bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Early Canadian Experience with the Correx Automated Coring and Apical Connector Device for Aortic Valve Bypass
Authors: Al-Amodi Hussein A. , Tarola Christopher L. , Alhabib Hamad F. , Adams Corey , Guo Linrui Ray , Kiaii Bob B.
Published: December 2016

Objective

Aortic valve replacement is the standard of care for severe, symptomatic aortic valve stenosis (AS); however, anatomy or preexisting comorbidities may preclude conventional or alternative transcatheter approaches. Aortic valve bypass (AVB) may be performed as a salvage procedure for the relief of symptomatic aortic stenosis in patients who are not suitable candidates for aortic valve replacement.

Methods

At our institution, seven patients underwent AVB using the Correx automated coring and apical connector system. All patients had severe AS with New York Heart Association functional class 3 symptoms and were not candidates for conventional or transcatheter approaches. Via a left anterolateral thoracotomy to access the descending aorta and left ventricular apex, we used the Correx system (Correx, Waltham, MA USA) to anastomose a valve conduit to the left ventricular apex proximally and the descending aorta distally. Three patients required cardiopulmonary bypass.

Results

In all seven patients, the automated coring and apical connector was successfully deployed. There were two in-hospital deaths in this series. Immediately postoperatively and at 3 months, there was a significant reduction in mean and peak valve gradients, and all surviving patients performed at New York Heart Association functional class 1.

Conclusions

Aortic valve bypass seems to be an acceptable alternative for the treatment of severe AS in high-risk patients who are not candidates for aortic valve replacement. The Correx automated system may improve the clinical applicability and surgical repro-ducibility of AVB in appropriately selected patients in which conventional or transcatheter aortic valve replacement is not a feasible options.
Risk of Gambling Disorder and Impulse Control Disorder With Aripiprazole, Pramipexole, and Ropinirole
Authors: Etminan Mahyar , Sodhi Mohit , Samii Ali , Procyshyn Ric M. , Guo Michael , Carleton Bruce C.
Published: December 2016

Background

Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning regarding the potential risk of gambling disorder, but large epidemiologic studies are lacking.

Methods

We used a large health claims database from the United States and conducted a nested case-control study. Cases were defined as subjects newly diagnosed with gambling disorder or impulse control disorder. For each case, 10 controls were selected and matched to cases by age and follow-up time and calendar time. Adjusted rate ratios were computed with conditional logistic regression.

Results

There are 355 cases of gambling disorder and 3550 controls along with 4341 cases of impulse control disorder and 43,410 corresponding controls. After adjusting for confounders, users of aripiprazole demonstrated an increased risk of pathologic gambling (rate ratio [RR], 5.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.78–15.38) and impulse control disorder (RR, 7.71; 95% CI, 5.81–10.34). The risk was also elevated for pramipexole or ropinirole for both gambling disorder and impulse control disorder (RR, 7.61; 95% CI, 2.75–21.07; RR, 3.28; 95% CI, 2.31–4.66, respectively).

Conclusions

Our study confirms an association between aripiprazole, pramipexole, or ropinirole and impulse control disorder and gambling disorder.
Analysis and Management of Complications in a Cohort of 1,065 Minimally Invasive Cochlear Implantations
Authors: Jiang Yi , Gu Ping , Li Beicheng , Gao Xue , Sun Baochun , Song Yueshuai , Wang Guojian , Yuan Yongyi , Wang Cuicui , Liu Miao , Han Dongyi , Dai Pu
Published: December 2016

Objectives:

To analyze complications associated with minimally invasive cochlear implantation by comparing data from different centers, to discuss major reasons for complications, and to refine implantation techniques to decrease them.

Patients:

Patients who underwent cochlear implantation at our center by the same surgeon (the corresponding author of this article) from March 2006 to March 2015 were enrolled.

Intervention:

First, a retrospective analysis of the complications associated with minimally invasive cochlear implantation at our center was performed. Second, published reports from other centers that describe complications were reviewed. Differences between complications in our cohort and other studies were evaluated.

Main Outcome Measure:

Strategies for reducing complications were assessed and modifications in surgical protocol proposed accordingly.

Results:

In total, 1,014 patients underwent 1,065 cochlear implantations. There were 28 complications (7 major, 21 minor) and only 2 reimplantations for the entire cohort, with no case of severe infection, flap necrosis, or device extrusion. The major complications were electrode misplacement, magnet displacement, implant failure secondary to trauma, and temporary cerebrospinal fluid leakage. The rates of major complications in our cohort were very low (0.6%) compared with those in the literature.

Conclusion:

Preoperative surgical planning based on individual patient anatomy and employment of soft surgical techniques can minimize surgical complications.
The impact of value-based healthcare for inflammatory bowel diseases on healthcare utilization: a pilot study
Authors: van Deen Welmoed K. , Spiro Arlen , Burak Ozbay A. , Skup Martha , Centeno Adriana , Duran Natalie E. , Lacey Precious N. , Jatulis Darius , Esrailian Eric , van Oijen Martijn G.H. , Hommes Daniel W.
Published: December 2016

Background and objectives

Value-based healthcare (VBHC) is considered to be the solution that will improve quality and decrease costs in healthcare. Many hospitals are implementing programs on the basis of this strategy, but rigorous scientific reports are still lacking. In this pilot study, we present the first-year outcomes of a VBHC program for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) management that focuses on highly coordinated care, task differentiation of providers, and continuous home monitoring.

Methods

IBD patients treated within the VBHC program were identified in an administrative claims database from a commercial insurer allowing comparisons to matched controls. Only patients for whom data were available the year before and after starting the program were included. Healthcare utilization including visits, hospitalizations, laboratory and imaging tests, and medications were compared between groups.

Results

In total, 60 IBD patients treated at the VBHC Center were identified and were matched to 177 controls. Significantly fewer upper endoscopies were performed (−10%, P=0.012), and numerically fewer surgeries (−25%, P=0.49), hospitalizations (−28%, 0=0.71), emergency department visits (-37%, P=0.44), and imaging studies (−25 to −86%) were observed. In addition, 65% fewer patients (P=0.16) used steroids long term. IBD-related costs were 16% ($771) lower than expected (P=0.24).

Conclusion

These are the first results of a successfully implemented VBHC program for IBD. Encouraging trends toward fewer emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and long-term corticosteroid use were observed. These results will need to be confirmed in a larger sample with more follow-up.
Modular knowledge systems accelerate human migration in asymmetric random environments
Authors: Wang Dong , Deem Michael W.
Published: December 2016

Migration is a key mechanism for expansion of communities. In spatially heterogeneous environments, rapidly gaining knowledge about the local environment is key to the evolutionary success of a migrating population. For historical human migration, environmental heterogeneity was naturally asymmetric in the north–south (NS) and east–west (EW) directions. We here consider the human migration process in the Americas, modelled as random, asymmetric, modularly correlated environments. Knowledge about the environments determines the fitness of each individual. We present a phase diagram for asymmetry of migration as a function of carrying capacity and fitness threshold. We find that the speed of migration is proportional to the inverse complement of the spatial environmental gradient, and in particular, we find that NS migration rates are lower than EW migration rates when the environmental gradient is higher in the NS direction. Communication of knowledge between individuals can help to spread beneficial knowledge within the population. The speed of migration increases when communication transmits pieces of knowledge that contribute in a modular way to the fitness of individuals. The results for the dependence of migration rate on asymmetry and modularity are consistent with existing archaeological observations. The results for asymmetry of genetic divergence are consistent with patterns of human gene flow.
Calcium interacts with temperature to influence
Daphnia
movement rates
Authors: Betini Gustavo S. , Roszell Jordan , Heyland Andreas , Fryxell John M.
Published: December 2016

Predicting the ecological responses to climate change is particularly challenging, because organisms might be affected simultaneously by the synergistic effects of multiple environmental stressors. Global warming is often accompanied by declining calcium concentration in many freshwater ecosystems. Although there is growing evidence that these changes in water chemistry and thermal conditions can influence ecosystem dynamics, little information is currently available about how these synergistic environmental stressors could influence the behaviour of aquatic organisms. Here, we tested whether the combined effects of calcium and temperature affect movement parameters (average speed, mean turning frequency and mean-squared displacement) of the planktonic
Daphnia magna
, using a full factorial design and exposing
Daphnia
individuals to a range of realistic levels of temperature and calcium concentration. We found that movement increased with both temperature and calcium concentration, but temperature effects became considerably weaker when individuals were exposed to calcium levels close to survival limits documented for several
Daphnia
species, signalling a strong interaction effect. These results support the notion that changes in water chemistry might have as strong an effect as projected changes in temperature on movement rates of
Daphnia
, suggesting that even sublethal levels of calcium decline could have a considerable impact on the dynamics of freshwater ecosystems.
An approximate solution for a penny-shaped hydraulic fracture that accounts for fracture toughness, fluid viscosity and leak-off
Authors: Dontsov E. V.
Published: December 2016

This paper develops a closed-form approximate solution for a penny-shaped hydraulic fracture whose behaviour is determined by an interplay of three competing physical processes that are associated with fluid viscosity, fracture toughness and fluid leak-off. The primary assumption that permits one to construct the solution is that the fracture behaviour is mainly determined by the three-process multiscale tip asymptotics and the global fluid volume balance. First, the developed approximation is compared with the existing solutions for all limiting regimes of propagation. Then, a solution map, which indicates applicability regions of the limiting solutions, is constructed. It is also shown that the constructed approximation accurately captures the scaling that is associated with the transition from any one limiting solution to another. The developed approximation is tested against a reference numerical solution, showing that accuracy of the fracture width and radius predictions lie within a fraction of a per cent for a wide range of parameters. As a result, the constructed approximation provides a rapid solution for a penny-shaped hydraulic fracture, which can be used for quick fracture design calculations or as a reference solution to evaluate accuracy of various hydraulic fracture simulators.
Measurement of the Earth's rotation: 720 BC to AD 2015
Authors: Stephenson F. R. , Morrison L. V. , Hohenkerk C. Y.
Published: December 2016

New compilations of records of ancient and medieval eclipses in the period 720 BC to AD 1600, and of lunar occultations of stars in AD 1600–2015, are analysed to investigate variations in the Earth’s rate of rotation. It is found that the rate of rotation departs from uniformity, such that the change in the length of the mean solar day (lod) increases at an average rate of +1.8 ms per century. This is significantly less than the rate predicted on the basis of tidal friction, which is +2.3 ms per century. Besides this linear change in the lod, there are fluctuations about this trend on time scales of decades to centuries. A power spectral density analysis of fluctuations in the range 2–30 years follows a power law with exponent −1.3, and there is evidence of increased power at a period of 6 years. There is some indication of an oscillation in the lod with a period of roughly 1500 years. Our measurements of the Earth’s rotation for the period 720 BC to AD 2015 set firm boundaries for future work on post-glacial rebound and core–mantle coupling which are invoked to explain the departures from tidal friction.
Perspectives on magnetic reconnection
Authors: Zweibel Ellen G. , Yamada Masaaki
Published: December 2016

Magnetic reconnection is a topological rearrangement of magnetic field that occurs on time scales much faster than the global magnetic diffusion time. Since the field lines break on microscopic scales but energy is stored and the field is driven on macroscopic scales, reconnection is an inherently multi-scale process that often involves both magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and kinetic phenomena. In this article, we begin with the MHD point of view and then describe the dynamics and energetics of reconnection using a two-fluid formulation. We also focus on the respective roles of global and local processes and how they are coupled. We conclude that the triggers for reconnection are mostly global, that the key energy conversion and dissipation processes are either local or global, and that the presence of a continuum of scales coupled from microscopic to macroscopic may be the most likely path to fast reconnection.
The value of biodiversity for the functioning of tropical forests: insurance effects during the first decade of the Sabah biodiversity experiment
Authors: Tuck Sean L. , O'Brien Michael J. , Philipson Christopher D. , Saner Philippe , Tanadini Matteo , Dzulkifli Dzaeman , Godfray H. Charles J. , Godoong Elia , Nilus Reuben , Ong Robert C. , Schmid Bernhard , Sinun Waidi , Snaddon Jake L. , Snoep Martijn , Tangki Hamzah , Tay John , Ulok Philip , Wai Yap Sau , Weilenmann Maja , Reynolds Glen , Hector Andy
Published: December 2016

One of the main environmental threats in the tropics is selective logging, which has degraded large areas of forest. In southeast Asia, enrichment planting with seedlings of the dominant group of dipterocarp tree species aims to accelerate restoration of forest structure and functioning. The role of tree diversity in forest restoration is still unclear, but the ‘insurance hypothesis’ predicts that in temporally and spatially varying environments planting mixtures may stabilize functioning owing to differences in species traits and ecologies. To test for potential insurance effects, we analyse the patterns of seedling mortality and growth in monoculture and mixture plots over the first decade of the Sabah biodiversity experiment. Our results reveal the species differences required for potential insurance effects including a trade-off in which species with denser wood have lower growth rates but higher survival. This trade-off was consistent over time during the first decade, but growth and mortality varied spatially across our 500 ha experiment with species responding to changing conditions in different ways. Overall, average survival rates were extreme in monocultures than mixtures consistent with a potential insurance effect in which monocultures of poorly surviving species risk recruitment failure, whereas monocultures of species with high survival have rates of self-thinning that are potentially wasteful when seedling stocks are limited. Longer-term monitoring as species interactions strengthen will be needed to more comprehensively test to what degree mixtures of species spread risk and use limited seedling stocks more efficiently to increase diversity and restore ecosystem structure and functioning.
Biodiversity and human well-being: an essential link for sustainable development
Authors: Naeem Shahid , Chazdon Robin , Duffy J. Emmett , Prager Case , Worm Boris
Published: December 2016

As society strives to transition towards more sustainable development pathways, it is important to properly conceptualize the link between biodiversity (i.e. genes, traits, species and other dimensions) and human well-being (HWB; i.e. health, wealth, security and other dimensions). Here, we explore how published conceptual frameworks consider the extent to which the biodiversity–HWB links are being integrated into public discourse and scientific research and the implications of our findings for sustainable development. We find that our understanding has gradually evolved from seeing the value of biodiversity as an external commodity that may influence HWB to biodiversity as fundamental to HWB. Analysis of the literature trends indicates increasing engagement with the terms
biodiversity
,
HWB
and
sustainable development
in the public, science and policy spheres, but largely as independent rather than linked terms. We suggest that a consensus framework for sustainable development should include biodiversity explicitly as a suite of internal variables that both influence and are influenced by HWB. Doing so will enhance clarity and help shape coherent research and policy priorities. We further suggest that the absence of this link in development can inadvertently lead to a ratcheting down of biodiversity by otherwise well-meaning policies. Such biotic impoverishment could lock HWB at minimum levels or lead to its decline and halt or reverse progress in achieving sustainable development.
A Phylogenetic Analysis of Shape Covariance Structure in the Anthropoid Skull
Authors: Garcia Guilherme , de Oliveira Felipe Bandoni , Marroig Gabriel
Published: December 2016

Phenotypic traits evolve in a coordinated manner due to developmental and functional interactions, mediated by the dynamics of natural selection; the dependence between traits arising from these three factors is captured by genetic (G) and phenotypic (P) covariance matrices. Mammalian skull development produces an intricate pattern of tissue organization and mutual signaling that integrates this structure, although the set of functions it performs is quite disparate. Therefore, the interplay between these interactions, and their relationships with the adaptive landscape may thus influence divergence in covariance structure among sister lineages. Here, we evaluate the stability of phenotypic covariance structure in skull size and shape along the diversification of Anthropoid Primates under a explicit phylogenetic framework. We estimate diversity in covariance structure, testing hypotheses concerning the phylogenetic distribution ofP-matrix variation and pinpoint which traits are associated with this variation. We find that most changes occurred in the basal split between Platyrrhini and Catarrhini, and that these changes occurred within both Orbital and Basicranial trait sets, while Oral, Nasal and Vault trait sets present stable associations along the Anthropoid phylogeny. Therefore, changes inP-matrix structure among Anthropoids are restricted to trait sets whose functional significance is associated with the accommodation of the two precursor tissues that compose the skull, while the stability in the remaining regions hints at the stability of the underlying functional relationships imposed by the adaptive landscape.
Power laws and critical fragmentation in global forests
Authors: Saravia Leonardo A. , Doyle Santiago R. , Bond-Lamberty Ben
Published: December 2016

The replacement of forest areas with human-dominated landscapes usually leads to fragmentation, altering the structure and function of the forest. Here we studied the dynamics of forest patch sizes at a global level, examining signals of a critical transition from an unfragmented to a fragmented state, using the MODIS vegetation continuous field. We defined wide regions of connected forest across continents and big islands, and combined five criteria, including the distribution of patch sizes and the fluctuations of the largest patch over the last sixteen years, to evaluate the closeness of each region to a fragmentation threshold. Regions with the highest deforestation rates—South America, Southeast Asia, Africa—all met these criteria and may thus be near a critical fragmentation threshold. This implies that if current forest loss rates are maintained, wide continental areas could suddenly fragment, triggering extensive species loss and degradation of ecosystems services.
OpenMM 7: Rapid Development of High Performance Algorithms for Molecular Dynamics
Authors: Eastman Peter , Swails Jason , Chodera John D. , McGibbon Robert T. , Zhao Yutong , Beauchamp Kyle A. , Wang Lee-Ping , Simmonett Andrew C. , Harrigan Matthew P. , Stern Chaya D. , Wiewiora Rafal P. , Brooks Bernard R. , Pande Vijay S.
Published: December 2016

OpenMM is a molecular dynamics simulation toolkit with a unique focus on extensibility. It allows users to easily add new features, including forces with novel functional forms, new integration algorithms, and new simulation protocols. Those features automatically work on all supported hardware types (including both CPUs and GPUs) and perform well on all of them. In many cases they require minimal coding, just a mathematical description of the desired function. They also require no modification to OpenMM itself and can be distributed independently of OpenMM. This makes it an ideal tool for researchers developing new simulation methods, and also allows those new methods to be immediately available to the larger community.
Resource-Driven Encounters and the Induction of Disease Among Consumers
Authors: Borchering Rebecca K. , Bellan Steve E. , Flynn Jason M. , Pulliam Juliet R.C. , McKinley Scott A.
Published: December 2016

Submitted Manuscript 2016.Territorial animals share a variety of common resources, which can be a major driver of conspecific encounter rates. We examine how changes in resource availability influence the rate of encounters among individuals in a consumer population by implementing a spatially explicit model for resource visitation behavior by consumers. Using data from 2009 and 2010 in Etosha National Park, we verify our model's prediction that there is a saturation effect in the expected number of jackals that visit a given carcass site as carcasses become abundant. However, this does not directly imply that the overall resource-driven encounter rate among jackals decreases. This is because the increase in available carcasses is accompanied by an increase in the number of jackals that detect and potentially visit carcasses. Using simulations and mathematical analysis of our consumer-resource interaction model, we characterize key features of the relationship between resource-driven encounter rate and model parameters. These results are used to investigate a standing hypothesis that the outbreak of a fatal disease among zebras can potentially lead to an outbreak of an entirely different disease in the jackal population, a process we refer to as indirect induction of disease.
A new law of human perception
Authors: Wei Xue-Xin , Stocker Alan A.
Published: December 2016

Perception is a subjective experience that depends on the expectations and beliefs of an observer1. Psychophysical measures provide an objective yet indirect characterization of this experience by describing the dependency between the physical properties of a stimulus and the corresponding perceptually guided behavior2. Two fundamental psychophysical measures characterize an observer’s perception of a stimulus: how well the observer can discriminate the stimulus from similar ones (discrimination threshold) and how strongly the observer’s perceived stimulus value deviates from the true stimulus value (perceptual bias). It has long been thought that these two perceptual characteristics are independent3. Here we demonstrate that discrimination threshold and perceptual bias show a surprisingly simple mathematical relation. The relation, which we derived from assumptions of optimal sensory encoding and decoding4, is well supported by a wide range of reported psychophysical data5–16including perceptual changes induced by spatial17,18and temporal19–23context, and attention24. The large empirical support suggests that the proposed relation represents a new law of human perception. Our results imply that universal rules govern the computational processes underlying human perception.
Rice protein models from the Nutritious Rice for the World Project
Authors: Hung Ling-Hong , Samudrala Ram
Published: December 2016

Background

Many rice protein sequences are very different from the sequence of proteins with known structures. Homology modeling is not possible for many rice proteins. However, it is possible to use computational intensivede novotechniques to obtain protein models when the protein sequence cannot be mapped to a protein of known structure. The Nutritious Rice for the World project generated 10 billion models encompassing more than 60,000 small proteins and protein domains for the rice strains Oryza sativa and Oryza japonica.

Findings

Over a period of 1.5 years, the volunteers of World Community Grid supported by IBM generated 10 billion candidate structures, a task that would have taken a single CPU on the order of 10 millennia. For each protein sequence, 5 top structures were chosen using a novel clustering methodology developed for analyzing large datasets. These are provided along with the entire set of 10 billion conformers.

Conclusions

We anticipate that the centroid models will be of use in visualizing and determining the role of rice proteins where the function is unknown. The entire set of conformers is unique in terms of size and that they were derived from sequences that lack detectable homologs. Large sets ofde novoconformers are rare and we anticipate that this set will be useful for benchmarking and developing new protein structure prediction methodologies.
Orosomucoid Proteins Interact with the Small Subunit of Serine Palmitoyltransferase and Contribute to Sphingolipid Homeostasis and Stress Responses in Arabidopsis
Authors: Li Jian , Yin Jian , Rong Chan , Li Kai-En , Wu Jian-Xin , Huang Li-Qun , Zeng Hong-Yun , Sahu Sunil Kumar , Yao Nan
Published: December 2016

Serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT), a pyridoxyl-5′-phosphate-dependent enzyme, catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step in sphingolipid biosynthesis. In humans and yeast, orosomucoid proteins (ORMs) negatively regulate SPT and thus play an important role in maintaining sphingolipid levels. Despite the importance of sphingoid intermediates as bioactive molecules, the regulation of sphingolipid biosynthesis through SPT is not well understood in plants. Here, we identified and characterized the Arabidopsis thaliana ORMs, ORM1 and ORM2. Loss of function of both ORM1 and ORM2 (orm1 amiR-ORM2) stimulated de novo sphingolipid biosynthesis, leading to strong sphingolipid accumulation, especially of long-chain bases and ceramides. Yeast two-hybrid, bimolecular fluorescence complementation, and coimmunoprecipitation assays confirmed that ORM1 and ORM2 physically interact with the small subunit of SPT (ssSPT), indicating that ORMs inhibit ssSPT function. We found that orm1 amiR-ORM2 plants exhibited an early-senescence phenotype accompanied by H2O2 production at the cell wall and in mitochondria, active vesicular trafficking, and formation of cell wall appositions. Strikingly, the orm1 amiR-ORM2 plants showed increased expression of genes related to endoplasmic reticulum stress and defenses and also had enhanced resistance to oxidative stress and pathogen infection. Taken together, our findings indicate that ORMs interact with SPT to regulate sphingolipid homeostasis and play a pivotal role in environmental stress tolerance in plants.
Essay Gifts: gifting for greater good
Authors: Babb Sarah , Retief Tina , Bick Geoff
Published: December 2016

Subject area

The subject areas are marketing, entrepreneurship, strategy or organisational design, operating in emerging markets and social entrepreneurship.

Study level/applicability

The study is applicable to MBA students, masters-level students and students of executive education.

Case overview

The case outlines the context and current decisions and dilemma facing Essay Gifts, which is a successful enterprise based in Cape Town, South Africa, supplying a local market in corporate gifting since 2006. The emerging market is facing economic decline and rising unemployment sitting at 25 per cent and up to 48 per cent in the youth market. After seven years of operating from a home-based office, Beatrice has moved into an office block in an upcoming area in Cape Town as they anticipate bullish targets for the upcoming year. The decision facing her now is whether to also sign a lease for a vacant retail shop downstairs from her office to sell ready-made gifting solutions. To meet the social mission, Essay Gifts is using township-based suppliers to develop the products, and this is proving an often unreliable and inconsistent source of supply and the current orders may not even be met at this particularly busy end-of-year period. How does Beatrice scale the business and what business is she in after all? Is she an entrepreneur, striving to increase the size of her business and her revenue, or is she a social entrepreneur creating employment opportunities for others?

Expected learning outcomes

The paper enables to identify the determining features of a social enterprise and the dynamics involved in balancing the social and commercial missions; understand the complexities of entrepreneurial operations in emerging markets; identify scaling up and strategic growth strategy options for social enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises; and distinguish entrepreneurial marketing strategies in contrast with traditional marketing strategies.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
A resource-advantage theory typology of strategic segmentation
Authors: Thoeni Andrew T. , Marshall Greg W. , Campbell Stacy M.
Published: December 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to define a typology of strategic segmentation accounting for antecedents (potentially conscious or subconscious) that influence marketing managers’ practice of strategic segmentation, thereby formulating a new theoretical basis to bridge the current theory–practice literature gap in strategic segmentation.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the resource-advantage theory, this paper defines a typology of strategic segmentation that depicts how a firm’s access to imperfectly mobile resources relates to the marketing manager’s assumed heterogeneity of the market and to the manager’s approach to the market.

Findings

The authors postulate a typology of firms’ strategic segmentation and approach to the market that is heavily influenced, and potentially limited, by the firm’s available resources to effectively segment and address the market.

Research limitations/implications

The typology suggests that resource availability affects a manager’s view and approach to the market. Therefore, testing of this typology should be performed to provide an empirical basis for a taxonomical foundation of strategic segmentation. Empirical testing should examine whether: resource availability is directly related to managers’ views of market heterogeneity, resources are negatively correlated with market approach, market-based intelligence (customer needs) are linked to the market approach, and there is relationship between a firm’s position within the typology and its long-term performance.

Practical implications

This paper provides an understanding that a manager’s knowledge of resource availability may be strategically counter-productive when creating a strategic segmentation. This limitation may lead to short-run choices for segmentation and market approach. Managers should, therefore, consider their strategic goals both with and without limiting their view based on current resources.

Originality/value

This paper provides the first typology of strategic segmentation by considering theoretical foundations of business that could bridge the often-noted theory–practice gap of segmentation.
Innovation summits: comparison and conceptualisation
Authors: Laursen Linda Nhu , Andersen Poul Houman
Published: December 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the strategic intent and consequent organisation of innovation summits. Innovation summits have recently appeared in practice as a new approach by which firms strategically market and further their open innovation agendas both internally and externally.

Design/methodology/approach

To advance the knowledge of this novel phenomenon, which has not yet been described in theory, a qualitative research design is appropriate. Consequently, this research conducts comparative case studies of four leading companies.

Findings

The paper contributes knowledge on how innovation summits can be designed and used as a strategic marketing approach to mobilise and match key people for open innovation. The authors find that the strategic scope and cognitive distance of invited firms are critical dimensions in characterising distinct types of innovation summits and propose a classification scheme for understanding different types of summits.

Practical implications

For practitioners, the authors present two central questions to consider before staging a summit: what is the strategic scope and who should be involved? This classification scheme offers managers an understanding of the implications of these choices.

Originality/value

While much research takes a macro-perspective on open innovation, much less is known about the micro-level of bringing parties together. In practise, the concept of innovation summits has gained a significant interest; however, the concept is still relatively unknown in the literature. This paper is one of the first to advance knowledge of this novel phenomenon.
Managing tuberculosis among labor migrants: exploring alternative organizational approach
Authors: Sergeyev Boris , Kazanets Igor , Mukhamadiev Davron , Sergeyev Pavel
Published: December 2016

Purpose

High volume of international migration calls for the establishment of financial and organizational mechanisms that would ensure provision of treatment for tuberculosis (TB) among migrants. In the case of countries like Russia where budget funding goes for TB treatment, the need is acute as delivering these services is affected by social perception that they should be provided to taxpayers only. While official policies in Russia promote voluntary medical insurance as a way to cover their health care needs, the problem is that neither voluntary medical insurance, nor the National Medical Insurance Plan, extend to cover the treatment of infectious diseases, such as TB making proposal of possible alternatives to these delivery vehicles appropriate. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis includes review of survey results on the extent of medical insurance coverage among migrants as well as legal provisions concerning access to medical care among migrants in Russia and some other migrant-receiving countries.

Findings

This exercise illuminates the public health risks and economic consequences related to inadequate access to medical help among migrants. Availability of medical insurance even among socially integrated segment of this group is limited. Also of notice is that citizens of Belarus as opposed to others are granted access to the full range of TB services in Russia.

Originality/value

Using this precedent, the authors propose an alternative mechanism – Inter-State Medical Insurance Fund – to be established by governments of CIS countries, with national allocations covering the provision of medical help to labor migrants from the respective countries in Russia.
Engaging African-Caribbean, Asian, and Latino community leaders to address HIV stigma in Toronto
Authors: Li Alan Tai-Wai , Wong Josephine Pui-Hing , Cain Roy , Fung Kenneth Po-Lun
Published: December 2016

Purpose

Racialized minority and newcomer communities are over-represented in positive HIV cases in Canada. Stigma has been identified as one of the barriers to HIV prevention, testing, and treatment. Faith, media, and social justice sectors have historically served a vital role in promoting health issues in these communities. However, they have been relatively inactive in addressing HIV-related issues. The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of an exploratory study that engaged faith, media, and social justice leaders in the African-Caribbean, Asian, and Latino communities in Toronto.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a qualitative interpretive design and focus groups to explore the challenges and opportunities in addressing HIV stigma. A total of 23 people living with HIV and 22 community leaders took part in seven focus groups. Intersectionality was used as an analytical lens to examine the social processes that perpetuate HIV stigma.

Findings

This paper focuses on the perspectives of community leaders. Five themes were identified: misconception of HIV as a gay disease; moralistic religious discourses perpetuate HIV stigma; invisibility of HIV reinforces community denial; need to promote awareness and compassion for people with HIV; and the power of collective community efforts within and across different sectors.

Originality/value

Although affected communities are faced with many challenges related to HIV stigma, effective change may be possible through concerted efforts championed by people living with HIV and community leaders. One important strategy identified by the participants is to build strategic alliances among the HIV, media, faith, social justice, and other sectors. Such alliances can develop public education and HIV champion activities to promote public awareness and positive emotional connections with HIV issues, challenge HIV stigma and related systems of oppression, and engage young people in HIV championship.
Performance analysis and evaluation of secure password persuasive cued click points
Authors: Nayak Atish Dipakbhai , Bansode Rajesh
Published: December 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to increase security using persuasive cued click points (PCCP) techniques and to make a system to provide security from the malware, key loggers and attacks.

Design/methodology/approach

The work methodology comprises two major phases. In phase one, the PCCP take place with the registration and login process done. It also includes text-based password which hides the character of password to protect from shoulder surfing attack. In phase two, the work includes background services which protect from key loggers.

Findings

Secure password persuasive cued click point (SPPCCP) is a module that facilitates authentication for the desktop-based applications and provides a single-machine licensing functionality. SPPCCP comprises little functionality to thwart attackers, such as persuasive click points with password protection. The techniques to protect against malware such as resist from debuggers and also to the key loggers that run on desktop computers. In this, Spearman rank correlation is used for detection of key loggers. There are functionalities used to secure desktop applications such as time constraint and user selection.

Originality/value

The contribution of this paper is to provide knowledge in the field of security. It makes the graphical password more secure and useful. The intention behind this research was to increase the security level up to 60-80 per cent. It is also used for prevention of shoulder surfing problem till 80 per cent; this research is also operated on key loggers, and SPPCCP finds the key loggers and removes it from the system. It also decrypts the data of database by encrypting it by SHA-512 algorithm and reduces the average login time up to 20-30 per cent; it will make a smaller view port of 33.5 × 33.5 pixel square to have more choice to select the password, thereby decreasing the probability of hotspot area up to 18-20 per cent.
Antecedents of hospital brand image and the relationships with medical tourists’ behavioral intention
Authors: Cham Tat Huei , Lim Yet Mee , Aik Nai Chiek , Tay Alexander Guan Meng
Published: December 2016

Purpose

Medical tourism is growing rapidly in the recent years in various Asian countries. The success of the hospitals engaged in medical tourism largely depends on their abilities in maintaining the repeating customers and to attract new customers. Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of word-of-mouth and social media on hospital brand image. It also attempts to examine the relationships between brand image, perceived service quality, patient satisfaction and behavioral intention.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 386 medical tourists to test the proposed model. All the measurement scales adopted in this study were adapted from the existing literature. The data collected in this study were analyzed using both SPSS and structural equation modeling approach via AMOS.

Findings

The findings from the structural analysis indicated that both word-of-mouth and hospital-generated social media have a significant impact on brand image. Hospital brand image positively influences medical tourists’ perception of service quality, and their perceived service quality is significantly related to their satisfaction, which in turn, leads to their behavioral intention.

Originality/value

This study is one of the few studies that considers the importance of hospital’s brand image in influencing medical tourists’ perceptions on the quality of healthcare services that they experienced during their medical trips. This research study also raises the significance of word-of-mouth communication and social media that influence hospitals’ brand image, which has been neglected by many studies.
A study of the relationship between employee wage and commercial banks efficiency in China
Authors: Li Jiangtao , Ji Jianyue , Wang Yanxia
Published: December 2016

Purpose

Efficiency of a commercial bank affects both its competitiveness and the role it plays in the process of economic development. Although great efforts have been exerted in developing the various aspects of banking efficiency, there seems to be a lack of research on examining the impact of the bank efficiency from the employee wage perspective. The mechanism of how employee wage affects commercial bank efficiency and the relationship between the two were analyzed in this paper. Based on the growing body of research on efficiency in banking, the aim of this paper is to examine if competitiveness of employee wages at any commercial bank has any impact on the bank efficiency score.

Design/methodology/approach

The method used was quantitative analysis, which was based on comparing the evaluated efficiencies of the banks with employee wages published in the bank reports. The empirical data in this paper were based on 16 Chinese listed commercial banks from 2004 to 2012. The per capita wage of commercial banks was selected as the wage indicator, and the efficiency value obtained by the slack-based measure (SBM) model was selected as the efficiency indicator. According to the calculated data, the Tobit regression model was built to analyze the relationship between employee wage and commercial bank efficiency.

Findings

The research results show that employee wage is the key variable that influences the efficiency of Chinese commercial banks, and the inverted U-shaped relationship between employee wage and commercial banks efficiency shows up.

Practical implications

The wage structure data of the composition of basic pay and bonus were not available at the time of conducting the research. Per capita wages were used instead to reflect the employee wage levels of Chinese banks.

Originality/value

This study can provide some help for the banking industry by analyzing the wage levels from the perspective of efficiency and also further enriches the theoretical system of the relationship between employee wage and bank efficiency.
Job perceptions following statewide evidence-based treatment implementation
Authors: Green Amy E. , Cafri Guy , Aarons Gregory
Published: December 2016

Purpose

The concerns that implementing a new structured innovation with increased oversight may lead to reduced job autonomy and poorer work attitudes. These concerns have been cited as a barrier to evidence-based treatment (EBT) implementation. However, previous research found lower turnover among child welfare providers implementing an EBT with fidelity monitoring compared to those administering services as usual (SAU). The authors hypothesized that changes in job autonomy, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment would be no worse among providers in EBT conditions and fidelity monitoring conditions compared to SAU and no monitoring conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected from 208 service providers over four waves at six month intervals as part of a 2 (EBT vs SAU) by 2 (fidelity monitoring vs no monitoring) hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial. Superiority testing was conducted to determine whether there were significant differences over time on the outcomes as a function of experimental condition. Non-inferiority testing examined whether the EBT condition is not inferior to SAU and monitoring not inferior to no monitoring on the outcomes.

Findings

No evidence of superiority was found for any conditions over time on the outcomes. Non-inferiority testing indicates EBT is not inferior to SAU and monitoring is not inferior to no monitoring on the outcomes.

Originality/value

This study provide empirical quantitative data regarding job attitudes and job autonomy perceptions over time following EBT implementation. In light of the current findings, concerns regarding the impact of EBT implementation on provider job perceptions should be minimized.