bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Going Beyond the Information Given: Seeing versus Seeing as
Authors: Usborne M , Lee B
Published: December 2015

Variations in how we interpret ambiguous figures indicate that how a visual stimulus is perceived is determined by both its ‘objective’ visual pattern and the particular attitude we adopt towards it, ie what we see the stimulus as (Chambers and Reisberg, 1992 Cognitive Psychology24 145 – 174). We report two experiments in which (i) ambiguous figures and (ii) natural scenes have been used to examine the relationship between how an image is perceived and what that image means to an observer.

In experiment 1 we used ‘invertible figures’ (images which when inverted portray different objects) to test two groups, (i) upright, and (ii) inverted orientation, on a recognition task involving distorted versions of the original stimulus. We found systematic differences between the two groups such that the meaning attributed to the original image determined how it was remembered. In experiment 2 we asked how prior experience affects perception. We measured rock-climbers' and non-rock-climbers' thresholds for detecting (i) non-meaningful visual pattern changes (surface changes), and (ii) meaningful changes in terms of climber affordances (deep changes). We found that climbers had lower thresholds for detecting deep changes and higher thresholds for detecting surface changes, compared with non-climbers. In contrast with the explanation based on the incomplete mental image (Chambers and Reisberg, loc. cit.), we propose that such differences are due to differences in attitude adopted towards the original stimulus, and these in turn determine what types of change can be discerned. In other words, what is important is not what is seen but how it is seen.
Comparison of Human Occipital Cortical Activation to Lower and Upper Visual Field Stimuli
Authors: Portin K , Vanni S , Hari R
Published: December 2015

We compared cortical responses to lower and upper quadrant and full hemifield stimuli (90° and 180° sectors of circular checkerboards) measured from 15 healthy subjects with a Neuromag-122™ whole-scalp neuromagnetometer. The 0.2 s stimuli were presented once every second, while the subjects fixated a black dot in the centre of the screen.

The first evoked responses, peaking at 70 ms in the contralateral hemisphere, were stronger for lower than for upper field stimulation (13/15 subjects, LVF; 11/15 RVF). The sources of the evoked responses, modelled as equivalent current dipoles, clustered around the calcarine fissure, with a trend for stronger sources after lower than after upper field stimulation (on average 12% LVF; 40% RVF; ns).

Attention-related visual processing may be enhanced in the lower compared with the upper visual field (Rubin et al, 1996 Science271 651 – 653). Although our data showed a strong tendency to larger responses for lower than for upper visual field stimuli, this difference was not significant for source strengths, mainly because of different source depths for upper and lower field stimuli. However, the marked similarity of source current directions for full hemifield and lower quadrant stimuli (15° - 35° upwards from the horizontal axis, viewed from back, compared with directions 15° - 25° downwards for upper field stimuli) suggest that visual input from the lower field is preferred already at early stages of the human visual system.
Effects of Target Discriminability on Colour-based and Location-based Selection
Authors: Laarni J
Published: December 2015

How can we find one visual stimulus in a world filled with thousands of simultaneous stimuli? In particular, how does the search for a looked-for stimulus proceed when we know its colour or location?

We examined the effect of target - distractor confusability on colour-based and location-based selection. The displays consisted of two elements. The target was either an orange or a green line- segment surrounded by a square. The distracting element was either easily distinguished from the target or more confusable with it. Subjects were cued to the colour or location of the target and made a rapid discrimination response to the direction of the target. In different conditions, the most likely target location (above or below the centre of the display) and colour were cued. With a clear distinction between the target and the distractor, performance differed with valid and invalid cues only in the location-cuing condition. When the distinction was poorer, both colour and location cues had a significant effect. The results show that, if necessary, attentional selection can be triggered by different stimulus attributes, even though selection may always proceed via space.
Detecting and Identifying Mirror-Symmetric Letters in the Periphery: A Test of the Equivalent-Size Hypothesis
Authors: Yssaad R , Maloney L T , Knoblauch K
Published: December 2015

If the visual mechanisms underlying form perception scale similarly with eccentricity, then performance in regions of different eccentricity should be characterised by a single function of the form f( s/ e) where s is a spatial variable, like size or spatial frequency, and e is a parameter that represents the local scale at that eccentricity. This formulation implies that performance at a given size s0 and eccentricity should be identical to that at a size s1= s0 e1/ e0, at a different eccentricity, where e0 and e1 are the local scale parameters for the two eccentricities. We refer to this as the equivalent-size hypothesis. We tested the equivalent-size hypothesis by measuring contrast thresholds for detection and identification of four mirror symmetric letters (b, p, d, q) for a series of sizes at each of three eccentricities (2, 4, and 8 deg). Psychometric functions were obtained for each size and eccentricity with the use of a spatial, 4-alternative forced-choice, double-judgment technique. First, observers specified at which of four positions around the fovea the stimulus appeared. Then they responded with the letter name. At each eccentricity, contrast thresholds for detection and identification as a function of size were described well by a power function. A single power function scaled for eccentricity was able to account for either the detection or the identification behaviour, and a single scaling parameter for the two tasks would not suffice.
The Role of Visual Field Position in Object Recognition
Authors: Dill M , Edelman S
Published: December 2015

Visual recognition of objects is generally assumed to be independent of the location in the field of view. Experiments have shown, however, that for stimuli such as random-dot clouds recognition can be severely affected by retinal displacement (Foster and Kahn, 1985 Biological Cybernetics51 305 – 312; Nazir and O'Regan, 1990 Spatial Vision5 81 – 100; Dill and Fahle, Perception & Psychophysics in press). In a series of new experiments, we tested whether similar shortcomings of translation invariance can be obtained also with more natural-looking objects. For that purpose, we tested human subjects with 3-D animal-like shapes that had been employed previously in studies of rotation invariance (Edelman, 1995 Biological Cybernetics72 207 – 220). Some of our experiments included same - different discrimination, while in others the subjects had to label the briefly displayed stimulus with one of two possible labels. In both tasks, translation invariance was found to be incomplete: performance was significantly reduced when object memory had to be transferred to new locations. This positional specificity parallels the imperfect generalisation of recognition over rotation in depth, reported in the past years by many research groups. Similar to those findings, our present results suggest that the mechanisms of visual object recognition may be view-based rather than object-based. As before, these results have implications concerning the various theoretical approaches to the understanding of recognition currently under consideration.
Thresholds for Identification of Shape
Authors: Gutauskas A , Bertulis A
Published: December 2015

Shape thresholds of geometrical figures have been found equal in cases when both the shortest and the longest linear dimensions of different stimuli were the same (Gutauskas et al, 1994 Perception23 Supplement, 43). The regularity depended neither on colour, nor on size, nor on spatial orientation of the stimuli. In the present study we have checked this result with five different stimuli, which had a central symmetry. Circles, squares, equilateral triangles, pentagons, and hexagons were taken for the psychophysical measurements of the increment shape thresholds. The stimuli, as bright filled objects, were shown on the dark screen of the optical stimulator. Monochromatic light (wavelength 552 nm) was used for the stimuli. As the area of the stimuli increased [from 8 to 1157 (min arc)2], the threshold decreased gradually. Five curves, running in parallel, were obtained in a certain order: squares, hexagons, circles, pentagons, and triangles, if seen from top to bottom. The data obtained demonstrate that the thresholds for identification of shape are different if various figures are of equal area, and they are the same if the figures are of equal height. This supports the idea that certain spatial frequencies of the two-dimensional spectra of the stimuli and the shape thresholds may be interrelated variables.
People with Good Nonverbal Thinking Show High Scores in ‘Virtual Aircraft Landing’
Authors: Levashova H , Kevorkova E , Levashov O V
Published: December 2015

We have used a 3-D studio to generate a situation of virtual aircraft landing with the object of investigating if everyone can solve this task successfully. A virtual surface was covered with green texture which had large grains. Landing had to be done at an angle of about 30°. The space above the surface was divided into seven adjacent layers. Landing began from the first layer and went through all the layers, the seven layer being adjacent to the surface. The task of the subject was to stop the virtual landing in a given layer by pressing a key and using only visual cues of approaching the surface. Seventh subjects participated in the experiment; each made about 180 – 300 trials. Two subjects showed the highest score (A-group); three could not solve this task at all (they worked at the level of guessing) (B-group); the remainder produced intermediate scores. At the same time all subjects were tested by means of standard verbal and nonverbal tests to evaluate the type of thinking. Subjects from the B-group had a clear verbal or mathematical type of thinking. On the contrary, subjects from the A-group had the highest scores in the Kettel and Raven tests (tests for nonverbal thinking). Moreover the two subjects from the A-group had the highest level of driver skill in comparison with the others. Thus individuals with poor nonverbal thinking appear to perform worse at sensory-motor activities such as driving and aircraft landing.
Scene Recognition after Active and Passive Learning
Authors: Christou C G , Bülthoff H H
Published: December 2015

Most research on visual recognition has been carried out on isolated objects with the main finding being that for certain classes of objects recognition strongly depends on the views learned during training. Recognition of scenes, ie structured environments, is rarely studied, possibly because of the difficulty involved in isolation and control of pertinent cues. We can overcome such problems by using computer graphics to model structured environments where training or learning is facilitated by active explorations with the use of VR technology.

We are trying to determine whether there exists the same degree of view-dependence in scenes as has been found for objects. We do this by using a single, sparsely decorated, yet structured room with which subjects familiarise themselves. This learning process can take two forms: either active or passive. In the active case, subjects can manoeuvre in a restricted set of directions in order to find ‘hidden’ coded targets. In the passive case, fifty 2-D views of the room are presented to them in random sequence with some views containing embedded targets which they have to acknowledge. Correct responses and response latencies of eighteen subjects in each condition were recorded in subsequent (old/new) recognition tests. Performance for recognition from familiar directions was similar after active and passive learning (eg approx. 80% hits). However, we found that active learning facilitates recognition from unfamiliar directions ( d' active = 0.96; passive = 0.22). This superior performance after active learning could be due to the increased availability of 3-D information (eg from motion parallax during movement). We are therefore testing this using binocular disparity as a depth cue during passive learning.
Prospects of Spin Catalysis on Spin-Polarized Graphene Heterostructures
Authors: Avramov Pavel V. , Sorokin Pavel B. , Kuzubov Alex A. , Sakai Seiji , Entani Shiro , Naramoto Hiroshi
Published: December 2015

Extreme points on potential energy surfaces of Ni adatom on free-standing graphene and top:fcc and hcp:fcc graphene/Ni(111) heterostructures in different spin states were studied using periodic boundary conditions density functional theory approach. It was found that the spin states of the substrates strongly influence the energy of the Ni adatom extreme points on potential energy surface by decreasing (top:fcc heterostructure) or increasing (hcp:fcc heterostructure) the total energies of η1, η1′, and η2 Ni adatom coordinations on graphene. This phenomenon offers unique possibilities to control the potential energy surfaces of transition metal adatoms and promote surface chemical reactions using induced spin polarization of graphene substrates.
Biochemical and molecular characterisation of salt-induced poor grain filling in a rice cultivar
Authors: Panda Binay B. , Badoghar Alok K. , Sekhar Sudhanshu , Kariali Ekamber , Mohapatra Pravat K. , Shaw Birendra P.
Published: December 2015

Despite the prevalence of poor grain filling in rice (Oryza sativa L.) under abiotic stress, the reason for this is largely unexplored. Application of 0.75% NaCl to a salt-sensitive rice cultivar at late booting resulted in a >20% yield loss. Spikelets per panicle and the percentage of filled grain decreased significantly in response to NaCl application. The inhibitory effect of NaCl on grain filling was greater in basal than in apical spikelets. Sucrose synthase (SUS) activity was positively correlated with grain weight. The transcript levels of the SUS isoforms differed greatly: the levels of SUS2 increased significantly in response to salt; those of SUS4 decreased drastically. Gene expression studies of starch synthase and ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase showed that the decreased transcript levels of one isoform was compensated by an increase in those of the other. Salt application also significantly increased the gene expression of the ethylene receptors and the ethylene signalling proteins. The increase in their transcript levels was comparatively greater in basal than in apical spikelets. Significant enhancement in the transcript levels of the ethylene receptors and the increase in the production of ethylene indicated that the salt-induced inhibition of grain filling might be mediated by ethylene. Additionally, the inhibition of chromosomal endoreduplication mediated by decreased transcript levels of B-type cyclin could explain poor grain filling under salt stress. A significant increase in the transcript levels of the ethylene-responsive factors in the spikelets during grain filling in response to salt indicated their possible protective role in grain filling under stress.
A Petrarchan source of Tirant lo Blanc
Authors: Cantalupi Cecilia
Published: December 2015

Chapter cxliii of the Catalan novel Tirant lo Blanc relates to Abdallah Salomon’s didactic speech to the protagonist, Tirant. It is a faithful adaptation of the Latin letter Fam. xii 2 written by Petrarch in 1352 and sent by him from Avignon to Niccolò Acciaiuoli. The letter was first translated into Catalan at the beginning of the 15th century. Two different, independent copies of the original translation are preserved in Madrid (Biblioteca Nacional, ms. 7811) and Barcelona (Biblioteca de Catalunya, ms. 6). This essay will try to determine how the original Latin letter could have arrived in Catalonia and will draw attention to some significant variations between its critical text and the three Catalan versions, trying to identify which witness of the Petrarchan Rerum familiarium libri could have been the base for the translation.
La relació de Martorell a la cort de Nàpols i la discreta presència d’Itàlia en Tirant lo Blanc
Authors: Soler Molina Abel
Published: December 2015

Despite the presence in documents of Joanot Martorell in the court of Naples, Italy (the geography, the linguistical influx, the humanism, the glorious king Alfons d’Aragó…) does not belong to the novel project titled Tirant lo Blanc, which ranges from the Athlantic West to the Byzantine East. Although the appearance of two different lists of noble people from Naples – identified by Riquer, respectively, as supporters and detractors of the king Ferran – there is not any coherence nor accuracy. Nevertheless, the precarious coexistence in Naples of Joanot Martorell with Jaume de Vilaragut (hero in the siege of Rodes, chaptain in an unsuccessful crusade in Constantinople, master of a “servant” called Carmesina) had an influence in the plot and the fictional universe thought by the writer.
The Fier baiser
Authors: Quarti Lara
Published: December 2015

Chapters cdx–cdxiii of Martorell’s Tirant lo Blanc narrate knight Espèrcius’ fantastic adventures after the shipwreck on the shores of Lango. Unlike the rest of the novel, which is characterized by the verisimilitude, this episode shows many typical topoi of fantasy fiction, particularly referring to Espèrcius’ ultimate trial: the Fier baiser. Martorell draws from several sources – starting with Sir John Mandeville’s Le livre des merveilles du monde – developing and adapting the legend of Hipocràs’ daughter, turned into a dreadful dragon, to his purposes. By kissing the monstrous Dragon Maiden and breaking the spell Espèrcius completes his initiation thus fulfilling his destiny: he obtains the princess’ hand and the sovereignty of the island. This episode represents a small break from the predominant realism of the novel, since in these chapters magic and fantasy take over the reality.
Linguistic Variation in Research Articles
Authors: Gray Bethany
Published: December 2015

Linguistic Variation in Research Articles investigates the linguistic characteristics of academic research articles, going beyond a traditional analysis of the generically-defined research article to take into account varied realizations of research articles within and across disciplines. It combines corpus-based analyses of 70+ linguistic features with analyses of the situational, or non-linguistic, characteristics of the Academic Journal Registers Corpus: 270 research articles from 6 diverse disciplines (philosophy, history, political science, applied linguistics, biology, physics) and representing three sub-registers (theoretical, quantitative, and qualitative research). Comprehensive analyses include a lexical/grammatical survey, an exploration of structural complexity, and a Multi-Dimensional analysis, all interpreted relative to the situational analysis of the corpus. The finding that linguistic variation in research articles does not occur along a single parameter like discipline is discussed relative to our understanding of disciplinary practices, the multidimensional nature of variation in research articles, and resulting methodological considerations for corpus studies of disciplinary writing.
Rationality with respect to people, places, and times
Authors: Temkin Larry S.
Published: December 2015

There is a rich tradition within game theory, decision theory, economics, and philosophy correlating practical rationality with impartiality, and spatial and temporal neutrality. I argue that in some cases we should give priority to people over both times and places, and to times over places. I also show how three plausible dominance principles regarding people, places, and times conflict, so that we cannot accept all three. However, I argue that there are some cases where we should give priority to times over people, suggesting that there is impersonal value to the distribution of high quality life over different times.
Turbulence spreading in gyro-kinetic theory
Authors: Migliano P. , Buchholz R. , Grosshauser S.R. , Hornsby W.A. , Peeters A.G. , Stauffert O.
Published: December 2015

In this letter a new operative definition for the turbulence intensity in connection with magnetized plasmas is given. In contrast to previous definitions the new definition satisfies a Fisher–Kolmogorov–Petrovskii–Piskunov type equation. Furthermore, explicit expressions for the turbulence intensity and the turbulence intensity flux, that allow for the first time direct numerical evaluation, are derived. A carefully designed numerical experiment for the case of a tokamak is performed to study the impact of turbulence spreading. The effective turbulence diffusion coefficient is measured to be smaller than the heat conduction coefficient and the turbulence spreading length is found to be of the order of the turbulence correlation length. The results show that turbulence spreading can play a role in the non-local flux gradient relation, or in the scaling of transport coefficients with the normalized Larmor radius, only over lengths scale of the order of the turbulence correlation length. A new turbulence convection mechanism, due to the drift connected with the magnetic field inhomogeneities, is described. The convective flux integrates to zero under the flux surface average unless there is an up–down asymmetry in the tubulence intensity. The latter asymmetry can be generated through a radial inhomogeneity or plasma rotation. It is shown that the turbulence convection can lead to a spreading of the order of the correlation length.
Uniform analytic properties of representation zeta functions of finitely generated nilpotent groups
Authors: Dung Duong , Voll Christopher
Published: December 2015

Let

G
G

be a finitely generated nilpotent group. The representation zeta function

ζ
G

(
s
)

\zeta _G(s)

of

G
G

enumerates twist isoclasses of finite-dimensional irreducible complex representations of

G
G

. We prove that

ζ
G

(
s
)

\zeta _G(s)

has rational abscissa of convergence

α
(
G
)

\alpha (G)

and may be meromorphically continued to the left of

α
(
G
)

\alpha (G)

and that, on the line

{
s
∈

C

∣

R
e

(
s
)
=
α
(
G
)
}

\{s\in \mathbb {C} \mid \mathrm {Re}(s) = \alpha (G)\}

, the continued function is holomorphic except for a pole at 

s
=
α
(
G
)

s=\alpha (G)

. A Tauberian theorem yields a precise asymptotic result on the representation growth of

G
G

in terms of the position and order of this pole.

We obtain these results as a consequence of a result establishing uniform analytic properties of representation zeta functions of torsion-free finitely generated nilpotent groups of the form

G

(

O

)

\mathbf {G}(\mathcal {O})

, where

G

\mathbf {G}

is a unipotent group scheme defined in terms of a nilpotent Lie lattice over the ring

O

\mathcal {O}

of integers of a number field. This allows us to show, in particular, that the abscissae of convergence of the representation zeta functions of such groups and their pole orders are invariants of 

G

\mathbf {G}

, independent of 

O

\mathcal {O}

.
Calcium carbonate saturation state: on myths and this or that stories
Authors: Waldbusser George G. , Hales Burke , Haley Brian A.
Published: December 2015

In a recent opinion article titled “The Omega Myth”, Cyronak et al. provide a series of arguments as to why saturation state should not matter to marine calcifiers. In sections of their article, they highlight several aspects of our published work, and unfortunately appear to misinterpret the foundation for the kinetic–energetic hypothesis we have laid out previously. While we are in full agreement that omega sensitivity is not a substrate limitation issue, we more clearly detail below what a kinetic limitation means and why it is different from a substrate limitation. The kinetic argument we have previously presented highlights how the energetic cost of calcification increases with a decreasing saturation state (or omega). We then highlight several issues with a bicarbonate/proton flux model applied to newly developing marine bivalve larvae, and discuss how a bicarbonate/proton flux and omega-based sensitivity model do not have to be mutually exclusive. Our intent with this comment is to clarify the points raised by Cyronak et al. about our work, and help to move the thinking past dialectic debate towards a more synthetic view on ocean acidification impacts on marine calcifiers.
RNA-seq and Bulked Segregant Analysis of a Gene Related to High Growth in Ginkgo biloba Half-siblings.
Authors: Tang Hai Xia , Li Ji Hong , Xing Shi Yan , Du Shu Hui , Wang Zhong Tang , Liu Xiao Jing , Sun Li Min
Published: December 2015

We combined mRNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) with bulked segregant analysis (BSA) to fine map significant agronomic trait genes by developing polymorphism molecular markers at the transcriptome level. RNA-Seq data provides BSA with genotype information in RNA Pool to screen out linked genes (low in false positives) after data analysis, and the efficiency of development and verification of the linked polymorphism marker is greatly improved. This combined approach (named BSR) has been applied to plant transcriptome sequencing in sunflower, corn, wheat, and Arabidopsis thaliana. Ginkgo biloba is a deciduous tree that belongings to the Ginkgoaceae family and has been recognized as a “living fossil”. It has important economic and cultural value in China. The lifetime of G. biloba is very long, and its growth is relatively slow. Studies have shown that geographic latitude, temperature, and soil nutrient influence the growth of G. biloba; however, little is known about growth-related genes. In this study, transcriptome sequencing of high growth (GD) and low growth (BD) samples of G. biloba half-sib families was performed. After assembling the clean reads, 601 differential expression genes were detected and 513 of them were assigned functional annotations. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis identified SNPs associated with 119 genes in the GD and BD groups; 58 of these genes were annotated. This study provides molecular level data that could be used for seed selection of high growth G biloba half-sib families for future breeding programs.
Mutation rates and the evolution of germline structure
Authors: Scally Aylwyn
Published: December 2015

Genome sequencing studies ofde novomutations in humans have revealed surprising incongruities with our understanding of human germline mutation. In particular, the mutation rate observed in modern humans is substantially lower than that estimated from calibration against the fossil record, and the paternal age effect in mutations transmitted to offspring is much weaker than expected from our longstanding model of spermatogenesis. I consider possible explanations for these discrepancies, including evolutionary changes in life history parameters such as generation time and the age of puberty, a possible contribution from undetected post-zygotic mutations early in embryo development, and changes in cellular mutation processes at different stages of the germline. I suggest a revised model of stem cell state transitions during spermatogenesis, in which ‘dark’ gonial stem cells play a more active role than hitherto envisaged, with a long cycle time undetected in experimental observations. More generally I argue that the mutation rate and its evolution depend intimately on the structure of the germline in humans and other primates.
Methylome analysis reveals dysregulated developmental and viral pathways in breast cancer
Authors: Abdallah Mohammed OE , Algizouli Ubai K , Suliman Maram Abbas , Abdulrahman Rawya Abdulaziz , Koko Mahmoud , Fessahaye Ghimja , Shakir Jamal Haleem , Fahal Ahmed H. , Elhassan Ahmed M , Ibrahim Muntaser E , Mohamed Hiba S
Published: December 2015

Background

Breast cancer (BC) ranks among the most common cancers in Sudan and worldwide with hefty toll on female health and human resources. Recent studies have uncovered a common BC signature characterized by low frequency of oncogenic mutations and high frequency of epigenetic silencing of major BC tumor suppressor genes. Therefore, we conducted a genome-wide methylome study to characterize aberrant DNA methylation in breast cancer.

Results

Differential methylation analysis between primary tumor samples and normal samples from healthy adjacent tissues yielded 20188 differentially methylated positions (DMPs), which is further divided into 13633 hypermethylated sites corresponding to 5339 genes and 6555 hypomethylated sites corresponding to 2811 genes. Moreover, bioinformatics analysis revealed epigenetic dysregulation of major developmental pathways including hippo signaling pathway. We also uncovered many clues to a possible role for EBV infection in BC

Conclusion

Our results clearly show the utility of epigenetic assays in interrogating breast cancer tumorigenesis, and pinpointing specific developmental and viral pathways dysregulation that might serve as potential biomarkers or targets for therapeutic interventions.
Harmonizing a melody?!
Authors: Vong Sou Kuan
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop a critical analysis of the policy of moral and civic education in the non-tertiary education system in Macao and to examine the kinds of citizens it prepares.

Design/methodology/approach

– It is a qualitative research design informed by the Foucauldian concepts of “governmentality” and “technology of the self” to analyze the moral and civic education policy in Macao.

Findings

– The governmentality or art of government of the moral and civic education policy in Macao is made possible by three strategies, namely “governmentalisation of the state,” construction of “moral and civic education as a field of actions” and creation of “social harmony as a new form of civic virtue.” Based on the disclosed governmentalities, three approaches adopted by the government are identified, “normalising the school system,” “educating the students” and “disciplining the scapegoats.” Through these approaches, two technologies of the self are identified, namely disciplinary power and bio-politics, which are used to prepare citizens. In Macao, it seems that there is a tension between the discourses of active democratic citizenship and patriotic education.

Research limitations/implications

– The type of policy and theoretical analysis the author has adopted in investigating moral and civic education policy illuminates the local and national policy and, in so doing, creates opportunities for building comparative research on similar issues and their implications for education.

Social implications

– This paper can contribute to the local discussion of the possibility of rewriting the meanings of citizenship.

Originality/value

– This paper is comprehensive and can therefore provide a ground for further and future research.
Are we on the same page?
Authors: Min Mina
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– Hong Kong is a case that demonstrates the distinctively multi-dimensional nature of citizenship within and in relation to a given nation. The purposes of this paper are to: first, discuss Hong Kongers’ unique identity and the influence of political, historical and economic factors on them in order to show the value of challenging the “national citizenship” approach as a dominant discourse in the intended curriculum of Hong Kong citizenship education; second, analyze the efforts of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to foster a stronger sense of Chinese national identity in Hong Kong students; and third, evaluate the appropriateness of this nationalistic approach by examining its compatibility with and coherence to in relation to the implemented and attained curriculum.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study analyzes existing scholarly discussions on the PRC’s emphasis on Chinese national identity in citizenship education and negative perceptions held by teachers and students regarding the approach and presentation of their actual teaching and learning practices for citizenship education with empirical data.

Findings

– This paper illuminates the mismatch found between the intended curriculum and the implemented and attained curriculum in terms of the viewpoints of good citizens.

Originality/value

– The notion of “cultural citizenship” is suggested as an alternative approach to developing the curriculum of Hong Kong citizenship education. This paper will be of interest to those curriculum scholars, educational authorities and teachers who are interested in developing and implementing the curriculum of citizenship education.
A novel ontology matching approach using key concepts
Authors: Kiren Tayybah , Shoaib Muhammad
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– Ontologies are used to formally describe the concepts within a domain in a machine-understandable way. Matching of heterogeneous ontologies is often essential for many applications like semantic annotation, query answering or ontology integration. Some ontologies may include a large number of entities which make the ontology matching process very complex in terms of the search space and execution time requirements. The purpose of this paper is to present a technique for finding degree of similarity between ontologies that trims down the search space by eliminating the ontology concepts that have less likelihood of being matched.

Design/methodology/approach

– Algorithms are written for finding key concepts, concept matching and relationship matching. WordNet is used for solving synonym problems during the matching process. The technique is evaluated using the reference alignments between ontologies from ontology alignment evaluation initiative benchmark in terms of degree of similarity, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and IR measures precision, recall and F-measure.

Findings

– Positive correlation between the degree of similarity and degree of similarity (reference alignment) and computed values of precision, recall and F-measure showed that if only key concepts of ontologies are compared, a time and search space efficient ontology matching system can be developed.

Originality/value

– On the basis of the present novel approach for ontology matching, it is concluded that using key concepts for ontology matching gives comparable results in reduced time and space.
Improving retrieval relevance using users’ explicit feedback
Authors: Balakrishnan Vimala , Ahmadi Kian , Ravana Sri Devi
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to improve users’ search results relevancy by manipulating their explicit feedback.

Design/methodology/approach

– CoRRe – an explicit feedback model integrating three popular feedback, namely, Comment-Rating-Referral is proposed in this study. The model is further enhanced using case-based reasoning in retrieving the top-5 results. A search engine prototype was developed using Text REtrieval Conference as the document collection, and results were evaluated at three levels (i.e. top-5, 10 and 15). A user evaluation involving 28 students was administered, focussing on 20 queries.

Findings

– Both Mean Average Precision and Normalized Discounted Cumulative Gain results indicate CoRRe to have the highest retrieval precisions at all the three levels compared to the other feedback models. Furthermore, independentt-tests showed the precision differences to be significant. Rating was found to be the most popular technique among the participants, producing the best precision compared to referral and comments.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings suggest that search retrieval relevance can be significantly improved when users’ explicit feedback are integrated, therefore web-based systems should find ways to manipulate users’ feedback to provide better recommendations or search results to the users.

Originality/value

– The study is novel in the sense that users’ comment, rating and referral were taken into consideration to improve their overall search experience.
Alternative metric indicators for funding scheme evaluations
Authors: Thelwall Mike , Kousha Kayvan , Dinsmore Adam , Dolby Kevin
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of altmetric and webometric indicators to aid with funding agencies’ evaluations of their funding schemes.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper analyses a range of altmetric and webometric indicators in terms of suitability for funding scheme evaluations, compares them to traditional indicators and reports some statistics derived from a pilot study with Wellcome Trust-associated publications.

Findings

– Some alternative indicators have advantages to usefully complement scientometric data by reflecting a different type of impact or through being available before citation data.

Research limitations/implications

– The empirical part of the results is based on a single case study and does not give statistical evidence for the added value of any of the indicators.

Practical implications

– A few selected alternative indicators can be used by funding agencies as part of their funding scheme evaluations if they are processed in ways that enable comparisons between data sets. Their evidence value is only weak, however.

Originality/value

– This is the first analysis of altmetrics or webometrics from a funding scheme evaluation perspective.
Food safety and Chinese geographical indications
Authors: Zhao Xing , Kneafsey Moya , Finlay Donald
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the ability of the Chinese geographical indications (GI) system to offer extra guarantees on food safety.

Design/methodology/approach

– Based on a network approach, the research includes a literature review and takes a sample of GI products in Jiangxi Province as a means of exploring the ability of the GI system to enhance food safety in China.

Findings

– The safety level of Chinese GI food products is not automatically ensured by GI schemes alone. The Chinese Government appears to be using GI labels more as a promotional tool to enhance farmers’ incomes rather than as a means of reducing safety concerns and is thus missing an opportunity to enhance food safety in tandem with adding value.

Originality/value

– This research is of academic value and of value to policy makers. The results suggest an urgent need to encourage producers to attend GI management programmes, to generate appropriate GI standards, to be actively involved in GI issuing processes, and thus to provide “safe” GI products. Meanwhile, with weak government enforcement, there is also a need to build an effective food safety regulatory system to ensure food safety and protect consumers’ rights.
Chinese consumers’ behavior and preference to table grapes
Authors: Weisong Mu , Chengcheng Li , Dong Tian , Jianying Feng
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to analyze and identify Chinese consumers’ behavior and preference characters toward table grapes, especially to explore the variance of consumption preference in recent five years.

Design/methodology/approach

– Two representative China-wide questionnaire surveys were conducted by face-to-face and online questionnaire survey, respectively, in 2009 and 2014. Comparative study was adopted to dig the changes of consumers’ preferences and habits. ANOVA was adopted to explore the statistically difference among consumers’ behavior and preferences.

Findings

– The results indicate that Chinese consumers are rational-motivation-driven grape consumers, they prefer to sweet taste, seedless and medium priced grapes. Safety and quality characters (clean appearance, freshness and taste) were ranked as the most important grape attributes. As a whole, it was found that consumers are more quality-focussed and safety-conscious five years later, so some variances was showed in their purchase habits and preferences, such as the choice of purchase place, attitude to special grapes and willingness to pay to safe and genetically modified grapes.

Originality/value

– This research not only indicates some stable preferences of Chinese consumers toward table grape, but also finds out some significant changes in consumers’ behavior before and after five years based on a comparative study in 2009 and 2014.
Building psychological safety for employee engagement in post-recession
Authors: Tiwari Binita , Lenka Usha
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the role of psychological safety in engaging employees at times of economic recession.

Design/methodology/approach

– Review of literature.

Findings

– On perceiving a psychologically safe environment, employees freely share their knowledge, learn, and take risks to build their intrapreneurial abilities that would facilitate their level of engagement toward organization.

Originality/value

– Focuses on employee engagement by taking into consideration the key measurements of psychological safety in post-recession.
Improving critical thinking skills through the integration of problem based learning and group investigation
Authors: Asyari Marhamah , Al Muhdhar Mimien Henie Irawati , Susilo Herawati , . Ibrohim
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to improve the critical thinking of biology students of STKIP Hamzanwadi Selong on an environment course through the implementation of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Group Investigation (GI) through Lesson Study.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study employed a descriptive qualitative method. The subjects of the study were 73 freshmen biology students academic year 2013/2014 who were divided into two classes. The Lesson Study was conducted in 16 cycles, comprising Plan, Do, and See stages. The instrument of the study used to measure the students’ critical thinking was an essay test which covered several criteria of critical thinking adapted from SOLO Taxonomy.

Findings

– The implementation of PBL and GI encouraged the students to think critically through planning, arguing, stating questions and problems, and analysing and providing solutions to the surrounding environmental problems.

Originality/value

– This study depicted Lesson Study activity on an environment course which focused on the students’ critical thinking activity through the integration of PBL and GI. The learning was conducted through Lesson Study and was based on the environment. The crucial value of the Lesson Study was the lecturers showed more attention to the students since they wanted to know the students’ learning style and what made them learn.
Using the socio-economic approach to management to augment Lean Six Sigma
Authors: Goffnett Sean P. , Lepisto Lawrence , Hayes Randall
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present a framework and a case that delineates the coordinated use of the socio-economic approach to management (SEAM) and Lean Six Sigma (LSS) to facilitate operational change.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study uses action research and thematic analysis to explore the augmentation of existing process improvement and organizational assessment methodologies in a production environment.

Findings

– Organizations are under increasing pressure to improve all aspects of business. Project leaders and consultants often follow popular quantitatively oriented protocols like LSS to evaluate explicit operational processes. Including a qualitatively oriented protocol like SEAM expands the project leader’s capability through greater consideration of implicit organizational issues. This paper presents a case where LSS was complemented by SEAM to assess a process that was entangled with several latent organizational dysfunctions.

Practical implications

– SEAM and LSS are accepted protocols to facilitate process improvement and organizational change. Pairing the two protocols into a SEAM-LSS model offers the strengths of each approach, while compensating for the limitations of each. The result is a more inclusive change protocol that reduces potential oversights and inefficiencies that could occur if project leaders worked within the purview of only one methodology.

Originality/value

– This paper uses action research to propose a model to bring qualitative and quantitative methodologies together into a larger complementary framework to use when evaluating organizational problems and opportunities. This paper aims to stimulate discussion and research that would lead to more robust process improvement protocols.
Impact of perceived organizational support, psychological empowerment and leader member exchange on commitment and its subsequent impact on service quality
Authors: Jaiswal Deepakshi , Dhar Rajib Lochan
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of perceived organizational support (POS), psychological empowerment (PE) and leader member exchange (LMX) as antecedents on the commitment level of employees working in the hotel industry and their subsequent impact on service quality (SQ).

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were collected from 436 employees and 1,320 customers from 34 hotels with the help of a structured self-administered questionnaire. The analysis of data were done by applying a confirmatory factor analysis along with a structural equation model.

Findings

– The findings of the study indicate that organizational commitment acts as a full mediator between: POS and SQ; and leader-member exchange and SQ. On the other hand, it acts a partial mediator between PE and SQ.

Originality/value

– This study contributes to organizational behavior and services marketing literature. It examines the relationship between antecedents (LMX, PE and POS) and outcome (SQ) so as to observe the cumulative effect of antecedents on outcome through an integrated model. The study suggests the managerial as well as theoretical implications on the basis of the findings.
Suicidality in the Deep South: risks for adolescent Mississippians
Authors: Mandracchia Jon , To Yen , Pichette Shauna
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to better understand suicidality among adolescent Mississippians.

Design/methodology/approach

– Mississippi-specific data were obtained from an existing national health data set and utilized for two hierarchal linear regressions.

Findings

– Highest risk for adolescent suicidality is for females with poor body image and a history of traumatic experiences.

Research limitations/implications

– This study demonstrates the need for further research into unique suicide risk factors for adolescents in Mississippi. Causality cannot be inferred due to the correlational nature of this study, and direct comparison of the findings to adolescents from other states cannot be made.

Originality/value

– This exploratory study employed a holistic, inclusive approach toward better identifying adolescent Mississippians most at-risk for suicidality; findings lead to future, targeted research efforts for better understanding specific suicide risk factors in this population.