bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Regulatory reform: distinguishing between mutual-benefit and public-benefit entities
Authors: Cordery Carolyn , Sim Dalice
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse nonprofit regulation through comparing and contrasting mutual-benefit and public-benefit entities. It ascertains how these entities differ in size, publicness, tax benefits and whether these differences might suggest regulatory costs should be differentiated.

Design/methodology/approach

This mixed-methods study utilises financial data, submissions and interviews.

Findings

There are stark differences in these two types of regulated nonprofit entities. Members should be the primary monitoring agency/ies for mutual-benefit entities, but financial reports should be understandable to these members. Nevertheless, the availability of tax concessions, combined with the benefits of limited liability, suggest mutual-benefit entities should be regulated and monitored by government in a way sympathetic to their size.

Research limitations/implications

As with most research, a limitation is this study’s focus on a single jurisdiction.

Practical implications

The differences in these entities’ characteristics are important for designing regulation.

Social implications

Better regulation is likely to require a standard set of financial reporting standards. Government has the right to demand disclosures due to benefits mutual-benefit entities enjoy.

Originality/value

In comparison to studies utilising only public-benefit data, this study uses unique data sets to compare public-benefit and mutual-benefit entities and presents nonprofit sector participant’s perceptions of these differences in context. This enables analysis of how better regulation could be achieved.
Social finance and the commons paradigm
Authors: Meyer Camille
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The concept of the commons, or common goods, is becoming increasingly widespread in the world of research and among civil society. The commons are defined as resources that are shared and collectively managed by communities of users, such as natural commons (e.g. fisheries, the climate) and knowledge commons (e.g. Wikipedia, open-source software). The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents the findings of the PhD dissertation “Social finance and the commons,” recipient of the 2017 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award, category Management and Governance, sponsored by Management Decision. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective of the commons, this dissertation investigates how community enterprises govern financial resources as commons to serve the common good. To do so, it builds on data collected on community development banks in Brazil and complementary currencies in multiple countries.

Findings

The findings explain how collective action favors the implementation of new forms of governance and management potentially enabling finance to create and support communities. In doing so, this dissertation provides insights on the transformative power of some governance features for the creation of commons.

Originality/value

This dissertation advances theoretical and conceptual foundations for a theory of the commons in management sciences. It contributes to a new conceptualization of the commons, especially by extending the concept of commons to finance and showing the variety of commons according to governance structures and values. It also generates theoretical insights into social and community entrepreneurship research through an in-depth investigation of social finance organizations.
Student managed fund (SMF) at the University of Connecticut
Authors: Ghosh Chinmoy , Gilson Paul , Rakotomavo Michel
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the student managed investment fund at the School of Business, University of Connecticut.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors trace the history and growth of the fund and identify the special features and dimensions that have contributed to its success.

Findings

The operation of the fund is a constantly evolving program and the authors discuss the important changes and improvements made in the program since its inception in the early 2000s in response to growth in the number of finance majors, new career opportunities in the field of investments and most importantly, the strength of capital markets and the development of new instruments in the capital markets. The authors also discuss the common features of over 300 student funds in the USA. The authors close with a discussion of the limitations and constraints the fund advisors at, and possibly, at other schools, face in the management and administration of the fund, and also what developments and adjustments the authors expect to see in these funds in the future.

Originality/value

The authors combine extensive analyses of fund history and performance. The authors also provide some suggestions for the future direction and priorities for student funds.
Contested citizenship in global city
Authors: Chan Chi Kit , Tang Gary
Published: September 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to unravel how the formation of Hong Kong citizenship intertwines with controversies over global citizenship, national identities and local identity in post-handover Hong Kong. It aims to engage the case study of Hong Kong to the academic dialogue surrounding global citizenship, especially its contested compatibility with national identities and various political communities.

Design/methodology/approach

The data of this paper came from the territory-wide survey data conducted by the Public Opinion Programme of the University of Hong Kong (HKUPOP). The study cleans the survey data from 2008 to 2018, performs various regression models and concludes the findings based on longitudinal analyses of the dataset.

Findings

Drawing upon the survey data from 2008 to 2018, this study shows that the identities of Hong Kong people, Chinese in general, ethnic Chinese and citizen of Chinese regime demonstrate varying compatibility to the identity of Global citizen. Such discrepancies are more pronounced when the data are broken down into the youth (aged 18-29) and the adults, and a temporal comparison was exercised before and after the Umbrella Movement in 2014. The identity of Global citizen is compatible to the local identity of Hong Kong people when comparing with its congruence with national identities. On the contrary, the statist national identity (citizen of People’s Republic of China) indicates the least level of compatibility with the notion of Global citizen in Hong Kong.

Originality/value

This paper unravels that the identity of global citizen could be more compatible with local identities at sub-national level than the national identities in Hong Kong. While scholarly deliberation of global citizenship contemplates on the moral and political responsibility beyond national interest, the case study of Hong Kong illustrates the multi-facets of national identities, and the local identity at sub-national level could have different compatibilities with the identity of global citizen. The findings could bring research implication to the studies of global citizenship.
Multiscale phase inversion for 3D ocean‐bottom cable data
Authors: Fu Lei , Feng Zongcai , Schuster Gerard T.
Published: September 2019

We invert three‐dimensional seismic data by a multiscale phase inversion scheme, a modified version of full waveform inversion, which applies higher order integrations to the input signal to produce low‐boost signals. These low‐boost signals are used as the input data for the early iterations, and lower order integrations are computed at the later iterations. The advantages of multiscale phase inversion are that it (1) is less dependent on the initial model compared to full waveform inversion, (2) is less sensitive to incorrectly modelled magnitudes and (3) employs a simple and natural frequency shaping filtering. For a layered model with a three‐dimensional velocity anomaly, results with synthetic data show that multiscale phase inversion can sometimes provide a noticeably more accurate velocity profile than full waveform inversion. Results with the Society of Exploration Geophysicists/European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers overthrust model shows that multiscale phase inversion more clearly resolves meandering channels in the depth slices. However, the data and model misfit functions achieve about the same values after 50 iterations. The results with three‐dimensional ocean‐bottom cable data show that, compared to the full waveform inversion tomogram, the three‐dimensional multiscale phase inversion tomogram provides a better match to the well log, and better flattens angle‐domain common image gathers. The problem is that the tomograms at the well log provide an incomplete low‐wavenumber estimate of the log's velocity profile. Therefore, a good low‐wavenumber estimate of the velocity model is still needed for an accurate multiscale phase inversion tomogram.
Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd and Others: The Inapplicability of Discrimination Law to an Illusory Conflict of Rights
Authors: Velasco Ibarra Eugenio
Published: September 2019

Providers of customised goods and services do not directly discriminate against a customer when their refusal to fulfil an order is based on their objection to the message requested by the latter and not on any protected characteristics of the person. This is the conclusion reached by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom when faced with a claim of direct discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and religious beliefs or political opinions contrary to two Northern Ireland Statutory Rules against a bakery which objected to incorporating the message ‘Support Gay Marriage’ into a cake. In this case comment it is argued that the Supreme Court correctly identified the crucial distinction between a message and a person for the purposes of discrimination law. Each of the two grounds of discrimination at issue is examined and an explanation for the inapplicability of a finding of discrimination on either is offered.
Alginate Oligosaccharides: Production, Biological Activities, and Potential Applications
Authors: Liu Jun , Yang Shaoqing , Li Xiuting , Yan Qiaojuan , Reaney Martin J. T. , Jiang Zhengqiang
Published: September 2019

Alginate, a group of polyuronic saccharides, has been widely used in both pharmaceutical and food industries due to its unique physicochemical properties as well as beneficial health effects. However, the potential applications of alginate are restricted because of its low water solubility and high solution viscosity when significant concentrations are needed, particularly in food products. Alginate oligosaccharides (AOS), oligomers containing 2 to 25 monomers, can be obtainedviahydrolysis of glycosidic bonds, organic synthesis, or through biosynthesis. Generally, AOS have shorter chain lengths and thus improved water solubility when compared with higher molecular weight alginates of the same monomers. These oligosaccharides have attracted interest from both basic and applied researchers. AOS have unique bioactivity and can impart health benefits. They have shown immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, prebiotic, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, antitumor, anticoagulant, and other activities. As examples, they have been utilized as prebiotics, feed supplements for aquaculture, poultry, and swine, elicitors for plants and microorganisms, cryoprotectors for frozen foods, and postharvest treatments. This review comprehensively covers methods for AOS production from alginate, such as physical/chemical methods, enzymatic methods, fermentation, organic synthesis, and biosynthesis. Moreover, current progress in structural characterization, potential health benefits, and AOS metabolism after ingestion are summarized in this review. This review will discuss methods for producing and modified AOS with desirable structures that are suited for novel applications.
The Effect of Financial Incentives on Patient Decisions to Undergo Low‐value Head Computed Tomography Scans
Authors: Iyengar Rahul , Winkels Jessica L. , Smith Chelsea Morrow , Meka Arjun P. , Porath Jonathan D. , Meurer William J.
Published: September 2019

Background

Excessive diagnostic testing and defensive medicine contribute to billions of dollars in avoidable costs in the United States annually. Our objective was to determine the influence of financial incentives, accompanied with information regarding test risk and benefit, on patient preference for diagnostic testing.

Methods

We conducted a cross‐sectional survey of patients at the University of Michigan emergency department (ED). Each participant was presented with a hypothetical scenario involving an ED visit following minor traumatic brain injury. Participants were given information regarding potential benefit (detecting brain hemorrhage) and risk (developing cancer) of head computed tomography scan, as well as an incentive of $0 or $100 to forego testing. We used 0.1 and 1% for test benefit and risk, and values for risk, benefit, and financial incentive varied across participants. Our primary outcome was patient preference to undergo testing. We also collected demographic and numeracy information. We then used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs), which were adjusted for multiple potential confounders. Our sample size was designed to find at least 300 events (preference for testing) to allow for inclusion of up to 30 covariates in fully adjusted models. We had 85% to 90% power to detect a 10% absolute difference in testing rate across groups, assuming a 95% significance level.

Results

We surveyed 913 patients. Increasing test benefit from 0.1% to 1% significantly increased test acceptance (adjusted OR [AOR] = 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2 to 2.1) and increasing test risk from 0.1% to 1% significantly decreased test acceptance (AOR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.52 to 0.93). Finally, a $100 incentive to forego low‐value testing significantly reduced test acceptance (AOR = 0.6; 95% CI = 0.4 to 0.8).

Conclusions

Providing financial incentives to forego testing significantly decreased patient preference for testing, even when accounting for test benefit and risk. This work is preliminary and hypothetical and requires confirmation in larger patient cohorts facing these actual decisions.
Accelerating Distributed Graphical Fluid Simulations with Micro‐partitioning
Authors: Qu Hang , Mashayekhi Omid , Shah Chinmayee , Levis Philip
Published: September 2019

Graphical fluid simulations are CPU‐bound. Parallelizing simulations on hundreds of cores in the computing cloud would make them faster, but requires evenly balancing load across nodes. Good load balancing depends on manual decisions from experts, which are time‐consuming and error prone, or dynamic approaches that estimate and react to future load, which are non‐deterministic and hard to debug.

This paper proposes Birdshot scheduling, an automatic and purely static load balancing algorithm whose performance is close to expert decisions and reactive algorithms without their difficulty or complexity. Birdshot scheduling's key insight is to leverage the high‐latency, high‐throughput, full bisection bandwidth of cloud computing nodes. Birdshot scheduling splits the simulation domain into many micro‐partitions and statically assigns them to nodes randomly. Analytical results show that randomly assigned micro‐partitions balance load with high probability. The high‐throughput network easily handles the increased data transfers from micro‐partitions, and full bisection bandwidth allows random placement with no performance penalty. Overlapping the communications and computations of different micro‐partitions masks latency.

Experiments with particle‐level set, SPH, FLIP and explicit Eulerian methods show that Birdshot scheduling speeds up simulations by a factor of 2‐3, and can out‐perform reactive scheduling algorithms. Birdshot scheduling performs within 21% of state‐of‐the‐art dynamic methods that require running a second, parallel simulation. Unlike speculative algorithms, Birdshot scheduling is purely static: it requires no controller, runtime data collection, partition migration or support for these operations from the programmer.
Radioresistant laryngeal cancers upregulate type 1 IGF receptor and exhibit increased cellular dependence on IGF and EGF signalling
Authors: Qureishi Ali , Rieunier Guillaume , Shah Ketan A. , Aleksic Tamara , Winter Stuart C. , Møller Henrik , Macaulay Valentine M.
Published: September 2019

Objectives

Patients failing radiotherapy for laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) often require salvage total laryngectomy which has major functional consequences, highlighting a need for biomarkers of radiotherapy resistance. In other tumour types, radioresistance has been linked to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and type 1 insulin‐like growth factor receptor (IGF‐1R). Here, we evaluated IGF‐1R and EGFR as predictors and mediators of LSCC radioresistance.

Design

We compared IGF‐1R and EGFR immunohistochemical scores in patients with LSCC achieving long‐term remission post‐radiotherapy (n = 23), patients treated with primary laryngectomy (n = 22) or salvage laryngectomy following radiotherapy recurrence (n = 18). To model radioresistance in vitro, two LSCC cell lines underwent clinically relevant irradiation to 55 Gy in 2.75 Gy fractions.

Results

Type 1 insulin‐like growth factor receptor expression was higher in pre‐treatment biopsies of radiotherapy failures compared with those in long‐term remission and was upregulated post‐radiotherapy. Patients undergoing primary laryngectomy had more advanced T/N stage and greater tumour IGF‐1R content than those achieving long‐term remission. Pre‐treatment EGFR did not associate with radiotherapy outcomes but showed a trend to upregulation post‐irradiation. In vitro, radiosensitivity was enhanced by inhibition of EGFR but not IGF. Repeated irradiation upregulated IGF‐1R in BICR18 and SQ20B cells and EGFR in SQ20B, and enhanced SQ20B radioresistance. Repeatedly irradiated SQ20B_55 cells were not radiosensitised by inhibition of IGF and/or EGFR, but IGF‐1R:EGFR co‐inhibition suppressed baseline cell survival more effectively than blockade of either pathway alone, and more effectively than in parental cells.

Conclusions

Radiation upregulates IGF‐1R and may enhance IGF/EGFR dependence, suggesting that IGF/EGFR blockade may have activity in LSCCs that recur post‐radiotherapy.
An analysis of Australian news and current affair program coverage of sharks on Facebook
Authors: Le Busque Brianna , Roetman Philip , Dorrian Jillian , Litchfield Carla
Published: September 2019

As most people will never encounter sharks in the wild, the media's portrayal of these animals is a key contributing factor to public perception of these species. Facebook is a common way for people to engage with news in Australia. Therefore, content and thematic analysis was conducted on a novel dataset comprising of 2,643 Facebook posts made by Australian news and current affairs media outlets during 2016. To allow for an understanding of the general public's reaction to the media coverage, 40,373 public Facebook user's comments were also analyzed. Shark‐related posts were common, with 87% of all the news‐related Facebook pages analyzed having published at least one post related to sharks and only 49 days had no published shark‐related posts. Shark and human interactions were overwhelmingly the most common theme in the Facebook posts with 45.6% falling into this category and none of these posts labelled the interactions using the Australian Shark Attack File categorization. A common theme emerging from the user comments was that the ocean is dangerous (n = 2,493), suggesting that people may perceive the risk of shark attacks to be high. Because human behaviors negatively impact shark populations, social science research, including media analyses, is an important tool for understanding perceptions of sharks and may guide strategies that could support conservation efforts, including suggestions for how the media should report shark and human interactions.
Current and projected future risks of freshwater fish invasions in China
Authors: Liu Chunlong , Comte Lise , Xian Weiwei , Chen Yifeng , Olden Julian D.
Published: September 2019

Biological invasions are a primary threat to global biodiversity, supporting mounting calls for the development of early‐warning systems to manage existing and emerging invaders. Here, we evaluated the geographical pattern of invasion risks of currently established and potentially emerging nonnative freshwater fishes in China by jointly considering the threats of introduction and establishment under climate change. Introduction threats were estimated according to proxies of human activities and propagule pressure for two primary pathways (aquaculture or ornamental). Establishment threats for 51 current and 64 potential invaders (based on whether having established or not self‐sustaining populations) were assessed using an ensemble of species distribution models under current (1960–1990) and future [2041–2060 (2050s) and 2061–2080 (2070s)] climate scenarios. Geographical patterns of invasion risk were then assessed by overlaying the threats of introduction and establishment for each species group both in present‐day and in the future. We found that eastern China displayed the highest threat of introduction. By contrast, southeastern and northwestern regions were identified as the most suitable for the establishment of both current and potential invaders. Under a changing climate, 83 out of 115 species displayed an increase in habitat suitability, resulting in an overall increase of 4.8% by 2050s and 7.1% by 2070s in the extent of suitable habitat for nonnative freshwater fishes. Taken together, invasion risk was found to be highest in southeastern China and lowest in the Tibet Plateau. Our research highlights the importance of assessing invasion risk by integrating the threats associated with the introduction and establishment stages. In particular, our findings revealed convergent patterns of invasion risk between current and potential nonnative freshwater fishes under climate change. Geographic patterns in hotspots of existing and emerging invasions provide critical insights to guide the allocation of resources to monitor and control existing and emerging invasions in China.
Influence of angle of incidence, temperature and SiC content on erosive wear behavior of ZrB2‐SiC composites
Authors: Gupta Yashpal , Venkateswaran T. , Kumar B. Venkata Manoj
Published: September 2019

This research work deals with the investigation of erosive wear of spark plasma sintered ZrB2‐SiC composites with variation in angle of incidence (30°, 60°, and 90°), test temperature (room and 800°C) and SiC content (10, 20, and 30 vol.%). Results indicate a large variation in erosion rate from 2.13 to 75.45 mm3/kg with change in angle of incidence, test temperature, and SiC content. Erosion rate decreased with the decrease in angle of incidence, increase in temperature, and increase in SiC content. With increase in SiC content from 10 to 30 vol.%, a maximum reduction of 68% in erosion rate obtained at shallow incidence and room temperature, and a maximum reduction of 78% in erosion rate obtained at shallow incidence and 800°C. SEM‐EDS and XRD analyses indicate that formation of B2O3 and SiO2‐rich protective surface is responsible for high temperature erosion resistance of ZrB2‐SiC composites.
The emerging role of regulatory T cells following lung transplantation
Authors: Gauthier Jason M. , Harrison M. Shea , Krupnick Alexander S. , Gelman Andrew E. , Kreisel Daniel
Published: September 2019

Regulatory T cells (Treg) have proven to be a powerful immunologic force in nearly every organ system and hold therapeutic potential for a wide range of diseases. Insights gained from non‐transplant pathologies, such as infection, cancer, and autoimmunity, are now being translated to the field of solid organ transplantation, particularly for livers and kidneys. Recent insights from animal models of lung transplantation have established that Tregs play a vital role in suppressing rejection and facilitating tolerance of lung allografts, and such discoveries are being validated in human studies and preclinical trials. Given that long‐term outcomes following lung transplantation remain profoundly limited by chronic rejection, Treg therapy holds the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes and should be aggressively investigated.
Maternal and paternal depressive symptoms and children's emotional problems at the age of 2 and 5 years: a longitudinal study
Authors: Pietikäinen Johanna T. , Kiviruusu Olli , Kylliäinen Anneli , Pölkki Pirjo , Saarenpää‐Heikkilä Outi , Paunio Tiina , Paavonen E. Juulia
Published: September 2019

Background

Maternal and paternal depressive symptoms are related to children's emotional problems, but their combined effect remains unclear. Here, we constructed four parental longitudinal depressive symptom trajectory groups and studied their associations with children's emotional problems at the age of 2 and 5 years.

Methods

We did an assessment of maternal and paternal depressive symptoms (gestational week 32, as well as 3, 8 and 24 months postnatally) and children's emotional problems at ages two (N = 939) and five (N = 700) in the CHILD‐SLEEP cohort. Three separate maternal and paternal depressive symptom trajectories based on latent profile analysis were combined to form four parental depressive symptom trajectory groups. We compared groups with a general linear model, with children's emotional (total, internalizing and externalizing) – problem scores serving as the dependent variables.

Results

At both ages, combined parental depressive symptom trajectories were associated with children's emotional problems: effect sizes were medium for total and small for other domains. According to post hoc comparisons, children whose mothers or both parents had persistent depressive symptoms had significantly more total, externalizing and internalizing problems than did children who had neither parent nor only the father showing depressive symptoms. A higher (and persistent) level of maternal depressive symptoms was related to a higher level of these children's emotional problems, a pattern not evident with paternal depressive symptoms. In all analyses, the interaction effect was nonsignificant between parental trajectories and child gender.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that an absence of depressive symptoms in their fathers cannot compensate for the adverse effects of maternal depressive symptoms upon their children. Moreover, paternal depressive symptoms alone do not lead to increased risk for emotional problems in these 2‐ and 5‐year‐old children. In contrast, even subclinical levels of maternal depressive symptoms in late pregnancy are associated with increased risk for their children's experiencing internalizing and externalizing emotional problems.
Age and gender influence on HIDRAdisk outcomes in adalimumab‐treated hidradenitis suppurativa patients
Authors: Fabbrocini G. , Marasca C. , Megna M. , Peris K. ,   the HS Quality of Life Study Group
Published: September 2019

Background

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic relapsing inflammatory skin disease characterized by a significant impairment of patients’ quality of life (QoL). It has been recently found that clinical severity of HS does not correlate well with QoL. Therefore, it is important to enhance the evaluation of severity considering the disease burden on QoL. Recently, a new graphical tool able to better describe HS burden, the so‐called HIDRAdisk, has been introduced.

Objective

To investigate the utility of HIDRAdisk in clinical practice before and after treatment and to analyse whether specific factors such as age and gender may influence the outcomes in patients with moderate‐to‐severe HS.

Methods

A single‐centre retrospective study on 24 patients (13F/11M, mean age 38 ± 15 years) with moderate‐to‐severe HS was performed. Clinical data (disease severity and quality of life) were collected at baseline and after 12 weeks of adalimumab.

Results

HIDRAdisk showed significantly better improvements in males (69.8 ± 6.2–49.6 ± 10.8) compared to females (80.7 ± 6.0–72.3 ± 6.7), P <0.001. A significant correlation was found in the total population between HS severity values measured through the modified Sartorius score (mSS) and QoL measured through HIDRAdisk. As regards the relationship between disease outcomes and age, a trend for better HIDRAdisk outcomes in younger patients (<40 years) compared to older ones was observed.

Conclusions

HIDRAdisk appears as a complete and informative tool which can easily measure the global burden of HS, guiding treatment choice and evaluating its efficacy.
Hidradenitis suppurativa in patients with Down syndrome
Authors: Veraldi S. , Guanziroli E. , Benzecry V. , Nazzaro G.
Published: September 2019

Literature data about hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) in patients with Down syndrome (DS) are limited. In this retrospective study, 6 (4M/2F; mean age: 18.7 years) out of 313 patients affected byHS(1.9%) hadDS. The age of appearance ofHSwas from 9 to 14 years. No family history ofHSwas present.BMIranged from 20.1 to 29.9. In all patients,HSwas located below the diaphragm. Five out of six patients were staged as HurleyIIseverity.
A case of hidradenitis suppurativa linked to trisomy 1q
Authors: Skroza N. , Mambrin A. , Tolino E. , Bernardini N. , Proietti I. , Anzalone A. , Marchesiello A. , Porta N. , Petrozza V. , Potenza C.
Published: September 2019

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic relapsing disorder of the apocrine gland affecting mainly areas subjected to friction (e.g. the axillae, groin, perineum and medial aspects of the thighs). This condition can be linked to different comorbidities: autoimmune and inflammatory disease, hormone‐related disorders, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, as well as rare syndromes such as Bazex–Dupré–Christol, Down's, KID, PAPASH, PASS, PASH, and SAPHO syndromes, or Dowling–Degos disease. We report a case of severe HS in a patient with Trisomy 1q;13, a very rare cytogenetic anomaly characterized by severe anomalies including dysmorphisms, multiple congenital malformations, heart defects and intellectual disability.
Hidradenitis suppurativa in a prepubertal case series: a call for specific guidelines
Authors: Offidani A. , Molinelli E. , Sechi A. , Brisigotti V. , Campanati A. , Raone B. , Neri I. , Patrizi A.
Published: September 2019

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, recurrent, inflammatory disease associated with a high physical and psychological burden. It is a disorder of the infundibular segment of the pilosebaceous unit, characterized by subcutaneous nodules, abscesses, sinus tracts and scar formation on the intertriginous and apocrine‐bearing areas. HS is quite rare in young and prepubertal children. It usually begins after puberty, but several reports of prepubertal HS onset have been described. These cases are strongly linked to hormonal disorders and genetic susceptibility. Specific guidelines for prepubertal patients are still lacking, so further studies are warranted to better delineate a tailored approach. This paper aims to summarize the most significant aspects, as well as the most recent information about the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, diagnosis, comorbidities and treatment of paediatric HS. In addition, we report our clinical experience in managing HS in a group of eight prepubertal patients based on systemic antibiotics (azithromycin) and zinc oral supplementation.
Efficacy of a repair cream based on Rhealba Oat plantlets extract and active healing compounds in peelings: benefit to patient's downtime and pain
Authors: Ocampo‐Candiani J. , Saint Aroman M. , Carballido F. , Darde M.S. , Vázquez Martínez O. , Garza‐Rodríguez V. , Chavez‐Alvarez S. , Aardewijn T.
Published: September 2019

Background

The frequency of dermatological procedures is steadily increasing, accompanying a growing demand from patients. Chemical peels are a method of resurfacing in the treatment of various skin conditions. However, during the early healing process, patients may impose downtime on themselves. The erythema, pain and poor aesthetic appearance of the skin can lead to unwillingness to participate in social or professional activities.

Objectives

The objective of this study was to evaluate the tolerance and efficacy of a repair cream based on Rhealba Oat plantlets extract and active healing compounds after a peeling procedure.

Methods

Men and women, aged 18–65 years, with Fitzpatrick phototype I‐IV, who had previously received a medium‐depth chemical peel on the face (TCA 30%) entered with their consent a clinical study evaluating the new test product based on Rhealba Oat and active healing compounds. At the beginning of the study, the selected patients received a TCA 30% medium‐depth peel. Afterwards, they were treated during 29 days with the repair cream and evaluated for the benefits to downtime and pain.

Results

Significant reductions of pain (P < 0.0114) and erythema (P < 0.0001) were observed in the study. The downtime reduction with the tested cream was 92% ‐ from 9 days after the previous peeling procedure to 0.74 days with application of the tested cream – a difference of 8.39 days.

Conclusion

In consequence, the tested repair cream based on Rhealba Oat plantlets extract and active healing compounds brings clinical benefit to patients who undergo peeling procedures. By reducing pain and downtime, it allows patients to get back to their daily life activities a week earlier than with previous peels.
Follicular occlusion tetrad in a male patient with pachyonychia congenita: clinical and genetic analysis
Authors: Musumeci M.L. , Fiorentini F. , Bianchi L. , Cascella R. , Giardina E. , Caputo V. , Micali G.
Published: September 2019

The case of a 24‐year‐old male patient affected by follicular occlusion tetrad (acne conglobata, hidradenitis suppurativa, pilonidal cyst and dissecting cellulitis of the scalp) associated with clinical signs of pachyonychia congenita (PC)‐2 (focal palmoplantar keratoderma, plantar pain, onycodystrophy and multiple cysts) is reported. The diagnosis was supported by genetic analysis that showed heterozygous mutation within the exon 1 of KRT17 gene. This case may reflect different expressions of a phenotypic spectrum induced by a common genetic alteration.
Market Stance: Navigating Face‐Threatening Terrain in Indian Real Estate
Authors: Searle Llerena Guiu
Published: September 2019

“This article advances a linguistic anthropological understanding of economic performativity by investigating how people uphold face when it is tied up in business performance. Analyzing interviews with the owners of Indian real estate firms, I demonstrate that under troubled market conditions, market indicators become indexical signs that can threaten a real‐estate professional's face, necessitating interactional repositioning vis‐à‐vis market descriptions, or varied ''market stances'. As they regiment market dynamics as objects of stance‐taking in interactions, industry members create emergent models of market activity shaped by multiple value projects. Such market stances are resources in performances aimed at shaping people's economic expectations and garnering capital.”
Sensational signs, authority and the public sphere: Settler colonial rhetoric in times of change
Authors: Deumert Ana
Published: September 2019

The article explores the emotional regimes of settler colonialism in post‐apartheid South Africa. The focus is on apocalyptic fears of the imagined eradication of whiteness. These fears are articulated in response to postcolonial/decolonial interpellations of abject whiteness, and are made visible in a range of sensational signs that circulate online and offline. The signs cluster around two themes that are central to the ideologies of settler colonialism: land (and its feared loss), and (white) bodies (and their feared disappearance). Following Sarah Ahmed (2004a,b), emotionally charged signs can be seen as actions (akin to words in speech act theory). In contrast to Jürgen Habermas’ conception of the public sphere as an idealized place of rational debate, the article argues that a combination of affect‐emotion‐feeling and the performance of ‘reason’—what Aristotelian rhetoric refers to aspathosandethos—are integral for understanding public‐political discourses of whiteness at a time when white privilege has been called out globally (and locally), and white dominance has lost its stronghold.
Taphonomic experiments resolve controls on the preservation of melanosomes and keratinous tissues in feathers
Authors: Slater Tiffany S. , McNamara Maria E. , Orr Patrick J. , Foley Tara B. , Ito Shosuke , Wakamatsu Kazumasa
Published: September 2019

Fossils are a key source of data on the evolution of feather structure and function through deep time, but their ability to resolve macroevolutionary questions is compromised by an incomplete understanding of their taphonomy. Critically, the relative preservation potential of two key feather components, melanosomes and keratinous tissue, is not fully resolved. Recent studies suggesting that melanosomes are preferentially preserved conflict with observations that melanosomes preserve in fossil feathers as external moulds in an organic matrix. To date, there is no model to explain the latter mode of melanosome preservation. We addressed these issues by degrading feathers in systematic taphonomic experiments incorporating decay, maturation and oxidation in isolation and combination. Our results reveal that the production of mouldic melanosomes requires interactions with an oxidant and is most likely to occur prior to substantial maturation. This constrains the taphonomic conditions under which melanosomes are likely to be fossilized. Critically, our experiments also confirm that keratinous feather structures have a higher preservation potential than melanosomes under a range of diagenetic conditions, supporting hitherto controversial hypotheses that fossil feathers can retain degraded keratinous structures.
A Review of Flexible Processes and Operations
Authors: Wang Shixin , Wang Xuan , Zhang Jiawei
Published: September 2019

One effective means to hedge against uncertainty and better match supply with demand in a swiftly changing environment is to adopt a flexible operations strategy that allows timely response to realized demand. The notion of flexible processes and operations has led to significant impact on the performance of many manufacturing and service applications. However, investing a fully flexible system is usually prohibitively expensive with overwhelming implementation complexity and overhead. As a result, the search for efficient system designs with only a limited amount of flexibility but can capture the majority of the benefits achieved by a fully flexible system has been an active research question in the operations literature. Fortunately, it has been widely observed that even just a small amount of flexibility, if configured in a right way, can be extremely effective in hedging against demand uncertainty and mitigating supply–demand mismatch. In this review, we shall present and discuss some recent developments in flexible operations over the past decade. We organize our review into models with independent and dependent capacity allocation decisions across time periods. In the former setting, capacity allocation decisions in one period do not affect future demand fulfillment decisions and one can start over every period as if one is dealing with a single‐period model, whereas in the latter case capacity allocation decisions in one period would have an impact on the decisions in future periods. The review concludes with some discussions about topics for future research exploration.
Assessment of the Dose–Response Relationship Between Folate Exposure and Cognitive Impairment: Synthesizing Data from Documented Studies
Authors: Wang Bing , Sahyoun Nadine R. , Shao Kan , Dutta Enakshy , Clarke Jennifer
Published: September 2019

The dose–response relationship between folate levels and cognitive impairment among individuals with vitamin B12 deficiency is an essential component of a risk‐benefit analysis approach to regulatory and policy recommendations regarding folic acid fortification. Epidemiological studies provide data that are potentially useful for addressing this research question, but the lack of analysis and reporting of data in a manner suitable for dose–response purposes hinders the application of the traditional evidence synthesis process. This study aimed to estimate a quantitative dose–response relationship between folate exposure and the risk of cognitive impairment among older adults with vitamin B12 deficiency using “probabilistic meta‐analysis,” a novel approach for synthesizing data from observational studies. Second‐order multistage regression was identified as the best‐fit model for the association between the probability of cognitive impairment and serum folate levels based on data generated by randomly sampling probabilistic distributions with parameters estimated based on summarized information reported in relevant publications. The findings indicate a “J‐shape” effect of serum folate levels on the occurrence of cognitive impairment. In particular, an excessive level of folate exposure is predicted to be associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment, albeit with greater uncertainty than the association between low folate exposure and cognitive impairment. This study directly contributes to the development of a practical solution to synthesize observational evidence for dose–response assessment purposes, which will help strengthen future nutritional risk assessments for the purpose of informing decisions on nutrient fortification in food.
Chinese Diplomatic Security
Authors: Yuan Jingdong
Published: September 2019

China’s rise as a global power and its proactive foreign policy have been extensively researched. The challenges China faces in sustaining its growing diplomatic presence, including the protection of its diplomatic posts and personnel abroad, have been much less studied. In recent years, Chinese diplomats have been increasingly operating in unstable environments and have become the target of terrorist and criminal groups. China’s growing economic footprint and the large number of Chinese citizens traveling to and living in foreign countries exert further pressure on consular services and expose Beijing’s diplomats to additional risks and challenges, ranging from hostage negotiations to the evacuation of Chinese nationals. As this chapter shows, Beijing has yet to fully develop legislative and institutional frameworks to manage these growing challenges.
Turkish Diplomatic Security
Authors: Bezci Egemen B.
Published: September 2019

Turkey saw the secrecy of its diplomatic communications and the safety of its diplomatic personnel repeatedly threatened from the early twentieth century to the present day.
Charles Dickens in Three Minutes or Less
Authors: Camlot Jason
Published: September 2019

Chapter 2 focuses on the development and production of the earliest sound recordings drawn from the novels of Charles Dickens. The Dickens recordings of Bransby Williams and William Sterling Battis stand as the earliest fiction-based audio adaptations produced specifically for pedagogical application, and represent an interesting bridge between earlier conceptions of the talking record as a novel form of popular entertainment and the later, pedagogically motivated category of the literary recording. To shed light on the historical transition from “talking record” to “literary recording” and the emergence of what we now call educational technology, this chapter examines the particular kinds of literary adaptation in early recordings produced specifically for teaching literature in the classroom.
Classic Technonationalism in Japan
Authors: Ibata-Arens Kathryn C.
Published: September 2019

Japan’s strengths in intellectual property production have since the 1990s failed to translate into globally competitive new-product and new-business creation. Insular institutions and business practices have created “sticky” networks. These structures, while protecting weak industries from global competition, have trapped nascent entrepreneurs and undermined human-capital development. Yet Japan remains the largest market for biomedical products and services in Asia. Its aging population is driving ever-increasing health care consumption, while the shrinking size of its working population means that growth must be based on productivity gains. These demographics provide opportunities for foreign firms and investors to enter Japan, potentially enriching Japanese networks in the future. The Japanese state has encouraged international science and technology collaborations since 2000, which has led to growth in international copatenting, a potential first step to broader internationalization and open networks.
The Evolution of Proxy War Since 1945
Authors: Groh Tyrone L.
Published: September 2019

In this chapter, the book explains how war has a way of confounding policy. Barriers influence a state’s decision to intervene in the affairs of another state, but the nature and interpretation of those barriers change as the structure of the world order changes. The need for proxy intervention remains, but the conditions under which it operates have changed. Looking at the changes from a systemic perspective offers some interesting insights. To this end, this chapter asks three questions: (1) How does the order of the international system influence the use of proxy war? (2) How does a state’s position in that order influence its use of proxy war? (3) How does a state’s perception of the barriers affect the choice to engage in proxy war? Looking at these questions leads to a model that describes, and potentially predicts, the conditions under which a state will resort to proxy war.
Design and Characterization of a Soft Vacuum-Actuated Rotary Actuator
Authors: Zhang Liancun , Huang Qiang , Wang Wenkang , Cai Kangjian
Published: September 2019

This study provides a type of soft vacuum-actuated rotary actuator. The structures in the actuator are based on different elastomeric structures that comprise a number of interacting elastic radial beams, elastic circumferential beams, and interconnected, deformable sector ring structure air chambers. When negative pressure is applied to the structure, the radial beams bend reversibly into serpentine shapes until adjacent circumferential beams contact each other. This bending results in a large change in the circumferential angle of the structure, but a smaller change in its radial width. Thus, the structure produces rotational motion in its circumferential direction. The design, fabrication, and mechanical analysis of the actuator are introduced, respectively. Moreover, finite element simulation analysis and experimental testing are carried out to study the corresponding relations between the air pressure, rotation angle, and force of the actuator. In addition, the stimulation results and the experimental results of the actuator are statistically analyzed by statistical product and service solutions (spss) statistical software. The test results of the experimental platform are highly correlated with the results of the finite element simulation.