bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Conceptualizing a circular framework of supply chain resource sustainability
Authors: Koh S.C. Lenny , Gunasekaran Angappa , Morris Jonathan , Obayi Raymond , Ebrahimi Seyed Mohammad
Published: August 2017

Purpose

In response to calls for conceptual frameworks and generic theory building toward the advancement of sustainability in supply chain resource utilization and management, the purpose of this paper is to advance a circular framework for supply chain resource sustainability (SCRS), and a decision-support methodology for assessing SCRS against the backdrop of five foundational premises (FPs) deduced from the literature on resource sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach

Taking a conceptual theory-building approach, the paper advances a set of SCRS decision-support criteria for each of the theoretical premises advanced, and applies the theory of constraints to illustrate the conceptual and practical applications of the framework in SCRS decision making.

Findings

This study uses recent conceptualizations of supply chains as “complex adaptive systems” to provide a robust and novel frame and a set of decision rules with which to assess the interconnectedness of environmental, economic, and social capital of supply chain resources from pre-production to post-production.

Research limitations/implications

The paper contributes to theory building in sustainability research, and the SCRS decision framework developed could be applied in tandem with existing quantitative hybrid life-cycle and input-output approaches to facilitate targeted resource sustainability assessments, with implications for research and practice.

Originality/value

The novel SCRS framework proposed serves as a template for evaluating SCRS and provides a decision-support methodology for assessing SCRS against the five theorized FPs.
Service fitness ladders: improving business performance in low cost and differentiated markets
Authors: Hill Alex , Cuthbertson Richard , Laker Benjamin , Brown Steve
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present 13 propositions about how internal strategic fit (often referred to as fit) impacts the business performance of low cost and differentiated services. It then uses these relationships to develop two “fitness ladder” frameworks to help practitioners understand how to improve fit given their business strategy (low cost or differentiation) and performance objectives (operational, financial or competitiveness).

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 11 strategic business units were studied that perform differently and provide a range of low cost and differentiated services to understand how changes in internal strategic fit impacted business performance over a 7 year period.

Findings

The findings suggest aligning systems with market needs does not improve performance. Instead, firms serving low cost markets should first focus managers’ attention on processes and centralise resources around key processes, before reducing process flexibility and automate as many steps as possible to develop a low cost capability that is difficult to imitate. By contrast, firms serving differentiated markets should first focus managers’ attention on customers and then locate resources near them, before increasing customer contact with their processes and making them more flexible so they can develop customer knowledge, relationships and services that are difficult to imitate.

Research limitations/implications

Some significant factors may not have been considered as the study only looked at the impact of 14 internal strategic fit variables on 7 performance variables. Also, the performance changes may not be a direct result of the strategic fit improvements identified and may not generalise to other service organisations, settings and environments.

Practical implications

The strategic fit-performance relationships identified and the “fitness ladder” frameworks developed can be used by organisations to make decisions about how best to improve fit given their different market needs, business strategies and performance objectives.

Originality/value

The findings offer more clarity than previous research about how internal fit impacts business performance for low cost and differentiated services.
A research note on multinationality and firm performance
Authors: Grant Kevin , Matousek Roman , Meyer Martin , Tzeremes Nickolaos G.
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a fresh insight into the examination of the comparison between multinationality and firm performance, measured through technical efficiency levels by overcoming methodological constraints and misunderstandings presented in earlier research.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors estimate firms’ efficiency levels in a production function-type framework through technical efficiency levels using nonparametric data envelopment analysis. The authors include firms from both developed and developing economies, from different national origins and with different sectoral characteristics, with a particular focus on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and capital-intensive business services (CIBS).

Findings

The study confirms for the case of KIBS the existence of the three-stage sigmoid (S-shaped) hypothesis between multinationality and firm performance measured through technical efficiency levels. Finally, the empirical findings reveal that CIBS exhibit only the first two stages, thus forming a “U”-shape relationship.

Originality/value

The authors propose the application of different firms’ performance measurements, providing us with the ability to unpack a firms’ managerial decision processes with regards to determining the optimised investment(s) in technology and research and development and with a particular focus on KIBS and CIBS.
Contextual case-based reasoning applied to a mobile device
Authors: Guessoum Djamel , Miraoui Moeiz , Tadj Chakib
Published: August 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to apply a contextual case-based reasoning (CBR) to a mobile device. The CBR method was chosen because it does not require training, demands minimal processing resources and easily integrates with the dynamic and uncertain nature of pervasive computing. Based on a mobile user’s location and activity, which can be determined through the device’s inertial sensors and GPS capabilities, it is possible to select and offer appropriate services to this user.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed approach comprises two stages. The first stage uses simple semantic similarity measures to retrieve the case from the case base that best matches the current case. In the second stage, the obtained selection of services is then filtered based on current contextual information.

Findings

This two-stage method adds a higher level of relevance to the services proposed to the user; yet, it is easy to implement on a mobile device.

Originality/value

A two-stage CBR using light processing methods and generating context aware services is discussed. Ontological location modeling adds reasoning flexibility and knowledge sharing capabilities.
Silicon Valley, France and China: a comparative study of innovation systems and policies
Authors: Fung K.C. , Aminian Nathalie
Published: August 2017

Purpose

In this paper, the authors aim to examine some characteristics of the innovation system and policy in France and China. For comparison, they also highlight some high technology features of Silicon Valley and California.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors study the characteristics of innovation in France and in China. The authors examine the technology systems and policies in both countries and compare their features with those in Silicon Valley.

Findings

As far as France is concerned, it can be stated that the innovation system and policy are under transformation, going from a strong state involvement to a more decentralized framework. This evolution leads to a multi-level governance of the innovation system and to the emergence of new actors. For China, the most interesting development in China is the evolution of its internet-related sector. The authors argue here that the internet-driven economy is a radical, systemic technological change and it is rapidly growing in China.

Originality/value

One of the earliest papers comparing the innovation policies and activities in France, China and Silicon Valley.
Big data-driven business model innovation by traditional industries in the Chinese economy
Authors: Cheah Sarah , Wang Shenghui
Published: August 2017

Purpose

This study aims to construct mechanisms of big data-driven business model innovation from the market, strategic and economic perspectives and core logic of business model innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors applied deductive reasoning and case analysis method on manufacturing firms in China to validate the mechanisms.

Findings

The authors have developed an integrated framework to deduce the elements of big data-driven business model innovation. The framework comprises three elements: perspectives, business model processes and big data-driven business model innovations. As we apply the framework on to three Chinese companies, it is evident that the mechanisms of business model innovation based on big data is a progressive and dynamic process.

Research limitations/implications

The case sample is relatively small, which is a typical trade-off in qualitative research.

Practical implications

A robust infrastructure that seamlessly integrates internet of things, front-end customer systems and back-end production systems is pivotal for companies. The management has to ensure its organization structure, climate and human resources are well prepared for the transformation.

Social implications

When provided with a convenient crowdsourcing platform to provide feedback and witness their suggestions being implemented, users are more likely to share insights about their use experience.

Originality/value

Extant studies of big data and business model innovation remain disparate. By adding a new dimension of intellectual and economic resource to the resource-based view, this paper posits an important link between big data and business model innovation. In addition, this study has contributed to the theoretical lens of value by contextualizing the value components of a business model and providing an integrated framework.
Using the concept of hubots to understand the work entailed in using digital technologies in healthcare
Authors: Pope Catherine , Turnbull Joanne
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the human work entailed in the deployment of digital health care technology. It draws on imagined configurations of computers and machines in fiction and social science to think about the relationship between technology and people, and why this makes implementation of digital technology so difficult. The term hubots is employed as a metaphorical device to examine how machines and humans come together to do the work of healthcare.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses the fictional depiction of hubots to reconceptualise the deployment of a particular technology – a computer decision support system (CDSS) used in emergency and urgent care services. Data from two ethnographic studies are reanalysed to explore the deployment of digital technologies in health services. These studies used comparative mixed-methods case study approaches to examine the use of the CDSS in eight different English NHS settings. The data include approximately 900 hours of observation, with 64 semi-structured interviews, 47 focus groups, and surveys of some 700 staff in call centres and urgent care centres. The paper reanalyses these data, deductively, using the metaphor of the hubot as an analytical device.

Findings

This paper focuses on the interconnected but paradoxical features of both the fictional hubots and the CDSS. Health care call handling using a CDSS has created a new occupation, and enabled the substitution of some clinical labour. However, at the same time, the introduction of the technology has created additional work. There are more tasks, both physical and emotional, and more training activity is required. Thus, the labour has been intensified.

Practical implications

This paper implies that if we want to realise the promise of digital health care technologies, we need to understand that these technologies substitute for and intensify labour.

Originality/value

This is a novel analysis using a metaphor drawn from fiction. This allows the authors to recognise the human effort required to implement digital technologies.
The effects of compassionate mind training on student psychotherapists
Authors: Beaumont Elaine , Rayner Gillian , Durkin Mark , Bowling Gosia
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine pre and post outcome measures following a course of Compassionate Mind Training (CMT). Participants were students enrolled on a Post Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy (CBP). The aim of the research was to explore whether CMT would increase self-compassion, compassion for others, dispositional empathy and reduce self-critical judgement.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 21 participants who had enrolled on the CBP programme took part in the study. Data were collected using the self-compassion scale, interpersonal reactivity index, and the compassion for others scale.

Findings

Results reveal an overall statistically significant increase in self-compassion scores and statistically significant reduction in self-critical judgement scores post training. There was no statistically significant difference post training on the interpersonal reactivity index or the compassion for others scale.

Research limitations/implications

CMT training may help students develop healthy coping strategies, which they can use to balance their affect regulation systems when faced with organisational, placement, client, academic, personal and supervision demands. Further research and longitudinal studies, using larger sample sizes are needed to explore if cultivating compassion whilst on psychotherapy training helps students build resilience and provide a barrier against empathic distress fatigue, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout.

Practical implications

Incorporating CMT into a CBP programme may bring changes in student levels of self-compassion and self-critical judgement.

Originality/value

This inaugural study examines whether incorporating CMT into a CBP programme impacts on students levels of compassion, dispositional empathy and self-critical judgement. The findings from this preliminary study suggest the potential benefits of training students in compassion focused practices.
The experiences of paid formal lived experience workers within a secure mental health service
Authors: Griffiths Christopher A. , Hancock-Johnson Ella
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report the experience and impact of paid staff who are employed to use their lived experience of mental health issues and service use within a secure mental health provider.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis was employed.

Findings

Results from this study suggest that employing lived experience workers (LEWs) in secure mental health settings is valuable to clinical staff, service users, the employing organisation and LEWs themselves. Findings emphasised the importance of support for LEWs to enable them to fulfil their role and maintain wellbeing, and the need to consider LEWs career progression within and beyond the role.

Research limitations/implications

This study had a small sample size.

Practical implications

There is evidence to support LEWs in secure mental health settings and requirement for further understanding of their work in this environment. Specific recommendations include the need for training for clinical staff about the role of LEWs, specific LEWs role training, and regular supervision and mental health support for LEWs.

Originality/value

This is the first paper reporting the experience and impact of LEWs in a UK secure mental health service.
Nursing students’ depiction of mental disorder
Authors: Carvalho José Carlos Marques , Tavares Cláudia Mara Melo
Published: August 2017

Purpose

Fighting the stigma of mental disorder is the core focus of nursing teachers closely working with mental health institutions and patients. The sharing of experiences calls attention to common motivations and concerns leading researchers to explore this universal phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the symbolic representation of mental disorder by undergraduate nursing students and to develop an instrument that contributes to reduce stigma.

Design/methodology/approach

Cross-cultural study, using a quantitative and qualitative analysis and of descriptive and exploratory nature, on the categorization of drawings made by undergraduate nursing students in Brazil and Portugal – to graphically represent mentally ill patients. The research was performed throughout a period of two school years, involving a total of 187 students. All ethical recommendations were considered.

Findings

Approximately, 50 different symbols were identified and sorted into categories. The most representative ones were “Interrogation” and “The World.” The study makes noteworthy contributions to raise awareness and enhance understanding on how future nursing graduates experience and perceive mental disorder.

Originality/value

Despite the cultural differences and geographical distance of participants, the study revealed similarities on how mental disorder is perceived. Students have still a little knowledge of new practices, of the profound changes in psychiatry and the major efforts of all mental health professionals to fight social exclusion of mentally ill persons. Drawing is a powerful educational tool to understand how people, namely, nursing students, feel and respond to mental illness.
Brexit, immigration and expanded markets of social control
Authors: Hirschler Steven
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of EU citizens’ exposure to UK immigration practices currently operating on non-EU migrants in the wake of the Brexit referendum.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on recent literature analysing the impact of immigration as a factor in voter decision making during the Brexit referendum. It challenges Hollifield’s (1992) concept of the “liberal paradox” through an analysis of private security firms’ roles in contributing towards the expansion of immigration control markets. The paper concludes with a review of migrant experiences within prisons, detention facilities and dispersed housing for asylum seekers.

Findings

The findings suggest that the abandonment of EU citizens’ freedom of movement into the UK will result in their exposure to a privatised immigration control regime that contributes to the commodification of immigrants at the expense of human welfare.

Originality/value

This paper provides a conceptual link between the role of immigration in the Brexit referendum and the implications of expanding the population of persons subject to immigration control to include EU immigrants. It draws on current debates about privatised social control markets to illuminate the social impact of valorising migrant bodies.
Roma inclusion post Brexit: a challenge to existing rhetoric?
Authors: James Zoë , Smith David
Published: August 2017

Purpose

This paper proposes that the UKs exit from the EU is unlikely to impact heavily on the lived reality of Roma, given its negligible impact prior to Brexit. The paper sets out a critique of existing EU approaches to anti-Gypsyism that are based in discourses of racism and anti-nomadism and are typified in the EU hate crime agenda. The paper argues for recognition of the systemic social harms caused by discrimination against Roma in the EU and the commonality of their experience with other socially excluded groups that do not conform to the requirements of contemporary neoliberal capitalism. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper comprises an opinion piece that sets out a critical examination of existing literature on policy and research in Romani studies and utilises theoretical work within criminology and social policy.

Findings

The paper explains the inability of existing EU approaches to tackle social harms experienced by Roma throughout the EU. In doing so it suggests that the UKs exit from the EU may not have a significant impact on Roma in the UK.

Originality/value

The paper challenges extant discourses and proposes new ways of thinking about anti-Gypsyism.
Beneath the Appearance of Gentrification: Probing Local Complexities
Authors: Lui Tai‐Lok
Published: August 2017

In ‘Gentrification in Hong Kong? Epistemology vs. Ontology’, Ley and Teo examine what they find to be the absence of identification and naming of gentrification in Hong Kong. They argue for the need to look at urban redevelopment in non‐Anglo‐American cities, those in Asia Pacific at the very least, in a different light. They query the extent to which the concept of gentrification has been overly stretched to explain urban processes falling outside Anglo‐American cities. This essay is a response to their argument. It presses for further and closer examination of local complexities and greater critical‐theoretical reflection on the transferability of analytical concepts to different socio‐economic contexts. Ley and Teo have raised some important questions for serious theoretical reflection and discussion. Yet they seem to have fallen into the problematic positions that they critique. Without sufficient attention to the part played by historical and local context in shaping the urban landscape, they have wrongly associated the absence of any identification of gentrification with the hegemony of a property‐related ideology of social mobility. The unpacking of the different social and political processes and mechanisms in urban redevelopment in different stages of urban growth in Hong Kong alerts us to the complexities of the local.
Public Company Audits and City‐Specific Labor Characteristics
Authors: Beck Matthew J. , Francis Jere R. , Gunn Joshua L.
Published: August 2017

Prior research emphasizes the centrality of audit offices in understanding auditing practices, and documents significant interoffice variation in audit outcomes based on industry expertise and office size. Our study examines how two city‐specific labor characteristics also affect audit offices and local audit markets: the city's average educational attainment, and the number of accountants in a city, which proxy for a city's human capital. Our argument draws on the urban economics literature and predicts that the level of human capital in a city is positively associated with an audit office's ability to conduct high‐quality audits. As expected, there is a positive association between audit quality (quality of audited earnings and accuracy of going‐concern reports) and average education level in the city in which the lead engagement office is located. This association is generally significant for both Big 4 and non‐Big 4 offices, but is relatively stronger for non‐Big 4 firms that are more tied to local labor markets. A company is also more likely to choose a non‐Big 4 auditor in cities with higher educational levels and relatively more accountants, and there is evidence of higher non‐Big 4 audit fees as a city's education level increases. Collectively, these results suggest that local labor characteristics affect audit offices, audit quality, and the ability of non‐Big 4 auditors to compete with Big 4 auditors in the audits of public companies.
The Glycine Receptor—A Functionally Important Primary Brain Target of Ethanol
Authors: Söderpalm Bo , Lidö Helga H. , Ericson Mia
Published: August 2017

Identification of ethanol's (EtOH) primary molecular brain targets and determination of their functional role is an ongoing, important quest. Pentameric ligand‐gated ion channels, that is, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, the γ‐aminobutyric acid type A receptor, the 5‐hydroxytryptamine3, and the glycine receptor (GlyR), are such targets. Here, aspects of the structure and function of these receptors and EtOH's interaction with them are briefly reviewed, with special emphasis on the GlyR and the importance of this receptor and its ligands for EtOH pharmacology. It is suggested that GlyRs are involved in (i) the dopamine‐activating effect of EtOH, (ii) regulating EtOH intake, and (iii) the relapse preventing effect of acamprosate. Exploration of the GlyR subtypes involved and efforts to develop subtype specific agonists or antagonists may offer new pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorders.
High doses of anti‐inflammatory drugs compromise muscle strength and hypertrophic adaptations to resistance training in young adults
Authors: Lilja M. , Mandić M. , Apró W. , Melin M. , Olsson K. , Rosenborg S. , Gustafsson T. , Lundberg T. R.
Published: August 2017

Aims

This study tested the hypothesis that high doses of anti‐inflammatory drugs would attenuate the adaptive response to resistance training compared with low doses.

Methods

Healthy men and women (aged 18–35 years) were randomly assigned to daily consumption of ibuprofen (IBU; 1200 mg; n = 15) or acetylsalicylic acid (ASA; 75 mg; n = 16) for 8 weeks. During this period, subjects completed supervised knee‐extensor resistance training where one leg was subjected to training with maximal volitional effort in each repetition using a flywheel ergometer (FW), while the other leg performed conventional (work‐matched across groups) weight‐stack training (WS). Before and after training, muscle volume (MRI) and strength were assessed, and muscle biopsies were analysed for gene and protein expression of muscle growth regulators.

Results

The increase in m. quadriceps volume was similar between FW and WS, yet was (averaged across legs) greater in ASA (7.5%) compared with IBU (3.7%, group difference 34 cm3; P = 0.029). In the WS leg, muscle strength improved similarly (11–20%) across groups. In the FW leg, increases (10–23%) in muscle strength were evident in both groups yet they were generally greater (interaction effects P < 0.05) for ASA compared with IBU. While our molecular analysis revealed several training effects, the only group interaction (P < 0.0001) arose from a downregulated mRNA expression of IL‐6 in IBU.

Conclusion

Maximal over‐the‐counter doses of ibuprofen attenuate strength and muscle hypertrophic adaptations to 8 weeks of resistance training in young adults. Thus, young individuals using resistance training to maximize muscle growth or strength should avoid excessive intake of anti‐inflammatory drugs.
Don't worry, be happy: The role of positive emotionality and adaptive emotion regulation strategies for youth depressive symptoms
Authors: Van Beveren Marie‐Lotte , Harding Kaitlin , Beyers Wim , Braet Caroline
Published: August 2017

Objectives

Low positive emotionality (PE) represents a temperamental vulnerability to depression in youth. Until now, little research has examined the mechanisms linking PE to depressive symptoms. Starting from integrated cognitive‐affective models of depression, we aimed to study adaptive emotion regulation (ER) as a key underlying mechanism in the temperament–depression relationship.

Methods

This study investigated whether adaptive ER strategies mediate the association between PE and depressive symptoms in a large community‐based sample of youth, using a cross‐sectional design. Participants were 1,655 youth (54% girls; 7–16 years, M = 11.41, SD = 1.88) who filled out a set of questionnaires assessing temperament, adaptive ER strategies, and depressive symptoms.

Results

Results revealed that low PE was significantly related to higher depressive symptoms among youth and that a lack of total adaptive ER abilities mediated this relationship. More specifically, the infrequent use of problem‐solving appeared to be of significant importance. Problems in positive refocusing and a deficient use of forgetting mediated the relationships between low PE and high negative emotionality (NE) in predicting depressive symptoms. Reappraisal and distraction were not significant mediators.

Conclusion

Results highlight the need to account for temperamental PE and adaptive ER strategies when studying youth depression. The findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding on the differential role of temperamental risk factors for developing depressive symptoms at an early stage and advocate for greater attention to adaptive ER strategies.

Practitioner points

Clinical interventions for youth depression may be improved by incorporating adaptive emotion regulation (ER) strategies and enhancing positive emotions.

Youth low in positive emotionality (PE) may especially benefit from learning adaptive ER skills.

Clinical practitioners should focus on alleviating negative emotions and enhancing positive emotions, especially among youth low in PE.
Self‐Construals and Social Adjustment in Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Early Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Executive Functioning
Authors: Miconi Diana , Moscardino Ughetta , Altoè Gianmarco , Salcuni Silvia
Published: August 2017

This study examined whether executive functions (EFs) moderate the association between independent and interdependent self‐construals and social adjustment in 488 Moroccan, Romanian, and Italian preadolescents (ages 11–13) in Italy. Participants were assessed using self‐report questionnaires and standardized EF tasks. Better working memory was related to increased social competence across all groups. High levels of inhibitory control were found to enhance the positive relation between interdependence and prosocial behavior for native Italian youth, and between interdependence and social competence for Moroccan preadolescents. High levels of cognitive flexibility boosted the interdependence–social competence link for the immigrant groups, whereas among native Italian preadolescents, the interdependence–social competence link was significant at low levels of flexibility. Implications for developmental theory and practice are discussed.
“Wealth Makes Many Friends”: Children Expect More Giving From Resource‐Rich Than Resource‐Poor Individuals
Authors: Ahl Richard E. , Dunham Yarrow
Published: August 2017

Young children show social preferences for resource‐rich individuals, although few studies have explored the causes underlying such preferences. We evaluate the viability of one candidate cause: Children believe that resource wealth relates to behavior, such that they expect the resource rich to be more likely to materially benefit others (including themselves) than the resource poor. In Studies 1 and 2 (ages 4–10), American children from predominantly middle‐income families (n = 94) and Indian children from lower income families (n = 30) predicted that the resource rich would be likelier to share with others than the resource poor. In Study 3, American children (n = 66) made similar predictions in an incentivized decision‐making task. The possibility that children's expectations regarding giving contribute to prowealth preferences is discussed.
Why Most Children Think Well of Themselves
Authors: Thomaes Sander , Brummelman Eddie , Sedikides Constantine
Published: August 2017

This research aimed to examine whether and why children hold favorable self‐conceptions (total N = 882 Dutch children, ages 8–12). Surveys (Studies 1–2) showed that children report strongly favorable self‐conceptions. For example, when describing themselves on an open‐ended measure, children mainly provided positive self‐conceptions—about four times more than neutral self‐conceptions, and about 11 times more than negative self‐conceptions. Experiments (Studies 3–4) demonstrated that children report favorable self‐conceptions, in part, to live up to social norms idealizing such self‐conceptions, and to avoid seeing or presenting themselves negatively. These findings advance understanding of the developing self‐concept and its valence: In middle and late childhood, children's self‐conceptions are robustly favorable and influenced by both external (social norms) and internal (self‐motives) forces.
Outcome of second kidney transplantation in patients with previous post‐transplantation Kaposi's sarcoma: A French retrospective study
Authors: Bohelay Gérôme , Arzouk Nadia , Lévy Pierre , Rabaté Clémentine , Le Cleach Laurence , Barete Stéphane , Barrou Benoît , Matignon Marie‐Benedicte , Euvrard Sylvie , Lebbé Céleste , Francès Camille ,   the Skin and Organ Transplantation Group of the French Society of Dermatology
Published: August 2017

This retrospective study concerned 8 patients with post‐transplantation Kaposi's sarcoma (pt‐KS) after a first kidney transplant who later had a second kidney transplantation. Pt‐KS was widespread, with lymph node or visceral involvement in 7 cases. Complete remission was observed in 6 cases and partial remission in 2. After the second kidney transplantation, only 2 cases showed recurrence of skin KS, one with previous complete remission of KS and one with partial remission. The mean delay between stability or complete remission of KS and retransplantation was 2.0 and 7.3 years in patients with and without relapse, respectively. Both recurrent cases showed complete KS remission after tapering immunosuppression therapy and/or switching a calcineurin inhibitor to a mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor. We compared these 8 cases to 24 controls who had undergone 2 kidney transplantations but did not have KS, matching on sex, age and phototype. Cases and controls did not differ in graft function or survival. A second kidney transplantation may be possible after pt‐KS and has acceptable risk, especially after a long complete remission of pt‐KS.
Sound physiological knowledge and principles in modeling shrinking of fishes under climate change
Authors: Pauly Daniel , Cheung William W. L.
Published: August 2017

One of the main expected responses of marine fishes to ocean warming is decrease in body size, as supported by evidence from empirical data and theoretical modeling. The theoretical underpinning for fish shrinking is that the oxygen supply to large fish size cannot be met by their gills, whose surface area cannot keep up with the oxygen demand by their three‐dimensional bodies. However, Lefevre et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017, 23, 3449–3459) argue against such theory. Here, we re‐assert, with the Gill‐Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT), that gills, which must retain the properties of open surfaces because their growth, even while hyperallometric, cannot keep up with the demand of growing three‐dimensional bodies. Also, we show that a wide range of biological features of fish and other water‐breathing organisms can be understood when gill area limitation is used as an explanation. We also note that an alternative to GOLT, offering a more parsimonious explanation for these features of water‐breathers has not been proposed. Available empirical evidence corroborates predictions of decrease in body sizes under ocean warming based on GOLT, with the magnitude of the predicted change increases when using more species‐specific parameter values of metabolic scaling.
The roles of mucus‐forming mucins, peritrophins and peritrophins with mucin domains in the insect midgut
Authors: Dias R. O. , Cardoso C. , Pimentel A. C. , Damasceno T. F. , Ferreira C. , Terra W. R.
Published: August 2017

Most insects have a gut lined with a peritrophic membrane (PM) consisting of chitin and proteins, mainly peritrophins that have chitin‐binding domains. The PM is proposed to originate from mucus‐forming mucins (Mf‐mucins), which acquired a chitin‐binding domain that interlocked with chitin, replacing mucus in function. We evaluated the expression of Mf‐mucins and peritrophins by RNA‐sequencing (RNA‐seq) throughout the midgut of four distantly related insects. Mf‐mucins were identified as proteins with high o‐glycosylation and a series of uninterrupted Pro/Thr/Ser residues. The results demonstrate that the mucus layer is widespread in insects, and suggest that insect Mf‐mucins are derived from those found in other animals by the loss of the cysteine knot and von Willebrand domains. The data also support a role of Mf‐mucins in protecting the middle midgut of Musca domestica against acidic buffers. Mf‐mucins may also produce a jelly‐like material associated with the PM that immobilizes digestive enzymes in Spodoptera frugiperda. Peritrophins with a domain similar to Mf‐mucins may be close to the ancestor of peritrophins. Expression data of peritrophins and chitin synthase genes throughout the midgut of M. domestica, S. frugiperda and Tenebrio molitor indicated that peritrophins were incorporated along the PM, according to their preferential sites of formation. Finally, the data support the view that mucus has functions distinct from the PM.
Complexity among combinatorial problems from epidemics
Authors: Piccini Juan , Robledo Franco , Romero Pablo
Published: August 2017

A cornerstone in epidemic modeling is the classical susceptible–infected–removed model, or SIR. In this model, individuals are divided into three classes: susceptible (those who can be infected), infected, and removed (those who suffered the infection and recovered, gaining immunity from further contact with infected individuals). Transitions occur at constant rates . The SIR model is both simple and useful to understand cascading failures in a network. Nevertheless, a shortcoming is the unrealistic assumption of random contacts in a fully mixed large population. More realistic models are available from authoritative literature in the field. They consider a graph and an epidemic spread governed by probabilistic rules. In this paper, a combinatorial optimization problem is introduced using graph‐theoretic terminology, inspired by an extremal analysis of epidemic modeling. The contributions are threefold. First, a general node immunization problem is defined for node immunization under budget requirements, using probabilistic networks. The goal is to minimize the expected number of deaths under a particular choice of nodes in the system to be immunized. In the second stage, a highly virulent environment leads to a purely combinatorial problem without probabilistic law, called the graph fragmentation problem (GFP). We prove the corresponding decision version for the GFP belongs to the class of ‐complete problems. As a corollary, SIR‐based models also belong to this set. Third, a GRASP (greedy randomized adaptive search procedure) heuristic enriched with a path‐relinking post‐optimization phase is developed for the GFP. Finally, an experimental analysis is carried out under graphs taken from real‐life applications.
Experimental investigation of phase relations and thermodynamic properties in the ZrO2–TiO2 system
Authors: Saenko Ivan , Ilatovskaia Maria , Savinykh Galina , Fabrichnaya Olga
Published: August 2017

Phase relations in the ZrO2–TiO2 system were studied experimentally using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy combined with dispersive X‐ray spectrometry (SEM/EDX) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The homogeneity ranges of ZrO2 and TiO2, as well as high temperature disordered β‐(ZrxTi1−x)2O4 compound were defined in the temperature range of 1700‐2040 K. Temperature and composition of eutectic reaction were measured. The standard enthalpy of formation of the β‐ZrTiO4 compound was obtained using high‐temperature oxide‐melt solution calorimetry. High temperature heat capacity measurement for the β‐ZrTiO4 compound was performed in the temperature range from 250 K to 1200 K. Thermodynamic description of ZrO2–TiO2 system has been derived based on obtained experimental results and data from literature.
Structure, electrical, and thermal expansion properties of PZnTe–PZT ternary system piezoelectric ceramics
Authors: Huang Xiang , Zeng Jiangtao , Ruan Xuezheng , Zheng Liaoying , Li Guorong
Published: August 2017

xPb(Zn0.5Te0.5)O3–(1−x)Pb(Zr0.5Ti0.5)O3 (PZnTe–PZT) ceramics were prepared by the solid‐state reaction method. The phase structure, microstructure, ferroelectric and dielectric properties and thermal expansion properties were systematically investigated. X‐ray diffraction analysis showed the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) existed at the composition of x = 0.08, which was the coexistence of the rhombohedral phase and the tetragonal phase. The grain size of ceramics decreased rapidly from 10‐20 μm to 1‐3 μm when the PZnTe was added in. The PZnTe–PZT ceramics at the MPB composition showed the largest high field effective piezoelectric coefficient and the lowest strain hysteresis H. The dielectric permittivity and phase transition temperature exhibited strongly compositional dependence. A good linear relation was shown in Tm temperature vs x content and a DPT behavior was found in xPZnTe–(1−x)PZT (x = 0.02‐0.08). The thermal expansion properties showed a low thermal expansion coefficient in the low temperature while a high thermal expansion coefficient in the high temperature. Besides, the thermal expansion curve also showed the characteristic of DPT in PZnTe–PZT ceramics.
The NbO6 octahedral distortion and phase structural transition of Eu3+‐doped K0.5Na0.5NbO3–xLiNbO3 ferroelectric ceramics
Authors: Wang Jia , Luo Laihui
Published: August 2017

A small quantity of Eu3+ ions were doped in the lead‐free ferroelectric K0.5Na0.5NbO3–xLiNbO3 (KNN–xLN, 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.08) ceramics to investigate the NbO6 octahedral distortion induced by the increasing LN content. In addition, the phase structure, ferroelectric, and photoluminescence properties of K0.5Na0.5NbO3–xLiNbO3:0.006Eu3+ (KNN–xLN:0.006Eu3+) lead‐free piezoelectric ceramics were characterized. All the X‐ray diffraction, Raman spectra, dielectric constant vs temperature measurements and the photoluminescence of Eu3+ ions demonstrated that the prepared ceramics undergo a polymorphic phase transition (PPT, from orthorhombic to tetragonal phase transformation) with the rising LN content, and the PPT region locates at 0.05 ≤ x ≤ 0.06. The ferroelectric properties, Raman intensity ratios and photoluminescence intensity ratios show similar variations with the increasing LN content, all with a maximum value achieved at the PPT region. We believe that the close relationship among the ferroelectric properties, Raman intensity ratios, and photoluminescence intensity ratios is caused by the NbO6 octahedral distortion. The photoluminescence of Eu3+ ion was discussed basing on the crystal‐symmetry principle and Judd‐Ofelt theory.
An innovative α‐calcium sulfate hemihydrate bioceramic as a potential bone graft substitute
Authors: Hsu Heng‐Jui , Waris Rahmat Abd , Ruslin Muhammad , Lin Yun‐Ho , Chen Chin‐Sung , Ou Keng‐Liang
Published: August 2017

The microstructural, in vitro and in vivo properties of the microwave‐synthesized samples were investigated using the optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, X‐ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimeter, contact angle goniometer, cell cytotoxicity assay, and chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model in the study. When the calcium sulfate dihydrate (CSD) precursor underwent microwave irradiation treatment at temperatures between 100°C and 160°C, the crystal morphologies and crystalline structures were transformed from (tablet‐like CSD (monoclinic)) → (tablet‐like CSD (monoclinic) + long column α‐calcium sulfate hemihydrate (α‐CSH, hexagonal)) → (long column CSD (monoclinic) + short column α‐CSH (hexagonal)) → (uniform short column α‐CSH (hexagonal)). The high‐purity α‐CSH with uniform short column crystals around 10 μm in length can be synthesized at 160°C for 10 minutes and exhibits a higher hydrophilic feature in blood. Moreover, the cell cytotoxicity assay indicated that the microwave‐synthesized samples possessed well biocompatibility. In vivo results also demonstrated that the microwave‐synthesized α‐CSH not only induces angiogenesis formation but also facilitates osteogenesis. Therefore, the microwave‐synthesized α‐CSH is a promising bone graft substitute that can be applied in dental and orthopedic fields.
Temperature dependence of indentation size effect, dislocation pile‐ups, and lattice friction in (001) strontium titanate
Authors: Javaid Farhan , Johanns Kurt E. , Patterson Eric A. , Durst Karsten
Published: August 2017

Nanoindentations with a Berkovich type indenter were performed on (001) strontium titanate (STO) single crystal at 25°C and 350°C, analyzing the influence of temperature on the indentation size effect (ISE) and dislocation structure around the residual impression. It is found that the STO exhibits an ISE, which is strongly reduced at 350°C compared to 25°C. The dislocation structure around the residual impression has been resolved using an etch‐pit technique. At 25°C, the extension of the dislocation pile‐ups were found to be shorter as compared to 350°C. This also correlates with the smaller size effects at 350°C. Peach‐Koehler forces and the elastic‐plastic indentation stress field were used to model the influence of the lattice frictional stress on the dislocation pile‐ups. Based on an equilibrium position of the outermost dislocations, the average lattice frictional stresses were calculated to be 89 MPa and 46 MPa at 25°C and 350°C, respectively.
Enhanced electron collection efficiency of nanostructured dye‐sensitized solar cells by incorporating TiO2 cubes
Authors: Sarvari Najme , Mohammadi Mohammad Reza
Published: August 2017

Herein, enhancement of dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSC) performance is reported by combining the merits of the dye loading of TiO2 nanoparticles and light scattering, straight carrier transport path, and efficient electron collection efficiency of TiO2 cubes. We fabricate DSC devices with various arrangement styles and compositions of the electrodes in the forms of monolayer and double layer films. For this purpose, the solvothermal synthesized TiO2 cubic particles (100‐600 nm) are employed as the scattering layer, whereas TiO2 nanoparticles (15‐30 nm) synthesized via a combination of solvothermal and sol‐gel routes are used as the active layer of devices. We improve the photovoltaic characteristics of DSCs by two mechanisms. First, the light harvesting of DSC devices made of nanoparticles is improved by controlling the thickness of monolayer films, reaching the highest efficiency of 7.0%. Second, the light scattering and electron collection efficiency are enhanced by controlling the composition of double layer films composed of mixtures of TiO2 nanoparticles and cubes, obtaining the maximum efficiency of 8.21%. The enhancements are attributed to balance between charge transfer resistance and charge recombination of photo‐generated electrons as well as dye loading and light scattering.
Relationship of renin‐angiotensin system polymorphisms with ambulatory and central blood pressure in patients with hypertension
Authors: Han Weizhong , Sun Ningling , Chen Lianghua , Jiang Shiliang , Chen Yunchao , Li Min , Tian Hongbo , Zhang Ke , Han Xiao
Published: August 2017

This study was conducted to explore whether the renin C‐5312T, angiotensin II type 1 receptor A1166C, and angiotensin‐converting enzyme I/D polymorphisms were associated with ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and central hemodynamics in an untreated hypertensive population. A total of 471 participants with no previous treatment for raised BP were eligible for the study. Ambulatory and central BP were measured. DD carriers had the highest daytime systolic/diastolic BP, nighttime systolic BP, 24‐hour systolic BP, and 24‐hour diastolic BP values, whereas carriers of DD had higher central systolic BP and augmentation index compared with those with the II genotype. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that DD genotype was independently associated with 24‐hour systolic BP, 24‐hour diastolic BP, central systolic BP, and central augmentation index. There was an independent association of the angiotensin‐converting enzyme polymorphism with central and ambulatory BP in Chinese patients with hypertension.