The ambivalence of losing weight after bariatric surgery

This study is grounded in a phenomenological lifeworld perspective. It aims at providing rich descriptions of lived experience of the process of losing weight after obesity surgery. Two women participated in in-depth interviews four times each during the first postoperative year. Based on the women's experiences, a meaning structure—the ambivalence of losing weight after obesity surgery—was identified across the women's processes of change. This consisted of five core themes: movement and activity—freedom but new demands and old restraints; eating habits and digestion—the complexity of change; appearance—smaller, but looser; social relations—stability and change; and being oneself—vulnerability and self-assurance. These core themes changed over time in terms of dominance. The experience of ambivalence is discussed according to a phenomenological perspective of the body as lived experience

Inter-organizational governance and trilateral trust building: a case study of crowdsourcing-based open innovation in China

In a case study of a Chinese crowdsourcing intermediary, we explore the impact of inter-organizational governance on trilateral trust-building. We show that formal control and relational governance mechanisms are essential for swift and knowledge-based trust in R&D crowdsourcing. The case also indicates that Chinese businesses continue to use guanxi (informal personal connections) as a relational and contingent mechanism to maintain affect-based trust, but guanxi is shown to inhibit the growth of Internet-based crowdsourcing for open innovation in China

IT Outsourcing in Finnish Business

This paper reviews the characteristics and magnitude of information technology (IT) outsourcing as well as studies its labor productivity effects with a representative sample of Finnish businesses. Depending on the IT task in question, on average from one-third to two-thirds of IT has been outsourced; of the ten categories considered, the development of non-Internet business-to-business applications (e.g., EDI) is the leading activity in this respect. The various dimensions of IT outsourcing are all highly positively correlated. After controlling for industry and regional effects as well as characteristics of firms and their employees, it is found that an externally-supported computer user is about 20% more productive than an otherwise similar worker without a computer, which corresponds to about 5% output elasticity of outsourced IT; the effect of internally-supported computer use is not statistically significantly different for zero, and it is also several times smaller in magnitude. While the issues of causality, timing, self-selection, and unobserved firm heterogeneity are not fully addressed, the findings nevertheless suggest that IT outsourcing may have significant economic consequences

The Allelic Landscape of Human Blood Cell Trait Variation and Links to Common Complex Disease

Many common variants have been associated with hematological traits, but identification of causal genes and pathways has proven challenging. We performed a genome-wide association analysis in the UK Biobank and INTERVAL studies, testing 29.5 million genetic variants for association with 36 red cell, white cell, and platelet properties in 173,480 European-ancestry participants. This effort yielded hundreds of low frequency (<5%) and rare (<1%) variants with a strong impact on blood cell phenotypes. Our data highlight general properties of the allelic architecture of complex traits, including the proportion of the heritable component of each blood trait explained by the polygenic signal across different genome regulatory domains. Finally, through Mendelian randomization, we provide evidence of shared genetic pathways linking blood cell indices with complex pathologies, including autoimmune diseases, schizophrenia, and coronary heart disease and evidence suggesting previously reported population associations between blood cell indices and cardiovascular disease may be non-causal.We thank members of the Cambridge BioResource Scientific Advisory Board and Management Committee for their support of our study and the National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre for funding. K.D. is funded as a HSST trainee by NHS Health Education England. M.F. is funded from the BLUEPRINT Grant Code HEALTH-F5-2011-282510 and the BHF Cambridge Centre of Excellence [RE/13/6/30180]. J.R.S. is funded by a MRC CASE Industrial studentship, co-funded by Pfizer. J.D. is a British Heart Foundation Professor, European Research Council Senior Investigator, and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator. S.M., S.T, M.H, K.M. and L.D. are supported by the NIHR BioResource-Rare Diseases, which is funded by NIHR. Research in the Ouwehand laboratory is supported by program grants from the NIHR to W.H.O., the European Commission (HEALTH-F2-2012-279233), the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to W.J.A. and D.R. under numbers RP-PG-0310-1002 and RG/09/12/28096 and Bristol Myers-Squibb; the laboratory also receives funding from NHSBT. W.H.O is a NIHR Senior Investigator. The INTERVAL academic coordinating centre receives core support from the UK Medical Research Council (G0800270), the BHF (SP/09/002), the NIHR and Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, as well as grants from the European Research Council (268834), the European Commission Framework Programme 7 (HEALTH-F2-2012-279233), Merck and Pfizer. DJR and DA were supported by the NIHR Programme ‘Erythropoiesis in Health and Disease’ (Ref. NIHR-RP-PG-0310-1004). N.S. is supported by the Wellcome Trust (Grant Codes WT098051 and WT091310), the EU FP7 (EPIGENESYS Grant Code 257082 and BLUEPRINT Grant Code HEALTH-F5-2011-282510). The INTERVAL study is funded by NHSBT and has been supported by the NIHR-BTRU in Donor Health and Genomics at the University of Cambridge in partnership with NHSBT. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the Department of Health of England or NHSBT. D.G. is supported by a “la Caixa”-Severo Ochoa pre-doctoral fellowship

Macromolecular Characterization of Three Barley β-Glucan Standards by Size-Exclusion Chromatography Combined With Light Scattering and Viscometry: An Inter-Laboratory Study

Six (1→3)(1→4)-β-D-glucan standards (A-F) isolated from barley were analyzed by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) in five different laboratories with varying columns, solvent conditions and detector systems (low- and multi-angle light scattering and viscometry). Static (batch) measurements by capillary viscometry and laser light scattering were included. Fairly consistent results were obtained for the weight average molecular weights (Mw), radii of gyration (RG) and intrinsic viscosities [η], demonstrating that the β-glucans may serve as useful standards or reference materials in the study of cereal β-glucans. Average values for Mw were: A,E: 114,000 (±11%); B,C: 374,000 (±9%), D,F: 228,000 (±13%). Some inconsistencies regarding the polydispersity (Mw/Mn) could be ascribed to the influence of peak broadening in certain column/solvent systems. The study further demonstrated that individual researchers tended to use different processing parameters, especially refractive index increments (dn/dc), due to ambiguities in the literature or to differing experimental values. The need for consistent parameters and processing methods is clearly demonstrated

Quality Interactions in Early Childhood Education and Care Center Outdoor Environments

Quality interactions are crucial for children\u27s learning and development. Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centers have the opportunity to support children\u27s learning and development, yet the quality of interactions and influences on the quality of interactions in outdoor environments is not known. Research findings: this study assessed the quality of educator interactions in outdoor environments using the CLASS Pre-K assessment tool. 11 ECEC centres participated in the study, which included 110 educators and 490 children. 87 observations were collected to measure the CLASS Pre-K domains (1-lowest to 7-highest). Mean domain scores were 6.02 (emotional support), 5.23 (Classroom Organization) and 4.46 (Instructional Support). Regression analyses show free routines had significant relationships with Teacher Sensitivity (p = 0.03) and Instructional Learning Formats (p = 0.03), and increased amounts of time spent outside had the most significant relationships with Teacher Sensitivity (p = 0.001) and Behavior Management (p = 0.001). Practice or Policy: The major recommendations that would serve to improve the quality of interactions in outdoor environments include providing a free routine and increasing the amount of time spent in outdoor environments. As these recommendations are modifiable practices, they are potentially the easiest to alter and therefore, with minimal change, could enhance the quality of interactions between educators and children