bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Loss of organizational solidarity in three kibbutz factories
Authors: Moskovich Yaffa
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study the loss of solidarity in three kibbutz factories as an outcome of the process of privatization in their kibbutz communities.

Design/methodology/approach

– The research was a qualitative investigation, including interviews in three factories.

Findings

– The research found high a sense of vertical and horizontal solidarity before the privatization. The solidarity stemmed from socialistic principles of the kibbutzim (plural of kibbutz) and their factories functioned as an extension of the kibbutz clan: close inter-personal relationships, a devotion to collective needs and democratic decision making in the kibbutz general assembly directly influencing the factories. After the privatization, the organizational solidarity decreased because of formal and procedural issues: the factory became hierarchical, work conditions deteriorated and the familiar spirit of the clan vanished.

Research limitations/implications

– There are more than 130 kibbutz factories, most of them in privatized kibbutzim. This paper presents only three of those factories, so it can only represent preliminary and partial findings. It is important to extend this research to examine other kibbutz factories.

Practical implications

– The research suggests how factories, in kibbutzim and throughout the world, could respond to weak organizational solidarity: to increase trust and cooperation between management, to create flexible working conditions and to achieve higher productivity.

Originality/value

– This is the first study to focus on kibbutz enterprises through the sociological lens of the solidarity theory. Previously, most post-privatization research has focussed on economic questions of profitability.
A longitudinal study of deprivation in European countries
Authors: Terraneo Marco
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– Poverty is one of the most significant economic and social problems that European countries have to face. In recent years, it has become widely accepted that poverty is a multidimensional concept and now many studies use indicators of deprivation to examine the phenomenon. The focus on financial resources alone does not capture people’s quality of life as being poor means a lack of access to resources enabling a minimum standard of living and participation in the society within which one belongs. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using a longitudinal component (2006-2010) of EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data on 26 European countries, the author apply a second-order confirmatory factor analysis to estimate deprivation. To describe the patterns of change over time and to evaluate the role of household characteristics in deprivation level, the author employ a set of multilevel growth curve models.

Findings

– Three findings clearly stand out from my analysis. First, there is great variability in deprivation between European countries. Second, European countries show various patterns of change in deprivation over time. Third, households with different characteristics have quite different deprivation levels; moreover, the impact of household characteristics on deprivation can vary over time and between countries.

Originality/value

– This paper sheds light on the importance of analysing deprivation from a longitudinal perspective and that financial resources alone does not capture people’s quality of life.
The “Supporting Kids, Avoiding Problems” (SKIP) study: relationships between school exclusion, psychopathology, development and attainment – a case control study
Authors: Parker Claire , Marlow Ruth , Kastner Marc , May Felix , Mitrofan Oana , Henley William , Ford Tamsin
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the association between children who are at risk of being or who have been excluded from school between the ages of 4 and 12 years and the role of psychopathology, development and attainment.

Design/methodology/approach

– A case-control approach was conducted. Cases were children who had been excluded from school compared to those who had no reported exclusions and normative data where possible. A range of measures were used to collect information from the parent, child and teacher on areas covering the child’s mental health and well-being.

Findings

– The findings showed the number of difficulties faced by children who are at risk of being or who have been excluded from school compared to gender- and age-matched controls and normative data increased. Behavioural difficulties were apparent in the majority of the cases and an alarming number of children reported self-harm. Interestingly nearly all the cases had recognised needs, but not all of them were accessing appropriate services.

Practical implications

– There have been a number of changes regarding the identification and support of children’s mental health and well-being. This study highlights gaps in resources and provision, particularly around behavioural difficulties for children who are presenting as not coping in school.

Originality/value

– The findings from the SKIP study indicate the complexities and compounded difficulties faced by children who are experiencing exclusion from school. By implementing a systematic group of assessments the study was able to identify these complexities of need across a vulnerable group of children.
Apt information literacy? A case of interdisciplinary scholarly communication
Authors: Gullbekk Eystein
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the aptness of “information literacy”, conceptualized as a socially contextualized phenomenon, for analyses of interdisciplinary scholarly communication.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper presents a conceptual analysis. Two influential representatives of the social turn in the information literacy literature are taken as starting points: Annemaree Lloyd’s conceptualization of “information literacy practice”, and Jack Andersen’s conceptualization of information literacy as “genre knowledge”. Their positioning of information literacy as a socially contextualized phenomenon – by use of practice theories and rhetorical genre theory, respectively, – is analysed against an illustrative example of interdisciplinary scholarly communication.

Findings

– Conceptualizations by Lloyd and Andersen explain information literacy as socially contextualized in terms of stable norms and understandings shared in social communities. Their concepts have the potential of explaining changes and innovations in social practices including scholarly communication. If we combine genre-theoretical and practice-theoretical concepts – and accentuate the open-endedness of social practices and of genres – we can enhance the understanding of information literacy in settings of interdisciplinary scholarly communication where the actors involved lack shared conventions and assumptions.

Originality/value

– The paper suggests that the fluid features of social contexts should be accounted for in the information literacy literature. By combining genre-theoretical and practice-theoretical concepts in a novel way it offers such an account. It provides a useful framework for understanding the phenomenon of information literacy in interdisciplinary scholarly communication.
On the composition of scientific abstracts
Authors: Atanassova Iana , Bertin Marc , Larivière Vincent
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– Scientific abstracts reproduce only part of the information and the complexity of argumentation in a scientific article. The purpose of this paper provides a first analysis of the similarity between the text of scientific abstracts and the body of articles, using sentences as the basic textual unit. It contributes to the understanding of the structure of abstracts.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using sentence-based similarity metrics, the authors quantify the phenomenon of text re-use in abstracts and examine the positions of the sentences that are similar to sentences in abstracts in the introduction, methods, results and discussion structure, using a corpus of over 85,000 research articles published in the seven Public Library of Science journals.

Findings

– The authors provide evidence that 84 percent of abstract have at least one sentence in common with the body of the paper. Studying the distributions of sentences in the body of the articles that are re-used in abstracts, the authors show that there exists a strong relation between the rhetorical structure of articles and the zones that authors re-use when writing abstracts, with sentences mainly coming from the beginning of the introduction and the end of the conclusion.

Originality/value

– Scientific abstracts contain what is considered by the author(s) as information that best describe documents’ content. This is a first study that examines the relation between the contents of abstracts and the rhetorical structure of scientific articles. The work might provide new insight for improving automatic abstracting tools as well as information retrieval approaches, in which text organization and structure are important features.
Conceptual growth in integrated models for information behaviour
Authors: Savolainen Reijo
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the picture of the nature of integrated models for information behaviour from the perspective of conceptual growth in this field of study.

Design/methodology/approach

– Conceptual analysis focusing on the ways in which the researchers have developed integrated models. The study concentrates on seven key models proposed by Bates, Choo and associates, Godbold, Robson and Robinson, and Wilson.

Findings

– Researchers have employed four main approaches to develop integrated models. First, such frameworks are based on the juxtaposition of individual models. Second, integrated models are built by cross-tabulating the components of diverse models. Third, such models are constructed by relating similar components of individual models. Finally, integrated models are built by incorporating components taken from diverse frameworks. The integrated models have contributed to conceptual growth in three major ways: first, by integrating formerly separate parts of knowledge; second, by generalizing and explaining lower abstraction-level knowledge through higher level constructs; and third, by expanding knowledge by identifying new characteristics of the object of study.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings are based on the comparison of seven models only. The integrated frameworks of information retrieval were excluded from the study.

Originality/value

– The study pioneers by providing an in-depth analysis the nature of integrated models for information behaviour. The findings contribute to the identification of the key factors of information behaviour.
Co-construction of meaning, creative processes and digital curation
Authors: Boutard Guillaume
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The preservation and curation of music with real-time or live electronics is challenging. The goal is not to preserve a recording of the performance but to keep the work alive by providing the means to re-perform them. The purpose of this paper is to present the theoretical and practical outcomes of the documentation, dissemination and preservation of compositions with real-time electronics (DiP-CoRE) project.

Design/methodology/approach

– The methodology combines methods stemming from work psychology and ergonomics with conceptual frameworks constructed according to grounded theory. Data were collected during a six months’ creative process. Subsequent interviews were conducted during confrontations with documents, including observational recordings, sketches and technical specifications.

Findings

– This paper demonstrates the relevance of the proposed documentation methodology for the preservation of contemporary music with live electronics, focussing on the notion of intelligibility. It brings into light the multiple perspective of the documentation of the activity in a multi-agent creative process, which encompasses what was done but also what could have been done.

Research limitations/implications

– The DiP-CoRE project bring to light connections between the notion of intelligibility, the thickness of the activity and boundary objects. The paper proposes further directions of research in order to embed the designed framework within digital repositories.

Practical implications

– The documentation methodology, designed and tested in this paper, proposes a framework for practitioners, building on video-stimulated recall as well as documents produced during the creative process. This framework requires less expertise (but a more important technical setup) than a traditional interview-based documentation framework. It thus provides opportunities for various size organizations to build methodical documentation processes and to further build on distributed expertise with computer-supported collaborative work.

Originality/value

– This paper proposes a new interdisciplinary documentation methodology relevant in the artistic domain, which brings together transmission with objects and by practice. It specifically defines the relation between this proposal and a high-level model for digital curation, namely, the mixed methods digital curation model. It further creates a link between documentation best practice and the ongoing research in the tracking of creative processes.
Readers’ interest criteria in fiction book search in library catalogs
Authors: Mikkonen Anna , Vakkari Pertti
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate fiction readers’ interest criteria when selecting novels in library catalogs for various search tasks.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data of the book selection behavior from 80 genuine fiction readers were collected using recorded interviews and conversations. The data were qualitatively analyzed. Reuter’s categorization of the components of aesthetic relevance has contributed to the construction of interest dimensions.

Findings

– A five-dimension categorization of interest criteria is presented based on fiction readers’ interpretations of the influential factors in fiction book selection in different search tasks. The findings revealed that readers apply the identified interest criteria in a flexible and multiphase way depending to the search task and the system used. The findings showed a context-related pattern in readers’ fiction book selections. A combination of readers’ search capacities, “behind the eyes” knowledge, affective factors and a well-functioning interaction with a system used results in a successful book selection.

Originality/value

– A five-dimension categorization of adult fiction readers’ interest criteria was created based on their search behaviors in library catalogs. The results provide a systematic step toward a comprehensive understanding of readers’ fiction book selection in digital environments.
Validation of the work-related age-based stereotypes (WAS) scale
Authors: Marcus Justin , Fritzsche Barbara Ann , Le Huy , Reeves Michael Dennis
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to focus on developing and validating a multidimensional measure of work-related age-based stereotypes (WAS) scale.

Design/methodology/approach

– Based upon a review of the literature, a three-dimensional stereotype content model including both negative (incompetence, inadaptability) and positive (warmth) stereotypes of older workers was created. Construct, convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity for the WAS scale were examined across three independent samples constituting both lab-based experimental studies and a field-based survey (totaln=1,245).

Findings

– Across all samples, the WAS evidenced good construct, convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity.

Originality/value

– As evidenced by a review of the literature, the WAS is unique in that it measures both negative and positive stereotypes of older workers. Implications for research are discussed.
Educating at scale: sustainable library learning at the University of Melbourne
Authors: Phillips Andrea
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– Most libraries in higher education are facing the challenge of providing valued and improved services with the same or fewer resources. Focussing on the library learning service at one university, the purpose of this paper is to consider how libraries can find new service models with contracting resources while aligning with institutional and professional values and providing value-in-use for end users and key stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

– Following a discussion of sustainability as relevant to library services, the paper presents a case study of one library’s approach to sustaining its library learning service.

Findings

– The sustainability of library services is aided by developing a service blueprint that provides direction and structure yet is dynamic and responsive. To be successful the approach should be grounded in resource realities, encourage scalability where possible and address the values and needs of key stakeholders.

Originality/value

– The paper presents a workable, integrated approach to managing a library learning service so that it delivers value and is sustainable.
Sustainable growth with sustainable resources
Authors: Sorensen Charlene , Sarjeant-Jenkins Rachel
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– Libraries are situated in an ever-changing research, teaching, learning, and scholarly communications environment. Faculty and students have new and different expectations that are compelling libraries to expand their offerings. At the same time, their broader institutions are also facing changing times and academic libraries are being asked to demonstrate value and justify the use of limited and high-demand resources. In order to address the resulting challenge, the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) Library undertook a process to deliver relevant and responsive (and, therefore, reflective and adaptable) library services while working within its current librarian complement. Significant changes were necessary for this to be successful: the librarians would need to undertake new responsibilities, learn new skills, and engage with learners and researchers in new ways. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– The U of S Library chose to meet this challenge through a multi-part approach comprised of regular participative consultations with librarians and a grassroots-based planning process underpinned by change management methodology.

Findings

– This approach resulted in widespread employee engagement, from initially clarifying the necessary change and throughout the change implementation. This led to a sense of ownership, responsibility, and accountability.

Originality/value

– Change is difficult and often met with resistance. The U of S Library presents a case of successfully engaging library employees throughout a change process, demonstrating the importance of bringing together participative consultation, grassroots planning, and change management as a combined change implementation approach.
Leaning into sustainability at University of Alberta Libraries
Authors: Beasley Gerald , Rosseel Trish
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present a case study that considers the links between cost avoidance, lean design, and sustainability in relation to two different library projects at University of Alberta Libraries (UAL) – the design of the Research and Collections Resource Facility and the development of new fee-based library services at UAL’s John W. Scott Health Sciences Library.

Design/methodology/approach

– This case study describes the analysis of each project’s workflows in relation to lean design in order to enhance processes and service delivery.

Findings

– Findings to date in both of these ongoing projects suggest that consideration of the lean philosophy has already led to process and service improvements. With regard to the new building design project, revised task design is already resulting in significant savings in staff time, and work space. And the staffing model for fee-based specialized services has already been redesigned, an alignment with lean principles.

Research limitations/implications

– While this paper does discuss and define lean design, it does not provide a comprehensive summary of research in this area.

Originality/value

– This paper highlights the value of lean design as a framework for designing, developing, and reviewing academic library buildings, services, processes, and workflows to ensure they are sustainable.
Does innovation leadership enhance creativity in high-tech industries?
Authors: Tung Feng-Cheng , Yu Tsu-Wei
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop a greater understanding of the effect of innovation leadership (participative, supportive, and instrumental) on supervisory-rated employee creativity through greater employee regulatory focus (i.e. promotion and prevention).

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were collected from dyads of 103 employees and employee supervisors working in Taiwan’s high-tech industry. A structural equation modelling approach was used to examine the relationship posited in this study.

Findings

– Results reveal that both participative and supportive leadership are positively associated with the creativity of supervisory-rated subordinates when those subordinates adopted a focus on promotion. The data also show that these relationships are partially mediated by employee promotion focus. At the same time, the positive relationship between instrumental leadership and employee creativity is fully mediated by employee prevention focus.

Originality/value

– The results of this study show that participative and supportive leaders cultivate employee promotion focus, which then enhances employee creativity. Instrumental leaders will induce employee prevention focus, which also enhances employee creativity. These findings imply that when enhancing employee creativity, employees with a promotion focus are more suited to participative and supportive leaders, while employees who do not have a promotion focus may be more suited to leaders who provide these employees with specific instructions on the rules, regulations, and procedures to follow to accomplish given tasks and common goals.
Transformational leader attributes: interpersonal skills, engagement, and well-being
Authors: Mencl Jennifer , Wefald Andrew J. , van Ittersum Kyle W.
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of interpersonal skills (emotional and political skills) and work engagement on transformational leadership and leader well-being at work.

Design/methodology/approach

– Emotional control, emotional sensitivity, political skills, work engagement, transformational leadership behaviors, and job satisfaction were assessed in an empirical study of 278 employees. The relationships between emotional skills, political skills, work engagement, and transformational leadership were evaluated using participants in managerial positions (n=159). The combined influence of interpersonal skills and work engagement on job satisfaction was examined as a comparison between managers and non-managers (n=119).

Findings

– In addition to the positive effects of work engagement on outcome measures, results showed political skill is an important capability contributing to transformational leadership and leaders’ job satisfaction. Findings also showed the interaction of emotional skill, political skill, and work engagement contributed to job satisfaction among managers.

Practical implications

– Organizations must provide managers with opportunities to develop political skills or modify selection processes to identify candidates who possess political skills for management positions. Organizations will also benefit from implementing ways to engage managers in their work to facilitate transformational leader behaviors and promote their well-being. In addition, organizations can work to identify and develop managers’ emotional control and sensitivity skills specific to individual needs.

Originality/value

– Research investigating personal attributes that influence transformational leadership as an outcome is limited. This study contributes to the leadership literature and sheds light on the literature on the microfoundations of management competencies by examining managers’ skills and engagement on their leader behaviors and job satisfaction. Insights are discovered regarding the combination of emotional skills, political skills, and work engagement that indicate interpersonal skills and engagement have supplementary effects on transformational leader behaviors and leader well-being.
A contribution to aeromagnetic deculturing in populated areas
Authors: Beamish David
Published: June 2016

Modern regional airborne magnetic datasets, when acquired in populated areas, are inevitably degraded by cultural interference. In the United Kingdom context, the spatial densities of interfering structures and their complex spatial form severely limit our ability to successfully process and interpret the data. Deculturing procedures previously adopted have used semi‐automatic methods that incorporate additional geographical databases that guide manual assessment and refinement of the acquired database. Here we present an improved component of that procedure that guides the detection of localized responses associated with non‐geological perturbations. The procedure derives from a well‐established technique for the detection of kimberlite pipes and is a form of moving‐window correlation using grid‐based data. The procedure lends itself to automatic removal of perturbed data, although manual intervention to accept/reject outputs of the procedure is wise. The technique is evaluated using recently acquired regional United Kingdom survey data, which benefits from having an offshore component and areas of largely non‐magnetic granitic response. The methodology is effective at identifying (and hence removing) the isolated perturbations that form a persistent spatial noise background to the entire dataset. Probably in common with all such methods, the technique fails to isolate and remove amalgamated responses due to complex superimposed effects. The procedure forms an improved component of partial automation in the context of a wider deculturing procedure applied to United Kingdom aeromagnetic data.
A novel translocator protein 18 kDa ligand, ZBD‐2, exerts neuroprotective effects against acute spinal cord injury
Authors: Cheng Qiang , Sun Guo‐jing , Liu Shui‐bing , Yang Qi , Li Xiao‐ming , Li Xu‐bo , Liu Gang , Zhao Jian‐ning , Zhao Ming‐gao
Published: June 2016

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) happens accidently and often leads to motor dysfunction due to a series of biochemical and pathological events and damage, either temporarily or permanently. Translocator protein 18 (TSPO) has been found to be involved in the synthesis of endogenous neurosteroids which have multiple effects on neurons, but the internal mechanisms are not clear. N‐benzyl‐N‐ethyl‐2‐(7,8‐oxo‐2‐phenyl‐9H‐purin‐9‐yl) acetamide (ZBD‐2), a newly reported ligand of TSPO, shows some neuroprotective effect against focal cerebral ischemia in vivo and NMDA‐induced neurotoxicity in vitro. The present study aims to examine the role of ZBD‐2 in SCI mice and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. The SCI model was established by crushing spinal cord. ZBD‐2 (10 mg/kg) significantly enhanced the hindlimb locomotor functions after SCI and decreased the tissue damage and conserved the white matter of the spinal cord. High‐dose ZBD‐2 alleviated the oxidative stress induced by SCI and regulated the imbalance between NR2B‐containing NMDA and GABA receptors by increasing the levels of GAD67 in the spinal cord of SCI mice. Additionally, ZBD‐2 (10 mg/kg) increased phosphorylated Akt (p‐Akt) and decreased the ratio of Bax/Bcl‐2. These results demonstrate that ZBD‐2 performs neuroprotection against SCI through regulating the synaptic transmission and the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.
Aristotelian Ethics and Luke 15:11–32 in Early Modern England
Authors: Horbury Ezra
Published: June 2016

The discourse surrounding Luke 15:11–32 — commonly titled “the parable of the prodigal son” — in early modern England is a major site of convergence for Aristotelian and Christian ethics. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the perceived role of “prodigality” (in the sense of excessive expenditure) in the parable of the prodigal son became deeply bound up with Aristotelian ethics; the parable's evolving title and its increasingly prominent role in casus summarii both contributed to and were affected by these changes. Despite the importance of both Aristotelian ethics and the parable of the prodigal son to early modern culture, scant research exists on the vital intersection between the two. By tracing the evolution of biblical paratexts, this article explicates how the parable gained its title. It then explores how the shared use of ἀσωτία (prodigality) in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Luke 15:13 affected the interpretation of Luke 15:11–32 in early modern England, and the repercussions this had for early modern philosophy and theology. It concludes that Aristotelian ethics were hugely influential in both the early modern interpretation of Luke 15:11–32 and the concept of “prodigality” that the parable was so often used to explore.
Government Social Media Messages across Disaster Phases
Authors: Wukich Clayton
Published: June 2016

Social media platforms allow emergency managers to augment traditional approaches to crisis communication. Research on government messaging, however, disproportionately addresses large‐scale disaster response efforts, neglecting smaller‐scale incidents and activities across other disaster phases (e.g., prevention, mitigation, preparedness and recovery). This article offers a more complete analysis of messaging strategies by integrating existing typologies and analysing state‐level emergency management agencies in the United States over a one‐year period. Findings illustrate a range of messages, with response and preparedness being most prevalent. While all agencies disseminated protective action messages, situational information and preparedness guidance, fewer engaged in more interactive tactics that facilitate public participation and interagency collaboration. More work, therefore, is needed to pursue social media's full potential in promoting risk reduction.
Integrated Management of Land Use Systems under Systemic Risks and Security Targets: A Stochastic Global Biosphere Management Model
Authors: Ermolieva Tatiana , Havlík Petr , Ermoliev Yuri , Mosnier Aline , Obersteiner Michael , Leclère David , Khabarov Nikolay , Valin Hugo , Reuter Wolf
Published: June 2016

Interdependencies among land use systems resemble a complex network connected through demand–supply relationships. Disruption of this network may catalyse systemic risks affecting food, energy, water and environmental security (FEWES) worldwide. We describe the conceptual development, expansion and practical application of a stochastic version of the Global Biosphere Management Model (GLOBIOM), used to assess competition for land use between agriculture, bioenergy and forestry at regional and global scales. In the stochastic version of the model, systemic risks of various kinds are explicitly covered and can be analysed and mitigated in all their interactions. While traditional deterministic scenario analysis produces sets of scenario‐dependent outcomes, stochastic GLOBIOM explicitly derives robust outcomes that leave the systems better‐off, independently of which scenario applies. Stochastic GLOBIOM is formulated as a stochastic optimisation model that is critical for evaluating portfolios of robust interdependent decisions: ex‐ante strategic decisions (production allocation, storage capacities) and ex‐post adaptive (demand, trading, storage control) decisions. As an example, the model is applied to the question of optimal storage facilities, as buffers for production shortfalls, to meet regional and global FEWES requirements when extreme events occur. Expected shortfalls and storage capacities have a close relationship with Value‐at‐Risk (VaR) and Conditional Value‐at‐Risk (CVaR) risk measures. A Value of Stochastic Solutions is calculated to illustrate the benefits of the stochastic over the deterministic model approach.
Vitamin D: Australian dietitian's knowledge and practices
Authors: Dix Clare F. , Robinson Alex , Bauer Judith D. , Wright Olivia R.L.
Published: June 2016

Aim

To survey dietitians on their knowledge and practices regarding vitamin D (VitD) intake, sources, supplementation and effect on disease state.

Methods

An online survey was disseminated to members of the Dietitian Association Australia via the weekly online state newsletter during April 2015. Response rate was 3%, with 134 respondents completing the survey. The survey included questions about knowledge and current practices. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the results.

Results

Dietitians have good knowledge regarding dietary sources of VitD and roles in the body, but there is confusion around supplement doses for treatment and prevention of deficiency and sun exposure guidelines.

Conclusions

Dietitians are well positioned to provide patients with advice on VitD supplementation and sun exposure practices, but not all are confident to provide this care. There is a need for clear and well‐disseminated guidelines for VitD management by dietitians.
Landmark papers on the discovery of methotrexate for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other systemic inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a fascinating story
Authors: Malaviya Anand N.
Published: June 2016

This review highlights the story of how methotrexate (MTX), a drug discovered for the treatment of childhood leukemia, became the mainstay of treatment and the standard‐of‐care for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and was also found useful for several additional related rheumatological diseases. As against several synthetic disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) for treating RA that were discovered serendipitously, the use of low‐dose MTX (LD‐MTX) was based on sound reasoning and astute observations made in the 1940s and 1950s. The difference between high‐dose MTX (HD‐MTX) used in the treatment of childhood leukaemia and other malignancies as against LD‐MTX used in rheumatology is emphasized.
Presepsin and procalcitonin as biomarkers of systemic bacterial infection in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Tsujimoto Kohei , Hata Atsuko , Fujita Masaaki , Hatachi Saori , Yagita Masato
Published: June 2016

Aim

To assess the diagnostic values of presepsin and procalcitonin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by identifying those with bacterial infection

Method

During June 2014–September 2015, 126 patients with RA and 25 healthy controls were enrolled. RA patients were divided into an infection group and a non‐infection group. Infection was diagnosed by clinical symptoms, microbiological or radiographic methods, and good response to antibiotics. Concentrations of plasma presepsin, serum procalcitonin, C‐reactive protein (CRP), and white blood cell counts (WBC) were measured and compared in each group. The correlations with the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) Score and these markers were calculated.

Results

RA patients included 26 patients in the infection group, 45 patients in the CRP‐positive non‐infection group (CRP > 0.3 mg/dL), and 55 patients in the CRP‐negative non‐infection group (CRP < 0.3 mg/dL). Levels of presepsin and procalcitonin in the infection group were highest and significantly higher than those in the CRP‐positive non‐infection group (presepsin 682.8 ± 158.1 pg/mL vs. 192.0 ± 12.0 pg/mL [P < 0.0001]; procalcitonin 4.052 ± 1.637 ng/mL vs. 0.120 ± 0.032 ng/mL [(P < 0.0001]). According to receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, presepsin and procalcitonin levels appeared to have a higher diagnostic accuracy for infection than CRP or WBC. For the infection group, the SOFA Score positively correlated with the concentration of presepsin but not with that of procalcitonin.

Conclusion

Presepsin and procalcitonin may be useful to identify infection in RA patients. Presepsin may better reflect infection severity than procalcitonin.
Lung squamous cell carcinoma with brachial soft tissue metastasis responsive to gefitinib: Report of a rare case
Authors: Kataoka Kana , Osaka Eiji , Shimizu Tetsuo , Okamura Yuki , Yoshida Yukihiro , Tokuhashi Yasuaki
Published: June 2016

Metastasis of lung cancer to soft tissue is rare and patient outcomes are generally poor. There are no reports describing soft tissue metastasis in lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), in which gefitinib treatment was effective not only for the primary tumor but also the metastatic lesion. A 61‐year‐old Asian woman presented to our facility with pain and a mass in the brachium. An additional tumor was identified in the lung. As we suspected soft tissue metastasis of lung cancer, an incisional biopsy was performed, yielding a diagnosis of SCC. The brachial tumor continued to grow and became exposed at the biopsy site when the incisional wound dehisced. Because the biopsied specimen was positive for an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutation, we commenced gefitinib administration. This treatment resulted in the rapid shrinkage of both the brachial metastasis and the primary tumor, followed by healing of the wound. Therefore, tyrosine kinase inhibitors should be used for cases that present EGFR activating mutations independently from the presence of skin and soft tissue metastases.
The relative performance of AIC, AICCand BIC in the presence of unobserved heterogeneity
Authors: Brewer Mark J. , Butler Adam , Cooksley Susan L.
Published: June 2016

Model selection is difficult. Even in the apparently straightforward case of choosing between standard linear regression models, there does not yet appear to be consensus in the statistical ecology literature as to the right approach.

We review recent works on model selection in ecology and subsequently focus on one aspect in particular: the use of the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) or its small‐sample equivalent,. We create a novel framework for simulation studies and use this to study model selection from simulated data sets with a range of properties, which differ in terms of degree of unobserved heterogeneity. We use the results of the simulation study to suggest an approach for model selection based on ideas from information criteria but requiring simulation.

We find that the relative predictive performance of model selection by different information criteria is heavily dependent on the degree of unobserved heterogeneity between data sets. When heterogeneity is small, AIC orare likely to perform well, but if heterogeneity is large, the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) will often perform better, due to the stronger penalty afforded.

Our conclusion is that the choice of information criterion (or more broadly, the strength of likelihood penalty) should ideally be based upon hypothesized (or estimated from previous data) properties of the population of data sets from which a given data set could have arisen. Relying on a single form of information criterion is unlikely to be universally successful.
How do we want Satellite Remote Sensing to support biodiversity conservation globally?
Authors: Pettorelli Nathalie , Owen Harry Jon Foord , Duncan Clare
Published: June 2016

1. Essential Biodiversity Variable, Natural Capital, Biodiversity Indicator and Ecosystem Service are four concepts that underpin the most popular frameworks currently considered for helping to coordinate and structure biodiversity monitoring efforts worldwide. Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) has considerable potential to inform these initiatives. To date, however, discussions on the role of SRS in supporting these frameworks have mostly evolved independently; tend to be led by different groups; sometimes target slightly different scales; and are likely to reach different audiences. Because of this, there is some confusion among environmental managers and policymakers as to what the potential of SRS is or whether there is prospect in considering and promoting the use of satellite data for biodiversity conservation.

2. Here, we provide a brief overview of the role of SRS to date in informing these frameworks. Through a case study focused on the Sahara Desert ecosystem, we also demonstrate the current potential for SRS‐based methodologies to support conservation in data‐deficient areas and discuss the relative applicability of SRS‐based metrics to each of these frameworks.

3. The relevance and use of SRS across the four frameworks are clearly variable, due to differences and ambiguity in definitions, and due to differences in monitoring priorities. Our case study illustrates the particularly high potential for SRS approaches to provide key information relevant to the Biodiversity Indicators framework in desert ecosystems; it also identifies SRS‐based metrics relevant to all frameworks.

4. Altogether, this work highlights how more dialogue is required within the biodiversity‐monitoring community for SRS to reach its full potential in conservation. In particular, agreement on what is needed in priority, given the realm of what is possible, will be of paramount importance to developing SRS‐based products that are used by policymakers and international conventions.
Severe vitamin D deficiency is common in critically ill patients at a high northern latitude
Authors: Kvaran R. B. , Sigurdsson M. I. , Skarphedinsdottir S. J. , Sigurdsson G. H.
Published: June 2016

Background

Critically ill patients at southern latitudes have been shown to have low vitamin D levels that were associated with prolonged hospital stay. To our knowledge no studies have been conducted on vitamin D status amongst critically ill patients at high northern latitudes. Despite the Icelandic population traditionally taking vitamin D supplements, we hypothesized that the majority of critically ill patients in Reykjavik, Iceland have low vitamin D levels.

Methods

This was a prospective observational study on 122 patients admitted to Landspitali University Hospital intensive care unit. Serum vitamin D (25(OH)D) was measured in all patients on two occasions (first and second day). The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and its effect on hospital stay was calculated.

Results

Only 9% of patients had vitamin D levels recommended for good health (>75 nmol/l) and 69% were deficient (25(OH)D < 50 nmol/l). The average difference between the first and second vitamin D samples was 2.8 nmol/l. Forty‐three percentage of the severely vitamin D deficient stayed in the ICU for more than 4 days compared to 19% of patients with better status (P = 0.196).

Discussion

Vitamin D deficiency is very common in critically ill patients at high northern latitudes and patients with severely deficient vitamin D levels had trend towards longer intensive care unit stay. Furthermore, 43% of the patients had vitamin D levels under 25 nmol/l that is associated with osteomalacia. It appears that a single vitamin D measurement gives a reasonable clue about the vitamin D status in critically ill patients.
A Tale of Two Tails: Establishment Size and Labour Productivity in United States and German Manufacturing at the Start of the Twentieth Century
Authors: Veenstra Joost , de Jong Herman
Published: June 2016

This paper studies the importance of establishment size for the German/US labour‐productivity gap in manufacturing at the start of the twentieth century. First, we show that the left tail of the employment distribution by establishment size was larger in Germany than in the USA. Second, using US state data for 1909, we find a positive correlation between establishment size and labour productivity. Third, imposing the coefficients of these estimates on establishment‐size differences between Germany and the USA, we calculate that a redistribution of German employment to larger establishments, as in the USA, reduces the labour‐productivity gap by about 25 per cent.
Vehicle–wild vertebrate collision mortality on the highways of Tigray, Ethiopia, implications for conservation
Authors: Kiros Welegerima , Kibrom Fitwi , Raman Prakasam Vadakkedath , Teferi Mokonen , Solomon Kiros , Meheretu Yonas
Published: June 2016

In view of the upcoming road network improvement and expansion in Ethiopia, specifically in Tigray, it is also necessary to understand the potential impacts of road accidents with wildlife vertebrate animals. Road mortality detection surveys were conducted from March 2013 to June 2014. We surveyed around 530 km using vehicle with special emphasis given to roads surrounded by wetlands, forests, rocky areas and rivers each month. Additional information was also collected using a standardized questionnaire. A total of twenty species, 143 individuals of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals were recorded as road vehicular accidents in the surveyed area. Of all, mammals showed the highest species richness (80 individuals belonging to ten species) followed by birds (49 individuals belonging to eight species). The survey revealed most accidents happened during the early morning and late evening. This might be due to relatively high traffic and continued activity of wild animals at that time, besides the driver's inability to avoid accidents when it is dark. Wildlife underpasses during road construction, location of crossing structures, rules of wildlife conservation, improving driver's awareness are relevant in this context and may be the most important mitigation measures to reduce mortality of wildlife on the roads.
Ghost Workers: The Implications of Governing Immigration Through Crime for Migrant Workplaces
Authors: Horton Sarah B.
Published: June 2016

Based on interviews and fieldwork in a migrant farmworking community in California's Central Valley, this article examines the phenomenon of “identity masking” and its implications for workers’ labor conditions. It shows that labor supervisors often take advantage of unauthorized migrants’ and minors’ legal ineligibility for employment by making their employment contingent upon working a set of loaned identity documents. In doing so, employers render these groups “ghost workers”—that is, they simultaneously obscure their presence from the state and federal governments while benefitting from the wage deductions associated with such prohibited workers’ labor. By calling attention to on‐the‐ground practices of document circulation, this article thus critiques the charges of “identity theft” often levied against unauthorized migrants during worksite raids. Yet the common practice of “identity masking” not only directly benefits supervisors as individuals, but also makes injured “ghost workers” disappear. As employers wield the threat of implicating such workers in “identity theft” to suppress their workers’ compensation claims, this article illustrates the implications of the trend towards “governing immigration through crime” (Dowling and Inda 2013) on the migrant labor force.