bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Social service purchasing in China: Rationale, features, and risks
Authors: Cortis Natasha , Fang Qian , Dou Zhenfang 
Published: September 2018

AbstractAs part of a broader program of market reform, China's local governments are progressing an agenda of purchasing child welfare and other social services from the nongovernment sector, primarily to expand capacity and address vast unmet need. This paper draws on current research evidence to explore the approaches to purchasing emerging in China, examining the rationale for purchasing and models of supply, competition, and regulation. While some approaches are modeled on direct service contracting, direct purchasing of social service “posts” is also used, aimed at achieving goals of professionalization alongside service expansion. Overall, the review shows purchasing is helping to rapidly expand service scale and capacity; however, regulatory strategies for managing and mitigating risks to quality and access appear lacking. This highlights the need for further scholarship aimed at developing the robust risk management strategies which are required to support high quality, sustainable provision of purchased services.
Compliance Over Time by Australian Firms with IFRS Disclosure Requirements
Authors: Wang Xiaojiao (Jo) 
Published: September 2018

AbstractPrior literature indicates that compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is not complete in many countries. This study examines practice under the Australian version of IFRS by measuring compliance with the disclosure requirements of eight standards. The study focuses on data drawn from the consolidated financial statements of a sample of the top 200 Australian listed companies. To enable a time‐series analysis of compliance over time, this study examines three reporting years: 2006, 2010 and 2014. This research identifies material non‐compliance among Australian companies, finding that some disclosure items appear to be neglected by companies, such as some of the requirements of AASB 137 Provisions. This non‐compliance raises questions about accounting and audit quality in Australia. It may suggest poor regulatory oversight.
Caudal oviduct coiling in a viperid snake, Crotalus durissus
Authors: Muniz‐Da‐Silva Diego F. , Passos Juliana , Siegel Dustin S. , Almeida‐Santos Selma M. 
Published: September 2018

AbstractSperm storage is common in the oviducts of female snakes and results in the decoupling of mating from ovulation and fertilization. In the majority of female snakes examined, sperm storage occurs in receptacles of the infundibular regions of the oviducts. In pitvipers (Viperida, Crotalinae), the storage of sperm was described in the caudal regions of the oviducts (utero‐vaginal junction) through a mechanism termed uterine muscular twisting (UMT). Uterine muscular twisting was described as a twisting of the oviducts after copulation because of uterine contractions. The twisting remains until ovulation at which time the oviducts straighten and sperm migrate cranially to fertilize ovulated ova. Here, we demonstrate that the UMT is not formed by twisting (rotation around axis) of the oviducts of Crotalus durissus but rather coils formed by the inner layers of the oviducts at the utero‐vaginal junction. Contrary to previous findings, coiling of the oviducts is present in females throughout the year, not only in the postcopulatory period; however, the degree of coiling is variable and may be linked to the seasonal reproductive cycle of C. durissus. We categorize the degree of coiling as pronounced coil, discreet coil or absent coil.
Exploring and enhancing spatial thinking skills: Learning differences of university students within a web‐based GIS mapping environment
Authors: Xiang Xi , Liu Yan 
Published: September 2018

AbstractThere is a dearth of research concerning the learning effects of web‐based mapping tools on students with different learning characteristics. This study investigates the extent that different learning styles exert an influence on spatial thinking of students within a web‐based GIS mapping environment. Thirty six sophomores utilized the tools over one semester in a course guided by a blended learning approach. A learning style inventory, a self‐rating questionnaire and a survey were administered to these students to examine their learning styles, the development of their spatial thinking skills as well as factors influencing the enhancement of their spatial thinking skills. Results show that all learners have improved their spatial thinking skills after interacting with the GIS mapping tools. However, the visual and auditory learners have improved significantly more than the kinaesthetic learners (p = 0.024). The survey result from students shows that such differences may be attributable to the design of the web interface that matches the learning styles of the visual and auditory learners better than with that of the kinaesthetic learners. Our findings contribute to the current debate on students’ learning styles as well as to help instructional designers and educators optimize learning in spatial thinking through personalized learning design.
Prognostic factors and primary treatment for Waldenström macroglobulinemia – a Swedish Lymphoma Registry study
Authors: Brandefors Lena , Melin Beatrice , Lindh Jack , Lundqvist Kristina , Kimby Eva 
Published: September 2018

AbstractWe present a nationwide prospective Swedish registry‐based study of Waldenström macroglobulinaemia (WM), that focuses on incidence and survival in relation to clinical prognostic factors and primary systemic therapies. A total of 1511 patients with WM and lymphoplasmocytic lymphoma (LPL) were registered in the Swedish Lymphoma Registry (SLR) between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2014. The age‐adjusted incidence of WM/LPL was 11·5 per million persons per year, three times higher than the reported incidence worldwide. Medical records were retrieved for 1135 patients (75%). A retrospective review showed that 981 (86·1%) of these patients fulfilled the World Health Organization diagnostic criteria for WM and these patients were analysed further. The overall survival (OS) improved between two periods – 2000–2006 and 2007–2014 – with a five‐year OS of 61% and 70%, respectively. Significant prognostic factors for OS, evaluated at the time of diagnosis, were age, elevated lactate dehydrogenase level and haemoglobin ≤115 g/l for patients receiving therapy 0–3 months after diagnosis, and age, poor performance status, haemoglobin ≤115 g/l, and female sex in “watch and wait” patients (multivariable analysis). The level of the IgM monoclonal immunoglobulin had no significant prognostic value. Rituximab included in first‐line therapy was associated with improved survival.
Advancement flap procedure in Crohn and non‐Crohn perineal fistulas: a simple surgical approach
Authors: Bessi G. , Siproudhis L. , Merlini l'Héritier A. , Wallenhorst T. , Le Balc'h E. , Bouguen G. , Brochard C. 
Published: September 2018

AbstractAimRectal flap advancement is still a part of therapeutic management of anal fistulas. Data on the outcome of rectal flap advancement in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) is scarce. Our objective was to ascertain rates of failure of rectal flap advancement and to determine predictive factors for failure, with a special focus on CDMethodThe patients’ details, the characteristics of the fistula and the main clinical and therapeutic events were prospectively assessed among patients who underwent rectal flap advancement. All patients had a partial‐thickness rectal flap advancement. Failure of primary rectal flap advancement was defined as the occurrence of at least one of the following: abscess, discharge, visible external opening, further drainage procedure. The rates of failure of rectal flap and the predictive factors of failure were assessed.ResultsEighty‐seven patients (34 patients with CD) were included. The median (interquartile range) follow‐up was 13.3 (3.8–38.1) months. The cumulative failure rates were 15.9% (10.3–23.6), 23.0% (16.0–31.8), 31.6% (22.9–41.8) and 41.3% (30.5–53.0) at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months respectively. These data were comparable in Crohn's patients. Those with a supralevator fistula [hazard ratio 2.53 (1.01–7.71), P = 0.0476] and patients who had fewer than two fistula drainages before rectal flap [hazard ratio 3.19 (1.40–8.23), P = 0.005] were associated with higher rectal flap failure rates. In CD patients, the absence of biological therapy at referral was predictive of failure.ConclusionRectal flap advancement is a satisfactory option for the therapeutic management of anal fistula, including CD populations. Fistula drainage is needed before performing this surgical technique.
Accountability and patronage in extraordinary administrations: Evidence from Pompeii
Authors: Ferri Paolo , Zan Luca 
Published: September 2018

AbstractDrawing on the concept of an accountability web, this paper analyzes the 2‐year long extraordinary administration of the archaeological site at Pompeii, where the Italian Prime Minister appointed a special Commissioner to deal with the alleged decay of the site in July 2008. Findings shed light on critical issues related to the appointment of “loyal experts” in terms of strong personalization, short‐term thinking, and the influence of the media in the administration of public services. Moreover, the paper introduces patronage accountability as a distinct accountability dimension that is characterized by a hierarchical and informal nature, and which cannot be accessed by those who are not part of the transaction. We add to the literature by identifying patronage accountability as a separate accountability dimension that conflicts with more common ones, and examine the implications of this practice for public administration.
Not all pycnodysostosis‐related mutants of human cathepsin K are inactive – crystal structure and biochemical studies of an active mutant I249T
Authors: Roy Sumana , Das Chakraborty Sudeshna , Biswas Sampa 
Published: September 2018

Human cathepsin K (CTSK) is a collagenolytic lysosomal cysteine protease that plays an important role in bone turnover. Mutation in CTSK gene is associated with loss of collagenolytic activity of CTSK leading to an autosomal recessive bone disorder called pycnodysostosis. Although a number of pycnodysostotic missense mutations have been reported, underlying mechanism of the disease is not clear. In this study, we investigated in vitro six recombinant pycnodysostosis‐related mutants of human CTSK (G79E, I249T, G243E, G303E, G319C and Q187P). While all the mutants, like wild‐type, show similar high levels of expression in Escherichia coli, four of them (G79E, G303E, G319C and Q187P) are inactive, unstable and spontaneously degrade during purification process. In contrast, proteolytic/collagenolytic activity, zymogen activation kinetics and stability of G243E and I249T mutants are nominally affected. Crystal structure of I249T at 1.92 Å resolution shows that the mutation in R‐domain causes conformational changes of a surface loop in the L‐domain although the catalytic cleft remains unaltered. Molecular simulation, normal mode analysis and fluorescence lifetime measurement eliminated the possibility that the change in L‐domain surface loop orientation is a crystallization artefact. CD‐based thermal melting profile indicates that stability of I249T is significantly higher than wild‐type. Our studies first time reports that pycnodysostosis‐related mutations do not always lead to complete loss of general proteolytic activity or specific collagenolytic activity of CTSK. The first crystal structure of a pycnodysostotic mutant (I249T) provides critical information that may pave new avenues towards understanding the disease at molecular level.DatabaseThe atomic co‐ordinates and structure factors for I249T mutant of human CTSK (codes 5Z5O) have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank (http://wwpdb.org/)
Drought attenuates the impact of fish on aquatic macroinvertebrate richness and community composition
Authors: McDevitt‐Galles Travis , Johnson Pieter T. J. 
Published: September 2018

Abstract

Identifying ecological niche filters that shape species community composition is a critical first step in understanding the relative contributions of deterministic and stochastic processes in structuring communities. Systems with harsh ecological filters often have a more deterministic basis to community structure. Although these filters are often treated as static, investigations into their stability through time are rare, particularly in combination with extreme forms of environmental change such as drought.

We examined the richness and composition of aquatic macroinvertebrate communities from 36 ponds over 4 years during the onset of a megadrought to answer the following questions: (a) what are the relative influences of non‐native fish presence and pond permanence in structuring communities? And (b) how do the magnitudes of such filters vary through time?

As predicted, fish presence had a strong, negative effect on both alpha and gamma diversity, lowering average invertebrate richness in pond communities by 23%. However, fish presence and sample year interacted to determine both richness and taxa composition: as drought conditions intensified, the effects of fish weakened such that there were no differences in the richness or composition between fish and fishless ponds by the later sampling years. Moreover, large‐bodied invertebrate groups—often considered highly vulnerable to fish predation—were detected within fish‐occupied sites by the final year of the study.

This pattern was associated with progressive decreases in precipitation due to a severe drought in California, emphasising the importance of exogenous, regional factors in moderating the strength of biotic niche filters on local community structure over time. Given that all detected fish species were non‐native, these results also have application to understanding and forecasting changes in the diversity of aquatic invertebrates in response to biological invasions.
Association of solidarity between adult children and older parents with cognitive decline
Authors: Kim Jae‐Hyun , Chon Doukyoung 
Published: September 2018

AimThe purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between older adults’ contact with their adult children and their cognitive decline. Furthermore, contact with children was considered in terms of visual contact and non‐visual contact.MethodsData from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging from 2006 to 2014 was assessed using longitudinal data analysis, and 6634 participants were included at baseline with no missing information. The χ2‐test and generalized linear mixed model with a binary distribution were used to investigate the association between solidarity of adult children and parents, and cognitive decline.ResultsNon‐visual contact with the first‐born child was significantly associated with cognitive decline. With daily contact as the reference: for two to three times weekly, the OR was 1.224 (P = 0.033); for two to three times monthly, the OR was 1.357 (P = 0.003); for five to six times yearly, the OR was 1.3816 (P = 0.008); and for very rarely, the OR was 1.786 (P < 0.0002), showing a significant effect for all groups. In the final sex‐, age‐ and marriage status‐specific analysis, non‐visual contact with the first‐born child was significantly associated with cognitive decline for women, people aged ≤64 years and people who were married.ConclusionsThe present study validated previous research on the importance of social contact, and further assessed different modes of contact to show that non‐visual contact is more beneficial than visual contact in terms of cognitive decline. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2018; 18: 1501–1506.
BETWEEN CONTINUITY AND CHANGE: EARLY TWENTIETH‐CENTURY GERMAN‐LANGUAGE CRIME AND DETECTIVE NOVELS AND THE ‘FAMILIENKRIMI’
Authors: Karolle‐Berg Julia 
Published: September 2018

ABSTRACTGerman‐language crime and detective novels of the 1920s and 1930s have recently enjoyed scholarly attention, yet the first decade of the century remains relatively unresearched. This study explores a popular subgenre of the ‘Kriminalroman’ from this crucial period: novels that featured a criminal investigation in which central characters are part of an extended family, referred to here as ‘Familienkrimis’. In them, the resolution of the crime requires addressing familial conflicts, which then enables the (re‐)union of a romantic couple. My sample comprises five novels, Im Haus der Witwe (1901) by Robert Kohlrausch, Subotins Erbe (1905) by Gabriele von Schlippenbach, Die Erbtante (1906) by Margarethe Koßak, Schatten (1910) by Isidore Kaulbach, and Schwarze Perlen (1910) by August Weißl. As I show, these ‘Familienkrimis’ afford a productive context for analysing the evolution of the genre in the German‐speaking world. Early twentieth‐century novels leaned on literary conventions present in the popular nineteenth‐century family‐centric crime fiction of William Wilkie Collins and Émile Gaboriau, such as intergenerational conflicts, gothic elements, and certain detective types. Whether authors of ‘Familienkrimis’ adhered to or innovated on established narrative conventions, the trends that emerge in this subgenre offer insight into the general catalogue of productive generic devices before 1945.
THE EAST GERMAN FILM COMING OUT (1989) AS MELANCHOLIC REFLECTION AND HOPEFUL PROJECTION
Authors: Frackman Kyle 
Published: September 2018

ABSTRACTThis essay argues that the East German film Coming Out (1989) achieves a dual objective: to reflect a version of living conditions for gay citizens of the GDR at the time and to project the possibility of an enlightened future in which they, and other outsiders, do not face discrimination because of their difference. Coming Out, directed by Heiner Carow, was the first feature film about homosexuality in the GDR. It premiered the day the Berlin Wall fell and came after a long and complicated history of gay rights and activism in East Germany. Despite decriminalisation in 1968, the position of lesbians and gay men in the GDR was an ambivalent and contradictory one. Through narrative and cinematographic means, the film refers to gay history and to the dissonance between socialist society and individualism, while also presenting an affirmative message for positive change and development.
THE STRANGE EVERYDAY: DIVIDED BERLIN IN PROSE TEXTS BY HERTA MÜLLER AND EMINE SEVGI ÖZDAMAR
Authors: Mcmurtry Áine 
Published: September 2018

ABSTRACTThe Rumanian‐born Nobel laureate, Herta Müller, and the Turkish–German writer, Emine Sevgi Özdamar, came to reside in West and East Berlin respectively following persecution under political regimes on different sides of the Cold War divide. This comparative article examines the ‘strange gaze’ on everyday Berlin in two of their German‐language texts in order to consider the potential of displaced modes of cultural production to rethink the reunified nation. Müller's Reisende auf einem Bein (1989) and Özdamar's ‘Mein Berlin’ (2001) engage with divided Berlin as a place of resettlement and new beginnings, yet simultaneously reveal historical continuities between the two Cold War Germanys, and with those authoritarian states their authors had left behind. Offering an alternative to psychologising interpretations that focus on the works as expressions of historical trauma, a tendency that can downplay their contemporary political significance, the article examines how the texts engage with experiences of migration to express the material imbrication of personal and socio‐historical reality. Ultimately the experimental prose texts, themselves born of Cold War histories of forced migration, will be found to make a prescient contribution to reconceptualising the post‐1989 German nation and to prefigure the migrant as the key agent of societal change.
SPACE IS THE PLACE: AFROFUTURISM IN OLIVIA WENZEL'S MAIS IN DEUTSCHLAND UND ANDEREN GALAXIEN (2015)
Authors: Layne Priscilla 
Published: September 2018

ABSTRACTIn this article I explore the influence of Afrofuturism on Olivia Wenzel's play Mais in Deutschland und anderen Galaxien. The play focuses on the black German protagonist Noah by showing scenes from his life, ranging from his childhood in East Germany to his problems as an adult. In a post‐modernist style, the play does not follow one narrative thread and there is no authoritative perspective. Most importantly, Wenzel's inclusion of fantastical characters, space travel, and a non‐linear narrative adds an element of Afrofuturism to the text. In a self‐referential move, one of the play's narrative threads is a comic book story that Noah writes about himself and his mother called Mais in Deutschland und anderen Galaxien, and this is where the fantastical characters and space travel emerge. At the conclusion of both the comic and the play, Noah's fictional self sprouts wings and flies into space, escaping the stifling structures that determined his life and his relationships on earth. I argue that these Afrofuturist elements allow Wenzel to challenge the notion of a homogeneous black German subject, by positing the possibility of multiple galaxies and diverse ways for Noah to experience his self that do not necessarily coalesce to form a unified subject.
Effects of ozone treatment on pesticide residues in food: a review
Authors: Wang Shan , Wang Jiayi , Wang Tianyu , Li Chen , Wu Zhaoxia 
Published: September 2018

SummaryIn agriculture, pesticide residues have always posed a major safety hazard to human health. With the development of agricultural production and improvements in science and technology, additional methods for degradation of pesticide residues have emerged. Amongst them, ozone treatment recently became a popular method owing to its outstanding technical advantages. This review is an in‐depth analysis of the mechanisms by which ozone treatment degrades pesticide residues. The main mechanism involves direct oxidation by oxygen atoms, and indirect oxidation driven by hydroxyl radicals. The effects of ozone treatment on pesticide residues in food with respect to the ozone concentration, duration of ozone treatment, type of food, variety of pesticides, level of pesticide residues and environmental factors have been discussed. Furthermore, the impact of ozone treatment on the quality of food is highlighted. Low levels of ozone result in minor changes to the visual and sensory characteristics of food. In addition, this article discusses several restrictions surrounding the current application of ozone treatment for the degradation of pesticide residues. More specifically, the most crucial issue is the potential toxicity of ozonation byproducts generated by the process, which is also the current focus of research on ozone treatment for the degradation of pesticide residues. After weighing the advantages and disadvantages of ozone treatment, it is recommended as a method of degrading pesticide residues.