bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Where does the source of external knowledge come from? A case of the Shanghai ICT chip industrial cluster in China
Authors: AI Chi-Han , WU Hung-Che
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to: first, divide external knowledge into different levels and understand how these different levels of external knowledge create different knowledge networks. Second, explore the relation among different levels of external knowledge, different types of knowledge and their influences on innovation. Different types of knowledge may act as mediators between different levels of external knowledge and innovation performance are also discussed. Third, further explicate the possible reasons behind the phenomena observed in the first and second objectives.

Design/methodology/approach

– The quantitative and qualitative research methods were adopted in this study. In terms of the quantitative research method, data were collected from 157 information and communications technology (ICT) companies in Zhangjiang. There were 38 interviews carried out using the qualitative research method. Interviewees included 26 directors from the Zhangjiang ICT chip companies and 12 directors from China’s domestic mobile phone manufacturing sector.

Findings

– This study finds out that the source of external knowledge in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park is mostly derived from cross-regional and cross-national connections. Through the connection with global companies, the firms in Zhangjiang acquire technical knowledge. Also, through the interaction with cross-regional companies, the firms in Zhangjiang absorb market knowledge. The results of this study indicate that the cross-regional connections are spurred by the increasing demand of the Chinese domestic market and the government’s support for cross-regional interactions. Cross-national connections are encouraged and led by the Chinese Government after China’s 3G communication standard is adopted.

Research limitations/implications

– This study is built upon a case study in Zhangjiang of China. The findings of this study may not be applicable to other countries or regions in China. Also, this study only focusses on the ICT industry in Zhangjiang. Knowledge from different industries is not included in this study. In addition, the formal and informal knowledge flow is neglected in this study as well.

Practical implications

– The findings of this study provide business executives and policymakers with a new way of thinking about the development of industrial clusters and local firms. Firms may be able to find new ways to raise innovation performance using different external knowledge.

Originality/value

– The major contribution of this study is an initial attempt to provide a comprehensive analysis of external knowledge of industrial clusters, different types of knowledge and their influences on innovation performance. Moreover, the mediating effects of different types of knowledge are also discussed.
What ' s in it for me? A managerial perspective on the influence of the psychological contract on attitude towards change
Authors: van den Heuvel Sjoerd , Schalk René , Freese Charissa , Timmerman Volken
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop a model on how business managers perceive that an employee’s psychological contract influences his or her attitude toward an organizational change. More specifically, it aims to provide insight into the managerial views on: first, the affective, behavioral and cognitive responses of employees toward organizational change; second, the pre-change and change antecedents of these responses; and third, the role of the psychological contract as a pre-change antecedent.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were collected from in-depth interviews with 39 human resource directors, change managers and management consultants in eight European countries. Based on detailed grounded theory-driven analyses of the qualitative data, a conceptual model was developed.

Findings

– Based on the grounded theory analysis, a model emerged that positions the individual change perception and individual answer to the “what’s in it for me?” question as central determinants of an employee’s attitude toward change. Moreover, the model distinguishes between “influencing” variables that shape the employees’ change perception, and “overruling” variables that can potentially reverse the change perceptions.

Practical implications

– A strong emphasis on managing the employment relationship by fulfilling mutual obligations and by creating trust will yield more constructive responses to organizational change than focussing on managing an organizational change as an independent event.

Originality/value

– As one of the first in its field, this study provides insight in the sense-making processes during organizational change, while adopting a managerial perspective. A grounded theory approach by means of interviewing, serves as a first step toward better understanding of the development of employees’ affective, behavioral and cognitive responses to organizational change.
Modeling the development of the online conference’s services
Authors: Sakas Damianos P. , Vlachos Dimitrios S. , Nasiopoulos Dimitrios K.
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The integrated purpose of the libraries’ communication plan in general is to create and accomplish scientific events aiming, first of all, at covering the extensive demand for the scientific conferences. Their primary objective is to raise the prestigious brand name of their organisation, which constitutes the organizing authority. At the same time, this authority, except for its non-profit charitable profile, aims to financial gains by attracting participants for its sustainability. Furthermore, these academic events have contributed to the utmost dissemination of the library’s brand name to an expanding mass of people to the extent of attracting new visitors (Broady-Preston and Lobo, 2011). One of the qualitative academic events, among others, is the creation of academic-nature events, whose following-up is blocked by a multitude of financial barriers according to the new visitors’ viewpoint. Considering the economic crisis, the purpose of this paper is the creation of interesting, in the science of library, online events, just like the online conferences (Broady-Preston and Swain, 2012).

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper highlights the advantages of the dynamic modelling of systems aimed at developing a successful online conference. In this research, the authors have used the science of design and the research methodology for testing the concept of modeling.

Findings

– This paper examines the interface among several dimensions for the development of dynamic models. The validity and usefulness of those models in the process of decision-making has been confirmed by the usage of dynamic models in various sectors.

Originality/value

– This paper applies the system and the concepts of dynamic modelling, which are pioneering elements as to their nature and evolution.
Self-other agreement for improving communication in libraries and information services
Authors: Drivas Ioannis C. , Sakas Damianos P. , Giannakopoulos Georgios A.
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– This paper aims to examine the Self-Other Agreement between leaders and employees in the sector of Libraries and Information Services (LIS) to construct a sustainable and strategic communicational process among library directors and staff.

Design/methodology/approach

– A sample of 135 leaders-employees of 17 organisations of LIS in more than five countries answered on a quantitative methodological research instrument in a multiplicity of variables. Statistical analysis of independent samplest-test was used to testify our research hypotheses.

Findings

– Results indicated that there is a difference in means between the two independent samples (leaders-employees). There are library leaders who rate themselves quite high, and there are employees who rate their leaders with lower evaluations.

Research limitations/implications

– This research extends and improves the matter of Self-Other Agreement in the sector of LIS through the collection of data that indicated a possible gap of communication and trustworthiness between leaders and employees.

Practical implications

– Regardless of the difference or the consensus of ratings among leaders and employees, the results of this research could be served as a stimulus plus as a starting point for library leaders by correcting or developing relations of communication and trustworthiness between them and their followers.

Originality/value

– Self-Other Agreement is one of the major factors that positively or negatively affect the overall operation of the organization in the way a leader could perceive the additional feedback. In the sector of LIS, the study of Self-Other Agreement is a rich and unexplored research area which deserves further analysis.
Essential amino acids profile of differentially processed soy products and their efficiency in meeting daily requirement
Authors: Kumar Vineet , Rani Anita , Hussain Lulua
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– In the backdrop of declining per capita availability of pulses, soybean is the alternate source to address protein deficiency in India. The study aims to assess the efficiency of soy products available in the market for meeting the daily requirement of essential amino acids (EAAs).

Design/methodology/approach

– Extruded soy products, namely, soy nuggets, granules, soy flour manufactured from sprouts, spray-dried soy milk variants, ready-to-drink (RTD) soy beverage and silken tofu, were analysed for EAAs by high-performance liquid chromatography. In addition, efficiency of these products in terms of meeting the daily requirement of EAAs for an adult weighing 70 kg through a single serving (equivalent to 6 g protein) was also computed.

Findings

– Leucine was the most concentrated EAA in all the soy products, except in variants of soy milk. Total essential amino acids’ (TEAAs) content in soy flour was significantly higher compared to soy nuggets and granules. Spray-dried plain soymilk exhibited a significantly higher level of TEAAs content compared to flavoured variant and RTD soy beverage. Among all the products, silken tofu exhibited the highest concentration of TEAAs. RTD soy beverage was the most efficient product for meeting the daily requirement of isoleucine and valine, soy flour for aromatic amino acids and silken tofu for lysine and leucine.

Originality/value

– This work pertains to the determination of EAAs of commercial soy products and assesses their efficiency in terms of meeting the daily requirement of EAAs. This type of technical evaluation of soy products has not been conducted earlier.
Olive or salmon oils affect differently the storage and transport of fatty acids by VLDL in hypercholesterolemic rats fed different proteins
Authors: Bouderbala Sherazede , Bouchenak Malika
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to compare the effect of olive or salmon oil on the hepatic storage and transport of fatty acids by very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL).

Design/methodology/approach

– In all, 24 male Wistar rats (80 ± 5 g) were fed a 0.5 per cent cholesterol-enriched diet with either 20 per cent casein (C) or chickpea (CP) proteins with 10 per cent olive (O) or salmon (S) oil for 28 days.

Findings

– In VLDL-triacyglycerols fatty acids, oleic acid content was higher in CPS as compared to that in CS or CPO and lower in CS and CPO than that in CO; linoleic acid content was higher in all groups; arachidonic acid content was higher in CS and CPO as compared to that in CO. In the liver, TG fatty acids content was lower in CPO or CPS as compared to that in CO or CS; oleic and arachidonic acid contents were lower in CPS than that in CPO; linoleic acid content was lower in CS, CPS and CPO than that in CO, CPO and CO. In liver, phospholipid fatty acid, oleic and arachidonic acid contents were lower in CPS than that in CS; oleic, linoleic and arachidonic acid contents were lower in CPO compared to that in CO. In liver, cholesteryl esters fatty acids, oleic, linoleic and arachidonic acids contents were higher in CPS as compared to that in CS; oleic, linoleic and arachidonic acid contents were lower in CS as compared to that in CO; linoleic and arachidonic acid contents were lower in CPS than that in CPO.

Originality/value

– A cholesterol-enriched diet containing casein or chickpea proteins combined with olive or salmon oil affects the hepatic storage and transport of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids by VLDL.
Same nurse but different time: temporal divergence in the facilitation of plant lineages with contrasted functional syndromes
Authors: Navarro‐Cano Jose A. , Goberna Marta , Valiente‐Banuet Alfonso , Verdú Miguel
Published: March 2016

Plant facilitation assembles functionally contrasted communities in dry lands. Nurse plants are often early colonizers with xerophytic traits that were mostly selected during the dry Quaternary (Quaternary syndrome), while beneficiary plants tend to be late‐successional species with mesophytic traits that evolved mainly during the more humid Tertiary (Tertiary syndrome). Integrating plant facilitation within the community assembly theory requires a better understanding of the ontogenetic development of the nursing abilities that benefit functionally contrasted species.

We assessed whether the same nurse plant facilitates species with Quaternary and Tertiary syndromes in an ecosystem under severe abiotic stress conditions imposed by aridity and gypsum soil toxicity. We hypothesized that both functional types find suitable microsites for seedling establishment underneath the same nurse but their optimal regeneration niches are temporally segregated along the ontogenetic development of the nurse.

We carried out a sowing experiment along a 40‐year ontogenetic gradient of the nurse shrub Ononis tridentata. Seeds from five Tertiary and five Quaternary species were sown and seedling emergence monitored.

While the nurse age did not affect the seedling emergence of Quaternary species, it significantly increased that of Tertiary species. These results were corroborated for elder ontogenetic stages in non‐manipulated plants in the field. Juveniles of Quaternary species were able to grow beneath nurse plants along their whole ontogenetic gradient excepting beneath Ononis seedlings, while Tertiary species were only facilitated by mature nurses.

Synthesis. Our results show that plant nursing abilities evolve ontogenetically in a different way for beneficiary Quaternary and Tertiary plant lineages. The finding of a plant species that plays a role as key assembler of early‐ and late‐successional species in plant dynamics broadens the scope of facilitation in the community assembly theory.

A lay summary is available for this article.
Caribou avoiding wolves face increased predation by bears – Caught between Scylla and Charybdis
Authors: Leblond Mathieu , Dussault Christian , Ouellet Jean‐Pierre , St‐Laurent Martin‐Hugues
Published: March 2016

Prey may trade off resource acquisition with mortality risk by using various habitat selection strategies. Empirical assessments have shown that the functional and numerical responses of predators to human disturbances are variable, yet spatial changes in predation risk by two predators have seldom been studied for prey occurring in human‐modified landscapes. Using the boreal caribou Rangifer tarandus caribou – grey wolf Canis lupus – black bear Ursus americanus system in eastern Canada, we investigated whether responses of prey towards one predator could concomitantly increase risk of predation from another predator exhibiting a different foraging tactic.

We investigated trade‐offs made by solitary caribou females and mothers accompanied by their calf during the period of highest calf vulnerability and compared the behaviour of mothers that would eventually lose their calf to predation to that of mothers whose calf survived until the following year. We modelled habitat selection using different metrics of forage based on field measurements and digital maps and developed empirical models of predation risk and prey behaviour using GPS data collected on both predators and prey.

Mothers accompanied by their calf seemed to compromise foraging opportunities for safety, as opposed to solitary females who showed no particular avoidance of areas used by predators. Although caribou mothers adopted selection strategies that could have protected their offspring from wolves, females that eventually lost their calf to predation selected for vegetative associations that were favourable to bears.

Synthesis and applications. We determined that mothers that most strongly avoided suitable wolf habitat were also those that most strongly selected suitable bear habitat, suggesting that by using antipredator strategies aimed at reducing predation risk from wolves, caribou exposed their offspring to increased predation risk from bears. This result is of paramount conservation value as bears were responsible for 94% of caribou calf kills in this system. In the short term, conservation efforts for boreal caribou may benefit from the management of bear populations by means of liberal hunting regulations or predator control. In the long term, however, these actions should be used in conjunction with the protection of potential calving areas away from cutblocks and roads.
Asynchronous changes in abundance over large scales are explained by demographic variation rather than environmental stochasticity in an invasive flagellate
Authors: Trigal Cristina , Ruete Alejandro
Published: March 2016

Environmental stochasticity is important in explaining the persistence and establishment of invasive species, but the simultaneous effects of environmental and demographic factors are difficult to separate. Understanding how demography and environmental factors affect invasive species abundance over large temporal and spatial scales is essential to anticipate populations at risk of becoming established and setting appropriate management measures.

Using a hierarchical mixed modelling approach, we analysed the spatial and interannual dynamics of the invasive raphidophyte Gonyostomum semen, a noxious flagellate which is spreading in northern Europe, in response to demographic and environmental variation. We used data from 76 lakes distributed across two biogeographical regions in Sweden (Central Plains in the south and Fennoscandian region in the north) and sampled during 14 years.

We found a strong asynchrony in the density dynamics of G. semen populations between the two regions. G. semen showed positive trends (i.e. increasing frequency of high density peaks) in most southern lakes, forming established populations with recurrent blooms in successive years in some of them. In contrast, G. semen populations were smaller and more stochastic in the north.

G. semen previous year's abundance, a proxy for cyst production and recruitment, had a strong control on the dynamics, likely contributing to the stability of high density populations in southern lakes. Conversely, the effects of climate and habitat were weaker and their influence varied across regions. Temperature was the limiting factor in the north whereas local habitat was more important in the south.

Synthesis. A full understanding of the mechanisms driving abundance changes across large scales can only be gained if endogenous and environmental factors are analysed together. For phytoplankton species, and specially, noxious microalgae, this implies that proxies for cyst production and recruitment, which are the inoculum for next year population, should be included in e.g. distribution, bloom formation and climate models, as these may modify establishment and population response to environmental variation. Asynchronous changes in abundance across regions also indicate that management plans should be developed for small regions, as inference at a large scale may obscure the mechanisms driving local population changes.
The Curse of Civilised Woman: Race, Gender and the Pain of Childbirth in Nineteenth‐Century American Medicine
Authors: Rich Miriam
Published: March 2016

Accounts of the easy, painless childbearing of ‘primitive’ non‐white women in comparison to their ‘civilised’ white counterparts were ubiquitous in early modern travel literature. In the nineteenth‐century United States, such narratives were increasingly taken up in medical and scientific literature, catalysing the production of new forms of knowledge about race and bodies. This article analyses several key medico‐scientific theories produced to explain racialised parturient pain and argues that this knowledge dynamically interrelated with both racial ideas and racial practice in nineteenth‐century society. The shifting character of this knowledge implicated changing ways of defining race, including the anchoring of racial identity in the physical body; the role of the physician as an arbiter of racial truth; and the imbrication of gender in racial classifications. Moreover, knowledge produced to explain racialised parturient pain – for instance, about race‐specific sensory physiology, muscular mechanics and skeletal anatomy – circulated within numerous social institutions, among them slavery; gynaecologic and obstetric care; medical experimentation; anti‐abortion crusades invoking the spectre of ‘race suicide’; and eugenic projects. In this way, medical discourse on the gendered body of the parturient was enrolled in the changing articulation of race across the nineteenth century.
The Fibonacci Life‐Chart Method (FLCM) as a foundation for Carl Jung's theory of synchronicity
Authors: Sacco Robert G.
Published: March 2016

Since the scientific method requires events to be subject to controlled examination it would seem that synchronicities are not scientifically investigable. Jung speculated that because these incredible events are like the random sparks of a firefly they cannot be pinned down. However, doubting Jung's doubts, the author provides a possible method of elucidating these seemingly random and elusive events. The author draws on a new method, designated the Fibonacci Life‐Chart Method (FLCM), which categorizes phase transitions and Phi fractal scaling in human development based on the occurrence of Fibonacci numbers in biological cell division and self‐organizing systems. The FLCM offers an orientation towards psychological experience that may have relevance to Jung's theory of synchronicity in which connections are deemed to be intrinsically meaningful rather than demonstrable consequences of cause and effect. In such a model synchronistic events can be seen to be, as the self‐organizing system enlarges, manifestations of self‐organized critical moments and Phi fractal scaling. Recommendations for future studies include testing the results of the FLCM using case reports of synchronistic and spiritual experiences.
The five functions of psychological type
Authors: Myers Steve
Published: March 2016

From the mid‐1930s to the end of his life, Jung complained that most readers misunderstood the main point of his book Psychological Types. He viewed being a type as one‐sided and problematic for a variety of reasons. His symbol‐based solution to the ‘type problem’ involved developing a transcendent function to become the new dominant function of consciousness. However, this function has not featured in the popular use of his typology and Isabel Briggs Myers believed that the one‐sidedness of Jung's eight types could be balanced by the auxiliary function. This has led to the transcendent function being widely ignored, and to a developmental philosophy that encourages a degree of one‐sidedness. This divergence of popular type theory and analytical psychology is the result of various factors, such as Jung describing typology as containing four functions, and a letter in 1950 where Jung apparently supported Myers’ version of type theory. This hinders the application of analytical psychology to normal psychology, and particularly individual and cultural development. If we refer to Jung's typology as containing five functions not four, this more accurately represents both the content of the book Psychological Types and the primary value Jung saw in typology.
The psychologist who is not a psychologist: a deconstructive reading of Wolfgang Giegerich's idea of psychology proper
Authors: Marlan Stanton
Published: March 2016

This paper represents an archetypal and deconstructive reading of the work of Wolfgang Giegerich. In an attempt to extend and philosophically develop Jung's late‐life view of the objective psyche, Giegerich, via Hegel, defines psychology proper as fundamentally separate from the everyday person and the ‘human, all‐too‐human’ aspects of the soul. It is argued that, in so doing, Giegerich removes the human person from being the primary focus of his psychology and creates instead a hierarchy of ideas and values privileging syntax over semantics, the logical over the empirical, and thinking over imagination. This bypasses the emotionality of the everyday person/patient and also renders psychology proper unable to address the day‐to‐day practice of the analyst. Giegerich attempts to rectify this problem by re‐incorporating what he had previously rejected, making his theory more complex than is apparent in his binary oppositions. In the end, however, it remains a question to what extent Giegerich is successful in avoiding a binary scission (Saban 2015) or a tendency to regularly de‐emphasize the human aspect of the soul (Hoedl 2015) in his need to continue to heroically push off from the ego seeking total freedom from neurosis and from our humanity.
Outcome at 30 days for low‐risk chest pain patients assessed using an accelerated diagnostic pathway in the emergency department
Authors: Meek Robert , Braitberg George , Cullen Louise , Than Martin , Graudins Andis , Glynn Deirdre
Published: March 2016

Objectives

Primary: to determine incidence of 30 day major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in patients discharged from the ED following assessment using an accelerated diagnostic pathway (ADP). Secondary: to determine incidence of 30 day MACE for all ADP patients.

Methods

Monash Health ED patients thought at low risk for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or hospital admission are assessed using an ADP, based on arrival and 90 min point‐of‐care (POC) cardiac troponin I and myoglobin concentration. Other patients are assessed using a traditional pathway of arrival and 6 h central lab cardiac troponin I. Choice of pathway is based on the clinical judgement of the attending ED doctor. To investigate the safety of the ADP component, an observational study of all ADP patients presenting from 6 June 2013 to 30 September 2013 was conducted. After 30 days, occurrence of MACE was determined by examination of hospital records or telephone contact with patients who had not returned.

Results

Of 1547 eligible patients, 1384 (89.5%) were followed up. Of the 1143 discharged patients with follow‐up information, 30 day MACE occurred in one (0.09%, 95% CI 0.002–0.5). Of all 1547 patients, 60 patients had a MACE detected: 56 AMI during the initial attendance, four AMI post‐discharge (one from ED, three after hospital admission). In total, of the 1328 patients who did not have AMI during the target admission and were followed up, 30 day post‐discharge MACE occurred in four patients (0.3%, 95% CI 0.08–0.8).

Conclusion

The ADP supports safe, early discharge of low‐risk chest pain patients from the ED.
Phenolic Profiles and Contribution of Individual Compounds to Antioxidant Activity of Apple Powders
Authors: Raudone Lina , Raudonis Raimondas , Liaudanskas Mindaugas , Viskelis Jonas , Pukalskas Audrius , Janulis Valdimaras
Published: March 2016

Apples (Malus domestica L.) are the most common source of phenolic compounds in northern European diet. Besides pectins, dietary fibers, vitamins, and oligosaccharides they contain phenolic compounds of different classes. Apple powders are convenient functional forms retaining significant amounts of phenolic antioxidants. In this study reducing and radical scavenging profiles of freeze‐dried powders of “Aldas,ˮ “Auksis,ˮ “Connel Red,ˮ “Ligol,ˮ “Lodel,ˮ and “Rajkaˮ were determined and phenolic constituents were identified using ultra high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole and time‐of‐flight mass spectrometers. A negative ionization mode was applied and seventeen compounds: phenolic acids (coumaroylquinic, chlorogenic), flavonoids (quercetin derivatives), and procyanidin derivatives (B1, B2, and C1) were identified in all tested apple samples. Total values of Trolox equivalents varied from 7.72 ± 0.32 up to 20.02 ± 0.52 and from 11.10 ± 0.57 up to 21.42 ± 0.75 μmol/g of dry weight of apple powder in FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) and ABTS (2,2‐azinobis‐(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid) postcolumn assays, respectively. The greatest Trolox equivalent values were determined for apples of “Aldasˮ cultivar. Chlorogenic acid and procyanidin C1 were the most significant contributors to total reducing and radical scavenging activity in all apple cultivars tested, therefore they could be considered as markers of antioxidant activity.
Beneficial Effect on Surrogate Markers of Heart Failure with Bisoprolol Up‐Titration to Recommended Targets in Korean Patients with Heart Failure and Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction
Authors: Han Seong Woo , Choi Suk‐Won , Ryu Kyu‐Hyung , Kim Hyun‐Joong , Kim Sung Hea , Shim Wan Joo , Cha Tae‐Joon , Choi Dong‐Ju , Kim Yong‐Jin , Yoo Byung‐Su , Kim Jun‐Hyung , Hwang Kyung‐Kuk , Jeon HuiKyung , Shin Mi‐Seung
Published: March 2016

Introduction

The objective of this study was to establish the benefit of bisoprolol up‐titration toward recommended dosage targets, versus lower‐dose maintenance, in heart failure (HF) patients with systolic dysfunction.

Methods

Korean HF patients received bisoprolol 1.25 mg/day, incrementally up‐titrated toward 10 mg/day in the absence of contraindications. After 26 weeks' treatment, patients were grouped as low‐dose (<3.75 mg/day) or high‐dose (≥3.75 mg/day). Primary endpoint was change in serum N‐terminal probrain natriuretic peptide (NT‐proBNP). Other markers of HF were also evaluated.

Results

159 of 180 enrolled patients were evaluable. After 16 weeks' follow‐up, there were 52 and 107 patients in the low‐ and high‐dose groups respectively. Mean bisoprolol dosage was 5.4 mg/day; 24% of patients achieved target (10 mg/day). Mean logNT‐proBNP significantly decreased in both groups, with no significant difference in the magnitude of change between groups. Mean heart rate (HR) and blood pressure decreased significantly in both groups, but only HR showed a significantly greater change in high‐dose versus low‐dose patients. In both groups, mean left ventricular (LV) end‐systolic and end‐diastolic dimensions were significantly decreased and mean LV ejection fraction was significantly improved. Mean 6‐min walk test distances improved in both groups (significant in low‐dose patients only). Functional class improvement was observed in both low‐ and high‐dose patients. No patients were rehospitalized due to aggravated HF.

Conclusions

In HF patients with systolic dysfunction, any bisoprolol dose is beneficial, but an attempt to up‐titrate toward guideline‐recommended dosages offers additional benefit in terms of restoration of LV systolic function and remodeling.
Program Director Opinion on the Ideal Length of Residency Training in Emergency Medicine
Authors: Hopson Laura , Regan Linda , Gisondi Michael A. , Cranford James A. , Branzetti Jeremy
Published: March 2016

Objective

This study sought to define expert opinion on the ideal length of training (LoT) for Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)‐accredited emergency medicine (EM) residency programs.

Methods

A cross‐sectional Web‐based survey was sent to program directors (PDs) at all ACGME‐accredited EM residency programs during a study period of August to October 2014. The primary outcome of ideal LoT was determined in two ways: 1) subjects provided the ideal total LoT in months and 2) then separately selected the type and number of rotations for an ideal EM residency curriculum by month, the sum of which provided an alternative measurement of their ideal LoT. We did not include vacation time. Descriptive statistics and an analysis of variance are reported.

Results

Response rate was 68.0% (108/159) with 72% of respondents (78/108) directing programs in the PGY 1–3 (36‐month) format and 28% directing PGY 1–4 (48‐month) programs. More than half of subjects (51.9%) have direct personal experience with both formats. When asked about ideal total LoT, PDs averaged 41.5 months (n = 107; SD = 5.5 months, range = 36–60 months). When asked to provide durations of individual clinical experiences for their ideal EM program, the sum total (n = 104) averaged 45.0 months. Results from a factorial analysis of variance revealed statistically significant effects of PDs' past training experiences: participants who trained in a 36‐month program had statistically significantly lower LoT (mean = 39.2 months) than participants who trained in a 48‐month program (mean = 44.5 months). There was also a statistically significant effect of current program format on ideal LoT: participants who directed a 36‐month program had statistically significantly lower LoT (mean = 39.8 months) than participants who directed a 48‐month program (mean = 45.8 months).

Conclusions

PD opinion on ideal LoT averages between 36 and 48 months, but is longer when the sum of desired clinical rotations is considered. While half of the respondents reported direct experience with both PGY 1–3 and PGY 1–4 training programs, opinions on ideal LoT through both methods corresponded strongly with the length of the program the PDs trained in and the format of the program they currently direct. PD opinions may be too biased by their own experiences to provide objective input on the ideal LoT for EM residency programs.
Comalco's Development of Queensland Bauxite, 1955–1975
Authors: Lee David
Published: March 2016

In 1954 Australia mined little bauxite and did not produce alumina, but by the end of the 1970s Australian industry accounted for more than one third of the western world's bauxite production and about one fifth of its alumina. This article examines the development of Comalco, the company which mined Australia's largest bauxite deposits in Queensland and was an essential part of Australia's entry into the world‐wide aluminium industry from the 1960s to the 1980s. Fundamental to Comalco's success was government‐industry co‐operation. The Australian government established an aluminium smelter for defence purposes in Tasmania that it sold to Comalco on favourable terms and then protected with tariffs and import restrictions. Moreover, federal government‐industry co‐operation stimulated the discovery of bauxite, the main source of aluminium, in northern Australia. Even more important to Comalco's success was the Queensland government which gave the company access to the best of the state's newly‐discovered bauxite deposits in return for the company's commitment to industrial development in the state on the back of mining. Using its relationships with state and national governments in Australasia, Comalco was able to harness competing aluminium companies in the building of the largest alumina plant in the world at Gladstone in central Queensland and, in doing so, set itself on the path to becoming a multinational company in its own right.
The War with Germany
Authors: Crotty Martin
Published: March 2016

The War with Germany. By Robert Stevenson (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp.xvi + 303, AU$59.95 (cloth).
The War with the Ottoman Empire: The Centenary History of Australia and the Great War, Volume 2
Authors: Ariotti Kate
Published: March 2016

The War with the Ottoman Empire: The Centenary History of Australia and the Great War, Volume 2. By Jeffrey Grey (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp.x + 238. 16 Maps. AU$59.95 (cloth).
Red Professor: The Cold War Life of Fred Rose
Authors: Deery Phillip
Published: March 2016

Red Professor: The Cold War Life of Fred Rose. By Peter Monteath and Valerie Munt (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2015), pp.ix + 368. AU$39.95 (pb).
Triumph and Demise: The Broken Promise of a Labor Generation
Authors: Williams Paul D.
Published: March 2016

Triumph and Demise: The Broken Promise of a Labor Generation. By Paul Kelly (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2014), pp.560 + viii. AU$49.99 (cloth).
Abbott's Gambit: 2013 Australian Federal Election
Authors: Arklay Tracey
Published: March 2016

Abbott's Gambit: 2013 Australian Federal Election. Edited by Carol Johnson and John Wanna (with Hsu‐Ann Lee) (Canberra: Australian National University Press 2015), pp.436, AU$35.00 (pb).
Rupert Murdoch. A Reassessment
Authors: Marjoribanks Timothy
Published: March 2016

Rupert Murdoch. A Reassessment. By Rodney Tiffen (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2014), pp.ix + 374. AU$34.99 (pb).
From Protection to Competition — The Politics of Trade Practices Reform in Australia
Authors: Crook Arthur
Published: March 2016

From Protection to Competition — The Politics of Trade Practices Reform in Australia. By Kerrie Round and Martin Shanahan (Sydney: The Federation Press, 2015), AU$125.00 (hb).
Out of Place (Gwalia): Occasional Essays on Australian Regional Communities and Built Environments in Transition
Authors: Pinto Sarah
Published: March 2016

Out of Place (Gwalia): Occasional Essays on Australian Regional Communities and Built Environments in Transition. Edited by Philip Goldswain, Nicole Sully, and William M. Taylor (Perth: UWA Publishing, 2014), pp.xi + 311. AU$39.99 (pb).
Old Age in Australia: A History
Authors: Quartly Marian
Published: March 2016

Old Age in Australia: A History. By Pat Jalland (Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing, 2015), pp.vii + 296, AU$79.99(cloth), AU$59.99 (pb), AU$49.99 (eb).
Calls to Arms: New Zealand Society and Commitment to the Great War
Authors: Parsons Gwen
Published: March 2016

Calls to Arms: New Zealand Society and Commitment to the Great War. By Steven Loveridge (Wellington, NZ: Victoria University Press, 2014), pp.332. NZ$40.00 (pb).
Distant Strangers: How Britain Became Modern
Authors: Ginn Geoffrey A.C.
Published: March 2016

Distant Strangers: How Britain Became Modern. By James Vernon (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014), AU$32.95 (pb), distributed in Australia by Footprint Books.
Ritual and Rhythm in Electoral Systems: A Comparative Legal Account
Authors: Sawer Marian
Published: March 2016

Ritual and Rhythm in Electoral Systems: A Comparative Legal Account. By Graeme Orr (Farnham and Burlington: Ashgate, 2015), pp.xiv + 223. £70.00 (cloth).
Climate Challenged Society
Authors: Crowley Kate
Published: March 2016

Climate Challenged Society. By J.S. Dryzek, R.B. Norgaard and D. Schlossberg (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), £16.34 (pb).
Couples' willingness to donate embryos for research: a longitudinal study
Authors: Samorinha Catarina , Severo Milton , Machado Helena , Figueiredo Bárbara , de Freitas Cláudia , Silva Susana
Published: March 2016

Introduction

Decision‐making on embryo disposition is a source of distress and is subject to change over time. This paper analyzes the willingness of couples undergoing in vitro fertilization to donate cryopreserved embryos for research from 15 days after embryo transfer to 12 months later, taking into account the influence of psychosocial, demographic, and reproductive factors.

Material and methods

Prospective longitudinal study, with 74 heterosexual couples undergoing in vitro fertilization in a public fertility centre in Portugal, recruited between 2011 and 2012. Participants were evaluated twice: 15 days after embryo transfer and 12 months later.

Results

A significant decrease in patients' willingness to donate embryos for research over time was observed [86.5% to 73.6%; relative risk (RR) = 0.85; 95% CI 0.76–0.95]. A higher education level (>12 years) [adjusted RR (RRadj) = 0.79; 95% CI 0.64–0.96], considering research on human embryos to be important (vs. very important) (RRadj = 0.59; 95% CI 0.39–0.85) and practicing a religion less than once a month (vs. at least once a month) (RRadj = 0.73; 95% CI 0.53–1.00) seemed associated with unwillingness to donate embryos for research over time. Change towards non‐donation happened mainly among couples who first considered that it was better to donate than wasting the embryos. Change towards donation occurred mostly among those stating that their priority at time 1 was to have a baby and who became pregnant in the meantime.

Conclusions

Quality of care guided by patients' characteristics, values, preferences, and needs calls for considering the factors and reasons underlying couples' willingness to donate embryos for research over time as a topic in psychosocial guidelines for infertility and medically assisted reproductive care.
Healthcare professionals approach paediatric fever in significantly different ways and fever phobia is not just limited to parents
Authors: Martins Marta , Abecasis Francisco
Published: March 2016

Aim

Fever is a benign process, but it is still frequently regarded as harmful. We aimed to evaluate the knowledge of parents and healthcare professionals on fever.

Methods

Data were obtained through questionnaires administered to a sample of parents and nurses in the paediatric emergency rooms of two hospitals and to family doctors and paediatricians currently practising in Portugal.

Results

We collected 265 answers from parents, 49 from nurses and 525 from doctors. Most nurses (74%), doctors (55%) and parents (43%) considered fever as a temperature above 38°C. The parents’ first reaction to a febrile child was to give them antipyretics, and acetaminophen was used most frequently (44%). Nurses considered that a child with fever must always be treated and that a history of febrile seizures was the most decisive factor in initiating treatment. On the other hand, the most important factor for paediatricians was the presence of discomfort. For parents (74%) and nurses (92%), the most feared effect of untreated fever was seizures, and for paediatricians (97%), it was irritability.

Conclusion

The parents’ and nurses’ attitudes demonstrated fear of fever and its consequences. The approach to paediatric fever was significantly different among healthcare professionals.
The Case Against the Case for Procreative Beneficence (PB)
Authors: Holland Alan
Published: March 2016

Julian Savulescu's principle of procreative beneficence (PB) states that, other things being equal, and of the possible children they could have, a couple contemplating procreation are morally obliged to (attempt to) procreate the child with the best chance of the best life. The critique of PB is in three parts. The first part argues that PB rests on a particular conception of the good life, and that alternative conceptions of the good life afford no obvious way in which PB can be rendered operational. The second part identifies six flaws in the attempt to justify PB in terms of a particular conception of the good life according to which the best life is understood as the life with the most well‐being. The third part explores some of the uncertainties that surround the potential implications and ramifications of adopting the principle. The overall purpose is not to demonstrate that the principle is untenable, but only to demonstrate that no compelling reason has yet been given for adhering to it.
Ingenol mebutate for actinic keratosis: a field-directed therapy with short duration
Authors: Garmyn M.
Published: March 2016

Linked Article:  Garbe et al. Br J Dermatol 2016; 174:505–513.
Monoclonal gammopathy‐associated pure red cell aplasia
Authors: Korde Neha , Zhang Yong , Loeliger Kelsey , Poon Andrea , Simakova Olga , Zingone Adriana , Costello Rene , Childs Richard , Noel Pierre , Silver Samuel , Kwok Mary , Mo Clifton , Young Neal , Landgren Ola , Sloand Elaine , Maric Irina
Published: March 2016

Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) is a rare disorder characterized by inhibition of erythroid precursors in the bone marrow and normochromic, normocytic anaemia with reticulocytopenia. Among 51 PRCA patients, we identified 12 (24%) patients having monoclonal gammopathy, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance or smouldering multiple myeloma, with presence of monoclonal protein or abnormal serum free light chains and atypical bone marrow features of clonal plasmacytosis, hypercellularity and fibrosis. Thus far, three patients treated with anti‐myeloma based therapeutics have responded with reticulocyte recovery and clinical transfusion independence, suggesting plasma cells play a key role in the pathogenesis of this specific monoclonal gammopathy‐associated PRCA.
Molecular identification of livestock breeds: a tool for modern conservation biology
Authors: Yaro Mohammed , Munyard Kylie A. , Stear Michael J. , Groth David M.
Published: March 2016

Global livestock genetic diversity includes all of the species, breeds and strains of domestic animals, and their variations. Although a recent census indicated that there were 40 species and over 8000 breeds of domestic animals; for the purpose of conservation biology the diversity between and within breeds rather than species is regarded to be of crucial importance. This domestic animal genetic diversity has developed through three main evolutionary events, from speciation (about 3 million years ago) through domestication (about 12000 years ago) to specialised breeding (starting about 200 years ago). These events and their impacts on global animal genetic resources have been well documented in the literature. The key importance of global domestic animal resources in terms of economic, scientific and cultural heritage has also been addressed. In spite of their importance, there is a growing number of reports on the alarming erosion of domestic animal genetic resources. This erosion of is happening in spite of several global conservation initiatives designed to mitigate it. Herein we discuss these conservation interventions and highlight their strengths and weaknesses. However, pivotal to the success of these conservation initiatives is the reliability of the genetic assignment of individual members to a target breed. Finally, we discuss the prospect of using improved breed identification methodologies to develop a reliable breed‐specific molecular identification tool that is easily applicable to populations of livestock breeds in various ecosystems. These identification tools, when developed, will not only facilitate the regular monitoring of threatened or endangered breed populations, but also enhance the development of more efficient and sustainable livestock production systems.