Managers' perspectives on restaurant food waste separation intention: the roles of institutional pressures and internal forces.

The hospitality industry, particularly restaurants, generates a large amount of food waste daily. This study draws upon institutional theory using the lens of isomorphic pressures and two internal factors, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and restaurant size, to investigate what drives food waste separation intention in the restaurant sector of a developing economy. Data collected from 395 restaurant managers show that normative, coercive, and mimetic pressures positively impact intention; isomorphic pressures are mediated by CSR to achieve higher intention; and the crucial interaction between restaurant size and CSR significantly strengthens food waste separation intention. The study contributes to institutional theory by offering a novel integrated model to explain the respective mediating and moderating roles that CSR and restaurant size play between institutional pressures and behavioral intention in food waste management

Integrative model of behavioural intention: the influence of environmental concern and condition factors on food waste separation.

This paper positions environmental concern as the antecedent of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. It also sets to expand the theory of planned behaviour by including two condition factors: favourable situation and facility availability on the intention to separate food waste at source. The study collects data by using self-administered questionnaires on 682 respondents in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling is employed to test the conceptual model and the proposed hypotheses. The results show that environmental concern positively influences attitude and subjective norms, which, in turn, influences food waste separation intention. Favourable situation and facility availability are found to influence the separation intention. This study is one of the earliest studies to investigate residents' intention to participate in food waste separation at a source that employs the expanded theory of planned behaviour with environmental concern and condition factors

A Translational Polarization Rotator

We explore a free-space polarization modulator in which a variable phase introduction between right- and left-handed circular polarization components is used to rotate the linear polarization of the outgoing beam relative to that of the incoming beam. In this device, the polarization states are separated by a circular polarizer that consists of a quarter-wave plate in combination with a wire grid. A movable mirror is positioned behind and parallel to the circular polarizer. As the polarizer-mirror distance is separated, an incident liear polarization will be rotated through an angle that is proportional to the introduced phase delay. We demonstrate a prototype device that modulates Stokes Q and U over a 20% bandwidth

Image operator learning coupled with CNN classification and its application to staff line removal

Many image transformations can be modeled by image operators that are characterized by pixel-wise local functions defined on a finite support window. In image operator learning, these functions are estimated from training data using machine learning techniques. Input size is usually a critical issue when using learning algorithms, and it limits the size of practicable windows. We propose the use of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to overcome this limitation. The problem of removing staff-lines in music score images is chosen to evaluate the effects of window and convolutional mask sizes on the learned image operator performance. Results show that the CNN based solution outperforms previous ones obtained using conventional learning algorithms or heuristic algorithms, indicating the potential of CNNs as base classifiers in image operator learning. The implementations will be made available on the TRIOSlib project site.Comment: To appear in ICDAR 201

Cytomegalovirus excretion in pregnant and nonpregnant women.

Cervical and urinary excretion of cytomegalovirus by Taiwanese women was identified by the presence of a cytomegalovirus-specific immediate-early gene sequence amplified by the polymerase chain reaction. Excretion rates during the first trimester of pregnancy resembled rates for nonpregnant women. As pregnancy proceeded, the cervical excretion rate increased from 13 to 40% and the urinary excretion rate increased from 1 to 13%

Induction chemotherapy with dose-modified docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil in Asian patients with borderline resectable or unresectable head and neck cancer

BackgroundSignificant ethnic differences in susceptibility to the effects of chemotherapy exist. Here, we retrospectively analyzed the safety and efficacy of induction chemotherapy (ICT) with dose-modified docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (TPF) in Asian patients with borderline resectable or unresectable head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).MethodsBased on the incidence of adverse events that occurred during daily practice, TPF90 (90% of the original TPF dosage; docetaxel 67.5 mg/m2 on Day 1, cisplatin 67.5 mg/m2 on Day 1, and 5-fluorouracil 675 mg/m2 on Days 1–5) was used for HNSCC patients who were scheduled to receive ICT TPF.ResultsBetween March 2011 and May 2014, 52 consecutive patients with borderline resectable or unresectable HNSCC were treated with ICT TPF90 followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Forty-four patients (84.6%) received at least three cycles of ICT TPF90. The most commonly observed Grade 3–4 adverse events included neutropenia (35%), anemia (25%), stomatitis (35%), diarrhea (16%), and infections (13.5%). In an intention-to-treat analysis, the complete and partial response rates after ICT TPF90 were 13.5% and 59.6%, respectively. The complete and partial response rates following radiotherapy and salvage surgery were 42.3% and 25.0%, respectively. The estimated 3-year overall survival and progression-free survival rates were 41% [95% confidence interval (CI): 25–56%] and 23% (95% CI: 10–39%), respectively. The observed median overall survival and progression-free survival were 21.0 months (95% CI: 13.3–28.7 months) and 16.0 months (95% CI: 10.7–21.3 months), respectively.ConclusionTPF90 is a suitable option for Asian patients with borderline resectable or unresectable HNSCC who are scheduled for ICT

Evaluating the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Guideline—Recommended and Contemporary Pretest Probability Models in a Mixed Asian Cohort: The Contribution of Coronary Artery Calcium

BACKGROUND: Most pretest probability (PTP) tools for obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) were Western -developed. The most appropriate PTP models and the contribution of coronary artery calcium score (CACS) in Asian populations remain unknown. In a mixed Asian cohort, we compare 5 PTP models: local assessment of the heart (LAH), CAD Consortium (CAD2), risk factor-weighted clinical likelihood, the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology and the European Society of Cardiology PTP and 3 extended versions of these models that incorporated CACS: LAH (CACS), CAD2 (CACS), and the CACS-clinical likelihood. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study cohort included 771 patients referred for stable chest pain. Obstructive CAD prevalence was 27.5%. Calibration, area under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUC) and net reclassification index were evaluated. LAH clinical had the best calibration (χ 2 5.8; P=0.12). For CACS models, LAH (CACS) showed least deviation between observed and expected cases (χ 2 37.5; P&lt;0.001). There was no difference in AUCs between the LAH clinical (AUC, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.69-0.77]), CAD2 clinical (AUC, 0.72 [95% CI, 0.68-0.76]), risk factor-weighted clinical likelihood (AUC, 0.73 [95% CI: 0.69-0.76) and European Society of Cardiology PTP (AUC, 0.71 [95% CI, 0.67-0.75]). CACS improved discrimination and reclassification of the LAH (CACS) (AUC, 0.88; net reclassification index, 0.46), CAD2 (CACS) (AUC, 0.87; net reclassification index, 0.29) and CACS-CL (AUC, 0.87; net reclassification index, 0.25). CONCLUSIONS: In a mixed Asian cohort, Asian-derived LAH models had similar discriminatory performance but better calibration and risk categorization for clinically relevant PTP cutoffs. Incorporating CACS improved discrimination and reclassification. These results support the use of population-matched, CACS-inclusive PTP tools for the prediction of obstructive CAD.</p

Conversion to aflibercept for diabetic macular edema unresponsive to ranibizumab or bevacizumab

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine if eyes with diabetic macular edema (DME) unresponsive to ranibizumab or bevacizumab would benefit from conversion to aflibercept. Methods: This study was conducted as a retrospective chart review of subjects with DME unresponsive to ranibizumab and/or bevacizumab and subsequently converted to aflibercept. Results: In total, 21 eyes from 19 subjects of mean age 62±15 years were included. The majority of subjects were male (63%). The median number of ranibizumab or bevacizumab injections before switching to aflibercept was six, and the median number of aflibercept injections after switching was three. Median follow-up was 5 months after the switch. Mean central foveal thickness (CFT) was 453.52±143.39 mm immediately prior to the switch. Morphologically, intraretinal cysts were present in all cases. Mean CFT after the first injection decreased significantly to 362.57±92.82 mm (Wilcoxon signed-rank test; P<0.001). At the end of follow-up, the mean CFT was 324.17±98.76 mm (P<0.001). Mean visual acuity was 0.42±0.23 logMAR just prior to the switch, 0.39±0.31 logMAR after one aflibercept injection, and 0.37±0.22 log-MAR at the end of follow-up. The final visual acuity was significantly better than visual acuity before the switch (P=0.04). Conclusion: Eyes with DME unresponsive to multiple ranibizumab/bevacizumab injections demonstrate anatomical and visual improvement on conversion to aflibercept

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance demonstration of the spectrum of morphological phenotypes and patterns of myocardial scarring in Anderson-Fabry disease

published_or_final_versio