bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of X-Ray Microanalysis for Characterization of Dental Enamel
Authors: Melin Lisa , Norén Jörgen G. , Taube Fabian , Cornell David H. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractElemental analysis of dental hard tissues is of importance. The aim of this study is to evaluate X-ray microanalysis (XRMA) of bovine enamel in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with different coatings. The buccal surface of bovine incisors was polished flat, one-third was coated with carbon, one-third with gold, leaving one-third uncoated for XRMA in an SEM equipped with an energy-dispersive microanalysis system. The elements oxygen, sodium, magnesium, phosphorous, chlorine, potassium, and calcium were analyzed using their respective characteristic K X-ray series. Comparisons were made with analyses of glass produced by fusion of the bovine enamel, showing that oxygen analyses using the K X-ray series are reliable and preferable to calculating oxygen by stoichiometry for natural enamel. For the gold-coated and uncoated analyses, carbon was also measured using the K X-ray series. Small area Analyses in small areas (80 × 80 μm) in variable pressure-SEM mode with low vacuum (20 Pa), without any coating, midway between 40 μm wide gold lines 140 μm apart to avoid build-up of electrostatic charge is the preferred method, especially if carbon is included in the analysis. The analyses of bovine enamel are sufficiently reproducible to be regarded as quantitative for all elements except carbon.
Measuring institutional quality in ancient Athens
Authors: BERGH ANDREAS , LYTTKENS CARL HAMPUS 
Published: January 2014

AbstractWe use the Economic Freedom Index to characterize the institutions of the Athenian city-state in the fourth century BCE. It has been shown that ancient Greece witnessed improved living conditions for an extended period of time. Athens in the fourth century appears to have fared particularly well. We find that economic freedom in ancient Athens is on level with the highest ranked modern economies such as Hong Kong and Singapore. With the exception of the position of women and slaves, Athens scores high in almost every dimension of economic freedom. Trade is probably highly important even by current standards. As studies of contemporary societies suggest that institutional quality is probably an important determinant of economic growth, it may also have been one factor in the relative material success of the Athenians.
Einfluss kognitiver Merkmale und häuslicher Umgebung auf die Entwicklung numerischer Kompetenzen im Vorschulalter
Authors: Schuchardt Kirsten , Piekny Jeanette , Grube Dietmar , Mähler Claudia 
Published: January 2014

Das Ziel der längsschnittlich angelegten Studie besteht darin, frühe Einflussfaktoren auf die numerische Entwicklung im Alter von sechs Jahren ausfindig zu machen. Hierzu werden kognitive Faktoren (Intelligenz, Arbeitsgedächtnis, Abruf von Informationen aus dem Langzeitgedächtnis, phonologische Bewusstheit) sowie Merkmale der sozialen Umgebung (sozioökonomischer Status, Migrationshintergrund, Home Numeracy Environment, Home Literacy Environment, mütterliche Selbsteinschätzung in Bezug auf Mathematik) als Prädiktoren für die numerischen Kompetenzen an einer Stichprobe von 132 Fünfjährigen analysiert. Die Ergebnisse legen ein multiples Bedingungsgefüge nahe. Während die Intelligenz und die phonologische Bewusstheit keinen bedeutsamen Beitrag zur Varianzaufklärung leisteten, stellten das visuell-räumliche Arbeitsgedächtnis sowie die Abrufgeschwindigkeit aus dem Langzeitgedächtnis wichtige Einflussfaktoren der frühen numerischen Leistungen dar. Von den Merkmalen der sozialen Umwelt konnten darüber hinaus der sozioökonomische Status und die häusliche numerische Umgebung zusätzlich bis zu 12 % Varianz aufklären. Die Bedeutung der Befunde für die Diagnostik und Intervention bei Risikokindern wird diskutiert.
Protein–like fully reversible tetramerisation and super-association of an aminocellulose
Authors: Nikolajski Melanie , Adams Gary G. , Gillis Richard B. , Besong David Tabot , Rowe Arthur J. , Heinze Thomas , Harding Stephen E. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractUnusual protein-like, partially reversible associative behaviour has recently been observed in solutions of the water soluble carbohydrates known as 6-deoxy-6-(ω-aminoalkyl)aminocelluloses, which produce controllable self-assembling films for enzyme immobilisation and other biotechnological applications. Now, for the first time, we have found a fully reversible self-association (tetramerisation) within this family of polysaccharides. Remarkably these carbohydrate tetramers are then seen to associate further in a regular way into supra-molecular complexes. Fully reversible oligomerisation has been hitherto completely unknown for carbohydrates and instead resembles in some respects the assembly of polypeptides and proteins like haemoglobin and its sickle cell mutation. Our traditional perceptions as to what might be considered “protein-like” and what might be considered as “carbohydrate-like” behaviour may need to be rendered more flexible, at least as far as interaction phenomena are concerned.
Unified superresolution experiments and stochastic theory provide mechanistic insight into protein ion-exchange adsorptive separations
Authors: Kisley Lydia , Chen Jixin , Mansur Andrea P. , Shuang Bo , Kourentzi Katerina , Poongavanam Mohan-Vivekanandan , Chen Wen-Hsiang , Dhamane Sagar , Willson Richard C. , Landes Christy F. 
Published: January 2014

SignificanceAdsorption of proteins underlies the purification of biopharmaceuticals, as well as therapeutic apheresis, immunoassays, and biosensors. In particular, separation of proteins by interactions with charged ligands on surfaces (ion-exchange chromatography) is an essential tool of the modern pharmaceutical industry. By quantifying the interactions of single proteins with individual charged ligands, we demonstrate that clusters of charges are necessary to create functional adsorption sites and that even chemically identical ligands create sites of varying kinetic properties that depend on steric availability at the interface.
Prevalence and Characteristics of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs at Freestanding Children's Hospitals in the United States
Authors: Newland Jason G. , Gerber Jeffrey S. , Weissman Scott J. , Shah Samir S. , Turgeon Chelsea , Hedican Erin B. , Thurm Cary , Hall Matt , Courter Joshua , Brogan Thomas V. , Maples Holly , Lee Brian R. , Hersh Adam L. 
Published: January 2014

Background and Objective.Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are a mechanism to ensure the appropriate use of antimicrobials. The extent to which ASPs are formally implemented in freestanding children's hospitals is unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of ASPs in freestanding children's hospitals.Methods.We conducted an electronic survey of 42 freestanding children's hospitals that are members of the Children's Hospital Association to determine the presence and characteristics of their ASPs. For hospitals without an ASP, we determined whether stewardship strategies were in place and whether there were barriers to implementing a formal ASP.Results.We received responses from 38 (91%) of 42. Among responding institutions, 16 (38%) had a formal ASP, and 15 (36%) were in the process of implementing a program. Most ASPs (13 [81%] of 16) were started after 2007. The median number of full-time equivalents dedicated to ASPs was 0.63 (range, 0.1–1.8). The most common antimicrobials monitored by ASPs were linezolid, vancomycin, and carbapenems. Many hospitals without a formal ASP were performing stewardship activities, including elements of prospective audit and feedback (9 [41%] of 22), formulary restriction (9 [41%] of 22), and use of clinical guidelines (17 [77%] of 22). Antimicrobial outcomes were more likely to be monitored by hospitals with ASPs (100% vs 68%;P= .01), although only 1 program provided support for a data analyst.Conclusions.Most freestanding children's hospitals have implemented or are developing an ASP. These programs differ in structure and function, and more data are needed to identify program characteristics that have the greatest impact.
Cross‐Context Benefit Transfer: A Bayesian Search for Information Pools
Authors: Moeltner Klaus , Rosenberger Randall S. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractCommodity equivalence and population similarity are two widely accepted paradigms for the valid transfer of welfare estimates across resource valuation contexts. We argue that strict adherence to these rules may leave relevant information untapped, and propose a Bayesian model search algorithm that examines the probabilities with which two or more sub‐sets of meta‐data, each corresponding to a different combination of commodity and population, share common value distributions. Using a large meta‐data set of willingness‐to‐pay for diverse outdoor activities across various regions of the United States as an example, we find strong potential for contexts that would not traditionally be considered as transfer candidates to form information pools. Exploiting these commonalities leads to substantial efficiency gains for benefit estimates.
Algorithms and tools for protein–protein interaction networks clustering, with a special focus on population-based stochastic methods
Authors: Pizzuti Clara , Rombo Simona E. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractMotivation: Protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks are powerful models to represent the pairwise protein interactions of the organisms. Clustering PPI networks can be useful for isolating groups of interacting proteins that participate in the same biological processes or that perform together specific biological functions. Evolutionary orthologies can be inferred this way, as well as functions and properties of yet uncharacterized proteins.Results: We present an overview of the main state-of-the-art clustering methods that have been applied to PPI networks over the past decade. We distinguish five specific categories of approaches, describe and compare their main features and then focus on one of them, i.e. population-based stochastic search. We provide an experimental evaluation, based on some validation measures widely used in the literature, of techniques in this class, that are as yet less explored than the others. In particular, we study how the capability of Genetic Algorithms (GAs) to extract clusters in PPI networks varies when different topology-based fitness functions are used, and we compare GAs with the main techniques in the other categories. The experimental campaign shows that predictions returned by GAs are often more accurate than those produced by the contestant methods. Interesting issues still remain open about possible generalizations of GAs allowing for cluster overlapping.Availability and implementation: We point out which methods and tools described here are publicly available.Contact: simona.rombo@math.unipa.itSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The most informative spacing test effectively discovers biologically relevant outliers or multiple modes in expression
Authors: Pawlikowska Iwona , Wu Gang , Edmonson Michael , Liu Zhifa , Gruber Tanja , Zhang Jinghui , Pounds Stan 
Published: January 2014

AbstractSummary: Several outlier and subgroup identification statistics (OASIS) have been proposed to discover transcriptomic features with outliers or multiple modes in expression that are indicative of distinct biological processes or subgroups. Here, we borrow ideas from the OASIS methods in the bioinformatics and statistics literature to develop the ‘most informative spacing test’ (MIST) for unsupervised detection of such transcriptomic features. In an example application involving 14 cases of pediatric acute megakaryoblastic leukemia, MIST more robustly identified features that perfectly discriminate subjects according to gender or the presence of a prognostically relevant fusion-gene than did seven other OASIS methods in the analysis of RNA-seq exon expression, RNA-seq exon junction expression and micorarray exon expression data. MIST was also effective at identifying features related to gender or molecular subtype in an example application involving 157 adult cases of acute myeloid leukemia.Availability: MIST will be freely available in the OASIS R package at http://www.stjuderesearch.org/site/depts/biostatsContact: stanley.pounds@stjude.orgSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Where and when will they go fishing? Understanding fishing site and time choice in a recreational squid fishery
Authors: Cabanellas-Reboredo Miguel , Alós Josep , March David , Palmer Margarita , Jordà Gabriel , Palmer Miquel 
Published: January 2014

AbstractRecreational fishing effort greatly fluctuates in space and time. Therefore, one of the most relevant conceptual issues when managing recreational fishing is to understand the primary complexities associated with anglers' preferences in selecting site and day, and the way that these choices affect the catch. However, two practical pitfalls (data acquisition and statistical issues) are hampering progress towards the understanding of this problem. In this study, we propose several strategic improvements and apply them to the recreational squid fishery in Palma Bay (Balearic Islands). The spatial scenario (20 km width) was surveyed 63 times (visual censuses) during two years. For each of the 173 grid cells (1 km2) into which Palma Bay was divided, the fishing effort (number of recreational boats targeting squid) was recorded. In addition, a number of variables intended to summarize any potential driver of anglers' choices were also recorded. The principal drivers of squid recreational fishing in Palma Bay appeared to be expected harvest and distance to the nearest port, but the effect of these variables was clearly modulated by sea conditions. The fine-scale estimates of effort (daily predictions for each 1 km2 cell) provided here represent the first step towards understanding angler preferences, estimating total catches, and selecting the best management options for avoiding conflicts between stakeholders, thus ensuring resource sustainability.
Anticancer activities of kefir against LMS and K562 cell lines by flow cytometry analysis
Authors: Toliopoulos Ioannis , Simos Yannis , Verginadis Ioannis , Papandreou Dimitrios , Oikonomidis Stergios , Evangelou Angelos 
Published: January 2014

PurposeKefir is a probiotic grown with milk, with a slightly sour flavor and has been consumed for thousands of years. Kefir grains contain bacteria and yeast. In the past, kefir was administrated as a drug against tuberculosis, cancer and gastrointestinal disorders. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential anticancer properties of kefir and its ability to affect natural killer cells' (NKCs') activity.Design/methodology/approachThe assay of cytotoxic activity of NKCs by cytometric analysis was used, which included four stages: isolation of natural killers; quantification of target cells; incubation of natural killers with target cells at ratios of 12.5:1, 25:1 and 50:1 in CO2 incubator; and measurement of cells with flow cytometer. The same procedures were repeated, but the third stage was modified with the addition and incubation of 50, 75, and 100 μL kefir (of 24 hour culture with 3.5 per cent fresh milk) with K562 and leiomyosarcoma cells lines, and kefir and NK cells with K562 or LMS cell lines.FindingsThe results showed that kefir's cytotoxic activity without the presence of NKCs reached an average of 85 per cent in both cell lines. With the addition of NK cells in kefir, the cytotoxic activity further increased by 10 per cent. Kefir alone did not cause any statistically significant death in NK cells. Kefir seems to have significant cytotoxic action by itself without stimulating NK cells in a significant manner. However, further studies are needed to establish the role of kefir in the prevention and treatment of neoplasmatic diseases.Originality/valueThe paper provides information and new data, for nutritionists and clinical dietitians, about the effects of kefir in the prevention of cancer.
Structured content analysis in leadership research: a new method for international contexts
Authors: Lakshman C. 
Published: January 2014

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate structured content analysis (SCA) in leadership research by examining and contrasting it with traditional content analysis (TCA) and case survey methodology. SCA is presented as a variation of TCA, and is characterized as one that is more likely to be used by leadership researchers because of its more quantitative bent than TCA, but yet does not lose its capability to investigate inherently qualitative processes of leadership.Design/methodology/approachThe paper systematically compares features of SCA as proposed by the seminal authors to the more sophisticated SCA proposed here. This is accomplished by clarifying and strengthening some of the inadequacies of SCA as initially conceptualized. The new SCA is first described in terms of its components and typical procedures. Using relevant leadership literature, the paper: clarifies the selection of data sources used in such analyses to enhance and verify source validity; identifies additional means to establish and verify reliability, in addition to that of inter‐coder (reproducibility) and stability (test‐retest) reliability; provides a systematic comparison of traditional TCA to the newer SCA; and illustrates the use of this method with a sample study.FindingsWhile possessing all important advantages of traditional content analysis, this form of content analysis (new SCA) holds others, such as increased opportunity for estimating scale reliability and validity. Thus, the more quantitative nature of SCA is likely to be more suited to the higher standards for rigor of traditional leadership researchers using purely quantitative approaches.Research limitations/implicationsText source selection may still suffer from human fallibilities and judgment errors. SCA may also be restricted to the study of leadership through leadership communication in speeches, debates, letters, etc. However, these may constitute a significant portion of what leaders do, especially those at the top of their organizations.Originality/valueThe paper enriches the original SCA and refocuses it for the specific purpose of leadership research. Specifically, it identifies seven ways in which the original conceptualization can be strengthened to make it more amenable for today's leadership researchers.
Downloading digital video games: predictors, moderators and consequences
Authors: Phau Ian , Liang Johan 
Published: January 2014

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how personal and social factors influence attitudes towards downloading pirated games from the internet. It also examines the moderators between attitudes and intention to download pirated digital video games.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted using convenience samples in a large university in Western Australia. The data were analysed mostly through regression models.FindingsSelf‐efficacy, affect and moral judgement have significant influences upon attitudes towards downloading pirated games from the internet. Conversely, habits, facilitating conditions and social factors do not have significant influences upon attitudes towards downloading pirated games from the internet. In addition, attitudes towards downloading pirated digital video games from the internet have a significant influence upon the intention to download pirated digital video games from the internet. It is also found that the level of internet usage, the level of internet time spent and the internet speed do not moderate the relationship between attitudes and intention to download pirated games from the internet.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation is the use of a convenience sample. Therefore, future research should replicate and extend this study by using more valid random samples. In addition, qualitative approach, field experiment and foolspeed campaign analysis need to be considered to gain a better understanding of why internet users indulge in games piracy.Practical implicationsAuthorities should create awareness campaigns about digital video games piracy to alert the public about the risk of being caught and the consequence of unethical behaviour. Managers, marketers and policy makers should collaborate to combat piracy to prevent illegal downloading of free pirated games in the future.Originality/valueThe paper assesses the impact of six antecedents and the attitudes towards downloading pirated digital video games from the internet that will lead to the intention to download pirated digital video games from the Internet.
Impact of ERP systems on work and work‐life
Authors: Wickramasinghe Vathsala , Karunasekara Manoja 
Published: January 2014

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically identify the post‐implementation impact of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems on work and work‐life of managerial‐level end‐users, in terms of problem‐solving support, job discretion, management visibility and cross‐functionality, authority and decision rights, and overall impact on organization, in Sri Lanka.Design/methodology/approachSurvey methodology was used and managerial‐level end‐users who fulfilled the selection criteria set for the study, responded. The hypothesized relationships were examined using structural equation modelling.FindingsIt was found that “ERP system product performance” significantly predicts “problem solving support”, “job discretion, management visibility and cross‐functionality”, and “impact on organization”. However, the direct link between “ERP system product performance” and “authority and decision rights” is not significant.Originality/valueThe literature suggests that the impact of ERP systems on individuals and organizations can be conceptualized in terms of individual users' perceptions and beliefs about the changes which occurred after the implementation. However, the main shortcoming of past studies is that they included a limited number of consequences of ERP adoption in a single study.
Global operations and their interaction with supply chain performance
Authors: Stentoft Arlbjørn Jan , Lüthje Teit 
Published: January 2014

PurposeA major part of economic globalization has taken place in the form of different globalization strategies. Offshoring and outsourcing of manufacturing activities from Western locations to Eastern Europe and the Far East are used to remain competitive. Such strategies have implications for supply chain performance. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether supply chain performance is affected differently depending on the choice of globalization strategy.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on in‐depth literature reviews and explorative case studies – two offshoring and two outsourcing projects. A model explaining the choice of localization and globalization strategy (the OLI model) is applied as a basic framework. Data have been collected through in‐depth interviews with persons responsible for the offshoring and outsourcing projects.FindingsThe paper addresses different practices of managing supply chain performance in offshoring and outsourcing strategies. The OLI model provides an increased consciousness of the managerial challenges related to supply chain performance based on the chosen globalization strategy.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is explorative in nature and is based on four case studies. The paper provides no basis for statistical generalizations.Practical implicationsThe supply chain performance is affected both positively and negatively in each type of globalization strategy. The OLI model provides an extended understanding of the factors that should be considered in decision processes concerning offshoring and outsourcing.Originality/valueIn this paper, the OLI model is integrated in a new understanding of supply chain performance.