bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
CSR performance and the cost of debt: does audit quality matter?
Authors: Bacha Sami , Ajina Aymen , Ben Saad Sourour
Published: November 2020

Purpose

This study aims to shed light on the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the cost of debt. It also investigates whether audit quality affects the cost of debt incurred by socially responsible firms.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a sample of French non-financial companies over the period 2005 to 2016, this paper uses panel data regressions. This paper re-estimates the model using Newey-West standard errors and the weighted-least-squares method. For further robustness, this paper runs instrumental variable regressions using the two-stage instrument variable method (two-stage least square).

Findings

The results show a negative relationship between CSR performance and the cost of debt, suggesting that financial institutions are likely to apply preferential costs for socially responsible firms. Financial institutions reward socially responsible companies as they recognize the potentiality of CSR to reduce firm risk and enhance its reputation. The findings also show that the perceived audit quality, along with CSR performance, are relevant to banks in the pricing of debt. The incremental audit quality, attributable to audits by the Big 4 auditors, decreases the cost of debt for CSR firms. Big 4 auditors are expected to, simultaneously, play information and insurance roles, thereby enhancing the firm risk profile. The results are robust to alternative audit quality measures (i.e. audit fees).

Practical implications

This study has important implications for managers and banks. Managers will be able to understand the effect of CSR on financing costs with relevant implications for strategic financing planning. Firms are also encouraged to signal their commitment to maintain a high-level quality reporting and reduce agency costs through their expenditure in auditing (i.e. hiring a large well-known audit firm). Moreover, this study sensitizes banking institutions to encourage the concept of socially responsible finance and consider soft information (i.e. involvement in societal issues, corporate citizen, trustworthiness, integrity and non-opportunistic behavior), as part of the credit decision-making and debt pricing process.

Originality/value

This study extends the literature on CSR and the cost of debt. Unlike prior studies, this paper focuses on the debt-pricing effects of audit quality for CSR firms. Audit quality is deemed to be an important governance feature that is likely to constraint opportunistic behaviors (i.e. CSR diversion) and play information and insurance roles to lenders. Audit quality (perceived or real), along with CSR performance, are associated with lower costs of debt.
Influence of customer participation in new product development: the moderating role of social media
Authors: Rautela Sonica , Sharma Sarika , Virani Shreya
Published: November 2020

Purpose

The business environment is changing and so are the rules of doing business. Constant innovation is the key to win in this dynamic marketplace, so that the new ideas get converted into new marketable products quickly with the least possible mistake. One way to inculcate innovation is by the participation of customers in the new product development (NPD) process. Platforms like social media has provided an opportunity for firms to communicate, co-create and collaborate with customers. The present study aims to understand the customers' participation in three phases, namely idea generation, development and commercialization of the NPD process for its effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

With the help of review of existing literature, a theoretical model is proposed. This model is then empirically evaluated with data of 213 respondents using structural equation modelling (SEM). The respondents are majorly young social media users in India.

Findings

The results highlight that customer involvement is important in idea generation and commercialization phase of NPD process for its effectiveness. Also, the effectiveness of NPD process affects the financial performance of the firm. The use of social media is considered for its mediating role in NPD process effectiveness during the three phases. The results show that it has an effective role to play during the idea generation phase.

Originality/value

Consumers’ perspective concerning usage of social media for their participation in NPD is an unexplored area in general and in the Indian context in particular. To fill this research gap the present study is carried out.
Social media advertising reactance model: a theoretical review
Authors: Huo Honghong , Liu Zhiyong , Min Qingfei
Published: November 2020

Purpose

Research on social media advertising reactance (SMAR) is in the early stages. This paper intends to present a full picture of SMAR studies, introduce a comprehensive theoretical model (the social media advertising reactance model, SMARM) and provide insights into research and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

This review adopts the concept-driven systematic review approach, identifying 92 articles from four primary academic databases – EBSCO, Elsevier, Web of Science and Google Scholar.

Findings

First, this review offers overviews of five topics: publication trends, the journals publishing research, research methodology, targeted platform and the main theories. Second, based on the framework of psychological reactance, this study proposes the SMARM, identifying and elaborating on four components of the nomological relationship to SMAR: related concepts, antecedents, moderators and consequences.

Practical implications

This research has implications for advertisers, social media platform operators and policymakers by providing a whole picture of SMAR. Moreover, the SMARM could guide the stakeholders to adopt a user-friendly advertising design for the sustainable development of social media advertising (SMA).

Originality/value

By presenting an up-to-date review of SMAR-related research, this paper contributes to the literature of social media, advertising and marketing. Through a comparison with traditional advertising, this paper makes the characteristics of SMA clear. Meanwhile, the SMARM is developed to systematically elaborate on all related elements of SMAR and explain their underlying causal relationships. Future research directions are proposed.
Effects of pride-tagged money and surprise-tagged money on online tipping
Authors: Yang Pianpian , Zhang Qingyu , Feng Yuanyue
Published: November 2020

Purpose

With the rise of social media, online tipping has developed markedly in recent years. Drawing on emotional accounting, this research examined the effects of pride-tagged money (PTM) and surprise-tagged money (STM) on online tipping. It examined the mediating role of self-inflation and the moderating role of the perceived importance of money in the proposed relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Five experimental studies were conducted to test the hypotheses using ANOVA, SmartPLS3 and bootstrap analyses.

Findings

The results reveal that pride-tagged (vs surprise-tagged) money leads to higher self-inflation, which leads to an increased willingness to engage in online tipping. It illustrates that when the perceived importance of money is low, PTM results in a higher willingness to engage in online tipping than STM. However, when the perceived importance of money is high, the effect of PTM (vs STM) on the willingness to conduct online tipping is attenuated, and no significant difference exists in the willingness to engage in online tipping between people with PTM and those with STM. In addition, it shows that PTM (vs STM) leads to a higher amount of online tipping, and self-inflation mediates the proposed relationship.

Practical implications

Practically, web-based marketing managers should design programs (e.g. content that encourages users to feel pride in their achievements) that cause users to emotionally tag their money with pride as a means of increasing their willingness to engage in online tipping and to increase the amount of such tipping.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides the first evidence of how different sources of money influence online tipping.
I can’t stop hating you: an anti-brand-community perspective on apple brand hate
Authors: Rodrigues Clarinda , Brandão Amélia , Rodrigues Paula
Published: November 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to the literature on negative consumer-brand relationships by advancing knowledge on the key triggers of brand hate of global and prominent brands. It investigates for the first time the role of brand in triggering brand hate, as well as behavioral and emotional brand hate outcomes, i.e. willingness to punish and negative brand engagement. Additionally, it explores the impact of product ownership and previous love feelings in the formation of brand hate.

Design/methodology/approach

The data collection was conducted on two Apple anti-brand communities after the given consent of its administrators. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The paper suggests that brand hate is a construct with four first-order formative triggers (symbolic incongruity, ideological incompatibility, negative past experience and brand inauthenticity). It also demonstrates that brand hate is a dichotomous concept that comprises negative emotional dimensions (i.e. negative brand engagement) and behavioral dimensions (i.e. brand aversion, negative word-of-mouth and willingness to punish brands). Finally, it shows how brand hate differs among users vs non-users and passionate vs non-passionate consumers of Apple.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature on negative consumer-brand relationships by advancing knowledge on the key triggers and outcomes of brand hate of global and prominent brands. More importantly, it demonstrates empirically that brand hate does not occur at a specific point of time and may result in transient hatred motivated by emotion-eliciting events (e.g. using a product) or as a long-term consumer-brand relationship that changed from love to hatred.
Assessment of port environmental protection in Taiwan
Authors: Tseng Po-Hsing , Ng ManWo
Published: November 2020

Purpose

There are many different pollution reduction strategies even within different ports in the same country. Every port can learn from these environmental protection strategies. What remains universally key, though, is to select the optimum strategy to reduce pollution. This paper aims to use a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to prioritize the relative weights of key criteria assessing the port environmental protection and select the best port in Taiwan.

Design/methodology/approach

Four criteria and eleven sub-criteria of the FAHP model are developed through expert interviews and relevant literature review. Three alternative ports considered are Kaohsiung, Keelung and Taichung. The expert questionnaire samples (23) include four groups: shipping operators, port operators, governmental officials and academics.

Findings

Results indicate that finance is the most important evaluation criteria, followed by port environmental policy, technology and stakeholders. Among the three ports compared, Kaohsiung Port is selected as the best port, followed by Keelung and Taichung port.

Originality/value

The result of this paper can help fill the gap in the existing literature regarding decision analysis techniques for port pollution regulation and expect to present a holistic picture of the important evaluation criteria related to port environmental protection as well as raise issues of public awareness concern and consequently improve green port sustainability.
Heterocarpy diversifies diaspore propagation of the desert shrub Ammopiptanthus mongolicus
Authors: Yang Yong‐Zhi , Zhang Rong , Gao Run‐Hong , Chai Min‐Wei , Luo Min‐Xin , Huang Bing‐Hong , Liao Pei‐Chun
Published: November 2020

In the desert, plant diaspore spreading usually relies on both external vectors, such as wind, and internal factors, such as diaspore shape. Ammopiptanthus mongolicus is a heterocarpous shrub species in the cold desert in northwest China. Mature pods may have dehisced or not yet dehisced when abscising, and the dehiscent pods may be twisted or flattened. The propagation distances of diaspores might vary due to differences in their buoyancies in upward air and ground friction according to pod shape. The wind tunnel experiments were conducted to measure the horizontal displacement upon fruit dropping (D1) and the wind‐blown distance traveled by a fallen pod (D2) of A. mongolicus. A generalized linear mixed model and generalized linear model were used to test the effects of pod shape, release height, wind speed and ground substrate type on the spread distance of pods. D1 is jointly determined by the effects of release height and pod shape. Wind speed, pod shape and ground substrate type together affect D2. A twisted pod has higher dispersibility than a flat pod, and dehiscent pods spread further than indehiscent ones. The positive correlation of D1 and D2 indicates that the difference in pod shape additively broadens the range of seed‐spreading distance. Differential seed‐spreading properties could be adaptively advantageous to disperse the risks associated with diasporic dissemination compared with the maintenance of a single optimal dissemination characteristic. Thus, heterodiaspory is an advantageous adaptive characteristic for seed spreading in the windy, arid and harsh desert environment.
Nonthermal plasma‐activated water: A comprehensive review of this new tool for enhanced food safety and quality
Authors: Herianto Samuel , Hou Chih‐Yao , Lin Chia‐Min , Chen Hsiu‐Ling
Published: November 2020

Nonthermal plasma (NTP) is an advanced technology that has gained extensive attention because of its capacity for decontaminating food from both biological and chemical sources. Plasma‐activated water (PAW), a product of NTP's reaction with water containing a rich diversity of highly reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), is now being considered as the primary reactive chemical component in food decontamination. Despite exciting developments in this field recently, at present there is no comprehensive review specifically focusing on the comprehensive effects of PAW on food safety and quality. Although PAW applications in biological decontamination have been extensively evaluated, a complete analysis of the most recent developments in PAW technology (e.g., PAW combined with other treatments, and PAW applications in chemical degradation and as curing agents) is nevertheless lacking. Therefore, this review focuses on PAW applications for enhanced food safety (both biological and chemical safeties) according to the latest studies. Further, the subsequent effects on food quality (chemical, physical, and sensory properties) are discussed in detail. In addition, several recent trends of PAW developments, such as curing agents, thawing media, preservation of aquatic products, and the synergistic effects of PAW in combination with other traditional treatments, are also presented. Finally, this review outlines several limitations presented by PAW treatment, suggesting several future research directions and challenges that may hinder the translation of these technologies into real‐life applications.
Examination of firearm gunpowders by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X‐ray analysis
Authors: Burnett Bryan R. , Nunziata Felice , Gentile Claudio
Published: November 2020

The surfaces of thirty‐one gunpowders (GPs) from Winchester, Federal, Hercules, DuPont, and Remington were examined by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. Particles and surface coatings on 22 of the GPs had compositions of sulfur/potassium/barium or sulfur/potassium detected. Primer‐like particles composed of lead/antimony/barium were found on surfaces of twelve GPs. Gunpowders from fifteen different lots of Winchester 9 mm Silvertip® hollow point cartridges were found to vary in GP type (flake and flattened ball) and associated inorganic compounds of sulfur/potassium/barium or sulfur/potassium or one with only potassium. No inorganic particles or coatings were detected on two of these Winchester GPs. The elements from the inorganic compounds on GPs likely contribute to gunshot residue generated by the discharge of a firearm.
GeneralistCEOsand Credit Ratings*
Authors: Ma Zhiming , Ruan Lufei , Wang Danye , Zhang Haiyan
Published: November 2020

A recent trend is that firms prefer to hire generalist CEOs with transferable skills (across firms or industries) over hiring specialist CEOs, but the consequences of this trend are unclear. In this study, we examine whether credit rating agencies consider a CEO's general skills as a credit risk factor when assessing an entity's overall creditworthiness. We predict and find that generalist CEOs are associated with lower credit ratings, suggesting that the presence of generalist CEOs is a significant credit rating factor. We also find that generalist CEOs are likely to take on more risks, which leads to more volatile performance ex post, and our path analyses confirm default risk is a significant mediator between credit ratings and CEOs' general skills. Our results hold in the presence of additional controls (e.g., CEO characteristics and corporate governance), when applying different fixed‐effect models and different matching methods, and for a subsample with forced CEO turnover. We also find that the negative relationship is attenuated for R&D‐intensive firms and firms in competitive industries. Last, we provide evidence that firms with generalist CEOs face higher borrowing costs, such as bond yields and syndicated loan spreads. Overall, our results contribute to a growing literature on the costs and benefits of hiring generalist CEOs, by providing a full picture of why hiring a generalist CEO may benefit shareholders but also cause misalignments with bondholders' interests.
Characterisation of sperm piRNAs and their correlation with semen quality traits in swine
Authors: Ablondi M. , Gòdia M. , Rodriguez‐Gil J.E. , Sánchez A. , Clop A.
Published: November 2020

Piwi‐interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are a class of non‐coding RNAs that are essential in the transcriptional silencing of transposable elements and warrant genome stability in the mammalian germline. In this study, we have identified piRNAs in porcine sperm using male germline and zygote datasets from human, mice, cow and pig, and evaluated the relation between their abundances and sperm quality traits. In our analysis, we identified 283 382 piRNAs, 1355 of which correlated with P ≤ 0.01 to at least one semen quality trait. Fifty‐seven percent of the correlated piRNAs mapped less than 50 kb apart from any other piRNA in the pig genome. Furthermore, piRNA location was significantly enriched near long interspersed nuclear elements. Moreover, some of the significant piRNAs mapped within or close to genes relevant for fertility or spermatogenesis such as CSNK1G2 and PSMF1.
Endogenous timing in a mixed duopoly under the optimal degree of privatization
Authors: Hamada Kojun
Published: November 2020

This study revisits the endogenous timing game in a mixed duopoly by considering the situation in which a welfare‐maximizing government sets the optimal degree of privatization for a partially privatized firm. We present the following results. First, in quantity competition, the government sets the degree of privatization for the partially privatized firm to be positive or zero depending on the equilibrium in the subsequent observable delay game. The observable delay game has multiple equilibria and the firms choose either of two Stackelberg equilibria. Second, in price competition, the government chooses to fully nationalize the partially privatized firm, leading to a unique Bertrand equilibrium in the observable delay game.
Sperm ultrastructure in Acroloxus lacustris (Linnaeus, 1758) (Gastropoda: Panpulmonata)
Authors: Soldatenko Elena V. , Shatrov Andrey B. , Petrov Anatoly A. , Shirokaya Alena A.
Published: November 2020

The taxonomic position of the Acroloxidae Thiele, 1931 within the Lymnaeoidea Rafinesque, 1815 remains ambiguous. This study is an attempt to evaluate the possibility of using sperm morphology and ultrastructure in resolving the phylogenetic relationships of the Acroloxidae based on a microscopic examination of spermatozoa in Acroloxus lacustris (Linnaeus, 1758), a common Eurasian species, using light, scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy. Acroloxus lacustris, like other Lymnaeoidea, have spermatozoa divided into the head, midpiece, glycogen region and endpiece. The sperm head contains an extremely long nucleus carrying three rounded keels and a cylindrical acrosome composed of an apical vesicle and homogeneously electron‐dense pedestal. The subnuclear ring is an electron‐dense cylinder sandwiched between the basal projection of the nucleus and mitochondrial derivative. The midpiece contains the mitochondrial derivative enclosing apically a single glycogen helix. The spermatozoa have a well‐developed glycogen region and an unusual endpiece with an axoneme anchored on an electron‐dense plaque. Several sperm characters of A. lacustris (solid acrosomal pedestal, rounded nuclear keels, single glycogen helix) differ from those of other Lymnaeoidea possibly representing euthyneuran plesiomorphies. The Acroloxidae may therefore be sister to the remaining Lymnaeoidea, branching off before these gained their characteristic sperm traits.
A Deep Residual Network for Geometric Decontouring
Authors: Ji Zhongping , Zhou Chengqin , Zhang Qiankan , Zhang Yu‐Wei , Wang Wenping
Published: November 2020

Grayscale images are intensively used to construct or represent geometric details infield of computer graphics. In practice, displacement mapping technique often allows an 8‐bit grayscale image input to manipulate the position of vertices. Human eyes are insensitive to the change of intensity between consecutive gray levels, so a grayscale image only provides 256 levels of luminances. However, when the luminances are converted into geometric elements, certain artifacts such as false contours become obvious. In this paper, we formulate the geometric decontouring as a constrained optimization problem from a geometric perspective. Instead of directly solving this optimization problem, we propose a data‐driven method to learn a residual mapping function. We design a Geometric DeContouring Network (GDCNet) to eliminate the false contours effectively. To this end, we adopt a ResNet‐based network structure and a normal‐based loss function. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that accurate reconstructions can be achieved effectively. Our method can be used as a relief compressed representation and enhance the traditional displacement mapping technique to augment 3D models with high‐quality geometric details using grayscale images efficiently.
Image‐Driven Furniture Style for Interactive 3D Scene Modeling
Authors: Weiss Tomer , Yildiz Ilkay , Agarwal Nitin , Ataer‐Cansizoglu Esra , Choi Jae‐Woo
Published: November 2020

Creating realistic styled spaces is a complex task, which involves design know‐how for what furniture pieces go well together. Interior style follows abstract rules involving color, geometry and other visual elements. Following such rules, users manually select similar‐style items from large repositories of 3D furniture models, a process which is both laborious and time‐consuming. We propose a method for fast‐tracking style‐similarity tasks, by learning a furniture's style‐compatibility from interior scene images. Such images contain more style information than images depicting single furniture. To understand style, we train a deep learning network on a classification task. Based on image embeddings extracted from our network, we measure stylistic compatibility of furniture. We demonstrate our method with several 3D model style‐compatibility results, and with an interactive system for modeling style‐consistent scenes.
A Graph‐based One‐Shot Learning Method for Point Cloud Recognition
Authors: Fan Zhaoxin , Liu Hongyan , He Jun , Sun Qi , Du Xiaoyong
Published: November 2020

Point cloud based 3D vision tasks, such as 3D object recognition, are critical to many real world applications such as autonomous driving. Many point cloud processing models based on deep learning have been proposed by researchers recently. However, they are all large‐sample dependent, which means that a large amount of manually labelled training data are needed to train the model, resulting in huge labor cost. In this paper, to tackle this problem, we propose a One‐Shot learning model for Point Cloud Recognition, namely OS‐PCR. Different from previous methods, our method formulates a new setting, where the model only needs to see one sample per class once for memorizing at inference time when new classes are needed to be recognized. To fulfill this task, we design three modules in the model: an Encoder Module, an Edge‐conditioned Graph Convolutional Network Module, and a Query Module. To evaluate the performance of the proposed model, we build a one‐shot learning benchmark dataset for 3D point cloud analysis. Then, comprehensive experiments are conducted on it to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed model.
InstanceFusion: Real‐time Instance‐level 3D Reconstruction Using a Single RGBD Camera
Authors: Lu Feixiang , Peng Haotian , Wu Hongyu , Yang Jun , Yang Xinhang , Cao Ruizhi , Zhang Liangjun , Yang Ruigang , Zhou Bin
Published: November 2020

We present InstanceFusion, a robust real‐time system to detect, segment, and reconstruct instance‐level 3D objects of indoor scenes with a hand‐held RGBD camera. It combines the strengths of deep learning and traditional SLAM techniques to produce visually compelling 3D semantic models. The key success comes from our novel segmentation scheme and the efficient instance‐level data fusion, which are both implemented on GPU. Specifically, for each incoming RGBD frame, we take the advantages of the RGBD features, the 3D point cloud, and the reconstructed model to perform instance‐level segmentation. The corresponding RGBD data along with the instance ID are then fused to the surfel‐based models. In order to sufficiently store and update these data, we design and implement a new data structure using the OpenGL Shading Language. Experimental results show that our method advances the state‐of‐the‐art (SOTA) methods in instance segmentation and data fusion by a big margin. In addition, our instance segmentation improves the precision of 3D reconstruction, especially in the loop closure. InstanceFusion system runs 20.5Hz on a consumer‐level GPU, which supports a number of augmented reality (AR) applications (e.g., 3D model registration, virtual interaction, AR map) and robot applications (e.g., navigation, manipulation, grasping). To facilitate future research and reproduce our system more easily, the source code, data, and the trained model are released on Github: https://github.com/Fancomi2017/InstanceFusion.
Simultaneous Multi‐Attribute Image‐to‐Image Translation Using Parallel Latent Transform Networks
Authors: Xu Sen‐Zhe , Lai Yu‐Kun
Published: November 2020

Image‐to‐image translation has been widely studied. Since real‐world images can often be described by multiple attributes, it is useful to manipulate them at the same time. However, most methods focus on transforming between two domains, and when they chain multiple single attribute transform networks together, the results are affected by the order of chaining, and the performance drops with the out‐of‐domain issue for intermediate results. Existing multi‐domain transfer methods mostly manipulate multiple attributes by adding a list of attribute labels to the network feature, but they also suffer from interference of different attributes, and perform worse when multiple attributes are manipulated. We propose a novel approach to multi‐attribute image‐to‐image translation using several parallel latent transform networks, where multiple attributes are manipulated in parallel and simultaneously, which eliminates both issues. To avoid the interference of different attributes, we introduce a novel soft independence constraint for the changes caused by different attributes. Extensive experiments show that our method outperforms state‐of‐the‐art methods.
Two‐stage Photograph Cartoonization via Line Tracing
Authors: Li Simin , Wen Qiang , Zhao Shuang , Sun Zixun , He Shengfeng
Published: November 2020

Cartoon is highly abstracted with clear edges, which makes it unique from the other art forms. In this paper, we focus on the essential cartoon factors of abstraction and edges, aiming to cartoonize real‐world photographs like an artist. To this end, we propose a two‐stage network, each stage explicitly targets at producing abstracted shading and crisp edges respectively. In the first abstraction stage, we propose a novel unsupervised bilateral flattening loss, which allows generating high‐quality smoothing results in a label‐free manner. Together with two other semantic‐aware losses, the abstraction stage imposes different forms of regularization for creating cartoon‐like flattened images. In the second stage we draw lines on the structural edges of the flattened cartoon with the fully supervised line drawing objective and unsupervised edge augmenting loss. We collect a cartoon‐line dataset with line tracing, and it serves as the starting point for preparing abstraction and line drawing data. We have evaluated the proposed method on a large number of photographs, by converting them to three different cartoon styles. Our method substantially outperforms state‐of‐the‐art methods in terms of visual quality quantitatively and qualitatively.
Effectiveness of bilayer porous polyethylene membrane for alveolar ridge preservation: A randomized controlled trial
Authors: Wongpairojpanich Jirapa , Kijartorn Pennapa , Suwanprateeb Jintamai , Buranawat Borvornwut
Published: November 2020

Background

Porous polyethylene has been successfully used in several medical applications with good outcomes. Based on this, a new bilayer porous polyethylene membrane (B‐PPM) was developed for possibly being used as a membrane in alveolar ridge preservation.

Purpose

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of a new B‐PPM in comparison to high‐density polytetrafluoroethylene membrane (d‐PTFE) in alveolar ridge preservation.

Materials and methods

Thirty patients were randomized into two groups according to the membranes used to cover the socket (B‐PPM or d‐PTFE). Wound healing was monitored at day 1, 3, 7, 14, 28, and 4 months postoperatively. Dimensional changes of alveolar ridge were measured immediately after tooth extraction and at 4 months later using intraoral scanner and cone beam computed tomography. Bone cores were harvested before implant placement. Implant stability at insertion and prior to prosthesis delivery were also measured.

Results

No significant difference in socket wound closure between groups was observed excepting at day 14 that B‐PPM showed a faster wound closure than d‐PTFE (P = .03). Greater bone resorptions were seen on buccal than lingual side and on coronal than apical part of the alveolar ridge. No significant difference in dimensional changes of alveolar ridge, new bone formation, connective tissue content, residual bone grafts, and implant stability between two groups.

Conclusion

B‐PPPM was safe and effective for alveolar ridge preservation.
A multicenter cohort study on the association of the one‐abutment one‐time concept with marginal bone loss around bone level implants
Authors: Lambrechts Tijs , Doornewaard Ron , De Bruyckere Thomas , Matthijs Liesbet , Deschepper Ellen , Cosyn Jan
Published: November 2020

Objectives

To investigate the association of the one‐abutment one‐time concept with marginal bone loss (MBL) around bone‐level implants in relation to other factors.

Materials and methods

Records from patients treated by four experienced implant surgeons between January 2016 and July 2019 were scrutinized. Subjects treated with two bone‐level implant types with varying machined collar (subgroups: 0.5 and 0.8 mm) were considered, receiving a healing abutment (HA cohort) or a permanent abutment at the time of surgery (OT cohort). The primary outcome was MBL registered at 3 months and the longest follow‐up. A clustered two‐part regression model for semicontinuous data was used.

Results

Data pertaining to 160 patients (92 females, mean age 54) and 344 implants (125 in HA cohort, 219 in OT cohort) were available for evaluation. Mean MBL amounted to 0.52 mm (SD 0.68) after a mean follow‐up of 20 (SD 9.2) months, with 33.8% of the implants showing complete bone preservation and 5.0% demonstrating >2mm MBL. OT was not related to the presence of MBL using MBL as dependent binary variable (0: no MBL; 1: MBL irrespective of its magnitude). However, OT significantly reduced the magnitude of MBL with 0.300mm when compared to HA (p = .023) in the cases where MBL was detected. Subgroup (p = .212), smoking (p = .789), history of periodontitis (p = .839), type of edentulism (p = .054), implant surgeon (p = .079), patient compliance (p = .617), and follow‐up (p = .443) failed to show a significant association with MBL in the regression model. Ninety‐eight % of the implants survived.

Conclusion

Within the limitations of a cohort study, the one‐abutment one‐time concept was associated with a decrease in MBL at implant sites with bone loss. Therefore, the placement of a permanent abutment at the time of surgery seems relevant to limit marginal bone‐level alterations.
Periimplant bone changes in different abutment heights and insertion timing in posterior mandibular areas: Three‐year results from a randomized prospective clinical trial
Authors: Borges Tiago , Montero Javier , Leitão Bruno , Pereira Miguel , Galindo‐Moreno Pablo
Published: November 2020

Aim

To compare the influence of the abutment height and its insertion timing on the marginal bone change (MBC) variation of implants placed at posterior mandibular partial edentulous areas in a medium follow‐up period.

Material and methods

This randomized clinical trial (RCT) comprised a sample of patients with posterior mandibular edentulous areas, treated with at least two implants and distributed into three groups: implants connected to a 2 mm height abutment during the surgical stage (Group A); implants connected to a 1 mm height abutment during the surgical stage (Group B); and implants connected to a 2 mm height abutment after 2 months (Group C). Clinical and radiographic measurements were performed during a 36‐month period (T4). The MBC was set as the main variable in study. Statistical significance was set at 0.05.

Results

A total of 29 subjects and 59 implants were enrolled in this study. A mean MBC of 0.35 ± 0.46 mm, 0.60 ± 0.81 mm, and 0.71 ± 0.90 mm was computed for groups A, B and C, respectively, at T4. Significant differences were found between groups A and C in terms of MBC variation after 3 years of treatment (p = .048). Multiple linear regression analysis showed a significant influence of the first‐year MBC and the abutment insertion timing has independent predictor variables for the MBC assessed at T4.

Conclusion

The installation of 2‐mm prosthetic abutments, at the time of implant placement, in areas with limited keratinized mucosa presents as a favorable treatment option in terms of periimplant marginal bone maintenance.
Natural orifice specimen extraction for colorectal surgery: Early adoption in a Western population
Authors: Chen Michelle Zhiyun , Cartmill John , Gilmore Andrew
Published: November 2020

Aim

Natural orifice specimen extraction (NOSE) challenges the limits of minimally invasive colorectal surgery by exploiting a natural opening for specimen delivery. Technically challenging, it is less painful, requires smaller wounds and abolishes the possibility of incisional hernia. These advantages of NOSE are seen in the obese (body mass index [BMI] >30 kg/m2). This audit aims to demonstrate the feasibility of NOSE colectomy in an Australian population.

Method

Prospective data collected from 2007 to the present were retrospectively analysed. Only patients with mucosally benign colorectal conditions were included: complex diverticulosis, post‐malignant polypectomy and volvulus. Left sided mucosal malignancies were excluded. Study end‐points included postoperative length of stay, anastomotic leak rate and wound complications.

Results

In total, 159 patients underwent NOSE, mean age 59 years (19–88), mean BMI 28.2 kg/m2 (17–45). Ten (6.2%) patients developed retroperitoneal small bowel herniation; seven required further surgery. There were five (3.1%) anastomotic leaks, seven (4.4%) postoperative ileus and three (1.9%) anastomotic bleeds. One (0.6%) patient had a superficial wound infection. There were no port site hernias. Patients with BMI <30 kg/m2 (98 patients) and BMI >30 kg/m2 (59 patients) were compared; there was no difference in anastomotic leak rate (P = 0.60), complication rate (P = 0.71) and length of stay (P = 0.63). However, duration of operation increased with BMI (P = 0.000).

Conclusion

This large series of NOSE colectomy from Australia suggests that NOSE is comparable to conventional laparoscopic colectomy in terms of postoperative outcome. Given that obesity has not featured in the NOSE literature, our study suggests that NOSE, for benign disease, is safe in obese patients, without added morbidity.
Incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of post‐transplant erythrocytosis after kidney transplantation
Authors: Alzoubi Beyann , Kharel Abish , Osman Fauzia , Aziz Fahad , Garg Neetika , Mohamed Maha , Djamali Arjang , Mandelbrot Didier A. , Parajuli Sandesh
Published: November 2020

The incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) with post‐transplant erythrocytosis (PTE) in the modern era of strong, protocolized immunosuppressive management are unknown. In this study, we aim to identify the incidence and risk factors of PTE and outcomes associated with PTE. This study examined adult KTRs transplanted at our hospital between 01/2001 and 12/2016. Controls were KTRs without PTE and selected in a 1:5 ratio using incident density sampling. Patient survival, graft survival, and vascular thromboembolism (VTE) incidence were outcomes of interest. Of 4,317 kidney transplants during the study period, 214 (5%) had PTE and were compared with controls. In the multivariate analysis, recipients with older age (HR: 0.97, 95% CI 0.96‐0.99, p = .001) were less likely to develop PTE, while male gender (HR: 3.2; 95% CI: 1.92‐5.3, p < .001) and non‐preemptive transplant (HR: 3.86, 95% CI 1.56‐9.56, p = .003) were associated with increased risk of PTE. After adjustment for confounding factors, PTE was not associated with patient mortality (HR: 0.99, 95% CI 0.69‐1.42, p = .97), graft failure (HR: 1.11, 95% CI 0.68‐1.80, p = .69), or VTE (HR: 1.07, 95% CI 0.59‐1.96, p = .81). The incidence of PTE is still substantial in this era, but with proper management PTE does not impact patient or graft survival.
Development of bilateral parietal activation for complex visual‐spatial function: Evidence from a visual‐spatial construction task
Authors: Ferrara Katrina , Seydell‐Greenwald Anna , Chambers Catherine E. , Newport Elissa L. , Landau Barbara
Published: November 2020

The neural representation of visual‐spatial functions has traditionally been ascribed to the right hemisphere, but little is known about these representations in children, including whether and how lateralization of function changes over the course of development. Some studies suggest bilateral activation early in life that develops toward right‐lateralization in adulthood, while others find evidence of right‐hemispheric dominance in both children and adults. We used a complex visual‐spatial construction task to examine the nature of lateralization and its developmental time course in children ages 5–11 years. Participants were shown two puzzle pieces and were asked whether the pieces could fit together to make a square; responses required either mental translation of the pieces (Translation condition) or both mental translation and rotation of the pieces (Rotation condition). Both conditions were compared to a matched Luminance control condition that was similar in terms of visual content and difficulty but required no spatial analysis. Group and single‐subject analyses revealed that the Rotation and Translation conditions elicited strongly bilateral activation in the same parietal and occipital locations as have been previously found for adults. These findings show that visual‐spatial construction consistently elicits robust bilateral activation from age 5 through adulthood. This challenges the idea that spatial functions are all right‐lateralized, either during early development or in adulthood. More generally, these findings provide insights into the developmental course of lateralization across different spatial skills and how this may be influenced by the computational requirements of the particular functions involved.
Shallow lakes at risk: Nutrient enrichment enhances top‐down control of macrophytes by invasive herbivorous snails
Authors: Liu Ying , He Liang , Hilt Sabine , Wang Rui , Zhang Huan , Ge Gang
Published: November 2020

In shallow lakes, submerged macrophytes can stabilise clear‐water conditions and prevent phytoplankton blooms. Nutrient enrichment can promote their abundance. Above critical thresholds in water nutrient concentrations, however, submerged macrophytes have collapsed in many lakes worldwide with negative consequences for important ecosystem functions. The mechanisms behind this decline are complex and subject to debate.

We conducted mesocosm and laboratory experiments to investigate the top‐down effect of invasive herbivorous snails (Pomacea canaliculata) on native submerged macrophytes (Vallisneria natans) under low and moderate nutrient treatment. We tested whether effects of nutrient addition to the water column on snail herbivory were influenced by shading by phytoplankton and epiphyton, macrophyte elemental tissue content and snail nutrient release.

We found that herbivorous snails had strong negative top‐down effects on macrophytes, which were amplified by nutrient enrichment in the water column leading to higher macrophyte consumption rates. In moderate nutrient treatment, macrophyte consumption was faster and snails grew better than in low nutrient treatment. Additionally, snail treatments had higher nitrogen concentrations in the water leading to a negative feedback loop.

Our results suggest that snail herbivory may increase the chance for macrophyte collapse and shifts of shallow lakes to turbid states, and this effect occurs at lower snail densities when nutrient concentrations increase. Shallow lakes are thus severely at risk from projected increases in nutrient loading and spread of invasive herbivorous molluscs.
Ectothermy and the macroecology of home range scaling in snakes
Authors: Todd Brian D. , Nowakowski A. Justin
Published: November 2020

Aim

A central question in ecology has been that of why animal home ranges scale more steeply with body size than do metabolic rates. Yet, the generality of this notion has scarcely been tested in non‐model species like ectotherms, which have lower metabolic requirements than endotherms and which may, therefore, have different home range area requirements. Our aim was to examine how home range area scales with body size in snakes and to shed light on how other factors may shape home range area requirements in an understudied group of ectotherms.

Location

Global.

Time period

1984–2018.

Major taxon studied

Serpents.

Methods

We compiled and analysed a dataset of snake home ranges from the literature to evaluate how body size, sex, climate, foraging ecology, and biogeographic factors shape home range area requirements.

Results

Home range area scaled more gradually with body size in snakes (log‐linear slope of simple linear regression 0.72 with 95% confidence interval 0.48–0.96) than has been reported for mammals and birds, and instead more closely followed the scaling of metabolic rates with body size. Male snakes had larger home ranges than females and this difference increased as temperature increased at a study site, possibly from mate‐searching behaviour of males and greater ease reaching optimal body temperatures in warmer areas. Finally, home range area scaled more steeply for snakes that forage actively than for those that rely on sit‐and‐wait ambush foraging, a reflection of their foraging ecology.

Main conclusions

Our results question the general notion that animal home range areas scale more steeply with body size than does metabolism. Key distinctions in the energy demands of endotherms and ectotherms and their responses to those demands give rise to differing home range area requirements. More attention to non‐model species is needed when creating and evaluating ecological theory.
Primary productivity in patches of heterogeneous swards after 12 years of low‐intensity cattle grazing
Authors: Ebeling Dorothee , Tonn Bettina , Isselstein Johannes
Published: November 2020

In low‐intensity grazing systems, patch grazing leads to a mosaic structure of short (frequently defoliated) and tall (rarely defoliated) patches, with the stocking rate determining the proportion of these patch types on the pasture. Little is known about the long‐term effects of patch grazing on the productivity of contrasting sward height patches developed under varying stocking rates. On a 12‐year low‐intensity cattle pasture we investigated aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and its seasonal variation in different patch types (‘short’, ‘medium’ and ‘tall’) under three stocking rates (‘moderate’, ‘lenient’ and ‘very lenient’) over two years. Additionally, we determined stocks of soil phosphorus, potassium and magnesium as well as soil pH. ANPP was affected by an interaction of patch type and stocking rate and ranged from less than 300 g/m2 in short patches under very lenient stocking to more than 1,000 g/m2 in medium patches under moderate stocking. In contrast with observations at the start of the experiment, ANPP in short patches was similar to or less than that in medium and tall patches. As topsoil phosphorus and potassium stocks were lowest in short patches, this indicates a long‐term redistribution of nutrients by grazing animals, which limits short‐patch productivity. Productivity of medium patches increased with stocking rate, and soil potassium concentration showed a similar trend, pointing towards enhanced nutrient cycling under more intensive stocking. We conclude that nutrient redistribution may lead to increasing trade‐offs between ecological and agronomic aims in long‐term low‐intensity grazing systems.