bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessment of serum protein fractions in rainbow trout using automated electrophoresis and densitometry
Authors: Manera M. , Britti D. 
Published: August 2008

Background: Although rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum) are one of the most‐studied fish, electrophoretic techniques and classification of serum protein fractions have not been standardized, such that clinically useful values are lacking.Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate preliminarily the serum protein fractions of rainbow trout using automated cellulose acetate electrophoresis and densitometry.Methods: Serum samples from 25 rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum) were electrophoresed on cellulose acetate plates and quantified using densitometry.Results: A maximum of 6 fractions were identified and numbered, in order of decreasing mobility, as I, II, III, IV, V, and VI. In 3 of 25 (12%) samples, 6 fractions were identified; in 18 (72%) samples, 5 fractions were identified; and in 4 (16%) samples, 4 fractions were identified. Fractions I, V, and VI were always clearly identifiable, whereas fractions II and IV were frequently fused and indistinguishable from fraction III. The pattern with 5 fractions was the most probable type (χ2, P<.01). The mean (±SEM) protein concentrations of the 6 fractions were I, 0.8±0.1 g/dL; II, 0.3±0.0 g/dL; III, 1.6±0.1 g/dL; IV, 0.3±0.1 g/dL; V, 0.6±0.0 g/dL; and VI, 0.2±0.0 g/dL. Based on comparison of serum and plasma electrophoretic patterns from 8 fish, fibrinogen was found in fraction V.Conclusion: Automated cellulose acetate electrophoresis and densitometry appear to be a practical method for estimation of serum protein fractions in rainbow trout.
Decreased exercise blood pressure in older adults after exercise training: contributions of increased fitness and decreased fatness
Authors: Barone B B , Wang N-Y , Bacher A C , Stewart K J 
Published: August 2008

Objective:To describe the contribution of changes in fitness and fatness resulting from exercise training on changes in submaximal exercise blood pressure (BP) during treadmill testing.Design and setting:Prospective, randomised, controlled trial.Participants:Sedentary older adults (n = 115) with untreated prehypertension or mild hypertension.Intervention:Six-month supervised aerobic and strength training.Main outcome measurement:Systolic BP (SBP) was assessed at rest and during each stage of a maximal graded exercise test (GXT) that determined Vo2peak. General and regional fatness was assessed by anthropometry, dual-energyx-ray absorptiometry and MRI. BP changes were calculated for each GXT stage, and multivariate regression models were used to describe the association of changes in exercise BP with changes in fitness and fatness.Results:After training, exercisers versus controls had significantly increased Vo2peak and significantly lower measures of general and regional fatness. Also, stage-specific SBP was significantly lower at stage 3 (−9.4 vs −1.6 mm Hg, p = 0.03) and stage 4 (−7.9 vs −1.2 mm Hg, p = 0.03). Pooled regression analysis across all stages showed that exercisers had a 7.1 mm Hg reduction in SBP, but this reduction fell short of statistical significance (p = 0.12) compared with controls. A 1.0 ml/kg/min increase in Vo2peak and a 1.0 cm decrease in waist circumference independently predicted a 1.0 mm Hg decrease in exercise SBP (p = 0.04 and p = 0.001, respectively).Conclusions:Decreased exercise SBP was independently associated with decreased waist circumference, a marker of abdominal obesity and increased fitness. These findings suggest that exercise training improves multiple factors that have an independent influence on SBP.
A FAST, STABLE AND ACCURATE NUMERICAL METHOD FOR THE BLACK–SCHOLES EQUATION OF AMERICAN OPTIONS
Authors: EHRHARDT MATTHIAS , MICKENS RONALD E. 
Published: August 2008

In this work we improve the algorithm of Han and Wu [SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 41 (2003), 2081–2095] for American Options with respect to stability, accuracy and order of computational effort. We derive an exact discrete artificial boundary condition (ABC) for the Crank–Nicolson scheme for solving the Black–Scholes equation for the valuation of American options. To ensure stability and to avoid any numerical reflections we derive the ABC on a purely discrete level. Since the exact discrete ABC includes a convolution with respect to time with a weakly decaying kernel, its numerical evaluation becomes very costly for large-time simulations. As a remedy we construct approximate ABCs with a kernel having the form of a finite sum-of-exponentials, which can be evaluated in a very efficient recursion. We prove a simple stability criteria for the approximated artificial boundary conditions. Finally, we illustrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method on several benchmark examples and compare it to previously obtained discretized ABCs of Mayfield and Han and Wu.
The Compilation of Math Pattern for Productivity in Educational Organisations, Service Organisations (Municipalities), and Industrial Organisations Based on Organisational Climate in Iran
Authors: Nazem Fattah 
Published: August 2008

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between organisational climate with the productivity of managers' services in educational, service, and industrial organisations, in order to present a suitable management pattern. The population of the research consist of all managers who work in Tehran high schools, municipalities managers, and managers of the National Company Petro-Chemical Industries. Two hundred and forty five High School managers, 52 municipalities managers, and 349 managers of National Company of Petro-Chemical were selected. The research tools are the questionnaires of organisational climate (Litwin and Stringer, 1968) and productivity (Smith, et al., 1998). In this way that the questionnaires of organisational climate and the managers productivity were given to the staff. For each manager, three clerks were chosen to complete the questionnaires. The results of applying the analysis of multi-variation regression are as follows: (A) There is a relationship between the organisational climate and the productivity of the managers' services. (B) The math pattern for the productivity of the managers' services in educational, service (municipalities), and industrial organisations are as follows: (1) Productivity = 0.64 × organisational climate + (-22.62). (2) Productivity = 0.73 × organisational climate + (-15.825). (3) Productivity = 0.65 × organisational climate + (-29.19).
Cognitive and Emotional Modulation of Brain Default Operation
Authors: Pallesen Karen Johanne , Brattico Elvira , Bailey Christopher J. , Korvenoja Antti , Gjedde Albert 
Published: August 2008

Abstract
Goal-directed behavior lowers activity in brain areas that include the medial frontal cortex, the medial and lateral parietal cortex, and limbic and paralimbic brain regions, commonly referred to as the “default network.” These activity decreases are believed to reflect the interruption of processes that are ongoing when the mind is in a restful state. Previously, the nature of these processes was probed by varying cognitive task parameters, but the presence of emotional processes, while often assumed, was little investigated. With fMRI, we studied the effect of systematic variations of both cognitive load and emotional stimulus connotation on task-related decreases in the default network by employing an auditory working memory (WM) task with musical sounds. The performance of the WM task, compared to passive listening, lowered the activity in medial and lateral, prefrontal, parietal, temporal, and limbic regions. In a subset of these regions, the magnitude of decrease depended on the memory load; the greater the cognitive load, the larger the magnitude of the observed decrease. Furthermore, in the right amygdala and the left precuneus, areas previously associated with processing of unpleasant dissonant musical sounds, there was an interaction between the experimental condition and the stimulus type. The current results are consistent with the previously reported effect of task difficulty on task-related brain activation decreases. The results also indicate that task-related decreases may be further modulated by the emotional stimulus connotation.
Exploring the Neural Correlates of Social Stereotyping
Authors: Quadflieg Susanne , Turk David J. , Waiter Gordon D. , Mitchell Jason P. , Jenkins Adrianna C. , Macrae C. Neil 
Published: August 2008

Abstract
Judging people on the basis of cultural stereotypes is a ubiquitous facet of daily life, yet little is known about how this fundamental inferential strategy is implemented in the brain. Using fMRI, we measured neural activity while participants made judgments about the likely actor (i.e., person-focus) and location (i.e., place-focus) of a series of activities, some of which were associated with prevailing gender stereotypes. Results revealed that stereotyping was underpinned by activity in areas associated with evaluative processing (e.g., ventral medial prefrontal cortex, amygdala) and the representation of action knowledge (e.g., supramarginal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus). In addition, activity accompanying stereotypic judgments was correlated with the strength of participants' explicit and implicit gender stereotypes. These findings elucidate how stereotyping fits within the neuroscience of person understanding.
Impaired List Learning Is Not a General Property of Frontal Lesions
Authors: Alexander Michael P. , Stuss Donald , Gillingham Susan 
Published: August 2008

Abstract
Background: List-learning tasks are frequently used to provide measures of “executive functions” that are believed necessary for successful memory performance. Small sample sizes, confounding anomia, and incomplete representation of all frontal regions have prevented consistent demonstration of distinct regional frontal effects on this task. Objective: To confirm specific effects of lesions in different frontal regions. Subjects: Forty-one patients with chronic focal frontal lesions and 38 control subjects. There were no group differences in naming scores. Methods: Two word lists were presented, one with unblocked words from related categories and one in a preblocked format. Standard measures of learning, recall, recognition, and strategies were obtained, first for the frontal group as a whole and then for large but defined frontal regions. For all measures with significant group differences, a lesion “hotspotting” method identified possible specific regional injury effects. Results: The frontal group was impaired on almost all measures, but impairments on most measures were particularly identified with lesions in the left superior frontal lobe (approximately area 9s) and some deficits in learning processes were surprisingly more prominent on the blocked list. Conclusion: Difficulty with list learning is not a general property of all frontal lesions. Lesions in different frontal regions impair list learning through specific mechanisms, and these effects may be modified by manipulations of the task structure.
Dissociation of Frontal and Medial Temporal Lobe Activity in Maintenance and Binding of Sequentially Presented Paired Associates
Authors: Hales Jena B. , Israel Sarah L. , Swann Nicole C. , Brewer James B. 
Published: August 2008

Abstract
Substructures of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the medial-temporal lobe are critical for associating objects presented over time. Previous studies showing frontal and medial-temporal involvement in associative encoding have not addressed the response specificity of these regions to different aspects of the task, which include instructions to associate and binding of stimuli. This study used a novel paradigm to temporally separate these two components of the task by sequential presentation of individual images with or without associative instruction; fMRI was used to investigate the temporal involvement of the PFC and the parahippocampal cortex in encoding each component. Although both regions showed an enhanced response to the second stimulus of a pair, only the PFC had increased activation during the delay preceding a stimulus when associative instruction was given. These findings present new evidence that prefrontal and medial-temporal regions provide distinct temporal contributions during associative memory formation.
When Time Shapes Behavior: fMRI Evidence of Brain Correlates of Temporal Monitoring
Authors: Vallesi Antonino , McIntosh Anthony R. , Shallice Tim , Stuss Donald T. 
Published: August 2008

Abstract
Time processing may shape behavior in several ways, although the underlying neural correlates are still poorly understood. When preparatory intervals between stimuli vary randomly in a block, for instance, responses are faster as the interval gets longer. This effect, known as variable foreperiod (FP) effect, has been attributed to a process monitoring the conditional probability of stimulus occurrence as the interval increases. Previous evidence points to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as a possible node for this time-monitoring process. The present study addresses this hypothesis with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Block-design fMRI was used on 14 young participants while they performed a visual discrimination task with fixed and variable preparatory intervals (FPs) of 1 and 3 sec. In the variable versus fixed FP contrast, the right DLPFC and a visual area were more activated in the subgroup of participants who showed a reliable variable FP effect than in another subgroup who did not show that effect. Only the activation in the right DLPFC was supported by a significant interaction between FP condition (variable vs. fixed) and group. This finding may reflect possible differences in the strategy adopted by the two subgroups of participants while performing the task. Although results suggest that many brain areas may be involved in preparation over time, the role of the right DLPFC is critical to observe the strategically mediated behavioral effects in the variable FP paradigm.
Neurons in the Frontal Lobe Encode the Value of Multiple Decision Variables
Authors: Kennerley Steven W. , Dahmubed Aspandiar F. , Lara Antonio H. , Wallis Jonathan D. 
Published: August 2008

Abstract
A central question in behavioral science is how we select among choice alternatives to obtain consistently the most beneficial outcomes. Three variables are particularly important when making a decision: the potential payoff, the probability of success, and the cost in terms of time and effort. A key brain region in decision making is the frontal cortex as damage here impairs the ability to make optimal choices across a range of decision types. We simultaneously recorded the activity of multiple single neurons in the frontal cortex while subjects made choices involving the three aforementioned decision variables. This enabled us to contrast the relative contribution of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the orbito-frontal cortex, and the lateral prefrontal cortex to the decision-making process. Neurons in all three areas encoded value relating to choices involving probability, payoff, or cost manipulations. However, the most significant signals were in the ACC, where neurons encoded multiplexed representations of the three different decision variables. This supports the notion that the ACC is an important component of the neural circuitry underlying optimal decision making.
Anterior Intraparietal Sulcus is Sensitive to Bottom–Up Attention Driven by Stimulus Salience
Authors: Geng Joy J. , Mangun George R. 
Published: August 2008

Abstract
Frontal eye fields (FEF) and anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS) are involved in the control of voluntary attention in humans, but their functional differences remain poorly understood. We examined the activity in these brain regions as a function of task-irrelevant changes in target and nontarget perceptual salience during a sustained spatial attention task. Both aIPS and FEF were engaged during selective attention. FEF, but not aIPS, was sensitive to the direction of spatial attention. Conversely, aIPS, but not FEF, was modulated by the relative perceptual salience of the target and nontarget stimuli. These results demonstrate separable roles for FEF and aIPS in attentional control with FEF more involved in goal-directed spatial attention and aIPS relatively more sensitive to bottom–up attentional influences driven by stimulus salience.
Negotiating with Terrorists: A Discrete Form of Diplomacy
Authors: Olivier Faure Guy 
Published: August 2008

AbstractCrisis negotiation has been burdened with an additional and most problematic task, that of dealing with terrorist issues. Negotiators must engage in a very peculiar type of diplomacy because, officially, states do not negotiate with terrorists. This track-II diplomacy involves an asymmetrical relationship between a state and an often nebulous and evasive group. Its management is most paradoxical, for the negotiation is a non-negotiation and the counterparts are the most unlikely of negotiators. This article analyses the very specific elements of such negotiation, in which the actors no longer play classical diplomatic roles but instead fulfil a much less urbane function that is embedded in the register of terror, even murder. It examines methods that are fundamentally alien to classical diplomacy because of the nature of the counterpart (who is not perceived as legitimate/equal), the issues at stake, the context, and the paradigms governing negotiating with terrorists, where psychological asymmetry and poor communication are basic attributes. Specific processes such as demonization and media management, as well as negotiation-effectiveness evaluation methods, are also studied. Two types of situations are finally investigated, those where discussions can take place immediately, such as hostage-taking via kidnapping or barricade hostage-taking, and those where the potential for negotiation must be created because the terrorists make no demands and consider their actions as strictly punitive.
Reflections on Public Diplomacy after the Danish Cartoon Crises: From Crisis Management to Normal Public Diplomacy Work
Authors: Andreasen Uffe 
Published: August 2008

AbstractThe Danish cartoon crisis was resurrected in Spring 2008 when the Mohammed cartoons were reprinted as an expression of solidarity following the revelation that definite death threats had been made to one of the cartoonists. During both crises the Danish government stuck to the principle of transparency and stood its ground, almost to excess, or so some thought. But the government's stance has possibly paid off, at least in the long run. A crisis situation is an inappropriate moment for a country to start a polemical discussion with its 'opposite number'. But as soon as things have quietened down, reconstruction work must take place. To stick one's head in the sand during this second phase is dangerous for a country's reputation. This article argues that the answer to this dilemma is to concentrate your counter-attack on the 'disputable area'. And the best method is to invite a meaningful dialogue.
Identifying the Uncertainty in Determining Satellite-Derived Atmospheric Motion Vector Height Attribution
Authors: Velden Christopher S. , Bedka Kristopher M. 
Published: August 2008

Abstract
This study investigates the assignment of pressure heights to satellite-derived atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs), commonly known as cloud-drift and water vapor–motion winds. Large volumes of multispectral AMV datasets are compared with collocated rawinsonde wind profiles collected by the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program at three geographically disparate sites: the southern Great Plains, the North Slope of Alaska, and the tropical western Pacific Ocean. From a careful analysis of these comparisons, the authors estimate that mean AMV observation errors are ∼5–5.5 m s−1 and that vector height assignment is the dominant factor in AMV uncertainty, contributing up to 70% of the error. These comparisons also reveal that in most cases the RMS differences between matched AMVs and rawinsonde wind values are minimized if the rawinsonde values are averaged over specified layers. In other words, on average, the AMV values better correlate to a motion over a mean tropospheric layer rather than to a traditionally assigned discrete level. The height assignment behavioral characteristics are specifically identified according to AMV height (high cloud vs low cloud), type (spectral bands; clear vs cloudy), geolocation, height assignment method, and amount of environmental vertical wind shear present. The findings have potentially important implications for data assimilation of AMVs, and these are discussed.
The CM-SAF and FUB Cloud Detection Schemes for SEVIRI: Validation with Synoptic Data and Initial Comparison with MODIS and CALIPSO
Authors: Reuter M. , Thomas W. , Albert P. , Lockhoff M. , Weber R. , Karlsson K-G. , Fischer J. 
Published: August 2008

Abstract
The Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM-SAF) is aiming to retrieve satellite-derived geophysical parameters suitable for climate monitoring. CM-SAF started routine operations in early 2007 and provides a climatology of parameters describing the global energy and water cycle on a regional scale and partially on a global scale. Here, the authors focus on the performance of cloud detection methods applied to measurements of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) on the first Meteosat Second Generation geostationary spacecraft. The retrieved cloud mask is the basis for calculating the cloud fractional coverage (CFC) but is also mandatory for retrieving other geophysical parameters. Therefore, the quality of the cloud detection directly influences climate monitoring of many other parameters derived from spaceborne sensors. CM-SAF products and results of an alternative cloud coverage retrieval provided by the Institut für Weltraumwissenschaften of the Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany (FUB), were validated against synoptic measurements. Furthermore, and on the basis of case studies, an initial comparison was performed of CM-SAF results with results derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) and from the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). Results show that the CFC from CM-SAF and FUB agrees well with synoptic data and MODIS data over midlatitudes but is underestimated over the tropics and overestimated toward the edges of the visible Earth disk.