bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Use of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Phase III Cancer Treatment Trials: Lessons Learned and Future Directions
Authors: Ganz Patricia A. , Gotay Carolyn C. 
Published: November 2007

Purpose This article examines the challenges, opportunities, and successes that have occurred in the incorporation of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in phase III cancer clinical trials. Methods An informal survey of the leadership of US cooperative group PRO investigators identified diverse trials in which PROs had been measured. Exemplary trials were selected for lessons learned and for examination of successful strategies. Results We review four challenging trials in depth, illustrating some of the difficulties in integrating PROs within treatment trials, including issues related to missing data, lack of procedures for monitoring patients and ensuring collection of PRO data, and missed opportunities in publication of treatment and PRO outcomes together. Four examples of successful trials are highlighted. Conclusion As a result of this review, the authors make specific recommendations related to the use of PROs in phase III trials, focusing on issues related to design, choice of PRO instrument and frequency of administration, analysis, and publication strategies.
Expression of the Hepatic Specific V1 Messenger Ribonucleic Acid of the Human Growth Hormone Receptor Gene Is Regulated by Hepatic Nuclear Factor (HNF)-4α2 and HNF-4α8
Authors: Cynthia Cynthia , Rhani Zakaria , Zheng Hong 
Published: November 2007

AbstractHuman (h) GH plays an essential role in growth and metabolism, and its effectiveness is modulated by the availability of its specific receptor [hGH receptor (hGHR)] on target cells. The hGHR gene has a complex 5′-regulatory region containing multiple first exons. Seven are clustered within two small regions: V2,V3,V9 (module A) and V1,V4,V7,V8 (module B). Module A-derived mRNAs are ubiquitously expressed whereas those from module B are only found in postnatal liver, suggesting developmental- and liver-specific regulation of module B hGHR gene expression. To characterize the elements regulating module B activity, we studied a 1.8-kb promoter of the highest expressing exon in liver, V1. This promoter was repressed in transfection assays; however, either 5′- or 3′-deletions relieved this, suggesting the presence of multiple negative regulatory elements. Six putative hepatic nuclear factor 4 (HNF-4) response elements were identified. We determined that HNF-4α is developmentally regulated in the human liver: HNF-4α2 and HNF-4α8 are expressed in fetal hepatocytes but only HNF-4α2 is expressed in postnatal liver. Transient transfection assays demonstrated that HNF-4α2 and HNF-4α8 have a similar dual effect on V1 transcription: activation via site 1 in the proximal promoter and repression through site 6, approximately 1.7 kb upstream. EMSA/electrophoretic mobility supershift assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses confirmed these two sites are bound by HNF-4α. Based on these data, we speculate there are multiple regions working together to repress the expression of V1 hGHR transcripts in tissues other than the normal postnatal liver, and that HNF-4α is a good candidate for regulating V1 hGHR expression in the human hepatocyte.
The Debate on Influencing Doctors' Decisions: Are Drug Characteristics the Missing Link?
Authors: Venkataraman Sriram , Stremersch Stefan 
Published: November 2007

Decision making by physicians on patients' treatment has come under increased public scrutiny. In fact, there is a fair amount of debate on the effects of marketing actions of pharmaceutical firms toward physicians and their impact on physician prescription behavior. While some scholars find a strong and positive influence of marketing actions, some find only moderate effects, and others even find negative effects. Debate is also mounting on the role of other influencers (such as patient requests) in physician decision making, both on prescriptions and sample dispensing. The authors argue that one factor that may tip the balance in this debate is the role of drug characteristics, such as a drug's effectiveness and a drug's side effects. Using a unique data set, they show that marketing efforts—operationalized as detailing and symposium meetings of firms to physicians—and patient requests do affect physician decision making differentially across brands. Moreover, they find that the responsiveness of physicians' decision making to marketing efforts and patient requests depends upon the drug's effectiveness and side effects. This paper presents clear guidelines for public policy and managerial practice and envisions that the study of the role of drug characteristics, such as effectiveness and side effects, may lead to valuable insights in this surging public debate.
Conditions That Shape the Learning Curve: Factors That Increase the Ability and Opportunity to Learn
Authors: Wiersma Eelke 
Published: November 2007

Prior studies examining factors that influence the learning curve mainly focus on settings in which firms adopt new products or technologies or open new plants or assembly lines. Less is known, however, about how more mature firms learn, when they are further down the learning curve. To gain insight into factors that enhance learning in this situation, I examine factors that increase both the ability and the opportunity to learn. I hypothesize that the ability to learn is enhanced by the presence of a moderate amount of temporary employees in the workforce and by providing employees with related variation in tasks, measured by product heterogeneity. In addition, I hypothesize that opportunities for learning are created when there is some slack in resources and when there are no problems in other important performance dimensions that consume employee attention. These hypotheses are examined using data of the Royal Dutch Mail, which has 27 geographically dispersed regions. Although these 27 regions are homogeneous with respect to their tasks, internal organization, type of products delivered, and technology used, their learning rates differ considerably. In the sample of 972 observations used for this analysis, I find that this variation in learning rates is explained by the percentage of temporary employees used, the level of excess capacity, the degree of product heterogeneity, and the degree to which regions face problems in other important performance dimensions. These findings provide insight into strategies that help managers in designing work processes to maintain a positive learning curve.
Price-Directed Control of a Closed Logistics Queueing Network
Authors: Adelman Daniel 
Published: November 2007

Motivated by one of the leading intermodal logistics suppliers in the United States, we consider an internal pricing mechanism for managing a fleet of service units (shipping containers) flowing in a closed queueing network. Nodes represent geographic locations, and arcs represent travel between them. Customer requests for arcs arrive over time, and the problem is to find an accept/reject policy that maximizes the long-run time average reward rate from accepting requests. We formulate the problem as a semi-Markov decision process and give a simple linear program that provides an upper bound on the optimal reward rate. Using Palm calculus, we derive a nonlinear program that approximately captures queueing and stockout effects on the network. Using its optimal Lagrange multipliers, we construct a simple functional approximation to the dynamic programming value function. The resulting policy is computationally efficient and produces superior economic performance as compared with other policies. Furthermore, it provides a methodologically grounded solution to the firm's internal pricing problem.
Institutional change, innovation and regulation failure: evidence from the Spanish drug market
Authors: Costa-Font Joan , Puig-Junoy Jaume 
Published: November 2007

English
Scant evidence has been reported on the influence of institutional change in drug market regulation. This article draws on the evidence of Spanish drug regulation (1980-2005) with the aim of examining whether institutional (lack of) change affected (i) regulatory innovation and (ii) the propensity of regulatory failure (rent seeking). We find that the prevailing institutional design of Spanish drug regulation has been prone to regulatory failure as incentives were geared towards rent-seeking behaviour and inefficient drug use by older patients and doctors. Innovation was typically imported except for a government devolution which occasionally has prevented regulatory failure.
Administering economic reform: New Labour and the governance of social security
Authors: Wiggan Jay 
Published: November 2007

English
This article argues that the introduction of new governance and performance frameworks for social security administration stems from Labour's adoption of an endogenous growth economic model. The institutional structure for administering employment and social security that Labour inherited in 1997 was not suitable to support its socioeconomic objectives. The creation of Jobcentre Plus and the Department for Work and Pensions and the reorientation of their performance objectives were the response. These were informed by the endogenous growth-inspired policies that (implicitly and explicitly) underpin Labour's claim to be pursuing a Third Way.
The ethics of welfare-to-work
Authors: Dean Hartley 
Published: November 2007

English
This article explores the shifting ethical foundations of the welfare-to-work or ‘workfare’ state within the richer capitalist economies of the world. It provides a discussion of the historical context; a critical analysis of competing moral discourses and ethical concepts of responsibility; and, based on this, a heuristic taxonomy of different approaches to welfare-to-work. It concludes with a critique of the dominant approaches to welfareto- work, contending that they are at worst an affront to human rights and at best ethically ambiguous in that they fail to address people's need, as opposed to their responsibility, to work.
Questioning path dependence theory: the case of the British NHS
Authors: Ross Fiona 
Published: November 2007

English
Over the past decade, path dependence theory has found widespread support among students of institutions and public policy. Yet, outside economics, remarkably few studies have investigated the most rigorous formulation of increasing returns, preferring theoretically looser configurations of path dependence. This article seeks to evaluate the applicability of increasing returns arguments to the British National Health Service, a case heralded as a defining example of path dependency. The development of health policy in Britain demonstrates that policy development is driven by a far more complex and endogenous set of forces than can be captured by a parsimonious model of returns.
Looking for anti-social behaviour
Authors: Millie Andrew 
Published: November 2007

English
‘Anti-social behaviour’ (ASB) has become a high-profile concern in political and policy debate in the UK. For instance, according to Tony Blair (2003) it is ‘for many the number one item of concern right on their doorstep’. In this article evidence is presented that ASB is not a major concern for most people. Rather, concerns are concentrated in certain deprived and/or urban areas and in town and city centres. Within these areas it is also possible to overidentify or misidentify – albeit challenging – behaviour as ASB. What this means for understandings of ASB, and policies to deal with it, is considered.
Behind the Numbers: An examination of child care statistics
Authors: Sinclair Ruth 
Published: November 2007

Are the variations in the proportion of children in the care of different local authorities due to different levels of social and economic need? Comparisons between the two measures, linked with the fall in the number of children in care during the 1980s, a time of economic depression, suggests that this relationship is only a partial explanation.
This paper examines changing trends in child care statistics and points to the importance of variations in resource provision and the child care policies and practices of individual social services departments in influencing the number of children received into or remaining in their care.
‘Let the Mental Hospitals Close…’
Authors: Tomlinson Dylan 
Published: November 2007

This paper considers theories of social policy implementation in the light of an empirical study of psychiatric hospital closure. Five ideal types of local state are hypothesised, ranged along a continuum of discretion. At one end of the continuum are those authorities whose policies and organisational structures are determined by the ‘centre’. At the other are those able to make discrete policies and to develop organisational structures to implement them.
It is argued that the degree to which authorities can achieve ‘closure’ objectives such as devolution of services, or integration of clients into communities, depends on their closeness of fit to particular ideal types. The implications of this theory for policy making are discussed.
Validity in Evaluation Research: a critical assessment of current issues
Authors: Chen Huey-Tsyh 
Published: November 2007

This article reviews current major methods of ensuring validity in evaluation research. In reviewing rationales advanced for the primacy of the experimental paradigm, I argue that the use of randomized experiments in program evaluation may not be as powerful as its advocates claim. Furthermore, the rigidity of the randomized experimental design may emphasize internal validity at the expense of other types of validity. Especially important, I argue, is that evaluations based on experimental paradigms tend not to yield information useful to policy makers.
Various quasi-experiments have been considered inferior to randomized experiments in internal validity by Campbell and Stanley. However, due to later developments of sophisticated methods as ARIMA models and modelling selection bias, the gap between randomized experiments and quasi-experiments in dealing with internal validity has narrowed. Furthermore, quasi-experiments also have other advantages such as unobtrusiveness and greater applicability to the evaluation of human services programs.
Current approaches to validity tend to be a single-validity oriented approach; that is, they tend to achieve one type of validity at the expense of others. I propose a theory-driven approach that attempts to provide a more balanced view. The emphasis of this approach is to stress the incorporation of formal models or theory into program evaluation, thereby articulating clearly the identified potential threats to validity in a research. The theory-driven approach can and should deal with internal, external, construct, and statistical conclusion validity simultaneously.
Research and the Local Planning of Services for Elderly People: an interactive approach
Authors: Nies Henk 
Published: November 2007

The assessment of need and the vested interests of powerful actors constitute two major problems in the local planning of services for elderly people. In this article the contribution of applied research to these planning processes is explored by means of a case study into care delivery to long term elderly patients.
The case study design appears to be well suited for this type of research. Triangulation, a focus on person-environment dynamics and a close interaction between the researchers and significant actors in the policy process, enhance the applicability of the research. In the current study these strategies failed to resolve completely the central policy question, but they certainly brought more rational elements into the policy process. The latter is a valuable contribution in itself.
Tracing the Contours of Women’s Citizenship
Authors: Lister Ruth 
Published: November 2007

The starting point for this analysis of women’s relationship to citizenship is the ‘public-private’ divide which underpins the very meaning of citizenship. Using a tripartite division of the public sphere, the article analyses women’s position in relation to the paid economy, the state and the polity.
It focuses, in particular, on the implications of the sexual division of paid and unpaid labour for citizenship rights and obligations.
The article concludes by asking whether the route to women’s citizenship lies through equality or difference, or whether this very formulation represents a cul-de-sac. It argues that radical changes in both the ‘private’ sphere and each of the public spheres, as well as a challenge to the rigid separation of the two, are required.
Reframing Urban Policy
Authors: Solesbury William 
Published: November 2007

The inner city as a political issue has had a rare longevity. From Harold Wilson’s expansion of the Urban Programme in 1968, through the new economic perspective embodied in the 1977 White Paper, to Margaret Thatcher’s declaration of having ‘a big job to do in those inner cities’ on election night in 1987 — the issue has always been prominent.
This paper examines ways in which the issue has been ‘framed’ over the last decade. It draws on contrasts between state and market mechanisms, the relationships between central and local government and emerging ideologies of the city itself. The author concludes by proposing a new regulatory framework for the development of a national urban policy.
The Local Councillor and Party Group Loyalty
Authors: Copus Colin 
Published: November 2007

English
The political party group, that coherent and disciplined body of councillors acting under the same political label within the council chamber, has long been an important influence within British local government. The party group brings form and substance to the activities of political colleagues; it is the private venue where councillors conduct representation, and make decisions, binding councillors in their public activities. This article examines the factors responsible for British councillors’ willingness to give the group their loyalty. It questions assumptions that group disciplinary mechanisms are the only reason why councillors act in a coherent fashion within the council chamber. Such arguments underestimate the ability of the party group to command the loyalty of its members and to exert a powerful influence over the processes of local representation.
The Introduction of Strategic Management to Local Authority Museums in Britain: a missing link between policy and organisation theory
Authors: Kawashima Nobuko 
Published: November 2007

English
Public authorities in charge of museums have over the last decade been recommending the introduction of strategic management to the museum sector in the UK. However, in the local authority museum sector at least, the recommended procedure has not been as useful as is generally thought. This article delineates some of the distinctive features of museum organisation which have contributed to making the standard model of museum management difficult to operationalise in practice, and questions the basic assumptions of the model. The article concludes by calling for the need to enhance the relationship between organisation theory and policy analysis.
The Constructive Potential of Citizenship: building European union
Authors: Wiener Antje 
Published: November 2007

English
This article seeks to develop a way of assessing the constructive potential of citizenship based on its newly institutionalised terms such as the shared values, objectives and regulations that have been established by citizenship policy over time. It builds on a study of European citizenship policy making over two decades. Beyond describing the emergence of citizenship, it promotes a systematic approach to reconstructing the policy in this supranational context. It is assumed that citizenship did not emerge out of the blue on the agenda of the Maastricht Intergovernmental Conference which negotiated the Treaty of European Union in 1990–91, but that it is possible to identify agenda-setting steps in earlier stages of the policy process.
The Theory and Practice of Citizens’ Juries
Authors: Smith Graham , Wales Corinne 
Published: November 2007

English
Citizens’ juries are currently being promoted by a range of organisations which claim that they offer an institutional setting in which citizens are afforded a meaningful opportunity to deliberate on matters of public policy. This article argues that the emphasis on deliberation in citizens’ juries should be of interest to theorists of deliberative democracy who often fail sufficiently to address the question of institutional design. The practice of citizens’ juries is considered in light of the ideals of deliberative democratic theory. It is argued that with careful attention to the design of the different stages of the jury process, citizens’ juries can offer a legitimate and innovative approach to public participation in decision-making processes in contemporary democracies.
Towards Sustainable Waste Management: central steering, local enabling or autopoiesis?
Authors: Entwistle Tom 
Published: November 2007

English
As the UK’s Labour government prepares a new strategy for sustainable waste management, this article considers the efficacy of the previous Conservative government’s endeavours. Confusion over the relative merits of reclamation, incineration and landfill has diverted attention from the key priority of minimising waste and increasing recycling. This article considers the muddled aspirations of the Conservative government’s policy; its reliance on indirect policy instruments; the capacity of local authorities to respond to these aspirations; and the suggestibility of the greater waste management system. Sustainability may require more sweeping a reconfiguration of the waste management system than has hitherto been considered.
Structure and mechanical properties of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene deformed near melting temperature (Technical report)
Authors: Nakayama K. , Furumiya A. , Okamoto T. , Yagi K. , Kaito A. , Choe C. R. , Wu L. , Zhang G. , Xiu L. , Liu D. , Masuda T. , Nakajima A. 
Published: November 2007

Abstract
Enzymes and practical asymmetric synthesis
Authors: Bhupathy M. , Hughes D. L. , Amato J. S. , Bergan J. J. , Leazer J. L. , Lovelace T. C. , McNamara J. M. , Reamer R. A. , Sidler D. R. , Grabowski E. J. J. , Reider P. J. , Shinkai I. 
Published: November 2007

Abstract
Isolation, characterization, and chemical reactions of fullerenes
Authors: Taylor R. , Avent A. G. , Birkett P. R. , Dennis T. J. S. , Hare J. P. , Hitchcock P. B. , Holloway J. H. , Hope E. G. , Kroto H. W. , Langley G. J. , Meidine M. F. , Parsons J. P. , Walton D. R. M. 
Published: November 2007

Abstract
From molecules to electrolytes. Electrochemical and thermodynamic aspects of the interaction of phenol and resorcinol based calixarenes with amines
Authors: de Namor Angela F. Danil , Blackett P. M. , Pardo M. T. Garrido , Tanaka D. A. Pacheco , Velarde F. J. Sueros , Cabaleiro M. C. 
Published: November 2007

Abstract
Conformationally-controlled electron-transfer reactions as manifested with copper(II)/(I) macrocyclic ligand complexes
Authors: Rorabacher D. B. , Meagher N. E. , Juntunen K. L. , Robandt P. V. , Leggett G. H. , Salhi C. A. , Dunn B. C. , Schroeder R. R. , Ochrymowycz L. A. 
Published: November 2007

Abstract
Precursors of aza-macrocycles: Characterization of substituted phenanthrolines and related bases. Crystal and molecular structure of dichloro-d i-n-butyl(2,2',6,6'-bipyrimidine)tin(IV)
Authors: Costamagna J. , Canales J. , Vargas J. , Camalli Mercedes , Caruso Francesco , Rivarola E. 
Published: November 2007

Abstract
Discovery of the transfermium elements. Part II: Introduction to discovery profiles. Part III: Discovery profiles of the transfermium elements (Note: For Part I see Pure Appl. Chem., Vol. 63, No. 6, pp. 879-886, 1991)
Authors: Barber Robert C. , Greenwood N. N. , Hrynkiewicz A. Z. , Jeannin Y. P. , Lefort M. , Sakai M. , Ulehla I. , Wapstra A. H. , Wilkinson D. H. 
Published: November 2007

Abstract