bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Maternal dietary patterns and gestational diabetes mellitus: a large prospective cohort study in China
Authors: He Jian-Rong , Yuan Ming-Yang , Chen Nian-Nian , Lu Jin-Hua , Hu Cui-Yue , Mai Wei-Bi , Zhang Rui-Fang , Pan Yong-Hong , Qiu Lan , Wu Ying-Fang , Xiao Wan-Qing , Liu Yu , Xia Hui-Min , Qiu Xiu
Published: March 2015

Few studies have explored the relationship between dietary patterns and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Evidence from non-Western areas is particularly lacking. In the present study, we aimed to examine the associations between dietary patterns and the risk of GDM in a Chinese population. A total of 3063 pregnant Chinese women from an ongoing prospective cohort study were included. Data on dietary intake were collected using a FFQ at 24–27 weeks of gestation. GDM was diagnosed using a 75 g, 2 h oral glucose tolerance test. Dietary patterns were determined by principal components factor analysis. A log-binomial regression model was used to examine the associations between dietary pattern and the risk of GDM. The analysis identified four dietary patterns: vegetable pattern; protein-rich pattern; prudent pattern; sweets and seafood pattern. Multivariate analysis showed that the highest tertile of the vegetable pattern was associated with a decreased risk of GDM (relative risk (RR) 0·79, 95 % CI 0·64, 0·97), compared with the lowest tertile, whereas the highest tertile of the sweets and seafood pattern was associated with an increased risk of GDM (RR 1·23, 95 % CI 1·02, 1·49). No significant association was found for either the protein-rich or the prudent pattern. The protective effect of a high vegetable pattern score was more evident among women who had a family history of diabetes (P for interaction = 0·022). These findings suggest that the vegetable pattern was associated with a decreased risk of GDM, while the sweets and seafood pattern was associated with an increased risk of GDM. These findings may be useful in dietary counselling during pregnancy.
Malignant phenotype and two SDHD mutations in a family with paraganglioma syndrome type 1
Authors: LEIDENZ FRANCIELE B. , BASTOS-RODRIGUES LUCIANA , OLIVEIRA MARCELO , MAMEDE MARCELO , SARQUIS MARTA , FRIEDMAN EITAN , DE MARCO LUIZ
Published: March 2015

Background: Paraganglioma syndrome type 1 (PGL1) is a rare autosomal dominant syndrome associated with multiple, overwhelmingly benign, pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas, attributed to SDHD gene mutations. Objective: Clinically and molecularly characterize a family with uncommon malignant phenotype of paragangliomas attributed to two seemingly pathogenic SDHD germline mutations. Materials & methods: The proband presented with large bilateral carotid body tumours and family history of cervical masses in his five siblings. All family members underwent clinical examination, imaging studies (18F-FDG PET/CT) and genotyping of relevant genes. The proband was diagnosed with locally advanced paraganglioma; his hypertensive, otherwise asymptomatic father, had locally advanced pheochromocytoma and his three siblings showed multiple head and neck masses, confirmed to be paragangliomas with local metastasis. All affected patients carried two germline mutations in the SDHD gene; a previously reported nonsense mutation in exon 1 (p.Trp5X) and a novel missense mutation in exon 2 (p.Pro53Leu), highly deleterious by in silico analysis. Allelic loss at the SDHD locus was not shown for any of the analysed tumours. Conclusions: This is a rare case of malignant PGL1 with seemingly double pathogenic mutations in the SDHD gene, highlighting the possibility that the presence of both mutations is associated with the more aggressive phenotype.
Environmental factors that affect the Fukuda stepping test in normal participants
Authors: Munnings A , Chisnall B , Oji S , Whittaker M , Kanegaonkar R
Published: March 2015

Background:

The Fukuda stepping test is commonly used to assess peripheral vestibular function. It has, however, been suggested that its maximal sensitivity and specificity are 70 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively. This study was undertaken to evaluate environmental factors that may influence the reliability of this assessment and hence to ‘sharpen’ its use in a clinical setting.

Methods:

Forty-four participants aged between 20 and 43 years were asked to perform the Fukuda stepping test in both a standard clinic room and a soundproofed room under the following conditions in a randomised order: on the floor versus on foam; with and without a sound-localising source; and with and without ear defenders.

Results:

Significant differences in the extent of rotation were found when comparing the results obtained in several settings, including standing on the floor in a standard room versus a soundproofed room (p = 0.036), and standing on foam in a standard room versus a soundproofed room (p = 0.015).

Conclusion:

Our results suggest that certain alterations to the test environment may improve the sensitivity of this clinical examination.
A multi-centre audit of epistaxis management in England: is there a case for a national review of practice?
Authors: Hall A C , Blanchford H , Chatrath P , Hopkins C
Published: March 2015

Objective:

The ENT-UK Clinical Audit and Practice Advisory Group initiated a pilot audit to investigate variance in epistaxis management between six units nationwide.

Method:

All patients with a diagnosis of epistaxis who were admitted for in-patient care at six ENT departments between November 2011 and February 2012 were prospectively enrolled.

Results:

A total of 166 patients were included in the study. Variance was demonstrated between the six units in a number of the key outcome areas. Twenty-eight per cent of patients were identified as eligible for operative intervention for epistaxis in one unit, compared with only 12.5 per cent in another.

Conclusion:

There are measurable, patient-relevant outcomes to assess epistaxis management and these can highlight areas of potential improvement. This pilot audit gives a snapshot of modern practice, which shows variance between the six units assessed. A national audit may allow us to improve patient experience and maximise efficiency in delivering emergency care in our most common patient encounter.
Goemai
Authors: Tabain Marija , Hellwig Birgit
Published: March 2015

Goemai is an Afroasiatic (Chadic, West Chadic A, Angas-Goemai group) language spoken in Central Nigeria. The name Goemai [ɡmi] is used by the speakers themselves to refer to both their language and their ethnic group. To outsiders, they are better known under the name Ankwe – a name that is also commonly found in the older linguistic, anthropological and historical literature. The Goemai live as farmers, fishermen and hunters in villages throughout the lowland savannah region south of the Jos Plateau and north of the Benue River, an area that is known geographically as the Great Muri Plains. The economy is based on agriculture (yam, millet, guineacorn, groundnut, beniseed) and is supplemented with fishing and hunting. Politically, the area belongs to Plateau State, and more specifically to the Local Government Areas Shendam and Qua’an Pan. Smaller Goemai-speaking communities are found in surrounding Local Government Areas as well as in Jos, the capital of Plateau State.
Is the Portuguese version of the passage ‘The North Wind and the Sun’ phonetically balanced?
Authors: Jesus Luis M. T. , Valente Ana Rita S. , Hall Andreia
Published: March 2015

There is no standard phonetically balanced short passage for Portuguese research and clinical practice. This paper presents results of a novel analysis of ‘The North Wind and the Sun’ (NWS) passage that aims to determine if it is phonetically balanced for European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP), based on new transcriptions resulting from algorithms developed for grapheme–phone transcription in these two varieties of Portuguese. These algorithms (based on standard EP and São Paulo BP varieties) are the same as those used to collect the frequency data, which is central to determining if a text is phonetically balanced. Results showed that neither transcription violates phonotactic rules, i.e. permissible combinations of speech sounds. The NWS is not phonetically balanced for BP if the phonemes are considered individually but is evenly distributed in terms of manner of articulation. The EP version of the NWS passage is a phonetically balanced text for EP.
Bemba
Authors: Hamann Silke , Kula Nancy C.
Published: March 2015

Bemba (also called Cibemba or Icibemba; ISO 639-3 codebem) is a Niger-Congo language belonging to the Central Narrow Bantu branch (Zone M in Guthrie's 1948, 1967–71 classification). Bemba is spoken in Zambia (mainly in the Northern, Luapula and Copperbelt provinces) and the Southern Democratic Republic of Congo by approximately 3.3 million speakers (Lewis, Simons & Fennig 2013). Our data are based on Bemba spoken in Zambia.
Basaá
Authors: Makasso Emmanuel-Moselly , Lee Seunghun J.
Published: March 2015

Basaá [ɓàsː] is spoken by 282,000 people in the forest area located in the South, Centre and Littoral regions of Cameroon (based on 1982 Ethnologue record; Lewis 2009). Basaá is a narrow Bantu language in the Niger-Congo language family, and it is classified as A43 (Guthrie 1967–71, A43a in Maho 2009). The ISO code of Basaá is bas (Lewis 2009).
Place of articulation of anterior nasal versus oral stops in Croatian
Authors: Liker Marko , Gibbon Fiona E.
Published: March 2015

The purpose of this investigation is to analyse the place of articulation of anterior nasal versus oral stops in Croatian. Although there is agreement that placement for /n/ and /td/ is in the anterior region, there is disagreement among different authors about the precise place of articulation for these sounds. Some authors view these targets as sharing identical placement while others view placement of /n/ as more posterior to /td/. In this paper we use electropalatography (EPG) to investigate whether placement for these sounds is the same or different. The speech of six participants was recorded for the purposes of this study. The speech material consisted of 972 VCV sequences (V = /iau/, C = /ntd/). Four EPG indices were analysed: the ACoG measure, the amount of contact at dental and alveolar articulatory zones (dentoalveolar articulation being inferred indirectly), incomplete EPG closures and the lateral contact measure. Coarticulatory effects of vowels on placement were also measured. The results showed that /ntd/ generally shared the place of articulation in the dentoalveolar region, but also that relating quantitative physiological data to specific places of articulation should be done cautiously, taking into account variability in individual productions. The analyses also showed that /n/ had more incomplete EPG closures and a significantly lower amount of lateral contact when compared with /t/ and /d/. The nasal was more variable and showed less coarticulatory resistance in different vowel contexts than /t/ and /d/. The results of this study are discussed in terms of existing descriptions of Croatian consonant system and in light of cross-linguistic findings.
Elections 2014
Authors: Keating Patricia A.
Published: March 2015

In November–December 2014, elections were held to choose twenty members of the Association's Council to serve from 2015 to 2019.
Funding for student members to attend ICPhS
Authors: Keating Patricia A.
Published: March 2015

The Association will offer two kinds of travel awards to student members presenting their work at the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences in August 2015. Gösta Bruce Scholarships are funded by the Gösta Bruce Memorial Fund, established by the family of the late Gösta Bruce, previous President of the IPA. IPA Student Awards are funded by the Association. The deadline for applications for both kinds of awards will be in late May. Information about the numbers and amounts of the awards, and about the application procedures, is available on the IPA website under ‘Grants’.
Resilience and corpus callosum microstructure in adolescence
Authors: Galinowski A. , Miranda R. , Lemaitre H. , Paillère Martinot M.-L. , Artiges E. , Vulser H. , Goodman R. , Penttilä J. , Struve M. , Barbot A. , Fadai T. , Poustka L. , Conrod P. , Banaschewski T. , Barker G. J. , Bokde A. , Bromberg U. , Büchel C. , Flor H. , Gallinat J. , Garavan H. , Heinz A. , Ittermann B. , Kappel V. , Lawrence C. , Loth E. , Mann K. , Nees F. , Paus T. , Pausova Z. , Poline J.-B. , Rietschel M. , Robbins T. W. , Smolka M. , Schumann G. , Martinot J.-L. ,   the IMAGEN Consortium
Published: March 2015

Background

Resilience is the capacity of individuals to resist mental disorders despite exposure to stress. Little is known about its neural underpinnings. The putative variation of white-matter microstructure with resilience in adolescence, a critical period for brain maturation and onset of high-prevalence mental disorders, has not been assessed by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Lower fractional anisotropy (FA) though, has been reported in the corpus callosum (CC), the brain's largest white-matter structure, in psychiatric and stress-related conditions. We hypothesized that higher FA in the CC would characterize stress-resilient adolescents.

Method

Three groups of adolescents recruited from the community were compared: resilient with low risk of mental disorder despite high exposure to lifetime stress (n = 55), at-risk of mental disorder exposed to the same level of stress (n = 68), and controls (n = 123). Personality was assessed by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Voxelwise statistics of DTI values in CC were obtained using tract-based spatial statistics. Regional projections were identified by probabilistic tractography.

Results

Higher FA values were detected in the anterior CC of resilient compared to both non-resilient and control adolescents. FA values varied according to resilience capacity. Seed regional changes in anterior CC projected onto anterior cingulate and frontal cortex. Neuroticism and three other NEO-FFI factor scores differentiated non-resilient participants from the other two groups.

Conclusion

High FA was detected in resilient adolescents in an anterior CC region projecting to frontal areas subserving cognitive resources. Psychiatric risk was associated with personality characteristics. Resilience in adolescence may be related to white-matter microstructure.
Suffering and charity in the dark night of the soul
Authors: BUNGUM DONALD J.
Published: March 2015

Eleonore Stump's solution to the problem of suffering fails to show how God could be justified in permitting persons to suffer the dark night of the soul. In this article, I explain why and offer an amendment. I contend that a person who responds to the dark night in the right way experiences positive feedback between suffering and charity. This feedback not only enables the sufferer ultimately to attain his heart's desire but also explains why God is justified in permitting persons to suffer the dark night.
Hume on prophecy
Authors: MCSHANE PADDY JANE
Published: March 2015

Hume claims that his argument against miracles applies ‘without any variation’ to prophecies. While Hume's argument against miracles has been thoroughly examined in the philosophical literature, his claim that this argument works against prophecies has been left relatively unexplored. In this article I examine Hume's conception of ‘prophecy’ and I argue that it is flawed. I also argue, however, that Hume's argument against miracles does indeed apply to prophecies, but only if we amend Hume's conception of ‘prophecy’. I articulate and defend such an amendment.
Does divine hiding undermine Positive Evidential Atheism?
Authors: AIKIN SCOTT F.
Published: March 2015

Positive Evidential Atheism is the two-part view that our available evidence sufficiently supports the belief that God does not exist and that God's non-existence is a morally good thing. Paul Moser's recent work (2012, 2013, 2014, and forthcoming) provides a case that Positive Evidential Atheism is undermined by ‘intentional divine elusiveness’. This essay defends Positive Evidential Atheism from Moser's objection along two lines: (1) Moser's undercutting argument does not respect the fact that the positivity and evidentiality claims of Positive Evidential Atheism are logically connected, and (2) positive atheists needn't be those from whom God has hidden.
The Effectiveness of Paid Services in Supporting Unpaid Carers’ Employment in England
Authors: PICKARD LINDA , KING DEREK , BRIMBLECOMBE NICOLA , KNAPP MARTIN
Published: March 2015

This paper explores the effectiveness of paid services in supporting unpaid carers’ employment in England. There is currently a new emphasis in England on ‘replacement care’, or paid services for the cared-for person, as a means of supporting working carers. The international evidence on the effectiveness of paid services as a means of supporting carers’ employment is inconclusive and does not relate specifically to England. The study reported here explores this issue using the 2009/10Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England. The study finds a positive association between carers’ employment and receipt of paid services by the cared-for person, controlling for covariates. It therefore gives support to the hypothesis that services for the cared-for person are effective in supporting carers’ employment. Use of home care and a personal assistant are associated on their own with the employment of both men and women carers, while use of day care and meals-on-wheels are associated specifically with women's employment. Use of short-term breaks are associated with carers’ employment when combined with other services. The paper supports the emphasis in English social policy on paid services as a means of supporting working carers, but questions the use of the term ‘replacement care’ and the emphasis on ‘the market’.
Pre-plasma effect on laser beam energy transfer to a dense target under conditions relevant to shock ignition
Authors: Pisarczyk T. , Gus'kov S.Yu. , Renner O. , Demchenko N.N. , Kalinowska Z. , Chodukowski T. , Rosinski M. , Parys P. , Smid M. , Dostal J. , Badziak J. , Batani D. , Volpe L. , Krousky E. , Dudzak R. , Ullschmied J. , Turcicova H. , Hrebicek J. , Medrik T. , Pfeifer M. , Skala J. , Zaras-Szydlowska A. , Antonelli L. , Maheut Y. , Borodziuk S. , Kasperczuk A. , Pisarczyk P.
Published: March 2015

This paper reports on properties of a plasma formed by sequential action of two laser beams on a flat target, simulating the conditions of shock-ignited inertial confinement fusion target exposure. The experiments were performed using planar targets consisting of a massive copper (Cu) plate coated with a thin plastic (CH) layer, which was irradiated by the 1ω PALS laser beam (λ = 1.315 μm) at the energy of 250 J. The intensity of the fixed-energy laser beam was scaled by varying the focal spot radius. To imitate shock ignition conditions, the lower-intensity auxiliary 1ω beam created CH-pre-plasma which was irradiated by the main beam with a delay of 1.2 ns, thus generating a shock wave in the massive part of the target. To study the parameters of the plasma treated by the two-beam irradiation of the targets, a set of various diagnostics was applied, namely: (i) Two-channel polaro-interferometric system irradiated by the femtosecond laser (~40 fs), (ii) spectroscopic measurements in the X-ray range, (iii) two-dimensional (2D)-resolved imaging of the Kαline emission from Cu, (iv) measurements of the ion emission by means of ion collectors, and (v) measurements of the volume of craters produced in a massive target providing information on the efficiency of the laser energy transfer to the shock wave. The 2D numerical simulations have been used to support the interpretation of experimental data. The general conclusion is that the fraction of the main laser beam energy deposited into the massive copper at two-beam irradiation decreases in comparison with the case of pre-plasma. The reason is that the pre-formed and expanding plasma deteriorates the efficiency of the energy transfer from the main laser pulse to a solid part of the targets by means of the fast electrons and the wave of an electron thermal conductivity.
HTA AND ITS LEGAL ISSUES: A FRAMEWORK FOR IDENTIFYING LEGAL ISSUES IN HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
Authors: Widrig Daniel , Tag Brigitte
Published: March 2015

Objectives: Legal analysis can highlight important issues that are relevant when deciding whether a medical technology should be implemented or reimbursed. Literature and studies show that even though the law is an acknowledged part of health technology assessment (HTA), legal issues are rarely considered in practice. One reason for this may be the lack of knowledge about the diversity of legal issues that are relevant for HTA. Therefore, this contribution aims primarily to identify and then explain the relevant legal issues in HTA. This study offers a framework for identifying the legal issues in HTAs in different jurisdictions and provides a basis for further research.

Methods: After extensive literature search, the authors review Swiss health law to identify legal issues that are relevant to HTA. The authors then categorize these legal issues using a framework with an inside and outside perspective. Finally, they explain a selection of these legal issues with several examples.

Results: This study reveals numerous legal issues that are relevant for HTA and underlines the necessity of incorporating legal analysis in HTAs. The suggested perspectival framework in this study provides a basis to structure the legal analysis. The identified legal issues are relevant in other countries and the perspectival framework is transferable to other jurisdictions.

Conclusions: The article underlines the importance of in-depth discussion about the role of law in HTA. It provides a structured overview of the legal issues in HTA and suggests a development of more concrete instruments toward a standardized legal technology assessment.
USE OF VALUE OF INFORMATION IN UK HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENTS
Authors: Mohiuddin Syed , Fenwick Elisabeth , Payne Katherine
Published: March 2015

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify and critically appraise the use of Value of Information (VOI) analyses undertaken as part of health technology assessment (HTA) reports in England and Wales.

Methods: A systematic review of National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded HTA reports published between 2004 and 2013 identified the use of VOI methods and key analytical details in terms of: (i) types of VOI methodology used; (ii) parameters and key assumptions; and (iii) conclusions drawn in terms of the need for further research.

Results: A total of 512 HTA reports were published during the relevant timeframe. Of these, 203 reported systematic review and economic modeling studies and 25 of these had used VOI method(s). Over half of the twenty-five studies (n = 13) conducted both EVPI (Expected Value of Perfect Information) and EVPPI (Expected Value of Partial Perfect Information) analyses. Eight studies conducted EVPI analysis, three studies conducted EVPI, EVPPI, and EVSI (Expected Value of Sampling Information) analyses and one study conducted EVSI analysis only. The level of detail reporting the methods used to conduct the VOI analyses varied.

Conclusions: This review has shown that the frequency of the use of VOI methods is increasing at a slower pace compared with the published volume of HTA reports. This review also suggests that analysts reporting VOI method(s) in HTA reports should aim to describe the method(s) in sufficient detail to enable and encourage decision-makers guiding research prioritization decisions to use the potentially valuable outputs from quantitative VOI analyses.
DIFFERENCES IN EVALUATING HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT KNOWLEDGE TRANSLATION BY RESEARCHERS AND POLICY MAKERS IN CHINA
Authors: Liu Wenbin , Shi Lizheng , Pong Raymond W. , Dong Hengjin , Mao Yiwei , Tang Meng , Chen Yingyao
Published: March 2015

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the gaps between researchers and policy makers in perceptions and influencing factors of knowledge translation (KT) of health technology assessment (HTA) in China.

Methods: A sample of 382 HTA researchers and 112 policy makers in China were surveyed using structured questionnaires. The questionnaires contained two sections: perceptions of HTA research and assessments of six-stage KT activities. Wilcoxon rank sum test was applied to compare the differences in these two sections between HTA researchers and policy makers. Multivariate linear regression was performed to explore KT determinants of HTA for researchers and policy makers separately.

Results: Policy makers and researchers differed in their perceptions of HTA research in all items except collaboration in research development and presentation of evidence in easy-to-understand language. Significant differences in KT activities existed in all the six stages except academic translation. Regarding KT determinants, close contact between research unit and policy-making department, relevance of HTA to policy making, and importance of HTA on policy making were considered facilitators by both groups. For researchers, practicality of HTA report and presentation of evidence in easy-to-understand language can facilitate KT. Policy makers, on the other hand, considered an overly pedantic nature of HTA research as an obstacle to effective KT.

Conclusions: Substantial gaps existed between HTA researchers and policy makers regarding the perceptions of HTA research and KT activities. There are also some differences in KT determinants by these two groups. Enhancing collaboration, promoting practicality and policy relevance of HTA research, and making HTA findings easily understood are likely to further the KT of HTA evidence.
UNDERSTANDING AND ANTICIPATING LAG-TIME BIAS IN COST-EFFECTIVENESS STUDIES: THE ROLE OF TIME IN COST-EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS
Authors: van de Wetering Gijs , Olde Rikkert Marcel , van der Wilt Gert Jan , Adang Eddy
Published: March 2015

Background: Timely provision of information on the cost-effectiveness of innovations in health care becomes more and more important, resulting in increasing pressure on researchers to provide proof of cost-effectiveness in a short time frame. However, most of these innovations require considerable time and effort to optimally implement leading to a biased “steady state” cost-effectiveness outcome. As decision makers in health care predominantly have a short-term focus, the discrepancy between short-term study outcomes and long-term cost-effectiveness may very well lead to misguided decisions about the adoption of innovations in health care.

Methods: Factors such as learning effects, capacity constraints, and delayed time to benefit are all related to a short-run timeframe and result in inefficiencies during the implementation of an innovation. These factors and the mechanisms by which they influence the cost-effectiveness outcome are explained for three different types of healthcare innovations.

Results: As standard cost-effectiveness analysis assumes costs and effects to behave constant and representative for an innovation's entire economic lifetime, resulting cost-effectiveness outcomes might give a biased, and often overly pessimistic, reflection of the actual cost-effectiveness of an innovation. This is further amplified by the fact that short-run inefficiencies are most prevalent and impactful during an innovation's earliest stage of operation.

Conclusions: This study advocates to carefully take into account the different factors contributing to lag-time bias in the design and analysis of cost-effectiveness studies, and to communicate potential biases due to short-run inefficiencies to all stakeholders involved in the decision making process.
DEVELOPING A PRIORITIZED LIST OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES: THE SPANISH EXPERIENCE
Authors: Varela-Lema Leonor , De La Fuente-Cid Ramón , López-García Marisa
Published: March 2015

Objectives: Selecting technologies for formal assessment poses a great challenge to health technology assessment agencies. This study aims to contribute to the creation of a reference framework for the identification, filtering, and prioritization of new and emerging technologies which could be demanded in clinical practice within the next 1–2 years.

Methods: Technologies were identified using a prevalidated systematic Medline strategy. They were classified by medical specialty and then sent to selected professionals belonging to the medical units or areas responsible for their application, until there was a minimum of three participants per health care setting. A self-administered questionnaire was drawn up and health professionals were asked to: (1) assess the degree of innovation of the technologies, and (11) score their foreseeable clinical impact on the basis of predefined prioritization criteria (n = 4). Intra-rater reliability was analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).

Results: The Medline search yielded 246 potentially relevant technologies. When analyzed by health care area or unit, sixty-eight were deemed to be high-impact innovative technologies (median score >6), with ICCs ranging from 0.03 to 0.83. The final list resulting from the aggregate analysis comprised fifty-one technologies.

Conclusions: This study constitutes an innovative contribution to horizon scanning, providing a systematic and reproducible basis for the identification and selection of relevant new and emerging technologies based on the views and values of health professionals involved in their use. In our opinion, the current proposal could be helpful and useful to many other organizations worldwide, serving to complement already existing strategies.
ON A GENERALIZATION OF THE STATIONARY EXCESS OPERATOR
Authors: Kerner Yoav , Löpker Andreas
Published: March 2015

We show that overshoots over Erlang random variables give rise to a natural generalization of the stationary excess operator and its iterates. The new operators can be used to derive expansions for the expectation Eg(X) of a non-negative random variable, similar to Taylor-like expansions encountered when studying stationary excess operators.
ANALYSIS OF MARKOV-MODULATED INFINITE-SERVER QUEUES IN THE CENTRAL-LIMIT REGIME
Authors: Blom Joke , De Turck Koen , Mandjes Michel
Published: March 2015

This paper focuses on an infinite-server queue modulated by an independently evolving finite-state Markovian background process, with transition rate matrix Q≡(qij)i,j=1d. Both arrival rates and service rates are depending on the state of the background process. The main contribution concerns the derivation of central limit theorems (CLTs) for the number of customers in the system at time t≥0, in the asymptotic regime in which the arrival rates λi are scaled by a factor N, and the transition rates qij by a factor Nα, with α∈ℝ+. The specific value of α has a crucial impact on the result: (i) for α>1 the system essentially behaves as an M/M/∞ queue, and in the CLT the centered process has to be normalized by √N; (ii) for α<1, the centered process has to be normalized by N1−α/2, with the deviation matrix appearing in the expression for the variance.
Illustrative cases to support the Cal-VAT guidelines
Authors: Dardashti Laura J. , O’Day Jennifer A. , Barsom Michael W. , Schwartz Eric H. , Proctor George J.
Published: March 2015

There is increasing interest in developing more nuanced methods for managing aggression and violence in long-term psychiatric inpatient settings. However, the dearth of controlled studies has, at times, hampered presentation of viable options. Following the publication of guidelines developed in the California State Hospital forensic system, the authors present a group of 7 cases illustrating different approaches to violence management, including pharmacological, psychotherapeutic, and environmental interventions.
Prospective Memory Impairment in Chronic Heart Failure
Authors: Habota Tina , McLennan Skye N. , Cameron Jan , Henry Julie D. , Ski Chantal F. , Thompson David R. , Rendell Peter G.
Published: March 2015

Although cognitive deficits are common in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), no study to date has investigated whether these deficits extend to the capacity to execute delayed intentions (prospective memory, PM). This is a surprising omission given the critical role PM plays in correctly implementing many important CHF self-care behaviors. The present study aimed to provide the first empirical assessment of PM function in people with CHF. The key dependent measure was a laboratory measure of PM that closely simulates PM tasks in daily life – Virtual Week. A group comparison design was used, with 30 CHF patients compared to 30 demographically matched controls. Background measures assessing executive functions, working memory, and verbal memory were also administered. The CHF group exhibited significant PM impairment, with difficulties generalizing across different types of PM tasks (event, time, regular, irregular). The CHF group also had moderate deficits on several of the background cognitive measures. Given the level of impairment remained consistent even on tasks that imposed minimal demands on memory for task content, CHF-related difficulties most likely reflects problems with the prospective component. However, exploratory analyses suggest that difficulties with retrospective memory and global cognition (but not executive control), also contribute to the PM difficulties seen in this group. The implications of these data are discussed, and in particular, it is argued that problems with PM may help explain why patient engagement in CHF self-care behaviors is often poor. (JINS, 2015,21, 1–10)
Learning from disaster: community-based marine protected areas in Fiji
Authors: Takasaki Yoshito
Published: March 2015

This paper examines whether and how experiencing climate-related disasters can improve the rural poor's adaptation to climate change through community-based resource management. Original household survey data in Fiji capture the establishment of community-based marine protected areas following a tropical cyclone. Controlling for the endogeneity of household-level cyclone damage reveals that a household's exposure to the disaster increases its support for establishing marine protected areas, presumably for future safety nets. Evidence suggests that community members' social learning from disaster experience might facilitate their consensual decision making.
SOME MONODROMY GROUPS OF FINITE INDEX IN
Authors: HOFMANN JÖRG , VAN STRATEN DUCO
Published: March 2015

We determine the index of five of the seven hypergeometric Calabi–Yau operators that have finite index in$\mathit{Sp}_{4}(\mathbb{Z})$and in two cases give a complete description of the monodromy group. Furthermore, we find six nonhypergeometric Calabi–Yau operators with finite index in$\mathit{Sp}_{4}(\mathbb{Z})$, most notably a case where the index is one.
Thematic Asymmetries Do Matter! A Corpus Study of German Word Order
Authors: Verhoeven Elisabeth
Published: March 2015

This article addresses the question of whether the influence of thematic roles (in particular, experiencers and patients) on word order is an epiphenomenal effect of other factors (such as information structure and animacy). For this purpose, I have investigated argument realization with different verb classes, including canonical verbs and either agentive or nonagentive experiencer-object verbs with varying case marking (dative or accusative), in a large corpus of written German. The obtained results indicate that the experiencer-first effect is at least to some extent triggered by other factors, in particular animacy. However, after subtracting the effect resulting from these factors, the impact of the thematic properties remains, and therefore it is necessary to explain the whole range of data.*
Worth Shopping Around? Defending Regulatory Autonomy under the SPS and TBT Agreements
Authors: DOWNES CHRIS
Published: March 2015

With its stringent requirements for scientific evidence, the SPS Agreement is commonly considered a greater constraint on WTO Members' regulatory autonomy than the TBT Agreement. It is consequently feared that Members may ‘forum shop’ by reconstructing SPS measures as TBT regulations and hereby circumvent WTO obligations. This article revisits these assumptions in the light of recent TBT jurisprudence and explores the respective challenges of defending policy preferences under the two technical regimes. It argues that in some respects – the characterization of a measure and the chosen level of protection – the SPS Agreement provides a securer basis for Members to defend regulatory choices. While evidential burdens are more explicitly demanding under SPS rules, the challenge of justifying a TBT measure's rationality should not be understated. In light of these reflections, this article concludes that ‘forum shopping’ is an unpromising strategy for protecting controversial SPS measures.
Financial literacy and retirement planning in chile
Authors: GARABATO MOURE NATALIA
Published: March 2015

This paper studies the relationship between financial literacy and retirement planning in Chile, a country with mandatory defined contribution pension plans at the core of its retirement policy. Using a novel dataset, we find that very few Chileans are planning for their retirement and that the levels of financial literacy are remarkably low with only 47% of the population understand compound interest and only 18% understand the concept of inflation. We also find a positive and significant relationship between financial literacy and retirement planning suggesting that investments in financial education could have a substantial impact on the way people think about retirement and therefore on their ability to reach retirement with adequate resources.
The impact of participation in employment-based retirement savings plans on material hardship
Authors: HEIM BRADLEY T. , RAMNATH SHANTHI P.
Published: March 2015

To contribute to a retirement plan (barring an increase in income), an individual must either reduce consumption or increase debt. Using data from the 2004 wave of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we examine the extent to which contributing to 401(k)-type accounts leads to an increase in short-term financial difficulties, particularly among low-income individuals. After instrumenting for plan take-up, we find that contributing to a 401(k) plan appears to have a small positive impact on the presence of any material hardship and debt holding among the lowest income quintiles, though that effect diminishes further up the income distribution.
Analysis of genetic diversity of African yam bean using SSR markers derived from cowpea
Authors: Shitta Ndenum S. , Abberton Michael T. , Adesoye Adenubi I. , Adewale Daniel B. , Oyatomi Olaniyi
Published: March 2015

African yam bean, AYB (Sphenostylis stenocarpa Hochst. ex. A. Rich Harms), is a tuberous legume of tropical Africa. AYB has the potential to significantly boost food security due to its considerable nutritional qualities. However, the crop is underutilized. To efficiently utilize AYB genetic resources for its improvement, it is necessary to understand the crop's diversity. This study investigated the amplification ability of 36 cowpea simple sequence repeat (SSR) primers across AYB genomic DNA, extracted from 67 accessions. Thirteen (36%) of the cowpea SSRs showed transferability in AYB. Eight of these SSRs amplified above 60% of AYB accessions and generated 55 polymorphic fragments with an average of 6.9 per primer. Polymorphic information content ranged from 0.6691 to 0.8857 with an average of 0.7791. This study also assessed the genetic diversity within 67 AYB accessions using eight cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp)-derived SSR primers. The result revealed a high level of genetic diversity with simple matching coefficient ranging from 0.458 to 1.000. A dendrogram depicting three main clusters was generated based on unweighted pair group method with arithmetic average. Cluster 1 was the most diverse with a dissimilarity range of 0.517–1.000. The level of genetic diversity revealed in this study indicates that the studied AYB germplasm can be exploited for genetic improvement. Additionally, the transferable markers will aid AYB genome research and also make possible the comparative mapping between AYB and cowpea.
Making governance work in the health care sector: evidence from a ‘natural experiment’ in Italy
Authors: Nuti Sabina , Vola Federico , Bonini Anna , Vainieri Milena
Published: March 2015

The Italian Health care System provides universal coverage for comprehensive health services and is mainly financed through general taxation. Since the early 1990s, a strong decentralization policy has been adopted in Italy and the state has gradually ceded its jurisdiction to regional governments, of which there are twenty. These regions now have political, administrative, fiscal and organizational responsibility for the provision of health care. This paper examines the different governance models that the regions have adopted and investigates the performance evaluation systems (PESs) associated with them, focusing on the experience of a network of ten regional governments that share the same PES. The article draws on the wide range of governance models and PESs in order to design a natural experiment. Through an analysis of 14 indicators measured in 2007 and in 2012 for all the regions, the study examines how different performance evaluation models are associated with different health care performances and whether the network-shared PES has made any difference to the results achieved by the regions involved. The initial results support the idea that systematic benchmarking and public disclosure of data are powerful tools to guarantee the balanced and sustained improvement of the health care systems, but only if they are integrated with the regional governance mechanisms.
EVIDENTIAL SUPPORT, TRANSITIVITY, AND SCREENING-OFF
Authors: ROCHE WILLIAM
Published: March 2015

Is evidential support transitive? The answer is negative when evidential support is understood as confirmation so thatXevidentially supportsYif and only ifp(Y | X) >p(Y). I call evidential support so understood “support” (for short) and set out three alternative ways of understanding evidential support: support-t(support plus a sufficiently high probability), support-t*(support plus a substantial degree of support), and support-tt*(support plus both a sufficiently high probability and a substantial degree of support). I also set out two screening-off conditions (under which support is transitive): SOC1 and SOC2. It has already been shown that support-tis non-transitive in the general case (where it is not required that SOC1 holds and it is not required that SOC2 holds), in the special case where SOC1 holds, and in the special case where SOC2 holds. I introduce two rather weak adequacy conditions on support measures and argue that on any support measure meeting those conditions it follows that neither support-t*nor support-tt*is transitive in the general case, in the special case where SOC1 holds, or in the special case where SOC2 holds. I then relate some of the results to Douven’s evidential support theory of conditionals along with a few rival theories.
Design and experimental evaluation of compensated bondwire interconnects above 100 GHz
Authors: Valenta Václav , Spreng Thomas , Yuan Shuai , Winkler Wolfgang , Ziegler Volker , Dancila Dragos , Rydberg Anders , Schumacher Hermann
Published: March 2015

Different types of bondwire interconnect for differential chip-to-antenna and single-ended chip-to-chip interfaces are investigated. Two differential compensation structures for various lengths of interconnects are designed and experimentally evaluated using dedicated transmit and receive radar modules operating across a 110–156 GHz band. Measurement results demonstrate that a fractional bandwidth of 7.5% and a minimum insertion loss of 0.2 dB can be achieved for differential interconnects as long as 0.8 mm. Design and measurement results of an extremely wideband low-loss single-ended chip-to-chip bondwire interconnect that features 1.5 dB bandwidth from DC to 170 GHz and insertion loss of less than 1 dB at 140 GHz are presented as well. The results show that the well-established wire-bonding techniques are still an attractive solution even beyond 100 GHz. Reproducibility and scalability of the proposed solutions are assessed as well.
Investigation and application of a liquid crystal loaded varactor in a voltage tunable CRLH leaky-wave antenna at Ka-band
Authors: Roig María , Maasch Matthias , Damm Christian , Jakoby Rolf
Published: March 2015

In this work, a voltage tunable interdigital capacitor loaded with liquid crystal (LC) is investigated and its application for a composite right/left-handed leaky-wave antenna (LWA) is demonstrated. The tuning capability of the varactor is confirmed by simulation and measurement. A material tunability of 25% of the used LC yields a measured varactor tunability of 9%. Based on this, a tunable LWA with a beam scanning of 14 degrees at 26.7 GHz is implemented and measured.
6–12 GHz double-balanced image-reject mixer MMIC in 0.25 µm AlGaN/GaN technology
Authors: van Heijningen Marc , Hoogland Jeroen A. , de Hek Peter , van Vliet Frank E.
Published: March 2015

The front-end circuitry of transceiver modules is slowly being updated from GaAs-based monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) to Gallium-Nitride (GaN). Especially GaN power amplifiers and T/R switches, but also low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), offer significant performance improvement over GaAs components. Therefore it is interesting to also explore the possible advantages of a GaN mixer to enable a fully GaN-based front-end. In this paper, the design-experiment and measurement results of a double-balanced image-reject mixer MMIC in 0.25 μm AlGaN/GaN technology are presented. First an introduction is given on the selection and dimensioning of the mixer core, in relation to the linearity and conversion loss. At the intermediate frequency (IF)-side of the mixer, an active balun has been used to compensate partly for the loss of the mixer. An on-chip local-oscillator (LO) signal amplifier has been incorporated so that the mixer can function with 0 dBm LO input power. After the discussion of the circuit design the measurement results are presented. The performance of the mixer core and passive elements has been demonstrated by measurements on a test-structure. The mixer MMIC measured conversion loss is <8 dB from 6 to 12 GHz, at 1 GHz IF and 0 dBm LO power. The measured image rejection is better than 30 dB.
A method for the determination of the complex permittivity by detuned ring resonators for bulk materials up to 110 GHz
Authors: Talai Armin , Steinhäußer Frank , Bittner Achim , Schmid Ulrich , Weigel Robert , Koelpin Alexander
Published: March 2015

An accurate characterization of microwave materials is essential for reliable high-frequency circuit design. This paper presents a measurement setup, which enables a quick and accurate determination of the relative permittivity of dielectric bulk materials up to 110 GHz. A ring-resonator is manufactured on a well-characterized substrate, serving as reference resonator. The material under test (MUT) is placed on top of the ring, which increases the effective permittivity and therefore introduces a shift of the resonance frequency of the resonator. In case of moderate to large dielectric losses of the MUTs, the quality factor of the resonator decreases perceptibly, which provides conclusions about the dielectric losses. Electromagnetic field simulations with different heights and relative permittivities of the MUTs provide a look-up table for the measured resonance frequencies. The functionality of the proposed measurement setup is validated by measurement results of different MUTs.