bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A crystallized exposition on Indian Muslims’ attitude and consciousness towards halal
Authors: Potluri Rajasekhara Mouly , Ansari Rizwana , Khan Saqib Rasool , Dasaraju Srinivasa Rao
Published: January 2017

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the attitude and consciousness of Indian Muslims toward halal and also to indicate the alertness of Muslim students about halal in their daily life.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 500 respondents were selected for the study from the State of Andhra Pradesh in India, by stratified random sampling method; of which 300 were general Muslims and 200 were Muslim students. Self-administrated questionnaire and personal interviews were administered to garner the data, which were analyzed with SPSS (version 21.0) and GRETL, and the research hypotheses were tested with Z-test for proportion and Pearson’s chi-square test.

Findings

A total of 92 and 98 per cent of respondents from the general Muslim community and Muslim students, respectively, agreed that they do not have proper exposure to halal. In addition, 89 per cent of general Muslims believe that the halal concept is very significant to Muslim consumers as against 95 per cent students. A total of 98 and 96 per cent of the selected two classes of respondents, respectively, are intended to know more about halal.

Research limitations/implications

The respondents in this research were general Muslims and Muslim students from Andhra Pradesh. The results of this research are, therefore, only applicable to the sampled community. Hence, generalization of the findings to the whole Indian Muslim population or to other areas of Muslim communities should be avoided.

Practical implications

This research results proffer most precious and ingenious information to the corporate sector, Islamic religious organizations and educational institutions specially involved in formal Islamic education. Based on the snowballing trend of Muslim population from the present 250 million to the whopping 340 million by the end of this century, it is an inspired decision to target this lucrative segment which provide alluring profitability particularly food, cosmetics, medicines, etc., with Halal certified products. Specially, Islamic religious organizations also have an enormous onus to enhance the ken of this community on the matters comprehensively germane to Islam in general and about halal and haram in particular.

Originality/value

This is the first ingenious effort aimed to investigate the attitude and awareness toward halal among general Muslims and Muslim students. This is a pioneering attempt on halal of Indian Muslims which is lucrative for both corporate sector and to the academia.
Halal logistics opportunities and challenges
Authors: Zailani Suhaiza , Iranmanesh Mohammad , Aziz Azmin Azliza , Kanapathy Kanagi
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the challenges and opportunities for logistics companies in Malaysia to adopt halal logistics. Logistics plays a key role in protecting the halal integrity of halal food through proper transportation, storage and handling along the supply chain until it reaches its final destination.

Design/methodology/approach

This research builds on existing research published in the Journal of Islamic Marketing on halal logistics. In addition to an extensive literature review, five focus group discussions were conducted to discover the challenges and opportunities with regards to halal logistics services in Malaysia.

Findings

The results show that the future market demands and the competitive opportunities related to halal services are the main motivators of first movers in halal logistics. The early adopters of halal logistics face several challenges such as ambiguous halal guidelines, lack of international halal certification, lack of collaboration among governing agencies (i.e. logistics service providers (LSPs), Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) and Halal Industry Development Corporation), a lack of cost-effective standards, an overly competitive transportation sector, lack of demand, lack of halal logistics compulsion, financial challenges and a general misunderstanding of halal practices.

Practical implications

The findings of the present study may help government policy makers recognise the issues that should be addressed in motivating logistics companies to adopt halal practices.

Originality/value

Although halal logistics plays a key role in protecting the halal integrity of halal products, there are few halal LSPs. This study contributes to the advancement of knowledge on the challenges and opportunities of adopting halal logistics.
Social business model design and implementation in developing countries
Authors: Sabatier Valerie , Medah Ignace , Augsdorfer Peter , Maduekwe Anthony
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the emergent research on social business models by revealing challenges encountered by the design and implementation of such business models.

Design/methodology/approach

Case study of the development of FACA, an affordable medicine used to treat sickle cell disease, from traditional medicine to market in Burkina Faso.

Findings

Social business models present important challenges in terms of value capture for all stakeholders. The social profit equation and the profit equation suggested by Yunus et al. are difficult to apply in practice, and therefore, social business model design should consider the social and profit equations jointly.

Originality/value

Developing countries are seeking different approaches to innovation and healthcare. Social business models appear as one of the potential solutions to bring value to society, organizations, and individuals. The identification of challenges raised by social business models can help policymakers and executives in the design and implementation of these social business models.
Emissions from international transport in global supply chains
Authors: Gurtu Amulya , Searcy Cory , Jaber M.Y.
Published: January 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to highlight the importance and need to include carbon emissions from international transport in the sourcing decisions of corporate organizations and the calculation of national emissions inventories (NEIs).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper proposes a method of attributing emissions from international transportation in global supply chains and calculating their impact on the economic sustainability of corporate organizations through a carbon price.

Findings

An application of the original model developed in this paper showed that international transport emissions can have an important effect on NEIs. An example of the imports of manufactured items from China and Germany to the USA showed a 3 per cent increase in emissions from manufacturing activities in the USA.

Research limitations/implications

Introducing carbon pricing on international transport emissions is expected to motivate corporate leaders to include emissions from international transport as a factor in their sourcing decisions.

Practical implications

Inclusion of international transport emissions along with the imposition of a carbon tax are designed to act as disincentives to generating emissions from supply chain activities. It is argued that the implementation of the model may provide long-term benefits associated with reduced emissions and a level playing field to organizations which use efficient technologies in manufacturing.

Social implications

It is recognized that the implementation of a carbon tax on international transport emissions may face resistance from several stakeholders, including governments of exporting countries, corporations and customers, due to an increase in cost.

Originality/value

This paper provides an original method to include emissions from international transport in supply chain decisions.
Management as a science-based profession: a grand societal challenge
Authors: Romme Georges
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the quest for management as a science-based profession, conceived as a grand societal challenge, can be revitalized.

Design/methodology/approach

A reflective approach is adopted by questioning some of the key assumptions made by management scholars, especially those that undermine their capacity to inform management practice. One key assumption is that management needs to be done by a few people at the top of the organization; this idea is widespread but false.

Findings

An important finding is that the future of the management discipline may largely depend on the rise of new forms of management drawing on distributed intelligence and circularity of power and authority. Management scholars thus need to shift their attention from an almost exclusive focus on managerial intentions and behaviors to (the development and use of new) management technologies, similar to how modern aviation technology involves airplanes that only to a limited extent require intervention and control by a single pilot.

Practical implications

The practical implications of the shift from managerial behavior to management technology are illustrated by means of so-called circular management practices, also known as holacracy and sociocracy.

Originality/value

This paper provides a novel perspective on how the quest for science-based professionalism in management, as a grand societal challenge, can be revitalized.
Call for articles: education at a tipping point scenarios and narratives
Authors: Abeles Tom P.
Published: January 2017

Purpose

Education from PreK to Grey, internationally, has reached a tipping point. Although the area has a vast literature outlining the issues at hand, there is no consistent vision on how to get beyond the criticism and to propose a clear path forward, particularly in a global, interconnected world.

Design/methodology/approach

On the Horizon, a foresight academic journal, with a strong focus on education is committing the quarterly issues to encourage critical analysis and define paths to addressing the issues at hand. It is seeking: research supported, analysis, scenarios and other futures tools for visioning, and the use of multi-media vehicles for experiencing and demonstrating opportunities, including games/simulations, interactive vehicles and “maker” options.

Findings

The foresight literature offers a rich set of methodologies for exploring potential futures, weighing the effects and providing strategic options. Yet, few of these have been critically applied to the PreK to Grey arena of education, particularly in a globally connected society with new entrants to the field and the increasing capabilities of artificial intelligence.

Originality/value

The study in this issue/volume of On the Horizon provides a platform to focus educational change and resituate it in the larger international societal frame.
Seams remain in seamless learning
Authors: Hiew Fui Chin , Chew Esyin
Published: January 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to identify the digital gaps in seamless learning concept within the higher educational institutions (HEIs) context.

Design/methodology/approach

The most cited mobile-assisted seamless learning framework, recent Educause higher education research report and relevant articles have been reviewed.

Findings

The digital gaps among educators and students hinder the implementation of the seamless learning framework in HEIs.

Practical implications

The finding will inform HEIs in addressing digital gaps to ensure learning and teaching enhancement with educational technology across institutions. It will also be useful for the design and improvement of the seamless learning framework. The finding may also be useful in creating awareness among educators and students as to the benefit of educational technologies.

Originality/value

No previous viewpoints have been published on digital gaps in the seamless learning concept. The digital gaps among educators and students constitute one of the most critical issues in implementing technology-assisted teaching and learning design in HEIs. This paper addresses the root of the problem by examining the digital gaps among educators and students within the seamless learning framework.
Leading under pressure: evaluating the decision-making style of NHL coaches
Authors: Trottier Kim
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish the optimal decision-making style in a fast-paced, complex, and dynamic environment.

Design/methodology/approach

Three decision-making attributes are explored: the use of intuition vs analysis, the proclivity to heuristics, and susceptibility to bias. The intuition/analysis is tested with a questionnaire that has been validated in prior research, while information on the two other dimensions is from an exploratory survey designed for this purpose. Responses to the survey questions provide some insight into the differential decision-making style of elite NHL hockey coaches’ vis-à-vis amateur coaches and news reporters.

Findings

The data suggest elite decision makers have no preference for intuitive or analytical settings, but exhibit a significantly higher perception of their ability to perform in both. While current literature shows sports athletes to be more intuitive, it appears coaches excel on the analytical dimension instead. This study finds that while elite hockey coaches have fewer biases overall, they tend in particular to be overly optimistic in comparison to amateur coaches and news reporters.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation in this paper is that the survey on heuristics and biases is exploratory, making these results less robust than the findings on intuition and analysis.

Originality/value

This paper is first to extend the decision-making literature to coaches, and among few papers that obtain insights from NHL coaches directly. The findings are likely to extend to corporate leadership as well, increasing the relevance of the results.
Compaction trend versus seismic anisotropy in shaly formations
Authors: Pervukhina Marina , Rasolofosaon Patrick N.J.
Published: January 2017

Shales comprise more than 60% of sedimentary rocks and form natural seals above hydrocarbon reservoirs. Their sealing capacity is also used for storage of nuclear wastes. The world's most important conventional oil and gas reservoirs have their corresponding source rocks in shale. Furthermore, shale oil and shale gas are the most rapidly expanding trends in unconventional oil and gas. Shales are notorious for their strong elastic anisotropy, i.e., so‐called vertical transverse isotropy. This vertical transverse isotropy, characterised by a vertical axis of invariance, is of practical importance as it is required for correct surface seismic data interpretation, seismic to well tie, and amplitude versus offset analysis. A rather classical paradigm makes a clear link between compaction in shales and the alignment of the clay platelets (main constituent of shales). This would imply increasing anisotropy strength with increasing compaction. Our main purpose is to check this prediction on two large databases in shaly formations (more than 800 samples from depths of 0–6 km) by extracting the major trends in the relation between seismic anisotropy and compaction. The statistical analysis of the database shows that the simultaneous increase in density and velocity, a classical compaction signature, is quite weakly correlated with the anisotropy strength. As a consequence, compaction can be excluded as a major cause of seismic anisotropy, at least in shaly formations. Also, the alignment of the clay platelets can explain most of the anisotropy measurements of both databases. Finally, a method for estimating the orientation distribution function of the clay platelets from the measurement of the anisotropy parameters is suggested.
Natural antioxidants in milk and dairy products
Authors: Grażyna Cichosz , Hanna Czeczot , Adam Ambroziak , Magdalena Bielecka Marika
Published: January 2017

Milk antioxidants, both lipophilic (conjugated linoleic acid, α‐tocopherol, β‐carotene, vitamins A and D3, coenzyme Q10, phospholipids) and hydrophilic antioxidants (proteins, peptides, vitamins, minerals and trace elements) play a key role in maintaining pro‐oxidant and antioxidant homeostasis in the human body. Lipophilic antioxidants are characterised by high thermal stability and they are active in all dairy products. Lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidants interact in the process of deactivating reactive oxygen species and the final products of lipid peroxidation. A negative correlation between milk consumption and the incidence of diet‐dependent diseases confirms that the consumption of milk and dairy products delivers health benefits.
Effect of whey protein concentrate, pH and salt on colloidal stability of acid dairy drink (Doogh)
Authors: Azary Zahra , Nasirpour Ali
Published: January 2017

Serum separation of Doogh, an Iranian yoghurt drink, is a major problem. In this study, the effects of whey protein concentrate (WPC) addition, pH of the product and dissolved salt (sodium chloride) in milk on the colloidal stability of Doogh were investigated. By increasing the amount of WPC (from 0.5 to 3%) and salt in milk (from 0 to 1.6%), the serum separation decreased. Increasing pH values of sample (from 3.5 to 4.5), WPC (from 0.5 to 4%) and salt concentration in milk (from 0 to 2%) also increased the samples’ viscosity. All samples showed Newtonian behaviour except samples at pH 4.5, containing 4% WPC and 2% dissolved salt in milk.
Microbiota Composition and Pulmonary Surfactant Protein Expression as Markers of Death by Drowning
Authors: Lee So‐Yeon , Woo Seung‐Kyun , Lee So‐Min , Ha Eun‐Ju , Lim Kyoung‐Hee , Choi Kyung‐Hwa , Roh Young‐Hee , Eom Yong‐Bin
Published: January 2017

Pathological diagnosis of drowning remains a challenge for forensic science, because of a lack of pathognomonic findings. We analyzed microbiota and surfactant protein in the lungs for a novel diagnosis of drowning. All rats were divided into drowning, postmortem submersion, and control groups. The water, lungs, closed organs (kidney and liver), and cardiac blood in rats were assayed by targeting 16S ribosomal RNA of Miseq sequencing. Lung samples were analyzed by immunohistochemical staining for surfactant protein A. The closed organs and cardiac blood of drowned group have a lot of aquatic microbes, which have not been detected in postmortem submersion group. Furthermore, intra‐alveolar granular staining of surfactant protein A (SP‐A) was severely observed in the drowned group than the postmortem submersion and control groups. The findings suggested that the presence of aquatic microbiota in the closed organs and increased expression of SP‐A could be markers for a diagnosis of drowning.
Neonatal morbidity after spontaneous labor onset prior to intended cesarean delivery at term: a cohort study
Authors: Glavind Julie , Milidou Ioanna , Uldbjerg Niels , Maimburg Rikke , Henriksen Tine B.
Published: January 2017

Introduction

We aimed to investigate if labor onset before planned cesarean delivery (CD) affects the risk of neonatal admission, respiratory distress, or neonatal infectious morbidity.

Material and methods

Our cohort included singleton term pregnant women with intended CD who delivered at Aarhus University Hospital from 1990 to 2012. Two groups of women were identified: women with intended CD performed before labor (nonlabor CD) and women with intended CD performed after spontaneous labor onset (labor‐onset CD); in both groups there was no other maternal or fetal medical indication for an immediate CD or for early‐term CD scheduling. Data were stratified in early‐term (37–38 weeks) and full‐term (39–40 weeks) deliveries. The main outcome measures were neonatal admission, respiratory distress and neonatal infectious morbidity.

Results

Among 103 919 live births, 5071 deliveries were nonlabor CDs and 731 were labor‐onset CDs. Compared to nonlabor CD, labor‐onset CD was associated with similar risks of neonatal admission and respiratory distress, both at early and full term, but with a two‐ to three‐fold increased risk of newborn septicemia or antibiotic treatment at early term. Labor onset at early term was associated with a lower risk of maternal blood loss of more than 500 mL, but with a higher risk of postoperative antibiotic treatment and endometritis.

Conclusions

Labor onset before planned CD was not associated with a decrease in neonatal respiratory morbidity, but may be associated with increased risks of neonatal infection.
Mathematical Modeling of Rotary Blood Pumps in a Pulsatile In Vitro Flow Environment
Authors: Pirbodaghi Tohid
Published: January 2017

Nowadays, sacrificing animals to develop medical devices and receive regulatory approval has become more common, which increases ethical concerns. Although in vivo tests are necessary for development and evaluation of new devices, nonetheless, with appropriate in vitro setups and mathematical models, a part of the validation process can be performed using these models to reduce the number of sacrificed animals. The main aim of this study is to present a mathematical model simulating the hydrodynamic function of a rotary blood pump (RBP) in a pulsatile in vitro flow environment. This model relates the pressure head of the RBP to the flow rate, rotational speed, and time derivatives of flow rate and rotational speed. To identify the model parameters, an in vitro setup was constructed consisting of a piston pump, a compliance chamber, a throttle, a buffer reservoir, and the CentriMag RBP. A 40% glycerin–water mixture as a blood analog fluid and deionized water were used in the hydraulic circuit to investigate the effect of viscosity and density of the working fluid on the model parameters. First, model variables were physically measured and digitally acquired. Second, an identification algorithm based on regression analysis was used to derive the model parameters. Third, the completed model was validated with a totally different set of in vitro data. The model is usable for both mathematical simulations of the interaction between the pump and heart and indirect pressure measurement in a clinical context.
Accounting Choice and Theory in Crisis: The Case of the Victorian Desalination Plant
Authors: Tan‐Kantor Angela , Abbott Malcolm , Jubb Christine
Published: January 2017

This paper traces the financial developments of the desalination plant in the State of Victoria in Australia. The desalination plant was built via a public–private partnership (PPP) vehicle, and commissioned at a time when water storage levels in the state were low. Subsequent rainfall has meant that no water has yet been ordered by the Victorian Government from the plant. In the paper an analysis is undertaken of the impact of the manner in which accounting treatment has been used in valuing this infrastructure asset. It is concluded that the applied accounting policy choices and treatments for this infrastructure asset are not consistent with conventional accounting theory, the Conceptual Framework for accounting or generally accepted accounting principles.
Engaging with environmental stakeholders: Routes to building environmental capabilities in the context of the low carbon economy
Authors: Baranova Polina , Meadows Maureen
Published: January 2017

The transition to a low carbon economy demands new strategies to enable organizations to take advantage of the potential for “green” growth. An organization's environmental stakeholders can provide opportunities for growth and support the success of its low carbon strategies, as well as potentially acting as a constraint on new initiatives. Building environmental capabilities through engagement with environmental stakeholders is conceptualized as an important aspect for the success of organizational low carbon strategies. We examine capability building across a range of sectors affected by the sustainability agenda, including construction, rail, water, and health care. We identify a number of emergent environmental stakeholders and explore their engagement with the development of environmental capabilities in the context of the transition toward a low carbon economy. Our conceptual framework offers a categorization of environmental stakeholders based on their position in relation to a focal organization and the potential for the development of environmental capabilities.
On Joint Estimation of Gaussian Graphical Models for Spatial and Temporal Data
Authors: Lin Zhixiang , Wang Tao , Yang Can , Zhao Hongyu
Published: January 2017

In this article, we first propose a Bayesian neighborhood selection method to estimate Gaussian Graphical Models (GGMs). We show the graph selection consistency of this method in the sense that the posterior probability of the true model converges to one. When there are multiple groups of data available, instead of estimating the networks independently for each group, joint estimation of the networks may utilize the shared information among groups and lead to improved estimation for each individual network. Our method is extended to jointly estimate GGMs in multiple groups of data with complex structures, including spatial data, temporal data, and data with both spatial and temporal structures. Markov random field (MRF) models are used to efficiently incorporate the complex data structures. We develop and implement an efficient algorithm for statistical inference that enables parallel computing. Simulation studies suggest that our approach achieves better accuracy in network estimation compared with methods not incorporating spatial and temporal dependencies when there are shared structures among the networks, and that it performs comparably well otherwise. Finally, we illustrate our method using the human brain gene expression microarray dataset, where the expression levels of genes are measured in different brain regions across multiple time periods.
Estimation and Testing Problems in Auditory Neuroscience via Clustering
Authors: Hwang Youngdeok , Wright Samantha , Hanlon Bret M.
Published: January 2017

The processing of auditory information in neurons is an important area in neuroscience. We consider statistical analysis for an electrophysiological experiment related to this area. The recorded synaptic current responses from the experiment are observed as clusters, where the number of clusters is related to an important characteristic of the auditory system. This number is difficult to estimate visually because the clusters are blurred by biological variability. Using singular value decomposition and a Gaussian mixture model, we develop an estimator for the number of clusters. Additionally, we provide a method for hypothesis testing and sample size determination in the two-sample problem. We illustrate our approach with both simulated and experimental data.
Morroniside, a secoiridoid glycoside from Cornus officinalis, attenuates neuropathic pain by activation of spinal glucagon‐like peptide‐1 receptors
Authors: Xu Meng , Wu Hai‐Yun , Liu Hao , Gong Nian , Wang Yi‐Rui , Wang Yong‐Xiang
Published: January 2017

Background and Purpose

Iridoid glycosides containing the double bond scaffold of cyclopentapyran are reversible and orthosteric agonists of glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) receptors and exert anti‐nociceptive and neuroprotective actions. Morroniside, derived from the medicinal herb Cornus officinalis, is an atypical secoiridoid containing a six‐membered cyclic inner ether fragment. Here we investigated whether morroniside was an orthosteric GLP‐1 receptor agonist and had anti‐hypersensitivity activities in a model of neuropathic pain.

Experimental Approach

We used a model of neuropathic pain, induced by tight ligation of L5/L6 spinal nerves in rats. Hydrogen peroxide‐induced oxidative damage was also assayed in N9 microglial cells and human HEK293 cells stably expressing GLP‐1 receptors.

Key Results

Morroniside protected against hydrogen peroxide‐induced oxidative damage in N9 microglial and HEK293 cells that expressed mouse or human GLP‐1 receptors, but not in HEK293T cells without GLP‐1 receptors. The GLP‐1 receptor orthosteric antagonist exendin(9‐39) also concentration‐dependently shifted the concentration‐protective response curves of morroniside and exenatide to the right without affecting maximal protection, with similar pA2 values. Furthermore, morroniside given by oral gavage or intrathecally in neuropathic rats dose‐dependently attenuated mechanical allodynia, with comparable Emax values and ED50s of 335 mg·kg−1 and 7.1 μg and completely blocked thermal hyperalgesia. Daily intrathecal injections of morroniside over 7 days did not induce anti‐allodynic tolerance. Pretreatment with intrathecal exendin(9‐39) completely blocked systemic and intrathecal morroniside‐induced mechanical anti‐allodynia.

Conclusion and Implications

Our data demonstrated that morroniside was an orthosteric agonist of GLP‐1 receptors and produced antihypersensitivity in a neuropathic pain model by activation of spinal GLP‐1 receptors.
A Hierarchical Approach to Judgment Aggregation with Abstentions
Authors: Jiang Guifei , Zhang Dongmo , Perrussel Laurent
Published: January 2017

Judgment aggregation deals with the problem of how collective judgments on logically connected propositions can be formed based on individual judgments on the same propositions. The existing literature on judgment aggregation mainly focuses on the anonymity condition requiring that individual judgments be treated equally. However, in many real‐world situations, a group making collective judgments may assign individual members or subgroups different priorities to determine the collective judgment. Based on this consideration, this article relaxes the anonymity condition by giving a hierarchy over individuals so as to investigate how the judgment from each individual affects the group judgment in such a hierarchical environment. Moreover, we assume that an individual can abstain from voting on a proposition and the collective judgment on a proposition can be undetermined, which means that we do not require completeness at both individual and collective levels. In this new setting, we first identify an impossibility result and explore a set of plausible conditions in terms of abstentions. Secondly, we develop an aggregation rule based on the hierarchy of individuals and show that the aggregation rule satisfies those plausible conditions. The computational complexity of this rule is also investigated. Finally, we show that the proposed rule is (weakly) oligarchic over a subset of agenda. This is by no means a negative result. In fact, our result reveals that with abstentions, oligarchic aggregation is not necessary to be a single‐level determination but can be a multiple‐level collective decision making, which partially explains its ubiquity in the real world.
Scaling of pattern formations and morphogen gradients
Authors: Inomata Hidehiko
Published: January 2017

The concentration gradient of morphogens provides positional information for an embryo and plays a pivotal role in pattern formation of tissues during the developmental processes. Morphogen‐dependent pattern formations show robustness despite various perturbations. Although tissues usually grow and dynamically change their size during histogenesis, proper patterns are formed without the influence of size variations. Furthermore, even when the blastula embryo of Xenopus laevis is bisected into dorsal and ventral halves, the dorsal half of the embryo leads to proportionally patterned half‐sized embryos. This robustness of pattern formation despite size variations is termed as scaling. In this review, I focused on the morphogen‐dependent dorsal–ventral axis formation in Xenopus and described how morphogens form a proper gradient shape according to the embryo size.
Comparing effects of insulin analogues and human insulin on nocturnal glycaemia in hypoglycaemia‐prone people with Type 1 diabetes
Authors: Kristensen P. L. , Tarnow L. , Bay C. , Nørgaard K. , Jensen T. , Parving H.‐H. , Perrild H. , Beck‐Nielsen H. , Christiansen J. S. , Thorsteinsson B. , Pedersen‐Bjergaard U.
Published: January 2017

Aims

To assess the difference between analogue and human insulin with regard to nocturnal glucose profiles and risk of hypoglycaemia in people with recurrent severe hypoglycaemia.

Methods

A total of 72 people [46 men, mean ± sd age 54 ± 12 years, mean ± sd HbA1c 65 ± 12 mmol/mol (8.1 ± 1.1%), mean ± sd duration of diabetes 30 ± 14 years], who participated in a 2‐year randomized, crossover trial of basal‐bolus therapy with insulin detemir/insulin aspart or human NPH insulin/human regular insulin (the HypoAna trial) were studied for 2 nights during each treatment. Venous blood was drawn hourly during sleep. Primary endpoints were nocturnal glucose profiles and occurrence of hypoglycaemia (blood glucose ≤ 3.9 mmol/l).

Results

During insulin analogue treatment, the mean nocturnal plasma glucose level was significantly higher than during treatment with human insulin (10.6 vs 8.1 mmol/l). The fasting plasma glucose level was similar between the treatments. Nocturnal hypoglycaemia was registered during 41/101 nights (41%) in the human insulin arm and 19/117 nights (16%) in the insulin analogue arm, corresponding to a hazard ratio of 0.26 (95% CI 0.14 to 0.45; P < 0.0001) with insulin analogue.

Conclusions

Treatment with insulin analogue reduces the occurrence of nocturnal hypoglycaemia assessed by nocturnal glucose profiles in people with Type 1 diabetes prone to severe hypoglycaemia. Nocturnal glucose profiles provide a more comprehensive assessment of clinical benefit of insulin regimens as compared to conventional recording of hypoglycaemia.
Modelling species responses to extreme weather provides new insights into constraints on range and likely climate change impacts for Australian mammals
Authors: Morán‐Ordóñez Alejandra , Briscoe Natalie J. , Wintle Brendan A.
Published: January 2017

Conservation of species under climate change relies on accurate predictions of species ranges under current and future climate conditions. To date, modelling studies have focused primarily on how changes in long‐term averaged climate conditions are likely to influence species distributions with much less attention paid to the potential effect of extreme events such as droughts and heatwaves which are expected to increase in frequency over coming decades. In this study we explore the benefits of tailoring predictor variables to the specific physiological constraints of species, or groups of species. We show how utilizing spatial predictors of extreme temperature and water availability (heat‐waves and droughts), derived from high‐temporal resolution, long‐term weather records, provides categorically different predictions about the future (2070) distribution of suitable environments for 188 mammal species across different biomes (from arid zones to tropical environments) covering the whole of continental Australia. Models based on long‐term averages‐only and extreme conditions‐only showed similarly high predictive performance tested by hold‐out cross‐validation on current data, and yet some predicted dramatically different future geographic ranges for the same species under 2070 climate scenarios. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for extreme conditions/events by identifying areas in the landscape where species may cope with average conditions, but cannot persist under extreme conditions known or predicted to occur there. Our approach provides an important step toward identifying the location of climate change refuges and danger zones that goes beyond the current standard of extrapolating long‐term climate averages.
Letter to the Editor: Commentary on small colon obstruction
Authors: Freeman D.
Published: January 2017

See theoriginal clinical commentaryandcorrespondenceby A. T. Blikslager.
Activin A in combination with ERK1/2 MAPK pathway inhibition sustains propagation of mouse embryonic stem cells
Authors: Ashida Yuhei , Nakajima‐Koyama May , Hirota Akira , Yamamoto Takuya , Nishida Eisuke
Published: January 2017

The Activin/Nodal/TGF‐β signaling pathway plays a major role in maintaining mouse epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs). The EpiSC‐maintaining medium, which contains Activin A and bFGF, induces differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to EpiSCs. Here, we show that Activin A also has an ability to efficiently propagate ESCs without differentiation to EpiSCs when combined with a MEK inhibitor PD0325901. ESCs cultured in Activin+PD retained high‐level expression of naive pluripotency‐related transcription factors. Genomewide analysis showed that the gene expression profile of ESCs cultured in Activin+PD resembles that of ESCs cultured in 2i. ESCs cultured in Activin+PD also showed features common to the naive pluripotency of ESCs, including the preferential usage of the Oct4 distal enhancer and the self‐renewal response to Wnt pathway activation. Our finding shows a role of Activin/Nodal/TGF‐β signaling in stabilizing self‐renewal gene regulatory networks in ESCs.
Contemporary migration patterns in the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection: A systematic review
Authors: Morais Samantha , Costa Ana Rute , Ferro Ana , Lunet Nuno , Peleteiro Bárbara
Published: January 2017

Background

A rapid growth in the number of international migrants over the past years has occurred with most traveling to more affluent settings. As Helicobacter pylori infects over half of the adult population and its prevalence is higher in developing countries, understanding the prevalence of infection in migrants can provide insight into future trends in the burden and management of infection. We aimed to describe the prevalence of H. pylori among migrants through a systematic literature review.

Methods

We searched PubMed® from inception to September 2015 to identify studies reporting the prevalence of H. pylori in international migrants according to country of birth for first‐generation, and country of birth and parents' nationality for successive generations. Comparable data from origin and destination populations were obtained from the same studies or, when not present, from a previous systematic review on H. pylori worldwide.

Results

A total of 28 eligible studies were identified with data for 29 origin and 12 destination countries. Two studies that evaluated refugees presented prevalences of infection higher than both the origin and destination countries. Otherwise, the prevalences among migrants were generally similar or below that of the origin and higher than the destination. Second‐ or more generation had lower prevalences compared to first‐generation migrants.

Conclusions

Our study findings are consistent with what would be expected based on the prevalence of H. pylori worldwide. The results of this review show that migrants are particularly at risk of infection and help to identify gaps in the knowledge of migrants' prevalence of infection globally.
Comparative migration strategies of wild and captive‐bred Asian Houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii
Authors: Burnside Robert J. , Collar Nigel J. , Dolman Paul M.
Published: January 2017

For migratory species, the success of population reintroduction or reinforcement through captive‐bred released individuals depends on survivors undertaking appropriate migrations. We assess whether captive‐bred Asian Houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii from a breeding programme established with locally sourced individuals and released into suitable habitat during spring or summer undertake similar migrations to those of wild birds. Using satellite telemetry, we compare the migrations of 29 captive‐bred juveniles, 10 wild juveniles and 39 wild adults (including three birds first tracked as juveniles), examining migratory propensity (proportion migrating), timing, direction, stopover duration and frequency, efficiency (route deviation), and wintering and breeding season locations. Captive‐bred birds initiated autumn migration an average of 20.6 (±4.6 se) days later and wintered 470.8 km (±76.4) closer to the breeding grounds, mainly in Turkmenistan, northern Iran and Afghanistan, than wild birds, which migrated 1217.8 km (±76.4), predominantly wintering in southern Iran and Pakistan (juveniles and adults were similar). Wintering locations of four surviving captive‐bred birds were similar in subsequent years (median distance to first wintering site = 70.8 km, range 6.56–221.6 km), suggesting that individual captive‐bred birds (but not necessarily their progeny) remain faithful to their first wintering latitude. The migratory performance of captive‐bred birds was otherwise similar to that of wild juveniles. Although the long‐term fitness consequences for captive‐bred birds establishing wintering sites at the northern edge of those occupied by wild birds remain to be quantified, it is clear that the pattern of wild migrations established by long‐term selection is not replicated. If the shorter migration distance of young captive‐bred birds has a physiological rather than a genetic basis, then their progeny may still exhibit wild‐type migration. However, as there is a considerable genetic component to migration, captive breeding management must respect migratory population structure as well as natal and release‐site fidelity.
Sintering behavior and biocompatibility of a low temperature co‐fired ceramic for microfluidic biosensors
Authors: Luo Jin , Eitel Richard
Published: January 2017

A low temperature co‐fired ceramic (LTCC) has been formulated and evaluated for in‐vitro microfluidic sensors and cell culture applications. Using a 75/25 vol% glass to alumina ratio, high density was achieved for sintering temperatures <900°C. No toxicity was observed in the leachate medium obtained by soaking LTCC in cell medium for 5 days. The human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) also attached on the fibronectin‐coated LTCC after 14 hours and proliferated after 74 hours. On the basis of these results, the current LTCC formulation is a viable candidate for the continued development of LTCC‐based microfluidic biosensors.
Phylogeny of penduline tits inferred from mitochondrial and microsatellite genotyping
Authors: Barani‐Beiranvand Hossein , Aliabadian Mansour , Irestedt Martin , Qu Yanhua , Darvish Jamshid , Székely Tamás , Van Dijk René E. , Ericson Per G. P.
Published: January 2017

Penduline tits (Remiz spp.) are renowned for their diverse mating and parenting strategies, and are a well‐studied system by behavioural ecologists. However, the phylogenetic relationships and species delimitations within this genus are poorly understood. Here, we investigate phylogenetic relationships within the genus Remiz by examining the genetic variation in the mitochondrial cytochrome‐b gene of 64 individuals and in ten autosomal microsatellite markers from 44 individuals. The taxon sampling includes individuals from all currently recognized species (R. pendulinus, R. macronyx, R. coronatus, and R. consobrinus) and most subspecies in the Palearctic region. We showed that R. coronatus and R. consobrinus are genetically well differentiated and constitute independent evolutionary lineages, separated from each other and from R. pendulinus/macronyx. However, we found no evidence for significant differentiation among R. pendulinus/macronyx individuals in mtDNA haplotypes and only marginal differences between R. pendulinus and R. macronyx in microsatellite markers. Hence, based on present data our recommendation is to treat R. pendulinus and R. macronyx as conspecific and R. coronatus and R. consobrinus as separate species.
Thermal requirements for growth, survival and aerobic performance of weatherfish larvae Misgurnus fossilis
Authors: Schreiber B. , Monka J. , Drozd B. , Hundt M. , Weiss M. , Oswald T. , Gergs R. , Schulz R.
Published: January 2017

Thermal requirements of larval weatherfish Misgurnus fossilis were investigated in terms of growth, survival and aerobic performance. Growth and survival of M. fossilis larvae acclimated to five temperatures (11, 15, 19, 23 and 27° C) were measured over 25 days. In the upper temperature treatments (19, 23 and 27° C), survival of larvae was stable throughout the entire rearing period (>75%), whereas 11 and 15° C resulted in severe declines in survival (to <10%). Growth of larvae (expressed as dry mass and total length) was highest at 19 and 23° C, but significantly decreased at 27° C. Routine metabolic rate of 3 days post‐hatch larvae was estimated as oxygen consumption rate (ṀO2) during acute exposure (30 min to 1 h) to seven temperatures (11, 15, 19, 23, 27, 31 and 35° C). Larval oxygen uptake increased with each consecutive temperature step from 11 to 27° C, until a plateau was reached at temperatures >27° C. All larvae of the 35° C regime, however, died within the ṀO2 measurement period. M. fossilis larvae show greater than expected tolerance of high temperatures. On the other hand, low temperatures that are within the range of likely habitat conditions are critical because they might lead to high mortality rates when larvae are exposed over periods >10 days. These findings help to improve rearing conditions and to identify suitable waters for stocking and thus support the management of re‐introduction activities for endangered M. fossilis.
The evolution of male nuptial colour in a sexually dimorphic group of fishes (Percidae: Etheostomatinae)
Authors: Ciccotto P. J. , Mendelson T. C.
Published: January 2017

To test hypotheses explaining variation in elaborate male colouration across closely related species groups, ancestral‐state reconstructions and tests of phylogenetic signal and correlated evolution were used to examine the evolution of male body and fin colouration in a group of sexually dichromatic stream fishes known as darters (Percidae: Etheostomatinae). The presence or absence of red–orange and blue–green male colour traits were scored across six body regions in 99 darter species using a recently estimated amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) phylogeny for comparative analyses. Ancestral‐state reconstructions infer the most recent common ancestor of darters to lack red–orange colour and possess blue–green colour on different body regions, suggesting variation between species is due to independent gains of red–orange and losses of blue–green. Colour traits exhibit substantial phylogenetic signal and are highly correlated across body regions. Comparative analyses were repeated using an alternative phylogenetic hypothesis based on one mitochondrial and two nuclear genes, yielding similar results to analyses based on the AFLP phylogeny. Red–orange colouration in darters appears to be derived; whereas, blue–green appears to be ancestral, which suggests that different selection mechanisms may be acting on these two colour classes in darters.
Technical note: comparison of methods for threshold selection for extreme sea levels
Authors: Caballero‐Megido C. , Hillier J. , Wyncoll D. , Bosher L. , Gouldby B.
Published: January 2017

Extreme value analysis is an important tool for studying coastal flood risk, but requires the estimation of a threshold to define an ‘extreme’, which is traditionally undertaken visually. Such subjective judgement is not accurately reproducible, so recently a number of quantitative approaches have been proposed. This paper therefore reviews existing methods, illustrated with coastal tide‐gauge data and the Generalized Pareto Distribution, and proposes a new automated method that mimics the enduringly popular visual inspection method. In total, five different types of statistical threshold selection and their variants are evaluated by comparison to manually derived thresholds, demonstrating that the new method is a useful, complementary tool.