bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tension promotes kinetochore-microtubule release in response to Aurora B activity
Authors: Chen Geng-Yuan , Renda Fioranna , Zhang Huaiying , Gokden Alper , Wu Daniel Z. , Chenoweth David M. , Khodjakov Alexey , Lampson Michael A.
Published: June 2020

Aurora B kinase regulates kinetochore-microtubule interactions to ensure accurate chromosome segregation in cell division. Tension provides a signal to discriminate attachment errors from bi-oriented kinetochores with sisters correctly attached to opposite spindle poles. Current models focus on tension as an input to locally regulate Aurora B activity. Here we show that the outcome of Aurora B activity depends on tension. Using an optogenetic approach to manipulate Aurora B at individual kinetochores, we find that kinase activity promotes microtubule release when tension is high. Conversely, when tension is low, Aurora B activity promotes depolymerization of kinetochore-microtubule bundles while maintaining attachment. We propose that tension is a signal inducing distinct error-correction mechanisms, with release or depolymerization advantageous for typical errors characterized by high or low tension, respectively.
Targeted Intracellular Degradation of SARS-CoV-2 RBD via Computationally-Optimized Peptide Fusions
Authors: Chatterjee Pranam , Ponnapati Manvitha , Jacobson Joseph M.
Published: June 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has elicited a global health crisis of catastrophic proportions. With no approved cure or vaccine currently available, there is a critical need for effective antiviral strategies. In this study, we report a novel antiviral platform, through computational design of ACE2-derived peptides which both target the viral spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) and recruit E3 ubiquitin ligases for subsequent intracellular degradation of SARS-CoV-2 in the proteasome. Our engineered peptide fusions demonstrate robust RBD degradation capabilities in human cells, thus prompting their further experimental characterization and therapeutic development.
Impact of Covid-19 social distancing measures on future incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in England and Wales – a mathematical modelling study
Authors: Choi Yoon Hong , Miller Elizabeth
Published: June 2020

In January 2020, the United Kingdom moved to a 1+1 schedule for the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) with a single priming dose at 3 months and a 12month booster. We modelled the impact on invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) out to 2030/31 of reductions in PCV13 coverage and population mixing associated with restrictions on non-essential health care visits and social distancing measures introduced in 2020/21 to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Using an existing model of pneumococcal transmission in England and Wales we simulated the impact of a 40% reduction in coverage and a 40% reduction in mixing between and within age-groups during two lockdowns in spring 2020 and autumn/winter 2020/21. More and less extreme reductions in coverage and mixing were explored in a sensitivity analysis.

Predicted annual numbers of IPD cases under different coverage and mixing reduction scenarios with uncertainty intervals (UI) generated from minimum and maximum values of the model predictions using 500 parameter sets.

The model predicted that any increase in IPD cases resulting from a reduction in PCV13 coverage would be more than offset by a reduction in pneumococcal transmission due to social distancing measures and that overall reductions in IPD cases will persist for a few years after resumption of normal mixing. The net reduction in cumulative IPD cases over the five epidemiological years from July 2019 was predicted to be 13,494 (UI 12,211, 14,676) all ages. Similar results were obtained in the sensitivity analysis.

COVID-19 lockdowns are predicted to have had a profound effect on pneumococcal transmission resulting in a reduction in pneumococcal carriage prevalence and IPD incidence for up to five years after the end of the lockdown period. Carriage studies will be informative in confirming the predicted impact of the lockdown measures after they have been lifted.
Compliance and containment in social distancing: mathematical modeling of COVID-19 across townships
Authors: Chen Xiang , Zhang Aiyin , Wang Hui , Gallaher Adam , Zhu Xiaolin
Published: June 2020

In the early development of COVID-19, large-scale preventive measures, such as border control and air travel restrictions, were implemented to slow international and domestic transmissions. When these measures were in full effect, new cases of infection would be primarily induced by community spread, such as the human interaction within and between neighboring cities and towns, which is generally known as the meso-scale. Existing studies of COVID-19 using mathematical models are unable to accommodate the need for meso-scale modeling, because of the unavailability of COVID-19 data at this scale and the different timings of local intervention policies. In this respect, we propose a meso-scale mathematical model of COVID-19 using town-level infection data in the state of Connecticut. We consider the spatial interaction in terms of the inter-town travel in the model. Based on the developed model, we evaluated how different strengths of social distancing policy enforcement may impact future epidemic curves based on two evaluative metrics: compliance and containment. The developed model and the simulation results will establish the foundation for community-level assessment and better preparation for COVID-19.
Feeling Positive About Reopening?New Normal Scenarios from COVID-19 Reopen Sentiment Analytics
Authors: Samuel Jim , Rahman Md. Mokhlesur , Ali G. G. Md. Nawaz , Samuel Yana , Pelaez Alexander , Chong Peter H.J. , Yakubov Michael
Published: June 2020

The Coronavirus pandemic has created complex challenges and adverse circumstances. This research identifies public sentiment amidst problematic socioeconomic consequences of the lockdown, and explores ensuing four potential sentiment associated scenarios. The severity and brutality of COVID-19 have led to the development of extreme feelings, and emotional and mental healthcare challenges. This research focuses on emotional consequences - the presence of extreme fear, confusion and volatile sentiments, mixed along with trust and anticipation. It is necessary to gauge dominant public sentiment trends for effective decisions and policies. This study analyzes public sentiment using Twitter Data, time-aligned to the COVID-19 reopening debate, to identify dominant sentiment trends associated with the push to ‘reopen’ the economy. Present research uses textual analytics methodologies to analyze public sentiment support for two potential divergent scenarios - an early opening and a delayed opening, and consequences of each. Present research concludes on the basis of exploratory textual analytics and textual data visualization, that Tweets data from American Twitter users shows more positive sentiment support, than negative, for reopening the US economy. This research develops a novel sentiment polarity based four scenarios framework, which will remain useful for future crisis analysis, well beyond COVID-19. With additional validation, this research stream could present valuable time sensitive opportunities for state governments, the federal government, corporations and societal leaders to guide local and regional communities, and the nation into a successful new normal future.
Derivation and validation of a machine learning risk score using biomarker and electronic patient data to predict rapid progression of diabetic kidney disease
Authors: Chan Lili , Nadkarni Girish N. , Fleming Fergus , McCullough James R. , Connolly Patti , Mosoyan Gohar , Salem Fadi El , Kattan Michael W. , Vassalotti Joseph A. , Murphy Barbara , Donovan Michael J. , Coca Steven G. , Damrauer Scott
Published: June 2020

Importance

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the leading cause of kidney failure in the United States and predicting progression is necessary for improving outcomes.

Objective

To develop and validate a machine-learned, prognostic risk score (KidneyIntelX™) combining data from electronic health records (EHR) and circulating biomarkers to predict DKD progression.

Design

Observational cohort study

Setting

Two EHR linked biobanks: Mount Sinai BioMe Biobank and the Penn Medicine Biobank.

Participants

Patients with prevalent DKD (G3a-G3b with all grades of albuminuria (A1-A3) and G1 & G2 with A2-A3 level albuminuria) and banked plasma.

Main outcomes and measures

Plasma biomarkers soluble tumor necrosis factor 1/2 (sTNFR1, sTNFR2) and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) were measured at baseline. Patients were divided into derivation [60%] and validation sets [40%]. The composite primary end point, progressive decline in kidney function, including the following: rapid kidney function decline (RKFD) (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline of ≥5 ml/min/1.73m2/year), ≥40% sustained decline, or kidney failure within 5 years. A machine learning model (random forest) was trained and performance assessed using standard metrics.

Results

In 1146 patients with DKD the median age was 63, 51% were female, median baseline eGFR was 54 ml/min/1.73 m2, urine albumin to creatinine ratio (uACR) was 61 mg/g, and follow-up was 4.3 years. 241 patients (21%) experienced progressive decline in kidney function. On 10-fold cross validation in the derivation set (n=686), the risk model had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.77 (95% CI 0.74-0.79). In validation (n=460), the AUC was 0.77 (95% CI 0.76-0.79). By comparison, the AUC for an optimized clinical model was 0.62 (95% CI 0.61-0.63) in derivation and 0.61 (95% CI 0.60-0.63) in validation. Using cutoffs from derivation, KidneyIntelX stratified 46%, 37% and 16.5% of validation cohort into low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups, with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 62% (vs. PPV of 37% for the clinical model and 40% for KDIGO; p < 0.001) in the high-risk group and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 91% in the low-risk group. The net reclassification index for events into high-risk group was 41% (p<0.05).

Conclusions and Relevance

A machine learned model combining plasma biomarkers and EHR data improved prediction of progressive decline in kidney function within 5 years over KDIGO and standard clinical models in patients with early DKD.
A spatial information inference method for programming by demonstration of assembly tasks by integrating visual observation with CAD model
Authors: Zhou Zhongxiang , Ji Liang , Xiong Rong , Wang Yue
Published: June 2020

Purpose

In robot programming by demonstration (PbD) of small parts assembly tasks, the accuracy of parts poses estimated by vision-based techniques in demonstration stage is far from enough to ensure a successful execution. This paper aims to develop an inference method to improve the accuracy of poses and assembly relations between parts by integrating visual observation with computer-aided design (CAD) model.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the authors propose a spatial information inference method called probabilistic assembly graph with optional CAD model, shorted as PAGC*, to achieve this task. Then an assembly relation extraction method from CAD model is designed, where different assembly relation descriptions in CAD model are summarized into two fundamental relations that are colinear and coplanar. The relation similarity, distance similarity and rotation similarity are adopted as the similar part matching criterions between the CAD model and the observation. The knowledge of part in CAD is used to correct that of the corresponding part in observation. The likelihood maximization estimation is used to infer the accurate poses and assembly relations based on the probabilistic assembly graph.

Findings

In the experiments, both simulated data and real-world data are applied to evaluate the performance of the PAGC* model. The experimental results show the superiority of PAGC* in accuracy compared with assembly graph (AG) and probabilistic assembly graph without CAD model (PAG).

Originality/value

The paper provides a new approach to get the accurate pose of each part in demonstration stage of the robot PbD system. By integrating information from visual observation with prior knowledge from CAD model, PAGC* ensures the success in execution stage of the PbD system.
Mutation reduction in software mutation testing using firefly optimization algorithm
Authors: Shomali Nasrin , Arasteh Bahman
Published: June 2020

Purpose

For delivering high-quality software applications, proper testing is required. A software test will function successfully if it can find more software faults. The traditional method of assessing the quality and effectiveness of a test suite is mutation testing. One of the main drawbacks of mutation testing is its computational cost. The research problem of this study is the high computational cost of the mutation test. Reducing the time and cost of the mutation test is the main goal of this study.

Design/methodology/approach

With regard to the 80–20 rule, 80% of the faults are found in 20% of the fault-prone code of a program. The proposed method statically analyzes the source code of the program to identify the fault-prone locations of the program. Identifying the fault-prone (complex) paths of a program is an NP-hard problem. In the proposed method, a firefly optimization algorithm is used for identifying the most fault-prone paths of a program; then, the mutation operators are injected only on the identified fault-prone instructions.

Findings

The source codes of five traditional benchmark programs were used for evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed method to reduce the mutant number. The proposed method was implemented in Matlab. The mutation injection operations were carried out by MuJava, and the output was investigated. The results confirm that the proposed method considerably reduces the number of mutants, and consequently, the cost of software mutation-test.

Originality/value

The proposed method avoids the mutation of nonfault-prone (simple) codes of the program, and consequently, the number of mutants considerably is reduced. In a program with n branch instructions (if instruction), there are 2n execution paths (test paths) that the data and codes into each of these paths can be considered as a target of mutation. Identifying the error-prone (complex) paths of a program is an NP-hard problem. In the proposed method, a firefly optimization algorithm as a heuristic algorithm is used for identifying the most error-prone paths of a program; then, the mutation operators (faults) are injected only on the identified fault-prone instructions.
A review on the accumulation of heavy metals in coastal sediment of Peninsular Malaysia
Authors: Yunus Kamaruzzaman , Zuraidah M.A. , John Akbar
Published: June 2020

Purpose

This study aims to examine the metal pollution in coastal sediment in the Peninsular Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

Approximately 141 published studies were screened from 1,285 documents and reviewed to determine the existing pollution status in the coastal areas of Peninsular Malaysia and the metals under review were Pb, Hg, Cd, Ar, Cu, Zn, Cr and Ni. Sources of pollutants and their effect on biological systems, marine organisms and human health were addressed in this review as well as recommendation of heavy metal removal or remedies in short. Emphasis is placed on marine pollution, particularly on the toxic metal accumulation in biota.

Findings

This study has revealed the different concentrations of pollutants, low, moderately, and chronically contaminated areas from heavy metals and the consequences to aquatic ecosystem and indirectly to human health, since an increasing in the coastal developments in Peninsular Malaysia.

Originality/value

This study has revealed the different concentrations of pollutants, low, moderately, and chronically contaminated areas from heavy metals and the consequences to aquatic ecosystem and indirectly to human health, since an increasing in the coastal developments in Peninsular Malaysia.
An examination of interactive effects of employees’ warmth and competence and service failure types on customer’s service recovery cooperation intention
Authors: Huang Yingying , Zhang Meng , Gursoy Dogan , Shi Si
Published: June 2020

Purpose

Drawing from the compensation effects in social cognition theory, this study aims to investigate the interactive effects of employees’ warmth and competence and service failure types on customer’s service recovery cooperation intention after a service failure and before service recovery is completed.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a scenario-based experiment with a 2 (high vs low) warmth × 2 (high vs low) competence × 2 (outcome failure vs process failure) service failure between-subjects design. Data were collected using an online panel.

Findings

This study finds that employees’ low warmth and high competence in outcome failure situations and high warmth and low competence in process failure situations are most effective at increasing customers’ service recovery cooperation intention. The findings further suggest that customers’ cooperation intention is prone to tradeoffs between customers’ perceptions of employees’ warmth and competence as suggested by compensation effects in social cognition theory, such that the effectiveness of employees’ warmth (competence) is curtailed by employees’ competence (warmth).

Practical implications

The findings of this study provide insights to hospitality managers for effective service recovery management. Hospitality companies can enhance customers’ behavioral intentions by training employees to demonstrate appropriate warmth and competence combination that meet customers’ expectations for a specific failure type.

Originality/value

This study argues that customer’s service recovery cooperation intention depends on the combination of warmth and competence displayed by employees after a service failure. The expected combination of warmth and competence varies depending on the service failure context.
Collaboration between East and West: influence of consumer dialectical self on attitude towards co-brand personality traits
Authors: Wang Weisha , Chen Cheng-Hao Steve , Nguyen Bang , Shukla Paurav
Published: June 2020

Purpose

With rising globalization, Western and Eastern brands are increasingly collaborating and co-branding. Drawing on the theory of dialectical self that captures the degree of cognitive tendency to tolerate conflicts, inconsistencies and ambiguities in self-concept, this paper investigates the effect of consumer dialectical self on co-branding that encompasses Western and East Asian cultural brand personality traits.

Design/methodology/approach

Two studies were conducted using Chinese participants to examine the effects of the dialectical self on co-brand evaluation under single-and dual-personality conditions and to explore the mediating role of ideal social self-congruence and the moderating role of product type (high vs low conspicuous).

Findings

The findings suggest that counterintuitive to the received wisdom, the dialectical self negatively influences one's attitude towards a co-brand in the dual-personality condition only. Further, ideal social self-congruence mediates the relationship between the dialectical self and dual-personality co-brand evaluation in the high conspicuous product condition only.

Practical implications

Important implications are offered to international marketing managers for managing the dialectical self that lead to positive co-brand evaluations. Moreover, managers should highlight ideal social self-congruence for co-branding success for particular product types.

Originality/value

This paper examines co-branding from a novel perspective of consumer dialectical self and shows the pivotal role it plays when brands carry varying cultural traits engage in co-branding. By identifying the role of the dialectical self and the important mediator and moderator, the paper fulfils an important gap in co-branding literature and offers key implications.
Five essentials for successful merger integration: what the aerospace and defense industry knows
Authors: Voth Jeffrey M.
Published: June 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to offer an original analysis of how three of the largest aerospace and defense (A&D) companies equipped their organizations for merger integration success.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a multi-case study, this paper explores the post-merger integration process for large-scale transactions completed over a 25-year period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with industry executives and leading management consultants. The process involved collection of primary data, analysis of secondary data drawn from publicly available company documents and identification of key factors that led to success.

Findings

Five interdependent success factors (Figure 1) support integration teams and capture deal value. Managing the process as a megaproject further facilitates the effectiveness of post-merger integration, enabling leaders to remain laser-focused on integration activity while driving toward a long-term vision for the newly formed organization.

Practical implications

Merger integration has been identified as a primary source of deficiency that prevents acquirers from achieving anticipated results, negatively affecting merger success. Based on the findings of this paper, firms are more likely to create a compelling long-term value creation agenda when five essential factors are combined with a megaproject approach to manage the post-merger integration process.

Originality/value

This study advances current knowledge in the field by responding to requests to further explore the dimensions of merger integration that facilitate success and improve shareholder value, contributing new data to inform extant theories regarding merger integration and megaproject management and adding to the limited research on post-merger integration within the A&D industry.
Subject indexing in humanities: a comparison between a local university repository and an international bibliographic service
Authors: Golub Koraljka , Tyrkkö Jukka , Hansson Joacim , Ahlström Ida
Published: June 2020

Purpose

As the humanities develop in the realm of increasingly more pronounced digital scholarship, it is important to provide quality subject access to a vast range of heterogeneous information objects in digital services. The study aims to paint a representative picture of the current state of affairs of the use of subject index terms in humanities journal articles with particular reference to the well-established subject access needs of humanities researchers, with the purpose of identifying which improvements are needed in this context.

Design/methodology/approach

The comparison of subject metadata on a sample of 649 peer-reviewed journal articles from across the humanities is conducted in a university repository, against Scopus, the former reflecting local and national policies and the latter being the most comprehensive international abstract and citation database of research output.

Findings

The study shows that established bibliographic objectives to ensure subject access for humanities journal articles are not supported in either the world's largest commercial abstract and citation database Scopus or the local repository of a public university in Sweden. The indexing policies in the two services do not seem to address the needs of humanities scholars for highly granular subject index terms with appropriate facets; no controlled vocabularies for any humanities discipline are used whatsoever.

Originality/value

In all, not much has changed since 1990s when indexing for the humanities was shown to lag behind the sciences. The community of researchers and information professionals, today working together on digital humanities projects, as well as interdisciplinary research teams, should demand that their subject access needs be fulfilled, especially in commercial services like Scopus and discovery services.
Intra-family succession insights: the presence of millennial cohort successors
Authors: Hidayati Aprihatiningrum , Hermawan Aji , Soehadi Agus W. , Hartoyo
Published: June 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to shed some light on an important phenomenon – how and why intra-family succession may change if millennial cohorts are considered as successors. Specifically, it aims to explore the superordinate themes that support the success of intra-family succession from perspective of two different cohort successors (X and millennial).

Design/methodology/approach

An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was adopted for detailed structural analysis of in-depth interview as it aims to explore meaning of participants' experiences. A total of ten individuals participated in the study.

Findings

Seventeen superordinate themes emerged from participants' personal statements and experiences. The themes are grouped into four aspects: namely, characteristics of predecessor and successor, succession process, firm and family and succession output. These aspects were found to be different between X and millennial cohort successors. They then form an empirical model of intra-family succession from both perspectives.

Research limitations/implications

This study enriches the theory of family firm by considering generational effect of successors on intra-family succession.

Practical implications

As millennial cohort successors prefer to go directly into business (experiential learning) and are driven by non-material motives (passion-driven), predecessors are expected to utilize them in the process of nurturing and development.

Originality/value

This study considers the role of generation cohort in supporting the success of intra-family succession especially in relation to the characteristics of millennial cohort successors that have been shown to differ from that of X cohort.
International assignments – extending an organizational value framework
Authors: Renshaw Phil St John , Parry Emma , Dickmann Michael
Published: June 2020

Purpose

This study aims to present a framework relating to the organizational value of international assignments (IAs). This extends the existing framework by Lepaket al.(2007) and applies to other fields researching questions of value.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper that applies new thinking to the critical practical and theoretical issue of organizational value in global mobility (GM) and international business (IB) literature. The Lepaket al.(2007) framework is explained, used and extended to appraise the value of IAs to organizations.

Findings

The primary contribution is the establishment of a value framework within which future IA research can position itself, refining extant measures and thereby enabling greater cohesion in future studies. The secondary contribution, impacting beyond the field of GM, is the development of this framework, including the identification and discussion of value itself, the significance of organizational sub-levels, the extension of the definitions of isolating mechanisms and competition to explicate value capture, the importance of temporal analysis and the inclusion of value assessment.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is limited by its application to IAs at the organizational level only. However, the relationship with other levels is also explored. Research within different contexts or focusing on the other levels of value will increase the understanding of value.

Practical implications

Definitions of the value of IAs are extended, and practitioner implications are discussed.

Originality/value

A new framework for evaluating the organizational value of IAs and new definitions to enable this value to be assessed are produced.
One size doesn’t fit all: a uses and gratifications analysis of social media platforms
Authors: Pelletier Mark J. , Krallman Alexandra , Adams Frank G. , Hancock Tyler
Published: June 2020

Purpose

This research study aims to investigate consumer usage motivations for three of the top social media platforms today: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Additionally, through understanding various platform distinctions, firms can understand which social media platforms consumers prefer to use to co-create with brands online.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory qualitative study is first conducted to understand consumer motivations for using different social media platforms. The main study tests five hypotheses related to consumer usage intentions and social media co-creation behavior across three social media platforms. A survey is conducted with 1,050 social media users with a comparison of mean responses using multivariate analysis of covariance.

Findings

Results support significant differences between platforms in terms of use and co-creation behaviors. For informational purposes, consumers gravitate toward Twitter. For social purposes, Twitter and Instagram are preferred. Instagram is the primary platform for entertainment motivation as well as co-creating with brands via social media. Surprisingly, Facebook shows the lowest usage intentions and co-creation despite being the largest platform and network most widely used by marketers.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to take a multi-platform approach to understanding consumer social media use and co-creation with brands. The results highlight that marketing academics and practitioners must segment the various social media platforms as each offers unique value propositions to consumers.
Evidence based social media use: an exploratory UK investigation into residents’ perceptions of police Facebook use
Authors: Cartwright Ashley , Shaw Chloe
Published: June 2020

Purpose

Social media is an integral part of modern society and is used by billions of people worldwide. In a policing context, police services are starting to use social media platforms to interact with their communities. However, academic literature is lagging regarding the effectiveness of police use of social media. The purpose of this study is to gather public perceptions regarding the police’s use of social media particularly the use of Facebook.

Design/methodology/approach

The study administered a cross sectional survey recruiting participants who are policed by one of the larger police services in England and Wales. A total of 294 respondents completed the survey providing their views on their police service’s use of social media.

Findings

The results of the present study provide overwhelming support for the police’s use of social media by the public, with most respondents actively following their local police service’s social media accounts. The study additionally provides a number of important findings in relation to the preferences of the public with regards to their police service’s use of Facebook.

Practical implications

The findings presented here provide police services with an insight into how to implement an evidenced-based approach to their social media activity.

Originality/value

The present study takes an alternative approach to understanding the effectiveness of police social media use by simply asking residents, an approach not used in this area of policing research to date.
Implicit play or explicit cognitive behaviour therapy: The impact of intervention approaches to facilitate social skills development in adolescents
Authors: Goldingay Sophie , Stagnitti Karen , Robertson Narelle , Pepin Genevieve , Sheppard Loretta , Dean Belinda
Published: June 2020

Introduction

Early adolescence is a time of increased social interaction with peers. Social competence is related to pretend play ability in younger children, but a lack of pretend play ability in childhood may also be associated with social challenges in early adolescence. Adolescents who find social situations challenging experience alienation from peers resulting in lowered self‐regard. This paper presents an exploratory study comparing an Implicit group intervention (age‐appropriate play based group (PB)) to an Explicit group intervention Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to increase social ability in adolescents.

Methods

Six adolescents, three female and three male, were in the Implicit group (PB; mean age 12.3 years, SD = 1.21). Six male adolescents were in the Explicit group (CBT; mean age 13.3 years, SD = 1.03). All participants were assessed pre‐ and post the 8‐week intervention for social competence, cognitive flexibility and narrative ability. The Implicit group (PB) was assessed through an age appropriate play assessment. Seven participants had a formal diagnosis, including autism spectrum disorder, and all were in mainstream high schools.

Results

The Explicit group (CBT) showed a medium effect for social engagement, total social skills, emotional engagement and a large effect for a decrease in flexible thinking. The Implicit group (PB) showed a large impact for narrative ability with increases in ability to sequence events, initiation and creation of plot, understanding character roles and total movie score, with medium effects for generation of problems, precise vocabulary and use of symbols. The Implicit group (PB) maintained cognitive flexibility, and decreased in social self‐scoring which showed medium effects for externalising and internalising.

Conclusion

This paper contributes to evidence that the choice of social skills intervention impacts different skill sets. For neuro‐diverse adolescents, the cognitive intervention impacted social and emotional engagement and the play‐based intervention impacted a wider range of abilities related to narrative social interaction.
Did 1979 Make Much Difference? An Alternative View of Select Committee Reform in the 1970s and 1980s*
Authors: Aylett Philip
Published: June 2020

An emphasis on the distinctive nature and effectiveness of the post‐1979 ‘departmental’ select committee system has tended to dominate the academic literature. This article demonstrates that, on the contrary, many of the most important elements of these changes in the parliamentary environment were already in place by the mid 1970s, and, in particular, that MPs were working effectively to challenge government on select committees well before the advent of the departmental committees. It therefore concludes, contrary to the impression given by conventional accounts of the development of select committees, that the 1979 changes should be seen largely as a sensible restructuring; they were not, as has been claimed, the key event in the advance of select committee scrutiny, but, instead, should be regarded as one step in a gradual process of reform and improvement that began in the mid 1960s.
Inferring extinction year using a Bayesian approach
Authors: Kodikara Saritha , Demirhan Haydar , Wang Yan , Solow Andrew , Stone Lewi
Published: June 2020

Species sighting records are combined with statistical models to infer whether an endangered species might have become extinct, or instead has just gone unobserved for a lengthy period of time. The challenging part of developing these models lies in dealing with uncertain sightings.

We propose a Bayesian hierarchical approach to infer the extinction time of a species based on historical sighting records which may be either certain or uncertain. The posterior distribution for extinction time is evaluated using the likelihood of sighting data and non‐informative priors for model parameters. All the models discussed in this paper are implemented in JAGS, a program for analysing Bayesian models using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation.

A general methodology is presented and then applied to the sighting record of the ivory‐billed woodpecker (IBW) Campephilus principalis. It was found that the IBW most likely went extinct between 1940 and 1945, a little after the date of the last certain sighting.

The methods developed were also applied to other species sighting records as well as some artificial sighting records. Through the results, it was found that the inferred time of extinction is significantly influenced by the last certain sighting if the sighting record consists of only certain sightings. In the presence of uncertain sightings, the inferred extinction time is influenced by either the last certain sighting or the time when the uncertain sighting rate drops.
Dung beetles of an Australian tropical savanna: Species composition, food preferences and responses to experimental fire regimes
Authors: Carvalho Raquel L. , Weir Tom , Vasconcelos Heraldo L. , Andersen Alan N.
Published: June 2020

Dung beetles are an ecologically important group of insects globally, but the ecology of the Australian fauna is poorly known. Here, we report on the first ecological study of dung beetles in an Australian tropical savanna, documenting species composition, food preferences and responses to fire. Dung beetles were baited using dung from five types of vertebrates as well as mushrooms. We sampled at nine plots subject to experimental fire regimes (three replicates each of high fire severity, moderate fire severity and unburnt over 15 years) at the Territory Wildlife Park near Darwin. Our samples were comprised entirely of nine native species ofOnthophagus. Dog dung was the most attractive bait, recording all nine species and nearly 80% of all individuals, whereas no beetles were recorded at either wallaby or magpie‐goose dung. Dung beetle abundance was highest under high fire severity and was negatively correlated with the cover of woody vegetation, a result driven by the two most common species,O. minsiculusandO. nr. quadripunctulatus. Our results indicate thatOnthophagusis the dominant genus in dung‐beetle assemblages of monsoonal Australia, as it is in open habitats of the Australian wet tropics. All our species ofOnthophagusare relatively small (≤10 mm body length) and are ‘tunnellers’, storing dung and other food resources in tunnels dug immediately below the food source. Such an overwhelming dominance by small tunnellers does not occur in African savannas, reflecting the far lower availability of large mammalian dung in Australia.
The Case for Letting Anthropology Burn: Sociocultural Anthropology in 2019
Authors: Jobson Ryan Cecil
Published: June 2020

This essay principally meditates on the scholarship published by sociocultural anthropologists in 2019. In 2019, the field of anthropology confronted anthropogenic climate change and authoritarian governance both as objects of scholarly inquiry and as existential threats to the reproduction of the discipline. Taking the 2018 American Anthropological Association meeting in San Jose as a point of departure, this essay posits the California wildfires as an immanent challenge to anthropological practice. Pace Mike Davis, the case for letting anthropology burn entails a call to abandon its liberal suppositions. As a discourse of moral perfectibility founded in histories of settler colonialism and chattel slavery, liberal humanism and its anthropological register of ethnographic sentimentalism proved insufficient to confront the existential threats of climate catastrophe and authoritarian retrenchment in 2019. The case for letting anthropology burn is fortified by efforts to unsettle the conceptual and methodological preoccupations of the discipline in service of political projects of repatriation, repair, and abolition. By abandoning the universal liberal subject as a stable foil for a renewed project of cultural critique, the field of anthropology cannot presume a coherent human subject as its point of departure but must adopt a radical humanism as its political horizon. [sociocultural anthropology, settler colonialism, afterlives of slavery, climate change, the human]
Health economic analysis of curative‐intent gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma and the costs related to post‐operative complications
Authors: Sivakumar Jonathan , Alnimri Feras , Johnson Mary A. , Ward Salena , Chong Lynn , Hii Michael W.
Published: June 2020

Background

The management of post‐gastrectomy complications requires considerable resources and is likely associated with a substantial economic burden. The objectives of this study were to perform a cost analysis of admissions following gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma and then to quantify the financial impact of post‐operative complications.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted in patients that underwent a gastrectomy from 2008 to 2019. Demographic data, operative information, post‐operative complications and facility costs were compared.

Results

A total of 74 patients underwent a curative‐intent gastrectomy during the study period. The 36 (48.6%) patients that had no complications had a median total admission cost of AU$29 228. A total of 21 (28.4%) patients had a minor complication and 17 (23.0%) patients had a major complication, with a median total admission cost of AU$36 592 and AU$71 808, respectively. The difference across all three groups was statistically significant. In patients who had major complications compared to those without complications, there was a significant increase in the cost of intensive care services, theatre resources and nursing care. Across the whole cohort, the principal cost centres accounting for the largest proportion of total cost were theatre equipment and resources (33.9%), nursing care on the ward (23.0%) and staffing time of the surgical team (16.7%).

Conclusion

The surgical management of gastric cancer carries a substantial cost burden. The presence and severity of post‐operative complications is strongly associated with increasing cost. Minimizing complications, in addition to obvious clinical benefits, enables a large reduction in costs of care.
Medical and conservative surgical management of bacterial sternoclavicular joint septic arthritis: a case series
Authors: Bayfield Nicholas G. R. , Wang Edward , Larbalestier Robert
Published: June 2020

Background

Sternoclavicular joint septic arthritis (SCJ SA) is a rare infectious disease process with reported life‐threatening complications such as mediastinal abscess and mediastinitis. The available literature reports variable success of medical management and a predominance of surgical management, with a 58% rate of surgical washout/debridement and high rates (47%) of resection of the SCJ and medial third of the clavicle.

Methods

A retrospective case series of radiologically or microbiologically confirmed cases of bacterial SCJ SA at Fiona Stanley Hospital was analysed. Demographic data, investigations, management and outcomes were assessed.

Results

Eleven cases of bacterial SCJ SA were identified. Eight cases were of primary SCJ SA, whilst three cases were secondary to haematogenous seeding. Recognized risk factors such as intravenous drug use, diabetes mellitus, trauma, smoking and immunosuppression were present. The most common complication was clavicular osteomyelitis (64%). Life‐threatening complications included mediastinal abscess and rapidly progressive necrotizing myositis. Nine patients (82%) were managed with primary medical therapy, with two patients failing antibiotic therapy and requiring joint washout. Two patients were taken for urgent washout on presentation. Four cases (36%) resulted in operative SCJ washout. There were no cases requiring resection of the SCJ or clavicle.

Conclusion

This series suggests that SCJ SA can be primarily treated medically in the absence of life‐threatening complications. In addition, medical management may be sufficient for cases complicated by clavicular osteomyelitis. Need for surgical resection of the SCJ and medial third of the clavicle may be less than previously reported.
Quantification of aluminium release from Finn chambers under different in vitro test conditions of relevance for patch testing
Authors: Hedberg Yolanda S. , Wei Zheng , Matura Mihály
Published: June 2020

Background

Contact allergy to aluminium (Al) might pose a risk of false‐positive readings of patch‐test results when testing with Finn chambers.

Objectives

To quantify the release of Al from empty Al Finn chambers, covered Finn Aqua chambers, and Al Finn chambers containing different baseline patch‐test substances.

Methods

Al Finn chambers of different conditions and with different patch‐test substances were tested in artificial sweat and their Al release was analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry.

Results

The amount of Al released from empty Finn chambers corresponded to a skin dose of 0.03%–0.5% Al chloride hexahydrate applied in plastic chambers. Although most patch‐test substances reduced the release of Al from the Finn chambers due to covering the surface, some substances significantly increased the release of Al from the Finn chambers, most notable for Caine mix II 10% pet., Myroxylon pereirae 25% pet., and sodium tetrachloropalladate hydrate 3.0% pet.

Conclusions

The release of Al from Finn chambers corresponds in some cases to clinically relevant concentrations of Al for Al‐sensitized individuals.
Impact of migration from an illicit drug scene on hospital outcomes among people who use illicit drugs in Vancouver, Canada
Authors: Beaulieu Tara , Hayashi Kanna , Dong Huiru , DeBeck Kora , Day Andrew , McKendry Rachael , Kaur Gaganpreet , Barrios Rolando , Milloy M.‐J. , Ti Lianping
Published: June 2020

Introduction and Aims

People who use illicit drugs (PWUD) are vulnerable to an array of negative health outcomes, and increased hospital services utilisation. PWUD are also a transient population which poses challenges to the provision of optimal health care. The objective of this study was to identify out‐migration patterns from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES), a neighbourhood where services for PWUD are concentrated, and to estimate the impact of these patterns on hospitalisation events among PWUD.

Design and Methods

Data were collected through three prospective cohorts of PWUD in Vancouver, which were linked with health administrative data. Latent class growth analysis was used to define migration trajectory groups. Poisson regression was used to estimate the effect of migration patterns on hospitalisation events.

Results

A total of 1180 participants were included in the study. Four latent classes were identified: early migration out (243, 20.6%); frequent revisit (112, 9.5%); late migration out (219, 18.6%); and consistently living in the DTES (606, 51.4%). Compared with those who consistently lived in the DTES, participants in the early migration out group had lower hospitalisation events (adjusted rate ratio = 0.65; 95% confidence interval: 0.48–0.90).

Discussion and Conclusion

We found that PWUD who migrated out of the DTES early had lower hospitalisation events compared to those who consistently lived in the DTES, which may be a function of lesser addiction severity among this trajectory group. These findings underscore a need to provide transitional health and social service supports for other trajectory groups in an effort to minimise hospitalisation for preventable causes.
The dead phosphatases society: a review of the emerging roles of pseudophosphatases
Authors: Reiterer Veronika , Pawłowski Krzysztof , Desrochers Guillaume , Pause Arnim , Sharpe Hayley J. , Farhan Hesso
Published: June 2020

Phosphatases are a diverse family of enzymes, comprising at least 10 distinct protein folds. Like most other enzyme families, many have sequence variations that predict an impairment or loss of catalytic activity classifying them as pseudophosphatases. Research on pseudoenzymes is an emerging area of interest, with new biological functions repurposed from catalytically active relatives. Here, we provide an overview of the pseudophosphatases identified to date in all major phosphatase families. We will highlight the degeneration of the various catalytic sequence motifs and discuss the challenges associated with the experimental determination of catalytic inactivity. We will also summarize the role of pseudophosphatases in various diseases and discuss the major challenges and future directions in this field.