Bibliometric analysis of tsunami research

The use of the bibilometric analytical technique for examining tsunami research does not exist in the literature. The objective of the study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of all tsunami-related publications in the Science Citation Index (SCI). Analyzed parameters included document type, language of publication, publication output, authorship, publication patterns, distribution of subject category, distribution of author keywords, country of publication, most-frequently cited article, and document distribution after the Indonesia tsunami. The US and Japan produced 53% of the total output where the seven major industrial countries accounted for the majority of the total production. English was the dominant language, comprising 95% of articles. A simulation model was applied to describe the relationship between the number of authors and the number of articles, the number of journals and the number of articles, and the percentage of total articles and the number of times a certain keyword was used. Moreover the tsunami publication patterns in the first 8 months after the Indonesia tsunami occurred on 26 December 2004 indicated a high percentage of non-article publications and more documents being published in journals with higher impact factors.     

Recent Development of Cognitive and Neuropsychological Assessment in Asian Countries.

There is a growing trend of research in neuropsychological assessment in Asia: The mean number of published studies increased from 1.8 in the 1980s to 16.0 in 2 recent years. About 40% of the studies reviewed concerned test development or adaptation, with the latter greatly outnumbering the former. To facilitate the test selection for clinical use, 36 clinical measures were evaluated based on some statistical criteria. The results showed that only 8 neuropsychological tests (5 Chinese. 2 Korean, and 1 Japanese) met the criteria. Given that Asian and Western populations differ on certain cognitive processes, future development of neuropsychological assessment measures in Asia should move from the adaptation of Western tests toward the construction of original tests with better ecological validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determination of polymer–polymer interaction parameters using inverse gas chromatography

A modified method is discussed that is based on Farooque and Deshpande's method to obtain polymer–polymer interaction parameters using inverse gas chromatography (IGC) data. In the Farooque and Deshpande method, the ratio of the difference of probe–polymer interaction parameters between two polymers and the probe volume [(χ₁₂ ? χ₁₃)/V₁] is used as the abscissa. In the modified method, the ratio [(?₂χ₁₂ + ?₃χ₁₃)/V₁] is used as the abscissa. Experimental data previously reported for a poly(?‐caprolactone)‐polyepichlorohydrin (PCL/PECH) blend and a poly(ethyl acrylate)‐poly(vinyl propionate) (PEA/PVPr) blend are analyzed. It is found that the slopes obtained by the new method had smaller deviations from the theoretical values than the Farooque and Deshpande method. The standard deviations of both slopes and intercepts obtained from the new method are also smaller. Using the new method, the polymer–polymer interaction parameters obtained from the intercept are negative numbers for the PCL/PECH system and very small positive numbers for PEA/PVPr. Explanations are given for the probe and concentration dependency of the polymer–polymer interaction parameters that are generally observed in IGC studies. A new method for selecting the best probe for calculating the interaction parameter is discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 671–680, 2003     

First Harmonic (2f) Characterisation of Resonant Frequency and Q-Factor of Micromechanical Transducers

In this paper, the response to the first harmonic component (2f) of the electrostatic force in single terminal driven electrostatic comb-drive and parallel-plate drive was used as a signal to extract device parameters, namely, the Q-factor and resonant frequency instead of the fundamental (1f) resonance response. It is shown that the difficulty in motional measurement due to electrical cross-talk (parasitics) using 1f measurement can be overcome with a higher signal-to-noise ratio of the 2f signal. Both atmospheric (low-Q) and reduced pressure environment were investigated using off-chip electronics and lock-in amplifier. The measurements were done on the electrostatic comb-drive and capacitive parallel plate sensing plates that form the two core modules of a yaw rate sensor (dual-axis resonator). The effects of AC and DC bias voltages on the measured response have been investigated. Experimental amplitude and phase response data have been analysed using the Lorentzian curve-fit, Resonance Curve Area (RCA) method, the half-power bandwidth method (3 dB) and the Nyquist plot for data fitting and determination of the Q-factor and resonance frequency.     

Configurable nonlinear filter generator

A configurable nonlinear filter generator is proposed. The nonlinear function employed is key controllable. By changing the key, a different sequence will be obtained. Simulated results show that an optimal linear complexity profile of the sequence can be generated     

Induction of superoxide dismutase isozymes by tumor necrosis factor-alpha and lipopolysaccharide in cultured normal and hyperplastic gingival fibroblasts

We studied 722 reexcision scars of benign and malignant lesions (except melanocytic lesions) excised over a 24-month period. The formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections were examined histologically and immunohistochemically. The histological features of melanocytic hyperplasia were present in 59 cases (8%), 56 from the sun-exposed skin of the face and neck and three from the trunk [p < 0.00001]. The most common sites were the nose and lower eyelids, but the forehead was also frequently involved. Of the 59 patients, 41 were women (p < 0.0001). Basal cell carcinoma was the most frequent original lesion in both sexes (80%). No melanocytic hyperplasia was found in 663 cases (298 on the trunk and extremities and 365 on the head and neck). We have seen this reaction pattern following reexcision of melanocytic lesions as well. Thus, interpreting reexcision margins when lentigo maligna or similar lesions are reexcised may be fraught with difficulty. It is important for pathologists and dermatopathologists to recognize this phenomenon because histologically the presence of increased numbers of large melanocytes could be misinterpreted as melanoma in situ.     

Object boundary location by region and contour deformation

Many applications in image analysis need to distinguish an object from its surroundings. The `snake' method (Kass, 1987) is a well known method to solve such problems by locating the object boundary from an initial plan, but it has the limitation that the distance between the initial plan and the object boundary should be `very small'. The authors present a two-step method, which combines region and contour deformation, to locate the boundary of an object from a designated initial boundary plan. First, they propose a new deformable region model to represent an object, and use the model to locate the boundary of the object by region deformation. This step fills the gap between a fairly rough initial plan and the `snake' method. The resulting boundary is then used as the initial plan of a `snake' method to further refine the boundary. The results of the method are shown in simulated images and MRI images of brain tumour patients