bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Maritimibacter lacisalsi sp. nov., isolated from a salt lake, and emended description of the genus Maritimibacter

Lee et al. 2007
Authors: Zhong Zhi-Ping , Liu Ying , Zhou Yu-Guang , Liu Hong-Can , Wang Fang , Liu Zhi-Pei
Published: July 2015

A Gram-staining-negative, non-motile, strictly aerobic bacterium, strain X12M-4T, was isolated from Xiaochaidan Lake, a salt lake (salinity 9.9 %, w/w) in Qaidam basin, Qinghai Province, China. Its taxonomic position was determined by using a polyphasic approach. Strain X12M-4T was catalase- and oxidase-positive. Cells were rod-shaped, 0.5–0.8 μm wide and 1.1–1.6 μm long. Growth was observed in the presence of 0–11.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 5.0–6.0 %) and at 15–40 °C (optimum, 25 °C) and pH 6.5–9.5 (optimum, pH 7.0). No growth occurred at 10 °C or 45 °C. Strain X12M-4T contained C18 : 1ω7c, C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c and C16 : 0 as the major fatty acids (>10.0 %). The predominant respiratory quinone was Q-10.The major polar lipids were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidglycerol, an unknown aminolipid and an unidentified lipid. The DNA G+C content was 65.7 mol% (determined using T
m). Strain X12M-4T showed highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to Maritimibacter alkaliphilus HTCC2654T (96.7 %), Roseibacterium elongatum DSM 19469T (96.4 %), Tropicimonas aquimaris DPG-21T (95.6 %), ‘Roseibacterium beibuensis’ JLT1202r (95.6 %) and Tropicimonas sediminicola M97T (95.5 %) and < 95.5 % to others. Phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain X12M-4T formed a robust cluster with M. alkaliphilus HTCC2654T. On the basis of the data, it is concluded that strain X12M-4T represents a novel species of the genus Maritimibacter, for which the name Maritimibacter lacisalsi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is X12M-4T ( = CGMCC 1.12922T = JCM 30555T). To accommodate the novel species, the description of the genus Maritimibacter was emended.
Paracoccus angustae sp. nov., isolated from soil
Authors: Sun Xuelian , Luo Patrick , Li Mingshun
Published: July 2015

A Gram-stain-negative, coccus-shaped, aerobic bacterium, strain E6T, was isolated from soil. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed a cluster containing strain E6T and Paracoccus sediminis CMB17T (the highest 16S rRNA gene similarity of 97.2 %). The other strains investigated showed 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of less than 97 % to strain E6T. The DNA–DNA relatedness between strain E6T and P. sediminis DSM 26170T was 59.2 %. Strain E6T also shows some differences compared with other Paracoccus strains such as motility and inability to utilize lactate and propionate as sole carbon sources. The major fatty acids of strain E6T were C18 : 1ω7c and C18 : 0 and ubiquinone-10 was the only respiratory quinone. Strain E6T had diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, an unknown aminolipid and an unknown glycolipid as major polar lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content was 68.1 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, strain E6T is concluded to represent a novel species of the genus Paracoccus, for which the name Paracoccus angustae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is E6T ( = KCTC 42473T = CCTCC AB 2015056T).
Prepatellar bursitis: a rare manifestation of chronic brucellosis
Authors: Mawer Damian P. C. , McGann P. Hugh , Sandoe Jonathan A. T. , Emerton Mark , Beeching Nicholas J. , Wilcox Mark H.
Published: July 2015

Introduction:

Bursitis is a rare complication of brucellosis that has only once been described in a country where disease has been eradicated in domestic animals.

Case Presentation:

A 63-year-old diabetic man presented with an 11-year history of painless swelling over his right knee. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a large, multiloculated cyst overlying the knee joint. The patient underwent bursectomy which revealed caseous necrosis. Operative samples culturedBrucella abortus. The patient was treated with a combination of surgery and antimicrobials (doxycycline, rifampicin and gentamicin). His only risk factor for acquiringBrucellawas drinking unpasteurized milk during childhood. Fifty eight cases ofBrucellabursitis have been described in the English-language medical literature. Half have involved the prepatellar bursa. Only one case, from Australia, occurred in a country that has eradicated brucellosis in domestic animals. Although symptoms are often prolonged, local features of inflammation are usually absent. Diagnosis is primarily by bursal fluid culture. Treatment involves antimicrobials with or without aspiration or excision of the bursa. As the diagnosis was unexpected, several laboratory workers were exposed to theBrucellaisolate before its identification. Follow up according to UK guidelines revealed no cases of occupationally acquired infection.

Conclusion:

Bursitis is an unusual manifestation of brucellosis. It is extremely rare outside countries where the infection is endemic, but the chronicity of symptoms and increase in global travel mean that patients with the condition may present in non-endemic settings. Clinicians should therefore consider the diagnosis in cases of unexplained chronic bursitis.
Whole genome sequence analyses of Western Central African Pygmy hunter-gatherers reveal a complex demographic history and identify candidate genes under positive natural selection
Authors: Hsieh PingHsun , Veeramah Krishna R. , Lachance Joseph , Tishkoff Sarah A. , Wall Jeffrey D. , Hammer Michael F. , Gutenkunst Ryan N.
Published: July 2015

African Pygmies practicing a mobile hunter-gatherer lifestyle are phenotypically and genetically diverged from other anatomically modern humans, and they likely experienced strong selective pressures due to their unique lifestyle in the Central African rainforest. To identify genomic targets of adaptation, we sequenced the genomes of four Biaka Pygmies from the Central African Republic and jointly analyzed these data with the genome sequences of three Baka Pygmies from Cameroon and nine Yoruba famers. To account for the complex demographic history of these populations that includes both isolation and gene flow, we fit models using the joint allele frequency spectrum and validated them using independent approaches. Our two best-fit models both suggest ancient divergence between the ancestors of the farmers and Pygmies, 90,000 or 150,000 years ago. We also find that bi-directional asymmetric gene-flow is statistically better supported than a single pulse of unidirectional gene flow from farmers to Pygmies, as previously suggested. We then applied complementary statistics to scan the genome for evidence of selective sweeps and polygenic selection. We found that conventional statistical outlier approaches were biased toward identifying candidates in regions of high mutation or low recombination rate. To avoid this bias, we assignedP-values for candidates using whole-genome simulations incorporating demography and variation in both recombination and mutation rates. We found that genes and gene sets involved in muscle development, bone synthesis, immunity, reproduction, cell signaling and development, and energy metabolism are likely to be targets of positive natural selection in Western African Pygmies or their recent ancestors.
How Competition Affects Evolutionary Rescue
Authors: Osmond Matthew Miles , Mazancourt Claire de
Published: July 2015

Populations facing novel environments can persist by adapting. In nature, the ability to adapt and persist will depend on interactions between coexisting individuals. Here we use an adaptive dynamic model to assess how the potential for evolutionary rescue is affected by intra- and interspecific competition. Intraspecific competition (negative density-dependence) lowers abundance, which decreases the supply rate of beneficial mutations, hindering evolutionary rescue. On the other hand, interspecific competition can aid evolutionary rescue when it speeds adaptation by increasing the strength of selection. Our results clarify this point and give an additional requirement: competition must increase selection pressure enough to overcome the negative effect of reduced abundance. We therefore expect evolutionary rescue to be most likely in communities which facilitate rapid niche displacement. Our model, which aligns to previous quantitative and population genetic models in the absence of competition, provides a first analysis of when competitors should help or hinder evolutionary rescue.
Eukaryotic core histone diversification in light of the histone doublet and DNA topo II genes of Marseilleviridae
Authors: Erives Albert J.
Published: July 2015

While eukaryotic and archaean genomes encode the histone fold domain, only eukaryotes encode the core histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4. Core histones assemble into a hetero-octamer rather than the homo-tetramer of Archaea. Thus it was unexpected that core histone “doublets” were identified in the cytoplasmic replication factories of the Marseilleviridae (MV), one family of Nucleo-Cytoplasmic Large DNA Viruses (NCLDV). Here we analyze the core histone doublet genes from all known Marseilleviridae genomes and show that they encode obligate H2B-H2A and H4-H3 dimers of likely proto-eukaryotic origin. Each MV core histone moiety forms a sister clade to a eukaryotic core histone clade inclusive of canonical core histone paralogs, suggesting that MV core histone moieties diverged prior to eukaryotic neofunctionalizations associated with paired linear chromosomes and variant histone octamer assembly. We also show that all MV genomes encode a eukaryote-like DNA topoisomerase II enzyme that forms a clade that is sister to the eukaryotic clade. As DNA topo II influences histone deposition and chromatin compaction and is the second most abundant nuclear protein after histones, we suggest MV genes underlie a proto-chromatinized replisome that diverged prior to diversification of eukaryotic core histone variants. Thus, combined domain architecture and phylogenomic analyses suggest that a primitive origin for MV chromatin genes is a more parsimonious explanation than horizontal gene transfers + gene fusions + long-branch attraction constrained to each core histone clade. These results imply that core histones were utilized ancestrally in viral DNA compaction, protection from host endonucleases, and/or other unknown processes associated with NCLDV-like progenitors.
H3K36 methylation promotes longevity by enhancing transcriptional fidelity
Authors: Sen Payel , Dang Weiwei , Donahue Greg , Dai Junbiao , Dorsey Jean , Cao Xiaohua , Liu Wei , Cao Kajia , Perry Rocco , Lee Jun Yeop , Wasko Brian M. , Carr Daniel T. , He Chong , Robison Brett , Wagner John , Gregory Brian D. , Kaeberlein Matt , Kennedy Brian K. , Boeke Jef D. , Berger Shelley L.
Published: July 2015

Epigenetic mechanisms, including histone post-translational modifications, control longevity in diverse organisms. Relatedly, loss of proper transcriptional regulation on a global scale is an emerging phenomenon of shortened life span, but the specific mechanisms linking these observations remain to be uncovered. Here, we describe a life span screen in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that is designed to identify amino acid residues of histones that regulate yeast replicative aging. Our results reveal that lack of sustained histone H3K36 methylation is commensurate with increased cryptic transcription in a subset of genes in old cells and with shorter life span. In contrast, deletion of the K36me2/3 demethylase Rph1 increases H3K36me3 within these genes, suppresses cryptic transcript initiation, and extends life span. We show that this aging phenomenon is conserved, as cryptic transcription also increases in old worms. We propose that epigenetic misregulation in aging cells leads to loss of transcriptional precision that is detrimental to life span, and, importantly, this acceleration in aging can be reversed by restoring transcriptional fidelity.
Histone H3.3 maintains genome integrity during mammalian development
Authors: Jang Chuan-Wei , Shibata Yoichiro , Starmer Joshua , Yee Della , Magnuson Terry
Published: July 2015

Histone H3.3 is a highly conserved histone H3 replacement variant in metazoans and has been implicated in many important biological processes, including cell differentiation and reprogramming. Germline and somatic mutations in H3.3 genomic incorporation pathway components or in H3.3 encoding genes have been associated with human congenital diseases and cancers, respectively. However, the role of H3.3 in mammalian development remains unclear. To address this question, we generated H3.3-null mouse models through classical genetic approaches. We found that H3.3 plays an essential role in mouse development. Complete depletion of H3.3 leads to developmental retardation and early embryonic lethality. At the cellular level, H3.3 loss triggers cell cycle suppression and cell death. Surprisingly, H3.3 depletion does not dramatically disrupt gene regulation in the developing embryo. Instead, H3.3 depletion causes dysfunction of heterochromatin structures at telomeres, centromeres, and pericentromeric regions of chromosomes, leading to mitotic defects. The resulting karyotypical abnormalities and DNA damage lead to p53 pathway activation. In summary, our results reveal that an important function of H3.3 is to support chromosomal heterochromatic structures, thus maintaining genome integrity during mammalian development.
Group medical Takaful for Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) staff in 2011
Authors: Lim Chee Chee , Ahmad Shahrul Nizam
Published: July 2015

Subject area

Human resource management; Employee benefits management.

Study level/applicability

It can be used at undergraduate or postgraduate level for students at institutions of higher learning taking courses related to employee benefits management or human resource management.

Case overview

The case is about the intention of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in purchasing health insurance for its employees in early 2011. For this purpose, a tender for group medical Takaful for UUM staff was placed in two major Malaysian newspapers on 20 February 2011. Then, after the tender closing date, a report was prepared and sent to the bursar of UUM, En Amron, on 28 April 2011. Ten companies had submitted their tenders; thus, En Amron had to identify the optimal group medical Takaful offered by the tenderers, so that he could put forward his recommendation to UUM tender committee board for its consideration and approval before the matter was brought to higher authorities for endorsement and implementation.

Expected learning outcomes

This teaching case will enable students to explain the reasons why an employer provides health insurance, to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of providing health insurance programme as non-contributory and contributory plans, to conduct company and plan assessment in making decision to purchase group medical Takaful and to evaluate either to purchase group health insurance directly from life insurer or to engage insurance broker.

Supplementary materials

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Slices: what is next?
Authors: Jabeen Fauzia , Ahmad Syed Zamberi , Khan Mehmood
Published: July 2015

Subject area

Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management.

Study level/applicability

This case is intended for teaching entrepreneurship and strategic management courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Case overview

This is a field-researched real case about a growing food business started by local entrepreneurs in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Slices, a UAE-based organic food pioneer company is becoming popular in the UAE nowadays. The company was poised for growth as demand was exceeding all expectations. There were many challenges Slices had to face: increasing demand and brand awareness of Western Fast Food Giants; and what future skills Slices needed to develop to meet the regional and global challenges. Slices specializes in organic food, and they came up with different varieties in their menu every day. This, in turn, expanded the outlet greatly and they gained high revenues in a short period of time. Based on resource-based theory, Slices entrepreneurs have developed their business which is unique in terms of food with a flare of community service that involves offering healthy food to the customers and also a philanthropic attitude toward the poor. Slices is novel not only because they have more or better resources but also because of their distinctive competences (unique healthy food, community service and philanthropic attitude). Slices adopted a simple concept in which they sell their healthy food in a healthy atmosphere with delicious recipes that appeal to many different nationalities. But the challenges and hurdles are many which the company has to think of if they want to sustain in the long run. Faisal, Khalid, Hamad and Amina are wondering what their next step ought to be in light of the stiff competition. Do they have the dynamic capability to strategize? Do they have enough resources to expand locally and internationally? If yes, where and how? This case will enable the students to critically think in various facets and reach a decision based on the facts provided.

Expected learning outcomes

The case will help the students identify and evaluate the entrepreneurial strategy adopted by the company for start-up and future growth. This will also enable the students to critically think in various facets and reach a decision based on the facts provided.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or emailsupport@emeraldinsight.comto request teaching notes.
Quantitative comparisons of urgent care service providers
Authors: Qin Hong , Prybutok Gayle L. , Prybutok Victor R. , Wang Bin
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop, validate, and use a survey instrument to measure and compare the perceived quality of three types of US urgent care (UC) service providers: hospital emergency rooms, urgent care centres (UCC), and primary care physician offices.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study develops, validates, and uses a survey instrument to measure/compare differences in perceived service quality among three types of UC service providers. Six dimensions measured the components of service quality: tangibles, professionalism, interaction, accessibility, efficiency, and technical quality.

Findings

– Primary care physicians’ offices scored higher for service quality and perceived value, followed by UCC. Hospital emergency rooms scored lower in both quality and perceived value. No significant difference was identified between UCC and primary care physicians across all the perspectives, except for interactions.

Research limitations/implications

– The homogenous nature of the sample population (college students), and the fact that the respondents were recruited from a single university limits the generalizability of the findings.

Practical implications

– The patient’s choice of a health care provider influences not only the continuity of the care that he or she receives, but compliance with a medical regime, and the evolution of the health care landscape.

Social implications

– This work contributes to the understanding of how to provide cost effective and efficient UC services.

Originality/value

– This study developed and validated a survey instrument to measure/compare six dimensions of service quality for three types of UC service providers. The authors provide valuable data for UC service providers seeking to improve patient perceptions of service quality.
Resource utilization in surgery after the revision of surgical fee schedule in Japan
Authors: Nakata Yoshinori , Yoshimura Tatsuya , Watanabe Yuichi , Otake Hiroshi , Oiso Giichiro , Sawa Tomohiro
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the current surgical reimbursement system in Japan reflects resource utilization after the revision of fee schedule in 2014.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors collected data from all the surgical procedures performed at Teikyo University Hospital from April 1 through September 30, 2014. The authors defined the decision-making unit as a surgeon with the highest academic rank in the surgery. Inputs were defined as the number of medical doctors who assisted surgery, and the time of operation from skin incision to closure. An output was defined as the surgical fee. The authors calculated surgeons’ efficiency scores using data envelopment analysis.

Findings

– The efficiency scores of each surgical specialty were significantly different (p=0.000).

Originality/value

– This result demonstrates that the Japanese surgical reimbursement scales still fail to reflect resource utilization despite the revision of surgical fee schedule.
Quality of Big Data in health care
Authors: Sukumar Sreenivas R. , Natarajan Ramachandran , Ferrell Regina K.
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The current trend in Big Data analytics and in particular health information technology is toward building sophisticated models, methods and tools for business, operational and clinical intelligence. However, the critical issue of data quality required for these models is not getting the attention it deserves. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the issues of data quality in the context of Big Data health care analytics.

Design/methodology/approach

– The insights presented in this paper are the results of analytics work that was done in different organizations on a variety of health data sets. The data sets include Medicare and Medicaid claims, provider enrollment data sets from both public and private sources, electronic health records from regional health centers accessed through partnerships with health care claims processing entities under health privacy protected guidelines.

Findings

– Assessment of data quality in health care has to consider: first, the entire lifecycle of health data; second, problems arising from errors and inaccuracies in the data itself; third, the source(s) and the pedigree of the data; and fourth, how the underlying purpose of data collection impact the analytic processing and knowledge expected to be derived. Automation in the form of data handling, storage, entry and processing technologies is to be viewed as a double-edged sword. At one level, automation can be a good solution, while at another level it can create a different set of data quality issues. Implementation of health care analytics with Big Data is enabled by a road map that addresses the organizational and technological aspects of data quality assurance.

Practical implications

– The value derived from the use of analytics should be the primary determinant of data quality. Based on this premise, health care enterprises embracing Big Data should have a road map for a systematic approach to data quality. Health care data quality problems can be so very specific that organizations might have to build their own custom software or data quality rule engines.

Originality/value

– Today, data quality issues are diagnosed and addressed in a piece-meal fashion. The authors recommend a data lifecycle approach and provide a road map, that is more appropriate with the dimensions of Big Data and fits different stages in the analytical workflow.
Does electronic medication reconciliation at hospital discharge decrease prescription medication errors?
Authors: Allison Geneve M. , Weigel Bernard , Holcroft Christina
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– Medication errors are an important patient safety issue. Electronic medication reconciliation is a system designed to correct medication discrepancies at transitions in healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to measure types and prevalence of intravenous antibiotic errors at hospital discharge before and after the addition of an electronic discharge medication reconciliation tool (EDMRT).

Design/methodology/approach

– A retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary hospital where house officers order discharge medications. In total, 100 pre-EDMRT and 100 post-EDMRT subjects were randomly recruited from the study center’s clinical Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) program. Using infectious disease consultant recommendations as gold standard, each antibiotic listed in these consultant notes was compared to the hospital discharge orders to ascertain the primary outcome: presence of an intravenous antibiotic error in the discharge orders. The primary covariate of interest was pre- vs post-EDMRT group. After generating the crude prevalence of antibiotic errors, logistic regression accounted for potential confounding: discharge day (weekend vs weekday), average years of practice by prescribing physician, inpatient service (medicine vs surgery) and number of discharge mediations per patient.

Findings

– Prevalence of medication errors decreased from 30 percent (30/100) among pre-EDMRT subjects to 15 percent (15/100) errors among post-EDMRT subjects. Dosage errors were the most common type of medication error. The adjusted odds ratio of discharge with intravenous antibiotic error in the post-EDMRT era was 0.39 (0.18, 0.87) compared to the pre-EDMRT era. In the adjusted model, the total number of discharge medications was associated with increased OR of discharge error.

Originality/value

– To the authors’ knowledge, no other study has examined the impact of reconciliation on types and prevalence of medication errors at hospital discharge. The focus on intravenous antibiotics as a class of high-stakes medications with serious risks to patient safety during error events highlights the clinical importance of the findings. Electronic medication reconciliation may be an important tool in efforts to improve patient safety.
Examining the role of emotional intelligence and political skill to educational leadership and their effects to teachers’ job satisfaction
Authors: Taliadorou Nikoletta , Pashiardis Petros
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether emotional intelligence and political skill (PS) of school principals influence the way they exercise leadership and the job satisfaction of their teachers.

Design/methodology/approach

– As regards to the methodology, quantitative research methods were used to conduct the research. Specifically, the data analysis was performed with the statistical program SPSS and the EQS program for the development of structural equation models. Participants were 182 principals of Cyprus public elementary schools and 910 teachers.

Findings

– The findings indicated that the emotional intelligence and PS of school principals are related to the educational leadership styles they use and to teachers’ job satisfaction. Such a relationship highlights the social skills of principals as an important area for further research.

Research limitations/implications

– Future research may benefit from developing and validating an investigating tool which rates school principals’ Emotional-Political Capacity because, as revealed from the current research, this new construct directly affects the leadership radius and teachers’ job satisfaction.

Practical implications

– This research provides important feedback to those organizations interested in educational leadership and reform, as it can further illuminate (unknown until now) qualities that an effective school principal must have.

Originality/value

– The importance of this research and its contribution to science, is illustrated by the fact that this is one of the first research efforts undertaken, which indicates that the emotional and political skills may be factors that shape effective educational leadership styles.
Conceptualizing the critical path linked by teacher commitment
Authors: Sun Jingping
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to propose a critical path through which school leadership travels to students by highlighting the importance of teacher commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using both meta-analytic and narrative review methods, this paper systematically reviews the evidence in the past 20 years about the conceptualizations and measurements of teacher commitment and its relationships with principal leadership and student learning.

Findings

– This paper presents: first, the four dimensions of teacher commitment and the ten constituents involved in the conceptualization of teacher commitment; and second, the five measures used in empirical studies for measuring teacher commitment. It concludes that: teacher commitment is significantly related to student learning; the extent to which school leadership influences teacher commitment is large and is aligned with the value systems of both leaders and teachers; and teacher commitment mediates leadership impacts on student learning in three ways: at the personal level, at the dyad level and at the collective level.

Research limitations/implications

– This study conceptualizes a critical path through which school leadership improves student learning, mediated by teacher commitment. A framework of such critical paths will provide educational leaders and policy makers at both local and state levels with much needed guidance for improving student learning.

Originality/value

– This study adds to the understanding of the indirect influence of school leadership on student learning by illustrating how and to what extent principal leadership influences teacher commitment, which in turn influences student learning.
Organizing education: schools, school districts, and the study of organizational history
Authors: Duke Daniel L.
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present a rationale for organizational histories of schools and school districts and discuss the findings of selected examples of the genre.

Design/methodology/approach

– The author presents a vignette of an organizational history, discusses key elements of the methodology, and offers seven ways in which organizational histories address important issues in educational research.

Findings

– A case is made, using actual examples of research, that organizational histories of schools and school districts can contribute to testing existing theory, developing new theory, describing how educational change occurs, accounting for the sustainability of educational change, explaining organizational continuity over time, understanding school and district responses to persistent social issues, and balancing an over-emphasis on the impact of school and district leaders.

Originality/value

– The paper draws on the author’s original contributions to organizational history as well as the contributions of his doctoral students and others.
It’s never too late to learn
Authors: Warhurst Russell Paul , Black Kate Emma
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– This article aims to review the changing demographics of employment and it proceeds to critically examine the existing literature on later-career workers’ experiences of training and development. Population ageing in developed economies has significant implications for workplace learning, given suggestions that most occupational learning for later-career workers occurs on-the-job within the workplace. The literature suggests that later-career workers receive very little formal occupational training. However, significant gaps are revealed in the existing research knowledge of the extent and nature of older workers learning particularly with regard to incidental learning in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

– A qualitative empirical investigation has been conducted among later-career managerial workers and the visual elicitation methodology adopted is detailed.

Findings

– The results of the investigation show how the later-career managers in question were learning extensively, albeit incidentally, from workplace challenges specifically those associated with their responsibilities and from interacting with their managers, teams and external stakeholders.

Originality/value

– The article draws conclusions for policymakers and those tasked with ensuring the continued learning and development of an ageing workforce.
Karl E. Weick and the dawning awareness of organized cognition
Authors: Starbuck William H
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– Cognitive perspectives have emerged from many years of struggle for recognition, and grown into a dominant theme in psychology. The purpose of this paper is to discuss what Karl Weick expressed as important themes in this struggle, made major contributions to the content of cognitive psychology, and helped to make cognition relevant for organizational behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper reviews key developments in the history of psychology, points out central issues, and summarizes Weick’s contributions.

Findings

– Weick brought sensemaking into sharp focus as a major activity of people and organizations. His writings established information processing as the core of organizational activities. He also showed how sensemaking affects organizational reliability.

Originality/value

– Weick is one of the authors whom management scholars cite very often because he has been a thought leader. The paper places Weick’s work in historical context and points to his major contributions.
R
&
D collaboration in the automotive innovation environment
Authors: Agostini Lara , Caviggioli Federico
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is twofold: to analyze to what extent innovation output of R
&
D collaborations, proxied by co-patenting activities in terms of quantity, characteristics and value, differs depending on whether the engaged R
&
D partners have a certain type of relationship (allies, suppliers and subsidiaries); to identify possible automakers co-patenting patterns taking into account the differences in the innovation output with their R
&
D partners.

Design/methodology/approach

– To reach the aims, the authors matched two types of data: co-assigned patent portfolio of four automakers and relationship type between automakers and their co-assignees. Matching the company names of the two data sources allowed the authors to obtain the final data set used to carry out extensive descriptive and regression analysis, both on a firm- and patent-level.

Findings

– Results show differences in the characteristics and the technological value of patented inventions in relation with the type of collaboration partner; they also support the authors in the identification of four co-patenting patterns (contingent, purposive, watchful and advanced) according to the co-patenting propensity and the presence of a preferred relationship type.

Originality/value

– The paper contributes to the literature by investigating the presence of differences across the patenting activities of a selection of automakers and their supplier, allied and subsidiary firms. The issue related to patent value represents an emerging area of interest in the field of collaborations for innovation. The methodology constitutes a novelty by matching two different sources and standardizing the company names (“name game”) through an automated algorithm and a double manual check, by searching company web sites and corporate trees.
Investor communication in equity-based crowdfunding: a qualitative-empirical study
Authors: Moritz Alexandra , Block Joern , Lutz Eva
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– This study’s aim is to investigate the role of investor communication in equity-based crowdfunding. The study explores whether and how investor communication can reduce information asymmetries between investors and new ventures in equity-based crowdfunding, thereby facilitating the crowd’s investment decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper follows an exploratory qualitative research approach based on semi-structured interviews with 23 market participants in equity-based crowdfunding: 12 investors, 6 new ventures and 5 third parties (mostly platform operators). After analyzing, coding and categorizing the data, this paper developed a theoretical framework and presented it in a set of six propositions.

Findings

– The results indicate that the venture’s overall impression – especially perceived sympathy, openness and trustworthiness – is important to reduce perceived information asymmetries of investors in equity-based crowdfunding. To communicate these soft facts, personal communication seems to be replaced by pseudo-personal communication over the Internet (e.g. videos, investor relations channels and social media). In addition, the communications of third parties (e.g. other crowd investors, professional and experienced investors and other external stakeholders) influence the decision-making process of investors in equity-based crowdfunding. Third-party endorsements reduce the perceived information asymmetries and lower the importance of pseudo-personal communications by the venture.

Originality/value

– Prior research shows that investor communication reduces information asymmetries between companies and investors. Currently, little is known about the role of investor communication in equity-based crowdfunding. This study focuses on the role of investor communication to reduce the perceived information asymmetries of investors in equity-based crowdfunding.
Teleinvestmentevangelists: celebrity, ritual and religion and the quest to “beat the market”
Authors: Allen Douglas E , Keller Mary , McGoun Elton (Skip)
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to offer a cultural understanding of investor faith in stock picking despite overwhelming evidence questioning its efficacy. Why, in the face of very widely communicated findings calling into question the advice and assistance offered by financial professionals to help them pick stocks or manage their mutual funds, do so many people persist in these practices? The authors believe that the best way to understand investor faith in the efficacy of stock picking is through teleinvestmentevangelists such as Jim Cramer, whose fusion of celebrity and religion taps into the ritualistic elements of investment that usually lie hidden. Drawing from media, religious and cultural studies theory, the authors flesh out the dynamics of the teleinvestmentevangelist as a powerful character, the understanding of which provides insights on the pre-modern meanings that inhere in mediated global capital.

Design/methodology/approach

– This conceptual work draws on theoretical perspectives and qualitative experiences of everyday investors to explain why the entire field of stock picking remains so robust and captivating in the face of ample evidence that calls into question the validity of the entire phenomenon.

Findings

– This paper derives and introduces the hypothetical figure of the “Teleinvestmentevangelist” in an attempt to weave dimensions of celebrity, ritual and religion together to explain investors undeterred faith in the ability to pick individual stocks and “beat the market”.

Research limitations/implications

– The primary research implication of this paper is that it exhibits the continued value of integrating interdisciplinary perspectives for understanding investing experience beyond more limited views undergirded by neoclassical economics. One challenge of the paper is that it attempts to merge three disparate perspectives that have not typically been integrated and applied to financial phenomena.

Practical implications

– One practical implication of this paper is that it provides a perspective and vocabulary that enables us to understand financial experiences more fully and reflect on these understandings more critically.

Social implications

– Armed with a richer understanding of financial and investing experience, individual investors can better appreciate fundamental cultural misrecognitions that potentially culminate in symbolic violence whereby certain groups of investors are systematically disadvantaged.

Originality/value

– The originality of this paper lies in its synthesis of disparate literature bases and application of this synthesis to the financial and investing world. Not only are the individual theoretical perspectives rarely consultedvis-à-visinvesting experience but also is their synthesis particularly unique and original in the context of financial and investing phenomena.
An Inertia-Based Stabilizing Method for Quasi-Static Simulation of Unstable Crack Initiation and Propagation
Authors: Gu Y. C. , Jung J. , Yang Q. D. , Chen W. Q.
Published: July 2015

In this paper, an inertia-based stabilizing method is proposed to overcome the loss of numerical convergence in quasi-static simulations of fracture problems with unstable (fast or dynamic) crack propagation. The method guarantees unconditional convergence as the time increment step progressively decreases and it does not need any numerical damping or other solution enhancement parameters. It has been demonstrated, through direct simulations of several numerical examples with severe local or global instabilities, that the proposed method can effectively and efficiently overcome severe instability points unconditionally and regain stability if there exist mechanisms for stable crack propagation after passing through such instability points. In all the numerical tests, the new method outperforms other solution enhancement techniques, such as numerical damping, arc-length method, and implicit dynamic simulation method, in the solution accuracy and numerical robustness.
Computational Growth and Remodeling of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Constrained by the Spine
Authors: Farsad Mehdi , Zeinali-Davarani Shahrokh , Choi Jongeun , Baek Seungik
Published: July 2015

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) evolve over time, and the vertebral column, which acts as an external barrier, affects their biomechanical properties. Mechanical interaction between AAAs and the spine is believed to alter the geometry, wall stress distribution, and blood flow, although the degree of this interaction may depend on AAAs specific configurations. In this study, we use a growth and remodeling (G&R) model, which is able to trace alterations of the geometry, thus allowing us to computationally investigate the effect of the spine for progression of the AAA. Medical image-based geometry of an aorta is constructed along with the spine surface, which is incorporated into the computational model as a cloud of points. The G&R simulation is initiated by local elastin degradation with different spatial distributions. The AAA–spine interaction is accounted for using a penalty method when the AAA surface meets the spine surface. The simulation results show that, while the radial growth of the AAA wall is prevented on the posterior side due to the spine acting as a constraint, the AAA expands faster on the anterior side, leading to higher curvature and asymmetry in the AAA configuration compared to the simulation excluding the spine. Accordingly, the AAA wall stress increases on the lateral, posterolateral, and the shoulder regions of the anterior side due to the AAA–spine contact. In addition, more collagen is deposited on the regions with a maximum diameter. We show that an image-based computational G&R model not only enhances the prediction of the geometry, wall stress, and strength distributions of AAAs but also provides a framework to account for the interactions between an enlarging AAA and the spine for a better rupture potential assessment and management of AAA patients.
Dynamics of Interstitial Fluid Pressure in Extracellular Matrix Hydrogels in Microfluidic Devices
Authors: Tien Joe , Li Le , Ozsun Ozgur , Ekinci Kamil L.
Published: July 2015

In order to understand how interstitial fluid pressure and flow affect cell behavior, many studies use microfluidic approaches to apply externally controlled pressures to the boundary of a cell-containing gel. It is generally assumed that the resulting interstitial pressure distribution quickly reaches a steady-state, but this assumption has not been rigorously tested. Here, we demonstrate experimentally and computationally that the interstitial fluid pressure within an extracellular matrix gel in a microfluidic device can, in some cases, react with a long time delay to external loading. Remarkably, the source of this delay is the slight (∼100 nm in the cases examined here) distension of the walls of the device under pressure. Finite-element models show that the dynamics of interstitial pressure can be described as an instantaneous jump, followed by axial and transverse diffusion, until the steady pressure distribution is reached. The dynamics follow scaling laws that enable estimation of a gel's poroelastic constants from time-resolved measurements of interstitial fluid pressure.
Direct Single-Stage Processing of Lightweight Alloys Into Sheet by Hybrid Cutting–Extrusion
Authors: Sagapuram Dinakar , Kustas Andrew B. , Dale Compton W. , Tumble Kevin P. , Chandrasekar Srinivasan
Published: July 2015

Widespread application of lightweight magnesium and titanium alloys sheet is limited mainly because of their poor-workability issues, both in primary processing by rolling and secondary sheet forming. This study describes a hybrid cutting–extrusion process, large-strain extrusion machining (LSEM), for producing sheet and foil. By utilizing a constraining edge placed across from the cutting tool edge, the usual cutting process is transformed into continuous shear-deformation process, wherein the thickness of the sheet at its exit from the deformation zone is directly controlled. The confinement of the deformation field in LSEM enables near-adiabatic heating in the deformation zone. Consequently, external workpiece heating, intrinsic to sheet manufacturing by multistage rolling in alloys of poor workability (e.g., hexagonal close packed (hcp) alloys and cast materials), is minimized. Furthermore, the deformation parameters, such as strain, strain rate, and strain path, can be controlled to refine the microstructure and induce shear-type crystallographic textures that enable enhanced sheet mechanical properties (strength and formability). This application of LSEM is demonstrated using magnesium alloy AZ31B as a model system. Since LSEM is a single-stage process for sheet production, it is potentially attractive in terms of production economics and energy. Implications for process scale-up and control of plastic flow localization are briefly discussed.
A Design System for Eight-Bar Linkages as Constrained 4R Serial Chains
Authors: Sonawale Kaustubh H. , Michael McCarthy J.
Published: July 2015

This paper presents a design system for planar eight-bar linkages that adds three RR constraints to a user-specified 4R serial chain. R denotes a revolute, or hinged, joint. There are 100 ways in which these constraints can be added to yield as many as 3951 different linkages. An analysis routine based on the Dixon determinant evaluates the performance of each linkage candidate and determines the feasible designs that reach the task positions in a single assembly. A random search within the user-specified tolerance zones around the task specifications is iterated in order to increase the number of linkage candidates and feasible designs. The methodology is demonstrated with the design of rectilinear eight-bar linkages that guide an end-effector through five parallel positions along a straight line.
Descriptions of Reversed Yielding in Internally Pressurized Tubes
Authors: Alexandrov Sergei , Jeong Woncheol , Chung Kwansoo
Published: July 2015

Using Tresca's yield criterion and its associated flow rule, solutions are obtained for the stresses and strains when a thick-walled tube is subject to internal pressure and subsequent unloading. A bilinear hardening material model in which allowances are made for a Bauschinger effect is adopted. A variable elastic range and different rates under forward and reversed deformation are assumed. Prager's translation law is obtained as a particular case. The solutions are practically analytic. However, a numerical technique is necessary to solve transcendental equations. Conditions are expressed for which the release is purely elastic and elastic–plastic. The importance of verifying conditions under which the Tresca theory is valid is emphasized. Possible numerical difficulties with solving equations that express these conditions are highlighted. The effect of kinematic hardening law on the validity of the solutions found is demonstrated.