bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Esterification of wood with citric acid: The catalytic effects of sodium hypophosphite (SHP)
Authors: Feng Xinhao , Xiao Zefang , Sui Shujuan , Wang Qingwen , Xie Yanjun
Published: October 2013

Sodium hypophosphite (SHP) has been recognized as the most efficient catalyst in the esterification reaction of cellulosic fabrics with citric acid (CA), but both the high cost and the environmentally harmful property of SHP call for optimization of its application. In this study poplar wood (Populus adenopoda Maxim.) was treated with CA to various weight percent gains (WPGs) and the effect of SHP on the resulting properties of treated wood was investigated. Esterification with CA can occur also in the absence of SHP, as evidenced by the resistance to water leaching of CA. Wood treated with CA alone to 36% WPG exhibited 7% bulking, 50% anti-swelling efficiency, 30% reductions of the modulus of rupture, and 50% lower impact strength. Treatments with CA in the presence of SHP provided wood properties comparable to wood treated with CA alone. Thus the application of SHP can be questioned from the point of view of an economic production and environmental protection.
A Comparison of Hand‐arm Vibration Syndrome between Malaysian and Japanese Workers
Authors: Su Anselm Ting , Fukumoto Jin , Darus Azlan , Hoe Victor CW , Miyai Nobuyuki , Isahak Marzuki , Takemura Shigeki , Bulgiba Awang , Yoshimasu Kouichi , Maeda Setsuo , Miyashita Kazuhisa
Published: October 2013

A Comparison of Hand‐arm Vibration Syndrome between Malaysian and Japanese Workers: Anselm Ting SU, et al. Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia—The evidence on hand‐arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) in tropical environments is limited. The legislation for the control of occupational vibration exposure has yet to be established in Malaysia.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of HAVS in a tropical environment in comparison with a temperate environment.

Methods

We conducted a series medical examinations among the forestry, construction and automobile industry workers in Malaysia adopting the compulsory medical examination procedure used by Wakayama Medical University for Japanese vibratory tools workers. We matched the duration of vibration exposure and compared our results against the Japanese workers. We also compared the results of the Malaysian tree fellers against a group of symptomatic Japanese tree fellers diagnosed with HAVS.

Results

Malaysian subjects reported a similar prevalence of finger tingling, numbness and dullness (Malaysian=25.0%, Japanese=21.5%, p=0.444) but had a lower finger skin temperature (FST) and higher vibrotactile perception threshold (VPT) values as compared with the Japanese workers. No white finger was reported in Malaysian subjects. The FST and VPT of the Malaysian tree fellers were at least as bad as the Japanese tree fellers despite a shorter duration (mean difference=20.12 years, 95%CI=14.50, 25.40) of vibration exposure.

Conclusions

Although the vascular disorder does not manifest clinically in the tropical environment, the severity of HAVS can be as bad as in the temperate environment with predominantly neurological disorder. Hence, it is essential to formulate national legislation for the control of the occupational vibration exposure.
Enhanced Thermoelectric Figure-of-merit at Room Temperature in Bulk Bi(Sb)Te(Se) With Grain Size of ∼100nm
Authors: Chan Tsung-ta E. , Venkatasubramanian Rama , LeBeau James M. , Thomas Peter , Stuart Judy , Koch Carl C.
Published: October 2013

Grain boundaries are known to be able to impede phonon transport in the material. In the thermoelectric application, this phenomenon could help improve the figure-of-merit (ZT) and enhance the thermal to electrical conversion. Bi2Te3 based alloys are renowned for their high ZT around room temperature but still need improvements, in both n- and p-type materials, for the resulting power generation devices to be more competitive. To implement high density of grain boundaries into the bulk materials, a bottom-up approach is employed in this work: consolidations of nanocrystalline powders into bulk disks. Nanocrystalline powders are developed by high energy cryogenic mechanical alloying that produces Bi(Sb)Te(Se) alloy powders with grain size in the range of 7 to 14 nm, which is about 25% finer compared to room temperature mechanical alloying. High density of grain boundaries are preserved from the powders to the bulk materials through optimized high pressure hot pressing. The consolidated bulk materials have been characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope for their composition and microstructure. They mainly consist of grains in the scale of 100 nm with some distributions of finer grains in both types of materials. Preliminary transport property measurements show that the thermal conductivity is significantly reduced at and around room temperature: about 0.65 W/m-K for the n-type BiTe(Se) and 0.85 W/m-K for the p-type Bi(Sb)Te, which are attributed to increased phonon scattering provided by the nanostructure and therefore enhanced ZT about 1.35 for the n-type and 1.21 for the p-type are observed. Detailed transport properties, such as the electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient and power factor as well as the resulting ZT as a function of temperature will be described.
Enhanced thermoelectric properties of Al-doped ZnO thin films
Authors: Mele P. , Saini S. , Abe H. , Honda H. , Matsumoto K. , Miyazaki K. , Hagino H. , Ichinose A.
Published: October 2013

We have prepared 2% Al doped ZnO (AZO) thin films on SrTiO3 and Al2O3 substrates by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique at various deposition temperatures (Tdep = 300 °C – 600 °C). Transport and thermoelectric properties of AZO thin films were studied in low temperature range (300 K - 600 K). AZO/STO films present superior performance respect to AZO/Al2O3 films deposited at the same temperature, except for films deposited at 400 °C. Best film is the fully c-axis oriented AZO/STO deposited at 300 °C, with electrical conductivity 310 S/cm, Seebeck coefficient -65 μV/K and power factor 0.13 × 10-3 Wm-1K-2 at 300 K. Its performance increases with temperature. For instance, power factor is enhanced up to × 10-3 Wm-1K-2 at 600 K, surpassing the best AZO film previously reported in literature.
High-temperature mechanical properties and microscopic analysis of nano-silica steel fibre RC
Authors: Yan Lan , Xing YongMing , Zhang Jing , Li JiJun
Published: October 2013

This paper investigated the high-temperature mechanical properties of nano-steel fibre-reinforced concrete (NSFC), steel fibre-reinforced concrete (SFRC) and normal concrete. The mechanical properties were compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength. The microstructure and interfacial transition zone of steel fibre at different temperatures were also examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The mechanical properties of NSFC are found to be better than those of SFRC and normal concrete at all test temperatures, particularly at 400°C, where the maximum values are reached. Compared with normal concrete, the compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strengths of NSFC increase by 27·0%, 63·3% and 54·1%, respectively, at room temperature, and by 35·1%, 84·6% and 87·2%, respectively at 400°C. SEM and XRD analysis show the existence of a permeable diffusion layer on the steel fibre surface because of the solid-state reaction in the interfacial transition zone of steel fibre and concrete. This layer is white, bright and serrated, and mainly consists of iron disilicide (FeSi2) as well as the complex hydrated calcium silicate. The compounds of this layer change the interfacial transition zone structure, enhance the bonding capacity of the steel fibre and matrix, and also increase the high-temperature mechanical properties of concrete.
Urine Creatinine Excretion and Clinical Outcomes in CKD
Authors: Di Micco Lucia , Quinn Robert Ross , Ronksley Paul Everett , Bellizzi Vincenzo , Lewin Adriane Marlene , Cianciaruso Bruno , Ravani Pietro
Published: October 2013

Background and objectives

Twenty-four–hour urine creatinine excretion is a reliable approximation of muscle mass. Whether changes in urine creatinine predict clinical outcomes in persons with CKD is unknown. This work studied the relationship between urine creatinine and patient and renal survival in people with CKD not requiring renal replacement therapy.

Design, setting, participants, & measurements

This longitudinal cohort study included incident stages 3–5 CKD patients referred to the renal clinic at the University Federico II in Naples between January of 1995 and December of 2005. Clinical data and urine creatinine were updated at each visit. Main outcomes were all-cause mortality and kidney failure requiring dialysis.

Results

This study enrolled 525 individuals and followed them for a median of 6 years (range of 4 months to 15 years). Urine creatinine excretion declined by 16 mg/d per year (95% confidence interval, 14 to 19) in participants with CKD stages 3a, 3b, and 4, and it remained stable in participants with stage 5 CKD. Per each 20 mg/d decline in urine creatinine, mortality increased by 3% (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.01 to 1.05), and the risk of initiating dialysis increased by 2% (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.02; 95% confidence interval, 1.01 to 1.03). These associations were independent of body mass index and GFR.

Conclusions

In persons with CKD stages 3 and 4, urine creatinine declines at a rate of 16 mg/d per year. Lower urine creatinine excretion predicts greater risk of kidney failure and patient mortality.
Facial development disorders due to inhibition to endochondral ossification of mandibular condyle process caused by malnutrition
Authors: Martín Adrián E. , Pani Maria del R. , Holgado Nora Ruiz , López Miranda Laura I. , Meheris Héctor E. , Garat Juan A.
Published: October 2013

Objective:

To analyze the effect of protein restriction on histomorphometric parameters of bone remodeling in mandibular condyle process and its possible influence in facial development in growing rats.

Materials and Methods:

Wistar rats weaned at the age of 21 days were assigned to one of the following groups: control (fed a regular hard diet ad libitum) and protein restricted (PR) (fed a hard diet lacking in protein ad libitum). The animals were euthanized on day 35 after the onset of the experiment. Mandibles were resected, fixed in 10% formalin, hemisected at the symphysis, and then radiographed in order to perform cephalometric studies of the condylar process length and the height of the lower alveolar process. Mandibles were then processed for light microscopy, and histomorphometric determinations were performed on histologic sections of the condylar process subchondral bone.

Results:

The PR group showed a significantly lower body weight than control group at the end of the experiment. The length of the condylar process was lower in the PR group; however, the diet used in this study did not affect the height of the lower alveolar process. The histomorphometric analysis showed that the PR group exhibited a statistically significant decrease in bone formation and bone volume in condylar process subchondral bone.

Conclusion:

Protein restriction inhibits bone formation and longitudinal growth in the mandibular condylar process. This result suggest that protein restriction can alter normal facial development.
Mediated amperometry reveals two distinct modes of yeast responses to glucose
Authors: Garjonyte Rasa , Melvydas Vytautas , Paškevičius Algimantas , Rašomavičius Valerijus , Malinauskas Albertas
Published: October 2013

Mediated amperometry was exploited to monitor intracellular redox activity without cell disruption. Continuous measurements of menadione-mediated glucose currents at carbon paste electrodes with various immobilized intact wild type yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida pulcherrima, Clavispora lusitaniae, Wickerhamomyces anomalus, Pichia guilliermondii, Kluyveromyces lactis var. lactis, Debaryomyces hansenii, Candida zeymolaydes and Candida tropicalis) revealed two distinct and previously unreported modes of development of the currents during the first 2 to 3 min. after subjection to glucose. A correlation among the values of the currents and the capacities of wild type yeasts to secrete various substances was observed.
C-5 palsy after cervical laminoplasty with instrumented posterior fusion
Authors: Yamanaka Kazuhiro , Tachibana Toshiya , Moriyama Tokuhide , Okada Fumiaki , Maruo Keishi , Inoue Shinichi , Horinouchi Yutaka , Yoshiya Shinichi
Published: October 2013

Object

Postoperative C-5 palsy is known as a common complication after cervical laminoplasty. The authors of this article have encountered postoperative C-5 palsy more often when laminoplasty was combined with instrumented posterior spinal fusion than when it was performed alone. The purpose of this clinical study was to examine the incidence of fifth cervical nerve root palsy (C-5 palsy) and surgical results in patients with cervical myelopathy who had undergone laminoplasty with or without instrumented spinal fusion.

Methods

The authors retrospectively studied patients with cervical myelopathy who had undergone laminoplasty with or without instrumented posterior spinal fusion.

Results

Clinical data on 58 patients were evaluated and analyzed. Preoperative diagnoses were cervical spondylotic myelopathy or ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament of the cervical spine. Twenty-four patients with spondylolisthesis or kyphosis underwent laminoplasty combined with posterior spinal fusion using instrumented lateral mass fixation (fusion group), while the remaining 34 patients underwent laminoplasty without posterior spinal fusion (no-fusion group). In the fusion group, C-5 palsy developed in 6 patients; in the no-fusion group, it occurred in only 1 patient. There was a significant difference in the rate of this complication between the 2 groups. In the fusion group, local kyphosis and spondylolisthesis level were reduced at the fusion level, and all patients with C-5 palsy underwent C4–5 spinal fusion.

Conclusions

The incidence of postoperative C-5 palsy is significantly higher after laminoplasty when it is combined with spinal fusion. Correction of kyphosis and spondylolisthesis using posterior instrumentation may be a risk factor for iatrogenic intervertebral foraminal stenosis leading to C-5 palsy.
Deux voix, deux mesures
Authors: Tessarech Sarah
Published: October 2013

Cet article établit, à travers l’étude de deux cas cliniques, des liens entre la voix du texte écrit et la voix orale, notamment en situation de lecture à voix haute. La description des qualités vocales de chacun des patients et leur évolution au fil du travail orthophonique montrent une utilisation de l’écrit comme soutien à la voix et à la parole bien différente. Dans le cas d’une enseignante souffrant d’aphonie, l’écrit est plus une entrave qu’une solution au passage de la voix, et donc à la transmission pédagogique. Dans celui d’un enfant Asperger, la lecture à voix haute vient au contraire permettre l’apparition d’une « vraie » voix et même faciliter le dialogue sans support, en alternance avec des temps de lecture.
« Fais ton deuil d'abord ! » Histoire d'une psychanalyse d'enfant
Authors: Egry Marie-Claude
Published: October 2013

Cet article se propose d’aborder la question du deuil chez l’enfant à partir d’un cas de psychanalyse d’un garçon de 7 ans présentant des troubles hyperactifs. La mort d’un parent touche doublement l’enfant et porte atteinte à son identité. L’agir est quelquefois une solution de lutte contre l’informe et l’envahissement mortifère. La reprise du deuil passe par une double élaboration imaginaire et symbolique, de reconstruction spéculaire et filiative.
Should I Recycle or Not?
Authors: Uyttersprot Ineke , Vermeir Iris
Published: October 2013

Pro-environmental attitudes do not always result in environmentally friendly behavior. To determine how ecologically friendly behavior can be stimulated, some attitudinal, situational, and personal variables that have been shown to affect attitude-consistent behavior are investigated in influencing recycling behavior. Previous research has shown contradictory results concerning attitude strength, social pressure, and the attitude-behavior relationship. Either strong attitudes or strong situations predict attitude-behavioral consistency. The results indicate that attitude strength is a more powerful predictor of attitude-behavior consistency than social pressure. Strong attitudes are more likely to result in attitude-consistent behavior, regardless of social pressure. Only when attitudes are weaker does social pressure have an impact on attitude-behavior consistency. Moreover, this effect is moderated by individuals’ levels of self-monitoring.
Impact of Corporate Communication on Consumer Behavior
Authors: Habhab-Rave Saïda
Published: October 2013

The new current economic looks require the development of new modes of communication. Corporate communication based on the values and the identity of the company allows companies to develop visibility both internally and externally and to present a uniform and coherent brand image. The importance of this type of communication leads one to measure its effects on the behavior of the consumer. The question is if such communication has an impact on the behavior of the consumer and if the corporation can direct the choices of the consumer to environmental and new products. The literature review formulates hypotheses and is used to design an abstract model. The empirical study tests the influence of corporate communication on the behavior of the consumer. The results approve the composed hypotheses and show a clear influence of such communication on the consumers’ behavior.
How Advertising Beauty Influences Children’s Self-Perception and Behavior
Authors: Vermeir Iris , Van de Sompel Dieneke
Published: October 2013

The authors investigate (1) whether the physical attractiveness stereotype applies to children, (2) whether children’s self-perception is influenced by the attractiveness of an advertising model, (3) whether children’s buying intentions are influenced by the attractiveness of an advertising model, and (4) whether age, gender, and materialism affect (1), (2), and (3). Results of an experimental research (N=185) confirm the presence of the “what is beautiful is good” stereotype in children. Attractive (versus less attractive) models were also perceived to be less likely to follow the rules. Contrary to expectations from research in adult samples, the presence of an attractive (versus less attractive) model has a positive influence on perceived physical appearance for both boys and girls and also a positive influence on general self-worth for girls. The authors also found that attractive (versus less attractive) models increase attitudes and buying intentions for boys, but not for girls. No effects of age and materialism were found.
Wireless Sensor Network Security Attacks
Authors: Mirante Dennis P. , Ammari Habib M.
Published: October 2013

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are a rapidly growing area for research and commercial development. Originally used in military applications, their commercialization offers potential low cost solutions for real-world monitoring and process control. Since they may be deployed in hostile, unattended, environments and may collect sensitive data, they may be prone to attack by entities that wish to interfere with their operation and/or usurp or alter the information they collect. While their low cost enhances their desirability as a monitoring solution, it also presents inherent resource and computing constraints. These constraints are major obstacles for the implementation of traditional security paradigms. Consequently, one of the most active areas of research in Wireless Sensor Networks is security. This chapter takes a representative survey of the types of security attacks WSNs may be subjected to. Additionally, steps that may be taken to mitigate these attacks are also discussed. Intrusion Detection Systems, a paradigm for monitoring network activities for malicious behavior, are introduced, and specific examples of them are discussed.
Security of Dependable Systems
Authors: Ahmed Naveed , Jensen Christian Damsgaard
Published: October 2013

Security and dependability are crucial for designing trustworthy systems. The approach “security as an add-on” is not satisfactory, yet the integration of security in the development process is still an open problem. Especially, a common framework for specifying dependability and security is very much needed. There are many pressing challenges however; here, we address some of them. Firstly, security for dependable systems is a broad concept and traditional view of security, e.g., in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability, does not suffice. Secondly, a clear definition of security in the dependability context is not agreed upon. Thirdly, security attacks cannot be modeled as a stochastic process, because the adversary’s strategy is often carefully planned. In this chapter, we explore these challenges and provide some directions toward their solutions.
The Economic Crisis
Authors: Belingher Daniel , Calin Cantemir Adrian
Published: October 2013

The current chapter shows the gap between the real economy and the financial markets in the United States during the pre-crisis period at the end of 2007, as well as during the subsequent crisis period. The current research chapter also emphasizes the catastrophic effect that financial markets had inside the whole economic system due to this gap. The premise from which this chapter starts can be found in the systems theory and consists in Heinz von Foerster’s theorem. This research has an empirical nature and shows in which way an anomaly within the system can destabilize the entire system, finally resulting in the installation of the crisis period that we are still facing. In order to illustrate this, the authors refer to the evolution of the values of DJIA and real GDP, observed between mid 1940s until 2010 in the United States.
US Financial Crisis Critique and the Statistical Predictability of a NYSE Portfolio
Authors: Wymar Gerry
Published: October 2013

This study’s purpose is to review investment practitioner accounts describing the causes and effects of the global financial crises, with a focus of the US financial crisis. A critical gap in the literature was found: the lack of an independent indicator that could do forecast a market upturn or downturn at least a week in advance to provide sufficient lead time for hedging a stock portfolio before a crash. A sample of 95 high performing companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was used as a multiyear case study. Publicly available market indexes such as Mood's, Standards and Poor's (S&P, and others, were tested as independent factors to explain the behavior of the case study stock portfolio performance. Correlation, regression (simple, multiple, stepwise, surface response) and ANOVA (with T-tests) were used to analyze 817 days of returns during the 2008-2011 period of the US financial crisis. A complex polynomial nonlinear equation was developed which could predict the behavior of the case study portfolio five days in advance.
Challenges of Civil Military Cooperation/Coordination in Humanitarian Relief
Authors: Heaslip Graham
Published: October 2013

The term civil military coordination (CIMIC) suggests the seamless division of labor between aid workers and international military forces. The images of humanitarian organizations distributing food and medicines under the protection of military forces, or aid workers and military working together to construct refugee camps, set up field hospitals, provide emergency water and sanitation, et cetera, has become more frequent. The media coverage from crises such as New Orleans, Kosovo, the tsunami in Asia, Pakistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Chad, and more recently Haiti and Japan, has heightened the expectation of a smooth interaction between humanitarian organizations and military forces. Due to fundamental differences between international military forces, humanitarian and development organizations (in terms of the principles and doctrines guiding their work, their agendas, operating styles, and roles), the area of civil military coordination in disaster relief has proven to be more difficult than other interagency relationships. This chapter will identify the many factors that render integration and collaboration problematic between diverse organizations, and especially so between civilian and military agencies. The chapter will conclude with proposals to improve CIMIC within disaster relief.
Cyber Security in Liquid Petroleum Pipelines
Authors: Henrie Morgan
Published: October 2013

The world’s critical infrastructure includes entities such as the water, waste water, electrical utilities, and the oil and gas industry. In many cases, these rely on pipelines that are controlled by supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. SCADA systems have evolved to highly networked, common platform systems. This evolutionary process creates expanding and changing cyber security risks. The need to address this risk profile is mandated from the highest government level. This chapter discusses the various processes, standards, and industry based best practices that are directed towards minimizing these risks.
Attackers
Authors: Gelbstein Eduardo
Published: October 2013

Of the three groups of components of information security – tools, processes, and people- the last one should be considered as the weakest link. People range from the tired or unaware employee that clicks on a link that infects a computer or a network, to the security expert working for a criminal, military, or terrorist organization attacking a critical information infrastructure. This chapter examines the various classes of potential attackers and the techniques currently used to perpetrate such attacks.
Rethinking Ethics Education in Business Schools in the Post-Financial Crisis Epoch
Authors: Vaiman Vlad , Sigurjonsson Throstur Olaf
Published: October 2013

This chapter deals with a multitude of perspectives on ethics education in business schools and provides a compelling example of Iceland, where unethical behavior of its business elite and the total disregard for commonly accepted ethical rules of conducting business led to unsustainable expansion of the financial industry and its subsequent collapse in the fall of 2008. The authors examine whether ethics education or more precisely, the lack thereof, played any role in this financial collapse, and whether business schools should contribute to molding moral characters of their students, who will ultimately become the next generation of business leaders. Here are a few important highlights of what has been found. First, a consensus seems to have been reached that business schools have an important role in developing the moral character of their students, something they haven’t practiced sufficiently according to managers. Second, business schools ought to take a more direct part in a society’s discourse on business ethics and perhaps be in the forefront of these discussions. Third, there is a clear need for not only asking business schools to contribute to molding the moral character of students but to reshaping that of practicing managers through re-training and continuous education.
Emergency Management Professional Development
Authors: Russo Marianne Robin
Published: October 2013

Although there is current research describing technology efforts utilized in the 21st century as it relates to emergency management, there are adult educational factors to examine regarding Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the Social Communication Skills (SCS) of emergency personnel. Technology is quickly evolving and the the population is becoming increasingly more diverse, driving the efforts of emergency personnel to harness more technological emergency advances and navigate the culture of each community to assure effective emergency measures are taken. Within the ICT and SCS framework, emergency management must concern itself with: (a) the basic tenets of emergency management; (b) the changing and new nature of global threats in the 21st century; (c) evolving emergency management technologies; (d) social considerations when interfacing with the communities served; and (e) recommendations for those who are involved in emergency management mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery emergency efforts. All of these factors revolve around the education and re-education of adults; therefore, the focus of this chapter explores subsequent educational implications for the emergency personnel workforce as well as positive results for affected communities. This chapter proposes a larger implication, one of emergency personnel professional development within technology-based response systems as well as the cultivation of social communication in an effort to build a Sense of Community (SOC) with the diverse citizenry they serve. Emergency first responders, as well as other emergency personnel, must be educated in technology and social skills to better serve the community and to become a part of a holistic community. It is in this way that safety, and ultimately social justice, efforts for specific groups who may be marginalized and disenfranchised during an emergency are enhanced.
Teaching Group Decision Making Skills to Emergency Managers via Digital Games
Authors: Linehan Conor , Lawson Shaun , Doughty Mark , Kirman Ben , Haferkamp Nina , Krämer Nicole C. , Schembri Massimiliano , Nigrelli Maria Luisa
Published: October 2013

This chapter discusses how a focus on establishing the appropriate learning outcomes of an educational programme, and creatively incorporating these learning outcomes within the design of a game, can lead to the development of a useful educational game. Specifically, it demonstrates the process involved in generating game design criteria from a multi-disciplinary literature review. The design of a game that has been developed as part of a project to train emergency managers in group decision making and communications skills is presented, along with some initial evaluations of that game design. It appears that the game presented can function as a valid practical element of a programme for the training of group decision making and communication skills with emergency management personnel.
Enterprise Information Security Policies, Standards, and Procedures
Authors: Nabi Syed Irfan , Al-Ghmlas Ghmlas Saleh , Alghathbar Khaled
Published: October 2013

This chapter explores enterprise information security policies, standards, and procedures. It examines the existing resources, analyses the available options, and offers recommendations to the CIOs and other people that have to make decisions about policies, standards, and procedures to ensure information security in their enterprise. Additionally, the need, requirements, and audience for different types of security documents are scrutinized. Their mutual relationship is examined, and the association among them is illustrated with a diagram supplemented by an example to bring about better comprehension of these documents. It is important to know the sources and organizations that make standards and guidelines. Therefore, the major ones are discussed. This research involved finding all of the relevant documents and analyzing the reasons for the ever-increasing number of newer ones and the revisions of the existing ones. Various well-known and established international, as well as national, information security standards and guidelines are listed to provide a pertinent collection from which to choose. The distinguishing factors and common attributes are researched to make it easier to classify these documents. Finally, the crux of the chapter involves recommending appropriate information security standards and guidelines based on the sector to which an organization belongs. An analysis of the role played by these standards and guidelines in the effectiveness of information security is also discussed, along with some caveats. It is important for practitioners and researchers to know what is available, who the key players are, and the potential issues with information security standards and guidelines; they are all concisely presented in this chapter.
The Effect of Crises on Leadership
Authors: Çeşmeci Nazmi , Özkaynak Süleyman , Ünsalan Deniz
Published: October 2013

Crises can be regarded as the nursery of leadership in a way. They have both created new leaders and have also proved to be a testing ground for the existing leaders, as well as a filter where the inefficient have been eliminated. Man-made crises have been classified as social, economical, and political crises up to recent times. With the development of modern markets, new financial tools have emerged. Those financial tools have the function of regulating the modern economy, but also they have the handicap of propagating their own crises from the economic field to social and political areas. In this context, crises give way to radical changes in the management paradigm. In such an environment, the leadership virtues of the previous paradigm period turn out to be insufficient. Institutions used to survive during the crisis periods by employing their crisis management plans. However, crises gain a permanent nature during the modern times and tactical crisis management becomes insufficient in the new environment. The phenomenon of permanent crisis forces leadership to have some special virtues. Therefore, it becomes necessary to define a new type of leadership, namely “strategic crisis leadership.” The aim of this chapter is to examine the impact of crises on leadership virtues and express reflections on the new type of leadership in the new paradigmal period.
Initial Requirements of National Crisis Decision Support System
Authors: Kabil Ahmad , Kabeil Magdy M.
Published: October 2013

The National Crisis Decision Support System NCDSS represents special type of mission critical systems highly responsive enough to face a national crisis. The value of a NCDSS is assessed according to its impact on the value of surviving a national crisis. Such systems should have common initial requirements associated with their common conceptual design. A conceptual design representing basic modules of NCDSS is developed. The conceptual design provides a general foundation that can be transferred to a detailed design and implementation of an application. The proposed concept of NCDSS meets the initial specifications that are validated using a case scenario. The relative percentage of the total score that each module contributes to the design is evaluated using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) technique.
Supporting Domain Ontology through a Metamodel
Authors: Othman Siti Hajar
Published: October 2013

A metamodel is a model that has the ability to create the languages of many domain models. Domain models are conceptual models of a domain under study and contain all the entities, attributes, relationships, and constraints of the domain. As the artifact of a metamodeling technique, a metamodel could generalize most of the concepts used in existing domain models by unifying the views and structuring the language of the domain. In relation to ontology, the creation of a metamodel could assist in understanding, structuring, and analyzing the ontology. Other than its potential to engineer new ontology and re-engineer existing ontology, a metamodel can also be used to facilitate communication among communities regarding the ontology. The authors present how a metamodel can structure and manage knowledge of a domain it models. Through the Disaster Management Metamodel, they create a language for the disaster management domain.
Security Issues on Outlier Detection and Countermeasure for Distributed Hierarchical Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Zhang Yiying , He Lin , Shu Lei , Hara Takahiro , Nishio Shojiro
Published: October 2013

Outliers in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are sensor nodes that launch attacks by abnormal behaviors and fake message dissemination. However, existing cryptographic techniques have difficulty in detecting these outliers, which makes outlier recognition a critical and challenging issue for reliable and secure data dissemination when outliers exist in WSNs. This chapter is concerned about detection and elimination problems of outlier. To efficiently identify and isolate outliers, we present a novel “Outlier Detection and Countermeasure Scheme” (ODCS), which consists of three mechanisms: (1) An abnormal event observation mechanism (AEOM) for network surveillance; (2) An exceptional message supervision mechanism (EMSM) for distinguishing fake messages by exploiting spatiotemporal correlation and consistency; (3) An abnormal frequency supervision mechanism (AFSM) for the evaluation of node behavior. The chapter also provides a heuristic methodology which does not need the knowledge of normal or malicious sensors in advance. This property makes the ODCS not only to distinguish and deal with various dynamic attacks automatically without advance learning but also reduces the requirement of capability for constrained nodes. In our solution, the communication is limited to a local range, such as one-hop or a cluster, which can reduce the communication frequency and circumscribe the session range further. Moreover, the chapter also provides countermeasures for different types of attacks, such as the rerouting scheme and the rekey security scheme, which can separate outliers from normal sensors and enhance the robustness of network, even when some nodes are compromised by adversary. Simulation results indicate that our approach can effectively detect and defend the outlier attack.
Disaster Impact and Country Logistics Performance
Authors: Haavisto Ira
Published: October 2013

The study in this chapter seeks to answer the question whether a country’s logistics performance has a correlation with the impacts of a disaster; impact being measured in average amount of affected, the average amount of deaths, the average amount of injured in a disaster or the average amount of economic damage. This is a quantitative study where the EM-DATs disaster data is analyzed through correlation analysis against the World Bank’s logistics performance index (LPI). The findings do not show a significant relationship between countries LPI and the average number of deaths or injured persons in a disaster. A positive correlation between the variable LPI and the variable economic damage can be found. A negative correlation between the LPI and the average amount of affected can be found for countries with an average ranking LPI. Countries with low LPI and high disaster occurrence are further identified. Findings encourage the identified countries to take into consideration their logistics performance when planning and carrying out humanitarian response operations. Results also encourage humanitarian organizations to pay attention to the receiving countries’ logistics performance in planning and carrying out humanitarian response operations.
Data Mining Techniques to Improve Early Warning Systems across the Bay of Bengal
Authors: Rahman Hakikur
Published: October 2013

This chapter is a conceptual contribution to this book on data mining applications upholding ethical issues related to two extremely important aspects of the Bangladeshi population: the early warning system and the disaster management system. The chapter tries to provide a few conceptual ideas to introduce ethical data mining application in these systems to support the agencies that are involved for an improved, efficient, and transparent support system in the country, especially across the Bay of Bengal. Resembling a triangular shape (deltaic), a major portion of the bay touches the southern portion of Bangladesh. Sediments from rivers have made the bay a shallow sea. Due to its shallowness and shape, monsoon rains and cyclone storms become destructive, causing great loss of life along the southern part of the country. Moreover, the three mighty rivers (Padma, Jamuna, and Meghna) form one of the largest river systems in the world. They have a large number of distributaries and tributaries, which cause a major portion of the country to be inundated by monsoon rain. In addition, being the lowest landing zone of the Himalayan water, Bangladesh becomes victim to floods almost every year. Loss of lives, destruction of properties, suffering of numerous people and hampering of economic development have become part and parcel of Bangladeshi communities. This chapter suggests that the newly emerged data mining techniques can be introduced to collect, synthesize, analyze, archive, disseminate, and even make future forecasts forming a reliable early warning system across the Bay of Bengal.
Role of Accounting and Audit in the Recent Financial Crisis
Authors: Aydin Alev Dilek
Published: October 2013

This study aims to assess the role of accounting and auditing in the recent financial crisis. After each crisis, there have been serious discussions concerning the reasons behind those crises. However, no consensus has yet been achieved until now. In this context, the analysis of the relationships among financial crisis, accounting, and auditing is of utmost importance in better evaluating the structural reasons behind the crisis. There are several points that this chapter aims to analyze to indicate the contributions of accounting and auditing to the recent global financial crisis. These points are: impacts of disregarding the main principles of accounting, the wide use of fair value accounting over cost-based accounting, incorrect and misleading financial and audit reports, applications of creative accounting, and lack of transparency and weaknesses of the auditing process. The debates generally concentrate on the use of fair value (mark-to-market) accounting in the financial reports as opposed to the historical cost method. It should be emphasized that accounting is very important as a key mechanism of market economies, because of its crucial role in the functioning of the markets in accordance with the public interest. The chapter concludes with several suggestions by taking the fact into consideration that accounting and auditing systems should be revised for the better protection of interests of the third parties such as investors, potential investors, and the state.
Effective Infrastructure Protection through Virtualization
Authors: Guster Dennis C. , Lee Olivia F.
Published: October 2013

In this current digital era, organizations are increasingly aware of the need to protect their computer infrastructure to maintain continuity of operations. This process involves a number of different concerns including: managing natural disasters, equipment failure, security breaches, poor data management, inadequate design, and complex/impractical design. The purpose of this chapter is to delineate how virtualization of hosts can be used to address the concerns above resulting in improved computer infrastructure that can easily be restored following a natural disaster and which features fault tolerant hosts/components, isolates applications security attacks, is simpler in design, and is easier to manage.
A Proactive Defense Strategy to Enhance Situational Awareness in Computer Network Security
Authors: Luo Yi , Szidarovszky Ferenc
Published: October 2013

With the development of situational awareness in intrusion defense, a proactive response is a realistic and effective approach against the attackers. It is assumed that each player can update knowledge of the opponent and assess possible future scenarios of the dynamic game based on their previous interactions. Therefore, finding the best current move of the defender is modeled as a discrete-time stochastic control problem. An on-line, convergent, scenario based proactive defense (SPD) algorithm considering adaptive learning is developed based on differential dynamic programming (DDP) to solve the associated optimal control problem. Numerical experiment shows that the new algorithm can help the defender in finding the best dynamic strategies quickly and efficiently. Moreover, the SPD algorithm can provide optimal defensive efforts against possible future attacks within an appropriate time window, so the success of the attack in the possible future interactions can be assessed, improving situational awareness in computer network security.
Security and Mobility Aspects of Femtocell Networks
Authors: Namal Suneth , Gurtov Andrei
Published: October 2013

This chapter discusses security and mobility aspects of femtocell networks, given protocol level descriptions in the subsections. The connectivity between FAP and core network has a high risk of being compromised. The chapter discusses how Host Identity Protocol (HIP) can be adapted in femtocell technology to improve security and mobility issues. This chapter presents several enhancements to the femtocell technology such as strong authentication, service registration, identity verification, and node multihoming. In addition, Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) is used to provide confidentiality, data origin authentication, connectionless integrity, anti-replay service, and limited traffic flow confidentiality. Furthermore, enhanced mobility support by means of locator/identity separation and node multihoming is discussed in the scope of 3GPP femtocells.
On Application of Bionic Design in the Mini Hair Dryer
Authors: Zhang Jiu Mei , Wu Xiao , Xu Jing
Published: October 2013

Based on the concept of bionics design, this paper aims to research the basic theory of bionic design methods, design procedures and the development trend of mini hair dryer, intending to build the bionic design methods in production, pointing out the method of process in order to achieve the bionic goals, appreciating the biological characteristics, record, simplification, painting and biological characteristics of the product design. Hopeing to apply this method to promote other products design and trying to search a fast and effective way for products innovation.
Design of Control System for Wave Compensation Crane Based on Fuzzy Adaptive Method and Motion Prediction Model
Authors: Feng Lin , Yang Shao Bo , Zhang Xin Fu , Huang Hai Bo , Li Jiang Jiang
Published: October 2013

The wave compensation crane control system is a kind of artificial intelligence system which can be guided by fuzzy adaptive method and motion prediction model in the paper. Its purpose is to overcome the problem of time-delay in wave compensation actuator and the problem of non-linearity and time-variability in wave movement. A control system based on fuzzy adaptive method and motion prediction model is designed in this paper, including its hardware and software design. Then, a control strategy including the fuzzy adaptive algorithm and the motion prediction model is presented for the control system. At last, by the experimental verification in the crane, the research results show that the whole control system has a good feasibility and adaptability.
Evaluation on Across-Wind Response of Tall Building According to Aerodynamic Shapes
Authors: You Jang Youl , You Ki Pyo , Kim Young Moon
Published: October 2013

High-rise buildings constructed in large cities are thin and long in their shape and are both unconventional and light-weight. The purpose of this study is to reduce the across-wind response of high-rise buildings (unconventional) under the influence of wind load. As a means to change the external shape of high-rise buildings, we selected the flat Y-type form. It is generally applied in domestic high-rise buildings for examination. Wind tunnel tests take place on 12 high-rise buildings, composed of three different Y-type shapes such as basic square forms with square cross sections and unconventional forms, in a suburban area (α=0.15) with a turbulence intensity of 10%.