bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Context Management Platform for Tourism Applications
Authors: Buján David , Martín David , Torices Ortzi , López-de-Ipiña Diego , Lamsfus Carlos , Abaitua Joseba , Alzua-Sorzabal Aurkene
Published: June 2013

The notion of context has been widely studied and there are several authors that have proposed different definitions of context. However, context has not been widely studied in the framework of human mobility and the notion of context has been imported directly from other computing fields without specifically addressing the tourism domain requirements. In order to store and manage context information a context data model and a context management platform are needed. Ontologies have been widely used in context modelling, but many of them are designed to be applied in general ubiquitous computing environments, do not contain specific concepts related to the tourism domain or some approaches do not contain enough concepts to represent context information related to the visitor on the move. That is why we propose a new approach to provide a better solution to model context data in tourism environments, adding more value to our solution reusing data about tourist resources from an Open Data repository and publishing it as Linked Data. We also propose the architecture for a context information management platform based on this context data model.
La fortification des Croisés au temps de Saint Louis au Proche-Orient
Authors: Mesqui Jean
Published: June 2013

Dieser Artikel hat zum Ziel, eine Übersicht über die Eigenscharten der Militararchitektur zu bieten, die im 13. Jahrhundert im Vorderen Orient von den Kreuzfahrern entwickelt wurde. Er legt die großen Tendenzen dieser Architektur dar und ordnet sie ein in den Zusammenhang der gleichzeitig in Europa entwickelten Architektur. Ihm folgt ein summarisches Inventar der Orte Syriens, des Libanon und Israels, an denen sich noch bedeutsame architektonische Elemente dieser Epoche befinden.
Les murailles d'Acre franque
Authors: Kedar Benjamin Z.
Published: June 2013

The walls of the Frankish city of Acre, by Benjamin Z. Kedar

An examination ot the historical maps ot Frankish Acre proposed over the past 150 years reveals that the location of the city's outer walls remains an enigma. This is so because Acres outer walls have never been excavated and the location of its northern and eastern quarters has not been known. A systematic scrutiny of the relevant medieval texts, of hitherto unassociated archaeological finds, of a painting prepared by a French expedition in about 1686, of a portolan chart of ca. 1707, of plans drawn by Richard Pococke in 1738 and Carsten Niebuhr in 1766 and by Napoleon Bonaparte's engi- neers in 1799, as well as of travelers' accounts and aerial photographs, have allowed to offer a hypothesized course of Acre's walls.
Le château d'Arsur : forteresse côtière pentagonale du type concentrique du milieu du XIII ème siècle
Authors: Roll Israël , Arubas Benjamin
Published: June 2013

Die Burg von Arsuf : fünfeckige Küstenfestung des konzentrischen Typs aus der Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts, von Israël Roll und Benjamin Arubas

Die Kreuzfahrerfestung ist das bedeutendste architektonische Ensemble, das auf dem archäologischen Gelande von Apollonia/Arsuf entdeckt wurde, das etwa 15 km nördlich von Tel Aviv auf einer Klippe über dem Mittelmeer über einem natürlichen Hafen liegt. Es ist eine komplexe, konzentrische Anlage, die aus vielfältigen Elementen besteht und aur mehreren Ebenen angelegt ist.

Ihre Befestigung bestand aus einem gestarrelten Verteidigungssystem, das von außen nach innen geht. Ihre erste Verteidigung wurde von einem breiten und tiefen Graben gebildet, der die äußere Befestigung umgab und schützte ; diese wiederum schützte die Hauptbefestigung, die die Innenraume umgab. Der Gesamtplan der Bauten, die innerhalb des Grabens lagen, war fünfeckig, ein Faktor, der Einfluss aur die Form des Innenhofes und des Donjons hatte. Der Donjon war selbst als solcher kein befestigtes Element, sondern überragte das Ganze und war so ein Bestandteil des Befestigungssystems. Das Tor in der Hauptmauer bestand aus einem gepflasterten Durchgang, der mit Installationen zum Verschließen versehen war und von zwei mehrgeschossigen, halbrunden Türmen flankiert wurde. Dieses Tor gehört zu einem Typ von Berestigungswerken, die zur Zeit der Kreuzzüge in Israël kein zweites Mal zu finden sind. In Frankreich und England hingegen waren Tore dieses Typs sehr verbreitet. Der Höhepunkt dieses Torverteidigungssystems ist in Europa im 13. Jahrhundert zu finden. Man kann daraus schliefien, dass das Tor wie auch die Festung von Arsuf insgesamt nicht nur eine Lebensweise und ein Verteidigungskonzept widerspiegeln, sondern vor allem eine Vorstellung von der westlichen Welt.
Les vestiges de l'église franque de Séphorie
Authors: Grabiner Esther
Published: June 2013

Les vestiges de l'église de Séphorie constituent l'un des meilleurs témoignages de sanctification monumentale d'un lieu dans le royaume latin de Jérusalem. Les parties conservées - le chevet et les murs latéraux de la dernière travée de la nef- sont caractéristiques de l'architecture du premier royaume franc. Le plan de l'église, l'intégration du rocher dans sa construction, comme l'utilisation conjointe d'arcs brisés et d'arcs en plein cintre, les piliers et la modénature et le décor des chapiteaux, ou encore le remploi occasionnel d'éléments antiques, témoignent de la diversité des sources d'inspiration. L'importance de Séphorie tant du point de vue militaire que religieux, tient non seulement à sa position géographique, mais à sa proximité avec un haut- lieu de pèlerinage, Nazareth. Etape sur la route entre Acre et Nazareth, Séphorie avait à son tour acquis un statut de site de pèlerinage qui légitimait sa sainteté.
Deregulation of HER2 Downstream Signaling in Breast Cancer Cells by a Cocktail of Anti-HER2 scFvs
Authors: Nejatollahi Foroogh , Ranjbar Reza , Younesi Vahid , Asgharpour Mahdi
Published: June 2013

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is overexpressed in 30% of patients with breast cancer. HER2 targeting is the mainstay of targeted therapy for the treatment of invasive breast cancers. Due to biological and therapeutic advantages, single chain fragment variable (scFv) antibodies have emerged as promising alternative therapeutics. In this study, we assessed the capability of three scFvs against HER2 extracellular domains (II, III, IV) in deregulation of some key signaling mediators that have important roles in growth, survival, angiogenesis, and cell migration of breast tumor cells. Downregulation of activated Akt (p-Akt), increase of p27 protein levels, and downregulation of HER1, HER2, HER3 and epidermal growth factor (EGF), CXCR3, CXCL10, and MMP2 were observed following treatment of breast cancer cells (SKBR3 cell line) with the scFvs and their combination. Our results suggest that the combination of the three scFvs could be considered as an effective cocktail on HER2 tumorgenic signaling pathways that leads to tumor growth suppression and death.
An Effective Approach for Evaluating Usability of Web Sites
Authors: Aydogan Emel Kizilkaya , Delice Elif Kilic , Papajorgji Petraq
Published: June 2013

University Websites have been one of the important Websites for students, university personnel, and researchers. However, usability has long been a major concern within Websites. This chapter develops an evaluation approach using usability criteria and the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) for the comparison of Websites in a fuzzy environment. Firstly, alternative Websites are examined by experts using usability criteria in the literature. Then, FAHP is used to determine the usability criteria weights from subjective and imprecise judgments of the experts. Finally, Websites are compared based on usability criteria weights.
Conventional and Non-Conventional Data Modeling
Authors: Vaz Maria Salete Marcon Gomes , de Souza Lucélia
Published: June 2013

The modeling of database applications involves deciding on how to represent the project in real-world objects. The data modeling process corresponds to a set of conceptual tools to describe data, its relationships, its semantics, and constraints of consistency. This process involves the steps related to the identification of requisites, conceptual modeling of data, conventional modeling, and non-conventional modeling of objects, and its relationships. In the conceptual modeling, where there is no need to specify the methods and data flow, objects and their relationships are defined. In conventional modeling, in the mapping of the conceptual model (Entity/Relationship) to the logical model (Relational) conversion rules are applied. However, there are non-conventional resources with the ability to create and use data types based on a grouping of other data types. The user-defined objects can be defined and used like any other data type. This chapter describes the process of mapping the relational model for the object-relational modeling, using a practical application in agricultural context, but it should be noted that the methodology is applicable to any area of knowledge.
Review of Web-Based Research in Health Care for Georgia
Authors: Wood Joseph C. , Romaner Kim Marcille , Stachura Max E. , Wood Elena A. , Angjellari-Dajci Fjorentina , Kung LeeAnn , Lawless William F.
Published: June 2013

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become distinguished from Information Technology in that ICT extends specifically beyond technology to its use with critical organizational skills, the skills across a market segment, or across a system of organizations. In this chapter, the authors begin to apply social interdependence theory to their interest in the technologies and techniques that increase both knowledge and social welfare (e.g., ICT), in particular the application of metrics to organizational performance. In this chapter, they address ICT in our research as it is applied to Telemedicine, eHealth, and e-Institutional Review Boards (eIRBs) for healthcare in Georgia.
Advances in Robot Surgery
Authors: Frumento Silvia , Razzoli Roberto P. , Cepolina Francesco E.
Published: June 2013

Mini-invasive surgery deserves increasing attention to lower the post-operative stay in hospital and lessen falls-off complications. This leads to the trends in robots, as innovative integrated computer-aided implements. Out of front-end haptic effectors, the background support is turning to inclusive on-duty functions, e.g., surgical planners, operation assistants, etc., making possible the rethinking of protocols to progressively embed the innovations offered by the micro- and nano-technologies. The chapter brings in surgical robotics, with focus on technology and design issues of the remote-mode operation assistants. The investigation leads to define the technical characteristics of a CRHA, Co-Robotic Handling Appliance, to be purposely developed, to support the duty-split approach surgical planner. The expected features are outlined, including analysis of operation potential of special-purpose contrivances (i.e., automatic changing device of the surgical tools) and of scope-driven enhancers (i.e., exploration of the intervention theatre, IT).
An Empirical Study of Patient Willingness to Use Self-Service Technologies in the Healthcare Context
Authors: Cohen Jason F. , Bancilhon Jean-Marie , Sergay Shaun
Published: June 2013

Self-Service Technologies (SSTs) enable consumers to produce services independent of direct employee involvement. The successful introduction of SSTs into healthcare and the realisation of their benefits will however lie in their acceptance by patients. This chapter outlines the advantages and disadvantages of one type of SST, namely self-service hospital kiosks, and presents results of an empirical study carried out on the willingness of patients to use them. Data was collected from 192 patients attending two private healthcare clinics in Johannesburg, South Africa. Results show that patients are most willing to use kiosk technologies for administrative rather than diagnostic or treatment-related services. Moreover, the authors find that technology anxiety, self-efficacy beliefs, trust, and need for interaction are important antecedents to the formulation of performance and effort expectancies and the willingness of patients to use kiosk technology. Results have implications for healthcare providers looking to improve the success of their SST applications.
Operating Room Management in Health Care
Authors: Ozkarahan Irem , Edis Emrah B. , Ozfirat Pinar Mizrak
Published: June 2013

Surgical units are generally the most costly and least utilized units of hospitals. In order to provide higher utilization rates of surgical units, scheduling of operating rooms should be done effectively. Inefficient or inaccurate scheduling of operating room time often results in delays of surgery or cancellations of procedures, which are costly to the patient and the hospital. Therefore, operating room scheduling and management problems have been an important area of research both for operations researchers and artificial intelligence researchers since the 1960s. In this chapter, the operations research and artificial intelligence solutions developed for operating room scheduling problems in the operational level are examined and discussed. The studies are classified according to the approaches employed. The chapter is aimed to be helpful for researchers who are willing to make contributions in this area as well as the practitioners who are looking for efficient and effective ways to handle the operating room management problem of their own.
ICT in Healthcare Management, Developments, and Applications in Turkish Health Sector
Authors: Suder Asli , Durucu Murat
Published: June 2013

Information and communication technologies are radically changing the way that healthcare is delivered with the development of e-Health among the most remarkable changes. It plays an increasingly important role in delivering healthcare. Information and communication technology has the potential to effectively support the complexities involved in the communication that takes place both amongst healthcare professionals and their patients in the developed and developing countries. The aim of the chapter is to analyze the recent situation in healthcare management and information communication technology applications in the health industry. This chapter examines the challenges involved in human interaction and a clinical information system and allows for richer communication between the patient and those involved in their health.
Improving Project Management of Healthcare Projects through Knowledge Elicitation
Authors: Mendes Emilia
Published: June 2013

This chapter describes a case study where Bayesian Networks (BNs) were used to construct an expert-based software effort and risk prediction model for use by a large healthcare organisation in Auckland (New Zealand) to manage healthcare software projects delivered on the Web. This model was solely elicited from expert knowledge, with the participation of seven project managers, and was validated using data from 22 past finished projects. The model led to numerous changes in process and also in business. The company adapted their existing effort and risk management process to be in line with the model that was created, and the use of a mathematically based model also led to an increase in the number of projects being outsourced to this company by other company branches worldwide. Their predictions improved significantly too. The results suggest that the use of a model that allows the representation of uncertainty, inherent in effort estimation, can outperform expert-based estimates.
Social Shopping Development and Perspectives
Authors: Wang Chingning
Published: June 2013

“Social shopping” (or social commerce), combining shopping and social networking, is an application of Web 2.0 in electronic commerce to benefit from users’ social networks. This paper explores the development of the emergent “social shopping” and related perspectives. It incorporates comparisons between social shopping marketing and search engine marketing. For example, search engine marketing assumes shoppers are certain of their shopping goal; social shopping marketing assumes shoppers are uncertain of their shopping goals and gather shopping ideas from their peers. In this paper, the challenges in social shopping development are identified, including governing shopper communities and retrieving content from social networking sites. The author concludes that social shopping and e-commerce are not dichotomous concepts. Social shopping can be an evolutionary concept, meaning a singular EC site advancing with social networking functions, or a synergistic concept, meaning EC sites connecting with the other social networking sites to form strategic alliance.
Modeling and Documenting Aspect-Oriented Mobile Product Lines
Authors: Nunes Camila , Kulesza Uirá , Coelho Roberta , Lucena Carlos , Delicato Flávia , Pires Paulo , Batista Thais
Published: June 2013

Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD) has evolved as a software development paradigm over the last decade. Recent research work has explored the use of Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) to modularize variations in product lines. This chapter presents a strategy for modeling and documenting aspect-oriented variations by integrating two existing approaches: (1) use cases are used to express the crosscutting nature of the variations of a mobile product line; and (2) crosscutting interfaces help the definition of the relevant variation join points that are raised by the mobile product line core and are extended by its respective variations. The synergy and benefits of the integration between these approaches are demonstrated by modeling and documenting MobileMedia, a software product line that provides support to manage different media (photo, music, and video) on mobile devices. Evolution scenarios of the MobileMedia are used to illustrate the benefits of the integrated usage of use cases and crosscutting interfaces in order to identify and analyze the change impact on the mobile product line.
University’s Role in Exploring New Knowledge in the Global Knowledge Society
Authors: Mallawaarachchi Chammika
Published: June 2013

This chapter discusses ways to explore knowledge in higher education, especially in universities, from a knowledge ecology perspective. Managing knowledge is a challenge, and it is a drastically changing concept. The author contends that knowledge ecology is a good concept to explore knowledge in higher education while working in the knowledge society towards building a secure and stable knowledge environment. Knowledge ecology focuses on identifying valuable knowledge but not managing knowledge. This is very important in the present setting. Hence, the chapter presents how universities meet the knowledge society’s demands without any obstacles of knowledge exploration focusing on the elite knowledge of its knowledge ecology.
Managerial Perspective of E-Resources in Academic Libraries
Authors: Suseela V. J.
Published: June 2013

The rapid increase of e-resources together with several value-based applications has been gradually superseding the traditional means of communication in almost all parts of the world. The transformation enforced government-funded consortia to build ICT environments in academic institutions and created a pressing demand on the libraries for increasing their acquisitions. The bundled (packages) resources available to libraries through several means are raising issues about their usefulness, real benefit as per user’s preferences, and also the usage. Issues of the kind invariably require thought, exceptional policy decisions, and implementing standard procedures for the optimum utilization of expensive resources and their management. The chapter discusses the features of e-resources, challenges encountered by the library administrators, the existing and innovative practices in their evaluation and organization, while highlighting the supporting technologies and integrated management tools emerging as per the latest requirements of academic institutions.
IOTP and Payments Protocols
Authors: Dulai Tibor , Jaskó Szilárd , Tarnay Katalin
Published: June 2013

The purpose of this chapter is that an enquirer in the topics of e-commerce and e-business should get introspection into the protocol aspects of electronic business technology.
Service Oriented Business Process Modeling Today and Tomorrow
Authors: Xu Lai , de Vrieze Paul
Published: June 2013

In this chapter, the authors explore fundamental links between business process management and Web services. The authors discuss how service technologies can extend traditional business process management into a cross-organizational environment (i.e., over Internet) to face the fast changing world. Particularly, the authors discuss the issues of business process modeling for service-oriented business process management.
E-Business Adoption Framework in the Hospitality Industry
Authors: Ondimu Kennedy O. , Muketha Geoffrey M. , Ondago Collins O.
Published: June 2013

While the hospitality industry in the Kenyan Coast has adopted Information and Communication Technology (ICT), application of the same is limited to internal operations and control. The industry’s e-business adoption lags behind similar industries such as tours and travel. Earlier research in e-business adoption does not suggest intervention for improvement of Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs) status and lacks focus on any specific industries. The aim of this chapter is to address this gap by analyzing the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers & Caterers’ (KAHC) e-business readiness using a three-interrelated-level framework; namely, firm level, market and industry, and institutional and regulatory levels. This chapter presents results of an ongoing project that we are currently working on, related to one of the authors’ graduate degree research program that began in 2008. In this research, we adopt a survey approach that is supplemented by case studies of other countries’ implementations from literature. Findings show that the hospitality industry at the Kenyan coast is not ready for e-business adoption and we develop a framework to help facilitate readiness. The findings imply that as a competitive strategy, establishments which have been competitors need to become collaborators; and KAHC and its membership need to adopt e-business to not only remain competitive, but also to survive. The findings are beneficial to KAHC and the Kenyan government in evaluating the status of e-business readiness as well as adoption in similar industries. Other developing countries can also adopt the framework.
Architectural Practices for Improving Fault Tolerance in a Service-Driven Environment
Authors: Ramanathan Raja
Published: June 2013

Enterprises that implement Service-driven applications face challenges relating to unprecedented scale, high availability, and fault-tolerance. There is exponential growth with respect to request volume in Service-driven systems, requiring the ability to provide multipoint access to shared services and data while preserving a single system image. Maintaining fault-tolerance in business services is a significant challenge due to their compositional nature, which instills dependencies among the services in the composition. This causes the dependability of the business services to be based on the reliability of the individual services in the composition. This chapter explores the architectural approaches such as service redundancy and design diversity, scaling, clustering, distributed data caching, in-memory data grid, and asynchronous messaging, for improving the dependability of services. It also explores the data scaling bottleneck in data centralization paradigms and illustrates how that presents significant scalability and fault-tolerance challenges in service-driven environments. Prevalent strategies to handle failure recovery such as backward and forward recovery mechanisms as well as the built-in mechanisms in WS-BPEL for exception handling and transactional compensation are discussed.
Education and Literature for Development in Responsibility
Authors: Ahamer Gilbert , Kumpfmüller Karl A.
Published: June 2013

In order to propose quality assurance for cutting-edge transnational higher education management, this chapter first analyzes data on academic developmental journals while making use of the three widely known literature databases ISI Thomson, Scopus, and Google Scholar; the latter analyzed by the software Publish or Perish (PoP). Time series of data for documents and their citations provide indices; this chapter provides as most helpful indices the ISI impact factor, Scopus SNIP, and PoP AW index. A dozen of the most influential developmental journals are heuristically ranked by taking into account all available indices from all three literature databases. The series of historic bibliometric data since the 1950s shows the dynamics of the global emergence of developmental journals and developmental thought. Secondly, and as a possible template for similar initiatives in global higher education management, this chapter presents the recently established “Global Studies” (GS) Master’s curriculum at Graz University, Austria. Details on this novel curriculum’s targets, modules, courses, and practicals are given. GS embraces six modules and courses from different schools at university. Emphasis is placed on dialogic interdisciplinary understanding and interparadigmatic integration of multiple disciplines and perspectives, when managing education for the purpose of responsibly hedging and managing globalization and socio-economic global change in responsible partnership.
A Conceptual Framework for E-Assessment in Higher Education
Authors: Tinoca Luís , Pereira Alda , Oliveira Isolina
Published: June 2013

The assessment of competences requires an approach where knowledge, abilities, and attitudes are integrated, naturally implying the resource to a variety of assessment strategies. Within this context, we have seen the emergence of what has been called by several authors, the Assessment Culture. Furthermore, Higher Education e-learning environments have also promoted the use of new e-assessment strategies. Therefore, it is important to reconsider the concept of quality assessment in Higher Education online contexts, and particularly how to develop it in the present learning landscapes. In this chapter, the authors present a new conceptual framework for digital assessment in Higher Education supported by four dimensions—authenticity, consistency, transparency, and practicability—each composed by a set of criteria, aimed at promoting the quality of the assessment strategies being used. This framework was developed based on the expansion of the concept of validity supported by edumetric qualities.
Constructing Community in Higher Education Regardless of Proximity
Authors: Clemmons Karina , Nolen Amanda , Hayn Judith A.
Published: June 2013

In an increasingly global world where students are increasingly mobile and not bound by the same rules of proximity as before (Beckmann, 2010; Healey, 2008), it becomes critically important to understand how learning can take place and how community can be built through virtual communities. This chapter reports the results of a study that investigated whether preservice and beginning teachers involved in the dialogue of an emergent online social networking community engage in meaningful educational and professionally enriching experiences. The researchers specifically examined how online social networking in teacher education programs addresses issues related to: (1) the isolation students feel while in the field; (2) the lack of community and dialogue among students; (3) the disconnectedness between classroom knowledge and field experiences; (4) the limited reflective practices observed among novice teachers; and (5) the need to appreciate multiple perspectives and diverse cultures.
Does prolonged anti-inflammatory therapy reduce number of unnecessary repeat saturation prostate biopsy?
Authors: Candiano Giuseppe , Pepe Pietro , Pietropaolo Francesco , Aragona Francesco
Published: June 2013

Introduction. The effect of a prolonged oral anti-inflammatory therapy on PSA values in patients with persistent abnormal PSA values after negative prostate biopsy (PBx) was evaluated. Material and methods. From September 2011 to September 2012, 70 patients (medi- an age 62 years), with persistent abnormal PSA values after negative extended PBx, were given an herbal extract with anti-inflammatory activity for 3 months (Lenidase®; 1 tablet daily constituted of baicalina, bromelina and escina). All patients were submitted to prostate biopsy for: abnormal DRE; PSA > 10 ng/mL, PSA values between 4.1-10 or 2.6-4 ng/mL with free/total PSA < 25% and < 20%, respectively. Three months after the end of anti-inflammato- ry therapy all patients were revaluated; indication for repeat saturation biopsy (SPBx) and detection rate for PCa were compared with those previously recorded in our Department using the same inclusions criteria for biopsy. Results. Oral administration of Lenidase® was well tolerated and no side effects were observed; PSA values decreased in 54 (77.8%) out 70 patients with a median PSA reduction of 20.5% (from 8.8 to 7 ng/mL) and remained unchanged in 16 patients (22.2%); the repeat SPBx rate resulted significantly lower (22.8% vs 35.5%; p < 0.05) showing a superimposable detection rate for PCa (3 cases) in comparison with our previous data (18.7% vs 22%). Conclusions. In our preliminary data a prolonged oral anti-inflammatory therapy reduced PSA levels in patients with negative PBx and persistent suspicious for PCa decreasing the indication to perform repeat SPBx (about 30% of the cases).
HER-2 immunohistochemical expression as prognostic marker in high-grade T1 bladder cancer (T1G3)
Authors: Bongiovanni Luca , Arena Vincenzo , Vecchio Fabio Maria , Racioppi Marco , Bassi Pierfrancesco , Pierconti Francesco
Published: June 2013

Objectives: To evaluate if the Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) expression levels may be used as potential prognostic marker in high grade T1 blad- der cancer (T1G3) Methods: Specimens from transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) of 103 patients with high-grade T1 bladder cancer were collected. This pathologic database was reviewed. Four-year follow-up data were matched with pathologic data. Eighty-three patients entered the study. HER-2 staining was performed. Patients were grouped for HER-2 status. Statistical analysis included Kaplan Meier survival analysis and Log-rank test. Results: Pathological review of TURBT specimens confirmed high-grade T1 transitional cell bladder cancer in all patients. Median follow-up was 12 months (mean 23,5; range 3-48). Twenty-one patients (25.4%) present strong HER-2 expression (3+), 28 (33.7%) moderate expression (2+), 26 (33.7%) weak staining (1+) and 8 (9.6%) negative expression (0). Thirty- one patients of 83 (37.4%) had not evidence of disease, 41 (49.4%) recurred, 11 (13.2%) had a progression of disease. Forty-one patients had high grade T1 recurrence. Patients with HER-2 status 0 did not showed progression of disease. Patients with HER-2 status 3+, undergoing cys- tectomy because progression of disease, had a pathological stage > pT2 and a nodal involve- ment. Median Disease-Free Survival (DFS) for all patients was 12 months (DFS probability (pDFS) = 49.3%; 95% CI, -11.1/+10.1). Median DFS in HER-2 groups was 8 (pDFS 37.5%; 95% CI,-28.8/+29.9), 24 (pDFS 46.1%; 95% CI,-19.5/+17.5), 20 (pDFS 46.4%; 95% CI,-18.8/+16.9) and 10 months (pDFS 47.6%; 95% CI,-21.9/+19.1) respectively in HER-2 status 0,1+,2+,3+. Log-Rank test is not statistically significant (p = 0,39). Conclusions: This study showed that HER-2 expression does not represent a prognostic mark- er of recurrence/progression of disease in high-grade T1 bladder cancer.
Maternal Coping Strategies in Response to a Child’s Chronic and Oncological Disease: A Cross-Cultural Study in Italy and Portugal
Authors: Perricone Giovanna , Prista Guerra Marina , Cruz Orlanda , Polizzi Concetta , Lima Lìgia , Morales Maria Regina , Serra de Lemos Marina , Fontana Valentina
Published: June 2013

A child’s oncological or chronic disease is a stressful situation for parents. This stress may make it difficult for appropriate management strategies aimed at promoting the child’s well-being and helping him or her cope with a disease to be adopted. In particular, this study focuses on the possible connections between the variable national cultural influences and the parental strategies used to cope with a child’s severe disease by comparing the experiences of Italian and Portuguese mothers. The study investigates differences and cross-cultural elements among the coping strategies used by Italian and Portuguese mothers of children with oncological or chronic disease. Two groups of mothers took part: 59 Italian mothers (average age 37.7 years; SD=4.5) and 36 Portuguese mothers (average age 39.3 years; SD=4.6). The tool used was the Italian and the Portuguese versions of the COPE inventory that measures five coping strategies: Social Support, Avoidance Coping, Positive Aptitude, Religious Faith and Humor, Active Coping. There were statistically significant differences between Portuguese and Italian mothers regarding Social Support (F(3, 94)=6.32, P=0.014, η2=0.065), Religious Faith and Humor (F(3, 94)=20.06, P=0.001, η2=0.18, higher values for Portuguese mothers) and Avoidance Coping (F(3, 94)=3.30, P=0.06, η2=0.035, higher values for Italian mothers). Regarding child’s disease, the only statistically significant difference was in Religious Faith and Humor (F(3, 94)=7.49, P=0.007, η2=0.076, higher values for mothers of children with chronic disease). The findings of specific cultural transversalities provide the basis for reflection on important factors emerging on the relationship between physicians and parents. In fact, mothers’ coping abilities may allow health workers involved in a child’s care not only to understand how parents face a distressful event, but also to provide them with professional support.
Analysis of Cross-Institutional Medication Description Patterns in Clinical Narratives
Authors: Sohn Sunghwan , Clark Cheryl , Halgrim Scott R. , Murphy Sean P. , Jonnalagadda Siddhartha R. , Wagholikar Kavishwar B. , Wu Stephen T. , Chute Christopher G. , Liu Hongfang
Published: June 2013

A large amount of medication information resides in the unstructured text found in electronic medical records, which requires advanced techniques to be properly mined. In clinical notes, medication information follows certain semantic patterns (eg, medication, dosage, frequency, and mode). Some medication descriptions contain additional word(s) between medication attributes. Therefore, it is essential to understand the semantic patterns as well as the patterns of the context interspersed among them (ie, context patterns) to effectively extract comprehensive medication information. In this paper we examined both semantic and context patterns, and compared those found in Mayo Clinic and i2b2 challenge data. We found that some variations exist between the institutions but the dominant patterns are common.
An Unusual Presentation of Classic Idiopathic Polyarteritis Nodosa as Acute Interstitial Nephritis
Authors: Sunderkrishnan Ravi , Bodukam Vijay , Tiwana Manpreet , Tadi Prasanna , Okechukwu Nathan C.
Published: June 2013

In the medical literature, there have been few reported cases of classic Polyarteritis Nodosa (cPAN) presenting with acute renal failure (ARF) and, unlike microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), no documentation to our knowledge of cPAN with clinical presentation similar to acute interstitial nephritis. We describe a case of ARF and a clinical picture suggestive of acute interstitial nephritis (AIN). However, renal biopsy of this patient showed acute necrotizing intrarenal vasculitis, suggestive of cPAN. Although no guidelines exist for the most appropriate therapy for patients presenting in this fashion, combination therapy with cyclophosphamide and steroids, in our patient, resulted in clinical improvement and resolution of dialysis-dependent renal failure. These findings suggest the potential for good prognosis in patients with cPAN who present with a presumed diagnosis of AIN and dialysis-dependent ARF.
Toothbrush: A Favorable Media for Bacterial Growth
Authors: Kulkarni Varun
Published: June 2013

Introduction

In this era of stem cell transplantation, tissue engineering and piezosurgery, it is important to consider the toothbrush as a source of potential pathogens. As toothbrush plays an important everyday role for personal oral hygiene and effective plaque removal. Oral cavity incubates diversity of microorganisms; therefore it is not surprising that some of these microorganisms were transferred to toothbrush during use. Presence of nutrients, epithelial debris and oral secretions make the toothbrush a favorable media for numerous bacterial growths.

Aim

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the microbial flora predominantly present in toothbrushes.

Materials and methods

Samples of 150 different used toothbrushes from healthy population were taken randomly for microbial analysis. Samples of toothbrushes were put in Robertson cooked meat (RCM) media for both aerobic and anaerobic microbial recognition. Inoculation was done on blood agar and MacConkey's agar plate and culture plates were incubated for 24 hours.

Results

Fifty-four samples showed facultative anaerobes growth, i.e. Streptococcus mutans, Alpha-hemolytic streptococci, coagulase negative Staphylococci (CONS) and diphtheroids. Sixty-six samples showed polymicrobial etiology and 30 showed purely anaerobic bacteria, i.e. Bacteroides, Lactobacilli.

Conclusion

Toothbrush is thus considered a potential biohazard for reintroduction of microorganisms in the oral cavity. New oral hygiene devices like Dental Air Force home dental cleaning system will emerge as true alternative for toothbrush.

How to cite this article

Saini R, Kulkarni V. Toothbrush: A Favorable Media for Bacterial Growth. Int J Experiment Dent Sci 2013;2(1):27-28.
Canines on a Fast Track: Canine Distalization by Dentoalveolar Distraction Osteogenesis
Authors: Bhardwaj Amit , Belludi Anup , Virang Bhavna , Padmawar Sagar , Virang Parag
Published: June 2013

Conventional techniques for biological tooth movement is routinely achieved at a slow rate and in high anchorage cases where individual canine retraction is indicated lasts for 6 to 8 months, followed by retraction of the incisors. Hence, the overall treatment time taken is about 18 to 24 months. Rapid canine distalization through dentoalveolar distraction (DAD) technique can be achieved within 2 to 3 weeks with this technique. This clinically efficient method significantly reduces the overall treatment time without causing any serious discomfort or damage to the patient. In this technique osteotomies surrounding the canines are made to achieve rapid movement of the canines within the dentoalveolar segment, in compliance with distraction osteogenesis principles.

How to cite this article

Virang B, Belludi A, Bhardwaj A, Padmawar S, Virang P. Canines on a Fast Track: Canine Distalization by Dentoalveolar Distraction Osteogenesis. Int J Experiment Dent Sci 2013;2(1):44-49.
Systematic Review of Interventions to Promote Social–Emotional Development in Young Children With or at Risk for Disability
Authors: Case-Smith Jane
Published: June 2013

This systematic review synthesized the research on interventions used by occupational therapy practitioners to promote social–emotional development in young children (birth–5 yr) with or at risk for disabilities. After a comprehensive search of the research literature, 23 studies were reviewed and then synthesized into five themes: (1) touch-based interventions to enhance calming and parent–infant bonding, (2) relationship-based interventions to promote positive caregiver–child interactions, (3) joint attention interventions, (4) naturalistic preschool interventions to promote peer-to-peer engagement, and (5) instruction-based interventions to teach children appropriate social behaviors. The interventions for infants primarily involved coaching parents in specific strategies to promote positive interactions; interventions for preschool-age children typically involved encouraging peer support, instructing children, and applying naturalistic behavioral techniques to develop higher-level social competence. The studies demonstrated low to moderate positive effects for interventions used by occupational therapy practitioners to improve social–emotional development across ages, diagnoses, and settings.
Method for the Systematic Reviews on Occupational Therapy and Early Intervention and Early Childhood Services
Authors: Arbesman Marian , Lieberman Deborah , Berlanstein Debra R.
Published: June 2013

Systematic reviews of literature relevant to early intervention and early childhood services are important to the practice of occupational therapy. We describe the five questions that served as the focus for the systematic reviews of the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions in early intervention and early childhood services. We include the background for the reviews; the process followed for each question, including search terms and search strategy; the databases searched; and the methods used to summarize and critically appraise the literature. The final number of articles included in each systematic review; a summary of the themes of the results; the strengths and limitations of the findings; and implications for practice, education, and research are presented.
Rasch Analysis of the Mental Health Recovery Measure
Authors: Chang Yen-Ching , Ailey Sarah H. , Heller Tamar , Chen Ming-De
Published: June 2013

Consumer-oriented recovery among people with mental illness has been discussed for more than two decades, but few reliable and valid recovery measurements are currently available. This study used Rasch methods to assess the Mental Health Recovery Measure (MHRM). Participants were 156 adults with mental illness who lived in the community. After the Rasch analyses, the MHRM was modified to a 26-item measure with a 4-point Likert scale. Unidimensionality was confirmed for the revised MHRM, and it also showed proper rating scale functioning and high reliability. The revised MHRM is sufficient to assess only those in the initial and middle stages of recovery. More high-recovery-level items are needed to assess people in a high-recovery stage. Occupational therapists can use the revised MHRM in future quantitative studies and program evaluation.
Transaction Costs in Agricultural Marketing Cooperatives: Effects on Market Performance
Authors: Marcos-Matás Gustavo , Hernández-Espallardo Miguel , Arcas-Lario Narciso
Published: June 2013

Managing an agricultural marketing cooperative is largely a matter of managing relationships with its members. They are not just owners participating in decision making and the provision of funds; they are also suppliers of the product the cooperative is offering to the market. This study analyses how transaction costs in the relationship of the cooperative with its member-suppliers contribute to its success in the market. An analysis of data from 124 Spanish marketing cooperatives operating in the fresh fruit and vegetables sector confirms most of the study's research hypotheses. The authors find that a cooperative's market performance is improved when it invests in specific assets and has more safeguards, lower levels of behavioural and environmental uncertainty and higher levels of adaptation in the relationship with its member-suppliers.
Uma crítica à memética de Susan Blackmore
Authors: Leal Toledo Gustavo
Published: June 2013

O  livro The Meme Machine, de Susan Blackmore, foi considerado por Dawkins como aquele que leva a memética mais longe. Nesse livro, Blackmore apresenta várias análises meméticas de variados fenômenos,, além disso, procura resolver algumas das questões mais fundamentais da área e apresentar algumas das definições mais utilizadas de conceitos centrais da memética. Por mais importante que seja tal livro, Blackmore comete o erro de ignorar as pesquisas que poderiam fundamentar suas análises e, desse modo, acaba criando narrativas interessantes, mas sem embasamento empírico.
Morfologia genética em Schleiden e Grant: a célula vegetal e o animal elementar
Authors: De Carvalho Ramos Maurício
Published: June 2013

No presente estudo, discuto e sintetizo o conceito de célula vegetal de M. J. Schleiden e o conceito de animal elementar que elaboro a partir da ideia de “animal abstrato” sugerida por R. E. Grant. A elaboração e a interpretação que conduz a essa síntese é feita ampliando a ideia do desenvolvimento como um princípio regulador, proposta por E. Cassirer. Concebo tal ideia como expressão de uma racionalidade morfológica genética. O resultado geral obtido é que a célula vegetal e o animal elementar são duas variações de uma mesma forma que exibe uma íntima relação estrutural-funcional, manifesta empiricamente em duas modalidades essenciais de vida, uma simples e singular e outra complexa e plural. A interação de ambas torna inteligível fenômenos básicos da vida vegetal e animal a partir de uma matriz genética comum.
Heidegger e a técnica: sobre um limite possível
Authors: Craia Eladio
Published: June 2013

O artigo aborda a reflexão de Martin Heidegger sobre a Técnica a partir de leitura de A questão da Técnica. Nesse sentido, o texto acompanha o movimento da analise heideggeriana para expor seus elementos centrais. Assim, primeiramente o artigo mostra como o pensamento de Heidegger sobre a técnica deve ser colocado sob o prisma da questão mais geral de sua filosofia: a pergunta pelo sentido do Ser. Num segundo momento, o texto organiza os principais conceitos que estruturam a reflexão heideggeriana sobre a técnica: essência da técnica; desocultamento do Ser, modos epocais, desabrigar. Esses conceitos-chave são articulados com o resto do aparato conceitual do texto. Finalmente, o artigo analisa as consequências de certos postulados de Heidegger sob a perspectiva de certos limites que tais postulados poderiam implicar tanto para a interrogação heideggeriana da técnica quanto para a reflexão sobre a técnica em geral.
Sharp Resonance in a Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor with Multifinger Gate Configuration
Authors: Abe Kazuhide
Published: June 2013

A sharp resonance has been observed at 300 MHz in the frequency dependence of the impedance measured for the backgate terminal of a metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor with a multifinger gate configuration under a certain bias condition. The quality factor was estimated to be over 1500 at the resonance, where the real part of impedance became negative. The results suggest that impact ionization periodically upsurges with a constant frequency. The sharpness of the frequency dependence has been discussed in terms of the feasible excitation of acoustic standing waves synchronized with impact ionization.
Theoretical Relationship between Quencher Diffusion Constant and Image Quality in Chemically Amplified Resists Used for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography
Authors: Kozawa Takahiro
Published: June 2013

Quenchers play an important role in the control of the acid catalytic chain reaction in chemically amplified resists, which is an indispensable technology in the high-volume production of semiconductor devices. In this study, the effects of quencher diffusion constants on the chemical gradient of latent images formed in chemically amplified resists were investigated assuming 16 nm line-and-space patterns. Although it has been reported that the chemical gradient of 22 nm line-and-space patterns was increased with quencher diffusion constant, it was found that the chemical gradient of 16 nm line-and-space patterns was increased with the decrease of quencher diffusion constant.