bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Technology, teams and Theories of the Firm
Authors: Conti Robert F. , Warner Malcolm
Published: December 2019

This article discusses new forms of technology-driven business organization, such as Business Process Re-engineering, Just-in-Time and so on, which focus on horizontal rather than vertical structures in firms. We consider theories of the firm to assess the effects of process specialization on the firm's ‘objective function’ and ask whether it represents a new paradigm for economic activity. We conclude that the number of firms that can be successfully organized on process lines will inevitably be small, that where likely process organization will bring competitive advantage for successful implementers, but that firms organized as a hierarchy of teams will retain pockets of functionally organized activities.
Rethinking the future of management education*
Authors: Nodoushani Omid , Nodoushani Patricia A.
Published: December 2019

It is the thesis of this paper that the time has come for business schools to rethink the purpose of their establishment. They need to reflect upon the professional foundations of management education through rethinking a new philosophy of knowledge which is suitable for professional education and through reviving it at a higher status than vocational training. The future of management education, we believe, depends upon a rethinking of the theory of knowledge that guides the increasing interests in managerial learning and training.
Team effectiveness: contributors and hindrances
Authors: Kline Theresa J.B. , MacLeod Michelle , McGrath Joni-Lynne
Published: December 2019

This study asked members of teams to identify the factors that most contributed and most hindered the effectiveness of their team. Seventy-five team members from 13 different work teams in different organizations participated in the study. The results showed that the factors that most hinder a team's performance are external to the team and those that most contribute to its effectiveness are internal to the team. Thus, support via organizational contextual variables are necessary but not sufficient conditions to promote team effectiveness. The factors that put teams into the ‘effective’ category are those variables that are specific to the team members themselves.
Managing the problem formulation process: guidelines for team leaders and facilitators
Authors: Volkema Roger J.
Published: December 2019

Problem formulation plays a crucial role in planning, problem solving, and decision making, potentially affecting all the succeeding phases, including idea generation, design, and implementation. Yet formulation is a very difficult process that often is rushed or taken for granted, particularly by new and unskilled team leaders/facilitators. With the advent of team-based organizations, more responsibility now falls on newly-appointed team leaders to manage the formulation process. This paper describes the role of a team leader or facilitator in managing the problem formulation process to reduce Type III errors (solving the “wrong” problem or a sub-optimal problem).
Lotus Notes applications and impacts at the Housing Development Board (HDB) In Singapore
Authors: Tung Lai Lai , Turban Efraim
Published: December 2019

About 3000 licensed users spend from one to six hours a day working with Lotus Notes at the Housing Development Board (HDB) in Singapore. This paper describes major applications developed during the first two years of Notes implementation. As one of the largest users of Notes, HDB developed hundreds of database applications at its 17 departments and 19 branch offices. The system which showed a high rate of return on investment changed the corporate culture and the manner in which work is done. This case describes the use of Notes and the lessons learned as viewed by both Notes builders and users. It attempts to provide a comprehensive description of Notes' databases implementation in a large organization.
Organizational work, Part II. The distribution of work
Authors: Mackenzie Kenneth D.
Published: December 2019

This paper is the second part of a three-paper series on organizational work. It introduces a new measure of organizational work called the M-curve distribution. An M-curve shows the fraction of task processes by each type of process law. Tasks are classified by whether they are (1) planning, (2) directing, controlling and coordinating, or (3) execution task processes. They are also classified by their level of aggregation. M-curves exhibit regularities with different shapes for different types of process laws. An organization or any of its units can have an M-curve at any level of task aggregation. Areas have M-curves of groups, groups have M-curves of bundles, bundles have M-curves of modules, etc. There is a distribution of M-curves. M-curves for planning tasks tend to be downward-sloping, M-curves for DCC tasks tend to be hump-shaped, and M-curves for execution tasks tend to be upward-sloping. A method is presented for calculating the differences between a pair of M-curve distributions and even an entire distribution of M-curves across different levels of task process aggregation. Examples of M-curves are given for planning areas, DCC areas, and execution areas. The M-curve concept is extended to calculating M-curves for individual positions called IM-curves. Part III of this series will examine the propositions in this paper using data from 17 organizations.
Statistical process control with the help of international statistical standards
Authors: Hryniewicz Olgierd
Published: December 2019

This paper presents the information about the statistical process control (SPC) procedures that can be found in the international ISO standards. When there is a need to design more effective procedures, the computer decision support system, which is developed under the framework of COPERNICUS CP93:12074 project by the team of specialists from Germany and Poland, can be used.
When urgency matters. On non-discretionary corporate social responsibility
Authors: Alzola Miguel
Published: December 2019

Business firms have been addressing concerns raised by management scholars and social activists regarding the social responsibilities of business firms in the last 50 years. Yet, many companies and business executives frame the issue in the language of discretionary donations or acts of charity. In this article, I shall argue that the significant normative question is whether and how business corporations ought to address those growing societal concerns as a matter of duty. In addressing this question, the article examines four normative justifications – namely, the principles of Membership, Ability, Contribution and Fair Play – for grounding moral responsibilities and identifying agents of justice. I shall argue that none of the aforementioned principles provide a comprehensive account of how to allocate responsibilities among non-state institutions. Consequently, I shall propose a multi-principled theory that arranges the application of these four principles according to the circumstances of justice and the degree of urgency of needs.
Classical pragmatism and modern finance
Authors: Singer Alan E.
Published: December 2019

The re-evaluation of Classical American Pragmatism carries implications for the way that we might think about financial decision making, post-crisis. By examining the elements of pragmatism and by placing the latter relative to finance theory and forms of moral reasoning, guidelines for financial decision-making may be derived. These guidelines are inherently ethical in that they can be reasonably expected to result in good lives with others. It is further suggested that standard finance-theoretic models and methods can be adapted to fit within a pragmatic-ethical institutional ethos.
Overdosed management: How excess of excellence begets failure
Authors: Coman Alex , Ronen Boaz
Published: December 2019

The managerial world has been inundated with dozens of sound management theories during the last three decades. Among them are the Balanced-Scorecard, Activity-Based-Costing, Lean, Six Sigma, TQM, TOC, MBO, MCDM, Core competencies, Vision, Coaching, Outsourcing and many others. The application of these models has often proved disappointing for many companies. A major reason for the failure of these models is the OVERDOSE SYNDROME: taking good principles to destructive extremes. This paper analyzes the origins of the managerial overdose syndrome, illustrates its undesired outcomes and suggests ways to circumvent them in the future. Cases will illustrate the managerial overdose phenomenon and its remedies.
Educational technology management approach: The case of Singapore’s ICT Masterplan Three
Authors: Ng Pak Tee
Published: December 2019

This paper describes and examines how Singapore attempts to implement ICT in education through its three Masterplans for ICT in Education since 1997. It analyses the management approach during the implementation of Masterplans One and Two and highlights the inadequacies of a linear Newtonian model of ICT implementation for Masterplan Three. This paper posits that for Singapore to venture into an uncharted era of educational ICT innovation, the new educational ICT management paradigm should be based on complexity rather than a linear Newtonian model. In particular, it should be one that promotes the recognition of the education system as a complex adaptive system; promotes loose coupling between headquarters and schools, and among schools; promotes organisation around intelligences rather than fixed structures; and promotes integration through purpose rather than policy. The case study of Singapore contains lessons for other countries implementing national level initiatives for ICT in education.
Impact of tolerance for uncertainty upon opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship
Authors: Valdez Michael E. , Doktor Robert H. , Singer Alan E. , Dana Leo-Paul
Published: December 2019

Entrepreneurship is viewed as an important driver of economic development. Scholars have differentiated two dimensions of entrepreneurship: (1) opportunistic entrepreneurship driven primarily by the recognition of opportunity arising from an innovative idea and, (2) necessity entrepreneurship driven primarily by the belief that one's own business offers the likelihood of the highest utility. Both opportunistic and necessity entrepreneurship contribute to economic development. However, cultural norms of comfort with uncertainty may impact these two dimensions of entrepreneurship differentially. Therefore, in order to maximize economic development through entrepreneurial activities, differential national policy and managerial approaches may be advised across diverse nation states.
The application of competency-based talent assessment systems in China
Authors: Zhao Shuming , Du Juan
Published: December 2019

Based on stakeholder theory, agency theory and control mechanisms, the individual competency model has been put into wide practice in Chinese government and enterprises, especially with the separation of the enterprises' right of management from the right of ownership. The related research in this field defines our research direction and choice of management practices, as all kinds of organizations in China are trying to recruit, select, cultivate, utilize and develop talents found to be scarce by human resource evaluation practices. By reviewing the competency models of the position of sales managers, this contribution compares the current application of their evaluation in China and the U.S., setting out the conclusions on the differences between the two countries, and further discusses its application in different fields of human resource management, such as recruitment, training and development, career planning, development and management. The research results help us to establish the difficulties in the current situation and improve the efficacy of human resource evaluation systems in both Chinese government and enterprises.
SME-driven economies might lead to authentic democracy
Authors: Georgantzas Nicholas C. , Contogeorgis Georges D.
Published: December 2019

Modernity might see the 2009 Copenhagen summit farce as a new world war against humanity. But intellectual resistance is brewing, perhaps as never before, seeking justice for planet Earth, with universal human liberty and criminal justice for those who invade and dispossess with impunity. Now we are merely loyal subjects of the polyarchy systems commanding our respective countries or states. We are not real citizens in the true sense or the word. All we have is a dissenting or imaginary, i.e., negative (−), personal liberty or, alternatively, individual rights, just like the slaves had in classical Hellas. So our body polity must transform polyarchy to real democracy. Given the resurgence of interest in democracy internationally, the purpose of this article is two-fold. First, it accurately delineates and shows the authentic-democracy dimensions. Extant small and medium enterprise (SME) growth frameworks take their role in a multi-perspective dialectic that unveils democracy's temporal dimension bundles. Second, the article shows how SMEs can form, again, as they did during its authentic democracy era in classical Hellas, the requisite economic infrastructure for democracy to re-emerge again in modernity, as it did in antiquity: as a pure socio-political phenomenon. Aristotle's oikonomia versus chrematistike provides a bridge for modern SMEs to cross beyond break-even analysis. SMEs can provide the systemic leverage required to support democracy in all its splendor of temporal dimensions.
Socratic lessons in excellence for our postmodern world
Authors: Evangeliou Christos C.
Published: December 2019

When precious pieces of Socratic wisdom in action are collected from Plato's Apology and other Platonic Dialogues and are compared with similar findings in the works of Xenophon, especially in his Apology, Symposium and Memorabilia, a clear and coherent picture of Socrates emerges as an ethical teacher of hellenic Aretē (~virtue): he can inspire others to excellence by following his example of living his simple life and facing his tragic death calmly. In this sense, Socrates emerges as something more substantial philosophically than the ironist and skilful practitioner of the Socratic method, as has been presented by many scholars. As an ethical philosopher, the platonic Socrates was very different from Aristotle and John Rawls, and as a Hellenic philosopher in practice, he would appear to be closer to the ancient Indian Gurus than to contemporary analytical philosophers. This aspect of Socratic ethical philosophy is relevant and needed today more than ever before, as it provides an antidote to moral relativism and other sorts of sophistry in the vital processes of transformation and societal change.
Quantification and applications of identification spheres
Authors: Huang Hung-Shun , Larbani Moussa , Yu Po-Lung
Published: December 2019

Although the concept of identification has been studied and used in many research areas, including psychology, political science, economics, management science, etc., there is no specific quantitative approach. In this article, we propose a quantitative approach to study the identification conception. Specifically, based on the definition of identification sphere of Habitual Domains Theory, we define and explain the concepts of identification function, degree of identification, identification matrices, identification spheres and dis-identification spheres. The quantitative concepts are then applied to formulate the mathematical models of election of a social group leader. The models consider both degree of identification and that of dis-identification. Different models lead to different results, which enrich our thinking about election. We also introduce mathematical programming models, utilizing identification matrices, and thresholds of identification, to find an optimal combination of key members to influence all targets in a social group. The results are important for marketing promotion of a new product, service or that of a new concept.
Biology and freedom: An emergent stakeholder imperative
Authors: Singer Alan E.
Published: December 2019

This article offers a critical assessment of a recent report by the U.S. “Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues (2010)”. The critique particularly notes that the principles, recommendations, language and scope of the report are all in profound tension with investor capitalism and hypercompetitive global business strategy. They are, however, quite consistent with an alternative stakeholder “model” of management and governance. Several implications of this political point are developed. These include the near-total overlap of business ethics, politics and economics, as well as the (classically) pragmatic notion that the products of the synthetic biology industry will eventually co-create their own ethics, or future-ethics. The commission's report also recommended urgent “ethics education”, essentially the deployment of a program based upon top-down ethical principles and moral theories. An alternative view, however, sees that the main focus of any such education should be upon the science and practice of DNA sequencing and synthesis in the wider context of human co-evolution with technology.
A hybrid model for time series forecasting
Authors: Xiao Yi , Xiao Jin , Wang Shouyang
Published: December 2019

For time series, the problem that we often encounter is how to extract the patterns hidden in the real world data for forecasting its future values. A single linear or nonlinear model is inadequate in modeling and forecasting the time series, because most of them usually contain both linear and nonlinear patterns. This study constructs a hybrid forecasting model that combines autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) with Elman artificial neural network (ANN) for short-term forecasting of time series. The proposed approach considers the linear and nonlinear patterns in the real data simultaneously so that it can mine more precise characteristics to describe the time series better. Finally, the forecasting results of the hybrid model are adjusted with the knowledge from text mining and expert system. The empirical results on the container throughput forecast of Tianjin Port show that the forecasts by the hybrid model are superior to those of ARIMA model and Elman network.
Coverage-aware sensor engagement in dense sensor networks
Authors: Lu Jun , Bao Lichun , Suda Tatsuya
Published: December 2019

Wireless sensor networks are capable of carrying out surveillance missions for various applications in remote areas without human interventions. An essential issue of sensor networks is to search for the balance between the limited battery supply and the desired lifetime of network operations. Beside data communication between sensors, maintaining sufficient surveillance, or sensing coverage, over a target region by coordination within the network is critical for many sensor networks due to the limited supply of energy source for each sensor. This paper presents a novel sensor network coverage maintenance protocol, called Coverage-Aware Sensor Engagement (CASE), to efficiently maintain the required degree of sensing coverage by activating a small number of sensors while putting the others to sleep mode. Different from other coverage maintenance protocols, CASE schedules active/inactive sensing states of a sensor according to the sensor's contribution to the network sensing coverage, therefore preserving the expected behavior of the sensor network. Coverage contribution of each sensor is quantitatively measured by a metric called “coverage merit”. By activating sensors with relatively large coverage merit and deactivating those with small coverage merit, CASE effectively achieves energy conservation while maintaining sufficient sensor network coverage. We provide simulation results to show that CASE considerably improves the energy efficiency of coverage maintenance with low communication overhead.
A DSP-Enhanced 32-Bit Embedded Microprocessor
Authors: Kim Hyun-Gyu , Oh Hyeong-Cheol
Published: December 2019

EISC (Extendable Instruction Set Computer) is a compressed code architecture developed for embedded applications. In this paper, we propose a DSP-enhanced embedded microprocessor based on the 32-bit EISC architecture. We present how we could exploit the special features, and how we could overcome the weaknesses, of the EISC architecture to accelerate DSP applications with a relatively low hardware overhead. Our simulations and experiments show that the proposed DSP-enhanced processor reduces the average execution times of the DSP kernels and DSP applications considered in this work, by 42.5% and 31.3% respectively. The proposed DSP enhancements cost about 10300 gates and do not affect the operating frequency of the processor. The proposed DSP-enhanced processor has been embedded in an SoC for video processing and proven in silicon.
Run-time reconfigurable RTOS for reconfigurable systems-on-chip
Authors: Götz Marcelo , Rettberg Achim , Pereira Carlos Eduardo , Rammig Franz J.
Published: December 2019

High computational performance and flexibility are the requirements of nowadays embedded systems and they are increasing constantly. Moreover, a single architecture must be able to support different applications with dynamically requirements (changing environments). Reconfigurable computing based on hybrid architectures, comprising general purpose processor (CPU) and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), is very attractive because it can provide high computational performance as well as flexibility to support the requirements of today's embedded systems. As an Operating System (OS) is desired to provide support for such systems, it has to use the available resources in an optimal way (competing with the application), since an embedded system architecture usually lack of resources. Therefore, we present here our approach towards a reconfigurable RTOS that is able to distribute itself over a hybrid architecture (comprising FPGA and CPU). In this work we will present the main concepts and methods used to achieve the desired RTOS. Moreover, we present some preliminary evaluation results which show the applicability of our approach.
A low-power baseband modem architecture for a mobile RFID reader
Authors: Hwang Seok Joong , Lee Joon Goo , Kim Seon Wook , Koo Jihun , Kang Woo Shik
Published: December 2019

Currently the RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) systems become used in many areas, especially for delivery, manufacturing, and maintenance of goods. For example, a tag reader or a tag interrogator communicates with tags attached on goods, reads their identification codes, and accesses their related database through a network infrastructure. This approach makes it easy to maintain goods very efficiently in large-scale markets, delivery systems, and so on. There are many research activities in RFID systems for industrial applications, but there is few on mobile and portable devices such as cellular phones and PDAs. This paper presents an architecture overview of a multi-protocol RFID reader on mobile devices with detailed description of hardware implementation. We have considered several design parameters, such as low power consumption, cost effectiveness and flexibility. Also, since our architecture supports WIPI (Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability), any WIPI application can use our RFID reader's functionalities to query tags’ information from Internet through HAL interfaces. We prototyped our system on the ARM-based Excalibur FPGA with iPAQ PDA, and also a chip with 0.18~um technology for verification of our architecture.
Enhanced switching activity balancing encoding schemes for uniform temperature distribution in on-chip buses
Authors: Sithambaram P. , Macii A. , Macii E.
Published: December 2019

With technology scaling, power dissipation and localized heating in global and semi-global bus wires are becoming increasingly important. One way to mitigate these effects is to ensure uniform switching of bus wires. This prevents the unusual heating of some wires causing gradients, leading to various undesired effects. Thermal Spreading has shown to be a successful approach to bus temperature minimization. The idea at the basis of this technique is that of periodically permuting the routing of input bitstreams to the various bus lines, with the objective of temporally and spatially distributing the number of transitions over the entire bus. This prevents high switching activities from pertaining only to a few lines which causes an unnatural increase in temperature. In this paper, we propose new encoding schemes which improve the capability of the Thermal Spreading approach of balancing switching activities over the bus wires. The solutions we introduce are adaptive and dynamic in nature, as they select the bitstream and it's appropriate bus line based on online monitoring of actual bus traffic. This is possible thanks to some ad-hoc hardware unit running in parallel at the transmitting and receiving ends of the bus. Our experimental results show that, on average, the proposed encoding schemes improve the transition balancing capabilities of Thermal Spreading by a significant amount.
Timing margin evaluation with a simple statistical timing analysis flow
Authors: Migairou V. , Wilson R. , Engels S. , Wu Z. , Azemard N. , Maurine P.
Published: December 2019

The increase of within-die variations and the design margin growth are creating a need for statistical design methodologies. This paper proposes a simple statistical timing analysis method considering the lot to lot process shifts that occur during production. This method is validated for 90~nm and 65~nm process. Finally, this statistical timing analysis is applied to evaluate, on basic ring oscillators and combinational paths, the timing margins introduced at the design level by the traditional corner based approach.
Centrifuge modelling of unsaturated soils
Authors: Caicedo Bernardo , Thorel Luc
Published: December 2019

The use of centrifuge modeling where unsaturated soils are involved is more limited than its use in problems involving dry sand or saturated clays. This limitation is certainly due to the well-known experimental complexities related with unsaturated soils that increase in centrifuge modeling; on the other hand, few data is available about the scaling laws for unsaturated soils. In this paper, physical modeling of unsaturated soil problems in centrifuge is evaluated considering some phenomena involved in the behavior of those materials such as water migration, expansion and collapse. An overview of the scaling laws that has to be used is presented, with a selection of geotechnical problems studied on small-scale models in centrifuge.
Numerical modelling of colloidal transport in fractured porous media with double layered fracture-skin
Authors: Natarajan N. , Suresh Kumar G.
Published: December 2019

A numerical model is developed for studying the transport of colloids in a coupled fracture-matrix system with double layer fracture-skin. The governing equations describing colloid transport along the fracture and diffusion into fracture-skin layers as well as rock-matrix, normal to the fracture axis are coupled with each other. The coupled non linear equations are solved numerically with fully implicit finite difference method. Sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the effect of various colloid properties on the colloid concentration in the multiple porosity fractured system. Colloid remobilisation and filtration has been accounted in the model. Results suggest that the inclusion of a second fracture-skin layer has a marginal effect on the transport mechanism of colloids. As colloid velocity increases, the diffusion of colloids into the fracture-skin decreases due to the low residence time available for the colloids. High first layer fracture-skin thickness and porosity enhances the diffusion of colloids from the aqueous phase of the fracture into the skin considerably resulting in low colloidal concentration within the fracture. Variation in the porosity as well as thickness of the second layer of the fracture-skin has negligible effect on the colloidal concentration in the fracture. The colloid transport mechanism in fractured porous media is marginally affected by the multiple porosity system, or in other words additional layers of fracture skin. High filtration coefficient and low remobilisation coefficient result in low colloidal concentration within the fracture.
A prompt procedure for prediction of strength in artificially cemented soft soils
Authors: Winter Daniel , Rilho Andry Soares , Consoli Bernardo Scapini , Consoli Nilo Cesar
Published: December 2019

The focus of this paper is to present a new evaluation method for strength gain in very soft soils when using cementation as a means of improvement. This test procedure was created due to great difficulty encountered in molding specimens for compression and tensile tests in very soft clays and silts. The test consists in the measurement of the maximum force applied to embed a flat base rod into a soil mass using high sensibility dynamometric rings. The maximum pressure (maximum force divided by the flat base rod area) recorded up to 30 mm embedding of the rod into the soil mass is adopted as reference and has been shown to have direct linear correlation to Brazilian tensile tests. A correlation was set to a range of different materials encouraging its use in engineering practice. The main advantages of the proposed test are the easiness to mold specimens, the option of carrying out multiple tests in a single specimen and the possibility of carrying out tests outside the laboratory environment.
A new framework for analysis of laterally loaded piles
Authors: Basu Dipanjan , Salgado Rodrigo , Prezzi Mônica
Published: December 2019

A new analysis framework is presented for calculation of the response of laterally loaded piles in multi-layered, heterogeneous elastic soil. The governing differential equations for the pile deflections in different soil layers are obtained using the principle of minimum potential energy after assuming a rational soil displacement field. Solutions for the pile deflection are obtained analytically, while those for the soil displacements are obtained using the finite difference method. The input parameters needed for the analysis are the pile geometry, soil profile and the elastic constants of the soil and pile. The method produces results with accuracy comparable to that of a three-dimensional finite element analysis but requires much less computation time. The analysis can take into account the spatial variation of soil properties along vertical, radial and tangential directions.
Metabolite and Peptide Levels in Plasma and CSF Differentiating Healthy Controls from Patients with Newly Diagnosed Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Trupp Miles , Jonsson Pär , Öhrfelt Annika , Zetterberg Henrik , Obudulu Ogonna , Malm Linus , Wuolikainen Anna , Linder Jan , Moritz Thomas , Blennow Kaj , Antti Henrik , Forsgren Lars
Published: December 2019

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive, multi-focal neurodegenerative disease for which there is no effective disease modifying treatment. A critical requirement for designing successful clinical trials is the development of robust and reproducible biomarkers identifying PD in preclinical stages. Objective: To investigate the potential for a cluster of biomarkers visualized with multiple analytical platforms to provide a clinically useful tool. Methods: Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-TOFMS) based metabolomics and immunoassay-based protein/peptide analyses on samples from patients with PD diagnosed in Northern Sweden. Low molecular weight compounds from both plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 20 healthy subjects (controls) and 20 PD patients at the time of diagnosis (baseline) were analyzed. Results: In plasma, we found a significant increase in several amino acids and a decrease in C16-C18 saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in patients as compared to control subjects. We also observed an increase in plasma levels of pyroglutamate and 2-oxoisocaproate (ketoleucine) that may be indicative of increased metabolic stress in patients. In CSF, there was a generally lower level of metabolites in PD as compared to controls, with a specific decrease in 3-hydroxyisovaleric acid, tryptophan and creatinine. Multivariate analysis and modeling of metabolites indicates that while the PD samples can be separated from control samples, the list of detected compounds will need to be expanded in order to define a robust predictive model. CSF biomarker immunoassays of candidate peptide/protein biomarkers revealed a significant decrease in the levels of Aβ-38 and Aβ-42, and an increase in soluble APPα in CSF of patients. Furthermore, these peptides showed significant correlations to each other, and positive correlations to the CSF levels of several 5- and 6-carbon sugars. However, combining these metabolites and proteins/peptides into a single model did not significantly improve the statistical analysis. Conclusions: Together, this metabolomics study has detected significant alterations in plasma and CSF levels of a cluster of amino acids, fatty acids and sugars based on clinical diagnosis and levels of known protein and peptide biomarkers.
Survey on critical incident reporting in a child and adolescent mental health service
Authors: O'Keeffe Nikki , Gavin Blanaid , McNicholas Fiona
Published: December 2019

AIM: To examine the prevalence and nature of critical incident reports at a generic child and adolescent mental health service. METHOD: This is a retrospective survey of all critical incident reports completed at a community based child and adolescent mental health service between 2008 and 2011. Information was obtained about the nature of incidents and actions taken. RESULTS: In a three year period, only eighteen incident report forms were completed. Staff were most frequently the victims of the incidents (50%, n = 9), followed by clients (38.8%, n = 7) and parents of clients (11.1%, n = 2). Falls were the most common incident reports (44.4%, n = 8). Two incidences were related to physical aggression and threatening behaviour by clients. CONCLUSION: Critical incident reporting was found to be uncommon overall. Most of the recorded incidents involved staff members and were of minor significance. Specific training for staff regarding incident reporting should be provided to ensure an acceptable standard of investigation is consistently carried out for all significant incidents.
Drug utilization, safety and clinical use of Actos and Avandia
Authors: Marks Donald H.
Published: December 2019

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The impetus for this review was recent increased warnings of cardiovascular toxicity, fractures and bladder cancer associated with glitazone use. METHODS: A drug utilization review was performed regarding the use of Actos (pioglitazone) and Avandia (rosiglitazone) at Cooper Green Mercy Hospital (CGMH), an inner city safety net hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Pharmacy records were reviewed hospital-wide to determine usage patterns of all anti-diabetic medications. Medline and the FDA websites were searched for articles on safety and efficacy of pioglitazone and rosiglitazone. Considerations were relative utilization profile, comparative efficacy, indications, relative cost, and safety profile of the two available medications in this drug class. RESULTS: On the basis of all of these factors, a hospital-wide switch of all rosiglitazone prescriptions to all pioglitazone was implemented, which was estimated to result in savings of $83,000 for the first year. No episodes of worsening of control of diabetes were anticipated, nor were episodes of decreased efficacy or adverse effects as a result of automatically switching patients from rosiglitazone to pioglitazone at the time of prescription filling. CONCLUSIONS: The conclusions can be summarized in a number of key points. • Clinicians should follow the American Diabetes Association guidelines [1] for treatment. • The basis for diabetic control is weight loss, diet and exercise. • Initial medication management for type II Diabetes Mellitus includes metformin and insulin. • There are no circumstances in which use of glitazone medications is preferable to other medication groups, and there are no clinical circumstances in which use of glitazone medications is absolutely necessary, as opposed to other classes of diabetic medication. • There are significant contraindications, warnings and precautions to use of glitazones, which must be taken into consideration before use in every individual patient. • Glitazones in particular should not be used in the following circumstances: congestive heart failure (CHF), concurrent bladder cancer or severe osteoporosis.
Predicting and managing adverse reactions of psychotropic drugs
Authors: Ilyina Rosa Yu. , Pasynkova Olga O. , Ziganshina Lilia E.
Published: December 2019

BACKGROUND: Neuroleptic induced extrapyramidal disorders are often presented in a form of orofacial hyperkinesias and dystonia. Rational use of neuroleptic drugs requires individualised approach to a patient, however simple criteria for determining individual, “personalised” dosage regimen have not been fully developed for routine practice in resource-limited hospital settings. OBJECTIVE: To study the tonus of tongue muscles as a measure of orofacial dystonia and the total hepatic oxidative capacity as a potential predictor of excessive vulnerability to neuroleptic-induced dystonia in psychiatric patients. METHODS: We measured the maximal force of the tongue manoeuvre (F, g/cm2), the total (integral) hepatic oxidative capacity by the antipyrine-test and used chlorpromazine equivalent to calculate the total daily neuroleptic load in 283 psychiatric patients and 30 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: The tonus of tongue muscles depends on the total daily neuroleptic dose and the length of antipsychotic treatment. The higher the total daily neuroleptic dose and the longer the treatment history, the greater the tongue muscles' tonus is. The tongue muscles' tonus was greater in patients with low rate of oxidative antipyrine metabolism. Antidepressants contributed to the increased tonus of the tongue muscles in “slow metabolisers” of antipyrine. CONCLUSIONS: The simple and cheap measurements of total hepatic oxidative capacity and of muscle tonus of the tongue could be used to predict and manage neuroleptic-induced adverse reactions.
Hepatotoxicity related to citalopram intake: A case report
Authors: Hunfeld Nicole G.M. , ten Berge Rosita L. , LeBrun Paul P.H. , Smith Sierd J. , Melief Piet H.G.J.
Published: December 2019

This case report describes an episode of acute hepatotoxicity with liver injury after citalopram use in an 83-year old female. Drug intake was stopped immediately on admission. A biopsy of the liver showed extensive liver cell damage and inflammation consistent with drug-induced injury. After cessation of drug intake, the patient fully recovered within a couple of days. Recommencing of medication, with the exception of citalopram, did not cause liver abnormalities during one year of follow-up.
Practical safety of using essential medicines and their market products in Thailand
Authors: Burapadaja Siriporn , Kawasaki Naohito , Charumanee Suporn
Published: December 2019

Safety is one of the very important elements of medicines, especially in daily practice. It is expected that the medicines listed by the Thai Essential Medicine Lists (EML) and their market products registered by the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should be comparable with respect to practical safety. The objective was to investigate if there are differences in practical safety between anti-infective essential medicines and their products assigned by the two authorities in Thailand. Data were based on Thai EML, Thai FDA registration, and Thailand Index of Medical Specialities 2008. Results showed that Thai EML and Thai FDA divided anti-infective items (n = 101) and their products into groups varying in practical safety. Two thirds of the items and their products were comparable with respect to practical safety, but one third of them were not. The products of the latter were defined as having a lower practical safety compared to their corresponding items. This study has demonstrated that there are differences in practical safety between several essential medicines and their products. Consistent practical safety is very necessary for safe use of anti-infective products. Thus, there should be deliberations between the two authorities to reconsider the practical safety of these items and their products.
Understanding variations in biosimilars: Correlation with risk and regulatory implications
Authors: Mody Rustom , Varshney Brajesh , Patankar Dhananjay
Published: December 2019

A second wave of blockbuster products will go off-patent between 2012–2016 in Europe and USA, triggering a rush for the approval of biosimilars or follow-on biologics. Biosimilars are approved through an abbreviated route which relies on a limited safety and efficacy data enabling biogeneric companies to develop these products at lower cost giving a price benefit to the payer. This advantage needs to be weighed against the potential risk that any variation could have with respect to safety and efficacy, especially from long-term use. The paper attempts to rationalize the current “risk” perceptions regarding biosimilars, which have been in existence over a decade in the Indian market. The differences from the Reference product are substantial yet their safety record over a long use warrants a more “realistic” rather than “speculative” assessment, keeping cost-to-benefit as an important criteria and identify ways of mitigating potential risk that are perceived for biosimilar products.
Synthesis, characterization and DNA interaction of the transition metal complexes with 2-formyl furan-derived aroylhydrazones
Authors: Gökçe Cansu , Gup Ramazan
Published: December 2019

In the present work two new aroylhydrazones bearing furan ring 4-N′-[(Z)-furan-2-ylmethylidene]-4-hydroxybenzohydrazide (HL1) and hydroxymethyl (4-{[(2Z)-2- (furan-2-ylmethylidene)hydrazinyl]carbonyl}phenoxy)acetate (HL2) and their Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) complexes were synthesized and characterized. DNA binding and DNA cleavage activities of both aroylhydrazone ligands and their transition metal complexes were examined by using UV-vis titration and agarose gel electrophoresis in the presence of H2O2. The results indicate that all the copper complexes bind slightly to calf thymus DNA and effectively cleave pBR322 DNA whereas the nickel and zinc complexes have only slight interactions with DNA.
Ni-doped MgFe2O4 nanoferrite as a novel catalyst for selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde
Authors: Yousefi M. , Kamel Attar Kar M.H. , Kamel Attar Kar M.
Published: December 2019

The aim of this work is the synthesis of Ni-doped MgFe2O4 ferrite as a robust, safe and magnetically recoverable catalyst by sol-gel auto-combustion method to catalyze oxidation of benzyl alcohol. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, SEM, FT-IR and VSM. An environmentally benign oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde with hydrogen peroxide as oxidant and Ni-doped MgFe2O4 as catalysts was treated under solvent-free condition in microwave condition. Ni-doped MgFe2O4 showed convenient catalytic activity. The resulting product was characterized by FT-IR and 1H-NMR. This catalyst can be recovered and reused.
Thiolates of arsenic(III) and Bi(III) with the anti-hypertensive drug captopril
Authors: Ioannou Panayiotis V. , Tsivgoulis Gerasimos M.
Published: December 2019

Arsenic trioxide, but not bismuth trioxide, reacted with the oral anti-hypertensive drug captopril giving the anhydrous (and in one case the dihydrated) tris(captoprilato)arsenic in good yields. Bismuth(III) nitrate pentahydrate reacted with 1, 2, 3 equivalents of captopril giving solutions containing the corresponding thiolato complexes and nitric acid. Their 1H NMR spectra in CD3OD showed that both major and minor captoprilato conformers existed and the more captoprilato ligands are coordinated to Bi(III) the more up field the CH2S protons resonate. Addition of a calculated amounts of NaOH to the solutions of Bi(III)/captopril 1:1 and 1:2 gave solids insoluble in methanol or DMSO, the structures of which could not be reliably established by IR. The IR spectra of the isolated tris(captoprilato)arsenic and bismuth showed two νC = O bands for the COOH groups implying a complex hydrogen bonding network. These two complexes have sufficient solubility in water to be studied for biochemical or biological activities.
Synthesis, spectroscopic, electrochemical and biological studies of novel Schiff base complexes derived from 4-(3-ethoxy-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)-N-(pyridin-2-yl)benzenesulfonamide
Authors: Gomathi V. , Selvameena R.
Published: December 2019

Novel coordination complexes of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) have been synthesized from 4-(3-ethoxy-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)-N-(pyridin-2-yl)benzenesulfonamide (ESSP) Schiff base derived from sulfapyridine and 3-ethoxysalicylaldehyde. The nature of bonding and the structural features of the Schiff base and its complexes have been deduced from elemental analysis, molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility measurements, IR, 1H NMR,13C NMR, UV-Vis, cyclic voltammetry, fluorescence and EPR spectral studies. The spectral data of the complexes have revealed bidentate coordinating nature of the Schiff base through azomethine nitrogen atom and phenolic oxygen. The Schiff base and its metal complexes were screened for their antimicrobial activity. The complexes showed enhanced antimicrobial activity as compared to uncomplexed Schiff base.
A study of cellulosic/silicate coated welding rods during breakage and cutting: Assessment of environmental and health exposure
Authors: Andreoli Enrico , Morrow Lauren , Crouse Christopher A. , Dillon Eoghan P. , Barron Andrew R.
Published: December 2019

Analysis of the particulates eliminated from typical mild steel 6010 welding rods during handling has been undertaken by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with associated energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Upon breaking, the rod coating particles are released in the size range of 1–100 μm, which include over 60% of the particles that can be transported into the lower bronchial and alveolar regions. The composition of the particles is representative of the component of the flux coating.
Corrosion behavior of TiN-coated cutting carbide tools
Authors: Belhamra Nadjette , Chala Abdelouahed
Published: December 2019

Hard coatings produced by physical vapor deposition (PVD) have been widely used as a thin protective film. The coatings can provide wear resistance, corrosion resistance, can be decorative and act as a diffusion barrier. Among the commercially available coatings, TiN (titanium nitride) is probably the most commonly used industrially for machining tools. The aim of our work is to study corrosion resistance of TiN coated carbide tools such as WC–Co (tungsten carbide with cobalt). The corrosion behavior of TiN coating was examined in naturally aerated aqueous 0.5 M NaCl solution. The study was performed by using potentiodynamic polarization (PP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements (EIS), complemented with scanning electron (SEM) microscopy. The experimental impedance data are in good agreement with the polarization experiments. The TiN coating improves the corrosion resistance of carbide tools in NaCl solution.