bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Energy Efficient Operation of University Hostel Buildings Under Indoor Environmental Quality Requirements
Authors: Fahim Ahmed A. Medhat A. , Khalil Essam E.
Published: March 2012

This paper investigates the influence of Indoor Environmental Quality [IEQ] requirements associated with occupation regimes on the criterion of energy demands for Heating, Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) central systems installed in Cairo, Egypt. This paper focuses on the effects of occupation rate profiles with IEQ thermal parameters such as air dry-bulb temperatures and local air velocities. It is applied as a case study “10-Stories Hostel of 6000 m2 built-up area” that is utilized by immigrant students that migrate to Cairo for their University studies. They are termed here in this work as Egyptian Citizens [EC]. The occupation rate schedules and operation profiles for each source of heat inside space shall be incorporated to simulate the reality. These profiles and schedules should be added to the local energy code as a guideline for designers. Although in this case study the obtained results from simulation program match the total actual energy bills, sometimes, with multi-use apartments additional factors. The effect of Effective Temperatures [ET*] (temperature for constant thermal sensations) is vital as it can lead to reduce the cooling capacity by increasing the room temperature against indoor relative humidity for the same comfort sensation. These two concepts will save on the project total energy demand, in addition to introducing new design criteria for acceptable indoor conditions.
Socio-Behavioral Factors in Virtual Knowledge Sharing
Authors: Hassandoust Farkhondeh , Kazerouni Mehdy Farzaneh , Perumal Vimala
Published: March 2012

Recently, there has been extraordinary propagation in the number of virtual teams for knowledge sharing; however, finding out what affects team member’s behavior is important. This paper integrates the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to construct a model for investigating the socio-behavioral factors behind virtual knowledge sharing. The results of previous studies in this domain paved the path for these factors to be categorized in three conceptual components based on TPB: attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control.
Towards Effective Tourism Dynamic Packages
Authors: Ferreira Luís , Putnik Goran  D. , Cruz-Cunha Maria Manuela , Putnik Zlata
Published: March 2012

This paper describes the Open Tourism Initiative (OTI) as a framework to support tourism activities, following the Tourism Virtual Enterprise (TVE) organizational model and pragmatics based collaboration decisions. To assure the better alignment among tourism services providers and client’s expectations, the framework (and its architecture) must support reliable interoperability and dynamic networking reconfiguration as well as the (co-)creation of the tourist’s activity regardless of information systems and using real-time collaboration mechanisms. When a member of the TVE scheduled to provide a given service is somehow conditioned, unable to participate, has to be disentailed from the network, or due to events not necessarily measurable or deterministic, the it is necessary to reconfigure the VE in almost real time. The need to reconfigure could result from changes in controlled (measured) parameters as well as from uncontrolled (contextual and pragmatic) ones. OTI enhances dynamic tourism packages management under the requirements of reconfigurable environments and human direct participation. This article proposes a logical model for TVE organizations as well as an UML formalization for its supporting architecture.
The Mankind Growth Consistency
Authors: Michelini Rinaldo C. , Razzoli Roberto P.
Published: March 2012

The international stability is viewed as corollary of the sustainable growth. This has only technology-driven solution, at global village extension, with required appropriateness and shared acceptation. The survey, on such guess, looks at the robot age potential, as supplementary aid in the balanced world deployment that adds to the socio-economic and politico-legal frames. The analysis moves from the globalisation issues, at the known (economic) global and (ecologic) no-global pictures, to outline the traits of the post-global robot age, consistent with the sustainable growth, international stability, and grounded on the force of the law. Stability based on the law of the force was the past option, even allowing steady truces. In this analysis, globalisation makes this choice unfit, having doubtful economic and social sustainability and not achieving ecologic sustainability consistently and for the long term.
Open Source Based Deployment of Environmental Data into Geospatial Information Infrastructures
Authors: Gil José , Díaz Laura , Granell Carlos , Huerta Joaquín
Published: March 2012

Today, scientists use local and closed geospatial solutions to run their models and store their results. This may limit their ability to share their models, and results with other interested colleagues. This scenario is changing with the advent of new factors such as the rapid growth and rise of open source projects, or new paradigms promoted by government organizations to manage environmental data, such as Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) directive, or the massive use of Web 2.0 techniques where users are looking for applications with a high degree of collaboration, interactiveness, and multimedia effects. Many authors address the versatility of Spatial Data Infrastructures where resources are shared and accessed via standard service according to complex specifications. In this context, the authors point out the need to merge the traditional building and maintenance of these infrastructures, driven by official providers, with these more participative methodologies where users can participate in creating and integrating information. It seems necessary to develop new geospatial tools which integrate these new trends. This paper proposes a unified solution offering to the scientific field an open development framework, based on standards and philosophies focused on new technologies and scientific needs.
Compliance Assessments of Projects Adhering to Enterprise Architecture
Authors: Foorthuis Ralph , Hofman Frank , Brinkkemper Sjaak , Bos Rik
Published: March 2012

This article examines how to assess projects, which implement business processes and IT systems, on compliance with an Enterprise Architecture (EA) that provides them with constraints and high-level solutions. The authors begin by presenting the core elements of EA compliance testing. Next, the authors discuss the testing process and four types of compliance checks (i.e., correctness check, justification check, consistency check, and completeness check). Finally, an empirical case is reported in which a real-life project has been tested on conformance, demonstrating and evaluating the authors’ approach. The results indicate that objective compliance testing cannot be taken for granted. Therefore, several suggestions are presented to decrease the subjectivity of assessments, such as operationalization of EA prescriptions.
User Behaviour Pattern Mining from Weblog
Authors: Priya Vishnu , Vadivel A.
Published: March 2012

In this paper, the authors build a tree using both frequent as well as non-frequent items and named as Revised PLWAP with Non-frequent Items RePLNI-tree in single scan. While mining sequential patterns, the links related to the non-frequent items are virtually discarded. Hence, it is not required to delete or maintain the information of nodes while revising the tree for mining updated weblog. It is not required to reconstruct the tree from scratch and re-compute the patterns each time, while weblog is updated or minimum support changed, since the algorithm supports both incremental and interactive mining. The performance of the proposed tree is better, even the size of incremental database is more than 50% of existing one, while it is not so in recently proposed algorithm. For evaluation purpose, the authors have used the benchmark weblog and found that the performance of proposed tree is encouraging compared to some of the recently proposed approaches.
Privilege-Seeking Activities in Organizational Politics and Its Effect on More Productive Employees
Authors: Epstein Gil S. , Herniter Bruce C.
Published: March 2012

The ability to evaluate accurately an employee would seem to be a key activity in managing Information Technology (IT). Yet, workers may engage in dishonest and misleading behavior, which distort the evaluation, a variation of organizational politics. Why would they do so? One hypothesis is that “privilege-seeking”, that is, managing one’s managers (also called “rent-seeking”, “management relations”, or “organizational politics”), can be used by workers to misrepresent their actual contribution. These activities lead to a reduction in productivity and consequently to a loss of profits. Management may decrease the firm’s losses by engaging in costly monitoring activities. It is paradoxical that a behavior with such negative consequences is tolerated. A model is developed to show that an organization should be composed of employees with different levels of productivity; moreover, it may be optimal for the organization to have some employees who are good at privilege-seeking activities, forcing the remaining workers to invest in productive activities. This contradicts existing theory that unequal compensation should be less motivating and the remaining workers less productive.
Global Software Development and the Problem of Increased Uncertainties
Authors: Wiredu Gamel O.
Published: March 2012

In global software development (GSD) work configurations, distance, task, and interaction technologies are sources of uncertainties that combine to challenge traditional information processing requirements for coordination. However, in previous research, GSD coordination is explained in terms other than uncertainties. Thus, how the problem of increased uncertainties in coordination can be understood remains a puzzle. This paper studies how a team of developers in the USA and Ireland managed the diverse and emergent uncertainties it faced. The main information processing requirements for coordination whose relationships are modeled are (1) structuring task components according to location; (2) selecting people according to their task-resolving qualities; (3) exploiting their distance-bridging qualities; and (4) supporting them with diverse interaction technologies. By this modeling, the paper extends information processing requirements for GSD coordination beyond mere support for interactions and structuring of task components that are prevalent in the literature.
Exploring Head and Deputy Headteachers’ Attitude Towards Using Computers in Education
Authors: Karim Darvesh
Published: March 2012

Attitude plays a very significant role in acceptance of any idea or innovation. Research has established the significance of computers and the attitude of headteachers which can either be a hindering or a facilitating factor for computer integration in education. To explore this phenomenon in a Pakistani context, this study was conceptualised, while the subsidiary aim was also to explore the relationship between demographic characteristics of the participants and their attitude. A survey questionnaire was adopted to gather data with a sample of 185 headteachers to assess the four perceived factors’ impact; educational, social, training needs and self-confidence. The results show that the participants’ perceived attitude towards computers in education is positive while their perceived social impact of computers and their self-confidence found to be lower than the educational and training needs. Correlation analyses revealed significant associations between the headteachers’ attitude and the use of computers and prior training. In sub-scales model, prior training contributes to the training needs’ model while use of computer, contributed to the self-confidence model.
E-Learning Quality
Authors: Sarsa Javier , Soler Rebeca
Published: March 2012

Although e-Learning activities have quickly increased, such a rise has not been parallel in e-Learning quality. While reinforcing some aspects can be very positive, certain deficiencies can lower the quality in e-Learning. Crucial factors such as the institutional policy, the quality of contents, the quality of processes, the results and possible improvements may remain hardly noticeable or may be pushed into the background. Sometimes the effort invested does not amount to any educational result. Perhaps in the future some kind of universally accepted rules to measure e-Learning quality may be reached, but in the history of educational technology there have been few global regulations and much more of flexible guidance. In the last few years several promising e-Learning quality recommendations have appeared. Some relations among the variables of e-Learning quality have been detected. This paper focuses upon this ongoing research which is represented by means of five conceptual maps that ease the visualization of these relations. Additionally a survey about e-Learning quality has been carried out with university students with a view to revealing those variables that are most important for them.
Blended Learning in Teacher Preparation Programs
Authors: Keengwe Jared , Kang Jung-Jin
Published: March 2012

This paper reviews relevant literature on the concept and design of blended learning in Teacher Preparation Programs (TPPs). First, the authors define blended learning in this context and explained an activity system as an analytical framework. Second, the authors describe the method for choosing the studies in this literature review. Third, the authors present some findings through the lens of an activity system. Finally, the authors discuss how the activity system can analyze the effectiveness of blended learning. The activity system framework is very useful to examine the effectiveness of blended learning because the framework explains what components should be included and examined by research. This review could offer some guideline for the nature of blended learning in TPPs for future study.
ICT and Human Rights in Brazil
Authors: Filho José Rodrigues
Published: March 2012

Since the end of military government in Brazil, civilian governments have sought the accumulation and exercise of power to the detriment of the citizenry. Since the 1990s they have started to implement information technology in the public sector to regulate and run the country in a command-and-control way through technological or bureaucratic dictatorship rather than democratic process. While it is evident that there is a high level of investment in information technology in the public sector (e-government) in Brazil, there are also clear signs of the violation of human rights in terms of privacy. It is alleged that thousands of individual files have been accessed in the public administration, despite the privacy protection offered by the national constitution. This paper shows how information technology (e-government) in Brazil could lead to violations of human rights, including invisible electronic surveillance that affects civil liberties and individual rights.
Exploring the Perceived End-Product Quality in Software-Developing Organizations
Authors: Kasurinen Jussi , Taipale Ossi , Vanhanen Jari , Smolander Kari
Published: March 2012

Software projects have four main objectives; produce required functionalities, with acceptable quality, in budget and in schedule. These objectives are all important for software projects to be successful, but how does the end-product quality fit to them? The objective of this study is to explore how organizations understand software quality and identify factors which seem to affect the quality outcome of the development process. The study applies three approaches; a quantitative survey with 31 organizations, qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with 36 software professionals, and four workshops for identifying and prioritizing quality goals. The study revealed that quality in software organization is not a single, easily definable entity, but a complex, interconnected concept fluctuating between the stakeholders. Overall, it seems that there is no general consensus over the important quality characteristics in software organizations and therefore software organizations could benefit from identifying the quality characteristics they consider important, and actively pursuing quality goals.
Gender Differences in Interface Type Task Analysis
Authors: Saadé Raafat George , Kira Dennis , Otrakji Camille Alexandre
Published: March 2012

The three pillars of usability are efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction. Today’s human-computer interface (HCI), used in cellular phone, software, Internet, personal digital assistants and others should be designed to meet these three pillars. This research investigates the influence of two different interfaces on usability as they relate to gender. An experiment was conducted such that objective data were first captured while participants were performing specific image editing tasks, followed by a subjective evaluation of the participants’ experience. The independent variables were gender and the interface. The dependent variables were task completion time, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Results suggest that males outperform females in new tasks while using a menu driven interface and both new and common tasks while using an icon based interface. Both genders seem to take longer time to complete the same task (for both common and new) using an icon based interface. It was also found that there was general agreement among gender and interface type on the level of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the image editing software used. Important differences in the distribution characteristics were noted. Implications for researchers and software developers are discussed.
An Empirical Investigation of Factors Affecting Web-Based and Face-to-Face Student Satisfactions with Course Website
Authors: Cao Qidong , Bai Xue , Griffin Thomas E.
Published: March 2012

Course Websites have been considered an increasingly important part of online as well as face-to-face education delivery formats. While a vast body of literature has been devoted to comparison of the online and traditional face-to-face courses, little research of student satisfaction with respect to course Websites differentiated between the online and face-to-face students. In order to improve quality of course Websites, the effort was aimed at identifying important predictors of the satisfaction of online students and face-to-face students. This study conducted Fisher’s z transformation and test to compare correlation coefficients of each of Website features and the student satisfaction between two groups of student. Williams’ T-test was performed to compare correlation coefficients, with the student satisfaction, of different Website features within one group, online or face-to-face students. The results showed that online students and face-to-face students had different focuses on Website features. Educational administrators, instructors and system developers might accordingly apply limited resources on improvement of most important features to efficiently increase student satisfaction.
Prepayment Risk Modeling for Residential Mortgage Backed Securities
Authors: Tripathi Gireesh Chandra
Published: March 2012

The first public issue of securitized instruments is overdue in Indian capital market (SEBA 2008). Development of suitable pricing models would be helpful in trading of these instruments. This paper is focused on prepayment risk of housing loan pools. Prepayment estimation is useful to project the cash-flows, which are essential for pricing. A few prevalent models and their variations are tested and suitably adjusted to make them readily applicable on the Indian data. It is found that the prepayment can best be explained by an adjusted Chinloy model with contracted rate (and not the current rate), age of the mortgage and burnout. This behavior is unique because the current rate does not have any bearing on the prepayments in India.
A Multi-Criteria Model for Planning and Fine-Tuning Global Agile Software Development Projects
Authors: Almeida Luis Henrique , Albuquerque Adriano Bessa , Pinheiro Plácido Rogério
Published: March 2012

Inter-organizational Global Software Development (GSD) has become a common reality for many projects. It is well established that distance makes difficult to interact and to cooperate effectively. Scrum, a consolidated Agile methodology, emphasizes communication, reduces coordination and control overhead and has been increasingly used in a distributed fashion. Successfully planning and managing the combined use of GSD and Scrum is a complex task and requires carefully planning. Despite the importance and complexity of this type of problem, there seems to be a lack of reports, in the literature, of models that could support managers dealing with these decision contexts. This paper presents a multi-criteria decision model for planning and fine-tuning such project plans. This model was developed using cognitive mapping and MACBETH (Bana e Costa, Sanchez-Lopez, Vansnick, & De Corte, 2011). The application of the model is demonstrated, followed by conclusion and future work.
Deriving In-Depth Knowledge from IT-Performance Data Simulations
Authors: Petruch Konstantin , Tamm Gerrit , Stantchev Vladimir
Published: March 2012

Knowledge of behavioral patterns of a system can contribute to an optimized management and governance of the same system, or of similar systems. While human experience often manifests itself as intuition, intuition can be notoriously misleading, particularly in the case of quantitative data and subtle relations between different data sets. This article augments managerial intuition with knowledge derived from a specific byproduct of automated transaction processing performance and log data of the processing software. More specifically, the authors consider data generated by incident management and ticketing systems within IT support departments. The authors’ approach utilizes a rigorous analysis methodology based on System Dynamics. This allows for identifying real causalities and hidden dependencies between different datasets. The authors can then use them to derive and assemble knowledge bases for improved management and governance in this context. This approach is able to provide more in depth insights as compared to typical data visualization and dashboard techniques. In the experimental results section, the authors demonstrate the feasibility of the approach. It is applied on real life datasets and log files from an international telecommunication provider and considered different improvements in management and governance that result from it.
Using a Participatory Action Research Approach to Design a Lecture Podcasting System
Authors: Mugwanya Raymond , Marsden Gary , Ng’ambi Dick , Traxler John
Published: March 2012

Although podcasting is popular in higher education, there is limited research on podcasting in developing institutions or resource constrained environments. There are fragmented implementations of podcasting projects by enthusiastic faculty but the tools used are often proprietary, imported from the West by administrators without any consultation with the lecturers who eventually use them. Similarly, many of these tools are used on a trial basis. The authors hypothesize that involving academics through user centered approaches to the design of educational applications will encourage them to use the tools. This paper reflects on a Participatory Action Research approach adopted in the design of a podcasting system. The research study incorporated a cyclical action model with four distinctive stages designed to guide the constituencies involved in the study to design, test, and possibly enhance the tool. The findings reveal some of the contextual phenomena that create both challenges and opportunities for a podcasting model.
En Plein Air
Authors: Giusti Leonardo , Pollini Alessandro , Brunnberg Liselott , Casalegno Federico
Published: March 2012

This paper discusses educational challenges and design opportunities concerning the use of mobile technologies in the context of education on sustainable development. The discussion will be supported by the presentation of a pedagogical model and a technological platform consisting of Web and mobile technologies designed to support a mix of formal and informal, indoor and outdoor learning experiences. In particular, the platform is a reconfigurable system that can be adapted to support different kinds of learning formats. The paper presents two use cases and the authors discuss the implications of mobile technologies in the field of education for sustainable development, taking into consideration both pedagogical and technological issues.
Using Smartphones for Customizing Products at the Point of Sale
Authors: Gehring Sven , Löchtefeld Markus
Published: March 2012

Today, customers have a high demand on personalized products. Manufactures try to address this demand in various ways: e.g., they produce the same product in different variations or adapt the product package to a special event (e.g., sport events). Furthermore, they offer Web-based platforms to allow customization by the users. For the majority of industrial companies, customizing products and services is among the most critical means to deliver true customer value and achieve superior competitive advantages in the future. This paper describes how smartphones can be used at the Point of Sale (POS) to customize products. The described interaction techniques utilize a physical representation of the product itself and they help to match the customer’s expectations with the final modified product and allow the most natural and intuitive interaction.
CroMAR
Authors: Mora Simone , Boron Alessandro , Divitini Monica
Published: March 2012

This paper discusses the usage of Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) to support reflection on past events, using reflection on crowd management as scenario. Computer based support to reflection generally relies on the visualization of information connected to the experience one is reflecting upon. Different metaphors have been adopted to support easy access to relevant information within the reflection process, e.g., timelines and word clouds. In this context, MAR represents an interesting alternative because it can be used to promote reflection in the specific location of the event by augmenting it with relevant information. In this way, the authors can expect the reflection process to be grounded in a context that helps to make sense of the information and reflect on alternative paths of action. The paper presents the scenario of usage, together with the design, development, and evaluation of the prototype, CroMAR. Based on this experience, the authors identify challenges connected to the usage of Mobile Augmented Reality in terms of support for reflection, interaction, and design methodology.
Phytosociology of the farm Haribes in the Nama-Karoo biome of southern Namibia
Authors: Strohbach Ben J. , Jankowitz Willem J.
Published: March 2012

Limited historic vegetation data (prior to the 1980s) are available for Namibia. Finding such historic data at Haribes prompted a follow-up survey of the vegetation. We present a classification of the recent data in this paper as a first step towards comparing the two data sets. Six new associations (three with two subassociations each) are formally described. The landscape at Haribes is dominated by a pan with surrounding hummock dunes. The pan supports the Lycio cinereum – Salsoletum, whilst on the hummock dunes the Salsolo – Tetragonietum schenckii can be found. The surrounding plains and escarpment can be divided into three landforms: the torras with the Monsonio umbellatae – Boscietum foetidae, the ranteveld with the Acacio senegal – Catophractetum alexandri (and two subassociations) and calcrete ridges with the Zygophylo pubescentis – Leucosphaeretum bainesii. Dry river beds on the farm support two subassociations of Anthephoro pubescentis – Ziziphodetum mucronatae. The area covered by each dominant landform has been calculated after being mapped. The composition and diversity of the associations are briefly compared to other known vegetation descriptions within the Nama-Karoo. Since November 2011, Haribes has been used as a resettlement farm. This may result in the overutilisation of the limited grazing resources, to the extent that the present, fairly dense Acacio senegal – Catophractetum alexandri of the ranteveld is feared to become degraded to resemble the Monsonio umbellatae – Boscietum foetidae of the torras.Conservation implications: This paper describes six plant associations of the Nama-Karoo biome in arid southern Namibia. The information presented forms a baseline description, which can be used for future monitoring of the vegetation under altered land use.
Chemical characterization of particle emissions from controlled burns of biomass fuels using a high resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer
Authors: Qi L. , Hosseini S. , Jung H. , Yokelson B. , Weise D. , Cocker III D. , Huang Y.
Published: March 2012

Abstract. A total of forty-nine burns were conducted at the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab consisting of nine fuel types; i.e., chamise scrub oak, ceanothus, maritime chaparral, coastal sage scrub, California sage brush, Manzanita, oak savanna, oak woodland and masticated mesquite. This paper focuses on the chemical characterization of fine particle emissions collected for flaming, mixed and smoldering phases using a HR ToF-AMS. The evolution of OM/OC, H/C, O/C and N/C from fire ignition to extinction was measured to capture the transient and integrated chemical composition of the non-refractory portion of bulk particles. Real time elemental ratios and empirical formulas derived with respect to modified combustion efficiency (MCE) are reported. For each fuel, the hydrogen fragment ions dominate the unit mass resolution (UMR) mass spectra with no specific fragment ions attributable to an individual ecological combination. An interference ion in the UMR m/z 73, a fragment normally attributed to levoglucosan, is noted. Therefore, the results imply that C2H4O2+ (m/z 60.021) plus C3H5O2+ (m/z 73.029) are more sufficient to estimate the contribution of levoglucosan. The results did not show significant variations of levoglucosan content in the organic particle with the overall average contribution fraction ranging from 0.74% for coastal sage to 1.93% for chamise.
The carbon budget of terrestrial ecosystems in East Asia over the last two decades
Authors: Piao S. , Ito A. , Li S. , Huang Y. , Ciais P. , Wang X. , Peng S. , Andres R. J. , Fang J. , Jeong S. , Mao J. , Mohammat A. , Muraoka H. , Nan H. , Peng C. , Peylin P. , Shi X. , Sitch S. , Tao S. , Tian H. , Xu M. , Yu G. , Zeng N. , Zhu B.
Published: March 2012

Abstract. This REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes regional study provides a synthesis of the carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems in East Asia, a region comprised of China, Japan, North- and South-Korea, and Mongolia. We estimate the current terrestrial carbon balance of East Asia and its driving mechanisms during 1990–2009 using three different approaches: inventories combined with satellite greenness measurements, terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle models and atmospheric inversion models. The magnitudes of East Asia's natural carbon sink from these three approaches are comparable: −0.264 ± 0.033 Pg C yr−1 from inventory-remote sensing model-data fusion approach, −0.393 ± 0.141 Pg C yr−1 (not considering biofuel emissions) or −0.204 ± 0.141 Pg C yr−1 (considering biofuel emissions) for carbon cycle models, and −0.270 ± 0.507 Pg C yr−1 for atmospheric inverse models. The ensemble of ecosystem modeling based analyses further suggests that at the regional scale, climate change and rising atmospheric CO2 together resulted in a carbon sink of −0.289 ± 0.135 Pg C yr−1, while land use change and nitrogen deposition had a contribution of −0.013 ± 0.029 Pg C yr−1 and −0.107 ± 0.025 Pg C yr−1, respectively. Although the magnitude of climate change effects on the carbon balance varies among different models, all models agree that in response to climate change alone, southern China experienced an increase in carbon storage from 1990 to 2009, while northern East Asia including Mongolia and north China showed a decrease in carbon storage. Overall, our results suggest that about 13–26% of East Asia's CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning have been offset by carbon accumulation in its terrestrial ecosystems over the period from 1990 to 2009. The underlying mechanisms of carbon sink over East Asia still remain largely uncertain, given the diversity and intensity of land management processes, and the regional conjunction of many drivers such as nutrient deposition, climate, atmospheric pollution and CO2 changes, which cannot be considered as independent for their effects on carbon storage.
A study on hemopoisis and differentiation of dendritic cells from primitive CD34 haematopoietic stem cells from CML patients
Authors: Gaafar Ameera
Published: March 2012

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the treatment of choice for patients with refractory leukemia. However, HSCT is associated with lethal GVHD and/or disease relapse. The addition of alternative remedies such as adoptive immunotherapy may lead to eradication of minimal residual leukemia and prevention of relapse. Antigen-pulsed ex-vivo dendritic cells (DCs) have been utilized for the initiation of such immunotherapeutic modalities. DCs can successfully be generated from CD34+ haematopoietic stem cells (HPSCs) and DCs generated from patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), displayed clonal heterogeneity with respect to the expression of the bcr/abl fusion gene. One reason could be that, DCs mixtures were originated from diverse sources of normal and leukemia either CD34+ or CD34- HPSC. CD34-HPSCs were reported to possess hematopoisis reconstitution capabilities. So far, the differentiation of DCs from CD34- HPSCs and their expression of bcr/abl have not been explored in CML patients. Consequently, we hypothesized that CD34-HPSCs could be a valuable source for the generation of an effective vaccine which could be stored and used latter to target residual leukemia if the patient encountered any relapses.

Our study showed that DCs generated from CD34-HPSCs were potent and efficient antigen presenting cells and comparable to their counterparts DCs from CD34+ HPSCs and hold promises in immunotherapy modality.

1A. Gaafar, 2H. M. Al-Omar, 1Z. Al-Mokhlafi, 1Manogaran PS, 1A. qniebi1, 1A Al-Mazrou, 2F.Al Mohareb, 1C. Adra, 1K. Al-hussein

1Stem Cells Therapy Program, 2 King Faisal Cancer Center, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre.11211Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Ethical Issues in Egg and Embryo Donation: Informed Consent
Authors: Iltis Ana
Published: March 2012

The use of human eggs and embryos in embryonic stem cell research raises numerous ethical issues and questions. This presentation addresses a range of ethical issues regarding the informed consent of persons who donate embryos for use in stem cell research or who donate gametes (egg or sperm) that lead to the creation of embryos that are donated for use in research. Informed consent refers to the process in which clinicians or researchers obtain permission from patients or potential research subjects prior to doing a procedure or enrolling the person in a study. The presentation will explain the main reasons for obtaining informed consent from persons during different stages of the process of donating gametes and creating or donating embryos for research. Special attention will be given to the local and international guidelines regarding informed consent, to the conditions necessary for obtaining informed consent, and to possible barriers to informed consent.
CNS Remyelination – Can We Wrap It Up? – Regulators of Neural Stem/Precursor Cells in the Process of Myelin Regeneration
Authors: Kotter Mark
Published: March 2012

Enhancing the regeneration of myelin sheaths in the central nervous system has been identified as an important therapeutic strategy to ameliorate the devastating consequences of demyelination that occur in diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). For remyelination to occur successfully oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) need to be recruited into areas of demyelination, engage with axons, and differentiate into myelin forming oligodendrocytes. However, in the context of demyelinating disease the differentiation of OPCs into oligodendrocytes often fails, resulting in chronic demyelination despite the presence of OPCs.

Important insight has been gained from studies investigating the interaction of stem/precursor cells with the distinct environment of demyelinating lesions. These suggest that successful regeneration depends on a signaling environment conducive to remyelination, which is provided in the context of acute inflammation. On the other hand it has been proposed that the specific environment of MS lesions contains factors that exert inhibitory effects on OPC differentiation. The pattern by which remyelination inducers and inhibitors are expressed in multiple sclerosis lesions may determine a window of opportunity during which oligodendrocyte precursor cells can successfully differentiate. This presentation will discuss evidence of inhibitory mechanisms associated with early stages of MS lesion development. Based on these findings it will outline novel approaches for enhancing remyelination in the central nervous system.
The Tragedy of Translation: Epistemological and Ethical Challenges Pertaining to Bringing Stem Cells to the Clinic
Authors: Solbakk Jan Helge
Published: March 2012

There is a profound moral question at the heart of all translational research: who should go first in human trials when the risks are not possible to estimate, the trial highly observed, and the effects of failure far-reaching?

This paper aims to address this question by unveiling the epistemological problem at its core.

Second, the paper will draw attention to some of the unresolvable ethical challenges underlying any type of translational research involving human beings.
A Multiple Perspectives Approach to Stem Cell-Based Clinical Trials
Authors: Hyun Insoo
Published: March 2012

Patients, scientists, regulators, and the public may each view early stage stem cell-based clinical trials from varying perspectives and interests. In this talk I explain these various points of view, their differences, and their importance to the ethics of stem cell-based clinical trials. Based on this multiple perspectives analysis, I conclude with some ethical recommendations for the conduct of early stage human trials necessary to advance stem cell science.
Comparative Analysis of Major World Religious Doctrines on Human Stem Cell Research
Authors: Weber Alan
Published: March 2012

The objective was to compare the religious doctrine on human stem cell research in the faiths of: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The method used was the analysis of theology texts. Results showed that Locus = human potentiality, sanctity of life, soul and conceptus, subject vulnerability, cell line ownership, eugenics. We concluded that an international co-operative agreement is difficult to achieve.
Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues on the Recruit Process of Healthy Volunteers for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell bank at Kyoto University
Authors: Okada Ken
Published: March 2012

Banking of biomedical tissues or information related to them has been conducted around the world for clinical, research and/or commercial purposes. In addition to stem cells in the differentiated tissues such as cord blood and bone marrow, pluripotent stem cells are also subjects of banking. Human embryonic stem cells (hES cells) are one type of these cells, but induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are now also subjects of banking for various purposes.

In Japan, the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), led by Dr Shinya Yamanaka, was established in 2010 to conduct research on iPS cells. In order to realize iPS cell based therapies, CiRA is now working to establish a new iPS cell bank. The bank aims to establish clinical-grade, HLA-matched iPS cell lines from healthy volunteers and store them to provide for therapeutic or research use. Although some iPS cell banks in Japan or in other countries, including the one in CiRA, are already established, these banks store and provide basically disease-specific iPS cell lines. Therefore, the planned iPS cell bank at CiRA is unique in that it is going to store and provide clinical-grade iPS cells derived from healthy volunteers.

We have been collaborating with researchers at CiRA to establish appropriate procedures for the recruitment of healthy volunteers. We have found that there are a variety of ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that need to be addressed. Since iPS cells are pluripotent stem cells, some ELSI are similar to those already identified in hES cell banks. However, there are other issues that are relatively novel and specific to iPS cells, especially when the donor is a healthy volunteer, not a patient. These ELSI identified arise because: 1. these cells are derived from healthy volunteers; 2. these cells expand infinitely; and 3. the bank deals not only with information such as genome sequence but also with other aspects of the cells.

In this presentation, we will summarize and discuss the ELSI we encountered while establishing the process of healthy-volunteer recruitment for the iPS cell bank.
Contemporary Surgical Management of Severe Sialorrhea in Children
Authors: Hornibrook Jeremy , Cochrane Neil
Published: March 2012

The causes of severe sialorrhea (drooling) are reviewed, and in particular in children in whom it can become a life-long disability. The history of medical and surgical treatments is discussed. A major advance has been the surgical relocation of the submandibular gland ducts with removal of sublingual glands. The results of this operation, technical considerations, and its outcomes in 16 children are presented. There were no significant complications. Caregivers judged the efficacy with a median score of “75%” improvement. The technique has become the most logical and reliable surgical treatment for drooling, with very good control in most cases. In contrast to “Botox” its effects are permanent.
Hesperidin Ameliorates Immobilization-Stress-Induced Behavioral and Biochemical Alterations and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Mice by Modulating Nitrergic Pathway
Authors: Viswanatha G. L. , Shylaja H. , Sandeep Rao K. S. , Santhosh Kumar V. R. , Jagadeesh M.
Published: March 2012

The present study was aimed to evaluate the protective effect of hesperidin against immobilization-stress-induced alterations in biochemical, behavioral, and mitochondrial functions in mice. In many instances neuroscientists have reported that acute immobilization stress for 6 h resulted in anxiety and impaired locomotor activity due to excess oxidative-nitrergic stress, depletion of antioxidant defense mechanisms, and mitochondrial dysfunction in animals. In the present study, 6 h of acute immobilization stress had significantly altered the behavioral (anxiety and memory) and biochemical parameters coupled with mitochondrial dysfunction in Swiss albino mice. Fourteen days of pretreatment with Hesperidin (50 and 100 mg/kg, p.o.) significantly and dose-dependently inhibited the behavioral and biochemical alterations and mitochondrial dysfunction caused by acute immobilization stress. Furthermore, pre-treatment ofL-arginine (50 mg/kg, i.p.), a nitric oxide precursor, reversed the protective effect of Hesperidin (50 and 100 mg/kg) (). In contrast, pretreatment ofL-NAME (5 mg/kg, i.p.), a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, potentiated the protective effect of Hesperidin (). These results suggest the possible involvement of nitrergic pathway in the protective effect Hesperidin against immobilization-stress-induced behavioral, biochemical, and mitochondrial dysfunction in mice.
Competition and Risk-taking in Banking Industry
Authors: Staněk Rostislav
Published: March 2012

The aim of the paper is to investigate the relationship between competition and risk-taking in the banking industry. The paper provides a general theoretical model that incorporates the charter value models and models with contracting problems. In particular, the model contains a moral hazard problem and it enables investments into the risk-free asset. Competition on the loan side of the market is modeled as spatial competition. The model predicts that the relationship between competition and the probability of bank failure is non-monotonic and U shaped. The prediction of the model is verified by the empirical analysis conducted using the data from Czech banking sector. The Herfindahl-Hirschman index is used as a measurement of competition and the Z-score is used as measurement of the probability of bank failure.
Review of Campsicnemus species from the Atlantic Ocean Islands (Diptera: Dolichopodidae)
Authors: Grichanov Igor
Published: March 2012

New species Campsicnemus flavissimus sp. nov., C. meridionalis sp. nov., and C. sanctae-helenae sp. nov. are described from St. Helena. A review and key to seven Campsicnemus species inhabiting Azores, Canary Is., Madeira and St. Helena are provided. A new status (as subspecies of C. armatus Zetterstedt, 1849) for C. caffer Curran, 1926 stat. nov. is proposed.
Implications of the International Society of Urological Pathology Modified Gleason Grading System
Authors: Egevad Lars , Mazzucchelli Roberta , Montironi Rodolfo
Published: March 2012

Context.—Histologic grading is the clinically most useful tissue-based predictor of prognosis for prostate cancer. Over the years, there has been a gradual shift in how the Gleason grading is applied in practice, with a general trend toward upgrading. A consensus conference was organized in 2005 by the International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) for standardizing both the perception of histologic patterns and how the grade information is compiled and reported.

Objective.—To review the implications of the ISUP modified Gleason grading system.

Data Sources.—Personal experience and review of the current literature.

Conclusions.—The recommendations regarding pattern interpretation and reporting are summarized. The practical consequences of the ISUP modification of the Gleason grading are reported. The prognostic importance of the Gleason score, its reproducibility, and its preoperative assessment are discussed. Subsequent proposals for slight modifications to the ISUP grading system are described.
Intraductal Carcinoma of the Prostate
Authors: Robinson Brian , Magi-Galluzzi Cristina , Zhou Ming
Published: March 2012

Context.—Intraductal carcinoma of the prostate (IDC-P) is a distinct clinicopathologic entity, characterized by an expansile proliferation of secretory cells within prostatic ducts and acini that demonstrate marked architectural and cytologic atypia. Intraductal carcinoma of the prostate is strongly associated with high-grade and high-volume, invasive prostate cancer and a poorer prognosis than cases without IDC-P.

Objective.—To review the historic perspectives, pathologic and genetic features, diagnostic criteria and differential diagnoses, and the clinical significance of IDC-P.

Data Sources.—Relevant studies indexed in PubMed.

Conclusions.—It is critical to recognize IDC-P, especially in prostate biopsies in which the clinical implications of IDC-P are greatest. Morphologic criteria have been proposed to distinguish IDC-P from several other lesions with similar histologic appearance such as high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, invasive cribriform prostate cancer, and urothelial carcinoma involving the prostate. Intraductal carcinoma of the prostate is an uncommon finding in prostate biopsies, and it is even rarer as an isolated finding without concomitant prostate cancer in biopsies. However, patients with isolated IDC-P in biopsies are recommended for either definitive treatment or immediate repeat biopsy.