bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Turning off the central contribution to contractions evoked by neuromuscular electrical stimulation
Authors: Dean J.C. , Yates L.M. , Collins D.F. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractNeuromuscular electrical stimulation can generate contractions through both peripheral and central mechanisms. The peripheral mechanism involves the direct activation of motor axons, while the central mechanism involves the activation of sensory axons that recruit spinal neurons through a reflex pathway. For use in functional electrical stimulation. One must have control over turning the central mechanism on and off. We investigated whether inhibition developed through antagonist muscle (tibialis anterior, TA) contractions elicited by electrical stimulation or by volition can turn off the central mechanism in triceps surae. Both electrical stimulation and voluntary contractions of TA reduced or eliminated plantar flexion torque produced by the central mechanism, indicating that inhibition induced via these contractions can effectively turn off the central contribution to force. These findings suggest that patterns of electrical stimulation may be able to generate periodic muscle contractions by turning the central contribution to muscular contractions on and off. Muscle Nerve, 2008
Reliable ALE middleware for RFID network applications
Authors: Chen Nong‐Kun , Chen Jiann‐Liang , Chang Teng‐Hsun , Lu Hsi‐Feng 
Published: June 2008

AbstractRadio frequency identification (RFID) technology adopts the air interface to deliver the information required for object identification. The RFID system is convenient to manage and operate, and is widely encouraged by the large‐scale chain industry. Additionally, electronic product code (EPC) network technology allows immediate, automatic identification and sharing of information on items in the supply chain. This work proposes an RFID service middleware with a highly reliable and efficient application‐level event (ALE)‐based prototype mechanism according to EPCglobal. A Student Muster Roll (SMR) application test bed is implemented in the proposed ALE‐based scheme. The SMR system can be employed to manage the absentee records of students in a class, and can manage and control several operation multi‐reader devices simultaneously. The proposed scheme can filter attendance accurately, eliminating the possibility of reduplication in student records. Performance evaluation results indicate that the proposed novel scheme is much more efficient and reliable than a naive ALE scheme. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Characterisation of midgut digestive proteases from the maize stem borerBusseola fusca
Authors: George Derick , Ferry Natalie , Back Emma J , Gatehouse Angharad MR 
Published: June 2008

AbstractBACKGROUND:Insect damage is a major constraint on maize production. Control ofBusseola fusca(Fuller) in sub‐Saharan Africa is relatively ineffective; the major larval digestive enzymes were characterised with a view to developing future control strategies.RESULTS:Using BODIPY‐FL Casein, maximal activity was at pH 9.5, with six protease forms visualised by gelatin‐PAGE. Synthetic substrates and diagnostic inhibitors demonstrated the presence of serine proteases. Chymostatin was a potent inhibitor of general proteolysis (90%), providing strong evidence for the presence of chymotrypsin; it also caused significant inhibition (>95%) with SA2PFpNA as substrate. The I50values for chymostatin with casein and SA2PFpNA were 0.0075 µMand 0.06 µMrespectively. Z‐Phe‐Arg‐pNA activity was inhibited by chymostatin and TLCK (50 and 30% respectively), suggesting the presence of trypsin‐like activity. BApNA hydrolysis was also strongly inhibited by chymostatin and TLCK (92 and 75%), suggesting trypsin activity, while SBBI, PMSF, pepstatin and E‐64 had no significant effect. Interestingly, SBBI (I50= 0.39 µM) and SBTI both inhibited general proteolysis by approximately 70%, suggesting that SBBI's dual inhibitory role makes this inhibitor a potentially useful candidate for expression in maize for control ofB. fusca.CONCLUSION:These results provide a basis for the rational design of insect‐resistant transgenic maize expressing protease inhibitors. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry
A climatological view of HNO3 partitioning in cirrus clouds
Authors: Krämer M. , Schiller C. , Voigt C. , Schlager H. , Popp P. J. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractA new in situ climatology of cirrus ice water content (IWC) is used, together with observed molar ratios of HNO3/H2O in cirrus ice particles, to estimate the range of HNO3 content in cirrus ice in the temperature interval 185–240 K. We find that nearly over the complete temperature range HNO3 percentages in ice between 0.01 and 100% are possible in cirrus clouds and that IWC is a major parameter determining the content of HNO3 in ice at given temperatures. Considering average conditions, the HNO3 content increases with decreasing temperature from 1% to about 10% in the range 240–200 K. For colder ice clouds, the average HNO3 content again decreases down to 6%. At higher temperatures, less efficient HNO3 uptake limits the HNO3 content in cirrus ice, while at low temperatures small IWCs permit only little HNO3 in ice, thus causing the convex‐shaped average HNO3 content curve. The highest HNO3 content is expected in tropical ice clouds with very large IWCs, especially at temperatures between 190 and 210 K. Thus, tropical cirrus clouds show the highest potential to vertically redistribute HNO3. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society
Determination of 13C/12C ratios of endogenous urinary steroids: method validation, reference population and application to doping control purposes
Authors: Piper Thomas , Mareck Ute , Geyer Hans , Flenker Ulrich , Thevis Mario , Platen Petra , Schänzer Wilhelm 
Published: June 2008

AbstractThe application of a comprehensive gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS)‐based method for stable carbon isotopes of endogenous urinary steroids is presented. The key element in sample preparation is the consecutive cleanup with high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) of underivatized and acetylated steroids, which allows the isolation of ten analytes (11β‐hydroxyandrosterone, 5α‐androst‐16‐en‐3β‐ol, pregnanediol, androsterone, etiocholanolone, testosterone, epitestosterone, 5α‐androstane‐3α,17β‐diol, 5β‐androstane‐3α,17β‐diol and dehydroepiandrosterone) from a single urine specimen. These steroids are of particular importance to doping controls as they enable the sensitive and retrospective detection of steroid abuse by athletes.Depending on the biological background, the determination limit for all steroids ranges from 5 to 10 ng/mL for a 10 mL specimen. The method is validated by means of linear mixing models for each steroid, which covers repeatability and reproducibility. Specificity was further demonstrated by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for each analyte, and no influence of the sample preparation or the quantity of analyte on carbon isotope ratios was observed. In order to determine naturally occurring 13C/12C ratios of all implemented steroids, a reference population of n = 61 subjects was measured to enable the calculation of reference limits for all relevant steroidal Δ values. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Preserving data integrity in mobilead hocnetworks with variant Diffie‐Hellman protocol
Authors: Lee Jung‐San , Chang Chin‐Chen 
Published: June 2008

AbstractSince the early 1990s, engineers have proposed many mechanisms for providing confidential communications and data integrity in mobilead hocnetworks (MANET). The deficiency of fastened infrastructure makes mobilead hocnetworks more vulnerable to security threats than conventional wireless networks. MANET can be considered as a short‐lived collection of mobile nodes that communicate with each other in between. All involved nodes in the network system share the responsibility for routing, accessing, and communicating. The main challenges on the design of MANET include high power saving and low bandwidth. The public key infrastructure (PKI) is a well‐known mechanism used to provide data integrity and confidential communications in MANET recently. The computation loads of PKI, however, are heavy to each mobile node in the cluster. Without adopting PKI cryptosystems to en/decrypt messages, we propose a novel version based on a variant Diffie‐‐Hellman protocol. The novel method can preserve the forward and backward secrecy of group communications. Specifically, the new method outperforms related works in the computation overheads of involved nodes while communicating with other nodes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Defending against packet dropping attack in vehicularad hocnetworks
Authors: Djahel Soufiene , Naït‐Abdesselam Farid , Zhang Zonghua , Khokhar Ashfaq 
Published: June 2008

AbstractVehicularad hocnetworks (VANETs) are becoming very popular and a promising application of the so‐called mobilead hocnetworks (MANET) technology. It has attracted recently an increasing attention from many car manufacturers as well as the wireless communication research community. Despite its tremendous potential to enhance road safety and to facilitate traffic management, VANET suffers from a variety of security and privacy issues which may dramatically limit their applications. In this paper, we address the problem of packet dropping attack launched against routing protocol's control packets, which represents one of the most aggressive attacks in MANET. The aim of this attack is to force nodes in the network to choose hostile nodes as relays to disseminate the partial topological information, thereby exploiting the functionality of the routing protocol to retain control packets. In particular, in optimized link state routing (OLSR) protocol, if a collusive packet dropping attack is launched during the propagation of the topology control (TC) packets, the topology information will fail in being disseminated to the entire network, which finally results in routing disruption. This paper focuses on the packet dropping attack, launched against OLSR, where two malicious multipoint relay (MPR) nodes collude to disrupt the topology discovery process. Based on the analysis of the attacker's behavior and the attack's consequence, we propose an acknowledgement‐based mechanism as a countermeasure to enhance the security of OLSR. This mechanism helps the OLSR protocol to be less vulnerable to such attack by detecting and then isolating malicious nodes in the network. The simulation results of the proposed scheme show high detection rate under various scenarios. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An efficient pattern matching scheme in LZW compressed sequences
Authors: Lee Tsern‐Huei , Huang Nai‐Lun 
Published: June 2008

AbstractCompressed pattern matching (CPM) is an emerging research field addressing the problem: given a compressed sequence and a pattern, process the sequence with minimal (or no) decompression to find the pattern occurrence(s) in the uncompressed sequence. It can be applied to detect malwares and confidential information leakage in compressed files directly. In this paper, we report our work of CPM in Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW) compressed sequences. We propose an efficient bitmap‐based realization of the Amir–Benson–Farach algorithm. We also generalize the algorithm to find all pattern occurrences and report their absolute positions in the uncompressed sequence. Experiments are conducted to test the space requirements of our proposed generalization and two related CPM schemes which can also be realized with bitmaps. Results show that our proposed generalization requires the least amount of storage for moderate and long patterns. We also conduct experiments to compare the throughput performance of our proposed generalization with these two related CPM schemes and the decompress‐then‐search scheme. Results show that our proposed generalization outperforms the decompress‐then‐search scheme significantly. When scanning a file with pattern occurrences, our proposed generalization performs slightly better than the two related CPM schemes. The difference is significant when scanning a file with no pattern occurrence. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Designing highly flexible virtual machines: the JnJVM experience
Authors: Thomas Gaël , Geoffray Nicolas , Clément Charles , Folliot Bertil 
Published: June 2008

AbstractDynamic flexibility is a major challenge in modern system design to react to context or applicative requirements evolutions. Adapting behaviors may impose substantial code modification across the whole system, in the field, without service interruption and without state loss. This paper presents the JnJVM, a full Java virtual machine (JVM) that satisfies these needs by using dynamic aspect weaving techniques and a component architecture. It supports adding or replacing its own code, while it is running, with no overhead on unmodified code execution. Our measurements reveal similar performance when compared with the monolithic JVM Kaffe. Three illustrative examples show different extension scenarios: (i) modifying the JVMs behavior; (ii) adding capabilities to the JVM; and (iii) modifying applications behavior. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prenatal diagnosis of isolated abnormal number of ribs
Authors: Hershkovitz R. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractObjectiveTo determine the incidence of prenatal isolated abnormal number of ribs, using three‐dimensional (3D) ultrasound.MethodsThis was a prospective study of low‐risk women with singleton pregnancy and normal fetal anatomy scan. 3D examinations of the fetal ribs were carried out at the time of the routine anomaly scan at 14–16 or 20–24 weeks of gestation. A 3D volume of the spine was acquired with a mechanical sweep that lasted between 2 and 4 s per volume and was performed when the fetus had a minimally flexed head position. Fetal ribs were reviewed on the rendered image (maximal mode), both while the patient was in the clinic and again later.ResultsThree hundred and sixty‐seven pregnant women were evaluated. Twenty‐three (6.3%) fetuses were found to have an abnormal number of ribs. Fifteen (4.1%) had 11 ribs unilaterally, with the last (12th) rib missing. One patient (0.27%) had 13 ribs unilaterally (with a small extra rib after the last rib). Two (0.5%) patients had 13 ribs bilaterally with an extra rib after the 12th rib on each side and two (0.5%) patients had 13 ribs bilaterally with an extra cervical rib on each side. Three (0.8%) patients had an extra unilateral cervical rib. In all, 1.4% of patients had extra cervical ribs.ConclusionsThe incidence of abnormal number of ribs in this normal population was 6.3%. When isolated, this finding is a normal variant. Copyright © 2008 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effect of parity on maternal cardiac function during the first trimester of pregnancy
Authors: Turan O. M. , De Paco C. , Kametas N. , Khaw A. , Nicolaides K. H. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate maternal cardiac adaptation in the first trimester of pregnancy with increasing maternal parity.MethodsThis was a cross‐sectional study carried out at the antenatal clinic of a teaching hospital. We examined 4689 pregnant women at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks of gestation, performing two‐dimensional echocardiography of the maternal left ventricle. There were 2352 parous and 2337 nulliparous women. The relationships between parity, maternal cardiac function and neonatal birth weight were analyzed.ResultsParous compared to nulliparous women had a significantly higher median cardiac output (5.6 vs. 5.2 L/min) and median cardiac index (2.3 vs. 2.1 L/min/m2). This was owing to a significantly higher median stroke volume (73.5 vs. 70.5 mL), heart rate (76 vs. 75 bpm), left ventricular outflow diameter (20.4 vs. 20.0 mm) and lower total vascular resistance (1190.8 vs. 1253.7 dyne·s/cm5) and median uterine artery pulsatility index (1.6 vs. 1.7). Mean arterial blood pressure was not significantly different between the groups. There was a progressive increase in all maternal cardiac variables, apart from total peripheral resistance, which decreased with increasing parity. Birth weight was higher in parous compared to nulliparous women (3.39 vs. 3.23 kg) and it was independently related to maternal hemodynamic variables and demographic and social characteristics (age, height, weight, ethnicity, smoking).ConclusionPregnancy in parous compared to nulliparous women is characterized by higher maternal cardiac output and birth weight. Copyright © 2008 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Oxidative Stability of Polyunsaturated Triacylglycerols Encapsulated in Oleaginous Yeast
Authors: Iassonova Diliara R. , Hammond Earl G. , Beattie Samuel E. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractOleaginous yeast cells have the ability to synthesize oil from carbon sources or to adsorb fatty acids from their growth medium. Fish oil or conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)‐rich oils encapsulated in Cryptococcus curvatus were protected from oxidation for more than 7 weeks. Oil‐containing dead and viable yeast as well as oils extracted from dead or viable yeast were incubated at 52 °C in the dark. Oils extracted from yeast at the beginning of the experiment began oxidizing almost immediately and exceeded peroxide values (PV) of 20 mequiv/kg within a few days and eventually reaching PV > 100 mequiv/kg. After 56 days of incubation the PV value of oil from viable cells grown on fish oil was 3.8 ± 0.1 and 5.5 ± 0.8 mequiv/kg from dead cells. After 42 days of incubation the PV of oil from viable CLA containing yeast was 1.1 ± 0.2 mequiv/kg and 1.7 ± 0.5 from dead CLA containing yeast. C. curvatus encapsulation significantly improved oxidative stability of long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) and CLA. Yeast cell viability was not critical for oxidative stability of the encapsulated oil.
Fracture incidence following plate removal in Legg–Calvé–Perthes disease: A 32-year study
Authors: Schaaf Adam C. , Weiner Dennis S. , Steiner Richard P. , Morscher Melanie A. , Dicintio Martin S. 
Published: June 2008

Purpose The decision of whether or not to remove pediatric metallic implants remains a controversial issue. Many factors have been cited both in favor and against routine removal of metallic implants. The purpose of this study was to determine the fracture rate following the routine removal of hardware from patients with Legg–Calvé–Perthes (LCP) disease treated by proximal femoral varus osteotomy (PFVO) and to determine if there is an optimal time to remove hardware in this population. Methods We performed a retrospective chart review of children who had PFVO with subsequent hardware removal from March 1973 to May 2005 performed by a single surgeon. A total of 196 hips in 184 patients were included. Data was analyzed using logistic regression. Inverse prediction was also used to obtain estimates of the time needed to produce probabilities of no fracture. Results Ten out of the 196 hips included (5.1%) sustained a fracture after plate removal. The time from osteotomy to plate removal averaged 10.4 months in the nonfracture group and 4.8 months in the fracture group. This was statistically significant ( P < 0.0001). Using the logistic regression model, the predicted time to plate removal corresponding to a 95% probability of no fracture was between 5.1 and 8.4 months. Conclusions Plate removal remains a reasonable choice but questions remain as to the timing of removal. These data suggest that patients may benefit from extending the time to hardware removal beyond radiographic union to at least six months or more after the osteotomy.
Monodromy group for a strongly semistable principal bundle over a curve, II
Authors: Biswas Indranil , Parameswaran A. J. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractLet X be a geometrically irreducible smooth projective curve defined over a field k. Assume that X has a k–rational point; fix a k–rational point x ε X. From these data we construct an affine group scheme X defined over the field k as well as a principal X–bundle over the curve X. The group scheme X is given by a ℚ–graded neutral Tannakian category built out of all strongly semistable vector bundles over X. The principal bundle is tautological. Let G be a linear algebraic group, defined over k, that does not admit any nontrivial character which is trivial on the connected component, containing the identity element, of the reduced center of G. Let EG be a strongly semistable principal G–bundle over X. We associate to EG a group scheme M defined over k, which we call the monodromy group scheme of EG, and a principal M–bundle EM over X, which we call the monodromy bundle of EG. The group scheme M is canonically a quotient of X, and EM is the extension of structure group of . The group scheme M is also canonically embedded in the fiber Ad(EG)x over x of the adjoint bundle.
Supracricoid partial laryngectomy: an alternative to total laryngectomy for locally advanced laryngeal cancers
Authors: Soudry E , Marmor Y , Hazan A , Marx S , Sadov R , Feinmesser R 
Published: June 2008

AbstractObjectives:The management of advanced laryngeal cancer has evolved in the last century, from total laryngectomy to chemoradiation. The aim of this study was to examine our experience with supracricoid partial laryngectomy as a possible solution for patients with advanced laryngeal tumours, with a focus on the oncological safety of the procedure and the functionality of the preserved larynges.Study design:We reviewed the medical records of patients with laryngeal cancer who had undergone primary or salvage supracricoid partial laryngectomy at our department between 1998 and 2004.Results:Twenty-three patients treated with supracricoid partial laryngectomy for endolaryngeal squamous cell carcinoma were identified. Median follow-up time was 35 months. Twelve patients had advanced laryngeal tumours. Eight patients were radiation failures. These factors were not associated with increased local recurrence or with decreased survival.Conclusion:Supracricoid partial laryngectomy appears to be a feasible option for the treatment of laryngeal tumours, even in the advanced stage or after failure of radiation therapy.
A new species of Parmeliella (Pannariaceae) from India
Authors: DUBE Archana , MAKHIJA Urmila 
Published: June 2008

Abstract:The new species Parmeliella subfuscata A. Dube & Makhija, belonging in the P. mariana group, is described. It is recognized by its squamulose, loosely attached, spreading, brownish thallus with cylindrical, branched isidia, indistinct, black prothallus of slightly projecting rhizohyphae, and its apothecia with an unusual, fresh green coloured epithecium and proper exciple. It is so far known only from the type locality in Maharashtra, India.
New lichenicolous Opegrapha species on Caloplaca from Europe
Authors: VONDRÁK Jan , KOCOURKOVÁ Jana 
Published: June 2008

Abstract:Fifty-six known lichenicolous, non-lichenized Opegrapha (Roccellaceae, Arthoniales) species (containing some undescribed taxa) are listed here, five of which are known from Caloplaca (Teloschistaceae, Teloschistales). Opegrapha vulpina, a new lichenicolous fungus on endolithic Caloplaca subg. Pyrenodesmia (Caloplaca erodens and rarely C. albopruinosa), is described from Europe. A second new species, Opegrapha hellespontica, lichenicolous on Caloplaca aurantia, is described from the European part of Turkey. Two possible sibling species of Opegrapha rupestris s. l. lichenicolous on Caloplaca cirrochroa and C. variabilis s. l., respectively, are discussed in the paper, but have not been described.