bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Improving the Care of Individuals With Sickle Cell Disease in the Emergency Department Using a Quality Improvement Framework
Authors: Brennan-Cook Jill , Bonnabeau Emily , Harris-Bloom Haley , Tanabe Paula
Published: July 2019

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a severe chronic disease that leads to premature mortality caused by serious complications of the disease such as acute chest syndrome, stroke, and sepsis. Patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with pain due to vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) are at a higher risk for complications, making it imperative that emergency nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians are knowledgeable about SCD and understand the other associated complications besides VOC. Because of the complexity of disease and misperceptions about SCD among ED nurses, physicians, and nurse practitioners, a quality improvement (QI) framework for treatment of adults with SCD in EDs was developed. The Emergency Department Sickle Cell Assessment of Needs and Strengths (ED-SCANS) is a research-based QI framework consisting of 7 distinct algorithms that serve to guide all ED team members in assessment and management of the complexity of care that patients with SCD require.
Postdonation eGFR and New-Onset Antihypertensive Medication Use After Living Kidney Donation
Authors: Lentine Krista L. , Holscher Courtenay M. , Naik Abhijit S. , Lam Ngan N. , Segev Dorry L. , Garg Amit X. , Axelrod David , Xiao Huiling , Henderson Macey L. , Massie Allan B. , Kasiske Bertram L. , Hess Gregory P. , Hsu Chi-yuan , Park Meyeon , Schnitzler Mark A.
Published: July 2019

Background.

Limited data are available regarding clinical implications of lower renal function after living kidney donation. We examined a novel integrated database to study associations between postdonation estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and use of antihypertensive medication (AHM) treatment after living kidney donation.

Methods.

Study data were assembled by linking national U.S. transplant registry identifiers, serum creatinine (SCr) values from electronic medical records, and pharmacy fill records for 3222 living donors (1989–2016) without predonation hypertension. Estimated GFR (mL/min per 1.73 m2) was computed from SCr values by the CKD-EPI equation. Repeated measures multivariable mixed effects modeling examined the associations (adjusted odds ratio, 95%LCLaOR95% UCL) between AHM use and postdonation eGFR levels (random effect) with fixed effects for baseline donor factors.

Results.

The linked database identified an average of 3 postdonation SCr values per donor (range: 1–38). Lower postdonation eGFR (vs ≥75) bore graded associations with higher odds of AHM use (eGFR 30–44: aOR 0.951.472.26; <30: aOR 1.082.525.90). Other independent correlates of postdonation AHM use included older age at donation (aOR per decade: 1.081.231.40), black race (aOR 1.031.512.21), body mass index > 30 kg/m2 (aOR 1.011.452.09), first-degree donor–recipient relationship (aOR 1.071.381.79), “prehypertension” at donation (systolic blood pressure 120–139: aOR 1.101.461.94; diastolic blood pressure 80–89: aOR 1.061.451.99).

Conclusions.

This novel linkage illustrates the ability to identify postdonation kidney function and associate it with clinically meaningful outcomes; lower eGFR after living kidney donation is a correlate of AHM treatment requirements. Further work should define relationships of postdonation renal function, hypertension, and other morbidity measures.
Class and Kinetics of Weakly Reactive Pretransplant Donor-specific HLA Antibodies Predict Rejection in Kidney Transplant Recipients
Authors: Morrison Alexander H. , Gupta Meera , Lloyd Kelsey , Trofe-Clark Jennifer , Ann Lim Mary , Limonte Christine , Levine Matthew H. , Sawinski Deirdre , Kamoun Malek , Porrett Paige M.
Published: July 2019

Background.

The clinical impact of weakly reactive pretransplant donor-specific antibody (DSA) in kidney transplantation is controversial. While some evidence suggests that weakly reactive DSA can lead to rejection, it is unclear which patients are at risk for rejection and whether posttransplant changes in weakly reactive DSA are clinically meaningful.

Methods.

We retrospectively studied 80 kidney transplant recipients with weakly reactive pretransplant DSA between 2007 and 2014. We performed a multivariate Cox regression analysis to identify immunologic factors most associated with risk of biopsy-proven rejection.

Results.

Biopsy-proven rejection occurred in 13 of 80 (16%) patients. The presence of both class I and II DSA before transplant (hazards ratio 17.4, P < 0.01) and any posttransplant increase in DSA reactivity above a mean fluorescence intensity of 3000 (hazards ratio 7.8, P < 0.01) were each significantly associated with an increased risk of rejection, which primarily occurred within the first 18 months.

Conclusions.

Pretransplant DSA class and DSA kinetics after transplantation are useful prognostic indicators in patients with weak DSA reactivity. These results identify a small, high-risk patient group that warrants aggressive posttransplant DSA monitoring and may benefit from alternative donor selection.
Using social network analysis of mixed-species groups in African savannah herbivores to assess how community structure responds to environmental change
Authors: Meise Kristine , Franks Daniel W. , Bro-Jørgensen Jakob
Published: July 2019

The dynamics of wildlife populations often depend heavily on interspecific interactions and understanding the underlying principles can be an important step in designing conservation strategies. Behavioural ecological studies can here provide useful insights into the structure and function of communities and their likely response to environmental changes. In this study of the Masai Mara herbivore community, we use a social network approach to investigate social affinities between species and how these change over the year in response to seasonal changes in ecological conditions. We find that even though social networks were correlated across different ecological conditions, for half the species dyads in the community, the strength of social affinities responded to changes in rainfall and/or the presence of migratory wildebeest. Several species consequentially adopted more or less central positions in the network depending on the ecological conditions. The findings point out interspecific social links that are likely to be attenuated or strengthened as a consequence of human-induced environmental changes and therefore call for particular attention from conservation managers. The eco-evolutionary ramifications of the perturbations of social affinities still require further study.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation’.
Towards a predictive conservation biology: the devil is in the behaviour
Authors: Sæther Bernt-Erik , Engen Steinar
Published: July 2019

One of the most important challenges in conservation biology is to predict the viability of populations of vulnerable and threatened species. This requires that the demographic stochasticity strongly affecting the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of especially small populations is correctly estimated and modelled. Here, we summarize theoretical evidence showing that the demographic variance in population dynamics is a key parameter determining the probability of extinction and also is directly linked to the magnitude of the genetic drift in the population. The demographic variance is dependent on the mating system, being larger in a polygynous than in monogamous populations. Understanding factors affecting intersexual differences in mating success is therefore essential in explaining variation in the demographic variance. We hypothesize that the strength of sexual selection, for example, quantified by the Bateman gradient, may be a useful predictor of the magnitude of the demographic stochasticity and hence the genetic drift in the population. We provide results from a field study of moose that support this claim. Thus, including central principles from behavioural ecology may increase the reliability of population viability analyses through an improvement of our understanding of factors affecting stochastic influences on population dynamics and evolutionary processes.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation’.
Molecular and genetic regulation of pig pancreatic islet cell development
Authors: Kim Seokho , Whitener Robert L. , Peiris Heshan , Gu Xueying , Chang Charles A. , Lam Jonathan Y. , Camunas-Soler Joan , Park Insung , Bevacqua Romina J. , Tellez Krissie , Quake Stephen R. , Lakey Jonathan R. T. , Bottino Rita , Ross Pablo J. , Kim Seung K.
Published: July 2019

Reliance on rodents for understanding pancreatic genetics, development and islet function could limit progress in developing interventions for human diseases like diabetes mellitus. Similarities of pancreas morphology and function suggest that porcine and human pancreas developmental biology may have useful homologies. However, little is known about pig pancreas development. To fill this knowledge gap, we investigated fetal and neonatal pig pancreas at multiple, crucial developmental stages using modern experimental approaches. Purification of islet β-, α- and δ-cells followed by transcriptome analysis (RNA-Seq) and immunohistology identified cell- and stage-specific regulation, and revealed that pig and human islet cells share characteristic features not observed in mice. Morphometric analysis also revealed endocrine cell allocation and architectural similarities between pig and human islets. Our analysis unveiled scores of signaling pathways linked to native islet β-cell functional maturation, including evidence of fetal α-cell GLP-1 production and signaling to β-cells. Thus, the findings and resources detailed here show how pig pancreatic islet studies complement other systems for understanding the developmental programs that generate functional islet cells, and that are relevant to human pancreatic diseases.

Summary Statement

This study reveals transcriptional, signaling and cellular programs governing pig pancreatic islet development, including striking similarities to human islet ontogeny, providing a novel resource for advancing human islet replacement strategies.
Phase variation inMycobacterium tuberculosis glpKproduces transiently heritable drug tolerance
Authors: Safi Hassan , Gopal Pooja , Lingaraju Subramanya , Ma Shuyi , Levine Carly , Dartois Veronique , Yee Michelle , Li Liping , Blanc Landry , Liang Hsin-Pin Ho , Husain Seema , Hoque Mainul , Soteropoulos Patricia , Rustad Tige , Sherman David R. , Dick Thomas , Alland David
Published: July 2019

The length and complexity of tuberculosis (TB) therapy, as well as the propensity ofMycobacterium tuberculosisto develop drug resistance, are major barriers to global TB control efforts.M. tuberculosisis known to have the ability to enter into a drug-tolerant state, which may explain many of these impediments to TB treatment. We have identified a novel mechanism of genetically encoded but rapidly reversible drug-tolerance inM. tuberculosiscaused by transient frameshift mutations in a homopolymeric tract (HT) of seven cytosines (7C) in theglpKgene. Inactivating frameshift mutations associated with the 7C HT inglpKproduce small colonies that exhibit heritable multi-drug increases in minimal inhibitory concentrations and decreases in drug-dependent killing; however, reversion back to a fully drug-susceptible large-colony phenotype occurs rapidly through the introduction of additional insertions or deletions in the sameglpKHT region. These reversible frameshift mutations in the 7C HT ofM. tuberculosis glpKoccur in clinical isolates, accumulate inM. tuberculosisinfected mice with further accumulation during drug treatment, and exhibit a reversible transcriptional profile including induction ofdosRandsigHand repression ofkstRregulons, similar to that observed in otherin vitromodels ofM. tuberculosistolerance. These results suggest that GlpK phase variation may contribute to drug-tolerance, treatment failure and relapse in human TB. Drugs effective against phase-variantM. tuberculosismay hasten TB treatment and improve cure rates.

SIGNIFICANCE

The ability ofM. tuberculosisto survive during prolonged treatment has been attributed to either transient stress responses or fixed heritable drug-resistance producing mutations. We show that phase-variation in theM. tuberculosis glpKgene represents a third type of resistance mechanism. The ability of theseglpKmutants to grow slowly and then rapidly revert suggests that these transiently-heritable changes may also explain how a hidden population of drug-tolerant bacteria develops during TB treatment. As a genetically trackable cause of drug-tolerance,M. tuberculosis glpKmutants provides a unique opportunity to study these phenomena at a cellular and mechanistic level. These mutants could also be used for developing drugs that target tolerant populations, leading to more rapid and effective TB treatments.
fMRI reveals language-specific predictive coding during naturalistic sentence comprehension
Authors: Shain Cory , Blank Idan Asher , van Schijndel Marten , Schuler William , Fedorenko Evelina
Published: July 2019

Much research in cognitive neuroscience supports prediction as a canonical computation of cognition across domains. Is such predictive coding implemented by feedback from higher-order domain-general circuits, or is it locally implemented in domain-specific circuits? What information sources are used to generate these predictions? This study addresses these two questions in the context of language processing. We present fMRI evidence from a naturalistic comprehension paradigm (1) that predictive coding in the brain’s response to language is domain-specific, and (2) that these predictions are sensitive both to local word co-occurrence patterns and to hierarchical structure. Using a recently developed continuous-time deconvolutional regression technique that supports data-driven hemodynamic response function discovery from continuous BOLD signal fluctuations in response to naturalistic stimuli, we found effects of prediction measures in the language network but not in the domain-general multiple-demand network, which supports executive control processes and has been previously implicated in language comprehension. Moreover, within the language network, surface-level and structural prediction effects were separable. The predictability effects in the language network were substantial, with the model capturing over 37% of explainable variance on held-out data. These findings indicate that human sentence processing mechanisms generate predictions about upcoming words using cognitive processes that are sensitive to hierarchical structure and specialized for language processing, rather than via feedback from high-level executive control mechanisms.
Willingness to participate and pay for index-based crop insurance in Ghana
Authors: Adjabui Joseph A. , Tozer Peter R. , Gray David I.
Published: July 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess farmers’ willingness to participate and pay for weather-based index insurance in the Upper East Region of Ghana, and what factors influence the participation and purchase of crop insurance schemes.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of 200 farmers in the region was carried out in 2018 to measure demographic information, farm characteristics, risks and risk-management practices and attitudes to crop insurance programs. The survey also captured maximum willingness to pay (WTP) for crop insurance. The double-bounded contingent valuation technique was used to estimate the WTP for crop insurance and the variables that affected WTP.

Findings

Farmers, in general, had an indifferent attitude to crop insurance in the region, but were willing to participate in the crop insurance programme, and were willing to pay between 7.5 and 12.5 per cent of the cost of growing maize as a premium for crop insurance. Demographic and economic variables did not impact WTP, but attitude towards crop insurance, farm diversification and frequency of drought negatively impacted on the WTP for crop insurance.

Practical implications

Education programs could be undertaken to improve the attitude and understanding towards crop insurance, as some farmers perceived the programme as not trustworthy, and others did not truly understand the operation of the programme.

Social implications

Drought can have a significant impact on household welfare, particularly in food insecure countries or regions. Crop insurance can provide a method of securing income for farmers allowing them to purchase food rather than other choices, such as removing children from education to reduce household expenses, improving the long-term welfare of the farm household.

Originality/value

This paper considers willingness to participate and WTP for a crop insurance programme in Ghana, it is one of a small number of papers that consider attitude to, and willingness to participate and WTP for crop insurance in developing countries. The value of the research is the expanded understanding of farmer attitude to crop insurance and their lack of knowledge of crop insurance operations.
The impact of monetary rewards for online reviews
Authors: Duan Yongrui , Chen Chen , Huo Jiazhen
Published: July 2019

Purpose

To encourage buyers to contribute product reviews, some online sellers offer monetary rewards. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of monetary rewards on buyers’ purchase decisions and review contributions, as well as the impact on the seller’s price decisions and profit.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors consider an online seller in a two-stage setting. Prior to Stage 1, the profit-maximizing seller sets the price and decides whether to offer a monetary reward secretly to motivate online reviews. Then, a continuum of buyers arrives and makes purchase decisions at the beginning of each stage. First-stage buyers may contribute reviews if they are satisfied, which will affect demand in the second stage. Using this analytical framework, the authors analyze the impact of monetary rewards.

Findings

If the monetary reward is small, it decreases the seller’s profit and fails to generate more reviews. It also increases price, leading to a decline in total demand. Thus, when the reward is lower than a certain threshold, all buyers are worse off. Only when the reward exceeds the threshold are buyers who contribute reviews better off. Profit and total demand both increase in review quality, while the price may either increase or decrease in it.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to analyze theoretically the impact of monetary rewards on buyers’ purchase decisions, review contributions and on online sellers’ decisions.
Work–home conflict, antecedents and outcomes: a life-stage perspective among working parents
Authors: Kulik Liat
Published: July 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine differences in work interferes with family (WIF) and family interferes with work (FIW) conflicts, their antecedents and their outcomes throughout the parenting life cycle. The following parenting stages were compared: parenthood to preschool-age children, parenthood to school-age children, parenthood to adolescents, parenthood to offspring at the launching stage and parenthood to offspring at the empty-nest stage.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample included 549 working parents in Israel (270 fathers and 279 mothers). The criterion for inclusion was fulfilling the dual roles of parent and paid worker. The research questionnaires were distributed in workplaces in diverse organizations: high-tech companies, government ministries, factories and business organizations.

Findings

Levels of WIF and FIW conflicts are highest during the early parenthood stages. Overload peaks during parenthood to adolescents and during the empty-nest stage. The later stages in the parenting life cycle (the launching and empty-nest stages) benefit parents: WIF and FIW conflicts are relatively low, mental well-being is relatively high and the number of roles that parents perform is higher than in earlier stages. Along the entire parenting life cycle, fathers experience higher levels of WIF conflict than mothers, but no gender differences were found in FIW conflict.

Practical implications

Public policy should encourage employers to develop a family-friendly approach and consider the needs of both parents, based on the understanding that in addition to being breadwinners, fathers and mothers today both participate in housework and in raising children.

Originality/value

From a theoretical perspective, the research conclusions may provide understandings for how to integrate the parental stage as a key variable in theorizing about the experience of stressors in the work–home interface.
Accuracy analysis of different higher-order Laplacian models of incompressible SPH method
Authors: Heydari Zohreh , Shobeyri Gholamreza , Ghoreishi Najafabadi Seyed Hossein
Published: July 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the accuracy of several higher-order incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (ISPH) Laplacian models and compared with the classic model (Shao and Lo, 2003).

Design/methodology/approach

The numerical errors in solving two-dimensional elliptic partial differential equations using the Laplacian models are investigated for regular and highly irregular node distributions over a unit square computational domain.

Findings

The numerical results show that one of the Laplacian models, which is newly developed by one of the authors (Shobeyri, 2019) can get the smallest errors for various used node distributions.

Originality/value

The newly proposed model is formulated by the hybrid of the standard ISPH Laplacian model combined with Taylor expansion and moving least squares method. The superiority of the proposed model is significant when multi-resolution irregular node distributions commonly seen in adaptive refinement strategies used to save computational cost are applied.
A direct topological reanalysis algorithm based on updating matrix triangular factorization
Authors: Yang Ren , Song Qi , Chen Pu
Published: July 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish and implement a direct topological reanalysis algorithm for general successive structural modifications, based on the updating matrix triangular factorization (UMTF) method for non-topological modification proposed by Song et al. [Computers and Structures, 143(2014):60-72].

Design/methodology/approach

In this method, topological modifications are viewed as a union of symbolic and numerical change of structural matrices. The numerical part is dealt with UMTF by directly updating the matrix triangular factors. For symbolic change, an integral structure which consists of all potential nodes/elements is introduced to avoid side effects on the efficiency during successive modifications. Necessary pre- and post processing are also developed for memory-economic matrix manipulation.

Findings

The new reanalysis algorithm is applicable to successive general structural modifications for arbitrary modification amplitudes and locations. It explicitly updates the factor matrices of the modified structure and thus guarantees the accuracy as full direct analysis while greatly enhancing the efficiency.

Practical implications

Examples including evolutionary structural optimization and sequential construction analysis show the capability and efficiency of the algorithm.

Originality/value

This innovative paper makes direct topological reanalysis be applicable for successive structural modifications in many different areas.
Effect of magnetic field and nanoparticle shape on jet impingement over stationary and vibrating plates
Authors: Nimmagadda Rajesh , Lazarus Godson Asirvatham , Wongwises Somchai
Published: July 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to numerically investigate the effect of jet impingement, magnetic field and nanoparticle shape (sphericity) on the hydrodynamic/heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids over stationary and vibrating plates.

Design/methodology/approach

A two-dimensional finite volume method-based homogeneous heat transfer model has been developed, validated and used in the present investigation. Three different shapes of non-spherical carbon nanoparticles namely nanotubes, nanorods and nanosheets are used in the analysis. Sphericity-based effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids with Brownian motion of nanoparticles is considered in the investigation. Moreover, the ranges of various comprehensive parameters used in the study are Re = 500 to 900, St = 0.0694 to 0.2083 and Ha = 0 to 80.

Findings

The hydrodynamic/heat transfer performance of jet impingement in the case of vibrating plate is 298 per cent higher than that of stationary plate at Re = 500. However, for the case of vibrating plate, a reduction in the heat transfer performance of 23.35 per cent is observed by increasing the jet Reynolds number from 500 to 900. In the case of vibrating plate, the saturation point for Strouhal number is found to be 0.0833 at Re = 900 and Ha = 0. Further decrement in St beyond this limit leads to a drastic reduction in the performance. Moreover, no recirculation in the flow is observed near the stagnation point for jet impingement over vibrating plate. It is also observed that the effect of magnetic field enhances the performance of jet impingement over a stationary plate by 36.18 per cent at Ha = 80 and Re = 900. Whereas, opposite trend is observed for the case of vibrating plate. Furthermore, at Re = 500, the percentage enhancement in the Nuavg values of 3 Vol.% carbon nanofluid with nanosheets, nanorods and nanotubes are found to be 47.53, 26.86 and 26.85 per cent when compared with the value obtained for pure water.

Practical implications

The present results will be useful in choosing nanosheets-based nanofluid as the efficient heat transfer medium in cooling of high power electronic devices. Moreover, the obtained saturation point in the Strouhal number of the vibrating plate will help in cooling of turbine blades, as well as paper and textile drying. Moreover, the developed homogeneous heat transfer model can also be used to study different micro-convection phenomena in nanofluids by considering them as source terms in the momentum equation.

Originality/value

Impingement of jet over two different plate types such as stationary and vibrating is completely analyzed with the use of a validated in-house FVM code. A complete investigation on the influence of external magnetic field on the performance of plate type configuration is evaluated. The three fundamental shapes of carbon nanoparticles are also evaluated to obtain sphericity based hydrodynamic/heat transfer performance of jet impingement.
A multi-factor methodology for evaluation and optimization of plate-fin recuperators for micro gas turbine applications considering payback period as universal objective function
Authors: Maghsoudi Peyman , Sadeghi Sadegh , Xiong Qingang , Aminossadati Saiied Mostafa
Published: July 2019

Purpose

Because of the appreciable application of heat recovery systems for the increment of overall efficiency of micro gas turbines, promising evaluation and optimization are crucial. This paper aims to propose a multi-factor theoretical methodology for analysis, optimization and comparison of potential plate-fin recuperators incorporated into micro gas turbines. Energetic, exergetic, economic and environmental factors are covered.

Design/methodology/approach

To demonstrate applicability and reliability of the methodology, detailed thermo-hydraulic analysis, sensitivity analysis and optimization are conducted on the recuperators with louver and offset-strip fins using a genetic algorithm. To assess the relationship between investment cost and profit for the recuperated systems, payback period (PBP), which incorporates all the factors is used as the universal objective function. To compare the performance of the recuperated and non-recuperated systems, exergy efficiency, exergy destruction and corresponding cost rate, fuel consumption and environmental damage cost rates, capital and operational cost rates and acquired profit rates are determined.

Findings

Based on the results, optimal PBP of the louvered-fin recuperator (147 days) is slightly lower than that with offset-strip fins (153 days). The highest profit rate is acquired by reduction of exergy destruction cost rate and corresponding decrements for louver and offset-strip fins are 2.3 and 3.9 times compared to simple cycle, respectively.

Originality/value

This mathematical study, for the first time, focuses on introducing a reliable methodology, which covers energetic, exergetic, economic and environmental points of view beneficial for design and selection of efficient plate-fin recuperators for micro gas turbine applications.
Understanding the determinants of guests’ behaviour to use green P2P accommodation
Authors: Agag Gomaa
Published: July 2019

Purpose

This study aims to develop and empirically test a comprehensive framework in which to understand the determinants of guests’ behavior to use green peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation in the UK P2P context by emerging the theory of planed behavior, environmental commitment theory and the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory into one model.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a quantitative approach, the present study proposes an integrated model integrating theory of planed behavior, environmental commitment theory and the VBN theory and subsequently tests the model using structural equation modeling data analysis. Data collected from 721 respondents were analyzed through (AMOS) to test the proposed model.

Findings

The results indicate that our integrated framework demonstrates a favorable level of prediction power for guests’ behavior, which verified the superiority of the suggested framework. Furthermore, the findings verified the moderating impact of guest attributes on guests decision regarding the booking process.

Practical implications

This study contributes to the existing theory and practice by offering important insights about determinants of guests’ behavior to use green P2P accommodation in the UK P2P context.

Originality/value

This research was the first to explore the determinants of guests’ behavior to use green P2P accommodation in the UK P2P context.
Psychological distress constructs in police with different roles
Authors: Sheard Isobel , Burnett Melissa Ellen , St Clair-Thompson Helen
Published: July 2019

Purpose

Police personnel report relatively high rates of mental health difficulties, and are at an increased risk of experiencing stress, burnout, secondary traumatic stress and anxiety as a result of the nature of their work and may also experience low compassion satisfaction. However, it is likely that the prevalence of psychological distress varies across roles. The purpose of this paper is to explore psychological distress, in a large sample of police personnel, examining differences between individuals in a number of police roles.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire assessing experience of mental health problems, perceived stress, compassion fatigue (burnout and secondary traumatic stress), compassion satisfaction and anxiety was administered to 602 police personnel, who were classified into one of ten roles (24/7 officers, communications, firearms, crime, resolution without deployment, neighbourhood, custody, safeguarding, operations and other roles). Differences based on role and the requirement for shift work were then examined.

Findings

24/7 officers had higher compassion fatigue and lower compassion satisfaction than individuals in a number of other roles. Firearms officers had lower levels of perceived stress and anxiety. Resolution without deployment officers reported higher secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue. The findings also revealed that respondents who partake in shift work showed higher levels of perceived stress.

Originality/value

This is the first study to the authors’ knowledge to investigate experience of mental health problems and reports of psychological distress in different roles within a UK police force. The findings have important implications, for example, in terms of identifying groups who may be particularly at risk from psychological distress.
Complexity and leadership: the case of a military organization
Authors: Surace Alberto
Published: July 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to adopt the complexity theory (CT) as a frame of reference to analyze leadership action within a military organization. Through the CT framework, it considers a military organization as a complex adaptive system (CAS), which evolves and adapts to the environment to survive, similarly to a living organism. This case study identifies complex dynamics, which are proper to CAS and it proposes avenues to harness them to increase organizational performance. Ultimately, this paper provides insights on how a CT framework may be used in describing and understanding an effective leadership action and grant it with mechanisms to measure its effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper rests on a single case study, which examines a leadership action in a military organization. Capitalizing on privileged access to top managers of an Air Force’s Major Command, the author carried out tailored surveys aimed at identifying organizational leadership effectiveness.

Findings

Based on these data, the study provides qualitative evidence that suggests a relevant relationship between CT-based leadership action and organizational effectiveness.

Originality/value

The CT-based leadership approach challenges the paradigm of ordered, hierarchical organizational design by proposing a more flexible, networked approach in relation to organizational effectiveness. The complexity-based approach to leadership proposed in this paper suggests an adaptive leadership model that better corresponds to complex human organizations, and helps leaders identify more effective management solutions.
Determinants of information disclosure by Spanish state-owned enterprises in accordance with legal requirements
Authors: Andrades Javier , Martinez-Martinez Domingo , Larrán Manuel , Herrera Jesus
Published: July 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how different variables can affect the amount of information reported by Spanish enterprises owned by the central state as well as by local and regional governments, all categorized as state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Design/methodology/approach

Using, as a reference, the obligations of information disclosure contained in the Spanish Law 19/2013 on Transparency and Good Governance, the authors performed a web-content analysis of web pages of all Spanish SOEs and the authors examined a sample of Spanish enterprises owned by regional and local governments.

Findings

The results show that the amount of information reported by Spanish SOEs is quite reduced and limited. Among the variables examined, the most influential ones for explaining the amount of information reported are the nature of public ownership and the institutional size.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature by exploring the potential determinants of the online disclosure of mandatory information reported by enterprises whose ownership is shared by private and public organizations. Thus, this research could help public managers make decisions and improve public confidence.
Fretting wear of the nitrided medium carbon steel under line contact condition at an elevated temperature
Authors: Wang Guanghong , He Guangwei , Qu Shengguan , Li Hao , Zhou Mushun , Zhang Husheng
Published: July 2019

Purpose

Fretting wear exists widely in the field of matching mechanical parts whereas previous research studies mostly focus on the point contact through a ball-plate tribometer. This paper aims to study the influence of wear debris on the fretting wear characteristics of the nitrided medium carbon steel under line contact condition at elevated temperature.

Design/methodology/approach

Fretting wear behavior of the nitrided medium carbon steel was experimentally investigated under line contact condition at elevated temperature and different normal loads without lubrication. Wear loss, worn surface and wear debris were studied to analyze the wear mechanism of nitrided steel.

Findings

The results showed that surface hardness of the medium carbon steel was notably improved because of the generation of a 230 µm nitrided case. Wear loss increased with the normal load, which was associated with the damage of a thin solid film formed by the wear debris, consisting of iron oxides and chromium oxide rather than only iron or iron oxides. The wear debris became partially amorphous and spherical because it was trapped within the contact interface and was ground, rolled, oxidized under line contact conditions. The spherical wear debris acted as a third body and formed a lubricating film between the contact faces. This lubricating film helped to stabilize the friction coefficient and reduced the wear rate, which further caused the acceleration of wear volume to gradually decrease. The wear mechanisms of the nitrided steel were oxidation wear, abrasive wear and fatigue spalling of the oxide layer.

Originality/value

The findings are helpful to understand the fretting wear behavior of the friction pair under line contact and enrich the fretting tribology theory.
Scottish citizens’ perceptions of the credibility of online political “facts” in the “fake news” era
Authors: Baxter Graeme , Marcella Rita , Walicka Agnieszka
Published: July 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study that explored public perceptions of the credibility of “facts and figures” contained within five social media posts produced by political parties in Scotland.

Design/methodology/approach

The study consisted of an online survey conducted in Spring 2017 (n=538). Respondents were asked to gauge the reliability of “facts” contained within the posts, to provide reasons for their answers, and to indicate how they might go about confirming or debunking the figures.

Findings

Less than half the sample believed the posts’ content would be reliable. Credibility perceptions were influenced by various factors, including: a lack of cited sources; concerns about bias or spin; a lack of detail, definitions or contextual information; personal political allegiance and trust; negative campaign techniques; personal experience of policy issues; and more intuitive judgements. Only small numbers admitted that they would not know how to find out more about the issues or would be disinclined to look further. The majority appeared confident in their own abilities to find further information, yet were vague in describing their search strategies.

Originality/value

Relatively little empirical research has been conducted exploring the perceived credibility of political or government information online. It is believed that this is the first such study to have specifically investigated the Scottish political arena.
Sport entrepreneurship and public policy: future trends and research developments
Authors: Ratten Vanessa
Published: July 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to overcome the traditional general approach to sport policy by taking an entrepreneurial perspective. This helps link the fragmented literatures of entrepreneurship, public policy and sport entrepreneurship in order to develop a new perspective of sport entrepreneurship and public policy.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review is conducted that highlights the need for public policy to focus on entrepreneurship in sports contexts.

Findings

In the past, sport policy focused more on governance and political elements but these can be embedded into a policy entrepreneurship perspective regarding sport. This helps to redefine and bridge the literature on sport entrepreneurship and public policy.

Originality/value

Most sport policy research has tended to take a more organizational behavior or political science approach. Thus, this paper takes a new perspective by incorporating the nascent sport entrepreneurship literature into public policy debates. This is helpful to public policy planners but also sports managers who need to work together to build better policy initiatives.
Is all that glitters gold? A look at Fortune magazine’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies
Authors: Garcia Anthony Thomas , Loviscek Anthony , Xie Kangzhen
Published: July 2019

Purpose

Does Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 Fastest-Growing Companies have information content; that is, is the list a source for market-beating performance? The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data for 26 annual periods, 1991–2016, the paper examines the top 5, 10, 25, 50 and all 100 stocks on a return-risk basis, including an application of Modern Portfolio Theory. To generate portfolio performance metrics, the study uses conventional mean-variance analysis, which includes the estimation of returns and risks, where risk will be measured by standard deviation and β. To arrive at the performance metrics and to determine whether information content is embedded in the list, the study reviews a series of tests. Because Fortune ranks the companies from 1 to 100, the data can be used to test if information content is displayed in sub-groups, such as in the first five to ten companies, even if it does not exist in the 100-stock portfolios.

Findings

The study finds that the returns are not high enough nor are the risks low enough statistically to conclude the existence of significant information content.

Research limitations/implications

As part of the authors’ efforts to move to the population of 2,600 firms as closely as possible, the authors use “delisting” returns from CRSP on 120 firms to account for missing observations, with a final sample size of 2,594 firms.

Practical implications

The evidence indicates that investors drawn to Fortune’s “100 Fastest-Growing Companies” should view them skeptically as a source for an effective stock selection strategy.

Originality/value

On the basis of the results of this study, readers will conclude that subscribers drawn to Fortune’s “100 Fastest-Growing Companies” should view them skeptically for investment recommendations. From a portfolio perspective, the study is unable to uncover information content that could lead to a market-beating performance, suggesting that the published criteria Fortune uses to select the Fastest-Growing Companies is embedded in the prices of the stocks even before Fortune publishes its list. The study notes that the selection criteria used by Fortune do involve some judgments on the part of the editorial staff (e.g. whether an announced restatement of previously reported financial data appears to have a significant impact), which means that someone who wished to anticipate the publication of the next list of the “Fastest-Growing Companies” would not only have to gather information but would also have to correctly anticipate these judgment calls.
Circulating miR‐146a, miR‐34a and miR‐375 in type 2 diabetes patients, pre‐diabetic and normal‐glycaemic individuals in relation to β‐cell function, insulin resistance and metabolic parameters
Authors: García‐Jacobo Rocío E. , Uresti‐Rivera Edith E. , Portales‐Pérez Diana P. , González‐Amaro Roberto , Lara‐Ramírez Edgar E. , Enciso‐Moreno José A. , García‐Hernández Mariana H.
Published: July 2019

The pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with a progressive loss of pancreatic β‐cell mass. It is known that miR‐146a, miR‐34a, and miR‐375 are involved in β‐cell functionality. In this work, we evaluated the levels of these miRNAs in normal‐glycaemic individuals, pre‐diabetic, and T2D patients in relation to β‐cell functionality, insulin resistance, and metabolic parameters. The relative expression of the miRNAs was evaluated in serum samples by real‐time polymerase chain reaction. In a principal component analysis, we observed that T2D patients and pre‐diabetic individuals were not associated with β‐cell functionality. However, in a correlation matrix analysis, we detected that miR‐34a was related to miR‐146a and insulin resistance. The relative expression of miR‐375 was correlated with cholesterol and low‐density lipoprotein levels. A decrease of β‐cell function in pre‐diabetic individuals and T2D patients was observed. The insulin resistance was higher in pre‐diabetic individuals and T2D patients. The relative expression of miR‐146a in pre‐diabetic individuals, T2D patients with insulin treatment, and T2D patients with nephropathy and diabetic foot was decreased. In addition, miR‐34a was increased in T2D patients who were overweight and obese. The relative expression of miR‐375 was increased in T2D patients with poor glycaemic control, while a decrease was seen in T2D patients with nephropathy and diabetic foot. Circulating miR‐375, miR‐34a, and miR‐146a were not associated with β‐cell functionality, but their expression was differentially affected by glycaemia, obesity, insulin treatment, and the presence of nephropathy and diabetic foot.
A systematic review on outcome reporting in randomised controlled trials on surgical interventions for female stress urinary incontinence: a call to develop a core outcome set
Authors: Doumouchtsis SK , Pookarnjanamorakot P , Durnea C , Zini M , Elfituri A , Haddad JM , Falconi G , Betschart C , Pergialiotis V ,   CHORUS, An International Collaboration for Harmonising Outcomes, Research, and Standards in Urogynaecology and Women's Health (i‐chorus.org)
Published: July 2019

Background

Several meta‐analyses have identified methodological limitations in female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) trials, precluding the synthesis of primary studies and high‐quality evidence.

Objectives

Evaluation of outcome measure selection and outcome reporting in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) on surgery for SUI.

Search strategy

Systematic review of RCTs identified from bibliographical databases, including Medline, Cochrane, and EMBASE.

Selection criteria

Randomised controlled trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of surgical interventions for the management of female SUI.

Data collection and analysis

Two researchers independently assessed the included studies and documented outcomes.

Main results

Overall, 108 studies were identified that included 422 reported outcomes and 119 outcome measures. The three most common outcomes were cure rates (87 studies), quality of life (85 studies), and overactive bladder (78 studies). The median methodological quality rating was 3 (range 0–3) and the outcome reporting quality rating was 3 (range 0–5). Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that the methodological quality and use of validated questionnaire were significant predictors of the quality of outcome reporting (β = 0.538, P < 0.001; β = 0.218, P = 0.011, respectively).

Conclusions

Outcome reporting in SUI trials is highly variable. Until a core outcome set is developed and implemented, we propose an interim use of three commonly reported outcomes in each domain (treatment success rate – complete cure, partial improvement, or failure of response; urodynamic evaluation outcomes – overactive bladder (OAB), voiding dysfunction, and urodynamic stress incontinence; patient‐reported outcomes – quality of life, sexual dysfunction, and patient satisfaction) with the use of validated questionnaires for patient‐reported outcomes and subjective success rates. Complications should be also explicitly and comprehensively reported using validated outcome measures.

Tweetable abstract

There is significant variation in outcome reporting in SUI trials. Our systematic review findings aim to form the basis for the development of a core outcome set.