bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The compression–error trade-off for large gridded data sets
Authors: Silver Jeremy D. , Zender Charles S.
Published: January 2017

Abstract. The netCDF-4 format is widely used for large gridded scientific data sets and includes several compression methods: lossy linear scaling and the non-lossy deflate and shuffle algorithms. Many multidimensional geoscientific data sets exhibit considerable variation over one or several spatial dimensions (e.g., vertically) with less variation in the remaining dimensions (e.g., horizontally). On such data sets, linear scaling with a single pair of scale and offset parameters often entails considerable loss of precision. We introduce an alternative compression method called "layer-packing" that simultaneously exploits lossy linear scaling and lossless compression. Layer-packing stores arrays (instead of a scalar pair) of scale and offset parameters. An implementation of this method is compared with lossless compression, storing data at fixed relative precision (bit-grooming) and scalar linear packing in terms of compression ratio, accuracy and speed. When viewed as a trade-off between compression and error, layer-packing yields similar results to bit-grooming (storing between 3 and 4 significant figures). Bit-grooming and layer-packing offer significantly better control of precision than scalar linear packing. Relative performance, in terms of compression and errors, of bit-groomed and layer-packed data were strongly predicted by the entropy of the exponent array, and lossless compression was well predicted by entropy of the original data array. Layer-packed data files must be "unpacked" to be readily usable. The compression and precision characteristics make layer-packing a competitive archive format for many scientific data sets.
Response of water vapour D-excess to land–atmosphere interactions in a semi-arid environment
Authors: Parkes Stephen D. , McCabe Matthew F. , Griffiths Alan D. , Wang Lixin , Chambers Scott , Ershadi Ali , Williams Alastair G. , Strauss Josiah , Element Adrian
Published: January 2017

Abstract. The stable isotopic composition of water vapour provides information about moisture sources and processes difficult to obtain with traditional measurement techniques. Recently, it has been proposed that the D-excess of water vapour (dv  =  δ2H − 8  ×  δ18O) can provide a diagnostic tracer of continental moisture recycling. However, D-excess exhibits a diurnal cycle that has been observed across a variety of ecosystems and may be influenced by a range of processes beyond regional-scale moisture recycling, including local evaporation (ET) fluxes. There is a lack of measurements of D-excess in evaporation (ET) fluxes, which has made it difficult to assess how ET fluxes modify the D-excess in water vapour (dv). With this in mind, we employed a chamber-based approach to directly measure D-excess in ET (dET) fluxes. We show that ET fluxes imposed a negative forcing on the ambient vapour and could not explain the higher daytime dv values. The low dET observed here was sourced from a soil water pool that had undergone an extended drying period, leading to low D-excess in the soil moisture pool. A strong correlation between daytime dv and locally measured relative humidity was consistent with an oceanic moisture source, suggesting that remote hydrological processes were the major contributor to daytime dv variability. During the early evening, ET fluxes into a shallow nocturnal inversion layer caused a lowering of dv values near the surface. In addition, transient mixing of vapour with a higher D-excess from above the nocturnal inversion modified these values, causing large variability during the night. These results indicate d
Snow fracture in relation to slab avalanche release: critical state for the onset of crack propagation
Authors: Gaume Johan , van Herwijnen Alec , Chambon Guillaume , Wever Nander , Schweizer Jürg
Published: January 2017

Abstract. The failure of a weak snow layer buried below cohesive slab layers is a necessary, but insufficient, condition for the release of a dry-snow slab avalanche. The size of the crack in the weak layer must also exceed a critical length to propagate across a slope. In contrast to pioneering shear-based approaches, recent developments account for weak layer collapse and allow for better explaining typical observations of remote triggering from low-angle terrain. However, these new models predict a critical length for crack propagation that is almost independent of slope angle, a rather surprising and counterintuitive result. Based on discrete element simulations we propose a new analytical expression for the critical crack length. This new model reconciles past approaches by considering for the first time the complex interplay between slab elasticity and the mechanical behavior of the weak layer including its structural collapse. The crack begins to propagate when the stress induced by slab loading and deformation at the crack tip exceeds the limit given by the failure envelope of the weak layer. The model can reproduce crack propagation on low-angle terrain and the decrease in critical length with increasing slope angle as modeled in numerical experiments. The good agreement of our new model with extensive field data and the ease of implementation in the snow cover model SNOWPACK opens a promising prospect for improving avalanche forecasting.
Atmospheric forcing of sea ice anomalies in the Ross Sea polynya region
Authors: Dale Ethan R. , McDonald Adrian J. , Coggins Jack H. J. , Rack Wolfgang
Published: January 2017

Abstract. We investigate the impacts of strong wind events on the sea ice concentration within the Ross Sea polynya (RSP), which may have consequences on sea ice formation. Bootstrap sea ice concentration (SIC) measurements derived from satellite SSM/I brightness temperatures are correlated with surface winds and temperatures from Ross Ice Shelf automatic weather stations (AWSs) and weather models (ERA-Interim). Daily data in the austral winter period were used to classify characteristic weather regimes based on the percentiles of wind speed. For each regime a composite of a SIC anomaly was formed for the entire Ross Sea region and we found that persistent weak winds near the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf are generally associated with positive SIC anomalies in the Ross Sea polynya and vice versa. By analyzing sea ice motion vectors derived from the SSM/I brightness temperatures we find significant sea ice motion anomalies throughout the Ross Sea during strong wind events, which persist for several days after a strong wind event has ended. Strong, negative correlations are found between SIC and AWS wind speed within the RSP indicating that strong winds cause significant advection of sea ice in the region. We were able to partially recreate these correlations using colocated, modeled ERA-Interim wind speeds. However, large AWS and model differences are observed in the vicinity of Ross Island, where ERA-Interim underestimates wind speeds by a factor of 1.7 resulting in a significant misrepresentation of RSP processes in this area based on model data. Thus, the cross-correlation functions produced by compositing based on ERA-Interim wind speeds differed significantly from those produced with AWS wind speeds. In general the rapid decrease in SIC during a strong wind event is followed by a more gradual recovery in SIC. The SIC recovery continues over a time period greater than the average persistence of strong wind events and sea ice motion anomalies. This suggests that sea ice recovery occurs through thermodynamic rather than dynamic processes.
Simulating the evolution of Hardangerjøkulen ice cap in southern Norway since the mid-Holocene and its sensitivity to climate change
Authors: Åkesson Henning , Nisancioglu Kerim H. , Giesen Rianne H. , Morlighem Mathieu
Published: January 2017

Abstract. Understanding of long-term dynamics of glaciers and ice caps is vital to assess their recent and future changes, yet few long-term reconstructions using ice flow models exist. Here we present simulations of the maritime Hardangerjøkulen ice cap in Norway from the mid-Holocene through the Little Ice Age (LIA) to the present day, using a numerical ice flow model combined with glacier and climate reconstructions. In our simulation, under a linear climate forcing, we find that Hardangerjøkulen grows from ice-free conditions in the mid-Holocene to its maximum extent during the LIA in a nonlinear, spatially asynchronous fashion. During its fastest stage of growth (2300–1300 BP), the ice cap triples its volume in less than 1000 years. The modeled ice cap extent and outlet glacier length changes from the LIA until today agree well with available observations. Volume and area for Hardangerjøkulen and several of its outlet glaciers vary out-of-phase for several centuries during the Holocene. This volume–area disequilibrium varies in time and from one outlet glacier to the next, illustrating that linear relations between ice extent, volume and glacier proxy records, as generally used in paleoclimatic reconstructions, have only limited validity. We also show that the present-day ice cap is highly sensitive to surface mass balance changes and that the effect of the ice cap hypsometry on the mass balance–altitude feedback is essential to this sensitivity. A mass balance shift by +0.5 m w.e. relative to the mass balance from the last decades almost doubles ice volume, while a decrease of 0.2 m w.e. or more induces a strong mass balance–altitude feedback and makes Hardangerjøkulen disappear entirely. Furthermore, once disappeared, an additional +0.1 m w.e. relative to the present mass balance is needed to regrow the ice cap to its present-day extent. We expect that other ice caps with comparable geometry in, for example, Norway, Iceland, Patagonia and peripheral Greenland may behave similarly, making them particularly vulnerable to climate change.
Perceived challenges for adopting the Personal Health Record (PHR) at Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA) – Riyadh
Authors: Alsahan Aljowhara , Saddik Basema
Published: January 2017

AbstractBackground: The Personal Health Record (PHR) is an electronic record that allows patients to maintain, manage and access their health information in one secure location. However, despite these potential capabilities, the adoption rate of the PHR has been slow due to various challenges.Objectives: This study, being the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, investigates the perceived barriers and /or challenges for PHR adoption in the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA). The study explored perceived barriers and /or challenges from two different perspectives; a technical perspective and a social perspective.Methods: The study was conducted using a mixed methods approach. A cross-sectional study design using a questionnaire was used to measure patients’ perceptions of the PHR and a qualitative approach through focus groups was used to capture comments and opinions from technical personnel for perceived technical barriers to PHR adoption.Result: Results from 424 patients revealed a positive perception for PHR adoption with almost all of the participants (96.7%) indicating interest in using the PHR and the majority (73.3%) expressing no confidentiality concerns for the online accessibility of their health information. Patients with higher levels of education indicated higher interest in using the PHR and expressed more concern with confidentiality than patients with lower levels of education. However, the majority of patients (78.3%) expressed their lack of awareness of existing patient e-services on the MNGHA website. The themes that emerged from the focus groups reinforced lack of awareness of e-services as a potential barrier for PHR adoption as well as the role of policy in the regulation and business process for PHR adoption.Conclusion: This study has highlighted the perceived challenges and barriers for adoption of the PHR in MNGHA-Riyadh. In order to ensure an efficient PHR with a strong adoption rate, effective steps need to be undertaken by building PHR awareness as well as setting clear guidelines and regulations from policy makers.
Assessing Quality of Care and Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes via Google Reviews
Authors: Mowery Jared , Hohman Elizabeth Leeds , Jian Jing , Andrei Amanda , Ward Megan E.
Published: January 2017

Background: It is challenging to assess the quality of care and detect elder abuse in nursing homes, since patients may be incapable of reporting quality issues or abuse themselves, and resources for sending inspectors are limited.Objective: This study correlates Google reviews of nursing homes with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) inspection results in the Nursing Home Compare (NHC) data set, to quantify the extent to which the reviews reflect the quality of care and the presence of elder abuse. Methods: A total of 16,160 reviews were collected, spanning 7,170 nursing homes. Two approaches were tested: using the average rating as an overall estimate of the quality of care at a nursing home, and using the average scores from a maximum entropy classifier trained to recognize indications of elder abuse. Results: The classifier achieved an F-measure of 0.81, with precision 0.74 and recall 0.89. The correlation for the classifier is weak but statistically significant:  = 0.13, P < .001, and 95% confidence interval (0.10, 0.16). The correlation for the ratings exhibits a slightly higher correlation:  = 0.15, P < .001. Both the classifier and rating correlations approach approximately 0.65 when the effective average number of reviews per provider is increased by aggregating similar providers.Conclusions: These results indicate that an analysis of Google reviews of nursing homes can be used to detect indications of elder abuse with high precision and to assess the quality of care, but only when a sufficient number of reviews are available.
Managing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data for Public Health Research
Authors: Van Gaans Deborah , Ahmed Sarah , D'Onise Katina , Taylor Sean Matthew , McDermott R
Published: January 2017

Good quality data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are needed to assess the effectiveness of programs and interventions, and to evaluate policies that are designed to improve the status of, and service delivery to, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  Due to the lack of longitudinal data it is difficult to gain knowledge on the specific causes or consequences of changes in indigenous outcomes.  Variables such as name, date of birth and address variables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders may be subject to more variation and be less consistently reported among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians than among other Australians.  Improving the collection and management of key identifying variables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are key to providing more quality information on this population group.
Health Reform in Minnesota: An Analysis of Complementary Initiatives Implementing Electronic Health Record Technology and Care Coordination
Authors: Soderberg Karen , Rajamani Sripriya , Wholey Douglas , LaVenture Martin
Published: January 2017

Background: Minnesota enacted legislation in 2007 that requires all health care providers in the state to implement an interoperable electronic health record (EHR) system by 2015. 100% of hospitals and 98% of clinics had adopted EHR systems by end of 2015. Minnesota’s 2008 health reform included a health care home (HCH) program, Minnesota’s patient centered medical home. By end of 2014, 43% of HCH eligible clinics were certified with 335 certified HCHs and 430 eligible but not certified clinics.Objectives: To study the association between adoption and use of EHRs in primary care clinics and HCH certification, including use of clinical decision support tools, patient registries, electronic exchange of patient information, and availability of patient portals.Methods: Study utilized data from the 2015 Minnesota Health Information Technology Clinic Survey conducted annually by the Minnesota Department of Health. The response rate was 80% with 1,181 of 1,473 Minnesota clinics, including 662 HCH eligible primary care clinics. The comparative analysis focused on certified HCHs (311) and eligible but not certified clinics (351).Results: HCH clinics utilized the various tools of EHR technology at a higher rate than non-HCH clinics. This better utilization was noted across a range of functionalities: clinical decision support, patient disease registries, EHR to support quality improvement, electronic exchange of summary care records and availability of patient portals. HCH certification was significant for clinical decision support tools, registries and quality improvement.Conclusions: The rapid uptake in EHR technology, combined with health reform efforts focusing on accountability and care coordination, pose opportunities and challenges for providers. Opportunities are availability of tools that support decision making, quality improvement and reporting. Challenges remain for clinics to optimize health information exchange. The need to meet various care coordination requirements were likely drivers for better EHR utilization by HCH clinics. This research presents the synergy between complementary initiatives supporting EHR adoption and HCH certification.
Beyond simple charts: Design of visualizations for big health data
Authors: Ola Oluwakemi , Sedig Kamran
Published: January 2017

Health data is often big data due to its high volume, low veracity, great variety, and high velocity. Big health data has the potential to improve productivity, eliminate waste, and support a broad range of tasks related to disease surveillance, patient care, research, and population health management. Interactive visualizations have the potential to amplify big data’s utilization. Visualizations can be used to support a variety of tasks, such as tracking the geographic distribution of diseases, analyzing the prevalence of disease, triaging medical records, predicting outbreaks, and discovering at-risk populations. Currently, many health visualization tools use simple charts, such as bar charts and scatter plots, that only represent few facets of data. These tools, while beneficial for simple perceptual and cognitive tasks, are ineffective when dealing with more complex sensemaking tasks that involve exploration of various facets and elements of big data simultaneously. There is need for sophisticated and elaborate visualizations that encode many facets of data and support human-data interaction with big data and more complex tasks. When not approached systematically, design of such visualizations is labor-intensive, and the resulting designs may not facilitate big-data-driven tasks. Conceptual frameworks that guide the design of visualizations for big data can make the design process more manageable and result in more effective visualizations. In this paper, we demonstrate how a framework-based approach can help designers create novel, elaborate, non-trivial visualizations for big health data. We present four visualizations that are components of a larger tool for making sense of large-scale public health data.
USO DA MOXABUSTÃO E ACUPUNTURA EM GESTANTES COM APRESENTAÇÃO PÉLVICA: REVISÃO INTEGRATIVA
Authors: Rodrigues Mariana Haddad , Zorzim Vivian Inácio
Published: January 2017

O objetivo deste estudo foi conduzir uma revisão integrativa a fim de identificar publicações sobre a moxabustão e acupuntura para versão de fetos em apresentação pélvica. A ferramenta de pesquisa Paciente, Intervenção, Comparação e Desfecho, disponibilizada pela base de dados da Biblioteca Nacional de Medicina dos Estados Unidos, foi utilizada para gerar uma lista de artigos. As palavras utilizadas para a busca foram os termos breech, moxibustion, acupuncture e cephalic. A busca foi realizada no mês de março de 2016. Foram encontrados 24 registros, 18 foram analisados, dentre os quais sete foram favoráveis ao uso da moxabustão, e cinco, desfavoráveis. A partir dos estudos realizados sobre o tema, há evidências de que a moxabustão seja segura e efetiva para tentar “corrigir” apresentações pélvicas, apresentando-se como uma ferramenta no complemento da assistência prestada por profissionais na área da obstetrícia.
SAÚDE DE MULHERES NO CLIMATÉRIO EM SISTEMA PRISIONAL
Authors: Dos Santos Rita de Cássia Ferreira , Pereira Audrey Vidal , Alves Valdecyr Herdy , Dos Santos Márcia Vieira , Rodrigues Diego Pereira , Marchiori Giovanna Rosário Soanno
Published: January 2017

Objetivou identificar sinais, sintomas e problemas que afetam a saúde, nos relatos de mulheres que passam pelo período do climatério, quando se encontram privadas de liberdade. Pesquisa exploratória, descritiva, com abordagem qualitativa. Entre outubro de 2014 e janeiro de 2015 foram realizadas entrevistas com sete mulheres que se encontravam no período do climatério, ao estarem em um presídio feminino situado no Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. A partir da análise temática, foram identificadas duas categorias: Sintomatologia referente ao período do climatério e Problemas que afetam a saúde de mulheres privadas de liberdade. A maioria das entrevistadas passa pelo período do climatério de maneira desconfortável, tendo a saúde afetada de algum modo durante a prisão. Assim, o climatério, sobretudo em situações de privação de liberdade, deve ser mais explorado pelas políticas públicas de saúde contribuindo para melhoria das condições de vida desse grupo específico.
ACIDENTES OCUPACIONAIS COM MATERIAL POTENCIALMENTE CONTAMINADO ENVOLVENDO TRABALHADORES DE ENFERMAGEM
Authors: Januário Gabriela da Cunha , De Carvalho Priscila do Carmo Freitas , Lemos Graziele de Carvalho , Gir Eucir , Toffano Silmara Elaine Malaguti
Published: January 2017

Objetivou-se descrever os acidentes ocupacionais envolvendo material biológico com trabalhadores da equipe de enfermagem. Estudo descritivo, retrospectivo, com abordagem quantitativa, realizado em um hospital do Centro-Oeste Mineiro. Os dados foram coletados por meio de consulta às fichas de comunicado de acidente de trabalho e prontuários, resguardando todos os aspectos éticos. No período de outubro de 2014 a maio de 2016, 61 trabalhadores sofreram 71 exposições; 56 (91,8%) são mulheres, 32 (52,5%) técnicos de enfermagem, 31 (50,8%) que atuavam nas enfermarias. Houve predomínio de exposições percutâneas 37 (60,7%), em punção venosa 17 (27,9%). Conclui-se que tais exposições poderiam ser evitadas, o que evidencia a necessidade de educação continuada para esses profissionais e a implantação de dispositivos com engenharia de segurança.
The Soft Power of Teacher’s Instructional Decision Making: An Empirical Study of 4 Chinese EFL Teachers and Native English Teachers
Authors: Zhang Youwen , Yang Zhihui
Published: January 2017

Beliefs, concepts and perceptions drive teachers’ practices. This study reports a comparative enquiry into the soft power of decision making of two categories of teachers when approaching teaching in the language classroom. Decisions of tasks and participation structures teachers adopted in their instructions, and the underlying soft power of decision making in class are identified with reference to beliefs, knowledge, prior experiences and context. And it reveals that these teachers tend to capitalize on these theories eclectically, though they differ in the extent to which they stress one focus or another, and the logicality between teacher’s soft power and instructional decision making exists and gives an insight into the critical issues related to future study.
Reading Public Service Co-Production through the Lenses of Requisite Variety
Authors: Ciasullo Maria Vincenza , Palumbo Rocco , Troisi Orlando
Published: January 2017

This paper conceives municipalities as Smart Local Service Systems (SLSS), where co-production and variety perform as key resources to merge service quality and sustainability. The attention is focused on local public transport services, where users’ involvement in value creation process is considered to be especially relevant. A narrative case study is presented, concerning the mobility service system of the municipality of Bologna (Italy). The research focused on the SMARTIP (Smart Metropolitan Areas Realised Through Innovation & People) European project, which was aimed at enhancing service quality and sustainability through citizens’ empowerment and co-production. Citizens’ involvement in co-planning and co-designing local transport services was found to be critical to improve service quality. Citizens’ empowerment process allows to establish a co-creating relationship among the different stakeholders who are involved in urban mobility, paving the way for their engagement in devising, implementing and assessing transportation services. Public managers should take into consideration the role of value co-creation to enhance the responsiveness of public sector organizations and to achieve increased smartness. On the one hand, a citizens’ empowerment process is required to foster their participation in service co-production; on the other hand, citizens’ involvement engenders a virtuous cycle, encouraging the latter in co-producing public services. This paper represents one of the first attempts to examine service co-production in light of the requisite variety perspective. Co-production allows to merge competing purposes by activating the citizens’ sleeping assets and by absorbing external variety through the creation of internal variety.
Stakeholder Engagement beyond the Tension between Idealism and Practical Concerns
Authors: Biraghi Silvia , Gambetti Rossella C. , Romenti Stefania
Published: January 2017

This paper digs into the existing controversial literature on stakeholder engagement (SE) to understand and critically confront with ambivalence in the concept. This is done by exploring how SE is conceptually framed and pragmatically pursued in the representations of current business practices. The study is designed according to a qualitative interpretive approach based on depth interviews with a purposively selected theoretical sample of key informants with established expertise in stakeholder relationship management practices. According to our findings, SE appears torn between an idealistic impetus on the fringe of a utopian vision of the business, and its often trivial translation into practice urged by the pragmatic necessity to meet accountability requirements. This tension stems from corporate governance logics and organizational business models of firms, which are often not prone to guarantee the participatory and genuinely dialogic exchange between company and stakeholders advocated by the idealistic mandate of SE. In terms of contribution the paper provides a critical inductive reconstruction of current meanings and clashes embedded in enacting SE.
Factors Influencing Non-Performing Loans in Commercial Banks: The Case of Banks in Selangor
Authors: Murthy Uma , Mohammed Kamil Naail , Anthony Mariadas Paul , Devi Dilashenyi
Published: January 2017

Non-performing loans (NPL) is a worldwide issue that affects financial markets stability in general and banking industry viability in particular. The net non-performing loan (NPL) ratio in the banking system since the Asian financial crisis has gradually been in decline from 13.6% in December 1998 to 2.8% in May 2008. Government intervention to non-performing loan recovery strategies have contributed significantly in the decline. The Malaysian government and banks have succeeded in removing the non-performing loans (NPL) from banks Balance Sheet. This study examines the factors influencing non-performing loans in commercial banks in Selangor. A quantitative research approach is employed in this research following the positivist assumption with a realist ontology and objectivist epistemology. Data was collected using a probabilistic sampling method, particularly a stratified random sampling technique. The adapted survey questionnaire employed in this study and distributed 150 questionnaires and successfully received 130 questionnaires. Overall, the researcher has discussed about the findings of the analysis that was conucted using the SPSS software. Descriptive approach, correlation and multiple regression analysiss had been shown during the analysis. The descriptive approach displayed direct  results while  the correlation displayed the relationship between the dependent variable (non-performing loan) and the independent variables (standard of living, consumer income, economy of the country, bank interest rate). In this research, found three factors that influencing non-performing loan in Malaysia which are consumers’ income, the economy of the country and bank interest rate. The bank will found that the bank interest rate affect the rate of non-performing loan increase. For the future researchers, this research will benefit them as well. If they are doing their researches which are related to this topic, they can gather everything they want easily. Besides that, it will benefit the researcher who is going to do this research study in Malaysia. This is because the information in Malaysia is limited.
An Integrated Model Recommendation about Team Performance Measurement and Evaluation
Authors: Aybas Meryem , Uyargil Cavide
Published: January 2017

There has been a great increase of interest by the academics and practitioners in the studies on teamwork and evaluation of team performance in the recent years. Yet there are still some gaps in the related literature especially in team performance evaluation models and approaches. Such models focusing only on individuals as a measurement unit have been criticized because they foster individual competition and harm the team spirit. On the other hand, the models over emphasizing the teams as a measurement unit have been accepted as ignoring the individual performance and recognition and not preventing the social-loafing. It was also noticed that in the literature inter-team performance measurement and evaluation processes have been as well ignored. This study aims at a) reviewing the previous studies on team performance evaluation, b) identifying some integration gaps in current team performance models, c) developing a conceptual model and d) formulating some propositions for the researchers who want to make further studies in this topic. This paper is based on critical review of previous empirical and theoretical team performance measurement literature and it is tried to develop a conceptual model to produce new insights of indicators affecting team performance measurement and evaluation. The study tries to extend the previous work on team performance evaluation models by developing an “integrated” model with some new variables. At the end of the study nine hypothetical propositions were developed. The model intends to suggest some new views related with the team performance’s place in the system of organizational performance.
Propulsion Systems of Motor-Sail Yachts — Problems of Diagnosing
Authors: Grządziela Andrzej
Published: January 2017

The paper presents operational problems in diagnosing the propulsion system of motor-sail yachts. The advantages and operational problems are presented in the paper and the specificity of use of the propulsion systems. It is shown here solutions to meet the requirements of the marine environment. There are shown exemplary damages resulting from operational errors of crew use. It is proposed program of sea trials, which further operation would be an indispensable diagnostic tool supporting the reliability and safety of the yacht at sea.
Impact Resistance of Aluminium Ship Structures
Authors: Jurczak Wojciech
Published: January 2017

In the article there are summarized author’s results of research carried out in the Department of Basics of Marine Engineering of Polish Naval Academy for the last years. The results of those tests are listed in the selected publications that generally describe the improving impact resistance of the marine aluminium alloys. Using the ballistic dividers, sharing in the same thickness or applying the ceramics state the main methods to increase the impact resistance of the tested alloys. The interlayer aluminium structures are super effective. Their impact strength in relation to the monolithic material rise 3-times. This significantly improves their resistance to piercing by the 7.62 mm missile and the fragmentation (making shrapnel) decreases during the explosion. Each aluminium alloys are protected by the ballistic ceramics of 5 mm thickness with the fire caused by the missile of E = 3kJ. The Armox 500S steel can provide an effective protection for aluminium alloys as a ballistic divider during the fire by the 7,62 mm B32 missile.
Modeling of Emissions and Dispersion of Harmful Compounds from Marine Main Propulsion Diesel Engines of Vessels Navigating in Specified Water Basins
Authors: Kniaziewicz Tomasz
Published: January 2017

The article presents the results of the first nationwide study of a pro-ecological character, including the problem of the impact of shipping (in a particular basin) on the terrestrial human environment. Shipping in the waters of the Bay of Gdansk is taken as an example of the real system and a detailed identification of the operating conditions for the vessels has been undertaken. Data were obtained from the analysis of information gathered by surveillance systems of vessel traffic (such as Automatic Identification System - AIS) for the complete identification of parameters and characteristics of shipping traffic in the form of deterministic and statistical mathematical models. On the basis of these mathematical models of the emission of harmful exhaust emissions from marine engines have been developed. Models of the spread of exhaust gas are based on the models of Gauss, Euler and Lagrange. Their use has enabled a scientific tool to evaluate the contribution of immission of harmful compounds in the global immission of pollutants in the atmospheric air of the Tri-city agglomeration to be obtained.
Pizza Options
Authors: Cope Liza
Published: January 2017

“There are 33 million ways to sell a Domino's Pizza, so coming up with a way to put calories in a menu for 33 million varieties is a little bit difficult,” Domino's CEO J. Patrick Doyle told AnnArbor.com this morning after speaking at an Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of Commerce event. “So we're still working on that.”
Mathematics in the Simulation of an Economics System
Authors: Kang Rui , Letze Jessica , Letze Natasha
Published: January 2017

A popular game with a farm setting offers an innovative approach to modeling and functions.
Tricks May Inhibit Students' Reasoning
Authors: Paoletti Teo , Stevens Irma E. , Moore Kevin C.
Published: January 2017

Strategy can uncover students' thinking about representational conventions.
Engaging in Research: Why? How? Now!
Authors: Fonger Nicole L. , Reiten Lindsay , Strachota Susanne , Ozgur Zekiye
Published: January 2017

Why should teachers engage in research studies? As a community, teachers and researchers are concerned with addressing critical issues in math education. NCTM's web resources and conferences, as well as the pages of this journal, give evidence of a growing community and an expanding body of work supporting NCTM's (2012) position of linking research and practice—a “border crossing” between the world of research and the world of teaching (Silver 2003). Despite these initiatives, an emerging issue remains: How do we work together to cultivate a two-way exchange of professional knowledge (Heid et al. 2006)?
Comparison of Analytical Characteristics of Commercial and in-House Methods for DNA Isolation from Paraffin Histology Blocks
Authors: Natalya Oskina  , Ashot Avdalyan  , Dmitriy Subbotin  , Alexandr Lazarev  , Alexandr Kel  , Nikolay Kushlinskii  , Maxim Filipenko
Published: January 2017

One of the hotspots in clinical research today is molecular genetic analysis of structural DNA alterations. Working with DNA obtained from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue specimens is particularly challenging, due to cross-linking and fragmentation of DNA. We performed a comparative analysis of DNA extraction methods from FFPE tissue using two in-house protocols and Qiagen (QIAamp DNA FFPE Tissue Kit) and Roche (High Pure FFPET DNA Isolation Kit) commercial kits presented in the Russian market and used in clinical practice. To assess the quantity and quality of the isolated DNA, we used the real-time PCR to rate DNA yield, the inhibited impurity content and the degree of fragmentation. Our findings may be useful for a medical laboratory that performs testing of somatic mutations for the targeted therapy selection, and researchers who specialized in tumor genome structure studies in respect to patient prognosis and prediction of the sensitivity or resistance of tumor cells to therapy.
Brachytherapy in Head and Neck Cancer: A Forgotten Art or a Skill to be Remembered!!
Authors: A.S. Kirthi Koushik  , R.C. Alva
Published: January 2017

Radiation therapy is a critical part of multi-modality management of head and neck cancers. Brachytherapy or internal radiation is an ideal method of treatment delivery to achieve the ultimate goal of radiation treatment, that is maximum dose to tumour and minimum dose to normal tissues. Brachytherapy enables the radiation oncologist to provide a perfect mixture of radiation physics, radiobiology and clinical acumen to counter head and neck cancers. Appropriate usage based on the clearly defined indications and simple methods can maximize the advantages of brachytherapy thus resulting in excellent outcomes. However, the steady decline in utilization of brachytherapy over the years coupled with the technological advances of highly conformal radiotherapy, have dented its broader application for head and neck cancers. Can the new age radiation oncologist afford to neglect this therapeutic skill set?
On the Wrong Side of the Tracks?: Ethical Considerations of the Needle Black Market
Authors: Panariello Natalie
Published: January 2017

Since the late 1980s, needle exchange programs (NEP s) have been great resources for intravenous drug users (IDU s), as they provide both clean needles with which IDUs can inject as well as basic health services, including HIV HIV testing and counseling. However, for reasons such as inconvenience and fear of criminalization, many IDU s opt instead to purchase their needles from illicit street sellers who acquire needles in bulk from NEP s. This ess ay considers the ethical permiss ibility of the sellers’ actions, focusing specifically on the case of a man from Philadelphia who uses the money he obtains from needle resale to feed his addiction. It is ultimately argued that the man’s actions are, in fact, ethical, as his resale of needles positively contributes to the common good by reducing the spread of disease. illicit needle sellers such as the one described in this ess ay should be embraced by the public health community since, with proper training, they can help to facilitate health promoting education for their peers.
"Who Would Hire a Blind Poet?": Blindness in the Eyes of Stephen Kuusisto
Authors: Kabacinski Christopher
Published: January 2017

The trope of blindness has persisted since antiquity in figures like Oedipus, Tiresias, and the hypothetical blind man. Furthermore, colloquial uses of blindness shore up problematic and reductive narratives and expectations about blind individuals. Representing the disabled man thus poses a distinct challenge as it works against hegemonic notions of masculinity and ability. disability—as it is reductively associated with dependency, infirmity, and weakness—contradicts the strength, autonomy, and bodily integrity of stereotypical masculinity. Through close readings of the poetry and memoir of St ephen Kuusisto, a partially blind american poet, the author identifies the double gesture of defamiliarization and refamiliarization in Kuusisto’s representations of blindness and masculinity. Kuusisto carves out a space for the blind man in everyday life by deploying, reworking, and rejecting the problematic constructions of blindness and masculinity.
Titan of Terror: A Personification of the Destroyer of Worlds
Authors: Luedeking Alessandra
Published: January 2017

In 1954, Japan was barely recovering from a devastating defeat in World War II and a humiliating seven-year American occupation when the United States dropped two atomic bombs over Hi roshima and Nagasaki. Plunged into the Atomic Age, Japan produced a film, Gojira (Godzilla), that reflected the psychological trauma of a people trying to salvage their cities, their culture, and their lives. In the film, the monster is the physical embodiment of the destructive forces of nuclear power. Its poignancy is derived from its historical allusions to real events, including the Lucky Dragon 5 incident in which a Japanese Tuna trawler was covered in radioactive ash from the detonation of an underwater American atom bomb. Moreover, the film captures the conflict between censorship of athe exposition of truth, focusing on the burden of scientific responsibility. Fi nally, the film concludes by underscoring the ultimate victimization of humanity under the tyranny of massive destruction and warns against the perils of nuclear proliferation.
The Psychological Puzzle: Contributing Factors to the Top-Down Politicization of Intelligence
Authors: Moretti Rebecca
Published: January 2017

Policy and intelligence are intimately intertwined. Policymakers need intelligence to make decisions, while the intelligence community derives significance from its ability to provide policy makers with reliable information. In this symbiotic relationship, it is healthy for intelligence consumers to at times check and direct the work of intelligence producers. However, if undertaken maliciously, this checking mechanism manifests as top-down politicization. Here, leaders use intelligence post facto to legitimize their policies instead of using it to guide them, reversing the rational decision-making process. Certain factors may compel leaders to manipulate intelligence to reflect their policy preferences. This essay demonstrates how three distinct processes of top-down politicization can arise from ambiguous evidence, the psychology of intelligence consumers, and the nature of the leaders’ political positions and responsibilities. It then proceeds to argue that political leaders’ psychology is the most potent source of top-down politicization.
Dreibens Modulo 7: A New Formula for Primality Testing
Authors: Diep-Nguyen Arthur
Published: January 2017

In this paper, we discuss strings of 3’s and 7’s, hereby dubbed “dreibens.” As a first step towards determining whether the set of prime dreibens is infinite, we examine the properties of dreibens when divided by 7. by determining the divisibility of a dreiben by 7, we can rule out some composite dreibens in the search for prime dreibens. We are concerned with the number of dreibens of length n that leave a remainder i when divided by 7. By using number theory, linear algebra, and abstract algebra, we arrive at a formula that tells us how many dreibens of length n are divisible by 7. We also find a way to determine the number of dreibens of length n that leave a remainder i when divided by 7. Further investigation from a combinatorial perspective provides additional insight into the properties of dreibens when divided by 7. Overall, this paper helps characterize dreibens, opens up more paths of inquiry into the nature of dreibens, and rules out some composite dreibens from a prime dreiben search.
Convict the Deviant: Masculinity and Rape in Early America
Authors: Quigley Katherine
Published: January 2017

In the late eighteenth century, the proper expression of masculinity was essential
for citizenship and acceptance into the patriarchal community. Rapists were considered
to be prime examples of unmanly deviants expressing their sexuality outside of
culturally acceptable norms. Despite this, rapes often went unpunished or ignored,
as respectable and oftentimes wealthy men serving as judges and in juries strove to
protect their access to women. The few men they chose to prosecute and execute for
rape were overwhelmingly marginalized people who refused to conform to acceptable
standards of male behavior. Through criminal narratives, accused rapists—often
with the input of a minister —explained their crimes in the context of their past
actions and circumstances, and warned others to conform to acceptable standards.
The use of criminal narratives to emphasize the gender and socially deviant behaviors
of convicted rapists popularized the belief that it was primarily unmanly outsiders,
rather than respectable patriarchs, who committed such crimes.
Tunisian Exceptionalism Or Constitutional Timing: A Comparison Of Democratic Transitions In The Middle East
Authors: Blaisdell Max
Published: January 2017

Abstract: The protest movements of the Arab Spring prompted a major reevaluation amongst policymakers and academics alike about authoritarian regime stability in the Middle East. Counter to the euphoria that greeted the protests, continued instability, sectarianism, and extreme violence in several Middle Eastern states have sparked concerns that the dictators who ruled before may have been the better of two bad options. These concerns detract from the significant political transformation that Tunisia has undergone, from one of the most repressive dictatorships in the region to its sole genuine democracy. While Tunisia’s successful democratic transition looks like an anomaly in its current regional environment, Egypt did achieve a significant historic milestone when it elected President Morsi in free and fair elections. However his tenure did not last long, and Egypt’s broader failure to democratize prompts questions as to how democratic transitions succeed after dictatorships. By comparing the democratic transition processes in Tunisia and in Egypt, we can begin to elucidate the causes of the different outcomes of the protests in these two similar states. New political actors and certain ancien régime institutions played critical roles in ousting the dictators, but the timeline of whether democratic elections took place before or after new constitutions were adopted, was paramount in determining the success of the democratic transition. This is because constitutional timing structured whether the country’s political design would be determined by dialogue and deliberation or ad-hoc by the political actor with the greatest popularity.   
Meeting Henry Hills: Printer To The King's Most Excellent Majesty
Authors: Caswell Violet
Published: January 2017

What does it mean to study a book? In the early modern period, the printed book became an essential catalyst for the dissemination of information, ideas, and culture. Especially in times of conflict, the realm of the printed word provided an important space in which the dissatisfied could make their voices heard or in which rulers could quell the rumblings of rebellion. It seems obvious that to study a book is to read a book, to seek out the voice of its author.

Yet books are more than the mere words they contain. Librarians, archivists, and conservators take pains to preserve early and rare books because they are important physical objects with their own unique and often surprising stories. Behind each book is a host of individuals: patrons and printers, authors and apprentices. 

The following essay began with an examination of the John J. Burns Library's 1686 copy of The Life of St. Ignatius, Founder of the Society of Jesus. It relates the story of Henry Hills, the wily craftsman who managed to retain his position as official printer to the crown throughout the extraordinarly different reigns of Charles II, Oliver Cromwell, James II, and Queen Anne. 