•Analysis of theories and topics of articles in the first 25 years of Management Accounting Research.•Management Accounting Research’s contribution to critical and social accounting research.•Its ...neglect of politics, sustainability and the needs of civil society, employees and developing countries.•Relating research advances to a personal historiography of accounting research prior to Management Accounting Research’s commencement
This paper examines the contributions Management Accounting Research (MAR) has (and has not) made to social and critical analyses of management accounting in the 25 years since its launch. It commences with a personalised account of the first named author’s experiences of behavioural, social and critical accounting in the 25 years before MAR appeared. This covers events in the UK, especially the Management Control Workshop, Management Accounting Research conferences at Aston, the Inter-disciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conferences; key departments and professors; and elsewhere the formation of pan-European networks, and reflections on a years’ visit to the USA.
Papers published by MAR are analysed according to year of publication, country of author and research site, research method, research subject (type of organization or subject studied), data analysis method, topic, and theory. This revealed, after initial domination by UK academics, increasing Continental European influence; increasing use of qualitative methods over a wide range of topics, especially new costing methods, control system design, change and implementation, public sector transformation, and more recently risk management and creativity. Theoretical approaches have been diverse, often multi-disciplinary, and have employed surprisingly few economic theories relative to behavioural and social theories. The research spans mainly large public and private sector organisations especially in Europe. Seven themes perceived as of interest to a social and critical theory analysis are evaluated, namely: the search for ‘Relevance Lost’ and new costing; management control, the environment and the search for ‘fits’; reconstituting the public sector; change and institutional theory; post-structural, constructivist and critical contributions; social and environmental accounting; and the changing geography of time and space between European and American research. The paper concludes by assessing the contributions of MAR against the aspirations of groups identified in the opening personal historiography, which have been largely met. MAR has made substantial contributions to social and critical accounting (broadly defined) but not in critical areas endeavouring to give greater voice and influence to marginalised sectors of society worldwide. Third Sector organisations, politics, civil society involvement, development and developing countries, labour, the public interest, political economy, and until recently social and environmental accounting have been neglected.
Summary Background Until now, only imatinib and sunitinib have proven clinical benefit in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST), but almost all metastatic GIST eventually develop ...resistance to these agents, resulting in fatal disease progression. We aimed to assess efficacy and safety of regorafenib in patients with metastatic or unresectable GIST progressing after failure of at least imatinib and sunitinib. Methods We did this phase 3 trial at 57 hospitals in 17 countries. Patients with histologically confirmed, metastatic or unresectable GIST, with failure of at least previous imatinib and sunitinib were randomised in a 2:1 ratio (by computer-generated randomisation list and interactive voice response system; preallocated block design (block size 12); stratified by treatment line and geographical region) to receive either oral regorafenib 160 mg daily or placebo, plus best supportive care in both groups, for the first 3 weeks of each 4 week cycle. The study sponsor, participants, and investigators were masked to treatment assignment. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). At disease progression, patients assigned placebo could crossover to open-label regorafenib. Analyses were by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT01271712. Results From Jan 4, to Aug 18, 2011, 240 patients were screened and 199 were randomised to receive regorafenib (n=133) or matching placebo (n=66). Data cutoff was Jan 26, 2012. Median PFS per independent blinded central review was 4·8 months (IQR 1·4–9·2) for regorafenib and 0·9 months (0·9–1·8) for placebo (hazard ratio HR 0·27, 95% CI 0·19–0·39; p<0·0001). After progression, 56 patients (85%) assigned placebo crossed over to regorafenib. Drug-related adverse events were reported in 130 (98%) patients assigned regorafenib and 45 (68%) patients assigned placebo. The most common regorafenib-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher were hypertension (31 of 132, 23%), hand-foot skin reaction (26 of 132, 20%), and diarrhoea (seven of 132, 5%). Interpretation The results of this study show that oral regorafenib can provide a significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with placebo in patients with metastatic GIST after progression on standard treatments. As far as we are aware, this is the first clinical trial to show benefit from a kinase inhibitor in this highly refractory population of patients. Funding Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals.
•The part printing orientation and position influence its accuracy and flexural properties.•Inaccuracies up to 10% may occur along the Z-axis.•Part polymerization with different curing units is ...unlikely to affect its properties.
To evaluate the influence of printing parameters on flexural properties and accuracy of SLA-printed standard objects.
Thirty specimens were printed in 0°, 45° and 90° orientation. Fourth nine more specimens were printed evenly on the build platform. forty more specimens were printed and polymerized with three curing unit. Length, height and width was measured three times for each specimen and compared to the original dimensions. Afterwards all specimens underwent a three-point-bending test to assess their flexural properties. One way ANOVA and the Post-Hoc all pairs Tukey–Kramer HSD test were used for data evaluation.
The print orientation influences the printing accuracy. The parameters printed along the Z-axis are particularly prone to inaccuracies. Specimens with 45° orientation were found to be the most accurate. Object printed on the borders of build platform a rather prone to inaccuracies than those in the center. The 90° specimens with layer orientation parallel to the axial load showed the superior flexural strength and flexural modulus. The use of different curing unit is unlikely to affect the objects printing accuracy and flexural properties.
The anisotropical behavior of printed specimens with regards to build orientation and positioning was revealed. The understanding of how the adjustable printing parameter influence the printing outcome is important for a precise fabrication of surgical guides. Inaccuracies up to 10% along the Z-axis, as revealed in the present study,may restrict an accurate implant placement.
This article examines the drivers and process of change in carbon controls within a New Zealand electricity utility, using a meta‐triangulation approach that employs three theoretical perspectives ...(transactional cost economics, the resource‐based view and new institutional sociology). Results suggest three main objectives motivate carbon controls: cost control, competitiveness and legitimacy. Multiple environmental demands and expectations were met by focusing controls on a particular stakeholder group or objective. Further, the research identifies the conditions under which carbon controls are integrated and institutionalised within an organisational management control system. The theoretical interplay provides insight into inter‐relationships between institutional environments, organisational resources and carbon transactional characteristics.
Since the shale matrix has a very low permeability, the flow in the matrix is often transient flow. Hence, conventional reservoir simulators often do not accurately estimate the mass exchange between ...matrix and fractures. To evaluate the effect of water injection on oil recovery realistically, reservoir simulators need to incorporate the mass transport in the reservoir at different scales. These issues have motivated us to evaluate the contribution of water injection on oil recovery in liquid-rich unconventional reservoirs accounting the effects of salinity, fluid type, shale swelling, and wettability alteration. In this research, a new mass transport model is used to compute the mass transfer mass exchange between the rock matrix and the fractures. A geomechanical model is also used to account for the effect of fluid–rock interaction on the permeability and porosity. The coupled model is solved for every matrix block within the reservoir-scale model to evaluate the overall effect of salt concentration, shale swelling, and wettability alteration on the mass exchange between the fractures and the shale matrix. The reservoir-scale simulation helps to determine the phase pressure, saturation, solute concentration, and liquid production. A computer code was developed to solve the transport and geomechanical equations simultaneously, and the code is validated with the benchmark problems as shown in the Appendix. The results show that osmosis significantly contributes to the recovery of oil from very low permeability shale matrix over a long time period. Shale matrix swelling also significantly reduces the permeability of the shale matrix and fractures, reducing overall oil recovery. Therefore, water injection is not recommended for formations with swelling potential. The modified-zipper pattern is recommended for enhanced oil recovery operations. The simulation results also suggested that oil recovery can be improved by increasing the density of hydraulic fractures.
Hf- and Zr-based metal-organic frameworks are highly stable and porous materials that have been attracted in many applications, especially in biomedicine. The materials are commonly synthesized via ...solvothermal reaction between Hf or Zr salts and organic linkers, however this method requires elongated reaction time as well as results in heterogeneous particles and low yield, which leads to the difficulty for nano MOF synthesis. To overcome these disadvantages, we applied microwave method to enhance the synthetic efficiency and control particle homogeneity of nano UiO-66 framework. The nano MOFs, named Hf-UiO-66 and Zr-UiO-66, with highly homogeneous nanoparticles, very small sizes and high yields could be formed under microwave irradiation within a few minutes. According to the results from XRD, SEM, N2 isotherm sorption, and TGA characterizations, the materials exhibited similar porosity and structure compared to the original framework. Additionally, Hf-UiO-66 and Zr-UiO-66 showed high efficiency for the treatment of curcumin's overdose by adsorbing the drug from aqueous solution with a maximum adsorption capacity up to 463.02 and 466.39 mg g−1, respectively, higher than reported Zr-UiO-66 (393.22 mg g−1). Moreover, the adsorption mechanisms were revealed that the adsorption of curcumin (CUR) by UiO-66 was influenced by defect sites in the MOF structure.
UiO-66 (Hf and Zr) frameworks synthesized under microwave irradiation for curcumin adsorption. Display omitted
•Microwave method is developed for effective and fast synthesis of nano metal-organic frameworks (named Hf- and Zr-UiO-66).•Particle sizes of these materials could be less than 50 nm.•The materials show higher efficiency for curcumin adsorption.•Kinetics and thermodynamics of curcumin adsorption on the MOFs were studied.•Adsorption mechanism was demonstrated by quantum mechanical calculations.
A link stream is a sequence of pairs of the form (t,{u,v}), where t∈N represents a time instant and u≠v. Given an integer γ, the γ-edge between vertices u and v, starting at time t, is the set of ...temporally consecutive edges defined by {(t′,{u,v})|t′∈〚t,t+γ−1〛}. We introduce the notion of temporal matching of a link stream to be an independent γ-edge set belonging to the link stream. We show that the problem of computing a temporal matching of maximum size is NP-hard as soon as γ>1. We depict a kernelization algorithm parameterized by the solution size for the problem. As a byproduct we also give a 2-approximation algorithm.
Both our 2-approximation and kernelization algorithms are implemented and confronted to link streams collected from real world graph data. We observe that finding temporal matchings is a sensitive question when mining our data from such a perspective as: managing peer-working when any pair of peers X and Y are to collaborate over a period of one month, at an average rate of at least two email exchanges every week. We furthermore design a link stream generating process by mimicking the behavior of a random moving group of particles under natural simulation, and confront our algorithms to these generated instances of link streams. All the implementations are open source.
Aims
This study aimed to improve the viability of probiotic bacteria during freeze‐drying by the combination of self‐encapsulation and cryoprotectants.
Methods and Results
Lactiplantibacillus ...plantarum VAL6 and Lactobacillus acidophilus VAR1 were exposed to environmental stresses including temperature, pH and increased CO2 concentration before performing freeze‐drying with the addition of cryoprotectants. The results proved that tested stresses can stimulate the bacteria to synthesize more extracellular polymeric substances to form self‐encapsulation that increases their freeze‐dried viability. In combination with cryoprotectants to form double‐layered microencapsulation, L. plantarum VAL6 stressed at pH 3.5 in combination with whey protein isolate could achieve the highest Improving Cell Viability of 4361‐fold, while L. acidophilus VAR1 stressed at 25oC in combination with alginate gave a maximum Improving Cell Viability of 73.33‐fold.
Conclusions
The combination of self‐encapsulation and cryoprotectants significantly improves the freeze‐dried viability of probiotics.
Significance and Impact of the Study
This is the first report that uses environmental stress to stimulate extracellular polymeric substance synthesis for self‐encapsulation formation combined with the addition of cryoprotectants to enhance the freeze‐dried survival of probiotics. This could be a novel approach in improving the viability of probiotic strains for various applications.
Summary Background Pazopanib, a multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has single-agent activity in patients with advanced non-adipocytic soft-tissue sarcoma. We investigated the effect of ...pazopanib on progression-free survival in patients with metastatic non-adipocytic soft-tissue sarcoma after failure of standard chemotherapy. Methods This phase 3 study was done in 72 institutions, across 13 countries. Patients with angiogenesis inhibitor-naive, metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma, progressing despite previous standard chemotherapy, were randomly assigned by an interactive voice randomisation system in a 2:1 ratio in permuted blocks (with block sizes of six) to receive either pazopanib 800 mg once daily or placebo, with no subsequent cross-over. Patients, investigators who gave the treatment, those assessing outcomes, and those who did the analysis were masked to the allocation. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival. Efficacy analysis was by intention to treat. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT00753688. Findings 372 patients were registered and 369 were randomly assigned to receive pazopanib (n=246) or placebo (n=123). Median progression-free survival was 4·6 months (95% CI 3·7–4·8) for pazopanib compared with 1·6 months (0·9–1·8) for placebo (hazard ratio HR 0·31, 95% CI 0·24–0·40; p<0·0001). Overall survival was 12·5 months (10·6–14·8) with pazopanib versus 10·7 months (8·7–12·8) with placebo (HR 0·86, 0·67–1·11; p=0·25). The most common adverse events were fatigue (60 in the placebo group 49% vs 155 in the pazopanib group 65%), diarrhoea (20 16% vs 138 58%), nausea (34 28% vs 129 54%), weight loss (25 20% vs 115 48%), and hypertension (8 7% vs 99 41%). The median relative dose intensity was 100% for placebo and 96% for pazopanib. Interpretation Pazopanib is a new treatment option for patients with metastatic non-adipocytic soft-tissue sarcoma after previous chemotherapy. Funding GlaxoSmithKline.
Summary Background We report a proof-of-mechanism study of RG7112, a small-molecule MDM2 antagonist, in patients with chemotherapy-naive primary or relapsed well-differentiated or dedifferentiated ...MDM2 -amplified liposarcoma who were eligible for resection. Methods Patients with well-differentiated or dedifferentiated liposarcoma were enrolled at four centres in France. Patients received up to three 28-day neoadjuvant treatment cycles of RG7112 1440 mg/m2 per day for 10 days. If a patient progressed at any point after the first cycle, the lesion was resected or, if unresectable, an end-of-study biopsy was done. The primary endpoint was to assess markers of RG7112-dependent MDM2 inhibition and P53 pathway activation (P53, P21, MDM2, Ki-67, macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 MIC-1, and apoptosis). All analyses were per protocol. This trial is registered with EudraCT, number 2009-015522-10. Results Between June 3, and Dec 14, 2010, 20 patients were enrolled and completed pretreatment and day 8 biopsies. 18 of 20 patients had TP53 wild-type tumours and two carried missense TP53 mutations. 14 of 17 assessed patients had MDM2 gene amplification. Compared with baseline, P53 and P21 concentrations, assessed by immunohistochemistry, had increased by a median of 4·86 times (IQR 4·38–7·97; p=0·0001) and 3·48 times (2·05–4·09; p=0·0001), respectively, at day 8 (give or take 2 days). At the same timepoint, relative MDM2 mRNA expression had increased by a median of 3·03 times (1·23–4·93; p=0·003) that at baseline. The median change from baseline for Ki-67-positive tumour cells was −5·05% (IQR −12·55 to 0·05; p=0·01). Drug exposure correlated with blood concentrations of MIC-1 (p<0·0001) and haematological toxicity. One patient had a confirmed partial response and 14 had stable disease. All patients experienced at least one adverse event, mostly nausea (14 patients), vomiting (11 patients), asthenia (nine patients), diarrhoea (nine patients), and thrombocytopenia (eight patients). There were 12 serious adverse events in eight patients, the most common of which were neutropenia (six patients) and thrombocytopenia (three patients). Discussion MDM2 inhibition activates the P53 pathway and decreases cell proliferation in MDM2 -amplified liposarcoma. This study suggests that it is feasible to undertake neoadjuvant biopsy-driven biomarker studies in liposarcoma. Funding F Hoffmann-La Roche.
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