bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effect Of An Increase In Sin Taxes On The Market Value Of Alcohol Stock
Authors: McClenny R. Lorraine , Brown Robert M.
Published: February 2016

The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 imposed an increase in excise taxes on alcohol, a $1.00 increase on a proof gallon of distilled spirits, a $9.00 increase in the tax on a barrel of beer, and a $.90 increase on a wine gallon. Previous research has concluded that despite the addictive nature of alcohol, the demand for alcohol is not price inelastic. Thus, the expectation was that the prices of stocks in the alcohol industry should drop as a result of the passage of this act. A standard event methodology was employed. While some decrease in stock price was detected when agreement was reached by the House and Senate the decrease was not significant. Other possible event dates showed positive price movements but these were also insignificant. Thus, it would appear that the market thought that the tax was not high enough to cause a change in consumer behavior.
The Use Of Accounting Information Before And After The Award Of The MFOAs Certificate Of Conformance
Authors: Allen Arthur , Sanders George D. , Cho Jang Y.
Published: February 2016

This study examines whether the Municipal Finance Officers Associations Certificate of Conformance (CC) provides an effective signal to financial statement users of cities financial reporting quality. Bond ratings were modeled prior to and subsequent to the award of the CC. The model using accounting data subsequent to the ward of the CC had a higher rate of classificatory accuracy (55.6%) than the model using accounting data prior to the award of the CC (50.6%). However, the difference in classificatory accuracy between the two models was not statistically significant.
Earnings Management: Friend or Foe?
Authors: Laux Judith A.
Published: February 2016

This study looks at some of the recent literature on quality of earnings and earnings management and debates the propositions that earnings management (1) is not new, (2) is an expected outcome of a GAAP approach to accounting, and (3) is not necessarily detrimental to efficient capital markets. It also offers suggestions for using earnings management in a positive fashion to influence the future of the profession.
Demographic Transition, Human Capital And Growth
Authors: Currais Luis
Published: February 2016

This paper firstly deals with the evolution of the literature on fertility and mortality growth rates and secondly discusses the extent to which both fertility and mortality affect the population growth rate as an endogenous variable. We develop an economic growth model using an infinite horizon setup in which economic development and health status influence the population growth rate. Mortality depends on health expenditure and fertility is endogenously determined. Each generation of family is linked altruistically and adults within each household take into account the welfare and resources of their actual and future descendants. The current generation maximizes utility and incorporates a budget constraint over an infinite horizon. Their decisions determine not also the evolution of the population growth rate but even the evolution of the per capita income.
Edward Chamberlin: Monopolistic Competition And Pareto Optimality
Authors: Bellante Don
Published: February 2016

In treatments of Monopolistic Competition, Edward Chamberlin and Joan Robinson are usually credited with simultaneously and independently developing the theory of monopolistic or imperfect competition.  While their contributions were indeed simultaneously developed, it is inappropriate to treat them as having duplicated each other’s efforts.  Yet it has become customary in many treatments to regard them as having done just that, and modern textbook treatments tend to mention the two as if they were interchangeable.  In no respect were they less so than in their views of the welfare implications of monopolistic competition.  But the passage of time seems to have resulted in a blurring of the distinction between them, and it has become a common practice to ascribe to monopolistic competition an incompatibility with Pareto optimality.  An important point of focus of this paper is Chamberlin’s response to the tendency to treat his analysis as indicating a market failure.
Why Advertising Does Not Cause Smoking Initiation
Authors: Henke Lucy L. , Fontenot Gwen
Published: February 2016

Several charges have been leveled against advertising as the cause of smoking initiation among both young people and adults, but an examination of the relevant literature indicates that advertising is not the cause of smoking initiation.  The present study is an examination of the role of advertising in the consumer decision making process generally, and specifically with regard to decisions about smoking.
Relationship Marketing: An Important Tool For Success In The Marketplace
Authors: Nwakanma Hudson , Jackson Annette Singleton , Burkhalter Janee N.
Published: February 2016

This paper looks at relationship marketing as an important tool for success in marketing.  With product quality becoming a common standard in many industries, and no longer a major source of competitive advantage, many firms are scrambling to escape the mire of the ‘commodity mentality’ that has become part of most basic products in the market place today.   Several of these firms are turning to relationship (RM) marketing as a means of differentiating themselves.  This shift to RM is being fueled by fundamental cultural shifts, powerful databases, and a new focus on organizational structure; and is occurring more rapidly in some sectors and industries than others.  Through the relationships they build, marketers turn data into knowledge by using the information, insight, and understanding gained over time and applying this information to mutual benefits with their customers.  Many are realizing some of the advantages of relationship marketing which could be gained by both the marketer and the buyer.  For the marketer, profitability, brand loyalty, product differentiation, and gaining competitive advantage are some major benefits of relationship building.  For the buyer, the major benefits include: personalized attention from marketers, marketer’s efforts to anticipate buyers’ wants, and meaningful dialogues with the marketer. Trust, commitment, empathy, and responsiveness to customers needs are necessary ingredients for successful implementation of RM.  Database technology, print-on-demand technology, and internal marketing are some of the tools available to marketers interested in taking advantage of an effective RM program.  The jury is still out on how firms can successfully implement the RM program.  Some firms have however, made successful attempts in implementing RM.
Inventory Turnover Of Fortune 500 Manufacturing Companies After 2001 And Its Relationship To Net Earning
Authors: Chu Edward
Published: February 2016

In order to determine whether the largest United States manufacturers had changed their inventory policies after the terrorist attacks in 2001, averages of inventory turnover ratios of 157 manufacturing companies in the 2002 Fortune 500 list (2001 ranking) calculated for the 3-year pre-2001 (1998 to 2000) period were compared with that of the 3-year post-2001 (2002 to 2004) period in aggregate, by the 2001 Fortune 500 ranking and by industry using paired-samples t-tests. Overall results indicate that there is no significant change in inventory turnover before and after 2001. This is in contrast to the significant inventory reduction found in the two decades before 2001 as reported in previous literature. However, the finding in this study that inventory turnover is not related to net earning is consistent with other studies. Possible explanations and areas for future research are also discussed.
High-Tech Business Survivorship: An Analysis By Organization Type
Authors: Luo Tian , Mann Amar
Published: February 2016

Previous studies have shown that organizational and environmental factors such as start-up size, number of establishments, start-up year, geographic location, and industry are all significant determinants of a businesss survival rate. However, the link between survival rates and the legal structure of businesses has not been established. This analysis of new and existing high-tech businesses between the years of 1998 and 2009 reveals that given the same organizational characteristics and environmental factors, businesses legally structured as sole proprietorships and partnerships had significantly lower survival rates than did businesses structured as corporations or other organization types. Corporations had the lowest mortality rate among all groups. In comparison, partnerships exited at a 50 percent higher rate than did corporations, while sole proprietorships exited at twice the rate of corporations. This paper models hazard rates over the lifetime of a business and shows that businesses tend to have the highest mortality rates in their second and third years of operation, after which exit rates decrease at a logarithmic rate. Sole proprietorships, however, do not follow this trend as their mortality rate was highest in their first year of operation. In addition, impacts on survivorship of high-tech businesses due to start-up size, number of establishments, industry, and location are measured and compared with findings from previous studies.
Does Size Matter? Economies Of Scale In The Banking Industry
Authors: Stimpert J. L. , Laux Judith A.
Published: February 2016

This study uses 2007 data from more than 1,200 banking institutions to examine the relationships among size, costs, and profitability in the banking industry. Our results suggest that the relationship between size and firm performance is complex. We find that while costs decline and profitability increases as bank size increases, these relationships do not hold indefinitely and diseconomies of scale are experienced by larger banks. When size is measured by total assets, larger banks begin to encounter lower levels of net income, but the very largest banks are able to enjoy net income that increases at an increasing rate as size increases. When size is measured by total deposits, net income increases at an increasing rate for a wide range of bank sizes and only begins to decrease for the largest banks. Regardless of the size measure employed, we find that increasing size is associated with higher costs that increase at an increasing rate, inevitably resulting in diseconomies of scale with implications for both theory and practice.
Agentes hemostáticos en cirugía periapical. Revisión de literatura
Authors: Coaguila Llerena Hernán , Mendiola Aquino Carlos
Published: February 2016

La zona periapical es una región altamente vascularizada, y exhibe una gran tendencia a la hemorragia, especialmente en presencia de tejido granulomatoso, que suele acompañar las patologías perirradiculares. Esto representa para el clínico un aspecto de suma importancia, ya que solo mediante un campo seco se obtendrá un campo operatorio efectivamente visible que le permita intervenir adecuadamente. Es necesario evaluar consideraciones pre-quirúrgicas y quirúrgicas tales como la historia médica del paciente, así como la manipulación de los tejidos antes de la elección del agente hemostático que se opte por conveniente. Los agentes hemostáticos presentan características que los hacen particularmente muy distintos unos de otros, tanto en su presentación como en su manejo operatorio. La presente revisión bibliográfi ca describirá y analizará los principales agentes hemostáticos que se encuentran actualmente disponibles en el mercado y su impacto en la cirugía periapical contemporánea.
HYGINO AMANAJÁS E SUA PRODUÇÃO DE LIVROS DE LEITURAS ESCOLARES PARA O ENSINO PRIMÁRIO: FRAGMENTOS DA HISTÓRIA DA LEITURA NO PARÁ
Authors: Maciel Francisca Izabel Pereira , Da Rocha Kátia Gardênia Henrique
Published: February 2016

Este texto traz fragmentos da História da Leitura no Estado do Pará ao desvelar o estudo historiográfico realizado sobre a trajetória intelectual e profissional de Hygino Amanajás (1852-1921), cujo nome é inserido nos quadros da História do Estado do Pará como personalidade política, envolvido com a Educação e autor dos livros escolares: Noções de Educação Civica e Alma e Coração. Tem-se ainda, apresentados elementos acerca do processo de produção, divulgação e circulação dessas obras. Esses elementos fornecem indícios que possibilitam, mesmo que de forma incipiente, conhecer aspectos sobre a história da leitura. Dentre esses elementos destaca-se a influência do livro Cuore, de Edmundo de Amicis, na produção do livro Alma e Coração.
REVERBERAÇÕES DE UM ARQUIVO ESCOLAR ANARQUISTA
Authors: Moraes Carmen Sylvia Vidigal , Silva Doris Accioly e , Santos Luciana Eliza dos , Calsavara Tatiana Da Silva
Published: February 2016

Este trabalho resultou do livro Educação Libertária no Brasil – Acervo João Penteado: Inventário de Fontes e procura sintetizar a pesquisa desenvolvida ao longo de 10 anos no Centro de Memória da Educação, da Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de São Paulo (CME-FEUSP), por um grupo multidisciplinar de professores e estudantes de graduação e pós-graduação. Os estudos desdobraram-se em dois eixos: o primeiro refere-se ao levantamento e análise das fontes documentais e sua importância para a reconstituição da história escolar interligada à discussão teórica da historiografia da educação no Brasil, e o segundo eixo explora a importância das teorias e práticas anarquistas na educação ibero-americana sublinhando a relativa ausência de estudos sobre o tema.
VIVER E ESCREVER: HISTÓRIA E EDUCAÇÃO NO ACERVO DE CADERNOS DE UM PROFESSOR CATARINENSE (SÉCULO XX)
Authors: Cunha Maria Teresa Santos , Souza Flavia De Freitas
Published: February 2016

Este estudo tem como material empírico o conjunto de 45 cadernos pessoais deixados pelo professor e intelectual catarinense, Victor Márcio Konder (1920 – 2005), antigo docente da Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (UDESC, 1980) que também atuou nas fileiras do Partido Comunista Brasileiro (PCB) nos anos de 1935 a 1956, sendo estes doação póstuma de sua família ocorrida, no ano de 2009, ao acervo do Laboratório de Patrimônio Cultural (LABPAC – UDESC). Analisados como registros de uma trajetória, esses manuscritos contêm indícios sobre a formação, interesses de leitura, hábitos de escrita e formas de relacionar-se com o conhecimento que configuraram esse intelectual, professor nas décadas de 60 a 80 do século XX.  Além de possibilitar o mapeamento de alguns aspectos da vida do proprietário o estudo também destaca os vários sentidos dos cadernos: como escritas ordinárias; testemunhas de uma construção de si; relíquias conectadas com uma sensibilidade nostálgica e como uma coleção a ser arquivada como objeto e patrimônio da cultura material da escola.
Double-Diffusive Instability of Couple-Stress Binary Rivlin-Ericksen Visco-Elastic Fluid Mixture in Porous Medium
Authors: Kumar Sudhir , Pundir Rimple
Published: February 2016

The paper critically examines, within the framework of linear stability analysis, the double diffusive instability of couple-stress binary Rivlin-Ericksen visco-elastic fluid mixture in porous medium. In the present paper, by a number of theorems providing conditions for stability or instability, bounds on the growth rate of unstable modes and the characterization of modes providing a clear cut effects of viscosity and medium permeability.
Genetic Manipulation of miR156 for Improvement of Biomass Production and Forage Quality in Red Clover
Authors: Zheng Qiaolin , Liu Jinge , Goff Ben M. , Dinkins Randy D. , Zhu Hongyan
Published: February 2016

Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is an important forage legume in the United States. Improving forage quality and biomass yield is an important goal of forage breeding programs. Plant development, particularly the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth, is an important factor affecting biomass accumulation and forage quality. Thus, genetic manipulation of genes that regulate the transition from the vegetative to reproductive phase can be an efficient strategy for genetic improvement of red clover. One such gene is miR156, a microRNA gene that serves as a master regulator of vegetative phase change in land plants. We report here the development of transgenic red clover plants overexpressing the maize Corngrass1 gene encoding two tandem miR156s. The transgenic plants displayed striking phenotypic changes compared with the wild‐type plants, including the increased number of shoots, delayed flowering, enhanced forage yield, and improved forage quality. These results suggest that manipulating miR156 or its target genes is a potential tool for genetic improvement of forage legumes.
Reduction in water losses in water distribution systems using pressure reduction valves
Authors: Covelli Carmine , Cimorelli Luigi , Cozzolino Luca , Della Morte Renata , Pianese Domenico
Published: February 2016

Water loss is a phenomenon frequently observed within water distribution systems (WDSs), that is considerably worsened by an excessive pressure throughout the network. As an alternative option to pipe replacement, the use of pumps working as turbines, throttle control valves (TCVs), or pressure reduction valves (PRVs) can be used to reduce leakage. For a preassigned number of these devices, their positions and settings can be chosen to minimize the water losses in the network or to minimise the costs associated with the leakage. On the other hand, for a preassigned reduction in leakage, the number, the position and the setting of valves could be optimized in order to minimize their installation and maintenance costs. Based on these observations, a procedure for the optimal choice of the number, position and setting of PRVs is devised. The procedure is aimed at reducing the whole cost associated with water loss in urban WDSs, due to the background leakage from joints, and the purchase, installation and maintaining of the PRVs themselves. The effectiveness of the procedure, which is based on the physical modelling of leakage from pipe joints as well as on the use of a genetic algorithm, is proven using a small but realistic example.
Mangrove Ecosystems: An Adopted Habitat for Pathogenic Salmonella spp.
Authors: Poharkar Krupali V. , Kerkar Savita , D'Costa Dilecta , Doijad Swapnil , Barbuddhe S.B.
Published: February 2016

Mangroves are affected by industrial and anthropogenic factors. Although mangroves have been widely studied, investigations of pathogens that may affect public health significance are largely lacking even while incidences of diseases linked with the consumption of mangrove‐associated food have increased. A total of 150 samples of water, sediment, and biota were collected from ten mangrove ecosystems in Goa, India. Total viable counts of pathogens such as E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella, and Vibrio spp. ranged from 1.25 to 3.9 × 103 cfu/ mL, which were above the relevant standards. Salmonella counts were the highest at 3.1 to 3.9 × 103cfu/mL, with a prevalence of 40%. Considering its high prevalence, the virulence of Salmonella spp. was studied. The invA gene was detected in 35% of the Salmonella isolates by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The findings suggested that pathogens adapt to this habitat, resulting in contamination of the indigenous fauna.
Performance Evaluation of Integrated Constructed Wetland for Domestic Wastewater Treatment
Authors: Sehar Shama , Naz Iffat , Khan Sumera , Naeem Sana , Perveen Irum , Ali Naeem , Ahmed Safia
Published: February 2016

Simple, budget friendly, laboratory‐scale integrated constructed wetland (ICW) was designed to assess domestic wastewater treatment performance at a loading rate of 75 mm/d, planted with native plant species: Veronica‐angallis aquatica and compared with non‐vegetative control system at various residence times of 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, and 28 days. Results revealed that the vegetated ICW demonstrated superior performance over non‐vegetated control: 69.12 vs 17.12%, 67.77 vs 16.04%, 68 vs 16.48%, 71.19 vs 6.56%, 71.54 vs 14.80%, and 72.04 vs 11.41% for total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, phosphates (), sulfate (), nitrate (), and nitrite (), respectively, at 20 days residence times. Reduction in bacterial counts (2.79 × 104 CFU/mL) and fecal pathogens (345.5 MPN index/100 mL) was observed in V. aquatica at 20 days residence time. Therefore, the present study highlights not only the presence of vegetation but also appropriate residence time in constructed wetlands for better performances.
Mechanical Properties and Sliding-impact Wear Resistance of Self-adhesive Resin Cements
Authors: Furuichi T , Takamizawa T , Tsujimoto A , Miyazaki M , Barkmeier WW , Latta MA
Published: February 2016

The present study determined the mechanical properties and impact-sliding wear characteristics of self-adhesive resin cements. Five self-adhesive resin cements were used: G-CEM LinkAce, BeautiCem SA, Maxcem Elite, Clearfil SA Automix, and RelyX Unicem 2. Clearfil Esthetic Cement was employed as a control material. Six specimens for each resin cement were used to determine flexural strength, elastic modulus, and resilience according to ISO specification #4049. Ten specimens for each resin cement were used to determine the wear characteristics using an impact-sliding wear testing apparatus. Wear was generated using a stainless-steel ball bearing mounted inside a collet assembly. The maximum facet depth and volume loss were determined using a noncontact profilometer in combination with confocal laser scanning microscopy. Data were evaluated using analysis of variance followed by the Tukey honestly significantly different test (α=0.05). The flexural strength of the resin cements ranged from 68.4 to 144.2 MPa; the elastic modulus ranged from 4.4 to 10.6 GPa; and the resilience ranged from 4.5 to 12.0 MJ/m3. The results for the maximum facet depth ranged from 25.2 to 235.9 μm, and volume loss ranged from 0.0107 to 0.5258 mm3. The flexural properties and wear resistance were found to vary depending upon the self-adhesive resin cement tested. The self-adhesive cements tended to have lower mechanical properties than the conventional resin cement. All self-adhesive resin cements, apart from G-CEM LinkAce, demonstrated significantly poorer wear resistance than did the conventional resin cement.
NTN Swiss Biotech – A Look at Support Measures for Dynamic Start-ups
Authors: Heinzelmann Elsbeth
Published: February 2016

The Swiss biotech landscape seems to be on a healthy footing: There are many imaginative start-ups, we have first-class hospitals, highly advanced clinical research and the availability of a great deal of capital. But we have no reason to rest on our laurels as countries like the USA
lead the field. We must lay down the tracks today to remain an attractive country and maintain our ranking among the 10 best locations.
Reduction in Fatal Longitudinal Barrier Crash Rate Due to Electronic Stability Control
Authors: Johnson Nicholas S. , Gabler Hampton C.
Published: February 2016

Electronic stability control (ESC) is a vehicle safety system designed to keep vehicles moving in the direction commanded by the driver and thereby prevent loss-of-control crashes. Previous research has shown that ESC has been highly effective at reducing road departures related to loss of control. ESC is mandatory in all U.S. passenger vehicles manufactured from model year 2012 onward; by a 2014 estimate, ESC is in approximately one-third of passenger vehicles on the road. The proliferation of ESC may therefore alter benefit-to-cost ratios for roadside barriers. The objective of this analysis was to determine the effect of ESC on fatal crashes with roadside barriers. This objective was a first step toward determining whether ESC reduced the overall rate of crashes with roadside barriers and whether ESC had any effect on impact conditions or injury outcomes in barrier crashes. For cars, ESC reduced the odds of fatal crashes with roadside barriers by about 50% and reduced the odds of fatal rollovers that occurred in association with roadside barriers by about 45%. For light trucks and vans, ESC reduced barrier fatality odds by about 40% and barrier-associated rollover fatality odds by about 55%. By 2028, when an estimated 75% of passenger vehicles will have electronic stability control, ESC will have the potential to prevent about 410 out of an estimated 1,180 possible barrier-related fatalities per year. In the long term, once installed in every U.S. passenger vehicle, ESC could prevent about 550 of those same 1,180 possible barrier-related fatalities each year.
Use of Risk Analysis to Minimize Adverse Consequences in Nonstandard Designs
Authors: Ray Malcolm H. , Carrigan Christine E.
Published: February 2016

Roadside safety engineers lack a quantitative method to balance the philosophies presented in AASHTO's Roadside Design Guide (RDG) with situations encountered on existing roads, especially where it is not possible to follow the guidelines in the RDG. In general, the goal of roadside design is to minimize, insofar as is practical, the chances of severe or fatal injury crashes on the roadway. Engineers are often left to use good engineering judgment to make these choices. This paper presents a risk assessment methodology and demonstrates through example problems how this methodology may be used as a more quantitative approach for measuring the inherent risk of roadside design alternatives so that engineers can identify where the greatest safety benefit can be realized. Benefit–cost methods have been used in roadside safety for more than 35 years to balance improvements in safety with implementation costs. Although the methods have been widely used, the approach has presented several challenges. This paper discusses the advantages and challenges of the use of the benefit–cost method and the proposed risk method. The two tools can be used together for better roadside designs and policy.
Sex Differences in the Effects of Repeated Taste Exposure to the Mediterranean Diet: A 6-month Follow-up Study
Authors: Bédard Alexandra , Corneau Louise , Dodin Sylvie , Lemieux Simone
Published: February 2016

Purpose: To determine whether an intervention based mainly on exposure to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), along with recommendations and tools for encouraging healthy eating, lead to different effects on dietary adherence and body weight management six months post-intervention in Canadian men and women.

Methods: Thirty-eight males and 32 premenopausal females (all aged 24–53 years) were exposed to the same 4-week experimental MedDiet during which all foods were provided to participants. Participants also received some recommendations and tools to adhere to a healthy way of eating, with no other contact until the 6-month follow-up visit.

Results: Compared with baseline, the Mediterranean score (MedScore) increased at the end of the 6-month follow-up (time effect P = 0.003), with no sex difference (sex-by-time interaction P = 0.97). With regard to MedScore components, sex differences were observed with males reporting changes in more dietary food groups than females. Although the intervention was not focused on body weight management, compared with baseline, BMI decreased during the intervention in both males and females; however, only females maintained the lower BMI 6 months after the intervention.

Conclusions: Exposure to the MedDiet for a short duration promotes the adherence to this food pattern in both sexes and helps in the management of body weight, especially in females.
Clinical characteristics and outcome of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage with intracerebral hematoma
Authors: Wan Anthony , Jaja Blessing N. R. , Schweizer Tom A. , Macdonald R. Loch
Published: February 2016

OBJECTIVE

Intracerebral hematoma (ICH) with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) indicates a unique feature of intracranial aneurysm rupture since the aneurysm is in the subarachnoid space and separated from the brain by pia mater. Broad consensus is lacking regarding the concept that ultra-early treatment improves outcome. The aim of this study is to determine the associative factors for ICH, ascertain the prognostic value of ICH, and investigate how the timing of treatment relates to the outcome of SAH with concurrent ICH.

METHODS

The study data were pooled from the SAH International Trialists repository. Logistic regression was applied to study the associations of clinical and aneurysm characteristics with ICH. Proportional odds models and dominance analysis were applied to study the effect of ICH on 3-month outcome (Glasgow Outcome Scale) and investigate the effect of time from ictus to treatment on outcome.

RESULTS

Of the 5362 SAH patients analyzed, 1120 (21%) had concurrent ICH. In order of importance, neurological status, aneurysm location, aneurysm size, and patient ethnicity were significantly associated with ICH. Patients with ICH experienced poorer outcome than those without ICH (OR 1.58; 95% CI 1.37–1.82). Treatment within 6 hours of SAH was associated with poorer outcome than treatment thereafter (adjusted OR 1.67; 95% CI 1.04–2.69). Subgroup analysis with adjustment for ICH volume, location, and midline shift resulted in no association between time from ictus to treatment and outcome (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.94–1.07).

CONCLUSIONS

The most important associative factor for ICH is neurological status on admission. The finding regarding the value of ultra-early treatment suggests the need to more robustly reevaluate the concept that hematoma evacuation of an ICH and repair of a ruptured aneurysm within 6 hours of ictus is the most optimal treatment path.
Quantum mechanical study on the different fluxional mechanisms in a [Pd(η2-olefin) complex
Authors: Darzi N. , Morsali A. , Beyramabadi S.A.
Published: February 2016

In this work, using quantum mechanics, different fluxional mechanisms in a Pd(η2-olefin) complex including sulfur inversion, olefin pseudo rotation, Pd–olefin bond dissociation, propeller-like olefin rotation and a bimolecular process have been investigated theoretically in a solvent environment using the polarisable continuum model (PCM). The activation energy, activation enthalpy and activation Gibbs free energy of the different pathways have been calculated and compared with each other and with experimental results. These activation energies for olefin pseudo rotation, Pd–olefin bond dissociation and propeller-like olefin rotation are greater in comparison with those for the sulfur inversion and bimolecular process, which demonstrates that these latter mechanisms are the dominating paths and make the main contributions in the reaction. The computed activation enthalpies of the sulfur inversion and bimolecular process pathways are in good agreement with the experimental values. All of the calculations have been performed using a hybrid density functional method (B3LYP) in the solution phase.
A Highly Active Nickel-Fibre Complex as a Catalyst for the Heck Reaction
Authors: Wu Zhi-Chuan , Yang Quan , Chen Meng , Liu Li , Tao Ting-Xian
Published: February 2016

A new amidoxime fibre-nickel catalyst (AOFs-Ni(O)) was synthesised by a coordination and reduction reaction. The X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the Ni(ll) ions were reduced to Ni(0). The scanning electron microscope image showed that the Ni(0) particles which were reduced in situ had a diameter of about 300 nm. This catalyst demonstrated high activity in the Heck coupling reaction of aryl iodine and conjugated alkenes without the protection of an inert atmosphere.
Incubation Attentiveness and Nest Insulatory Values Correlate in Songbirds
Authors: Deeming D. Charles , Gray Liberty A.
Published: February 2016

The behaviour of the incubating bird should be linked with the functional characteristics of its nest because they could minimise the incubation period that will reduce the risk of predation. Incubation attentiveness (percentage of daylight hours) in small passerines is a highly variable behaviour that is unrelated to egg mass. The thermal characteristics of nests are known to vary but whether they correlate with attentiveness, i.e. high attentiveness could reflect poorly insulated nests, has yet to be investigated. In this study, insulatory values were determined using temperature loggers for five species of British songbird in order to supplement equivalent data for six species from published sources. Attentiveness values for each species were determined from the literature. There was a significant negative correlation between attentiveness and insulatory values, which was unaffected by phylogeny. By contrast, attentiveness did not correlate with female body mass. That the avian incubation behaviour correlates with the functional properties of bird nests supports the concept of a bird–nest incubation unit, where reproductive success depends on both the bird and the nest structure. Further research should be directed towards a better understanding of this relationship for more species and, given the observed plasticity exhibited in nest composition and function, within species.
Evolutionary Mechanisms Maintaining Nest Construction in Avian Clades
Authors: Leighton Gavin M.
Published: February 2016

Most birds construct nests where they raise dependent young, and in some instances species will use a nest as a protective roost for part or all of the year. Given the direct connection between nests and fitness it is likely that nest-building behaviour is responsive to selection. Traditionally, nest-building behaviour was thought to be solely influenced by selection to maximise direct benefits via the survival and growth of offspring. However, recent work has shown that other evolutionary mechanisms may considerably influence nest-building behaviour. I describe a suite of mechanisms that may maintain nest-building behaviour in avian clades and discuss the current evidence for each of the mechanisms. I then suggest potential future avenues of research that could provide useful results for delimiting both proximate and ultimate factors that influence the evolution of nest construction.
‘Grey Dawn’ in the British Pacific: Race, Security and Colonial Sovereignty on the Eve of World War I
Authors: Tumblin Jesse
Published: February 2016

This article examines the way a group of colonies on the far reaches of British power – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and India, dealt with the imperatives of their own security in the early twentieth century. Each of these evolved into Dominion status and then to sovereign statehood (India lastly and most thoroughly) over the first half of the twentieth century, and their sovereignties evolved amidst a number of related and often countervailing problems of self-defence and cooperative security strategy within the British Empire. The article examines how security – the abstracted political goods of military force – worked alongside race in the greater Pacific to build colonial sovereignties before the First World War. Its first section examines the internal-domestic dimension of sovereignty and its need to secure territory through the issue of imperial naval subsidies. A number of colonies paid subsidies to Britain to support the Royal Navy and thus to contribute in financial terms to their strategic defense. These subsidies provoked increasing opposition after the turn of the twentieth century, and the article exlpores why colonial actors of various types thought financial subsidies threatened their sovereignties in important ways. The second section of the article examines the external-diplomatic dimension of sovereignty by looking at the way colonial actors responded to the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. I argue that colonial actors deployed security as a logic that allowed them to pursue their own bids for sovereignty and autonomy, leverage racial discourses that shaped state-building projects, and ultimately to attempt to nudge the focus of the British Empire's grand strategy away from Europe and into Asia.
Effects of Inhomogeneities on Heat and Mass Transport Phenomena in Thermal Bridges
Authors: Iodice Paola , Massarotti Nicola , Mauro Alessandro
Published: February 2016

The interest of calculating the effects of thermal bridges in buildings energy consumption is growing, due to recent energy saving regulations applied in different countries. The widespread use of insulating materials to reduce energy requirements of buildings, often employed for intermediate insulation of the building envelope, makes thermal bridges a crucial point in the energy analysis of building envelopes. Furthermore, heat losses through thermal bridges often lead to building pathologies due to moisture condensation. Therefore, thermal bridges need to be correctly characterized in the building design stage in order to reduce heat losses and avoid materials degradation. The authors numerically simulate, by using finite elements, the steady-state and dynamic three-dimensional (3D) heat and vapor transport in inhomogeneous thermal bridges and building envelopes. The aim of the present work is to show the importance of taking into account the presence of inhomogeneities (i.e., metal stud) in building materials for the calculation of actual heat losses and water condensation in 3D thermal bridges. The obtained heat transfer results are verified against the reference data of the technical standard UNI EN ISO 10211. The proposed microscopic approach is essential to calculate the actual heat losses of three-dimensional thermal bridges and building envelopes and to overcome condensation problems.
Improved Sensorless Control of Interior Permanent Magnet Sensorless Motors Using an Active Damping Control Strategy
Authors: Cho Younghoon
Published: February 2016

This paper proposes the active damping control strategy for position sensorless operation of an interior permanent magnet (IPM) motor. The proposed method is applied to both the current controller and the position estimator to control damping characteristics of the IPM drive system. By actively increasing the damping characteristics of the system with the proposed method, the current control and the position estimation loops become immune to parameter variation of the stator resistance which may degrade the accuracy of the position estimator. To analyze the accuracy of the position estimator with and without the proposed method, a small-signal analysis is carried out for low speed operation where the effect of the parameter variation is relatively large due to a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Additionally, an open-loop voltage to angular velocity transfer function including the electrical and the mechanical parameters is investigated. Since no hardware modifications are necessary, the proposed method can be easily implemented just in software routines. Both the simulations and the experimental validations in which the proposed active damping control strategy is incorporated with the existing extended electromotive force (EMF)- based sensorless algorithm are provided to support the effectiveness of the proposed method.
National Assessment of the Fragmentation Levels and Fragmentation-Class Transitions of the Forests in Mexico for 2002, 2008 and 2013
Authors: Clay Elizabeth , Moreno-Sanchez Rafael , Torres-Rojo Juan , Moreno-Sanchez Francisco
Published: February 2016

Landscape modification and habitat fragmentation are key drivers of global species and biodiversity loss, as well as a major threat to the conservation of forest ecosystems. Mexico is one of the five biologically richest countries in the world. This study first generated a national level assessment of the fragmentation of temperate and tropical forests in Mexico for 2002, 2008, and 2013. Then, using these results, it explores how transitions to non-forest or to other fragmentation classes have evolved within the previous date fragmentation classes for the 2002–2008 and 2008–2013 periods. The Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) method was used to assess the forest fragmentation. The results show that high fragmentation classes are more likely to transition to no-forest land covers in tropical than in temperate forests and that these conversions were larger during 2002–2008 than during the 2008–2013 period in both forest types. When analyzing the transitions between fragmentation classes, a higher percent of the forest area remained the same fragmentation class between 2008 and 2013 than from 2002 to 2008. Transitions between forest fragmentation classes were relatively small compared to transitions to no-forest land covers, and transitions to higher fragmentation classes were slightly larger in tropical than in temperate forests.
The Value of Original Natural Stone in the Context of Architectural Heritage
Authors: Pereira Dolores , Marker Brian
Published: February 2016

Natural stone is required for maintenance and repair of historically, archaeologically and culturally important structures to prevent deterioration due to weathering and use. Those that have national or World Heritage significance are historically and culturally important. Sometimes, severely damaged buildings may require extensive or complete restoration. The choice of stone should be appropriate in physical and aesthetic terms, ideally from the original source. Researchers, architects, those who specify contracts and other stakeholders need reliable information, but access to, and awareness of, important sources such as manuscripts, publications and collections of samples is often limited. Easier access to information is needed when planning and commissioning works that require the replacement of stone. Making important information more widely available and promoting awareness of the need to maintain adequate supplies of natural stone of suitable quality is a task for both national and international organizations including the Heritage Stone Task Group of IUGS and IAEG. This paper provides some illustrative examples and pointers towards some recent major publications, as well as describing current Heritage Stone Resource and European Union initiatives, all the while requesting further participation from colleagues in this field.
Discussion on Local Spark Sintering of a Ceramic-Metal System in an SR-CT Experiment during Microwave Processing
Authors: Li Yongcun , Xu Feng , Hu Xiaofang , Dong Bo , Luan Yunbo , Xiao Yu
Published: February 2016

In this paper, local spark sintering of a ceramic-metal system (SiO2-Sn) during microwave processing was examinedby means of synchrotron-radiation-computed tomography technology. From the reconstructed 3-D and cross-section images of the specimen, adensification process was observed below the melting point of Sn, and then the specimen came into a rapid densification stage. These results may be due to the local spark sintering induced by the high-frequency alternating microwave electric fields. As the metallic particles Sn were introduced, the microstructure of “ceramic-metal” will lead to a non-uniform distribution and micro-focusing effect from electric fields in some regions (e.g., the neck). This will result in high-intensity electric fields and then induce rapid spark sintering within the micro-region. However, in the subsequent stage, the densification rate declined even when the specimen was not dense enough. The explanation for this is that as the liquid Sn permeated the gaps between SiO2, the specimen became dense and the micro-focusing effect of electric fields decreased. This may result in the decrease or disappearance of spark sintering. These results will contribute to the understanding of microwave sintering mechanisms and the improvement of microwave processing methods.
Alendronate Functionalized Mesoporous Bioactive Glass Nanospheres
Authors: Boanini Elisa , Panseri Silvia , Arroyo Fabiola , Montesi Monica , Rubini Katia , Tampieri Anna , Covarrubias Cristian , Bigi Adriana
Published: February 2016

In this work we synthesized mesoporous bioactive glass nanospheres (nMBG) with the aim to utilize them as substrates for loading one of the most potent amino-bisphosphonates, alendronate (AL). The results of the chemical and structural characterization show that the nMBG display a relatively high surface area (528 m2/g) and a mean pore volume of 0.63 cm3/g, both of which decrease on increasing alendronate content. It is possible to modulate the amount of AL loaded into the nanospheres up to a maximum value of about 17 wt %. In vitro tests were performed using a human osteosarcoma cell line (MG63) and a murine monocyte/macrophage cell line as osteoclast model (RAW 264.7). The results indicate that even the lower concentration of alendronate provokes decreased tumor cell viability, and that osteoclast activity exhibits an alendronate dose-dependent inhibition. The data suggest that nMBG can act as a suitable support for the local delivery of alendronate, and that the antiresorptive and antitumor properties of the functionalized mesoporous nanospheres can be modulated by varying the amount of alendronate loading.
Tight State-Independent Uncertainty Relations for Qubits
Authors: Abbott Alastair , Alzieu Pierre-Louis , Hall Michael , Branciard Cyril
Published: February 2016

The well-known Robertson–Schrödinger uncertainty relations have state-dependent lower bounds, which are trivial for certain states. We present a general approach to deriving tight state-independent uncertainty relations for qubit measurements that completely characterise the obtainable uncertainty values. This approach can give such relations for any number of observables, and we do so explicitly for arbitrary pairs and triples of qubit measurements. We show how these relations can be transformed into equivalent tight entropic uncertainty relations. More generally, they can be expressed in terms of any measure of uncertainty that can be written as a function of the expectation value of the observable for a given state.
Statistical Correlations between HPLC Activity-Based Profiling Results and NMR/MS Microfraction Data to Deconvolute Bioactive Compounds in Mixtures
Authors: Bertrand Samuel , Azzollini Antonio , Nievergelt Andreas , Boccard Julien , Rudaz Serge , Cuendet Muriel , Wolfender Jean-Luc
Published: February 2016

Recent approaches in natural product (NP) research are leading toward the discovery of bioactive chemical entities at the microgram level. In comparison to classical large scale bioassay-guided fractionation, the use of LC-MS metabolite profiling in combination with microfractionation for both bioactivity profiling and NMR analysis, allows the identification of bioactive compounds at a very early stage. In that context, this study aims to assess the potential of statistic correlation analysis to enable unambiguous identification of features related to bioactive compounds in mixtures, without the need for complete isolation. For that purpose, a mixture of NPs was microfractionated by rapid small-scale semi-preparative HPLC for proof-of-concept. UHPLC-ESI-TOFMS profiles, micro-flow CapNMR spectra and a cancer chemopreventive assay carried out on every microfraction were analysed by statistical correlations.