bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Recruitment and Selection for Elected Office
Authors: Morgenstern Scott , Siavelis Peter
Published: April 2019

Candidate recruitment and selection determines who is elected to participate in elections and eventually govern a polity. As a result of its critical role for representation and how a democratic political system functions, political scientists have developed an extensive literature on recruitment and selection, exploring the theme theoretically and empirically, both over time and across polities. The literature regarding political recruitment and candidate selection of elected offices touches many central aspects of party politics, and thus a bibliography can be extremely broad. It could include, for example, the extensive literature on reelection and the advantages of incumbency, as well as the tremendous body of works that focus on the US South during the period of one-party hegemony. Recruitment, further, could touch on social theory about how citizens are informally attracted to participate. This bibliography, however, will focus on works that deal explicitly with the selection and recruitment of elected offices, dividing the works into those that focus on the United States and those considering other world regions. Works in both parts also include extensive theoretical discussions. The bibliography is further divided based on works that consider executives and legislatures. In addition to general theory, it includes an extensive section on primaries both for the US case and in a comparative perspective, and offers a short section on studies that provide databases. One special topic that it considers is gender, which we cover by considering studies that evaluate quotas, biases, and the propensity of women to participate in electoral politics. Overall, the literature asks two basic questions: (1) How do the recruitment methods affect the types of candidates selected? (2) What are the political impacts of those methods? A third, related, question is also asked: What drives the choice of the methods themselves? Among the themes covered by the literature cited in this bibliography are rules and regulations governing the process, the party system and other contextual variables (e.g., federalism) that affect who is involved in selecting or naming candidates, party recruitment strategies, the influence of money and the media on candidate selection, voter knowledge about candidates, how and the extent to which voters participate in the process, and the influence of any of these factors on representation, campaigns, and legislator or party behavior.
Women’s Political Activism and Civic Engagement in Latin America
Authors: Barnes Tiffany , Beall Victoria , Saxton Gregory , Thomas Dakota
Published: April 2019

Under the authoritarian regimes that dominated the 1950s to the 1980s, during the regional wave of democratization, and as citizens of new democracies, women have been instrumental political actors in many facets of politics in the Latin American region. Due to the many ways women are involved in politics, academic studies of the role of gender in contentious politics are equally varied, encompassing disciplines such as political science, sociology, and anthropology. Women engage in politics both inside and outside the state in many different ways. In this bibliography, we are focused on women’s political activism outside the state and women’s engagement as citizens. Whereas the study of women’s representation in government focuses on women as elites, this bibliography focuses on political activism from non-state actors, such as social movements, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), opinion leaders, and grassroots leaders, as well as political engagement in terms of citizens’ participation. For more information on women in formal political roles, see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article Women’s Representation in Governmental Office in Latin America.
Gender and Incarceration
Authors: Young Brae Campion , Northcutt Bohmert Miriam
Published: April 2019

Women make up only a small portion of the prison population; however, the number of women in prison has increased exponentially as a result of the War on Drugs. The growth of women in prison in the 2010s has outpaced the growth of male prisoners. Not only are women a growing prison population, they are also a unique prison population. Women prisoners, compared to their male counterparts, are more likely to have histories of abuse and neglect and have greater incidents of substance abuse and mental health concerns. Women prisoners are also more likely to be the primary caretakers of children under the age of eighteen. The incarceration of women, then, has a substantial impact not only on the women who experience it, but on their families. Women prisoners also pose a unique challenge for correctional officials. The US correctional system was developed for males and is staffed and run largely by men. As such, risk assessment tools and in-prison programming do not consider the special needs of women prisoners. However, when programming takes into consideration women’s unique pathways into crime, they are much more effective. This article considers, in turn, each of these issues, beginning with a historical understanding of women’s prisons. Next, we consider the role of gender in risk assessment tools and prison programming, and the special issues surrounding women in prison, including female sexuality and parenting in prison. Finally, we conclude with a brief look into girls’ prisons.
Music in the Balkans
Authors: Samson Jim
Published: April 2019

For the purposes of this article, “the Balkans” refers to the territories of present-day Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and the successor states of Former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia). The geographical scope has been determined principally by Ottoman presence and legacy in Europe, though the European part of present-day Turkey is not included. Nor is Hungary, despite the Ottoman presence there, since its cultural history is more closely aligned to Habsburg Central Europe. Conversely, Slovenia, which was never occupied by the Ottomans, is admitted, since it was drawn into the political communities of the two Yugoslav states. These days it is usual to describe the wider region as South East Europe, implying an accommodation to the European project. In contrast to this, the term “Balkans” has acquired pejorative connotations in some circles, signifying what is taken to be the darker past of the region. The art music of the Balkans is not widely known. Of individual composers, only George Enescu and Nikos Skalkottas have achieved anything like international visibility, though Josip Slavenski and Manolis Kalomiris are highly valued in some quarters. As a result, the major studies of art music are by native scholars, and in languages that are arcane to most. Yet there is no option but to persevere, since these studies are in many cases the only source of detailed information, especially given the absence of published scores for much of the repertory. In contrast, the traditional music of the region has been much foraged by scholars from without, and notably by North American academics. Partly because premodern music-making survived longer in the Balkans than in many other parts of Europe, ritual repertories from agrarian communities have highly distinctive qualities, and have often been subject to appropriation, a prey to exoticist agendas from without or to nationalist agendas from within. It is partly to correct an ideologically motivated imbalance in coverage that a number of younger scholars have been giving greater attention to Ottoman-influenced urban traditions from the early 20th century, and to present-day popular music. A separate scholarly thread running through literature on the region concerns the Orthodox chant that is found across the Christian Balkans. There is an industry of publication in this field, much of it dealing with the distribution and provenance of specific manuscripts. It should be noted that although this is a transnational repertory, it is frequently incorporated within national narratives. Once again, it has fallen to younger scholars to mitigate the distorting effects of this national perspective, notably by examining the connections that exist between Orthodox traditions and Ottoman sanat (art) music.
Mediterranean
Authors: Albera Dionigi
Published: April 2019

The Mediterranean does not occupy a central position in the symbolic geography of anthropology. This field of regional specialization was established rather late and not without difficulties. It was in Anglophone milieus that the institutionalization of this branch of studies manifested itself most coherently. This development rested on the growth of “modern” ethnographic research in this area, where “modern” stands for research done using the intensive fieldwork method established in the first decades of the 20th century for university-trained scholars in British and American anthropology. Ethnographic work in the Mediterranean region experienced a growth since the 1950s and was articulated with the development of comparative approaches especially in the 1960s and 1970s. In spite of the complexity of this endeavor, several efforts were made to establish a circum-Mediterranean perspective, partially under the shadow of Braudel’s chef-d’oeuvre. Among different possible frameworks (national states, southern Europe, Middle East, or some portions of those wholes), a circum-Mediterranean perspective was without doubt the larger one, probably the most ambitious—and also the vaguest, as several critics would put it. A crisis took hold progressively beginning in the 1980s, when the field of Mediterranean anthropology was shaken by a number of severe criticisms, in debates provoked by some attempts (themselves in some cases rather polemical) to more explicitly define the contours of a social and cultural anthropology of the Mediterranean. Moreover, the crisis of the Mediterranean as a category of regional comparison in anthropology was part of a general epistemological conjuncture that undermined the efforts aimed at establishing comparative frameworks also in other parts of the world. Since the 2000s there has been a renewed interest in a Mediterranean level of comparison in anthropology. A new epistemological space has been opened that is not a simple return to the past. The effort to avoid fragmentation of research and to realize a renewed comparativism implies an enlargement of perspectives via a conversation with national traditions of research that remained marginalized for a long time and by means of a closer dialogue with other disciplines, most of all history. Some works have revisited Mediterranean anthropology, often uniting anthropologists of the “metropolis” and researchers from Mediterranean countries. Several authors recognize the necessity of avoiding particularism in research and of developing a cumulative perspective that critically acknowledges the resources of knowledge established in the past, arguing that the Mediterranean basin offers a fruitful context to examine the reverberations of the process of globalization in situations both contiguous and different from social, cultural, and economic points of view.
Octavio Paz
Authors: Román-Odio Clara , Chavez Erazo J. Sebastián , Johnson Cheryl A.
Published: April 2019

Octavio Paz (b. 1914–d. 1998) ranks among the most influential Latin American poets and intellectuals of the twentieth century. Fully engaged in the artistic experimentation and critical spirit of modernity, he wrote more than twenty books of poetry and as many book-length essays on such topics as eroticism, poetry, politics, history, anthropology, and visual arts. Paz examined world cultures from multiple frames of reference, including the movements of modernity and postmodernity, the tensions between poetry and history, the state of world politics, Eastern and Western thought, and Latin American struggles for independence and self-determination. The broad sweep of his worldview was shaped in part by experiences gained during decades of service with the Mexican diplomatic corps in Paris, New York, New Delhi, Tokyo, and Geneva. Recognized worldwide thanks to translations and awards, including the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature, Paz’s intellectual work engenders rich, sometimes controversial scholarship. Praised by many for his remarkable contributions, others accuse him of creating an elitist, ahistorical concept of poetry as the singular resource to overcome the failures of history. The vast scholarship examining Paz’s work focuses on his poetics and critical thought, and it addresses recurring themes: biography, political controversies, and the intellectual movements of the twentieth century that influenced or were influenced by him. The scope and impact of Paz’s oeuvre present a substantial challenge for this concise bibliography. The comprehensive bibliography by Hugo J. Verani, covering the period 1931–2013, provides a seminal starting point for our work (see Verani 2014, cited under Bibliographies). While that collection sought to encompass any and all works alluding to Paz, our focus here is on sources of substantive merit that advance our understanding of the author. We have sought to capture major threads of research, emphasizing works published in 2014 in honor of Paz’s centenary and those that follow to the present day. Source format was taken into account, resulting in a selection that includes mostly books (in print and online), book chapters, anthologies, biographies, and peer-reviewed journals. The core of the scholarship on Paz includes analyses of poetry and poetics, comparative studies on world cultures, critiques of modernity and postmodernity, scholarship on the visual arts, Asia and orientalism, history, and politics. Most recently, new categories of scholarship have emerged, including gendered politics, diplomacy, and translation. By selecting these topics as the organizing concepts of the bibliography, we hope to highlight crucial background materials to explore Paz’s contributions to the landscape of literature, culture, and politics in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
John Carpenter
Authors: Conrich Ian
Published: April 2019

John Carpenter (b. 1948) belongs to a group of celebrated neo-horror (or new wave horror) filmmakers who are associated with the genre’s renaissance in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Beginning as a feature director with the science fiction film Dark Star (1974), Carpenter became noted for a period of extraordinary creativity between 1978 and 1982, when his most seminal movies—Halloween (1978), Escape from New York (1981), and The Thing (1982)—were made. Working within a post-classical Hollywood, Carpenter is a director of a generation, who, like his contemporaries Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese, is knowledgeable of the studio system and the screen greats that had gone before. The versatile filmmaker Howard Hawks was a particular inspiration to Carpenter, who was similarly comfortable moving between genres, directing, for instance, the science fiction–romance Starman (1984) and the music biopic Elvis (1979). Carpenter even employed Hawks’s siege narratives for his productions and subsequently translated the Hawksian western into a number of his films, as evidenced in the urban thriller Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and the Gothic horror Vampires (1998). For Carpenter is a confident and uninhibited filmmaker who cleverly employs a “B” movie aesthetic that sees him adapting and recombining genres. This is perhaps most explicitly identified in the middle period of his career and the films Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Prince of Darkness (1987), and They Live (1988). Unfortunately, it has led to his films being both applauded and dismissed. After the disappointment of Ghosts of Mars (2001), he was to make just one further feature, the hospital horror The Ward (2010). The impact, however, of his earlier work is evident in his cult following and the industry’s attempts to remake and revisit several of his films – Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog (1979), The Thing. In addition to directing twenty-one features, Carpenter was often the scriptwriter, and he composed the music, for the majority of his films, which has helped reignite his career in recent years. A CD of new music, John Carpenter’s Lost Themes, was released in 2014, followed by John Carpenter’s Lost Themes II (2016). These compositions have subsequently been combined with his earlier iconic film scores and promoted in concerts where Carpenter performs live with his band while clips from his films are projected on a giant screen. He had played in a rock ’n’ roll band in his youth, but in many ways this career change later in his life has been unexpected. For such an influential filmmaker, scholarly and critical material is surprisingly lacking. It is a consequence perhaps of Carpenter’s uneven career, with a handful of his films having received much of the attention.
International Law in Northeast Asia
Authors: Lee Seok-Woo , Bautista Lowell
Published: April 2019

The region of Northeast Asia, comprising mainly of China, Korea, and Japan, is not a neutral, static, or self-evident geographical region. The underlying commonality of geographic proximity, shared history, racial and ethno-linguistic heritage, religious and cultural traditions, and economic complementarity underpin the aggregation of these core countries of East Asia, which all belong to the northeastern landmass and islands bordering the Pacific Ocean, into the Northeast Asian subregion of Asia. The term, however, is purely descriptive in nature, and unity, especially in a region with a distinct and long history of disputes and conflicts, is merely aspirational. Northeast Asia is considered an important economic region of the world, a recognition of the economic success and further potential of the countries that comprise the region. There is growing acknowledgment of the influence and contribution of Northeast Asian countries in the development of international law, albeit mainly confined in participation in international organs. However, the notion of a distinct, cohesive, unified, and systematic notion of international law from a Northeast Asian perspective is at present untenable and not adequately supported by literature. In academic discourse, the nonexistence of formal regional institutions and governance structures, rules and normative behavior, shared values and norms, and collective identity all challenge the notion of regional perspective of international law in a strict sense. The corpus of literature on state practice, international and foreign relations, and other multifaceted aspects of international law among the states in Northeast Asia is vast. However, the nature, quality, breadth and depth of treatment, and scholarship of literature regarding international law in Northeast Asia especially in respect of each of the countries in the region vary enormously for each country. This work is by no means exhaustive and is merely intended to provide a scaffold of the existing literature. In particular, the focus of this work is principally on selected academic legal scholarship on crucial aspects of international law as practiced by China, Korea, and Japan. This work, in a deliberate effort to present a comprehensive picture, will essentially focus on broad and general issues of public international law. It intentionally excludes materials primarily on the domestic laws and policies of the specific countries as well as other cross-border issues that involve the countries but not specifically confined to the region (e.g., the South China Sea disputes that involve China and other claimant states outside of the region and cross-strait relations between China and Taiwan) and other more contemporary issues and challenges such as the rise of China and its geopolitical implications on the region and beyond.
Ouida
Authors: Hodges Holt Shari
Published: April 2019

“Ouida” (b. 1839–d. 1908) was the pen name of Marie Louise Ramé (altered to Marie Louise de la Ramée), one of the most prolific and popular writers of the late 19th century. Ouida produced twenty-nine novels, two volumes of essays, numerous short stories, and an extensive body of journalism, attracting a remarkably diverse, international readership that included contemporary admirers such as Oscar Wilde, Jack London, John Ruskin, and Max Beerbohm. Her early romances, which combined features of sensation fiction, the silver-fork novel, and the military adventure narrative, were prized by her readership (and derided by the critical establishment) for their scandalous, glamorized depictions of high society. Her later novels set in Italy (where she settled in 1871) drew the admiration of contemporary writers for their poetic landscapes and politically scathing portrayals of peasant suffering. Society novels from the final decades of her career presented satirical portraits of European fin-de-siècle decadence, even as her journalism took a polemical turn to such issues as the woman question, antivivisectionism, British colonialism, and Italian politics. Maligned in the popular press as a scandalous eccentric, Ouida nevertheless sustained a career as an unmarried, self-supporting woman writer that provides a fascinating window into contemporaneous celebrity culture. The damage done to her reputation by the popular press and her principal biographers, as well as the stylistic excesses of her fiction, contributed to her exclusion from the modernist literary canon. Aside from minimal interest sustained through film adaptations of Under Two Flags and A Dog of Flanders, she remained relatively unknown in the 20th century. Although her novels feature sexually transgressive, independent females and vehement attacks on the institution of marriage, Ouida was largely ignored in the feminist revision of the literary canon, primarily due to her vocal opposition to many feminist causes, best exemplified by her attack on the New Woman (which she is credited with naming in an 1894 essay denouncing the type). A few exceptional studies in the late 20th century linking her works with sensation fiction and aestheticism led to new critical interest. The 2008 centenary of her death marked the publication of the first book-length survey of her novels, as well as international conferences in England and Italy that produced outstanding volumes of essays. Subsequent Ouida scholarship from perspectives as varied as print culture studies, adaptation theory, ecocriticism, and queer theory suggests that Ouida’s oeuvre is a fertile field for academic study.
Trauma Psychology
Authors: Frazier Patricia A. , Mischel Abramowski Emily , Nguyen-Feng Viann , Merians Addie , Kaubrys McKenzie
Published: April 2019

Trauma research often uses the definition of trauma in the diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which in general terms involves experiencing a life-threatening event. Using this definition, the majority of individuals have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, with some demographic groups being at greater risk (e.g., sexual minorities). Nonetheless, many other kinds of events can be distressing besides those that meet the definition of trauma in the criteria for PTSD, including adverse childhood experiences, racial microaggressions, morally injurious events, and historical trauma. Much research on the effects of trauma also focuses on PTSD. This research shows that although most individuals experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, few (5 percent–10 percent) trauma-exposed individuals develop PTSD. Thus, research also has examined resilient outcomes following trauma exposure, defined as stable functioning following adversity. In the developmental literature, resilience refers to adequate long-term adaptation across life domains despite chronic childhood adversity whereas, in the adult trauma literature, resilience has been defined as having minimal symptoms posttrauma. Research in both child and adult samples suggests that resilience is the modal response to trauma and adversity. However, the conclusion that resilience is the modal response to adult trauma has recently come under criticism on methodological grounds. Finally, posttraumatic growth (PTG) refers to reports of better functioning in various life domains posttrauma. Although such reports are common, this area of research also has been criticized on methodological grounds based on the finding that self-reported growth is tenuously related to actual pre- to posttrauma change. Because of the diversity of responses to trauma exposure, an important question concerns which factors predict better or poorer adjustment in response to traumatic events. These risk and protective factors include pretrauma, trauma-related, and posttraumatic characteristics. For example, female gender is a risk factor for PTSD partly because women are at greater risk of sexual violence, which is the trauma type that carries the highest PTSD risk. With regard to posttrauma factors, lack of social support is a particularly important risk factor. Progress has been made in terms of developing effective treatments for preventing and treating PTSD. In the immediate posttrauma phase, psychological debriefing (without emotional processing) is recommended. In the acute phase, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is recommended for the prevention of PTSD. CBT and exposure therapies are recommended for treating PTSD. Less is known about the promotion of resilience or PTG.
Research Methods for Studying Daily Life
Authors: Arredondo Carla , Luong Gloria
Published: April 2019

Methods for studying daily life have blossomed since the 1980s. Although these methods have been around for years, their popularity is always increasing as technological innovations have made the use of these methods easier and more reliable to employ. Methods for studying daily life typically include taking repeated real-time assessments of individual behaviors, physiology, and/or psychological experiences, over the course of an individual’s everyday life. These methods include experience sampling methodology (ESM), ecological momentary assessments (EMA), ambulatory assessments (AA), and daily diary or day reconstruction methods. All of these methods include repeated or detailed assessments of daily- life experiences but vary in terms of the frequency of assessments, technological tools to administer assessments, and timing of assessments (e.g., real time assessments versus retrospective recall). Given that these methods are intended to capture observations of psychological experiences in daily life, they require careful consideration of study design, measurements, and assessment tools. This article will provide a general overview of daily-life methods, including discussions about the different study designs and sampling methods. Furthermore, it will describe the advantages and limitations of using these methods along with examples of empirical studies that illustrate the usefulness of these techniques. It will also provide information on important considerations for sampling and measuring experiences in daily life and provide examples of the technology available for daily-life assessments.
Efficient consideration of coordinated water molecules improves computational protein-protein and protein-ligand docking
Authors: Pavlovicz Ryan E. , Park Hahnbeom , DiMaio Frank
Published: April 2019

Highly-coordinated water molecules are frequently an integral part of protein-protein and protein-ligand interfaces. We introduce an updated energy model that efficiently captures the energetic effects of these highly-coordinated water molecules on the surfaces of proteins. A two-stage protocol is developed in which polar groups arranged in geometries suitable for water placement are first identified, then a modified Monte Carlo simulation allows highly coordinated waters to be placed on the surface of a protein while simultaneously sampling amino acid side chain orientations. This “semi-explicit” water model is implemented in Rosetta and is suitable for both structure prediction and protein design. We show that our new approach and energy - model yield significant improvements in native structure recovery of protein-protein and protein-ligand docking.
Shareholder empowerment, steps forward and steps back
Authors: Alrayes Saad Almohammed
Published: April 2019

Purpose

The global financial crisis of 2007-2008 prompted a significant debate on corporate governance and shareholder empowerment. A question arises as to whether shareholders ought to be further empowered to have a greater influence over the companies’ activities. Yet, it is not self-evident that shareholder empowerment ensures better-run companies’ corporate activities. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to critically examine, identify and explain the corporate regulation forms and control collectively to evaluate the effectiveness of shareholder empowerment fully.

Design/methodology/approach

To do so, this paper sets out a comparative analysis approach between two jurisdictions, the UK and Delaware in the USA. The paper further addresses by undertaking three case studies; Barclays Plc which illustrated the Comply or Explain role, AVIVA (2012) that concentrated on the impact of the shareholder revolt, and the case of Hills Stores Co. v. Bozic (2000), which involved a claim brought by shareholders on the grounds of a breach of fiduciary duty.

Findings

This paper argues that the shareholder empowerment theoretically provides an effective means through which corporate activities can be regulated. However, to do this, account must be taken that a distinction should be made between long-term and short-term investors to encourage shareholder engagement by responsible long-term investors. Furthermore, the shareholders can exercise their powers effectively and influence the Board’s decision to award executive compensation.

Originality/value

This paper offered two distinct contributions: assessing whether in times of crisis shareholder empowerment represents a way to regulate corporate activities and by assessing the distinction between the perception of shareholder empowerment and the reality in practice.
Interacting with Muslim customers for new service development in a non-Muslim majority country
Authors: Alam Intekhab
Published: April 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the process of interaction with the Muslim customers in developing new Islamic financial services in a secular and non-Muslim majority emerging country, India.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected using a multiple case study methodology in which the service managers of 23 financial service firms and their customers were interviewed. A total of 46 managers and 31 Muslim customers provided data for this paper.

Findings

A service firm must interact with its Muslim customers to obtain key input and information for developing new Islamic financial services, particularly in a Muslim minority country. The Muslim customers are willing to work with the financial service firms for the purpose of new service development and are a good source of information for new Islamic financial services.

Practical implications

The paper has implications for the financial service firms interested in achieving growth and prosperity by developing and marketing new services to the growing population of Muslim customers in the emerging markets, particularly India.

Originality/value

The issue of customer interaction in new service development is a key concept in the extant literature, yet no study has explored this concept for the Islamic banking and financial products in a non-Muslim majority emerging market. This is the first paper that has applied the customer interaction in new service development theory to the interaction process of Muslim customers in a non-Muslim majority country and, thus, addressed a worthwhile research gap.
Gen Y consumers’ intention to purchase halal food in Malaysia: a PLS-SEM approach
Authors: Marmaya NH , Zakaria Za , Mohd Desa Mohd Nasir
Published: April 2019

Purpose

This study aims to investigate factors that influenced Malaysia’s Gen Y consumers’ behavioral intention to purchase halal food in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative method was adopted in this study and responses were obtained from 110 Gen Y consumers in Malaysia.

Findings

Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the results showed that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control influenced behavioral intention among Gen Y consumers to purchase halal food, while attitude did not play a significant role in the purchase of halal food products among Gen Y consumers.

Research limitations/implications

This study adopts a cross-sectional research design and examines the opinions of consumers at only one point in time. Future research also may look upon halal awareness toward other products in a broader geographical area and in other different culture. Longitudinal research design and a bigger sample size should be conducted in future to obtain better results.

Practical implications

The result of the study would serve as a reference to Malaysian Statutory bodies and food industry on the current intention of Malaysian Gen Y toward halal food.

Originality/value

Limited researchers have studied Gen Y consumers’ intention to purchase halal food products.
Identification of organisational pathologies
Authors: Cardoso Castro Pedro Pablo , Espinosa Angela
Published: April 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this is to explore the potential of the combined use of the viable system model (VSM) and social network analysis (SNA) to identify organizational pathologies.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a well-documented case study based on an academic consultancy intervention and Action Research Project, participative methods for the diagnostic of the VSM and questionnaires for the collection of connectivity data for the SNA were used to develop a heuristic to integrate these two tools and identify organizational pathologies.

Findings

This study provides empirical evidence of the benefits of the combined use of SNA to enhance the identification of organizational pathologies in VSM interventions, by providing an additional qualitative and quantitative framework for the interpretation of findings coming from VSM organizational diagnostics.

Research limitations/implications

This work explores some analytic routines of SNA frequently used in management. The validation is constrained to the nature of the data set from a case study. The document invites to a discussion of further and more advanced applications on the integration of the VSM and SNA.

Practical implications

The enhanced identification of organizational pathologies can contribute to the emerging new interest in applications of the VSM in management, providing robustness to the structural analysis of organizations.

Originality/value

This paper proposes a guideline to exploit the potential of the combined use of SNA and VSM. It opens new avenues for the study of organizational pathologies.
Relative efficiency, industry concentration and average stock returns
Authors: Nguyen Giao X. , Prombutr Wikrom , Phengpis Chanwit , Swanson Peggy E.
Published: April 2019

Purpose

Previous research has found that industry concentration and firm efficiency affect stock returns. However, it is not clear if concentration is a byproduct of efficiency and hence its effect on stock returns is driven by efficiency. This paper aims to examine the relationships between industry concentration, firm efficiency and average stock returns. Mainly, it aims to answer if the effects of industry concentration and firm efficiency on stock returns are independent and significant.

Design/methodology/approach

The stochastic frontier approach is used to estimate firm efficiency. The Herfindahl index is used to measure industry concentration. Regression and vector autoregressive analyses are performed to examine cross-sectional and lagged relationships between concentration, efficiency, profitability and stock returns. The characteristics-based benchmark approach is also used to investigate performance of test portfolios.

Findings

Industry concentration and firm efficiency have independent and significant effects on average stock returns through profit margins and market shares, which are related to firms’ profitability. Industry concentration has a greater positive impact on market shares than on profit margins, whereas firm efficiency has a greater positive impact on profit margins than on market shares. In sum, highly efficient firms in highly concentrated markets have lower distress risks and hence provide lower average stock returns.

Originality/value

The paper shows the linkages between industry concentration, firm efficiency, profitability and stock returns that have not been documented together in prior studies. Businesses can better understand the impact of concentration and efficiency on market shares and profit margins. Researchers may consider incorporating concentration and efficiency, both of which are meaningful microeconomic variables, into an asset pricing model. Investors can enhance their returns by having a zero-cost portfolio with long and short positions in stocks of firms with different levels of concentration and efficiency.
The Prohibition against Torture: Why the UK Government is Falling Short and the Risks that Remain
Authors: Blakeley Ruth , Raphael Sam
Published: April 2019

While the UK's official position is that it neither uses nor condones torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (CIDT), it is now a matter of public and parliamentary record that UK security services and military personnel colluded in rendition, torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, both as part of the CIA's Rendition, Detention and Interrogation (RDI) programme, at military detention facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq, and through involvement in the detention and interrogation of prisoners by allied security forces. This paper will explain why the government is falling short of its obligations under international law, and why considerable risks remain that UK intelligence and security services will continue to collude in torture and CIDT.
Efficacy and Safety of Adsorptive Granulocyte and Monocyte Apheresis in Elderly and Pregnant Patients With Ulcerative Colitis
Authors: Yanagisawa Kazuki , Murakami Minoru , Kondo Yuya , Oguma Shun , Kobayashi Shun , Miyasaka Hiroshi , Shinohara Tomoaki , Tomori Akihisa , Nakano Yui , Furuhata Shunichi , Ikezoe Masaya
Published: April 2019

In patients with active ulcerative colitis (UC), adsorptive granulocyte/monocyte apheresis (GMA) is expected to promote remission. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of GMA in patients with active UC. Twenty‐one UC patients including five pregnant or lactating mothers and four elderly patients (aged >60 years) received up to 10 GMA sessions. UC severity was evaluated at baseline and after GMA therapy according to Lichtiger's Clinical Activity Index (CAI). We defined clinical remission as CAI ≤4. Overall, the median CAI score after GMA therapy had decreased from 9 to 4 (P < 0.001). The clinical remission rate was 62%, but in the elderly and pregnant or lactating mothers, the remission rates were 100% and 60%, respectively. No severe adverse effects were seen in this study. Our results may support GMA as an effective and safe treatment for active UC patients, including elderly patients and pregnant cases.
Removal Characteristics of Immunoadsorption with the Tryptophan‐Immobilized Column Using Conventional and Selective Plasma Separators in the Treatment of Myasthenia Gravis
Authors: Ohkubo Atsushi , Okado Tomokazu , Sakurasawa Takatoshi , Maeda Takuma , Itagaki Ayako , Yamamoto Hiroko , Miyamoto Satoko , Seshima Hiroshi , Kurashima Naoki , Mori Takayasu , Iimori Soichiro , Sohara Eisei , Rai Tatemitsu , Uchida Shinichi , Naito Shotaro
Published: April 2019

Autoimmune neurological diseases are often treated by immunoadsorption using a conventional plasma separator and tryptophan‐immobilized column (IA). However, there is only one case report on treatment with immunoadsorption using a selective plasma separator and tryptophan‐immobilized column (SeIA) in clinical practice. This study aimed to investigate the removal characteristics of antibodies against acetylcholine receptors (AChRAb), immunoglobulin G, fibrinogen, and factor XIII (FXIII) in IA and SeIA in four patients with myasthenia gravis. A total of 19 sessions of immunoadsorption were performed (five sessions of IA and 14 sessions of SeIA) when the processed plasma volume was 2 L. The corresponding reductions were 52.5% ± 6.2% for AChRAb, 58.8% ± 4.2% for fibrinogen, and 36.9% ± 5.5% for FXIII after one session of IA. The corresponding reductions were 45.2% ± 9.9% for AChRAb, 3.5% ± 6.9% for fibrinogen, and −4.6% ± 11.1% for FXIII after one session of SeIA. The removal rates for AChRAb, fibrinogen, and FXIII in IA were significantly higher than those in SeIA. IA could effectively remove AChRAb, and SeIA could retain fibrinogen and FXIII. IA can be combined with SeIA, resulting in both IgG autoantibodies removal by IA and retention of coagulation factors by SeIA.
A Solution Kinetics Simulation Method for Conventional and Selective Plasma Exchange Using a Complete Mixed Reactor Model
Authors: Odamaki So , Hori Yuki , Nakai Sota , Akazawa Mayumi , Sato Kanako , Yamada Asuka , Aoki Kanako , Sato Hiroshi , Miyakawa Hiroyuki , Ishibashi Yoshitaka
Published: April 2019

At present, conventional plasma exchange (CPE) sets removal rate, replacement fluid volume and replacement fluid albumin (Alb) concentration according to the first‐order kinetics of mass balance for removal of pathogenic substances. With the spread of selective plasma exchange (SePE), it has become necessary to set the removal rate and replacement fluid Alb concentration based on the initial concentration for each performance of the plasma separator. Considering the patient as a single reactor we devised a complete mixed reactor model simulating the concentration change in the reactor. Our formula is obtained by adding membrane performance and replacement fluid concentration to formulas currently available and can be used for both CPE and SePE. For the in vitro experiment, fresh frozen plasma stored in a bag was used to simulate a patient's circulating plasma. Plasma was separated by plasma separator Evacure EC‐4A10 (EC‐4A) (Kawasumi Laboratories Inc., Tokyo, Japan) while a replacement Alb solution was simultaneously entered into the circuit at the same rate as separation. IgG, Alb, total protein (TP), and fibrinogen (Fib) concentrations were measured every 10 min and examined for correlation with the value predicted by the mass balance formula. The concentration of each solute was measured 21 times during the 195 min of the experiment. The rate of change of each solute was IgG 76%, Alb 58%, TP 58%, and Fib 32%. Experimental values and predicted values showed significant correlation (IgG: r2 = 0.9962; Fib: r2 = 0.9535; Alb: r2 = 0.9808; TP: r2 = 0.9721, all P < 0.05). Since the solute concentration change in SePE can be predicted, this mass balance formula is useful for setting treatment conditions for both CPE and SePE.
Korean Unification: Economic Adjustments under German Assumptions
Authors: Lee Jong‐Wha , McKibbin Warwick J.
Published: April 2019

This paper explores the impact of unification on North and South Korea under the hypothetical scenario that German‐type reunification occurs in the Korean peninsula. Simulation results using a global dynamic general equilibrium model show that with comprehensive market‐oriented reform and opening, the North Korean economy could capitalize on its growth potentials. Unification can reduce the growth rate in South Korea for a certain period following the unification shock due to the transfer of resources out of the South into the North and an increase in risk on the Korea peninsula. Due to the relative sizes in population and per capita gross domestic product of the two Koreas, unification can be more disruptive on North and South Korea, compared to the experience of Germany. The critical factors determining the economic effects of unification are the nature of wage‐adjustment, the size of resource transfers from the South to North, and exchange rate policy.
Sustained reductions of invasive infectious disease following general infant Haemophilus influenzae type b and pneumococcal vaccination in a Swedish Arctic region
Authors: Johansson Kostenniemi Urban , Norman David , Sellin Mats , Silfverdal Sven‐Arne
Published: April 2019

Aim

Vaccine‐preventable pathogens causing severe childhood infections include Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis. In this study conducted in a Swedish Arctic region, we evaluated the effects of general infant Hib and pneumococcal vaccination on invasive infectious diseases among children and assessed the need of meningococcal vaccination.

Methods

We identified cases of bacterial meningitis and sepsis from diagnosis and laboratory registers in the Västerbotten Region, Sweden, during 1986–2015. We then reviewed medical records to confirm the diagnosis and extract data for assessing incidence changes, using an exploratory data analysis and a time‐series analysis.

Results

Invasive Haemophilus disease declined by 89.1% (p < 0.01), Haemophilus meningitis by 95.3% (p < 0.01) and all‐cause bacterial meningitis by 82.3% (p < 0.01) in children aged 0 to four years following general infant Hib vaccination. Following pneumococcal vaccination, invasive pneumococcal disease declined by 84.7% (p < 0.01), pneumococcal meningitis by 67.5% (p = 0.16) and all‐cause bacterial meningitis by 48.0% (p = 0.23). Incidence of invasive meningococcal disease remained low during the study period.

Conclusion

Remarkable sustained long‐term declines of invasive infectious diseases in younger children occurred following infant Hib and pneumococcal vaccinations in this Swedish Arctic region. Despite not offering general infant meningococcal vaccination, incidence of invasive meningococcal disease remained low.
Intravenous flucloxacillin treatment is associated with a high incidence of hypokalaemia
Authors: van der Heijden Charlotte D.C.C. , Duizer Marleen L. , Fleuren Hanneke W.H.A. , Veldman Bart A. , Sprong Tom , Dofferhoff Anton T.S.M. , Kramers Cornelis
Published: April 2019

Intravenous flucloxacillin is one of the most frequently used high‐dose penicillin therapies in hospitalized patients, forming the cornerstone treatment of invasive Staphylococcus aureus infection. Being a nonreabsorbable anion, flucloxacillin has been suggested to cause hypokalaemia, although the frequency and magnitude of this unwanted effect is unknown. In a retrospective cohort, we investigated the incidence and extent of hypokalaemia after initiation of intravenous flucloxacillin or ceftriaxone therapy. In total, 77 patients receiving flucloxacillin (62% male, mean age 70.5 years) and 84 patients receiving ceftriaxone (46% male, mean age 70.8 years) were included. Hypokalaemia occurred significantly more often in patients receiving flucloxacillin than ceftriaxone (42% vs 14%, p < 10−4). Moreover, follow‐up potassium levels were significantly lower during flucloxacillin therapy. In general, women were more prone to develop hypokalaemia than men. In conclusion, intravenous flucloxacillin use is associated with a striking incidence of hypokalaemia. Therefore, standardized potassium measurements are necessary.