published: April 2010

While data mining has been widely acclaimed as a technology that can bring potential benefits to organizations, such efforts may be negatively impacted by the possibility of discovering sensitive patterns, particularly in patient data. In this article the authors present an approach to identify the optimal set of transactions that, if sanitized, would result in hiding sensitive patterns while reducing the accidental hiding of legitimate patterns and the damage done to the database as much as possible. Their methodology allows the user to adjust their preference on the weights assigned to benefits in terms of the number of restrictive patterns hidden, cost in terms of the number of legitimate patterns hidden, and damage to the database in terms of the difference between marginal frequencies of items for the original and sanitized databases. Most approaches in solving the given problem found in literature are all-heuristic based without formal treatment for optimality. While in a few work, ILP has been used previously as a formal optimization approach, the novelty of this method is the extremely low cost-complexity model in contrast to the others. They implement our methodology in C and C++ and ran several experiments with synthetic data generated with the IBM synthetic data generator. The experiments show excellent results when compared to those in the literature.
Classification Systems for Bacterial Protein-Protein Interaction Document Retrieval
Authors: Liu Hongfang , Torii Manabu , Xu Guixian , Goll Johannes
Published: April 2010

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks are essential to understand the fundamental processes governing cell biology. Recently, studying PPI networks becomes possible due to advances in experimental high-throughput genomics and proteomics technologies. Many interactions from such high-throughput studies and most interactions from small-scale studies are reported only in the scientific literature and thus are not accessible in a readily analyzable format. This has led to the birth of manual curation initiatives such as the International Molecular Exchange Consortium (IMEx). The manual curation of PPI knowledge can be accelerated by text mining systems to retrieve PPI-relevant articles (article retrieval) and extract PPI-relevant knowledge (information extraction). In this article, the authors focus on article retrieval and define the task as binary classification where PPI-relevant articles are positives and the others are negatives. In order to build such classifier, an annotated corpus is needed. It is very expensive to obtain an annotated corpus manually but a noisy and imbalanced annotated corpus can be obtained automatically, where a collection of positive documents can be retrieved from existing PPI knowledge bases and a large number of unlabeled documents (most of them are negatives) can be retrieved from PubMed. They compared the performance of several machine learning algorithms by varying the ratio of the number of positives to the number of unlabeled documents and the number of features used.
The Goals of Customer Relationship Management
Authors: Goldsmith Ronald E.
Published: April 2010

The present article proposes that the variety of existing managerial practices collectively described as “customer relationship management” can be organized and coordinated into a logical sequence of goals and methods that is more effective than performing them in an uncoordinated fashion. The model proposes that managers have five distinct but interrelated goals: customer acquisition, customer retention, customer development, customer consultation, and customer conversion. Although each goal can be achieved using distinct and well-known marketing practices, the model integrates the practices in a temporal and logical order in which achieving one goal contributes to achieving other goals. Integrating the procedures and technologies used at each stage results is a synergistic effort that should benefit companies and can guide empirical research.
Grey Areas - The Legal Dimensions of Cloud Computing
Authors: Davis Michael , Sedsman Alice
Published: April 2010

Cloud computing has been heralded as a new era in the evolution of information and communications technologies. ICT giants have invested heavily in developing technologies and mega server facilities, which allow end users to access web-based software applications and store their data off-site. Businesses using cloud computing services will benefit from reduced operating costs as they cut back on ICT infrastructure and personnel. Individuals will no longer need to buy and install software and will have universal access to their data through any internet-ready device. Yet, hidden amongst the host of benefits are inherent legal risks. The global nature of cloud computing raises questions about privacy, security, confidentiality and access to data. Current terms of use do not adequately address the multitude of legal issues unique to cloud computing. In the face of this legal uncertainty, end users should be educated about the risks involved in entering the cloud.
Digital Literacy in a Lifelong Learning Programme for Adults
Authors: Jimoyiannis Athanassios , Gravani Maria
Published: April 2010

The study presented explores aspects of adult learning on digital literacy in the context of a lifelong learning programme for social cohesion in Greece. The article outlines the framework of the digital literacy subject and underlines its associated objectives regarding adults’ knowledge and competence in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The exploration draws upon the experiences and perceptions of eight adult ICT educators. The findings reveal that the educators tried to use flexible instructional practices that were adjusted to adult learners’ needs and interests. Common effective instructional practices used were: ICT competence sessions, interdisciplinary and multi-literacy lessons, ICT-based projects, individual instruction sessions. Additionally, the article reveals the difficulties that adults faced in the course of developing ICT literacy skills. The article ends with implications for the design of adult digital literacy courses in lifelong learning programmes, and for the preparation and development of the ICT educators in the years to come.