bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Local photoconductivity of microcrystalline silicon thin films measured by conductive atomic force microscopy
Authors: Ledinský Martin , Fejfar Antonín , Vetushka Aliaksei , Stuchlík Jiří , Rezek Bohuslav , Kočka Jan 
Published: September 2011

AbstractLocal currents measured under standard conductive atomic force microscopy (C‐AFM) conditions on microcrystalline silicon (µc‐Si:H) thin films were studied. It was shown that the AFM detection diode illuminating the AFM cantilever (see the figure on the right side) 100× enhanced the current flows through the photosensitive µc‐Si:H layer. The local current map and current–voltage characteristics were measured under dark conditions. This study enables mapping of both the dark current and photocurrent.magnified imageC‐AFM cantilever illuminated by the detection diode during measurement on µc‐Si:H thin film.(© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Planning and financial performance of small, mature firms
Authors: Bracker Jeffre Y. S. , Pearson John N. 
Published: September 2011

AbstractThis article develops a classification scheme of planning process sophistication in small firms, categorizes small firms according to planning process sophistication, and examines the relationship between planning process sophistication and the financial performance of a select group of small, mature firms. The study overcomes several methodological shortcomings of prior research on strategic planning and firm performance. Multivariate analysis of variance is used to identify statistically significant differences between the financial performance data of firms that employ structured, strategic plans and those that do not. The results confirm previous research on strategic planning and financial performance. Finally, recommendations are made for future research.
A project‐based approach to competitive analysis
Authors: Prescott John E. , Smith Daniel C. 
Published: September 2011

AbstractWhile comprehensive, ongoing competitive intelligence systems generate valuable input for broad strategic decisions, they often fail to provide the specific actionable information needed by managers operating in a project‐oriented environment. This paper proposes a project‐based framework for competitive analysis. The framework was developed from field reseach involving 16 projects. A comparison of project‐based and comprehensive competitive analysis systems is made to illustrate their differences. A case example from field research is utilized to illustrate concepts central to this approach and its practical utility. A set of guidelines regarding pitfalls to avoid in project‐based competitive analysis is presented.
Global strategy: An organizing framework
Authors: Ghoshal Sumantra 
Published: September 2011

AbstractGlobal strategy has recently emerged as a popular concept among managers of multinational corporations as well as among researchers and students in the field of international management. This paper presents a conceptual framework encompassing a range of different issues relevant to global strategies. The framework provides a basis for organizing existing literature on the topic and for creating a map of the field. Such a map can be useful for teaching and also for guiding future research in this area. The article, however, is primarily directed at managers of multinational corporations, and is aimed at providing them with a basis for relating and synthesizing the different perspectives and prescriptions that are currently available for global strategic management.
Application of Variable Life Adjusted Display (VLAD) to Risk‐Adjusted Mortality of Esophagogastric Cancer Surgery
Authors: Guest R. V. , Chandrabalan V. V. , Murray G. D. , Auld C. D. 
Published: September 2011

AbstractPurposeIn the new era of revalidation, there is an increasing need to measure surgical outcome objectively. We apply a graphical method, the Variable Life Adjusted Display (VLAD), to esophagogastric resection for malignancy. This technique charts the cumulative difference between expected and actual risk‐adjusted mortality over time, allowing observation of performance trends irrespective of case‐mix.MethodsP‐POSSUM was applied retrospectively to 182 consecutive patients who underwent resection for esophageal or gastric malignancy in a district general hospital. The primary outcome measured was 30‐day mortality.ResultsA total of 168 patients were eligible for inclusion, with a median age of 68 years. The overall 30‐day mortality rate was 4.2% compared with 7.1% as predicted by P‐POSSUM. The resulting VLAD plot demonstrates an upward trend of better than predicted surgical performance.ConclusionsVLAD has been hereby applied to esophagogastric surgery and has graphically demonstrated risk‐adjusted trends in a single general surgeon’s performance. For qualitative comparative purposes, including recertification, VLAD is judged to be a simple, directly interpretable, and useful technique for monitoring surgical performance.
An examination of Edward Inglefield's 1852 voyage into Jones Sound
Authors: Graville Brian 
Published: September 2011

ABSTRACTEdward Augustus Inglefield is usually credited with penetrating Jones Sound to 84°W longitude during his Franklin search voyage of 1852. His chart of the region including Coburg Island replaced Horatio Austin's chart made in 1851 and became the accepted standard until the 20th century. By analysing Inglefield's map of Coburg Island it is shown that he made several errors in navigation and surveying which resulted in him believing he was further west than he really was and overestimating his speed. The results suggest he mistook Stewart Islands for Cone and Smith Islands and that his Sir Robert Inglis Peak reportedly seen near 84°W was actually Cone Island. Thus his penetration of Jones Sound was no further than Austin's the year before and the ready acceptance of his charts set back the mapping of that region of the Arctic for three quarters of a century.
Allometry of emergent tree species from saplings to above-canopy adults in a Costa Rican rain forest
Authors: King David A. , Clark Deborah A. 
Published: September 2011

Abstract:Relations between crown width and tree height and trunk diameter and tree height were measured for trees of all sizes of six large emergent species (Balizia elegans, Dipteryx panamensis, Hieronyma alchorneoides, Hymenolobium mesoamericanum, Lecythis amplaandTerminalia oblonga) in the lowland tropical wet forest at La Selva, Costa Rica. Thirty to 45 individuals were chosen per species to provide a relatively even height distribution from 1 m up to the maximum encountered height. Among small juveniles, the crown widths of the two species with the smallest leaves and horizontally spreading branches were greater than those of the four large-leaved species. On reaching and exceeding the canopy, all but one species showed pronounced increases in crown width with increasing height. These patterns are linked to leaf size and first branching height in small juveniles and low densities of emergent trees at La Selva and other tropical forests, where crown expansion in all directions enhances light interception under the equatorial sun in trees that are not crowded by neighbours of similar height.
Soil disturbance by vertebrates alters seed predation, movement and germination in an African rain forest
Authors: Dunham Amy E. 
Published: September 2011

Abstract:Biopedturbation, or animal-caused soil disturbance, may be important for development and maintenance of small-scale heterogeneity in ecosystems with the potential to alter seed mortality and recruitment. However, its role in tropical forests has been largely ignored. This study explored effects of vertebrate biopedturbation on seed (1) microsite heterogeneity, (2) predation and (3) germination in a West African rain forest. Exclosure experiments were used to study how biopedturbation altered burial and movements of seeds of four common canopy species. Effect of seed burial on removal by seed predators was also examined. Germination of the dominant canopy species (Raphia palma-pinus) in swamp forest was tested within artificial disturbances mimicking that of a locally common but endangered mammal, the Liberian mongoose (Liberiictis kuhni), which was estimated to turn over the entire forest floor in this habitat in c. 8 mo. Seed exposure to biopedturbation for 20 d (n = 80) led to an overall 6.5-fold increase in small-scale horizontal movement and increased probability of burial (6–52% higher), varying by species. Burial effectively eliminated seed removal for all four species (n = 160) by seed predators over 20 d. Germination of Raphia palma-pinus seeds (n = 100) was enhanced by 17.5% on average over 4 mo in simulated disturbances. Results suggest biopedturbation may be important for seedling recruitment and that loss of species with this functional role could have underappreciated yet important impacts on tropical plant communities.
Abundance of gall-inducing insect species in sclerophyllous savanna: understanding the importance of soil fertility using an experimental approach
Authors: Cuevas-Reyes Pablo , De Oliveira-Ker Fabricio T. , Fernandes Geraldo Wilson , Bustamante Mercedes 
Published: September 2011

Abstract:Although many studies have now demonstrated that both richness and abundance of gall-inducing insect species are directly and indirectly (via the host plant) influenced by soil quality, the empirical evaluation of it in the field remains anecdotal at best. The effects of soil fertility on richness and abundance of gall-inducing insects associated with a widespread savanna species,Eremanthus glomerulatus, were evaluated under experimental field conditions in Brasilia, central Brazil. The effect of soil fertility on gall-inducing insects species richness was evaluated using three treatments: (1) plots fertilized with nitrogen; (2) plots fertilized with phosphorus; and (3) control plots: soils without fertilization. Species richness of gall-inducing insects (six species of Cecidomyiidae) did not differ among the treatments. Leaves with galls had higher nitrogen concentrations (mean = 15.0 ± 0.5 mg g−1), compared with leaves without galls (mean = 9.0 ± 0.7 mg g−1) on plants that occurred in soils with addition of nitrogen. Similarly, leaves with galls had higher foliar phosphorus concentration (mean = 1.0 ± 0.04 mg g−1) than leaves without galls (mean = 0.6 ± 0.05 mg g−1) in plots with addition of phosphorus. In galled leaves, a negative relationship between gall density and nitrogen concentration was found for one gall-inducing insect species, while three species showed a positive relationship between gall density and leaf nitrogen concentration. A negative relationship between gall density and concentration of leaf phosphorus was observed for four of the six gall-inducing insect species studied. No relationship was found between gall density and leaf nitrogen and phosphorus concentration in ungalled leaves. We argue that foliar nitrogen and phosphorus concentration respond to gall density in galled leaves and therefore, gall-inducing insect species are capable of manipulating their host plant, modifying the foliar nutrients ofE. glomerulatusin sclerophyllous savanna.
On stable entire solutions of semi-linear elliptic equations with weights
Authors: Cowan Craig , Fazly Mostafa 
Published: September 2011

We are interested in the existence versus non-existence of non-trivial stable sub- and super-solutions of

−
div
⁡
(

ω
1

∇
u
)
=

ω
2

f
(
u
)

in

R

N

,

\begin{equation} -\operatorname {div}( \omega _1 \nabla u) = \omega _2 f(u) \qquad \text {in}\ \ \mathbb {R}^N, \end{equation}

with positive smooth weights

ω
1

(
x
)
,

ω
2

(
x
)

\omega _1(x),\omega _2(x)

. We consider the cases

f
(
u
)
=

e
u

,

u
p

f(u) = e^u, u^p

where

p
>
1

p>1

and

−

u

−
p

-u^{-p}

where

p
>
0

p>0

. We obtain various non-existence results which depend on the dimension

N
N

and also on

p
p

and the behaviour of

ω
1

,

ω
2

\omega _1,\omega _2

near infinity. Also the monotonicity of

ω
1

\omega _1

is involved in some results. Our methods here are the methods developed by Farina. We examine a specific class of weights

ω
1

(
x
)
=
(

|

x

|

2

+
1

)

α
2

\omega _1(x) = ( |x|^2 +1)^\frac {\alpha }{2}

and

ω
2

(
x
)
=
(

|

x

|

2

+
1

)

β
2

g
(
x
)

\omega _2(x) = ( |x|^2+1)^\frac { \beta }{2} g(x)

, where

g
(
x
)

g(x)

is a positive function with a finite limit at

∞
\infty

. For this class of weights, non-existence results are optimal. To show the optimality we use various generalized Hardy inequalities.
Fatty acid composition of consumers in boreal lakes – variation across species, space and time
Authors: LAU DANNY C. P. , VREDE TOBIAS , PICKOVA JANA , GOEDKOOP WILLEM 
Published: September 2011

Summary1. Fatty acids (FAs) have been widely applied as trophic biomarkers in aquatic food web studies. However, current knowledge of inter‐ and intraspecific variation in consumer FA compositions across spatial and temporal scales is constrained to a few pelagic taxa.2. We analysed the FAs of 22 taxa of benthic macroinvertebrates, zooplankton and fish collected from the littoral, pelagic and profundal habitats of nine boreal oligotrophic lakes over spring, summer and autumn. We quantified and compared the FA variance partitions contributed by species identity (i.e. an integrative effect of phylogenetic origin, life history and functional feeding guild of individual taxa), site and season using partial redundancy analysis both on all consumers and on benthic arthropods alone.3. Species identity alone contributed 84.4 and 72.8% of explained FA variation of all consumers and benthic arthropods, respectively. Influences of site, season and all joint effects accounted for 0–11.3% only. Fatty acid profiles of primary consumers differentiated below class level, but those of predators were distinguishable only when they became more taxonomically distinct (i.e. among classes or higher).4. Pelagic and profundal consumers showed stronger reliance on autochthonous resources than did their littoral counterparts as reflected by their higher ω3 to ω6 FA ratios. Polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs) were increasingly retained with trophic levels, and saturated FAs (e.g. FA 16 : 0) gradually reduced. Ecologically, this trade‐off enhances the trophic transfer efficiency and confirms the importance of PUFA‐rich autotrophs in aquatic food webs.5. Our findings indicate strong interspecific differences in FA requirements and assimilation among aquatic consumers from a wide range of taxonomic levels, habitats and lakes. Consumers were able to maintain homoeostasis in FA compositions across spatial and temporal changes in resource FAs, but consumer homoeostasis did not limit the effectiveness of FAs as trophic biomarkers.
Value of homocysteine levels, troponin I, and score for neonatal acute physiology and perinatal extension II as early predictors of morbidity
Authors: Usluer Hale , Turker Gulcan , Gokalp Ayşe Sevim 
Published: September 2011

AbstractBackground:  Although the effects of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) have been documented in infants, the associations among the value of maternal and cord blood total homocysteine (Hcy) levels, cord blood cTnI and the score for neonatal acute physiology and perinatal extension II (SNAPPE‐II) values in infants have not been documented. The aim of this study was to determine the value of maternal total Hcy (mtHcy) and cord blood total Hcy (ctHcy) levels, cTnI and SNAPPE‐II as predictive factors of morbidity in newborns.Methods:  Maternal and cord blood samples were routinely collected for analysis from all prospective participating volunteers. In this case–control study, both hospitalized (n= 71) and non‐hospitalized (n= 148) newborns were identified and followed until discharge.Results:  Regression analysis revealed that pre‐eclampsia, gestational age, mtHcy and SNAPPE‐II values were significantly and independently associated with morbidity. Cord blood pH, ctHcy levels, SNAPPE‐II values, and pre‐eclampsia were associated with mtHcy levels. A similar association was found among cTnI, cord blood pH, mtHcy levels and ctHcy levels. The specificity and sensitivity values of mtHcy in predicting newborn morbidity were 62% and 78%, respectively, while the specificity and sensitivity values of SNAPPE‐II in predicting newborn morbidity were 96% and 97%, respectively.Conclusions:  Elevated mtHcy levels were associated with cTnI, SNAPPE‐II values, cord blood gas, and neonatal morbidities. These results suggest that SNAPPE‐II may be an early predictor of morbidity after delivery and that elevated mtHcy levels may be an early prenatal biomarker of morbidity in newborns.
On the culture‐independent assessment of the diversity and distribution of Prochlorococcus
Authors: Mühling Martin 
Published: September 2011

SummaryMuch of our current knowledge on Prochlorococcus has derived from research on various genetic strains that have successfully been brought into culture. In particular, analyses of the complete genomes of 12 of those isolates have revealed the extent to which these strains differ from each other and the genetic means by which they are adapted to specific environmental niches. However, based on culture‐independent studies it is now clear that the strains currently available in diverse culture collections do not represent the true diversity of Prochlorococcus geno‐ and phenotypes. Potential alternatives to overcome the limitations caused by difficulties in isolating Prochlorococcus may be provided by the whole‐genome amplification of flow cytometrically isolated individual cells. The new information obtained in this way on various genetic types would, in turn, facilitate the correct identification of Prochlorococcus‐derived sequences within metagenomic sequence data sets. However, culture‐independent molecular population genetic approaches have also greatly furthered our understanding of the ecology and physiological capability of Prochlorococcus genetic groups. Based on this, I support the notion that such population genetic approaches to reveal the Prochlorococcus microdiversity are still of great value if appropriate marker genes providing a high genetic resolution are used. The comparison of the results from those culture‐independent analyses of environmental marine samples with those from the measurement of relevant environmental and biotic parameters still has potential to uncover further parameters that control Prochlorococcus diversity and distribution. In this context, I will discuss those markers that have so far been used in population genetic studies of Prochlorococcus, which is followed by outlining a general approach to evaluate their use for resolving microbial microdiversity and for phylogenetic identification.
Collie eye anomaly in Hokkaido dogs: case study
Authors: Mizukami Keijiro , Chang Hye‐Sook , Ota Mitsuharu , Yabuki Akira , Hossain Mohammand A. , Rahman Mohammad M. , Uddin Mohammad M. , Yamato Osamu 
Published: September 2011

AbstractObjective  To describe a Hokkaido dog, one of the traditional Japanese breeds that was affected by Collie eye anomaly (CEA), and to report the genotype of this dog and the Hokkaido dog allelic frequency of the CEA‐associated mutation.Case  A nine‐month‐old intact female Hokkaido dog without any obvious visual disturbance was diagnosed ophthalmoscopically with CEA. Severe choroidal hypoplasia was observed in the bilateral temporal area adjacent to the optic nerve head, appearing as whitish areas. Therefore, the dog was suspected of possessing the CEA‐associated mutation that was previously reported as an intronic 7.8‐kilo base deletion in the canine NHEJ1 gene.Procedures  SYBR Green‐based real‐time PCR with a melting curve analysis, conventional PCR with agarose gel electrophoresis, and direct DNA sequencing were carried out to determine the genotype of the dog. Furthermore, a preliminary genotyping survey was carried out in 17 Hokkaido dogs from three kennels using the real‐time PCR method, and the pedigree relationships were analyzed using their pedigree papers.Results  The Hokkaido dog affected by CEA was proven to possess the CEA‐associated mutation. Of these 17 Hokkaido dogs, 12 dogs were heterozygous carriers and five dogs were affected by this mutation. The preliminary genotyping survey and pedigree analysis demonstrated that the allelic frequency of the CEA‐associated mutation is very high in Hokkaido dogs.Conclusion  These data suggest that the Hokkaido breed is highly susceptible to CEA because of the known CEA‐associated mutation much like the Collie‐related breeds.
The effect of loading in regenerated bone in dehiscence defects following a combined approach of bone grafting and GBR
Authors: Zambon Riccardo , Mardas Nikos , Horvath Attilla , Petrie Aviva , Dard Michel , Donos Nikos 
Published: September 2011

AbstractObjectivesTo evaluate by histology the effect of loading on the regenerated bone at dehiscence type defects around implants when treated with a combined approach of bone grafting and guided bone regeneration (GBR).Materials and methodsIn twelve Göttingen mini‐pigs, the lower premolars and first molars were extracted and the alveolar process was reduced in width. After 3 months, two Straumann SLActive® (Straumann AG, Basel, Switzerland) implants were placed in each hemi‐mandible. Twelve implants were placed into the reduced alveolar ridge (group P) with no further defect or treatment on the site, while on 36 implants, buccal dehiscence defects were created and treated as follows: Group T1: synthetic bone substitute (Straumann Bone Ceramic®, SBC, Straumann AG). Group T2: SBC with a polyethylene glycol membrane (Straumann MembraGel®, Straumann AG); Group N: the dehiscence remained untreated. Three months following implantation, long, custom‐made, healing abutments were placed in one hemi‐mandible only to ensure functional loading. After 2 months, histological analysis was performed.ResultsA trend for lower residual defect height and higher bone‐to‐implant contact was observed in the loaded sites compared with non‐loaded sites in groups P, T1 and N. In group T2, the opposite effect was observed. In terms of bone formation, sites treated with SBC grafting and GBR (group T2) exhibited the largest surface area of regenerated bone followed by T1 and N. Significant resorption of the graft particles was noted in group T2 and the graft surface area occupied by SBC was significantly higher in group T1 compared with group T2 (P < 0.05).ConclusionsLoading may have a positive effect on bone‐to‐implant contact in implants inserted in pristine bone or inserted in dehiscence sites and treated by grafting/no grafting.