bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Applying Semantic Web Technologies to Meet the Relevant Challenge of Customer Relationship Management for the U.S. Academic Libraries in the 21st Century Using 121 e-Agent Framework
Authors: Yang Sharon Q. , Xu Amanda
Published: May 2013

The main contributions of the chapter are 1) defining relevance challenge of CRM for U.S. academic libraries in the 21st century and applying social Semantic Web technologies to address the relevance challenge of CRM using 121 e-Agent framework in the Web as an infrastructure; 2) binding OLTP, OLAP, and Online Ontological Processing to social Semantic Web applications in CRM; 3) adding trust management to the linked data layer with a touch of tagging, categorizing, query log analysis, and social ranking as part of the underlying structure for distributed customer data filtering on the Web in CRM applications; 4) making the approach extensible to address relevance challenge of CRM in other fields.
Mobile Information Communication Technologies and Construction Project Management
Authors: Ahuja Vanita
Published: May 2013

Construction project management requires effective and real time information and data communication between all the project team agencies. In present scenario when the associating agencies may be geographically separated, and for projects with large site areas or being executed in hazardous or remote sites, the required information and data communication can be achieved through use of mobile communications. But, research shows that the adoption of mobile communications by the construction industry is limited. This chapter presents the issues affecting adoption of mobile communications by the construction industry, the research background, a case study of mobile communications adoption at a major construction project in India and further discusses the factors leading to sustainable mobile communication adoption by construction project teams. Construction industry primarily comprises small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Thus, the issues are studied with focus on adoption of mobile communications by SMEs.
Web 2.0 and Project Management
Authors: Barroso Antonio Carlos de Oliveira , Ricciardi Rita Izabel , Junior Jair Anunciação de Azevedo
Published: May 2013

The so called Web 2.0 has, in many ways, created the conditions for people to use the power of crowdsourcing. Many business areas and experts are taking advantage of this phenomenon, but what we see is just the beginning. As individuals we are being culturally transformed by Web 2.0 and are ready to use many of these new habits in our working practices. The boundaries between tools and applications we use to interact socially and to work are becoming fuzzier and paler. Management, in general, and specially knowledge and project management have a lot to gain by combining all of these possibilities. This chapter focuses on the synergy of Web 2.0 applications and services and project management needs. To some extent, a knowledge management lens is used to comment and to discuss the issues. Later it examines the Brazilian situation of current project management practices and discusses some cases of our own experience. Also, to gain insight on the path forward, helping levers and possible hampers are identified and discussed in the text. In general, our case study observations indicate that the use of these tools and platforms has become more than promising, because as people become familiar with them, they are usually converted to it.
eLearning Project Management for Innovation Management
Authors: Lambropoulos Niki , Gourdin Alain , Soamiadana Marcella , Danis Sophi , Bakharia Aneesha
Published: May 2013

The global crisis led educational institutions to adjust their curricula, pedagogical methodologies, and use of tools to the new alternate external environment. ITIN is a French IT Institute which has based its entire structure on dealing with such challenges by changing its pedagogical educational settings as well as its evaluation methodologies. One major change is related to Team Project-Based eLearning (TPBeL) utilization in order to advance students’ knowledge, team skills, and collaboration in authentic working environments via Computer Supported Collaborative eLearning (CSCeL) for the Innovation Management eCourse. This book chapter discusses the TPBL and CSCeL approaches and presents a case study with 43 ITIN students. To achieve triangulation, diverse research methods were employed, including: individual questionnaires, thematic discussion analysis, and social network analysis. The results showed that the students’ perceptions on teamwork skills developed within a Team PBL were positively increasing and they used several team work techniques simultaneously such as group co-construction of their assignments as well as the puzzle method. An interesting result suggests an absolute difference about what happened in teamwork and how the students perceived it; most students did not develop a group perceptive on their teamwork despite the fact that the group assignments were successfully completed. Lastly, they suggested that they enjoyed working very hard in an intensive eCourse, although it was the first time they used the Moodle Learning Management System and its integrated tools to collaborate for learning purposes.
Project Management Practices and Project Manager Traits as a Key to Successful Information Systems Implementation
Authors: Abu-Taieh Evon M.O. , Abu-Tayeh Jeihan M. , Abu-Tayeh Alia
Published: May 2013

Information Technology project management lingers between science and art. Many will not dwell on such a thought, and define the information technology project manager as the one person that gets the information technology project done. This paper introduces 74 best practices and traits for the novice information systems project manager. The 74 personal traits and best practices were collected from 35 project managers and are based on personal experiences on a number of IT projects. This article provides an interactive platform for the information system technology project manager by catering to their needs for practical insights toward efficient and individually tailored project management.
On Predicting the Results of Applying Workflow Management in a Healthcare Context
Authors: Chermin Bob , Frey Ingmar , Reijers Hajo A. , Smeets Harm
Published: May 2013

Even though workflow management systems are currently not being applied on a wide scale in healthcare settings, their benefits with respect to operational efficiency and reducing patient risk seem enticing. The authors show how an approach that is rooted in simulation can be useful to predict the benefits of using a workflow management system. The approach is discussed and its application is demonstrated in the setting of the pre-operative process as being executed in the Bronovo hospital. The approach is considered useful for other healthcare organizations in search for a better foundation for the application of workflow technology.
A Survey of Scheduling and Management Techniques for Data-Intensive Application Workflows
Authors: Pandey Suraj , Buyya Rajkumar
Published: May 2013

This chapter presents a comprehensive survey of algorithms, techniques, and frameworks used for scheduling and management of data-intensive application workflows. Many complex scientific experiments are expressed in the form of workflows for structured, repeatable, controlled, scalable, and automated executions. This chapter focuses on the type of workflows that have tasks processing huge amount of data, usually in the range from hundreds of mega-bytes to petabytes. Scientists are already using Grid systems that schedule these workflows onto globally distributed resources for optimizing various objectives: minimize total makespan of the workflow, minimize cost and usage of network bandwidth, minimize cost of computation and storage, meet the deadline of the application, and so forth. This chapter lists and describes techniques used in each of these systems for processing huge amount of data. A survey of workflow management techniques is useful for understanding the working of the Grid systems providing insights on performance optimization of scientific applications dealing with data-intensive workloads.
Predicting Temporal Exceptions in Concurrent Workflows
Authors: Leong Iok-Fai , Si Yain-Whar , Biuk-Aghai Robert P.
Published: May 2013

Current Workflow Management Systems (WfMS) are capable of managing simultaneous workflows designed to support different business processes of an organization. These departmental workflows are considered to be interrelated since they are often executed concurrently and are required to share a limited number of resources. However, unexpected events from the business environment and lack of proper resources can cause delays in activities. Deadline violations caused by such delays are called temporal exceptions. Predicting temporal exceptions in concurrent workflows is a complex problem since any delay in a task can cause a ripple effect on the remaining tasks from the parent workflow as well as from the other interrelated workflows. In addition, different types of loops are often embedded in the workflows for representing iterative activities, and presence of such control flow patterns in workflows can further increase the difficulty in estimation of task completion time. In this chapter, the authors describe a critical path based approach for predicting temporal exceptions in concurrent workflows that are required to share limited resources. This approach allows predicting temporal exceptions in multiple attempts while workflows are being executed. The accuracy of the proposed prediction algorithm is analyzed based on a number of simulation scenarios. The result shows that the proposed algorithm is effective in predicting exceptions for instances where long duration tasks are scheduled (or executed) at the early phase of the workflow.
Quality of Service Monitoring, Diagnosis, and Adaptation for Service Level Management
Authors: Wang Guijun , Wang Changzhou , Wang Haiqin , Santiago Rodolfo A. , Jin Jingwen , Shaw David
Published: May 2013

A key requirement in Service Level Management (SLM) is managing the Quality of Services (QoS) demanded by clients and offered by providers. This managing process is complicated by the globalization and Internet scale of enterprise services and their compositions. This chapter presents two contributions to the QoS management task for SLM. First, instead of considering monitoring as an isolated service, it incorporates a monitoring service as an integral part of a comprehensive QoS management framework for SLM. Second, it includes a diagnosis service as an integral part of the QoS management framework. Using the data fed from monitoring service, diagnosis service detects system condition changes and reasons about the causes of detected degradation in networked enterprise system. With condition detection and situation understanding, the QoS management framework can then proactively activate adaptation mechanisms to maximize the system’s ability to meet QoS contract requirements of concurrent clients. Using this framework, enterprise systems can provide real time automated QoS management to optimize system resources in meeting contract requirements. This approach is validated using QoS management services integrated in a publish/subscribe style of SOA. Benefits of QoS monitoring, diagnosis, and adaptation services for responsiveness SLM are demonstrated via experiments.
So Into It They Forget What Time It Is?
Authors: Legault Marie-Josée , Ouellet Kathleen
Published: May 2013

This chapter draws on 53 interviews from a case study led in Montreal in 2008 to demonstrate the existence of Unlimited and Unpaid Overtime (UUO) among video game developers and illustrate an emerging workplace regulation model of working time in the videogame industry. It brings to light a sophisticated and efficient system of rewards and sanctions, both material and symbolic, that drives professional workers in these trades to adopt a “free unlimited overtime” behavior despite the Act Respecting Labour Standards. Efficiency of this system is rooted in combined Project Management (PM) as an organisation mode and high international mobility of the workforce that both makes portfolio and reputation utterly important. This chapter focuses on (de)regulation of working time only, but it opens a path to theoretically account for (de)regulation of work among an expanding workforce: the “new professionals” in knowledge work.
Workflow Management and Mobile Agents
Authors: Corradi Antonio , Landini Alex , Monti Stefano
Published: May 2013

Service composition is an extremely powerful and versatile way to aggregate and reuse distributed services and software components into richer and complex scenarios. Workflow Management Systems have emerged as one of the leading technologies to execute service compositions but typically fail to support distributed scenarios, where distributed services should be invoked in a scalable and effective way. Mobile Agent platforms propose a suitable framework to distribute the execution of complex service compositions, and therefore to enable scalability and improve performance. However, current proposals for MA-based WFMSs still target rather static and poorly distributed scenarios and exploit agent migration benefits only in a partial and insufficient way. The authors’ model proposes to overcome these problems via a richer and more effective agent delegation strategy that can also cope with dynamic scenarios where services can move and replicate, in order to achieve a better integration by taking advantage of both technologies.
Considerations of Adapting Service-Offering Components to RESTful Architectures
Authors: Athanasopoulos Michael , Kontogiannis Kostas , Brealey Chris
Published: May 2013

Over the past few years, we have witnessed a paradigm shift on the programming models and on architectural styles, which have been used to design and implement large-scale service-oriented systems. More specifically, the classic message-oriented and remote procedure call paradigm has gradually evolved to the resource-oriented architectural style, inspired by concepts pertinent to the World Wide Web. This shift has been primarily driven by multifaceted functional and non-functional requirements of Web enabled large-scale service offering systems. These requirements include enhanced interoperability, lightweight integration, scalability, enhanced performance, even looser coupling, and less dependence on shifting technology standards. As a consequence, several, and sometimes antagonistic, architectures, design patterns, and programming paradigms have emerged on a quest to overcome the constantly expanding enterprise software needs. In the context of resource-oriented architectures, the Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style has gained considerable attention due to its simplicity, uniformity, and flexibility. More specifically, the potential for scalability and loose coupling, the uniformity of interfaces, and the efficient bridging of enterprise software systems with the Web are significant factors for software architects and engineers to consider REST when designing, implementing, composing, and deploying service-oriented systems. These issues stir discussion among academics and practitioners about how to properly apply REST constraints both with respect to the development of new enterprise systems and to the migration and adaptation of existing service-oriented systems to RESTful architectures. In this chapter, the authors discuss issues and challenges related to the adaptation of existing service-oriented systems to a RESTful architecture. First, they present the motivation behind such an adaptation need. Second, the authors discuss related adaptation theory, techniques, and challenges that have been recently presented in the research literature. Third, they identify and present several considerations and dimensions that the adaptation to REST entails, and the authors present frameworks to assess resource-oriented designs with regard to compliance to REST. Fourth, the authors introduce an adaptation framework process model in the context of enterprise computing systems and technologies, such as Model Driven Engineering and Service Component Architecture (SCA). Furthermore, they discuss open challenges and considerations on how such an adaptation process to REST can be extended, in order to yield systems that best conform to the REST architectural style and the corresponding REST constraints. Finally, the chapter is concluded with a summary and a discussion on the points raised and on some emerging trends in this area.
Die persepsies en houdings van gelowige jonggetroude egpare oor seksuele intimiteit in die huwelik
Authors: Pretorius Rinee , Venter Christiaan A. , De Klerk Barend J.
Published: May 2013

Hierdie artikel is gebaseer op empiriese navorsing om die persepsies en houdings van gelowige, jonggetroude egpare oor seksuele intimiteit in die huwelik na te vors. Daar is gefokus op hoe die egpare die verhouding sien waarbinne seksuele intimiteit geniet en beleef mag word; wat na hulle mening die man en vrou se plig is rakende die seksuele; wat hulle persepsies is oor die vryheid wat seksuele intimiteit binne die huwelik bied, en wat eksklusiwiteit ten opsigte van seksuele intimiteit binne die huwelik vir elkeen van hulle beteken. ’n Kwalitatiewe navorsingsontwerp is gebruik en sewe gelowige egpare wat minder as twee jaar getroud was (N = 11), het aan die navorsing deelgeneem. Die navorsingsdata is uit ’n kort vraelys verkry en deur semigestruktureerde onderhoude wat met sommige van die deelnemers gevoer is. ’n Ryke oes van data is verkry en ’n hele aantal temas is identifiseer. Hierdie temas sluit goed aan by die basisteoretiese en metateoretiese perspektiewe wat as onderbou vir hierdie navorsing gedien het.The perceptions and attitudes of religious newlywedded couples regarding sexual intimacy in the marriage. This article is based on empirical research done to explore the perceptions and attitudes of religious newlywedded couples regarding sexual intimacy in the marriage. The research focused on how the couples regard a relationship in which sexual intimacy can be enjoyed and experienced; what, in their opinion, the husband and the wife’s responsibilities are towards each other regarding sex; what their perceptions are about the freedom that sexual intimacy offers in marriage, and what marital exclusivity regarding sexual intimacy means to each of the participants. A qualitative research design was used and seven religious couples that were married less than two years (N = 11) participated in this research. The research data was obtained by using a short questionnaire and semi-structured interviews which were conducted with some of the participants. Rich data was obtained and many themes were identified. These themes correspond well with the basic-theoretical and meta-theoretical perspectives that served as underpinning for the research.
Confirming theoretical pay constructs of a variable pay scheme
Authors: Ncube Sibangilizwe , Bussin Mark H.R. , De Swardt Lukas
Published: May 2013

Orientation: Return on the investment in variable pay programmes remains controversial because their cost versus contribution cannot be empirically justified. Research purpose: This study validates the findings of the model developed by De Swardt on the factors related to successful variable pay programmes.Motivation for the study: Many organisations blindly implement variable pay programmes without any means to assess the impact these programmes have on the company’s performance. This study was necessary to validate the findings of an existing instrument that validates the contribution of variable pay schemes.Research design, approach and method: The study was conducted using quantitative research. A total of 300 completed questionnaires from a non-purposive sample of 3000 participants in schemes across all South African industries were returned and analysed.Main findings: Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, it was found that the validation instrument developed by De Swardt is still largely valid in evaluating variable pay schemes. The differences between the study and the model were reported.Practical/managerial implications: The study confirmed the robustness of an existing model that enables practitioners to empirically validate the use of variable pay plans. This model assists in the design and implementation of variable pay programmes that meet critical success factors.Contribution/value-add: The study contributed to the development of a measurement instrument that will assess whether a variable pay plan contributes to an organisation’s success.
Perceived organisational support for strengths use: The factorial validity and reliability of a new scale in the banking industry
Authors: Keenan Elzette M. , Mostert Karina
Published: May 2013

Orientation: The perceived organisational support for strength use (POSSU) scale determines the extent to which employees perceive that their organisations support them to use their strengths in the workplace.Research purpose: The purpose was to determine the validity and reliability of the new POSSU scale.Motivation for the study: There are instruments and studies that aim to identify and describe individual strengths. However, no instruments measure whether employees perceive that their organisations use their strengths in the workplace.Research design, approach and method: The authors used a cross-sectional field survey approach and an availability sample of employees (N = 165) who worked in the banking sector. They used exploratory factor analysis to test the factorial validity and to establish whether POSSU is an independent job resource. They performed regression analyses to examine whether POSSU is a significant predictor of outcomes.Main findings: The findings indicated a clear one-factor model with strong item loadings(α = .97). When the authors included other resources, they identified a five-factor model, where all the items loaded onto the supposed factors. POSSU was a significant predictor of burnout and engagement after controlling for job resources and a deficiency-based approach.Practical/managerial implications: A valid and reliable POSSU scale could lead to increased awareness about the use of employees’ strengths in organisations and help to determine their influence and value. Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the limited research available in South Africa on the measurement of whether employees perceive that their organisations use their (the employees’) strengths.
The Black Death
Authors: Matemu FS
Published: May 2013

IntroductionBubonic plague is a deadly bacterial disease that causes fever and painful swollen lymph nodes called buboes. The disease also causes spots on the skin that are red at first and then turn black. The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Although there were several competing theoriesas to the etiology of the Black Death, it has been conclusively proven via analysis of ancient DNA from plague victims in northern and southern Europe that the pathogen responsible is the Yersinia pestis bacterium that causes bubonic plague.ObjectivesThe aim of this paper is:1. To describe the risks of getting the disease (Bubonic plague)2. To describe the magnitude and impact of Bubonic Plague3. To describe the pathogenesis of bubonic plague4.To describe different ways of managing and controlling the disease clinicallyMethodologyThis paper is a product of literature review from journals, books and Internet search.ResultsFrom 1987-2001, the World Health Organization reported an annual average of 38,876 cases of the plague with 2847 deaths worldwide. The number of actual cases was probably much higher, given the failure of many countries to diagnose and report plague. Most cases occur in the developing countries of Africa and Asia. Recent outbreaks of plague haveoccurred in Vietnam, India, Algeria, Madagascar, and the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. [2] During 2000-2001, 95% of the world's cases occurred in Africa. Bubonic plague has a 1-15% mortality rate in treated cases and a 40-60% mortality rate in untreated cases.ConclusionsBubonic plague is a threat to man. This disease is very virulent due to its rapid nature of transmission and very high mortality rate if untreated.
History of diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases
Authors: Lubinza C
Published: May 2013

BACKGROUNDAccess to the anatomy, physiology and pathology of cardiovascular system organs has been made easy by the invention of various tools and techniques. One third of all deaths globally are due to heart diseases. Future predictions indicate that by the year 2020, heart diseases will be the leading cause of death globally; therefore early diagnosis is needed for a better prognosis. Tools that are currently central to diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases are: the stethoscope, sphygmomanometer,electrocardiogram, emission techniques like X-rays and echocardiograms. From the early sixteenth through the twenty first century, these devices have been modified to increase their sensitivity and specificity.For further modification of these devices, understanding the concepts of their discovery in the first place is inevitable.OBJECTIVES1. To elucidate the evolutionary understanding of the cardiovascular system2. To show the historical discovery of some of the devices used in the diagnosis of cardiovascular system diseasesMETHODOLOGYThis work was compiled by reviewing books, journals and websites with information on the historic advancement of diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases.RESULTSBefore the 17th Century, knowledge on the cardiovascular system was much contributed to by Pliny and Galen (a Greek physician and teacher).This knowledge came to be challenged in the 17th Century by William Harvey. His experiments led to the present understanding of the cardiovascular system, and are considered the greatest achievement of that century. The discovery of the sphygmomanometer was steered by reverend Hales who watched a horse’s arterial blood climb 8 feet six inches high in a glass tube. Dr. Laennec heard heart sounds better using folds of hard paper and so laid foundations for the discovery of the stethoscope.The concept of the electrocardiogram began by the observation of bioelectricity by L.Galvan in 1787.CONCLUSIONHumans always struggle to master their environments. As a problem arises, the need to understand better and modify the present solving techniques or invent new ones arises.
Physician Specialty and Variations in Adoption of Electronic Health Records
Authors: Banerjee S. , Kaushal R. , Kern L.M. , Grinspan Z. M.
Published: May 2013

Objective: Efforts to promote adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) have focused on primary care physicians, who are now expected to exchange data electronically with other providers, including specialists. However, the variation of EHR adoption among specialists is underexplored.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study to determine the association between physician specialty and the prevalence of EHR adoption, and a retrospective serial cross-sectional study to determine the association of physician specialty and the rate of EHR adoption over time. We used the 2005–2009 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. We considered fourteen specialties, and four definitions of EHR adoption (any EHR, basic EHR, full EHR, and a novel definition of EHR sophistication). We used multivariable logistic regression, and adjusted for several covariates (geography, practice characteristics, revenue characteristics, physician degree).

Results: Physician specialty was significantly associated with EHR adoption, regardless of the EHR definition, after adjusting for covariates. Psychiatrists, dermatologists, pediatricians, ophthalmologists, and general surgeons were significantly less likely to adopt EHRs, compared to the reference group of family medicine / general practitioners. After adjustment for covariates, these specialties were 44 – 94% less likely to adopt EHRs than the reference group. EHR adoption increased in all specialties, by approximately 40% per year. The rate of EHR adoption over time did not significantly vary by specialty.

Conclusions: Although EHR adoption is increasing in all specialties, adoption varies widely by specialty. In order to insure each individual’s network of providers can electronically share data, widespread adoption of EHRs is needed across all specialties.

Citation: Grinspan ZM, Banerjee S, Kaushal R, Kern LM. Physician specialty and variations in adoption of electronic health records. Appl Clin Inf 2013; 4: 225–240

http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2013-02-RA-0015
Removal of Angiofibroma with Maxillary and Mandibular Swing: A Clinical Report
Authors: Ghorpade Chetan V , Deo Ravi P , Thorat Raghuji D , Devane Snigdha D
Published: May 2013

Juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma is vascular tumor found in adolescent males. With development of endoscopic fraternity, tumor can be addressed successfully with endoscopic approach; but one needs maximum exposure for large angiofibroma with local infiltration around. Maxillary and mandibular swing technique for removal of the tumor gives excellent exposure and good control on vascularity of the tumor.

Postoperative follow-up for 1 year has shown minimal visible scar, cosmetic deformity in the patient.

How to cite this article

Ghorpade CV, Deo RP, Thorat RD, Devane SD. Removal of Angiofibroma with Maxillary and Mandibular Swing: A Clinical Report. Int J Otorhinolaryngol Clin 2012;4(3):151-155.
Extreme winds over Europe in the ENSEMBLES regional climate models
Authors: Outten S. D. , Esau I.
Published: May 2013

Abstract. Extreme winds cause vast amounts of damage every year and represent a major concern for numerous industries including construction, afforestation, wind energy and many others. Under a changing climate, the intensity and frequency of extreme events are expected to change, and accurate projections of these changes will be invaluable to decision makers and society as a whole. This work examines four regional climate model downscalings over Europe following the SRES A1B scenario from the "ENSEMBLE-based Predictions of Climate Changes and their Impacts" project (ENSEMBLES). It investigates the projected changes in the 50 yr return wind speeds and the associated uncertainties. This is accomplished by employing the peaks-over-threshold method with the use of the generalised Pareto distribution. The models show that, for much of Europe, the 50 yr return wind is projected to change by less than 2 m s−1, while the uncertainties associated with the statistical estimates are larger than this. In keeping with previous works in this field, the largest source of uncertainty is found to be the inter-model spread, with some locations showing differences in the 50 yr return wind of over 20 m s−1 between two different downscalings.
Source apportionment of fine PM and sub-micron particle number concentrations at a regional background site in the western Mediterranean: a 2.5 year study
Authors: Cusack M. , Pérez N. , Pey J. , Alastuey A. , Querol X.
Published: May 2013

Abstract. The chemical composition and sources of ambient fine particulate matter (PM1) over a period of 2.5 years for a regional background site in the western Mediterranean are presented in this work. Furthermore, sub-micron particle number concentrations and the sources of these particles are also presented. The mean PM1 concentration for the measurement period was 8.9 μg m−3, with organic matter (OM) and sulphate comprising most of the mass (3.2 and 1.5 μg m−3 respectively). Six sources were identified in PM1 by Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF): secondary organic aerosol, secondary nitrate, industrial, traffic + biomass burning, fuel oil combustion and secondary sulphate. Typically anthropogenic sources displayed elevated concentrations during the week with reductions at weekends. Nitrate levels were elevated in winter and negligible in summer, whereas secondary sulphate levels underwent a contrasting seasonal evolution with highest concentrations in summer, similar to the fuel oil combustion source. The SOA source was influenced by episodes of sustained pollution as a result of anticyclonic conditions occurring during winter, giving rise to thermal inversions and the accumulation of pollutants in the mixing layer. Increased levels in summer were owing to higher biogenic emissions and regional recirculation of air masses. The industrial source decreased in August due to decreased emissions during the vacation period. Increases in the traffic + biomass burning source were recorded in January, April and October, which were attributed to the occurrence of the aforementioned pollution episodes and local biomass burning emission sources, which include agriculture and domestic heating systems. Average particle number concentrations (N9-825 nm) from 5/11/2010 to 01/06/2011 and from 15/10/2011 to 18/12/2011 reached 3097 cm−3. Five emission sources of particle of sub-micron particles were determined by Principal Component Analysis (PCA); industrial + traffic + biomass burning, new particle formation + growth, secondary sulphate + fuel oil combustion, crustal material and secondary nitrate. The new particle formation + growth source dominated the particle number concentration (56% of total particle number concentration), especially for particles < 100 nm, followed by industrial + traffic + biomass burning (13%). Secondary sulphate + fuel oil combustion (8%), nitrate (9%) and crustal material (2%) were dominant for particles of larger diameter (> 100 nm) and thus did not influence the particle number concentration significantly.
Simulation of the dispersion of the Eyjafjallajökull plume over Europe with COSMO-ART in the operational mode
Authors: Vogel H. , Förstner J. , Vogel B. , Hanisch T. , Mühr B. , Schättler U. , Schad T.
Published: May 2013

Abstract. An extended version of the German operational weather forecast model was used to simulate the ash dispersion during the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull. Sensitivity runs show the ability of the model to simulate thin ash layers when an increased vertical resolution is used. Calibration of the model results with measured data allows for a quantitative forecast of the ash concentration. An independent comparison of the simulated number concentration of 3 μm particles and observations reveals nearly perfect agreement. However, this perfect agreement could only be reached after modification of the emissions. As an operational forecast was launched every six hours, a time-lagged ensemble was obtained. Hence, the probability of violation of a certain threshold can be calculated. This is valuable information for the forecasters advising the organizations responsible for the closing of the airspace.
A new simplified approach for simultaneous retrieval of SO2 and ash content of tropospheric volcanic clouds: an application to the Mt Etna volcano
Authors: Pugnaghi S. , Guerrieri L. , Corradini S. , Merucci L. , Arvani B.
Published: May 2013

Abstract. A new procedure is presented for simultaneous estimation of SO2 and ash abundance in a volcanic plume, using thermal infrared (TIR) MODIS data. Plume altitude and temperature are the only two input parameters required to run the procedure, while surface emissivity, temperature, atmospheric profiles, ash optical properties, and radiative transfer models are not necessary to perform the atmospheric corrections. The procedure gives the most reliable results when the surface under the plume is uniform, for example above the ocean, but still produces fairly good estimates in more challenging and not easily modelled conditions, such as above land or meteorological cloud layers. The developed approach was tested on the Etna volcano. By linearly interpolating the radiances surrounding a detected volcanic plume, the volcanic plume removal (VPR) procedure described here computes the radiances that would have been measured by the sensor in the absence of a plume, and reconstructs a new image without plume. The new image and the original data allow computation of plume transmittance in the TIR-MODIS bands 29, 31, and 32 (8.6, 11.0 and 12.0 μm) by applying a simplified model consisting of a uniform plume at a fixed altitude and temperature. The transmittances are then refined with a polynomial relationship obtained by means of MODTRAN simulations adapted for the geographical region, ash type, and atmospheric profiles. Bands 31 and 32 are SO2 transparent and, from their transmittances, the effective ash particle radius (Re), and aerosol optical depth at 550 nm (AOD550) are computed. A simple relation between the ash transmittances of bands 31 and 29 is demonstrated and used for SO2 columnar content (cs) estimation. Comparing the results of the VPR procedure with MODTRAN simulations for more than 200 000 different cases, the frequency distribution of the differences shows the following: the Re error is less than ±0.5 μm in more than 60% of cases; the AOD550 error is less than ±0.125 in 80% of cases; the cs error is less than ±0.5 g m−2 in more than 60% of considered cases. The VPR procedure was applied in two case studies of recent eruptions occurring at the Mt Etna volcano, Italy, and successfully compared with the results obtained from the established SO2 and ash assessments based on look-up tables (LUTs). Assessment of the sensitivity to the plume altitude uncertainty is also made. The VPR procedure is simple, extremely fast, and can be adapted to other ash types and different volcanoes.
Raman Lidar for Meteorological Observations, RALMO – Part 2: Validation of water vapor measurements
Authors: Brocard E. , Philipona R. , Haefele A. , Romanens G. , Mueller A. , Ruffieux D. , Simeonov V. , Calpini B.
Published: May 2013

Abstract. The Raman Lidar for Meteorological Observations (RALMO) was installed at the MeteoSwiss Regional Center of Payerne, Switzerland, in summer 2008. One of its aims is to provide continuous vertical profiles of tropospheric water vapor during day and night at a high temporal resolution. Twelve months (October 2009–September 2010) of lidar data are analyzed. During this period of time, the lidar produced 9086 profiles, representing 52.6% of the time (this figure reached 63.2% for the first 6 months of 2011). Under cloud-free conditions, half of the profiles reached more than 8610 m above ground level at night, and 4050 m during the day. In order to validate the capabilities of the instrument, the year of lidar data was compared to the collocated radiosondes. On average, lidar water vapor mixing ratio was found to be within 5 to 10% of radiosonde values up to 8 km at night, and within 3% up to 3 km during the day. Relative humidity results show an agreement within 2 and 5% for day and night, respectively. An integrated water vapor comparison also shows a good correlation with both radiosondes and GPS measurements: the lidar had a 4.2% dry bias compared to radiosondes and a 5.3% wet bias compared to GPS. These results validate the performance of the lidar and the humidity profiles with a 30 min time resolution.
Retrieval algorithm for densities of mesospheric and lower thermospheric metal and ion species from satellite borne limb emission signals
Authors: Langowski M. , Sinnhuber M. , Aikin A. C. , von Savigny C. , Burrows J. P.
Published: May 2013

Abstract. Meteoroids bombard the earth's atmosphere during its orbit around the sun, depositing a highly varying and significant amount of matter into the thermosphere and mesosphere. The strength of the material source needs to be characterized and its impact on atmospheric chemistry assessed. In this study an algorithm for the retrieval of metal and metal ion number densities for a two-dimensional (latitude, altitude) grid is described and explained. Dayglow emission spectra of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere are used, which are obtained by passive satellite remote sensing with the SCIAMACHY instrument on Envisat. The limb scans cover the tangent altitude range from 50 to 150 km. Metals and metal ions are strong emitters in this region and form sharply peaked layers with a FWHM of several 10 km in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere with peak altitudes between 90 to 110 km. The emission signal is first separated from the background signal, arising from Rayleigh and Raman scattering of solar radiation by air molecules. A forward radiative transfer model calculating the slant column density (SCD) from a given vertical distribution was developed. This non-linear model is inverted in an iterative procedure to yield the vertical profiles for the emitting species. Several constraints are applied to the solution, for numerical stability reasons and to get physically reasonable solutions. The algorithm is applied to SCIAMACHY limb-emission observations for the retrieval of Mg and Mg+ using emission signatures at 285.2 and 279.6/280.4 nm, respectively. Results are presented for these three lines as well as error estimations and sensitivity tests on different constraint strength and different separation approaches for the background signal.
Retrieval of desert dust aerosol vertical profiles from IASI measurements in the TIR atmospheric window
Authors: Vandenbussche S. , Kochenova S. , Vandaele A. C. , Kumps N. , De Mazière M.
Published: May 2013

Abstract. Desert dust aerosols are the most prominent tropospheric aerosols, playing an important role in the Earth's climate. However, their radiative forcing is currently not known with sufficient precision to even determine its sign. The sources of uncertainty are multiple, one of them being a poor characterisation of dust aerosols vertical profile on a global scale. In this work, we tackle this scientific issue by designing a method for retrieving dust aerosols vertical profiles from Thermal Infrared measurements by IASI instruments onboard the Metop satellite series. IASI offers almost global coverage twice a day, and long (past and future) time series of radiances, being therefore extremely well-suited for climate studies. Our retrieval follows Rodger's formalism and is based on a two-steps approach, treating separately the issues of low altitude sensitivity and of difficult a priori definition. We compare our results for a selected test-case, above the Atlantic Ocean and North Africa in June 2009, with optical depth data from MODIS, aerosol absorbing index from GOME-2 and OMI, and vertical profiles of extinction coefficients from CALIOP. We also use literature information on desert dust sources to interpret our results above land. Our retrievals provide perfectly reasonable results in terms of optical depth. The retrieved vertical profiles (with on average 1.5 degrees of freedom) show most of the time sensitivity down to the lowest layer, and agree well with CALIOP extinction profiles for medium to high dust optical depth. We conclude that this new method is extremely promising for improving the scientific knowledge about the 3-D distribution of desert dust aerosols in the atmosphere.
Pathway of CH4 production, fraction of CH4 oxidized, and 13C isotope fractionation in a straw-incorporated rice field
Authors: Zhang G. B. , Ji Y. , Ma J. , Liu G. , Xu H. , Yagi K.
Published: May 2013

Abstract. Straw incorporation generally increases CH4 emission from rice fields, but its effects on the mechanism of CH4 emission, especially on the pathway of CH4 production and the fraction of CH4 oxidized, are not well known. To investigate the methanogenic pathway, the fraction of CH4 oxidized as well as the stable carbon isotope fractionation during the oxidation and transport of CH4 as affected by straw incorporation, observations were conducted of production and oxidation of CH4 in paddy soil and rice roots and δ13C-values of produced CH4 and CO2, and emitted CH4 in incubation and field experiments. Straw incorporation significantly enhanced CH4 production potentials of the paddy soil and rice roots. However, it increased the relative contribution of acetate to total CH4 production (Fac) in the paddy soil by ∼10–30%, but decreased Fac-value of the rice roots by ∼5–20%. Compared with rice roots, paddy soil was more important in acetoclastic methanogenesis, with Fac-value being 6–30% higher. Straw incorporation highly decreased the fraction of CH4 oxidized (Fox) by 41–71%, probably attributed to the fact that it increased CH4 oxidation potential whereas CH4 production potential was increased to a larger extent. There was little CH4 formed during aerobic incubation, and the produced CH4 was more 13C-enriched relative to that of anaerobic incubation. Assuming δ13C-values of CH4 aerobically produced in paddy soil to be the δ13C-values of residual CH4 after being oxidized, (Fox-value still appeared to be 45–68% lower when straw was incorporated. Oxidation fractionation factor (αox) was higher with straw incorporation (1.033) than without straw incorporation (1.025). The δ13C-values of CH4 emitted after cutting of the plants (−50 to −43‰) were more positive than those of before (−58 to −55‰), suggesting a transport fractionation factor (ϵtransport) was −8.0‰ with straw incorporation and −12.0‰ without straw incorporation. Causes of this difference may be related to the diffusion process in transport as affected by growth of rice plants and pressure in the rhizosphere. The experiment shows that straw incorporation increases the contribution of acetate to total methanogenesis in paddy soil but decreases it on rice roots, and it significantly decreases the fraction of CH4 oxidized in the field and expands oxidation fractionation while reducing transport fractionation.
Comparison between eddy covariance and automatic chamber techniques for measuring net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide in cotton and wheat fields
Authors: Wang K. , Liu C. , Zheng X. , Pihlatie M. , Li B. , Haapanala S. , Vesala T. , Liu H. , Wang Y. , Liu G. , Hu F.
Published: May 2013

Abstract. Static and transparent automatic chamber (AC) technique is a~necessary choice for measuring net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide (CO2) in circumstances where eddy covariance (EC) technique is not applicable. However, a comparison of the two techniques for measurements on croplands has seldom been undertaken. We carried out NEE observations in a cotton field (for one year) and a winter wheat field (for one cropping season) using both AC and EC techniques, to (a) compare the NEE fluxes measured using each technique, and (b) test the NEE measurement performance of an automatic chamber system (AMEG), which was designed for simultaneous flux measurements of multiple gases. The half-hourly NEE fluxes measured with the two techniques were in approximate agreement, with the AC fluxes being 0.78 (cotton) and 1.06 (wheat) times those of the EC. When integrated to daily timescale, the fluxes of the two techniques were in better agreement, showing an average ratio of 0.94 and 1.00 for the cotton and wheat, respectively. During the periods with comparable field conditions and normal performance of both instruments, the cumulative NEE fluxes revealed small differences between the two techniques (–9.0 ~ 6.7%, with a mean of 0.1%). The measurements resulted in annual cumulative NEE of –40 g C m–2 yr–1 (EC) and –42 g C m–2 yr–1 (AC) in the cotton field and seasonal cumulative NEE of –251 g C m–2 (EC) and –205 g C m–2 (AC) in the wheat field. Our results indicate that, for cropland populated by short plants, the AMEG system and the data processing procedures applied in this study are able to provide NEE estimates comparable to those from EC measurements, although either technique may lead to an overestimation of the loss rate (or underestimation of the gain rate) of the soil organic carbon stock of an ecosystem, in particular with calcareous soils exposed to increasing atmospheric acid deposition.