Absolute Term Research Articles

Intravenous alpha-lipoic acid improves fructosamine level in type 2 diabetes patients

Aim. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is a potent naturally occurring antioxidant and in the past years several studies suggested the fact that ALA can have positive effects on glucose metabolism. We intended to evaluate in an open-label, non-randomized study, in usual ambulatory settings, the effect intravenous ALA infusion on fructosamine level, in patients with type 2 diabetes and painful peripheral diabetic neuropathy. Patients and methods. 28 consecutive patients with type 2 diabetes and painful peripheral diabetic neuropathy, treated with 10 daily infusions of 600 mg ALA in 300 ml of normal saline, were included in the study. Fructosamine was measured with a colorimetric method. For the analysis of the results we have used the non-parametric Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test. Results. There were 15 women and the mean (± SD) age and duration of diabetes were 59.39 (± 7.92) and 9.46 ± 6.19 yr respectively. Mean (±SD) HbA1c at enrolment was 7.77 ± 1.18 %. The mean (±SD) value of fructosamine decreased significantly from 568.14 (±190.67) µmol/L to 467.10 (±126.98) µmol/L (p < 0.0001). The mean decrease between the first and second measurement was 17.8%, 101.03 (±132.17) µmol/L in absolute term. Conclusions. Decrease in fructosamine concentration can be described at least as a “positive side effect” of ALA used for the treatment of the painful peripheral diabetic neuropathy. As far as we know there is only one study that used fructosamine as a criterion for evaluating the safety and tolerability of orally administred ALA in patients with type 2 diabetes.

An algorithmic approach to analyse genetic networks and biological energy production: an introduction and contribution where OR meets biology†

An emerging research area in computational biology and biotechnology is devoted to modelling and prediction of gene-expression patterns. In this article, after a short review of recent achievements we deepen and extend them, especially, by emphasizing and analysing the elegant means of matrix algebra. Based on experimental data, ordinary differential equations with nonlinearities on the right-hand side and a generalized treatment of the absolute shift term, representing the environmental effects, are investigated. Then, the genetic process is studied by a time-discretization, in particular, Runge–Kutta type discretization. By a utilization of the combinatorial algorithm of Brayton and Tong, which is based on the orbits of polyhedra, the possibility of detecting stability and instability regions has been shown. The time-continuous and -discrete systems can be represented by means of matrices allowing biological implications, such as thresholds, and interpretations; which are motivated by our gene-environment networks. A specific contribution of this article consists of a careful but rigorous integration of the environment into modelling and dynamics, and in further new sights. Relations to the parameter estimation within modelling, especially, by using optimization, are indicated, and future research is addressed. †With gratitude dedicated to our dear teacher and friend Prof. Dr Alexander Rubinov who passed away in 2006.

An attractor with invariable Lyapunov exponent spectrum and its Jerk circuit implementation

A novel three-dimensional chaotic attractor derived from Colpitts equation is proposed in this paper. When the given parameter varies in a broad range, the amplitude of the singals of the first two dimensions changes linearitly while the third one keeps its amplitude in the same range. At the same time, the Lyapunov exponent spectrum keeps invariable. This chaotic system is developed by substituting the absolute term for the exponent term in normalized Colpitts equation. Lyapunov exponent, Poincaré mapping, phase portrait and spectrum are given to verify that the attractors are chaotic. In addition, some basic dynamical characteristics of the new system are investigated briefly. Based on Lyapunov exponent spectrum analysis, it is demonstrated that the new system can go into periodic and chaotic behaviors. At last, the Jerk function of the new system is put forward and its circuit implementation is designed. The feature that the chaotic characteristic of this system has nothing to do with the given parameter while the amplitude of some state variables can be changed linearly makes it reasonable to predict that the chaotic system will have tremendous potential applications in chaotic radar, secure communications and other information processing systems.

소득 계층별 의료비 부담의 추이와 정책과제

Although the universal health insurance, National Health Insurance (NHI), have improved access to health care and financial burden of health care costs for Koreans, limited coverage of the NHI leads to high out-of-pocket payment for health care. This study examines financial burden of household health expenditures by income level. Data from the Urban Household Expenditure Survey from 1985 through 2005 is analyzed and household expenditure is used as a proxy measure for income. Health expenditures include spending for inpatient care, ambulatory care and pharmaceuticals. If a household spends health expenditure above 40% of household consumption except for foods, that is defined as catastrophic health expenditure. Access to health care for the lowest income group had been improved for two decades relative to other income groups as well as in absolute term. However, both financial burden of health expenditures and the proportion of households that experienced catastrophic health expenditure had been increased in the lowest income group. Study findings have several policy implications. First, in terms of financial burden of health expenditures. the differences among income groups decreased until 2000 but it was worsen in 2005. This suggests that recent policies for extending NHI coverage are not enough to improve the disparity by income level. Second, a differential catastrophic coverage by income level would be an effective strategy that relieves financial burden for low income group. Third, since the catastrophic coverage is applied to only covered services by the NHI, additional strategy for uncovered services should be considered.

Expected Holding of Cash, Future Performance and Stock Return

This paper examines the determinants of expected level of firms' cash holding, and the implications to future performance and stock return when firms deviate from their expected balances. Extending the model of Opler, Pinkowitz, Stulz and Williamson (1999), this paper provides a more comprehensive model of expected cash balances and finds strong evidence supporting a static tradeoff model of cash holdings. Further tests examine the implications to future return on assets (ROA) when firms deviate from their expected cash balances. The main findings include: (1) higher deviations (in absolute term) are associated with lower future ROA; (2) the aforementioned association is found in both positive and negative deviations; the effect of negative deviation on future ROA is stronger than that of positive deviation; (3) the marginal effect on future ROA increases as the size of deviations increases; (4) When firm deviates from its expected cash balance, its future performance deteriorates in all aspects: leverage increases, return on operating assets (RNOA) decreases, and SPREAD, the difference between RNOA and net borrowing cost (NBC), decreases, which suggests NBC increase. This paper also examines the implications on one year ahead stock returns when firms deviate from their expected cash balance and finds evidences that deviation from expected cash balance can explain future stock return in addition to accrual, firm size, book-to-market ratio (BM) and earnings-to-price ratio (EP).

Characteristics of Women in Consanguineous Marriages in Egypt, 1988–2000

This article reviews three mechanisms related to autonomy, wealth, and local cultural factors, which are said to underly the high prevalence of consanguineous marriage in Arab societies. It then assesses each of them empirically in two stages. The first uses a pooled dataset constituted by the most recent marriage cohorts in the 1992 and 2000 waves of the Egyptian Demographic and Health Surveys. Three results stand out. The frequency of consanguinity in the most recent marriage cohorts (i) is strongly correlated with the frequency among older cohorts, signaling the strong clustering of underlying institutional (and unobserved) supports; (ii) tends to be more common among women who are poorer in absolute term, though wealthier than average in their communities; and (iii) varies temporally and across the rural–urban divide in its relationship to women’s autonomy. A subsidiary analysis, using only the 2000 data, then identifies wealth and autonomy differences between first cousin patrilateral and matrilateral wives.

A new bistatic model for electromagnetic scattering from randomly rough surfaces

In this paper we propose a bistatic model for electromagnetic scattering from a Gaussian rough surface with small to moderate heights. It is based on the integral equation formulation where the spectral representations of the Green's function and its gradient are in complete forms, a general approach similar to those used in the advanced integral equation model (AIEM) and the integral equation model for second-order multiple scattering (IEM2M). Yet this new model can be regarded as an extension to these two models on two accounts: first it has made fewer and less restrictive assumptions in evaluating the complementary scattering coefficient for single scattering, and second it contains a more rigorous analysis by the inclusion of the error function related terms for the cross- and complementary scattering coefficients, which stems from the absolute phase term in the spectral representation of the Green's function. It is expected that our result for the complementary scattering coefficient is more accurate and more general, even when the effect of the error function related terms is neglected. As a result, the proposed model is expected to have wider applicability with a better accuracy. Numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate the validity of the proposed model.

Bistatic Electromagnetic Scattering from Randomly Rough Surfaces

Bistatic Electromagnetic Scattering from Randomly Rough Surfaces

Correction to BrainSCAN central axis dose calculations for 6-MV photon beams to lung with lateral electron disequilibrium

Purpose: To develop and evaluate a correction method for lateral electron disequilibrium and tissue inhomogeneities in lung tissues applicable to the BrainSCAN treatment planning system. Methods and Materials: Four noncoplanar 6-MV photon beams with different beam diameters were applied to the right lung of a thorax phantom. The measured/calculated dose value ratio was evaluated as a function of a parameter that describes the degree of the lateral electron disequilibrium based on the primary dose. Results: The dose ratio showed a clearcut linear dependency on the disequilibrium parameter. Applying the proposed correction method, only minor differences between the measured and calculated doses were found for lesions >1 cm. However, for lesions Conclusion: The data have indicated a relevant magnitude of the correction factor only for lung lesions

Photophysical properties of 1- N-methylamino- and 1- N, N-dimethylamino-9,10-anthraquinone dyes: A comparison with 1-amino-9,10-anthraquinone dye

Photophysical properties of 1- N-methylamino-9,10-anthraquinone (1-MAAQ) and 1- N, N-dimethylamino-9,10-anthraquinone (1-DMAAQ) dyes have been investigated in different solvents and solvent mixtures and the results are compared with those of the lower analogue 1-amino-9,10-anthraquinone (1-AAQ) dye [P. Dahiya, M. Kumbhakar, D.K. Maity, T. Mukherjee, A.B.R. Tripathi, N. Chattopadhyay, H. Pal, J. Photochem. Photobiol. A: Chem. 181 (2006) 338]. Qualitatively, 1-MAAQ behaves similar to 1-AAQ dye, displaying unusual deviations in photophysical properties in nonpolar solvents in comparison to the linear solvent polarity dependent changes in the properties for solvents of moderate to higher polarities. Moreover, the fluorescence decays of the dye show strong temperature-dependence in nonpolar solvents though the decays are temperature independent in solvents of moderate to higher polarities. It is inferred from the present results that 1-MAAQ dye adopts two different structures, one nonplanar structure in nonpolar solvents and the other planar intramolecular charge transfer structure in other solvents of moderate to higher polarities. A support for the above has been obtained from ab initio quantum chemical calculations. It is observed that in absolute term the nonradiative deexcitation channel is more dominating in 1-MAAQ than in 1-AAQ dye and this is attributed to the stronger intramolecular hydrogen bond present in the former dye than the latter. This is also supported by the deuterium isotope effect on the fluorescence decays of 1-MAAQ dye. Unlike 1-AAQ and 1-MAAQ dyes, their higher analogue 1-DMAAQ dye is found to be unusually weak in its fluorescence. This is attributed to the possible distortion in the anthraquinone moiety from planarity due to the steric effect of the bulky 1-N(CH 3) 2 group, which is also supported by the results from ab initio quantum chemical calculations.

The application of a vacuum-ultraviolet Fourier transform spectrometer and synchrotron-radiation source to measurements of bands of NO. VII. The final report

Photoabsorption measurements of NO bands have been made by vacuum-ultraviolet Fourier transform spectrometry with a resolution of 0.12 cm(-1) in the wavelength region of 166.2-196.2 nm. Accurate line positions are obtained for the delta(upsilon,0) bands with upsilon=2, 3, the epsilon(upsilon,0) bands with upsilon=2, 3, and the beta(upsilon,0) bands with upsilon=10,12,14. Absolute term values are found for the corresponding upper levels C(2,3), D(2,3), and B(10,12,14). Accurate rotational line integrated cross sections have also been obtained for the lines in these bands. Integrated cross sections reported in our earlier papers [J. Chem. Phys. 109, 1751 (1998); 112, 2251 (2000); 115, 3719 (2001); 116, 155 (2002); 117, 10621 (2002); 119, 8373 (2003)] have been revised, and the results reported here comprise the delta(upsilon,0) bands with upsilon=0-3, the epsilon(upsilon,0) bands with upsilon=0-3, the beta(upsilon,0) bands with upsilon=6,7,9-12,14, and the gamma(3,0) band. For each band, the band oscillator strength is obtained from the sum of the line strengths of all rotational lines, and these are compared with other published values.

Micellar liquid chromatography retention model based on mass-action concept of micelle formation

Mass-action model of surfactant micelle formation has been used to develop a conceptual retention model in micellar liquid chromatography (MLC). The retention model bases on the consideration of the changes of the sorbate microenvironment at its transferring from the mobile phase (hybrid micellar eluent) to the stationary phase (a modified surface of alkyl-bounded sorbent). Principal retention equation contains the characteristics of hybrid micelles (critical micelle concentration, degree of counterion binding, partition coefficient of modifier between aqueous solution and micellar pseudo-phase) as well as three fitting parameters. The fitting parameters are an absolute term and coefficients that are equal to the number of molecules of surfactant and modifier, which are attached/detached by sorbate transferring from a hybrid micellar eluent to a modified surface of the stationary phase. On the MLC separation of five antibiotics of rubomicin derivatives and four esters of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid the model of the change of sorbate microenvironment has been tested. The adequateness of model to experimental data has been shown. A simple three-parameter function connecting log k with log c S and log c R that provides a high goodness-of-fit follows from principal retention equation ( c S and c R are the molar concentrations of surfactant and organic modifier in the micellar eluent, respectively).

U.S. adolescents receive suboptimal preventive counseling during ambulatory care

Purpose To examine U.S. adolescents’ (age 13–18) utilization of ambulatory care and the likelihood of receiving preventive counseling from 1993 through 2000. Methods The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey provided visit-based data on counseling services that occurred in private physician offices and hospital outpatient departments. Main outcome measures included adolescents’ use of outpatient care and their likelihood of being counseled on 3 health promotion topics (i.e., diet, exercise, and growth/development) and 5 risk reduction topics (i.e., tobacco use/exposure, skin cancer prevention, injury prevention, family planning/contraception, and HIV/STD transmission). Results Adolescents had the lowest rates of outpatient visits among all age groups, with particularly low rates among boys and ethnic minorities. Most frequently, adolescent visits were for upper respiratory tract conditions, acne, routine medical or physical examinations, and, for girls, prenatal care. In 1997–2000, counseling services were documented for 39% (99% CI: 32–46%) of all adolescent general medical/physical examination (GME) visits. Diet [26% of GME visits (20–32%)] and exercise [22% (17–28%)] were the most frequent counseling topics. The counseling rates of the other six topics ranged from as low as 3 to 20%, with skin cancer prevention, HIV/STD transmission, and family planning/contraception ranking the lowest. These rates represented minimal improvements from 1993–1996 both in absolute term and in relation to the gaps between practices and recommendations. Conclusions Adolescents underutilize primary care, and even those who do receive care are underserved for their health counseling needs. The noted lack of change over time suggests that satisfactory improvement is unlikely unless substantial interventions are undertaken.

Skepticism, Contextualism, and Discrimination*

The skeptic says that “knowledge” is an absolute term, whereas the contextualist says that ‘knowledge” is a relationally absolute term. Which is the better hypothesis about “knowledge”? And what implications do these hypotheses about “knowledge” have for knowledge? I argue that the skeptic has the better hypothesis about “knowledge”, but that both hypotheses about “knowledge” have deeply anti‐skeptical implications for knowledge, since both presuppose our capacity for epistemically salient discrimination.

Body segment lengths and arm span in healthy men and women and patients with vertebral fractures.

We studied 112 healthy men and 261 healthy women aged 18-92 years, and 34 men and 73 postmenopausal women with vertebral fractures aged 45-90 years to determine (i) whether patients with vertebral fractures have shorter stature before fracture, and (ii) whether the difference between arm span and standing or sitting height can be used to identify patients with fractures. Arm span was measured by using a calibrated extended ruler. Standing height, sitting height and leg length were measured by using a Holtain stadiometer. The results were expressed in absolute term and standard deviation (SD) or Z-scores (mean+/-SEM). Advancing age was associated with decreased sitting height (r=-0.37 to -0.41, both P<0.01) and a trend towards decreased arm span (r=-0.12 to -0.17, P=0.06 and 0.07) in healthy men and women; leg length was independent of age in both sexes (r=-0.09 to -0.12, NS). In patients with vertebral fractures, sitting height was reduced in women (Z=-0.83+/-0.14 SD, P<0.01) and men (Z=-1.37+/-0.21 SD, P<0.01) but only the women had reduced leg length (Z=-0.46+/-0.15 SD, P<0.01) and arm span (Z=-0.76+/-0.15 SD, P<0.01). Univariate and multivariate analyses suggest that the predictive ability of the difference between arm span and standing or sitting height to identify patients with vertebral fractures is limited. We concluded that women, not men, with vertebral fractures may come from a population with short stature. The difference between arm span and standing or sitting height cannot be used to predict vertebral fracture risk.

The IALS approach to defining and measuring literacy skills

The term “illiterate” that is commonly used to describe someone who cannot read or write is an absolute term, which fails to recognize that those who are deemed “illiterate” are probably in fact “literate” to some degree. The approach taken to define and measure literacy in the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) acknowledges the limitation of viewing literacy in a dichotomous way. The IALS assesses literacy proficiency along a continuum. This chapter considers some of the conceptual issues surrounding the definition and measurement of literacy proficiency. In particular, it addresses what the IALS literacy proficiency measure is and what it is not.

A GP-AHP method for solving group decision-making fuzzy AHP problems

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) elicits a corresponding priority vector interpreting the preferred information from the decision-maker(s), based on the pairwise comparison values of a set of objects. Since pairwise comparison values are the judgments obtained from an appropriate semantic scale, in practice the decision-maker(s) usually give some or all pair-to-pair comparison values with an uncertainty degree rather than precise ratings. By employing the property of goal programming (GP) to treat a fuzzy AHP problem, this paper incorporates an absolute term linearization technique and a fuzzy rating expression into a GP-AHP model for solving group decision-making fuzzy AHP problems. In contrast to current fuzzy AHP methods, the GP-AHP method developed herein can concurrently tackle the pairwise comparison involving triangular, general concave and concave–convex mixed fuzzy estimates under a group decision-making environment. Scope and purpose Many real world decision problems involve multiple criteria in qualitative domains. As expected, such problems will be increasingly modeled as multiple criteria decision-making problems, which involve scoring on subjective/qualitative domains. This results in a class of significant problems for which an evaluation framework, which handles occurrences of seeming intransitivity and inconsistency will be required. Another interesting issue of group decision-making analysis is how to deal with disagreements between two or more different rankings within an alternative set. These phenomena are likely to appear in qualitative/subjective domains where the decision-making environment is ambiguous and vague. Therefore, this study proposes a GP-AHP model that is sufficiently robust to permit conflict and imprecision. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed models in deriving the most promising priority vector from a fuzzy AHP problem within a group decision-making environment.

Pricing options using implied trees: Evidence from FTSE‐100 options

AbstractPreviously, few, if any, comparative tests of performance of Jackwerth's (1997) generalized binomial tree (GBT) and Derman and Kani (1994) implied volatility tree (IVT) models were done. In this paper, we propose five different weight functions in GBT and test them empirically compared to both the Black‐Scholes model and IVT.We use the daily settlement prices of FTSE‐100 index options from January to November 1999. With both American and European options traded on the FTSE‐100 index, we construct both GBT and IVT from European options and examine their performance in both the hedging of European option and the pricing of its American counterpart. IVT is found to produce least hedging errors and best results for American call options with earlier maturity than the maturity span of the implied trees. GBT appears to produce better results for American ATM put pricing for any maturity, and better in‐sample fit for options with maturity equal to the maturity span of the implied trees. Deltas calculated from IVT are consistently lower (higher) than Black‐Scholes deltas for both European and American calls (puts) in absolute term. The reverse holds true for GBT deltas. These empirical findings about the relative performance of GBT, IVT, and Standard Black‐Scholes models are important to practitioners as they indicate that different methods should be used for different applications, and some cautions should be exercised. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 22:601–626, 2002

Concentration Dependence of VOC Decomposition by Dielectric Barrier Discharges

A comparative study of the decomposition of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs: Vinyl Chloride (VC), Ethyl Acetate (EA), Toluene (T), Acetone (A)) in dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) in zero and humidified air at atmospheric pressure was performed. Small scale tubular-flow with pulse excitation and large scale planar-flow with sinusoidal excitation were used to determine the removal efficiency in dependence on inlet concentration S0 and air humidity. According to the destruction law S=S0 exp(−E/β), where E is the plasma energy density, linear functions were found for the β-parameters with respect to S0 containing an absolute term β0. By modeling the reaction kinetics it was possible to discriminate active species responsible for the decomposition. Ozone was confirmed to be involved in VC decomposition in zero air whereas OH radicals were best suited to explain the absolute efficiency of EA and toluene destruction in humid air. Their decomposition in zero air however, as well as the degradation of acetone cannot be explained in a similar way.

An algorithm for generalized fuzzy binary linear programming problems

Fuzzy binary linear programming (FBLP) problems are very essential in many fields such as assignment and assembly line balancing problems in operational research, multiple projects, locations, and candidates selection cases in management science, as well as representing and reasoning with prepositional knowledge in artificial intelligence. Although FBLP problems play a significant role in human decision environment, not very much research has focused on FBLP problems. This work first proposes a simple means of expressing a triangular fuzzy number as a linear function with an absolute term. A method of linearizing absolute terms is also presented. The developed goal programming (GP) model weighted by decision-makers' (DMs) preference aims to optimize the expected objective function and minimize the sum of possible membership functions' deviations. After presented a novel way of linearizing product terms, the solution algorithm is proposed to generate a crisp trade-off promising solution that is also an optimal solution in a certain sense. Three examples, equipment purchasing choice, investment project selection, and assigning clients to project leaders, illustrate that the proposed algorithm can effectively solve generalized FBLP problems.