bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Calcium release through P2X4 activates calmodulin to promote endolysosomal membrane fusion
Authors: Cao Qi , Zhong Xi Zoë , Zou Yuanjie , Murrell-Lagnado Ruth , Zhu Michael X. , Dong Xian-Ping
Published: June 2015

Intra-endolysosomal Ca2+ release is required for endolysosomal membrane fusion with intracellular organelles. However, the molecular mechanisms for intra-endolysosomal Ca2+ release and the downstream Ca2+ targets involved in the fusion remain elusive. Previously, we demonstrated that endolysosomal P2X4 forms channels activated by luminal adenosine triphosphate in a pH-dependent manner. In this paper, we show that overexpression of P2X4, as well as increasing endolysosomal P2X4 activity by alkalinization of endolysosome lumen, promoted vacuole enlargement in cells and endolysosome fusion in a cell-free assay. These effects were prevented by inhibiting P2X4, expressing a dominant-negative P2X4 mutant, and disrupting the P2X4 gene. We further show that P2X4 and calmodulin (CaM) form a complex at endolysosomal membrane where P2X4 activation recruits CaM to promote fusion and vacuolation in a Ca2+-dependent fashion. Moreover, P2X4 activation-triggered fusion and vacuolation were suppressed by inhibiting CaM. Our data thus suggest a new molecular mechanism for endolysosomal membrane fusion involving P2X4-mediated endolysosomal Ca2+ release and subsequent CaM activation.
GMFβ prunes actin branches
Authors: Short Ben
Published: June 2015

Study reveals that turnover of lamellipodial actin networks helps fibroblasts follow adhesive guidance cues.
Elena Gracheva: Ion channels run hot and cold
Authors: Sedwick Caitlin
Published: June 2015

Gracheva studies the molecular basis and evolutionary origins of hibernation.
Application of community treatment orders (CTOs) in adults with intellectual disability and mental disorders
Authors: Gupta Jaya , Hassiotis Angela , Bohnen Ingrid , Thakker Yogesh
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore use of community treatment orders (CTOs) in adults with intellectual disability (ID) and mental health problems across England and Wales.

Design/methodology/approach

– A web-based exploratory survey was sent to 359 consultants on the database of the Faculty of the Psychiatry of ID, Royal College of Psychiatrists who had declared ID as their main speciality. Socio-demographic details of responding consultants, clinical characteristics of adults with ID on CTO, subjective views of consultants on using CTOs in people with ID were collected and analysed.

Findings

– In total, 94 consultant questionnaires were returned providing information on 115 patients detained under CTO. More than 75 per cent of the respondents had used CTO in their clinical practice. Patients subject to CTO were generally young, white males with mild ID and living in supported accommodation. CTOs were primarily used in situations of non-engagement (52.2 per cent), non-compliance with medication (47 per cent) or non-compliance with social care supports (49.6 per cent).

Practical implications

– Responding consultants expressed concerns about encroachment of civil liberties and ethics of using CTOs in people with ID who may lack capacity and stressed that decision to use CTOs needs to be therefore done on individual basis.

Originality/value

– This is the first national study to examine the practice of applying CTOs in adults with ID and mental disorders. Current practice is based on evidence from research done in adults with normal intelligence. Further research is needed to investigate the utility of CTOs in routine clinical practice in adults with ID and mental disorders.
British construction business 1700-2000: proactive innovation or reactive evolution?
Authors: Holt Gary D.
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to study the British construction sector c.1700-2000 and compare its “proactive” innovative development with “reactive” business evolution.

Design/methodology/approach

– Qualitative, interpretative, literature synthesis was used in this paper.

Findings

– Each of the three centuries observed exhibits distinct construction business (CB) characteristics resulting mainly from exogenous influences, including: macroeconomic forces, demand volatility, supply chain and allied sectors’ evolvement, division of labour, competition and technological change. For most CB organisations, innovation was principally an exogenous influencevis-à-visendogenous strategic intention.

Research limitations/implications

– The study adds to a dearth of historical CB research and its documentation.

Practical implications

– The evolvement of construction organisations will be of relevance to CB stakeholders.

Originality/value

– Construction history is under-researched. Contrasting CB innovation and evolution is novel.
An online platform to automate LEED energy performance evaluation and submission process
Authors: Zhao Jie , Lam Khee Poh , Biswas Tajin , Wang Haopeng
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– This study aims to develop a web-based tool – LEED Energy Performance Online Submission Tool (LEPOST) to reduce the submission cost of the leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) application process and facilitate green building design. Lifecycle cost reduction is a major driver for designing green buildings. LEED rating system has been well recognised and widely used in the green building industry. However, certification cost incurred in time and money is often a deterrent for some projects.

Design/methodology/approach

– LEPOST automatically maps EnergyPlus and eQUEST energy simulation results to the LEED energy performance requirement submission templates using an extensible markup language (XML) data structure. It incorporates the Energy Star Target Finder online engine and current utility data to calculate points required to assess LEED Energy and Atmosphere Prerequisite 2 and Credit 1 automatically.

Findings

– A comparative case study is conducted using an office building project. The study results show that the tool can reduce the amount of time for the LEED energy performance evaluation and submission process from more than 6 hours to 2 minutes. The total number of manual data entries is reduced from 442 to 20.

Research limitations/implications

– Future work includes the update to support LEED V4, the development of a parametric design function that can help design teams perform design alternatives to evaluate energy performance with minimum effort, and the integration with the LEED Online system.

Practical implications

– The use of the tool by the building industry may decrease the cost of LEED certification for building owners, developers and design teams by simplifying the submission process.

Originality/value

– The overall development framework of LEPOST contributes to the knowledge of the data interoperability in the building sector by demonstrating a viable solution to extract and map digital model information for achieving code and standard compliance purposes.
Policies that make a difference: bridging the gender equity and work-family gap in academia
Authors: O'Brien Katharine Ridgway , Martinez Larry R. , Ruggs Enrica N. , Rinehart Jan , Hebl Michelle R
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to highlight interventions that promote female (and male) faculty’s ability to balance work-family issues at a specific academic institution, in response to a demand in the literature that examines the intersection between research and implementation of organizational policies within a university setting.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using a case study framework, the researchers present qualitative experiences and quantitative data to evaluate the successful application of a work-family balance and organizational climate improvement initiative within an academic setting.

Findings

– By highlighting specific examples of work-family and climate initiatives at the individual, organization, and community levels, this case study presents several ways in which academic institutions specifically, and organizations generally, can implement policies that make a difference.

Practical implications

– Successful implementation of work-family balance and family-friendly organizational policies can positively impact employees.

Originality/value

– Our goal is to highlight and provide data showing a specific example of how female (and male) faculty members’ experiences can be (and have been) improved in a prototype institution.
The symbolic meaning of artifacts for the workplace identity of women in academia
Authors: Kemp Linzi J. , Angell Linda , McLoughlin Linda
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The aim of this paper is to investigate the symbolic meaning attributed by women in academia to workplace artifacts.

Design/methodology/approach

– The research approach is that of auto-ethnography, whereby the authors, as researchers and participants, explore symbolic meaning from artifacts in their working environment.

Findings

– Three themes emerged on the symbolic meaning from artifacts for women in academia. The theme of “affect” revealed women as uncomfortable in their surroundings; “representation”, renders women invisible within the institution; and women felt themselves to be under “surveillance”.

Research limitations/implications

– The investigation is limited to one university, which limits generalizability. The implication is to replicate this auto-ethnographical study in other institutions of higher education.

Practical implications

– This paper implies that architectural, institutional and personal artifacts play an important role in defining women’s workplace identity.

Social implications

– Women in academia identify themselves as “outsiders” in the workplace because of the symbolic meaning they attribute to artifacts.

Originality/value

– This study on women in academia is original as it is the first auto-ethnographical study on artifacts in an international institution of higher education.
Good and bad simultaneously?
Authors: Bai Yuntao , Harms Peter , Han Guohong (Helen) , Cheng Wenwen
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– This study aims to introduce a new cognitive style, dialectical thinking, to demonstrate how it can influence a leader’s impact on team conflict and employee performance. Specifically, this study intends to answer the research questions “whether and how leader’s dialectical thinking would influence employee performance” with conflict management perspective in the Chinese context.

Design/methodology/approach

– Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to test the theoretical model with 222 employees in 43 teams from Chinese high-tech manufacturing firms.

Findings

– The authors found that the leader’s dialectical thinking had positive relationships with employee creativity and in-role performance and that the relationships were mediated by the leader’s conflict management approach and team conflict in sequence.

Practical implications

– Selecting, recruiting or promoting of leaders with a dialectical thinking style or providing training to enhance leaders’ dialectical thinking is important for facilitating team conflict management and employee performance.

Originality/value

– This is the first empirical paper to introduce dialectical thinking into the leadership, conflict and employee performance literatures.
Structural change and economic growth in selected emerging economies
Authors: Zulkhibri Muhamed , Naiya Ismaeel , Ghazal Reza
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to investigate the relationship between structural change and economic growth for a panel of four developing countries, namely, Malaysia, Nigeria, Turkey and Indonesia over 1960-2010.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study extent the growth equation by incorporating degree of openness, labour and investment and construct structural change indices – modified Lilien index and the norm of absolute values. It utilizes the recently developed panel cointegration techniques to test and estimate the long-run equilibrium of the growth equation.

Findings

– The results confirm that structural change and economic growth are cointegrated at the panel level, indicating the presence of long-run equilibrium relationship. However, the impact of structural change on economic growth seems to be small and evolve slowly.

Originality/value

– The findings indicate the need for policymakers to identify the binding constraints that impede growth and the importance of institutionalize policy to encourage investment in productive sectors.
Non-Indian aid and growth nexus in Bhutan
Authors: Nidup Jigme
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of Non-Indian foreign aid on economic growth. In addition, this paper also investigates the importance of governance, policy and democratic institution in fostering economic growth. Planned development activities in Bhutan are mostly funded through external assistance, particularly from India. Bhutan also receives assistance from other bilateral and multilateral countries besides India.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study adopts the autoregressive distributed lag approach to cointegration using time-series data from 1982 to 2012. To ensure stationarity of data, the unit root test is conducted. Necessary diagnostic tests are also performed to confirm that the model does not violate regression assumptions.

Findings

– Findings indicate that Non-Indian foreign aid, governance and democracy are detrimental to economic growth. Policy and investment is found insignificant determinant. However, labour force and technology are found fostering economic growth.

Research limitations/implications

– Less number of observations restrained detailed analysis like the use of interactive terms between aid and governance, aid and policy to see its actual impact. Data on Indian aid could not be sourced from any documents. Those available were found only for few years restricting time series analysis.

Originality/value

– This study explored the impact of various determinants on economic growth in Bhutan. These findings provide useful insights for policymakers in Bhutan to make necessary decisions. The analysis also suggests future ground for research to those scholars and researchers.
Unpacking the object of learning
Authors: Björkholm Eva
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– Knowledge concerning the meaning of the object of learning is an important contribution of Learning study. The purpose of this paper is to generate this kind of knowledge and show how it can be developed and refined in the different phases of a Learning study.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper reports on a Learning study in primary technology education conducted with students aged six to seven years old, with the aim to explore a specific object of learning; to construct a linkage mechanism for transferring and transforming movement.

Findings

– The findings show several aspects to discern by the learner in order to grasp the object of learning and reveal how this knowledge was gradually developed during the Learning study. The presumed aspects, those identified in the pre- and post-test, as well as how they were elaborated in the lesson contributed to refining the meaning of the object of learning.

Originality/value

– In Learning study, knowledge concerning the meaning of the object of learning is generated. By empirically demonstrating the development and specification of this knowledge during a Learning study, this paper will contribute to the discussion of knowledge products from Learning studies as well as to knowledge concerning what there is to know in order to develop a specific capability in technology education.
Lesson study and the development of teacher’s competences
Authors: Soto Gómez Encarna , Serván Núñez María J. , Pérez Gómez Angel I , Peña Trapero Noemi
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to show, from a theoretical point of view, the promising relationship between the processes generated by Lesson Studies (LS) and the development of practical thinking in in-service teacher training, derived from two pieces of research.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors propose broadening the focus of LS in order to not only improve the “lesson” or “teaching” – in short, practice – but also to reconstruct and improve the practical knowledge of teachers. The core issue of the paper is the discussion about the relationship between the practical knowledge, the knowledge that every teacher uses in his or her daily practice, theories-in-use, mostly unconscious, and the conscious and explicit knowledge, practical thinking, explicit theory, they use to describe and justify their practice.

Findings

– Knowing our practical knowledge intuitive Gestalt, and building a new conscious and informed way of thinking is not enough, we need to build through systematic new practice a new way of doing, a new way of perceiving, interpreting, taking decisions and acting, coherent with our new theories. LS reinforces these two complementary movements: the practical theorizing movement, the reflexion on action to discover the implicit believes, habits, attitudes and emotions underlying the practice, and the experimentation of the new theory to form the new habits, beliefs, attitudes and emotions that support the development of a new form of teaching. This second movement needs more time and adequate teaching context, confirming the long spiral cycle of LS.

Originality/value

– With emphasis on the dialectical relationship between practical theorizing and the experimentation of theory, this paper could set out a new approach for LSs as a method of teacher training which can improve practice through the reconstruction of the practical thinking of those involved.
Learning study, economics and cognitive bias: what is the object of learning?
Authors: Wood Keith , Lu Crystal , Andrew Vincent
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to report how teachers have engaged in a Learning Study to develop, from the experience of their students, an object of learning which has important implications for pedagogy.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper uses a Learning Study of the economic concept of price over three cycles with varying groups of high school students which explored the effect of context and cognitive bias on the learners’ understanding of the object.

Findings

– The object of learning has the following critical aspects: the attributes of the commodity, the exchange mechanism (e.g. the market structure) and consumer rationality. This finding enriches the critical aspects – supply and demand – of the object of learning price found in the current Learning Study literature and current high school textbooks.

Originality/value

– Making explicit the variation between mainstream and behavioural models of economic phenomena helps learners to see what is critical – to see the potential and the limitations of those models for understanding the world and acting within it. Without sight of an alternative model it is impossible for the learner to distinguish between the mainstream model of supply and demand and what it purports to describe. Without behavioural dimensions, economics may not appear relevant to consumer decision-making.
Examining mobile based payment services adoption issues
Authors: Upadhyay Parijat , Chattopadhyay Manojit
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to make a unified approach in identifying the issues affecting usage intention of mobile-based payment services. The work aims to analyze the reduced factors from data obtained from a survey to highlight the influencers of usage intention mobile-based payment in an integrated manner by incorporating the technical characteristics, technology-specific characteristics, user-specific characteristics and task-specific characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

– A nationwide primary survey was conducted using validated questionnaire requesting response for 11 factors obtained from published literature. In all, 196 respondents participated in the survey in India. Valid responses were analyzed using Growing Hierarchical Self-Organizing Map (GHSOM) model. The interactive GHSOM application was applied to automatically determine the filtering rules for clustering.

Findings

– The hierarchical structure of clusters as obtained by applying GHSOM is mainly influenced by factors like innovativeness, discomfort, system quality, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, task-fit, connectivity, absorptive capacity and structural assurance.

Research limitations/implications

– Increasing trend of online and mobile-based payment has been observed and reported by several studies in India. The frequency of online transactions by women have shown a steady increase over a short period of time. But the survey obtained higher percentage of data from males. Thus future researchers could focus on this aspect to study the influence of this rising trend on adoption of services like mobile-based payment. Trust and existence of physical institutions seem to affect the perception and usage intention. Future researchers may explore the influence of these two issues in situations where there has been some reported cases of breach of trust.

Originality/value

– There has been very few studies conducted which reported mobile-based transfer payment adoption issues where-in the transfer mechanism is independent of formal banking. Also no other study adopted the GHSOM approach to analyze the data. The findings would be beneficial for service providers of mobile-based payment services to understand their subscribers and roll out value-added services.
The role of institutional pressures and top management support in the intention to adopt cloud computing solutions
Authors: Yigitbasioglu Ogan M.
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– While many studies have predominantly looked at the benefits and risks of cloud computing, little is known whether and to what extent institutional forces play a role in cloud computing adoption. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of institutional factors in top management team’s (TMT’s) decision to adopt cloud computing services.

Design/methodology/approach

– A model is developed and tested with data from an Australian survey using the partial least squares modeling technique.

Findings

– The results suggest that mimetic and coercive pressures influence TMT’s beliefs in the benefits of cloud computing. The results also show that TMT’s beliefs drive TMT’s participation, which in turn affects the intention to increase the adoption of cloud computing solutions.

Research limitations/implications

– Future studies could incorporate the influences of local actors who might also press for innovation.

Practical implications

– Given the influence of institutional forces and the plethora of cloud-based solutions on the market, it is recommended that TMTs exercise a high degree of caution when deciding for the types of applications to be outsourced as organizational requirements in terms of performance and security will differ.

Originality/value

– The paper contributes to the growing empirical literature on cloud computing adoption and offers the institutional framework as an alternative lens with which to interpret cloud-based information technology outsourcing.
Frontline employees’ cognitive appraisals and well-being in the face of customer aggression in an Eastern, collectivist culture
Authors: Akkawanitcha Chuanchuen , Patterson Paul , Buranapin Siriwut , Kantabutra Saranya
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– This research aims to examine the cognitive appraisals of frontline employees (FLEs) when dealing with aggressive customers and the impact on their well-being, as well as several moderator effects, in a collectivist, Eastern culture.

Design/methodology/approach

– A critical incident technique reveals the cognitive appraisal of FLEs who had recently experienced customer aggression. Data were collected through qualitative, in-depth interviews with 35 FLEs in customer-facing roles in Thailand.

Findings

– The FLEs perceived threats to self-esteem, physical well-being, goal completion at work, fairness or equity and sense of control when dealing with customer aggression. These cognitive appraisals affected their psychological well-being in the form of negative affectivity, anxiety, depression and stress. Importantly, factors that moderate (exacerbate or weaken) the impact of customer aggression on cognitive appraisal, and cognitive appraisal on psychological well-being were revealed, including “customer is always right” philosophy, social status, public versus private context and social support.

Practical implications

– Organisations should pay more attention to FLEs’ psychological well-being and how they interpret and deal with customers’ misbehaviour and aggression. The research identifies factors that moderate the impact of customer aggression on psychological well-being.

Originality/value

– This is the first empirical paper that has examined how FLEs cope with customer aggression in a collectivist, south-east Asian context where social norms calibrate FLEs’ responses to customer aggression. It is also the first research that adopts a contingency approach to understanding how FLEs cope with customer aggression – i.e. when faced with customer aggression, under what contingency conditions do FLEs cognitive appraisals have a stronger or weaker impact on their psychological well-being?
Evaluation and usage scenarios of open source digital library and collection management tools
Authors: Gkoumas Georgios , Lazarinis Fotis
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate open source software (OSS) for digital libraries and collection management and to propose different utilization scenarios based on the characteristics of the tools.

Design/methodology/approach

– The tools are assessed on the basis of their technical features and options, the type of the content they manage, the support for common library operations such as cataloging and circulation, the searching support and the interoperability options. Then they are evaluated by users and finally a number of usage scenarios are analyzed based on the results of the evaluation.

Findings

– The basic findings of the study is that open source digital library and collection management tools offer advanced operations and support various metadata and interoperability protocols with easy and user-friendly interfaces. Most of the tools are extensively used under various settings and establishments already. Language support for the interfaces should be extended with more languages and some tools with limited operations should be improved to be of practical use.

Practical implications

– The findings of the paper could be used support the selection of specific open source tools for various types of establishments.

Originality/value

– The study reviews the characteristics of a few OSS for digital libraries and collection management and reveals their specific strengths and weaknesses. It also presents a number of realistic scenarios and proposes the usage of specific tools based on time, technology and staff constraints.
Transcriptional regulation by VirR and VirS of members of the Rhodococcus equi virulence‐associated protein multigene family
Authors: Kakuda Tsutomu , Miyazaki Shiko , Hagiuda Hirofumi , Takai Shinji
Published: June 2015

A virulence plasmid of Rhodococcus equi harbors the vap mutigene family. Here it is shown that transcription of vap gene family members other than vapA (vapD, vapE and vapG) is regulated by temperature and pH and abolished when either virS or virR is deleted. Expression of VirS in the absence of functional VirR was found to increase the transcription of vap genes to the amount expressed in the presence of VirR. These findings suggest that transcription of vap genes is regulated by VirS and that VirR is involved in the mechanism of transcriptional responses to temperature and pH.
Uranium mineralization indicators from seismic and well log data in the Shea Creek area at the southern margin of the Carswell impact structure, Athabasca Basin, Canada
Authors: Hajnal Z. , Takacs E. , Pandit B. , Annesley I.R.
Published: June 2015

The primary economic uranium (U) mineralization indicators in the Athabasca Basin are the reactivated prominent basement deformation zones, basement alteration halos, and the overlying sandstone alteration halos enveloping the deposit. High‐resolution seismic surveys, from the Shea Creek area, are investigated to assess the potential of the surface seismic reflection technique for detecting these key mineralization markers. Four seismic profiles identify ductile to highly brittle deformation features of the basement. One of the brittle deformation features is a southwest‐dipping prominent reactivated shear zone comparable to basement structures hosting other known deposits in the basin. The Carswell meteor impact structure is also a conspicuous component of the Shea Creek regional structural regime. The seismic sections identify several features of the impact structure, including recognition that the dimensions of this structure are significantly larger than those estimated by previous geological studies. This larger area includes both the Cluff Lake mine and the Shea Creek U deposits, and it reveals that the basement was considerably disturbed by the impact and suggests the reactivation of the southwest‐dipping shear zone. Complex trace analysis of the seismic sections provides detailed information about the lateral changes in the reflectivity properties of the unconformity interval, which is another key zone of interest for uranium exploration. Based mainly on velocity information, several sub‐zones of clay alteration and silicification were identified within prominent fracture depth intervals: both in the sandstone and the basement. Thus, this study documents that these primary mineral indicators can be detected by the seismic method. Cross‐plots of velocity versus density of well log data identify changes in lithological units such as unaltered basement, fractured/altered basement, unaltered sandstone, clay alterations in sandstone, and silicification in sandstone.
Changing social and scientific discourses on type 2 diabetes between 1800 and 1950: a socio‐historical analysis
Authors: O'Donnell Shane
Published: June 2015

Since the emergence of type 2 diabetes as a public health threat around the middle of the 20th century, accounts of disease causation have focused predominately on lifestyle or genetics, or both, while the role of broader structural issues such as psychosocial distress has been downplayed. Yet in the years prior to this emergence, when diabetes remained the preserve of the upper classes, medical experts drew upon multiple narratives when considering the condition, the most popular of which being the role of social organisation and the interplay between mind, body and environment. This article is based on a discourse analysis of the writings of the most prominent diabetes experts between 1800 and 1950 about both the causes and management of the illness. It highlights how, although the connection between lifestyle and diabetes was well established among physicians, individual‐level explanations only fully supplanted the emphasis on social organisation as diabetes began to make the transition from being a disease of the rich to one of the poor. It argues that this discursive shift was shaped by the dynamics of class relations rather than any new forms of scientific evidence developed at the time.
Resident transfers from aged care facilities to emergency departments: Can they be avoided?
Authors: Morphet Julia , Innes Kelli , Griffiths Debra L , Crawford Kimberley , Williams Allison
Published: June 2015

Objective

Residents from aged care facilities make up a considerable proportion of ED presentations. There is evidence that many residents transferred from aged care facilities to EDs could be managed by primary care services. The present study aimed to describe the characteristics of residents transferred from residential aged care facilities to EDs, and to evaluate the appropriateness and cost of these presentations.

Methods

A retrospective review of ED records was undertaken for residents transferred from residential aged care facilities to two EDs in Melbourne, Victoria, in 2012. Data examined included residents' mode and time of arrival to ED, presenting complaint, triage category, procedures within ED, diagnosis, length of stay, and disposition. Data were examined against a previously established tool to identify resident transfers that might be ‘potentially avoidable’.

Results

There were 2880 resident transfers included in the sample, of which 408 transfers were randomly selected for scrutiny of documentation. Seventy‐one residents (17.4%) were identified as being potentially avoidable transfers.

Conclusion

Many resident transfers might have been avoided with better primary care services in place. Future strategies to improve resident care might include aged care staff skill mix and the availability of outreach or primary care services.
Low‐cost soil CO2 efflux and point concentration sensing systems for terrestrial ecology applications
Authors: Harmon Thomas C. , Dierick Diego , Trahan Nicole , Allen Michael F. , Rundel Philip W. , Oberbauer Steven F. , Schwendenmann Luitgard , Zelikova Tamara J.
Published: June 2015

Measuring CO2 concentrations and fluxes is key to the evaluation of terrestrial ecosystem carbon dynamics. Both the high cost and low portability of currently available sensors and field instruments are constraints to achieving adequate spatial and temporal coverage in characterizing ecosystem CO2 fluxes and point concentrations.

We used commercially available, low‐cost and low‐power non‐dispersive infrared (NDIR) CO2 sensors to develop: (i) a soil CO2 efflux system (K‐33 ELG sensor, 0–1% or 10 000 ppm(v)) and (ii) a point CO2 concentration system (K‐33 BLG sensor, 0 to 30% or 300 000 ppm(v)).

We first calibrated the sensors against benchmark instruments (LI‐COR LI‐6400 efflux system and Vaisala GMP343 probe). The K‐33 ELG sensor tracked the LI‐6400 well during a steady reduction from ˜ 4000 ppm to background CO2 levels (RMSE = 176 ppm). The K‐33 BLG point sensor were less favourable (RMSE = 424 ppm) because of its broad range of detection, but were suitable for proof‐of‐concept testing at elevated CO2 levels (> 1500 ppm).

In field tests of soil CO2 efflux on locations with and without leaf litter, the K‐33 efflux system yielded mean surface efflux rate values significantly lower (by ˜ 27%) than those obtained with a LI‐COR LI‐6400 for the bare (P = 0·006) and litter (P = 0·002). We explain the systematic difference in terms of flux chamber geometry and potential leakage from the prototypical system.

In a test on leaf cutter ant nest vents, the K‐33 BLG point system yielded comparable spatial and temporal patterns and slightly higher (˜ 10–15%) CO2 concentrations in comparison with a Vaisala GMP343 probe.

The results provide proof‐of‐concept for the use of two low‐cost, portable CO2 sensing systems to enable terrestrial ecologists to substantially improve the characterization of CO2 fluxes and concentrations in heterogeneous environments.
Escherichia coli virulence patterns may help to predict vesicoureteral reflux in paediatric urinary tract infections
Authors: Hogan Julien , Mahjoub Farah , Larakeb Anis Skander , Vu Thien Hoang , Hosany Ahmad , Bensman Albert , Grimprel Emmanuel , Bingen Edouard , Bonacorsi Stéphane , Ulinski Tim
Published: June 2015

Aim

Ultrasound and biological tools are used to predict high‐grade vesicoureteral reflux, but other markers are needed to better select patients who need voiding cystography. Our aim was to determine whether studying Escherichia coli virulence factors would help to predict vesicoureteral reflux in patients with their first acute pyelonephritis.

Methods

We included children presenting with E. coli‐related acute pyelonephritis or cystitis. Vesicoureteral reflux was assessed by voiding cystography. Virulence factors were identified by multiplex polymerase chain reaction. Statistical analysis was performed using logistic regression and the mean c‐statistic test.

Results

We included 198 patients: 30 with cystitis and 168 with acute pyelonephritis, including 46 with vesicoureteral reflux. High‐grade reflux was associated with acute pyelonephritis caused by the E. coli lacking virulence factors papGII (82% versus 47%, p < 0.001) or papC (85% versus 53%, p < 0.001) or belonging to phylogenetic group A or B1. When we added genetic data (lack of papGII, fyuA and phylogenetic groups) to classical predictors of vesicoureteral reflux (ultrasound examination, gender, age), the ability to predict high‐grade reflux increased, with the c‐statistic rising from 0.88 to 0.93.

Conclusion

Bacterial virulence factors and clinical factors helped to predict high‐grade reflux and may help to avoid unnecessary voiding cystographies.
Inference for Blocked Randomization under a Selection Bias Model
Authors: Kennes Lieven N. , Rosenberger William F. , Hilgers Ralf-Dieter
Published: June 2015

We provide an asymptotic test to analyze randomized clinical trials that may be subject to selection bias. For normally distributed responses, and under permuted block randomization, we derive a likelihood ratio test of the treatment effect under a selection bias model. A likelihood ratio test of the presence of selection bias arises from the same formulation. We prove that the test is asymptotically chi-square on one degree of freedom. These results correlate well with the likelihood ratio test of Ivanova et al. (2005, Statistics in Medicine  24, 1537–1546) for binary responses, for which they established by simulation that the asymptotic distribution is chi-square. Simulations also show that the test is robust to departures from normality and under another randomization procedure. We illustrate the test by reanalyzing a clinical trial on retinal detachment.
Breastfeeding‐Friendly Environmental Factors and Continuing Breastfeeding Until 6 Months Postpartum: 2008–2011 National Surveys in Taiwan
Authors: Lee Chia‐Chian , Chiou Shu‐Ti , Chen Li‐Chuan , Chien Li‐Yin
Published: June 2015

Background

Although policies have been implemented to improve a breastfeeding‐friendly environment, few studies have examined the effectiveness of these policies in Taiwan. We examined progress in breastfeeding environmental factors from 2008 through 2011 in Taiwan and their association with continuing exclusive and any breastfeeding until 6 months postpartum.

Methods

This study was a secondary data analysis, using four cross‐sectional and national surveys of 1,453–12,410 postpartum women in the years 2008 through 2011. Data were collected by telephone interviews, using structured questionnaires with randomly selected postpartum women who gave birth in the indicated years. Results were weighted to enhance representativeness. Logistic regression was used to compute adjusted odds ratios for the use of breastfeeding‐friendly services on breastfeeding continuation.

Results

The rates of breastfeeding at 6 months postpartum generally increased from 2008 to 2011, despite a drop in 2010. The use of breastfeeding‐friendly environmental factors, including breastfeeding rooms in public places or workplaces, breastfeeding consultation phone lines/websites, breastfeeding volunteers, and delivery in baby‐friendly hospitals, increased from 2008 to 2011. However, the percentage of women participating in breastfeeding support groups decreased during that period. After controlling for maternal characteristics, use of each of the breastfeeding‐friendly environmental factors was significantly and positively associated with continuing breastfeeding until 6 months postpartum. The adjusted odds ratios for breastfeeding‐friendly environmental factors ranged from 1.15 to 5.04.

Conclusions

The breastfeeding‐friendly environment and long‐term breastfeeding rates in Taiwan improved from 2008 to 2011, supporting the effectiveness of policy and public health efforts.
Designing Camera Networks by Convex Quadratic Programming
Authors: Ghanem Bernard , Cao Yuanhao , Wonka Peter
Published: June 2015

In this paper, we study the problem of automatic camera placement for computer graphics and computer vision applications. We extend the problem formulations of previous work by proposing a novel way to incorporate visibility constraints and camera‐to‐camera relationships. For example, the placement solution can be encouraged to have cameras that image the same important locations from different viewing directions, which can enable reconstruction and surveillance tasks to perform better. We show that the general camera placement problem can be formulated mathematically as a convex binary quadratic program (BQP) under linear constraints. Moreover, we propose an optimization strategy with a favorable trade‐off between speed and solution quality. Our solution is almost as fast as a greedy treatment of the problem, but the quality is significantly higher, so much so that it is comparable to exact solutions that take orders of magnitude more computation time. Because it is computationally attractive, our method also allows users to explore the space of solutions for variations in input parameters. To evaluate its effectiveness, we show a range of 3D results on real‐world floorplans (garage, hotel, mall, and airport).
Distilled Collections from Textual Image Queries
Authors: Averbuch‐Elor Hadar , Wang Yunhai , Qian Yiming , Gong Minglun , Kopf Johannes , Zhang Hao , Cohen‐Or Daniel
Published: June 2015

We present a distillation algorithm which operates on a large, unstructured, and noisy collection of internet images returned from an online object query. We introduce the notion of a distilled set, which is a clean, coherent, and structured subset of inlier images. In addition, the object of interest is properly segmented out throughout the distilled set. Our approach is unsupervised, built on a novel clustering scheme, and solves the distillation and object segmentation problems simultaneously. In essence, instead of distilling the collection of images, we distill a collection of loosely cutout foreground “shapes”, which may or may not contain the queried object. Our key observation, which motivated our clustering scheme, is that outlier shapes are expected to be random in nature, whereas, inlier shapes, which do tightly enclose the object of interest, tend to be well supported by similar shapes captured in similar views. We analyze the commonalities among candidate foreground segments, without aiming to analyze their semantics, but simply by clustering similar shapes and considering only the most significant clusters representing non‐trivial shapes. We show that when tuned conservatively, our distillation algorithm is able to extract a near perfect subset of true inliers. Furthermore, we show that our technique scales well in the sense that the precision rate remains high, as the collection grows. We demonstrate the utility of our distillation results with a number of interesting graphics applications.
Interactive Generation of Realistic Facial Wrinkles from Sketchy Drawings
Authors: Kim Hyeon‐Joong , Öztireli A. Cengiz , Shin Il‐Kyu , Gross Markus , Choi Soo‐Mi
Published: June 2015

Synthesizing facial wrinkles has been tackled either by a long process of manual sculpting on 3D models, or using automatic methods that do not allow for user interaction or artistic expression. In this paper, we propose a method that accepts interactive sketchy drawings depicting wrinkle patterns, and synthesizes realistic looking wrinkles on faces. The method inherits the simplicity of sketching, making it possible for artists as well as novice users to generate realistic facial detail very efficiently, allowing fast preview for physical makeup, or aging simulations for fun and professional applications. All strokes are used to infer the wrinkles, retaining the expressiveness of the sketches and realism of the final result at the same time. This is achieved by designing novel multi‐scale statistics tailored to the wrinkle geometry and coupled to the sketch interpretation method. The statistics capture the cross‐sectional profiles of wrinkles at different scales and parts of a face. The strokes are augmented with the statistics extracted from given example face models, and applied to an input face model interactively. The interface gives the user control over the shapes and scales of wrinkles via sketching while adding extra details required for realism automatically.
3D Fabrication of 2D Mechanisms
Authors: Hergel Jean , Lefebvre Sylvain
Published: June 2015

The success of physics sandbox applications and physics‐based puzzle games is a strong indication that casual users and hobbyists enjoy designing mechanisms, for educational or entertainment purposes. In these applications, a variety of mechanisms are designed by assembling two‐dimensional shapes, creating gears, cranks, cams, and racks. The experience is made enjoyable by the fact that the user does not need to worry about the intricate geometric details that would be necessary to produce a real mechanism.

In this paper, we propose to start from such casual designs of mechanisms and turn them into a 3D model that can be printed onto widely available, inexpensive filament based 3D printers. Our intent is to empower the users of such tools with the ability to physically realize their mechanisms and see them operate in the real world. To achieve this goal we tackle several challenges. The input 2D mechanism allows for some parts to overlap during simulation. These overlapping parts have to be resolved into non‐intersecting 3D parts in the real mechanism. We introduce a novel scheme based on the idea of including moving parts into one another whenever possible. This reduces bending stresses on axles compared to previous methods. Our approach supports sliding parts and arbitrarily shaped mechanical parts in the 2D input. The exact 3D shape of the parts is inferred from the 2D input and the simulation of the mechanism, using boolean operations between shapes. The input mechanism is often simply attached to the background. We automatically synthesize a chassis by formulating a topology optimization problem, taking into account the stresses exerted by the mechanism on the chassis through time.
Shape‐from‐Operator: Recovering Shapes from Intrinsic Operators
Authors: Boscaini Davide , Eynard Davide , Kourounis Drosos , Bronstein Michael M.
Published: June 2015

We formulate the problem of shape‐from‐operator (SfO), recovering an embedding of a mesh from intrinsic operators defined through the discrete metric (edge lengths). Particularly interesting instances of our SfO problem include: shape‐from‐Laplacian, allowing to transfer style between shapes; shape‐from‐difference operator, used to synthesize shape analogies; and shape‐from‐eigenvectors, allowing to generate ‘intrinsic averages’ of shape collections. Numerically, we approach the SfO problem by splitting it into two optimization sub‐problems: metric‐from‐operator (reconstruction of the discrete metric from the intrinsic operator) and embedding‐from‐metric (finding a shape embedding that would realize a given metric, a setting of the multidimensional scaling problem). We study numerical properties of our problem, exemplify it on several applications, and discuss its imitations.