bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Efficacy and safety of ivabradine in chronic heart failure across the age spectrum: insights from the SHIFT study
Authors: Tavazzi Luigi , Swedberg Karl , Komajda Michel , Böhm Michael , Borer Jeffrey S. , Lainscak Mitja , Ford Ian ,   on behalf of the SHIFT Investigators
Published: June 2013

AimsTo test whether the efficacy and safety of the selective heart rate‐reducing agent ivabradine changes according to age in chronic heart failure (HF) patients.Methods and resultsThe ivabradine and placebo arms of SHIFT, which enrolled 6505 chronic HF patients, were combined and age distribution was divided by quartiles to give four groups (<53 years, n = 1522; 53 to <60 years, n = 1521; 60 to <69 years, n = 1750; and ≥69 years, n = 1712). The effects of ivabradine on cardiovascular outcomes, changes in heart rate, and adverse events, particularly bradycardia, were evaluated according to age group. A subgroup (602 patients) underwent 24 h ambulatory ECG Holter monitoring. The relative risk of the primary endpoint (cardiovascular death or hospitalization for worsening HF) was reduced by ivabradine in all age groups, ranging from 38% [hazard ratio (HR) 0.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.50–0.78, P < 0.001] in the youngest patients <53 years to 16% (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.71–0.99, P = 0.035) in the oldest patients ≥69 years. Ivabradine up‐titration reduced heart rate similarly in all age groups, by 11 b.p.m. As anticipated, bradycardia and phosphenes occurred more frequently with ivabradine, at a similar rate whatever the age. In the Holter substudy, there were no episodes of severe bradycardia and no clinically relevant pauses with ivabradine in any age group.ConclusionsAge does not limit the appropriate use of ivabradine in patients with chronic HF and systolic dysfunction. The safety and efficacy of ivabradine are comparable across all age groups.
Identification of Human Gene Core Promoters in Silico
Authors: Zhang Michael Q. 
Published: June 2013

Identification of the 5′-end of human genes requires identification of functional promoter elements. In silico identification of those elements is difficult because of the hierarchical and modular nature of promoter architecture. To address this problem, I propose a new stepwise strategy based on initial localization of a functional promoter into a 1- to 2-kb (extended promoter) region from within a large genomic DNA sequence of 100 kb or larger and further localization of a transcriptional start site (TSS) into a 50- to 100-bp (corepromoter) region. Using positional dependent 5-tuple measures, a quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) method has been implemented in a new program—CorePromoter. Our experiments indicate that when given a 1- to 2-kb extended promoter, CorePromoter will correctly localize the TSS to a 100-bp interval ∼60% of the time.[Figure 3 can be found in its entirety as an online supplement at http://www.genome.org.]
Designing and testing wearable range‐vibrotactile devices
Authors: Lun Khoo Wai , Knapp Joey , Palmer Franklin , Ro Tony , Zhu Zhigang 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how commercially‐off‐the‐shelf sensors and stimulators, such as infrared rangers and vibrators, can be retrofitted as a useful assistive technology in real and virtual environments.Design/methodology/approachThe paper describes how a wearable range‐vibrotactile device is designed and tested in the real‐world setting, as well as thorough evaluations in a virtual environment for complicated navigation tasks and neuroscience studies.FindingsIn the real‐world setting, a person with normal vision who has to navigate their way around a room with their eyes closed will quickly rely on their arms and hands to explore the room. The authors’ device allows a person to “feel” their environment without touching it. Due to inherent difficulties in testing human subjects when navigating a real environment, a virtual environment affords us an opportunity to scientifically and extensively test the prototype before deploying the device in the real‐world.Research limitations/implicationsThis project serves as a starting‐point for further research in benchmarking assistive technology for the visually impaired and to eventually develop a man‐machine sensorimotor model that will improve current state‐of‐the‐art technology, as well as a better understanding of neural coding in the human brain.Social implicationsBased on 2012 World Health Organization, there are 39 million blind people. This project will have a direct impact on this community.Originality/valueThe paper demonstrates a low cost design of assistive technology that has been tested and evaluated in real and virtual environments, as well as integration of sensor designs and neuroscience.
Keeping the sparkle on
Authors: Varkkey Biju , Kumar Randhir 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe Indian diamond cutting and polishing (CPD) industry enjoys a global leadership position, but at the same time is vulnerable to economic shifts in the global market. Historically, such shocks have resulted in shake down of the industry, including closures, bankruptcies, job losses and labour unrest. Most recently, the vulnerability was experienced during the economic recession of 2008, which impacted both entrepreneurs and diamond workers alike. The shock elicited different adaptation strategies from individual firms. The paper aims to understand the adaptation strategies of large and formally organized diamond enterprises in Surat, India, with particular reference to “labour hoarding” as a strategy for workforce management.Design/methodology/approachUsing case studies of four large CPD firms, the paper investigates patterns in managerial decision making pertaining to workforce management and adaptation strategies taken during recession. The authors also traced the subject companies' performance post‐recession. The tool used for data collection was semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews with entrepreneurs and human resource managers. For additional inputs and triangulation of findings, content analysis of news reports, along with interactions with several knowledgeable persons from both industry and government, were conducted.FindingsThe authors' study of the sample firms neither supports the popular notion of “workforce retention by large diamond enterprises, in spite of recession” nor the generalized statements about “massive lay‐offs by all”, as reported in popular media. The authors found that, due to recessionary pressure, there was a deep managerial dilemma in the companies about how to strike the right trade‐off between workforce retention (labour hoarding) and downsizing. The paper argues that, post‐recession, the companies whose decisions were pro‐labour retention (hoarding) oriented were able to come back in business stronger and perform better.Originality/valueThe diamond industry of India is ethno‐bound in its functioning, where community and regional/linguistic affiliations of both workers and entrepreneurs traditionally played a vital role. Therefore, the employee management practices adopted do not strictly fall within the general realm of western management practices or popular HRM frameworks. The study shows that context‐dependent employee management strategies, suiting the need for maintaining the traditional ethno‐bound values even during recessionary pressure, created long‐term positive effects for the firm.
The impact of near field communication on tourism
Authors: Egger Roman 
Published: June 2013

Purpose– Near field communication (NFC) is currently perceived to be one of the most promising technologies for the future and will most likely become the standard in mobile devices in the years to come. Due to the novel nature of this technology, the assessment of its importance for the tourism industry is still relatively unclear. The author is one of the first to focus on NFC in tourism, with the aim of introducing NFC technology and drafting first responses to the following questions: what benefit can NFC technology have for tourism and what functionalities can it trigger? What are the possible future applications in tourism and what challenges will tourism be faced with in this respect?Design/methodology/approach– The potential of NFC for the tourism industry is outlined in an extensive literature research, as well as in the presentation and discussion of several pilot projects and case studies.Findings– The paper provides an overview of NFC functionalities and presents a first insight into the range of application for this technology in the tourism industry. The NFC ecosystem is examined and operative and strategic effects for companies, as well as the impacts for tourists, are analysed.Practical implications– NFC has a huge potential and offers a vast field of possible applications for the tourism industry. The technology must be seen, however, as an enabler that cannot solve problems from a supplier perspective, or increase convenience from a consumer perspective by itself. This paper helps to understand the complexity of NFC as a technology, the need for a common understanding and vision of its ecosystem, consistent business models which generate additional benefit, as well as the combination of market push-and-pull effects with regard to adoption and diffusion.Social implications– Modern society is virtually inconceivable without mobile devices and the consequent use of mobile services. The multitude of technologies incorporated in the tiniest space has turned mobile phones, and smart phones in particular, into the Swiss knives of our times. NFC could change the way we interact, share, exchange and retrieve information.Originality/value– Little research has so far been carried out on this topic and the author is one of the first to focus on NFC in tourism so far.
Portfolio margining of cleared credit default swaps
Authors: Philipp Michael M. , Sandoval Ignacio A. 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the separate but related relief issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that permits the commingling and portfolio margining of centrally cleared credit default swap (CDS) positions held in customer accounts.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides a brief overview of the bifurcated approach taken to the regulation of CDS; explains the benefits of portfolio margining and the need for portfolio margining relief; and provides an overview of the relief provided by the SEC and CFTC.FindingsThe relief provided by the SEC and CFTC may contribute to the efficient use and allocation of capital by market participants; however, the SEC's and CFTC's orders are limited in scope only to CDS products, and the viability of the relief for CDS products will depend upon SEC approval of the margin methodology used by brokers to set margin levels for their customers.Originality/valueThe paper provides practical insights into first of its kind regulatory relief permitting commingling and portfolio margining of centrally cleared derivatives for customer accounts and the requirements incumbent on a market intermediary when implementing a program to commingle and portfolio margin centrally cleared CDS positions.
SEC lifts moratorium on actively managed ETFs' use of derivatives; moratorium continues for leveraged ETFs
Authors: Decko Kurt , Fuller Stacy 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain the announcement and no‐action letter of December 11, 2012 from the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Division of Investment Management lifting the moratorium on the use of derivatives by actively managed exchange‐traded funds (ETFs) but continuing the moratorium on use of derivatives by leveraged ETFs.Design/methodology/approachThe paper explains the background, including the moratorium that went into effect as the SEC conducted a review of the use of derivatives by mutual funds, ETFs and other investment companies; the lifting of the moratorium; two representations ETFs that propose to use derivatives must make in their exemptive applications to the SEC; the implications for ETFs that make those representations; and the next steps for ETFs currently in the exemptive applications process.FindingsWhile it does not mean the end of the SEC staff's review of derivative usage by ETFs generally, the lifting of the moratorium is a welcome development that restores actively managed ETFs' ability to compete largely on an equal footing with other vehicles in many investment strategies.Practical implicationsWhile the representations do not appear to impose substantive new disclosure requirements for ETFs, the difficulty, if any, could be that these representations will now be required by the terms of the exemptive relief on which they rely for all their operations.Originality/valueThe paper provides practical advice from experienced financial services lawyers.
Assessing the ability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to bind aflatoxin B1 from contaminated medium
Authors: Sahebghalam Haleh , Mohamadi Sani Ali , Mehraban Masoumeh 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThis study was conducted with the aim of examining the ability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to remove AFB1 from liquid media in order to use data in food and feed systems.Design/methodology/approachThe binding of AFB1 to Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the late exponential and early stationary phases was studied for viable, heat killed and acid killed yeast. AFB1 at concentrations (5, 10 and 20 μg/l) was added to the yeast culture (109 cfu/ml) in yeast mold broth medium and incubated at 25°C for 4, 12 and 24 hrs. The aflatoxin binding capacity of the strain was quantified by the amount of unbound AFB1 using ELISA technique.FindingsThe detoxification rate for different treatments reported as follows: acid treated cells > heat treated cells > viable cells. Also, the most reduction in AFB1 concentration happened within the first four hours of incubation with no significant increase in AFB1 binding on further incubation because of saturation of active sites in yeast cells. According to the results, either form of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (viable or nonviable) is effective in aflatoxin binding from medium and the binding has a physical nature.Social implicationsThe findings reduce the public concern about aflatoxin B1 contamination in foods and feeds having high risk of aflatoxin contamination.Originality/valueNo research had been done to assess the ability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the mentioned forms to detoxify AFB1.
The good, the bad and the ugly: searching for critical research in psychology
Authors: Duckett Paul , Fryer David , Lawthom Rebecca , Nic Giolla Easpaig Brona , Radermacher Harriet 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to answer the question “what is good research?” from the perspective of critical researchers working in the discipline of psychology.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first look at what it means to be “good”, then what it means to be critical and then interlink these two as a means of providing a context to understand why there appears to be so little critical research around. Findings– The authors have put together a narrative that they hope is readable but that still pulls on the different ways each of them have approached the topic of defining good research and thinking about critical research.Originality/valueThe authors have personally witnessed the disappearance‐ing of critical activists, anti‐psychiatry activists, disability rights activists, trades unionists, critical scholars; and put forward a reason (among others) as to why there is so little good critical research, which is that the status quo is implacably ferocious in its efforts to close it down wherever it occurs. Indeed, if the status quo is not doing its damnedest to close down the research you are doing, you can be reasonably sure it is not good critical research.
Does venture capital portfolio size matter?
Authors: Bartkus James R. , Kabir Hassan M. , Ngene Geoffrey 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of increased fund commitments on portfolio size and subsequent effects on portfolio success rates. This paper empirically analyzes the changes in average portfolio size over a 20‐year time period and how these changes affect the venture capitalists' ability to successfully exit their investments.Design/methodology/approachThe authors utilize venture capitalists' fund level data and conduct both univariate and multivariate analysis. The multivariate analysis is conducted using a two‐limit regression tobit model. This is justified since the authors' dependent variable is a ratio bounded by zero and one, hence the tobit specification is the most appropriate methodology.FindingsThe authors find that increasing the size of portfolios not only leads to a decrease in the number of successful investments but also significantly affects portfolio success rates. They also find evidence which suggests that some optimal portfolio size exists.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample was limited to independent private partnerships that raised funds specifically for investment in US portfolio companies and it represents all funds maintained in the SDC database with non‐missing data on fund size and other fund characteristics.Practical implicationsThere are three main practical implications derived from this study. First, venture capitalists overextend themselves by investing in too many portfolio firms. Second, some optimal portfolio size exists beyond which success rate of the venture capitalist's portfolio declines. Third, portfolio size is an important determinant of venture capital portfolio success rates.Originality/valueThe study presents new evidence that venture capitalists have a tendency to increase their portfolio size in years following growth in fund inflows, an idea that has not been investigated earlier. The authors also use data that is not adulterated by significant economic and financial conditions such as internet bubble burst of 2000 and financial crisis of 2007/2008.
Transdermal nicotine patches for eosinophilic pustular folliculitis
Authors: Yoshifuku Asuka , Higashi Yuko , Matsushita Shigeto , Kawai Kazuhiro , Kanekura Takuro 
Published: June 2013

AbstractWe previously reported the clinical effectiveness of transdermal nicotine patches for the treatment of skin disorders with eosinophilic infiltration such as Kimura's disease, erythema nodosum and eosinophilic pustular folliculitis (EPF). We assessed the efficacy and safety of transdermal nicotine patches for EPF. We treated eight patients with EPF with transdermal nicotine patches and evaluated the treatment response by performing overall lesional assessment. Excellent 77and good responses were obtained in five and one patient(s), respectively. In the other two patients, the lesions remained unchanged. No severe adverse effects were observed. Our results suggest that transdermal nicotine patches may be useful and safe in the treatment of EPF.
Defensible Space on the Move: Revisiting the Urban Geography ofAliceColeman
Authors: Jacobs Jane M. , Lees Loretta 
Published: June 2013

AbstractThis article traces the movement of the concept of ‘defensible space’ fromNewYork City in the 1970s, where it was developed by theCanadian architect/plannerOscarNewman, toLondon in the 1980s and into design interventions inBritish public housing in the 1990s, throughBritish geographerAliceColeman, who acted as an especially powerful transfer agent. In focusing on this urban design ‘concept’ on the move we contribute to existing scholarship on policy mobility and city building in a number of ways. First, we explore an instance of the movement/mobility of a planning concept in a historical period (the recent past) largely overlooked to date. Secondly, we demonstrate that this movement was the result of a disaggregated series of expert knowledge transfers and localized translations of pre‐policy expert knowledge, generated through university‐based research work and networks. We theorize this instance of urban planning mobility by way of the interlinked insights offered by the sociology of science and policy‐mobilities literatures. As this is an instance of university research shaping public policy it also offers an opportunity to reflect upon the meaning of ‘evidence‐based policy’ and the impact agenda in contemporary higher education.
Roads as Regions, Networks and Flows: Waverley and the ‘Periphery’ of Romance
Authors: EWERS CHRIS 
Published: June 2013

AbstractSir Walter Scott's Waverley has long been regarded as the originator of the historical novel, and much critical interest in the text centres on the way it presents ‘history’. This privileging of the temporal has obscured what is perhaps an even greater achievement by Scott: the complex way in which he handles ‘space’. This article examines the way roads have been described in terms of regions or networks in the novel but adds a third spatial model, fluidity, which has important consequences for how Waverley has been read, especially in terms of the ‘periphery’ of romance and its separation from ‘history’.
Resistance of wild African ungulates to foraging by red‐billed oxpeckers (Buphagus erythrorhynchus): evidence that this behaviour modulates a potentially parasitic interaction
Authors: Bishop Anne L. , Bishop Richard P. 
Published: June 2013

AbstractField observations of the interactions between red‐billed oxpeckers (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) and wild ungulates in Nakuru National Park, Kenya, revealed that specific hosts frequently attempted to manipulate oxpecker foraging. This involved a repertoire of behaviour collectively referred to as resistance behaviour, and often resulted in the oxpeckers either changing their position on the host's body or departing. Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer), the most frequently used host, performed little resistance behaviour. Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) were also popular oxpecker hosts, but frequently exhibited vigorous resistance behaviour. Impala (Aepyceros melampus), the third most widely used host species, also utilized resistance behaviours, but allowed a greater proportion of oxpeckers to forage without disturbance. The suite of resistance behaviours employed by waterbuck, impala and also the consequences for oxpecker foraging, differed significantly. Our data suggest that the oxpecker–ungulate interactions in the field are more complex than previously realized with resistance behaviour regularly employed by selected mammalian host species.
Accuracy of dialysis medical records in determining patients' interest in and suitability for transplantation
Authors: Huml Anne M. , Sullivan Catherine M. , Pencak Julie A. , Sehgal Ashwini R. 
Published: June 2013

AbstractBackgroundWe sought to determine the accuracy of dialysis medical records in identifying patients' interest in and suitability for transplantation.Study designCluster randomized controlled trial.Setting and participantsA total of 167 patients recruited from 23 hemodialysis facilities.InterventionNavigators met with intervention patients to provide transplant information and assistance. Control patients continued to receive usual care.OutcomesAgreement at study initiation between medical records and (i) patient self‐reported interest in transplantation and (ii) study assessments of medical suitability for transplant referral.MeasurementsMedical record assessments, self‐reports, and study assessments of patient's interest in and suitability for transplantation.ResultsThere was disagreement between medical records and patient self‐reported interest in transplantation for 66 (40%) of the 167 study patients. In most of these cases, patients reported being more interested in transplantation than their medical records indicated. The study team determined that all 92 intervention patients were medically suitable for transplant referral. However, for 38 (41%) intervention patients, medical records indicated that they were not suitable. About two‐thirds of these patients successfully moved forward in the transplant process.ConclusionDialysis medical records are frequently inaccurate in determining patient's interest in and suitability for transplantation.