bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Decreasing Prosthetic Joint Surgical Site Infections: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Authors: Mejia Elisa , Williams Anne , Long Martha 
Published: January 2015

AbstractAs of October 2013, a hospital's base Medicare reimbursement will be penalized for patients readmitted within 30 days of undergoing elective total hip and knee arthroplasties. To respond to an increased incidence of prosthetic joint infections after these surgeries, members of an interdisciplinary project team at a 1,046‐bed multihospital health care organization in the southeastern United States sought to identify factors that place patients at high risk for infection. Data showed that addressing the sterile environment, personnel issues, patient readiness for surgery, and system issues resulted in decreased rates of infection among patients who underwent hip replacement surgery (χ21 = 3.057, P = .04). Additional outcomes included decreased reliance on immediate‐use steam sterilization and a standardized method to educate perioperative and radiology department personnel regarding prevention of prosthetic joint infections. The team concluded that an interdisciplinary approach to process improvement is effective and economical.
Prevalence and associated factors of early repolarization pattern in healthy young northeastern Thai men: A correlation study with Brugada electrocardiography
Authors: Makarawate Pattarapong , Chaosuwannakit Narumol , Ruamcharoen Yossavadee , Panthongviriyakul Aunejit , Pongchaiyakul Choowong , Tharaksa Prapapan , Sripo Temsiri , Sawanyawisuth Kittisak 
Published: January 2015

AbstractBackgroundEarly repolarization pattern (ERP) is characterized by J‐point elevation with QRS notching or slurring in the terminal portion of the QRS complex. It may be associated with sudden death. Brugada syndrome (BS) is a genetic and fatal disease commonly found in northeastern Thai men. Data on the rate and predictors of ERP in Asian populations are limited. In addition, the correlation between ERP and BS has never been studied in an endemic area of BS. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of ERP and its associated factors in young, healthy male Asian subjects.MethodsBetween June 2011 and May 2012, 282 young, healthy men aged 20–45 years were enrolled at check‐up clinics in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Subjects were divided into the ERP and non‐ERP groups.ResultsThere were 29 subjects with ERP (10.3%). The Sokolow–Lyon index was an independent factor for ERP with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.090 (95% CI: 1.027, 1.159). The Brugada ECG pattern was found in 11 (37.9%) subjects in the ERP group. The Brugada ECG pattern (non‐type 1) was commonly found in lateral ERP patients. After the placement of high intercostal leads, the Brugada ECG pattern was dramatically increased compared with results obtained during standard ECG lead placement.ConclusionsThe ERP rate in young, healthy men from northeastern Thailand was 10.3%. A higher Sokolow–Lyon index was the only independent factor associated with ERP. Subjects with ERP should be examined with high intercostal leads to uncover Brugada ECG.
Depth-integrated equations for entraining granular flows in narrow channels
Authors: Capart H. , Hung C.-Y. , Stark C. P. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractFlowing over erodible beds, channelized granular avalanches can alter their volume by entraining or detraining basal grains. In detail, entrainment results from a gradual adjustment of stress and velocity profiles over depth, bringing bed material past yield (and vice versa for detrainment). To capture this process, we propose new depth-integrated equations that balance kinetic energy in addition to mass and momentum. The equations require a local granular rheology, assumed viscoplastic, but no extra erosion law. Entrainment rates are instead deduced from the depth-integrated layer dynamics. To check the approach, we obtain solutions for non-equilibrium heap flows, and compare them with experiments conducted in a seesaw channel.
Global linear instability of the rotating-disk flow investigated through simulations
Authors: Appelquist E. , Schlatter P. , Alfredsson P. H. , Lingwood R. J. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractNumerical simulations of the flow developing on the surface of a rotating disk are presented based on the linearized incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The boundary-layer flow is perturbed by an impulsive disturbance within a linear global framework, and the effect of downstream turbulence is modelled by a damping region further downstream. In addition to the outward-travelling modes, inward-travelling disturbances excited at the radial end of the simulated linear region, $r_{end}$, by the modelled turbulence are included within the simulations, potentially allowing absolute instability to develop. During early times the flow shows traditional convective behaviour, with the total energy slowly decaying in time. However, after the disturbances have reached $r_{end}$, the energy evolution reaches a turning point and, if the location of $r_{end}$ is at a Reynolds number larger than approximately $R=594$ (radius non-dimensionalized by $\sqrt{{\it\nu}/{\rm\Omega}^{\ast }}$, where ${\it\nu}$ is the kinematic viscosity and ${\rm\Omega}^{\ast }$ is the rotation rate of the disk), there will be global temporal growth. The global frequency and mode shape are clearly imposed by the conditions at $r_{end}$. Our results suggest that the linearized Ginzburg–Landau model by Healey (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 663, 2010, pp. 148–159) captures the (linear) physics of the developing rotating-disk flow, showing that there is linear global instability provided the Reynolds number of $r_{end}$ is sufficiently larger than the critical Reynolds number for the onset of absolute instability.
Bubble dynamics in a viscoelastic medium with nonlinear elasticity
Authors: Gaudron R. , Warnez M. T. , Johnsen E. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractIn a variety of recently developed medical procedures, bubbles are formed directly in soft tissue and may cause damage. While cavitation in Newtonian liquids has received significant attention, bubble dynamics in tissue, a viscoelastic medium, remains poorly understood. To model tissue, most previous studies have focused on Maxwell-based viscoelastic fluids. However, soft tissue generally possesses an original configuration to which it relaxes after deformation. Thus, a Kelvin–Voigt-based viscoelastic model is expected to be a more appropriate representation. Furthermore, large oscillations may occur, thus violating the infinitesimal strain assumption and requiring a nonlinear/finite-strain elasticity description. In this article, we develop a theoretical framework to simulate spherical bubble dynamics in a viscoelastic medium with nonlinear elasticity. Following modern continuum mechanics formalism, we derive the form of the elastic forces acting on a bubble for common strain-energy functions (e.g. neo-Hookean, Mooney–Rivlin) and incorporate them into Rayleigh–Plesset-like equations. The main effects of nonlinear elasticity are to reduce the violence of the collapse and rebound for large departures from the equilibrium radius, and increase the oscillation frequency. The present approach can readily be extended to other strain-energy functions and used to compute the stress/deformation fields in the surrounding medium.
Prevalence of hyperhomocysteinaemia and some of its major determinants in Shaanxi Province, China: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Liu Xue-Dong , Gao Bin , Sun Dong , Shi Ming , Ma Yue-Yun , Liu Zhi-Rong , Wang Bo , Xu Xiping , Xu Xin , Ji Qiu-He , Zhao Gang 
Published: January 2015

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of hyperhomocysteinaemia (HHCY; total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) concentration >15 μmol/l) and its major determinants in healthy Chinese northerners. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in Shaanxi Province, China. The study sample included 2645 participants (1042 men and 1603 women) aged >20 years. Demographic characteristics and lifestyle factors were assessed via questionnaire interviews and physical examination. Plasma levels of homocysteine and folate and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphism were determined according to standard methods. The prevalence of HHCY was 67·7 % (81·4 % in men and 58·8 % in women). The geometric mean of tHcy concentration was 19·1 μmol/l. The OR of HHCY were 0·44 (95 % CI 0·34, 0·57) for womenv.men; 1·95 (95 % CI 1·41, 2·70), 1·41 (95 % CI 1·05, 1·88) and 0·76 (95 % CI 0·64, 0·89) for participants with smoking and alcohol drinking cessation and improved physical activity levels, respectively; 0·25 (95 % CI 0·17, 0·38), 0·33 (95 % CI 0·22, 0·49) and 0·56 (95 % CI 0·36, 0·88) for participants with an education level of elementary school, secondary school and universityv.illiterate, respectively; 1·41 (95 % CI 1·13, 1·75) and 3·05 (95 % CI 2·35, 3·97) for participants with CT and TTv.CC genotype at MTHFR 677C → T polymorphism, respectively. These results demonstrate that the prevalence of HHCY is considerably high in Chinese northerners, especially in TT subjects, suggesting that implementation of tHcy-lowering strategies, such as lifestyle changes, is necessary.
WERE THERE POLITICAL ALTERNATIVES IN THE WAKE OF THE SHARPEVILLE-LANGA VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1960?
Authors: DUBOW SAUL 
Published: January 2015

AbstractIn many accounts, the Sharpeville emergency of 1960 was a key ‘turning point’ for modern South African history. It persuaded the liberation movements that there was no point in civil rights-style activism and served as the catalyst for the formation of the African National Congress's armed wing,Umkhonto we Sizwe. From the South African government's perspective, the events at Sharpeville made it imperative to crush black resistance so that whites could defend themselves against communist-inspired revolutionary agitation. African and Afrikaner nationalist accounts are thus mutually invested in the idea that, after Sharpeville, there was no alternative. This article challenges such assumptions. By bringing together new research on African and Afrikaner nationalism during this period, and placing them in the same frame of analysis, it draws attention to important political dynamics and possibilities that have for too long been overlooked.
WAR, RACISM, AND THE TAKING OF HEADS: REVISITING MILITARY CONFLICT IN THE CAPE COLONY AND WESTERN XHOSALAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Authors: WEBB DENVER A. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractThe emergence of scientific racism and the taking of heads and skulls in the nineteenth-century colonial wars in Southern Africa have received limited attention from historians. Closer examination of head-taking in colonial wars fought in the western parts of Xhosaland and the Cape Colony suggests that the rise of scientific racism alone does not explain the complex interplay between military discourse on Africans, atrocities committed, and commonplace racial attitudes. A detailed examination of the incidents of head-taking in the colonial conflicts against the Xhosa indicates the practice evolved over time, had several causes, and became an increasingly common part of the construction and re-enforcement of a racial identity and culture of domination by British and colonial soldiers. It also suggests that for the Xhosa, the taking of heads was a behaviour acquired from the British.
A multi-configuration kinematic model for active drive/steer four-wheel robot structures
Authors: Martínez-García Edgar A. , Lerín-García Erik , Torres-Córdoba Rafael 
Published: January 2015

SUMMARYIn this study, a general kinematic control law for automatic multi-configuration of four-wheel active drive/steer robots is proposed. This work presents models of four-wheel drive and steer (4WD4S) robotic systems with all-wheel active drive and steer simultaneously. This kinematic model comprises 12 degrees of freedom (DOFs) in a special design of a mechanical structure for each wheel. The control variables are wheel yaw, wheel roll, and suspension pitch by active/passive damper systems. The pitch angle implies that a wheel's contact point translates its position over time collinear with the robot's lateral sides. The formulation proposed involves the inference of the virtual z-turn axis (robot's body rotation axis) to be used in the control of the robot's posture by at least two acceleration measurements local to the robot's body. The z-turn axis is deduced through a set of linear equations in which the number of equations is equal to the number of acceleration measurements. This research provides two main models for stability conditions. Finally, the results are sustained by different numerical simulations that validate the system with different locomotion configurations.
Habitat characteristics shaping ant species assemblages in a mixed deciduous forest in Eastern India
Authors: Parui Arpan Kumar , Chatterjee Soumik , Basu Parthiba 
Published: January 2015

Abstract:Environmental complexity and spatial heterogeneity are important factors influencing the structure of ant species assemblages. This paper documents the effect of different vegetation and environmental factors on ant community structure and functional group composition in different habitat patches. Ants were sampled at 16 sites distributed across five habitat types in the Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary. Sampling was performed 10 times over a 2-y period using pitfall traps. A total of 100 species belonging to 41 genera were collected during the study. Ant species richness was best explained by a combination of percentage grass cover, percentage litter cover and number of saplings whereas percentage litter cover and soil nitrogen concentration significantly explained the variation in ant species abundance. Dominant Dolichoderinae were present only at forest edge and were found to be associated positively with percentage bare ground cover and negatively with percentage litter cover. Generalized Myrmicinae, subordinate Camponotini and tropical climate specialists were prevalent in shaded forest habitats whereas opportunists were more common in two types of open habitat. Our study underpins the influence of vegetational complexity, litter and soil chemical properties on the structure and composition of ant species assemblages and various functional groups across forested habitats in this little-studied region.
Representations of abstract grammatical feature agreement in young children
Authors: MELANÇON ANDRÉANE , SHI RUSHEN 
Published: January 2015

AbstractA fundamental question in language acquisition research is whether young children have abstract grammatical representations. We tested this question experimentally. French-learning 30-month-olds were first taught novel word–object pairs in the context of a gender-marked determiner (e.g., unMASCravole ‘a ravole’). Test trials presented the objects side-by-side while one of them was named in new phrases containing other determiners and an adjective (e.g., leMASCjoli ravoleMASC ‘the pretty ravole’). The gender agreement between the new determiner and the non-adjacent noun was manipulated in different test trials (e.g., leMASC__ravoleMASC; *laFEM__ravoleMASC). We found that online comprehension of the named target was facilitated in gender-matched trials but impeded in gender-mismatched trials. That is, children assigned the determiner genders to the novel nouns during word learning. They then processed the non-adjacent gender agreement between the two categories (Det, Noun) during test. The results demonstrate abstract featural representation and grammatical productivity in young children.
Ground states for the pseudo-relativistic Hartree equation with external potential
Authors: Cingolani Silvia , Secchi Simone 
Published: January 2015

We prove the existence of positive ground state solutions to the pseudo-relativistic Schrödinger equationwhere N ≥ 3, m > 0, V is a bounded external scalar potential and W is a radially symmetric convolution potential satisfying suitable assumptions. We also provide some asymptotic decay estimates of the found solutions.
Boundary concentrating solutions for a Hénon-like equation
Authors: Peng Shuangjie , Pi Huirong 
Published: January 2015

This paper is concerned with the existence and qualitative property of solutions for a Hénon-like equationwhere Ω = {x ∈ ℝN : 1 < |x| < 3} with N ≥ 4, 2* = 2N/(N − 2), τ > 0 and ε > 0 is a small parameter. For any given k ∈ ℤ+, we construct positive solutions concentrating simultaneously at 2k different points for ε sufficiently small, among which k points are near the interior boundary {x ∈ ℝN : |x| = 1} and the other k points are near the outward boundary {x ∈ ℝN : |x| = 3}. Moreover, the 2k points tend to the boundary of Ω as ε goes to 0.
Cryptosporidium parvuminfections in a cohort of veterinary students in Sweden
Authors: KINROSS P. , BESER J. , TROELL K. , SILVERLÅS C. , BJÖRKMAN C. , LEBBAD M. , WINIECKA-KRUSNELL J. , LINDH J. , LÖFDAHL M. 
Published: January 2015

SUMMARYIn March 2013, a veterinary student tested positive forCryptosporidium; four classmates reported similar gastrointestinal symptoms. We aimed to identify source(s) and risk factors forCryptosporidiuminfection in university persons symptomatic between 21 January and 14 April 2013. Sixty-four (79%) students from a cohort of 81 fourth-year veterinary students completed questionnaires, identifying 13 cases; four wereCryptosporidium parvumGP60 subtype IIaA16G1R1b, two were IIdA24G1, seven did not submit stool samples. Thirteen cases attended the university's field clinic before symptom onset (13/37 attendees, 35%); 11 visited at least one of four farms where students recalled seeing calves with diarrhoea.C. parvumsubtype IIaA16G1R1b was identified in calves at one of the farms. Entering pens of calves with diarrhoea [relative risk (RR) 7·6, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·7–33·5] and eating in clinic cars (RR 9·1, 95% CI 1·3–65·8) were associated with being a case. Washing hands at least twice per farm visit (0 cases,P= 0·03) was protective. This outbreak investigation was notable for rapid and effective collaboration between public health, veterinary and environmental sectors, leading to swift identification of a microbiological and epidemiological link between cases, infected calves and their farms. We recommend frequent hand-washing using proper technique and dissuasion from eating in clinic cars to minimize possible exposure to contaminated surfaces.
Crisis Leadership in an Acute Clinical Setting: Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand ICU Experience Following the February 2011 Earthquake
Authors: Zhuravsky Lev 
Published: January 2015

AbstractIntroductionOn Tuesday, February 22, 2011, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand. This qualitative study explored the intensive care units (ICUs) staff experiences and adopted leadership approaches to manage a large-scale crisis resulting from the city-wide disaster.ProblemTo date, there have been a very small number of research publications to provide a comprehensive overview of crisis leadership from the perspective of multi-level interactions among staff members in the acute clinical environment during the process of the crisis management.MethodsThe research was qualitative in nature. Participants were recruited into the study through purposive sampling. A semi-structured, audio-taped, personal interview method was chosen as a single data collection method for this study. This study employed thematic analysis.ResultsFormal team leadership refers to the actions undertaken by a team leader to ensure the needs and goals of the team are met. Three core, formal, crisis-leadership themes were identified: decision making, ability to remain calm, and effective communication. Informal leaders are those individuals who exert significant influence over other members in the group to which they belong, although no formal authority has been assigned to them. Four core, informal, crisis-leadership themes were identified: motivation to lead, autonomy, emotional leadership, and crisis as opportunity.Shared leadership is a dynamic process among individuals in groups for which the objective is to lead one another to the achievement of group or organizational goals. Two core, shared-leadership themes were identified: shared leadership within formal medical and nursing leadership groups, and shared leadership between formal and informal leaders in the ICU.ConclusionThe capabilities of formal leaders all contributed to the overall management of a crisis. Informal leaders are a very cohesive group of motivated people who can make a substantial contribution and improve overall team performance in a crisis. While in many ways the research on shared leadership in a crisis is still in its early stages of development, there are some clear benefits from adopting this leadership approach in the management of complex crises. This study may be useful to the development of competency-based training programs for formal leaders, process improvements in fostering and supporting informal leaders, and it makes important contributions to a growing body of research of shared and collective leadership in crisis.ZhuravskyL. Crisis leadership in an acute clinical setting: Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand ICU experience following the February 2011 earthquake. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(2):1-6.
Young adolescents’ engagement in dietary behaviour – the impact of gender, socio-economic status, self-efficacy and scientific literacy. Methodological aspects of constructing measures in nutrition literacy research using the Rasch model
Authors: Guttersrud Øystein , Petterson Kjell Sverre 
Published: January 2015

AbstractObjectiveThe present study validates a revised scale measuring individuals’ level of the ‘engagement in dietary behaviour’ aspect of ‘critical nutrition literacy’ and describes how background factors affect this aspect of Norwegian tenth-grade students’ nutrition literacy.DesignData were gathered electronically during a field trial of a standardised sample test in science. Test items and questionnaire constructs were distributed evenly across four electronic field-test booklets. Data management and analysis were performed using the RUMM2030 item analysis package and the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 statistical software package.SettingStudents responded on computers at school.SubjectsSeven hundred and forty tenth-grade students at twenty-seven randomly sampled public schools were enrolled in the field-test study. The engagement in dietary behaviour scale and the self-efficacy in science scale were distributed to 178 of these students.ResultsThe dietary behaviour scale and the self-efficacy in science scale came out as valid, reliable and well-targeted instruments usable for the construction of measurements.ConclusionsGirls and students with high self-efficacy reported higher engagement in dietary behaviour than other students. Socio-economic status and scientific literacy – measured as ability in science by applying an achievement test – did not correlate significantly different from zero with students’ engagement in dietary behaviour.
Two WorldsandTwo Aspects: on Kant’s Distinction between Things in Themselves and Appearances
Authors: Oberst Michael 
Published: January 2015

AbstractIn the interpretation of Kant’s transcendental idealism, a textual stalemate between two camps has evolved: two-world interpretations regard things in themselves and appearances as two numerically distinct entities, whereas two-aspect interpretations take this distinction as one between two aspects of the same thing. I try to develop an account which can overcome this dispute. On the one hand, things in themselves are numerically distinct from appearances, but on the other hand, things in themselves can be regarded as they exist in themselves and as they appear. This reveals a mutual entailment of both accounts. Finally, I suggest that this approach most naturally leads to a kind of ‘phenomenalism’, but of a sort not normally attributed to Kant.