bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Links between environment and stomatal size through evolutionary time in Proteaceae
Authors: Jordan Gregory J. , Carpenter Raymond J. , Holland Barbara R. , Beeton Nicholas J. , Woodhams Michael D. , Brodribb Timothy J.
Published: January 2020

The size of plant stomata (adjustable pores that determine the uptake of CO
2
and loss of water from leaves) is considered to be evolutionarily important. This study uses fossils from the major Southern Hemisphere family Proteaceae to test whether stomatal cell size responded to Cenozoic climate change. We measured the length and abundance of guard cells (the cells forming stomata), the area of epidermal pavement cells, stomatal index and maximum stomatal conductance from a comprehensive sample of fossil cuticles of Proteaceae, and extracted published estimates of past temperature and atmospheric CO
2
. We developed a novel test based on stochastic modelling of trait evolution to test correlations among traits. Guard cell length increased, and stomatal density decreased significantly with decreasing palaeotemperature. However, contrary to expectations, stomata tended to be smaller and more densely packed at higher atmospheric CO
2
. Thus, associations between stomatal traits and palaeoclimate over the last 70 million years in Proteaceae suggest that stomatal size is significantly affected by environmental factors other than atmospheric CO
2
. Guard cell length, pavement cell area, stomatal density and stomatal index covaried in ways consistent with coordinated development of leaf tissues.
Marmoricola caldifontis sp. nov., a novel actinobacterium isolated from a hot spring
Authors: Habib Neeli , Khan Inam Ullah , Xiao Min , Li Shuai , Saqib Muhammad , Xian Wen-Dong , Butt Sadia , Li Wen-Jun
Published: January 2020

A Gram-staining-positive, aerobic, non-motile, non-spore-forming and coccoid-shaped actinobacterial strain, designated YIM 730233T, was isolated from a sediment sample, collected from a hot spring in Tibet, China. Colonies were brownish, circular, smooth and convex. Strain YIM 730233T was able to grow in the temperature range of 20–50 °C, pH 6.5–8.0 and in the presence of up to 1.0 % (w/v) NaCl. A comparison of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain YIM 730233T with sequences of type strains of most closely related species of

Marmoricola

showed highest sequence similarities to

Marmoricola bigeumensis

MSL-05T (98.3%) and

Marmoricola pocheonensis

Gsoil 818T (98.1%). The draft genome of strain YIM 730233T had a size of 4 806 234 bp with a DNA G+C content of 72.1 mol%. The major fatty acids (>10 %) of strain YIM 730233T mainly consisted of iso-C16 : 0, anteiso-C17 : 0 and C18 : 1 ω9c, typical of the genus

Marmoricola

. Strain YIM 730233T had LL-2,6-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid in the cell wall. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was MK-8(H4). The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, unidentified phospholipids and an unidentified lipid. DNA–DNA hybridizations between strain YIM 730233T and type strains of

Marmoricola bigeumensis

MSL-05T and

Marmoricola pocheonensis

Gsoil 818T resulted in similarity values of 21 and 19% respectively. Based on DNA–DNA hybridization results, together with the differentiating biochemical and chemotaxonomic features, showed that strain YIM 730233T represents a novel

Marmoricola

species, for which the name Marmoricola caldifontis sp. nov. (type strain YIM 730233T=KCTC 49192T=CGMCC 4.7521T), is proposed.
Relationships among Commercial Biases and Author Conflicts of Interest in Biomedical Publishing
Authors: Graham S. Scott , Majdik Zoltan , Clark Dave , Kessler Molly M. , Hooker Tristin Brynn
Published: January 2020

Recently, concerns have been raised over the potential impacts of commercial biases on editorial practices in biomedical publishing. Specifically, it has been suggested that commercial biases may make editors more open to publishing articles with author conflicts of interest (aCOI). Using a data set of 128,781 articles published in 159 journals, we evaluated the relationships among commercial publishing biases and reported author conflicts of interest. The 159 journals were grouped according to commercial biases (reprint services, advertising revenue, and ownership by a large commercial publishing firm). 30.6% (39,440) of articles were published in journals showing no evidence of commercial publishing biases. 33.9% (43,630) were published in journals accepting advertising and reprint fees; 31.7% (40,887) in journals owned by large publishing firms; 1.2% (1,589) in journals accepting reprint fees only; and 2.5 % (3,235) in journals accepting only advertising fees. Journals with commercial biases were more likely to publish articles with aCOI (9.2% (92/1000) vs. 6.4% (64/1000), p = 0.024). In the multivariate analysis, only a journal’s acceptance of reprint fees served as a significant predictor (OR = 2.81 at 95% CI, 1.5 to 8.6). Shared control estimation was used to evaluate the relationships between commercial publishing biases and aCOI frequency in total and by type. BCa-corrected mean difference effect sizes ranged from -1.0 to 6.1, and confirm findings indicating that accepting reprint fees may constitute the most significant commercial bias. The findings indicate that concerns over the influence of industry advertising in medical journals may be overstated, and that accepting fees for reprints may constitute the largest risk of bias for editorial decision-making.
Incidence and outcomes of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders in lung transplant patients: analysis of ISHLT Registry
Authors: Zaffiri L. , Long A. , Neely M.L. , Cherikh W. , Chambers D.C. , Snyder L. D.
Published: January 2020

Background

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is a life-threatening complication following lung transplant. We aimed to study the incidence of and risk factors for PTLD in adult lung transplant recipients.

Methods

The International Society of Heart and Lung Transplant (ISHLT) Registry was used to identify adult, first-time, single and bilateral lung transplant recipients with at least one year follow-up and from centers reporting PTLD between January 2006 and June 2015. Kaplan Meier method was used to describe timing and distribution of PTLD. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to examine the clinical characteristics associated with PTLD.

Results

Of the 19,309 lung transplant recipients in the analysis cohort, we identified 454 cases of PTLD. Cumulative incidence of PTLD was 1.1% (95% CI = 1.0%, 1.3%) at 1 year and 4.1% (95% CI= 3.6%, 4.6%) at 10-years. We observed that 47.4% of all PTLD cases occurred within the first year following lung transplantation. In the multivariable model, independent risk factors for PTLD included age, EBV mismatch and native lung diseases. The risk of PTLD during the first year after transplant increased with increasing age in patients between 45 to 62 years at time of transplantation; the inverse was true for ages less than 45 year or greater than 62 years. Finally, receiving a donor organ with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types A1 and A24 was associated with an increased risk of PTLD while the recipient HLA type DR11 was associated with a decreased risk.

Conclusions

Our study indicates that PTLD is a relatively rare complication among adult lung transplant recipients. We identified clinical characteristics that are associated with increased risk of PTLD.
A Precision Medicine Framework for Personalized Simulation of Hemodynamics in Cerebrovascular Disease
Authors: Frey Dietmar , Livne Michelle , Leppin Heiko , Akay Ela M , Aydin Orhun U , Behland Jonas , Sobesky Jan , Vajkoczy Peter , Madai Vince I
Published: January 2020

Introduction

Cerebrovascular disease is a major public health challenge. An important biomarker is cerebral hemodynamics. To measure cerebral hemodynamics, however, only invasive, potentially harmful or time-to-treatment prolonging methods are available. We present a simulation-based alternative which allows calculation of cerebral hemodynamics based on the individual vessel con figuration of a patient derived from structural vessel imaging.

Methods

We implemented a framework allowing annotation of extracted brain vessels from structural imaging followed by 0-dimensional lumped modelling of cerebral hemodynamics. For annotation, a 3D-graphical user interface (GUI) was implemented. For 0D-simulation, we used a modified nodal analysis (MNA), which was adapted for easy implementation by code. The code was written in-house in java. The simulation GUI allows inspection of simulation results, identification of vulnerable areas, simulation of changes due to different systemic blood pressures. Moreover, sensitivity analysis was implemented allowing the live simulation of changes of variables such as vessel lumen to simulate procedures and disease courses. In two exemplary patients, simulation results were compared to dynamic-susceptibility-weighted-contrast-enhanced magnetic- resonance(DSC-MR) perfusion imaging.

Results

The successful implementation of the framework allowing individualized annotation and simulation of patients is presented. In two exemplary patients, both the simulation as well as DSC- MRI showed the same results pertaining to the identification of areas vulnerable to ischemia. Sensitivity analysis allows the individualized simulation of changes in vessel lumen and the effect on hemodynamics.

Discussion

We present the first precision medicine pipeline for cerebrovascular disease which allows annotation of the arterial vasculature derived from structural vessel imaging followed by personalized simulation of brain hemodynamics. This paves the way for further development of precision medicine in stroke using novel biomarkers and might make the application of harmful and complex perfusion methods obsolete for certain use cases in the future.
Low predictive power of clinical features for relapse prediction after antidepressant discontinuation in a naturalistic setting
Authors: Berwian Isabel M. , Wenzel Julia G. , Kuehn Leonie , Schnuerer Inga , Seifritz Erich , Stephan Klaas E. , Walter Henrik , Huys Quentin J. M.
Published: January 2020

1

Background

The risk of relapse after antidepressant medication (ADM) discontinuation is high. Predictors of relapse could guide clinical decision-making, but are yet to be established.

Method

We assessed demographic and clinical variables in a longitudinal observational study before antidepressant discontinuation. State-dependent variables were re-assessed either after discontinuation or before discontinuation after a waiting period. Relapse was assessed during six months after discontinuation. We applied logistic general linear models in combination with least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and elastic nets to avoid overfitting in order to identify predictors of relapse and estimated their generalisability using cross-validation.

Results

The final sample included 104 patients (age: 34.86 (11.1), 77% female) and 57 healthy controls (age: 34.12 (10.6), 70% female). 36% of the patients experienced a relapse. Treatment by a general practitioner increased the risk of relapse. Although within-sample statistical analyses suggested reasonable sensitivity and specificity, out-of-sample prediction of relapse was at chance level. Residual symptoms increased with discontinuation, but did not relate to relapse.

Conclusion and Relevance

Demographic and standard clinical variables appear to carry little predictive power and therefore are of limited use for patients and clinicians in guiding clinical decision-making.
Therapeutic Drugs Targeting 2019-nCoV Main Protease by High-Throughput Screening
Authors: Li Yan , Zhang Jinyong , Wang Ning , Li Haibo , Shi Yun , Guo Gang , Liu Kaiyun , Zeng Hao , Zou Quanming
Published: January 2020

2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is a virus identified as the cause of the outbreak of pneumonia first detected in Wuhan, China. Investigations on the transmissibility, severity, and other features associated with this virus are ongoing. Currently, there is no vaccine or therapeutic antibody to prevent the infection, and more time is required to develop an effective immune strategy against the pathogen. In contrast, specific inhibitors targeting the key protease involved in replication and proliferation of the virus are the most effective means to alleviate the epidemic. The main protease of SARS-CoV is essential for the life cycle of the virus, which showed 96.1% of similarity with the main proteaseof 2019-nCoV, is considered to be an attractive target for drug development. In this study, we have identified 4 small molecular drugs with high binding capacity with SARS-CoV main protease by high-throughput screening based on the 8,000 clinical drug libraries, all these drugs have been widely used in clinical applications with guaranteed safety, which may serve as promising candidates to treat the infection of 2019-nCoV.
Effect of acute physical exercise on motor sequence memory
Authors: Bosch Blanca Marin , Bringard Aurélien , Logrieco Maria Grazia , Lauer Estelle , Imobersteg Nathalie , Thomas Aurélien , Ferretti Guido , Schwartz Sophie , Igloi Kinga
Published: January 2020

Acute physical exercise improves memory functions by increasing neural plasticity in the hippocampus. In animals, a single session of physical exercise has been shown to boost anandamide (AEA), an endocannabinoid known to promote hippocampal plasticity. Hippocampal neuronal networks encode episodic memory representations, including the temporal organization of elements, and can thus benefit motor sequence learning. While previous work established that acute physical exercise has positive effects on declarative memory linked to hippocampal plasticity mechanisms, its influence on memory for motor sequences, and especially on neural mechanisms underlying possible effects, has been less investigated.

Here we studied the impact of acute physical exercise on motor sequence learning, and its underlying neurophysiological mechanisms in humans, using a cross-over randomized within-subjects design. We measured behavior, fMRI activity, and circulating AEA levels in fifteen healthy participants while they performed a serial reaction time task (SRTT) before and after a short period of exercise (moderate or high intensity) or rest.

We show that exercise enhanced motor sequence memory, significantly for high intensity exercise and tending towards significance for moderate intensity exercise. This enhancement correlated with AEA increase, and dovetailed with local increases in caudate nucleus and hippocampus activity.

These findings demonstrate that acute physical exercise promotes sequence learning, thus attesting the overarching benefit of exercise to hippocampus-related memory functions.
A workbench for the translational control of gene expression
Authors: Valleriani Angelo , Chiarugi Davide
Published: January 2020

Ribosome profiling (Ribo-seq profiling) is the most advanced tool to study the translational control of gene expression. Unfortunately, the resolution of this cutting edge technique is severely limited by a low signal to noise ratio. To tackle this issue, we introduce here a newly designed statistical method for the identification of reproducible Ribo-seq profiles. In the case ofE. coli, the analysis of 2238 Ribo-seq profiles across 9 independent datasets revealed that only 11 profiles are significantly reproducible. A subsequent data quality check led us to identify one outgroup dataset. By ruling it out, the number of highly reproducible profiles could be raised to 49. Despite its surprisingly small size, this set represents a reliable workbench to both assess the quality of the data and study the factors that influence the translation process.
netNMF-sc: leveraging gene–gene interactions for imputation and dimensionality reduction in single-cell expression analysis
Authors: Elyanow Rebecca , Dumitrascu Bianca , Engelhardt Barbara E. , Raphael Benjamin J.
Published: January 2020

Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) enables high-throughput measurement of RNA expression in single cells. However, because of technical limitations, scRNA-seq data often contain zero counts for many transcripts in individual cells. These zero counts, or dropout events, complicate the analysis of scRNA-seq data using standard methods developed for bulk RNA-seq data. Current scRNA-seq analysis methods typically overcome dropout by combining information across cells in a lower-dimensional space, leveraging the observation that cells generally occupy a small number of RNA expression states. We introduce netNMF-sc, an algorithm for scRNA-seq analysis that leverages information across both cells and genes. netNMF-sc learns a low-dimensional representation of scRNA-seq transcript counts using network-regularized non-negative matrix factorization. The network regularization takes advantage of prior knowledge of gene–gene interactions, encouraging pairs of genes with known interactions to be nearby each other in the low-dimensional representation. The resulting matrix factorization imputes gene abundance for both zero and nonzero counts and can be used to cluster cells into meaningful subpopulations. We show that netNMF-sc outperforms existing methods at clustering cells and estimating gene–gene covariance using both simulated and real scRNA-seq data, with increasing advantages at higher dropout rates (e.g., >60%). We also show that the results from netNMF-sc are robust to variation in the input network, with more representative networks leading to greater performance gains.
Structure of strontium tellurite glass, anti-glass and crystalline phases by high-energy X-ray diffraction, reverse Monte Carlo and Rietveld analysis
Authors: Kaur Rajinder , Khanna Atul , Hirdesh  , Dippel Ann-Christin , Gutowski Olof , González Fernando , González-Barriuso Marina
Published: January 2020

The structures ofxSrO–(100 −x)TeO2(x= 5, 7.5, 8.5 and 10 mol.%) glass, anti-glass and crystalline samples were studied by high-energy X-ray diffraction (HEXRD), reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) simulations, atomic pair distribution function analysis andFullprofRietveld refinement. The atomic pair distributions show the first peak at 1.90 Å due to the Te—O equatorial bonds and the Te—O peak is asymmetrical due to the range of Te—O bond lengths in glass, anti-glass and crystalline samples. The short-range structural properties of glasses such as Te—O bond lengths, Te–O speciation, Te–Te distances and O—Te—O bond angle distributions were determined by RMC simulations. The average Te–O coordination number (NTe–O) for 5SrO–95TeO2glass is 3.93 which decreases to 3.59 on increasing the SrO concentration to 10 mol.%. The changes inNTe–Orevealed that the glass network predominantly contains TeO4units with a small amount of TeO3units and there is a structural transformation TeO4→ TeO3with an increase in SrO concentration. The O—Te—O bond angle distributions have a peak at 79° and reveal that the Oequatorial—Te—Oequatorialbonds are the most abundant linkages in the tellurite network. Two glass samples containing 7.5 and 8.5 mol.% of SrO were annealed at 350°C for 1 h to produce anti-glass phases; they were further annealed at 450°C for 4 h to transform them into crystalline phases. The anti-glass samples are disordered cubic SrTe5O11and the disordered monoclinic SrTeO3phases, whereas the crystalline samples contain monoclinic SrTeO3and the orthorhombic TeO2phases. The unit-cell parameters of the anti-glass and crystalline structures were determined byFullprofRietveld refinement. Thermal studies found that the glass transition temperature increases with an increase in SrO mol.% and the results on the short-range structure of glasses from Raman spectroscopy are in agreement with the RMC findings.
Acceleration of the numerical solution for the radiative transfer equation using a modified relaxation factor
Authors: Torres-Aguilar Carlos Enrique , Xamán Jesús , Moreno-Bernal Pedro , Hernández-Pérez Iván , Zavala-Guillén Ivett , Hernández-López Irving Osiris
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to propose a novel relaxation modified factor to accelerate the numerical solution of the radiative transfer equation (RTE) with several high-resolution total variation diminishing schemes. The methodology proposed is denoted as the X-factor method.

Design/methodology/approach

The X-factor method was compared with the technique deferred-correction (DC) for the calculations of a two-dimensional cavity with absorting-emiting-scatteting gray media using the discrete ordinates method. Four parameters were considered to evaluate: the absorption coefficient, the emissivity of boundary surface, the scattering albedo and under-relaxation factor.

Findings

The results showed the central processing unit (CPU) time of X-factor method was lower than DC. The reductions of CPU time with the X-factor method were observed from 0.6 to 75.4%.

Originality/value

The superiority of the X-factor method over DC was showed with the reduction of CPU time of the numerical solution of RTE for evaluated cases.
Structural topology optimization with positive and negative Poisson’s ratio materials
Authors: Jia Jiao , Hu Jianxing , Wang Yongbin , Wu Shiqing , Long Kai
Published: January 2020

Purpose

Negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR) material has huge potential applications in various industrial fields. However, lower Young’s modulus due to the porous form limits its further applications. Based on the topology optimization technique, this paper aims to optimize the structure consisting two isotropic porous materials with positive Poisson’s ratio (PPR) and NPR and void.

Design/methodology/approach

Under prescribed dual-volume fraction constraints, the structural compliance is taken as the objective. Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio are, respectively, interpolated and expressed with Lamé’s parameters for easier programming. Accordingly, the sensitivities can be derived through the chain rule. Several two- and three-dimensional illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate the capability and effectiveness of the proposed approach. The influences of Poisson’s ratios, volume fractions and Young’s moduli on the optimized results are investigated.

Findings

For NPR materials having unique load responses, the resulting topologies of PPR and NPR materials have distinct material distributions in comparison of the results from two PPR materials. Furthermore, it is observed that higher structural stiffness can be achieved from the hybrid of PPR and NPR materials than that obtained from the structures made of individual constituent materials.

Originality/value

A topology optimization methodology is proposed to design structures composed of PPR and NPR materials.
Conceptualizing “COBieEvaluator”
Authors: Kumar Vishal , Lin Evelyn Teo Ai
Published: January 2020

Purpose

Until now, the usage and usability factors of construction operation building information exchange (COBie) datasheet has remained largely overlooked. This oversight may be the potential factor in the lower adoption rates as well as effective utilization of COBie datasheet in the architectural, engineering and construction – facilities management industry. Cobie Data drops as a concept has difficulty in adoption pertaining to lengthy process of data capturing with high reliance on manual inputs. Finding from this study will enhance the usability aspects of COBie by looking at the entire process of data assembling in conjuncture with design development and using it to understand the project changes. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is aimed at solving a practical issue in handling COBie datasheets. The study uses iterative steps from design thinking and software development process (SDP) for development of the system. The iterative approach from design thinking helped to understand the problem scenarios, development of rule sets and analysis of various options to tackle this issue. SDP was used for the development and validation of the COBieEvaluator prototype.

Findings

Despite the information exchange standards such as COBie is available for adoption for quite some time, its perceived value in the whole chain is less described. Various concepts such as preparing COBie sheets from beginning of project are discussed but hardly adopted due to lengthy process. The study helps in substantiating the need for a continuous data capture and showcase how this continuous data capture can help in tracking various design and equipment changes inside a project, using COBieEvaluator. A comparative view over the data helps in giving fruitful information about the project. The system also verify the quality of data inside the COBie datasheet by not only looking at the cell value inputs but also looking at the entire information linkage and finding the gaps.

Originality/value

COBie has mostly being analyzed as an output and its benefits. However, some important aspects of COBie datasheet such as the process of capturing and verifying it, and understanding the meaning of the changes during incremental building of COBie datasheet, is largely overlooked. This study use the concept behind COBie data drops and devise a system to help track effect of project design changes on COBie datasheet. It also highlights the importance of not looking COBie datasheets only as a FM handover requirement, but a source of information which can help various stakeholders to get useful information about the project development. The study propose a comparative dimension over the COBie sheet to get useful insight over the project development.
A holistic review of research on carbon emissions of green building construction industry
Authors: Lu Wei , Tam Vivian W.Y. , Chen Heng , Du Lei
Published: January 2020

Purpose

Addressing global warming challenge, carbon emissions reduction potential of the construction industry has received additional attentions. The decoupling of construction industry and carbon emissions through policies, technologies and model innovations is an effective way for reducing environmental pollution and achieve eco-urban target. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Within the scope of green building carbon emissions (GB-CO2) research, a large number of scientific literature has been published in construction discipline over the past few decades. However, it seems that a systematic summary of strategies, techniques, models and scientific discussion of future direction of GB-CO2 is lacking. Therefore, this paper carries out data mining on authoritative journals, identified the key research topics, active research areas and further research trends through visualization studies.

Findings

This study contributes to the body of knowledge in GB-CO2 by critically reviewing and summarizing: professional high-quality journals have a greater influence in the scope of research, developed countries and developing countries are all very concerned about sustainable buildings, and the current hot topics of research focus on the application of the life cycle models, energy efficiency, environmental performance of concrete material, etc. Moreover, further research areas that could expand the knowledge of cross-national long-term carbon mechanisms, develop comprehensive life cycle carbon emissions assessment models, build technical standards and tests for the sustainable building material and systems, and exploit multi-objective decision models considering decarbonizing design and renewable energy.

Originality/value

This study is of value in systematic insight the state-of-the-art of GB-CO2 research in the more recent decade. A more vividly and effectively method is documented in extending the traditional bibliometric review to a deeper discussion. This study can also benefit construction practitioners by providing them a focused perspective of strategy and technologies innovations for emerging practices in green building projects.
Born on the internet, how should Suta grow?
Authors: Roy Sheila , Kamath Renuka
Published: January 2020

Learning outcomes

To appreciate the importance of carefully carving out a unique target group of customers and differentiating the offerings by establishing a brand born on the internet. To appreciate the criticality of balance between growth and quality. To appreciate the entrepreneurial dilemma of growth vs control while making difficult business growth choices. To analyse the alternative growth options in the context of the Su and Ta’s concerns and offer decision choices to go with the organizational ethos and business goals.

Case overview/synopsis

Three years back in Mumbai, India, Sujata and Taniya took a decision to quit their well-paying jobs and launch Suta, their small yet dynamic entrepreneurial venture of smart office wear for women. Sales had grown rapidly from INR 1.5 crore in 2016 to INR 5 crore in 2018. In March 2019, they found themselves at a crossroads: Should they bring in investors to accelerate their plans for growth and risk losing control or depend on organic growth? That would mean depending on operational cash flows to scale their business at a pace that would ensure that they did not compromise the quality of their operations, products and hence customer experience. The sisters had nurtured Suta’s brand image in the minds of their customers, through distinctive designs, quality processes, exemplary customer service and experience. All this through a strong yet responsible supply chain that nurtured weavers in rural India. They wanted both the brand and the many weavers who were dependent on them for work and livelihood, to grow. They had seen enough examples where the pursuit of growth had resulted in the quality of product and customer service suffering, along with employee attrition and process failures. They were very apprehensive of adopting the greedy for growth model through investor funding that many start-ups had followed and which eventually compromised their customer experience. The question clearly was not if they should grow, but how should they grow.

Complexity academic level

This case is designed for use at the postgraduate level in courses on entrepreneurship, business strategy, strategic management and strategic marketing, as well as in executive management programs. It can be used at the beginning of a course or toward the middle, to set the context for the course. The case will help instructors focus on the unique situation of a company “born on the internet,” which has to manage the current growing business while making a choice for growth in an emerging market where e-commerce channel is rapidly becoming popular.

Supplementary materials

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
Founding-owner’s dilemmas in an emerging market: from industrial Andina S.A. to NSG service stations
Authors: Salcedo Nestor U. , Garcia-Cestona Miguel , Kuschel Katherina
Published: January 2020

Learning outcomes

A student can evaluate the variables related to the corporate governance decision for the future of the companies while simultaneously facing other internal factors, such as understanding the owner's address style. In addition, the student will be able to balance and weigh current resources, understanding that the conceptual frameworks of agency theory, resource dependence theory, agency and transaction costs, as well as the types of leadership and power are useful to understand this type of companies, common in emerging markets.

Case overview/synopsis

This case describes the actions of Nestor Salcedo Guevara, founding partner of Industrial Andina S.A. and owner of NSG Service Stations, companies focused on industrial manufacturing and retail fuel sales, respectively. The case covers a period of 40 years, from the founding of Industrial Andina S.A. in 1978, its restructuring into a family business in 1982, the strategic decisions concerning the political and economic situations from the eighties to the new millennium, and the creation of NSG Service Stations in the year 2000, until August 2018, when Nestor faced the decision to expand NSG Service Stations and reactivate Industrial Andina SA with new projects. Therefore, Nestor must decide the next steps for the future of both companies. This case study highlights several challenges of business economics and administrative strategy facing entrepreneurs or experienced managers and allows to discuss in class concepts of corporate governance such as ownership structure, incomplete contracts, management styles and defensive strategies associated with the power of the CEO - Owner.

Complexity academic level

Undergraduate students in Business Administration or Economics and post-graduate MBA. Business Economics courses, Strategic Management, Corporate Governance courses.

Supplementary materials

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS 11: Strategy.
A meta-analytical review of factors affecting the strategic thinking of an organization
Authors: Shaik Aqueeb Sohail , Dhir Sanjay
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a structured review of the literature on the factors affecting the strategic thinking of an organization. This study offers some theoretical insights by analysing the divergent or analogous views of authors on these factors by analysing the empirical studies carried out in the literature.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical method of conducting a structured literature review has been adopted in this study. Theory context characteristic methodology framework and meta-analysis are the methodologies applied to analyse the different empirical studies conducted in the literature and determine the variation or similarities in the views of authors over the same factor based on their effect sizes. This study analyses over 45 different empirical studies in the literature conducted on the factors affecting strategic thinking.

Findings

This study explains how the factors have been similarly or differently explained by the authors in the literature. This analysis gives a better understanding of the factors affecting strategic thinking and quantitatively amalgamates the current empirical studies carried out in the literature. The effects sizes generated for each factor helps in determining the homogeneous or heterogeneous nature of the factor.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited only to analyse the homogeneity or heterogeneity of the factors affecting strategic thinking at an organisational level. This study can be further extended by analysing the type of effect these factors have on the strategic thinking of the organisation.

Practical implications

The findings of this study identify the homogeneity or heterogeneity of the factors affecting strategic thinking in an organisation. This helps the top management to concentrate on these factors, which might develop a strategic thinking nature in the organisation, leading to the better formation of strategies, and successfully implement them in their businesses.

Originality/value

The study fills the unattended gaps in the literature by analysing the homogeneous and heterogeneous nature of the factors affecting the strategic thinking of an organisation.
Does servant leadership better explain work engagement, career satisfaction and adaptive performance than authentic leadership?
Authors: Kaya Bahar , Karatepe Osman M.
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a research model in which work engagement (WENG) mediates the effects of servant leadership (SL) and authentic leadership (AL) simultaneously on career satisfaction and adaptive performance. It also aims to test whether SL better explains WENG and the aforesaid outcomes than AL.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper used time-lagged data collected from hotel employees and their direct supervisors in Turkey. Structural equation modeling was implemented to assess the aforesaid linkages.

Findings

Among others, the indirect impact of SL on career satisfaction and adaptive performance, through WENG, is stronger than the indirect effect of AL.

Practical implications

Management can use AL as a base to develop and boost SL. Appraising employees’ WENG on a periodical basis would enable management to understand whether SL really contributes to the enhancement of WENG. In addition, employees can take advantage of informal learning to foster their adaptive performance.

Originality/value

There are calls for research to ascertain whether SL better explains outcomes than other leadership styles such as AL. Evidence about the underlying mechanism linking SL and AL to outcomes is still sparse. The extant research on SL and AL has neglected adaptive performance in frontline service jobs so far. With this stated, this paper aims to fill in these voids.
Prediction of the water evaporation rate of wet textile materials in a pre-defined environment
Authors: Liu Song-Rui , Dai Xiao-Qun , Hong Yan
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The water evaporation rate (WER) is not only crucial for fabric drying, but also an important parameter affecting cooling from a body wearing sweat wetted clothing. The purpose of this paper is to predict the WERs of wet textile materials in a pre-defined environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The maximum water evaporation rate (WERmax) from a saturated surface in a pre-defined environment was first predicted based on the Lewis relationship between the evaporative and the convective heat transfer in this paper. The prediction results were validated by the comparisons with experimental measurements in various environments obtained in this paper and reported in the literature.

Findings

Experiment results show that the ratios of WERs to WERmax are lower than 100 percent but higher than 50 percent, which confirmed that the prediction of WERmax is reliable. The temperature decrease of the wet material surface due to evaporation was considered to account for the difference between measured WERs and the WERmax, and the WER variation among materials. The lower ratios of WERs to WERmax in the higher wind condition were speculated to be due to the greater temperature decrease caused by the increased evaporation.

Practical implications

It provides a reliable way to obtain both WERmax and WER (WERmax multiplied by a proper ratio), which can be useful in clothing physiological modeling to predict clothing comfort.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the understanding of the evaporation process of textile materials.
Management and monitoring of the displaced commercial risk: a prescriptive approach
Authors: Touri Othmane , Ahroum Rida , Achchab Boujemâa
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The displaced commercial risk is one of the specific risks in the Islamic finance that creates a serious debate among practitioners and researchers about its management. The purpose of this paper is to assess a new approach to manage this risk using machine learning algorithms.

Design/methodology/approach

To attempt this purpose, the authors use several machine learning algorithms applied to a set of financial data related to banks from different regions and consider the deposit variation intensity as an indicator.

Findings

Results show acceptable prediction accuracy. The model could be used to optimize the prudential reserves for banks and the incomes distributed to depositors.

Research limitations/implications

However, the model uses several variables as proxies since data are not available for some specific indicators, such as the profit equalization reserves and the investment risk reserves.

Originality/value

Previous studies have analyzed the origin and impact of DCR. To the best of authors’ knowledge, none of them has provided an ex ante management tool for this risk. Furthermore, the authors suggest the use of a new approach based on machine learning algorithms.
Imposing cooperation: the impact of institutions on the efficiency of cooperatives in the Philippines
Authors: Galang Roberto Martin N. , Lavado Rouselle F. , White III George O. , Francisco Jamil Paolo S.
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to answer the research question: How do cooperative organizations perform when created by government fiat in an emerging market? Through the use of institutional and agency theory, this paper presents a comparative analysis of the efficiency of the cooperative form of organization and investor-owned firms-investigating how the social–political structures in a community affect the efficiency of cooperativesvis-à-visinvestor-owned firms. This paper also attempts to offer a better understanding of how government quality and organizational size influence performance outcomes between different organizational forms specifically in the Philippines.

Design Methodology Approach

The empirical analysis of this study was conducted among electric distribution utilities in the Philippines. Firm-level data was generated for 133 distributors, consisting of 119 electric cooperatives and 14 investor-owned companies. Panel data regressions were ran to test all hypotheses.

Findings

Cooperative organizations operate at a less efficient rate than investor-owned firms in the Philippines, even when controlling for firm-specific factors such as size, customer density and profitability. In addition, the efficiency of these cooperative organizations is more strongly influenced by the quality of the local government than investor-owned firms.

Originality Value

Positive externalities generated by the propagation of cooperatives on local communities may be based primarily on our understanding of how cooperatives have functioned largely in western contexts. Within the context of Southeast Asia, where national socio-political structures may be more dysfunctional, this paper observes that there is an equivalent negative externality caused by the tendency of cooperatives to replicate the political mismanagement of the community around it.
Weights and measures in the Hijaz during the Abbasid period 132-334H/749-945 A.D
Authors: Aljabr Hessa
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to view the weights and measures in the Hijaz during the first Abbasid period to define the fundamental measures on which the Islamic jurisprudence is based.

Design/methodology/approach

Applying a historical archive methodology, this paper highlights the significance of weight units as standard tools necessary for Muslims, in daily economic dealings, to control the value of goods and determine their size.

Findings

The most prominent weight units in Hijaz during the Abbasid period were limited to Ratl, Mann and spice. The most prominent units in the Hijaz during the Abbasid period were confined to Sa’aa, Al-Mudd and Al-Mukook. Not all units of weight in the Islamic State were used in all territories, but each territory specialized in particular units.

Originality/value

Weight units and measures are essential in religious transactions associated with determining the size of legitimate payments such as zakat, Diyah, dowry, expiation of the oath and delegation of the ritual. They are related to the rules of the act of worship of Wudu and ablution. With that in mind, implications on economic modeling and humanomics can be concluded.
Performance measurement of Islamic mutual funds using DEA method
Authors: Hassan Abul , Chachi Abdelkader , Munshi Mahfuzur Rahman
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to update the investment literature by providing latest evidence of performance of Islamic mutual funds by using global sample mutual funds data to support with empirical facts.

Design/methodology/approach

This study analyzes the comparative performance of Islamic and conventional mutual funds by using capital asset pricing model, Fama & French’s three-factor model and Carhart’s four-factor model. Further, the study tested the coskenwness effect by using data envelopment analysis approach.

Findings

The authors find evidence that when size of the funds is controlled, Islamic investment underperform the conventional mutual funds in four out of six models. The size of underperformance varies from model to model: from 32 basis points in the Carhart’s four-factor model with the skewness factor to two basis points at the Fama and French’s three-factor model. Also the study finds that alpha(s) are only insignificant for conventional mutual funds when the skewness factor is included in the regression. While comparing the loading on Islamic mutual funds, results show that Islamic mutual funds are less risky than conventional mutual funds when they are controlled for skewness.

Originality/value

This study uses the different factor models of performance evolution which help in overcoming weakness of measuring the Islamic mutual funds’ performance.
The impact of Shariah finance compliance level on the cost of debt
Authors: Satt Harit , Bendriouch Fatima Zahra , Nechbaoui Sarah
Published: January 2020

Purpose

Does Shariah finance have any impact on the cost of debt? The existing literature on Shariah finance revolves around its effect on the macroeconomic level but remains poor when looking at its impact on the corporate level. The purpose of this paper is to strengthen the latter by examining the relationship between the Shariah compliance level and the interest rate.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have used a sample of 600 companies, all Shariah-compliant but with different levels of compliance, from 2002 to 2015. A variable determining the level of Shariah compliance was created in accordance with the methodology by S&P 500 Shariah and its underlying index S&P 500; then, a Probit relapse study was conducted to identify the impact of Shariah level on the cost of debt.

Findings

Consistent with the theoretical predictions of the authors, the findings reveal that there is a positive relationship between the level of Shariah compliance and the cost of debt, suggesting that the higher the level of Shariah compliance of a firm, the higher the interest rate.

Research limitations/implications

One important portfolio implication of this study is that the level of Shariah compliance plays a major rule in the cost of debt determination besides the firm-specific factors. The revealed results can be of interest to actors in the fields of corporate finance, corporate governance, decision-makers and investors.

Originality/value

Islamic finance has been one of the most studied and researched topics in the finance world. However, the interest of scholars thoroughly assessed the dynamics of Islamic banking. The effect of Shariah compliance on corporate finance can still be more explored. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is a first attempt to capture the effect of Shariah compliance on the cost of debt through the use of a large scope to enrich the literature and at the same time analyzing the effects of Islamic characteristics on firms’ fundamentals.