bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Long-run Resource Scarcity
Authors: Helm Dieter R.
Published: February 2018

This chapter considers whether long-run resource scarcity limits economic growth. It distinguishes between renewable and non-renewable resources, as types of natural capital. Using the example of oil, it shows that the depletion of non-renewables is not a binding constraint. It critiques the peak oil concept, and, in particular, notes that it fails to take account of either technical progress or the impact of prices in allocating resources. On renewables there are serious depletion concerns; the chapter advances the aggregate natural capital rule, and sets out how this provides a rigorous asset-base constraint on sustainable economic growth. The operationalization of this rule requires a natural capital balance sheet, a risk register for renewable resources, and the provision of capital maintenance.
Evidence-based Training
Authors: DuBose Anthony P. , Botanov Yevgeny , Navarro-Haro Maria V. , Linehan Marsha M.
Published: February 2018

Evidence-based training is a key component in the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based treatments. Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a well-established evidence-based treatment for suicidal behaviours and emotion dysregulation. However, after publication of the first DBT clinical trial and treatment text, few routes were available to meet the demand for training outside of the treatment development laboratory. Additionally, due to inconsistent standards and regulations for professional training in evidence-based treatments, few mental health professionals had the opportunity to receive training in DBT. To meet the training needs and maintain fidelity to a resource-intensive evidence-based treatment, a novel model of training was developed. Consequentially, an intensive model of training remains the primary means by which practising professionals are trained in standard DBT. This chapter reviews the development and structure of intensive training in DBT and the evidence for the training model’s effectiveness.
Karl Jaspers
Authors: Bormuth Matthias
Published: February 2018

This chapter discusses the psychopathological ideas of Karl Jaspers, one of the founding fathers of phenomenological thinking. Jaspers always admired researchers who used the means of natural sciences in psychiatry, but he relied more on the psychology of understanding conceptualized and exercised in the humanities (“Geisteswissenschaften”) by Wilhelm Dilthey, Max Weber, and Georg Simmel. The chapter first provides an overview of Jaspers’s intellectual biography as a psychiatrist before analyzing his methodological horizons of understanding psychology. It then examines what philosophical considerations motivated Jaspers to draw the “limits of understanding” closer and stricter in the last edition of his book General Psychopathology, first published in 1913. It suggests that these limits can be determined as an existential application of Immanuel Kant’s idea and antinomy of freedom. The chapter concludes with an assessment of Jaspers’s claim that existence-philosophical self-reflection constitutes a necessary supplement to psychotherapy.
Obsessions and Phobias
Authors: Ahern Claire , Fassnacht Daniel B. , Kyrios Michael
Published: February 2018

This article examines the phenomenology of two unwanted intrusive experiences—phobias and obsessions. The article begins with two common examples of phobia, social phobia and agoraphobia, characterised by the experience of fear; an intense concentration of anxiety to specific situations or stimuli. This anxiety creates intense feelings of vulnerability in one’s environment, and overwhelming urges to avoid specific stressful situations. While anxiety is only one of various emotional states associated with obsessions, an inflated sense of responsibility and pathological doubt, particularly about moral self-worth, are also central features in the experience of obsessions. This subjective experience provokes unease in one’s self-world interactions, leading to an intense quest for certainty and perfection, propelling individuals into compulsive responses and magnification of obsessions. While phobias and obsessions are considered typical of human experience, the intrapersonal management of these phenomena leads to persistence and magnification of distress, intrusiveness of symptoms and dysfuntion.
Phenomenological Psychopathology and Psychotherapy
Authors: Stanghellini Giovanni
Published: February 2018

This chapter links phenomenological psychopathology to understanding, and understanding to psychotherapeutic care. In this framework, psychotherapy can be defined as a quest for meaning based on the art of questioning. The main tools at use for establishing psychopathological knowledge as the basis for care include the epoché, empathic, eidetic, and dialectic understanding. The practice of care that derives is based on the integration of three basic dispositives, synthesized in the acronym P.H.D.—bringing together Phenomenology (systematic knowledge of the abnormal phenomena that affect the patient), Hermeneutics (grasping the way the patient interprets or makes sense of his own experiences), and Psycho-dynamics (tracing back the patient’s experiences and actions and her worldview to the life-history in which they are embedded).
Anglophone Songs about HIV/AIDS
Authors: Jones Matthew J.
Published: February 2018

This essay focuses on English-language popular songs about HIV/AIDS and offers a five-part typology based not on sonic markers of musical genre but instead on lyric content. Its central argument is that song lyrics carry important political messages and constitute a significant and under-studied contribution to the broader culture of arts-based HIV/AIDS activism. In AIDS-themed elegies, protest songs, pedagogical songs, confessional songs, and a small category of songs in bad taste, songwriters and performers translate the official scientific, medical, and political discourses of HIV/AIDS into vernacular speech idioms. In doing so, ideas and ideologies about HIV/AIDS transcend generic boundaries to effectively reach broad and diverse groups of listeners with varying beliefs, attitudes, and stakes in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
From Queer Musicology to Indecent Theology
Authors: von der Horst Dirk
Published: February 2018

Ned Rorem’s setting of 2 Samuel 1, “Mourning Scene,” and Diamanda Galas’s incorporation of verses from Leviticus in her Plague Mass are two examples of musical queerings of biblical texts. Such musical queerings are an element of the ongoing interpretation of the Bible that is constitutive of Protestant spirituality and identity. Because liberal Protestant theology takes the historical contingency of and ideological division within the Bible seriously, this process of continual reinterpretation of the Bible can critically engage both queer affirmative and heterosexist aspects of the Bible and its reception. After investigating how Rorem and Galas use music to make biblical texts express homoeroticism and denounce homophobia, I place their interpretations in dialogue with three Protestant theologians: Georgia Harkness, Carter Heyward, and Marcella Althaus-Reid. One can trace a historical development from Social Gospel liberalism to Indecent Theology among these theologians that roughly parallels the span of time in which Rorem and Galas were active. Because the theologians under discussion wrote at different historical stages and with different ideological commitments, the extent to which specific musical queerings align with different theological perspectives varies widely. This variety in the current conversation continues the perspectival approach to theology that liberal theology recognizes as mandated by the biblical texts’ heterogeneity.
Computational Economics in the Era of Natural Computationalism
Authors: Chen Shu-Heng , Kaboudan Mak , Du Ye-Rong
Published: February 2018

After a brief review of natural computationalism, this introductory chapter presents a new skeleton of computational economics and finance (CEF) along with an overview of the handbook. It begins with a conventional pursuit focusing on the algorithmic or numerical aspect of CEF such as computational efforts devoted to rational expectations, (dynamic) general equilibrium, and volatility. It then moves toward an automata- or organism-based perspective of CEF, involving nature-inspired intelligence, algorithmic trading, automated markets, network- and agent-based computing, and neural computing. As an alternative way to introduce this novel skeleton, the chapter starts with a view of computation or computing, addressing what computational economics intends to compute and what kinds of economics make computation so hard, and then it turns to a view of computing systems in which the Walrasian kind of computational economics is replaced by the Wolframian kind due to computational irreducibility.
Economic and Financial Modeling with Genetic Programming
Authors: Tuite Cl´ıodhna , O’Neill Michael , Brabazon Anthony
Published: February 2018

This chapter focuses on genetic programming (GP), a stochastic optimization and model induction technique. An advantage of GP is that the modeler need not select the exact parameters to be used in the model beforehand. Rather, GP can effectively search a complex model space defined by a set of building blocks specified by the modeler. This flexibility has allowed GP to be used for many applications. The chapter reviews some of the most significant developments using GP: forecasting, stock selection, derivative pricing and trading, bankruptcy and credit risk assessment, and agent-based and economic modeling. Conclusions reached by studies investigating similar problems do not always agree; however, GP has proved useful across a wide range of problem areas. Recent and future work is increasingly concerned with adapting genetic programming to more dynamic environments and ensuring that solutions generalize robustly to out-of-sample data, to further improve model performance.
Business Applications of Fuzzy Logic
Authors: Dostál Petr , Lin Chia-Yang
Published: February 2018

The chapter focuses on the use of fuzzy logic, or soft computing, among the different methods used as supports for decision making in business applications. The processes are focused on private corporate attempts at making money or decreasing expenses; therefore, the details of applications, successful or not, are not published very often. Fuzzy logic helps in decentralization of decisionmaking processes that are to be standardized, reproduced, and documented. Fuzzy logic plays very important roles, especially in business, because it helps reduce costs. It differs from conventional (hard) computing in that it is tolerant of imprecision, uncertainty, partial truth, and approximation. In effect, the role model for fuzzy logic is the human mind. The guiding principle of fuzzy logic is to exploit this tolerance to achieve tractability, robustness, and low solution cost.
Modeling of Desirable Socioeconomic Networks
Authors: Namatame Akira , Komatsu Takanori
Published: February 2018

This chapter discusses the issues of designing desirable socioeconomic networks. Such networks permeate our lives. Evidence of this has generated increasing interest in dynamic processes in complex networks, especially the interplay between processes and the influences of network structure on performance and robustness. Performance optimization and robustness are important issues of socioeconomic networks. Diffusion is the process by which new products are invented and successfully introduced into a society (good diffusion) or infectious diseases spread (bad diffusion). Many studies shed light on how network topology interacts with the structure of social networked systems such as financial institutions to determine systemwide crises. In this context, entire classes of optimization problems range from maximizing the diffusion of innovations to minimizing risk distributions and cascade failures. The structure of interconnections influences network performance.
From Minority Games to $-Games
Authors: Andersen Jorgen Vitting
Published: February 2018

This chapter argues for the use of game theory or agent-based modeling to go beyond the standard methods used in traditional approaches to finance. The theory of rational expectations is at the core of most theories of finance in use since the 1970s, but it is also very unrealistic. This chapter first introduces some very general thoughts about elements needed in a new framework for finance. Then a few concrete examples of heterogeneous agent-based models will be introduced, and several of their main results will be discussed. Finally, applications and methods to real-market data will be introduced, notably the idea of “decoupling” to explain the short-lived synchronization of investors.
Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Models
Authors: Juillard Michel
Published: February 2018

Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models have become popular in macroeconomics, but the combination of nonlinear microeconomic behavior of the agents and model-consistent expectations raise intricate computational issues; this chapter reviews solution methods and estimation of DSGE models. Perfect foresight deterministic models can easily be solved with a great degree of accuracy. In practice, medium-sized stochastic models can only be solved by local approximation or the perturbation approach. The Bayesian approach to estimation is privileged. It provides a convenient way to communicate both the prior information available to the econo-metrician and new information revealed by the data. This chapter focuses on methods frequently used in applied work rather than aiming at being exhaustive.
Agent-Based Models for Economic Policy Design
Authors: Westerhoff Frank , Franke Reiner
Published: February 2018

With the help of two examples, this chapter illustrates the usefulness of agent-based models as tools for economic policy design. The first example applies a financial market model in which the order flow of speculators, relying on technical and fundamental analysis, generates intricate price dynamics. The second example applies a Keynesian-type goods market model in which the investment behavior of firms, relying on extrapolative and regressive predictors, generates complex business cycles. It adds a central authority to these two setups and explores the impact of simple intervention strategies on the model dynamics. On the basis of these experiments, the chapter concludes that agent-based models may help us understand how markets function and evaluate the effectiveness of various stabilization policies.
The Emerging Standard Neurobiological Model of Decision Making
Authors: Wu Shih-Wei , Glimcher Paul W.
Published: February 2018

The standard neurobiological model of decision making has evolved, since the turn of the twenty-first century, from a confluence of economic, psychological, and neurosci- entific studies of how humans make choices. Two fundamental insights have guided the development of this model during this period, one drawn from economics and the other from neuroscience. The first derives from neoclassical economic theory, which unambiguously demonstrated that logically consistent choosers behave “as if” they had some internal, continuous, and monotonic representation of the values of any choice objects under consideration. The second insight derives from neurobiological studies suggesting that the brain can both represent, in patterns of local neural activity, and compare, by a process of interneuronal competition, internal representations of value associated with different choices.
The Epistemology of Simulation, Computation, and Dynamics in Economics
Authors: Velupillai K. Vela
Published: February 2018

In this chapter the spirit of William Petty is the driving force, but it is given new theoret- ical foundations, mainly as a result of developments in the mathematic underpinnings of the tremendous developments in the potentials of computing, especially using digital technology. Computation and simulation have always played a role in economics, whether it be pure economic theory or any variant of applied economics. This tradition can be traced to the vision of Petty, the founding father of political economy as political arithmetic. A running theme is that, increasingly, the development of economic theory seems to go hand in hand with advances in the theory and practice of computing, which is, in turn, a catalyst for the move away from overreliance on any kind of mathematics for the formalization of economic entities that is inconsistent with the mathematical, philosophical, and epistemological foundations of the digital computer.
Solving Rational Expectations Models
Authors: Barthélemy Jean , Marx Magali
Published: February 2018

This chapter presents theoretical foundations of main methods of solving rational expectations models with a special focus on perturbation approaches. First, it gives some insights into the solution methods for linear models. Second, it shows how to use the perturbation approach for solving nonlinear models. It then documents the limits of this approach. The perturbation approach, though the most common solution method in the macroeconomic literature, is inappropriate in contexts of large fluctuations (large shocks or regime switching) and of strong nonlinearities (e.g., occasionally binding constraints). The former case is illustrated by regime switching models. The latter case is illustrated by a study of existing methods for solving rational expectations models under the zero lower bound constraint, that is, the condition of non-negativity of the nominal interest rate. The chapter concludes with a presentation of global methods available when the perturbation approach fails in solving models.
Particle Filters for Markov-Switching Stochastic Volatility Models
Authors: Bao Yun , Chiarella Carl , Kang Boda
Published: February 2018

This chapter proposes an auxiliary particle filter algorithm for inference in regime switching stochastic volatility models in which the regime state is governed by a first-order Markov chain. It proposes an ongoing updated Dirichlet distribution to estimate the transition probabilities of the Markov chain in the auxiliary particle filter. A simulation-based algorithm is presented for the method that demonstrates the ability to estimate a class of models in which the probability that the system state transits from one regime to a different regime is relatively high. The methodology is implemented in order to analyze a real-time series, namely, the foreign exchange rate between the Australian dollar and the South Korean won.
Sleep Disturbances in Chronic Pain: Neurobiology, Assessment, and Treatment in Physical Therapist Practice
Authors: Nijs Jo , Mairesse Olivier , Neu Daniel , Leysen Laurence , Danneels Lieven , Cagnie Barbara , Meeus Mira , Moens Maarten , Ickmans Kelly , Goubert Dorien
Published: February 2018

Among people with chronic pain, insomnia is highly prevalent, closely related to the mechanism of central sensitization, characterized by low-grade neuroinflammation, and commonly associated with stress or anxiety; in addition, it often does not respond effectively to drug treatments. This review article applies the current understanding of insomnia to clinical practice, including assessment and conservative treatment of insomnia in people with chronic pain. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia can be efficacious for improvements in sleep initiation, sleep maintenance, perceived sleep quality, and pain interference with daily functioning in people with chronic pain. A recent systematic review concluded that with additional training, physical therapist–led cognitive-behavioral interventions are efficacious for low back pain, allowing their implementation within the field. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia, as provided to people with chronic pain, typically includes education, sleep restriction measures, stimulus control instructions, sleep hygiene, and cognitive therapy.
Use of LAMP Detection to Identify Potential Contamination Sources of Plant-Pathogenic Pythium Species in Hydroponic Culture Systems of Tomato and Eustoma
Authors: Feng Wenzhuo , Nukaya Akira , Satou Mamoru , Fukuta Naoko , Ishiguro Yasushi , Suga Haruhisa , Kageyama Koji
Published: February 2018

Hydroponic culture systems are subject to high risks of diseases caused by zoosporic plant pathogens. Control is generally difficult because of the rapid spread of zoospores in the nutrient solutions. In Japan, tomato and eustoma, which are cultivated using the D-tray and nutrient film techniques, respectively, are susceptible to diseases caused by Pythium aphanidermatum and P. irregulare. We used loop-mediated isothermal amplification to identify potential contamination sources of these two pathogens by monitoring their presence in the water supply wells, seedling terraces, nutrient solutions, diseased plants, and ground soils of a tomato greenhouse complex and a eustoma greenhouse complex. The results indicated that the pathogens may enter the culture systems from the soils around the greenhouses. Entry most likely occurs when seedlings are moved from the seedling terraces to the greenhouses, and sterilization of the hydroponic systems may not be sufficient. Therefore, monitoring pathogens in the culture systems and ground soils is very important for the management and prevention of these diseases.
Challenges of translating qualitative management data
Authors: Abalkhail Jouharah M.
Published: February 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges of translating qualitative data from Arabic to English within the field of gender and management studies.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a real experience of translating qualitative data from Arabic to English within the management area in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected from interviewing female managers working in the Saudi public sector.

Findings

Translating qualitative data from Arabic to English is not a straightforward process. During the translation of this cross-cultural qualitative research, three challenges were faced: the embeddedness of the language meaning in the culture, positionality and its influence on data production and language differences. The study found that, in absence of a standard way for translating cross-linguistic qualitative research, a combination of methods is found to be useful to increase the validity and reliability of the study findings. Researchers who conduct qualitative insider research and who translate their own data are in a better position to do cross-language data analysis.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature by showing that translating Arabic texts regarding gender, management and leadership is embedded within historical, cultural, political and institutional contexts, requiring a deep understanding of both language and culture to produce a depth of knowledge. Also, the novelty of this study is that it highlights the importance of being an insider qualitative researcher and translating the research data, as researcher offers significant opportunities for close attention to certain points in the text; and this could add value to the analysis as a way to establish validity of interpretations.
Hidden facets of IT projects are revealed only after deployment
Authors: Saba Mario , Bou Saba Peter , Harfouche Antoine
Published: February 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on an information technology (IT) deployment project in the specific field of agricultural cooperatives. It also aims to underline the importance of the IT implementation phase, but also the pre-implementation phase.

Design/methodology/approach

A four-year canonical action research project was conducted within a network of more than 300 agricultural cooperatives. Research was carried out both during the IT implementation and after deployment. Key information was gathered through unstructured and unofficial interviews, observations, field notes, meetings, focus groups, and documentary analysis.

Findings

Despite user resistance behavior, the findings show that information systems (IS) implementation may lead to unexpected results that extend beyond the tool’s initial objectives. Indeed, four hidden facets of the tool were revealed: inductor, symbol, pretext, and reference.

Research limitations/implications

Although the research is limited to one single-case study, it puts the emphasis on in-depth research, vs cross-sectional data collection, to analyze the relationship between IT implementation initiatives and organizational intelligence. Furthermore, the authors argue that while IS literature has separately developed related theories (actor-network theory, competitive intelligence), the authors conceptualize a whole theoretic system interrelating the two above-stated theories.

Practical implications

The implication for IS practitioners is that, by focusing only on experiences that have occurred during IT implementation, one may disregard critical information, behaviors and knowledge from unforeseen effects that have occurred after implementation. In future IT projects, IS managers therefore need to capitalize on post-implementation knowledge, through sociology of translation and competitive intelligence, in order to anticipate potential diversions from the initial objectives. Finally, while most IT implementation methods tend naturally to manage resistance maximize users’ satisfaction and to reduce potential resistance, the authors support an alternative approach. It consists into enhancing resistance in order to anticipate and resolve latent resistance behaviors directly or indirectly related to the project.

Originality/value

Despite widespread literature on resistance, appropriation or acceptance during IT projects, there is little research that addresses the impact of IT projects on organizational intelligence, and the kind of behaviors that lead to its failure or success. In the case, the implemented IT tool revealed hidden structural and organizational roles, which were unanticipated by IT designers and managers.
Numerical simulation of the interaction between a crack and an inclusion
Authors: Wang Zhiyong , Gu Jing , Hou Cheng , Song Ming
Published: February 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose the interaction integral method combing with a XFEM-based local mesh replacement method to evaluate both the stress intensity factors (SIFs) andT-stress at the crack tip near a circular inclusion.

Design/methodology/approach

Special attention is pay to the effect ofT-stress on crack initiation angle in 2D composite medium. The generalized maximum tangential stress criterion is employed during the simulation which simultaneously involves the effects of the mixed-mode SIFs, theT-stress and a physical length scalerc(the size of the fracture process zone).

Findings

It is shown thatT-stress could affect the crack initiation angle significantly for mixed-mode conditions. Varies types of material mismatch are also considered and their influences onT-stress are given quantitatively.

Originality/value

The proposed numerical method allows a considerable flexibility for such problems and provides a basic framework for quasi-static crack growth in materials containing complex interfaces.
Direct electrochemical bacterial sensor using ZnO nanorods disposable electrode
Authors: Al-Fandi Mohamed Ghazi , Alshraiedeh Nid’a Hamdan , Oweis Rami Joseph , Hayajneh Rawan Hassan , Alhamdan Iman Riyad , Alabed Rama Adel , Al-Rawi Omar Farhan
Published: February 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to report a prototype of a reliable method for rapid, sensitive bacterial detection by using a low-cost zinc oxide nanorods (ZnONRs)-based electrochemical sensor.

Design/methodology/approach

The ZnONRs have been grown on the surface of a disposable, miniaturized working electrode (WE) using the low-temperature hydrothermal technique. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersion spectroscopy have been performed to characterize the distribution as well as the chemical composition of the ZnONRs on the surface, respectively. Moreover, the cyclic voltammetry test has been implemented to assess the effect of the ZnONRs on the signal conductivity between −1 V and 1 V with a scan rate of 0.01 V/s. Likewise, the effect of using different bacterial concentrations in phosphate-buffered saline has been investigated.

Findings

The morphological characterization has shown a highly distributed ZnONR on the WE with uneven alignment. Also, the achieved response time was about 12 minutes and the lower limit of detection was approximately 103 CFU abbreviation for Colony Forming Unit/mL.

Originality/value

This paper illustrates an outcome of an experimental work on a ZnONRs-based electrochemical biosensor for direct detection of bacteria.
Density trends and demographic signals uncover the long‐term impact of transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils
Authors: Lazenby Billie T. , Tobler Mathias W. , Brown William E. , Hawkins Clare E. , Hocking Greg J. , Hume Fiona , Huxtable Stewart , Iles Philip , Jones Menna E. , Lawrence Clare , Thalmann Sam , Wise Phil , Williams Howel , Fox Samantha , Pemberton David
Published: February 2018

Monitoring the response of wild mammal populations to threatening processes is fundamental to effective conservation management. This is especially true for infectious diseases, which may have dynamic and therefore unpredictable interactions with their host.

We investigate the long‐term impact of a transmissible cancer, devil facial tumour disease (DFTD), on the endemic Tasmanian devil. We analyse trends in devil spotlight counts and density across the area impacted by the disease. We investigate the demographic parameters which might be driving these trends, and use spatial capture‐recapture models to examine whether DFTD has affected home range size.

We found that devils have declined by an average of 77% in areas affected by DFTD, and that there is a congruent trend of ongoing small decline in spotlight counts and density estimates. Despite this, devils have persisted to date within each of nine monitoring sites. One site is showing as yet unexplained small increases in density 8–10 years after the emergence of DFTD.

We also found the prevalence of DFTD has not abated despite large declines in density and that diseased sites continue to be dominated by young devils. The long‐term impact of the disease has been partially offset by increased fecundity in the form of precocial breeding in 1‐year‐old females, and more pouch young per female in diseased sites. The lower densities resulting from DFTD did not affect home range size.

Synthesis and applications. Transmission of devil facial tumour disease continues despite large declines in devil density over multiple generations. Plasticity in life history traits has ameliorated the impact of devil facial tumour disease, however broad‐scale trends in density show ongoing decline. In light of this, devil facial tumour disease and the impact of stochastic events on the reduced densities wrought by the disease, continue to threaten devils. In the absence of methods to manage disease in wild populations, we advocate managing the low population densities resulting from disease rather than disease per se.
Fire management in the Brazilian savanna: First steps and the way forward
Authors: Schmidt Isabel B. , Moura Lívia C. , Ferreira Maxmiller C. , Eloy Ludivine , Sampaio Alexandre B. , Dias Paulo A. , Berlinck Christian N.
Published: February 2018

Several decades of frustrated attempts to prevent fires in the Brazilian Savanna (Cerrado) have led to deleterious ecological and management consequences. In 2014, the first Integrated Fire Management (IFM) programme was launched in three protected areas (PAs).

The IFM programme considers local practices, ecological information, management options and aims to create landscape mosaics of different fire histories to conserve biodiversity, reduce the prevalence of late‐dry season (LDS) wildfires, protect fire‐sensitive vegetation and reduce conflicts between PA managers and local communities.

The first 3 years of imposed fire management regimes led to 40%–57% reduction in LDS fires, improved dialogue between researchers, managers and local communities, generating fire management learning communities.

Synthesis and applications. This Integrated Fire Management programme represents a major advance in Cerrado management and conservation, by actively managing fires and decreasing the proportion of areas burnt by late‐dry season wildfires. It can contribute to PAs’ management in the Cerrado and other South American fire‐prone ecosystems. Long‐term monitoring and research are essential to understand the ecological implications and to improve fire management practices.
Diagnostic imaging of ankle syndesmosis injuries: A general review
Authors: Kellett John J , Lovell Gregory A , Eriksen David A , Sampson Matthew J
Published: February 2018

Literature on the various techniques for imaging injuries to the ankle syndesmosis to determine the most appropriate imaging modality for diagnosing syndesmosis ligament disruption and instability was reviewed using the following data sources: Pubmed, Google scholar, SportsDiscus, E‐journals and PLOSone. Search terms used were: syndesmosis paired with injury, imaging, radiology, X‐ray, stress X‐ray, arthrography, ultrasound, nuclear medicine scan, CT scan, MRI and arthroscopy. Articles were selected by reading abstracts and the full article if indicated. Further articles were derived from the references of the primary articles. Plain x‐rays of the ankle will detect approximately half on AP view to two‐thirds on mortise view of syndesmosis injuries. Syndesmosis injuries frequently occur in association with tibial or fibular fractures. Intra‐operative stress radiography failed to detect approximately half of instabilities confirmed at arthroscopy. The current benchmark imaging techniques to diagnose syndesmosis injury and diastasis are arthroscopy and high‐power (3T) MRI. Ultrasound is a promising, developing, cost‐effective imaging technique which is yet to reach its full diagnostic potential. CT and nuclear medicine scans have limited roles. MRI (3T) scanning in the plane of the syndesmotic ligaments is the investigation of choice to detect ankle syndesmosis injuries. In the presence of associated injuries requiring surgery, arthroscopic viewing with stress examination is the diagnostic benchmark when available.
High‐throughput serum proteomics for the identification of protein biomarkers of mortality in older men
Authors: Orwoll Eric S. , Wiedrick Jack , Jacobs Jon , Baker Erin S. , Piehowski Paul , Petyuk Vladislav , Gao Yuqian , Shi Tujin , Smith Richard D. , Bauer Douglas C. , Cummings Steven R , Nielson Carrie M. , Lapidus Jodi ,   for the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study (MrOS) Research Group
Published: February 2018

The biological perturbations associated with incident mortality are not well elucidated, and there are limited biomarkers for the prediction of mortality. We used a novel high‐throughput proteomics approach to identify serum peptides and proteins associated with 5‐year mortality in community‐dwelling men age ≥65 years who participated in a longitudinal observational study of musculoskeletal aging (Osteoporotic Fractures in Men: MrOS). In a discovery phase, serum specimens collected at baseline in 2473 men were analyzed using liquid chromatography–ion mobility–mass spectrometry, and incident mortality in the subsequent 5 years was ascertained by tri‐annual questionnaire. Rigorous statistical methods were utilized to identify 56 peptides (31 proteins) that were associated with 5‐year mortality. In an independent replication phase, selected reaction monitoring was used to examine 21 of those peptides in baseline serum from 750 additional men; 81% of those peptides remained significantly associated with mortality. Mortality‐associated proteins included a variety involved in inflammation or complement activation; several have been previously linked to mortality (e.g., C‐reactive protein, alpha 1‐antichymotrypsin) and others are not previously known to be associated with mortality. Other novel proteins of interest included pregnancy‐associated plasma protein, VE‐cadherin, leucine‐rich α‐2 glycoprotein 1, vinculin, vitronectin, mast/stem cell growth factor receptor, and Saa4. A panel of peptides improved the predictive value of a commonly used clinical predictor of mortality. Overall, these results suggest that complex inflammatory pathways, and proteins in other pathways, are linked to 5‐year mortality risk. This work may serve to identify novel biomarkers for near‐term mortality.
Extracellular proteases of Staphylococcus epidermidis: roles as virulence factors and their participation in biofilm
Authors: Martínez‐García Sergio , Rodríguez‐Martínez Sandra , Cancino‐Diaz Mario E. , Cancino‐Diaz Juan C.
Published: February 2018

Staphylococci produce a large number of extracellular proteases, some of which are considered as potential virulence factors. Staphylococcus epidermidis is a causative agent of nosocomial infections in medical devices by the formation of biofilms. It has been proposed that proteases contribute to the different stages of biofilm formation. S. epidermidis secretes a small number of extracellular proteases, such as serine protease Esp, cysteine protease EcpA, and metalloprotease SepA that have a relatively low substrate specificity. Recent findings indicate a significant contribution of extracellular proteases in biofilm formation through the proteolytic inactivation of adhesion molecules. The objective of this work is to provide an overview of the current knowledge of S. epidermidis’ extracellular proteases during pathogenicity, especially in the different stages of biofilm formation.
Dual oxidase: a novel therapeutic target in allergic disease
Authors: van der Vliet Albert , Danyal Karamatullah , Heppner David E
Published: February 2018

NADPH oxidases (NOXs) represent a family of enzymes that mediate regulated cellular production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and play various functional roles in physiology. Among the NOX family, the dual oxidases DUOX1 and DUOX2 are prominently expressed in epithelial cell types at mucosal surfaces and have therefore been considered to have important roles in innate host defence pathways. Recent studies have revealed important insights into the host defence mechanisms of DUOX enzymes, which control innate immune response pathways in response to either microbial or allergic triggers. In this review, we discuss the current level of understanding with respect to the biological role(s) of DUOX enzymes and the unique role of DUOX1 in mediating innate immune responses to epithelial injury and allergens and in the development of allergic disease. These novel findings highlight DUOX1 as an attractive therapeutic target, and opportunities for the development of selective inhibitor strategies will be discussed.
Occupational allergic contact dermatitis caused by antibiotics in healthcare workers – relationship with non‐immediate drug eruptions
Authors: Pinheiro Vítor , Pestana Catarina , Pinho André , Antunes Isabel , Gonçalo Margarida
Published: February 2018

Background

Occupational allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) in healthcare workers (HCWs) is common, but systemic antibiotics are rarely reported as the cause.

Objectives

Characterize occupational ACD by handling systemic antibiotics.

Method

A retrospective analysis was performed of ACD caused by systemic antibiotics among HCWs patch tested between 2010 and 2016 with a series of systemic antibiotics.

Results

We studied 4 female nurses aged 28–47 years who developed ACD while working in surgical departments. They had eczema of the hands, and forearms or face, and 1 patient, who previously had exanthema caused by flucloxacillin, also developed a generalized rash following airborne exposure to systemic antibiotics. Patch tests showed positive reactions to ampicillin and cefazolin in 1 patient, to cefotaxime and ceftriaxone in 2 patients, and to several penicillins in another patient. Three patients also reacted to rubber allergens, fragrances, and/or preservatives. All patients admitted having direct and sporadic exposure to systemic antibiotic solutions. Avoidance resulted in a significant improvement of ACD, but 1 patient had to change job.

Conclusions

Occupational ACD caused by β‐lactam antibiotics, particularly cephalosporins, is significant in HCWs. Cross‐reactions between β‐lactams are similar to those described in non‐immediate drug eruptions. A relationship between systemic delayed drug hypersensitivity and ACD, as observed in one case, suggests that patients should avoid future use of the antibiotic to which they are sensitized.
The correlation between cardiac magnetic resonance T2* and left ventricular global longitudinal strain in people with β‐thalassemia
Authors: Parsaee Mozhgan , Akiash Nehzat , Azarkeivan Azita , Alizadeh Sani Zahra , Amin Ahmad , Pazoki Mahboubeh , Samiei Niloufar , Jalili Mohammad Ali , Adel Mohammad Hassan , Rezaian Nahid
Published: February 2018

Background

Heart failure is the biggest cause of mortality and morbidity in people with thalassemia, and iron deposition in cardiac tissue impairs cardiovascular function. Therefore, early detection of cardiac involvement is important to improve the prognosis in these individuals.

Method

Two‐ and three‐dimensional echocardiography was performed to evaluate left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular volumes and diameters, and global longitudinal strain (GLS) in 130 individuals with β‐thalassemia using the speckle tracking method. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was carried out on both the heart and liver. The participants were divided into 2 groups based on cardiac T2* values (normal and abnormal cardiac iron load), and the correlation between cardiac T2* MRI and GLS was evaluated.

Results

The statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between cardiac T2* MRI and left ventricular global longitudinal strain. There was a significant difference in global longitudinal strain (P < .0001), liver MRI T2*( P < .0001), and left ventricular ejection fraction (P < .001) between the 2 groups. The optimal cutoff value for GLS was −18.5% with sensitivity and specificity 73.0% and 63.0%, respectively (postitive predictive value = 50%, negative predictive value = 82.3%, AUC = 0.742, std. error = 0.046) which predicts T2* value of <20 ms, according to cardiac MRI.

Conclusions

The participants with cardiac iron overload had a lower GLS than those without one. This suggests that GLS may be a useful method to predict myocardial iron overload particularly in β‐thalassemia patients with subclinical cardiac involvement.
Left ventricular myocardial performance index in prediabetic patients without coronary artery disease
Authors: Askin Lutfu , Cetin Mustafa , Tasolar Hakan , Akturk Erdal
Published: February 2018

Introduction

Prediabetes is a high‐risk condition for diabetes mellitus type 2, which is an important public health issue. The myocardial performance index (MPI) is a noninvasive Doppler measurement of global ventricular function. We evaluated the MPI and left ventricular (LV) function in prediabetic patients who did not have coronary artery disease.

Methods

In total, 80 prediabetics (34 females and 46 males) and an equal number of sex‐matched healthy volunteers (35 females and 45 males) were enrolled prospectively. All subjects underwent laboratory analyses and echocardiographic examinations, including MPI measurements.

Results

There was a moderate increase in MPI between healthy controls and prediabetics (P < .001). Prediabetes was strongly associated with MPI (r = .553, P < .001). We found that MPI was associated with prediabetes on multivariate logistic regression analysis (Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.967, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.574–2.459, P < .001).

Conclusions

The results of this study show that systolic functions and LV diastolic parameters were adversely affected in prediabetic patients. Prediabetes is closely associated with subclinical LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction as assessed by MPI.
The 2014 BCSH criteria and the 2016 WHO criteria for essential thrombocythemia: A comparison in a large‐scale cohort
Authors: Ochiai Tomonori , Yasuda Hajime , Araki Marito , Misawa Kyohei , Morishita Soji , Nudejima Mai , Hironaka Yumi , Shirane Shuichi , Edahiro Yoko , Gotoh Akihiko , Ohsaka Akimichi , Komatsu Norio
Published: February 2018

Objective

There are currently 2 representative diagnostic criteria for essential thrombocythemia (ET), the 2014 British Committee for Standards in Hematology Guidelines (BCSH) criteria and the 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. We compare and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the 2 criteria.

Method

We applied the 2 criteria to 403 patients with thrombocytosis and suspected myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) and compared patient populations.

Results

The BCSH criteria diagnosed ET in 279 patients (BCSH‐ET) whereas the WHO criteria diagnosed ET in 203 patients (WHO‐ET). There were 83 patients diagnosable only by the BCSH criteria (BCSH‐only‐ET), of which under the WHO classification, 69 patients fell under the category of MPN, unclassifiable (MPN‐u), 12 patients were PMF, prefibrotic/early stage (pre‐PMF), and 2 patients were polycythemia vera. Patient characteristics such as age, hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelet counts, lactate dehydrogenase levels, JAK2V617F allele burdens, prevalence of myelofibrosis and splenomegaly, and frequencies of thrombotic events and treatment did not differ between WHO‐ET and BCSH‐only‐ET, but BCSH‐only‐ET patients showed higher WBC counts and higher JAK2V617F mutation frequencies.

Conclusion

The BCSH criteria diagnosed ET in a broader range of patients encompassing a significant number of patients who would otherwise be diagnosed as pre‐PMF or MPN‐u.
Variability and stability in predation landscapes: A cross‐ecosystem comparison on the potential for predator control in temperate marine ecosystems
Authors: Oken Kiva L , Essington Timothy E , Fu Caihong
Published: February 2018

Predation can play an important role in population, community and ecosystem processes. When predator guilds are diverse, fluctuations in individual predator populations may have small influences on the guild at large, suggesting that predator diversity stabilizes the amount of predation prey experience. The strength of this phenomenon depends on how synchronously populations within predator assemblages vary and whether all predators are equally important consumers. We utilized a database of biomasses of fish species across ten temperate marine ecosystems paired with diet composition and feeding rate information from mass‐balance food web models to develop a predation index that weights the importance of predators on a prey based on predator feeding habits. Using the index, we asked how diverse sources of predation in these ecosystems are and how much diversity stabilizes variability in predation. Predator assemblages displayed a wide range of diversity; in one‐third of assemblages, a single predator group accounted for over half of all predation. Abundances of predator populations within assemblages generally varied independently of one another (neither synchronously nor asynchronously), implying an intermediate stabilization on predation intensity by predator diversity. Accounting for interaction strength (versus mere presence) is critical for interpreting the predator landscape; doing so led to a wider range in predator assemblage diversity and less synchronous assemblages. This work challenges conventional notions that marine food webs are diverse and therefore less susceptible to predator control. Future work should consider the temporal variability of the predator assemblages and account for differences in mortality induced by each predator population.