bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Spatial metabolomics identifies localized chemical changes in heart tissue during chronic cardiac Chagas disease
Authors: Dean Danya A. , Gautham  , Siqueira-Neto Jair L. , McKerrow James H. , Dorrestein Pieter C. , McCall Laura-Isobel
Published: June 2020

Chagas disease (CD) is one of thirteen neglected tropical diseases caused by the parasiteTrypanosoma cruzi. CD is a vector-borne disease transmitted by triatomines but CD can also be transmitted through blood transfusions, organ transplants and congenital transmission. While endemic to Latin America,T. cruziinfects 7-8 million people worldwide and can induce severe cardiac symptoms including apical aneurysms, thromboembolisms and arrhythmias during the chronic stage of CD. However, these cardiac clinical manifestations and CD disease pathogenesis are not fully understood. Using spatial metabolomics (chemical cartography), we sought to understand the localized impact of infection on the cardiac metabolome of mice chronically infected with two divergentT. cruzistrains. Our data showed chemical differences in localized cardiac regions upon chronicT. cruziinfection, indicating that parasite infection changes the host metabolome at select sites in chronic CD. These sites were distinct from the sites of highest parasite burden. In addition, we identified acylcarnitines and phosphocholines as discriminatory chemical families within each heart region, comparing infected and uninfected samples. Overall, our study indicated overall and positional metabolic differences common to infection with differentT. cruzistrains, and identified select infection-modulated pathways. These results provide further insight into CD pathogenesis and demonstrate the advantage of a spatial perspective to understand infectious disease tropism.

Author Summary

Chagas disease (CD) is a tropical disease caused by the parasiteTrypanosoma cruzi. CD originated in South America; however, there are now 7-8 million people infected worldwide due to population movements. CD is transmitted through a triatomine vector, organ transplants, blood transfusions and congenital transmission. It occurs in two stages, an acute stage (usually asymptomatic) and the chronic stage. Chronic stage CD presents with severe cardiac symptoms such as heart failure, localized aneurysms and cardiomyopathy. Unfortunately, what causes severe cardiac symptoms in some individuals in chronic CD is not fully understood. Therefore, we used liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to analyze the heart tissue of chronicallyT. cruzi-infected and uninfected mice, to understand the impact of infection on the tissue metabolome. We identified discriminatory small molecules related toT. cruziinfection. We also determined that regions with the highest parasite burden are distinct from the regions with the largest changes in overall metabolite profile; these locations of high metabolic perturbation provide a molecular mechanism to why localized cardiac symptoms occur in CD. Overall, our work gives insight to chronic cardiac CD symptom development and shapes a framework for novel treatment and biomarker development.
Identification of a novel missense variant inSPDL1associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Authors: Dhindsa Ryan S. , Mattsson Johan , Nag Abhishek , Wang Quanli , Wain Louise V. , Allen Richard , Wigmore Eleanor M. , Ibanez Kristina , Vitsios Dimitrios , Deevi Sri VV. , Wasilewski Sebastian , Karlsson Maria , Lassi Glenda , Olsson Henric , Muthas Daniel , Mackay Alex , Murray Lynne , Young Simon , Haefliger Carolina ,   FinnGen Consortium, Maher Toby M. , Belvisi Maria G. , Jenkins Gisli , Molyneaux Philip , Platt Adam , Petrovski Slavé
Published: June 2020

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal disorder characterised by progressive, destructive lung scarring. Despite significant progress, the genetic determinants of this disease remain incompletely defined. Using next generation sequencing data from 752 individuals with sporadic IPF and 119,055 controls, we performed both variant- and gene-level analyses to identify novel IPF genetic risk factors. Our variant-level analysis revealed a novel rare missense variant inSPDL1(NM_017785.5 p.Arg20Gln;p= 2.4 × 10−7, odds ratio = 2.87). This signal was independently replicated in the FinnGen cohort (combinedp= 2.2 × 10−20), firmly associating this variant as a novel IPF risk allele.SPDL1encodes Spindly, a protein involved in mitotic checkpoint signalling during cell division that has not been previously described in fibrosis. Our results highlight a novel mechanism underlying IPF, providing the potential for new therapeutic discoveries in a disease of great unmet need.
Local thermal environment and warming influence supercooling and drive widespread shifts in the metabolome of diapausingPieris rapaebutterflies
Authors: Mikucki Emily E. , Lockwood Brent L.
Published: June 2020

Global climate change has the potential to negatively impact biological systems as organisms are exposed to novel temperature regimes. Increases in annual mean temperature have been accompanied by disproportionate rates of change in temperature across seasons, and winter is the season warming most rapidly. Yet, we know relatively little about how warming will alter the physiology of overwintering organisms. Here, we simulated future warming conditions by comparing diapausingPieris rapaebutterfly pupae collected from disparate thermal environments and by exposingP. rapaepupae to acute and chronic increases in temperature. First, we compared internal freezing temperatures (supercooling points) of diapausing pupae that were developed in common-garden conditions but whose parents were collected from northern Vermont, USA, or North Carolina, USA. Matching the warmer winter climate of North Carolina, North Carolina pupae had significantly higher supercooling points than Vermont pupae. Next, we measured the effects of acute and chronic warming exposure in Vermont pupae and found that warming induced higher supercooling points. We further characterized the effects of chronic warming by profiling the metabolomes of Vermont pupae via untargeted LC-MS metabolomics. Warming caused significant changes in abundance of hundreds of metabolites across the metabolome. Notably, there were warming-induced shifts in key biochemical pathways, such as pyruvate metabolism, fructose and mannose metabolism, and beta-alanine metabolism, suggesting shifts in energy metabolism and cryoprotection. These results suggest that warming affects various aspects of overwintering physiology inP. rapaeand may be detrimental depending on the frequency and variation of winter warming events. Future research is needed to ascertain the extent to which the effects of warming are felt among a broader set of populations ofP. rapae, and among other species, in order to better predict how insects may respond to changes in winter thermal environments.
Heh2/Man1 may be an evolutionarily conserved sensor of NPC assembly state
Authors: Borah Sapan , Thaller David J. , Hakhverdyan Zhanna , Rodriguez Elisa C. , Rout Michael P. , King Megan C. , Lusk C. Patrick
Published: June 2020

Integral membrane proteins of the Lap2-emerin-MAN1 (LEM) family have emerged as important components of the inner nuclear membrane (INM) required for the functional and physical integrity of the nuclear envelope. However, like many INM proteins, there is limited understanding of the biochemical interaction networks that enable LEM protein function. Here, we show that Heh2/Man1 can be affinity purified with major scaffold components of the nuclear pore complex (NPC), specifically the inner ring complex, in evolutionarily distant yeasts. Interactions between Heh2 and nucleoporins is mediated by its C-terminal winged-helix (WH) domain and are distinct from interactions required for INM targeting. Disrupting interactions between Heh2 and the NPC leads to NPC clustering. Interestingly, Heh2’s association with NPCs can also be broken by knocking out Nup133, a component of the outer ring that does not physically interact with Heh2. Thus, Heh2’s association with NPCs depends on the structural integrity of both major NPC scaffold complexes. We propose a model in which Heh2 acts as a sensor of NPC assembly state, which may be important for NPC quality control mechanisms and the segregation of NPCs during cell division.
In situhumoral selection in human lupus tubulointerstitial inflammation
Authors: Kinloch Andrew J , Asano Yuta , Mohsin Azam , Henry Carole J , Abraham Rebecca , Chang Anthony , Labno Christine , Wilson Patrick C , Clark Marcus R
Published: June 2020

In human lupus nephritis, tubulointerstitial inflammation (TII) is associated within situexpansion of B cells expressing anti-vimentin antibodies (AVAs). The mechanism by which AVAs are selected is unclear. Herein, we demonstrate that AVA somatic hypermutation and selection increase affinity for vimentin. However, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) suggested that affinity maturation might be a non-specific consequence of increasing polyreactivity. Subsequent multi-color confocal microscopy studies indicated that while TII AVAs often appeared polyreactive by ELISA, they bound selectively to vimentin fibrils in whole cells or inflamed renal tissue. Using a novel machine learning pipeline (CytoSkaler) to quantify the cellular distribution of antibody staining, we demonstrated that TII AVAs were selected for both enhanced binding and specificityin situ. These data suggest a new approach to assess and define antibody polyreactivity based on quantifying the distribution of binding to native and contextually relevant antigens.
Valproic Acid-Induced Changes of 4D Nuclear Morphology in Astrocyte Cells
Authors: Kalinin Alexandr A. , Hou Xinhai , Ade Alex S. , Fon Gordon-Victor , Meixner Walter , Higgins Gerald A. , Sexton Jonathan Z. , Wan Xiang , Dinov Ivo D. , O’Meara Matthew J. , Athey Brian D.
Published: June 2020

Histone deacetylase inhibitors, such as valproic acid (VPA), have important clinical therapeutic and cellular reprogramming applications. They induce chromatin re-organization that is associated with altered cellular morphology. However, there is a lack of comprehensive characterization of VPA-induced changes of nuclear size and shape. Here, we quantify 3D nuclear morphology of primary human astrocyte cells treated with VPA over time (hence, 4D). We compared volumetric and surface-based representations and identified seven features that jointly discriminate between normal and treated cells with 85% accuracy on day 7. From day 3, treated nuclei were more elongated and flattened and then continued to morphologically diverge from controls over time, becoming larger and more irregular. On day 7, most of the size and shape descriptors demonstrated significant differences between treated and untreated cells, including a 24% increase in volume and 6% reduction in extent (shape regularity) for treated nuclei. Overall, we show that 4D morphometry can capture how chromatin re-organization modulates the size and shape of the nucleus over time. These nuclear structural alterations may serve as a biomarker for histone (de-)acetylation events and provide insights into mechanisms of astrocytes-to-neurons reprogramming.
Chemical convergence between a guild of facultative myrmecophilous caterpillars and host plants
Authors: Lima Luan Dias , Roberto Trigo José , Kaminski Lucas Augusto
Published: June 2020

Ants exert a strong selective pressure on herbivorous insects, although some caterpillars can live in symbiosis with them using chemical defensive strategies.

We investigated the adaptive resemblance of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) in multitrophic systems involving a guild of facultative myrmecophilous caterpillar species (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), tending ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and host plants from three families. We hypothesized that the CHCs of the caterpillars would resemble those of their host plants (chemical camouflage).

We analyzed CHCs using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Morisita’s similarity index (SI) was used to compare CHC profiles of caterpillar species with different types of ant associations (commensal or mutualistic), ants and host plants.

We found strong convergence between caterpillars’ CHCs and plants, especially for commensal species that do not provide secretion rewards for ants. Moreover, we found unexpected chemical convergence among mutualistic caterpillar species that offer nectar reward secretions to ants.

These results show that the studied caterpillars acquire CHCs through their diet and that they vary according to host plant species and type of ant association (commensalism or mutualism). This ‘chemical camouflage’ of myrmecophilous caterpillars may have arisen as a defensive strategy allowing coexistence with ants on plants, whereas ‘chemical conspicuousness’ may have evolved in the context of honest signaling between true mutualistic partners.

We suggest the existence of both Müllerian and Batesian chemical mimicry rings among myrmecophilous caterpillar species. Cuticular chemical mixtures can play a key adaptive role in decreasing ant attacks and increasing caterpillar survival in multimodal systems.

Graphical abstract

Chemical camouflage can be a defensive strategy of myrmecophilous caterpillars against ants.

‘Chemical conspicuousness’ is proposed as a new strategy mediated by cuticular hydrocarbons in myrmecophilous caterpillars.

Chemical mimicry rings can occur between myrmecophilous caterpillars and especially between mutualistic species that produce nectar rewards for ants.
Multiple Imputation Approaches Applied to the Missing Value Problem in Bottom-up Proteomics
Authors: Gardner Miranda L. , Freitas Michael A.
Published: June 2020

Analysis of differential abundance in proteomics data sets requires careful application of missing value imputation. Missing abundance values vary widely when performing comparisons across different sample treatments. For example, one would expect a consistent rate of “missing at random” (MAR) across batches of samples and varying rates of “missing not at random” (MNAR) depending on inherent difference in sample treatments within the study. The missing value imputation strategy must thus be selected that best accounts for both MAR and MNAR simultaneously. Several important issues must be considered when deciding the appropriate missing value imputation strategy: (1) when it is appropriate to impute data, (2) how to choose a method that reflects the combinatorial manner of MAR and MNAR that occurs in an experiment. This paper provides an evaluation of missing value imputation strategies used in proteomics and presents a case for the use of hybrid left-censored missing value imputation approaches that can handle the MNAR problem common to proteomics data.
Quorum sensing provides a molecular mechanism for evolution to tune and maintain investment in cooperation
Authors: Bruger Eric L. , Synder Daniel J. , Cooper Vaughn S. , Waters Christopher M.
Published: June 2020

As selection frequently favors non-cooperating defectors in mixed populations with cooperators, mechanisms that promote cooperation stability clearly exist. One potential mechanism is bacterial cell-to-cell communication, quorum sensing (QS), which can allow cooperators to prevent invasion by defectors. However, the impact of QS on widespread maintenance of cooperation in well-mixed conditions has not been experimentally demonstrated over extended evolutionary timescales. Here, we use wild-type (‘WT’)Vibrio harveyithat regulates cooperation with QS and an unconditionally cooperating (‘UC’) mutant to examine the evolutionary origins and subsequent dynamics of novel defectors during a long-term evolution experiment. We found that UC lineages were completely outcompeted by defectors, whereas functioning QS enabled the maintenance of cooperative variants in most WT populations. Sequencing of evolved populations revealed multipleluxRmutations that swept the UC lineages. However, the evolution of mutant lineages with reduced levels of bioluminescence (‘dims’) occurred in many WT lineages. These dim variants also decreased other cooperative phenotypes regulated by QS, such as protease production, indicating they result from changes to QS regulation. This diminished investment phenotype optimizes a trade-off between cooperative input and growth output, allowing cooperation to be maintained under QS control even in the presence of evolved defectors.
CoRINs: A tool to compare residue interaction networks from homologous proteins and conformers
Authors: da Fonseca Felipe V. , Souza Júnior Romildo O. , de Almeida Marília V. A. , Soares Thiago D. , Morais Diego A. A. , Dalmolin Rodrigo J. S. , Lima João Paulo M. S.
Published: June 2020

Motivation

A useful approach to evaluate protein structure and quickly visualize crucial physicochemical interactions related to protein function is to construct Residue Interactions Networks (RINs). By using this application of graphs theory, the amino acid residues constitute the nodes, and the edges represent their interactions with other structural elements. Although several tools that construct RINs are available, many of them do not compare RINs from distinct protein structures. This comparison can give valuable insights into the understanding of conformational changes and the effects of amino acid substitutions in protein structure and function. With that in mind, we present CoRINs (Comparator of Residue Interaction Networks), a software tool that extensively compares RINs. The program has an accessible and user-friendly web interface, which summarizes the differences in several network parameters using interactive plots and tables. As a usage example of CoRINs, we compared RINs from conformers of two cancer-associated proteins.

Availability

The program is available athttps://github.com/LasisUFRN/CoRINs.
Structural Dynamics of DNA Depending on Methylation Pattern
Authors: Kameda Takeru , Suzuki Miho M. , Awazu Akinori , Togashi Yuichi
Published: June 2020

DNA methylation is associated with a number of biological phenomena, and plays crucial roles in epigenetic regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. It is also suggested that DNA methylation alters the mechanical properties of DNA molecules, which is likely to affect epigenetic regulation. However, it has not been systematically investigated how methylation changes the structural and dynamic features of DNA. In this research, to elucidate the effects of methylation on DNA mechanics, a fully atomic molecular dynamics simulation of double-stranded DNA with several methylation patterns was performed. Through the analysis of the relative positioning of the nucleotides (base-step variables), characteristic changes in terms of local flexibility were observed, which further affected the overall DNA geometry and stiffness. These findings may serve as a basis for a discussion on methylation-dependent DNA dynamics in physiological conditions.
Approximation of Indel Evolution by Differential Calculus of Finite State Automata
Authors: Holmes Ian
Published: June 2020

We introduce a systematic method of approximating finite-time transition probabilities for continuous-time insertion-deletion models on sequences. The method uses automata theory to describe the action of an infinitesimal evolutionary generator on a probability distribution over alignments, where both the generator and the alignment distribution can be represented by Pair Hidden Markov Models (Pair HMMs). In general, combining HMMs in this way induces a multiplication of their state spaces; to control this, we introduce a coarse-graining operation to keep the state space at a constant size. This leads naturally to ordinary differential equations for the evolution of the transition probabilities of the approximating Pair HMM. The TKF model emerges as an exact solution to these equations for the special case of single-residue indels. For the general case, the equations can be solved by numerical integration. Using simulated data we show that the resulting distribution over alignments, when compared to previous approximations, is a better fit over a broader range of parameters. We also propose a related approach to develop differential equations for sufficient statistics to estimate the underlying instantaneous indel rates by Expectation-Maximization. Our code and data are available athttps://github.com/ihh/trajectory-likelihood.
The third coiled coil domain of Atg11 is required for shaping mitophagy initiation sites
Authors: Margolis Hannah K. , Katzenell Sarah , Leary Kelsie A. , Ragusa Michael J.
Published: June 2020

Selective autophagy is the capture of specific cytosolic contents in double membrane vesicles that subsequently fuse with the vacuole or lysosome, thereby delivering cargo for degradation. Selective autophagy receptors (SARs) mark the cargo for degradation and, in yeast, recruit Atg11, the scaffolding protein for selective autophagy initiation. The mitochondrial protein Atg32 is the yeast SAR that mediates mitophagy, the selective autophagic capture of mitochondria. Atg11- Atg32 interactions concentrate Atg32 into puncta that are thought to represent sites of mitophagy initiation. However, it is unclear how Atg11 concentrates Atg32 to generate mitophagy initiation sites. We show here that the coiled coil 3 (CC3) domain of Atg11 is required for concentrating Atg32 into puncta. We determined the structure of the majority of the CC3, demonstrating that the CC3 forms a parallel homodimer whose dimer interface is formed by a small number of hydrophobic residues. We further show that the CC3 dimerization interface is required for shaping Atg32 into functional mitophagy initiation sites and for delivery of mitochondria to the vacuole. Our findings suggest that Atg11 self-interactions help concentrate SARs as a necessary precondition for cargo capture.
Optoacoustic skin mesoscopy opens a window to systemic effects of diabetes
Authors: He Hailong , Fasoula Nikolina-Alexia , Karlas Angelos , Omar Murad , Aguirre Juan , Lutz Jessica , Kallmayer Michael , Füchtenbusch Martin , Eckstein Hans-Henning , Ziegler Anette-Gabriele , Ntziachristos Vasilis
Published: June 2020

Diabetes mellitus affects the microvasculature of several organs, including the eyes, heart, brain, kidneys and skin. The skin is the most accessible organ and could offer a window for detecting diabetes-related systemic effects on the microvasculature. However, assessment of skin microvasculature is typically performed based on invasive histological analysis, which is a method that is not well suited for disease monitoring and application to large populations. We introduce ultra-wide band raster-scan optoacoustic mesoscopy (RSOM) for precise, non-invasive assessment of diabetes-related changes in the dermal microvasculature and skin micro-anatomy, resolved with unprecedented sensitivity and detail without the need of contrast agents. Based on this novel contrast, we investigated whether RSOM could impart a new concept in diabetes healthcare, offering characterization of systemic effects of the disease. We applied pretibial RSOM to 72 patients with diabetes, grouped according to disease complications, and 20 age-matched healthy volunteers. We extracted six label-free optoacoustic biomarkers, including dermal microvasculature density, total dermal blood volume and epidermal parameters. We study the effects of diabetes on these parameters as a function of disease severity and find strong statistically significant differences between microvasculature parameters and diabetes progression. We discuss how RSOM label-free biomarkers can lead to a quantitative assessment of the systemic effects of diabetes, complementing the qualitative assessment allowed by current clinical metrics and possibly, in the future, enable a more precise scoring system capturing the gradual evolution of disease.
Forecasting the Number of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Cases in Ethiopia Using Exponential Smoothing Times Series Model
Authors: Abebe Teshome Hailemeskel
Published: June 2020

The main objective of this study is to forecast COVID-19 case in Ethiopiausing the best-fitted model. The time series data of COVID-19 case in Ethiopia from March 14, 2020 to June 05, 2020 were used.To this end, exponential growth, single exponential smoothing method, and doubleexponential smoothing methodwere used. To evaluate the forecasting performance of the model, root mean sum of square error was used. The study showed that double exponential smoothing methods was appropriate in forecasting the future number ofCOVID-19 cases in Ethiopia as dictated by lowest value of root mean sum of square error. The forecasting model shows that the number of coronavirus cases in Ethiopia grows exponentially. The finding of the results would help the concerned stakeholders to make the right decisions based on the information given on forecasts.
Citywide Nucleic Acid Screening of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Post-lockdown Wuhan, China: Results and Implications
Authors: Cao Shiyi , Gan Yong , Wang Chao , Bachmann Max , Huang Yuchai , Wang Tiantian , Li Liqing , Lu Kai , Jiang Heng , Gong Yanhong , Xv Hongbin , Shen Xin , Tian Qingfeng , Lv Chuanzhu , Song Fujian , Yin Xiaoxv , Lu Zuxun
Published: June 2020

Background

After the outbreak of Coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19), stringent lockdown measures were imposed in Wuhan between January 23, 2020 and April 8, 2020. To provide evidence on the post-lockdown risk of COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan, the city government conducted a citywide nucleic acid screening of SARS-CoV-2 infection between May 14 and June 1, 2020.

Methods

All city residents aged ≥6 years were potentially eligible to participate the screening programme. The rate of detection of asymptomatic infected cases was calculated, and their demographic and geographic distributions were investigated. ArcGIS 10.0 was used to draw a geographic distribution of asymptomatic infected persons.

Results

The screening programme recruited a total of 9,899,828 persons (response rate, 92.9%). The screening found no newly confirmed patients with COVID-19, and identified 300 asymptomatic infected cases (detection rate 0.303/10,000). In addition, 107 of 34,424 previously recovered patients with a history of COVID-19 diagnosis were tested positive (relapse rate, 0.31%). Virus culture of SARS-CoV-2 was negative for all 300 asymptomatic cases and all 107 recovered COVID-19 patients. A total of 1,174 close contacts of asymptomatic cases were traced and all of them had a negative nucleic acid testing result.

Conclusions

Prevalence of COVID-19 nucleic acid test positivity was very low in the Wuhan general population, in recovered cases and in contacts of asymptomatic cases, five to eight weeks after the end of lockdown. These findings help resolve concerns about the post-lockdown risk of COVID-19 epidemic, and promote the recovery of economy and normal social life in Wuhan.
Filling the voids left by the formal sector: informal borrowings by poor households in northern mountainous Vietnam
Authors: Huu Thu Nguyen , Bao Duong Pham , Huu Tho Nguyen
Published: June 2020

Purpose

This study aims to examine the accessibility, loan purposes and effects of informal credits on poor households in Northern mountainous Vietnam.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used primary data collected directly from surveying 402 poor households in Thai Nguyen province using a well-designed questionnaire. The probit model is employed to specify which factors affect access to informal credit, the tobit model is used to estimate the borrowing functions specified. In addition, descriptive statistical analysis is also used to describe the accessibility, purposes and effects of informal credit on poor households.

Findings

The results show that there is a considerably high proportion of informal borrowings from relatives, neighboring villagers, professional moneylenders, rotating saving and credit groups, trade credits and mortgages. Labor force ratio, social capital and residential land areas are the key determinants of poor households' informal borrowings. The purposes of borrowing are diverse. The informal loans also have certain significant effects on poverty reduction and the welfare of poor households.

Research limitations/implications

The effects of the informal loans on house welfare should be quantitatively evaluated.

Practical implications

The findings from these analyses allow us to draw relevant policy implications for the development of rural finance in other low-income, developing countries.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the body of published literature in several ways. Firstly, it provides understanding of the performance of the informal financial subsector. Secondly, the informal subsector of rural finance is evaluated in close relation to the formal subsector.
The facts of continuing professional development for LIS professionals in Pakistan: a literature review
Authors: Saleem Qurat Ul Ain , Ashiq Murtaza
Published: June 2020

Purpose

Continuous professional development is an essential in-service and on-going learning process that provides an opportunity to young and mid-career professionals to update and align their skills in connection with the contemporary needs of library users. This study aims to identify and synthesize the literature on continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities for Pakistani librarians and information professionals.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on descriptive literature review published by Pakistani researchers with specific reference to Pakistani librarians and information professionals.

Findings

The findings revealed that albeit many initiatives have been taken by library and information science (LIS) schools and professional associations for developing the capabilities of librarians and information professionals, however, these initiatives remained spasmodic and limited to developing surface-level skills. Some emerging areas need to be addressed including information/digital literacy, research data management, data analysis and visualization and the skills to establish institutional repositories.

Research limitations/implications

The study was limited to CPD literature contributed by Pakistani researchers and the efforts taken by LIS schools and professional associations.

Originality/value

There is an immediate need to initiate a cohesive approach involving key stakeholders and to establish a platform purely working for CPD of librarians and information professionals focusing on current and future needs. The finding will be helpful for drawing foundation guidelines by library associations, LIS schools and librarian’s parent’s organizations regarding CPD opportunities.
Relevance of academic research in information technology and information management
Authors: Stone Merlin , Kosack Emmanuel , Aravopoulou Eleni
Published: June 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the relevance of academic research, in terms of the topic match, to commercial practise in information technology, using the case study of a large and very rapidly growing supplier that uses leading-edge management approaches, Salesforce.com.

Design/methodology/approach

Academic literature review and review of commercial literature and information published by Salesforce.com.

Findings

Academics’ choice of topics matches the issues and topics present in the development of Salesforce.com, but suffers from the lack of interdisciplinary approach and particularly fails to integrate technical, marketing and financial approaches.

Research limitations/implications

The case study is of only one company, though an important one, although other large companies are involved e.g. Amazon Web services. However, the approach could easily be widened to several companies.

Practical implications

The case study approach will help academics focus on creating more applicable research and help students to learn about companies and may also eventually help practitioners to create thought leadership.

Social implications

If the financial and economic aspects of such case studies are integrated with other business aspects, these will provide a better view of the positive (or negative) contribution made by companies such as the one in the case study.

Originality/value

This is the first time that a case study has been examined in the context of the relevance/rigour debate.
Investigation of burr formation and its influence in micro-drilling hole of flexible printed circuit board
Authors: Li Zhiyuan , Zheng Lijuan , Wang Chengyong , Huang Xin , Xie Jiechi
Published: June 2020

Purpose

The flexible printed circuit (FPC) board with the characteristic of light and thin strengthened confronted the growing miniaturization requirements of the electronic product and the popularity of wearable devices. The reliability of circuit could be influenced by the hole quality of FPC, such as burrs, which is one of the major problem in FPC.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, micro-drill with a diameter of 0.1 mm was used to drill the double-sided flexible copper clad laminate. The thrust force, the burr and tool wear were investigated. The influencing factors of the height of the burrs were studied. The relationship between the thrust force and the height of the burrs was also explored. Finally, the formation mechanism of burrs was analyzed.

Findings

The entrance burrs were usually less than the exit burrs. The burr height increased with the feed per rotation. The height of the burr increased with the increase of the thrust force for the plastic deformation of the copper foil was dominant. The abrasion of the drill gave rise to increase the height of burr. In micro-hole drilling, the growth of burrs can be suppressed effectively by reducing the clearance between the FPC and the backup plate. The thrust force would be controlled in a certain range to reduce the burr with specific drilling parameters. There existed a certain relationship of Gaussian distribution between the height of the burrs and the thrust force of FPC.

Originality/value

The reliability of the integrated circuit was directly affected by the burrs of the FPC. This research on the formation mechanism of FPC burrs and forecast of burr height provided a firm foundation for further work in the area of improvement of the micro-hole quality.
Humanitarian WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) technologies: exploring recovery after recurring disasters in Assam, India
Authors: Krishnan Sneha
Published: June 2020

Purpose

This paper develops a theoretical understanding of learning during recovery from recurring disasters when humanitarian organizations deploy WASH technologies using examples from 2012–2013 floods in Assam, Northeastern India.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed methods study was conducted in Assam, where Oxfam had responded after 2012 floods and erosion. Two surveys (n1 = 313; andn2 = 279) in 2013, along with 38 semi-structured interviews, 18 household interviews and 23 focus group discussions (FGDs) were undertaken. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data were interpreted thematically.

Findings

One of the product-level innovations included raised platforms with WASH facilities as a preparedness measure for future floods, enabled by a co-learning approach. Social learning within community members provided contextual inputs, while Oxfam learnt through its institutionalized learning mechanisms, namely real-time evaluations, knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) surveys and strong monitoring mechanisms. Despite these measures, the precarity of such geographies remains a major concern in increasing vulnerability, and hence this study advocates for an approach towards innovation that equally emphasizes and advances learning within community groups as well as organizations so that lessons can be captured and revisited in future programmes and promote wider application.

Research limitations/implications

This study is exploratory, and longitudinal in nature, although the data and findings are fairly representative of the target population, they do not imply causality and attribution. Since the study relies on a case study, there are limitations of how the findings could be generalized in other similar contexts.

Practical implications

This paper offers a new theoretical lens emphasizing context-specific understanding of short-term but rapid onset and cyclical emergencies resulting in local population displacement. It provides a bottom-up perspective on innovations and technologies deployed by external aid agencies as a commentary on recovery of community resilience from recurring disasters.

Social implications

This paper reframes agency approaches in how they perceive community resilience and enable flood-affected and displaced communities to recover using innovations in WASH technologies.

Originality/value

This paper expands on the key lessons to be gleamed from the many interventions in humanitarian WASH technologies from learning perspective and benefits from reflections as a practitioner in the field.
Role of visual element in spoken English discourse: implications for YouTube technology in EFL classrooms
Authors: Albahiri Mohammed H. , Alhaj Ali Albashir Mohammed
Published: June 2020

Purpose

Recent advancements in science and technology have led to an emphasis on using technology to make education more interesting. The inclusion of computers, internet and technological media has made education more diverse, vivid and enthusiastic. The use of technology such as YouTube in education stimulates visual and auditory learning, which results in favorable outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to provide a guideline for more systematic utilization of YouTube that has been possible in Saudi EFL classrooms at King Khalid University/Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Design/methodology/approach

YouTube videos that illustrated a variety of special spoken discourse and interaction were selected to widen Saudi EFL students’ socio-linguistic experience. In total, 48 students were divided into two groups; one group intensively used YouTube through the course, while the other did not. A quasi-experiment method was used to collect data.

Findings

The use of YouTube in studying English spoken discourse played a pivotal role in enhancing Saudi EFL students’ proficiency. The experimental group students’ outcomes revealed positive gains through the integration of video elements in teaching.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to examine the use of YouTube technology for educational purposes, particularly in the context of Arab countries.
Bringing the digital library success factors into the realm of the technology-organization-environment framework
Authors: Singeh Feria Wirba , Abrizah A. , Kiran K.
Published: June 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe a new benchmarking framework on the factors that influence digital library (DL) adoption by aligning them with the constructs of DL models to establish the likely critical success factors (CSFs) for DL implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

Concept mapping is used to illustrate the relationship between the information systems success model and DL frameworks. Technology organisation and environment (TOE) framework was chosen as the central theme and was mapped with the three DL frameworks reviewed (5S framework; the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture and the DELOS DL reference model) to come up with the likely success dimensions for DLs. A set of possible success factors was assembled from the literature on previous studies relating to factors that are critical to the success of information systems and DLs. The description of each DL potential success factors was finally developed as an item statement with verification from the literature review.

Findings

A total of 53 success factors items were assembled from literature represented by the final ten constructs of the CSFs; 16 items characterise DL technology, 13 items denote DL organisation and 24 items symbolise DL environment. Findings show that these factors may be good determinants for an effective implementation of DLs.

Research limitations/implications

The outcome can positively influence the implementation of DLs worldwide.

Originality/value

This is the first study in library science that incorporates TOE with DL frameworks to come up with the success factors of DL implementation.
The impact of language on retweeting during acute natural disasters: uncertainty reduction and language expectancy perspectives
Authors: Lee Chang Heon , Yu Heng
Published: June 2020

Purpose

Social media have increasingly gained credibility as information sources in emergencies. Retweeting or resharing nature has made Twitter a popular medium of information dissemination. The purpose of this article is to enhance our understanding of both linguistic style and content properties (i.e. both affective and informational contents) that drives resharing behavior or virality of disaster messages on Twitter. We investigate this issue in the context of natural disaster crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, the authors develop, drawing upon language expectancy and uncertainty reduction theories as an enabling framework, hypotheses about how the language (i.e. style and content) influence resharing behavior. They employ a natural language processing of disaster tweets to examine how the language – linguistic style (concrete and interactive language) and linguistic content (information- and affect-focused language) – affects resharing behavior on Twitter during natural disasters. To examine the effects of both linguistic style and content factors on virality, a series of negative binomial regressions were conducted, particularly owing to the highly skewed count data.

Findings

Our analysis of tweets from the 2013 Colorado floods shows that resharing disasters tweets increases with the use of concrete language style during acute emergencies. Interactive language is also positively associated with retweet frequency. In addition, neither positive nor negative emotional tweets drive down resharing during acute crises, while information-focused language content has a significantly positive effect on virality.

Practical implications

Agencies for public safety and disaster management or volunteer organizations involved in disseminating crisis and risk information to the public may leverage the impacts of the linguistic style and language content through the lens of our research model. The findings encourage practitioners to focus on the role of linguistic style cues during acute disasters. Specifically, from the uncertainty reduction perspective, using concrete language in the disaster tweets is the expected norm, leading to a higher likelihood of virality. Also, interactively frame disaster tweets are more likely to be diffused to a larger number of people on Twitter.

Originality/value

The language that people use offer important psychological cue to their intentions and motivations. However, the role of language on Twitter has largely been ignored in this crisis communication and few prior studies have examined the relationship between language and virality during acute emergencies. This article explains the complex and multifaceted nature of information resharing behavior using a multi-theoretical approach – including uncertainty reduction and language expectancy theory – to understand effects of language style and content cues on resharing behavior in the context of natural crisis events.
Key audit matter and auditor liability: evidence from auditor evaluators in Thailand
Authors: Pratoomsuwan Thanyawee , Yolrabil Orapan
Published: June 2020

Purpose

This study examines the effects of key audit matter (KAM) disclosures in auditors' reports on auditor liability in cases of fraud and error misstatements using evaluators with audit experience.

Design/methodology/approach

The experiment is conducted using 174 professional auditors as participants.

Findings

The participating auditors assess higher auditor liability when misstatements are related to errors rather than when they are related to fraud. In addition, the results also demonstrate that KAM disclosures reduce auditor liability only in cases of fraud and not in cases of errors. Together, the results support the view that KAM reduces the negative affective reactions of evaluators, which in turn, reduce the assessed auditor liability.

Research limitations/implications

This study did not analyze the setting in which auditors who act as peer evaluators had an opportunity to discuss the case among their peers, which may have affected their judgments.

Practical implications

The results of KAM disclosures on auditor liability in cases of error and fraud misstatements inform auditors that, different from the auditors' concern that disclosing KAM may increase auditors' legal risk, it tends to decrease or at least have no impact on the liability judgment.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the accounting literature by adding findings on another aspect of KAM in different audit settings, particularly, in the Thai legal environment with different types of undetected misstatements. The current conflicting results on how KAM disclosures affect auditor liability warrant further investigation of this issue in other audit contexts in different countries.
A study of higher education students' self-perceived digital competences for learning and everyday life online participation
Authors: Martzoukou Konstantina , Fulton Crystal , Kostagiolas Petros , Lavranos Charilaos
Published: June 2020

Purpose

An increasing amount of research and debate has emerged over the last few years, emphasising the need for developing digitally competent, literate, able, skilled, capable people within a constantly changing technological and online environment. Existing definitions and perspectives in this area go beyond the use of technological tools or media for the creation of a digital literacy mindset, which develops throughout one's life. However, Higher Education strategies have not yet caught up with this agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

A student survey with Library and Information Science students from three higher education institutions in Scotland, Ireland and Greece was conducted as a basis of empirical data to support the theoretical propositions of the study. The survey centred on the technical and higher-level digital competences of students and drawing from students' self-perceived digital competences for learning and for the everyday life digital context, addressing e-leisure, e-learning, e-democracy, e-government and e-health activities. The survey critically enabled students to assess digital competences from their perspectives as digital participants.

Findings

Students' self-assessment of digital competences were lacking in a number of areas, which involved the development of information literacy, digital creation, digital research and digital identity management. In addition, students' digital competences were found to be linked to previous experiences within the everyday life digital environment. The higher the self-perceived digital competence levels of students were on the basis of dealing with everyday life digital tasks, the more likely they were to also develop high self-perceived digital competence in other digital areas related to their education.

Originality/value

Higher education has not fully embraced digital competences as a core, fundamental literacy which addresses both technology mastery and a digital citizenship mindset. As emerging models begin to challenge traditional teaching and learning paradigms, with global connectivity and personalised approaches, existing digital divides may be further accelerated. This requires revisiting digital competences with emphasis on the diversity of the contexts where it develops and of the learners involved, in the overall continuum of learning for life.