bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How customer orientation leads to customer satisfaction
Authors: Tseng Lu-Ming
Published: September 2018

Purpose

Financial service workers’ etiquette and creativity have been less mentioned in the research on bank marketing. The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effects of financial service workers’ etiquette and creativity on the relationship between customer orientation and customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are collected from 336 insurance customers in Taiwan, and partial least squares analysis is used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The findings show that financial service workers’ customer orientation (perceived by customers) is positively related to the customers’ perception of financial service workers’ etiquette and creativity. Moreover, it is found that the financial service workers’ etiquette and creativity partially mediate the relationship between customer orientation and customer satisfaction.

Originality/value

This is the first study to highlight the roles that financial service workers’ etiquette and creativity play in the relationship between customer orientation and customer satisfaction.
Improved energy conversion efficiency of the ultrasonic motor with surface texture
Authors: Liu Xiaoliang , Qiu Jinhao , Zhao Gai
Published: September 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the effect of frictional materials and surface texture on the energy conversion efficiency and the mechanical output performance of the ultrasonic motor (USM).

Design/methodology/approach

A newly designed testing system was set up to measure the mechanical output performance of the USM. The influence of different frictional materials on the output performance of the USM was studied under the same assembly process and parameters. The surface texture was fabricated by laser ablation processing. The effects of surface texture and input parameters on the energy conversion efficiency and mechanical output performance of the USM were studied.

Findings

The results show that polyimide (PI) composites as frictional material can significantly improve the output performance of the USM compared to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composites. When the pre-load is 240 N, the energy conversion efficiency of the USM using textured PI composites as frictional material can reach 41.93 per cent, increased by 29.21 per cent compared to PTFE composites, and the effective output range of the USM is increased to 0.7-1.1 N m. Besides, the pre-load and surface texture have a great influence on the output performance of the USM.

Originality/value

PI composites can improve the mechanical output performance of the USM. Surface texture can also improve the interface tribological properties and the energy conversion efficiency based on the advanced frictional materials, which will contribute to the increment of the output performance of the USM under the same input conditions.
Hybrid flow shop with multiprocessor task scheduling based on earliness and tardiness penalties
Authors: Engin Orhan , Engin Batuhan
Published: September 2018

Purpose

Hybrid flow shop with multiprocessor task (HFSMT) has received considerable attention in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to consider an HFSMT scheduling under the environment of a common time window. The window size and location are considered to be given parameters. The research deals with the criterion of total penalty cost minimization incurred by earliness and tardiness of jobs. In this research, a new memetic algorithm in which a global search algorithm is accompanied with the local search mechanism is developed to solve the HFSMT with jobs having a common time window. The operating parameters of memetic algorithm have an important role on the quality of solution. In this paper, a full factorial experimental design is used to determining the best parameters of memetic algorithm for each problem type. Memetic algorithm is tested using HFSMT problems.

Design/methodology/approach

First, hybrid flow shop scheduling system and hybrid flow shop scheduling with multiprocessor task are defined. The applications of the hybrid flow shop system are explained. Also the background of hybrid flow shop with multiprocessor is given in the introduction. The features of the proposed memetic algorithm are described in Section 2. The experiment results are presented in Section 3.

Findings

Computational experiments show that the proposed new memetic algorithm is an effective and efficient approach for solving the HFSMT under the environment of a common time window.

Originality/value

There is only one study about HFSMT scheduling with time window. This is the first study which added the windows to the jobs in HFSMT problems.
Image search and retrieval problems in web search engines
Authors: Norouzi Yaghoub , Homavandi Hoda
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate image search and retrieval problems in selected search engines in relation to Persian writing style challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is an applied one, and to answer the questions the authors used an evaluative research method. The aim of the research is to explore the morphological and semantic problems of Persian language in connection with image search and retrieval among the three major and widespread search engines: Google, Yahoo and Bing. In order to collect the data, a checklist designed by the researcher was used and then the data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics.

Findings

The results indicate that Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines do not pay enough attention to morphological and semantic features of Persian language in image search and retrieval. This research reveals that six groups of Persian language features include derived words, derived/compound words, Persian and Arabic Plural words, use of dotted T and the use of spoken language and polysemy, which are the major problems in this area. In addition, the results suggest that Google is the best search engine of all in terms of compatibility with Persian language features.

Originality/value

This study investigated some new aspects of the above-mentioned subject through combining morphological and semantic aspects of Persian language with image search and retrieval. Therefore, this study is an interdisciplinary research, the results of which would help both to offer some solutions and to carry out similar research on this subject area. This study will also fill a gap in research studies conducted so far in this area in Farsi language, especially in image search and retrieval. Moreover, findings of this study can help to bridge the gap between the user’s questions and search engines (systems) retrievals. In addition, the methodology of this paper provides a framework for further research on image search and retrieval in databases and search engines.
The influence of an organisation’s adopted corporate social responsibility constructs on consumers’ intended buying behaviour: a Malaysian perspective
Authors: Yeo Amy Chu-May , Lee Sky Xiu-Mei , Carter Steve
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of adopted corporate social responsibility (CSR) constructs, which include economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities, on the intended buying behaviour of Malaysian consumers. The study also aims to investigate the perceived value of whether the consumers considered an organisation’s CSR initiatives before deciding any purchase of products or services.

Design/methodology/approach

An online Google form survey successfully obtained 295 usable responses through a snowballing and networking approach. Statistical analyses such as Pearson correlation, ANOVA and standard multiple regression were used to examine the correlation and the strength of relationship, as well as the prediction between the CSR attributes and their impact on consumer buying behaviour.

Findings

The results represented a significant positive association between all the four constructs (social, ethical, legal and philanthropic) and consumer intended buying behaviour. These constructs also significantly contributed to the prediction of consumer behaviour towards the CSR initiatives. Conversely, the demographic profile of consumers had no effect on the relationship between CSR and consumer buying behaviour.

Research limitations/implications

Examining basic concepts of CSR awareness and understanding might add to the flavour and rigour of this study, which future research should consider. The positivist approach of the current research could be supplemented with a more interactive qualitative in-depth study investigating why and how consumers behave.

Practical implications

The implication for Malaysian companies is that it is imperative for their long-term survival that a strategic view, rather than just a tactical, reactive or operational view, is taken of their CSR activities. Furthermore, it will help organisations to confidently predict positive intentions towards the sales of goods and services.

Originality/value

The outcome of this study has filled the CSR lacuna in the context of a developing country, as well as adding new insights into the influence and perceived value of CSR on intended consumer buying behaviour. Consumers, irrespective of their age and background, are getting wiser and cautious in purchasing products from companies which are CSR-oriented, in particular, in relation to social, legal, ethical and philanthropic perspectives.
Purity, cleanliness, and smell: female circumcision, embodiment, and discourses among midwives and excisers in Fouta Toro, Senegal
Authors: O'Neill Sarah
Published: September 2018

Since the 1980s, a multiplicity of medical, social, and anthropological research has looked into different aspects of female genital cutting (FGC), with outcomes that are used as justifications for, or objections to, different forms of intervention on a global level. Yet there is limited research looking at local indigenous medical knowledge, and how potential health problems resulting from cutting are understood and treated by those who perform female circumcision as a profession. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Fouta Toro, Senegal, this article shows that despite some medical professionals’ genuine commitment to stop FGC, their aesthetic notions of cleanliness and repulsion often still conform to dominant discourses and beliefs around purity. This article explores contradictory conceptions of female anatomy, purity, and olfactory differences between excised and unexcised women. It shows that instead of there being a one‐dimensional opposition between different forms of knowledge (local/indigenous vs biomedical), as frequently implied in public health messages, people can assimilate seemingly contradictory viewpoints that correspond to their social identities, embodied manners, and the sensory and olfactory perceptions of their social environment.
Using food prices and consumption to examine Chinese cost of living
Authors: Cook Jonathan A. , Gale Fred
Published: September 2018

This paper considers two approaches to examining potential bias in China's consumer price index: (i) inferring true changes in cost of living from consumer behaviour; and (ii) creating alternative price indices to compare with official indices. For (i), our semi‐parametric estimates agree with the recent finding of a large understatement in increases to the true cost of living. For (ii), we focus on food prices and explore potential causes of bias. We find some evidence of a new‐good bias. China's large‐scale migration also causes changes in the cost of living that are not reflected in the consumer price index.
Economic policy uncertainty spillovers in small open economies: The case of Hong Kong
Authors: Luk Paul , Cheng Michael , Ng Philip , Wong Ken
Published: September 2018

This paper studies the extent to which economic policy uncertainty shocks in major economies affect real economic activity in small open economies. We use Hong Kong as a case study. Following Baker, Bloom and Davis (2016), we construct a newspaper‐based economic policy uncertainty index for Hong Kong for the period 1998 to 2016. We estimate international spillovers of uncertainty and find large spillovers of uncertainty from major economies to Hong Kong. Furthermore, using a structural vector autoregressive approach, we show that a rise in domestic economic policy uncertainty leads to tight financial conditions, and lower investment and vacancy posting, dampening domestic output growth.
Added sugar and sodium levels in New Zealand processed fruit and vegetable‐based products
Authors: Chepulis Lynne , Everson Nadine , Heapy Amanda , Mearns Gael
Published: September 2018

Aim

Fruit and vegetables are strongly promoted because of the nutrients they provide; many processed products contain added sugar and sodium. The present study aims to quantify the sugar and sodium content of pre‐packaged fruit and vegetable‐based products that are available in New Zealand supermarkets.

Methods

Nutrition Information Panel data were collected from non‐frozen, processed fruit and vegetable products in New Zealand supermarkets (including soups, sauces, jams and spreads, pickles, chutneys and dips, and canned/bottled fruit and vegetables) where fruit and/or vegetables were the majority ingredient(s).

Results

With the exception of canned/bottled vegetables, more than 60% of products contained added sugar. Per serve, the median sugar content was highest in canned/bottled fruit (17.8 g). More than 75% of soups, vegetable‐based sauces, pickles/chutneys and canned/bottled vegetables contained added sodium, with soups (722 mg) recording the highest median values per serve.

Conclusions

Consumers need to be aware that although they are encouraged to eat a diet high in fruit and vegetables, there may be large quantities of added sugar and sodium in manufactured fruit and vegetable products that can have significant negative impacts on their health. Government health promotion campaigns encouraging the consumption of fruit and vegetables should be careful to target fresh, frozen and home‐prepared foods, and work on educating the public about the lower nutritional quality associated with most processed fruit and vegetable products.
Comparable immunoreactivity rates of PD‐L1 in archival and recent specimens from non‐small cell lung cancer
Authors: Nakamura Yuki , Kobayashi Tetsu , Nishii Yoichi , Suzuki Yuta , Saiki Haruko , Ito Kentaro , Watanabe Fumiaki , Nishihama Kota , Yasuma Taro , D'Alessandro‐Gabazza Corina N. , Katsuta Koji , Fujimoto Hajime , Gabazza Esteban C , Taguchi Osamu , Hataji Osamu
Published: September 2018

Background

Molecular targeted therapy including the use of monoclonal antibodies directed against the immune checkpoints PD‐L1 and PD‐1 receptor have remarkably improved the therapeutic response and survival of cancer patients. The tumor expression level of PD‐L1 can predict the response rate to checkpoint inhibitors. We evaluated whether the time interval between tumor tissue sampling/paraffinization and immunohistochemistry affects the staining level of PD‐L1 in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods

This study comprised 137 patients with NSCLC. Tumors were stained with 22C3 or 28‐8 antibodies.

Results

There was a significant correlation between the immunoreactivity rate of tumor tissues obtained using 22C3 and 28‐8 clones. No statistical difference in immunoreactivity between archival and recent samples stained either with 22C3 or 28‐8 antibodies was observed. The immunoreactivity rate achieved with 22C3 or 28‐8 antibodies significantly correlated with tumor histological type and size, but not with specimen storage time, age, gender, smoking history, clinical stage, or lymph node metastasis.

Conclusion

In brief, the results of this study show that the time interval between tissue sampling/paraffinization and immunohistochemical analysis has no influence on the immunoreactivity rate of PD‐L1 in NSCLC.
Gendered violence and overdose prevention sites: a rapid ethnographic study during an overdose epidemic in Vancouver, Canada
Authors: Boyd Jade , Collins Alexandra B. , Mayer Samara , Maher Lisa , Kerr Thomas , McNeil Ryan
Published: September 2018

Background and Aims

North America's overdose epidemic is increasingly driven by fentanyl and fentanyl‐adulterated drugs. Supervised consumption sites, including low‐threshold models (termed overdose prevention sites; OPS), are now being debated in the United States and implemented in Canada. Despite evidence that gendered and racialized violence shape access to harm reduction among women who use drugs (WWUD), this has not been examined in relation to OPS and amid the overdose epidemic. This study explores how overlapping epidemics of overdose and gendered and racialized violence in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, one of North America's overdose epicenters, impacts how marginalized WWUD experience OPS.

Design

Qualitative analysis using rapid ethnographic fieldwork. Data collection included 185 hours of naturalistic observation and in‐depth interviews; data were analyzed thematically using NVivo.

Setting

Vancouver, Canada.

Participants

Thirty‐five WWUD recruited from three OPS.

Measurements

Participants’ experiences of OPS and the public health emergency.

Findings

The rapid onset and severity of intoxication associated with the use of fentanyl‐adulterated drugs in less regulated drug use settings not only amplified WWUD's vulnerability to overdose death but also violence. Participants characterized OPS as safer spaces to consume drugs in contrast to less regulated settings, and accommodation of assisted injections and injecting partnerships was critical to increasing OPS access among WWUD. Peer‐administered injections disrupted gendered power relations to allow women increased control over their drug use; however, participants indicated that OPS were also gendered and racialized spaces that jeopardized some women's access.

Conclusion

Although women who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada appear to feel that overdose prevention sites address forms of everyday violence made worse by the overdose epidemic, these sites remain ‘masculine spaces’ that can jeopardize women's access.
Strategies to reduce and maintain low perinatal mortality in resource‐poor settings – Findings from a four‐decade observational study of birth records from a large public maternity hospital in Papua New Guinea
Authors: Mola Glen D. L. , Unger Holger W.
Published: September 2018

Background

In many low‐ to middle‐income countries (LMIC) assisted vaginal birth rates have fallen, while caesarean section (CS) rates have increased, with potentially deleterious consequences for maternal and perinatal mortality.

Aims

To review birth mode and perinatal mortality in a large LMIC hospital with strict labour management protocols and expertise in vacuum extraction.

Materials and Methods

We conducted a retrospective observational study at Port Moresby General Hospital in Papua New Guinea. Birth registers from 1977 to 2015 (39 years) were reviewed. Overall and modified (fresh stillbirths and early neonatal deaths ≥500 g) perinatal mortality rates (PMRs) were calculated by birthweight/birth mode.

Results

There were 365 056 births (5215 in 1977; 14 927 in 2015), of which 14 179 (3.9%) were vacuum extractions, 609 (0.2%) forceps births and 14 747 (4.4%) CS (increase from 2% to 5%). The failure rate of vacuum extraction was 2.5% (range 0.5–5.4%). Symphysiotomy was employed for 184 births.

From 1989 to 2015, the modified mean PMR for babies ≥2500 g was 8.1/1000 births (range 5.6–12.1; 6.9 in 2015), 9.1/1000 for babies ≥1500 g (7.3–14.8; 9.1 in 2015) and 7.5/1000 (0–21.7; 9.0 in 2015) for vacuum extractions (98% were ≥2500 g). The overall PMR for these years was 29.7/1000 births.

Conclusions

In an LMIC with rapidly increasing birth numbers a comparatively low PMR can be achieved while maintaining low CS rates. This may be in part accomplished through strict use of second‐stage protocols, perinatal audit, and supportive training that promotes judicious and proficient use of vacuum extraction and CS.
Surgical treatment of otitis media with effusion in Maori children
Authors: Johnston James , McLaren Holly , Mahadevan Murali , Douglas Richard G.
Published: September 2018

Background

This study aimed to compare the incidence and outcomes of Maori and non‐Maori children with otitis media with effusion who underwent myringotomy plus ventilation tube insertion (MVTI).

Methods

De‐identified extraction of Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) morbidity records belonging to all children who underwent an MVTI procedure between January 1996 and June 2016 at Starship Children's Hospital was performed. Demographic, procedural and outcome data were analysed.

Results

A total of 11 941 children aged less than 10 years underwent at least one MVTI procedure in the Auckland region from January 1996 to June 2016. Of those, 2387 (20%) were Maori and 9554 (80%) were non‐Maori. There was no difference in gender, age, length of stay, 30‐day readmissions or complications between Maori and non‐Maori at index or subsequent surgeries. Maori were not more likely than non‐Maori to require subsequent MVTI (P = 0.13). There was no difference between Maori and non‐Maori rates of having MVTI alone (P = 0.11) or MVTI with adenoidectomy ± tonsillectomy (P = 0.61).

Conclusions

Some epidemiological evidence suggests that Maori have a higher incidence of middle ear disease in the community. However, this study indicates that there is no difference in the post‐operative course between Maori and non‐Maori children.
An Honourable Profession: Public Employees and Identity Construction in Chile, 1880–1920
Authors: TRAVERSO DIEGO BARRÍA
Published: September 2018

This paper analyses how public employees at two Chilean government offices constructed their occupational identities. In contrast to the vast majority of previous work, which took the 1920s as its starting point, this study focuses on the period between 1880 and 1920. Additionally, the construction of identity is analysed in direct relation to performance in the workplace. The paper asserts that public criticism of their performance prompted public employees to develop an image of themselves based on the concept of their honourability as competent and honest workers.
Explaining oral health inequalities in European welfare state regimes: The role of health behaviours
Authors: Guarnizo‐Herreño Carol C. , Watt Richard G. , Garzón‐Orjuela Nathaly , Tsakos Georgios
Published: September 2018

Objective

To assess the extent to which behavioural factors, including those related to dental care, account for oral health inequalities in different European welfare state regimes.

Methods

Data from the Eurobarometer 2009 survey were analysed. Nationally representative samples of dentate adults aged ≥45 years (n = 9979) from 21 European countries classified into the five welfare regimes (Scandinavian, Anglo‐Saxon, Bismarckian, Southern, Eastern) were considered. Inequalities in no functional dentition (having <20 natural teeth) by education and occupation were identified using the Relative and Slope Indices of Inequality (RIIandSII, respectively). The percentage reduction inRIIandSIIwas calculated from regression models before and after adjustment for behaviours, first one at a time and then all together.

Results

Behaviours explained 21.0% (95%CI8.7, 31.4) and 13.1% (95%CI7.9, 33.2) of educational inequalities in no functional dentition (RII) in the Scandinavian and Eastern regimes, respectively. For occupational inequalities, the attenuations inRIIin these welfare regimes were 19.3% (95%CI7.1, 24.2) and 10.5% (95%CI3.4, 22.5), respectively. Attenuations were weaker and nonsignificant in the Bismarckian, Anglo‐Saxon and Southern regimes. Among the behaviours analysed, alcohol consumption was particularly relevant in explaining inequalities in the Scandinavian regime, and this was confirmed in sensitivity analyses through three‐way cross‐level interaction terms in multilevel models. Behaviours related to dental care produced similar, consistent attenuations in the Scandinavian and Eastern regimes for both socioeconomic indicators.SIIfindings showed a similar picture.

Conclusion

The role of particular behaviours in explaining oral health inequalities could be heterogeneous across European welfare regimes, indicating that their importance might be influenced by the general approach to social policies.
China and the United States: The Contest for Global Economic Leadership
Authors: Bergsten C. Fred
Published: September 2018

This paper considers whether there is a “Thucydides trap” in the world economy, referring to the inherent conflict between incumbent and challenger. It assesses the impact of President Trump's alienation of traditional US allies, which threatens to splinter the “hegemonic coalition” and even push China and Europe together, and his convergence toward some Chinese norms on trade and even politics. It outlines three possible systemic scenarios: a “G0” in which the US is no longer willing to lead but China is not yet able or willing, and whether such a (likely) regime will be stable or unstable; a new “G1,” sooner or later, led by China; and a cooperative “G2” in which the US and China agree to share leadership. It traces the evolution of actual leadership initiatives of the two countries in recent years. It compares US and Chinese attitudes on key systemic issues and concludes with an appraisal of “an international economic order with Chinese characteristics,” a world in which the state plays a greater role relative to market economics, the rule of law defers increasingly to voluntary arrangements, and politics tilt toward central government control more than democracy.
China–US Trade Disputes in 2018: An Overview
Authors: Lu Feng
Published: September 2018

The paper provides an overview of changes in the US policy stance toward China that have resulted in the currently unstable economic and trade relationship between the two countries. It reviews the trade and economic relationship between China and the US during the first year of the Trump Administration, summarizes the systematic changes in trade and external economic policies adopted by the Trump Administration in general, and particularly toward China, and observes the implementation of a hawkish trade policy that ignited dispute between the US and China. The main factors shaping the current situation are examined, including structural difficulties in the US economy, the characteristics of the Chinese institutional setting and policies that have become increasingly unacceptable to the US, the specific personal beliefs and positions of President Trump and his main aides in the economic and trade team, and short‐term factors in the US internal political arena.
Playing to Win: Male–Male Sex‐Based Harassment and the Masculinity Contest
Authors: Alonso Natalya
Published: September 2018

Workplaces characterized by masculinity contests equate masculinity with status, making it especially critical to prove masculinity and defend against threats to this identity. Past scholarship has explained male–female sex‐based harassment (MF‐SBH) as a strategy for defending threatened masculinity and the gender hierarchy more broadly. The current research examines whether male–male SBH (MM‐SBH) is also triggered by a desire to reassert a threatened sense of masculinity. Specifically, I explore the effects of two forms of masculinity threat on men's propensity to harass another man: prototypicality threat (suggesting one is gender atypical) and distinctiveness threat (suggesting the sexes are more similar than they are different). An online experiment and a lab study indicated that prototypicality threat, but not distinctiveness threat, leads to greater MM‐SBH. I suggest that masculinity contest workplaces, which especially highly prize masculinity, likely exacerbate this effect.
Toxic Leadership and the Masculinity Contest Culture: How “Win or Die” Cultures Breed Abusive Leadership
Authors: Matos Kenneth , O'Neill Olivia (Mandy) , Lei Xue
Published: September 2018

Recent years have witnessed an increase in scholarly and practitioner interest in the effects of toxic forms of leadership and “win or die” organizational cultures in which employees seek to maintain their own status at all costs, yet there is little research examining the interaction of this type of leadership style and organizational culture. In this survey study of working adults, we demonstrate an association between perceptions of toxic leadership and “masculinity contest cultures” (Berdahl, Cooper, Glick, Livingston, & Williams, 2018).norms, rituals, and belief systems valorizing social dominance, work above other parts of life, physical strength, and the avoidance of weakness. Independently, masculinity contest cultures were associated with higher stress, work/life conflict, intention to job search, work engagement and job meaning, while toxic leadership was associated with lower work engagement and job meaning and higher intention to job search. However, results show a slight increase in work engagement and meaningfulness among men (but not women) who viewed their workplace as a masculinity contest and who reported having a toxic leader. These surprising results provide important insights into how toxic cultures retain employees despite their largely detrimental effects on job attitudes and well‐being.
Masculinity in Male‐Dominated Occupations: How Teams, Time, and Tasks Shape Masculinity Contests
Authors: Reid Erin M. , O'Neill Olivia Amanda , Blair‐Loy Mary
Published: September 2018

We conduct a comparative case analysis of men in three male‐dominated occupations—firefighting, consulting, and business executives—to examine enactments of “masculinity contests,” which include aggressive, competitive struggles for dominance and expectations to prioritize work ahead of other life commitments. We find that these contests are neither inevitable nor experienced uniformly in male‐dominated occupations. Rather, our analysis shows that such contests are shaped and curtailed by three occupational features: the structure and organization of teams within the occupation, the temporal structure of work in the occupation, and the tasks that are core to the occupation's work. Our analysis advances current perspectives on masculinity and work by offering insight into how occupational features interact with social class to shape expectations of appropriate masculine behavior. We find some instances in which teams, time, and tasks operate distinctively by social class and other instances in which these features act similarly, across social class lines, to reduce or exacerbate the salience of masculinity contests.
Introduction and uptake of electronic growth charts in southern New Zealand
Authors: Dainty Gloria J , Reith David M , Taylor Barry J
Published: September 2018

Aim

The introduction of an electronic system for recording and displaying growth measurements replaces multiple paper growth charts and theoretically improves the availability and consistency of information to support clinical decision‐making. Introducing this in a single New Zealand District Health Board provided the opportunity to evaluate usage in hospital settings and determine the uptake of growth recording in a defined population.

Methods

All records between 2010 and 2015 in the Southern District Health Board (SDHB) anthropometry database were downloaded and examined in a retrospective cohort analysis. Records were extracted after matching to demographic and clinical setting data from the hospital patient management system.

Results

Analysis included 30 670 data entry points, representing 8551 children. Data entry increased over time to a maximum of 8407 observations in 2015. By the fifth year of use, up to 67% of available clinical encounters had anthropometry recorded in the outpatient department. Rates were lower in the inpatient setting, where only up to 18.4% had anthropometry recorded. The errors identified were low (0.2% of all data). Weight was the most commonly recorded measurement (98.2% of anthropometry entries, 35.1% of available clinical presentations). Height was available for 82.6% of entries and 29.5% of presentations. A body mass index z‐score was available for 81.5% of entries and 29.1% of presentations. A head circumference was available for 50.2% of children <2 years age who had anthropometry recorded.

Conclusions

The introduction of an electronic anthropometry database has been successful with increasing rates of use over time, especially in outpatient clinics. Further focus to improve inpatient recording of height and weight is needed.
The role of skin testing and extended antibiotic courses in assessment of children with penicillin allergy: An Australian experience
Authors: Arnold Annabelle , Sommerfield Aine , Ramgolam Anoop , Rueter Kristina , Muthusamy Saravanan , Noble Valerie , von Ungern‐Sternberg Britta S , Lucas Michaela
Published: September 2018

Aim

To determine if skin testing (ST) in addition to extended oral provocation challenge (OPC) is necessary for beta‐lactam allergy verification in an Australian paediatric population.

Methods

This was a retrospective study (176 children) that undertook assessments for beta‐lactam allergy from 2006 to 2015 at a tertiary paediatric hospital. Patients either underwent direct OPC without ST or ST plus challenge if ST was negative.

Results

The analysis included children with a history of varying rash types/severity as well as angioedema and reported anaphylaxis. A direct OPC was undertaken in 73 children. Three children reacted with one anaphylaxis. A total of 103 children underwent ST, with 13 children (12.6%) reacting. Of the 90 who subsequently proceeded to OPC, 4 reacted. A total of 132 children were given an extended oral course of the culprit antibiotic, to which 6 children reacted.

Conclusions

A direct OPC with the culprit drug in Australian children can be safely performed, avoiding resource‐intensive and painful ST. Our data demonstrate that a prior history of anaphylaxis does not necessarily predict IgE‐mediated allergy, as detected by positive immediate ST or reactions to oral challenge. Such history should not detract from efforts to assess these children for antibiotic allergy. We suggest that extended courses of at least 5 days are important in paediatric antibiotic de‐labelling as six children (4.5% of those who were prescribed the extended course) reacted in our study and even developed symptoms late in the extended course, from days 2 to 6.
The addition of metronomic chemotherapy does not improve outcome for canine splenic haemangiosarcoma
Authors: Alexander C. K. , Cronin K. L. , Silver M. , Gardner H. L. , London C.
Published: September 2018

Objectives

To determine whether the addition of metronomic chemotherapy improved outcome for dogs with splenic haemangiosarcoma treated with splenectomy and adjuvant maximum tolerated dose chemotherapy.

Materials and Methods

Medical records were examined retrospectively for dogs with splenic haemangiosarcoma that had undergone splenectomy followed by anthracycline‐based chemotherapy. Thirty‐nine dogs underwent splenectomy followed by maximum tolerated dose chemotherapy with an anthracycline, cyclophosphamide, or both (Group 1). Twenty‐two dogs underwent splenectomy followed by adjuvant maximum tolerated dose chemotherapy with an anthracycline, cyclophosphamide, or both, plus metronomic chemotherapy (Group 2). Dogs in both groups were further separated into those treated with either maximum tolerated dose anthracycline or maximum tolerated dose anthracycline and cyclophosphamide.

Results

Median progression‐free survival was 165 days and median overall survival time was 180 days in Group 1. Median progression‐free survival was 185 days and median overall survival time was 212 days in Group 2. In both groups, the overall survival was shorter in dogs that had received maximum tolerated dose cyclophosphamide.

Clinical Significance

The addition of metronomic to maximum tolerated dose chemotherapy protocols does not appear to improve outcome in dogs with splenic haemangiosarcoma treated with splenectomy and maximum tolerated dose chemotherapy.
Distributed Attention: A Cognitive Ethnography of Instruction in Sport Settings
Authors: Muntanyola‐Saura Dafne , Sánchez‐García Raúl
Published: September 2018

How do expert trainers and athletes instruct and attend to new moves? The objective of this paper is to analize communication patterns in sports settings. We propose a pragmatic view on cognition through an integrated theoretical model. We claim that communication modalities cannot be reduced to individual minds but must be understood as distributed cognitive mechanisms among different individuals and resources. We compare two case studies, an aikido session in the USA and Olympic synchronized swimming training in Spain with a video‐aided cognitive ethnography and Conversation Analysis. By exploring these specific events we have a better understanding how athletes attend to instructions by using multiple modalities. Our findings show how trainers and athletes communicate augmented information that is not available in a self‐exploratory performance. They rely on augmented information through speech, but also gesture, marking, direction of gaze and body posture. Moreover, the skills of trainers and trainees include embodied and epistemic actions. They share visual assumptions on which are the right moves. Distributed attention is at the roots of these shared and embodied skills. Distributed attention is a type of distributed cognition in sports trainings.
Development and pretesting of “Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly”: Empowering governments for global scaling up of breastfeeding programmes
Authors: Hromi‐Fiedler Amber J. , dos Santos Buccini Gabriela , Gubert Muriel Bauermann , Doucet Katie , Pérez‐Escamilla Rafael
Published: September 2018

Scaling up breastfeeding programmes has not been highly prioritized despite overwhelming evidence that breastfeeding benefits the health of mothers and children. Lack of evidence‐based tools for scaling up may deter countries from prioritizing breastfeeding. To fill this gap, Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) was developed to guide countries in effectively scaling up programmes to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding. BBF includes an evidence‐based toolbox that consists of a BBF Index, case studies, and a 5‐meeting process. These three interrelated components enable countries to assess their breastfeeding scaling up environment, identify gaps, propose policy recommendations, develop a scaling up plan, and track progress. The toolbox was developed based on current evidence and expert guidance from a Technical Advisory Group, which was composed of global breastfeeding and metric experts with experience in the scaling up of health and nutrition programmes in low‐, middle‐, and high‐income countries. The BBF toolbox required a step‐by‐step iterative approach to describe and systematize each component, thus an operational manual was developed. The BBF toolbox and BBF operational manual underwent intensive pretesting in two countries, Ghana and Mexico, resulting in the modification of each component plus the operational manual. Pretesting continues in six additional countries demonstrating that BBF is a robust and dynamic multi‐sectoral process that, with relatively minor adaptations, can be successfully implemented in countries across world regions.
Ethnographic Objects on The Cold War Front: The Tangled History of a London Museum Collection
Authors: Buchczyk Magdalena
Published: September 2018

This article addresses the historical context of a museum collection of Romanian artifacts in light of British–Romanian diplomacy. The museum's holdings are unpacked through a study of the events that led to their acquisition in the 1950s. It is argued that the ethnographic investigation of the historical and political landscape in which the collection emerged reveals the importance of the collection’s performance on the Cold War cultural stage, where acts of exhibiting museum artifacts across the Iron Curtain served to create certain representations of the modern state. Particular attention is paid to the often‐overlooked European folk art collections residing in European ethnographic museums. The history of the Romanian collection held by the Horniman Museum of London (UK) demonstrates that an anthropological critique of these holdings can help explore the complex histories and the political relations that underpinned the movement and display of folk artifacts across the Iron Curtain. [Cold War, museum ethnography, state, Romania, Britain]
Role of social normative beliefs as a moderating factor in smoking intention among adolescent girls in Korea
Authors: Ra Jin Suk , Cho Yoon Hee
Published: September 2018

In this study, we investigated the relationship between risk‐taking tendency and smoking intention as moderated by social normative beliefs among Korean female adolescents. A cross‐sectional study was conducted with 274 female adolescents in middle school. Multiple regression and simple slope analyses were employed to test the moderating effects of social normative beliefs regarding smoking on the relationship between risk‐taking tendency and smoking intention. Results determined that risk‐taking tendency, social normative beliefs regarding smoking, and their interaction were significant factors influencing smoking intention among adolescents. Risk‐taking tendency was associated with greater smoking intention among adolescents, with higher than average social normative beliefs regarding smoking. However, risk‐taking tendency was not significantly associated with smoking intention for adolescents with lower than average social normative beliefs regarding smoking. In conclusion, social normative beliefs regarding smoking moderated the relationship between risk‐taking intention and smoking intention among Korean female adolescents. Unique sociocultural perceptions about smoking behaviors of adolescents need to be reflected in smoking‐prevention and ‐cessation programs.
How to Know That Time Travel Is Unlikely Without Knowing Why
Authors: Elliott Katrina
Published: September 2018

What's the point of time travel? Not to change the past; no matter how carefully a time traveler plans, all of her attempts to change the past end in failure. Paul Horwich has argued that the implausibility of such failures gives us reason to doubt that there will be frequent time travel to the local past. I defend a modified version of Horwich's argument and show how we might gain evidence about the chance of there being frequent time travel in the future without having any information that explains why that chance value obtains.
Introduction to the Special Issue on Perspectives on Big Data
Authors: Singhal Kalyan , Feng Qi , Ganeshan Ram , Sanders Nada R. , Shanthikumar J. George
Published: September 2018

Big data has the potential of offering valuable insights into the way organizations function, and it is changing the way organizations make decisions. Nine invited essays provide a wide range of perspectives on the role of big data in customer‐driven supply chains, healthcare operations, retail operations, demand planning and manufacturing, environmental and social issues, humanitarian operations, agriculture supply chains, and service operations. Decision makers should have clean, valid, and reliable data, and they should have a thorough understanding of the contexts of applications. Big data shorten virtual distance to customers, and thus facilitate personalization of products and services. Successful implementation of big data applications requires sharing the data with appropriate stakeholders.
Circulating plasma microRNAs as biomarkers for iron status in blood donors
Authors: Gunnarsdottir M. G. , Jonsson T. , Halldorsdottir A. M.
Published: September 2018

Objectives

To investigate whether microRNAs can serve as biomarkers for iron status in blood donors.

Background

Serum ferritin is a widely used biochemical test for detecting iron deficiency, but it has its limitations. Certain microRNAs (miRNAs) reportedly have a role in regulating iron homeostasis. Circulating miRNAs have been reported as potential biomarkers for various conditions but have not yet been studied in iron deficiency.

Methods

Participating blood donors were divided into two groups: high ferritin (HF) (>150 µg L−1) and low ferritin (LF) (<15 µg L−1). MiRNA analysis was performed by an miRNA profiling service (Exiqon) using commercial qPCR assays. The study had two phases: (i) a pilot study (20 participants) where 179 miRNAs were analysed and (ii) a confirmation study (50 participants) of 13 selected miRNAs.

Results

Mean serum ferritin was 13·8 µg L−1 in the LF arm compared to 231 µg L−1 in the HF group (P < 0·001). Hepcidin plasma levels were higher in the HF arm (P < 0·001), whereas soluble transferrin receptor 1 was higher in the LF group (P < 0·001). In the pilot study, samples did not separate according to study group on unsupervised analysis. When directly comparing HF vs LF groups, 17 miRNAs were differentially expressed (P < 0·05, t‐test) but did not pass correction for multiple testing. The confirmation study of 13 selected miRNAs verified these findings as no miRNA was significantly different between the study groups.

Conclusion

In this study, circulating plasma miRNAs did not emerge as promising biomarkers for iron status in healthy individuals. However, in the future, alternative detection methods such as next‐generation sequencing might indicate miRNAs that correlate with iron stores.
Physicists plan hunt for Higgs boson pairs
Authors: Cho Adrian
Published: September 2018

Rare double-Higgs events at the Large Hadron Collider could point to new physics.
Scarred bird bones reveal early settlement on Madagascar
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: September 2018

Find reignites debate about megafauna extinctions.
Recurrent cortical circuits implement concentration-invariant odor coding
Authors: Bolding Kevin A. , Franks Kevin M.
Published: September 2018

Representing the identity of a smell

We still don't know how odors retain their identities over a range of concentrations. Working in mice, Bolding and Franks simultaneously recorded spiking activity from neurons in the olfactory bulb and piriform cortex, two important brain regions for olfaction. Odor information was transformed from a representation that was highly concentration dependent in the olfactory bulb to a representation that was largely concentration invariant in the piriform cortex. The underlying mechanism involves a “winner-takes-all” lateral inhibition. In the collateral network of the piriform cortex, the principal cells responded promptly to output from the olfactory bulb, and recurrent inhibition curtailed the intensity dependence of the signal.

Science
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eaat6904
A continental system for forecasting bird migration
Authors: Van Doren Benjamin M. , Horton Kyle G.
Published: September 2018

Bird forecast

Billions of birds migrate across the globe each year, and, in our modern environment, many collide with human-made structures and vehicles. The ability to predict peak timing and locations of migratory events could greatly improve our ability to reduce such collisions. Van Doren and Horton used radar and atmospheric-condition data to predict the peaks and flows of migrating birds across North America. Their models predicted, with high accuracy, patterns of bird migration at altitudes between 0 and 3000 meters and as far as 7 days in advance, a time span that will allow for planning and preparation around these important events.

Science
, this issue p.
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Enantioselective four-component Ugi reactions
Authors: Riva Renata
Published: September 2018

A chiral organocatalyst condenses four reactants with stereochemical control
Smarter, stronger, longer
Superhuman: Life at the Extremes of Our Capacity
Rowan Hooper
Simon & Schuster, 2018. 352 pp.
Authors: Kemp Christopher
Published: September 2018

From extreme longevity to photographic memory, unusual individuals push the boundaries of human ability
Looking ahead
On the Future: Prospects for Humanity
Martin Rees
Princeton University Press, 2018. 272 pp.
Authors: Robinson Andrew
Published: September 2018

A cosmologist advocates thoughtful deployment of science and technology to address the challenges facing humanity