bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Aerodynamics in the classroom and at the ball park
Authors: Cross Rod
Published: March 2012

Experiments suitable for classroom projects or demonstrations are described concerning the aerodynamics of polystyrene balls. A light ball with sufficient backspin can curve vertically upward through the air, defying gravity and providing a dramatic visual demonstration of the Magnus effect. A ball projected with backspin can also curve downward with a vertical acceleration greater than that due to gravity if the Magnus force is negative. These effects were investigated by filming the flight of balls projected in an approximately horizontal direction so that the lift and drag forces could be easily measured. The balls were also fitted with artificial raised seams and projected with backspin toward a vertical target in order to measure the sideways deflection over a known horizontal distance. It was found that (a) a ball with a seam on one side can deflect either left or right depending on its launch speed and (b) a ball with a baseball seam can also deflect sideways even when there is no sideways component of the drag or lift forces acting on the ball. Depending on the orientations of the seam and the spin axis, a sideways force on a baseball can arise either if there is rough patch on one side of the ball or if there is a smooth patch. A scuff ball with a rough patch on one side is illegal in baseball. The effect of a smooth patch is a surprising new observation.
Genotype and Subtype Profiling of PSI-7977 as a Nucleotide Inhibitor of Hepatitis C Virus
Authors: Lam Angela M. , Espiritu Christine , Bansal Shalini , Micolochick Steuer Holly M. , Niu Congrong , Zennou Veronique , Keilman Meg , Zhu Yuao , Lan Shuiyun , Otto Michael J. , Furman Phillip A.
Published: March 2012

PSI-7977, a prodrug of 2′-F-2′-
C
-methyluridine monophosphate, is the purified diastereoisomer of PSI-7851 and is currently being investigated in phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of hepatitis C. In this study, we profiled the activity of PSI-7977 and its ability to select for resistance using a number of different replicon cells. Results showed that PSI-7977 was active against genotype (GT) 1a, 1b, and 2a (strain JFH-1) replicons and chimeric replicons containing GT 2a (strain J6), 2b, and 3a NS5B polymerase. Cross-resistance studies using GT 1b replicons confirmed that the S282T change conferred resistance to PSI-7977. Subsequently, we evaluated the ability of PSI-7977 to select for resistance using GT 1a, 1b, and 2a (JFH-1) replicon cells. S282T was the common mutation selected among all three genotypes, but while it conferred resistance to PSI-7977 in GT 1a and 1b, JFH-1 GT 2a S282T showed only a very modest shift in 50% effective concentration (EC
50
) for PSI-7977. Sequence analysis of the JFH-1 NS5B region indicated that additional amino acid changes were selected both prior to and after the emergence of S282T. These include T179A, M289L, I293L, M434T, and H479P. Residues 179, 289, and 293 are located within the finger and palm domains, while 434 and 479 are located on the surface of the thumb domain. Data from the JFH-1 replicon variants showed that amino acid changes within the finger and palm domains together with S282T were required to confer resistance to PSI-7977, while the mutations on the thumb domain serve to enhance the replication capacity of the S282T replicons.
In VitroActivities of Clindamycin, Imipenem, Metronidazole, and Piperacillin-Tazobactam against Susceptible and Resistant Isolates of Bacteroides fragilis Evaluated by Kill Kinetics
Authors: Schaumann Reiner , Funke Matthias , Janssen Eva , Rodloff Arne C.
Published: March 2012

The aim of the present study was to investigate the activities of clindamycin, imipenem, metronidazole, and piperacillin-tazobactam against 12Bacteroides fragilisisolates (resistant and susceptible strains) by kill kinetics over 24 h. In contrast to the other antimicrobial agents, clindamycin did not affect strains with MICs of >8.0 μg/ml. For those strains with MICs of ≤8.0 μg/ml, all employed antibiotics except clindamycin showed nearly bactericidal activity. Metronidazole proved to be the most active antimicrobial agent.
A Loss-of-Function Mutation in the PAS Kinase Rim15p Is Related to Defective Quiescence Entry and High Fermentation Rates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sake Yeast Strains
Authors: Watanabe Daisuke , Araki Yuya , Zhou Yan , Maeya Naoki , Akao Takeshi , Shimoi Hitoshi
Published: March 2012

Sake yeast cells have defective entry into the quiescent state, allowing them to sustain high fermentation rates. To reveal the underlying mechanism, we investigated the PAS kinase Rim15p, which orchestrates initiation of the quiescence program in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
. We found that Rim15p is truncated at the carboxyl terminus in modern sake yeast strains as a result of a frameshift mutation. Introduction of this mutation or deletion of the full-length
RIM15
gene in a laboratory strain led to a defective stress response, decreased synthesis of the storage carbohydrates trehalose and glycogen, and impaired G
1
arrest, which together closely resemble the characteristic phenotypes of sake yeast. Notably, expression of a functional
RIM15
gene in a modern sake strain suppressed all of these phenotypes, demonstrating that dysfunction of Rim15p prevents sake yeast cells from entering quiescence. Moreover, loss of Rim15p or its downstream targets Igo1p and Igo2p remarkably improved the fermentation rate in a laboratory strain. This finding verified that Rim15p-mediated entry into quiescence plays pivotal roles in the inhibition of ethanol fermentation. Taken together, our results suggest that the loss-of-function mutation in the
RIM15
gene may be the key genetic determinant of the increased ethanol production rates in modern sake yeast strains.
Comparative Analysis of Eukaryotic Marine Microbial Assemblages from 18S rRNA Gene and Gene Transcript Clone Libraries by Using Different Methods of Extraction
Authors: Koid Amy , Nelson William C. , Mraz Amy , Heidelberg Karla B.
Published: March 2012

Eukaryotic marine microbes play pivotal roles in biogeochemical nutrient cycling and ecosystem function, but studies that focus on the protistan biogeography and genetic diversity lag-behind studies of other microbes. 18S rRNA PCR amplification and clone library sequencing are commonly used to assess diversity that is culture independent. However, molecular methods are not without potential biases and artifacts. In this study, we compare the community composition of clone libraries generated from the same water sample collected at the San Pedro Ocean Time Series (SPOTs) station in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Community composition was assessed using different cell lysis methods (chemical and mechanical) and the extraction of different nucleic acids (DNA and RNA reverse transcribed to cDNA) to build Sanger ABI clone libraries. We describe specific biases for ecologically important phylogenetic groups resulting from differences in nucleic acid extraction methods that will inform future designs of eukaryotic diversity studies, regardless of the target sequencing platform planned.
Direct Conversion of Xylan to Ethanol by Recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strains Displaying an Engineered Minihemicellulosome
Authors: Sun Jie , Wen Fei , Si Tong , Xu Jian-He , Zhao Huimin
Published: March 2012

Arabinoxylan is a heteropolymeric chain of a β-1,4-linked xylose backbone substituted with arabinose residues, representing a principal component of plant cell walls. Here we developed recombinant
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
strains as whole-cell biocatalysts capable of combining hemicellulase production, xylan hydrolysis, and hydrolysate fermentation into a single step. These strains displayed a series of uni-, bi-, and trifunctional minihemicellulosomes that consisted of a miniscaffoldin (CipA3/CipA1) and up to three chimeric enzymes. The miniscaffoldin derived from
Clostridium thermocellum
contained one or three cohesin modules and was tethered to the cell surface through the
S. cerevisia
e a-agglutinin adhesion receptor. Up to three types of hemicellulases, an endoxylanase (XynII), an arabinofuranosidase (AbfB), and a β-xylosidase (XlnD), each bearing a C-terminal dockerin, were assembled onto the miniscaffoldin by high-affinity cohesin-dockerin interactions. Compared to uni- and bifunctional minihemicellulosomes, the resulting quaternary trifunctional complexes exhibited an enhanced rate of hydrolysis of arabinoxylan. Furthermore, with an integrated
d
-xylose-utilizing pathway, the recombinant yeast displaying the bifunctional minihemicellulosome CipA3-XynII-XlnD could simultaneously hydrolyze and ferment birchwood xylan to ethanol with a yield of 0.31 g per g of sugar consumed.
Role of Extracellular Transaldolase from Bifidobacterium bifidum in Mucin Adhesion and Aggregation
Authors: González-Rodríguez Irene , Sánchez Borja , Ruiz Lorena , Turroni Francesca , Ventura Marco , Ruas-Madiedo Patricia , Gueimonde Miguel , Margolles Abelardo
Published: March 2012

The ability of bifidobacteria to establish in the intestine of mammals is among the main factors considered to be important for achieving probiotic effects. The role of surface molecules from
Bifidobacterium bifidum
taxon in mucin adhesion capability and the aggregation phenotype of this bacterial species was analyzed. Adhesion to the human intestinal cell line HT29 was determined for a collection of 12
B. bifidum
strains. In four of them—
B. bifidum
LMG13195, DSM20456, DSM20239, and A8—the involvement of surface-exposed macromolecules in the aggregation phenomenon was determined. The aggregation of
B. bifidum
A8 and DSM20456 was abolished after treatment with proteinase K, this effect being more pronounced for the strain A8. Furthermore, a mucin binding assay of
B. bifidum
A8 surface proteins showed a high adhesive capability for its transaldolase (Tal). The localization of this enzyme on the surface of
B. bifidum
A8 was unequivocally demonstrated by immunogold electron microscopy experiments. The gene encoding Tal from
B. bifidum
A8 was expressed in
Lactococcus lactis
, and the protein was purified to homogeneity. The pure protein was able to restore the autoaggregation phenotype of proteinase K-treated
B. bifidum
A8 cells. A recombinant
L. lactis
strain, engineered to secrete Tal, displayed a mucin- binding level more than three times higher than the strain not producing the transaldolase. These findings suggest that Tal, when exposed on the cell surface of
B. bifidum
, could act as an important colonization factor favoring its establishment in the gut.
The Recall Response Induced by Genital Challenge with Chlamydia muridarum Protects the Oviduct from Pathology but Not from Reinfection
Authors: Riley Melissa M. , Zurenski Matthew A. , Frazer Lauren C. , O'Connell Catherine M. , Andrews Charles W. , Mintus Margaret , Darville Toni
Published: March 2012

The significant morbidities of ectopic pregnancy and infertility observed in women after
Chlamydia trachomatis
genital infection result from ascension of the bacteria from the endocervix to the oviduct, where an overly aggressive inflammatory response leads to chronic scarring and Fallopian tube obstruction. A vaccine to prevent chlamydia-induced disease is urgently needed. An important question for vaccine development is whether sterilizing immunity at the level of the oviduct is essential for protection because of the possibility that a chlamydial component drives a deleterious anamnestic T cell response upon oviduct reinfection. We show that mice inoculated with attenuated plasmid-cured strains of
Chlamydia muridarum
are protected from oviduct pathology upon challenge with wild-type
C. muridarum
Nigg despite induction of a response that did not prevent reinfection of the oviduct. Interestingly, repeated abbreviated infections with Nigg also elicited recall responses that protected the oviduct from pathology despite low-level reinfection of this vulnerable tissue site. Challenged mice displayed significant decreases in tissue infiltration of inflammatory leukocytes with marked reductions in frequencies of neutrophils but significant increases in frequencies of CD4 Th1 and CD8 T cells. An anamnestic antibody response was also detected. These data indicate that exposure to a live attenuated chlamydial vaccine or repeated abbreviated genital infection with virulent chlamydiae promotes anamnestic antibody and T cell responses that protect the oviduct from pathology despite a lack of sterilizing immunity at the site.
Visualization of an Alphaherpesvirus Membrane Protein That Is Essential for Anterograde Axonal Spread of Infection in Neurons
Authors: Taylor M. P. , Kramer T. , Lyman M. G. , Kratchmarov R. , Enquist L. W.
Published: March 2012

Pseudorabies virus (PRV), an alphaherpesvirus with a broad host range, replicates and spreads in chains of synaptically connected neurons. The PRV protein Us9 is a small membrane protein that is highly conserved among alphaherpesviruses and is essential for anterograde axonal spread in neurons. Specifically, the Us9 protein is required for the sorting of newly assembled PRV particles into axons. However, the molecular details underlying the function of Us9 are poorly understood. Here we constructed PRV strains that express functional green fluorescent protein (GFP)-Us9 fusion proteins in order to visualize axonal transport of viral particles in infected rat superior cervical ganglion neurons. We show that GFP-Us9-labeled structures are transported exclusively in the anterograde direction within axons. Additionally, the vast majority of anterograde-directed capsids (labeled with VP26-monomeric red fluorescent protein) and a viral membrane protein (labeled with glycoprotein M fused to mCherry) are cotransported with GFP-Us9 in the anterograde direction. In contrast, during infection with PRV strains that express nonfunctional mutant GFP-Us9 proteins, cotransport of mutant GFP-Us9 with capsids in axons is abolished. These findings show that axonal sorting of progeny viral particles is dependent upon the association of viral structures with membranes that contain functional Us9 proteins. This association is required for anterograde spread of infection in neurons.

IMPORTANCE
Alphaherpesviruses, such as pseudorabies virus (PRV), are parasites of the mammalian nervous system. These viruses spread over long distances in chains of synaptically connected neurons. PRV encodes several proteins that mediate directed virion transport and spread of infection. Us9 is a highly conserved viral membrane protein that is essential for anterograde neuronal spread of infection. In the absence of Us9, newly replicated viral particles are assembled in the cell body but are not sorted into or transported within axons. Here, we constructed and characterized novel PRV strains that express functional green fluorescent protein (GFP)-Us9 fusion proteins in order to visualize its localization in living neurons during infection. This enabled us to better understand the function of Us9 in facilitating the spread of infection. We show that all viral particles moving in the anterograde direction are labeled with GFP-Us9, suggesting that the presence of Us9 determines the capacity for directed transport within axons.
Failure mode and effects analysis: too little for too much?
Authors: Franklin Bryony Dean , Shebl Nada Atef , Barber Nick
Published: March 2012

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a structured prospective risk assessment method that is widely used within healthcare. FMEA involves a multidisciplinary team mapping out a high-risk process of care, identifying the failures that can occur, and then characterising each of these in terms of probability of occurrence, severity of effects and detectability, to give a risk priority number used to identify failures most in need of attention. One might assume that such a widely used tool would have an established evidence base. This paper considers whether or not this is the case, examining the evidence for the reliability and validity of its outputs, the mathematical principles behind the calculation of a risk prioirty number, and variation in how it is used in practice. We also consider the likely advantages of this approach, together with the disadvantages in terms of the healthcare professionals' time involved. We conclude that although FMEA is popular and many published studies have reported its use within healthcare, there is little evidence to support its use for the quantitative prioritisation of process failures. It lacks both reliability and validity, and is very time consuming. We would not recommend its use as a quantitative technique to prioritise, promote or study patient safety interventions. However, the stage of FMEA involving multidisciplinary mapping process seems valuable and work is now needed to identify the best way of converting this into plans for action.
CONSTANT-MEMORY ITERATIVE GENERATION OF SPECIAL STRINGS REPRESENTING BINARY TREES
Authors: SMYCZYŃSKI SEBASTIAN
Published: March 2012

The shapes of binary trees can be encoded as permutations having a very special property. These permutations are tree permutations, or equivalently they avoid subwords of the type 231. The generation of binary trees in natural order corresponds to the generation of these special permutations in the lexicographic order. In this paper we use a stringologic approach to the generation of these special permutations: decompositions of essential parts into the subwords having staircase shapes. A given permutation differs from the next one with respect to its tail called here the working suffix. Some new properties of such working suffixes are discovered in the paper and used to design effective algorithms transforming one tree permutation into its successor or predecessor in the lexicographic order. The algorithms use a constant amount of additional memory and they look only at those elements of the permutation which belong to the working suffix. The best-case, average-case and worst-case time complexities of the algorithms are O(1), O(1), and O(n) respectively. The advantages of our stringologic approach are constant time and iterative generation, while other known algorithms are usually recursive or not constant-memory ones. In this paper we also present a new compact non-recursive linear time algorithm solving a related problem of decoding the shape of a binary tree from its corresponding tree permutation.
CROCHEMORE'S REPETITIONS ALGORITHM REVISITED: COMPUTING RUNS
Authors: FRANEK FRANTISEK , JIANG MEI
Published: March 2012

Crochemore's repetitions algorithm introduced in 1981 was the first O(n log n) algorithm for computing repetitions. Since then, several linear-time worst-case algorithms for computing runs have been introduced. They all follow a similar strategy: first compute the suffix tree or array, then use the suffix tree or array to compute the Lempel-Ziv factorization, then using the Lempel-Ziv factorization compute all the runs. It is conceivable that in practice an extension of Crochemore's repetitions algorithm may outperform the linear-time algorithms, or at least for certain classes of strings. The nature of Crochemore's algorithm lends itself naturally to parallelization, while the linear-time algorithms are not easily conducive to parallelization. For all these reasons it is interesting to explore ways to extend the original Crochemore's repetitions algorithm to compute runs. We present three variants of extending the repetitions algorithm to compute runs: two with a worsen complexity of O(n ( log n)2), and one with the same complexity as the original algorithm. The three variants are tested for speed of performance and their memory requirements are analyzed. The third variant is tested and analyzed for various memory-saving alterations. The purpose of this research is to identify the best extension of Crochemore's algorithm for further study, comparison with other algorithms, and parallel implementation.
EXACT PARALLEL ALIGNMENT OF MEGABASE GENOMIC SEQUENCES WITH TUNABLE WORK DISTRIBUTION
Authors: BOUKERCHE AZZEDINE , BATISTA RODOLFO BEZERRA , DE MELO ALBA CRISTINA MAGALHAES ALVES , SCAREL FELIPE BRANDT , DE SOUZA LAVIR ANTONIO BAHIA CARVALHO
Published: March 2012

Sequence Alignment is a basic operation in Bioinformatics that is performed thousands of times, on daily basis. The exact methods for pairwise alignment have quadratic time complexity. For this reason, heuristic methods such as BLAST are widely used. To obtain exact results faster, parallel strategies have been proposed but most of them fail to align huge biological sequences. This happens because not only the quadratic time must be considered but also the space should be reduced. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of Z-align, a parallel exact strategy that runs in user-restricted memory space. Also, we propose and evaluate a tunable work distribution mechanism. The results obtained in two clusters show that two sequences of size 24MBP (Mega Base Pairs) and 23MBP, respectively, were successfully aligned with Z-align. Also, in order to align two 3MBP sequences, a speedup of 34.35 was achieved for 64 processors. The evaluation of our work distribution mechanism shows that the execution times can be sensibly reduced when appropriate parameters are chosen. Finally, when comparing Z-align with BLAST, it is clear that, in many cases, Z-align is able to produce alignments with higher score.
A PARALLEL METAHEURISTIC FRAMEWORK BASED ON HARMONY SEARCH FOR SCHEDULING IN DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEMS
Authors: LEE YOUNG CHOON , TAHERI JAVID , ZOMAYA ALBERT Y.
Published: March 2012

A large number of optimization problems have been identified as computationally challenging and/or intractable to solve within a reasonable amount of time. Due to the NP-hard nature of these problems, in practice, heuristics account for the majority of existing algorithms. Metaheuristics are one very popular type of heuristics used for many of these optimization problems. In this paper, we present a novel parallel-metaheuristic framework, which effectively enables to devise parallel metaheuristics, particularly with heterogeneous metaheuristics. The core component of the proposed framework is its harmony-search-based coordinator. Harmony search is a recent breed of metaheuristic that mimics the improvisation process of musicians. The coordinator facilitates heterogeneous metaheuristics (forming a parallel metaheuristic) to escape local optima. Specifically, best solutions generated by these worker metaheuristics are maintained in the harmony memory of the coordinator, and they are used to form new-possibly better-harmonies (solutions) before actual solution sharing between workers occurs; hence, their solutions are harmonized with each other. For the applicability validation and the performance evaluation, we have implemented a parallel hybrid metaheuristic using the framework for the task scheduling problem on multiprocessor computing systems (e.g., computer clusters). Experimental results verify that the proposed framework is a compelling approach to parallelize heterogeneous metaheuristics.
AN EFFECTIVE MULTIPROCESSOR SCHEDULING WITH USE OF GEO METAHEURISTIC
Authors: SWITALSKI PIOTR , SEREDYNSKI FRANCISZEK
Published: March 2012

We present a solution of the multiprocessor scheduling problem based on applying a relatively new metaheuristic called Generalized Extremal Optimization (GEO). GEO is inspired by a simple coevolutionary model known as Bak-Sneppen model. The model assumes existing of an ecosystem consisting of N species. Evolution in this model is driven by a process in which the weakest species in the ecosystem, together with its nearest neighbors is always forced to mutate. This process shows characteristic of a phenomenon called a punctuated equilibrium which is observed in evolutionary biology. We interpret the multiprocessor scheduling problem in terms of the Bak-Sneppen model and apply the GEO algorithm to solve the problem. We show that the proposed optimization technique is simple and yet outperforms both genetic algorithm (GA)-based and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm-based approaches to the multiprocessor scheduling problem.
EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS OF THE TIME-SHUFFLING METHOD FOR THE EVOLUTION OF AGENT BEHAVIOR
Authors: EDIGER PATRICK , HOFFMANN ROLF
Published: March 2012

We have analyzed the effectiveness and the efficiency of a time-shuffling method applied to an evolutionary algorithm scheme in order to optimize the behavior of autonomous agents in a multi-agent system. The multi-agent system is modeled as cellular automata (CA) because of the inherent parallelism of the model, which suits well the requirements of a system of autonomous moving agents with a local view. The task of the agents is the all-to-all communication, i.e., all agents shall communicate their initially mutually exclusive information to all other agents. The agents' uniform behavior is defined by a finite-state machine, which is evolved by a genetic algorithm (GA). 20 different initial two-dimensional environments were defined as a training set, 10 of them with border, 10 with cyclic wrap-around. The state machine was evolved (1) directly by a GA for all 20 environments, and (2) indirectly by two separate GAs for the 10 environments with border and the 10 environments with wrap-around, with a subsequent time-shuffling technique in order to integrate the good abilities from both of the separately evolved state machines. The time-shuffling technique alternates two state machines periodically. The results show that time-shuffling two separately evolved state machines is effective and much more efficient than the direct application of the GA.
EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH IN PROCESS IMPROVEMENT — A CASE STUDY IN AUTO ELECTRICAL ALTERNATOR MANUFACTURING
Authors: JEGADHEESON A. J. , KARUNAMOORTHY L. , ARUNKUMAR N. , BALAJI A. , RAJKAMAL M.
Published: March 2012

Evolution is "understanding and overcoming current constraints in small steps toward optimum." "Understanding" requires elucidation of facts and corroborating theories that can explain those facts in a coherent manner. "Overcoming" requires self-development to suit the environment. In this paper, a case study about how a manufacturing process is improved in terms of productivity and quality using evolutionary improvements is explained. Here "Understanding" is achieved through use of Shainin Technique, PM analysis, Affinity Diagram, and the engineer's ingenuity, along with Relations diagram. "Overcoming" is achieved through Geometrical Analysis and Designed Experiments. The Study has set a new benchmark in the Stator riveting process by proving it can yield the desired results, and the need to adapt welding process is avoided.
GROWTH, OPTICAL AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OFCo-DOPEDTiO2CRYSTAL
Authors: ZHUANG NAIFENG , WANG RONGFENG , HU XIAOLIN , SONG CAIGEN , ZHAO BIN , CHEN JIANZHONG
Published: March 2012

Co -doped TiO2crystals (Co:TiO2) were grown by Czochralski growth (CZ) method and the edge-defined film-fed growth (EFG) method, respectively. Therein, EFG was an effective method to grow a higher quality Co:TiO2crystal without the reverse flow of the melt. This as-grown crystal reaches a larger dimension of 10 mm × 15 mm × 18mm. XRD analysis confirms that as-grown crystal is isostructural with TiO2rutile phase. Moreover, this crystal has ferromagnetism at room temperature and the magnetic moment of Co ion is 1.25 × 10-2μB/Co . After annealed at 1273 K, Co:TiO2crystal enhances obviously its optical transmittance, while this crystal shows diamagnetism due to the disappearance of the ferromagnetic signal.
A NOVEL LEAD-FREE TRANSPARENT CERAMIC WITH HIGH ELECTRO-OPTIC COEFFICIENT
Authors: KWOK K. W. , LI FALIANG , LIN DUNMIN
Published: March 2012

A novel lead-free transparent electro-optic ceramic (K0.5Na0.5)0.95 Li0.05Nb0.95Bi0.05O3+ 2 mol % excess Bi2O3 has been fabricated by hot-press sintering. The ceramic possesses a dense, fine-grained and pure-perovskite structure. Owing to the decreases in optical anisotropy of the crystal structure and optical scattering by the fine grains, the ceramic becomes visually clear. It exhibits a high transmittance of 60% in the near-IR region as well as a high effective linear electro-optic coefficient of 102 pm V-1. Although a relaxor behavior is induced, the ceramic exhibits reasonably good ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties (d33 = 64 pC N-1).
TUNABLE PROPERTIES OF LSCO BUFFERED PMN-PT THIN FILM CAPACITOR
Authors: HE Y. , LI X. M. , GAO X. D. , ZHENG R. K. , LENG X. , WANG W. , ZHANG F.
Published: March 2012

The tunable properties of Pt/PMN-PT/LSCO/Ir capacitor have been studied under different applied voltages and frequencies. The PMN-PT thin film exhibited good dielectric tunability. A tunability of 70.3% at 12 V and 100 kHz is obtained for the film under negative voltage bias. For the positive voltage bias, the tunability is 68.7% which is smaller than the value under negative voltage bias. The asymmetric distribution of charged defects is suggested as possible causes of the asymmetric capacitance–voltage (C–V) behaviors of ferroelectric capacitors. On the other hand, the frequency dependency of the capacitance's tunability indicated that the interface has strong influence on the frequency stable of tunability.
STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION OF n-ZnO/p-GaN ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES GROWN BY ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION
Authors: LI W. C. , TSAI H. L. , CHEN H. C. , WU M. K. , CHEN H. R. , CHEN M. J. , YANG J. R. , SHIOJIRI M.
Published: March 2012

Electron microscopy investigation has been carried for an n- ZnO /p- GaN:Mg heterojunction ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diode device, where the n- ZnO layer was grown by atomic layer deposition on the p-type GaN:Mg /undoped GaN structure prepared on c- Al 2 O 3 substrate. Threading dislocations, formed at the interface of the GaN/Al2O3 , disappeared at the interface of n- ZnO /p- GaN during post-deposited rapid thermal annealing and accordingly the n- ZnO layer became an almost perfect single crystal including only a few surviving dislocations. An interfacial layer was found along the (0001) interface between the n- ZnO and p- GaN:Mg layers. Scanning transmission microscopy analysis revealed that the interfacial layer was composed of ZnO crystal, which connected coherently with the neighboring n- ZnO and p- GaN:Mg . This interfacial layer contained a few atomic percents of Mg , the atoms of which had been diffused from the p- GaN:Mg . The high quality crystalline n- ZnO and the interfacial layer forming a ZnO/GaN interface states are responsible for the UV electroluminescence from the ZnO .
OXIDATION OF GLYCEROL USING TITANIA SUPPORTED Au–Pd BIMETALLIC CATALYSTS: EFFECT OF Au–Pd RATIOS ON CATALYTIC PERFORMANCE
Authors: AHMAD NADZRI AINOL HAYAH , HAMZAH NORAINI , NIK YUSOFF NIK IDRIS , YARMO MOHD AMBAR
Published: March 2012

Oxidation of glycerol to form various types of short chain oxygenated derivative compounds became an important reaction to support biodiesel industries. In this study, bimetallic Au–Pd catalysts supported on TiO2 with different Au/Pd atomic ratios have been successfully prepared by deposition-precipitation method with urea decomposition. The catalysts were tested in the glycerol oxidation reactions in order to examine the effect of Au–Pd ratio on the conversion and selectivity. Catalytic activity of all the catalysts were as follow: Au7Pd3/TiO2 > Au5Pd5/TiO2 > Au8Pd2/TiO2 > Au9Pd1/TiO2 > Au6Pd4/TiO2 . Analysis by XRD revealed the presence of metallic Au and gold-enriched Au–Pd alloy phase which were located between the [111] and [200] peaks of Au and Pd in the Au–Pd bimetallic catalysts. XPS analysis ascertained the formation of Au0 , Au3+ , Pd0 and PdO species together with Au–Pd alloy phase in the bimetallic Au–Pd catalysts. This shows that the catalytic activity of the catalysts was depended to the formation of mixture of active species namely Au0 , Au3+ , Pd0 dan PdO together with the presence of "synergisti" effect in the Au–Pd alloy. The reactions were performed at low and high temperatures (50°C and 100°C) and it was found that the selectivity to tartronic acid was enhanced at lower reaction temperature. The highest selectivity to tartronic acid (55% at 99% conversion) was obtained by using Au9Pd1/TiO2 at 50°C and after 8 h of reaction time.
CONVENIENT PREPARATION OF Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 THIN FILMS BY A COMBINATORIAL SYNTHESIS PROCESS
Authors: PENG CHAO , ZHAO DESEN , HE GANG , HE MINGZHONG , HONG JIANHE , LI HAIFENG , GONG YANSHENG
Published: March 2012

In order to carry out a convenient preparation of Pb ( Zr x Ti 1-x) O 3 thin films by combinatorial chemical solution deposition process, two kinds of Pb ( Zr x Ti 1-x) O 3 precursor solutions ( PbTiO3 precursor solution and PbZrO3 precursor solution) were prepared by a simple process. There is no distillation and no inert gas shielding in the process, and the precursors are more stable than the conventional precursor solution. A series of Pb ( Zr x Ti 1-x) O 3 samples (x = 0.1–0.9, in step of 0.1 amount change) were prepared using the two precursor solutions. The process was fast and saved time. There were strong exothermic reactions for the samples with the Zr content x in a short range from x = 0.23 to 0.27 at 161–200°C. The Pb ( Zr x Ti 1-x) O 3 thin films showed perovskite structure with strong (111)-preferred orientation. The structure and ferroelectric property of the PZT thin films are comparable with those of the PZT fabricated by conventional process.
SYNTHESIS OF SPHERICAL LiFePO4 PARTICLES BY INTERMITTENT MICROWAVE HEATING ASSISTED WATER-BATH REACTION
Authors: SHEN PEI KANG , ZOU HONGLI , MENG HUI , WU MINGMEI
Published: March 2012

Highly ordered spherical LiFePO4 is synthesized by an intermittent microwave heating assisted water-bath reaction and the resulted LiFePO4 shows high tap-density of 2.0 g cm-3 and volumetric specific capacity of 325 mAh cm-3 when used as cathode material in Li-ion battery. The high performance of the ordered spherical LiFePO4 is explained in terms of the high conductivity and the improved mass transfer kinetics. Such highly ordered spherical LiFePO4 with improved volumetric specific capacity will be potentially used in the high-power Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles.
Variations in rift symmetry: cautionary examples from the Southern Rift System (Australia–Antarctica)
Authors: Direen Nicholas G. , Stagg Howard M. J. , Symonds Philip A. , Norton Ian O.
Published: March 2012

We present a synthesis based on the interpretation of two pairs of deep seismic reflection crustal sections within the Southern Rift System (SRS) separating Australia and Antarctica. One pair of sections is from the conjugate margins between the Great Australian Bight (GAB) and Wilkes Land, in the central sector of the SRS, which broke up in the Campanian. The second pair of conjugate sections is located approximately 400 km further east, between the Otway Basin and Terre Adélie, which probably broke up in Maastrichtian time. Interpretations are based on an integrated synthesis of deep multi-channel seismic, gravity and magnetic data, together with sparse sonobuoy and dredging information, and the conjugate sections are presented with the oceanic crust removed beyond the continent–ocean boundary (COB).

At first order, both conjugate pairs show a transition from thinned continental crust, through a wide and internally complex continent–ocean transition zone (COTZ), which shows features in common with magma-poor rifted margins worldwide, such as basement ridges interpreted as exhumed subcontinental mantle. In the central GAB sector, the COTZ is symmetric around the point of break-up and displays a pair of mantle ridges, one on each margin, outboard of which lies a deep-water rift basin. Break-up has occurred in the centre of this basin in this sector of the SRS. In contrast, the Terre Adélie margin is nearly 600 km wide and shows an abandoned crustal megaboudin, the Adélie Rift Block. This block is underlain by interpreted middle crust, and appears to have a mantle ridge structure inboard, as well as an outboard exhumed mantle complex from which mylonitized harzburgite has been dredged. The conjugate margin of the Beachport Sub-basin is relatively narrow (
c.
100 km wide) and does not appear to contain an exhumed mantle ridge, as observed along strike in the GAB.

These observations from a single rift spreading compartment show that radically different break-up symmetries and margin architectures can result from an essentially symmetric rifting process involving multiple, paired detachment systems. This indicates the need for caution in interpreting causative mechanisms of rifting from limited conjugate sections in other rifts. We speculate that the underlying crustal composition, rheology and structural preconditioning play a significant role in partitioning strain during the transition to break-up.
Towards the taxonomy-oriented categorization of yellow pages queries
Authors: Li Zhisheng , Xiao Xiangye , Wang Meng , Wang Chong , Wang Xufa , Xie Xing
Published: March 2012

Yellow pages search is a popular service that provides a means for finding businesses close to particular locations. The efficient search of yellow pages is becoming a rapidly evolving research area. The underlying data maintained in yellow pages search engines are typically labeled according to Standard Industry Classification (SIC) categories, and users can search yellow pages with categories according to their interests. Categorizing yellow pages queries into a subset of topical categories can help to improve search experience and quality. However, yellow pages queries are usually short and ambiguous. In addition, a yellow pages query taxonomy is typically organized by a hierarchy of a fairly large number of categories. These characteristics make automatic yellow pages query categorization difficult and challenging. In this article, we propose a flexible yellow pages query categorization approach. The proposed technique is built based on a TF-IDF similarity taxonomy matching scheme that is able to provide more accurate query categorization than previous keyword-based matching schemes. To further improve the categorization performance, we design several filtering schemes. Through extensive experimentation, we demonstrate encouraging results. We obtain F1 measures of about 0.5 and 0.3 for categorizing yellow pages queries into 19 coarse categories and 244 finer categories, respectively. We investigate different components in the proposed approach and also demonstrate the superiority of our approach over a hierarchical support vector machine classifier.
Design and analysis of adaptive processor
Authors: Takano Shigeyuki
Published: March 2012

A new computation model called CACHE (Cache Architecture for Configurable Hardware Engine) is proposed in this paper. This model does not require a dedicated host processor and its software to harness the reconfiguration. Autonomous reconfiguration is performed within a working-set of application datapaths. The CACHE model has lots of side effects; caching, resource allocation and assignment, placement and routing, and defragmentation, with a processing array itself and a special register called a working-set register file. The model aims to reduce three major workloads: (1) the processor and application design workload, (2) runtime resource management and scheduling workload, and (3) reconfiguration workload. In order to reduce these workloads, processor architecture is definitely different from traditional computing model and its microprocessor architecture. There are three major ideas to construct the computing system: (1) an on-chip working-set model mainly in order to control load and store of streams, namely to control traffics introducing overheads, (2) an on-chip deadlock properties model mainly in order to manage resources and to continuously configure datapaths corresponding to a working-set window, (3) a cache memory technique to work for these models, the mechanism is equivalent to the working-set window, and the cache memory's procedure is equivalent to resource request, acquirement, and release of deadlock properties. The first model focuses onto streaming applications, for example vector and matrix operations, filters, and so on, which takes coarser grained operations such as integer operations of C-language. Regarding performance compared with DSPs, that comes from constant throughput across different scale of the applications. In addition, extended model, we call Instant model that automatically generates instance of a datapath, outperforms the DSPs. This paper shows its computation model, architecture, low-level design, and analyses about basic characteristics of the execution.
Disparities in Infant Mortality and Effective, Equitable Care: Are Infants Suffering from Benign Neglect?
Authors: Rowley Diane L. , Hogan Vijaya
Published: March 2012

Quality care for infant mortality disparity elimination requires services that improve health status at both the individual and the population level. We examine disparity reduction due to effective care and ask the following question: Has clinical care ameliorated factors that make some populations more likely to have higher rates of infant mortality compared with other populations? Disparities in postneonatal mortality due to birth defects have emerged for non-Hispanic black and Hispanic infants. Surfactant and antenatal steroid therapy have been accompanied by growing disparities in respiratory distress syndrome mortality for black infants. Progesterone therapy has not reduced early preterm birth, the major contributor to mortality disparities among non-Hispanic black and Puerto Rican infants. The Back to Sleep campaign has minimally reduced SIDS disparities among American Indian/Alaska Native infants, but it has not reduced disparities among non-Hispanic black infants. In general, clinical care is not equitable and contributes to increasing disparities.
Unintentional Injuries: Magnitude, Prevention, and Control
Authors: de Ramirez Sarah Stewart , Hyder Adnan A. , Herbert Hadley K. , Stevens Kent
Published: March 2012

The World Health Organization estimates injuries accounted for more than 5 million deaths in 2004, significantly impacting the global burden of disease. Nearly 3.9 million of these deaths were due to unintentional injury, a cause also responsible for more than 138 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost in the same year. More than 90% of the DALYs lost occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), highlighting the disproportionate burden that injuries place on developing countries. This article examines the health and social impact of injury, injury data availability, and injury prevention interventions. By proposing initiatives to minimize the magnitude of death and disability due to unintentional injuries, particularly in LMICs, this review serves as a call to action for further investment in injury surveillance, prevention interventions, and health systems strengthening.
How Society Shapes the Health Gradient: Work-Related Health Inequalities in a Comparative Perspective
Authors: McLeod Christopher B. , Hall Peter A. , Siddiqi Arjumand , Hertzman Clyde
Published: March 2012

Analyses in comparative political economy have the potential to contribute to understanding health inequalities within and between societies. This article uses a varieties of capitalism approach that groups high-income countries into coordinated market economies (CME) and liberal market economies (LME) with different labor market institutions and degrees of employment and unemployment protection that may give rise to or mediate work-related health inequalities. We illustrate this approach by presenting two longitudinal comparative studies of unemployment and health in Germany and the United States, an archetypical CME and LME. We find large differences in the relationship between unemployment and health across labor-market and institutional contexts, and these also vary by educational status. Unemployed Americans, especially of low education or not in receipt of unemployment benefits, have the poorest health outcomes. We argue for the development of a broader comparative research agenda on work-related health inequalities that incorporates life course perspectives.
Preventability of Cancer: The Relative Contributions of Biologic and Social and Physical Environmental Determinants of Cancer Mortality
Authors: Colditz Graham A. , Wei Esther K.
Published: March 2012

Whereas models of cancer disparities and variation in cancer burden within population groups now specify multiple levels of action from biologic processes to individual risk factors and social and physical contextual factors, approaches to estimating the preventable proportion of cancer use more traditional direct models often from single exposures to cancer at specific organ sites. These approaches are reviewed, and the strengths and limitations are presented. The need for additional multilevel data and approaches to estimation of preventability are identified. International or regional variation in cancer may offer the most integrated exposure assessment over the life course. For the four leading cancers, which account for 50% of incidence and mortality, biologic, social, and physical environments play differing roles in etiology and potential prevention. Better understanding of the interactions and contributions across these levels will help refine prevention strategies.
Suicide Mortality in the United States: The Importance of Attending to Method in Understanding Population-Level Disparities in the Burden of Suicide
Authors: Miller Matthew , Azrael Deborah , Barber Catherine
Published: March 2012

Suicide mortality varies widely across age, sex, race, and geography, far more than does mortality from the leading causes of natural death. Unlike the tight correlation between cancer mortality and the incidence of cancer, suicide mortality is only modestly correlated with the incidence of suicidal acts and other established risk factors for suicidal behavior, such as major psychiatric disorders. An implication of this modest correlation is that the proportion of all suicidal acts that prove fatal (the case fatality ratio) must account for a substantial portion of the (nonrandom) variation observed in suicide mortality. In the United States, the case fatality ratio is strongly related to the availability of household firearms. Findings from ecologic and individual-level studies conducted over the past two decades illustrate the importance of accounting for the availability of highly lethal suicide methods in efforts to understand (and ultimately reduce) disparities in suicide mortality across populations.
Health Inequalities: Trends, Progress, and Policy
Authors: Bleich Sara N. , Jarlenski Marian P. , Bell Caryn N. , LaVeist Thomas A.
Published: March 2012

Health inequalities, which have been well documented for decades, have more recently become policy targets in developed countries. This review describes time trends in health inequalities (by sex, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status), commitments to reduce health inequalities, and progress made to eliminate health inequalities in the United States, United Kingdom, and other OECD countries. Time-trend data in the United States indicate a narrowing of the gap between the best- and worst-off groups in some health indicators, such as life expectancy, but a widening of the gap in others, such as diabetes prevalence. Similarly, time-trend data in the United Kingdom indicate a narrowing of the gap between the best- and worst-off groups in some indicators, such as hypertension prevalence, whereas the gap between social classes has increased for life expectancy. More research and better methods are needed to measure precisely the relationships between stated policy goals and observed trends in health inequalities.