bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Employability and job search behavior
Authors: Yizhong Xie , Lin Zhibin , Baranchenko Yevhen , Lau Chi Keung , Yukhanaev Andrey , Lu Hailing
Published: January 2017

Purpose

Graduate employability is a key concern for many observers particularly at a time when education is increasingly available for the masses. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of graduate perceived employability on job search by integrating theory of planned behavior and to identify how job search self-efficacy, subjective norms, intention and intensity change over time.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from a six-wave survey study with a sample of Chinese university graduating students.

Findings

Results show that perceived employability has a positive and significant effect on job search self-efficacy, attitude, intention and intensity; and that all the repeated measuring variables (except job search attitude) decreased over time.

Practical implications

The study is useful for educators, employers and prospective students. It prompts discussion of reforms in the curriculum to increase graduate awareness of the complexity of the job search process and existing opportunities. The study could also help to explain how job search behavior changes over time.

Originality/value

The findings carry implications for both higher education research and the measures of improving graduate employability. The study fills the gap in the literature by integrating employability and the theory of planned behavior into one framework in order to analyze the process of Chinese university graduates’ job search behavior.
Customers’ perceived website service quality and its effects on e-loyalty
Authors: Jeon Myunghee Mindy , Jeong Miyoung
Published: January 2017

Purpose

This study aims to examine determinants of perceived website quality and associations among consequences of perceived website quality. Adopting the framework of loyalty development, causal links are investigated among the website quality, customers’ perceived service quality, their satisfaction, return intention and loyalty in the context of the lodging industry.

Design/methodology/approach

An online field survey is conducted with internet bookers. A confirmatory factor analysis and a parameter estimate analysis using structural equation modeling are adopted to analyze the data.

Findings

The progression of the phases of loyalty proceeds in a linear fashion on a lodging website. Mediation effects of customer satisfaction and return intention are detected. Moderation effects of gender were also detected in the relationships among website service quality and consequences of website service quality.

Research limitations/implications

Caution is advised in generalizing findings of this study due to convenience sampling, although findings of the study do confirm results of previously conducted studies.

Practical implications

This study provides practical tips for website development for hospitality management to understand the e-loyalty formation process so that appropriate marketing strategies can be established to accommodate the type and degree of individual customer’s loyalty as well as gender-specific expectations from prospective customers.

Originality/value

This study demonstrates that customer loyalty formation in both physical and online environments has identical processes in the context of the lodging industry. The male group, compared to the female group, appears to be more sensitive in perceiving the effects of functionality of a lodging website, tends to develop customer satisfaction when perceiving website service quality and inclines to develop customer loyalty when having return intention.
Mediation of job embeddedness and satisfaction in the relationship between task characteristics and turnover
Authors: Ferreira Aristides I. , Martinez Luis F. , Lamelas José Pereira , Rodrigues Rosa I.
Published: January 2017

Purpose

Employees’ turnover intention is a key problem that hotel managers face daily. This is partially explained by the inevitability of performing tasks with little significance and low identity. This study aims to understand how job embeddedness and job satisfaction could lessen the undesirable effect of task characteristics on turnover intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 525 employees operating in 46 Portuguese hotels was used in this study. The questionnaire included demographic variables and four reliable instruments used to measure job satisfaction, job characteristics, job embeddedness and turnover intentions. The study used a multilevel statistical approach considering both the individual and the hotel levels of analysis.

Findings

Through multilevel statistics, the findings suggest that both at the individual level and the hotel level of analysis, job satisfaction and job embeddedness fully mediated the relationship between different task characteristics (significance and identity) and turnover intentions.

Research limitations/implications

Despite a possible absence of common method variance, due to the confirmatory factor analysis, social desirability bias may exist because of the self-reported nature of the survey.

Practical implications

Managers should increase the perceived costs of employees leaving the hotel by introducing training programs and plans for career development. Also, to increase job embeddedness, managers should also rethink the organizational dynamics of this industry.

Originality/value

This research provides empirical evidence of the antecedents and mediators of employees’ intentions to leave the hotel industry both at the individual and at the hotel level (multilevel approach).
Academic detailing among psychiatrists – feasibility and acceptability
Authors: Vasudev Kamini , Lamoure Joel , Beyaert Michael , Dua Varinder , Dixon David , Eadie Jason , Husarewych Larissa , Dhir Ragu , Takhar Jatinder
Published: January 2017

Purpose

Research has shown that academic detailing (AD), which includes repeated in-person educational messages in an interactive format in a physician’s office, is among the most effective continuing medical education (CME) forms for improving prescribing practices and reducing drug costs. The purpose of this paper is to investigate AD’s feasibility and acceptability as an educational tool among psychiatrists and its ability to facilitate positive changes in antipsychotic prescribing.

Design/methodology/approach

All psychiatrists practicing in Southwestern Ontario, Canada were invited to participate. Participants (32/299(10.7 percent)) were provided with two educational sessions by a healthcare professional. Participants evaluated their AD visits and completed a pre- and post-AD questionnaire measuring various prescribing practice aspects.

Findings

A total of 26 out of 32 (81.3 percent) participants completed the post-AD evaluation; most of them (61.5 percent, n=16) felt that AD gave noteworthy information on tools for monitoring side-effects and 50.0 percent (n=13) endorsed using these in practice. In total, 13 participants (50.0 percent) felt that the AD sessions gave them helpful information on tools for documenting polypharmacy use, which 46.2 percent (n=12) indicated they would implement in their practice. No significant differences were found between participants’ pre- and post-assessment prescribing behaviors.

Practical implications

There is great need for raising AD program’s awareness and improving physician engagement in this process locally, provincially and nationally.

Originality/value

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first AD program in Canada to target specialists solely. Participant psychiatrists accepted the AD intervention and perceived it as a feasible CME method.
Institutional sustainable purchasing priorities
Authors: Pullman Madeleine , Wikoff Robin
Published: January 2017

Purpose

This purpose of this paper is to understand the environmental impacts of stakeholder-driven sustainable purchasing policies in institutional settings.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is framed using stakeholder and life cycle assessment (LCA) theories. The study uses a multi-method approach. Starting with interviews to understand the breadth of sustainability issues and significant food purchases facing institutional purchasing managers, the authors subsequently perform LCA of these various policies using the most popular food item in different categories.

Findings

From the interview results, the authors found that food purchasers focus predominately on cost, thus, are committed to food and packaging reduction. They are driven to buy local foods based on their consumer stakeholders but share their commitment to buying local products if the cost is appropriate. In the LCA of popular food items in multiple scenarios, avoiding food waste of various forms had significantly higher carbon emissions savings than packaging reduction or transportation minimizing (buy local) strategies.

Research limitations/implications

The sample relied solely on the perceptions of institutional purchasing managers in university dining services. Future research should involve collecting data from other stakeholder groups such as the customers themselves, institutional leaders, and in other types of institutional settings such as hospitals and government agencies.

Practical implications

The research provides managers with insights concerning the trade-offs between different sustainability objectives. In particular, findings show that reducing waste related animal protein has a bigger impact on environmental performance than many other popular sustainability objectives such as buying local or reducing packaging waste.

Social implications

The paper focuses on the purchasing trade-offs of buying local vs national food products, different packaging solutions, and food waste generation. These decisions offer some social benefits (improve the economic situation for local farms vs consolidated food producers) as well as multiple environmental benefits.

Originality/value

The paper presents new findings on the sustainability purchasing priorities of stakeholders in institutional food settings and subsequent LCA of those policies to show which might have the most environmental impact.
Variables affecting the market demand of sport lottery sales in China
Authors: Zhou Liangjun , Zhang James J.
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the market demand of sport lottery in China from the following perspectives: available types and varieties of sport lottery, number of retail outlets, public welfare funds, promotion costs, per capita income, and population.

Design/methodology/approach

As the earliest province of issuing the sales of sport lottery and having one of the largest sales volumes in China, Guangdong Province was chosen for conducting the current study. Data were obtained from 14 sport lottery administration and distribution centers and statistics bureaus of 14 corresponding municipal cities. Multiple regression analysis was used.

Findings

Multiple regression analyses revealed that number of retail outlets, promotion cost, per capita income, and public welfare funds were positively (p<0.05) predictive of sport lottery sales; however, available types and varieties of sport lottery were not found to be significantly (p>0.05) related to total sport lottery sales. The findings are discussed in the context of theories and practices in the marketing and administration of sport lottery sales in China.

Research limitations/implications

Similar studies are suggested to be conducted in provinces and regions beyond Guangdong Province.

Originality/value

This study combined socioeconomic characteristics of the population, lottery game characteristics and management factors for the first time.
Innovation for development and poverty reduction: an integrative literature review
Authors: Pansera Mario , Martinez Fabien
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a critical analysis of the innovation discourse, arguing that a more contextualised understanding of the challenges of innovation for development and poverty reduction in low-income economies will help the authors’ to unravel new development opportunities and provide alternatives to conventional capitalist paths to innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors offer an integrative review of the literature addressing the topic of innovation emerging from within developing countries. Because existing innovation models are generally presented in ways that reflect practices and thought patterns inherent to the industrialised world, a literature review that offers an initial conceptualisation and synthesis of the literature to date on the theme of innovation from within developing countries provides for a more valuable contribution than a reconceptualization of existing models.

Findings

The paper highlights different narratives of innovation, how they emerge and what are their implications. The authors outline a research agenda for generating new knowledge about innovation capabilities in what is generally known as the developing world.

Originality/value

This paper shows that the recent evolution of the discourse of development is increasingly intertwined with elements that originated in other discursive worlds. The last three decades of innovation research have been characterised by a “cross-pollination” between different disciplines: development studies, science and technology studies, business management and organisation studies. By reviewing major research works conducted by scholars in these disciplines, this paper weds literature that heretofore have remained largely isolated from each other. The key innovation narratives that the study unveils – e.g. inclusive growth, bottom of the pyramid, grassroots innovation – address major questions of concern to these academic scholars around the political and socio-technical aspects that influence a firm’s capacity to innovate in the context of developing countries.
Should pharmaceutical companies engage in corporate social responsibility?
Authors: Min Maung , Desmoulins-Lebeault Francois , Esposito Mark
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) really adds value to corporate financial performance (CFP) in the pharmaceutical industry. Most pharmaceutical companies currently practice CSR by taking a “triple bottom line” approach of environmental, social, and economic strategies to manage their businesses and produce an overall positive impact.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was developed based on professional experience, Carroll’s construct, the study’s hypotheses, and industry studies. The survey, composed of 45 questions using a seven-point Likert scale, was conducted among pharmaceutical professionals to evaluate whether CSR affects performance. Responses totaling 140, including 20 companies, were coded, taking into account the respondent’s corporate position and firm size.

Findings

Survey respondents strongly agreed that CSR adds value to CFP and should be viewed as a long-term investment. CSR programs should be implemented regardless of company size. CSR is effective because it invests in stakeholder management, such as with customers, government, investors, and activists, creating positive relationships which improve reputation and profitability.

Research limitations/implications

This perception study shows the need for further quantitative analysis of CSR and CFP metrics specific to the pharmaceutical industry.

Practical implications

CSR programs should be implemented regardless of company size, and sheer size does not dictate whether CSR programs can be successful. This paper also sheds light on potential managerial implications that originate from these findings that may help pharmaceutical companies manage their scarce resources more effectively.

Social implications

In today’s competitive economic environment, where increasingly stakeholders including investors scrutinize pharmaceutical firms’ environmental and social performance, CSR is a crucial strategy. The findings can help corporate managers make strategic CSR decisions to optimize benefits for their organization.

Originality/value

While numerous studies have addressed the link between CSR and corporate performance across industries, definitive studies have not examined the pharmaceutical industry.
Designing the optimal public pension system
Authors: Fujii Takao , Hayashi Fumiaki , Iritani Jun , Oguro Kazumasa
Published: January 2017

This paper uses a two‐period overlapping generations model in order to provide a theoretical design for the optimal public pension system based on a partial equilibrium analysis. Household preferences depend on two periods' consumption and leisure and are positively homogeneous of degree m with respect to consumption in the working and retired periods. We present characteristic features of the optimal public pension system in this paper. First, differences in the population growth rate do not affect the large/small relation between the optimal net lifetime burden rates of generations. Second, we present the optimal public pension system explicitly if m < 1 and m ≠ 0. Third, the difference between the market time‐preference rate and the social time‐preference rate provides a crucial insight into the optimal burden rate of each generation.
Expanding the Notion of Dialogic Trading Zones for Impactful Research: The Case of Women on Boards Research
Authors: Sealy Ruth , Doldor Elena , Vinnicombe Susan , Terjesen Siri , Anderson Deirdre , Atewologun Doyin
Published: January 2017

Debates about research impact highlight the importance of involving practitioners in research processes but are unclear as to how precisely to foster this dialogue. This paper considers how dialogic encounter can be encouraged through ‘trading zones’ where academics and practitioners collaborate. We draw on our experience of conducting research on women on boards for over 15 years to examine (a) how we established and evolved our role within trading zones in this field, achieving impact on policy and business practice, and (b) how we interfaced between trading zones and the academic field, thereby enabling cross‐fertilization of ideas between academics and practitioners. We contribute to literature on research impact by empirically examining and critically evaluating the key characteristics of trading zones. First, trading zones are theorized to be action‐oriented. Our analysis reveals how multiple stakeholders collectively redefine the action goals, illustrating the need to expand our understanding of relevant ‘practitioners’ beyond managers. Second, we find that durability of trading zones is crucial because it enables gestation of ideas and reframing problems. Third, we problematize the notion of psychological safety in trading zones, arguing that dialogic capability and the pursuit of impact require acceptance of trade‐offs and political manoeuvrings.
A comparison of cognitive flexibility and metalinguistic skills in adult good and poor comprehenders
Authors: Cartwright Kelly B. , Bock Allison M. , Coppage Elizabeth A. , Hodgkiss Melinda D. , Nelson Marisa Isaac
Published: January 2017

Good and poor comprehenders exhibit different profiles of cognitive abilities, despite comparable decoding skills. Recent work suggests that executive functions, particularly cognitive flexibility, may underlie poor comprehenders' difficulties in childhood and adulthood. However, metalinguistic skills that enable readers to reflect on various aspects of print may also contribute to poor comprehenders' difficulties. We examined metalinguistic abilities (graphophonemic and syntactic) and cognitive flexibility (graphophonological–semantic and syntactic–semantic) in 24 good and 24 poor adult comprehenders, matched on age‐appropriate non‐word decoding skill and general cognitive ability. Groups differed significantly on graphophonemic awareness, syntactic awareness, and both measures of cognitive flexibility after verbal ability and word identification were controlled. Differences in cognitive flexibility remained significant even when relevant metacognitive skills were controlled. These data demonstrate additional cognitive differences between good and poor comprehenders that can inform theory and practice.

What is already known about this topic:

Deficits in executive functions contribute to poor comprehenders' difficulties in childhood and adulthood.

Child and adolescent poor comprehenders are also lower in metalinguistic skills.

What this paper adds:

Adult good and poor comprehenders, matched on general cognitive ability and age‐appropriate non‐word decoding, differed significantly on syntactic and graphophonemic awareness, even when verbal ability and word identification were controlled.

Groups also differed significantly on cognitive flexibility, even when verbal ability and word identification were controlled.

Good and poor comprehenders' differences in cognitive flexibility remained significant when metalinguistic awareness was controlled; however, differences in metalinguistic awareness were attenuated when cognitive flexibility was controlled.

Implications for theory, policy, or practice:

Findings underscore the importance of metalinguistic awareness and executive functions, particularly cognitive flexibility, to understanding adult poor comprehenders' difficulties.

Findings suggest that models of reading comprehension, such as the simple view, should be adjusted to include variables, like cognitive flexibility, that contribute to comprehension beyond decoding and verbal ability.

Findings may have clinical utility for identification of poor comprehenders because cognitive flexibility can easily be assessed with brief measures.
Recent advances in understanding clonal haematopoiesis in aplastic anaemia
Authors: Stanley Natasha , Olson Timothy S. , Babushok Daria V.
Published: January 2017

Acquired aplastic anaemia (AA) is an immune‐mediated bone marrow failure disorder inextricably linked to clonal haematopoiesis. The majority ofAApatients have somatic mutations and/or structural chromosomal abnormalities detected as early as at diagnosis. In contrast to other conditions linked to clonal haematopoiesis, the clonal signature ofAAreflects its immune pathophysiology. The most common alterations are clonal expansions of cells lacking glycophosphotidylinositol‐anchored proteins, loss of human leucocyte antigen alleles, and mutations inBCOR/BCORL1,ASXL1andDNMT3A. Here, we present the current knowledge of clonal haematopoiesis inAAas it relates to aging, inherited bone marrow failure, and the grey‐zone overlap ofAAand myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). We conclude by discussing the significance of clonal haematopoiesis both for improved diagnosis ofAA, as well as for a more precise, personalized approach to prognostication of outcomes and therapy choices.
Recurrence risk of venous thromboembolism and hormone use in women from England: a cohort study using clinical practice research datalink
Authors: Kiconco Sylvia , Abdul Sultan Alyshah , Grainge Matthew J.
Published: January 2017

It is vital to identify people with low recurrence risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) so as to protect them from dangers of prolonged anticoagulation therapy. Among women who develop VTE following hormone use, the evidence as to whether their risk of recurrence is low if they cease this therapy is conflicting. We investigated whether women whose initial VTE event was hormone‐related have a lower risk of VTE recurrence than women whose initial event had no obvious cause (unprovoked). A cohort study utilising the Clinical Practice Research Datalink linked to Hospital Episode Statistics data from England was conducted. We selected 4170 women aged between 15 and 64 years who were diagnosed with a first VTE event between 1997 and 2011. Cox regression models were used to obtain hazard ratios (HR). Hormone users had 29% lower recurrence risk than non‐users (adjusted HR = 0·71; 95% confidence interval 0·58–0·88), a relationship which existed both in women aged 15–44 years (predominantly oral contraceptive users) and those aged 45–64 years (predominantly hormone replacement therapy users). In conclusion, having a hormone‐associated VTE is associated with a lower recurrence risk than one that is unprovoked after discontinuation of the hormone‐containing preparation. Prolonged anticoagulation may therefore be unjustified in such women.
Chinese Malaysian Adolescents' Social‐Cognitive Reasoning Regarding Filial Piety Dilemmas
Authors: Cheah Charissa S. L. , Leung Christy Y. Y. , Bayram Özdemir Sevgi
Published: January 2017

This study examined the social‐cognitive reasoning of 52 Chinese Malaysian preadolescents (9–12 years old; M = 11.02, SD = 0.94) and 68 adolescents (13–18 years old; M = 14.76, SD = 1.39) in resolving filial dilemmas within the personal and moral domain. Preadolescents deferred to parental authority, whereas adolescents endorsed filial obligation reasoning to justify compliance in the personal domain. Both appealed to filial obligation, pragmatic, or welfare and safety reasoning to justify compliance but fairness or rights reasoning to justify their noncompliance, for the moral issue. Distinctions between authoritarian and reciprocal filial piety reasoning were revealed. Findings demonstrated complex decision‐making and cognitive reasoning processes among Chinese Malaysian adolescents as they negotiate their filial obligations and autonomy development.
Inequality and economic growth: Trickle‐down effect revisited
Authors: Akinci Merter
Published: January 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the validity of trickle‐down effect by using unbalanced panel data analysis for 65 countries in the period of 1995–2011. The estimation results point out that an increase in the incomes of the rich raises the incomes of the poor and vice versa. Nevertheless, it can clearly be seen that the contribution of the income transfer of the poor to the rich is more dominant than vice versa. Therefore, the invalidity of trickle‐down effect can be stated for 65 countries.
Amlodipine, an L‐type calcium channel blocker, protects against chlorpromazine‐induced neurobehavioural deficits in mice
Authors: Kale Oluwafemi E. , Awodele Olufunsho , Ogundare Temitope F. , Ekor Martins
Published: January 2017

This study investigated the modulatory and chemopreventive benefit of amlodipine (AML), a dihydropyridine calcium channel antagonist, against neurobehavioural abnormalities (NAs) associated with chlorpromazine (CPZ) toxicity in mice. Adult mice were divided into five groups of six animals/group. Group 1 (control) was administered saline (10 mL/kg i.p.). Group 2 received CPZ (2 mg/kg i.p.). Groups 3 and 4 received bromocriptine (BMC, 2.5 mg/kg s.c.) and AML (1 mg/kg s.c.), respectively, while group 5 received their combination. Groups 3–5 later received CPZ 30 min after initial treatments. Animals were subjected to neurobehavioural tests and euthanized 18 h later. CPZ‐induced NAs were characterized by significant increase (P < 0.001) in cataleptic behaviour and lowered (P < 0.05) spontaneous activity reaction time in mice. There were also significant (P < 0.001) increases in malondialdehyde levels and decreased locomotion plus learning and memory parameters (P < 0.05–0.001). AML pretreatment alone did not alleviate CPZ‐induced motor deficits in the mice. While pretreatment with BMC alone attenuated CPZ‐associated catalepsy, its combination with AML further protected mice against NAs. Furthermore, BMC pretreatment did not affect CPZ‐induced increase in malondialdehyde level, but AML or BMC+AML significantly (P < 0.05) decreased malondialdehyde in the CPZ‐treated rats. Reduced glutathione levels and activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase remained elevated in all treatment groups. In conclusion, data from this study suggest possible chemopreventive benefit of AML alone or in combination with BMC against CPZ‐associated neurobehavioural deficits. The ameliorative effect of AML may be related to its antioxidant and/or calcium channel blocking property.
Process of becoming a mother for Iranian surrogacy‐commissioning mothers: A grounded theory study
Authors: Zandi Mitra , Vanaki Zohreh , Shiva Marziyeh , Mohammadi Eesa
Published: January 2017

Aim

Little knowledge is available about the experiences of the commissioning mothers during the process of surrogacy; thus, the present study was conducted in order to explore and analyze this process.

Methods

This study was conducted in a referral institute in Tehran with a qualitative approach and using grounded theory methodology. The data were collected through 39 unstructured, in‐depth interviews that were conducted with 15 gestational commissioning mothers, two of their husbands, four surrogates, and five of the personnel at centers for assisted reproduction (some participants were interviewed more than once). Sampling started purposively and then continued theoretically.

Results

The analysis revealed the main concern of these mothers to be the feeling of “insecurity about becoming a mother” and their predominant strategy for dealing with it to be “seeking security about becoming a mother,” which emerged as a core concept. The consequences of the mothers' adopted strategies and the effects of the intervening factors included “reaching a state of relative peace,” “a continuing threat to one's identity,” and “mental and physical exhaustion.”

Conclusion

Identifying the demands of this group of mothers can help medical personnel, particularly nurses, adopt better plans for the future and to optimize the care they provide to these patients.
Effect of Cast Modification on Denture Base Adaptation Following Maxillary Complete Denture Processing
Authors: Sayed Mohammed E. , Porwal Amit , Ehrenberg David , Weiner Saul
Published: January 2017

Purpose

To investigate the effect of cast modifications on denture base adaptation in coronal and sagittal projections following maxillary complete denture processing.

Materials and Methods

A total of 60 edentulous maxillary casts (n = 10) were distributed among six groups. Group 1 was the control group with no modification, groups 2 through 6 included a butterfly postdam preparation, groups 3 and 4 also included a 10‐mm wide/4‐mm deep box with addition of four round holes in group 4, and groups 5 and 6 also included a 20‐mm wide/4‐mm deep box with addition of four round holes in group 6. The boxes were prepared at the mid‐heel area of the casts. Two layers of baseplate wax (1 mm each) were used to standardize denture base thickness across the groups. A standard technique was used to replicate the denture tooth set‐up, and standardized processing was done for all the groups. Following deflasking, casts with the dentures were sectioned in the coronal and sagittal directions. Microscopic pictures were taken at preselected points. Data were organized in tables, and statistical analyses were performed using repeated measure ANOVA, Tukey post hoc tests, and post hoc comparison tests set at 5% level of significance.

Results

Maximum gaps were measured at the mid‐palatal area followed by nearby areas and the areas near ridge crests in both coronal and sagittal projections. The analyses revealed significant differences between the groups in coronal projection (1/2, 3/4, 5/6) and sagittal projection (1, 2, 3/4, 5/6) without significant differences within the pairs. The groups were ranked from the highest group 1 to the lowest group 6 relative to the gap means. Post hoc comparisons showed that points 1C and 2A had the highest gap means across the study groups.

Conclusions

Within the limitations of this study, it can be extrapolated that the denture base adaptation can be effectively increased with the box preparation at the mid‐heel aspect of the casts. Significant reduction of gaps was seen when the box size increased from 10 to 20 mm in coronal and sagittal projections; however, the addition of four holes had no significant effect on gap size alterations.
The gluttonous king: the effects of prey size and repeated feeding on predatory performance in kingsnakes
Authors: Penning D. A.
Published: January 2017

Constriction is an evolutionarily and functionally important behavior that many snakes use to subdue a variety of prey. However, little work has examined the effects of prey size on constriction performance. Furthermore, many snakes are known to feed even while previously consumed prey remain in the stomach. This temporary increase in mass may place constraints on subsequent performance. To test these effects, I investigated constriction performance in eastern kingsnakes Lampropeltis getula handling different sizes and quantities of rodent prey in two experiments by measuring coil length and peak constriction pressure. In the first experiment, constriction coil length and peak constriction pressure did not differ significantly between snakes feeding on either ‘small’ (5% relative prey mass, RPM) or ‘large’ (15% RPM) rodent prey. However, there was a significant interaction between prey size and repeated feeding. Snakes that had previously consumed large meals had significantly shorter coil lengths and lower peak constriction pressures when fed for a second time (reductions of 60 and 51%, respectively). In Experiment 2, snakes offered five sequential, similarly sized prey (@ 7% RPM), showed a regular decrease in coil length and peak constriction pressure across sequential feeding trials. During the final (fifth) trials, snakes used 45.7% shorter coils and exerted 50.1% lower peak constriction pressures. Thus, prey size alone did not affect constriction performance, but predation performance was significantly affected by the prior consumption of prey ≥7% RPM, and performance was further reduced during additional feeding trials.
Diversity of leisure‐time sport activities in adolescence as a predictor of leisure‐time physical activity in adulthood
Authors: Mäkelä S. , Aaltonen S. , Korhonen T. , Rose R. J. , Kaprio J.
Published: January 2017

Because sustained physical activity is important for a healthy life, this paper examined whether a greater diversity of sport activities during adolescence predicts higher levels of leisure‐time physical activity (LTPA) in adulthood. From sport activity participation reported by 17‐year‐old twins, we formed five groups: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5+ different sport activities. At follow‐up in their mid‐thirties, twins were divided into four activity classes based onLTPA, including active commuting. Multinomial regression analyses, adjusted for several confounders, were conducted separately for male (N=1288) and female (N=1770) participants. Further, conditional logistic regression analysis included 23 twin pairs discordant for both diversity of sport activities in adolescence andLTPAin adulthood. The diversity of leisure‐time sport activities in adolescence had a significant positive association with adulthoodLTPAamong females. Membership in the most active adult quartile, compared to the least active quartile, was predicted by participation in 2, 3, 4, and 5+ sport activities in adolescence with odds ratios: 1.52 (P=.11), 1.86 (P=.02), 1.29 (P=.39), and 3.12 (P=5.4e‐05), respectively. Within‐pair analyses, limited by the small sample of twins discordant for both adolescent activities and adult outcomes, did not replicate the association. A greater diversity of leisure‐time sport activities in adolescence predicts higher levels ofLTPAin adulthood in females, but the causal nature of this association remains unresolved.
Anchors, Habitus, and Practices Besieged by War: Women and Gender in the Blockade of Leningrad
Authors: Hass Jeffrey K.
Published: January 2017

As war challenges survival and social relations, how do actors alter and adapt dispositions and practices? To explore this question, I investigate women's perceptions of normal relations, practices, status, and gendered self in an intense situation of wartime survival, the Blockade of Leningrad (1941–1944), an 872‐day ordeal that demographically feminized the city. Using Blockade diaries for data on everyday life, perceptions, and practices, I show how women's gendered skills and habits of breadseeking and caregiving (finding scarce resources and providing aid) were key to survival and helped elevate their sense of status. Yet this did not entice rethinking “gender.” To explore status elevation and gender entrenchment, I build on Bourdieu's theory of habitus and fields to develop anchors: field entities with valence around which actors orient identities and practices. Anchors provide support for preexisting habitus and practices, and filter perceptions from new positions vis‐à‐vis fields and concrete relations. Essentialist identities and practices were reinforced through two processes involving anchors. New status was linked to “women's work” that aided survival of anchors (close others, but also factories and the city), reinforcing acceptance of gender positions. Women perceived that challenging gender relations and statuses could risk well‐being of anchors, reconstructing gender essentialism.
Arabidopsis PROTEIN S‐ACYL TRANSFERASE4 mediates root hair growth
Authors: Wan Zhi‐Yuan , Chai Sen , Ge Fu‐Rong , Feng Qiang‐Nan , Zhang Yan , Li Sha
Published: January 2017

Polar growth of root hairs is critical for plant survival and requires fine‐tuned Rho of plants (ROP) signaling. Multiple ROP regulators participate in root hair growth. However, protein S‐acyl transferases (PATs), mediating the S‐acylation and membrane partitioning of ROPs, are yet to be found. Using a reverse genetic approach, combining fluorescence probes, pharmacological drugs, site‐directed mutagenesis and genetic analysis with related root‐hair mutants, we have identified and characterized an Arabidopsis PAT, which may be responsible for ROP2 S‐acylation in root hairs. Specifically, functional loss of PAT4 resulted in reduced root hair elongation, which was rescued by a wild‐type but not an enzyme‐inactive PAT4. Membrane‐associated ROP2 was significantly reduced in pat4, similar to S‐acylation‐deficient ROP2 in the wild type. We further showed that PAT4 and SCN1, a ROP regulator, additively mediate the stability and targeting of ROP2. The results presented here indicate that PAT4‐mediated S‐acylation mediates the membrane association of ROP2 at the root hair apex and provide novel insights into dynamic ROP signaling during plant tip growth.
Determination of Pre-service Classroom Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Authors: Can Şendil , Doğru Serpil , Bayir Gülsu
Published: January 2017

It seems to be a must for teachers and pre-service teachers to have information and skills necessary for the use of technology in education. This requires effective planning of how technology should be integrated into the teacher training curriculums of education faculties and continuous revision of this plan. In this regard, the purpose of the current study is to investigate the pre-service classroom teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge in relation to grade level and gender variables. The current study employing the survey model was conducted on 136 first and third year students from the Classroom Teacher Education Department of the Education Faculty at Mugla Sitki Kocman University in the fall term of 2015-2016 academic year. As a data collection tool, a 47-item, 7-factor and five-point Likert type Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Scale was used. The collected data were analyzed with independent samples t-test. The findings of the test revealed that the pre-service classroom teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge and opinions about the sub-factors do not vary significantly depending on gender and grade level; however, their opinions about the sub-factor of technological knowledge vary significantly depending on grade level.
The Perceptions of Five Years Old Group Students’ about Scientists
Authors: Et Sümeyra Zeynep , Memiş Esra Kabataş
Published: January 2017

The purpose of this research is to reveal the perceptions of students of five years old group about scientists. The practice was implemented with 76 students having education in five-age group continuing to various nursery schools located in the center of Kastamonu province. Before starting the practice, the teacher asked the questions of “Who is the scientist?” and made them thought with the aim of ensuring the awareness of students against scientist. Afterwards, the researchers asked the students to narrate their pictures while they collect the drawings. The paintings were coded by the researchers by using the descriptive analysis method. The codification was made individually at first and then together with all the researchers with the aim of ensuring the reliability of research. In the light of collected information, it was generally seen in the pictures of students that the work environment of scientists is constituted by the space and world and their gender is generally men and also, there was a small number of women scientist profile. It was also determined that the students emphasized the extraterrestrial life and drew the scientists as similar to astronauts and they used space crafts and planets in their paintings. In another finding, scientists were seen as the people who mostly conduct research and use potion in general. Another attractive research finding is that; a small number of students draw the scientist as person who use computer and study lesson. In the light of these findings, it can be told that the students were affected extremely from their environment (the movies and cartoon they watched, their families, etc.…).
Localizing scatterers from surf noise cross correlations
Authors: Li Jie , Gerstoft Peter , Gao Dazhi , Li Guofu , Wang Ning
Published: January 2017

The backscattered travel-time structure is obtained by cross-correlating air-acoustic ocean surf noise recorded on microphone pairs (separation ∼2 m) on the beach. The scatterer is a 20 cm radius Polyvinyl chloride pipe 2.5 m landside of the microphone array. Arrivals corresponding to the time-difference (travel-time difference between two scatterer-receiver paths) and scattered (travel time for receiver-scatterer-receiver path) waves emerge in the cross-correlation functions in a backscattering configuration. Theoretically, only a microphone pair is needed to locate the scatterer using the time-difference and scattered travel times. Localization of the scatterer is demonstrated with the microphone array on the beach.
Complete Genome Sequence of a Polyomavirus Recovered from a Pomona Leaf-Nosed Bat (Hipposideros pomona) Metagenome Data Set
Authors: Cantalupo Paul G. , Buck Christopher B. , Pipas James M.
Published: January 2017

We report here the complete genome sequence of a polyomavirus found in a nasal/rectal metagenome of
Hipposideros pomona
(Pomona leaf-nosed bat). Interestingly, the genetic organization and phylogenetic relationships of the new virus suggest greater similarity to recently discovered fish-associated polyomaviruses rather than to polyomavirus species previously observed in bats.
Draft Genome Sequence of the Methane-Oxidizing Bacterium “
Candidatus
Methylomonas sp. LWB” Isolated from Movile Cave
Authors: Stephenson Jason , Kumaresan Deepak , Hillebrand-Voiculescu Alexandra M. , Brooks Elliot , Whiteley Andrew S. , Murrell J. Colin
Published: January 2017

We describe the draft genome sequence of “
Candidatus
Methylomonas sp. LWB” isolated from Movile Cave microbial mat samples. The genome contains both the soluble and particular methane monooxygenase; however, one of the putative particulate methane monooxygenase gene clusters is ordered
pmoABC
rather than in the canonical gene arrangement of
pmoCAB
.
Complete Genome Sequences of Three
Cupriavidus
Strains Isolated from Various Malaysian Environments
Authors: Shafie Nur Asilla Hani , Lau Nyok-Sean , Ramachandran Hema , Amirul Al-Ashraf Abdullah
Published: January 2017

Cupriavidus
sp. USMAA1020, USMAA2-4, and USMAHM13 are capable of producing polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). This biopolymer is an alternative solution to synthetic plastics, whereby polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase is the key enzyme involved in PHA biosynthesis. Here, we report the complete genomes of three
Cupriavidus
sp. strains: USMAA1020, USMAA2-4, and USMAHM13.
Autoimmune hepatitis and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis: a rare association
Authors: Lohani Saroj , Nazir Salik , Tachamo Niranjan , Pagolu Pavani
Published: January 2017

We describe a case of 40-year-old woman who presented to our hospital with symptoms of non-radiating epigastric pain for 4–5 days associated with nausea and vomiting. Her history was significant for asthma with recurrent exacerbations, polyneuropathy and recurrent sinus infections. Liver function tests revealed cholestasis. Antinuclear antibody and antismooth muscle cell antibody were positive. Liver biopsy revealed active chronic hepatitis with cholestasis. A diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis was made. All other causes of cholestatic jaundice were ruled out. Her history of recurrent asthma exacerbations, eosinophilia, recurrent sinus infections and positive myeloperoxidase antibodies was suggestive of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis. She was found to have combination of autoimmune hepatitis and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, a rarely reported association in the medical literature. She was started on prednisone for her autoimmune hepatitis. On follow-up with her gastroenterologist, her transaminases were trending down and she was symptomatically better.
Māori patients' experiences and perspectives of chronic kidney disease: a New Zealand qualitative interview study
Authors: Walker Rachael C , Walker Shayne , Morton Rachael L , Tong Allison , Howard Kirsten , Palmer Suetonia C
Published: January 2017

Objectives

To explore and describe Māori (the indigenous people of New Zealand) patients' experiences and perspectives of chronic kidney disease (CKD), as these are largely unknown for indigenous groups with CKD.

Design

Face-to-face, semistructured interviews with purposive sampling and thematic analysis.

Setting

3 dialysis centres in New Zealand (NZ), all of which offered all forms of dialysis modalities.

Participants

13 Māori patients with CKD and who were either nearing the need for dialysis or had started dialysis within the previous 12 months.

Results

The Māori concepts of whakamā (disempowerment and embarrassment) and whakamana (sense of self-esteem and self-determination) provided an overarching framework for interpreting the themes identified: disempowered by delayed CKD diagnosis (resentment of late diagnosis; missed opportunities for preventive care; regret and self-blame); confronting the stigma of kidney disease (multigenerational trepidation; shame and embarrassment; fear and denial); developing and sustaining relationships to support treatment decision-making (importance of family/whānau; valuing peer support; building clinician–patient trust); and maintaining cultural identity (spiritual connection to land; and upholding inner strength/mana).

Conclusions

Māori patients with CKD experienced marginalisation within the NZ healthcare system due to delayed diagnosis, a focus on individuals rather than family, multigenerational fear of dialysis, and an awareness that clinicians are not aware of cultural considerations and values during decision-making. Prompt diagnosis to facilitate self-management and foster trust between patients and clinicians, involvement of family and peers in dialysis care, and acknowledging patient values could strengthen patient engagement and align decision-making with patient priorities.