bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Four decades of Universities of the Third Age: past, present, future
Authors: FORMOSA MARVIN 
Published: August 2012

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses the origins and development of Universities of the Third Age (U3As) whilst also forwarding suggestions for possible roles, opportunities and directions in the future. The U3A has been rightly described as both an idea and movement, as each centre has a local foundation and relatively unique features. Whilst some U3As are attached to traditional universities and colleges, others are sturdily autonomous and wholly dependent on the efforts of volunteers. One also finds a variety of ethos, ranging from the provision of a traditional type of liberal-arts education, to the organisation of interest-group activities conducted through peer learning, to showing solidarity with vulnerable sectors of the older population. Academic commentaries on the U3A movement have been both supportive and critical. Whilst U3As have been lauded for leading older learners to improved levels of physical, cognitive, social and psychological wellbeing, other reports emphasise how many centres incorporate strong gender, social class, ageist and ethnic biases. One hopes that in future years the U3A movement will continue to be relevant to incoming cohorts of older adults by embracing a broader vision of learning, improving the quality of learning, instruction and curricula, as well as a wider participation agenda that caters for older adults experiencing physical and cognitive challenges.
Impact of software changes: Transit dose and source position accuracy of the Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG GmbH MultiSource® high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatment unit
Authors: Palmer A. 
Published: August 2012

AbstractPurpose: Medical device performance checks are essential following changes to control system software. This work investigates the effects of new software on the performance of a high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatment unit.Methods and Materials: A performance assessment was undertaken of the Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG GmbH MultiSource® HDR treatment unit following software upgrade. Video recordings of source transits were used to calculate transit doses, and autoradiography used to measure source dwell positions. Results were compared to a previous study.1Results: All results showed improved performance with the new compared to old control software. Optimal source movement profiles were observed with maximum transit speeds of 63 (+/−4) mm s−1 between dwells of 5.0 mm separation. The maximum error in transit dose correction with the new software was 2.5 % at 10.0 mm perpendicular from the source axis, compared to 5.6 % previously. The new software eliminated a causal relationship between curvature of the source transfer tubes and dwell position uncertainty.Conclusions: This work demonstrates the need for comprehensive medical device system checks following software changes. Technical improvements in HDR device performance have been achieved with the new software; reducing transit doses, improving transit dose correction, and improving source positioning accuracy.
Optimization of a 61.44 GHz BiCMOS HBT integrated PLL for ultra-fast settling time
Authors: Barghouthi Atheer , Hellfeld Marcu , Carta Corrado , Ellinger Frank 
Published: August 2012

The design of a 61.44 GHz integrated Phase-locked loop (PLL) on a 180 GHz BiCMOS technology is presented. The PLL was optimized for a very fast settling time of 4 µs as required by the system specifications. Because the receiver is using a carrier recovery circuit that can follow the slow changes of the carrier such as phase noise, the sensitivity of the bit error rate to phase noise at the receiver end is very low. As a result, to achieve the required dynamic behavior, the phase noise performance could be sacrificed and the loop bandwidth was increased until the needed settling time was achieved, while taking the suppression of the reference spurs into consideration. Capacitor multiplication was used to enable the integration of the loop filter (LF) on chip and the effect of the capacitor multiplier on the total PLL phase noise performance was quantified and evaluated. In addition, a very close matching between the measured and simulated phase noise of the system was achieved. The PLL consumes a power of 200 mW from 2 and 3 V supply voltages, while delivering a differential output power of −7 dBm, sufficient to drive the following I/Q modulator without additional amplification.
An observational analysis of Southern Hemisphere tropical expansion
Authors: Lucas Christopher , Nguyen Hanh , Timbal Bertrand 
Published: August 2012

Historical radiosonde data are analyzed using the tropopause height frequency method to investigate the variation of the Southern Hemisphere tropical edge from 1979/80–2010/11, independently of reanalysis‐derived data. Averaged across the hemisphere we identify a tropical expansion trend of 0.41 ± 0.37 deg dec−1, significant at the 90% level. A comparison with four reanalyses shows generally consistent results between radiosondes and reanalyses. Estimated rates of tropical expansion in the SH are broadly similar, as is the interannual variability. However, notable differences remain. Some of these differences are related to the methodology used to identify the height of the tropopause in the reanalyses, which produces inconsistent results in the subtropics. Differences between radiosondes and reanalyses are also more manifest in data‐poor regions. In these regions, the reanalyses are not fully constrained, allowing the internal model dynamics to drive the variability. The performance of the reanalyses varies temporally compared to the radiosonde data. These differences are particularly apparent from 1979 to 1985 and from 2001 to 2010. In the latter period, we hypothesize that the increased availability and quality of satellite‐based data improves the results from the ERA Interim reanalysis, creating an inconsistency with earlier data. This apparent inhomogeneity results in a tropical expansion trend in that product that is inconsistent with the radiosonde‐based observations. These results confirm the need for careful evaluation of reanalysis‐based data for use in studies of long‐term climate variability.
Subduction of oceanic asthenosphere: Evidence from sub‐slab seismic anisotropy
Authors: Song Teh‐Ru Alex , Kawakatsu Hitoshi 
Published: August 2012

The oceanic asthenosphere is characterized as a low viscosity channel down to 200–300 km depth separating the cold lithosphere from above, and it is intimately linked to a layer of low seismic velocity and prominent seismic anisotropy observed globally beneath ocean basins. While subduction of tectonic plates in convergent margins is well recognized, the fate of oceanic asthenosphere remains enigmatic. We demonstrate that subduction of the oceanic asthenosphere characterized by weak azimuthal anisotropy and strong radial anisotropy explains the essence of sub‐slab shear‐wave splitting patterns, where the fast splitting direction changes from predominantly trench‐parallel (or sub‐parallel) under relatively steep subduction zones to frequently trench‐normal under shallow subduction zones. To explain the observed splitting time, the thickness of the subducted asthenosphere is estimated to be 100 ± 50 km.
Observed variation in the decay time of oceanic whitecap foam
Authors: Callaghan Adrian H. , Deane Grant B. , Stokes M. Dale , Ward Brian 
Published: August 2012

Whitecap foam decay times for 552 individual breaking waves determined from digital images of the sea surface are reported. The images had sub‐centimeter pixel resolution and were acquired at frame rates between 3 and 6 frames per second at the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory over a 10‐day period in 2008, subdivided into 4 observation periods. Whitecap foam decay times for individual events varied between 0.2 s to 10.4 s across the entire data set. A systematic positive correlation between whitecap foam decay time and maximum whitecap foam patch area was found for each observation period. For a given whitecap size within each observation period, the decay times varied between a factor of 2 and 5, with the largest variation occurring during unsteady environmental forcing conditions. Within observation periods, bin‐averaged decay times varied by up to a factor of 4 across the range of foam patch areas. Between observation periods, the effective whitecap foam decay time, which we define as the area‐weighted mean decay time, varied by a factor of 3.4 between 1.4 s and 4.8 s. We found a weak correlation between decay times and individual event‐averaged breaking wave speeds. The variation in the active breaking area across all 4 observation periods was small, indicating relatively uniform surface whitecap area generating potential. We speculate that the variation in the foam decay times may be due to (i) the effect of surfactants on bubble and foam stability, and (ii) differences between bubble plume characteristics caused by a variation in breaking wave type.
Biogeography of Rhizobium radiobacter and distribution of associated temperate phages in deep subseafloor sediments
Authors: Engelhardt Tim , Sahlberg Monika , Cypionka Heribert , Engelen Bert 
Published: August 2012

Abstract
Bacteriophages might be the main ‘predators’ in the marine deep subsurface and probably have a major impact on indigenous microbial communities. To identify their function within this habitat, we have determined their abundance and distribution along the sediment columns of two continental margin and two open ocean sites that were recovered during Leg 201 of the Ocean Drilling Program. For all investigated sites, viral abundance followed the total cell numbers with a virus-to-cell ratio between 1 and 10 in the upper 100 mbsf (meters below seafloor). An increasing ratio of about 20 in deeper layers indicated an ongoing viral production in up to 11 Ma old sediments. We have used Rhizobium radiobacter as the most frequently isolated organism from the deep subsurface with a high in situ abundance to identify the frequency of associated rhizobiophages. In this study, 16S rRNA gene copies of R. radiobacter accounted for up to 5.6% of total bacterial 16S rRNA genes (average: 0.75%) as detected by quantitative PCR. A distinctive distribution was identified for R. radiobacter as indicated by a site-specific arrangement of genetically similar populations. Whole genome information of rhizobiophage RR1-A was used to generate a primer system for quantitative PCR specifically targeting the prophage antirepressor gene, indicative for temperate phages. The quantification of this gene within various sediment horizons showed a contribution of temperate phages of up to 14.3% to the total viral abundance. Thus, the high amount of temperate phages within the sediments and among all investigated isolates indicates that lysogeny is the main viral proliferation mode in deep subsurface populations.
Modified reactive empirical bond-order potential for heterogeneous bonding environments
Authors: Hur Jaewoong , Stuart Steven J. 
Published: August 2012

An improvement to the AIREBO potential for hydrocarbons is presented in which contributions to the bond order are determined by the local bonding environment around the bond, rather than the average of the environments around the two constituent atoms. This bond-centric approach decreases the errors by ∼80% in the fullerene-type systems for which the original approach leads to the most severe errors. With the newly developed and parameterized method, energy errors are less than 0.7 eV for a collection of hydrocarbon molecules not used in the fitting. This modified AIREBO potential is expected to be more useful not only for the molecular hydrocarbons and fullerene isomers studied here, but also for the full range of carbon and hydrocarbon systems to which the AIREBO potential has been applied.
Fluid balance of cyclists during a 387‐km race
Authors: Black Katherine Elizabeth , Skidmore Paula , Brown Rachel Claire 
Published: August 2012

AbstractCurrent hydration guidelines are designed to address the fine balance between minimising dehydration while reducing the risk of hyponatremia. During prolonged cycling events small discrepancies between drinking behaviour and fluid requirements may be detrimental to health and performance. The present study aimed to investigate the hydration practices of competitors in a 387 km cycle race in order to evaluate the effect on fluid balance and monitor the prevalence of dysnatremia. Eighteen participants provided blood and urine samples pre‐ and post‐race to measure sodium and fluid balance. Sweat samples were collected via patches for analysis of sodium concentration. Body weight was measured at the start and end of the race. On average participants consumed 0.58 L h−1 of fluid. Upon completion of the race 7 of the 18 (39%) cyclists had blood sodium concentrations of 135 mmol L−1 or lower with one cyclist recording a value of 132 mmol L−1. Only two cyclists appeared to be moderately dehydrated. A post‐race questionnaire indicated cyclists were most concerned with preventing dehydration. It appears that cyclists taking part in prolonged endurance events are at more risk of hyponatremia than dehydration and do not readily change their drinking behaviour to match their sweat losses.
Film deposition on the inner surface of tubes using atmospheric-pressure Ar–CH4, Ar–C2H2 and Ar–C2H2–H2 plasmas: interpretation of film properties from plasma-chemical kinetics
Authors: Pothiraja Ramasamy , Engelhardt Max , Bibinov Nikita , Awakowicz Peter 
Published: August 2012

Abstract
A hard hydrocarbon film is deposited on the inner surface of glass tubes using a filamentary discharge at atmospheric pressure in Ar–C2H2–H2 and Ar–CH4 mixtures. Under similar conditions, a soft film is deposited with a high deposition rate in an Ar–C2H2 mixture. These differences in film hardness and deposition rate are interpreted on the basis of carbon and hydrogen elemental composition in the plasma.
The deposition rate is varied along the axis of the tubes in the Ar–C2H2–H2 plasma. This can be controlled by controlling the substrate (tube) temperature. Chemical erosion of the deposited film by hydrogen atoms is the probable reason for this effect.
The plasma conditions (gas temperature, electron distribution function and electron density) are characterized by applying optical emission spectroscopy (OES), microphotography and numerical simulation for all three gas mixtures. The density of hydrogen atoms in the inter-electrode region of the tube is determined by applying OES in all gas mixtures. The rates of precursor molecule excitation and follow-up plasma-chemical reactions are calculated on the basis of the determined plasma parameters. Correlations between plasma conditions and film properties are discussed.
Identification and quantification of the dissipative mechanisms involved in the radial permanent deformation of carbon nanotubes
Authors: Souier Tewfik , Santos Sergio , Gadelrab Karim , Al Ghaferi Amal , Chiesa Matteo 
Published: August 2012

Abstract
Recent advances in atomic force microscopy (AFM) are used here to determine, decouple and quantify the dissipative processes involved in the interaction between a silicon tip and a carbon nanotube (CNT). The energy dissipated per atom due to hysteretic contact processes on the CNT remains constant with increasing cantilever stored energy. The energy dissipated due to viscoelasticity, however, increases in the order of several eV nm−2 per nm of free amplitude until the CNT eventually laterally deforms. This trend is general in amplitude modulation AFM and could be used to determine the nature and effects of dissipation for other relevant nanostructures.
A robust approach to extract biomedical events from literature
Authors: Bui Quoc-Chinh , Sloot Peter M.A. 
Published: August 2012

Abstract
Motivation: The abundance of biomedical literature has attracted significant interest in novel methods to automatically extract biomedical relations from the literature. Until recently, most research was focused on extracting binary relations such as protein–protein interactions and drug–disease relations. However, these binary relations cannot fully represent the original biomedical data. Therefore, there is a need for methods that can extract fine-grained and complex relations known as biomedical events.
Results: In this article we propose a novel method to extract biomedical events from text. Our method consists of two phases. In the first phase, training data are mapped into structured representations. Based on that, templates are used to extract rules automatically. In the second phase, extraction methods are developed to process the obtained rules. When evaluated against the Genia event extraction abstract and full-text test datasets (Task 1), we obtain results with F-scores of 52.34 and 53.34, respectively, which are comparable to the state-of-the-art systems. Furthermore, our system achieves superior performance in terms of computational efficiency.
Availability: Our source code is available for academic use at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10256952/BioEvent.zip
Contact: bqchinh@gmail.com
HSP90α deficiency does not affect immunoglobulin gene hypermutation and class switch but causes enhanced MHC class II antigen presentation
Authors: Li Yingqian , Li Shuyin , Hoshino Mari , Ishikawa Rikiya , Kajiwara Chiaki , Gao Xiang , Zhao Yaofeng , Ishido Satoshi , Udono Heiichiro , Wang Ji-Yang 
Published: August 2012

Abstract
Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a molecular chaperone required for efficient antigen presentation and cross-presentation. In addition, HSP90 was recently reported to interact with and stabilize the activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) and plays a critical role in immunoglobulin gene hypermutation and class switch recombination. In mice and humans, there are two HSP90 isoforms, HSP90α and HSP90β, but the in vivo role of each isoform remains largely unknown. Here we have analyzed humoral immune responses in HSP90α-deficient mice. We found that HSP90α deficiency did not affect AID protein expression. B cell development and maturation, as well as immunoglobulin gene hypermuation and class switch, occurred normally in HSP90α-deficient mice. However, antibody production to a T-dependent antigen was elevated in the mutant mice and this was associated with enhanced MHC class II antigen presentation to T helper cells by dendritic cells. Our results reveal a previously unidentified inhibitory role for HSP90α isoform in MHC class II antigen presentation and the humoral immune response. Along with our recent finding that HSP90α is required for antigen cross-presentation, these results suggest that HSP90α controls the balance of humoral and cellular immunity by dictating the fate of presentation of exogenous antigen.
First Report of Phomopsis Seed Decay of Soybean Caused by Phomopsis longicolla in South China
Authors: Shan Z. , Li S. , Liu Y. , Yang Z. , Yang C. , Sha A. , Chen H. , Chen S. , Zhou X-A. 
Published: August 2012

Phomopsis seed decay of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) causes poor seed quality and suppresses yield in most soybean-growing areas in the world. The disease is caused primarily by Phomopsis longicolla Hobbs. During the spring of 2010, soybean seeds without symptoms were planted in the fields but emergence was poor and the emergence rates ranged from 30 to 70% in south China. Approximately 3,000 symptomless seeds were randomly collected from seven fields at three locations in Guangzhou, Nanchang, and Wuhan. Seeds were surface disinfected with 1% sodium hypochlorite for 12 min, rinsed in sterile distilled water three to four times, and placed on 2% agar. Plates were then incubated at 26°C under 16/8-h photoperiod for 3 to 4 days. About 10 to 20% of the seeds produced white hyphae that spread rapidly and covered the whole seed. The hyphae from fungal isolates were transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 26°C in the dark. After 3 to 4 weeks, conidia were elliptical with two oil drops at both ends and hyaline (6.2 to 7.2 × 2.6 to 3.2 μm). The cultural and morphological characteristics of the isolates corresponded with the description of P. longicolla (2). Colonies on PDA were floccose, dense, and white. Stromata were large, black, and spreading. To confirm the morphological identification, the ribosomal internal transcribed spacers (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) from three isolates were sequenced (GenBank Accession Nos. JQ899030, JQ899031, and JQ899032). BLAST analysis indicated that the isolates had 99% nucleotide sequence identity with P. longicolla (GenBank Accession Nos. AY857868.1, EF026104, and HQ130441.1). Pathogenicity tests were conducted on 2-week-old soybean seedlings (3). A mycelial plug (3 mm in diameter) from the margin of 1-week-old PDA culture of the Wuhan isolate was individually placed mycelial side down directly on the top of cut stem 1 to 2 cm above cotyledon node of the soybean seedling. PDA plugs without the fungus was used as the negative control. All seedlings were kept in a growth chamber at 26°C with 92 to 94% relative humidity. After 2 weeks, all inoculated seedlings showed browning, stem wilt, and the lesions were 0.3 to 2.0 cm long. No symptoms were observed in the control plants. P. longicolla was reisolated from the infected seedlings. The pathogenicity test was repeated three times. Soybean stem blight caused by P. longicolla has been reported in northeast China (1). To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. longicolla causing Phomopsis seed decay of soybean in south China. This report will establish a foundation for developing a program for screening germplasm for resistance to this disease in south China. References: (1) Y. L. Cui et al. Plant Pathol. 58:799, 2009. (2) T. W. Hobbs et al. Mycologia 77:535,1985. (3) S. Li et al. Plant Dis. 85:1031, 2001.