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Reference System (reference + system)
Selected AbstractsRacing performance following the laryngeal tie-forward procedure: A case-controlled studyEQUINE VETERINARY JOURNAL, Issue 5 2008J. Cheetham Summary Reasons for performing study: The laryngeal tie-forward procedure (LTFP) is becoming widely used for correction of dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP) despite the absence of an evidence-based assessment of its efficacy. Hypotheses: The LTFP returns racing performance to preoperative baseline levels and to that of matched controls; and post operative laryngohyoid position is associated with post operative performance. Design and population: Case-controlled study of racehorses undergoing a LTFP for dorsal displacement of the soft palate at Cornell University between October 2002 and June 2007. Methods: The presence of at least one post operative start and race earnings ($) were used as outcome variables. Controls were matched by age, breed and sex from the third race prior to surgery. A novel radiographic reference system was used to determine laryngohyoid position pre- and post operatively. Data for definitively and presumptively diagnosed cases were analysed separately. Results: During the study interval, 263 racehorses presented, of which 106 were included in the study; 36 had a definitive diagnosis of DDSP and 70 a presumptive diagnosis. Treated horses were equally likely to race post operatively as controls in the equivalent race. Treated horses had significantly lower earnings in the race before surgery than matched controls. The procedure moved the basihyoid bone dorsally and caudally and the larynx dorsally and rostrally. A more dorsal post operative basihyoid position and more dorsal and less rostral laryngeal position were associated with an increased probability of racing post operatively. Conclusions: Horses undergoing a LTFP are as likely to race post operatively as matched controls. The procedure restores race earnings to preoperative baseline levels and to those of matched controls. Potential relevance: This study provides strong evidence supporting the use of the LTFP in racehorses. Further work is needed to determine the relationship between laryngohyoid conformation and nasopharyngeal stability in horses. [source] Night-time neuronal activation of Cluster N in a day- and night-migrating songbirdEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 4 2010Manuela Zapka Abstract Magnetic compass orientation in a night-migratory songbird requires that Cluster N, a cluster of forebrain regions, is functional. Cluster N, which receives input from the eyes via the thalamofugal pathway, shows high neuronal activity in night-migrants performing magnetic compass-guided behaviour at night, whereas no activation is observed during the day, and covering up the birds' eyes strongly reduces neuronal activation. These findings suggest that Cluster N processes light-dependent magnetic compass information in night-migrating songbirds. The aim of this study was to test if Cluster N is active during daytime migration. We used behavioural molecular mapping based on ZENK activation to investigate if Cluster N is active in the meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis), a day- and night-migratory species. We found that Cluster N of meadow pipits shows high neuronal activity under dim-light at night, but not under full room-light conditions during the day. These data suggest that, in day- and night-migratory meadow pipits, the light-dependent magnetic compass, which requires an active Cluster N, may only be used during night-time, whereas another magnetosensory mechanism and/or other reference system(s), like the sun or polarized light, may be used as primary orientation cues during the day. [source] Photo-induced Charge Transfer and Relaxation of Persistent Charge Carriers in Polymer/Nanocrystal Composites for Applications in Hybrid Solar CellsADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 23 2009Marc Daniel Heinemann Abstract The photo-induced charge transfer and the dynamics of persistent charge carriers in blends of semiconducting polymers and nanocrystals are investigated. Regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is used as the electron donor material, while the acceptor moiety is established by CdSe nanocrystals (nc-CdSe) prepared via colloidal synthesis. As a reference system, organic blends of P3HT and [6,6]-phenyl C61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) are studied as well. The light-induced charge transfer between P3HT and the acceptor materials is studied by photoluminescence (PL), photo-induced absorption (PIA) and light-induced electron spin resonance spectroscopy (LESR). Compared to neat P3HT samples, both systems show an intensified formation of polarons in the polymer upon photo-excitation, pointing out successful separation of photogenerated charge carriers. Additionally, relaxation of the persistent charge carriers is investigated, and significant differences are found between the hybrid composite and the purely organic system. While relaxation, reflected in the transient signal decay of the polaron signal, is fast in the organic system, the hybrid blends exhibit long-term persistence. The appearance of a second, slow recombination channel indicates the existence of deep trap states in the hybrid system, which leads to the capture of a large fraction of charge carriers. A change of polymer conformation due to the presence of nc-CdSe is revealed by low temperature LESR measurements and microwave saturation techniques. The impact of the different recombination behavior on the photovoltaic efficiency of both systems is discussed. [source] The high-resolution gravimetric geoid of Iberia: IGG2005GEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2005V. Corchete SUMMARY It is well known that orthometric heights can be obtained without levelling by using ellipsoidal and geoidal heights. For engineering purposes, these orthometric heights must be determined with high accuracy. For this reason, the determination of a high-resolution geoid is necessary. In Iberia, since the publication of the most recent geoid (IBERGEO95), a new geopotential model has become available (EIGEN-CG01C, released on 2004 October 29) and a new high-resolution digital terrain model (SRTM 90M obtained from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) has been developed for the Earth. Logically, these new data represent improvements that must be included in a new geoid of Iberia. With this goal in mind, we have carried out a new gravimetric geoid determination in which these new data are included. The computation of the geoid uses the Stokes integral in convolution form, which has been shown as an efficient method to reach the proposed objective. The terrain correction has been applied to the gridded gravity anomalies to obtain the corresponding reduced anomalies. The indirect effect has also been taken into account. Thus, a new geoid is provided as grid data distributed for Iberia from 35° to 44° latitude and ,10° to 4° longitude (extending to 9°× 14°) in a 361 × 561 regular grid with a mesh size of 1.5,× 1.5, and 202 521 points in the GRS80 reference system. This calculated geoid and previous geoids that exist for this study area (IBERGEO95, EGM96, EGG97 and EIGEN-CG01C) are compared to the geoid undulations corresponding to 16 points of the European Vertical Reference Network (EUVN) on Iberia. The new geoid shows an improvement in precision and reliability, fitting the geoidal heights of these EUVN points with more accuracy than the other previous geoids. [source] Numerical analysis of a new Eulerian,Lagrangian finite element method applied to steady-state hot rolling processesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 5 2005Josef Synka Abstract A finite element code for steady-state hot rolling processes of rigid,visco-plastic materials under plane,strain conditions was developed in a mixed Eulerian,Lagrangian framework. This special set up allows for a direct calculation of the local deformations occurring at the free surfaces outside the contact region between the strip and the work roll. It further simplifies the implementation of displacement boundary conditions, such as the impenetrability condition. When applied to different practical hot rolling situations, ranging from thick slab to ultra-thin strip rolling, the velocity,displacement based model (briefly denoted as vu-model) in this mixed Eulerian,Lagrangian reference system proves to be a robust and efficient method. The vu-model is validated against a solely velocity-based model (vv-model) and against elementary methods based on the Kármán,Siebel and Orowan differential equations. The latter methods, when calibrated, are known to be in line with experimental results for homogeneous deformation cases. For a massive deformation it is further validated against the commercial finite-element software package Abaqus/Explicit. It is shown that the results obtained with the vu-model are in excellent agreement with the predictions of the vv-model and that the vu-model is even more robust than its vv-counterpart. Throughout the study we assumed a rigid cylindrical work roll; only for the homogeneous test case, we also investigated the effect of an elastically deformable work roll within the frame of the Jortner Green's function method. The new modelling approach combines the advantages of conventional Eulerian and Lagrangian modelling concepts and can be extended to three dimensions in a straightforward manner. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Buckling analysis for delaminated composites using plate bending elements based on higher-order zig-zag theoryINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 11 2002Jun-Sik Kim Abstract A finite element based on the efficient higher-order zig-zag theory with multiple delaminations is developed. The bending part of the formulation is constructed from the concept of DKQ element. Unlike conventional elements, a developed element has its reference in the bottom surface which simplifies zig-zag terms on formulation. Exact patch solutions are developed on elements which have the bottom reference system. The present element passes proper bending patch tests in the arbitrary mesh configurations in isotropic materials. Zig-zag formulation is adopted to model laminated plates with multiple delaminations. To assess the accuracy and efficiency of the present element based on higher-order zig-zag theory with multiple delaminations, the linear buckling problem of laminated plates with multiple delaminations has been analysed. The results have been compared with three-dimensional elasticity solutions. The present element works as an efficient tool for analysing the behaviour of the laminated composites with multiple delaminations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] An economic and environmental assessment of biomass utilization in lignite-fired power plants of GreeceINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 10 2006P. Grammelis Abstract The environmental and socio-economic impacts of biomass utilization by co-firing with brown coal in an existing thermoelectric unit in Greece or through its pure combustion in a new plant were studied and evaluated in this work. The 125 MWe lignite-fired power plant in Ptolemais Power Station (Western Macedonia) was used as reference system. The environmental benefits of the alternative biomass exploitation options were quantified based on the life cycle assessment methodology, as established by SETAC, while the BIOSEM technique was used to carry out socio-economic calculations. The obtained results showed clear environmental benefits of both biomass utilization alternatives in comparison with the reference system. In addition, co-firing biomass with lignite in an existing unit outperforms the combustion of biomass exclusively in a new plant, since it exhibits a better environmental performance and it is a low risk investment with immediate benefits. A biomass combustion unit requires a considerably higher capital investment and its benefits are more evident in the long run. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Efficiency of nested Markov chain Monte Carlo for polarizable potentials and perturbed HamiltoniansINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, Issue 13 2010Florent Calvo Abstract Nested Markov chain Monte Carlo is a rigorous way to enhance sampling of a given energy landscape using an auxiliary, approximate potential energy surface. Its practical efficiency mainly depends on how cheap and how different are the auxiliary potential with respect to the reference system. In this article, a combined efficiency index is proposed and assessed for two important families of energy surfaces. As illustrated for water clusters, many-body polarizable potentials can be approximated by simplifying the polarization contribution and keeping only the two-body terms. In small systems, neglecting polarization entirely is also acceptable. When the reference potential energy is obtained from diagonalization of a quantum mechanical Hamiltonian, a first-order perturbation scheme can be used to estimate the energy difference occuring on a Monte Carlo move. Our results indicate that this perturbation approximation performs well provided that the number of steps between successive diagonalization is adjusted beforehand. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 110:2342,2346, 2010 [source] Solvent models for protein,ligand binding: Comparison of implicit solvent poisson and surface generalized born models with explicit solvent simulationsJOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 6 2001Linda Yu Zhang Abstract Solvent effects play a crucial role in mediating the interactions between proteins and their ligands. Implicit solvent models offer some advantages for modeling these interactions, but they have not been parameterized on such complex problems, and therefore, it is not clear how reliable they are. We have studied the binding of an octapeptide ligand to the murine MHC class I protein using both explicit solvent and implicit solvent models. The solvation free energy calculations are more than 103 faster using the Surface Generalized Born implicit solvent model compared to FEP simulations with explicit solvent. For some of the electrostatic calculations needed to estimate the binding free energy, there is near quantitative agreement between the explicit and implicit solvent model results; overall, the qualitative trends in the binding predicted by the explicit solvent FEP simulations are reproduced by the implicit solvent model. With an appropriate choice of reference system based on the binding of the discharged ligand, electrostatic interactions are found to enhance the binding affinity because the favorable Coulomb interaction energy between the ligand and protein more than compensates for the unfavorable free energy cost of partially desolvating the ligand upon binding. Some of the effects of protein flexibility and thermal motions on charging the peptide in the solvated complex are also considered. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 22: 591,607, 2001 [source] Concentration dependent Raman and IR study on salicylaldehyde in binary mixturesJOURNAL OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY, Issue 12 2007A. Anis Fathima Abstract A vibrational spectroscopic study of binary mixtures of salicylaldehyde (SA) in three different solvents (polar and nonpolar) is presented. The vibrational modes ,(CO), hydroxyl stretching mode (COH) and aldehydic (CH) stretching vibration were analyzed. Changes in wavenumber position and full width half maximum have been explained for neat as well as binary mixtures with different volume fractions of the reference system, SA, in terms of inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonding. The IR spectra of these mixtures have also been taken and compared with the Raman data. The spectral changes have been well explained using the concentration fluctuation model and solute,solvent interaction. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Prenatal craniofacial morphogenesis: four-dimensional visualization of morphogenetic processesORTHODONTICS & CRANIOFACIAL RESEARCH, Issue 2003RJ Radlanski Structured Abstract Author , Radlanski RJ Objectives , Basic research concerning craniofacial development presently runs along two pathways, namely the molecular and the morphometric. This gap needs to be bridged. Design , Using histological serial sections of human fetuses computer-aided three-dimensional reconstructions were made (Software Analysis, SIS) with special focus given to all anatomical structures of the orofacial region of the growing head. Results , All reconstructions can be viewed from any rotation and they are available for virtual dissection according to anatomical rules. As an example, the prenatal development of the human mandible with the formation of the mental foramen therein is described. Furthermore, the spatial arrangement of bone, cartilage and nerves is presented in three dimensions in different developmental stages. The interaction of tissues with possible morphogenetic interaction is discussed. Conclusions , This work serves as a reference system for prenatal development in comparison with pathological development. [source] Structural, thermodynamic and other associated properties of partially ordered Ag-In alloyPHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (B) BASIC SOLID STATE PHYSICS, Issue 3 2003R. Venkatesh Abstract Extensive computations have been performed using the Lebowitz solution of hard sphere mixtures as a reference system, and perturbed the hard sphere direct correlation function, COij(r), with square well attractive tail. We used mean spherical model to compute the total and partial direct correlation functions in the attractive and repulsive regions of the interacting potential of Ag,In alloy at different compositions. The potential parameters were those obtained for pure metals. With these potential parameters (the partial and total) structure factors were evaluated, and then Fourier transformed to get the partial and total radial distribution functions. Further the well-known Bhatia,Thornton correlation functions namely the number-number, concentration-concentration, and number-concentration correlation functions have been computed. We also obtained total and partial coordination numbers from partial and total pair correlation functions respectively. With the help of these pair correlation functions we give the distances between atoms namely Ag,Ag, In,In and Ag,In at different compositions of In in Ag,In alloy. It is found that these distances practically remain constant and are independent of composition, which has been attributed to the formation of segregated clusters of atomic dimensions. Using Kirkwood,Buff's equation, compressibillities have been calculated as a function of composition. The temperature derivative of diffusion coefficient for pure constituents has been formulated and the computed results were compared with the available experimental values. With this model the diffusion coefficients and the friction coefficients of the constituents have been obtained through the use of Helfand's trajectory principle with a reasonable success in the alloy as well. It is found that these metals of the alloy tend to segregate. The ratio of diffusion coefficients of the metals in the alloy is almost a constant and is equal to 0.9. This shows that the alloy forms a regular solution in spite of their tendency to segregate. (© 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Genomic DNA fingerprints as a tool for identifying cultivated types of radicchio (Cichorium intybus L.) from Veneto, ItalyPLANT BREEDING, Issue 2 2003G. Barcaccia Abstract Red or variegated chicory (Cichorium intybus L., 2n = 2 ×= 18) native to, and very extensively cultivated in north-eastern Italy as a leafy vegetable, locally called ,radicchio', includes different types which represent valuable high-quality crops. The five major types of radicchio cultivated in the Veneto region were investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-derived markers. The experimental material was represented by two outbred populations (one of ,Variegato di Castel-franco' (CF) and one of ,Rosso di Verona' (VR)) and by eight inbred lines (three of early ,Rosso di Treviso' (TVP), three of late ,Rosso di Treviso' (TVT) and two of ,Rosso di Chioggia' (CH)). A total of 96 individual plant DNAs and 16 bulked DNAs of six plants each were assayed. The different types were well distinguished from one another if analysed by means of bulks using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers at the population level, while they were not if analysed at the individual level using random amplified polymorphic DNA, inter-simple sequence repeat and Arbitrarily Primed (AP)-PCR markers. The genetic variation was shown to be much higher within types than between types. This result suggests that, in each radicchio type, populations produced by breeders through controlled intercrossing (VR and CF) or repeated selfing (TVP, TVT and CH) conserved their well-separated gene pools over the years. The setting up of a molecular reference system seems to be feasible and suitable both for the precise identification of the single types of radicchio and for the evaluation of the extent of natural hybridization that can occur between different types. [source] Aircraft type-specific errors in AMDAR weather reports from commercial aircraftTHE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 630 2008C. Drüe Abstract AMDAR (Aircraft Meteorological DAta Relay) automated weather reports from commercial aircraft provide an increasing amount of input data for numerical weather prediction models. Previous studies have investigated the quality of AMDAR data. Few of these studies, however, have revealed indications of systematic errors dependent upon the aircraft type. Since different airlines use different algorithms to generate AMDAR reports, it has remained unclear whether a dependency on the aircraft type is caused by physical properties of the aircraft or by different data processing algorithms. In the present study, a special AMDAR dataset was used to investigate the physical type-dependent errors of AMDAR reports. This dataset consists of AMDAR measurements by Lufthansa aircraft performing over 300 landings overall at Frankfurt Rhein/Main (EDDF/FRA) on 22 days in 2004. All of this data has been processed by the same software, implying that influences from different processing algorithms should not be expected. From the comparison of single descents to hourly averaged vertical profiles, it is shown that temperature measurements by different aircraft types can have systematic differences of up to 1 K. In contrast, random temperature errors of most types are estimated to be less than 0.3 K. It is demonstrated that systematic deviations in AMDAR wind measurements can be regarded as an error vector, which is fixed to the aircraft reference system. The largest systematic deviations in wind measurements from different aircraft types (more than 0.5 m s,1) were found to exist in the longitudinal direction (i.e. parallel to the flight direction). Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Solvent dependent study of carbonyl vibrations of 3-phenoxybenzaldehyde and 4-ethoxybenzaldehyde by Raman spectroscopy and ab initio calculationsJOURNAL OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY, Issue 8 2009Veerabahu Ramakrishnan Abstract A Raman spectroscopy investigation of the carbonyl stretching vibrations of 3-phenoxybenzaldehye (3Phbz) and 4-ethoxybenzaldeheyde (4Etob) was carried out in binary mixtures with different polar and nonpolar solvents. The purpose of this study was twofold: firstly, to describe the interaction of the carbonyl groups of two solute molecules in terms of a splitting in the isotropic and anisotropic components and secondly, to analyze their spectroscopic signatures in a binary mixture. Changes in wavenumber position, variation in the anisotropic shift and full width half maximum were investigated for binary mixtures with different mole fractions of the reference systems. In binary mixtures, the observed increase in wavenumber with solvent concentration does not show linearity, indicating the significant role of molecular interactions on the occurrence of breaking of the self-association of the solute. In all the solvents, a gradual decrease in the anisotropic shift reflects the progressive separation of the coupled oscillators with dilution. ,i(,c), 3Phbz,solvent mixtures, exhibit a gradual decrease with decrease in the concentration of the solute which is an evidence on the influence of micro viscosity on linewidth. For 4Etob, the carbonyl stretching vibration shows two well-resolved components in the Raman spectra, attributed to the presence of two distinct carbonyl groups: hydrogen-bonded and free carbonyl groups. The intensity ratio of the carbonyl stretching vibration of these two types of carbonyl groups is studied to understand the dynamics of solute/solvent molecules owing to hydrogen bond interactions. Ab initio calculations were employed for predicting relevant molecular structures in the binary mixtures arising from intermolecular interactions, and are related to the experimental results. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] New standards for networked reference services.PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2003Sponsored by SIG LT & ASIST Standards Committee NISO (National Information Standards Organization) is developing a protocol for networked reference services. The intent of the protocol is to promote the interoperability of disparate online and networked reference systems. This session will provide an overview of the work of the committee developing the protocol including the motivation for its development, technical details of the protocol itself, and the implications it may have for reference services in the future. [source] Absolute structure determination as a reference for the enantiomeric resolution of racemic mixtures of cyclophosphazenes via chiral high-performance liquid chromatographyACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION B, Issue 3 2009Simon Coles Reversed-phase chiral high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a potentially powerful technique for the enantiomeric resolution of racemic mixtures, although the elution order of enantiomers is only relative and it is necessary to fully characterize reference systems for this method to provide absolute configurational information. The enantiomeric resolution of a series of racemic di-spiro cyclotriphosphazene derivatives, N3P3X2[O(CH2)3NH]2 (X = Cl, Ph, SPh, NHPh, OPh) [(1),(5), respectively] was carried out by reversed-phase chiral HPLC on a commercially available Pirkle-type chiral stationary phase (R,R)-Whelk-01 using 85:15 (v/v) hexane,thf as the mobile phase. The absolute configurations of the resulting enantiomers of compounds (3) (X = SPh) and (5) (X = OPh) were determined unambiguously by X-ray crystallography. For both (3) and (5) it was found that the SS enantiomer eluted before the RR enantiomer, indicating a convenient method to determine the absolute configurations of enantiomers of this series of cyclophosphazene derivatives and providing the first set of enantiomeric reference compounds for cyclophosphazene derivatives. These structures demonstrate an interesting anomaly in that the pair of enantiomers of (3) crystallize in enantiomorphically paired space groups whilst, under the same conditions, the solid-state forms of the enantiomers of (5) form structures in Sohncke space groups that are not enantiomorphous. [source] Patterns and gradients of diversity in South Patagonian ombrotrophic peat bogsAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2010TILL KLEINEBECKER Abstract Many north-hemispherical mires seemingly untouched by drainage and cultivation are influenced by a diffuse sum of man-made environmental changes, such as atmospherical nitrogen deposition that mask general patterns in species richness and functional group responses along resource gradients. To obtain insights into natural diversity-environment relationships, we studied the vegetation and the peat chemistry of pristine bog ecosystems in southern Patagonia along a west,east transect across the Andes. The studied bog ecosystems covered a floristic gradient from hyperoceanic blanket bogs dominated by cushion building vascular plants via a transitional mixed type to Sphagnum -dominated raised bogs east of the mountain range. To test the influence of resource availability on diversity patterns, species richness and functional groups were related to environmental variables by calculating general regression models and generalized additive models. Species richness showed strong linear correlations to peat chemical features and the general regression model resulted in three major environmental variables (water level, total nitrogen, NH4Cl soluble calcium), altogether explaining 76% of variance. Functional group response illustrated a clear separation along environmental gradients. Mosses dominated at the low end of a nitrogen gradient, whereas cushion plants had their optimum at intermediate levels, and graminoids dominated at high nitrogen contents. Further shifts were related to NH4Cl soluble calcium and water level. The models documented partly non-linear relationships between functional group response and trophical peat properties. Within the three bog types, the calculated models differed remarkably illustrating the scale-dependency of the explanatory factors. Our findings confirmed several general patterns of species richness and functional shifts along resource gradients in a surprisingly clear way and underpin the significance of undisturbed peatlands as reference systems for testing of ecological theory and for conservation and ecological restoration in landscapes with strong human impact. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||