bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Frequency and Type of K-RAS Mutations in Mexican Patients With Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Cárdenas-Ramos Susana G. , Alcázar-González Gregorio , Reyes-Cortés Luisa M. , Torres-Grimaldo Abdiel A. , Calderón-Garcidueñas Ana L. , Morales-Casas José , Flores-Sánchez Patricia , De León-Escobedo Raúl , Gómez-Díaz Antonio , Moreno-Bringas Carmen , Sánchez-Guillén Jorge , Ramos-Salazar Pedro , González-de León César , Barrera-Saldaña Hugo A. 
Published: October 2014

Background:
Current metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) therapy uses monoclonal antibodies against the epidermal growth factor receptor. This treatment is only useful in the absence of K-RAS gene mutations; therefore the study of such mutations is part of a personalized treatment. The aim of this work is to determine the frequency and type of the most common K-RAS mutations in Mexican patients with metastatic disease by nucleotide sequencing.

Patients and Methods:
We studied 888 patients with mCRC from different regions of Mexico. The presence of mutations in exon 2, codons 12 and 13, of the K-RAS gene was determined by nucleotide sequencing.

Results:
Patients exhibited K-RAS gene mutations in 35% (310/888) of cases. Mutation frequency of codons 12 and 13 was 71% (221/310) and 29% (89/310), respectively. The most common mutation (45.7%) in codon 12 was c.35G>A (p.G12D), whereas the one in codon 13 was c.38G>A (p.G13D) (78.7%).

Discussion:
Given the frequency of K-RAS mutations in Mexicans, making a genetic study before deciding to treat mCRC patients with monoclonal antibodies is indispensable.
Automated Recovery of Three-Dimensional Models of Plant Shoots from Multiple Color Images
Authors: Pound Michael P. , French Andrew P. , Murchie Erik H. , Pridmore Tony P. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractIncreased adoption of the systems approach to biological research has focused attention on the use of quantitative models of biological objects. This includes a need for realistic three-dimensional (3D) representations of plant shoots for quantification and modeling. Previous limitations in single-view or multiple-view stereo algorithms have led to a reliance on volumetric methods or expensive hardware to record plant structure. We present a fully automatic approach to image-based 3D plant reconstruction that can be achieved using a single low-cost camera. The reconstructed plants are represented as a series of small planar sections that together model the more complex architecture of the leaf surfaces. The boundary of each leaf patch is refined using the level-set method, optimizing the model based on image information, curvature constraints, and the position of neighboring surfaces. The reconstruction process makes few assumptions about the nature of the plant material being reconstructed and, as such, is applicable to a wide variety of plant species and topologies and can be extended to canopy-scale imaging. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on data sets of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and rice (Oryza sativa) plants as well as a unique virtual data set that allows us to compute quantitative measures of reconstruction accuracy. The output is a 3D mesh structure that is suitable for modeling applications in a format that can be imported in the majority of 3D graphics and software packages.
Intellectual disability and mental health: is psychology prepared?
Authors: J. Razza Nancy , Schwartz Dayan Laura , Tomasulo Daniel , S. Ballan Michelle 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is threefold: to document the relationship between intellectual disability (ID) and psychopathology; to raise awareness of the ongoing lag in professional training for psychologists in the area of mental health treatment for people with intellectual disabilities; and, to provide recommendations for advancing professional education and, ultimately, adequate mental health treatment availability for people with intellectual disabilities.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper reviews the literature on prevalence of mental health problems in people with intellectual disabilities. At the same time, the paper reviews the training of psychologists relative to the burgeoning growth in awareness of the mental health needs of people with intellectual disabilities.

Findings
– The paper concludes that ID is a significant risk factor for psychopathology. In addition, the paper concludes that the education of psychologists regarding the mental health needs of people with intellectual disabilities is insufficient. The authors document the need for incorporating research and treatment advances related to intellectual disabilities and mental health into to the professional training of psychologists. The paper also describe the potential this training holds for improving both the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and the overall competence of psychologists.

Practical implications
– This paper provides a literature-based rationale for the need to include education in the mental health needs of people with intellectual disabilities into the general training of mental health professionals. In addition, it provides specific recommendations for how such training can be incorporated into graduate psychology programs.

Originality/value
– This paper provides mental health professionals with a review of the growth in understanding of the enormous, unmet mental health needs of people intellectual disabilities, and of the critical role of ID in development of mental health problems. Moreover, this paper builds the case for an important revision in the training of psychologists to include competence in understanding and treating mental health problems across the full spectrum of intellectual functioning.
Undergraduate intellectual disability teaching – a medical student's experience
Authors: Campbell Iona 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to describe a medical student's experience of undergraduate teaching in intellectual disabilities.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper presents the reflections of a medical student on the undergraduate intellectual disability teaching. It describes experiences of a placement in this field, and how it may influence future practice.

Findings
– It is apparent that exposure to intellectual disability training in the undergraduate curriculum can be limited. Much of the work in this area highlights the negative consequences of this when it comes to medical care for individuals with intellectual disabilities. This paper proposes that positive changes may be achieved, by providing medical students with more training in this area.

Originality/value
– By reflecting on an individual experience through medical school, this paper highlights the positive impact that teaching on intellectual disability can have on medical students, suggesting its value in the undergraduate curriculum.
The relationship between international business travel and sleep problems via work-family conflict
Authors: Mäkelä Liisa , Bergbom Barbara , Tanskanen Jussi , Kinnunen Ulla 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to study well-being among the internationally mobile work force by exploring the relationships between international business traveling, work-family conflict (WFC), and health issues. In this study, these relationships are examined on the basis of the health impairment process of the job demands-resources model. More specifically, the study examines the role of WFC as a mediator between international business travel and sleep problems using a full panel design.

Design/methodology/approach
– The data for this study are drawn from Finnish employees whose work involved international business travel (n=868) and who answered two surveys with a one-year time lag.

Findings
– The results showed that international business travel in terms of the number of travel days per year, while not predicting sleep problems directly over time, did significantly increase WFC, which in turn increased sleep problems. Thus, WFC functioned as a mediator in the relationship between business travel and subsequent sleep problems.

Practical implications
– The results indicate that family-friendly HR policies and practices might help international business travelers (IBTs) reduce levels of WFC, which could in turn protect them from harmful health effects, particularly sleep problems.

Originality/value
– The study examines the understudied professional group of IBTs and contributes to the knowledge on their well-being and WFC issues.
Short industrial placements – developing an activity framework to support teaching and learning
Authors: Shawcross Judith K. , Ridgman Tom W. 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– This paper identifies the activities to be undertaken by students during short industrial placements. The purpose of this paper is to obtain a better understanding of what students do during their placements and provide a framework that supports both teaching and learning. This research focuses on a masters-level programme that contains a series of four, two week industrial placements where groups of two students work on a real and significant issue for the host company.Design/methodology/approach– A framework, developed from literature, describes a placement in terms of 17 high-level activity groups. A multi-stage action research method was applied to test the framework and develop a more detailed level framework. This used insights gathered from students, tutors and researchers on all 80 placements undertaken during the 2012-2013 academic year.Findings– The 17 high-level activity groups and their configuration in the framework were confirmed. For the 12 process activity groups, 64 activities were identified and included into a detailed level framework. For the five through-placement activity groups some specific activities were captured and further work remains to capture the others.Originality/value– These complex industrial placements can now be described consistently to students, companies and tutors using an evidence-based framework. Literature searches have not identified any other equivalent research-based frameworks. Other HE programmes also use similar industrial placements and this framework will provide a basis to support these and add to the body of knowledge in work integrated learning.
Nonlinearity of housing price structure
Authors: Shimizu Chihiro , Karato Koji , Nishimura Kiyohiko 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this article, starting from linear regression, was to estimate a switching regression model, nonparametric model and generalized additive model as a semi-parametric model, perform function estimation with multiple nonlinear estimation methods and conduct comparative analysis of their predictive accuracy. The theoretical importance of estimating hedonic functions using a nonlinear function form has been pointed out in ample previous research (e.g. Heckmanet al. (2010).Design/methodology/approach– The distinctive features of this study include not only our estimation of multiple nonlinear model function forms but also the method of verifying predictive accuracy. Using out-of-sample testing, we predicted and verified predictive accuracy by performing random sampling 500 times without replacement for 9,682 data items (the same number used in model estimation), based on data for the years before and after the year used for model estimation.Findings– As a result of estimating multiple models, we believe that when it comes to hedonic function estimation, nonlinear models are superior based on the strength of predictive accuracy viewed in statistical terms and on graphic comparisons. However, when we examined predictive accuracy using out-of-sample testing, we found that the predictive accuracy was inferior to linear models for all nonlinear models.Research limitations/implications– In terms of the reason why the predictive accuracy was inferior, it is possible that there was an overfitting in the function estimation. Because this research was conducted for a specific period of time, it needs to be developed by expanding it to multiple periods over which the market fluctuates dynamically and conducting further analysis.Practical implications– Many studies compare predictive accuracy by separating the estimation model and verification model using data at the same point in time. However, when attempting practical application for auto-appraisal systems and the like, it is necessary to estimate a model using past data and make predictions with respect to current transactions. It is possible to apply this study to auto-appraisal systems.Social implications– It is recognized that housing price fluctuations caused by the subprime crisis had a massive impact on the financial system. The findings of this study are expected to serve as a tool for measuring housing price fluctuation risks in the financial system.Originality/value– While the importance of nonlinear estimation when estimating hedonic functions has been pointed out in theoretical terms, there is a noticeable lag when it comes to testing based on actual data. Given this, we believe that our verification of nonlinear estimation’s validity using multiple nonlinear models is significant not just from an academic perspective – it may also have practical applications.
Strategic sourcing management’s mindset: strategic sourcing orientation and its implications
Authors: Eltantawy Reham , Giunipero Larry , Handfield Robert 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– Recently, focus in strategic sourcing (SS) has shifted from the exchange of tangible goods toward the exchange of intangibles, such as specialized skills, knowledge, and processes. The purpose of this paper is to aim to delineate the domain of, and operationally test, strategic sourcing orientation (SSO); a management philosophy directed at identifying and meeting the needs and goals of SS.Design/methodology/approach– Using a mixed-methods research design and underpinned by a service dominant logic (SDL) inspired resource-based view (RBV), the authors first use the qualitative input of 41 top sourcing executives in four focus groups to derive four first-order “orientations” (learning, performance, planning, and relational-process) that were found to reflect SSO. Second, the authors propose a theoretically grounded operationalization of SSO derived from the qualitative data and extant literature. A sample of 174 top sourcing executives was used to test the proposed SSO and its impact on SS reputation, supplier management, and performance outcomes.Findings– The results indicate strong support for the theorized SSO and its impact on SS reputation and supplier management, and, consequently, on performance outcomes.Originality/value– While many firms encourage a culture to enable SS to realize enhanced performance, research has failed to provide a holistic account of this orientation. This study employs a mixed-methods research design to conceptualize and operationalize such orientation.
Room for improvement: the impact of bad losses on board quality
Authors: B. Mulcahy Mark 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between reporting a loss and changes in board quality. Low quality corporate governance is associated with adverse accounting outcomes and is characterised by the lack of non-executive and independent directors on the board. Changes in these board quality indicators in response to the reporting of a loss and conditioned by the severity of the loss are examined.

Design/methodology/approach
– This study uses four years of board information spanning the report of an initial loss for companies listed on the UK stock exchange. An industry and size matched control sample is used in a difference-in-difference analysis to isolate the impact of the loss from underlying changes in board quality.

Findings
– Overall the results indicate that more severe initial loss events precipitate improvements in board quality over and above the control sample as well as less severe loss events.

Research limitations/implications
– Although unambiguous, the reporting of a loss is only one measure of underperformance. Also the board quality indicators used in this study are two from several individual corporate governance variables and amalgamations used in the extent literature.

Practical implications
– The findings demonstrate that the relationship between corporate governance and performance is endogenous and that the majority of any improvement in board quality actually anticipates the reporting of the loss. Any celebration of improvements in governance need to be tempered by an understanding of the precariousness of the firms at which these improvements are made.

Originality/value
– This study contributes to a research stream that examines negative shocks, and losses in particular, as an event likely to precipitate firm-level changes in board quality, i.e. firms tend not to make improvements to board quality without the impetus to do so.
Company specific determinants of greenhouse gases disclosures
Authors: Chithambo Lyton , Tauringana Venancio 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between company-specific factors and the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) disclosures.Design/methodology/approach– The study is based on a sample of 210 FTSE 350 companies and uses the disclosure index to quantify GHG disclosures made in the annual reports, sustainability reports and web sites in 2011. Ordinary least squares regression is employed to model the relationship between the company-specific factors and the extent of GHG disclosures.Findings– The results indicate that company size, gearing, financial slack and two industries (consumer services and industrials) are significantly associated with GHG disclosures while profitability, liquidity and capital expenditure are not. When the authors disaggregate GHG disclosures into qualitative and quantitative, the results suggest that the effect of some company factors differ depending on the type of GHG disclosures.Research limitations/implications– The study is cross-sectional. A longitudinal study is necessary to understand the dynamics of GHG disclosures as firms may change their disclosure policy as the importance of GHG increases. The results imply that policy makers need to take into account certain company-specific factors when formulating policy aimed at improving GHG disclosures.Originality/value– The results add evidence to the growing body of research focusing on the relationship between company-specific factors and GHG disclosure. The study also provides evidence that the effect of some company-specific factors on GHG disclosures differ depending on whether the GHG disclosures are quantitative or qualitative.
Hunter-gatherers on the best-seller list: Steven Pinker and the “Bellicose School's” treatment of forager violence
Authors: B. Lee Richard 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– The question of violence in hunter-gatherer society has animated philosophical debates since at least the seventeenth century. Steven Pinker has sought to affirm that civilization, is superior to the state of humanity during its long history of hunting and gathering. The purpose of this paper is to draw upon a series of recent studies that assert a baseline of primordial violence by hunters and gatherers. In challenging this position the author draws on four decades of ethnographic and historical research on hunting and gathering peoples.Design/methodology/approach– At the empirical heart of this question is the evidence pro- and con- for high rates of violent death in pre-farming human populations. The author evaluates the ethnographic and historical evidence for warfare in recorded hunting and gathering societies, and the archaeological evidence for warfare in pre-history prior to the advent of agriculture.Findings– The view of Steven Pinker and others of high rates of lethal violence in hunters and gatherers is not sustained. In contrast to early farmers, their foraging precursors lived more lightly on the land and had other ways of resolving conflict. With little or no fixed property they could easily disperse to diffuse conflict. The evidence points to markedly lower levels of violence for foragers compared to post-Neolithic societies.Research limitations/implications– This conclusion raises serious caveats about the grand evolutionary theory asserted by Steven Pinker, Richard Wrangham and others. Instead of being “killer apes” in the Pleistocene and Holocene, the evidence indicates that early humans lived as relatively peaceful hunter-gathers for some 7,000 generations, from the emergence of Homo sapiens up until the invention of agriculture. Therefore there is a major gap between the purported violence of the chimp-like ancestors and the documented violence of post-Neolithic humanity.Originality/value– This is a critical analysis of published claims by authors who contend that ancient and recent hunter-gatherers typically committed high levels of violent acts. It reveals a number of serious flaws in their arguments and use of data.
Earnings persistence and stock prices: empirical evidence from an emerging market
Authors: Dawar Varun 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– This study aims to investigate the persistence ability of accounting variables, namely, abnormal earnings, book value, accruals and cash flows over a period of time and their valuation relevance in Indian scenario.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study utilizes the generalized version of the Ohlson model which links market prices with abnormal earnings, book value and earning components (accruals and cash flows). Fixed-effect panel data regression is used to analyze six years of data on the sample units to determine the persistence and valuation relevance.

Findings
– The findings provide evidence on the construct of persistence and value relevance of earnings and book value of equity in the Indian context. The findings further confirm that investors in India are fixated on earnings and fail to attend separately to the cash flow and accrual components of earnings while undertaking their investment decisions.

Practical implications
– The empirical findings of the study will enable the analysts and investors to understand the relevance and persistence of accounting variables in case of an emerging market like India.

Originality/value
– The study extends the extant literature on value relevance studies in developed markets to an emerging market like India and enriches it in several ways.