bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Construction of metadata database structured by conceptual elements of text structure and semantic search evaluation of Korean studies
Authors: Ko Young Man , Song Min Sun , Lee Seung Jun
Published: July 2021

Purpose

This study aims to develop metadata of conceptual elements based on the text structure of research articles on Korean studies, to propose a search algorithm that reflects the combination of semantically relevant data in accordance with the search intention of research paper and to examine the algorithm whether there is a difference in the intention-based search results.

Design/methodology/approach

This study constructed a metadata database of 5,007 research articles on Korean studies arranged by conceptual elements of text structure and developed F1(w)-score weighted to conceptual elements based on the F1-score and the number of data points from each element. This study evaluated the algorithm by comparing search results of the F1(w)-score algorithm with those of the Term Frequency- Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) algorithm and simple keyword search.

Findings

The authors find that the higher the F1(w)-score, the closer the semantic relevance of search intention. Furthermore, F1(w)-score generated search results were more closely related to the search intention than those of TF-IDF and simple keyword search.

Research limitations/implications

Even though the F1(w)-score was developed in this study to evaluate the search results of metadata database structured by conceptual elements of text structure of Korean studies, the algorithm can be used as a tool for searching the database which is a tuning process of weighting required.

Practical implications

A metadata database based on text structure and a search method based on weights of metadata elements – F1(w)-score – can be useful for interdisciplinary studies, especially for semantic search in regional studies.

Originality/value

This paper presents a methodology for supporting IR using F1(w)-score—a novel model for weighting metadata elements based on text structure. The F1(w)-score-based search results show the combination of semantically relevant data, which are otherwise difficult to search for using similarity of search words.
Multilevel comprehension for labor market inclusion: a qualitative study on experts' perspectives on Industry 4.0 competences
Authors: Tommasi Francesco , Perini Marco , Sartori Riccardo
Published: July 2021

Purpose

Given the exponential and massive technological disruption in work that Industry 4.0 will lead to, nowadays, authors and practitioners within the field of education and training are witnessing increased attention on the features of and threats to employability and integration in current labor transformations. The purpose of this paper is to address current education and training challenges as related to the fourth industrial revolution by investigating which skills and competences will be crucial for the 4.0 era.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative field study with semi-structured interviews has been conducted. Qualitative data on a sample of N = 16 vocational training experts has been analyzed via the grounded theory approach for a bottom-up perspective on Industry 4.0 competences.

Findings

Data analysis revealed a partial consensus between current scientific literature and practitioners' views on skills and competences for Industry 4.0. Indeed, practioners support the need for a mix of competences comprising the broad group of disciplines of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), technical skills and transversal competences. Moreover, the perspective of practitioners supports a multilevel comprehension of the needs of Industry 4.0 for education and training. Drawing on these findings, an evaluation tool for an applied field intervention for inclusion in the labor market is proposed.

Originality/value

The paper advances current knowledge within the field of education and training by proposing a novel perspective to address market integration as a means to tackle the risk of technological disruption.
Subjective satisfaction and objective electricity poverty reduction in Vietnam, 2008–2018
Authors: Ha-Duong Minh , Nguyen Hoai-Son
Published: July 2021

Purpose

The authors estimate the reduction of electricity poverty in Vietnam. The essential argument is that human development is about subjective feeling as much as technology and income.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a self-reported satisfaction indicator as complementary to objective indicators based on national household surveys from 2008 to 2018.

Findings

In 2010, the fraction of households with access to electricity was over 96%. However, over 24% declared their electricity use did not meet their needs. Since 2014, the satisfaction rate is around 97%, even if 25% of the households used less than 50 kWh/month. Today there is electricity for all in Vietnam, but electricity bills weigh more and more in the budget of households.

Practical implications

The subjective energy poverty measure allows better international statistics: unlike poverty or needs-based criteria, self-assessed satisfaction of needs compares across income levels and climates.

Social implications

Inequalities in electricity use among Vietnamese households decreased during the 2008–2018 period, but are not greater than inequalities in income, contrary to the findings of Son and Yoon (2020).

Originality/value

Engineering and econometric objectivist approaches dominate the literature on sustainability monitoring. Out of 232 sustainable development goal (SDG) indicators, only two are subjective. Yet the findings show that subjective indicators tell a different part of the story. Access is not grid building, but the meaningful provision of electricity to satisfy the needs.
An optimal communication in WSN enabled by fuzzy clustering and improved meta-heuristic model
Authors: Alekya Rani Yerra Readdy , Sreenivasa Reddy Edara
Published: July 2021

Purpose

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have been widely adopted for various applications due to their properties of pervasive computing. It is necessary to prolong the WSN lifetime; it avails its benefit for a long time. WSN lifetime may vary according to the applications, and in most cases, it is considered as the time to the death of the first node in the module. Clustering has been one of the successful strategies for increasing the effectiveness of the network, as it selects the appropriate cluster head (CH) for communication. However, most clustering protocols are based on probabilistic schemes, which may create two CH for a single cluster group, leading to cause more energy consumption. Hence, it is necessary to build up a clustering strategy with the improved properties for the CH selection. The purpose of this paper is to provide better convergence for large simulation space and to use it for optimizing the communication path of WSN.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper plans to develop a new clustering protocol in WSN using fuzzy clustering and an improved meta-heuristic algorithm. The fuzzy clustering approach is adopted for performing the clustering of nodes with respective fuzzy centroid by using the input constraints such as signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), load and residual energy, between the CHs and nodes. After the cluster formation, the combined utility function is used to refine the CH selection. The CH is determined based on computing the combined utility function, in which the node attaining the maximum combined utility function is selected as the CH. After the clustering and CH formation, the optimal communication between the CH and the nodes is induced by a new meta-heuristic algorithm called Fitness updated Crow Search Algorithm (FU-CSA). This optimal communication is accomplished by concerning a multi-objective function with constraints with residual energy and the distance between the nodes. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed technique enhances the network lifetime and energy efficiency when compared to the state-of-the-art techniques.

Findings

The proposed Fuzzy+FU-CSA algorithm has achieved low-cost function values of 48% to Fuzzy+Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), 60% to Fuzzy+Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), 40% to Fuzzy+Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) and 25% to Fuzzy+CSA, respectively. Thus, the results prove that the proposed Fuzzy+FU-CSA has the optimal performance than the other algorithms, and thus provides a high network lifetime and energy.

Originality/value

For the efficient clustering and the CH selection, a combined utility function was developed by using the network parameters such as energy, load, SINR and distance. The fuzzy clustering uses the constraint inputs such as residual energy, load and SINR for clustering the nodes of WSN. This work had developed an FU-CSA algorithm for the selection of the optimal communication path for the WSN.
I think I like this: assessing conscious versus subconscious wine taste responses using neuroscientific techniques
Authors: Robertson Jeandri , Ferreira Caitlin , Reyneke Mignon , Rosenstein David
Published: July 2021

Purpose

This methodological paper aims to demonstrate the potential benefits of using consumer neuroscientific methodologies to measure consumers’ subconscious responses when consuming wine during a taste experiment. By comparing conscious and subconscious evaluations during a tasting experience this study illustrates how this methodology offers a more nuanced understanding of the consumer evaluation of wine during a consumption experience.

Design/methodology/approach

The research made use of a single-case taste test experiment whereby a wine expert blind-tasted 20 white wine varietals. Throughout each tasting, subconscious responses were measured using electroencephalography (EEG), combined with conscious measures of stated preferences using a questionnaire.

Findings

Stark differences were observed between the results of the conscious and subconscious wine evaluation measures, underscoring the complex nature of consumer decision-making and preference development. This study practically demonstrates the use and value of EEG as a consumer neuroscientific methodology in a wine marketing context.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates the value of neuroscience techniques in identifying differences in the conscious and subconscious wine evaluation measures. This study practically demonstrates the use and value of EEG as a consumer neuroscientific methodology in a wine marketing context.
Contagion risk: cases of Islamic and emerging market banks
Authors: Yoon Da-Eun , Choudhury Tonmoy , Saha Anup Kumar , Rashid Mamunur
Published: July 2021

Purpose

Globally influential Islamic banks from the Middle East and Southeast Asia carry voluminous correspondence banking with banks from China and India, leading to potential spillover effect of contagion among the banks from these regions. This study aims to investigate the Islamic banks systemic risk contagion with major banks from China and India.

Design/methodology/approach

Having the option pricing theory in the backdrop, the authors calculated three different distance to risk measurements (default, insolvency and capital). The authors have included top six listed globally influential Islamic banks, top seven Indian banks and top eight Chinese banks based on their net asset value. They then measured the banks’ extreme shocks based on the extreme value theory by using the logistic regression model. These extreme shocks helped the authors to map the spillover among the selected banks from multiple regions.

Findings

The authors have found strong evidences of directional risk spillover among the banks in this sample. Islamic banks are receiving a significant risk spillover from the other sample banks but transmitting less toward the other banks from India and China. Hence, there is strong one-directional risk contagion toward the Islamic banks in the study sample.

Practical implications

This research would be particularly useful to the regulators and bankers from emerging and Islamic markets to understand the conniving nature of the crisis by effectively mapping the source, destination and implementation of the shock transmission mechanism of the potential financial contagion.

Originality/value

Even though the corresponding banking among the top Islamic banks from the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries, and banks from India and China, is on the rise, the assessment of risk among these banks has been limited. In particular, the authors extended on the extreme value theory to focus on the wider impact of spillover, including significant direction of contagion from non-Islamic banks to Islamic banks.
Completeness based classification algorithm: a novel approach for educational semantic data completeness assessment
Authors: Akhrif Ouidad , Benfaress Chaymae , EL Jai Mostapha , El Bouzekri El Idrissi Youness , Hmina Nabil
Published: July 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the smart collaborative learning service. This concept aims to build teams of learners based on the complementarity of their skills, allowing flexible participation and offering interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities for all the learners. The success of this environment is related to predict efficient collaboration between the different teammates, allowing a smartly sharing knowledge in the Smart University environment.

Design/methodology/approach

A random forest (RF) approach is proposed, which is based on semantic modelization of the learner and the problem-solving allowing multidisciplinary collaboration, and heuristic completeness processing to build complementary teams. To achieve that, this paper established a Konstanz Information Miner workflow that integrates the main steps for building and evaluating the RF classifier, this workflow is divided into: extracting knowledge from the smart collaborative learning ontology, calculating the completeness using a novel heuristic and building the RF classifier.

Findings

The smart collaborative learning service enables efficient collaboration and democratized sharing of knowledge between learners, by using a semantic support decision support system. This service solves a frequent issue related to the composition of learning groups to serve pedagogical perspectives.

Originality/value

The present study harmonizes the integration of ontology, a new heuristic processing and supervised machine learning algorithm aiming at building an intelligent collaborative learning service that includes a qualified classifier of complementary teams of learners.
Broader outcomes in procurement policy – a case of New Zealand pragmatism
Authors: Allen Barbara
Published: July 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the underpinning ideas of public procurement allowed for broader outcomes – a more strategic form of public procurement – to emerge. The paper contributes to the literature on public procurement by empirically addressing the evolution of procurement as a government policy lever in New Zealand so as to demonstrate how policy pragmatism can ensure a shift without a complete overhaul of a complex system.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper has used a single country case study to examine a recent development in procurement policy. The objectives of the paper are achieved by adopting a unique conceptual framework connecting ideas, sensemaking and bricolage.

Findings

The paper provides empirical and conceptual insights about how bricolage, or policy pragmatism, aids in dealing with the constraints of ideational legacies. It demonstrates a particular form of targeting in procurement, common in public administration but not well understood in the procurement field.

Research limitations/implications

Single country case studies lack scientific generalizability. However, they add to the canon of knowledge that is lacking in the field of public procurement in this case. They also provide a stronger starting point for further research especially with respect to comparative studies.

Practical implications

The paper provides an excellent example of the development of procurement policy that is useful for procurement officials from other countries undergoing change or looking to update or create procurement policies. It shows a high-level process of implementation for government priority outcomes from a country well-known for its quality of public management and governance.

Social implications

New Zealand has significant equity issues especially as related to its indigenous population. Procurement is being used increasingly as a lever to improve equity. This article includes information about New Zealand's uptake of social procurement.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils a need for greater understanding of how policy is “put together” and the dynamics at major points of change or the implications of policy changes. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this case study of procurement policy in New Zealand is original, and the author is aware of no other similar work emanating from New Zealand in the academic journals.
Factors associated with the salt intake behaviors in women in a high-salt intake setting
Authors: Chenary Roghayeh , Karimi-Shahanjarini Akram , Bashirian Saeid , Roshanaei Ghodratollah , Fazaeli Ali Akbar , Jalilian Mohsen
Published: July 2021

Purpose

The high prevalence of hypertension is a significant concern worldwide. A decrease in salt intake is a well-known strategy to control hypertension and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Little is known about the factors influencing salt intake behaviors in settings such as Iran where consumption of salt is higher than the recommended amount. The purpose of this study was to find out what factors affect three salt intake behaviors among women: adding salt when cooking, adding salt to prepared food at the table and purchasing salty foods.

Design/methodology/approach

A community-wide cross-sectional survey of 516 women was conducted in Ilam, Iran. Participants were recruited using the cluster random sampling method. The survey included behaviors and variables of an expanded theory of planned behavior. The hypothesized relationships were investigated using structural equation modeling.

Findings

Perceived behavioral control (PBC) (p < 0.001) and habit (p = 0.01) appeared to be significant factors of adding salt when cooking. Determinants of adding salt to food at the table were intention (p < 0.001), PBC (p < 0.001), habit (p < 0.001). Also, PBC (p < 0.001), intention (p < 0.001), habit (p < 0.001) were identified as predictors of the purchase of salty foods. The results did not support the moderating role of Hedonic feeling to salt on the relation between intention and behaviors.

Originality/value

This study would be applicable to develop salt reduction interventions. Because altering the hedonic response to food is difficult, the lack of its moderating role could be a promising finding for developing salt reduction interventions.
Leading Machiavellians on the road to better organizational behavior
Authors: Shah Syed Imad , Shahjehan Asad , Afsar Bilal
Published: July 2021

Purpose

Studies highlighting negative behavioral influences of Machiavellians are plentiful; however, those prescribing their management are scarce. Machiavellians are intelligent, adaptable and resourceful people with negative, self-serving and unethical persona traits. Their abundance in organizations poses a challenge for managers in minimizing negative consequences of Machiavellian's manipulative behaviors and tap into their true potential. Leadership can play a crucial role in this regard. This purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effects of transformational leadership (TFL) versus transactional leadership (TSL) styles on the relationship between subordinates' Machiavellianism and their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). The aim was to highlight the style that better adept in managing high-Mach subordinates.

Design/methodology/approach

This cross-sectional study used multiple surveys administered to 90 managers and their 269 subordinates from 56 organizations. Multiple regression was used for testing and hypothesize linear and supplementary nonlinear relationships between the study variables.

Findings

After a detailed data analysis, authors posit that, as compared to TFL, the TSL style is better suited for managing Machiavellian subordinates.

Practical implications

By employing transactional tactics, leaders can reign in the divergent behavior of Machiavellians, thus, transforming them into useful organizational assets.

Originality/value

This study expands on limited body of knowledge on managing Machiavellians. It advocates using TSL for improving the OCB of Machiavellians while countering their CWBs. Furthermore, this study contributes to transactional/transformational theories as it lends credence to the situational theory of leadership.
Linking organisational values and sustainability: the role of AMO practices
Authors: Rincon-Roldan Francisco , Lopez-Cabrales Alvaro
Published: July 2021

Purpose

The aim of this study was to analyse the link between the values that govern the functioning of cooperatives and their sustainability. Furthermore, the authors propose that this relationship is mediated by AMO (ability, motivation and opportunity) practices, which generate different behaviours and attitudes in their employees, thus strengthening the message of sustainable management that the directors of this kind of companies aim to transmit.

Design/methodology/approach

This article presents a theoretical and empirical research model about the relationship between organisational values, AMO practices and sustainability in social economy firms. The proposed model was tested using the multivariate method of partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with a sample of 124 cooperative companies. The information was gathered through a questionnaire with questions composed of measurement scales that had been previously validated by the reference literature.

Findings

This work empirically demonstrates that the perceived support, respect and responsibility values are strongly related to sustainability, and that ability and opportunity-enhancing practices mediate the association of perceived support and responsibility with the sustainability of cooperatives.

Originality/value

This work contributes to covering the lack of studies about which values support and impact the sustainability of organisations, and it provides information about the mediating role of certain AMO practices in the search for a more sustainable organisation, demonstrating that some practices are more relevant than others.
Egg production: conventional or cage-free?
Authors: Trejo-Pech Carlos Omar , White Susan
Published: July 2021

Research methodology

This case was primarily researched using academic research papers, industry reports (Egg Industry Center and others), and finance databases including Standard and Poor’s Capital IQ. Regarding the cost and investment budgets, the case relies mainly on an experiment conducted by the Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply, updated by the authors of this case.

Case overview/synopsis

Eggs produced by cage-free birds, while more expensive than conventionally produced eggs, are gaining in popularity among consumers who want only eggs that are produced more humanely. A number of major distributors, including Whole Foods, McDonalds and Starbucks have pledged to sell only cage-free produced eggs by 2025. Several states including California, Oregon and Michigan have passed laws limiting conventional egg production. The case provides costs and industry information and needed to project free cash flows and risk-adjusted opportunity cost of capital and perform break-even capital budgeting analysis of the two egg production alternatives.

Complexity academic level

This case is appropriate for graduate corporate finance courses. It is particularly appropriate for agribusiness finance courses. A preliminary exercise was used during the fall 2018 in a land grant university, just after the “Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act,” also known as Proposition 12, was passed in California in favor of cage-free egg production. The exercise was revised and used in the fall 2019 in the same class. This extended version of the case, was classroom tested in the fall 2020 in an agribusiness finance graduate class, with agricultural economics and business students enrolled.
The greatest show on earth: organising and the performance of society
Authors: Blantern Chris
Published: July 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to draw attention to the significance of “acculturation” in organisations and organising and how learning occurs as micro-practices (organisational poetics).

Design/methodology/approach

The recognition of the ontological significance of organisational acculturation invites a more critical view of the effects of organisational practices on individual identity, social norms and the accountability of organisations to society.

Findings

Organising and organisations are cast as nurseries of cultural practices that are so normalised we regard them as “unremarkable,” as “just the way things are,” yet “schooling” of identity and social norms.

Practical implications

If we want a better world, we should, as citizens, expect more from our organisations and their learning.

Social implications

The significance here is, from a post-structural, relational stance, that organising and organisations are significant agents in the performance of what it is to be human and our social conditions. As well as goods and services, organisations produce “humans.”

Originality/value

As distinct from the canon of organisational learning literature which is primarily concerned with learning for the effectiveness and resilience of organisations for their own benefit, this paper asserts that what we learn and normalise in organisations structures society – the world we live.
Color image watermarking using spatio-chromatic complex Hadamard transform in sequency domain
Authors: Jabeen Dure , Monir S.M. Ghazanfar , Noor Shaheena , Rafiullah Muhammad , Jatoi Munsif Ali
Published: July 2021

Purpose

Watermarking technique is one of the significant methods in which carrier signal hides digital information in the form of watermark to prevent the authenticity of the stakeholders by manipulating different coefficients as watermark in time and frequency domain to sustain trade-off in performance parameters. One challenging component among others is to maintain the robustness, to limit perceptibility with embedding information. Transform domain is more popular to achieve the required results in color image watermarking. Variants of complex Hadamard transform (CHT) have been applied for gray image watermarking, and it has been proved that it has better performance than other orthogonal transforms. This paper is aimed at analyzing the performance of spatio-chromatic complex Hadamard transform (Sp-CHT) that is proposed as an application of color image watermarking in sequency domain (SD).

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, color image watermarking technique is designed and implemented in SD using spatio-chromatic – conjugate symmetric sequency – ordered CHT. The color of a pixel is represented as complex number a*+jb*, where a* and b* are chromatic components of International Commission on Illumination (CIE) La*b* color space. The embedded watermark is almost transparent to human eye although robust against common signal processing attacks.

Findings

Based on the results, bit error rate (BER) and peak signal to noise ratio are measured and discussed in comparison of CIE La*b* and hue, saturation and value color model with spatio-chromatic discrete Fourier transform (Sp-DFT), and results are also analyzed with other discrete orthogonal transforms. It is observed from BER that Sp-CHT has 8%–12% better performance than Sp-DFT. Structural similarity index has been measured at different watermark strength and it is observed that presented transform performs better than other transforms.

Originality/value

This work presents the details and comparative analysis of two orthogonal transforms as color image watermarking application using MATLAB software. A finding from this study demonstrates that the Complex Hadamard transform is the competent candidate that can be replaced with DFT in many signal processing applications.
Glacier forelands reveal fundamental plant and microbial controls on short‐term ecosystem nitrogen retention
Authors: de Vries Franciska T. , Thion Cécile , Bahn Michael , Bergk Pinto Benoît , Cécillon Sébastien , Frey Beat , Grant Helen , Nicol Graeme W. , Wanek Wolfgang , Prosser James I. , Bardgett Richard D.
Published: July 2021

Human activities have massively increased the amount of reactive nitrogen in the biosphere, which is leading to increased nitrogen (N) inputs in terrestrial ecosystems. The retention of N is a crucial ecosystem function of both managed and natural ecosystems, and there is a long history of experimental, observational, and conceptual studies identifying its major controls. Yet, the plant and soil microbial controls on the retention of added N remain elusive.

Here, we used three ecosystem chronosequences in front of retreating glaciers in the European Alps to test our hypothesis that the retention of added reactive15N increases as succession proceeds, and to identify the plant and microbial controls on ecosystem N retention.

We found that the uptake and retention of N did not change during succession, despite consistent changes in plant, soil, and microbial properties with increasing time since deglaciation. Instead, we found that plant and microbial properties that remained constant during succession controlled15N uptake and retention: low root and microbial C/N ratios, as well as high root biomass, increased plant and microbial uptake of added N. In addition, high soil concentrations of nitrate and ammonium reduced the uptake of N in microbes and roots, respectively.

Synthesis. Our results demonstrate that plant and microbial N demand, as well as soil N availability, drive the short‐term retention of added N during succession in glacier forelands. This finding represents an advance in our understanding of the fundamental controls on ecosystem N retention and the role of plant‐microbial interactions in this process. Such understanding is crucial for predicting and mitigating the response of terrestrial ecosystems to the ever‐increasing amounts of reactive N in the biosphere.
The Neoconservative Party, or Conservatism without Tradition?
Authors: Hoctor Tom
Published: July 2021

This article argues that the Conservative Party finds itself in a period of ideological crisis. The last significant period of intellectual realignment in the party led to the dominance of Hayekian market theory as a structuring logic for government. Under Boris Johnson, this economic logic is challenged by the political logic of neoconservatism, which restores the political through appeals to authority, hierarchy and quite particular articulations of the nature of the (national) community. To demonstrate this tension, the article examines how Brexit and the ‘levelling‐up’ agenda can be understood as structured by this division between the economic and the political. Both of these logics are incompatible with older, traditional forms of conservatism and whichever is ultimately successful, this signals a major shift in the character of British conservatism and potentially ushers in a new era of conservatism without tradition.
Divergent spender: State‐societal and meso‐organisational mechanisms in the containment of public spending on pharmaceuticals in a liberal capitalist democracy
Authors: Main Ben , Ozieranski Piotr
Published: July 2021

For two decades, New Zealand has been placed consistently at the foot of OECD rankings for state expenditure on pharmaceuticals. In this article, we explore New Zealand's containment of pharmaceutical spending as a ‘divergent’ case of pharmaceutical policy in a liberal democracy. To elucidate the likely institutional mechanisms and interests behind this phenomenon, we conducted a case study of New Zealand's drug reimbursement policy. In doing so, we derived sensitising concepts from major accounts of pharmaceutical policymaking (Corporate Bias Theories and Reputational Theory) and theories of the western state (Historical Institutionalism and Corporate Domination Theory). Drawing on 28 expert interviews and documentary analysis, we identified three main mechanisms of spending containment. First, New Zealand's state bureaucracy use pricing strategies that rely on a spending containment strategy coordinated by bureaucratic managers. Second, these managers shape the policy preferences of expert committees involved in scientific drug assessment. Third, on a meta‐level, conditions for spending containment are enabled by the judicial‐legislative arena. As such, we find support for Historical Institutionalism and Reputational Theory and more limited support for Corporate Bias Theory and Corporate Domination Theory. Our explanation posits further conceptual linkages between the macro/societal and meso‐organisational theoretical levels.
Caecal microbiota could effectively increase chicken growth performance by regulating fat metabolism
Authors: Zhang Xiaolong , Hu Yafang , Ansari Abdur Rahman , Akhtar Muhammad , Chen Yan , Cheng Ranran , Cui Lei , Nafady Abdallah A. , Elokil Abdelmotaleb A. , Abdel‐Kafy El‐Sayed M. , Liu Huazhen
Published: July 2021

It has been established that gut microbiota influences chicken growth performance and fat metabolism. However, whether gut microbiota affects chicken growth performance by regulating fat metabolism remains unclear. Therefore, seven‐week‐old chickens with high or low body weight were used in the present study. There were significant differences in body weight, breast and leg muscle indices, and cross‐sectional area of muscle cells, suggesting different growth performance. The relative abundance of gut microbiota in the caecal contents at the genus level was compared by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results of LEfSe indicated that high body weight chickens contained Microbacterium and Sphingomonas more abundantly (P < 0.05). In contrast, low body weight chickens contained Slackia more abundantly (P < 0.05). The results of H & E, qPCR, IHC, WB and blood analysis suggested significantly different fat metabolism level in serum, liver, abdominal adipose, breast and leg muscles between high and low body weight chickens. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that fat metabolism positively correlated with the relative abundance of Microbacterium and Sphingomonas while negatively correlated with the abundance of Slackia. Furthermore, faecal microbiota transplantation was performed, which verified that transferring faecal microbiota from adult chickens with high body weight into one‐day‐old chickens improved growth performance and fat metabolism in liver by remodelling the gut microbiota. Overall, these results suggested that gut microbiota could affect chicken growth performance by regulating fat metabolism.
Semi‐Automated Characterization of Streamwater Specific Conductivity Response to Storms
Authors: Demers Daniel J. , Green Mark B. , Bailey Scott W.
Published: July 2021

Specific electrical conductivity (SC) is a basic, effective indicator of water quality. The recent increase in SC data collected with high‐frequency sensors has created a strong need for algorithms that can aid interpretation of these data. This study presents an algorithm that finds and quantifies SC temporal patterns and applies that algorithm to a dataset from a 7.5 km2 forested catchment in central New Hampshire. During and after rain events, we show three patterns that emerge in SC time series: A solute flush, resulting in an initial increase in SC, followed by a dilution, followed by the SC’s recovery toward pre‐rain conditions. We compared these SC patterns to precipitation amount and intensity, antecedent wetness, and seasonality. Our results indicate that the magnitude of the flush was driven primarily by precipitation intensity and total rainfall during a storm, and secondarily by antecedent moisture conditions. The magnitude of the dilution was driven mainly by the precipitation amount. The rate of SC recovery was driven by precipitation amount and was correlated with dilution. Overall, the algorithm successfully extracted event‐driven characteristics in the SC time series, allowing the development of functional relationships with hydrologic drivers. Applying similar methodologies to more catchments in the future will help identify functional relationships at more sites and use these relationships to identify catchments most sensitive to future precipitation changes.
A comprehensive model for measuring real‐life cost‐effectiveness in eyecare: automation in care and evaluation of system (aces‐rwm™)
Authors: Tuulonen Anja , Kataja Marko , Aaltonen Vesa , Kinnunen Kati , Moilanen Jukka , Saarela Ville , Linna Miika , Malmivaara Antti , Uusitalo‐Jarvinen Hannele
Published: July 2021

This paper describes a holistic, yet simple and comprehensible, ecosystem model to deal with multiple and complex challenges in eyecare. It aims at producing the best possible wellbeing and eyesight with the available resources. When targeting to improve the real‐world cost‐effectiveness, what gets done in everyday practice needs be measured routinely, efficiently and unselectively. Collection of all real‐world data of all patients will enable evaluation and comparison of eyecare systems and departments between themselves nationally and internationally. The concept advocates a strategy to optimize real‐life effectiveness, sustainability and outcomes of the service delivery in ophthalmology. The model consists of three components: (1) resource‐governing principles (i.e., to deal with increasing demand and limited resources), (2) real‐world monitoring (i.e., to collect structured real‐world data utilizing automation and visualization of clinical parameters, health‐related quality of life and costs), and (3) digital innovation strategy (i.e., to evaluate and benchmark real‐world outcomes and cost‐effectiveness). The core value and strength of the model lies in the consensus and collaboration of all Finnish university eye clinics to collect and evaluate the uniformly structured real‐world outcomes data. In addition to ophthalmology, the approach is adaptable to any medical discipline to efficiently generate real‐world insights and resilience in health systems.
Antibiotic therapy in children with community‐acquired pneumonia
Authors: Korppi Matti
Published: July 2021

PubMed was reviewed on antibiotic treatment of community‐acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children for the years 2011–2020, and three clinical trials in high‐income and eight in low‐income countries were found. Prospective studies combining laboratory and clinical findings for steering of antibiotic treatment found that five‐day courses were equally effective as longer courses. No new antibiotics were launched for children's CAP during the last 10 years. Five‐day courses are equally effective as 7‐ to 10‐day courses for CAP in children. Stewardship of antibiotics needs lessening of exposure to antibiotics by better targeting their use and by shortening the lengths of antibiotic courses.
Social media exposure during COVID‐19 lockdowns could lead to emotional overeating via anxiety: The moderating role of neuroticism
Authors: Gao Yuan , Ao Hua , Hu Xiaoyong , Wang Xinyu , Huang Duo , Huang Wanjun , Han Yan , Zhou Chao , He Ling , Lei Xu , Gao Xiao
Published: July 2021

China was a major hotspot during the beginning of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Several studies have reported changes in residents' eating behaviors and appetite during city wide lockdowns and home confinements. However, few have investigated how neuroticism interacts with the impact of COVID‐19 to influence eating behaviors during city lockdowns. Thus, the current study aims to establish a pathway model to understand social media exposure, negative affect, neuroticism, and their interaction with eating behaviors during the COVID‐19 lockdowns. We present data from 1,128 participants (Mage = 24.34 ± 10.48 years) who completed an online survey between February 17 and 27, 2020. The extent of respondents' social media exposure, negative affect, eating behaviors, and desire for high‐calorie food during city lockdowns, as well as the personality trait of neuroticism, were measured. Results show that city lockdowns and home confinements had a negative impact on residents' eating behaviors and appetite. Forty‐eight percent of respondents showed moderate to constant emotional overeating, and respondents' desire for high‐calorie food significantly increased. Correlation analysis showed that emotional overeating is positively associated with social media exposure, neuroticism, and anxiety. Then, a moderated mediation model was established, showing that heavy social media exposure could lead to emotional overeating through anxiety, and the association between social media exposure and anxiety varies depending on the extent of neuroticism. The current study provides novel insight into how the interaction of a personality trait and the stressful situation of COVID‐19 influence people's negative emotions and eating behaviors.
Neurostructural correlates of BDNF rs6265 genotype in youth bipolar disorder
Authors: Kennedy Kody G. , Shahatit Zaid , Dimick Mikaela K. , Fiksenbaum Lisa , Freeman Natalie , Zai Clement C. , Kennedy James L. , MacIntosh Bradley J. , Goldstein Benjamin I.
Published: July 2021

Objective

Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) rs6265 single‐nucleotide polymorphism has been associated with bipolar disorder (BD), and with brain structure among adults with BD. We set out to investigate the association of the BDNF rs6265 Met allele with neurostructural phenotypes in youth BD.

Methods

Caucasian youth (N = 99; 13–20 years; n = 56 BD, n = 43 age and sex‐matched healthy controls) underwent 3‐Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging and genotyping for BDNF rs6265. Region of interest (ROI) analyses of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and hippocampus were complemented by vertex‐wise analyses examining cortical thickness, surface area (SA) and volume. Multivariable models included the main effects of diagnosis and gene, and a diagnosis‐by‐genotype interaction term, controlling for age, sex, and intracranial volume.

Results

There were no significant gene main effects or diagnosis‐by‐gene interaction effects in ROI analyses. The vertex‐wise analysis yielded a significant gene main effect whereby Met allele carriers had greater middle temporal gyrus SA (p = 0.001) and supramarginal gyrus volume (p = 0.03) than Val/Val individuals. Significant interaction effects were found on lateral occipital lobe SA (p = 0.03), whereby the Met allele was associated with increased SA in BD only. Interaction effects were also found on postcentral gyrus SA (p = 0.049) and supramarginal gyrus SA (p = 0.04), with smaller SA in BD Met carriers versus healthy control Met carriers.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that BDNF rs6265 is differentially associated with regional SA in youth BD. Further investigation is warranted to evaluate whether BDNF protein levels mediate the observed effects, and to evaluate rs6265‐related developmental changes.
On estimating optimal regime for treatment initiation time based on restricted mean residual lifetime
Authors: Chen Xin , Song Rui , Zhang Jiajia , Adams Swann Arp , Sun Liuquan , Lu Wenbin
Published: July 2021

When to initiate treatment on patients is an important problem in many medical studies such as AIDS and cancer. In this article, we formulate the treatment initiation time problem for time‐to‐event data and propose an optimal individualized regime that determines the best treatment initiation time for individual patients based on their characteristics. Different from existing optimal treatment regimes where treatments are undertaken at a pre‐specified time, here new challenges arise from the complicated missing mechanisms in treatment initiation time data and the continuous treatment rule in terms of initiation time. To tackle these challenges, we propose to use restricted mean residual lifetime as a value function to evaluate the performance of different treatment initiation regimes, and develop a nonparametric estimator for the value function, which is consistent even when treatment initiation times are not completely observable and their distribution is unknown. We also establish the asymptotic properties of the resulting estimator in the decision rule and its associated value function estimator. In particular, the asymptotic distribution of the estimated value function is nonstandard, which follows a weighted chi‐squared distribution. The finite‐sample performance of the proposed method is evaluated by simulation studies and is further illustrated with an application to a breast cancer data.
Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis‐like toxicity (carHLH) after CD19‐specific CAR T‐cell therapy
Authors: Hines Melissa R. , Keenan Camille , Maron Alfaro Gabriela , Cheng Cheng , Zhou Yinmei , Sharma Akshay , Hurley Caitlin , Nichols Kim E. , Gottschalk Stephen , Triplett Brandon M. , Talleur Aimee C.
Published: July 2021

Chimeric antigen receptor T‐cell (CAR T‐cell) therapy is associated with significant toxicities secondary to immune activation, including a rare but increasingly recognised severe toxicity resembling haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (carHLH). We report the development of carHLH in 14·8% of paediatric patients and young adults treated with CD19‐specific CAR T‐cell therapy with carHLH, occurring most commonly in those with high disease burden. The diagnosis and treatment of carHLH required a high index of suspicion and included multidrug immunomodulation with variable response to therapies. Compared to patients without carHLH, patients with carHLH had both reduced response to CAR T‐cell therapy (P‐value = 0·018) and overall survival (P‐value = < 0·0001).
Management of the subluxated crystalline lens: A review
Authors: Chee Soon‐Phaik , Ti Seng‐Ei , Chan Nicole Shu‐Wen
Published: July 2021

Cataract surgery for the subluxated crystalline lens is challenging. A thorough preoperative evaluation is important to determine the appropriate surgical approach for lens removal and the subsequent technique of intraocular lens placement. Important considerations include the extent and location of zonular weakness, and whether the zonular deficiency is caused by a static or progressive disease. The capsular bag should be preserved where possible. Creating a good‐sized and centred continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis is crucial to facilitate the use of capsular retractors and capsular tension devices, which provide capsular stability. Nucleus sculpting and rotation should be minimised to reduce zonular stress. Being cognisant of the possible intraoperative complications that may occur at each stage of the surgery and knowing how to reduce the risk of these complications occurring will enable surgeons to perform safe cataract surgery in these complex cases.
Moving Basis Decomposition for Precomputed Light Transport
Authors: Silvennoinen Ari , Sloan Peter‐Pike
Published: July 2021

We study the problem of efficient representation of potentially high‐dimensional, spatially coherent signals in the context of precomputed light transport. We present a basis decomposition framework, Moving Basis Decomposition (MBD), that generalizes many existing basis expansion methods and enables high‐performance, seamless reconstruction of compressed data. We develop an algorithm for solving large‐scale MBD problems. We evaluate MBD against state‐of‐the‐art in a series of controlled experiments and describe a real‐world application, where MBD serves as the backbone of a scalable global illumination system powering multiple, current and upcoming 60Hz AAA‐titles running on a wide range of hardware platforms.