bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Enhancing customer experience using technological innovations
Authors: Sharma Deependra 
Published: August 2016

PurposeThe study aims to provide a comparative analysis of diverse challenges faced by different categories of hotels during the adoption of technological innovation. It also examines the role of technological innovations in enhancing the customer experience from a practitioner’s perspective.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research is used to better understand the prevailing trends and execution challenges, using the interview method of collecting data. The sample includes owners and senior managers responsible for managing the property.FindingsIndian hotels have lagged behind in technology adoption compared with their western counterparts, though the situation is now changing. The paper highlights the positive impact of technological innovation on customer experience and also identifies constraints in adopting technological innovations.Research limitations/implicationsAll hotels participating in this study were selected from a single region of India. Hence, the results may not be a true representation of comparable hotels nationwide.Practical implicationsFindings of this study enable hotel managers and owners to appreciate the role of technological innovation as a differentiator and to understand a variety of nuances associated with technological innovation. Understanding of these dimensions will enable them to take cautious decisions about allocating resources for technological innovation and also to ensure that their customers are being offered maximum value-for-money.Originality/valueThe study was conducted in a developing economy where technological innovation is at a relatively early stage. This study explores its objectives from a practitioner’s perspective.
Symbionts modify interactions between insects and natural enemies in the field
Authors: Hrček Jan , McLean Ailsa H. C. , Godfray H. Charles J. 
Published: August 2016

Summary

Eukaryotes commonly host communities of heritable symbiotic bacteria, many of which are not essential for their hosts' survival and reproduction. There is laboratory evidence that these facultative symbionts can provide useful adaptations, such as increased resistance to natural enemies. However, we do not know how symbionts affect host fitness when the latter are subject to attack by a natural suite of parasites and pathogens.

Here, we test whether two protective symbionts, Regiella insecticola and Hamiltonella defensa, increase the fitness of their host, the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum), under natural conditions.

We placed experimental populations of two pea aphid lines, each with and without symbionts, in five wet meadow sites to expose them to a natural assembly of enemy species. The aphids were then retrieved and mortality from parasitoids, fungal pathogens and other causes assessed.

We found that both Regiella and Hamiltonella reduce the proportion of aphids killed by the specific natural enemies against which they have been shown to protect in laboratory and cage experiments. However, this advantage was nullified (Hamiltonella) or reversed (Regiella) by an increase in mortality from other natural enemies and by the cost of carrying the symbiont. Symbionts therefore affect community structure by altering the relative success of different natural enemies.

Our results show that protective symbionts are not necessarily advantageous to their hosts, and may even behave more like parasites than mutualists. Nevertheless, bacterial symbionts may play an important role in determining food web structure and dynamics.
Let's stay together? Intrinsic and extrinsic factors involved in pair bond dissolution in a recolonizing wolf population
Authors: Milleret Cyril , Wabakken Petter , Liberg Olof , Åkesson Mikael , Flagstad Øystein , Andreassen Harry Peter , Sand Håkan 
Published: August 2016

Summary

For socially monogamous species, breeder bond dissolution has important consequences for population dynamics, but the extent to which extrinsic or intrinsic population factors causes pair dissolution remain poorly understood, especially among carnivores.

Using an extensive life‐history data set, a survival analysis and competing risks framework, we examined the fate of 153 different wolf (Canis lupus) pairs in the recolonizing Scandinavian wolf population, during 14 winters of snow tracking and DNA monitoring.

Wolf pair dissolution was generally linked to a mortality event and was strongly affected by extrinsic (i.e. anthropogenic) causes. No divorce was observed, and among the pair dissolution where causes have been identified, death of one or both wolves was always involved. Median time from pair formation to pair dissolution was three consecutive winters (i.e. approximately 2 years). Pair dissolution was mostly human‐related, primarily caused by legal control actions (36·7%), verified poaching (9·2%) and traffic‐related causes (2·1%). Intrinsic factors, such as disease and age, accounted for only 7·7% of pair dissolutions. The remaining 44·3% of dissolution events were from unknown causes, but we argue that a large portion could be explained by an additional source of human‐caused mortality, cryptic poaching.

Extrinsic population factors, such as variables describing the geographical location of the pair, had a stronger effect on risk of pair dissolution compared to anthropogenic landscape characteristics. Population intrinsic factors, such as the inbreeding coefficient of the male pair member, had a negative effect on pair bond duration. The mechanism behind this result remains unknown, but might be explained by lower survival of inbred males or more complex inbreeding effects mediated by behaviour.

Our study provides quantitative estimates of breeder bond duration in a social carnivore and highlights the effect of extrinsic (i.e. anthropogenic) and intrinsic factors (i.e. inbreeding) involved in wolf pair bond duration. Unlike the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that are commonly reported on individual survival or population growth, here we provide quantitative estimates of their potential effect on the social unit of the population, the wolf pair.
Impact of maternal cigarette smoke exposure on brain and kidney health outcomes in female offspring
Authors: Chan Yik L , Saad Sonia , Al‐Odat Ibrahim , Zaky Amgad A , Oliver Brian , Pollock Carol , Li Weihong , Jones Nicole M , Chen Hui 
Published: August 2016

SummaryIncreased oxidative stress in the brain can lead to increased sympathetic tone that may further induce kidney dysfunction. Previously we have shown that maternal cigarette smoke exposure (SE) leads to significantly increased oxidative stress and inflammation in both brain and kidney, as well as reduced brain and kidney mitochondrial activity. This is closely associated with significant kidney underdevelopment and abnormal function in adulthood in the male offspring. This study aimed to investigate the impact of maternal SE on brain and kidney health in the female offspring. In this study, the mouse dams were exposed to two cigarettes, twice daily for 6 weeks prior to gestation, during pregnancy and lactation. Brains and kidneys from the female offspring were collected at 20 days (P20) and 13 weeks (W13) and were subject to further analysis. We found that mRNA expression of brain inflammatory markers interleukin‐1 receptor and Toll‐like receptor 4 were significantly increased in the SE offspring at both P20 and W13. Their brain mitochondrial activity markers were however increased at W13 with increased antioxidant activity. Kidney development and function in the female SE offspring were not different from the control offspring. We concluded that although brain inflammatory markers were upregulated in the SE female offspring, they were protected from some of the indicators of brain oxidative stress, such as endogenous antioxidant and mitochondrial dysfunction, as well as abnormal kidney development and function in adulthood.
Juvenile growth reduces the influence of epithelial sodium channels on myogenic tone in skeletal muscle arterioles
Authors: Kang Lori S , Masilamani Shyama , Boegehold Matthew A 
Published: August 2016

SummaryPrevious studies have documented that rapid juvenile growth is accompanied by functional changes in the arteriolar endothelium, but much less is known about functional changes in arteriolar smooth muscle over this period. In this study, we investigate the possible contribution of epithelial sodium channels (ENaC) to the myogenic behaviour of arterioles at two stages of juvenile growth. The effects of the ENaC inhibitor benzamil on different levels of myogenic tone were studied in isolated gracilis muscle arterioles from rats aged 21‐28 days (“weanlings”) and 42‐49 days (“juveniles”). ENaC subunit expression in the arteriolar wall was also determined, and the interaction between ENaC and nitric oxide (NO) in regulating vascular tone was explored by combined use of benzamil and NG‐monomethyl‐l‐arginine (l‐NMMA). At physiological pressures, both steady‐state myogenic tone and the dynamic adjustments in this tone triggered by acute pressure changes were less in juvenile arterioles than in weanling arterioles. α, β and γ ENaC protein was present in arterioles at both ages, but benzamil only had an effect on myogenic tone in weanling arterioles. In these vessels, benzamil increased, rather than decreased, myogenic tone, and this effect was prevented by l‐NMMA or endothelial removal. These findings suggest that although ENaC is present in gracilis muscle arterioles of both weanling and juvenile rats, it is not obligatory for the genesis of myogenic activity in these vessels at either age. However, ENaC activity can significantly modulate the level of myogenic tone through stimulation of endothelial NO release at an early stage of growth.
Scottish Political Economy, Education and the Management of Poverty in Industrializing Britain: Patrick Colquhoun and the Westminster Free School Model
Authors: TONKS PAUL 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis article examines how public education began to be seen as crucial to addressing the management of poverty in late eighteenth‐ and early nineteenth‐century Britain. Public education was central to the shaping of eighteenth‐century Scottish socio‐economic development and the concerns of the Scottish enlightenment intellectual project. In the generation after Adam Smith, scholars and administrators were confronted with the enormous challenges of burgeoning poverty created by urban growth and the industrial revolution, which were further exacerbated by the pressures of global warfare. Employing and adapting the methods and insights of Scottish political economy, as well as the lessons of Britain's colonial experience, the influential author and magistrate Patrick Colquhoun advocated mass education to tackle the problems that Britain faced in the era of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
Biodiversity friend or foe: land use by a top predator, the dingo in contested landscapes of the Australian Wet Tropics
Authors: Morrant Damian S. , Johnson Christopher N. , Butler James R. A. , Congdon Bradley C. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractDingoes (Canis dingo) in the coastal lowlands of Australia's Wet Tropics are perceived as a major threat to biodiversity and subjected to broad‐spectrum lethal control. However, evidence of their impacts is equivocal, and control programmes generally ignore the ecological benefits that dingoes might provide. Previous diet analysis has shown that dingoes in the Wet Tropics primarily prey on common, terrestrial mammals. However, little is known of dingo habitat use or prey acquisition in the region despite these activities having major implications for biodiversity conservation. We investigated land use by dingoes in the lowland Wet Tropics to enable predictions of potential prey types, relative prey use and modes of prey acquisition. Nine dingoes were tracked for 3–6 months. Home ranges and resting areas were estimated using multiple estimators, and habitat use was analysed using compositional analysis of habitat use and generalized additive models. Dingo ranging behaviour suggested that anthropogenic food subsidies were infrequently used. Each territory comprised several sclerophyll forest rest areas with adjacent sugarcane‐grassland high activity areas. Individuals used each rest‐activity area for extended durations before moving on to another. Sclerophyll and rainforests, which contain the fauna species of primary conservation concern, were generally used for rest/sleep, or movement between rest‐activity areas. Activity patterns were consistent with dingoes hunting in open sugarcane‐grassland habitats during daylight hours. Dingo activity was low in areas where fauna species of conservation concern occur, which suggests that dingoes do not pose a threat to their survival. Consequently, current broad‐spectrum lethal control may have minimal benefits or even incur costs for biodiversity. Maximizing the ecosystem services provided by dingoes while simultaneously minimizing their negative impacts requires a more targeted location‐specific management approach, one that assesses and mitigates impacts specifically where background circumstances suggest particular packs may be either a conservation or economic threat.
Socioeconomic disadvantage but not remoteness affects short‐term survival in prostate cancer: A population‐based study using competing risks
Authors: Thomas Audrey A , Pearce Alison , Sharp Linda , Gardiner Robert Alexander , Chambers Suzanne , Aitken Joanne , Molcho Michal , Baade Peter 
Published: August 2016

AbstractAimWe examined how sociodemographic, clinical and area‐level factors are related to short‐term prostate cancer mortality versus mortality from other causes, a crucial distinction for this disease that disproportionately affects men older than 60 years.MethodsWe applied competing risk survival models to administrative data from the Queensland Cancer Registry (Australia) for men diagnosed with prostate cancer between January 2005 and July 2007, including stratification by Gleason score.ResultsThe men (n = 7393) in the study cohort had a median follow‐up of 5 years 3 months. After adjustment, remoteness and area‐level disadvantage were not significantly associated with prostate cancer mortality. However, area‐level disadvantage had a significant negative relationship with hazard of death from a cause other than prostate cancer within 7 years; compared with those living in the most advantaged areas, the likelihood of mortality was higher for those in the most disadvantaged (subhazard ratio [SHR] = 1.39; 95% CI, 1.01–1.90; P = 0.041), disadvantaged (SHR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.14–2.00; P = 0.004), middle (SHR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.02–1.75; P = 0.034) and advantaged areas (SHR = 1.44; 95% CI, 1.09–1.89; P = 0.009). Those with Gleason score of 7 and higher had a lower hazard of prostate cancer mortality if they were living with a partner, whereas those with lower Gleason scores and living a partner had lower hazards of other‐cause mortality.ConclusionsUnderstanding why men living in more disadvantaged areas have higher risk of non‐prostate cancer mortality should be a priority.
Comparative heel stick study showed that newborn infants who had undergone repeated painful procedures showed increased short‐term pain responses
Authors: Gokulu G. , Bilgen H. , Ozdemir H. , Sarioz A. , Memisoglu A. , Gucuyener K. , Ozek E. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractAimWe evaluated the short‐term effect of repeated pain exposure on the pain responses of newborn infants using different pain assessment methods, as this area had been under‐researched.MethodsWe compared 20 term, large for gestational age infants and 40 term, appropriate for gestational age controls. All had undergone a heel stick for a newborn screening test just before discharge, but the larger babies had also undergone at least other five painful stimuli prior to that. A pulse oximeter and a skin conductance algesimeter (SCA) were connected to the babies during the heel prick, and video recordings were made. Crying time, the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS), heart rate, peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) and SCA measurements were compared within and between the groups.ResultsAfter the heel prick, the crying time (p = 0.021) and NIPS (p = 0.013) scores were significantly higher in the study group and the SpO2 levels were significantly lower (p = 0.009), but the heart rate (p = 0.981) was not significantly different between the groups. SCA measurements did not differ significantly between the groups.ConclusionBabies who received more painful stimuli during the first few days of life showed greater pain responses during a subsequent heel prick.
Diversity and classification of tall humid herb grasslands (Molinio‐Holoschoenion) in Western Mediterranean Europe
Authors: García‐Madrid Ana S. , Rodríguez‐Rojo Maria Pilar , Cantó Paloma , Molina José A. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractQuestionsWhat is the community diversity of tall, humid herb grasslands in Western Mediterranean Europe? What are the diagnostic species of the Molinio‐Holoschoenion alliance? What underlying ecological patterns influence their diversity?LocationWestern Mediterranean Europe (France, Portugal and Spain).MethodsWe compiled a vegetation plot database of Molinio‐Holoschoenion plant communities. The initial data set of 1056 plots was filtered according to physiognomic and floristic criteria, and geographically stratified. We used hierarchical agglomerative classification and semi‐supervised classification techniques based on the k‐means algorithm as a combination of methods to define vegetation types. A DCA analysis was performed to assess the main ecological drivers of diversity in the Molinio‐Holoschoenion community.ResultsSeventeen vegetation types were defined, which can be classified in the following major vegetation groups: (1) tall humid grasslands on base‐poor and sandy soils; (2) Scirpoides holoschoenus grasslands on base‐rich soils; and (3) eastern Iberian and southwestern French Schoenus nigricans and/or Molinia caerulea grasslands. The water‐logging gradient was recognized as a major underlying pattern influencing the diversity and distribution of Molinio‐Holoschoenion, and at a second level, the soil factor.ConclusionsWe suggest a revision of the concept of the Molinio‐Holoschoenion alliance to be considered for the interpretation of habitat type 6420 of the European Habitats Directive, which should include Mediterranean wet dune slacks and tall, humid inland grasslands. This vegetation type is largely distributed on the eastern Iberian Peninsula, where base‐rich soils are predominant and Scirpoides holoschoenus grasslands comprise the main floristic composition of the alliance.
Road traffic crash risk associated with benzodiazepine and z‐hypnotic use after implementation of a colour‐graded pictogram: a responsibility study
Authors: Orriols Ludivine , Luxcey Audrey , Contrand Benjamin , Gadegbeku Blandine , Delorme Bernard , Tricotel Aurore , Moore Nicholas , Salmi Louis‐Rachid , Lagarde Emmanuel 
Published: August 2016

AimsTo assess potential change in medicine exposure and association with the risk of road traffic crash across a time period that started before the implementation of a grading system warning of the effect of medicine on driving performance.MethodsData from three French national databases were extracted and matched: the national health care insurance database, police reports and the national police database of injurious crashes. Drivers involved in such crashes in France, from July 2005 to December 2011 and identified by their national identifier, were included. Association with the risk of crash was estimated using a case–control analysis comparing benzodiazepine and z‐hypnotic use among drivers responsible or not responsible for the crash.ResultsTotals of 69 353 responsible and 73 410 non‐responsible drivers involved in an injurious crash were included. Exposure to benzodiazepine anxiolytics was associated with an increased risk of being responsible for a road traffic crash during the pre‐intervention period (OR = 1.42 [1.24–1.62]). The association disappeared in the post‐intervention period, but became significant again thereafter. The risk of being responsible for a crash increased in users of z‐hypnotics across the study period.ConclusionsOur results question the efficacy of the measures implemented to promote awareness about the effects of medicines on driving abilities. Prevention policies relating to the general driving population, but also to healthcare professionals, should be reviewed.
Advances on tinamou phylogeny: an assembled cladistic study of the volant palaeognathous birds
Authors: Bertelli Sara 
Published: August 2016

AbstractTinamous are volant terrestrial birds, endemic to the Neotropics. Here, an inclusive phenotype‐based phylogenetic study of the interrelationships among all extinct and living species of tinamous is conducted. In this cladistic analysis, results are compared between main character subsets and with previous molecular studies. Special attention is paid to character definition and scoring of integumentary and behavioural characters: transformation costs are applied to analyse egg coloration and plumage characters—on the basis of pigment composition and overlap of pigmentation patterns respectively—in the context of generalized (Sankoff) parsimony. Cladistic analysis recovers the traditional subdivision between those tinamous specialized for open areas (Nothurinae) and those inhabiting forested environments (Tinaminae) and support the monophyly of recognized genera. The present study demonstrates that morphological analysis yields highly congruent results when compared with previous molecular studies; thus, it provides morphological synapomorphies for clades that have been proposed by these molecular analyses. The placement of the fossil species within the open‐area (Nothurinae) and the forest‐dwelling (Tinaminae) tinamous is also consistent with the palaeoenvironmental conditions inferred from the associated flora and fauna.
Impact of area strain by 3D speckle tracking on clinical outcome in patients after acute myocardial infarction
Authors: Shin Sung‐Hee , Suh Young Ju , Baek Yong‐Soo , Lee Man‐Jong , Park Sang‐Don , Kwon Sung‐Woo , Woo Seong‐Ill , Kim Dae‐Hyeok , Park Keum‐Soo , Kwan Jun 
Published: August 2016

BackgroundThree‐dimensional (3D) speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) has been developed to overcome the limitations of two‐dimensional (2D) STE and has been applied in the several clinical settings. However, no data exist about the prognostic value of 3DSTE‐based strain on clinical outcome after myocardial infarction (MI). This study was designed to investigate the prognostic value of area strain (AS) by 3D speckle tracking in predicting clinical outcome after acute MI.MethodsWe assessed 96 patients (62±14 years, 72% male) with acute MI and who had undergone a coronary angiography. Clinical parameters and conventional echocardiographic measurements including the left atrial (LA) size and tissue Doppler measurements were evaluated. The global left ventricular (LV) AS was measured using 3D speckle tracking software. The relationship between the AS and clinical outcome of death or hospitalization for heart failure (HF) was assessed.ResultsDuring a median follow‐up of 33±10 months, primary endpoint of death or HF occurred in 12 patients (12.5%). AS was predictive of death or HF after adjustment for age, gender, peak CK‐MB, LA volume, LV end‐systolic volume, LV mass, the ratio of early mitral inflow velocity to early mitral annular velocity, and LV ejection fraction in a multivariate Cox model (HR 1.23, 95% CI 1.02–1.47, P=.03). In addition, AS added incremental value in predicting death or heart failure on a model based on clinical and standard echocardiographic measures (P=.008).ConclusionAS is independently associated with increased risk of death or HF after acute MI, suggesting that it can be a useful prognostic parameter in the patients following MI.