bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Wicked Problem? Cost Containment in the Women, Infants and Children Program
Authors: Saitone Tina L. , Sexton Richard J. , Volpe Richard J.
Published: March 2015

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program is a key part of America's safety net, but its structure fails to incentivize participants to be cost‐conscious in their purchases and may cause retailers to attach excessive markups to WIC products. We investigate cost containment in the WIC Program, with a focus on California. Results show that smaller vendors often charge considerably higher prices for WIC foods than their larger counterparts. However, larger vendors do not mark up WIC foods more or promote them less than comparable control products. Cost containment can be improved by targeting WIC Program sales to larger vendors when it is possible to do so without compromising participant access, and using large‐vendor prices as a benchmark to limit prices set by smaller vendors.
A Triple‐Hurdle Model of Production and Market Participation in Kenya's Dairy Market
Authors: Burke William J. , Myers Robert J. , Jayne Thomas S.
Published: March 2015

Existing analyses of market participation are based on a “double‐hurdle” modeling approach. Such models are appropriate only when all members of the population of interest actually produce the good. In some contexts, however (e.g., smallholder farmers), many members of the population do not produce particular goods that they could produce and that their neighbors do produce. Policies influencing market participation among producers may thus also induce additional farmers to become producers. Previous double‐hurdle approaches do not allow explicitly for this possibility. To address these limitations, this article presents a “triple‐hurdle” approach with an initial stage that includes nonproducers. The model is used to identify the factors associated with Kenyan smallholder farmers choosing to participate in dairy production, and the role that these producers choose to play (or not) in the marketplace. In the midst of debates underway over the privatization of the parastatal Kenya Creameries Company, new knowledge about smallholder participation in dairy could be an important contribution. Results suggest the importance of rural electrification, training, and improved grazing practices. We find that expected net sales are significantly higher when farmers have access to informal private markets. We also describe a version of the ordered tobit model that includes nonproducers and is nested in our triple‐hurdle model. A likelihood ratio test shows the latter to be a significantly better fit to our data. We discuss how insights gained from this study differ from the insights that would come from a double‐hurdle ordered tobit that also includes nonproducers.
Statistical Analysis of Strategic Interaction with Unobserved Player Actions: Introducing a Strategic Probit with Partial Observability
Authors: Nieman Mark David
Published: March 2015

The strategic nature of political interactions has long captured the attention of political scientists. A traditional statistical approach to modeling strategic interactions involves multi-stage estimation, which improves parameter estimates associated with one stage by using the information from other stages. The application of such multi-stage approaches, however, imposes rather strict demands on data availability: data on the dependent variable must be available for each strategic actor at each stage of the interaction. Limited or no data make such approaches difficult or impossible to implement. Political science data, however, especially in the fields of international relations and comparative politics, are not always structured in a manner that is conducive to these approaches. For example, we observe and have plentiful data on the onset of civil wars, but not the preceding stages, in which opposition groups decide to rebel or governments decide to repress them. In this article, I derive an estimator that probabilistically estimates unobserved actor choices related to earlier stages of strategic interactions. I demonstrate the advantages of the estimator over traditional and split-population binary estimators both using Monte Carlo simulations and a substantive example of the strategic rebel–government interaction associated with civil wars.
Afternoon Ascospore Release in Claviceps purpurea Optimizes Perennial Ryegrass Infection
Authors: Alderman Stephen C. , Walenta Darrin L. , Hamm Philip B. , Martin Ruth C. , Dung Jeremiah , Kosman Evsey
Published: March 2015

In Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), Claviceps purpurea, the causal agent of ergot, typically releases ascospores during the early-morning hours, between about midnight and 10:00 a.m., corresponding to time of flowering, when the unfertilized ovaries are most susceptible to infection. During aeromycology studies of C. purpurea in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) in northeastern Oregon during 2008 to 2010 and 2013, a strain of C. purpurea was found that released ascospores in the afternoon, coinciding with flowering in perennial ryegrass. Under controlled environmental conditions, sclerotia from perennial ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass released spores in the afternoon and morning, respectively, consistent with timing of spore release under field conditions. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of single sclerotial isolates from Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass were consistent with C. purpurea, although minor variations in ITS sequences among isolates were noted. Differences between Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass isolates were observed in random amplified polymorphic DNA. Evidence is provided for adaptation of C. purpurea to perennial ryegrass by means of delayed spore release that coincides with afternoon flowering in perennial ryegrass.
Population Structure ofXylella fastidiosaAssociated with Almond Leaf Scorch Disease in the San Joaquin Valley of California
Authors: Lin Hong , Islam Md Sajedul , Cabrera-La Rosa Juan C. , Civerolo Edwin L. , Groves Russell L.
Published: March 2015

Xylella fastidiosa causes disease in many commercial crops, including almond leaf scorch (ALS) disease in susceptible almond (Prunus dulcis). In this study, genetic diversity and population structure of X. fastidiosa associated with ALS disease were evaluated. Isolates obtained from two almond orchards in Fresno and Kern County in the San Joaquin Valley of California were analyzed for two successive years. Multilocus simple-sequence repeat (SSR) analysis revealed two major genetic clusters that were associated with two host cultivars, ‘Sonora’ and ‘Nonpareil’, respectively, regardless of the year of study or location of the orchard. These relationships suggest that host cultivar selection and adaptation are major driving forces shaping ALS X. fastidiosa population structure in the San Joaquin Valley. This finding will provide insight into understanding pathogen adaptation and host selection in the context of ALS disease dynamics.
Negative impact of manganese on honeybee foraging
Authors: Søvik Eirik , Perry Clint J. , LaMora Angie , Barron Andrew B. , Ben-Shahar Yehuda
Published: March 2015

Anthropogenic accumulation of metals such as manganese is a well-established health risk factor for vertebrates. By contrast, the long-term impact of these contaminants on invertebrates is mostly unknown. Here, we demonstrate that manganese ingestion alters brain biogenic amine levels in honeybees and fruit flies. Furthermore, we show that manganese exposure negatively affects foraging behaviour in the honeybee, an economically important pollinator. Our findings indicate that in addition to its direct impact on human health, the common industrial contaminant manganese might also have indirect environmental and economical impacts via the modulation of neuronal and behavioural functions in economically important insects.
Rectangle-capped and tilted micropillar array for enhanced anisotropic anti-shearing in biomimetic adhesion
Authors: Wang Yue , Li Xiangming , Tian Hongmiao , Hu Hong , Tian Yu , Shao Jinyou , Ding Yucheng
Published: March 2015

Dry adhesion observed in the feet of various small creatures has attracted considerable attention owing to the unique advantages such as self-cleaning, adaptability to rough surfaces along with repeatable and reversible adhesiveness. Among these advantages, for practical applications, proper detachability is critical for dry adhesives with artificial microstructures. In this study, we present a microstructured array consisting of both asymmetric rectangle-capped tip and tilted shafts, which produce an orthogonal anisotropy of the shearing strength along the long and short dimensions of the tip, with a maximum anti-shearing in the two directions along the longer dimension. Meanwhile, the tilt feature can enhance anisotropic shearing adhesion by increasing shearing strength in the forward shearing direction and decreasing strength in the reverse shearing direction along the short dimension of the tip, leading to a minimum anti-shearing in only one of the two directions along the shorter dimension of the rectangular tip. Such a microstructured adhesive with only one weak shearing direction, leading to well-controlled attachment and detachment of the adhesive, is created in our experiment by conventional double-sided exposure of a photoresist followed by a moulding process.
Variational principles for stochastic fluid dynamics
Authors: Holm Darryl D.
Published: March 2015

This paper derives stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs) for fluid dynamics from a stochastic variational principle (SVP). The paper proceeds by taking variations in the SVP to derive stochastic Stratonovich fluid equations; writing their Itô representation; and then investigating the properties of these stochastic fluid models in comparison with each other, and with the corresponding deterministic fluid models. The circulation properties of the stochastic Stratonovich fluid equations are found to closely mimic those of the deterministic ideal fluid models. As with deterministic ideal flows, motion along the stochastic Stratonovich paths also preserves the helicity of the vortex field lines in incompressible stochastic flows. However, these Stratonovich properties are not apparent in the equivalent Itô representation, because they are disguised by the quadratic covariation drift term arising in the Stratonovich to Itô transformation. This term is a geometric generalization of the quadratic covariation drift term already found for scalar densities in Stratonovich's famous 1966 paper. The paper also derives motion equations for two examples of stochastic geophysical fluid dynamics; namely, the Euler–Boussinesq and quasi-geostropic approximations.
Biodiversity gains from efficient use of private sponsorship for flagship species conservation
Authors: Bennett Joseph R. , Maloney Richard , Possingham Hugh P.
Published: March 2015

To address the global extinction crisis, both efficient use of existing conservation funding and new sources of funding are vital. Private sponsorship of charismatic ‘flagship’ species conservation represents an important source of new funding, but has been criticized as being inefficient. However, the ancillary benefits of privately sponsored flagship species conservation via actions benefiting other species have not been quantified, nor have the benefits of incorporating such sponsorship into objective prioritization protocols. Here, we use a comprehensive dataset of conservation actions for the 700 most threatened species in New Zealand to examine the potential biodiversity gains from national private flagship species sponsorship programmes. We find that private funding for flagship species can clearly result in additional species and phylogenetic diversity conserved, via conservation actions shared with other species. When private flagship species funding is incorporated into a prioritization protocol to preferentially sponsor shared actions, expected gains can be more than doubled. However, these gains are consistently smaller than expected gains in a hypothetical scenario where private funding could be optimally allocated among all threatened species. We recommend integrating private sponsorship of flagship species into objective prioritization protocols to sponsor efficient actions that maximize biodiversity gains, or wherever possible, encouraging private donations for broader biodiversity goals.
Predator experience overrides learned aversion to heterospecifics in stickleback species pairs
Authors: Kozak Genevieve M. , Boughman Janette W.
Published: March 2015

Predation risk can alter female mating decisions because the costs of mate searching and selecting attractive mates increase when predators are present. In response to predators, females have been found to plastically adjust mate preference within species, but little is known about how predators alter sexual isolation and hybridization among species. We tested the effects of predator exposure on sexual isolation between benthic and limnetic threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteusspp.). Female discrimination against heterospecific mates was measured before and after females experienced a simulated attack by a trout predator or a control exposure to a harmless object. In the absence of predators, females showed increased aversion to heterospecifics over time. We found that predator exposure made females less discriminating and precluded this learned aversion to heterospecifics. Benthic and limnetic males differ in coloration, and predator exposure also affected sexual isolation by weakening female preferences for colourful males. Predator effects on sexual selection were also tested but predators had few effects on female choosiness among conspecific mates. Our results suggest that predation risk may disrupt the cognitive processes associated with mate choice and lead to fluctuations in the strength of sexual isolation between species.
Identification and Characterization of a Golgi-Localized UDP-Xylose Transporter Family from Arabidopsis
Authors: Ebert Berit , Rautengarten Carsten , Guo Xiaoyuan , Xiong Guangyan , Stonebloom Solomon , Smith-Moritz Andreia M. , Herter Thomas , Chan Leanne Jade G. , Adams Paul D. , Petzold Christopher J. , Pauly Markus , Willats William G.T. , Heazlewood Joshua L. , Scheller Henrik Vibe
Published: March 2015

Most glycosylation reactions require activated glycosyl donors in the form of nucleotide sugars to drive processes such as posttranslational modifications and polysaccharide biosynthesis. Most plant cell wall polysaccharides are biosynthesized in the Golgi apparatus from cytosolic-derived nucleotide sugars, which are actively transferred into the Golgi lumen by nucleotide sugar transporters (NSTs). An exception is UDP-xylose, which is biosynthesized in both the cytosol and the Golgi lumen by a family of UDP-xylose synthases. The NST-based transport of UDP-xylose into the Golgi lumen would appear to be redundant. However, employing a recently developed approach, we identified three UDP-xylose transporters in the Arabidopsis thaliana  NST family and designated them UDP-XYLOSE TRANSPORTER1 (UXT1) to UXT3. All three transporters localize to the Golgi apparatus, and UXT1 also localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum. Mutants in UXT1 exhibit ∼30% reduction in xylose in stem cell walls. These findings support the importance of the cytosolic UDP-xylose pool and UDP-xylose transporters in cell wall biosynthesis.
Structure ofN-myristoyltransferase fromAspergillus fumigatus
Authors: Shimada Takashi , Suzuki Makoto , Katakura Shin-ichi
Published: March 2015

N-Myristoyltransferase (NMT) is an enzyme which translocates the 14-carbon saturated fatty acid myristate from myristoyl-CoA to the N-terminal glycine of substrate peptides. This myristoylation process is involved in protein modification in various eukaryotes, including animals and fungi. Furthermore, this enzyme has been shown to be essential to the growth of various species, such asSaccharomyces cerevisiae, which indicates that NMT is an attractive target for the development of a novel antifungal drug. In this study, the crystal structure of a ternary complex of NMT fromAspergillus fumigatuswithS-(2-oxo)pentadecyl-CoA, a myristoyl-CoA analogue cofactor, and a synthetic inhibitor is reported at a resolution of 2.1 Å. The results advance the understanding of the specificity of NMT inhibitors and provide valuable information for structure-based drug design.
Structure of the N-terminal domain of the protein Expansion: an `Expansion' to the Smad MH2 fold
Authors: Beich-Frandsen Mads , Aragón Eric , Llimargas Marta , Benach Jordi , Riera Antoni , Pous Joan , Macias Maria J.
Published: March 2015

Gene-expression changes observed inDrosophilaembryos after inducing the transcription factor Tramtrack led to the identification of the protein Expansion. Expansion contains an N-terminal domain similar in sequence to the MH2 domain characteristic of Smad proteins, which are the central mediators of the effects of the TGF-β signalling pathway. Apart from Smads and Expansion, no other type of protein belonging to the known kingdoms of life contains MH2 domains. To compare the Expansion and Smad MH2 domains, the crystal structure of the Expansion domain was determined at 1.6 Å resolution, the first structure of a non-Smad MH2 domain to be characterized to date. The structure displays the main features of the canonical MH2 fold with two main differences: the addition of an α-helical region and the remodelling of a protein-interaction site that is conserved in the MH2 domain of Smads. Owing to these differences, to the new domain was referred to as Nα-MH2. Despite the presence of the Nα-MH2 domain, Expansion does not participate in TGF-β signalling; instead, it is required for other activities specific to the protostome phyla. Based on the structural similarities to the MH2 fold, it is proposed that the Nα-MH2 domain should be classified as a new member of the Smad/FHA superfamily.
Embedded contexts of innovation
Authors: Poirier Erik , Staub-French Sheryl , Forgues Daniel
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study the radical innovation process behind the adoption and implementation of building information modelling (BIM) for a specialty contracting small or medium enterprise (SME). This paper offers two distinct perspectives on BIM adoption and implementation, which are underrepresented in the current literature: the SME perspective and the specialty contractor perspective. It also attempts to bridge the gap between the growing literature on BIM adoption and implementation and the established literature on innovation by developing the notion of embedded contexts in the innovation process.

Design/methodology/approach

– A mixed-method, longitudinal case study approach was used in this research project to study the evolution of the innovation process and its impact on the Organisation over time. The objectives of this research were to investigate and document the different factors mediating the BIM adoption and implementation process for the Organisation across various contexts, the mechanisms put in place to facilitate this process and the perceived impact within the Organisation.

Findings

– The initial transition to BIM represented a radical innovation for the Organisation. Subsequently, a series of incremental innovations took place to further advance the Organisation’s BIM capabilities. This innovation process is influenced by different layers of embedded contextual factors, which can be mitigated by, among others, a clear strategic approach towards the innovation process. Furthermore, despite a limited sphere of influence, specialty contractors can leverage BIM within their own supply chain to reap significant benefits.

Originality/value

– This paper offers an in-depth study of radical innovation within a specialty contracting SME. This study discusses the influence of four embedded contexts on innovation for a specialty contracting SME: the industry context, the institutional context, the organisational context and the project context. It also offers insight into the factors, mechanisms and their impact on the innovation process.
Utilizing platforms in industrialized construction
Authors: Bonev Martin , Wörösch Michael , Hvam Lars
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of a platform-based project execution in the industrialised construction sector, with a focus on systematically balancing cost and value. Offering custom-tailored buildings at reasonable costs has been a growing concern for many construction companies. A promising approach adapted by operations management and design theory regards individual building projects as the adjustment and recombination of components and processes from a set of predefined platforms, while configuration systems assure feasible building solutions.

Design/methodology/approach

– After adapting some of the underlying assertions of platform design to the engineer-to-order (ETO) situation in construction, the practical implications are evaluated on a case study of a precast manufacturer using high performance concrete.

Findings

– Based on empirical findings from three distinct platform strategies, this research highlights key aspects of adapting platform-based developed theory to industrialised construction. Building projects use different layers of product, process and logistics platforms to form the right cost – value ratio for the target market application, while modelling methods map structural platform characteristics so as to balance commonality and distinctiveness.

Originality/value

– This paper proposes a general theory of platform-based development and execution in the industrialised construction sector, which goes beyond concurrent approaches of standardising and systemising buildings projects. It adapts and extends established frameworks for platform development to the ETO situation in construction and empirically validates their cost and value effects.
Keeping it pure: could New Zealand be an eco paradise?
Authors: Yeoman Ian , Palomino-Schalscha Marcela , McMahon-Beattie Una
Published: March 2015

Purpose

The world is changing and key change agents include climate change and scarcity of resources. The purpose of this paper is to address how New Zealand and tourism could address the future and generate appropriate strategic responses.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the process of scenario analysis and drawing upon recent research from the www.tourism2050.com project, this paper describes the circumstances, drivers, economic consequences and key decisions that New Zealand would have to take in order to position itself as an eco paradise. The background to the scenario presumes overarching behaviours in a cooperative world in which resources are scarce.

Findings

The scenario portrays a future of collective individualism, where a high degree of personal freedom exists but within the constraints of a world in which there is a scarcity of resources. A communitarian ethos drives policy making with an emphasis on efficient resource use and waste minimisation. New Zealand is a nation favoured by climate change. Environmental intellectual property is one of the nation's key resources and in the spirit of achieving a global environmental equilibrium these technologies are shared with the rest of the world. Life is simple. Competitive individualism is equated with excess and resource waste, while cooperation, harmony, and the continuation of a global cooperative psyche are seen as the foundation stones of the continued, relatively comfortable survival of humanity. Tourism is a luxury and activities are environmentally ethical. Visitors are well‐off, purposeful, highly respectful and careful to prove their worth.

Originality/value

Eco paradise represents the classic tale of a prisoner's dilemma in which decision makers and consumers ponder the betterment of humankind against individualism. The scenario concludes with a strategic map of the core decisions New Zealand's tourism industry would have to take. The significance of the paper is its portrayal of a possible future to industry leaders, researchers and stakeholders thereby facilitating decision making in order to adapt to this future.
Integrity: a systemic philosophico-economic abstraction
Authors: Choudhury Masudul
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– A brief critical review of the existing literature on the topic of integrity opens up the scope for a detailed approach to the meaning of social integrity, or integrity in its social relational sense. The tenor of explanation of this concept is then taken up as a subspace of the meaning of the supreme good and therein the concept of goodness. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– All such concepts are studied in the relational sense of epistemic origin of values. Such ethical values arise from the epistemic ontology of the moral law. They are contrasted with the contrary meanings under the episteme of rationalism.

Findings

– Rationalism as philosophy of mind and matter devoid of a substantive acceptance of the divinely inspired functional ontology of the moral law is also critically and formally studied.

Research limitations/implications

– More empirical work needed and which indeed can be done both statistically as well as by quantitative mathematical models. The scope for this extension remains wide open in the paper.

Practical implications

– The paper presents an immense import in the study of cognitive economics, behavioral finance, and decision making in the area of ethical finance and organizational behavior as a conscious institution. An example is provided. Many more areas are indicated. Altogether a vast scope of conception and applications in the area of endogenous ethics and socio-scientific field remains open.

Originality/value

– The paper is truly original crossing the boundaries of social cybernetics and systems into mathematical algorithmic treatment exemplified by a game-theoretic example of the imminent place of the meanings of the good, goodness, and the trait of integrity in social behavior. All these are together embedded in the study of embedded social system and cybernetic study. This is a foundationally original field of research investigation playing out its analytical part in the study of social system and cybernetic.
Measuring efficiencies of parallel systems with shared inputs/outputs using data envelopment analysis
Authors: Bian Yiwen , Hu Miao , Xu Hao
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to measure the efficiencies of parallel subsystems with shared inputs/outputs. Each subsystem has not only a set of common inputs and outputs, but also some dedicated inputs and outputs as well as some shared inputs and outputs. A more general data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach is proposed to deal with this efficiency evaluation issue. Based on the proposed approach, mechanisms for shared inputs/outputs distribution and efficiency decomposition among sub-units are presented.

Design/methodology/approach

– To evaluate the efficiency of the parallel systems, this paper proposes a centralized DEA approach by assuming that the same input/output factor in a decision-making unit (DMU) has the same multiplier for all its sub-units. Furthermore, different proportions of shared inputs/outputs are imposed on sub-units within different DMUs in evaluating each DMU’s efficiency. The proposed approach is applied to evaluate the operational efficiencies of 18 railway firms in China.

Findings

– By using the proposed DEA approach, the efficiencies of the whole DMU and its sub-units can be measured at the same time, and the optimal allocation strategy of shared inputs/outputs can also be obtained. The proposed model is more reasonable and robust for measuring the operational performance of parallel systems with shared inputs and outputs. The efficiency of railway system in China is relatively low, and its inefficiency is largely caused by lower freight transportation performance. Great disparities among firms can be found in the passenger transportation efficiency and freight transportation efficiency.

Research limitations/implications

– This study develops the DEA model under the assumption of constant returns to scale, which can be directly extended to a situation with variable returns to scale.

Practical implications

– In this paper, the proposed approach is a more effective way to evaluate the efficiencies of parallel systems with shared inputs/outputs. With respect to the application, to improve the overall efficiency of China’s railway system, more efforts should be taken to improve its operational performance of freight transportation. Furthermore, firms’ disparities should also be considered when making these related policies.

Originality/value

– The proposed approach can evaluate the whole DMU and its sub-units at the same time. Considering simultaneously the common/dedicated/shared inputs/outputs, the proposed approach is more general than the existing approaches in the literature. In the described approach, the same type of input or output is assumed to have the same weight for all sub-units within one DMU. More importantly, the proposed model imposes different proportions of shared inputs/outputs on different DMUs’ sub-units when measuring the efficiency for each DMU.
The economic design of variable acceptance sampling plan with rectifying inspection
Authors: Yen Ching-Ho , Ma Heng , Yeh Chi-Huang , Chang Chia-Hao
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop an economic model, which could determine the acceptance sampling plan that minimizes the quality cost for batch manufacturing.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors propose a variable sampling plan based on one-sided capability indices for dealing with the quality cost requirement.

Findings

– The total quality cost is much more sensitive to process capability indices and inspected cost than internal and external failure costs.

Research limitations/implications

– The experimental data were randomly generated instead of real world ones.

Practical implications

– The proposed model is specifically designed for manufacturing industries with high sampling cost.

Originality/value

– The one-sided capability indices were utilized for the first time to be suitable for the purpose.
Optimal vaccination policy and cost analysis for epidemic control in resource-limited settings
Authors: Yang Kuan , Wang Ermei , Zhou Yinggao , Zhou Kai
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to use analytical method and optimization tools to suggest time-optimal vaccination program for a basic SIR epidemic model with mass action contact rate when supply is limited.

Design/methodology/approach

– The Lagrange Multiplier Method and Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle are used to explore optimal control strategy and obtain analytical solution for the control system to minimize the total cost of disease with boundary constraint. The numerical simulation is done with Matlab using the sequential linear programming method to illustrate the impact of parameters.

Findings

– The result highlighted that the optimal control strategy is Bang-Bang control – to vaccinate with maximal effort until either all of the resources are used up or epidemic is over, and the optimal strategies and total cost of vaccination are usually dependent on whether there is any constraint of resource, however, the optimal strategy is independent on the relative cost of vaccination when the supply is limited.

Practical implications

– The research indicate a practical view that the enhancement of daily vaccination rate is critical to make effective initiatives to prevent epidemic from out breaking and reduce the costs of control.

Originality/value

– The analysis of the time-optimal application of outbreak control is of clear practical value and the introducing of resource constraint in epidemic control is of realistic sense, these are beneficial for epidemiologists and public health officials.
A parallel algorithm for optimizing the capital structure contingent on maximum value at risk
Authors: Östermark Ralf
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to measure the financial risk and optimal capital structure of a corporation.

Design/methodology/approach

– Irregular disjunctive programming problems arising in firm models and risk management can be solved by the techniques presented in the paper.

Findings

– Parallel processing and mathematical modeling provide a fruitful basis for solving ultra-scale non-convex general disjunctive programming (GDP) problems, where the computational challenge in direct mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) formulations or single processor algorithms would be insurmountable.

Research limitations/implications

– The test is limited to a single firm in an experimental setting. Repeating the test on large sample of firms in future research will indicate the general validity of Monte-Carlo-based VAR estimation.

Practical implications

– The authors show that the risk surface of the firm can be approximated by integrated use of accounting logic, corporate finance, mathematical programming, stochastic simulation and parallel processing.

Originality/value

– Parallel processing has potential to simplify large-scale MINLP and GDP problems with non-convex, multi-modal and discontinuous parameter generating functions and to solve them faster and more reliably than conventional approaches on single processors.
External accountants’ business advice and SME performance
Authors: Carey Peter John
Published: March 2015

Purpose

– This study aims to investigate whether “small- and medium-sized enterprises” (SMEs) benefit from their external accountants’ business advice through enhanced firm performance. Most SMEs draw on external support, and their main advisors are external accountants (Bennett and Robson, 1999). The resource-based view of the firm suggests that firms will seek external support if they perceive a gap in their internal resources.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were collected from a questionnaire mailed to a random sample of Australian SMEs, defined as businesses having between 5 and 200 full-time employees.

Findings

– An analysis of 380 survey respondents confirms a positive relationship between the voluntary purchase of business advice and SME performance, and that SME performance is further enhanced when business advice is purchased jointly with auditing. These relationships apply to the small (5-49 employees) but not to the medium-sized (50-200 employees) businesses. Findings are consistent with smaller firms having narrower resource bases and thus a greater need to source business advice.

Practical implications

– The accounting profession has long encouraged a broadening of its service base, and evidence that small businesses perceive a performance benefit from their accountants’ business advice provides support for the profession’s strategy.

Originality/value

– This research extends the empirical literature investigating the link between the business advice of an external accountant and SME performance. It explains small firms’ demand for business advice by extending the application of the resource-based view of the firm and provides new evidence consistent with “knowledge spillover” from auditing to business advice in the small firm environment.
Invasive cane toad triggers chronic physiological stress and decreased reproductive success in an island endemic
Authors: Narayan Edward J. , Jessop Tim S. , Hero Jean‐Marc
Published: March 2015

Understanding the mechanisms that afford invasive species their ecological success as important agents of global change is key to addressing their biodiversity impacts. Species invasions that occur on small islands are especially detrimental and suggest that invaders intensify their ecological impacts by exploiting novel ecological functions. However, it remains unknown whether such strong impacts are also a consequence of an invader's indirect effect (e.g. causing physiological stress or reproductive failure) on island species. Therefore, it is valuable to quantify the physiological mechanisms through which invasive species can exert indirect effects on the performance, and ultimately the fitness of island endemics.

In this study, we investigated whether the invasive cane toad (Rhinella marina) caused indirect competitive impacts on the endemic Fijian ground frog (Platymantis vitiana) on the small (60 ha) Viwa Island, Fiji. We used large (4 × 10 000 m2), natural and replicated enclosures to monitor ground frog stress hormone levels, reproductive hormone cycle, body condition, breeding and survival in the presence/absence of the cane toad. We conducted monthly sampling to analyse annual patterns in testosterone for males, estradiol and progesterone for females, corticosterone for both sexes and body condition of ground frogs in replicated enclosures or natural habitats with high/low cane toad densities. We also measured survival and reproductive success of ground frogs in enclosures.

Results showed that in both enclosures and natural habitats with high cane toad densities, ground frogs had a significant reduction in body condition, increased urinary corticosterone metabolites and suppressed sex steroid metabolites. Most importantly, annual field surveys showed significant reduction in ground frog reproductive success (fewer eggs were laid in enclosures with toads present); however, survival was not severely reduced.

Our study clearly demonstrated that on small islands, invasive species may exploit broader ecological roles with strong indirect effects that amplify their impacts beyond those seen on continents. Overall, the effects of cane toad competition had the capacity to strongly reduce ground frog reproductive success. We strongly advocate management actions that either minimize invasion or limit the strength of invasive–native species interactions (e.g. through habitat conservation) to prevent further extinctions on islands.
Estradiol alters the chemosensitive cardiac afferent reflex in female rats by augmenting sympathoinhibition and attenuating sympathoexcitation
Authors: Pinkham Maximilian I , Barrett Carolyn J
Published: March 2015

The chemosensitive cardiac vagal and sympathetic afferent reflexes are implicated in driving pathophysiological changes in sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) in cardiovascular disease states. This study investigated the impact of sex and ovarian hormones on the chemosensitive cardiac afferent reflex. Experiments were performed in anaesthetized, sinoaortic baroreceptor denervated male, female and ovariectomized female (OVX) Wistar rats with either intact cardiac innervation or bilateral vagotomy. To investigate the chemosensitive cardiac afferent reflexes renal SNA, heart rate (HR) and arterial pressure (AP) were recorded before and following application of capsaicin onto the epicardial surface of the left ventricle. Compared to males, ovary‐intact females displayed similar cardiac afferent reflex mediated changes in renal SNA albeit with a reduced maximum sympathetic reflex driven increase in renal SNA. In females, ovariectomy significantly attenuated the cardiac vagal afferent reflex mediated inhibition of renal SNA (renal SNA decreased 2 ± 17% in OVX versus −50 ± 4% in ovary‐intact females, P < 0.05) and augmented cardiac sympathetic afferent reflex mediated sympathoexcitation (renal SNA increased 91 ± 11% in OVX vs 62 ± 9% in ovary‐intact females, P < 0.05) so that overall increases in reflex driven sympathoexcitation were significantly enhanced. Chronic estradiol replacement, but not progesterone replacement, begun at time of ovariectomy restored cardiac afferent reflex responses to be similar as ovary‐intact females. Vagal denervation eliminated all group differences. The current findings show ovariectomy in female rats, mimicking menopause in women, results in greater chemosensitive cardiac afferent reflex driven sympathoexcitation and does so, at least partly, via the loss of estradiols actions on the cardiac vagal afferent reflex pathway.
An anthropological manifesto: Or the origin of the state (Respond to this article at https://www.therai.org.uk/publications/anthropology-today/debate)
Authors: Sahlins Marshall
Published: March 2015

In his anthropological manifesto in this issue, Marshall Sahlins argues that our main theories of ‘economic determinism’ represent a self‐consciousness of modern capitalist societies masquerading as the science of others. He suggests that, in the great majority of societies known to anthropology and history, power consists in the direct control of people, from which comes the ability to accumulate wealth, rather than control of their means of livelihood, of capital wealth, from which comes the control of people.
After the landing: Moral control and surveillance in Italy's asylum seeker camps (Respond to this article at https://www.therai.org.uk/publications/anthropology-today/debate)
Authors: Pinelli Barbara
Published: March 2015

Though the recent tragedies in the Strait of Sicily and the daily arrival of refugees on Italy's southern shores, have captured international media attention, institutional silence shrouds what happens after the landing, and the courses asylum seekers follow within the bureaucratic and assistance apparatuses are overshadowed by official data and state regulations. This article sheds light on some aspects of the protection and assistance system in Italy, documenting the experiences of asylum seekers who have reached Italy after crossing the Mediterranean, and now live in the camps run by the Italian government for the detention and control of undocumented migrants. Although these women and men experienced terrible abuses in their journey to Europe, once in Italy, and in particular within the camps, they are subjected to harsh forms of surveillance, as well as to moral and ethical regimes. By referring to research carried out in the reception centres for asylum seekers (CARA – Centri di Accoglienza per Richiedenti Asilo) in western Sicily where men, women and children are held after their arrival on Italy's southern coast, the author shows how the protection and assistance system does not limit itself to recognizing refugees as ‘victims’ or ‘bare life’. Rather, it pursues a more ambitious project in which moral and disciplinary regimes overlap in a systematic, long‐term process of subjection. The overlap of care, control and discipline emphasizes the close connection between the humanitarian apparatus and technologies of control. In particular, it is in the daily rules and practices performed by the personnel running the camp and aimed at governing the intimate and social life of women asylum seekers that the overlap between moral project and techniques of control becomes evident.
Ambiguity as Grasp: The Reworking of Sense
Authors: Weick Karl E.
Published: March 2015

Ambiguity may lead us to insert abstractions into our experience that create a greater number of unanticipated, unintended consequences. When people move closer to the flux of ambiguity, they work to make sense of it. High reliability organizations react to ambiguity by increasing it momentarily. To increase ambiguity is to grasp more of the situation, to refrain from simplifications, and to strive for a workable level of ambiguity. This argument is developed through a focus on connotations of ambiguity, assumptions for organizing around ambiguity, and implications for practice. To grasp ambiguity is to adopt an attitude of wisdom.
Exploring British Pakistani mothers’ perception of their child with disability: insights from a UK context
Authors: Rizvi Sana
Published: March 2015

This research lends insight into disabling discourses on South Asian families of children with disabilities. It explores immigrant Pakistani maternal understanding of their children's disability, uniquely through an educational perspective, highlighting maternal roles which schools must acknowledge to improve outcomes for children. The findings of this research, supported by a literature review, highlight various ideological threads shaping maternal understanding of disability and their children's schooling experiences. Data were collected through multiple case studies of immigrant Pakistani mothers of disabled children at Westchester School, incorporating semi‐structured interviews and reviewing pupils’ school files. After a process of open coding, the main themes emerging from interviews suggested maternal perceptions of disability evolved from a medicalised lens, onto identifying with structural barriers to children's progress, and a gendered lens. Both maternal perceptions and their professional interactions determined maternal accounts of their children's schooling experiences. This research highlights positive familial factors shaping maternal understanding of disability, supporting further studies into maternal advocacy and empowerment within UK special education.
Changes in Volatile Compounds and Some Physicochemical Properties of European Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus L.) During Ripening Through Traditional Fermentation
Authors: Yilmaztekin Murat , Sislioglu Kubra
Published: March 2015

The changes in volatile compounds and some physicochemical properties of European Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus L.) were investigated during traditional fermentation. Using the principal component analysis (PCA), relations between volatile compounds and fermentation were associated with dynamics of these compounds. In total, 58 volatile compounds were identified, 3‐methylbutanoic acid (25.4% to 66.4% of identified volatile compounds) being the major constituent in raw, 2‐, 3‐, and 4‐mo fermented European Cranberrybush fruits, while 2‐octanone was dominant in 1‐mo fermented sample with a 30% of the total identified volatiles. The amount of total volatile compounds was increased in the 1st month of fermentation and then decreased gradually in the following months. Acids were the dominant volatile compounds in raw and 3‐ to 4‐mo fermented European Cranberrybush. Ketones and alcohols had the highest percentage in total volatile compounds in the 2nd and 3rd months of fermentation, respectively.
The longer term impact of a novel rural mental health recruitment strategy: A quasi‐experimental study
Authors: Sutton Keith P. , Maybery Darryl , Patrick Kent J.
Published: March 2015

Introduction

This study examines the longer term impact of the Gippsland Mental Health Vacation School program, an initiative designed to orientate preregistration allied health and nursing students to rural mental health employment and career opportunities.

Methods

Student participants from vacation schools held from July 2010 to August 2013 were invited to complete on‐line surveys prior to, immediately following and 6 months after the event. Participant rating of Interest in rural work, mental health work and rural mental health work and responses to the student attitudes to rural practice and life questionnaire were analyzed using repeated measure analyses of variance.

Results

There was a large and significant positive increase in pre to post scores for student interest and attitudes to working in and career in the rural mental health sector. These gains in interest and attitudes fell away by approximately 50% in the six months following the program. The changes in attitudes toward rural work remained significant six months after the program, while attitudes to rural life at six months following the program were not‐significantly different to the preprogram scores.

Conclusions

The findings highlight that although a short term program designed to attract students to rural mental health work can positively change participants' interest in and attitudes toward rural work and life, the change diminishes over time. However, interest in rural work and career and rural work attitudes generally maintain significant improvement in the longer term. These differential findings have important implications for developing strategies to overcome rural mental health workforce shortages.