bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
ICP-MS analysis of metal and metalloid concentrations of common microbiological growth media reveals presence of heavy metals
Authors: Ng Wenfa 
Published: September 2020

AbstractTrace elements such as cobalt and manganese play important roles as cofactors of enzymes, and thus, they collectively impact on biochemistry and cellular metabolism. Hence, it is of importance to gain an understanding of the trace metal and metalloid concentrations of growth medium in order to fully account for the growth performance of the bacterium. But, this aspect of microbial cell cultivation is usually neglected. Advent of instrumented techniques for metals and metalloid analysis such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has significantly facilitated trace element analysis at the parts per billion (ppb) to parts per million (ppm) level in aqueous matrixes free of organic interference. In this work, ICP-MS was utilized as the principal tool for profiling the range of metals and metalloids in different microbiological growth medium ranging from minimal salts medium to complex chemically undefined medium. Growth media examined include: LB Lennox, LB Lennox + 2 g/L glucose, LB Lennox (buffered, 89 mM phosphate), LB Lennox (buffered, 89 mM phosphate) + 6 g/L glucose, formulated medium + 6 g/L glucose, Tryptic Soy Broth, M9 medium, and M9 + 1 g/L yeast extract medium. Results reveal detection of elevated concentrations of chromium, copper and cadmium in different versions of LB Lennox and Tryptic Soy Broth. Concentrations of the above heavy metals in the tens of ppm range meant that the growth media could only support the growth of environmental bacteria with some resistance to heavy metal toxicity. On the other hand, no heavy metals were detected in M9 minimal salts medium or a modified version with supplementation of 1 g/L yeast extract. This indicated that minimal salts media may have less of a problem with heavy metal contamination compared to chemically undefined microbiological growth media. Collectively, the results highlight the essentiality of conducting a comprehensive profiling experiment for detecting different metals and metalloids at trace levels in microbiological growth medium. Such data would in addition to offering a deeper understanding of some peculiar growth behaviour from some microorganisms, may also help identify contamination issue during manufacture that preclude use of the media in cultivating many laboratory domesticated microorganisms.Subject areasbiochemistry, biotechnology, cell biology, microbiology, biochemical engineering,
Single-cell transcriptomics, scRNA-Seq and C1 CAGE discovered distinct phases of pluripotency during naïve-to-primed conversion in mice
Authors: Böttcher Michael , Tada Yuhki , Moody Jonathan , Kondo Masayo , Ura Hiroki , Abugessaisa Imad , Kasukawa Takeya , Hon Chung-Chau , Nagao Koji , Carninci Piero , Abe Kuniya 
Published: September 2020

AbstractBackgroundTwo types of mammalian pluripotent stem cells (PSC), i.e. naïve and primed possess distinct cellular characteristics. It is largely unknown how these differences are generated during naïve-to-primed transition process. We have established a robustin vitrotransition system using a Wnt inhibitor for the first time and analyzed dynamic changes in cellular status via single-cell RNA-sequencing and C1 CAGE analyses.ResultsAnalysis of known marker genes suggested that the cell transition process progresses as expected. However, cluster analyses revealed a sudden increase in expression profile diversities three and four days after induction of the transition. These expression diversities can be reconciled by the presence of two subpopulations with distinct transcription profiles emerging at these time points. One of the subpopulations appears transiently, and surprisingly these cells showed a global downregulation of gene expression. Moreover, initiation of random X chromosome inactivation (XCI) coincides with the appearance of these transient cells. The other subpopulation can be maintained as a stem cell line and possesses expression profiles more similar to those of primed epiblast stem cells (EpiSC) than embryonic stem cells (ESC). However, there are important differences in gene expression related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), suggesting that this subpopulation may represent a novel pluripotent state that has an intermediate cellular phenotype between ESC and EpiSC.ConclusionsThese findings should contribute to our understanding of the establishment and maintenance of distinct differentiation statuses of mammalian PSCs and provide new insights into the pluripotency spectrum in general.
Parental child feeding practices and growth status of Orang Asli children in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Authors: Raymond Leprince Jovita , Sariman Sarina , Basir Mohammed Rahmah Begam 
Published: September 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship between parental child feeding practices with growth status of Orang Asli (OA) children in Negeri Sembilan.Design/methodology/approachThis is a cross-sectional study conducted amongst 190 OA children aged 4–6 years studying at Tabika KEMAS OA in Negeri Sembilan. Mothers were interviewed to obtain socio-demographic information while feeding practices were assessed using Malay version of Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ-M). Growth status of the children were determined using WHO ANTHRO Plus software. Three indicators of growth status assessed were weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ) and body mass index (BMI)-for-age (BAZ) z-scores.FindingsThe mean score for feeding practices used by the mothers while feeding their child showed that most of the mothers practiced modelling (3.71 ± 0.82), encouraging balance and variety (3.52 ± 0.76) and environment (3.66 ± 0.66) while the practice of restriction to weight (1.85 ± 0.79) and emotional regulation (2.20 ± 0.96) were low. Most of the OA children had normal WAZ (70.0%), HAZ (71.1%) and BAZ (84.2%). Amongst the three indicators of growth status, BAZ was used to study the relationship with feeding practices. The use of feeding practices such as pressure (r = −0.34, p < 0.01), food as a reward (r = −0.23, p=<0.01), child control (r = −0.18, p = 0.01) and restriction to weight (r = 0.19, p = 0.01) were associated with BAZ.Research limitations/implicationsThis study only focussed on OA children of Temuan and Semelai sub-ethnics studying at kindergarten specific for OA children, thus findings could not be generalised to the entire OA population in Malaysia.Social implicationsThere is a need to address the OA population as they continue to be amongst the most disadvantaged population often affected with poor health and social outcomes.Originality/valueIn this study, a wide range of scales in that represents different feeding practices in CFPQ-M was assessed instead of focussing on limited type of feeding practices. Thus, a better understanding was observed regarding the healthy and unhealthy feeding practices. The result of this study could be useful to update the existing literature of OA research, and to plan suitable interventions with regards to feeding practices and growth status of the children, especially amongst this vulnerable community.
The influence of food trucks' service quality on customer satisfaction and its impact toward customer loyalty
Authors: Gopi Bagyalakshmi , Samat Nusrah 
Published: September 2020

PurposeService quality has been highlighted as the vital element in fulfilling customers' needs, which contributes to the customers' evaluation on the services given. As food truck business is increasingly popular in Malaysia, it is important for the food trucks' service provider to ensure that their service quality meets the standard to satisfy the customers in order to build customer loyalty. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between food trucks' service quality with customer satisfaction and its impact toward customer loyalty. The customer service was measured using service quality (SERVQUAL) attributes (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy).Design/methodology/approachA quantitative study was conducted to examine the influence of food trucks' service quality on customer satisfaction and its impact toward customer loyalty. A total of 100 food truck customers have been randomly selected to answer the self-administered questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using frequency, descriptive, reliability, Pearson correlation and regression analysis.FindingsFindings indicated that three out of five attributes of service quality have significant relationships toward customer satisfaction. They are tangibles (β = 0.225, p < 0.05), reliability (β = 0.349, p < 0.05) and assurance (β = 0.311, p < 0.05). Moreover, the customer loyalty (β = 0.643, p < 0.01) has a significant relationship with customer satisfaction.Originality/valueService quality can be characterized as the discrepancy between customer service standards and actual service. When expectations are higher than performance, perceived quality is less than acceptable and therefore consumer disappointment exists which eventually decreases customer loyalty toward a product or services. The study suggested that physical image of the food trucks' service like physical facilities, how the service being performed and also courtesy and knowledge of the food trucks' employees are very important to transfer confidence and trust to customers, which then will influence them to be loyal.
An integrated social vulnerability assessment of riverine flood hazards in Shelby County, Tennessee
Authors: Shupe-Diggs Clarke , Diko Stephen Kofi , Santo Charles A. 
Published: September 2020

PurposeVulnerability studies are commonly used to inform planning, as cities and regions seek to build resilience to environmental hazards. In Shelby County, Tennessee, socioeconomic census tract data were mapped to identify the socially vulnerable population and places to underpin strategies in the Mid-South Regional Resilience Master Plan (RRMP). While this is an important step in identifying vulnerability in the county, this paper aims to enhance the local analysis through an integrated approach that considers both social factors and environmental hazards in assessing vulnerability.Design/methodology/approachThis paper conducts a social vulnerability assessment by integrating a social vulnerability index with risk exposure analysis at the census tract level to identify the population and places vulnerable to riverine flooding in Shelby County.FindingsThe analysis reveals that social vulnerability assessments that do not relate socioeconomic factors to specific environmental hazards such as riverine flooding underestimate the population and places that are vulnerable. For Shelby County, this has the tendency to undermine the prioritization and effectiveness of strategies to build resilience to riverine flooding and can worsen preexisting marginalization.Practical implicationsThis paper recommends integrated vulnerability assessments for each of the environmental hazards identified in the Mid-South RRMP to augment existing resilience efforts in the county.Originality/valueThis paper enhances the understanding of social vulnerability assessments by consolidating the need for integrated assessment frameworks as basis for resiliency planning.
Understanding knowledge sharing through the working practices
Authors: Agrifoglio Rocco , Briganti Paola , Varriale Luisa , Metallo Concetta , Ferrara Maria 
Published: September 2020

Purpose
Building upon the practice-based framework, this paper aims to focus on working practices for understanding how knowledge is transferred among health-care professionals within hospitals.

Design/methodology/approach
Using an ethnographic and interpretative approach, the authors conducted preliminary research based on a quali-quantitative methodology within one of the largest hospitals in Southern Italy.

Findings
This study allowed to achieve several results that could be significant and relevant within the health-care sector. First, this paper identified some of the main working practices and their associated activities in health care. Moreover, this paper identified the main organizational forms and/or tools enabling hospital personnel to share and learn the various types of knowledge for each of the prior identified practices.

Practical implications
Hospital managers should develop strategies and policies that take into account the nature and typology of knowledge-sharing processes among health-care professionals in terms of practices.

Originality/value
The paper contributes to practice-based studies identifying identified some of the main working practices, as well as the main tools for sharing and learning of the various types of knowledge.
Leading from the middle: vice-principals in Singapore as boundary spanners
Authors: Ho Jeanne , Kang Trivina , Shaari Imran 
Published: September 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine leading from the middle, which is consistent with calls to distribute leadership, while expanding the direction of influence, from the normal top-down to include a bottom-up or lateral direction. The paper proposes that the position of the vice-principal enables the role incumbent to lead from the middle as a boundary spanner. The research question was what leadership from the middle looks like for vice-principals.Design/methodology/approachThe study consisted of interviews of 28 vice-principals and 10 principals. A mixed case and theme-oriented strategy was adapted, with member checking with each vice-principal.FindingsThe findings indicate that in leading from the middle, vice-principals play boundary spanning roles of connecting, translating and brokering: (1) connecting between organisational levels, (2) translating between vision/direction and actualisation, (3) connecting between middle managers and (4) brokering and translating between the ministry and the school.Originality/valueLeading from the middle is a nascent concept which is worth exploring, given the complexity of educational systems with multiple ecological levels, and the need for leadership to create coherence between the levels.
Knowledge management practice of medical cloud logistics industry: transportation resource semantic discovery based on ontology modelling
Authors: Zhou Fuli , He Yandong , Ma Panpan , Mahto Raj V. 
Published: September 2020

PurposeThe booming of the Internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques contributes to knowledge adoption and management innovation for the healthcare industry. It is of great significance to transport the medical resources to required places in an efficient way. However, it is difficult to exactly discover matched transportation resources and deliver to its destination due to the heterogeneity. This paper studies the medical transportation resource discovery mechanism, leading to efficiency improvement and operational innovation.Design/methodology/approachTo solve the transportation resource semantic discovery problem under the novel cloud environment, the ontology modelling approach is used for both transportation resources and tasks information modes. Besides, medical transportation resource discovery mechanism is proposed, and resource matching rules are designed including three stages: filtering reasoning, QoS-based matching and user preferences-based rank to satisfy personalized demands of users. Furthermore, description logic rules are built to express the developed matching rules.FindingsAn organizational transportation case is taken as an example to describe the medical transportation logistics resource semantic discovery process under cloud medical service scenario. Results derived from the proposed semantic discovery mechanism could assist operators to find the most suitable resources.Research limitations/implicationsThe case study validates the effectiveness of the developed transportation resource semantic discovery mechanism, contributing to knowledge management innovation for the medical logistics industry.Originality/valueTo improve task-resource matching accuracy under cloud scenario, this study develops a transportation resource semantic discovery procedure from the viewpoint of knowledge management. The novel knowledge management practice contributes to operational management of the cloud medical logistics service by introducing ontology modelling and creative management.
Beyond lurking and posting: segmenting the members of a brand community on the basis of engagement, attitudes and identification
Authors: Haverila Matti , McLaughlin Caitlin , Haverila Kai C. , Arora Mehak 
Published: September 2020

PurposeBrand communities are an increasingly important way for brands to interact with their customers, as they give brands an opportunity to learn from and interact with people with a demonstrated interest in the brand. Literature has explored the difference between lurkers and posters within these brand communities. However, there are other ways to segment members, just as there are many ways to segment customers of products and services – and this paper aims to be a step toward going beyond simple lurking vs posting behavior as a means of differentiating community members. As such, the purpose of this paper is to segment brand communities based on not only their participation behavior but also their identification with the brand community, loyalty and benefits gained from membership.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a cross-sectional survey of members of various brand communities in North America. Partial least squares structural equation modeling together with finite mixture partial least squares and prediction-oriented segmentation was used to discover the distinct segments of brand community members.FindingsThe findings indicate that there are two distinct segments that behave differently regarding their behavior, attitudes and motives. Segment one has a stronger relationship between identification and other outcomes and is also more motivated by social enhancement than segment two. Thus, it is clear that brand community members can be segmented and served based on more than their posting behavior.Originality/valueThe members of brand communities have often been thought of as homogeneous. This paper is unique in identifying heterogeneity among the members of the brand community and demonstrates the need for brand community managers to identify these differences and manage the brand community accordingly.
The role of next‐generation sequencing in the investigation of ultrasound‐identified fetal structural anomalies
Authors: Kilby MD 
Published: September 2020

Fetal structural anomalies have an impact on fetal mortality and morbidity. Next‐generation sequencing (NGS) may be incorporated into clinical pathways for investigation of paediatric morbidity but can also be used to delineate the prognosis of fetal anomalies. This paper reviews the role of NGS in the investigation of fetal malformations, the literature defining the clinical utility, the technique most commonly used and potential promise and challenges for implementation into clinical practice. Prospective case selection with informative pre‐test counselling by multidisciplinary teams is imperative. Regulated laboratory sequencing, bioinformatic pathways with potential variant identification and conservative matching with the phenotype is important.Tweetable abstractPrenatal exome sequencing in fetal structural anomalies yields diagnostic information in up to 20% of cases.
Gestational age limits for abortion and cross‐border reproductive care in Europe: a mixed‐methods study
Authors: De Zordo S , Zanini G , Mishtal J , Garnsey C , Ziegler A‐K , Gerdts C 
Published: September 2020

ObjectivesLittle is known about the experiences of women who travel within Europe for abortion care from countries with relatively liberal laws. This paper aims to assess the primary reasons for travel among a sample of women who travelled from European countries with relatively liberal abortion laws to obtain abortion care mainly in the UK and the Netherlands.DesignMulti‐country, 5‐year mixed methods study on barriers to legal abortion and travel for abortion.SettingUK, the Netherlands and Spain.Population or SampleWe present quantitative data from 204 surveys, and qualitative data from 30 in‐depth interviews with pregnant people who travelled to the UK, the Netherlands and Spain from countries where abortion is legal on broad grounds within specific gestational age (GA) limits.MethodsMixed‐methods.Main outcome measuresGA when presenting at abortion clinic, primary reason for abortion‐related travel.ResultsStudy participants overwhelmingly reported travelling for abortion because they had exceeded GA limits in their country of residence. Participants also reported numerous delays and barriers to receiving care.ConclusionsOur findings highlight the need for policies that support access to abortion throughout pregnancy and illustrate that early access to it is necessary but not sufficient to meet people’s reproductive health needs.FundingThis study is funded by the European Research Council (ERC).Tweetable abstractThis study shows that GA limits drive women from EU countries where abortion is legal to seek abortions abroad.
Estimating postmortem interval for human cadavers in a sub‐tropical climate using UV‐Vis‐near‐infrared Spectroscopy
Authors: Aitkenhead‐Peterson Jacqueline A. , Fancher James P. , Alexander Michael B. , Hamilton Michelle D. , Bytheway Joan A. , Wescott Daniel J. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractEstimating postmortem interval (PMI) of surface found skeletal remains is challenging. This novel study used UV‐Vis‐NIR spectroscopy to scan soil collected from cadaver decomposition islands (CDIs) ranging from 15‐ to 963‐d postmortem and control soils. A decomposition product spectra model (DPS model) was constructed by deducting the control soil spectra from the CDI soil spectra for the estimation of postmortem indices: PMI (d), ADD4, ADD10, and ADD20. The DPS model (n = 55) was calibrated and subjected to a full cross‐validation. CalibrationR2and RPD for the DPS model ranged from 0.97 to 0.99 and from 6.1 to 9.9, respectively, for the four postmortem interval indices. ValidationR2and RPD for the DPS model ranged from 0.73 to 0.80 and from 1.9 to 2.2, respectively. The DPS model estimated postmortem intervals for three test CDIs in a clay soil under perennial grassland (test set 1; n = 3) and six CDIs in a sandy soil under a loblolly pine forest (test set 2; n = 6). Test set 1 had PMI prediction ranges from −69 to −117 days, −796 to +832 ADD4, +552 to +2672 ADD10, and −478 to −20 ADD20of observed PMI. Test set 2 PMI prediction ranged from −198 to −65 days, −9923 to +2629 ADD4, −6724 to +1321 ADD10, and −2850 to +540 ADD20of observed PMI. Test set 2 had poor predictions for two CDIs, for all measures of postmortem indices resulting in discussion of sampling depth, effect of body mass index (BMI), and scavenging.