bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
DEEP: the engagement, involvement and empowerment of people with dementia in collective influencing
Authors: Litherland Rachael , Williamson Toby
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the mapping processes and lessons learned in a project to scope the user involvement activity of groups of people with dementia across the UK.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was gathered using a mapping questionnaire designed with help from people with dementia, in‐depth interviews and through a filming process at two national events. A total of 32 groups completed the main questionnaire and five groups were interviewed.

Findings

The collective voice of people with dementia is at a relatively early stage. Groups are at different stages on their journeys and many (completely understandably) prioritise peer support, and local rather than national action. But user‐led groups are growing in number and confidence. They ask for support in capacity‐building, networking and learning from each other so they can increase their influence over attitudes, policy and services.

Research limitations/implications

The paper relies on self reports from groups the authors were able to identify.

Originality/value

Research that looks at the mechanisms that support the involvement of people with dementia is still in its infancy. This paper combines data and findings from a wide range of groups to provide recommendations about how to improve the involvement of people with dementia.
Impact of brand personality and consumer ethnocentrism in China's sportswear market
Authors: Tong Xiao , Li Chunxiao
Published: June 2013

Purpose

– This study aims to investigate the effect of brand personality and consumer ethnocentrism on perceived quality and purchase intentions in China's sportswear market.

Design/methodology/approach

– In order to examine and compare the effect of brand personality and consumer ethnocentrism on the evaluation of product quality and purchase intention toward domestic and foreign brands, COB (the country with which the brand or firm is associated) and COM (the country in which final production takes place) cues were used in this study. Chinese college students represented the sample of 385 respondents. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the causal relationships among brand personality, consumer ethnocentrism, perceived quality, and purchase intention.

Findings

– Results revealed that brand personality has a significant effect on Chinese consumers' product quality perceptions and purchase intentions toward both domestic and foreign brands. Furthermore, it is found that Chinese consumers' ethnocentric tendencies have no significant impact on their intentions to buy either domestic or foreign sportswear brands. However, ethnocentric Chinese consumers do positively evaluate the quality of domestic brands when domestic brands are also made domestically and negatively evaluate the quality of foreign brands when foreign brands are also manufactured non-domestically.

Originality/value

– The study contributes theoretically and empirically to research on the effects of brand image and consumer ethnocentrism in emerging markets. The findings from this study will help domestic and international marketers have a better understanding of the role of brand personality and consumer ethnocentric tendencies in influencing young Chinese consumers' product evaluation and purchase intentions. In addition, few studies have simultaneously examined the effects of brand image and consumer ethnocentrism (moderated by COO) on consumers' product evaluations and purchase intentions, which provided new research and managerial implications.
PFI/PPP, private sector perspectives of UK transport and healthcare
Authors: Eadie Robert , Millar Phillip , Grant Rory
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Public private partnerships (PPP) and the private finance initiative (PFI) are defined as a range of practical long‐standing relationships between the public and private sectors. This paper aims to investigate managers’ perceptions of PPP/PFI in two of the three largest sectors for private sector capital‐spend in PPP/PFI schemes, namely transport (highway infrastructure) and healthcare.

Design/methodology/approach

A web‐based Limesurvey™ questionnaire was used to collect data. A sample of 75 organisations was identified from the Partnerships UK (PUK) online Project Database (Partnerships UK, 2010). Total of 49 responses were received, of which 39 were complete.

Findings

Results from each sector relating to PPP/PFI “best value”, advantages and disadvantages, and government preferred procurement routes, are investigated. The majority of organisations did not consider that PPP/PFI provided “best value” but thought it provided more value than the other two UK Government preferred procurement routes, “design and build” and “prime contracting”.

Practical implications

This questions the UK Government's choice of preferred procurement routes. However, even during a recession and its aftermath, the majority of respondents consider that PPP/PFI remains appropriate to healthcare and transport developments.

Originality/value

Firstly, this paper carries out a ranking of common advantages and disadvantages to PFI/PPP followed by an investigation of “best value” as perceived by contractors and consultants subsequent to the construction phase. Then the three preferred UK Government procurement routes are contrasted in terms of “best value” and finally the paper investigates how PPP/PFI schemes are viewed during recessionary times.
Reading strategy and the need of e‐book features
Authors: ChanLin Lih‐Juan
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore college students' use of electronic reading strategies in reading e‐books and the features provided by e‐book systems. Both academic reading and leisure reading are evaluated from students' responses.

Design/methodology/approach

Both qualitative and quantitative data are collected. In total, eight college students volunteered for in‐depth interview to express their strategy in reading e‐books. Reading strategies employed by college students are summarized. A set of questionnaire items to assess electronic reading strategies and e‐book features for both academic and leisure reading is used for collecting quantitative data. To determine differences between academic reading and leisure reading, pair‐t is used among 201 respondents.

Findings

Interview data reveal that students use various strategies in reading e‐books. These reading strategies are categorized into “Use of prior experiences”, “Comprehension and decision making”, and “Self‐regulation and self‐monitoring”. From 26 questionnaire items for assessing students' need of reading strategies, 16 are found significantly different between academic reading and leisure reading (p<0.05). The necessity level of many e‐book features is significantly higher for academic reading than for leisure reading (p < 0.05).

Research limitations/implications

Research on students' use of strategies in electronic reading is needed in the rich information world. In this study, the assessment of necessity level of using various electronic reading strategies and features provided by e‐book systems assessed from students' responses might be helpful for design of e‐book systems. However, further research on different reading audiences and specific domains may shed light on more guidelines for implementation and application.

Originality/value

It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide suggestions for the innovation of reading supports embedded in e‐book systems.
Assessing future travel demand: a need to account for non‐transport technologies?
Authors: Hubers Christa , Lyons Glenn
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Travel is usually not valued in and of itself, but for the activities it allows people to partake in. Therefore, if change occurs in either the activities people perform, or in the means they use to perform them, the demand for travel is likely to change accordingly. Technologies have the potential to accommodate the activities people need or want to perform and how they perform them. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to increase the understanding of the complex relations between technologies developing outside the transport domain, social practices and travel, and the uncertainties that can result from these linkages. As such it draws attention to the interconnectivity of transport with other domains (e.g. healthcare, retail, leisure).

Design/methodology/approach

The relations between non‐transport technologies, social practices and travel are largely unintended and/or unanticipated. This study therefore utilised notions developed elsewhere of the mechanisms through which unintended consequences materialize. With these notions in mind, some selected examples of past, present and possible future technologies expose the possible indirect influences they can have on travel demand, thereby developing the conceptual understanding of these linkages.

Findings

If policies are being developed to limit, change, or reduce people's travel then non‐transport technologies may thwart those policy ambitions in serious ways or be realised in unexpected and surprising forms.

Research limitations/implications

There appears precious little (quantitative) evidence of data that captures the relations between technologies, social practices and travel.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to examine the indirect impacts of technological developments occurring outside the transport domain on travel demand.
E‐health futures in Bangladesh
Authors: Sheraz Umar , Inayatullah Sohail , Shah Ali
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to delineate alternative e‐health futures for public health policymaking in Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology used in the paper is the Six Pillars approach to explore alternative and preferred futures for the establishment of a health information system and e‐health provision in Bangladesh.

Findings

There is a great deal of potential for encouraging participatory engagement between various stakeholders in Bangladesh's public health policymaking. The Six Pillars approach is used not only to enhance this participatory approach but also to examine various discourses and different stakeholder voices to create four alternative futures for e‐health delivery in Bangladesh: first, leap‐frog 2025; second, e‐health car 2025; third, health cloud 2025; and fourth, e‐health political party aimed at optimizing the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on one hand and ensuring widened access and participation on the other.

Practical implications

The alternative scenarios identify four possible ways of bringing together society, government and business to achieve positive public health outcomes by creating an open, trust‐based and efficient e‐health system, not only in Bangladesh but also in other developing countries. The scenarios challenge health business as usual and used futures.

Social implications

The paper aims to communicate a humane public approach to the issue of health which envisages using modern ICTs to maximize democratic access to the public health system and reduce health marginalization in Bangladesh.

Originality/value

The paper is a pioneering attempt to use Six Pillars for public health policymaking in Bangladesh. It is based on the first e‐health workshop in Bangladesh.
Using an improved rich pictures approach to improve project situational analysis in complex aid reconstruction development projects
Authors: Walker Derek H.T. , Steinfort Paul
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the use (at the situational analysis project phase) of an innovation to a sensemaking and problem‐solving tool for aid relief and disaster recovery projects, that improves programmes to project management practice.

Design/methodology/approach

There are tools that can assist in understanding a project situational context as a pre‐cursor to planning and implementing project plans. One tool, soft system methodology (SSM), is used to visualise messy complex problems to understand this context and effectively plan. The authors used SSM and evolved some improvements reported upon here.

Findings

The rich picture approach in SSM was adapted to add layers of meaning through colour coding and process mapping. This is explained in detail, using examples from a recent study to illustrate this approach that has been subsequently rigorously validated in practice.

Research limitations/implications

The use of SSM can considerably assist in gaining a deeper understanding of how the project can be planned and monitored in future. The paper is limited to aid relief project examples.

Practical implications

Macro‐level project planning sets the stage for the effective delivery of a realistic program‐to‐project plan. Projects are often characterised by chaos, paradoxes and highly complex choices of action. The SSM tool enhancement and further developments can help practitioners improve their understanding of complex situations when preparing response and project plans.

Originality/value

While SSM is not new, the way it was adapted for recent research into aid disaster recovery demonstrates a highly innovative development to visualising complex situations and offers some powerful improvements to SSM. The paper advances project management research through its SSM innovation and also illustrates an important adaptation to a standard SSM technique.
A critique of corporate governance in China
Authors: Guo Liang , Smallman Clive , Radford Jack
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to offer a critique of corporate governance in China.

Design/methodology/approach

The critique is based upon a literature review and secondary data sources.

Findings

The Chinese Government has made efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of corporate governance in state‐owned enterprises. However, existing research shows that some governance mechanisms that are effective in Western countries have no significant or negative impacts on firm performance in China. An apparent reason for this is the strong relationship between state‐owned enterprises and the government.

Originality/value

Policy implications are offered as a means to improve corporate governance in China.
The determinants of brain drain in developing countries
Authors: Lawan Ngoma Abubakar , Wana Ismail Normaz
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Skilled migrant workers move relatively in unidirectional form (from developing to developed countries) in response to many factors. The purpose of this paper is to examine some factors that influence skilled migration to such preferred locations among skilled workers.

Design/methodology/approach

Both conceptual discussion and analytical approach are used.

Findings

The authors' econometric model identified an inverted U‐shaped relationship between skilled migration rates, wage differentials and income convergence with destination countries. Other factors found to be significantly related to brain drain are population size, domestic political instability and distance to destination countries.

Originality/value

This paper presents insights on factors influencing migration decisions among skilled migrants and why skilled workers' migration from developing countries remains on the increase over the years, despite the urgent need for highly skilled personnel in most of these countries.
Nussbaum's political liberalism: justice and the capability threshold
Authors: Roberts Peri
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Central to Martha Nussbaum's development of the capability approach into a theory of social and global justice is her addition of the notion of a capability threshold below which no dignified human life can be lived. This capability threshold identifies a standard for distributive justice that any decent political order must secure for all citizens. It is this threshold that is the intended focus of this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

Examining her most recent statement of the capability approach, Nussbaum's arguments that the threshold should be locally set by each nation in accordance with their history and traditions, and that all nations currently fail to satisfy the threshold condition, are assessed.

Findings

This paper shows that if Nussbaum's arguments are accepted, then the central function of a threshold as a tool of discrimination is undermined. If all nations fail to meet their locally set threshold, then there is no clear basis for the global redistribution that Nussbaum regards as necessary. Indeed, what basis there is could even justify counter‐intuitive redistribution from poorer to richer nations.

Originality/value

This paper concludes that if the capability approach is to be developed into a theory of social justice, then, rather than being set locally at different levels, the capability threshold may need to be a genuinely global one. Only then can the threshold discriminate between unjust political orders and those that are at least minimally just.
Measuring sense of belonging among employees working at a corporate campus
Authors: Jaitli Ruchika , Hua Ying
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This study aims to explore the association between employees' sense of belonging and their perception of workplace physical attributes at a corporate campus, and the workplace planning and management strategies to support employee sense of belonging for the long‐term competitiveness and performance of organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The research site for this study is the corporate campus of a large information technology firm, Wipro Technologies, located in India. A workplace questionnaire designed by the International Workplace Studies Program (IWSP) at Cornell University was used. A total of 267 employees working at Wipro participated in this study.

Findings

Factor analysis of the survey items identified five underlying factors that are related to workplace physical environment. Statistically significant correlations were identified among employees' sense of belonging and these factors about work environment. A statistically significant model comprising four of the factors was developed to predict employees' sense of belonging.

Originality/value

The paper presents a new model to link sense of belonging to perception of workplace physical environment. Workplace planning and management implications were discussed for organizations to incorporate physical and spatial measures in their workplace to effectively enhance employees' sense of belonging.
External reactive detection v. internal proactive prevention
Authors: Dyer Robin
Published: June 2013

Purpose

All members of staff up to the Chairman of the Board now get daily briefings of the serious issues within the financial sector. Headlines are commonly quoting regulatory fines, once in the thousands and now in the millions. Errors or poor working practice have resulted in fundamental issues which need to be addressed; however, pressure often results in immediate solutions being required to address those visible problems without setting in place necessary changes to business developments and working practice. This paper aims to suggest that, through excessive external pressure, the solutions are less effective if not integrated with existing procedures and therefore failing to embrace the whole business model and its operations.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses case analysis and field work.

Findings

Internal business controls are fundamentally important to the process of risk mitigation and established over many years. Any changes made to address deficiencies must be integral to both existing policies and procedures and IT systems to ensure permanent and positive improvement rather than potential ebb and flow associated with isolated reactive solutions.

Research limitations/implications

Information regarding the case study information comes only from public sources, mainly written media reports, and is not confirmed by any confidential data known to the author.

Originality/value

Using case analysis and field work, this paper suggests that any changes made to address deficiencies in a company are less effective if not integrated with existing procedures and therefore failing to embrace the whole business model and its operations.
FM Servicebarometer: monitoring customer perception of service performance
Authors: Coenen Christian , Waldburger Doris , von Felten Daniel
Published: June 2013

Purpose

In the past, FM performance was mostly monitored by technical and cost‐related KPIs, whereas the measurement of perceived internal service quality was widely neglected. Thus, the purpose of this paper is two‐fold: first, to develop an adequate model to capture the relationships between internal service quality, internal customer satisfaction and internal customer retention; and second, provide an instrument for the identification of areas of improvement for customer orientation in FM.

Design/methodology/approach

This research gives an insight into the relevance of customer orientation in FM. Following this, it introduces the concept of a FM Servicebarometer, highlighting an application of this model by presenting the results of an extensive quantitative survey that was conducted within a healthcare setting. Based on this model, various indices are calculated for the internal service quality, customer satisfaction and customer retention, resulting in the FM Quality Index.

Findings

Detailed analyses show insights into the interdependencies between various aspects of internal customer orientation in FM. In addition, driving forces of internal service quality, internal customer satisfaction and internal customer retention are presented.

Practical implications

The FM Quality Index (FMQI) allows both a longitudinal research and cross‐sectional comparison within FM. Thus, the FMQI may be applied as a tool for monitoring and managing internal customer orientation in FM.

Originality/value

FM Servicebarometer is a unique application of the service barometer approach within FM. Thus, it presents an innovative attempt to measure and control perceived service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer retention.
Money laundering, new technologies, FATF and Spanish penal reform
Authors: Abel Souto Miguel
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This paper attempts to examine new technologies, typologies, FATF recommendations and the last Spanish penal reform on money laundering.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes the potential provided via internet and electronic transfers, prepaid cards and payment services with mobile phones for executing money laundering, and comments on the Spanish penal reform on this crime.

Findings

The study finds that the new payment systems facilitate money launderers’ criminal activity. However, the development of technologies, including the internet, has unquestionable advantages involved, and even provides verification of identity or other duty of surveillance for the prevention of money laundering. Also, this paper analyzes the amendments made recently in the Spanish Criminal Code regarding money laundering.

Originality/value

This paper would be beneficial to the legislature. Future development of measures for the prevention of money laundering should take into account all potential threats that arise from the use of new technologies. Moreover, the long list of modifications on laundering undermines the legal certainty and the consideration of criminal law as ultima ratio, within the framework of a globalized crime policy.
Homo economicusand social marketing: questioning traditional models of behavior
Authors: Coimbra Carvalho Hamilton , Afonso Mazzon José
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to bring forth the limitations of some important models of cognition and behavior adopted by social marketers and present important findings from recent lines of research that contribute to a fine‐grained understanding of human behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper that presents a review of several theoretical approaches to human cognition and behavior and their implications regarding social marketing campaigns.

Findings

It is concluded that the assumptions underlying traditional models of behavior need to be revised, especially the assumption that human beings are rational decision makers – the prototypicalhomo economicus. Behavioral science has revealed that people are far from being rational and are prone to be influenced by myriad factors, some deemed irrelevant under rational models. Social marketing interventions have greater probability of success when they rely on more realistic assumptions of human behavior.

Research limitations/implications

Social marketing needs to embrace the contributions of the several disciplines and lines of research centered on the study of all facets of human behavior, such as behavioral economics and dual‐system framework.

Practical implications

The main implications are: the recommendation to assume people are running on their System 1 when they are in contact with social marketing campaigns, the need to consider the interplay of systems and selves over time, the recommended emphasis on place strategies, and the need to avoid cash incentives and silver bullets.

Originality/value

The value of this paper is in contrasting the assumptions of traditional models of cognition and behavior widely used in social marketing with the evidence from several lines of research portraying influences in human behavior not accounted by those models.
Open access practices in India
Authors: Sahu Surendra Kumar , Arya Satish Kumar
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The open access movement has become the center of discussion during the last decade. Open access publishing facilitates researchers' and scientists' access to research literature through the internet free of cost. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the awareness of open access publishing among researchers and faculty members of Indian institutions, and to evaluate the development of open access initiatives in India.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on both primary and secondary sources of data. For studying awareness of open access publishing, a survey was conducted among the researchers of IITs and IIMs in July‐August 2012 by using a closed ended questionnaire. The growth of open access initiatives in India is analyzed through data collected from secondary sources, i.e. the websites of Ulrich's, DOAJ, ROAR, and OpenDOAR.

Findings

The results showed that India's contribution has increased in the last few years. It was found that the awareness about such open access information sources and initiatives among the research community is increasing.

Originality/value

This study will assist in understanding the practices of open access publishing in India.
Managerial competencies for information professionals: an international perspective
Authors: de Grandbois Yvonne
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to find out whether and to what extent managerial skills are taught in Schools of Information globally, and whether these courses are sufficient preparation for management positions in information professions.

Design/methodology/approach

This is an exploratory research paper. Phase one included a literature review and a review of curricula in Schools of Information in 26 countries to see if management courses were given, as well as the type and number of courses. Phase two consisted semi‐structured interviews with 15 directors of information services in the international sector in the Geneva, Switzerland region.

Findings

The paper concludes that 73 per cent of the schools reviewed do offer management courses, although there is a wide variation between countries and schools. In the interviews it was found that 80 per cent of the directors learned their management skills on the job and 66 per cent in management development through their institutions. All interviewees said their academic courses, though relevant, were insufficient. They gave recommendations of which competencies were needed in curricula for information professionals.

Originality/value

Studies on management education have been done mostly in North American, ALA‐accredited information schools. The rest of the world needs to be researched and to find its voice. The paper is relevant to schools of information globally, as well as to information professionals in the field.
Open access in the Czech Republic: an overview
Authors: Fabián Ondřej
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to give a complex description and evaluation of open access adoption in the environment of the Czech Republic, from both the green road and golden road points of view.

Design/methodology/approach

Data and conclusions in this paper are numerically supported by quantitative analyses from several relevant databases (e.g. JCR, Scopus, DOAJ or ROAR).

Findings

The issue of open access has not been given appropriate attention in the Czech Republic. Therefore, most of the important activities have only recently been implemented, or are still underway. Open access is still being completely ignored at the level of Czech state offices and funding agencies, which leads to scientific institutions learning of this phenomenon individually. Compared to other Central European countries, the Czech Republic can be classified as average in certain respects, but it is no competition for developed West European and North American countries in terms of awareness, infrastructure and open access adoption.

Originality/value

This is the very first article that comprehensively sums up all aspects of the issue of open access in the Czech Republic.
Lifeblood, liquidity, and cash transfusions: beyond metaphor in the cultural study of finance
Authors: Weston Kath
Published: June 2013

During the global financial crisis of 2008, descriptions of the crisis and remedies advanced to address it were suffused with references to blood. Metaphors such as lifeblood, liquidity, blood pressure, cardiac arrest, and transfusion were linked and elaborated into organic analogies of cash/credit ‘flow’ predicated on the conception of a body animated by a closed circulatory system. Attention to the once controversial claims associated with William Harvey's seventeenth‐century ‘discovery’ of blood circulation can help denaturalize this usage of circulation and demonstrate how organic economic analogies have informed policy recommendations, not always to best effect. The essay concludes by introducing the concept of meta‐materiality to explain why the anthropology of finance must go beyond metaphorical readings of economic discourse if it hopes to understand phenomena such as the literal uses of blood in political protest and the accelerated commodification of blood donation in response to the crisis.
The State of Economics in 2012: Complacency Amid Crisis
Authors: Quiggin John
Published: June 2013

Despite the emergence of intractable economic stagnation in most developed countries, spectacular failures in financial markets and the empirical refutation of hypotheses central to economic policy for the last three decades, the economics profession remains largely complacent. Some reasons for this complacency are discussed, along with some suggestions for future directions.
Positional Asphyxia without Active Restraint Following an Assault
Authors: Fernando Tarini , Byard Roger W.
Published: June 2013

Deaths due to positional asphyxia are most often accidental, associated with alcohol and/or drug intoxication. A 19‐year‐old male is reported who was assaulted and placed in a head‐down position in the back of a car were he was later found dead. Brush abrasions indicated that he had been dragged to the vehicle. The head and right shoulder were wedged into the foot well with the body uppermost. At autopsy, there was marked congestion of the face, neck, and upper chest with conjunctival ecchymoses, bruising of the face and scalp, focal subarachnoid hemorrhage, minor cerebral contusion, and diffuse cerebral swelling with early hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Toxicology was negative. Death was attributed to HIE resulting from the unusual positioning of the body. Cases of positional asphyxia involving others may not always include restraint, and when encountered should initiate a careful evaluation of the possible events and lethal pathophysiological processes.
The Design of Markets for Soil Carbon Sequestration
Authors: Capon Timothy , Harris Michael , Reeson Andrew
Published: June 2013

There is great potential for soil carbon sequestration to contribute to climate change mitigation. However, there are a number of difficulties in measuring and verifying soil carbon sequestration for market‐based policies for soil carbon sequestration. In particular, measurement costs and other transaction costs will ultimately determine the practicality of any policy. The relationship between soil carbon spatial heterogeneity, measurement precision and measurement costs is central to the design of contracts for soil carbon sequestration. Importantly, these factors determine the practicality of policy alternatives and the efficiency of alternative contract designs. The details of contract design change the incentives faced by landholders as well as the allocation of risk between sellers and buyers. For example, some contract designs link payments to alternative land management practices whereas others link payments to directly measured outcomes. Research in soil science provides the knowledge necessary to link land use and management to sequestration and the measurement approaches required to verify sequestration. Careful consideration of these factors in market design is needed to determine whether potential benefits outweigh the costs of implementing any policy intended to promote soil carbon sequestration.
Comparisons of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) reproduction within a novel and traditional host: effects of insect natal history, colonized host species and competitors
Authors: McKee Fraser R. , Huber Dezene P. W. , Aukema Brian H.
Published: June 2013

During host‐breadth expansion, phytophagous insects incur risk from potentially deleterious novel host environments at the same time as potentially securing a potential escape in space or time from competing species.

Bark beetles reproduce under the bark of stems and branches of mature, stressed or moribund trees, and may suffer high mortality from plant defences and inter‐ and intraspecific competition.

An epidemic of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) in western Canada has extended to over 18.1 million hectares of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Douglas ex. Loudon) forests.

In some areas, mountain pine beetles have been found to reproduce within interior hybrid spruces [Picea glauca (Moench) Voss × engelmannii Parry ex. Engelmann], a normally rare occurrence.

Using mountain pine beetles reared from naturally‐infested interior hybrid spruce and lodgepole pine hosts, we examined the effect of female natal species and colonized host species on the ability to attract mates and reproduce within spruce and pine logs deployed as a choice assay in a field setting. Additionally, we examined whether the arrival and reproduction of competitors such as pine engravers (Ips spp.) was associated with reduced brood production.

Females reared from pine and spruce exhibited similar reproductive potentials. Recruitment and establishment of ovipositional galleries, larval galleries and pupal chambers were similar in the typical and novel hosts.

Reproduction by mountain pine beetles in spruce, although successful, was significantly lower than in pine. This reduction occurred despite spruce logs being almost entirely free of competing secondary beetles.
Venous thromboembolism prevention in patients undergoing colorectal surgery for cancer
Authors: Holwell Anna , McKenzie Jo‐Lyn , Holmes Miranda , Woods Rodney , Nandurkar Harshal , Tam Constantine S. , Bazargan Ali
Published: June 2013

Introduction

Patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer are at high risk of post‐operative venous thromboembolism (VTE). Thromboprophylaxis has been shown to have significant risk reduction, although there remains some controversy surrounding the optimal duration of pharmacological prophylaxis. Our institution does not routinely practise extended prophylaxis. The aim of this study was to retrospectively review the rate of post‐operative thromboprophylaxis in colorectal cancer patients, and incidence of symptomatic VTE.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective audit of 200 consecutive patients who underwent colorectal surgery for cancer. Data to 90 days post‐operatively were collected from medical records and imaging and phone calls to patients and family practitioners.

Results

Of the patients, 98% received pharmacological prophylaxis, with a median duration of eight days. Eight (4%) symptomatic VTEs were diagnosed within the 90‐day follow‐up period: two deep vein thrombosis (DVTs), five pulmonary emboli (PE) and one patient with both PE and DVT. A higher proportion of patients developed DVT/PE if they received prophylaxis other than low molecular weight heparin and similarly there was a trend in increased risk of DVT in the presence of metastatic disease. However, using univariate analysis, these results were not statistically significant (P = 0.18 and 0.11, respectively).

Discussion

The use of thromboprophylaxis was high in our centre, and the incidence of VTE was low when patients received a median of 8 days pharmacological prophylaxis combined with mechanical prophylaxis. The VTE incidence of 4% is similar to previous studies using extended prophylaxis. Our study findings do not support changing local protocol to extended prophylaxis.
Equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis in three horses in Australia
Authors: Spelta CW , Axon JE , Begg A , Diallo ISI , Carrick JB , Russell CM , Collins NM
Published: June 2013

Background

Equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis (EMPF) is a recently described form of interstitial pneumonia associated with the presence of equine herpesvirus type 5 (EHV‐5). Since 2007, several case reports from America, Europe and the United Kingdom have further characterised the clinical presentation and laboratory findings of this disease.

Case reports

Three Thoroughbred broodmares were diagnosed with EMPF. Diagnosis was based on lung histopathology and positive identification of EHV‐5 using PCR DNA amplification. There was multiple organ involvement in all three cases, including identification of EHV‐5 in hepatic tissue in one case. Two of the three horses died. Treatment with acyclovir was unsuccessful in one horse and one horse survived without antiviral or corticosteroid treatment.

Conclusion

This case series is, to the authors' knowledge, the first report of EMPF in Australia and adds to the clinical description of the disease.
Aplysia gigantea toxicosis in 72 dogs in Western Australia
Authors: Peacock RE , Hosgood G , Swindells KL , Smart L
Published: June 2013

Objectives

This study aimed to: (1) confirm a temporal association between exposure to the sea hare Aplysia gigantea and the development of a neurotoxicosis in dogs and (2) further characterise the clinical signs, treatment and outcomes in dogs with this suspected toxicosis.

Methods

The medical records from four veterinary practices within the Geraldton region of Western Australia were searched for dogs that had been exposed to A. gigantea and subsequently presented to a veterinarian during the period of January 2001 to March 2011. Signalment, exposure history, clinical signs, treatment and outcome were recorded.

Results

In total, 72 dogs met the inclusion criteria. Clinical signs included ptyalism, emesis, ataxia, hyperaesthesia, tremors, muscle fasciculations, seizures, nystagmus and respiratory distress; 30 dogs did not have abnormal clinical signs at presentation; 69 dogs were presented during January to April. Treatment included gastrointestinal and dermal decontamination, and supportive management of seizures, tremors and muscle fasciculations. Of the 72 dogs, 65 survived to discharge, 4 died and 3 were euthanased. Information from subsequent examinations was available for 57 dogs and no long‐term complications were reported.

Conclusions

Exposure to A. gigantea was temporally associated with the development of neuroexcitatory clinical signs in dogs. Gastrointestinal and respiratory signs also occurred in some dogs. Dogs with suspected toxicosis were presented mostly in the months of January to April. The proportion of dogs that died or were euthanased because of worsening clinical signs was approximately 10%.
Influence of dingoes on sheep distribution in Australia
Authors: Allen BL , West P
Published: June 2013

Objective

To describe the influence of the dingo (Canis lupus dingo) on the past, present and future distributions of sheep in Australia.

Design

The role of the dingo in the rise and fall of sheep numbers is reviewed, revised data are provided on the present distribution and density of sheep and dingoes, and historical patterns of sheep distribution are used to explore the future of rangeland sheep grazing.

Results

Dingoes are a critical causal factor in the distribution of sheep at the national, regional and local levels. Dingo predation contributed substantially to the historical contraction of the sheep industry to its present‐day distribution, which is almost exclusively confined to areas within fenced dingo exclusion zones. Dingo populations and/or their influence are now present and increasing in all sheep production zones of Australia, inclusive of areas that were once ‘dingo free’.

Conclusions

Rangeland production of wool and sheep meat is predicted to disappear within 30–40 years if the present rate of contraction of the industry continues unabated. Understanding the influence of dingoes on sheep production may help refine disease response strategies and help predict the future distribution of sheep and their diseases.
Eudesmol Isomers Induce Caspase‐Mediated Apoptosis in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma HepG2 Cells
Authors: Bomfim Diogo S. , Ferraz Rosana P. C. , Carvalho Nanashara C. , Soares Milena B. P. , Pinheiro Maria L. B. , Costa Emmanoel V. , Bezerra Daniel P.
Published: June 2013

Eudesmols are naturally occurring sesquiterpenoid alcohols that present cytotoxic effect to cancer cells. Herein, all eudesmol isomers displayed cytotoxicity to different tumour cell lines. α‐Eudesmol showed IC50 values ranging from 5.38 ± 1.10 to 10.60 ± 1.33 μg/mL for B16‐F10 and K562 cell lines, β‐eudesmol showed IC50 values ranging from 16.51 ± 1.21 to 24.57 ± 2.75 μg/mL for B16‐F10 and HepG2 cell lines, and γ‐eudesmol showed IC50 values ranging from 8.86 ± 1.27 to 15.15 ± 1.06 μg/mL for B16‐F10 and K562 cell lines, respectively. In addition, in this work, we studied the mechanisms of cytotoxic action of eudesmol isomers (α‐, β‐ and γ‐eudesmol) in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. After 24‐hr incubation, HepG2 cells treated with eudesmol isomers presented typical hallmarks of apoptosis, as observed by morphological analysis in cells stained with haematoxylin–eosin and acridine orange/ethidium bromide. None of eudesmol isomers caused membrane disruption at any concentration tested. Moreover, eudesmol isomers induced loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and an increase in caspase‐3 activation in HepG2 cells, suggesting the induction of caspase‐mediated apoptotic cell death. In conclusion, the eudesmol isomers herein investigated are able to reduce cell proliferation and to induce tumour cell death by caspase‐mediated apoptosis pathways.
Deglacial to postglacial palaeoenvironments of theCelticSea: lacustrine conditions versus a continuous marine sequence
Authors: Furze Mark F. A. , Scourse James D. , Pieńkowski Anna J. , Marret Fabienne , Hobbs William O. , Carter Rosemary A. , Long Brian T.
Published: June 2013

Recent work on the last glaciation of theBritishIsles has led to an improved understanding of the nature and timing of the retreat of theBritish−IrishIce Sheet (BIIS) from its southern maximum (Isles ofScilly), northwards into theCeltic andIrish seas. However, the nature of the deglacial environments across theCelticSea shelf, the extent of subaerial exposure and the existence (or otherwise) of a contiguous terrestrial linkage betweenBritain andIreland following ice retreat remains ambiguous. Multiproxy research, based on analysis of 12BGSvibrocores from theCelticDeepBasin (CDB), seeks to address these issues.CDBcores exhibit a shell‐rich upward fining sequence ofHolocene marine sand above an erosional contact cut in laminated muds with infrequent lonestones. Molluscs,in situForaminifera and marine diatoms are absent from the basal muds, but rare damaged freshwater diatoms and foraminiferal linings occur. Dinoflagellate cysts and other non‐pollen palynomorphs evidence diverse, environmentally incompatible floras with temperate, boreal andArctic glaciomarine taxa co‐occurring. Such multiproxy records can be interpreted as representing a retreating ice margin, with reworking of marine sediments into a lacustrine basin. Equally, the same record may be interpreted as recording similar conditions within a semi‐enclosed marine embayment dominated by meltwater export and deposition of reworked microfossils. As assemblages from these cores contrast markedly with proven glaciomarine sequences from outside theCDB, a glaciolacustrine interpretation is favoured for the laminated sequence, truncated by aLateWeichselian transgressive sequence fining upwards into fully marine conditions. Reworked rare intertidal molluscs from immediately above the regional unconformity provide a minimum datec. 13.9 cal. kaBPfor commencement of widespread marine erosion. Although suggestive of glaciolacustrine conditions, the exact nature and timing of laminated sediment deposition within theCDB, and the implications this has on (pen)insularity ofIreland following deglaciation, remain elusive.
STRESS AND SMOKING: ASSOCIATIONS WITH TERRORISM AND CAUSAL IMPACT
Authors: PESKO MICHAEL F.
Published: June 2013

This study analyzes the effects of the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 terrorist attacks on stress, smoking, and smoking quit attempts using 1,657,985 observations from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Regression discontinuity results suggest that, in the fourth quarter of 2001, stress increased by nearly an extra half day per 30 days (11.9%) among ever smoking adults. In the 2 years after 9/11, smoking prevalence increased by 1.1 percentage points (2.3%) among ever smoking adults, resulting in between 950,000 and 1,300,000 adult former smokers becoming smokers again because of terrorism. The net cost to the government was between $530 million and $830 million through the end of 2003. Adults reported disproportionate stress increases based on community military participation and education. Simultaneity between smoking and stress is addressed by an instrumental variables model, providing validity to the hypothesized causal pathway between terrorism, stress, and smoking. This model suggests that an extra day of stress per 30 days causes a 3.4 percentage point increase in smoking among ever smoking adults. Results help to quantify a hidden cost of terrorism and provide a better understanding of utility maximization during periods of high stress. (JEL I12, I18)