Hysterectomy, endometrial destruction, and levonorgestrel releasing intrauterine system (Mirena) for heavy menstrual bleeding : systematic review and meta-analysis of data from individual patients

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

When nothing is what it seems. A Digital Marketing Research Agenda

Digital breakthroughs continue to challenge prevailing understandings of markets and marketing practices, bringing exciting opportunities to reimagine our offerings. Looking through the lens of digital surrealism, we identify key trends emerging in the field: (1) Is AR (Augmented Reality) for real?; (2) There is no better PR than GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation); (3) A persona is not a persona; (4) Min(e)d your language, and; (4 ¾) Raise your voice. Maybe. Based on these trends we develop an agenda for future research that enables the realization of the opportunities that the digital space offers

Physics, Topology, Logic and Computation: A Rosetta Stone

In physics, Feynman diagrams are used to reason about quantum processes. In the 1980s, it became clear that underlying these diagrams is a powerful analogy between quantum physics and topology: namely, a linear operator behaves very much like a "cobordism". Similar diagrams can be used to reason about logic, where they represent proofs, and computation, where they represent programs. With the rise of interest in quantum cryptography and quantum computation, it became clear that there is extensive network of analogies between physics, topology, logic and computation. In this expository paper, we make some of these analogies precise using the concept of "closed symmetric monoidal category". We assume no prior knowledge of category theory, proof theory or computer science.Comment: 73 pages, 8 encapsulated postscript figure

Omnichannel Value Chain: Mapping Digital Technologies for Channel Integration Activities

In order to provide a seamless customer experience, researchers and practitioners have proposed creation of an omnichannel retailing environment by integrating online and offline channels. Channel integration necessitates use of digital technologies and there are myriads of technological solutions available. However, retailers are struggling with selection and implementation of suitable technologies to add value through channel integration. Despite the strong practical need, this issue has not been effectively addressed in the academic literature. This paper presents an omnichannel value chain underpinned by Porter’s value chain model. We identify ten channel integration activities for value creation by carrying out a synthesis of current research on omnichannel retailing. Enabling digital technologies are then mapped to these activities using technology implementation examples and provide a guideline for retailers to select appropriate technologies for the identified value creation activities

Augmenting the Eye of the Beholder: Exploring the Strategic Potential of Augmented Reality to Enhance Online Service Experiences

Driven by the proliferation of augmented reality (AR) technologies, many firms are pursuing a strategy of service augmentation to enhance customers’ online service experiences. Drawing on situated cognition theory, the authors show that AR - based service augmentation enhances customer value perceptions by simultaneously providing simulated physical control and environmental embedding. The resulting authentic situated experience, manifested in a feeling of spatial presence, funct ions as a mediator and also predicts customer decision comfort. Furthermore, the effect of spatial presence on utilitarian value perceptions is greater for customers who are disposed toward verbal rather than visual information processing, and the positive effect on decision comfort is attenuated by customers’ privacy concerns

Quality-of-life outcomes in older patients with early-stage rectal cancer receiving organ-preserving treatment with hypofractionated short-course radiotherapy followed by transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TREC): non-randomised registry of patients unsuitable for total mesorectal excision

Background Older patients with early-stage rectal cancer are under-represented in clinical trials and, therefore, little high-quality data are available to guide treatment in this patient population. The TREC trial was a randomised, open-label feasibility study conducted at 21 centres across the UK that compared organ preservation through short-course radiotherapy (SCRT; 25 Gy in five fractions) plus transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) with standard total mesorectal excision in adults with stage T1–2 rectal adenocarcinoma (maximum diameter ≤30 mm) and no lymph node involvement or metastasis. TREC incorporated a non-randomised registry offering organ preservation to patients who were considered unsuitable for total mesorectal excision by the local colorectal cancer multidisciplinary team. Organ preservation was achieved in 56 (92%) of 61 non-randomised registry patients with local recurrence-free survival of 91% (95% CI 84–99) at 3 years. Here, we report acute and long-term patient-reported outcomes from this non-randomised registry group. Methods Patients considered by the local colorectal cancer multidisciplinary team to be at high risk of complications from total mesorectal excision on the basis of frailty, comorbidities, and older age were included in a non-randomised registry to receive organ-preserving treatment. These patients were invited to complete questionnaires on patient-reported outcomes (the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life [EORTC-QLQ] questionnaire core module [QLQ-C30] and colorectal cancer module [QLQ-CR29], the Colorectal Functional Outcome [COREFO] questionnaire, and EuroQol-5 Dimensions-3 Level [EQ-5D-3L]) at baseline and at months 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 postoperatively. To aid interpretation, data from patients in the non-randomised registry were compared with data from those patients in the TREC trial who had been randomly assigned to organ-preserving therapy, and an additional reference cohort of aged-matched controls from the UK general population. This study is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN14422743, and is closed. Findings Between July 21, 2011, and July 15, 2015, 88 patients were enrolled onto the TREC study to undergo organ preservation, of whom 27 (31%) were randomly allocated to organ-preserving therapy and 61 (69%) were added to the non-randomised registry for organ-preserving therapy. Non-randomised patients were older than randomised patients (median age 74 years [IQR 67–80] vs 65 years [61–71]). Organ-preserving treatment was well tolerated among patients in the non-randomised registry, with mild worsening of fatigue; quality of life; physical, social, and role functioning; and bowel function 3 months postoperatively compared with baseline values. By 6–12 months, most scores had returned to baseline values, and were indistinguishable from data from the reference cohort. Only mild symptoms of faecal incontinence and urgency, equivalent to less than one episode per week, persisted at 36 months among patients in both groups. Interpretation The SCRT and TEM organ-preservation approach was well tolerated in older and frailer patients, showed good rates of organ preservation, and was associated with low rates of acute and long-term toxicity, with minimal effects on quality of life and functional status. Our findings support the adoption of this approach for patients considered to be at high risk from radical surgery. Funding Cancer Research UK

Synthesising Call Sequences from OCL Operational Contracts

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is widely used by software engineers in different phases of software development cycle. It allows them to visualise and depict a system into different diagrams. Among these diagrams, UML class diagrams are used to capture the structure of a system including classes, attributes and associations. The set of operation calls defined in a UML class diagram then capture the behaviour of a system. These operation calls typically constrain the inputs and outputs via a set of pre or postconditions (operational contracts) written in Object Constraint Language (OCL). Hence, a sequence of operation calls conforming to pre or postconditions is crucial to analyse, verify and understand the behaviour of a system. In this paper, we propose a new technique for synthesising call sequences from a set of operational contracts. This technique works by reducing a synthesis problem to a satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) problem. The preliminary results show that our technique is capable of synthesising call sequences at a large scale