bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
What determines the behaviour and performance of health professionals? Public service motivation, professional norms and/or economic incentives
Authors: Andersen Lotte Bøgh 
Published: March 2009

Theories about professions, public service motivation (PSM) and economic incentives provide different explanations for the behaviour and performance of the producers of public services. PSM theory expects higher performance in the public sector due to the higher levels of public service motivation among public employees, whereas the economic incentive perspective expects performance and behaviour to depend on economic incentives, and the sociology of professions stresses the importance of the employees' occupation. Few have attempted to integrate these three theories, and little is known about the relative strength of the motives. This article aims to analyse the effects of PSM, professional norms and economic incentives on the behaviour and performance of health professionals. Interviews, surveys and register data are used to investigate how professional norms, public service motivation and economic incentives affect the behaviour and performance of Danish dentists, GPs and orthopaedic surgeons. The results indicate that when strong professional norms exist, economic incentives are unimportant. As this is not always the case, however, the perspectives ought to be combined. Points for practitioners The article will be of interest to practitioners working with professionals, not only healthcare professionals, but all kinds of occupations with specialized, theoretical knowledge and occupational norms. Practitioners, especially those who design incentive systems for professionals, will find the article helpful, as it shows how both economic incentives and professional norms should be taken into consideration when such systems are designed. The key finding is that the performance and behaviour of professionals with different incentives is almost similar for services governed by firm norms within the profession, whereas performance and behaviour depend on the economic incentives in the absence of professional norms. This implies that while we may depend on the professional norms to constrain some behaviour, even highly professionalized employees can be moved by selfish motives.
Evaluating financial performance in local government: maximizing the benchmarking value
Authors: Zafra-Gómez José Luis , López-Hernández Antonio Manuel , Hernández-Bastida Agustín 
Published: March 2009

One of the main problems in evaluating financial performance arises in carrying out comparisons between municipalities, as no account is taken of the impact of certain factors of the social and economic environment on the indicators in question. In this study, the concept of financial condition is applied, revealing the influence of such factors, and a methodology is proposed to minimize their effects on the results of the evaluation. The results of applying these to a sample of municipalities in Spain reveal that the model is useful for reinforcing the value of benchmarking between municipalities with similar characteristics. Points for practitioners The use of indicators for evaluating financial performance has advanced considerably in recent years. However, many criticisms have been made by public sector managers concerning the application of such indicators. One of these is that, in many cases, the values measured by different authorities are not comparable, as the services they provide differ significantly. If local authorities were grouped according to the social and economic factors influencing their provision of public services, the evaluations made would be much more effective, facilitating decision-making by supervisory bodies and by municipal managers.
Late 19th century administrative reform in America: re-articulating Hamiltonian thought
Authors: O'Hara Jonathan 
Published: March 2009

In this article, the intellectual thought of a group of key late 19th century national administrative reformers is isolated and analyzed. These reformers were interested in reforming the civil, military and business administrative functions of the executive branch to provide for greater elite administrative supervision over and intervention in the national society and economy. The reformers often articulated their reform purposes, motives and goals in the Hamiltonian language of administrative authority and popular deference to executive administrative counsels. An important key to understanding this article is recognizing that while environmental social and economic conditions had changed significantly for the Gilded Age reformers since the American constitutional founding, many elements of the Hamiltonian tradition still resonated with the reformers a full century later. In this way, the historically transmitted ideology and rhetoric of Hamiltonian thought can be seen as having an independent, causative impact on the administrative reformers' purposes, motives and goals related to executive administrative reform. Points for practitioners This article explores an era of American administrative reform that should be of interest to practitioners of administration in other countries. The article's narrative displays a route to reform that is distinct from the more conventionally studied pathways of bureaucratic efficiency and administrative legal mechanisms applied to administrative organizations. The particular American ideas and thinkers examined in this article give a glimpse of a pathway to reform that is absent in many other societies.
Symptom management for the adult patient dying with advanced chronic kidney disease: A review of the literature and development of evidence-based guidelines by a United Kingdom Expert Consensus Group
Authors: Douglas C , Murtagh FEM , Chambers EJ , Howse M , Ellershaw J 
Published: March 2009

Abstract Improvement in end-of-life-care is required for patients dying with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The UK government now recommends that tools such as the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) be used to enhance the care of those patients dying with CKD. The LCP was originally developed for patients dying with terminal cancer, however has been shown to be transferable to patients dying with heart failure or stroke. On this background, in 2005 a UK National Renal LCP Steering Group was formed. The aim was to determine whether or not the generic LCP was transferable to patients dying with CKD. An Expert Consensus sub-group was established to produce evidence-based prescribing guidelines to allow safe and effective symptom control for patients dying with renal failure. These guidelines were finalised by the Expert Consensus group in August 2007 and endorsed by the Department of Health in March 2008. A literature search on symptom control and end-of-life care in renal failure was performed. A summary of the evidence was presented at a National Steering Group meeting. Opinions were given and provisional guidelines discussed. A first draft was produced and individually reviewed by all members of the Expert Group. Following review, amendments were made and a second draft written. This was presented to the entire National Steering Group and again individual comments were taken into consideration. A third and fourth draft were written and individually reviewed, before the guidelines were finalised by the Expert Consensus group. Patients dying with advanced CKD suffer symptoms similar to patients dying of cancer. The Renal LCP prescribing guidelines aim to control the same symptoms as the generic LCP: pain, dyspnoea, terminal restlessness and agitation, nausea and respiratory tract secretions. The evidence for the production of the guidelines is discussed and how a consensus was reached. A summary of the guidelines is given and the complete guidelines document is available via the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute, Liverpool website.
Effect of gabapentin on cognitive processes in rats not exposed and exposed to tobacco smoke during fetal life
Authors: Czubak A , Nowakowska E , Kus K , Sadowski C , Matschay A 
Published: March 2009

Cognitive deficits, including memory deficiencies, are currently deemed one of key symptoms of psychopathologic mental disorders or epilepsy. The impairment of neurocognitive processes could be due to the administered therapy, in particular combined therapy or therapy using antiepileptics of older type. Gabapentin (GBP) is one of new antiepileptics with normothymic properties. It is known that epileptic patients run a significant risk of developing depression and mood changes. Smoking may also have a negative effect on memory processes and efficacy of administered drugs. Note that smoking in pregnant women also leads to neurobehavioral changes in their children. The objective of our research was to evaluate the effect of GBP on memory functions and antidepressant effect in rats not exposed and exposed to tobacco smoke in fetal life. We were also intent on finding whether GBP has an anticonvulsant effect in contact and without contact with tobacco smoke, and whether it affects motor coordination in animals if administered in the dose of 25 mg/kg. Spatial memory of the animals was assessed in the Morris test and the antidepressant effect in the Porsolt test. The ED50value was determined in the Swinyard maximum electric shock test, and the effect on motor coordination was assessed in the chimney test. GBP administered in the dose of 25 mg/kg intraperitoneal (i.p.) significantly reduced the immobility time on days 1 and 7 of the test in animals exposed to tobacco smoke, and on days 7 and 14 of the test in rats not exposed to tobacco smoke. Upon single and multiple administration of GBP to animals not exposed to tobacco smoke, the spatial memory improved, whereas in animals exposed to tobacco smoke in fetal life tolerance for procognitive effect was observed on day 21 of the test. It has been found that in rats not exposed to tobacco smoke, ED50of GBP was 28.73 mg/kg, whereas in animals exposed to tobacco smoke in fetal life, ED50was 46.2 mg/kg. Upon 14 and 21 days of drug administration, motor coordination was impaired in both GBP receiving animal groups. In conclusion, GBP beside its anticonvulsant efficacy also improves memory processes and has antidepressant effect. We also proved that GBP may reverse cognitive deficits concerning working memory induced by prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke and may have antidepressant effect in rats exposed to tobacco smoke.
Reptile bite in pregnancy
Authors: Duru M , Helvaci MR , Peker E , Dolapcioglu K , Kaya E 
Published: March 2009

Reptile bites are rarely seen cases in emergency departments. But particularly in the warm summer months, the prevalence is relatively higher in rural areas. Snakebites during pregnancy is little known and only a few cases have been reported in the literature. However, in case of pregnancy, the outcomes may be different both for mother and the fetus. Interestingly, there is limited number of reptile bite cases during pregnancy in the literature. We report here a woman who was bitten at her 28th week of gestation. Obstetric consultation with ultrasonography was performed and seen that fetus was normal according to a 28-week gestation. We infused four vials of antiserum in a period of 1 h in a saline solution. In all, 30 min after the initiation of the antiserum infusion, the lesion started to regress. Her obstetric consultation was repeated 1 h, 36 h, and before discharge were performed and seen that the fetus was normal. After a period of five days, the patient and fetus were evaluated once more, and nothing was abnormal for both.
Assessment of levels of organochlorine pesticides and their metabolites in the hair of a Greek rural human population
Authors: Tsatsakis AM , Tzatzarakis MN , Tutudaki M , Babatsikou F , Alegakis AK , Koutis C 
Published: March 2009

We present the assessment of chronic exposure of the rural population of Helia Peloponnesus, Greece to banned organochlorine pesticides, hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), and 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT), using hair analysis. A total of 222 head hair samples were collected and analyzed for the presence of those organochlorine pesticides and their metabolites or isomers. Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry was used to measure the levels of the pollutants. The median concentrations of α-HCH, hexachlorobenzene, lindane, ortho para 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis-(4-chlorophenyl)ethylene (opDDE), para para 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethylene (ppDDE), ortho para 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (opDDD), para para 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (ppDDD) + ortho para 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-ethane, and para para 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-ethane were determined at 40.4, 19.7, 124.2, 6.2, 7.8, 73.1, 8.0, and 5.7 pg/mg. The median concentration of total HCHs and DDTs were 117.8 pg/mg and 9.4 pg/mg, respectively. The levels of total HCHs were much higher than the levels of DDTs in the hair samples of the studied population. This may be attributed to the presence of lindane, a pesticide officially banned in 2002. It is interesting to see that DDTs are still traced in samples despite their use being banned for more than three decades. There was no difference in the levels of the detected pesticides in hair sampled from men or women. The concentration of HCHs remains high and relatively stable across the age groups, suggesting constant exposure until very recently. The concentration of the total DDTs and the parent compound, pp-DDT presents a statistically significant decreasing trend across the age groups.
Construction in a Simulated Environment Using Temporal Goal Sequencing and Reinforcement Learning
Authors: Panangadan Anand , Dyer Michael G. 
Published: March 2009

A behavior-based architecture ( ConAg) with a connectionist action selection mechanism is introduced that enables a society of autonomous agents to construct arbitrary structures in their simulated two-dimensional world. Construction in this environment involves the agents picking up colored discs and dropping them at incomplete parts of the structure being built. The ConAg architecture provides both reactive behaviors which are used to maintain the viability of the agent and navigational planning behaviors that are used for construction. The action selection mechanism enables learning the sequence of behaviors required for construction by reinforcement learning. The navigational planning behaviors use a grid-based representation of the world. The shape of the structure to be built is also encoded on an internal spatial map. Path planning is implemented by spreading activations on sets of grid-based maps so that the agents perform the construction task efficiently. Construction of arbitrary structures is supported by temporal sequencing of goals. We present simulation results that demonstrate the performance of the architecture and algorithms.
Contamination of bottles used for feeding reconstituted powdered infant formula and implications for public health
Authors: Redmond Elizabeth C , Griffith Christopher J , Riley Steven 
Published: March 2009

Aims: Microbial contamination of powdered infant formula (PIF) is known to cause gastrointestinal infections in infants. Of concern is intrinsic contamination of the formula with (for example) Salmonella enterica as well as extrinsic contamination from inappropriate handling or ineffective disinfection. The aim of this study was to evaluate organic and microbial contamination of `in-use' bottles used for feeding infants powdered formula milk in South Wales, UK. Methods: To establish baseline contamination levels of `in-use' bottles, 75 `uncleaned' and 150 `cleaned and ready to re-use' bottles used for feeding infants PIF were analyzed. The microbiological analysis included aerobic colony counts (ACCs), presence/absence and counts of Enterobacteriaceae and Staphylococcus aureus. The level of residual adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) was determined as an indicator of organic soiling. All bottles were sampled in four sites; inner screwcap, bottle interior; bottle outer rim and teat interior. Results: Microbial counts up to 105/area were sampled and ATP levels up to 100,051 relative light units (RLUs) were obtained from `uncleaned' bottles. Findings varied according to bottle site. Enterobacteriaceae and Staphylococcus aureus were isolated from 12—15% of `unclean' bottles/components (up to 102 cfu/area sampled) and contamination was most frequently detected from the screw cap and teat interiors. Data indicated that after use, prior to cleaning, considerable microbial and organic soil remained in the cumulative bottles. Of the ready-to-use bottles reportedly cleaned and disinfected, some had ACCs up to 5.8x104 cfu/area sampled. Staphylococcus aureus was detected from 4% bottles/components but no Enterobacteriaceae were detected. Conclusions: Cumulatively, findings indicate the presence of organic soiling and the potential for survival of bacteria between infant feeds. There is a need for effective education on effective bottle decontamination procedures. This may be achieved by using an audience-centred approach to re-enforce messages to parents and caregivers to implement good hygiene practices, effectively wash and rinse items before disinfection and follow manufacturers' guidelines for disinfection.
Food safety issues and children's lunchboxes
Authors: Hudson Philippa Kathryn , Walley Hannah 
Published: March 2009

Aim: Approximately 60% of school children in the UK eat packed lunches on a regular basis. While extensive research investigating the health and quality of food in these lunchboxes has been conducted, there is very little parallel research into food safety issues. This study set out to examine the food safety issues associated with the daily cycle of lunchbox use among primary school children. In particular, the role of the actual lunchbox as a potential vehicle of cross-contamination was investigated. Methods: Using a self-completion questionnaire, parental attitudes towards food safety and their awareness of key food safety issues were identified with respect to children's lunchboxes. Using a data logger, temperature measurements were taken of a typical lunchbox over a school term to provide information about the temperature profile throughout the daily cycle of use. A lunchtime observation study provided detail about individual lunchboxes, their visual cleanliness, the types of debris left by children and the microbiology of the lunchbox itself. Results: The study found that while the majority of parents were aware of the potential food safety risks associated with their child's lunchbox, they recognized that poor temperature control during the school day increased the food safety risks but they did not always take appropriate steps to manage this risk. Conclusions: Despite there being no direct evidence of immediate food safety risks from this study, temperature control was a key food safety issue. The method and frequency of cleaning were also highlighted as areas of particular concern.
Demanding the Impossible: Desire and Social Change
Authors: McNulty Tracy 
Published: March 2009

The question at the core of this essay is whether the subjective stance of one person can initiate broad change or inspire collective action by means other than the group psychology, not by appealing to a particular set of values or ideals or by cementing the group through identification or libidinal cathexes but by foregrounding the experience of the desiring subject. It takes as its point of departure Jacques Lacan's definition of anxiety as “the affect that responds to the desire of the Other.” If love is about the strategies of seduction that sustain the imaginary coherence of the ego, desire is linked to the anxiety induced by the loss of the ego ideals and the encounter with castration. The corollary is that the practice of psychoanalysis is founded on the confrontation with the anxiety provoked by the desire of the Other and the assumption that only this can result in real change.
This article examines three examples of social tie that are structured around the desire of the founder and the anxiety it induces: the interdiction of sacrifice and the worship of an absent God in the religion of Moses, the role of the transference in Freud's invention of psychoanalysis, and the “love of the enemy” in the discourse of Jesus. The author argues that the clinical context sheds light on the violent resistance and repression that greeted the founding acts of Moses and Jesus and offers insight into the structural antagonism between the founder's desire and the possibility of a collective movement. The examples of Moses and Jesus in turn develop a dimension of the analytic experience that is not always given sufficient weight: that desire must find expression in an act or in the production of a new object that intervenes in the world so as to transform it.
Society of Choice
Authors: Salecl Renata 
Published: March 2009

Postindustrial society thrives on the idea of choice. The individual is not only perceived as able to choose among various consumer objects; he or she is also taken as someone who can choose his or her identity, sexual orientation, body shape, and so on. In the ideology of postindustrial capitalism, one's life is perceived as a work of art and as a particular kind of enterprise. The overemphasis of choice, however, does not seem to bring contentment to the individual, but rather increases feelings of anxiety and insecurity. In order to appease feelings of anxiety, people often resort to following random advice on how to fashion their lives.
Psychoanalysis questions how the malaise of civilization affects the malaise of the individual and vice versa. A pessimistic conclusion about the changes in today's society holds that the increase of psychosis and of anxiety are related in a particular way to the ideology of choice. Psychoanalysis, however, has always understood choice in a complex way. Instead of perceiving the act of choosing as a purely rational gesture, psychoanalysis understands choice as linked to the unconscious. Since choice always involves a loss, it is per se anxiety provoking. Today's society has problems precisely with the idea of loss, which is why we see the emergence of options promising to impose control on what is often uncontrollable.
Hyperchromic Effect of Silyl Groups on the UV–Visible Spectrum of 5,10,15,20-Tetraphenylporphyrin
Authors: Kyushin Soichiro , Yoshimura Kimio , Sato Kenta , Matsumoto Hideyuki 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
UV–visible spectra of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-silylphenyl)porphyrins and 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3,5-disilylphenyl)porphyrins were measured. Silyl groups were found to have a hyperchromic effect on the Soret band and the Q band of 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin.
Enhanced Absorption and Emission in a Copper Phthalocyanine–Gold Nanoparticle System Assisted by Localized Surface Plasmon
Authors: Sugawa Kosuke , Kawahara Tomoaki , Akiyama Tsuyoshi , Kobayashi Motoyasu , Takahara Atsushi , Yamada Sunao 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
Localized surface plasmon resonance leads to an increase in the degree of photon absorption and concomitant emission in copper phthalocyanine–gold nanoparticle systems.
Synthesis of Oxindoles by Palladium-catalyzed C–H Bond Amidation
Authors: Miura Tomoya , Ito Yoshiteru , Murakami Masahiro 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
Treatment of N-tosylphenylacetamide derivatives with copper(II) acetate in the presence of a catalytic amount of palladium(II) acetate affords 3,3-disubstituted oxindoles. The reaction proceeds through the intramolecular metallation of an aromatic C–H bond and the following C–N bond formation by reductive elimination.