bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Automatic muscle generation for character skin deformation
Authors: Yang Xiaosong , Zhang Jian J. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractAs skin shape depends on the underlying anatomical structure, the anatomy‐based techniques usually afford greater realism than the traditional skeleton‐driven approach. On the downside, however, it is against the current animation workflow, as the animator has to model many individual muscles before the final skin layer arrives, resulting in an unintuitive modelling process. In this paper, we present a new anatomy‐based technique that allows the animator to start from an already modelled character. Muscles having visible influence on the skin shape at the rest pose are extracted automatically by studying the surface geometry of the skin. The extracted muscles are then used to deform the skin in areas where there exist complex deformations. The remaining skin areas, unaffected or hardly affected by the muscles, are handled by the skeleton‐driven technique, allowing both techniques to play their strengths. In order for the extracted muscles to produce realistic local skin deformation during animation, muscle bulging and special movements are both represented. Whereas the former ensues volume preservation, the latter allows a muscle not only to deform along a straight path, but also to slide and bend around joints and bones, resulting in the production of sophisticated muscle movements and deformations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Simulation of miscible binary mixtures based on lattice Boltzmann method
Authors: Zhu Hongbin , Liu Xuehui , Liu Youquan , Wu Enhua 
Published: June 2006

AbstractMiscible fluid mixtures, like pouring honey into water, Coca Cola into strong wine, are common phenomena in our daily life. While two miscible fluids are mixed together, their appearances in terms of colors and shapes will change due to their mixing interaction. The interaction between the mixture components could be regarded as a combination of the diffusing process and demixing process. If the former dominates the interaction, it is miscible; otherwise, it is immiscible. The complex microscopic interplay between the mixture components makes the simulation highly challenging. So far, there have been some dedicated research in computer graphics dealing with immiscible mixtures, but few works have been done focusing on miscible mixtures. In this paper, for the first time, we introduce a two‐fluid lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), called TFLBM, applied to miscible binary mixtures. Different from other similar methods, the viscous and diffusing properties of the fluid in our work are considered separately, so that the physical insight is exposed more clearly and rationally. In addition, the operation of LBM is mostly a linear local computation, and graphics processing unit (GPU) has been utilized to achieve real‐time simulation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Synthesis of 3D faces using region‐based morphing under intuitive control
Authors: Zhang Yu , Badler Norman I. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThis paper presents a new region‐based method for automatically synthesizing varied, natural looking 3D human face models by morphing local facial features according to intuitive control parameters. We automatically compute a one‐to‐one vertex correspondence among the unregistered face scans in a large database by deforming a generic mesh to fit the specific person's face geometry in a global‐to‐local fashion. With the obtained correspondence, we transform the generated data sets of feature shapes into vector space representations. We parameterize the example models using the face anthropometric measurements that reflect the facial physical structure, and predefine the interpolation functions for the parameterized example models based on radial basis functions. At runtime, the interpolation functions are evaluated to efficiently generate the appropriate feature shape by taking the anthropometric parameters as input. We use a shape blending approach for generating a seamlessly deformed mesh around the feature region boundary. The correspondence among all example textures is established by parameterizing the 3D generic mesh over a 2D image domain. The new feature texture with desired attributes is synthesized by interpolating the example textures. Our 3D face synthesis method has several advantages: (1) it regulates the naturalness of synthesized faces, maintaining the quality existing in the real face examples; (2) the region‐based morphing and comprehensive face shape and texture control parameters allow more diverse faces to be generated readily; and (3) the automatic runtime face synthesis is efficient in time complexity and performs fast. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Using prefetching to improve walkthrough latency
Authors: Hung Shao‐Shin , Liu Damon Shing‐Min 
Published: June 2006

AbstractObject correlations are common semantic patterns in walkthrough (WT) systems. They can be exploited for improving the effectiveness of storage caching, prefecthing, data layout, and minimization of query‐response times. Previous approaches for reducing I/O access time are seldom investigated. On the other side, data mining techniques extract implicit, previously unknown and potentially useful information from the databases. However, those methods are presented for typical data mining datasets and not suitable for our WT system datasets. This paper proposes a class of novel and efficient pattern‐growth method for mining various frequent sequential traversal patterns in the WT. Our pattern‐growth method adopts a divide‐and‐conquer approach to decompose both the mining tasks and the databases. The frequent sequential traversal patterns are used to predict the user navigation behavior and help to reduce disk access time with proper placement patterns into disk blocks. We also define the terminologies such as paths, views, and objects used in the model. We have done extensive experiments to demonstrate how these proposed techniques not only significantly cut down disk access time, but also enhance the accuracy of data prefetching. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Formation of Disperse Nanoparticles at the Oil/Water Interface in Normal Microemulsions
Authors: Ge Jian‐Ping , Chen Wei , Liu Li‐Ping , Li Ya‐Dong 
Published: June 2006

AbstractAn artificial oil/water interface was created in normal microemulsions. Various well‐dispersed inorganic nanoparticles were successfully fabricated at this micelle interface, and a “hot liquid annealing” process was used to crystallize the products. Owing to the large solubility of the source materials in the water phase, the colloidal nanoparticles can easily be prepared on a large scale. Compared with traditional reverse‐microemulsion methods, the method reported here yields larger amounts of colloidal particles but with the same quality.
Minimization of Electrode Adsorption Effects: The Cadmium–Humic Acid System Studied by Phase Sensitive Alternating Current Polarography
Authors: Garrigosa Anna M. , Ariño Cristina , Díaz‐Cruz José Manuel , Esteban Miquel 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThe use of phase‐sensitive Alternating Current Polarography (ACP) is investigated for the minimization of adsorption effects in metal‐ligand systems with induced metal adsorption onto the electrode. When ACP is applied to obtain information on metal complexation in bulk, some problems arise from the faradaic contribution of adsorbed species. This effect can be corrected by using the capacitive current measured in the potential region of the faradaic peak. Using this correction, ACP produces similar results to those from Reverse Pulse Polarography (RPP), a technique that minimizes electrode adsorption effects on the measured currents. The method proposed is applied to the study of the Cd–humic acid system that has been investigated by ACP, RPP and Differential Pulse Polarography (DPP).
N‐terminal deletion affects catalytic activity of saporin toxin
Authors: Bonini Francesca , Traini Roberta , Comper Fabrizio , Fracasso Giulio , Tomazzolli Rossella , Serra Mauro Dalla , Colombatti Marco 
Published: June 2006

AbstractSingle‐chain ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs) are cytotoxic components of macromolecular pharmaceutics for immunotherapy of cancer and other human diseases. Saporin belongs to a family of single‐chain RIPs sharing sequence and structure homology. In a preliminary attempt to define an active saporin polypeptide of minimum size we have generated proteins with deletions at the N‐terminus and at the C‐terminus. An N‐terminal (sapΔ1–20) deletion mutant of saporin displayed defective catalytic activity, drastically reduced cytotoxicity but increased ability to interact with liposomes inducing their permeabilization at low pH. A C‐terminal (sapΔ239–253) deletion mutant showed instead a moderate reduction in cytotoxic activity. A substantial alteration of secondary structure was evidenced by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in the sapΔ1–20 mutant. It can be hypothesized that the defective functions of sapΔ1–20 are due to alterations of its spatial configuration. J. Cell. Biochem. 98: 1130–1139, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Regulation of angiogenesis and tumor growth by p110 Alpha and AKT1 via VEGF expression
Authors: Xia Chang , Meng Qiao , Cao Zongxian , Shi Xianglin , Jiang Bing‐Hua 
Published: June 2006

AbstractRecent studies demonstrate that PI3K activation and PTEN mutation are frequently found in many human cancer cells and tissues. However, the mechanism of PI3K signaling in human cancer tumorigenesis remains to be elucidated. In this study we specifically downregulated p110α expression in ovarian cancer cells using siRNA interference. We found that p110α downregulation greatly decreased ovarian tumor growth and angiogenesis, and that p110α siRNA inhibited VEGF expression through decreasing hypoxia‐inducible factor 1α expression in both ovarian cancer cells and tumor tissues. To determine the downstream targets of PI3K in regulating tumor growth and angiogenesis, we find that AKT1 is a major downstream mediator for regulating tumor growth, angiogenesis, and VEGF expression. These data show that p110α and AKT1 play an important role in tumor growth by inducing angiogenesis and by increasing HIF‐1α and VEGF expression. This work provides a better understanding of the molecular mechanism of human cancer induced by the activation of PI3K signaling. J. Cell. Physiol. 209: 56–66, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Identification of oleuropein oligomers in olive pulp and pomace
Authors: Cardoso Susana M , Guyot Sylvain , Marnet Nathalie , Lopes‐da‐Silva José A , Silva Artur MS , Renard Catherine MGC , Coimbra Manuel A 
Published: June 2006

AbstractAnalysis of a purified fraction from acetone extracts of olive pulp and pomace by electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (ESI‐MSn) showed the presence of oleuropein oligomers, whose occurrence has not been reported previously in the literature. The main ionic species (m/z 1613) in the ESI‐MS spectrum was an oleuropein trimer containing three linkages through the hydroxytyrosol backbone. In both samples, oleuropein dimers (m/z 1075), trimers comprising two hydroxytyrosol linkages (m/z 1615), tetramers (m/z 2153) and pentamers (m/z 2691) were also detected by MS. The occurrence of oleuropein oligomers was also observed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). 13C, 13C distortionless enhancement by polarisation transfer DEPT 90, 13C DEPT 135, gHSQC (heteronuclear single quantum coherence) and gHMBC (heteronuclear multiple bond coherence) spectra showed all carbon and proton resonances of oleuropein with the exception of the low‐mobility and asymmetric signals of the aromatic rings. Since mature olives were used in this study, it is possible that the disappearance of oleuropein that has been described to occur with the olive fruit maturation, could be associated with the formation of phenolic oligomers together with lower‐molecular‐weight compounds resulting from its degradation. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry
Enzymatic Erosion of Bioartificial Membranes to Control Drug Delivery
Authors: Coluccio Maria Laura , Ciardelli Gianluca , Bertoni Franca , Silvestri Davide , Cristallini Caterina , Giusti Paolo , Barbani Niccoletta 
Published: June 2006

AbstractSummary: The preparation of an enzymatic controlled drug release system from blends of PVA/starch/αA, in the form of films, is described. It was shown that αA hydrolyses the starch within these films, resulting in a time‐dependent change of the porosity in the matrix. Films were characterized by calorimetric analysis to study the interactions between the enzyme and the polymeric constituents at the molecular level. The presence of αA, in fact, influenced the PVA cristallization in the blends. Release tests and permeability experiments were carried out to evaluate the transport properties of the films. An increase in porosity and permeability was observed by increasing αA content (16–28 wt.‐%). Films loaded with theophylline and caffeine were also prepared to analyze drug release properties of the matrix. Drug release kinetics were coherent with the measured changes in porosity: at higher αA concentrations the amount of released drug increased under the influence of diffusion and erosion processes. The results obtained are promising for the realization of drug delivery devices for a rapid release or for the release of poorly soluble drugs which usually remain entrapped in the matrix.SEM images of a PVA/starch/αA film before (A) and after (B) the erosion.magnified imageSEM images of a PVA/starch/αA film before (A) and after (B) the erosion.
Using multimethods ethnography to promote quality service and understand interactions among organizations
Authors: Schneider Jo Anne 
Published: June 2006

AbstractMultimethods ethnography combines qualitative techniques with analysis of statistical data and sometimes mapping techniques. Ethnography provides a comprehensive picture of process in an agency or other setting by examining the dynamics between individuals and institutions to understand how systems work. Ethnography is particularly good at evaluating complex problems involving multiple stakeholders as well as understanding agency processes. I use examples from the Neighborhood Settlement House Evaluation Project and Kenosha Social Capital Study to describe the ethnographic method and its potential uses for nonprofit managers. I begin with an outline of methodological techniques, including problem definition, sample design, various data collection techniques, and analysis. Next I discuss ethnography's approach to the common research concerns of generalizability and replication. In concluding, I discuss ways that this method can be useful to nonprofit managers. Quality work is compared with less complete research techniques throughout each section.
On the improvement of the open circuit voltage of plastic solar cells by the presence of a thin aluminium oxide layer at the interface organic/aluminium
Authors: Karst N. , Bernède J. C. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThe open circuit voltage, V oc, of organic solar cells based on single donor/acceptor (D/A) interface has been studied as a function of the air exposure. It is shown that V oc increases when the Al upper electrode is air exposed, that is to say when a thin aluminium oxide layer is present at the interface organic donor/aluminium. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Comparison of four mass analyzers for determining carbosulfan and its metabolites in citrus by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry
Authors: Soler Carla , Hamilton Brett , Furey Ambrose , James Kevin J. , Mañes Jordi , Picó Yolanda 
Published: June 2006

AbstractFour liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) systems, equipped with single quadrupole, triple quadrupole (QqQ), quadrupole ion trap (QIT) and quadrupole time‐of‐flight (QqTOF) mass analyzers, were evaluated for the analysis of carbosulfan and its main transformation products. The comparison of quantitative aspects (sensitivity, precision and accuracy) was emphasized. Results showed that the triple quadrupole instrument reaches at least 20‐fold higher sensitivity (LOD from 0.04 to 0.4 µg kg−1) compared to the single quadrupole (4–70 µg kg−1), the QIT (4–25 µg kg−1) and the QqTOF (4–23 µg kg−1) instruments. Recoveries were over 70% for all the analytes, except dibutylamine and 7‐phenolcarbofuran. Repeatabilities (within‐day) were slightly better by the single quadrupole (5–10%) and the QqQ (5–9%) than by the QIT (12–16%) and the QqTOF (9–16%). Both the QqTOF and QIT offer a linear dynamic range of two orders of magnitude whereas the single quadrupole and QqQ of, at least, three orders of magnitude. The method was applied to analyze carbosulfan field‐treated orange samples, in which carbosulfan, carbofuran, 3‐hydroxycarbofuran, and dibutylamine were found. As an example, the mean carbosulfan concentration was 20 ± 0.6 µg kg−1 measured by the QqQ, 22 ± 1.2 µg kg−1 by the single quadrupole, 25 ± 2.8 µg kg−1 by the QIT, and 20 ± 1.8 µg kg−1 by the QqTOF. Although the QqQ is more sensitive and precise, the mean values obtained by the four instruments are acceptable and comparable. The potential of each technique for the verification of the identity of residues detected in oranges is discussed using the concept of identification points. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Determination of refractory elements in atmospheric particulates using slurry sampling electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with polyvinylidene fluoride as chemical modifier
Authors: Zhang Yuefei , Jiang Zucheng , Hu Bin 
Published: June 2006

AbstractElectrothermal vaporization (ETV) inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP‐OES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as chemical modifier are critically compared for the determination of refractory elements in coal fly ash and airborne particulates. The atmospheric particulates that collected on a PVDF filter were introduced into the graphite furnace in the form of a slurry by dissolving the filter in dimethylformamide, and the dissolved filter PVDF, along with additional added PVDF powder, was used as a chemical modifier for subsequent ETV‐ICP‐OES and ETV‐ICP‐MS determination. The vaporization behaviors of analytes (Ti, Zr, V, Mo, Cr, La) in ETV‐ICP‐OES/MS were studied in detail, and the optimal ETV operating parameters were obtained. Under the optimized operating conditions, the detection limits of target elements were 0.08–2.7 ng m−3 for ETV‐ICP‐OES and 0.5–50 pg m−3 for ETV‐ICP‐MS, respectively, with analytical precisions of 3.5–7.3% for ETV‐ICP‐OES and 3.9–9.6% for ETV‐ICP‐MS, respectively. The tolerable amounts of matrix elements for ETV‐ICP‐OES are higher than for ETV‐ICP‐MS. Both ETV‐ICP‐OES and ETV‐ICP‐MS were used to directly determine the trace refractory elements in coal fly ash and airborne particulates and the analytical results are comparable. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gas chromatography/mass spectrometric analysis of N,N‐dialkylaminoethyl‐2‐chlorides and trimethylsilyl derivatives of N,N‐dialkylaminoethan‐2‐ols for verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention
Authors: Gupta Arvinda K. , Pardasani Deepak , Kanaujia Pankaj K. , Tak Vijay , Dubey Devendra K. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractGas chromatography/electron ionization mass spectrometry (GC/EI‐MS) of N,N‐dialkylaminoethyl‐2‐chlorides (DAAECls) and trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatives of N,N‐dialkylaminoethan‐2‐ols (DAAEAs) has been carried out. GC/EI‐MS data of these compounds are of importance for verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Based on these EI mass spectra, generalized fragmentation routes are proposed that rationalize most of the characteristic ions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cognitive assessment of musculoskeletal pain with a newly validated Greek version of the Fear‐Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ)
Authors: Georgoudis George , Papathanasiou George , Spiropoulos Panagiotis , Katsoulakis Kostantinos 
Published: June 2006

AbstractFear of pain and avoidance are psychological factors of primary importance when assessing chronic musculoskeletal pain, which are often measured with the Fear‐Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ). Both two‐ and three‐subscale versions have been described. The aims of this study were: to assess the cognitive traits of musculoskeletal pain patients using a newly validated Greek version of the FABQ, and to further examine the construct validity and responsiveness of the measure. Factor analysis yielded three factors that accounted for 65% of the total variance. Physical activity explained 12.3% of the variance and was identical to the original version, unlike the work subscale which split into two: the FABQ work1 related to “work as cause” (15.2% of the variance) and the FABQ work2 related to “work as prognosis” (37.5% of the variance). Internal consistency was good (0.72–0.90). Test–retest reliability was satisfactory and close to the original version both for individual items and the subscales. Responsiveness of the 3‐factor model was satisfactorily assessed as the ability to detect: (A) change in general – (paired t test, effect size); (B) clinically important change (paired t test, standardised effect size), and (C) real change in the concept being measured (ROC analysis). Construct validity of the FABQ was shown through the interaction with anxiety and depression, pain control and responsibility, psychological distress and pain intensity, and criterion‐related validity through the association with another fear‐avoidance measure (TSK). New aspects of responsiveness and construct validity were demonstrated for the FABQ, using a three‐subscale validated Greek version.
Legal and ethical issues in telemedicine and robotics
Authors: Dickens B.M. , Cook R.J. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractModern medical concerns with telemedicine and robotics practiced across national or other jurisdictional boundaries engage the historical, complex area of law called conflict of laws. An initial concern is whether a practitioner licensed only in jurisdiction A who treats a patient in jurisdiction B violates B's laws. Further concerns are whether a practitioner in A who violates a contract or treats a patient in B negligently incurs liability in B, A, or both, and, if treatment lawful in A is unlawful in B, whether the practitioner commits a crime. Judicial procedures are set by courts in which proceedings are initiated, but courts may decline jurisdiction due to inconvenience to parties. If courts accept jurisdiction, they may apply their own substantive legal rules, but may find that the rules of a conflicting jurisdiction should apply. Cross‐border care should not change usual medical ethics, for instance on confidentiality, but may mitigate or aggravate migration of specialists.