bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
There Is a World Elsewhere
Authors: Ruru Li
Published: December 2017

Exploring the polarized opinions of the general public, scholars, and theatre professionals within China, and between China and Britain, on the Chinese Shakespeare Great General Kouliulan (Coriolanus)—which combines spoken drama with rock ’n’ roll—this chapter revisits many questions that have been raised in the debate over intercultural theatre. Why are theatre practitioners interested in producing an intercultural piece? How does it happen and what do artists do? Who benefits from doing intercultural work, and for whom is it intended? Is ‘process’ necessarily more important than ‘outcome’, and is there too much emphasis on ‘we’ and ‘others’ in the debate rather than on the created work at the end of the process? Lin Zhaohua’s Coriolanus serves as the case study in the chapter but other modern spoken drama productions and traditional song-dance theatre adaptations are also mentioned to offer readers a broader understanding of Shakespeare on the Chinese stage.
Shakespeare With and Without Its Language
Authors: Massai Sonia
Published: December 2017

This chapter considers the impact of ‘global Shakespeare’ on performance traditions associated with mainstream Shakespeare on the English stage with particular focus on productions which put Shakespeare in conversation with non-English theatrical conventions in order to unsettle the distinction between ‘English Shakespeare’ and ‘Foreign Shakespeare’. The main focus of the chapter is the work of a London-based theatre company, ‘Two Gents Productions’, formed by a German-born director from South Africa and two Zimbabwean actors, and the evolution of their ‘township theatre’ approach to Shakespearea from their launch production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona south London (Ovalhouse) in 2008 to their contribution to the Globe to Globe Festival in 2012. The uniquely intercultural, playful quality of their Shakespearean productions shows that intercultural performance need not involve cultural looting or an unequal exchange between participating cultures. It justifies an optimistic outlook for intercultural performance in increasingly globalized theatrical (and Shakespearean) geographies.
Global Cultural Tourism at Canada’s Stratford Festival
Authors: Ormsby Robert
Published: December 2017

This chapter examines British director Leon Rubin’s 2003 The Adventures of Pericles at Ontario’s Stratford Festival and analyses its overtly intercultural scenography. The reading is grounded in an analysis of the festival’s vision of itself as a tourist destination that offers a special ‘Stratford experience’. It is argued that the festival’s identity is at once very local and international and the implications of this bifurcated identity are considered through a series of interrelated questions. What is the nature of Rubin’s borrowings from Asian performance traditions, such as Balinese trance rituals? How does the festival portray such borrowings in its publicity material? What kinds of ideas do reviewers circulate about these productions? If, in the early years of the millennium, the festival looked to a British director to purvey ‘Asian’ spectacle to a relatively international audience, what role did Canada, as a nation state, play in sustaining Stratford’s tourist ‘experience’?
Translating Performance
Authors: Li Lan Yong
Published: December 2017

This chapter reflects on the doubleness of translation as the condition of existence of Asian performances of Shakespeare. It begins with the experience of hearing echoes of the original English lines when listening to Shakespeare’s texts translated into a language one does not speak. To address the interculturality of reception of Asian Shakespeare performances, the Asian Shakespeare Intercultural Archive (A|S|I|A, http://a-s-i-a-web.org), a collaborative project by scholars, translators, and practitioners, developed an approach to archiving production videos, scripts, and data in four parallel languages: English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The chapter examines the A|S|I|A archival process in relation to the position of the English scripts in multidirectional translations, and to the detailed data created by the project team. It concludes by positing comparative research into the use of the ‘traditional’ by tracing the varying occurrences of the term in the data.
Shakespeare for Dummies
Authors: Rutter Carol Chillington
Published: December 2017

One of the more surprising developments in the performance of Shakespeare across England over the past decade is the number of puppets who’ve appeared in the casting, sometimes in productions made for children (Macbeth at Little Angel; The Tempest, Little Angel/RSC); sometimes in productions made for adults (A Midsummer Night’s Dream at both Bristol Old Vic/Handspring and Krymov Laboratory; Propeller’s Richard III designed by Michael Pavelka). This chapter examines seven productions to give a sense of the variety of puppet performances on offer and to discover something about the effect of casting puppets: what puppets do, what they bring to performance, and how they act upon Shakespeare to make audiences ‘see new’, see differently. Through its discoveries, it makes a stab at theorizing how puppets behaves in the field of representation on postmodern Shakespearean stages and identifies ‘genealogies of performance’ that connect the puppets with their performances.
Indigenizing Shakespeare in South Africa
Authors: Seeff Adele F.
Published: December 2017

In 2008, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) aired four updatings of Shakespeare’s plays in vernacular languages, using local settings and black South African actors. This chapter offers an analysis of three of these cultural appropriations in order to illustrate the two-way traffic between the global and the local. In this exchange, the raw materials of Shakespeare’s texts are reassembled to work out local anxieties about national identity, race, class, and gender in contemporary South Africa. This chapter probes the relationship of the global to the local in a setting dense with particularities of histories, language practice, and gender, class, and race hierarchies. Shakespeare’s role as a globalized public property, performances disseminated through electronic technologies and international film and television codes, facilitates a complex indigenizing process in post-apartheid South Africa as global and local engage in reciprocal artistic transformation.
Introduction
Authors: Bulman James C.
Published: December 2017

Audiences just a few decades ago would not have recognized much of what now passes for Shakespeare in performance. New theatrical styles and techniques, often the result of intercultural exchange, have gained an authority once accorded only to the text; new modes of adaptation and unaccustomed performance venues have fundamentally altered the relationship between actors and audience; and the concept of ‘live’ performance has been profoundly altered by the digital revolution. Shakespearean performance criticism likewise has undergone a sea change in recent years, and the essays in this volume reflect this. The first group interrogates how Shakespeare continues to achieve ‘contemporaneity’ or ‘relevance’ for Western audiences; the second tackles the burgeoning field of reception, involving memory and cognition studies; the third addresses the ways in which technology has altered our views of Shakespeare; and the final group grapples with the emergence of intercultural or ‘global’ Shakespeare.
‘Deared by Being Lacked’
Authors: Barker Roberta
Published: December 2017

Though it has been much criticized by theatre artists and scholars, the legacy of theatrical realism and naturalism continues to shape contemporary Shakespearean performance. If realist and naturalist approaches to acting fail to encompass the full power of the Shakespearean play-text—or to remedy its more problematic aspects—is this failure necessarily unproductive? Considering this question in relation to the play-text of Antony and Cleopatra and a few of its recent theatrical incarnations, this chapter argues that the lacks, omissions, and failures of realist and naturalist modes of performance can provoke spectators to engage anew with Shakespeare’s lovers and their potential significance for contemporary Western audiences. Acknowledgement of the persistence and value of such traditional modes can add to the complexity of audience reception studies of Shakespeare..
Performance, Presence, and Personal Responsibility
Authors: Carson Christie
Published: December 2017

What remains of the 2012 Globe to Globe Festival through the globeplayer.tv seems to have yoked neo-Victorian ideals of the 1851 Great Exhibition to twenty-first-century social media marketing tools. The globeplayer.tv helps to spread the Globe brand internationally but at a price. This chapter argues that the festival she experienced was much more than a product and that individual productions within it reclaimed, as well as wrote back to, imperial attitudes and the project of civilizing the natives through Shakespeare. Linking analysis to the reassessment of history as experience and digital marketing as storytelling, the chapter argues that performance criticism has nowhere to go but back to its origins in theatre history, chronicling the interaction and political implications of specific performances. The author traces how how she travelled through the performances to help create the archive of the festival and likens her role to ‘Chorus to this history’.
High-Tech Shakespeare in a Mediatized Globe
Authors: Cartelli Thomas
Published: December 2017

Abstract In successive single-set productions of Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra, Ivo van Hove’s Roman Tragedies transforms the stage into a high-tech version of Shakespeare’s Globe, mimicking how global media stage political debates and generate the simulacrum of war and social conflict. Mixing live actors with video projections displayed on monitors spaced on and above the stage, van Hove encourages spectators to move from one viewing space to another, to order drinks, check email, or tweet on desktop computers. Extending Shakespeare’s ‘all the world’s a stage’ conceit to a world connected by ‘clouds’ of information transported on viewless wings and deposited in airy drop boxes, van Hove’s stage is everywhere and nowhere at once. But in replicating the aesthetic design of global media, while suppressing the populist components of Coriolanus and Julius Caesar, van Hove arguably extends only the illusion of emancipation to spectators ‘immersed’ in competing demands on their attention.
Dancing to Resist, Reduce, and Escape Stress
Authors: Hanna Judith Lynne
Published: December 2017

Dance can be seen as an evolutionary gift that supports self-protection and enables wellbeing. Since early history and across cultures, humans have turned to dance as a talisman to cope with stress. Through its cognitive direction, emotional impact, and physical energy, dance is a means to resist, reduce, and escape stress. Integrating brain, body, and self, dance can also be seen as a form of exercise that is communicative with its own languages. Dance–stress connections are played out on theatre stages, in the professional dance career, in amateur dance, and through therapeutic interventions. In this chapter, conceptualizations of dance, stress, relationships between them, and stress management are presented. Both stress and dance are multifaceted and involve potential, interpretation, and action. The chapter concludes that stress and dance are subjective and objective as well as positive and negative, and awareness of these possibilities can lead to actions for wellbeing.
Conclusion
Authors: Karkou Vicky , Oliver Sue
Published: December 2017

The diverse cultures captured, recreated, and partly created anew in this book have a number of interwoven threads that run through all its parts. In each part, the art form is kept alive, and is further enhanced by the addition of online video material. These are not simply add-ons: in some cases they constitute the main contribution made with the text, simply following the dance experience. Furthermore, the inclusion of video material on the companion website enables readers to fully appreciate the extent to which this visual artform has become entrenched in diverse cultural settings worldwide, and allows flexibility for further development.
Determinants of Peripheral Muscle Strength and Activity in Daily Life in People With Bronchiectasis
Authors: de Camargo Anderson Alves , Boldorini Jacqueline C , Holland Anne E , de Castro Rejane A Silva , Lanza Fernanda de Cordoba , Athanazio Rodrigo A , Rached Samia Z , Carvalho-Pinto Regina , Cukier Alberto , Stelmach Rafael , Corso Simone Dal
Published: December 2017

Background

Bronchiectasis is characterized by a progressive structural lung damage, recurrent infections and chronic inflammation which compromise the exertion tolerance, and may have an impact on skeletal muscle function and physical function.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to compare peripheral muscle strength, exercise capacity, and physical activity in daily life between participants with bronchiectasis and controls and to investigate the determinants of the peripheral muscle strength and physical activity in daily life in bronchiectasis.

Design

This study used a cross-sectional design.

Methods

The participants’ quadriceps femoris and biceps brachii muscle strength was measured. They performed the incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) and cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and the number of steps/day was measured by a pedometer.

Results

Participants had reduced quadriceps femoris muscle strength (mean difference to control group = 7 kg, 95% CI = 3.8–10.1 kg), biceps brachii muscle strength (2.1 kg, 95% CI = 0.7–3.4 kg), ISWT (227 m, 95% CI = 174–281 m), peak VO2 (6.4 ml/Kg/min, 95% CI = 4.0–8.7 ml/Kg/min), and number of steps/day (3,332 steps/day, 95% CI = 1,758–4,890 steps/day). A lower quadriceps femoris strength is independently associated to an older age, female sex, lower body mass index (BMI), higher score on the modified Medical Research Council scale, and shorter distance on the ISWT (R2 = 0.449). Biceps brachii strength is independently associated with sex, BMI, and dyspnea (R2 = 0.447). The determinants of number of daily steps were dyspnea and distance walked in ISWT, explaining only 27.7% of its variance.

Limitations

Number of steps per day was evaluated by a pedometer.

Conclusions

People with bronchiectasis have reduced peripheral muscle strength, and reduced aerobic and functional capacities, and they also are less active in daily life. Modifiable variables such as BMI, dyspnea, and distance walked on the ISWT are associated with peripheral muscle strength and physical activity in daily life.
What Do Babies Need to Thrive? Changing Interpretations of ‘Hospitalism’ in an International Context, 1900–1945
Authors: Rowold Katharina
Published: December 2017

In 1945, the émigré psychoanalyst René Spitz published a landmark article in which he suggested that babies cared for in institutions commonly suffered from ‘hospitalism’ and failed to thrive. According to Spitz this was the case because such babies were deprived of ‘maternal care, maternal stimulation, and maternal love.’ Historical interest in separation research and the development of the concept of maternal deprivation has tended to focus on the 1940s and 50s. The term ‘hospitalism’, however, was coined at the end of the nineteenth century and by 1945 the question of whether or not babies could be cared for in institutions had already been debated for a number of decades by an international community of paediatricians and developmental psychologists, later joined by psychoanalysts. Criss-crossing national boundaries and exploring debates over the nature, causes, and prevention of ‘hospitalism’, this article elucidates the changing understandings of the impact on babies of living in institutions.
Care of the Older Adult With Postoperative Delirium: An Interprofessional Simulation for Undergraduate Nursing Students
Authors: Davis Kimberly D. , Nye Carla
Published: December 2017

Because of the expanding older adult population, undergraduate nursing students need to be introduced to the unique challenges of taking care of older adults. Using simulation to demonstrate some of these challenges allows these entry-level students to learn in a nonthreatening environment. By focusing on an older adult patient who is experiencing postoperative delirium in a simulation, students can practice not only how to complete a safety assessment but also effective communication skills with the patient, family, and members of the interprofessional health care team.
The Effect of Autogenic Training on Self-Efficacy, Anxiety, and Performance on Nursing Student Simulation
Authors: Holland Brian , Gosselin Kevin , Mulcahy Angela
Published: December 2017

The increased anxiety experienced by nursing students during simulations can serve as a significant barrier to learning. The use of anxiety-reducing techniques such as autogenic training (AT) can mitigate the negative effects of anxiety and improve the overall learning experience. The investigators in this study sought to understand the effect of AT on student performance and self-efficacy during simulation experiences. The use of AT was an effective technique to decrease anxiety and increase performance among nursing students during nursing simulations. Reducing anxiety during simulations can improve the student learning experience.
Fostering Student Success: Turning Off Practice Assessment Rationales to Improve Proctored Assessment Scores
Authors: Palmer Elizabeth A. , Shanty Joyce A. , Labant Amy , Rossiter Beverly
Published: December 2017

Preparing students with opportunities to practice critical thinking skills is essential to success on the National Council Licensure Examination. This pilot study was conducted to explore the effectiveness of turning off practice assessment answers and rationales on a standardized examination. A retrospective study compared students' scores when rationales were turned on and turned off. Eighty-one percent of the students were able to achieve the benchmark when the answers and rationales were turned off as compared to 71 percent when turned on. Faculty can utilize these findings to inform remediation strategies.
The Precision of eCAP Thresholds Derived From Amplitude Growth Functions
Authors: Biesheuvel Jan Dirk , Briaire Jeroen J. , Frijns Johan H. M.
Published: December 2017

Objective:

An amplitude growth function (AGF) shows the amplitude of an electrically evoked compound action potential (eCAP) as a function of the stimulation current. AGFs can be used to derive the eCAP threshold, which represents the minimum amount of current needed to elicit a measurable eCAP. eCAP thresholds have been widely used clinically to, for example, assist with sound processor programming. However, no eCAP precision has been included to date. The aim of this study was to investigate the precision of eCAP thresholds and determine whether they are precise enough for clinical use.

Design:

The study is retrospective, and the data comprised 826 AGFs, intraoperatively measured in 111 patients implanted with a HiRes90K cochlear implant (Advanced Bionics). For each AGF, the eCAP threshold was determined using two commonly used methods: linear extrapolation (LE) toward the x axis and detection of the last visible (LV) eCAP. Subsequently, the threshold confidence interval (TCI) of each eCAP threshold was calculated to serve as a metric for precision, whereby a larger TCI means a lower precision or reliability. Additionally, the eCAP thresholds results were compared with most recent behavioral fitting thresholds (T profile) to put the eCAP threshold analysis in clinical context. Thereby, the association between eCAP and behavioral thresholds was calculated, both for all subjects together (group analysis) and, in contrast to previous studies, within individual subjects.

Results:

Our data show that the TCIs were larger with the LE method than with the LV method. The eCAP thresholds estimated by the LE method were systematically smaller than those estimated by the LV method, while the LE thresholds with the smallest TCIs correlated best with the LV thresholds. Correlation analysis between eCAP and behavioral thresholds revealed correlation coefficients of r = 0.44 and r = 0.54 for the group analysis of LE and LV thresholds, respectively. Within individual subjects, however, the correlation coefficients varied from approximately −1 to +1 for both LE and LV thresholds. Further analysis showed that across subjects, the behavioral thresholds fell within the TCIs of the eCAP threshold profiles.

Conclusion:

This study shows that eCAP thresholds have an uncertainty that can be estimated using TCIs. The size of the TCI depends on several factors, for example, the threshold estimation method and measurement conditions, but it is often larger than one would expect when just looking at the threshold values. Given these large TCIs, future research on eCAP thresholds should be accompanied by a measure of precision to correctly apply eCAP thresholds in clinical practice. Comparing our eCAP threshold results with T profiles indicates that the eCAP thresholds are possibly not precise enough to predict T profiles.
The Fatty Liver Index: A Simple and Accurate Predictor of Colorectal Adenoma in an Average-Risk Population
Authors: Ze Eun Young , Kim Beom Jin , Jun Dong Hwan , Kim Jae Gyu , Kang Hyun , Lee Dong Young
Published: December 2017

BACKGROUND:

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome, is associated with increased risk of colorectal adenoma, a precursor of colorectal cancer. Because nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and colorectal adenoma share many common risk factors of metabolic syndrome, the association between these 2 pathological findings has been investigated in multiple studies, but the results have been conflicting.

OBJECTIVE:

The present study aimed to assess the relationship between the fatty liver index, a predictor of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and the prevalence of colorectal adenomas.

DESIGN:

This is a retrospective observational study.

SETTINGS:

This study was conducted at a single expert center.

PATIENTS:

A total of 2976 consecutive subjects over 40 years of age undergoing routine checkups including abdominal ultrasonography and colonoscopy at Chung-Ang University Hospital Health Care Center were included.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

The primary outcome measured was the prevalence of colorectal adenomas according to fatty liver index.

RESULTS:

Among these subjects, 932 (31.3%) had colorectal adenoma, 691 (23.2%) had metabolic syndrome, and 1512 (50.8%) had fatty liver on ultrasonography. In multivariate analysis, fatty liver index ≥30 was associated with an increased risk of colorectal adenoma (OR, 1.269; 95% CI, 1.06–1.49; p = 0.008). The fatty liver index-high group (fatty liver index ≥30) had more colorectal adenomas and more advanced colorectal adenomas than the fatty liver index-low group (fatty liver index <30) (p < 0.001 and p = 0.042). The prevalence of colorectal adenomas increased with increasing quartile of fatty liver index (p < 0.05).

LIMITATIONS:

The study was limited by a relatively healthy Asian population.

CONCLUSION:

The high fatty liver index may be a useful predictor of colorectal adenoma. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/A478.
Five-Year Survival and Causes of Death in Children After Intensive Care—A National Registry Study*
Authors: Kyösti Elina , Liisanantti Janne H. , Peltoniemi Outi , Ohtonen Pasi , Rautiainen Paula , Kataja Janne , Ala-Kokko Tero
Published: December 2017

Objectives:

The aim of the study was to compare long-term mortality and causes of death in children post admission to an ICU with a control population of same age.

Design:

Longitudinal follow-up study.

Setting:

Registry study of a national ICU register and hospital registries.

Patients:

Children admitted to an ICU in the years 2009 and 2010.

Interventions:

None.

Measurements and Main Results:

The mortality and causes of death following ICU discharge were analyzed retrospectively. The median follow-up period was 4.9 years (25–75th percentiles, 4.4–5.5 yr). The causes of death in survivors 30 days after ICU discharge were compared with a cohort of 1 million children of the general population of same age. In total, 2,792 children were admitted to an ICU during the study period. Of those, 53 (1.9%) died in the ICU and 2,739 were discharged. Thirteen children died within 30 days of discharge, and 68 died between 30 days and the end of follow-up (December 31, 2014). In the control population (n = 1,020,407 children), there were 1,037 deaths (0.10%) from 2009 to 2014. The standardized mortality rate for the children admitted to the ICU during the study period was 53.4 (95% CI, 44.7–63.2). The standardized mortality rate for those children alive 1 year after discharge was 16.7 (12.1–22.6). One-year cumulative mortality was 3.3%. The most common causes of death in subjects alive 30 days post ICU were cancer (35.3%), neurologic (17.6%), and metabolic diseases (11.7%), whereas trauma was the most common cause in the control group (45.3%).

Conclusions:

There was an increased risk of death in a cohort of ICU-admitted children even 3 years after discharge. In those who survived 30 days after discharge, medical causes of death were dominant, whereas deaths due to trauma were most common in the control group.
Mandibular Reconstruction by Osteogenic Distraction Due to Two Different Injuries
Authors: Trento Guilherme dos Santos , Reis José Maurício dos Santos Nunes , Hochuli-Vieira Eduardo , Pereira-Filho Valfrido Antônio
Published: December 2017

Varied factors, whether intrinsic or extrinsic, may lead to a decrease in the bone volume of the jaws. Trauma and pathology can be listed as examples of such factors. The aim of this study is to present the osteogenic distraction technique as alternative to augmentation of low mandibular bone volume caused by different etiologies. The first case reports a mandibular marginal resection of ameloblastoma and the second one reports a male patient presenting mandibular fracture sequelae. Both cases were treated according to the osteogenic distraction technique. Several factors have influence on the decision of treatment management of these conditions. Although autogenous bonegraft is considered criterion standard for alveolar reconstruction, its high rates of resorption and the morbidity associated to donor sites lead surgeons to seek for other surgical alternatives such as osteogenic distraction. Therefore, it also aims to expose the advantages and benefits of this technique as well as the satisfactory results achieved.
A physics-explicit model of bacterial conjugation shows the stabilizing role of the conjugative junction
Authors: Pastuszak Jakub , Waclaw Bartlomiej
Published: December 2017

Conjugation is a process in which bacteria exchange DNA through a physical connection (conjugative junction) between mating cells. Despite its significance for processes such as the spread of antibiotic resistance, the role of physical forces in conjugation is poorly understood. Here we use computer models to show that the conjugative junction not only serves as a link to transfer the DNA but it also mechanically stabilises the mating pair which significantly increases the conjugation rate. We discuss the importance of our findings for biological evolution and suggest experiments to validate them.
Gene birth contributes to structural disorder encoded by overlapping genes
Authors: Willis S. , Masel J.
Published: December 2017

The same nucleotide sequence can encode two protein products in different reading frames. Overlapping gene regions encode higher levels of intrinsic structural disorder (ISD) than non-overlapping genes (39% vs. 25% in our viral dataset). This might be because of the intrinsic properties of the genetic code, because one member per pair was recently born de novo in a process that favors high ISD, or because high ISD relieves increased evolutionary constraint imposed by dual-coding. Here we quantify the relative contributions of these three alternative hypotheses. We estimate that the recency of de novo gene birth explains 32% or more of the elevation in ISD in overlapping regions of viral genes. While the two reading frames within a same-strand overlapping gene pair have markedly different ISD tendencies that must be controlled for, their effects cancel out to make no net contribution to ISD. The remaining elevation of ISD in the older members of overlapping gene pairs, presumed due to the need to alleviate evolutionary constraint, was already present prior to the origin of the overlap. Same-strand overlapping gene birth events can occur in two different frames, favoring high ISD either in the ancestral gene or in the novel gene; surprisingly, most de novo gene birth events contained completely within the body of an ancestral gene favor high ISD in the ancestral gene (23 phylogenetically independent events vs. 1). This can be explained by mutation bias favoring the frame with more start codons and fewer stop codons.
Toxoplasmosis, but not borreliosis, is associated with psychiatric disorders: A cross-sectional survey on 46 thousand of subjects
Authors: Flegr Jaroslav , Horáček Jiří
Published: December 2017

Infection by the parasiteToxoplasma, which affects about 33% of world population, is associated with increased risk of several mental health disorders, the most strongly with schizophrenia. It is unknown whether toxoplasmosis really plays a substantial role in the etiopathogenesis of these disorders and whether schizophrenia is associated with this infection the most strongly, or whether this association has just been the most intensively studied for historical reasons. We used the data from 3,440 and 7,800 subjects tested for toxoplasmosis and borreliosis, respectively, who took part in an internet survey, for searching in the associations of these infections with 22 mental health disorders and other indices of impaired mental health. The typical symptom associated with toxoplasmosis was anxiety, and the typical toxoplasmosis-associated disorders were autism (OR=4.86), schizophrenia (OR=3.34), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (OR=3.02), Asperger syndrome (OR=2.49), antisocial personality disorder (OR=1.81), OCD (OR=1.69), and anxiety disorder (OR=1.57). Borreliosis was associated only with symptoms of depression and with major depression (OR=1.65). The negative effects of borreliosis were detectable only in theToxoplasma-infected subjects. Toxoplasmosis could play a substantial role in the etiopathogenesis of mental health disorders and its association with schizophrenia is the second strongest association, after autism.
Personalized cancer therapy—leveraging a knowledge base for clinical decision-making
Authors: Dumbrava Ecaterina Ileana , Meric-Bernstam Funda
Published: December 2017

Next-generation sequencing (NGS), also known as massively parallel sequencing, is rapidly being incorporated into oncology practice. Interpretation of genomic reports and selecting treatments based on the tumor's genomic analysis becomes more and more complicated for the treating oncologist because of the use of larger panels covering dozens to hundreds of genes and the amount of rapidly emerging clinical/translational data. To help guide personalized treatments in oncology, The Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy (IPCT) at MD Anderson Cancer Center has developed a knowledge base, available at https://personalizedcancertherapy.org or https://pct.mdanderson.org (PCT). This knowledge base provides information on the function of common genomic alterations and their therapeutic implications. Here, we describe how such genomic information can be used by health-care providers to identify genomically matched therapies.
Small-angle X-ray scattering tensor tomography: model of the three-dimensional reciprocal-space map, reconstruction algorithm and angular sampling requirements
Authors: Liebi Marianne , Georgiadis Marios , Kohlbrecher Joachim , Holler Mirko , Raabe Jörg , Usov Ivan , Menzel Andreas , Schneider Philipp , Bunk Oliver , Guizar-Sicairos Manuel
Published: December 2017

Small-angle X-ray scattering tensor tomography, which allows reconstruction of the local three-dimensional reciprocal-space map within a three-dimensional sample as introduced by Liebiet al.[Nature(2015),527, 349–352], is described in more detail with regard to the mathematical framework and the optimization algorithm. For the case of trabecular bone samples from vertebrae it is shown that the model of the three-dimensional reciprocal-space map using spherical harmonics can adequately describe the measured data. The method enables the determination of nanostructure orientation and degree of orientation as demonstrated previously in a single momentum transferqrange. This article presents a reconstruction of the complete reciprocal-space map for the case of bone over extended ranges ofq. In addition, it is shown that uniform angular sampling and advanced regularization strategies help to reduce the amount of data required.
The early evolution of corporate control and auditing: the English East India Company (1600-1640)
Authors: Dobija Dorota
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explain the origins and evolution of auditing and control by linking the changes in the manner in which the audits were conducted with the changes in the institutional function and development of the English East India Company (EIC).

Design/methodology/approach

Using Sunder’s contract theory of a firm as an interpretive framework, this paper introduces to the debate material documenting the evolution of the auditing practice during a period of 40 years using the single case of the EIC.

Findings

Auditing in the EIC evolved from a simple adjudication on allowable expenditures toex postverification of transactions, and from using volunteers to paid auditors. Initially, the company was organized into a series of separate, terminable stocks, and simple verification by volunteer auditors chosen from among the shareholders was sufficient to secure the latter’s interests. When the increasing number, size, and complexity of transactions by the EIC rendered the adjudication approach insufficient,ex postverification of financial transactions was added. With a clearer separation between ownership and control at the time of the introduction of permanent joint stock, the audit function assumed a more professional form.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the research on the early modern period at a time of the formation and rapid development of the first joint-stock organization. It offers a dynamic picture of the evolution of control and auditing as a response to the growth of business, organizations, and the attendant challenges of governance.
Enron, fair value accounting, and financial crises: a concise history
Authors: Haswell Stephen , Evans Elaine
Published: December 2017

Purpose

While the debate about fair value accounting (FVA) and the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008-2009 has been explored in the academic and professional literature, there has been little debate about the consequences of FVA being implicated in the crash of Enron around 2001, and the effect of this on later FVA developments and the GFC. The purpose of this paper is to examine how well regulators, political actors, and other commentators may have understood the use, misuse, effects and consequences of FVA at the time of Enron, and to examine how this collective understanding (or lack thereof) has influenced later accounting policy, especially that going into and arising from the GFC.

Design/methodology/approach

Using content analysis, the commentary about FVA is traced through documents, primarily the US Congressional Hearings’ examination of the collapse of Enron that took place between December 2001 and December 2002. An assessment of the knowledge of and attitudes toward FVA is made from these and is then traced through later developments including policy responses before, during and after the GFC.

Findings

Links are found between the collapse of Enron and adjustments to FVA in the mid-2000s, which in turn became implicated in the GFC. These linkages are explored in the context of a fair value world view held by global standards setters in the mid-2000s. During the timeline from the 1990s to the mid-2000s, those advocating and adopting FVA as part of this world view, may have had collectively an insufficient understanding of the consequences or effects of FVA technology.

Originality/value

The study provides evidence of a direct link between Enron, the response of global standard setters, and the GFC controversy.
Employment or entrepreneurship? Options for graduates in a competitive global market
Authors: Dutton Kelly
Published: December 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

Design/methodology/approach

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Findings

This paper investigates whether higher education institutions (HEIs) are training graduates to be employees or entrepreneurs. With increasing competition for a decreasing number of jobs, and a global economy relying on innovation for growth, it is important to provide the opportunities and support for those with an idea for enterprise and business creation.

Originality/value

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.
Staffing with students
Authors: Skulan Naomi
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the advantages and disadvantages to primarily utilizing undergraduate student volunteers for a long-term digitization project and to discuss methods to mitigate the disadvantages of student volunteer work.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a case study of the use of student volunteers for the Historical Campus Newspaper Digitization Project at the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Findings

This paper describes the process of recruiting, training and managing student volunteers for a digitization project. Both advantages and disadvantages to student volunteer work are discussed, including possible steps to mitigate the disadvantages of student volunteers.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is limited to one institution’s experience utilizing student volunteers on one digitization project.

Practical implications

Librarians and archivists interested in new staffing methods for digitization projects can utilize this paper to better understand the benefits and costs to student volunteer labor before putting volunteer projects into practice.

Originality/value

This paper presents a unique case study of a digitization project staffed primarily with undergraduate student volunteers in an American academic library and archive.
Revisiting design guidelines for pervasive games
Authors: Kasapakis Vlasios , Gavalas Damianos
Published: December 2017

Purpose

Existing guidelines are typically extracted from a few empirical evaluations of pervasive game prototypes featuring incompatible scenarios, game play design and technical characteristics. Hence, the applicability of those design guidelines across the increasingly diverse landscape of pervasive games is questionable and should be investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents Barbarossa, a scenario-driven pervasive game that encompasses different game modes, purposely adopting opposing principles in addressing the core elements of challenge and control. Using Barbarossa as a testbed, this study aims at validating the applicability of existing design guidelines across diverse game design approaches.

Findings

The compilation of Barbarossa user evaluation results confirmed the limited applicability of existing guidelines and provided evidence that developers should handle core game elements, taking into account the game play characteristics derived from their scenario.

Originality/value

Stepping upon those findings, the authors propose a revision of design guidelines relevant to control and challenge based on elaborate classification criteria for pervasive game prototypes.
Budgeting as informed guess work: Has the german budgetary process lost direction?
Authors: Sturm Roland
Published: December 2017

Budgeting in Germany is characterized by procedural continuities which have developed more and more into dignified parts of the German financial constitution. This is true for the way budgets are prepared at the executive level, controlled in parliament and audited. Procedural accuracies do, however, mean little for budgetary outcomes. Typical for these is that hard choices tend to be avoided by the frequent use of off-budget funds, and that, so far, mere lip-service has been paid to the problem of reducing the deficit. Budgetary compromises necessary to reconcile cut-back rhetoric and ever-growing expenditure demands have become more complicated because in most cases the support reform of entitlements. By adding huge new
The sustainability of public pensions: A survey of california cities
Authors: Sun Jinping
Published: December 2017

The past few years have witnessed the rise of local ballot measures in California to limit public employee retirement benefits. What has happened to pension plans in California? Why is there such an attitude change towards public pensions? This paper, based on a survey of California cities, intends to investigate if public pensions have become unsustainable particularly in the face of the recent recession. The research shows city governments in California are facing both financial and social issues concerning their pension plans. To deal with the problems, cities have adopted strategies to reduce pension benefits, increase employee contributions, cut costs in other areas, and take other measures. Cities also have seen the use of the initiative process to control pension costs, balance their budgets and maintain fiscal sustainability.
Forest conversion induces seasonal variation in microbial β‐diversity
Authors: Liu Shengen , Wang Hang , Deng Ye , Tian Peng , Wang Qingkui
Published: December 2017

World‐wide conversion of natural forests to other land uses has profound effects on soil microbial communities. However, how soil microbial β‐diversity responds to land‐use change and its driving mechanisms remains poorly understood. In this study, therefore, we examined the effect of forest conversion from native broad‐leaved forest to coniferous plantation on soil microbial β‐diversity and its underlying mechanisms in both summer and winter in subtropical China. Microbial communities increasingly differed in structure as geographical distance between them increased, and the slope of the relationship among distances and community similarity differed among forest covers. In general, as with microbial β‐diversity, slopes also shifted across seasons. Finally, null deviations of bacterial and fungal communities were lower in coniferous plantation and presented opposing seasonal variations with greater influences of deterministic processes in summer for soil fungi and in winter for soil bacteria. Integrating previous frameworks with our β‐null model results, we propose a conceptual model to link microbial secondary succession to stochastic/deterministic shifts in forest ecosystems. Overall, forest conversion induced significant increases in stochastic processes in both bacterial and fungal community assemblies. Therefore, our results highlight the importance of spatiotemporal scales to assess the influence of land‐use change on microbial β‐diversity.
Multicentric retrospective analysis of platinum‐pemetrexed regimens as first‐line therapy in non‐squamous non‐small cell lung cancer patients: A “snapshot” from clinical practice
Authors: Cortellini Alessio , Gambale Elisabetta , Cannita Katia , Brocco Davide , Parisi Alessandro , Napoleoni Luca , Masedu Francesco , Irtelli Luciana , De Tursi Michele , Natoli Clara , Ficorella Corrado
Published: December 2017

Background

The major challenge for treating non‐squamous (non‐Sq) non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients without actionable biomarkers is the actual selection of proper treatment, weighing expected clinical outcomes and safety profile.

Methods

Consecutive non‐Sq NSCLC patients were treated with platinum‐pemetrexed (PP) doublets in clinical practice. Subgroup analyses were conducted in patients treated with standard (s)PP and modified (m)PP doublets (because of age, performance status, and/or comorbidities) and in patients treated with cisplatin‐based and carboplatin‐based PP doublets. Activity, efficacy, safety, and toxicities were evaluated.

Results

From November 2009 to April 2017, 111 patients were treated: 87 (78.4%) with sPP and 24 (21.6%) with mPP; 76 (68.5%) with cisplatin‐based and 35 (31.5%) with carboplatin‐based regimens. The objective response rate (ORR), median progression‐free survival (PFS), and median overall survival (OS) were 49.0%, 7, and 13 months in the entire patient population, respectively. We found no significant differences in ORR, median PFS, and median OS between sPP and mPP. Cisplatin‐based PP showed higher ORR (53.7%) versus carboplatin‐based PP (38.7%) and longer PFS (7 vs. 6 months;P = 0.028) and OS (18 vs. 11 months;P = 0.006). We confirm that carboplatin has a better toxicity profile than cisplatin. The received dose‐intensities were ~80% of standard full doses.

Conclusions

Accurate management allowed us to treat the majority of advanced non‐Sq NSCLC patients with PP combination therapy without significant differences in ORR, median PFS, and median OS. Even considering the selection bias, our data seems to confirm the greater effectiveness of cisplatin‐based over carboplatin‐based regimens.
Movement decline across lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans mutants in the insulin/insulin‐like signaling pathway
Authors: Newell Stamper Breanne L. , Cypser James R. , Kechris Katerina , Kitzenberg David Alan , Tedesco Patricia M. , Johnson Thomas E.
Published: December 2017

Research in aging biology has identified several pathways that are molecularly conserved across species that extend lifespan when mutated. The insulin/insulin‐like signaling (IIS) pathway is one of the most widely studied of these. It has been assumed that extending lifespan also extends healthspan (the period of life with minimal functional loss). However, data supporting this assumption conflict and recent evidence suggest that life extension may, in and of itself, extend the frail period. In this study, we use Caenorhabditis elegans to further probe the link between lifespan and healthspan. Using movement decline as a measure of health, we assessed healthspan across the entire lifespan in nine IIS pathway mutants. In one series of experiments, we studied healthspan in mass cultures, and in another series, we studied individuals longitudinally. We found that long‐lived mutants display prolonged mid‐life movement and do not prolong the frailty period. Lastly, we observed that early‐adulthood movement was not predictive of late‐life movement or survival, within identical phenotypes. Overall, these observations show that extending lifespan does not prolong the period of frailty. Both genotype and a stochastic component modulate aging, and movement late in life is more variable than early‐life movement.