bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Performance and robustness of block constraint preconditioners in finite element coupled consolidation problems
Authors: Ferronato Massimiliano , Bergamaschi Luca , Gambolati Giuseppe 
Published: July 2009

AbstractBlock constraint preconditioners are a most recent development for the iterative solution to large‐scale, often ill‐conditioned, coupled consolidation problems. A major limitation to their practical use, however, is the somewhat difficult selection of a number of user‐defined parameters (at least 4) in a more or less optimal way. The present paper investigates the robustness of three variants of the block constraint preconditioning in relation to the above parameters. A theoretical analysis of the eigenspectrum of the preconditioned matrix provides relatively simple bounds of the eigenvalues as a function of these parameters. A number of test problems used to validate the theoretical results show that both the mixed constraint preconditioner (MCP) combined with the symmetric quasi‐minimal residual (SQMR) solver and the MCP triangular variant (T‐MCP) combined with the bi‐conjugate gradient stabilized (Bi‐CGSTAB) are efficient and robust tools for the solution to difficult Finite Element‐discretized coupled consolidation problems. Moreover, the practical selection of the user‐defined parameters is relatively easy as a stable behavior is observed for a wide range of fill‐in degree values. The theoretical bounds on the eigenspectrum of the preconditioned matrix may help to suggest the most appropriate parameter combination. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Synthesis of poly(p‐phenylenediamine‐ co‐o‐aminophenol)/multi‐walled carbon nanotube composites by emulsion polymerization
Authors: Aridoss Gopalakrishnan , Kim Min Sung , Son Se Mo , Kim Jong Tae , Jeong Yeon Tae 
Published: July 2009

AbstractOrganic–inorganic composites composed of electrically conducting copolymer p‐phenylenediamine‐ co‐o‐aminophenol and carboxylic acid functionalized multi‐walled carbon nanotubes [poly(pPD‐co‐oAP)/c‐MWNTs] were prepared via in situ emulsion pathway using sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) as an emulsifier and potassium persulphate as an oxidant. Acid functionalized MWNTs were used as cores in the formation of tubular shells of the composites. TEM and FESEM analysis showed that a tubular layer of coated copolymer film of several nanometer thicknesses is present on the c‐MWNTs surfaces. FT‐IR spectra endorsed the formation of composites. TGA results indicated that the decomposition temperatures of composites were higher than the bare copolymer. UV‐visible absorption spectra of diluted colloidal dispersion of composites were similar to those of the bare copolymer. The composites were also confirmed by XRD and XPS. Room‐temperature conductivity increases with an increasing fraction of c‐MWNTs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Solid and thermal properties of ABA‐type triblock copolymers designed using difunctional fluorine‐containing polyimide macroinitiators with methyl methacrylate
Authors: Miyata Sou , Yoshida Kazuhito , Shirokura Hayato , Kashio Mikihiro , Nagai Kazukiyo 
Published: July 2009

AbstractBACKGROUND: ABA‐type poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and fluorine‐containing polyimide triblock copolymers are potentially beneficial for electric materials. In the work reported here, triblock copolymers with various block lengths were prepared from fluorine‐containing difunctional polyimide macroinitiators and methyl methacrylate monomer through atom‐transfer radical polymerization. The effects of structure on their solid and thermal properties were studied.RESULTS: The weight ratios of the triblock copolymers derived using thermogravimetric analysis were shown to be almost identical to the ratios determined using 1H NMR. The solid properties (film density and maximum d‐spacing value) and thermal properties (glass transition and thermal expansion) were shown to be strongly dependent on the weight ratios of both PMMA and polyimide components. Furthermore, a porous film, which showed a lower dielectric constant of 2.48 at 1 MHz, could be prepared by heating a triblock copolymer film to induce the thermal degradation of the PMMA component.CONCLUSION: The use of the polyimide macroinitiator was useful in the preparation of ABA‐type triblock copolymers to control each block length that influences the solid and thermal properties. Additionally, the triblock copolymers have great potential in preparing porous polyimides in the application of electric materials as interlayer insulation membranes of large‐scale integration. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry
Structure build‐up at rest in polymer nanocomposites: Flow reversal experiments
Authors: Eslami Hassan , Grmela Miroslav , Bousmina Mosto 
Published: July 2009

AbstractEvolution of the microstructure as well as the shear stress and the normal stress difference of polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites prepared by melt mixing of poly[butylene succinate‐co‐adipate] and organically modified montmorillonite are investigated in transient forward and reverse start‐up shear flows at different clay loading and different shear rates. Special attention is paid to the structure build‐up at rest and to the amplitude of the overshoots observed during the reverse start‐up test in the shear stress and the normal stress difference. The model that we have developed previously is used to suggest an explanation for the observed phenomena. The model is able to capture observed behavior of the shear stress in both forward and reverse start‐up flows. It fails, however, to predict experimentally observed overshoot in the normal stress difference. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 1728–1741, 2009
Optical properties of the photorefractive polymeric composite with modified PVK polymer
Authors: Moon In Kyu , Choi Chil‐Sung , Kim Nakjoong 
Published: July 2009

AbstractPoly[N‐(2‐ethylhexyl)‐3‐vinylcarbazole has been synthesized by radical polymerization from N‐(2‐ethylhexyl)3‐vinyl‐carbazole. The 50‐μm thick photorefractive device containing 30 wt % piperidin‐4‐ylbenzylidene‐malononitrile showed a diffraction efficiency of 40% of 50 V/μm, which corresponded to a Δn of 0.8 × 10−3. The photorefractive response time was τ1 = 0.6 s. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 1695–1702, 2009
Improvement of crystal quality of GaN grown on AlN template by MOCVD using HT‐AlN interlayer [Phys. Status Solidi C 6, No. S2, S317–S320 (2009)]
Authors: Yuebin Tao , Zhizhong Chen , Zhijian Yang , Liwen Sang , Zhitao Chen , Ding Li , Hao Fang , Yaobo Pan , Jianfeng Yan , Guangmin Zhu , Cheng Chen , Shitao Li , Maosheng Hao , Guoyi Zhang 
Published: July 2009

AbstractIn the PDF file of the paper by Y. B. Tao et al. [Phys. Status Solidi C 6, S317 (2009)], published online 7 May 2009, a wrong image was loaded: in place of Fig. 2, inadvertently Fig. 1 was shown again. This Erratum displays Figs. 1 and 2 properly. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Evaluating potential benefits of dose–exposure–response modeling for dose finding
Authors: Hsu Chyi‐Hung 
Published: July 2009

AbstractDose‐regimen selection for confirmatory trials and characterization of dose‐response relationship are arguably among the most important and difficult tasks in clinical drug development. Inadequate dose‐regimen selection is believed to be one of the key drivers of the high attrition rate in Phase III. Nowadays, drug concentrations are routinely measured in patients in clinical studies throughout the drug development process. This drug exposure information is often used to explain some of the response variability. It could also be used to improve characterization of dose‐response, and consequently result in a better dose‐regimen selection. A simulation study was undertaken to assess the potential value of dose‐response characterization methods that utilize exposure data relative to methods that only require dose and response data. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Kirchhoff index of linear pentagonal chains
Authors: Wang Yan , Zhang Wenwen 
Published: July 2009

AbstractThe resistance distance rij between two vertices vi and vj of a connected graph G is computed as the effective resistance between nodes i and j in the corresponding network constructed from G by replacing each edge of G with a unit resistor. The Kirchhoff index Kf(G) is the sum of resistance distances between all pairs of vertices. In this article, following the method of Yang and Zhang in the proof of the Kirchhoff index of liner hexagonal chain, we obtain the closed‐form formulae of the Kirchhoff index of liner pentagonal chain Pn in terms of its Laplacian spectrum. Finally, we show that the Kirchhoff index of Pn is approximately one half of its Wiener index. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2010
Sustainable procurement of minor items – exploring limits to sustainability
Authors: Haake Hans , Seuring Stefan 
Published: July 2009

AbstractThe field of sustainable supply chain management has seen a rapid expansion of corporate activities as well as academic research over the last few years. This paper points to an obvious shortcoming in the way the topic is being addressed in almost all contributions: major, well known, product related goods and services are almost exclusively targeted, leading to definitions, frameworks and empirical research that fail to include more minor items and related purchasing processes. This has various reasons, but is an inadequate approach when overall impacts along an entire supply chain are considered and the basic tenets of sustainability respected. The paper discusses the reasons for such shortcomings and suggests some measures by which they could be overcome, thereby also stimulating future research. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Host‐bacteria interactions in the intestine: homeostasis to chronic inflammation
Authors: Barbosa Theolis , Rescigno Maria 
Published: July 2009

AbstractIn the past decade it has become clear that the gut constitutes an important frontier of the body, which not only regulates the selective entry of nutrients while keeping vigilant against pathogens but also is largely responsible for shaping the immune response to educate the organism to recognize self from non‐self. The very notion of self has undergone a dramatic change, with the acknowledgment that our ‘selves’ include a plethora of microbial species that actively participate in our body's homeostasis. The immune system continuously adapts to the microbiota in a cyclic, dynamic cross talk where intestinal epithelial cells play an important role in instructing noninflammatory responses for a steady‐state control of bacterial growth, or triggering inflammatory mechanisms that can clear the gut from harmful invaders. The system is complex and robust in the sense that many players with partially overlapping roles act to keep the integrity of the intestinal mucosal barrier. Failure of these mechanisms involves genetic and environmental triggers and leads to inflammatory bowel disease. In this review, we seek to collect the state‐of‐the‐art knowledge about how host and microbiota interact to promote gut homeostasis and provide evidences of malfunctioning of the described mechanisms in human inflammatory bowel disease. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.This article is categorized under:

Physiology > Organismal Responses to Environment
Models at the single cell level
Authors: Cheong Raymond , Paliwal Saurabh , Levchenko Andre 
Published: July 2009

AbstractMany cellular behaviors cannot be completely captured or appropriately described at the cell population level. Noise induced by stochastic chemical reactions, spatially polarized signaling networks, and heterogeneous cell–cell communication are among the many phenomena that require fine‐grained analysis. Accordingly, the mathematical models used to describe such systems must be capable of single cell or subcellular resolution. Here, we review techniques for modeling single cells, including models of stochastic chemical kinetics, spatially heterogeneous intracellular signaling, and spatial stochastic systems. We also briefly discuss applications of each type of model. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.This article is categorized under:

Models of Systems Properties and Processes > Cellular Models
Shipment and storage effects on the terminal velocity of seeds
Authors: Marchetto Katherine M. , Jongejans Eelke , Jennis Matthew L. , Haner Emily M. , Sullivan Caitlin T. , Kelly Dave , Shea Katriona 
Published: July 2009

AbstractMechanistic models of seed dispersal by wind include terminal velocity as the main seed characteristic that influences the dispersal process and hence the resulting dispersal kernels and spread rates. Accurate measurement of the terminal velocity of seeds is therefore pivotal. However, compression during shipment through the post or during storage between collection in the field and terminal velocity measurements in the lab may affect these measurements. To evaluate the effects of shipment and storage on terminal velocity measurements, capitula of Carduus nutans, an invasive thistle species from Eurasia, were stored for 1–5 years and subjected to three different packing treatments. Seeds from capitula were then assessed for terminal velocity values, plume area, seed mass, wing loading, number of filaments per pappus, qualitative assessments of pappus damage, and number of intact dispersal units per capitulum. Compression significantly increased seed terminal velocity. However, storage duration for 1–5 years did not cause a significant increase or decrease in any of the response variables. The compression treatment was validated by shipment of seeds from New Zealand to the United States. When capitula that are to be used for terminal velocity measurements are stored or shipped, they should be packaged in incompressible containers to avoid damage to the fragile dispersal structures. Studies using capitula that were originally collected and stored for other purposes, such as transcontinental demographic studies, should rescale observed terminal velocity values to take into account possible damage.
Entscheidungen auf Basis von Effizienzgrenzen: Berücksichtigung von Patientenpräferenzen
Authors: Mühlbacher Axel C. , Bethge Susanne , Tockhorn Antje 
Published: July 2009

EinleitungBei der Bewertung von Gesundheitstechnologien durch Effizienzgrenzen spielen Patientenpräferenzen derzeit eine untergeordnete Rolle. Die Bewertung konzentriert sich vielmehr auf den Nutzen im Sinne klinischer Wirksamkeit und Sicherheit. Werden mehrere Endpunkte bzw. Effizienzgrenzen einer Entscheidung zugrunde gelegt, erscheint eine Gewichtung dieser Informationen sinnvoll. Zu diesem Zweck können Patientenpräferenzen mittels etablierter Analyseverfahren erhoben werden. Innovative Studienformen liefern wertvolle Zusatzinformationen über die Bedeutung von Endpunkten aus Sicht der Betroffenen. Ein solches Verfahren zur Präferenzmessungen ist die Discrete Choice-Analyse.
Traditionalism and Traditional Law
Authors: Fitzpatrick Peter 
Published: July 2009

John Berger tells the story of the peasant Lucie Cabrol in terms of her “three lives” because she lived and lived on in three different ways. Readers of the story in Lucie Cabrol's village say she now has four lives. The fourth is in her story. My theme to-day is that representations of knowledge give a life to that knowledge. This life shapes the object of the knowledge. That may appear an intensely academic concern and it is. But I will show that it is, in the same moment, an indispensible practical and political concern.I start in good company with that body of revisionist scholarship which shows that traditional law or customary law was a creation of the colonial period. For an initial instance, I will depart once only in this lecture from Africa for Oceania. I use this instance because it is compact, irresistible and needs to be better known to legal science. In colonial Fiji, British officials, for the purpose of what the British called good government, sought “to seize … the spirit in which native institutions have been framed”. In the Native Regulations they erected, as one anthropologist put it, “the first code of Fijian custom set down in writing after discussion by representatives from all parts of the Colony and, generally speaking, the great body of custom that it contains has been understood for generations; and so it was not something new and therefore suspect to the Fijians to whom it was applied”.
The Work of a Nigerian Magistrate's Court
Authors: Cottrell Jill 
Published: July 2009

Judicial statistics are frequently non-existent, or at best patchy, in developing countries. This note contains some very basic information—of the sort that in some places one might well find in published statistics—about the cases dealt with by a magistrate's court in Zaria, in one of the northern states of Nigeria during a six-month period in the early 1970s.The purpose of the study was to try to find the answers to some very elementary questions about the functioning of this part of the legal system such as: what sorts of cases were courts of this type trying? how long did the cases take? what were the outcomes? how many accused persons had lawyers and did this make any difference to the outcome? The period in question was chosen as the most recent six-month period; there is, so far as I am aware, no reason to suppose it to have been in any way exceptional, although naturally enough the nature of the cases may well have been affected by police activity, for example a more than usually extensive vehicle document check or a crack-down on Indian hemp (marijuana). As we shall see, the Chief Justice had been urging courts to try to keep down the prison population, which may have had an impact on the granting of bail and the proportion of custodial sentences imposed.
Previous Inconsistent Statements of a Witness in Nigeria
Authors: Adekunle Adedeji 
Published: July 2009

The attitude of courts to previous inconsistent statements of witnesses is primarily informed by the premium placed on the most credible evidence. A vintage rationale for this attitude states that:“The character of a witness for habitual veracity is an essential ingredient in his credibility: for a man who is capable of uttering a deliberate falsehood is in most cases capable of doing so under the solemn sanction of an oath. If therefore it appears that he has formerly said or written the contrary of that which he has now sworn (unless the reason of his having done so is satisfactorily accounted for), his evidence should not have much weight….”
Customary Law and Freedom of Testamentary Power
Authors: Sagay I. E. 
Published: July 2009

The extent to which customary law restricts the freedom of testamentary power (if at all) has given rise to a spate of cases right up to the Supreme Court, in which the courts have attempted to interpret and apply section 3(1) of the Wills Law (1958) of Western Nigeria, which currently applies to Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Edo and Delta States. Section 3(1) of the Wills Law of all these States provides thus:“Subject to any Customary Law relating thereto, it shall be lawful for every person to devise, bequeath or dispose of, by his will executed in a manner hereinafter required, all real and all personal estate which he shall be entided to, either in Law or in equity, at the time of his death and which if not so devised, bequeathed and disposed of would devolve upon the heir at law of him, or if he became entided by descent, of his ancestor, or upon his executor or administrator”.
The Ombudsman Arrives in Botswana: A Note on the Ombudsman Act, 1995
Authors: Quansah E. K. 
Published: July 2009

The enactment of the Ombudsman Act, 1995, marks Botswana's belated, albeit welcome, membership of the world-wide movement to enhance governmental administration. The Act brings to fruition the deliberations of an international conference on the suitability of the Ombudsman institution in Botswana held in Gaborone in 1993. The need for such an institution to complement the country's democratic institutions was made clear at that conference by the then Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration who was quoted as saying:‘The wide acceptance of the Ombudsman institution and the fact that it has been incorporated in recent constitutional reforms in other countries requires that we in Botswana give serious consideration to it at this point in time.’
The Legal Regime of Public Finance in the Sudan: The Legacy of Nimeiri
Authors: Gordon Carey 
Published: July 2009

The Republic of the Sudan, the largest country in Africa with a population of approximately 22 million people, became an independent state on 1 January 1956. The “May regime” of former President Ga'afar Mohamed Nimeiri ruled the Sudan during sixteen years of Sudan's independent existence, from 25 May 1969 to 6 April, 1985. Since April 1985, the country has been in a “transitional” period leading up to elections in April 1986, after which a newly elected government will determine the future of the state. Although Nimeiri is gone, the issue of the retention of the policies and legal structures of his regime continues to dominate the political and economic scene of this country.The economic development of the Sudan, along with the question of the correct balance of central-regional power within the country, constitute two of the major subjects of governmental attention and current political debate. The legal structures put in place by the Nimeiri government with respect to these matters remain largely intact. In order to undertake effective changes in the financial and structural policies of the government, an essential first step is to understand the framework which has existed in the recent past from which such changes will be made.
The Dawn of Legal Acculturation in Nigeria—A Significant Development in Law and National Integration: Olowu V. Olowu
Authors: Sagay I. E. 
Published: July 2009

The recent decision of the Supreme Court inAdeniyi Olowu &Ors. v.Olabowale Olowu & Anorto the effect that a person belonging originally to one ethnic group can by a process involving time, association, marriage, personal wishes and manner of life, become assimilated into and thereby legally acquire the status of another ethnic group, is of great significance. For it breaks new ground, gives legal backing to the promotion of social and national integration and establishes very clearly for the benefit of legal philosophers and theoreticians, that courts in fact make law.Previously, it was believed that no Nigerian could legally change his ethnic group. The prevailing attitude was “once an Ibo, always an Ibo ”, irrespective of the fact that the family of the propositus had settled amongst the Yorubas of Oyo town seven generations previously. The settler family would retain links with its “motherland” no matter how tenuous. The dead of the family would still be conveyed “home” for burial. Even if the settler family wanted to join the ethnic group of the host community, the host community would not allow them to forget that they were strangers. Thus in spite of inter-marriages and other social interaction between the settler family and the host community, the distinction and original identity of the settler family would be retained.What applies to individual settler families also applies with more force to settler communities. They retain their original cultural and ethnic identity, generations after settling in the midst of another ethnic group.