bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Functional properties and cell type specific distribution ofIh channels in leech neurons
Authors: Gerard Ednan , Hochstrate Peter , Dierkes Paul-Wilhelm , Coulon Philippe 
Published: December 2011

SUMMARYThe hyperpolarisation-activated cation current (Ih) has been described in many vertebrate and invertebrate species and cell types. In neurons, Ih is involved in rhythmogenesis, membrane potential stabilisation and many other functions. In this work, we investigate the distribution and functional properties of Ih in identified leech neurons of intact segmental ganglia. We found Ih in the mechanosensory touch (T), pressure (P) and noxious (N) neurons, as well as in Retzius neurons. The current displayed its largest amplitude in P neurons and we investigated its biophysical and pharmacological properties in these cells. Ih was half-maximally activated at –65 mV and fully activated at –100 mV. The current mutually depended on both Na+ and K+ with a permeability ratio pNa/pK of ∼0.21. The reversal potential was approximately –35 mV. The time course of activation could be approximated by a single time constant of ∼370 ms at –60 mV, but required two time constants at –80 mV of ∼80 and ∼560 ms. The current was half-maximally blocked by 0.3 mmol l–1 Cs+ but was insensitive to the bradycardic agent ZD7288. The physiological function of this channel could be a subtle alteration of the firing behaviour of mechanosensory neurons as well as a stabilisation of the resting membrane potential.
Activity of extrinsic limb muscles in dogs at walk, trot and gallop
Authors: Deban Stephen M. , Schilling Nadja , Carrier David R. 
Published: December 2011

SUMMARYThe extrinsic limb muscles perform locomotor work and must adapt their activity to changes in gait and locomotor speed, which can alter the work performed by, and forces transmitted across, the proximal fulcra of the limbs where these muscles operate. We recorded electromyographic activity of 23 extrinsic forelimb and hindlimb muscles and one trunk muscle in dogs while they walked, trotted and galloped on a level treadmill. Muscle activity indicates that the basic functions of the extrinsic limb muscles – protraction, retraction and trunk support – are conserved among gaits. The forelimb retains its strut-like behavior in all gaits, as indicated by both the relative inactivity of the retractor muscles (e.g. the pectoralis profundus and the latissimus dorsi) during stance and the protractor muscles (e.g. the pectoralis superficialis and the omotransversarius) in the first half of stance. The hindlimb functions as a propulsive lever in all gaits, as revealed by the similar timing of activity of retractors (e.g. the biceps femoris and the gluteus medius) during stance. Excitation increased in many hindlimb muscles in the order walk–trot–gallop, consistent with greater propulsive impulses in faster gaits. Many forelimb muscles, in contrast, showed the greatest excitation at trot, in accord with a shorter limb oscillation period, greater locomotor work performed by the forelimb and presumably greater absorption of collisional energy.
The influence of surface energy on the self-cleaning of insect adhesive devices
Authors: Orchard M. J. , Kohonen M. , Humphries S. 
Published: December 2011

SUMMARY
The ability of insects to adhere to surfaces is facilitated by the use of adhesive organs found on the terminal leg segments. These adhesive pads are inherently ‘tacky’ and are expected to be subject to contamination by particulates, leading to loss of function. Here, we investigated the self-cleaning of ants and beetles by comparing the abilities of both hairy and smooth pad forms to self-clean on both high and low energy surfaces after being fouled with microspheres of two sizes and surface energies. We focused on the time taken to regain adhesive potential in unrestrained Hymenopterans (Polyrhachis dives and Myrmica scabrinodis) and Coccinellids (Harmonia axyridis and Adalia bipunctata) fouled with microspheres. We found that the reattainment of adhesion is influenced by particle type and size in Hymenopterans, with an interaction between the surface energy of the contaminating particle and substrate. In Coccinellids, reattainment of adhesion was only influenced by particle size and substrate properties. The adhesive organs of Coccinellids appear to possess superior self-cleaning abilities compared with those of Hymenopterans, although Hymenopterans exhibit better adhesion to both surface types.
Pharmacokinetic Effects of Bariatric Surgery
Authors: Edwards Allan , Ensom Mary HH 
Published: December 2011

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of bariatric surgery on the pharmacokinetics of medications. DATA SOURCES: EMBASE (1980-September 2011), PubMed (1947-September 2011), MEDLINE (1948-September 2011), and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts(1970-September 2011) were searched for the following terms: gastric bypass or stomach bypass or bariatric surgery, and pharmacokinetic. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION: All English-language primary literature that reported pharmacokinetic parameters for orally dosed medications in post–bariatric surgery patients was evaluated, with the exception of studies involving the jejunoileal bypass method. DATA SYNTHESIS: Worldwide, the incidence of obesity is increasing and so are options for managing it, including bariatric surgery. Major alterations to the physical structure of the gastrointestinal tract may cause changes in pharmacokinetic parameters of oral medications, which theoretically could lead to increased or decreased drug exposure. We reviewed 11 prospective trials, 5 of which were available only as abstracts and all of which were small with relatively low power (n = 6-36). The studies were split almost equally between using subjects as their own controls or using separate control subjects; 1 study used historical data as the control. Results were varied, highlighting the multifactorial nature of pharmacokinetics. Drugs such as atorvastatin, which undergo presystemic intestinal metabolism via CYP3A, may show increased bioavailability, whereas those such as amoxicillin, which rely on transport mediators, may be decreased. Most of the studies lacked sufficient power to show significant changes in post–bariatric surgery patients. CONCLUSIONS: Bariatric surgical procedures may result in altered pharmacokinetic parameters, but the literature is lacking in sufficient quantity and quality of studies to make solid conclusions and recommendations. Until more studies of sufficient power are completed, clinicians should closely monitor these patients in the immediate and distant postsurgical period for signs of both drug efficacy and toxicity and adjust their medications as required.
Comparison of Aminocyclopyrachlor to Common Herbicides for Kudzu (Pueraria montana) Management
Authors: Minogue Patrick J. , Enloe Stephen F. , Osiecka Anna , Lauer Dwight K. 
Published: December 2011

AbstractKudzu is an invasive perennial climbing vine characterized by fast growth rates and tolerance to control measures. Repeated applications with high rates of 2,4-D plus picloram provide effective kudzu control, but picloram use is not permitted in certain states due to groundwater pollution concerns. Studies were conducted in Alabama and Florida to compare kudzu control with aminocyclopyrachlor, a new herbicide, to control provided by aminopyralid, clopyralid, metsulfuron methyl, and picloram plus 2,4-D, which are common treatments for kudzu management. Two annual applications of the same herbicide treatment were evaluated for effects on kudzu cover, kudzu volume index, and cover of other vegetation. Aminocyclopyrachlor at 140 to 280 g ae ha−1 (2 to 4 oz ae ac−1) was as effective as the standard 4.48 kg ae ha−1 (4 lb ae ac−1) 2,4-D amine plus 1.2 kg ae ha−1 picloram for kudzu control. There were no differences in kudzu control among the three rates of aminocyclopyrachlor tested. Colonization by graminoids, forbs, and Rubus spp. at 2 yr was greatest for herbicides providing the best kudzu control: aminocyclopyrachlor, and 2,4-D plus picloram. Herbicide treatments were more effective in controlling kudzu at the Alabama location, but repeated annual applications for 2 yr did not completely eliminate kudzu with any treatment at either site.
Impacts of Invasive Plants on Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) Roosting Habitat
Authors: Kessler Andrew C. , Merchant James W. , Allen Craig R. , Shultz Steven D. 
Published: December 2011

AbstractInvasive plants continue to spread in riparian ecosystems, causing both ecological and economic damage. This research investigated the impacts of common reed, purple loosestrife, riparian shrubland, and riparian woodlands on the quality and quantity of sandhill crane roosting habitat in the central Platte River, Nebraska, using a discrete choice model. A more detailed investigation of the impacts of common reed on sandhill crane roosting habitat was performed by forecasting a spread or contraction of this invasive plant. The discrete choice model indicates that riparian woodlands had the largest negative impact on sandhill crane roosting habitat. The forecasting results predict that a contraction of common reed could increase sandhill crane habitat availability by 50%, whereas an expansion could reduce the availability by as much as 250%. This suggests that if the distribution of common reed continues to expand in the central Platte River the availability of sandhill crane roosting habitat would likely be greatly reduced.
Extracting Key Phrases as Predictors of Corporate Bankruptcy: Empirical Analysis of Annual Reports by Text Mining
Authors: Shirata Cindy Yoshiko , Takeuchi Hironori , Ogino Shiho , Watanabe Hideo 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACT
Bankruptcy predictions have been one of the most interesting topics for accounting researchers. Most bankruptcy prediction models are developed by using financial ratios. However, signs of the changing financial position of a company may appear in the nonfinancial information earlier than we can identify the changes in the financial numbers. In recent years, analysis of qualitative information has become remarkably important, because frequent changes in accounting standards have made it difficult to compare financial numbers between years. In this study, we analyzed the sentences in financial reports in Japan and extracted key phrases/descriptions to predict bankruptcy. Our research revealed that if some particular expressions appear together with the word “dividend” or “retained earnings” in the same section of an annual report, they were effective in distinguishing between bankrupt companies and non-bankrupt companies.
Fault tolerance in networked control systems under intermittent observations
Authors: Georges Jean-Philippe , Theilliol Didier , Cocquempot Vincent , Ponsart Jean-Christophe , Aubrun Christophe 
Published: December 2011

Fault tolerance in networked control systems under intermittent observationsThis paper presents an approach to fault tolerant control based on the sensor masking principle in the case of wireless networked control systems. With wireless transmission, packet losses act as sensor faults. In the presence of such faults, the faulty measurements corrupt directly the behaviour of closed-loop systems. Since the controller aims at cancelling the error between the measurement and its reference input, the real outputs will, in such a networked control system, deviate from the desired value and may drive the system to its physical limitations or even to instability. The proposed method facilitates fault compensation based on an interacting multiple model approach developed in the framework of channel errors or network congestion equivalent to multiple sensors failures. The interacting multiple model method involved in a networked control system provides simultaneously detection and isolation of on-line packet losses, and also performs a suitable state estimation. Based on particular knowledge of packet losses, sensor fault-tolerant controls are obtained by computing a new control law using fault-free estimation of the faulty element to avoid intermittent observations that might develop into failures and to minimize the effects on system performance and safety.
Existence and exponential stability of a periodic solution for fuzzy cellular neural networks with time-varying delays
Authors: Zhang Qianhong , Yang Lihui , Liao Daixi 
Published: December 2011

Existence and exponential stability of a periodic solution for fuzzy cellular neural networks with time-varying delays
Fuzzy cellular neural networks with time-varying delays are considered. Some sufficient conditions for the existence and exponential stability of periodic solutions are obtained by using the continuation theorem based on the coincidence degree and the differential inequality technique. The sufficient conditions are easy to use in pattern recognition and automatic control. Finally, an example is given to show the feasibility and effectiveness of our methods.
Evolving small-board Go players using coevolutionary temporal difference learning with archives
Authors: Krawiec Krzysztof , Jaśkowski Wojciech , Szubert Marcin 
Published: December 2011

Evolving small-board Go players using coevolutionary temporal difference learning with archivesWe apply Coevolutionary Temporal Difference Learning (CTDL) to learn small-board Go strategies represented as weighted piece counters. CTDL is a randomized learning technique which interweaves two search processes that operate in the intra-game and inter-game mode. Intra-game learning is driven by gradient-descent Temporal Difference Learning (TDL), a reinforcement learning method that updates the board evaluation function according to differences observed between its values for consecutively visited game states. For the inter-game learning component, we provide a coevolutionary algorithm that maintains a sample of strategies and uses the outcomes of games played between them to iteratively modify the probability distribution, according to which new strategies are generated and added to the sample. We analyze CTDL's sensitivity to all important parameters, including the trace decay constant that controls the lookahead horizon of TDL, and the relative intensity of intra-game and inter-game learning. We also investigate how the presence of memory (an archive) affects the search performance, and find out that the archived approach is superior to other techniques considered here and produces strategies that outperform a handcrafted weighted piece counter strategy and simple liberty-based heuristics. This encouraging result can be potentially generalized not only to other strategy representations used for small-board Go, but also to various games and a broader class of problems, because CTDL is generic and does not rely on any problem-specific knowledge.
Innovation Process Models With Emphasis on Open Innovation Model
Authors: Kozioł-Nadolna Katarzyna , Świadek Arkadiusz 
Published: December 2011

Innovation Process Models With Emphasis on Open Innovation ModelThis article presents different models of innovation processes and focuses in particular on the open innovation. The empirical part is based on the findings on the innovation cooperation of enterprises in the EU and OECD (these data, among others, determine the open innovation). At the end of the article there is a case study of Nokia which implements the open innovation in its innovation activity. The aim of this article is to present the paradigm of the open innovation processes. This approach concentrates on sharing knowledge, i.e. making new solutions available to other units by means of e.g. license sale. The open innovation business model takes advantage of both internal and external sources of ideas without a fear that a company's own ideas when transferred to another organization will lead to the company's loss of profits coming from this idea. The formal framework of an organization is just a symbolic one and makes the flow of knowledge between the organization and its environment possible. The enterprises that adopt the open innovation strategy both enthusiastically develop ideas which were created by others as well as make their own ideas available to other organizations that find them more interesting.
Manufacturing SMEs' Credit Collection Period and its Determinants: Some Evidence from Malaysia
Authors: Zainudin Nasruddin , Regupathi Angappan 
Published: December 2011

Manufacturing SMEs' Credit Collection Period and its Determinants: Some Evidence from Malaysia
Collection period is the length of time taken by a company's credit customers to pay their debts. During this time, company resources are tied up as it is effectively financing its customers' purchases out of its own funds. Credit collection period is, therefore, an important factor that might have an impact on the cash flows, and hence, the survival of a company. An attempt has been made in this paper to explore the profile of credit collection period among small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in Malaysia. Besides that, we also identify some determinants of this credit collection period. The study is based primarily on secondary data derived from financial statements of manufacturing SMEs from 2001 through 2004. The findings of this study indicate that liquidity, efficiency, profitability, industry sub-sector and size have some influence over the credit collection period.
Trends in and Perceptions on Urbanisation
Authors: Anant Geetha 
Published: December 2011

Trends in and Perceptions on Urbanisation
Escalating mega-city concentrations, perpetuated by investment distortions and rural-urban imbalances in densely populated and economically undeveloped countries, endorse migration, generate pluralities, and create potential conditions for conflict, evoking planners' concern. In a globalising world, national policies tend to comply with international agreements, which do not necessarily synchronise with commitment of welfare states to domestic issues arising from inequities. This is more apparent in economies disadvantaged by large population sizes, sprawling urban agglomerations, preponderance of slums, a large proportion of untrained and illiterate human resources, and differential taxation laws. This paper appraises selected Indian Ocean countries characterised by development imbalances, lop-sided and unmanageable urbanisation on account of limited availability and poor allocation of resources, shift of rural poverty to urban areas, consumption inequities, etc. Most governments have embraced largely aggressive approaches to address this problem, evicting the ‘destitute in-migrants’, or forcibly shifting them. These cannot have a positive and far-reaching impact, and hence incentive-based ‘inclusive’ and ‘participatory’ resettlement strategies are urged.
The narratives behind the numbers: An approach to mixed methods research within the alcohol research field
Authors: Østergaard Jeanette 
Published: December 2011

Aim This article introduces a conceptual framework for conducting mixed methods within the alcohol research field by suggesting that any data analysis – qualitative or quantitative – is also a narrative or social representation. Theoretically, the paper draws on Andrew Abbott (1997; 1998) and Howard Becker (2007), arguing that three ordered forms of representation are performed in quantitative analyses based on survey studies: The first order of representation refers to how participants respond to or interpret a survey question; the second to the arrangement and interpretation of variables in quantitative analysis and shows that measurements can have networks of meanings and the third to ways of merging quantitative analysis with other material, such as qualitative data. Data and Method Empirically, the paper illustrates the first order of representation through an analysis of 13 focus group interviews. In these young people discussed selected international survey questions, which later were used in two representative surveys on alcohol and illegal drug use, conducted in 2005 amongst 2 000 15-16-year-olds and in 2008 amongst 5 000 17-19-year-olds. Conclusion The article discusses how insights of the first order of representation are useful when researchers wish to carry out the second and third orders of representation.
Bcl-2 Family Proteins in Development and Treatment of Malignant Diseases
Authors: Racay P. , Jurecekova J. , Stefanikova A. , Klikova K. , Hatok J. , Dobrota D. 
Published: December 2011

Bcl-2 Family Proteins in Development and Treatment of Malignant DiseasesProteins of Bcl-2 family are key regulators of mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. Deregulation of apoptosis disrupts the complex and delicate balance between cell proliferation, survival and death and plays an important role in the development of malignant diseases. In addition to uncontrolled proliferation, alterations in apoptotic proteins are frequently associated with resistance of malignant cells to chemotherapy, leading to ineffective treatment with chemotherapy that primarily acts by apoptosis initiation. Despite the progress in combinatory and biologic therapy, response rates for treatment of different malignant diseases are not high enough. Therefore, new anti-cancer agents that selectively kill tumour cells and spare normal tissues are still urgently needed. Progress in biochemistry and cell biology leading to detailed dissection of cell signalling pathways allows development of new therapeutic strategies targeting different proteins involved in malignant transformation and uncontrolled proliferation of malignant cells. Emerging knowledge on molecular mechanisms of apoptosis deregulation in cancer development has revealed Bcl-2 family proteins as potential targets for drugs discovery. Structural analysis of these proteins together with studies of apoptosis mechanisms have outlined strategies for generation of new drugs, resulting in numerous novel chemical entities with mechanism-based activity. Many of the most logical targets for promoting apoptosis of malignant cells are technically challenging, involving often disruption of protein interactions or changes in gene expression, as opposed to traditional pharmaceutical approach that predominantly attacks enzymes. Understanding of the core components of the apoptotic machinery at the molecular and structural levels may lead to new era in cancer therapy where the intrinsic and acquired resistance of malignant cells to apoptosis can be pharmacologically reversed, reinstating natural pathways of cell suicide.