bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Measuring the Contribution of Genomic Predictors to Improving Estimator Precision in Randomized trials
Authors: Patil Prasad , Rosenblum Michael , Leek Jeffrey T. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractThe use of genomic data in the clinic has not been as widespread as was envisioned when sequencing and genomic analysis became common techniques. An underlying difficulty is the direct assessment of how much additional information genomic data are providing beyond standard clinical measurements. This is hard to quantify in the clinical setting where laboratory tests based on genomic signatures are fairly new and there are not sufficient data collected to determine how valuable these tests have been in practice. Here we focus on the potential precision gain from using the popular MammaPrint genomic signature in a covariate-adjusted, randomized clinical trial. We describe how adjustment of an estimator for the average treatment effect using baseline measurements can improve precision. This precision gain can be translated directly into sample size reduction and corresponding cost savings. We conduct a simulation study using genomic and clinical data gathered for breast cancer patients and find that adjusting for clinical factors alone provides a gain in precision of 5-6%, adjusting for genomic factors alone provides a similar gain (5%), and combining the two yields a 2-3% additional gain over only adjusting for clinical covariates.
Intensity matching in cuttlefish
Authors: Laan Andres 
Published: April 2015

AbstractFor efficient background matching it is essential that animals closely match a set of salient visual statistics of their visual surroundings. The mean intensity of a background is a key statistic, because it can be estimated across a large range of viewing distances by a simple computation. We investigated how the dynamic neuromuscular camouflage system of the cuttlefishSepia offcinalisresponds to changes in the mean background intensity of uniform backgrounds. We find that cuttlefish adapt their body intensity in response to variations in the mean background intensity, yet show biases in their body intensity beyond what can be predicted from the limited dynamic range of their camouflage system. On sandy backgrounds of various reflectance values their uniform body patterns maintain a constant yellow hue. This color constancy may represent an example of a color prior in a colorblind animal because a yellow body color would be the optimal hue for camouflage on sands typically encountered in their natural environment. Cuttlefish adapt their appearance to the background via a dynamic process composed of a complex mixture of intensity transients spanning timescales from the subsecond to the minute range. In very young animals camouflaging on dark sands the masquerade strategy is preferred over background matching. Masquerade is implemented by combining partial background matching with frequent expression of disruptive components. We furthermore provide an objective definition of disruptive components using hierarchical clustering and automated image analysis thus highlighting the role of chromatophore activity correlations in structuring the motor output ofS.officinalis.
Household-level linkages between off-farm employment and agricultural fixed assets in rural China
Authors: Su Weiliang , Liu Chengfang , Zhang Linxiu , Luo Renfu , YI Hongmei 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of off-farm employment on agricultural fixed assets among households in rural China.

Design/methodology/approach
– The authors drew on panel data from two rounds of household-level surveys of more than 2,000 households in rural China. The two surveys were conducted in 2008 and 2012 in five provinces. The authors used instrumental-variable Tobit model to test whether the current value of agricultural fixed assets differ between households with different levels off-farm employment.

Findings
– The authors observe that off-farm employment has a negative effect on the current value of agricultural fixed assets at the household level in rural China.

Originality/value
– The authors believe that the results will contribute positively to the assessment of the effect of off-farm employment on the investment in agricultural fixed assets at the household level in the context of China.
Urban economic development, changes in food consumption patterns and land requirements for food production in China
Authors: Jiang Li , Seto Karen C. , Bai Junfei 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The impact of dietary changes associated with urbanization is likely to increase the demand for land for food production. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of urban economic development on changes in food demand and associated land requirements for food production.

Design/methodology/approach
– Based on economic estimates from the Almost Ideal Demand System, feed conversion ratios, and crop yields, the authors forecast and compare future dietary patterns and land requirements for two types of urban diets in China.

Findings
– The results show that the expenditure elasticities of oil and fat, meat, eggs, aquatic products, dairy, and liquor for the diet of capital cities are greater than those for the diet of small- and medium-sized cities. The authors forecast that capital city residents will experience a more rapid rate of increase in per capita demand of meat, eggs, and aquatic products, which will lead to much higher per capita land requirements. Projections indicate that total per capita land demand for food production in capital cities will increase by 9.3 percent, from 1,402 to 1,533 m2 between 2010 and 2030, while total per capita land demand in small- and medium-sized cities will increase only by 5.3 percent, from 1,192 to 1,255 m2.

Originality/value
– The results imply that urban economic development can significantly affect the final outcomes of land requirements for food production. Urban economic development is expected to accelerate the rate of change toward an affluent diet, which can lead to much higher future land requirements.
Making critical sense of discriminatory practices in the Canadian workplace
Authors: Hilde Rosalie K. , Mills Albert 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– This paper aims to report on a preliminary study of how professionally qualified immigrants from Hong Kong to Canada make sense of their experiences, particularly workplace opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study is framed by a Critical Sensemaking approach, involving in-depth interviews with 12 informants from the Hong Kong Chinese community and discursive analysis (Foucault, 1979) of the local and formative contexts in which they are making sense of workplace opportunities.

Findings
– The findings suggest that a dominant discourse of “integration” strongly influences the way that professionally qualified immigrants come to accept the unchallenged assumptions that the government is providing help for them to “get in”; and that ethnic service organizations are offering positive guidance to the immigrants’ workplace goals and opportunities. Immigrants’ identity and self-worth are measured by whether they “get in” – integrate – into so-called mainstream society. The effect of this hidden discourse has been to marginalize some immigrants in relation to workplace opportunities.

Research limitations/implications
– The interplay of structural (i.e. formative contexts and organizational rules), socio-psychological (i.e. sensemaking properties) and discursive contexts (e.g. discourses of immigration) are difficult to detail over time. The interplay – although important – is difficult to document and trace over a relatively short period of time and may, more appropriately lend itself to more longitudinal research.

Practical implications
– This paper strongly suggests that we need to move beyond structural accounts to capture the voice and agency of immigrants. In particular, as we have tried to show, the sensemaking and sensemaking contexts in which immigrants find themselves provide important insights to the immigrant experience.

Social implications
– This paper suggests widespread policy implications, with a call for greater use of qualitative methods in the study of immigrant experience. It is suggested that policymakers need to move beyond uniform and structural approaches to immigration. How selected immigrants in context make sense of their experiences and how this can help to identify improved policies need to be understood.

Originality/value
– This paper is original in going beyond both structural and psychological accounts of immigration. Through the developing method of Critical Sensemaking, the study combines a focus on structure and social psychology and their interplay. Thus, providing insights not only to the broad discriminatory practices that so-called non-White immigrants face in Canada (and likely other industrial societies) but how these are made sense of. The study is also unique in attempting to fuse sensemaking and discourse analysis to show the interaction between individual sensemaking in the context of dominant discourses.
Showing them the door (nicely): rejection discourses and practices of a global elite
Authors: Goxe Francois , Belhoste Nathalie 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a critical approach of the identification and rejection strategies in discourses and practices of a “global elite” of business leaders and managers.Design/methodology/approach– A literature review of mainstream and more critical management and sociology literature on global or transnational elites and classes is presented. The identification and rejection discursive strategies of some (French) multinational corporations’ managers and internationalization agents are then empirically and qualitatively observed and analyzed.Findings– The findings are interpreted under the following strategies: constructive strategies, reproductive and legitimizing strategies and exclusion strategies. Some members of the global elite deploy a cosmopolitan and welcoming discourse to not only identify legitimate members of that class but also turn this discourse into one of exclusion, that is, find ways through language, and practice, to exclude those they perceive as illegitimate.Research limitations/implications– Management research on global elites needs more critical thinking and reflexivity to avoid acting as a mere vector of global managerial doxa. Studying values, practices and reactions of other less “prestigious” classes confronted with those elites (small- and medium-sized enterprises’ entrepreneurs, individuals from emerging countries, etc.) may contribute to such perspective.Originality/value– The paper shows that the literature (in management) often speaks very highly of global elites. It identifies some dynamics of power between members of that/those classes and individuals who intend to join them and thus provides explanations about the elite’s unwritten codes of conduct, pre-requisites for consideration and inclusion and shows how global classes/elites discursively legitimize and exclude others.
Trends in hospitality management research: a personal reflection
Authors: Ryan Chris 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to provide a personal view of changes and trends in hospitality research since the formation of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Research, and the context of those changes.

Design/methodology/approach
– A micro-auto-ethnographic approach is used based on observation and experiences of the author as an editor of a journal since 1993.

Findings
– As with other forms of research, hospitality research has become commodified by universities, has been much influenced by changes in greater availability of analytical software packages, and been much influenced by new challenges in the industry, notably globalisation and the rise of Asia.

Originality/value
– The paper provides a list of current issues for research within a context of changing demands being made on academic researchers.
The effect of Medicare Part D on prescription drug composition and demand
Authors: Zimmer David 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The US Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 introduced optional prescription drug coverage, beginning in 2006, widely known as Medicare Part D. This paper uses up-to-date nationally representative survey data to investigate the impact of Part D not only on drug spending and consumption, but also on the composition of drug consumption. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
– Specifically, the paper investigates whether Part D impacted the number of therapeutic classes for which drugs were prescribed, and also whether Part D lead to increased usage of drugs for specific medical conditions that typically receive drug-intensive therapies.

Findings
– In addition to confirming findings from previous studies, this paper shows that Part D increased the number of therapeutic classes to which seniors receive drugs by approximately four classes. Part D also lead to increased usage of drugs used to treat upper respiratory disease, hypertension, and diabetes.

Originality/value
– While mostly concurring with previous studies on the spending impacts of Part D, this paper is the first to shed light on other impacts of Part D, specifically with respect to its impact on therapeutic classes for which drugs are prescribed.
Moving beyond body condition indices as an estimate of fitness in ecological and evolutionary studies
Authors: Wilder Shawn M. , Raubenheimer David , Simpson Stephen J. 
Published: April 2015

Summary

Body condition indices, measures of body ‘plumpness’ or mass relative to frame size, are often used as a proxy for lipid reserves or fitness‐related traits of animals and assumed to be positively related to fitness.

The quantification and analysis of body condition indices has been the subject of debate for decades. Here, we summarize three additional concerns with the use of body condition indices.

First, body condition index is often poorly correlated with lipid content in animals. Second, even if body condition index and lipid content are correlated, lipid content of an animal may not be the most important aspect of body composition influencing fitness. Finally, neither body condition index nor lipid reserves are likely to be directly positively related to fitness in animals, as many animals homeostatically regulate intermediate levels of condition index or lipid reserves, with both higher and lower values incurring fitness costs.

A wide range of analytical methods, including some relatively inexpensive and simple measures, are available for more detailed measures of animal body composition or fitness‐related traits. Replacing body condition indices with more direct measures of body composition – even relatively simple measures – can inform understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying animal responses in a wide range of behavioural, ecological and evolutionary studies.
The Role of Outcome Forecasts in Patients' Treatment Decisions—Evidence from a Survey Experiment on Knee Replacement Surgery
Authors: Kesternich Iris , Caro Francis G. , Gottlieb Alison S. , Hoffmann Susanne , Winter Joachim K. 
Published: April 2015

ObjectiveTo analyze the effect of personalized outcome probabilities on treatment decisions.Data SourceAmerican Life Panel.Study DesignWe designed an experimental survey that respondents answered by recommending replacement surgery for hypothetical patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis. The primary manipulation was whether respondents were given personalized outcome probabilities for the patients.Principal FindingsPatient‐specific outcome forecasts significantly influenced decisions, with effect sizes comparable to those of physicians' opinions and patient testimonials. The presentation format also affected the probabilities' influence on choices. We did not find evidence that the educational level of subjects affected the weight that they give to outcome probabilities in making recommendations.ConclusionOur study points to a need for more research on the use of patient‐specific outcome forecasts.
Contemporary Sorted Patterned Ground in Low Altitude Areas of Tasmania
Authors: SLEE ADRIAN , KIERNAN KEVIN , SHULMEISTER JAMES 
Published: April 2015

AbstractThis paper summarises the distribution of patterned ground phenomena in Tasmania. It presents observations of low altitude sorted stone circles forming on glacial and alluvial deposits in the vicinity of Queenstown, Western Tasmania. Evidence suggests that freeze‐thaw derived patterned ground could develop in most inland valleys in Tasmania where cold air drainage causes sub‐zero ground temperatures in winter and permits the formation of ground and segregation ice to low elevations. Field observations suggest that patterned ground can only develop where freeze‐thaw processes are not inhibited by vegetation. The occurrence of patterned ground below altitudes of 900 m asl in Tasmania is largely a result of anthropogenic disturbance.
Movement of Garden Plants from Market to Bushland: Gardeners' Plant Procurement and Garden‐Related Behaviour
Authors: HU REN , GILL NICHOLAS 
Published: April 2015

AbstractIn Australia, the largest importer of exotic plant species is the gardening industry, and most major environmental weeds originally derive from domestic gardens or nurseries. To provide strategies for weed management, this study aims to clarify two key points on the pathway along which garden plants flow from the market to the natural environment with the help of human activities. These are local residents' procurement of garden plants, and local residents' garden‐related behaviour (e.g. leaving organic materials in reserves). We draw on a survey (382 respondents) among Wollongong (New South Wales, Australia) residents whose property has at least one boundary adjacent to bushland. Frequency analysis and ordinal regression were used. The results indicated that most respondents obtained garden plants, and relevant information, from nurseries but perceived that there was insufficient plant origin information (that is, whether introduced from abroad, native to Australia or local to the Illawarra) to help them make choices. It also indicated that a minority of respondents frequently left organic materials (such as lawn clippings) in reserves neighbouring their garden, and many of these respondents saw some benefits in doing so. This study confirms the significant role of nurseries in gardeners' plant choice, and raises questions about the significance of dumping garden waste.
Biomarkers in lupus nephritis
Authors: Misra Ramnath , Gupta Ranjan 
Published: April 2015

AbstractLupus nephritis (LN) has significant impact on the outcome of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In the absence of any new breakthrough for management of LN over the last few years, using existing treatment modalities in a more effective manner is the mainstay of improving outcomes. For effectively using the drugs, disease activity needs to be assessed accurately and more objectively, which is not possible with present clinical assessment tools. Biomarkers help in accurate assessment of disease activity and enable the physician to individualize the therapy. Conventional disease activity markers have limitations which need to be addressed and research in the area of biomarker discovery in LN has immensely expanded over the last two decades as evident by the literature. Moreover, biomarkers for LN should be different from the markers of overall disease activity as LN requires significant immunosuppression, unlike other non‐renal manifestations of SLE. Newly discovered biomarkers exhibit qualities pertaining to different aspects of disease activity and damage. In this review, we discuss the established as well as new biomarkers of SLE in the light of their role in LN diagnosis, follow‐up, prediction of renal flare and correlation with renal histology findings.
Plant genotype and the preference and performance of herbivores: cultivar affects apple resistance to the florivorous weevil Anthonomus pomorum
Authors: Mody Karsten , Collatz Jana , Dorn Silvia 
Published: April 2015

Abstract

Plant resistance strongly depends on plant characteristics that affect herbivore preference or performance. Different plant genotypes may express specific characteristics that lead to differential resistance to herbivores. Few studies have investigated these aspects for weevils, a particularly speciose taxon of insect herbivores, on fruit tree cultivars, which are vegetatively propagated.
We studied the influence of apple cultivar on preference and performance of a fruit tree herbivore, the flower‐feeding apple blossom weevil Anthonomus pomorum (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). We quantified field infestation of five different apple genotypes by the weevil at different collection dates as measure of preference, as well as the mass and emergence time of weevils developing on these cultivars as measures of performance.
Infestation of apple flower buds by A. pomorum differed significantly between cultivars. The collection date affected the number of infested flowers in a cultivar‐specific way.
Weevil mass differed significantly between apple cultivars. The average mass of weevils from Ariwa, the cultivar producing the heaviest weevils, was 40% higher than the mass of weevils from Rewena, the cultivar producing the lightest weevils.
Weevil emergence time from infested flowers differed significantly between cultivars. Weevils emerged earliest from cultivars Ariwa and Retina, at an intermediate time from Discovery and Florina, and latest from Rewena.
The present study demonstrates that preference and performance of florivores feeding on fruit trees can strongly differ between apple cultivars representing specific tree genotypes. These differences may directly and indirectly affect herbivore and antagonist populations and can be considered for pest management.
Short‐term influence of partial cutting on hemlock looper (Lepidoptera:Geometridae) parasitism
Authors: Seehausen Martin Lukas , Bauce Éric , Régnière Jacques , Berthiaume Richard 
Published: April 2015

AbstractSilvicultural treatments are suggested as an option for controlling insect defoliators, although the effects of treatment on parasitism remain widely unknown. Therefore, in the present study, the influence of partial cutting on hemlock looperLambdina fiscellaria (Guenée) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)parasitism is studied by comparing two cutting intensities (25% and 40% reduction of stand basal area) against controls.Laboratory reared hemlock looper pupae are periodically exposed in each plot to determine parasitism rates for a period of 3 years after partial cutting treatments. Two and three years after partial cutting, wild hemlock looper larvae are also collected in the same plots. Malaise traps and meteorological data loggers are installed to measure the influence of partial cutting on parasitoid abundance and microclimate.Parasitism of hemlock looper pupae is significantly lower in plots with the higher partial cutting intensity compared with control plots. Also temperature and humidity, as well as the number ofApechthis ontario (Cresson) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae)females in plots, are significantly influenced by partial cutting. However, only mean and minimum temperature can significantly explain parasitism of hemlock looper pupae.To sustain parasitism rates in forest stands vulnerable to hemlock looper defoliation at naturally high levels, it is recommended to refrain from partial cutting or to conduct this treatment at intensities lower than 40%.