bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Economies of scale in European life insurance
Authors: Klotzki Udo , Bohnert Alexander , Gatzert Nadine , Vogelgesang Ulrike
Published: January 2018

Purpose

Due to the continuing low interest rate environment as well as the increase in acquisition costs, price transparency, cost transparency and competition with banks, the cost of life insurance becomes increasingly important for customers, insurers and shareholders. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to study the development of insurers’ economies of scale in regard to administrative costs for four of the largest European life insurance markets.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis on economies of scale is based on a comprehensive set of 477 life insurers in Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, yearly data between 2000 and 2014, and regression calculations that are based on 4,855 observations.

Findings

The results show that economies of scale exist for all considered markets and for most of the considered years. However, the extent of economies of scale varies considerably across countries.

Originality/value

Overall, the existing academic literature on costs and corresponding economies of scale in life insurance primarily deals with analyses of total costs instead of administrative costs, a single year or a single market. This paper contributes to the existing literature by conducting an analysis of recent market dynamics and economies of scale in regard to administrative costs for the period from 2000 and 2014 for four of the largest European life insurance markets for which the respective data were available (Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) and 477 life insurers in total. This is done by means of a log-log transformation of premiums and costs and a fixed effects model based on these transformed figures for 4,855 observations. In addition, for each market, the authors analyze the development of administrative costs for a total of 477 insurers.
Financial penalties and banks’ systemic risk
Authors: Köster Hannes , Pelster Matthias
Published: January 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of financial penalties on the stability of the banking sector.

Design/methodology/approach

A unique database of 671 financial penalties imposed on 68 international listed banks between 2007 and 2014 and a fixed-effects panel data approach were used.

Findings

The results show that financial penalties increase banks’ systemic risk exposure but do not significantly affect banks’ contribution to systemic risk. Additionally, the link between financial penalties and systemic risk exposure is weaker in regulatory and supervisory systems with more prompt corrective power among national authorities. By contrast, supervisory authorities’ stronger power to declare insolvency and a greater external monitoring culture exacerbate the positive effects of financial penalties on systemic risk exposure.

Practical implications

The punishment of misconduct should correct the social harm and prevent future misconduct while ensuring the banking system’s stability. Therefore, authorities should punish misconduct by implementing penalties against the financial institutions at a specific amount that offsets the damages of misconduct but does not threaten systemic stability. Penalties against institutions may be complemented by financial penalties against upper management to induce a more responsible culture in banks.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to study the effect of financial penalties on the stability of the financial system. The results contribute to the ongoing debate on the appropriateness of financial penalties and address the question of whether bank regulators reduce or contribute to banks’ systemic risk.
The doer effect of failure and recovery in multi-agent cases: service supply chain perspective
Authors: Yildirim Cansu , Sevil Oflaç Bengu , Yurt Oznur
Published: January 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the doer effect of service failure (SF), good prior experience (GPE) and recovery on overall customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions for multi-agents in tourism service supply chain (TSSC). It specifically focuses on internal and external failure and recovery.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employs a 2×2×3 between-subjects experimental design with 12 diverse scenarios. It aims to examine the main effects of GPE and the interaction effects of SF and recovery on overall customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions.

Findings

The main findings show that consumers do not show favorable behavioral outcomes when they have GPE with an affiliated party. Results of the experiments demonstrate that for hotels, there is no interaction effect between failure and recovery regarding overall customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions; however, for travel agencies, an interaction effect has been found. This indicates that an internal failure (by travel agency) should be recovered internally to increase the behavioral outcomes for travel agency. However, if there is an external failure (by hotel) then the essential thing is providing a recovery.

Originality/value

Although the service literature covers failure and recovery in diverse contexts, these concepts are rarely studied from a multi-agent perspective in the service supply chain literature. In such a chain, a failure by a different party may remain unresolved, and this may create a positive effect on another party, if they provide recovery for the failure. This means that the doer of the failure and/or recovery (the party responsible from the failure and/or recovery) may have an impact on behavioral outcomes. However, previous literature has neglected to focus on the important issue of which entity/party performs the failure and/or recovery, and the effect on behavioral outcomes. By focusing on a principal-agent relationship in a TSSC, the study aims to address this research gap.
Improving firm performance through inter-organizational collaborative innovations
Authors: Hernandez-Espallardo Miguel , Osorio-Tinoco Fabian , Rodriguez-Orejuela Augusto
Published: January 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to add to the existing knowledge about how firm performance is influenced by their involvement in collaborative innovation. The contextual resource-based dimensions improve the participating firm’s performance through its impact on the job-related attitudes of the firm’s personnel.

Design/methodology/approach

Hypotheses were tested using structural equation model to analyze a set of data collected through surveys among a sample of Colombian manufacturers.

Findings

This study provides empirical evidence that contributes to the scarce research in the open innovation arena about how human resources influence performance in the inter-organizational collaborative innovations. In particular, it offers strong support for the key mediating role of the employees’ job-related attitudes in the relationship between complementary capabilities and innovation culture as value-creating conditions, and the participating firm’s ultimate sales and financial performance.

Research limitations/implications

The results may be affected by the context of the data set. Further studies considering the influence of specific contextual variables, such as the type of innovation, the national culture or the type of partner, could yield richer insights that would help validate the results of this study.

Practical implications

This study provides useful information for managers. As well as creating the required conditions to add value in the collaborative innovation, they should work to guarantee the better job-related outcomes for the employees involved in collaborative innovation projects.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the open innovation literature. It posits the employee’s attitudes toward collaborative innovations as a factor of the utmost importance in determining how the external collaboration affects internal performance.
Water management on the Mexico-US border: a review of the literature
Authors: Silva-Rodríguez de San Miguel Jorge Alejandro
Published: January 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine literature relating to water management on the Mexico-US border. It suggests avenues that may be valuable in improving cooperation in policy-making between the USA and Mexico on water management issues.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of the literature associated with water management on the border of Mexico and the USA is conducted in this paper. The studies are chosen from scholarly databases (pre-eminently EBSCOHost and JSTOR), and are chosen for their depth, authoritativeness of the authors involved, and because of the empirical and quantifiable data they present. The studies selected ranged from the mid-1990s to 2017.

Findings

The literature selected for review in this paper demonstrates that shared water resources must be managed in a combination of national and binational ways to lead to sustainability. In the border region, recent initiatives to resolve inequalities have emerged, including steps taken by North American Development Bank to purchase bonds as loans.

Originality/value

Historical approaches to policy have been moderately successful, but policy needs to be updated in line with current circumstances and requirements. There appears to be a misunderstanding of what is currently needed from policy. This paper identifies areas that need updated policy and makes policy recommendations.
Biting the hand that heals: mistreatment by patients and the well-being of healthcare workers
Authors: Karaeminogullari Aysegul , Erdogan Berrin , Bauer Talya N.
Published: January 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between stress due to mistreatment by patients and caregivers’ own well-being indicators (anxiety, depression, and behavioral stress indicators). Based on predictions consistent with the job demands-resources model, it is anticipated that satisfaction with job resources would moderate the relationship between mistreatment by patients and well-being indicators.

Design/methodology/approach

Hypotheses were tested with a sample of 182 employees in a leading training and research university hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. Results were partially replicated for a separate sample of 122 healthcare workers. Data were collected using the survey methodology.

Findings

The findings suggest that patient injustice is positively related to depression and behavioral stress indicators when satisfaction with job resources is high. Results illustrate that satisfaction with job resources has a sensitizing, rather than a buffering, role on the relation between mistreatment by patients, depression, and behavioral stress indicators, negatively affecting employees with higher levels of satisfaction with job resources.

Originality/value

Organizational justice researchers recently started recognizing that in addition to organizational insiders, organizational outsiders such as customers and patients may also be sources of fair and unfair treatment. Based on this stream of research, unfair treatment from outsiders is associated with retaliation and a variety of negative employee outcomes. The study extends the currently accumulated work by examining how mistreatment from care recipients relates to healthcare workers’ own health outcomes.
A riposte to ostracism and tolerance to workplace incivility: a generational perspective
Authors: Abubakar A. Mohammed , Yazdian Taraneh Foroutan , Behravesh Elaheh
Published: January 2018

Purpose

Workplace mistreatment and aggression have become pressing issues in today’s multi-generational workplace. Yet, to date, the issue of investigating the impacts of passive and active types of mistreatment simultaneously on different generations has been widely neglected in the management literature. The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the resultant effects of active (i.e. workplace tolerance to incivility) and passive (i.e. workplace ostracism) mistreatments on negative emotion and intention to sabotage, a generational perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were garnered from bank employees in Nigeria (n=320) and analyzed with the aid of a structural equation modeling technique.

Findings

The data reveal that active and passive workplace mistreatments are relevant factors inflicting negative emotions and intention to sabotage, and negative emotions inflict the intention to sabotage. Furthermore, the impact of passive workplace mistreatment on negative emotion is higher among Generations X and Y cohorts, and its impact on the intention to sabotage is higher among Baby Boomers cohorts. The impact of active workplace mistreatment on negative emotion is higher among Generation Y and Baby Boomers cohorts, and its impact on the intention to sabotage is higher among Generations X and Y cohorts.

Originality/value

This paper advances our knowledge concerning the reactional response of employees to workplace mistreatment generation wise. Based on the study findings, theoretical and practical implications are identified and discussed.
Compressed lives: how “flexible” are employer-imposed compressed work schedules?
Authors: Hyatt Edward , Coslor Erica
Published: January 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine employee satisfaction with an employer-imposed compressed workweek (CWW) schedule within a US municipality (City).

Design/methodology/approach

The study utilizes an employee survey (n=779) to test factors related to employee satisfaction with the CWW, a four-day, ten-hours/day workweek (4/10 schedule).

Findings

Employee satisfaction with the schedule is influenced by previous 4/10 pilot experience, work schedule preference, and happiness with the 4/10 schedule’s implementation. Additionally, sick leave figures and survey results regarding informal substitute work schedules suggest that worker fatigue may limit the overall organizational value of the 4/10 schedule.

Research limitations/implications

The study is opportunistic in nature and therefore constrained by the City’s HR Department concerns for survey length and respondent anonymity. This meant an inability to collect demographic data or to utilize validated scales.

Practical implications

Analysis suggests that the potential work-life benefits of flexible work schedules may not apply equally to employer-imposed vs employee-chosen compressed work schedules. Further, CWWs engender greater fatigue despite employee satisfaction, an issue managers should consider when weighing schedule costs and benefits.

Originality/value

The study highlights the importance of employee choice in conceptualizing flexibility and for capturing CWW benefits, namely: an initiative’s voluntary or involuntary nature should be considered when determining whether it is likely to be beneficial for employees.
Psychosocial effects of proactivity
Authors: Ghitulescu Brenda E.
Published: January 2018

Purpose

Although proactivity is thought to have positive effects in the workplace, researchers still need to learn more about the contingent aspects of these effects. Proactivity, a challenging form of promotive behavior that is generally desired by organizations, can lead to unexpected consequences such as role overload, job strain, and conflict with coworkers, which may undermine future proactivity. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of proactive behavior on job satisfaction, affective commitment, and conflict with coworkers, in the context of collaborative work. This study investigates the extent to which collaborative behavior, an affiliative form of promotive behavior, can mitigate the impact of proactive behavior on conflict and promote positive individual psychosocial outcomes, thus making proactive behavior more sustainable in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a survey methodology, data were collected from a sample of 170 teachers engaged in collaborative work.

Findings

Results show that both proactivity and collaborative behavior positively impact affective outcomes, but have opposite effects on conflict. Collaborative behavior complements proactive behavior in that it enhances the effects of proactivity on satisfaction and reduces its impact on conflict.

Research limitations/implications

Creating the appropriate organizational conditions to support employee proactivity is critical for enhancing proactive employees’ work experience and success, effectively motivating and retaining them, and promoting future proactivity. The results indicate that collaboration creates a context where the positive effects of proactivity are enhanced and its negative effects are weakened.

Originality/value

This research is one of the first studies to examine the interactive effects of proactivity and collaboration. The study shows that collaborative behavior can play an important role in enhancing the benefits of proactivity. Thus, the research advances a contingency perspective of proactivity and contributes to a better understanding of its effects.
Relationships between job characteristics, work engagement, conscientiousness and managers’ turnover intentions
Authors: Agarwal Upasna A. , Gupta Vishal
Published: January 2018

Purpose

Integrating the job demands-resources theory and the conservation of resources theory, the purpose of this paper is to develop and test a moderated-mediation model examining the relationships between motivating job characteristics, work engagement, conscientiousness and managers’ turnover intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected using a survey questionnaire from 1,302 managers working in eight Indian private sector organizations. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression analysis were used to test the hypothesized relationships between the study variables.

Findings

The study found evidence of the mediating role of work engagement for the relationship between motivating job characteristics and managers’ turnover intentions. Conscientiousness moderated the relationship between work engagement and turnover intention. The total and indirect effects of motivating job characteristics on turnover intention were moderated by conscientiousness.

Research limitations/implications

The study was cross-sectional, so inferences about causality are limited.

Practical implications

The findings of this study reaffirm the crucial role of job characteristics in influencing work engagement and turnover intention. By examining work engagement as a mediator for the job characteristics-turnover intention relationship, this study explores the process through which job characteristics are associated with turnover intention. The findings of the moderating influence of contentiousness on the relationship of direct and indirect effects of job characteristics suggests that individual personality can influence social exchanges as well as managerial attitudes and behaviors in multiple ways.

Originality/value

The study provides an insight into the underlying process through which job characteristics are related to managers’ turnover intentions. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, such a study is the first of its kind.
Emerging Cultural Capital in the City: Profiling London and Brussels
Authors: Savage Mike , Hanquinet Laurie , Cunningham Niall , Hjellbrekke Johs
Published: January 2018

This essay examines how the contemporary city is being redefined as a fundamental crucible in which new and emerging modes of cultural capital are being forged. Drawing inspiration from the links Bourdieu draws between physical and social space, we use comprehensive quantitative surveys from Belgium and the UK to explore the accelerating interplay between large urban centres and the generation of ‘cosmopolitan cultural capital’. We show a close association between urban sites and the location of residents with new kinds of emerging cultural capital. This appreciation allows us to understand the increasing prominence of large metropolitan centres, which stand in growing tension with their suburban and rural hinterlands. This process is simultaneously cultural, economic, social and political and marks a remaking of the nature of cultural hierarchy and cultural capital itself, away from the older model of the Kantian aesthetic, as elaborated by Bourdieu inDistinction, which venerates a ‘highbrow’ aesthetic removed from everyday life, towards ‘emerging’ forms of cultural capital that valorize activity, engagement and intense forms of contemporary cultural activity.
Urban Distinctions: Class, Culture and Sociability in the City of Porto
Authors: Pereira Virgílio Borges
Published: January 2018

This essay employs Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice and the methodology of Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to extend the mapping of the dynamic relations between class and culture presented in Bourdieu's Distinction to encompass urban space, drawing on data from a multi‐method research project on the city of Porto, Portugal. We present a detailed analysis of the formation and structure of local social space and show its relevance for the study of the (re)production of urban lifestyles. Differences in the volume and composition of the capital of city residents are identified and shown to underpin the relations between social positions, dispositions and position takings in various realms of cultural consumption. Meaningful configurations of ‘lifestyle modalities’ have clear roots in the city's social space, which in Portugal, as in France, can be interpreted in terms of distinction, pretension and necessity.
Planning Gentrification and the ‘Absent’ State in Athens
Authors: Alexandri Georgia
Published: January 2018

In times of austerity, gentrification is promoted as a prime investment opportunity capable of reviving stagnating local economies. In Athens, pro‐gentrification policies (using English slogans like ‘Re‐launch Athens’ and ‘Re‐activate Athens’) have become increasingly defined in their targeting of specific areas. Moreover, planning in Greece is characterized by spontaneity, fragmentation and tolerance of speculation, specifically favouring the gentrification process. In many cases, the state's ‘absence’ after promulgation of regeneration projects acts as a clear strategy for inner‐city gentrification. After discussing the emergent relations between state policies on urban intervention and gentrification in the post‐crash era, this article will focus on the peculiarities of the Greek planning system and how these have led to the gentrification of an inner‐city area called Metaxourgio.
Race and the Production of Extreme Land Abandonment in the American Rust Belt
Authors: Hackworth Jason
Published: January 2018

Extreme land abandonment is one of the most visible expressions of urban decline. Conventional theory emphasizes housing lifecycle processes, municipal fiscal challenges and deindustrialization to explain its prevalence. Empirically however, these factors are not strongly associated with the most extreme instances of land abandonment in the American Rust Belt. Race, by contrast, is strongly associated with these patterns, yet there is little mention of it in conventional theory. This article draws on group threat theory to explain how the construction of Blackness as a threat to white property, power and political influence, has propelled the production of extreme land abandonment. The constructed threat has translated into a sustained suppression of demand and capital for overwhelmingly black neighborhoods. These forces operate both independently and as an accelerant for other abandonment drivers.
Being Good Parents or Being Good Citizens: Dilemmas and Contradictions of Urban Families in Middle‐Class Enclaves and Mixed Neighbourhoods in Germany
Authors: Frank Susanne , Weck Sabine
Published: January 2018

In recent years, cities have become ever more attractive to middle‐class families. On the one hand, middle‐class families tend to withdraw into (often newly built) socially homogeneous middle‐class neighbourhoods. On the other hand, they are also known to move into inner‐city and socially mixed areas, thus triggering processes of gentrification. Academic literature has often denounced these housing choices as being either ‘separatist’ or ‘revanchist’, more broadly categorized as strategies of ‘middle‐class disaffiliation’. Although there is a grain of truth in these interpretations, the reality is certainly more complicated. In our research on middle‐class parents’ housing and neighbourhood choices as well as their patterns of neighbourhood use, carried out in each of the two types of residential area mentioned above, we have only very rarely found an explicit desire to draw boundaries that exclude those ‘beneath’ them. We rather argue that the housing choices and neighbourhood‐related activities of middle‐class family households are heavily influenced by the specific dilemmas the interviewees face as (working) urban parents. While a significant number of respondents worry about the social sustainability, justice and cohesion of urban society, they are also concerned about the future prospects of their children. Many find it difficult to reconcile these conflicting normative demands under the prevailing circumstances.
Continued Continuations of Complete Histories: Tobias Smollett and the Work of History
Authors: Jones Richard J.
Published: January 2018

Tobias Smollett wrote one of the best‐selling historical works of the eighteenth century: the Complete History of England and Continuation. By exploring the idea of ‘continuation’ – both as a form of publication and as a narrative technique – this article seeks to recover the work in which Smollett was engaged. To do so, it considers connections with David Hume's History of England. It suggests that, unlike Hume, Smollett attempted to sustain a media event – one that was supported by his work as both critic and translator. It is this that should be understood as Smollett's work of history.
Multi‐level patterns in population genetics: Variogram series detects a hidden isolation‐by‐distance‐dominated structure of Scandinavian brown bears Ursus arctos
Authors: Schregel Julia , Remm Jaanus , Eiken Hans Geir , Swenson Jon E. , Saarma Urmas , Hagen Snorre B.
Published: January 2018

Large‐scale pattern‐oriented approaches are useful to understand the multi‐level processes that shape the genetic structure of a population. Matching the scales of patterns and putative processes is both a key to success and a challenge.

We have developed a simple statistical approach, based on variogram analysis, that identifies multiple spatial scales where the population pattern, in this case genetic structure, have highest expression (i.e. the spatial scales at which the strength of patterning of isolation‐by‐distance (IBD) residual variance reached maximum) from empirical data and, thus, at which scales it should be studied relative to the underlying processes. The approach is applicable to any spatially explicit pairwise data, including genetic, morphological or ecological distance or similarity of individuals, populations and ecosystems. To exemplify possible applications of this approach, we analysed microsatellite genotypes of 1,530 brown bears from Sweden and Norway.

The variogram approach identified two scales at which population structure was strongest, thus indicating two different scale‐dependent processes: home‐range‐related processes at scales <35 km, and subpopulation division at scales >98 km. On the basis of this, we performed a scale‐explicit analysis of genetic structure using DResD analysis and compared the results with those obtained by the Bayesian clustering implemented in structure.

We found that the genetic cluster identified in central Scandinavia by Structure is caused by IBD, with distinct gene flow barriers to the south and north. We discuss possible applications and research perspectives to further develop the approach.
Serum‐based six‐miRNA signature as a potential marker for EC diagnosis: Comparison with TCGA miRNAseq dataset and identification of miRNA–mRNA target pairs by integrated analysis of TCGA miRNAseq and RNAseq datasets
Authors: Sharma Priyanka , Saraya Anoop , Sharma Rinu
Published: January 2018

Aim

To evaluate the diagnostic potential of a six microRNAs (miRNAs) panel consisting of miR‐21, miR‐144, miR‐107, miR‐342, miR‐93 and miR‐152 for esophageal cancer (EC) detection.

Methods

The expression of miRNAs was analyzed in EC sera samples using quantitative real‐time PCR. Risk score analysis was performed and linear regression models were then fitted to generate the six‐miRNA panel. In addition, we made an effort to identify significantly dysregulated miRNAs and mRNAs in EC using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) miRNAseq and RNAseq datasets, respectively. Further, we identified significantly correlated miRNA–mRNA target pairs by integrating TCGA EC miRNAseq dataset with RNAseq dataset.

Results

The panel of circulating miRNAs showed enhanced sensitivity (87.5%) and specificity (90.48%) in terms of discriminating EC patients from normal subjects (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.968). Pathway enrichment analysis for potential targets of six miRNAs revealed 48 significant (P < 0.05) pathways, viz. pathways in cancer, mRNA surveillance, MAPK, Wnt, mTOR signaling, and so on. The expression data for mRNAs and miRNAs, downloaded from TCGA database, lead to identification of 2309 differentially expressed genes and 189 miRNAs. Gene ontology and pathway enrichment analysis showed that cell‐cycle processes were most significantly enriched for differentially expressed mRNA. Integrated analysis of TCGA miRNAseq and RNAseq datasets resulted in identification of 53 063 significantly and negatively correlated miRNA–mRNA pairs.

Conclusion

In summary, a novel and highly sensitive signature of serum miRNAs was identified for EC detection. Moreover, this is the first report identifying miRNA–mRNA target pairs from EC TCGA dataset, thus providing a comprehensive resource for understanding the interactions existing between miRNA and their target mRNAs in EC.
Association between visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid examination and high‐risk human papillomavirus infection, Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Trichomonas vaginalis in Papua New Guinea
Authors: Vallely Andrew J. , Toliman Pamela J. , Ryan Claire , Rai Glennis , Wapling Johanna , Gabuzzi Josephine , Kumbia Antonia , Kombuk Benny , Kombati Zure , Vallely Lisa M. , Kelly‐Hanku Angela , Wand Handan , Tabrizi Sepehr N. , Mola Glen D. L. , Kaldor John M.
Published: January 2018

Background

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has among the highest estimated burdens of cervical cancer globally but currently has no national cervical screening program. Visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid (VIA) is a low‐cost screening strategy endorsed by the World Health Organization that has been adopted in many low‐resource settings but not previously evaluated in PNG.

Aim

To evaluate the association between VIA examination findings and high‐risk HPV (hrHPV) infection; and the impact of concomitant genital Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Trichomonas vaginalis on the interpretation of VIA findings.

Methods

A prospective clinical cohort study among women aged 30–59 years attending Well Woman Clinics in PNG. Main outcome measures were VIA examination findings and laboratory‐confirmed hrHPV, C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae and T. vaginalis.

Results

A total of 614 women were enrolled, of whom 87.5% (537/614) underwent VIA, and 12.5% (77/614) did not due to pre‐existing cervicitis or inability to visualise the transformation zone. Among the 537 women who underwent VIA, 21.6% were VIA positive, 63.7% VIA negative, and 14.7% had indeterminate findings. The prevalence of hrHPV infection (n = 614) was 14.7%; C. trachomatis, 7.5%; N. gonorrhoeae, 8.0%; and T. vaginalis, 15.0%. VIA positive women were more likely to have HPV16 (odds ratio: 5.0; 95%CI: 1.6–15.6; P = 0.006) but there was no association between HPV18/45, all hrHPV types (combined), C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae or T. vaginalis.

Conclusions

VIA positivity was associated with HPV16, but not with other hrHPV infections, nor with genital C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae or T. vaginalis in this setting.
Vaccination protects endangered albatross chicks against avian cholera
Authors: Bourret Vincent , Gamble Amandine , Tornos Jérémy , Jaeger Audrey , Delord Karine , Barbraud Christophe , Tortosa Pablo , Kada Sarah , Thiebot Jean‐Baptiste , Thibault Eric , Gantelet Hubert , Weimerskirch Henri , Garnier Romain , Boulinier Thierry
Published: January 2018

Global change is contributing to unprecedented expansions of infectious diseases in wildlife. Recurrent avian cholera outbreaks are causing dramatic chick mortality and population decline in endangered albatross colonies on Amsterdam Island, a critical seabird breeding ground in the Southern Indian Ocean. We manufactured a killed vaccine using a Pasteurella multocida strain isolated from a dead albatross in the field. We used this same bacterial strain to establish a serological assay allowing the monitoring of antibody levels following bird vaccination. Using this vaccine on chicks 2 weeks posthatching caused 100% seroconversion and reduced the death risk by a factor exceeding 2.5, raising fledging probability from 14% to 46%. These results suggest that using a specifically tailored vaccine could be a key tool to effectively protect endangered seabirds from disease outbreaks threatening them with extinction.
Habitat fragmentation, not habitat loss, drives the prevalence of blood parasites in a Caribbean passerine
Authors: Pérez‐Rodríguez Antón , Khimoun Aurélie , Ollivier Anthony , Eraud Cyril , Faivre Bruno , Garnier Stéphane
Published: January 2018

Habitat destruction due to human land‐use activities is well recognized as a central threat to biodiversity. However, there is still debate about the relative influence of its two components, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation, mostly because few studies have been able to disentangle their respective effects. We studied mechanisms by which habitat destruction might influence the prevalence of vector‐transmitted haemosporidian blood parasites of the genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus infecting the Lesser Antillean bullfinch Loxigilla noctis on the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Starting from a large set of environmental descriptors (including metrics reflecting habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and landscape heterogeneity; as well as other variables not linked to habitat destruction, such as climatic conditions), we used PLS regression analyses to determine which variables were driving parasite prevalence on the islands. Our results showed that variables related to forest destruction were much more influential than other factors for all parasites analyzed on both islands. Remarkably, the effects documented were almost exclusively due to forest fragmentation, as opposed to habitat loss. This positive effect of forest fragmentation on blood parasite prevalence is proposed to happen through its effects on insect vectors and/or host biology. Increased understanding of the role of habitat fragmentation as a driver of parasitic diseases can help limiting the risk of emergence and proliferation of wildlife pathogenic outbreaks and zoonosis through informed landscape planning.
The effect of microbial activity on soil water diffusivity
Authors: Choudhury B. U. , Ferraris S. , Ashton R. W. , Powlson D. S. , Whalley W. R.
Published: January 2018

In this study, we explored the effects of microbial activity on the evaporation of water from cores of a sandy soil under laboratory conditions. We applied treatments to stimulate microbial activity by adding different amounts of synthetic analogue root exudates. For comparison, we used soil samples without synthetic root exudates as control and samples treated with mercuric chloride to suppress microbial activity. Our results suggest that increasing microbial activity reduces the rate of evaporation from soil. Estimated diffusivities in soil with the largest amounts of added root exudates were one third of those estimated in samples where microbial activity was suppressed by adding mercuric chloride. We discuss the effect of our results with respect to water uptake by roots.

Highlights

We explored effects of microbial activity on the evaporation of water from cores of a sandy soil.

We found the effect of microbial activity on water release characteristic was small.

Increasing microbial activity reduced evaporation from soil, while microbial suppression increased it.

Effect of microbial activity on root water uptake was estimated to be equivalent to a change in soil structure.
A Need Not Being Met: Providing Paid Family and Medical Leave for All Americans
Authors: Kornfeld Seth K.
Published: January 2018

Many parents in the United States face the quandary of whether to take time off from work to care for themselves, their children, or other family member, understanding that their jobs may not be there upon return and they will receive no income during their leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act has not lifted this burden; it only provides for unpaid leave. Four states and several cities have implemented paid family and medical leave statutes with both employees and employers benefiting. This Note proposes a uniform paid family and medical leave statute based on other countries’ statutes; proposed federal legislation; and statutes in New York, California, and San Francisco.
Pre‐drill Groundwater Geochemistry in the Karoo Basin, South Africa
Authors: Harkness Jennifer S. , Swana Kelley , Eymold William K. , Miller Jodie , Murray Ricky , Talma Siep , Whyte Colin J. , Moore Myles T. , Maletic Erica L. , Vengosh Avner , Darrah Thomas H.
Published: January 2018

Enhanced production of unconventional hydrocarbons in the United States has driven interest in natural gas development globally, but simultaneously raised concerns regarding water quantity and quality impacts associated with hydrocarbon extraction. We conducted a pre‐development assessment of groundwater geochemistry in the critically water‐restricted Karoo Basin, South Africa. Twenty‐two springs and groundwater samples were analyzed for major dissolved ions, trace elements, water stable isotopes, strontium and boron isotopes, hydrocarbons and helium composition. The data revealed three end‐members: a deep, saline groundwater with a sodium‐chloride composition, an old, deep freshwater with a sodium‐bicarbonate‐chloride composition and a shallow, calcium‐bicarbonate freshwater. In a few cases, we identified direct mixing of the deep saline water and shallow groundwater. Stable water isotopes indicate that the shallow groundwater was controlled by evaporation in arid conditions, while the saline waters were diluted by apparently fossil meteoric water originated under wetter climatic conditions. These geochemical and isotopic data, in combination with elevated helium levels, suggest that exogenous fluids are the source of the saline groundwater and originated from remnant seawater prior to dilution by old meteoric water combined with further modification by water‐rock interactions. Samples with elevated methane concentrations (>14 ccSTP/kg) were strongly associated with the sodium‐chloride water located near dolerite intrusions, which likely provide a preferential pathway for vertical migration of deeply sourced hydrocarbon‐rich saline waters to the surface. This pre‐drill evaluation indicates that the natural migration of methane‐ and salt‐rich waters provides a source of geogenic contamination to shallow aquifers prior to shale gas development in the Karoo Basin.
Extranodal natural killer/T‐cell lymphoma, nasal type, in Senegal
Authors: Diallo Moussa , Diop Assane , Diatta Boubacar A. , Ndiaye Maodo , Ortonne Nicolas , Dieng Mame T.
Published: January 2018

Introduction

The distribution of extranodal NK/T‐cell lymphoma (ENKTCL) is highly inhomogeneous throughout the world. In Sub‐Saharan Africa, despite the precocity of Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) infection and its endemicity, ENKTCL remains exceptionally reported. The purpose of this study was to report the epidemiological, clinical, paraclinical, and evolutionary characteristics of ENKTCL at the Aristide LeDantec University Hospital in Dakar, Senegal.

Methodology

A 5‐year retrospective review of all patients with histopathological, immunohistochemical, and in situ hybridization proven cutaneous lymphomas

Results

We collected seven cases corresponding to a frequency of 1.4 cases per year. ENKTCL accounted for 10.5% of all cutaneous lymphomas, ranking second after T‐cell lymphomas. Men were predominantly affected (M : F ratio of 6), and the mean age was 38.5 years ± 4.06. The mean time before consultation was 7.3 months. The lymphomas affected primarily the nasal cavity in five cases and the skin in two cases. At admission, six patients had nasal mucosa involvement, which was isolated in three cases, associated with cutaneous lesions in three cases and lymph node involvement in three cases. CD56 was positive in only one case, and Eber transcribed RNA of EBV was expressed by in situ hybridization in all patients.

Discussion

To our knowledge, we have reported the first and largest series of ENKTCL in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Our study shows an intermediate prevalence between that reported from Asia, Latin America, and the West. It was also noted a young age of patients, a prolonged diagnostic delay, a frequent negativity of CD56 marker, and a very poor prognosis of the disease in our region.
Prevalence of burnout among nurses in Iran: a systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Rezaei S. , Karami Matin B. , Hajizadeh M. , Soroush A. , Nouri B.
Published: January 2018

Aim

This study aimed to summarize the available information in the literature to make an accurate estimate of the prevalence of burnout among Iranian nurses.

Background and introduction

Burnout is a work‐related stress syndrome that has negative impact on healthcare providers, patients and healthcare delivery systems.

Method

A comprehensive search of literature using international [PubMed, Scopus and the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)] and Iranian scientific data bases [Scientific Information Database (SID), IranMedex and Magiran] was conducted to identify English and Persian language studies, published between 2000 and 2016, that examined the prevalence of burnout among nurses in Iran. The I‐squared test and Chi‐squared‐based Q‐test suggested heterogeneity of reported prevalence among the qualified studies; thus, a random‐effects model was applied to estimate the overall prevalence of burnout among nurses in Iran.

Results

Based on 21 selected articles with 4180 participants, the overall prevalence of burnout among Iranian nurses was estimated to be 36% [95% confidence interval (CI), 20–53%] in Iran. Meta‐regression indicated that sample size and year of data collection, mean age of samples, female to male ratio and geographic regions were not statistically significantly associated with the prevalence of burnout. Also, based on Egger's test and funnel plot, there is no publication bias among studies included in the analysis.

Conclusion

Professional burnout affects more than one‐third of nursing staff in Iran; thus, effective interventions and strategies are required to reduce and prevent burnout among nurses.

Implication for nursing and health policy

Due to the negative consequences of burnout on patients, nurses and organizations, nursing and healthcare managers should intervene to prevent and reduce burnout among nurses in Iran. Policy attention should focus on developing effective interventions to prevent and minimize the burden of burnout among nurses in Iran. Nurses’ involvement in the policy‐making process is crucial in the implementation of effective programs and initiatives tailored to address the higher prevalence of burnout among Iranian nurses.
Institutional Ownership and Private Equity Placements: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms
Authors: He Qing , Li Dongxu , Lu Liping , Chong Terence Tai Leung
Published: January 2018

This paper examines the impact of institutional ownership on the performance of private equity placements (PEPs) for listed firms in China. We find that the presence of institutional investors can alleviate the information asymmetries between listed firms and the market. The market reaction to PEP announcements is significantly smaller if there is a higher portion of institutional shareholdings. Long‐term firm operational performance after PEPs is positively correlated with institutional shareholdings. Moreover, we find that the relationship between institutional shareholdings and PEP performance is mainly driven by nonlisted corporate investors and mutual funds. Finally, the relationship between PEP performance and institutional shareholdings is stronger in smaller PEP issuers.
Correlation between computer tomography‐derived scar topography and critical ablation sites in postinfarction ventricular tachycardia
Authors: Ghannam Michael , Cochet Hubert , Jais Pierre , Sermesant Maxime , Patel Smita , Siontis Konstantinos C. , Morady Fred , Bogun Frank
Published: January 2018

Background

Myocardial wall thickness (WT) in patients with a prior myocardial infarction has been used to indicate scarring. However, the correlation of WT with sites critical to ventricular tachycardia (VT) has not been previously investigated. The purpose of this study was to correlate electroanatomic mapping data obtained during VT ablation with WT determined by cardiac computed tomography (CT).

Methods and results

Cardiac CTs were performed in 15 consecutive patients (mean age 63 ± 10 years, 86% male, left ventricular ejection fraction 27 ± 12%) with a prior infarct referred for VT ablation. The CTs were registered to the electroanatomic maps obtained during the mapping procedure. Pacing was performed throughout the scar at sites with fractionated electrograms and isolated potentials. Ablation sites were identified by pace‐mapping or entrainment‐mapping and these sites were correlated with WT. Bipolar and unipolar voltage amplitude and bipolar electrogram width correlated with WT (correlation coefficient: 0.63, 0.65, and 0.41, respectively, P < 0.001). Ablation target sites were identified for 58 of 113 inducible VTs. The ablation target sites were located on CT‐defined ridges (WT: 4.2 ± 1.2 mm) bordered by areas of thinning (WT: 2.6 ± 1.1 mm, P < 0.0001) in 14 of 15 patients. Ablation targets were found on ridges in 49 of 58 VTs (84%) for which target sites were identified. A total of 70 ridges were localized in the 15 patients. VT became noninducible postablation in 11 of 15 patients (73%).

Conclusion

WT measured by CT identifies ridges of myocardial tissue that often are critical for postinfarction VT and that can be appropriate target sites for ablation.