bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Historical Approaches to Child Witches
Authors: Willumsen Liv Helene
Published: March 2015

“Historical Approaches to Child Witches” is a bibliographical survey of research literature related to children involved in witchcraft trials. The main emphasis is on children accused of witchcraft in the Early Modern period in Europe and colonial America. In addition, some references are included dealing with children as witnesses as well as victims in witchcraft trials. Bibliographical references to the topic of children who allegedly were possessed by the devil have not been included in this bibliography. Chronologically, children were accused of witchcraft throughout the period of witchcraft persecution. There were early cases from the late sixteenth century and the early seventeenth where children were believed to be witches and were accused of witchcraft, particularly in Germany and Spain. However, the bulk of children involved in witchcraft trials are found at the end of the witch-hunt era, during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In this late era of the witch-hunt, we find several witchcraft panics, linked witchcraft trials taking place during a concentrated period of time, where children were involved, for instance in Scandinavia and in colonial America. However, the increasing tendency was that trials involving children were sent to courts of appeal, as the juries in local courts found these cases difficult. From the late seventeenth century, skepticism made itself felt as to the possibility of regarding witchcraft a crime, and courts of appeal acquitted many children accused of witchcraft. The notion that children were sacrificed to the devil by their mothers is presented already in 1486 in the demonological treatise Malleus Maleficarum by Jacob Sprenger (b. 1436–d. 1496) and Heinrich Kramer (b. 1430–d. 1505). The ideas about children possibly being witches were not discussed more thoroughly until Peter Binsfeld gave out his demonology in Trier in 1589. He argued for torture to be used to bring children below fourteen years of age to confess to witchcraft as well as for taking children’s denunciation of adults seriously. Ideas related to children being ensnared by the devil had by 1662 found its way even to the district of Finnmark in northern Norway. In a panic taking place in 1662–1663, the confessions contained notions about a pregnant woman carrying a devil, not a child, the devil fathering a child, the mother sacrificing her eldest daughter to the devil, and the impossibility for a family to get rid of the devil as soon as he had gotten a foothold in a family. As a select bibliography, the entries below are aimed to give information about research related to children in witchcraft cases all over Europe, in addition to the 1692 cases in Salem in colonial America.
Ecosystem Engineers
Authors: Altieri Andrew H.
Published: March 2015

Ecosystem engineers are organisms that modify, maintain and/or create habitat. The term was originally proposed twenty years ago by Clive Jones, John Lawton, and Moshe Shachak in an effort to bridge the largely separate pursuits of population and ecosystem ecology. They proposed a conceptual framework for understanding how organisms modulate resources and thus have the potential to indirectly interact with other organisms. In the relatively short history of the term’s use, ecosystem engineers have inspired tremendous interests from observational, experimental, and theoretical ecologists as well as evolutionary biologists and have influenced work in all ecosystems including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial, as well as in a diversity of living systems from the smallest microbes to the most massive trees. “Ecosystem engineer” is one of several related terms that came to ride a building wave of interest in how organisms can create and modify habitats. “Ecosystem engineer” has been adopted as one of the most popular terms and has helped galvanize research on the topic by giving a common name to a wide variety of mechanisms by which organisms interact with the physical environment (and thereby indirectly affect other organisms), as these interactions did not fit into the common categories of ecological interactions that had previously driven much of contemporary ecological study. Included in the earliest definition is a distinction between “autogenic engineering” in which the structure of the engineering species itself alters the environment, such as tree leaves that fall to the ground and change soil conditions, and “allogenic engineering” in which organisms transform habitats or resources but are not themselves a part of the habitat, such as beavers that dam creeks and create ponds. The term “ecosystem engineer” has experienced a near-exponential growth in the number of publications and citations since its introduction. This body of work has demonstrated the power for ecosystem engineering to explain conspicuous patterns in species abundance, diversity, and ecosystem processes which is a core pursuits of ecology.
Scoliosis is a Risk Factor for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Adult Spinal Deformity
Authors: Hosogane Naobumi , Watanabe Kota , Yagi Mitsuru , Kaneko Shinjiro , Toyama Yoshiaki , Matsumoto Morio
Published: March 2015

Study Design:

A prospective observational study.

Objective:

To evaluate whether scoliosis is a risk factor for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in elderly patients.

Summary of Background Data:

Sagittal spinal deformities are reported to cause GERD, but its association with spinal deformity in the coronal plane is not well studied.

Methods:

We examined 190 patients with spinal disorders (mean age 70.6±8.6 y) who underwent standing whole-spine x-rays in the coronal and sagittal planes. GERD symptoms were assessed by Quest score, with a cutoff of 6 points. The relationship between GERD symptoms and radiographic parameters was evaluated. Right convex coronal curves were given negative values, and left convex curves positive values. Degenerative scoliosis was defined when the thoracolumbar/lumbar Cobb angle had an absolute value >10 degrees. Risk factors for GERD were evaluated with univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Results:

Of the patients, 126 had degenerative scoliosis at the thoracolumbar/lumbar spine (42 with right and 84 with left convex curve), and 59 had GERD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the lumbar Cobb angle was significantly associated with GERD (P<0.05, odds ratio=1.021). When patients were categorized by Cobb angle of the lumbar curve (<−30 degrees, large right convex curve; −30 to +30 degrees, small curve; or >+30 degrees, large left convex curve), a large left convex curve was strongly associated with GERD (P<0.05, odds ratio=10.925).

Conclusions:

Left thoracolumbar/lumbar curve was a significant risk factor for GERD, and risk increased with a curve >30 degrees. Organ disorders such as GERD should be considered when treating elderly patients with degenerative scoliosis.
Accuracy of Iliac Screws Insertion in Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery
Authors: Banno Tomohiro , Ohishi Tsuyoshi , Hasegawa Tomohiko , Yamato Yu , Kobayashi Sho , Togawa Daisuke , Yasuda Tatsuya , Matsuyama Yukihiro
Published: March 2015

Study design:

Retrospective study.

Objective:

To investigate the accuracy of freehand iliac screw insertion and to determine how this can be performed safely.

Background and Methods:

Seventy-seven adult scoliosis patients with an average age of 70.1 years who underwent spinal deformity surgery with spinopelvic fixation using bilateral iliac screws were enrolled. Penetration of the iliac table was assessed using postoperative computed tomography. Screw penetration of the iliac table or screw insertion from the sacroiliac joint was considered misplacement. Screw positioning was classified as the screw being in the proper position (group C), the screw penetrating the outer table (group O), and the screw penetrating the inner table (group I). The iliac opening angle and the distance between the posterior superior iliac spines (PSISs) were measured using preoperative computed tomography. The angle between the sacral slope and the iliac screw, termed as the sagittal screw angle, was measured using postoperative lateral lumbar radiography.

Results:

Of the 154 iliac screws in 77 patients, 14 screws in 12 patients penetrated the outer table and 12 screws in 11 patients penetrated the inner table. The total proportion of misplacement was 18.8%, although there were no major complications. With regard to iliac morphology, the iliac opening angle was 24.2±4.3 degrees and the distance between the PSISs was 90.6±7.7 mm. The distance between the PSISs correlated negatively with the iliac opening angle. The iliac opening angle was smaller in group O than in group C (P<0.05). The sagittal screw angle in group I was smaller than that in group C (P<0.01).

Conclusions:

Screw penetration of the outer iliac table possibly occurred in patients with a narrow iliac opening angle. Screw penetration of the inner table occurred when the screw was inserted more cranially than the sacral slope. Therefore, the iliac screw should be inserted approximately parallel to the sacral slope.
Sub-Nyquist artefacts and sampling moiré effects
Authors: Amidror Isaac
Published: March 2015

Sampling moiré effects are well known in signal processing. They occur when a continuous periodic signal
g
(
x
) is sampled using a sampling frequency
f
s
that does not respect the Nyquist condition, and the signal-frequency
f
folds over and gives a new, false low frequency in the sampled signal. However, some visible beating artefacts may also occur in the sampled signal when
g
(
x
) is sampled using a sampling frequency
f
s
which fully respects the Nyquist condition. We call these phenomena
sub-Nyquist artefacts
. Although these beating effects have already been reported in the literature, their detailed mathematical behaviour is not widely known. In this paper, we study the behaviour of these phenomena and compare it with analogous results from the moiré theory. We show that both sampling moirés and sub-Nyquist artefacts obey the same basic mathematical rules, in spite of the differences between them. This leads us to a unified approach that explains all of these phenomena and puts them under the same roof. In particular, it turns out that all of these phenomena occur when the signal-frequency
f
and the sampling frequency
f
s
satisfy
f
≈(
m
/
n
)
f
s
with integer
m
,
n
, where
m
/
n
is a reduced integer ratio; cases with
n
=1 correspond to true sampling moiré effects.
New insights forDrosophilaGAGA factor in larvae
Authors: Blanch Marta , Piñeyro David , Bernués Jordi
Published: March 2015

GAGA factor plays important roles duringDrosophilaembryogenesis and its maternal contribution is essential for early development. Here, the role of GAGA factor was studied in 3rd instar larvae using depletion and overexpression conditions in wing disc and transcriptome analysis. We found that genes changing expression were different to those previously described using GAGA mutants in embryos. No apparent phenotypes on GAGA depletion could usually be observed at larval stages in imaginal discs but a strong effect on salivary gland polytene chromosomes was observed. In the adult, GAGA depletion produced many defects like abnormal cell proliferation in the wing, impaired dorsal closure and resulted in homeotic transformation of abdominal segment A5. Unexpectedly, no effects on Ultrabithorax expression were observed. Short overexpression of GAGA factor in 3rd instar larvae also resulted in activation of a set of genes not previously described to be under GAGA regulation, and in lethality at pupa. Our results suggest a little contribution of GAGA factor on gene transcription in wing discs and a change of the genes regulated in comparison with embryo. GAGA factor activity thus correlates with the global changes in gene expression that take place at the embryo-to-larva and, later, at the larva-to-pupa transitions.
Brg1 promotes both tumor-suppressive and oncogenic activities at distinct stages of pancreatic cancer formation
Authors: Roy Nilotpal , Malik Shivani , Villanueva Karina E. , Urano Atsushi , Lu Xinyuan , Von Figura Guido , Seeley E. Scott , Dawson David W. , Collisson Eric A. , Hebrok Matthias
Published: March 2015

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) develops predominantly through pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) precursor lesions. Pancreatic acinar cells are reprogrammed to a “ductal-like” state during PanIN-PDA formation. Here, we demonstrate a parallel mechanism operative in mature duct cells during which functional cells undergo “ductal retrogression” to form IPMN-PDA. We further identify critical antagonistic roles for Brahma-related gene 1 (Brg1), a catalytic subunit of the SWI/SNF complexes, during IPMN-PDA development. In mature duct cells, Brg1 inhibits the dedifferentiation that precedes neoplastic transformation, thus attenuating tumor initiation. In contrast, Brg1 promotes tumorigenesis in full-blown PDA by supporting a mesenchymal-like transcriptional landscape. We further show that JQ1, a drug that is currently being tested in clinical trials for hematological malignancies, impairs PDA tumorigenesis by both mimicking some and inhibiting other Brg1-mediated functions. In summary, our study demonstrates the context-dependent roles of Brg1 and points to potential therapeutic treatment options based on epigenetic regulation in PDA.
Enhancement of thermoelectric figure of merit in Bi2Se3crystals through a necking process
Authors: Gupta Shashikant , Vijayan N. , Krishna Anuj , Thukral Kanika , Maurya K. K. , Muthiah Saravanan , Dhar Ajay , Singh Budhendra , Bhagavannarayana G.
Published: March 2015

The growth of good quality bulk single crystals of bismuth selenide by employing a high-temperature vertical Bridgman technique with a specially designed ampoule having a provision for a necking process is reported. Several growth experiments were performed and reproducible results were obtained. The crystal structure and lattice dimensions were confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), the bulk crystalline perfection was assessed using high-resolution X-ray diffractometry and the good bulk crystalline perfection with an indication of layered structure was confirmed. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was carried out for the grown single crystal and confirmed the layered structure. High-resolution TEM (HRTEM) was also used to further assess the crystalline perfection. The direct measurement ofdspacing obtained from HRTEM imaging was found to be in good agreement with the data obtained from PXRD. The thermal behavior was examined by differential scanning calorimetry and a sharp melting was found at 983 K, which revealed the purity of the bismuth selenide. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical and thermal conductivities were measured, and a thermoelectric figure of merit was calculated in order to assess the suitability of the crystal for thermoelectric applications such as refrigeration and portable power generation. Nanoindentation analysis was also performed for the first time.
The validation of an assessment centre in Asia
Authors: Furnham Adrian , Toh Shi Min
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to attempt to assess the validity of an assessment centre (AC) designed for the promotional purposes of police officers, conducted in the Asian context.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study included 128 police officers of whom criterion data was available for 49 officers. They all took part in an established AC.

Findings

– The overall AC rating was significantly related to both overall training performance (r=0.58, p<0.01) and estimated leadership potential data (r=0.25, p<0.05), both collected two years subsequent to the promotion process. Analyses further supported the situational specificity of the AC design; with particular exercises and performance traits underlying the predictive value of the AC. It also showed the incremental validity of the AC methodology over and above personality measures.

Social implications

– The study supports the continual usage of the AC methodology across cultural contexts.

Originality/value

– As far as we know this research has not been done in this part of the world.
Why do firms adopt employee share ownership? Bundling ESO and direct involvement for developing human capital investments
Authors: Guery Loris
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between employee share ownership (ESO) and employer-provided training. To be more specific, as both ESO and involvement practices can contribute to developing human capital, the paper addresses the question of whether they are substitutes or complements in the relationship with training.

Design/methodology/approach

– The theoretical hypotheses are tested using the French nationally representative establishment-level survey, REPONSE, which is similar to the British WERS. The sample consists of 1,523 establishments.

Findings

– The results are consistent with studies conducted elsewhere (e.g. in the UK) and provide novel findings, thereby suggesting a complementarity between ESO and involvement practices with bundles of practices becoming increasingly more complex as training expenditures increase.

Research limitations/implications

– To provide further insights, future research that uses more precise information regarding ESO plans is needed.

Practical implications

– Results can provide HR managers with valuable information regarding the organisational characteristics necessary to ensure a fertile ground for their training expenses.

Originality/value

– The paper reflects a growing awareness that human capital development and share ownership plans may be related and that this relationship might be a more compelling explanation for share ownership plans than the standard agency theory. The contribution of ESO plans to the development of employee competencies may be at least as important as their possible effects on employee motivation and effort.
Framework for the use of landscaping waste for alternative energy generation
Authors: Heinicke Matthias
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– Against the background of alternative sources for feeding biogas plants, this paper aims to consider a utilization of landscaping waste as alternative to common crops.

Design/methodology/approach

– In consideration of survey data, a robust framework is proposed based on characterizations of source and sink to meet the requirements of both sides reliably. Depending on available data and further surveys, a level of detail approach of a biomass supply chain is conducted in this regard.

Findings

– In this context, different types of landscaping waste suitable for both biogas generation and incineration were defined. With respect to the sporadically minor quantities of landscaping waste, minor capacity load in terms of transportation is one crucial factor within an entire concept of logistics.

Practical implications

– Due to the arising cost function, possibilities and needs of utilizing landscaping waste for alternative energy generation in biogas plants and incineration plants are drawn.

Originality/value

– Moreover, economic and technological challenges concerning a utilization of landscaping waste in biogas plants are systematically revealed. Thus, technological processes in biogas plants were considered from a managerial point of view. The characteristics of rotting biomass in terms of its shelf life are considered additionally to ensure the required quality of input material particularly for the process of biogas generation.
Oil price shocks and exchange rate in Nigeria
Authors: Babatunde Musibau Adetunji
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– This study aims to examine the relationship between the oil price and the exchange rate for Nigeria between January 1997 and December 2012. Previous empirical studies revealed an ambiguous relationship between crude oil prices and exchange rates, a reason for exploring the differential effects of positive and negative oil price shocks on the exchange rate.

Design/methodology/approach

– Time series and structural analysis were used.

Findings

– The findings indicate different responses for the exchange rate with respect to positive and negative oil price shocks. Positive oil price shocks were found to depreciate the exchange rate, whereas negative oil price shocks appreciate the exchange rate. In addition, the asymmetric effects of positive and negative oil price shocks on the real exchange rate were not supported by the statistical evidences. The empirical results were robust to different specifications.

Originality/value

– To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to assess the differential impact of positive and negative oil price shocks and the role of oil prices in predicting the exchange rate over long horizons in Nigeria.
A policy-based middleware for context-aware pervasive computing
Authors: El Khaddar Mehdia Ajana , Chraibi Mhammed , Harroud Hamid , Boulmalf Mohammed , Elkoutbi Mohammed , Maach Abdelilah
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to demonstrate that a policy-based middleware solution which facilitates the development of context-aware applications and the integration of the heterogeneous devices should be provided for ubiquitous computing environments. Ubiquitous computing targets the provision of seamless services and applications by providing an environment that involves a variety of devices having different capabilities. These applications help transforming the physical spaces into computationally active and smart environments. The design of applications in these environments needs to consider the heterogeneous devices, applications preferences and rapidly changing contexts. The applications, therefore, need to be context-aware so that they can adapt to different situations in real-time.

Design/methodology/approach

– In this paper, we argue that a policy-based middleware solution that facilitates the development of context-aware applications and the integration of the heterogeneous devices should be provided for ubiquitous computing environments. The middleware allows applications to track items and acquire contextual information about them easily, reason about this information captured using different logics and then adapt to changing contexts. A key issue in these environments is to allow heterogeneous applications to express their business rules once, and get the preferred data once they are captured by the middleware without any intervention from the application side.

Findings

– Our middleware tackles this problem by using policies to define the different applications’ rules and preferences. These policies can specify rules about the middleware services to be used, type of data captured, devices used, user roles, context information and any other type of conditions.

Originality/value

– In this paper, we propose the design of a flexible and performant ubiquitous computing, and context-aware middleware called FlexRFID along with its evaluation results.
Resilience in the context of Italian micro and small wineries: an empirical study
Authors: Duarte Alonso Abel , Bressan Alessandro
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study resilience among micro and small wineries. While the subject of organisational resilience has drawn the attention or numerous researchers, there is an argument that limited empirical evidence exist to support different theoretical constructs in regards to resilience. Thus, the paper addresses a knowledge gap.

Design/methodology/approach

– A questionnaire was designed to investigate strategies that can help businesses to become more resilient to contemporary challenges. A total of 273 owners and managers of Italian wineries participated in the study.

Findings

– Increasing costs, institutional barriers and the effects of the economic crisis on consumers’ wine purchases are perceived as most serious challenges. One fundamental impact is respondents’ loss of trust in institutions. Alternatives such as diversifying, knowledge of foreign languages and educational activities emerged as crucial to improve wineries’ performance, and therefore build their resilience.

Practical implications

– These findings highlight the vital role of institutions in developing supporting strategies to nurture an entrepreneurial culture among owners and managers of a very important group of businesses.

Originality/value

– By empirically investigating ways to achieve resilience among businesses of a traditional European sector, the study addresses a knowledge gap identified in contemporary research. The study also contributes to the development of the theory of resilience, for instance, by considering the literature on the theory of resilience, considering and adopting factors affecting micro and small enterprises’ resilience and identifying some of these factors in the context of micro and small wine enterprises.
Friendships and deviancy training in young children
Authors: Salazar Stefanie , Boivin Michel , Vitaro Frank , Cantin Stéphane , Forget-Dubois Nadine , Brendgen Mara , Dionne Ginette , Tremblay Richard
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this study was to test a new approach to deviancy training, that is, the shaping and reinforcing of disruptive behaviors in social interaction, which considers not only reinforcement, but also the modeling processes involved, as well as children's roles as either providers or receivers of the training.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using teacher reports and observations from a semi-naturalistic experimental setting with young children, the authors examined the prevalence of provided and received modeling and positive reinforcement, as well as the concurrent contribution of behavior problems on these processes in friendship dyads using a convenience sample of six-year-old twins (N=783; 386 boys). Frequency analyses and linear and logistic regressions were conducted.

Findings

– Results indicated that modeling and positive reinforcement – provided and received – were prevalent in this low-risk sample, that behavior problems were associated mainly with provided dimensions, and that deviancy training processes were also displayed between disruptive and non-disruptive children.

Practical implications

– Findings are relevant to peer-oriented programs designed to prevent antisocial behaviors. Prevention should target these mixed friendships where deviant behavior likely begins.

Originality/value

– This study provides preliminary support for a new measure of deviancy training, underscores the importance of the roles taken by children, and shows that deviancy training takes place between disruptive and non-disruptive young children.
Estimating in geometric 3D CAD
Authors: Olatunji Oluwole Alfred , Sher Willy
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to elicit the activities in geometric 3D computer-aided design (CAD) estimating. Construction estimators usually target the structural integrity of data underlying project designs while measuring quantities and developing estimates. However, there are different ways to this. There is considerable evidence to suggest substantial distinction between data structuring in geometric and parametric CAD (building information modelling). Each of these platforms also appeals to estimators in the various practice domains differently. Regardless, the developments in the use of geometric and parametric CAD for design and management purposes have been rapid.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study focuses on the various perspectives within the different construction business domains. Interviews, focus group discussions and direct observation methods were used to explore data on estimating activities in 3D CAD from two public organizations, two large contracting firms, two quantity surveying consulting practices, two specialist-project companies and four software development and vending firms. These involved 17 middle-top management estimators who have had extensive experience in the industry. As the activities were elicited, participants were able to ascribe relative importance to each of the activities, and these were logically compared across the different practice domains.

Findings

– Thirty-one activities were identified as the components of estimators’ procedures leading to reliable outcomes in estimating 3D CAD designs. Logical correlations were discussed through extant literature towards forming a centroid model which could be used for numerous industry applications, including software development, knowledge transfer between organizations, employees’ hands-on training, curriculum design for academic institutions and as a policy framework for professional institutions on estimating practice. Further areas of research were also highlighted.

Originality/value

– This work is an original piece. It is neither published nor under consideration elsewhere.
Finance-based scheduling using meta-heuristics: discrete versus continuous optimization problems
Authors: Elazouni Ashraf , Alghazi Anas , Selim Shokri Z.
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of the genetic algorithm (GA), simulate annealing (SA) and shuffled frog-leaping algorithm (SFLA) in solving discrete versus continuous-variable optimization problems of the finance-based scheduling. This involves the minimization of the project duration and consequently the time-related cost components of construction contractors including overheads, finance costs and delay penalties.

Design/methodology/approach

– The meta-heuristics of the GA, SA and SFLA have been implemented to solve non-deterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-hard) finance-based scheduling problem employing the objective of minimizing the project duration. The traditional problem of generating unfeasible solutions in scheduling problems is adequately tackled in the implementations of the meta-heuristics in this paper.

Findings

– The obtained results indicated that the SA outperformed the SFLA and GA in terms of the quality of solutions as well as the computational cost based on the small-size networks of 30 activities, whereas it exhibited the least total duration based on the large-size networks of 120 and 210 activities after prolonged processing time.

Research limitations/implications

– From researchers’ perspective, finance-based scheduling is one of the few domain problems which can be formulated as discrete and continuous-variable optimization problems and, thus, can be used by researchers as a test bed to give more insight into the performance of new developments of meta-heuristics in solving discrete and continuous-variable optimization problems.

Practical implications

– Finance-based scheduling discrete-variable optimization problem is of high relevance to the practitioners, as it allows schedulers to devise finance-feasible schedules of minimum duration. The minimization of project duration is focal for the minimization of time-related cost components of construction contractors including overheads, finance costs and delay penalties. Moreover, planning for the expedient project completion is a major time-management aspect of construction contractors towards the achievement of the objective of client satisfaction through the expedient delivery of the completed project for clients to start reaping the anticipated benefits.

Social implications

– Planning for the expedient project completion is a major time-management aspect of construction contractors towards the achievement of the objective of client satisfaction.

Originality/value

– SFLA represents a relatively recent meta-heuristic that proved to be promising, based on its limited number of applications in the literature. This paper is to implement SFLA to solve the discrete-variable optimization problem of the finance-based scheduling and assess its performance by comparing its results against those of the GA and SA.
CRM in the digital age: implementation of CRM in three contemporary B2B firms
Authors: Lipiäinen Heini Sisko Maarit
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this study was to contribute to the current discussion on digitization in companies’ marketing from a customer relationship management (CRM) perspective by examining the role and objectives of CRM and the exploitation of social media to serve the objectives of CRM in contemporary business-to-business (B2B) companies.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data are collected through semi-structured themed interviews with key marketing/sales managers from three B2B firms.

Findings

– CRM seems to be moving closer to the company’s core activity and becoming everybody’s business to a greater extent than ever before, but its main goal, to enhance customer relationships, will not necessarily change. Understanding the customer is vital and requires different functions to cooperate closely to ensure the firm has the best possible understanding of its customers. Public social media tools played almost no part in CRM, but closed social media systems might have potential in the future.

Research limitations/implications

– The chosen research approach limits the generalization of the results.

Practical implications

– It seems likely that firms will benefit from a collaborative working style over the traditional silo approaches. For B2B firms, public social media does not seems to be the most suitable source to serve CRM but private social media channels might have potential in the future.

Originality/value

– The lack of empirical examination of the change from company ecosystem to customer ecosystem from a CRM perspective, and the lack of research on social media for CRM in the B2B context, determines the purpose of this study. Furthermore, digitization is a rather new and unstructured phenomenon and many companies are still considering how to reconcile to it.
Sustained Reduction in Health Disparities Achieved through Targeted Quality Improvement: One‐Year Follow‐up on a Three‐Year Intervention
Authors: Balicer Ran D. , Hoshen Moshe , Cohen‐Stavi Chandra , Shohat‐Spitzer Sivan , Kay Calanit , Bitterman Haim , Lieberman Nicky , Jacobson Orit , Shadmi Efrat
Published: March 2015

Objective

To assess a quality improvement disparity reduction intervention and its sustainability.

Data Sources/Study Setting

Electronic health records and Quality Index database of Clalit Health Services in Israel (2008–2012).

Study Design

Interrupted time‐series with pre‐, during, and postintervention disparities measurement between 55 target clinics (serving approximately 400,000 mostly low socioeconomic, minority populations) and all other (126) clinics.

Data Collection/Extraction Methods

Data on a Quality Indicator Disparity Scale (QUIDS‐7) of 7 indicators, and on a 61‐indicator scale (QUIDS‐61).

Principal Findings

The gap between intervention and nonintervention clinics for QUIDS‐7 decreased by 66.7 percent and by 70.4 percent for QUIDS‐61. Disparity reduction continued (18.2 percent) during the follow‐up period.

Conclusions

Quality improvement can achieve significant reduction in disparities in a wide range of clinical domains, which can be sustained over time.
Functional and radioligand binding characterization of the α1L‐adrenoceptor subtype of the human vas deferens
Authors: Davis B. J. , Wiener M. , Chapple C. R. , Sellers D. J. , Chess‐Williams R.
Published: March 2015

Alpha1‐adrenoceptor antagonists can cause ejaculatory dysfunction as an adverse effect. Contractions of the human vas deferens are mediated via α1A‐adrenoceptors, and this study investigated whether the low affinity state of this receptor (α1L‐adrenoceptor) is involved in mediating contractions of this tissue.

The potency of agonists and the affinity of receptor subtype selective antagonists were determined in functional experiments and in [3H]tamsulosin binding experiments to identify the α1‐adrenoceptor subtype population present in the human vas deferens.

The α1A‐adrenoceptor selective agonist A61603 was a full agonist and was 250‐fold more potent than noradrenaline. Prazosin antagonized contractile responses to phenylephrine with a low affinity (pKd = 8.6). Only high concentrations of RS17053 antagonized responses to phenylephrine and yielded a relatively low affinity estimate of 7.0. BMY7378 (α1D‐adrenoceptor selective) gave a low affinity estimate (pKd = 6.7), whilst tamsulosin (α1A‐ and α1D‐adrenoceptor selective) had a high affinity (pKd = 9.9).

[3H]Tamsulosin bound to human vas deferens membranes with a high affinity (pKd = 10.0). Prazosin, RS17053 and BMY7378 competed with [3H]tamsulosin with low affinities for a single population of binding sites (pKd values of 8.5, 7.2 and 6.3, respectively).

These functional and radioligand binding data indicate that the human vas deferens possesses a homogeneous population of α1‐adrenoceptors which have the pharmacological properties of the putative α1L‐adrenoceptor, the same functional receptor previously identified in the human prostate.
What Would Milton Friedman Have Thought of the Great Recession?
Authors: Sumner Scott
Published: March 2015

Milton Friedman died in , right before the onset of the Great Recession. Unfortunately, we will never know how Friedman would have interpreted this event. However, we can draw some inferences from his published views on the Great Depression, as well as his views on more recent monetary policy, especially in Japan. It seems likely that Friedman would have blamed the Fed for insufficiently expansionary monetary policy during 2008 and 2009, a view that is quite different from the conventional conservative interpretation of events.
The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle
Authors: Foldvary Fred E.
Published: March 2015

The Austrian school theory of the business cycle is based on the proposition that an artificial expansion of the money supply reduces the transaction rate of interest below its natural rate, which stimulates excessive investment in capital goods of long duration, and then when the rate of interest rises back up, these investments stop, and the economy falls into recession.
The impact of anchored phylogenomics and taxon sampling on phylogenetic inference in narrow‐mouthed frogs (Anura, Microhylidae)
Authors: Peloso Pedro L.V. , Frost Darrel R. , Richards Stephen J. , Rodrigues Miguel T. , Donnellan Stephen , Matsui Masafumi , Raxworthy Cristopher J. , Biju S.D. , Lemmon Emily Moriarty , Lemmon Alan R. , Wheeler Ward C.
Published: March 2015

Despite considerable progress in unravelling the phylogenetic relationships of microhylid frogs, relationships among subfamilies remain largely unstable and many genera are not demonstrably monophyletic. Here, we used five alternative combinations of DNA sequence data (ranging from seven loci for 48 taxa to up to 73 loci for as many as 142 taxa) generated using the anchored phylogenomics sequencing method (66 loci, derived from conserved genome regions, for 48 taxa) and Sanger sequencing (seven loci for up to 142 taxa) to tackle this problem. We assess the effects of character sampling, taxon sampling, analytical methods and assumptions in phylogenetic inference of microhylid frogs. The phylogeny of microhylids shows high susceptibility to different analytical methods and datasets used for the analyses. Clades inferred from maximum‐likelihood are generally more stable across datasets than those inferred from parsimony. Parsimony trees inferred within a tree‐alignment framework are generally better resolved and better supported than those inferred within a similarity‐alignment framework, even under the same cost matrix (equally weighted) and same treatment of gaps (as a fifth nucleotide state). We discuss potential causes for these differences in resolution and clade stability among discovery operations. We also highlight the problem that commonly used algorithms for model‐based analyses do not explicitly model insertion and deletion events (i.e. gaps are treated as missing data). Our results corroborate the monophyly of Microhylidae and most currently recognized subfamilies but fail to provide support for relationships among subfamilies. Several taxonomic updates are provided, including naming of two new subfamilies, both monotypic.
Self‐Directed Learning Favors Local, Rather Than Global, Uncertainty
Authors: Markant Douglas B. , Settles Burr , Gureckis Todd M.
Published: March 2015

Collecting (or “sampling”) information that one expects to be useful is a powerful way to facilitate learning. However, relatively little is known about how people decide which information is worth sampling over the course of learning. We describe several alternative models of how people might decide to collect a piece of information inspired by “active learning” research in machine learning. We additionally provide a theoretical analysis demonstrating the situations under which these models are empirically distinguishable, and we report a novel empirical study that exploits these insights. Our model‐based analysis of participants' information gathering decisions reveals that people prefer to select items which resolve uncertainty between two possibilities at a time rather than items that have high uncertainty across all relevant possibilities simultaneously. Rather than adhering to strictly normative or confirmatory conceptions of information search, people appear to prefer a “local” sampling strategy, which may reflect cognitive constraints on the process of information gathering.
Genetic signature of the colonisation dynamics along a coastal expansion front in the damselfly Coenagrion scitulum
Authors: SWAEGERS JANNE , MERGEAY JOACHIM , ST‐MARTIN AUDREY , DE KNIJF GEERT , LARMUSEAU MAARTEN H. D. , STOKS ROBBY
Published: March 2015

1. Many insects are expanding their distribution range polewards as a result of climate change, which has been shown to be associated with founder effects leading to a reduction in genetic diversity and an increase in genetic differentiation. These spatial genetic patterns may arise from colonisation from a broad expansion front or a limited neighbourhood after a stepping stone model of dispersal. The temporal persistence of such founder effects are poorly understood, mainly because studies looking at the fine‐scale initial temporal dynamics of the genetic signature of a range expansion are rare.

2. Using microsatellite markers, we performed a detailed spatiotemporal genetic analysis of the range expanding damselfly Coenagrion scitulum (Rambur) along a coastal axis during the first years after colonisation.

3. A decrease was in (private) allelic richness when going northwards along the coastline, which is consistent with a scenario of cumulative founder events. In spite of the spatiotemporal dynamics in the observation records of the species along the coastline, the spatial genetic data indicated a major contribution from the broad expansion front during the colonisation of the coastline rather than a stepping‐stone colonisation process.

4. The fine‐scale temporal dynamics of the range expansion indicated the absence of persistent founder effects and instead showed considerable temporal instability in genetic indices at the more northern edge populations. This may be explained by genetic immigration and admixture from the broad expansion front in this active disperser.
Selling Citizenship: A Defence
Authors: Hidalgo Javier
Published: March 2015

Many people think that citizenship should not be for sale. On their view, it is morally wrong for states to sell citizenship to foreigners. In this article, I challenge this view. I argue that it is in principle permissible for states to sell citizenship. I contend that, if states can permissibly deny foreigners access to citizenship in some cases, then states can permissibly give foreigners the option of buying citizenship in these cases. Furthermore, I defend the permissibility of selling citizenship against the objections that selling citizenship values citizenship in the wrong way, corrupts civic norms, and unfairly discriminates against poor foreigners. I conclude by noting that, although selling citizenship is not intrinsically wrong, it could still be wrong for states to sell citizenship in practice. If existent immigration restrictions are unjust, then it may be impermissible for states to sell citizenship in the real world.
Multimodel Ecologies: Cultivating Model Ecosystems in Industrial Ecology
Authors: Bollinger L. Andrew , Nikolić Igor , Davis Chris B. , Dijkema Gerard P.J.
Published: March 2015

Many industrial ecology models may be classified as single‐use products‐constructed to address a specific problem and of little use beyond their original context. But a knowledge ecosystem based around single‐use representations of reality wastes effort and resources and limits the impact of industrial ecology as a field. In recent years, tangible progress has been made in areas such as integrated modeling and multisimulation. However, this work tends to discount the evolutionary nature of models and their embeddedness within a changing sociotechnical environment—aspects which, we argue, are central to enabling the sustained usefulness of models in industrial ecology.

We define a multimodel ecology as an interacting group of models coevolving with one another in a dynamic sociotechnical environment. A multimodel ecology perspective can facilitate model integration and reuse and highlight different ways in which models—mental, conceptual, and computational–may interact and evolve. To demonstrate the use of this perspective, we introduce and analyze an existing multimodel ecology—the Energy Modeling Laboratory. We conclude with a set of guidelines for facilitating model reuse and integration. Among others, these include use open standards, build simple components, leverage the Web, borrow proudly, and enforce sharing.
The promyelinating properties of androstenediol in gliotoxin‐induced demyelination in rat corpus callosum
Authors: Kalakh Samah , Mouihate Abdeslam
Published: March 2015

Aims

Experimental evidence has shown that the adrenal steroid hormone, androstenediol, dampens the symptoms of demyelination. However, the cellular and molecular effects of androstenediol are not yet known. In the present study, we investigated the cellular and subcellular effects of this hormone in a gliotoxin‐induced demyelination model.

Methods

Male Sprague Dawley rats received 2 μl of either saline or the gliotoxin ethidium bromide (EB, 0.04%) into the corpus callosum. These rats received daily subcutaneous injections of either oil or androstenediol (5 mg/kg). Their brains were collected at 2, 7, 14 and 28 days post‐EB injection. Demyelinated lesions were assessed using Luxol fast blue staining. Immunofluorescent staining was used to investigate the number of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, their maturation and microglial activation at the lesion site. Remyelination was further explored using transmission electron microscopy. The expression levels of total and phosphorylated MBP isoforms and CNPase were explored using western blot.

Results

Androstenediol decreased the size of demyelinated lesions in the corpus callosum at 7 and 14 days post‐EB injection. It enhanced the number of oligodendrocyte precursor cells, promoted an increase in the number of mature oligodendrocytes and reduced microglial activation. Androstenediol also stimulated the phosphorylation of MBP at the site of the lesion and promoted remyelination of the affected axons.

Conclusions

These data strongly suggest that androstenediol is endowed with promyelinating properties in a model of focal gliotoxin‐induced demyelination. It induces its promyelinating effects by enhancing the number of oligodendrocyte precursor cells and their maturation at the lesion site.