bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Unsupervised spike sorting for large scale, high density multielectrode arrays
Authors: Hilgen Gerrit , Sorbaro Martino , Pirmoradian Sahar , Muthmann Jens-Oliver , Kepiro Ibolya E. , Ullo Simona , Juarez Ramirez Cesar , Puente Encinas Albert , Maccione Alessandro , Berdondini Luca , Murino Vittorio , Sona Diego , Cella Zanacchi Francesca , Sernagor Evelyne , Hennig Matthias H.
Published: April 2016

A new method for automated spike sorting for recordings with high density, large scale multielectrode arrays is presented. Exploiting the dense sampling of single neurons by multiple electrodes, we obtain an efficient, low-dimensional representation of detected spikes consisting of estimated spatial spike locations and dominant spike shape features, which enables fast and reliable clustering into single units. Millions of events can be sorted in minutes, and the method is parallelized and scales better than quadratically with the number of detected spikes. We demonstrate this method using recordings with a 4,096 channel array, and present validation based on anatomical imaging, optogenetic stimulation and model-based quality control. A comparison with semi-automated, shape-based spike sorting exposes significant limitations of conventional methods. Our analysis shows that it is feasible to reliably isolate the activity of hundreds to thousands of neurons in a single recording, and that dense, multi-channel probes substantially aid reliable spike sorting.
Two pseudo-enantiomeric forms ofN-benzyl-4-hydroxy-1-methyl-2,2-dioxo-1H-2λ6,1-benzothiazine-3-carboxamide and their analgesic properties
Authors: Ukrainets Igor V. , Shishkina Svitlana V. , Baumer Vyacheslav N. , Gorokhova Olga V. , Petrushova Lidiya A. , Sim Galina
Published: April 2016

The fact that molecular crystals exist as different polymorphic modifications and the identification of as many polymorphs as possible are important considerations for the pharmaceutic industry. The molecule ofN-benzyl-4-hydroxy-1-methyl-2,2-dioxo-1H-2λ6,1-benzothiazine-3-carboxamide, C17H16N2O4S, does not contain a stereogenic atom, but intramolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions engender enantiomeric chiral conformations as a labile racemic mixture. The title compound crystallized in a solvent-dependent single chiral conformation within one of two conformationally polymorphicP212121orthorhombic chiral crystals (denoted formsAandB). Each of these pseudo-enantiomorphic crystals contains one of two pseudo-enantiomeric diastereomers. FormAwas obtained from methylene chloride and formBcan be crystallized fromN,N-dimethylformamide, ethanol, ethyl acetate or xylene. Pharmacological studies with solid–particulate suspensions have shown that crystalline formAexhibits an almost fourfold higher antinociceptive activity compared to formB.
Conformation and tautomerism of methoxy-substituted 4-phenyl-4-thiazoline-2-thiones: a combined crystallographic andab initioinvestigation
Authors: Balti Monaem , Norberg Bernadette , Efrit Mohamed Lotfi , Lanners Steve , Wouters Johan
Published: April 2016

4-Phenyl-4-thiazoline-2-thiol is an active pharmaceutical compound, one of whose activities is as a human indolenamine dioxygenase inhibitor. It has been shown recently that in both the solid state and the gas phase, the thiazolinethione tautomer should be preferred. As part of both research on this lead compound and a medicinal chemistry program, a series of substituted arylthiazolinethiones have been synthesized. The molecular conformations and tautomerism of 4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-4-thiazoline-2-thione and 4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-4-thiazoline-2-thione, both C10H9NOS2, are reported and compared with the geometry deduced fromab initiocalculations [PBE/6-311G(d,p)]. Both the crystal structure analyses and the calculations establish the thione tautomer for the two substituted arylthiazolinethiones. In the crystal structure of the 2-methoxyphenyl regioisomer, the thiazolinethione unit was disordered over two conformations. Both isomers exhibit similar hydrogen-bond patterns [R22(8) motif] and form dimers. The crystal packing is further reinforced by short S...S interactions in the 2-methoxyphenyl isomer. The conformations of the two regioisomers correspond to stable geometries calculated from anab initioenergy-relaxed scan.
Thermo-mechanical challenges of reflowed lead-free solder joints in surface mount components: a review
Authors: Lau Chun Sean , Khor C.Y. , Soares D. , Teixeira J.C. , Abdullah M.Z.
Published: April 2016

Purpose

The purpose of the present study was to review the thermo-mechanical challenges of reflowed lead-free solder joints in surface mount components (SMCs). The topics of the review include challenges in modelling of the reflow soldering process, optimization and the future challenges in the reflow soldering process. Besides, the numerical approach of lead-free solder reliability is also discussed.

Design/methodology/approach

Lead-free reflow soldering is one of the most significant processes in the development of surface mount technology, especially toward the miniaturization of the advanced SMCs package. The challenges lead to more complex thermal responses when the PCB assembly passes through the reflow oven. The virtual modelling tools facilitate the modelling and simulation of the lead-free reflow process, which provide more data and clear visualization on the particular process.

Findings

With the growing trend of computer power and software capability, the multidisciplinary simulation, such as the temperature and thermal stress of lead-free SMCs, under the influenced of a specific process atmosphere can be provided. A simulation modelling technique for the thermal response and flow field prediction of a reflow process is cost-effective and has greatly helped the engineer to eliminate guesswork. Besides, simulated-based optimization methods of the reflow process have gained popularity because of them being economical and have reduced time-consumption, and these provide more information compared to the experimental hardware. The advantages and disadvantages of the simulation modelling in the reflow soldering process are also briefly discussed.

Practical implications

This literature review provides the engineers and researchers with a profound understanding of the thermo-mechanical challenges of reflowed lead-free solder joints in SMCs and the challenges of simulation modelling in the reflow process.

Originality/value

The unique challenges in solder joint reliability, and direction of future research in reflow process were identified to clarify the solutions to solve lead-free reliability issues in the electronics manufacturing industry.
Strategic innovation ambidexterity and the internationalization performance of small and medium enterprises: an insight into herbal-based small and medium enterprises (HbSMES)
Authors: Mashahadi Faizah , Ahmad Noor Hazlina , Mohamad Osman
Published: April 2016

Purpose

This paper aims to explain the relationship between strategic technological and non-technological innovation ambidexterity and the internationalization performance of HbSMEs.

Design/methodology/approach

The theory of dynamic capability is highlighted as the main approach to enhance the internationalization performance of HbSMEs. It spells on the importance of continuous improvement, which can be realized by renewing and reconfiguring businesses competencies in response to the changing nature of business environment. The respondents composed of 310 HbSMEs that involve actively in international business activity. The data is analyzed using partial least squares.

Findings

The results indicate that only strategic non-technological innovation ambidexterity plays critical role in determining the internationalization performance of HbSMEs, while strategic technological innovation ambidexterity creates non-significant impact.

Originality/value

As resource-constrained enterprises, innovation activity imposed undue burden to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). However, since people are started to shift their preferences on herbal-based products, strategic innovation ambidexterity is critical for HbSMEs to respond to the global herbal market. This research may provide information in which area of innovation should be emphasized by HbSMEs. Here, strategic non-technological innovation ambidexterity has been observed to create positive and significant impact on the internationalization performance of HbSMEs. Therefore, exploiting the existing marketing capability and concurrently exploring new marketing capability are critical for HbSMEs so that businesses could improve its performance in the turbulent nature of international business environment.
Clinical and dermoscopic changes of vulvar lichen sclerosus after topical corticosteroid treatment
Authors: Borghi Alessandro , Corazza Monica , Minghetti Sara , Toni Giulia , Virgili Annarosa
Published: April 2016

With the aim to assess changes in both clinical and dermoscopic features of vulvar lichen sclerosus (VLS) after a treatment with topical corticosteroid, 29 VLS patients treated with mometasone furoate 0.1% ointment for 12 weeks were evaluated for symptoms, objective signs and dermoscopic variables at baseline and treatment completion. Numeric scores were assigned to each parameter. Mean itching and burning values had decreased significantly at the 12‐week control visit compared with baseline, as well as values referring to pallor, hyperkeratosis and purpuric lesions. Among the dermoscopic variables, the vessel score increased while the scores of patchy, structureless, whitish areas, whitish background, purpuric globules and scales decreased significantly after treatment. Scores referring to gray‐blue dots, comedo‐like openings and structures like ice slivers did not change significantly throughout the treatment. Based on these findings, dermoscopic features may change, even significantly, with topical corticosteroids and may be useful for monitoring the response to treatment.
Histopathological diagnosis of epithelial crateriform tumors: Keratoacanthoma and other epithelial crateriform tumors
Authors: Ogita Azusa , Ansai Shin‐ichi , Misago Noriyuki , Anan Takashi , Fukumoto Takaya , Saeki Hidehisa
Published: April 2016

Keratoacanthoma (KA) is a unique and distinct clinicopathological entity, although there is often confusion regarding its differentiation from other types of crateriform tumors. In this study, the clinicopathological features of 380 epidermal crateriform tumors with a central keratin plug were re‐examined and the tumors were histologically classified into seven types: (i) crateriform verruca; (ii) crateriform seborrheic keratosis; (iii) KA; (iv) KA with a conventional squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) component (KA‐like SCC and KA with malignant transformation); (v) crateriform Bowen's disease; (vi) crateriform SCC arising from solar keratosis; and (vii) crater form of infundibular SCC. Our study proved that incidence of SCC developing in KA lesions was 17.4%. The incidence rate differed depending on a patient's ages: 8.3% in patients less than 70 years of age and 24.3% in those aged 70 years and older. Nearly all of the malignant crateriform neoplasms (94.7%) occurred on sun‐exposed areas. Lesions on the face included 138 KA (59.5%), 65 malignant crateriform neoplasms (28%) and 29 benign crateriform neoplasms (12.5%). We conclude that KA is not a variant of SCC, but a benign and frequently regressing proliferative lesion or borderline neoplasm, although there is the potential for SCC to arise within KA. Because the incidence of SCC developed in KA lesions and the incidence of other malignant crateriform neoplasms are higher in patients aged 70 years and older, KA‐like lesions on sun‐exposed areas over 70 should be assessed carefully in consideration of the potential risk of malignancy.
CD34‐positive infantile myofibromatosis: Case report and review of hemangiopericytoma‐like pattern tumors
Authors: Kiyohara Takahiro , Maruta Naoki , Iino Shiro , Ido Hideki , Tokuriki Atsushi , Hasegawa Minoru
Published: April 2016

We describe a case of CD34‐positive infantile myofibromatosis with hemangiopericytoma‐like pattern. A 2‐day‐old Japanese boy presented with multiple hemispherical nodules on the extremities and back. There was a biphasic histological growth in the dermis, accompanied by a hemangiopericytoma‐like pattern with antler‐like branching vessels. Tumor cells were oval to spindle‐shaped myoid cells with bland appearance. Immunohistochemically, vimentin, calponin and CD34 were positive, while α‐smooth muscle actin, h‐caldesmon, HHF35 and desmin were negative. Although CD34 was positive, the present case could be diagnosed as infantile myofibromatosis. Myopericytoma, myofibroma/myofibromatosis, glomus tumor, glomangiopericytoma and angioleiomyoma share a continuous spectrum of benign hemangiopericytoma‐like pattern tumors. Myofibroma/myofibromatosis is nearly included in myopericytoma among pericytic (perivascular) tumors, and could be positive for CD34. Several immunohistochemical panels of smooth muscle markers are needed for the diagnosis of pericytic (perivascular) tumors.
The Monosyllable Imitation Test for Toddlers: influence of stimulus characteristics on imitation, compliance and diagnostic accuracy
Authors: Hodges Rosemary , Munro Natalie , Baker Elise , McGregor Karla , Heard Rob
Published: April 2016

Background

Although verbal imitation can provide a valuable window into the developing language abilities of toddlers, some toddlers find verbal imitation challenging and will not comply with tests that involve elicited verbal imitation. The characteristics of stimuli that are offered to toddlers for imitation may influence how easy or hard it is for them to imitate. This study presents a new test of elicited imitation—the Monosyllable Imitation Test for Toddlers (MITT)—comprising stimuli of varying characteristics and test features designed to optimize compliance.

Aims

To investigate whether the stimulus characteristics of neighbourhood density and consonant complexity have independent and/or convergent influences on imitation accuracy; and to examine non‐compliance rates and diagnostic accuracy of the MITT and an existing test, the Test of Early Nonword Repetition (TENR) (Stokes and Klee 2009a).

Methods & Procedures

Fifty‐two toddlers (25–35 months) participated. Twenty‐six had typically developing language (TDs) and 26 were defined as late talkers (LTs) based on parent‐reported vocabulary. The MITT stimuli were created by manipulating both neighbourhood density (dense or sparse) and consonant complexity (early‐ or late‐developing initial consonant). The MITT was designed to maximize compliance by: (1) using eight monosyllabic stimuli, (2) providing three exposures to stimuli and (3) embedding imitation in a motivating context: a computer animation with reasons for imitation.

Outcomes & Results

Stimulus characteristics influenced imitation accuracy in TDs and LTs. For TDs, neighbourhood density had an independent influence, whereas for LTs consonant complexity had an independent influence. These characteristics also had convergent influences. For TDs, stimuli were all equally easy to imitate, except those that were both sparse and contained a late‐developing consonant which were harder to imitate. For LTs, stimuli that were both dense and contained an early‐developing consonant were easier to imitate than any other stimuli. Two LTs and no TDs were non‐compliant with the MITT. With the TENR, five LTs and two TDs were non‐compliant. The MITT and TENR yielded similar levels of diagnostic sensitivity, but the TENR offered higher specificity rates. Subsets of stimuli from the MITT and the TENR also showed diagnostic promise when explored post‐hoc.

Conclusions & Implications

Stimulus characteristics converge to influence imitation accuracy in both TD and LT toddlers and therefore should be considered when designing stimuli. The MITT resulted in better compliance than the TENR, but the TENR offered higher specificity. Insights about late talking, elicited imitation and speech production capabilities are discussed.
Women and Citizenship Post-Trafficking: The Case of Nepal
Authors: Richardson Diane , Laurie Nina , Poudel Meena , Townsend Janet
Published: April 2016

This article analyses the relationship between gender, sexuality and citizenship embedded in models of citizenship in the Global South, specifically in South Asia, and the meanings associated with having – or not having – citizenship. It does this through an examination of women's access to citizenship in Nepal in the context of the construction of the emergent nation state in the ‘new’ Nepal ‘post-conflict’. Our analysis explores gendered and sexualized constructions of citizenship in this context through a specific focus on women who have experienced trafficking, and are beginning to organize around rights to sustainable livelihoods and actively lobby for changes in citizenship rules which discriminate against women. Building from this, in the final section we consider important implications of this analysis of post-trafficking experiences for debates about gender, sexuality and citizenship more broadly.
Older homeless women’s identity negotiation: agency, resistance, and the construction of a valued self
Authors: Gonyea Judith G , Melekis Kelly
Published: April 2016

There is a growing awareness that the adult homeless population is ageing, mirroring the general US population trend. Although men still outnumber women among the adult homeless population, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women, including older women, seeking shelter each night. The concept of ‘home’ is widely associated with women and serves as a source of identity and social order. Thus, homeless older women represent an intersection of stigma. This qualitative study utilized narrative analysis to investigate the intersectionality of gender, age and homelessness among six homeless urban women in their fifties and early sixties. Findings highlight how older homeless women experience stigmatization within the context of multiple marginalized identities. Data illustrate the women’s agency, resistance and resilience as they engage in ‘identity work’ to address the tension between how others view them and how they view themselves, and construct a sense of a valued life and self.
Prognosis: visions of environmental futures
Authors: Mathews Andrew S. , Barnes Jessica
Published: April 2016

While prognoses about the future are as old as human society, this special issue argues that the proliferation of new ways of modelling, planning, and interpolating the future of resources and environments is an increasing feature of contemporary environmental politics. In our introduction, we draw out two dimensions to this prognostic politics: first, the processes of making predictions about the future; and second, the movement of these predictions through the unstable and messy institutions that act upon the future in the present. We argue that new regimes of environmental forecasting and contests over these prognoses are giving rise to new forms of nature, framings of time and space, and modes of politics.
Sensing the ice: field science, models, and expert intimacy with knowledge
Authors: O'Reilly Jessica
Published: April 2016

This paper analyses relationships that Antarctic glaciologists (including field scientists, modellers, and those working with remote satellite data) have formed with the Antarctic glacial environment. These relationships contribute to understandings about the tactile and experiential nature of scientific expertise, even when the experts claim to know little scientifically. Expert extrapolations about nature in the absence of data hint at the intimacy of field scientists with the environment with which they work, and of modellers with the virtual worlds with which they interact. However, my research on sensory engagement among scientists also makes apparent the ways in which the embodied and sensorial are not primitive, elemental, basic, or instinctual, but bound up in the complexities of nationalism, scientific translations of scale, and boundary skirmishes over what counts as expertise from within scientific disciplines. Expertise is formed in the spaces between intimate encounters in relationship with the weight of cultural learning that teaches experts‐in‐the‐making how to encounter, analyse, compare, and interpret.
Uncertainty in the signal: modelling Egypt's water futures
Authors: Barnes Jessica
Published: April 2016

The impact of climate change on the Nile holds great significance for Egypt, which sources almost all its water from the river. Yet the models used to forecast these impacts produce a range of results, spanning from projections of increased flow to the opposite. Such uncertainty, to varying degrees, is a central feature of debates over climate change impacts around the world, and can be put to a variety of political uses. While all scientists negotiate uncertainty in their everyday practice, I focus here on two particular groups: Egyptian and non‐Egyptian scientists who are working on modelling Nile futures. First, I examine Egyptian scientists’ underplaying of key data uncertainties and link this to their position within national expert networks as predictors of their nation's water futures. Second, I highlight a material dimension to scientists’ ability to know, address, and reduce uncertainty. Finally, I argue that Egyptian scientists’ selective interpretation of uncertain model outputs, focusing on results that indicate a declining flow, is part of a political effort to bolster Egypt's claim on Nile waters. By exploring uncertainty as a known entity that scientists – not just in Egypt, but in any political context – actively manage, the paper highlights the linkages between the uncertainty of knowledge about various futures and the material, cultural, and political positions of those who produce that knowledge.
Subsoil abundance and surface absence: a junior mining company and its performance of prognosis in northwestern Ecuador
Authors: Kneas David
Published: April 2016

Spectacle and performance have long characterized global mining investment. In this paper, I examine the performative strategies of a junior mining company called Ascendant Copper in its pursuit of copper in northwestern Ecuador in the mid‐2000s. I focus on Ascendant's contradictory efforts to attract mining investment with imagery of subsoil abundance while also downplaying the scale and significance of mining in the face of local opposition. I approach the company's divergent strategies as reflective of the dual meanings of prognosis, as both forecast and diagnosis. I begin by examining the means through which Ascendant promoted subsoil copper wealth within the framework of resource classification established by the Toronto Stock Exchange. I then analyse the way the company employed discourses of corporate social responsibility to portray its local presence as one defined by conservation and development. In analysing the articulation of a junior company like Ascendant in relation to both subsoil and surface, I not only highlight the materiality of corporate social responsibility, but also underscore the precarious becoming of junior companies, who seldom feature in anthropological accounts of corporations.
Claiming futures
Authors: Ferry Elizabeth
Published: April 2016

The papers in this special issue on ‘environmental futures’ draw liberally on cross‐disciplinary conversations, yet their strength comes from their ethnographic depth and their characteristically anthropological willingness to consider diverse types of entities and phenomena in the same holistic frame. The range of places (Oman, Alaska, Egypt, Colombia, Antarctica, etc.) and entities (ice, oil, gold, governmental officials, glaciologists, salmon, models and scenarios, PowerPoint presentations, rainfall, etc.) engaged in these instances of ‘prognostic politics’ provide the kind of material that distinguishes the anthropological project of building theory through ethnography and comparison. In writing this response, I group the papers in pairs under four topics that bring out some of the especially interesting and novel contributions of the issue as a whole. The themes are: temporality and uncertainty; anticipatory knowledges; resource affect; and material signs.  These themes refract the visions presented in the papers, showing details of the process of claiming multiple uncertain, agonistically engaged futures, and the consequences of these claimed futures.  I briefly conclude by considering these papers as part of the current pragmatist (sometimes called ‘ontological’) bent of some anthropological work, and the heuristic possibilities provided by this orientation.
Latent Fingermark Aging Patterns (Part II): Color Contrast Between Ridges and Furrows as One Indicator of Degradation
Authors: De Alcaraz‐Fossoul Josep , Barrot Feixat Carme , Tasker Jack , McGarr Luke , Stow Karen , Carreras‐Marin Clara , Turbany Oset Jaume , Gené Badia Manel
Published: April 2016

Currently, no established methodology exists to determine degradation patterns of latent fingermarks by visual means. This article is the second in a series of reports exploring quantifiable degradation‐related parameters, which focuses on color contrast changes between fingermark ridges and furrows over time. Experiment variables included type of secretion (eccrine and sebaceous), substrate (glass and plastic), and exposure to natural light (dark, shade, and direct light). Fingermarks were sequentially visualized with titanium dioxide powder and photographed. Image histogram profiles were evaluated and combined with statistical analysis of color data values. Results indicate that sebaceous depositions on glass were generally less degraded by the effect of environmental conditions compared with those on plastic. In addition, aging in darkness was not always the best condition for preservation, and direct exposure to light seemed to inhibit visual degradation under certain conditions. Overall, the technique provided sufficient sensitivity to discern degradation patterns of fingermarks.
Human factors in the emergency department: Is physician perception of time to intubation and desaturation rate accurate?
Authors: Cemalovic Nail , Scoccimarro Anthony , Arslan Albert , Fraser Robert , Kanter Marc , Caputo Nicholas
Published: April 2016

Objective

The main objective of the present study was to examine the perceived versus actual time to intubation (TTI) as an indication to help determine the situational awareness of Emergency Physicians during rapid sequence intubation and, additionally, to determine the physician's perception of desaturation events.

Methods

A timed, observation prospective cohort study was conducted. A post‐intubation survey was administered to the intubating physician. Each step of the procedure was timed by an observer in order to determine actual TTI. The number of desaturation events was also recorded.

Results

One hundred individual intubations were included. The provider perceived TTI was significantly different and underestimated when compared with the actual TTI (23 s, 95% confidence interval (CI) 20.4–25.49 vs 45.5 s, 95% CI 40.2–50.7, P < 0.001, respectively). Pearson correlation coefficient of perceived TTI to actual TTI was r2 = 0.39 (95% CI 0.21–0.54, P < 0.001). The provider perceived desaturation rate was also significantly different from actual desaturation rate (13, 95% CI 3–12 vs 23, 95% CI 13–29, P = 0.05, respectively). The overall time to desaturation was 65.1 s.

Conclusions

Our findings have shown that provider's perception of TTI occurs sooner than actually observed. Also, the providers were less aware of desaturation during the procedure.
Estimation of the potential eye and tissue donor pool in an Australian emergency department
Authors: Johnson Damian , Dutch Martin , Knott Jonathan
Published: April 2016

Objective

EDs have long been considered a potential source of eye and tissue donors, but no specific evidence to support this was identified in the Australian setting. The present study aims to bridge that knowledge gap, by analysing medical and social histories of those who have died over a 5 year period so as to determine donation eligibility in this population.

Methods

A retrospective audit was undertaken of all patients who died within the Royal Melbourne Hospital ED between 2010 and 2014. ED records, pharmacy records and electronic medical histories were audited for the presence of eye and tissue donation exclusion criteria and the distribution of these criteria within the target population.

Results

Over the 5 year period, of 326 deaths that occurred in the ED, one third was suitable for eye donation (n = 106) and one in seven (n = 45) for tissue donation. Of the age appropriate patients, five criteria were identified that excluded up to 85% of the population not eligible to donate. These were: haematological malignancies, neurodegenerative conditions, non‐haematological malignancies, chronic renal failure and eye disease.

Conclusion

The present study has identified a large pool of potential eye and tissue donors; a pool mostly unrecognised by emergency clinicians.

An extensive list of exclusion criteria restricts donor potential. However, the present study has identified that only five fundamentally limit donation in the ED population. Utilisation of this knowledge will allow for the development of clinical triggers that will improve identification, and increase realisation, of potential donors.
Pacific ethnic groups and frequent hospital presentation: A fair target?
Authors: Irvine Zoe
Published: April 2016

In New Zealand, Pacific health figures are traditionally presented for all Pacific ethnic groups combined. Use of EDs and urgent care clinics is high compared with Maori and non‐Maori, non‐Pacific (nMnP) use. By controlling for proximity to the hospital and socioeconomic status, we demonstrate greater variation between Pacific ethnic groups than between Pacific and nMnP, or between Maori and nMnP groups. We discuss the significance of subpopulation variation in use of urgent care services.
Development of a Drinkable, Peanut‐Based Dietary Supplement and Comparison of Its Nutritional and Microbiological Qualities with Commercial Products
Authors: Klu Yaa Asantewaa Kafui , Phillips Robert D. , Chen Jinru
Published: April 2016

This study was undertaken to formulate, using peanuts as a major ingredient, a beverage which will benefit older adults who are at a high risk of protein‐energy malnutrition and other health complications, and to compare its nutritional and microbiological qualities to commercial products. Peanuts, rice flour, and flaxseed meal in a ratio of 48.0:49.8:2.2 were mixed with water (20% solids) and cooked into gruel which was sequentially treated with BAN®, (480 KNU‐B/g, 75 °C 1 h), Alcalase® (2.4 AU‐A/g, 60 °C 1 h), and Flavourzyme® (1000 LAPU/g, 55 °C 1 h) to predigest starch and protein, respectively. The degree of hydrolysis and product viscosity during hydrolysis was measured. The nutritional and microbiological qualities of the product were compared to 10 commercial products. Results indicate that 60% of starch was hydrolyzed while a total of 1.62% protein hydrolysis was observed. Product viscosity reduced from 228.55 to 3.60 cP at the end of hydrolysis. The formulation had no cholesterol and low sodium which was a functional property that was absent in the commercial products. Results of this study suggest that the formulation can be further optimized into a unique product that could cater for the protein needs and other nutritional requirements of older adults.
Surgery for the palliation of intestinal perforation from secondary metastases in advanced malignancies
Authors: Ng Deanna Wan Jie , Teo Melissa Ching Ching , Yee Alethea Chung Pheng , Ng Kheng Hong , Wong Ting Hway
Published: April 2016

Aim

This study aims to review patient and disease factors that predict survival after palliative surgery for intestinal perforation from metastases in advanced malignancies, with a goal to help decision‐making in this clinical scenario. Secondary aims include validation of the UC Davis Cancer Centre nomogram to predict risk of 30‐day morbidity and mortality for patients with disseminated malignancy undergoing surgical intervention.

Methods

The following factors were examined: age, preoperative albumin, total white blood cell count, creatinine, site of metastases, presence of ascites, presence of sepsis, steroid use, presence of dyspnea, presence of significant weight loss, preoperative chemotherapy, preoperative radiotherapy, type of operative procedure performed, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) status, length of surgery, duration of inhospitalization and mortality. For univariate analysis, independent t‐test and Fisher's exact test were used to analyze the association of continuous and categorical variables, respectively. For multivariate analysis, logistic regression using likelihood ratios was used. The nomogram was validated by assessing its extent of discrimination (c‐index).

Results

Twenty palliative operations for intestinal perforation were performed during this period. On univariate analysis, presence of dyspnea, decreased preoperative levels of albumin and high ECOG status were significant predictors of increased mortality. On multivariate analysis, high ECOG status and decreased preoperative albumin were statistically significant. The concordance index in our data set was 0.64.

Conclusion

Preoperative levels of albumin (>20 g/L) and low ECOG status (≤1) were independently associated with favorable postoperative outcomes. In patients with favorable prognostic factors such as absence of dyspnea, high preoperative levels of albumin and low ECOG status, surgical management should be considered. Conversely, in patients with unfavorable prognostic factors, medical management should be considered to avoid unnecessary surgery.
Genetic fusion of human FGF21 to a synthetic polypeptide improves pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in a mouse model of obesity
Authors: Yin Jun , Bao Lichen , Tian Hong , Wang Qun , Gao Xiangdong , Yao Wenbing
Published: April 2016

Background and Purpose

Chemical conjugation of therapeutic proteins with polyethylene glycol (PEG) is an established strategy to extend their biological half‐life (t1/2) to a clinically useful range. We developed a novel uncharged and unstructured recombinant polypeptide composed of five amino acids (P, S, T, A and G), named PsTag, as another approach to extend the t1/2 of human FGF21, with increased hydrodynamic radius.

Experimental Approach

Human FGF21 was fused with PsTag polymers of differing lengths (200 ‐ 600 residues). Three fusion proteins and native FGF21 were produced in Escherichia coli. The biophysical characteristics, metabolic stability, immunogenicity and pharmacokinetics in were assessed in first. In lean and diet‐induced obese (DIO) mice, effects on body weight, oral glucose tolerance tests and levels of relevant hormones and metabolites were studied.

Key Results

Fusion proteins were solubly expressed in E. coli and prolonged the t1/2 from 0.34h up to 12.9 h in mice. Fusion proteins were also biodegradable, thus avoiding vacuole formation, while lacking immunogenicity in mice. In DIO mice, administration of PsTag fused to FGF21 reduced body weight, blood glucose and lipids levels and reversed hepatic steatosis.

Conclusions and Implications

The novel recombinant polypeptide, PsTag, should be useful in the development of biological drugs with properties comparable to those achievable by PEGylation, but with potentially less side effects. In mice, fusion of FGF21 to PsTag prolonged and potentiated pharmacological effects of native FGF21, and may offer greater therapeutic effects in treatment of obesity.
A Descriptive Framework for Temporal Data Visualizations Based on Generalized Space‐Time Cubes
Authors: Bach B. , Dragicevic P. , Archambault D. , Hurter C. , Carpendale S.
Published: April 2016

We present the generalized space‐time cube, a descriptive model for visualizations of temporal data. Visualizations are described as operations on the cube, which transform the cube's 3D shape into readable 2D visualizations. Operations include extracting subparts of the cube, flattening it across space or time or transforming the cubes geometry and content. We introduce a taxonomy of elementary space‐time cube operations and explain how these operations can be combined and parameterized. The generalized space‐time cube has two properties: (1) it is purely conceptual without the need to be implemented, and (2) it applies to all datasets that can be represented in two dimensions plus time (e.g. geo‐spatial, videos, networks, multivariate data). The proper choice of space‐time cube operations depends on many factors, for example, density or sparsity of a cube. Hence, we propose a characterization of structures within space‐time cubes, which allows us to discuss strengths and limitations of operations. We finally review interactive systems that support multiple operations, allowing a user to customize his view on the data. With this framework, we hope to facilitate the description, criticism and comparison of temporal data visualizations, as well as encourage the exploration of new techniques and systems. This paper is an extension of Bach et al.'s (2014) work.
A Colour Interpolation Scheme for Topologically Unrestricted Gradient Meshes
Authors: Lieng Henrik , Kosinka Jiří , Shen Jingjing , Dodgson Neil A.
Published: April 2016

Gradient meshes are a 2D vector graphics primitive where colour is interpolated between mesh vertices. The current implementations of gradient meshes are restricted to rectangular mesh topology. Our new interpolation method relaxes this restriction by supporting arbitrary manifold topology of the input gradient mesh. Our method is based on the Catmull‐Clark subdivision scheme, which is well‐known to support arbitrary mesh topology in 3D. We adapt this scheme to support gradient mesh colour interpolation, adding extensions to handle interpolation of colours of the control points, interpolation only inside the given colour space and emulation of gradient constraints seen in related closed‐form solutions. These extensions make subdivision a viable option for interpolating arbitrary‐topology gradient meshes for 2D vector graphics.
Governance with Empty Pockets: The Education Sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Authors: De Herdt Tom , Titeca Kristof
Published: April 2016

The education sector has virtually disappeared from the Congolese state budget since the mid‐1980s. Yet schools have both managed to survive on school fees and to reproduce the public education sector, even though complete privatization would have been a realistic option. In this article, the authors understand this engagement with the state whilst simultaneously bending its rules as a negotiation strategy for better terms of inclusion in the state system. Different state actors cultivate their ‘own’ practical versions of official rules. In this way, they create space to respond to parents’ demand for education, to increase the number of teachers and their salaries far beyond what would otherwise have been possible, and to reproduce the system over time. One may wonder, however, whether the resilience of the sector in the face of the implosion of the state budget does not come at the price of building a more inclusive and higher quality education system.
Options of partners improve carbon for phosphorus trade in the arbuscular mycorrhizal mutualism
Authors: Argüello Alicia , O'Brien Michael J. , van der Heijden Marcel G.A. , Wiemken Andres , Schmid Bernhard , Niklaus Pascal A.
Published: April 2016

The mutualism between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is widespread and has persisted for over 400 million years. Although this mutualism depends on fair resource exchange between plants and fungi, inequality exists among partners despite mechanisms that regulate trade. Here, we use 33P and 14C isotopes and a split‐root system to test for preferential allocation and reciprocal rewards in the plant–AMF symbiosis by presenting a plant with two AMF that differ in cooperativeness. We found that plants received more 33P from less cooperative AMF in the presence of another AMF species. This increase in 33P resulted in a reduced 14C cost per unit of 33P from less cooperative AMF when alternative options were available. Our results indicate that AMF diversity promotes cooperation between plants and AMF, which may be an important mechanism maintaining the evolutionary persistence of and diversity within the plant–AMF mutualism.
Promoting self‐management and adherence during prophylaxis: evidence‐based recommendations for haemophilia professionals
Authors: Schrijvers L. H. , Schuurmans M. J. , Fischer K.
Published: April 2016

Introduction

Throughout life, a patient with severe haemophilia is confronted with many treatment‐related challenges. Insight into self‐management and non‐adherence could improve the quality of care for these patients. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of the current evidence on self‐management and adherence to prophylaxis in haemophilia.

Method

Based on series of studies and published literature, aspects of treatment were explored: learning and performing self‐infusion, achieving self‐management skills in adolescence, adherence issues and coping with haemophilia. Evidence‐based and age‐group‐specific recommendations for haemophilia professionals were formulated.

Results

Nearly, all severe haemophilia patients and parents were able to perform self‐infusion and the quality level of infusion skills was acceptable. Learning self‐infusion was generally initiated before the onset of puberty and full self‐management was obtained 10 years later. Adherence was defined using a Delphi consensus procedure and was determined by skipping, dosing and timing of infusions. Adherence levels varied according to age, with highest levels in children (1–12 years) and the lowest among 25–40 years. Adherence to prophylaxis was acceptable (43%), yet 57% of the population struggled with prophylaxis. Qualitative research showed that the position of prophylaxis in life is the main driver of adherence. This position is influenced by acceptance and self‐management skills. Regarding coping with haemophilia, the majority of patients used a problem‐focused approach.

Conclusion

Self‐management and adherence to prophylaxis vary during the life span. Acceptance of the disease and self‐management skills were important aspects that may require tailored professional support.
We need to talk about purpose: a critical interpretive synthesis of health and social care professionals’ approaches to self‐management support for people with long‐term conditions
Authors: Morgan Heather May , Entwistle Vikki A. , Cribb Alan , Christmas Simon , Owens John , Skea Zoë C. , Watt Ian S.
Published: April 2016

Background

Health policies internationally advocate ‘support for self‐management’, but it is not clear how the promise of the concept can be fulfilled.

Objective

To synthesize research into professional practitioners’ perspectives, practices and experiences to help inform a reconceptualization of support for self‐management.

Design

Critical interpretive synthesis using systematic searches of literature published 2000–2014.

Findings

We summarized key insights from 164 relevant papers in an annotated bibliography. The literature illustrates striking variations in approaches to support for self‐management and interpretations of associated concepts. We focused particularly on the somewhat neglected question of the purpose of support. We suggest that this can illuminate and explain important differences between narrower and broader approaches. Narrower approaches support people to manage their condition(s) well in terms of disease control. This purpose can underpin more hierarchical practitioner–patient communication and more limited views of patient empowerment. It is often associated with experiences of failure and frustration. Broader approaches support people to manage well with their condition(s). They can keep work on disease control in perspective as attention focuses on what matters to people and how they can be supported to shape their own lives. Broader approaches are currently less evident in practice.

Discussion and conclusion

Broader approaches seem necessary to fulfil the promise of support for self‐management, especially for patient empowerment. A commitment to enable people to live well with long‐term conditions could provide a coherent basis for the forms and outcomes of support that policies aspire to. The implications of such a commitment need further attention.
Immigration Policies and the Factors of Migration from Developing Countries to South Korea: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Torneo Ador R.
Published: April 2016

This study examines the impacts of immigration policies adopted by the Korean government, vis‐a‐vis other economic, social, demographic, and political factors, on labour migration from developing countries to South Korea using a modified gravity model. The model is extended to marriage‐related migrants to gain insights on marriage migration. The positive results in three out of the five immigration policies examined affirm that liberal policies are associated with increased migration, especially for preferred groups like ethnic Koreans, marriage migrants, and professionals. The positive effects of “push” factors such as population, unemployment, and inflation are generally similar to their effects on migration to the US, Canada, Germany, and the UK despite its more rapid transition from a migrant‐sending into a migrant‐receiving country. Political terror's non‐significance may be due to South Korea's limited asylum policy. Finally, the results of the extended model imply that marriage migration share plenty of similarities with labour migration.
Does “buyer beware” work in migration? Contracting between brokers and migrants in Vietnam
Authors: Phuong Nguyen Quynh , Venkatesh Sundar
Published: April 2016

This article is an attempt to open the lid a little of the “black box of migration” i.e. brokers. Analysing contracts between brokers and labour migrants, we identify four different forms of exploitation of migrants by brokers: expropriation of skill premium, risk shifting, over‐charging, and non‐refund of deposits. Opportunistic behaviour by brokers, as evidenced by such exploitation, is seen as a market failure that is explained by human attributes and transactional characteristics. Given the rigidities in the human attributes of the contracting parties and the nature of migration as a risky multi‐period transaction, proposals are made for non‐market interventions, which can lead to more equitable contracting.
Remittances for Collective Consumption and Social Status Compensation
Authors: Zhou Min , Li Xiangyi
Published: April 2016

This paper focuses on a special type of remittances — monetary remittances sent by international migrants to their hometowns to build symbolic structures and cultural facilities for collective consumption. We develop an analytical framework to examine the motives behind migrants’ remitting behavior and the mechanisms for realizing their remitting objectives based on a comparative study of two emigrant groups from China. We find that the sending of remittances for collective consumption serves as a unique mechanism for social status compensation. Such behavior is not only affected by migrants’ socioeconomic circumstances or government policies, but also by intersecting contextual and institutional factors at multiple levels transnationally.