bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Balancing priorities: Decision‐making in sustainable supply chain management
Authors: Wu Zhaohui , Pagell Mark 
Published: November 2010

AbstractThe need for environmental protection and increasing demands for natural resources are forcing companies to reconsider their business models and restructure their supply chain operations. Scholars and proactive companies have begun to create more sustainable supply chains. What has not been fully addressed is how organizations deal with short‐term pressures to remain economically viable while implementing these newly modeled supply chains. In this study, we use theory‐building through case studies to answer the question: how do organizations balance short‐term profitability and long‐term environmental sustainability when making supply chain decisions under conditions of uncertainty? We present five sets of propositions that explain how exemplars in green supply chain management make decisions and balance short and long term objectives. We also identify four environmental postures that help explain the decisions organizations make when dealing with strategic trade‐offs among the economic, environmental and social elements of the triple‐bottom‐line.
Biofilm and persistent inflammation in endoscopic sinus surgery
Authors: Hochstim Christian J. , Masood Rizwan , Rice Dale H. 
Published: November 2010

Bacterial biofilms have been observed in many patients with chronic rhinosinusitis, but their importance is still being investigated. This study examines the association between biofilms and other clinical findings in chronic rhinosinusitis patients.Twenty‐four patients with chronic rhinosinusitis who failed medical management underwent endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). Tissue was collected from the ethmoid sinus and analyzed for the presence of biofilm by hematoxylin and eosin staining, fluorescent in situ hybridization, and confocal scanning laser microscopy. Biofilms were classified as extensive (> 50% of mucosal surface in sample) or present (< 50% of surface). The surgeon remained blinded to the biofilm status of patients until postoperative follow‐up was complete.The presence of bacterial biofilm was strongly associated with persistent mucosal inflammation after ESS (53% of biofilm‐positive patients vs 0% of biofilm‐negative patients, P = 0.009). The amount of biofilm was not important as there was no significant difference between the extensive and present biofilm classifications with respect to inflammation. The presence of biofilm was not associated with prior ESS, allergies, eosinophils, polyps, or presence of fungal elements.
A prospective study of the clinical impact of a multidisciplinary head and neck tumor board
Authors: Wheless Stephen A. , McKinney Kibwei A. , Zanation Adam M. 
Published: November 2010

OBJECTIVEThere have been no studies undertaken on the effect of the multidisciplinary head and neck tumor board on treatment planning. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of the multidisciplinary tumor board in altering diagnosis, stage, and treatment plan in patients with head and neck tumors.STUDY DESIGNCase series with planned data collection.SETTINGComprehensive cancer center and tertiary academic hospital.SUBJECTS AND METHODSA prospective study of the discussions concerning 120 consecutive patients presented at a multidisciplinary head and neck tumor board was performed. As each patient was presented, a record was made of the “pre‐conference” diagnosis, stage, and treatment plan. After case discussion, the “post‐conference” diagnosis, stage, and treatment plan were recorded. Results are compared between malignant and benign tumor cohorts.RESULTSThe study population comprised 120 patients with new presentations of head and neck tumors: 84 malignancies and 36 benign tumors. Approximately 27 percent of patients had some change in tumor diagnosis, stage, or treatment plan. Change in treatment was significantly more common in cases of malignancy, occurring in 24 percent of patients versus six percent of benign tumors (P = 0.0199). Changes in treatment were also noted to be largely escalations in management (P = 0.0084), adding multimodality care.CONCLUSIONA multidisciplinary tumor board affects diagnostic and treatment decisions in a significant number of patients with newly diagnosed head and neck tumors. The multidisciplinary approach to patient care may be particularly effective in managing malignant tumors, in which treatment plans are most frequently altered.
Acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis: Evaluation of 26 patients treated with endonasal or open surgical procedures
Authors: Kasapoglu Fikret , Coskun Hakan , Ozmen Omer Afsin , Akalin Halis , Ener Beyza 
Published: November 2010

OBJECTIVEAcute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis (AIFRS) is a serious disease with a high mortality and morbidity rate, which almost always affects immunocompromised patients and/or patients with diabetes mellitus. Our purpose was to present the diagnostic and therapeutic management and outcome of these patients.STUDY DESIGNCase series with chart review.SETTINGTertiary care university hospital.SUBJECTS AND METHODSTwenty‐six patients, who were operated on because of AIFRS between September 1999 and June 2009, were retrospectively evaluated in this study. Endoscopic surgery was used in 19 patients, and open surgical debridement was performed in seven patients.RESULTSOverall survival rate of the patients in the open surgery group (4 of 7; 57.1%) was similar to that of the endoscopically treated group (9 of 19; 47.3%). Thirteen patients (50%) died of complications related to the underlying disease (9 of 13; 69.2%) and AIFRS (4 of 13; 30.7%). AIFRS‐specific survival rate is 76.5 percent; 90 percent (9 of 10) and 57.1 percent (4 of 7) for endoscopic and open surgery groups, respectively. Four patients who died had pathological diagnosis of mucormycosis (P = 0.52).CONCLUSIONAIFRS can be successfully treated with a combination of endonasal surgical debridement and antifungal medications. Endonasal approach is suitable for patients diagnosed in the early stages of the disease and provides a less traumatic option in those patients who already have a poor health status. Open surgery should be preferred in the presence of intraorbital extension, palatinal, and/or intracerebral involvement. Reversing the underlying disease process and immunosuppression is as important as the surgical and antifungal treatment.
Insertion of middle-ear Silastic sheeting during tympanoplasty: hearing outcomes
Authors: Elmorsy S M , Amer H E 
Published: November 2010

AbstractObjective:To study the effect of Silastic®sheeting placed in the middle ear during tympanoplasty, including the effect on hearing.Design:Retrospective study.Background:Chronic inflammation of the middle ear is common. Surgical treatment sometimes results in middle-ear adhesions and hearing deterioration.Materials and methods:We selected 106 patients with chronic otitis media, middle-ear adhesions and intact ossicles, based on intra-operative findings. These patients underwent single-stage tympanoplasty either with or without insertion of Silastic sheeting. Audiometry was undertaken pre-operatively and one and 12 months post-operatively.Results:Patients who had undergone Silastic sheet insertion showed significantly better air conduction, bone conduction and air–bone gap averages one year post-operatively, compared with those who had not.
Civil society and the consolidation of democracy in Kenya: an analysis of a Catholic parish's efforts in Kibera slum
Authors: Bodewes Christine 
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACTThis article tests the theory of advocates who celebrate the potential of civil society to promote and deepen democracy in Africa, by examining whether the human rights ministry of a Catholic parish in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya was able to consolidate democracy through a civic education programme during 2002–5. It concludes, from an analysis of the social, economic and political environment in Kibera, that parishioners who participated in the programme demonstrated an observable improvement in their democratic values and behaviour at a localised level within their own parish groups. However, civic education did not stimulate most participants to increase their involvement in advocacy and lobbying efforts to hold government officials to account for their abuse of power in Kibera. Parishioners were inhibited from promoting their rights primarily due to fears of violent retaliation by local government officials and politically sponsored youth wingers. Other factors such as apathy, ethnic divisions, limited resources and restrictive church protocols further curtailed parishioners' actions.
Troubled state-building in the DR Congo: the challenge from the margins
Authors: Tull Denis M. 
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACTThis paper examines contentious state–society and centre–periphery relations in the DR Congo and their implications for state-building. Since the 2006 post-conflict elections, the state's authority has come under fire in the western province of Bas Congo, where a politico-religious group (Bundu Dia Kongo) has emerged as a serious challenger. Enjoying huge local legitimacy, the group has articulated political grievances that the newly elected central government has violently repressed. As locally perceived, elections are a legitimising tool in the hands of the government to impose its unfettered authority in the name of the state-building project. Furthermore, and backed by donors, the Kinshasa authorities also refuse to implement a wide-ranging decentralisation reform. This has fed disenchantment about post-conflict politics in Bas Congo, boding ill for democratic politics and the prospects of state-building in the DR Congo.
Who speaks what to whom? Multilingualism and language choice in Misión La Paz
Authors: Campbell Lyle , Grondona Verónica 
Published: November 2010

AbstractThe multilingualism and patterns of language use in Misión La Paz, Salta Province, Argentina are described and analyzed. Three indigenous languages, Chorote, Nivaclé, and Wichí, are spoken here, but interlocutors in conversations usually do not speak the same language to one another. There is extensive linguistic exogamy, and husbands and wives typically speak different languages to one another. Individuals identify with one language, speak it to all others, and claim only to understand but not to speak the other languages spoken to them. Children in the same family very often identify with and thus speak different languages from one another. This situation is examined and explanations are offered, with comparisons to similar situations elsewhere. The pattern of language choice and multilingual use in this case is arguably unique, with implications for several general claims about language contact and multilingualism.
Interpretations of “Chinglish”: Native Speakers, Language Learners and the Enregisterment of a Stigmatized Code
Authors: Henry Eric Steven 
Published: November 2010

AbstractAs a linguistic curiosity, Chinglish has long fascinated native speakers of English, prompting numerous studies that analyze its form with a view towards either eliminating it or accepting it as a viable Standard English variant. In this article, I examine how various social groups involved in foreign language education in China, including Chinese students, foreign teachers and linguists, enregister Chinglish as a linguistic variety. I argue that Chinglish is not distinguished by the presence or absence of any particular linguistic feature, but a label produced in the intersubjective engagements between language learners and native speakers. Chinglish is structured by and reinforces the relations of expertise within the Chinese English language speech community, thus representing larger anxieties about nationalism and modernization in a global context.*
Politics and Privatization: Exogenous pressures, domestic incentives and state divestiture in Latin America
Authors: DOYLE DAVID 
Published: November 2010

AbstractDespite a pervasive trend towards state retrenchment in Latin America since the 1980s, there remains significant variation in the levels of privatization across the region. However, very few cross-national studies of the determinants of privatization have been conducted and we still do not truly know why states privatize. This paper examines the determinants of privatization for 14 Latin American states over the period 1975 to 2003. I contend that privatization is best conceptualized as a two-stage process involving an initial decision to privatize, followed by a subsequent decision concerning the extent and intensity of privatization. In addition, privatization cannot be simply explained by either international or domestic level-variables. Rather, endogenous and exogenous variables will have different impacts at different stages of this process. The results of the statistical tests yield two important insights. Firstly, the initial decision to privatize is primarily shaped by international factors, in particular, international diffusion, while variation in the level of state divestiture across the region can primarily be explained by domestic economic and political conditions.
Farm Interests as Bargaining Chips: France in the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Negotiations
Authors: KONOLD DIETER 
Published: November 2010

AbstractIn trade policy France ranks as one of the most protectionist countries in the European Union. From an outside perspective, the French attitude is usually explained as a consequence of the strength and influence of the agrarian lobby. The article argues that farm groups in France have lost their formerly privileged position and the power to pursue their interests politically. A closer look at domestic politics shows that agricultural reforms were successfully implemented against the opposition of the farm lobby during the last ten years. But at the same time, French policy-makers were keen to create the impression that they were unable to make concessions in international trade talks due to the resistance of the agricultural sector. The EU-Mercosur negotiations demonstrate how the French government fended off demands for liberalization using farm interests as bargaining chips.
Nonlinearity and noise at the rod—rod bipolar cell synapse
Authors: TREXLER E. BRADY , CASTI ALEXANDER R.R. , ZHANG YU 
Published: November 2010

AbstractIn the retina, rod bipolar (RBP) cells synapse with many rods, and suppression of rod outer segment and synaptic noise is necessary for their detection of rod single-photon responses (SPRs). Depending on the rods’ signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the suppression mechanism will likely eliminate some SPRs as well, resulting in decreased quantum efficiency. We examined this synapse in rabbit, where 100 rods converge onto each RBP. Suction electrode recordings showed that rabbit rod SPRs were difficult to distinguish from noise (independent SNR estimates were 2.3 and 2.8). Nonlinear transmission from rods to RBPs improved response detection (SNR = 8.7), but a large portion of the rod SPRs was discarded. For the dimmest flashes, the loss approached 90%. Despite the high rejection ratio, noise of two distinct types was apparent in the RBP traces: low-amplitude rumblings and discrete events that resembled the SPR. The SPR-like event frequency suggests that they result from thermal isomerizations of rhodopsin, which occurred at the rate 0.033/s/rod. The presence of low-amplitude noise is explained by a sigmoidal input–output relationship at the rod—RBP synapse and the input of noisy rods. The rabbit rod SNR and RBP quantum efficiency are the lowest yet reported, suggesting that the quantum efficiency of the rod—RBP synapse may depend on the SNR in rods. These results point to the possibility that fewer photoisomerizations are discarded for species such as primate, which has a higher rod SNR.
Spatial variability in airborne bacterial communities across land-use types and their relationship to the bacterial communities of potential source environments
Authors: Bowers Robert M , McLetchie Shawna , Knight Rob , Fierer Noah 
Published: November 2010

AbstractAlthough bacteria are ubiquitous in the near-surface atmosphere and they can have important effects on human health, airborne bacteria have received relatively little attention and their spatial dynamics remain poorly understood. Owing to differences in meteorological conditions and the potential sources of airborne bacteria, we would expect the atmosphere over different land-use types to harbor distinct bacterial communities. To test this hypothesis, we sampled the near-surface atmosphere above three distinct land-use types (agricultural fields, suburban areas and forests) across northern Colorado, USA, sampling five sites per land-use type. Microbial abundances were stable across land-use types, with ∼105–106 bacterial cells per m3 of air, but the concentrations of biological ice nuclei, determined using a droplet freezing assay, were on average two and eight times higher in samples from agricultural areas than in the other two land-use types. Likewise, the composition of the airborne bacterial communities, assessed via bar-coded pyrosequencing, was significantly related to land-use type and these differences were likely driven by shifts in the sources of bacteria to the atmosphere across the land-uses, not local meteorological conditions. A meta-analysis of previously published data shows that atmospheric bacterial communities differ from those in potential source environments (leaf surfaces and soils), and we demonstrate that we may be able to use this information to determine the relative inputs of bacteria from these source environments to the atmosphere. This work furthers our understanding of bacterial diversity in the atmosphere, the terrestrial controls on this diversity and potential approaches for source tracking of airborne bacteria.
eagle-i: An Ontology-Driven Framework For Biomedical Resource Curation And Discovery
Authors: Johnson Tenille , Shaffer Christopher , Stone Larry , Torniai Carlo , Segerdell Erik , Wilson Melanie , Bashor Ted , Bourges-Waldegg Daniela , Corday Karen , Haendel Melissa , Frost H. Robert 
Published: November 2010

AbstractThe eagle-i Consortium ("http://www.eagle-i.org/home":www.eagle-i.org/home) comprises nine geographically and ethnically diverse universities across America working to build a federated network of research resources. Biomedical research generates many resources that are rarely shared or published, including: reagents, protocols, instruments, expertise, organisms, training opportunities, software, human studies, and biological specimens. The goal of eagle-i is to improve biomedical research by helping researchers more easily find scientific resources that are difficult to discover, reducing time-consuming and expensive duplication of resources. Now in early development, the system will ultimately expand to include research resources at other universities following the end of the two-year pilot phase. An application ontology is being developed to enable representation of core facility and research lab resources in the eagle-i repository, leading to more effective searches and better linkage between data types. The eagle-i ontology will guide users to valid queries via auto-suggestion, ontology browsing, concept-based search, and synonym expansion. The ontology development effort is being guided by active discussions within the ontology community and brings together relevant preexisting ontologies in a logical framework. Components of the data entry and search interfaces are generated directly from the ontology, which allows rapid change in response to user needs and ontology evolution. Each eagle-i institution will populate and manage a local repository using data collection and curation tools. To enhance the quantity and quality of data, the data tools will take advantage of the ontology to support semi-automated annotation of resources. NIH/NCRR ARRA award U24RR029825.
Ischaemia monitoring with on‐line vectorcardiography during dobutamine stress echocardiography in patients after an episode of unstable coronary artery disease
Authors: Lundin P. , Eriksson S. V. , AndrÉn B. , LindahL B. , Tornvall P. , Melcher A. 
Published: November 2010

Abstract. Lundin P, Eriksson SV, Andrén B, Lindahl B, Tornvall P, Melcher A (Danderyd Hospital, Danderyd, University Hospital, Uppsala, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden). Ischaemia monitoring with on‐line vectorcardiography during dobutamine stress echocardiography in patients after an episode of unstable coronary artery disease. J Intern Med 1998; 244: 61–70.ObjectivesThis study investigated the ability of on‐line vectorcardiography (VCG) to detect myocardial ischaemia as assessed by dobutamine stress echocardiography after an episode of unstable coronary artery disease.DesignDobutamine stress test (incrementally infused doses of 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 μg kg−1 per minute) was performed during simultaneous VCG monitoring. QRS vector difference (QRS‐VD), ST vector magnitude (ST‐VM), ST change vector magnitude (STC‐VM) and T change vector magnitude (TC‐VM) were monitored. A new wall motion abnormality or worsening of abnormal wall motion was regarded as indicating a positive dobutamine stress test.SubjectsFifty‐five patients with unstable angina pectoris and 16 patients with an acute non‐Q‐wave myocardial infarction were studied 5–8 days after admission.ResultsA positive dobutamine stress test was observed in 37 patients (52%). The sensitivity, specificity and total accuracy of identifying patients with a positive dobutamine stress test by VCG were: 38%, 91% and 63% for QRS‐VD; 59%, 88% and 73% for ST‐VM; 84%, 79% and 82% for STC‐VM; and 86%, 23% and 56% for TC‐VM. Patients with a positive dobutamine stress test showed higher maximum VCG values than patients with a negative dobutamine stress test (QRS‐VD, P < 0.01; ST‐VM, P < 0.001; STC‐VM, P < 0.001). The maximum VCG values were related to the number of segments showing new or worsening wall motion abnormality (QRS‐VD: r= 0.41, P < 0.001; ST‐VM: r= 0.44, P < 0.001; STC‐VM: r= 0.57, P < 0.001).ConclusionSTC‐VM and ST‐VM seem to be the best VCG variables for detection of myocardial ischaemia as assessed by dobutamine stress echocardiography.