bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Inequality of participation in Nepalese higher education
Authors: Witenstein Matthew A. , Palmer Betsy 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model for examining the unique factors contributing to the gendered inequality of post‐secondary educational participation in Nepal.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual/theoretical paper aims to apply and potentially critique the dynamic model of educational inequality offered by Lynch and O’Riordan to the context of Nepalese post‐secondary educational inequality. The authors hope to use the current model, developed through an exploration of data from a developed country, to further understanding of the forces maintaining educational inequality in the developing world.FindingsThe constraints from Lynch and O’Riordan's model are all important forces that impact educational persistence for girls and women in Nepal. However in order to fully examine the complexity of barriers imposed on girls in persisting through the Nepali educational system, the case has been made to add both geographic and political facilitators/constraints to the model. By creating a model that includes these forces, researchers and policy makers can proscribe change that is more holistic.Research limitations/implicationsBy constructing models that accurately reflect the real conditions present in developing countries, we can truly begin to find solutions to disparities in educational access and attainment.Originality/valueThis paper contributes both an examination of barriers and stratification in Nepal's higher education system while also developing a model for examining post‐secondary education systems in developing nations. It also provides some understanding of why Nepal has fallen behind its peers.
The relationship between sustainability practices and financial performance of construction companies
Authors: Siew Renard Y.J. , Balatbat Maria C.A. , Carmichael David G. 
Published: May 2013

PurposeOver recent years, a number of companies have committed to sharing information relating to their environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities, in response to a higher demand for transparency from stakeholders. This paper aims to explore the impact of such reporting on the financial performance of construction companies.Design/methodology/approachThis paper first examines the state of non‐financial reporting of publicly‐listed construction companies on climate change, environmental management, environmental efficiency, health and safety, human capital, conduct, stakeholder engagement, governance and other matters deemed to be of concern to institutional investors. It then presents the results of an empirical study on the impact of issuing non‐financial reports and the extent of companies’ sustainability practices (represented by ESG scores) on the financial performance of the companies. Financial performance is measured via a range of financial ratios.FindingsThe paper finds that a majority of the publicly‐listed construction companies studied have low levels of reporting, while construction companies issuing non‐financial reports largely outperform those which do not in a number of selected financial ratios, although the correlation between financial performance and ESG scores is not strong.Originality/valueThe originality of this research lies in its use of “hard data”, and it is supported by a wide range of financial ratios; this is distinguished from the existing, largely qualitative literature.
The interaction between building and users in passive and zero‐energy housing and offices
Authors: Thomsen Judith , Berker Thomas , Lappegard Hauge Åshild , Denizou Karine , Wågø Solvår , Jerkø Sidsel 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThe article's aim is to present user experiences with passive houses and zero‐energy buildings. The focus is on the interaction between the building and the users, specifically on how user interfaces, knowledge, and commitment influence the use of the building and the level of energy consumption awareness.Design/methodology/approachThe study follows an explorative grounded theory approach. This approach generates insights that will be consolidated in follow‐up studies. Qualitative interviews with users of six buildings were conducted. Site inspections applying walk‐through method and other available information complement the data.FindingsUsers in general were satisfied with having a new energy efficient building. Several respondents were more concerned about the environment now than before. However, there were concerns about thermal comfort. Misuse or misunderstandings among users in some cases led to lower indoor comfort. New or dissatisfactory design solutions were also responsible for unsatisfactory indoor environmental quality.Practical implications – Specific topics that should be paid more attention to in the design and research on new energy efficient buildings: level of end‐user control and adaptability of the building; level of complexity of systems; the need for adequate information.Originality/valueThe open approach enabled occupants to influence the parameters of the evaluations. Most evaluations of zero‐energy buildings are not yet publicly accessible.
Approximating constant‐Q seismic propagation in the time domain
Authors: Zhu Tieyuan , Carcione José M. , Harris Jerry M. 
Published: May 2013

ABSTRACTIn this study, we investigate the accuracy of approximating constant‐Q wave propagation by series of Zener or standard linear solid (SLS) mechanisms. Modelling in viscoacoustic and viscoelastic media is implemented in the time domain using the finite‐difference (FD) method. The accuracy of numerical solutions is evaluated by comparison with the analytical solution in homogeneous media. We found that the FD solutions using three SLS relaxation mechanisms as well as a single SLS mechanism, with properly chosen relaxation times, are quite accurate for both weak and strong attenuation. Although the RMS errors of FD simulations using a single relaxation mechanism increase with increasing offset, especially for strong attenuation (Q = 20), the results are still acceptable for practical applications. The synthetic data of the Marmousi‐II model further illustrate that the single SLS mechanism, to model constant Q, is efficient and sufficiently accurate. Moreover, it benefits from less computational costs in computer time and memory.
Implementation of the INTERGROWTH‐21stProject in Oman
Authors: Jaffer YA , Al Abri J , Abdawani J , Knight HE , Cheikh Ismail L ,   for the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21 Century (INTERGROWTH‐21)
Published: May 2013

The Middle Eastern site in the INTERGROWTH‐21st Project was Muscat, the capital city of Oman, with approximately 10 500 births per year. The sample for the Newborn Cross‐Sectional Study (NCSS) was drawn from two hospitals covering 96% of the region's births. The Fetal Growth Longitudinal Study (FGLS) sample was recruited from four primary health facilities serving Khoula Hospital, using the eligibility criteria in the INTERGROWTH‐21st protocol. Special activities to encourage participation in this population included local advocacy campaigns to encourage early antenatal booking and ultrasound dating in the population. The major challenges at the site were the recruitment of sufficient numbers of women at an early gestational age, and the timely measurement of all newborns within 12 hours of birth. Many individuals and institutions collaborated effectively over a period of several years on these studies, which required careful planning and close monitoring for their successful implementation.
Implementation of the INTERGROWTH‐21st Project in China
Authors: Pan Y , Wu MH , Wang JH , Pang RY , Knight HE , Cheikh Ismail L ,   for the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21 Century (INTERGROWTH‐21)
Published: May 2013

Please cite this paper as: Pan Y, Wu M, Wang J, Pang R, Knight H, Cheikh Ismail L, for the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century (INTERGROWTH‐21st). Implementation of the INTERGROWTH‐21st Project in China. BJOG 2013; 120 (Suppl. 2): 87–93.The East Asian site in the INTERGROWTH‐21st Project was Shunyi County, Beijing, China, which is an affluent suburb of north Beijing delivering approximately 7000 women annually. The Newborn Cross‐Sectional Study (NCSS) sample was drawn from two hospitals, covering >85% of births in the county. The Fetal Growth Longitudinal Study sample (FGLS) was recruited from the antenatal clinic of Shunyi Maternal & Child Health Hospital, the larger of the two institutions. Special activities to promote the study in this population included: (1) the distribution of health education materials about the importance of antenatal care and (2) the organisation of seminars by the study team to brief key stakeholders at the two hospitals about the goals of the research. One of the major challenges at this site in the early stages of the study was a reluctance to have an early ultrasound dating scan (<14+0 weeks of gestation). This challenge was overcome after a thorough evaluation of the literature regarding the benefits of an early ultrasound scan for dating purposes, as a result of which there was a formal change in hospital policy.
The objectives, design and implementation of the INTERGROWTH‐21st Project
Authors: Villar J , Altman DG , Purwar M , Noble JA , Knight HE , Ruyan P , Cheikh Ismail L , Barros FC , Lambert A , Papageorghiou AT , Carvalho M , Jaffer YA , Bertino E , Gravett MG , Bhutta ZA , Kennedy SH ,   for the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21 Century (INTERGROWTH‐21)
Published: May 2013

Please cite this paper as: Villar J, Altman D, Purwar M, Noble J, Knight H, Ruyan P, Cheikh Ismail L, Barros F, Lambert A, Papageorghiou A, Carvalho M, Jaffer Y, Bertino E, Gravett M, Bhutta Z, Kennedy S, for the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century (INTERGROWTH‐21st). The objectives, design and implementation of the INTERGROWTH‐21st Project. BJOG 2013; 120 (Suppl. 2): 9–26.INTERGROWTH‐21st is a multicentre, multiethnic, population‐based project, being conducted in eight geographical areas (Brazil, China, India, Italy, Kenya, Oman, UK and USA), with technical support from four global specialised units, to study growth, health and nutrition from early pregnancy to infancy. It aims to produce prescriptive growth standards, which conceptually extend the World Health Organization (WHO) Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS) to cover fetal and newborn life. The new international standards will describe: (1) fetal growth assessed by clinical and ultrasound measures; (2) postnatal growth of term and preterm infants up to 2 years of age; and (3) the relationship between birthweight, length and head circumference, gestational age and perinatal outcomes. As the project has selected healthy cohorts with no obvious risk factors for intrauterine growth restriction, these standards will describe how all fetuses and newborns should grow, as opposed to traditional charts that describe how some have grown at a given place and time. These growth patterns will be related to morbidity and mortality to identify levels of perinatal risk. Additional aims include phenotypic characterisation of the preterm and impaired fetal growth syndromes and development of a prediction model, based on multiple ultrasound measurements, to estimate gestational age for use in pregnant women without access to early/frequent antenatal care.
Conceptual basis for prescriptive growth standards from conception to early childhood: present and future
Authors: Uauy R , Casanello P , Krause B , Kuzanovic JP , Corvalan C ,   for the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21 Century (INTERGROWTH‐21)
Published: May 2013

BackgroundHealthy growth in utero and after birth is fundamental for lifelong health and wellbeing. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published standards for healthy growth from birth to 6 years of age; analogous standards for healthy fetal growth are not currently available. Current fetal growth charts in use are not true standards, since they are based on cross‐sectional measurements of attained size under conditions that do not accurately reflect normal growth. In most cases, the pregnant populations and environments studied are far from ideal; thus the data are unlikely to reflect optimal fetal growth. A true standard should reflect how fetuses and newborns ‘should’ grow under ideal environmental conditions.ObjectiveThe development of prescriptive intrauterine and newborn growth standards derived from the INTERGROWTH‐21st Project provides the data that will allow us for the first time to establish what is ‘normal’ fetal growth.MethodsThe INTERGROWTH‐21st study centres provide the data set obtained under pre‐established standardised criteria, and details of the methods used are also published.DesignMulticentre study with sites in all major geographical regions of the world using a standard evaluation protocol.ResultsThese standards will assess risk of abnormal size at birth and serve to evaluate potentially effective interventions to promote optimal growth beyond securing survival.DiscussionThe new normative standards have the potential to impact perinatal and neonatal survival and beyond, particularly in developing countries where fetal growth restriction is most prevalent. They will help us identify intrauterine growth restriction at earlier stages of development, when preventive or corrective strategies might be more effective than at present.ConclusionThese growth standards will take us one step closer to effective action in preventing and potentially reversing abnormal intrauterine growth. Achieving ‘optimal’ fetal growth requires that we act not only during pregnancy but that we optimize the maternal uterine environment from the time before conception, through embryonic development until fetal growth is complete. The remaining challenge is how ‘early’ will we be able to act, now that we can better monitor fetal growth.
40‐Hz Square‐Wave Stimulation Requires Less Energy to Produce Muscle Contraction: Compared with the TASER®X26 Conducted Energy Weapon
Authors: Comeaux James A. , Jauchem James R. , Duane Cox D. , Crane Carrie C. , D'Andrea John A. 
Published: May 2013

AbstractConducted energy weapons (CEWs) (including the Advanced TASER® X26 model produced by TASER International, Inc.) incapacitate individuals by causing muscle contractions. In this study using anesthetized swine, the potential incapacitating effect of primarily monophasic, 19‐Hz voltage imposed by the commercial CEW was compared with the effect of voltages imposed by a laboratory device that created 40‐Hz square waves. Forces of muscle contraction were measured with the use of strain gauges. Stimulation with 40‐Hz square waves required less pulse energy than stimulation with the commercial CEW to produce similar muscle contraction. The square‐pulse stimulation, at the higher repetition rate, caused a more complete tetanus at a lower energy. Use of such a simple shape of waveform may be used to make future nonlethal weapon devices more efficient.
Tables for the Metric Evaluation of Pair‐Matching of Human Skeletal Elements
Authors: Thomas Richard M. , Ubelaker Douglas H. , Byrd John E. 
Published: May 2013

AbstractA common task in forensic anthropology involves pair‐matching of left and right skeletal elements. This can be achieved through visual pair‐matching by evaluating similarities in morphology, and through osteometric sorting, a quantitative technique. To simplify the process of osteometric sorting, this article explains the use of a statistic (M), which captures the amount of size variation found between homologous bones from single individuals. A database of skeletal measurements for all major paired postcranial bones is used to calculate values of M from a variety of sources. The maximum value and the 90th and 95th percentiles of M are provided in tabular format, and values of M from forensic cases can be compared to these tables as an objective means for determining whether homologous bones could have originated from the same individual. This simple technique can be combined with visual pair‐matching to be particularly effective in cases involving commingling of skeletons.
Standardization of Histological Procedures for the Detection of Toxic Substances by Immunohistochemistry in Dipteran Larvae of Forensic Importance
Authors: Souza Carina M. , Lima Carolina G. P. , Alves‐Jr Marcos J. , Arrais‐Silva Wagner W. , Giorgio Selma , Linhares Arício X. , Thyssen Patricia J. 
Published: May 2013

AbstractImmunohistochemistry (IHC) technique is an alternative toxicological analysis to detect drugs in insects of forensic importance, but it requires thorough histological procedures. In this study, we tested different fixatives—phosphate‐buffered paraformaldehyde 4% (PP), Carnoy's fluid (CF), Kahle's solution (KS), ethanol in different concentrations, and ethanol associated toPPandCF, time of fixation and histological processes for dipteran larvae's tissue, aiming to develop a sample preparation protocol for IHC application. A suitable fixation was achieved usingPPfor 12 and 24 h,CFfor 3 h, 70% ethanol for 19 days, and 70% ethanol/CFfor 2 h/3 h. Postfixation using negative pressure, two immersions in xylene for 30 min each, and one in xylene plus paraffin for 45 min increased tissue preservation. An immunohistochemical test for cocaine detection was performed using monoclonal benzoylecgonine antibody from mouse, peroxidase‐conjugated anti‐mouse IgG and visualized by 3,3′‐diaminobenzidine method showed these histological procedures didn't compromise antigenicity.
Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Anger in Turkish Prisoners
Authors: Unver Yener , Yuce Mehmet , Bayram Nuran , Bilgel Nazan 
Published: May 2013

AbstractIn Turkey, prison studies are rare and the mental health status of prisoners has not received proper attention. The purpose of this cross‐sectional and descriptive study was to assess the prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress, and anger among a group of Turkish prisoners. Two self‐reporting instruments (the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale‐42 and Multidimensional Anger Scale) were filled out by 685 prisoners. Prisoners in the study group were found to be depressive, anxious, and stressed. Anger symptoms and aggressive behaviors were found to be at a moderate level. Prisoners with a history of being subjected to domestic violence in childhood had higher depression, anxiety, and stress scores than those without such a history. Young prisoners, those who had been previously imprisoned, with substance dependency and higher stress and anxiety levels reported more anger symptoms than others. Psychological support, together with stress and anger management programs, seems to be essential.
The Compatibility of Fingerprint Visualization Techniques with Immunolabeling
Authors: van Dam Annemieke , Aalders Maurice C. G. , van Leeuwen Ton G. , Lambrechts Saskia A. G. 
Published: May 2013

AbstractThe chemical composition of a fingermark potentially holds a wealth of information about the fingermark donor, which can be extracted by immunolabeling. Immunolabeling can be used to detect specific components in fingermarks; however, to be applicable in the forensic field, it should be compatible with commonly used fingerprint visualization techniques. In this study, the compatibility of immunolabeling with two different fingerprint visualization techniques, magnetic powdering and ninhydrin staining, was investigated on fingermarks deposited on glass and on nitrocellulose membranes. With dermcidin as antigen of interest, immunolabeling was performed successfully on all developed fingermarks. We can conclude that immunolabeling is compatible with magnetic powdering and ninhydrin staining, which can be of great forensic value.
Fall from a Balcony—Accidental or Homicidal? Reconstruction by Numerical Simulation
Authors: Muggenthaler Holger , Drobnik Stefanie , Hubig Michael , Schönpflug Markus , Mall Gita 
Published: May 2013

AbstractIn the case presented, conflicting witness accounts and the subject's injuries were highly suspicious of an assault that might have caused the balcony fall. For the reconstruction, a simulation software, originally designed for motor vehicle accident reconstruction, was used. Three scenarios were simulated using the PC‐Crash multibody pedestrian model: (S1) Subject was pushed against and fell over balcony rail, (S2) subject fell off from a seated position, (S3) subject fell off from a prone position on the rail. (S1) could be ruled out due to inconsistent results in terms of landing area and minimum velocity. Realistic results were obtained for (S3) with a fall off from a prone position on the rail. After a few months, the comatose subject awoke and gave an account of what had happened being consistent with the simulation results. This case demonstrates the feasibility of multibody simulations also in cases of nontraffic incidents.
An Uncommon Accident and Unusual Cause of Death—A Fatal Domestic Ram Attack
Authors: Živković Vladimir , Nikolić Slobodan 
Published: May 2013

AbstractDomestic animal attacks are not common; their fatal attacks are even rarer. Herein, a case of a 78‐year‐old woman attacked by a ram is presented. She sustained multiple head and chest injuries. The autopsy findings and the inspection of the scene revealed that the fatal aortic injury had been caused by direct force from the front, which subsequently caused a powerful anteroposterior chest compression, resulting in an incomplete tear by flexion and compression of the aortic arch. The aortic dissection propagated in both an ante‐ and retrograde direction, with intact adventitia. However, due to a rise in pressure in the formed false lumen, dissection propagated downward to the base of the heart, and further into the subepicardial adipose tissue, forming a subepicardial hematoma. This hematoma gradually compressed the proximal sections of the coronary arteries, impairing their filling, and producing a myocardial ischemia. In addition, circulation had probably been already disturbed by the right‐sided pneumothorax, as well as a possible pneumomediastinum.
High‐Throughput STR Analysis for DNA Database Using Direct PCR,
Authors: Sim Jeong Eun , Park Su Jeong , Lee Han Chul , Kim Se‐Yong , Kim Jong Yeol , Lee Seung Hwan 
Published: May 2013

AbstractSince the Korean criminal DNA database was launched in 2010, we have focused on establishing an automated DNA database profiling system that analyzes short tandem repeat loci in a high‐throughput and cost‐effective manner. We established a DNA database profiling system without DNA purification using a direct PCR buffer system. The quality of direct PCR procedures was compared with that of conventional PCR system under their respective optimized conditions. The results revealed not only perfect concordance but also an excellent PCR success rate, good electropherogram quality, and an optimal intra/inter‐loci peak height ratio. In particular, the proportion of DNA extraction required due to direct PCR failure could be minimized to <3%. In conclusion, the newly developed direct PCR system can be adopted for automated DNA database profiling systems to replace or supplement conventional PCR system in a time‐ and cost‐saving manner.