bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The changed leadership landscape: what matters today
Authors: Marques Joan
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present challenges in leadership performance today, as well as leadership styles that have potential, given the contemporary shifts in performance climate.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper is based on empirical research, obtained through methodological triangulation, partly through critical literature review, and partly through the author’s ongoing leadership studies during the past ten years, to be subdivided in three phenomenological studies, and 72 structured leadership interviews.

Findings

– There is a multitude of factors that keep changing the leadership landscape, and there is a series of leadership skills that suffice well given the parameters of today’s work environments. Nine of these leadership styles are presented, including their main characteristics and contemporary usefulness.

Research limitations/implications

– The studies reviewed, although in-depth, applied to a limited set of options. Because leadership is such a broad and dynamic topic, neither literature review nor qualitative studies and interview series provide an entirely comprehensive overview, especially when conducted in one part of the world.

Practical implications

– Leaders may reconsider the skills required for themselves and their workforce to guarantee successful performance in an increasingly interconnected world. Leaders may engage in reflection and work toward stronger emphasis and development of skills in which they consider themselves weak. Leaders may examine their work environment and consider how to apply the factors that could facilitate one or more of the presented leadership styles in their organization.

Originality/value

– The leadership styles presented are multi-applicable and are mainly based on inter-human respect, so leaders may reflect and consider the style they feel most attracted to.
The relationship between culture and leadership style preference among Malay-Brunei, Bajau and Kadazan-Dusun community in Sabah, Malaysia
Authors: Ag Budin Dg Kamisah , Wafa Syed Azizi
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between culture and leadership style preference among Sabahans, namely Malay-Brunei, Bajau and Kadazan-Dusun.

Design/methodology/approach

– The sample of this research was selected based on purposive convenient sampling whereby all respondents are located in Kota Kinabalu. A questionnaire was administered for data collection with a sample of 219 employees from both the public and the private sectors. The data were analyzed using linear regression.

Findings

– The evidence was found on the relationship between culture and leadership style preference among Sabahans, namely Malay-Brunei, Bajau and Kadazan-Dusun.

Research limitations/implications

– Understanding on what is preferred by employees and what is practiced by the leaders will lead to better and improved performance among the employees. Better understanding on the influence of culture will help a leader to be more effective and successful in their role. Therefore, it provide implication that leader should understand the culture in order for them to be accepted by the followers.

Originality/value

– This paper fulfils an identified need to study what leadership style preferred by the employees among Sabah ethnicity.
Virtue theory and organizational behavior: an integrative framework
Authors: Gotsis George , Grimani Katerina
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to provide a functional framework encapsulating a wide range of contributions to the ongoing debate on virtue as a critical dimension of contemporary organizations. In so doing, the authors elaborate and develop an encompassing framework that is in a position to capture the diversity of research in this very field.

Design/methodology/approach

– Extant literature on virtue in organizational settings is properly categorized through a taxonomy articulated around the potential foci, as well as loci of virtuous behavior. Virtuousness denotes an ethical attribute of managers, leaders or employees and as such, it may be situated at the micro-individual, meso-organizational or macro-societal level, respectively.

Findings

– Based on the potential foci and loci of virtuous behavior, the paper differentiates between virtuous managerial, leaders’ and employees’ attitudes on one hand, and virtuous management and leadership development, as well as virtuous employee training on the other. Furthermore, ethically grounded managerial initiatives and leaders’ responsibilities to further the common good are entwined with endeavors to transform employees into virtuous corporate citizens affirming organizational ethicality.

Practical implications

– By identifying both targeted group and level of analysis, organizations can effectively design and implement interventions promoting virtuousness as a valued end in itself.

Originality/value

– The paper introduces a framework that can help integrate varying trends on organizational virtuousness that substantially differ in terms of both scope and perspective. In addition, the taxonomy will facilitate both researchers and practitioners to better navigate into the dispersed, and ultimately fragmented streams of literature on the role of virtue in business environments.
The life and times of a senior scholar: an interview with Lotte Bailyn
Authors: Moore Karl
Published: October 2015

Purpose

An interview of a senior scholar to get their perspectives on the field, it’s history and future.

Design/methodology/approach

A semi-structured in-depth interview was conducted.

Findings

It is one person’s person views, albeit, a person with very considerable success in the field of business studies.

Research limitations/implications

It is one person’s person views, albeit, a person with very considerable success in the field of business studies.

Originality/value

The interview reflects the changes in business schools over the interviewee’s decades of experience.
The potential which may lie in discarded, undeveloped or overlooked ideas
Authors: Proctor Tony
Published: October 2015

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine a particular aspect of the history of the watchmaking industry during the eighteenth century. Attention is drawn to overlooked ideas and inventions and how years later they may become profitable business opportunities for entrepreneurs. The approach adopted allows examination of the development and commercialisation of a watch escapement mechanism, the rack lever, within the context of the development of other escapements. The rack lever was an escapement which was initially overlooked in the early part of the eighteenth century but which many decades later was reinvented and became a commercial success in the early nineteenth century.

Design/methodology/approach

Reference is made to the literature on entrepreneurship and acquisition of knowledge in the eighteenth century and the nature of watchmaking in the same epoch. The literature on entrepreneurship produces a framework for examining the actions that were taken to bring the rack lever escapement to market. The historical context within which the innovations occurred was examined to establish the events and circumstances surrounding the times when commercialisation took place. An account of the commercialisation of the rack lever escapement is presented.

Findings

The entrepreneurial opportunity examined in this article relates to a need to satisfy consumers with a reasonably accurate and reliable portable time piece. The historical context within which commercialisation took place was found to be significant. Attention to the escapement mechanism in watches was identified as the key to improving performance, and the focus of the paper is placed upon how this opportunity was satisfied through the means provided by the rack lever escapement. Alertness to the potential of already discovered but undeveloped ideas appears to be an additional feature behind the entrepreneurial activity. The paper shows that innovation can be a discontinuous process. It also indicates the relevance of modern-day knowledge brokers in facilitating the process of new product innovation.

Originality/value

Entrepreneurship and innovation along with research and development are all intrinsically linked in producing goods and services to satisfy customer wants and needs. Together, they represent a cornerstone which helps to establish a business and maintain its continued survival. Importantly, the development of new products is a key contributor to this end and innovation and entrepreneurship play their part in bringing this about. The paper suggests that new ideas can occur which may be deemed unsuitable for commercialisation at one period in time but which can at a future time be considered a temporary solution to meet an unfulfilled need in the market place. It argues for the case for reserving judgement on new ideas that are not commercialised and ensuring that knowledge of them is kept for posterity and made accessible to future generations.
Peer support – the what, why, who, how and now
Authors: Beales Anne , Wilson Johanna
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to outline what peer support is, covering its history, variations and benefits, then goes on to discuss what the challenges have been to authenticity and what the future holds for peer support.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors argue for the necessity of service user leadership in peer support based on both the Service User Involvement Directorate’s (SUID’s) experience and UK-wide learning.

Findings

– Peer support brings wellbeing and confidence benefits both to the supporter and the supported. However, the lack of understanding of what peer support is, the current climate of austerity and over-professionalisation can threaten the transformational power of genuine peer support.

Research limitations/implications

– Peer support is always evolving, and there are areas like the criminal justice service and secure services where more work needs to be done.

Practical implications

– Commissioners/funders of mental health services should recognise the value of peer support and its potential for better wellbeing outcomes, while understanding the necessity of service user leadership to maximise its beneficial potential.

Originality/value

– The paper looks at peer support at the point in time a decade after the formation of the SUID at Together and four years since the UK mental health strategy No Health Without Mental Health (Department of Health, 2011) and explores the challenges faced at a time when the value of peer support is generally accepted in legislation.
Back … this time with keys: the perspective of a peer support worker embedding peer support in a hospital setting
Authors: Nannen Nicole Margaret
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– Peer support workers are becoming more involved in mental health services in Australia. Peer support workers have had to overcome challenges and dilemmas whilst embedding their role within mental health settings. This includes coping with scrutiny from fellow colleagues, supporting consumers and managing their own mental health. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper will explore the author’s perspective and experience of working as a peer support worker in a psychiatric hospital and how the skills, knowledge and values she has developed during her recovery from mental illness have been essential in undertaking the daily activities with consumers and clinicians, overcoming the challenges and dilemmas, and managing her own wellness.

Findings

– The paper provides insight into the experience of a peer support worker at a psychiatric hospital for adults.

Originality/value

– The author’s personal experience of being a peer support worker in a mental health facility.
From surviving to thriving: how does that happen
Authors: Bertram Mark , McDonald Sarah
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore what helped seven people in contact with secondary mental health services achieve their vocational goals, such as: employment, education, training and volunteering.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors used the practice of co-operative inquiry – staff and peer supporters co-designed an evaluation of vocational and peer support work with service users.

Findings

– Service users experienced invalidating living conditions that caused serious distress. These life struggles included: isolation, trauma events and stigma. The impact involved distressing emotions such as: despair, fear, pain and confusion. In contrast, when service users experienced supportive validating conditions (trusting relationships, engaging in valued activity and peer support) they reported being able to learn, change and grow – finding their own way forward, to improve well-being and quality of life.

Research limitations/implications

– Qualitative analysis from in-depth interviews revealed a range of consistent themes that enabled the authors to visually represent these and “begin” developing a model of change – grounded in lived experience. Further research is required to develop this model.

Originality/value

– The development of a model of change grounded in an invalidation/validation framework offers a different approach – in terms of how people are perceived and treated. This has relevance for Government policy development, clinical commissioning groups and practitioners.
Small but sophisticated
Authors: Renton Michelle , Daellenbach Urs , Davenport Sally , Richard James
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing (EM) and small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) brand management knowledge. It explores the brand management practices of four entrepreneurially driven market innovators. The authors add theoretical and practical insight by distinguishing the brand management approaches of small- and medium-sized firms.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors use purposive sampling to select 15 producers of high or medium value-add from the food and beverage industry. Data include secondary sources and two rounds of in-depth interviews, first, between the project leader and CEO/founder of each company and, second, between members of the project team and functional managers of the organisations. Data were coded, analysed and agreement reached between the co-authors.

Findings

– Four firms were characterised as having integrated brand orientation (Wong and Merrilees, 2005) and as using market innovation as an EM practise. All four use brand management practices for the purpose of positioning, differentiation and communicating brand identities, values and associations to customers. The smaller companies concentrate their practices on building and communicating identities. The medium-sized firms exhibit greater management of risk by building positive brand associations, controlling brand identities, leveraging alliances and creating separate brand identities for new products.

Originality/value

– This paper offers three original insights. First, that market innovation can be considered EM and is used by entrepreneurial SMEs. Second, smaller SMEs have a reductive and pragmatic focus on developing and communicating brand identities. Finally, medium-sized entrepreneurial organisations use risk management in their branding strategies by utilising strategic alliances and creating separate brand identities for new products.
The role of package colour in influencing purchase intent of bottled water
Authors: Beneke Justin , Mathews Ozayr , Munthree Travys , Pillay Kavesan
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper, conducted within an emerging market context, was to investigate the influence of colour in packaging on the purchase intent of consumers for bottled water. Colour, whether in branding or packaging, has always been an important attribute in attracting the attention of consumers. For years, bottled water packaging has largely centred on the colours blue and white. The study looked into the effect of cold colours, warm colours and neutral colours on the purchase intent for bottled water. It also analysed the influence of the demographic variables of age group, gender, language and income group on colour preferences of the product.

Design/methodology/approach

– An experimental design was utilised for the purposes of this study. Data were collected by means of a mall intercept survey of South African consumers within suburban supermarket stores.

Findings

– The findings determined that while consumers appear somewhat indifferent between colours, there is a greater preference for neutral colours as opposed to cold and warm colours in bottled water packaging. It was also determined that income has a significant influence in colour preference for bottled water, with lower income groups preferring cold and warm colours and higher income groups preferring neutral colours.

Research limitations/implications

– This suggests that marketers of bottled water ought to pay close attention to these signals and optimise packaging accordingly. In particular, this study suggests that tailored coloured packaging can be used to target specific income groups in a more appropriate manner. This is particularly pertinent in an emerging market context, where income disparities are extremely prevalent. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs can seize this opportunity to introduce niche products and stimulate innovation in a relatively stagnant marketplace.

Originality/value

– As discovered in the course of this research, few studies have been undertaken to examine the effect of colour in packaging in the context of emerging markets and, notably, sub Saharan Africa. As such, the authors believe this is a significant contribution to the knowledge base. It is hoped that the results of this study will assist marketers, SMEs and entrepreneurs in improving understanding of how colours differentiate a product, particularly in a commodity merchandise category such as bottled water, the knowledge of which may be leveraged to tailor the positioning in the market.
Cashing-in: understanding post-acquisition CEO stock option exercise
Authors: Marsh John S. , Wales William J. , Graefe-Anderson Rachel , Pattie Marshall W.
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to explore post-acquisition compensation management and examine how the two most commonly used theories to explain CEO stock option exercise, agency theory and CEO overconfidence, expect CEOs to manage their stock options following an acquisition.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using logistic regression analysis, the authors investigate whether CEOs are more or less likely to exercise options following an acquisition, and the effect which CEO tenure and acquisition history may have on option exercise.

Findings

– The results suggest that CEOs are more likely to exercise options following an acquisition. The authors also find that CEO tenure and acquisition experience are both linked to an increase in option exercise.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings suggest that future research should expect agency effects to outweigh overconfidence effects when considering CEO stock option exercise behavior within the post-acquisition firm context.

Practical implications

– This paper advises directors and shareholders about whether agency concerns or overconfidence are of greater concern and how CEO tenure and past acquisition history may influence post-acquisition CEO stock option exercise behavior, offering information valuable in designing effective corporate governance.

Originality/value

– This paper is among the first to explore how CEOs manage their options following an acquisition and finds that CEOs are more likely to exercise stock options following an acquisition. Post-acquisition compensation management is an important, though overlooked, consideration in improving acquisition performance.
Competitive advantage: the known unknown concept
Authors: Sigalas Christos
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically managers’ awareness regarding the concept of competitive advantage, the most taken-for-granted concept in the field of strategic management.

Design/methodology/approach

– Managers’ awareness regarding the concept of competitive advantage was explored by applying a cross-sectional, self-administered, e-mail survey.

Findings

– The results of quantitative and qualitative data analyses provide empirical evidence that senior managers, who are heavily involved in the strategic management process of their firms, seem to confuse the concept of competitive advantage with the concept of sources of competitive advantage, especially those pertaining to resource-based theory.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings establish the hypothesis that senior managers are not aware of the concept of competitive advantage. At the same time, future researchers are encouraged to continue testing the above hypothesis.

Practical implications

– The findings as well as the provision of a conceptually clear stipulating definition of competitive advantage from literature could increase practicing managers’ awareness relating to the conceptual nature as well as the latent expressions of competitive advantage.

Originality/value

– Since little research, to date, has been carried out in order to investigate empirically the awareness of managers regarding competitive advantage, this study fills an important gap in the empirical literature of strategic management.
Top executives’ compensation, industrial competition, and corporate environmental performance
Authors: Zou H. L. , Zeng S. X. , Lin H. , Xie X. M.
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how top executives’ compensation is associated with environmental performance in the Chinese context and how this association varies with differing levels of industrial competition.

Design/methodology/approach

– Combining agency and institutional theories, the empirical study is based on a sample of 698 publicly listed firms in China’s manufacturing sector.

Findings

– The authors find that top executives’ cash pay has a positive association, and equity ownership a negative association, with corporate environmental performance. Furthermore, in more competitive industries, both pay and ownership are more strongly associated with environmental performance, indicating that industrial competition plays a moderating role in these relationships.

Practical implications

– The findings imply that different incentive schemes can motivate executives toward environmental management in the Chinese context in opposite directions. They highlight the importance of improving regulation in order to motivate firms to engage in further environmental management.

Originality/value

– Previous work on the relationship between executives’ compensation and socially responsible activities has mainly focussed on developed countries. This study is set in an emerging economy, and identifies new evidence to show that the effect of executive incentives is institutionally specific. In addition, it explores the effect of industrial competition on executives’ incentives to engage in environmental management, suggesting an explanation for the contradictory evidence found in previous research.
Mining the dominant patterns of customer shifts between segments by using top-k and distinguishing sequential rules
Authors: Akhondzadeh-Noughabi Elham , Albadvi Amir
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to detect different behavioral groups and the dominant patterns of customer shifts between segments of different values over time.

Design/methodology/approach

– A new hybrid methodology is presented based on clustering techniques and mining top-k and distinguishing sequential rules. This methodology is implemented on the data of 14,772 subscribers of a mobile phone operator in Tehran, the capital of Iran. The main data include the call detail records and event detail records data that was acquired from the IT department of this operator.

Findings

– Seven different behavioral groups of customer shifts were identified. These groups and the corresponding top-k rules represent the dominant patterns of customer behavior. The results also explain the relation of customer switching behavior and segment instability, which is an open problem.

Practical implications

– The findings can be helpful to improve marketing strategies and decision making and for prediction purposes. The obtained rules are relatively easy to interpret and use; this can strengthen the practicality of results.

Originality/value

– A new hybrid methodology is proposed that systematically extracts the dominant patterns of customer shifts. This paper also offers a new definition and framework for discovering distinguishing sequential rules. Comparing with Markov chain models, this study captures the customer switching behavior in different levels of value through interpretable sequential rules. This is the first study that uses sequential and distinguishing rules in this domain.
Getting what you want from your transorganizational partners
Authors: Halinski Michael , Duxbury Linda
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine how the group decision-making process unfolds over time in a transorganizational system (TS) planning change.

Design/methodology/approach

– A longitudinal qualitative case study was designed to enable researchers to identify different stages in the group decision-making process.

Findings

– The findings from this case study indicated that the group decision-making process in a TS planning change could be conceptualized to include five distinct steps: working in solitude; starting a dialogue; finding a common goal; suggesting decision alternatives; and deciding among alternatives. The group proceeded through these steps sequentially over time.

Practical implications

– The paper offers TS practitioners a framework to follow when making group decisions within TSs.

Originality/value

– The study develops a conceptual framework that describes how the group decision-making process unfolds over time in a TS planning change. This framework can be tested in other contexts and advance theory in both the TS and group decision-making areas.
Selection of selective laser sintering materials for different applications
Authors: Tiwari Sunil Kumar , Pande Sarang , Agrawal Sanat , Bobade Santosh M.
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to propose and evaluate the selection of materials for the selective laser sintering (SLS) process, which is used for low-volume production in the engineering (e.g. light weight machines, architectural modelling, high performance application, manufacturing of fuel cell, etc.), medical and many others (e.g. art and hobbies, etc.) with a keen focus on meeting customer requirements.

Design/methodology/approach

– The work starts with understanding the optimal process parameters, an appropriate consolidation mechanism to control microstructure, and selection of appropriate materials satisfying the property requirement for specific application area that leads to optimization of materials.

Findings

– Fabricating the parts using optimal process parameters, appropriate consolidation mechanism and selecting the appropriate material considering the property requirement of applications can improve part characteristics, increase acceptability, sustainability, life cycle and reliability of the SLS-fabricated parts.

Originality/value

– The newly proposed material selection system based on properties requirement of applications has been proven, especially in cases where non-experts or student need to select SLS process materials according to the property requirement of applications. The selection of materials based on property requirement of application may be used by practitioners from not only the engineering field, medical field and many others like art and hobbies but also academics who wish to select materials of SLS process for different applications.
Surface improvement of fused deposition modeling parts by barrel finishing
Authors: Boschetto Alberto , Bottini Luana
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study the integration between this technology and barrel finishing (BF) operation to improve part surface quality. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) processes have limitation in term of accuracy and surface finishing. Hence, post-processing operations are needed. A theoretical and experimental investigations have been carried out.

Design/methodology/approach

– A geometrical model of the profile under the action of machining is proposed. The model takes into account FDM formulation and allows to predict the surface morphology achievable by BF. The MR needed in the model is obtained by a particular profilometer methodology, based on the alignment of Firestone–Abbot (F–A) curves. The experimental performed on a suitable geometry validated geometrical model. Profilometer and dimensional measurements have been used to assess the output of the coupled technologies in terms of surface roughness and accuracy.

Findings

– The coupling of FDM and BF has been assessed and characterized in terms of obtained part surfaces and dimension evolution. Deposition angle strongly affects the BF removal speed and alters nominal dimensions of part. The geometric profile model gave interesting information about profile morphology and machining mechanism; moreover, the height prevision allows to estimate BF working time to accomplish part requirements.

Research limitations/implications

– The prediction of the geometric profile as a function of FDM fabrication parameters is a powerful tool which permits to investigate surface properties such as mechanical coupling or tribological aspects. The coupling of BF and FDM has been assessed and now optimization of this process can be performed just evaluating effects of parameters.

Practical implications

– This research has been focused to an industrial application, and results can be used in a computer-aided manufacturing. The prevision of surface obtainable by this integration is a tool to find the part optimum orientation to accomplish the drawing requirements. Both the experimental findings and the model can guide operator toward a proper process improvement, thus reducing or eliminating expensive trial and error phase in the post-processing operation of FDM prototypes.

Originality/value

– In this paper, a novel model has been presented. It allows to know in advance profile morphology achievable by a specific surface of a FDM part after a determined BF working time. A particular application of FA curves gives the MR values.
Additive manufacturing to assist prosthetically guided bone regeneration of atrophic maxillary arches
Authors: Fantini M. , De Crescenzio F. , Ciocca L. , Persiani F.
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to describe two different approaches for manufacturing pre-formed titanium meshes to assist prosthetically guided bone regeneration of atrophic maxillary arches. Both methods are based on the use of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies and aim to limit at the minimal intervention the bone reconstructive surgery by virtual planning the surgical intervention for dental implants placement.

Design/methodology/approach

– Two patients with atrophic maxillary arches were scheduled for bone augmentation using pre-formed titanium mesh with particulate autogenous bone graft and alloplastic material. The complete workflow consists of four steps: three-dimensional (3D) acquisition of medical images and virtual planning, 3D modelling and design of the bone augmentation volume, manufacturing of biomodels and pre-formed meshes, clinical procedure and follow up. For what concerns the AM, fused deposition modelling (FDM) and direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) were used.

Findings

– For both patients, a post-operative control CT examination was scheduled to evaluate the progression of the regenerative process and verify the availability of an adequate amount of bone before the surgical intervention for dental implants placement. In both cases, the regenerated bone was sufficient to fix the implants in the planned position, improving the intervention quality and reducing the intervention time during surgery.

Originality/value

– A comparison between two novel methods, involving AM technologies are presented as viable and reproducible methods to assist the correct bone augmentation of atrophic patients, prior to implant placement for the final implant supported prosthetic rehabilitation.
Using wavelet‐domain adaptive filtering to improve signal‐to‐noise ratio of nuclear magnetic resonance log data from tight gas sands
Authors: Xie Ranhong , Wu Youbin , Liu Kang , Liu Mi , Meng Xiangning
Published: October 2015

In tight gas sands, the signal‐to‐noise ratio of nuclear magnetic resonance log data is usually low, which limits the application of nuclear magnetic resonance logs in this type of reservoir. This project uses the method of wavelet‐domain adaptive filtering to denoise the nuclear magnetic resonance log data from tight gas sands. The principles of the maximum correlation coefficient and the minimum root mean square error are used to decide on the optimal basis function for wavelet transformation. The feasibility and the effectiveness of this method are verified by analysing the numerical simulation results and core experimental data. Compared with the wavelet thresholding denoise method, this adaptive filtering method is more effective in noise filtering, which can improve the signal‐to‐noise ratio of nuclear magnetic resonance data and the inversion precision of transverse relaxation time T2 spectrum. The application of this method to nuclear magnetic resonance logs shows that this method not only can improve the accuracy of nuclear magnetic resonance porosity but also can enhance the recognition ability of tight gas sands in nuclear magnetic resonance logs.
Work–life balance/imbalance: the dominance of the middle class and the neglect of the working class
Authors: Warren Tracey
Published: October 2015

The paper was stimulated by the relative absence of the working class from work–life debates. The common conclusion from work–life studies is that work–life imbalance is largely a middle‐class problem. It is argued here that this classed assertion is a direct outcome of a particular and narrow interpretation of work–life imbalance in which time is seen to be the major cause of difficulty. Labour market time, and too much of it, dominates the conceptualization of work–life and its measurement too. This heavy focus on too much labour market time has rendered largely invisible from dominant work–life discourses the types of imbalance that are more likely to impact the working class. The paper's analysis of largeUKdata‐sets demonstrates a reduction in hours worked by working‐class men, more part‐time employment in working‐class occupations, and a substantial growth in levels of reported financial insecurity amongst the working classes after the 2008–9 recession. It shows too that economic‐based work–life imbalance is associated with lower levels of life satisfaction than is temporal imbalance. The paper concludes that the dominant conceptualization of work–life disregards the major work–life challenge experienced by the working class: economic precarity. The work–life balance debate needs to more fully incorporate economic‐based work–life imbalance if it is to better represent class inequalities.
Responsive Food Packaging: Recent Progress and Technological Prospects
Authors: Brockgreitens John , Abbas Abdennour
Published: October 2015

Responsive food packaging is an emerging field in food packaging research and the food industry. Unlike active packaging, responsive packaging systems react to stimuli in the food or the environment to enable real time food quality and food safety monitoring or remediation. This review attempts to define and clarify the different classes of food packaging technologies. Special emphasis is given to the description of responsive food packaging including its technical requirements, the state of the art in research and the current expanding market. The development and promises of stimuli responsive materials in responsive food packaging are addressed, along with current challenges and future directions to help translate research developments into commercial products.
Culture‐Independent Rapid Detection Methods for Bacterial Pathogens and Toxins in Food Matrices
Authors: Wang Yun , Salazar Joelle K.
Published: October 2015

Rapid detection of bacterial pathogens and toxins in foods is necessary to provide real‐time results to mitigate foodborne illness outbreaks. Cultural enrichment methods, although the most widely used, are time‐consuming and therefore inadequate for rapid pathogen detection from food samples. The development of novel “rapid” detection methods has decreased detection time dramatically. This review presents an overview of detection methods for various foodborne pathogens, including Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, and shiga toxin‐producing Escherichia coli, and bacterial toxins in food matrices, with emphasis on those methods which do not require cultural enrichment. Discussed methods include nucleic acid‐, immunological‐, and biosensor‐based techniques. A summary of each type of detection method is given, including referenced methods from the literature. Since these discussed methods do not require cultural enrichment, there is a higher probability of interference from the food matrices. Therefore, the review also discusses the potential interference of food components on detection methods and addresses preprocessing strategies to overcome matrix associated inhibition and to concentrate low quantities of pathogens and toxins in food. Development of rapid and sensitive detection technologies advances and ensures public health safety and security.
Evaluation of a process of implementation of a gestational diabetes nutrition model of care into practice
Authors: Wilkinson Shelley A. , McCray Sally , Beckmann Michael , McIntyre H. David
Published: October 2015

Aim

Poorly controlled gestational diabetes mellitus can result in negative pregnancy and delivery outcomes. A reduced need for insulin was documented in the validation of American gestational diabetes Nutrition Practice Guidelines, which recommend at least three dietitian visits. No Australian gestational diabetes mellitus nutrition guidelines exist. This paper evaluates the implementation of a dietetic model of care based on the American guidelines in an Australian hospital.

Methods

The implementation plan consisted of a nine‐month pre (usual care)/post (new model of care) design with a month for ‘integration’ across 2012–2013. Primary outcomes were uptake of the new dietetic model of care and requirement for pharmacotherapy.

Results

Both phases ran for seven months; integration required four months. Pre‐intervention, only one woman received a review appointment. Significantly more women received best‐practice care post‐implementation (P = 0.02); of the 162 women seen, 50.6% received two review appointments. As a result of heavy clinical demand, only 31.5% of the women seen post‐implementation received an individual dietitian assessment and education session, deviating from best practice. Clinically relevant changes were seen in medication requirements with a decrease in women requiring pharmacological treatment (31.1% (pre); 26.9% (post)). The difference was more pronounced in women who received best‐practice care (27.2% (no) vs 25.0% (yes)).

Conclusions

This project successfully increased the proportion of women seen according to best practice. Service limitations impaired the delivery of optimal care. The present study illustrates the opportunities and challenges of conducting evidence‐based implementation research in routine clinical care.
The Occurrence of Beer Spoilage Lactic Acid Bacteria in Craft Beer Production
Authors: Garofalo Cristiana , Osimani Andrea , Milanović Vesna , Taccari Manuela , Aquilanti Lucia , Clementi Francesca
Published: October 2015

Beer is one of the world's most ancient and widely consumed fermented alcoholic beverages produced with water, malted cereal grains (generally barley and wheat), hops, and yeast. Beer is considered an unfavorable substrate of growth for many microorganisms, however, there are a limited number of bacteria and yeasts, which are capable of growth and may spoil beer especially if it is not pasteurized or sterile‐filtered as craft beer. The aim of this research study was to track beer spoilage lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inside a brewery and during the craft beer production process. To that end, indoor air and work surface samples, collected in the brewery under study, together with commercial active dry yeasts, exhausted yeasts, yeast pellet (obtained after mature beer centrifugation), and spoiled beers were analyzed through culture‐dependent methods and PCR‐DGGE in order to identify the contaminant LAB species and the source of contamination. Lactobacillus brevis was detected in a spoiled beer and in a commercial active dry yeast. Other LAB species and bacteria ascribed to Staphylococcus sp., Enterobaceriaceae, and Acetobacter sp. were found in the brewery. In conclusion, the PCR‐DGGE technique coupled with the culture‐dependent method was found to be a useful tool for identifying the beer spoilage bacteria and the source of contamination. The analyses carried out on raw materials, by‐products, final products, and the brewery were useful for implementing a sanitization plan to be adopted in the production plant.
Determination of Estrogens in Milk Samples by Magnetic‐Solid‐Phase Extraction Technique Coupled With High‐Performance Liquid Chromatography
Authors: Wang Juan , Cheng Chunsheng , Yang Yaling
Published: October 2015

A magnetic‐solid‐phase extraction method coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography and diode array detection has been developed for simultaneous determination of 3 estrogens in milk samples. In this work, Fe3O4 NPs were synthesized by a simple chemical co‐precipitation reaction, and the surface of Fe3O4 was modified with cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB; designed as Fe3O4@CTAB). The synthesized Fe3O4@CTAB NPs were characterized by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscope. Fe3O4@CTAB NPs have high binding affinity toward estrone (E1), 17β‐estradiol (17β‐E2), and diethylstilbestrol (DES). Fe3O4@CTAB NPs can be easily separated from sample solutions using an external magnet due to the high super‐paramagnetic property. The separation, preconcentration procedure is fast and will be completed in 2 min. Estrogens linear dynamic ranges were achieved in the range of 10 to 1000 ng/mL with regression coefficients (R2) higher than 0.9992. The limits of detection were between 0.26 and 0.61 ng/mL. Parameters influencing the recoveries were investigated and optimized. The proposed method was used for the determination of E1, 17β‐E2, and DES in milk samples, and recoveries were ranged from 91.3% to 105.0%, with the relative standard deviations in the range of 2.7% to 4.0%.
Anrpackage for analysing survival using continuous‐time open capture–recapture models
Authors: Fouchet David , Santin‐Janin Hugues , Sauvage Frank , Yoccoz Nigel Gilles , Pontier Dominique
Published: October 2015

Capture–recapture software packages have proven to be very powerful tools for analysing factors affecting survival in wild populations. However, all such packages are limited to discrete‐time protocols. Appropriate survival analysis tools are still lacking for data acquired from continuous‐time protocols.

We have developed a statistical method and propose anrpackage for analysing such data based on an extension of classical survival analysis models incorporating an inhomogeneous Poisson process for modelling capture histories. First, data were simulated from a continuous‐time protocol. These data were used to (i) compare survival estimation biases of discrete‐ and continuous‐time approaches and (ii) investigate the performance and accuracy of ourrpackage for four types of covariates: factors varying between individuals (like sex), in time (like climatic factors), both in time and between individuals (like physical condition) and age (as a categorical factor). Secondly, therpackage has been applied to a real data set for survival analysis of cats in the Kerguelen archipelago (regrouping 682 cats over 20 years) as an illustrative example.

Results of the simulated data analysis show that the method performs better than its discrete‐time counterpart for analysing data acquired from continuous‐time protocols. It provides unbiased parameter estimates for all parameters except those that vary both in time and between individuals – which is not surprising, since in our case, these factors were not updated in continuous time (i.e. only upon capture). When applied to the Kerguelen cat data set, the results suggest that survival is lower in juveniles than in adults and subadults, varies between study sites and increases with physical condition, and this latter effect being more important in females than in males. Sex, season, temporal linear trend in survival and theNDVIvegetation index were also tested but were not found to be significant. However, confidence intervals were too large (due to a low recapture rate) for excluding such effects. Further analyses are still needed for rigorous covariate testing in this context.

In conclusion, continuous‐time approaches – such as that presented in this paper – should be preferred when data acquired from continuous‐time protocols is analysed.
Using the IUCN Red List criteria to assess reintroduction success
Authors: Seddon P. J.
Published: October 2015

Read the Feature Paper: Defining reintroduction success using IUCN criteria for threatened species: a demographic assessment; other Commentaries on this paper: Alternative perspectives on reintroduction success; Developing a standard for evaluating reintroduction success using IUCN Red List indices and the Response from the authors: Reintroducing reintroductions into the conservation arena
Carotenemia and hepatomegaly in an atopic child on an exclusion diet for a food allergy
Authors: Gangakhedkar Arun , Somerville Rebecca , Jelleyman Timothy
Published: October 2015

Eczema is a frequent childhood manifestation and a few atopic children are allergic to certain foods or aeroallergens. Anxious parents of atopic children often have a fear of topical steroid‐related side‐effects, and some may try a range of elimination diets to avoid allergies. Elimination diets increase the risk of anaphylaxis on re‐exposure to previously tolerated foods from the loss of oral tolerance. Unbalanced diets together with an inadvertent excessive consumption of fruits and vegetables may lead to carotenemia from the carotenoids in the plant foods. Carotenemia is benign but unusual diets and the consumption of preformed vitamin A in health supplements can lead to vitamin A toxicity. We discuss a child with eczema on an exclusion diet presenting with anaphylaxis to dairy food. He had carotenemia with hepatomegaly, which resolved on dietary management.