bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
XPS analysis of aluminum nitride films deposited by plasma source molecular beam epitaxy
Authors: Rosenberger Leland , Baird Ronald , McCullen Erik , Auner Gregory , Shreve Gina 
Published: August 2008

AbstractTen samples of crystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) film were deposited on sapphire and silicon substrates by a plasma source molecular beam method. The samples were analyzed using X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) depth profiling and high‐resolution X‐ray diffraction. Oxygen levels were observed to decrease exponentially from the surface into the bulk film. Aluminum, nitrogen and oxygen peaks were fitted with subpeaks in a consistent manner and the subpeaks were assigned to chemical states. AlN subpeaks were observed at 73.5 eV for Al2p and 396.4 eV for N1s. An N1s subpeak at 395.0 eV was assigned to NN defects. No direct NO bonds are assigned; rather it is proposed that an NAlO bond sequence is the source of higher binding energy N1s subpeaks. The observations in this study support a model in which oxygen is bound only to aluminum in the form of AlO octahedral complexes dispersed or clustered throughout the main AlN matrix or as AlO bonds on the crystal grain boundaries. The data also suggest that the AlN lattice parameters are related to oxygen content, since the c‐axis is observed to increase with increasing oxygen content. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Altered hippocampal expression of glutamate receptors and transporters in GRM2 and GRM3 knockout mice
Authors: Lyon Louisa , Kew James N.C. , Corti Corrado , Harrison Paul J. , Burnet Philip W.J. 
Published: August 2008

AbstractGroup II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR2 and mGluR3, also called mGlu2 and mGlu3, encoded byGRM2andGRM3, respectively) are therapeutic targets for several psychiatric disorders.GRM3may also be a schizophrenia susceptibility gene. mGluR2−/−and mGluR3−/−mice provide the only unequivocal means to differentiate between these receptors, yet interpretation of in vivo findings may be complicated by secondary effects on expression of other genes. To address this issue, we examined the expression of NMDA receptor subunits (NR1, NR2A, NR2B) and glutamate transporters (EAAT1‐3), as well as the remaining group II mGluR, in the hippocampus of mGluR2−/−and mGluR3−/−mice, compared with wild‐type controls. mGluR2 mRNA was increased in mGluR3−/−mice, and vice versa. NR2A mRNA was increased in both knockout mice. EAAT1 (GLAST) mRNA and protein, and EAAT2 (GLT‐1) protein, were reduced in mGluR3−/−mice, whereas EAAT3 (EAAC1) mRNA was decreased in mGluR2−/−mice. Transcripts for NR1 and NR2B were unchanged. The findings show a compensatory upregulation of the remaining group II metabotropic glutamate receptor in the knockout mice. Upregulation of NR2A expression suggests modified NMDA receptor signaling in mGluR2−/−and mGluR3−/−mice, and downregulation of glutamate transporter expression suggests a response to altered synaptic glutamate levels. The results show a mutual interplay between mGluR2 and mGluR3, and also provide a context in which to interpret behavioral and electrophysiological results in these mice. Synapse 62:842–850, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Living with Long QT Syndrome: A Qualitative Study of Coping with Increased Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death
Authors: Andersen Janice , Øyen Nina , Bjorvatn Cathrine , Gjengedal Eva 
Published: August 2008

AbstractLong QT syndrome (LQTS) is a congenital disorder associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac death; LQTS patients and their families are offered diagnostic or predictive genetic testing. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the psychosocial aspects of living with LQTS, to identify LQTS patients’ daily life challenges and coping strategies, and to describe their experiences with healthcare services. In‐depth interviews were conducted with seven individuals who had been tested for long QT genetic mutation. Four of these participants had an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD). The participants reported that early and gradually acquired knowledge of the syndrome was an advantage. They also reported experiencing worries and limitations in daily life, but their main concern was for their children or grandchildren. Healthcare providers’ minimal knowledge of LQTS resulted in uncertainty, misinformation, and even wrong advice regarding treatment. The results suggest that regional centers, with the appropriate expertise, should investigate and counsel LQTS patients and their families.
Interaction Between an Anionic and an Amphoteric Surfactant. Part I: Monomer–Micelle Equilibrium
Authors: Soontravanich Sukhwan , Munoz Joline A. , Scamehorn John F. , Harwell Jeffrey H. , Sabatini David A. 
Published: August 2008

AbstractA mixture of anionic and amphoteric surfactants is composed of three components at intermediate pH levels: anionic, cationic (protonated amphoteric), and zwitterionic (unprotonated amphoteric). Knowledge of the composition of each surfactant in both monomer and micellar forms (monomer–micelle equilibrium) is important in applications using this mixture. Hydrogen ion titration of the mixed surfactant solution as a function of surfactant composition is combined with the pseudophase separation model and regular solution theory for the three‐surfactant mixture to calculate the concentration of each surfactant in monomer and in micelle forms at different pH levels. The specific systems studied here contain sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and dimethyldodecylamine oxide (DDAO), which are used in a wide range of consumer products. The degree of protonation of monomeric DDAO is not affected by the presence of SDS, indicating an insignificant formation of ion pairs between these monomers. However, the presence of SDS in micelles shifts the micellar pKa of DDAO protonation significantly and the method used here allows the quantification of partial fugacities of each individual surfactant in micelle form. The composition in the monomer phase at each pH will aid in understanding and predicting solution compositions corresponding to anionic/amphoteric surfactant precipitation boundaries, which is the focus of the subsequent paper in this series.
The evolution of the intellectual structure of operations management—1980–2006: A citation/co‐citation analysis
Authors: Pilkington Alan , Meredith Jack 
Published: August 2008

AbstractCitation analysis combined with a network analysis of co‐citation data from three major operations management (OM) journals is used to reveal the evolution of the intellectual structure of the OM field between 1980 and 2006. This spans the entire time since the beginning of research journals specific to the field. Employing a bibliometric citation/co‐citation analysis to investigate the foundations of the discipline enables a robust, quantitative approach to uncovering the evolution of research in OM. The study finds that the intellectual structure of the field made statistically significant changes between the 1980s, the 1990s, and the 2000s and evolved from a pre‐occupation with narrow, tactical topics toward more strategic, macrotopics, including new research methods and techniques. A factor analysis identifies the 12 top knowledge groups in the field and how they change over the decades. Illustrations of the structure of the co‐citations representing the field are generated from a spring‐embedded algorithm that is an improvement over the standard multi‐dimensional scaling (MDS) approach to illustrating the knowledge groups.
An overview of mobile assisted language learning: From content delivery to supported collaboration and interaction
Authors: Kukulska-Hulme Agnes , Shield Lesley 
Published: August 2008

AbstractMobile learning is undergoing rapid evolution. While early generations of mobile learning tended to propose activities that were carefully crafted by educators and technologists, learners are increasingly motivated by their personal learning needs, including those arising from greater mobility and frequent travel. At the same time, it is often argued that mobile devices are particularly suited to supporting social contacts and collaborative learning - claims that have obvious relevance for language learning. A review of publications reporting mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) was undertaken to discover how far mobile devices are being used to support social contact and collaborative learning. In particular, we were interested in speaking and listening practice and in the possibilities for both synchronous and asynchronous interaction in the context of online and distance learning. We reflect on how mobile language learning has developed to date and suggest directions for the future.
Germination of Viburnum odoratissimum seeds: a new level of morphophysiological dormancy
Authors: Baskin Carol C. , Chien Ching-Te , Chen Shun-Ying , Baskin Jerry M. 
Published: August 2008

AbstractPrevious studies indicated that seeds of Viburnum odoratissimum had only physiological dormancy (PD), but no measurements of embryos were made during the dormancy-break treatments. Thus, we investigated embryo growth and radicle and cotyledon emergence over a range of temperatures. Seeds have underdeveloped embryos, and their length increased about 300% before radicle emergence. Embryos also had PD, as evidenced by delays in beginning of embryo growth (2–3 weeks) and of germination after embryos were elongated (4 weeks). After radicle emergence, epicotyl emergence was delayed 1–8 weeks, depending on incubation temperature, but cold stratification was not required to break PD of the epicotyl. Unlike seeds of many previously studied Viburnum spp., epicotyls of V. odoratissimum have non-deep, rather than deep, PD. Hence, a new level of MPD called non-deep, simple, epicotyl MPD has been identified.
The Effect of Obesity and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors on Expenditures and Productivity in the United States
Authors: Sullivan Patrick W. , Ghushchyan Vahram , Ben‐Joseph Rami H. 
Published: August 2008

Objective: To examine the effect of obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors on medical expenditures and missed work days.Methods and Procedures: The 2000 and 2002 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a nationally representative survey of the US population, was used to estimate the marginal effect of obesity (BMI ≥ 30) on annual per‐person medical expenditures and missed work days for patients with diabetes, dyslipidemia, or hypertension using multivariate regression methods controlling for age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, income, insurance, and smoking status. Maximum Likelihood Heckman Selection with Smearing retransformation was used to assess medical expenditures, and Negative Binomial regression was used for missed work days.Results: Normal weight individuals with diabetes, dyslipidemia, or hypertension had significantly greater medical expenditures than those without the respective condition ($6,006 (5,124–6,887), $4,760 (4,102–5,417), $3,911 (3,345–4,476)) and obesity significantly exacerbated this effect ($7,986 (7,397–8,574), $7,636 (7,072–8,200), $6,197 (5,745–6,649); $2007; all P < 0.05). In addition, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension resulted in greater missed work days (3.1 (0.94–6.21), 3.2 (0.42–7.91), 1.4 (0.0–3.52)) (all P < 0.05 except hypertension), which resulted in greater lost productivity ($433, $451, $199) and obesity significantly exacerbated the deleterious effect on work days (8.7 (4.44–15.2), 5.5 (2.18–10.5), 4.5 (2.92–6.34)) and lost productivity ($1,217, $763, $622) (all P < 0.05). In addition, medical expenditures increased for increasing weight category and increasing number of risk factors.Discussion: Obesity significantly exacerbates the deleterious effect of diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension on medical expenditures and productivity loss in the United States. Obesity is preventable and public health efforts need to be undertaken to prevent its alarming increase in order to reduce the incidence and effect of cardiometabolic risk factors.
Freshwater fish habitat science and management in India
Authors: Ghosh S. K. , Ponniah A. G. 
Published: August 2008

India is a land of diverse topography, climate and natural resource. There are 12 major rivers and 48 lesser rivers with a total catchment area of 277.6 million ha. The freshwater resources of the country, which are varied, harbor 587 species of finfishes, and account for 9.3 percent of global inland fish production. India's natural capital of fish habitat resource has been eroded as reflected in loss of biodiversity and reduced fish landings.
Studies on the ecology, environment and fisheries of five major river systems, in addition to reservoirs and flood plain lake fisheries, have been conducted with greater focus on water quality and less on physical habitat parameters.
River conservation programs cover major rivers in 10 states of the country; the ‘Ganga Action Plan’ being the most important. These projects target improvement in water quality and not fish habitat. Lack of concern for fish habitat is reflected in the planning of Farakka Barrage, a large dam built to divert the flow of River Ganga (The Ganges) into the Hooghly River, and its impact on the ‘Hilsa’ run. Environmental laws have not achieved desired results for lack of enforcement mechanisms.
Freshwater habitat management in India raises both concern and hope. Concern arises out of the missing elements in current fish habitat research, planning and management of resource. The hope for the future is increasing public awareness on the need for better resource management and environmental conservation. In the backdrop of the learning from implementation of the eco-restoration programmes, the task appears to be not only challenging but also demanding in terms of participation of stakeholders, commitment of resources, backup of research support, monitoring of environmental standards, enforcement of regulations and setting up of priorities in terms of conservation of the natural assets.
Structure of a signal transduction regulator, RACK1, from Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Ullah Hemayet , Scappini Erica Louise , Moon Andrea Florence , Williams Latanya Veronica , Armstrong David Lee , Pedersen Lars Christian 
Published: August 2008

AbstractThe receptor for activated C‐kinase 1 (RACK1) is a highly conserved WD40 repeat scaffold protein found in a wide range of eukaryotic species from Chlamydymonas to plants and humans. In tissues of higher mammals, RACK1 is ubiquitously expressed and has been implicated in diverse signaling pathways involving neuropathology, cellular stress, protein translation, and developmental processes. RACK1 has established itself as a scaffold protein through physical interaction with a myriad of signaling proteins ranging from kinases, phosphatases, ion channels, membrane receptors, G proteins, IP3 receptor, and with widely conserved structural proteins associated with the ribosome. In the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, RACK1A is implicated in diverse developmental and environmental stress pathways. Despite the functional conservation of RACK1‐mediated protein–protein interaction‐regulated signaling modes, the structural basis of such interactions is largely unknown. Here we present the first crystal structure of a RACK1 protein, RACK1 isoform A from Arabidobsis thaliana, at 2.4 Å resolution, as a C‐terminal fusion of the maltose binding protein. The structure implicates highly conserved surface residues that could play critical roles in protein–protein interactions and reveals the surface location of proposed post‐transcriptionally modified residues. The availability of this structure provides a structural basis for dissecting RACK1‐mediated cellular signaling mechanisms in both plants and animals.
Parenting interventions and the prevention of unintentional injuries in childhood: systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Kendrick D. , Barlow J. , Hampshire A. , Stewart‐Brown S. , Polnay L. 
Published: August 2008

AbstractObjectives  To evaluate the effectiveness of parenting interventions in preventing unintentional injury and increasing parental safety practices.Data sources  A range of medical and social science electronic databases were searched. Abstracts from the first to seventh World conferences on injury prevention and control and the journal Injury Prevention were hand searched.Review methods  Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), non‐randomized controlled trials (non‐RCTs) and controlled before and after studies, providing parenting interventions to parents of children aged 0–18 years and reporting injuries, safety equipment or safety practices were included. Studies were selected, data extracted and quality appraised independently by two reviewers. Pooled relative risks were estimated using random effect models.Results  Fifteen studies (11 RCTs) were included, 11 of which were home visiting programmes and two of which were paediatric practice‐based interventions. Thirteen studies recruited families at risk of adverse child health outcomes. Intervention arm families had a significantly lower risk of injury (RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.71–0.95), as measured by self‐report of medically or non‐medically attended injury. Several studies found fewer home hazards, a home environment more conducive to child safety, or a greater number of safety practices in intervention arm families.Conclusions  Parenting interventions, most commonly provided within the home, using multi‐faceted interventions appear to be effective in reducing unintentional child injury. Further research is required to explore the mechanisms by which parenting interventions reduce injury, the features of interventions that are necessary to reduce injury, and their generalizability to different population groups.
ADHD and transition to adult services – the experience of community paediatricians
Authors: Marcer H. , Finlay F. , Baverstock A. 
Published: August 2008

AbstractBackground  Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is now recognized as a disorder that can persist into adulthood, and therefore, there is a need for transitional care.Aim  To find out about the experiences of community pediatricians across the UK when transferring patients with ADHD to adult care.Method  A questionnaire was sent out to 100 consultant community pediatricians asking about their experiences.Results  The majority of respondents thought a proportion of their patients would require referral to adult services and only 22% were aware of a dedicated clinic for adults in their area. Many had tried to address the issue locally often with little success.Conclusion  There is a gap in provision of services for young people with ADHD when they leave pediatric care, with many pediatricians struggling to find appropriate ongoing care for their patients. Commissioners need to address the problem.
The role of evaluation in the development of a service for children with life‐limiting conditions in the community
Authors: Whitton C. , Williams C. , Wright B. , Jardine J. , Hunt A. 
Published: August 2008

AbstractBackground  Much of the care for children and young people with life‐limiting conditions is now delivered in the home and new services have developed to support families in this setting. It is essential to monitor and evaluate whether these services are meeting the needs of families.Aims  To evaluate a new rural community palliative care service for children according to the perceptions of families and service providers, to make changes suggested by families and to re‐evaluate 1 year later.Method  In 2005, 2 years after the onset of the service, 24 families were sent postal questionnaires, including the Measure of Process of Care (MPOC‐UK). Changes suggested by families were then implemented. In 2006, all of the families receiving care from the service (n = 27) were given the option of completing the questionnaire independently or with the support of an impartial researcher. Two families also completed qualitative interviews about their experience of the service with an impartial researcher. In both years, the service providers, (n = 12 and n = 15, respectively) were asked to complete the Measure of Process of Care for Service Providers (MPOC‐SP). The service providers were the clinicians providing direct care (paediatrician, community nurses, dietician, psychologist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, and speech and language therapist).Results  Seven (29%) of families completed the survey in 2005. Families rated ‘respectful and supportive care’ as the highest domain in the MPOC‐UK and ‘providing general information’ as the lowest. Particular emphasis was placed on improving provision of information during the following year. Fourteen (52%) families completed the survey in 2006. Scores increased across all domains in the second survey. The largest increase was ‘providing general information’.Conclusion  The results from both of the MPOC tools were extremely useful in helping providers to identify aspects of the service in need of improvement and hence implement valued changes.
Behaviour problems and social competence deficits associated with symptoms of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder: effects of age and gender
Authors: Thorell L. B. , Rydell A‐M. 
Published: August 2008

AbstractBackground  Previous research has shown that children with high levels of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms often have a wide variety of associated behaviour problems. However, relatively little is known regarding to what extent these associated behaviour problems are present to the same degree in younger as well as older children and in girls as well as in boys.Methods  This study used parent ratings to examine effects of age and gender on behaviour problems, social competence, negative impact on everyday life, and family burden among pre‐school and school‐aged children high in ADHD symptoms (n = 60) and comparison children (n = 499).Results  With regard to age, the pre‐school children did not differ from the school‐aged children on any of the different types of problem behaviour or with regard to social competence. The interactions between age and group were not significant. The behaviour problems of older children did, however, have more negative impact on the child's daily life and induced higher levels of family burden compared with problems of younger children, especially among children with high levels of ADHD symptoms. Boys were more severely affected than girls with regard to ADHD symptom severity, most associated problem behaviours, as well as negative impact and family burden. Significant interactions of ADHD symptoms and gender were also found, which indicated that gender differences were primarily found among children with high levels of ADHD symptoms.Conclusions  Children with high levels of ADHD symptoms have many associated behaviour problems, even in pre‐school years, and boys with high levels of ADHD symptoms are more severely affected compared with girls.