bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Coevolution of visual signals and eye morphology inPolistespaper wasps
Authors: Sheehan Michael J. , Jinn Judy , Tibbetts Elizabeth A.
Published: April 2014

To be effective, signals must propagate through the environment and be detected by receivers. As a result, signal form evolves in response to both the constraints imposed by the transmission environment and receiver perceptual abilities. Little work has examined the extent to which signals may act as selective forces on receiver sensory systems to improve the efficacy of communication. If receivers benefit from accurate signal assessment, selection could favour sensory organs that improve discrimination of established signals. Here, we provide evidence that visual resolution coevolves with visual signals inPolisteswasps. MultiplePolistesspecies have variable facial patterns that function as social signals, whereas other species lack visual signals. Analysis of 19Polistesspecies shows that maximum eye facet size is positively associated with both eye size and presence of visual signals. Relatively larger facets within the eye's acute zone improve resolution of small images, such as wasp facial signals. Therefore, sensory systems may evolve to optimize signal assessment. Sensory adaptations to facilitate signal detection may represent an overlooked area of the evolution of animal communication.
Analysis of self-overlap reveals trade-offs in plankton swimming trajectories
Authors: Bianco Giuseppe , Mariani Patrizio , Visser Andre W. , Mazzocchi Maria Grazia , Pigolotti Simone
Published: April 2014

Movement is a fundamental behaviour of organisms that not only brings about beneficial encounters with resources and mates, but also at the same time exposes the organism to dangerous encounters with predators. The movement patterns adopted by organisms should reflect a balance between these contrasting processes. This trade-off can be hypothesized as being evident in the behaviour of plankton, which inhabit a dilute three-dimensional environment with few refuges or orienting landmarks. We present an analysis of the swimming path geometries based on a volumetric Monte Carlo sampling approach, which is particularly adept at revealing such trade-offs by measuring the self-overlap of the trajectories. Application of this method to experimentally measured trajectories reveals that swimming patterns in copepods are shaped to efficiently explore volumes at small scales, while achieving a large overlap at larger scales. Regularities in the observed trajectories make the transition between these two regimes always sharper than in randomized trajectories or as predicted by random walk theory. Thus, real trajectories present a stronger separation between exploration for food and exposure to predators. The specific scale and features of this transition depend on species, gender and local environmental conditions, pointing at adaptation to state and stage-dependent evolutionary trade-offs.
Transdifferentiation of autologous bone marrow cells on a collagen-poly(ε-caprolactone) scaffold for tissue engineering in complete lack of native urothelium
Authors: Zhao J. , Zeiai S. , Ekblad Å. , Nordenskjöld A. , Hilborn J. , Götherström C. , Fossum M.
Published: April 2014

Urological reconstructive surgery is sometimes hampered by a lack of tissue. In some cases, autologous urothelial cells (UCs) are not available for cell expansion and ordinary tissue engineering. In these cases, we wanted to explore whether autologous mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from bone marrow could be used to create urological transplants. MSCs from human bone marrow were culturedin vitrowith medium conditioned by normal human UCs or by indirect co-culturing in culture well inserts. Changes in gene expression, protein expression and cell morphology were studied after two weeks using western blot, RT-PCR and immune staining. Cells cultured in standard epithelial growth medium served as controls. Bone marrow MSCs changed their phenotype with respect to growth characteristics and cell morphology, as well as gene and protein expression, to a UC lineage in both culture methods, but not in controls. Urothelial differentiation was also accomplished in human bone marrow MSCs seeded on a three-dimensional poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)–collagen construct. Human MSCs could easily be harvested by bone marrow aspiration and expanded and differentiated into urothelium. Differentiation could take place on a three-dimensional hybrid PCL-reinforced collagen-based scaffold for creation of a tissue-engineered autologous transplant for urological reconstructive surgery.
Quantification of feather structure, wettability and resistance to liquid penetration
Authors: Srinivasan Siddarth , Chhatre Shreerang S. , Guardado Jesus O. , Park Kyoo-Chul , Parker Andrew R. , Rubner Michael F. , McKinley Gareth H. , Cohen Robert E.
Published: April 2014

Birds in the cormorant (Phalacrocoracidae) family dive tens of metres into water to prey on fish while entraining a thin layer of air (a plastron film) within the microstructures of their feathers. In addition, many species within the family spread their wings for long periods of time upon emerging from water. To investigate whether wetting and wing-spreading are related to feather structure, microscopy and photographic studies have previously been used to extract structural parameters for barbs and barbules. In this work, we describe a systematic methodology to characterize the quasi-hierarchical topography of bird feathers that is based on contact angle measurements using a set of polar and non-polar probing liquids. Contact angle measurements on dip-coated feathers of six aquatic bird species (including three from the Phalacrocoracidae family) are used to extract two distinguishing structural parameters, a dimensionless spacing ratio of the barbule (D*) and a characteristic length scale corresponding to the spacing of defect sites. The dimensionless spacing parameter can be used in conjunction with a model for the surface topography to enable us to predicta priorithe apparent contact angles of water droplets on feathers as well as the water breakthrough pressure required for the disruption of the plastron on the feather barbules. The predicted values of breakthrough depths in water (1–4 m) are towards the lower end of typical diving depths for the aquatic bird species examined here, and therefore a representative feather is expected to be fully wetted in a typical deep dive. However, thermodynamic surface energy analysis based on a simple one-dimensional cylindrical model of the feathers using parameters extracted from the goniometric analysis reveals that for water droplets on feathers of all six species under consideration, the non-wetting ‘Cassie–Baxter’ composite state represents the global energy minimum of the system. By contrast, for other wetting liquids, such as alkanes and common oils, the global energy minimum corresponds to a fully wetted or Wenzel state. For diving birds, individual feathers therefore spontaneously dewet once the bird emerges out of water, and the ‘wing-spreading’ posture might assist in overcoming kinetic barriers associated with pinning of liquid droplets that retard the rate of drying of the wet plumage of diving birds.
Rate dependence of poly(vinyl chloride), the effects of plasticizer and time–temperature superposition
Authors: Kendall Michael J. , Siviour Clive R.
Published: April 2014

Four different poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) materials varying in plasticizer content were studied in a combined experimental and analytical investigation including uniaxial compression tests at strain rates ranging from 10
−3
to 10
4
 s
−1
at room temperature, and temperatures ranging from −115 to 100°C at a rate of 10
−2
 s
−1
. Additional tests using a dynamic mechanical and thermal analyser were conducted on each PVC material to give a more detailed analysis of temperature and rate dependence. Adjusting the plasticizer content allows the temperature at which transitions, specifically the α-transition, or ‘glass transition’, and β-transition, occur to be moved in order to better examine the interplay of temperature and strain rate dependence. This program of research is then extended to time–temperature superposition where a novel application and interpretation of an established superposition method is presented.
Long-term behaviour of phenotypically structured models
Authors: Lorz Alexander , Perthame Benoît
Published: April 2014

Phenotypically structured equations arise in population biology to describe the interaction of species with their environment that brings the nutrients. This interaction usually leads to the selection of the fittest individuals. Models used in this area are highly nonlinear, and the question of long-term behaviour is usually not solved. However, there is a particular class of models for which convergence to an evolutionary stable distribution is proved, namely when the quasi-static assumption is made. This means that the environment, and thus the nutrient supply, reacts immediately to the population dynamics. One possible proof is based on a total variation bound for the appropriate quantity. We extend this proof to cases where the nutrient is regenerated gradually. A simple example is the chemostat with a rendering factor, then our result does not use any smallness assumption. For a more general setting, we can treat the case with a fast equilibration of the nutrient concentration.
Nestling telomere shortening, but not telomere length, reflects developmental stress and predicts survival in wild birds
Authors: Boonekamp Jelle J. , Mulder G. A. , Salomons H. Martijn , Dijkstra Cor , Verhulst Simon
Published: April 2014

Developmental stressors often have long-term fitness consequences, but linking offspring traits to fitness prospects has remained a challenge. Telomere length predicts mortality in adult birds, and may provide a link between developmental conditions and fitness prospects. Here, we examine the effects of manipulated brood size on growth, telomere dynamics and post-fledging survival in free-living jackdaws. Nestlings in enlarged broods achieved lower mass and lost 21% more telomere repeats relative to nestlings in reduced broods, showing that developmental stress accelerates telomere shortening. Adult telomere length was positively correlated with their telomere length as nestling (
r
= 0.83). Thus, an advantage of long telomeres in nestlings is carried through to adulthood. Nestling telomere shortening predicted post-fledging survival and recruitment independent of manipulation and fledgling mass. This effect was strong, with a threefold difference in recruitment probability over the telomere shortening range. By contrast, absolute telomere length was neither affected by brood size manipulation nor related to survival. We conclude that telomere loss, but not absolute telomere length, links developmental conditions to subsequent survival and suggest that telomere shortening may provide a key to unravelling the physiological causes of developmental effects on fitness.
The relative importance of rapid evolution for plant-microbe interactions depends on ecological context
Authors: terHorst Casey P. , Lennon Jay T. , Lau Jennifer A.
Published: April 2014

Evolution can occur on ecological time-scales, affecting community and ecosystem processes. However, the importance of evolutionary change relative to ecological processes remains largely unknown. Here, we analyse data from a long-term experiment in which we allowed plant populations to evolve for three generations in dry or wet soils and used a reciprocal transplant to compare the ecological effect of drought and the effect of plant evolutionary responses to drought on soil microbial communities and nutrient availability. Plants that evolved under drought tended to support higher bacterial and fungal richness, and increased fungal : bacterial ratios in the soil. Overall, the magnitudes of ecological and evolutionary effects on microbial communities were similar; however, the strength and direction of these effects depended on the context in which they were measured. For example, plants that evolved in dry environments increased bacterial abundance in dry contemporary environments, but decreased bacterial abundance in wet contemporary environments. Our results suggest that interactions between recent evolutionary history and ecological context affect both the direction and magnitude of plant effects on soil microbes. Consequently, an eco-evolutionary perspective is required to fully understand plant–microbe interactions.
Limacina helicinashell dissolution as an indicator of declining habitat suitability owing to ocean acidification in the California Current Ecosystem
Authors: Bednaršek N. , Feely R. A. , Reum J. C. P. , Peterson B. , Menkel J. , Alin S. R. , Hales B.
Published: April 2014

Few studies to date have demonstrated widespread biological impacts of ocean acidification (OA) under conditions currently found in the natural environment. From a combined survey of physical and chemical water properties and biological sampling along the Washington–Oregon–California coast in August 2011, we show that large portions of the shelf waters are corrosive to pteropods in the natural environment. We show a strong positive correlation between the proportion of pteropod individuals with severe shell dissolution damage and the percentage of undersaturated water in the top 100 m with respect to aragonite. We found 53% of onshore individuals and 24% of offshore individuals on average to have severe dissolution damage. Relative to pre-industrial CO2concentrations, the extent of undersaturated waters in the top 100 m of the water column has increased over sixfold along the California Current Ecosystem (CCE). We estimate that the incidence of severe pteropod shell dissolution owing to anthropogenic OA has doubled in near shore habitats since pre-industrial conditions across this region and is on track to triple by 2050. These results demonstrate that habitat suitability for pteropods in the coastal CCE is declining. The observed impacts represent a baseline for future observations towards understanding broader scale OA effects.
Social mixing patterns in rural and urban areas of southern China
Authors: Read Jonathan M. , Lessler Justin , Riley Steven , Wang Shuying , Tan Li Jiu , Kwok Kin On , Guan Yi , Jiang Chao Qiang , Cummings Derek A. T.
Published: April 2014

A dense population, global connectivity and frequent human–animal interaction give southern China an important role in the spread and emergence of infectious disease. However, patterns of person-to-person contact relevant to the spread of directly transmitted infections such as influenza remain poorly quantified in the region. We conducted a household-based survey of travel and contact patterns among urban and rural populations of Guangdong, China. We measured the character and distance from home of social encounters made by 1821 individuals. Most individuals reported 5–10 h of contact with around 10 individuals each day; however, both distributions have long tails. The distribution of distance from home at which contacts were made is similar: most were within a kilometre of the participant's home, while some occurred further than 500 km away. Compared with younger individuals, older individuals made fewer contacts which tended to be closer to home. There was strong assortativity in age-based contact rates. We found no difference between the total number or duration of contacts between urban and rural participants, but urban participants tended to make contacts closer to home. These results can improve mathematical models of infectious disease emergence, spread and control in southern China and throughout the region.
Fitness consequences of environmental conditions at different life stages in a long-lived vertebrate
Authors: Douhard Mathieu , Plard Floriane , Gaillard Jean-Michel , Capron Gilles , Delorme Daniel , Klein François , Duncan Patrick , Loe Leif Egil , Bonenfant Christophe
Published: April 2014

The predictive adaptive response (PAR) hypothesis proposes that animals adjust their physiology and developmental trajectory during early life in anticipation of their future environments. Accordingly, when environmental conditions in early life match environmental conditions during adulthood, individual fitness should be greater. Here, we test this hypothesis in a long-lived mammal, the roe deer, using data from two contrasting populations, intensively monitored for more than 35 years. In the highly productive site, the fitness of female roe deer increased with the quality of environment during adulthood and, contrary to predictions of PAR, individuals born in good conditions always outperformed those born under poor conditions. In the resource-limited site, the fitness of female roe deer born in poor years was better than those born in good conditions in poor years when the animals were adult, but not in good years. Although consistent with predictions of PAR, we showed that this pattern is likely to be a consequence of increased viability selection during the juvenile stage for animals born in poor years. While PARs are often advanced in evolutionary medicine, our findings suggest that detailed biological processes should be investigated before drawing conclusions about the existence of this phenomenon.
Epigenetic inheritance and genome regulation: is DNA methylation linked to ploidy in haplodiploid insects?
Authors: Glastad Karl M. , Hunt Brendan G. , Yi Soojin V. , Goodisman Michael A. D.
Published: April 2014

Organisms show great variation in ploidy level. For example, chromosome copy number varies among cells, individuals and species. One particularly widespread example of ploidy variation is found in haplodiploid taxa, wherein males are typically haploid and females are typically diploid. Despite the prevalence of haplodiploidy, the regulatory consequences of having separate haploid and diploid genomes are poorly understood. In particular, it remains unknown whether epigenetic mechanisms contribute to regulatory compensation for genome dosage. To gain greater insights into the importance of epigenetic information to ploidy compensation, we examined DNA methylation differences among diploid queen, diploid worker, haploid male and diploid male
Solenopsis invicta
fire ants. Surprisingly, we found that morphologically dissimilar diploid males, queens and workers were more similar to one another in terms of DNA methylation than were morphologically similar haploid and diploid males. Moreover, methylation level was positively associated with gene expression for genes that were differentially methylated in haploid and diploid castes. These data demonstrate that intragenic DNA methylation levels differ among individuals of distinct ploidy and are positively associated with levels of gene expression. Thus, these results suggest that epigenetic information may be linked to ploidy compensation in haplodiploid insects. Overall, this study suggests that epigenetic mechanisms may be important to maintaining appropriate patterns of gene regulation in biological systems that differ in genome copy number.
Genetic variability of porcine circovirus 2 in vaccinating and non-vaccinating commercial farms
Authors: Kekarainen Tuija , Gonzalez Angel , Llorens Anna , Segalés Joaquim
Published: April 2014

Vaccines against porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) are now widely used to control the diseases caused by the virus. Although the vaccines protect pigs against the disease, they do not lead to sterilizing immunity and therefore infections with PCV2 continue in farms. It is expected that, due to its high evolutionary rate, PCV2 can adapt quickly to environmental pressures such as vaccination. The goal of this study was to elucidate the molecular variation of PCV2 in relation to vaccination. PCV2 variability was investigated from samples of infected pigs from five farms where vaccination had never been applied and two farms where pigs had been vaccinated for at least 2 years. For the genetic analysis, full PCV2 genomes were amplified and subsequently pooled by vaccination status from serum of eight vaccinated, infected pigs and 16 non-vaccinated, infected pigs. Variability of viral populations was quantified using next-generation sequencing and subsequent bioinformatics analysis. The number of segregating sites was similar in the non-vaccinated (n = 109) and vaccinated pools (n = 96), but the distribution of these sites in the genome differed. Most notably, in the capsid gene, the number of segregating sites was observed only in the non-vaccinated population. Based on the structural analysis, it is expected that some low-frequency amino acids result in biologically low-fit viruses. On the contrary, D294 in replicase represents a novel amino acid which was dominant and unique in the vaccinated pool. This work showed that variable PCV2 populations were circulating in commercial farms, and that this variability was different in samples obtained from vaccinating and non-vaccinating farms.
Graph-based data integration predicts long-range regulatory interactions across the human genome
Authors: Demeyer Sofie , Michoel Tom
Published: April 2014

Transcriptional regulation of gene expression is one of the main processes that affect cell diversification from a single set of genes. Regulatory proteins often interact with DNA regions located distally from the transcription start sites (TSS) of the genes. We developed a computational method that combines open chromatin and gene expression information for a large number of cell types to identify these distal regulatory elements. Our method builds correlation graphs for publicly available DNase-seq and exon array datasets with matching samples and uses graph-based methods to filter findings supported by multiple datasets and remove indirect interactions. The resulting set of interactions was validated with both anecdotal information of known long-range interactions and unbiased experimental data deduced from Hi-C and CAGE experiments. Our results provide a novel set of high-confidence candidate open chromatin regions involved in gene regulation, often located several Mb away from the TSS of their target gene.
Neo-antigens predicted by tumor genome meta-analysis correlate with increased patient survival
Authors: Brown Scott D. , Warren Rene L. , Gibb Ewan A. , Martin Spencer D. , Spinelli John J. , Nelson Brad H. , Holt Robert A.
Published: April 2014

Somatic missense mutations can initiate tumorogenesis and, conversely, anti-tumor cytotoxic T cell (CTL) responses. Tumor genome analysis has revealed extreme heterogeneity among tumor missense mutation profiles, but their relevance to tumor immunology and patient outcomes has awaited comprehensive evaluation. Here, for 515 patients from six tumor sites, we used RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas to identify mutations that are predicted to be immunogenic in that they yielded mutational epitopes presented by the MHC proteins encoded by each patient’s autologousHLA-Aalleles. Mutational epitopes were associated with increased patient survival. Moreover, the corresponding tumors had higher CTL content, inferred fromCD8Agene expression, and elevated expression of the CTL exhaustion markersPDCD1andCTLA4. Mutational epitopes were very scarce in tumors without evidence of CTL infiltration. These findings suggest that the abundance of predicted immunogenic mutations may be useful for identifying patients likely to benefit from checkpoint blockade and related immunotherapies.
Structure of the ubiquitin-activating enzyme loaded with two ubiquitin molecules
Authors: Schäfer Antje , Kuhn Monika , Schindelin Hermann
Published: April 2014

The activation of ubiquitin by the ubiquitin-activating enzyme Uba1 (E1) constitutes the first step in the covalent modification of target proteins with ubiquitin. This activation is a three-step process in which ubiquitin is adenylated at its C-terminal glycine, followed by the covalent attachment of ubiquitin to a catalytic cysteine residue of Uba1 and the subsequent adenylation of a second ubiquitin. Here, a ubiquitin E1 structure loaded with two ubiquitin molecules is presented for the first time. While one ubiquitin is bound in its adenylated form to the active adenylation domain of E1, the second ubiquitin represents the status after transfer and is covalently linked to the active-site cysteine. The covalently linked ubiquitin enables binding of the E2 enzyme without further modification of the ternary Uba1–ubiquitin2arrangement. This doubly loaded E1 structure constitutes a missing link in the structural analysis of the ubiquitin-transfer cascade.
An arginine tetrad as mediator of input-dependent and input-independent ATPases in the clock protein KaiC
Authors: Pattanayek Rekha , Xu Yao , Lamichhane Aashish , Johnson Carl H. , Egli Martin
Published: April 2014

A post-translational oscillator (PTO) composed of the proteins KaiA, KaiB and KaiC is at the heart of the cyanobacterial circadian clock. KaiC interacts with KaiA and KaiB over the daily cycle, and CII domains undergo rhythmic phosphorylation/dephosphorylation with a 24 h period. Both the N-terminal (CI) and C-terminal (CII) rings of KaiC exhibit ATPase activity. The CI ATPase proceeds in an input-independent fashion, but the CII ATPase is subject to metabolic input signals. The crystal structure of KaiC fromThermosynechococcus elongatusallows insight into the different anatomies of the CI and CII ATPases. Four consecutive arginines in CI (Arg linker) that connect the P-loop, CI subunits and CI and CII at the ring interface are primary candidates for the coordination of the CI and CII activities. The mutation of linker residues alters the period or triggers arhythmic behavior. Comparison between the CI and CII structures also reveals differences in loop regions that are key to KaiA and KaiB binding and activation of CII ATPase and kinase. Common packing features in KaiC crystals shed light on the KaiB–KaiC interaction.
Structure of the epimerization domain of tyrocidine synthetase A
Authors: Samel Stefan A. , Czodrowski Paul , Essen Lars-Oliver
Published: April 2014

Tyrocidine, a macrocyclic decapeptide fromBacillus brevis, is nonribosomally assembled by a set of multimodular peptide synthetases, which condense two D-amino acids and eight L-amino acids to produce this membrane-disturbing antibiotic. D-Phenylalanine, the first amino acid incorporated into tyrocidine, is catalytically derived from enzyme-bound L-Phe by the C-terminal epimerization (E) domain of tyrocidine synthetase A (TycA). The 1.5 Å resolution structure of the cofactor-independent TycA E domain reveals an intimate relationship to the condensation (C) domains of peptide synthetases. In contrast to the latter, the TycA E domain uses an enlarged bridge region to plug the active-site canyon from the acceptor side, whereas at the donor side a latch-like floor loop is suitably extended to accommodate the αIII helix of the preceding peptide-carrier domain. Additionally, E domains exclusively harbour a conserved glutamate residue, Glu882, that is opposite the active-site residue His743. This active-site topology implies Glu882 as a candidate acid–base catalyst, whereas His743 stabilizes in the protonated state a transient enolate intermediate of the L↔D isomerization.
Structure of human Bloom's syndrome helicase in complex with ADP and duplex DNA
Authors: Swan Michael K. , Legris Valerie , Tanner Adam , Reaper Philip M. , Vial Sarah , Bordas Rebecca , Pollard John R. , Charlton Peter A. , Golec Julian M. C. , Bertrand Jay A.
Published: April 2014

Bloom's syndrome is an autosomal recessive genome-instability disorder associated with a predisposition to cancer, premature aging and developmental abnormalities. It is caused by mutations that inactivate the DNA helicase activity of the BLM protein or nullify protein expression. The BLM helicase has been implicated in the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway, which is essential for the limitless replication of some cancer cells. This pathway is used by 10–15% of cancers, where inhibitors of BLM are expected to facilitate telomere shortening, leading to apoptosis or senescence. Here, the crystal structure of the human BLM helicase in complex with ADP and a 3′-overhang DNA duplex is reported. In addition to the helicase core, the BLM construct used for crystallization (residues 640–1298) includes the RecQ C-terminal (RQC) and the helicase and ribonuclease D C-terminal (HRDC) domains. Analysis of the structure provides detailed information on the interactions of the protein with DNA and helps to explain the mechanism coupling ATP hydrolysis and DNA unwinding. In addition, mapping of the missense mutations onto the structure provides insights into the molecular basis of Bloom's syndrome.
Diamonds in the rough: a strong case for the inclusion of weak-intensity X-ray diffraction data
Authors: Wang Jimin , Wing Richard A.
Published: April 2014

Overwhelming evidence exists to show that the inclusion of weak-intensity, high-resolution X-ray diffraction data helps improve the refinement of atomic models by imposing strong constraints on individual and overall temperatureBfactors and thus the quality of crystal structures. Some researchers consider these data to be of little value and opt to discard them during data processing, particularly at medium and low resolution, at which individualBfactors of atomic models cannot be refined. Here, new evidence is provided to show that the inclusion of these data helps to improve the quality of experimental phases by imposing proper constraints on electron-density models during noncrystallographic symmetry (NCS) averaging. Using electron-density correlation coefficients as criteria, the resolution of data has successfully been extended from 3.1 to 2.5 Å resolution with redundancy-independent mergingRfactors from below 100% to about 310%. It is further demonstrated that phase information can be fully extracted from observed amplitudes throughde novoNCS averaging. Averaging starts with uniform density inside double-shelled spherical masks and NCS matrices that are derived from bound heavy-atom clusters at the vertices of cuboctahedrally symmetric protein particles.
Exploiting fast detectors to enter a new dimension in room-temperature crystallography
Authors: Owen Robin L. , Paterson Neil , Axford Danny , Aishima Jun , Schulze-Briese Clemens , Ren Jingshan , Fry Elizabeth E. , Stuart David I. , Evans Gwyndaf
Published: April 2014

A departure from a linear or an exponential intensity decay in the diffracting power of protein crystals as a function of absorbed dose is reported. The observation of a lag phase raises the possibility of collecting significantly more data from crystals held at room temperature before an intolerable intensity decay is reached. A simple model accounting for the form of the intensity decay is reintroduced and is applied for the first time to high frame-rate room-temperature data collection.
Studying teamwork and team climate by using a business simulation
Authors: Ceschi Andrea , Dorofeeva Ksenia , Sartori Riccardo
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate how dimensions related to teamwork and team climate can influence decision making and learning of teams (performance). In order to understand which factors are more effective, several relevant group and team characteristics drawn from classical literature on groups and more recent empirical team simulation research have been considered.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper presents the results of a longitudinal study carried out during four months. A total of 183 Italian participants, divided into 50 teams of three (n=24), four (n=19) and five (n=7) members, have been involved in a business game developed by several European savings banks and simulating a real stock market environment. The aim of each team is not only to earn virtual money, but also learning long-term strategies to develop profitable investments without losing sight of economic factors.

Findings

– Based on literature review, the authors tested three group levels (intragroup relations level, self-member level and group-design level) by making three hypotheses concerning the teams involved in the simulation and investigated the communication and innovation (CI) dimension from the Italian version of the team climate inventory (TCI) by Ragazzoniet al.A correlation between team performance and CI was found (r=0.301p=0.048), which is in line with the hypothesis that such factors as communication and support for innovation can affect the decision-making performance.

Originality/value

– The results presented in the paper let practitioners understand which dynamics characterize teamwork activities and how such aspects as communication and support for innovation can lead to group learning and decision-making performance. The simulation used in this research is an empirical way to study team performance and group learning without other noise variables.
Competence development and performance among Swedish micro firms
Authors: Yazdanfar Darush , Abbasian Saeid , Hellgren Carina
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– This study examines the association between performance and competence development among Swedish micro firms, measured as number of hours per person a company allocates annually to competence development.

Design/methodology/approach

– A panel dataset consisting of around 395 firms will be analyzed using seemingly unrelated regression-model (SUR-model) for relationships between the hours allocated to competence development and various proxies for business performance, and the relationship between attending a business training program and various proxies for business performance.

Findings

– The empirical results are mixed showing a positive association between owners' attendance on a business training program and company performance merely with regard to four performance variables: better job satisfaction within a company, increased number of employees, organizational improvements and increased exports. However, the findings provide no evidence to suggest that there is a link between competence development and other performance variables.

Practical implications

– The present study provides a better understanding of the relationship between company performance and competence development. An investment in entrepreneur training and education could ensure the improvement of the performance of micro firms. This implication is especially relevant to firms in such industries as the service sectors, which are highly competitive.

Originality/value

– This study is based on a unique sample including many relevant variables, compared to previous researches. To the authors' best knowledge, this study is the one of the first empirical investigations focusing on this issue in the Swedish context.
KPIs for facility's performance assessment, Part II: identification of variables and deriving expressions for core indicators
Authors: Lavy Sarel , A. Garcia John , K. Dixit Manish
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify key variables that affect the quantifiable key performance indicators (KPIs) and to derive equations to measure these indicators. Qualitative KPIs are also discussed in terms of the aspects that need to be covered while carrying out qualitative performance assessment.

Design/methodology/approach

– A combination of literature and an industry opinion-based qualitative approach is applied to develop equations to calculate the quantifiable KPIs. A facility asset management consulting firm is included in the process of deriving the equations. Key aspects of a facility's qualitative performance assessment are categorized and discussed by performing a literature review.

Findings

– Mathematical expressions for core performance indicators are presented and discussed along with key variables. In addition, the information needed to quantify these core indicators is also discussed.

Research limitations/implications

– This paper represents the second step towards establishment of a relevant list of quantifiable and measurable core KPIs, which were identified and categorized in Part I of this paper. In Part II, the authors derive equations to quantify the core KPIs. Future research is needed to use relevant information from industry for validating these equations.

Practical implications

– A need for a concise and relevant list of KPIs was identified in Part I of this paper. Part II provides an approach to quantify the core KPIs based on information that is available in the industry. This research will help facility management professionals in not only selecting the indicators of choice, but also quantifying them based on available information yielding enhanced facility management decisions with measurable facility performance outcomes.

Originality/value

– This paper provides equations and variables to measure a facility's physical, functional and financial performance using both quantitative and qualitative performance assessments.
The role ofguanxinetworks in the performance of women-led firms in China
Authors: Matthew Scott Jonathan , T. Harrison Richard , Hussain Javed , Millman Cindy
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– This exploratory study aims to examine how knowledge acquired viaguanxi(networks and connections) is enabling women in China to overcome a number of significant barriers and challenges in order to start and grow successful businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors undertook two in-depth interviews to qualitatively investigate the use ofguanxias a means of overcoming various barriers faced by Chinese women in establishing and growing their businesses.

Findings

– The findings suggest that family background (and, in particular, support from parents and spouses), experience, training, education and finance are key success factors influencing the performance of women-led firms in China. The experiences of the two entrepreneurs in the study demonstrate the importance of mentors in helping to develop a woman's business acumen and providing the right contacts to help overcome potential barriers to developing a successful business.

Research limitations/implications

– While this study provides a useful first step to better understanding the role ofguanxinetworks in supporting women-led ventures in China, further research is needed to test the generalizability of the findings.

Originality/value

– This study contributes to the limited prior research focusing on the important role ofguanxinetworks in assisting Chinese women to successfully launch and grow new ventures.
Female entrepreneurship in rural Vietnam: an exploratory study
Authors: Nguyen Cuc , Frederick Howard , Nguyen Huong
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of governmental support policies and socio-cultural influences on female entrepreneurship in rural Vietnam. As such, the study addresses an important literature gap concerning female entrepreneurship within rural communities in South East Asia.

Design/methodology/approach

– Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with six female entrepreneurs and six female non-entrepreneurs in northern Vietnam to examine the influence of various environmental factors on female entrepreneurship in a rural setting.

Findings

– The results suggest that government pro-entrepreneurship policies, together with private sector interventions, have had an impact on rural Vietnam. Yet females in rural and remote Vietnam are still constrained by societal prejudices, financial limitations, and limited entrepreneurship educational opportunities.

Originality/value

– The paper's originality lies in its review of the circumstances confronting women in rural Vietnam and its findings concerning the impact of environmental factors on female entrepreneurship in this setting.
Exploring gender-related perceptions of SME success
Authors: Christopher Weber Paull , Geneste Louis
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– Small and medium enterprise (SME) research into the meaning and perception of success is now reaching beyond (the somewhat stereotypical) extrinsic success measures such as sales, number of employees, and profit. Researchers now identify the goals and expectations of the owner(s) of a business as central to their likely performance and preferred success metrics. Therefore, this paper aims to overlay perceptions of success and gender to establish whether success is conceptualised in the same way across genders.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study analyses the responses from 375 male and female SME owners to a range of quantitative success metrics and also explores the responses provided to a number of qualitative questions surrounding the owners' perceptions of success.

Findings

– Although the average female-owned business in the study is significantly smaller than the average male-owned business, they perform equally well on extrinsic measures that relate outputs (profit) to inputs (assets and hours worked). Further, the female SME owners appear to be more satisfied with both the success of their business and their lifestyle, than their male counterparts.

Originality/value

– The findings suggest that the social feminists hold sway (men and women have different perceptions of success) and there is value in incorporating a feminine perspective when examining what business owners are looking for from their ventures. That is, measures of SME success need to adopt a person-centered perspective.
Expanding a Canadian community health centre
Authors: T. Greening Stacy , Wild Cameron , Caine Vera
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– The current study's purpose is to examine, through a case study, a community health centre board's governance during an expansion period with particular attention to the organizational and internal board relations that contribute to or inhibit expansion.

Design/methodology/approach

– All board members on the slate during the expansion were invited to participate in one semi-structured interview. Administrative data (board documentation and correspondence) were also used to inform the study. Discourse analysis was used to analyze the data.

Findings

– While board members agreed with the expansion they acknowledge that the expansion process should be examined. Board members identified missing board skill sets, comfort with governance and low organizational understanding as personal barriers to an enhanced process. External barriers included: absent decision support tools; documentation and information availability and historical decision making processes.

Research limitations/implications

– Half the board members agreed to participate in the interviews. Of those declining, 30 percent cited difficulties during the expansion period as their rationale for withdrawing.

Originality/value

– Findings add to: the limited publications regarding primary healthcare service expansion; and understanding expansion and volunteer board members' roles and their governance process during this time.
Implementing quality initiatives in healthcare organizations: drivers and challenges
Authors: Abdallah Abdallah
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– Various quality initiatives seem to have successful implementation in some healthcare organizations yet fail in others. This paper sets out to study the literature trying to understand drivers and challenges facing quality initiatives implementation in healthcare organizations then compare findings from literature with those of a structured questionnaire answered by 60 representatives from 18 hospitals. Finally it proposes a framework that mitigates challenges and utilizes drivers to ensure best implementation results.

Design/methodology/approach

– Literature regarding implementing various quality initiatives in the healthcare sector was reviewed. Representatives from several healthcare organizations were surveyed. Results from both approaches are compared to highlight the key challenges and drivers facing implementers.

Findings

– This research reveals that internal factors related to leadership and employees greatly affect quality initiative success or failure. Design and relevance play a major role in successful implementation.

Practical implications

– This research offers healthcare professionals greater success when implementing certain quality initiatives by taking success/failure factors into consideration. A general framework for successful implementation in the healthcare sector is provided.

Originality/value

– This article uncovers reasons behind success or failure in a comprehensive and practical way. It also explores how most popular quality initiatives are applied in hospitals.
Concurrent implementation of quality improvement programs
Authors: Elisabeth Nyström Monica , Garvare Rickard , Westerlund Anna , Weinehall Lars
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– Competing activities and projects can interfere with implementing new knowledge and approaches. The purpose, therefore, was to investigate processes and impact related to implementing two concurrent quality initiatives in a Swedish hospital. These were a regionally initiated, system-wide organizational learning programme called the Dynamic and Viable Organization (DVO) and a national initiative on stopping healthcare-associated and hospital-acquired infections (SHAI). Both undertakings aspired to increase staff competence in systematic improvement approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

– Multiple methods were applied including surveys, observations, interviews, process diaries, documents and organizational measurements. Respondents were unit managers, change facilitators and improvement team members.

Findings

– Even though both initiatives shared the same improvement approach, there was no strong indication that they were strategically combined to benefit each other. The initiatives existed side by side with some coordination and some conflict. Despite absent management strategies to utilize the national SHAI initiative, positive developments in QI culture and communication were reported. The current study illustrates the inherent difficulties coordinating change initiatives, even in favourable circumstances.

Orginality/value

– This article addresses the lesser studied but common situation of coinciding and competing projects in organizations.
Group treatment in a male low secure mental health service: a treatment description and descriptive evaluation
Authors: Nagi Claire , Davies Jason , Shine Laura
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, content and structure of an intensive group-based intervention designed to address a range of needs common to individuals within low secure forensic mental health settings. Additionally, the feasibility, acceptability, resource implications and levels of participation and understanding are evaluated.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper describes the development, content and structure of an intensive group-based intervention designed to address a range of needs common to individuals within low secure forensic mental health settings. Additionally, the feasibility, acceptability, resource implications and levels of participation and understanding are evaluated.

Findings

– Analysis showed that the intervention was well received by staff and participants and that those with low self-report knowledge at the start showed large improvements. Recorded levels of participation and understanding were lower than expected.

Research limitations/implications

– Group-based interventions in low secure settings can be developed from existing “what works” information. Such treatments can feasibly be delivered although participants may need support – something which is not reported in many intervention studies. Research is now needed to assess the impact of the General Treatment & Recovery Programme (GTRP) intervention on participants.

Originality/value

– The development of treatment programmes for offending behaviour within low secure forensic mental health settings is still in its infancy. This paper outlines and describes the development of such an intervention, namely the GTRP.