bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessing the public health impact of tolerance-based therapies with mathematical models
Authors: Hozé Nathanaël , Bonhoeffer Sebastian , Regoes Roland 
Published: September 2016

AbstractDisease tolerance is a defense strategy against infections that aims at maintaining host health even at high pathogen replication or load. Tolerance mechanisms are currently intensively studied with the long-term goal of exploiting them therapeutically. Because tolerance-based treatment imposes less selective pressure on the pathogen it has been hypothesised to be “evolution-proof”. However, the primary public health goal is to reduce the incidence and mortality associated with a disease. From this perspective, tolerance-based treatment bears the risk of increasing the prevalence of the disease, which may lead to increased mortality. We assessed the promise of tolerance-based treatment strategies using mathematical models. Conventional treatment was implemented as an increased recovery rate, while tolerance-based treatment was assumed to reduce the disease-related mortality of infected hosts without affecting recovery. We investigated the endemic phase of two types of infections: acute and chronic. Additionally, we considered the effect of pathogen resistance against conventional treatment. We show that, for low coverage of tolerance-based treatment, chronic infections can cause even more deaths than without treatment. Overall, we found that conventional treatment always outperforms tolerance-based treatment, even when we allow the emergence of pathogen resistance. Our results cast doubt on the potential benefit of tolerance-based over conventional treatment. Any clinical application of tolerance-based treatment of infectious diseases has to consider the associated detrimental epidemiological feedback.Author summaryConventional therapies improve patient health by eliminating the pathogen, or, at least, reducing its burden. Recently, alternative therapies that exploit host tolerance mechanisms have received attention from the medical community as a promising strategy. These treatments aim at reducing the level of illness due to the infection, rather than eliminating the pathogen directly. Using a mathematical model, we show that although these treatments are beneficial at the individual level, they can have undesired public health consequences. In particular we show that tolerance-based treatment gives more time for the disease to spread in the population, which in turn increase its prevalence. Moreover, in the case of a low coverage of the treatment of a chronic infection, the overall mortality can increase.
The impact of the newly licensed dengue vaccine in endemic countries
Authors: Aguiar M. , Stollenwerk Nico , Halstead Scott B. 
Published: September 2016

AbstractBackground:With approximately 3 billion people at risk of acquiring the infection, dengue fever is now considered the most important mosquito-borne viral disease in the world, with 390 million dengue infections occurring every year, of which 96 million manifest symptoms with any level of disease severity. Treatment of uncomplicated dengue cases is only supportive and severe dengue cases require hospital intensive care. A vaccine now licensed in several countries and developed by Sanofi Pasteur (CYD-TDV, named Dengvaxia), is able to protect, in the first 25 months of the two Phase III, 66% of a subset of 9 − 16 year old participants. However, a significantly lower efficacy (including negative vaccine efficacy) was noted for children younger than 9 years of age.Methodology/Principal Findings:Analysis of year 3 results of phase III trials of Dengvaxia suggest high rates of protection of vaccinated partial dengue immunes but high rates of hospitalizations during breakthrough dengue infections of persons who were vaccinated when seronegative, with vaccine appearing to induce enhancing antibodies (ADE). An age structured model was developed based on Sanofi’s recommendation to vaccinate persons age 945 years in dengue endemic countries. The model was used to explore the clinical burden of two vaccination strategies: 1) Vaccinate 4 or 20% of individuals, ages 9 − 45 years, seropositives and seronegatives, and 2) vaccinate 4 or 20% of individuals, ages 9 − 45 years, who are dengue immune only.Conclusions/Significance:Our results show that vaccinating dengue monotypic immune individuals prevents dengue hospitalizations, but at the same time dengue infections of vaccine-sensitized persons increases hospitalizations. When the vaccine is given only to partial immune individuals, after immuno-logical screening of the population, disease burden decreases considerably.Author SummaryCaused by four antigenically related but distinct serotypes a tetravalent vaccine is needed to protect against the huge burden of dengue disease. Dengvaxia is a vaccine candidate now licensed in several countries for individuals 9 − 45 years of age living in endemic countries with least 70% of seroprevalence. Modelers from Sanofi Pasteur have predicted that this vaccine has the potential to reduce by about 50% the disease burden within 5 years when 20% of an endemic country population is vaccinated, thus achieving a World Health Organization dengue prevention goal.In this paper, mathematical modeling is used to investigate the impact of the newly licensed dengue vaccine using different scenarios. Our results show that to achieve significant reduction in disease bur-den, the vaccination program is most effective if it includes only individuals that have been already exposed to at least one dengue virus. Immunological screening of the population prior to vaccination is advised and vaccination strategies must be planned based on epidemiological disease dynamics for each specific endemic region.
Strategic planning and foresight: the case of Smart Specialisation Strategy in Tuscany
Authors: Fabbri Emanuele 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
Within the theoretical framework of Regional Innovation Systems, the purpose of the paper is to introduce an innovative methodological scheme for strategic planning decisions in public administrations, based on foresight, roadmapping and large participation processes.

Design/methodology/approach
Starting from the main literature contribution on Regional Innovation Systems, foresight and decision-making processes, an innovative methodology has been elaborated for strategic planning, based on innovation and large participation processes. A practical application is also described with regards to strategic planning in Tuscany (IT) for Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3).

Findings
On a practitioner perspective, the methodology elaborated addresses strategic planning uncertainties, both when problem setting and in solution finding; a detailed application is provided, easily to be adapted to other regions, and main findings are related to regional innovation governance enforcement.

Research limitations/implications
Being the Tuscany S3 in the implementation phase, it is not possible to verify the adequacy of alternatives selected. Only mid-term evaluations will allow a deeper insight on the effectiveness of the methodology adopted.

Practical implications
The methodology represents a useful tool for public administrations in charge of strategic planning and in particular for S3, as an ex ante requirement for European Structural and Investment Funds. The description of the case of Tuscany provides practical hints for the methodology application.

Social implications
The methodology presents interesting social implications related to the large involvement of stakeholders and quadruple helix within regional strategic planning.

Originality/value
Within the framework of Regional Innovation Systems, strategic planning decisions are addressed with a scheme based on foresight and large participation processes. European Commission requirements are fully taken into consideration by the methodology. The methodology is easy to be adopted and customised to specific needs of other regions.
Quality of service and customer satisfaction: a conjoint analysis for the Nigerian bank customers
Authors: Dauda Samson Yusuf , Lee Jongsu 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the perceptions of Nigerian banking customers regarding customers’ evaluation of their banks service quality based on their banks actual performance on current banking service delivery.

Design/methodology/approach
A survey has been used to collect primary data and 1,245 usable questionnaires were used in the analysis. A conjoint analysis with stated preference data were used to construct the consumers’ behavior, while discrete choice method was employed to evaluate the preferences. More information was obtained by in cooperating heterogeneity into the model by the random coefficient and the test variance with the primary attributes and social demographics and individual characteristics.

Findings
Discrete choice analysis shows that bank management should focus on: reduction of transaction errors, transaction cost, waiting time and initial online learning time. This four attributes have strong impact on customer’s satisfaction depending on quality performance. Relative to other services the reduction in waiting time and transaction cost are the most important services to the Nigerian banking customers. Other findings of willingness to pay and consumer preference for other attributes reveal more information for improved banking policies.

Research limitations/implications
The sample only focussed on the urban areas and did not consider rural dwellers. Future research should aim to improve on these by including a variable in the utility set up that captures the distance of the respondent to the main city.

Practical implications
Nigerian banking customers do not care about a friendly smile as customer care. Rather, they value more on the waiting time and transaction cost showing that convenience and cost dimensions have strong and direct effect on service quality. Other dimensions identified includes, reliability, product portfolio, security and privacy, ease of use, accessibility, and competence and credibility.

Originality/value
This study has drawn on a sample of 1,245 Nigerian banking customers and evaluating how the survey respondents perceive their respective banks’ performance by their evaluation of the current banking service delivery.
The roles of employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment in the internal marketing-employee bank identification relationship
Authors: Bailey Ainsworth Anthony , Albassami Faisal , Al-Meshal Soad 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of a global measure of internal marketing on bank employee job satisfaction and employee commitment to the bank. In addition, the authors assessed the subsequent impact of job satisfaction and employee commitment on employee-bank identification. The dual mediating role of job satisfaction and employee commitment in the internal marketing-employee bank identification relationship was also explored.

Design/methodology/approach
Using self-administered questionnaires, the authors collected data from a convenience sample of Saudi Arabian bank employees attending training at the Institute of Banking, Saudi Arabia. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the predicted structural relationships.

Findings
Internal marketing has highly significant positive effects on job satisfaction and employee commitment to the bank. These in turn influence employee bank identification. Internal marketing also impacts employee bank identification indirectly through its impact on both job satisfaction and employee commitment.

Practical implications
Bank management needs to take a holistic approach to internal marketing and ensure that they create an environment where employers will be satisfied and committed to the point that they will feel proud to be associated with the organization.

Originality/value
The study uses a global measure and provides evidence of the dual mediating effects of job satisfaction and employee commitment to the bank in the internal marketing-employee bank identification relationship. This evidence is unearthed in the Saudi Arabian banking sector, characterized by conventional and Islamic banks.
The integrated assessment of RES cooperation between the EU and its neighbours
Authors: Welisch Marijke , Resch Gustav , Ortner André 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to provide estimation results for feasibility of renewable energy source (RES) deployment in Turkey, the Western Balkans and North Africa. From these results, the potential for cooperation in renewables production between the countries and the European Union (EU) is assessed and evaluated, in a mid- (2030) and long-term (up to 2040) perspective.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors focus on the quantitative assessments undertaken on the extent to which RES cooperation can create mutual benefits, identifying costs and benefits for both sides, but in particular with respect to RES target achievement (2020 and 2030) at EU level. The potentials for RES generation in Turkey, North Africa and the Western Balkans are calculated under different policy pathways, taking into account different levels of economic and non-economic barriers that could occur.

Findings
Overall, the authors found that increasing RES deployment in the three analysed regions and initiating or intensifying cooperation with EU28 Member States leads to mutual benefits. Concretely, these benefits become apparent in terms of the EU Member States importing renewable energy sources for electricity with a good resource quality and adding on to their targets for RES deployment. At the same time, substantial savings occur for the EU, in turn leading to income and investments in the cooperating regions.

Originality/value
The assessment underlying this paper is the first of its kind to the authors’ knowledge that opens up the geographical spread in comparison to merely assessing cooperation between Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. Furthermore, the multitude of policy parameters analysed provides detailed and robust insights concerning a broad variety of different possible scenarios.
Rescuing the concept of solar electricity transfer from North Africa to Europe
Authors: Trieb Franz , Kern Juergen , Caldés Natàlia , de la Rua Cristina , Frieden Dorian , Tuerk Andreas 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to shed light to the concept of solar electricity transfer from North Africa to Europe in the frame of Article 9 of the European Renewable Energy Sources (EU-RES) Directive 28/2009/EC, to explain why efforts have not been successful up to now and to provide recommendations on how to proceed.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors have compared the “Supergrid” concept that was pursued by some institutions in the past years with the original “TRANS-CSP” concept developed by the German Aerospace Centre in 2006. From this analysis, the authors could identify not only major barriers but also possible ways towards successful implementation.

Findings
The authors found that in contrast to the Supergrid approach, the original concept of exporting dispatchable solar power from concentrating solar thermal power stations with thermal energy storage (CSP-TES) via point-to-point high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission directly to European centres of demand could be a resilient business case for Europe–North Africa cooperation, as it provides added value in both regions.

Research limitations/implications
The analysis has been made in the frame of the BETTER project commissioned by the Executive Agency for Competitiveness & Innovation in the frame of the program Intelligent Energy Europe.

Practical implications
One of the major implications found is that due to the time lost in the past years by following a distracted concept, the option of flexible solar power imports from North Africa to Europe is not any more feasible to become part of the 2020 supply scheme.

Social implications
To make them a viable option for post-2020 renewable energy systems for electricity development in Europe, a key recommendation of the project is to elaborate a detailed feasibility study about concrete CSP-HVDC links urgently.

Originality/value
The analysis presented here is the first to give concrete recommendations for the implementation of such infrastructure.
Assessment of RES cooperation framework between the EU and North Africa
Authors: Papapostolou Aikaterini , Karakosta Charikleia , Marinakis Vangelis , Flamos Alexandros 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Union provides another element to cross-border cooperation by allowing Member States to fulfill their 2020 renewable energy sources (RES) targets by implementing joint projects in third countries through the cooperation mechanisms. The purpose of this paper is to assess the country risk, to support bilateral cooperation for RES electricity generation projects.

Design/methodology/approach
A multicriteria decision support methodology has been developed taking into account three evaluation parameters, namely, the investment framework, the social conditions and the energy and technological status. An additive value model has been constructed, and the UTilitès Additives (UTA) – UTA* (UTASTAR) disaggregation method has been implemented to infer the criteria weights. The obtained ranking of alternatives has been subjected to robustness analysis, and finally the proposed methodology has been applied to five North Africa countries, so as to draw key results.

Findings
The pilot application of the methodological approach proposed and the model developed was fully compatible with the decision maker’s ranking on a set of fictitious countries and facilitated the assessment of a country’s current situation with regards to its investment, social conditions and energy and technological status. The results regarding the five North African countries examined, indicated the country’s investment framework as the most important factor, from foreign investors’ perspective, affecting a country’s suitability for the implementation of RES projects through a cooperation mechanism and Morocco, as well as Tunisia as the countries with the most suitable conditions for a successful implementation of such projects.

Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, there are only very few studies trying to assess opportunities and risks emerging from the implementation of joint projects between European and third countries in the field of electricity generation from RES. There are even less studies using (UTASTAR) method on real-world decision-making problems, and almost none are dedicated to energy sector-related problems.
Expanding RES cooperation with West Balkans: from importing electricity to exporting RES
Authors: Karakosta Charikleia , Marinakis Vangelis , Flamos Alexandros , Tuerk Andreas , Frieden Dorian 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the current energy status in the West Balkan countries and the related perspectives for renewable energy sources (RES) cooperation mechanisms, within the framework of RES Directive 2009/28/European Commission (EC), through the elaboration of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. Particular emphasis is laid on the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The SWOT analysis provides a clearer view of expanding RES in the West Balkans, as well as the level of utilization and potential of cooperation mechanisms and renewable energy in each country.

Design/methodology/approach
The adopted approach is mainly based on the context of a project co-financed by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, titled “Bringing Europe and Third countries closer together through renewable Energies (BETTER)” (project number: IEE/11/845/SI2.616378). The adopted approach incorporates the steps of desktop analysis, stakeholders’ mapping and engagement, key factors’ identification and analysis of results.

Findings
The barriers to expand RES in the region are significant. Currently, the region is electricity importer and by far not in the position to efficiently exploit the large RES potentials. It remains to be seen whether and to what extent cooperation mechanisms may be used in the Western Balkans and the EU by 2020. The unification of the fragmented electricity system and market-oriented reforms aim to join regional power markets and then to integrate with the European Union power market. There is a multitude of market barriers for RES, resulting in a high risk perception n by investors. Cooperation mechanisms could strengthen the regions’ policy frameworks and be a starting point to integrate the region’s energy systems and to overcome the fragmentation of the past two decades.

Originality/value
The potential of West Balkan countries to make use of the cooperation mechanisms provides opportunities for RES exporting between West Balkan and other European countries. An analysis of these opportunities for cooperation will allow drawing clearer conclusions on cooperation potentials and business cases for the region.
Should sex traffickers be subject to sexually violent predator laws?
Authors: Greer Benjamin Thomas , Cotulla Grace , Seddighzadeh Halleh 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
Protecting society from sex offenders has presented a challenge for state legislatures. Recent decades have seen a significant increase in sexually motivated crimes, especially sex trafficking. Effectively combatting sexual exploitation demands a range of legal strategies. As of 2012, 20 states have passed sexually violent predators (SVP) legislation. Human traffickers may exhibit the same deplorable characteristics as SVPs and should be subject to civil commitments. Traffickers are extremely skilled at exploiting their victim’s psychological pressure-points; knowing which cultural or personal experiences they can prey upon to extract compliance. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the overlapping predatory nature of sex traffickers and SVPs; the creation and purpose of sexual predator civil commitment statutes; and to dissect two cases which could give grounds for civil commitment.

Design/methodology/approach
Legal research and analysis.

Findings
Repeated human sex traffickers may suffer from an underlying mental illness which would render them a continued danger to society when released from jail. They should be evaluated and civility committed if medically appropriate.

Practical implications
A potential increase in civil commits.

Social implications
Keep society safe from repeat sexual predators.

Originality/value
The authors have vast experience in the field of human trafficking and this topic will be a pioneering initial discussion.
The competition between B2C platform and third-party seller considering sales effort
Authors: Cao Kaiying , He Ping 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
By studying the competition between a B2C platform and a third-party seller, the purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare their optimal decisions and profits between cases with and without sales effort of the platform or third-party seller.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper studies the competition between a B2C platform and a third-party seller. The platform sells a product directly, and allows the third-party seller to sell a competing product on the platform. Based on whether the platform or the third-party seller makes sales effort, there are four scenarios. The paper analyzes the optimal decisions and profits of platform and third-party seller under each scenario, respectively.

Findings
The transaction fee has a negative effect on third-party seller’s sales effort level. What is more, the platform can take a free riding from the third-party seller’s sales effort, but the platform’s sales effort has a negative effect on the profit of third-party seller.

Practical implications
These results provide managerial insights for the platform and the third-party seller to make decisions.

Originality/value
This paper is among the first papers to study the competition between B2C platform and third-party seller.