bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Safe Routes to School Program in California: An Update
Authors: Chaufan Claudia , Yeh Jarmin , Fox Patrick
Published: April 2012

Despite efforts to combat increasing rates of childhood obesity, the problem is worsening. Safe Routes to School (SRTS), an international movement motivated by the childhood obesity epidemic, seeks to increase the number of children actively commuting (walking or biking) to school by funding projects that remove barriers preventing them from doing so. We summarize the evaluation of the first phase of an ongoing SRTS program in California and discuss ways to enhance data collection.
Fly-Through animation at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad
Authors: Popkonstantinovic Branislav , Nikolic Ivica , Perisic Ana , Kekeljevic Igor
Published: April 2012

This article describes application of Fly-Through animation, especially in
architecture. It shows application of this animation technique on Computer
Graphics - Animation in Engineering studies and on Architecture and Urban
Planning studies at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad. Three
historically significant buildings have been modeled and animated: Gymnasium
Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning and a
City Hall in Novi Sad. Development process of these models and animations is
described in details, step by step.
Rehabilitation of buildings in winter conditions
Authors: Zdravkovic Slavko , Stojic Dragoslav , Turnic Dragana
Published: April 2012

Various factors are taken as the criteria for determining the susceptibility
of materials to frost, such as: porosity and water absorption, volume
changes, the number of freezing and thawing cycles. Mortars as a mixture of
binder, water and sand, after placing and undergoing bonding and
solidification processes, represent extremely porous materials, and the same
holds for concrete. When the water turns into ice, it changes its volume
measure unit from (V?) into Vt = 1.09 V?. If the concrete that has not
completed bonding is exposed to frost, the process is likely to be suspended,
and later when the warming starts, followed by the thawing of concrete, it
will need the repeated vibrating in order to bind again and harden up without
the detrimental effects on its strength. However, there are cases of
devastating effects of frost on the hardened concrete. All the mentioned
strategies should be kept in mind when performing remediation.
Comparison of phenobarbital with bromide as a first-choice antiepileptic drug for treatment of epilepsy in dogs
Authors: Boothe Dawn Merton , Dewey Curtis , Carpenter David Mark
Published: April 2012

Objective—To compare efficacy and safety of treatment with phenobarbital or bromide as the first-choice antiepileptic drug (AED) in dogs.

Design—Double-blinded, randomized, parallel, clinical trial.

Animals—46 AED-naïve dogs with naturally occurring epilepsy.

Procedures—Study inclusion was based on age, history, findings on physical and neurologic examinations, and clinicopathologic test results. For either phenobarbital treatment (21 dogs) or bromide treatment (25), a 7-day loading dose period was initiated along with a maintenance dose, which was adjusted on the basis of monthly monitoring. Efficacy and safety outcomes were compared between times (baseline and study end [generally 6 months]) and between drugs.

Results—Phenobarbital treatment resulted in eradication of seizures (17/20 [85%]) significantly more often than did bromide (12/23 [52%]); phenobarbital treatment also resulted in a greater percentage decrease in seizure duration (88 ± 34%), compared with bromide (49 ± 75%). Seizure activity worsened in 3 bromide-treated dogs only. In dogs with seizure eradication, mean ± SD serum phenobarbital concentration was 25 ± 6 μg/mL (phenobarbital dosage, 4.1 ± 1.1 mg/kg [1.9 ± 0.5 mg/lb], PO, q 12 h) and mean serum bromide concentration was 1.8 ± 0.6 mg/mL (bromide dosage, 31 ± 11 mg/kg [14 ± 5 mg/lb], PO, q 12 h). Ataxia, lethargy, and polydipsia were greater at 1 month for phenobarbital-treated dogs; vomiting was greater for bromide-treated dogs at 1 month and study end.

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Both phenobarbital and bromide were reasonable first-choice AEDs for dogs, but phenobarbital was more effective and better tolerated during the first 6 months of treatment.
Comparison of three-view thoracic radiography and computed tomography for detection of pulmonary nodules in dogs with neoplasia
Authors: Armbrust Laura J. , Biller David S. , Bamford Aubrey , Chun Ruthanne , Garrett Laura D. , Sanderson Michael W.
Published: April 2012

Objective—To compare the detection of pulmonary nodules by use of 3-view thoracic radiography and CT in dogs with confirmed neoplasia.

Design—Prospective case series.

Animals—33 dogs of various breeds.

Procedures—3 interpreters independently evaluated 3-view thoracic radiography images. The location and size of pulmonary nodules were recorded. Computed tomographic scans of the thorax were obtained and evaluated by a single interpreter. The location, size, margin, internal architecture, and density of pulmonary nodules were recorded. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were calculated for thoracic radiography (with CT as the gold standard).

Results—21 of 33 (64%) dogs had pulmonary nodules or masses detected on CT. Of the dogs that had positive CT findings, 17 of 21 (81 %) had pulmonary nodules or masses detected on radiographs by at least 1 interpreter. Sensitivity of radiography ranged from 71 % to 95%, and specificity ranged from 67% to 92%. Radiography had a positive predictive value of 83% to 94% and a negative predictive value of 65% to 89%. The 4 dogs that were negative for nodules on thoracic radiography but positive on CT were all large-breed to giant-breed dogs with osteosarcoma.

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—CT was more sensitive than radiography for detection of pulmonary nodules. This was particularly evident in large-breed to giant-breed dogs. Thoracic CT is recommended in large-breed to giant-breed dogs with osteosarcoma if the detection of pulmonary nodules will change treatment.
Development of groundwater levels as a consequense of climate change
Authors: Pásztorová M. , Skalová J. , Vitková J. , Juráková M.
Published: April 2012

Development of groundwater levels as a consequense of climate change

Climate change poses a significant threat to many wetland ecosystems. Wetlands exist in a transition zone between aquatic and terrestrial environments and can be affected by slight alterations in regional hydrology, which can influence climate change through air temperature changes, regional changes in a rainfall regime, surface run-off, snow, duration of the winter season, groundwater resources and evapotranspiration.

Climate change in wetland areas is most significantly reflected in water levels and adjacent groundwater levels, and it can significantly change the hydroecological proportions of wetland ecosystems and endanger rare wetland fauna and flora communities. The focus of this paper is the impact of climate change on the groundwater level in the Záhorie Protected Landscape area in the Zelienka national nature reservation. The impact of the climate change was solved through the meteorological characteristic changes adapted by the GISS98 and CCCM2000 climatic scenarios. The groundwater level was determined by the HYDRUS-ET model for the time frames 2010, 2030 and 2075 in 20-year time intervals and consequently compared to the reference period of 1971-1990.
Le motif du loup chez Rachilde: la règle de l’interdit
Authors: Ouellet François
Published: April 2012

RÉSUMÉ

Cet article propose une lecture d’un roman de Rachilde, Le meneur de louves (1905), où le motif du loup sert à mettre en valeur la prédominance d’un imaginaire régulé par l’interdit de l’inceste. À l’encontre de la critique féministe pour laquelle Rachilde est une auteure qui prescrit un discours amoureux qui pervertit les rapports traditionnels entre l’homme et la femme, il s’agit ici de faire voir comment la volonté de « refaire l’amour » des personnages est imposée par un interdit qui dicte au texte sa lettre. Ce qui écrit le texte, c’est la règle de l’interdit, le discours féministe n’étant alors que le reflet idéologique d’un effet de texte que Rachilde n’a jamais voulu ni cautionné.
Pure Persuasion: Metarhetorical Motives in Kenneth Burke’s Towards a Better Life
Authors: Butler Jonathan
Published: April 2012

Is Kenneth Burke’s 1932 novel, Towards a Better Life, an example of protopostmodernism? A number of critics in recent years have resurrected from the corpus of Burke’s theoretical work embryonic – in some cases, advanced – models of postmodern theory. What hasn’t been analyzed in commensurate detail for its uncanny prescience is Burke’s early novel, a work, I would argue, ahead of its time in many respects. While already applauded for its verbal energy and lyrical grace, ‘the internal eventfulness of its sentences,’ as Denis Donoghue puts it, the novel’s theoretical implications remain to be fully adumbrated in respect to a profound concern with the manner in which language games, or ‘terministic screens,’ to use Burke’s neologism, can foreclose prospects for communicative engagement. At the heart of Burke’s novel is a complex and ultimately unresolvable tension between the pleasures of ‘pure persuasion’ (metarhetorical motives) and the imperatives of salutary communicative involvement.
On Judging with Care and the Responsibility of an Heir: Reading Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach
Authors: Roupakia Lydia Efthymia
Published: April 2012

How easy is it for Western readers of contemporary Native literature to suspend their goal-oriented consciousness when approaching Native ‘otherness’? Existing critical interpretations of Eden Robinson’s novel Monkey Beach attest to the ways in which cultural difference elicits politicized reading practices and romanticizing hermeneutical gestures. Yet Monkey Beach alerts the attentive reader against the pitfalls of approaching difference through inherited interpretative templates. Eden Robinson refuses to enlist her protagonist as a player in the politicized ‘games’ of cultural authenticity, postcolonial resistance, or cultural hybridity. Rather, the novel invites the reader to reflect on the complexities of ‘judging with care,’ a term Selma Sevenhuijsen uses to describe a situated form of postmodern feminist ethics in her study Citizenship and the Ethics of Care. More precisely, Monkey Beach asks the reader to do justice to the novel’s formal elaboration of responsible judgement as a process that involves both ‘an active engagement’ with the other and ‘a letting-go’ in the face of ‘Otherness’ (Attridge 130).
Les vases communicants
Authors: Brusset Bernard
Published: April 2012

Résumé Le thème des vases communicants, correspondant à une sorte de fantasme gémellaire, souligne un aspect de certaines interrelations fraternelles. Sa déconstruction analytique en psychothérapie individuelle, dans deux cas très différents dans lesquels la relation entre sœurs avait pris une grande importance, illustre l’organisation et les fonctions de ce thème à divers niveaux dont celui de l’emprise perverse. La genèse de ce type de relation se révèle directement induite par les événements de l’histoire personnelle et par la configuration du groupe familial.
Fratrie toute-puissante, parents tyrannisés
Authors: Lafage Alain
Published: April 2012

Résumé L’auteur exerçant dans le cadre d’une consultation familiale psychanalytique présente la situation de familles où, sans que l’on puisse parler d’entité clinique spécifique, les enfants ont des exigences telles qu’ils deviennent tyranniques et finissent par user d’un pouvoir excessif et usurpé sur l’ensemble de la famille. L’organisation psychique du groupe familial est perturbée et les conflits quotidiens montrent que sont mis à mal des idéaux grandioses prônés par le narcissisme parental. Les parents, quoi qu’il leur en coûte, ne peuvent y renoncer. Ceci interroge sur le rôle du masochisme latent, sur les modalités particulières de l’évolution de la toute-puissance infantile et sur la construction des idéaux en famille.
Forme de résilience dans le groupe fraternel
Authors: Arnaud Michel
Published: April 2012

Résumé À partir de situations particulières de placement ou d’adoption de fratries, l’auteur présente comment le groupe fraternel peut venir suppléer aux défaillances parentales. Le lien fraternel devient contenant des affects et des représentations traumatiques et instaure une nouvelle donne familiale. Le groupe fraternel rétablit la continuité de la transmission de l’histoire familiale qui va permettre un étayage identitaire et constituer une forme de résilience.
Le lieu de « ce qui se répète » : le familial et l'étranger inquiétant
Authors: Trapanese Gemma , Kalman Rudolf , Joubert Christiane
Published: April 2012

Résumé Ce travail décrit un traitement psychanalytique appliqué à la famille d’une patiente anorexique qui s’oriente vers la découverte du champ de signification latent. En analysant les solutions défensives élaborées contre la douleur par les membres individuellement et par le groupe familial en totalité, les fantasmes inconscients transmis depuis des générations et revécus au contact de l’analyse de l’histoire d’une relation dramatique entre frères ont émergé. En révélant l’« étranger inquiétant », ces fantasmes déployèrent et montrèrent toute une série de représentations depuis le chien-enfant-poupées décapitées jusqu’aux poupées-enfants-tabous « mortes-vivantes », aux fillettes mourantes, au père meurtrier, à la grand-mère immobile à l’intérieur d’un deuil congelé.
Ecriture de l'intime dans une correspondance familiale du XIXe siècle
Authors: Dauphin Cécile
Published: April 2012

Résumé L’intime est une catégorie construite, instable et fugitive par nature, dont le travail historique ne peut atteindre que les points limites. À partir du cas d’une correspondance familiale du XIX e siècle, il est possible de saisir certains aspects du jeu de voilement et de dévoilement qui moule l’expression intime dans la relation à l’autre. La pratique épistolaire crée un espace particulièrement propice pour éprouver la socialité du moi.
De l'utopie familiale comme utopie privée au roman familial comme intime conviction
Authors: Vivier-Vacheret Claudine
Published: April 2012

Résumé Ce texte présente le processus psychique qui est mobilisé dans l’utopie groupale, spécialement l’utopie familiale qui est une utopie privée. Il s’agit également de montrer que le roman familial tel que S. Freud l’a pensé concernant l’enfant, est une utopie fondée sur une intime conviction individuelle. L’utopie et le roman familial sont des tentatives pour résoudre des situations de crises par une recherche de l’idéal pour sauvegarder le narcissisme.
L'enfant qui vient ou l'enfant qui revient d'ailleurs ?
Authors: Granjon Evelyn
Published: April 2012

Résumé L’adoption correspond à des processus d’ affiliation filiative . L’enfant adopté réveille la dette généalogique familiale et l’amène parfois à figurer l’inconnu transgénérationnel. À partir de cette phrase : « c’est un enfant adopté » souvent entendue et déposée à l’occasion d’une demande, l’auteur propose de suivre le travail de figuration-représentation qui se fait dans l’espace psychique du groupe de TFP. Certains mots ou objets déposés dans le néo-groupe viennent figurer la condensation d’éléments noués dans les alliances inconscientes des liens familiaux, en particulier le lien d’adoption. Le travail thérapeutique favorise une décondensation des « inconnus des origines » et permet une reprise de la mythopoïèse familiale .
Angoisse de séparation et angoisse d'abandon au cœur du lien adoptif
Authors: Duvert Anne-Claude
Published: April 2012

Résumé L’adoption, dans la mesure où elle est la réalisation d’un rêve, repose sur la croyance en la toute-puissance réparatrice du lien affectif. Beaucoup d’émotions sont en jeu, nécessaires au développement du lien adoptif. Elles le fragilisent et à la fois le fortifient. L’aspect fusionnel du lien observé pourrait être lié au fantasme d’avoir « volé » un enfant. Le vécu d’abandon et de souffrance de l’enfant peut aussi entrer en résonance avec des éléments traumatiques non résolus du passé des adoptants. Par ailleurs, l’angoisse de la perte du lien peut être réactivée quand l’enfant quitte sa famille à l’adolescence. Le rôle des intermédiaires et des thérapeutes de l’adoption sera de contenir angoisses et émotions et d’aider parents et enfants à les transformer en expériences émotionnelles durables.
L'intime et l'épreuve de la différence dans l'adoption à l'étranger
Authors: Roman Pascal , Damian Fanny
Published: April 2012

Résumé La question de l’adoption à l’étranger, comme forme d’entrée dans la filiation, interroge la manière dont l’étrange-étranger vient faire irruption dans l’intime de l’organisation et des investissements familiaux. Il apparaît en effet, au décours d’une recherche centrée sur les situations de souffrance (et/ou de violence) dans les liens de filiation adoptive étrangère , que les réaménagements mobilisés, au sein de la famille, par l’adoption d’un enfant à l’étranger, viennent buter sur l’irréductible de la différence. L’hypothèse de la mise à mal de la mythopoïèse familiale, au travers d’une remise en jeu du contrat narcissique et de l’irruption d’une figure persécutrice de la filiation, sera examinée à partir d’une situation clinique cristallisant les enjeux de cette forme spécifique d’inscription dans l’histoire des liens.
Parent pauvre ou parent fragile ?
Authors: Pierron Jean-Philippe
Published: April 2012

Résumé L’expérience adoptive touche au fondement même de ce qui nous lie les uns aux autres. Elle sonde les racines du lien de filiation, en en interrogeant la nature. À l’évidence des liens qui paraissent naturels, les liens du sang, l’adoption oppose la fragilité d’un lien de mutualité. Par là, plutôt qu’être un lien parental par défaut, le lien adoptif éclaire tout lien parental : si l’engendrement est de nature, la parenté est de désignation. Devenant le prototype du parental, le lien adoptif affirme alors qu’il n’y a pas de naissance qui n’attende sa reconnaissance.
De la bisexualité psychique à l'homoparentalité
Authors: Loncan Anne
Published: April 2012

Résumé Les métamorphoses familiales récentes tendent vers une parentalité indifférenciée qui interroge la texture des liens familiaux. Définissant une synchronie en famille marquée par l’intrication de leurs aspects narcissiques et objectaux, ils régulent les échanges, y compris avec l’extérieur et restent garants d’une diachronie vitale par l’union des générations entre elles et la transmission des attributions parentales. De Freud à Winnicott, le concept majeur de bisexualité psychique sert la compréhension métapsychologique du lien familial et des fonctions parentales. Face à une clinique familiale complexe (notamment dans les configurations combinant homosexualité et AMP) qui comporte autant la dispersion des fonctions parentales que leur concentration, il reste l’outil décisif pour comprendre les avatars de la parentalité. La queer theory , sans être incompatible avec les théories psychanalytiques, car proclamée dans un champ qui leur est hétérogène, ne nous éclaire guère sur les subtilités psychiques en jeu.
Liens affectifs et homoparentalité
Authors: Passos Maria Consuêlo
Published: April 2012

Résumé L’auteur examine les conditions et les écueils dans l’établissement des liens de filiation dans les familles homoparentales. Un important travail psychique y est requis préalablement à la conception, quelle que soit la procédure adoptée. Dans tous les cas, la place du tiers participant à la conception, inéluctable au plan imaginaire, pourra acquérir un statut symbolique. L’établissement des liens serait également tributaire du partage des fonctions parentales négocié par le couple et d’une nouvelle répartition de l’autorité au sein de la famille. Dans le cas particulier du Brésil, où les unions homosexuelles seraient particulièrement stigmatisées, leur légalisation pourrait effacer la honte qui s’y attache et suscite parfois la production d’enfants comme indicateur leurrant d’hétérosexualité.
Familles à caractère abandonnique. Spécificité des associations groupales
Authors: Forissier Anne , Savin Bernard
Published: April 2012

Résumé Dans ce travail, nous avons cherché à voir s’il pouvait exister une spécificité de la chaîne associative verbale des familles abandonniques produite en séances de Thérapie familiale psychanalytique. Nous avons repéré que cette chaîne associative verbale peut être observée à deux niveaux : celui de sa structure (coupures, interruptions, superposition des discours) et celui de son contenu c’est-à-dire des images qui la constituent, génératrices d’éprouvés ou de sidération pour les thérapeutes.
La dimension spatiale des inégalités. Regards croisés des sciences sociales
Authors: Vettraino Jean
Published: April 2012

Résumé Isabelle Backouche, Fabrice Ripoll, Sylvie Tissot et Vincent Veschambre (dir.), La dimension spatiale des inégalités. Regards croisés des sciences sociales , Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2011, 357 p., 22  €
Pour un monde viable. Changement global et viabilité planétaire
Authors: de Zélicourt Diane
Published: April 2012

Résumé Michel et Florent Griffon, Pour un monde viable. Changement global et viabilité planétaire , Odile Jacob, 2011, 336 p., 25,90 €
La force de l'autonomie. Gandhi précurseur de la décroissance?
Authors: Godinot Étienne
Published: April 2012

Résumé Guillaume Gamblin, La force de l’autonomie. Gandhi précurseur de la décroissance ? , Les Éd. du Man, 2011, 96 p., 6 €
Model-Driven Engineering of Service-Oriented Systems
Authors: Gaševic Dragan , Hatala Marek
Published: April 2012

Service-oriented architectures (SOA) are an essential platform to provide infrastructures that support widespread collaboration between organizations. These service-oriented systems are a new context for software developers, who must now be equipped with new development methods and technologies. This new context has specific requirements, such as better collaboration and communication between business users and software engineering across organizations and increased agility of the development and maintenance processes to better respond to newly emerged or changed requirements. In this paper, the authors present a research agenda that looks at the use of a novel software engineering discipline—model-driven engineering. By switching the focus from low-level technical details to high-level problem-specific details, model-driven engineering addresses challenges in the development of service-oriented systems. This paper particularly discusses the approach to the development of service-oriented systems based on business process modeling, which integrate business vocabularies and rules in different stages of the development lifecycle. Here, model-driven engineering can provide many promising solutions.
Information Stewardship in Cloud Computing
Authors: Pym David , Sadler Martin
Published: April 2012

Cloud computing ecosystems of service providers and consumers will become a significant part of the way information services are provided, allowing more agile coalitions, cost savings and improved service delivery. Existing approaches to information security do not readily extend to this complex multi-party world. The authors argue for a mathematical model-based framework for the analysis and management of information stewardship that makes explicit both the expectations and responsibilities of cloud stakeholders and the design assumptions of systems. Such a framework supports integrated economic, technology, and behavioural analyses, so providing a basis for a better understanding of the interplay between preferences, policies, system design, regulations, and Service Level Agreements. The authors suggest approaches to constructing economic, technology, and behavioural models and discuss the challenges in integrating them.
Using System Dynamics to Analyze Customer Experience Design
Authors: Hsieh Yen-Hao , Yuan Soe-Tsyr
Published: April 2012

Today, customer experience design is an emerging research direction in the experience economy where good customer experiences can lead service providers to achieve their business goals. Customer expectation, another key point for designing service experiences, affects how customers really feel during service experience delivery, while service operation is another important factor must be taken into account. System dynamics, as an analytic tool, can provide designers with a different way of thinking by integrating these factors for customer experience design. Accordingly, this study not only models the process of customer experience design by using causal loop diagrams and stock and flow diagrams, but also analyzes how the feedback and time delay factors influence customer experience design based on the simulation results of system dynamics. According to the macro viewpoint of system dynamics, this paper analyzes these important factors within customer experience design.
Modeling of Service Systems
Authors: Böttcher Martin , Fähnrich Klaus-Peter
Published: April 2012

An important aspect in the field of service science is service modeling; however, no comprehensive modeling approach exists. In this regard, the authors analyze literature of service science and look at existing modeling approaches. Based on this analysis they identify concepts necessary for modeling services. This paper specifies a semi-formalized meta-model comprising the concepts found and for having a more applicable meta-model, the authors transfer it into a technical space. Additionally a concrete syntax and implemented an editor, which supports service modeling, is specified. Overall, this work comprises existing approaches and presents a well-structured formalized meta-model for the domain of service modeling. This meta-model may be used as a starting point for further research within the area of service modeling.
Simulation Based Evaluation of Service Science Productivity for Solution Providers
Authors: Tackenberg Sven M. , Gärtner Thomas , Duckwitz Sönke , Schlick Christopher
Published: April 2012

Many companies offer customized solutions by integrating services into their product portfolio. In this regard, a systematic planning for solution providers is crucial, otherwise, task sequences or the assignment of resources to achieve the business objectives can be incorrect. In order to evaluate and to raise the service productivity, service models and simulation techniques have been used to determine the sequence of activities and to assign actors and resources to tasks. In this paper, the authors demonstrate that service solutions can be prospectively modeled, simulated, and optimized. To achieve improved service productivity, the concepts for service productivity are reviewed and a Petri net based simulation approach is introduced. Tests confirm that the simulation approach is capable of calculating a number of service performance metrics that focus on the effect of a stochastic makespan for tasks and the variable assignment of actors and iterations to activities. In the validation study, a service solution process for a power plant construction is considered to analyze the external validity of the simulation model, as well as the structural validity of the corresponding computational models. Simulation results demonstrate the approach providing a convergence to a global optimal service solution.
Dipole Moment as a Possible Diagnostic Descriptor of the Conformational Isomerism of the Ammonia Molecule
Authors: Ghosh Dulal C. , Rajak Sandip Kumar
Published: April 2012

In this report, Ghosh and Rajak have made a detailed quantum mechanical study of the variation of the dipole moment of ammonia as a function of its conformations evolving during the process of its umbrella inversion by invoking their method of dipole correlation of electronic structure as basis. Ghosh et al discover a surprising result that the variation of dipole moment mimics the total energy curve as a function of reaction coordinates revealing the fact that the dipole moment is one possible diagnostic descriptor of the conformational isomerism of molecules containing lone pair electrons. The dipole is calculated and partitioned into bond and lone pair components for a large number of conformations between the equilibrium shape and the transition state of inversion and the results are interpreted and correlated in terms of the localized molecular orbitals, LMOs generated from the canonical molecular orbitals, CMO’s of each conformation. Anderson, from the concept of space time symmetry, postulated that ammonia has zero dipole moment. Present study reveals that Anderson’s correlation relied upon the bond moment only while the major component of dipole of ammonia originates from the lone pair of nitrogen.
Biological Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles and their Functional Properties
Authors: Prabhawathi Veluchamy , Sivakumar Ponnurengam Malliappan , Doble Mukesh
Published: April 2012

A nanoparticle is defined as a small object between 1 and 100 nanometer in size and has a large surface to volume ratio. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) could be synthesized using various chemical and physical processes. However, these methods lead to hazardous by-products. In the recent past, AgNPs are produced by biological means. The size, shape and composition of AgNPs have significant effect on their biological applications. Aqueous solution of AgNP is not stable and rapidly undergoes agglomeration which is prevented by electrostatic or steric stabilization techniques with the help of capping or protective agents. The biologically synthesized nanoparticles are now favoured because it is a green alternative, mild, and does not need toxic chemicals and solvents. The scope of this review is to provide an overview of the various biological means researched for the synthesis of AgNPs, different techniques and chemicals used to develop stable solution, various techniques for their characterization, and their biological. The future research directions in this subject area are also dicussed.
Introduction
Authors: Yao Jason J. , Chen Homer H.
Published: April 2012

Peer- to-peer technology has dramatically transformed the landscape of the Internet’s traffic in recent years. In this introductory chapter, the authors highlight how the technology relates to the convergence of fixed and mobile networks with features that work irrespective of location, access technology, or user-interactive devices.
P2P Streaming over MANET and VANET
Authors: Qadri Nadia N. , Fleury Martin
Published: April 2012

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) and Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) as mobile wireless networks are challenging environments as there is no centralized packet routing mechanism. Packet delivery is normally multi-hop and may encounter out-of-range intermediate network nodes on the routing path. There may be problems of energy consumption in MANETs and of constrained routing paths in VANETs. Consequently, introducing real-time video streaming into these environments is problematic. Peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming from multiple sources is a way of strengthening video streaming in these circumstances. In this chapter, P2P streaming is combined with various video error resilience mechanisms that mostly take advantage of the multiple paths available in such networks. As video streams are sensitive to errors the impact of wireless channel errors should be assessed and, for VANETs, realistic mobility models should be modeled, especially in urban settings. The chapter looks in detail at how video source coding can assist in the protection of video streams, in that respect comparing various forms of multiple description coding.
An Open Service Platform Based on an IP Metropolitan Mesh Network
Authors: Aquino-Santos Raúl , Edwards-Block Arthur , Rangel-Licea Víctor
Published: April 2012

This chapter proposes an open-service platform based on an IP metropolitan mesh network suitable for multimedia services in an all-IP network environment. To guarantee mobile applications in the metropolitan mesh network simulated, the authors evaluated the five most prominent mobile ad hoc network (MANET) routing algorithms: Ad hoc On Demand Distance Vector (AODV), Dynamic Source Routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks (DSR), Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR), Temporally-Ordered Routing Algorithm (TORA), and Geographic Routing Protocol (GRP). The metropolitan mesh network architecture is based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 Standard that supports the IP protocol and the interaction with MANET protocols. The MANET routing protocols are evaluated in terms of delivery ratio, MANET delay, routing overhead, overhead, WiMAX delay, WiMAX load, and WiMAX throughput. Results show that proactive routing algorithms are more efficient than the reactive routing algorithms for the IP metropolitan-mesh network simulated.
Clean-Slate Information-Centric Publish Subscribe Networks
Authors: Carrea Laura , Almeida Raul
Published: April 2012

The Internet architecture of today does not seem suited to the current Internet usage, as the application layer is more and more content-centric, while the network layer is ossified around the IP concept. In this chapter, the authors explore a redefinition of the whole Internet architecture where nothing is taken for granted, especially IP addresses. The review focuses on the forwarding and topology components of the EU FP7 PSIRP architecture and on a few of the problematic issues and the ongoing discussions around a pioneering clean-slate design of the way to organize networks.
Renewable Energy Scenario of Pakistan for Sustainable Development
Authors: Shah Asif A. , Bhutto Arabella , Qureshi S. M. , Shah Ambreen , Shah A. A. , Shah Wajiha
Published: April 2012

In Pakistan, sustainable development through Renewable Energy (RE) is considered an unrealistic idea. This chapter sheds light on this scenario by finding the root causes responsible for creating such assumptions. Therefore, in order to identify the root causes, the emphasis has been given to analyzing Pakistan’s current status of sustainable development through RE on theoretical as well as on practical grounds. For achieving the said task, a framework was developed in which the theoretical background covered on the basis of policy documents was integrated with the real life scenario responsible for the diffusion of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) in Pakistan. This integration was performed on the basis of a pilot field study conducted in a local community. Further, a survey has been performed to identify the major groups of stakeholders and their corresponding awareness level towards simple RETs. Throughout this chapter, attempts have been made to provide a mirror view for Pakistan in achieving sustainable development through RE.
Counter-Rotating Type Power Technologies to Exploit Offshore Energies
Authors: Kanemoto Toshiaki
Published: April 2012

For the next leap in power-generating technologies, the world is obligated to not only cope with the warming global environment but also to conserve the natural ecosystem. This chapter discusses the advances in technology designed to successfully exploit offshore marine and wind resources. (1) The Counter-Rotating Type Hydro/Tide Power Unit, which is composed of the tandem runners and the peculiar generator with double rotational armatures, is applicable to both rising and falling tides at the power station with the embankment, in place of the traditional bulb type turbines. (2) The Floating Type Ocean Wave Power Station, where a pair of floats lines up at the wavelength spacing, can get the superabundant velocity energy. (3) The Intelligent Wind/Tide Power Unit, which is composed of the tandem wind/tide rotors and the double rotational armatures, is suitable for offshore wind and the tidal stream.
Optimization in Mental Configuration Space
Authors: Yang Huahai
Published: April 2012

This chapter describes a geometric approach to human cognition centering on the concept of mental configuration space. As a case study of the approach, this work details a study that derives performance models for an important class of motor behavior—pointing in the two dimensional space. The five derived models and three existing models in the literature are compared using an experimental study. It is found that the models developed on the basis of mental configuration space fit the empirical data better than other models. It is argued that the mental configuration space concept points to a potentially fruitful direction of research. Finally, the chapter discusses the implications of such an approach for user interface research and development.
Intelligent Agents with Personality
Authors: Bouchet François , Sansonnet Jean-Paul
Published: April 2012

Conversational agents are a promising interface between humans and computers, but to be acceptable as the virtual humans they pretend to be, they need to be given one of the key elements used to define human beings: a personality. As existing personality taxonomies have been defined only for description, the authors present in this chapter a methodology dedicated to the definition of a computationally-oriented taxonomy, in order to use it to implement personality traits in conversational agents. First, a significant set of personality-traits adjectives is registered from thesaurus sources. Then, the lexical semantics related to personality-traits is extracted while using the WordNet database, and it is given a formal representation in terms of so-called Behavioral Schemes. Finally, the authors propose a framework for the implementation of those schemes as influence operators controlling the decision process and the plan/action scheduling of a rational agent.
A Global Process for Model-Driven Approaches in User Interface Design
Authors: Caffiau Sybille , Girard Patrick
Published: April 2012

In user interface design, model-driven approaches usually involve generative solutions, producing interface by successive transformations of a set of initial models. These approaches have obvious limitations, especially for advanced user interfaces. Moreover, top-down design approaches (as generative approaches are) are not appropriate for interactive application development in which users need to be included in the whole design process. Based on strong associations between task models and dialogue models, the authors propose a global process, which facilitates the design of interactive applications conforming to their models, including a rule-checking step. This process permits either to start from a task model or a user-defined prototype. In any case, it allows an iterative development, including iterative user modifications, in line with user-centered design standards.
Toward Cloud Federation
Authors: Celesti Antonio , Tusa Francesco , Villari Massimo
Published: April 2012

Federation in cloud computing is an emerging topic. Currently, all over the world in both academia and industry contexts many operators are picking up the advantages of cloud computing and federation in planning the Internet of the future. Nevertheless, cloud federation is at the early stage, and the scientific community is not fully aware how the federation will impact the cloud computing scenario. In this chapter, the authors try to clarify the ideas and discuss the main future challenges regarding cloud federation.
Deploying and Running Enterprise Grade Applications in a Federated Cloud
Authors: Hudzia Benoit , Sinclair Jonathan , Lindner Maik
Published: April 2012

The notion of cloud computing is a paradigm shift from local machines and networks to virtualization technologies with services as a technical and business concept. This shift introduces major challenges when using cloud for deploying and running enterprise applications in the current Enterprise ecosystems. For companies, picking and choosing the right cloud to meet requirements is hard, and no solution is likely to provide the end-to-end specific IT services delivery and an end-to-end IT solution. Conversely cloud federation assists in providing flexibility to the customer and enables them to lower their TCO by shifting from one cloud to another while mitigating risks associated with a single cloud approach. In order to create competitive differentiation, small businesses require multiple software systems to both meet minimal data management and creative expectations. At the other end of the enterprise ecosystem spectrum, large companies rely on thousands of services in order to meet the needs of everything from simple departmental database applications to core Enterprise Resource planning and Customer Relationship Management systems on which the enterprise itself is managed. As an optimal adoption decision cannot be established for all individual cases, the authors propose to analyze three different use cases for deployment of enterprise applications such as SAP, on the cloud in order to provide some valuable pointers to navigate the emerging cloud ecosystem: rapid provisioning, elasticity and live migration of enterprise applications.
Access Control in Federated Clouds
Authors: Casola Valentina , Cuomo Antonio , Villano Umberto , Rak Massimiliano
Published: April 2012

Resource sharing problem is one of the most important aspects of Cloud architectures whose primary goal is to fully enable the concept of accessing computing resources on-demand. Access control and resource federation are hot research topics and a lot of open issues should be addressed on functionalities, technological interoperability, quality of services and security of the federated infrastructures. This chapter aims at offering a view on the problems of access control on federated Clouds; since they strongly depend on chosen architectures and platforms, the chapter will discuss some solutions applied on a real case study: the PerfCloud framework, which is based on the integration of Grid and Cloud platforms. The proposed architecture is based on the adoption of an interoperability system to cope with identity federation and access control, it is strictly related to the adopted framework nevertheless it helps the reader to have an idea of the involved open issues and available solutions in commercial or experimental clouds.
Evolving Bots’ AI in Unreal™
Authors: Mora-García Antonio M. , Merelo-Guervós Juan Julián
Published: April 2012

A bot is an autonomous enemy which tries to beat the human player and/or some other bots in a game. This chapter describes the design, implementation and results of a system to evolve bots inside the PC game Unreal™. The default artificial intelligence (AI) of this bot has been improved using two different evolutionary methods: genetic algorithms (GAs) and genetic programming (GP). The first one has been applied for tuning the parameters of the hard-coded values inside the bot AI code. The second method has been used to change the default set of rules (or states) that defines its behaviour. Moreover, the first approach has been considered at two levels: individual and team, performing different studies at the latter level, looking for the best cooperation scheme. Both techniques yield very good results, evolving bots (and teams) which are capable of defeating the default ones. The best results are obtained for the GA approach, since it just performs a refinement considering the default behaviour rules, while the GP method has to redefine the whole set of rules, so it is harder to get good results. This chapter presents one possibility of AI programming: building a better model from a standard one.
Collision Detection in Video Games
Authors: Rodrigue Benjamin
Published: April 2012

This chapter will describe several methods of detecting collision events within a 3D environment. It will also discuss some of the bounding volumes, and their intersection tests that can be used to contain the graphical representation of objects in a video game. The first part of the chapter will cover the use of Axially Aligned Bounding Boxes (AABBs) and Radial Collision Volumes. The use of hierarchies with bounding volumes will be discussed. The next section of the chapter will focus on Object Oriented Bounding Boxes (OOBs). The third section is concerned with the Gilbert-Johnson-Keerthi distance algorithm (GJK). The last three sections will focus on ways of optimizing the collision detection process by culling unnecessary intersection tests through the use of type lists, sorted lists and spatial partitioning.
Introducing ICT-Services in a University Environment
Authors: Heilesen Simon B.
Published: April 2012

This case discusses the development and management of ICT-services at a Danish university. A special characteristic of the case is that the development has taken place on the basis of participatory design and voluntary adoption. On the one hand, this approach furthers the adoption of ICT-services. On the other hand, it may hamper the development of a uniform and universally accepted set of services. Some concrete examples of ICT-services are discussed from the point of view of factors favorable to the adoption of technological innovations. These include services for administration, communication, education, and integration. One lesson learned is that developing services for education is a cultural challenge as much as it is a technological one, and that the rate of adoption tends to be slower.
A Case of an IT-Enabled Organizational Change Intervention
Authors: Wang Bing , Paper David
Published: April 2012

This case study documents an organizational change intervention concerning the implementation of a novel information technology at a university-owned research foundation (URF). It evidences the disparate expectations and reactions by key actors toward the change event, marking a mismatch between a new paradigm required by the new technology and existing information technology practices. Drawing upon change management and management information systems (MIS) literature, the authors discuss the perceived change management issues hindering the change process at URF. The discussion is tempered by a theoretical lens that attempts to integrate the literature bases drawn upon in this research. In particular, resistance from in-house IT specialists was observed as the strongest force obstructing the novel IT implementation. This study offers a forum to stimulate both researchers and practitioners to rethink the necessary elements required to enact change, especially with respect to novel IT implementations.
A Statewide Transition from Campus to Centralized System
Authors: Barjis Joseph
Published: April 2012

This case describes a statewide implementation of Liquidus CS in the Grand System of Universities (GSU). The constant struggle (financial and IT personnel) of individual campuses to maintain their old Liquidus systems and upgrade them to newer versions prompted the GSU to seek an effective solution. In 2000, the GSU initiated the “GlobalVIEW” project with the aim of upgrading the old Liquidus LS (local systems) to Liquidus CS (centralized system). Just before the major transition to Liquidus CS kicked off, the GlobalVIEW project was unexpectedly challenged and delayed due to Liquidus, Inc. (the vendor) merging with Rivus Inc. Therefore the transition phase completed when Liquidus, Inc. did not exist anymore. This report includes studies conducted over a span of three years, when GlobalVIEW was actively implemented in the GSU institutions. In particular, it documents the reasons why GlobalVIEW was initiated, how it was implemented taking into account its statewide scope, and what major challenges were posed by the fact that Liquidus, Inc. was acquired while the implementation and transition to Liquidus CS was in its crucial stage. Also the case study documents the importance of customer-vendor relationship, especially when the vendor is changed. All the names used in this case are fictitious.