bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Managing knowledge for information system evolution: the MinimalEDoc methodology
Authors: Salvaneschi Paolo 
Published: June 2009

AbstractThe paper describes a proposed method (MinimalEDoc—Minimal Documents for Software Evolution) for managing the documents required during the evolution phase of information systems. The method applies a minimalist approach to the documentation and the concept of ‘Total Cost of Ownership’. It is composed of definitions, principles, a documental model, a management process and a supporting tool. Documents are classified according to document types ‘maps’, ‘aspects’, ‘components’ and ‘critical points’. For specific classes of applications, we can define reusable document schemes and patterns. The documents are organized into a common knowledge base subject to multiple views for different classes of users. The implementation technology is based on a wiki tool integrating external specialized CASE tools. The methodology is supported by an empirical case study involving the information system of a large retail company. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
MPS.BR: a successful program for software process improvement in Brazil
Authors: Montoni Mariano Angel , Rocha Ana Regina , Weber Kival Chaves 
Published: June 2009

AbstractSoftware process improvement implementation based on software process reference models and standards is a complex and long‐term endeavor that requires investment of large sums of money. These obstacles usually hinder organizations from implementing software process improvement successfully, especially for small and medium‐size enterprises that operate under strict financial resources. This paper describes the MPS.BR, a nationwide program for software process improvement in Brazilian organizations. The main goal of this initiative is to develop and disseminate a Brazilian software process model (named MPS Model) aiming to establish a feasible pathway for organizations to achieve benefits from implementing software process improvement at reasonable costs, especially small and medium‐size enterprises. This paper presents the main components of the MPS Model and discusses the strategy executed to establish and maintain a community of MPS Model practitioners. The results of MPS Model adoption and dissemination in Brazilian software industry are also presented in this paper. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Integrated Automotive SPICE and safety assessments
Authors: Messnarz Richard , Ross Hans‐Leo , Habel Stephan , König Frank , Koundoussi Abdelhadi , Unterrreitmayer Jürgen , Ekert Damjan 
Published: June 2009

AbstractIn 2005 Automotive SPICE (based on ISO 15504) has been published (see http://www.automotivespice.com) and used in major automotive firms world wide. In parallel the topic ‘Functional Safety’ became important due to changes in liability law and the development of IEC 61508 as an application and branch independent standard for functional safety. As a result, ISO WD 26262 a ISO draft for functional safety has been initiated classifying systems with ASIL (automotive safety integrity levels) levels and requiring additional processes, techniques, and methods to illustrate the competence for managing systems that have an impact on the loss of lives.An Automotive SPICE assessment usually takes (for the processes defined in the scope of the German automotive manufacturing association) 4 days per project. Adding the scope of a safety assessment this dramatically increases the number of hours used in assessments. In a working group of major automotive suppliers and assessment tool suppliers, we developed from 2005 to 2009 an integrated assessment approach. Portals in the above‐mentioned automotive suppliers already use this environment.The working group that elaborated the methods and tools described in this paper are part of the SOQRATES initiative (http://www.soqrates.de) where more than 20 leading German firms collaborate in cross‐company task forces.In this paper, we want to explain the results of the analysis done, the assessment model applied, and what kind of reports the integrated assessment environment is producing. The results of all work (except of the proprietary assessment tools) will be made public to all suppliers in 2009. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Genetic Basis of Inherited Macular Dystrophies and Implications for Stem Cell Therapy
Authors: Mellough Carla B. , Steel David H.W. , Lako Majlinda 
Published: June 2009

Abstract
Untreatable hereditary macular dystrophy (HMD) presents a major burden to society in terms of the resulting patient disability and the cost to the healthcare provision system. HMD results in central vision loss in humans sufficiently severe for blind registration, and key issues in the development of therapeutic strategies to target these conditions are greater understanding of the causes of photoreceptor loss and the development of restorative procedures. More effective and precise analytical techniques coupled to the development of transgenic models of disease have led to a prolific growth in the identification and our understanding of the genetic mutations that underly HMD. Recent successes in driving differentiation of pluripotent cells towards specific somatic lineages have led to the development of more efficient protocols that can yield enriched populations of a desired phenotype. Retinal pigmented epithelial cells and photoreceptors derived from these are some of the most promising cells that may soon be used in the treatment of specific HMD, especially since rapid developments in the field of induced pluripotency have now set the stage for the production of patient-derived stem cells that overcome the ethical and methodological issues surrounding the use of embryonic derivatives. In this review we highlight a selection of HMD which appear suitable candidates for combinatorial restorative therapy, focusing specifically on where those photoreceptor loss occurs. This technology, along with increased genetic screening, opens up an entirely new pathway to restore vision in patients affected by HMD.
Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.
Cross‐cultural management and organizational behavior in Africa
Authors: Amoako‐Agyei Erika 
Published: June 2009

AbstractFor Western operations to succeed in Africa, foreign executives must embrace cross‐cultural management skills as part of a broad strategic focus. This article examines culture as the crucial dimension to forging strong social, economic, and diplomatic ties between Africa and the Western world. To globalize successfully into the African marketplace, the effective cross‐cultural manager must have an in‐depth understanding of the African cultural value system. By analyzing African conventions, whose norms differ greatly from Western culture, this article clarifies the key roles that African culture plays in management methods, organizational behavior, and business practices in the sub‐Saharan region. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Protective incubators and South African MNEs
Authors: Klein Saul , Wöcke Albert 
Published: June 2009

AbstractEmerging‐market multinational enterprises (MNEs) often lack conventional competitive advantages (high knowledge bases, stable currencies, industry concentrations of foreign direct investment) and, thus, should be disadvantaged in competing globally. A protective environment, however, may help develop firm‐specific advantages in countries with deficiencies in human capital, and market and technological resources. We demonstrate how four such companies from South Africa progressed from their domestic base to become successful MNEs. Contrary to expectations, international expansion of MNEs from less competitive economies may be driven more by the transfer of intangible knowledge across national boundaries than by exporting finished goods. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The making of a Sub‐Saharan African success story: The case of cross‐border listing of trust bank limited of the Gambia on the Ghana Stock Exchange
Authors: Mmieh Frederick , Owusu‐Frimpong Nana 
Published: June 2009

AbstractThis study evaluates the process of transformation of Trust Bank Limited (TBL) from government control to a private‐listed banking company on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). Specifically, the objectives are (a) to describe and analyze the important aspects/characteristics of the cross‐border listing of TBL on the GSE; (b) to assess the extent to which the cross‐border listing of TBL on the GSE from 2002–2004 can be considered a success; (c) to explore the extent to which the GSE provides a window of opportunity for other non‐Ghanaian companies to achieve value‐added wealth for their shareholders by listing on the GSE; and (d) to assess whether the GSE can offer a listed Gambian company sufficient international exposure. Secondary and primary sources were used for this study. Analyses of statistical data available suggest that the majority of respondents hail the listing of Trust Bank on the GSE as a resounding success. Over 80% of respondents strongly agree that the listing of Trust Bank on the GSE has made the bank one of the most profitable in the Gambia. It has also improved its service delivery and has given the bank international exposure. In view of the findings presented in this article, it is concluded that the GSE can offer a wide range of opportunities for other West African companies to raise value‐added capital for future investment ventures. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Guaranty Trust Bank of Nigeria: From niche positioning to mass‐market branding
Authors: Maklan Stan , Knox Simon , Michel Stefan 
Published: June 2009

AbstractThis case describes a strategic marketing dilemma facing Tayo Aderinokun, the cofounder and managing director (CEO) of the highly successful Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) of Nigeria. In its initial 15 years, GTBank has grown dramatically to become the most respected corporate bank in Nigeria, renowned for both its professionalism and high ethical standards. However, the environment is changing dramatically, and the bank needs to grow quickly in order to survive: perhaps doubling or tripling its size in the next five years. Aderinokun has ruled out merger or acquisition in the immediate future, so organic growth is the only way forward. There is insufficient room for growth in its current commercial niche, so GTBank has decided that the emerging Nigerian retail banking sector is its growth pathway.However, there are big challenges: GTBank's brand, marketing mix, people, and operating methods are finely tuned for corporate banking, and it is not immediately obvious how it will leverage its assets to compete in the emerging retail banking market. In addition, competitors are attacking GTBank in its core corporate segment. The case explores a classic strategic marketing dilemma: when is a highly successful “niche” brand forced to abandon its unique selling point and go for growth in the mainstream market? How does it leverage that which makes it special so that it offers some compelling advantage for its new customers? Can the niche brand execute well on a large scale? How does it embed its values and behaviors in a new context? Does it have the money, people, culture, and ambition to take share from established competitors in the new market segments? Will its expansion plans make its core business more vulnerable to competitors?The case explores the strategic context using the established marketing planning tools of political/legal, economic, sociocultural, technological, and environmental (PESTE) and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analyses, and features advertising themes the bank has developed for mass‐market communication purposes to illustrate the far‐reaching implications of the expansion of its retail business. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Distribution‐free methods in statistics
Authors: Conover W. J. 
Published: June 2009

AbstractStatistical methods that do not rely on the assumption of a known population probability distribution function for their validity are called Distribution‐free Statistical Methods (also called nonparametric statistical methods). This includes many methods for presenting statistics in graphs, such as histograms, cumulative distribution functions, correlograms, etc. It also includes the calculation of most sample statistics, such as sample means, sample variances, etc. The method is no longer distribution‐free when the validity of the method depends on an assumption that specifies the form of the population probability distribution, or specifies that the population distribution comes from a family of population probability distribution functions that are specified except for a finite number of parameters. Then the method is in the class of parametric methods. Usually, the distributional assumption is the assumption that the population has a normal probability distribution, with one or both of the parameters (mean and variance) unspecified. Copyright © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley CompanyThis article is categorized under:

Statistical and Graphical Methods of Data Analysis > Bootstrap and Resampling
Considerable Enhancement of Field Emission of SnO2Nanowires by Post-Annealing Process in Oxygen at High Temperature
Authors: Wang J. B. , Li K. , Zhong X. L. , Zhou Y. C. , Fang X. S. , Tang C. C. , Bando Y. 
Published: June 2009

Abstract
The field emission properties of SnO2nanowires fabricated by chemical vapor deposition with metallic catalyst-assistance were investigated. For the as-fabricated SnO2nanowires, the turn-on and threshold field were 4.03 and 5.4 V/μm, respectively. Considerable enhancement of field emission of SnO2nanowires was obtained by a post-annealing process in oxygen at high temperature. When the SnO2nanowires were post-annealed at 1,000 °C in oxygen, the turn-on and threshold field were decreased to 3.77 and 4.4 V/μm, respectively, and the current density was increased to 6.58 from 0.3 mA/cm2at the same applied electric field of 5.0 V/μm.
Fourier Transform Near Infrared Spectroscopy as a Quality Control Tool for the Analysis of Lecithin and By‐Products During Soybean Oil Processing
Authors: Li Hui , Goulden Mark , Cocciardi Robert , Hughes Jan 
Published: June 2009

AbstractFourier transform near infrared (FT‐NIR) spectroscopy was used to analyze multiple measurement parameters in lecithin production samples and soybean oil refining by‐products. For lecithin, partial least squares (PLS) calibration models were developed for acetone insolubles, acid value and moisture and leave‐one‐out cross validation of the calibration models yielded root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV) values of 0.37%, 0.59 (mg KOH/g) and 0.050%, respectively. An independent test set consisting of 40% of the lecithin production samples were predicted from the PLS calibration models and a root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.41%, 0.53 (mg KOH/g) and 0.056% were obtained for acetone insolubles, acid value and moisture, respectively. Comparison of FT‐NIR predictions and corresponding reference method values of 10 lecithin samples using a two‐tailed t test showed no significant difference at the p = 0.05 level. A set of 51 samples of soybean oil refining by‐products, including acidulated soapstock, fatty acids and black oil, were used for developing PLS calibration models for measuring acid value, moisture and iodine value and leave‐one‐out cross validations for each model gave values for RMSECV of 6.59 (mg KOH/g), 0.046% and 0.42 (mg I2/g), respectively. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate the suitability of FT‐NIR spectroscopy for the routine analysis of lecithin production samples and soybean oil refining by‐products for quality control purposes.
Expression analysis ofFgf8a&Fgf8bin early stage of P19 cells during neural differentiation
Authors: Alam A.H.M. Khurshid , Suzuki Hitoshi , Tsukahara Toshifumi 
Published: June 2009

AbstractFgf8 is a member of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family that plays an important role in early neural development. Cellular aggregation and retinoic acid (RA) are needed for mouse embryonic carcinoma (EC) P19 cell neural differentiation. We have examined theFgf8gene in P19 cells during neural differentiation and identified 2 alternatively splicedFgf8isoforms,Fgf8aandFgf8b, among the 8 known splicing isoforms in mammals. The expression ofFgf8aandFgf8bmRNAs transiently and rapidly increased in the early stage of P19 cells during RA‐induced neural differentiation, followed by a decline in expression. The relative amount ofFgf8bwas clearly higher than that ofFgf8aat different time‐points measured within 24 h after RA treatment. IncreasedFgf8bmRNA expression was cellular‐aggregation dependent. The results demonstrated that cellular‐aggregation‐inducedFgf8b, but notFgf8a, may play a pivotal role in early neural differentiation of P19 cells.
Juglone, a naphthoquinone from walnut, exerts cytotoxic and genotoxic effects against cultured melanoma tumor cells
Authors: Aithal Kiran B. , Kumar Sunil M.R. , Rao Nageshwar B. , Udupa Nayanabhirama , Rao Satish B.S. 
Published: June 2009

AbstractThis study demonstrates cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of juglone, a chief constituent of walnut, and its underlying mechanisms against melanoma cells. MTT assay and clonogenic assay were used to study cytotoxicity, micronucleus assay to assess genotoxicity, glutathione (GSH) assay and 2′,7′‐dicholorofluorescein diacetate (DCFH‐DA) assay to evaluate the oxidative stress induction. Apoptosis/necrosis induction was analysed by flow cytometry. We observed a concentration‐dependent decrease in cell survival with a corresponding increase in the lactate dehydrogenase levels. A dose‐dependent increase in the frequency of micronucleated binucleate cells indicated the potential of juglone to induce cytogenetic damage in melanoma tumor cells. Moreover, results of the micronuclei study indicated division delay in the proliferating cell population by showing decrease in the cytokinesis blocked proliferation index. Further, juglone‐induced apoptosis and necrosis could be demonstrated by oligonucleosomal ladder formation, microscopic analysis, increase in the hypodiploid fraction (sub Go peak in DNA histogram), as well as an increased percentage of AnnexinV(+)/PI(+) cells detected by flow cytometry. A significant concentration‐dependent decrease in the glutathione levels and increase in dichlorofluorescein (DCF) fluorescence after juglone treatment confirmed the ability of juglone to generate intracellular reactive oxygen species. The cytotoxic effect of juglone can be attributed to mechanisms including the induction of oxidative stress, cell membrane damage, and a clastogenic action leading to cell death by both apoptosis and necrosis.
Changes in lifestyle for psychiatric patients three years after the start of short- and long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy and solution-focused therapy
Authors: Knekt P. , Laaksonen M.A. , Raitasalo R. , Haaramo P. , Lindfors O. 
Published: June 2009

AbstractObjectivesLifestyle is less favourable among individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders. We studied whether psychotherapy brings along changes in lifestyle and whether these changes differ between short-term and long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (SPP and LPP) and solution-focused therapy (SFT).MethodsA total of 326 outpatients, 20–46 years of age, with mood or anxiety disorder were randomly assigned to LPP, SPP and SFT. The lifestyle variables considered were alcohol consumption, smoking, body mass index (BMI), leisure time exercise and serum cholesterol. The patients were monitored for three years from the start of treatment.ResultsDuring the three-year follow-up, BMI and serum cholesterol rose statistically significantly although no statistically significant trends were shown for alcohol consumption, smoking or exercise. SPP showed a disadvantage of increased alcohol consumption and serum cholesterol level when compared with LPP. SFT showed an advantage of reduced smoking in comparison with SPP.DiscussionSmall therapy-specific changes in lifestyle may be a result from psychotherapy treatment. These lifestyle changes are apparently more common in short-term therapy. More studies are needed to verify these findings.
The broad embrace of luxury: Hedonic potential as a driver of brand extendibility
Authors: Hagtvedt Henrik , Patrick Vanessa M. 
Published: June 2009

AbstractThis research proposes a feelings‐based account of brand extension evaluation and demonstrates that the promise of pleasure (hedonic potential) associated with luxury brands is a key driver of brand extendibility. In four studies, we contrast a luxury brand with a value brand. Both brand concepts lead to equally favorable brand evaluations, but the luxury brand concept results in more favorable brand extension evaluations due to the hedonic potential inherent in this concept. However, the luxury brand is shown to be sensitive to inconsistent brand cues, leading to diminished hedonic potential and consequently decreased brand and brand extension evaluations.
Gustatory otorrhoea: a rare case of congenital external ear salivary fistula
Authors: De Zoysa N , Vasani S , Kaniyur S , Frosh A 
Published: June 2009

AbstractObjective:We present an extremely rare case of a 44-year-old woman with right gustatory otorrhoea and otalgia.Case report:The patient had been initially treated for otitis externa after Pseudomonas aeruginosa was grown from a microbiological swab. The otorrhoea fluid was collected and tested positive for amylase. Sialography and computed tomography imaging of the temporal bone confirmed a sialo-aural fistula from the right parotid gland to the bony external acoustic meatus. The defect was consistent with a patent foramen of Huschke. The fistula was identified surgically via a superficial parotidectomy approach, after contrast injection of Bonney's blue dye into the parotid duct, and then ligated and divided. The patient had immediate and sustained resolution of her otorrhoea.Conclusions:Sialo-aural fistulae are extremely rare, and usually arise as a complication of surgery or as an acquired disease process. To date, only four cases have been reported. This case demonstrates the use of sensitive investigation involving sialography and computed tomography, as well as successful surgical management, with complete resolution of symptoms.
Prevention of blood staining of endoscope tip during functional endoscopic sinus surgery: sleeve technique
Authors: Kalra G , Keir J , Tahery J 
Published: June 2009

AbstractOptimisation of the endoscopic view during FESS may require correction of a deviated septum. The resulting incision leads to bleeding which could obscure the view of the endoscope. Repeated cleaning of the endoscope intraoperatively is time consuming and traumatisation of the lining of the nasal mucosa may lead to formation of adhesions post operatively.We discuss the use a segment of suction tubing that can act as a conduit or sleeve for the passage of the endoscope into the nasal cavity. This protects the endoscope tip from the bleeding area.