bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effects of the Cannabis Expiation Notice system on the prevalence of cannabis use in South Australia: evidence from the National Drug Strategy Household Surveys 1985–95
Authors: Donnelly Neil , Hall Wayne , Christie Paul 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis study sought to examine the impact of the Cannabis Expiation Notice (CEN) scheme on the prevalence of lifetime and weekly cannabis use in South Australia. Data from five National Drug Strategy Household Surveys between 1985 and 1995 were examined to test for differences in trends in self‐reported: (1) lifetime cannabis use; and(2) current weekly cannabis use, after controlling for age and gender, between South Australia and the other states and territories. Between 1985 and 1995, rates of lifetime cannabis use increased in SA from 26% to 36%. There were also significant increases in Victoria (from 26%to 32%), Tasmania (from 21%to 33%) and New South Wales (from 26% to 33%). The increase in South Australia was significantly greater than the average increase throughout the rest of Australia, but the other Australian states differed in their rates of change. Victoria and Tasmania had similar rates of increase to South Australia; New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia showed lower rates of increase; and the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory had high rates that did not change during the period. There was no statistically significant difference between SA and the rest of Australia in the rate of increase in weekly cannabis use. While there was a greater increase in self‐reported lifetime cannabis use in South Australia between 1985 and 1995 than in the average of the other Australian jurisdictions it is unlikely that this increase is due to the CEN system, because similar increases occurred in Tasmania and Victoria (where there was no change in the legal status of cannabis use), andthere was no increase in the rate of weekly cannabis use in South Australia over the same period.
Insulin sensitivity and intramyocellular lipid concentrations in young Maori men
Authors: Stannard S. R. , Holdaway M. A. , Sachinwalla T. , Cunningham C. W. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractAims  In muscle, resistance to insulin‐mediated glucose uptake is thought to underlie the pre‐Type 2 diabetic condition. In European Caucasian men, insulin sensitivity is negatively associated with intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) content, and this may provide an early marker of diabetes risk. This study was designed to examine the relationship between vastus lateralis IMCL content, aerobic fitness, adiposity and markers of insulin sensitivity in healthy, young Maori men.Methods  The following parameters were measured in 24 Maori men aged 28 ± 6 years (mean ± sd): overnight fasting blood concentrations of glucose, insulin and triglycerides; body composition using underwater weighing; maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) using an incremental treadmill exercise test; and vastus lateralis IMCL concentration using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS).Results  All participants had normal fasting blood glucose. Simultaneous multiple regression analysis with homeostasis model assessment—insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) as the dependent variable showed that: (i) increased body fatness and decreased aerobic capacity (per kg lean body mass) are significant predictors of insulin sensitivity as estimated by HOMA‐IR; and (ii) although vastus lateralis IMCL concentrations are elevated, they do not contribute to the prediction of insulin sensitivity.Conclusions  IMCL is not a reliable marker of estimated insulin resistance in this cohort of young, healthy Maori men. However, measures of composition and aerobic fitness may be of use as non‐invasive, culturally acceptable measures to help identify Maori men with impaired insulin action, but normal fasting glycaemia.
We!Design: A student‐centred participatory methodology for the design of educational applications
Authors: Triantafyllakos George N. , Palaigeorgiou George E. , Tsoukalas Ioannis A. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe development of educational applications has always been a challenging and complex issue, mainly because of the complications imposed by the cognitive and psychological aspects of student–computer interactions. This article presents a methodology, named We!Design, that tries to encounter the complexity of educational applications development from within the participatory design framework. The methodology enables computer literate students and designers to cooperate in the design of applications that (1) enhance typical educational processes for which students have extensive experience in, such as note taking or assessment, and (2) are well‐suited to the technological, social and cultural particularities of each educational environment. The methodology can be easily applied in real educational contexts and consists of two phases. During the first phase, students participate in short‐duration design sessions where they formulate needs, tasks and interface prototypes for the educational application under examination. In the second phase, the designers systematically analyse and then integrate student suggestions. In order to evaluate the methodology, it was applied in the design of two educational applications: an electronic assessment environment and a course website. A total of 86 undergraduate informatics students participated in 22 4‐hour design sessions. The methodology was evaluated by collecting students' responses through questionnaires and by introspection on the video recordings of the design sessions. The design sessions proved to be a very intriguing experience for the students while the methodology's products managed to respond to their personal needs and expectations in an efficient and effective way.
From the editors
Authors: Stafford Tom , Chau Patrick Y. K. 
Published: June 2007

We head into our second issue as Editors with changes, improvements, and plenty of excitement!
First, we've enlisted new colleagues to our Editorial Board. As we expand topical coverage, and expand our global reach, we'll need more help vetting your manuscripts. We want to invite more technical content to our pages, more international content, and content from new colleagues in different parts of the world. We're inviting several new Senior Editors onto the board to help us with this expansion.
Professor Laku Chidambaram comes to us with excellent editorial experience, including his ongoing work as Executive Editor of eService Journal and responsibilities as AMCIS program Co-Chair. He brings special expertise in virtual groups, group decision support and computer mediated communications to his new position as Senior Editor on our board.
Professor Hock Hai Teo is widely known and respected, world-wide. His home base in Asia gives us important new Senior Editor coverage for this important part of our new coverage. He is technically-versed, and will be a valuable addition to our growing organization here at The-Database.org.
Professor George Marakas is an iconic theorist in our field. To support our growth in papers that develop and propose dynamic new behavioral theories of information systems, Dr. Marakas brings his unique views and capabilities to our growing board as a new Senior Editor.
Professor Paul Pavlou is a rising young star in the field. While we hope the flattery does not make him uncomfortable, our experience has been that he is a superbly qualified editor and reviewer, and we are pleased to welcome him to the board as Senior Editor.
As we look to the future, we anticipate with great enthusiasm Dr. Allen Hevner's special issue on Systems Testing. Professor Hevner is known world-wide for his expertise in development and testing, and we are honored that he has agreed to serve as Guest Editor for this important special issue, due out late this year.
Lastly, Patrick and I are happy to report that we have, as of this year's first issue, been under review and are nearing completion of evaluation by Thomson ISI for purposes of including Data Base in regular surveying and reporting for the important Social Sciences Citation Index and the associated Journal Citation Report. That process should be complete toward the end of this year.
We continue to rely on the submission of your best research to our new online publication portal, which can be accessed by links on The-DataBase.org, or directly at http://www.editorialmanager.com/sigmis-db/. Even if you're not quite ready to submit a new manuscript to us, do visit the online portal and register yourself as a potential author and reviewer.
And, with very best regards from our publication offices in Memphis, for your continuing support, we say, "Thank you...thank you very much."
Starvation-free commit arbitration policies for transactional memory systems
Authors: Waliullah M. M. , Stenstrom Per 
Published: June 2007

In transactional memory systems like TCC, unordered transactions are committed on a first-come, first-serve basis. If a transaction has read data that has been modified by the next transaction to commit, it will have to roll-back and a lot of computations can potentially be wasted. Even worse, such simple commit arbitration policies are prone to starvation; in fact, the performance of Raytrace in SPLASH-2 suffered significantly because of this.
This paper analyzes in detail the design issues for commit arbitration policies and proposes novel policies that reduce the amount of wasted computation due to roll-back and, most importantly, avoid starvation. We analyze in detail how to incorporate them in a TCC-like transactional memory protocol. We find that our proposed schemes have no impact on the common-case performance. In addition, they add modest complexity to the baseline protocol.
Prediction of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) Based on Wavelet Decomposition and Neural Networks
Authors: Hanbay Davut , Turkoglu Ibrahim , Demir Yakup 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe chemical oxygen demand (COD) parameter of a wastewater treatment plant is predicted based on wavelet decomposition, entropy, and neural networks (NN) for rapid COD analysis. This paper also describes the usage of wavelet and NNs for parameter prediction. Data from a wastewater treatment plant in Malatya, Turkey, were used. This dataset consists of daily values of influents and effluents for a year. To reduce the dimension of input parameters and to decrease the NN training time, wavelet decomposition and entropy were used. Test results were presented graphically. The test results of the trained model were found to be closer to the measured COD values.
Quantitation of chiral amino acids from microalgae by MEKC and LIF detection
Authors: Herrero Miguel , Ibáñez Elena , Fanali Salvatore , Cifuentes Alejandro 
Published: June 2007

AbstractIn this work, chiral and nonchiral MEKC methods have been combined with LIF detection (MEKC‐LIF) to identify and quantify a group of D‐ and L‐amino acids (D/L‐aa) in different microalgae samples. The combination of the nonchiral and chiral‐MEKC‐LIF methods made the identification of the microalgae amino acids easier, previously derivatized with FITC, providing a double proof on the correct detection of these analytes. Three microalgae species, Spirulina platensis, Dunaliella salina, and Tetraselmis suecica, were compared in terms of their content in D‐Arg, L‐Arg, D‐Lys, L‐Lys, D‐Ala, L‐Ala, D‐Glu, L‐Glu, D‐Asp, and L‐Asp. Also, a comparison between two Spirulina platensis samples dried under different conditions (i.e., hot air or lyophilized) was carried out in order to investigate the effect of the thermal processing on the amino acid content. Moreover, two procedures for the extraction of amino acids from microalgae (i.e., a classical procedure and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE)) together with different conditions for amino acid derivatization were studied in order to increase the sensitivity of the whole analytical method. By using the selected chiral‐MEKC‐LIF conditions (100 mM sodium tetraborate, 30 mM SDS, and 20 mM β‐CD at pH 9.7) the main microalgae D/L‐aa are separated in less than 25 min with efficiencies up to 840 000 plates/m and good sensitivity (i.e., 330 ng of D‐Arg per gram of microalga could be detected by this procedure for an S/N of 3). Several D‐aa were detected in all the microalgae, observing interesting differences in their D/L‐aa profiles, what corroborates the usefulness of the chiral‐MEKC‐LIF approach to characterize different microalgae species as well as different microalgae drying processes. Moreover, the use of PLE can selectively extract different free amino acids from microalgae.
Rb{Pr6C2}I12, an Iodide with a 13‐Electron Isolated Octahedral {Pr6C2} Cluster
Authors: Wiglusz Rafał , Pantenburg Ingo , Meyer Gerd 
Published: June 2007

AbstractRb{Pr6(C)2}I12 was obtained from a mixture of RbI, PrI3, Pr and C as black single crystals at elevated temperatures. The black crystals are triclinic, (no. 2), a = 960.1(2), b = 957.0(2), c = 1003.4(2) pm, α = 71.74(2), β = 70.69(2), γ = 72.38(2)°, V = 805.6(3) 106 pm3, Z = 1; R1 = 0.0868 for all 2749 measured independent reflections. Rb{Pr6(C)2}I12 contains {Pr6(C2)} clusters isolated from each other, surrounded by twelve edge‐bridging and six terminal ligands. The [{Pr6(C)2}Ii12Ia6]− units are connected via i‐a/a‐i bridges according to {Pr6C2}Ii6/1Ii‐a6/2Ia‐i6/2 with rubidium ions occupying twelve‐coordinate interstices.
IrIn7GeO8 = [IrIn6](GeO4)(InO4) und Verbindungen der Mischkristallreihe [IrIn6](Ge1+xIn1−4x/3O8) (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.75) – erste Oxide mit [IrIn6]‐Oktaedern
Authors: Köhler Jürgen , Friedrich Holger A. , Lee Changhoon , Whangbo Myung‐Hwan 
Published: June 2007

AbstractIrIn7GeO8 = [IrIn6](GeO4)(InO4) and Compounds of the Solid Solution Series [IrIn6](Ge1+xIn1−4x/3O8) (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.75): First Oxides containing [IrIn6] OctahedraThe low valent indiumoxides IrIn7GeO8 = [IrIn6](GeO4)(InO4) and [IrIn6](Ge1+xIn1−4x/3O8) (0 x ≤ 0.75) are formed by heating intimate mixtures of Ir, In, In2O3 and GeO2 in corundum crucibles under an atmosphere of argon (1420 K, 70 h). The compounds are black and semiconducting. X‐ray powder diffraction patterns can be indexed on the basis of a face centered cubic unit cell with lattice parameters ranging from a = 1012.3(1) pm (x = 0) to a = 1007.3(1) pm (x = 0.75). Characteristic building units in [IrIn6](Ge1+xIn1−4x/3O8) are isolated [IrIn6]9+ octahedra with short Ir‐In distances of 253.5 pm, which are linked via [GeO4]4− and [InO4]5− tetrahedra to a three dimensional framework. Starting from IrIn7GeO8 = [IrIn6](GeO4)(InO4), the isoelectronic substitution of 4 In3+ ions by 3 Ge4+ ions and one Ge‐vacancy leads to the formation of a solid solution series [IrIn6](GeO4)1+x(O4)x/3(InO4)1−4x/3, which shows a slight decrease in the cubic lattice parameter with increasing x. According to Rietveld refinements the structure of [IrIn6](GeO4)(InO4) exhibits a statistical distribution of the tetrahedrally coordinated Ge and In atoms (, R(prof.) = 4.4 %, R(int.) = 2.5 %). The crystal and electronic structures of [IrIn6](GeO4)(InO4) are discussed on the basis of first principles electronic structure calculations.
Management of granular myringitis: A systematic review
Authors: Neilson L J , Hussain S S M 
Published: June 2007

AbstractIntroduction:Granular myringitis is a chronic disorder characterised by lateral squamous de-epithelialisation and granulation of the tympanic membrane. Untreated, granular myringitis can lead to post-inflammatory medial external auditory canal fibrosis, acquired canal atresia and inflammatory infiltration of the deep canal.Aim:This study aimed to establish optimal management strategies which could be applied to clinical practice, through systematic review of the current literature.Methods:Current literature was obtained by searching evidence-based medical databases, the Cochrane database, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, the Cochrane controlled trials register, Ovid Medline, the variousBritish Medical Journalimprint journals, individual journal websites and citation indexes, and by hand-searching current journals. Detailed inclusion criteria were set. Data were retrieved from the selected studies and checked for accuracy and consistency. The primary outcome measured was the effect of the proposed intervention on recurrence of granular myringitis, compared with empirical antibiotic therapy.Results:Fifty-eight publications were identified, dating from 1964 to 2005; 46 of these were potentially relevant. After assessment using the preset inclusion criteria, only two studies remained. El-Seifi and Fouad (2000) found that surgical excision of granulation tissue resulted in an 80 per cent reduction in recurrence of granular myringitis when compared with conventional antibiotic therapy. However, Junget al.(2002) demonstrated a 96 per cent reduction in granular myringitis recurrence when managed with dilute vinegar solution.Conclusions:There was a reduced recurrence of granular myringitis in both studies' intervention groups, although neither study was randomised or blinded, making it difficult to assess the clinical relevance of the results. However, the following conclusions can be inferred. (1) Conventional topical antibiotic and steroid drops appear to be less efficacious and more likely to lead to recurrence of symptoms, compared with other proposed treatment modalities. (2) Treatment with dilute vinegar solution presents a logical, unharmful alternative to conventional antibiotic drops. Further research of high value is needed.
Evaluation of endoscopic sinus surgery by Glasgow benefit inventory
Authors: Newton J R , Shakeel M , Ram B 
Published: June 2007

AbstractIntroduction:Functional endoscopic sinus surgery is a common adjunct to medical therapy in cases of chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyposis.Aim:The objective of this study was to assess patients' quality of life up to two years after endoscopic sinus surgery.Method:Fifty consecutive patients attending a rhinology clinic filled in the Glasgow benefit inventory. The patients were divided into three groups according to the time period elapsed since surgery (i.e. six months, 12 months or up to two years).Results:The results showed that, generally, the Glasgow benefit inventory scores indicated a benefit from the procedure. Overall, surgery led to statistically significant improvements in both total and general scores (p < 0.05). Comparison of endoscopic sinus surgery with nasal polypectomy (plus endoscopic sinus surgery) indicated a greater benefit for polyp disease. No statistical difference was observed between the scores for females vs males or for various post-operative follow-up periods.
Disturbance rejection by online ZMP compensation
Authors: Prahlad Vadakkepat , Dip Goswami , Meng-Hwee Chia 
Published: June 2007

SUMMARYA novel method of Zero-Moment-Point (ZMP) compensation is proposed to improve the stability of locomotion of a biped, which is subjected to disturbances. A compensating torque is injected into the ankle-joint of the foot of the robot to improve stability. The value of the compensating torque is computed from the reading of the force sensors located at the four corners of each foot. The effectiveness of the method is verified on a humanoid robot, MANUS-I. With the compensation technique, the robot successfully rejected disturbances in different forms. It carried an additional weight of 390 gm (17% of body weight) while walking. Also, it walked up a 10° slope and walked down a 3° slope.
The beta‐lactam antibiotic, ceftriaxone, attenuates morphine‐evoked hyperthermia in rats
Authors: Rawls S M , Tallarida R , Robinson W , Amin M 
Published: June 2007

Background and purpose:Beta‐lactam antibiotics are the first practical pharmaceuticals capable of increasing the expression and activity of the glutamate transporter, GLT‐1, in the CNS. However, the functional impact of beta‐lactam antibiotics on specific drugs which produce their pharmacological effects by increasing glutamatergic transmission is unknown. One such drug is morphine, which causes hyperthermia in rats, mediated by an increase in glutamatergic transmission. Since drugs (e.g. antibiotics) that enhance glutamate uptake also decrease glutamatergic transmission, we tested the hypothesis that ceftriaxone, a beta‐lactam antibiotic, would block the glutamate‐dependent portion of morphine‐evoked hyperthermia.Experimental approach:A body temperature assay was used to determine if ceftriaxone decreased morphine‐induced hyperthermia in rats by increasing glutamate uptake.Key results:Body temperatures of rats treated with ceftriaxone (200 mg kg−1, i.p. × 7 days) did not differ from rats receiving saline. Morphine (1, 4, 8 and 15 mg kg−1, s.c.) caused significant hyperthermia. Pre‐treatment with ceftriaxone, as described above, decreased the hyperthermic response to these doses of morphine. The effects of ceftriaxone were prevented by TBOA (0.2 μmol, i.c.v.), an inhibitor of glutamate transport.Conclusions and implications:Ceftriaxone attenuated the hyperthermia caused by morphine, an effect prevented by inhibiting glutamate transport. Thus this effect of ceftriaxone was most likely mediated by increased glutamate uptake. These data revealed a functional interaction between ceftriaxone and morphine and indicated that a beta‐lactam antibiotic decreased the efficacy of morphine in conscious rats.British Journal of Pharmacology(2007)151, 1095–1102; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707309
Pharmacophore modelling of stereoselective binding to the human organic cation transporter (hOCT1)
Authors: Moaddel R , Ravichandran S , Bighi F , Yamaguchi R , Wainer I W 
Published: June 2007

Background and purpose:The human organic cation transporter‐1 (hOCT1) is a polyspecific transporter that plays a role in drug distribution, metabolism and excretion. Previous studies have demonstrated that hOCT1 binding can be stereoselective, but the mechanism for stereochemical recognition has not been described. The purpose of this study was to develop a pharmacophore model to describe stereoselective binding to hOCT1.Experimental approach:A set of 22 compounds including 8 pairs of enantiomers and five pairs of diastereomers was used to develop a pharmacophore model. The pharmacophore modeling was carried out using Catalyst version 4.11 and HypoGen and was based upon the correlation of the structures and activities (Kivalues) of the compounds used in the study.Key results:The resulting model contained a positive ion, hydrophobic and two hydrogen‐bond acceptor interaction sites. The relative enantioselectivity of 8/8 enantiomeric pairs and diastereoselectivity of 5/5 diastereomers was described by mapping to a combination of at least 3 of the 4 functional feature sites of the model.Conclusions and implications:The pharmacophore model describes stereoselective interactions with hOCT1 at one of the binding sites on the molecule.British Journal of Pharmacology(2007)151, 1305–1314; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707341