bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An Investigation of the Performance of a Boron/Potassium‐Nitrate Based Pyrotechnic Igniter
Authors: Ulas Abdullah , Risha Grant A. , Kuo Kenneth K. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThe performance of a boron/potassium‐nitrate based pyrotechnic igniter, used as an initiator in airbag gas generators, was investigated at different initial temperatures. Igniter firings were conducted in a small vented combustion chamber in order to measure the instantaneous chamber pressures. A theoretical model, which considers multi‐phase products and lumped chamber parameters, was adopted to determine the discharging gas phase and condensed phase mass flow rates from the igniter. The data reduction model used experimentally obtained pressure‐time traces and the total burned mass as input data. The calculated instantaneous mass flow rates of the igniter at various initial temperatures showed that the initial temperature has a major influence on the igniter's performance. For the temperature range tested (−20 °C to 60 °C), the pressurization rate and the total mass flow rate of the igniter increased with temperature and ranged from 322 GPa/s to 721 GPa/s and 4.3 kg/s to 6.1 kg/s, respectively. It was found that the condensed‐phase products comprised the majority of the igniter discharge products. The mass fraction of the condensed‐phase products indicated a weak dependency on initial igniter temperature. Under similar test conditions, the recorded pressure‐time traces during igniter firings were found to be quite reproducible.
Automatic loop shaping in QFT using hybrid optimization and constraint propagation techniques
Authors: S. V. Paluri Nataraj , Kubal Nandkishor 
Published: August 2006

AbstractAn efficient method for automatic loop shaping in Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT) is proposed. The proposed method uses hybrid optimization and constraint propagation techniques. The hybrid optimization part combines interval global optimization and nonlinear local optimization methods. To supplement the optimization tools, a quick solution approach is developed based on ideas of constraint propagation. The quick solution is found to be quite effective in discarding infeasible controller parameter regions in the optimization search. The proposed overall method is demonstrated on an example taken from the QFT literature where it automatically synthesizes a QFT controller of given structure in quick time. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Challenge of multiple co‐primary endpoints: a new approach
Authors: Chuang‐Stein Christy , Stryszak Paul , Dmitrienko Alex , Offen Walter 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThere are many disorders where regulatory agencies have required a new treatment to demonstrate efficacy on multiple co‐primary endpoints, all significant at the one‐sided 2.5 per cent level, before accepting the treatment's effect for the disorder. This requirement, rooted in the intersection–union (IU) test, has led many researchers to increase the study sample size to make up for the reduction in the statistical power at the study level. Unfortunately, the increase in sample size could be substantial when the endpoints are minimally correlated and the treatment effects on the multiple endpoints are comparable. In this paper, we demonstrate that the frequentist concept of controlling the maximum false positive rate, even when applied to a restricted null space, has only limited success in keeping the sample size increase at a reasonable level. We therefore propose an approach that is based on the notion of controlling an average type I error rate. By employing an upper bound for the average type I error rate, the new approach provides an adjustment to the significance level that depends only on the correlation among the endpoints. For the most common case of two or three co‐primary endpoints, the adjusted significance level is at most 5 per cent (one‐sided) when the endpoints are moderately correlated. We show how sample size could be calculated under the proposed approach and contrast the needed sample size with that required under the IU test. We provide additional comments and discuss why the new approach is consistent with the principle requiring evidence of significance in the drug development and approval process. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
International acquisition and other growth strategies: Some lessons from the food and drink industry
Authors: Lynch Richard 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThis article explores profitable international growth strategies when markets are mature through a two‐stage study of companies in the food and drink industry. The first stage assessed 400 announcements about such strategies made by medium‐ and large‐sized food and drink firms in the period 1998–2001. The second stage examined in depth the international growth strategies of the world's 35 leading food and drink companies over the period 1985–2001. Both stages showed that acquisition was the most widely used method of international expansion. The second stage suggested that organic international growth (i.e., based on the company's current product portfolio) was the other main option for such expansion. Importantly, the international acquisition route was usually focused on the existing product portfolio of a company. In this sense, there was clear convergence between the purpose of an international acquisition (i.e., to support or enhance the existing product portfolio outside the home country) and the broader company purpose of delivering successful organic growth from its current range of products. The second study also suggested that international acquisitions can bring faster sales growth than organic activity but come with greater risk and other potential problems. The research identified some practical lessons derived from such strategies in the food and drink industry. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Managing micropolitical risk: A cross‐sector examination
Authors: Alon Ilan , Gurumoorthy Rajesh , Mitchell Matthew C. , Steen Teresa 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThis article stresses the need for today's multinational firms to adopt their own political risk‐assessment and risk‐mitigation strategies. A comparative study of the energy, financial, and automobile sectors illustrates the need for all companies in these sectors to undertake comprehensive risk‐assessment strategies. Risk‐assessment models established by leading multinationals like British Petroleum, Bank of America, and General Motors are examined as examples that other companies in these sectors can build upon. The consistent micropolitical risk variables then lead to a proposed practical framework for examining sector‐specific micropolitical risk. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Measuring service content: A scale development
Authors: Cloninger Peggy A. , Oviatt Benjamin 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThis research presents the development of an instrument for measuring the service content (the degree of intangibility, perishability, simultaneity, and heterogeneity) characterizing a firm's output. Service characteristics are acknowledged to be important strategic variables, and the characteristic of intangibility has been studied extensively. The scale presented here is an improvement over previous methods. In contrast to previous methods that have relied on various categorizations, or that have examined only intangibility or service quality, the scale presented here can provide a numerical measure of all four of the most important service characteristics. This can be used in future research efforts to examine the influence of service characteristics on firm internationalization, firm strategies, and performance. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
China—The new paradox
Authors: Antoniou Peter H. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractIan Rae and Morgan Witzel. 2004. Singular and Different: Business in China, Past, Present and Future. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 173 pages. ISBN: 1‐4039‐1722‐1.Sheila Oakley. 2002. Labor Relations in China's Socialist Market Economy. Westport, CT: Quorum Books. 231 pages. ISBN: 1‐56720‐589‐5.Ilan Alon (Ed.). 2003. Chinese Culture, Organizational Behavior, and International Business Management. Westport, CT: Praeger. 270 pages. ISBN: 1‐56720‐456‐1.
Enhancement of bupivacaine local anesthesia with the potassium channel blocker ibutilide
Authors: Smith Forrest L. , Lindsay Raymond J. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractIn some clinical settings it is necessary to inject large volumes of local anesthetic – and consequently very high doses – in order to provide an adequate level of block. Subsequent absorption of these high doses, or inadvertent intravenous administration of even small doses, has led to systemic toxicity. Thus, it is desirable to develop adjuvants that are inert alone, but would enhance the potency and/or efficacy of local anesthetics to improve their safety. Adelta/C fibers possessK+channels identified as sustained delayed rectifier typeKDRcurrents and transient A‐typeKAcurrents. In the heart, the class III antiarrhythmic drug ibutilide blocks the cardiac component of the rapid delayed rectifyingK+current (IKr). Experiments were conducted to determine whether co‐administration of theK+channel blocker ibutilide would enhance the local anesthetic bupivacaine in mice. After injecting bupivacaine mixed with vehicle or ibutilide in the popliteal region of mice, paw withdrawal latencies were determined by applying the plantar aspect of a single hind‐paw to the surface a 55°C hot‐plate device. 0.5% Bupivacaine+ibutilide (7.8×10−5M) elicited significantly longer hot‐plate latencies than 0.5% bupivacaine+vehicle. In addition, bupivacaine was 2.6‐fold more potent when co‐administered with ibutilide rather than vehicle. Epinephrine extends the tissue concentrations of local anesthetics by inducing localized vasoconstriction. Epinephrine augmented the enhancement by ibutilide of bupivacaine's potency by 6.8‐fold. In summary, ibutilide may enhance the effects of bupivacaine by blockingK+channels on sensory nociceptive nerves.
Nm23 expression in node‐positive and node‐negative endometrial cancer
Authors: Yalçinkaya U. , Özuysal S. , Bilgin T. , Ercan I. , Saraydaroglu Ö. , Demir D. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractObjective: To examine the relationships between the expression of protein Nm23 and surgical stage, histologic grade, histopathologic findings, and survival in women with endometrial carcinoma.Methods: 19 patients with lymph node involvement were matched with 24 patients without lymph node involvement and the best paraffin‐embedded blocks were selected for Nm23 immunohistochemical staining. The slides were evaluated semiquantitatively according to their degree of cytoplasmic staining. Statistical analysis was performed to determine whether there was a relationship between Nm23 expression and surgical stage, histologic grade, depth of myometrial invasion, lymph node metastasis, and/or lymphovascular space involvement. Survival analysis was also performed.Results: Slides from 15 patients (79%) with lymph node involvement and 22 patients (88%) without lymph node involvement were found to be positive for Nm23 (P = 0.01). No significant relations were observed between Nm23 expression and surgical stage, histologic grade, depth of myometrial invasion, or lymphovascular space involvement. Nm23 expression was found to be significantly related to lower rates of lymph node metastasis and longer survival (P = 0.02).Conclusion: Elevated Nm23 expression is related to lower rates of lymph node metastasis and longer survival.
Measurement of blood loss at childbirth and postpartum
Authors: Kavle J.A. , Khalfan S.S. , Stoltzfus R.J. , Witter F. , Tielsch J.M. , Caulfield L.E. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractObjective: To accurately measure blood loss during childbirth in a developing country.Method: The alkaline hematin technique was used to quantify blood lost during delivery and 24 h postpartum in 158 women in Pemba Island, Zanzibar.Result: Women were found to lose less blood during childbirth and 24 h postpartum than previously reported. Compared with laboratory values, nurse–midwives approximated blood loss accurately (mean difference, i.e., mean underestimation by nurse–midwives, 4.90 mL); however, their imprecision was greater for higher laboratory values.Conclusion: This study may prompt further investigation, as no comparable data exist for developing countries where maternal mortality is high and severe anemia prevalent.
Postmenopausal hormone therapy and quality of life
Authors: Smith A.J. , Hall D.R. , Grové D. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractObjective:To evaluate whether hormonal therapy (HT) had any significant effect on quality of life (QoL) in a selected group of postmenopausal women.Methods: The study was conducted in a specialist private practice in Tygerberg, Cape Town, South Africa, over an 18‐month period ending in July 2003. A questionnaire using the Utian Quality of Life (UQoL) scale was posted to all women with established postmenopausal status, seen over this period. 541 questionnaires were posted, 421 returned and 398 could be used. Women gave written informed consent.Results: The average age of the women was 60 years. 313 women (78.6%) were using hormone therapy (HT) while 275 women (69.1%) reported concomitant medical problems. HT users had significantly higher scores in three of the four QoL domains, namely, occupational (p = 0.046), emotional (p = 0.03), and sexual (p = 0.009). There was no significant difference in the health domain (p = 0.2).Conclusion: This study found that post‐menopausal South African women experienced that HT had a positive effect on global quality of life.
Quaternary depositional patterns and sea-level fluctuations, Northeastern North Carolina
Authors: Parham Peter R. , Riggs Stanley R. , Culver Stephen J. , Mallinson David J. , Wehmiller John F. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractA detailed record of late Quaternary sea-level oscillations is preserved within the upper 45 m of deposits along an eight km transect across Croatan Sound, a drowned tributary of the Roanoke/Albemarle drainage system, northeastern North Carolina. Drill-hole and seismic data reveal nine relatively complete sequences filling an antecedent valley comprised of discontinuous middle and early Pleistocene deposits. On interfluves, lithologically similar marine deposits of different sequences occur stacked in vertical succession and separated by ravinement surfaces. Within the paleo-drainage, marine deposits are separated by fluvial and/or estuarine sediments deposited during periods of lowered sea level. Foraminiferal and molluscan fossil assemblages indicate that marine facies were deposited in a shallow-marine embayment with open connection to shelf waters. Each sequence modifies or truncates portions of the preceding sequence or sequences. Sequence boundaries are the product of a combination of fluvial, estuarine, and marine erosional processes. Stratigraphic and age analyses constrain the ages of sequences to late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 and younger (∼ 140 ka to present), indicating multiple sea-level oscillations during this interval. Elevations of highstand deposits associated with late MIS 5 and MIS 3 imply that sea level was either similar to present during those times, or that the region may have been influenced by glacio-isostatic uplift and subsidence.
Mesoscale simulations of atmospheric flow and tracer transport in Phoenix, Arizona
Authors: Wang Ge , Ostoja‐Starzewski Martin 
Published: August 2006

AbstractLarge urban centres located within confining rugged or complex terrain can frequently experience episodes of high concentrations of lower atmospheric pollution. Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona (United States), is a good example, as the general population is occasionally subjected to high levels of lower atmospheric ozone, carbon monoxide and suspended particulate matter. As a result of dramatic but continuous increase in population, the accompanying environmental stresses and the local atmospheric circulation that dominates the background flow, an accurate simulation of the mesoscale pollutant transport across Phoenix and similar urban areas is becoming increasingly important. This is particularly the case in an airshed, such as that of Phoenix, where the local atmospheric circulation is complicated by the complex terrain of the area.Within the study presented here, a three‐dimensional time‐dependent mesoscale meteorological model (HOTMAC) is employed for simulation of lower‐atmospheric flow in Phoenix, for both winter and summer case‐study periods in 1998. The specific purpose of the work is to test the model's ability to replicate the atmospheric flow based on the actual observations of the lower‐atmospheric wind profile and known physical principles. While a reasonable general agreement is found between the model‐produced flow and the observed one, the simulation of near‐surface wind direction produces a much less accurate representation of actual conditions, as does the simulation of wind speed over 1,000 metres above the surface. Using the wind and turbulence output from the mesoscale model, likely particle plume trajectories are simulated for the case‐study periods using a puff dispersion model (RAPTAD). Overall, the results provide encouragement for the efforts towards accurately simulating the mesoscale transport of lower‐atmospheric pollutants in environments of complex terrain. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
On the use of the digital elevation model to estimate the solar radiation in areas of complex topography
Authors: Tovar‐Pescador J. , Pozo‐Vázquez D. , Ruiz‐Arias J. A. , Batlles J. , López G. , Bosch J. L. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThe development of solar energy as a power source in the next few years requires reliable estimation of available solar energy resources. At local scales, topography is the most important factor in determining the distribution of solar radiation at the surface. Interpolation techniques are usually employed to estimate solar radiation where stations are not available, but their usefulness is limited where topography is an important source of variability. The use of satellite data and more recently of models based on techniques GIS, have contributed to solve this difficulty. In this work the usefulness of a digital elevation model (DEM) in providing topographic information for the estimation of solar radiation in areas of complex topography is analysed. Daily global radiation values were generated using the Solar Analyst software, which uses topographic information to generate radiation data. The generated data were compared with the experimental data obtained from 14 radiometric stations located within the Sierra Nevada Natural Park (southern Spain), an area of complex topography. Results show the usefulness of the topographic information derived from a DEM to estimate the solar radiation in areas of complex topography. Nevertheless, results depend on the DEM resolution and it is important that other factors, such as the albedo, should also be taken into account to obtain better estimates. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
High resolution studies of the Gibraltar Levanter validated using sun‐glint anemometry
Authors: Capon R. A. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThe Levanter is an easterly wind which frequently blows for several hours through the Strait of Gibraltar in summer. In the presence of a strong capping inversion, a synoptic or local scale pressure gradient forces the air through the gap between the orography on either side of the Strait. This flow cannot be resolved with either a global NWP model or a simplified linear model. Results from two Levanter cases, run using the Met Office Unified Model Version 5.3 at 1 km horizontal resolution over a 300×250 km limited area domain covering the Strait of Gibraltar, are presented, together with an unexpected source of verification. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Economic values of the APCN multi‐model ensemble categorical seasonal predictions
Authors: Kar Sarat C. , Hovsepyan Anahit , Park C. K. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThe skill of seasonal mean precipitation and temperature predictions by multi‐model ensemble (MME) schemes has been examined using hindcast data from the APEC Climate Network (APCN). The hindcast data of the member models have been collected from several institutions in the APEC region. Skill metrics, namely, anomaly correlation coefficient (ACC), Hanssen‐Kuipers skill (HKS), and economic value were used to assess the APCN MME predictions. The member models have a range of skills in predicting the seasonal mean conditions: however, the MME schemes consistently produce improved predictions. Though the weighted multi‐model ensemble schemes have better skill scores in terms of ACC, the unbiased multi‐model ensemble mean provides better and more useful categorical predictions as seen from the HKS score and the economic values. Prediction skills show distinct seasonality in different regions. Precipitation prediction skill is the lowest in the Asian monsoon region in June‐July‐August. The APCN MME predictions have positive economic values in most regions and examination of monthly values suggests that the MME predictions are reasonably good and useful even with three‐month lead times. An uncalibrated multi‐model probabilistic prediction scheme gives an indication of threshold probability for which the seasonal predictions are more beneficial to users. The extreme climatic conditions are predicted well by the MME schemes. However, user sectors for which the extreme climate predictions are beneficial are different to those of regular three‐category predictions. These results can be used in planning and preparedness for the extremes of climate in the future, and when developing economic decision support models. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society
A method of identifying and locating sea‐breeze fronts in north‐eastern Brazil by remote sensing
Authors: Planchon O. , Damato F. , Dubreuil V. , Gouery P. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractA method of identifying sea‐breeze fronts by remote sensing (visible and infrared data from the GOES‐8 satellite) was applied to north‐eastern Brazil. The aim of the study was to estimate the frequency of observed sea‐breeze fronts and the average distance they penetrate inland at 1800 UTC. During the dry season (between September and December) in 2000, the highest frequency of sea‐breeze fronts was recorded on the northern fringe of the study area. The sea‐breeze fronts penetrated furthest inland between September and November, with a maximum distance from the coast at Ceará of 100 km. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.