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Selected AbstractsChildren's narratives and patterns of cardiac reactivityDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2004Yair Bar-Haim Abstract The present study examines the associations between narrative processing, narrative production, and cardiac rate and variability in children. Heart period (HP) and vagal tone (VT) were computed for fifty-eight 7-year-olds (29 males) during a resting baseline and during epochs in which the children listened to and completed a selected set of story-stems from the MacArthur Story-Stem Battery (I. Bretherton, D. Oppenheim, H. Buchsbaum, R. N. Emde, & the MacArthur Narrative Group, 1990). Significant decreases in HP and VT were observed between a resting baseline and epochs of story-stem presentation by the experimenter. In addition, HP was shorter and VT lower during children's narrative production to emotionally laden story-stems compared with narration to a neutral story-stem. Furthermore, narrative and cardiac responses to stories containing separation,reunion themes reflected increased emotional and cognitive load compared with responses to stories that did not contain such themes. Finally, children who showed VT suppression in response to emotion-laden stories produced more coherent and adaptive narratives compared to those of children who did not show VT suppression. The findings suggest interplay between the cognitive-emotional processes associated with narrative processing and production and cardiac activation patterns. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 44: 238,249, 2004. [source] Potential impacts of climate change on Sub-Saharan African plant priority area selectionDIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS, Issue 6 2006Colin J. McClean ABSTRACT The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) aims to protect 50% of the most important areas for plant diversity by 2010. This study selects sets of 1-degree grid cells for 37 sub-Saharan African countries on the basis of a large database of plant species distributions. We use two reserve selection algorithms that attempt to satisfy two of the criteria set by the GSPC. The grid cells selected as important plant cells (IPCs) are compared between algorithms and in terms of country and continental rankings between cells. The conservation value of the selected grid cells are then considered in relation to their future species complement given the predicted climate change in three future periods (2025, 2055, and 2085). This analysis uses predicted climate suitability for individual species from a previous modelling exercise. We find that a country-by-country conservation approach is suitable for capturing most, but not all, continentally IPCs. The complementarity-based reserve selection algorithms suggest conservation of a similar set of grid cells, suggesting that areas of high plant diversity and rarity may be well protected by a single pattern of conservation activity. Although climatic conditions are predicted to deteriorate for many species under predicted climate change, the cells selected by the algorithms are less affected by climate change predictions than non-selected cells. For the plant species that maintain areas of climatic suitability in the future, the selected set will include cells with climate that is highly suitable for the species in the future. The selected cells are also predicted to conserve a large proportion of the species richness remaining across the continent under climate change, despite the network of cells being less optimal in terms of future predicted distributions. Limitations to the modelling are discussed in relation to the policy implications for those implementing the GSPC. [source] Determining arresters best positions in power system for lightning shielding failure protection using simulation optimization approachEUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL POWER, Issue 3 2010B. Vahidi Abstract The lightning stroke to power system structures especially overhead lines makes severe damages and results in less reliable power supply. The invention of surge arresters was a revolution in these systems for protecting the precise equipments from lightning stroke overvoltages. Nowadays, with ever decreasing prices, using arrester not only for protecting certain instruments but also for decreasing total risk of flashover in overall network, is investigated by academic and industrial pioneers in this area. In this paper, our goal is to introduce a heuristic method for determining optimum positions for placing transmission lines surge arresters (TLSAs) with acceptable approximation, to get lowest possible value of shielding failure risk of flashover in a selected set of overhead lines. Simulation optimization based on neural net (i.e. Meta Model) and genetic algorithm (optimization algorithm) is invoked to suggest best positions for placing TLSAs. A case study on Kerman 230,kV network shows good achievement of simulation optimization for finding optimum positions of TLSAs. Comparison is also made with the results of transient simulation to reveal the effectiveness of the method. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Assessment of flooding in urbanized ungauged basins: a case study in the Upper Tiber area, ItalyHYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 10 2005T. Moramarco Abstract The reliability of a procedure for investigation of flooding into an ungauged river reach close to an urban area is investigated. The approach is based on the application of a semi-distributed rainfall,runoff model for a gauged basin, including the flood-prone area, and that furnishes the inlet flow conditions for a two-dimensional hydraulic model, whose computational domain is the urban area. The flood event, which occurred in October 1998 in the Upper Tiber river basin and caused significant damage in the town of Pieve S. Stefano, was used to test the approach. The built-up area, often inundated, is included in the gauged basin of the Montedoglio dam (275 km2), for which the rainfall,runoff model was adapted and calibrated through three flood events without over-bank flow. With the selected set of parameters, the hydrological model was found reasonably accurate in simulating the discharge hydrograph of the three events, whereas the flood event of October 1998 was simulated poorly, with an error in peak discharge and time to peak of ,58% and 20%, respectively. This discrepancy was ascribed to the combined effect of the rainfall spatial variability and a partial obstruction of the bridge located in Pieve S. Stefano. In fact, taking account of the last hypothesis, the hydraulic model reproduced with a fair accuracy the observed flooded urban area. Moreover, incorporating into the hydrological model the flow resulting from a sudden cleaning of the obstruction, which was simulated by a ,shock-capturing' one-dimensional hydraulic model, the discharge hydrograph at the basin outlet was well represented if the rainfall was supposed to have occurred in the region near the main channel. This was simulated by reducing considerably the dynamic parameter, the lag time, of the instantaneous unit hydrograph for each homogeneous element into which the basin is divided. The error in peak discharge and time to peak decreased by a few percent. A sensitivity analysis of both the flooding volume involved in the shock wave and the lag time showed that this latter parameter requires a careful evaluation. Moreover, the analysis of the hydrograph peak prediction due to error in rainfall input showed that the error in peak discharge was lower than that of the same input error quantity. Therefore, the obtained results allowed us to support the hypothesis on the causes which triggered the complex event occurring in October 1998, and pointed out that the proposed procedure can be conveniently adopted for flood risk evaluation in ungauged river basins where a built-up area is located. The need for a more detailed analysis regarding the processes of runoff generation and flood routing is also highlighted. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] New molecular markers of early and progressive CJD brain infectionJOURNAL OF CELLULAR BIOCHEMISTRY, Issue 4 2004Zhi Yun Lu Abstract Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), including human Creutzfeldt,Jakob disease (CJD), are caused by a related group of infectious agents that can be transmitted to many mammalian species. Because the infectious component of TSE agents has not been identified, we examined myeloid cell linked inflammatory pathways to find if they were activated early in CJD infection. We here identify a specific set of transcripts in CJD infected mouse brains that define early and later stages of progressive disease. Serum amyloid A3 and L-selectin mRNAs were elevated as early as 20 days after intracerebral inoculation. Transcripts of myeloid cell recruitment factors such as MIP-1,, MIP-1,, and MCP1, as well as IL1, and TNF, were upregulated >10 fold between 30 and 40 days, well before prion protein (PrP) abnormalities that begin only after 80 days. At later stages of symptomatic neurodegenerative disease (100,110 days), a selected set of transcripts rose by as much as 100 fold. In contrast, normal brain inoculated controls showed no similar sequential changes. In sum, rapid and simple PCR tests defined progressive stages of CJD brain infection. These markers may also facilitate early diagnosis of CJD in accessible peripheral tissues such as spleen and blood. Because some TSE strains can differentially target particular cell types such as microglia, several of these molecular changes may also distinguish specific agent strains. The many host responses to the CJD agent challenge the assumption that the immune system does not recognize TSE infections because these agents are composed only of the host's own PrP. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Fuzzy-based purest wavelength selection from spectral dataJOURNAL OF CHEMOMETRICS, Issue 6-7 2006Seyed Kamaledin Setarehdan Abstract Wavelength selection is usually a useful and sometimes a necessary task in process monitoring using spectroscopic equipment. In this paper, a novel fuzzy-based purest wavelength selection algorithm from spectral data is presented. The proposed algorithm uses the pure component spectra of all chemical components within the mixture in a fuzzy logic framework to identify the set of the most important wavelengths (the set of the purest wavelengths) for a chemical component of interest. Both synthetic and real (Raman) spectral data sets were employed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. As a comparative study in the case of the real Raman data, the Evolving Window Factor Analysis (EWFA) technique is applied to both the original spectra and the selected set of the purest wavelengths for a component of interest. The resulting first singular value in EWFA is then compared to the reference concentration trend obtained using the conventional Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression model. The comparison confirms the high quality of the selected set of the purest wavelengths and the effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy-based algorithm. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Approaches for Quantifying the Metabolism of Physical Economies: A Comparative Survey: Part II: Review of Individual ApproachesJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2002Peter L. Daniels Summary This article is the second of a two-part series that describes and compares the essential features of nine "physical economy" approaches for mapping and quantifying the material demands of the human economy upon the natural environ-ment. These approaches are critical tools in the design and implementation of industrial ecology strategies for greater eco-efficiency and reduced environmental impacts of human economic activity. Part I of the series provided an overview, meth-odological classification, and comparison of a selected set of major materials flow analysis (MFA) and related techniques. This sequel includes a convenient reference and overview of the major metabolism measurement approaches in the form of a more detailed summary of the key specific analytical and other features of the approaches introduced in part I. The surveyed physical economy related environmental analysis ap-proaches include total material requirement and output mod-els, bulk MFA (IFF (Department of Social Ecology, Institute for Interdiscplinary Studies of Austrian Universities) material flow balance model variant), physical input-output tables, substance flow analysis, ecological footprint analysis, environmental space, material intensity per unit service, life-cycle assessment (LCA), the sustainable process index, and company-level MFA. [source] High-risk HPV types in Tunisia.JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY, Issue 7 2006A pilot study reveals an unexpectedly high prevalence of types 5, lack of HPV 18 among female prostitutes Abstract "High-risk" HPVs (HR-HPV) have sharply different prevalences and there is evidence to suggest this may vary according to regions. Accurate description of HR-HPV circulation is a key feature for the rational design of prevention and screening campaigns. To gain insight into HR-HPV circulation in Tunisia, a pilot study was carried out on 64 healthy prostitutes working in the Tunis area. HPV detection and typing were carried out by MY09/MY11 PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). A selected set of samples was also assayed by Gp5+/Gp6+ PCR and typed by direct sequencing. Out of 64 women, 28 were HPV positive. HPV-16 and HPV-58, both members of the genus Alpha-Papillomavirus, species 9, accounted for 10 and 7 cases with a prevalence rate of 38% and 27%, respectively. HPV-82, a member of species 5, ranked third with four cases (,15%). Types 31, 33, 35; all members of species 9 were each detected once (,4%) while neither HPV-18 nor related members of species 7 were detected. Type 72 and 83, both members of species 3, were the only low-risk types, each detected only once (4% each). Two samples could not be typed. The prevalence of HPV types appeared sharply different from that of neighboring areas. Should the existence of epidemiological pockets be confirmed by larger, more detailed studies, screening and vaccine campaigns will have to be designed carefully taking into account the actual epidemiological context of the target population. J. Med. Virol. 78:950,953, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Life-Satisfaction Is a Momentary Judgment and a Stable Personality Characteristic: The Use of Chronically Accessible and Stable SourcesJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 3 2002Ulrich Schimmack ABSTRACT Social cognition research indicates that life-satisfaction judgments are based on a selected set of relevant information that is accessible at the time of the life-satisfaction judgment. Personality research indicates that life-satisfaction judgments are quite stable over extended periods of time and predicted by personality traits. The present article integrates these two research traditions. We propose that people rely on the same sources to form repeated life-satisfaction judgments over time. Some of these sources (e.g., memories of emotional experiences, academic performance) provide stable information that explains the stability in life-satisfaction judgments. Second, we propose that the influence of personality traits on life satisfaction is mediated by the use of chronically accessible sources because traits produce stability of these sources. Most important, the influence of extraversion and neuroticism is mediated by use of memories of past emotional experiences. To test this model, participants repeatedly judged life-satisfaction over the course of a semester. After each assessment, participants reported sources that they used for these judgments. Changes in reported sources were related to changes in life-satisfaction judgments. A path model demonstrated that chronically accessible and stable sources are related to stable individual differences in life-satisfaction. Furthermore, the model supported the hypothesis that personality effects were mediated by chronically accessible and stable sources. In sum, the results are consistent with our theory that life-satisfaction judgments are based on chronically accessible sources. [source] Lawyers for Conservative Causes: Clients, Ideology, and Social DistanceLAW & SOCIETY REVIEW, Issue 1 2003John P. Heinz Scholars have devoted attention to "cause lawyers" on the political left, but lawyers who work on the conservative side of the American political spectrum have received relatively little academic consideration. This article presents systematic data on the characteristics of and relationships among lawyers affiliated with organizations active on a selected set of 17 conservative issues. We find that the lawyers serve several separate and distinct constituencies,business conservatives, Christian conservatives, libertarians, abortion opponents,and that the credentials of the lawyers serving these varying constituencies differ significantly. The greatest degree of social separation occurs between the business constituency and the abortion opponents, with another clear separation between libertarians and the interest groups devoted to traditional family values and order maintenance. The divisions among these constituencies appear to reflect the difference between "insider politics" and "populism," which is manifested in part in actual geographic separation between lawyers located in the District of Columbia and those in the South, West, and Midwest. In the center of the network, however, we find some potential "mediators",prominent lawyers who may facilitate communication and coordination among the several constituencies. These lawyers and the organizations they serve attempt to merge morality, market freedom, and individual liberty concerns, and they convene meetings of diverse sets of lawyers and organizational leaders to seek consensus on policy goals. Nonetheless, the findings indicate that most organizations are seldom active on issues that lie beyond the relatively narrow boundaries of their own interests. [source] The physics of quantum impurities , a bridge from micro/nano to macro systemsPHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (B) BASIC SOLID STATE PHYSICS, Issue 2 2005Th. PruschkeArticle first published online: 17 JAN 200 Abstract We will give a comprehensive introduction into the concept of quantum impurities and survey on where and why quantum impurity problems arise in modern solid-state physics. The physical properties of these systems and their applications will be discussed for a selected set of examples. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] The glucose and nitrogen starvation response of Bacillus licheniformisPROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 3 2007Birgit Voigt Abstract The glucose and nitrogen starvation stimulons of Bacillus licheniformis were determined by transcriptome and proteome analyses. Under both starvation conditions, the main response of B. licheniformis was a switch to the usage of alternative nutrient sources. This was indicated by an induction of genes involved in the metabolism of C-2 substrates during glucose limitation. In addition, B. licheniformis seems to be using other organic substances like amino acids and lipids as carbon sources when subjected to glucose starvation. This observation is supported by the induction of a high number of genes coding for proteins involved in amino acid and lipid degradation. During nitrogen starvation, genes for several proteases and peptidases involved in nitrate and nitrite assimilation were induced, which enables this bacterium to recruit nitrogen from alternative sources. Both starvation conditions led to a down-regulation of transcription of most vegetative genes, which was subsequently reflected by a reduced synthesis of the corresponding proteins. A selected set of genes was induced by both starvation conditions. Among them were yvyD, citA and the putative methylcitrate shunt genes mmgD, mmgE and yqiQ. However, both starvation conditions did not induce a general SigmaB-dependent stress response. [source] Protein chip-based microarray profiling of oxidized low density lipoprotein-treated cellsPROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 5 2005Sergiy Sukhanov Abstract Commercially available high-content Ab380 and extensively validated DLM26 homemade protein microarrays were used to profile the effects of the pro-atherogenic molecule, oxidized low density lipoprotein (OxLDL), on human aortic smooth muscle cells. Protein microarrays detected 298 proteins in cell lysates and 54 of these were differentially regulated. Microarray data were validated by immunoblotting for a selected set of up- and down-regulated proteins. The protein microarray data sets were compared with our recent cDNA microarray-based gene expression results in order to characterize the global effect of OxLDL on smooth muscle cell functions. A group of cell-cell interaction molecules was classified as up-regulated by OxLDL, whereas nucleic acid/protein biosynthesis, structural and humoral response proteins/genes were under-expressed in cells treated by OxLDL. These findings reveal the major pattern of OxLDL-induced effects on the human aortic smooth muscle cells functions and also demonstrate that protein chip-based microarrays could be a useful proteomic tool to profile disease-related states of muscle cells. [source] A laboratory and clinical evaluation of single-use instruments for tonsil and adenoid surgeryCLINICAL OTOLARYNGOLOGY, Issue 2 2005A. Tomkinson Objectives:, To compare the quality and consistency of single-use adenotonsillectomy instruments available in the UK with reusable instruments and examine their performance in a clinical setting. Design:, A laboratory assessment of each reusable instrument created a detailed specification for the respective single-use equivalent. A surveillance system monitored the performance of a selected set of specified single-use instruments. Setting:, Single-use instruments were withdrawn shortly after their introduction in 2001. Persisting concerns from the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee led to an investigation into the feasibility of continuing to use such instruments. Main outcome measures:, The numbers of instruments from each set judged as unacceptable or as good as the original. The number and cause of instrument failure during clinical surveillance. Results:, Between 40% and 93% of the instruments on each set were as good as the original and between 0% and 40% of the instruments were unacceptable from six sets of steel and one set of polymer instruments. 4151 procedures were monitored between 1 February 2003 and 31 March 2004 using a total of 41 376 instruments. Problems were reported with 335 (0.8%) instruments, 46% attributable to instrument design, 14% to poor design control and 13% to instruments escaping quality control systems. Following correction of the faults, between 1 January 2004 and 31 March 2004 the problem rate fell to 0.4%. Conclusions:, High quality single-use instruments for tonsil and adenoid surgery are available in the UK. Some companies offered inferior instruments not fit for their purpose. The procurement, introduction and subsequent clinical approval of single-use instruments requires a radically different approach to that currently applied to the purchase of reusable surgical equipment. Careful monitoring of their introduction is essential. [source] Stabilization of proteins by low molecular weight multi-ionsJOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, Issue 10 2002Donald S. Maclean Abstract A method is described to identify small molecule ligands that stabilize proteins. The procedure is based on the hypothesis that molecules of various sizes containing two to four charges should occasionally bind to unpaired charged sites on the surface of proteins and by crosslinking such residues stabilize the native state of the liganded protein. A simple turbidity assay is employed that detects inhibition of protein aggregation under selected sets of conditions. Eight test proteins were screened and in all cases specific ligands were identified that inhibited protein aggregation at millimolar to micromolar concentrations. Only small effects of these stabilizers on protein biological activities were found. In some, but not all cases, circular dichroism and fluorescence studies provided direct evidence of the binding of stabilizing ligands to the proteins suggesting multiple mechanisms of stabilization. This approach should be applicable to the development of excipients for the stabilization of pharmaceutical proteins and industrial enzymes as well as serve as starting points for second-generation inhibitors of increased affinity and specificity. © 2002 Wiley-Liss Inc. and the American Pharmaceutical Association J Pharm Sci 91:2220,2229, 2002 [source] The QSAR Modeling of Cytotoxicity on AnthraquinonesMOLECULAR INFORMATICS, Issue 8 2009Kalev Takkis Abstract A QSAR analysis was carried out on a dataset of 126 anthraquinone-based cytotoxic compounds. A PCA of the molecular descriptors was used to cluster the dataset into smaller subsets according to their structural features and QSAR models were derived for the selected sets. During the modeling, protonated states of molecules and nonlinear transformations of the descriptors were considered. The developed models have been interpreted in the context of cytotoxicity and validated with leave-one-out, and leave-many-out cross-validation. The descriptors in the resulting models describe the size and charge distribution of molecules although in different clusters their proportions vary. [source] | ||||||||||||||||