bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Medial Buttressing in Orbital Blowout Fractures
Authors: Ramesh Sathyadeepak , Bokman Christine , Mustak Hamzah , Lo Christopher , Goldberg Robert , Rootman Daniel
Published: January 2018

Purpose:

To study whether ethmoidectomy predisposes the orbit to medial wall fracture with lesser trauma.

Methods:

An interventional cadaver study of 5 heads (10 orbits); the left or right orbit was randomized to undergo endoscopic complete ethmoidectomy with the fellow orbit as control. Fractures were induced with direct globe trauma, and heads underwent CT scanning. Energy to induce fracture, peak orbital pressure at time of fracture, fracture pattern, and volume of herniated tissue were measured and analyzed.

Results:

Fractures were induced in both orbits of all cadavers. Experimental orbits after ethmoidectomy sustained orbital fracture at less energy required (2.14 ± 0.66 vs. 3.10 ± 0.19 J, mean difference: −0.96 ± 0.33 J, p < 0.05). Similarly, peak orbital pressure was lower for ethmoidectomized orbits than for controls (11.8 ± 8.42 vs. 28.4 ± 13.2 mm Hg, mean difference: −16.5 ± 6.9 mm Hg, p < 0.05). Orbits after ethmoidectomy were more likely to sustain medial wall involvement in fracture (100%) compared with controls (20%, p < 0.05) and pure medial wall fracture (80%) compared with controls (0%, p < 0.05). Overall volume of herniated orbital contents was not significantly different between groups (p = 0.25); volume of herniated tissue from the medial wall only was significantly greater in orbits after ethmoidectomy (mean difference: 1.01 ± −0.39 cm,
3

p < 0.05).

Conclusion:

Endoscopic ethmoidectomy in fresh cadavers reduces impact energy necessary to induce orbital fracture and increases the prevalence of medial wall involvement. Clinicians may wish to counsel patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery about these relative risks.
A Fresh Cadaver Study on Indocyanine Green Fluorescence Lymphography: A New Whole-Body Imaging Technique for Investigating the Superficial Lymphatics
Authors: Shinaoka Akira , Koshimune Seijiro , Yamada Kiyoshi , Kumagishi Kanae , Suami Hiroo , Kimata Yoshihiro , Ohtsuka Aiji
Published: January 2018

Background:

Identification of the lymphatic system in cadavers is painstaking because lymphatic vessels have very thin walls and are transparent. Selection of appropriate contrast agents is a key factor for successfully visualizing the lymphatics. In this study, the authors introduce a new imaging technique of lymphatic mapping in the whole bodies of fresh cadavers.

Methods:

Ten fresh human cadavers were used for this study. The authors injected 0.1 ml of indocyanine green fluorescence solution subcutaneously at multiple spots along the watershed lines between lymphatic territories and hand and foot regions. After the body was scanned by the near-infrared camera system, fluorescent tissues were harvested and histologic examination was performed under the microscope equipped with the infrared camera system to confirm that they were the lymphatics.

Results:

Subcutaneously injected indocyanine green was immediately transported into the lymphatic vessels after gentle massage on the injection points. Sweeping massage along the lymphatic vessels facilitated indocyanine green transport inside the lymphatic vessel to move toward the lymph nodes. The lymphatic system was visualized well in the whole body. Histologic examinations confirmed that indocyanine green was detected in the lymphatic lumens specifically, even when located far from the injected points.

Conclusions:

The lymphatic system could be visualized in whole-body fresh cadavers, as in living bodies, using indocyanine green fluorescence lymphography. Compatibility of indocyanine green lymphography would facilitate the use of cadaveric specimens for macroscopic and microscopic analyses.
Measurement of Warping Angle in Human Rib Graft: An Experimental Study
Authors: Ors Safvet
Published: January 2018

Background:

The purpose of this study was to determine the warping angle of the costal cartilage in vivo.

Methods:

A nasal framework reconstruction with a rib graft was performed in a total of 130 patients. After the cartilage specimens were prepared, the remaining grafts were used for study. The angle of warping in all grafts was measured at 0, 30, and 60 minutes; after 24 hours; and after 1 week. Eight subgroups of graft thicknesses from central and peripheral groups, determined according to the perichondral distance of the grafts, were evaluated, and the warping angles of 48 osteochondral and chondral grafts were measured individually. Three-way analysis of variance was used to compare the change in warping over time to detect differences in the grafts.

Results:

Significant differences were not observed in the 1- to 3-mm-thick grafts of peripheral and central origin before 30 minutes (p > 0.05), although significant differences were observed in these groups for all time points after 30 minutes (p < 0.05). In central and peripheral grafts thicker than 4 mm, a significant warping angle was not observed (p > 0.05). In central origin grafts thinner than 1 mm, significant differences were not observed in the warping angle (p > 0.05), although they were observed in the same grafts of peripheral origin (p < 0.05). Peripheral origin grafts thicker than 1 mm showed warping in the direction of the perichondrium (p < 0.05), whereas central origin grafts thinner than 1 mm showed warping angle irregularities.

Conclusion:

Interlocking stresses are very important in rib grafts when balanced cross-sectional carving occurs from the peripheral to the central areas.

CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:

Therapeutic, V.
The Most Common Causes of Eye Pain at 2 Tertiary Ophthalmology and Neurology Clinics
Authors: Bowen Randy C. , Koeppel Jan N. , Christensen Chance D. , Snow Karisa B. , Ma Junjie , Katz Bradley J. , Krauss Howard R. , Landau Klara , Warner Judith E. A. , Crum Alison V. , Straumann Dominik , Digre Kathleen B.
Published: January 2018

Background:

Eye pain is a common complaint, but no previous studies have determined the most common causes of this presenting symptom. Our objective was to determine the most common causes of eye pain in 2 ophthalmology and neurology departments at academic medical centers.

Methods:

This was a retrospective cross-sectional analysis and chart review at the departments of ophthalmology and neurology at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ), University of Zürich, Switzerland, and the University of Utah (UU), USA. Data were analyzed from January 2012 to December 2013. We included patients aged 18 years or older presenting with eye pain as a major complaint.

Results:

Two thousand six hundred three patient charts met inclusion criteria; 742 were included from USZ and 1,861 were included from UU. Of these, 2,407 had been seen in an ophthalmology clinic and 196 had been seen in a neurology clinic. Inflammatory eye disease (conjunctivitis, blepharitis, keratitis, uveitis, dry eye, chalazion, and scleritis) was the underlying cause of eye pain in 1,801 (69.1%) of all patients analyzed. Although only 71 (3%) of 2,407 patients had migraine diagnosed in an ophthalmology clinic as the cause of eye pain, migraine was the predominant cause of eye pain in the neurology clinics (100/196; 51%). Other causes of eye pain in the neurology clinics included optic neuritis (44 patients), trigeminal neuralgia, and other cranial nerve disorders (8 patients).

Conclusions:

Eye pain may be associated with a number of different causes, some benign and others sight- or life-threatening. Because patients with eye pain may present to either a neurology or an ophthalmology clinic and because the causes of eye pain may be primarily ophthalmic or neurologic, the diagnosis and management of these patients often requires collaboration and consultation between the 2 specialties.
Invited Commentary: Evaluation of Horner Syndrome in the MRI Era
Authors: Kawasaki Aki
Published: January 2018

This Invited Commentary discusses the following article:

Sadaka A, Schockman SL, Golnik KC. Evaluation of Horner syndrome in the MRI era. J Neuroophthalmol. 2017;37:268–272.

Background:

To identify the etiologies of adult Horner syndrome (HS) in the MRI era using a targeted evaluation approach and to assess the value and yield of targeted imaging.

Methods:

A retrospective chart review was performed of 200 adult outpatients with HS, confirmed with cocaine eyedrop testing. Patients were divided into subgroups based on the presence or absence of symptoms and those who did or did not receive additional testing with hydroxyamphetamine drops. Imaging was obtained based on pharmacologic localization and/or clinical evaluation. The etiology of HS and the yield of imaging were determined in all subgroups.

Results:

Imaging showed causative lesions in 24 of 179 (12.84%) imaged patients with HS, and 13 (69.0%) were determined “idiopathic.” Of the patients who underwent testing with hydroxyamphetamine drops (132 patients), 86 had a postganglionic localization with an imaging yield of 8.1%, and 46 had preganglionic cause with an imaging yield of 21.7%. Fifty-three patients (26.5%) never noticed ptosis/anisocoria before examination, and the imaging yield in this subgroup was 2.8%. Eighteen of the 200 patients (9.0%) had serious pathology, including carotid artery dissection, brain, or neck mass, and 6 of these (31.6%) had acute symptoms and/or pain.

Conclusion:

HS is most often idiopathic with serious pathology being relatively infrequent. When determining etiology, the absence of symptoms is not predictive of the pathology. However, acute onset of symptoms and/or pain are possible indicators for serious pathology. Localizing the lesion using hydroxyamphetamine drops whenever obtainable and available is still an efficient way to target imaging evaluation.
Two distinct proprioceptive representations of voluntary movements in primate spinal neurons
Authors: Tomatsu Saeka , Kim Geehee , Confais Joachim , Takei Tomohiko , Seki Kazuhiko
Published: January 2018

When willingly setting our body in motion, we simultaneously know where and how our limbs are moving. While this indicates that proprioceptive information is readily represented in the neurons of the central nervous system, it is still unclear how. We recorded the activity of spinal neurons with direct projections from muscle spindle afferents in four monkeys, while they performed simple wrist movements. Against the assumption that these spinal neurons act as a simple relay of afferent input, we found the majority (56%) of neurons had firing patterns incongruent with a simple representation of spindle activity, and the minority had congruent patterns. Two groups of neurons showed distinct intrinsic characteristics (spike width, base firing rate and firing irregularity), and distinct control of their input-output gain. These results are the first demonstration that proprioceptive representation is achieved by the coordinated activity of distinct groups of neurons during volitional movement.
The effects of mechanical strain on mouse eye lens capsule and cellular microstructure
Authors: Parreno Justin , Cheng Catherine , Nowak Roberta B. , Fowler Velia M.
Published: January 2018

The understanding of multiscale load transfer within complex soft tissues is incomplete. The eye lens is ideal for multiscale tissue mechanics studies as its principal function is to fine focus light at different distances onto the retina via mechanical shape changes. The biomechanical function, resiliency, and intricate microstructure of the lens make it an excellent non-connective soft tissue model. We hypothesized that compressive strain applied onto whole lens tissue leads to deformation of specific microstructures and that this deformation is reversible following removal of load. For this examination, mouse lenses were compressed by sequential application of increasing load. Using confocal microscopy and quantitative image analysis, we determined that axial strain ≥10% reduces capsule thickness, expands epithelial cell area, and separates fiber cell tips at the anterior region of the lenses. At the equatorial region, strain ≥6% increases fiber cell widths. The effects of strain on lens epithelial cell area, capsule thickness, and equatorial fiber cell widths are reversible following the release of lenses from strain. However, although fiber cell tip separation following the removal of low loads is reversible, the separation becomes irreversible with application of higher loads. This irreversible separation between fiber cell tips leads to incomplete bulk lens resiliency. The lens is an accessible biomechanical model system that provides new insights on multiscale transfer of loads in soft tissues.
Link Prediction through Deep Generative Model
Authors: Wang Xu-Wen , Chen Yize , Liu Yang-Yu
Published: January 2018

Inferring missing links or predicting future ones based on the currently observed network is known as link prediction, which has tremendous real-world applications in biomedicine1–3, e-commerce4, social media5and criminal intelligence6. Numerous methods have been proposed to solve the link prediction problem7–9. Yet, many of these existing methods are designed for undirected networks only. Moreover, most methods are based on domain-specific heuristics10, and hence their performances differ greatly for networks from different domains. Here we developed a new link prediction method based on deep generative models11in machine learning. This method does not rely on any domain-specific heuristic and works for general undirected or directed complex networks. Our key idea is to represent the adjacency matrix of a network as an image and then learn hierarchical feature representations of the image by training a deep generative model. Those features correspond to structural patterns in the network at different scales, from small subgraphs to mesoscopic communities12. Conceptually, taking into account structural patterns at different scales all together should outperform any domain-specific heuristics that typically focus on structural patterns at a particular scale. Indeed, when applied to various real-world networks from different domains13–17, our method shows overall superior performance against existing methods. Moreover, it can be easily parallelized by splitting a large network into several small subnetworks and then perform link prediction for each subnetwork in parallel. Our results imply that deep learning techniques can be effectively applied to complex networks and solve the classical link prediction problem with robust and superior performance.

We propose a new link prediction method based on deep generative models.
Precise temporal regulation of alternative splicing during neural development
Authors: Weyn-Vanhentenryck Sebastien M. , Feng Huijuan , Ustianenko Dmytro , Duffié Rachel , Yan Qinghong , Jacko Martin , Martinez Jose C. , Goodwin Marianne , Zhang Xuegong , Hengst Ulrich , Lomvardas Stavros , Swanson Maurice S. , Zhang Chaolin
Published: January 2018

Alternative splicing (AS) is a crucial step of gene expression that must be tightly controlled, but the precise timing of dynamic splicing switches during neural development and the underlying regulatory mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we systematically analyzed the temporal regulation of AS in a large number of transcriptome profiles of developing mouse cortices,in vivopurified neuronal subtypes, and neurons differentiatedin vitro. Our analysis revealed early- and late-switch exons in genes with distinct functions, and these switches accurately define neuronal maturation stages. Integrative modeling suggests that these switches are under direct and combinatorial regulation by distinct sets of neuronal RNA-binding proteins including Nova, Rbfox, Mbnl and Ptbp. Surprisingly, various neuronal subtypes in the sensory systems lack Nova and/or Rbfox expression. These neurons retain the “immature” splicing program in early-switch exons, affecting numerous synaptic genes. These results provide new insights into the organization and regulation of the neurodevelopmental transcriptome.
Employees’ recognition of corporate sustainability: a case study
Authors: Pintão Silvana , Chaves Cristina , Branco Manuel Castelo
Published: January 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to ascertain whether a company with a solid reputation for corporate sustainability leadership deems its workforce to be as important as its external stakeholders when developing and communicating its sustainability activities, and to evaluate its workforce’s recognition of such activities.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve these aims, a case study of a leading Brazilian company was carried out. The authors conducted an interview with the corporate sustainability department and submitted a survey by questionnaire to its employees. The data were complemented by documentary analysis of the company’s annual reports, sustainability reports, corporate website, newsletters and press releases.

Findings

Results suggest that the company does attribute significant importance to its workforce and that its employees have sound knowledge of its sustainability practices and engage with them.

Research limitations/implications

Given that the research adopts a case study approach, the scope for generalisation is limited.

Originality/value

The present study explores a neglected aspect of extant research – the relations between corporate sustainability and human resources.
Packing density of inkjet printed paths
Authors: Tomaszewski Grzegorz , Potencki Jerzy , Wałach Tadeusz
Published: January 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to study the packing density of printed paths on different substrate materials. It presents problems which appear when the necessity of printing one or more narrow paths occurs.

Design/methodology/approach

A piezoelectric printhead containing nozzles with a diameter of 35 µm was used for printing nanoparticle silver ink on different polymer substrates which were treated by plasma or not treated at all. The shape, defects, resistance and printing parameters for the printed paths were analysed.

Findings

The obtained results allow the identification of the sources of the technological problems in obtaining a high packing density of the paths in a small area of substrate and the repeatable prints.

Research limitations/implications

The study could have limited universality because of the chosen research method; printhead, ink, substrate materials and process parameters were arbitrarily selected. The authors encourage the study of other kinds of conductive inks, treatment methods and printing process parameters.

Practical implications

The study includes practically useful information about widths, shapes, defects and the resistance of the paths printed using different technological parameters.

Originality/value

The study presents the results of original empirical research on problems of the packing density of inkjet printed paths on a small area of substrate and identifies problems that must be resolved to obtain effective interconnections in the inkjet technology.
Complicity, responsibility and authorization
Authors: Daniels Julia R. , Hebard Heather
Published: January 2018

Purpose

Discourses of racism have always circulated within US classrooms and, in the current sociopolitical climate, they move with a renewed sense of legitimacy, entitlement and violence. This paper aims to engage the consequences of these shifts for the ways that racism works in university-based classrooms and, more specifically, through the authors’ own teaching as White language and literacy educators.

Design/methodology/approach

This teacher narrative reconceptualizes moments of racialized violence in the courses, as constructed via circulating discourses of racism. The authors draw attention to the ways that we, as White educators, authorize and are complicit in this violence.

Findings

This paper explicates a praxis of questioning, developed through efforts to reflect on our complicity in and responsibility for racial violence in our classrooms. The authors offer this praxis of questioning to other White language and literacy teachers as a heuristic for sensemaking with regard to racism in classrooms.

Originality/value

The authors situate this paper within a broader struggle to engage themselves and other White educators in work for racial justice and invite others to take up this praxis of questioning as an initial step toward examining the authors’ complicity in – and authorization of – discourses of racism.
Bird impacts on heritage buildings
Authors: Spennemann Dirk H.R. , Pike Melissa , Watson Maggie J.
Published: January 2018

Purpose

There is much anecdotal evidence that birds and their droppings are a major problem for the heritage profession. The purpose of this paper is to examine how serious heritage practitioners consider the bird impact to be.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was conducted of 59 Australian heritage professionals of between one and >20 year’s experience in the field.

Findings

Bird impacts were not considered of major concern to buildings. The longer experience a practitioner had, the less likely the impacts were considered an issue. Feral pigeons were deemed the most problematic, followed by cockatoos, starlings, swallows, seagulls, mynas, sparrows, cormorants, ibis, ducks and birds of prey. The professionals ranked common deterrent methods. The highest-ranking deterrents were bird netting and bird spikes, but they were only considered moderately effective. The costs of installation and maintenance, as well the ease of installation, were all deemed significantly less important than the physical impact, the aesthetic sympathy and the effectiveness of a deterrent method.

Practical implications

This study indicates that the impact of birds on buildings in Australia may be of less concern than previously thought, and may be driven by other factors (i.e. aesthetics, commercial companies) rather than actual effects.

Originality/value

This is first study of its kind that surveyed the experiences of a wide range of heritage practitioners.
Knowledge acquisition of association rules from the customer-lifetime-value perspective
Authors: Weng Cheng-Hsiung , Huang Tony Cheng-Kui
Published: January 2018

Purpose

Customer lifetime value (CLV) scoring is highly effective when applied to marketing databases. Some researchers have extended the traditional association rule problem by associating a weight with each item in a transaction. However, studies of association rule mining have considered the relative benefits or significance of “items” rather than “transactions” belonging to different customers. Because not all customers are financially attractive to firms, it is crucial that their profitability be determined and that transactions be weighted according to CLV. This study aims to discover association rules from the CLV perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

This study extended the traditional association rule problem by allowing the association of CLV weight with a transaction to reflect the interest and intensity of customer values. Furthermore, the authors proposed a new algorithm, frequent itemsets of CLV weight (FICLV), to discover frequent itemsets from CLV-weighted transactions.

Findings

Experimental results from the survey data indicate that the proposed FICLV algorithm can discover valuable frequent itemsets. Moreover, the frequent itemsets identified using the FICLV algorithm outperform those discovered through conventional approaches for predicting customer purchasing itemsets in the coming period.

Originality/value

This study is the first to introduce the optimum approach for discovering frequent itemsets from transactions through considering CLV.
Social laser model: from color revolutions to Brexit and election of Donald Trump
Authors: Khrennikov Andrei
Published: January 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to present the basic assumptions for creation of social lasers and attract attention of other researchers (both from physics and socio-political science) to the problem of modeling of Stimulated Amplification of Social Actions (SASA).

Design/methodology/approach

The model of SASA and its analysis are based on the mathematical formalism of quantum thermodynamics and field theory (applied outside of physics).

Findings

The presented quantum-like model provides the consistent operational model of such complex socio-political phenomenon as SASA.

Research limitations/implications

The model of SASA is heavily based on the use of the notion of social energy. This notion has not yet been formalized.

Practical implications

Evidence of SASA (“functioning of social lasers”) is rapidly accumulating, from color revolutions to such democratically structured protest actions as Brexit and the recent election of Donald Trump as the President of the USA. The corresponding socio-political studies are characterized by diversity of opinions and conclusions. The presented social laser model can be used to clarify these complex socio-political events and even predict their possibility.

Social implications

SASA is the powerful source of social instability. Understanding its informational structure and origin may help to stabilize the modern society.

Originality/value

Application of the quantum-like model of laser technology in social and political sciences is really a novel and promising approach.
New online recommendation approach based on unbalanced linguistic label with integrated cloud
Authors: Wang Meng-Xian , Wang Jian-qiang
Published: January 2018

Purpose

Online reviews increasingly present the characteristic of bidirectional communication with the advent of Web 2.0 era and tend to be asymmetrical and individualized in linguistic information. The authors aim to develop a new linguistic conversion model that exploits the asymmetric and personalized information from online reviews to express such linguistic information. A new online recommendation approach is provided.

Design/methodology/approach

The necessity of new linguistic conversation model is elucidated, and a leverage factor is incorporated into the linguistic label of negative review to handle the asymmetry problems of linguistic scale. A possible value range of the leverage factor is studied. A new linguistic conversation model is accordingly established with an unbalanced linguistic label and a cloud model. The authors develop a new online recommendation approach based on several modules, such as initialization, conversion, user-clustering and recommendation models.

Findings

The unbalanced effect between negative and positive reviews is verified with real data and measured using indirect methods. A new online recommendation approach of electronic products is proposed and used as an illustrative example to prove the practicality, effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach.

Research limitations/implications

Due to the unavailable transaction information of customers, the limitation of this study is the effectiveness of the authors’ established recommendation system for platform or website cannot be verified.

Originality/value

In most existing studies, the influence of negative review is counterbalanced by positive review, and the unbalanced effect between negative and positive reviews is ignored. The negative review receives much attention from consumers and businesses. This study thus highlights the influence of negative review.
The link between state-of-mind and individuals’ willingness to adopt and continue using smartphones
Authors: Shih Po-Hong , Yang Keng-Chieh , Yang Chyan
Published: January 2018

Purpose

Although numerous studies have examined factors that influence smartphone acceptance and use, few have analyzed cognitive age. This study aims to use the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to test two models to analyze the moderating effect of cognitive age. This research offers relevant suggestions among different cognitive age groups.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect research data in Taiwan and the UTAUT model was used. Model 1 ensures all four antecedent constructs among digital natives (those under 34 years old). Model 2 divides the digital immigrants into two groups to test the influence of cognitive age on the behaviors of smartphone use. This study tests Model 1 using AMOS 20 to examine the measurement and structural model and validates Model 2 using partial least squares (PLSs).

Findings

In Model 1, the digital natives have sufficient confidence to accept a new technology with ease and little effort owing to most educational resources and the widespread internet. Group 1 in Model 2 reveals that the behavior of digital immigrants is similar to that of digital natives. For Group 2 in Model 2, they tend to infer that skills or tasks they associate with having higher value are more difficult to learn.

Originality/value

This study provides another dimensional result for different cognitive age groups and it has to consider not only chronological age but also cognitive age in user behavior. The result can enrich the theoretical perspective on technology adoption and use behavior via cognitive age, which is a significant and important self-related factor that can help predict technology adoption and use behavior.
Quality improvement in curriculum development
Authors: Maddalena Victor , Pendergast Amanda , McGrath Gerona
Published: January 2018

Purpose

There is a growing emphasis on teaching patient safety principles and quality improvement (QI) processes in medical education curricula. This paper aims to present how the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland engaged medical students in quality improvement during their recent curriculum renewal process.

Design/methodology/approach

In the 2013-2014 academic year, the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland launched an undergraduate medical education curriculum renewal process. This presented a unique opportunity to teach quality improvement by involving students in the ongoing development and continuous improvement of their undergraduate curriculum through the implementation of quality circles and other related QI activities.

Findings

The authors’ experience shows that implementing QI processes is beneficial in the medical education environment, particularly during times of curriculum redesign or implementation of new initiatives.

Originality/value

Student engagement and participation in the QI process is an excellent way to teach basic QI concepts and improve curriculum program outcomes.
Perception of Russian employees’ culture by Western managers of Western subsidiaries in Russia
Authors: Valitova Aysylu , Besson Dominique
Published: January 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze perception of Russian national culture by Western managers in Western subsidiaries in Russia.

Design/methodology/approach

Interpretivist analysis of narratives have been collected by the authors by interviewing several Western managers in Russian subsidiaries, based on concepts of E.T. Hall.

Findings

We globally found more examples of high context than low context, but also of “hybrid context,” as well as more examples of polychrony than monochrony, and a mixture of polychrony and monochrony, the authors call “hybridchronie.” They show implications of socio-economic change in society, organizational structure and work hierarchical relationship, generation effect and importance of clans.

Research limitations/implications

Limits of cultural analysis. Use of interviews (narratives) then bias of perception. Current changes in Russian society. Differences between generations in Russia and multi-ethnicity of Russia.

Practical implications

Danger of stereotypes in management. Implications for management.

Social implications

Danger of stereotypes in perceptions and social life.

Originality/value

Qualitative, interpretivist approach based on in-depth interviews.
IT infrastructure capability and eGovernment system performance: an empirical study
Authors: Dahiya Deepak , Mathew Saji K.
Published: January 2018

Purpose

Although governments are hugely investing in information technology (IT) infrastructure, eGovernment performance has reported variations in performance. The relationship between IT infrastructure investments and eGovernment performance remains unexplored in academic research. This study aims to explain how investments in IT assets lead to infrastructure capability and eGovernment system performance. The work conceptualizes technical performance of IT infrastructure as a consequent of thoughtful investments in IT assets, which help generate IT infrastructure capability. The findings have important implications for eGovernment theory and practice in developing understanding about eGovernment IT infrastructure and supporting decision-making on the choice of infrastructure components.

Design/methodology/approach

This study showcases quantitative analysis based on survey method-based research using a questionnaire for testing the hypotheses formulated.

Findings

The analysis of the work showed that IT infrastructure performance is a significant mediator between investments in IT assets and IT infrastructure capability.

Research limitations/implications

Owing to constraints of data collection, probability sampling was not followed, which is a prerequisite for statistical generalization.

Practical implications

The study provides insights for governments on investing in technologies that meet requisite performance standards. IT infrastructure performance is an antecedent of IT infrastructure capability, which directly determines how an eGovernment system performs.

Social implications

The study shows that delay in implementing new service models such as cloud potentially result in relatively lower performance of the IT infrastructure for the investments made in the given assets.

Originality/value

This paper builds on the existing literature on IT assets, IT infrastructure performance and IT infrastructure capability and applies it to the eGovernment domain.
The experiences of non‐Muslim, Caucasian licensed marriage and family therapists working with South Asian and Middle Eastern Muslim clients
Authors: Arshad Zara , Falconier Mariana K.
Published: January 2018

This qualitative study investigated the experiences of eight non‐Muslim, Caucasian licensed marriage and family therapists working with South Asian and Middle Eastern Muslim clients. Semi‐structured interviews were used to examine the challenges and benefits that resulted from ethnic/racial and religious differences in therapy with clients of this population, and the strategies used or suggested by therapists in managing these differences. The data were analysed using thematic analysis and the themes that emerged were organized based on the areas of inquiry. Participants reported several challenges, including managing clients’ therapy expectations, engaging clients in therapy, understanding and accepting differences, and staying neutral. Participants described strategies they used and made recommendations on how to manage these challenges, including being aware of and acknowledging these differences and clarifying roles in therapy. Participants also identified benefits that derived from ethnic/racial and religious differences, such as finding it easier to make clients the experts and being able to provide an outsider perspective to clients.

Practitioner points

Non‐Muslim, Caucasian MFTs should be prepared to experience some challenges, but also some benefits, when working with South Asian and Middle Eastern Muslim clients

When working with this population, managing bias might be hard for therapists, and may require ongoing attention and work

Recommendations provided by therapists in this study might be useful in managing the challenges that might arise from ethnic/racial and religious differences when working with the South Asian and Middle Eastern Muslim population
Culture and reflexivity: systemic journeys with a British Chinese family
Authors: Teh Yang Yang , Lek Evonne
Published: January 2018

This paper describes a reflective space created between two Singaporean Chinese systemic psychotherapists and a British Chinese family – the Chans. The family attended the Marlborough Cultural Therapy Centre (MCTC) in London and was given two separate culture‐specific systemic treatments by different therapists, which were reflected upon collaboratively with the Chans. A brief literature review of British Chinese and mental health, culture and reflexivity is described. The authors discuss clinical implications including the impact of British Chinese cultures and the effect of mental health issues on the family. The process and outcomes of the treatment are explained using the frame of reflexivity. Clinical implications discussed include the impact of British Chinese cultures and the effects of schizophrenia and anxiety on the family.

Practitioner points

Reflexivity is an interactional process creating change through repeated awareness, reflection and action related to our similarities and differences

This process may helpfully guide practitioners through therapeutic journeys

Reflexivity is especially important when considering both similarities and differences – even when the therapist is working with clients from a similar (ethnic) culture

Involving clients in the writing process enhances reflexivity for both therapists and clients and in itself can be thought of as a further intervention
Evaluating the benefits from transport infrastructure in agriculture: a hedonic analysis of farmland prices
Authors: Sheng Yu , Jackson Thomas , Lawson Kenton
Published: January 2018

Access to transport infrastructure generates a range of benefits to the agriculture sector; many of which are difficult to measure directly. In this study, we use hedonic regression analysis of farm‐level data to examine the contribution of transport infrastructure to the value of farmland traded between 2009 and 2011 through its impact on farm productivity. We show that a one per cent reduction in the cost of transportation between farms and ports leads to a 0.33 per cent increase in land prices, and there is no significant difference between rail and road transportation at the aggregate level. Moreover, the benefits generated by particular types of infrastructure services vary between industries and with farm size, suggesting there are multiple channels through which public infrastructure influences agricultural production. Our findings help to inform future investment decisions in Australia and in other countries by providing new evidence regarding the benefits of existing transport infrastructure.
Disaster myths among disaster response professionals and the source of such misconceptions
Authors: Nogami Tatsuya
Published: January 2018

This study examined how pervasive disaster myths would be among disaster response professionals (n = 401) compared to lay people (n = 600), as well as sources of disaster myths among them. Results revealed that both of the groups believed five common disaster myths to some extent. Moreover, the mass media had a positive association with only one myth among these professionals, while the media was positively associated with all the five myths among lay people. In summary, the present findings indicated that disaster response professionals were not more insightful into all the myths than lay people, and that the mass media and popular culture were not the principal sources of the disaster myths among these professionals.
Analysing the dynamics of crisis leadership in higher education: A study of racial incidents at the University of Missouri
Authors: Fortunato John A. , Gigliotti Ralph A. , Ruben Brent D.
Published: January 2018

The following article analyses the crisis involving racial tensions at the University of Missouri in 2015 that ultimately contributed to the departure of the university president and chancellor. This case amplifies the importance of organizational vulnerabilities from both an historical context and a national‐issue context. As supported through this analysis, crises that reflect these vulnerabilities of an organization can lead to increased scrutiny and may produce greater negative consequences. Drawing upon both the public messaging surrounding this crisis and the existing literature on crisis management and crisis leadership, university leaders should have been proactive in cultivating a more inclusive racial environment and should have more effectively used communication to improve relationships with an important constituency group, particularly given the institution's core values, the history of racial tensions at the university, and the rising racial tensions following incidents in nearby Ferguson, Missouri.
Comparative performance of different scale‐down simulators of substrate gradients in Penicillium chrysogenum cultures: the need of a biological systems response analysis
Authors: Wang Guan , Zhao Junfei , Haringa Cees , Tang Wenjun , Xia Jianye , Chu Ju , Zhuang Yingping , Zhang Siliang , Deshmukh Amit T. , van Gulik Walter , Heijnen Joseph J. , Noorman Henk J.
Published: January 2018

In a 54 m3 large‐scale penicillin fermentor, the cells experience substrate gradient cycles at the timescales of global mixing time about 20–40 s. Here, we used an intermittent feeding regime (IFR) and a two‐compartment reactor (TCR) to mimic these substrate gradients at laboratory‐scale continuous cultures. The IFR was applied to simulate substrate dynamics experienced by the cells at full scale at timescales of tens of seconds to minutes (30 s, 3 min and 6 min), while the TCR was designed to simulate substrate gradients at an applied mean residence time () of 6 min. A biological systems analysis of the response of an industrial high‐yielding P. chrysogenum strain has been performed in these continuous cultures. Compared to an undisturbed continuous feeding regime in a single reactor, the penicillin productivity (qPenG) was reduced in all scale‐down simulators. The dynamic metabolomics data indicated that in the IFRs, the cells accumulated high levels of the central metabolites during the feast phase to actively cope with external substrate deprivation during the famine phase. In contrast, in the TCR system, the storage pool (e.g. mannitol and arabitol) constituted a large contribution of carbon supply in the non‐feed compartment. Further, transcript analysis revealed that all scale‐down simulators gave different expression levels of the glucose/hexose transporter genes and the penicillin gene clusters. The results showed that qPenG did not correlate well with exposure to the substrate regimes (excess, limitation and starvation), but there was a clear inverse relation between qPenG and the intracellular glucose level.
Strategy and Resistance: How Native American Students Engage in Accommodation in Mainstream Schools
Authors: Masta Stephanie
Published: January 2018

This article explores the experiences of a group of Native American 8thgraders who attend a mainstream school and how they engage in accommodation as an act of agency and resistance to protect and maintain their identities in their school environment. By using tribal critical race theory to examine these experiences, this study raises important questions about how mainstream schools can support Native American students, despite serving as sites of colonization.
Moments of Teaching and Learning in a Children's Hospital: Affects, Textures, and Temporalities
Authors: Ehret Christian
Published: January 2018

Although nonrepresentational theory has enriched anthropologists' understanding of affect in social and cultural life, it has a short history in education research, where representational paradigms dominate. This article develops nonrepresentational theories of moments, temporal textures, and affective pedagogies in order to evoke affects of teaching and learning in a children's hospital. Moments are expressed through experiments with fictocritcism as an emergent mode of critique. These expressions compel nonrepresentational anthropology and education as an ethical charge.
Aspiring and Aspiration Shaming: Primary Schooling, English, and Enduring Inequalities in Liberalizing Kerala (India)
Authors: Mathew Leya
Published: January 2018

This paper analyzes narratives about the radical socio‐economic changes accompanying liberalization in India to consider how English‐medium schooling is becoming an aspirational resource for non‐elite parents. I suggest that aspiring is a practice of ethics that marginalized mothers mobilize to negotiate memories of deprivation and yearnings for good futures, in the present. Meanwhile, educators' specific shaming of non‐elite aspirations for English schooling reveals their anxieties concerning disrupted local hierarchies, symbolized by non‐elite English schooling.
Genetic relationships among Vietnamese local pigs investigated using genome‐wide SNP markers
Authors: Ishihara S. , Arakawa A. , Taniguchi M. , Luu Q. M. , Pham D. L. , Nguyen B. V. , Mikawa S. , Kikuchi K.
Published: January 2018

Vietnam is one of the most important countries for pig domestication, and a total of 26 local breeds have been reported. In the present study, genetic relationships among the various pig breeds were investigated using 90 samples collected from local pigs (15 breeds) in 15 distantly separated, distinct areas of the country and six samples from Landrace pigs in Hanoi as an out‐group of a common Western breed. All samples were genotyped using the Illumina Porcine SNP60 v2 Genotyping BeadChip. We used 15 160–15 217 SNPs that showed a high degree of polymorphism in the Vietnamese breeds for identifying genetic relationships among the Vietnamese breeds. Principal components analysis showed that most pigs indigenous to Vietnam formed clusters correlated with their original geographic locations. Some Vietnamese breeds formed a cluster that was genetically related to the Western breed Landrace, suggesting the possibility of crossbreeding. These findings will be useful for the conservation and management of Vietnamese local pig breeds.
Workplace design for the Australian residential aged care workforce
Authors: Naccarella Lucio , Newton Clare , Pert Alan , Seemann Kurt , Williams Ruth , Sellick Kate , Dow Briony
Published: January 2018

Objectives

This research explored residential aged care (RAC) workplace design features that influence how RAC staff feel valued, productive, safe, like they belong and connected. A secondary aim was to validate emerging themes about RAC design features with stakeholders.

Methods

A multistage qualitative study was conducted in one RAC facility with 100 residents in outer metropolitan Melbourne: (i) photo‐elicitation – photographs were used to prompt discussions with RAC staff; (ii) individual interviews with RAC directors; and (iii) validity testing with the advisory committee occurred.

Results

Key workplace design features that influenced how RAC staff feel valued, productive, safe, like they belong and connected included the following: (i) home‐like environment; (ii) access to outdoor spaces; (iii) quality indoor environment; and (iv) access to safe, open and comfortable workplaces.

Conclusions

Key workplace design features that matter to RAC staff in a ‘shared workspace’ exist. Increasing demands upon RAC requires evidence‐based workplace design policy and evaluation approaches that support RAC staff to work in RAC shared workspaces.
The Development of Selective Trust: Prospects for a Dual‐Process Account
Authors: Hermes Jonas , Behne Tanya , Rakoczy Hannes
Published: January 2018

Young children learn selectively from reliable rather than unreliable models. Yet the question of what cognitive processes this early selectivity builds on remains unanswered. One line of research suggests that rational trait reasoning might be the basis of young children's selective trust, while others suggest less sophisticated processes. In this article, we provide an overview of the development of selective trust and introduce a new theoretical framework to explain the seemingly divergent findings. Young children's selective trust can best be explained by assuming two kinds of underlying cognitive processes: one fast, implicit, and heuristic process that provides default judgments, and one systematic, slow, and effortful process that intervenes under specific circumstances. We discuss findings in light of this framework and propose testable predictions for research.