bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Linking Engineered Cells to Their Digital Twins: a Version Control System for Strain Engineering
Authors: Tellechea-Luzardo Jonathan , Widera Paweł , de Lorenzo Victor , Krasnogor Natalio
Published: October 2019

1.

As DNA sequencing and synthesis become cheaper and more easily accessible, the scale and complexity of biological engineering projects is set to grow. Yet, although there is an accelerating convergence between biotechnology and computing science, a deficit in software and laboratory techniques diminishes the ability to make biotechnology more agile, reproducible and transparent while, at the same time, limiting the security and safety of synthetic biology constructs. To partially address some of these problems, this paper presents an approach for physically linking engineered cells to their digital footprint - we called it digital twinning. This enables the tracking of the entire engineering history of a cell line in a specialised version control system for collaborative strain engineering.
Inhibition of the Ventral Hippocampus Increases Alcohol Drinking
Authors: Griffin William C. , Rinker Jennifer A. , Woodward John J. , Mulholland Patrick J. , Becker Howard C.
Published: October 2019

The function of the ventral hippocampus (vHC) supports many behaviors, including those related to reward seeking behaviors and drug addiction. We used a mouse model of alcohol dependence and relapse to investigate the role of the vHC in alcohol (ethanol) drinking. One experiment used a chemogenetic approach to inhibit vHC function while ethanol dependent and non-dependent mice had access to ethanol. Interestingly, the non-dependent mice expressing an inhibitory DREADD in the VHC showed a significant increase in ethanol drinking (∼30%) after hM4Di DREADD activation with clozapine-n-oxide (CNO; 3 mg/kg, ip.) compared to vehicle. On the other hand, ethanol dependent mice, which were already drinking significantly more ethanol than non-dependent mice, only had a slight, non-significant increase in drinking after CNO challenge. In a separate group of dependent and non-dependent mice, GCaMP6f calcium-dependent activity was recorded in the vHC while mice were actively drinking ethanol. These data showed that once mice were rendered ethanol dependent and were drinking more ethanol than the non-dependent mice, calcium signaling in the ventral hippocampus decreased (∼45%) in the ethanol dependent mice compared to the non-dependent mice. Together, these findings suggest that ethanol dependence reduces activity of the ventral hippocampus and that reduced function of this brain region contributes to increased ethanol drinking.
Concordant developmental expression profiles of orthologues in highly divergent Bilateria
Authors: Ferretti Luca , Krämer-Eis Andrea , Schiffer Philipp H.
Published: October 2019

Bilateria are the predominant clade of animals on earth. Despite having evolved a large variety of body-plans and developmental modes, they are characterized by common morphological traits. However, it is not clear if clade-specific genes can be linked to these traits, distinguishing bilaterians from non-bilaterians, with their less complex body morphology. Comparing proteomes of bilaterian and non-bilaterian species in an elaborate computational pipeline we aimed to find and define a set of of bilaterian-specific genes. Finding no high-confidence set of such genes, we nevertheless detected an evolutionary signal possibly uniting the highly diverse bilaterian taxa. Using a novel multi-species GO-enrichment method, we determined the functional repertoire of genes that are widely conserved among Bilateria. We found that these genes contribute to morphogenesis, neuronal-system and muscle development, processes that have been described as different between bilaterians and non-bilaterians. Analyzing gene expression profiles in three very distantly related bilaterina species, we find characteristic peaks at comparable stages of development and a delayed onset of expression in embryos. In particular, the expression of the conserved genes appears to peak at the phylotypic stage of different bilaterian phyla. In summary, our data underpin the orthologue conjecture and illustrate how development connects distantly related Bilateria after millions of years of divergence, pointing to processes potentially separating them from non-bilaterians.
SAINT: Self-Attention Augmented Inception-Inside-Inception Network Improves Protein Secondary Structure Prediction
Authors: Uddin Mostofa Rafid , Mahbub Sazan , Rahman M Saifur , Bayzid Md Shamsuzzoha
Published: October 2019

Motivation

Protein structures provide basic insight into how they can interact with other proteins, their functions and biological roles in an organism. Experimental methods (e.g., X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy) for predicting the secondary structure (SS) of proteins are very expensive and time consuming. Therefore, developing efficient computational approaches for predicting the secondary structure of protein is of utmost importance. Advances in developing highly accurate SS prediction methods have mostly been focused on 3-class (Q3) structure prediction. However, 8-class (Q8) resolution of secondary structure contains more useful information and is much more challenging than the Q3 prediction.

Results

We present SAINT, a highly accurate method for Q8 structure prediction, which incorporates self-attention mechanism (a concept from natural language processing) with the Deep Inception-Inside-Inception (Deep3I) network in order to effectively capture both theshort-rangeandlong-range interactionsamong the amino acid residues. SAINT offers a more interpretable framework than the typical black-box deep neural network methods. Through an extensive evaluation study, we report the performance of SAINT in comparison with the existing best methods on a collection of benchmark datasets, namely, TEST2016, TEST2018, CASP12 and CASP13. Our results suggest that self-attention mechanism improves the prediction accuracy and outperforms the existing best alternate methods. SAINT is the first of its kind and offers the best known Q8 accuracy. Thus, we believe SAINT represents a major step towards the accurate and reliable prediction of secondary structures of proteins.

Availability

SAINT is freely available as an open source project athttps://github.com/SAINTProtein/SAINT.
Lateralized expression of cortical perineuronal nets during maternal experience is dependent on MECP2
Authors: Lau Billy Y.B. , Layo Dana E. , Emery Brett , Everett Matthew , Kumar Anushree , Stevenson Parker , Reynolds Kristopher G. , Cherosky Andrew , Bowyer Sarah-Anne H. , Roth Sarah , Fisher Delaney G. , McCord Rachel P. , Krishnan Keerthi
Published: October 2019

Cortical neuronal circuits along the sensorimotor pathways are shaped by experience during critical periods of heightened plasticity in early postnatal development. After closure of critical periods, measured histologically by the formation and maintenance of extracellular matrix structures called perineuronal nets (PNNs), the adult mouse brain exhibits restricted plasticity and maturity. Mature PNNs are typically considered to be stable structures that restrict synaptic plasticity on cortical parvalbumin+ GABAergic neurons. Changes in environment (i.e. novel behavioral training) or social contexts (i.e. motherhood) are known to elicit synaptic plasticity in relevant neural circuitry. However, little is known about concomitant changes in the PNNs surrounding the cortical parvalbumin+ GABAergic neurons. Here, we show novel changes in PNN density in the primary somatosensory cortex (SS1) of adult female mice after maternal experience, using systematic microscopy analysis of a whole brain region. On average, PNNs were increased in the right barrel field and decreased in the left forelimb regions. Individual mice had left hemisphere dominance in PNN density. Using adult female mice deficient in methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2), an epigenetic regulator involved in regulating experience-dependent plasticity, we found that MECP2 is critical for this precise and dynamic expression of PNN. Adult naïveMecp2-heterozygous females (Het) had increased PNN density in specific subregions in both hemispheres before maternal experience. The laterality in PNN expression seen in naïve Het was lost after maternal experience, suggesting possible intact mechanisms for plasticity. Together, our results identify subregion and hemisphere-specific alterations in PNN expression in adult females, suggesting extracellular matrix plasticity as a possible neurobiological mechanism for adult behaviors in rodents.
Natural selection shapes variation in genome-wide recombination rate inDrosophila pseudoobscura
Authors: Samuk Kieran , Manzano-Winkler Brenda , Ritz Kathryn R. , Noor Mohamed A.F.
Published: October 2019

While recombination is widely recognized to be a key modulator of numerous evolutionary phenomena, we have a poor understanding of how recombination rate itself varies and evolves within a species. Here, we performed a comprehensive study of recombination rate (rate of meiotic crossing over) in two natural populations ofDrosophila pseudoobscurafrom Utah and Arizona, USA. We used an amplicon sequencing approach to obtain high-quality genotypes in approximately 8000 individual backcrossed offspring (17 mapping populations with roughly 530 individuals each), for which we then quantified crossovers. Interestingly, variation in recombination rate within and between populations largely manifested as differences in genome-wide recombination rate rather than remodeling of the local recombination landscape. Comparing populations, we discovered individuals from the Utah population displayed on average 8% higher crossover rates than the Arizona population, a statistically significant difference. Using a QST-FSTanalysis, we found that this difference in crossover rate was dramatically higher than expected under neutrality, indicating that this difference may have been driven by natural selection. Finally, using a combination of short and long read whole-genome sequencing, we found no significant association between crossover rate and structural variation at the 200-400kb scale. Our results demonstrate that (1) there is abundant variation in genome-wide crossover rate in natural populations (2) interpopulation differences in recombination rate may be the result of local adaptation, and (3) the observed variation among individuals in recombination rate is primarily driven by global regulators of crossover rate, with little detected variation in recombination rate among strains across specific tracts of individual chromosomes.
EphB6 regulates social behavior through gut microbiota-mediated vitamin B6 metabolism and excitation/inhibition balance of medial prefrontal cortex in mice
Authors: Li Ying , Luo Zheng-Yi , Hu Yu-Ying , Bi Yue-Wei , Yang Jian-Ming , Liu Ming-An , Zou Wen-Jun , Li Shi , Shen Tong , Li Shu-Ji , Huang Lang , Zhou Ai-Jun , Song Yun-Long , Gao Tian-Ming , Li Jian-Ming
Published: October 2019

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder with no effective pharmacological treatments so far. Gut microbiota has been suggested to contribute to autistic symptoms. However, the key genes and the mechanisms linking gut microbiota and brain dysfunctions in ASD are still unclear. Here, we found deletion of EphB6, an ASD-associated candidate gene, induced dysregulated gut microbiota and autism-like behavior in mice. More importantly, transplanting fecal microbiota from EphB6-deficient mice resulted in disturbed gut microbiota and autism-like behavior in antibiotics-treated C57BL/6J mice. Meanwhile, transplanting fecal microbiota from wild-type mice ameliorated disturbed gut microbiota and autism-like behavior in mice with deletion of EphB6. At the metabolic levels, dysregulated gut microbiota led to vitamin B6 and dopamine defects in EphB6-deficient mice. At the cellular levels, excitation/inhibition (E/I) imbalance in medial prefrontal cortex was induced by gut microbiota-mediated defects of vitamin B6 metabolism in EphB6-deficient mice. Our study uncovers a key role for EphB6 in regulation of social behavior by gut microbiota-mediated vitamin B6 metabolism, dopamine synthesis and E/I balance, suggesting a new strategy for treatment of ASD patients.
Three-dimensional Genome Structure Reveals Distinct Chromatin Signatures of Mouse Female Germline Stem Cells During Development
Authors: Tian Geng G. , Zhao Xinyan , Xie Wenhai , Li Xiaoyong , Hou Changliang , Wang Yinjuan , Wang Lijuan , Zhao Xiaodong , Li Hua , Li Jing , Wu Ji
Published: October 2019

The three-dimensional configuration of the genome ensures cell-type-specific gene expression profiles by placing genes and regulatory elements in close spatial proximity. Here, we revealed the distinct features of the chromatin architecture in female germline stem cells (FGSCs) by in situ high-throughput chromosome conformation analysis. We also showed that the X chromosome structures were similar in spermatogonial stem cells and FGSCs. Using integrative analysis of the three-dimensional chromatin structure, we observed that the TADs were attenuated in germinal vesicle oocytes and disappeared in metaphase II oocytes during FGSC development. Finally, we identified conserved compartments belonging to the paternal/maternal genomes during early embryonic development, which were related to imprinted genes. These results will provide a valuable resource for studying and further our understanding of the fundamental characteristics of oogenesis and early embryo development.
ISX-9 manipulates endocrine progenitor fate revealing conserved intestinal lineages in mouse and human
Authors: Tsakmaki Anastasia , Fonseca Pedro Patricia , Pavlidis Polychronis , Hayee Bu’Hussain , Bewick Gavin A
Published: October 2019

Enteroendocrine cells (EECs) survey the gut luminal environment and co-ordinate hormonal, immune and neuronal responses to it. They exhibit well characterised physiological roles ranging from the control of local gut function to whole body metabolism, but little is known regarding the regulatory networks controlling their differentiation, especially in human gut.

The small molecule Isoxazole-9 (ISX-9) stimulates neuronal and pancreatic beta-cell differentiation, both closely related to EEC differentiation. We used ISX-9 as a tool to explore EEC specification in mouse and human intestinal organoids. ISX-9 increased the number of neurogenin3 (Ngn3) positive endocrine progenitor cells and upregulated NeuroD1 and Pax4, transcription factors which play roles in mouse EEC specification. Single cell analysis revealed induction of Pax4 expression in a developmentally late Ngn3+ population of cells and potentiation of genes associated with progenitors biased towards serotonin-producing enterochromaffin (EC) cells. This coincided with enrichment of organoids with functional EC cells which was partly dependent on stimulation of calcium signalling in a population of cells residing outside the crypt base. Inducible Pax4 overexpression, in ileal organoids, uncovered its importance as a component of early human endocrine specification and highlighted the potential existence of two major endocrine lineages, the early appearing enterochromaffin lineage and the later developing peptidergic lineage which contains classical gut hormone cell types.

Our data provide proof-of-concept for the controlled manipulation of specific endocrine lineages with small molecules, whilst also shedding new light on human EEC differentiation and its similarity to mouse. Given their diverse roles, understanding endocrine lineage plasticity and its control could have multiple therapeutic implications.
Natural variation in the contribution of microbial density to inducible immune dynamics
Authors: Jent Derrick , Perry Abby , Critchlow Justin , Tate Ann T.
Published: October 2019

Immune responses evolve to balance the benefits of microbial killing against the costs of autoimmunity and energetic resource use. Models that explore the evolution of optimal immune responses generally include a term for constitutive immunity, or the level of immunological investment prior to microbial exposure, and for inducible immunity, or investment in immune function after microbial challenge. However, studies rarely consider the functional form of inducible immune responses with respect to microbial density, despite the theoretical dependence of immune system evolution on microbe-versus immune-mediated damage to the host. In this study, we analyze antimicrobial peptide (AMP) gene expression from seven wild-caught flour beetle populations (Tribolium spp.) during acute infection with the virulent bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and Photorhabdus luminescens (P.lum) to demonstrate that inducible immune responses mediated by the humoral IMD pathway exhibit natural variation in both microbe density-dependent and independent temporal dynamics. Beetle populations that exhibited greater AMP expression sensitivity to Bt density were also more likely to die from infection, while populations that exhibited higher microbe density-independent AMP expression were more likely to survive P. luminescens infection. Reduction in pathway signaling efficiency through RNAi-mediated knockdown of the imd gene reduced the magnitude of both microbe-independent and dependent responses and reduced host resistance to Bt growth, but had no net effect on host survival. This study provides a framework for understanding natural variation in the flexibility of investment in inducible immune responses and should inform theory on the contribution of non-equilibrium host-microbe dynamics to immune system evolution.
Thermal sensitivity of lizard embryos indicates a mismatch between oxygen supply and demand at near-lethal temperatures
Authors: Hall Joshua M. , Warner Daniel A.
Published: October 2019

Aspects of global change (e.g. urbanization, climate change) result in novel, stressful thermal environments that threaten biodiversity. Though much research quantifies the thermal sensitivity of adult organisms, effects of global change on developing offspring (e.g. embryos) are also important. Oviparous, non-avian reptiles have received considerable attention because eggs are left to develop under prevailing environmental conditions, making them vulnerable to increases in ambient temperature. Though many studies assess embryo thermal tolerance and physiology in response to long-term (i.e. chronic), constant incubation temperatures, fewer assess responses to acute exposures which are more ecologically relevant for many species. We subjected eggs of the brown anole lizard (Anolis sagrei) to heat shocks, thermal ramps, and extreme diurnal fluctuations to determine the lethal temperature of embryos, measure the thermal sensitivity of embryo heart rate and metabolism, and quantify the effects of sub-lethal but stressful temperatures on embryo development and hatchling phenotypes and survival. Most embryos died at heat shocks of 45 or 46 °C, which is ∼12 °C warmer than the highest constant temperatures suitable for development. Heart rate and O2consumption increased with temperature; however, as embryos approached the lethal temperature, heart rate and CO2production continued rising while O2consumption plateaued. These data indicate a mismatch between oxygen supply and demand at high temperatures. Exposure to extreme, diurnal temperature fluctuations depressed embryo developmental rates and heart rates, and resulted in hatchlings with smaller body size, reduced growth rates, and lower survival in the laboratory. Thus, even brief exposure to extreme temperatures can have important effects on embryo development, and our study highlights the role of both immediate and cumulative effects of high temperatures on egg survival. Such effects must be considered to predict how populations will respond to global change.
Isolation of Poly(A)+ Messenger RNA Using Magnetic Oligo(dT) Beads
Authors: Green Michael R. , Sambrook Joseph
Published: October 2019

This is a general protocol for the isolation of mRNA from total RNA using oligo(dT) coupled to magnetic beads. First, total RNA is dissolved in a high-salt buffer and heated briefly to 65°C–70°C, followed by immediate cooling on ice to disrupt secondary structures. The RNA is subsequently annealed to the oligo(dT)-magnetic beads at room temperature; the high-salt binding buffer stabilizes the poly(A)–oligo(dT) complexes. A high-salt washing buffer is then used to wash away unbound RNAs while retaining oligo(dT)-bound poly(A)+ mRNAs. To elute the poly(A)+ mRNAs from the beads, a low-salt buffer (or water) is used to destabilize the poly(A)–oligo(dT) complexes. Alternatively, poly(A)+ mRNAs can be retained on the beads for downstream applications (e.g., solid-phase cDNA synthesis).
Flexible workflows for on-the-fly electron-microscopy single-particle image processing using Scipion
Authors: Maluenda D. , Majtner T. , Horvath P. , Vilas J. L. , Jiménez-Moreno A. , Mota J. , Ramírez-Aportela E. , Sánchez-García R. , Conesa P. , del Caño L. , Rancel Y. , Fonseca Y. , Martínez M. , Sharov G. , García C.A. , Strelak D. , Melero R. , Marabini R. , Carazo J. M. , Sorzano C. O. S.
Published: October 2019

Electron microscopy of macromolecular structures is an approach that is in increasing demand in the field of structural biology. The automation of image acquisition has greatly increased the potential throughput of electron microscopy. Here, the focus is on the possibilities in Scipion to implement flexible and robust image-processing workflows that allow the electron-microscope operator and the user to monitor the quality of image acquisition, assessing very simple acquisition measures or obtaining a first estimate of the initial volume, or the data resolution and heterogeneity, without any need for programming skills. These workflows can implement intelligent automatic decisions and they can warn the user of possible acquisition failures. These concepts are illustrated by analysis of the well known 2.2 Å resolution β-galactosidase data set.
The evolution of the monitoring board in Japan: how the board performs monitoring function in Japanese corporate governance
Authors: Miyamoto Kohei
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to trace a legal evolution of the monitoring board and to reveal what brought the evolution and what is expected to emerge. The paper points to unique complementarities in Japanese corporate governance institutions and norms which will affect how the monitoring board performs its functions.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Analysis is based on texts on corporate governance legislations in Japan from the revision of Commercial Code in 1950 to the revision of Companies Act in 2014. Other sources include Tokyo Stock Exchange regulations, White Paper on Corporate Governance and other academic literatures on Japanese corporate governance.

Findings

Changes of non-legal institutions and norms in Japanese corporate governance necessitated legal reforms toward the monitoring board. Persisting institutions and norms, in particular lifetime employment, influences how the monitoring board performs its functions in Japan.

Originality/Value

This paper explains how the evolution of the monitoring board in Japan emerged and what will cause different expected functions of the monitoring board in Japan and other jurisdictions.
An investigation of the digital literacy skills and knowledge-based competencies among librarians working in university libraries in Nigeria
Authors: Okeji Chukwuma Clement , Tralagba Eriye Chris , Obi Ifeyinwa Calista
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the digital literacy skills possessed by librarians working in university libraries in Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

An online questionnaire was developed using SurveyMonkey to collect data from 111 librarians working in both public and private universities in Nigeria.

Findings

The study revealed the digital literacy skills that the librarians rated as very high and high, and those that they rated as moderate and low. The study also revealed the knowledge and competencies that they rated to be highly competent and competent, as well as also those that they rated to be neutral and not good. The librarians rated their knowledge of network and system security; ability to apply security software firewalls, filtering routers and ability to protect access to digital content by providing password or IP base access as neutral and not good. Overall, the study revealed that almost half of the librarians rated their level of digital literacy skills possessed to be moderate. Only few librarians rated their digital literacy skills to be excellent.

Practical implications

The findings will be helpful to librarians, information professionals, libraries and library schools. The results will inform librarians on the skills and digital competencies that are essential for developing and managing digital resources and protecting digital contents.

Originality/value

Findings will be helpful to explore the skills and competencies needed by information professionals and to act as a guideline for competency development and curriculum update in library schools in developing countries.
Enhanced authentication and key exchange for end to end security in mobile commerce using wireless public key infrastructure
Authors: Prakasha Krishna , Muniyal Balachandra , Acharya Vasundhara
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to develop a secure, efficient, and enhanced user authentication mechanism to achieve reliable and authenticated connection. In online transactions, users and resources are located at different places, and the sensitive information is to be protected and transferred using the suitable, reliable mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach

One of the latest approach to handle the requirement is by a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) or its variant Wireless Public Key Infrastructure (WPKI). Fundamental management techniques are required to be very secure and vital since they are one of the points of attack in public key cryptosystem. Entity authentication and key agreement (AKA) is a critical cryptographic problem in wireless communication, where a mutual entity authentication plays a vital role in the establishment of the secure and authentic connection. This paper proposes an efficient and enhanced AKA scheme (EAKA) with the end-to-end security and verifies the proposed system for protection using automated validation of internet security protocols and applications. An efficient way for the implementation of an enhanced version of the protocol is proposed using a lattice-based cryptographic algorithm.

Findings

The time consumed for the proposed research work shows that it is practical and acceptable.

Originality/value

The proposed research work is an efficient and enhanced user authentication mechanism.
Developing strategies for patient safety implementation: a national study in Iran
Authors: Maher Ali , Ayoubian Ali , Rafiei Sima , Sheibani Tehrani Donya , Mostofian Farnaz , Mazyar Pooneh
Published: October 2019

Purpose

Today, healthcare organizations focus mainly on development and implementation of patient safety strategic plan to improve quality and ensure safety of provided services. The purpose of this paper is to recommend potential strategies for successful implementation of patient safety program in Iranian hospitals based on a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

In this qualitative study, key informant interviews and documentation review were done to identify strength and weakness points of Iranian hospitals in addition to opportunities and threats facing them in successful implementation of a patient safety program. Accordingly, the research team formulated main patient safety strategies and consequently prioritized them based on Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) matrix.

Findings

The study recommended some of the potential patient safety strategies including provision of education for employees, promoting a safety culture in hospitals, managerial support and accountability, creating a safe and high-quality delivery environment, developing national legislations for hospital staff to comply with patient safety standards and developing a continuous monitoring system for quality improvement and patient safety activities to ensure the achievement of predetermined goals.

Practical implications

Developing a comprehensive and integrated strategic plan for patient safety based on accurate information about the health system’s weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats and trying to implement the plan in accordance with patient safety principles can help hospitals achieve great success.

Originality/value

Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) conducted a national study to recommend potential strategies for successful implementation of patient safety in Iranian hospitals based on a SWOT analysis and QSPM matrix.
Harmonizing and constructing an integrated maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah index for measuring the performance of Islamic banks
Authors: Hudaefi Fahmi Ali , Noordin Kamaruzaman
Published: October 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a performance measure for Islamic banks (IBs) by harmonizing related studies. Furthermore, this work uses the developed yardstick to analyze the performance of a sample of 11 IBs from across different countries.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses the mix-mode method. The qualitative approach is engaged first to construct the IBs performance yardstick. Following this, the quantitative approach is applied through the use of the performance yardstick to measure the sample’s performance.

Findings

This study develops a maqāṣid-based performance yardstick adapted from previous works. The developed model in this study is called an integrated maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah--based performance measure (IMSPM). By using this performance measure, the present paper finds that the sample performed highest on the objective of nafs (self) over the three-year period. In addition, this study identifies the information which best indicates the sample’s performance during the analysis.

Research limitations/implications

This paper uses the sample’s annual reports. The analysis is thus limited to informational disclosure.

Practical implications

Islamic banking and financial institutions may use the IMSPM to communicate a measurable report on their promotion of the maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah (objectives of Islamic law).

Social implications

The evidence from 11 IBs is indicative of their efforts to realize maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah in the banking industry. This point may best challenge the practice of stigmatizing IBs for not being in line with the Sharīʿah (Islamic law) or of imitating conventional banks.

Originality/value

The novelty of this study lies in two points. First, this study harmonizes previous works to integrate financial and religious measures in a single yardstick. Second, by using the developed standard, this study offers a fresh insight into the global IBs’ performance, represented by 11 IBs worldwide.
Transnationalism and parenthood in a new country
Authors: Merry Lisa , Edwards Nancy
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight gaps in the literature regarding transnational ties, the experience of raising and caring for children in a new (high-income) country and well-being, and to propose a program of research to address these gaps.

Design/methodology/approach

A general review of the literature on international migration, transnationalism and parenthood was conducted. A program of research and its objectives are then described.

Findings

To address research gaps, the proposed program of research aims to: develop approaches and tools to examine and measure the transnational experiences of migrant families; better understand migrants’ transnational obligations, resources and movements and their impact on parenthood and the health and well-being of families; assess whether existing health and social care and services for migrant families with children consider the transnational contexts and experiences of families; and determine how health and social care and services for migrant families with children may be adapted or developed to address transnational challenges and enhance transnational resources for families.

Originality/value

The proposed program of research offers a new approach, transnationalism, for producing knowledge toward better understanding the health and optimizing the care of migrant families in the context of raising and caring for children in a new country. It also contributes to the agenda setting regarding the approach and priority areas for research in migrant health.
Organizational culture and total quality management practices in Indian construction industry
Authors: Patyal Vishal Singh , Ambekar Sudhir , Prakash Anand
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between organizational culture (OC) and total quality management (TQM) practices in the Indian construction industry.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey was conducted to draw valid empirical data from 200 construction firms in India. The dominant culture was identified using cluster analysis.

Findings

The findings of cluster analysis show four emergent clusters, namely, internal, flexible, comprehensive and control. The OC profile of the Indian construction organizations is dominated by internal focus characterized by the features of both group and hierarchical cultures of Competing Values Framework (CVF). Furthermore, the results revealed that the comprehensive focus culture is the most suitable culture in addition to the internal and flexibility focus cultures for the implementation of TQM in India.

Practical implications

Before implementing the TQM practices, managers in construction organizations need to be aware of cultural orientation emphasized in their organizations to facilitate the effective implementation of TQM.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence that leads to the association between OC and TQM practices. The study proposes besides the internal and flexibility focus cultures, the comprehensive focus culture within the Indian construction industry are key drivers for the successful implementation of TQM practices.
Effects of different surface grooved cylinder liner on the tribological performance for cylinder liner-piston ring components
Authors: Miao Jiazhi , Li Yongqing , Rao Xiang , Zhu Libao , Guo Zhiwei , Yuan Chengqing
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The emission from marine engines has a crucial effect on energy economy and environment pollution. One of the effective emission reduction schemes is to minimize the friction loss of main friction pairs such as cylinder liner-piston ring (CLPR). Micro-groove textures were designed to accomplish this aim.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors experimentally investigated the effects of micro-groove textures at different cylinder liner positions. The micro-groove texture was fabricated on samples by chemical etching and cut from the real CLPR pair. Sliding contact tests were conducted by a reciprocation test apparatus.

Findings

The average friction coefficient of grooves at 30° inclination were reduced up to 58.22% and produced better tribological behavior at most conditions. The operating condition was the critical factor that determined the optimum texture pattern. The surface morphology indicated that textures could produce smoother surfaces and less scratches as compared with the untextured surface.

Originality/value

Inclined grooves and V-grooves were designed and applied to real CLPR pairs. The knowledge obtained in this study will lead to practical basis for tribological design and manufacturing of CLPR pair in marine diesel engines.
Corporate social disclosure through social media: an exploratory study
Authors: Ramananda Dimaz , Atahau Apriani Dorkas Rambu
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent of voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure by Indonesian firms on their social media and to compare it with the mandatory disclosure on their annual reports.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use publicly listed Indonesian firms that are included in the SRI-KEHATI Index as the sample. Further, by using NVIVO software, the authors qualitatively analyze CSR activities disclosed on firms’ social media and annual reports with an interpretive approach.

Findings

The findings indicate that Indonesian firms still exhibit early stages of social media-based voluntary CSR disclosure. Further, issues on training, education and skill building dominate firms’ disclosure. Finally, Indonesian firms disclose less CSR information in their social media than in their annual reports, thus confirming the early stages of social media-based CSR disclosure.

Research limitations/implications

The small sample size limits the generalizability of the results.

Practical implications

This paper provides insights on which CSR issues are commonly disclosed in firms’ social media. This study may also inform regulators the extent of disclosures that could be regulated in social media.

Originality/value

Social media-based CSR disclosure in developing countries is relatively understudied. Thus, this paper empirically shows the topic and intensity of CSR disclosure in social media and the comparison between this type of CSR disclosure with CSR disclosure using other media.
Digital natives vs digital immigrants
Authors: Jarrahi Mohammad Hossein , Eshraghi Ali
Published: October 2019

Purpose

Generational membership is argued to have an impact on how social technologies are used for knowledge sharing and communication in organizational contexts. Previous research has especially underscored the difference between digital natives and digital immigrants in how they make sense of and interact with social technologies for work. The purpose of this paper is to provide a multidimensional perspective and to explore generational differences as well as other factors deriving from both work-related and personal characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a summary of the findings from interviews with 58 consultants from 17 managing consulting firms. Participants were selected based on their knowledge-intensive roles and their willingness to share information about their knowledge practices.

Findings

Findings highlight the significance of the organizational rank, knowledge needs, individuals’ enthusiasm for technology use and personality disposition in shaping workers’ attitudes toward social technologies for knowledge practices. This work builds from a social construction of technology perspective to provide a comprehensive insight into the roles played by work and personality-related factors beyond age and generational differences in the use of social technologies in and for work.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the discourse on generational differences and the use of social technologies. It puts this question into a broader context, and highlights other factors that shape this relationship.
Creating an innovative organization
Authors: Chutivongse Norawat , Gerdsri Nathasit
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper to address the challenges on “what should the management plan for organization development (OD) toward becoming an innovative organization?”

Design/methodology/approach

This study applies the concept of innovation management, maturity model and roadmapping. The confirmatory factor analysis and the multi-criteria decision analysis are applied as the methodologies to evaluate the relative importance of each influencing factor and to assess the areas needed for improvement, respectively. A case example is also included to demonstrate how the proposed approach can be applied.

Findings

Comparing the assessment result and the strategic target defined by the management, the gaps can be diagnosed and then a roadmap guiding OD can be proposed based on a firm’s strategy for improvement.

Research limitations/implications

This study proposes the approach and assessment model. Different companies always have their unique focus, so the management team have to modify the assessment model by following the proposed approach. Future research should be conducted to assess the effectiveness of each activity in increasing the level of innovativeness.

Practical implications

Ineffective development could result from setting a strategic direction and resource allocation based on the intuitive decisions of the management team. Therefore, it would be much better if the management team can systematically assess the current status and diagnose the areas needed for improvement to set an appropriate strategic direction.

Originality/value

The analytical approach to develop a strategic roadmap guiding a firm to become an innovative organization has not been presented in the existing literature.
A real-time evaluation method for modification priority of data module in civil aircraft technical publications
Authors: Gao Yuan , Liu Hu , Chen Jie , Peng Heping
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a priority evaluation method for data module (DM) modification tasks based on the thoughts of real-time systems. Tasks in practical cases can be sorted by this method after analyzing their time records. Civil aircraft technical publications (CATPs) are the key technical guarantee for aircraft companies to efficiently operate and service aircraft. Orienting the maintenance business of CATPs, this method regards DM as the research object to help DM editors efficiently finish their time-consuming work.

Design/methodology/approach

This method provides a priority order of modification tasks for DM editors by calculating two indicators: priority value (PV) and priority level (PL). Table of task priority must be first designed for certain evaluation work followed by generating PLs and PVs of modification tasks. Then editors can fully understand the urgency of these tasks using the rank orders of these two indicators.

Findings

This method can be applied into a software system used by CATPs department of aircraft manufacturers. According to the engineers’ opinions from a manufacturer in China, it is convenient for the practical application.

Originality/value

Availability and rationality are verified by the practical case and a software system. In addition, the originality characterized by a thinking for engineers to quantify the evaluation work of DM modification task priority, and they could also customize this method by taking modification difficulty and other factors into account.
When practices count
Authors: Uniyal Surbhi , Mangla Sachin Kumar , Patil Pravin
Published: October 2019

Purpose

Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) assist managers to improve their operational efficiency while aiming at reducing the generation of waste. The purpose of this paper is to construct a structural model of the SCP practices in a supply chain context.

Design/methodology/approach

The work is based on the experience of supply chain professionals, a case study and literature review related to SCP. The present work recommends an assessment framework by prioritizing the SCP oriented practices using best-worst method.

Findings

The current work is an effort to understand the significance of SCP practices and to reveal their level of influence in developing a sustainable culture in value chains. Data for this work are derived from an automotive company operating in India. Findings reveal that the “resource efficiency” acquires the highest rank and “sharing assets” acquires the last lank among all SCP practices.

Research limitations/implications

It is difficult to finalize the SCP practices. This work uses the expert’s approach for this. In this way, the process needs to be conducted very carefully.

Practical implications

This research can assist automotive managers and practitioners in efficiently utilizing their companies’ resources, which would result in superior business effectiveness by generating higher employment opportunities in value chains.

Originality/value

Efforts have been made to contribute in the identification and analysis of SCP oriented practices. The developed structural model will help in understanding the ranking of practices.
Antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of pulp extracts from three populations ofZiziphus lotusL.
Authors: Rais Chaimae , Driouch Asmae , Slimani Chaimae , Bessi Aymane , Balouiri Mounyr , El Ghadraoui Lahsen , Lazraq Abderrahim , Al Figuigui Jamila
Published: October 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to evaluate the antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts of the jujube fruit.

Design/methodology/approach

The fruit samples were harvested from Ziziphus lotus L. in three regions of Morocco: Aïn Chifae (Immouzer), Saiss (Fez) and Guercif. The fruit extracts were obtained by Soxhlet method using ethanol, methanol and water, and then a phytochemical screening was done for each extract. Total phenolic and total flavonoids contents were also determined. Afterward, the antimicrobial activity of the studied extracts was evaluated using the broth microdilution method. To estimate the total antioxidant effect of these extracts, the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) scavenging and phosphomolybdate tests were performed.

Findings

Results showed that the highest content of polyphenols and flavonoids was found for ethanol and methanol extracts, while the lowest content was found in the aqueous extracts for all populations studied. Thus, results showed that the highest content of phenolic compounds was recorded in the population of Fez. Methanol extract of this population was the richest in polyphenols (30.36 mg/g) and in flavonoids (13.03 mg/g). The antimicrobial tests showed that Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most sensitive (6.25 mg/ml), compared to the other tested strains. Based on the minimal bactericidal concentrations/minimal fungicidal concentration or MFC/MIC ratio, it seems that ethanol extracts showed a bactericidal effect against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtillis, and a bacteriostatic effect against Enterococcus faecalis. On the other hand, the methanol extract showed bacteriostatic effect against Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, methanol extracts of Ziziphus lotus have significant antioxidant potent.

Originality/value

Methanol and ethanol extracts of Ziziphus lotus fruit have demonstrated strong antimicrobial effect. Moreover, the authors were able to show that the extract of Ziziphus lotus fruit has a very important antioxidant power.