bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Biodegradable Blends From Plasticized Soy Meal, Polycaprolactone, and Poly(butylene succinate)
Authors: Reddy Murali M. , Mohanty Amar K. , Misra Manjusri 
Published: November 2011

AbstractA synergistic effect of simultaneous plasticization and destructurization of soy protein in melt extrusion is studied using soy meal, glycerol, and urea. The combined effect of plasticization and destructurization yields thermoplastic soy meal (TSM) that is capable of chemical interactions with biodegradable polyesters. Melt‐compounded blends of TSM with biodegradable polyesters give new ductile bioplastics. The observed improvement in the properties of these blends might be due to two reason; the high elasticity of the destructured soy meal and the compatibility between the polyesters used. The synergistic effect of unfolding and destructurization of the protein by urea leads to high mobility in the protein chains of the soy meal.magnified image
Fixed point theorems for a class of positive mixed monotone operators
Authors: Huang Chao‐Ya 
Published: November 2011

AbstractIn this paper, we study the fixed‐point theorems for a class of mixed monotone operators. Using Thompson's metric techniques and iterative methods, we construct monotone sequences which converge to the unique fixed point of the operator. Our results extend previous works of Guo 5 and Huang‐Huang‐Tsai 8. Applications to nonlinear second/fourth order boundary‐value problems are considered.
On the unimodality of power transformations of positive stable densities
Authors: Simon Thomas 
Published: November 2011

AbstractLet Zα be a positive α‐stable random variable and \documentclass{article}\usepackage{amssymb}\begin{document}\pagestyle{empty}$r\in {\mathbb {R}}.$\end{document} We show the existence of an unbounded open domain D in [1/2, 1] × ( − ∞, −1/2] with a cusp at (1/2, −1/2), characterized by the complete monotonicity of the function \documentclass{article}\usepackage{amssymb}\begin{document}\pagestyle{empty}$F_{\alpha ,r}(\lambda ) = (\alpha \lambda ^\alpha -r)e^{-\lambda ^\alpha }\!\! ,$\end{document} such that \documentclass{article}\usepackage{amssymb}\begin{document}\pagestyle{empty}$Z_\alpha ^r$\end{document} is unimodal if and only if (α, r)∉D.
On the non‐existence of free \documentclass{article}\usepackage{amssymb}\begin{document}\pagestyle{empty}$ \mathcal {A}_d$\end{document}‐actions on products of spheres
Authors: Błaszczyk Zbigniew 
Published: November 2011

AbstractWe investigate the problem of existence of free alternating group actions on products of equidimensional spheres. Most notably, we prove that for a prime number p ≥ 7, the alternating group \documentclass{article}\usepackage{amssymb}\begin{document}\pagestyle{empty}$\mathcal {A}_{p+1}$\end{document} cannot act freely on a finite‐dimensional CW‐complex with the integral cohomology ring isomorphic to that of (Sn)p for any positive integer n. This extends previous results due to L. P. Plakhta.
Dopamine agonist use and the risk of heart failure
Authors: Renoux Christel , Dell'Aniello Sophie , Brophy James M. , Suissa Samy 
Published: November 2011

ABSTRACTIntroductionA potential risk of heart failure was recently observed in randomized trials of the dopamine agonist pramipexole. The extent of the risk with this and other dopamine agonists is unknown.MethodsWe used the UK General Practice Research Database (GPRD) to identify all users of anti‐parkinsonian drugs, 40–89 years of age, between 1997 and 2009. All incident heart failure cases were identified and classified as probable or possible on the basis of their treatment and mortality. Using a nested case–control approach, each case was matched with up to 10 controls selected among the cohort members. Incidence rate ratios (RR) of heart failure associated with the current use of dopamine agonists were estimated using conditional logistic regression, adjusted for covariates.ResultsThe cohort included 26 814 users of anti‐parkinsonian drugs, with 783 newly diagnosed with heart failure during follow‐up (rate 8.7 per 1000 per year). The incidence rate of heart failure was increased with the current use of any dopamine agonist (RR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.26–1.96), and particularly so for pramipexole (RR = 1.86, 95%CI = 1.21–2.85) and cabergoline (RR = 2.07, 95%CI = 1.39–3.07), compared with no use. The increase was not significant with ropinirole (RR = 1.23, 95%CI = 0.85–1.97) or pergolide (RR = 1.42, 95%CI = 0.95–2.12). Pramipexole was not associated with a significantly increased rate when compared with all other dopamine agonists collectively (RR = 1.28, 95%CI = 0.82–2.00).DiscussionThe use of dopamine agonists, especially pramipexole and cabergoline, is associated with an increased risk of heart failure. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Synthesis and characterization of rigid functional anionic polyelectrolytes: Block copolymers and star homopolymers
Authors: Rikkou‐Kalourkoti Maria , Kassi Eleni , Patrickios Costas S. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractSeven cyclolinear polymers bearing the tertiary‐butyl α‐(hydroxymethyl)acrylate (TBHMA) ether dimer were prepared using reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. Of the seven polymers, five were cyclolinear homopolymers of the TBHMA ether dimer with different degrees of polymerization, one was an “arm‐first” star homopolymer, and the other was an amphiphilic linear copolymer based on the positively ionizable hydrophilic 2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and the TBHMA ether dimer. For comparison, two more polymers were prepared using RAFT polymerization where the TBHMA ether dimer was replaced by tertiary‐butyl methacrylate (tBuMA). In particular, an amphiphilic linear DMAEMA–tBuMA diblock copolymer and a tBuMA arm‐first star homopolymer were also synthesized. All polymers were characterized in terms of their molecular weights and composition using gel permeation chromatography and 1H NMR spectroscopy, respectively. Subsequently, the tertiary‐butyl groups of the TBHMA ether dimer units and those of the tBuMA units were cleaved by hydrolysis to yield carboxylic acid groups. The successful removal of the tertiary‐butyl groups was confirmed using 1H and 13C NMR and attenuated total reflectance‐Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. The hydrolyzed (co)polymers exhibited pK values of the carboxylic acid groups of around 4.5, and glass transition temperatures, Tg, of around 200 °C, which were 50 °C higher than those of their nonhydrolyzed precursors. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012
Depressive symptoms among caregivers of colorectal cancer patients during the first year since diagnosis: a longitudinal investigation
Authors: Kim Youngmee , Carver Charles S. , Rocha‐Lima Caio , Shaffer Kelly M. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractObjectiveFew studies have examined prospectively and longitudinally depressive symptoms of family caregivers who provide care to colorectal cancer patients, and fewer have addressed ethnic minorities in this regard. This study investigated the relations of social support and caregiving stress with caregivers' depressive symptoms during the first year since the relative's diagnosis, as well as the role of ethnicity in such relations.MethodsSeventy‐nine caregivers provided complete data at 2 months (T1), 6 months (T2), and 12 months (T3) after their relative's cancer diagnosis. Demographics and caregiving experiences were measured at T1. Depressive symptoms were assessed at T1 through T3.ResultsGreater caregiving stress and lack of social support were significant predictors of greater depressive symptoms. The adverse effect of caregiving stress was more pronounced among African American caregivers, whereas the beneficial effect of social support was more pronounced among White caregivers.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the importance of both caregiving stress and lack of social support early in caregivership. Findings also suggest that caregivers may benefit from programs tailored for their ethnicity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Parameter‐field estimation for atmospheric dispersion: application to the Chernobyl accident using 4D‐Var
Authors: Bocquet M. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractAtmospheric chemistry and air‐quality numerical models are driven by uncertain forcing fields: emissions, boundary conditions, wind fields, vertical turbulent diffusivity, kinetic chemical rates, etc. Data assimilation can help to assess these parameters or fields of parameters. Because such parameters are often much more uncertain than the fields diagnosed in meteorology and oceanography, data assimilation is much more of an inverse modelling challenge in this context. In this article these ideas are experimented with by revisiting the Chernobyl accident dispersion event over Europe. A fast four‐dimensional variational scheme (4D‐Var) is developed, which seems appropriate for the retrieval of large parameter fields from large observation sets and the retrieval of parameters that are nonlinearly related to concentrations. The 4D‐Var, and especially an approximate adjoint of the transport model, is tested and validated using several advection schemes that are influential on the forward simulation as well as on the data‐assimilation results. Firstly, the inverse modelling system is applied to the assessment of the dry and wet deposition parameters. It is then applied to the retrieval of the emission field alone, the joint optimization of removal‐process parameters and source parameters and the optimization of larger parameter fields such as horizontal and vertical diffusivities or the dry‐deposition velocity field. The physical parameters used so far in the literature for the Chernobyl dispersion simulation are partly supported by this study. The crucial question of deciding whether such an inversion is merely a tuning of parameters or a retrieval of physically meaningful quantities is discussed. Even though inversion of parameter fields may fail to determine physical values for the parameters, it achieves statistical adaptation that partially corrects for model errors and, using the inverted parameter fields, leads to considerable improvement in the simulation scores. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society
Distributed denial‐of‐service attack detection scheme‐based joint‐entropy
Authors: Rahmani Hamza , Sahli Nabil , Kamoun Farouk 
Published: November 2011

ABSTRACTDistributed denial‐of‐service (DDoS) attacks present an increasing threat to the global inter‐networking infrastructure. While entropy schemes are highly robust to diverse network conditions, they remain vulnerable to distribute attacks that are similar to legitimate traffic. With the knowledge that the objective of a DDoS attack is to saturate as soon as possible the resources of the target, this would engender an unexpected disproportion between the number of received packets and the number of connections. However, in the case of flash crowds, an increase in the number of packets is always accompanied by an increase in the number of connections. In this work, we used joint‐entropy that quantifies the degree of disproportion to detect traffic anomalies. We investigate a class of intelligent attacks, which, unlike high‐rate attacks, are difficult for entropy schemes to detect. The experimental results indicate that our joint‐entropy scheme can detect this type of attacks accurately. Compared with an entropy‐based scheme, the improvement is 40% for the distributed attacks. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Who should own it? An agency‐based explanation for multi‐outlet ownership and co‐location in plural form franchising
Authors: Perryman Alexa A. , Combs James G. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractPlural forms exist when managers use two owners to perform one activity. Franchising is a plural form explained by agency theory, however, the theory is unable to explain two franchisor actions: 1) allowing franchisees to own multiple outlets and 2) co‐locating company‐owned and franchised outlets. We use research that describes a symbiosis between company‐owned and franchised outlets to extend agency theory and explain these actions. Our investigation of ownership patterns among 4,339 outlets of 16 plural form franchisors is consistent with our theory that multi‐outlet franchising is cost efficient and that co‐location occurs when franchisors fill market gaps left by franchisees. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Application of vehicular communications for improving the efficiency of traffic in urban areas
Authors: Katsaros Konstantinos , Kernchen Ralf , Dianati Mehrdad , Rieck David , Zinoviou Charalambos 
Published: November 2011

ABSTRACTThis paper studies the impacts of vehicular communications on efficiency of traffic in urban areas. We consider a Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory application implementation in a typical reference area and present the results of its performance analysis using an integrated cooperative intelligent transportation systems simulation platform. In addition, we study route alternation using vehicle‐to‐infrastructure and vehicle‐to‐vehicle communications. Our interest was to monitor the impacts of these applications on fuel and traffic efficiency by introducing metrics for average fuel consumption, average stop time behind a traffic light and average trip time, respectively. For gathering the results, we implemented two traffic scenarios defining routes through an urban area including traffic lights. The simulations are varied for different penetration rates of application‐equipped vehicles, driver's compliance to the advised speed and traffic density. Our results indicate that Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory systems could improve fuel consumption, reduce traffic congestion in junctions and the total trip time. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Protecting Sensitive knowledge in association patterns mining
Authors: Lee Guanling , Chen Yi Chun 
Published: November 2011

AbstractMining association rules from huge amounts of data is an important issue in data mining, with the discovered information often being commercially valuable. Moreover, companies that conduct similar business are often willing to collaborate with each other by mining significant knowledge patterns from the collaborative datasets to gain the mutual benefit. However, in a cooperative project, some of these companies may want certain strategic or private data called sensitive patterns not to be published in the database. Therefore, before the database is released for sharing, some sensitive patterns have to be hidden in the database because of privacy or security concerns. To solve this problem, sensitive‐knowledge‐hiding (association rules hiding) problem has been discussed in the research community working on security and knowledge discovery. The aim of these algorithms is to extract as much as nonsensitive knowledge from the collaborative databases as possible while protecting sensitive information. Sensitive‐knowledge‐hiding problem was proven to be a nondeterministic polynomial‐time hard problem. After that, a lot of research has been completed to solve the problem. In this article, we will introduce and discuss the major categories of sensitive‐knowledge‐protecting methodologies. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.This article is categorized under:

Algorithmic Development > Association Rules
Commercial, Legal, and Ethical Issues > Social Considerations
The relationship between adolescents’ news media use and civic engagement: The indirect effect of interpersonal communication with parents☆
Authors: Boyd Michelle J. , Zaff Jonathan F. , Phelps Erin , Weiner Michelle B. , Lerner Richard M. 
Published: November 2011

ABSTRACTUsing data from the 4‐H Study of Positive Youth Development, a longitudinal study involving U.S. adolescents, multi‐group structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate whether news media use is predictive of a set of civic indicators (civic duty, civic efficacy, neighborhood social connection, and civic participation) for youth in Grades 8, 9, and 10, via an indirect effect of interpersonal communication about politics with parents. The proposed model had a good fit within each grade. News media use was predictive of interpersonal communication with parents and in turn, interpersonal communication was predictive of civic duty, civic efficacy, neighborhood social connection, and civic participation. The cross‐group comparison of the structural model suggests that the predictive qualities of news media use and interpersonal communication are comparable across grades. The role of media use and interpersonal communication in fostering civic development and socialization as well as implications for future research are discussed.
Constructing positive futures: Modeling the relationship between adolescents’ hopeful future expectations and intentional self regulation in predicting positive youth development☆
Authors: Schmid Kristina L. , Phelps Erin , Lerner Richard M. 
Published: November 2011

ABSTRACTIntentional self regulation and hopeful expectations for the future are theoretically‐related constructs shown to lead to positive youth development (PYD). However, the nature of their relationship over time has not been tested. Therefore, this study explored the associations between hopeful future expectations and intentional self regulation in predicting positive developmental outcomes. Participants were in Grades 7, 8, and 9 of the 4‐H Study of PYD (N = 1311), a longitudinal study involving U.S. adolescents. A cross‐lagged panel analysis using Structural Equation Modeling assessed the relations among hopeful future expectations and intentional self regulation across time in predicting PYD. Results indicated that earlier hopeful expectations for the future may be influential for later intentional self‐regulation abilities, although both constructs were strong predictors of PYD in middle adolescence. We discuss implications for research and practice of hopeful expectations in adolescents’ constructions of their positive futures.
Stability and bifurcation of planetary dynamo models
Authors: Dormy E. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractRapidly rotating dynamos, relevant to the origin of the Earth magnetic field, are difficult to model owing to the extreme parameter regimes that occur in their dynamics. Numerical models alone fail to approach the correct regime. However, progress can be achieved by combining numerical and analytical methods. This can offer a better understanding of the variety of behaviour observed near the onset of dynamo action, as seen in the recent study of Sreenivasan & Jones (J. Fluid Mech., this issue, vol. 688, 2011, pp. 5–30).
Formation of nitrogen‐ and sulfur‐containing light‐absorbing compounds accelerated by evaporation of water from secondary organic aerosols
Authors: Nguyen Tran B. , Lee Paula B. , Updyke Katelyn M. , Bones David L. , Laskin Julia , Laskin Alexander , Nizkorodov Sergey A. 
Published: November 2011

Aqueous extracts of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) generated from the ozonolysis of d‐limonene were subjected to dissolution, evaporation, and re‐dissolution in the presence and absence of ammonium sulfate (AS). Evaporation with AS at pH 4–9 produced chromophores that were stable with respect to hydrolysis and had a distinctive absorption band at 500 nm. Evaporation accelerated the rate of chromophore formation by at least three orders of magnitude compared to the reaction in aqueous solution, which produced similar compounds. Absorption spectroscopy and high‐resolution nanospray desorption electrospray ionization (nano‐DESI) mass spectrometry experiments suggested that the molar fraction of the chromophores was small (<2%), and that they contained nitrogen atoms. Although the colored products represented only a small fraction of SOA, their large extinction coefficients (>105 L mol−1 cm−1 at 500 nm) increased the effective mass absorption coefficient of the residual organics in excess of 103 cm2 g−1 ‐ a dramatic effect on the optical properties from minor constituents. Evaporation of SOA extracts in the absence of AS resulted in the production of colored compounds only when the SOA extract was acidified to pH ∼ 2 with sulfuric acid. These chromophores were produced by acid‐catalyzed aldol condensation, followed by a conversion into organosulfates. The presence of organosulfates was confirmed by high resolution mass spectrometry experiments. Results of this study suggest that evaporation of cloud or fog droplets containing dissolved organics leads to significant modification of the molecular composition and serves as a potentially important source of light‐absorbing compounds.
Oligopsony Fed Cattle Pricing: Did Mandatory Price Reporting Increase Meatpacker Market Power?
Authors: Cai Xiaowei , Stiegert Kyle W. , Koontz Stephen R. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractWe study beef packing margins before and after mandatory price reporting (MPR) was implemented in 2001 using a model that identifies and tests for switching between cooperative and non‐cooperative regime pricing. Our results show that after MPR took effect, the duration of non‐cooperative regimes was considerably shorter, while cooperative regimes were longer. Oligopsonistic rent, as measured by average economic profit, rose from $0.88/head in the 1990s to $2.59/head after 2001. While MPR is not likely the sole cause for such an increase, there was clearly more market power being exercised in fed cattle markets in the years after the program was implemented than before.
Systematic conservation planning in the eastern English Channel: comparing the Marxan and Zonation decision-support tools
Authors: Delavenne Juliette , Metcalfe Kristian , Smith Robert J. , Vaz Sandrine , Martin Corinne S. , Dupuis Ludovic , Coppin Franck , Carpentier Andre 
Published: November 2011

AbstractDelavenne, J., Metcalfe, K., Smith, R. J., Vaz, S., Martin, C. S., Dupuis, L., Coppin, F., and Carpentier, A. 2012. Systematic conservation planning in the eastern English Channel: comparing the Marxan and Zonation decision-support tools. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 69: 75–83. The systematic conservation approach is now commonly used for the design of efficient marine protected area (MPA) networks, and identifying these priority areas often involves using specific conservation-planning software. Several such software programmes have been developed in recent years, each differing in the underlying algorithms used. Here, an investigation is made into whether the choice of software influences the location of priority areas by comparing outputs from Marxan and Zonation, two widely used conservation-planning, decision-support tools. Using biological and socio-economic data from the eastern English Channel, outputs are compared and it is shown that the two software packages identified similar sets of priority areas, although the relatively wide distribution of habitat types and species considered offered much flexibility. Moreover, the similarity increased with increasing spatial constraint, especially when using real-world cost data, suggesting that the choice of cost metric has a greater influence on conservation-planning analyses than the choice of software. However, Marxan generally produced more efficient results and Zonation produced results with greater connectivity, so the most appropriate software package will depend on the overall goals of the MPA planning process.