bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The habitat sampling and analysis paradigm has limited value in animal conservation: A prequel
Authors: Morrison Michael L. 
Published: February 2012

AbstractIn this essay, I make the case that our studies of wildlife and habitat are largely decoupled from any meaningful relationship to the distribution of the study species. The field that we broadly classify as wildlife–habitat relationships is characterized by an increasing number of studies that gather additional data on phenomena that are already well studied. I offer that unless we make changes to the fundamental aspect of study design, our studies will fail to advance conservation of species. The current habitat sampling and analysis paradigm involves identification of a convenient study area, drawing samples from the usual list of parameters, conducting a series of statistical analyses, comparing findings to other studies, and justifying publication by extrapolating findings to some unspecified larger area. Recommendations for management are usually vague and are seldom tested for efficacy. Most of our habitat studies have little relevance to the target species with regard to viability. Attempts to translate the “best scientific information” into a set of management guidelines for a species produce one size fits all documents. I describe how we usually compromise our studies well before data collection by failing to establish a cogent framework for sampling from an ecologically meaningful unit of a population, but rather sample based on funding priorities and convenience. Specifying the sampling universe for a species sets the stage for properly establishing the sampling frame. Although we always have a target population, that target is often the result of personal, political, or administrative interest, but has little to do with biological reality. I review various intraspecies levels that could be a focus for study, including subspecies and especially ecotypes. Although making assumptions about our study species and habitat parameters is a necessary step, carrying forward untested assumptions from previous studies and failing to test new ones substantially negates the application of research results to meaningful management actions. I include recommendations for enhancing studies of wildlife and habitat with the intent of altering the current norm of wildlife–habitat studies. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.
Population dynamics of king eiders breeding in northern Alaska
Authors: Bentzen Rebecca L. , Powell Abby N. 
Published: February 2012

AbstractThe North American population of king eiders (Somateria spectabilis) has declined by more than 50% since the late 1970s for unknown reasons. King eiders spend most of their lives in remote areas, forcing managers to make regulatory and conservation decisions based on very little information. We incorporated available published estimates of vital rates with new estimates to build a female, stage‐based matrix population model for king eiders and examine the processes underlying population dynamics of king eiders breeding at 2 sites, Teshekpuk and Kuparuk, on the coastal plain of northern Alaska and wintering around the Bering Sea (2001–2010). We predicted a decreasing population (λ = 0.981, 95% CI: 0.978–0.985), and that population growth was most sensitive to changes in adult female survival (sensitivity = 0.92). Low duckling survival may be a bottleneck to productivity (variation in ducking survival accounted for 66% of retrospective variation inλ). Adult survival was high (0.94) and invariant (${\hat {\sigma }}^{2} $ = 0.0002, 95% CI: 0.0000–0.0007); however, catastrophic events could have a major impact and we need to consider how to mitigate and manage threats to adult survival. A hypothetical oil spill affecting breeding females in a primary spring staging area resulted in a severe population decline; although, transient population dynamics were relatively stable. However, if no catastrophic events occur, the more variable reproductive parameters (duckling and nest survival) may be more responsive to management actions. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Long‐term patterns of fruit production in five forest types of the South Carolina upper coastal plain
Authors: Greenberg Cathryn H. , Levey Douglas J. , Kwit Charles , Mccarty John P. , Pearson Scott F. , Sargent Sarah , Kilgo John 
Published: February 2012

AbstractFleshy fruit is a key food resource for many vertebrates and may be particularly important energy source to birds during fall migration and winter. Hence, land managers should know how fruit availability varies among forest types, seasons, and years. We quantified fleshy fruit abundance monthly for 9 years (1995–2003) in 56 0.1‐ha plots in 5 forest types of South Carolina's upper Coastal Plain, USA. Forest types were mature upland hardwood and bottomland hardwood forest, mature closed‐canopy loblolly (Pinus taeda) and longleaf pine (P. palustris) plantation, and recent clearcut regeneration harvests planted with longleaf pine seedlings. Mean annual number of fruits and dry fruit pulp mass were highest in regeneration harvests (264,592 ± 37,444 fruits; 12,009 ± 2,392 g/ha), upland hardwoods (60,769 ± 7,667 fruits; 5,079 ± 529 g/ha), and bottomland hardwoods (65,614 ± 8,351 fruits; 4,621 ± 677 g/ha), and lowest in longleaf pine (44,104 ± 8,301 fruits; 4,102 ± 877 g/ha) and loblolly (39,532 ± 5,034 fruits; 3,261 ± 492 g/ha) plantations. Fruit production was initially high in regeneration harvests and declined with stand development and canopy closure (1995–2003). Fruit availability was highest June–September and lowest in April. More species of fruit‐producing plants occurred in upland hardwoods, bottomland hardwoods, and regeneration harvests than in loblolly and longleaf pine plantations. Several species produced fruit only in 1 or 2 forest types. In sum, fruit availability varied temporally and spatially because of differences in species composition among forest types and age classes, patchy distributions of fruiting plants both within and among forest types, fruiting phenology, high inter‐annual variation in fruit crop size by some dominant fruit‐producing species, and the dynamic process of disturbance‐adapted species colonization and decline, or recovery in recently harvested stands. Land managers could enhance fruit availability for wildlife by creating and maintaining diverse forest types and age classes. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.
Reduced chemical kinetic mechanisms for NOx emission prediction in biomass combustion
Authors: Houshfar Ehsan , Skreiberg Øyvind , Glarborg Peter , Løvås Terese 
Published: February 2012

AbstractBecause of the complex composition of biomass, the chemical mechanism contains many different species and therefore a large number of reactions. Although biomass gas‐phase combustion is fairly well researched and understood, the proposed mechanisms are still complex and need very long computational time and powerful hardware resources. A reduction of the mechanism for biomass volatile oxidation has therefore been performed to avoid these difficulties. The selected detailed mechanism in this study contains 81 species and 703 elementary reactions. Necessity analysis is used to determine which species and reactions are of less importance for the predictability of the final result and, hence, can be discarded. For validation, numerical results using the derived reduced mechanism are compared with the results obtained with the original detailed mechanism. The reduced mechanism contains much fewer reactions and chemical species, that is, 35 species and 198 reactions, corresponding to 72% reduction in the number of reactions and, therefore, improving the computational time considerably. Yet, the model based on the reduced mechanism predicts correctly concentrations of NOx and CO that are essentially identical to those of the complete mechanism in the range of reaction conditions of interest, especially for the medium‐temperature range. The reduced mechanism failed to predict the concentrations in the high‐ and low‐temperature range. Therefore, two more reduced mechanisms are also proposed for the high‐ and low‐temperature range with 26 and 52 species, respectively. The modeling conditions are selected in a way to mimic values in the range of temperature 700–1400°C, excess air ratio 0.8–3.3, and four different residence times: 1, 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001 s, since these variables are the main affecting parameters on NOx emission. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 44: 219–231, 2012
On a geometrically exact theory for contact interactions
Authors: Konyukhov Alexander , Schweizerhof Karl 
Published: February 2012

AbstractThe focus of the contribution is on the development of the unified geometrical formulation of contact algorithms in a covariant form for various geometrical situations of contacting bodies leading to contact pairs: surface‐to‐surface, line‐to‐surface, point‐to‐surface, line‐to‐line, point‐to‐line, point‐to‐point. The computational contact algorithm will be considered in accordance with the geometry of contact bodies in a covariant form. This combination forms a geometrically exact theory of contact interaction, see [1]. (© 2011 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Remediating reading difficulties in a response to intervention model with secondary students
Authors: Pyle Nicole , Vaughn Sharon 
Published: February 2012

AbstractThe research on Response to Intervention (RtI) with secondary students is scant; however, a recently conducted, multiyear, large‐scale implementation of RtI with middle‐school students provides findings that inform practices and future directions for research. This article provides an overview of the findings from each of the 3 years of an intensive, tiered reading intervention with middle‐school students. In Year 1, students were provided with a Tier 1 and Tier 2 intervention. In Year 2, minimal responders were provided with another year of intervention (Tier 3), and again in Year 3, minimal responders to the 2‐year intervention were provided with a third year of intervention (Tier 4). Using students' responsiveness to intervention as a prerequisite for a subsequent year of intensive instruction, minimal responders received a total of up to 3 years of intervention. The efficacy of an enhanced primary (Tier 1), secondary (Tier 2), and tertiary (Tier 3) intervention, and an individualized, intensive reading intervention (Tier 4) are discussed, as well as the logistics of implementing an RtI model with secondary students. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Modifying instruction within tiers in multitiered intervention programs
Authors: Kupzyk Sara , Daly Edward J. , Ihlo Tanya , Young Nicholas D. 
Published: February 2012

AbstractResponse to Intervention provides a continuum of instruction across intensity levels through multitiered intervention models. A lot of work to date has been devoted to how to configure tiers to ensure the appropriate increases in intensity. Much less work has been devoted to making adjustments within tiers to attempt to forestall the need for moving students to a more intense level of instruction when the student is not making adequate progress. This article provides a simple model for evaluating the current instruction to look for areas in which it can be adjusted before more restrictive measures are taken. The model draws from the literature on functional assessment of academic performance. Teachers and consultants are advised to check (a) the skills targeted for instruction, (b) guided practice, (c) independent practice, (d) implementation fidelity, and (e) the motivating conditions that are present during instruction. The role of each area in student learning and progress is discussed, and recommendations are made for adjustments. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Alkali‐treated semiconducting polypyrrole for infrared detection
Authors: Truong Van‐Tan , McMahon Phillip J. , Wilson Alan R. 
Published: February 2012

AbstractA simple treatment of a polypyrrole (PPy) film with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solutions reduces the conductivity (i.e., increased the resistance) and makes the film heat sensitive in the infrared (IR) spectrum with wavelength from 2.5 to 15.4 μm. The IR sensitivity increases with increasing treatment time in NaOH solutions and increasing exposed area to the radiation. The temperature coefficient of resistance, α, quantifying the sensitivity to IR, of the NaOH‐treated PPy is comparable with that of silicon and other conventional materials. The reduction and recovery of resistance due to IR on/off exposure exhibit a tβ dependence, where t is the time and β is determined to be around 0.5. This implies that the response of the material is controlled by diffusion of heat flux into and out of the sample. It is also observed that thermal ageing of the NaOH‐treated PPy film enhances the IR sensitivity. The sensing response of the treated films is observed beyond the thermal IR region to ultraviolet–visible wavelengths. Thus, the NaOH‐treated PPy appears to be a broadband sensing material. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012
Multi‐scale correlation functions associated with polynomials of the diffusion operator
Authors: Yaremchuk Max , Sentchev Alexei 
Published: February 2012

AbstractCorrelation functions associated with the inverse covariances represented by polynomials of the homogeneous diffusion operator D are obtained analytically for an arbitrary polynomial of D, constrained by the positive‐definiteness condition of the covariance operator. Copyright © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society
Warranty Claims Data Analysis Considering Sales Delay
Authors: Akbarov Artur , Wu Shaomin 
Published: February 2012

Sales delay is the time interval from the date of manufacture to the date of sale. In analysing warranty claims data, the existing research relating to the sales delay has mainly focussed on estimating the probability distribution of the sales delay. Longer sales delay may lead to more warranty claims as it can affect the post‐sale reliability of products. However, research into this problem has received little attention.This article estimates the expected number of warranty claims under both renewing and non‐renewing warranty policies taking into account the sales delay. We consider the case with three states, the sales delay state, the operating state and the failed state. We extend the three‐state case into an n state system case, where n ⩾ 3. We then give numerical examples to demonstrate the application of the derived equations. We also present a simulation and a case study where we estimate the reliability of products with three states. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Improved group key transfer protocols from the protocol of Harn et al.
Authors: Wang Zhiwei 
Published: February 2012

ABSTRACTIn 2010, Harn et al. proposed an authenticated group key transfer protocol‐based secret sharing. In their protocol, for distributing a secret group key involving t group members, the key generation center (KGC) needs to broadcast a message containing (t + 1) elements to all group members, whereas each group member needs to compute a tth‐degree interpolating polynomial to recover the secret group key. Thus, the protocol of Harn et al. is only suitable for small‐size groups. We propose an improved protocol from the protocol of Harn et al. In our protocol, the size of a broadcasted message from the KGC is fixed, and each group member only needs to compute a fixed‐degree interpolating polynomial to recover the group key. Thus, our protocol can be suitable for large‐size groups. On the other hand, in the protocol of Harn et al., the KGC should be mutually trusted because it knows all group keys for every communication. If the KGC is untrustworthy, it can bring great threats to the group communications. In this paper, we also propose another improved group key transfer protocol based on untrustworthy KGC. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Quantitative intrusion intensity assessment for intrusion detection systems
Authors: Kim Dong Seong , Lee Sang Min , Kim Tae Hwan , Park Jong Sou 
Published: February 2012

ABSTRACTOne of the main problems of existing approaches in anomaly detection in intrusion detection system (IDS) is that IDSs provide only binary detection result: intrusion (attack) or normal. If some attack data or normal data is belonged to boundary, they may be classified wrongly. That is a main cause of high false rates and inaccurate detection rates in IDS. We propose a new approach named Quantitative Intrusion Intensity Assessment (QIIA) that exploits proximity metrics computation so that it provides intrusion (or normal) quantitative intensity value. It is capable of representing how an instance of audit data is proximal to intrusion or normal in a numerical value. This can identify unknown intrusion and normal pattern more accurately. Prior to applying QIIA to audit data, we perform feature selection and parameter optimization of detection models to decrease the overheads to process audit data and to enhance detection rates. Random Forests is used to generate proximity metrics that represent the intrusion intensity (and normal instance intensity) in a numerical way. The numerical value is used to determine whether unknown audit data are intrusion or normal. We carry out several experiments on KDD 1999 dataset and the experimental results show the feasibility of our approach. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Interference‐aware convergecast scheduling in wireless sensor/actuator networks for active airflow control applications
Authors: Dai Xuewu , Omiyi Peter E. , Bür Kaan , Yang Yang 
Published: February 2012

ABSTRACTEmerging wireless sensor/actuator network (WSAN) technology has the potential to enable semi‐autonomous airflow control to improve the aerodynamic performance of aircraft. In this paper, a WSAN comprising of multiple linear sensor clusters terminated by actuators is proposed for active airflow control with the objective of minimizing convergecast latency. Here, the convergecast delay is defined as the time required from the beginning of a sampling period to all all sensor's data of this sampling period is received by the actuator. The objective is achieved by minimizing the separation distance of concurrent data transmission so that the number of nodes sending data in the same time slot is maximized. The problem turns into a scheduling problem with a proper selection of interference separation. However, most existing work on the scheduling in linear networks use the minimum separation of two hops to avoid collisions. This paper examines the relationship between the hop separation, signal‐to‐noise ratio, and the latency to make a selection of interference separation. A new interference aware hybrid line scheduling (HLS) algorithm is proposed and its energy consumption is analyzed. Compared with other line scheduling policies, the analysis and simulation results show that, at moderately high node densities, the proposed HLS with carefully selected hop separation is able to reduce both the delay by up to 15% and the energy consumption somehow. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Hepatocellular Telomere Length in Biliary Atresia Measured by Q‐FISH
Authors: Sanada Yukihiro , Aida Junko , Kawano Youichi , Nakamura Ken‐ichi , Shimomura Naotaka , Ishikawa Naoshi , Arai Tomio , Poon Steven S. S. , Yamada Naoya , Okada Noriki , Wakiya Taiichi , Hayashida Makoto , Saito Takeshi , Egami Satoshi , Hishikawa Shuji , Ihara Yoshiyuki , Urahashi Taizen , Mizuta Koichi , Yasuda Yoshikazu , Kawarasaki Hideo , Takubo Kaiyo 
Published: February 2012

AbstractBackgroundLiver transplantation for biliary atresia is indicated whenever a Kasai portoenterostomy is considered unfeasible. However, the timing of liver transplantation in biliary atresia has not been precisely defined. Excessive shortening of hepatocellular telomeres may occur in patients with biliary atresia, and therefore, telomere length could be a predictor of hepatocellular reserve capacity.MethodsHepatic tissues were obtained from 20 patients with biliary atresia who underwent LT and 10 age‐matched autopsied individuals (mean age, 1.7 and 1.2 years, respectively). Telomere lengths were measured by Southern blotting and quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization using the normalized telomere‐centromere ratio. The correlation between the normalized telomere‐centromere ratio for the hepatocytes in biliary atresia and the pediatric end‐stage liver disease score was analyzed.ResultsThe median terminal restriction fragment length of the hepatic tissues in biliary atresia was not significantly different from that of the control (p = 0.425), whereas the median normalized telomere‐centromere ratio of hepatocytes in biliary atresia was significantly smaller than that of the control (p < 0.001). Regression analysis demonstrated a negative correlation of the normalized telomere‐centromere ratio with the pediatric end‐stage liver disease score in biliary atresia (p < 0.001).ConclusionsTelomere length analysis using quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization could be an objective indicator of hepatocellular reserve capacity in patients with biliary atresia, and excessive telomere shortening supports the early implementation of liver transplantation.
Effect of a suspension suture in addition to a total anatomical reconstruction in robot assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy: does it help early continence?
Authors: Shah Taimur Tariq , Undre Shabnam , Adshead Jim 
Published: February 2012

Introduction: Continence post robotic assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP) is approximately 90% and many reconstructive techniques have been described to improve early continence. We assessed whether a peri-urethral suspension stitch in addition to a total anatomical repair (TAR) improved early continence. Materials and methods: We describe our procedure and assessed 68 consecutive RALP’s over a two-year period. Complete data were collected on continence rates and incontinence modular questionnaire (ICIQ) scores in 55 patients. Results: In the “no suspension stitch” (NoSS) group continence rates at 2 weeks, 6 weeks and 3 months were 11%, 48% and 81% respectively whilst in the “suspension stitch” (SS) group continence rates were 11%, 46% and 75% respectively (lowest p-value = 0.26 seen at 2 weeks). Average ICIQ scores in the NoSS group were 9.8, 6.6 and 4.3 and in the SS group were 9.4, 6.4 and 4.8 at each time frame (lowest p-value = 0.63 at 6 weeks). Conclusions: No significant difference in continence or ICIQ scores was seen between the two groups. Overall our continence rates were comparable to the published literature. The addition of a suspension stitch did not add any further benefit in improving early continence when performing a total anatomical reconstruction.
A method for the external attachment of acoustic tags on sea stars
Authors: Chim C.K. , Tan K.S. 
Published: February 2012

A method was developed to attach underwater acoustic transmitters on the knobby sea star Protoreaster nodosus. Cylindrical transmitters, each measuring 36 mm length × 13 mm diameter in size and 11 g in weight, were used in this study. Each transmitter was placed in a neoprene holder that was attached externally to the middle of one arm of P. nodosus with a nylon monofilament fishing line. Attachment was achieved by threading the monofilament line through two small perforations aborally along its mid-ridge and adorally through the ambulacral groove. Some 36 individuals were successfully tagged over a three-year period between 2007 and 2010 on an intertidal reef in Singapore using this technique. Tagging did not appear to affect survival, feeding or movement of sea stars during the period of attachment, which averaged 60 days. This method may work equally well with other types of tags, such as depth recorders and accelerometers.