bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Stratified Algorithm for Skull Base Reconstruction With Endoscopic Endonasal Approach
Authors: Li Zhen , Ji Tao , Huang Guo-Dong , Guo Jian , Yang Ji-Hu , Li Wei-Ping 
Published: November 2017

Abstract
The authors presented our institutional experience with skull base reconstruction techniques and developed a stratified algorithm for different causes of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak. This is a retrospective review of patients who were diagnosed as CSF leak treated with skull base reconstruction or who underwent endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for sellar and parasellar lesions at our department from August 2012 to April 2017. The authors totally identified 57 (59 operations in total) patients who were divided into 3 groups according to the causes of CSF leak and different reconstruction techniques. All patients underwent skull base reconstruction with specific focus on diagnosis, reconstruction techniques and strategies, and clinical outcome. The reconstruction technique we adopted was the classical multiple-layer technique, as known as “sandwich” technique, with combination of fat tissue, septal bone, autologous fascia lata, artificial dura, and nasoseptal flap (NSF). The NSF was selectively harvested for large defects according to our protocol. The reconstruction failure rate is 4.4% (2 of 45) in patients underwent endoscopic surgery for sellar and parasellar lesions. Reconstruction for postoperative iatrogenic, traumatic, and spontaneous CSF leak achieved 100% success rate; 54.2% (32 of 59) operations were done with “sandwich” plus NSF. The overall failure rate of all reconstructions was 3.4% (2 of 59). A stratified approach with multiple-layer technique and NSF is reliable for skull base reconstruction.
The antiviral mechanism of MxA revealed by a molecular docking-based structural model of the complex of MxA and influenza A virus NP/RNPs
Authors: Sun Yeping 
Published: November 2017

AbstractMxA, a member of the dynamin superfamily, is a potent host restriction factor for influenza A virus replication. The viral nucleoprotein (NP) of influenza A virus has been suggested to be a target of MxA. However, the molecular details of the interactions between NP and MxA remain unknown. In the present study, loop L4 of MxA, which was shown to target viral component and is missing in the crystal structure of MxA was modeled on a dimer of the MxA. The dimer was then docked onto NP. The resulting NP-MxA dimer complex is in agreement with previous studies, as the interface contains many residues that were previously identified to be associated with MxA resistance. And the model was the used to construct NP-MxA ring. We also constructed a structural model of the complex of influenza virus NP and polymerase, and the NP residues that interact with MxA in the NP-MxA model partly overlap with those in the NP-polymerase model, so MxA may competitively inhibit the binding of NP and the polymerase and disrupt the assembly of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex. These results of this work represent a putative molecular mechanisms for MxA antiviral activity.
Optimizing gene expression by adapting splicing
Authors: Frumkin Idan , Yofe Ido , Bar-Ziv Raz , Voichek Yoav , Pilpel Yitzhak 
Published: November 2017

AbstractCan splicing be used by cells to adapt to new environmental challenges? While various adaptation mechanisms for regulating gene expression have been revealed for transcription and translation, the role of splicing and how it evolves to optimize gene-expression patterns has not been thoroughly investigated. To tackle this question, we employed a lab-evolution experimental approach that challenged yeast cells to increase expression levels of a gene that carries an inefficiently-spliced intron. We followed the evolution of multiple lines and found independent routes by which cells adapted. Surprisingly, we did not observe an intron loss event, a mechanism believed to be common in intron evolution. Instead, we identified mutations in cis that improved the intron’s splicing efficiency and increased the overall expression level of the entire gene. One of these cis-acting mutations occurred in an adjacent exon and hampered the functionality of the gene that was not under selection - demonstrating that adaptation of splicing efficiency may sometimes come at the expense of protein activity. Additionally, we observed adaptations in trans, which increased the cellular availability of the splicing machinery. These adaptations were achieved either by elevated expression levels of the splicing apparatus or, unexpectedly, by reduced expression levels of other intron-containing genes that are the natural consumers of this process. Ultimately, our work reveals novel molecular means by which the splicing machinery is changed by natural selection to optimize gene-expression patterns of cells.
Pairwise correlations of spiking activity changes along the ventral visual cortical pathway of macaque monkeys
Authors: Tamura Hiroshi 
Published: November 2017

AbstractSpiking activity often correlates across neurons in the cerebral cortex. Precise spike-timing correlation at millisecond scale reflects underlying neural circuitries. Correlations of stimulus evoked spiking activities affects the distributions of spike counts in a multi-neuron space and reflects stimulus encoding ability of neuron populations. The present study compared the degree of spiking-activity correlation among three areas of the macaque visual system to determine whether neural circuitry and the way to encode stimulus-related information by neuron populations are unique to each area. Spiking activity of multiple single neurons was recorded in macaque primary visual cortex (V1), visual association cortex (V4), and inferior temporal cortex (IT). Cross-correlation of spike trains revealed that single-neuron pairs in IT exhibited the highest incidence of precisely correlated firing, whereas V1 pairs showed the lowest incidence. Although noise correlation, which quantifies similarity in trial-to-trial response fluctuations, differed among cortical areas, signal correlation, which quantifies similarity in stimulus preferences, did not. The degree of temporally precise correlation was positively related to the signal-correlation strength in all three cortical areas and the relation of IT pairs was stronger than that of V1 pairs. Temporally precise correlations between single-neuron and population-level activity also differed among cortical areas and V1 neurons exhibited the lowest incidence of correlated firing with population activities. The differences in spiking-activity correlations among visual cortical areas suggest that each cortical area has unique neuronal circuitry for representing information, and which performs unique neuronal computations.Significance StatementAlthough hierarchical information processing plays a crucial role in the brain and in artificial neural networks, whether hierarchically connected brain areas share neural circuitry and information representation remains unclear. Here, we examined spiking activity across the ventral visual system in macaque monkeys and found that cortical areas differed in how correlated their spiking activity was, suggesting that neural circuitry and the way to encode stimulus-related information by neuron populations are unique to each cortical area.
Potential of borage flowers aqueous extract,Borago officinalisL., against the corrosion of mild steel in phosphoric acid
Authors: Al-Moubaraki Aisha H. 
Published: November 2017

PurposeThis paper aims to evaluate the inhibitive potential of borage flowers’ aqueous extract (BFAE),Borago officinalisL., against the corrosion of mild steel in 1.0 M phosphoric acid.Design/methodology/approachEvaluation was carried out by chemical hydrogen evolution (HE), mass loss (ML) and electrochemical potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) measurements. SEM-EDX analysis also was used to confirm the existence of the adsorbed film.FindingsIt was found that the inhibition efficiency of BFAE increases with the increase in its concentration, but decreases with the increase in temperature. The potentiodynamic polarization curves indicated that BFAE acts as a mixed-type inhibitor with a predominantly anodic action. The adsorption of BFAE on mild steel surface was found to obey Langmuir and thermodynamic-kinetic adsorption isotherms by forming a thin film on the metal surface. SEM-EDX analysis confirms the corrosion inhibition ability of BFEA in 1.0 M H3PO4by forming a thin film on mild steel surface. In this study, the inhibitive action of BFAE components is discussed on the basis of the physical adsorption mechanism. The same results were obtained for both the freshly prepared extract and the one that kept in a refrigerator for one year.Originality/valueThis paper indicates that BFAE can act as a good inhibitor for the corrosion of mild steel in 1.0 M H3PO4even after one year of preparation.
Development and quality evaluation of health-promoting functional carabeef cookies
Authors: Goswami Meena , Sharma B.D. , Mendiratta S.K. , Chaudhary U.B. , Pathak Vikas , Tyagi Nitin 
Published: November 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and to assess quality characteristics of functional carabeef cookies.

Design/methodology/approach
Carabeef cookies were prepared with incorporation of 50 percent carabeef powder in a pre-standardized formulation and then were baked at 150-160°C for 35-40 minutes. Developed functional carabeef cookies were incorporated with 50 percent carabeef powder, 10 percent orange pulp fiber as natural fiber source, 1.5 percent guar gum as fat replacer and 20 percent of sodium caseinate as sugar replacer. Cookies were analyzed for various physical properties, proximate parameters physcio-chemical properties, instrumental textural properties, color values, sensory evaluation and complete profile estimation in terms of minerals and fatty acids analysis.

Findings
Functional carabeef cookies had 4.48 times higher protein, 6.13 times higher IDF, 5.47 times higher SDF and 4.47 times higher TDF as compared to normal refined wheat flour (RWF) cookies. Functional carabeef cookies had 34.58 percent lower fat, 19.95 percent less cholesterol and 12.5 percent lower energy content as compared to normal RWF cookies.

Social implications
Functional carabeef cookies had comparatively higher mineral content as well as saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in a desirable ratio. Health-promoting functional carabeef cookies might be a magnificent option to overcome the problem of malnutrition, quite prevalent among lower socio-economical strata people specifically children and women.

Originality/value
Health-promoting functional carabeef cookies had higher nutritional content and acceptability, and thus could be commercialized to improve socio-economic status and health of consumers.
Art-oriented model of hotel service innovation
Authors: Wang Tsai-Chiao , Tang Ta-Wei , Cheng Jen-Son 
Published: November 2017

PurposeThe development of artistic services is often unsuccessful because quality artistic services are characterized by offering new experiences to customers and pursuing excellence of the performing services in the details. To successfully facilitate developing artistic services, this study builds an ambidextrous service innovation and service effectiveness (ASISE) model that describes the processes and steps of art-oriented services development.Design/methodology/approachA case study was conducted on Relais & Châteaux (R&C) hotel membership in Taiwan to better understand the steps and activities that describe service innovation processes. Triangulation was performed by compiling secondary data (e.g. official R&C notebooks and documents relating to Volando) and conducting field investigations and semi-structured interviews (with managers, employees, customers, artists).FindingsThis study combined the ambidexterity perspective with the Plan-Do-Check-Action (PDCA) principle and expanded the application range of the model from improving the service process to addressing the overall service innovation process, and included the gradual construction of the eight steps of scanning, linking, designing, performing, assessing, feedback, improving and adjusting.Practical implicationsHotels can use the ASISE model developed by this study to simultaneously create new artistic service activities and enhance the effectiveness of current artistic services.Originality valueBased on the ASISE model, which emphasizes an art-oriented and continuous cycle, this study thoroughly analyzed the obstacles of integrating art into hotel service processes, and successfully established a series of steps for developing art-oriented services.
Social diffusion and loyalty programs: a path to succeed
Authors: Pimpão Pedro , Correia Antónia , Duque João , Zorrinho José Carlos 
Published: November 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to define a model of social technology diffusion, comprising constructs that explain guests’ likelihood of recommending their hotel loyalty program to their peers.

Design/methodology/approach
The diffusion effect is explained by commitment-trust, satisfaction with user-to-user interactivity, satisfaction with user identifiability and word of mouth. A total of 2,812 usable responses were obtained through an online questionnaire sent to guests with two or more transactions with the loyalty program.

Findings
The results suggest that commitment and trust and word of mouth are crucial to enact social diffusion. As such, hotel loyalty programs need to be leveraged through enacting social diffusion.

Practical implications
Tourism and hospitality practitioners dealing with loyalty programs should create and post new trustworthy content that might be beneficial for the hotel loyalty program in their efforts to provide a more valuable experience for guests.

Originality/value
The paper provides empirical evidence that the likelihood of sharing with other guests or the intention to belong to a hotel loyalty program community exists and then goes on to offer a range of possible responses based upon four relational mediators.
Simulation-based Six Sigma value function for system-level performance assessment and improvement
Authors: Al-Aomar Raid , Chaudhry Sohail 
Published: November 2017

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a simulation-based value function (VF) that combines multiple key performance indicators (KPIs) into a unified Sigma rating (SR) for system-level performance assessment and improvement.Design/methodology/approachSimulation is used as a platform for assessing the multiple KPIs at the system level. A simple additive VF is formed to combine the KPIs into a unified SR using the analytical hierarchy process and the entropy method. Value mapping is utilized to resolve the conflict among KPIs and generate a unified value. These methods are integrated into the standard Six Sigma define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) process.FindingsSimulation results provided the Six Sigma DMAIC process with system-level performance measurement and analysis based on multiple KPIs. The developed VF successfully generated unified SRs that were used to assess various performance improvement plans.Research limitations/implicationsThe accuracy and credibility of the results obtained from using the proposed VF are highly dependent on the availability of pertinent data and the accuracy of the developed simulation model.Practical implicationsThe proposed approach provides Six Sigma practitioners and performance mangers with a mechanism to assess and improve the performance of production and service system based on multiple KPIs when conducting Six Sigma studies.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the previous research by handling multiple KPIs in Six Sigma studies conducted at the system level using simulation and VF. The research also provides guidelines for using the different methods of weights assessment to form the VF within the DMAIC process.
Quality costing and quality management maturity in Greece
Authors: Moschidis Odysseas , Chatzipetrou Evrikleia , Tsiotras George 
Published: November 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the sophistication of a quality costing system depends on the quality management maturity (QMM) level in Food and Beverage (F&B) enterprises. Since no previous research has taken place in this area, the paper aims at analyzing the relationships between quality costing and the specific variables that define the various maturity stages.

Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire was used to survey 457 F&B companies. This produced 104 usable responses (23 percent response rate). Multidimensional correspondence analysis (MCA) with hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were used to detect and represent underlying structures in the categorical data set and to detect possible clusters between variables.

Findings
The more mature a company’s QMM, the more emphasis they placed on appraisal quality costs and effective use of quality costs information. Prevention costs have no statistically significant connection with the level of maturity. A generalized “expensive” use of quality costing, with no focus on problematic areas and possible solutions, does not always lead to the resolution of problems.

Research limitations/implications
A complicated – and some think unfair – tax system, combined with limited cash liquidity constitutes an unstable environment for Greek companies, in which they have to survive and develop. This environment does not support quality costing, thus resulting in limited interest by company management in participating in the authors’ research. Furthermore, the Greek Uniform Chart of Accounts and the Greek Accounting Standards do not include specific quality-related accounts, making it difficult for companies to measure quality costs and for researchers to investigate the quality costing field.

Originality/value
It is the first time that QMM levels of Greek F&B companies have been reported. The research explores the characteristics that a quality costing system of Greek F&B organizations develop at the various maturity levels. The analysis uses an exploratory method – MCA – which can highlight intense correspondences of characteristics and clusters, which cannot be predicted in advance.
What is extracted from earth is gold: are rare earths telling a new tale to economic growth?
Authors: Apergis Emmanuel , Apergis Nicholas 
Published: November 2017

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore, for the first time, the relationship between the prices of rare earth materials and economic growth. Renewable technologies and many high-demanded technologies need significant supplies of such materials.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a panel of the six most significant rare earth producers around the globe, as well as certain panel methodologies.FindingsThe empirical analysis indicates the presence of a positive impact of such minerals prices on economic growth. Causality methodologies also indicate unidirectional causality between GDP and the prices of rare earth materials, with the causality running from these prices to economic growth. The findings survive a number of robustness checks.Originality/valueThe claim that natural resources are a curse that makes the countries worse off is not supported for the case of rare earth materials. The results are expected to be of high importance, because these particular rare earth materials are extensively used in a huge list of technological products with high demand and low costs, while they are hard to be replaced.
Tests of a more comprehensive model of economic growth in lower middle-income countries
Authors: Dao Minh Quang 
Published: November 2017

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically test a more comprehensive model of economic growth using a sample of 28 lower middle-income developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThe authors modify the conventional neoclassical growth model to account for the impact of the increase in the number of people working relative to the total population and that of the increase in the value added per worker over time. The authors then extend this model by incorporating the role of trade, government consumption, and human capital in output growth.FindingsRegression results show that over three quarters of cross-lower middle-income country variations in per capita GDP growth rate can be explained by per capita growth in the share of public expenditures on education in the GDP, per capita growth in the share of government consumption in the GDP, per capita growth in the share of imports in the GDP, per capita growth in the share of manufactured exports in the GDP (not of that of total exports in the GDP), and the growth of the working population relative to the total population.Practical implicationsStatistical results of such empirical examination will assist governments in these countries identify policy fundamentals that are essential for economic growth.Originality/valueTo address the simultaneity bias, the authors develop a simultaneous equations model and are able to show that such model is more robust and helps explains cross-country variations in per capita GDP growth over the 2000-2014 period.
“We are a family firm”
Authors: Binz Astrachan Claudia , Botero Isabel C. 
Published: November 2017

Purpose
Evidence suggests that some stakeholders perceive family firms as more trustworthy, responsible, and customer-oriented than public companies. To capitalize on these positive perceptions, owning families can use references about their family nature in their organizational branding and marketing efforts. However, not all family firms actively communicate their family business brand. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to investigate why family firms decide to promote their “family business brand” in their communication efforts toward different stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach
Data for this study were collected using an in-depth interview approach from 11 Swiss and German family business owners. Interviews were transcribed and coded to identify different themes that help explain the different motives and constraints that drive their decisions to promote the “family business brand.”

Findings
The analyses indicate that promoting family associations in branding efforts is driven by both identity-related (i.e. pride, identification) and outcome-related (e.g. reputational advantages) motives. However, there are several constraints that may negatively affect the promotion of the family business brand in corporate communication efforts.

Originality/value
This paper is one of the first to explore why family businesses decide to communicate their “family business brand.” Building on the findings, the authors present a conceptual framework identifying the antecedents and possible consequences of promoting a family firm brand. This framework can help researchers and practitioners better understand how the family business nature of the brand can influence decisions about the company’s branding and marketing practices.