bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Using electronic textbooks: promoting, placing and embedding
Authors: Appleton Leo 
Published: March 2005

PurposeThe paper illustrates the experiences of both academic and support staff in the use of electronic books within a higher education setting. The case studies report upon practice at Edge Hill College of Higher Education, which has allowed for successful e‐book development strategies to be employed in teaching and learning within the college. The paper will deal particularly with e‐book marketing, implementation and evaluation strategies, as well as embedding e‐books into virtual learning environments (VLEs).Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports upon two significant chapters within e‐book development at the college. The first of these is an initial evaluative e‐book research project, from which strategy and policy were formulated. The second part of the paper introduces case studies in which the findings of the initial research impact upon the embedding of e‐books into teaching and learning and subsequently into the college's VLE.FindingsUser evaluations provide qualitative analytic data into the benefits and disadvantages of using e‐books in higher education teaching and learning activity.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are limited to one particular higher education institution and specific curriculum areas within.Originality/valueThe evaluative data, as well as particular e‐book strategies identified, make the paper of value to those researching e‐book usage and activity, in particular within online learning.
Implications for electronic publishing in libraries and information centres in Africa
Authors: Igun Stella E. 
Published: March 2005

PurposeTo identify the challenges facing libraries and information centres in Africa in the establishment of electronic publishing.Design/methodology/approachHistorical/literature survey and observation were carried out by the researcher in‐depth. All literature surveyed showed that electronic publishing is still a new concept in Africa.FindingsApart from the information source that can be obtained through the internet and downloaded online, the actual acquisition of electronic books is still not possible. At present the libraries and information centres in Africa must have to rely more on print publication than the electronic.Practical implicationsLibraries and information centres in Africa must have to harness all available information resources, electronic/downloadable which are referred to as electronic aided publishing and print publishing to meet the growing users information needs. Libraries and information centres in Africa are advised to enter into networking with other libraries and information centres to prepare the environment for real electronic publishing in Africa.Originality/valueProvides information on some of the challenges facing libraries in Africa.
Continuous innovation through company wide employee participation
Authors: Tonnessen Tor 
Published: March 2005

PurposeThe paper aims to address the failure of prevailing international management concepts to utilize the potentials of company wide employee participation in innovation, and give the reader some practical solutions and some ideas about how to exploit these potentials more efficiently.Design/methodology/approachThese solutions and ideas are developed mainly through two Norwegian action research programmes that have been carried out together with industry over a ten‐year period. The main topic of research has been to see how good practice from prevailing international management concepts like total quality management and business process re‐engineering may be integrated with good practice from the Norwegian industrial democracy tradition into a new approach to continuous innovation. A case study approach has been used.FindingsThe case studies showed that a better utilization of the potentials of company wide employee participation in innovation gives efficiency as well as working environment improvements.Research limitations/implicationsThe case studies also showed that more knowledge and a further development of practical tools that ease participation in innovation is an important challenge for future R&D.Practical implicationsIn order to fully exploit the potentials of employee participation in innovation companies and consultants need to adjust their practice in the direction of a more participatory approach.Originality/valueThe paper gives consultants, academics, managers and shop stewards a framework and some practical tools for employee participation in innovation that may be used at the different company levels. It is argued and shown how activities at the different levels may be co‐ordinated and work reciprocal supportive.
Consumer adoption of online grocery buying: a discriminant analysis
Authors: Hansen Torben 
Published: March 2005

PurposeTo empirically investigate whether consumers who have adopted online grocery buying perceive this way of shopping differently from other online consumers.Design/methodology/approachThe data presented in this study were collected from an online (web‐based) survey of US consumers using self‐administered questionnaires. Data from 784 US online consumers are analyzed.FindingsMultiple discriminant results suggest that online grocery shopping adopters attach higher compatibility, higher relative advantage, more positive social norms, and lower complexity to internet grocery shopping both compared with consumers who have never bought anything on the internet yet and also compared with consumers who have purchased goods/services on the internet but not groceries. The results also suggest that online grocery shopping adopters have higher household incomes than non‐adopters.Research limitations/implicationsThis research used a single respondent as a household representative. Since grocery buying concerns the entire household, this procedure assumes that the selected respondent provides answers which are representative of the household's opinion.Practical implicationsProvides practical advice to online retail managers on how to attract different consumer online grocery segments.Originality/valueThis paper investigates both experienced and inexperienced online grocery consumers. Thereby the paper adds to the understanding on how different groups of online consumers perceive characteristics of the online grocery channel.
Convergence of the health industry
Authors: Pierce Marc E. 
Published: March 2005

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to define the roles of the key health industry constituents – patients, employers, health insurers, hospitals, physicians, Government, pharmaceutical companies and other industry suppliers, plagued with the decline of the health status and affordability in the USA.Design/methodology/approachReviews literature to back up the author's views.FindingsAs health‐care demands increase and the constituent roles blur, the industry will experience a gradual convergence. Convergence will redefine and create overlap in the boundaries between the traditional health industry suppliers and in the end this convergence will reshape the future of the health industry.Originality/valuePredicts that the drivers of change – deteriorating public health, poor quality and safety, and unaffordable health care – will continue to accelerate. Convergence will be gradual and the impact may not be immediately obvious, but the long‐term outcome will dramatically reshape the industry. For the major suppliers in the industry, recognizing convergence is only the first step. Navigating convergence so the decisions made by an organization are both productive and profitable, rather than debilitating, is a far more complicated endeavor. The decisions made will not only affect the future of each supplier but also significantly impact the constituent at the center of this industry – the patient.
Competitive advantage and entrepreneurial power
Authors: Beaver Graham , Jennings Peter 
Published: March 2005

PurposeTo show that the inability to adapt to a series of crises caused by business development is one of the principal causes of failure for all organisations and that one of the primary components in small business success must be the managerial competence of the principal actors, inevitably the owner‐manager.Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines the divergence between the prescribed and assumed models of entrepreneurial behaviour provided by contemporary management theorists and the real, observed and reported behaviour of small business practitioners and owner‐managers. It reports on case study examples and highlights the dichotomy between expected and actual behaviour in typical management situations.FindingsThe paper suggests that the almost egotistical attitude displayed by many entrepreneurs, constitutes an abuse of the trust and the power placed in the hands of small business owner‐managers and that in extreme instances, the abuse of entrepreneurial power may lead directly to the failure of the small firm.Originality/valueMany surveys of small business failure and sub‐optimal performance often suggest situational and operational causes and explanations. This paper offers a different perspective for future research because the cause may be seen to lie with the apparently non‐rational behaviour of the entrepreneur or owner‐manager who does not adhere to the “rules” and expectations of classical management theory.
Epidemiological and clinical interaction between HTLV‐1 and Strongyloides stercoralis
Authors: Carvalho E. M. , Da Fonseca Porto A. 
Published: March 2005

SUMMARYStrongyloides stercoralis is the most common human parasitic nematode that is able to complete a life cycle and proliferate within its host. The majority of patients with strongyloidiasis have an asymptomatic infection or mild disease. However, when autoinfection occurs, a high number of infecting larvae can gain access to the bloodstream by penetrating the colonic mucosa leading to a severe hyperinfection and the development of disseminated strongyloidiasis. The human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV‐1) predominantly infects T cells and induces spontaneous lymphocyte proliferation and secretion of high levels of type 1 cytokines. Strongyloides stercoralis patients with HTLV‐1 co‐infection have a modified immunological responses against parasite antigens and co‐infection has clinical implications for strongyloidiasis. The high production of IFN‐γ observed in patients co‐infected with HTLV‐1 and Strongyloides stercoralis decreases the production of IL‐4, IL‐5, IL‐13 and IgE, molecules that participate in the host defence mechanism against helminths. Moreover, there is a decrease in the efficacy of treatment of Strongyloides stercoralis in patients co‐infected with HTLV‐1. Alterations in the immune response against Strongyloides stercoralis and the decrease in the efficacy of anti‐parasitic drugs are responsible for the increased prevalence of Strongyloides stercoralis among HTLV‐1 infected subjects and make HTLV‐1 infection the most important risk factor for disseminated strongyloidiasis.
The immunoepidemiology of human hookworm infection
Authors: Quinnell R. J. , Bethony J. , Pritchard D. I. 
Published: March 2005

SUMMARYAdvances in hookworm immunoepidemiology are reviewed. Recent studies demonstrate a mixed Th1/Th2 response in human hookworm infection, with immunosuppression of specific and nonspecific IFN‐γ responses. There is increasing evidence for protective immunity in human hookworm infection, including anti‐larval IL‐5‐ and IgE‐dependent mechanisms, and for immunological interactions between hookworm infection and other diseases.
The immuno‐epidemiology of pregnancy‐associated Plasmodium falciparum malaria: a variant surface antigen‐specific perspective
Authors: Hviid L. 
Published: March 2005

SUMMARY Women living in areas of intense P. falciparum transmission have acquired substantial protective immunity to malaria when they reach childbearing age. Nevertheless, pregnancies in such areas are associated with substantial malaria‐related morbidity and mortality, particularly among women of low parity. The parity‐dependency of susceptibility to malaria in pregnant women suggests that protective immunity to this type of malaria can be developed. However, until recently it has been poorly understood why the clinical protection against malaria, which young women in endemic areas acquire well before their first pregnancy, is suddenly rendered inadequate when they become pregnant, only to be regained during the course of a few pregnancies. In this article, I discuss some recent immuno‐epidemiological studies of pregnancy‐associated malaria, which, in combination with the generally improved understanding of how protective immunity to P. falciparum malaria operates and is acquired, have provided important insights into this enigma.
Do woodlice and earthworms interact synergistically in leaf litter decomposition?
Authors: ZIMMER MARTIN , KAUTZ GUIDO , TOPP WERNER 
Published: March 2005

SummaryIn laboratory microcosms, we investigated the influence of diversity of both leaf litter and detritivores on decomposition processes. Either woodlice or earthworms, or a combination of woodlice and earthworms, fed on leaf litter of either oak or alder, or oak and alder for 8 weeks. Mass loss of leaf litter, soil microbial respiration and soil nutrient concentrations were determined every 2 weeks.For four out of seven decomposition parameters, the joint effects of woodlice and earthworms were stronger than the sum of single‐species effects when they had fed on alder litter. When feeding on oak litter, however, woodlice and earthworms together revealed lower decomposition rates than predicted from their single effects. Joint effects of detritivores on decomposition of mixed litter were always lower than predicted from the sum of their effects.In mixed‐litter assays, we obtained intermediate values of decomposition parameters, indicating that doubling the species richness of leaf litter from one to two species did not promote decomposition processes. Effects of mixing litter were, thus, mostly additive; essentially only when earthworms fed on mixed litter we observed, mostly positive, non‐additive effects of diverse litter.Our findings provide evidence for a potential effect on ecosystem functioning through joint action of detritivores even at low species diversity, while litter diversity seems to be less significant. On high‐quality litter, isopods and earthworms are not functionally redundant but act synergistically on litter decomposition. The effects of detritivore diversity on ecosystem processes, however, are context‐specific and depend on the quality and diversity of the available food sources, and on species‐specific characteristics of the detritivores.
Does dewlap size predict male bite performance in Jamaican Anolis lizards?
Authors: VANHOOYDONCK B. , HERREL A. Y. , VAN DAMME R. , IRSCHICK D. J. 
Published: March 2005

Summary

The theory of the evolution of secondary sexual traits through male–male competition is based on the assumption that these traits are reliable cues for an animal's fighting capacity. In this paper, we test whether a secondary sexual trait, dewlap size, is an honest predictor of bite strength in Anolis lizards. Since male anoles will bite one another during territorial fights, bite performance may play an important role in determining the outcome of male–male fights.
We measured dewlap size and bite force in a size series of adult males of three Jamaican anoles, i.e. Anolis grahami Gray 1845, A. lineatopus Gray 1840 and A. valencienni Duméril & Bibron 1837.
In both A. grahami and A. lineatopus, males with relatively large dewlaps tend to bite relatively harder, while the relationship between relative dewlap size and bite force was clearly non‐significant within the twig anole A. valencienni.
Our results thus suggest that dewlap size is an indicator of relative bite force in the former two species, but not in the latter. We argue that interspecific variation in territorial behaviour might explain this difference.
Effects of climate on intra‐ and interspecific size variation in bumble‐bees
Authors: PEAT J. , DARVILL B. , ELLIS J. , GOULSON D. 
Published: March 2005

Summary

In contrast to other social bees, bumble‐bees exhibit considerable size variation within the worker caste. This size variation has not been adequately explained, although it is known that larger workers tend to be foragers and smaller bees spend more time in the nest. We quantify size variation and mean size for foragers of 22 bumble‐bee species inhabiting climates ranging from arctic and montane to the lowland tropics.
Mean size was larger in bee species from cold climates compared with temperate bumble‐bees. Within species, individuals from Scotland tended to be larger than those from southern England. However, tropical bumble‐bees (mostly belonging to the subgenus Fervidobombus) were largest of all. We suggest that although a lower limit to size may be imposed by inhabiting cold climates, overheating does not constrain large size in bumble‐bees from hot climates, perhaps because they have efficient mechanisms for heat loss through shunting heat to their extremities.
Tropical bees had shorter thoracic setae than species from cooler climates, while B. terrestris from Greece had shorter setae than those from southern UK. Presumably shorter setae enhance heat loss in warm climates.
Larger workers of B. terrestris were found to have smaller extremities, in proportion to their size, than small workers. We suggest that heat retention is more important in large bees that spend more of their time foraging, than in small bees which spend much of their time in the nest where incubation of the brood requires them to lose heat.
In the temperate climate of southern UK, we found no evidence for ambient temperature having a differential effect on activity of workers of B. terrestris according to their size. We suggest that, at least in temperate climates, size variation in bumble‐bee foragers is probably not an adaptation to temperature variation. Instead it may improve colony foraging efficiency since foragers of different sizes are suited to, and tend to visit, different flower species.
Colostomy irrigation: results of 25 cases with particular reference to quality of life
Authors: Karadağ Ayişe , Bülent Menteş B , Ayaz Sultan 
Published: March 2005

Aims and objectives.  The aim of this study was to document our results with colostomy irrigation with particular emphasis on the possible contribution of irrigation on quality of life.Background.  Colostomy irrigation is a useful method of achieving faecal continence in selected conditions, and may improve quality of life. When successful, irrigation offers a regular, predictable elimination pattern and only a small covering is needed for security between irrigations.Methods.  The digestive disease quality of life questionnaire‐15 (DDQ‐15) and Short Form‐36 were used to analyse quality of life before and 12 months after stomatherapy in a series of 25 irrigating patients with permanent end colostomies. During the same time period, 10 similar patients with left‐end colostomies who also received counselling but did not consent to colostomy irrigation were also analysed for comparison.Results.  Colostomy irrigation was found to be effective for achieving faecal continence in selected patients with end colostomies with no complications or significant side‐effects, The digestive disease quality of life questionnaire‐15 score improved significantly in both groups after stomatherapy (P < 0.0001 and P = 0.009 in the irrigating and non‐irrigating groups respectively). The poststomatherapy digestive disease quality of life questionnaire‐15 score of the irrigating group was also significantly higher than that of the non‐irrigating group (P = 0.039). Although none of the poststomatherapy item scales of Short Form‐36 differed significantly between the two groups, stomatherapy with CI resulted in significant improvements in role limitation due to physical problems, social functioning, role limitation due to emotional problems, general mental health, vitality and bodily pain (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). On the contrary, the non‐irrigating patient group showed significant improvements only in social functioning and general mental health.Conclusion.  Our findings suggest that colostomy irrigation can be a useful method of achieving faecal continence in selected conditions, it is safe, and it may help improve many aspects of quality of life.Relevance to clinical practice.  Colostomy irrigation is free from complications and significant side‐effects, and it may serve as a useful adjunct to conventional stomatherapy. Therefore, the enterostomal therapy nurse should assess the appropriateness of routine irrigation as a method of stoma management for patients with left‐end colostomy.
A cohesion/tension model for the gating of aquaporins allows estimation of water channel pore volumes in Chara
Authors: YE QING , MUHR JAN , STEUDLE ERNST 
Published: March 2005

ABSTRACTThe water permeability (hydraulic conductivity; Lp) of turgid, intact internodes of Chara corallina decreased exponentially as the concentration of osmolytes applied in the medium increased. Membranes were permeable to osmolytes and therefore they could be applied on both sides of the plasma membrane at concentrations of up to 2.0 m (5.0 MPa of osmotic pressure). Organic solutes of different molecular size (molecular weight, MW) and reflection coefficients (σs) were used [heavy water HDO, MW: 19, σs: 0.004; acetone, MW: 58, σs: 0.15; dimethyl formamide (DMF), MW: 73, σs: 0.76; ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (EGMME), MW: 76, σs: 0.59; diethylene glycol monomethyl ether (DEGMME), MW: 120, σs: 0.78 and triethylene glycol monoethyl ether (TEGMEE), MW: 178, σs: 0.80]. The larger the molecular size of the osmolyte, the more efficient it was in reducing cell Lp at a given concentration. The residual cell Lp decreased with increasing size of osmolytes. The findings are in agreement with a cohesion/tension model of the osmotic dehydration of water channels (aquaporins; AQPs), which predicts both reversible exponential dehydration curves and the dependence on the size of osmolytes which are more or less excluded from AQPs (Ye, Wiera & Steudle, Journal of Experimental Botany 55, 449–461, 2004). In the presence of big osmolytes, dehydration curves were best described by the sum of two exponentials (as predicted from the theory in the presence of two different types of AQPs with differing pore diameters and volumes). AQPs with big diameters could not be closed in the presence of osmolytes of small molecular size, even at very high concentrations. The cohesion/tension theory allowed pore volumes of AQPs to be evaluated, which was 2.3 ± 0.2 nm3 for the narrow pore and between 5.5 ± 0.8 and 6.1 ± 0.8 nm3 for the wider pores. The existence of different types of pores was also evident from differences in the residual Lp. Alternatively, pore volumes were estimated from ratios between osmotic (Pf) and diffusional (Pd) water flow, yielding the number of water molecules (N) in the pores. N‐values ranged between 35 and 60, which referred to volumes of 0.51 and 0.88 nm3/pore. Values of pore volumes obtained by either method were bigger than those reported in the literature for other AQPs. Absolute values of pore volumes and differences obtained by the two methods are discussed in terms of an inclusion of mouth parts of AQPs during osmotic dehydration. It is concluded that the mouth part contributed to the absolute values of pore volumes depending on the size of osmolytes. However, this can not explain the finding of the existence of two different types or groups of AQPs in the plasma membrane of Chara.