bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Perceived Scientific and Social Consensus on Scientific Beliefs
Authors: Kobayashi Keiichi
Published: January 2018

Two studies examined perceptions of scientific and social (social network and public) consensus on scientific issues and their impact on scientific beliefs, using samples of Japanese people. In Study 1 ( N = 434), participants’ estimates of scientific and social consensus predicted their scientific beliefs independently of each other. In Study 2 ( N = 694), the presentation of scientific and public consensus information as an anchor for consensus estimation influenced participants’ scientific beliefs through their perceptions of scientific and public consensus. The perceived credibility of scientists had little if any effect on the relationship between perceived scientific consensus and scientific beliefs.
When Scientists Tweet for Social Changes: Dialogic Communication and Collective Mobilization Strategies by Flint Water Study Scientists on Twitter
Authors: Jahng Mi Rosie , Lee Namyeon
Published: January 2018

Guided by the literature in social media and science activism, this exploratory study examined how scientists from Virginia Tech, known as the Flint Water Study team, utilized Twitter to communicate and mobilize the public in response to the contamination of water with lead in Flint, Michigan. Results from the content analysis indicated that the scientists utilized Twitter mainly to provide scientific information to the public and that public education was their main advocacy tactic. This study offers insights into how this particular group of science activists utilized social media for collective actions and suggests future directions for science communication on social media.
Scientific Uncertainty in the Press: How Newspapers Describe Initial Biomedical Findings
Authors: Dumas-Mallet Estelle , Smith Andy , Boraud Thomas , Gonon François
Published: January 2018

Newspapers preferentially cover initial biomedical findings although they are often disconfirmed by subsequent studies. We analyzed 426 newspaper articles covering 40 initial biomedical studies associating a risk factor with 12 pathologies and published between 1988 and 2009. Most articles presented the study as initial but only 21% mentioned that it must be confirmed by replication. Headlines of articles with a replication statement were hyped less often than those without. Replication statements have tended to disappear after 2000, whereas hyped headlines have become more frequent. Thus, the public is increasingly poorly informed about the uncertainty inherent in initial biomedical findings.
Exact solutions for the bending of Timoshenko beams using Eringen’s two-phase nonlocal model
Authors: Wang Yuanbin , Huang Kai , Zhu Xiaowu , Lou Zhimei
Published: January 2018

Eringen’s nonlocal differential model has been widely used in the literature to predict the size effect in nanostructures. However, this model often gives rise to paradoxes, such as the cantilever beam under end-point loading. Recent studies of the nonlocal integral models based on Euler–Bernoulli beam theory overcome the aforementioned inconsistency. In this paper, we carry out an analytical study of the bending problem based on Eringen’s two-phase nonlocal model and Timoshenko beam theory, which accounts for a better representation of the bending behavior of short, stubby nanobeams where the nonlocal effect and transverse shear deformation are significant. The governing equations are established by the principal of virtual work, which turns out to be a system of integro-differential equations. With the help of a reduction method, the complicated system is reduced to a system of differential equations with mixed boundary conditions. After some detailed calculations, exact analytical solutions are obtained explicitly for four types of boundary conditions. Asymptotic analysis of the exact solutions reveals clearly that the nonlocal parameter has the effect of increasing the deflections. In addition, as compared with nonlocal Euler–Bernoulli beam, the shear effect is evident, and an additional scale effect is captured, indicating the importance of applying higher-order beam theories in the analysis of nanostructures.
Differences in salaries of physician assistants in the USA by race, ethnicity and sex
Authors: Smith Darron , Jacobson Cardell
Published: January 2018

Objectives

Data from the Academy of American Physician Assistants have suggested there are no differences in salaries by race and ethnic group. Our objective was to compare salaries of physician assistants for different racial and ethnic groups and sexes using another data source.

Methods

Data from the American Community Surveys (2010–2012) to examine pay differentials of physician assistants. Ordinary least squares regression analysis to compare the salaries of males and females, and those of racial and ethnic groups.

Results

The majority of physician assistants in recent decades have been women. Their salaries are substantially below those of their male counterparts. The number from racial and ethnic minorities remains low. American Community Surveys data show salaries to be lower than that reported by the American Academy of Physician Assistants. The salaries of Black and Hispanic physician assistants lag significantly behind the salaries of those who are White.

Conclusions

American Community Surveys data suggest that previously published Academy of American Physician Assistants survey data may have been biased with a low percentage of physician assistants from racial and ethnic minorities which suggests that the Academy of American Physician Assistants need to focus on recruiting greater numbers of minorities.
Positive imagined contact is actively chosen: Exploring determinants and consequences of volitional intergroup imagery in a conflict-ridden setting
Authors: Husnu Shenel , Paolini Stefania
Published: January 2018

Past research has ascertained the benefits of involuntary, “forced” exposure to positive imagined contact. This research explored determinants and consequences of actively chosen imagined contact in a setting of entrenched intergroup conflict. In Study 1, when given an unvalenced visualisation scenario enabling participants to steer the visualisation in any direction they wanted, Turkish Cypriots visualised an intergroup interaction nondistinguishable in quality to that of those assigned to a positive scenario. In Study 2, when asked to actively choose between visualising a positive or a negative intergroup interaction, Turkish Cypriots disproportionally preferred positive over negative contact. The chosen visualisation reflected mood and valenced confirmation biases and resulted in virtuous (vs. vicious) effects on group-level outcomes. These findings shed a first light on the psychological underpinnings of volitional intergroup imagery and indicate that intergroup imagery is a safe way of engaging with the outgroup even in contexts of entrenched conflict.
Bookish cultural geographies
Authors: Merriman Peter , Rogers Amanda
Published: January 2018

In this short editorial, we outline some of the reasons why we think books and book reviews remain important for the field of cultural geography.
Forward cultural geographies
Authors: DeLyser Dydia , Hawkins Harriet , Secor Anna , Wylie John
Published: January 2018

In this brief editorial, we chart the past and future of the journal cultural geographies as we launch our 25th volume. On a daring course, we seek to publish the most creative cultural work, and here suggest what that may include.
Subalternity, Neoliberal Seductions, and Freedom: Decolonizing the Global Market of Social Change
Authors: Dutta Mohan J. , Basu Ambar
Published: January 2018

In this essay, working through our journeys as academic-activists collaborating with subaltern communities in the global South on social change processes, we perform autoethnographically a politics of decolonizing the neoliberal reproduction of social change in postcolonial spaces. Through our conversation, we interrogate the White/Brown privileges of race, caste, class, and gender that remain erased in much postcolonial theorizing of culture and social change. Our autoethnographic dialogue, on one hand, interrupts the seduction of neoliberal tropes in communication for social change and, on the other hand, decolonizes autoethnography as a practice for (re)producing privileged identities within the imperial sites of primarily U.S.-based academic institutions. Through the interrogation of our own caste, class, and gender positions within postcolonial social change collaborations that erase spaces for subaltern articulation, we seek to decolonize the postcolonial privileges that are created, circulated, and promoted in the multicultural Anglo-Saxon/Asian university. Our conversations amid the impossibilities of co-creation in subaltern spaces suggest strategies of decolonizing the production of postcolonial knowledge, offering radical frames that fundamentally redefine the interpretations, practices, and politics of communication and social change in postcolonial contexts.
Interval element-free Galerkin method for uncertain mechanical problems
Authors: Zhou Li Ming , Zhao Erfei , Ren Shuhui
Published: January 2018

An interval element-free Galerkin method was proposed to solve some issues in structural design and analysis of structural parameters that have errors or uncertainties caused by manufacture, installation, measurement, or computation. Based on the interval mathematics and perturbation theory, we deduced interval element-free Galerkin method equilibrium equations using the element-free Galerkin method and solved them using the parameter perturbation of interval number. A bar under uniform load, a bi-material cantilever beam subjected to uniform stress, and collinear double edged cracked plate subjected to uniform tensile stress, including uncertainty parameters, were analyzed. Numerical simulations show that interval element-free Galerkin method is accurate and effective in solving the uncertainty problems.
Cost-oriented predictive maintenance based on mission reliability state for cyber manufacturing systems
Authors: He Yihai , Han Xiao , Gu Changchao , Chen Zhaoxiang
Published: January 2018

With the advent of Industry 4.0, maintenance strategy faces new demands to avoid the hysteresis of the conventional passive maintenance mode and the non-feasibility of the periodic preventive maintenance model. In view of the inherent polymorphism of manufacturing systems and with the objective of maximizing benefits, a novel cost-oriented predictive maintenance based on mission reliability state for manufacturing systems is proposed. First, the cyber-physical system is adopted to organize and analyze big data in the operational process of manufacturing systems in terms of predictive analytics in cyber manufacturing environment. Second, a new connotation of mission reliability is defined based on the big operational data to comprehensively characterize the dynamic state of the equipment health states and the qualified degree of the production task. Third, the predictive maintenance mode based on mission reliability state is quantified by the comprehensive cost, and the relationship between mission reliability and cost is established. Thereafter, cost-oriented dynamic predictive maintenance strategy is proposed. Finally, a case study on the maintenance decision-making problem of a cylinder head manufacturing system is presented. The final result shows that the comprehensive cost can be further reduced by the proposed method relative to the traditional periodic preventive maintenance strategy.
Surface modification and fatigue properties of electrical discharge machined aluminum alloy 6061 using plasma etching
Authors: Kuo Chin-Guo , Hsu Chun-Yao , Chen Jung-Hsuan , Lee Po-Wei
Published: January 2018

Aluminum (Al) alloy 6061 is often used in engineering applications due to its high strength, excellent fracture toughness, and corrosion resistance. Lots of material removal or machining processes would induce some undesirable side effects like surface damages, fractures, and erosions. In this study, the surface defects in the workpieces caused by the electrical discharge machining process were eliminated with the plasma etching treatment. Meanwhile, the surface integrity and the fatigue properties of the workpiece improved significantly. Surface roughness, contact angle, and morphology were investigated by varying plasma etching parameters such as the etching power, oxygen gas flow, and the etching time. Furthermore, the optimum process conditions were evaluated using statistical analyses. The workpiece treated with the plasma etching had the smallest roughness of 12.2 µm, the largest contact angle of 92°, and 25% increase in the fatigue life. These experimental results indicated that the surface characteristics of the workpiece had a great influence on the fatigue life of electrical discharge machined Al alloy.
Reducing car audio button noise while maintaining tactile quality
Authors: Kwon Hyo-Chan , Cho Chang-Hee , Nam Cheong-Wu , Chae Soo-Won , Seo Seong-Yun , Kim Kwon-Hee
Published: January 2018

Recently, interior noise levels of passenger cars have been significantly reduced. The reduction of major cabin noise led to the recognition of small noises that are previously unnoticed. Specifically, the button noises of electrical devices in passenger compartments have been identified as belonging to this category of noise. The aim of this study is to improve the auditory quality of a car audio button while maintaining its tactile quality that is familiar to users. The tactile and auditory qualities can be described by the load versus stroke characteristics and the operation noise level. For buttons with rubber domes, the buckling behavior of the domes governs the tactile and auditory qualities. To preserve the tactile quality, the sensitivity of load versus stroke characteristics to each of the eight identified parameters is obtained from the finite element analyses using model parameters varied by ±10%. Four parameters to which the tactile quality was insensitive are selected. To identify the contributions of these four design parameters to auditory quality, finite element analyses were performed in conjunction with design of experiments. The improved design obtained by the subsequent response surface methodology optimization was validated by a prototype test with a 12 dBA reduction in noise.
Expression of vitamin D receptor in the subsynovial connective tissue in women with carpal tunnel syndrome
Authors: Kim Kahyun , Gong Hyun Sik , Kim Jihyeung , Baek Goo Hyun
Published: January 2018

Studies suggest that low vitamin D levels are associated with carpal tunnel syndrome. We aimed to evaluate whether level of vitamin D receptor expression in the endothelial cells of the subsynovial connective tissue is associated with clinical features of carpal tunnel syndrome. We obtained the subsynovial connective tissue from 52 women with carpal tunnel syndrome during surgery and performed immunohistochemical analysis of vitamin D receptors in the endothelial cells of the subsynovial connective tissue. We explored correlation of vitamin D receptor expression with clinical features of carpal tunnel syndrome, such as age, symptom duration, symptom severity and electrophysiological severity.

Diverse range of vitamin D receptor expression was observed. Vitamin D receptor expression was independently associated with distal motor latency. This suggests that vitamin D receptor expression may be associated with disease progression, as prolonged distal motor latency reflects severity of the disease. Further studies are necessary to explore the role of vitamin D and vitamin D receptors in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Level of evidence: IV
Measuring Abdominal Visceral Fat Thickness With Sonography: A Methodologic Approach
Authors: Woldemariam Mulubrhan M. , Evans Kevin D. , Butwin Angela N. , Pargeon Rachel L. , Volz Kevin R. , Spees Colleen
Published: January 2018

This methodological approach to assessing obesity is based on the prepilot work conducted on a small sample of men and women (25-58 years of age) in a laboratory setting. The use of skinfold calipers, body mass index, and sonographic imaging of adipose and visceral fat were obtained. In this pre-experimental work, the rigorous use of sonographic measures of visceral fat demonstrated better trend results than the other measurement tools. The sonographic methods employed were modeled after the work published by Hamagawa et al. All measurements were taken five times, and only the middle three were retained for mean data points. The data are compared and contrasted with a paucity of international studies using sonography to measure visceral adiposity. It is important to determine whether sonography could serve as a non-ionizing imaging technique for the assessment of body composition and a screening technique for cardiovascular disease prediction.
Phosphatase PP2A and microtubule-mediated pulling forces disassemble centrosomes during mitotic exit
Authors: Enos Stephen J. , Dressler Martin , Gomes Beatriz Ferreira , Hyman Anthony A. , Woodruff Jeffrey B.
Published: January 2018

Centrosomes are microtubule-nucleating organelles that facilitate chromosome segregation and cell division in metazoans. Centrosomes comprise centrioles that organize a micron-scale mass of protein called pericentriolar material (PCM) from which microtubules nucleate. During each cell cycle, PCM accumulates around centrioles through phosphorylation-mediated assembly of PCM scaffold proteins. During mitotic exit, PCM swiftly disassembles by an unknown mechanism. Here, we used Caenorhabditis elegans embryos to determine the mechanism and importance of PCM disassembly in dividing cells. We found that the phosphatase PP2A and its regulatory subunit SUR-6 (PP2ASUR-6), together with cortically directed microtubule pulling forces, actively disassemble PCM. In embryos depleted of these activities, ∼25% of PCM persisted from one cell cycle into the next. Purified PP2ASUR-6 could dephosphorylate the major PCM scaffold protein SPD-5 in vitro. Our data suggest that PCM disassembly occurs through a combination of dephosphorylation of PCM components and force-driven fragmentation of the PCM scaffold.
Selection against BALB/c strain cells in mouse chimaeras
Authors: Tang Pin-Chi , MacKay Gillian E. , Flockhart Jean H. , Keighren Margaret A. , Kopakaki Anna , West John D.
Published: January 2018

It has been shown previously that BALB/c strain embryos tend to contribute poorly to mouse aggregation chimaeras. In the present study we showed that BALB/c cells were not preferentially allocated to any extraembryonic lineages of mouse aggregation chimaeras, but their contribution decreased during the early postimplantation period and they were significantly depleted by E8.5. The development of BALB/c strain preimplantation embryos lagged behind embryos from some other strains and the contribution that BALB/c and other embryos made to chimaeras correlated with their developmental stage at E2.5. This relationship suggests that the poor contribution of BALB/c embryos to aggregation chimaeras is at least partly a consequence of generalised selection related to slow or delayed preimplantation development. The suitability of BALB/c embryos for maximising the ES cell contribution to mouse ES cell chimaeras is also discussed.
Breastfeeding failure: the emotional consequences
Authors: Wilby Louise
Published: January 2018

The reasons why women give up breastfeeding have been extensively studied but less is known about the emotional consequences of breastfeeding failure to the mother and its effect on the mother-baby relationship. This article explores the role of midwives in supporting mothers during this time.
Valuing breastfeeding in midwifery education
Authors: Dykes Fiona
Published: January 2018

Midwifery education departments need to examine the adequacy of their provision of lactation education in the light of increasing research evidence about the health benefits of breastfeeding and its growing international significance. A new breastfeeding course developed at the University of Central Lancashire is described.
All change?
Authors: Henderson Christine
Published: January 2018

While preparing a session entitled Change in Practice recently, I had cause to reflect upon the days when I was a ‘pupil midwife’ in 1967, undertaking part two of the midwifery course on the way to becoming a qualified midwife. Although many things have changed for the better since then, some things haven't.
Desperately seeking sperm: informal screening procedures
Authors: Green Gill , Kitzinger Jenny , Macaulay Lindsay , Wight Daniel
Published: January 2018

The number of women inseminating by donor informally, outside a fertility treatment clinic, is increasing. This article reports on a study examining the experiences of 20 women who considered informal insemination and the procedures they used to select and screen donors.
Oxford Instruments: Sonicaid Team 8002 Fetal Monitor
Authors: Bawden Sue
Published: January 2018

The Sonicaid Team 8002 Fetal Monitor is a lightweight and versatile unit which monitors fetal heart rate and uterine activity using non-invasive ultrasound and external toco transducers.
Relationship between mental practice and motor performance
Authors: Harrison Karen , Jackson Jonna
Published: January 2018

Mental practice has been researched extensively in the field of sport psychology, but scarcely features in the medical literature. Both the magnitude of the effect and the diversity of situations over which it might be successfully applied indicate that it is potentially a very useful therapeutic tool. Used to best effect, it may foster a faster, fuller patient recovery, and hence maximise patient performance while minimising cost.
A thesaurus for the PAMs as part of a comprehensive, coded clinical thesaurus of health-care terms
Authors: Brewin M , Curran M , Ford F , Millar J , Pike D , Sloan M
Published: January 2018

A comprehensive system of clinical terms covering all the health-care professions is a vital tool for promoting information flow between carers. This article describes the contribution of the professions allied to medicine to the development of a coded thesaurus of health-care terms.
Benefits of moving and handling equipment
Authors: Stacey Nicola
Published: January 2018

Moving and handling equipment is used by the majority of healthcare workers, who often need to manually assist ill or disabled people during the course of their working day. This article presents a personal view of the application of lifting aids to health-care practice.
Community care and the clinician
Authors: James Ann
Published: January 2018

The NHS and Community Care Act 1990 is one half of the government's health reforms. Yet many have not grasped the implications for health-care professionals and health-care delivery. This article describes how the Act has the potential to free beds for patients in need, and how the positive attitudes of professional carers are essential to achieve this aim.
And then there was the Rehabilitation Nurse's Forum…
Authors: Davis Sally M
Published: January 2018

Rehabilitation can be described as a problem - solving educational process that focuses on disability. The aims of this pr oce ss are to reduce handicap and client and family distress within the limitations imposed by the pathology and available resources (Wade, 1993). The emphasis is on the client playing an active part in this proc ess in collaboration with the interdisciplinary team.
Measuring spasticity: a survey of current practice among health-care professionals
Authors: Haas Bernhard M
Published: January 2018

A wide range of objective and subjective measurements of spasticity are available, but there is little information as to how well this is appreciated by healthcare professionals, nor are there data regarding the extent to which these measurements are being used, and by whom. This article presents the results of a questionnaire sentto physiotherapists, occupational therapists, doctors and nurses designed to answer these important issues.
Occupational orthoptics: a new dimension?
Authors: Sheppard Jackie
Published: January 2018

In order to meet the demands of the new NHS, the role of the orthoptist should be extended to encompass management, psychology and ergonomics. These skills will not only be of benefit to the practising orthoptist, but also to his/her patients.
The changing ethos of health-care professions
Authors: Jenkins Mary
Published: January 2018

This article is a personal review of the changing ethos of health care. The topics of traditional professionalism, new- wave professionalism and democratic professionalism are covered, and a redefinition of the professional/client relationship is proposed.
Coming to terms with diagnosis: how a team approach can support parents
Authors: Whyte Fiona
Published: January 2018

This article is written from a personal perspective, using the Kubler Ross classic description of the grief process to outline a way of supporting parents of preschool children with special needs. The suggestion is that crossprofessional working in partnership with parents would enable them to accept their child's diagnosis.
Computers in health care 2: nutritional analysis software
Authors: Seaman Claire
Published: January 2018

This article reviews the range of nutritional analysis packages available and follows on from the introduction to the use of computers in health care in Vol. 1(3/4) 1994, p.149.
Exploring multidisciplinary teamwork
Authors: Embling Shirley
Published: January 2018

Although multidisciplinary teamwork is widely acknowledged by health-care professionals as an important strategy in the delivery of quality patient care, effective teamwork is sometimes difficult to achieve in practice. This review highlights some of the issues, including leadership and decision-making, that may assist health-care professionals and managers in improving the performance of multidisciplinary teams.
Spring book review supplement
Authors: Seaman Claire , Jeffrey Bridget , Ross Mary , Mead Julie , Copping Roger , Woolman KJ , Rochford Bernie , Bradburn Caroline , Lambon Nicky
Published: January 2018

Nutritional Needs of Athletes

Occupational Therapy for Orthopaedic Conditions

Management of Back Pain (2nd edn)

Radiotherapy: Principles to Practice. A Manual for Quality in Treatment Delivery

Physical Signs in Orthopaedics

The Physiological Basis of Rehabilitation (2nd edn)

Psychiatric Rehabilitation in Practice

Clinical Practice of Sports Injury Prevention and Care: The Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine (Vol. 5)

Principles and Practice of Electrotherapy (3rd edn)
The effect of canal fill on paediatric femur fractures treated with titanium elastic nails
Authors: Nielsen E. , Bonsu N. , Andras L. M. , Goldstein R. Y.
Published: January 2018

Purpose

Traditional teaching for fixation of paediatric femur fractures recommends 80% nail diameter/medullary canal diameter ratio (ND/MCD) for successful maintenance of reduction. Prior studies have investigated this with stainless steel Enders nails. Our aim was to assess the impact of ND/MCD on maintenance of reduction and malunion rates in paediatric femur fractures treated with flexible intramedullary nails (FINs).

Methods

Retrospective data was collected on all paediatric patients treated with FINs for diaphyseal femur fractures at a single tertiary care institution over a ten-year period. Patients with co-morbidities affecting bone quality were excluded. Patients were subdivided into groups based on ND/MCD.

Results

A total of 66 patients met inclusion criteria. Mean ND/MCD was 76.3% (32.9% to 98.8%, SD 14.3). In all, 50% (n = 33/66) of patients had > 80% ND/MCD, and only 13.6% (n = 9/66) of patients had less than 60% ND/MCD. When controlling for fracture stability, ND/MCD had no correlation with mean shortening (p = 0.07) There was no correlation between ND/MCD and angulation in the sagittal (p = 0.96) or coronal plane (p = 0.20). Three patients fit malunion criteria. ND/MCD for these patients were 40%, 67% and 79%.

Conclusion

There was no correlation between ND/MCD and shortening or malangulation. The majority of patients in this series with less than 80% fill with FIN healed within acceptable parameters.

Level of Evidence

III
Monitoring progress towards sustainable development: multidimensional child poverty in the European Union
Authors: Chzhen Yekaterina , Bruckauf Zlata , Toczydlowska Emilia
Published: January 2018

The new universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for ‘reducing at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions’ by 2030. This paper proposes and evaluates a child-specific multidimensional poverty measure using data from ad hoc material deprivation modules of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The proposed measure can be used both for national and EU-wide SDG monitoring without replacing either national or EU-wide indices of material deprivation.
Shoghi Rabbani as ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Secretary, 1918–20
Authors: Smith Peter
Published: January 2018

A brief account of Shoghi Effendi’s work as ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s secretary during the period between his arrival in Haifa from Beirut in 1918 and his departure for Europe in 1920, focusing on Shoghi Effendi’s role as English-language translator and interpreter for his grandfather.
Messianic Concealment and Theophanic Disclosure
Authors: Momen Moojan
Published: January 2018

In this paper, I start by discussing a controversy that has erupted recently over the issue of the exact point in time that Baha’u’llah became aware of his mission. The controversy revolves around the translation of a phrase in the writings of Baha’u’llah which appears to state that he does not have any ‘amr’. One side to the controversy claims that the translation of this phrase indicates that Baha’u’llah had no thought of advancing any claim as late as 1857, while the opposing party contends that this is a mistranslation of the phrase and that Baha’u’llah was fully aware of his mission from at least the time of his imprisonment in the Siyah-Chal. I intend to show in this paper that the whole controversy is an illusory one caused by the specific nature of the meaning of the word ‘amr’ and that the phrase that is the subject of dispute proves neither side’s case, however it is translated. Evolving out of my discussion of this issue, is a theological schematic of the stages of the evolution of the mission of those persons that Baha’is call Manifestations of God. I then putatively impose this schematic upon the dispensation of the Bab creating a new interpretation of his ministry.
Baha’i Studies in Iran: A Preliminary Survey
Authors: Masumian Bijan , Masumian Adib
Published: January 2018

Religions can transmit their culture by means of community religious education, writing, publication, formal scholarship and scriptural studies. This is especially important in the Baha’i Faith which is a lay religion. This essay is a preliminary survey of the history of the cultivation and evolution of religious education in the Baha’i Faith in Iran in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Key individuals who played a role in these educational processes are briefly introduced and discussed.
Mirza Husayn ‘Ali Nuri, Baha’u’llah, Tablet of Tribulations (Lawḥ-i Balāyā)
Authors: McCants William
Published: January 2018

Many of Baha’ullah’s tablets and epistles lament his suffering, which he compares to the trials of past prophets and messengers. Baha’u’llah’s favourite point of comparison in Islam is his namesake Imam Husayn, whose suffering he likens to his own and whose return he claims to be. However, in a tablet tentatively entitled the ‘Tablet of Tribulations’, Baha’u’llah contrasts his suffering and political persecution with the worldly success of Muhammad. This tablet is translated with brief annotations.
Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice: Commentary and Translation
Authors: Buck Christopher , Masumian Adib
Published: January 2018

Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice (Riḍvānu’l-‘Adl, or Riḍwān al-‘Adl; also known as Lawḥ-i Riḍvānu’l-‘Adl and Lawḥ-i ‘Adl) may be regarded as Baha’u’llah’s paradigm (‘Paradise’ or ideal) of ‘justice’. Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice transforms received notions of ‘justice’. Although typically considered a ‘secular’ concern within rather specific institutional confines, Baha’u’llah allegorizes, personifies, symbolizes and otherwise expatiates on ‘Justice’ in such a way as to vivify the concept. Justice is made sacred, deriving from the ‘Name’ of God as ‘The Just’ (al-‘ādil). Justice – encompassing, as it does, both faith and action – is the essence of the Baha’i concept of salvation, both individual and societal. As a framework of analysis, this paper is organized as follows: Introduction; Historical Context; Structure (vis-à-vis Apostrophes); Highlights of Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice; Theological Dimension of ‘Justice’; Revelatory Dimension of ‘Justice’; Authoritarian Dimension of ‘Justice’; Contemporaneous Dimension of ‘Justice’; Social Dimension of ‘Justice’; Individual Dimension of ‘Justice’; Conclusion; Appendix: Riḍwān al-‘Adl: Paradise of Justice (translated by Adib Masumian). This study demonstrates how Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice presents a significantly expanded paradigm of justice, both in precept and practice.
Individual and collective absorptive capacities of new external knowledge: The case of Tunisian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
Authors: Oumaya Salha , Gharbi Lamia
Published: January 2018

This article attempts to address a company’s absorptive capacity as a dynamic capability made up of a set of organizational learning capacities. We consider the different levels of organizational learning and distinguish between individual and collective absorptive capabilities. Unlike most previous studies, knowledge sharing is considered, here, as a crucial and a full dimension of the company’s absorptive capacity. An operationalization is proposed and a measure scale is constructed for the five absorptive capacity dimensions that are distinguished in this work. The Empirical study of 104 Tunisian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) validates the absorptive capacity conceptualization proposed in this article. It also outlines the main characteristics of this capacity in the Tunisian context.
The growth factors of Tunisian handicraft small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): Towards an integration of cognitive approaches
Authors: Ammar Faten
Published: January 2018

This article aims to explore, through a qualitative study, the growth factors of the Tunisian handicraft small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Semi-structured interviews are conducted with six Tunisian owner-managers of handicraft SMEs. Data analysis was performed using content analysis, assisted by the NVivo8 qualitative data analysis software. The results highlight the role of strategic vision and organizational learning capability. These two concepts are rarely used to explain SMEs’ growth. Results highlight the importance of the role of cognitive approaches in comprehending growth. They can be integrated with explanatory approaches used in prior studies on SMEs’ growth and explain the divergent results. They could be used by supervisory institutions. They can help them better understand the managers’ logic of actions by taking into account their representations.
Explaining the impact of a customer-oriented strategy on the small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) global performance: Lessons from the Balanced Scorecard and the CUSTOR scale model
Authors: Nouicer Houda , Zaim Imed , Abdallah Laroussi Ben
Published: January 2018

This research aimed to explain the impact of a customer-oriented strategy on the small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) global performance. To do this, we proposed a modelling of this relation on the basis of the Balanced Scorecard and the CUSTOR scale model. A mixed methodology approach was used to validate our research model. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted among 25 SMEs Tunisian managers, which allowed us to develop and to study 25 verbatims by the content analysis method. Then, a PLS method was applied on data collected by a questionnaire from 137 managers of private SMEs of goods and service. Results showed that the financial axis of the global performance is affected by the customer intimacy and the continuous improvement of activity. The outcomes also reveal that the customer focus of global performance is affected by the customer intimacy, the customer retention and the business transparency. Moreover, the results reveal that the internal process axis of the global performance is only affected by the customer intimacy and the customer retention. These results also indicate that organizational learning is affected by customer retention, continuous improvement in activity and business transparency. In addition, our analyses highlighted a moderating effect of management’s commitment.
The determinants of trust in the customer–service provider relationship: The case of Tunisian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
Authors: Khalifa Ali Haj , Saad Mohammed
Published: January 2018

In the context of fierce competition, the development of lasting relationships with clients is becoming increasingly crucial. The quality of this relationship is a decisive part of the exchange in which mutual trust is one of its fundamental pillars. In the context of services, customer trust may be directed towards the company itself (organizational trust) and/or to its employees (interpersonal trust). Most of the actual research focuses on one or the other of the two targets of trust, but rarely on both at the same time. The objective of this article is to highlight the ambivalence of customer trust towards small and medium-sized enterprises service provider and to propose a conceptual model of its determinants. This research is based on a sample of 300 bank customers chosen randomly. Results show that the relational behaviour of personnel in contact is the determinant of interpersonal and organizational trust. However, reputation is the main factor that contributes towards the development of organizational trust.
Zuzendariaren oharra: Bi gizon handi
Authors: Korta Kepa
Published: January 2018

2017 urtearekin bi GOGOAkide joan zaizkigu betiko. Piarres Xarritton martxoaren 17an hil zen; Juanba Berasategi handik hilabete pasatxora, apirilaren 28an. Kolpe latzak biak urteotan guztiotan GOGOA aurrera ateratzen ibili garenontzat eta, bereziki, niretzat.
Ecos de Pascua, mitos rebeldes: El nacionalismo vasco e Irlanda (1890-1939)
Authors: Nuñez Seixas Xose Manoel
Published: January 2018

La imitación de otros nacionalismos exitosos, que funcionan como modelos de emulación, constituye un ingrediente esencial del concepto de nación propia de todo movimiento nacionalista. Las influencias exteriores son especialmente operantes en el nivel de los modelos y estrategias de lucha política y cultural. Dentro del conjunto de influ­encias exteriores recibidas por el nacionalismo vasco desde 1895, la irlandesa ha sido la más intensa y duradera. Su impacto ha sido mayor por su proximidad geográfica y sus éxitos políticos, pero también por su halo de leyenda y rebeldía, acrecentado por la rebelión de Pascua de 1916, su represión y el triunfo posterior del independentismo a partir de 1919. En este artículo se analizan las modalidades de esa influencia, las vías de recepción y su evolución, como ejemplo de enfoque transnacional del nacionalismo.
Building Information Modeling BIM - Level of Digital Construction
Authors: Glema A.
Published: January 2018

In the paper the topic of Building Information Technology BIM is investigated. It is new in Polish circumstances technology for construction and for building product industry, which contribute to change and develop level of industrialization. Especially challenge raising from the information and introducing IT technology into daily practice is considered to provide changes in construction branch of economy. In Poland there is the hot need of start to introduce BIM as the common technology for owners of assets, facility management, construction entities, design offices, administration officers and many other players relative to construction data and processes. BIM technology introduction, basing on foreign case studies, results in cost savings, control and time reduction of investment processes and some more advantages. The perspective of digital buildings, digital infrastructure, digital roads, digital railways and digital cities is outlined at the perspective of technology challenge, but simply transfiguration of many fields of personal everyday life, where digitalization is already present and with the question when it will be common in professional activity, particularly in civil engineering.
Methods for mining co–location patterns with extended spatial objects
Authors: Bembenik Robert , Jóźwicki Wiktor , Protaziuk Grzegorz
Published: January 2018

The paper discusses various approaches to mining co-location patterns with extended spatial objects. We focus on the properties of transaction-free approaches EXCOM and DEOSP, and discuss the differences between the method using a buffer and that employing clustering and triangulation. These theoretical differences between the two methods are verified experimentally. In the performed tests three different implementations of EXCOMare compared with DEOSP, highlighting the advantages and downsides of both approaches.
On the predictive power of meta-features in OpenML
Authors: Bilalli Besim , Abelló Alberto , Aluja-Banet Tomàs
Published: January 2018

The demand for performing data analysis is steadily rising. As a consequence, people of different profiles (i.e., nonexperienced users) have started to analyze their data. However, this is challenging for them. A key step that poses difficulties and determines the success of the analysis is data mining (model/algorithm selection problem). Meta-learning is a technique used for assisting non-expert users in this step. The effectiveness of meta-learning is, however, largely dependent on the description/characterization of datasets (i.e., meta-features used for meta-learning). There is a need for improving the effectiveness of meta-learning by identifying and designing more predictive meta-features. In this work, we use a method from exploratory factor analysis to study the predictive power of different meta-features collected in OpenML, which is a collaborative machine learning platform that is designed to store and organize meta-data about datasets, data mining algorithms, models and their evaluations. We first use the method to extract latent features, which are abstract concepts that group together meta-features with common characteristics. Then, we study and visualize the relationship of the latent features with three different performance measures of four classification algorithms on hundreds of datasets available in OpenML, and we select the latent features with the highest predictive power. Finally, we use the selected latent features to perform meta-learning and we show that our method improves the meta-learning process. Furthermore, we design an easy to use application for retrieving different meta-data from OpenML as the biggest source of data in this domain.
Efficient storage, retrieval and analysis of poker hands: An adaptive data framework
Authors: Gorawski Marcin , Lorek Michal
Published: January 2018

In online gambling, poker hands are one of the most popular and fundamental units of the game state and can be considered objects comprising all the events that pertain to the single hand played. In a situation where tens of millions of poker hands are produced daily and need to be stored and analysed quickly, the use of relational databases no longer provides high scalability and performance stability. The purpose of this paper is to present an efficient way of storing and retrieving poker hands in a big data environment. We propose a new, read-optimised storage model that offers significant data access improvements over traditional database systems as well as the existing Hadoop file formats such as ORC, RCFile or SequenceFile. Through index-oriented partition elimination, our file format allows reducing the number of file splits that needs to be accessed, and improves query response time up to three orders of magnitude in comparison with other approaches. In addition, our file format supports a range of new indexing structures to facilitate fast row retrieval at a split level. Both index types operate independently of the Hive execution context and allow other big data computational frameworks such as MapReduce or Spark to benefit from the optimized data access path to the hand information. Moreover, we present a detailed analysis of our storage model and its supporting index structures, and how they are organised in the overall data framework. We also describe in detail how predicate based expression trees are used to build effective file-level execution plans. Our experimental tests conducted on a production cluster, holding nearly 40 billion hands which span over 4000 partitions, show that multi-way partition pruning outperforms other existing file formats, resulting in faster query execution times and better cluster utilisation.
An active fault-tolerant control framework against actuator stuck failures under input saturations
Authors: Qi Xin , Theilliol Didier , He Yuqing , Han Jianda
Published: January 2018

In this paper, a control framework including active fault-tolerant control (FTC) and reference redesign is developed subject to actuator stuck failures under input saturations. FTC synthesis and reference redesign approaches are proposed to guarantee post-fault system safety and reference reachability. Then, these features are analyzed under both actuator stuck failures and constraints before fault-tolerant controller switches. As the main contribution, actuator stuck failures and constraints are unified so that they can be easily considered simultaneously. By means of transforming stuck failures into actuator constraints, the post-fault system can be regarded as an equivalent system with only asymmetrical actuator constraints. Thus, methods against actuator saturations can be used to guarantee regional stability and produce the stability region. Based on this region, stuck compensation is analyzed. Specifically, an unstable open-loop system is considered, which is more challenging. Furthermore, the method is extended to a set-point tracking problem where the reachability of the original reference can be evaluated. Then, a new optimal reference will be computed for the post-fault system if the original one is unreachable. Finally, simulation examples are shown to illustrate the theoretical results.
Regulation control of an underactuated mechanical system with discontinuous friction and backlash
Authors: Rascón Raúl , Rosas David , Hernandez-Balbuena Daniel
Published: January 2018

In this work, the problem of position regulation control is addressed for a 2DOF underactuated mechanical system with friction and backlash. For this purpose, a method combining sliding mode and H∞control is developed. We prove that the application of the method to the nonlinear model considered results in an asymptotically stable equilibria set. Moreover, it is possible to achieve a sufficiently small and bounded steady-state position error even in the presence of disturbances by employing the proposed technique. That is, the developed controller is able to account not only for unmatched external perturbations and model discrepancies of the test rig considered, but also for matched bounded perturbations. The control methodology is presented from both the theoretical and experimental angles to demonstrate the good performance of the proposed controller.