bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Proceedings of the August 2011 Traceability Research Summit
Authors: Bhatt Tejas , Buckley Greg , McEntire Jennifer C.
Published: December 2012

IFT's Traceability Improvement Initiative aims to advance work in the area of food product tracing through several means including hosted events where thought leaders exchange knowledge and ideas. In August 2011, the Initiative, in collaboration with GS1 US, convened a group of 50 product tracing stakeholders, as a follow‐on to a successful event the month prior. Representatives conducting pilots or implementation studies in produce, seafood, dairy, and other industries discussed the objectives, challenges and learnings. Some of the learnings from on‐going initiatives included the sense that better information management provides a return of investment; data often exist but may not necessarily be appropriately linked through the supply chain; and enhanced product tracing enables better accountability and quality control. Challenges identified in enabling traceability throughout the supply chain were the distribution complexity; the need for training, communication, and collaboration; improving the reliability, quality and security of data captured, stored and shared as well as the importance of standards in data and interoperability of technology. Several approaches to overcoming these challenges were discussed. The first approach incrementally improves upon the current “one up/one down” system by requiring electronic records and tracking internal as well as external critical tracking events. The benefits of this approach are its similarity to existing regulatory requirements and low cost of implementation; resulting in a higher probability of adoption. The major disadvantage to this process is the longer response time required during a trace (back or forward). The second approach is similar to a “pedigree” approach where historical information about the food travels with it through the value chain. A major advantage of this approach is the quickest response time during a trace. Some of the disadvantages of this approach are potential for misuse of data, the volume of data required to be maintained at value chain end points, and data privacy concerns. The third approach requires individual nodes within the value chain to maintain electronic records for its own data and make them available for querying during a traceback for outbreak investigation. The major advantage of this approach is the protection of confidential information and the potential for quicker access during a trace. However, the primary disadvantage of this approach is the need for greater computational power and a more complex mechanism to linking the value chain through the data. As next steps, a subgroup will work on clarifying the approach to meeting the goals of traceability, better defining critical tracking events, and articulating the strategy and return on investment from a regulatory and industry perspective. This will result in improved alignment of on‐going traceability pilots and initiatives as well as a more actionable guidance document for public review.
Phylogenetic position of Oryzolejeunea (Lejeuneaceae, Marchantiophyta): Evidence from molecular markers and morphology
Authors: YE Wen , WEI Yu‐Mei , SCHÄFER‐VERWIMP Alfons , ZHU Rui‐Liang
Published: December 2012

The systematic position of the small neotropical genus Oryzolejeunea (three spp.) has long been controversial. Phylogenetic analyses of molecular data for the present study using DNA markers (trnL, psbA, and a nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer [nrITS] region) shows that the genus is nested in Lejeunea. The results not only reveal the phylogenetic position of Oryzolejeunea for the first time, but also challenge the taxonomic value of the proximal hyaline papilla as a key feature in Lejeunea. The present study shows the urgent need for a reassessment of the perimeters of the genus Lejeunea and its infrageneric classification. Three new combinations, namely Lejeunea saccatiloba, Lejeunea grolleana, and Lejeunea venezuelana, are proposed.
Geographical diversification of growth–defense strategies in an invasive plant
Authors: PAN Xiao‐Yun , JIA Xin , FU Dong‐Jing , LI Bo
Published: December 2012

Interactions between herbivore pressure and resource availability may result in growth–defense trade‐offs in plants (resource availability hypothesis), which promote the potential for ecological diversification and have recently been proposed as a new mechanism of plant invasion (resource–enemy release hypothesis). In the present study, we tested this idea by comparing patterns of maximum growth rate and antiherbivore defense capacity against Agasicles hygrophila (a specialist phytophagous insect on Alternanthera philoxeroides) among six morphs of A. philoxeroides from both native (Argentina) and introduced (US and China) ranges. The results revealed that herbivore resistance consistently exhibited a significant trade‐off against the growth rate of A. philoxeroides. Compared with native morphs in Argentina, introduced morphs generally exhibited a higher growth rate and lower defense. The results demonstrate that the combination of flea beetle pressure and resource availability facilitates geographical divergence of A. philoxeroides, and that release from natural specialists and increased resource availability may interact to contribute to its successful invasion.
Intestinal absorption and bioavailability of traditional Chinese medicines: a review of recent experimental progress and implication for quality control
Authors: Liu Jing-Yi , Lee Kai-Fai , Sze Cho-Wing , Tong Yao , Tang Sydney Chi-Wai , Ng Tzi-Bun , Zhang Yan-Bo
Published: December 2012

Objectives

Experimental studies on the pharmacokinetics of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) have achieved great progress in recent years. This review aims to summarize the progress made on intestinal absorption and bioavailability of TCMs, and proposes the application of intestinal absorption assays as new tools for the quality and safety control of these medicines.

Key findings

Since only the absorbed constituents may produce possible therapeutic effect (except those that directly target the digestive tract), intestinal absorption is of utmost importance for the drug action of TCMs, which are usually taken orally. Meanwhile, complicated drug interactions may occur among the multiple ingredients in a herbal mixture. In this regard, the intestinal permeability assays not only provide useful pharmacokinetic data of TCMs, but have potential applications for quality and safety control. Moreover, knockout animals, 2/4/A1 in-vitro cell model and physiologically-based in-silico models based on the online TCM database can be quite useful for the prediction of absorption and bioavailability of TCMs.

A variety of in-vivo, in-vitro, in-situ and in-silico models for predicting the intestinal absorption and bioavailability can be applied to study the herbal interactions and screen appropriate biomarkers for the quality and safety control of TCMs.
Characterization and Genetic Analysis of a Novel Rice Spotted‐leaf Mutant HM47 with Broad‐spectrum Resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae
Authors: Feng Bao‐Hua , Yang Yang , Shi Yong‐Feng , Shen Hai‐Chao , Wang Hui‐Mei , Huang Qi‐Na , Xu Xia , Lü Xiang‐Guang , Wu Jian‐Li
Published: December 2012

A stable inherited rice spotted‐leaf mutant HM47 derived from an EMS‐induced IR64 mutant bank was identified. The mutant expressed hypersensitive response (HR)‐like symptoms throughout its whole life from the first leaf to the flag leaf, without pathogen invasion. Initiation of the lesions was induced by light under natural summer field conditions. Expression of pathogenesis‐related genes including PAL, PO‐C1, POX22.3 and PBZ1 was enhanced significantly in association with cell death and accumulation of H2O2 at and around the site of lesions in the mutant in contrast to that in the wild‐type (WT). Disease reaction to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae from the Philippines and China showed that HM47 is a broad‐spectrum disease‐resistant mutant with enhanced resistance to multiple races of bacterial blight pathogens tested. An F2 progeny test showed that bacterial blight resistance to race HB‐17 was co‐segregated with the expression of lesions. Genetic analysis indicated that the spotted‐leaf trait was controlled by a single recessive gene, tentatively named splHM47, flanked by two insertion/deletion markers in a region of approximately 74 kb on the long arm of chromosome 4. Ten open reading frames are predicted, and all of them are expressed proteins. Isolation and validation of the putative genes are currently underway.
Fast Construction of Global Pyramids for Very Large Satellite Images
Authors: Xiang Longgang , Chen Jing , Gong Jianya , Zeng Zhen
Published: December 2012

Satellite imagery plays a critical role in recent popular Virtual Globe systems since it delivers spatially‐related information in a direct and intuitive way. A satellite image may be very large in size due to large coverage, high resolution, or both, and therefore the construction of global pyramids, a core data structure of Virtual Globe, will be time‐consuming if designed improperly. This article, based on the idea of divide‐and‐conquer, proposes an efficient algorithm, termed CGP, for the Construction of Global Pyramids, which builds global pyramids with only a single sequential scan of input imagery. By analyzing the space complexity of CGP, the memory‐minimum pyramid level is derived, at which the memory requirement of CGP is minimized to a practical level, even for very large satellite images. This article also discusses a parallel implementation of CGP, which parallelizes the two main actions in CGP, thus further improving the pyramid construction performance. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results show that our approach outperforms other methods and, more importantly, this advantage increases considerably as the size of input imagery increases.
The Goldilocks Effect
Authors: Boothby Mark , Williams Christopher L.
Published: December 2012

Modest overexpression of an epigenetic regulatory protein alters T helper cell differentiation and immune defects.
A new phenotypic variant in cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) associated with mutation c.391C>T of the RUNX2 gene
Authors: Callea Michele , Fattori Fabiana , Yavuz Izzet , Bertini Enrico
Published: December 2012

The RUNX2 gene is a physiological regulatory gene implicated in the development of cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD). A 13-month-old child presented with clinical features of CCD. At the age of 3 years the diagnosis was corroborated by clinical genetic assessment and DNA analysis, revealing a missense mutation p.R131C (c.391C>T) in RUNX2. At the age of 8 years the child was found to have a unique dental phenotype, represented by lack of supernumerary teeth and congenital absence of one tooth. A simple therapeutic approach was adopted, consisting of interceptive orthodontic treatment. The presence of this specific missense mutation in RUNX2, associated with the lack of typical supernumerary teeth may suggest a phenotype–genotype association.
Multivessel spontaneous coronary artery dissection treated with staged percutanous coronary intervention in a non-postpartum female
Authors: Lin Andrew H , Shutt Brennan J , Dendall Robert T , Bennett William
Published: December 2012

We present a case of a 43-year-old woman who presented with a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. During her first cardiac catheterisation, she was diagnosed with a chronic total occlusion of the right coronary artery and a flow limiting dissection of her middle left anterior descending artery. The dissection of the left anterior descending artery was stented with two overlapping everolimus-eluting stents. There were no complications from this percutaneous coronary intervention. On the following day, the patient continued to have persistent chest pain and returned to the catheterisation laboratory. It was then found that the patient had a total occlusion of the right coronary artery secondary to dissection. This was also stented with three everolimus-eluting stents with excellent clinical and angiographic results. It is important to consider spontaneous multivessel coronary dissections which can be treated successfully with percutaneous coronary intervention.
Baked beans in the knee? An odd-looking synovial swelling in the knee joint
Authors: Sabnis Bhushan M , Barrett David
Published: December 2012

Lipoma arborescens (LA) is a rare benign neoplasm affecting large synovial joints, most commonly seen in the knee joint. Unlike other common swellings around the knee joint, LA is intra-articular and can lead to degenerative changes in the knee joint due to mechanical impingement. The importance of correct diagnosis with characteristic MR and macroscopic appearance and appropriate surgical treatment is outlined in this case report.
An unusual cause of a lump in the parotid gland
Authors: Park Jae Hong , Lewis Richard , Cheng Hui Mei
Published: December 2012

We present a case of a 50-year-old man with a lump in the left parotid gland. A 4 cm soft mobile lump was identified in the left parotid gland clinically. CT of the parotid glands and neck was arranged confirming a 4 cm mass, predominantly situated within the superficial lobe anterosuperiorly but extending deep to the expected plane of the facial nerve. The positron emission tomography scan did not show distant metastasis. Complete excision of the tumour was achieved. Histological and immunohistochemical findings were consistent with Extraskeletal Ewing's sarcoma. He is undergoing chemoradiation therapy following surgery.
Building a culture of safety through team training and engagement
Authors: Thomas Lily , Galla Catherine
Published: December 2012

Medical errors continue to occur despite multiple strategies devised for their prevention. Although many safety initiatives lead to improvement, they are often short lived and unsustainable. Our goal was to build a culture of patient safety within a structure that optimised teamwork and ongoing engagement of the healthcare team. Teamwork impacts the effectiveness of care, patient safety and clinical outcomes, and team training has been identified as a strategy for enhancing teamwork, reducing medical errors and building a culture of safety in healthcare. Therefore, we implemented Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS), an evidence-based framework which was used for team training to create transformational and/or incremental changes; facilitating transformation of organisational culture, or solving specific problems. To date, TeamSTEPPS (TS) has been implemented in 14 hospitals, two Long Term Care Facilities, and outpatient areas across the North Shore LIJ Health System. 32 150 members of the healthcare team have been trained. TeamSTEPPS was piloted at a community hospital within the framework of the health system's organisational care delivery model, the Collaborative Care Model to facilitate sustainment. AHRQ's Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, (HSOPSC), was administered before and after implementation of TeamSTEPPS, comparing the perception of patient safety by the heathcare team. Pilot hospital results of HSOPSC show significant improvement from 2007 (pre-TeamSTEPPS) to 2010. System-wide results of HSOPSC show similar trends to those seen in the pilot hospital. Valuable lessons for organisational success from the pilot hospital enabled rapid spread of TeamSTEPPS across the rest of the health system.
Reactions of (phenylethynyl)sulfones with tricyclo[4.1.0.02,7]heptanes
Authors: Vasin V.A. , Masterova Yu.Yu. , Razin V.V. , Somov N.V.
Published: December 2012

Methyl-, phenyl-, p-chlorophenyl-, and p-tolyl(phenylethynyl)sulfones under photochemical or thermal initiation add to the central bicyclobutane C1–C7 bond of 1-R(H, Me, Ph)-tricyclo[4.1.0.02,7]heptanes anti-selectively, and form norpinic adducts containing a phenylethynyl group in a geminal to substituent R position, and an endo-oriented sulfonyl group in position 7. The corresponding ketones were prepared by the hydration of the anti-adducts by the method of Kucherov. The ketone with a methylsulfonyl substituent under reflux in toluene in the presence of KOH powder and the phase-transfer catalyst (TEBA-Cl) afforded the tricyclic sulfone.
A semi-mechanistic seasonal temperature-profile model (STM) for the period of stratification in dimictic lakes
Authors: Minns Charles K. , Shuter Brian J.
Published: December 2012

A semi-mechanistic seasonal temperature-profile model (STM) for stratified lakes was successfully tested with six Ontario data sets. The STM has eight parameters: the days of year for the start and end of stratification and the midsummer surface temperature peak ([Formula: see text]); the temperature at the onset and end of stratification and [Formula: see text]; the seasonal development of the thermocline depth (two parameters); and the steepness of the depth transition from epilimnion to hypolimnion. The STM was fitted using nonlinear least squares with R2 ranging from 0.91 to 0.99 and root mean square errors of 0.80 to 1.42 °C. Residuals were evenly distributed with respect to date and depth with 69.4% to 95.9% ± 1.0 °C. On average, observed-estimated temperature differences range from –0.24 to –0.03 °C and +0.16 to +0.37 °C for estimated temperatures of 5 and 25 °C, respectively. Simulations with daily data sets showed the STM fit was insensitive to reductions in the length of sampling duration and sampling frequency. Several STM parameters were well-estimated by published equations based on morphometric, climatic, and location variables.
Beneficial influence of fungal metabolite nigerloxin on diabetes-induced oxidative stress in experimental rats
Authors: Suresha Bharathinagar S. , Vasantha Kuntavalli Y. , Sattur Avinash P. , Srinivasan Krishnapura
Published: December 2012

Oxidative stress plays a key role in the progression of diabetes and its complications. In this study, the beneficial influence of the fungal metabolite nigerloxin, a new aldose reductase inhibitor and a free-radical scavenger, was investigated on oxidative stress in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Groups of diabetic rats were orally administered nigerloxin for 30 days at a dose of 25 and 100 mg·(kg body mass)−1·day−1. Diabetic rats showed significantly increased lipid peroxide levels in blood and liver, which was accompanied by lowered concentrations of antioxidant molecules and activities of antioxidant enzymes in blood and liver. Administration of nigerloxin for 30 days at a daily dose of 100 mg∙(kg body mass)–1to diabetic rats significantly decreased plasma and liver lipid peroxides, elevated the nonenzymatic antioxidants ascorbic acid, reduced glutathione, and total thiols, and elevated the activities of antioxidant enzymes in blood and liver. Nigerloxin showed a tendency to counter lipid abnormalities in diabetic animals, while fasting glucose and body mass were unaffected by nigerloxin treatment. Thus, this animal study has indicated the beneficial influence of nigerloxin on oxidative stress associated with diabetes that may have an implication in delaying or ameliorating the secondary complications.
High-tide flight by wintering Dunlins (Calidris alpina): a weather-dependent trade-off between energy loss and predation risk
Authors: Dekker Dick
Published: December 2012

Migratory shorebirds wintering or staging on ocean coasts collect at high tide on roosting sites that remain above the flood line. However, some species of Calidris sandpipers spend the high-tide interval in flight over the ocean. In the winters of 2006–2012, the characteristics of high-tide flight by Dunlins (Calidris alpina (L., 1758)) were studied at Boundary Bay, British Columbia, Canada. At wind speeds of 1–6 m/s, flocks of Dunlins remained airborne over the ocean for up to 4 h at altitudes of >30 m. If winds were >10 m/s, the Dunlins coursed low over the waves. Ambient temperature was a significant determinant in the occurrence and duration of high-tide flight. In October and November, the Dunlins spent just as much time in flight before as after high tide, but in January, flight duration was 43% shorter after high tide than before high tide. The mean January temperatures were significantly lower than in October and November. The Dunlins were hunted by Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus Tunstall, 1771), which captured 81 prey in 494 attacks. The maximum kill rate of 0.28 captures per hour of observation was recorded in the second hour after high tide, which suggests that predation risk is greatest for Dunlins that return early from high-tide flight.
MULTIPLE RELEASES OF k-ANONYMOUS DATA SETS AND k-ANONYMOUS RELATIONAL DATABASES
Authors: STOKES KLARA , TORRA VICENÇ
Published: December 2012

In data privacy, the evaluation of the disclosure risk has to take into account the fact that several releases of the same or similar information about a population are common. In this paper we discuss this issue within the scope of k-anonymity. We also show how this issue is related to the publication of privacy protected databases that consist of linked tables. We present algorithms for the implementation of k-anonymity for this type of data.
SENSITIVITY-INDEPENDENT DIFFERENTIAL PRIVACY VIA PRIOR KNOWLEDGE REFINEMENT
Authors: SORIA-COMAS JORDI , DOMINGO-FERRER JOSEP
Published: December 2012

We propose a new mechanism to implement differential privacy. Unlike the usual mechanism based on adding a noise whose magnitude is proportional to the sensitivity of the query function, our proposal is based on the refinement of the user's prior knowledge about the response. Our mechanism is shown to have several advantages over noise addition: it does not require complex computations, and thus it can be easily automated; it lets the user exploit her prior knowledge about the response to achieve better data quality; and it is independent of the sensitivity of the query function (although this can be a disadvantage if the sensitivity is small). Furthermore, we give a general algorithm for knowledge refinement and we show some compounding properties of our mechanism for the case of multiple queries; also, we build an interactive mechanism on top of knowledge refinement and we show that it is safe against adaptive attacks. Finally, we give a quality assessment for the responses to individual queries.
A METRIC TO EVALUATE INTERACTION OBFUSCATION IN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS
Authors: BALSA ERO , TRONCOSO CARMELA , DIAZ CLAUDIA
Published: December 2012

Online social networks (OSNs) have become one of the main communication channels in today's information society, and their emergence has raised new privacy concerns. The content uploaded to OSNs (such as pictures, status updates, comments) is by default available to the OSN provider, and often to other people to whom the user who uploaded the content did not intend to give access. A different class of concerns relates to sensitive information that can be inferred from the behavior of users. For example, the analysis of user interactions augments social network graphs with potentially privacy-sensitive details on the nature of social relations, such as the strength of user relationships. A solution to prevent such inferences is to automatically generate dummy interactions that obfuscate the real interactions between OSN users. Given an adversary that observes the obfuscated interactions, the goal is to prevent the adversary from recovering parameters of interest (e.g., relationships strength) that accurately describe the real user interactions. The design and evaluation of obfuscation strategies requires metrics that express the level of protection they would offer when deployed in a particular OSN with its underlying user interaction patterns. In this paper we propose mutual information as obfuscation metric. It measures the amount of information leaked by the (observable) obfuscated interactions in the system on the (concealed) real interactions between users. We show that the metric is suitable for comparing different obfuscation strategies, and flexible to accommodate different network topologies and user communication patterns. Obfuscation comes at the cost of network overhead, and the proposed metric contributes to enabling the optimization of strategies to achieve good levels of privacy protection at minimum overhead. We provide a detailed methodology to compute the metric and perform experiments that illustrate its suitability.
STATISTICAL DEPENDENCE AS THE BASIS FOR A PRIVACY MEASURE FOR MICRODATA RELEASE
Authors: MURALIDHAR KRISHNAMURTY , SARATHY RATHINDRA
Published: December 2012

Government agencies and other organizations commonly release or share microdata for purposes of analysis. In many cases, microdata release needs to preserve the privacy of individuals and/or sensitive attributes. Current measures of privacy of released microdata are often based on empirical assessments of identity and value disclosure. The disadvantage of empirical assessments of privacy is that their results cannot be generalized with confidence across datasets or protection methods. While theoretical definitions of privacy are available for other methods of data release such as query-response output perturbation systems, they are unsuitable for the microdata release context. This study proposes a theoretical basis for measuring privacy in the microdata release context based on statistical dependence. Using this theoretical basis, we develop practical privacy measures that possess several desirable properties, including generalizability. We illustrate the conceptual benefits of this approach and also show that a privacy measure based on statistical dependence can be used effectively for assessing privacy in microdata
DENSITY FUNCTIONAL STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF THE SUBSTITUENTS ON THE CHEMICAL REACTIVITY OF THE INDIGO MOLECULE
Authors: CERVANTES-NAVARRO FRANCISCO , GLOSSMAN-MITNIK DANIEL
Published: December 2012

This theoretical work applied density functional theory (DFT) to study the ground state of the indigo molecule and the effects of substituents. B3LYP was employed with the 6-31G[d,p] basis set. The obtained energies were used to describe the local reactivity [Δf(r)]. The effects of the substituents on the local reactivity were dependent on the molecular positions of the substituents.
QUASI-CLASSICAL TRAJECTORY STUDY OF THE REACTION N + NH (v = 0–3, j=0) → N2 + H
Authors: XU ZHENYU , WANG YUNHUI , LU RUIFENG
Published: December 2012

The quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) calculations have been carried out for the reaction N + NH (v = 0–3, j=0) → N2 + H on the ground state of double many-body expansion (DMBE) potential energy surface [Caridade, PJSB, Poveda LA, Rodrigues SPJ, Varandas AJC, J Phys Chem A111:1172, 2007]. The influence of reagent vibrational excitation on reaction probability for total angular momentum J = 0 and integral cross section (ICS) at collision energies ranging from 0.1 eV to 1.0 eV has been investigated. The reaction probability tends to decrease with increasing collision energy and increase with the rising of initial vibration state, although some fluctuations appear. The ICS declines monotonously with the increase of collision energy and v. The product rotational alignment factor 〈P2(j′•k)〉 has also been calculated, and its value has a declining trend with the increase of collision energy. In spite of that, the results still show that the product is highly aligned. In addition, the vibrational excitation effect on the product polarization has also been studied. All the distributions of P(ϕr), P(θr), and the generalized polarization dependent differential cross sections indicate dependent behaviors on v.
LUMINESCENT SILICON NANOSTRUCTURES VIA TIN OXIDE DOPING
Authors: RANI J. R. , MAHADEVAN PILLAI V. P. , ANOOP G. , GOPAL MEERA , GANESAN V.
Published: December 2012

Tin oxide ( SnO2 )-doped Si nanorings of diameter in the range of 100 nm to 170 nm with an average width of 25 nm are synthesized by off-axis laser ablation (PLD) and are characterized by different techniques. The AFM observations show that the surface morphological features of films depend on the tin oxide concentration. The bandgap energies of undoped quantum dots are found to be 2.29 eV, while it decreases to 2.15 eV and 1.5 eV for 3 wt.% and 0.1 wt.% SnO2 -doped samples, respectively. The increase in the value of bandgap energy can be attributed to size reduction of particles. The Raman spectra of SnO2 -doped films are characterized by a broad Raman band with intensity maximum around 478 cm-1. Raman spectrum shows frequency shift which may be due to changes in the Si – O bond length or Si – O – Si bond angle. The activation energy at higher temperature is found to be 16.99 meV for 3 SnSi 209, 21 meV for 0.1 SnSi 209 and 18.1 meV for undoped silicon which shows that defect levels are present in all the samples, the conduction is due to the presence of holes. The synthesized films exhibit PL peak in the visible region. The PL emission peak and PL intensity depend on dopants and it is concluded that luminescence does not originate from localized states in gap but from extended states. The size and shape of nanostructures depend on the SnO2 concentration and the doping effects can be used as a significant guideline for tuning the electronic and optical properties of Si .
INDEPENDENT GROWTH OF LARGE SCALE CdS NANOROD ARRAYS ON DIFFERENT INTERFACES WITH EFFICIENT PHOTOELECTRICAL PERFORMANCE
Authors: LUO BINGWEI , DENG YUAN , WANG YAO , SHI YONGMING , CAO LILI , ZHU WEI
Published: December 2012

Large-scale CdS nanorod arrays have been prepared directly by a simple one-step and non-template magnetron sputtering method on different substrates. Parallel and uniform CdS nanorods with diameters ∼ 70 nm were self-assembled with (00l) orientation regardless of the substrate. The CdS nanorod arrays showed high open-circuit photovoltage, short-circuit photocurrent intensity and excellent photosensitivity properties with a switching "ON/OFF" ratio as high as 60. This study provides a simple strategy to grow CdS nanorod arrays without the constraints introduced by the substrate and opens a new potential for the application of CdS nanorod arrays in photodetectors and nanostructured solar energy conversion devices.
Graph-Based Software Design for Managing Complexity and Enabling Concurrency in Multiphysics PDE Software
Authors: Notz Patrick K. , Pawlowski Roger P. , Sutherland James C.
Published: December 2012

Multiphysics simulation software is plagued by complexity stemming from nonlinearly coupled systems of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). Such software typically supports many models, which may require different transport equations, constitutive laws, and equations of state. Strong coupling and a multiplicity of models leads to complex algorithms (i.e., the properly ordered sequence of steps to assemble a discretized set of coupled PDEs) and rigid software.

This work presents a design strategy that shifts focus away from high-level algorithmic concerns to low-level data dependencies. Mathematical expressions are represented as software objects that directly expose data dependencies. The entire system of expressions forms a directed acyclic graph and the high-level assembly algorithm is generated automatically through standard graph algorithms. This approach makes problems with complex dependencies entirely tractable, and removes virtually all logic from the algorithm itself. Changes are highly localized, allowing developers to implement models without detailed understanding of any algorithms (i.e., the overall assembly process). Furthermore, this approach complements existing MPI-based frameworks and can be implemented within them easily.

Finally, this approach enables algorithmic parallelization via threads. By exposing dependencies in the algorithm explicitly, thread-based parallelism is implemented through algorithm decomposition, providing a basis for exploiting parallelism independent from domain decomposition approaches.
PyDEC
Authors: Bell Nathan , Hirani Anil N.
Published: December 2012

This article describes the algorithms, features, and implementation of PyDEC, a Python library for computations related to the discretization of exterior calculus. PyDEC facilitates inquiry into both physical problems on manifolds as well as purely topological problems on abstract complexes. We describe efficient algorithms for constructing the operators and objects that arise in discrete exterior calculus, lowest-order finite element exterior calculus, and in related topological problems. Our algorithms are formulated in terms of high-level matrix operations which extend to arbitrary dimension. As a result, our implementations map well to the facilities of numerical libraries such as NumPy and SciPy. The availability of such libraries makes Python suitable for prototyping numerical methods. We demonstrate how PyDEC is used to solve physical and topological problems through several concise examples.
Leveraging Diverse Lexical Resources for Textual Entailment Recognition
Authors: Watanabe Yotaro , Mizuno Junta , Nichols Eric , Narisawa Katsuma , Nabeshima Keita , Okazaki Naoaki , Inui Kentaro
Published: December 2012

Since the problem of textual entailment recognition requires capturing semantic relations between diverse expressions of language, linguistic and world knowledge play an important role. In this article, we explore the effectiveness of different types of currently available resources including synonyms, antonyms, hypernym-hyponym relations, and lexical entailment relations for the task of textual entailment recognition. In order to do so, we develop an entailment relation recognition system which utilizes diverse linguistic analyses and resources to align the linguistic units in a pair of texts and identifies entailment relations based on these alignments. We use the Japanese subset of the NTCIR-9 RITE-1 dataset for evaluation and error analysis, conducting ablation testing and evaluation on hand-crafted alignment gold standard data to evaluate the contribution of individual resources. Error analysis shows that existing knowledge sources are effective for RTE, but that their coverage is limited, especially for domain-specific and other low-frequency expressions. To increase alignment coverage on such expressions, we propose a method of
alignment inference
that uses syntactic and semantic dependency information to identify likely alignments without relying on external resources. Evaluation adding alignment inference to a system using all available knowledge sources shows improvements in both precision and recall of entailment relation recognition.
Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering on Biological Macromolecules and Nanocomposites in Solution
Authors: Blanchet Clement E. , Svergun Dmitri I.
Published: December 2012

Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) is a powerful method to study the structural properties of materials at the nanoscale. Recent progress in instrumentation and analysis methods has led to rapidly growing applications of this technique for the characterization of biological macromolecules in solution. Ab initio and rigid-body modeling methods allow one to build three-dimensional, low-resolution models from SAXS data. With the new approaches, oligomeric states of proteins and macromolecular complexes can be assessed, chemical equilibria and kinetic reactions can be studied, and even flexible objects such as intrinsically unfolded proteins can be quantitatively characterized. This review describes the analysis methods of SAXS data from macromolecular solutions, ranging from the computation of overall structural parameters to advanced three-dimensional modeling. The efficiency of these methods is illustrated by recent applications to biological macromolecules and nanocomposite particles.
Vitamin B-6 restriction impairs fatty acid synthesis in cultured human hepatoma (HepG2) cells
Authors: Zhao Mei , Ralat Maria A. , da Silva Vanessa , Garrett Timothy J. , Melnyk Stephan , James S. Jill , Gregory Jesse F.
Published: December 2012

Vitamin B-6 deficiency has been reported to alter n-6 and n-3 fatty acid profiles in plasma and tissue lipids; however, the mechanisms underlying such metabolic changes remain unclear. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of vitamin B-6 restriction on fatty acid profiles and fatty acid synthesis in HepG2 cells. Cells were cultured for 6 wk in media with four different vitamin B-6 concentrations (10, 20, 50, and 2,000 nM added pyridoxal, representing deficient, marginal, adequate, and supraphysiological conditions) that induced a range of steady-state cellular concentrations of pyridoxal phosphate. Total cellular lipid content was greatest in the deficient (10 nM pyridoxal) medium. The percentage of arachidonic acid and the ratio of arachidonic acid to linoleic acid in the total lipid fraction were ∼15% lower in vitamin B-6-restricted cells, which suggests that vitamin B-6 restriction affects n-6 fatty acid interconversions. Metabolic flux studies indicated significantly lower fractional synthesis rate of oleic acid and arachidonic acid at 10, 20, and 50 nM pyridoxal, whereas that of eicosapentaenoic acid was lower in the cells cultured in 10 nM pyridoxal. Additionally, relative mRNA expressions of Δ5 and Δ6 desaturases were 40–50% lower in vitamin B-6-restricted cells. Overall, these findings suggest that vitamin B-6 restriction alters unsaturated fatty acid synthesis, particularly n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid synthesis. These results and observations of changes in human plasma fatty acid profiles caused by vitamin B-6 restriction suggest a mechanism by which vitamin B-6 inadequacy influences the cardiovascular risk.
Functional genomics of the rat neuromedin U receptor 1 reveals a naturally occurring deleterious allele
Authors: Panetta Rosemarie , Meury Luc , Cao Chang Qing , Puma Carole , Mennicken Françoise , Cassar Paul A. , Laird Jennifer , Groblewski Thierry
Published: December 2012

Neuromedin U (NMU) plays an important role in a number of physiological processes, but the relative contribution of its two known receptors, NMUR1 and NMUR2, is still poorly understood. Here we report the existence of a SNP T1022→A (Val341→Glu) in the third exon of the rat Nmur1 gene that leads to an inactive receptor. This SNP is present within the coding region of the highly conserved NPXXY motif found within all class A type G protein-coupled receptors and translates to an NMUR1 receptor that is not expressed on the cell surface. Genetic analysis of the Nmur1 gene in a population of Sprague-Dawley rats revealed that this strain is highly heterogeneous for the inactivating polymorphism. The loss of functional NMUR1 receptors in Sprague-Dawley rats homozygous for the inactive allele was confirmed by radioligand binding studies on native tissue expressing NMUR1. The physiological relevance of this functional genomics finding was examined in two nociceptive response models. The pronociceptive effects of NMU were abolished in rats lacking functional NMUR1 receptors. The existence of naturally occurring NMUR1-deficient rats provides a novel and powerful tool to investigate the physiological role of NMU and its receptors. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of verifying the NMUR1 single nucleotide polymorphism status for rats used in physiological, pharmacological or toxicological studies conducted with NMUR1 modulators.
Artificial Intelligence in Civil Engineering
Authors: Lu Pengzhen , Chen Shengyong , Zheng Yujun
Published: December 2012

Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science, involved in the research, design, and application of intelligent computer. Traditional methods for modeling and optimizing complex structure systems require huge amounts of computing resources, and artificial‐intelligence‐based solutions can often provide valuable alternatives for efficiently solving problems in the civil engineering. This paper summarizes recently developed methods and theories in the developing direction for applications of artificial intelligence in civil engineering, including evolutionary computation, neural networks, fuzzy systems, expert system, reasoning, classification, and learning, as well as others like chaos theory, cuckoo search, firefly algorithm, knowledge‐based engineering, and simulated annealing. The main research trends are also pointed out in the end. The paper provides an overview of the advances of artificial intelligence applied in civil engineering.
CES as an Efficient Natural Catalyst for Synthesis of Schiff Bases under Solvent-Free Conditions: An Innovative Green Approach
Authors: Patil Suresh , Jadhav S. D. , Shinde S. K.
Published: December 2012

A mild and efficient method has been reported for the preparation of Schiff base ligands through the condensation reaction of various aromatic aldehydes with substituted aromatic amines in the presence of CES (calcined eggshell) as a heterogeneous catalyst under solvent-free conditions. The advantages of this ecofriendly, economic method are simplicity of the reaction procedure, moderate to good product yields, and very short reaction times.
A New Hybrid Method Logistic Regression and Feedforward Neural Network for Lung Cancer Data
Authors: Tunç Taner
Published: December 2012

Logistic regression (LR) is a conventional statistical technique used for data classification problem. Logistic regression is a model‐based method, and it uses nonlinear model structure. Another technique used for classification is feedforward artificial neural networks. Feedforward artificial neural network is a data‐based method which can model nonlinear models through its activation function. In this study, a hybrid approach of model‐based logistic regression technique and data‐based artificial neural network was proposed for classification purposes. The proposed approach was applied to lung cancer data, and obtained results were compared. It was seen that the proposed hybrid approach was superior to logistic regression and feedforward artificial neural networks with respect to many criteria.
Exploring the Mechanism of Microarteriogenesis in Porous Silk Fibroin Film
Authors: Bai Lun , Wang Guangqian , Tan Xiaoyan , Xu Jianmei
Published: December 2012

Purpose. Based on the experiment of the microarteriogenesis that is associated with angiogenesis during tissue repair process in porous silk fibroin films (PSFFs), we investigate the characteristics of micro-arteriogenesis and explore its mechanism.Methods. After the porous silk fibroin materials are implanted into the back hypodermal tissue of SD rats, the arteriole development and the morphogenesis of smooth muscle cell are histologically monitored and the micro-arteriogenesis is quantitatively analyzed.Results. 10 days after implantation, the arteriole density reaches the highest level in the junction of silk fibroin materials with tissues. Three weeks later, the arteriolar density in the materials reaches the maximum, and the arterioles in the junction of materials with tissues appear to be in a mature and upgrading state.Modeling of Microarteriogenesis. The arterioles in materials are generated after capillary angiogenesis. It is inferred that arteriolar development does not start until the network of the capillaries is formed. At first, the arterioles grow in the conjunct area of precapillaries with arterioles. Then with the extension of the arterioles, the upgrade of arterioles in connecting area is observed at a later stage. Based on the observation, the conditions and the mechanism of microarterializations as well as the upgrade of arterioles are analyzed.
The Study of Teacher Efficacy in Hong Kong Sub-Degree Sector
Authors: Lam Wai-Hung
Published: December 2012

Introduction. Sub-degree sector is rising in Hong Kong. The number of enrolled students was over 50000 in 2011. Students’ characteristics and teachers’ roles in the sub-degree sector are different from other sectors. It was important to investigate the factors related with teacher efficacy of sub-degree teachers.Method. Sixty sub-degree teachers were surveyed, and 58 of them were valid (33 males and 25 females). The questionnaire contained three teacher efficacy scales: Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES) (short form), Bandura’s Instrument Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES), and Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSoES) and an instrument of self-rating’s levels of concerns.Results. The teacher efficacy scales were found to be reliable in the sub-degree sector. The levels of education and educational trainings were not found to be related with any teacher efficacy scales. Level of concerns of teacher efficacy was found to be significant related with TSES’ efficacy to influence parental involvement and ToSES’s instruction strategies.Conclusion. This study found that educational trainings and levels of educations were not related with teacher efficacy and could persuade institutes not to view educational backgrounds as the most influencing factor in employment selections and design better staff developments instead of only sponsoring teachers to pursue further studies.
Guillain-Barré Syndrome after H1N1 Shot in Pregnancy: Maternal and Fetal Care in the Third Trimester—Case Report
Authors: Campanharo Felipe Favorette , Santana Eduardo Felix Martins , Sarmento Stephanno Gomes Pereira , Mattar Rosiane , Sun Sue Yazaki , Moron Antonio Fernandes
Published: December 2012

Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare neurological disease of progressive installation, usually following a previous acute infectious state, has a rare incidence, especially in pregnancy, and can induce major complications and high mortality risk. Its occurrence, after immunization to influenza during the last trimester pregnancy, has not been reported before. We presented a case of a 36-year-old pregnant woman that was immunized to H1N1 in the last trimester; 10 days later she developed shoulder and lumbar spine's pain, limbs weakness and facial paralysis with unfavorable clinical evolution and was submitted to intensive therapy care. We described clinical and obstetrical approach, pointing out peculiarities involved in this pathology in pregnancy.
A Note on Fourth Order Method for Doubly Singular Boundary Value Problems
Authors: Pandey R. K. , Gupta G. K.
Published: December 2012

We present a fourth order finite difference method for doubly singular boundary value problem (p(x)y′(x))′=q(x)f(x,y),  00),  β(≥0),  γ and A are finite constants. Here p(0)=0 and q(x) is allowed to be discontinuous at the singular point x=0. The method is based on uniform mesh. The accuracy of the method is established under quite general conditions and also corroborated through one numerical example.
Outcome Inelasticity and Outcome Variability in Behaviour-Incidence Models: An Example from an SEIR Infection on a Dynamic Network
Authors: Morsky Bryce , Bauch Chris T.
Published: December 2012

Behavior-incidence models have been used to model phenomena such as free-riding vaccinating behavior, where nonvaccinators free ride on herd immunity generated by vaccinators. Here, we develop and analyze a simulation model of voluntary ring vaccination on an evolving social contact network. Individuals make vaccination decisions by examining their expected payoffs, which are influenced by the infection status of their neighbors. We find that stochasticity can make outcomes extremely variable (near critical thresholds) and thus unpredictable: some stochastic realizations result in rapid control through ring vaccination while others result in widespread transmission. We also explore the phenomenon of outcome inelasticity, wherein behavioral responses result in certain outcome measures remaining relatively unchanged. Finally, we explore examples where ineffective or risky vaccines are more widely adopted than safe, effective vaccines. This occurs when such a vaccine is unattractive to a sufficient number of contacts of an index case to cause failure of ring vaccination. As a result, the infection percolates through the entire network, causing the final epidemic size and vaccine coverage to be higher than would otherwise occur. Effects such as extreme outcome variability and outcome inelasticity have implications for vaccination policies that depend on individual choice for their success and predictability.