bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An improvement project within urological care
Authors: Khatami Annelie , Rosengren Kristina 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to describe staff experiences in an on-going improvement project regarding patients with ureteral stones.

Design/methodology/approach
– A qualitative descriptive study based on eight group interviews and 48 narratives, was performed. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Trustworthiness was ensured by using a well-documented improvement process method during six months.

Findings
– The results formed three categories: an absent comprehensive view; complexity; and vulnerability within the organisation. A holistic perspective regarding urological care at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels is needed to improve planning and caring processes.

Research limitations/implications
– This study includes one team (six members, different health professionals) within the same urology department.

Practical implications
– Results show that staff need information, such as guidelines and support throughout the improvement work to deliver high-quality care. Moreover, there is a need for evidence-based guidelines at national level to support improvement work.

Social implications
– Healthcare staff need to pay attention to all team member needs to improve urological care. Organisational and managerial aspect are needed to support clear and common goals regarding healthcare improvement work.

Originality/value
– Urological improvement projects, generally, are lacking, which is why this study is important to improve nephrolithiasis patient care.
Sustainability: orthopaedic surgery wait time management strategies
Authors: Amar Claudia , Pomey Marie-Pascale , SanMartin Claudia , De Coster Carolyn , Noseworthy Tom 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine Canadian organizational and systemic factors that made it possible to keep wait times within federally established limits for at least 18 months.

Design/methodology/approach
– The research design is a multiple cases study. The paper selected three cases: Case 1 – staff were able to maintain compliance with requirements for more than 18 months; Case 2 – staff were able to meet requirements for 18 months, but unable to sustain this level; Case 3 – staff were never able to meet the requirements. For each case the authors interviewed persons involved in the strategies and collected documents. The paper analysed systemic and organizational-level factors; including governance and leadership, culture, resources, methods and tools.

Findings
– Findings indicate that the hospital that was able to maintain compliance with the wait time requirements had specific characteristics: an exclusive mandate to do only hip and knee replacement surgery; motivated staff who were not distracted by other concerns; and a strong team spirit.

Originality/value
– The authors’ research highlights an important gradient between three cases regarding the factors that sustain waiting times. The paper show that the hospital factory model seems attractive in a super-specialized surgery context. However, patients are selected for simple surgeries, without complications, and so this cannot be considered a unique model.
Use of copula functions for the reliability of series systems
Authors: Achcar Jorge Alberto , Moala Fernando Antonio 
Published: May 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide a new method to estimate the reliability of series system by using copula functions. This problem is of great interest in industrial and engineering applications.Design/methodology/approach– The authors introduce copula functions and consider a Bayesian analysis for the proposed models with application to the simulated data.Findings– The use of copula functions for modeling the bivariate distribution could be a good alternative to estimate the reliability of a two components series system. From the results of this study, the authors observe that they get accurate Bayesian inferences for the reliability function considering large samples sizes. The Bayesian parametric models proposed also allow the assessment of system reliability for multicomponent systems simultaneously.Originality/value– Usually, the studies of systems reliability engineering assume independence among the component lifetimes. In the approach the authors consider a dependence structure. Using standard classical inference methods based on asymptotical normality of the maximum likelihood estimators for the parameters the authors could have great computational difficulties and possibly, not accurate inference results, which there is not found in the approach.
Maintenance management models: a study of the published literature to identify empirical evidence
Authors: Fraser Kym , Hvolby Hans-Henrik , Tseng Tzu-Liang (Bill) 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– Maintenance and its management has moved from being considered a “necessary evil” to being of strategic importance for most competitive organisations around the world. In terms of the identification and use of organisational-wide maintenance management models the picture is not clears from both a literature and practical perspective. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the various models and their use in real-world applications, and in doing so, explores the gap between academic research and practice.

Design/methodology/approach
– For this paper two comprehensive reviews of the literature were undertaken, first, to identify and categorise the various maintenance management models, and second, to determine the depth of empirical evidence for the popular models in real-world applications. Descriptive analysis of both the practical examples and empirical evidence rates (EER) for maintenance related journals is provided.

Findings
– Within the literature 37 maintenance management models were identified and categorised. From these, three models were found to be popular: total productive maintenance (TPM), condition based maintenance, and reliability centred maintenance. While several thousand papers discussed these three models, only 82 articles were found to provide empirical evidence.

Research limitations/implications
– While providing a sound foundation for future research the outcomes are based solely on academic literature. Analysis of EER outside the field of maintenance is needed to make comparisons.

Practical implications
– The paper offers practitioners a detailed contemporary overview of maintenance management models along with tabulated results of practical examples to present day organisations. Such practical-focused papers are very limited within academic literature.

Social implications
– With EER as low as 1.5 per cent for some journals this paper acts as a reminder to researchers that they have an obligation to society to spend taxpayer funded research on addressing social needs and real-world problems.

Originality/value
– This paper makes a concerted attempt to link academic research with management and operational practitioners. While the paper is critical of the current academic imbalance between theory and practice, a number of suggestions to improve EER are offered in the conclusions.
Impact of ICTs on leadership practices: representations and actions
Authors: Leduc Sylvain , Guilbert Laure , Vallery Gérard 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present the results of field research carried out within a civil army corps responsible for the security of people and property.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study deals with e-leadership as it leadership practices related to information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Findings
– Having initially described the position of ICTs in current workplace contexts, the authors review the question of the role of leadership as well as that of knowledge acquired in e-leadership.

Practical implications
– The results reveal variations in the use of ICTs in leadership situations, which find their origins in multiple determinisms related to the types of task, the technological tools and the constraints inherent to customary situations.

Originality/value
– These conclusions are discussed in the light of research centered on the predictive variables arising from the adoption of technologies in the context of the workplace.
Evaluating implementation of strategic performance management practices in universities in Uganda
Authors: Karuhanga Bernadette Nambi 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this study was to propose a tool for evaluating implementation of strategic performance management (PM) by examining the strategic PM practices in public universities in Uganda.

Design/methodology/approach
– Literature was reviewed and the general features of PM practices were identified. These were captured in a survey instrument which was later administered to staff in selected universities in Uganda to determine the extent of strategic PM implementation. Principal component analysis was conducted to cluster similar variables together with an aim of identifying the focal areas for determining the extent of strategic PM practices implementation in a university.

Findings
– Strategic PM in public universities in Uganda exists and is aimed at achieving quality. Despite its existence, respondents generally disagreed that: an effective PM system exists in their respective universities, PM training is continuously provided to managers and staff and a formal process exists for units to provide feedback on the attainment of goals. Findings further revealed that implementation of PM practices in universities could be evaluated based on five foci, namely, alignment of organisational vision, mission, strategy and individual performance goals; staff involvement in PM implementation at unit level; existence of an improvement plan; existence of a performance evaluation plan; and staff awareness and understanding of PM.

Research limitations/implications
– The study focussed on only public universities in Uganda; hence, another study could be conducted considering all universities, both private and public. The list of items from literature may not be exhaustive hence additional PM practices that were not included in this tool should be identified from literature to enrich the evaluation tool.

Practical implications
– This study allowed the development of an empirical list of PM practices which could be used by universities and policy makers to evaluate implementation of strategic PM. Hence, the five foci could be adopted as an evaluation tool for universities with regard to strategic PM implementation. Using these five foci, university managers can identify the grey areas in their PM systems to which management attention could be focussed for improvement.

Originality/value
– Despite the increasing desire for effective PM implementation in most organisations the world over, there exists no empirical evidence of institutional PM implementation in public universities in Uganda. Besides, to the best of my knowledge, no study has been previously conducted with the aim of developing a tool for evaluating strategic (PM implementation in universities in Uganda.
Family with Legius syndrome (neurofibromatosis type 1‐like syndrome)
Authors: Sakai Noriyasu , Maeda Tatsuro , Kawakami Hiroshi , Uchiyama Masaki , Harada Kazutoshi , Tsuboi Ryoji , Mitsuhashi Yoshihiko 
Published: May 2015

AbstractLegius syndrome (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man no. 611431) or neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1)‐like syndrome was first reported by Legius et al. in 2007. We herein report the first instance of Legius syndrome occurring in two female siblings in Japan. Both individuals presented cafe‐au‐lait macules and freckling. Mutation analysis revealed a mutation of c.349C>T resulting in p.Arg117* in the SPRED1 gene as the cause of the Legius syndrome. The National Institutes of Health criteria for NF1 are insufficient to rule out the condition. For this reason, and because the clinical course of each condition is quite different, we stress the need to differentiate Legius syndrome from NF1 clearly.
Locomotion during digestion changes current estimates of seed dispersal kernels by fish
Authors: van Leeuwen Casper H. A. , Beukeboom Rosanne , Nolet Bart A. , Bakker Elisabeth S. , Pollux Bart J.A. 
Published: May 2015

Summary

Dispersal of seeds by animals is an important mechanism regulating plant diversity, range expansions and invasions. Many birds, mammals, fish and reptiles regularly ingest, transport and excrete viable seeds (known as endozoochory).

The effectiveness of endozoochory is modelled in dispersal kernels: functions that describe seed shadows in the landscape by combining movement of animals with experimentally obtained seed retention times and survival.

Currently, dispersal kernels use experimental data from resting animals, yet only moving animals disperse seeds. Although physical activity is known to affect digestive processes, little is known on how and to what extent this may influence current estimates of endozoochory. Activity may either prolong seed retention in the animal's gut (locomotion‐priority mode hypothesis) or may not affect seed excretion rate (digestion‐priority mode hypothesis), and may affect seed survival and germination positively or negatively.

We tested how activity alters dispersal estimates in fish. We compared the seed dispersal potential of two riparian plant species (Carex acuta and Carex riparia) by the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) subjected to three different activity levels: low (basal metabolic rate, BMR), medium (2 × BMR) or high activity (3 × BMR).

Physical activity of the fish did not affect the number of intact retrieved seeds over 15 h of activity, but significantly affected seed retrieval patterns over time for both seed species. More active fish started seed excretion about 1 h later and kept excreting seeds at least 2 h longer. Effects of gut passage on germination could only be tested for C. acuta, where it reduced the percentage of germinating seeds by 22%, independent of the activity level. Seeds ingested by the fish germinated on average 3·5 days later than non‐ingested control seeds. Seed retention times did not affect the timing of germination.

Our results support the locomotion‐priority mode hypothesis and show that modelling dispersal kernels using parameters from inactive fish may underestimate potential dispersal distances. Because a trade‐off between physical activity and digestive physiology is likely common in animals, it should be taken into account in future modelling of endozoochorous seed dispersal kernels.
Inferring the effects of potential dispersal routes on the metacommunity structure of stream insects: as the crow flies, as the fish swims or as the fox runs?
Authors: Kärnä Olli‐Matti , Grönroos Mira , Antikainen Harri , Hjort Jan , Ilmonen Jari , Paasivirta Lauri , Heino Jani 
Published: May 2015

Summary

Metacommunity research relies largely on proxies for inferring the effect of dispersal on local community structure. Overland and watercourse distances have been typically used as such proxies. A good proxy for dispersal should, however, take into account more complex landscape features that can affect an organism's movement and dispersal. The cost distance approach does just that, allowing determining the path of least resistance across a landscape.

Here, we examined the distance decay of assemblage similarity within a subarctic stream insect metacommunity. We tested whether overland, watercourse and cumulative cost distances performed differently as correlates of dissimilarity in assemblage composition between sites. We also investigated the effect of body size and dispersal mode on metacommunity organization.

We found that dissimilarities in assemblage composition correlated more strongly with environmental than physical distances between sites. Overland and watercourse distances showed similar correlations to assemblage dissimilarity between sites, being sometimes significantly correlated with biological variation of entire insect communities. In metacommunities deconstructed by body size or dispersal mode, contrary to our expectation, passive dispersers showed a slightly stronger correlation than active dispersers to environmental differences between sites, although passive dispersers also showed a stronger correlation than active dispersers to physical distances between sites. The strength of correlation between environmental distance and biological dissimilarity also varied slightly among the body size classes.

After controlling for environmental differences between sites, cumulative cost distances were slightly better correlates of biological dissimilarities than overland or watercourse distances between sites. However, quantitative differences in correlation coefficients were small between different physical distances.

Although environmental differences typically override physical distances as determinants of the composition of stream insect assemblages, correlations between environmental distances and biological dissimilarities are typically rather weak. This undetermined variation may be attributable to dispersal processes, which may be captured using better proxies for the process. We suggest that further modifying the measurement of cost distances may be a fruitful avenue, especially if complemented by more direct natural history information on insect dispersal behaviour and distances travelled by them.
Firm life cycle, corporate risk‐taking and investor sentiment
Authors: Habib Ahsan , Hasan Mostafa Monzur 
Published: May 2015

AbstractThis study investigates the corporate risk‐taking and the performance consequences at different stages of the firm life cycle. We find that risk‐taking is higher in the introduction and decline stages of the life cycle, but lower in the growth and mature stages. We also find that risk‐taking during introduction and decline stage (growth and maturity stage) affects future performance adversely (positively). We also document that managerial risk‐taking propensities increase during periods of high investor sentiment and firms in different life cycle stages respond to sentiment differently. Collectively, these results suggest that the firm life cycle has explanatory power for corporate risk‐taking behaviour.
Making a difference – the impact of the Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths of people with learning disabilities
Authors: Heslop Pauline , Marriott Anna 
Published: May 2015

Accessible summary

In our research, we looked at why people with learning disabilities sometimes live shorter lives than other people. We were told about the deaths of 247 people with learning disabilities. We looked at what happened to these people before they died.

We found that the professionals who were supporting these people learnt a lot from our research. This led to some changes in how they support people with learning disabilities.

We have also seen that people are using the findings to improve the care and services for people with learning disabilities in the places they live.

The Department of Health and NHS England are some of the organisations working to make sure doctors and nurses listen to what our research said.

SummaryThe Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths of people with learning disabilities (CIPOLD) was commissioned by the Department of Health in England in 2010 to investigate the avoidable or premature deaths of people with learning disabilities through retrospective reviews of deaths. Both the process of conducting CIPOLD and the findings of the study itself made an impact on the way in which professionals thought about issues relating to people with learning disabilities and led to changes in policy and practice. Much of the impact of CIPOLD came from arming practitioners, family carers, people with learning disabilities and policy makers with the research findings and encouraging them to take on the mantle of change from there, for example, by increasing the provision of training or reviewing their current practice. There were a number of challenges that the research team faced. First, they needed to ensure the assiduous recording of any impact that took place throughout the duration of the research and beyond. Secondly, they were careful to make sure that as far as possible, professionals were involved and that it was a learning experience for them from which they had something to gain. Thirdly, self‐reflexivity on the part of the research team was required in order for them to understand where their own strengths and limitations lay.
Applying the Mental Capacity Act to research with people with learning disabilities
Authors: Jepson Marcus 
Published: May 2015

Accessible Summary

People with learning disabilities should be included in research that is about them.

There is a law in England and Wales called the Mental Capacity Act that has rules that researchers must follow.

This paper shows how one researcher used those rules to ensure people with learning disabilities were able to be involved in a research project.

SummaryThis study describes the experiences of a researcher negotiating consent with people with learning disabilities to become participants in a research study. The study was about how the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) was applied to everyday decision‐making in social care settings. However, before data collection could begin, the researcher had to follow the principles of the MCA and the requirements of ethical research practice. The study reports on the important role of gatekeepers in allowing (or preventing) access to potential participants. However, gatekeepers did not always act in a manner in keeping with the first principle of the MCA. Additionally, the dilemmas for a researcher in assessing participants’ capacity to consent to the study are described, as are three approaches followed which supported people to decide for themselves.
A platform for change?
Authors: Williams Val , Ponting Lisa , Ford Kerrie 
Published: May 2015

Accessible summary

The governments in the UK want people with learning disabilities to have a voice about what happens in their own life and also in policy.

One way of doing this is through research. This paper looks at two inclusive research projects, which were about people using direct payments and personal assistants. The projects both employed people with learning disabilities.

Each of these projects made a training pack from the research, so that they would help people with learning disabilities and their supporters. They also had some effects in ways that were not planned, because the government wanted to learn from them about inclusive research.

All research seems to have most effect when there are many voices seeking change, including those of policy makers themselves.

Inclusive research is a way of achieving ‘choice and control’. But just like with direct payments and personal budgets, the best way in these projects was to have good support from other people who will listen to you, and help you decide things for yourself.

SummaryParticipation, voice and control have long been central concerns in the research at Norah Fry. This paper focuses on inclusive research relating to choice and control, as experienced by people with learning disabilities who use personal budgets and direct payments, and aims to question how the process of inclusive research can be linked to wider outcomes. The paper gives a brief overview of two studies carried out by Norah Fry Research Centre, which were in partnership with self‐advocacy groups and employed people with learning disabilities, between 1999 and 2007. Both in research and in everyday life, we question individual notions of ‘choice and control’, showing how relational autonomy was at the heart, both of the process of the inclusive research and also of the outcomes and findings. However, all social research seems to have greatest impact when there is a ‘bandwagon effect’ of policy and practice initiatives. The discussion considers how the impact of inclusive research designs can be at policy, practice and ‘direct’ user level and is often achieved by people with learning disabilities having a voice at the dissemination stage.