bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Forage quality of leaf fodder from the main woody species in Iceland and its potential use for livestock in the past and present
Authors: Hejcman M. , Hejcmanová P. , Pavlů V. , Thorhallsdottir A. G. 
Published: April 2016

AbstractWoody species played, and in many Nordic regions still play, a very important role in livestock feeding. However, forage quality (contents of macroelements and fibre fractions) of the leaves of common woody species is often inadequate. The aim of our study was to determine forage quality of leaves of Betula nana, Betula pubescens, Salix lanata, Salix phylicifolia and Sorbus aucuparia from Iceland and to compare it with the forage quality of the common native grass Deschampsia cespitosa and the introduced grass Alopecurus pratensis used by contemporary Icelandic farmers for forage production. Samples were collected at four localities in Iceland in late June 2013 and analysed for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), neutral and acid‐detergent fibre and lignin concentration. Analyses were compared with the optimum range for cattle and sheep nutrition. The nutritive value of leaves of the Icelandic woody species was relatively high, and analysis showed their nutritive content satisfied both cattle and sheep nutrient requirements for N, P, K, Ca and Mg, but the relatively high content of indigestible lignin in all woody species could cause problems for livestock metabolism. Grasses were characterized by lower P, Ca and Mg, but substantially higher K concentrations, and higher N:P and K:(Mg + Ca) ratios. The forage quality of leaves of woody species increased in the order B. nana < B. pubescens < S. phylicifolia < S. aucuparia < S. lanata. Results are discussed in relation to use of leaf fodder in the past, when woody species, particularly Salix spp., are likely to have played an important role in livestock feeding.
Seed rate and nitrogen application effects on production and brix value of forage sorghum cultivars
Authors: Sher Ahmad , Hassan Fayyaz‐Ul , Ali Hakoomat , Hassan Waseem 
Published: April 2016

AbstractField experiments were carried out during two consecutive years at the National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, with the hypothesis that seed rate and nitrogen (N) application improves plant morphology, yield production and brix value of forage sorghum cultivars. Twenty‐seven treatment combinations comprising three sorghum cultivars, namely, ‘JS–2002,’ ‘Chakwal sorghum’ and ‘JS–263’ were sown with three seed rates (75, 100 and 125 kg ha−1) and three N levels (0, 60 and 120 kg ha−1). Experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design with split–split plot arrangement in triplicate. Seed rate changed the plant morphology, yield traits and brix value variably. Increasing N application (0–120 kg ha−1) had a positive impact on growth and yield traits except brix value. Results revealed that ‘JS–2002’ surpassed the other two cultivars for plant height, number of leaves, leaf area per plant, leaf to stem ratio, green forage yield and dry biomass yield, dry matter content and brix value at given developmental stages at seed rate of 125 kg ha−1 with applied N level of 120 kg ha−1, during both the years. The highest N application (120 kg ha−1) in ‘JS–2002’ gave an increase of 45% forage yield as compared to control.
Characterizing Heterogeneity in Infiltration Rates During Managed Aquifer Recharge
Authors: Mawer Chloe , Parsekian Andrew , Pidlisecky Adam , Knight Rosemary 
Published: April 2016

AbstractInfiltration rate is the key parameter that describes how water moves from the surface into a groundwater aquifer during managed aquifer recharge (MAR). Characterization of infiltration rate heterogeneity in space and time is valuable information for MAR system operation. In this study, we utilized fiber optic distributed temperature sensing (FO‐DTS) observations and the phase shift of the diurnal temperature signal between two vertically co‐located fiber optic cables to characterize infiltration rate spatially and temporally in a MAR basin. The FO‐DTS measurements revealed spatial heterogeneity of infiltration rate: approximately 78% of the recharge water infiltrated through 50% of the pond bottom on average. We also introduced a metric for quantifying how the infiltration rate in a recharge pond changes over time, which enables FO‐DTS to be used as a method for monitoring MAR and informing maintenance decisions. By monitoring this metric, we found high‐spatial variability in how rapidly infiltration rate changed during the test period. We attributed this variability to biological pore clogging and found a relationship between high initial infiltration rate and the most rapid pore clogging. We found a strong relationship (R2 = 0.8) between observed maximum infiltration rates and electrical resistivity measurements from electrical resistivity tomography data taken in the same basin when dry. This result shows that the combined acquisition of DTS and ERT data can improve the design and operation of a MAR pond significantly by providing the critical information needed about spatial variability in parameters controlling infiltration rates.
Evaluation of parental awareness regarding their child's oral hygiene
Authors: Shaghaghian S , Savadi N , Amin M 
Published: April 2016

AbstractObjectivesTo determine parental awareness about their child's oral hygiene and its associated factors.MethodsIn this cross‐sectional study, 396 parents and their 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children were selected by randomized cluster sampling from Shiraz kindergartens in 2013. Parents completed a questionnaire on their perception of their child's oral hygiene. The children received a dental examination, and their dental cleaning status was determined using Simplified Debris Index. Parental awareness was determined by comparing parents' perception of their child's oral hygiene with the results of the dental examination. Associations between demographic factors and parental awareness were evaluated.ResultsSixty per cent of the parents were aware of their child's teeth cleaning status. Higher percentage of parents with university degree (P < 0.001) and parents whose child did not have a previous dental visit (P < 0.001) were aware. Also, more aware mothers were employed compared with homemakers (P = 0.002). Children of aware parents had lower dmft (P < 0.001) and better oral hygiene (P = 0.001) than those of unaware parents. Parents who perceived overall oral health status of their child as good (P < 0.001) as well as those who believed that their child did not have any cavities (P < 0.001) were more likely to be aware of their child's teeth cleaning than those who perceived otherwise.ConclusionMany parents were not aware of their child's oral hygiene. Educational interventions should be provided to young families to increase parental knowledge and skills that help them recognize their child's dental needs. The interventions are more necessary for low socioeconomic parents and for the parents of children with poor oral hygiene.
Patients' knowledge of and participation in preventing pressure ulcers– an intervention study
Authors: Schoeps Lena N , Tallberg Anna‐Britta , Gunningberg Lena 
Published: April 2016

AbstractThe aim of this study was to evaluate a patient information pamphlet on pressure ulcer (PU) prevention using a descriptive, comparative pre‐ and post‐test study design. The patient information pamphlet ‘How can you help to stop pressure ulcers?’ developed by the European PU Advisory Panel in 2012 was implemented in two surgical wards in a university hospital. A total of 61 patients answered pre‐ and post‐test questionnaires. Patients assessed their knowledge of the risks, causes and ways to prevent PUs significantly higher after the intervention than before. Twenty‐eight patients (46%) reported that they had participated in PU prevention during the last 24 hours. The patients assessed the content of the PU pamphlet as useful, its language as quite easy to understand and its layout as good. Patients with a PU pamphlet during their hospital stay were more knowledgeable about and more active in their own care. It is important that nurses invite patients to be active partners in preventing PUs but also that they identify patients who need to have a more passive role. The PU pamphlet could be updated to increase its comprehensibility, meaningfulness and manageability for patients.
Risk Management—the Revealing Hand
Authors: Kaplan Robert S. , Mikes Anette 
Published: April 2016

Many believe that the recent emphasis on enterprise risk management function is misguided, especially after the failure of sophisticated quantitative risk models during the global financial crisis. One concern is that top‐down risk management will inhibit innovation and entrepreneurial activities. The authors disagree and argue that risk management should function as a “revealing hand” that identifies, assesses, and mitigates risks in a cost‐efficient way. In so doing, risk management can add value by allowing companies to take on riskier projects and strategies.But to avoid problems encountered in the past, particularly during the recent crisis, risk managers must overcome deep‐seated individual and organizational biases that prevent managers and employees from thinking clearly and analytically about their risk exposures. In this paper, the authors draw lessons from seven case studies about the ways that a corporate risk management function can foster highly interactive dialogues to identify and prioritize risks, help to allocate resources to mitigate such risks, and bring clarity to the value trade‐offs and moral dilemmas that often must be addressed in decisions to manage risks.Developing an effective risk management system requires, first, an agreement about a company's objectives, values, and priorities; second, a clear formulation and communication of the firm's “risk appetite”; and, third, continuous monitoring of a firm's risk‐taking behavior against its declared risk limits. Quantitative risk models should not be the sole—or even the most important—basis for decision‐making. They cannot replace management judgment and are best used to trigger in‐depth discussions among managers and employees about the most important risks faced by the firm and the best ways to respond to them.
Derivatives: Understanding Their Usefulness and Their Role in the Financial Crisis
Authors: Tuckman Bruce 
Published: April 2016

This article makes two main arguments that are intended to guide policymakers and regulators of financial markets: (1) when used properly, derivatives are enormously useful to companies in managing business risks; and (2) neither derivatives nor derivatives‐related products played significant roles in causing or exacerbating the financial crisis of 2007–2009.The author begins by illustrating the corporate use of derivatives with a detailed example of how a large brewer uses both exchange‐traded wheat futures and over‐the‐counter aluminum swaps to hedge the risks of higher wheat and aluminum prices. In the process, the value of much‐maligned OTC derivatives, and the role of financial intermediaries in facilitating their use, are clearly demonstrated.The second part of the article refutes the popular claims, widely expressed in the media and on Capitol Hill, that derivatives were at the heart of the financial crisis. Losses and failures during the crisis are shown to have resulted primarily from excessive non‐derivative leverage and from investments in non‐derivative mortgage products that fell dramatically in value. The only significant exception involved the insurance company AIG, whose failure and bailout are attributable not only to large losses on credit default swaps, but to comparable losses on non‐derivative mortgage products. Moreover, by the time AIG failed, many other large financial institutions had already either failed or experienced large losses. What's more, and all but forgotten during the controversy, some large banks were able to reduce risk by hedging with those derivatives.
Three Approaches to Risk Management—and How and Why Swedish Companies Use Them
Authors: Amberg Niklas , Friberg Richard 
Published: April 2016

Companies can manage risk by using derivatives or through operational hedging. But there is a third possibility: to leave their operating cash flows unhedged while ensuring that the firm has access to external finance in adverse states of the world. This article reports the findings of a recent survey of over 800 Swedish companies that aims to shed light on the relative importance of these three risk management methods, as well as how they interact in corporate risk management programs.The results show that risk management practices aimed at ensuring access to external finance are the main method used by the largest number of companies, followed by operational hedging methods and financial hedging with derivatives. Large companies hedge using both operational methods and derivatives, whereas small firms are less likely to use derivatives but nevertheless attach great importance to the other two ways of managing risk. Even among the largest companies, operational hedging tends to deemed more important than hedging with derivatives—a finding that, although perhaps a surprise to financial professionals, underscores the authors’ finding that operational and derivative‐based hedges function as complements rather than substitutes. Indeed, the authors report that the most financially sophisticated companies tend to use all three of these common forms of risk management.
The Beliefs of Central Bankers About Inflation and the Business Cycle—and Some Reasons to Question the Faith
Authors: Kantor Brian 
Published: April 2016

Although the U.S. Fed has recently created trillions of dollars through its purchases of Treasury Bonds and other securities, this has not had the usual inflationary consequences. The lesson from this experience is that inflation results from an increase in the supply of money over and above the demand to hold money. And this in turn implies that to be effective, any forecasting model of inflation, whether run inside or outside the Fed, must be provided with accurate estimates of the demand for as well as the supply of money, which is a formidable task given the extraordinary stock of excess over required cash reserves now held by U.S. banks.Unlike the approach of the U.S. Fed, the monetary policy of South Africa's Reserve Bank does not appear to distinguish between the more or less temporary effects of supply‐side shocks on inflation, such as those stemming from a weakening of the currency, from changes in the relatively permanent demand‐side forces that drive prices higher or lower. Instead of ignoring such supply‐side shocks, as Fed Chair Yellen has counselled the Fed to do, the Resbank has reacted to higher prices of whatever provenance in the same way, raising or lowering interest rates accordingly. This has made its policies highly pro‐cyclical in an economy subject to dramatic exchange rate shocks that are independent of monetary policy settings.But if the U.S. Fed has been right to ignore the effects of its policies on changes in the U.S. dollar, it has introduced another source of uncertainty. By postulating that only unexpected inflation is capable of stimulating economic activity, the Fed model makes a strong case for the benefits of highly consistent and predictable, central bank‐influenced expectations of low inflation in maintaining economic growth and employment. But for all the wisdom of this policy, the Fed also appears to persist in believing in its own ability to engineer inflation surprises, with the intent of managing the business cycle. Experience tells us that such attempts at fine‐tuning are almost certain to prove not only futile, but also incompatible with the Fed's own goals of predictable policy actions and reactions. These contradictions about the role that expectations and Fed‐watching play in the economy lead toward a different policy prescription: namely, reliance upon monetary policy rules rather than policy discretion to minimize inflation and other surprises.
Ontogenetic thermal tolerance and performance of ectotherms at variable temperatures
Authors: Cavieres G. , Bogdanovich J. M. , Bozinovic F. 
Published: April 2016

AbstractEarly experience and environmental conditions during ontogeny may affect organismal structure, physiology and fitness. Here, we assessed the effect of developmental acclimation to environmental thermal variability on walking speed inDrosophila melanogasteradults. Our results showed a shift in the performance curve to the right. Thus, upper and lower thermal limits exhibited developmental plasticity. Additionally, in constant and variable climatic scenarios, flies shifted to the right the optimum temperature but the maximum performance decreased only in flies reared on high temperatures and high thermal variability. Overall, we showed that environmental cues during ontogeny might help to construct phenotypic variation, which supports the hypothesis of ontogenetic dependence of thermal tolerances.
KRAS mutation analysis by next‐generation sequencing in endoscopic ultrasound‐guided sampling for solid liver masses
Authors: Choi Hyun Jong , Moon Jong Ho , Kim Hee Kyung , Lee Yun Nah , Lee Tae Hoon , Cha Sang‐Woo , Cho Young Deok , Park Sang‐Heum 
Published: April 2016

AbstractBackground and AimKRAS mutation analysis may provide ancillary diagnostic yield in an endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)‐guided histopathological evaluation. We evaluated the clinical impact of KRAS mutation analysis with cytological and histological evaluations in EUS‐guided tissue sampling, using a core biopsy needle for solid liver masses.MethodsEUS‐guided fine needle biopsy (EUS‐FNB) using a core biopsy needle was performed in patients with primary or metastatic liver masses that were suspected malignancies. KRAS mutations were analyzed in all specimens obtained. The peptide nucleic acid (PNA)‐mediated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) clamping method was compared with a next‐generation sequencing (NGS) method for detecting KRAS mutations.ResultsEUS‐FNB with a core biopsy needle was performed in 28 patients with solid liver masses located in the liver's left lobe. The diagnostic accuracies for malignancy of on‐site cytology, cytology using Papanicolaou staining, and histology including immunohistochemical stains were 82.1%, 85.7%, and 89.3%, respectively. KRAS gene mutations were observed in 14.3% of patients by the PNA‐PCR clamping method. The NGS method detected more KRAS mutations than the PNA‐PCR clamping method: in 25% of patients. Adding the results of KRAS mutation analysis to the cytohistopathological evaluation, the overall diagnostic accuracy of EUS‐guided tissue sampling was 96.4%.ConclusionsEUS‐guided tissue sampling for solid liver masses in the left lobe provided high diagnostic accuracy from cytological and histological evaluations. KRAS mutation analysis provided additional diagnostic yield in patients with inconclusive cytohistopathological results from EUS‐guided tissue sampling. The NGS method detected additional KRAS mutations in patients with negative PNA‐mediated PCR clamping test results.
The Natural History of Changes in Preferences for Life‐Sustaining Treatments and Implications for Inpatient Mortality in Younger and Older Hospitalized Adults
Authors: Kim Yan S. , Escobar Gabriel J. , Halpern Scott D. , Greene John D. , Kipnis Patricia , Liu Vincent 
Published: April 2016

ObjectivesTo compare changes in preferences for life‐sustaining treatments (LSTs) and subsequent mortality of younger and older inpatients.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingKaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC).ParticipantsIndividuals hospitalized at 21 KPNC hospitals between 2008 and 2012 (N = 227,525).MeasurementsParticipants were divided according to age (<65, 65–84, ≥85). The effect of age on adding new and reversing prior LST limitations was evaluated. Survival to inpatient discharge was compared according to age group after adding new LST limitations.ResultsAt admission, 18,254 (54.2%) of those aged 85 and older, 18,349 (20.8%) of those aged 65 to 84, and 3,258 (3.1%) of those younger than 65 had requested that the use of LST be limited. Of the 187,664 participants who initially did not request limitations on the use of LST, 15,932 (8.5%) had new LST limitations added; of the 39,861 admitted with LST limitations, 3,017 (7.6%) had these reversed. New limitations were more likely to be seen in older participants (aged 65–84, odds ratio (OR) = 2.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.16–2.39; aged ≥85, OR = 6.43, 95% CI = 6.05–6.84), and reversals of prior limitations were less likely to be seen in older individuals (aged 65–84, OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.65–0.83; aged ≥85, OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.41–0.53) than in those younger than 65. Survival rates to inpatient discharge were 71.7% of subjects aged 85 and older who added new limitations, 57.2% of those aged 65 to 84, and 43.4% of those younger than 65 (P < .001).ConclusionChanges in preferences for LSTs were common in hospitalized individuals. Age was an important determinant of likelihood of adding new or reversing prior LST limitations. Of subjects who added LST limitations, those who were older were more likely than those who were younger to survive to hospital discharge.
Development of Teeth Probe for Analysis of Correlation between Mechanical and Sensory Properties of Apples
Authors: Park Dong‐June , Chun Yong‐Gi , Lee Sang‐Hoon , Lee Seung‐Ju , Kim Bum‐Keun 
Published: April 2016

AbstractMeasurement of textural properties using simple mechanical probe is difficult to describe subjective sensory of intrinsic during the human biting. The aims of this study are to measure mechanical properties with teeth probe which was developed to simulate human teeth with upper and lower jaws, using a texture analyzer and detected acoustics with a connected acoustic emission detector, simultaneously to enhance the correlation between sensory and textural evaluations of apples. With the teeth probe, relatively high correlations between textural and acoustic properties were seen compared to those using the blade and upper teeth probes, in which crispness had high correlation with sweetness (R2 = 0.96), juiciness (R2 = 0.98), and overall texture (R2 = 0.97). These results demonstrate the reliability of a combination of mechanical and acoustic systems equipped with a teeth probe for texture analysis of apples and the potential for extension to other foods.Practical ApplicationsTeeth probe was developed and utilized to determine the correlation between sensory and textural evaluations of apples and establish a reliable method for analysis of food properties. Principal component analysis (PCA) analysis of the sensory and textural attributes revealed high correlations between the mechanical and acoustic properties in all groups of apples. These results demonstrate the reliability of our teeth probe using combined mechanical and acoustic measurements for texture analysis of apples.