bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Bacterial Vaginosis and Pregnancy Outcome in Lagos, Nigeria
Authors: Afolabi Bosede B. , Moses Olusanjo E. , Oduyebo Oyinlola O. 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
Background.  Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a complex clinical syndrome characterized by alterations in the normal vaginal flora and a malodorous discharge when symptomatic. In pregnancy, BV has been associated with adverse outcomes such as miscarriage, premature rupture of membranes, preterm birth, and low birth weight. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and associations of BV and pregnancy outcomes among pregnant women in Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
Methods.  We conducted a prospective observational study with high vaginal swabs obtained from consecutive newly registered antenatal women between 14 and 36 weeks gestation. The women were monitored until delivery, and their pregnancy outcome and demographic data were obtained using an interviewer-administered questionnaire.
Results.  Bacterial vaginosis was diagnosed by Nugent score in 64 of 246 women, giving a prevalence rate of 26%. Bacterial vaginosis was significantly associated with preterm delivery (risk ratio [RR], 2.68; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.44–4.98), low birth weight (RR, 3.20; 95% CI, 1.29–7.94), and premature rupture of membranes (RR, 6.75; 95% CI, 3.11–14.67). The association between BV and miscarriage (&lt;28 weeks gestation) and neonatal admission for various morbidities was not statistically significant.
Conclusions.  The prevalence rate of BV among pregnant women in LUTH is high and is significantly associated with adverse pregnancy outcome. Routine screening and treatment of women preconceptually may enable interventions to prevent these adverse outcomes.
Information Structure in Modern Greek
Authors: Skopeteas Stavros 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis chapter deals with the prosodic and syntactic reflexes of information structure in Modern Greek. The relevant properties of this language are: (a) the word order is sensitive to information structure, such that topics and foci target positions in the left periphery and background information is right dislocated; (b) the intonational nucleus depends on the focus domain and is realized through pitch accents; and (b) definite complements must be doubled through co-referent clitic pronouns if they are not accented, which depends on information structure. This chapter introduces these phenomena and outlines their interaction for the expression of information structural notions.
Business Model Design
Authors: Amit Raphael , Zott Christoph 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
The rapidly changing economic landscape, coupled with transformational advances in information and communication technologies, presents many challenges to managers of large and small enterprises alike. They need to adopt a holistic approach to continuously renew and innovate their organizations’ capabilities, their product and service mix, their product-market strategies, their activity systems, and more. In response to such challenges, two perspectives have emerged in the strategic management literature in the last two decades: the dynamic capabilities paradigm and the business model perspective. With few exceptions, these viewpoints have been kept separate. In this chapter, we explore the rich links between these two perspectives and suggest that business model design, when viewed through a process lens, is in fact a dynamic capability. Our contribution is to elaborate on the mechanisms of this capability.
Effects of Negative Middle Ear Pressure on Wideband Acoustic Immittance in Normal-Hearing Adults
Authors: Robinson Sarah R. , Thompson Suzanne , Allen Jont B. 
Published: February 2016

Objectives:
Wideband acoustic immittance (WAI) measurements are capable of quantifying middle ear performance over a wide range of frequencies relevant to human hearing. Static pressure in the middle ear cavity affects sound transmission to the cochlea, but few datasets exist to quantify the relationship between middle ear transmission and the static pressure. In this study, WAI measurements of normal ears are analyzed in both negative middle ear pressure (NMEP) and ambient middle ear pressure (AMEP) conditions, with a focus on the effects of NMEP in individual ears.

Design:
Eight subjects with normal middle ear function were trained to induce consistent NMEPs, quantified by the tympanic peak pressure (TPP) and WAI. The effects of NMEP on the wideband power absorbance level are analyzed for individual ears. Complex (magnitude and phase) WAI quantities at the tympanic membrane (TM) are studied by removing the delay due to the residual ear canal (REC) volume between the probe tip and the TM. WAI results are then analyzed using a simplified classical model of the middle ear.

Results:
For the 8 ears presented here, NMEP has the largest and most significant effect across ears from 0.8 to 1.9 kHz, resulting in reduced power absorbance by the middle ear and cochlea. On average, NMEP causes a decrease in the power absorbance level for low- to mid-frequencies, and a small increase above about 4 kHz. The effects of NMEP on WAI quantities, including the absorbance level and TM impedance, vary considerably across ears. The complex WAI at the TM and fitted model parameters show that NMEP causes a decrease in the aggregate compliance at the TM. Estimated REC delays show little to no dependence on NMEP.

Conclusions:
In agreement with previous results, these data show that the power absorbance level is most sensitive to NMEP around 1 kHz. The REC effect is removed from WAI measurements, allowing for direct estimation of complex WAI at the TM. These estimates show NMEP effects consistent with an increased stiffness in the middle ear, which could originate from the TM, tensor tympani, annular ligament, or other middle ear structures. Model results quantify this nonlinear, stiffness-related change in a systematic way, that is not dependent on averaging WAI results in frequency bands. Given the variability of pressure effects, likely related to intersubject variability at AMEP, TPP is not a strong predictor of change in WAI at the TM. More data and modeling will be needed to better quantify the relationship between NMEP, WAI, and middle ear transmission.
Postoperative Complications in Children With Crohn Disease Treated With Infliximab
Authors: Zimmerman Lori A. , Saites Constantine G. , Bairdain Sigrid , Lien Chueh , Zurakowski David , Shamberger Robert C. , Linden Bradley C. , Bousvaros Athos 
Published: February 2016

ABSTRACTObjectives:Infliximab (IFX) has become a mainstay of therapy for children with Crohn disease (CD). Despite medical advances, many children with CD, however, still require operative interventions. The risk of complications following resection in children treated with IFX remains largely unknown. We compare surgical outcomes stratified by IFX therapy in a cohort of children with CD who require bowel resection.Methods:We reviewed the postoperative complications in 123 children with CD who underwent bowel resection with primary anastomosis at our institution between 1977 and 2011. Demographics, medications, types of operations, and inpatient courses were analyzed. Complications and length of stay were compared based on medical therapy.Results:Overall, the postoperative complication rate was 13%. Of the 123 surgical cases, 24 children had received IFX before their operation. In the children treated with IFX, we identified 3 major complications, including anastomotic leak, acute renal failure, and intraabdominal abscess. There were 9 major complications in the non‐IFX group, including infections (2), intraabdominal abscesses (2), bowel obstruction, shock, supraventricular tachycardia, phlegmon, and anastomotic stricture. No significant differences in complication rates or postoperative lengths of stay were identified between those who did or did not receive IFX.Conclusions:In this cohort, surgical procedures in children and young adults treated with IFX were not associated with an increased number of complications or prolonged length of stay. Given that postoperative complications are infrequent in children, larger multicenter studies may be required to determine whether IFX therapy increases the risk of surgical complications in pediatric CD.
Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing the HEADS-ED
Authors: MacWilliams Kate , Curran Janet , Racek Jakub , Cloutier Paula , Cappelli Mario 
Published: February 2016

Objectives
This study sought to identify barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the HEADS-ED, a screening tool appropriate for use in the emergency department (ED) that facilitates standardized assessments, discharge planning, charting, and linking pediatric mental health patients to appropriate community resources.

Methods
A qualitative theory-based design was used to identify barriers and facilitators to implementing the HEADS-ED tool. Focus groups were conducted with participants recruited from 6 different ED settings across 2 provinces (Ontario and Nova Scotia). The Theoretical Domains Framework was used as a conceptual framework to guide data collection and to identify themes from focus group discussions.

Results
The following themes spanning 12 domains were identified as reflective of participants' beliefs about the barriers and facilitators to implementing the HEADS-ED tool: knowledge, skills, beliefs about capabilities, social professional role and identity, optimism, beliefs about consequences, reinforcement, environmental context and resources, social influences, emotion, behavioral regulation and memory, and attention and decision process.

Conclusions
The HEADS-ED has the potential to address the need for better discharge planning, complete charting, and standardized assessments for the increasing population of pediatric mental health patients who present to EDs. This study has identified potential barriers and facilitators, which should be considered when developing an implementation plan for adopting the HEADS-ED tool into practice within EDs.
Quantifying pollen-vegetation relationships to reconstruct ancient forests using 19th-century forest composition and pollen data
Authors: Dawson Andria , Paciorek Christopher J. , McLachlan Jason S. , Goring Simon , Williams John W. , Jackson Stephen T. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractMitigation of climate change and adaptation to its effects relies partly on how effectively land-atmosphere interactions can be quantified. Quantifying composition of past forest ecosystems can help understand processes governing forest dynamics in a changing world. Fossil pollen data provide information about past forest composition, but rigorous interpretation requires development of pollen-vegetation models (PVMs) that account for interspecific differences in pollen production and dispersal. Widespread and intensified land-use over the 19th and 20th centuries may have altered pollen-vegetation relationships. Here we use STEPPS, a Bayesian hierarchical spatial PVM, to estimate key process parameters and associated uncertainties in the pollenvegetation relationship. We apply alternate dispersal kernels, and calibrate STEPPS using a newly developed Euro-American settlement-era calibration data set constructed from Public Land Survey data and fossil pollen samples matched to the settlement-era using expert elicitation. Models based on the inverse power-law dispersal kernel outperformed those based on the Gaussian dispersal kernel, indicating that pollen dispersal kernels are fat tailed. Pine and birch have the highest pollen productivities. Pollen productivity and dispersal estimates are generally consistent with previous understanding from modern data sets, although source area estimates are larger. Tests of model predictions demonstrate the ability of STEPPS to predict regional compositional patterns.
Plastid Osmotic Stress influences cell differentiation at the Plant Shoot Apex
Authors: Wilson Margaret E. , Mixdorf Matthew , Berg R. Howard , Haswell Elizabeth S. 
Published: February 2016

ABSTRACTThe balance between proliferation and differentiation in the plant shoot apical meristem is controlled by regulatory loops involving the phytohormone cytokinin and stem cell identity genes. Concurrently, cellular differentiation in the developing shoot is coordinated with the environmental and developmental status of plastids within those cells. Here we employ anArabidopsis thalianamutant exhibiting constitutive plastid osmotic stress to investigate the molecular and genetic pathways connecting plastid osmotic stress with cell differentiation at the shoot apex.msl2 msl3mutants exhibit dramatically enlarged and deformed plastids in the shoot apical meristem, and develop a mass of callus tissue at the shoot apex. Callus production in this mutant requires the cytokinin receptor AHK2 and is characterized by increased cytokinin levels, down-regulation of cytokinin signaling inhibitors ARR7 and ARR15, and induction of the stem cell identity geneWUSCHEL. Furthermore, plastid stress-induced apical callus production requires elevated plastidic ROS, ABA biosynthesis, the retrograde signaling protein GUN1, and ABI4. These results are consistent with a model wherein the cytokinin/WUS pathway and retrograde signaling control cell differentiation at the shoot apex.SUMMARY STATEMENTPlastid osmotic stress influences differentiation at the plant shoot apex. Two established mechanisms that control proliferation, the cytokinin/WUSCHEL stem cell identity loop and a plastid-to-nucleus signaling pathway, are implicated.
Identification and characterization of novel Bovine Leukemia Virus (BLV) antisense transcripts reveals their constitutive expression in leukemic and pre-leukemic clones
Authors: Durkin Keith , Rosewick Nicolas , Artesi Maria , Hahaut Vincent , Griebel Philip , Arsic Natasa , Burny Arsène , Georges Michel , Van den Broeke Anne 
Published: February 2016

AbstractBovine Leukemia Virus (BLV) is a deltaretrovirus closely related to the Human T-cell leukemia virus-1 (HTLV-1). Cattle are the natural host of BLV where it integrates into B-cells and produces a lifelong infection. Most infected animals remain asymptomatic but following a protracted latency period about ∽5% develop an aggressive leukemia/lymphoma, mirroring the disease trajectory of HTLV-1. The 5’LTRs of both the BLV and HTLV-1 proviruses are transcriptionally silent in tumors, however they are not entirely quiescent, with the HLTV-1 antisense transcriptHBZand the BLV microRNAs constitutively expressed in tumors. Here, using RNA-seq, we demonstrate that in addition to microRNAs, the BLV provirus also constitutively expresses two antisense transcripts in all BLV infected samples examined. The first transcript (AS1) has alternate potential polyadenylation sites generating a short transcript of ∽600bp (aS1-S) and a less abundant longer transcript of ∽2200bp (AS1-L). Alternative splicing also creates a second transcript of ∽400bp (AS2) utilizing the first exon of AS1. Production of AS transcripts from the 3’LTR was supported by reporter assays demonstrating that the BLV LTR has substantial and Tax-independent antisense promoter activity. BLV AS transcripts predominantly localize in the nucleus. Examination of protein coding potential showed AS2 to be non-coding, while the AS1-S/L transcripts coding potential is ambiguous, with a small potential open reading frame (ORF) of 264bp present. The AS1-L transcript overlaps the BLV microRNAs transcribed in the sense direction. Using high throughput sequencing of RNA-ligase-mediated (RLM) 5’ RACE products, we show that the perfect complementary between the transcripts leads to RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) mediated cleavage of AS1-L. Furthermore, experiments using BLV proviruses where the microRNAs were removed or inverted point to additional transcriptional interactions between the two viral RNA species. Knock down of AS1-S/L using locked nucleic acids (LNAs) showed no obvious effect on the cells phenotype. While a detailed elucidation of the BLV antisense transcripts function remains in the future, the constitutive expression in all samples examined, points to a vital role for the transcripts in the life cycle and oncogenic potential of BLV.
Linguistic performance and legibility of auditors’ reports with modified opinions
Authors: Fakhfakh Mondher 
Published: February 2016

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to measure the understandability of the illustrations provided by the International Federation of Accountants in terms of the structural features of international auditors’ reports with modified opinions.

Design/methodology/approach
– Measurement of the legibility of reports illustrated by the revised ISA 705 and ISA 706. This paper discusses the compliance level of modified auditors’ reports with the linguistic rules.

Findings
– It was found that the standardized illustrations of modified reports are not fully understandable by users of financial statements. The illustrations of modified auditors’ reports are not compliant with several linguistic rules.

Originality/value
– This paper provides new original investigation about the linguistic features of illustrations provided by the ISA 705 and ISA 706. This paper discusses the level of unintelligibility of standardized auditors’ reports and the implications for stakeholders.
The effects of IFRS experience on audit fees for listed companies in China
Authors: Lin Hsiao-Lun , Yen Ai-Ru 
Published: February 2016

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how auditors’ and audit clients’ IFRS-related experience alters auditors’ pricing decisions in the initial years of IFRS adoption in China.Design/methodology/approach– The authors conduct the analysis by examining audit fees from 4,129 sample observations that issued A-shares in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2005 to 2008. The authors empirically test the association between audit premiums and auditors’ and auditees’ IFRS experience.Findings– The authors find that auditors with IFRS experience charged significantly higher audit premiums in the initial years of IFRS adoption. The authors also find that audit clients’ with IFRS experience paid significantly lower incremental fees. The authors further find that the increased fees charged by audit firms with IFRS experience are independent of the degree of changes in the financial reporting complexity of their clients. In contrast, audit clients with IFRS experience paid lower incremental fees only when they underwent a high degree of changes in financial reporting complexity.Originality/value– First, it is the understanding that this study is the first to provide evidence on the effect of audit clients’ experience on audit fees. Second, the measure of auditors’ expertise is independent of audit clients’ decisions and is a less noisy measure. Third, the findings complement the existing evidence from other countries regarding the effects of IFRS convergence on audit fees. Finally, this study empirically tests the effects of changes in financial reporting complexity on audit fees.
A revised method for allocating the optimum number of similar machines to operators
Authors: Hadad Yossi , Keren Baruch 
Published: February 2016

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to determine the optimal number of operators to be assigned to a given number of machines, as well as the number of machines that will be run by each operator (a numerical partition). This determination should be made with the objective of minimizing production costs or maximizing profits.

Design/methodology/approach
– The method calculates the machines interference rate via the binomial distribution function. The optimal assignment is calculated by transformation of a partition problem into a problem of finding the shortest path on a directed acyclic graph.

Findings
– The method enables the authors to calculate the adjusted cycle time, the workload of the operators, and the utility of the machines, as well as the production yield, the total cost per unit, and the hourly profit for each potential assignment of operators to machines. In a case study, the deviation of the output per hour of the proposed method from the actual value was about 2 percent.

Practical implications
– The paper provides formulas and tables that give machine interference rates through the application of binomial distribution. The practicability of the proposed method is demonstrated by a real-life case study.

Originality/value
– The method can be applied in a wide variety of manufacturing systems that use many identical machines. This includes tire presses in tire manufacturing operations, ovens in pastry manufacturing systems, textile machines, and so on.
A re-examination of service standardization versus customization from the consumer’s perspective
Authors: Ding Ying , Keh Hean Tat 
Published: February 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pros and cons of service standardization (vs customization) from the consumer’s perspective, the key factors influencing consumers’ preference for standardized (vs customized) services and the outcomes of service standardization (vs customization).

Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a qualitative study and two behavioral experiments to test the hypotheses.

Findings
The authors find that the advantages of service customization include greater perceived control and higher consumer satisfaction. The drawbacks of service customization include greater perceived risk. These findings also suggest that consumers’ preference for standardized (vs customized) service depends on their consumption goal. Specifically, consumers with a hedonic goal tend to prefer customized services, while those with a utilitarian goal tend to prefer standardized services. These effects are moderated by their need for uniqueness.

Research limitations/implications
The qualitative and experimental studies in this research reveal the antecedents (utilitarian vs hedonic goal) on consumer preference for service standardization versus customization, as well as the consequences in terms of perceived risk, consumer satisfaction and perceived control. The experimental studies were conducted with Chinese and American consumers, respectively, which lend credence to the robustness of the findings.

Practical implications
Results of the present research provide new insights into service standardization versus customization and have significant practical implications. In particular, service organizations should consider designing the appropriate service mode based on consumers’ characteristics, particularly their consumption goals and their need for uniqueness. If the customers focus on efficiency and functionality, the organization should try to provide standardized services. In contrast, for customers who are seeking fun and a novel experience, the service firm should try to tailor to their hedonic needs.

Originality/value
While previous research identifies “heterogeneity” as a key characteristic of services in general, the present findings qualify this received wisdom. In particular, the authors show that consumers’ preference for service standardization versus customization is a function of their consumption goal and need for uniqueness. Thus, the present findings refine the current understanding of service heterogeneity, which makes a significant contribution to the services marketing literature.