bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intestinal permeability and peripheral immune cell composition are altered by pregnancy and adiposity at mid- and late-gestation in the mouse
Authors: Ribeiro Tatiane A. , Breznik Jessica A. , Kennedy Katherine M. , Yeo Erica , Kennelly Brianna K. E. , Jazwiec Patrycja A. , Patterson Violet S. , Bellissimo Christian J. , Anhê Fernando F. , Schertzer Jonathan D. , Bowdish Dawn M. E. , Sloboda Deborah M.
Published: August 2022

It is clear that the gastrointestinal tract influences metabolism and immune function. Most studies to date have used male test subjects, with a focus on effects of obesity and dietary challenges. Despite significant physiological adaptations that occur across gestation, relatively few studies have examined pregnancy-related gut function. In this study, we investigated the impacts of pregnancy and adiposity on maternal intestinal epithelium morphology, in vivo intestinal permeability, and peripheral blood immunophenotype, using control (CTL) and high-fat (HF) fed non-pregnant female mice and pregnant mice at mid-(embryonic day (E)14.5) and late (E18.5) gestation. We found that small intestine length increased between non-pregnant mice and dams at late-gestation, but ileum villus length, and ileum and colon crypt depths and goblet cell numbers remained similar. Compared to CTL-fed mice, HF-fed mice had reduced small intestine length, ileum crypt depth and villus length. Goblet cell numbers were only consistently reduced in HF-fed non-pregnant mice. Pregnancy increased in vivo gut permeability, with a greater effect at mid-versus late-gestation. Non-pregnant HF-fed mice had greater gut permeability, and permeability was also increased in HF-fed pregnant dams at mid but not late-gestation. The impaired maternal gut barrier in HF-fed dams at mid-gestation coincided with changes in maternal blood and bone marrow immune cell composition, including an expansion of circulating inflammatory Ly6Chigh monocytes. In summary, pregnancy has temporal effects on maternal intestinal structure and barrier function, and on peripheral immunophenotype, which are further modified by HF diet-induced maternal adiposity.
Spatial compartmentalization of signalling imparts source-specific functions on secreted factors
Authors: Groppa E , Martini P , Derakhshan N , Theret M , Ritso M , Tung LW , Wang YX , Soliman H , Hamer M , Stankiewicz L , Eisner C , Le Nevé E , Chang C , Yi L , Yuan JH , Kong S , Weng C , Adams J , Chang L , Peng A , Blau HM , Romualdi C , Rossi FMV
Published: August 2022

Efficient regeneration requires multiple cell types acting in a coordination. To better understand the intercellular networks involved and how they change when regeneration fails, we profiled the transcriptome of hematopoietic, stromal, myogenic, and endothelial cells over 14 days following acute muscle damage. A time-resolved computational model of interactions was generated, and VEGFA-driven endothelial engagement was identified as a key differentiating feature in models of successful and failed regeneration. In addition, it revealed that the majority of secreted signals, including VEGFA, are simultaneously produced by multiple cell types. To test whether the cellular source of a factor determines its function, we deleted VEGFA from two cell types residing in close proximity, stromal and myogenic progenitors. By comparing responses to different types of damage, we found that myogenic and stromal VEGFA have distinct functions in regeneration. This suggests that spatial compartmentalization of signaling plays a key role in intercellular communication networks.

Highlights

Ligand-receptor signaling redundancy during skeletal muscle regeneration

Inflammatory cells, and muscle and fibro/adipogenic progenitors produce VEGFA

VEGFA from muscle progenitors control their proliferation after muscle damage

VEGFA from FAP controls angiogenesis only after ischemic damage

eTOC blurb

Groppa et al. performed a novel time-resolved bioinformatics analysis that revealed extensive ligand-receptor redundancy among the cell types contributing to skeletal muscle regeneration. They focused on one of these pathways, and showed that VEGFA from different cell types has distinct roles in regeneration.
Axon arrival times and physical occupancy establish visual projection neuron integration on developing dendrites in theDrosophilaoptic glomeruli
Authors: McFarland Brennan W. , Jang HyoJong , Smolin Natalie , Hina Bryce W. , Parisi Michael J. , Davis Kristen C. , Mosca Timothy J. , Godenschwege Tanja A. , Nern Aljoscha , Kurmangaliyev Yerbol Z. , von Reyn Catherine R.
Published: August 2022

Behaviorally relevant, higher order representations of an animal’s environment are built from the convergence of visual features encoded in the early stages of visual processing. Although developmental mechanisms that generate feature encoding channels in early visual circuits have been uncovered, relatively little is known about the mechanisms that direct feature convergence to enable appropriate integration into downstream circuits. Here we explore the development of a collision detection sensorimotor circuit inDrosophila melanogaster, the convergence of visual projection neurons (VPNs) onto the dendrites of a large descending neuron, the giant fiber (GF). We find VPNs encoding different visual features establish their respective territories on GF dendrites through sequential axon arrival during development. Physical occupancy, but not developmental activity, is important to maintain territories. Ablation of one VPN results in the expansion of remaining VPN territories and functional compensation that enables the GF to retain responses to ethologically relevant visual stimuli. GF developmental activity, observed using a pupal electrophysiology preparation, appears after VPN territories are established, and likely contributes to later stages of synapse assembly and refinement. Our data highlight temporal mechanisms for visual feature convergence and promote the GF circuit and theDrosophilaoptic glomeruli, where VPN to GF connectivity resides, as a powerful developmental model for investigating complex wiring programs and developmental plasticity.
Neutralizing Antibody to Omicron BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5 in COVID-19 Patients
Authors: Linderman Susanne L. , Lai Lilin , Bocangel Gamarra Estefany L. , Mohr Nicholas M. , Gibbs Kevin W. , Steingrub Jay S. , Exline Matthew C. , Shapiro Nathan I. , Frosch Anne E. , Qadir Nida , Edupuganti Srilatha , Surie Diya , Tenforde Mark W. , Davis-Gardner Meredith E. , Chappell James D. , Lau Max S Y , McElrath M. Juliana , Lauring Adam S. , Suthar Mehul S. , Patel Manish M. , Self Wesley H. , Ahmed Rafi
Published: August 2022

Neutralizing antibody plays a key role in protective immunity against COVID-19. As increasingly distinct variants circulate, debate continues regarding the value of adding novel variants to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. In this study, we have analyzed live virus neutralization titers against WA1, Delta, BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5 in 187 hospitalized patients infected with Delta or Omicron strains. This information will be useful in selection of the SARS-CoV-2 strains to include in an updated vaccine. Our results show that unvaccinated Delta infected patients made a highly biased neutralizing antibody response towards the infecting Delta strain with slightly lower responses against the WA1 strain, but with strikingly lower titers against BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5. Delta infected patients that had been previously vaccinated with the WA1 containing COVID vaccine made equivalent responses to WA1 and Delta strains, but still had very low neutralizing antibody responses to Omicron strains. In striking contrast, both unvaccinated and vaccinated Omicron patients exhibited a more balanced ratio of Omicron virus neutralization compared to neutralization of ancestral strains. Interestingly, Omicron patients infected with BA.1 or BA.2 had detectable neutralizing antibody titers to BA.5, but these titers were lower than neutralization titers to BA.1 and BA.2. Taken together, these results suggest that inclusion of the Omicron BA.5 strain in a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine would be beneficial in protection against the widely circulating BA.5 variant.

Disclaimer

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Automated large-scale AMD progression prediction using machine-read OCT biomarkers
Authors: Rudas Akos , Chiang Jeffrey N. , Corradetti Giulia , Rakocz Nadav , Halperin Eran , Sadda Srinivas R.
Published: August 2022

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of irreversible vision loss in individuals over 55 years old in the United States. While anti-vascular growth factor injections can be used to treat macular neovascularization (MNV), there are currently no treatments available to halt or reverse geographic atrophy, which is the late-stage of nonneovascular AMD. There is a great interest in detecting early biomarkers associated with a higher risk for AMD progression in order to design early intervention clinical trials. The annotation of structural biomarkers on optical coherence tomography (OCT) B-scans is a laborious, complex and time-consuming process, and discrepancies between human graders can introduce variability into this assessment.

To address this issue, a deep-learning model (SLIVER-net) was proposed, which could identify AMD biomarkers on structural OCT volumes with high precision and without human supervision. However, the validation was performed on a small dataset, and the true predictive power of these detected biomarkers in the context of a large cohort has not been evaluated. In this retrospective cohort study, we perform the largest-scale validation of these biomarkers to date. We also assess how these features combined with other EHR data (demographics, comorbidities, etc) affect and/or improve the prediction performance relative to known factors. Our hypothesis is that these biomarkers can be identified by a machine learning algorithm without human supervision, in a way that they preserve their predictive nature.

The way we test this hypothesis is by building several machine learning models utilizing these machine-read biomarkers, and assessing their added predictive power. We found that not only can we show that the machine-read OCT B-scan biomarkers are predictive of AMD progression, we also observe that our proposed combined OCT and EHR data-based algorithm significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art solution in clinically relevant metrics and provides actionable information which has the potential to improve patient care. In addition, it provides a framework for automated large-scale processing of OCT volumes, making it possible to analyze vast archives without human supervision.
Proteomics Investigation of Diverse Serological Patterns in COVID-19
Authors: Liang Xiao , Sun Rui , Wang Jing , Zhou Kai , Li Jun , Chen Shiyong , Lyu Mengge , Li Sainan , Xue Zhangzhi , Shi Yingqiu , Xie Yuting , Zhang Qiushi , Yi Xiao , Pan Juan , Wang Donglian , Xu Jiaqin , Zhu Hongguo , Zhu Guangjun , Zhu Jiansheng , Zhu Yi , Zheng Yufen , Shen Bo , Guo Tiannan
Published: August 2022

Serum antibodies IgM and IgG are elevated during COVID-19 to defend against viral attack. Atypical results such as negative and abnormally high antibody expression were frequently observed whereas the underlying molecular mechanisms are elusive. In our cohort of 144 COVID-19 patients, 3.5% were both IgM and IgG negative whereas 29.2% remained only IgM negative. The remaining patients exhibited positive IgM and IgG expression, with 9.3% of them exhibiting over 20-fold higher titers of IgM than the others at their plateau. IgG titers in all of them were significantly boosted after vaccination in the second year. To investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms, we classed the patients into four groups with diverse serological patterns and analyzed their two-year clinical indicators. Additionally, we collected 111 serum samples for TMTpro-based longitudinal proteomic profiling and characterized 1494 proteins in total. We found that the continuously negative IgM and IgG expression during COVID-19 were associated with mild inflammatory reactions and high T cell responses. Low levels of serum IgD, inferior complement 1 activation of complement cascades, and insufficient cellular immune responses might collectively lead to compensatory serological responses, causing overexpression of IgM. Serum CD163 was positively correlated with antibody titers during seroconversion. This study suggests that patients with negative serology still developed cellular immunity for viral defense, and that high titers of IgM might not be favorable to COVID-19 recovery.
Causal Association of Inflammatory Bowel Disease on Anorexia Nervosa: A Two-sample Mendelian Randomization Study
Authors: Jiang Rui , Zeng Ruijie , Zhuo Zewei , Wu Huihuan , Yang Qi , Li Jingwei , Leung Felix W , Sha Weihong , Chen Hao
Published: August 2022

Background

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe and complex psychiatric disorder with the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric disorders. Previous observational studies have comprehensively indicated an association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and AN, but the causal effect remains unclear. We aimed to test the hypothesis that a causal relationship exists between IBD and the risk of AN.

Methods

Based on published open genome-wide association study summary statistics, the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IBD, including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), were selected as genetic instrumental variables. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were conducted to infer the causal relationship between IBD and AN. The methods included inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger regression, weighted median estimator, weighted mode and MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier (MR-PERSSO). Furthermore, various sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the robustness of our results.

Results

The primary analysis IVW suggested that genetically predicted IBD were positively casually associated with AN risk (NSNP= 12, odds ratio [OR]: 1.143, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.032-1.266,P= 0.01). In subgroups, consistent positive causal associations with AN risk might show in UC (NSNP= 6, OR: 1.153, 95% CI: 1.022-1.301,P= 0.021), and CD (NSNP= 4, OR: 1.153, 95% CI: 1.008-1.319,P= 0.037). NO heterogeneity and pleiotropy were presented through sensitivity analysis and guaranteed credible and robust estimates.

Conclusion

Our study identifies that patients diagnosed with IBD, including UC and CD, could be causally associated with an increased risk of AN. It may have clinical benefits for early detection of AN and clinical decisions on management of IBD patients.
Weak parent-of-origin expression bias: Is this imprinting?
Authors: Edwards Carol A. , Watkinson William M. D. , Telerman Stephanie B. , Hülsmann Lisa C. , Hamilton Russell S. , Ferguson-Smith Anne C.
Published: August 2022

In mouse and human, genes subjected to genomic imprinting have been shown to function in development, behaviour, and post-natal adaptations. Failure to correctly imprint genes in human is associated with developmental syndromes, adaptive and metabolic disorders during life as well as numerous forms of cancer. In recent years researchers have turned to RNA-seq technologies applied to reciprocal hybrid strains of mice to identify novel imprinted genes, causing a 3-fold increase in genes reported as having a parental origin specific expression bias. The functional relevance of parental origin-specific expression bias is not fully appreciated especially since many are reported with only minimal parental bias (e.g. 51:49). Here we present an in-depth meta-analysis of previously generated RNA-seq data and show that the methods used to generate and analyse libraries greatly influence the calling of allele-specific expression. Validation experiments show that most novel genes called with parental-origin specific allelic bias are artefactual, with the mouse strain contributing a larger effect on expression biases than parental origin. Of the weak novel genes that do validate, most are located at the periphery of known imprinted domains, suggesting they may be affected by local allele- and tissue-specific conformation. Together these findings highlight the need for robust tools, definitions, and validation of putative imprinted genes to provide meaningful information within imprinting databases and to understand the functional and mechanistic implications of the process.
Long-term effect of forest harvesting on boreal species assemblages under climate change
Authors: Bouderbala Ilhem , Labadie Guillemette , Béland Jean-Michel , Tremblay Junior A. , Boulanger Yan , Hébert Christian , Desrosiers Patrick , Allard Antoine , Fortin Daniel
Published: August 2022

Logging is the main human disturbance impacting biodiversity in forest ecosystems. However, the impact of forest harvesting on biodiversity is modulated by abiotic conditions through complex relationships that remain poorly documented. Therefore, the interplay between forest management and climate change can no longer be ignored. Our aim was to study the expected long-term variations in the assemblage of bird and beetle communities following modifications in forest management under different climate change scenarios. We developed species distribution models to predict the occurrence of 87 species of birds and beetles in eastern Canadian boreal forests over the next century. We simulated three climate scenarios (baseline, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) under which we varied the level of harvesting. We also analyzed the regional assemblage dissimilarity by decomposing it into balanced variations in species occupancy and occupancy gradient. We predict that forest harvesting will alter the diversity by increasing assemblage dissimilarity under all the studied climate scenarios, mainly due to species turnover. Species turnover intensity was greater for ground-dwelling beetles, probably because they have lower dispersal capacity than flying beetles or birds. A good dispersal capacity allows species to travel more easily between ecosystems across the landscape when they search for suitable habitats after a disturbance. Regionally, an overall increase in the probability of occupancy is projected for bird species, whereas a decrease is predicted for beetles, a variation that could reflect differences in ecological traits between taxa. Our results further predict a decrease in the number of species that increase their occupancy after harvest under the most severe climatic scenario for both taxa. We anticipate that under severe climate change, increasing forest disturbance will be detrimental to beetles associated with old forests but also with young forests after disturbances.
Report of mutation biases mirroring selection in Arabidopsis thaliana unlikely to be entirely due to variant calling errors
Authors: Monroe J. Grey , Murray Kevin D. , Xian Wenfei , Carbonell-Bejerano Pablo , Fenster Charles B. , Weigel Detlef
Published: August 2022

It has recently been proposed that the uneven distribution of epigenomic features might facilitate reduced mutation rate in constrained regions of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, even though previous work had shown that it would be difficult for reduced mutation rates to evolve on a gene-by-gene basis. A solution to Lynch’s equations for the barrier imposed by genetic drift on the evolution of targeted hypomutation can, however, come from epigenomic features that are enriched in certain portions of the genome, for example, coding regions of essential genes, and which simultaneously affect mutation rate. Such theoretical considerations draw on what is known about DNA repair guided by epigenomic features. A recent publication challenged these conclusions, because several mutation data sets that support a lower mutation rate in constrained regions suffered from variant calling errors. Here we show that neither homopolymer errors nor elevated mutation rates at transposable elements are likely to entirely explain reported mutation rate biases. Observed mutation biases are also supported by a meta-analysis of several independent germline mutation data sets, with complementary experimental data providing a mechanistic basis for reduced mutation rate in genes and specifically in essential genes. Finally, models derived from the drift-barrier hypothesis demonstrate that mechanisms linking DNA repair to chromatin marks and other epigenomic features can evolve in response to second-order selection on emergent mutation biases.
The net charge of the K-loop regulates KIF1A superprocessivity by enhancing microtubule affinity in the one-head-bound state
Authors: Zaniewski Taylor M. , Hancock William O.
Published: August 2022

KIF1A is an essential neuronal transport motor protein in the kinesin-3 family, known for its superprocessive motility. We determined that superprocessivity of KIF1A dimers originates from a unique structural domain, the lysine rich insertion in loop-12 termed the ‘K-Loop’, which enhances electrostatic interactions between the motor and the microtubule. In 80 mM PIPES buffer, replacing the native loop-12 of KIF1A with that of kinesin-1, resulted in a 6-fold decrease in run length, and adding additional positive charge to loop-12 enhanced the run length. Interestingly, swapping the KIF1A loop-12 into kinesin-1 did not enhance its run length, consistent with the two motor families using different mechanochemical tuning to achieve persistent transport. To investigate the mechanism by which the KIF1A K-loop enhances processivity, we used microtubule pelleting and single-molecule dwell times assays in ATP and ADP. First, the microtubule affinity was similar in ATP and in ADP, consistent with the motor spending the majority of its cycle in a weakly-bound state. Second, the microtubule affinity and single-molecule dwell time in ADP were 6-fold lower in the loop-swap mutant compared to wild type. Thus, the positive charge in loop-12 of KIF1A enhances the run length by stabilizing the motor binding in its vulnerable one-head-bound state. Finally, through a series of mutants with varying positive charge in the K-loop, we found that the KIF1A processivity is linearly dependent on the charge of loop-12.
Contributions of adaptation and purifying selection to SARS-CoV-2 evolution
Authors: Neher Richard A.
Published: August 2022

Continued evolution and adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 has lead to more transmissible and immune-evasive variants with profound impact on the course of the pandemic. Here I analyze the evolution of the virus over 2.5 years since its emergence and estimate rates of evolution for synonymous and non-synonymous changes separately for evolution within clades – well defined mono-phyletic groups with gradual evolution – and for the pandemic overall. The rate of synonymous mutations is found to be around 6 changes per year. Synonymous rates within variants vary little from variant to variant and are compatible with the overall rate of 7 changes per year (or 7.5 × 10−4per year and codon). In contrast, the rate at which variants accumulate amino acid changes (non-synonymous mutation) was initially around 12-16 changes per year, but in 2021 and 2022 dropped to 6-9 changes per year. The overall rate of non-synonymous evolution, that is across variants, is estimated to be about 26 amino acid changes per year (or 2.7 × 10−3per year and codon). This strong acceleration of the overall rate compared to within clade evolution indicates that the evolutionary process that gave rise to the different variants is qualitatively different from that in typical transmission chains and likely dominated by adaptive evolution. I further quantify the spectrum of mutations and purifying selection in different SARS-CoV-2 proteins and show that the massive global sampling of SARS-CoV-2 is sufficient to estimate site specific fitness costs across the entire genome. Many accessory proteins evolve under limited evolutionary constraint with little short term purifying selection. About half of the mutations in other proteins are strongly deleterious.
Crystallization and crystallographic studies of a novel chickpea 11S globulin
Authors: Sun Linan , Zhou Aiwu , Zhang Fei
Published: August 2022

Chickpea is a crop that is known as a source of high-quality proteins. CL-AI, which belongs to the 11S globulin and cupin superfamily, was initially identified in chickpea seeds. CL-AI has recently been shown to inhibit various types of α-amylases. To determine its molecular mechanism, the crystal structure of CL-AI was solved at a final resolution of 2.2 Å. Structural analysis indicated that each asymmetric unit contains three molecules with threefold symmetry and a head-to-tail association, and each molecule is divided into an α-chain and a β-chain. CL-AI has high structural similarity to other 11S globulins and canonical metal-dependent enzyme-related cupin proteins, whereas its stimilarity to α-amylase inhibitor from Phaseolus vulgaris is quite low. The structure presented here will provide insight into the function of CL-AI.
A novel approach for candlestick technical analysis using a combination of the support vector machine and particle swarm optimization
Authors: Mahmoodi Armin , Hashemi Leila , Jasemi Milad , Laliberté Jeremy , Millar Richard C. , Noshadi Hamed
Published: August 2022

Purpose

In this research, the main purpose is to use a suitable structure to predict the trading signals of the stock market with high accuracy. For this purpose, two models for the analysis of technical adaptation were used in this study.

Design/methodology/approach

It can be seen that support vector machine (SVM) is used with particle swarm optimization (PSO) where PSO is used as a fast and accurate classification to search the problem-solving space and finally the results are compared with the neural network performance.

Findings

Based on the result, the authors can say that both new models are trustworthy in 6 days, however, SVM-PSO is better than basic research. The hit rate of SVM-PSO is 77.5%, but the hit rate of neural networks (basic research) is 74.2.

Originality/value

In this research, two approaches (raw-based and signal-based) have been developed to generate input data for the model: raw-based and signal-based. For comparison, the hit rate is considered the percentage of correct predictions for 16 days.
CEO characteristics and firm performance: evidence from private listed firms in China
Authors: Rahman Md Jahidur , Chen Xianxian
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This study aims to examine the effect of the chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics on corporate performance in private listed firms in China.

Design/methodology/approach

Fixed effects regressions are used to explore the connection of CEO age, tenure, political connection, duality and gender with firm performance. The final panel data sample consists of 16,010 firm-year observations from 2010 to 2020, including A-share private firms listed in the Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchanges.

Findings

Five hypotheses are proposed, and results show that certain CEO characteristics, such as age, tenure and political connection, are positively related to corporate performance. Contrary to expectations, CEO duality and gender do not affect firm performance.

Originality/value

Findings present implications for future research on corporate governance and political connections of private listed firms.
Conducted EMI analysis and filters design for a high-low voltage DC/DC converter based on GaN HEMTs in electric vehicle
Authors: Qiao Yiwei , Yang Wenrong , Huo Tianchen , Chen Guohang , Zhang Haojie , Luan Junling
Published: August 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI) of the high-low voltage DC/DC converter based on GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) in electric vehicle, and design EMI filters to suppress the conducted EMI.

Design/methodology/approach

The conducted EMI propagation model is established through simulation and analysis studying the influences of parasitic parameters, operation mode, output power and near-field capacitive coupling effects on conducted EMI of the DC/DC converter and comparing the suppression effects of EMI filters with different topologies to select the best EMI filter.

Findings

It is shown that parasitic parameters, operation mode, output power and near-field capacitive coupling effects can affect the conducted EMI of the DC/DC converter, and EMI filters of the CLC topology can effectively suppress the conducted EMI below the limit of CISPR 25.

Originality/value

Analysis of conducted EMI and design of EMI filters greatly facilitate further explorations and studies on EMI problems of the high-low voltage DC/DC converter based on GaN HEMTs.
Development of long-term B2B customer relationships: the role of self-disclosure and relational cost/benefit evaluation
Authors: Koponen Jonna Pauliina , Julkunen Saara Maria
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to explore how and why salespeople enhance or hinder long-term business-to-business (B2B) customer relationships at the interpersonal level by considering self-disclosure and relational cost and reward evaluations.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from interviews (N = 47) with B2B sales professionals were analyzed, focusing on the shift of the phases in long-term B2B customer relationships.

Findings

Long-term B2B customer relationships evolve at the interpersonal level through a process of continuous relational cost and reward evaluation, self-disclosure and business disclosure in three phases: becoming business partners, collaborative partners and collaborative and personal partners. The reward evaluations progress from being business related to including even more relational benefits. Disclosure progresses through general business disclosure and general self-disclosure; strategic business disclosure and personal life self-disclosure; and synergistic business disclosure and private self-disclosure.

Research limitations/implications

The long-term B2B customer relationships could be studied at the interpersonal level from the customer’s perspective. Self-disclosure could be studied in cross-cultural settings as well as gender differences should be considered in future studies. Business and social penetration theory could be applied to investigate different types of relationships and other professional relationships, such as those between employers and employees. It would be important to test whether the business-related and self-disclosure subtypes apply to the development of other types of professional relationships or whether other disclosure subtypes exist. The authors recommend exploring salespeople’s and customers’ privacy management strategies in multiple communication channels.

Practical implications

Managers may apply the results of this study in their customer relationship management and sales training.

Originality/value

The findings outline a contextual extension of social penetration theory.
Can customer participation promote hospitality frontline employees’ extra-role service behavior?
Authors: Xu Angela J. , Zhu Ting Ting , Loi Raymond , Chow Cheris W.C.
Published: August 2022

Purpose

Drawing on and extending the socially embedded model of thriving, this paper aims to investigate how and when customer participation promotes hospitality frontline employees’ engagement in extra-role service behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

A two-wave questionnaire survey was carried out among frontline service employees and their immediate supervisors in a four-star business hotel in Eastern China. Path analysis using Mplus 8.3 examined a multilevel moderated mediation model.

Findings

Customer participation has a positive effect on frontline employees’ experience of thriving, which in turn promotes their engagement in extra-role service behavior. Nevertheless, supervisors’ negative affect weakens the positive effect of customer participation.

Practical implications

Hotels could implement employee assistance programs, arrange training on emotional regulation and positive psychology and create a fun work environment to help alleviate supervisors’ experience of negative affect so as to lessen its adverse effect on frontline employees’ perception of customer participation.

Originality/value

First, this work is one of the few studies exploring how customer participation affects frontline employees’ well-being (in terms of thriving) and extra-role service behavior, which advances extant value co-creation literature. Second, the moderating role of supervisors’ negative affect enriches the limited understanding of when customer participation might not bring firm benefits. Third, by uncovering customer participation as an antecedent of employee thriving, this study extends thriving research that only attends to contexts located within organizations.
Relationship of ethical leadership, organizational culture, corporate social responsibility and organizational performance: a test of two mediation models
Authors: Alkhadra Wafa Awni , Khawaldeh Sadam , Aldehayyat Jehad
Published: August 2022

Purpose

The sound leadership style can be indicative of organizational success and explanatory of quality performance. Besides this, there are various factors that can impact organizational performance. To this end, this study aims to investigate the effect of ethical leadership on organizational performance, with the mediating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and organizational culture.

Design/methodology/approach

The service sector in Jordan was targeted by this research, and data were collected from 371 middle-level and top-level managers working in service companies. These responses were analyzed by using analysis of a moment structure.

Findings

The result conveyed that ethical leadership does not only influence organizational performance, but it also, and positively so, affects the organizational culture and CSR. In addition, CSR and organizational culture significantly mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and organizational performance.

Practical implications

The findings of this study are a guide for managers and owners of service companies who are aiming to enhance organizational performance. If they follow the ethical leadership approach and emphasize CSR initiatives and organizational culture, they can attain, and naturally so, the maximum level of organizational performance.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research paper is the first to analyze ethical leadership in the context of the service sector in Jordan and highlight its influence on organizational culture, CSR and ultimately organizational performance. Moreover, it examined the mediating effects of organizational culture and CSR between ethical leadership and organizational performance.
The structure and information spread capability of the network formed by integrated fitness apps
Authors: Vermeulen Euodia , Grobbelaar Sara
Published: August 2022

Purpose

In this article we aim to understand how the network formed by fitness tracking devices and associated apps as a subset of the broader health-related Internet of things is capable of spreading information.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a combination of a content analysis, network analysis, community detection and simulation. A sample of 922 health-related apps (including manufacturers' apps and developers) were collected through snowball sampling after an initial content analysis from a Google search for fitness tracking devices.

Findings

The network of fitness apps is disassortative with high-degree nodes connecting to low-degree nodes, follow a power-law degree distribution and present with low community structure. Information spreads faster through the network than an artificial small-world network and fastest when nodes with high degree centrality are the seeds.

Practical implications

This capability to spread information holds implications for both intended and unintended data sharing.

Originality/value

The analysis confirms and supports evidence of widespread mobility of data between fitness and health apps that were initially reported in earlier work and in addition provides evidence for the dynamic diffusion capability of the network based on its structure. The structure of the network enables the duality of the purpose of data sharing.
Challenging the problem of un-democratic participation: from destruction to re-construction of heritage
Authors: Jansson Ina-Maria
Published: August 2022

Purpose

The present study aims to contribute to the understanding of digital participation in heritage collections as a democratizing practice by identifying and challenging silent assumptions concerning how the insufficient influence of participants is conceived of as a problem.

Design/methodology/approach

Three carefully selected scholarly texts incorporating problematizations of insufficient participatory agency were analyzed in detail using a method inspired by Carol Bacchi's approach “what's the problem represented to be?” (WPR), with special emphasis on analysis of ontological elements of the problematizations.

Findings

Participation is problematized based on the assumption that participatory agency risks jeopardizing the protection of heritage and leads to parts of the public memory being forgotten. To challenge the idea that participatory agency is destructive, the present article argues for elaborating an understanding of what forgetting entails for heritage. Framing forgetting as a potentially both harmful and generative concept enables a separation of destructive forgetting (e.g. destruction of historical evidence) and constructive forgetting (re-contextualization).

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on a limited number of texts, and problematizations are investigated in relation to a specific perspective on participatory agency.

Practical implications

By understanding forgetting as a potentially beneficial activity for representation and heritage construction, the article provides a conceptual rationale for facilitating re-contextualization in the design of multi-layered information structures for heritage collections.

Originality/value

There is little earlier research on the silent assumptions that affect how participation is understood and implemented.
Can you imagine yourself wearing this product? Embodied mental simulation and attractiveness in e-commerce product pictures
Authors: Bagatini Francine Zanin , Rech Eduardo , Pacheco Natalia Araujo , Nicolao Leonardo
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to understand what kind of fashion product picture can arouse greater embodied mental simulation at two distinct steps of consumers' shopping journey (choice between options and purchase intention).

Design/methodology/approach

Two experimental studies were developed. Study 1 (n = 169) investigated consumers' purchase intention, and Study 2 (n = 156) investigated consumers' choice for a T-shirt displayed in an e-commerce store. The authors manipulated the product picture by considering pictures with the presence or absence of a human model wearing the product (flat vs. mannequin vs. human model without a face vs. human model with a face).

Findings

Consumers demonstrated greater choice and purchase intention for the picture that aroused greater embodied mental simulation. Different pictures aroused greater embodied mental simulation depending on the consumer journey step (choice between two options or purchase intention). Perceived product attractiveness influenced this finding.

Research limitations/implications

The data on men and women were analyzed together due to the low number of male participants in both studies.

Practical implications

The results suggest that mannequin pictures should be used in situations involving product evaluation (e-commerce categories' pages) and that pictures with human models should be used in situations entailing further analysis of the product (e-commerce product page) to encourage purchase decisions. E-commerce managers also need to use pictures of human models when the product is viewed as less attractive.

Originality/value

This research investigated embodied mental simulation around product pictures at two distinct steps of consumers' shopping journey.
Macroservicing: a commentary on services as constructive engagement for sustainable peace, prosperity and well-being
Authors: Shultz Clifford J.
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This study aims to introduce the term, concept, mission and practice of macroservicing to recognize the ascent and obligations of Homo Servicus and to broaden and reinvigorate the service discipline. The author shares a framework for constructive engagement via macroservicing; services provisioning throughout ecosystems, particularly marketing systems, to eliminate or mitigate social traps, to reduce disenfranchisement and suffering and to enhance well-being in the system and stakeholders of the system, which ultimately includes everyone.

Design/methodology/approach

Synthesis of literature was drawn from several disciplines, including macromarketing and social psychology, and relevant streams of research to make key points about existential threats from social traps, and their resolution via macroservicing.

Findings

Complex social traps and systemic challenges – e.g., war, poverty, environmental degradation – require systemic services-marketing solutions by catalytic institutions in ways that engage vulnerable people and address needs of stakeholders, locally, regionally and globally.

Research Implications

Further study of socioeconomic/market phenomena and a framework that must be understood and can be studied empirically to design, coordinate and deliver appropriate services throughout ecosystems.

Practical Implications

Businesses, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and citizen-consumers can use the framework and related text to inform and to guide collaboration and decision-making vis-à-vis services reach and efficacy throughout their communities, states, regions or alliances.

Originality/value

The commentary offers fresh perspectives and insights; an adaptive, practical framework for systemic analysis and humane problem resolution to enhance individual quality of life, community eudaimonia and planet well-being. Emphasis is placed on the inclusion of under-served or disenfranchised consumers in marketing system(s) and solutions that emerge from macroservicing to facilitate access and inclusive services provisioning.
Impact of knowledge absorptive capacity on innovative performance in SMEs: mediating effect of cluster environment
Authors: Fulgence Brou Ettien , Hu Xuhua , Larbi-Siaw Otu , Tuo Siele Jean , Gnahe Franck Edouard
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This study builds on knowledge-based view (KBV) research and the natural resource-based view of the firm (NRBV) to examine the effect of knowledge absorptive capacity on innovative performance. It also investigates the mediating role of three dimensions of the cluster environment: degree of network, institutional environment and access to factors of production.

Design/methodology/approach

By means of partial least squares-based structural equation modelling method, the study validated and analysed the responses of 503 owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the wood industrial cluster of Cote d'Ivoire, a developing economy.

Findings

The analysis and results reveal that knowledge absorptive capacity strongly predicts cluster environment and innovation performance. Moreover, the cluster environment emerged as a powerful determinant of innovation performance and a mediator of the effect of knowledge absorptive capacity on innovation performance. Unequivocally, institutional support has no significant impact on knowledge absorptive capacity (KAC) and innovative performance mediation relationship and is not a key determinant of innovative performance.

Originality/value

This study offers a key departure from past studies by linking knowledge absorptive capacity to innovative performance and the cluster environment in SMEs. It also extends knowledge concerning the role of KBV, NRBV and relational theory in innovation performance.
Financial system and technology innovation in an emerging economy: can innovation efficiency be increased?
Authors: Gan Qingqiu
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the influence of the financial system (financial development and financial structure) on firms' innovation efficiency in China.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs country level data of capital markets and financial institutions along with innovation data from 18 high-tech industries in China spanning the 2009–2016 period, and the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) is applied to explore how financial development and financial structure affect the innovation efficiency of these industries.

Findings

Results show that financial development influences firms' innovation efficiency positively and the capital-market-based financial structure has a positive impact on innovation efficiency of high-tech industries. Furthermore, when the high-tech industries are grouped into five sub-industries, the results show that financial structure had different effects on the innovation efficiency in each sub-industry.

Originality/value

This work contributes to the empirical research on considering the influential factors of innovation efficiency from the perspective of financial system. This paper also extends the existing literature by the different influences of financial system on innovation efficiency in each sub-industry of Chinese high-tech industries.
Exploring factors impacting students’ motivation to learn using face-to-face, online and hybrid learning
Authors: Istijanto Istijanto
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This study aims to explore and compare the approach and avoidance factors in motivating students to study using three different learning methods: face-to-face learning, online learning and hybrid learning.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses in-depth online interviews to gain insights from students. Purposive sampling was applied to recruit 33 informants from two private universities in Indonesia. The verbatim data were analyzed using a thematic content analysis to identify motivational factors.

Findings

This study revealed four motivational factors regarding the approach to face-to-face learning/avoidance of online learning and five motivational factors regarding the approach to online learning/avoidance of face-to-face learning. Most of the motivational factors (i.e. learning effectiveness, social interaction, campus life experiences, physical wellness, flexibility and technological learning) are also found in the approach to hybrid learning.

Research limitations/implications

The existing qualitative research suffers from generalizability, as does this study. Future research can investigate other contexts or use quantitative research to validate the findings.

Practical implications

By identifying the approach and avoidance motivational factors, higher education institutions can enhance the approach (positive) factors and minimize or eliminate the avoidance (negative) factors that motivate their students to study using different learning methods.

Originality/value

This research complements the existing literature using new perspectives, namely, the approach and avoidance factors that motivate students to study through face-to-face learning, online learning and hybrid learning post-COVID-19.