bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Highly Divergent Virulent Isolates of Newcastle Disease Virus from the Dominican Republic Are Members of a New Genotype That May Have Evolved Unnoticed for Over 2 Decades
Authors: Courtney Sean C. , Susta Leonardo , Gomez Dejelia , Hines Nichole L. , Pedersen Janice C. , Brown Corrie C. , Miller Patti J. , Afonso Claudio L.
Published: November 2012

A Newcastle disease virus (NDV) outbreak in chickens was reported in the Dominican Republic in 2008. The complete genome of this isolate, chicken/DominicanRepublic(JuanLopez)/499-31/2008 (NDV-DR499-31/08), and the fusion proteins of three other related viruses from the Dominican Republic and Mexico were sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. Genetically, these four isolates were highly distinct from all other currently known isolates of NDV, and together, they fulfill the newly established criteria for inclusion as a novel genotype of NDV (genotype XVI). The lack of any reported isolation of viruses related to this group since 1986 suggests that virulent viruses of this genotype may have evolved unnoticed for 22 years. The NDV-DR499-31/08 isolate had an intracerebral pathogenicity index (ICPI) score of 1.88, and sequencing of the fusion cleavage site identified multiple basic amino acids and a phenylalanine at position 117, indicating this isolate to be virulent. These results were further confirmed by a clinicopathological assessmentin vivo. In 4-week-old chickens, NDV-DR499-31/08 behaved as a velogenic viscerotropic strain with systemic virus distribution and severe necrohemorrhagic lesions targeting mainly the intestine and the lymphoid organs. The clear phylogenetic relationship between the 2008, 1986, and 1947 ancestral viruses suggests that virulent NDV strains may have evolved in unknown reservoirs in the Caribbean and surrounding regions and underlines the importance of continued and improved epidemiological surveillance strategies to detect NDV in wild-bird species and commercial poultry.
Prevalence, determinants and spectrum of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication of children and adolescents in Germany: results of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey (KiGGS)
Authors: Knopf Hildtraud , Hölling Heike , Huss Michael , Schlack Robert
Published: November 2012

Objective

To investigate the prevalence, determinants and spectrum of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication and its associations with socioeconomic status (SES), health-related behaviour and living conditions.

Design

Observational cross-sectional study.

Setting

Germany.

Participants

Representative population-based sample of non-institutionalised youth aged between 0 and 17 years (n=17 450) and examined between 2003 and 2006.

Main outcome measure

Prevalence and spectrum of ADHD medication (Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) code N04BA) measured by standardised computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI) on drug use.

Results

The overall prevalence of ADHD medication (stimulants including atomoxetine) was 0.9% (95% CI 0.7% to 1.1%). Boys used these drugs (1.5%, 1.2% to 1.8%) five times more than girls 0.3% (0.2% to 0.5%). The highest prevalence rates were for boys aged 6–10 years (2.3%, 1.7% to 3.1%S) and 11–13 (2.7%, 2.0% to 3.7%). Boys from families with no immigration background used ADHD medication almost 6 times as frequently as boys with an immigration background (1.7% vs 0.3%). Multivariate analysis (binary logistic regression) showed boys (OR 5.16, 95% CI 3.15 to 8.47), 11-year-olds to 13-year-olds (2.24, 1.28 to 3.49), children in large cities (2.18, 1.13 to 4.22), children with no immigration background (3.06, 1.34 to 6.99), and children with only a good (vs excellent) parent-rated health status (1.91, 1.18 to 3.08) being more likely to be using ADHD medication. A visit to the doctor in the last month or last quarter was associated with a higher probability for ADHD medication (3.18, 1.29 to 7.95 and 3.59, 1.45 to 8.90, respectively).

Conclusions

Results show prevalence rates of ADHD medication use for the German child and adolescent population that are considerably lower than published prevalence rates from the USA, but comparable with those of western European and Scandinavian countries. Lower use rates in rural versus urban regions may point to differential healthcare access. The inverse association of ADHD medication use with immigration status suggests potentially restricted access to healthcare services for immigrants or may reflect culture-specific differences in attitudes towards symptoms of ADHD.
Impact of immunodepression and moderate alcohol consumption on coronary and other arterial disease events in an 11-year cohort of HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy
Authors: Carrieri Maria Patrizia , Protopopescu Camelia , Le Moing Vincent , Reboud Philippe , Raffi François , Mahy Sophie , Roux Perrine , Cuzin Lise , Spire Bruno , Leport Catherine ,   the ANRS CO8 APROCO-COPILOTE Study Group
Published: November 2012

Objective

To investigate the relationship between response to antiretroviral therapy (ART), alcohol use and occurrence of a major coronary or other arterial disease event (CADE) in HIV-infected individuals.

Design

A cohort study. A Cox model was used to identify the correlates of a first occurrence of a major CADE.

Setting

The French ANRS CO8 APROCO-COPILOTE cohort was set up in 1997 to study clinical progression and patient-reported outcomes (PRO) after initiating a protease inhibitor-containing ART. Clinical data were retrieved from medical records. Self-administered questionnaires collected data on PRO and behaviours, including alcohol use.

Participants

Metabolic data were only available for a subgroup (n=675) of the study group (n=1154).

Main outcome measures

Major coronary or other arterial disease first event.

Results

Over the 11-year follow-up, 49 major CADE were observed, with an incidence rate (95% CI)=0.75(0.57 to 0.99) per 100 person-years. Immunodepression (CD4 cell count <200 cells/mm3) was associated with an increased risk of CADE (adjusted HR (95% CI)=2.52(1.15 to 5.48)) after adjustment for female gender (0.25(0.08 to 0.83)), age (1.07(1.04 to 1.10)) and smoking>20 cigarettes/day (4.19(2.17 to 8.11)). Moreover, individuals with moderate alcohol consumption (≤4(3) alcohol units (AU)/day for men(women)) had a lower risk of CADE (0.38(0.20 to 0.71)) than alcohol abstainers, although the risk for those drinking>4(3)  AU/day for men(women) was not significantly different from this latter group. These associations remained valid after adjustment for metabolic disorders. No significant association with exposure to any specific antiretroviral was detected.

Conclusions

In the long term, absence of immunodepression and moderate alcohol consumption remain associated with a lower risk of a major CADE. Combined interventions to reduce CADE-risk-related behaviours including adherence counselling for assuring long-term immunological response to ART in HIV-infected individuals are now a clinical and public health priority.
SULF2 expression by immunohistochemistry and overall survival in oesophageal cancer: a cohort study
Authors: Lui Natalie Shaubie , van Zante Annemieke , Rosen Steven D , Jablons David M , Lemjabbar-Alaoui Hassan
Published: November 2012

Objectives

Oesophageal cancer is the eighth most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide, and there is a need for biomarkers to improve diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Sulfatases 2 (SULF2) is an extracellular endosulphatase that regulates several signalling pathways in carcinogenesis and has been associated with poor prognosis. This study evaluates the relationship between SULF2 expression by immunohistochemistry and overall survival in patients with oesophageal cancer.

Design

Cohort study.

Setting

Single tertiary care centre.

Participants

We included patients who underwent esophagectomy for invasive oesophageal adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma at a tertiary care centre from 1997 to 2006. We excluded patients with recurrent oesophageal cancer or less than 3 mm invasive tumour on H&E stained slide. A section from each paraffin-embedded tissue specimen was stained with an anti-SULF2 monoclonal antibody.

Outcome measures

A pathologist blinded to overall survival determined the percentage and intensity of tumour cells staining. Vital status was obtained through the Social Security Death Master File, and overall survival was calculated from the date of surgery.

Results

One-hundred patients with invasive oesophageal cancer were identified, including 75 patients with adenocarcinoma and 25 patients with squamous cell carcinoma. The squamous cell carcinoma samples had a higher mean percentage and intensity of tumour cells staining compared with the adenocarcinoma samples. After adjusting for age, sex, race, histological type, stage and neoadjuvant therapy, for every 10% increase in percentage of tumour cells staining for SULF2, the HR for death increased by 13% (95% CI 1.01 to 1.25; p=0.03).

Conclusions

The majority of adenocarcinoma samples and all of the squamous cell carcinoma samples had SULF2 staining. The percentage of tumour cells staining for SULF2 was significantly associated with overall survival. Thus, SULF2 is a potential biomarker in oesophageal cancer and may have an important role in the management of patients with this disease.
A scoping review of malaria forecasting: past work and future directions
Authors: Zinszer Kate , Verma Aman D , Charland Katia , Brewer Timothy F , Brownstein John S , Sun Zhuoyu , Buckeridge David L
Published: November 2012

Objectives

There is a growing body of literature on malaria forecasting methods and the objective of our review is to identify and assess methods, including predictors, used to forecast malaria.

Design

Scoping review. Two independent reviewers searched information sources, assessed studies for inclusion and extracted data from each study.

Information sources

Search strategies were developed and the following databases were searched: CAB Abstracts, EMBASE, Global Health, MEDLINE, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses and Web of Science. Key journals and websites were also manually searched.

Eligibility criteria for included studies

We included studies that forecasted incidence, prevalence or epidemics of malaria over time. A description of the forecasting model and an assessment of the forecast accuracy of the model were requirements for inclusion. Studies were restricted to human populations and to autochthonous transmission settings.

Results

We identified 29 different studies that met our inclusion criteria for this review. The forecasting approaches included statistical modelling, mathematical modelling and machine learning methods. Climate-related predictors were used consistently in forecasting models, with the most common predictors being rainfall, relative humidity, temperature and the normalised difference vegetation index. Model evaluation was typically based on a reserved portion of data and accuracy was measured in a variety of ways including mean-squared error and correlation coefficients. We could not compare the forecast accuracy of models from the different studies as the evaluation measures differed across the studies.

Conclusions

Applying different forecasting methods to the same data, exploring the predictive ability of non-environmental variables, including transmission reducing interventions and using common forecast accuracy measures will allow malaria researchers to compare and improve models and methods, which should improve the quality of malaria forecasting.
Distracted driving: mobile phone use while driving in three Mexican cities
Authors: Vera-López Juan Daniel , Pérez-Núñez Ricardo , Híjar Martha , Hidalgo-Solórzano Elisa , Lunnen Jeffrey C , Chandran Aruna , Hyder Adnan A
Published: November 2012

Mexico has a significant road traffic injury and mortality burden, and several states/municipalities have begun passing legislation restricting mobile phone use while driving (MPUWD). Little information is available about the prevalence of MPUWD in Mexico. This study measures the prevalence of mobile phone talking and texting among drivers in three cities, and identifies associated demographic and environmental factors. Two rounds of roadside observations from a group of randomly selected automobile drivers were conducted during 2011–2012 in Guadalajara-Zapopan, León and Cuernavaca. The overall prevalence of MPUWD was 10.78%; it was highest in Guadalajara-Zapopan (13.93%, 95% CI 12.87 to 15.05), lowest in Cuernavaca (7.42%, 95% CI 6.29 to 8.67), and remained stable over two rounds of observations, except for León, where the prevalence increased from 5.27% to 10.37% (p=0.000). Driving alone on major roads in non-taxi cars during the weekdays was associated with MPUWD. Results highlight the importance of studying the risk of mobile phone use, and designing and evaluating specific preventive interventions to address this problem in Mexico.
EQUATIONAL DESCRIPTIONS OF LANGUAGES
Authors: PIN JEAN-ÉRIC
Published: November 2012

This paper is a survey on the equational descriptions of languages. The first part is devoted to Birkhoff's and Reiterman's theorems on equational descriptions of varieties. Eilenberg's variety theorem and its successive generalizations form the second part. The more recent results on equational descriptions of lattices of languages are presented in the third part of the paper.
CHANNEL SYNTHESIS FOR FINITE TRANSDUCERS
Authors: BENATTAR GILLES , BÉRARD BÉATRICE , LIME DIDIER , MULLINS JOHN , ROUX OLIVIER H. , SASSOLAS MATHIEU
Published: November 2012

We investigate how two agents can communicate through a noisy medium modeled as a finite non deterministic transducer. The sender and the receiver are also described by finite transducers which can respectively encode and decode binary messages. When the communication is reliable, we call the encoder/decoder pair a channel.

We study the channel synthesis problem which, given a transducer, asks whether or not such sender and receiver exist and builds them if the answer is positive. To that effect we introduce the structural notion of encoding state in a transducer which is a necessary condition for the existence of a channel. It is not, however, a sufficient condition. In fact, we prove that the problem is undecidable. Nonetheless, we obtain a synthesis procedure when the transducer is functional. We discuss these results in relation to security properties.
DE BRUIJN SEQUENCES REVISITED
Authors: KARI LILA , XU ZHI
Published: November 2012

A (non-circular) de Bruijn sequence w of order n is a word such that every word of length n appears exactly once in w as a factor. In this paper, we generalize the concept to different settings: the multi-shift de Bruijn sequence and the pseudo de Bruijn sequence. An m-shift de Bruijn sequence of order n is a word such that every word of length n appears exactly once in w as a factor that starts at a position im + 1 for some integer i ≥ 0. A pseudo de Bruijn sequence of order n with respect to an antimorphic involution θ is a word such that for every word u of length n the total number of appearances of u and θ(u) as a factor is one. We show that the number of m-shift de Bruijn sequences of order n is an!a(m-n)(an-1) for 1 ≤ n ≤ m and is (am!)an-m for 1 ≤ m ≤ n, where a is the size of the alphabet. We provide two algorithms for generating a multi-shift de Bruijn sequence. The multi-shift de Bruijn sequence is important for solving the Frobenius problem in a free monoid. We show that the existence of pseudo de Bruijn sequences depends on the given alphabet and antimorphic involution, and obtain formulas for the number of such sequences in some particular settings.
IDENTIFYING ALL ABELIAN PERIODS OF A STRING IN QUADRATIC TIME AND RELEVANT PROBLEMS
Authors: CHRISTOU MICHALIS , CROCHEMORE MAXIME , ILIOPOULOS COSTAS S.
Published: November 2012

Abelian periodicity of strings has been studied extensively over the last years. In 2006 Constantinescu and Ilie defined the abelian period of a string and several algorithms for the computation of all abelian periods of a string were given. In contrast to the classical period of a word, its abelian version is more flexible, factors of the word are considered the same under any internal permutation of their letters. We show two O(|y|2) algorithms for the computation of all abelian periods of a string y. The first one maps each letter to a suitable number such that each factor of the string can be identified by the unique sum of the numbers corresponding to its letters and hence abelian periods can be identified easily. The other one maps each letter to a prime number such that each factor of the string can be identified by the unique product of the numbers corresponding to its letters and so abelian periods can be identified easily. We also define weak abelian periods on strings and give an O(|y|log(|y|)) algorithm for their computation, together with some other algorithms for more basic problems.
STUDY OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC TRANSITIONS J/ψ → P l+l- AND PROBE DARK PHOTON
Authors: FU JINLIN , LI HAI-BO , QIN XIAOSHUAI , YANG MAO-ZHI
Published: November 2012

We study the electromagnetic Dalitz decay modes of J/ψ → P l+l- (P = π0, η or η′). In these decays, the lepton pairs are formed by internal conversion of an intermediate virtual photon with invariant mass ml+l-. Study of the effective-mass spectrum of the l+l- will shed light on the dynamic transition form factor [Formula: see text], which characterizes the electromagnetic structure arising at the vertex of the transition J/ψ to pseudoscalars. We also discuss the direct productions of a GeV scale vector U boson in these processes J/ψ → PU (U → l+l-). It is responsible for mediating a new U(1)d interaction, as recently exploited in the context of weakly interacting massive particle dark matter. In this paper, we firstly use the usual pole approximation for the form factor to estimate the decay rate of J/ψ → P l+l- in the Standard Model. Then the reach of searching for the dark photon is estimated. We suggest that these Dalitz decays can be used to search for the light U boson in the BESIII experiment with a huge J/ψ data set.
FERMIONIC T-DUALITY: A SNAPSHOT REVIEW
Authors: Ó COLGÁIN EOIN
Published: November 2012

Through a self-dual mapping of the geometry AdS5 ×S5, fermionic T-duality provides a beautiful geometric interpretation of hidden symmetries for scattering amplitudes in [Formula: see text] super-Yang–Mills. Starting with Green–Schwarz sigma-models, we consolidate developments in this area into this small review. In particular, we discuss the translation of fermionic T-duality into the supergravity fields via pure spinor formalism and show that a general class of fermionic transformations can be identified directly in the supergravity. In addition to discussing fermionic T-duality for the geometry AdS4 × ℂ P 3, dual to [Formula: see text] ABJM theory, we review work on other self-dual geometries. Finally, we present a short round-up of studies with a formal interest in fermionic T-duality.
INCREMENTAL SPARSE PSEUDO-INPUT GAUSSIAN PROCESS REGRESSION
Authors: SUK HEUNG-IL , WANG YUZHUO , LEE SEONG-WHAN
Published: November 2012

In this paper, we devise a novel method that incrementally learns pseudo-data, which represent the whole training data set for Gaussian Process (GP) regression. The method involves sparse approximation of the GP by extending the work of Snelson and Ghahramani. We call the proposed method Incremental Sparse Pseudo-input Gaussian Process (ISPGP) regression. Unlike the Snelson and Ghahramani's work, the proposed ISPGP algorithm allows for training from either a huge amount of training data by scanning through it only once or an online incremental training data set. We also design a likelihood weighting scheme to incrementally determine pseudo-data while maintaining the representational power. Due to the nature of the incremental learning algorithm, the proposed ISPGP algorithm can theoretically work with infinite data to which the conventional GP or Sparse Pseudo-input Gaussian Process (SPGP) algorithm is not applicable. From our experimental results on the KIN40K data set, we can see that the proposed ISPGP algorithm is comparable to the conventional GP algorithm using the same number of training data. It also significantly reduces the computational cost and memory requirement in regression and is scalable to a large training data set without significant performance degradation. Although the proposed ISPGP algorithm performs slightly worse than Snelson and Ghahramani's SPGP algorithm, the level of performance degradation is acceptable.
IDENTIFYING LOGICAL LOCATION VIA GPS-ENABLED MOBILE PHONE AND WEARABLE CAMERA
Authors: ZHANG DAQING , CHEN CHAO , ZHOU ZHANGBING , LI BIN
Published: November 2012

More and more location-based services become relying on the logical notion of a physical location, known as logical location (e.g. Starbucks, KFC). In this paper, we propose a new way to identify logical location using (1) a GPS-enabled mobile phone and (2) a wearable camera embedded in user's glasses. When a user with a wearable camera is detected paying attention to a certain physical location, all the logical locations within the error range of the GPS coordinates are considered as the matched candidates. We select the representative frames in the video stream corresponding to user's interested location in real-time and use multi-view images taken beforehand to represent each logical location. We then extract the Scale Invariant Feature Transform visual features from both the representative video frames and pre-stored images of candidate logical locations for video-image matching, the logical location that the user pays attention to can thus be identified. In order to differentiate the cases where users watch certain objects rather than a logical location in the street, we use Support Vector Machine to classify the two cases so that only the valid logical location is identified. Our proposed approach is proved weather and user independent, and it does not request additional user efforts compared with previous solutions. The results tested using a real-world dataset can achieve an average accuracy of 91.08%.
IRIS RECOGNITION OF DEFOCUSED IMAGES FOR MOBILE PHONES
Authors: LIU BO , LAM SIEW-KEI , SRIKANTHAN THAMBIPILLAI , YUAN WEIQI
Published: November 2012

In this paper, we introduce a novel iris recognition approach for mobile phones, which takes into account imaging noise arising from image capture outside the depth of field (DOF) of cameras. Unlike existing approaches that rely on special hardware to extend the DOF or computationally expensive algorithms to restore the defocused images prior to recognition, the proposed method performs recognition on the defocused images based on the stable bits in the iris code representation that are robust to imaging noise. To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first to investigate the characteristics of iris features for varying degree of image defocus when the images are captured outside the DOF of cameras. Based on our findings, we present a method to determine the stable bits of an enrolled image. When compared to iris recognition of defocused images that relies on the entire code representation, the proposed recognition method increases the inter-class variability while reducing the intra-class variability of the samples considered. This leads to smaller intersections between the intra-class and inter-class distance distributions, which results in higher recognition performance. Experimental results based on over 15,000 images show that the proposed method achieves an average recognition performance gain of about two times. It is envisioned that the proposed method can be incorporated as part of a multi-biometric system for mobile phones due to its lightweight computational requirements, which is well suited for power sensitive solutions.
A NOVEL ULTRA-LOW POWER TWO-TERMINAL ZENER VOLTAGE REFERENCE
Authors: KOK CHIANG LIANG , SIEK LITER , LIM WEI MENG
Published: November 2012

A novel ultra-low power two terminal zener voltage reference is designed and implemented. It realizes the concept of using sub-threshold region of the MOSFET to achieve a very low and stable output voltage within a two terminal circuit topology. This proposed voltage reference was fabricated with Global Foundries 0.18-μm CMOS process, consuming only a very small die area of 0.0009 mm2. Experimental results, carried out on five different silicon samples, explicitly show that it can yield a stable output voltage of 0.22 V at room temperature. It achieves an average temperature coefficient of 6.4 ppm/°C across a wide temperature range from 0°C to 150°C with a standard deviation of 2 ppm/°C. Furthermore, it achieves an ultra-low power consumption of 2 μW. The load regulation is 20 mV/V. This simple and innovative two terminal device can be used to provide a very low and constant voltage difference between any two nodes in an analog circuit.
ACCELERATED DURABILITY TESTING AND DATA ANALYSIS FOR PRODUCTS WITH MULTIPLE FAILURE MECHANISMS
Authors: WEI ZHIGANG , LIN SHENGBIN (BURT) , LUO LIMIN , YANG FULUN , KONSON DMITRI
Published: November 2012

Durability and reliability performance is one of the most important concerns of ground vehicle systems, which usually experience cyclic fatigue loadings and eventually fail over time. Creep and oxidation caused damages at elevated temperature conditions further shorten the life of a system and make the life assessment even more complex. One of the key challenges posed to design engineers is to find a way to accelerate the durability tests for products with multiple failure modes and to validate designs within development cycle to satisfy customer's and market's requirements. The accelerated testing procedures for products with single failure modes have been studied for several decades and essentially well established even though some fundamental issues are still unsolved. By contrast, much is needed to do for the accelerated testing procedure of products with multiple failure modes and their interactions. In this paper, a new accelerated testing and data analysis procedure suitable for products with linear homoscedastic data pattern is proposed. Examples related to durability life of high temperature components with single failure modes such as fatigue, creep, and oxidation are provided to demonstrate the procedure developed. Durability life assessment of components with multiple failure modes is also investigated and demonstrated with creep-fatigue and fatigue-oxidation damage analyses.
TRIBOLOGICAL CONSIDERATION IN ROLLER MILL MACHINES FOR AGRICULTURE APPLICATIONS
Authors: AL-SANDOOQ J. M. , YOUSIF B. F. , JENSEN T. A.
Published: November 2012

Roller mill is an important part of machines for preparation of agricultural food stuffs. Tribological loading is the main type of load that should be considered when investigating the design failure of roller mills or of the low quality of grinding products. In the current work a comprehensive analysis of the roller design to withstand tribological was undertaken. Three-body abrasive loading (3BA) was found to be the key element to be considered in designing the roller. High stress three-body abrasion experiments were conducted on polyester and epoxy polymers to measure the wear and frictional characteristics of the selected material, different loads, durations and sand grain sizes were tested. Scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy were used to categorize the damage on the worn surface of the materials and the causes of failure. The current results are compared with the performance of mild steel results based on the literature. The results revealed that polyester had relatively poor wear performance compared to epoxy and steel especially when large sand grains were used. The wear mechanisms on the polyester surface were macro-pitting, fracture, ploughing and defragmentation; while epoxy showed micro-pitting and defragmentation. Epoxy material performance indicates that it has potential for replacing metal rollers in the milling machine.
RELATIVE TO ANY NON-HYPERARITHMETIC SET
Authors: GREENBERG NOAM , MONTALBÁN ANTONIO , SLAMAN THEODORE A.
Published: November 2012

We prove that there is a structure, indeed a linear ordering, whose degree spectrum is the set of all non-hyperarithmetic degrees. We also show that degree spectra can distinguish measure from category.
Institutional Ownership Composition and Earnings Management
Authors: Lin Ling , Manowan Pavinee
Published: November 2012

This paper examines the impact of outside block-holders on earnings management, using discretionary accounting accruals as the measure of earnings management. For the income-decreasing earnings management scenario, we do not find significant results. This may be attributable to the different natures and time horizons of outside block-holders. Since the majority of outside block-holders are institutional investors, we then investigate the relationship between ownership by institutional investors with different natures and earnings management. Specifically, we find a significant positive relationship between ownership by transient institutional investors (holding diversified portfolios with high turnover) and discretionary accounting accruals. However, we do not find a significant relationship between ownership by dedicated institutional investors (holding concentrated portfolios with low turnover) and discretionary accounting accruals. Therefore, due to the differing natures of institutional investors, we may not treat them as a homogeneous group.
OPTIMAL TARIFFS ON EXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCES: THE CASE OF QUANTITY-SETTING
Authors: FUJIWARA KENJI , LONG NGO VAN
Published: November 2012

Constructing a dynamic game model of trade of an exhaustible resource, this paper compares feedback Nash and Stackelberg equilibria. We consider two different leadership scenarios: leadership by the importing country, and leadership by the exporting country. We numerically show that as compared to the Nash equilibrium, both countries are better off if the importing country is a leader, but that the follower is worse off if the exporting country is a leader. Consequently, the world welfare is highest under the importing country's leadership and lowest under the exporting country's leadership.
EFFECTS OF SYMMETRY ON GLOBALIZING SEPARATED MONOPOLIES TO A NASH-COURNOT OLIGOPOLY
Authors: KAMEDA HISAO , UI TAKASHI
Published: November 2012

The effects of uniting separated markets, each monopolized by a producer, into a globalized oligopolistic market, which is regarded as a noncooperative game, or as a Cournot oligopoly game, are investigated. The cases where such globalization degrades the profits of all producers coincidently, are examined. Linear demand and production functions are considered. It is shown that in complete symmetry, the degree of such coincident profit degradation is strongest (the worst-case ratio), where the degree means the most modest ratio of the profit degradation among all producers. The system is in complete symmetry when the values of parameters describing all producers and markets are identical. On the other hand, in producer symmetry, the degree of coincident consumer surplus improvement is highest (the best-case ratio), where the degree means the lowest of the ratios of consumer surplus improvement among all (previously separated) markets. The system is in producer symmetry when the values of parameters describing all producers are identical.
SEPARATING EQUILIBRIUM AND PERSISTENT INEFFICIENCY
Authors: KOLPIN VAN
Published: November 2012

In context of the traditional Spence signaling model, the realization of a separating equilibrium ensures that each worker is allocated to the sector of the economy where they are most productive. Traditional analysis assumes, however, that the incremental returns to labor employment are constant across workers of any given type. This paper demonstrates that the efficiency properties of separating equilibria can be profoundly altered by the presence of nonlinear returns. In particular, we show that separating equilibria fail productive efficiency whenever production satisfies a weak form of diminishing returns. This separating equilibrium efficiency failure persists whether or not equilibrium wages are assumed to depend solely on distributions of worker productivity.
COMPLETE SOLUTION OF A PURSUIT–EVASION DIFFERENTIAL GAME WITH HYBRID EVADER DYNAMICS
Authors: SHINAR JOSEF , GLIZER VALERY Y. , TURETSKY VLADIMIR
Published: November 2012

A pursuit–evasion differential game of prescribed duration with bounded controls is considered. The evader has two possible dynamics, while the pursuer dynamics is fixed. The evader can change its dynamics once during the game and its initial lateral acceleration is nonzero. The pursuer knows the possible dynamics of the evader, but not the actual one. Due to the different information sets of the players the game is not zero-sum. The robust capture zone of the pursuer and the robust escape zone of the evader are constructed and analyzed. Since the game is not zero-sum the robust capture/escape zones do not complement each other. Illustrative examples are presented.
STRATEGIC EFFECTS OF A BORDER TAX ADJUSTMENT
Authors: EYLAND TERRY , ZACCOUR GEORGES
Published: November 2012

Carbon leakage and competitiveness concerns are some of the main reasons why an international environmental agreement is lacking to fight climate change. Many studies discussed the adoption of a border tax adjustment (BTA) to allow countries that would like to implement a carbon tax to level the playing field with imports. The big drawback from these studies is that the other country is not allowed to react by adopting itself a carbon tax to avoid being punished with the BTA. The model proposed in this paper looks at the optimization of two different governments and their respective firms. Parametric values inside the set [0, 1) are used to represent the possible extents of the BTA depending on both countries environmental policy allowing countries to have different carbon policies. The result that a BTA parameter of 0.5 yields the highest total welfare could increase its acceptance within the World Trade Organization (WTO).
NONEMPTY CORE-TYPE SOLUTIONS OVER BALANCED COALITIONS IN TU-GAMES
Authors: CESCO JUAN C.
Published: November 2012

In this paper we introduce two related core-type solutions for games with transferable utility (TU-games) the [Formula: see text]-core and the [Formula: see text]-core. The elements of the solutions are pairs [Formula: see text] where x, as usual, is a vector representing a distribution of utility and [Formula: see text] is a balanced family of coalitions, in the case of the [Formula: see text]-core, and a minimal balanced one, in the case of the [Formula: see text]-core, describing a plausible organization of the players to achieve the vector x. Both solutions extend the notion of classical core but, unlike it, they are always nonempty for any TU-game. For the [Formula: see text]-core, which also exhibits a certain kind of "minimality" property, we provide a nice axiomatic characterization in terms of the four axioms nonemptiness (NE), individual rationality (IR), superadditivity (SUPA) and a weak reduced game property (WRGP) (with appropriate modifications to adapt them to the new framework) used to characterize the classical core. However, an additional axiom, the axiom of equal opportunity is required. It roughly states that if [Formula: see text] belongs to the [Formula: see text]-core then, any other admissible element of the form [Formula: see text] should belong to the solution too.
A NOTE ON THE EFFECT OF ASYMMETRY ON REVENUE IN SECOND-PRICE AUCTIONS
Authors: GAVIOUS ARIEH , MINCHUK YIZHAQ
Published: November 2012

We compare the seller's expected revenue in asymmetric second-price auctions with the benchmark case where all bidders have the average distribution. We show that with two bidders, asymmetry has a negative effect on revenue. However, for n > 2 bidders there is no clear observation we can make. We prove that in the case of weak asymmetry, sellers prefer asymmetry over low valuations and symmetry over high valuations. In addition, we show that a good approximation for the expected revenue in the case of weak asymmetry can be obtained by calculating the revenue of the symmetric auction with identical distributions equal to the geometric or arithmetic average.
BUCKLING OF COMPOSITE PLATES WITH ARBITRARY BOUNDARY CONDITIONS BY A SEMI-ANALYTICAL APPROACH
Authors: RUOCCO EUGENIO , MINUTOLO VINCENZO
Published: November 2012

A semi-analytical approach for the buckling analysis of symmetrically laminated rectangular plates under arbitrary constrains is presented. In the proposed method, the out-of-plane displacement field is assumed to be of a multiplicative form containing two vectors of functions, one being prescribed and the other to be determined, depend on separate variables. As a consequence, one may solve the equilibrium equation analytically, and obtain exact buckling loads for the biaxial compression and different boundary constrains. Several cases of plate buckling under different load combinations are studied, in order to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach. The results obtained are compared with the existing ones, where available in analytical form, and approximate results obtained by other numerical methods.
FREE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF CROSS-PLY LAMINATED COMPOSITE BEAMS BY MIXED FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION
Authors: ÖZÜTOK ATİLLA , MADENCİ EMRAH
Published: November 2012

In this study, a mixed-finite element method for free vibration analysis of cross-ply laminated composite beams is presented based on the "Euler–Bernoulli Beam Theory" and "Timoshenko Beam Theory". The Gâteaux differential approach is employed to construct the functionals of laminated beams using the variational method. By using these functionals in the mixed-type finite element method, two beam elements CLBT4 and FSDT8 are derived for the Euler–Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories, respectively. The CLBT4 element has four degrees of freedom (DOFs), containing the vertical displacement and bending moment as unknowns at the nodes, whereas the FSDT8 element has eight DOFs, containing the vertical displacement, bending moment, shear force and rotation as unknowns. A computer program is developed to execute the analyses for the present study. The numerical results of free vibration analyses obtained for different boundary conditions are presented and compared with results available in the literature, which indicates the reliability of the present approach.
CONTROLLABILITY OF NONHOLONOMIC BLACK HOLES SYSTEMS
Authors: UDRIŞTE CONSTANTIN , CIANCIO VINCENZO
Published: November 2012

This paper studies the sub-Lorentz–Vrănceanu geometry and the optimal control of nonholonomic black hole systems. This is strongly connected to the possibility of describing a nonholonomic black hole system as kernel of a Gibbs–Pfaff form or by the span of four appropriate vector fields. Joining techniques from sub-Riemannian geometry, optimal control and thermodynamics, we bring into attention new models of black holes systems. These are reflected by the original results: a Lorentz–Vrănceanu geometry on the total space, a new sub-Lorentz–Vrănceanu geometry, a new stress–energy–momentum tensor, original solutions to Einstein field equations, and the controllability of nonholonomic black holes systems by uni-temporal or bi-temporal controls.
THE EFFECT OF INBOUND, OUTBOUND AND COUPLED INNOVATION ON PERFORMANCE
Authors: MAZZOLA ERICA , BRUCCOLERI MANFREDI , PERRONE GIOVANNI
Published: November 2012

The focus of this paper is on exploring linkages among Open Innovation practices and firm performance. While, in the last ten years, a certain amount of papers facing such issue has been published, most of them treat inbound, outbound, and coupled innovation practice processes separately respect to different dimensions of innovation and financial performance. We argue that the concurrent influence of specific Open Innovation practices on both innovation and economic-financial firms' performance has not been investigated so far into the literature and it is of primary managerial importance. We empirically test our framework on a sample of 105 companies listed on the Industrial Machinery and Component index of NASDAQ.
PRELIMINARY STRUCTURE–ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIP STUDY OF HEPTAMETHINE INDOCYANINE DYES FOR TUMOR-TARGETED IMAGING
Authors: GUO QINYUAN , LUO SHENGLIN , QI QINGRONG , SHI CHUNMENG
Published: November 2012

Our research has identified a couple of near-infrared (NIR) heptamethine indocyanine dyes exhibiting preferential tumor accumulation property for in vivo imaging. On the basis of our foregoing work, we describe here a preliminary structure–activity relationship (SAR) study of 11 related heptamethine indocyanine dyes and several essential requirements of these structures for in vivo tumor-targeted imaging.
Managing Internal Migration in China: From Control-Oriented to Service-Oriented
Authors: XIONG Guangqing , ZHAO Litao
Published: November 2012

China relies heavily on the hukou system to manage internal migration. Over time, urban China has been segregated into local hukou holders and migrants. New realities are beginning to challenge the approach of exclusion and segregation. A new round of hukou reforms is underway in many cities and provinces. The issue of integrating the "floating population" is finally on the reform agenda.
China's Dilemma on Iran and its Options
Authors: ZHAO Hong
Published: November 2012

Iran is China's third largest oil supply country and an important destination of China's FDI. As US-led sanctions on Iran tighten, China faces increasing pressure to adjust its policies on Iran. China is caught between its extensive commercial relations with Iran and its desire to be recognised as a big responsible country.
Think Tanks in East Asia in Need of More Cooperation and More Networking: NEAT after its Ten Years
Authors: WONG John
Published: November 2012

NEAT is a loosely constituted regional scheme under the ASEAN plus Three (APT) framework. Its main objectives are to promote exchange among APT scholars and research institutes in the region, and to promote relevant research that can facilitate the APT regional cooperation process. Research is done through organising Working Groups. NEAT has made important progress in the past 10 years. To grow and expand in future, it will have to improve on its networking function and strengthen its Working Group mechanism.
Think Tank Development in Hong Kong
Authors: KWONG Kin-ming , ZHAO Litao
Published: November 2012

Hong Kong's society has become more politicised after 2003. Policy decisions have been driven by public opinion. With a growing "war of ideas", more social actors choose to do policy advocacies by research rather than slogans through setting up think tanks. Think tanks have seen their influence rising over time. The government has started to invite think tank representatives to give suggestions during the drafting of some important policy papers, like Policy Address.
Pennsylvanian–Early Permian cyclothemic succession on the Yangtze Carbonate Platform, South China
Authors: Ueno Katsumi , Hayakawa Naoki , Nakazawa Tsutomu , Wang Yue , Wang Xiangdong
Published: November 2012

Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous)–Early Permian cyclothems are documented for the first time from the shallow-marine carbonate succession on the Yangtze Carbonate Platform, South China. The Zongdi section in southern Guizhou Province comprises bioclast-rich grey limestones with dark-coloured intervals yielding macro- and microfabrics related to emergent events. We recognized 26 depositional sequences (consisting essentially of basal peritidal sediments, middle shallow subtidal sediments and upper peritidal sediments affected by meteoric diagenesis and subaerial exposure) separated by 25 lowstand events. These are interpreted as having been formed by alternating marine transgression and regression resulting from variations in the Gondwanan ice sheets. They are compared with the Midcontinent (Kansas-type) cyclothems in North America. However, the Zongdi cyclothems are relatively thin and consist entirely of very shallow-marine sediments formed above wave base, whereas the Midcontinent cyclothems reflect deposition far below wave base. The Zongdi depositional environment was an upper shelf area, on a platform within the epeiric sea on the South China Craton, where sedimentation occurred in a relatively small (shallow) accommodation space during the highest stands of sea level. They were formed by major (large-scale) transgressions that submerged high-shelf areas, and most of them correspond to the major cyclothems of the North American Midcontinent Basin. The fusuline biostratigraphical framework reveals an uneven stratigraphical pattern of the Zongdi cyclothems, reflecting subtle fluctuations of tectonic subsidence on the epeiric Yangtze Carbonate Platform. Less erosion and karstification on the tops of cyclothems in the Zongdi section, together with the presence of partly calcareous palaeosols, indicates that a dry climate prevailed on the South China Block during the Pennsylvanian–Early Permian when the Zongdi cyclothems were formed.
Kidney-specific WNK1 regulates sodium reabsorption and potassium secretion in mouse cortical collecting duct
Authors: Cheng Chih-Jen , Baum Michel , Huang Chou-Long
Published: November 2012

Kidney-specific with-no-lysine kinase 1 (KS-WNK1) is a kinase-deficient variant of WNK1 that is expressed exclusively in the kidney. It is abundantly expressed in the distal convoluted tubule (DCT) and to a lesser extent in the cortical thick ascending limb (cTAL), connecting tubule, and cortical collecting duct (CCD). KS-WNK1 inhibits Na+-K+-2Cl−- and sodium chloride cotransporter-mediated Na+reabsorption in cTAL and DCT, respectively. Here, we investigated the role of KS-WNK1 in regulating Na+and K+transport in CCD using in vitro microperfusion of tubules isolated from KS-WNK1 knockout mice and control wild-type littermates. Because baseline K+secretion and Na+reabsorption were negligible in mouse CCD, we studied tubules isolated from mice fed a high-K+diet for 2 wk. Compared with that in wild-type tubules, K+secretion was reduced in KS-WNK1 knockout CCD perfused at a low luminal fluid rate of ∼1.5 nl/min. Na+reabsorption and the lumen-negative transepithelial potential difference were also lower in the KS-WNK1 knockout CCD compared with control CCD. Increasing the perfusion rate to ∼5.5 nl/min stimulated K+secretion in the wild-type as well as knockout CCD. The magnitudes of flow-stimulated increase in K+secretion were similar in wild-type and knockout CCD. Maxi-K+channel inhibitor iberiotoxin had no effect on K+secretion when tubules were perfused at ∼1.5 nl/min, but completely abrogated the flow-dependent increase in K+secretion at ∼5.5 nl/min. These findings support the notion that KS-WNK1 stimulates ROMK-mediated K+secretion, but not flow-dependent K+secretion mediated by maxi-K+channels in CCD. In addition, KS-WNK1 plays a role in regulating Na+transport in the CCD.