bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Antiproliferative and Proapoptotic Activities of Methanolic Extracts from Ligustrum vulgare L. as an Individual Treatment and in Combination with Palladium Complex
Authors: Ćurčić Milena G. , Stanković Milan S. , Mrkalić Emina M. , Matović Zoran D. , Banković Dragić D. , Cvetković Danijela M. , Đačić Dragana S. , Marković Snežana D.
Published: February 2012

The aim of this study is to examine the growth inhibitory effects of methanolic leaf and fruit extracts of L. vulgare on HCT-116 cells over different time periods and their synergistic effect with a Pd(apox) complex. The antiproliferative activity of plant extracts alone or in combination with the Pd(apox) complex was determined using MTT cell viability assay, where the IC50 value was used as a parameter of cytotoxicity. Results show that antiproliferative effects of L. vulgare extracts increase with extension of exposure time, with decreasing IC50 values, except for 72 h where the IC50 values for methanolic leaf extract were lower than for the fruit extract. The Pd(apox) complex alone had a weak antiproliferative effect, but combination with L. vulgare extracts caused stronger effects with lower IC50 values than with L. vulgare extracts alone. The type of cell death was explored by fluorescence microscopy using the acridin orange/ethidium bromide method. Treatments with plant extracts caused typical apoptotic morphological changes in HCT-116 cells and co-treatments with Pd(apox) complex caused higher levels of apoptotic cells than treatment with plant extracts alone. The results indicate that L. vulgare is a considerable source of natural bioactive substances with antiproliferative activity on HCT-116 cells and which have a substantial synergistic effect with the Pd(apox) complex.
Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of 2-(3-Fluoro-4-nitro phenoxy)-N-phenylacetamide Derivatives as Novel Potential Affordable Antitubercular Agents
Authors: Ang Wei , Lin Yan-Ni , Yang Tao , Yang Jian-Zhong , Pi Wei-Yi , Yang Ying-Hong , Luo You-Fu , Deng Yong , Wei Yu-Quan
Published: February 2012

A novel series of 2-(3-fluoro-4-nitrophenoxy)-N-phenylacetamide compounds were designed, synthesized and in vitro assessed for their antitubercular activities by a microdilution method. All the novel derivatives exerted potent or moderate active against M. tuberculosis H37Rv, with MIC values ranging from 4 to 64 μg/mL. The most potent derivative 3m showed an identical MIC value of 4 μg/mL for both M. tuberculosis H37Rv and rifampin-resistant M. tuberculosis 261. It demonstrated no inhibitory effects against six different tumor cell lines by a MTT assay and had a good safety profile in a vero cell line, providing a good lead for subsequent optimization in search of novel affordable antitubercular agents.
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AN ELONGATED MAGNETIC DROPLET IN A ROTATING MAGNETIC FIELD
Authors: Cebers Andrejs , Kalis Harijs
Published: February 2012

Dynamics of an elongated droplet under the action of a rotating magnetic field is considered by mathematical modelling. The actual shape of a droplet is obtained by solving the initial-boundary value problem of a nonlinear singularly perturbed partial differential equation (PDE). For the discretization in space the finite difference scheme (FDS) is applied. Time evolution of numerical solutions is obtained with MATLAB by solving a large system of ordinary differential equations (ODE).
LIMIT THEOREMS FOR TWISTS OF L-FUNCTIONS OF ELLIPTIC CURVES. II
Authors: Garbaliauskienė Virginija , Laurinčikas Antanas
Published: February 2012

In the paper, a limit theorem for the argument of twisted with Dirichlet character L-functions of elliptic curves with an increasing modulus of the character is proved.
ON INTEGRAL REPRESENTATION OF THETRANSLATION OPERATOR
Authors: Miškinis Paulius
Published: February 2012

The formulation in the explicit form of quantum expression of the one-dimensional translation operator as well as Hermitian operator of momentum and its eigenfunctions are presented. The interrelation between the momentum and the wave number has been generalized for the processes with a non-integer dimensionality α. The proof of the fractional representation of the translation operator is considered. Some aspects of the translations in graduate spaces and their integral representation, as well as applications in physics are discussed. The integral representation of the translation operator is proposed.
PREDICTOR-CORRECTOR DOMAIN DECOMPOSITION ALGORITHM FOR PARABOLIC PROBLEMS ON GRAPHS
Authors: Tumanova Natalija
Published: February 2012

In this paper, we present a predictor-corrector type algorithm for solution of linear parabolic problems on graph structure. The graph decomposition is done by dividing some edges and therefore we get a set of problems on sub-graphs, which can be solved efficiently in parallel. The convergence analysis is done by using the energy estimates. It is proved that the proposed finite-difference scheme is unconditionally stable but the predictor step error gives only conditional approximation. In the second part of the paper it is shown that the presented algorithm can be written as Douglas type scheme, based on the domain decomposition method. For a simple case of one dimensional parabolic problem, the convergence analysis is done by using results from [P. Vabishchevich. A substracturing domain decomposition scheme for unsteady problems. Comp. Meth. Appl. Math. 11(2):241-268, 2011]. The optimality of asymptotical error estimates is investigated. Results of computational experiments are presented.
Educational Technology in Early Childhood Teacher Education
Authors: Swaminathan Sudha
Published: February 2012

Educational technology usage in early childhood education stands at a fork in the road. One path embellishes existing curricula with technology. The other, the more difficult passing, holds promises of technological transformations to the curricula and assessment in ways that can facilitate and propel child development. To support teachers in this path, early childhood teacher education programs need to transform themselves. The purpose of this chapter is to outline how these changes may occur within the context of national standards and policies, pedagogy and beliefs, curricular transformations, impact on children, and special tools. The authors suggests re-conceptualizing the content and delivery of college courses to support and inspire teachers to take the road less traveled. Additionally teachers need ongoing and recurrent support for continued progress in their educational technology usage.
Infusing Technology into a Physical Education Teacher Education Program
Authors: Leight Joanne , Nichols Randall
Published: February 2012

Technology is changing the way Physical Education is taught. From heart rate monitors and pedometers to podcasting, exergaming, and desktop applications, tomorrow’s teachers need to know how to infuse technology into their teaching. The use of technology in Physical Education can increase both student learning and teacher productivity. Courses in a comprehensive PETE (Physical Education Teacher Education) program can be divided into the following categories: Fitness related courses, Activity courses, Assessment courses, and Methods courses (including field experiences and student teaching). A strong PETE program will infuse technology into the course work in all four categories, in addition to a stand-alone technology course that introduces the various forms of technology that will be used in their future Physical Education classroom. This chapter will describe how to prepare future physical educators to utilize the myriad of technological options available in the field.
Cognitive Mapping Decision Support for the Design of Web-Based Learning Environments
Authors: Saadé Raafat George
Published: February 2012

There is much interest in the study of online learning in higher education. Student beliefs towards online learning may influence intentions and ultimately performance. Many studies have flaws in their research design and fall short in providing useful insight for decision making. In this regard, the need for developing practical e-learning implementation framework(s) is crucial. The main objective of this study is to employ the cognitive map technique to causal relationships among belief factors, and investigating various impact chains via simulations. The authors identify optimal e-learning design and implementation, while a partial least squares approach was performed to validate the proposed research model anchored in the Technology Acceptance Model. A survey was carried out and data were collected from 102 respondents. The proposed research model was tested and subsequent cognitive mapping simulations were performed. This study provides designers, instructors and decision makers an approach by which they can identify relevant factors for design, implementation and maintenance.
Welfare Implications of Deviation from Network Neutrality
Authors: Koksal Emin
Published: February 2012

This paper investigates how incentives of network operators to deviate from neutrality may create social costs or benefits in different market structures. The deviation from network neutrality is a general form of discrimination based on charging different prices for non-affiliated content and application providers. In this paper, deviation from network neutrality is formulated as a form of vertical foreclosure. While constructing the model two-sided nature of the internet service, the providing market is considered. The author found that, although monopoly network operators have no incentive to deviate from neutrality, the duopoly network operators have this incentive. Welfare analysis suggests destructive results for almost all participants, hence the total surplus in both market structures. In addition, the analysis for the degree of integration between the network operators and their affiliated content and application providers, suggest some policy proposals to discourage their degree of integration.
Users’ Perceptions of Wireless Networks Usage
Authors: Saluja Arleen , Mahatanankoon Pruthikrai , Gyires Tibor
Published: February 2012

Wireless networks provide the most convenient way to access the Internet. This paper determines how the preliminary and advanced knowledge of wireless networks affect users’ perception and usage. Based on their knowledge, users develop certain emotional responses, which could affect their wireless network usage. This study identifies the effect of these emotional responses on users’ degree of use of wireless networks. Using data collected from 143 respondents, regression analyses reveal that wireless network usage is affected less by advanced wireless network knowledge and more by preliminary knowledge. The findings also show that the degree of usage depends on users’ ability to understand basic wireless network functionality and security. To motivate wireless usage, developers and designers of future wireless technologies do not need to overwhelm users with technical detail.
Why Mobile Wireless Carriers Share Networks and Services Provisioning
Authors: Sabat Hemant K.
Published: February 2012

This paper provides a theory that empirically examines why mobile wireless carriers share the costs of building networks and provisioning wireless services. Of the cost drivers of network operators, the most influential on the industry’s dynamics are capital investments, which include network infrastructure investments. As the industry evolves, players strive to streamline their services, applications, revenue, and business models to revive this industry. In this regard, one model in particular is the network operators’, which shares network investments and service provisioning expenses to reduce their total expenditures while strengthening their financial liquidity. In this paper, the authors integrate research results to provide a new theory on network sharing with concepts and viewpoints that have been developed based on extensive studies of network sharing adopted by network operators and service providers across the world during the past decade.
SMASH
Authors: Meletiou-Mavrotheris Maria , Paparistodemou Efi
Published: February 2012

Acknowledging the central role of parents in children’s learning, the EU-funded project SMASH aims to raise the educational standards of European youth in mathematics and science by cultivating underlying home cultures as springboards for learning. The project consortium has developed, pilot tested, and delivered an innovative intercultural parent-trainer training course and related resources for professionals involved in parent education initiatives. Through the adoption of a blended learning approach that combines e-learning with physical meetings, the course equips these professionals with current knowledge, techniques, and implementation tools for the provision of high-quality, inquiry-based parent training in mathematics and science education. Individuals completing the course are trained to offer programs designed to educate parents of elementary and middle school children (ages 6-15) in how to best support their child’s mathematics and science learning at home using pedagogically sound strategies and technologies. Parents unable to attend parent-training sessions could still study independently using the project information base, which provides open access to the project’s outputs and resources.
Security and Mobility Aspects of Femtocell Networks
Authors: Namal Suneth , Gurtov Andrei
Published: February 2012

This chapter discusses security and mobility aspects of femtocell networks, given protocol level descriptions in the subsections. The connectivity between FAP and core network has a high risk of being compromised. The chapter discusses how Host Identity Protocol (HIP) can be adapted in femtocell technology to improve security and mobility issues. This chapter presents several enhancements to the femtocell technology such as strong authentication, service registration, identity verification, and node multihoming. In addition, Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) is used to provide confidentiality, data origin authentication, connectionless integrity, anti-replay service, and limited traffic flow confidentiality. Furthermore, enhanced mobility support by means of locator/identity separation and node multihoming is discussed in the scope of 3GPP femtocells.
A CASE Tool for Java Mobile Computing Applications
Authors: Christou Ioannis T. , Efremidis Sofoklis , Roukounaki Aikaterini
Published: February 2012

The market for applications developed for mobile devices is growing as the hardware capabilities increase while costs drop. At the same time, the inability to write code once becomes a noticeable problem resulting in the time consuming task of porting an application to a variety of mobile devices, which is true for languages like Java that have been designed to be portable across a range of hardware platforms. As a result, porting a Java application written for one device to another is often a tedious and time-consuming task for developers. This paper presents an intelligent CASE tool that assists the porting of Java mobile applications by automatically generating Java code fragments for the target SDK. SeqFinder automatically generates all minimal method invocation sequences that lead to an object of a specific type, thus relieving the programmer of manually searching the manufacturer-provided SDK Java archives. However, this tool is not applicable only to the Java ME platform and has been used as a fast type-browser for J2SE/J2EE applications.
Self-Determined Adoption of an ICT System in a Work Organization
Authors: Korpelainen Eija , Vartiainen Matti , Kira Mari
Published: February 2012

This descriptive single case study examines the process and implications of the self-determined adoption of an internet-based meeting system in a global company. Self-determination theory and structuration theory are used as theoretical lenses to understand the adoption and use of an ICT system. The data were collected using qualitative semi-structured interviews with eleven system users and analyzed using a content analysis approach. The research shows that the self-determined adoption of ICT systems has benefits like user motivation and satisfaction. Problems in such adoption relate to users’ experiencing uncertainty regarding the organizational legitimization of the system and support for its use. Employees and organizations are likely to benefit from self-determined adoption because it promotes employees’ motivation and initiative-taking. However, a shared understanding of self-determination and organizational support for it are required.
Organizing End-User Training
Authors: Oinas-Kukkonen Harri , Hohtari Sari , Pekkola Samuli
Published: February 2012

Introducing information systems into organizations initiates a change in human behaviors, which is often perceived as obtrusive and distracting. End-user training may help manage this challenge by getting the users familiar with the system and its functionality. However, end-user training is not easy, nor self-evident, as shown in this paper. This is problematic, particularly when organization-wide standards for how to provide training are missing or when the group of end-users is two-layered, that is, both the customers and the staff must be trained. In this paper, the authors describe a qualitative case study of how the end-user training on an e-Bank was organized, and how the training was delivered to its elderly customers. The training model by Simonsen and Sein (2004) is utilized and extended to cover the systems development cycle. The authors argue that an approach that integrates the end-user training with the systems development improves organizational implementation. As a result, this paper makes practical suggestions about the issues related to organizing end-user training.
ePorticulture
Authors: Kelly Kevin , Cox Ruth
Published: February 2012

For centuries, educators have been experimenting with the art and science of promoting, collecting, and assessing student work—just as horticulturalists have explored improvements in the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants. While horticultural practices have evolved into an extremely complex science, so, too, has the use of new tools and technologies to nurture and harvest a wider range of student work. New digital technologies like electronic portfolios have opened the way for profound changes in education. The case can be made that, at the dawn of the 21st century, converging technologies and emerging social trends lay the groundwork for entirely new societal landscapes.
Current ePortfolio Practice in Australia
Authors: Hallam Gillian , Harper Wendy , McAllister Lynn
Published: February 2012

In order to support innovation and productivity to ensure ongoing national economic development and growth, the current policy environment of the Australian Federal Government seeks to enhance the quality of education, encourage widened access to education opportunities, and stimulate integration between vocational education and training and higher education. There is increasing evidence of the multiple avenues of transition within and between vocational education and training and higher education. ePortfolios offer the potential to be a meaningful medium for convergence and integration of education and training.
Interoperability Support for E-Business Applications through Standards, Services, and Multi-Agent Systems
Authors: Unland Rainer
Published: February 2012

Intelligent agents can be regarded as autonomous, problem-solving computational entities with social abilities that are capable of effective pro-active behavior in open and dynamic environments. If the term entity is replaced by service the substantial overlap in interests between both communities can easily be imagined. Nevertheless, right now the main research focus of each community seems to be different. The service-oriented computing community concentrates mainly on developing service engineering methodologies. Active topics in the multi-agent systems community are collaboration, self-organization, adaptability, flexibility, proactiveness, and interoperability. The overlap between those two communities and the fact that they concentrate on different research topics can definitely be seen as a huge chance since it means that each community may be able to benefit from the research efforts of the other.
The Metaphorical Foundation of Interoperability Artifacts
Authors: Jahns Veit
Published: February 2012

In this chapter, artifacts designed to facilitate the semantic interoperability between Information Systems are discussed in relation to the so-called metaphor theory. The main assumption of this theory is that the conceptualization of the world is mainly a metaphorical one; i.e., the concepts of a given domain are conceptualized by concepts of a more concrete domain. Based on this theory, selected interoperability artifacts for the modeling and describing public services are discussed and analyzed. In particular, it will be demonstrated how the conceptual metaphor can be used to get a better understanding of the domain the interoperability artifacts are designed for.
An Examination of Standardized Product Identification and Business Benefit
Authors: Hill Douglas S.
Published: February 2012

This chapter goes on a supply chain journey where humankind attempts to make sense of its complex world through the application of numbers and associated data carriers. The trading world is famously becoming increasingly globalised and has had the effect of extending supply chains and subsequently making them more complex and prone to risk. To offset these risks, standards are being developed and applied in supply chains to identify and manage products as they travel along the physical supply chain. The following pages introduce the reader to the concepts of standardised product identity and data management. Both of these elements have been found to be foundational and enabling prerequisites when offsetting supply chain risk. The systems mentioned within the chapter are discussed through the lens of the GS1 system and have all been tested in manifold implementations. They are intended as best practices, patterns of application for supply chain managers, and thought leaders alike, which are proposed as a launch pad for improving organisational capabilities using standards.
Supporting Semantic Verification of Process Models
Authors: Fellmann Michael , Thomas Oliver , Hogrebe Frank
Published: February 2012

This chapter presents an ontology-driven approach that aims at supporting semantic verification of semi-formal process models. The ontology-driven approach suggested consists of two steps. The first step is the development of a model for ontology-based representation of process models. This representation allows enriching process models by annotating them with semantics specified in a formal ontology. In the second step, the authors use this model to support an ontology-based semantic verification possible with this representation and in conjunction with machine reasoning. To implement the approach, the authors use the standardized Web Ontology Language (OWL) and the SPARQL query language. They demonstrate the approach using real-life administrative process models taken from a capital city.
Challenges for Adoption of e-Procurement
Authors: Liljemo Kelly , Prinz Andreas
Published: February 2012

In a society well on its way through a digital revolution, a number of new challenges are encountered, and when participating in electronic business, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face specific challenges and issues. In this chapter an analysis of those challenges covering electronic procurement within public and private sectors (B2G, B2B) is provided, including a case study from electronic invoicing. Relevant factors for the use of electronic invoicing for SMEs in Europe are recognized, and requirements for a technical solution are identified. Starting from that, an architecture for the solution is derived. The solution is aligned with the initiatives working on that issue within Europe.
Semantic Search on Unstructured Data
Authors: Kohn Alex , Bry François , Manta Alexander
Published: February 2012

Studies agree that searchers are often not satisfied with the performance of current enterprise search engines. As a consequence, more scientists worldwide are actively investigating new avenues for searching to improve retrieval performance. This paper contributes to YASA (Your Adaptive Search Agent), a fully implemented and thoroughly evaluated ontology-based information retrieval system for the enterprise. A salient particularity of YASA is that large parts of the ontology are automatically filled with facts by recycling and transforming existing data. YASA offers context-based personalization, faceted navigation, as well as semantic search capabilities. YASA has been deployed and evaluated in the pharmaceutical research department of Roche, Penzberg, and results show that already semantically simple ontologies suffice to considerably improve search performance.
Globalization of Higher Education
Authors: Chauhan Suresh K. , Nanda Silima , Arora Jagdish
Published: February 2012

India has one of the largest and most complex higher educational systems in the world. Prior to a few decades ago, due to multifarious reasons, India was unable to attract a good number of foreign students in its universities. Keeping this in mind, the Government of India has taken various steps and launched a few ambitious programmes like the Pan-Africa project, UGC-Infonet, and the E-Journals Consortium. All these efforts have contributed to establishing the Indian higher education system as one of the best in the world. Now, Indian universities and other institutes are open to the global market and hope to attract foreign students. The establishment of the distance learning university, Indira Gandhi National Open University, has immensely helped in attracting a large number of international students and it has also brought remarkable changes in the field of self-learning and distance education. This chapter discusses the global shift toward transnational distance learning and India’s role in this transition.
The Pacific Open Learning Health Net
Authors: Baxendale Steven
Published: February 2012

This chapter describes the experiences of the Pacific Open Learning Health Net (POLHN) in providing online, face-to-face, and blended professional education to health professionals in 12 developing Pacific island countries. The chapter reviews the establishment of learning centers with Internet access in hospitals, nursing schools, and health centers.
NRU (“near you”)
Authors: Dahlström Mathias , Jones Richard Lewis , Balabanovic Marko
Published: February 2012

NRU (“near you”) is a new mobile phone application for finding nearby activities. The application displays restaurants, bars, cafes, and so forth close to the user, on a display that updates as the user rotates it and moves it around his or her body, encouraging real-world interaction. This device is a simplified form of augmented reality that works on an existing consumer phone handset, combining location and orientation sensors with a touchscreen interface. In this paper, the authors explain the design of the system and the technologies involved, and share some experiences from the application’s first 6 months in operation.
Micro-Services
Authors: Rajasekar Arcot , Wan Mike , Moore Reagan , Schroeder Wayne
Published: February 2012

Service-oriented architectures (SOA) enable orchestration of loosely-coupled and interoperable functional software units to develop and execute complex but agile applications. Data management on a distributed data grid can be viewed as a set of operations that are performed across all stages in the life-cycle of a data object. The set of such operations depends on the type of objects, based on their physical and discipline-centric characteristics. In this chapter, the authors define server-side functions, called micro-services, which are orchestrated into conditional workflows for achieving large-scale data management specific to collections of data. Micro-services communicate with each other using parameter exchange, in memory data structures, a database-based persistent information store, and a network messaging system that uses a serialization protocol for communicating with remote micro-services. The orchestration of the workflow is done by a distributed rule engine that chains and executes the workflows and maintains transactional properties through recovery micro-services. They discuss the micro-service oriented architecture, compare the micro-service approach with traditional SOA, and describe the use of micro-services for implementing policy-based data management systems.
Distributed Storage Systems for Data Intensive Computing
Authors: Vazhkudai Sudharshan S. , Butt Ali R. , Ma Xiaosong
Published: February 2012

In this chapter, the authors present an overview of the utility of distributed storage systems in supporting modern applications that are increasingly becoming data intensive. Their coverage of distributed storage systems is based on the requirements imposed by data intensive computing and not a mere summary of storage systems. To this end, they delve into several aspects of supporting data-intensive analysis, such as data staging, offloading, checkpointing, and end-user access to terabytes of data, and illustrate the use of novel techniques and methodologies for realizing distributed storage systems therein. The data deluge from scientific experiments, observations, and simulations is affecting all of the aforementioned day-to-day operations in data-intensive computing. Modern distributed storage systems employ techniques that can help improve application performance, alleviate I/O bandwidth bottleneck, mask failures, and improve data availability. They present key guiding principles involved in the construction of such storage systems, associated tradeoffs, design, and architecture, all with an eye toward addressing challenges of data-intensive scientific applications. They highlight the concepts involved using several case studies of state-of-the-art storage systems that are currently available in the data-intensive computing landscape.
On-Demand Visualization on Scalable Shared Infrastructure
Authors: Liu Huadong , Gao Jinzhu , Huang Jian , Beck Micah , Moore Terry
Published: February 2012

The emergence of high-resolution simulation, where simulation outputs have grown to terascale levels and beyond, raises major new challenges for the visualization community, which is serving computational scientists who want adequate visualization services provided to them on-demand. Many existing algorithms for parallel visualization were not designed to operate optimally on time-shared parallel systems or on heterogeneous systems. They are usually optimized for systems that are homogeneous and have been reserved for exclusive use. This chapter explores the possibility of developing parallel visualization algorithms that can use distributed, heterogeneous processors to visualize cutting edge simulation datasets. The authors study how to effectively support multiple concurrent users operating on the same large dataset, with each focusing on a dynamically varying subset of the data. From a system design point of view, they observe that a distributed cache offers various advantages, including improved scalability. They develop basic scheduling mechanisms that were able to achieve fault-tolerance and load-balancing, optimal use of resources, and flow-control using system-level back-off, while still enforcing deadline driven (i.e. time-critical) visualization.
Rubella Antibody Screening during Pregnancy in an Urban Area of Northern Italy
Authors: De Paschale Massimo , Manco Maria Teresa , Paganini Alessia , Agrappi Carlo , Mirri Paola , Cucchi Gabriella , Saccani Barbara , Flores D’Arcais Alberto , Clerici Pierangelo
Published: February 2012

Various countries have implemented anti-rubella vaccination campaigns with the main aim of preventing congenital infection. In 2003, Italy joined the European WHO programme for the elimination of congenital rubella and issued a special healthcare plan, one of the objectives of which was to reduce the proportion of rubella-susceptible pregnant women to less than 5% by 2005. The aim of this study was to determine the percentage of seronegative pregnant women after the implementation of this plan. Anti-rubella IgG and IgM antibodies were sought in 2385 pregnant women who attended our hospital for serological screening between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2010. They included 750 women of foreign origin (31.4%). Eight percent of the women were anti-rubella seronegative: 6.2% of the Italians and 11.7% of the non-Italians. Among the women of foreign origin, the percentage of seronegativity ranged from 5.6% of those coming from Eastern Europe to 17.7% of those coming from Latin America. The level of seropositivity among women of Italian origin is high, although the objective of ensuring less than 5% of susceptible pregnant women has not yet been quite reached in our area. However, particular attention needs to be given to women coming from geographical areas characterised by different epidemiologies and vaccination strategies because the percentage of seronegativity is in some cases double that of Italian women.
Gender Differences, Routes of Transmission, Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Prevalence of HIV Related Infections of Adults and Children in an HIV Cohort from a Rural District of India
Authors: Alvarez-Uria Gerardo , Midde Manoranjan , Pakam Raghavakalyan , Naik Praveen K.
Published: February 2012

Despite 67% of HIV infected people in India are rural residents, the epidemiology of HIV in rural areas is not well known. This is an observational cohort study of 11,040 HIV infected people living in a rural district of India. The prevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis of HIV infected patients were compared to the seroprevalence in 16,641 blood donors from the same area. The age of diagnosis in adults was below 35 years in 70% of cases and 56% were illiterate. One third of women were widows and only 3.6% of adults had a permanent job. Women were diagnosed at earlier age, had lower level of education, had poorer employment conditions and depended more on their relatives than men. In a survey performed to a subgroup of patients, 81% of women referred to have acquired HIV from their spouse, whereas 51% of men acquired HIV from commercial sex. Patients with HIV had significantly higher prevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis than blood donors. Seroprevalence of HIV-2, hepatitis C and toxoplasmosis were low compared to other sites. Six percent were children (<15 years) and almost half of them had lost one or both of their parents. The study shows the poor socio-economical situation and the high level of illiteracy of people living with HIV in rural India, especially women. Future health programmes of HIV in India should take into account the particularities of the HIV epidemic in rural areas.
Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Therapy of Candidemia in Pediatric Hematological Patients
Authors: Cugno Chiara , Cesaro Simone
Published: February 2012

Invasive fungal infections (IFI) are an important cause of morbidity, increased hospitalization and healthcare costs in critically ill or immunocompromised children. The mortality is comprised between 5 and 20%. In the last 2 decades, the epidemiology of candidemia has changed with an increase of episodes caused by non-Candida albicans species. Central venous catheter, diagnosis of malignancy, and receipt of either vancomycin or antimicrobials with activity against anaerobic organisms for >3 days have been associated with the development of candidemia in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Additional risk factors found in hematological patients were the diagnosis of aplastic anemia, performing an unrelated bone marrow or cord blood transplant, the occurrence of a graft versus host disease and the use of steroids. Early antifungal treatment is recommended to reduce mortality. In neutropenic patients, liposomal amphotericin B, an echinocandin (caspofungin, micafungin), and voriconazole are considered the best option especially for C. glabrata and C. krusei. Fluconazole remains a valid option for infection by Candida albicans in patients not exposed to fluconazole prophylaxis. Amphotericn B deoxycholate is generally not recommended because of its nephrotoxicity.
Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Spa Therapy: Myth or Reality?
Authors: Guidelli Giacomo M. , Tenti Sara , De Nobili Emanuele , Fioravanti Antonella
Published: February 2012

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FS) is a common musculoskeletal disorder characterized by otherwise unexplained chronic widespread pain, a lowered pain threshold, high tender point counts, sleep disturbances, fatigue, headache, irritable bowel syndrome, morning stiffness, paraesthesias in the extremities, often psychological distress and depressed mood. Consequently, FS has a negative impact on working capacity, family life, social functioning and quality of life. Because of unknown etiology and not clearly understood pathogenesis, there is no standard therapy regime for FS. A variety of medical treatments, including antidepressants, opioids, analgesic or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, sedatives, muscle relaxants and antiepileptics, have been used to treat FS. Currently, no pharmacological treatment for FS is consistently successful. According to recent guidelines, the optimal treatment of FS requires a multidisciplinary approach with a combination of non-pharmacological and pharmacological treatment modalities. Spa therapy is a popular treatment for FS in many European countries, as well as in Japan and Israel. However, despite their long history and popularity spa treatments are still the subject of debate and their role in modern medicine is still not clear. The objective of this review is to summarize the currently available information on clinical effects and mechanism of action of spa therapy in FS. We also provide some suggestions for further development in this area.
Latitude-time variations of atmospheric column-average dry air mole fractions of CO2, CH4 and N2O
Authors: Saito R. , Patra P.  K. , Deutscher N. , Wunch D. , Ishijima K. , Sherlock V. , Blumenstock T. , Dohe S. , Griffith D. , Hase F. , Heikkinen P. , Kyrö E. , Macatangay R. , Mendonca J. , Messerschmidt J. , Morino I. , Notholt J. , Rettinger M. , Strong K. , Sussmann R. , Warneke T.
Published: February 2012

Abstract. We present a comparison of an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM)-based chemistry-transport model (ACTM) simulation with total column measurements of CO2, CH4 and N2O from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON). The model is able to capture observed trends, seasonal cycles and inter hemispheric gradients at most sampled locations for all three species. The model-observation agreements are best for CO2, because the simulation uses fossil fuel inventories and an inverse model estimate of non-fossil fuel fluxes. The ACTM captures much of the observed seasonal variability in CO2 and N2O total columns (~81% variance, R>0. 9 between ACTM and TCCON for 19 out of 22 cases). These results suggest that the transport processes in troposphere and stratosphere are well represented in ACTM. Thus the poor correlation between simulated and observed CH4 total columns, particularly at tropical and extra-tropical sites,have been attributed to the uncertainties in surface emissions and loss by hydroxyl radicals. While the upward-looking total column measurements of CO2 contains surface flux signals at various spatial and temporal scales, the N2O measurements are strongly affected by the concentration variations in the upper troposphere and stratosphere.
Phytoplankton distribution in unusually low sea ice cover over the Pacific Arctic
Authors: Coupel P. , Jin H. Y. , Joo M. , Horner R. , Bouvet H. A. , Garçon V. , Sicre M.-A. , Gascard J.-C. , Chen J. F. , Ruiz-Pino D.
Published: February 2012

Abstract. A large part of the Pacific Arctic basin experiences ice-free conditions in summer as a result of sea ice cover steadily decreasing over the last decades. To evaluate the impact of ice retreat on the Arctic ecosystem, we investigated phytoplankton communities from coastal sites (Chukchi shelf) to northern deep basins (up to 86° N), during year 2008 of high melting. Pigment and taxonomy in situ data were acquired under different ice regime: the ice -free basins (IFB, 74°–77° N), the marginal ice zone (MIZ, 77°–80° N) and the heavy ice covered basins (HIB, >80° N). Our results suggest that extensive ice melting provided favorable conditions to chrysophytes and prymnesiophytes growth and more hinospitable to pico-sized prasinophytes and micro-sized dinoflagellates. Larger cell diatoms were less abundant in the IFB while dominant in the MIZ of the deep Canadian basin. Our data were compared to those obtained during more icy years, 1994 and to a lesser extent, 2002. Freshening, stratification, light and nutrient availability are discussed as possible causes for observed phytoplankton communities under high and low sea ice cover.
A synthesis of the antarctic surface mass balance during the last eight centuries
Authors: Frezzotti M. , Scarchilli C. , Becagli S. , Proposito M. , Urbini S.
Published: February 2012

Abstract. Global climate models suggest that Antarctic snowfall should increase in a warming climate and mitigate sea level rise, mainly due to the greater moisture-holding capacity of the warmer atmosphere. Several processes act on snow accumulation or surface mass balance (SMB), introducing large uncertainties in the past, present, and future ice sheet mass balance. To provide an extended past perspective of the SMB of Antarctica, we used 66 firn/ice core records to reconstruct the temporal variability over the past eight centuries and in greater detail over the last two centuries. Our SMB reconstructions show that the changes over most of Antarctica are statistically negligible and the current SMB is not exceptionally high compared with the last eight centuries. However, a clear increase in accumulation of more than 10 % has occurred in high SMB coastal regions and over the highest part of the East Antarctic ice divide since 1960s. To explain the different behaviours between the coastal/ice divide sites and rest of Antarctica, we suggest that a higher frequency of blocking-anticyclones increases the precipitation at coastal sites, leading to the advection of moist air at the highest areas, whereas blowing snow and/or erosion have significant negative impacts on the SMB at windy sites. Eight centuries of SMB stacked records mirror the total solar irradiance, suggesting a link between the southern position of the Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zone and atmospheric circulation in Antarctica through the generation and propagation of a large-scale atmospheric wave train. Decadal records of the last eight centuries show that the observed increase in accumulation is not anomalous at the continental scale; indeed, high accumulation periods have also occurred in the past, during the 1370s and 1610s.
The Stone Age Revisited: Building a Monolithic Inorganic Lithium‐Ion Battery
Authors: Delaizir Gaelle , Viallet Virginie , Aboulaich Abdelmaula , Bouchet Renaud , Tortet Laurence , Seznec Vincent , Morcrette Mathieu , Tarascon Jean‐Marie , Rozier Patrick , Dollé Mickael
Published: February 2012

A new path for the design of safe and efficient, all‐solid‐state Li‐ion batteries by spark plasma sintering (SPS) is considered. To reach a good electrochemical performance from such batteries, several parameters are investigated, such as the composite‐electrode formulation (active material/electrolyte/carbon ratio) and the influence of the sintering parameters on their compactness. The formulation is optimized to ensure good ionic and electronic percolation through the composite electrode's volume. The compactness has to be sufficient to guarantee a good mechanical aspect, while the residual porosity in the composite electrode allows electrode‐volume changes upon insertion and deinsertion, preserving the electrode/electrolyte interfaces, which are crucial in such technology. Based on these investigations, an all‐solid‐state battery with a surface capacity of 2.2 mA h cm−2 is assembled by SPS, displaying a promising electrochemical performance at 80 °C.
Some properties of the bivariate lognormal distribution for reliability applications
Authors: Gupta Pushpa L. , Gupta Ramesh C.
Published: February 2012

In this paper, we study the bivariate lognormal distribution from a reliability point of view. The conditional distribution of X given Y > y is found to be log‐skew normal. The monotonicity of the hazard rates of the univariate as well as the conditional distributions is discussed. Clayton's association measure is obtained in terms of the hazard gradient, and its value in the case of our model is derived. The probability distributions, in the case of series and parallel systems, are derived, and the monotonicity of their failure rates is discussed. Three real applications of the bivariate lognormal distribution are provided, two from financial economics and one from reliability. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A New Piece in the Puzzle of Lithium/Air Batteries: Computational Study on the Chemical Stability of Propylene Carbonate in the Presence of Lithium Peroxide
Authors: Laino Teodoro , Curioni Alessandro
Published: February 2012

The electrolyte role in non‐aqueous lithium/air batteries is attracting a lot of attention in several research groups, because of its fundamental importance in producing the appropriate reversible electrochemical reduction. While recent published works identify the lithium superoxide as the main degrading agent for propylene carbonate (PC), there is no clear experimental evidence that the oxygen at the cathode interface layer does not reduce further to peroxide before reacting with PC. Here, we investigate the reactivity of lithium peroxide versus propylene carbonate and find that Li2O2 irreversibly decomposes the carbonate solvent, leading to alkyl carbonates. We also show that, compared with a single Li2O2 unit in PC, a crystalline surface of Li2O2 exhibits an enhanced reactivity. Our findings support the possibility that in lithium/air cells, oxygen may still be reduced to peroxide, with the formation of solid Li2O2, which degrades by decomposing PC.
Pentacoordinate NiII Complexes: Preparation, Magnetic Measurements, and Ab Initio Calculations of the Magnetic Anisotropy Terms
Authors: Costes Jean‐Pierre , Maurice Rémi , Vendier Laure
Published: February 2012

Two novel mononuclear five‐coordinate nickel complexes with distorted square‐pyramidal geometries are presented. They result from association of a tridentate “half‐unit” ligand and 6,6′‐dimethyl‐2,2′‐bipyridine according to a stepwise process that highlights the advantage of coordination chemistry in isolating an unstable tridentate ligand by nickel chelation. Their zero‐field splittings (ZFS) were studied by means of magnetic data and state‐of‐the‐art ab initio calculations. Good agreement between the experimental and theoretical axial D parameters confirms that large single‐ion nickel anisotropies are accessible. The synthetic process can also yield dinuclear nickel complexes in which the nickel ions are hexacoordinate. This possibility is facilitated by the presence of phenoxo oxygen atoms in the tridentate ligand that can introduce a bridge between the two nickel ions. Two different double bridges are characterized, with the bridging oxygen atoms coming from each nickel ion or from the same nickel ion. This coordination change introduces a difference in the antiferromagnetic interaction parameter J. Although the magnetic data confirm the presence of single‐ion anisotropies in these complexes, these terms cannot be determined in a straightforward way from experiment due to the mismatch between the principal axes of the local anisotropies and the presence of intersite anisotropies.