bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Digital Resources: The DeGolyer Library
Authors: Peterson Anne E. , Boeke Cindy
Published: May 2016

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. Please check back later for the full article.

Collections at Southern Methodist University's DeGolyer Library focus on the U.S. West, the Spanish borderlands, transportation, business history, and much more. The DeGolyer has over 900,000 photographs and is especially rich in Mexican photography. With more than 120 Mexican accessions, mostly from the period ca. 1865–1930, the DeGolyer has one of the most comprehensive photographic collections in the country totaling more than 8,500 photographs and 3,000 negatives. Additional Mexican accessions include portraits, manuscript collections of viceroyalty documents (some signed by Spanish kings), land grants, applications for nobility, documents related to the Catholic Church and to the emperors Iturbide and Maximilian, materials from the Mexican War and Texas Revolution, early maps, currency, and rare books.

A country of great beauty and geographical diversity, Mexico has attracted a variety of photographers from abroad as well as regional image-makers. More than thirty photographers are represented at the DeGolyer. Subjects include landscapes, native peoples, railroads, mining, agriculture, tourist views, and the Mexican 1910 Centennial and Mexican Revolution. Collections at the DeGolyer also illustrate the regime of President Porfirio Díaz (r. 1876–1910) and the eventual struggle for power between the old guard and working-class people leading to the revolution. The Mexican Revolution was a drawn out, violent, and bloody affair, and the DeGolyer has important collections relating to the conflict.

The Norwick Center for Digital Services (nCDS), a unit of Southern Methodist University’s Central University Libraries (CUL), is working with the DeGolyer Library to put an increasing number of the Mexican collections online. The DeGolyer Library’s digitized Mexican accessions are available in the "Mexico: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints" digital collection, which is part of the CUL Digital Collections website.

The nCDS and the DeGolyer Library have documented the digital collection’s use in a variety of publications, exhibits, and educational applications. The primary resources available in "Mexico: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints" are widely used throughout Mexico by Mexican academic researchers, school students, and the general public. The digital collection is also utilized in many other countries by scholars and people who want to learn more about Mexico’s rich cultural heritage and tumultuous past. The nCDS and the DeGolyer Library are continuing to augment this popular digital resource, one that is growing use for the study of Mexican history.
Digital Resources: The Laboratory of Oral History and Image (LABHOI–UFF), Brazil
Authors: Mauad Ana Maria
Published: May 2016

The Laboratory of Oral History and Images (LABHOI), a division of the history department of the Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil, celebrated thirty years of work in 2012. Since its creation in 1982, the LABHOI has been developing projects on the history of memory of different Brazilian communities, based on both oral and visual sources and the relationship between them. Despite its academic origin, the main purpose of the LABHOI’s projects is to engage communities in the production of their own history through visual and oral records. One of the results of this work has been the organization of a digital database accessible to the public at large. The LABHOI has become an important source for theoretical and methodological debates about the uses of visual representations of the past, and its members have published books and articles in this field. Recently, the LABHOI turned to the production of experimental videos based on the idea of the “videographic writing” of history, a modality of historical text that can perfectly mix sounds and images of recollections.
Popular Religion, Death, and Nation in Paraguay
Authors: Huner Michael Kenneth
Published: May 2016

Like many topics in Paraguayan history, the subjects of popular religion and death are under-researched. And yet, if we can conclude anything about them, experiences involving popular religion and death, like many cultural aspects in Paraguay, have intersected with experiences of nationhood. We find many historical and present-day manifestations of this, most conspicuously in language, which inevitably also draws our attention to questions of syncretic religious legacies. Still today most Paraguayans speak Guaraní, a vernacular of indigenous origin. This language itself is a colonial product of the “spiritual conquest,” whose subsequent role in galvanizing popular participation in two postcolonial wars has long been noted. In fact, perusing national monuments and local cemeteries today draws us to a specific time period when many formative links among syncretic experiences of religion, death, and nationhood were being constructed: the fateful López era (1840–1870) that culminated in the cataclysmic War of the Triple Alliance. Here we find how a modern nation-building project attempted to channel, rather than suppress, popular religious energies, and we encounter the many contradictory, and formative, consequences this project produced. A sampling of scholarly literature and primary sources from within a broader framework of Paraguayan history likewise reveals how links among popular religion, death, and state formation are indeed recurring themes for more research that needs to be done.
Alliance for Progress
Authors: Rabe Stephen G.
Published: May 2016

On March 13, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced the Alliance for Progress, an economic assistance program to promote political democracy, economic growth, and social justice in Latin America. The United States and Latin American nations formally agreed to the alliance at a conference held in August 1961, at Punta del Este, Uruguay. U.S. delegates promised that Latin America would receive over twenty billion dollars in public and private capital from the United States and international lending authorities during the 1960s. The money would arrive in the form of grants, loans, and direct private investments. When combined with an expected eighty billion dollars in internal investment, this new money was projected to stimulate an economic growth rate of not less than 2.5 percent a year. This economic growth would facilitate significant improvements in employment, and in rates of infant mortality, life expectancy, and literacy rates. In agreeing to the alliance, Latin American leaders pledged to work for equality and social justice by promoting agrarian reform and progressive income taxes.

The Kennedy administration developed this so-called Marshall Plan for Latin America because it judged the region susceptible to social revolution and communism. Fidel Castro had transformed the Cuban Revolution into a strident anti-American movement and had allied his nation with the Soviet Union. U.S. officials feared that the lower classes of Latin America, mired in poverty and injustice, might follow similarly radical leaders.

Alliance programs delivered outside capital to the region, but the Alliance for Progress failed to transform Latin America. During the 1960s, Latin American economies performed poorly, usually falling below the 2.5 percent target. The region witnessed few improvements in health, education, or welfare. Latin American societies remained unfair and authoritarian. Sixteen extra-constitutional changes of government repeatedly unsettled the region.

The Alliance for Progress fell short of its goals for several reasons. Latin America had formidable obstacles to change: elites resisted land reform, equitable tax systems, and social programs; new credits often brought greater indebtedness rather than growth; and the Marshall Plan experience served as a poor guide to solving the problems of a region that was far different from Western Europe. The United States also acted ambiguously, calling for democratic progress and social justice, but worried that Communists would take advantage of the instability caused by progressive change. Further, Washington provided wholehearted support only to those Latin American governments and organizations that pursued fervent anticommunist policies.
Communicative Repertoires in African Languages
Authors: Storch Anne
Published: May 2016

Even though the concept of multilingualism is well established in linguistics, it is problematic, especially in light of the actual ways in which repertoires are composed and used. The term “multilingualism” bears in itself the notion of several clearly discernable languages and suggests that regardless of the sociolinguistic setting, language ideologies, social history and context, a multilingual individual will be able to separate the various codes that constitute his or her communicative repertoire and use them deliberately in a reflected way. Such a perspective on language isn’t helpful in understanding any sociolinguistic setting and linguistic practice that is not a European one and that doesn’t correlate with ideologies and practices of a standardized, national language. This applies to the majority of people living on the planet and to most people who speak African languages. These speakers differ from the ideological concept of the “Western monolingual,” as they employ diverse practices and linguistic features on a daily basis and do so in a very flexible way. Which linguistic features a person uses thereby depends on factors such as socialization, placement, and personal interest, desires and preferences, which are all likely to change several times during a person’s life. Therefore, communicative repertoires are never stable, neither in their composition nor in the ways they are ideologically framed and evaluated. A more productive perspective on the phenomenon of complex communicative repertoires puts the concept of languaging in the center, which refers to communicative practices, dynamically operating between different practices and (multimodal) linguistic features. Individual speakers thereby perceive and evaluate ways of speaking according to the social meaning, emotional investment, and identity-constituting functions they can attribute to them. The fact that linguistic reflexivity to African speakers might almost always involve the negotiation of the self in a (post)colonial world invites us to consider a critical evaluation, based on approaches such as Southern Theory, of established concepts of “language” and “multilingualism”: languaging is also a postcolonial experience, and this experience often translates into how speakers single out specific ways of speaking as “more prestigious” or “more developed” than others. The inclusion of African metalinguistics and indigenuous knowledge consequently is an important task of linguists studying communicative repertoires in Africa or its diaspora.
Disaster and Response in an Experiment Called New Orleans, 1700s–2000s
Authors: Campanella Richard
Published: May 2016

As an urbanized river-dominated delta, New Orleans, Louisiana, ranks among the most experimental of cities, a test of whether the needs of a stable human settlement can coexist with the fluidity of a deltaic environment—and what happens when they do not.

That natural environment bestowed upon New Orleans numerous advantages, among them abundant fresh water, fertile soils, productive wetlands and, above all, expedient passage between maritime and continental realms. But with those advantages came exposure to potential hazards—an overflowing Mississippi River, a tempestuous Gulf of Mexico, sinking soils, eroding coasts, rising seas, biotic invasion, pestilence, political and racial discord, conflagration—made all the worse by the high levels of social vulnerability borne by all too many members of New Orleans’ population. More so than any other major metropolis on the North American continent, this history of disaster and response is about the future of New Orleans as much as it is about the past.

This article examines two dozen disasters of various types and scales, with origins oftentimes traceable to anthropogenic manipulation of the natural environment, and assesses the nature of New Orleans’ responses. It frames these assessments in the “risk triangle” framework offered by David Crichton and other researchers, which views urban risk as a function of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. “Hazard” implies the disastrous event or trauma itself; “exposure” means human proximity to the hazard, usually in the form of settlement patterns, and “vulnerability” indicates individuals’ and communities’ ability to respond resiliently and adaptively—which itself is a function of education, income, age, race, language, social capital, and other factors—after having been exposed to a hazard.
Readiness for Natural Hazards
Authors: Paton Douglas
Published: May 2016

Humankind has always lived with natural hazards and their consequences. While the frequency and intensity of geological processes may have remained relatively stable, population growth and infrastructure development in areas susceptible to experiencing natural hazards has increased societal risk and the losses experienced from hazard activity. Furthermore, increases in weather-related (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires) hazards emanating from climate change will increase risk in some countries and result in others having to deal with natural hazard risk for the first time.

Faced with growing and enduring risk, disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies will play increasingly important roles in facilitating societal sustainability. This article discusses how readiness or preparedness makes an important contribution to comprehensive DRR. Readiness is defined here in terms of those factors that facilitate people’s individual and collective capability to anticipate, cope with, adapt to, and recover from hazard consequences. This article first discusses the need to conceptualize readiness as comprising several functional categories (structural, survival/direct action, psychological, community/capacity building, livelihood and community-agency readiness).

Next, the article discusses how the nature and extent of people’s readiness is a function of the interaction between the information available and the personal, family, community and societal factors used to interpret information and support readiness decision-making. The health belief model (HBM), protection motivation theory (PMT), person-relative-to-event (PrE) theory, theory of planned behavior (TPB), critical awareness (CA), protective action decision model (PADM), and community engagement theory (CET) are used to introduce variables that inform people’s readiness decision-making. A need to consider readiness as a developmental process is discussed and identifies how the variables introduced in the above theories play different roles at different stages in the development of comprehensive readiness.

Because many societies must learn to coexist with several sources of hazard, an “all-hazards” approach is required to facilitate the capacity of societies and their members to be resilient in the face of the various hazard consequences they may have to contend with. This article discusses research into readiness for the consequences that arise from earthquake, volcanic, flood, hurricane, and tornado hazards. Furthermore, because hazards transcend national and cultural divides, a comprehensive conceptualization of readiness must accommodate a cross-cultural perspective. Issues in the cross-cultural testing of theory is discussed, as is the need for further work into the relationship between readiness and culture-specific beliefs and processes.
Soil Salinization
Authors: Rengasamy Pichu
Published: May 2016

Salt accumulation in soils, affecting agricultural productivity, environmental health, and the economy of the community, is a global phenomenon since the decline of ancient Mesopotamian civilization by salinity. The global distribution of salt-affected soils is estimated to be around 830 million hectares extending over all the continents, including Africa, Asia, Australasia, and the Americas. The concentration and composition of salts depend on several resources and processes of salt accumulation in soil layers. Major types of soil salinization include groundwater associated salinity, non–groundwater-associated salinity, and irrigation-induced salinity. There are several soil processes which lead to salt build-up in the root zone interfering with the growth and physiological functions of plants.

Salts, depending on the ionic composition and concentration, can also affect many soil processes, such as soil water dynamics, soil structural stability, solubility of essential nutrients, and pH and pE of soil water—all indirectly hindering plant growth. The direct effect of salinity includes the osmotic effect affecting water and nutrient uptake and the toxicity or deficiency due to high concentration of certain ions. The plan of action to resolve the problems associated with soil salinization should focus on prevention of salt accumulation, removal of accumulated salts, and adaptation to a saline environment. Successful utilization of salinized soils needs appropriate soil and irrigation management and improvement of plants by breeding and genetic engineering techniques to tolerate different levels of salinity and associated abiotic stress.
Damage and mortality of juvenile seabob shrimp (Xiphopenaeus kroyeri) discarded in a tropical artisanal trawl fishery
Authors: Broadhurst Matt K. , Millar Russell B. , Spach Henry L. , Colombo Nathalia
Published: May 2016

In response to concerns over wastage and negative impacts on stocks, the damage (antennae loss) and collateral mortality of artisanally trawled-and-discarded juvenile seabob shrimp (Xiphopenaeus kroyeri) and the key factors explaining variability were assessed in the South Brazil Bight. During 20 deployments across 7 d of fishing, 1562 X. kroyeri (14.5 ± 3.1 mm carapace length, CL) were discarded into replicate on-board tanks at both the start and end of sorting, with some individuals monitored immediately for antennae loss and mortalities, and the rest assessed after 3 h. Virtually, all X. kroyeri discarded towards the end of sorting (mean ± SD air exposure of 15.9 ± 3.9 min) died. By comparison, those discarded at the start (2.7 ± 2.8 min) had variable temporal mortalities (total of 52.3% immediately vs. 66.2% after 3 h) which, like antennae loss (total mean ± SE of 50.4 ± 34.2%) were positively associated with haul duration/catch weight and deck exposure, and more frequent among individuals with soft than hard exoskeletons. Antennae loss was also negatively correlated with CL. The results support (i) improving trawl selectivity to reduce the catches of small, unwanted X. kroyeri and other bycatch (and therefore total weights of catches) and/or (ii) sorting catches in water (to minimize air exposure). Such modifications might be promoted through awareness of the potential harvest benefits to fishers associated with reducing unaccounted fishing mortality of the targeted species.
Association of Putative Fungal Effectors in Fusarium oxysporum with Wilt Symptoms in Soybean
Authors: Ellis Margaret L. , Lanubile Alessandra , Garcia Charlie , Munkvold Gary P.
Published: May 2016

Fungi within the Fusarium oxysporum species complex can cause root rot, seedling blight, and wilt of soybean. Isolates recovered from soybean vary in aggressiveness and also the type of symptoms they produce. The aim of this study was to identify genetic markers to detect aggressive soybean wilt isolates. Eighty isolates collected primarily from soybean were tested in the greenhouse for their ability to produce wilt symptoms using susceptible ‘Jack’ soybean. The same 80 isolates were assessed for the presence of fungal effector genes Fmk1, Fow1, Pda1, PelA, PelD, Pep1, Prt1, Rho1, Sge1, Six1, Six6, and Snf1. All polymerase chain reaction amplicons were sequenced, phylogenies were inferred, and analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) was performed for 10 of the 12 genes. High incidence of vascular discoloration of roots or stems was observed with 3 isolates, while moderate to low levels of incidence were observed for 25 isolates. Fungal effector genes Fmk1, Fow1, PelA, Rho1, Sge1, and Snf1 were present in all isolates screened, while Pda1, PelD, Pep1, Prt1, Six1, and Six6 were dispersed among isolates. The Bayesian and AMOVA analyses found that the genes Fmk1, Fow1, Pda1, PelA, Rho1, Sge1, and Snf1 corresponded to previously designated clades based on tef1α and mitochondrial small subunit sequences. None of the genes had a significant association with wilt symptoms on soybean. Interestingly, the Six6 gene was only present in three previously known wilt isolates from soybean, common bean, and tomato; of these, the soybean and common bean isolates produced high levels of vascular wilt in our study.
Imaging decision-related neural cascades in the human brain
Authors: Muraskin Jordan , Brown Truman R. , Walz Jennifer M. , Conroy Bryan , Goldman Robin I. , Sajda Paul
Published: May 2016

Perceptual decisions depend on coordinated patterns of neural activity cascading across the brain, running in time from stimulus to response and in space from primary sensory regions to the frontal lobe. Measuring this cascade and how it flows through the brain is key to developing an understanding of how our brains function. However observing, let alone understanding, this cascade, particularly in humans, is challenging. Here, we report a significant methodological advance allowing this observation in humans at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. We use a novel encoding model to link simultaneously measured electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals to infer the high-resolution spatiotemporal brain dynamics taking place during rapid visual perceptual decision-making. After demonstrating the methodology replicates past results, we show that it uncovers a previously unobserved sequential reactivation of a substantial fraction of the pre-response network whose magnitude correlates with decision confidence. Our results illustrate that a temporally coordinated and spatially distributed neural cascade underlies perceptual decision-making, with our methodology illuminating complex brain dynamics that would otherwise be unobservable using conventional fMRI or EEG separately. We expect this methodology to be useful in observing brain dynamics in a wide range of other mental processes.
Interactions between Nodal and Wnt signalling Drive Robust Symmetry-Breaking and Axial Organisation inGastruloids(Embryonic Organoids)
Authors: Turner D.A. , Glodowski C.R. , Alonso-Crisostomo L. , Baillie-Johnson P. , Hayward P.C. , Collignon J. , Gustavsen C. , Serup P. , Schröter C. , Martinez Arias A.
Published: May 2016

Generation of asymmetry within the early embryo is a critical step in the establishment of the three body axes, providing a reference for the patterning of the organism. To study the establishment of asymmetry and the development of the anteroposterior axis (AP) in culture, we utilised our ‘Gastruloid’ model system. ‘Gastruloids’, highly reproducible embryonic organoids formed from aggregates of mouse embryonic stem cells, display symmetry-breaking, polarised gene expression and axial development, mirroring the processes on a time-scale similar to that of the mouse embyro. UsingGastruloidsformed from mouse ESCs containing reporters for Wnt, FGF and Nodal signalling, we were able to quantitatively assess the contribution of these signalling pathways to the establishment of asymmetry through single time-point and live-cell fluorescence microscopy.

During the first 24-48h of culture, interactions between the Wnt/β-Catenin and Nodal/TGF/βsignalling pathways promote the initial symmetry-breaking event, manifested through polarisedBrachyury(T/Bra) expression. Neither BMP nor FGF signalling is required for the establishment of asymmetry, however Wnt signalling is essential for the amplification and stability of the initial patterning event. Additionally, low, endogenous levels of FGF (24-48h) has a role in the amplification of the established pattern at later time-points.

Our results confirm thatGastruloidsbehave like epiblast cells in the embryo, leading us to translate the processes and signalling involved in pattern formation ofGastruloidsin culture to the development of the embryo, firmly establishingGastruloidsas a highly reproducible, robust model system for studying cell fate decisions and early pattern formation in culture.
WASP and SCAR are evolutionarily conserved in actin-filled pseudopod-based motility
Authors: Fritz-Laylin Lillian K. , Lord Samuel J. , Mullins R. Dyche
Published: May 2016

Diverse eukaryotic cells crawl through complex environments using distinct modes of migration. To understand the underlying mechanisms and their evolutionary relationships, we must define each mode, and identify its phenotypic and molecular markers. Here, we focus on a widely dispersed migration mode characterized by dynamic, actin-filled pseudopods that we call “α-motility.” Mining genomic data reveals a clear trend: only organisms with both WASP and SCAR/WAVE—activators of branched actin assembly—make actin-filled pseudopods. While SCAR has been shown to drive pseudopod formation, WASP’s role in this process is controversial. We hypothesize that these genes together represent a genetic signature ofα-motility, because both are used for pseudopod formation. WASP depletion from human neutrophils confirms that both proteins are involved in explosive actin polymerization, pseudopod formation, and cell migration, and colocalize to dynamic signaling structures. Moreover, retention of WASP together with SCAR correctly predictsα-motility in disease-causing chytrid fungi, which we show crawl at >30 μm/min with actin-filled pseudopods. By focusing on one migration mode in many eukaryotes, we identify a genetic marker of pseudopod formation, the morphological feature ofα-motility, providing evidence for a widely distributed mode of cell crawling with a single evolutionary origin.
Molecular basis of PRC1 targeting to Polycomb response elements by PhoRC
Authors: Frey Felice , Sheahan Thomas , Finkl Katja , Stoehr Gabriele , Mann Matthias , Benda Christian , Müller Jürg
Published: May 2016

Polycomb group (PcG) protein complexes repress transcription by modifying target gene chromatin. In Drosophila, this repression requires association of PcG protein complexes with cis-regulatory Polycomb response elements (PREs), but the interactions permitting formation of these assemblies are poorly understood. We show that the Sfmbt subunit of the DNA-binding Pho-repressive complex (PhoRC) and the Scm subunit of the canonical Polycomb-repressive complex 1 (PRC1) directly bind each other through their SAM domains. The 1.9 Å crystal structure of the Scm-SAM:Sfmbt-SAM complex reveals the recognition mechanism and shows that Sfmbt-SAM lacks the polymerization capacity of the SAM domains of Scm and its PRC1 partner subunit, Ph. Functional analyses in Drosophila demonstrate that Sfmbt-SAM and Scm-SAM are essential for repression and that PhoRC DNA binding is critical to initiate PRC1 association with PREs. Together, this suggests that PRE-tethered Sfmbt-SAM nucleates PRC1 recruitment and that Scm-SAM/Ph-SAM-mediated polymerization then results in the formation of PRC1-compacted chromatin.
Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts: orchestrating the composition of malignancy
Authors: Gascard Philippe , Tlsty Thea D.
Published: May 2016

The tumor stroma is no longer seen solely as physical support for mutated epithelial cells but as an important modulator and even a driver of tumorigenicity. Within the tumor stromal milieu, heterogeneous populations of fibroblast-like cells, collectively termed carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), are key players in the multicellular, stromal-dependent alterations that contribute to malignant initiation and progression. This review focuses on novel insights into the contributions of CAFs to disease progression, emergent events leading to the generation of CAFs, identification of CAF-specific biomarkers predictive of disease outcome, and recent therapeutic approaches aimed at blunting or reverting detrimental protumorigenic phenotypes associated with CAFs.
Chronic AMPK activation via loss of FLCN induces functional beige adipose tissue through PGC-1α/ERRα
Authors: Yan Ming , Audet-Walsh Étienne , Manteghi Sanaz , Dufour Catherine Rosa , Walker Benjamin , Baba Masaya , St-Pierre Julie , Giguère Vincent , Pause Arnim
Published: May 2016

The tumor suppressor folliculin (FLCN) forms a repressor complex with AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). Given that AMPK is a master regulator of cellular energy homeostasis, we generated an adipose-specific Flcn (Adipoq-FLCN) knockout mouse model to investigate the role of FLCN in energy metabolism. We show that loss of FLCN results in a complete metabolic reprogramming of adipose tissues, resulting in enhanced oxidative metabolism. Adipoq-FLCN knockout mice exhibit increased energy expenditure and are protected from high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity. Importantly, FLCN ablation leads to chronic hyperactivation of AMPK, which in turns induces and activates two key transcriptional regulators of cellular metabolism, proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) and estrogen-related receptor α (ERRα). Together, the AMPK/PGC-1α/ERRα molecular axis positively modulates the expression of metabolic genes to promote mitochondrial biogenesis and activity. In addition, mitochondrial uncoupling proteins as well as other markers of brown fat are up-regulated in both white and brown FLCN-null adipose tissues, underlying the increased resistance of Adipoq-FLCN knockout mice to cold exposure. These findings identify a key role of FLCN as a negative regulator of mitochondrial function and identify a novel molecular pathway involved in the browning of white adipocytes and the activity of brown fat.
Construction labor productivity convergence: a conditional frontier approach
Authors: Ma Le , Liu Chunlu , Mills Anthony
Published: May 2016

Purpose

– Understanding and simulating construction activities is a vital issue from a macro-perspective, since construction is an important contributor in economic development. Although the construction labor productivity frontier has attracted much research effort, the temporal and regional characteristics have not yet been explored. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the long-run equilibrium and dynamics within construction development under a conditional frontier context.

Design/methodology/approach

– Analogous to the simplified production function, this research adopts the conditional frontier theory to investigate the convergence of construction labor productivity across regions and over time. Error correction models are implemented to identify the long-run equilibrium and dynamics of construction labor productivity against three types of convergence hypotheses, while a panel regression method is used to capture the regional heterogeneity. The developed models are applied to investigate and simulate the construction labor productivity in the Australian states and territories.

Findings

– The results suggest that construction labor productivity in Australia should converge to stable frontiers in a long-run perspective. The dynamics of the productivity are mainly caused by the technology utilization efficiency levels of the local construction industry, while the influences of changes in technology level and capital depending appear limited. Five regional clusters of the Australian construction labor productivity are suggested by the simulation results, including New South Wales; Australian Capital Territory; Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia; South Australia; and Tasmania and Victoria.

Originality/value

– Three types of frontier of construction labor productivity is proposed. An econometric approach is developed to identify the convergence frontier of construction labor productivity across regions over time. The specified model can provides accurate predictions of the construction labor productivity.
Forecasting construction output: a comparison of artificial neural network and Box-Jenkins model
Authors: Lam Ka Chi , Oshodi Olalekan Shamsideen
Published: May 2016

Purpose

– Fluctuations in construction output has an adverse effect on the construction industry and the economy due to its strong linkage. Developing reliable and accurate predictive models is vital to implementing effective response strategies to mitigate the impact of such fluctuations. The purpose of this paper is to compare the accuracy of two univariate forecast models, i.e. Box-Jenkins (autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA)) and Neural Network Autoregressive (NNAR).

Design/methodology/approach

– Four quarterly time-series data on the construction output of Hong Kong were collected (1983Q1-2014Q4). The collected data were divided into two parts. The first part was fitted to the model, while the other was used to evaluate the predictive accuracy of the developed models.

Findings

– The NNAR model can provide reliable and accurate forecast of total, private and “others” construction output for the medium term. In addition, the NNAR model outperforms the ARIMA model, in terms of accuracy.

Research limitations/implications

– The applicability of the NNAR model to the construction industry of other countries could be further explored. The main limitation of artificial intelligence models is the lack of explanatory capability.

Practical implications

– The NNAR model could be used as a tool for accurately predicting future patterns in construction output. This is vital for the sustained growth of the construction industry and the economy.

Originality/value

– This is the first study to apply the NNAR model to construction output forecasting research.
Hospital disaster management’s understanding of built environment impacts on healthcare services during extreme weather events
Authors: Chand Anumitra Mirti , Loosemore Martin
Published: May 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which hospital disaster planners and managers understand the role of built infrastructure in delivering effective healthcare services during extreme weather events (EWEs). There is substantial evidence to indicate that many hospitals are vulnerable to EWEs. This is alarming given community reliance on hospitals during times of natural disaster and the predicted increase in the frequency and intensity of EWEs.

Design/methodology/approach

– In this paper, resilience and learning theories are combined to produce a new conceptual model which illustrates how hospital disaster managers learn about the relationship between health outcomes and built infrastructure during EWEs to build future hospital resilience. In this paper, the first part of the conceptual model, concerning the development of disaster management plans is explored and refined using a thematic content analysis of 14 Australian hospitals’ disaster plans and supplementary plans.

Findings

– The findings indicate high variability of understanding about the role of built facilities in health outcomes during an EWE. There appears to be a widespread and highly questionable assumption in the health disaster planning community that hospital built infrastructure is highly resilient to EWEs. This means that many hospitals will not be unaware of the risks that their buildings pose in the delivery of healthcare services to the community during an EWE and how to manage those risks effectively.

Research limitations/implications

– The theoretical framework presented in this paper provides new insights which will enable hospital infrastructure resilience to be better integrated into health service disaster risk planning and preparedness. The findings can help hospital disaster managers learn about and adapt their built environment to changing healthcare needs during EWEs.

Originality/value

– By integrating learning and resilience theories in a built environment context, this paper provides new insights, both theoretical and practical, into the important role of hospital infrastructure in planning for EWEs.
Interrelationships of factors causing delays in the relocation of utilities
Authors: Vilventhan Aneetha , Kalidindi Satyanarayana N.
Published: May 2016

Purpose

– Relocation of utilities is a major source of delay in Indian infrastructure projects. This delay is particularly critical in road and bridge construction projects. The purpose of this paper is to identify the various factors and also the interrelationships between the factors which influence the delays in the relocation of utilities.

Design/methodology/approach

– Case studies were conducted on 11 road and bridge projects in India with varying levels of complexity and size. Factors causing relocation delays were identified using computer aided qualitative analysis methodology. Cognitive mapping technique was used to map the interrelationships between the factors and to identify the critical delay factors.

Findings

– Factors affecting delays were identified across two groups, namely, technical and organizational factors. The study offers insights into the kinds of interactions of factors that can lead to delays in a project. The critical factors causing delays were identified as slow response from utility agencies, difficulty in identification of underground utilities, lack of information on underground utilities and conflict between agencies.

Research limitations/implications

– The limitations of the study are that the interview respondents are not evenly distributed among the type of organizations which may have induced some bias in responses. The impact of the utility relocation delays on the overall project delay has to be detailed further.

Practical implications

– The interrelationships between factors has the potential to help the officials of highway department, contractors, utility agencies and others understand how various interactions/linkages of factors contributes to delays in utility relocations. Recommendations are provided for the practical use and to reduce the impact of delays.

Originality/value

– Utility relocation has received very little attention in the extant literature and this paper seeks to contribute to knowledge in this area by identifying the linkages between factors and the critical factors of utility relocation delays in India.
Exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect reactions to frequency of change, and impact of change
Authors: Akhtar Muhammad Naseer , Bal Matthijs , Long Lirong
Published: May 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine how frequency of change (FC) in organizations and impact of change (IC) influence the employee behaviors, i.e. exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect (EVLN) through psychological contract fulfillment (PCF) as a mediator. The moderating role of successful past changes (SPC) is also assessed with direct and indirect relations of FC, and IC alongside employees’ behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

– Hypotheses were tested among a sample of 398 financial services-oriented non-managerial-level employees in Pakistan. Bootstrapped moderated mediation analyses (using PROCESS macro) were conducted to test the main and moderated mediation effects. The authors ran series of confirmatory factor analyses to validate the distinctiveness of variables and their items in this study.

Findings

– The results largely supported the hypotheses. Findings showed that FC is negatively related to loyalty but positively related to exit, voice, and neglect behaviors via contract fulfillment. IC is also found to have negatively related to loyalty but positively related to exit, voice, and neglect via PCF. SPC was found to moderate the relation between FC, IC, and contract fulfillment, as well as the indirect relationship with exit, voice, and neglect through contract fulfillment and negatively between FC, IC, and loyalty through contract fulfillment. The authors found direct interaction effects of FC via SPC in relation to exit and loyalty and also found direct interaction effects of IC via SPC to exit, voice, and loyalty.

Research limitations/implications

– The use of cross-sectional research design does not allow conclusions with respect to causality. The most important implication of the study is that employee behaviors following organizational change can best be understood via a psychological contract framework. A future suggestion is to include more organizations based on longitudinal research design with focus on both employee and employer perspective.

Practical implications

– This study highlights the importance of employees’ behavioral responses and their sensemaking of PCF in a post-organizational change period.

Originality/value

– This study empirically investigated the effects of FC, and IC on fulfillment of psychological contract and behavioral responses of employees using a sample of non-managerial employees, and provides new insights into employee behaviors following organizational changes.
The energy efficiency of corporate real estate assets
Authors: Surmann Markus , Brunauer Wolfgang Andreas , Bienert Sven
Published: May 2016

Purpose

On the basis of corporate wholesale and hypermarket stores, this study aims to investigate the relationship between energy consumption, physical building characteristics and operational sales performance and the impact of energy management on the corporate environmental performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A very unique dataset of METRO GROUP over 19 European countries is analyzed in a sophisticated econometric approach for the timeframe from January 2011 until December 2014. Multiple regression models are applied for the panel, to explain the electricity consumption of the corporate assets on a monthly basis and the total energy consumption on an annual basis. Using Generalized Additive Models, to model nonlinear covariate effects, the authors decompose the response variables into the implicit contribution of building characteristics, operational sales performance and energy management attributes, under control of the outdoor weather conditions and spatial–temporal effects.

Findings

METRO GROUP’s wholesale and hypermarket stores prove significant reductions in electricity and total energy consumption over the analyzed timeframe. Due to the implemented energy consumption and carbon emission reduction targets, the influence of the energy management measures, such as the identification of stores associated with the lowest energy performance, was found to contribute toward a more efficient corporate environmental performance.

Originality/value

In the context of corporate responsibility/sustainability of wholesale, hypermarket and retail corporations, the energy efficiency and reduction of carbon emissions from corporates’ real estate assets is of emerging interest. Besides the insights about the energy efficiency of corporate real estate assets, the role of the energy management, contributing to a more efficient corporate environmental performance, is not yet investigated for a large European wholesale and hypermarket portfolio.
Research and Higher Education: UK as International Star and Closet European?
Authors: Corbett Anne
Published: May 2016

The research and higher education sectors have an exemplary place in the referendum debate. They were not part of the David Cameron renegotiation package, but stakeholders in favour of Remain have disrupted the consensus that in these sectors the EU's role is relatively unimportant and that the UK's achievements can be explained in national terms. The article seeks to explain, first, the change in political dynamics that has brought the EU connections out of the shadows in these sectors, and second, what these sectors risk losing by Brexit. It suggests that the campaign has made the case for a causal relationship between the UK's higher education and research achievements and its global reach and has shown how these sectoral policies are embedded in the EU's foundational principles of freedom of movement and non‐discrimination. There are also signs that EU membership may come to matter to students, a politically important group, for reasons which range from freedom of movement to conflict prevention.
Revealed Preference Measures of Quality of Life in Australia's Urban and Regional Areas
Authors: Gao Grace , Melser Daniel
Published: May 2016

Using data from the 2011 Census, we estimate quality of life across Australia. With mobile households, utility will be equalised across regions, so those regions with high real incomes must have a compensating low quality of life and vice versa. There are significant differences in quality of life across the 56 regions we examine. The top‐ranked region in our study is the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, while the Western Australian Outback has the lowest quality of life. The drivers of quality of life are explored, and climate appears to be important as well as certain human‐made cultural amenities.
Graduated Flood Risks and Property Prices in Galveston County
Authors: Atreya Ajita , Czajkowski Jeffrey
Published: May 2016

Our hedonic property analysis approach in Galveston County, Texas aims at estimating the impacts of flood risks and water‐related amenities in a more systematic way. First, we interact distance to the nearest coastline and flood risk in order to account for these impacts acting together on housing sales prices in our coastal community. Second, we use more granular flood risk measure in the analysis compared to the existing literature. Results show that the hedonic price effect is dependent upon the distance to the nearest coastline, and as expected the distance effect varies by flood risk type. We find that in this coastal housing market properties located in the highest risk flood area, for up to nearly a quarter mile from the nearest coastline, actually command a price premium. A recent movement toward risk‐based flood insurance premiums in the United States was deeply opposed by the real estate sector for fear of causing property values to steeply decline. This analysis sheds some further light on this depressed property value assertion highlighting its sensitivity to distance to the water.
Trends and characteristics of short‐term and frequent representations to emergency departments: A population‐based study from New South Wales, Australia
Authors: Dinh Michael M , Berendsen Russell Saartje , Bein Kendall J , Chalkley Dane , Muscatello David , Paoloni Richard , Ivers Rebecca
Published: May 2016

Objective

The objective of this study is to describe the trends and characteristics of short‐term and frequent representations to EDs in New South Wales, Australia.

Methods

This was a retrospective analysis of a linked population‐based registry of ED representations in New South Wales, conducted as part of the Demand for Emergency Services in Years 2010–2014 project. Trend analysis of unplanned representations to ED within 3 days of discharge from ED, readmission to an in‐patient unit within 30 days of index in‐patient admission from ED and demographic data and trends for frequent and very frequent ED presenters is discussed.

Results

A total of 10 798 797 ED presentations were identified from 4 188 283 individual patients. Within 1 year, 48.9% of ED presentations had a previous presentation, and 4.9% had represented within 3 days of a previous presentation. The readmission rate within 30 days was 2.8%, the proportion of frequent (representing 5212 [0.1%] individual patients) and very frequent representations (representing 1186 [0.03%] individual patients) were 1.7% and 1.0%, respectively. The overall rate of representations within 3 days has decreased from 5.1% in 2010 to 4.7% in 2014 (P < 0.001). The rate of readmissions within 30 days has increased from 2.4% in 2010 to 3.1% in 2014 (P < 0.001).

Conclusions

In this population‐based study, short‐term representations were highest in the infant patient population, in‐patient readmission rates were highest in the elderly and very frequent representations to ED were characterised by middle‐aged patients with mental health or drug and alcohol related presentations.