bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A generative nonparametric Bayesian model for whole genomes
Authors: Amin Alan N. , Weinstein Eli N. , Marks Debora S.
Published: May 2021

Generative probabilistic modeling of biological sequences has widespread existing and potential use across biology and biomedicine, particularly given advances in high-throughput sequencing, synthesis and editing. However, we still lack methods with nucleotide resolution that are tractable at the scale of whole genomes and that can achieve high predictive accuracy either in theory or practice. In this article we propose a new generative sequence model, the Bayesian embedded autoregressive (BEAR) model, which uses a parametric autoregressive model to specify a conjugate prior over a nonparametric Bayesian Markov model. We explore, theoretically and empirically, applications of BEAR models to a variety of statistical problems including density estimation, robust parameter estimation, goodness-of-fit tests, and two-sample tests. We prove rigorous asymptotic consistency results including nonparametric posterior concentration rates. We scale inference in BEAR models to datasets containing tens of billions of nucleotides. On genomic, transcriptomic, and metagenomic sequence data we show that BEAR models provide large increases in predictive performance as compared to parametric autoregressive models, among other results. BEAR models offer a flexible and scalable framework, with theoretical guarantees, for building and critiquing generative models at the whole genome scale.
EP400NL is required for cMyc-mediated PD-L1 gene activation by forming a transcriptional coactivator complex
Authors: Li Zidong , Fitzsimons Helen L , Hale Tracy K , Park Jeong Hyeon
Published: May 2021

EP400 is an ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling enzyme that has been implicated in DNA double-strand break repair and transcription regulation including Myc-dependent gene expression. We previously showed that the N-terminal domain of EP400 increases the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs against cancer cells. As the EP400 N-terminal-Like (EP400NL) gene resides next to the EP400 gene locus prompted us to investigate whether EP400NL also plays a similar role in epigenetic transcriptional regulation to the full-length EP400 protein. We found that EP400NL forms a human NuA4-like chromatin remodelling complex that lacks both the TIP60 histone acetyltransferase and EP400 ATPase. However, this EP400NL complex displays H2A.Z deposition activity on a chromatin template comparable to the human NuA4 complex, suggesting another associated ATPase such as BRG1 or RuvBL1/RuvBL2 catalyses the reaction. We also demonstrated that the transcriptional coactivator function of EP400NL is required for cMyc and IFNγ-mediated PD-L1 gene activation. Collectively, our studies show that EP400NL plays a role as a transcription coactivator for cMyc-mediated gene expression and provides a potential target to modulate PD-L1 expression in cancer immunotherapy.
findere: fast and precise approximate membership query
Authors: Robidou Lucas , Peterlongo Pierre
Published: May 2021

Motivation

Approximate membership query (AMQ) structures as Cuckoo filters or Bloom filters are widely used for representing large sets of elements. Their lightweight space usage explains their success, mainly as they are the only way to scale hundreds of billions or trillions of elements. However, they suffer by nature from non-avoidable false-positive calls that bias downstream analyses of methods using these data structures.

Results

In this work we propose a simple strategy and its implementation for reducing the false-positive rate of any AMQ data structure indexing k-mers (words of length k). The method we propose, called findere, enables to speed-up the queries by a factor two and to decrease the false-positive rate by two order of magnitudes. This achievement is done one the fly at query time, without modifying the original indexing data-structure, without generating false-negative calls and with no memory overhead. With no drawback, this method, as simple as it is effective, reduces either the false-positive rate or the space required to represent a set given a user-defined false-positive rate.

Availability

https://github.com/lrobidou/findere
Deep-learning on-chip DSLM enabling video-rate volumetric imaging of neural activities in moving biological specimens
Authors: Chen Xiaopeng , Ping Junyu , Sun Yixuan , Yi Chengqiang , Liu Sijian , Gong Zhefeng , Fei Peng
Published: May 2021

Volumetric imaging of dynamic signals in a large, moving, and light-scattering specimen is extremely challenging, owing to the requirement on high spatiotemporal resolution and difficulty in obtaining high-contrast signals. Here we report that through combing a microfluidic chip-enabled digital scanning light-sheet illumination strategy with deep-learning based image restoration, we can realize isotropic 3D imaging of crawling whole Drosophila larva on an ordinary inverted microscope at single-cell resolution and high volumetric imaging rate up to 20 Hz. Enabled with high performances even unmet by current standard light-sheet fluorescence microscopes, we intoto record the neural activities during the forward and backward crawling of 1st instar larva, and successfully correlate the calcium spiking of motor neurons with the locomotion patterns.
Micro-Meta App: an interactive software tool to facilitate the collection of microscopy metadata based on community-driven specifications
Authors: Rigano Alex , Ehmsen Shannon , Ozturk Serkan Utku , Ryan Joel , Balashov Alexander , Hammer Mathias , Kirli Koray , Bellve Karl , Boehm Ulrike , Brown Claire M. , Chambers James J. , Coleman Robert A. , Cosolo Andrea , Faklaris Orestis , Fogarty Kevin , Guilbert Thomas , Hamacher Anna B. , Itano Michelle S. , Keeley Daniel P. , Kunis Susanne , Lacoste Judith , Laude Alex , Ma Willa , Marcello Marco , Montero-Llopis Paula , Nelson Glyn , Nitschke Roland , Pimentel Jaime A. , Weidtkamp-Peters Stefanie , Park Peter J. , Alver Burak , Grunwald David , Strambio-De-Castillia Caterina
Published: May 2021

For the information content of microscopy images to be appropriately interpreted, reproduced, and meet FAIR (Findable Accessible Interoperable and Reusable) principles, they should be accompanied by detailed descriptions of microscope hardware, image acquisition settings, image pixel and dimensional structure, and instrument performance. Nonetheless, the thorough documentation of imaging experiments is significantly impaired by the lack of community-sanctioned easy-to-use software tools to facilitate the extraction and collection of relevant microscopy metadata. Here we presentMicro-Meta App, an intuitive open-source software designed to tackle these issues that was developed in the context of nascent global bioimaging community organizations, includingBioImagingNorthAmerica (BINA) andQUAlity Assessment andREProducibility inLightMicroscopy (QUAREP-LiMi), whose goal is to improve reproducibility, data quality and sharing value for imaging experiments. The App provides a user-friendly interface for building comprehensive descriptions of the conditions utilized to produce individual microscopy datasets as specified by the recently proposed 4DN-BINA-OME tiered-system of Microscopy Metadata model. To achieve this goal the App provides a visual guide for a microscope-user to: 1) interactively build diagrammatic representations of hardware configurations of given microscopes that can be easily reused and shared with colleagues needing to document similar instruments. 2) Automatically extracts relevant metadata from image files and facilitates the collection of missing image acquisition settings and calibration metrics associated with a given experiment. 3) Output all collected Microscopy Metadata to interoperable files that can be used for documenting imaging experiments and shared with the community. In addition to significantly lowering the burden of quality assurance, the visual nature of Micro-Meta App makes it particularly suited for training users that have limited knowledge of the intricacies of light microscopy experiments. To ensure wide-adoption by microscope-users with different needs Micro-Meta App closely interoperates withMethodsJ2andOMERO.mde, two complementary tools described in parallel manuscripts.
Identification of Pex34p as a component of the peroxisomal de novo biogenesis machinery in yeast
Authors: Radke Juliane , Nagotu Shirisha , Girzalsky Wolfgang , Chakraborty Anirban , Deckers Markus , Schuldiner Maya , Zalckvar Einat , Erdmann Ralf
Published: May 2021

Cells can regulate the abundance and composition of peroxisomes to adapt to environmental changes. In the baker’s yeast,S. cerevisiae, peroxisomes represent the only site for degradation of fatty acids. Hence, it is not surprising that growth of yeast cells on oleic acid results in a massive proliferation of peroxisomes. New peroxisomes can form either by division of pre-existing peroxisomes or de novo in a Pex25p-dependent process with the involvement of the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER). In search for further factors involved in de novo formation of peroxisomes, we screened ~6,000 yeast mutants that were depleted of peroxisomes by conditional inhibition ofPEX19expression. Screening the mutants for the reappearance of peroxisomes upon expression ofPEX19identified Pex34p, in addition to the well-known component Pex25p, as crucial determinants for de novo biogenesis. Pex34p interacts with Pex19p and with different Peroxisomal Membrane Proteins (PMPs) in aPEX19-dependent manner. Depletion of Pex34p results in reduced numbers of import-competent peroxisomes formed de novo and Pex3p is partly retained and distributed in ER-like structures. We suggest that Pex25p and Pex34p are both required to maintain peroxisome number in a cell and that they perform non-redundant roles in the de novo formation of peroxisomes.
PIF7 controls leaf cell proliferation through an AN3 substitution-repression mechanism
Authors: Hussain Ejaz , Romanowski Andrés , Halliday Karen J.
Published: May 2021

Plants are agile, plastic organisms, able to adapt to ever-changing circumstances. Responding to far-red (FR) wavelengths from nearby vegetation, shade-intolerant species elicit the adaptive Shade Avoidance Syndrome (SAS), characterised by elongated petioles, leaf hyponasty and smaller leaves. We utilised end-of-day FR (EODFR) treatments to interrogate molecular processes that underlie the SAS leaf response. Genetic analysis establishes PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 7 (PIF7) is required for EODFR-mediated constraint of leaf blade cell division, while EODFR mRNAseq data identified ANGUSTIFOLIA3 (AN3) as a potential PIF7 target. We show PIF7 can suppress AN3 transcription through a sequestering mechanism that prevents AN3 activation of its own expression. We also establish PIF7 and AN3 impose antagonistic control of gene expression via common cis-acting promoter motifs in several cell cycle regulator genes. EODFR triggers the molecular substitution of AN3 to PIF7 at G-box/PBE-box promoter regions, and a switch from promotion to repression of gene expression.
A hybrid approach for investigating impacts of leadership dynamics on project performance
Authors: Luo Lan , Zhang Limao , Zheng Xian , Wu Guangdong
Published: May 2021

Purpose

This paper proposes a novel hybrid simulation approach that incorporates the structural equation model (SEM) and system dynamics (SD) to investigate the impacts of leadership dynamics on project performance under different scenarios.

Design/methodology/approach

SEM is used to identify and validate a correlation between leadership variables and project performance statically. On this basis, the SD model is constructed to depict a system model connecting the leadership and project performance. Different scenarios are simulated to dynamically model the variation in leadership on the evolution of project performance.

Findings

Results indicate that (1) leadership can be divided into personal ability, relationship atmosphere and organizational strategy in complex construction projects; (2) personal ability, relationship atmosphere and organizational strategy positively correlate with project performance over time; and (3) L1 (stress management ability), L7 (team building) and L17 (institution support) are the leading factors influencing project performance and should be paid more attention under limited resources.

Originality/value

This research contributes to (1) the state of the knowledge by proposing a hybrid methodology that can systematically model the impacts of leadership dynamics on project performance over time and (2) the state of the practice by gaining a better understanding of the strategy of resource distribution for enhancing project performance in complex construction projects.
The homotopy perturbation method for fractional differential equations: part 2, two-scale transform
Authors: Nadeem Muhammad , He Ji-Huan
Published: May 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to find an approximate solution of a fractional differential equation. The fractional Newell–Whitehead–Segel equation (FNWSE) is used to elucidate the solution process, which is one of the nonlinear amplitude equation, and it enhances a significant role in the modeling of various physical phenomena arising in fluid mechanics, solid-state physics, optics, plasma physics, dispersion and convection systems.

Design/methodology/approach

In Part 1, the authors adopted Mohand transform to find the analytical solution of FNWSE. In this part, the authors apply the fractional complex transform (the two-scale transform) to convert the problem into its differential partner, and then they introduce the homotopy perturbation method (HPM) to bring down the nonlinear terms for the approximate solution.

Findings

The HPM makes numerical simulation for the fractional differential equations easy, and the two-scale transform is a strong tool for fractal models.

Originality/value

The HPM with the two-scale transform sheds a bright light on numerical approach to fractional calculus.
Hedging stock market prices with WTI, Gold, VIX and cryptocurrencies: a comparison between DCC, ADCC and GO-GARCH models
Authors: Fakhfekh Mohamed , Jeribi Ahmed , Ghorbel Ahmed , Hachicha Nejib
Published: May 2021

Purpose

In a first place, the present paper is designed to examine the dynamic correlations persistent between five cryptocurrencies, WTI, Gold, VIX and four stock markets (SP500, FTSE, NIKKEI and MSCIEM). In a second place, it investigates the relevant optimal hedging strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirically, the authors examine how WTI, Gold, VIX and five cryptocurrencies can be applicable to hedge the four stock markets. Three variants of multivariate GARCH models (DCC, ADCC and GO-GARCH) are implemented to estimate dynamic optimal hedge ratios.

Findings

The reached findings prove that both of the Bitcoin and Gold turn out to display remarkable hedging commodity features, while the other assets appear to demonstrate a rather noticeable disposition to act as diversifiers. Moreover, the results show that the VIX turns out to stand as the most effectively appropriate instrument, fit for hedging the stock market indices various related refits. Furthermore, the results prove that the hedging strategy instrument was indifferent for FTSE and NIKKEI stock while for the American and emerging markets, the hedging strategy was reversed from the pre-cryptocurrency crash to the during cryptocurrency crash period.

Originality/value

The first paper's empirical contribution lies in analyzing emerging cross-hedge ratios with financial assets and compare hedging effectiveness within the period of crash and the period before Bitcoin crash as well as the sensitivity of results to refits choose to compare between short term hedging strategy and long-term one.
On the road to digital servitization – The (dis)continuous interplay between business model and digital technology
Authors: Chen Yihua , Visnjic Ivanka , Parida Vinit , Zhang Zhengang
Published: May 2021

Purpose

The authors seek to understand the process of digital servitization as a shift of manufacturing companies from the provision of standard products and services to smart solutions. Specifically, the authors focus on changes in the business model (i.e. the value proposition, the value delivery system and the value capture mechanism) for digital servitization.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examine a Chinese air conditioner manufacturer, Gree, who became the global leader with their smart solutions. These solutions included performance-based contracts underpinned by artificial intelligence (AI)-powered air conditioners that automatically adjust to environmental changes and are capable of remote monitoring and servicing thanks to its Internet of things (IoT) technology.

Findings

To successfully offer smart solution value propositions, a manufacturer needs an ecosystem value delivery system composed of suppliers, distributors, partners and customers. Once the ecosystem relationships are well aligned, the manufacturer gains value with multiple value capture mechanisms (i.e. efficiency, accountability, shared customer value and novelty). To arrive at this point, a manufacturer has to pass through different stages that are characterized by both discontinuous and continuous interplay between business models and digital technologies. At the beginning of each stage, new value propositions and value delivery systems are first discontinuously created and then enabled with digital technology. As a result, new value capture mechanisms are activated. Meanwhile, the elements of the existing business model are continuously improved.

Research limitations/implications

By combining process-perspective and business-model lenses, the authors offer nuanced insights into how digital servitization unfolds.

Practical implications

Executives can obtain insights into the business model elements, they need to change over the course of digital servitization and how to manage the process.

Originality/value

A longitudinal case study of a traditional manufacturer that has achieved stellar success through digital servitization business models development.
On relating big data analytics to supply chain planning: towards a research agenda
Authors: Xu Jinou , Pero Margherita Emma Paola , Ciccullo Federica , Sianesi Andrea
Published: May 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how the extant publication has related big data analytics (BDA) to supply chain planning (SCP). The paper presents a conceptual model based on the reviewed articles and the dominant research gaps and outlines the research directions for future advancement.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a systematic literature review, this study analysed 72 journal articles and reported the descriptive and thematic analysis in assessing the established body of knowledge.

Findings

This study reveals the fact that literature on relating BDA to SCP has an ambiguous use of BDA-related terminologies and a siloed view on SCP processes that primarily focuses on the short-term. Looking at the big data sources, the objective of adopting BDA and changes to SCP, we identified three roles of big data and BDA for SCP: supportive facilitator, source of empowerment and game-changer. It bridges the conversation between BDA technology for SCP and its management issues in organisations and supply chains according to the technology-organisation-environmental framework.

Research limitations/implications

This paper presents a comprehensive examination of existing literature on relating BDA to SCP. The resulted themes and research opportunities will help to advance the understanding of how BDA will reshape the future of SCP and how to manage BDA adoption towards a big data-driven SCP.

Originality/value

This study is unique in its discussion on how BDA will reshape SCP integrating the technical and managerial perspectives, which have not been discussed to date.
Transformational leadership and organizational performance of Omani SMEs: the role of market orientation
Authors: Dahleez Khalid Abed , Abdelmuniem Abdelfattah Fadi
Published: May 2021

Purpose

This study proposed and tested a model on the relationship between transformational leadership (TL) and organizational performance (OP) with a possible intervening effect of market orientation (MO) at Omani small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Design/methodology/approach

The study followed a quantitative research design and the deductive approach. Data were collected from 259 employees working in Omani SMEs and were analyzed using structural equation modeling SEM AMOS V24.

Findings

The findings supported positive direct effects of transformational leadership on Omani SMEs' business performance and market orientation. The results also supported the effect of market orientation on business performance. Further analysis showed that market orientation partly mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and business performance.

Practical implications

The results motivate Omani SMEs' leaders to use intangible capabilities (i.e., market orientation practices) to improve the different aspects of organizational performance. It also suggests that developing SMEs leaders' transformational skills on envisioning the future, adopting open communication styles, motivating employees and stimulating their creativity influences Omani SMEs' performance.

Originality/value

Due to the mixed results regarding the TL–OP relationship and the recommendations for further exploring this relationship, this study contributes to theory and practice. It is among the few studies to explore the mediating role of MO between TL and OP in a developing country's SMEs environment.
Ease or excitement? Exploring how concept stores contribute to a retail portfolio
Authors: Egan-Wyer Carys Jane , Burt Steve , Hultman Jens , Johansson Ulf , Beckman Alice , Michélsen Clara
Published: May 2021

Purpose

The study aims to explore how concept stores (theoretically) differ from other experience-based retail formats, and hence, how they (practically) contribute to a diversified retail store portfolio.

Design/methodology/approach

Case study based on semi-structured, qualitative interviews with seven IKEA retail managers, three industry experts and 26 customers of IKEA concept stores in London and Stockholm.

Findings

The concept store represents a conceptual departure from other experiential store formats. It is neither fully experiential in the sense that it is not only about marketing communications nor is it sales or profit-focused. Its aim is to be an accessible touchpoint that reduces friction on a diversified customer journey with its value to the retail portfolio being that it attracts new and latent customers, mitigates existing inhibiting factors and drives them to other touchpoints.

Research limitations/implications

Ideas about the different characteristics of new store formats and their potential to shape the customer experience are extended. New formats reflect innovation in retailing and are part of a retail portfolio which generates different customer expectations and determinants from traditional store formats which provide the customers' existing reference point.

Practical implications

The contributions of new formats should be evaluated in light of other existing formats in the portfolio and not isolated. This is particularly true when considering format cannibalisation and the potentially extended customer journey that arises when customers use traditional format stores and new concept format stores simultaneously.

Originality/value

Previous research, using sales metrics and market-based results as performance determinants, suggests negative outcomes for format diversification. Our study suggests that the contributions of the concept store format should be viewed from an overall customer journey perspective and the “performance” of different format based touchpoints are not best captured through traditional sales evaluation methods.
The psychological effect of compensation on decent work dimensions: a research on public and private school teachers in Turkey
Authors: Çolakoğlu Cavit , Toygar Arda
Published: May 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this work is to examine the psychological impact of adequate compensation, which is one of the dimensions of Decent Work Scale (DWS) evaluated within the psychology of work theory (PWT), on other dimensions of DWS in teachers working in public and private schools in Turkey.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, DWS developed by Duffyet al.was used. In total, 175 private school teachers and 216 public school teachers participated in the study. The data were analyzed with LISREL 8.7 and SPSS 23.0 package programs.

Findings

Considering the structural equation model formed by the sub-dimensions of the DWS and the path diagrams related to the model, it was seen that the “adequate compensation” dimension made a significant difference in “access to health services” on both public and private school teachers. In private school teachers, there is a significant relationship between the dimension of adequate compensation and “access to healthcare”, “physically and interpersonally safe working conditions”, “free time and rest” and “organizational values that complement family and social values”. However, a significant relationship was not found between the variables other than “access to healthcare” in public school teachers. According to the results of the “Independent SampleT-Test”, there is a significant mean difference between the perceptions of teachers working in public and private schools. When this difference is examined, it was seen that teachers working in public schools have a higher level of good job perception than teachers working in private schools.

Research limitations/implications

DWS is a newly developed scale and has been used in a limited number of studies. It is a scale open to be developed and used with different sample groups.

Originality/value

Application of DWS to teachers working in Turkey is one of the fundamental features that distinguish this study from other studies in this area. In addition, the evaluation of the psychological effects of the adequate compensation dimension, which is an important study factor, on the other dimensions of DWS adds originality to the study. It is predicted that this research will fill the deficiency in the relevant literature.
New insights into the nexus between board characteristics and intellectual capital disclosure: the case of the emerging economy of Mauritius
Authors: Mooneeapen Oren , Abhayawansa Subhash , Ramdhony Dinesh , Atchia Zainab
Published: May 2021

Purpose

We investigate the association between intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) and board characteristics in the unique setting of Mauritius, a Small Island Developing State. The uniqueness of the setting stems from the country's corporate governance landscape, where most companies have female directors and a high proportion of directors with multiple directorships, director independence is symbolic and directors come from a close-knit group.

Design/methodology/approach

We use 120 firm-year observations from companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius from 2014 to 2017. All data is hand collected from annual reports using content analysis method. Panel multivariate regression is used to test the hypotheses with relevant controls, including intellectual capital performance.

Findings

ICD is negatively associated with board independence and positively associated with gender diversity of the board. No association is found between ICD and the size of the board, multiple directorships or the average tenure of the board members.

Originality/value

This is the first study investigating the association of board gender diversity, multiple directorship and tenure of board members with ICD in annual reports. The relationships observed between board characteristics and ICD highlight the context-dependent nature of these relationships. This study also overcomes the correlated omitted variable bias likely to have affected the analyses in previous studies examining the nexus between board characteristics and ICD through its control for intellectual capital performance.
Environmental management accounting, board role performance, company characteristics and environmental performance disclosure
Authors: Nkundabanyanga Stephen Korutaro , Muramuzi Bruno , Alinda Kassim
Published: May 2021

Purpose

The increasing environmental challenges require efforts to expand the scope of accounting to better evaluate organizations’ behaviour/practices. This paper aims to report the results of studying the link between environmental management accounting (EMA), board role performance (BRP), company characteristics and environmental performance disclosure (EPD) of Ugandan manufacturing firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was correlational and cross-sectional. The results are obtained through content analysis of company reports, websites and a questionnaire survey of 102 large and medium manufacturing firms in four districts of Uganda.

Findings

Results indicate that EMA causes significant variances in EPD in manufacturing firms. Also, BRP and firm size explain variances in EPD through EMA.

Research limitations/implications

The research does not control for industry type. Still, the results offer hope on how the reliability of environmental performance information that companies voluntarily provide outside financial statements, can be improved.

Originality/value

Results potentially extend available literature by providing a mechanism through which the environmental performance information is obtained for onward disclosure.
Graduate students' voice and conceptions on the challenges of undertaking qualitative research within higher education context: a grounded theory approach
Authors: Bakhshi Hossein , Weisi Hiwa , Yousofi Nouroddin
Published: May 2021

Purpose

This paper explores the challenges of conducting qualitative research from ELT (English Language Teaching) Ph.D. candidates' perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

The participants of the study consisted of 30 Iranian Ph.D. students majoring in ELT. The semi-structured interview was employed to investigate the heart of experiences, issues and concerns of participants with regard to conducting qualitative research (QLR) challenges. To analyze the collected data, the recorded interviews were transcribed, and then the grounded theory approach was employed (Charmaz, 2006).

Findings

The results revealed that the major challenges of the participants consist of the credibility of QLR in ELT contexts, hermeneutic and fuzzy nature of QLR, qualitative data analysis and interpretation, publishing qualitative findings and the system of measuring professors' productivity.

Originality/value

The findings may help professors, mainly EFL ones, in research mentoring and developing research syllabi for graduate students. In addition, it may motivate Ph.D. candidates to employ QLR methods in their research studies. The pedagogical and theoretical implications of the study are discussed at the end of the paper.
Determinants of private domestic investment in Palestine: time series analysis
Authors: Awad Ibrahim M. , Al-Jerashi Ghada K. , Alabaddi Zaid Ahmad
Published: May 2021

Purpose

This empirical paper aims to examine the impact of interest rate (IR) and political instability (POLINS) on Palestine's domestic private investment.

Design/methodology/approach

A set of econometric techniques of time series data are adopted to meet the study objectives. They include regression analysis, unit root tests, cointegration test, ARDL & Bound tests, VAR test and Granger causality test.

Findings

The study's primary results complement the neoclassical approach, which states that the IR is negatively associated with domestic private investment. The empirical results reveal that there is no long-run relationship. Also, there is no causality between domestic investment and lending rates. Accordingly, these findings alert policymakers to draw a series of steps to minimize the IR at a minimum to stimulate investment for improved economic growth and development.

Practical implications

There is still no national currency in Palestine. The Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA) is advised to set an appropriate ratio of the IR for the currencies-in-circulation in Palestine for boosting investment and economic development.

Originality/value

This paper provides new background information to both policymakers and researchers on the main determinants of investment in Palestine using econometric analysis. Accordingly, this critical issue is required to be examined in Palestine for stimulating investment.
Weathering fluctuations in teacher commitment: leaders relational failures, with improvement prospects
Authors: Price Heather
Published: May 2021

Purpose

Studies demonstrate the central role of principals in developing and sustaining teacher commitment to their school. Teachers' commitment to their school impacts teaching, learning, innovation and school climate and manifests job satisfaction. Commitment strongly relates to teacher attrition. Attrition is important in the study of school success and failure given its strong predictive link to student learning.

Design/methodology/approach

This study thus identifies relational practices of principals who successfully develop and maintain high levels of commitment among their teaching staff compared to those principals who fail to maintain high commitment or fail to raise low commitment among their teachers during the school year. To investigate this process, this study uses longitudinal, within-year school network and climate data for teachers and principals in 15 American charter schools. With these data and theories offered by social-psychology and organizational studies, the interpersonal leadership and school climate conditions set forth by the principal link to the fluctuating levels of commitment among teachers.

Findings

Despite the consistently established link between employee commitment and organizational success and failure, this operationalization of changing levels of staff commitment is a novel contribution to the discussion of organizational principal leadership failure. This study clearly tests the questions: Which emotional responses prove volatile to teachers' repeated exchanges with their principals? How do principals' relational practices impact teachers' commitment to teaching? Among the strongest findings is the key practice of principals to maintain trust—interpersonal and schoolwide—to improve commitment among teachers and avoid loss of commitment by the end of the school year.

Practical implications

Relational practices of principals can promote quality relationships that uphold trust and sustain environments conducive to maintaining high organizational commitment. When leaders fail to establish and maintain quality relationships, challenges experienced during a school year become more difficult to overcome.

Originality/value

The opportunity arises to test the time-varying aspect of interpersonal relations in organizations and the subsequent idea about how organizational leaders maintain strong relationships, strengthen poor ones or repair injured relationships. These results evidence teacher commitment is prone to decline at the end of the school year yet the chance and magnitude of the fluctuation directly responds to changes in principals' relational practices. With relational practices, principals can induce affective responses from teachers at the interpersonal and organizational level that improve commitment among teachers and reduce drops in commitment.
The elephant in the dark: the social origins of research in nonprofit financial management
Authors: Berkovich Zakhar , Searing Elizabeth A.M.
Published: May 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to map the most influential literature in nonprofit finance and financial management. The second is to understand why the literature has evolved the way it has, including isolated silos developing in certain disciplines.

Design/methodology/approach

The review includes articles assembled from three sources: a core list, an expert list and journal archive searches on phrases that emerged. Using social origins theory as a guide, we coded 119 articles for traits such as root discipline, methodology and author characteristics.

Findings

Research tends to stay confined within the doctoral discipline of the author, who publishes in journals valued by their discipline. This has caused limited cross-referencing across disciplines, and it has allowed different understandings and judgments of the same phenomenon to exist in different fields. Data availability drives much of the research agenda, but author teams of mixed disciplines are promising.

Originality/value

Unlike a traditional literature review, this study identifies factors that have had a formative influence on the development of the diverse field of nonprofit finance and financial management. This diversity has resulted in a fractured field held in silos with few indigenous developments. Using social origins theory as a guide, this study provides an overview of the most consequential literature through the analysis of authors and institutional characteristics. This approach provides an evolutionary perspective and illustrates how this disciplinary adherence has created a research topography that limits progress for both scholars and practitioners.
The effects of gratifications, flow and satisfaction on the usage of livestreaming services
Authors: Hsu Chin Lung , Lin Judy Chuan-Chuan
Published: May 2021

Purpose

This study combines uses and gratifications theory and flow theory to create an integrated model that predicts continuance intention to use and satisfaction with livestreaming services.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed model was empirically evaluated using survey data collected from 304 users about their perceptions of livestream services.

Findings

The results indicate that gratifications such as entertainment, informativeness and sociability were all positively related to satisfaction. The authors find that flow mediates the impact of interactivity and telepresence on satisfaction. Notably, sociability gratification and satisfaction had a significant impact on a user's intention to continue to use livestreaming services and accounted for 77% of the variance.

Originality/value

The study adds to the body of knowledge by demonstrating the uses and gratifications theory and flow theory in live stream services. In addition, the findings may provide useful insights for live stream services streamers and marketers.
Commentary on “Participation of learning disabled people in the parliamentary election of 2019 in the United Kingdom”
Authors: Potocnik Matthew
Published: May 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on the article ‘‘Participation of Learning Disabled People in the Parliamentary Election of 2019 in the United Kingdom’’.

Design/methodology/approach

Personal experience of advocating in Australia for the rights of people with learning disabilities to vote and to receive the necessary support to do so.

Findings

People with learning disabilities have persistently been excluded from political participation. This is an abuse of their human rights.

Originality/value

There are many barriers to the political participation of people with learning disabilities, and advocacy on a number of fronts will be necessary to achieve change.
Older carers of people with learning disabilities: their experiences with local authority assessment processes and personnel
Authors: Forrester-Jones Rachel
Published: May 2021

Purpose

Amongst other actions the Care Act 2014 emphasised the duties of local authorities (LA) to assess the needs of carers, as well as those they care for and to meet all eligible needs for support. This paper aims to report the findings of a study which explored the experiences of older carers of people with learning disabilities as they navigated LA assessment processes and personnel.

Design/methodology/approach

Using an explorative design, 21 older carers were interviewed about their experiences. Interview transcripts were qualitatively analysed.

Findings

Three main themes were identified, namely, needs assessments as ambitions, not outcomes; the effects of funding-cuts projected onto carers; and challenges with social care personnel.

Originality/value

The study findings attracted a high level of engagement with public awareness and mainstream news and social media. The LA also immediately responded with interventions to address some of the findings, including carer “drop-in” sessions. They are also adapting their carer’s needs assessment processes as a result of the study. It is hoped that the issues raised will be of interest to other social care providers and practitioners.
Genetic mapping of highly versatile and solvent‐tolerant Pseudomonas putida B6‐2 (ATCC BAA‐2545) as a ‘superstar’ for mineralization of PAHs and dioxin‐like compounds
Authors: Wang Weiwei , Li Qinggang , Zhang Lige , Cui Jie , Yu Hao , Wang Xiaoyu , Ouyang Xingyu , Tao Fei , Xu Ping , Tang Hongzhi
Published: May 2021

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and dioxin‐like compounds, including sulfur, nitrogen and oxygen heterocycles, are widespread and toxic environmental pollutants. A wide variety of microorganisms capable of growing with aromatic polycyclic compounds are essential for bioremediation of the contaminated sites and the Earth's carbon cycle. Here, cells of Pseudomonas putida B6‐2 (ATCC BAA‐2545) grown in the presence of biphenyl (BP) are able to simultaneously degrade PAHs and their derivatives, even when they are present as mixtures, and tolerate high concentrations of extremely toxic solvents. Genetic analysis of the 6.37 Mb genome of strain B6‐2 reveals coexistence of gene clusters responsible for central catabolic systems of aromatic compounds and for solvent tolerance. We used functional transcriptomics and proteomics to identify the candidate genes associated with catabolism of BP and a mixture of BP, dibenzofuran, dibenzothiophene and carbazole. Moreover, we observed dynamic changes in transcriptional levels with BP, including in metabolic pathways of aromatic compounds, chemotaxis, efflux pumps and transporters potentially involved in adaptation to PAHs. This study on the highly versatile activities of strain B6‐2 suggests it to be a potentially useful model for bioremediation of polluted sites and for investigation of biochemical, genetic and evolutionary aspects of Pseudomonas.
Messengers of stress: Towards a cortisol sociology
Authors: Roberts Celia , McWade Brigit
Published: May 2021

In 2008, Timmermans and Haas called for a ‘sociology of disease’ to develop and challenge the sociology of health and illness. A sociology of disease, they argued, would take seriously the biological and physiological processes of disease in theorising health and illness. Building on two decades of Science and Technology Studies and feminist work on biological actors such as hormones and genes, we propose a ‘cortisol sociology’ to push further at this argument. As a ‘messenger of stress’, cortisol is key to understanding human and non‐human health as a biosocial phenomenon. We argue that sociologists should engage with cortisol through critical yet open‐minded reading of the relevant science and critical triangulation studies, and by tracking cortisol’s movements from science into public worlds of biosensing and self‐monitoring.
Asset productivity, local information diffusion, and commercial real estate returns
Authors: Ling David C. , Wang Chongyu , Zhou Tingyu
Published: May 2021

An extensive literature finds that indices of returns on equity real estate investment trusts (REITs) predict return indices in the private commercial real estate (CRE) market. Using a novel geographically weighted proxy for the quarterly performance of the property types within the local markets in which an REIT is invested, or property portfolio return (PPR), we find a “private predicts public” result in a cross‐sectional, firm‐level context. This finding suggests that geographically dispersed information and investors’ limited attention can delay timely stock price adjustments. Our findings also suggest that it is the diffusion of information about “local” price changes, rather than local supply elasticities, regulatory constraints, the degree of local information risk, current rental income, or local liquidity that predicts REIT returns. The PPRs associated with REIT allocations to major “gateway” markets are more predictive of REIT returns than the PPRs produced by allocations to secondary and tertiary markets. This study improves our understanding of the speed at which “local” information about the perceived productivity of a firm's assets is capitalized into stock prices.
Protecting the health and safety of the paramedic workforce in Australia: The role of cohort studies with new recruits
Authors: Reynolds Amy C , Crowther Meagan E , Ferguson Sally A , Paterson Jessica L , Howie Chris , Adams Robert J
Published: May 2021

Research related to the paramedic workforce is increasing, particularly given the associations with physical and mental health outcomes. However, it is clear that the evidence base to support future paramedic workforce initiatives lacks longitudinal data in cohorts of paramedics. We identify gaps in the epidemiological evidence base for this workforce, and provide insight into the role that prospective cohorts can, and should, play in future research in the paramedic workforce in order to identify health and safety changes over time, and the associations with job requirements, particularly shift work.
Context effect of environmental setting and product information in acceptability testing of tea and cola: A study comparing sensory engagement in a traditional sensory booth and a study commons
Authors: Albiol Tapia Marta , Baik Hwa‐Young , Simons Christopher T. , Lee Soo‐Yeun
Published: May 2021

Sensory evaluation of food relies heavily on the eating context. The objective of this study was to determine how the context effect, created from differences in environmental setting and product information, affects consumer's acceptability of two types of beverages. Participants of this study rated five ready‐to‐drink tea products and five diet cola products on a 9‐point hedonic scale. Environmental setting differences were created by altering testing locations, and product information differences were created by serving the same samples with or without product name and image. Self‐reported sensory engagement was measured in each location. Tea samples showed significantly higher appearance liking ratings in the sensory booth location as well as higher flavor liking ratings when product information was provided. Cola samples did not show a significant effect of testing location but did show a significant product information by sample interaction, where well‐established brands received higher ratings when product information was provided. Overall, results were product‐specific; testing location does not appear to have a large influence on hedonic scores for certain beverages, and the impact of product information varies largely depending on the product type and brand. The laboratory sensory booth setting provided higher panelist engagement overall. Additional research on the combination of external context and meal, sample, or social context is needed to fully explore the effect of eating context in sensory tests.

Practical Application

Findings from this study can help the food industry comprehend how test location may impact results of acceptability testing of different beverage products, both in terms of hedonic scores and sensory engagement. Results of this study also evidence the influence of sample information on product acceptability and how this influence differs based on the type of beverage and the popularity of the brand tested.