bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Growth management of eHealth service start-ups
Authors: Saarela Martti , Simunaniemi Anna-Mari , Muhos Matti , Leviäkangas Pekka
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the early development of eHealth service start-ups. To elaborate the research problem, the study addresses the following research questions: How do managerial experiences in eHealth service start-ups relate to the central findings of the recent empirically based stages-of-growth literature? What context-specific viewpoints should be considered when using the stage framework in relation to eHealth service start-ups?

Design/methodology/approach

In this explorative multiple case study, the authors test a growth framework describing the early stages of eHealth service firms through eight case studies. The authors utilise the critical incident technique and semi-structured interviews in the data collection.

Findings

When taking into account the key contradictions assessed in the study as well as context-specific features of eHealth businesses, the empirically based stage framework seems to be a useful starting point for reflecting on and predicting the challenges faced during the early development of eHealth service start-ups. Slow growth due to several factors and the essential role of the public sector were commonly emphasised elements of the context-specific viewpoints of the eHealth service business.

Practical implications

The results may be used in start-ups and intermediary organisations as a framework for predicting managerial challenges during the start-up stage of an eHealth service business.

Originality/value

Numerous universal models and frameworks have attempted to clarify management priorities during the early stages of business. However, context-specific viewpoints and their effects on start-ups have not been broadly studied. This study provides new insights into growth management in the eHealth context.
Innovation diffusion modeling considering the time lag between awareness and eventual adoption
Authors: Anand Adarsh , Agarwal Mohini , Aggrawal Deepti , Singh Ompal
Published: December 2017

Purpose

Today, a firm’s major concern is to know the way in which an innovation is adopted in the marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the two-stage nature of diffusion process in which the time lag between people being informed and their act of making final purchase is considered.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper discusses an approach based on the time lag for modeling awareness and adoption process as two separate and yet connected processes. Varying forms of time lag (constant, deterministic or random) have been considered while modeling the required framework. Furthermore, an equivalence approach has been shown between the present framework and the two well-known and established approaches of infinite queuing theory and hazard rate function.

Findings

The results are verified on sales data of two different consumer durables and it show good prediction capability of proposed models in capturing the real-life scenario. Further, the equivalence approach helps us to quantify such scenarios which were difficult to be modeled with any one particular approach. Further, the possibility of capturing different market scenarios by studying various distribution functions has been identified.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed methodology is based on a two-stage adoption process. The same can be extended to a multi-stage adoption process as in today’s competitive environment. “Motivation” is one such factor that is highly important which can be considered in some later studies. In future, the authors wish to study the multi-stage adoption process considering the different forms of time lag function.

Practical implications

The equivalence approach discussed in the paper can help to cater the possibility of capturing different market scenarios by studying various distribution functions.

Originality/value

The proposed approach helps to cater the time lag between awareness and adoption process and develop different mean value functions to account for the manner in which sales are happening under different circumstances. The proposed methodical approach can also help decision makers in managing their available resources in a prudent manner.
Change in clinical practice in Australia: impact of participation in MHPN webinars
Authors: Murphy Barbara , Hoppe Kate , Gibbs Chris , Ratnaike Deepika , Lovelock Harry
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The Mental Health Professionals’ Network (MHPN) was established to enhance collaborative care among health professionals working in mental health care in Australia. The MHPN has two primary arms: face-to-face network meetings and online webinars. The purpose of this paper is to investigate practice changes in health professionals who participated in one of MHPN’s live webinars.

Design/methodology/approach

Practice change was assessed by online survey with attendees from three MHPN webinars held in 2016. The survey link was e-mailed to webinar attendees three months after each webinar.

Findings

In total, 585 health professionals participated in the surveys. Four out of five respondents had made at least one practice change, particularly increased confidence in providing mental health care and increased discussions about other disciplines. General practitioners and psychologists were more likely than others to have made practice changes. Nine out of ten respondents rated the webinars as “very good” or “excellent.”

Research limitations/implications

MHPN’s webinar program positively impacts health professionals’ practice and represents an easily accessible and effective professional development opportunity for Australia’s mental health workforce.

Originality/value

The MHPN webinar program is unique in Australia. The MHPN provides opportunities for interdisciplinary professional development in the primary mental health sector. The model is highly cost effective and transferable to other settings and countries.
The political economy of human rights organizations’ codes of ethics
Authors: AlZahir Saif , Donker Han , Nofsinger John
Published: December 2017

Purpose

This paper scrutinizes the impact of socioeconomic, political, legal and religious factors on the internal ethical values of human rights organizations (HROs) worldwide. The authors aim to examine the Code of Ethics for 279 HROs in 67 countries and the social and legal settings in which they operate.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the framework of protect, respect and remedy, the authors look for keywords that represent the human rights lexicon in these three areas. In the protection of human rights, the authors select the terms: peace, transparency, freedom and security. For the respect of humans, the authors use the terms: dignity, equality, respect and rights. Sources of remedies come from justice and ethics. The analysis seeks to determine what political economy settings drive the ethical value choices of the organizations. Those choices are proxied by those keywords they mention in their Code of Ethics.

Findings

The analysis show that the scope of ethical values mentioned are higher when the HRO is in a country with more domestic violence, lower income inequality, French civil or Islamic legal origin and higher trust in politicians. In regard to the determinants of the ten keywords individually, the authors conclude that the status of the socioeconomic, political, religious and legal settings impact with local HROs mention each of the keywords: peace, justice, transparency, dignity, equality, ethics, respect, freedom, security and rights.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis is based on HROs that have a webpage in English and list the employee Code of Conduct.

Originality/value

This study is the first to examine the Code of Ethics for HROs. The authors demonstrate that country-specific characteristics help to drive their internal ethical values.
Engagement of users with e-resources across agricultural libraries of Northern India
Authors: Bhat Nazir Ahmad
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the frequency at which the users of agricultural libraries of Northern India tend to use the e-resources and explore the time they invest on average in a day in using e-resources. An effort has also been made to examine the state wise, university wise and user category wise tendency w.r.t. the frequency at which they use e-resources and the average time in a day they spend on their use.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was adopted to conduct the study and a questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. The investigator also interacted with the librarians through telephone and also resorted to the e-mail communication to substantiate the responses and seek certain clarifications thereof. Statistical Package for Social Science was used to analyse the data on an empirical basis. χ2 test was used to derive an association between the variables and test the level of significance thereof.

Findings

It is found that the users of North Indian agricultural libraries have got a great tendency to use e-resources as majority of them are seen to use them “daily” and “2-3 times a week”. They prove to be voracious, prudent and sensible users in the sense that they spend 2 hrs in a day, 1 hr in a day and even 3 hrs in a day on usage of e-resources and thus go at par with the use pattern recorded in other domains of knowledge across India. No remarkable difference is witnessed among different categories of users w.r.t. frequency of use and the time spend on use of e-resources.

Research limitations/implications

This study has been conducted on e-resources only. Response to a similar set of questions need to be collected from the same library users to consolidate the facts about the print form of information and thus carryout a comparative study.

Originality/value

This is first work of its nature in Northern India with domain as agricultural libraries. The outcome of the study will enable the librarians to judiciously decide about the proportion at which the two formats of information resources need to be acquired and the facilities the libraries need to create for adequate, smooth and reliable access to two formats of information.
Building a timeless audiovisual collection: libraries and archives as repositories of oral history
Authors: Yap Joseph Marmol , Barsaga Agnes Sambalilo
Published: December 2017

Purpose

Oral histories (OHs), as primary sources of information, are used as evidences of the past and inculcate human memory. It is a real testimony of our history. However, OHs are now neglected and somehow unpopular. Strategies must be done to make sure that OH projects should continue to be used as proofs. The purpose of this paper is to go back in time and review the OH in Asia, in the Philippines, and the collection at De La Salle University.

Design/methodology/approach

This study explores the OH collection of the DLSU Archives. Data are extracted from the Sierra library system. Extracted subjects are arranged alphabetically. They are presented and summarized below. Historical data coming from the correspondences kept at the archives are also used to understand how the collection accumulated and how they are being organized, classified, and used by the patrons. Literature reviews are also consulted to learn more about the background of OH in the Philippines.

Findings

A total of 176 subjects are identified. These subjects are selected on the basis of the Library of Congress Classification Scheme which is re-categorized according to the Philippine Standard Industrial Classification to identify which type of industry does each OH belong to. The category on professional, scientific and technical activities had 30 LCC-related subjects or 16.95 percent of the total number of subjects, next is 15.25 percent or 27 LCC-related subjects which comes from the arts, entertainment and recreation, and top three is Public Administration and Defense; Compulsory Security with 10.23 percent.

Research limitations/implications

This paper shares the challenges and experiences of establishing and maintaining OHs.

Practical implications

The paper presents new ways or initiatives to capture OH other than the traditional and usual process.

Social implications

Oral interviews are given proper attention as part of the local history.

Originality/value

There is a scarcity of OH papers written by librarians; therefore, this paper presents the current status of OH in the country.
The economic crisis and public libraries in Greece
Authors: Mouza Anna Maria , Taousanis Athanasios
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of Greece’s economic crisis on public librarians’ obligations.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 43 public library managers completed a questionnaire regarding 116 librarian responsibilities. Managers evaluated these responsibilities considering their importance, difficulty, and frequency. Regarding difficulty, a two-way analysis of variance was applied to examine whether there exists a significant difference among duties’ categories and libraries’ classifications, considering their number of users and materials, and whether the perceived difficulties were connected with the economic crisis.

Findings

The results reveal that public librarians face many difficulties due to workload and increased responsibilities resulting from the lack of qualified personnel both in library and computer science. Difficulties also arise from the inability to meet some operational needs because of reduced funding.

Practical implications

Contrary to these unfavorable conditions, many new opportunities and challenges have emerged, including the implementation of new practices and actions (volunteerism, donations, cooperation with local actors) to effectively cope with the new threats.

Originality/value

This is the first time that job description has been recorded and used to outline the duties of Greece’s public librarians. This is particularly useful to develop libraries’ strategic planning and to assist all human resource practices to increase efficiency, especially during the period of financial crisis. Further specific duties were also proposed to enhance the librarians’ effectiveness under the new working environment, focusing on the required processes for their successful completion.
Communicating value through strategic engagement
Authors: Walter Scott
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore ways in which “library value” may be communicated in a university setting through more effective engagement with strategic planning and a broader array of campus partners.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a case study of an academic library in which alignment with the university mission and strategic plan and alignment of library assessment efforts with the broader culture of assessment at the university have resulted in positive gains for the library in terms of campus engagement and recognition of library value.

Findings

This paper provides insights into successful strategies for improved communication of library value to senior leadership, new investment in library facilities, and enhanced opportunities for collaboration across the university on strategic initiatives including student success, innovation in teaching and scholarship, and community engagement.

Originality/value

This paper provides library leaders with new approaches to engagement with campus partners and senior academic leadership in promoting the library as a strategic resource worthy of investment in the twenty-first century.
What is your contribution to the funder’s strategy?
Authors: Fuehles-Ubach Simone
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the different positions and roles that German research libraries may have in their funding organizations: center or periphery, making a change with respect to the overall strategy or having just a strategy of their own; having strong communication links to the top management or just to their users.

Design/methodology/approach

Since 2008, the Joint Science Conference (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz (GWK)) in Germany deals with all questions of research funding, science and research policy strategies and the science system which jointly affect the Federal Government and the Länder. For the big four German national research societies (Max-Planck, Helmhold, Fraunhofer, Leibnitz), the GWK formulated a set of performance indicators that are used to compare the different societies in a monitoring report published every year. Interestingly, there are several aspects affecting the libraries and their services and products, but the performance of the libraries (approximately 200) is not clearly mentioned.

Findings

An exemplary matrix is developed that can be adapted by all research libraries to show to which extent the research library is able to support and influence the level of different performance indicators and thereby to contribute to the overall goal of the organization. A graduated traffic light system is used to highlight which contributions in which areas can be expected from the research library.

Research limitations/implications

Research libraries are usually quite different from each other and there are not many tools to compare their contributions and to show their performance to the management level. In this paper, a method to show the influence and impact in the German research context is used, which may not be applicable to other countries with other research structures.

Practical implications

The paper identifies the importance of playing an essential role in the fulfillment of the overall strategic goals of the funding organization, especially for research libraries as there are usually special metrics to compare the big scientific research organizations in Germany.

Social implications

It is shown that there are simple ways to derive strategic goals and key figures and translate them into a benchmark and even use existing reports and systems.

Originality/value

The value of research libraries has usually been seen as supporting the research process for the users in the best possible way. As more competition arises between different research institutions or societies, the role of the library with respect to the contribution to the stakeholder’s strategy opens up another perspective.
Unsteady MHD natural convection flow of a rotating viscoelastic fluid over an infinite vertical porous plate due to oscillating free-stream
Authors: Singh Jitendra Kumar , Seth Gauri Shenker , Begum Saikh Ghousia
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical study on an unsteady magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) boundary layer flow of a rotating viscoelastic fluid over an infinite vertical porous plate embedded in a uniform porous medium with oscillating free-stream taking Hall and ion-slip currents into account. The unsteady MHD flow in the rotating fluid system is generated due to the buoyancy forces arising from temperature and concentration differences in the field of gravity and oscillatory movement of the free-stream.

Design/methodology/approach

The resulting partial differential equations governing the fluid motion are solved analytically using the regular perturbation method by assuming a very small viscoelastic parameter. In order to note the influences of various system parameters and to discuss the important flow features, the numerical results for fluid velocity, temperature and species concentration are computed and depicted graphically vs boundary layer parameter whereas skin friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number at the plate are computed and presented in tabular form.

Findings

An interesting observation is recorded that there occurs a reversal flow in the secondary flow direction due to the movement of the free stream. It is also noted that a decrease in the suction parameter gives a rise in momentum, thermal and concentration boundary layer thicknesses.

Originality/value

Very little research work is reported in the literature on non-Newtonian fluid dynamics where unsteady flow in the system arises due to time-dependent movement of the plate. The motive of the present analytical study is to analyse the influences of Hall and ion-slip currents on unsteady MHD natural convection flow of a rotating viscoelastic fluid (non-Newtonian fluid) over an infinite vertical porous plate embedded in a uniform porous medium with oscillating free-stream.
Quickening brand poetics: the lyric alternative
Authors: Wijland Roel , Brown Stephen
Published: December 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to explore brand rhythm in a lyrical analysis. It aims to provide insights into the appropriation of temporal meaning in material, collective and individual contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

The design offers a structured advance in lyrical qualitative research and the complementary third alternative to story and drama as more frequent representational forms in interpretive projects. This project presents an aesthetic performance in the sequential constructs of mimesis, poiesis and kinesis.

Findings

The inquiry confirms the paradoxical evolution of a brand’s temporal aspects and the importance of rhythm perception as a performative act of semantic bootstrapping and evolving brand meaning in general.

Research limitations/implications

This project shows the importance of brand rhythm and pace in a triangulated methodological sequence of poetic perspectives as an advance of the current qualitative poetic state of play in research. It has implications for the strategic style management of brands in general.

Practical implications

This paper proposes the importance of brand rhythm as a differentiating attribute. The project presents a repeatable case study which depicts managers a structured poetic approach to capture the temporal essence of brands.

Social implications

This project is situated in the context of an area that has become to be known as the Timeless Land. The artistic (re-)appropriation of a temporal aspect has had an impact on the development of public attitudes and policy.

Originality/value

This project offers new insights into the temporal aspects of brands and the construct of brand rhythm in particular. It completes Altieri’s three literary approaches in a performative inquiry. The proposition of the lyrical third way in a theoretical framework should facilitate the acceptance and increasing currency of future poetic projects in marketing.
Managerial attitudes towards the incompleteness of performance measurement systems
Authors: Islam Syrus , Adler Ralph , Northcott Deryl
Published: December 2017

Purpose

Performance measurement systems (PMSs) are at the heart of most organisations. The aim of this study is to examine the attitudes of top-level managers towards the incompleteness of PMSs.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on an in-depth field study conducted in an energy and environmental services provider based in New Zealand. The data, which were obtained from 20 semi-structured interviews, were triangulated against on-site observations and company documents.

Findings

The findings suggest that whether the incompleteness of a PMS is considered problematic or non-problematic depends on the role that the PMS plays in implementing a firm’s strategy. The authors show that when the PMS is mainly used to trigger improvement activities on and around strategic objectives and managers perceive adequate improvement activities to exist, then they consider the incompleteness of the PMS in relation to these strategic objectives to be non-problematic.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the nascent literature on managerial attitudes towards the incompleteness of PMSs by identifying conditions under which the incompleteness is considered problematic or non-problematic. The authors also contribute to the literature on the association between design qualities of PMSs and firm performance by suggesting that poor design qualities of a PMS (such as incompleteness) may not always translate into poor firm performance.
Voluntary disclosures and market response to earnings announcements
Authors: Fernando Guy Dinesh , Giboney Justin , Schneible Richard A.
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of voluntary disclosure on information asymmetry between investors and the average information content of subsequent the earnings announcement.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use empirical methodology relying on multiple regression analyses. The authors estimate models of trading volume and stock returns around the earnings’ release date as a function of voluntary disclosures, measured using information in the 8-K statements.

Findings

Voluntary disclosures prior to the earnings release date increase trading volume related to stock returns. In addition, voluntary disclosures also reduce stock price movement around that date.

Research limitations/implications

The results indicate that voluntary disclosures increase trading volume related to stock returns around the earnings release date. Such increases indicate increased differential precision among investors, demonstrating that voluntary disclosures increase differences in opinion among investors. The reduced stock price movement around the earnings release date also show that voluntary disclosures reduce the information content of earnings. One limitation is that the measure of voluntary disclosures does not consider the variation in the information content of individual disclosures.

Practical implications

Firms who make voluntary disclosures will need to carefully consider how to structure such releases to minimize asymmetry between investors. Investors should pay greater attention to finding out, and interpreting, voluntary disclosures by firms.

Social implications

Regulators have previously expressed concern about leveling the playing field between more and less informed investors. The results showing increased differences in information as a result of voluntary disclosures provide valuable insights as regulators debate the balance of mandated and voluntary disclosure.

Originality/value

This is the first study to investigate the effect of voluntary disclosures on information asymmetry among investors using trading volume and, consequently, the first to find increased differences among investors that result from those voluntary disclosures. The paper is also the first to use a direct measure of voluntary disclosure developed by Cooper et al. to demonstrate the negative relation between voluntary disclosure and the average informativeness of earnings announcements.
R&D investment decisions of IPO firms and long-term future performance
Authors: Fedyk Tatiana , Khimich Natalya
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to link valuation of different accounting items to research and development (R&D) investment decisions and investigate how suboptimal R&D choices during initial public offering (IPO) are linked to future operating and market underperformance.

Design/methodology/approach

For firms with substantial growth opportunities, accounting net income is a poor measure of the firm’s performance (Smith and Watts, 1992). Therefore, other metrics such as R&D intensity are used by investors to evaluate firms’ performance. This leads to a coexistence of two strategies: if earnings are the main value driver, firms tend to underinvest in R&D; and if R&D expenditures are the main value driver, firms tend to overinvest in R&D.

Findings

The authors show that the R&D investment decision varies systematically with cross-sectional characteristics: firms that are at the growth stage, unprofitable or belong to science-driven industries are more likely to overinvest, while firms that are able to avoid losses by decreasing R&D expenditure are more likely to underinvest. Finally, they find that R&D overinvestment leads to future underperformance as evidenced by poor operating return on assets, lower product market share, higher frequency of delisting due to poor performance and negative abnormal stock returns.

Originality/value

While prior literature concentrates on R&D underinvestment as a tool of reporting higher net income, the authors demonstrate the existence of an alternative strategy used by many IPO firms – R&D overinvestment.
Modeling and analysis of the disturbance about an active vibration isolation system
Authors: Qian Junbing , Bao Liping , Ji Chuankun
Published: December 2017

Purpose

Precision active vibration isolation system (AVIS) is crucial for the mechanical processing equipment in the field of precision manufacturing. Working reliability and efficiency of the system directly influence operating condition of the equipment and the quality of work pieces.

Design/methodology/approach

A complete structure of the AVIS includes two parts: the excitation part and the passive vibration isolation system (PVIS). The excitation part consists of voice coil motors (VCMs). In this paper, the working process of AVIS is studied particularly via linear simplification on the decoupling model and the mechanical dynamic equations to solve the vibration problem, and they are validated by the experiments.

Findings

According to dynamic analysis and experiment on an AVIS on different reference points, the VCMs are used as actuators in the AVIS to excite the PVIS, and the performance characteristics of the whole AVIS is well reflected by the amplitude–frequency curves, the bode diagrams and the power spectral density curves.

Originality/value

This study has provided a way for obtaining the inner structure and working condition of the AVIS, which are essential to better control of the AVIS and to further study it in precision manufacturing application.
GPPractices as a One‐Stop Shop: How Do Patients Perceive the Quality of Care? A Cross‐Sectional Study in Thirty‐Four Countries
Authors: Schäfer Willemijn L. A. , Boerma Wienke G. W. , Schellevis François G. , Groenewegen Peter P.
Published: December 2017

Objective

To contribute to the current knowledge on how a broad range of services offered by general practitioners (GPs) may contribute to the patient perceived quality and, hence, the potential benefits of primary care.

Study Setting

Between 2011 and 2013, primary care data were collected amongGPs and their patients in 31 European countries, plus Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In these countries,GPs are the main providers of primary care, mostly specialized in family medicine and working in the ambulatory setting.

Study Design

In this cross‐sectional study, questionnaires were completed by 7,183GPs and 61,931 visiting patients. Moreover, 7,270 patients answered questions about what they find important (their values). In the analyses of patient experiences, we adjusted for patients’ values in each country to measure patient perceived quality. Perceived quality was measured regarding five areas: accessibility and continuity of care, doctor–patient communication, patient involvement in decision making, and comprehensiveness of care. The range ofGPservices was measured in relation to four areas: (1) to what extent they are the first contact to the health care system for patients in need of care, (2) their involvement in treatment and follow‐up of acute and chronic conditions, in other words treatment of diseases, (3) their involvement in minor technical procedures, and (4) their involvement in preventive treatments.

Extraction Methods

Data of the patients were linked to the data of theGPs. Multilevel modeling was used to construct scale scores for the experiences of patients in the five areas of quality and the range of services ofGPs. In these four‐level models, items were nested within patients, nested inGPpractices, nested in countries. The relationship between the range of services and the experiences of patients was analyzed in three‐level multilevel models, also taking into account the values of patients.

Principal Findings

In countries whereGPs offer a broader range of services patients perceive better accessibility, continuity, and comprehensiveness of care, and more involvement in decision making. No associations were found between the range of services and the patient perceived communication with theirGP. The range ofGPservices mostly explained the variation between countries in the areas of patient perceived accessibility and continuity of care.

Conclusions

This study showed that in countries whereGPpractices serve as a “one‐stop shop,” patients perceive better quality of care, especially in the areas of accessibility and continuity of care. Therefore, primary care in a country is expected to benefit from investments in a broader range of services ofGPs or other primary care physicians.
Using Geographically Weighted Choice Models to Account for the Spatial Heterogeneity of Preferences
Authors: Budziński Wiktor , Campbell Danny , Czajkowski Mikołaj , Demšar Urška , Hanley Nick
Published: December 2017

In this paper, we investigate the use of geographically weighted choice models for modelling spatially clustered preferences. We argue that this is a useful way of generating highly‐detailed spatial maps of willingness to pay for environmental conservation, given the costs of collecting data. The data used in this study come from a discrete choice experiment survey of public preferences for the implementation of a new national forest management and protection programme in Poland. We combine these with high‐resolution spatial data related to local forest characteristics. Using locally estimated discrete choice models we obtain location‐specific estimates of willingness to pay (WTP). Variation in these estimates is explained by characteristics of the forests close to where respondents live. These results are compared with those obtained from a more typical, two stage procedure which uses Bayesian posterior means of the mixed logit model random parameters to calculate location‐specific estimates of WTP. We find that there are indeed strong spatial patterns to the benefits of changes to the management to national forests. People living in areas with more species‐rich forests and those living nearer bigger areas of mixed forests have significantly different WTP values than those living in other locations. This kind of information potentially enables a better distributional analysis of the gains and losses from changes to natural resource management, and better targeting of investments in forest quality.
Evaluation of an Extraction Method for the Detection of GI and GII Noroviruses in Fruit and Vegetable Salads
Authors: Cheng Dongqing , Zou Songyan , Liao Ningbo , Shi Xiaofeng , Chen Jiang , Zhang Yanjun , Sun Liang , Zhang Ronghua
Published: December 2017

Human norovirus (HuNoV) is a major foodborne virus causing gastroenteritis outbreaks in humans. Salad products can be vectors of transmission for foodborne viruses such as HuNoV when these products are contaminated naturally or through unsanitary food handling. Therefore, development of simple, reliable and sensitive techniques for the detection of HuNoV in salad products is needed to ensure food safety. The purpose of our study was to optimize a method for the detection of HuNoV in artificially contaminated salad products. To this end, 2 different kinds of salads (fruit salads and vegetable salads) were experimentally inoculated with HuNoV GI, HuNoV GII, and MS2 suspensions. The selected method was based on treatment with pectinase followed by Trizol‐chloroform purification, and the recovery efficiencies were 6.07% to 26.52% for HuNoV GI and 5.54% to 37.36% for HuNoV GII. MS2 was used as the process control, and the recovery efficiencies for fruit salad and vegetable salad samples were 38.57% and 41.13%, respectively. The optimized method could be applied in diagnostic laboratories to identify NoV contamination in composite foods, such as salad products, should an event of foodborne outbreak occur.
Localized cyclical variations in immunoproteins in the female genital tract and the implications on the design and assessment of mucosal infection and therapies
Authors: Makinde Julia , Jones Clifford , Bartolf Angela , Sibeko Sengeziwe , Baden Susan , Cosgrove Catherine , Shattock Robin J.
Published: December 2017

Problem

Fluctuating hormones regulate reproductive processes in the female genital tract. Consequent changes in the local immunological environment are likely to affect cellular interaction with infectious agents and the assessment of therapies that target mucosal infections.

Method of study

We compared Softcup and Weck‐Cel sampling protocols and assessed the changes in the concentrations of 39 soluble proteins with menstrual cycle progression in the mucosal and peripheral compartments.

Results

We demonstrate that the mucosal immunological profile is distinct from serum with inflammatory and migratory signatures that are localized throughout the cycle. The analytes highlighted in the mucosal compartment were generally highest at the follicular phase with a tendency to fall as the cycle progressed through ovulation to the luteal phase.

Conclusion

Our results underscore the need to consider these localized cyclical differences in studies aimed at assessing the outcome of disease and the efficacy of mucosal vaccines and other therapies.
Toll‐like receptor variants and cervical Atopobium vaginae infection in women with pelvic inflammatory disease
Authors: Taylor Brandie D. , Totten Patricia A. , Astete Sabina G. , Ferris Michael J. , Martin David H. , Ness Roberta B. , Haggerty Catherine L.
Published: December 2017

Problem

Toll‐like (TLR) receptor genetic variants have been implicated in bacterial vaginosis (BV). We determined whether TLR variants are associated with fastidious BV‐associated microbes that are linked with infertility following pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).

Method of study

Sneathia spp., Atopobium vaginae, BVAB1, and Ureaplasma urealyticum were measured in 250 women from the PID Evaluation and Clinical Health (PEACH) study. Relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated adjusting for chlamydia and gonorrhea. Principal component analysis was used to adjust for population stratification. A false discovery rate q‐value of 0.05 was significant.

Results

TLR2‐1733C>A (P = .003) and TLR2‐616A>G (P = .004) were associated with cervical A. vaginae. TLR2‐1733C>A and TLR6‐438C>T were associated with A. vaginae detection in the endometrium, but this was not significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons (FDR q‐value = 0.06).

Conclusion

Host gene variants in TLR2 signaling pathways were modestly associated with cervical A. vaginae in women with clinical PID.
Feeling out a link between feeling and infant sociomoral evaluation
Authors: Steckler Conor M. , Liberman Zoe , Van de Vondervoort Julia W. , Slevinsky Janine , Le Doan T. , Hamlin J. Kiley
Published: December 2017

Recent research has shown that infants selectively approach prosocial versus antisocial characters, suggesting that foundations of sociomoral development may be present early in life. Despite this, to date, the mental processes involved in infants’ prosocial preferences are poorly understood. To explore a possible role of emotions in early social evaluations, the current studies examined whether four samples of infants and toddlers express different emotional reactions after observing prosocial (giving) versus antisocial (taking) events. Experimentally blind coders rated infants’ and toddlers’ emotional reactions to prosocial and antisocial interactions from video using a 1‐ to 7‐point Likert scale of negative to positive emotion; reactions were rated as more positive after viewing prosocial compared to antisocial interactions in three of four samples. While the observed effects were small, a single‐paper meta‐analysis suggests that the findings are robust and stable across age. These results support the possibility that emotional reactions play some role in infants’ sociomoral evaluations.

Statement of contribution

What is already known

Infants prefer prosocial to antisocial individuals from the first year of life.

Emotion plays some role in the sociomoral judgments of children and adults.

What this study adds

Infants and toddlers express more positive reactions after observing prosocial giving versus antisocial taking acts, though observed effect sizes are small.

Naïve coders can predict at a better than chance rate what type of act an infant or toddler just viewed based on their facial expressions.

Provides the first evidence that emotion plays some to‐be‐specified role in infants’ and toddlers’ sociomoral evaluations.
The Growing Heterogeneity in the Farm Sector and Its Implications*
Authors: Weersink Alfons
Published: December 2017

The farm sector has moved from one that was very homogeneous to one with significant differences in size and/or orientation. The decline in the number of “average‐sized” farm and the growth in the number of large farms are due primarily to technological innovations that push operations producing commodities to grow as a means of capturing economies of size. The increase in the relative number of small farms is also due partially to technical advances that allow for the production of food goods with the desired quality attributes to be delivered to the appropriate market. This market is continually being differentiated due to demographic and income shifts. The growing heterogeneity in farm structure complicates the assessment and design of farm policy. The social policy objective of improving the livelihood of farmers and their families could be achieved through farm support and extension programs when the sector was homogeneous. The policy objective has shifted toward improving the competitiveness of the sector, but for which of its components? The trend toward greater heterogeneity is likely to continue and thus so will the internal and external support for any policies targeted toward the farm sector.
Proximodistal exploration in motor learning as an emergent property of optimization
Authors: Stulp Freek , Oudeyer Pierre‐Yves
Published: December 2017

To harness the complexity of their high‐dimensional bodies during sensorimotor development, infants are guided by patterns of freezing and freeing of degrees of freedom. For instance, when learning to reach, infants free the degrees of freedom in their arm proximodistally, that is, from joints that are closer to the body to those that are more distant. Here, we formulate and study computationally the hypothesis that such patterns can emerge spontaneously as the result of a family of stochastic optimization processes, without an innate encoding of a maturational schedule. In particular, we present simulated experiments with an arm where a computational learner progressively acquires reaching skills through adaptive exploration, and we show that a proximodistal organization appears spontaneously, which we denote PDFF (Proximo Distal Freezing and Freeing of degrees of freedom). We also compare this emergent organization between different arm morphologies—from human‐like to quite unnatural ones—to study the effect of different kinematic structures on the emergence of PDFF.
Cerebrovascular hemodynamics in fetuses with congenital heart disease
Authors: Man Tingting , He Yihua , Zhao Ying , Sun Lin , Liu Xiaowei , Ge Shuping
Published: December 2017

Background and Objective

It is hypothesized that diminished cerebral vascular resistance or the “brain sparing effect” is associated with fetuses with complex congenital heart defects (CHD) and may affect their neurodevelopmental outcome. An alternative explanation is that it is related to the location, cardiac output, pressure, and resistance in left heart obstructive CHDs. We sought to determine the effects of various left and right heart obstructive defects on the cerebral and placental hemodynamics and to evaluate the utility of these variables for the assessment and prognosis of CHDs.

Methods

A total of 290 fetal echocardiograms were reviewed, including 91 fetuses with CHD and 199 normal ones. The CHD fetuses were divided into four groups, that is, left‐sided obstructive lesions (LSOL), hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), right‐sided obstructive lesions (RSOL), and hypoplastic right heart syndrome (HRHS). The pulsatility index of middle cerebral artery (MCA‐PI) and umbilical artery (UA‐PI) were measured by pulse‐wave Doppler, and their Z scores were also derived. Cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) was calculated as: CPR=MCA‐PI/UA‐PI.

Results

There was no significant difference in MCA‐PI between the 4 CHD and normal control groups (P>.05). However, MCA‐PI and Z score decreased in aortic stenosis but not in interrupted aortic arch or coarctation subgroups, whereas they increased in pulmonary atresia but not pulmonary stenosis or tetralogy of Fallot subgroups compared with normal group (P<.05). There was no significant difference in CPR between any study group or subgroup and normal control group.

Conclusions

Our study suggests MCA‐PI is lower in aortic stenosis and high in pulmonary atresia but not significantly different in other LSOL, HLHS, RSOL, and HRHS. MCA‐PI regulation in CHD is probably more associated with left and right outflow obstruction, location of the obstruction, and hemodynamics rather than “brain sparing effect” or preferential shunting of blood to the fetal brain, heart, and adrenals in the stressed fetus (eg, IUGR). CPR may not be a sensitive measure for the effect of CHDs and their severity on cerebral and placental circulation.
New advances in fetal cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging for quantifying the distribution of blood flow and oxygen transport: Potential applications in fetal cardiovascular disease diagnosis and therapy
Authors: Sun Liqun , Macgowan Christopher K. , Portnoy Sharon , Sled John G. , Yoo Shi‐Joon , Grosse‐Wortmann Lars , Jaeggi Edgar , Kingdom John , Seed Mike
Published: December 2017

Until recently, our modern understanding of fetal circulatory physiology has been largely based on invasive measurements made in fetal sheep. However, new MRI technology developed by our group has provided equivalent information about the distribution of blood flow and oxygen transport noninvasively. The initial findings largely confirm prior estimates about the human fetal circulation extrapolated from fetal sheep data and human ultrasound data. Here we describe the hemodynamics of the normal late gestation human fetal circulation by MRI and speculate about what the advent of this technology might mean in terms of the management of fetuses affected by placental insufficiency and congenital heart disease.
Re‐enchantment of School Bureaucracy: The Historical Relationship Between Rationality and Romanticism
Authors: Diehl David
Published: December 2017

“Disenchantment” has been a popular trope in the social sciences since Max Weber's appropriation of the term nearly a century ago. In recent years, however, scholars have come to argue that, in contrast to the standard modernization story of unabated rationalization, organizations have long been subject to countervailing forces. In this essay, David Diehl uses modern reinterpretations of the “disenchantment” thesis to suggest that the structure of contemporary schooling is the product of ongoing cultural efforts to re‐enchant public life by infusing rational bureaucracy with Romantic impulses in order to combat alienation and social fragmentation. Moreover, Diehl argues that the changing relationship between rationality and Romanticism has taken a unique form in the contemporary period and that recognizing this helps us to better understand the paradoxical modern push for schools to achieve seemingly incompatible goals such as diversity and standardization, community and accountability, and creativity and efficiency.