bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Season and timing of moisture availability predict composition of montane shrub-dominated wetlands at distributional limits in eastern Australia
Authors: Hunter John T. , Bell Dorothy M.
Published: April 2013

We explore the environmental effects on variation in floristic compositional among montane shrub-dominated wetlands at the edge of their geographic distribution within the New England Batholith of eastern Australia. Canonical Correspondence and Redundancy Analyses revealed patterns and gradients in vascular plant species and families of bog communities. Variance partitioning quantified the relative contributions to variation in: (1) species composition; and (2) family composition due to climate, space, and landscape variables. Eleven of the 55 explanatory variables explained 29.2% of the total variance in the species dataset. Climatic factors were overall the best explanatory variables followed by spatial and then landscape characteristics. We found that climate variables were of most importance in determining whether shrub-dominated wetlands will occur at all and also their composition, which is in contrast to results from other studies not conducted at the edge of community distribution. Climate variables associated with seasonality were found to be highly significant correlates of composition as has been found for montane shrub-dominated wetlands in other parts of Australia. The season in which moisture availability becomes critical varies across different rainfall climatic zones. Under current predicated changes in regional climate, it is likely that an increase in variability and seasonality of climate will cause a retraction in the distribution of Australian montane bogs.
Morphology, sex ratio and gene expression of Day 14 in vivo and in vitro bovine embryos
Authors: Machado Grazieli M. , Ferreira Allice R. , Guardieiro Monique M. , Bastos Michele R. , Carvalho José O. , Lucci Carolina M. , Diesel Tiago O. , Sartori Roberto , Rumpf Rodolfo , Franco Maurício M. , Dode Margot A. N.
Published: April 2013

The present study was designed to compare Day 14 bovine embryos that were produced entirely in vitro using the post-hatching development (PHD) system with in vivo-derived embryos without or with transient PHD culture from Day 7 to Day 14. Embryos on Day 14 were used for sex determination and gene expression analysis of PLAC8, KRT8, CD9, SLC2A1, SLC2A3, PGK1, HSF1, MNSOD, HSP70 and IFNT using real-time quantitative (q) polymerase chain reaction (PCR). First, Day 7 in vivo- and in vitro-produced embryos were subjected to the PHD system. A higher rate of survival was observed for in vitro embryos on Day 14. Comparing Day 14 embryos produced completely in vivo or completely in vitro revealed that the mean size of the former group was greater than that of the latter (10.29 ± 1.83 vs 2.68 ± 0.33 mm, respectively). Expression of the HSP70 and SLC2A1 genes was down- and upregulated, respectively, in the in vitro embryos. The present study shows that in vitro embryos cultured in the PHD system are smaller than in vivo embryos and that of the 10 genes analysed, only two were differentially expressed between the two groups. These findings indicate that, owing to the poor survival rate, the PHD system is not reliable for evaluation of in vitro embryo quality.
Steroidogenesis in sheep pregnancy with intrauterine growth retardation by high-altitude hypoxia: effects of maternal altitudinal status and antioxidant treatment
Authors: Parraguez Víctor H. , Urquieta Bessie , De los Reyes Mónica , González-Bulnes Antonio , Astiz Susana , Muñoz Andrés
Published: April 2013

Sheep pregnancy in high-altitude environments frequently involves hypoxia and oxidative stress and causes intrauterine growth retardation. The adverse effects of altitude on fetal growth can be prevented by the administration of antioxidant vitamins, but the mechanisms responsible are not well known. The maintenance of a viable pregnancy depends largely on adequate placental steroidogenesis, especially in the last two-thirds of pregnancy. Thus, in the present study we evaluated the effect of antioxidant vitamins (C and E) on plasma concentrations of progesterone and 17β-oestradiol during the last two-thirds of high-altitude pregnancies in ewes both native and naïve to the high-altitude environment. In addition, pregnancy outcomes were evaluated by determining the bodyweight of newborn lambs. Sex steroid patterns differed between ewes with and without vitamin supplementation. Concentrations of plasma progesterone and 17β-oestradiol were significantly higher in the supplemented groups from approximately 40 days before parturition until near term. Newborn weights were significantly lower in animals not adapted to the higher altitude, and vitamin supplementation prevented this decrease. In conclusion, the administration of antioxidant vitamins in the present study enhanced placental steroidogenesis, thus favouring fetal development in pregnancies developing at high altitudes.
Revegetation with Australian native grasses – a reassessment of the importance of using local provenances
Authors: Whalley R. D. B. , Chivers I. H. , Waters C. M.
Published: April 2013

Many restoration guidelines strongly recommend the use of local sources of seed in native plant revegetation projects. These recommendations are based on assumptions that the species used for revegetation are cross-pollinated and woody, as they were developed for overstorey vegetation from the northern hemisphere. Their validity is challenged with respect to replacing or enhancing the native Australian grass component of degraded ecosystems. First, far from being the dominant pollination mechanism, obligatory cross-pollination has not been recorded in any Australian native grasses except for a few dioecious species. Indeed, the common Australian native grasses so far studied have revealed complicated breeding systems that provide the evolutionary resilience necessary for coping with the variable Australian climate as well as with future climate change. It is suggested that a key feature of this flexibility is polyploidy and its implications for sourcing seed are discussed. Second, it is argued that the genetic dissimilarity among populations of a species is not proportional to the distance between them but is more related to the environmental stresses that have been placed on those populations in the past. This is illustrated by different scales of ecotypic variation that are often trait-dependent. Evidence for this can be found in several translocation experiments, where populations of native grasses from a great distance away survive and often perform better than local populations. It is concluded that there is little justification for the recommendation that only local sources of seed of Australian native grasses should be used for revegetation projects, and particularly in large-scale programs. Instead, it is argued that studies on Australian native grasses provide clear evidence that distinct adaptive advantages may be gained by sourcing non-local provenance seed, which is matched to the environment of the revegetation site, and which contains appropriate stress tolerance genes, or by mixing populations from several locations to increase the genetic diversity of seed sources. Some general guidelines are provided for deciding whether or not to use local provenances depending on the purpose of the revegetation, the degree of environmental modification of the site and the characteristics of the species of choice.
Size-Dependent and Temporal Variability in Batch Number and Fecundity of Red Porgy, a Protogynous, Indeterminate Spawner, in the U.S. South Atlantic
Authors: Klibansky Nikolai , Scharf Frederick S.
Published: April 2013

Contemporary studies have shown that spawning stock biomass can be a poor estimator of total egg production, with the inclusion of fecundity tending to improve stock–recruit relationships. Since many U.S. fisheries now use spawning potential ratio (SPR) to define overfishing, an understanding of fecundity variation is especially valuable. We studied a commercially important, protogynous sparid, the Red Porgy Pagrus pagrus, off the southeast U.S. coast from 2007 to 2010 to estimate annual fecundity ( fa) as a function of batch fecundity ( fb) and batch number (nb) and to investigate size-based and temporal variation. In total, 1,355 Red Porgy (241–478 mm TL) were collected; subsets of individuals were selected for estimating maturity, nb, and fb. Throughout the spawning season, the proportion of females that were capable of spawning increased to 100% on several dates and was generally higher among smaller females than current maturity information would predict. The proportion of females that were actually spawning was also as high as 100% on several dates, suggesting periods of daily spawning. Batch fecundity was positively related to TL, and the relationship varied significantly between years and among months within years. Spawning fraction (and thus nb) was also size dependent, with relationships varying between years and dependent upon the reproductive indicator used in calculation (i.e., spawning capability, postovulatory follicle presence, or hydrated oocyte presence). Annual fecundity estimates incorporating size-dependent nb differed from estimates assuming size-independent nb and varied between years. Through its effect on fa, the size dependence of nb ultimately affected perceptions of how fishing mortality rate influenced the SPR. Our findings show the importance of accounting for size-dependent variation in nb when calculating fa in indeterminate-spawning species and illustrate the potential implications for stock–recruit relationships and stock exploitation status.

Received July 19, 2012; accepted January 21, 2013
Cooperation of MICAL-L1, syndapin2, and phosphatidic acid in tubular recycling endosome biogenesis
Authors: Giridharan Sai Srinivas Panapakkam , Cai Bishuang , Vitale Nicolas , Naslavsky Naava , Caplan Steve
Published: April 2013

Endocytic transport necessitates the generation of membrane tubules and their subsequent fission to transport vesicles for sorting of cargo molecules. The endocytic recycling compartment, an array of tubular and vesicular membranes decorated by the Eps15 homology domain protein, EHD1, is responsible for receptor and lipid recycling to the plasma membrane. It has been proposed that EHD dimers bind and bend membranes, thus generating recycling endosome (RE) tubules. However, recent studies show that molecules interacting with CasL-Like1 (MICAL-L1), a second, recently identified RE tubule marker, recruits EHD1 to preexisting tubules. The mechanisms and events supporting the generation of tubular recycling endosomes were unclear. Here, we propose a mechanism for the biogenesis of RE tubules. We demonstrate that MICAL-L1 and the BAR-domain protein syndapin2 bind to phosphatidic acid, which we identify as a novel lipid component of RE. Our studies demonstrate that direct interactions between these two proteins stabilize their association with membranes, allowing for nucleation of tubules by syndapin2. Indeed, the presence of phosphatidic acid in liposomes enhances the ability of syndapin2 to tubulate membranes in vitro. Overall our results highlight a new role for phosphatidic acid in endocytic recycling and provide new insights into the mechanisms by which tubular REs are generated.
EPSILON: an eQTL prioritization framework using similarity measures derived from local networks
Authors: Verbeke Lieven P. C. , Cloots Lore , Demeester Piet , Fostier Jan , Marchal Kathleen
Published: April 2013

Motivation: When genomic data are associated with gene expression data, the resulting expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) will likely span multiple genes. eQTL prioritization techniques can be used to select the most likely causal gene affecting the expression of a target gene from a list of candidates. As an input, these techniques use physical interaction networks that often contain highly connected genes and unreliable or irrelevant interactions that can interfere with the prioritization process. We present EPSILON, an extendable framework for eQTL prioritization, which mitigates the effect of highly connected genes and unreliable interactions by constructing a local network before a network-based similarity measure is applied to select the true causal gene.

Results: We tested the new method on three eQTL datasets derived from yeast data using three different association techniques. A physical interaction network was constructed, and each eQTL in each dataset was prioritized using the EPSILON approach: first, a local network was constructed using a k-trials shortest path algorithm, followed by the calculation of a network-based similarity measure. Three similarity measures were evaluated: random walks, the Laplacian Exponential Diffusion kernel and the Regularized Commute-Time kernel. The aim was to predict knockout interactions from a yeast knockout compendium. EPSILON outperformed two reference prioritization methods, random assignment and shortest path prioritization. Next, we found that using a local network significantly increased prioritization performance in terms of predicted knockout pairs when compared with using exactly the same network similarity measures on the global network, with an average increase in prioritization performance of 8 percentage points (P < 10−5).

Availability: The physical interaction network and the source code (Matlab/C++) of our implementation can be downloaded from http://bioinformatics.intec.ugent.be/epsilon.

Contact:  lieven.verbeke@intec.ugent.be, kamar@psb.ugent.be, jan.fostier@intec.ugent.be

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
NetworkPrioritizer: a versatile tool for network-based prioritization of candidate disease genes or other molecules
Authors: Kacprowski Tim , Doncheva Nadezhda T. , Albrecht Mario
Published: April 2013

Summary: The prioritization of candidate disease genes is often based on integrated datasets and their network representation with genes as nodes connected by edges for biological relationships. However, the majority of prioritization methods does not allow for a straightforward integration of the user’s own input data. Therefore, we developed the Cytoscape plugin NetworkPrioritizer that particularly supports the integrative network-based prioritization of candidate disease genes or other molecules. Our versatile software tool computes a number of important centrality measures to rank nodes based on their relevance for network connectivity and provides different methods to aggregate and compare rankings.

Availability: NetworkPrioritizer and the online documentation are freely available at http://www.networkprioritizer.de.

Contact:  mario.albrecht@mpi-inf.mpg.de
Duration Dependence and Labor Market Conditions: Evidence from a Field Experiment*
Authors: Kroft Kory , Lange Fabian , Notowidigdo Matthew J.
Published: April 2013

This article studies the role of employer behavior in generating “negative duration dependence”—the adverse effect of a longer unemployment spell—by sending fictitious résumés to real job postings in 100 U.S. cities. Our results indicate that the likelihood of receiving a callback for an interview significantly decreases with the length of a worker’s unemployment spell, with the majority of this decline occurring during the first eight months. We explore how this effect varies with local labor market conditions and find that duration dependence is stronger when the local labor market is tighter. This result is consistent with the prediction of a broad class of screening models in which employers use the unemployment spell length as a signal of unobserved productivity and recognize that this signal is less informative in weak labor markets.
Genomics and genetics ofSulfolobus islandicusLAL14/1, a model hyperthermophilic archaeon
Authors: Jaubert Carole , Danioux Chloë , Oberto Jacques , Cortez Diego , Bize Ariane , Krupovic Mart , She Qunxin , Forterre Patrick , Prangishvili David , Sezonov Guennadi
Published: April 2013

The 2 465 177 bp genome ofSulfolobus islandicusLAL14/1, host of the model rudivirus SIRV2, was sequenced. Exhaustive comparative genomic analysis ofS. islandicusLAL14/1 and the nine other completely sequencedS. islandicusstrains isolated from Iceland, Russia and USA revealed a highly syntenic common core genome of approximately 2 Mb and a long hyperplastic region containing most of the strain-specific genes. In LAL14/1, the latter region is enriched in insertion sequences, CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats), glycosyl transferase genes, toxin–antitoxin genes and MITE (miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements). The tRNA genes of LAL14/1 are preferential targets for the integration of mobile elements but clusters of atypical genes (CAG) are also integrated elsewhere in the genome. LAL14/1 carries five CRISPR loci with 10 per cent of spacers matching perfectly or imperfectly the genomes of archaeal viruses and plasmids found in the Icelandic hot springs. Strikingly, the CRISPR_2 region of LAL14/1 carries an unusually long 1.9 kb spacer interspersed between two repeat regions and displays a high similarity to pING1-like conjugative plasmids. Finally, we have developed a genetic system forS. islandicusLAL14/1 and createdΔpyrEFandΔCRISPR_1mutants using double cross-over and pop-in/pop-out approaches, respectively. Thus, LAL14/1 is a promising model to study virus–host interactions and the CRISPR/Cas defence mechanism in Archaea.
The papain-like protease of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus negatively regulates type I interferon pathway by acting as a viral deubiquitinase
Authors: Xing Yaling , Chen Jianfei , Tu Jian , Zhang Bailing , Chen Xiaojuan , Shi Hongyan , Baker Susan C. , Feng Li , Chen Zhongbin
Published: April 2013

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is the cause of an economically important swine disease. Previous studies suggested that PEDV does not elicit a robust IFN response, but the mechanism(s) used to evade or block this innate immune response was not known. In this study, we found that PEDV infection blocked synthetic dsRNA-induced IFN-β production by interfering with the activation of interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3). We identified PEDV replicase encoded papain-like protease 2 (PLP2) as an IFN antagonist that depends on catalytic activity for its function. We show that levels of ubiquitinated proteins are reduced during PEDV infection and that PEDV PLP2 has deubiquitinase (DUB) activity that recognizes and processes both K-48 and K-63 linked polyubiquitin chains. Furthermore, we found that PEDV PLP2 strongly inhibits RIG-I- and STING-activated IFN expression and that PEDV PLP2 can be co-immunoprecipitated with and deubiquitinates RIG-I and STING, the key components of the signalling pathway for IFN expression. These results show that PEDV infection suppresses production of IFN-β and provides evidence indicating that the PEDV papain-like protease 2 acts as a viral DUB to interfere with the RIG-I- and STING-mediated signalling pathway.
Interplay between chromatin state, regulator binding, and regulatory motifs in six human cell types
Authors: Ernst Jason , Kellis Manolis
Published: April 2013

The regions bound by sequence-specific transcription factors can be highly variable across different cell types despite the static nature of the underlying genome sequence. This has been partly attributed to changes in chromatin accessibility, but a systematic picture has been hindered by the lack of large-scale data sets. Here, we use 456 binding experiments for 119 regulators and 84 chromatin maps generated by the ENCODE in six human cell types, and relate those to a global map of regulatory motif instances for these factors. We find specific and robust chromatin state preferences for each regulator beyond the previously reported open-chromatin association, suggesting a much richer chromatin landscape beyond simple accessibility. The preferentially bound chromatin states of regulators were enriched for sequence motifs of regulators relative to all states, suggesting that these preferences are at least partly encoded by the genomic sequence. Relative to all regions bound by a regulator, however, regulatory motifs were surprisingly depleted in the regulator's preferentially bound states, suggesting additional non-sequence-specific binding beyond the level predicted by the regulatory motifs. Such permissive binding was largely restricted to open-chromatin regions showing histone modification marks characteristic of active enhancer and promoter regions, whereas open-chromatin regions lacking such marks did not show permissive binding. Lastly, the vast majority of cobinding of regulator pairs is predicted by the chromatin state preferences of individual regulators. Overall, our results suggest a joint role of sequence motifs and specific chromatin states beyond mere accessibility in mediating regulator binding dynamics across different cell types.
NF-Y coassociates with FOS at promoters, enhancers, repetitive elements, and inactive chromatin regions, and is stereo-positioned with growth-controlling transcription factors
Authors: Fleming Joseph D. , Pavesi Giulio , Benatti Paolo , Imbriano Carol , Mantovani Roberto , Struhl Kevin
Published: April 2013

NF-Y, a trimeric transcription factor (TF) composed of two histone-like subunits (NF-YB and NF-YC) and a sequence-specific subunit (NF-YA), binds to the CCAAT motif, a common promoter element. Genome-wide mapping reveals 5000–15,000 NF-Y binding sites depending on the cell type, with the NF-YA and NF-YB subunits binding asymmetrically with respect to the CCAAT motif. Despite being characterized as a proximal promoter TF, only 25% of NF-Y sites map to promoters. A comparable number of NF-Y sites are located at enhancers, many of which are tissue specific, and nearly half of the NF-Y sites are in select subclasses of HERV LTR repeats. Unlike most TFs, NF-Y can access its target DNA motif in inactive (nonmodified) or polycomb-repressed chromatin domains. Unexpectedly, NF-Y extensively colocalizes with FOS in all genomic contexts, and this often occurs in the absence of JUN and the AP-1 motif. NF-Y also coassociates with a select cluster of growth-controlling and oncogenic TFs, consistent with the abundance of CCAAT motifs in the promoters of genes overexpressed in cancer. Interestingly, NF-Y and several growth-controlling TFs bind in a stereo-specific manner, suggesting a mechanism for cooperative action at promoters and enhancers. Our results indicate that NF-Y is not merely a commonly used proximal promoter TF, but rather performs a more diverse set of biological functions, many of which are likely to involve coassociation with FOS.
ANTI-SILENCING FUNCTION1 Proteins Are Involved in Ultraviolet-Induced DNA Damage Repair and Are Cell Cycle Regulated by E2F Transcription Factors in Arabidopsis
Authors: Lario Luciana D. , Ramirez-Parra Elena , Gutierrez Crisanto , Spampinato Claudia P. , Casati Paula
Published: April 2013

ANTI-SILENCING FUNCTION1 (ASF1) is a key histone H3/H4 chaperone that participates in a variety of DNA- and chromatin-related processes, including DNA repair, where chromatin assembly and disassembly are of primary relevance. Information concerning the role of ASF1 proteins in the post-ultraviolet (UV) response in higher plants is currently limited. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), an initial analysis of in vivo localization of ASF1A and ASF1B indicates that both proteins are mainly expressed in proliferative tissues. In silico promoter analysis identified ASF1A and ASF1B as potential targets of Elongation Factor2 (E2F) transcription factors. These observations were experimentally validated, both in vitro, by electrophoretic mobility shift assays, and in vivo, by chromatin immunoprecipitation assays and expression analysis using transgenic plants with altered levels of different E2F transcription factors. These data suggest that ASF1A and ASF1B are regulated during cell cycle progression through E2F transcription factors. In addition, we found that ASF1A and ASF1B are associated with the UV-B-induced DNA damage response in Arabidopsis. Transcript levels of ASF1A and ASF1B were increased following UV-B treatment. Consistent with a potential role in UV-B response, RNA interference-silenced plants of both genes showed increased sensitivity to UV-B compared with wild-type plants. Finally, by coimmunoprecipitation analysis, we found that ASF1 physically interacts with amino-terminal acetylated histones H3 and H4 and with acetyltransferases of the Histone Acetyl Transferase subfamily, which are known to be involved in cell cycle control and DNA repair, among other functions. Together, we provide evidence that ASF1A and ASF1B are regulated by cell cycle progression and are involved in DNA repair after UV-B irradiation.
Illuminating the black box of entrepreneurship education programs
Authors: Maritz Alex , Brown Christopher R.
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to explore the components of entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) and their interrelationships to develop a conceptual framework through which entrepreneurship education may be contextually evaluated and developed.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents an extensive literature review of the entrepreneurship education literature which is used to inform a comprehensive framework for entrepreneurial education; based upon contextualisation, outcomes, objectives, audience, assessment, content and pedagogy.

Findings

The paper develops a comprehensive and parsimonious framework for understanding and evaluating entrepreneurship education programs based on and adapted from the extended conceptualisations and contextualisation of previous research on entrepreneurship education programs.

Research limitations/implications

This paper presents preliminary conceptualisation and as such requires subsequent testing in various entrepreneurship contexts.

Practical implications

The framework elaborated upon can provide a comprehensive view of entrepreneurship education programs by examining and describing the relationships between the components. In so doing, the paper illuminates for educators and researchers a comprehensive view of an entrepreneurship education program which can be used by contextualising the components of outcomes, objectives, assessment and pedagogy.

Originality/value

The value of this work lies in its responsiveness to the calls in the academic literature for more appropriate evaluations of entrepreneurship programs and greater contextualisation of the programs to facilitate research into the effectiveness of such programs. The paper proposes that EEPs have to be developed, not only with objectives in mind, but in the context within which they operate.
Valuing flexibility in career training decisions
Authors: Yahanpath Noel , Neal Mark , McCormack Shane
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and significance of flexibility in decisions about education and training options. This is done through an examination of the relevance of real options valuation (ROV) to our understanding of educational and training choices. Through this examination, the paper aims to contribute to the debate about how we can better advise and support people making such decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The research involved three overlapping stages: a critical examination of the theoretical work on flexibility in decisions; a review of the literature on the role and significance of flexibility in education and training decisions; and an application of the lessons of ROV to the analysis of decisions about education, training and careers.

Findings

The analysis of the theoretical work on flexibility alongside the review of the literature on education and training decision‐making, demonstrated that there was little current application of theory to the analysis of such choices. Reviewing the literature, it was discovered that ROV held significant lessons for the analysis of education and training decisions, and important practical implications for the support and guidance of people making these choices.

Originality/value

This is the first study to apply the principles of ROV to educational and training choices.
Adopting sustainability in the organization
Authors: Frandsen Sanne , Morsing Mette , Vallentin Steen
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between sustainability adoption and internal legitimacy construction.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is designed as a critical inquiry into existing research and practice on sustainability adoption, illustrated by two corporate vignettes.

Findings

Prior studies tend to assume that awareness raising is a sufficient means to create employee commitment and support for corporate sustainability programs, while empirical observations indicate that managerial disregard of conflicting interpretations of sustainability may result in the illegitimacy of such programs.

Originality/value

The authors suggest that a loosely coupled approach to sustainability adoption is a productive way to understand internal legitimacy construction, as it appreciates complexity and polyphony.
A time and place for sustainability
Authors: Ceasar Nicolas , Page Nadine
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe a management development intervention, facilitated by two consultants, to support the leaders of a multinational organisation to make sense of sustainability through experiential dialogue and engagement. Participants from different communities and organisations convened to develop an open and challenging framework for discussion.

Design/methodology/approach

The two‐day, off‐site intervention focused on what it means to create sustainability for the business in the long term, with a particular emphasis on the responsibilities faced by the leaders and the organisation’s value chain. The workshop was designed around the principles of sensitizing, re‐visioning and transforming.

Findings

The intervention supported participants to discuss and engage with sustainability and allowed them to increase their understanding and vision, at both a personal and organisational level. Success factors included developing a solid contract between the consultant and client, the role of trust, sufficient time, open but goal‐directed facilitation skills, location congruence and being away from usual routines.

Originality/value

Management development interventions for sustainability need to take leaders away from their usual settings and relocate to a different place where they can challenge their current cognitions, values and beliefs. Human resource/Learning and development specialists need to continue to support their managers to make sense of the complex yet critical issues of sustainability.
Facilitating organizational change for embedding sustainability into academia: a case study
Authors: Exter Nadine , Grayson David , Maher Rajiv
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to capture, codify and communicate an implicit change‐management process to embed corporate responsibility and sustainability at the Cranfield School of Management.

Design/methodology/approach

To explain the (on‐going) change‐management process, the authors retrospectively applied change‐management literature to the implicit process in which they have, themselves, been intimately involved.

Findings

The implicit change‐management process had unconsciously mobilized a variety of tactics identified in the change‐management literature; a more explicit articulation of the “as‐is” and “desired” states, and a more explicit, systematic and regular communication of the journey and goal, might have enabled faster progress. However, the nature of a highly autonomous and decentralized organization, such as an academic institution, means that sustainable change management may be slower than in commercial institutions.

Research limitations/implications

The authors have been closely engaged in the change‐management process they describe and, inevitably, have unconscious biases and partial perspectives. Nevertheless, as a frank and self‐critical account of a five‐year‐plus process, it can assist other academic institutions.

Practical implications

As more business schools seek to embed corporate responsibility and sustainability, the case study identifies a series of potential change‐management tactics.

Originality/value

The paper applies a change‐management model to examine how one school of management is tackling how to embed corporate responsibility and sustainability into its research, teaching, advisory services and its own operations.
A model for sustainability education in support of the PRME
Authors: Dickson Marsha A. , Eckman Molly , Loker Suzanne , Jirousek Charlotte
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present innovative strategies to promote sustainability‐focused education, in a case study of a multi‐institutional program designed to prepare students for management positions in global apparel and footwear companies. The program is unique in focusing upon management education occurring outside the business school, extension of faculty resources through inter‐institutional collaborations, and use of the internet for course delivery.

Design/methodology/approach

Faculty from three institutions collaborated to develop ten 1‐credit web‐based graduate courses and delivered them inter‐institutionally. Through collaboration with global companies and other stakeholders and through field research, the faculty built a shared vision of sustainability education, identified learning outcomes, developed practical and applied learning experiences and created tools to assess learning.

Findings

Industry experts agreed that the courses and learning outcomes were important and addressed industry needs. The internet‐based platform and learning activities engaged students and encouraged development of creative strategies for addressing sustainability issues.

Practical implications

Students and institutions benefitted from the award‐winning program. Specific outcomes are discussed.

Originality/value

The strategies used in development of the program provide examples for other educational institutions for how to negotiate institutional factors in pursuit of the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education.
How expected benefit and trust influence knowledge sharing
Authors: Kuo Tsung‐Hsien
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to look at the relationships among factors which result in improved knowledge sharing, through the empirical validation of a theoretical model consisting of three dimensions: expected benefit in relation to knowledge sharing, trust at workplace, and employee knowledge‐sharing behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

This study targets three technological companies with a total of employees exceeding 1,500 (n=563), utilizing a survey questionnaire as the data collection instrument to test the relationship among the three dimensions. The structural equation modeling approach is used to test the proposed model.

Findings

The results show that trust at workplace has a mediating effect on organizational knowledge‐sharing behavior. It is also discovered that there is significant correlation between expected personal benefit through sharing knowledge and the development of trust at workplace.

Originality/value

This study contributes empirical data to the predominantly theoretical literature by offering a deeper understanding of the mediating effect of trust on employee's expected benefit for the purpose of knowledge exchange behavior within teams and among teams.
Technology readiness as moderator for construction company performance
Authors: Kuo Yen‐Lin
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of information system quality (ISQ) and technology readiness (TR) on organizational performance (OP), from the background that the construction industry pursues higher performance and service quality.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey questionnaire was used. The hierarchical regression analysis was employed to analyze the 545 valid questionnaires collected (valid return rate: 54.5 percent) from construction industry employees in Taiwan.

Findings

The results indicate that ISQ directly improves OP. Particularly, TR has a moderating effect on the relationship between ISQ and OP. TR can enhance the positive influence ISQ has on OP.

Research limitations/implications

Data sources for this study were restricted by the respondents' cognition and experience regarding ISQ and OP. Biases may exist among respondents. In addition, the collected data were related to the Taiwan construction industry, which may differ from operating environments and characteristics of other industries and cities. The management implications are explained in the Conclusion.

Practical implications

This study provides meaningful information for managers of the construction industry. Management can use TR to influence the relationship between ISQ and OP and to further improve OP to meet future challenges.

Originality/value

Under the trend of market segmentation and the challenge of customized consumer requirements, brand management and product planning of the construction industry have become key factors of land value. The results of this study indicate that organization ISQ improves OP and personal TR is the moderator that influences the relationship between ISQ and OP to improve OP.
Internal and external auditor ethical decision‐making
Authors: Arnold Donald F. , Dorminey Jack W. , Neidermeyer A.A. , Neidermeyer Presha E.
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The aim of this exploratory research is to compare three sectors of the auditing profession – internal auditors, external auditors from larger international firms, and external auditors from smaller/regional firms – in regard to the influence of situational context on their ethically‐related decision‐making and judgment evaluations.

Design/methodology/approach

Against the backdrop of five vignettes applied with a survey, the paper examines the potential influence of social consensus and magnitude of consequence on the ethical decision path of these three auditor groups.

Findings

The paper finds that, in all cases, social consensus and magnitude of consequences exert influence on the ethical decision path. In the case of social consensus, however the paper finds that the ethical decision path is fully mediated for large firm auditors but is only partial mediated for the other two groups of auditors.

Originality/value

This research examines responses from both internal and external auditors. Comparison between such groups is unique because these groups have not been well researched in the past literature.
The impact of hardiness on accounting task performance
Authors: McNellis Casey J.
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to expand upon accounting literature that highlights the benefits of hardiness in the accounting environment. Accordingly, the relationship between hardiness and accounting task performance is investigated across two scenarios in the presence of conscientiousness, a well‐documented predictor of performance (Barrick and Mount).

Design/methodology/approach

Subjects completed a bank reconciliation task with either an immediate deadline or a non‐immediate deadline. The personality traits were measured with scales from prior literature.

Findings

The relationship between the commitment dimension of hardiness and task performance was positive and significant in the presence of the immediate deadline, but not the non‐immediate deadline. Conversely, the conscientiousness‐task performance relationship was positive and significant under the non‐immediate deadline, but not the immediate deadline. Additional analysis revealed a significant association between commitment and detection of errors.

Research limitations/implications

Since task performance was measured in relation to one task, the generalizability of the results is limited. However, the results imply that hardiness serves as a relevant variable in cognitive performance models.

Practical implications

The hardiness trait appears to produce positive outcomes in the accounting environment. Accounting educators and firm leaders should understand how the trait is expressed and activated in order to train professionals on critical accounting and auditing tasks.

Originality/value

This paper provides new evidence about the benefits of the hardy personality in accounting settings. Additionally, the results offer a basis for researchers to incorporate hardiness as an individual difference in studies on auditor performance.
Speed of convergence to market efficiency in the ETFs market
Authors: Chung Dennis Y. , Hrazdil Karel
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to examine the informational efficiency of prices of all exchange traded funds (ETFs) that are actively traded on the NYSE Arca, based on methodology developed by Chordia et al.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors estimate the speed of convergence to market efficiency based on short‐horizon return predictability from past order flows of 273 ETFs that were traded every day on the NYSE Arca during the first six months of 2008, and compare the resulting price formation process to that of shares traded on the NYSE and NYSE Arca.

Findings

Despite the significant differences in trading costs, volatility, and informational effects between ETFs and regular stocks, the paper documents that price adjustments to new information for ETFs occur in about 30 minutes, which is comparable to price adjustments for traditional stocks traded on Arca. In multivariate setting, the paper further shows that the speed of convergence to market efficiency of ETFs is not only significantly driven by volume, but also by the probability of informed trading.

Research limitations/implications

The findings provide direct answers and insights to questions posed in a recent SEC concept release document. The analysis of the speed of convergence provides a feasible measure to assess how efficiently prices of ETFs respond to new information.

Originality/value

The authors are first to utilize the short‐horizon return predictability from historical order flow approach to evaluate the price formation process of ETFs and to provide evidence on the determinants of its efficiency.
Characteristics study of an electronic systems design strategy
Authors: Ángel San Pablo Juárez Miguel , Zemliak Alexander , Ríos Silva Eduardo
Published: April 2013

Purpose

This work seeks to present the theoretical study considerations and the characteristics of a general design methodology in optimal time for electronic systems using numerical methods and optimal control theory. Through this, the design problem of a system is formulated in terms of optimal control in minimal time.

Design/methodology/approach

This general design methodology includes the traditional design strategy (TDS), and the modified traditional design strategy (MTDS), where the model of the system is part of the optimization procedure but an objective function of the optimization process is constructed such as includes the traditional objective function and some penalty functions that feign the model of the system. Many special control functions are introduced artificially to generalize the methodology and produce several design trajectories for the same optimization process – the first and final trajectories correspond to TDS and MTDS, respectively. The combination of these trajectories produce an infinite number of design strategies, some of these are quasi‐optimal in time and only one is optimal in time.

Findings

Qualitative and numeric results of this iterative process are generated in a personal computer in a C++ language elaborated with a visual C++ graphic user interface. An algorithm is constructed to form an optimal in time design strategy switching from a MTDS subset to a TDS subset. Results of measured times are analyzed, showing that there is a control input U, such that the objective function is minimized in a minimum time.

Originality/value

These ideas are proposed using method of gradient optimization and special acceleration effect.
On the improved computational speed and convergence of the Newton Raphson iteration method for selective harmonics elimination PWM applied to cascaded multilevel inverter with equal and non‐equal DC sources
Authors: Salam Zainal , Soon Yee Seh , Saleem Yasir
Published: April 2013

Purpose

This paper proposes an improved algorithm to compute selective harmonics elimination pulse width modulation (SHEPWM) angles, based on the Newton‐Raphson (NR) iteration for cascaded multilevel inverter (CMI).

Design/methodology/approach

Newton Raphson (NR) is a very popular numerical method for transcendental equations that lack analytical solutions. It has been successfully used to compute the angles for selective harmonics elimination pulse width modulation (SHEPWM) schemes. Despite its effectiveness, NR has not been used for SHEPWM with cascaded multilevel inverter (CMI) structure with equal and non‐equal DC voltage sources. It is known that for CMI, inappropriate selection of initial angles causes long‐iteration time and possibly non‐convergence takes place. The computational difficulty is compounded by the fact that the SHEPWM switching angles need to be correctly sequenced, i.e. each angle must be assigned to the correct output voltage level of the CMI. In this work, an attempt is made to reduce the iteration time and to resolve the non‐convergence problem. The main idea is to relax the switching angle constraint by placing the switching angle sequencing outside the main loop of NR iteration. This allows for the program to run more freely and able to generate more possible solutions for the switching angles. Then these angles are selected to fulfill the requirements of multilevel sequencing. The performance of the proposed technique will be compared with the standard NR for CMI with equal and non‐equal DC sources. The latter case is quite common for CMI with renewable energy applications because the sources normally have different voltage levels.

Findings

Using MATLAB simulation, it will be shown that using this scheme, accurate SHEPWM angles can be achieved for a wide range of fundamental components. Furthermore, significant reduction in iteration time to compute the SHEPWM switching angles is achieved.

Originality/value

This paper proposes an improved algorithm to compute SHEPWM angles based on NR iteration.