bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Correlation Between Onset of Diabetes Mellitus and Nitric Oxide Levels in Patient with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Orno Theosobia Grace , Arif Mansyur , Idris Irfan
Published: August 2018

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with increased risk of endothelial dysfunction if it lasts a long time without control. This study aims to connect the Onset of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) with Nitric Oxide levels in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study used cross-sectional study method. The samples were 86 subjects, consisting of 38 subjects of Type 2 DM controlled and 48 subjects of Type 2 DM uncontrolled. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis statistical test showed no significant difference between the Onset of DM and Nitric Oxide levels in the categories of 4-6 years (19.4 ± 10.1), 7-9 years (17.3 ± 9.3) and 10-12 years (13.3 ± 8.5) (p=0.06). Furthermore, the Spearman correlation test revealed a negative correlation between the Onset of DM and Nitric Oxide level in patients with Type 2 DM with and without control (r =-0.217). The level of Nitric Oxide (NO) can consider as a predictor of long-term complication in patients with type 2 DM.
Potention of Active Charcoal from Musa Paradisiaca and Manihot Utilissima Shell in Degrading River Contamination
Authors: Nurlailah Nurlailah , Thuraidah Anny , Kustiningsih Yayuk
Published: August 2018

River water is one of type water surface which is a lot of finding in South Kalimantan. Generally, this water used by the citizen for cooking and bathing. But along with era growth, this river becomes as disposal of various industrial waste. The contamination of heavy metal like Fe, Mn, Pb, Cd, and turbidity enhance progressively and degrade the water quality. Some natural substance which can be used to improve river water quality is active charcoal from Musa paradisiaca and Manihot utilissima shell which is easy to get. Target research is determined to find optimum dose of active charcoal from Musa paradisiaca and Manihot utilissima shell that capable to degrade heavy metal contamination and turbidity in water river. It used experimentally with pretest and post-test with control group design. A result of research showed the optimum dose of active charcoal Musa paradisiaca shell was 15 gram , it could absorb Pb 28,8% and Mn 24,6%, but 10 gram can degrade turbidity until 83,8 %, while the optimum dose of Manihot utilissima shell to 25,4% Pb and degraded 77,5% of turbidity was 15 gram. Statistical test result with Kruskal Wallis got the p-value less than 0,05 it meant there was a difference between the treatment of active charcoal from Musa paradisiaca and Manihot utilissima shell in degrading the contamination. A conclusion is those active charcoal having a potential to enhance the water river quality. Suggested to use another activator to the potential like stirring, time of contact and the different mass.
Measurement of Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) in an Ectopic Pelvic Kidney by Dual Head Gamma Camera
Authors: Begum Hosne Ara , Rahman Mahbub Ur , Sharmin Samira , Ferdous Jesmin , Hossain Jamiul
Published: August 2018

Background: DTPA renogram is an accepted method to measure glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of the kidneys. The function of an ectopic kidney varies on the basis of its size, shape, position and rotation. This may lead to variation in tissue attenuation and error in computed GFR and differential renal function (DRF) of each kidney. The objectives of this study was to assess  the changes in the GFR measurement of an ectopic kidney in a dual head gamma camera using anterior and posterior imaging process and its influence on quantification of total GFR.

Patients and Method: A Total 20 patients having one ectopic pelvic kidney and other normal positioning kidney were enrolled in the study. DTPA renogram images were acquired on a dual head gamma camera (Symbia T2) in anterior and posterior views simultaneously. Both anterior and posterior images data were used separately to compute the GFR. Three sets of total GFR of both kidneys were calculated separately. In set I, total GFR (ant) is equal to sum of both kidneys GFR in anterior imaging process, in set II total GFR (post) is equal to sum of both kidneys GFR in posterior imaging process and in set III total GFR (ectopic .ant + normal. post) is equal to sum of the GFR of normal kidney on posterior image and the GFR of ectopic kidney on anterior image. These three sets of total GFRs were compared with the patient’s eGFR measured by Cockcroft Gault formula.

Result: Mean age of the patient was 36.9 ± 14.6 years (range 18-70 years). Mean total GFR (ant)   was 89.2±11.6 ml/min, total GFR (post) was 82.9±13.4 ml/min and total GFR (ectopic .ant + normal.post) was 102.5±15.9 ml/min. Mean eGFR is 101.93±24.9ml/min. When these three sets of DTPA assisted GFR compare with eGFR the Pearson’s correlation coefficient r= 0.45, 0.55 (P<0.05) for GFR (ant) and GFR (post) respectively whereas, in case of GFR (ectopic .ant + normal.post) correlation coefficient r= 0.8 (P<0.01).

Conclusion: The GFR of ectopic kidney as calculated from the anterior data was significantly higher in comparison to the GFR calculated from the posterior data.

Bangladesh J. Nuclear Med. 20(2): 115-118, July 2017
Management of the Patient with Functioning Superior Mediastinal Metastasis From Follicular Variant of Papillary Thyroid Cancer: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Khan Nasim , Nahar Nazmun , Rima Shakila Zaman , Ara Rawshan , Dowel Fahima Aket , Chakraborty Ratan Kumar , - Saiyeeda
Published: August 2018

Superior mediastinal metastases are relatively uncommon findings in patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer. We report a case of metastatic follicular variant of papillary thyroid cancer (FVPTC) in superior mediastinum which continued to produce thyroid hormone and was radioiodine avid without stimulation after thyroidectomy.  A 62-year old woman presented for radio ablation therapy following thyroidectomy due to thyroid carcinoma. She underwent detailed examination including imaging and fine-needle aspiration cytology revealed a superior mediastinal mass of functioning metastasis from thyroid carcinoma. The post-therapeutic whole-body scan showed intense uptake of radioiodine (131I) in the metastatic lesion. A literature review reveals that FVPTC has a greater preponderance than papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) for distant metastases and that the majority of mediastinal metastases from either FVPTC or PTC are localized to the superior mediastinum. These lesions should be differentiated from the commonest mediastinal masses. They are very important to recognize as early recognition can lead to accurate and prompt diagnosis leading to timely treatment. The functioning metastases associated from differentiated thyroid cancer with euthyroidism or hyperthyroidism can be treated effectively with 131I without increasing TSH stimulation.

Bangladesh J. Nuclear Med. 20(2): 143-150, July 2017
Diagnosis of Ectopic Thyroid Gland by 99mTc Scan : A Case Report
Authors: Jahan Nafisa , Sharmin Ferdous , Jahan Nusrat , - Nadiruzzaman , Ahmad SM Mesbah Uddin
Published: August 2018

Ectopic thyroid is an uncommon entity. Its occurrence in children is rare. Most of the patients present with mid neck swelling that may be confused with other midline pathology. Sometimes it may be the only functioning thyroid tissue present in the body as reported in this case. Proper diagnosis is required for the management of the patient. Radionuclide scan and high resolution ultrasonography plays an important role in diagnosis and further management of the patient with ectopic thyroid gland.

Bangladesh J. Nuclear Med. 20(2): 151-154, July 2017
Teachers’ Sensitivity towards Technology and Environmental Ethics
Authors: Ceyhan Busra , Sahin Nurettin
Published: August 2018

The purpose of the current study was to determine the science and classroom teachers’ ethical sensitivities towards the issues of technology and the environment. Thus, the current study was conducted on 239 science and classroom teachers. The study employed the mixed method, in which qualitative and quantitative methods are used together. The quantitative dimension of the study is comprised of a survey, which was developed by the researchers. The qualitative dimension of the study comprised of three scenarios created by the researchers. Two of these scenarios are related to the environment and the other one is related to biotechnology. As a result of the study, the teachers’ ethical sensitivities towards technology and environmental issues were found to be high. For some items in the questionnaire significant differences in gender-based, branch-based, and professional experience were found. The results obtained from the scenarios revealed that while science teachers adapt more realistic approaches to the events, the classroom teachers make decisions for the future. It would be useful to organize in-service training and ethical awareness training for teachers who are in the beginning of their professional lives.
A Parallel N-Dimensional Space-Filling Curve Library and Its Application in Massive Point Cloud Management
Authors: Guan Xuefeng , Van Oosterom Peter , Cheng Bo
Published: August 2018

Because of their locality preservation properties, Space-Filling Curves (SFC) have been widely used in massive point dataset management. However, the completeness, universality, and scalability of current SFC implementations are still not well resolved. To address this problem, a generic n-dimensional (nD) SFC library is proposed and validated in massive multiscale nD points management. The library supports two well-known types of SFCs (Morton and Hilbert) with an object-oriented design, and provides common interfaces for encoding, decoding, and nD box query. Parallel implementation permits effective exploitation of underlying multicore resources. During massive point cloud management, all xyz points are attached an additional random level of detail (LOD) value l. A unique 4D SFC key is generated from each xyzl with this library, and then only the keys are stored as flat records in an Oracle Index Organized Table (IOT). The key-only schema benefits both data compression and multiscale clustering. Experiments show that the proposed nD SFC library provides complete functions and robust scalability for massive points management. When loading 23 billion Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) points into an Oracle database, the parallel mode takes about 10 h and the loading speed is estimated four times faster than sequential loading. Furthermore, 4D queries using the Hilbert keys take about 1~5 s and scale well with the dataset size.
Simple Scores of Fibrosis and Mortality in Patients with NAFLD: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis
Authors: Salomone Federico , Micek Agnieszka , Godos Justyna
Published: August 2018

Noninvasive simple scores have been validated to assess advanced liver fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We performed a systematic review with meta-analysis evaluating if NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), AST to platelet ratio index (APRI), and Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) score may also predict mortality. PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched until April 2018. Random-effects models were used to calculate pooled RRs of mortality for highest vs. lowest categories of exposure and to perform dose-response meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was assessed using the Q test and I2 statistic. Overall, eight studies were included in the systematic review; all of the eight studies provided data for NFS, while four provided data for APRI and FIB-4. When comparing the risk estimates for high (>0.676) vs. intermediate + low NFS (≤0.676), we found a nearly fourfold increase in mortality risk, with evidence of heterogeneity (RR = 3.85, 95% CI: 2.08, 7.11; I2 = 92%). At dose-response meta-analysis, compared to the midpoint of the lowest category of NFS (−2.5), the risk of mortality was about twofold higher for NFS = −0.5 (RR = 2.20, 95% CI: 1.31, 3.70) and more than fivefold higher for NFS = 1.5 (RR = 5.16, 95% CI: 2.02, 13.16). When comparing the risk estimates for high (>1.5) vs. medium + low APRI (≤1.5), we found a higher risk of mortality, without heterogeneity (RR = 3.61, 95% CI: 1.79, 7.28; I2 = 0%). Comparison of the risk estimates for high (>2.67) vs. medium + low FIB-4 (≤2.67) didn’t reveal a significantly higher risk of mortality, with heterogeneity (RR = 2.27, 95% CI: 0.72, 7.15; I2 = 85%). Dose-response analysis for APRI and FIB-4 was not considered conclusive due to the low number of studies. Based on the results of our meta-analysis, the measurement of NFS can be considered an accurate tool for the stratification of the risk of death in patients with NAFLD.
Treading the Path towards Genetic Control of Snail Resistance to Schistosome Infection
Authors: Famakinde Damilare O.
Published: August 2018

Schistosomiasis remains the most important tropical snail-borne trematodiasis that threatens many millions of human lives. In achieving schistosomiasis elimination targets, sustainable control of the snail vectors represents a logical approach. Nonetheless, the ineffectiveness of the present snail control interventions emphasizes the need to develop new complementary strategies to ensure more effective control outcomes. Accordingly, the use of genetic techniques aimed at driving resistance traits into natural vector populations has been put forward as a promising tool for integrated snail control. Leveraging the Biomphalaria-Schistosoma model system, studies unraveling the complexities of the vector biology and those exploring the molecular basis of snail resistance to schistosome infection have been expanding in various breadths, generating many significant discoveries, and raising the hope for future breakthroughs. This review provides a compendium of relevant findings, and without neglecting the current existing gaps and potential future challenges, discusses how a transgenic snail approach may be adapted and harnessed to control human schistosomiasis.
Validation of two Amanita species from eastern North America: A. rhacopus sp. nov. and A. variicolor sp. nov.
Authors: Lambert Herman , Fortin Guy , Labbé Roland , Labrecque Jacqueline , Bérubé Jean A. , Landry Jacques , Ilyukhin Evgeny , Margaritescu Simona , Moncalvo Jean-Marc , Lamoureux Yves
Published: August 2018

Members of the mushroom genusAmanitausually can easily be identified to the genus in the field, however, species circumscription and identification are often problematic. Several names have been misapplied and cryptic species exist. Here, we formally describe and validate two new species of Amanitasect.Vaginatae from eastern North America that were recognised under the umbrella European namesA.ceciliaeby past authors:Amanitarhacopussp. nov.andAmanitavariicolorsp. nov.
Neocarus spelaion sp. n. (Parasitiformes, Opilioacaridae), a new species of cave dwelling Neocarus from Minas Gerais state, Brazil
Authors: Bernardi Leopoldo Ferreira de Oliveira , Borges-Filho Elmir Lúcio
Published: August 2018

A new cave dwelling species of the genusNeocarus(Parasitiformes: Opilioacarida: Opilioacaridae) is described from adult females and males collected in Minas Gerais state, southeast Brazil. Five or sixd-type setae on palps, females with pregenital area hairless, genital setae smooth, cylindrical ovipositor with two terminal lobes, and males with genital and pregenital setae variable in shape, some being smooth and pointed, others ribbed and pointed, are the combinations of characters that define the new species.
Troglomorphic features of Astroblepus pholeter, a cavefish from Ecuador, and possible introgressive hybridization
Authors: Espinasa Luis , Robinson Jenna , Soares Daphne , Hoese Geoffrey , Toulkeridis Theofilos , Toomey III Rickard
Published: August 2018

Cave organisms are often characterized by reduced pigmentation, eyesight, and enhanced mechanosensory functions. The stygobitic catfish Astroblepuspholeter is found within some subterranean drainages in Ecuador. The species was first described in 1962 with specimens that were all highly depigmented and troglomorphic. The next observations in the field occurred until 2011, 2015 and 2018. At such dates, specimens examined progressively displayed more surface-like appearance. Appendages in these individuals were progressively shorter and pigmentation levels are now as high as some surface Astroblepus. Based on sampled specimens, it would appear that since 1962, the population has been progressively composed of less troglomorphic individuals. One possibility is that the population has undergone introgressive hybridization in recent years as surface Astroblepus are known to enter the caves and cohabitate with the troglomorphic Astroblepus. Lastly, we report that Individuals are able to detect and respond to light. Histological analyses show that A.pholeter’s eyes have all of the major ocular structures (lens, optic nerve, and all retinal layers).
Taxonomic status of Aphyocharax avary Fowler, 1913, Aphyocharax pusillus Günther, 1868 and Chirodon alburnus Günther, 1869 (Characiformes, Characidae)
Authors: de Brito Pâmella Silva , Guimarães Erick Cristofore , Katz Axel Makay , Piorski Nivaldo Magalhães , Ottoni Felipe Polivanov
Published: August 2018

The obscure taxonomic histories of three species ofAphyocharax(A.alburnus,A.avaryandA.pusillus) are revised, based on both morphological and literature data.Aphyocharaxavaryis resurrected as a valid species and removed from synonymy withA.alburnus. Based on examinations of type specimens,A.alburnusis considered a junior synonym ofA.pusillus.
Design, Analysis, and Applications of Mobile Manipulators
Authors: Song Tao , Xi Feng Feng , Guo Shuai
Published: August 2018

Presented in this chapter is a method for design and analysis of a mobile manipulator. The wrench induced by the movement of the robot arm will cause system tip-over or slip. In tip-over analysis, three cases are considered. The first case deals with the effect of the link weights and tip payload on the horizontal position of the CG. The second case deals with the effect of the joint speeds through the coupling terms including centrifugal forces and gyroscopic moments. The third case deals with the effect of the joint accelerations through the inertia forces and moments. In slip analysis, the first case considers the reaction force in relation to the stand-off distance between system and work-piece. The second and third cases investigate the effects of the joint speeds and accelerations. Then, the mobile platform is optimized to have maximum tip-over stability which optimizes the placement of the robot arm and accessory on the mobile platform. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated.
To Teach Leadership Ethically or to Teach Ethical Leadership?
Authors: Szymanski Mike , Olszewska Anna
Published: August 2018

Ethical leadership is a cornerstone of a socially responsible organization. However, organizations operating in transition economies experience a confusing mix of old and new institutional pressures. Hence, ethical leaders face a moral dilemma: whether to follow all laws, rules, values, and beliefs or to purposefully disobey some of these. If they make a wrong choice, their company will suffer a competitive disadvantage. Leaders who enroll in executive education programs receive mixed advice. In this chapter, the authors analyze the challenges of ethical leadership education in the context of the Polish economy.
Competences of the Future
Authors: Kijanka Emilia , Lipska Katarzyna
Published: August 2018

We live in a world of constant changes. Progress, modern technologies, and globalization processes make the reality that surrounds us and gives us new opportunities, but at the same time we face new demands. People's wisdom depends on economic and social success, because an educated citizen, able to adapt to the ever-changing world, has a significant influence on the shape of modern civilization. Nowadays the theoretical knowledge gained in the education process becomes insufficient, and it becomes more important to use it in practice to solve problems, communication skills, cooperation, group work, or flexible working in the labor market. A man in the modern labor market must adapt to flexible responses to change and to finding new solutions, continuing learning and problem solving, perceiving causal and functional dependencies, the complexity of phenomena, the design of actions, and acceptance of responsibility for results. The chapter aims to analyze trends in the contemporary labor market and to assess the extent to which employers meet expectations and opportunities.
Ethical Governance for Sustainable Development in Higher Education Institutions
Authors: Freitas Ana Costa , Quaresma Paulo , Balbino Ausenda de Cáceres , Costa Rosalina Pisco , Ruivo Inês Secca , Rato Luís , Calado José Godinho
Published: August 2018

In contemporary societies, higher education institutions face the impact of globalization, which is mainly demanding in imposing and shaping ethical practices. While higher education systems and dynamics cannot be understood apart from this broader context, its primary focus seems to remain as equal as ever: the creation of knowledge-based societies and economies, education and the creation of socially responsible citizens. Against this background, this chapter aims to present and critically discuss the strategies implemented in a higher education institution towards building a culture of integrity. The empirical focus is a small-scale university located in southern Europe, peripheral to prominent universities and major countries.
The Role and Contribution of Higher Education in Family Entrepreneurship
Authors: Palma-Ruiz Jesús Manuel , Arzubiaga Unai
Published: August 2018

Driven by increasing awareness of the importance of family firms in most countries, the interest in family business studies is growing at a rapid pace. The entrepreneurial potential of family-owned businesses has been gaining even more attention among scholars and institutions since the 1980s and 90s. This fact joined to the fact that family firms are the most extended type of businesses all around the world has pushed a growing number of higher education institutions to introduce family business education programs in their curricula. Family business education at prominent universities provides high-level support for family SMEs due to such complexities of a family and their needs to the dynamics of a competitive business which can be quite challenging. It is therefore attractive to investigate and compare what characterizes the family business education programs in USA and Spain, including an overview of the most recent offerings among the most prominent higher education institutions.
Entrepreneurial Spirit in Family Business Successors
Authors: Franco-Rodriguez Cynthia , Rivera Cinthya Flores
Published: August 2018

The objective of the work is to provide a panoramic view of the latest advances in the line of research that analyzes entrepreneurship spirit and succession in the family business. For this purpose, a systemic review of the literature contained in the Web of Science database has been carried out between 2011 and 2016. Getting an initial sample of eight for entrepreneurial spirit and 13 for succession in the family business, a review of this type is necessary to evaluate and contribute to the most recent contributions, the gaps existing in the literature for future research lines.
Impact of Cultural Factors on Entrepreneurship
Authors: Martin Jose Ramón Gutierrez
Published: August 2018

Since the 1990s there has been extensive literature about the main factors impacting on entrepreneurship activity, and therefore on the genesis and development of entrepreneurship ecosystems. Among these factors, cultural ones are of the most interest because they are specific to every community and may become essential to boost or break the entrepreneurship activity. A lot has been written about these cultural factors, especially at reaching conclusions from specific cases. However, any kind of cross-country analysis of these cultural factors has been much less widely published, with some rare exceptions. Indeed, this chapter aims to fill this gap, enhancing knowledge about entrepreneurship with a cross-country analysis on the impact of cultural factors, using models and data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). Moreover, particular focus has been done on Japan because of its nature as an hapax legomenon country that lets us better appreciate the impact of these factors.
University-Based Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
Authors: Rodríguez-Aceves Lucia , Mojarro-Durán Barbara , Muñíz-Ávila Edgar
Published: August 2018

Embedding entrepreneurship into the university mission and culture in developing countries is key to national economic growth and social development. Therefore, having a better understanding of university-based entrepreneurial ecosystems considered as benchmark cases is a good start to introduce to the topic. For such reason, the objective of this chapter is to describe the situation of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Tecnologico de Monterrey in Guadalajara, Mexico, its leading actors and roles, and how they have been relevant to promote entrepreneurial initiatives among higher education students, alumni, and faculty members. Along with the case description and based on a previous study, the authors present a comparison of Tecnologico de Monterrey case with four universities' entrepreneurial ecosystems. Findings suggest that the strategy followed to promote university-based entrepreneurship depends on the internal capabilities of each institution and the capacity of the region to support it.
The Black One
Authors: Divine Teresa Francis
Published: August 2018

Some faculty are like father figures to the students. The other younger White males are scholarly and tough but brilliant. Then, there is you, the Black One. Black men are six times as likely to be incarcerated as White men. Hispanic men are 2.3 times as likely. In corrections alone, people of color are overrepresented. This chapter will discuss the disparities in the criminal justice system and why students of color are attracted to the field. Microaggressions in a criminal justice program show up as machismo, as a joke, or even as witty, but never as racist. This chapter will tell the narrative of being a Black woman in a predominately White male department and why Black scholars belong in a criminal justice education.
Praxis of the Teaching Profession
Authors: Lea YiShan , Butterfield Carol L.
Published: August 2018

This chapter is an epic look at teachers' paths through teacher education, public school teaching, and teacher educators' work in a regional university. One teacher narrative intersects with the history of the teaching profession, on how this life is shaped and is also shaped by the social construction of an American education. Ideologies of patriarchy, economic development of human capital including the corporate culture in the university are examined. The discussion reveals the everlasting urgency for radicalization in the teaching profession through the illustration of a teacher development of critical consciousness, resistance, and the struggle against the institutionalized disciplined docility in the teaching profession. The examination of life in schools and in the university reveals a dialectic between contradictions of institutional oppression and a teacher's development of pedagogy.
Bi-Directional Business/IT Alignment
Authors: Chunpir Hashim , Schulte Frederik , Bartens Yannick , Voß Stefan
Published: August 2018

Business/IT (information technology) alignment can be considered as one of the key challenges of information management (IM). A vast majority of studies assumes a unidirectional alignment process that seeks to link the IT strategies to superior business objectives. However, there are plenty of market situations where the ability of an enterprise, or even entire branches, to adjust their business model to new IT developments is crucial to survive among their competitors. Under the umbrella of new buzz words like digital transformation and digital transition and their glaring examples such as media streaming, these competitive requirements have recently become more vital. Currently dominant business-driven alignment paradigms are seemingly not capable of accommodating these requirements to a full extent. In this chapter, the concept of bi-directional business/IT alignment is explained and defined by extending a well-known three-layer model of IM. Furthermore, different IM models as well as common IT governance frameworks are analyzed to find the extent to which they support this paradigm.
Forecasting the Demand of Agricultural Crops/Commodity Using Business Intelligence Framework
Authors: Chickerur Satyadhyan , Sharma Supreeth , Narayankar Prashant M.
Published: August 2018

Information technology is playing a very important role in all the spheres of life, starting from healthcare to entertainment. The agricultural community is not far behind in utilizing information technology for increasing the efficiency and productivity of agriculture and allied activities. This chapter proposes how the concepts of BI (business intelligence), BI tools, data mining tools might be used for forecasting the agricultural demand of various crops reliably and more efficiently. The chapter clearly elaborates how BI tools could be used during various stages of ETL (extract, transform, and load) and how cleansed, quality data could be used by data mining tools for forecasting. Experiments are carried out for forecasting the demands for various agricultural crops by using the previous year's demand, and the results are encouraging. The experimental set up involved open source tools like Pentaho's Kettle and Weka.
Scanning for Blind Spots
Authors: Holland Barbara Jane
Published: August 2018

The environmental scan provides a systematic overview of the external factors that are important to the organization (or sector) and indicates whether the organization can influence them or not. Scanning promotes an active response to positive (opportunities) and compliant factors and leads to insights on how to live with the “hard facts.” The more organizations utilize a systemic approach, the more likely they will avoid blind spots during a scan. Managers have instinctive attitudes and assumptions about the external environment. They pay attention to what is most immediate. They may have blind spots that ignore or overlook certain market trends. Environmental scanning and analysis aims to gather evidence and reduce uncertainty. This chapter examines environmental scanning blind spots, analysis, and emerging trends.
The Concept of the Shapley Value and the Cost Allocation Between Cooperating Participants
Authors: Kolker Alexander
Published: August 2018

The goal of this chapter is to illustrate two mathematical game theory concepts for allocating costs (savings) between cooperating participants, specifically in healthcare settings. These concepts are the nucleolus and the Shapley value. The focus of this chapter is on the practical application of the Shapley value for the cost sharing within the bundled payments model for the episodes of care mandated recently by the Center for Medicare Services (CMS). The general Shapley value methodology is illustrated, as well as an important particular case in which each participant uses only a portion of the largest participant's asset (the so-called airport game). The intended readers are primarily leaders of organizations and hospitals involved in the implementation of the CMS-mandated bundled payment model for the episodes of care.
Effectively Communicating With Group Decision Support Systems Using Information Theory
Authors: Switzer Jamie S. , Switzer Ralph V.
Published: August 2018

This chapter describes the results from a case study using information theory to examine the effectiveness of communicating using group decision support system (GDSS) technology. At its most basic level, information theory provides the means to measure the efficiency of communication systems. Using information theory as the theoretical foundation, this chapter examines how the use of GDSS facilitated computer-mediated communication (CMC) for one particular business with respect to entropy, redundancy, and noise, which are key components in information theory.
Evolutionary Algorithms for Global Decision Tree Induction
Authors: Kretowski Marek , Czajkowski Marcin
Published: August 2018

Decision trees represent one of the main predictive techniques in knowledge discovery. This chapter describes evolutionary-induced trees, which are emerging alternatives to the greedy top-down solutions. Most typical tree-based systems search only for locally optimal decisions at each node and do not guarantee the optimal solution. Application of evolutionary algorithms to the problem of decision tree induction allows searching for the structure of the tree, tests in internal nodes, and regression functions in the leaves (for model trees) at the same time. As a result, such globally induced decision trees are able to avoid local optima and usually lead to better prediction than the greedy counterparts.
Informed Decision Making With Enterprise Dynamic Systems Control
Authors: Guerreiro Sérgio Luís
Published: August 2018

Information systems are designed, implemented, and managed using abstractions layers to cope with the huge organizational complexity that is nowadays posed, and also to facilitate the discussion between the different stakeholders of an organization that have diverse perspectives and interpretations of it. Those discussions drive to the classical requirements elicitation stage that aims at identifying the best short-, mid-, or long-term models to view, understand, and operate the organization and to facilitate the forthcoming IS transformations. This chapter conceptualizes and identifies open research challenges in the scope of informed decision making applied to business processes execution environments. Control is used to cope the workarounds that occur while actors operate. A workaround occurs when an actor decides to adapt, improvise, or perform other changes to one or more aspects of an existing model. In some situations, a workaround could indicate new, and innovative, ways of actors performing their duties. It is not necessarily harmful for the organization.
Business Intelligence Impacts on Design of Enterprise Systems
Authors: Rouhani Saeed , Lecic Dusanka Milorad
Published: August 2018

The approach to decision support as an individual system has been replaced by a new viewpoint of intelligent software and systems. Based on this new approach, enterprise systems are designed to have business intelligence (BI) as an umbrella concept that covers various enabler tools and capabilities in the form of non-functional requirements. The current state of the art in decision support takes the intelligence requirements of enterprise systems as important quality aspects into consideration, along with their functional and non-functional needs, but the literature lacks studies on the evaluation of these intelligence requirements. In this chapter, business intelligence and enterprise systems literature are reviewed. Also based on the latest researches, the position of BI on these systems is discussed. In the following, through the study of BI capabilities and proposing them as non-functional, the BI impacts on the design of enterprise systems and software are described along the directions for future research and insights for information systems development.
Cyberloafing and Constructive Recreation
Authors: Oravec Jo Ann
Published: August 2018

“Cyberloafing” in workplace and educational contexts refers to the uses of computer-related applications and devices in ways or at times that are not directly sanctioned by employers, managers, or teachers. It has often been considered as a kind of “time theft” on the part of employees, possibly decreasing workplace and educational productivity by consuming attention, energies, and resources designated for organizational operations. In contrast, many employees and students have construed cyberloafing as a stress reliever and as support for personal wellbeing, often with the rationale that they are able to engage effectively in alternating or multitasking between and among their various work and off-work endeavors. “Constructive recreation,” in contrast with cyberloafing, comprises online recreation and gamification initiatives designed by employees along with managers; these initiatives are designed to be in sync with productive efforts and support the wellbeing of all organizational participants. The chapter analyzes research trends and public discourse related to both to cyberloafing and to constructive recreation.
Performance Appraisal
Authors: Patro Chandra Sekhar
Published: August 2018

Performance appraisal is one of the multifaceted and controversial human resource tools. It plays an important role in evaluating job performance and setting job standards in any organization. In this contemporary state, the organizations have become more enthusiastic to augment the performance of their employees; for this purpose, the performance appraisal is considered to be the key instrument. Advent of new private sector organizations has given cause to public sector organizations to be more competitive, effective, and innovative in their approach. The main objective of the study is to summarize the key elements that make employee performance appraisal an essential component of an effective system. This chapter discusses the impact of performance appraisal on the effectiveness of the employees and overall organizational productivity. It also explores the gaps in the implementation of the appraisal system in the organization.
Ecological Performance as a New Metric to Measure Green Supply Chain Practices
Authors: Tam June Poh Kim , Fernando Yudi
Published: August 2018

This chapter discusses the concept of ecological performance. Sustainable development has become a focus of governments, companies, communities, and even individuals. Manufacturing companies need a performance measurement that can balance between profit and environment. The concept of reduction of resource use and waste generation is not limited to the manufacturing processes of a focal company, but it can be embraced into product design that benefits the end users as well as stakeholders. Companies can build competitive advantages by integrating ecological performance into business value stream mapping. Reduction of resources and energy use can help companies to be cost effective and thus able to survive a market price war. Companies can enhance product quality through eco-design and sustainable manufacturing to preempt competitors. Companies can build green images to gain customer loyalty. Waste reduction can help companies to save capacity and be more flexible in shipment delivery and support customer dynamic needs.
Exploring Drivers of Closed Loop Supply Chain in Malaysian Automotive Industry
Authors: Fadzil Fadzlina Mohd , Fernando Yudi
Published: August 2018

This chapter explores the drivers of closed loop supply chain in the Malaysian automotive industry. The growth of the automotive industry in Malaysia is rapidly increasing. There are five drivers identified that can implement the closed loop supply chain in the Malaysian automotive industry. Customer awareness has urged the manufacturers and suppliers to produce and supply more environmentally friendly products. Social responsibility is the firms' obligation to ensure that their operation activities could reduce environmental impacts that can be harmful to the society. Environmental concern is the awareness of environmental preservation and conservation. Governmental legislation has been implemented to ensure the firms adhere to the government policies to attain greener industrial practices. Waste management refers to the waste disposal system in order to reduce waste treatment costs, pollution, and landfill issues. Therefore, the drivers are important elements in carrying out the closed loop supply chain in the Malaysian automotive industry.
The Business Transformation Framework for Managers in Transformation Projects
Authors: Trad Antoine , Kalpić Damir
Published: August 2018

The success of a business transformation project (BTP) depends on how enterprise architecture, data architecture, and modelling activities are synchronized. These BTPs will not all be successful due to lack of talent and technical expertise of the traditional business transformation managers. The most important reason why business environments fail in business transformation projects is due to the lack of skills of BTMs. That is why the implementation of such BTPs requires a significant knowledge of data architecture and modelling techniques. The authors have based their research on many credible research sources of information like Gartner Inc. There is an essential need for more research on data architecture and modelling concept to support BTPs, where there is a necessity to propose a set of technical and managerial recommendations.
The Measurement and Recognition of Intellectual Capital in the Process of Accounting Convergence Trends and Patterns
Authors: Oncioiu Ionica
Published: August 2018

The value of intellectual capital has been the main focus in the debates between international professionals and the business world for many decades. Today, this concept interferes with the international process of assessment and with the convergence of accounting. However, it is more likely for a certain period of time to develop both paradigms in parallel and then become convergent, thus solving the paradox of intangible asset valuation. Another challenge would be to extend and adapt this research to the specifics of different national economic systems, to generalize the relationship between intellectual capital and company performance and other countries and industries. This chapter analyzes the answer of the questions regarding recognition, presentation, and evaluation of intellectual capital, and also various controversial issues of this concept, as it is presented in the current project of the IASB and FASB.
Project Control Using a Bayesian Approach
Authors: Caron Franco
Published: August 2018

The capability to elaborate a reliable estimate at completion for a project since the early stage of project execution is the prerequisite in order to provide an effective project control. The non-repetitive and uncertain nature of projects and the involvement of multiple stakeholders increase project complexity and raise the need to exploit all the available knowledge sources in order to improve the forecasting process. Therefore, drawing on a set of case studies, this chapter proposes a Bayesian approach to support the elaboration of the estimate at completion in those industrial fields where projects are denoted by a high level of uncertainty and complexity. The Bayesian approach allows the integration of experts' opinions, data records related to past projects, and data related to the performance of the ongoing project. Data from past projects are selected through a similarity analysis. The proposed approach shows a higher accuracy in comparison with the traditional formulas typical of the earned value management (EVM) methodology.
Staying Ahead in Business Through Innovation
Authors: Rao N. Raghavendra
Published: August 2018

Globalization has created new trends such as market consolidation, vertical market strategies, and mergers in the business world. These trends have forced many business enterprises to adapt themselves to these new phenomena. Now it has become a necessity for many business enterprises to look for a “new approach” that can help them to face new realities in business. The most talked about and discussed “new approach” in the business world is “innovation management.” Some enterprises have started declaring innovation as their objective, but they do not seem to follow it up with any concrete action or support of their objective, some of them being under the impression that somehow someone will find an idea that would help their enterprise to improve their revenues and reduce their costs. This approach clearly indicates the lack of clarity on innovation management. This chapter explains the various forms of innovation and discusses a case illustration in respect to an innovative approach followed by a textile mill in India.
Transformational Leadership for Academic Libraries in Nigeria
Authors: Ikolo Violet E.
Published: August 2018

The institutional environment confronting leaders of academic libraries has never been more complex and challenging in Nigeria. With advancement in technology, the core role, purpose, and function of the academic library has changed drastically. Newly emerging information services and capabilities frequently outstrip available resources. There is an increasing need for library leaders to provide articulate, strategic leadership that will not only motivate subordinates to be totally committed to their jobs but also ensure that the relevance of the services offered by the library remains above board. The focus of this chapter is to explore the current changes evident in academic libraries and identify the practices of transformational leaders. The chapter also focuses on three areas where transformational leadership can apply in academic libraries in Nigeria as well as suggestions on how the future transformational leaders in librarianship can be nurtured.
Predictive Analytics and Intelligent Risk Detection in Healthcare Contexts
Authors: Wickramasinghe Nilmini
Published: August 2018

As the value agenda progresses in healthcare, we are witnessing a growing interest in the potential and possibilities for predictive analytics and intelligent risk detection to facilitate the processing of multi-spectral data to enable and sound decision making to ensue. However, the exponential growth of data coupled with a rapid increase of service demands in healthcare contexts today requires a robust framework enabled by IT (information technology) solutions as well as real-time service handling in order to ensure superior decision making and successful healthcare outcomes. The following serves to unpack critical issues in this regard.
Boundary Layer Flow of Magnetic Nanoliquids due to a Radially Rotating Stretchable Plate
Authors: Ram Paras , Joshi Vimal Kumar , Sharma Shashi , Yadav Nisha
Published: August 2018

The effects of stretchable rotating flat surface on the time dependent 3-dimensional boundary layer flow of magnetic nanoliquid in the presence of thermal radiation have been investigated. The modelled set of nonlinear coupled ODEs governing the flow is solved numerically by finite difference scheme and shooting technique. For understanding the effects of geothermal viscosity, stretching parameter and thermal radiation on the flow and temperature fields, a range of Prandtl number is taken into account. The heat transfer rate and skin frictions due to the above physical parameters are also computed. A significant enhancement in the resistance of the fluid flow is noticed due to the viscosity variations and the stretching of the plate. Further, the heat dissipation becomes faster with the enhancement of the thermal radiation and the Prandtl number.