bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ERO2.0 modelling of nanoscale surface morphology evolution
Authors: Alberti G. , Sala M. , Romazanov J. , Uccello A. , Dellasega D. , Passoni M.
Published: April 2021

Plasma–material interaction (PMI) in tokamaks determines the life-time of first-wall (FW) components. Due to PMI, FW materials are eroded and transported within the device. Erosion is strongly influenced by the original morphology of the component, due to particle redeposition on near surface structures and to the changing of impact angle distributions, which results in an alteration of the sputtering effects. The Monte-Carlo impurity transport code ERO2.0 is capable of modelling the erosion of non-trivial surface morphologies due to plasma irradiation. The surface morphology module was validated against experimental data with satisfactory agreement. In this work, we further progress in the validation of the ERO2.0 capabilities by modelling both numerically generated surfaces as well as real surfaces, generated using atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements of reference tungsten samples. The former are used to validate ERO2.0 against one of the morphology evolution models present in literature, in order to outline the conditions for reliable code solutions. Modifications induced in AFM-generated surfaces after argon and helium plasma irradiation are compared, showing a similar post-exposure morphology, mostly dominated by surface smoothing. Finally, the ERO2.0 morphology retrieved after He plasma exposure is compared to experimentally-available scanning electron microscopy and AFM measurements of the same surface morphology exposed in the linear plasma device GyM, showing the need for further improvements of the code, while a good agreement between experimental and simulated erosion rate is observed.
Adaptive randomization in a two-stage sequential multiple assignment randomized trial
Authors: Wang Junyao , Wu Liwen , Wahed Abdus S
Published: April 2021

Sequential multiple assignment randomized trials (SMARTs) are systematic and efficient media for comparing dynamic treatment regimes (DTRs), where each patient is involved in multiple stages of treatment with the randomization at each stage depending on the patient’s previous treatment history and interim outcomes. Generally, patients enrolled in SMARTs are randomized equally to ethically acceptable treatment options regardless of how effective those treatments were during the previous stages, which results in some undesirable consequences in practice, such as low recruitment, less retention, and lower treatment adherence. In this article, we propose a response-adaptive SMART (RA-SMART) design where the allocation probabilities are imbalanced in favor of more promising treatments based on the accumulated information on treatment efficacy from previous patients and stages. The operating characteristics of the RA-SMART design relative to SMART design, including the consistency and efficiency of estimated response rate under each DTR, the power of identifying the optimal DTR, and the number of patients treated with the optimal and the worst DTRs, are assessed through extensive simulation studies. Some practical suggestions are discussed in the conclusion.
Institutional Persistence: Involvements with Child Protective Services, the Criminal Justice System and Mental Health Services across Childhood, Adolescence and Early Adulthood in Denmark
Authors: Fallesen Peter
Published: April 2021

The pairwise overlaps in system involvement between child protective services (CPS), mental health services and the criminal justice system are well-documented. Yet, less is known about how contact to these three systems evolves as children age, and how children’s trajectories through these institutions should be conceptualised. In this article, we use administrative data on the full population of Danish children born 1982–1995 that had contact to at least one of the three systems before turning twenty-one. Theoretically, we argue that children’s trajectories of institutional contacts can be understood as a moral career as suggested by Goffman. Empirically, we study how children move between and are retained within the three systems across childhood. We find that early contact originates with CPS but branch out through both overlap and transitions to the other systems. Further, across age, there are high levels of retention within the systems, and clear gendered dynamics play out as children age. We argue that children’s trajectories across age can be viewed as moving from a position as a subject at risk to a position as subject of risk.
Mouse Anesthesia: The Art and Science
Authors: Navarro Kaela L , Huss Monika , Smith Jennifer C , Sharp Patrick , Marx James O , Pacharinsak Cholawat
Published: April 2021

There is an art and science to performing mouse anesthesia, which is a significant component to animal research. Frequently, anesthesia is one vital step of many over the course of a research project spanning weeks, months, or beyond. It is critical to perform anesthesia according to the approved research protocol using appropriately handled and administered pharmaceutical-grade compounds whenever possible. Sufficient documentation of the anesthetic event and procedure should also be performed to meet the legal, ethical, and research reproducibility obligations. However, this regulatory and documentation process may lead to the use of a few possibly oversimplified anesthetic protocols used for mouse procedures and anesthesia. Although a frequently used anesthetic protocol may work perfectly for each mouse anesthetized, sometimes unexpected complications will arise, and quick adjustments to the anesthetic depth and support provided will be required. As an old saying goes, anesthesia is 99% boredom and 1% sheer terror. The purpose of this review article is to discuss the science of mouse anesthesia together with the art of applying these anesthetic techniques to provide readers with the knowledge needed for successful anesthetic procedures. The authors include experiences in mouse inhalant and injectable anesthesia, peri-anesthetic monitoring, specific procedures, and treating common complications. This article utilizes key points for easy access of important messages and authors’ recommendation based on the authors’ clinical experiences.
Ketogenic Diet Impairment of Mycobacterium ulcerans Growth and Toxin Production and Enhancement of Host Response to Infection in an Experimental Mouse Model
Authors: Foulon Mélanie , Robbe-Saule Marie , Esnault Lucille , Malloci Marine , Mery Anthony , Saint-André Jean-Paul , Croue Anne , Kempf Marie , Homedan Chadi , Marion Estelle , Marsollier Laurent
Published: April 2021

Ketogenic diets have been used to treat diverse conditions, and there is growing evidence of their benefits for tissue repair and in inflammatory disease treatment. However, their role in infectious diseases has been little studied. Buruli ulcer (Mycobacterium ulcerans infection) is a chronic infectious disease characterized by large skin ulcerations caused by mycolactone, the major virulence factor of the bacillus. In the current study, we investigated the impact of ketogenic diet on this cutaneous disease in an experimental mouse model. This diet prevented ulceration, by modulating bacterial growth and host inflammatory response. β-hydroxybutyrate, the major ketone body produced during ketogenic diet and diffusing in tissues, impeded M. ulcerans growth and mycolactone production in vitro underlying its potential key role in infection. These results pave the way for the development of new patient management strategies involving shorter courses of treatment and improving wound healing, in line with the major objectives of the World Health Organization.
Threat Assessment of Targeted Honor-Based Violence
Authors: Belfrage Henrik , Ekman Linda
Published: April 2021

Honor-based violence can be defined as “any actual attempted or threatened physical harm of a family member with honor as a principle motive.” In its most extreme form it is manifested as murder of a family member (most often a woman or girl), or an intimate partner of a family member, because of the perpetrator’s belief that the victim has brought dishonor on the family. This chapter describes PATRIARCH, a structured professional judgment tool for assessing risk and threat of honor-based violence. The tool includes 15 factors, comprising the nature and pattern of the honor-based violence behavior, perpetrator risk factors, and victim vulnerability factors. The use of the tool in practice is described using a case example where the factors are exemplified and a summary risk formulation and a safety plan are made.
Rethinking the Path to Intended Violence
Authors: Calhoun Frederick S. , Weston Stephen W.
Published: April 2021

The authors rethink the threat assessment model they first conceptualized during the mid-1990s. Styled the “path to intended violence,” the model postulates that individuals intending to commit an act of violence move from grievance to ideation to research and planning to preparation to breach to attack. The authors affirm that the path remains universal for understanding and preventing acts of intended violence, but they find that modern technology, including Internet resources and social media, complicate efforts by threat managers to identify, assess, and manage problem individuals because so much can be done online that heretofore required observable actions by the subject. The authors illustrate their new thinking with current case studies and examples. They conclude by introducing the concept of detect, report, and act (DRA) as the essential building block for any effective threat management program.
The Fixated Threat Assessment Centers
Authors: Wilson Simon P. , Pathé Michele T. , Farnham Frank R. , James David V.
Published: April 2021

Fixated threat assessment centers (FTACs) have been established in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The model was developed to assess and manage risk from isolated loners who write concerning communications or make problematic approaches to politicians or the British royal family. It has recently been expanded to encompass risks of lone actor grievance-fueled violence more broadly. The essential feature of FTACs is that they are police units jointly staffed by police officers and psychiatric staff from the health service. Given the central role that mental state and motivation play in the assessment of risk, the presence of psychiatric personnel greatly enhances the power of risk assessment and catalyzes multiagency interventions with fixated loners, a population with high psychiatric morbidity. This chapter describes the function, structure, and operating methods of FTACs. The FTACs deal with forms of psychotic pathology rarely seen in psychiatric services, but well described by 19th-century phenomenologists.
Making Sense of Terrorist Violence and Building Psychological Expertise
Authors: Lloyd Monica
Published: April 2021

This chapter is broadly concerned with the assessment of targeted violence, a term referring to instrumental and predatory violence, framed and justified by a shared ideology in the case of terrorists, or a more idiosyncratic belief system in the case of lone actors. It reviews some of the frameworks developed to identify threat before the crime and to assess the risk of extremist violence after the crime, and discusses the learning that has accrued from postdictive studies and ongoing empirical research, with the aim of synthesizing this learning and deepening the understanding of what drives these crimes. The roles of criminality and mental disorder are specifically discussed in relation to a possible triple pathway model for radicalization that clarifies the role of both in each pathway. The importance of theorization is stressed at this stage of current knowledge, with some suggestions for future research.
The in situ formation of molecular and warm ionized gas triggered by hot galactic outflows
Authors: Girichidis Philipp , Naab Thorsten , Walch Stefanie , Berlok Thomas
Published: April 2021

Molecular outflows contributing to the matter cycle of star-forming galaxies are now observed in small and large systems at low and high redshift. Their physical origin is still unclear. In most theoretical studies, only warm ionized/neutral and hot gas outflowing from the interstellar medium is generated by star formation. We investigate an in situ H2 formation scenario in the outflow using high-resolution simulations, including non-equilibrium chemistry and self-gravity, of turbulent, warm, and atomic clouds with densities 0.1, 0.5, and $1\, \mathrm{cm}^{-3}$ exposed to a magnetized hot wind. For cloud densities $\gtrsim 0.5\, \mathrm{cm}^{-3}$, a magnetized wind triggers H2 formation before cloud dispersal. Up to 3 per cent of the initial cloud mass can become molecular on $\sim \! 10\, \mathrm{Myr}$ time-scales. The effect is stronger for winds with perpendicular B-fields and intermediate density clouds ($n_\mathrm{c}\sim 0.5\, \mathrm{cm}^{-3}$). Here, H2 formation can be boosted by up to one order of magnitude compared to isolated cooling clouds independent of self-gravity. Self-gravity preserves the densest clouds well past their $\sim \! 15\, \mathrm{Myr}$ cloud crushing time-scales. This model could provide a plausible in situ origin for the observed molecular gas. All simulations form warm ionized gas, which represents an important observable phase. The amount of warm ionized gas is almost independent of the cloud density but solely depends on the magnetic field configuration in the wind. For low-density clouds ($0.1\, \mathrm{cm}^{-3}$), up to 60 per cent of the initially atomic cloud mass can become warm and ionized.
A novel bivariate autoregressive model for predicting and forecasting irregularly observed time series
Authors: Elorrieta Felipe , Eyheramendy Susana , Palma Wilfredo , Ojeda Cesar
Published: April 2021

In several disciplines, it is common to find time series measured at irregular observational times. In particular, in astronomy there are a large number of surveys that gather information over irregular time gaps and in more than one passband. Some examples are Pan-STARRS, ZTF, and also the LSST. However, current commonly used time series models that estimate the time dependence in astronomical light curves consider the information of each band separately (e.g, CIAR, IAR, and CARMA models) disregarding the dependence that might exist between different passbands. In this paper, we propose a novel bivariate model for irregularly sampled time series, called the Bivariate Irregular Autoregressive (BIAR) model. The BIAR model assumes an autoregressive structure on each time series; it is stationary, and it allows to estimate the autocorrelation, the cross-correlation and the contemporary correlation between two unequally spaced time series. We implemented the BIAR model on light curves, in the g and r bands, obtained from the ZTF alerts processed by the ALeRCE broker. We show that if the light curves of the two bands are highly correlated, the model has more accurate forecast and prediction using the bivariate model than a similar method that uses only univariate information. Further, the estimated parameters of the BIAR are useful to characterize long-period variable stars and to distinguish between classes of stochastic objects, providing promising features that can be used for classification purposes.
NICER observations of the black hole candidate MAXI J0637–430 during the 2019–2020 outburst
Authors: Jana Arghajit , Jaisawal Gaurava K , Naik Sachindra , Kumari Neeraj , Chhotaray Birendra , Altamirano D , Remillard R A , Gendreau Keith C
Published: April 2021

We present detailed timing and spectral studies of the black hole candidate MAXI J0637–430 during its 2019–2020 outburst using observations with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. We find that the source evolves through the soft-intermediate, high-soft, hard-intermediate, and low-hard states during the outburst. No evidence of quasi-periodic oscillations is found in the power-density spectra of the source. Weak variability with fractional rms amplitude ${\lt}5{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ is found in the softer spectral states. In the hard-intermediate and hard states, high variability with the fractional rms amplitude of ${\gt}20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ is observed. The 0.7–10 keV spectra with NICER are studied with a combined disc-black-body and nthcomp model along with the interstellar absorption. The temperature of the disc is estimated to be 0.6 keV in the rising phase and decreased slowly to 0.1 keV in the declining phase. The disc component was not detectable or absent during the low-hard state. From the state-transition luminosity and the inner edge of the accretion flow, we estimate the mass of the black hole to be in the range of 5–12 M⊙, assuming the source distance of d < 10 kpc.
The GALAH+ survey: Third data release
Authors: Buder Sven , Sharma Sanjib , Kos Janez , Amarsi Anish M , Nordlander Thomas , Lind Karin , Martell Sarah L , Asplund Martin , Bland-Hawthorn Joss , Casey Andrew R , De Silva Gayandhi M , D’Orazi Valentina , Freeman Ken C , Hayden Michael R , Lewis Geraint F , Lin Jane , Schlesinger Katharine J , Simpson Jeffrey D , Stello Dennis , Zucker Daniel B , Zwitter Tomaž , Beeson Kevin L , Buck Tobias , Casagrande Luca , Clark Jake T , Čotar Klemen , Da Costa Gary S , de Grijs Richard , Feuillet Diane , Horner Jonathan , Kafle Prajwal R , Khanna Shourya , Kobayashi Chiaki , Liu Fan , Montet Benjamin T , Nandakumar Govind , Nataf David M , Ness Melissa K , Spina Lorenzo , Tepper-García Thor , Ting(丁源森) Yuan-Sen , Traven Gregor , Vogrinčič Rok , Wittenmyer Robert A , Wyse Rosemary F G , Žerjal Maruša ,   GALAH Collaboration
Published: April 2021

The ensemble of chemical element abundance measurements for stars, along with precision distances and orbit properties, provides high-dimensional data to study the evolution of the Milky Way. With this third data release of the Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) survey, we publish 678 423 spectra for 588 571 mostly nearby stars (81.2 per cent of stars are within <2 kpc), observed with the HERMES spectrograph at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. This release (hereafter GALAH+ DR3) includes all observations from GALAH Phase 1 (bright, main, and faint survey, 70 per cent), K2-HERMES (17 per cent), TESS-HERMES (5 per cent), and a subset of ancillary observations (8 per cent) including the bulge and >75 stellar clusters. We derive stellar parameters Teff, log g, [Fe/H], vmic, vbroad, and vrad using our modified version of the spectrum synthesis code Spectroscopy Made Easy (sme) and 1D marcs model atmospheres. We break spectroscopic degeneracies in our spectrum analysis with astrometry from Gaia DR2 and photometry from 2MASS. We report abundance ratios [X/Fe] for 30 different elements (11 of which are based on non-LTE computations) covering five nucleosynthetic pathways. We describe validations for accuracy and precision, flagging of peculiar stars/measurements and recommendations for using our results. Our catalogue comprises 65 per cent dwarfs, 34 per cent giants, and 1 per cent other/unclassified stars. Based on unflagged chemical composition and age, we find 62 per cent young low-$\alpha$, 9 per cent young high-$\alpha$, 27 per cent old high-$\alpha$, and 2 per cent stars with [Fe/H] ≤ −1. Based on kinematics, 4 per cent are halo stars. Several Value-Added-Catalogues, including stellar ages and dynamics, updated after Gaia eDR3, accompany this release and allow chrono-chemodynamic analyses, as we showcase.
COVID-19 vaccination intent among London healthcare workers
Authors: Abuown A , Ellis T , Miller J , Davidson R , Kachwala Q , Medeiros M , Mejia K , Manoraj S , Sidhu M , Whittington A M , Pattani S
Published: April 2021

Background

The 10-month timeline from conception to regulatory approval of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 is unprecedented in modern medicine. However, the climate of the pandemic has also seen anti-vaccination sentiments flourish.

Aims

To determine the intent to accept COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare workers at a London Hospital Trust and examine variation in uptake between demographic groups.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional survey open to staff working at the trust. Staff rated on a five-point scale the likelihood of them accepting COVID-19 vaccination.

Results

We received 514 responses, representing 16% of the workforce. About 59% of staff intended to seek vaccination, 24% to reject and 17% were unsure. There was significantly reduced intended uptake in females, younger age groups, healthcare assistants, nurses, staff of black ethnic backgrounds and those who rejected influenza vaccination. Safety was the dominant concern.

Conclusions

Our study finds COVID-19 vaccinate hesitancy is prevalent among healthcare workers at a London Hospital Trust. It is particularly concerning that hesitancy was highest amongst groups most exposed to COVID-19 and most at risk of severe disease. Reasons behind disparities in uptake must be addressed to protect staff and prevent deepening inequalities within the healthcare workforce.
Surging COVID-19 in Bangladesh driven by B.1.351 variant
Authors: Brum Eric , Saha Senjuti , Sania Ayesha , Tanmoy Arif Mohammad , Hooda Yogesh , Tanni Afroza Akter , Goswami Sharmistha , Al Sium Syed Muktadir , Islam Sajib Mohammad Saiful , Malaker Roly , Islam Shuborno , Sarker Nikkon , Saha Samir K , Chowdhury Shayan , Haddou Yacob , Ferguson Elaine , Kundegorski Mikolaj , Purno Nabila , Tasneem Motahara , Arifeen Shams El , Alamgir AMS , Chowdhury Anir , Hampson Katie
Published: April 2021

A dramatic resurgence of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Bangladesh in March 2021 coincided with the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351 (501Y.V2) variant of concern rapidly becoming the dominant circulating variant. Concurrently, increasing numbers of reinfections have been detected and the effective Reproductive number,Rt, has doubled, despite high levels of prior infection in Dhaka city. These data support the prediction that acquired immunity from past infection provides reduced protection against B.1.351, and highlights the major public health concern posed by immune escape variants, especially in populations where vaccination coverage remains low.
Laser facilitated epicutaneous peptide immunization using dry patch technology
Authors: Scheiblhofer Sandra , Drothler Stephan , Braun Werner , Braun Reinhard , Boesch Maximilian , Weiss Richard
Published: April 2021

The skin has been intensely investigated as a target tissue for immunization because it is populated by multiple types of antigen presenting cells. Directly addressing dendritic cells or Langerhans cellsin vivorepresents an attractive strategy for inducing T cell responses in cancer immunotherapy. We and others have studied fractional laser ablation as a novel method combining efficient delivery of macromolecules to the skin with an inherent adjuvant effect of laser illumination. In this proof of concept study, we demonstrate the feasibility of peptide delivery to the skin using the P.L.E.A.S.E. professional Erb:YAG fractional infrared laser together with EPIMMUN patches. In an ovalbumin mouse model we demonstrate that a dry patch formulation of SIINFEKL peptide in combination with CpG-ODN1826, but not imiquimod or polyI:C, induces potent cytotoxic T cell responses, which can be further boosted by co-delivery of the pan-helper T cell epitope PADRE.
Management accounting change as an amplifier of a leadership dispute: an ethnography of convergent and divergent leader–follower relations
Authors: Bassani Gaia , Pfister Jan A. , Cattaneo Cristiana
Published: April 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of leadership in management accounting change processes and outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on an ethnographic study in a Southern European company and mobilizes leader–follower relations as a method theory to analyse the observations.

Findings

The findings show how a leadership dispute between two top managers can be amplified during the management accounting change process and percolate throughout an organization. The authors identify five contested areas where the role of accounting amplifies the leadership dispute by unfolding its reach to other organizational actors. The leadership dispute can shape and reinforce a fragmented organization, with some organizational members creating convergent leader–follower relations while others divert and fragment with an increased turnover. This amplification can lead to unexpected outcomes of the change process in terms of how and by whom accounting is performed.

Research limitations/implications

The authors propose the study of leadership and followership as an important but, to date, largely neglected theme in management accounting research.

Originality/value

In contrast to the prior management accounting literature, the paper departs from a leadership-centric and role-based approach and employs a co-constructionist and relational approach to leadership and followership to analyse management accounting change. In addition, it applies and extends Alvesson's (2019a) theory on “divergent relationalities” between the presumed leaders and followers. In doing so, the paper also adds to the leadership field by theorizing and integrating the situation of a leadership dispute in this novel theoretical framework.
Public universities and impacts of COVID-19 in Australia: risk disclosures and organisational change
Authors: Carnegie Garry D. , Guthrie James , Martin-Sardesai Ann
Published: April 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the COVID-19 pandemic risk disclosures in a sample of annual reports of Australian public universities. These universities rely heavily on fee-paying onshore overseas students. Analysing these risk disclosures is essential to understanding the COVID-19 crisis and the implications for organisational change.

Design/methodology/approach

Document analysis and content analysis of the 2019 annual reports of all Victorian public universities were undertaken to identify the disclosure of COVID-19 risk impacts. Applying Laughlin's Habermasian insights of change, the study explores the pathways of change adopted by universities to overcome the risk impacts. However, financial risk disclosures about income from this source were virtually non-existent.

Findings

Any risk associated with COVID-19 disclosed was minimal in a qualitative, neutral and constant format. The quality of disclosures was low. Media statements, however, pointed to significant income loss and suggested a strategy of substantial cost-cutting, including employee redundancies, which we identified as morphostatic changes of universities to overcome the risk impacts.

Research limitations/implications

The study reveals the risk associated with sector's aggressive growth strategy, jeopardising their financial viability and quality of teaching and research.

Practical implications

The findings provide insights to the Australian higher education sector. The low quality of external risk disclosures of these universities suggests an urgent need for transformation.

Originality/value

Australian public universities play a crucial role in society. This role will be diminished by a failure to disclose and manage significant risks adequately.
Predicting delays in prefabricated projects: SD-BP neural network to define effects of risk disruption
Authors: Zhao Ying , Chen Wei , Arashpour Mehrdad , Yang Zhuzhang , Shao Chengxin , Li Chao
Published: April 2021

Purpose

Prefabricated construction is often hindered by scheduling delays. This paper aims to propose a schedule delay prediction model system, which can provide the key information for controlling the delay effects of risk-related factors on scheduling in prefabricated construction.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper combines SD (System Dynamics) and BP (Back Propagation) neural network to predict risk related delays. The SD-based prediction model focuses on dynamically presenting the interrelated impacts of risk events and activities along with workflow. While BP neural network model is proposed to evaluate the delay effect for a single risk event disrupting a single job, which is the necessary input parameter of SD-based model.

Findings

The established model system is validated through a structural test, an extreme condition test, a sensitivity test, and an error test, and shows an excellent performance on aspect of reliability and accuracy. Furthermore, 5 scenarios of case application during 3 different projects located in separate cities prove the prediction model system can be applied in a wide range.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to academic research on combination of SD and BP neural network at the operational level prediction, and a practical prediction tool supporting managers to take decision-making in a timely manner against delays.
Exploring compassionate managerial leadership style in reducing employee stress level during COVID-19 crisis: the case of Nigeria
Authors: Oruh Emeka Smart , Mordi Chima , Dibia Chianu Harmony , Ajonbadi Hakeem Adeniyi
Published: April 2021

Purpose

This study explores how compassionate managerial leadership style can help to mitigate workplace stressors and alleviate stress experiences among employees — particularly in an extreme situation, such as the current global COVID-19 pandemic. The study's context is Nigeria's banking, manufacturing and healthcare sectors, which have a history of high employee stress levels.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a qualitative, interpretive methodology, the study adopts the thematic analysis process (TAP) to draw and analyse data from semi-structured telephone interviews with 10 banking, 11 manufacturing and 9 frontline healthcare workers in Nigeria.

Findings

It was found that a compassionate managerial leadership can drive a considerate response to employees' “fear of job (in)security”, “healthcare risk” and concerns about “work overload, underpayment and delayed payment”, which respondents considered to be some of the key causes of increased stress among employees during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited to exploring the relationship between compassionate managerial leadership and an organisation's ability to manage employee stress in the COVID-19 situation, using 30 samples from organisations operating in three Nigerian cities and sectors. Future studies may involve more Nigerian cities, sectors and samples. It may also possibly include quantitative combination to allow generalisation of findings.

Practical implications

In order to survive in extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are forced to take drastic and often managerialist-driven work measures which can trigger high stress levels, low productivity and absenteeism among employees. Hence, organisations would benefit from implementing compassion-driven policies that are more inclusive and responsive to the workplace stressors facing employees.

Originality/value

Employee stress has been widely explored in many areas, including definitions, stressors, strains, possible interventions and coping strategies. There remains, however, a dearth of scholarship on how management-leadership compassion can help to reduce employee stress levels in extreme conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly in emerging economies.
The mediating effect of consumer empowerment in omni-channel retailing
Authors: Ürgüplü Özlem , Yumurtacı Hüseyinoğlu Işık Özge
Published: April 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of omni-channel capability (OCC) and consumer empowerment (CE) on customer satisfaction (CS).

Design/methodology/approach

A paper-based questionnaire was employed to analyse the role of CE in omni-channel retailing (OCR) by using structural equation modelling. Based on the Stimuli-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, this research aims to explore how OCC (S) impacts CE (O) and then leads to CS (R) in consumers who had previously used both the online and physical channels of a retailer.

Findings

The findings supported the impact of OCC on CE, and in turn, the impact of CE on CS. The results reveal a partial mediation by CE in the effect of OCC on CS. Additionally, channel service transparency (CST) moderates the relationship between CE and CS.

Practical implications

The findings reveal partial mediator role of CE and the moderator role of CST in OCR. The study draws attention to the increasing role of CE and CST in OCR. To enhance CS, retailers should focus on OCC, CE and CST.

Originality/value

A new model was validated, hypothesized from S-O-R framework. This extended the knowledge on CE in OCR.
A proposed reading event analysis model (REAM) for determining likely reading format preferences
Authors: Salaz A.M. , Mizrachi Diane
Published: April 2021

Purpose

This conceptual paper relates disparate evidence on the factors influencing reading format choice and preference, whether print or digital, in order to inform educational practice and scholarship.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors propose a reading event analysis model (REAM) to help guide practitioners and scholars through a consideration of relevant factors, as evidenced by empirical research, to predicting whether print or digital formats will best support the reading and/or learning objectives of a reader in a given reading event in the current technological era.

Findings

The evidence synthesized and communicated by the REAM model reflects complex interactions between reader characteristics, task characteristics and text characteristics that influence the effects and outcomes of reading in print or digital format.

Research limitations/implications

This model serves to guide scholars in the design of future empirical studies that account for critical performance variables related to reading comprehension and user preference.

Practical implications

In examining the effects of reading format on learning and the relationship of learning to overall reader format preferences, this model will help educators, educational administrators, industry practitioners, technologists and interface developers transfer current findings to practice, make decisions and determine developmental priorities to meet the needs of readers and learners across a variety of contexts and support the pursuit of equity in education.

Originality/value

This model is necessary and contributes important original synthesis and to an area of scholarship that in recent years has yielded results that at times appear contradictory. The model provides possible resolutions to these apparent contradictions in a construct that lends translational value for practice.
Influence of knowledge sharing, innovation passion and absorptive capacity on innovation behaviour in China
Authors: Ye Pinghao , Liu Liqiong , Tan Joseph
Published: April 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to address the question of what can significantly impact employees' IB and how employees' IB may be effectively stimulated by investigating key factors such as employees' knowledge sharing, innovation passion, absorptive capacity and risk-taking behaviour on workplace innovation. The moderating role of risk-taking behaviour on the link between absorptive capacity and innovation behaviour is also investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the principles of social exchange theory, the study design explores the complex relationship among knowledge sharing, innovation passion, absorptive capacity and risk-taking vis-à-vis employees' innovation behaviour within a unified analysis framework. Methodologically, employees in the information technology industry in China were surveyed via a questionnaire instrument, with a total of 318 valid questionnaires being collected online. Following a reliability and validity test of the questionnaire, the Smart PLS was used to verify the research model.

Findings

Statistically significant results reported were as follows: (1) employees' innovation behaviour is positively impacted by knowledge sharing, innovation passion and absorptive capacity; (2) employees' innovation behaviour is negatively impacted by risk-taking behaviour; (3) knowledge sharing is positively impacted by innovation passion; (4) absorptive capacity is positively impacted by innovation passion; and (5) risk-taking behaviour regulates the relationship between absorptive capacity and innovation behaviour.

Research limitations/implications

Owing to limited research resources, 318 front-line employees were surveyed via an online questionnaire vis-à-vis the sampling method only, specifically taking knowledge sharing, innovation passion, absorptive capacity and risk-taking behaviour as antecedent variables with implications on how employees' innovation behaviour may be stimulated.

Originality/value

The mechanism of augmenting employees' innovation behaviour is chiefly explained from the perspective of innovation passion and risk-taking behaviour, which are conducive towards promoting employees' willingness to improve knowledge sharing and innovation behaviour. The social exchange theory is used as a basis to form an integrated model for the research, contributing to a cumulative theoretical perspective for future work on the impact of innovation passion and risk-taking behaviour on innovation.
Evidence for a dominant‐negative effect of a missense mutation in the SERPING1 gene responsible for hereditary angioedema type I
Authors: Yasuno Shuichiro , Ansai Osamu , Hayashi Ryota , Nakamura Sawako , Shimomura Yutaka
Published: April 2021

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare condition characterized by episodic local edema involving various organs, which can be life‐threatening in some cases. Among the three subtypes of the disease, HAE types I and II are known to be caused by heterozygous mutations in the SERPING1 gene encoding C1 inhibitor (C1INH). Although a number of mutations in the SERPING1 gene have been identified to date, the mechanisms how these mutations cause HAE are not completely understood. We herein performed detailed in vitro studies for a missense SERPING1 gene mutation p.S150F which we recently identified in a Japanese patient with HAE type I. We showed that the p.S150F‐mutant C1INH was stably expressed within the cultured cells, while it was not secreted into the medium at all. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the mutant C1INH significantly prevented secretion of wild‐type C1INH. Finally, the results suggested that the wild‐type protein was not only retained but also degraded within the cytoplasm through interacting with the mutant protein. Our study clearly revealed a dominant‐negative effect of the p.S150F‐mutant C1INH against the wild‐type C1INH.
WTO Reform: Back to the Past to Build for the Future
Authors: Hoekman Bernard , Mavroidis Petros C.
Published: April 2021

Since its formation, with a few notable exceptions, WTO members have not been able to negotiate new rules on policies that generate negative international spillovers. The Doha Development Agenda negotiations, launched in 2001, became deadlocked in 2008. Problems extend beyond negotiations – other functions of the WTO are also not performing well. The dispute settlement mechanism, long perceived as the crown jewel of the organization, no longer is operational because of US refusal to appoint new WTO Appellate Body members. Calls for WTO reform have been mounting. This article provides an overview of the WTO reform agenda, drawing on the findings of recent multidisciplinary research to provide context for the papers included in this special issue on trade conflicts, multilateral cooperation and WTO reform.
Prognostic value of lymph node ratio in children and adolescents with papillary thyroid cancer
Authors: Xu Yangmengyuan , Wang Yu , Zhang Xinyue , Huang Rui , Tian Rong , Liu Bin
Published: April 2021

Objective

Neck lymph node (LN) metastasis is a common feature of paediatric papillary thyroid cancer, and LN ratio (LNR) is defined as the ratio of the number of positive LNs excised to the total number of removed. Unlike in adults, few data are available regarding the clinical implication of LNR in the paediatric population. Our purpose was to investigate the association of LNR with clinical outcomes in paediatric papillary thyroid cancer.

Design & Methods

The study retrospectively reviewed 136 consecutive children and adolescents with papillary thyroid cancer and LN involvement but no initial distant metastasis. Initial treatment, included in all patients a total thyroidectomy with central and/or lateral neck dissection followed by radioactive iodine ablation. Within the neck dissections, total number of LNs removed, total positive LNs and LN ratios were determined. The effect of clinicopathologic characteristics and intraoperative findings on persistent and recurrent diseases were analysed by univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results

Median number of positive LNs was 9, and median LNR was 0.4. During a median follow‐up of 49 months (range, 12.0‐139 months), persistent disease occurred in 43 (31.6%) patients. The multivariable analysis showed that age and LNR were the independent factors predictive of persistent disease. Patients with a LNR >0.34 exhibited a threefold higher risk of persistent disease after initial therapy than the counterparts (P = .02).

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that LNR was an independent determinant predictive of persistent disease after initial therapy in children and adolescents with papillary thyroid cancer.
Within‐session reproducibility of forced oscillometry
Authors: Wollmer Per , Tufvesson Ellen , Wennersten André , Malmqvist Ulf , Engström Gunnar , Olsson Henric K. , Zaigham Suneela , Frantz Sophia , Nihlén Ulf
Published: April 2021

Background

The forced oscillation technique (FOT) provides detailed information about the mechanics of the respiratory system, while requiring minimal co‐operation by the patient. FOT may be abnormal in subjects with normal spirometry and appears to be more closely related to airway symptoms. It is, therefore, attractive in epidemiological studies, where a large number of different examinations are made in each subjects in a short period of time. Current technical standards recommend the mean of three consecutive measurements to be used, but there is limited information regarding within‐session variability of FOT measurements.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to examine the within‐session variability in FOT measurements in a large, population‐based sample.

Methods

We performed three consecutive FOT measurements in 700 subjects using the impulse oscillometry system. The first measurement was compared to the mean of three measurements for resistance at 5 and 20 Hz (R5 and R20, respectively), R5‐R20, reactance at 5 Hz (X5) and resonant frequency (fres).

Results

The differences between the first and the mean of three measurements (median, interquartile range) were minimal, for example 0.002, −0.008 to 0.014 kPa L−1 s for R5 and −0.001, −0.008 to 0.005 kPa L−1 s for X5. Findings were numerically similar for men and women as well as for subjects with and without airflow obstruction at spirometry.

Conclusions

We conclude that, whereas in clinical situations, three FOT measurements are to be preferred, a single measurement may suffice in epidemiological studies.
Financialization for Development? Asset Making on Indigenous Land in Remote Northern Australia
Authors: Langford Alexandra , Lawrence Geoffrey , Smith Kiah
Published: April 2021

Indigenous Australian landowners are increasingly seeking to develop agricultural production on their lands to improve the welfare and economic opportunities of their communities. This can require substantial capital input and, in the absence of enough government funding, Indigenous groups are turning to private investors. Development literature has explored private sector‐led and ‘financialized’ approaches to development at a macro level as something that is done to communities; however, less research has examined how remote communities themselves seek to develop their natural assets through partnerships with businesses and with global finance. This article examines the work being done to prepare land for external investment. It provides an example of emergent assetization processes being undertaken outside the financial sector, driven by social outcomes seemingly beyond the domain of shareholder value. Paradoxically, individuals engaged in these asset‐making processes may oppose the withdrawal of direct funding for community development associated with a financialization of development, yet they are left with few options but to further these efforts by seeking private finance themselves — facilitating financialization for development. This interaction of structural effects and local agency complicates narratives of financialization as they are commonly presented and has important implications for Indigenous economic development in Northern Australia.
Basal ganglia and cortical control of thalamic rebound spikes
Authors: Nejad Mohammadreza Mohagheghi , Rotter Stefan , Schmidt Robert
Published: April 2021

Movement‐related decreases in firing rate have been observed in basal ganglia output neurons. They may transmit motor signals to the thalamus, but the effect of these firing rate decreases on downstream neurons in the motor thalamus is not known. One possibility is that they lead to thalamic post‐inhibitory rebound spikes. However, it has also been argued that the physiological conditions permitting rebound spiking are pathological, and primarily present in Parkinson's disease. As in Parkinson's disease neural activity becomes pathologically correlated, we investigated the impact of correlations in basal ganglia output on the transmission of motor signals using a Hodgkin‐Huxley model of thalamocortical neurons. We found that such correlations disrupt the transmission of motor signals via rebound spikes by decreasing the signal‐to‐noise ratio and increasing the trial‐to‐trial variability. We further examined the role of sensory responses in basal ganglia output neurons and the effect of cortical excitation of motor thalamus in modulating rebound spiking. Interestingly, both could either promote or suppress the generation of rebound spikes depending on their timing relative to the motor signal. Finally, we determined parameter regimes, such as levels of excitation, under which rebound spiking is feasible in the model, and confirmed that the conditions for rebound spiking are primarily given in pathological regimes. However, we also identified specific conditions in the model that would allow rebound spiking to occur in healthy animals in a small subset of thalamic neurons. Overall, our model provides novel insights into differences between normal and pathological transmission of motor signals.
Fragility and temperature dependence of stretched exponential relaxation in glass‐forming systems
Authors: Wilkinson Collin J. , Doss Karan , Gulbiten Ozgur , Allan Douglas C. , Mauro John C.
Published: April 2021

Relaxation behavior is critically important for nearly all high‐tech applications of glass. It is also known as one of the most difficult unsolved problems in condensed matter physics. The relaxation behavior of glass can be described using the stretched exponential decay function , the shape of which is governed by the dimensionless stretching exponent β. Here, a temperature‐dependent model for β(T) is proposed. The model is derived based on the Adam‐Gibbs relationship and insights from the energy landscape description of glass‐forming systems. The model captures previously known limiting values of β(T) while also providing a continuous transition between these limits. Additionally, the model captures the effects of fragility and thermal history. The model is validated with experimental data for commercial silicate glasses and a borate glass.