The Validity of the Five-Factor Model Prototypes for Personality Disorders in Two Clinical Samples.

The authors examined the validity of D. R. Lynam and T. A. Widiger's (2001) prototypes for personality disorders (PDs) derived from the facets of the 5-factor model (FFM) of personality in 2 clinical samples. In the 1st sample (N = 94), there was good agreement between the prototypes generated by experts and the profiles reported by patients. These FFM PD similarity scores also demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity with results from a semistructured interview and a self-report measure of Axis II pathology. In the 2nd sample (N = 132), the FFM PD similarity scores demonstrated excellent longitudinal stability and good predictive validity with regard to consensus ratings of PD features. The implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A short course in antivirus software testing: seven simple rules for evaluating tests

Antivirus software tests are important when selecting antivirus software. However, there are many different tests, and interpreting the results can be challenging. Additionally, the needs of the corporate customer and home user differ, and it is important to understand these differences in order to evaluate antivirus software tests critically.     

Intra- and interspecific mineral composition variability of commercial instant coffees and coffee substitutes: Contribution to mineral intake

The present paper reports the amount and estimated daily mineral intake of nine elements (Ca, Mg, K, Na, P, Fe, Mn, Cr and Ni) in commercial instant coffees and coffee substitutes (n = 49). Elements were quantified by high-resolution continuum source flame (HR-CS-FAAS) and graphite furnace (HR-CS-GFAAS) atomic absorption spectrometry, while phosphorous was evaluated by a standard vanadomolybdophosphoric acid colorimetric method.Instant coffees and coffee substitutes are rich in K, Mg and P (>100 mg/100 g dw), contain Na, Ca and Fe in moderate amounts (>1 mg/100 g), and trace levels of Cr and Ni. Among the samples analysed, plain instant coffees are richer in minerals (p < 0.001), except for Na and Cr. Blends of coffee substitutes (barley, malt, chicory and rye) with coffee (20–66%) present intermediate amounts, while lower quantities are found in substitutes without coffee, particularly in barley.From a nutritional point of view the results indicate that the mean ingestion of two instant beverages per day (total of 4 g instant powder), either with or without coffee, cannot be regarded as important sources of minerals to the human diet, although providing a supplementation of some minerals, particularly Mg and Mn in instant coffees. Additionally, and for authentication purposes, the correlations observed between some elements and the coffee percentage in the blends, with particular significance for Mg amounts, provides a potential tool for the estimation of coffee in substitute blends.     

An experimental evaluation of cross-layer routing in a wireless mesh backbone

Over the latest few years, cross-layer design in wireless networks has drawn great attention from the research community. One of the main arguments in favor of such techniques is that the hop-count metric alone is not enough to capture the specificities of wireless links (e.g., interferences, collisions, fading). In this paper, we address a simple yet fundamental question: What are the real improvements that cross-layering can bring to routing performance when compared to the simple hop-count metric? In our experiments, we consider the backbone of a real wireless mesh network composed of 12 routers deployed in an office building. We focus on the stability of routes and their persistence. In spite of the nature of cross-layer metrics that take into account information from different layers, lets them be very reactive to changes, we observe that using these metrics, pairs of nodes tend to mainly use the same set of two or three routes between them.     

The Use of Stories in User Experience Design

Stories capture the characteristics of the design space and audience that designers and engineers need to understand to build a complete and useful software experience. A story is a design communication tool that transcends the cultural divides of multidisciplinary teams and intertwines a technology with its user's goals. This article describes how stories are powerful tools in software design, defines the elements that make a compelling story, and presents the use of stories at IBM from the authors' experience. It also explores the benefits at each phase of the design process and how stories evolve throughout the design process.     

KSUTraffic: A Microscopic Traffic Simulator for Traffic Planning in Smart Cities

Simulation is a powerful tool for improving, evaluating and analyzing the performance of new and existing systems. Traffic simulators provide tools for studying transportation systems in smart cities as they describe the evolution of traffic to the highest level of detail. There are many types of traffic simulators that allow simulating traffic in modern cities. The most popular traffic simulation approach is the microscopic traffic simulation because of its ability to model traffic in a realistic manner. In many cities of Saudi Arabia, traffic management represents a major challenge as a result of expansion in traffic demands and increasing number of incidents. Unfortunately, employing simulation to provide effective traffic management for local scenarios in Saudi Arabia is limited to a number of commercial products in both public and private sectors. Commercial simulators are usually expensive, closed source and inflexible as they allow limited functionalities. In this project, we developed a local traffic simulator “KSUtraffic” for traffic modeling, planning and analysis with respect to different traffic control strategies and considerations. We modeled information specified by GIS and real traffic data. Furthermore, we designed experiments that manipulate simulation parameters and the underlying area. KSUTraffic visualizes traffic and provides statistical results on the simulated traffic which would help to improve traffic management and efficiency.     

Digital neighborhoods

With the advent of ‘big data’ there is an increased interest in using social media to describe city dynamics. This paper employs geo-located social media data to identify ‘digital neighborhoods’ – those areas in the city where social media is used more often. Starting with geo-located Twitter and Foursquare data for the New York City region in 2014, we applied spatial clustering techniques to detect significant groupings or ‘neighborhoods’ where social media use is high or low. The results show that beyond the business districts, digital neighborhoods occur in communities undergoing shifting socio-demographics. Neighborhoods that are not digitally oriented tend to have higher proportion of minorities and lower incomes, highlighting a social–economic divide in how social media is used in the city. Understanding the differences in these neighborhoods can help city planners interested in generating economic development proposals, civic engagement strategies, and urban design ideas that target these areas.     

Experimental realization of ‘universal homodyne tomography’ with a single local oscillator

We report preliminary experimental measurement of the twin-beam quantum state via optical homodyne tomography using a single local oscillator. The experiment is a realization of the recently reported ‘universal homodyne tomography’ technique. The results agree well with theoretical predictions and reveal the non-classical photon-number correlation between the signal and idler photons of the twin-beam state.     

An NMR-based metabolomic assessment of cultured cobia health in response to dietary manipulation

Commercial aquaculture feeds rely heavily on fishmeal and fish oil, which can be expensive and ecologically unsustainable. To evaluate the efficacy of reduced fishmeal diets for outgrowth, a dietary study was conducted on the finfish cobia, Rachycentron canadum. NMR-based metabolomic techniques were used to assess the effect of decreasing dietary fishmeal on the health of the cobia. Filtered serum ¹H NMR spectra analysed by principal components analysis (PCA) showed cobia fed reduced fishmeal diets were metabolically different than cobia on control diets. In particular, tyrosine and betaine increased in cobia fed reduced fishmeal diets while glucose decreased, suggesting that these cobia were not receiving the necessary nutritional components required for energy and growth. The formulated control diet contributed to enriched growth and significantly elevated lactate levels suggesting enhanced gut microflora metabolism in response to dietary components. The results show that NMR-based metabolomic analysis is a useful tool in aquaculture studies.     

A Systematic Structure–Activity Study of a New Type of Small Peptidic Transfection Vector Reveals the Importance of a Special Oxo-Anion-Binding Motif for Gene Delivery

We discovered a new class of artificial peptidic transfection vectors based on an artificial anion-binding motif, the guanidiniocarbonylpyrrole (GCP) cation. This new type of vector is surprisingly smaller than traditional systems, and our previous work suggested that the GCP group was important for promoting critical endosomal escape. We now present here a systematic comparison of similar DNA ligands featuring our GCP oxo-anion-binding motif with DNA ligands only consisting of naturally occurring amino acids. Structure–activity studies showed that the artificial binding motif clearly outperformed natural amino acids such as histidine, lysine, and arginine. It improved the ability to shuttle foreign genetic material into cells, yet successfully mediated endosomal escape. Also, plasmids that were complexed by our artificial ligands were stabilized against cytosolic degradation to some extent. This resulted in the successful expression of plasmid information (comparable to gold standards such as polyethyleneimine). Hence, our study clearly demonstrates the importance of the tailor-made GCP anion-binding site for efficient gene transfection.