bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
YAMO: Yet Another Methodology for large-scale faceted Ontology construction
Authors: Dutta Biswanath , CHATTERJEE USASHI , Madalli Devika P.
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to propose a brand new ontology development methodology, called Yet Another Methodology for Ontology (YAMO) and demonstrate, step by step, the building of a formally defined large-scale faceted ontology for food.

Design/methodology/approach

– YAMO is motivated by facet analysis and an analytico-synthetic classification approach. The approach ensures quality of the system precisely; it makes the system flexible, hospitable, extensible, sturdy, dense and complete. YAMO consists of two-way approaches: top-down and bottom-up. Based on YAMO, domain food, formally defined as large-scale ontology, is designed. To design the ontology and to define the scope and boundary of the domain, a group of people were interviewed to get a practical overview, which provided more insight to the theoretical understanding of the domain.

Findings

– The result obtained from evaluating the ontology is a very impressive one. Based on the study, it was found that 94 per cent of the user’s queries were successfully met. This shows the efficiency and effectiveness of the YAMO methodology. An evaluator opined that the ontology is very deep and exhaustive.

Practical implications

– The authors envision that the current work will have great implications on ontology developers and practitioners. YAMO will allow ontologists to construct a very deep, high-quality and large-scale ontology.

Originality/value

– This paper illustrates a brand new ontology development methodology and demonstrates how the methodology can be applied to build a large-scale high-quality domain ontology.
Semantic network edges: a human-machine approach to represent typed relations in social networks
Authors: Pattuelli M. Cristina , Miller Matthew
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to describe a novel approach to the development and semantic enhancement of a social network to support the analysis and interpretation of digital oral history data from jazz archives and special collections.

Design/methodology/approach

– A multi-method approach was applied including automated named entity recognition and extraction to create a social network, and crowdsourcing techniques to semantically enhance the data through the classification of relations and the integration of contextual information. Linked open data standards provided the knowledge representation technique for the data set underlying the network.

Findings

– The study described here identifies the challenges and opportunities of a combination of a machine and a human-driven approach to the development of social networks from textual documents. The creation, visualization and enrichment of a social network are presented within a real-world scenario. The data set from which the network is based is accessible via an application programming interface and, thus, shareable with the knowledge management community for reuse and mash-ups.

Originality/value

– This paper presents original methods to address the issue of detecting and representing semantic relationships from text. Another element of novelty is in that it applies semantic web technologies to the construction and enhancement of the network and underlying data set, making the data readable across platforms and linkable with external data sets. This approach has the potential to make social networks dynamic and open to integration with external data sources.
Operations strategy processes and performance
Authors: Jagoda Kalinga , Kiridena Senevi
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance and dynamics of alternative operations strategy (OS) processes towards developing a more complete picture of the strategy process-context-performance nexus. The findings are based on the statistical analysis of empirical evidence drawn from the contract apparel manufacturing industry in a developing country.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using a structured questionnaire and the key-informant approach data were collected from 109 contract apparel manufacturing firms in Sri Lanka. Cluster analysis was used to identify alternative configurations of strategy process modes.

Findings

– The analyses confirmed that the existence of alternative forms of OS development is statistically significant and that the alternative configurations of strategy process modes tested can all lead to superior performance, under certain circumstances.

Research limitations/implications

– The generalizability of these findings to other industry sectors within developing countries should be treated with caution, mainly due to the fact that the vast majority organizations selected for this study were subsidiaries of large international companies or comparable local counterparts. In order to better understand the linkages between OS and performance, data should be collected from multiple countries preferably using mixed-methods approaches.

Originality/value

– The findings are expected to contribute to operations management theory as they corroborate, with statistical evidence, the findings of recent qualitative studies. The results also confirm the existence of OS processes in developing countries that are consistent with the conceptual understanding developed in the context of developed countries.
Unified assembly- and disassembly-line model formulae
Authors: McGovern Seamus M. , Gupta Surendra M.
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– There is a rich body of literature on sequencing assembly and on sequencing disassembly, but little that either fuses or contrasts the two, which may be valuable for long-range planning in the closed-loop supply chain and simply convenient in terms of consistency in nomenclature and mathematical formulations. The purpose of this paper is to concisely unify and summarize assembly and disassembly formulae – as well as to add new formulations for completeness – and then demonstrate the similarities and differences between assembly and disassembly.

Design/methodology/approach

– Along with several familiar assembly-line formulae which are adapted here for disassembly, five (two specific and three general) metrics and a comparative performance formula from disassembly-line balancing are proposed for use in assembly- and disassembly-line sequencing and balancing either directly, through generalization, or with some extension. The size of assembly and disassembly search spaces are also quantified and formulated. Three new metrics are then developed from each of the general metrics to demonstrate the process of using these general formulae as prototypes.

Findings

– The three new metrics along with several of the original metrics are selectively applied to a simple, notional case study product to be sequenced on an assembly line and then on a disassembly line. Using these analytical results, the inherent differences between assembly and disassembly, even for a seemingly trivial product, are illustrated.

Originality/value

– The research adds several new assembly/disassembly metrics, a case study, unifies the evaluation formulae that assembly and disassembly hold in common as well as structuring prototype formulae for flexibility in generating new evaluation criteria for both, and quantifies (using the case study) how assembly and disassembly – while certainly possessing similarities – also demonstrate measurable differences that can be expected to affect product design, planning, production, and end-of-life processing.
Integrating marine biodiversity through Philippine local development plans
Authors: Raquino Mark  Edison , Pajaro Marivic , Watts Paul
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to highlight how data from marine protected area (MPA) surveys can be used to facilitate the development of systematic approaches to monitoring biodiversity within local government development plans and across marine bioregions.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study focussed on coastal Barangays of the Municipality of San Luis, Aurora Philippines. A Participatory Coastal Resource Assessment (PCRA) was conducted to gather information on corals and reef fishery resources. Resultant Simpson’s biodiversity indices were calculated and compared to other MPA sites. Linkages to enhanced marine curriculum in a San Luis high school were evaluated by utilizing cultural consensus theory (CCT) on previously reported local student perception surveys as a further effort on defining pathways for localized transformation.

Findings

– San Luis MPA biodiversity indices ranged from 0.56-0.8 on a scale of 0-1. This initial analysis demonstrates how local monitoring can be connected to resource assessment through biodiversity considerations and in developing local plans for site improvement linked to local economies. Results are used to demonstrate the potential for further development of an integrated approach to biodiversity monitoring across and between bioregions as a step forward in strengthening science for MPAs and biodiversity conservation for the Philippines.

Practical implications

– The study could be used to pilot study strengthening of coastal resource management (CRM) at Municipal and Barangay levels and as well through application of CCT to the topics. The results will be used to reinforce the formulation of San Luis local development plans to better consider marine resource assessment.

Originality/value

– This paper provides a new perspective on the use of quantitative measures of biodiversity to assist with local development plans. Projecting integrated biodiversity monitoring across and between bioregions is considered as a potential tool for facilitating climate change mitigation.
The problematic differentiation between property bonds and leases in healthcare provision
Authors: Ellison Andrew , Squires Graham , Dempsey Patrick
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– There are some 487,000 places in long-stay residential care and nursing homes in the UK representing an industry worth some £15.2 billion per annum. Creating leases with guaranteed rental uplifts, a property bond in all but name, now attracts significant investment into healthcare. This is argued to be unsustainable, as evidenced by the collapse of Southern Cross Healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into institutional investment for sustainable healthcare provision.

Design/methodology/approach

– It is carried out via a range of unstructured and semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of a small elite of professionals involved at the summit of this investment market and analysis of secondary literature concerning the wider international property market regarding the way in which advisers and investors view the security and value of these new instruments.

Findings

– It is found that the differentiation between rental growth and indexed rental uplifts reveal a misunderstanding of the nature of the investment vehicles currently being marketed.

Practical implications

– The implication of the research, is that much modern private healthcare provision is financially unsustainable, as has begun to be recognised in recent government regulation and guidance.

Originality/value

– This research provides new and original insight into institutional investment for sustainable healthcare provision
Detection of genes expressed in Bordetella bronchiseptica colonizing rat trachea by in vivo expressed‐tag immunoprecipitation method
Authors: Abe Hiroyuki , Kamitani Shigeki , Fukui‐Miyazaki Aya , Shinzawa Naoaki , Nakamura Keiji , Horiguchi Yasuhiko
Published: February 2015

Analyses of bacterial genes expressed in response to the host environment provide clues to understanding the host‐pathogen interactions that lead to the establishment of infection. In this study, a novel method named In Vivo Expressed‐Tag ImmunoPrecipitation (IVET‐PI) was developed for detecting genes expressed in bacteria that are recovered in a small numbers from host tissues. IVET‐IP was designed to overcome some drawbacks of previous similar methods. We applied IVET‐IP to Bordetella bronchiseptica colonizing rat trachea and identified 173 genes that were expressed in the bacteria over the entire course of an infection. These gene products included two transcriptional factors that are involved in the expression of filamentous hemagglutinin, adenylate cyclase toxin, and major virulence factors for the bordetellae. We consider that this method might provide novel insight into the course of Bordetella infection.
A basin‐scale application of environmental DNA assessment for rare endemic species and closely related exotic species in rivers: a case study of giant salamanders in Japan
Authors: Fukumoto Sou , Ushimaru Atushi , Minamoto Toshifumi
Published: February 2015

To prevent the invasion of exotic species causing a decline in an endangered endemic species, it is important to determine the distribution of both species at an early stage, when the density of the exotic species is still low, and to manage the invasion immediately. However, distinguishing between closely related species is difficult because they share similar characteristics.

The identification of DNA fragments sampled from a body of water (environmental DNA) has become a popular technique for rapidly determining the distribution of a target species. In this study, we analysed environmental DNA in water samples from 37 sites across the Katsura River basin in Japan. We used TaqMan real‐time PCR to distinguish the Japanese giant salamander Andrias japonicus from the closely related Chinese giant salamander Andrias davidianus, which is known to invade Japanese rivers and hybridize with the Japanese species.

In environmental samples, we detected mtDNA of the endemic species at 25 sites and mtDNA of the exotic species at nine sites. The DNA detection sites were concentrated in the upstream region. The exotic species DNA was found beyond the limits of an earlier capturing survey.

Synthesis and applications. Using environmental DNA to monitor the two salamander species requires less time and effort than traditional surveys, so a wide‐ranging survey can be conducted rapidly. Our results showed that performing three environmental DNA surveys for each site between autumn and winter is desirable for giant salamanders. Further collection of environmental DNA, in combination with conventional population surveys, will provide valuable information that can help protect rare endemic species in a variety of aquatic ecosystems and can help monitor the invasion of exotic species.
Temperature affects c‐di‐GMP signalling and biofilm formation in Vibrio cholerae
Authors: Townsley Loni , Yildiz Fitnat H.
Published: February 2015

Biofilm formation is crucial to the environmental survival and transmission of Vibrio cholerae, the facultative human pathogen responsible for the disease cholera. During its infectious cycle, V. cholerae experiences fluctuations in temperature within the aquatic environment and during the transition between human host and aquatic reservoirs. In this study, we report that biofilm formation is induced at low temperatures through increased levels of the signalling molecule, cyclic diguanylate (c‐di‐GMP). Strains harbouring in frame deletions of all V. cholerae genes that are predicted to encode diguanylate cyclases (DGCs) or phosphodiesterases (PDEs) were screened for their involvement in low‐temperature‐induced biofilm formation and Vibrio polysaccharide gene expression. Of the 52 mutants tested, deletions of six DGCs and three PDEs were found to affect these phenotypes at low temperatures. Unlike wild type, a strain lacking all six DGCs did not exhibit a low‐temperature‐dependent increase in c‐di‐GMP, indicating that these DGCs are required for temperature modulation of c‐di‐GMP levels. We also show that temperature modulates c‐di‐GMP levels in a similar fashion in the Gram‐negative pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa but not in the Gram‐positive pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. This study uncovers the role of temperature in environmental regulation of biofilm formation and c‐di‐GMP signalling.
Virulence determinants of the human pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus protect against soil amoeba predation
Authors: Hillmann Falk , Novohradská Silvia , Mattern Derek J. , Forberger Tilmann , Heinekamp Thorsten , Westermann Martin , Winckler Thomas , Brakhage Axel A.
Published: February 2015

Filamentous fungi represent classical examples for environmentally acquired human pathogens whose major virulence mechanisms are likely to have emerged long before the appearance of innate immune systems. In natural habitats, amoeba predation could impose a major selection pressure towards the acquisition of virulence attributes. To test this hypothesis, we exploited the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum to study its interaction with Aspergillus fumigatus, two abundant soil inhabitants for which we found co‐occurrence in various sites. Fungal conidia were efficiently taken up by D. discoideum, but ingestion was higher when conidia were devoid of the green fungal spore pigment dihydroxynaphtalene melanin, in line with earlier results obtained for immune cells. Conidia were able to survive phagocytic processing, and intracellular germination was initiated only after several hours of co‐incubation which eventually led to a lethal disruption of the host cell. Besides phagocytic interactions, both amoeba and fungus secreted cross inhibitory factors which suppressed fungal growth or induced amoeba aggregation with subsequent cell lysis, respectively. On the fungal side, we identified gliotoxin as the major fungal factor killing Dictyostelium, supporting the idea that major virulence attributes, such as escape from phagocytosis and the secretion of mycotoxins are beneficial to escape from environmental predators.
The composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities differs among the roots, spores and extraradical mycelia associated with five Mediterranean plant species
Authors: Varela‐Cervero Sara , Vasar Martti , Davison John , Barea José Miguel , Öpik Maarja , Azcón‐Aguilar Concepción
Published: February 2015

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are essential constituents of most terrestrial ecosystems. AMF species differ in terms of propagation strategies and the major propagules they form. This study compared the AMF community composition of different propagule fractions – colonized roots, spores and extraradical mycelium (ERM) – associated with five Mediterranean plant species in Sierra de Baza Natural Park (Granada, Spain). AMF were identified using 454 pyrosequencing of the SSU rRNA gene. A total of 96 AMF phylogroups [virtual taxa (VT)] were detected in the study site, including 31 novel VT. After per‐sample sequencing depth standardization, 71 VT were recorded from plant roots, and 47 from each of the spore and ERM fractions. AMF communities differed significantly among the propagule fractions, and the root‐colonizing fraction differed among host plant species. Indicator VT were detected for the root (13 Glomus VT), spore (Paraglomus VT281, VT336, Pacispora VT284) and ERM (Diversispora VT62) fractions. This study provides detailed evidence from a natural system that AMF taxa are differentially allocated among soil mycelium, soil spores and colonized root propagules. This has important implications for interpreting AMF diversity surveys and designing applications of AMF in vegetation restoration.
Haven't We Been This Way Before? Evaluation and the Impediments to Policy Learning
Authors: Stewart Jenny , Jarvie Wendy
Published: February 2015

In this paper, we focus on a policy trial that was undertaken in a complex and controversial policy field (Indigenous community development), with the avowed objective of learning from experience in the field . We observe that despite significant implementation effort and quality evaluation, little systematic policy learning occurred. Four impediments are identified: (i) the policy environment was highly politicized and contested, (ii) the results challenged accepted ways of working, (iii) there were no systematic processes for policy learning to occur, and (iv) the learnings were distorted by inter‐agency competition and associated ‘labelling’. We suggest that, in controversial policy fields, the most useful first step in enhancing evaluation‐use is for bureaucracies to institute systematic processes for evaluation findings to be considered, with the aim of elaborating ‘what works’ into a consensual approach to change. Without change of this kind, evaluation‐use will remain a failed area of policy.
Who Should We Help? An Experimental Test of Discrimination in the British Welfare State
Authors: Ford Robert
Published: February 2015

The impact of immigration and rising ethnic diversity on support for the welfare state has been the subject of intense debate. Previous European research has found little evidence for an aggregate impact of diversity on support for welfare, but has not tested for discrimination between claimants at the individual level. This article presents two survey experiments which demonstrate that, in the ethnically diverse, high immigration British context, white majority respondents favour co-ethnic welfare claimants over foreign-born or ethnically different claimants. Both race and migrant status trigger discrimination, and the impact of these is cumulative, so a foreign-born Muslim claimant suffers a ‘double disadvantage’. Three mechanisms contribute to discrimination. Ethnocentrism reduces willingness to support minority welfare claimants, but not co-ethnic claimants. Economic insecurity increases support for co-ethnic welfare claimants, but not minority claimants. The perception that welfare claimants are generally undeserving of help has a larger negative impact on minority claimants than on co-ethnic claimants.
Fitting proposals to their sequential environment: a comparison of turn designs for proposing treatment in ongoing outpatient psychiatric consultations in Japan
Authors: Kushida Shuya , Yamakawa Yuriko
Published: February 2015

This study is an attempt to describe an interactional strategy that psychiatrists use in making decisions for treatment in ongoing outpatient psychiatric consultations in Japan. Using conversation analysis (CA), we compare sequential environments where psychiatrists use two turn designs for proposing a treatment: the inclusive ‘we’ form (for example ‘let's’ and ‘how about’) and the declarative evaluation (for example, ‘it might be better’). The inclusive ‘we’ form is used to create the moment for decision when the sequential environment is ready for decision‐making. The declarative evaluation is used to propose a treatment cautiously when the sequential environment is not yet ready for decision‐making. Taken together, psychiatrists fit the turn design of a proposal to its sequential environment in such a way as to display their attention to the patients’ perspectives. In conclusion, we argue that our finding provides further evidence for the claim made by a growing body of CA research that, unlike the traditional sociological understanding of doctor–patient interaction, doctors do not simply impose their perspectives upon the patients but steer medical encounters to their preferred direction by orienting to the patients’ perspectives.
The meaning of a label for teenagers negotiating identity: experiences with autism spectrum disorder
Authors: Mogensen Lise , Mason Jan
Published: February 2015

There is a lack of consideration for the effects that labels such as autism, and the associated diagnostic processes, have on the children to whom they are applied. In this article we present research conducted with five teenagers diagnosed with autism. Through a collaborative, participatory research approach, these teenagers shared their experiences of their diagnosis using communication methods of their choice. The young people's accounts illustrate the understandings they had of autism. Important findings from the research illustrate how the participants integrated this knowledge with their sense of self, how they negotiated issues of identity and the meanings that feeling ‘different’ had for them. Whether the diagnosis was experienced as advantage or disadvantage by the young people depended on the extent to which it facilitated knowledge and control. The article concludes with a discussion of the significance a diagnosis may have for the ways in which children and young people construct their personal identity and their social relations, and in terms of negotiating control in their lives. We suggest that ways of minimising stigma and marginalisation associated with a diagnosis of autism need to be considered at a policy level.
Pastoral power and gynaecological examinations: a Foucauldian critique of clinician accounts of patient‐centred consent
Authors: Cook Catherine , Brunton Margaret
Published: February 2015

Invasive non‐sedated clinical procedures such as gynaecological examinations are normalised; however, there is limited research highlighting the relational and technical skills required for clinicians to ensure patients’ continued consent. A considerable body of research emphasises that women dislike examinations, leading to their non‐compliance or a delayed follow up for gynaecological and sexual health problems. However, medical research focuses on ‘problem’ women; the role of clinicians receives limited appraisal. This article draws on interviews with sexual health clinicians in New Zealand, from metropolitan and provincial locations. The gynaecological care of women in New Zealand attained international notoriety with the 1988 publication of Judge Cartwright's inquiry into ethical shortcomings in cervical cancer research at the National Women's Hospital. Judge Cartwright's recommendations included patient‐centred care in order to ensure informed consent had been received for clinical procedures and research participation. This article's critical analysis is that, although clinicians’ language draws on humanistic notions of patient‐centredness, Foucault's notion of secularised pastoral power enables a more nuanced appreciation of the ethical work undertaken by clinicians when carrying out speculum examinations. The analysis highlights both the web of power relations present during examination practices and the strategies clinicians use to negotiate women's continued consent; which is significant because consent is usually conceptualised as an event, rather than an unfolding, unstable process.
Working for the public health: politics, localism and epistemologies of practice
Authors: Phillips Gemma , Green Judith
Published: February 2015

The recent move of public health back to English local government has reignited debates about the role of a medicalised public health profession. The explicit policy rationale for the move was that local government is the arena in which the social determinants of health can be addressed, and that public health specialists could provide neutral evidence to support action on these. However, if a discourse of ‘evidence‐based’ policy is in principle (if not practice) relatively unproblematic within the health arena, within the more overtly politicised local government space, rather different policy imperatives come to the fore. Responding to calls for research on evidence in practice, this article draws on ethnographic data of local authorities in the first year of the reorganised public health function. Focusing on alcohol policy, we explore how decisions that affect public health are rationalised and enacted through discourses of localism, empiricism and holism. These frame policy outcomes as inevitably plural and contingent: a framing which sits uneasily with normative discourses of evidence‐based policy. We argue that locating public health in local government necessitates a refocusing of how evidence for public health is conceptualised, to incorporate multiple, and political, understandings of health and wellbeing.
Food, risk and place: agency and negotiations of young people with food allergy
Authors: Stjerna Marie‐Louise
Published: February 2015

Potentially life‐threatening food allergies are increasing among children in the Western world. Informed by childhood studies, this article explores young people's management of food allergy risk and highlights their agency in relation to food, eating and place. Drawing on individual interviews with 10 young people who took part in a larger multi‐method study of young people's experiences of food allergies, the findings demonstrate that the management of health risks means, to some extent, trying to control the uncontrollable. A reaction can occur at any time and to experience a severe reaction entails a temporarily loss of control. The strategies the young people develop to avoid allergic reactions can be understood both as responses to this uncertainty and as manifestations of their agency. Their risk experiences vary with place; at school and in other public places they face social as well as health risks. What we see is not agency as a voluntary choice but that young people with food allergies experience tensions between their own competence to manage different types of risks and their dependence on others to adjust to their needs. Thus, the relational aspects of young people's agency come to the fore.
Biologising parenting: neuroscience discourse, English social and public health policy and understandings of the child
Authors: Lowe Pam , Lee Ellie , Macvarish Jan
Published: February 2015

In recent years, claims about children's developing brains have become central to the formation of child health and welfare policies in England. While these policies assert that they are based on neuro‐scientific discoveries, their relationship to neuroscience itself has been debated. However, what is clear is that they portray a particular understanding of children and childhood, one that is marked by a lack of acknowledgment of child personhood. Using an analysis of key government‐commissioned reports and additional advocacy documents, this article illustrates the ways that the mind of the child is reduced to the brain, and this brain comes to represent the child. It is argued that a highly reductionist and limiting construction of the child is produced, alongside the idea that parenting is the main factor in child development. It is concluded that this focus on children's brains, with its accompanying deterministic perspective on parenting, overlooks children's embodied lives and this has implications for the design of children's health and welfare services.
Corporal diagnostic work and diagnostic spaces: clinicians’ use of space and bodies during diagnosis
Authors: Gardner John , Williams Clare
Published: February 2015

An emerging body of literature in sociology has demonstrated that diagnosis is a useful focal point for understanding the social dimensions of health and illness. This article contributes to this work by drawing attention to the relationship between diagnostic spaces and the way in which clinicians use their own bodies during the diagnostic process. As a case study, we draw upon fieldwork conducted with a multidisciplinary clinical team providing deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat children with a movement disorder called dystonia. Interviews were conducted with team members and diagnostic examinations were observed. We illustrate that clinicians use communicative body work and verbal communication to transform a material terrain into diagnostic space, and we illustrate how this diagnostic space configures forms of embodied ‘sensing‐and‐acting’ within. We argue that a ‘diagnosis’ can be conceptualised as emerging from an interaction in which space, the clinician‐body, and the patient‐body (or body‐part) mutually configure one another. By conceptualising diagnosis in this way, this article draws attention to the corporal bases of diagnostic power and counters Cartesian‐like accounts of clinical work in which the patient‐body is objectified by a disembodied medical discourse.
Regional Growth in Medicare Spending, 1992–2010
Authors: Chicklis Camille , MaCurdy Thomas , Bhattacharya Jay , Shafrin Jason , Zaidi Sajid , Rogers Daniel
Published: February 2015

Objective

To determine if regions with high Medicare expenditures in a given setting remain high cost over time.

Data Sources/Study Setting

One hundred percent of national Medicare Parts A and B fee‐for‐service beneficiary claims data and enrollment for 1992–2010.

Study Design

Patients are classified into regions. Claims are price‐standardized. Risk adjustment is performed at the beneficiary level using the CMS Hierarchical Condition Categories model. Correlation analyses are conducted.

Data Collection/Extraction Methods

The data were obtained through a contract with CMS for a study performed for the Institute of Medicine.

Principal Findings

High‐cost regions in 1992 are likely to remain high cost in 2010. Stability in regional spending is highest in the home health, inpatient hospital, and outpatient hospital settings over this time period. Despite the persistence of a region's relative spending over time, a region's spending levels in all settings except home health tend to regress toward the mean.

Conclusions

Relatively high‐cost regions tend to remain so over long periods of time, even after controlling for patient health status and geographic price variation, suggesting that the observed effect reflects real differences in practice patterns.
Acceptance of New Medicaid Patients by Primary Care Physicians and Experiences with Physician Availability among Children on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program
Authors: Decker Sandra L.
Published: February 2015

Objective

To estimate the relationship between physicians' acceptance of new Medicaid patients and access to health care.

Data Sources

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) Electronic Health Records Survey and the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2011/2012.

Study Design

Linear probability models estimated the relationship between measures of experiences with physician availability among children on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from the NHIS and state‐level estimates of the percent of primary care physicians accepting new Medicaid patients from the NAMCS, controlling for other factors.

Principal Findings

Nearly 16 percent of children with a significant health condition or development delay had a doctor's office or clinic indicate that the child's health insurance was not accepted in states with less than 60 percent of physicians accepting new Medicaid patients, compared to less than 4 percent in states with at least 75 percent of physicians accepting new Medicaid patients. Adjusted estimates and estimates for other measures of access to care were similar.

Conclusions

Measures of experiences with physician availability for children on Medicaid/CHIP were generally good, though better in states where more primary care physicians accepted new Medicaid patients.
Analyzing the Psychological and Social Contents of Evidence—Experimental Comparison between Guessing, Naturalistic Observation, and Systematic Analysis
Authors: Haas Henriette S. , Pisarzewska Fuerst Maja , Tönz Patrick , Gubser‐Ernst Jutta
Published: February 2015

To improve inferences about psychological and social evidence contained in pictures and texts, a five‐step algorithm—Systematic Analysis (SA)—was devised. It combines basic principles of interpretation in forensic science, providing a comprehensive record of signs of evidence. Criminal justice professionals evaluated the usefulness of SA. Effects of applying SA were tested experimentally with 41 subjects, compared to 39 subjects observing naturally (naturalistic observation) and 47 subjects guessing intuitively intuitive guessing group. After being trained in SA, prosecutors and police detectives (N = 217) attributed it a good usefulness for criminal investigation. Subjects (graduate students) using SA found significantly more details about four test cases than those observing naturally (Cohen's d = 0.58). Subjects who learned SA well abducted significantly better hypotheses than those who observed naturally or who guessed intuitively. Internal validity of SA was α = 0.74. Applying SA improved observation significantly and reduced confirmation bias.
Renal Tubular Epithelial Vacuoles—A Marker for Both Hyperlipidemia and Ketoacidosis at Autopsy
Authors: Zhou Chong , Moore Lynette , Yool Andrea , Jaunzems Alvis , Byard Roger W.
Published: February 2015

Review of 15 cases of nephrotic syndrome found that eight had significant hyperlipidemia with serum cholesterol levels ranging between 10.59 and 18.60 mmol/L (mean 12.88) and serum triglyceride levels between 2.30 and 9.92 mmol/L (mean 4.58); all of these cases displayed basal lipid vacuolization. Seven of the 15 study cases had normal–mild hyperlipidemia with serum cholesterol levels ranging between 4.71 and 7.54 mmol/L (mean 6.02) and serum triglyceride levels between 0.65 and 4.1 mmol/L (mean 1.57). Six of the seven cases had basal lipid vacuoles (86%). Of these, five cases were hyperlipidemic and one case had borderline hyperlipidemia with a serum cholesterol level of 4.71 mmol/L. Although hyperlipidemia was associated with renal tubular epithelial vacuolization, the vacuoles appeared morphologically different to those found in ketoacidosis. This study has shown that while hyperlipidemia in isolation may result in basal lipid vacuolization within renal tubular epithelial cells, the phenotype differs from that observed in ketoacidosis.
An Empirical Study on the Relation Between the Critical Angle for Bullet Ricochet and the Properties of Wood
Authors: Kerkhoff Wim , Alberink Ivo , Mattijssen Erwin J.A.T.
Published: February 2015

The properties of a bullet, an object, and the incidence angle determine whether the bullet will penetrate, perforate, or ricochet. In this study, the critical angle for ricochet was established for .32 Auto and 9 mm Luger bullets on Abachi, Southern Yellow Pine, Beech, and Ipe wooden boards. Results show that the critical angle differs depending on caliber and wood type. The critical angle is higher for .32 Auto bullets than for 9 mm Luger bullets and increases with increasing wood density and Janka hardness. The established critical angles for ricochet on the lightest and softest wood (Abachi) are 10.4° and 10.3° for .32 Auto and 9 mm Luger, respectively. For the heaviest and hardest wood (Ipe), the angles were 45.0° and 33.4°, respectively. The combined results on the four tested woods show a strong linear relationship between both the density and the hardness and the critical angle for both calibers.
The dynamics of ant mosaics in tropical rainforests characterized using the Self‐Organizing Map algorithm
Authors: Dejean Alain , Azémar Frédéric , Céréghino Régis , Leponce Maurice , Corbara Bruno , Orivel Jérôme , Compin Arthur
Published: February 2015

Ants, the most abundant taxa among canopy‐dwelling animals in tropical rainforests, are mostly represented by territorially dominant arboreal ants (TDAs) whose territories are distributed in a mosaic pattern (arboreal ant mosaics). Large TDA colonies regulate insect herbivores, with implications for forestry and agronomy. What generates these mosaics in vegetal formations, which are dynamic, still needs to be better understood. So, from empirical research based on 3 Cameroonian tree species (Lophira alata, Ochnaceae; Anthocleista vogelii, Gentianaceae; and Barteria fistulosa, Passifloraceae), we used the Self‐Organizing Map (SOM, neural network) to illustrate the succession of TDAs as their host trees grow and age. The SOM separated the trees by species and by size for L. alata, which can reach 60 m in height and live several centuries. An ontogenic succession of TDAs from sapling to mature trees is shown, and some ecological traits are highlighted for certain TDAs. Also, because the SOM permits the analysis of data with many zeroes with no effect of outliers on the overall scatterplot distributions, we obtained ecological information on rare species. Finally, the SOM permitted us to show that functional groups cannot be selected at the genus level as congeneric species can have very different ecological niches, something particularly true for Crematogaster spp., which include a species specifically associated with B. fistulosa, nondominant species and TDAs. Therefore, the SOM permitted the complex relationships between TDAs and their growing host trees to be analyzed, while also providing new information on the ecological traits of the ant species involved.
Credibility lost: attempting to reclaim an expert identity in an HR professional context
Authors: Pritchard Katrina , Fear William J.
Published: February 2015

Professional insecurity is a long‐standing concern within HR, with claims to expertise seen as critical to credibility. Considering HR as an epistemic community and drawing on the identity work literature, we examine an identity threat to, and subsequent response by, a training and development (T&D) team. Based on ethnographic exposure to their practice, we explore how team members experience the threat and follow their attempts to re‐establish their position in the local epistemic community, the HR department. We examine both individual and collective identity work, considering how both the identity threat and subsequent responses are embedded within T&D and HR practice more broadly. Through this analysis, we offer academic insight on the nature of HR practice and the construction of claims to expertise.
‘Wrangling Lawyers’: Proclamations and the Management of the English Parliament of 1621
Authors: Kyle Chris R.
Published: February 2015

This article examines the fall of lord chancellor, Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban, during the parliament of 1621. It reviews Bacon's drafting of two controversial proclamations relating to the calling of the parliament and James I's intense displeasure at the actions of his lord chancellor. While Bacon sought to inform the political nation of English policy towards the Spanish match and the Thirty Years' War, James closed down all such talk and railed against the legal profession in general and ‘wrangling lawyers’ in particular. When allegations of corruption against Bacon surfaced during the 1621 parliament, James did not defend him, in part because of his long‐standing antipathy towards lawyers.
High Concentration of Epigallocatechin‐3‐Gallate Increased the Incidences of Arrhythmia and Diastolic Dysfunction Via β2‐adrenoceptor
Authors: Bao Lei , Lu Fu , Chen Hui , Min Qi , Chen Xin , Song Yuanyuan , Zhao Ben , Bu Huimin , Sun Hong
Published: February 2015

Epigallocatechin‐3‐gallate (EGCG) is the major and most potent representative in green tea, which has been proved to modulate myocardial contractility. Whether EGCG has some negative effects on cardiac function is not known. In the present study, we investigated the effects of EGCG at different doses on cardiac contraction and explored whether β2‐adrenoceptor (β2AR) was involved in EGCG‐induced cardiac effects. Isolated rat hearts were mounted on the Langendorff system and perfused with different concentrations of EGCG in low or normal calcium Krebs–Henseleit (KH) buffer. The contraction of hearts was measured. Ventricular myocytes were cultured with EGCG and isoprenaline (ISO, 10−7 M) for 12 h. ICI118,551 (55 nM) was used to inhibit β2AR. Cardiomyocyte shortening, viability, and responsiveness to ISO (10−9 M) were measured. EGCG dose dependently enhanced contractility of perfused heart in low calcium KH buffer. In the normal calcium KH buffer, EGCG at low dose (20 μM) increased heart contraction, while at high dose (50 μM), it increased the incidences of arrhythmia and diastolic dysfunction. In isolated ventricular myocytes, EGCG at the concentration of 0.001 to 1.0 μΜ did not affect their contraction. However, the responsiveness to ISO and the survival of myocytes were increased by EGCG (0.01 μM). The increased responsiveness was partially abolished by ICI118,551. The data obtained in this study demonstrated that EGCG at low dose conferred cardioprotection, yet at high dose increased the incidences of arrhythmia and diastolic dysfunction. β2AR was involved in EGCG‐induced cardiac effects.
Absence of lysogeny in wild populations of Erwinia amylovora and Pantoea agglomerans
Authors: Roach Dwayne R. , Sjaarda David R. , Sjaarda Calvin P. , Ayala Carlos Juarez , Howcroft Brittany , Castle Alan J. , Svircev Antonet M.
Published: February 2015

Lytic bacteriophages are in development as biological control agents for the prevention of fire blight disease caused by Erwinia amylovora. Temperate phages should be excluded as biologicals since lysogeny produces the dual risks of host resistance to phage attack and the transduction of virulence determinants between bacteria. The extent of lysogeny was estimated in wild populations of E. amylovora and Pantoea agglomerans with real–time polymerase chain reaction primers developed to detect E. amylovora phages belonging to the Myoviridae and Podoviridae families. Pantoea agglomerans, an orchard epiphyte, is easily infected by Erwinia spp. phages, and it serves as a carrier in the development of the phage‐mediated biological control agent. Screening of 161 E. amylovora isolates from 16 distinct geographical areas in North America, Europe, North Africa and New Zealand and 82 P. agglomerans isolates from southern Ontario, Canada showed that none possessed prophage. Unstable phage resistant clones or lysogens were produced under laboratory conditions. Additionally, a stable lysogen was recovered from infection of bacterial isolate Ea110R with Podoviridae phage ΦEa35‐20. These laboratory observations suggested that while lysogeny is possible in E. amylovora, it is rare or absent in natural populations, and there is a minimal risk associated with lysogenic conversion and transduction by Erwinia spp. phages.
Culture‐dependent and culture‐independent characterization of potentially functional biphenyl‐degrading bacterial community in response to extracellular organic matter from Micrococcus luteus
Authors: Su Xiao‐Mei , Liu Yin‐Dong , Hashmi Muhammad Zaffar , Ding Lin‐Xian , Shen Chao‐Feng
Published: February 2015

Biphenyl (BP)‐degrading bacteria were identified to degrade various polychlorinated BP (PCB) congers in long‐term PCB‐contaminated sites. Exploring BP‐degrading capability of potentially useful bacteria was performed for enhancing PCB bioremediation. In the present study, the bacterial composition of the PCB‐contaminated sediment sample was first investigated. Then extracellular organic matter (EOM) from Micrococcus luteus was used to enhance BP biodegradation. The effect of the EOM on the composition of bacterial community was investigated by combining with culture‐dependent and culture‐independent methods. The obtained results indicate that Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were predominant community in the PCB‐contaminated sediment. EOM from M. luteus could stimulate the activity of some potentially difficult‐to‐culture BP degraders, which contribute to significant enhancement of BP biodegradation. The potentially difficult‐to‐culture bacteria in response to EOM addition were mainly Rhodococcus and Pseudomonas belonging to Gammaproteobacteria and Actinobacteria respectively. This study provides new insights into exploration of functional difficult‐to‐culture bacteria with EOM addition and points out broader BP/PCB degrading, which could be employed for enhancing PCB‐bioremediation processes.