bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sustainable development and the firm: Organizational innovations and environmental strategy
Authors: van Someren Taco C. R. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractSustainable development is increasingly receiving attention from proactive firms. A consistent economic framework which could be used as the economic foundation of both sustainable development and firm strategies towards sustainable development is developed here. It is shown that organizational innovations play a crucial part. Sustainable development requires organizational innovations which could change the business perspective dramatically. Time seems to be a crucial factor when business decisions in accordance with sustainable development are to be made. The content and meaning of sustainable development are briefy discussed. The analysis focuses on the economic interpretation and ecological consequences; some empirical data used to evaluate the future of sustainable development are considered. A model for the economic basis of long‐term development is presented.
Selection of discriminant wavelength intervals in NIR spectrometry with genetic algorithms
Authors: Reynès Christelle , Souza Sabrina de , Sabatier Robert , Figuères Gilles , Vidal Bernard 
Published: February 2007

AbstractSpectra, obtained in visible and near infrared spectral regions, contain much information whose interest depends on the context. For instance, in a discrimination context, the only information of interest is the one, concerning the differences between groups. This is our problem and we want to determine zones in the spectra (intervals), allowing a good discrimination between groups defined in advance. In that goal, genetic algorithms (GAs) will be used as a method of feature (wavelengths) selection. The Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis (or Factorial Discriminant Analysis denoted FDA) will be applied on the selected variables. The efficiency of the method is shown on the discrimination of tobacco products. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Investigations of bagged kernel partial least squares (KPLS) and boosting KPLS with applications to near‐infrared (NIR) spectra
Authors: Shinzawa Hideyuki , Jiang Jian‐Hui , Ritthiruangdej Pitiporn , Ozaki Yukihiro 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe effects of ensemble learning methods, bagging and boosting, on kernel partial least squares (KPLS) regression are investigated. In bagged KPLS and boosting KPLS, a series of weak hypothesis with picked out samples from a training set are made with KPLS algorithm. Finally, a regression model is developed as an ensemble of these hypotheses. The abilities of bagged KPLS and boosting KPLSR are investigated with two near‐infrared (NIR) spectroscopic data sets, NIR diffuse reflectance spectra of dried tobacco leaves and NIR transmission spectra of Thai fish sauces, by comparing with other methods, standard partial least squares (PLS), bagged PLS, and boosting PLS and KPLS. The results reveal that bagged KPLS and boosting KPLS yield superior regression performances to standard PLS. Especially, boosting KPLS indicates clear improvements over to PLS, bagged PLS boosting PLS, KPLS and bagged KPLS. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Corticofugal modulation of acoustically induced Fos expression in the rat auditory pathway
Authors: Sun Xia , Xia Qiang , Lai Chun‐Hong , Shum Daisy Kwok‐Yan , Chan Ying‐Shing , He Jufang 
Published: February 2007

AbstractTo investigate the corticofugal modulation of acoustic information ascending through the auditory pathway of the rat, immunohistochemical techniques were used to study the functional expression of Fos protein in neurons. With auditory stimulation at different frequencies, Fos expression in the medial geniculate body (MGB), inferior colliculus (IC), superior olivary complex, and cochlear nucleus was examined, and the extent of Fos expression on the two sides was compared. Strikingly, we found densely Fos‐labeled neurons in all divisions of the MGB after both presentation of an auditory stimulus and administration of a γ‐aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) antagonist (bicuculline methobromide; BIM) to the auditory cortex. The location of Fos‐labeled neurons in the ventral division (MGv) after acoustic stimulation at different frequencies was in agreement with the known tonotopic organization. That no Fos‐labeled neurons were found in the MGv with acoustic stimuli alone suggests that the transmission of ascending thalamocortical information is critically governed by corticofugal modulation. The dorsal (DCIC) and external cortices (ECIC) of the IC ipsilateral to the BIM‐injected cortex showed a significantly higher number of Fos‐labeled neurons than the contralateral IC. However, no difference in the number of Fos‐labeled neurons was found between the central nucleus of the IC on either side, indicating that direct corticofugal modulation occurs only in the ECIC and DCIC. Further investigations are needed to assess the functional implications of the morphological differences observed between the descending corticofugal projections to the thalamus and the IC. J. Comp. Neurol. 501:509–525, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Vestibular neurons in the rat contain imidazoleacetic acid‐ribotide, a putative neurotransmitter involved in blood pressure regulation
Authors: Martinelli Giorgio P. , Friedrich Victor L. , Prell George D. , Holstein Gay R. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractA substantial body of research has led to the recognition that the vestibular system participates in blood pressure modulation during active movements and changes in posture, and that this modulation is effected at least partly by the caudal vestibular nuclei. The I‐4 isomer of imidazoleacetic acid‐ribotide (IAA‐RP) is a putative neurotransmitter/modulator that is thought to be an endogenous regulator of general sympathetic drive, particularly systemic blood pressure. The present study employed immunofluorescence and light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry to visualize IAA‐RP in the vestibular nuclei of adult male rats. The results demonstrate IAA‐RP immunolabeling of subpopulations of vestibular neurons in the descending nucleus and the caudal half of the medial nucleus, with scattered immunostained vestibular neurons also present more rostrally. On the basis of double immunofluorescence staining for IAA‐RP and calbindin, many of these ribotide‐immunoreactive neurons appear to be innervated by cerebellar Purkinje cell afferents. Ultrastructural observations in the caudal vestibular nuclei confirm the IAA‐RP immunolocalization in cell bodies and dendritic processes, and in some myelinated axons and presynaptic boutons. The regional distribution of IAA‐RP immunoreactivity corresponds to the location of vestibular neurons involved in autonomic functions. The presence of IAA‐RP in those neurons suggests that they participate specifically in vestibulo‐autonomic regulation of blood pressure. The localization of immunostain in processes and terminals suggests that vestibulo‐autonomic activity is subject to local feedback control. Overall, the observations offer a chemoanatomic basis for understanding the vestibular side effects commonly experienced by patients treated with clonidine and other imidazoline‐related drugs. J. Comp. Neurol. 501:568–581, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Assessment of uncertainty using geostatistics
Authors: Rossi Mario E. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractGeostatistical techniques applied to site characterization require modelling of the spatial dependence between attribute values at different locations throughout the site. The availability of this model allows for quantification of the uncertainties associated with site characterization from the sampling stages, through data analysis, and up to the three‐dimensional spatial model of the contaminant occurrence.Uncertainty models are built at each location of the grid thus providing probabilities of occurrence, probabilities of exceeding certain threshold(s) (critical value(s)), or probabilities of the true contamination value being within a specified range. Geostatistical modelling of uncertainty depends on the quality and quantity of the information available, and thus it is a useful tool for QA/QC programs as well, since a quantification of the performance of the sampling and other characterization work is readily available. If the desired level of uncertainty is not reached, the information gathering process can be modified and refined to meet the required standards.This paper outlines the assumptions behind the methodology, and provides a basic example on sampling optimization and on uncertainty analysis of the site.
Statistical modelling of ecosystem structure
Authors: Cerrito Patricia B. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractIn this paper, we provide an example demonstrating a means of modelling the interaction of species in an ecosystem which will enable us to determine long term growth trends of the various species. In most cases, the type of interaction between species in an ecosystem is unknown. Therefore it is useful to use a mathematical structure which makes almost no assumptions as to the form of this interaction. We use a topological semigroup to model the behavior interaction. To do this, it will be shown how to define the multiplicative structure of the semigroup. Also, it will be demonstrated how to use kernel density estimation to predict these interactions.
Bayesian dosimetry: Radiation dose versus frequencies of cells with aberrations
Authors: Madruga Maria Regina , de Pereira Carlos Alberto , Rabello‐Gay M. Nazareth 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThis paper presents a Bayesian analysis of a dose‐response experiment in cytogenetic dosimetry. We suggest an inverse linear model for the log‐odds transformation of the frequency of aberration. The regression considered is between dose and Bayes estimates. The adjustment obtained seems to produce a very small error thus suggesting that the simple linear and quadratic linear functions usually considered in the literature are not the ideal models.
Transition to chaos in continuous processes: Applications to wastewater treatment reactors
Authors: Paladino Ombretta 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe dynamic behaviour of controlled coupled continuous stirred tank reactors is investigated here in terms of multiplicity of steady states, stability of limit cycles and transition to chaos. The study is developed in order to identify, at different gains of the control parameters, the zones in which it is possible to perform the chemical treatment of toxic organics in wastewater. In this way we can avoid undesirable complex dynamic behaviour that can compromise the quality of the effluent.
Sensitivity of extreme events to climate change: The case of autocorrelated time series
Authors: Katz Richard W. , Brown Barbara G. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe relative sensitivity of an extreme event is defined as the partial derivative of its probability with respect to the location or scale parameter of the distribution of the variable involved. Of particular interest in climate applications are extreme events of the form, the maximum of a sequence of observations of the variable exceeding a threshold. In this case, the relative sensitivities are directly related to the hazard rate for the distribution of the maximum. By means of simulations, this hazard rate is determined for the maximum of a finite sequence of autocorrelated random variables. For large values, the hazard rate rises more steeply than the asymptotic theory based on the type I extreme value distribution would predict. Unless the degree of autocorrelation is quite high, the hazard rate does not differ much for large values from that for independent time series. The hazard rate for the so‐called “penultimate approximation”, based on the type III extreme value distribution, is also compared to the exact hazard rate under dependence. These results imply that the relative sensitivity of extreme events to overall climate change is even greater than the asymptotic theory would predict. Time series of daily maximum temperature, data that possess substantial autocorrelation, are utilized for illustrative purposes.
Spatial large‐scale correlations for optimal interpolation of temperature, salinity and nutrient concentrations in the Gulf of Finland
Authors: Toompuu Aleksander , Wulff Fredrik 
Published: February 2007

AbstractSpatial correlations of temperature, salinity and nutrient concentrations in the Gulf of Finland are estimated for winter, spring, summer and fall. The correlation estimates are based on the results of observations in the Gulf of Finland for the period 1972–1991. The time and space resolution of the correlation model are determined by averaging the original data in time over each month and in space over the cells with horizontal dimensions equal to 10′ in the east–west and 20′ in the south–north direction and to the standard sampling depth intervals in the vertical direction. The fluctuations of the averaged data are defined as deviations of the month and cell average data values from the seasonal 20‐year overall mean values. The model of spatial correlation is based on the assumption that the fluctuations of the month‐and‐cell average data form a random sample out of a spatially homogeneous, horizontally isotropic and temporally stationary field. Most of the estimated correlations are positive, except for the vertical correlation component of salinity in summer, which shows considerable negative values at the distance lags exceeding 30 m. As an example of assimilation of the estimated correlations, the statistical (optimal) linear interpolation approach was applied for estimation of the optimal location of a measurement site, additional to the three currently used international monitoring stations, commonly known as LL12, LL7 and LL3A, in the Gulf of Finland. The optimal location of the additional fourth measurement site, which leads to the least average interpolation error, was found to be within the vertical column of cells with co‐ordinates 60° 00′ N 28° 10′ E for salinity and 60° 00′ N 28° 20′ E for total phosphorus concentration measurements. The same average error cannot be achieved by increasing the sampling frequency at the three present international monitoring stations.
The detection of change in spatial processes
Authors: Martin E. B. , Scott E. M. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe question of whether the spatial distribution of a characteristic of interest has changed over time is of interest within the environmental sciences, since spatial evolution may be informative about the underlying environmental processes affecting the characteristic. Techniques currently available for investigating change in spatially defined processes are in the main either subjective in nature or else ignore the spatial component. A hypothesis testing procedure based on a contour representation of the spatial distribution of the characteristic of interest has been developed and will be described in this paper. The approach does not require that observations be recorded at the same location, and thus is generally applicable. The degree of change between the contoured surfaces has been quantified in terms of various statistics which describe the rotational, translational and scalar aspects of change. The propoerties of the various statistics have been investigated through an extensive simulation study, which examined a range of factors, including the surface fitting procedure (Kernel density estimation) the number and choice of contour levels and the effect of random noise present within the system due to the measurement process. Finally the method is illustrated on the historical climate record of the U.S.A. The temperature field of the contiguous U.S.A. is studied for change over a 50 year period.
Health and environment: Public health decisions based on evidence, psychology and politics
Authors: Bonham G. H. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe concern is with the magnitude of Alzheimer's disease as a social and health problem and with the appropriateness of public action when there is a lack of firm international consensus on the role of aluminium either as a causative agent or as a factor contributing to the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease. From an examination of current and historical events, there is an analysis of the reasons why some technologies and health measures translate easily towards appropriate public action or public policy whereas others trigger little or no response. The concept of congruence of interest is utilized. When there is a lack of international consensus the appropriateness of prudent avoidance and of collateral justification is discussed. Further priorities for research are suggested.
Mean‐square values of concentration in a contaminant cloud
Authors: Labropulu F. , Sullivan P. J. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractA simple and relatively general analytic expression for the distributed second central moments of scalar concentration is derived. The ‘fluctuations’ or mean‐square values are given in terms of the mean concentration field and apply in either an inertial or cloud centre‐of‐mass reference frame. Clouds in homogeneous grid turbulence, in the neutral atmospheric boundary layer, and in the inertial sub‐range are used as illustrative examples.
Evaluating the performance of a water system: An application to the aragón and gállego rivers in Spain
Authors: Calvete Herminia , Mallor Fermín , Miguel Miguel San 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThis paper describes the use of both an optimization technique and a simulation technique for assessing the performance of alternative configurations for a water system. This methodology is applied to the Aragón ‐ Gállego system, in Spain. This reservoir system is used primarily to supply water for irrigation. The goal is to get more water in conditions to be used for the irrigation of several new areas in the basins. Given a specific configuration in the optimization step, the out‐of‐kilter algorithm is applied to a specially designed network that models the system in order to know the best way to distribute the water resources in a year. Demands in each period are fixed and cost coefficients of the variables are assigned to reproduce the different priorities of the demands. The simulation technique permits one to compare the different configurations and to assess their performance over time.
Separation coefficient for analysis of large environmental data sets: Ion concentrations of lake superior and lake huron
Authors: Jensen A. L. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractWhen statistical hypotheses are tested with large environmental data sets, such as those available for ionic constituents of the Great Lakes, even small differences between means are detectable, and the usual result is that all or nearly all differences tested are statistically significant. In this situation, hypothesis testing is not useful. Differences between means also are not useful for comparisons because of differences in units of measurement and variances. The t‐statistic is used to determine if two populations are significantly different, but the value of t is not useful for evaluating the degree of separation of two populations because the value of t is influenced by sample size, t has no lower or upper bound, and the value of t has no meaningful interpretation. A separation coefficient is developed that measures the proportion overlap of two normally distributed populations; it is not influenced by sample size, is easily calculated, and takes values between 0 and 1. The separation coefficient was applied to examine differences in ion concentrations between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The sample sizes were large and all differences were statistically significant, but the coefficients of separation varied from 0.07 to 1, which indicates that concentrations of some ions in the lakes were more similar than others. The pattern in the coefficients of separation indicate meaningful differences between the lakes.
Shrinkage estimation in pooling data for arbitrary populations
Authors: Ahmed S. E. , Khan S. M. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe classical problem of pooling data of two independent random samples drawn possibly from two identical arbitrary populations is considered. Decision to pool the two samples or not is based on the outcome of the preliminary test and then a shrinkage technique is used. In an asymptotic setup, the distributional risks of the proposed estimators are derived and compared. This study reveals the robustness property of the proposed shrinkage preliminary test maximum likelihood estimator (SPTMLE) when the assumed restraints may not hold. It is shown that the proposed estimator provides a wider range than the usual preliminary test maximum likelihood estimator (PTMLE) in which it dominates the classical estimator. More importantly, the SPTMLE provides more meaningful size for the preliminary test.
Relative precision of stratified sampling, sampling with probability of selection proportional to size, and simple random sampling with ratio estimation
Authors: Jensen A. L. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractVariably of estimates in natural resources and the environmental sciences is high, and methods for increasing precision are important. Three different approaches have been applied to increase precision of sample based estimates by including auxiliary variables: these are stratified sampling, sampling with probability of selection proportion to size, and ratio estimation. The objective of this study was to determine the conditions under which each of these methods had a small error of estimate. Bivariate normal populations were generated with different coefficients of variation for both the variable of interest and the auxiliary variable, and with different correlations between the auxilliary variable, and with different correlations between the auxiliary variable and the variable of interest. All three approaches for increasing precision were applied to estimate the population means and determine the precision of the estimates relative to that of simple random sampling. Stratified sampling was the most precise method unless the coefficients of variation of both the variable of interest and the auxiliary variable were small and the correlation was high. This condition does not occur often in natural resources or the environmental sciences, and stratified sampling most often would be the best method for increasing precision.
Emergency planning considerations for chemical plants
Authors: Michael Eugene J. , Bell Donald W. , Wilson John W. , McBride Gregg W. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractWell‐developed contingency plans for potential emergencies at chemical plants provide safeguards for the plants and their surrounding communities. The size of the emergency planning zone (EPZ) is first determined by use of mathematical models which estimate the health effects and other consequences of toxic, flammable, and explosive chemical releases to the environment. Emergency response plans and procedures are then developed for the EPZ. Finally, a training program is developed and used to ensure that all emergency response personnel are aware of the actions which they must take in the event of an actual emergency.