bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The influence of online reviews to online hotel booking intentions
Authors: Zhao Xinyuan (Roy) , Wang Liang , Guo Xiao , Law Rob
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– This study aims to investigate the impacts of online review and source features upon travelers’ online hotel booking intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study developed a research model and empirically examined the model by collecting data from business travelers in the Mainland China. Factor analysis was adopted to identify features of online reviews content and source attribute. Regression analysis was used to examine impacts of these attributes upon travelers’ online booking intention.

Findings

– Six features of online reviews content and one source attribute were identified, namely, usefulness, reviewer expertise, timeliness, volume, valence (negative and positive) and comprehensiveness. Regression analysis results testified positive causal relationships between usefulness, reviewer expertise, timeliness, volume and comprehensiveness and respondents’ online booking intentions. A significantly negative relation between negative online reviews and online booking intentions was identified, whereas impacts from positive online reviews upon booking intentions were not statistically significant.

Research limitations/implications

– The major limitation of this study is that interrelationships among features of online reviews, which were discussed in other similar studies, were not considered. Still, this study benefited researchers from scrutinizing features of online reviews, rather than several of them. As such, it offered more comprehensive suggestions for practitioners in how to better utilize online reviews as a marketing tool.

Practical implications

– Hospitality practitioners could enhance consumer review management by applying the six underlying factors of online review in the present study to find out the ways of increasing consumers’ booking intentions in the specific hotel contexts.

Originality/value

– A major theoretical contribution of this paper is its comprehensiveness in examining features of review content as well as its source simultaneously. This study also offered areas worthy of more research efforts from perspectives of practitioners and researchers.
Regime shifts and volatility in BRIICKS stock markets: an asset allocation perspective
Authors: Ahmad Wasim , Sehgal Sanjay
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the regime shifts and stock market volatility in the stock market returns of seven emerging economies popularly called as “BRIICKS” which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China, South Korea and South Africa, over the period from February 1996 to January 2012 by applying Markov regime switching (MS) in mean-variance model.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors apply MS model developed by Hamilton (1989) using its mean-variance switching framework on the monthly returns data of BRIICKS stock markets. Further, the estimated probabilities along with variances have been used to calculate the time-varying volatility. The authors also examine market synchronization and portfolio diversification possibilities in sample markets by calculating the Logit transformation based cross-market correlations and Sharpe ratios.

Findings

– The applied model finds two regimes in each of these markets. The estimated results also helped in formulating the asset allocation strategies based on market synchronization and Sharpe ratio. The results suggest that BRIICKS is not a homogeneous asset class and each market should be independently evaluated in terms of its regime-switching behavior, volatility persistence and level of synchronization with other emerging markets. The study finally concludes that Russia, India and China as the best assets to invest within this emerging market basket which can be pooled with a mature market portfolio to achieve further benefits of risk diversification.

Research limitations/implications

– The study does not provide macroeconomic and financial explanations of the observed differences in dynamics among sample emerging stock markets. The study does not examine these markets under multivariate framework.

Practical implications

– The results highlight the role of regime shifts and stock market volatility in the asset allocation and risk management. This study has important implications for international asset allocation and stock market regulation by way of identifying and recognizing the differences on regimes and on the dynamics of the swings which can be very useful in the field of portfolio and public financial management.

Originality/value

– The paper is novel in employing tests of MS under mean-variance framework to examine the regime shifts and volatility switching behavior in seven promising BRIICKS stock market. Further, using MS model, the authors analyze the duration (persistence) of each identified regime across sample markets. The empirical results of MS model have been used for making portfolio allocation strategies and also examine the synchronization across markets. All these aspects of stock market regime have been largely ignored by the existing studies in emerging market context particularly the BRIICKS markets.
Has research on the internationalization of firms from an IMP perspective resulted in a theory of internationalization?
Authors: Gebert Persson Sabine , Mattsson Lars-Gunnar , Öberg Christina
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– Recently, increased interest has been devoted to discuss theory development in relation to business-to-business (B2B) marketing. The purpose of this paper is to explore these thoughts through describing and analyzing research on the internationalization of firms from an Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) perspective. The authors ask: to what extent have these studies resulted in a theory of internationalization?

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper is conceptual and frames research on the internationalization of firms by means of definitions, domains, relations of variables and predictions. It looks into research on internationalization based on an IMP-inspired network perspective to see to what extent research has resulted in theories of internationalization.

Findings

– While there have been substantial efforts on theorizing related to IMP-based internationalization studies, the research has not yet resulted in theory.

Research limitations/implications

– In this paper one phenomenon was selected that has already been addressed in IMP research, namely, the internationalization of firms. Had the authors chosen another phenomenon previously studied in IMP the findings might had turned out differently.

Originality/value

– The paper makes a contribution to understanding how ideas are developed, used and referenced in long-term research development for the specific phenomenon of internationalization. The paper contributes to the debate on theories within B2B research.
Determinants of the quality of disclosed earnings and value relevance across transitional Europe
Authors: Ahmed Sheraz
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– Earlier studies have found that the country characteristics play important role in measuring the corporate transparency. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the firm-level determinants play an important role in corporate transparency measured as the quality of disclosed earnings across transitional Europe and what role an overall transparency measured by the Corruption Perception Index plays in it. This paper further tests if the market reacts similarly to discretionary and non-discretionary components of earnings across different groups of countries with respect to transparency.

Design/methodology/approach

– The financial and ownership data of listed companies in ten European countries is obtained from Amadeus. The transparency ratings are obtained from Transparency International. The sample consists of a panel of 2001 listed companies and modified Jones model of Dechow et al. (1995) is used to measure the quality of earnings.

Findings

– This paper shows that the firm-level determinants (except firm size) of the quality of earnings are different among different groups made on the basis of transparency ratings. However, the determinants of the quality of earnings are not different within each group. The ownership structure of companies plays important role in determining the quality of earnings in most transparent countries whereas financial factors play significant role in least transparent countries. The markets respond positively to earnings quality in most transparent group of countries.

Research limitations/implications

– The results of this study provide interesting basis for future research on economic and social integration of Europe. Although the policy makers are trying to integrate the countries through common Laws and decrees but examining the firm-level factors such as size, growth and ownership are still important. The regulators should address the issue of corporate transparency in Europe by looking at the importance of these factors with respect to overall transparency.

Originality/value

– This study extends the knowledge, not only for academicians and investors but for policy makers as well. This study re-emphasizes the role of country-level transparency and firm-level determinants of the corporate transparency within Europe.
UV‐B radiation interacts with temperature to determine animal performance
Authors: Ghanizadeh Kazerouni Ensiyeh , Franklin Craig E. , Seebacher Frank
Published: July 2015

The interaction between UV‐B and temperature can modify the effects of climate variability on animal function because UV‐B and increasing temperatures may increase reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and thereby impair animal performance. However, antioxidant enzyme activities are also increased at higher temperatures, which could counteract negative effects of increased ROS. Conversely, UV‐B exposure at lower temperature can exacerbate the effects of ROS because of lower antioxidant enzyme activities.

Phenotypes can be plastic to compensate for potentially negative environmental effects. Plasticity may be induced by conditions experienced during pre‐ or early post‐zygotic development, and it may occur reversibly within adult organisms (acclimation). Developmental plasticity and acclimation may interact to determine phenotypes in variable environments.

Here, we tested the hypothesis that increased antioxidant enzyme activities are insufficient to alleviate the interactive effects of UV‐B and increased temperature on mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). Additionally, we tested whether developmental conditions influenced the capacity for acclimation to UV‐B and temperature so that cohorts born in summer at high UV‐B and temperature conditions are better able to compensate for ROS damage compared to cohorts born in winter.

We exposed mosquitofish to UV‐B and control (no‐UV‐B) at different acclimation temperatures (18, 28 and 32 °C), and measured responses acutely at 18, 28 and 32 °C in a fully factorial design. In fish born in summer, UV‐B had significant negative effects on swimming performance and resting metabolic rate at both low (18 °C) and high (32 °C) acclimation temperatures, which were accompanied by higher ROS‐induced damage. At their average temperature experienced naturally (28 °C), fish born in summer were not affected by UV‐B and showed lower damage and higher antioxidant enzyme activities compared to the other acclimation temperatures. In contrast, swimming performance of winter‐caught fish was negatively affected by UV‐B at all acclimation temperatures, which was paralleled by higher ROS‐induced damage and antioxidant enzyme activities that did not acclimate. However, metabolic scope was not reduced by UV‐B or temperature in any of the cohorts.

Our results showed that developmental conditions modify the capacity for acclimation later in life, and that the interaction between developmental and acclimation conditions can increase the resilience of animals to environmental variability. These results have important implications for understanding the evolution of acclimation, and for predictions of how climate change affects animal performance.
Quantifying the effect of gape and morphology on bite force: biomechanical modelling and in vivo measurements in bats
Authors: Santana Sharlene E.
Published: July 2015

Maximum bite force is an important metric of feeding performance that defines the dietary ecology of many vertebrates.

In mammals, theoretical analyses and empirical studies suggest a trade‐off between maximum bite force and gape at behavioural and evolutionary scales; in vivo bite force is expected to decrease at wide gapes, and cranial morphologies that enable high mechanical advantage are thought to have a lower ability to generate high bite forces at wide gapes, and vice versa. However, very few studies have confirmed these relationships in free‐ranging mammals.

This study uses an ecologically diverse sample of bats to document the variation in bite force with respect to gape angle, and applies three‐dimensional models of the feeding apparatus to identify the major morphological and biomechanical predictors of the gape‐bite force relationship.

In vivo and model data corroborated that bite force decreases significantly at wide gapes across species, but there is substantial intraspecific variation in the data obtained from live bats. Results from biomechanical models, analysed within a phylogenetic framework, revealed that species with larger temporalis muscles, higher temporalis stretch factors and high mechanical advantages experience a steeper reduction in bite force with increasing gape. These trends are illustrated by short‐faced durophagous frugivores.

The results from this study suggest that gape‐mediated changes in bite force can be explained both by behavioural effects and cranial morphology, and that these links are relevant for functional analyses of mammal dietary ecology.
Population growth and sequestration of plant toxins along a gradient of specialization in four aphid species on the common milkweed Asclepias syriaca
Authors: Züst Tobias , Agrawal Anurag A.
Published: July 2015

Dietary specialization in insect herbivores has long been hypothesized to predict tolerance of plant defences, with more specialized herbivores being highly tolerant of and sometimes sequestering plant secondary compounds. Plant variation in secondary compounds should thus play an important and predictable role in shaping the performance and distribution of insect communities.

We compared the performance of four naturally co‐occurring aphid species on twenty genotypes of the common milkweed Asclepias syriaca. Genotypes of milkweed consistently differed in functional traits, including concentrations of toxic cardenolides, while the diet breadths of the four aphids ranged from broadly generalized to monophagous.

The two more generalized species had the highest population growth rate overall, while growth rates decreased with increasing specialization. In contrast, honeydew exudation as a measure of phloem consumption increased with specialization; thus, resource‐use efficiency was lower in specialist aphids. The two more generalized aphids grew best on genotypes with the highest plant growth rate (as an approximation for resource availability), while specialist aphids were not affected by plant growth.

All four species contained apolar cardenolides in their bodies and excreted polar cardenolides, but only the most specialized aphid Myzocallis asclepiadis was negatively affected by increasing cardenolide concentrations of the host plant. Sequestration of cardenolides increased with diet specialization, with M. asclepiadis accumulating twice as much as any other species, perhaps explaining its susceptibility to plant cardenolides.

Heritable plant traits differentially impacted co‐occurring insect herbivores within the same guild. Generalist aphids were susceptible to variation in plant vigour but not defensive compounds. Increased host specialization resulted in lower resource‐use efficiency, increased phloem throughput and ultimately higher cardenolide sequestration. Variation in these traits is thus likely to determine the relative distribution of generalist and specialist herbivores on plants in natural communities.
Mental health consumer participation in education: a structured literature review
Authors: Arblaster Karen , Mackenzie Lynette , Willis Karen
Published: July 2015

Background/aim

Consumer participation in design, delivery and evaluation of occupational therapy educational programs is a recently introduced requirement for accreditation. It aligns with the principle of recovery, which underpins Australian mental health policy. Graduates' capabilities for recovery‐oriented practice are thought to be enhanced through learning from consumers' lived experience. This structured literature review evaluates the current evidence for mental health consumer participation in health professional education to inform occupational therapy educators.

Method

Searches were completed in five online databases, one journal and published reading lists on the topic. Studies were included if they addressed mental health consumer participation in health professional education programs, were published in peer reviewed journals between 2000 and 2014 and were in English. Articles were critically reviewed, and analysed for key findings related to stages of the educational process and recovery‐oriented practice capabilities.

Results

An emerging body of evidence for consumer participation in mental health education was identified. Studies are characterised by a lack of quality and a low to medium level of evidence. Findings relate to design, planning, delivery and evaluation of education as well as to most aspects of recovery‐oriented practice. Emphases on exploratory research and proximal outcomes, and a reliance on published outcome measurement instruments designed for other purposes are key limitations in this body of evidence.

Conclusion and significance of the study

This study identifies a weak evidence base for the requirement for consumer participation in occupational therapy programs, specifically related to mental health curricula. A research agenda is proposed in response.
Morphology and Physicochemical Properties of 3 Lilium Bulb Starches
Authors: Yu Xurun , Zhang Jing , Li Aimin , Wang Zhong , Xiong Fei
Published: July 2015

Lilium (Liliaceae) is an important wild plant and is used as food and traditional medicine worldwide. One Lilium cultivar (Lilium lancifolium) and 2 wild types (Lilium leucanthum and Lilium rosthornii) that are commonly distributed in Western China were investigated to completely utilize Lilium resources. The morphology of the flowers, bulbs, and scales and soluble sugar, total starch and amylose contents was remarkably different among the 3 Lilium species. Starches from the 3 Lilium species presented different granule size and shape. The starch of L. lancifolium exhibited higher swelling power and solubility than that of L. leucanthum and L. rosthornii. The starches from the 3 Lilium bulbs presented similar X‐ray diffraction patterns and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Among the 3 Lilium species, L. lancifolium showed the lowest crystallinity and the largest proportion of ordered structures in granule external region. Gelatinization temperatures and retrogradation percentage were significantly lower, but gelatinization enthalpy was significantly higher in L. lancifolium than those in L. leucanthum and L. rosthornii. Pasting properties of starch were different among the 3 Lilium species. Starch from L. lancifolium showed the highest degree of amylopectin branching, followed by L. leucanthum and L. rosthornii. Starches from L. leucanthum and L. rosthornii showed higher resistance to porcine pancreatic α‐amylase hydrolysis compared to that of L. lancifolium. These results indicated that 3 Lilium bulbs exhibited remarkable differences in morphological, crystal, thermal, pasting, and hydrolysis properties of starches.
Sleep and delirium in unsedated patients in the intensive care unit
Authors: Boesen H. C. , Andersen J. H. , Bendtsen A. O. , Jennum P. J.
Published: July 2015

Background

Sleep deprivation and delirium are major problems in the ICU. We aimed to assess the sleep quality by polysomnography (PSG) in relation to delirium in mechanically ventilated non‐sedated ICU patients.

Methods

Interpretation of 24‐h PSG and clinical sleep assessment in 14 patients. Delirium assessment was done using the confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit (CAM‐ICU).

Results

Of four patients who were delirium free, only one had identifiable sleep on PSG. Sleep was disrupted with loss of circadian rhythm, and diminished REM sleep. In the remaining three patients the PSGs were atypical, meaning that no sleep signs were found, and sleep could not be quantified from the PSGs. Clinical total sleep time (ClinTST) ranged from 2.0–13.1 h in patients without delirium.

Six patients with delirium all had atypical PSGs, so sleep could not be quantified. Short periods of REM sleep were found. ClinTST was median 8.5 h (range 0.4–13.8 h). EEG reactivity and wakefulness was found in all but one PSG.

Four patients were CAM‐ICU “unassessable” (unresponsive to voice). PSGs were atypical without reactivity or wakefulness, even though clinical wakefulness was documented. ClinTST was median 18.3 h (range 3.7–19.8 h). Paroxystic EEG activity was found in this subgroup.

Conclusions

The objective signs of sleep were absent in all but one PSG, so even though patients were not sedated, sleep could not be quantified. Even in patients without delirium, sleep could only be quantified in one of four patients. Paroxystic activity is frequent in unsedated patients, unresponsive to voice, but the implication is unknown.
Demographic and clinical variables affecting mid‐ to late‐life trajectories of plasma ceramide and dihydroceramide species
Authors: Mielke Michelle M. , Bandaru Veera Venkata Ratnam , Han Dingfen , An Yang , Resnick Susan M. , Ferrucci Luigi , Haughey Norman J.
Published: July 2015

It has been increasingly recognized at the basic science level that perturbations in ceramide metabolism are associated with the development and progression of many age‐related diseases. However, the translation of this work to the clinic has lagged behind. Understanding the factors longitudinally associated with plasma ceramides and dihydroceramides (DHCer) at the population level and how these lipid levels change with age, and by sex, is important for the clinical development of future therapeutics and biomarkers focused on ceramide metabolism. We, therefore, examined factors cross‐sectionally and longitudinally associated with plasma concentrations of ceramides and DHCer among Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging participants (n = 992; 3960 total samples), aged 55 years and older, with plasma at a mean of 4.1 visits (range 2–6). Quantitative analyses were performed on a high‐performance liquid chromatography‐coupled electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometer. Linear mixed models were used to assess the relationships between plasma ceramide and DHCer species and demographics, diseases, medications, and lifestyle factors. Women had higher plasma concentrations of most ceramide and DHCer species and showed steeper trajectories of age‐related increases compared to men. Ceramides and DHCer were more associated with waist–hip ratio than body mass index. Plasma cholesterol and triglycerides, prediabetes, and diabetes were associated with ceramides and DHCer, but the relationship showed specificity to the acyl chain length and saturation. These results demonstrate the importance of examining the individual species of ceramides and DHCer, and of establishing whether intra‐individual age‐ and sex‐specific changes occur in synchrony to disease onset and progression.
Assessing Incremental Value of Biomarkers with Multi-phase Nested Case-control Studies
Authors: Zhou Qian M. , Zheng Yingye , Chibnik Lori B. , Karlson Elizabeth W. , Cai Tianxi
Published: July 2015

Accurate risk prediction models are needed to identify different risk groups for individualized prevention and treatment strategies. In the Nurses’ Health Study, to examine the effects of several biomarkers and genetic markers on the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a three-phase nested case-control (NCC) design was conducted, in which two sequential NCC subcohorts were formed with one nested within the other, and one set of new markers measured on each of the subcohorts. One objective of the study is to evaluate clinical values of novel biomarkers in improving upon existing risk models because of potential cost associated with assaying biomarkers. In this paper, we develop robust statistical procedures for constructing risk prediction models for RA and estimating the incremental value (IncV) of new markers based on three-phase NCC studies. Our method also takes into account possible time-varying effects of biomarkers in risk modeling, which allows us to more robustly assess the biomarker utility and address the question of whether a marker is better suited for short-term or long-term risk prediction. The proposed procedures are shown to perform well in finite samples via simulation studies.
Identifying Longitudinal Trends within EEG Experiments
Authors: Hasenstab Kyle , Sugar Catherine A. , Telesca Donatello , McEvoy Kevin , Jeste Shafali , Şentürk Damla
Published: July 2015

Differential brain response to sensory stimuli is very small (a few microvolts) compared to the overall magnitude of spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG), yielding a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in studies of event-related potentials (ERP). To cope with this phenomenon, stimuli are applied repeatedly and the ERP signals arising from the individual trials are averaged at the subject level. This results in loss of information about potentially important changes in the magnitude and form of ERP signals over the course of the experiment. In this article, we develop a meta-preprocessing step utilizing a moving average of ERP across sliding trial windows, to capture such longitudinal trends. We embed this procedure in a weighted linear mixed effects model to describe longitudinal trends in features such as ERP peak amplitude and latency across trials while adjusting for the inherent heteroskedasticity created at the meta-preprocessing step. The proposed unified framework, including the meta-processing and the weighted linear mixed effects modeling steps, is referred to as MAP-ERP (moving-averaged-processed ERP). We perform simulation studies to assess the performance of MAP-ERP in reconstructing existing longitudinal trends and apply MAP-ERP to data from young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their typically developing counterparts to examine differences in patterns of implicit learning, providing novel insights about the mechanisms underlying social and/or cognitive deficits in this disorder.
The quantifiable clinothem – types, shapes and geometric relationships in the Plio‐Pleistocene Giant Foresets Formation, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand
Authors: Anell Ingrid , Midtkandal Ivar
Published: July 2015

The understanding of how clinoforms develop is approached based on shape and dimensions, correlation between geometric parameters, and internal characteristics of clinothems bounded by clinoform surfaces in high‐resolution 2D seismic data from the Giant Foresets Formation, Taranaki Basin, offshore New Zealand. The study subdivides the observed clinothems to identify nine types: 1. Oblique 2. Tangential oblique 3. Tangential oblique chaotic 4. Sigmoidal symmetrical 5. Sigmoidal divergent 6. Sigmoidal chaotic 7. Asymmetrical top‐heavy 8. Asymmetrical bottom‐heavy 9. Complex. Accommodation is a dominant control on the type of clinothem that develops, whereby limited accommodation promotes clinothems with significant shelf‐edge advance and low trajectory angles, while increasing accommodation promotes higher trajectory angles and increased deposition on the shelf. Further variations in shape, slope and deposition are influenced by many factors of which sediment influx appears be a fundamental driver. Sigmoidal clinothems tend to show a strong relationship between their maximum thickness and average thickness, their overall slope and maximum foreset angle, along with a high correlation between average thickness and toe advance. This suggests that they distribute sediment in a manner that may be possible to predict and quantify. The increasing steepness of the foreset slope from bottom‐heavy to symmetrical to top‐heavy clinothems, respectively, is dominantly the result of decreasing sediment influx. The clinothems with the steepest slopes, along with chaotic clinothems, are associated with comparatively large toe advance suggesting a strong link between over‐steepened slopes and/or collapse, and processes promoting sediment deposition along the basin floor. Apart from toe advance, the two types of chaotic clinothems develop differently from each other, and from their assumed parent‐clinothem. Tangential oblique chaotic forms steepen, and shelf‐edge advance is limited, suggesting upper slope collapse. Sigmoidal chaotic clinothems have comparatively higher shelf‐edge advance, lower shelf‐edge trajectories and gentler slopes and profiles, suggesting different processes are responsible for their development and resulting shape.
Unusual prolongation of radiation‐induced G2 arrest in tumor xenografts derived from HeLa cells
Authors: Kaida Atsushi , Miura Masahiko
Published: July 2015

The effect of ionizing radiation on cell cycle kinetics in solid tumors remains largely unknown because of technical limitations and these tumors' complicated structures. In this study, we analyzed intratumoral cell cycle kinetics after X‐irradiation of tumor xenografts derived from HeLa cells expressing the fluorescent ubiquitination‐based cell cycle indicator (Fucci), a novel system to visualize cell cycle kinetics in vivo. Cell cycle kinetics after X‐irradiation was examined by using tumor sections and in vivo real‐time imaging system in tumor xenografts derived from HeLa cells expressing Fucci. We found that G2 arrest was remarkably prolonged, up to 5 days after 10‐Gy irradiation, in contrast to monolayer cultures where G2 arrest returned within 24 h. Cells isolated from tumors 5 days after irradiation exhibited a higher surviving fraction than those isolated immediately or one day after irradiation. In this study, we clearly demonstrated unusual post‐irradiation cell cycle kinetics in tumor xenografts derived from HeLa‐Fucci cells. Our findings imply that prolonged G2 arrest occurring in tumor microenvironments following irradiation may function as a radioresistance mechanism.
Evaluation of job satisfaction and working atmosphere of dental nurses in Germany
Authors: Goetz Katja , Hasse Philipp , Campbell Stephen M. , Berger Sarah , Dörfer Christof E. , Hahn Karolin , Szecsenyi Joachim
Published: July 2015

Objectives

The purpose of the study was to assess the level of job satisfaction of dental nurses in ambulatory care and to explore the impact of aspects of working atmosphere on and their association with job satisfaction.

Methods

This cross‐sectional study was based on a job satisfaction survey. Data were collected from 612 dental nurses working in 106 dental care practices. Job satisfaction was measured with the 10‐item Warr–Cook–Wall job satisfaction scale. Working atmosphere was measured with five items. Linear regression analyses were performed in which each item of the job satisfaction scale was handled as dependent variables. A stepwise linear regression analysis was performed with overall job satisfaction and the five items of working atmosphere, job satisfaction, and individual characteristics.

Results

The response rate was 88.3%. Dental nurses were satisfied with ‘colleagues’ and least satisfied with ‘income.’ Different aspects of job satisfaction were mostly associated with the following working atmosphere issues: ‘responsibilities within the practice team are clear,’ ‘suggestions for improvement are taken seriously,’ ‘working atmosphere in the practice team is good,’ and ‘made easier to admit own mistakes.’ Within the stepwise linear regression analysis, the aspect ‘physical working condition’ (β = 0.304) showed the highest association with overall job satisfaction. The total explained variance of the 14 associated variables was 0.722 with overall job satisfaction.

Conclusions

Working atmosphere within this discrete sample of dental care practice seemed to be an important influence on reported working condition and job satisfaction for dental nurses. Because of the high association of job satisfaction with physical working condition, the importance of paying more attention to an ergonomic working position for dental nurses to ensure optimal quality of care is highlighted.
Clinicopathological features and prognosis of familial papillary thyroid carcinoma – a large‐scale, matched, case–control study
Authors: Cao Jun , Chen Can , Chen Chao , Wang Qing‐Liang , Ge Ming‐Hua
Published: July 2015

Objective

It remains controversial whether or not the aggressiveness of familial nonmedullary thyroid cancer (FNMTC) differs from sporadic carcinoma. The aim of this study was to determine the clinicopathological features and prognosis of FNMTC.

Design

A matched‐case comparative study.

Methods

Three hundred and seventy‐two patients with familial papillary thyroid carcinoma (FPTC) were enrolled as the study group, and another 372 patients with sporadic PTC were enrolled as controls and matched for gender, age, tumour/node/metastasis (TNM) staging and approximate duration of follow‐up. We compared the differences in the clinicopathological features and prognosis between the subgroups.

Results

Compared with sporadic PTC, patients with FPTC were more likely to present tumour multicentricity, bilateral growth and a concomitant nodular goitre (P < 0·05). In papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC), a higher recurrence rate was noted in patients with a family history of PTC, and this remained independently predictive on multivariate analysis. The patients with FPTC in the second generation showed an earlier age of onset, more frequent Hashimoto's thyroiditis and a higher recurrence rate than the first generation, while the first‐generation offspring of patients had a higher incidence of nodular goitre than the second generation.

Conclusions

The presence of familial history in PTC indicates an increase in biological aggressiveness, and patients in the second generation may exhibit the ‘genetic anticipation’ phenomenon. At present, the available data are not sufficient to support a more aggressive approach for FPTC. However, a family history of PTC is an independent risk factor for recurrence in patients with PTMC.
Guided Volume Editing based on Histogram Dissimilarity
Authors: Karimov A. , Mistelbauer G. , Auzinger T. , Bruckner S.
Published: July 2015

Segmentation of volumetric data is an important part of many analysis pipelines, but frequently requires manual inspection and correction. While plenty of volume editing techniques exist, it remains cumbersome and errorprone for the user to find and select appropriate regions for editing. We propose an approach to improve volume editing by detecting potential segmentation defects while considering the underlying structure of the object of interest. Our method is based on a novel histogram dissimilarity measure between individual regions, derived from structural information extracted from the initial segmentation. Based on this information, our interactive system guides the user towards potential defects, provides integrated tools for their inspection, and automatically generates suggestions for their resolution. We demonstrate that our approach can reduce interaction effort and supports the user in a comprehensive investigation for high‐quality segmentations.
Visualization of Particle‐based Data with Transparency and Ambient Occlusion
Authors: Staib Joachim , Grottel Sebastian , Gumhold Stefan
Published: July 2015

Particle‐based simulation techniques, like the discrete element method or molecular dynamics, are widely used in many research fields. In real‐time explorative visualization it is common to render the resulting data using opaque spherical glyphs with local lighting only. Due to massive overlaps, however, inner structures of the data are often occluded rendering visual analysis impossible. Furthermore, local lighting is not sufficient as several important features like complex shapes, holes, rifts or filaments cannot be perceived well.

To address both problems we present a new technique that jointly supports transparency and ambient occlusion in a consistent illumination model. Our approach is based on the emission‐absorption model of volume rendering. We provide analytic solutions to the volume rendering integral for several density distributions within a spherical glyph. Compared to constant transparency our approach preserves the three‐dimensional impression of the glyphs much better. We approximate ambient illumination with a fast hierarchical voxel cone‐tracing approach, which builds on a new real‐time voxelization of the particle data.

Our implementation achieves interactive frame rates for millions of static or dynamic particles without any preprocessing. We illustrate the merits of our method on real‐world data sets gaining several new insights.
Data‐driven Evaluation of Visual Quality Measures
Authors: Sedlmair M. , Aupetit M.
Published: July 2015

Visual quality measures seek to algorithmically imitate human judgments of patterns such as class separability, correlation, or outliers. In this paper, we propose a novel data‐driven framework for evaluating such measures. The basic idea is to take a large set of visually encoded data, such as scatterplots, with reliable human “ground truth” judgements, and to use this human‐labeled data to learn how well a measure would predict human judgements on previously unseen data. Measures can then be evaluated based on predictive performance—an approach that is crucial for generalizing across datasets but has gained little attention so far. To illustrate our framework, we use it to evaluate 15 state‐of‐the‐art class separation measures, using human ground truth data from 828 class separation judgments on color‐coded 2D scatterplots.
An Evaluation of the Impact of Visual Embellishments in Bar Charts
Authors: Skau Drew , Harrison Lane , Kosara Robert
Published: July 2015

As data visualization becomes further intertwined with the field of graphic design and information graphics, small graphical alterations are made to many common chart formats. Despite the growing prevalence of these embellishments, their effects on communication of the charts’ data is unknown. From an overview of the design space, we have outlined some of the common embellishments that are made to bar charts. We have studied the effects of these chart embellishments on the communication of the charts’ data through a series of user studies on Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. The results of these studies lead to a better understanding of how each chart type is perceived, and help provide guiding principles for the graphic design of charts.
Visualizing Time‐Specific Hurricane Predictions, with Uncertainty, from Storm Path Ensembles
Authors: Liu L. , Mirzargar M. , Kirby R.M. , Whitaker R. , House D. H.
Published: July 2015

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) issues advisories every six hours during the life of a hurricane. These advisories describe the current state of the storm, and its predicted path, size, and wind speed over the next five days. However, from these data alone, the question “What is the likelihood that the storm will hit Houston with hurricane strength winds between 12:00 and 14:00 on Saturday?” cannot be directly answered. To address this issue, the NHC has recently begun making an ensemble of potential storm paths available as part of each storm advisory. Since each path is parameterized by time, predicted values such as wind speed associated with the path can be inferred for a specific time period by analyzing the statistics of the ensemble. This paper proposes an approach for generating smooth scalar fields from such a predicted storm path ensemble, allowing the user to examine the predicted state of the storm at any chosen time. As a demonstration task, we show how our approach can be used to support a visualization tool, allowing the user to display predicted storm position – including its uncertainty – at any time in the forecast. In our approach, we estimate the likelihood of hurricane risk for a fixed time at any geospatial location by interpolating simplicial depth values in the path ensemble. Adaptivelysized radial basis functions are used to carry out the interpolation. Finally, geometric fitting is used to produce a simple graphical visualization of this likelihood. We also employ a non‐linear filter, in time, to assure frame‐to‐frame coherency in the visualization as the prediction time is advanced. We explain the underlying algorithm and definitions, and give a number of examples of how our algorithm performs for several different storm predictions, and for two different sources of predicted path ensembles.
Feature‐Driven Visual Analytics of Chaotic Parameter‐Dependent Movement
Authors: Luboschik M. , Röhlig M. , Bittig A.T. , Andrienko N. , Schumann H. , Tominski C.
Published: July 2015

Analyzing movements in their spatial and temporal context is a complex task. We are additionally interested in understanding the movements’ dependency on parameters that govern the processes behind the movement. We propose a visual analytics approach combining analytic, visual, and interactive means to deal with the added complexity. The key idea is to perform an analytical extraction of features that capture distinct movement characteristics. Different parameter configurations and extracted features are then visualized in a compact fashion to facilitate an overview of the data. Interaction enables the user to access details about features, to compare features, and to relate features back to the original movement. We instantiate our approach with a repository of more than twenty accepted and novel features to help analysts in gaining insight into simulations of chaotic behavior of thousands of entities over thousands of data points. Domain experts applied our solution successfully to study dynamic groups in such movements in relation to thousands of parameter configurations.
Vector Field Visualization of Advective‐Diffusive Flows
Authors: Hochstetter H. , Wurm M. , Kolb A.
Published: July 2015

We propose a framework for unified visualization of advective and diffusive concentration fluxes, which play a key role in many phenomena like, e.g. Marangoni convection and microscopic mixing. The main idea is the decomposition of fluxes into their concentration and velocity parts. Using this flux decomposition, we are able to convey advective‐diffusive concentration transport using integral lines. In order to visualize superimposed flux effects, we introduce a new graphical metaphor, the stream feather, which adds extensions to stream tubes pointing in the directions of deviating fluxes. The resulting unified visualization of macroscopic advection and microscopic diffusion allows for deeper insight into complex flow scenarios that cannot be achieved with current volume and surface rendering techniques alone.

Our approach for flux decomposition and visualization of advective‐diffusive flows can be applied to any kind of (simulation) data if velocity and concentration data are available. We demonstrate that our techniques can easily be integrated into Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) based simulations.
Visualization of Coherent Structures of Light Transport
Authors: Zirr Tobias , Ament Marco , Dachsbacher Carsten
Published: July 2015

Inspired by vector field topology, an established tool for the extraction and identification of important features of flows and vector fields, we develop means for the analysis of the structure of light transport. For that, we derive an analogy to vector field topology that defines coherent structures in light transport. We also introduce Finite‐Time Path Deflection (FTPD), a scalar quantity that represents the deflection characteristic of all light transport paths passing through a given point in space. For virtual scenes, the FTPD can be computed directly using path‐space Monte Carlo integration. We visualize the FTPD field for several example scenes and discuss the revealed structures. Lastly, we show that the coherent regions visualized by the FTPD are closely related to the coherent regions in our new topologically‐motivated analysis of light transport. FTPD visualizations are thus also visualizations of the structure of light transport.
Neuroprotective Effects of Direct Intrathecal Administration of Granulocyte Colony‐Stimulating Factor in Rats with Spinal Cord Injury
Authors: Chen Wu‐Fu , Chen Chun‐Hong , Chen Nan‐Fu , Sung Chun‐Sung , Wen Zhi‐Hong
Published: July 2015

Aims

To date, no reliable methods have proven effective for treating spinal cord injury (SCI). Even systemic administration of methylprednisolone (MP) remains controversial. We previously reported that intrathecal (i.t.) administration of granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor (G‐CSF) improves outcome after experimental spinal cord ischemic insults in rats. The present study aimed to examine the neuroprotective efficacy of i.t. G‐CSF or MP in rats with SCI.

Methods

Female rats were subjected to spinal cord contusion injury at T10 using NYU impactor. We i.t. administered G‐CSF (10 μg) or MP (one bolus of 100 μg, followed by 18 μg/h infusion for 23 h) immediately after SCI.

Results

Both G‐CSF and MP significantly improved the rats’ motor function after SCI. Immunofluorescence staining revealed suppressed expression of transforming growth factor‐beta 1 (TGF‐β1), chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (neurocan and phosphacan), OX‐42 and tumor necrosis factor alpha after i.t. G‐CSF, but not MP, in rats with SCI. In addition, G‐CSF significantly decreased the expression of astrocytic TGF‐β1 and glial fibrillary acidic protein around the injury site. Furthermore, rats with G‐CSF treatment showed increased neurofilament expression beyond the glial scars.

Conclusion

Direct i.t. administration of G‐CSF provides a promising therapeutic option for SCI or related spinal diseases.