bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Contralateral Subfrontal Supraorbital Approach for Microsurgical Resection of Optic Canal Meningioma
Authors: Eroglu Umit , Sayaci Emre Yagiz , Buyuktepe Murat , Caglar Yusuf Sukru
Published: October 2020

Meningiomas are mostly benign tumors of the central nervous system. Recurrence can be seen in clinoidal meningiomas especially extending into optic canal. We present a patient with a history of left clinoidal meningioma excision via pterional approach and recurrence purely in left optic canal. Optic canal drilling is necessary for complete removal of these type of tumors. Contralateral subfrontal approach with an eyebrow incision and a keyhole supraorbital craniotomy was used for this patient. Contralateral viewing of the surgical area provided direct angles and created better workspace for the surgeon. Total excision was achieved with no additional neurological deficits in the postoperative period. This approach can be used with its wide exposure of surgical site, potential space usage without need of retraction and better postoperative scar healing.
Influence of Upper Airway Surgery on Voice and Speech Recognition
Authors: Hernández-García Estefanía , Velazquez Laureano Moro , González Ramón , Godino Llorente Juan Ignacio , Plaza Guillermo
Published: October 2020

Purpose:

Upper airway surgery comprises a set of techniques that modify the anatomy of the vocal tract, including tonsillectomy and septoplasty. The objective of this work is to study the changes in acoustic parameters and the effects on the identification or verification of the speaker through the speech produced after the vocal tract surgeries, comparing them with a control group.

Methods:

A prospective study was performed between January 2019 and June 2019 including. The final study sample consisted of 84 patients who met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 31 underwent septoplasty, 26 tonsillectomy patients, and 27 controls. Demographic data and GRBAS evaluation were statistically evaluated. Tests were taken before surgery, 2 weeks after surgery and 3 months later. Furthermore, to establish the equal error rate, the recording of patients’ voices was made with a succeeding acoustic analysis and programmed identification of the speaker through machine learning systems.

Results:

A significant variance was observed in GRBAS, after surgery. Regarding acoustic parameters, a greater change was observed in the fundamental frequency at 2 weeks after surgery in the tonsillectomy group. Formants (F1-F3) and antiformants (AntiF1-AntiF3) changed in septoplasty group, not in tonsillectomy and control group at 3 months. When studying the impact of voice changes on the verification of the speaker through the speech, it was observed that there was a greater error in recognition in the tonsillectomy group at 2 weeks, coinciding with the results obtained in the rest of the parameters studied.

Conclusions:

Results suggest that upper airway surgery produces modifications in the vocal tract affecting GRBAS, acoustic parameters, including formants and antiformants, producing an effect on verification of the speaker through the speech.
Analysis of Maxillofacial Fractures Based on the Etiology in Southeast China
Authors: Huang Li , Jiang Canyang , Lin Yuerong , Wen Yuejin , Huang Xuelei , Huang Jianping , Lin Lisong
Published: October 2020

Background:

The aim of this study was to explore the characteristics and correlation of maxillofacial fractures and concurrent injuries with different injury causes.

Methods:

In this retrospective study, data were collected from patients treated for maxillofacial fractures in 3 oral and maxillofacial surgery departments in Southeast China, from January 2010 to December 2019. The information was obtained from clinical notes and surgical records using a standardized data collection form, and some causes of injuries were confirmed by telephone follow-ups and police records. These patients were divided into 7 groups according to the etiology: bicycle accident, electric bicycle accident, motorcycle accident, automobile accident, fall at ground level, fall from a height, and assault-related accident. Statistical tests were performed using R software (version 3.1.1), and all P-values were computed based on Chi-square tests and set at 0.05.

Results:

During this 10-year retrospective study, a total of 1772 patients with definite causes were analyzed. The average age was approximately 35.04 years (9 months–94 years). All patients were treated with open reduction and rigidly internal fixation, and the average duration was approximately 6.51 days (range 0 day–50 days), that from the time of the injury to the time of treatment. Traffic accidents were identified as the main cause of maxillofacial fracture (57.62%; n = 1021 of 1772 cases). In different etiology groups, there were statistically significant differences in the distribution of age, sex, maxillofacial fracture type, and concurrent injuries (all P < 0.001). However, the main cause of maxillofacial injuries was falls (fall at ground level and fall from a height) in children, and the highest incidence of the cause of maxillofacial injuries was bicycle accident in adolescents. Compared with the other groups, zygomatic complex fracture was more common in the electric bicycle accident group, panfacial fracture was more common in the automobile accident group, and mandible fracture was more common in the other groups.

Conclusion:

The results of this study suggest that patients with maxillofacial fractures caused by different injuries had their own unique characteristics. These findings may assist us in avoiding misdiagnosis and treatment delays, and may make treatment plans faster.
Complications of Hemorrhagic Shock and Massive Transfusion—a Comparison Before and After the Damage Control Resuscitation Era
Authors: Black Jonathan A. , Pierce Virginia S. , Juneja Kavina , Holcomb John B.
Published: October 2020

Trauma remains a leading cause of death, and hemorrhage is the leading cause of preventable trauma deaths. Resuscitation strategies in trauma have changed dramatically over the last 20 years. In the pre damage control resuscitation (DCR) era, we used large volume crystalloid resuscitation and packed red blood cells as the primary resuscitative fluids. Now, a 1:1:1 ratio of packed red blood cells, fresh plasma, and platelets with minimal crystalloids is the preferred resuscitative strategy (DCR era). As we have changed how we resuscitate patients, the detrimental effects associated with large volume resuscitation have also changed. In this article, we review the effects of large volume blood product resuscitation, and where possible present a contrast between the pre-DCR era and the DCR era resuscitation strategies.
Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS): A Review and Focus on Considerations for COVID-19
Authors: Tabatabai Ali , Galvagno Samuel M. , O’Connor James V. , Scalea Thomas M. , Deatrick Kristopher B.
Published: October 2020

Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is a support modality for patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) who have failed conventional treatments including low tidal volume ventilation, prone positioning, and neuromuscular blockade. In addition, ECLS can be used for hemodynamic support for patients with cardiogenic shock or following cardiac arrest. Injured patients may also require ECLS support for ARDS and other indications. We review the use of ECLS for ARDS patients, trauma patients, cardiogenic shock patients, and post-cardiac arrest patients. We then describe how these principles are applied in the management of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Indications, predictors, procedural considerations, and post-cannulation management strategies are discussed.
Female Urethroplasty With Dorsal Onlay Labia Minora Graft: Technical Details and Initial Results
Authors: Simsek Abdulmuttalip , Seker Kamil Gokhan , Danacioglu Yavuz Onur , Sam Emre , Ozdemir Osman , Yenice Mustafa Gurkan , Atar Feyzi Arda , Tasci Ali Ihsan
Published: October 2020

Objective

The objective of this study was to evaluate the functional results of dorsal onlay labia minora graft urethroplasty in the treatment of female urethral strictures.

Materials and Methods

Data were retrospectively examined for 13 patients who underwent augmentation urethroplasty through the dorsal approach using labia minora grafts between September 2017 and January 2019. Demographic, intraoperative, and postoperative data and follow-up conditions were recorded for all patients.

Results

The mean age of the patients was calculated as 48.2±7 years. The etiology of urethral strictures was found to be trauma in 2 patients, iatrogenic in 4 patients, and idiopathic causes in 7 patients. The mean urethral stricture length of the patients was 1.5±0.4 cm (range, 1–2.5 cm). The mean surgical duration was 95±11.4 minutes (range, 70–110 minutes). The mean postoperative American Urology Association symptom score, maximum urine flow rate, and postmictional residue values were statistically significantly different compared with preoperative data (P < 0.05). No peroperative and postoperative complications were detected in any patients. The mean follow-up duration of the patients was 19±5.3 months, and no recurrence of stricture was observed in any patients based on the cystourethroscopic examinations. All patients are being followed up in our clinic without any stricture recurrence or symptoms.

Conclusions

The dorsal onlay labia minora graft urethroplasty technique in female urethral strictures is an efficient and applicable method with postoperative anatomic and functional results. Studies with longer follow-up periods and larger patient populations are required to present the success and reliability of this technique.
Patients performing lower limb exercises in an orthopedic ward: a best practice implementation project
Authors: Koh Siew Yi , Sridaran Mahendran N. , Goh Mien Li
Published: October 2020

Aims:

The evidence-based project sought to educate patients on doing lower limb exercises within 24 h of their admissions to the ward. Patients spend most of their time in bed during their hospital stays, which imposes negative outcomes due to inactivity, such as risks of reduced muscle mass and deconditioning, which may further implicate patients’ conditions.

Methods:

The project occurred in three phases over a period of 18 months. The project was undertaken in an orthopedic ward of an acute tertiary hospital. A preimplementation and postimplementation audit strategy using the Joanna Briggs Institute's Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System was conducted on a sample of 20 adult patients. The Getting Research into Practice framework was utilized to analyze the barriers and gaps encountered in the clinical ground.

Results:

The baseline audit result revealed that only 35% of the patients received education on the exercise program and that there was poor compliance on nursing documentation of the intervention in daily note-free texts. Following the implementation, there was an improvement in nurses’ documentation compliance. In follow-up audits one and two, the nurses achieved compliance rates of 60 and 90% in nursing documentation, respectively.

Conclusion:

Overall, there were improvements in provision of lower limb exercise education to patients. This project has demonstrated that patients were willing to exercise during hospitalization. Nurses play a significant role in providing early education to patients to do simple exercises. The implementation of the evidence-based project may increase the awareness of the importance of exercises to minimize hospital-acquired deconditioning and functional declines among ward nurses and patients.
Flavobacterium panici sp. nov. isolated from the rhizosphere of the switchgrass Panicum virgatum
Authors: Kämpfer Peter , Glaeser S. P. , McInroy John A. , Xu Jia , Busse Hans-Jürgen , Clermont Dominique , Criscuolo Alexis
Published: October 2020

A Gram-staining-negative non endospore-forming strain, PXU-55T, was isolated from the rhizosphere of the switchgrass Panicum virgatum and studied in detail to determine its taxonomic position. The results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the isolate represented a member of the genus

Flavobacterium

. The isolate shared highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with the type strains of

Flavobacterium chungangense

(98.78 %) and

Flavobacterium chilense

(98.64 %). The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and in silico DNA–DNA hybridization (isDDH) values between the PXU-55T genome assembly and the ones of the most closely related type strains of species of the genus

Flavobacterium

were 87.3 and 31.9% (

Flavobacterium defluvii

), and 86.1 and 29.9% (

Flavobacterium johnsoniae

). Menaquinone MK-6 was the major respiratory quinone. As major polar lipids, phosphatidylethanolamine, an ornithine lipid and the unidentified polar lipids L2, L3 and L4 lacking a functional group were found. Moderate to minor amounts of another ornithine lipid, the unidentified lipid L1 and a glycolipid were present, as well. The major polyamine is sym-homospermidine. The fatty acid profiles contained major amounts of iso-C15:0, iso-C15:0 3-OH, iso-C17:0 3-OH, C15:0, summed feature 3 (C16:1ω7c and/or iso-C15:0 2-OH) and various hydroxylated fatty acids in smaller amounts, among them iso C16:0 3-OH, C16:0 3-OH and C15:0 3-OH, which supported the classification of the isolate as a member of the genus

Flavobacterium

. Physiological and biochemical characterisation and ANI calculations with the type strains of the most closely related species allowed a clear phenotypic and genotypic differentiation of the strain. For this reason, we propose that strain PXU-55T (=CIP 111646T=CCM 8914T) represents a novel species with the name Flavobacterium panici sp. nov.
Lichenicola cladoniae gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the family Acetobacteraceae isolated from an Antarctic lichen
Authors: Noh Hyun-Ju , Shin Seung Chul , Park Yerin , Choi Ahyoung , Baek Kiwoon , Hong Soon Gyu , Cho Yong-Joon , Lee Hyoungseok , Lee Yung Mi
Published: October 2020

Two Gram-stain-negative, facultative anaerobic, chemoheterotrophic, pink-coloured, rod-shaped and non-motile bacterial strains, PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569T, were isolated from an Antarctic lichen. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strains PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569Tbelong to the familyAcetobacteraceaeand the most closely related species areGluconacetobacter takamatsuzukensis(96.1 %),Gluconacetobacter tumulisoli(95.9 %) andGluconacetobacter sacchari(95.7 %). Phylogenomic and genomic relatedness analyses showed that strains PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569Tare clearly distinguished from other genera in the familyAcetobacteraceaeby average nucleotide identity values (<72.8 %) and the genome-to-genome distance values (<22.5 %). Genomic analysis revealed that strains PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569Tdo not contain genes involved in atmospheric nitrogen fixation and utilization of sole carbon compounds such as methane and methanol. Instead, strains PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569Tpossess genes to utilize nitrate and nitrite and certain monosaccharides and disaccharides. The major fatty acids (>10 %) are summed feature 8 (C18 : 1 ω7cand/or C18 : 1 ω6c; 40.3–40.4 %), C18 : 12OH (22.7–23.7 %) and summed feature 2 (C14 : 03OH and/or C16 : 1iso I; 12.0 % in PAMC 26568). The major respiratory quinone is Q-10. The genomic DNA G+C content of PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569Tis 64.6 %. Their distinct phylogenetic position and some physiological characteristics distinguish strains PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569Tfrom other genera in the familyAcetobacteraceaesupporting the proposal ofLichenicolagen. nov., with the type speciesLichenicola cladoniaesp. nov. (type strain, PAMC 26569T=KCCM 43315T=JCM 33604T).
Detecting and isolating false negatives of SARS-CoV-2 primers and probe sets among the Japanese Population: A laboratory testing methodology and study
Authors: Tsutae Wataru , Chaochaisit Wirawit , Aoshima Hideyuki , Ida Chiharu , Miyakawa Shino , Sekine Hiroko , Sheikh Afzal , Baran Iri Sato , Furukawa Toshiharu , Sekine Akihiro
Published: October 2020

Objectives

In this study, a comparative study between primers from Japan’s and US’s disease control centers was conducted. As further investigation, virus sequence alignment with primers’ oligonucleotide was analyzed.

Design or methods

11,652 samples from Japanese population were tested for SARS-CoV-2 positive using recommended RT-PCR primer-probe sets from Japan National Institute of Infectious Disease (NIID) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Results

Of the 102 positive samples, 17 samples (16.7% of total positives) showed inconsistent results when tested simultaneously for the following primers: JPN-N2, JPN-N1, CDC-N1, and CDC-N2. As a result, CDC recommended primer-probe sets showed relatively higher sensitivity and accuracy. Further virus sequence alignment analysis showed evidences for virus mutation happening at primer’s binding sites.

Conclusions

The inconsistency in the RT-PCR results for JPN-N1, JPN-N2, CDC-N1, and CDC-N2 primer-probe sets could be attributed to differences in virus mutation at primers’ binding site as observed in sequence analysis. The use of JPN-N2 combined with CDC-N2 primer produces the most effective result to reduce false negatives in Japan region. In addition, adding CDC-N1 will also help to detect false negatives.
Deep-LUMEN Assay – Human lung epithelial spheroid classification from brightfield images using deep learning
Authors: Abdul Lyan , Rajasekar Shravanthi , Lin Dawn S.Y. , Raja Sibi Venkatasubramania , Sotra Alexander , Feng Yuhang , Liu Amy , Zhang Boyang
Published: October 2020

Three-dimensional (3D) tissue models such as epithelial spheroids or organoids have become popular for pre-clinical drug studies. However, different from 2D monolayer culture, the characterization of 3D tissue models from non-invasive brightfield images is a significant challenge. To address this issue, here we report a Deep-Learning Uncovered Measurement of Epithelial Networks (Deep-LUMEN) assay. Deep-LUMEN is an object detection algorithm that has been fine-tuned to automatically uncover subtle differences in epithelial spheroid morphology from brightfield images. This algorithm can track changes in the luminal structure of tissue spheroids and distinguish between polarized and non-polarized lung epithelial spheroids. The Deep-LUMEN assay was validated by screening for changes in spheroid epithelial architecture in response to different extracellular matrices and drug treatments. Specifically, we found the dose-dependent toxicity of Cyclosporin can be underestimated if the effect of the drug on tissue morphology is not considered. Hence, Deep-LUMEN could be used to assess drug effects and capture morphological changes in 3D spheroid models in a non-invasive manner.

Significance of the work

Deep learning has been applied for the first time to autonomously detect subtle morphological changes in 3D multi-cellular spheroids, such as spheroid polarity, from brightfield images in a label-free manner. The technique has been validated by detecting changes in spheroid morphology in response to changes in extracellular matrices and drug treatments.
Shifting perceptions of same-sex marriage in Taiwan: who changed their mind after legalization?
Authors: Rich Timothy S. , Dahmer Andi , Brueggemann Carolyn
Published: October 2020

Purpose

This article addresses Taiwanese public opinion on same-sex marriage, connecting it to the 2020 general election.

Design/methodology/approach

Original survey data are combined with analysis of the existing literature and 2020 election results.

Findings

Original survey data find that nearly one in five respondents have changed their views on same-sex marriage since its legalization, with most of those who have changed their views more opposed to legalization than before. However, this shift and its related support for the Kuomintang (KMT) do not appear to have influenced election results.

Social implications

The results suggest that positions on same-sex marriage remain somewhat in flux, while the success of the pro-legalization Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) may lead to additional LGBT rights.

Originality/value

This combines original survey data with election results to analyze the effects of same-sex marriage legalization on the election outcome.
Education and lifelong learning for young and adult peasants
Authors: Cunha de Araujo Gustavo
Published: October 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to provide an overview of an expanded, workable conception of rural youth and adult education that will move Brazil closer to a fair, egalitarian society focused on human development.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses a qualitative bibliographic perspective, analyzing historical data extracted from bibliographic and empirical research on rural education – assumptions for thinking about lifelong learning for young and adult peasants – and education and learning for all throughout life.

Findings

Education is critical in a democracy, forming the foundation of social, cultural and political citizenship, critical decision-making and an informed populace. Therefore, teacher education policies aimed at rural education in Brazil must be strengthened, funded and improved.

Research limitations/implications

This research does not present similarities and differences compared to European experiences; instead, it suggests expanding studies on this topic in other international contexts through developmental research to widen the discussion.

Practical implications

Providing high-quality, customized training for the teachers who teach the vastly diverse body of rural students is essential in terms of empowering and recognizing young and adult peasants’ right to learn.

Social implications

“Education for all throughout life” has become a recognized right. Democracies must universalize this right by developing public policies, implementing them throughout the entire population and monitoring progress to verify that everyone – including the poorest peasant in the remotest countryside – has the tools to learn effectively.

Originality/value

By placing this study in the context of youth and adult learning, the study complements research that has addressed this topic in different international contexts, contributing broadly to knowledge regarding teacher education for rural areas and, more generally, to the implications of lifelong learning.
The reflective practitioner: the challenges of supporting public sector senior leaders as they engage in reflective practice
Authors: Rowe Lisa , Moore Neil , McKie Paul
Published: October 2020

Purpose

This paper explores the challenges, issues and benefits of reflective practice faced by work-based practitioners undertaking negotiated experiential learning. The study focuses upon the case of a ground-breaking UK-based Senior Leader Master's Degree Apprenticeship (SLMDA) programme which requires learners to develop and apply reflective practice skills through comprehensive work-based learning and research activities. Degree apprenticeships represent a significant opportunity for providers and employers to become more closely aligned in the joint development and promotion of innovative learning opportunities, yet the efficacy of individually negotiated, experiential learning and reflective practice for senior leaders within a challenging healthcare environment remains relatively unexplored from a tripartite perspective. This paper investigates the role of reflective practice within a leading degree apprenticeship programme which embraces this pedagogic approach and considers the potential barriers and benefits for learners and their organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper begins by discussing the nature of reflective practice in the workplace and explores the growing importance of this activity in contemporary organisations. Theoretical and conceptual foundations relating to experiential learning and reflective practice are analysed and discussed. The SLMDA programme and NHS case organisation are described in detail. Qualitative data drawn from semi-structured interviews undertaken with learners, employers and personal academic tutors (PATs) are then analysed to identify the key issues and challenges encountered.

Findings

The study identifies the benefits of reflective practice, explores the challenges and issues that act as barriers to reflective practice and highlights the importance of the role of the personal academic tutor (PAT) and that of employers in supporting and developing reflective practice in one of the first SLMDA programmes to launch within the UK.

Originality/value

Although reflective practice and work-based research have attracted considerable scholarly activity, investigations have overwhelmingly been focused upon professions such as teaching and nursing and have explored challenges and issues from the perspective of the provider. This study explores reflective practice from the viewpoint of learners, employers and PATs and thereby seeks to complement and expand current understanding by developing a more holistic approach. This work will inform future programme design, practitioner skills development and employer support procedures as learners plan and prepare to facilitate work-based research projects within their organisations.
A-CITEEC: a strategic research consortium for R&D&I and transfer of results in civil engineering and building
Authors: Regueiro-Picallo Manuel , Rojo-López Gemma , Puertas Jerónimo
Published: October 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the Strategic Research Consortium Centre for Technological Innovation in Building and Civil Engineering (A-CITEEC) and its scientific strategy for the promotion of research and higher education in building and civil engineering.

Design/methodology/approach

By means of an approach based on the comparison of strategic actions with other research consortia, a scientific programme is designed following innovative research areas.

Findings

The A-CITEEC is a supra-group structure that strengthens scientific research and provides new opportunities for innovation and technology transfer at the national and international level.

Research limitations/implications

The main objective of the A-CITEEC is to improve and intensify research and knowledge transfer in the fields of engineering and sustainable construction. As a direct consequence, this consortium of research groups is promoting community well-being, economic development and optimization of ecosystem services.

Practical implications

The A-CITEEC enhances collaborations in the national and international university community to achieve their objectives. Other remarkable activities encouraged by the consortium are the organization of scientific events, such as visits to the research centre, the promotion of the research transfer to companies and encouraging the presence of women researchers.

Social implications

The achievement of the objectives and research lines by the A-CITEEC members will lead to satisfying the sustainable development goals (SDGs), priorities of the RIS3 Strategy, Spanish Strategy for Science and Technology and Innovation 2013–2020 and with the European Strategy H2020.

Originality/value

The scientific activities shown in this case study are intended to ensure the continuity of the group consortium, which is unique at the regional level in the field of building and civil engineering.
The effect of servant leadership on employee turnover in SMEs in Nigeria: the role of career growth potential and employee voice
Authors: Amah Okechukwu Ethelbert , Oyetuunde Kabiru
Published: October 2020

Purpose

Employee turnover has been established as a major cause of the abysmal performance of SMEs in Nigeria. Hence, the study explored the role of servant leadership and the work climate created by the leader in the reduction of employee turnover in SMEs.

Design/methodology/approach

The study involved 1,000 participants drawn from 200 SMEs in the city of Lagos. Cross-sectional data was acquired through questionnaire designed in such a way as to minimise common method variance.

Findings

Results indicate that servant leadership reduced employee turnover, and that employee voice and the career growth dimensions partially mediated this relationship. The study variables explained 59% of the variance in employee turnover.

Practical implications

The paper highlights that SMEs leaders who adopt servant leadership behaviour can reduce employee turnover directly and through the positive work environment they create. SMEs leaders must not only be servant leaders but must ensure that the entire organisation is managed by servant leaders. They achieve this through recruitment and promotion process.

Originality/value

Past studies in Nigeria were in the area of government intervention and the effects of turnover on the productivity of SMEs. This appears to be the only paper that studied the effects of leadership on employee turnover in SMEs in Nigeria. This study advances research by studying the effect of servant leadership and the work environment created by leaders on employee turnover. Thus, the study advances past studies by suggesting possible ways to reduce employee turnover and enhancing the needed productivity of SMEs in Nigeria.
Failed planning: lost opportunities and choices for the future
Authors: El-Kholei Ahmed Osman
Published: October 2020

Purpose

Social, spatial and environmental justice are inseparable, and key for sustainable urban development. The city is the cradle of innovation and production. Also, the city is the site of riots, where protesters demand their right to access services and resources. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question: Why do plans to resolve urban ills in developing countries fail to deliver and achieve social justice?

Design/methodology/approach

This paper investigates weaknesses, limitations and outcomes of planning processes in a developing country. The author used two qualitative research tools: document analysis augmented with informal interviews. The author uses Egypt as a case study in an attempt to answer this question. The author reviewed two types of documents: official reports that the Egyptian authorities produced and donor agencies prepared plus both published and unpublished research. Interviewees are those who participated in elaborating and executing urban plans and policies.

Findings

Achieving social, spatial and environmental justice is amongst the reasons for planning metropolitan areas and their regions. Unfortunately, rarely plans accomplish social, spatial or environmental justice. Institutional setup is the reason for failed urban planning – institutional failures lead to both policy and market failures, thus complicating urban problems.

Originality/value

Approved plans must have the power of legislation, and planners need to reclaim their authority and autonomy, which requires regulating the profession. Planning education must be at the graduate level and available to other disciplines, such as economics, public administration, law and the like. Planners must acquire the following competencies: technical competencies for analytical actions; hermeneutic competencies for communicative actions; and critical competencies to observe professional ethics. They must emancipate themselves from their bias to enlighten and empower their constituents.
Effects of life history and individual development on community dynamics: A review of counterintuitive consequences
Authors: de Roos André M.
Published: October 2020

Even though individual life history is the focus of much ecological research, its importance for the dynamics and structure of ecological communities is unclear, or is it a topic of much ongoing research. In this paper I highlight the key life history traits that may lead to effects of life history or ontogeny on ecological communities. I show that asymmetries in the extent of food limitation between individuals in different life stage can give rise to an increase in efficiency with which resources are used for population growth when conditions change. This change in efficiency may result in a positive relationship between stage‐specific density and mortality. The positive relationship between density and mortality in turn leads to predictions about community structure that are not only diametrically opposite to the expectations based on theory that ignores population structure but are also intuitively hard to accept. I provide a few examples that illustrate how taking into account intraspecific differences due to ontogeny radically changes the theoretical expectations regarding the possible outcomes of community dynamics. As the most compelling example I show how a so‐called double‐handicapped looser, that is, a consumer species that is both competitively inferior in the absence of predators and experiences higher mortality when predators are present, can nonetheless oust its opponent that it competes with for the same resource and is exposed to the same predator.
Songbirds promote connectivity between riparian galleries and adjacent habitats
Authors: Almeida Ana Patrícia , Gomes Marisa , Rabaça João E. , Ramos Jaime A.
Published: October 2020

Riparian galleries are among the most vulnerable habitats in the world and are well known for their importance to the most specialized riparian bird species. In this study, we analyzed songbird composition, songbird diet, trophic ecology and seed dispersal in riparian galleries and adjacent Montado matrices in southern Portugal to address the importance of birds in promoting the connectivity between riparian galleries and adjacent habitats. We used fecal samples to compare diet, and blood samples to compare nitrogen stable isotopes from birds in these two habitats. The seasonal variation in the abundance of arthropods and fruits was evaluated in both habitats and seed movement between both habitats was assessed from fruits marked with fluorescence. Abundance of food resources for birds (arthropods and fruits) declined throughout the season in a similar way for both habitats, and there were strong similarities in the diet and trophic ecology of songbirds in the riparian gallery and adjacent habitat. In both habitats, birds preyed heavily on Hymenoptera and Coleoptera but birds more abundant in the Montado fed more on Araneae and Hymenoptera. Seeds were moved significantly more frequently from the riparian gallery into the adjacent Montado than vice‐versa. Our results suggest that birds from the adjacent habitat move frequently to the riparian gallery to forage and disperse seeds into the adjacent habitat as they depart. This study shows that birds play an important role in promoting connectivity between riparian galleries and adjacent habitats.
Rat‐ and bat‐pollination of Mucuna championii (Fabaceae) in Hong Kong
Authors: Kobayashi Shun , Gale Stephan W. , Denda Tetsuo , Izawa Masako
Published: October 2020

Mucuna (Fabaceae) species possess gullet‐type flowers that open explosively and which are thought to be specifically adapted for bat‐ or bird‐pollination. However, recent studies have shown that non‐flying mammals are also important pollinators of this genus in Asia. Here we report on the pollination system of Mucuna championii (endemic in southeast China) in Hong Kong. As is typical for the genus, explosive opening is essential for fruit set, but flowers are unable to open in the absence of manipulation by an effective pollinator. Camera trap surveys of three individuals revealed both chestnut spiny rats (Niviventer fulvescens) and short‐nosed fruit bats (Cynopterus sphinx) to be capable of triggering explosive opening. The number of flowers opened by each species did not differ significantly, and both removed most pollen grains from the flowers they visited, but either species visited different individuals. Sucrose‐rich nectar was secreted by flowers throughout the day. Our results reveal that M. championii can be pollinated by both rats and bats, with this representing only the second report of rat‐pollination in tropical Asia. The sympatric M. birdwoodiana often occurs in close proximity to M. championii and has an overlapping flowering season, suggesting that pollinator segregation may have played a role in shaping the evolutionary ecology of these two species.
Risk, trust and patients’ strategic choices of healthcare practitioners
Authors: Chauhan Apurv , Campbell Catherine
Published: October 2020

Research on patients’ choice of healthcare practitioners has focussed on countries with regulated and controlled healthcare markets. In contrast, low‐ and middle‐income countries have a pluralistic landscape where untrained, unqualified and unlicensed informal healthcare providers (IHPs) provide significant share of services. Using qualitative data from 58 interviews in an Indian village, this paper explores how patients choose between IHPs and qualified practitioners in the public and formal private sectors. The study found that patients’ choices were structurally constrained by accessibility and affordability of care and choosing a practitioner from any sector presented some risk. Negotiation and engagement with risks depended on perceived severity of the health condition and trust in practitioners. Patients had low institutional trust in public and formal private sectors, whereas IHPs operated outside any institutional framework. Consequently, people relied on relational or competence‐derived interpersonal trust. Care was sought from formal private practitioners for severe issues due to high‐competence‐based interpersonal trust in them, whereas for other issues IHPs were preferred due to high relationship‐based interpersonal trust. The research shows that patients develop a strategic approach to practitioner choice by using trust to negotiate risks, and crucially, in low‐ and middle‐income countries IHPs bridge a gap by providing accessible and affordable care imbued with relational–interpersonal trust.
From ‘dirty wound care’ to ‘woundology’: A professional project for wound healing clinicians
Authors: Galazka Anna Milena
Published: October 2020

This article explores the professional project for an emergent subaltern specialist community of wound healing clinicians. Drawing on the literature on professions and boundary work, it examines how wound healing clinicians challenge the perception of their work as ‘dirty’ and seek its transformation into a specialism of ‘woundology’. The article is based on an ethnography of a UK multidisciplinary team of doctors and nurses with an interest and expertise in wound healing, who work as clinical academics and provide wound care services in outpatient clinics. It demonstrates that wound healing clinicians vindicate their professional status by seeking to enthral the medical community in ‘dirty wound care’ as a focused clinical specialty of ‘woundology’. Through training nurses to do medical wound care work, educating clinicians from other specialties about wounds and undertaking wound research, wound healing clinicians assert the professional boundaries of their specialism and its fit with mainstream medicine without embellishing the dirty aspects of their work.
‘Rejoice! Your wombs will not beget slaves!’ Marronnage as Reproductive Justice in Colonial Haiti
Authors: Eddins Crystal
Published: October 2020

This paper explores the possible existence of organic reproductive justice actions among enslaved mothers and pregnant women in colonial Haiti (Saint Domingue) with specific focus on how marronnage – escape from slavery – provided them opportunities to exert power over their lives, bodies and biological reproduction. Reproductive justice is defined as the complete well‐being of women and girls, based on their human right to decide when and how to have – or not have – children, and to parent existing children in safe and sustainable communities. The conditions of enslavement in Haiti were particularly detrimental to women's control over their fertility and overall reproductive health as birth rates remained so low that the enslaved population could not reproduce itself; however, findings from an underutilized archival roster containing demographic information on the only formally recognized community of maroons from colonial Haiti, the Maniel, indicate that the child‐woman ratio among fugitive women was over twice as high as their counterparts who remained enslaved on plantations. Subversive reading of runaway slave advertisements also suggests that choosing to abscond was a rare but effective mechanism for women to achieve reproductive justice by exercising agency over their lives and protecting their childbearing capabilities. By highlighting motherhood during a state of fugitivity in one of the most economically prosperous slave societies in modern history, this paper can help establish historical precedent for contemporary reproductive justice claims. Moreover, maroon mothers' organic acts of reproductive justice have important implications for the study of how black women resist structures of racial capitalism that negatively impact their reproductive health and other areas of their lives.
Infanticide and Abandonment in the Industrial Metropolis: Gender, Reproduction and Capitalism in Chicago, 1870–1911
Authors: Batzell Rudi , Coffman Sarah
Published: October 2020

This article uses an unprecedentedly extensive data set of 1,270 suspicious infant death investigations from Cook County to measure the incidence of infanticide. We contextualize this data with quantitative evidence on abandonment in Chicago, newspaper coverage, and judicial cases. We argue that over the long run, a changing occupational structure, with wage‐earning women leaving domestic service and entering clerical work, was crucial in decreasing both infanticide and abandonment. From being a prominent part of fertility control for poor women in the 1870s, by the 1910s infanticide and abandonment had become rare. However, in the short term, inflation increased the incidence of both infanticide and abandonment from 1904 to 1908. We argue that agency at the most intimate levels must be understood within broader structures. Bourgeois proprietors ran households that employed an extensive staff of domestic servants for cooking, cleaning, child rearing, and for facilitating visiting among elite families. With the rise of new kind of capitalist elite alongside the rise of the corporation, servants and urban networks of visiting were no longer central to elite social reproduction by the early twentieth century. The reconstruction of capitalism transformed work within homes and firms, thereby mitigating the conditions that made infanticide common in the nineteenth century.
The COLLECTORS ranking scale for ‘at‐scene’ digital device triage
Authors: Horsman Graeme
Published: October 2020

As digital evidence now features prominently in many criminal investigations, such large volumes of requests for the forensic examination of devices has led to well publicized backlogs and delays. In an effort to cope, triage policies are frequently implemented in order to reduce the number of digital devices which are seized unnecessarily. Often first responders are tasked with performing triage at scene in order to decide whether any identified devices should be seized and submitted for forensic examination. In some cases, this is done with the assistance of software which allows device content to be “previewed”; however, in some cases, a first responder will triage devices using their judgment and experience alone, absent of knowledge of the devices content, referred to as “decision‐based device triage” (DBDT). This work provides a discussion of the challenges first responders face when carrying out DBDT at scene. In response, the COLLECTORS ranking scale is proposed to help first responders carry out DBDT and to formalize this process in an effort to support quality control of this practice. The COLLECTORS ranking scale consists of 10 categories which first responders should rank a given device against. Each devices cumulative score should be queried against the defined “seizure thresholds” which offer support to first responders in assessing when to seize a device. To offer clarify, an example use‐case involving the COLLECTORS ranking scale is included, highlighting its application when faced with multiple digital devices at scene.
Wildfires in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania: Burned areas, underlying causes and management challenges
Authors: Kilawe Charles J. , Kaaya Omega E. , Kolonel Christian P. , Macrice Samora A. , Mshama Catherine P. , Lyimo Paulo J. , Emily Cosmas J.
Published: October 2020

The Eastern Arc Mountains are one of the most important ecosystems that conserve biodiversity in the world. These ecosystems are threatened by the increasing occurrence of wildfires. Nevertheless, there is inadequate information useful for the development of effective strategies to prevent or respond to future fires. This paper analyses the current extent of dry season fires, underlying causes and the effectiveness of the fire management strategy being implemented in and around the Uluguru Nature Forest Reserve (UNFR) between 2016 and 2021. Differenced Normalised Burn Ratio derived from Landsat satellite images was applied to determine the extent of burned areas, and focus group discussions were held to determine the underlying causes of fires and the extent of implementation of fire management strategies. About 2% (472 ha) of reserved UNFR and 5% (2,854 ha) of unreserved forests were burned in 2017. Some of the fires impacted on 60% (370 ha) of the grassy Lukwangule plateau, which is home to a fire‐sensitive endemic species. The underlying causes of fires varied spatially across the mountains but generally, fire escaping from farm preparation and hunting activities were found to be the most prevalent. On average, survey participants perceived that fire management strategy objectives were achieved by only 29% mainly constrained by a shortage of financial and human resources. Our findings suggest that ignitions and fire spread in UNFR could be prevented or controlled through sustainable funding of fire management activities and the effective engagement of local communities in the management of the reserve.
Work in Roman Catholic Thought
Authors: Himes Kenneth R.
Published: October 2020

This essay examines the idea of work in the Catholic social tradition. Following introductory comments about the Christian vision of work found in the writings of St. Paul and other early Christian authors, the essay provides seven claims as a summary of how work is treated in modern Catholic social teaching. Based on those summary claims, a vision of what good work in the Catholic tradition looks like is then developed. Finally, the phenomenon of the “gig economy” is presented as a contemporary threat to the meaning of good work.