bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Robust statistical methods for point of sale designs, the example of healthcare snack and drink vending
Authors: Campbell Lucy Zarina , Pitt Michael , Mclennan Peter
Published: September 2020

Purpose

The experiment introduces nutritional labelling, healthier products and product placement designs to the hospital vending machines, to promote healthy lifestyles.

Design/methodology/approach

The site where this experiment happens is a major London hospital, serving over a million patients every year. In the experiment, the hospital’s snack and drink vending machines are redesigned. The impact on product sales are then analysed using robust statistical methods.

Findings

Nutritional labelling has a statistically significant impact on product sales. Less of the unhealthiest products are sold. Healthier products and product placement designs have a larger impact but with less statistical significance. They require further testing.

Research limitations/implications

Experts in service operations can use this experiment’s regression modelling methods. The methods are ideal for measuring change over time in counting data sets in complex real world environments.

Practical implications

There are suggestions for practical vending service change in this research. They are in line and add a practical example to Government policy guidance.

Social implications

People using the redesigned vending machines have more opportunity for healthy lifestyle choices.

Originality/value

The experiment provides statistical evidence in support of catering for healthier lifestyles.
Enforced remote working and the work-life interface during lockdown
Authors: Anderson Deirdre , Kelliher Clare
Published: September 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to consider enforced working from home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it may differ from working from home through choice. In particular, the authors discuss how lockdown may be affecting work-family arrangements.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a thought piece.

Findings

The paper briefly examines the extant research on remote working. It is argued that as many of the (beneficial) outcomes found for both employees and employers are associated with feelings of greater autonomy and gratitude on the part of employees for being able to exercise choice over their working arrangements, these outcomes may not be found where working from home is required of employees. The authors contend that women, and mothers in particular, have had little choice in relation to when work has taken place, and how much work has been done.

Practical implications

The authors urge employers to consider the positive and negative outcomes of emerging evidence as they review their flexible working policies. They call for a widespread review of childcare provision in supporting women and men in the labour market.

Originality/value

The authors explore this unexpected context of the pandemic and highlight the need for research which examines these different circumstances.
Multilingual emoji prediction using BERT for sentiment analysis
Authors: Tomihira Toshiki , Otsuka Atsushi , Yamashita Akihiro , Satoh Tetsuji
Published: September 2020

Purpose

Recently, Unicode has been standardized with the penetration of social networking services, the use of emojis has become common. Emojis, as they are also known, are most effective in expressing emotions in sentences. Sentiment analysis in natural language processing manually labels emotions for sentences. The authors can predict sentiment using emoji of text posted on social media without labeling manually. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new model that learns from sentences using emojis as labels, collecting English and Japanese tweets from Twitter as the corpus. The authors verify and compare multiple models based on attention long short-term memory (LSTM) and convolutional neural networks (CNN) and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected 2,661 kinds of emoji registered as Unicode characters from tweets using Twitter application programming interface. It is a total of 6,149,410 tweets in Japanese. First, the authors visualized a vector space produced by the emojis by Word2Vec. In addition, the authors found that emojis and similar meaning words of emojis are adjacent and verify that emoji can be used for sentiment analysis. Second, it involves entering a line of tweets containing emojis, learning and testing with that emoji as a label. The authors compared the BERT model with the conventional models [CNN, FastText and Attention bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM)] that were high scores in the previous study.

Findings

Visualized the vector space of Word2Vec, the authors found that emojis and similar meaning words of emojis are adjacent and verify that emoji can be used for sentiment analysis. The authors obtained a higher score with BERT models compared to the conventional model. Therefore, the sophisticated experiments demonstrate that they improved the score over the conventional model in two languages. General emoji prediction is greatly influenced by context. In addition, the score may be lowered due to a misunderstanding of meaning. By using BERT based on a bi-directional transformer, the authors can consider the context.

Practical implications

The authors can find emoji in the output words by typing a word using an input method editor (IME). The current IME only considers the most latest inputted word, although it is possible to recommend emojis considering the context of the inputted sentence in this study. Therefore, the research can be used to improve IME performance in the future.

Originality/value

In the paper, the authors focus on multilingual emoji prediction. This is the first attempt of comparison at emoji prediction between Japanese and English. In addition, it is also the first attempt to use the BERT model based on the transformer for predicting limited emojis although the transformer is known to be effective for various NLP tasks. The authors found that a bidirectional transformer is suitable for emoji prediction.
Paradigm of new service development projects (NSDPs): “One Basket Fits all”
Authors: Rahman Muhammad Sabbir , Hussain Bashir , Hussain Mehdi , Hassan Hasliza , Johns Raechel
Published: September 2020

Purpose

The aim of this research is to examine the key determinants influencing the success of new service development projects (NSDPs) across four service typologies context.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers used the scenario-based survey method in an NSDP setting. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypotheses based on survey data from 570 managers under four service typologies.

Findings

Service firms' cross-functional integration (CFI) and internal project team efficiency (IPTE) positively influenced NSDPs. The results also indicated that both technology infrastructure (TI) and IPTE mediated the relationship between CFI and NSDPs. In addition, the mediation effect of TI existed between the relationship of IPTE and NSDPs. Furthermore, the proposed model confirms that, for NSDPs, the role of knowledge-sharing behaviour (KSB), authentic leadership (AL) and firm's culture (FC) across the four service typologies moderated the relationship.

Practical implications

With a better understanding of the dynamics of the aforementioned variables, service managers and the project team can more effectively develop and execute strategies for an NSDP. The article enables practitioners to expand their current understanding of NSDPs by providing insights of the unique antecedents that are significant for new service development across four service types.

Originality/value

This research is the first of its kind to examine the mediating role of KSB and TI in determining NSDPs. This study provides one of the first empirical examinations on NSDPs in the context of four service typologies from the perspective of a developing country, where the service industry is competitive. The study demonstrates that the critical success factors of NSDPs do not differ across service types, thereby confirming the “One Basket Fits all” assumption in the current NSDP research study.
Long memory in the volatility of Korean stock returns
Authors: Lee Ji Hyeon , Kim Dong Seog , Lee Hoe Gyeong
Published: September 2020

In this paper, we empirically examine the volatility process of Korean stock market returns using the KOSPI200. To investigate the property of the process, we use the FIGARCH (Fractionally Integrated GARCH) model that includes GARCH and 1GARCH processes as special cases. Since the FIGARCH model allows fractional integration order, it can detect hyperbolically decaying volatility processes with cannot be explained by existing models with integer integration order. The result shows that the KOSPI200 exhibits long-term dependencies. To investigate the robustness of the obtained result, we analyze the time and cross-sectional aggregation effect using weekly data and individual stock returns that the KOSPI200 is comprised of. The long memory property of the KOSPI200 does not seem to be spuriously induced by aggregation.
A Comparative Analysis of Informational Efficiency of KOSDAQ50 and KOSPI200 Index Futures
Authors: Hong Bae Gi , Jang Su Jae
Published: September 2020

This paper examines the information efficiency of KOSDAQ50 and KOSPI200 index futures markets. The study analyzes and compares both markets in three respects : 1) price discovery (lead-lag relationship between spot and futures markets.), 2) volatility-volume relationship, and 3) mispricings between spot and futures prices. The first, analysis shows the in the KOSPI200 market, futures price leads spot price. While spot price leads futures price in the KOSDAQ50 market. The second analysis shows that the volatility-volume relation is positive in the KOSPI200 futures market, supporting the hypothesis of mixture of distribution. In contrast, there is little relation between volume and volatility in the KOSDAQ50 futures market. This result casts doubt that the futures market price reflects information. The last analysis shows that the magnitude of mispricing becomes smaller with more volume in the KOSPI200 futures market, while it becomes larger with more volume in the KOSDAQ50 futures market. The overall results imply that the KOSDAQ50 futures market is less informationally efficient that the KOSPI200 market. The inefficiency appears due to the lack of institutional investor participation, especially securities firms, in making up the market.
Estimation and Simulation of Copula Function: An Application to Daily Korean Treasury and A-Rated Corporate Spot Rates
Authors: Kim Myeong Jig , Sin Seong Hwan
Published: September 2020

A Copula function is an useful tool for constructing and simulating multivariate distributions. It relates one-dimensional marginals with multi-dimensional distribution. By doing so, one can separately model the distribution of individual series and the dependence structure and the estimation becomes a much simpler problem. As such, data simulated from a copula allows one to price complex financial products that would be impossible otherwise and to measure both market and credit risks more realistically and accurately. This paper intends to summarize the copula methodology and applies it to the problem of simulating default-free and risky spot rates. More specifically, this paper estimates the dependence structure of daily Korean Treasury and A-rated corporate spot rates (3-year to maturity) for the 1/2/01~11/11/02 period using t-marginals and bivariate t-copula. The data appear to support the empirical fact that these rates have fat-tails and t_(3.7)-copula seems to be the reasonable description of the daily changes in spot rates. This paper also demonstrates the simulation of the data from t_(3.7)-copula.
Compressed earth block reinforced with coconut fibers and stabilized with aloe vera and lime
Authors: Velasco-Aquino Alan Adiel , Espuna-Mujica Jose Adan , Perez-Sanchez Josue Francisco , Zuñiga-Leal Carlos , Palacio-Perez Arturo , Suarez-Dominguez Edgardo Jonathan
Published: September 2020

Purpose

In recent years, the use of earth as a material applied to construction has been adapted as an attractive alternative to modern concepts. The earth construction technique takes advantage of regional natural resources, among which are earth bricks. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of the addition of coconut fibers and aloe vera on the mechanical properties of compressed earth blocks (CEB).

Design/methodology/approach

CEBs were manufactured from silty and clay soil (Altamira, Tamaulipas, Mexico) with biodegradable stabilizers of aloe vera and short coconut mesocarp fibers, which were compared with the conventional mixture with lime as stabilizer. The samples were subjected to compression tests (Mexican Standard NMX-C-404-ONNCC3-205), flexion (NMX-C083-ONNCCE.), abrasion (NTC-5324 3.4.3), water absorption (NMX-C-37-ONNCE-205), surface morphology and thermal properties (ASTM D5334-14).

Findings

It was found that the addition of coconut fibers has a 12% difference in flexural strength. The addition of 0.5% of coconut fibers decreases swelling by 2% with water and reduces the thermal conductivity of the material by 12%. Likewise, this mixture increases the abrasion resistance of CEB by 30%. When there is a pressure greater than 1,700 psi in the CEB, the addition of coconut fibers does increase the compressive strength of the material, showing a 34% improvement over the CEB without adding coconut fibers.

Originality/value

The authors show a new sustainable CEB production with aloe vera and coconut fiber that is possible for self-production with better mechanical properties than others, commonly produced in Mexico.
A novel optimisation model in the collaborative supply chain with production time capacity consideration
Authors: Purnomo Muhammad Ridwan Andi , Anugerah Adhe Rizky , Aulia Salvia Fatma , ‘Azzam Abdullah
Published: September 2020

Purpose

This study aims to propose an optimal procurement model of the collaborative supply chain in the furniture industry. The final output is the total cost minimisation to produce a furniture product that covers material cost, processing cost, transportation cost and holding cost. Therefore, if companies can give the best value to customers at a low cost, then competitive advantages can be achieved.

Design/methodology/approach

A genetic algorithm (GA) as a metaheuristic approach was used to solve problems in this research. The optimisation was initiated by developing a mathematical model to formulate the objective function.

Findings

Based on the case study, the proposed GA model was able to reduce the total cost of production. The cost was reduced by 73.09% compared to the existing system. Besides, the production time of the proposed model is within the capacity of both companies; hence, no penalty cost is imposed.

Practical implications

The proposed GA model has been implemented and tested to minimise production costs in the Indonesian furniture industry.

Originality/value

To the best of author knowledge, there is no research has proposed an optimisation model that incorporates production cost, transportation cost and production time capacity together in the collaborative supply chain. This research is the first to collaborate these factors using GA in the furniture industry.
Relationship between perceived service quality and client satisfaction indicators of engineering consultancy services in building projects
Authors: Aluko Olusola Ralph , Idoro Godwin Iroroakpo , Mewomo Modupe Cecilia
Published: September 2020

Purpose

Service quality is a major determinant of business performance. Empirical evidence from the literature indicates that, to attain a high level of customer satisfaction, a high standard of service quality should be provided by the service provider. This study aims to examine the relationship between the perceived service quality and the indicators of client satisfaction with particular reference to engineering consultancy services in building projects.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey research approach was adopted using a semi-structured questionnaire as an instrument of data collection. The questionnaire survey formed the basis for the descriptive and inferential (Pearson correlation and multiple regression) statistics that were used to evaluate the relationship between engineering consultants’ service quality and clients’ satisfaction indicators.

Findings

The study identified 10 key technical indicators and 10 key managerial indicators for measuring client satisfaction. Statistical analysis shows a positive significant relationship between the perceived service quality and all the indicators of client satisfaction. The positive correlation values show that as perceived service quality increases, both technical and management indicators of client satisfaction equally increase.

Originality/value

The results offer opportunity for professional service providers to continuously develop the technical and management indicators, embrace personnel training and key into continuous professional development for better service quality.
Rural-urban differentials in the determinants of under-five mortality in Bhutan
Authors: Dendup Tashi , Zhao Yun , Putra I Gusti Ngurah Edi
Published: September 2020

Purpose

The differences in the distribution of factors associated with under-five mortality (UFM) can help explain the rural-urban inequities in UFM. The determinants contributing to UFM in rural and urban areas have not been previously explored in Bhutan. This study examined the factors associated with UFM in rural and urban Bhutan and the role of the factors in explaining UFM disparity.

Design/methodology/approach

The dataset of 6,398 single births (4,999 in rural and 1,399 in urban areas) from the 2012 Bhutan National Health Survey was analyzed. Logistic regression analysis accounting for the complex survey design was performed to investigate the determinants.

Findings

The UFM rate was 2.75 times higher in rural than in urban Bhutan. In rural communities, children of younger mothers, born in households without safe sanitation and electricity, and central and eastern regions had increased UFM odds. Whereas, children born to working mothers and educated fathers, and born in households with non-working household heads had lower UFM odds in urban areas. A higher number of births and smaller household size was associated with an increased UFM odds irrespective of rural-urban residence. Environmental factors were attributable for the largest portion of rural UFM disadvantage.

Originality/value

This study helps to understand the rural-urban differences in the factors influencing UFM in Bhutan. The findings suggest that policies aimed to improve environmental and socioeconomic conditions, women empowerment, and those aimed to enhance health utilization can help reduce the rural-urban child survival disparity and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal target.
Customer engagement in sales promotion
Authors: Kaveh Azam , Nazari Mohsen , van der Rest Jean-Pierre , Mira Seyed Abolghasem
Published: September 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of customer engagement in sales promotion on purchase intention. Utilizing value co-creation and customer engagement theories, the authors tested a model that specifies the effect of customer engagement in sales promotion on purchase intention, through its impact on perceived value and customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

The model was tested with the PLSc-SEM approach.

Findings

Engaging customers to store's offers by giving them the possibility to choose the type of promotional discount that suits their personal preferences and needs is positively associated with purchase intention, and that this relationship is mediated in serial by perceived value and customer satisfaction.

Practical implications

Involving customers in sales promotion provides opportunities for retail front line management, as well as for customer relationship management to attract attention and interest.

Originality/value

While previous research concerned situations where firms and customers collaborate in the co-creation of value, its role in the sales promotion process is yet unclear. This study starts filling this gap by taking a closer look at customer participation in the sales promotion process and its impact on customer purchase intention.
The role of business advisers in supporting social entrepreneurship
Authors: Dalborg Cecilia , von Friedrichs Yvonne
Published: September 2020

Purpose

In many regions, the potential of social entrepreneurship and social innovation are not fully used. The purpose of this study is to explore issues and challenges in the business advisory support offered to social entrepreneurs and, from this background, give suggestions on how the advisory process to social entrepreneurs could be modified to better gain society.

Design/methodology/approach

Representatives from 15 business advisory organisations in Sweden were interviewed to examine how their support to social enterprises meets the needs of the companies, and to discover possible problems encountered regarding the business advice available to social enterprises. Using thematic analysis, six different overarching themes were identified that characterise issues and challenges in the business advisory support offered to social enterprises.

Findings

The results show that many advisers lack experience in social entrepreneurship, yet they consider that social enterprises are not “genuine” entrepreneurs, and that they, therefore, refer them to advisers focussing on co-operative enterprises. Furthermore, the absence of sustainable business models, the lack of financial resources and the existence of municipal monopoly are identified by the advisers as challenges.

Practical implications

This paper reveals an Achilles’ heel in the business advisory support offered to social enterprises, namely, the lack of experience and knowledge of social entrepreneurship amongst current business advisers, as well as a prioritisation of advice to more “commercial” entrepreneurs because of policy instruments and the expectations from the public funders of increased profitability and growth in the companies that receive advice. The mainstream business advisory service could play a key role by bringing together the various stakeholders in this shared value process. This would, however, require increased knowledge and new government policies and directives that ensure that social entrepreneurs are prioritised in the business advisory situation.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates that the current advisory system is not adapted to fit the needs of social enterprises. It also proposes the need to include participation and proximity in the business model design.
Trait filtering during exotic plant invasion of tropical rainforest remnants along a disturbance gradient
Authors: Waddell Emily H. , Chapman Daniel S. , Hill Jane K. , Hughes Mark , Bin Sailim Azlin , Tangah Joseph , Banin Lindsay F.
Published: September 2020

Human‐modified tropical landscapes are often invaded by exotic plant species, but relatively few species are able to colonise remnant areas of rainforest embedded within such landscapes. The functional traits of successful invaders of natural versus anthropogenic habitats are poorly known, especially in tropical regions, and identifying such traits provides insight into the mechanisms that drive invasion. Here, we examine the invasion of tropical rainforest remnants along a disturbance gradient, within a human‐modified agricultural landscape, and determine whether exotic species that invade these forests are selected according to particular traits.

We surveyed the occurrence of 18 exotic species along 100‐m transects in four habitats—oil palm road, forest‐oil palm edges and disturbed and intact forest within rainforest remnants—at 21 sites across Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We collated data on four functional traits relevant to the barriers plants encounter when colonising new environments (e.g. dispersal and persistence) and tested whether trait filtering occurs during invasion of rainforest remnants.

Exotic species richness declined significantly from oil palm (mean 9.2 species per transect) to forest edge (7.8 species) to inside rainforest remnants (3.1 species in disturbed forest), and only one species, Clidemia hirta, invaded intact forest. Exotic communities within rainforest remnants had long‐distance (vertebrate) dispersal, were woodier and had taller maximum heights, compared to those found in oil palm. For each trait, the community‐weighted mean for the forest edge community was intermediate between oil palm and disturbed forest, suggesting trait filtering during the invasion of rainforest remnants.

Our study provides strong evidence that trait filtering occurs during invasion from human‐modified agricultural habitats into previously disturbed forests via the forest edge. Successful invasion of rainforest remnants requires relatively long‐distance dispersal, in particular by vertebrates, as well as traits that are more similar to those of native forest species (i.e. tall and woody), making these exotic species more able to compete and persist in that environment. Our results show that disturbed tropical rainforests with open canopies are susceptible to invasion and highlight the traits of exotic species which can invade rainforest habitats, and which may pose a threat to regenerating tropical rainforests.

A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Erratic noise suppression using iterative structure‐oriented space‐varying median filtering with sparsity constraint
Authors: Huang Guangtan , Bai Min , Zhao Qiang , Chen Wei , Chen Yangkang
Published: September 2020

Erratic noise often has high amplitudes and a non‐Gaussian distribution. Least‐squares–based approaches therefore are not optimal. This can be handled better with non–least‐squares approaches, for example based on Huber norm which is computationally expensive. An alternative method has been published which involves transforming the data with erratic noise to pseudodata that have Gaussian distributed noise. It can then be attenuated using traditional least‐squares approaches. This alternative method has previously been used in combination with a curvelet transform in an iterative scheme. In this paper, we introduce a median‐filtering step in this iterative scheme. The median filter is applied following the slope direction of the seismic data to maximally preserve the energy of useful signals. The new method can suppress stronger erratic noise compared with the previous iterative method, and can better deal with random noise compared with the single‐step implementation of the median filter. We apply the proposed robust denoising algorithm to a synthetic dataset and two field data examples and demonstrate its advantages over three different noise attenuation algorithms.
The prognostic value of combining CD133 and mismatch repair proteins in patients with colorectal cancer
Authors: Wang Xiaohui , Qiu Wei , Liu Haoyu , Li Tian , Ye Hua , Li Yateng , Xu Xiang , Chen Ping
Published: September 2020

The prognostic value of cancer stem cells (CSCs) is a hot topic in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) research. CD133 has been identified as an important colorectal CSC marker, but its prognostic significance remains controversial. Recently, studies have reported a possible functional link between CSCs and DNA mismatch repair (MMR) system. However, the relationship between CRC stemness and MMR proteins remains little explored, and whether the predictive role of CD133 is affected by MMR proteins is still unknown. The aim of our study is to investigate the influence of MMR proteins on the predictive significance of CD133 in terms of CRC patient survival and to further analyze the correlation between MMR proteins and cancer stemness. In our study, we didn't observe the prognostic value of CD133 in CRC patients. However, we demonstrated that in patients with low expression of MSH6, MSH2, PMS2 and MLH1, especially MSH6, CD133 was an effective prognostic biomarker. Moreover, correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation between MSH6 and CD133 expression. In vitro studies supported our clinical data and showed that the expression of cancer‐associated stemness markers CD133, BMI‐1, OCT‐4 and SOX‐2 was significantly decreased in siRNA‐MSH6/MLH1 CRC cells. Thus, our results demonstrated that MMR proteins might play an important role in modulating the stemness of CRC cells. MMR proteins might be a crucial determinant that can help to accurately identify tumour subclones that may benefit from using the CSC marker CD133 as a prognostic marker.
Lysogeny in the oceans: Lessons from cultivated model systems and a reanalysis of its prevalence
Authors: Tuttle Matthew J. , Buchan Alison
Published: September 2020

In the oceans, viruses that infect bacteria (phages) influence a variety of microbially mediated processes that drive global biogeochemical cycles. The nature of their influence is dependent upon infection mode, be it lytic or lysogenic. Temperate phages are predicted to be prevalent in marine systems where they are expected to execute both types of infection modes. Understanding the range and outcomes of temperate phage–host interactions is fundamental for evaluating their ecological impact. Here, we (i) review phage‐mediated rewiring of host metabolism, with a focus on marine systems, (ii) consider the range and nature of temperate phage–host interactions, and (iii) draw on studies of cultivated model systems to examine the consequences of lysogeny among several dominant marine bacterial lineages. We also readdress the prevalence of lysogeny among marine bacteria by probing a collection of 1239 publicly available bacterial genomes, representing cultured and uncultivated strains, for evidence of complete prophages. Our conservative analysis, anticipated to underestimate true prevalence, predicts 18% of the genomes examined contain at least one prophage, the majority (97%) were found within genomes of cultured isolates. These results highlight the need for cultivation of additional model systems to better capture the diversity of temperate phage–host interactions in the oceans.
Intubation practices for children in emergency departments and intensive care units across Australia and New Zealand: A survey of medical staff
Authors: George Shane , Long Elliot , Gelbart Ben , Dalziel Stuart R , Babl Franz E , Schibler Andreas ,   Paediatric Critical Care Research Group (PCCRG), Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Paediatric Study Group (ANZICS PSG) and Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) research networks
Published: September 2020

Objective

Intubation of children in the emergency setting is a high‐risk, low incidence event. Standardisation of clinical practice has been hampered by a lack of high‐quality evidence to support one technique over another. The aim of the present study is to determine clinician preference in intubation practice of children in EDs and ICUs in Australia and New Zealand to provide baseline information to allow future targeted research focused on improving the safety and efficacy of paediatric emergency airway management.

Methods

The present study was a voluntary questionnaire undertaken by medical staff at registrar level or above in EDs and ICUs associated with the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) and Australia and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Paediatric Study Group (ANZICS PSG) research networks. Respondents reported on their individual intubation practices, with a focus on pre‐oxygenation and apnoeic oxygenation techniques, and the use of video laryngoscopy.

Results

A total of 502 clinicians were invited to complete the survey between May and October 2018 with 336 (66.9%) responded. There was marked variation in practice between ED clinicians and ICU clinicians in the techniques used for pre‐oxygenation, the frequency of use of apnoeic oxygenation and the reported use of video laryngoscopy.

Conclusions

Within Australia and New Zealand there is considerable variation in paediatric emergency airway clinical practice, in particular with respect to pre‐oxygenation, apnoeic oxygenation and use of video laryngoscopy. Definitive clinical trials are required to best inform clinical practice in this area.
Battlefield acupuncture added no benefit as an adjunct analgesic in emergency department for abdominal, low back or limb trauma pain
Authors: Jan Andrew L , Aldridge Emogene S , Visser Eric J , Rogers Ian R , Hince Dana A , Woosey Michael V , Bulsara Max K , Suen Lorna KP
Published: September 2020

Objectives

To ascertain whether ear acupuncture (modified Battlefield technique) as an adjunct (Adj‐BFA) to standard analgesia care (SAC) significantly reduces pain scores compared with sham acupuncture (Adj‐Sham) or SAC alone, when delivered by medical and nursing practitioners in an ED.

Methods

A randomised controlled trial using a convenience sample of 90 patients attending an ED with acute abdominal, limb trauma or low back pain were allocated to three treatment arms: Adj‐BFA, Adj‐Sham and SAC. The primary outcome of change in pain scores out‐of‐10 (NPRS‐10) from triage were assessed immediately after intervention and at 1 and 2 h post‐intervention. Secondary outcomes were the percentage of patients reporting ‘adequate analgesia’ or ≥30% reduction in pain score, analgesic medication use (in morphine equivalent dose [milligrammes]), analgesics and needle costs (Australian dollars), adverse effects and patient satisfaction (Likert scale).

Results

There was no significant difference in pain scores (P = 0.582) or secondary outcomes measures between Adj‐BFA, Adj‐Sham and SAC.

Conclusion

The present study on 90 patients did not show a significant difference in analgesia outcomes in the first 2 h using Adj‐BFA for acute pain in the ED, and there were no significant differences for secondary outcomes between treatment arms. Given the mixed results of recent BFA trials, further research using the original BFA technique on different painful conditions, as either stand‐alone or as‐adjunct to non‐opioid analgesia are needed before BFA can be recommended as a technique for acute pain management in the ED.
The Mask of Cicero: Jonathan Swift, Classical Rhetoric and A Modest Proposal
Authors: Hedrick Elizabeth
Published: September 2020

Swift's attachment to ancient learning has long been regarded as a settled matter. The Modest Proposal has been seen as reflecting this attachment through its use of a Ciceronian rhetorical model to enable the work’s irony. Reading the Proposal in the broader context of Swift’s prose non‐fiction works, however, suggests that Swift’s experience as an Irish political writer caused him to question the connection between classical rhetorical models and political power. Against this background, the hyper‐regular structure of the Proposal is as much the object of Swift’s satire as an enabler of it.
Incorporating alternative interaction modes, forbidden links and trait‐based mechanisms increases the minimum trait dimensionality of ecological networks
Authors: Kiziridis Diogenis A. , Boddy Lynne , Eastwood Daniel C. , Yuan Chenggui , Fowler Mike S.
Published: September 2020

Individual‐level traits mediate interaction outcomes and community structure. It is important, therefore, to identify the minimum number of traits that characterise ecological networks, that is, their ‘minimum dimensionality’. Existing methods for estimating minimum dimensionality often lack three features associated with increased trait numbers: alternative interaction modes (e.g. feeding strategies such as active vs. sit‐and‐wait feeding), trait‐mediated ‘forbidden links’ and a mechanistic description of interactions. Omitting these features can underestimate the trait numbers involved, and therefore, minimum dimensionality. We develop a ‘minimum mechanistic dimensionality’ measure, accounting for these three features.

The only input our method requires is the network of interaction outcomes. We assume how traits are mechanistically involved in alternative interaction modes. These unidentified traits are contrasted using pairwise performance inequalities between interacting species. For example, if a predator feeds upon a prey species via a typical predation mode, in each step of the predation sequence, the predator's performance must be greater than the prey's. We construct a system of inequalities from all observed outcomes, which we attempt to solve with mixed integer linear programming. The number of traits required for a feasible system of inequalities provides our minimum dimensionality estimate.

We applied our method to 658 published empirical ecological networks including primary consumption, predator–prey, parasitism, pollination, seed dispersal and animal dominance networks, to compare with minimum dimensionality estimates when the three focal features are missing. Minimum dimensionality was typically higher when including alternative interaction modes (54% of empirical networks), ‘forbidden interactions’ as trait‐mediated interaction outcomes (92%) or a mechanistic perspective (81%), compared to estimates missing these features. Additionally, we tested minimum dimensionality estimates on simulated networks with known dimensionality. Our method typically estimated a higher minimum dimensionality, closer to the actual dimensionality, while avoiding the overestimation associated with a previous method.

Our method can reduce the risk of omitting traits involved in different interaction modes, in failure outcomes or mechanistically. More accurate estimates will allow us to parameterise models of theoretical networks with more realistic structure at the interaction outcome level. Thus, we hope our method can improve predictions of community structure and structure‐dependent dynamics.
Understanding the public debate about trophy hunting in China as a rural development mechanism
Authors: Zhou X. , MacMillan D. C. , Zhang W. , Wang Q. , Jin Y. , Verissimo D.
Published: September 2020

The use of trophy hunting as a wildlife management option has been a highly controversial topic, especially in southern Africa, but trophy hunting has historically also taken place also throughout Asia. In China, trophy hunting was the topic of intense public discussion more than a decade ago, leading ultimately to the suspension of this practice in 2006. Yet, this debate was dominated by urban voices, with no formal consultation of rural populations from minorities such as the Tibetan herders who previously benefited financially from commercial trophy hunting acting as guides and who are also concerned about the negative impact of rising blue sheep numbers on livestock grazing. We used a discrete choice experiment econometric method to better understand the trade‐offs made by both urban and rural populations across China in relation trophy hunting as a rural development and wildlife management tool. We find that trophy hunting is supported by the majority of rural residents but opposed by most urban residents, although there is heterogeneity within both these groups. We recommend that policy‐making in this realm should be informed by a better understanding of the preferences of different stakeholders, including the local people who bear the costs of living with wildlife.
Optimal antimicrobial concentration of mixed antibiotic pastes in eliminating Enterococcus faecalis from root dentin
Authors: Dewi Anat , Upara Chawin , Krongbaramee Tadkamol , Louwakul Phumisak , Srisuwan Tanida , Khemaleelakul Saengusa
Published: September 2020

This study aims to identify the optimal concentrations of triple antibiotic paste (TAP), modified triple antibiotic paste (mTAP) and double antibiotic paste (DAP) that could completely eradicate Enterococcus faecalis in dentinal tubules. One hundred and ninety extracted human premolars inoculated with E. faecalis were medicated with calcium hydroxide and mixed antibiotic pastes (TAP, mTAP and DAP at 0.1, 1.25, 5, 10 and 20 mg mL−1 of each drug) for seven days before being frozen, pulverised and cultured. Specimens treated with the lowest concentration of the mixed antibiotics capable of eradicating E. faecalis were examined using scanning electron and confocal laser scanning microscopy to confirm the eradication of the microbial. TAP at 10 mg mL−1 of each drug was able to completely eliminate bacteria inside dentinal tubules, whereas mTAP and DAP required 20 mg mL−1 of each drug. Calcium hydroxide was not effective in eradicating E. faecalis inside dentinal tubules.
Genotyping complex structural variation at the malaria‐associated human glycophorin locus using a PCR‐based strategy
Authors: Algady Walid , Weyell Eleanor , Mateja Daria , Garcia André , Courtin David , Hollox Edward J.
Published: September 2020

Structural variation in the human genome can affect risk of disease. An example is a complex structural variant of the human glycophorin gene cluster, called DUP4, which is associated with a clinically significant level of protection against severe malaria. The human glycophorin gene cluster harbours at least 23 distinct structural variants, and accurate genotyping of this complex structural variation remains a challenge. Here, we use a polymerase chain reaction‐based strategy to genotype structural variation at the human glycophorin gene cluster, including the alleles responsible for the U– blood group. We validate our approach, based on a triplex paralogue ratio test, on publically available samples from the 1000 Genomes project. We then genotype 574 individuals from a longitudinal birth cohort (Tori‐Bossito cohort) using small amounts of DNA at low cost. Our approach readily identifies known deletions and duplications, and can potentially identify novel variants for further analysis. It will allow exploration of genetic variation at the glycophorin locus, and investigation of its relationship with malaria, in large sample sets at minimal cost, using standard molecular biology equipment.
Education, occupation and operational measures of sarcopenia: Six years of Australian data
Authors: Brennan‐Olsen Sharon L. , Vogrin Sara , Balogun Saliu , Wu Feitong , Scott David , Jones Graeme , Hayes Alan , Phu Steven , Duque Gustavo , Beauchamp Alison , Talevski Jason , Naureen Ghazala , Winzenberg Tania M.
Published: September 2020

Objectives

To examine associations of education and occupation with handgrip strength (HGS), lower limb strength (LLS) and appendicular lean mass (ALM).

Methods

Measures of HGS, LLS and ALM (dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry) were ascertained at baseline in 1090 adults (50‐80 years, 51% women), ~3 and 5 years. Education and occupation were self‐reported, the latter categorised as high‐skilled white collar (HSWC), low‐skilled white collar (LSWC) or blue collar. Separate general estimating equations were performed.

Results

The highest education group had greater HGS than the middle (0.33 psi) and lowest (0.48 psi) education groups, and 0.34 kg greater ALM than the lowest education group. HGS was 0.46 psi greater for HSWC than LSWC groups. Compared to LSWC groups, LLS was 5.38 and 7.08 kg greater in HSWC and blue‐collar groups. Blue‐collar and HSWC groups each had ~ 0.60‐0.80kg greater ALM than LSWC.

Conclusion

Progressive muscle loss can be prevented by targeted intervention; thus, we suggest clinical attention be directed towards specific social groups.
Mechanisms of long non‐coding RNA function in colorectal cancer tumorigenesis
Authors: Poursheikhani Arash , Abbaszadegan Mohammad Reza , Kerachian Mohammad Amin
Published: September 2020

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers globally. Although a variety of CRC screening methods have been developed, many patients are diagnosed at advanced stages of CRC with tumor invasion and distance metastasis. Several studies have suggested the long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) as one of the main contributors in CRC tumorigenesis, although the exact underlying mechanism of lncRNAs in CRC is still unknown. Numerous studies have indicated aberrant expression of lncRNAs in CRC through different modes of action such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, DNA repair response, drug‐resistance, migration, and metastasis. Furthermore, lncRNA polymorphisms can influence the risk of CRC development. Accordingly, lncRNAs can be served as promising diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers and also desired therapeutic targets affecting the outcome of patients with CRC. In this review, we summarized the updated and novel evidence that identifies different roles of lncRNAs in the tumorigenesis of CRC.
Production and characterization of haploidentical CD19 CAR T cells: Validated to induce a continuous complete remission in a patient with relapsed refractory B‐cell ALL
Authors: Prasongtanakij Somsak , Anurathapan Usanarat , Vanichapol Thitinee , Jittorntrum Bunyada , Atjanasuppat Korakot , Pongpitcha Pongpak , Pakakasama Samart , Songdej Duantida , Sirachainan Nongnuch , Paisooksantivatana Karan , Borwaornpinyo Suparerk , Andersson Borje S. , Hongeng Suradej
Published: September 2020

Aims

The purpose of this study was to design and manufacture CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)‐modified T cells for clinical use in Thailand, as a model for how this technology can be directly applied at individual institutions treating high‐risk leukemia patients.

Methods

We constructed second‐generation CAR T cells expressing CD19 scFV‐CD28‐CD3ζ with different lengths of the spacer region: full, intermediate, and short length, by using a lentiviral vector. We wanted to determine whether the difference in length of the spacer would affect the cytotoxic potential of the CD19 CAR T cells against the leukemic cells.

Results

We found that all constructs of CD19 CAR T cells exhibited a similar level of cytotoxicity against several human lymphoma and leukemia cell lines. For the clinical application, we chose the intermediate length spacer construct CD19 CAR T cells, hypothesizing that the highest transduction efficiency coupled with a slower initial proliferation in vitro might lead to effective leukemic cell kill, yet a lower probability for serious clinical side effects. We then tested the clinical efficacy of our CD19 CAR T cells in one patient with refractory/relapsed acute B‐cell lymphoblastic leukemia. This patient indeed had minimal clinical side effects after the CAR T‐cell infusion, and he remains in an unmaintained, ongoing complete remission 10+ months after his T‐cell treatment.

Conclusion

Our CD19 CAR T cells demonstrated efficacies in acute lymphoblastic B‐cell leukemia, and will be used to establish an immunotherapeutic program for high‐risk B‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Thailand. We propose that this approach can be used as a model for how this new exciting technology can be applied directly at individual institutions that treat (a large number of) patients with high‐risk leukemia.