bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
TheDrosophilachromosomal protein Mst77F is processed to generate an essential component of mature sperm chromatin
Authors: Kimura Shuhei , Loppin Benjamin
Published: November 2016

In most animals, the bulk of sperm DNA is packaged with sperm nuclear basic proteins (SNBPs), a diverse group of highly basic chromosomal proteins notably comprising mammalian protamines. The replacement of histones with SNBPs during spermiogenesis allows sperm DNA to reach an extreme level of compaction, but little is known about how SNBPs actually functionin vivo. Mst77F is aDrosophilaSNBP with unique DNA condensation propertiesin vitro, but its role during spermiogenesis remains unclear. Here, we show that Mst77F is required for the compaction of sperm DNA and the production of mature sperm, through its cooperation with protamine-like proteins Mst35Ba/b. We demonstrate that Mst77F is incorporated in spermatid chromatin as a precursor protein, which is subsequently processed through the proteolysis of its N-terminus. The cleavage of Mst77F is very similar to the processing of protamine P2 during human spermiogenesis and notably leaves the cysteine residues in the mature protein intact, suggesting that they participate in the formation of disulfide cross-links. Despite the rapid evolution of SNBPs, sperm chromatin condensation thus involves remarkably convergent mechanisms in distantly related animals.
Clonal yeast biofilms can reap competitive advantages through cell differentiation without being obligatorily multicellular
Authors: Regenberg Birgitte , Hanghøj Kristian Ebbesen , Andersen Kaj Scherz , Boomsma Jacobus J.
Published: November 2016

How differentiation between cell types evolved is a fundamental question in biology, but few studies have explored single-gene phenotypes that mediate first steps towards division of labour with selective advantage for groups of cells. Here, we show that differential expression of the
FLO11
gene produces stable fractions of Flo11
+
and Flo11
−
cells in clonal
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
biofilm colonies on medium with intermediate viscosity. Differentiated Flo11
+/−
colonies, consisting of adhesive and non-adhesive cells, obtain a fourfold growth advantage over undifferentiated colonies by overgrowing glucose resources before depleting them, rather than depleting them while they grow as undifferentiated Flo11
−
colonies do. Flo11
+/−
colonies maintain their structure and differentiated state by switching non-adhesive cells to adhesive cells with predictable probability. Mixtures of Flo11
+
and Flo11
−
cells from mutant strains that are unable to use this epigenetic switch mechanism produced neither integrated colonies nor growth advantages, so the condition-dependent selective advantages of differentiated
FLO11
expression can only be reaped by clone-mate cells. Our results show that selection for cell differentiation in clonal eukaryotes can evolve before the establishment of obligate undifferentiated multicellularity, and without necessarily leading to more advanced organizational complexity.
Non-reef environments impact the diversification of extant jacks, remoras and allies (Carangoidei, Percomorpha)
Authors: Frédérich Bruno , Marramà Giuseppe , Carnevale Giorgio , Santini Francesco
Published: November 2016

Various factors may impact the processes of diversification of a clade. In the marine realm, it has been shown that coral reef environments have promoted diversification in various fish groups. With the exception of requiem sharks, all the groups showing a higher level of diversity in reefs than in non-reef habitats have diets based predominantly on plankton, algae or benthic invertebrates. Here we explore the pattern of diversification of carangoid fishes, a clade that includes numerous piscivorous species (e.g. trevallies, jacks and dolphinfishes), using time-calibrated phylogenies as well as ecological and morphological data from both extant and fossil species. The study of carangoid morphospace suggests that reef environments played a role in their early radiation during the Eocene. However, contrary to the hypothesis of a reef-association-promoting effect, we show that habitat shifts to non-reef environments have increased the rates of morphological diversification (i.e. size and body shape) in extant carangoids. Piscivory did not have a major impact on the tempo of diversification of this group. Through the ecological radiation of carangoid fishes, we demonstrate that non-reef environments may sustain and promote processes of diversification of different marine fish groups, at least those including a large proportion of piscivorous species.
Symbiodinium
biogeography tracks environmental patterns rather than host genetics in a key Caribbean reef-builder,
Orbicella annularis
Authors: Kennedy Emma V. , Tonk Linda , Foster Nicola L. , Chollett Iliana , Ortiz Juan-Carlos , Dove Sophie , Hoegh-Guldberg Ove , Mumby Peter J. , Stevens Jamie R.
Published: November 2016

The physiological performance of a reef-building coral is a combined outcome of both the coral host and its algal endosymbionts,
Symbiodinium
. While
Orbicella annularis
—a dominant reef-building coral in the Wider Caribbean—is known to be a flexible host in terms of the diversity of
Symbiodinium
types it can associate with, it is uncertain how this diversity varies across the Caribbean, and whether spatial variability in the symbiont community is related to either
O. annularis
genotype or environment. Here, we target the
Symbiodinium
-ITS2 gene to characterize and map dominant
Symbiodinium
hosted by
O. annularis
at an unprecedented spatial scale. We reveal northwest–southeast partitioning across the Caribbean, both in terms of the dominant symbiont taxa hosted and in assemblage diversity. Multivariate regression analyses incorporating a suite of environmental and genetic factors reveal that observed spatial patterns are predominantly explained by chronic thermal stress (summer temperatures) and are unrelated to host genotype. Furthermore, we were able to associate the presence of specific
Symbiodinium
types with local environmental drivers (for example,
Symbiodinium
C7 with areas experiencing cooler summers, B1j with nutrient loading and B17 with turbidity), associations that have not previously been described.
Individual differences in functional connectivity during naturalistic viewing conditions
Authors: Vanderwal Tamara , Eilbott Jeffrey , Finn Emily S. , Craddock R. Cameron , Turnbull Adam , Castellanos F. Xavier
Published: November 2016

Naturalistic viewing paradigms such as movies have been shown to reduce participant head motion and improve arousal during fMRI scanning relative to task-free rest, and have been used to study both functional connectivity and task-evoked BOLD-signal changes. These task-evoked changes result in cortical activity that is synchronized across subjects and involves large areas of the cortex, and it is unclear whether individual differences in functional connectivity are enhanced or diminished under such naturalistic conditions. This work first aims to characterize variability in functional connectivity (FC) across two distinct movie conditions and eyes-open rest (n=34 healthy adults, 2 scan sessions each). At the whole-brain level, we found that movies have higher intra- and inter-subject correlations in cluster-wise FC relative to rest. The anatomical distribution of inter-subject variability was similar across conditions, with higher variability occurring at the lateral prefrontal lobes and temporoparietal junctions. Second, we used an unsupervised test-retest matching (or “finger-printin”) algorithm that identifies individual subjects from within a group based on functional connectivity patterns, quantifying the accuracy of the algorithm across the three conditions. We also evaluated the impact of parcellation resolution, scan duration, and number of edges on observed inter-individual differences. The movies and resting state all enabled identification of individual subjects based on FC matrices, with accuracies between 62 and 100%. Overall, pairings involving movies outperformed rest, and the more social and faster-paced movie attained 100% accuracy. When the parcellation resolution, scan duration and number of edges used were increased, accuracies improved across conditions, and the pattern of movies>rest was preserved. These results suggest that using dynamic stimuli such as movies enhances the detection of FC patterns that are distinct at the individual level.

Highlights

Intra- and inter-subject FC correlations are compared across rest and movies.

Movies outperformed rest in an unsupervised identification algorithm based on FC.

Movies outperform rest regardless of parcellation, scan length, or number of edges.

Watching movies enhances the detection of individual differences in FC.
Networks of VTA neurons encode real-time information about uncertain numbers of actions executed to earn a reward
Authors: Wood Jesse , Simon Nicholas W. , Koerner Spencer , Kass Robert E. , Moghaddam Bita
Published: November 2016

Multiple and unpredictable numbers of actions are often required to achieve a goal. In order to organize behavior and allocate effort so that optimal behavioral policies can be selected, it is necessary to continually monitor ongoing actions. Real-time processing of information related to actions and outcomes is typically assigned to the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia, but also depends on midbrain regions, especially the ventral tegmental area (VTA). We were interested in how individual VTA neurons, as well as networks within the VTA, encode salient events when an unpredictable number of serial actions are required to obtain a reward. We recorded from ensembles of putative dopamine and non-dopamine neurons in the VTA as animals performed multiple cued trials in a recording session where, in each trial, serial actions were randomly rewarded. While averaging population activity did not reveal a response pattern, we observed that different neurons selectively tuned to low, medium, or high numbered actions in a trial. This preferential tuning of putative dopamine and non-dopamine VTA neurons to different subsets of actions in a trial allowed information about binned action number to be decoded from the ensemble activity. At the network level, tuning curve similarity was positively associated with action-evoked noise correlations, suggesting that action number selectivity reflects functional connectivity within these networks. Analysis of phasic responses to cue and reward revealed that the requirement to execute multiple and uncertain numbers of actions weakens both cue-evoked responses and cue-reward response correlation. The functional connectivity and ensemble coding scheme that we observe here may allow VTA neurons to cooperatively provide a real-time account of ongoing behavior. These computations may be critical to cognitive and motivational functions that have long been associated with VTA dopamine neurons.
Multispot single-molecule FRET: high-throughput analysis of freely diffusing molecules
Authors: Ingargiola A. , Lerner E. , Chung S. , Panzeri F. , Gulinatti A. , Rech I. , Ghioni M. , Weiss S. , Michalet X.
Published: November 2016

We describe an 8-spot confocal setup for high-throughput smFRET assays and illustrate its performance with two characteristic experiments. First, measurements on a series of freely diffusing doubly-labeled dsDNA samples allow us to demonstrate that data acquired in multiple spots in parallel can be properly corrected and result in measured sample characteristics identical to those obtained with a standard single-spot setup. We then take advantage of the higher throughput provided by parallel acquisition to address an outstanding question about the kinetics of the initial steps of bacterial RNA transcription. Our real-time kinetic analysis of promoter escape by bacterial RNA polymerase confirms results obtained by a more indirect route, shedding additional light on the initial steps of transcription.

Finally, we discuss the advantages of our multispot setup, while pointing potential limitations of the current single laser excitation design, as well as analysis challenges and their solutions.
The HTM Spatial Pooler – a neocortical algorithm for online sparse distributed coding
Authors: Cui Yuwei , Ahmad Subutai , Hawkins Jeff
Published: November 2016

1.

Hierarchical temporal memory (HTM) provides a theoretical framework that models several key computational principles of the neocortex. In this paper we analyze an important component of HTM, the HTM spatial pooler (SP). The SP models how neurons learn feedforward connections and form efficient representations of the input. It converts arbitrary binary input patterns into sparse distributed representations (SDRs) using a combination of competitive Hebbian learning rules and homeostatic excitability control. We describe a number of key properties of the spatial pooler, including fast adaptation to changing input statistics, improved noise robustness through learning, efficient use of cells and robustness to cell death. In order to quantify these properties we develop a set of metrics that can be directly computed from the spatial pooler outputs. We show how the properties are met using these metrics and targeted artificial simulations. We then demonstrate the value of the spatial pooler in a complete end-to-end real-world HTM system. We discuss the relationship with neuroscience and previous studies of sparse coding. The HTM spatial pooler represents a neurally inspired algorithm for learning sparse representations from noisy data streams in an online fashion.
WhatsHap: fast and accurate read-based phasing
Authors: Martin Marcel , Patterson Murray , Garg Shilpa , O Fischer Sarah , Pisanti Nadia , Klau Gunnar W , Schöenhuth Alexander , Marschall Tobias
Published: November 2016

Read-based phasing allows to reconstruct the haplotypes of a sample purely from sequencing reads. While phasing is an important step for answering questions about population genetics, compound heterozygosity, and to aid in clinical decision making, there has been a lack of accurate, usable and standards-based software.

WhatsHap is a production-ready tool for highly accurate read-based phasing. It was designed from the beginning to leverage third-generation sequencing technologies, whose long reads can span many variants and are therefore ideal for phasing. WhatsHap works also well with second-generation data, is easy to use and will phase not only SNVs, but also indels and other variants. It is unique in its ability to combine read-based with pedigree-based phasing, allowing to further improve accuracy if multiple related samples are provided.
True causal effect size heterogeneity is not required to explain trans-ethnic differences in GWAS signals
Authors: Zanetti Daniela , Weale Michael E.
Published: November 2016

Through genome-wide association studies (GWASs), researchers have identified hundreds of genetic variants associated with particular complex traits. Previous studies have compared the pattern of association signals across different populations in real data, and these have detected differences in the strength and sometimes even the direction of GWAS signals. These differences could be due to a combination of (1) lack of power (insufficient sample sizes); (2) minor allele frequency (MAF) differences (again affecting power); (3) linkage disequilibrium (LD) differences (affecting power to ‘tag’ the causal variant); and (4) true differences in causal variant effect sizes (defined by relative risks).

In the present work, we sought to assess whether the first three of these reasons are sufficient on their own to explain the observed incidence of trans-ethnic differences in replications of GWAS signals, or whether the fourth reason is also required. We simulated case-control data of European, Asian and African ancestry, drawing on observed MAF and LD patterns seen in the 1000-Genomes reference dataset and assuming the true causal relative risks were the same in all three populations.

We found that a combination of Euro-centric SNP selection and between-population differences in LD, accentuated by the lower SNP density typical of older GWAS panels, was sufficient to explain the rate of trans-ethnic differences previously reported, without the need to assume between-population differences in true causal SNP effect size. This suggests a cross-population consistency that has implications for our understanding of the interplay between genetics and environment in the aetiology of complex human diseases.
Automating Morphological Profiling with Generic Deep Convolutional Networks
Authors: Pawlowski Nick , Caicedo Juan C , Singh Shantanu , Carpenter Anne E , Storkey Amos
Published: November 2016

Morphological profiling aims to create signatures of genes, chemicals and diseases from microscopy images. Current approaches use classical computer vision-based segmentation and feature extraction. Deep learning models achieve state-of-the-art performance in many computer vision tasks such as classification and segmentation. We propose to transfer activation features of generic deep convolutional networks to extract features for morphological profiling. Our approach surpasses currently used methods in terms of accuracy and processing speed. Furthermore, it enables fully automated processing of microscopy images without need for single cell identification.
Habitat preference predicts genetic diversity and population divergence in Amazonian birds
Authors: Harvey Michael G. , Aleixo Alexandre , Ribas Camila C. , Brumfield Robb T.
Published: November 2016

The ecological traits of organisms may predict important evolutionary parameters such as genetic diversity, population genetic structure, and demographic history. Making these ecological-evolutionary links is difficult because robust, comparable genetic estimates are required from many species with differing ecologies. In Amazonian birds, differences in habitat preference are an important component of ecological diversity. A subset of Amazonian birds is restricted to forest edge and open forest along floodplains, whereas another subset occurs only in the interior of tall, upland forest. Here, we examine the link between habitat and evolutionary metrics using 20 pairs of closely related and co-distributed bird species in which one member of the pair occurs primarily in forest edge and floodplains, and the other occurs in upland forest interior. We use standardized geographic sampling and genomic data from the same set of 2,416 independent markers to estimate genetic diversity, population structure, and demographic history in each species. We find that species of upland forest have higher genetic diversity, greater divergence across the landscape, more genetically distinct populations, and deeper gene histories than floodplain species. Our results reveal that species ecology in the form of habitat preference is an important predictor of genetic diversity and divergence and suggest that floodplain and upland avifaunas in the Amazon may be on separate evolutionary trajectories and require different conservation strategies.
Structural Modeling of Chromatin Integrates Genome Features and Reveals Chromosome Folding Principle
Authors: Xie Wen Jun , Meng Luming , Liu Sirui , Zhang Ling , Cai Xiaoxia , Gao Yi Qin
Published: November 2016

How chromosomes fold into 3D structures and how genome functions are affected or even controlled by their spatial organization remain challenging questions. Hi-C experiment has provided important structural insights for chromosome, and Hi-C data are used here to construct the 3D chromatin structure which are characterized by two spatially segregated chromatin compartments A and B. By mapping a plethora of genome features onto the constructed 3D chromatin model, we show vividly the close connection between genome properties and the spatial organization of chromatin. We are able to dissect the whole chromatin into two types of chromatin domains which have clearly different Hi-C contact patterns as well as different sizes of chromatin loops. The two chromatin types can be respectively regarded as the basic units of chromatin compartments A and B, and also spatially segregate from each other as the two chromatin compartments. Therefore, the chromatin loops segregate in the space according to their sizes, suggesting the excluded volume or entropic effect in chromatin compartmentalization as well as chromosome positioning. Taken together, these results provide clues to the folding principles of chromosomes, their spatial organization, and the resulted clustering of many genome features in the 3D space.
Smooth Quantile Normalization
Authors: Hicks Stephanie C , Okrah Kwame , Paulson Joseph N , Quackenbush John , Irizarry Rafael A , Corrada Bravo Héctor
Published: November 2016

Between-sample normalization is a critical step in genomic data analysis to remove systematic bias and unwanted technical variation in high-throughput data. Global normalization methods are based on the assumption that observed variability in global properties is due to technical reasons and are unrelated to the biology of interest. For example, some methods correct for differences in sequencing read counts by scaling features to have similar median values across samples, but these fail to reduce other forms of unwanted technical variation. Methods such as quantile normalization transform the statistical distributions across samples to be the same and assume global differences in the distribution are induced by only technical variation. However, it remains unclear how to proceed with normalization if these assumptions are violated, for example if there are global differences in the statistical distributions between biological conditions or groups, and external information, such as negative or control features, is not available. Here we introduce a generalization of quantile normalization, referred to assmooth quantile normalization(qsmooth), which is based on the assumption that the statistical distribution of each sample should be the same (or have the same distributional shape) within biological groups or conditions, but allowing that they may differ between groups. We illustrate the advantages of our method on several high-throughput datasets with global differences in distributions corresponding to different biological conditions. We also perform a Monte Carlo simulation study to illustrate the bias-variance tradeoff of qsmooth compared to other global normalization methods. A software implementation is available fromhttps://github.com/stephaniehicks/qsmooth.
Predicting Enhancer-Promoter Interaction from Genomic Sequence with Deep Neural Networks
Authors: Singh Shashank , Yang Yang , Póczos Barnabás , Ma Jian
Published: November 2016

In the human genome, distal enhancers are involved in regulating target genes through proxi-mal promoters by forming enhancer-promoter interactions. Although recently developed high-throughput experimental approaches have allowed us to recognize potential enhancer-promoter interactions genome-wide, it is still largely unclear to what extent the sequence-level information encoded in our genome help guide such interactions. Here we report a new computational method (named “SPEID”) using deep learning models to predict enhancer-promoter interactions based on sequence-based features only, when the locations of putative enhancers and promoters in a particular cell type are given. Our results across six different cell types demonstrate that SPEID is effective in predicting enhancer-promoter interactions as compared to state-of-the-art methods that only use information from a single cell type. As a proof-of-principle, we also applied SPEID to identify somatic non-coding mutations in melanoma samples that may have reduced enhancer-promoter interactions in tumor genomes. This work demonstrates that deep learning models can help reveal that sequence-based features alone are sufficient to reliably predict enhancer-promoter interactions genome-wide.
Hair follicles’ transit-amplifying cells govern concurrent dermal adipocyte production through Sonic Hedgehog
Authors: Zhang Bing , Tsai Pai-Chi , Gonzalez-Celeiro Meryem , Chung Oliver , Boumard Benjamin , Perdigoto Carolina N. , Ezhkova Elena , Hsu Ya-Chieh
Published: November 2016

Growth and regeneration of one tissue within an organ compels accommodative changes in the surrounding tissues. However, the molecular nature and operating logic governing these concurrent changes remain poorly defined. The dermal adipose layer expands concomitantly with hair follicle downgrowth, providing a paradigm for studying coordinated changes of surrounding lineages with a regenerating tissue. Here, we discover that hair follicle transit-amplifying cells (HF-TACs) play an essential role in orchestrating dermal adipogenesis through secreting Sonic Hedgehog (SHH). Depletion of Shh from HF-TACs abrogates both dermal adipogenesis and hair follicle growth. Using cell type-specific deletion of Smo, a gene required in SHH-receiving cells, we found that SHH does not act on hair follicles, adipocytes, endothelial cells, and hematopoietic cells for adipogenesis. Instead, SHH acts directly on adipocyte precursors, promoting their proliferation and their expression of a key adipogenic gene, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (Pparg), to induce dermal adipogenesis. Our study therefore uncovers a critical role for TACs in orchestrating the generation of both their own progeny and a neighboring lineage to achieve concomitant tissue production across lineages.
Nucleoporin-mediated regulation of cell identity genes
Authors: Ibarra Arkaitz , Benner Chris , Tyagi Swati , Cool Jonah , Hetzer Martin W.
Published: November 2016

The organization of the genome in the three-dimensional space of the nucleus is coupled with cell type-specific gene expression. However, how nuclear architecture influences transcription that governs cell identity remains unknown. Here, we show that nuclear pore complex (NPC) components Nup93 and Nup153 bind superenhancers (SE), regulatory structures that drive the expression of key genes that specify cell identity. We found that nucleoporin-associated SEs localize preferentially to the nuclear periphery, and absence of Nup153 and Nup93 results in dramatic transcriptional changes of SE-associated genes. Our results reveal a crucial role of NPC components in the regulation of cell type-specifying genes and highlight nuclear architecture as a regulatory layer of genome functions in cell fate.
Analyzing relationships between project team compositions and green building certification in green building projects
Authors: Cheng Jack C.P. , Venkataraman Vignesh
Published: November 2016

Purpose

Literature on organizational analysis identified that project participants have a certain impact on the project outcome. However, there is no study that identifies the impact of project teams and individual project participants on a green building project. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of green building project teams on green building certification.

Design/methodology/approach

Project information, project team information, and green building certification grade were collected using the Canadian green building database. Project team data were analyzed and organizations were ranked based on their green building project experience and collaborations with experienced green building organizations. The page rank algorithm is used to calculate the rank of organizations in order to identify the impact of organizational rank on the final green building certification grade of a project.

Findings

The results show a positive relationship between the green building certification grade and the number of organizations with more green building experience in a project team. The results also show that not having experienced key organizations such as owners, designers, and contractors will likely lead to a lower green building certification grade.

Originality/value

Impact of project teams on green building projects has not been studied before. This study used an innovative method to analyze green building project teams and to investigate the importance of green building project experience. The findings of this study provided evidence to support the influence of project team compositions in green building projects. The results presented in this paper can help project owners and managers during project team formation for successful execution of green building projects.
Risk disclosure, cost of capital and bank performance
Authors: Nahar Shamsun , Azim Mohammad , Anne Jubb Christine
Published: November 2016

Purpose

This study aims to examine the relationship among corporate risk disclosure, cost of equity capital and performance within banking institutions in a developing country setting. The authors argue that corporate risk disclosure reduces the cost of capital as investors attain better information and have confidence in the business and that less risk disclosure may generate ambiguity for potential stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the population of all 30 listed banks on the Dhaka Stock Exchange, Bangladesh, for the years 2006 to 2012 and uses three-stage least-squares simultaneous equations to deal with endogeneity issues.

Findings

There is evidence that Bangladesh has voluntarily adopted the International Financial Reporting Standard 7 – Financial Instruments: Disclosures (IFRS 7) and Basel II: Market Discipline and that these standards enhance risk disclosure even where compliance is not compulsory. The cost of capital is found to be negatively associated with risk disclosure, which has an inverse relationship with bank performance.

Originality/value

This study provides a link between risk disclosure, cost of capital and performance. It fills a gap in the literature by providing a longitudinal study of risk disclosure in the banking sector of Bangladesh. This research also highlights the importance of appropriate risk disclosure for banks and suggests its importance in the process of fulfilling stakeholders’ demands.
Related party transactions and accounting quality in Greece
Authors: El-Helaly Moataz
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between related party transactions (RPTs) and accounting quality for the firms listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper compares accounting quality across two groups of firms. The first group contains firms that conduct material RPTs and the second group contains firms that do not conduct material RPTs. Accounting quality is measured using different proxies of earnings management. Four earnings management proxies are used, three metrics for earnings smoothing and one for managing earnings towards a target.

Findings

The results of the current study do not suggest that firms with significant RPTs exhibit less accounting quality compared to non-RPTs firms.

Research limitations/implications

The results support the argument that RPTs are conventional transactions that are mainly conducted for business purposes.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature by examining the effect of RPTs on accounting quality in Greece and whether firms that conduct RPTs exhibit less accounting quality or not.
Political connections and earnings quality
Authors: Harymawan Iman , Nowland John
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the earnings quality of politically connected firms is affected by changes in political stability and government effectiveness in a developing country.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a sample of 2,073 firm-year observations from 349 firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange from 2003 to 2012 to examine how political stability and government effectiveness affect the earnings quality of politically connected firms, relative to non-politically connected firms. A two-stage model is used to address self-selection issues in the choice of firms to establish political connections.

Findings

This study finds that increased government effectiveness reduces the benefits of political connections, requiring politically connected firms to be more responsive to market pressures and resulting in higher earnings quality. However, increased political stability enhances the certainty of benefits from political connections, reducing the need for politically connected firms to respond to market pressures and resulting in lower earnings quality.

Research limitations/implications

For policymakers, these results indicate that different dimensions of political and economic development can affect the incentives of firms with political connections in different ways.

Originality/value

This study finds that the earnings quality of politically connected firms increases as government effectiveness improves, but it decreases as the political environment becomes more stable.
The motivations of earnings management and financial aggressiveness in American firms listed on the NASDAQ 100
Authors: Neifar Souhir , Halioui Khamoussi , Ben Abdelaziz Fouad
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivations of earnings management and financial aggressiveness levels in the big 100 companies listed on the NASDAQ 100 after the 2007 financial crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses two samples. The first contains 471 observations of 100 companies listed on the NASDAQ 100 for the period 2008-2012 and is used to examine the motivations of earnings management. The second represents 282 observations of companies listed on the NASDAQ 100 that use financial aggressiveness. The authors use a panel data model to analyze the effects of four explanatory variables (corporate governance structure, CEO compensation, CEO characteristics and audit fees) on both earnings management and financial aggressiveness levels.

Findings

The results of the investigation show the significant impact of corporate governance structure, CEO compensation, CEO characteristics and audit fees on reducing the earnings management and financial aggressiveness levels.

Research limitations/implications

The findings can be valuable to both investors and researchers. For researchers, the present work may help in explaining the motivations of earnings management and financial aggressiveness practices used by large American firms after the 2007 US financial crisis. For investors, this study serves to highlight the critical importance of corporate governance, CEO compensation and CEO characteristics in limiting such behaviors. Thus, investors are recommended to account for such variables in order to make effective investment decisions. As an extension to this study, researchers might consider other CEO psychological variables. Other market indices could also be considered in order to generalize and validate the results of the research.

Practical implications

Investors must take into consideration the corporate governance structure and ask for supplementary information about CEO characteristics to ensure better investment decisions.

Originality/value

In this paper, and in contrast to previous research, the authors test the impact of corporate governance structure, CEO compensation, CEO characteristics and audit fees together on the level of both earnings management and financial aggressiveness behavior for large US non-financial firms after the 2007 financial crisis. The authors show that older CEOs use less earnings management and financial aggressiveness. The findings can be valuable to investors, managers and regulators because they have implications for their interactive decision-making process.
Electronic word-of-mouth and information overload in an experiential service industry
Authors: Furner Christopher Paul , Zinko Robert , Zhu Zhen
Published: November 2016

Purpose

Trust and purchase intent are established, dependent variables in electronic commerce research. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of online product reviews in the development of purchase intention, which has led to the development of a substantial research effort in the realm of electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM). The purpose of this paper is to incorporate e-WOM, information processing and decision-making theories to propose a model of the development of trust and purchase intention based on online product reviews, and incorporate information overload as a moderating factor.

Design/methodology/approach

This study tests the hypotheses using a scenario-based experiment. In total, 157 working adults were asked to read three hotel reviews of different information load. Upon completion, they were then asked to respond to Likert-based questions regarding their trust in the review and purchase intention.

Findings

An inverted U-shaped relationship exists between information load and both trust and purchase intention, where low-information load is ineffective at fostering trust and purchase intention, moderate information load is effective at fostering trust and purchase intention, and high-information load is less effective than moderate information load at fostering trust and purchase intention.

Research limitations/implications

Although the authors supported the inverted U-shaped relationship between information load and two outcomes, the authors only tested three different review lengths, resulting in limited precision, it is not clear where the inflection point is (i.e. exactly how many words results in information overload). Future studies might both seek more precision, and also consider more consumer characteristics, such as risk propensity.

Practical implications

Review platform operators with a stake in encouraging a sale should prioritize and highlight reviews of moderate length (which can be assessed automatically via word count), and consider restricting new reviews of products to minimum and maximum word counts.

Originality/value

This study enhances the relevant and growing body of online review research by: bringing uncertainty reduction theory to bear on the consumer’s information search efforts; using information overload, an important construct from classic information processing and decision-making literature to explain consumer behavior; and identifying a review characteristics (information load) which influences consumer attitudes about a review (trust) and the product (purchase intention). Finally, this study enhances research understanding of a specific experiential service: hospitality.
Eight challenges of servitisation for the configuration, measurement and management of organisations
Authors: Nudurupati Sai S. , Lascelles David , Wright Gillian , Yip Nick
Published: November 2016

Purpose

There is an extensive research literature on servitisation and the related field of product-service systems that has emerged independently from different fields including engineering, management, design and environmental studies. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a structured literature review to explore, identify and synthesise the multi-disciplinary research challenges in the journey towards servitisation.

Design/methodology/approach

The research approach is a systematic literature review using key word searches and citation tracking for research reported between 1990 and 2013 in research databases that cover the fields which have generated the body of knowledge.

Findings

One of the key findings from the extant literature on servitisation is that it suffers from three fundamental weaknesses. First, numerous studies are conceptual in nature with limited practicality. Second, there are relatively few empirical studies, and often the findings relate to a single case study based on the insights of a limited number of senior managers. Third, often the dynamics are insufficiently studied in these organisations because data for most cases are collected post-event.

Research limitations/implications

Based on the literature review and its shortfalls, this paper proposes a holistic framework of eight themes that require further attention from academic researchers in order that a more complete conceptual understanding of servitisation is developed to support practice.

Practical implications

Each theme in the framework has an associated list of questions that can be addressed through research and presented to managers as a challenge agenda to improve their servitisation efforts. That servitisation is associated with differentiation and competitive advantage makes this a valuable approach for managing corporate performance.

Originality/value

Research from multi-disciplinary sources is synergised in order to develop an overarching servitisation agenda that transcends domain-based boundaries. This paves the way for an approach to servitisation that is coherent and harmonious.
Brand meaning cocreation: toward a conceptualization and research implications
Authors: Tierney Kieran D. , Karpen Ingo O. , Westberg Kate
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consolidate and advance the understanding of brand meaning and the evolving process by which it is determined by introducing and explicating the concept of brand meaning cocreation (BMCC).

Design/methodology/approach

In-depth review and integration of literature from branding, cocreation, service systems, and practice theory. To support deep theorizing, the authors also examine the role of institutional logics in the BMCC process in framing interactions and brand meaning outcomes.

Findings

Prior research is limited in that it neither maps the process of cocreation within which meanings emerge nor provides theoretical conceptualizations of brand meaning or the process of BMCC. While the literature acknowledges that brand meaning is influenced by multiple interactions, their nature and how they contribute to BMCC have been overlooked.

Research limitations/implications

This paper reveals a significant gap in knowledge of how brand meaning is cocreated, despite the essential role of brand meaning for firm success and increasing academic interest in the notion of cocreation. Ultimately, this paper builds a conceptual foundation for empirical research in this regard.

Originality/value

This paper proposes that brand meaning is cocreated through the interconnection of different social and service systems, across system levels, time, and geographic space. Marketing theory is advanced by outlining a set of research propositions pertaining to the BMCC process. The authors consider how discrete actor-based brand meanings contribute to an overall brand gestalt and how such a gestalt potentially evolves along a continuum. Additionally, the authors provide a managerially and theoretically relevant research agenda to guide much needed empirical research into BMCC.
Aliskiren protects against myocardial ischaemia‐reperfusion injury via an endothelial nitric oxide synthase dependent manner
Authors: Chen Yu , Meng Guoliang , Bai Wenli , Ma Yan , Xie Liping , Altaf Naila , Qian Yanning , Han Yi , Ji Yong
Published: November 2016

Aliskiren, a direct renin inhibitor, has shown potent ability to attenuate hypertension. Our previous research has found that aliskiren protected against myocardial ischaemia‐reperfusion (I/R) injury and enhanced phosphorylation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in spontaneously hypertensive rats. However, whether the cardioprotective effect of aliskiren against myocardial I/R injury was eNOS‐dependent is unknown. In the present study, 12‐week‐old male eNOS knockout (eNOS−/−) and wild‐type C57BL/6J mice (WT) were orally administrated with the dose of 50 mg/kg per day of aliskiren. After a 4‐week treatment, aliskiren decreased blood pressure in eNOS−/− mice, and reduced renin‐angiotension II levels in both eNOS−/− and WT mice. Aliskiren also improved left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS), decreased myocardial infarct size, reduced creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in plasma, attenuated dihydroethidium (DHE) fluorescence and levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and total antioxidant capacity (T‐AOC) in myocardium, increased SOD and thioredoxin (Trx) proteins expression in WT mice subjected to 30 minutes of ischaemia followed by reperfusion for 24 hours. However, aliskiren failed to restore all of the above indices in eNOS−/− mice subjected to the same I/R injury. Our study indicated that aliskiren protected against myocardial I/R injury via an eNOS dependent manner.
Evaluation of the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative Soil Moisture Product over China Using Variance Reduction Factor
Authors: Shen Xiaoji , An Ru , Quaye‐Ballard Jonathan Arthur , Zhang Ling , Wang Zhe
Published: November 2016

In this study, we evaluated the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative soil moisture product v02.1 (ESA CCI SM v02.1) using in situ observations collected at 547 stations in China from 1991 to 2013. A conventional validation was first conducted, and the triple collocation errors of ESA CCI SM and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting reanalysis data were approximately 0.053 and 0.050 m3/m3, respectively. To obtain more reliable validation results, the average soil moisture of the in situ observations per ESA CCI SM pixel was also used as the validation sites. Variance reduction factor (VRF) was adopted to quantify the accuracy of the soil moisture validation sites, and the average VRF was estimated at 4.88%. The validation results were enhanced by excluding validation sites with VRF errors greater than 5% from the statistical analysis. Although the ESA CCI SM underestimated the in situ observations with a Bias of 0.05 m3/m3, a moderately high correlation coefficient of 0.44 and a relatively small unbiased root‐mean‐square difference of 0.05 m3/m3 were observed. This study provides information on the utilization of ESA CCI SM for ecological protection, climate change, and hydrological forecasting. It also suggests the adoption of VRF for future error corrections of satellite‐based products.
Salidroside protects against homocysteine‐induced injury in human umbilical vein endothelial cells via the regulation of endoplasmic reticulum stress
Authors: Zhu Lin , Jia Fang , Wei Jiang , Yu Yang , Yu Tianhong , Wang Yanjun , Sun Jianhui , Luo Guanghua
Published: November 2016

Introduction

Previous studies showed that homocysteine (Hcy) could injure vascular endothelial cells via several mechanisms, including its promotion of oxidative stress pathway and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) pathway. Salidroside (SAL) is an active component of Rhodiola rosea with documented antioxidative properties. Emerging evidence conformed that SAL attenuated Hcy‐induced endothelial dysfunction by reducing oxidative stress. However, its role in ER stress pathway remains unclarified.

Aims

The purpose of this study was to explore the mechanism of the protective effect of SAL on Hcy‐induced endothelial dysfunction.

Results

Pretreatment of the human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with SAL significantly reduced the cell damage effects brought by Hcy in a dose‐dependent manner. Functional studies on the HUVECs found that SAL rescued the endoplasmic reticulum stress induced by Hcy. The underlying mechanisms involve the inhibition of Hcy‐induced activation of binding protein (Bip) and C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), as well as the phosphorylation of protein kinase RNA‐like ER kinase (PERK) or inositol‐requiring enzyme 1 alpha (IRE1α).

Conclusions

Taken together, these findings implicate that SAL could regulate ER stress pathway on the viability of endotheliocyte induced by Hcy in vitro. Our findings provide the first evidence that SAL plays an important role in endotheliocyte protection via suppressing ER stress pathway in HUVEC cells and that it may be a promising therapeutic target for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.