bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Human resource development 4.0 (HRD 4.0) in the apparel industry of Bangladesh: a theoretical framework and future research directions
Authors: Alam Shafiqul , Dhamija Pavitra
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The transition from Industry 3.0 to the fourth industrial revolution was a big jump that created a vacuum in many developing countries. Drawing upon institutional theory and resource-based view theory, the current study proposes a theoretical model linking the institutional pressures and resources (workforce skills) in context to the apparel industry of Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts a qualitative approach involving 20 semi-structured interviews, followed by thematic analysis using NVivo 12 software. The researchers impose both deductive and inductive thematic analysis to generate themes. The data analysis involves various stages applying the phenomenological approaches.

Findings

Institutional pressures (coercive) positively influences the workforce skills (technical and managerial) in the fourth industrial revolution in Bangladesh apparel manufacturing industry; institutional pressures (normative) is positively related to the workforce skills (technical and managerial) in 4IR in Bangladesh apparel manufacturing industry; institutional pressures (mimetic) has shown a positive association with the workforce skills (technical and managerial) in 4IR in Bangladesh apparel manufacturing industry; workforce skills (technical and managerial) are positively influencing the development of human resource capabilities in fourth industrial revolution in Bangladesh apparel manufacturing industry.

Originality/value

This paper is the first of its kind to offer a thematic analysis on human resource development 4.0 in the apparel industry of Bangladesh. The study provides an understanding of the role of institutional pressure on workforce skill development and the adoption of 4IR technology.
A study of artificial intelligence on employee performance and work engagement: the moderating role of change leadership
Authors: Wijayati Dewie Tri , Rahman Zainur , Fahrullah A’rasy , Rahman Muhammad Fajar Wahyudi , Arifah Ika Diyah Candra , Kautsar Achmad
Published: January 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to explore employee perceptions of companies engaged in services and banking of the role of change leadership on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) that will impact the performance and work engagement in conditions that are experiencing rapid changes.

Design/methodology/approach

This study has used a quantitative research approach, and data analysis uses an approach structural equation modeling (SEM) supported by program computer software AMOS 22.0. A total of 357 respondents were involved in this study, but only 254 were qualified. In this study, the respondent is an employee of companies engaged in the services and banking sector in the East Java, Indonesia region.

Findings

The results reveal that AI has a significant positive effect on employee performance and work engagement. Change leadership positively moderates the influence of AI on employee performance and work engagement.

Originality/value

The development of this model has a novelty by including the moderating variable of the role of change leadership because, in conditions that are experiencing rapid changes, the role of leaders is essential. After all, leaders are decision-makers in the organization. The development of this concept focuses on studies of companies engaged in services and banking. Employee performance is an essential determinant in the organization because it will improve organizational performance. In addition, the application of AI in organizations will experience turmoil, so that the critical role of leaders is needed to achieve success with employee work engagement.
Efficient techniques of fractional-N PLL for pervasive wireless applications
Authors: Mohammed Abdul Azeem , Nelakuditi Usha Rani
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this paper to ensure the rapid developments in the radio frequency wireless technology, the synthesis of frequencies for pervasive wireless applications is crucial by implementing the design of low voltage and low power Fractional-N phase locked loop (PLL) for controlling medical devices to monitor remotely patients.

Design/methodology/approach

The developments urge a technique reliable to phase noise in designing fractional-N PLL with a new eight transistor phase frequency detector and a good linearized charge pump (CP) for speed of operation with minimum mismatches.

Findings

In applications for portable wireless devices, by proposing a new phase-frequency detector with the removal of dead, blind zones and a modified CP to minimize the mismatch of currents.

Originality/value

The results are simulated in 45 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor generic process design kit (GPDK) technology in cadence virtuoso. The phase noise of the proposed Fractiona-N phase locked loop has–93.18, –101.4 and –117 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz, 100 kHz and 1 MHz frequency offsets, respectively, and consumes 3.3 mW from a 0.45 V supply.
Study on dry friction vibration model based on energy method
Authors: Zhu Fenglin , Jie Fan Yu , bin Li , Cheng Xu Cheng
Published: January 2022

Purpose

This study aims to establish the friction vibration model.

Design/methodology/approach

The friction vibration experiment was carried out on a pin disk friction tester. The causes of friction vibration are discussed, and the friction vibration model is established based on the energy method.

Findings

The experimental and simulation results show that the main cause of friction vibration is the nonlinear change of friction coefficient; degree of the friction vibration has a positive relationship with the friction relative velocity and normal contact positive pressure; the proposed friction vibration model is highly consistent in chaotic attractor and time-frequency distribution map and can well predict friction vibration.

Originality/value

The proposed friction vibration model is highly consistent in chaotic attractor and time-frequency distribution map and can well predict friction vibration.
Health-related fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic: perceived trust and information search
Authors: Zheng Lei , Elhai Jon D. , Miao Miao , Wang Yu , Wang Yiwen , Gan Yiqun
Published: January 2022

Purpose

Health-related online fake news (HOFN) has become a major social problem. HOFN can lead to the spread of ineffective and even harmful remedies. The study aims to understand Internet users' responses to HOFN during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic using the protective action decision model (PADM).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected pandemic severity data (regional number of confirmed cases) from government websites of the USA and China (Studies 1 and 2), search behavior from Google and Baidu search engines (Studies 1 and 2) and data regarding trust in two online fake news stories from two national surveys (Studies 2 and 3). All data were analyzed using a multi-level linear model.

Findings

The research detected negative time-lagged relationships between pandemic severity and regional HOFN search behavior by three actual fake news stories from the USA and China (Study 1). Importantly, trust in HOFN served as a mediator in the time-lagged relationship between pandemic severity and search behavior (Study 2). Additionally, the relationship between pandemic severity and trust in HOFN varied according to individuals' perceived control (Study 3).

Originality/value

The authors' results underscore the important role of PADM in understanding Internet users' trust in and search for HOFN. When people trust HOFN, they may seek more information to implement further protective actions. Importantly, it appears that trust in HOFN varies with environmental cues (regional pandemic severity) and with individuals' perceived control, providing insight into developing coping strategies during a pandemic.
R&D tax incentives and innovation: unveiling the mechanisms behind innovation capacity
Authors: Walter Cicero Eduardo , Au-Yong-Oliveira Manuel , Miranda Veloso Cláudia , Polónia Daniel Ferreira
Published: January 2022

Purpose

There is a scarcity of empirical evidence in the literature on the chain of causality involving tax incentives for Research and Development (R&D) activities and their subsequent transformation into innovation. This study aims to assess the influence of R&D tax incentives on the organizational attributes of Portuguese firms to identify how they are converted into innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

A structural research model consisting of 339 companies that benefited from the Fiscal Incentive System supporting R&D in Enterprises, during the period from 2013 to 2016, was developed. This was done to assess the role of R&D tax incentives on the organizational attributes that form the innovation capacity. The model was validated using the multivariate statistical technique of structural equation modeling with partial least squares estimation (partial least squares structural equation modeling – PLS-SEM).

Findings

The results found suggest that although it is not possible to unequivocally identify the mechanisms used to convert tax incentives into innovation, it is possible to conclude that they play an important spillover effect for the construction and strengthening of organizational attributes. These form the basis of innovation capacity, to the extent that they positively influence the firms’ total assets, equity, liabilities, number of employees and sales. Hence, contributions are brought to both the literature on tax incentives and the general literature on innovation.

Originality/value

For policymakers, the evidence points to the fact that in addition to the incentives provided, novel mechanisms need to be established to help firms develop their absorptive capacity. The objective is to effectively convert the incentives received into innovation through the organizational attributes analyzed. From the firms’ point of view, the results found suggest that tax incentives act as a catalyst for making R&D investments. Additionally, there is an influence on employability, which effectively enhances the chances of innovation in the long run. Tax incentives received by Portuguese firms also have the effect of promoting economic dynamism – by enhancing the following: investments in infrastructure, the hiring of employees and the increasing of sales, generating positive externalities for both firms and society.
S/he styles: narcissistic fashion apparel consumption in India
Authors: Sarkar Juhi Gahlot , Sarkar Abhigyan
Published: January 2022

Purpose

This research aims to investigate if consuming fashion apparel brands for the purpose of social appearance expressiveness may garner calculative brand commitment, through the mediation of narcissistic brand love. It also tests moderation of gender for the aforementioned mediated relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The research has a core qualitative component (Study 1), which focuses on an interpretivist approach using a grounded theory paradigm to analyze data (N = 37) collected from semi-structured depth interviews. It is followed by a positivist survey based enquiry (study 2), and the data (N = 245) were analyzed using Haye’s (2017) process macro.

Findings

Analysis reveals that Indian consumers fall in narcissistic love with those apparel brands that aid their quest for maintaining desirable social appearances and develop a calculative commitment toward the brands, which aid this quest. The effect of social appearance expressiveness of apparel brand on consumers’ narcissistic brand love is moderated by gender, such that female consumers (as compared to males) are more invested in consuming fashion apparel brands as a means to enhance their social appearances.

Originality/value

The value of this study lies in extending self-presentation theory to understand the role of consumer narcissism in shaping Indian consumers’ fashion apparel consumption. The authors investigate the narcissistic consumption orientation that evolves as a result of consumers’ desire for social self-expression, irrespective of possessing narcissism as an enduring personality trait. Thus, the findings are relevant for possibly all consumers who, given certain conditions, may temporarily develop narcissistic brand love.
Extinction by citation deficiency: are botany journals at risk?
Authors: Riley Ian Timothy
Published: January 2022

Purpose

With the current dynamics of scientific publishing increasingly driven by citation metrics, it is quite possible this will lead to the loss of some lower-ranked journals as they will be undervalued by authors, research institutions and research funders. This has been specifically predicted for natural science journals, but the efforts of editors of such journals to improve reputation have not been quantitatively assessed. This research aimed to fill this knowledge gap and assess the potential vulnerability of lower-ranked botany journals.

Design/methodology/approach

Changes in article citation rates since 2009 for 21 lower-ranked general botany journals were examined by least squares linear regression and factors potentially predictive of higher citation potential by principal component analysis. The findings were then examined in a case study of the publishing that followed the celebrated discovery of a living-fossil plant (Wollemia nobilis) in the mid-1990s.

Findings

Article citation rates steadily declined across most of these 21 journals over the period, and if submissions had been favoured (directly or indirectly) for citation potential, this appears to have been an ineffective, perhaps even a flawed, endeavour. Analysis of quantifiable article attributes across a subset of these journals revealed inconsistent relationships with no predictive value for citation potential. The case study clearly highlighted some processes contributing to declining citation rates and the value of botanical reporting well beyond that indicated by citation metrics.

Research limitations/implications

It is not possible to know how important prediction of citation potential (directly or indirectly) is when journal editors accept papers for review or publication (such information is not made public, and this might not be a formalised process), so this study is only based what is considered (by the author) to be a reasonable assumption that all journals aim to improve their reputation and use citation metrics as one determinant of this.

Social implications

Unless we give value to lower-ranked regional botany journals in other ways than citations, the current trends in citation rates could lead to the diminution, even loss, of their valuable contribution biodiversity conservation.

Originality/value

Although concerns have been expressed about the long-term viability of natural history journals, this is the first research to examine this quantitatively using citation metrics.
Understanding the antecedents of family influence in the family firm
Authors: Bizri Rima M.
Published: January 2022

Purpose

What makes family influence so influential in the family firm? Time and again, research studies point to family influence as a factor that significantly impacts decision-making in the family business, thus highlighting the need to investigate the variables which cause family influence to be so powerful. The purpose of this study is to explore the construct of family influence in the family firm, under an integrative lens that combines insights from Institutional Theory and the Resource-Based View.

Design/methodology/approach

The quantitative approach was used using a 35-item survey measuring 6 constructs, where data collection yielded a total of 206 completed surveys included in the data analysis. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS (3.0) and results were appropriately reported.

Findings

The findings of this study propose that the two theoretical perspectives can be useful in explaining how various factors are able to intensify family influence on strategic family firm decisions like internationalization. Specifically, the lack of resources, government support, managerial knowledge and capability in foreign markets represent serious barriers that render the family firm more reliant on and subjected to family influence. Similarly, informal institutions like the fear of failure in foreign markets and uncertainty avoidance often make the family firm more dependent on, and accepting of, family influence.

Originality/value

The path analysis undertaken in this study has empirically depicted how resource-related and institution-based forces can together augment the effects of “family influence,” making it a more powerful and prohibitive factor in the internationalization decision, thus offering an insightful interpretation of these results and valuable practical and theoretical implications.
Getting the valuation formulas right when it comes to annuities
Authors: Becker Denis Mike
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish the flow-to-equity method, the free cash flow (FCF) method, the adjusted present value method and the relationships between these methods when the FCF appears as an annuity. More specifically, we depart from the two most widely used evaluation settings. The first setting is that of Modigliani and Miller who based their analysis on a stationary FCF. The second setting is that of Miles and Ezzell who worked with an FCF that represents an autoregressive possess of first order.

Design/methodology/approach

Inspired by recent observations in the literature concerning cash flows, discount rates and values in discounted cash flow (DCF) methods, we mathematically derive DCF valuation formulas for annuities.

Findings

The following relationships are established: (a) the correct discount rate of the tax shield when the free cash flow takes the form of a first-order autoregressive annuity, (b) the direct valuation of the tax shield from the free cash flow for a first-order autoregressive annuity, (c) the correct translation from the required return on unlevered equity to the levered equity, when the free cash flow is a stationary annuity and (d) direct calculation of the unlevered and levered firm values and the value of the tax shield for a stationary annuity.

Originality/value

Until now the complete set of formulas for the valuation of stochastic annuities by different DCF methods has not been established in the literature. These formulas are developed here. These formulas are important for practitioners and academics when it comes to the valuation of cash flows of finite lifetime.
LGBT-supportive corporate policies, risk aversion and mitigation and economic policy uncertainty
Authors: Padungsaksawasdi Chaiyuth , Treepongkaruna Sirimon , Jiraporn Pornsit
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The paper aims to investigate the effect of uncertain times on LGBT-supportive corporate policies, exploiting a novel text-based measure of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) that was recently constructed by Baker et al. (2016). LGBT-supportive policies have attracted a great deal of attention in the media lately. There is also a rapidly growing area of the literature that addresses LGBT-supportive policies specifically.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors execute a regression analysis and several other robustness checks including propensity score matching (PSM) and an instrumental-variable analysis to mitigate endogeneity.

Findings

The authors' results show that companies significantly raise their investments in LGBT-supportive policies in times of greater uncertainty, reinforcing the risk mitigation view where LGBT-supportive policies create moral capital with an insurance-like effect that mitigates adverse consequences during uncertain times. The effect of EPU on LGBT-supportive policies is above and beyond its effect on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in general.

Originality/value

The authors' study is the first to explore the effect of uncertain times on LGBT-supportive corporate policies. The authors contribute to a crucial area of the literature that examines how firms respond to EPU. In addition, the authors enrich the literature on LGBT-friendly policies by showing that EPU is one of the significant determinants of LGBT-friendly policies.
Smart knife: technological advances towards smart cutting tools in meat industry automation
Authors: Mason Alex , Romanov Dmytro , Cordova-Lopez L. Eduardo , Ross Steven , Korostynska Olga
Published: January 2022

Purpose

Modern meat processing requires automation and robotisation to remain sustainable and adapt to future challenges, including those brought by global infection events. Automation of all or many processes is seen as the way forward, with robots performing various tasks instead of people. Meat cutting is one of these tasks. Smart novel solutions, including smart knives, are required, with the smart knife being able to analyse and predict the meat it cuts. This paper aims to review technologies with the potential to be used as a so-called “smart knife” The criteria for a smart knife are also defined.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reviews various technologies that can be used, either alone or in combination, for developing a future smart knife for robotic meat cutting, with possibilities for their integration into automatic meat processing. Optical methods, Near Infra-Red spectroscopy, electrical impedance spectroscopy, force sensing and electromagnetic wave-based sensing approaches are assessed against the defined criteria for a smart knife.

Findings

Optical methods are well established for meat quality and composition characterisation but lack speed and robustness for real-time use as part of a cutting tool. Combining these methods with artificial intelligence (AI) could improve the performance. Methods, such as electrical impedance measurements and rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry, are invasive and not suitable in meat processing since they damage the meat. One attractive option is using athermal electromagnetic waves, although no commercially developed solutions exist that are readily adaptable to produce a smart knife with proven functionality, robustness or reliability.

Originality/value

This paper critically reviews and assesses a range of sensing technologies with very specific requirements: to be compatible with robotic assisted cutting in the meat industry. The concept of a smart knife that can benefit from these technologies to provide a real-time “feeling feedback” to the robot is at the centre of the discussion.
Effect of fragment impact on shaped charge jet formation and penetration into steel target
Authors: Hafizoglu Hakan , Konokman Huseyin Emrah , Kesemen Latif , Atay Ali Kursat
Published: January 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the effects of fragment impacts to shaped charge warheads in terms of shaped charge jet formation geometries and penetration performances.

Design/methodology/approach

In experimental process, a fragment was accelerated to a shaped charge warhead by means of a powder gun to a velocity more than 1,000 m/s, and this impact led to conical damage in the explosive of the warhead. Deformation on the warhead was visualized using X-ray technique to observe holes generated during fragment impact. Penetration test was performed against AISI 1040 steel plates with the damaged shaped charge warhead. Penetration performance of shaped charge jet, which deviated from the symmetry axis, was simulated by using SPEED software with 3-D Eulerian method to validate the numerical modelling method by comparing penetration test and simulation results of damaged warhead.

Findings

Simulation and test results showed good correlation for the warhead in terms of penetration depth and hole geometry at the impact surface of steel plates. In addition, the effects of the numbers and the geometries of fragment holes on shaped charge jet penetration performances were investigated with validated numerical methods. Simulation results showed that the increase in the number of fragment holes in the explosive of the warhead led to particulation of shaped charge jet that diminished penetration depth in the target plate. Additionally, simulation results also showed that the fragment hole geometry in the explosive after different fragment impact angles affected the amount of jet deviation from the symmetry axis as well as penetration depth in the target plate.

Practical implications

The results obtained from the current study revealed that fragment impact angle and different number of fragment impact reduced the penetration performance of shaped charge warhead by influencing the symmetry of shaped charge jet negatively.

Originality/value

The current study fulfils the need to investigate how fragment impact on the shaped charge warhead affect the formation symmetry of shaped charge jet as well as penetration performance by experimental and numerical methods. Penetration performance result of asymmetric jet is compared by experimental and numerical studies. A detailed methodology on numerically modelling of the effect of fragment impact angle and number of fragment impact on shaped charge jet performance is given in this study.
Who's a good citizen? Status and power in minority and majority youths' conceptions of citizenship
Authors: Simonsen Kristina Bakkær
Published: January 2022

Citizenship has become the language through which several interconnected societal concerns are debated in Europe today. One of these concerns relates to youths' willingness and abilities to live up to dominant citizen ideals. The questioning of young adults' citizenship is particularly intense for youths with an ethnic minority background who are feared to hold values at odds with majority society. In this article, I ask how Danish youths define what it means to be a good (and a bad) citizen, and I investigate how their answers are shaped by their status within dominant hierarchies of belonging. Analyzing 71 in‐depth interviews with young adults in Denmark, I find that they share a conception of citizenship informed by virtues central to the Danish welfare state. At the same time, minority and majority youths place different emphasis on specific traits and duties. These shifts in emphasis reflect that the two groups do not experience the same access to making claims to citizenship. In particular, the ideal of the politically active and critical citizen is largely reserved for majority youths who – because of their status – feel more entitled and called upon to make independent judgments. Theoretically, the article brings the literatures on ordinary citizenship and everyday nationhood into conversation to reflect on the simultaneous reproduction of common norms and on how hierarchies of belonging nevertheless shape different groups' abilities to redefine citizenship. More generally, I contribute to broader sociological debates about agency and structure by discussing how majority youths' power to make independent claims to citizenship masks their privileged position in the national order of things. The study thus sheds light on how structure is made visible to those who are confronted with constraints (minority youths) and invisible to those who have a secure status (majority youths).
Does initial buccal crest thickness affect final buccal crest thickness after flapless immediate implant placement and provisionalization: A prospective cone beam computed tomogram cohort study
Authors: Staas Tristan Ariaan , Groenendijk Edith , Bronkhorst Ewald , Verhamme Luc , Raghoebar Gerry Max , Meijer Gerrit Jacobus
Published: January 2022

Background

Flapless immediate implant placement and provisionalization (FIIPP) in the aesthetic zone is still controversial. Especially, an initial buccal crest thickness (BCT) of ≤1 mm is thought to be disruptive for the final buccal crest stability jeopardizing the aesthetic outcome.

Purpose

To radiographically assess the BCT and buccal crest height (BCH) after 1 year and to calculate the correlation between initial and final achieved BCT.

Materials and Methods

The study was designed as a prospective study on FIIPP. Only patients were included in whom one maxillary incisor was considered as lost. In six centers, 100 consecutive patients received FIIPP. Implants were placed in a maximal palatal position of the socket, thereby creating a buccal space of at least 2 mm, which was subsequently filled with a bovine bone substitute. Files of preoperative (T0), peroperative (T1) and 1‐year postoperative (T3) cone beam computed tomogram (CBCT) scans were imported into the Maxillim™ software to analyze the changes in BCT‐BCH over time.

Results

Preoperatively, 85% of the cases showed a BCT ≤1 mm, in 25% of the patients also a small buccal defect (≤5 mm) was present. Mean BCT at the level of the implant‐shoulder increased from 0.6 mm at baseline to 3.3 mm immediate postoperatively and compacted to 2.4 mm after 1 year. Mean BCH improved from 0.7 to 3.1 mm peroperatively, and resorbed to 1.7 mm after 1 year. The Pearson correlation of 0.38 between initial and final BCT was significant (p = 0.01) and therefore is valued as moderate. If only patients (75%) with an intact alveolus were included in the analysis, still a “moderate correlation” of 0.32 (p = 0.01) was calculated.

Conclusions

A “moderate correlation” was shown for the hypothesis that “thinner preoperative BCT's deliver thinner BCT's” 1 year after performing FIIPP.
Immunohistochemistry of the oncofetal protein IMP3 is helpful in the diagnosis of intravascular large B‐cell lymphoma using skin biopsy
Authors: Odani Kentaro , Fujimoto Masakazu , Hirata Masahiro , Nishikori Momoko , Usui Shunya , Yamada Yosuke , Saeki Miho , Ono Kazuo , Iwasa Yoko , Haga Hironori
Published: January 2022

Background

The oncofetal protein insulin‐like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein‐3 (IMP3) is expressed in various cancers. In this study, we examined the diagnostic utility of IMP3 immunohistochemistry in the context of intravascular large B‐cell lymphoma (IVL).

Methods

We obtained 25 skin biopsy (SB) specimens diagnosed as IVL and nine IVL‐negative SB specimens from 27 IVL patients. Additionally, 27 negative SB specimens from 26 non‐IVL patients were obtained from our pathology archives. We performed IMP3 immunohistochemistry on these 61 SB specimens, considering IMP3 expression in any mononuclear cell as positive. In selected cases, triple immunostaining for IMP3, PAX5, and CD34 was performed to analyze the origin and location of IMP3‐positive cells.

Results

IMP3 was expressed in most intravascular lymphoma cells in all the 25 SB specimens diagnosed as IVL. Furthermore, our evaluation revealed the presence of intravascular IMP3‐positive B‐cells in five of the nine negative SB specimens from IVL patients; however, this was not observed in the 27 SB specimens from non‐IVL patients.

Conclusion

IMP3 was expressed in most IVL cells, and IMP3 immunohistochemistry could serve as a sensitive diagnostic aid for detecting IVL cells in SB.
Toward a Dialogue of the Heels?
Authors: Rajkumar Peniel Jesudason Rufus
Published: January 2022

Following its assembly in Busan in 2013, the World Council of Churches (WCC) adopted the framework of a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace (PJP) for its programmatic engagement. This article explores how themes and concerns relating to justice shaped the programmatic engagement of the WCC’s Office of Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation. To this end, it analyzes the three dimensions of the WCC’s interreligious work: bilateral dialogues, resourcing churches, and interreligious collaboration. Showing how the PJP’s orientation toward learning from the margins also significantly influenced the justice‐orientation of the WCC’s interreligious engagement, the article proposes a new model of interreligious dialogue called the “dialogue of the heels” to complement the existing models of interreligious engagement of dialogue of the head, the heart, the hands and the holy. This dialogue of the heels has a dual attention: to the experiences of injustice and to the agency for justice of marginalized communities. It thus can offer a necessary corrective to interreligious dialogue, which has long been accused of being elitist and estranged from liberative engagement.
On the Future of Buddhist–Christian Relations
Authors: Kilroy Myozan Kodo
Published: January 2022

Buddhist–Christian relations have suffered setbacks in recent decades, after the progress made at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. This article suggests that progress can be made again if Christians recognize the different paradigm they encounter in Buddhism rather than attempting to read Buddhism through the paradigm that Abrahamic faiths represent. This paper also suggests that Buddhist–Christian relations have suffered through “religious appropriation” of Buddhist practices on the one hand and defensive misrepresentations of Buddhism on the other. It suggests that relations can improve if Christian–Buddhist exchanges are conducted with the understanding that two religions are meeting in a “soft secular” space of equality. In this space, certain first principles are respected: proselytization and evangelical motivations are parked; attempts to understand the other through the self are suspended; and sharing action is emphasized over sharing scripture, in an embodied relationship with outcomes in the social world.
Interreligious Dialogue and Convergent Hermeneutics
Authors: Simon Benjamin
Published: January 2022

The link between religions and several issues of contemporary relevance lead to the need for interreligious dialogue today. However, interreligious dialogue is not about creating a unifying hermeneutic leading to convergence, as many approaches in our day tend to be. For religions to be in fruitful conversation, there is no need for levelling differences and denying one’s own convictions. Core theological convictions need not be up for discussion in dialogue. Rather, a hermeneutic of difference may be used that allows differences to stand in a respectful space. An interreligious conviviality that allows dialogue participants to learn from each other, share with each other, and celebrate with each other can lay perspectives for an interreligious future.
Christian Theological Engagement with Islam
Authors: Marshall David
Published: January 2022

This article surveys the wide range of approaches to Christian theological engagement with Islam reflected in around 20 recent publications, focusing largely on monographs published from 2016 on. The works are discussed in the following categories: approaches to Islam in general; the Qur’an; Muhammad; Christology and soteriology; law, politics, and public life; and Orthodox approaches. As well as the ecclesial diversity of the authors – Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, evangelical – the survey covers varied theological approaches on a spectrum from “maximalist” to “minimalist” assessments of the extent of common ground between Christianity and Islam. The conclusion reflects on the Western provenance of the great majority of the studies surveyed and calls for more joined‐up thinking by Christian scholars working in this field.
The FEBS Journal in 2022: trust the science and treasure the data
Authors: Martin Seamus J.
Published: January 2022

The FEBS Journal, a leading multidisciplinary journal in the life sciences, publishes high‐impact papers on diverse topics relating to molecular mechanisms underpinning biological processes. Here, Editor‐in‐Chief Seamus Martin discusses the critical importance of data provenance and data integrity to the scientific method and discusses some of the highlights from 2021 at The FEBS Journal.
No evidence of biodiversity effects on stream ecosystem functioning across green and brown food web pathways
Authors: López‐Rojo Naiara , Boyero Luz , Pérez Javier , Basaguren Ana , Cardinale Bradley J.
Published: January 2022

Biodiversity loss is known to affect the two fundamental and opposite processes controlling carbon and nutrient cycles globally, that is, primary production and decomposition, which are driven by green and brown food web compartments, respectively.

However, biodiversity in these two food web compartments has been mostly studied independently, and potential reciprocal effects of biodiversity loss on ecosystem processes remain unclear.

We conducted a 35‐day stream mesocosm experiment with two levels of algal diversity (natural and diluted periphyton communities) and three levels of litter diversity (no litter, monocultures of poplar, maple, and oak, and the three‐spp. mixture) to simulate changes in biodiversity in both the green and brown pathways of an aquatic food web. We then measured multiple ecosystem processes pertaining to carbon cycling.

We predicted that algal diversity would enhance decomposition and sporulation of fungal decomposers, while litter diversity would enhance algal growth and net primary production, due to the more diverse algal exudates or litter nutrients being released from more diverse mixtures.

In contrast to this hypothesis, we only found biodiversity effects on an ecosystem process within the green pathway: there was a relationship between algal diversity and biofilm carrying capacity. Nevertheless, we found that this relationship was affected by the presence or absence of litter (algal diversity increased the carrying capacity in presence of litter and decreased it in its absence), which also influenced the algal community structure.

Our mesocosm experiment did not evidence relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem processes across different food web compartments, but further studies in more realistic conditions would be necessary to confirm this result. If supported, the lack of biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships across compartments would facilitate the prediction of the impacts of biodiversity loss on ecosystems.
Persistent thermally driven shift in the functional trait structure of herbivorous fishes: Evidence of top‐down control on the rebound potential of temperate seaweed forests?
Authors: Bosch Nestor E. , McLean Matthew , Zarco‐Perello Salvador , Bennett Scott , Stuart‐Smith Rick D. , Vergés Adriana , Pessarrodona Albert , Tuya Fernando , Langlois Tim , Spencer Claude , Bell Sahira , Saunders Benjamin J. , Harvey Euan S. , Wernberg Thomas
Published: January 2022

Extreme climatic events can reshape the functional structure of ecological communities, potentially altering ecological interactions and ecosystem functioning. While these shifts have been widely documented, evidence of their persistence and potential flow‐on effects on ecosystem structure following relaxation of extreme events remains limited. Here, we investigate changes in the functional trait structure – encompassing dimensions of resource use, thermal affinity, and body size – of herbivorous fishes in a temperate reef system that experienced an extreme marine heatwave (MHW) and subsequent return to cool conditions. We quantify how changes in the trait structure modified the nature and intensity of herbivory‐related functions (macroalgae, turf, and sediment removal), and explored the potential flow‐on effects on the recovery dynamics of macroalgal foundation species. The trait structure of the herbivorous fish assemblage shifted as a result of the MHW, from dominance of cool‐water browsing species to increased evenness in the distribution of abundance among temperate and tropical guilds supporting novel herbivory roles (i.e. scraping, cropping, and sediment sucking). Despite the abundance of tropical herbivorous fishes and intensity of herbivory‐related functions declined following a period of cooling after the MHW, the underlying trait structure displayed limited recovery. Concomitantly, algal assemblages displayed a lack of recovery of the formerly dominant foundational species, the kelp Ecklonia radiata, transitioning to an alternative state dominated by turf and Sargassum spp. Our study demonstrates a legacy effect of an extreme MHW and exemplified the value of monitoring phenotypic (trait mediated) changes in the nature of core ecosystem processes to predict and adapt to the future configurations of changing reef ecosystems.
PROTECTING THE PUBLIC SPHERE(S): THE CAMPAIGN FOR PETER‐PAUL ZAHL
Authors: Corke Catriona
Published: January 2022

Peter‐Paul Zahl was a writer, printing press owner, and from 1972 to 1982 a prisoner suspected of belonging to the Red Army Faction (RAF). During the late 1970s, a number of prominent authors risked their reputations to campaign on his behalf. They did not argue that Zahl was innocent of violent crime, but instead protested that he had been handed an excessive prison sentence on account of his left‐wing political views. This article examines the role that their shared identity as writers played in the campaign for Zahl, and how their self‐awareness as authors translated into a sense of responsibility for civil society as a whole. They viewed the censorship of Zahl's printing press and of his prison writing as a threat to their own literary freedom, especially in the polarised political landscape that had emerged in response to the RAF. Authors used pre‐existing literary networks – namely the ‘Verband deutscher Schriftsteller’ and PEN International – as political leverage. Zahl's case left a number of prominent writers feeling impelled to protect the public spheres – both mainstream and alternative – so that the voices which could hold the Federal Republic to account might be heard.

Peter‐Paul Zahl war Schriftsteller, Drucker und von 1972 bis 1982 Gefangener, der der Mitgliedschaft in der Roten Armee Fraktion (RAF) verdächtigt wurde. In den späten siebziger Jahren riskierten prominente Autor:innen ihr öffentliches Ansehen, um sich für Zahl einzusetzen. Sie behaupteten nicht, dass Zahl unschuldig sei, sondern dass aufgrund seiner politisch linksradikalen Einstellung eine unangemessen hohe Haftstrafe gegen ihn verhängt wurde. Der folgende Beitrag untersucht, welche Bedeutung ihre gemeinsame Identität als Schriftsteller:innen in der Kampagne für Peter‐Paul Zahl spielte. Die Autor:innen nutzten bereits existierende literarische Netzwerke wie den aerband deutscher Schriftstellerʼ sowie PEN International als politisches Druckmittel. Gerade in der durch die RAF polarisierten politischen Landschaft betrachteten sie die Zensur von Zahls Druckerei und seinen im Gefängnis geschriebenen Werken als Bedrohung der eigenen literarischen Freiheit. Ihr Selbstbewusstsein als Autor:innen brachte ein starkes Verantwortungsgefühl für die gesamte Zivilgesellschaft mit sich. Der Fall Peter‐Paul Zahl führte dazu, dass sich eine Reihe von Autor:innen veranlasst sahen, die (Gegen‐)Öffentlichkeit zu schützen, damit die Stimmen, die die Bundesrepublik zur Rechenschaft zogen, gehört werden konnten.
THE ‘DUNKELMÄNNER’ OF DOKTOR FAUSTUS: HUMANISTS VERSUS THEOLOGIANS
Authors: Eagles Peter
Published: January 2022

This essay considers the treatment of theology in Thomas Mann's novel Doktor Faustus. Specifically, it proposes theology as meeting‐point of the two opposing elements characteristic of German cultural history: humanism and fanaticism (‘the demonic’). The most significant representatives of humanism are the so‐called ‘Dunkelmänner’: the Christian humanists of the Reformation period and authors of the Epistolae obscurorum virorum. In these letters, we encounter the refined creative capacity of the human mind and spirit, in contrast to the excessive coarseness of the protestant Reformation and Martin Luther. The novel's narrator Serenus Zeitblom identifies himself particularly with Crotus Rubianus and Erasmus as representatives of both the classical and the Christian cultural world, a tradition threatened by fanaticism and violence in the twentieth century as in the sixteenth. The Epistolae arose from the burning of Jewish literature, and Mann's point is that the enfeebled German intelligentsia of the Third Reich now contains no true ‘Dunkelmänner’ – except perhaps himself. The essay also examines the sources of the theological material in the novel, both with reference to the characters in the university faculty in Halle and to the theological concepts themselves which give the novel its essential substance and are therefore necessary to its understanding.
SAUL FITELBERG'S FAILED SEDUCTION: WORLDLINESS IN DOKTOR FAUSTUS
Authors: Kontje Todd
Published: January 2022

This essay places Thomas Mann's treatment of the ‘Jewish question’ in the broader context of the artist's relationship to the world. Saul Fitelberg's offer to draw Leverkühn out of isolation engages questions about German national identity at a time when Mann insisted that he represented the true German tradition of cosmopolitan openness, in contrast to the Nazi effort to delimit Germanness to a racial core and eliminate those who threatened to contaminate the body politic. The article exposes multiple ambivalences that cling to the concept of German cosmopolitanism in relation to theories of world literature and the history of European imperialism, and, in doing so, argues for an intersectional approach to the ‘Jewish question’ in Thomas Mann's fiction.
The development of visual attention in early infancy: Insights from a free‐viewing paradigm
Authors: Krieber‐Tomantschger Magdalena , Pokorny Florian B. , Krieber‐Tomantschger Iris , Langmann Laura , Poustka Luise , Zhang Dajie , Treue Stefan , Tanzer Norbert K. , Einspieler Christa , Marschik Peter B. , Körner Christof
Published: January 2022

Theories of visual attention suggest a cascading development of subfunctions such as alertness, spatial orientation, attention to object features, and endogenous control. Here, we aimed to track infants’ visual developmental steps from a primarily exogenously to more endogenously controlled processing style during their first months of life. In this repeated measures study, 51 infants participated in seven fortnightly assessments at postterm ages of 4–16 weeks. Infants were presented with the same set of static and dynamic paired comparison stimuli in each assessment. Visual behavior was evaluated by a newly introduced scoring scheme. Our results confirmed the suggested visual developmental hierarchy and clearly demonstrated the suitability of our scoring scheme for documenting developmental changes in visual attention during early infancy. Besides the general ontogenetic course of development, we also discuss intra‐ and interindividual differences which may affect single assessments, and highlight the importance of repeated measurements for reliable evaluation of developmental changes.
Detecting persistent one‐sided intervention in foreign exchange markets: A simple test
Authors: Chen Shiu‐Sheng , Wang Jen‐Kuan
Published: January 2022

This paper examines currency manipulation policies in foreign exchange markets. In particular, we focus on whether a country has implemented one‐sided interventions that mostly lean against the appreciation wind in foreign exchange markets. Using quarterly data from 1998:Q1 to 2017:Q2 for 10 emerging countries, we find that China, Singapore, and Taiwan engaged in one‐sided interventions. A further rolling regression analysis shows some moderate evidence that Taiwan is the only country conducting one‐sided interventions on a continuing basis.