bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Psychometric evaluation of the Taiwanese version of the functional assessment of cancer therapy: a questionnaire for patients with lung cancer
Authors: Chang Wen-Pei , Lin Yen-Kuang , Lin Chia-Chin
Published: September 2018

Objective

The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung (FACT-L) consists of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) and the Lung Cancer Subscale. The FACT-L is commonly used to measure quality of life in patients with lung cancer. This study evaluated the reliability and validity of the FACT-L in examining patients with lung cancer in Taiwan.

Design

This was a methodology study.

Setting

Patients with lung cancer at a regional hospital in Northern Taiwan.

Participants

Patients who had received an early diagnosis of lung cancer between 2013 and 2015 were recruited as respondents.

Intervention(s)

None.

Main outcome measure(s)

To verify the reliability and validity of the Taiwanese version of the FACT-L.

Results

A total of 104 patients who had received an initial diagnosis of lung cancer were recruited. The overall internal consistency of the FACT-L, as assessed using Cronbach’s α, was 0.82. Among the patients, 64 had a test–retest reliability (r) of 0.45 (P < 0.001) at 6 weeks after treatment. Moreover, longitudinal research indicated that the FACT-L detected score differences before and after treatment in these patients (Cohen’s d = −0.26). The Taiwanese version of the FACT-L considers 2-year survival as the gold standard, and the optimal combination of sensitivity and specificity was obtained when the receiver operating characteristic curve revealed cutoff points of 80 and 68 for the FACT-L and FACT-G, respectively.

Conclusions

The Taiwanese version of the FACT-L can be widely applied to assess the quality of life of patients with lung cancer.
Quality assessment indicators in antenatal care worldwide: a systematic review
Authors: Morón-Duarte Lina Sofia , Ramirez Varela Andrea , Segura Omar , Freitas da Silveira Mariângela
Published: September 2018

Purpose

To describe indicators used for the assessment of antenatal care (ANC) quality worldwide under the World Health Organization (WHO) framework and based on a systematic review of the literature.

Data sources

Searches were performed in MEDLINE, SciELO, BIREME and Web of Science for eligible studies published between January 2002 and September 2016.

Study selection

Original articles describing women who had received ANC, any ANC model and, any ANC quality indicators were included.

Data extraction

Publication date, study design and ANC process indicators were extracted.

Results of data synthesis

Of the total studies included, 69 evaluated at least one type of ANC process indicator. According to WHO ANC guidelines, 8.7% of the articles reported healthy eating counseling and 52.2% iron and folic acid supplementation. The evaluation indicators on maternal and fetal interventions were: syphilis testing (55.1%), HIV testing (47.8%), gestational diabetes mellitus screening (40.6%) and ultrasound (27.5%). Essential ANC activities assessment ranged from 26.1% report of fetal heart sound, 50.7% of maternal weight and 63.8% of blood pressure. Regarding preventive measures recommended by WHO, tetanus vaccine was reported in 60.9% of the articles. Interventions performed by health services to improve use and quality of ANC care, promotion of maternal and fetal health, and the number of visits to the ANC were evaluated in 65.2% of the studies.

Conclusion

Numerous ANC content indicators are being used to assess ANC quality. However, there is a need to use standardized indicators across countries and efforts to improve quality evaluation.
Fighting Unfair Competition: The Bamberger Riot and the Emergence of Hire Purchase in Switzerland around 1900
Authors: Ruoss Matthias
Published: September 2018

Hire purchase is today one of the most popular modes of consumer finance worldwide, yet it is still in many ways stigmatized and controversial. In this respect, nothing much has changed since the late nineteenth century, when this new way of selling goods spread through the industrialized countries of the West. How unacceptable it was, Louis Bamberger—a pioneer of hire purchase in Switzerland—found out the hard way. In 1883, only months after the opening of his department store in St. Gallen, hundreds of angry people gathered in front of it and started smashing windows and looting. Beginning with this incident, which came to be known as the Bamberger Riot, this article traces the history of hire purchase and the controversy around it in Switzerland before the Great War. Focusing mainly on artisans and shopkeepers, I argue that the sudden emergence of hire purchase in Switzerland fundamentally challenged the market ethic and economic rationality of this section of the urban middle class.
Asteroseismic radii of dwarfs: new accuracy constraints from Gaia DR2 parallaxes
Authors: Sahlholdt Christian L , Silva Aguirre Victor
Published: September 2018

Precise stellar masses and radii can be determined using asteroseismology, but their accuracy must be tested against independent estimates. Using radii derived from Gaia DR2 parallaxes, we test the accuracy of asteroseismic radii for a sample of 93 dwarfs based on both individual frequency fitting and the seismic scaling relations. Radii from frequency fitting are about 1 per cent smaller than Gaia radii on average; however, this difference may be explained by a negative bias of $30\, \mu\mathrm{as}$ in the Gaia parallaxes. This indicates that the radii derived from frequency fitting are accurate to within 1 per cent. The scaling relations are found to overestimate radii by more than 5 per cent, compared to the Gaia radii, at the highest temperatures. We demonstrate that this offset is reduced to 3 per cent after applying corrections based on model frequencies to the scaling relation for Δν, but only when the model frequencies are corrected for the surface effect. With corrections to Δν, the scaling relation gives radii accurate to about 2–3 per cent for dwarfs in the temperature range 5400–6700 K. The remaining offset at the highest temperatures may indicate the need for a correction to the scaling relation for νmax.
Integrated care for human immunodeficiency virus, diabetes and hypertension in Africa
Authors: Garrib Anupam , Birungi Josephine , Lesikari Sokoine , Namakoola Ivan , Njim Tsi , Cuevas Luis , Niessen Louis , Mugisha Kenneth , Mutungi Gerald , Mghamba Janneth , Ramaiya Kaushik , Jaffar Shabbar , Mfinanga Sayoki , Nyirenda Moffat
Published: September 2018

The rising burden from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) poses a huge challenge for health care delivery in Africa, where health systems are already struggling with the long-term care requirements for the millions of people now on antiretroviral therapy requiring regular visits to health facilities for monitoring, adherence support and drugs. The HIV chronic disease management programme is comparatively well-funded, well-organised and well-informed and offers many insights and opportunities for the expansion of NCD prevention and treatment services. Some degree of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and NCD service integration is essential, but how to do this without risking the HIV treatment gains is unclear. Both HIV and NCD services must expand within a resource-constrained environment and policymakers are in urgent need of evidence to guide cost-effective and acceptable changes in these health services.
Singular fibres of the Gelfand–Cetlin system on MANI(
n
)*
Authors: Bouloc D. , Miranda E. , Zung N.T.
Published: September 2018

In this paper, we show that every singular fibre of the Gelfand–Cetlin system on co-adjoint orbits of unitary groups is a smooth isotropic submanifold which is diffeomorphic to a two-stage quotient of a compact Lie group by free actions of two other compact Lie groups. In many cases, these singular fibres can be shown to be homogeneous spaces or even diffeomorphic to compact Lie groups. We also give a combinatorial formula for computing the dimensions of all singular fibres, and give a detailed description of these singular fibres in many cases, including the so-called (multi-)diamond singularities. These (multi-)diamond singular fibres are degenerate for the Gelfand–Cetlin system, but they are Lagrangian submanifolds diffeomorphic to direct products of special unitary groups and tori. Our methods of study are based on different ideas involving complex ellipsoids, Lie groupoids and also general ideas coming from the theory of singularities of integrable Hamiltonian systems.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Finite dimensional integrable systems: new trends and methods’.
Open problems, questions and challenges in finite- dimensional integrable systems
Authors: Bolsinov Alexey , Matveev Vladimir S. , Miranda Eva , Tabachnikov Serge
Published: September 2018

The paper surveys open problems and questions related to different aspects of integrable systems with finitely many degrees of freedom. Many of the open problems were suggested by the participants of the conference ‘Finite-dimensional Integrable Systems, FDIS 2017’ held at CRM, Barcelona in July 2017.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Finite dimensional integrable systems: new trends and methods’.
KPGminer: A tool for retrieving pathway genes from KEGG pathway database
Authors: Azad A. K. M.
Published: September 2018

Pathway analysis is a very important aspect in computational systems biology as it serves as a crucial component in many computational pipelines. KEGG is one of the prominent databases that host pathway information associated with various organisms. In any pathway analysis pipelines, it is also important to collect and organize the pathway constituent genes for which a tool to automatically retrieve that would be a useful one to the practitioners. In this article, I present KPGminer, a tool that retrieves the constituent genes in KEGG pathways for various organisms and organizes that information suitable for many downstream pathway analysis pipelines. We exploited several KEGG web services using REST APIs, particularly GET and LIST methods to request for the information retrieval which is available for developers. Moreover, KPGminer can operate both for a particular pathway (single mode) or multiple pathways (batch mode). Next, we designed a crawler to extract necessary information from the response and generated outputs accordingly. KPGminer brings several key features including organism-specific and pathway-specific extraction of pathway genes from KEGG and always up-to-date information. Thus, we hope KPGminer can be a useful and effective tool to make downstream pathway analysis easier and faster. KPGminer is freely available for download from https://sourceforge.net/projects/kpgminer/.
Identification of novel circadian transcripts in the zebrafish retina
Authors: Ramasamy Soundhar , Sharma Surbhi , Iyengar Bharat Ravi , Vellarikkal Shamsudheen Karuthedath , Sivasubbu Sridhar , Maiti Souvik , Pillai Beena
Published: September 2018

High fecundity, transparent embryos for monitoring the rapid development of organs and the availability of a well-annotated genome has made zebrafish a model organism of choice for developmental biology and neurobiology. This vertebrate model, a favourite in chronobiology studies, shows striking circadian rhythmicity in behaviour. Here, we identify novel genes in the zebrafish genome, which shows their expression in the zebrafish retina. We further resolve the expression pattern over time and assign specific novel transcripts to the retinal cell type, predominantly in the inner nuclear layer. Using chemical ablation and free run experiments we segregate the transcripts that are rhythmic when entrained by light from those that show sustained oscillations in the absence of external cues. The transcripts reported here with rigorous annotation and specific functions in circadian biology provide the groundwork for functional characterisation of novel players in the zebrafish retinal clock.
Inoculation with Pisolithus tinctorius may ameliorate acid rain impacts on soil microbial communities associated with Pinus massoniana seedlings
Authors: Maltz Mia R. , Chen Zhan , Cao Jixin , Arogyaswamy Keshav , Shulman Hannah , Aronson Emma L.
Published: September 2018

Human activities accelerate acidification, particularly as acid rain, which may have lasting impacts on soil abiotic and biotic parameters. However, the effects of acidification on aboveground vegetation, belowground communities, and carbon cycling remains unresolved. We examined the effects of long-term acidic treatments and Pisolithus inoculation on plants, soils, and microbial communities in pine plantations and found that exposure to severely-acidic treatments diminished plant performance, altered microbial communities, and decreased organic matter, nitrate, and available phosphorus. Although we did not detect any benefits of Pisolithus inoculation for Pinus seedlings impacted by severely-acidic treatments, when these severe treatments were inoculated with Pisolithus, both soil properties and microbial community composition shifted. We posit that inoculation with Pisolithus may alleviate stressful environmental conditions, and change the structure of mycorrhizal fungal communities. Although acidification may alter biogeochemical cycles and constrain aboveground and belowground communities, Pisolithus inoculation may provide benefits to some components of forested ecosystems.
foxc1aandfoxc1bdifferentially regulate angiogenesis from arteries and veins by modulating Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor signalling
Authors: Jiang Zhen , Evans Teri , Savage Aaron M. , Loose Matthew , Chico Timothy J.A. , van Eeden Fredericus J.M. , Wilkinson Robert N.
Published: September 2018

The forkhead transcription factorsFoxc1andFoxc2are essential to establish intact vascular networks in mammals. How these genes interact with endothelial signalling pathways to exert their functions remains incompletely understood. We have generated novel zebrafish mutants infoxc1aandfoxc1b, the zebrafish orthologues of mammalianFoxc1, to determine their function during angiogenesis.foxc1amutants display abnormal formation of cranial veins including the primordial hindbrain channels (PHBC), reduced Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) receptor expression in these and loss of central arteries.foxc1bmutants are normal, whereasfoxc1a;foxc1bdouble mutants exhibit ectopic angiogenesis from trunk segmental arteries. Dll4/Notch signalling is reduced infoxc1a; foxc1bdouble mutant arteries and ectopic angiogenesis can be suppressed by induction of Notch or inhibition of Vegfc signalling. We conclude thatfoxc1aandfoxc1bplay compensatory and context-dependent roles to co-ordinate angiogenesis by promoting venous sprouting via induction of VEGF receptor expression whilst antagonising arterial sprouting by inducing Dll4/Notch signalling.foxc1a/bmediated induction of both pro- and anti-angiogenic axes of VEGF-Dll4/Notch negative feedback imparts competition to balance arterial and venous angiogenesis within developing vascular beds.

Summary Statement

foxc1aandfoxc1bpromote angiogenesis from veins and suppress angiogenesis from arteries by promoting competing pro-angiogenic Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor signalling, and anti-angiogenic Dll4/Notch signalling in zebrafish embryos.
Short-hairpin RNA-guided single gene knockdown reverses triple-negative breast cancer
Authors: Chen Dong-Mei , Shi Zhu-Qing , Tan Li-Li , Chen Yan-Ping , Li Chang-Qing , Wang Qi , Li He , Zhang Meng-Le , Song Jian-Ping , Xu Qin , Zeng Qing-Ping
Published: September 2018

Background

The origin of breast cancer remains poorly understood. Here, we testify a putative mechanism of “breast cancer origin from inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activation and oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) inactivation”, which are classified as the essential outcomes of chronic inflammatory responses.

Methods

To reverse breast cancer status, iNOS was downregulated by short-hairpin RNA (shRNA)-guidedNOS2knockdown from human triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells. To re-enact breast cancer origin, ERα was downregulated by shRNA-directedESR1knockdown in human mammary epithelial cells.

Results

UponNOS2knockdown from HCC1937 cells, the specific TNBC transcription factor genes,RUNX1andBCL11A, were downregulated, hypoxia was compromised, Warburg effects were attenuated, and tumourigenic proliferation was halted, accompanied by an increase in the tumour marker cyclin D1 (CD1) and a decrease in the tumour suppressor cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (CKI). In contrast,ESR1knockdown from MCF-10A cells led to upregulatedBCL11AandRUNX1expression, augmented hypoxic responses, pronounced Warburg effects, and enhanced PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling, together with low levels of CD1 and high levels of CKI induction.

Conclusions

Breast cancer should originate from inflammatory signalling, during which iNOS activation and ERα inactivation elicit hypoxia, oxidation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and breast cancer-like hyperplasia, demonstrating that iNOS inhibitors and ERα activators represent promising candidate prodrugs enabling breast cancer prevention in the early stage.
Developmental maturation of the precuneus as a functional core of the default-mode network
Authors: Li Rosa , Utevsky Amanda V. , Huettel Scott A. , Braams Barbara R. , Peters Sabine , Crone Eveline A. , van Duijvenvoorde Anna C.K.
Published: September 2018

Efforts to map the functional architecture of the developing human brain have shown that connectivity between and within functional neural networks changes from childhood to adulthood. While prior work has established that the adult precuneus distinctively modifies its connectivity during task versus rest states (Utevsky, Smith, & Huettel, 2014), it remains unknown how these connectivity patterns emerge over development. Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data collected at two longitudinal timepoints from over 250 participants between the ages of 8 and 26 engaging in two cognitive tasks and a resting-state scan. By applying independent component analysis (ICA) to both task and rest data, we identified three canonical networks of interest – the rest-based default mode network (DMN) and the task-based left and right frontoparietal networks (LFPN, RFPN) – which we explored for developmental changes using dual-regression analyses. We found systematic state-dependent functional connectivity in the precuneus, such that engaging in a task (compared to rest) resulted in greater precuneus-LFPN and precuneus-RFPN connectivity, whereas being at rest (compared to task) resulted in greater precuneus-DMN connectivity. These cross-sectional results replicated across both tasks and at both developmental timepoints. Finally, we used longitudinal mixed models to show that the degree to which precuneus distinguishes between task and rest states increases with age, due to age-related increasing segregation between precuneus and LFPN at rest. Our results highlight the distinct role of the precuneus in tracking processing state, in a manner that is both present throughout and strengthened across development.
Forgetful inference in a sophisticated world model
Authors: Ahilan Sanjeevan , Solomon Rebecca B. , Breton Yannick-André , Conover Kent , Niyogi Ritwik K. , Shizgal Peter , Dayan Peter
Published: September 2018

Humans and other animals are able to discover underlying statistical structure in their environments and exploit it to achieve efficient and effective performance. However, such structure is often difficult to learn and use because it is obscure, involving long-range temporal dependencies. Here, we analysed behavioural data from an extended experiment with rats, showing that the subjects learned the underlying statistical structure, albeit suffering at times from immediate inferential imperfections as to their current state within it. We accounted for their behaviour using a Hidden Markov Model, in which recent observations are integrated with the recollections of an imperfect memory. We found that over the course of training, subjects came to track their progress through the task more accurately, a change that our model largely attributed to decreased forgetting. This ‘learning to remember’ decreased reliance on recent observations, which may be misleading, in favour of a longer-term memory.

Author summary

Humans and other animals possess the remarkable ability to find and exploit patterns and structures in their experience of a complex and varied world. However, such structures are often temporally extended and latent or hidden, being only partially correlated with immediate observations of the world. This makes it essential to integrate current and historical information, and creates a challenging statistical and computational problem.

Here, we examine the behaviour of rats facing a version of this challenge posed by a brain-stimulation reward task. We find that subjects learned the general structure of the task, but struggled when immediate observations were misleading. We captured this behaviour with a model in which subjects integrated evidence from their observations together with a memory whose imperfections accounted for their errors.

The subjects’ performance improved markedly over successive sessions, allowing them to overcome misleading observations. According to the model, this arose from a process of ‘learning to remember’ in which subjects became better at employing more reliable past observations to determine the hidden state of the world.
Transformation of Speech Sequences in Human Sensorimotor Circuits
Authors: Müsch Kathrin , Himberger Kevin , Tan Kean Ming , Valiante Taufik A. , Honey Christopher J.
Published: September 2018

After we listen to a series of words, we can silently replay them in our mind. Does this mental replay involve a re-activation of our original perceptual representations? We recorded electrocorticographic (ECoG) activity across the lateral cerebral cortex as people heard and then mentally rehearsed spoken sentences. For each region, we tested whether silent rehearsal of sentences involved reactivation of sentence-specific representations established during perception or transformation to a distinct representation. In sensorimotor and premotor cortex, we observed reliable and temporally precise responses to speech; these patterns transformed to distinct sentence-specific representations during mental rehearsal. In contrast, we observed slower and less reliable responses in prefrontal and temporoparietal cortex; these higher-order representations, which were sensitive to sentence semantics, were shared across perception and rehearsal. The mental rehearsal of natural speech involves the transformation of time-resolved speech representations in sensorimotor and premotor cortex, combined with diffuse reactivation of higher-order semantic representations.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Sign-tracking is an expectancy-mediated behavior that relies on prediction error mechanisms
Authors: Derman Rifka C. , Schneider Kevin , Juarez Shaina , Delamater Andrew R.
Published: September 2018

When discrete localizable stimuli are used during appetitive Pavlovian conditioning, “sign-tracking” and “goal-tracking” responses emerge. Sign-tracking is observed when conditioned responding is directed toward the CS, whereas goal-tracking manifests as responding directed to the site of expected reward delivery. These behaviors seem to rely on distinct, though overlapping neural circuitries, and, possibly, distinct psychological processes as well, and are thought to be related to addiction vulnerability. One currently popular view is that sign-tracking reflects an incentive motivational process, whereas goal-tracking reflects the influence of more top-down cognitive processes. To test these ideas, we used illness-induced outcome-devaluation and Kamin blocking procedures to determine whether these behaviors rely on similar or distinct underlying associative mechanisms. In Experiments 1 and 2 we showed that outcome-devaluation reduced sign-tracking responses, demonstrating that sign-tracking is controlled by reward expectancies. We also observed that post-CS goal-tracking in these animals is also devaluation sensitive. To test whether these two types of behaviors rely on similar or different prediction error mechanisms, we next tested whether Kamin blocking effects could be observed across these two classes of behaviors. In Experiment 3 we asked if sign-tracking to a lever CS could block the development of goal-tracking to a tone CS; whereas in Experiment 4, we examined whether goal-tracking to a tone CS could block sign-tracking to a lever CS. In both experiments blocking effects were observed suggesting that both sign- and goal-tracking emerge via a common prediction error mechanism. Collectively, the studies reported here suggest that the psychological mechanisms mediating sign- and goal-tracking are more similar than is commonly acknowledged.
Effects of corticosterone on mild auditory fear conditioning and extinction; role of sex and training paradigm
Authors: Lesuis Sylvie L. , Catsburg Lisa A.E. , Lucassen Paul J. , Krugers Harm J.
Published: September 2018

Multiple lines of evidence suggest that glucocorticoid hormones enhance memory consolidation of fearful events. However, most of these studies involve male individuals. Since anxiety, fear, and fear-associated disorders present differently in male and female subjects we investigated in mice whether male and female mice perform differently in a mild, auditory fear conditioning task and tested the modulatory role of glucocorticoid hormones. Using an auditory fear conditioning paradigm with different footshock intensities (0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 mA) and frequencies (1× or 3×), we find that intraperitoneal injections with corticosterone (2 mg/kg) immediately after training, altered freezing behavior when repeated footshocks were applied, and that the direction of the effects were opposite in male and female mice. Effects were independent of footshock intensity. In male mice, corticosterone consistently increased freezing behavior in response to the tone, whereas in female mice, corticosterone reduced freezing behavior 24 h after training. These effects were not related to the phase of the oestrous cycle. In addition, corticosterone enhanced extinction learning for all tones, in both male and female mice. These results emphasize that glucocorticoid hormones influence memory consolidation and retrieval, and underscore sex-specific effects of glucocorticoid hormones in modulating conditioned fear responses.
Made in Basel? A commentary on the contemporary art world in Asia
Authors: Waters Matthew J.
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the recent emergence of contemporary art in Asia from a macro, sociocultural perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

This commentary is based on secondary research and recent visits to contemporary art centres in major cities across Asia.

Findings

The author argues that contemporary art in Asia emerges by extension of the Western contemporary art world and suggests that more must be done if Asia is to create a contemporary art world that is both internationally recognised and distinct from its Western precedent.

Originality/value

This commentary debunks the hyperbole surrounding contemporary art in Asia as a regional phenomenon and provides a critical examination of the global (power) dynamics at play.
Doing business and inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Asongu Simplice , Odhiambo Nicholas
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how doing business affects inclusive human development in 48 Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2000–2012.

Design/methodology/approach

The measurement of inclusive human development encompasses both absolute pro-poor and relative pro-poor concepts of inclusive development. Three doing business variables are used, namely: the number of start-up procedures required to register a business, time required to start a business, and time to prepare and pay taxes. The empirical evidence is based on fixed effects and generalised method of moments regressions.

Findings

The findings show that increasing constraints to the doing of business have a negative effect on inclusive human development.

Originality/value

The study is timely and very relevant to the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda for two fundamental reasons: first, exclusive development is a critical policy syndrome in Africa because about 50 per cent of countries in the continent did not attain the Millennium Development Goal extreme poverty target despite enjoying more than two decades of growth resurgence. Second, growth in Africa is primarily driven by large extractive industries and with the population of the continent expected to double in about 30 years, scholarship on entrepreneurship for inclusive development is very welcome. This is essentially because studies have shown that the increase in unemployment (resulting from the underlying demographic change) would be accommodated by the private sector, not the public sector.
Ownership, regulation and bank risk-taking: evidence from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region
Authors: Haque Faizul
Published: September 2018

Purpose

This study aims to investigate how ownership structure and bank regulations individually and interactively influence risk-taking behaviour of a bank.

Design/methodology/approach

This empirical framework is based on dynamic two-step system generalised method of moments estimation technique to analyse an unbalanced panel data set covering 144 conventional banks from 12 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries.

Findings

The estimation results suggest that foreign shareholding has an inverse relationship with bank risk-taking. In addition, official supervisory power is found to have a positive association with bank risk, and this relationship is reinforced for banks with higher ownership concentration. In addition, capital stringency increases bank risk, whereas market discipline has an opposite effect, only in countries with higher activity restrictions. Finally, the interaction between ownership concentration and activity restriction has an inverse association with bank risk-taking.

Research limitations/implications

Overall, the evidence suggests that the Basel II framework and the regulatory reform initiatives in the post-global financial crisis period do not seem to have reduced bank risk-taking in MENA countries.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on the effectiveness of regulatory reform based on the three pillars of the Basel II guidance (capital regulations, market-oriented disclosures and official supervisory power), and offers evidence in support of “political/regulatory capture hypothesis” of bank regulation. The results also provide support for “global advantage hypothesis” of bank ownership.
DTC strategies for three-switch three-phase inverter-fed induction motor drives
Authors: Nouira El Badsi Imen , El Badsi Bassem , Masmoudi Ahmed
Published: September 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the performance of two novel direct torque control (DTC) schemes dedicated to three-switch three-phase inverter (B3-VSI), also called delta inverter, fed induction motor (IM) drives.

Design/methodology/approach

The principle of operation of the B3-VSI-fed IM drive is recalled in a first step. Then, the basis of both proposed DTC strategies is presented. The first DTC scheme considers a subdivision of the stationary plane into three sectors and the application of the intrinsic as well as virtual voltage vectors to achieve the control combinations. While, the second DTC scheme considers a subdivision of the stationary plane into six sectors and a limitation of the voltage vectors incorporated in the look-up table to the three intrinsic ones.

Findings

Simulation and experimental results have revealed that, under steady-state operation and transient conditions, the harmonic content of the IM stator phase currents is lower in the case of the DTC2 strategy, resulting in a lower ripple of electromagnetic torque. Furthermore, it has led to a quasi-circular shape of the locus described by the stator flux vector in the stationary plane.

Research limitations/implications

This work should be extended to the synthesis and performance analysis of a new DTC strategy for B3-VSI-fed IM drive, which emulates the operation of the conventional six-switch three-phase inverter-fed IM drive.

Originality/value

The limitation associated with the reduced number of the intrinsic voltage vectors generated by the B3-VSI has been eradicated, thanks to the suitable synthesis of the look-up table incorporated in the DTC scheme.
Grey risky multi-attribute decision-making method based on regret theory and EDAS
Authors: Qian Lili , Liu Sifeng , Fang Zhigeng
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to advance a new grey risky multi-attribute decision-making (RMADM) method from the perspective of regret aversion, which is based on the general grey numbers (GGNs) taking the form of kernel and degree of greyness.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the normalised grey decision-making matrix is obtained on the basis of kernel and greyness degree of GGNs. Then the regret theory is integrated into the decision-making process by constructing the grey perceived utility function based on GGNs. Finally, the method of evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS) is applied to handle with the ranking problem because of its efficiency, stability as well as simplicity.

Findings

GGNs have more powerful capacity in expressing uncertainty than interval grey numbers, so the method can solve a larger number of RMADM problems in uncertain and imprecise environments. Meanwhile, the method fully considers the psychological behaviour of the decision makers, which is more applicable to the real world. It is the supplement and perfection of the existing RMADM methods.

Originality/value

The RMADM problem, the grey regret-rejoice function and the EDAS method are all introduced for the first time with GGNs in the form of kernel and degree of greyness. At the same time, the EDAS method is also the first time to be used in combination with the grey RMADM method based on the regret theory.
Mechanisms for preventing rising damp in new building infrastructure
Authors: Agyekum Kofi , Blay Karen , Opoku Alex
Published: September 2018

Purpose

Capillary rise of water in buildings has been an issue of concern among past and present researchers. Despite the research efforts devoted to the proper elimination of the problem in masonry construction, it still remains a challenge that needs to be addressed. The purpose of this paper is to explore treatment mechanisms that can be used to prevent rising damp in new building infrastructure.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 14 test walls are constructed, conditioned, subjected to various treatments and monitored for four years. The treatments applied to the walls include the use of polyethylene damp proof courses, damp proof coatings and dense concrete bases. The walls are then monitored with reference to the two climate seasons in Ghana.

Findings

The results highlight that rising damp is present, as suggested by the constant increase and decrease in the height of the water levels in the walls during the rainy and dry seasons, respectively. The findings further reveal that within the four-year period, the walls treated with the damp proof coatings, together with those with the dense concrete bases performed better than those treated with the polyethylene damp proof courses.

Research limitations/implications

The economic and commercial impact of these preventive mechanisms were not considered in this study. A future research can be directed at these issues.

Practical implications

The proposed treatment mechanisms highlight the effectiveness of some treatments applied to walls to prevent the capillary rise of water from the ground into the superstructure.

Social implications

Building regulations, especially in Ghana and other tropical settings should be amended to include ways to prevent rising damp phenomena by including effective methods against rising damp during the building design or construction.

Originality/value

Series of studies worldwide have been conducted in laboratories to simulate the capillary rise of water in walls of buildings. This is among the few studies that look at how water rises from actual ground conditions into the walls of buildings.
Driving factors of energy-relevant CO2 emissions in China’s fixed asset investment
Authors: Liu Hongtao , Shang Jin
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use an index decomposition analysis to investigate the driving forces of China’s CO2 emissions related to fixed asset investments from 2003 to 2015.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses an index decomposition analysis to investigate the driving forces of China’s CO2 emissions related to fixed asset investments from 2003 to 2015. To make policy recommendations, this paper identifies three effects. An approach to calculating energy-relevant CO2 emissions is also presented.

Findings

The results suggest that the amount of CO2 emissions related to fixed asset investments increased during the entire period. The social and economic effect played a major role in promoting carbon emissions, followed by the fixed asset effect. Therefore, the activity factor was the dominant positive factor, followed by the construction factor. The negative element was the energy effect, in which the energy intensity factor played an important role in reducing emissions, followed by the structural factor. Moreover, the carbon intensity factor might be a potential inhibitory force in reducing carbon emissions.

Research/limitations/implications

A steady financial policy, relaxed family planning, sustainable urbanization, strategy of innovation-driven development, reform of scientific and technological structures, development of science and technology and exploration of new energy sources are proposed to mitigate carbon emissions from fixed asset investments. The conclusion also provides a reference for developing countries in similar situations.

Originality/value

This paper uses an index decomposition analysis to investigate the driving forces of China’s CO2 emissions related to fixed asset investments from 2003 to 2015. To make policy recommendations, this paper identifies three effects. An approach to calculating energy-relevant CO2 emissions is also presented.
Reducing hypovitaminosis D among Somali immigrants in Minnesota: a narrative review
Authors: Qubty Leah , Aboul-Enein Basil , Bechard Lori , Bernstein Joshua , Kruk Joanna
Published: September 2018

Purpose

Somalia is an East African nation with a history of civil unrest that produced a significant influx of refugees in the USA in the last 25 years. Between 2000 and 2010, 40 percent of all US Somali refugees settled in Minnesota, which produces new cultural and health challenges for local communities and the state government. One such challenge is vitamin D deficiency, or hypovitaminosis D (Hv-D). Hv-D is developed through insufficient exposure to sunlight and low nutrient intake leading to increased risk for weakness and inflammation, oral health problems, diabetes, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases and malignancies. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

In this narrative review, demographic, geographic and cultural information about Somali immigration are discussed.

Findings

Recent data suggest Somalis living in northern climates (Minnesota, the USA, Helsinki, Finland, Sweden and the UK) experience significant deficiencies in vitamin D. Vitamin D is stimulated by ultraviolet light exposure, a balanced and healthy diet, and dietary supplementation. High unemployment rates affecting access to health information and clinical services, significant cultural differences and climate differences pre-dispose this population to Hv-D. Health education and health promotion programming at the community and state levels in Minnesota should recognize the risk factors associated with Hv-D and the vulnerability of Somali refugees.

Originality/value

Current and future health programming should be re-assessed for adequate attention to vitamin D deficiency and cultural competency associated with the Somali immigrant population.
Gender gap in rice productivity: evidence from Vietnam
Authors: Van Tran Thi Kieu , Elahi Ehsan , Zhang Liqin , Bui Van Huyen , Pham Quang Trung , Tran Thuy Duong , Ta Thi Lien , Hassan Munawar
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the gender gap in the gross value of rice yield in Vietnam.

Design/methodology/approach

A panel data set of 12 provinces of Vietnam from 2010 to 2014 was used, collected from the Vietnam access to resources household survey. To measure the gender gap in the gross value of rice yield, two-stage least squares and Blinder – Oaxaca decomposition methods were used.

Findings

The gross value of rice productivity of male-headed households was 10.3 percent higher than that of female-headed households. The gender gap in rice productivity is caused by the endowment and structural effects; the endowment effect explained 53 percent of the gender gap in rice productivity and the structural effect 42 percent.

Practical implications

In order to reduce the gender gap and improve the gross value of rice yield, the following policies are suggested: female education and access to institutional services (extension and credit) should be improved and future research is needed to determine the reasons for gender discrimination in the agricultural production system.

Originality/value

The findings suggest that the difference in the gross value of rice yield between male- and female-headed households were mainly caused by endowments and returns from those endowments.
Innovation in family firms – a generational perspective
Authors: Hillebrand Sebastian
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the generation–innovation relationship in family firms. The study acknowledges that the degree of family influence on a firm varies over generations and tests if the generation–innovation relationship is affected by two defining characteristics of family influence (family management and intention to transfer family control). Based on recent research that deconstructed a family’s influence, this paper seeks to contribute to disentangling the ambivalent findings on family firm innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws on the Community Innovation Survey and analyzes a comprehensive data set of German family firms. The analysis builds on a structural equation model and tests if the two defining characteristics of family influence serve as mediators in the generation–innovation relationship.

Findings

The study suggests that family firms raise their innovation output over generations. Yet, a considerable fraction of the increase occurs via indirect paths – particularly via the intent to transfer family control to succeeding generations. The results indicate that increased family influence has positive and negative effects on innovation, reinforcing the need for careful application of the family firm definition.

Research limitations/implications

The sample is exclusively composed of German firms and the generalizability of the findings is limited. Future researchers may also overcome further limitations related to the survey data used.

Practical implications

The results urge family firm leaders to recognize the vital role of succession planning and non-family management involvement in an innovation context.

Originality/value

The study deconstructs the varying degree of family influence over generations and adds to the fields of family firm innovation, family firm definitions and typologies.
A hybrid genetic algorithm for multi-depot vehicle routing problem with considering time window repair and pick-up
Authors: Rabbani Masoud , Pourreza Pooya , Farrokhi-Asl Hamed , Nouri Narjes
Published: September 2018

Purpose

This paper, considers the multi-depot vehicle routing problem with time window considering two repair and pickup vehicles (CMDVRPTW).

Design/methodology/approach

The objective of this problem is minimization of the total traveling cost and the time window violations. Two meta-heuristic algorithms, namely, simple genetic algorithm (GA) and hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) are used to find the best solution for this problem. A comparison on the results of these two algorithms has been done and based on the outcome, it has been proved that HGA has better performance than GA.

Findings

A comparison on the results of these two algorithms has been done and based on the outcome, it has been proved that HGA has better performance than GA.

Originality/value

This paper, considers the multi-depot vehicle routing problem with time window considering two repair and pickup vehicles (CMDVRPTW). The defined problem is a practical problem in the supply management and logistic. The repair vehicle services the customers who have goods, while the pickup vehicle visits the customer with nonrepaired goods. All the vehicles belong to an internal fleet of a company and have different capacities and fixed/variable cost. Moreover, vehicles have different limitations in their time of traveling. The objective of this problem is minimization of the total traveling cost and the time window violations. Two meta-heuristic algorithms (simple genetic algorithm and hybrid one) are used to find the best solution for this problem.
Investigating the determinants of green restaurant patronage intention
Authors: Tan Booi Chen , Khan Nasreen , Lau Teck Chai
Published: September 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the influence of five environment-related factors on green restaurant patronage intention (IN) among restaurant patrons in Malaysiaxd.

Design/methodology/approach

The unit of analysis was individual restaurant patrons who dined at casual dining restaurants when the survey was conducted. Among the 600 questionnaires distributed, a total of 500 were deemed usable and sufficient for data analysis. Descriptive, reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to analyze the data.

Findings

Respondents were concerned about the welfare and interests of others and demonstrated a positive attitude toward the environment and green purchasing. However, these three factors do not influence IN. Conversely, specific attitudes toward green restaurant practices and green purchase behavior determine such intention. This shows that a specific attitude measure serves as a better and closer predictor to predict a specific behavioral intention in a green restaurant setting, as compared to the general attitude measures. The results also indicated that green buyers who were engaged in purchasing green products will continue to dine at green restaurants in the future.

Practical implications

The finding provides an insight to the restaurant operators to access the feasibility of entering in the green market.

Originality/value

Although the predictive power of physiological factors such as environmental values, attitudes and behavior on the pro-environment-related behavior has been researched extensively in the past, very limited studies had investigated those factors simultaneously in the context of IN.