bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of crime and violence on business confidence: evidence from Rio de Janeiro
Authors: Almeida André Filipe Guedes , Montes Gabriel Caldas
Published: May 2020

Purpose

Due to the fact that crime and violence affect the economy and the business environment, and since the economic environment affects entrepreneurs' expectations and therefore their decisions, this study analyzes the effect of both violence and crime on the confidence of entrepreneurs from the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Design/methodology/approach

Making use of time series methodology, the authors provide OLS and GMM estimates for the effects of violence and crime on the business confidence index of entrepreneurs in Rio de Janeiro. The analysis of the Rio de Janeiro case is relevant since Rio de Janeiro is the second state, after São Paulo, with the largest participation in the Brazilian GDP, and crime and violence have very high indicators in this state. The analysis comprises the period between January 2012 and July 2018 (monthly data).

Findings

The results suggest that violence and crime negatively impact business confidence in Rio de Janeiro. The estimates reveal that, among all economic and noneconomic variables, the third variable with the greatest impact on business confidence is “cargo thefts.” An increase of one standard deviation in this variable reduces business confidence by approximately 2.48 basis points, while increases of one standard deviation in “violent deaths,” “commerce thefts” and “extortion” reduce business confidence by approximately 1.24, 1.46 and 1.47 bp, respectively. The impacts caused by these violence and crime variables are greater than the effect caused by an increase of one standard deviation in the real interest rate.

Practical implications

The findings reveal that a stable economic environment with economic growth is as important to business confidence as the adoption of policies aimed at increasing public security through the fight against crime and violence.

Originality/value

If on the one hand the literature provides evidence that crime is harmful to the economy, on the other hand no study has so far analyzed the impact of crime and violence on business confidence. This type of analysis is relevant since confidence is an important aspect in the expectation formation process and thus to production and investment decisions and economic activity. Thus, this study is the first to analyze the effects of crime and violence on business confidence and consequently, the first to explore the consequences of crime on the economy through the expectations channel.
Predicting the impact of operational and financial variables on bullwhip effect using threshold regression: Indian context
Authors: Gupta Sachin , Saxena Anurag
Published: May 2020

Purpose

The operational aspects of supply chain, when handled correctly, results in diminishing the impact of the bullwhip effect. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of operational and financial variables on the bullwhip effect. Various operational factors that contribute to the bullwhip effect in a supply chain are identified and their impact on variability in production is measured at manufacturer’s end in the supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

Ten different sectors of the Indian economy are identified and analyzed on the basis of bullwhip effect. The ratio of change in production with respect to change in demand is taken as a metric to measure the bullwhip effect. Initially, the impact of identified variables on bullwhip effect is analyzed using the linear regression analysis and then to gain more insights, the threshold regression model is applied according to the change in bullwhip ratio.

Findings

The study identifies four threshold regions in which bullwhip ratio is changing its slope considerably. The operational and financial variables impacting bullwhip effect differently in these four regions provide useful insights about how the variables are impacting the bullwhip effect.

Research limitations/implications

Past 11 years of observations on identified operational and financial variables are studied for ten different sectors. The operational and financial variables are identified on basis of available literature but may not be exhaustive in nature.

Practical implications

The present study implies that the emphasis must be given to the magnitude of the bullwhip ratio. Strategies must be adopted that result in mitigation of bullwhip effect. Such mitigation strategies must not only be restricted on the basis of type of product or sector, perhaps they must be on the basis of threshold region of bullwhip ratio.

Originality/value

The study suggests a novel approach to study the bullwhip effect in supply chain management using the application of threshold regression considering the bullwhip ratio as a threshold variable.
Supply chain involvement in business continuity management: effects on reputational and operational damage containment from supply chain disruptions
Authors: Azadegan Arash , Syed Tahir Abbas , Blome Constantin , Tajeddini Kayhan
Published: May 2020

Purpose

Does internal integration extend to business continuity and to managing supply chain disruptions (SCDs)? Despite the voluminous literature on supply chain integration, evidence on its effectiveness on risk management and disruption response is scant. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of business continuity management (BCM) and of supply chain involvement in BCM (SCiBCM) on reputational and operational damage containment in the face of SCDs.

Design/methodology/approach

This study draws on Simons’ Levers of Control framework to explain how the involvement of supply chain in BCM affects firm capabilities in containing damages caused by major SCDs. The authors develop and test hypotheses by analyzing large-scale questionnaire responses from 448 European companies.

Findings

Results of the data analysis suggest that BCM improves reputational damage containment, whereas SCiBCM improves operational damage containment. The findings also show that the significant effects of BCM and SCiBCM on reputational and operational damage containment, respectively, were amplified for the firms facing higher supply chain vulnerability. Post-hoc analysis further reveals the complementarity effect between BCM and SCiBCM for the companies exposed to high supply chain vulnerability.

Originality/value

Evidence on the effects of BCM and its internal integration on performance is limited. This study offers empirical evidence on the topic. Also, while supply chain integration can improve information sharing and coordination, some may not fully recognize its potential benefits in addressing SCDs. This study theoretically and empirically demonstrates the role played by internal integration, in the form of SCiBCM, in improving organizational damage containment efforts.
Senior therapeutic community members show greater consistency when affirming peers: evidence of social learning
Authors: Warren Keith L.
Published: May 2020

Purpose

Therapeutic communities (TCs) use social learning between peers in treating substance abuse. One mechanism for fostering social learning is peer affirmations for prosocial behavior. The purpose of this study is to use consistency of affirmations as a test of whether social learning does occur.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the results of a social network survey of 50 women in a corrections-based TC, the authors compared affirmations and nonprogrammatic compliments exchanged between residents as two directed social networks. The authors evaluated consistency of judgment using the hubs and authorities algorithm, and tested to see whether more senior residents are more likely to be hubs, thereby showing more consistent judgment.

Findings

More senior residents show greater consistency with peers in program affirmations but not in nonprogrammatic compliments. Hub status in the network of affirmations increases most rapidly in the first 200 days of residence, with slower increases thereafter.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to one survey of the women in one TC. The external validity of the findings is therefore unclear. The results suggest that social learning of TC principles and prosocial behavior does occur and that it is not simply a function of popularity among peers. This seems to happen most rapidly in the first 200 days, suggesting that programs much shorter than six months may limit this process.

Originality/value

This is the first use of the hubs and authorities algorithm with a social network drawn from a therapeutic community and the first attempt to verify social learning through a social network analysis.
Clinical characteristics of hidradenitis suppurativa patients in Okinawa, Japan: Differences between East Asia and Western countries
Authors: Omine Takuya , Miyagi Takuya , Hayashi Kentaro , Yamaguchi Sayaka , Takahashi Kenzo
Published: May 2020

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a long‐term inflammatory follicular disease. In Western countries, the prevalence of HS has been estimated to be 0.1–4% in the general population. In Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost area of Japan, HS is more frequent than in other parts of Japan. The aim of this study is to elucidate the epidemiological features of HS patients in Okinawa, Japan, to determine the factors correlated with severity and to compare characteristics of HS patients in East Asia and Western countries. This study was a retrospective, single‐center, case series study. Data of patients with HS diagnosed at the University of the Ryukyus Hospital from April 2010 to March 2019 were collected and compared with data of previous studies performed in Japan, Korea, France and the USA. There were 42 male and 16 female HS patients (age range, 15–76 years). The median modified Sartorius score was 49 (interquartile range, 87.3). A multivariate analysis indicated that disease duration was associated with the modified Sartorius score. The ratio of serum C‐reactive protein to albumin was significantly correlated with disease severity (rs = 0.64, P < 0.001). Overall, in East Asia, HS was more common in males, and very few patients had a family history of HS (1.7% vs 29.1%, P < 0.001) compared with Western countries. This study revealed the characteristics of HS patients in Okinawa and elucidated the differences between the epidemiology of HS in Western countries and East Asia. In addition, we found out factors that correlated with disease severity such as disease duration and serum C‐reactive protein to albumin ratio.
Rhizosphere microbiome functional diversity and pathogen invasion resistance build up during plant development
Authors: Hu Jie , Wei Zhong , Kowalchuk George A. , Xu Yangchun , Shen Qirong , Jousset Alexandre
Published: May 2020

The rhizosphere microbiome is essential for plant growth and health, and numerous studies have attempted to link microbiome functionality to species and trait composition. However, to date little is known about the actual ecological processes shaping community composition, complicating attempts to steer microbiome functionality. Here, we assess the development of microbial life history and community‐level species interaction patterns that emerge during plant development. We use microbial phenotyping to experimentally test the development of niche complementarity and life history traits linked to microbiome performance. We show that the rhizosphere microbiome assembles from pioneer assemblages of species with random resource overlap into high‐density, functionally complementary climax communities at later stages. During plant growth, fast‐growing species were further replaced by antagonistic and stress‐tolerant ones. Using synthetic consortia isolated from different plant growth stages, we demonstrate that the high functional diversity of ‘climax’ microbiomes leads to a better resistance to bacterial pathogen invasion. By demonstrating that different life‐history strategies prevail at different plant growth stages and that community‐level processes may supersede the importance of single species, we provide a new toolbox to understand microbiome assembly and steer its functionality at a community level.
The Persistence of the Gender Pay Gap in British Universities*
Authors: Frank Jeff
Published: May 2020

The gender pay gap in the UK has been persistent despite the Equal Pay Act 1970. Universities were given a positive duty to redress this in the Equality Act 2010. Some British universities introduced a system of ‘professorial banding’. All professors were regraded from scratch. Surprisingly, this had almost no impact on the gender pay gap. We model how the design of the system could amplify discrimination. With individual data from one research university, we find evidence of gendered external market effects, effects of shorter tenure in the rank of professor and sticky floors.
From villain to victim
Authors: Gies Stephen V. , Healy Eoin , Green Brandn , Bobnis Amanda
Published: May 2020

Research Summary

Safe harbor laws are designed to redirect young victims of commercial sexual exploitation away from justice system involvement by prohibiting their arrest and prosecution as criminals. A quasi‐experimental design was used to compare prostitution‐related crime and sex abuse maltreatment trends at the county level in states that have implemented safe harbor laws with a comparison group of counties in states that have not implemented safe harbor laws. Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) were used to measure prostitution‐related crime trends, while National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) data were used to measure sex abuse maltreatment trends. We used a multilevel Poisson regression model to analyze the change in prostitution‐related crime and sex abuse maltreatment trends in treatment and comparison counties over an 11‐year observation period (2005–15).

Policy Implications

Overall, the findings provide a striking perspective into the current U.S. landscape of dealing with the commercial sexual exploitation of juveniles. To that end, the decline in the number of overall and juvenile arrests across all prostitution‐related offenses suggests that safe harbor laws were effective in redirecting young victims away from system involvement. But the systematic provision of treatment services envisioned to go to these young victims has, to date, not become a reality. Nevertheless, these findings offer policymakers a foundation of evidence that can be used to engage intelligently and knowledgeably with regard to the current state of U.S. policy.
Soluble dietary fibers from black soybean hulls: Physical and enzymatic modification, structure, physical properties, and cholesterol binding capacity
Authors: Shen Meng , Weihao Wang , Cao Longkui
Published: May 2020

We used ultrasound‐microwave comodification and enzyme modification (cellulase and hemicellulase) methods to extract soluble dietary fibers (SDFs) from black soybean hulls. Moreover, the structure, physical, and chemical properties, as well as the cholesterol‐binding capacity of SDFs before and after modification were analyzed. The average molecular weight of SDFs extracted from raw black soybean hulls was 2.815 × 105 Da. By comparison, the average molecular weight of SDFs from ultrasound‐microwave comodified hulls and enzyme‐modified hulls decreased by 33.21% and 45.29%, respectively. The water‐holding capacity (WHC), water‐swelling capacity (WSC), and oil‐holding capacity (OHC) of the extracted SDFs modified by the ultrasound‐microwave method were 3.79 g/g, 1.39 mL/g, and 1.14 g/g, respectively, a 9.54%, 23.01%, and 17.53% increase from the values of raw SDF. The WHC, WSC, and OHC of SDFs modified via the enzyme method were 3.59 g/g, 1.25 mL/g, and 1.03 g/g, respectively, with a 3.76%, 10.62%, and 6.19% increase when compared to raw SDFs. The cholesterol‐binding capacity of SDFs modified via the ultrasound‐microwave and enzyme methods was 13.82 and 12.34 mg/g, respectively, with an increase of 47.98% and 32.20% when compared to raw SDFs. The changes in structure and physical and chemical properties were shown to be closely related to the significantly improved cholesterol‐binding capacity of the SDFs from modified black soybean hulls. This provides a theoretical basis for subsequent research and development of black soybean hulls products.

Practical Application

At present, the black soybean hull, a byproduct of general grains, is usually abandoned, but black soybean hull is rich in dietary fiber. Enzymatic modification and ultrasound‐microwave comodification were used to treat black soybean hull to prepare small molecular weight, highly active soluble dietary fiber. This research is of great significance to the deep processing of black soybean hull and improvement of the economic benefits of black soybean byproducts.
Characterization of β‐glucan gum for food applications as influenced by genotypic variations in three hulless barley varieties
Authors: Abdel‐Haleem Amal Mahmoud Hassan , Agwa Amin Mohamed , Mahgoub Saad Aziz , Shehata Walid Mohamed
Published: May 2020

Three hulless barley varieties were grown under normal conditions during 2017/2018 and 2018/2019, to improve their agronomic yield, and to assess how the genotype influences β‐glucan contents, and its structural, thermal, rheological, and functional properties, as intended to be used in food applications. The extracted gums with hot water at 55 °C and pH 8.0, showed contents from 5.75% to 6.41% (w/w), and concentrations from 68.55% to 79.29% of β‐glucan, with some starch and protein impurities. The results of the agronomic trail indicated the highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) influence of the genotype on all studied characteristics, and on the β‐glucan contents (0.28** and 0.33**) at both seasons. The morphology of the three gums was significantly different in the distribution and structure of networks. Peak intensities of the –OH and –CH groups and CH2 stretching were higher and wider in Giza129 and Giza131. β‐Glucan networks melt from 71.5 to 87.18 °C, and Giza131 exhibited the highest thermal stability. The aqueous dispersions (1%) of β‐glucan gums exhibited a non‐Newtonian behavior, and Giza130 presented the highest significant (P ≤ 0.05) apparent viscosity (η) and foaming stability. Giza129 showed the highest significant water and fat binding capacities, whereas Giza131 showed the highest significant foaming capacity. β‐Glucan gums showed different potentials in food applications as fat replacers, stabilizers, thickeners, and foaming agents in food systems. This study suggests planting the proper barley variety in breeding and genetic improvement programs to supply the food industry with the expected β‐glucan content with consistent structural, thermal, rheological, and functional properties.

Practical Application

β‐Glucans play an important technological role in processed foods. Little current information is available on β‐glucan contents, and its potentiality on food applications, as influenced by variability among hulless barley genotypes. Accordingly, knowledge of β‐glucan levels in barley varieties is a valuable attribute for both consumers and food processors, and it will create an opportunity for scientific cooperation between food technologist and breeders to identify the suitable barley varieties to be used in breeding programs, to obtain barley with required β‐glucan contents, targeted for specific end uses.
Seasonal variation in grey crowned crane (Balearica regulorum) abundance in the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
Authors: Amulike Bridget B. , Fuller Todd K. , Houlihan Peter W. , Griffin Curtice R.
Published: May 2020

There are few quantitative estimates of numbers of Africa's endangered grey crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum), yet conservation of this species will depend on such estimates. We used line‐transect distance sampling on multiple 2‐km segments of an existing road network to estimate the abundance of grey crowned cranes in a portion of the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, during the wet (April) and dry (August) seasons of 2016. We analysed data from 106 transects on which we observed 174 groups of 1–61 cranes (median and mode = 2). Abundance and density estimates on the areas surveyed were best modelled without group size as a covariate and indicated that mean crane densities were significantly lower in the wet season (2.4/km2) than in the dry season (20.2 cranes/km2). Even based on survey areas of different size, minimum estimated numbers of cranes in the Crater (wet season: 108–133; dry season: 362–401) likely reflect the concentration of cranes in the nonbreeding (dry) season in the perennial wetlands of the Crater and reinforce the notion of the Crater being a key seasonal habitat for crane populations in northern Tanzania, as previously suggested in the literature.
Urinary catheterisation of female dogs: a comparison between three techniques for catheter placement
Authors: Tipler AE , Moses EA , Greer R , Delisser P , McCracken BD , Moses PA
Published: May 2020

The objective of this study was to describe a new technique for urinary catheterisation of female dogs using a novel catheterisation device (NCD) and to compare the time taken to place a catheter using this technique with traditional techniques. A secondary objective was to survey participants on which of the techniques they preferred. Female canine cadavers of varying sizes were utilised and veterinary students who had not previously placed a urinary catheter were enrolled. Each participant performed three catheterisation techniques, Visual with speculum (SPEC), Blind Palpation (BP) and catheterisation with NCD on three sizes of dog. Time required using each technique was compared using Kaplan–Meier plots and mixed models Cox Proportional Hazards regression. Median times to catheterisation were 300 s (IQR 261–417 s) with the SPEC method, 420 s (IQR 253–545 s) with the NCD method and 725 s (574–1032s) with the BP method. Both SPEC and NCD methods were significantly faster compared to the BP method, with Hazard Ratios of 3.66 (95% CI 1.94–6.91, P < 0.001) and 3.57 (95% CI 1.87–6.81, P < 0.001), respectively. Six of nine participants found the NCD the easiest technique, 5/9 of the participants found the palpation technique most difficult and 4/9 found the speculum technique most difficult. BP appears to be the technique of least preference and increased time requirement. The novel urinary catheterisation device may provide a simpler method of visualisation of the urethral papilla and may provide a more sterile way of placing the catheter, although further investigation is needed to confirm this.
VX‐765 enhances autophagy of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells against stroke‐induced apoptosis and inflammatory responses via AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway
Authors: Sun Zhezhe , Gu Lei , Wu Ke , Wang Kankai , Ru Junnan , Yang Su , Wang Zhenzhong , Zhuge Qichuan , Huang Lijie , Huang Shengwei
Published: May 2020

Introduction

To investigate the protective effect of VX‐765 on human umbilical mesenchymal stem cells (HUMSCs) in stroke and its mechanism.

Materials and methods

Mouse models of ischemic stroke were established using the distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (dMCAO) method. The dMCAO mice were accordingly transplanted with HUMSCs, VX‐765‐treated HUMSCs, or VX‐765 + MHY185‐treated HUMSCs. The HUMSCs were inserted with green fluorescent protein (GFP) for measurement of transplantation efficiency which was determined by immunofluorescence assay. Oxygen‐glucose deprivation (OGD) was applied to mimic ischemic environment in vitro experiments, and the HUMSCs herein were transfected with AMPK inhibitor Compound C or autophagy inhibitor 3‐MA. MTT assay was used to test the toxicity of VX‐765. TUNEL staining and ELISA were applied to measure the levels of apoptosis and inflammatory cytokines (IL‐1β, IL‐6, and IL‐10), respectively. The expressions of autophagy‐associated proteins, AMPK, and mTOR were detected by Western blotting. TTC staining was applied to reveal the infarct lesions in the brain of dMCAO mice.

Results

The pro‐inflammatory cytokines, TUNEL‐positive cells, and p‐mTOR were decreased while the anti‐inflammatory cytokine, autophagy‐related proteins, and p‐AMPK were increased in HUMSCs treated with VX‐765 under OGD condition. Different expression patterns were found with the above factors after transfection of 3‐MA or Compound C. The pro‐inflammatory cytokines, TUNEL‐positive cells, and infarct sections were decreased while the anti‐inflammatory cytokine and autophagy‐related proteins were increased in dMCAO mice transplanted with VX‐765‐treated HUMSCs compared to those transplanted with HUMSCs only. The autophagy was inhibited while p‐mTOR was up‐regulated after transfection of MHY.

Conclusion

VX‐765 protects HUMSCs against stroke‐induced apoptosis and inflammatory responses by activating autophagy via the AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway in vivo and in vitro.
Exploring What Is Encoded in Distributional Word Vectors: A Neurobiologically Motivated Analysis
Authors: Utsumi Akira
Published: May 2020

The pervasive use of distributional semantic models or word embeddings for both cognitive modeling and practical application is because of their remarkable ability to represent the meanings of words. However, relatively little effort has been made to explore what types of information are encoded in distributional word vectors. Knowing the internal knowledge embedded in word vectors is important for cognitive modeling using distributional semantic models. Therefore, in this paper, we attempt to identify the knowledge encoded in word vectors by conducting a computational experiment using Binder et al.'s (2016) featural conceptual representations based on neurobiologically motivated attributes. In an experiment, these conceptual vectors are predicted from text‐based word vectors using a neural network and linear transformation, and prediction performance is compared among various types of information. The analysis demonstrates that abstract information is generally predicted more accurately by word vectors than perceptual and spatiotemporal information, and specifically, the prediction accuracy of cognitive and social information is higher. Emotional information is also found to be successfully predicted for abstract words. These results indicate that language can be a major source of knowledge about abstract attributes, and they support the recent view that emphasizes the importance of language for abstract concepts. Furthermore, we show that word vectors can capture some types of perceptual and spatiotemporal information about concrete concepts and some relevant word categories. This suggests that language statistics can encode more perceptual knowledge than often expected.
Does Land Rent between Acquaintances Deviate from the Reference Point? Evidence from Rural China
Authors: Qiu Tongwei , Luo Biliang , He Qinying
Published: May 2020

This paper theoretically and empirically investigates whether acquaintance networks influence the deviation of land rent from the reference point advanced by Hart and Moore. The coefficient of variance and the range of land rent are used to represent the degree of deviation from the reference point. Based on village‐level data from the 2015 China Household Finance Survey, the estimated results indicate that land rent between acquaintances is more likely to significantly deviate from the reference point. Although rental transactions are conducted between acquaintances, larger deviations from the reference are also associated with a longer time to close deals. Our analysis using household‐level data further supports our findings, indicating that land rental markets embedded in the acquaintance networks of rural China are in a transition period and have characteristics of both relational and market orientation. The policy makers should introduce more outer village lessees or other market ingredients to increase the voluntary marketization of land rentals inside acquaintance networks.
Will Entrepreneurship Promote Productivity Growth in China?
Authors: Wang Jun
Published: May 2020

Based on data obtained from the Survey of Industrial Firms in China, the Chinese General Social Survey and prefecture‐level city data, this paper explores whether entrepreneurship will promote productivity growth in China. The research also examines whether entrepreneurship acts as a transmission mechanism affecting productivity through market competition, knowledge spillover and factor structure. Our empirical results reveal a relatively significant U‐shaped relationship between entrepreneurship and productivity and confirm the existence of a transmission mechanism of entrepreneurship. Among the three effects, the market competition effect is the most significant, followed by knowledge spillover and factor structure effects. An entrepreneurial heterogeneity test reveals that there is no significant difference between the effect of necessity entrepreneurship and overall entrepreneurship on productivity. However, a positive correlation is found between opportunistic entrepreneurship and productivity. Therefore, entrepreneurship plays a unique role in promoting economic growth in China.
Tail Causality between Crude Oil Price and RMB Exchange Rate
Authors: Ding Haoyuan , Jin Yuying , Qin Cong , Ying Jiezhou
Published: May 2020

In this paper we assess the causal relationship between international crude oil price changes and the RMB exchange rate using daily information from 21 July 2005 to 5 April 2017. In addition to linear causality tests, we employ quantile causality test to identify prior imperceptible causality in quantiles. We find a causal relationship from crude oil price to exchange rate at each quantile interval, but the reverse only appears in tail. This may help to explain why a traditional linear test fails to capture the causality from exchange rate to crude oil price as the quantile causalities in tails are canceled out by each other. Moreover, using RMB as the settlement currency in crude oil trade can weaken the prior significant causal relationships between crude oil price and exchange rate, whereas the reform of exchange rate marketization reignites the tail causalities from exchange rate to crude oil price. These findings recommend a wider use of domestic currencies in crude oil trade to avoid risk from the crude oil market.
Technical Note: A Joint Pricing, Supplier Selection, and Inventory Replenishment Model Using the Logit Demand Function*
Authors: Duan Lisha , Ventura José A.
Published: May 2020

We revisit the joint pricing, supplier selection, and inventory replenishment problem for a single item in a two‐stage system examined by Adeinat and Ventura (2015) and use the logit function to model the price‐sensitive demand. This article provides a detailed analysis regarding the shape and properties of the logit demand function. In this context, we propose a two‐stage piecewise‐linear approximation technique to solve the integrated pricing, supplier selection, and inventory replenishment model. Besides, in this research, we provide sufficient justification for the selection of the logit demand function as well as a comparison with other demand functions. A numerical study further suggests the importance of using a precise demand curve to select the set of suppliers, coordinate inventory, and accurately optimize the profit function.
The role of nitric oxide in glutaric acid‐induced convulsive behavior in pup rats
Authors: Brüning César Augusto , Rosa Suzan Gonçalves , Quines Caroline Brandão , Magni Danieli Valnes , Nonemacher Natália Tavares , Bortolatto Cristiani Folharini , Nogueira Cristina Wayne
Published: May 2020

Glutaric acidaemia type I (GA‐I) is a cerebral organic disorder characterized by the accumulation of glutaric acid (GA) and seizures. As seizures are precipitated in children with GA‐I and the mechanisms underlying this disorder are not well established, we decided to investigate the role of nitric oxide (NO) in GA‐induced convulsive behaviour in pup rats. Pup male Wistar rats (18‐day‐old) were anesthetized and placed in stereotaxic apparatus for cannula insertion into the striatum for injection of GA. The experiments were performed 3 days after surgery (pup rats 21‐day‐old). An inhibitor of NO synthesis (N‐G‐nitro‐l‐arginine methyl ester—L‐NAME, 40 mg/kg) or saline (vehicle) was administered intraperitoneally 30 min before the intrastriatal injection of GA (1 µl, 1.3 µmol/striatum) or saline. Immediately after the intrastriatal injections, the latency and duration of seizures were recorded for 20 min. The administration of L‐NAME significantly increased the latency to the first seizure episode and reduced the duration of seizures induced by GA in pup rats. The administration of the NO precursor l‐arginine (L‐ARG; 80 mg/kg) prevented the effects of L‐NAME. Besides, GA significantly increased nitrate and nitrite (NOx) levels in the striatum of pup rats and the preadministration of L‐NAME prevented this alteration. L‐ARG blocked the reduction of striatal NOx provoked by L‐NAME. These results are experimental evidence that NO plays a role in the seizures induced by GA in pup rats, being valuable in understanding the physiopathology of neurological signs observed in children with this organic acidaemia and to develop new therapeutic strategies.
How to govern mixed migration in Europe: transnational expert networks and knowledge creation in international organizations
Authors: KORTENDIEK NELE
Published: May 2020

Mixed migration is an international regime in the making. The migration and refugee crisis put the topic high on the global agenda and multilateral initiatives like the Global Compacts for Migration and Refugees have started to address it. However, it is a contested policy issue and agreement on legally binding instruments is difficult to achieve. While formal global mixed migration governance is thus only emerging, in this article I argue that international organizations shape how mixed migration is governed through informal means. Mixed migration experts in intergovernmental organizations, regional agencies and non‐governmental organizations form networks that cut across organizational levels and boundaries to create practical knowledge and to train fieldworkers. Based on interviews and the analysis of training material, this article shows that they have considerable influence over policy implementation because they control the content of training tools and devise scripts for best practices that guide how mixed migration is governed on the ground.
A randomized controlled study of 6% gabapentin topical formulation for chronic kidney disease‐associated pruritus
Authors: Aquino Terese Monette O. , Luchangco Karla Angela C. , Sanchez Elizabeth V. , Verallo‐Rowell Vermen M.
Published: May 2020

Background

Novel agents with good safety profiles are needed in the management of chronic kidney disease–associated pruritus (CKD‐AP). This study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of topical gabapentin in the treatment of CKD‐AP.

Methods

The authors conducted a randomized, double‐blind, vehicle‐controlled study. The key inclusion criteria were: (i) patients on hemodialysis for at least 8 weeks, and (ii) a baseline visual analog scale (VAS) pruritus score ≥5. Patients were randomized into two groups. Topical 6% gabapentin was used in the experimental group while plain permeation cream was used for the control group. The primary endpoint was the mean change in pruritus scores using the VAS (MCPS‐VAS) from baseline after 1 and 2 weeks of once daily application.

Results

Thirty patients (15 per group) were included in the analysis. Treatment with 6% topical gabapentin resulted in significantly decreased mean pruritus scores at 1 week (mean score 2.7; range 0–5; P < 0.001) and 2 weeks (mean score 1.3, range 0–5; P < 0.001) from baseline (mean score 5.9; range 5–8). The MCPS‐VAS of the two groups were not significantly different (P = 0.8) after 1 week. However, the MCPS‐VAS of the experimental group (mean change −4.6; range 0–7) was significantly greater (P = 0.01) compared to control (mean change −2.6; range −1 to 5) after 2 weeks. There were no drug‐related adverse events reported.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that short‐term use of topical gabapentin may significantly decrease CKD‐AP severity after 2 weeks with no reported acute adverse events.
Explaining differences in unemployment benefit takeup between labour migrants and Dutch native workers
Authors: Strockmeijer Anita , de Beer Paul , Dagevos Jaco
Published: May 2020

The large increase in Eastern European migrants entering the Dutch labour market has led to concerns about their potential claim on Dutch unemployment benefits. We use a decomposition analysis to investigate differences in uptake of unemployment benefits between migrants and native Dutch employees by analysing register data for all employees in the Netherlands in 2015. The results show that Eastern European migrants, similar to other migrants, receive unemployment benefit more often than native Dutch employees. This difference can be largely ascribed to job characteristics. The inclusion of unemployment risk in the analysis reveals that non‐working migrants are much less likely to receive unemployment benefits than Dutch natives.
The impact of self‐advocacy organizations on the subjective well‐being of people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review of the literature
Authors: Tilley Elizabeth , Strnadová Iva , Danker Joanne , Walmsley Jan , Loblinzk Julie
Published: May 2020

Background

A high sense of subjective well‐being has been associated with more prosocial behaviours, better health, work productivity and positive relationships. The aim of this systematic review was to explore what impact self‐advocacy has on the subjective well‐being of people with intellectual disabilities.

Method

The authors reviewed articles focusing on the perspectives of adults with intellectual disabilities engaged with self‐advocacy groups. Searches were performed in PsychINFO, Web of Science, SCOPUS, MEDLINE and CIHNL databases, resulting in 16 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. A framework synthesis approach was used to extract data deductively based on the Dynamic Model of Wellbeing.

Results

While self‐advocacy has a positive impact on all domains of the Dynamic Model of Wellbeing, negative impacts associated with participation in a self‐advocacy group were also reported.

Conclusions

The benefits of participating in self‐advocacy groups on the well‐being of individuals with intellectual disabilities outweigh the disadvantages.
The Impact of obesity and diabetes mellitus on pancreatic cancer: Molecular mechanisms and clinical perspectives
Authors: Quoc Lam Bao , Shrivastava Sushant K. , Shrivastava Anju , Shankar Sharmila , Srivastava Rakesh K.
Published: May 2020

The incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in the Western world has increased dramatically during the recent decades. According to the American Cancer Society, pancreatic cancer (PC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer‐related death in the United States. The relationship among obesity, T2DM and PC is complex. Due to increase in obesity, diabetes, alcohol consumption and sedentary lifestyle, the mortality due to PC is expected to rise significantly by year 2040. The underlying mechanisms by which diabetes and obesity contribute to pancreatic tumorigenesis are not well understood. Furthermore, metabolism and microenvironment within the pancreas can also modulate pancreatic carcinogenesis. The risk of PC on a population level may be reduced by modifiable lifestyle risk factors. In this review, the interactions of diabetes and obesity to PC development were summarized, and novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of diabetes and PC were discussed.
#Online harms or benefits? An ethnographic analysis of the positives and negatives of peer‐support around self‐harm on social media
Authors: Lavis Anna , Winter Rachel
Published: May 2020

Background

There is emerging evidence of the potentially detrimental impact of social media on young people’s mental health. Against this background, online self‐harm content has been a recent focus of concern across academia, policy and the media. It has been argued to encourage or even cause acts such as self‐cutting through mechanisms of contagion. However, little is known about why a young person might engage with such content or about its impact on behaviour or well‐being.

Methods

Online ethnographic observation of interactions around self‐harm on Twitter, Reddit and Instagram: collection and analysis of 10,169 original posts and 36,934 comments, both written and pictorial, at two time‐points in 2018 and 2019. Ten in‐depth semi‐structured interviews exploring engagements with self‐harm content on social media.

Results

Our data show that peer support is the central component of online interactions around self‐harm. Young people accessing such content are likely to already be self‐harming; they may turn to social media to understand, and seek help for, their actions and feelings in a context of offline stigma and service support gaps. This paper engages with the mechanisms, complexities and impact of this peer‐support, reflecting on the benefits and dangers to caring for oneself and others through social media.

Conclusions

Self‐harm content is a fraught issue at the centre of current debates around risks and opportunities for child and adolescent mental health in the digital age. Whilst the importance of supporting young people’s online safety is clear, moves to eradicate self‐harm content must be undertaken with caution so as not to cause unintentional harm. Our research highlights a need to think beyond a model of contagion, instead attending to other mechanisms of harm and benefit. In so doing, it challenges prevailing attitudes towards online communication about self‐harm and accepted approaches to managing this.
Research Review: Brain network connectivity and the heterogeneity of depression in adolescence – a precision mental health perspective
Authors: Chahal Rajpreet , Gotlib Ian H. , Guyer Amanda E.
Published: May 2020

Background

Adolescence is a period of high risk for the onset of depression, characterized by variability in symptoms, severity, and course. During adolescence, the neurocircuitry implicated in depression continues to mature, suggesting that it is an important period for intervention. Reflecting the recent emergence of ‘precision mental health’ – a person‐centered approach to identifying, preventing, and treating psychopathology – researchers have begun to document associations between heterogeneity in features of depression and individual differences in brain circuitry, most frequently in resting‐state functional connectivity (RSFC).

Methods

In this review, we present emerging work examining pre‐ and post‐treatment measures of network connectivity in depressed adolescents; these studies reveal potential intervention‐specific neural markers of treatment efficacy. We also review findings from studies examining associations between network connectivity and both types of depressive symptoms and response to treatment in adults, and indicate how this work can be extended to depressed adolescents. Finally, we offer recommendations for research that we believe will advance the science of precision mental health of adolescence.

Results

Nascent studies suggest that linking RSFC‐based pathophysiological variation with effects of different types of treatment and changes in mood following specific interventions will strengthen predictions of prognosis and treatment response. Studies with larger sample sizes and direct comparisons of treatments are required to determine whether RSFC patterns are reliable neuromarkers of treatment response for depressed adolescents. Although we are not yet at the point of using RSFC to guide clinical decision‐making, findings from research examining the stability and reliability of RSFC point to a favorable future for network‐based clinical phenotyping.

Conclusions

Delineating the correspondence between specific clinical characteristics of depression (e.g., symptoms, severity, and treatment response) and patterns of network‐based connectivity will facilitate the development of more tailored and effective approaches to the assessment, prevention, and treatment of depression in adolescents.
Visualization techniques of the facial arteries
Authors: Mespreuve Marc , Waked Karl , Hendrickx Benoit
Published: May 2020

Background

As the face is known for its extreme variation in vascular anatomy and the number of filler‐associated complications due to intra‐arterial injection is increasing, we are in need of a method to visualize anyone’s individual arterial anatomy of the face in a completely harmless way.

Aims

The different medical imaging methods and a recently developed MRA protocol are reviewed.

Methods

The literature of the last twenty years—with special attention for the last five years—concerning the different medical imaging modalities of the facial arteries was reviewed.

Results

A harmless visualisation of the facial arteries is currently only possible with US or MRA. US may identify single vessels but never the complete arterial network. A combination of IR “heat enhancement” and a MRA 3D‐TOF sequence might make it feasible to visualize a large number of facial arteries in a risk‐free, radiation‐free, contrast‐free and non‐invasive way.

Conclusion

Currently, a new combination of IR “heat enhancement” and a MRA 3D‐TOF sequence might be the only method to visualize a large number of facial arteries.
Clinical evaluation method for blue light (456 nm) protection of skin
Authors: Jo Hong Li , Jung Yuchul , Suh Byung‐Fhy , Cho Eunbyul , Kim Kyungtae , Kim Eunjoo
Published: May 2020

Background

Blue light from electronic devices enriched with a peak at 456 nm affects circadian rhythm and antioxidant balance of skin, necessitating the study of photoprotection against the 456‐nm blue light.

Aims

This study aims to report that blue light (456 nm) can cause skin pigmentation and proposes a new clinical evaluation method for blue light (456 nm) protection based on the skin pigmentation level.

Patients/Methods

We developed a clinical device (ABC deviceTM) that emits blue light (peak = 456 nm). Based on the minimal persistent pigment darkening dose (MPPD) determined from visual evaluation and melanin index measurements, we proposed the “protection grade of blue light (PB)” guideline to assess the protective ability of skin against blue light.

Results

Human skin irradiated with blue light (456 nm) showed a light dose‐dependent degree of pigmentation. The MPPD on unprotected and protected skin was 135 J/cm2 or 180 J/cm2 and 135‐225 J/cm2, respectively. The ABC device™ and the proposed clinical method were used to test the four blue light blocking assessments of TiO2. Consequently, the inorganic filter with TiO2 effectively blocked the blue light (456 nm). The AP product demonstrated the ability to block blue light by 1.15 times (PB = 1.15), which significantly lowered the melanin index of the skin after irradiation as compared to that of the unprotected skin (P < .001).

Conclusion

We propose an objective clinical evaluation method for blue light protection. This study elucidates the properties of blue light blockers for customers suffering from blue light pollution.
Aesthetic dermatology procedures in coronavirus days
Authors: Türsen Ümit , Türsen Belma , Lotti Torello
Published: May 2020

Background

Severe acute respiratory syndrome‐coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2; COVID‐19), which causes coronavirus disease 2019, is highly contagious and a particularly popular problem in all around the world and also in all departments of every hospital.

Aims

Protecting the well‐being of the aesthetic dermatologists while providing a sufficient workforce is vital for pandemic planning.

Results and Conclusions

In this article, we will discuss this problem from an aesthetic dermatology aspect and we will review whether these procedures are safe or not.