bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Thyroid Nodule Doubling Time is Not a Reliable Indicator of Benign or Malignant Nature
Authors: Clark Toshimasa J.T. , Pokharel Sajal , Meier Jeffrey , Wang Carolyn , Maximin Suresh 
Published: October 2015

Abstract
Thyroid nodules are often followed up with serial ultrasound imaging. Doubling time is well established in the evaluation of lung nodules. We examined whether benign and malignant thyroid nodules exhibit differences in doubling time.
This retrospective, IRB-approved study included patients with nodules aspirated between January and June 2012 (benign), and January 2012 to December 2014 (suspicious or malignant), no interval thyroidectomy, and two ultrasound examinations longer than 180 days apart. Diameters and morphology were assessed by a single observer, demographics recorded, and doubling time calculated. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was derived. Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound criteria were used to determine aspiration appropriateness initially and after follow-up.
59 patients with 61 nodules were included. Statistically significant between-group differences exist for sex, solidity, echogenicity, and microcalcifications, with no significant differences in doubling time, age, days between studies, vascularity, or mean diameter. Benign nodules' doubling time was 340 to 7134 days (mean, 2196; median, 1593), with 9 nodules that decreased in size. Malignant nodules' doubling time was 451 to 17182 days (mean, 3940; median, 2137), with 7 nodules that decreased in size. Using a threshold of 1100 days, sensitivity and specificity of doubling time to predict malignancy are 19.0% and 86.7%, respectively. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve is 0.39. Follow-up imaging resulted in 6 additional benign and 0 additional malignant nodules meeting criteria.
There is no significant difference in benign or malignant nodules' doubling times, and a decrease in nodule size is nonspecific. These findings challenge the underlying rationale for routine imaging follow-up of thyroid nodules.
Basset: Learning the regulatory code of the accessible genome with deep convolutional neural networks
Authors: Kelley David R. , Snoek Jasper , Rinn John 
Published: October 2015

AbstractThe complex language of eukaryotic gene expression remains incompletely understood. Despite the importance suggested by many noncoding variants statistically associated with human disease, nearly all such variants have unknown mechanism. Here, we address this challenge using an approach based on a recent machine learning advance—deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs). We introduce an open source package Basset (https://github.com/davek44/Basset) to apply CNNs to learn the functional activity of DNA sequences from genomics data. We trained Basset on a compendium of accessible genomic sites mapped in 164 cell types by DNaseI-seq and demonstrate far greater predictive accuracy than previous methods. Basset predictions for the change in accessibility between variant alleles were far greater for GWAS SNPs that are likely to be causal relative to nearby SNPs in linkage disequilibrium with them. With Basset, a researcher can perform a single sequencing assay in their cell type of interest and simultaneously learn that cell’s chromatin accessibility code and annotate every mutation in the genome with its influence on present accessibility and latent potential for accessibility. Thus, Basset offers a powerful computational approach to annotate and interpret the noncoding genome.
The applicability of Grant’s framework in the dynamic digital age
Authors: Rashidirad Mona , Soltani Ebrahim , Salimian Hamid , Liao Yingying 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– This paper aims to investigate the applicability of Grant’s framework in the current changing and dynamic environment.

Design/methodology/approach
– In this paper, a critical review of Grant’s paper was conducted to identify the limitations and weaknesses of the framework, which prevent its effective application in the current digital age.

Findings
– As a result, this paper presented a modified framework and four propositions to consider dynamic capabilities in the new turbulent environment and extend the relationships between a firm’s resources, capabilities, dynamic capabilities, competitive advantage and competitive strategy. Findings tied to this initiative will provide important contributions to research.

Originality/value
– Rooted in resource-based view (RBV), the proposed framework puts forward a valid theoretical foundation on how to create a competitive advantage from a firm’s internal factors, including strategic resources, capabilities and dynamic capabilities. Furthermore, it contributes to RBV literature by considering dynamic capabilities, as the firms’ most crucial factors in the current dynamic digital market.
Advancing tourist gaze research and authenticating the native-visitor: introduction to a special issue honoring work by John Urry
Authors: Woodside Arch G. 
Published: October 2015

Purpose– This introductory paper aims to offer a rudimentary model that describes the antecedent recipes for creating native-visitors. The paper describes what is unique and valuable about the seven articles that follow in their descriptions and explanations of the behavior of native-tourists. This special issue is to honor the originality and value of the contributions of tourism research’s leading critic, John Urry.Design/methodology/approach– The paper presents a paradigm that includes eight profiles of tourists identified by low/high conjunctions of knowledge, training and authentication of performances of tourism places. The study calls for a normative stance that tourists should develop a sense of obligation to learn before visiting to enrich understanding of what they are seeing and to reduce the negative outcomes of the tourist gaze. The method includes describing the unique and valuable contributions in each of the seven following articles in the issue.Findings– The analysis and outcomes are viewable best as propositions from a thought experiment. The seven articles that follow the introduction are appropriate data for a meta-review of the development of new meanings of tourism generated from the concept of native-tourist.Research limitations/implications– This study may spur necessary additional work to confirm that native-tourists do interpret performing tourist places differently and more richly than naïve tourists.Originality/value– The article is high in originality in establishing the benefits from studying native-tourists as unique contributors to clarifying and deepening the meanings of tourism drama enactments.
Changing places and identity construction: subjective introspection into researcher’s personal destination experiences
Authors: Batat Wided 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to draw on a subjective personal introspection (SPI) approach and Breakwell’s identity process theory (IPT) principles to show how elements from different cultures are performed by an individual to form a unique patchwork identity, and how this patchwork identity will contribute to deepen tourist gaze and, thus, achieving and maintaining authentic destination experience.

Design/methodology/approach
– The use of SPI gives the researcher an easy access to data collection of his personal, daily experiences related to changing destinations and consuming different places in Europe (France, UK and Italy), North America (USA and Canada) and North Africa (Algeria, Morocco and Egypt) for unlimited 24-hour access from an insider’s ongoing lived experiences.

Findings
– The results show that Breakwell’s IPT four principles are an integral part of patchwork identity construction when living and experiencing several places. Patchwork identity encompasses the individual’s ability to cross different social and symbolic boundaries when experiencing different destination. Each cultural context contributes to the bricolage and the assemblage of individual patchwork identity revealing one or more IPT dimensions.

Practical implications
– This paper serves to emphasize the importance of SPI-based research to patchwork identity construction in understanding the impact of cultural identity on tourist gaze. This approach can help marketers and tourism professionals to understand how consumers select the cultural elements that fit their identity and how the patchwork identity formed will contribute to deepen tourist gaze and destination experience of authenticity.

Originality/value
– The use of IPT and SPI-based research to explore tourist gaze offers a comprehensive framework based on a personal introspective approach where the starting point is the meaning individual provides to his hyphenated identity as coping mechanism to respond to social, psychological, ideological, cultural, symbolic, functional, structural, etc., aspirations.
Subjective and confirmatory personal introspections of cultural city holidays
Authors: Gountas John , Gountas Sandra 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– This paper aims to explore tourism consumer’s perceptions of cultural, emotional and behavioural differences. The subjective personal introspection (SPI) approach is used to investigate specific cultural differences which impact tourism satisfaction. It aims to identify the key attributes of cultural tourism satisfaction by comparing three European cities. The cultural attributes are synthesised into a confirmatory personal introspection (CPI), and a provisional research model is proposed.

Design/methodology/approach
– The research data of the cultural experiences are based on SPI data of “native-visitors” to London and ordinary visitors to Venice and Barcelona. The duration and the travel arrangements are the same for all three cultural experiences. The CPI uses thought experiments to formulate new research propositions.

Findings
– The SPI results show that the tourism gaze focus can be the cognitive-affective experiences of cultural holidays. Tourism consumer satisfaction is dependent on the quality of natural and man-made attractions and the social-emotional interactions between the hosts and guests in a destination. The three cities in our research, London, Venice and Barcelona, have different micro-cultures and levels of social-emotional interactions vary considerably between them. Overall tourism satisfaction is hypothesised to be influenced by the degree of social interaction and micro-cultural differences.

Practical implications
– The findings support the usefulness of SPI in tourism consumer research. SPI research findings produce in-depth understandings of the cultural tourism product attributes which cannot be captured in any other way. The personal insights are valuable to marketing professionals because they provide first-hand feedback of consumer’s perceptions over a longer period than a focus group session. The confirmatory introspections are valuable hypotheses to be tested empirically with specific tourism segments to identify product strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats.

Originality/value
– The use of SPI and CPI produces original hypotheses of the cultural tourism attributes which influence tourism satisfaction. The paper demonstrates that the tourism gaze can be expanded to investigate the cognitive-affective observations which have a direct effect on tourism satisfaction and decision-making.
Do clinical incidents, complaints and medicolegal claims overlap?
Authors: Goldsmith Paul , Moon Jackie , Anderson Paul , Kirkup Steve , Williams Susan , Gray Margaret 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– Error reporting by healthcare staff, patient-derived complaints and patient-derived medico-legal claims are three separate processes present in most healthcare systems. It is generally assumed that all relate to the same cases. Given the high costs associated with these processes and strong desire to maximise quality and standards, the purpose of this paper is to see whether it was indeed the case that most complaints and claims related to medical errors and the relative resource allocation to each group.

Design/methodology/approach
– Electronic databases for clinical error recording, patient complaints and medico-legal claims in a large NHS healthcare provider organisation were reviewed and case overlap analysed.

Findings
– Most complaints and medico-legal claims do not associate with a prior clinical error. Disproportionate resource is required for a small number of complaints and the medico-legal claims process. Most complaints and claims are not upheld.

Research limitations/implications
– The authors have only looked at data from one healthcare provider and for one period. It would be useful to analyse other healthcare organisations over a longer time period. The authors were unable to access data on secondary staffing costs, which would have been informative. As the medico-legal process can go on for many years, the authors do not know the ultimate outcomes for all cases. The authors also do not know how many medico-legal cases were settled out of court pragmatically to minimise costs.

Practical implications
– Staff error reporting systems and patient advisory services seem to be efficient and working well. However, the broader complaints and claims process is costing considerable time and money, yet may not be useful in driving up standards. System changes to maximise helpful complaints and claims, from a quality and standards perspective, and minimise unhelpful ones are recommended.

Originality/value
– This study provides important data on the lack of overlap between errors, complaints and claims cases.
Building national initiatives of compulsory licences
Authors: Manu Thaddeus 
Published: October 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which developing countries could build national initiatives of compulsory licences.Design/methodology/approach– The focus of this article is only on developing countries. The author reflects on the Indian patent jurisprudence regarding the operational relationship between the general principles applicable to working of patented inventions locally and the grant of compulsory licences. The discussion that follows is based on a review of the case: Bayer Corporation versus Natco Pharma with a view to presenting a model for developing countries to maintain that the public interest principle of patent law is well-founded in their domestic patent regimes.Findings– The analysis confirms that failure to work locally continues to be abusive of the patent right under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, and remains a valid condition on which to grant a compulsory licence. Thus, this reverses the often-contrary misconception that has become almost a unanimous assumption that failure to work basis for granting compulsory licensing would violate Article 27(1) of TRIPS and its enforcement provisions on patent.Originality/value– The author argues that as no member state has challenged the legality of Indian’s decision in the World Trade Organisation, under the dispute settlement understanding (DSU) system is more supportive of the contention that failure to work locally continues to be permissible under TRIPS and remains valid conditions on which member states can grant compulsory licences. This further adds weight to the understanding that nothing in the light of TRIPS would, in fact, preclude any possibility of developing countries amending their patent laws accordingly to maintain that the public interest principle underlining patent law is well-founded in their domestic patent regimes.
Temperate phages promote colicin‐dependent fitness of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium
Authors: Nedialkova Lubov P. , Sidstedt Maja , Koeppel Martin B. , Spriewald Stefanie , Ring Diana , Gerlach Roman G. , Bossi Lionello , Stecher Bärbel 
Published: October 2015

SummaryBacteria employ bacteriocins for interference competition in microbial ecosystems. Colicin Ib (ColIb), a pore‐forming bacteriocin, confers a significant fitness benefit to Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Tm) in competition against commensal Escherichia coli in the gut. ColIb is released from S. Tm into the environment, where it kills susceptible competitors. However, colicin‐specific release proteins, as they are known for other colicins, have not been identified in case of ColIb. Thus, its release mechanism has remained unclear. In the current study, we have established a new link between ColIb release and lysis activity of temperate, lambdoid phages. By the use of phage‐cured S. Tm mutant strains, we show that the presence of temperate phages and their lysis genes is necessary and sufficient for release of active ColIb into the culture supernatant. Furthermore, phage‐mediated lysis significantly enhanced S. Tm fitness in competition against a ColIb‐susceptible competitor. Finally, transduction with the lambdoid phage 933W rescued the defect of E. coli strain MG1655 with respect to ColIb release. In conclusion, ColIb is released from bacteria in the course of phage lysis. Our data reveal a new mechanism for colicin release and point out a novel function of temperate phages in enhancing colicin‐dependent bacterial fitness.
Aid, Employment and Poverty Reduction in Africa
Authors: Page John , Shimeles Abebe 
Published: October 2015

AbstractGrowth in Africa is weakly linked to poverty reduction. The reason is that Africa has failed to create enough good jobs. Structural transformation—the relative growth of employment in high productivity sectors—has not featured in Africa's post‐1995 growth story. As a result, the region's fastest growing economies have the least responsiveness of employment and poverty to growth. Development aid is partly responsible. Across Africa more aid went to countries with a low employment intensity of growth. The study proposes a new approach to aid and poverty in Africa, one that focuses on supporting structural change for job creation.
Is Small Beautiful? Small Enterprise, Aid and Employment in Africa
Authors: Page John , Söderbom Måns 
Published: October 2015

AbstractAid providers often describe small firms as ‘job creators’. But what types of jobs do they create? Drawing on enterprise survey data for nine African countries and panel data for Ethiopia we find that small and large formal sector firms create similar numbers of net jobs. Small firms, however, have much higher turnover of employment and pay persistently lower wages. To create more ‘good’ jobs aid should target the constraints to the growth of firms of all sizes. Improving the ‘investment climate’ and new programs to increase firms' capabilities—through, for example, management training—offer greater prospects for employment creation.
Priorities for Boosting Employment in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Evidence for Mozambique
Authors: Jones Sam , Tarp Finn 
Published: October 2015

AbstractShould policy‐makers, including foreign donors, focus employment strategies in sub‐Saharan Africa on strengthening access to formal wage employment or on raising productivity in the informal sector? We examine the evidence in Mozambique and show that crude distinctions between formality and informality are not illuminating. The observed welfare advantage of formal sector workers essentially derives from differences in endowments and local conditions. Non‐agricultural informal work can yield higher returns than formal work. The implication is that the informal sector must not be marginalized; and raising productivity in agriculture must be accorded a central place in boosting employment.
Italo‐Romance Metaphony and the Tuscan Diphthongs
Authors: Maiden Martin 
Published: October 2015

AbstractThe historical causes of general so‐called ‘opening’ diphthongization of proto‐Romance low mid vowels in stressed open syllables are an enduring matter of dispute in historical Romance phonology, the two principal positions being that the diphthongs originate in the assimilatory process of metaphony conditioned by following unstressed vowels, or that they are a matter of ‘spontaneous’ diphthongization associated with lengthening of the vowels. Most recent scholarship on the subject has tended to favour the latter view. This study, focusing on Tuscan (and thereby on Italian), reasserts the case for the former interpretation, critically reviewing older arguments and adducing new ones to show that the details of Tuscan open syllable diphtongization are significantly correlated with a metaphonic origin, despite claims to the contrary. In particular, I argue that the restriction of the generalized diphthongs to open syllables reflects the early conditions of metaphony, and that the occasional absence of the diphthongs in Tuscan systematically presupposes the historical absence of a metaphonizing environment. In conclusion, I reflect on the significance of my claims both for general Romance historical morphology and, particularly, for the place of Tuscan among the Italo‐Romance dialects. The data also show how morphological analogy may play a significant role in the diffusion of the effects of sound change.
Property and place attachment: a legal geographical analysis of biodiversity law reform in New South Wales
Authors: Bartel Robyn , Graham Nicole 
Published: October 2015

AbstractEnvironmental indicators suggest that the legislation regulating land clearing inNSWshould be strengthened. However, reform has moved in the opposite direction, continuously weakening the law in response to the marginal but politically significant argument that the Act undermined sacrosanct private property rights. The cultural mythology around property and the legal discourse of property dephysicalise relations between people and place, transforming them into categories of abstract and predominantly commercial rights, and foster a vocabulary of entitlement to land as a civil and political right. Opponents to the existing legislation have also argued that it insufficiently accommodates vernacular knowledge regarding locally specific conditions and variations, and creates disrespect and mistrust between government and landholders. This paper interrogates the relationships between the key arguments of opponents to the existing legislation with place attachment. Place attachment describes the bond between people and place and is usually regarded as being positive for environmental protection. However, it may also underpin reactionary place‐protective behaviours includingNIMBYism, the preservation of degraded landscapes and inappropriate place management practices, including the institution of private property itself. Paradoxically, while place‐protective resistance may appear to conflict with conservation, potential for resolution to this ongoing legal and geographical crisis in biodiversity conservation may be found through highlighting the common ground of place connection and inter‐dependence, and by rephysicalising law to better articulate shared interests in healthy environments beyond the narrow prism of individual property rights. This endeavour may be best achieved through a multi‐scalar and poly‐vocal participatory process, to ensure such narrow and monological interests do not hold disproportionate sway and address path dependency and legacy issues.