bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Managing boundaries through strategy maps in pluralistic contexts
Authors: Cifalinò Antonella , Lisi Irene Eleonora , Gorli Mara , Scaratti Giuseppe
Published: November 2022

Purpose

Modern intra- and inter-organizational arrangements require firms to cross boundaries, but this process represents a crucial and complex challenge, especially for organizations that face pluralistic tensions. Scholars still lack sufficient knowledge of how boundaries can be crossed and what kind of boundary management is necessary within pluralistic contexts. This paper aims to enrich the understanding of these issues by exploring how strategy maps can be mobilized and used as boundary objects to elicit boundary-spanning practices that foster cross-boundary collaboration in pluralistic organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper employs the case study methodology to capture the dynamics of cross-boundary management elicited by the use of a strategy map within a pluralistic social/healthcare organizational context.

Findings

This study identifies four practices of boundary spanning (i.e. identifying and crossing problem boundaries, orchestrating collective responsibilities, acknowledging a common understanding of convergent values and goals, and evolving into action) in the analysed pluralistic context and investigates the conditions under which cross-boundary interactions can mobilize a shared zone of knowing via strategy maps.

Originality/value

This paper suggests a complex (and not linear) processual model of boundary management in pluralistic contexts in which the use of the strategy map mobilizes a dynamic of centrifugal and centripetal movements which engage plural actors in a shared site of collaborative knowing. The study contributes to a conceptualization of boundary management in pluralistic contexts as a progressive social accomplishment.
Strategies to overcome barriers to public facilities management
Authors: Simpeh Fredrick , Mavangwa Glenrose Miller , Wentzel Lance
Published: November 2022

Purpose

Public facilities in most part of the world, including South Africa, are poorly managed due to factors including inadequate funding and poor implementation of systems. This study seeks to develop strategies that would help to overcome the barriers to managing public facilities.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted an exploratory research design. A semi-structured interview was used to collect qualitative data from the respondents. Purposive sampling was used to select the organizations whereas quota sampling was used to select the participants. The collected data were analysed by means of the thematic analysis technique.

Findings

The study found that 6 main strategies (i.e. adequate and capable human resources, provision of maintenance equipment and systems, adequate budget provision, amendment of procurement systems, root out corruption and effective organization structure) could be implemented to overcome public facilities management challenges.

Research limitations/implications

The data were collected from only one province in South Africa. However, the findings may be applicable to other provinces since most of the provinces in the country share similar characteristics.

Practical implications

The Department of Public Works and other public institutions could use these strategies to mitigate the barriers to public facilities management. This will help to improve the facilities management systems leading to enhanced facilities' value.

Originality/value

Studies on challenges of public facilities management abound; however, approaches and strategies of dealing with these challenges have not received much attention. This study has identified strategies that could help mitigate the challenges associated with public facilities management. Thus, the findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge on strategies of mitigating public facilities management challenges.
Influence of government financial incentives on electric car adoption: empirical evidence from India
Authors: Ansab K.V. , Kumar S. Pavan
Published: November 2022

Purpose

Electric cars have very little market share in developing countries despite their environmental benefits. Thus, governments have started promoting electric cars by providing financial incentives to consumers. The current article aims to examine the direct and indirect effects of government financial incentives on consumer electric car adoption in India.

Design/methodology/approach

The study followed a quantitative research method that employed a self-administered survey questionnaire. Structural Equation Modelling and Multi-Group Analysis were followed for data analysis.

Findings

The study revealed that financial incentives have an indirect effect on electric car adoption intention rather than a direct effect. In addition, financial incentives were found to have a direct effect on attitude and Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC). Attitude and PBC positively influenced consumer adoption intention.

Practical implications

The insights and implications from the present study would help policymakers and marketers to formulate better incentive policies and market strategies to increase consumer acceptance of electric cars in developing countries.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature by analysing the underlying mechanism that links government financial incentives to electric car adoption intention. This study also explored the direct effect of financial incentives on attitude and PBC, which are less investigated in electric vehicle literature. In addition, the present article also assessed the moderating role of age in electric car adoption, which has mixed evidence in the literature, and such studies are scarce in the Indian context.
Hotel demand forecasting: a comprehensive literature review
Authors: Huang Liyao , Zheng Weimin
Published: November 2022

Purpose

This study aims to provide a comprehensive review of hotel demand forecasting to identify its key fundamentals and evolution and future research directions and trends to advance the field.

Design/methodology/approach

Articles on hotel demand modeling and forecasting were identified and rigorously selected using transparent inclusion and exclusion criteria. A final sample of 85 empirical studies was obtained for comprehensive analysis through content analysis.

Findings

Synthesis of the literature highlights that hotel forecasting based on historical demand data dominates the research, and reservation/cancellation data and combined data gradually attracted research attention in recent years. In terms of model evolution, time series and AI-based models are the most popular models for hotel demand forecasting. Review results show that numerous studies focused on hybrid models and AI-based models.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first systematic review of the literature on hotel demand forecasting from the perspective of data source and methodological development and indicates future research directions.
Body mass and triglycerides predict departure of free‐living nomadic pine siskins
Authors: DeSimone Joely G. , Domschot Beverly S. , Fylling Megan A. , Blake William M. , Breuner Creagh W.
Published: November 2022

Facultative migrations are observed across vertebrate taxa, include irruptive and nomadic movements, and occur in response to ephemeral and unpredictably variable resources. While the physiology underlying seasonal, obligate migrations is thoroughly studied, much less is known about the physiological mechanisms of facultative movements. We test two hypotheses in a free‐living, nomadic bird, the pine siskin (Spinus pinus).

The Prepare Hypothesis predicts that, like obligate migrants, siskins increase fuel stores to prepare for migratory movements and elevations of baseline corticosterone (CORT) support departure. The Escape Hypothesis predicts that siskins do not prepare for departure, body condition declines as food availability declines, and stress‐related levels of CORT induce escape from resource‐poor areas.

Under the controlled lab conditions of previous studies, food restriction induces declines in body condition and increases in CORT and locomotor activity, supporting the Escape Hypothesis. This study evaluates the ecological relevance of these captive findings by testing the Prepare and Escape Hypotheses in the field for the first time.

During two fall field seasons, we radio‐tagged siskins and tracked their local movements using handheld and automated telemetry. We assess how body condition and CORT relate to feeding behaviour [estimated via plasma triglycerides (TRIG)], space use and departure.

We do not find support for either the Prepare or Escape Hypothesis, but rather observe an intermediate pattern. Birds with higher TRIG, and therefore greater food intake, are more likely to depart. Birds in poor condition stay longer near the field site; however, above a threshold body mass, body condition does not predict departure.

These findings suggest moderate energy stores are necessary for departure, but movement decisions depend on other factors among birds with sufficient fuel. Siskin movements are physiologically distinct from both obligate and fugitive movements, and we discuss how food availability and body condition interact to drive different types of movement.

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Ablation of TRPC3 compromises bicarbonate and phosphate transporter activity in mice proximal tubular cells
Authors: Shin Samuel , Awuah Boadi Eugenia , Bandyopadhyay Bidhan C.
Published: November 2022

Proximal tubular (PT) cells reabsorb most calcium (Ca2+), phosphate (PO43−), bicarbonate (HCO3−), and oxalate (C2O42−) ions. We have shown that mice lacking Transient Receptor Potential Canonical 3 (TRPC3−/−) channel are moderately hypercalciuric with presentation of luminal calcium phosphate (CaP) crystals at the loop of Henle (LOH). However, other predisposing factors for such crystal deposition are unknown. Thus, we examined the distinctions in functional status of HCO3−, PO43−, and C2O42− transporters in PT cells of wild type (WT) and TRPC3−/− mice by whole‐cell patch clamp techniques to assess their contribution in the development of LOH CaP crystals. Here we show the development of concentration dependent HCO3−‐induced currents in all PT cells, which was confirmed by using specific HCO3− channel inhibitor, S0859. Interestingly, such activities were diminished in PT cells from TRPC3−/− mice, suggesting reduced HCO3− transport in absence of TRPC3. While PO43−‐induced currents were also concentration dependent in all PT cells (confirmed by PO43− channel inhibitor, PF‐06869206), those activities were reduced in absence of TRPC3, suggesting lower PO43− reabsorption that can leave excess luminal PO43−. Next, we applied thiosulfate (O3S22−) as a competitive inhibitor of the SLC26a6 transporter upon C2O42− current activation and observed a reduced C2O42−‐induced conductance which was greater in TRPC3−/− PT cells. Together, these results suggest that the reduced activities of HCO3−, PO43−, and C2O42− transporters in moderately hypercalciuric (TRPC3−/−) PT cells can create a predisposing condition for CaP and CaP tubular crystallization, enabling CaP crystal formation in LOH of TRPC3−/− mice.
Rhizopine biosensors for plant‐dependent control of bacterial gene expression
Authors: Haskett Timothy L. , Geddes Barney A. , Paramasivan Ponraj , Green Patrick , Chitnavis Samir , Mendes Marta D. , Jorrín Beatriz , Knights Hayley E. , Bastholm Tahlia R. , Ramsay Joshua P. , Oldroyd Giles E. D. , Poole Philip S.
Published: November 2022

Engineering signalling between plants and microbes could be exploited to establish host‐specificity between plant‐growth‐promoting bacteria and target crops in the environment. We previously engineered rhizopine‐signalling circuitry facilitating exclusive signalling between rhizopine‐producing (RhiP) plants and model bacterial strains. Here, we conduct an in‐depth analysis of rhizopine‐inducible expression in bacteria. We characterize two rhizopine‐inducible promoters and explore the bacterial host‐range of rhizopine biosensor plasmids. By tuning the expression of rhizopine uptake genes, we also construct a new biosensor plasmid pSIR05 that has minimal impact on host cell growth in vitro and exhibits markedly improved stability of expression in situ on RhiP barley roots compared to the previously described biosensor plasmid pSIR02. We demonstrate that a sub‐population of Azorhizobium caulinodans cells carrying pSIR05 can sense rhizopine and activate gene expression when colonizing RhiP barley roots. However, these bacteria were mildly defective for colonization of RhiP barley roots compared to the wild‐type parent strain. This work provides advancement towards establishing more robust plant‐dependent control of bacterial gene expression and highlights the key challenges remaining to achieve this goal.
Fuel Poverty and the 2022 Energy Crisis
Authors: Simshauser Paul
Published: November 2022

The Ukraine war has increased coal and gas prices during 2022. Consequently, spot prices in Australia's National Electricity Market rose from $75 to $225/MWh, year‐on‐year. Households are shielded from spot prices, but as energy retailer hedge contracts mature, they are replaced by higher cost contracts, and end‐use retail tariffs will then rise. In this article, fuel poverty levels in Queensland are analysed. Model results forecast that fuel poverty rises from 6.8 per cent to 10.5 per cent of households. However, changes to energy concessions policy in 2016‒2017 materially enhanced horizontal and vertical efficiency, with successful targeting rising from 51 per cent to 69 per cent of vulnerable households.
The Diagnostic Value and Anchoring Effect of References in Acquisition Premium Decisions: The Influence of Overconfident and Powerful CEOs
Authors: Malhotra Shavin , Zhu Phil , Reus Taco H.
Published: November 2022

CEOs often must make strategic decisions under extreme uncertainty. One way they deal with this uncertainty is by relying on references – that is, recent comparable decisions. However, there is a conundrum that underlies these references: they can have diagnostic value but also induce anchoring. We shed light on this conundrum by unpacking diagnostic value and anchoring effects of two commonly used references in acquisition premium decisions: an external reference (the premium paid for the preceding acquisition in the target industry) and an internal reference (the premium paid by a focal firm for its preceding acquisition). We theorize that while external references have diagnostic value and anchoring effects, internal references only have anchoring effects. Moreover, we argue that powerful and overconfident CEOs rely more on internal references. Our results, based on a hedonic regression analysis of 3072 completed acquisitions, support these hypotheses.
The Lettres Portugaises: Scripting and selling female desire
Authors: O'Leary Jessica
Published: November 2022

This article builds on previous literary scholarship to analyse the social and publication history of the enormously successful Lettres portugaises (1669), five letters published in the voice of an anonymous Portuguese nun to a French officer. Although the letters were based on an ancient model, this article suggests that their references to contemporary gendered constructions of biology and love, especially for enclosed women, were successfully used by publishers to commercialise a historically recurring gender binary of heterosexual love: men were rejected and women were abandoned. The popularity of the text was such that it entrenched notions of women's helplessness in matters of the heart for almost three centuries. This article argues that the Lettres portugaises’ success was as much the result of the text's literary qualities as it was of the canny paratextual strategies deployed by seventeenth‐ and eighteenth‐century publishers to sell the book, its sequels and its imitations.
Dimensions of effective government pandemic‐crisis communication in the context of COVID‐19: A public‐centric perspective
Authors: Kim Sora
Published: November 2022

Drawing on two representative online surveys in Hong Kong (HK) and the United States (US) during the COVID‐19 pandemic, this study investigates, from a public‐centric perspective, public expectations of effective government pandemic‐crisis communication. The study looks specifically at what the publics want to be communicated in times of a global pandemic and how. In each region, the findings identify four significant dimensions. Three are culturally universal dimensions—basic responsibility, locus of pandemic‐crisis responsibility, and disfavour of promotional tone. The fourth is culture‐specific—personal relevance for HK and frequency for the US. Among the significant dimensions, the most highly expected is what people consider to be the government's basic responsibility in pandemic communication, that is, a basic responsibility dimension. This includes providing instructing and adjusting information and securing accuracy, timeliness, and transparency in pandemic communication. In both regions, respondents preferred by far traditional media and nongovernmental sources to social media and governmental sources.
Impact of alcohol policy changes on substance‐affected patients attending an emergency department in the Northern Territory with police
Authors: Brownlea Sandra , Miller Justine , Taylor Nicholas , Miller Peter , Coomber Kerri , Baldwin Ryan , Palmer Didier
Published: November 2022

Objective

Assess the impact of Northern Territory alcohol policy changes to ED utilisation at Royal Darwin‐Palmerston Regional Hospitals.

Methods

Interrupted time series analysis explored trends in monthly ED attendance numbers and the proportion self‐discharging prior to policy changes (September 2016 to August 2017) and after three sequential interventions; the Banned Drinker Register, introduced September 2017, system changes to the sobering shelter, January 2018, and the minimum unit floor price (MUFP), October 2018. A targeted cohort of attendances transported by police as an alternative to the sobering shelter or police watch‐house when there is a medical concern was selected as they are likely impacted by all policy changes.

Results

Police transported 1176 patients on 2070 occasions from September 2016 to March 2019. There was a downward trend in monthly attendances across the study period, with no significant change attributable to the Banned Drinker Register, a significant step decrease with the sobering shelter changes (P = 0.002), and a significant gradual decrease following the MUFP (P = 0.025). This represented an immediate decrease of 3.82 attendances per month/10 000 residents following the sobering shelter changes and a gradual decrease of 0.92 attendances/10 000 residents after the MUFP. Rates of self‐discharge were high, 45% in the pre‐intervention phase, decreasing to 28% following the MUFP but this trend did not reach significance with any intervention.

Conclusion

The sequential introduction of broad sweeping alcohol policy changes introduced by the Northern Territory government was associated with significant reductions in ED utilisation. The proximity of the introduction of interventions creates difficulties identifying individual policy influence.
The frequency of wing damage in a migrating butterfly
Authors: Korkmaz Rabiya , Rajabi Hamed , Eshghi Shahab , Gorb Stanislav N. , Büscher Thies H.
Published: November 2022

The ability to fly is crucial for migratory insects. Consequently, the accumulation of damage on the wings over time can affect survival, especially for species that travel long distances. We examined the frequency of irreversible wing damage in the migratory butterfly Vanessa cardui to explore the effect of wing structure on wing damage frequency, as well as the mechanisms that might mitigate wing damage. An exceptionally high migration rate driven by high precipitation levels in their larval habitats in the winter of 2018–2019 provided us with an excellent opportunity to collect data on the frequency of naturally occurring wing damage associated with long‐distance flights. Digital images of 135 individuals of V. cardui were collected and analyzed in Germany. The results show that the hindwings experienced a greater frequency of damage than the forewings. Moreover, forewings experienced more severe damage on the lateral margin, whereas hindwings experienced more damage on the trailing margin. The frequency of wing margin damage was higher in the painted lady butterfly than in the migrating monarch butterfly and in the butterfly Pontia occidentalis following artificially induced wing collisions. The results of this study could be used in future comparative studies of patterns of wing damage in butterflies and other insects. Additional studies are needed to clarify whether the strategies for coping with wing damage differ between migratory and nonmigratory species.
Immunosuppressive, antimicrobial and insecticidal activities of inhibitor cystine knot peptides produced by teratocytes of the endoparasitoid wasp Cotesia flavipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)
Authors: Pinto Ciro P. G. , Walker Andrew A. , King Glenn F. , Rossi Guilherme D.
Published: November 2022

Teratocytes are specialized cells released by parasitoid wasps into their hosts. They are known for producing regulatory molecules that aid the development of immature parasitoids. We have recently reported the primary structures of cystine‐rich peptides, including some containing inhibitor cystine knot (ICK) motifs, produced by teratocytes of the parasitoid Cotesia flavipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). ICKs are known for their stability and diverse biological functions. In this study, we produced four putative ICK peptides from the teratocytes of C. flavipes using solid‐phase peptide synthesis or recombinant expression in E. coli, and investigated their functions on host immune modulation as well their potential to impair the development of two lepidopterans after ingestion of the peptides. In addition, the peptides were assayed against pathogens and human cells. The peptides did not influence total hemocyte count but suppressed cellular immunity, detectable as a reduction of hemocyte encapsulation (CftICK‐I, CftICK‐II, CftICK‐III) and spread indexes (CftICK‐IV) in the host. None of the peptides influenced the activities of prophenoloxidase and phenoloxidase in the hemolymph of larval Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). CftICK‐I and CftICK‐II with previously unknown function showed antifungal activity against Candida albicans but were non‐toxic to human cells. CftICK‐I, CftICK‐II, and CftICK‐III increased larval mortality and reduced leaf consumption of D. saccharalis, a permissive host for C. flavipes. The CftICK‐III also increased larval mortality and reduced leaf consumption of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a non‐permissive host for C. flavipes. This study highlights biological functions and biotechnological potential of ICK peptides from the teratocytes of C. flavipes.
Operationalizing equity for integrated water resources management
Authors: Seigerman Cydney K. , McKay S. Kyle , Basilio Raul , Biesel Shelly A. , Hallemeier Jon , Mansur Andressa V. , Piercy Candice , Rowan Sebastian , Ubiali Bruno , Yeates Elissa , Nelson Donald R.
Published: November 2022

Advancing social equity has been implicitly and explicitly central to water resources policy for decades. Yet, equity remains largely outside of standard water resources planning and management practices. Inclusion of equity within water resources infrastructure is inhibited by barriers including an incomplete conceptual understanding of equity, a perceived lack of quantitative and qualitative equity metrics, unclear connections between equity and standard project planning frameworks, and the absence of concrete examples. To facilitate greater practical inclusion of social equity in water resources practices, we describe equity relative to dimensions of distribution, procedure, and recognition and identify metrics associated with each. We then map these dimensions of equity onto different stages of a water resources project life cycle. We discuss how inequities are often perpetuated by current approaches and highlight case studies that promote one or more of the facets of equity. Rather than providing a prescriptive solution to “achieve” equity within water resources practices, we emphasize the need for contextualized approaches that include pragmatic steps toward more equitable practices and outcomes.
Minimal important difference in opioid consumption based on adverse event reduction—A study protocol
Authors: Karlsen Anders Peder Højer , Pedersen Casper , Laigaard Jens , Thybo Kasper Højgaard , Gasbjerg Kasper Smidt , Geisler Anja , Lunn Troels Haxholdt , Hägi‐Pedersen Daniel , Jakobsen Janus Christian , Mathiesen Ole
Published: November 2022

Background

The patient‐relevant minimal important difference for opioid consumption remains undetermined, despite its frequent use as primary outcome in trials on postoperative pain management. A minimal important difference is necessary to evaluate whether significant trial results are clinically relevant. Further, it can be used as effect size to ensure that trials are powered to find clinically relevant effects. By exploring the dose–response relationship between postoperative opioid consumption and opioid‐related adverse effects, we aim to approximate the minimal important difference in opioid consumption anchored to opioid‐related adverse effects.

Methods

This is a post‐hoc analysis of aggregated data from two clinical trials (PANSAID NCT02571361 and DEX2TKA NCT03506789) and one observational cohort study (Pain Map NCT02340052) on pain management after total hip and knee arthroplasty. The primary outcome is the Hodges–Lehmann median difference in opioid consumption between patients with no opioid‐related adverse effects and patients experiencing the mildest degree of one or more opioid‐related adverse effects (i.e., mild nausea, sedation and/or dizziness or vomiting). Secondary outcomes include the Hodges–Lehmann median difference in opioid consumption that corresponds to one point on a cumulated opioid‐related adverse event 0–10 scale. Further, we will explore the proportion of patients that experience opioid‐related adverse effects for consecutive opioid dose intervals of 2 mg iv morphine equivalents. Quantile regression will be used to assess any significant interactions with patient baseline characteristics.

Conclusions

This study will hopefully bring us one step closer to determining relevant opioid reductions and thereby improve our understanding of intervention effects and planning of future trials.
Vascular smooth muscle cell senescence accelerates medin aggregation via small extracellular vesicle secretion and extracellular matrix reorganization
Authors: Whitehead Meredith , Yusoff Syabira , Ahmad Sadia , Schmidt Lukas , Mayr Manuel , Madine Jillian , Middleton David , Shanahan Catherine M.
Published: November 2022

Vascular amyloidosis, caused when peptide monomers aggregate into insoluble amyloid, is a prevalent age‐associated pathology. Aortic medial amyloid (AMA) is the most common human amyloid and is composed of medin, a 50‐amino acid peptide. Emerging evidence has implicated extracellular vesicles (EVs) as mediators of pathological amyloid accumulation in the extracellular matrix (ECM). To determine the mechanisms of AMA formation with age, we explored the impact of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) senescence, EV secretion, and ECM remodeling on medin accumulation. Medin was detected in EVs secreted from primary VSMCs. Small, round medin aggregates colocalized with EV markers in decellularized ECM in vitro and medin was shown on the surface of EVs deposited in the ECM. Decreasing EV secretion with an inhibitor attenuated aggregation and deposition of medin in the ECM. Medin accumulation in the aortic wall of human subjects was strongly correlated with age and VSMC senescence increased EV secretion, increased EV medin loading and triggered deposition of fibril‐like medin. Proteomic analysis showed VSMC senescence induced changes in EV cargo and ECM composition, which led to enhanced EV‐ECM binding and accelerated medin aggregation. Abundance of the proteoglycan, HSPG2, was increased in the senescent ECM and colocalized with EVs and medin. Isolated EVs selectively bound to HSPG2 in the ECM and its knock‐down decreased formation of fibril‐like medin structures. These data identify VSMC‐derived EVs and HSPG2 in the ECM as key mediators of medin accumulation, contributing to age‐associated AMA development.
Does state repeal of alcohol exclusion laws increase problem drinking?
Authors: Azagba Sunday , Shan Lingpeng , Ebling Todd , Wolfson Mark , Hall Mark , Chaloupka Frank
Published: November 2022

Background

For decades, alcohol exclusion laws (AELs) have allowed insurance companies to reject claims for physical injuries caused by alcohol consumption, including injuries from impaired driving. A central premise of AELs is that they function as a deterrent to risk‐taking behaviors, such as excessive drinking. If this assumption is correct, state repeal of these laws should result in increased drinking. This study examines whether the repeal of AELs by some states affects drinking behaviors.

Methods

Data were obtained from the 1993 to 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System nationwide survey. Exploiting the natural experiment presented by state repeal of AELs, we assessed the impact on current drinking and binge drinking. We used a rigorous quasi‐experimental difference‐in‐differences analysis and conducted a battery of sensitivity analyses to assure robust findings.

Results

Overall, the study found no discernable impact of state repeal of AELs on alcohol consumption. While the repeal of AELs significantly decreased the odds of reporting drinking in the past 30 days compared to those living in states with AELs or that never had AELs, the effects were small (aOR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.96, 0.99). Likewise, there were higher odds of binge drinking among individuals living in states that repealed AELs compared to those living in states without AELs, yet with small effects (aOR = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.05). After additionally adjusting for state‐varying characteristics and state‐specific time trends, no significant effects were identified regarding current and binge drinking. Findings from the sensitivity analyses were largely consistent with the main analysis.

Conclusion

This study found no evidence supporting the idea that repealing AELs increased alcohol consumption or binge drinking. Future studies should consider other state‐specific dimensions within the Uniform Accident and Sickness Policy Provision Law.
Examining new‐generation transdermal alcohol biosensor performance across laboratory and field contexts
Authors: Ariss Talia , Fairbairn Catharine E. , Bosch Nigel
Published: November 2022

Background

Wrist‐worn transdermal alcohol sensors have the potential to change how alcohol consumption is measured. However, hardware and data analytic challenges associated with transdermal sensor data have kept these devices from widespread use. Given recent technological and analytic advances, this study provides an updated account of the performance of a new‐generation wrist‐worn transdermal sensor in both laboratory and field settings.

Methods

This work leverages machine learning models to convert transdermal alcohol concentration data into estimates of Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC) in a large‐scale laboratory sample (N = 256, study 1) and a pilot field sample (N = 27, study 2). Specifically, in both studies, the accuracy of the translation is evaluated by comparing BAC estimates yielded by BACtrack Skyn to real‐time breathalyzer measurements collected in the laboratory and in the field.

Results

The newest version of the Skyn device demonstrates a substantially lower error rate than older hand‐assembled prototypes (0% to 7% vs. 29% to 53%, respectively). On average, real‐time estimates of BrAC yielded by these transdermal sensors are within 0.007 of true BAC readings in the laboratory context and within 0.019 of true BrAC readings in the field. In both contexts, the distance between true and estimated BrAC was larger when only alcohol episodes were examined (laboratory = 0.017; field = 0.041). Finally, results of power‐law‐curve projections indicate that, given their accuracy, transdermal BrAC estimates in real‐world contexts have the potential to improve markedly (>25%) with adequately sized datasets for model training.

Conclusion

Findings from this study indicate that the latest version of the transdermal wrist sensor holds promise for the accurate assessment of alcohol consumption in field contexts. A great deal of additional work is needed to provide a full picture of the utility of these devices, including research with large participant samples in field contexts.
A Parody in Berlin: Reading the Obvious and the Ordinary in Historical Violence
Authors: Brandel Andrew
Published: November 2022

The popularity of Timur Vermes's Er ist wieder da (2012), its widespread translation, and the film version (2015) all raised critical hackles in Germany, provoking debate about the perceived risk of normalization associated with satirizing Hitler, or worse, inviting empathy by humanizing him. Hitler escapes his historical demise and awakes in the twenty‐first century, where he is misrecognized as an actor and becomes popular on the internet. I read the texts against the grain of its public reception by critics and scholars for whom it offers an obvious critique of Germany's contemporary susceptibility to the allure of charismatic fascism. I argue that it is this obviousness itself that comes under pressure through the two texts: if critics worry that satirizing Hitler even for the sake of such a critique will normalize memory of the Holocaust, it is the ease with which even critics accept the central science fictional device—Hitler's inexplicable return to contemporary Berlin decades after his death—that demands critical attention. Reading a film or a novel's reception anthropologically, in this paper, I make a case for an investigation into what is taken to be obvious and what it is that blocks such an inquiry. [popular culture; Holocaust; parody; public memory; alternative history]
Caliban, His Woman, and the Gendered (In)humanism of Wild Seed
Authors: Ibrahim Habiba
Published: November 2022

In this article, I begin with a broad question for anthropological philosophy—what is the human?—to turn toward a related question for social analysis: How did the concept of gender become a constitutive part of being human? Octavia Butler's speculative historical novel, Wild Seed (1980), troubles gender's conceptual metaphysics, serving as a precursor for the exploration of an alternative humanism found in Sylvia Wynter's “Beyond Miranda's Meanings: Un/silencing the ‘Demonic Ground' of Caliban's ‘Woman’” (1990). By anticipating Wynter's reading of Caliban and his missing, desired “woman,” Butler inverts the demonic grounds of negated progeny, reproduction, and patriarchal authority. In addition to speculating about the ontology of racialized femaleness, Wild Seed situates embodied maleness as an equal ontological problem. While Caliban is overly embodied, lacking patriarchal masculinity and its reproductive trappings, Wild Seed reintroduces the ontological problem of genderless embodiment through the native's/African's masculinity. Butler explores unthinkable human existence through the question of how gender pairs became a constitutive aspect of the human, rather than by focusing on one half of a gender binary over another. “(In)humanism” is conceptually provisional, intended to illustrate the transitional reason that underlies both formation and disappearance of what counts as humanness. [human, gender, Sylvia Wynter, Octavia Butler, embodiment]
Introduction to the Special Section, “The Ordinariness of Cross‐Time Relations: Anthropology, Literature, and the Science Fictional”
Authors: Brandel Andrew , Khan Naveeda
Published: November 2022

This introduction orients the reader to the experiments with thinking inter‐disciplinarily in this special section of Anthropology and Humanism. A long history of shared conversation between science fiction and anthropology has both been shadowed by colonialism and offered promising resources for remaking the world. We invited anthropologists, film critics, and literary theorists into conversation without assuming in advance to know what constitutes a genre like science fiction. Instead, we focus on how science fiction emerges in diverse contexts. Science fiction gives us pleasure; it has insurgent qualities which are not yet captured. Our appreciation of it grows from its engagement with the ordinary and the quotidian. It may engage time in ways other than the past‐present‐future, making us realize the impossibilities we have internalized and naturalized in our account of things. Ultimately, the collective realization of the authors in this section is that science fictionality is a fugitive element in the world. We need it for fabulation, to generate new ways of telling stories to forge new impossibilities. [science fiction; anthropology of time; anthropology and literature; the ordinary; fabulation]
Down with Gargamel! The Science Fiction of Recent Insurrections
Authors: Delgado Moya Sergio
Published: November 2022

As fiction, as a work of the imagination, science fiction brings into consciousness objects, figures, and scenarios that do not yet exist. It builds whole, entire worlds that allow us to take distance from our own, worlds where we can start to conceive everything that seemed impossible only because the limitations of our world did not allow us to imagine them. Therein lies the force of science fiction and fiction in general: in its reverberations, its continued effects on the “real life” of both inner and material realities. My contribution to this special section traces the shape and impact of micropolitical tools of insurrection as imagined in Othoniel Rosa's Down with Gargamel! It does so by exploring the implicit and explicit links between the fictive spaces of the novel and the uprisings that have emerged in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Americas in the twenty‐first century. [science fiction; Latin American literature; protest anthropology; activism; micropolitics]
The behaviours identified and the behaviour change techniques planned in health partnerships for antimicrobial stewardship
Authors: Hawkins Rachel , Michael Panayiotis , Byrne‐Davis Lucie , Bull Eleanor , Skone‐James Richard , Hart Jo
Published: November 2022

Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) interventions promote optimised use of antimicrobials by healthcare professionals. In 2019–2020, the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS) supported 12 global health partnerships in low‐ and middle‐income countries to co‐develop education and training interventions to improve AMS practices amongst hospital staff. This study aimed to describe six of the CwPAMS health partnerships' target behaviours and behaviour change techniques (BCTs) within their planned AMS interventions. Content analysis extracted behaviours and BCTs from partnership materials. Techniques used by partnerships with (n = 2) and without (n = 4) an embedded behavioural scientist were compared, to understand their added value. Nineteen AMS related behaviours for hospital staff were targeted; most commonly hand hygiene and antibiotic prescribing behaviours. Twenty‐three BCTs were coded, with instructing participants on how to perform the behaviours the most prominent across all, including partnerships with a behavioural scientist. Intervention materials did not always report the context of the intervention being delivered, including who was delivering it and the target. Behaviours for change were also often not specified. Partnerships varied in reporting their content and specific behaviours, impacting replicability of their interventions, and limiting knowledge exchange. An AMS behaviour change intervention resource is recommended to support clear specification of prospective AMS interventions.
Robotic surgery for simultaneous gastric and rectal cancers
Authors: Ojima Hitoshi , Yamada Kazunosuke , Takada Takahiro , Imaizumi Jun , Suzuki Masaki , Enokida Yasuaki , Mochida Yasushi , Kato Ryuji
Published: November 2022

The number of patients with multiple primary malignancies is increasing due to the improvements in diagnostic techniques, which increases the necessity of simultaneous resection. Meanwhile, minimally invasive robotic surgery is becoming popular in Japan, and its use in multiple cancer resection will increase. We present our experience with the settings and ports placement when using the da Vinci Xi system for simultaneous resection of rectal and gastric cancer.
Susceptibility pattern of bacterial isolates in equine ulcerative keratitis: Implications for empirical treatment at a university teaching hospital in Sydney
Authors: Deniaud M , Tee E
Published: November 2022

Corneal ulceration is a common ophthalmic condition in horses. It is frequently caused by trauma to the corneal surface, followed by secondary infection by commensal or pathogenic organisms including Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus spp. Emerging antimicrobial resistance amongst these organisms has raised the need for appropriate antimicrobial therapy selection, to optimise treatment efficacy while minimising further antimicrobial resistance. Medical records of 38 horses presented at the University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Camden for ulcerative keratitis between 2010 and 2020 were reviewed to identify those with positive bacterial cultures and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles (13/38). Common susceptibility patterns were identified and used to guide the empirical treatment of equine bacterial corneal ulcers. Pseudomonas spp. (64.3%), Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (14.3%) and Actinobacillus spp. (14.3%) were most commonly identified. Susceptibility to amikacin, gentamicin and ciprofloxacin was observed in 100%, 66.7% and 85.7% Pseudomonas spp. isolates respectively. Resistance to polymyxin B and neomycin occurred in 85.7% and 71.4% of Pseudomonas spp., respectively. All Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus organisms in this study were susceptible to ceftiofur, cephalexin, penicillin and ampicillin, while they were all resistant to gentamicin, neomycin, enrofloxacin and marbofloxacin. Predominating in this study, Pseudomonas spp. maintained overall aminoglycoside susceptibility despite some emerging resistance, and good fluoroquinolone susceptibility. High resistance to Polymyxin B could have arisen from its common use as first‐line therapy for bacterial corneal ulcers. Although further research is required, these new findings about predominant bacteria in equine corneal ulceration in the Camden region and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns can be used to guide the empirical treatment of bacterial corneal ulcers in horses.
Simulated effects of floodplain restoration on plant community types
Authors: Clilverd Hannah M. , Thompson Julian R. , Sayer Carl D. , Heppell Catherine M. , Axmacher Jan C. , Stratford Charlie , Burningham Helene
Published: November 2022

Aims

Channelization and artificial embankments have altered the natural flood regime of many rivers, impacting the hydrological characteristics of floodplain ecosystems and their biological communities. This study was undertaken on a floodplain meadow to assess spatial patterns of plant communities in relation to soil physical and chemical conditions, and the impacts of floodplain restoration that involved embankment‐removal.

Location

River Glaven, Hunworth, Norfolk, UK.

Methods

Fine‐scale plant and soil chemistry sampling was conducted prior to embankment removal, and hydrological and climatological conditions were monitored prior to and after embankment removal. Hydrological/hydraulic modelling simulated groundwater levels for a 10‐year period to assess changes in soil aeration stresses and plant community composition following embankment‐removal.

Results

Hydrology was identified as the primary driver of plant community composition. Soil fertility was also important. Unique continuous measurements of vadose dissolved oxygen concentrations using oxygen optodes indicated strong coupling between water table depth and root zone dissolved oxygen concentrations. Reinstatement of overbank flows did not substantially affect aeration stress across most of the meadow because of pre‐existing wet conditions. However, along the river‐floodplain ecotone, aeration stress increased substantially from conditions normally associated with dry grassland to those characteristic of fen communities (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

This restored water table regime may be suitable for more diverse plant assemblages. Benefits of flooding for increased species richness and transport of propagules may, however, be over‐ridden without accompanying water level management during the growing season, or hay removal to balance additional supply of nutrients from river floodwater and sediment. Our results show that hydrological/hydraulic modelling combined with quantitative measures of plant water‐requirements can provide practical and adaptive management tools to estimate the response of floodplain communities to changing water regimes.
Berberine regulates pulmonary inflammatory microenvironment and decreases collagen deposition in response to bleomycin‐induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice
Authors: Yang Zheng , Bian Mengni , Ma Junbing , Dong Yonghe , Yang Dan , Qiu Min , Gao Zhixiang
Published: November 2022

The purpose of this study was to explore the protective effect and potential mechanism of berberine on bleomycin (BLM)‐induced fibrosis after lung injury in conjunction with network pharmacology. Berberine and pulmonary fibrosis prediction targets were collected for Gene Ontology (GO) functional analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis and so forth. A single intranasal dose of BLM (2.5 mg/kg) was administered to establish a model of fibrosis after lung injury, and berberine (50 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally daily for treatment. Network pharmacology results suggested that the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathway may be a potential mechanism of berberine in delaying pulmonary fibrosis. The results of animal experiments showed that compared with the BLM group, after 14 days of berberine treatment, lung inflammatory cell aggregation was reduced and the expression levels of tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), interleukin (IL)‐8 and IL‐6 were down‐regulated in mice (p < 0.05); after 42 days of berberine treatment, the expression levels of transforming growth factor (TGF)‐β1, platelet‐derived growth factor‐AB (PDGF‐AB), hydroxyproline (HYP) and α‐smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA) were significantly down‐regulated (p < 0.05), and the expression levels of total p38 MAPKα and p38 MAPKα (pT180/Y182) were down‐regulated also (p < 0.05), inhibited collagen production and deposition, and increased the survival rate of mice to 70%. In conclusion, berberine attenuated inflammation mice, inhibited collagen production and showed some anti‐pulmonary fibrosis potential in the MAPK signalling pathway.
The right to a second opinion on Artificial Intelligence diagnosis—Remedying the inadequacy of a risk‐based regulation
Authors: Ploug Thomas , Holm Søren
Published: November 2022

In this paper, we argue that patients who are subjects of Artificial Intelligence (AI)‐supported diagnosis and treatment planning should have a right to a second opinion, but also that this right should not necessarily be construed as a right to a physician opinion. The right to a second opinion could potentially be satisfied by another independent AI system. Our considerations on the right to second opinion are embedded in the wider debate on different approaches to the regulation of AI, and we conclude the article by providing a number of reasons for preferring a rights‐based approach over a risk‐based approach.