bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A simplified mathematical model of directional DNA site-specific recombination by serine integrases
Authors: Pokhilko Alexandra , Zhao Jia , Stark W. Marshall , Colloms Sean D. , Ebenhöh Oliver
Published: January 2017

Serine integrases catalyse site-specific recombination to integrate and excise bacteriophage genomes into and out of their host's genome. These enzymes exhibit remarkable directionality; in the presence of the integrase alone, recombination between
attP
and
attB
DNA sites is efficient and irreversible, giving
attL
and
attR
products which do not recombine further. However, in the presence of the bacteriophage-encoded recombination directionality factor (RDF), integrase efficiently promotes recombination between
attL
and
attR
to re-form
attP
and
attB
. The DNA substrates and products of both reactions are approximately isoenergetic, and no cofactors (such as adenosine triphosphate) are required for recombination. The thermodynamic driving force for directionality of these reactions is thus enigmatic. Here, we present a minimal mathematical model which can explain the directionality and regulation of both ‘forward’ and ‘reverse’ reactions. In this model, the substrates of the ‘forbidden’ reactions (between
attL
and
attR
in the absence of RDF,
attP
and
attB
in the presence of RDF) are trapped as inactive protein–DNA complexes, ensuring that these ‘forbidden’ reactions are extremely slow. The model is in good agreement with the observed
in vitro
kinetics of recombination by ϕC31 integrase, and defines core features of the system necessary and sufficient for directionality.
On the autorotation of animal wings
Authors: Ortega-Jimenez Victor Manuel , Martín-Alcántara Antonio , Fernandez-Feria Ramon , Dudley Robert
Published: January 2017

Botanical samaras spin about their centre of mass and create vertical aerodynamic forces which slow their rate of descent. Descending autorotation of animal wings, however, has never been documented. We report here that isolated wings from Anna's hummingbirds, and also from 10 species of insects, can stably autorotate and achieve descent speeds and aerodynamic performance comparable to those of samaras. A hummingbird wing loaded at its base with the equivalent of 50% of the bird's body mass descended only twice as fast as an unloaded wing, and rotated at frequencies similar to those of the wings in flapping flight. We found that even entire dead insects could stably autorotate depending on their wing postures. Feather removal trials showed no effect on descent velocity when the secondary feathers were removed from hummingbird wings. By contrast, partial removal of wing primaries substantially improved performance, except when only the outer primary was present. A scaling law for the aerodynamic performance of autorotating wings is well supported if the wing aspect ratio and the relative position of the spinning axis from the wing base are included. Autorotation is a useful and practical method that can be used to explore the aerodynamics of wing design.
Domain structure of ultrathin ferromagnetic elements in the presence of Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction
Authors: Muratov Cyrill B. , Slastikov Valeriy V.
Published: January 2017

Recent advances in nanofabrication make it possible to produce multilayer nanostructures composed of ultrathin film materials with thickness down to a few monolayers of atoms and lateral extent of several tens of nanometers. At these scales, ferromagnetic materials begin to exhibit unusual properties, such as perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy and antisymmetric exchange, also referred to as Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI), because of the increased importance of interfacial effects. The presence of surface DMI has been demonstrated to fundamentally alter the structure of domain walls. Here we use the micromagnetic modelling framework to analyse the existence and structure of chiral domain walls, viewed as minimizers of a suitable micromagnetic energy functional. We explicitly construct the minimizers in the one-dimensional setting, both for the interior and edge walls, for a broad range of parameters. We then use the methods ofΓ-convergence to analyse the asymptotics of the two-dimensional magnetization patterns in samples of large spatial extent in the presence of weak applied magnetic fields.
‘Full fusion’ is not ineluctable during vesicular exocytosis of neurotransmitters by endocrine cells
Authors: Oleinick Alexander , Svir Irina , Amatore Christian
Published: January 2017

Vesicular exocytosis is an essential and ubiquitous process in neurons and endocrine cells by which neurotransmitters are released in synaptic clefts or extracellular fluids. It involves the fusion of a vesicle loaded with chemical messengers with the cell membrane through a nanometric fusion pore. In endocrine cells, unless it closes after some flickering (‘Kiss-and-Run’ events), this initial pore is
supposed
to expand exponentially, leading to a full integration of the vesicle membrane into the cell membrane—a stage called ‘full fusion’. We report here a compact analytical formulation that allows precise measurements of the fusion pore expansion extent and rate to be extracted from individual amperometric spike time courses. These data definitively establish that, during release of catecholamines, fusion pores enlarge at most to approximately one-fifth of the radius of their parent vesicle, hence ruling out the ineluctability of ‘full fusion’.
What North America's skeleton crew of megafauna tells us about community disassembly
Authors: Davis Matt
Published: January 2017

Functional trait diversity is increasingly used to model future changes in community structure despite a poor understanding of community disassembly's effects on functional diversity. By tracking the functional diversity of the North American large mammal fauna through the End-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction and up to the present, I show that contrary to expectations, functionally unique species are no more likely to go extinct than functionally redundant species. This makes total functional richness loss no worse than expected given similar taxonomic richness declines. However, where current species sit in functional space relative to pre-anthropogenic baselines is not random and likely explains ecosystem functional changes better than total functional richness declines. Prehistoric extinctions have left many extant species functionally isolated and future extinctions will cause even more rapid drops in functional richness.
Phylogenomics provides new insight into evolutionary relationships and genealogical discordance in the reef-building coral genusAcropora
Authors: Rosser Natalie L. , Thomas Luke , Stankowski Sean , Richards Zoe T. , Kennington W. Jason , Johnson Michael S.
Published: January 2017

Understanding the genetic basis of reproductive isolation is a long-standing goal of speciation research. In recently diverged populations, genealogical discordance may reveal genes and genomic regions that contribute to the speciation process. Previous work has shown that conspecific colonies ofAcroporathat spawn in different seasons (spring and autumn) are associated with highly diverged lineages of the phylogenetic markerPaxC. Here, we used 10 034 single-nucleotide polymorphisms to generate a genome-wide phylogeny and compared it with gene genealogies from thePaxCintron and the mtDNAControl Regionin 20 species ofAcropora, including three species with spring- and autumn-spawning cohorts. ThePaxCphylogeny separated conspecific autumn and spring spawners into different genetic clusters in all three species; however, this pattern was not supported in two of the three species at the genome level, suggesting a selective connection betweenPaxCand reproductive timing inAcroporacorals. This genome-wide phylogeny provides an improved foundation for resolving phylogenetic relationships inAcroporaand, combined withPaxC, provides a fascinating platform for future research into regions of the genome that influence reproductive isolation and speciation in corals.
Tropical ancient DNA reveals relationships of the extinct Bahamian giant tortoiseChelonoidis alburyorum
Authors: Kehlmaier Christian , Barlow Axel , Hastings Alexander K. , Vamberger Melita , Paijmans Johanna L. A. , Steadman David W. , Albury Nancy A. , Franz Richard , Hofreiter Michael , Fritz Uwe
Published: January 2017

Ancient DNA of extinct species from the Pleistocene and Holocene has provided valuable evolutionary insights. However, these are largely restricted to mammals and high latitudes because DNA preservation in warm climates is typically poor. In the tropics and subtropics, non-avian reptiles constitute a significant part of the fauna and little is known about the genetics of the many extinct reptiles from tropical islands. We have reconstructed the near-complete mitochondrial genome of an extinct giant tortoise from the Bahamas (Chelonoidis alburyorum) using an approximately 1 000-year-old humerus from a water-filled sinkhole (blue hole) on Great Abaco Island. Phylogenetic and molecular clock analyses place this extinct species as closely related to Galápagos (C. nigercomplex) and Chaco tortoises (C. chilensis), and provide evidence for repeated overseas dispersal in this tortoise group. The ancestors of extantChelonoidisspecies arrived in South America from Africa only after the opening of the Atlantic Ocean and dispersed from there to the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. Our results also suggest that the anoxic, thermally buffered environment of blue holes may enhance DNA preservation, and thus are opening a window for better understanding evolution and population history of extinct tropical species, which would likely still exist without human impact.
Uncertain-tree: discriminating among competing approaches to the phylogenetic analysis of phenotype data
Authors: Puttick Mark N. , O'Reilly Joseph E. , Tanner Alastair R. , Fleming James F. , Clark James , Holloway Lucy , Lozano-Fernandez Jesus , Parry Luke A. , Tarver James E. , Pisani Davide , Donoghue Philip C. J.
Published: January 2017

Morphological data provide the only means of classifying the majority of life's history, but the choice between competing phylogenetic methods for the analysis of morphology is unclear. Traditionally, parsimony methods have been favoured but recent studies have shown that these approaches are less accurate than the Bayesian implementation of the Mk model. Here we expand on these findings in several ways: we assess the impact of tree shape and maximum-likelihood estimation using the Mk model, as well as analysing data composed of both binary and multistate characters. We find that all methods struggle to correctly resolve deep clades within asymmetric trees, and when analysing small character matrices. The Bayesian Mk model is the most accurate method for estimating topology, but with lower resolution than other methods. Equal weights parsimony is more accurate than implied weights parsimony, and maximum-likelihood estimation using the Mk model is the least accurate method. We conclude that the Bayesian implementation of the Mk model should be the default method for phylogenetic estimation from phenotype datasets, and we explore the implications of our simulations in reanalysing several empirical morphological character matrices. A consequence of our finding is that high levels of resolution or the ability to classify species or groups with much confidence should not be expected when using small datasets. It is now necessary to depart from the traditional parsimony paradigms of constructing character matrices, towards datasets constructed explicitly for Bayesian methods.
Dung odours signal sex, age, territorial and oestrous state in white rhinos
Authors: Marneweck Courtney , Jürgens Andreas , Shrader Adrian M.
Published: January 2017

Mammals commonly communicate olfactorily via urine. However, the extent to which they communicate via dung, another waste product, is unknown. Behavioural studies suggest that mammals can obtain information from dung odours but are unclear about the information transmitted. Moreover, an understanding of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from dung is limited. To address this, we analysed the odours emitted from the dung of free-ranging white rhinos, and found that 2,3-dimethylundecane signalled an individual's sex, heptanal discriminated age class, nonane defined male territorial status and 2,6-dimethylundecane indicated female oestrous state. To validate these findings, we artificially reproduced key elements of the territorial and oestrous odour profiles (i.e. profiles likely to elicit behavioural responses from receivers). We then exposed free-ranging territorial males to these odours. In response, males elicited behaviours associated with the specific odours (e.g. territorial male (potential threat): reduced latency in assuming vigilance; oestrous female (potential mate): increased investigation). These results indicate that the VOCs identified from the dung of free-ranging individuals do transmit key information. Moreover, as white rhinos of all ages and sexes defecate communally, middens probably act as information centres. Furthermore, as many other mammals defecate communally, olfactory communication via dung odours is likely a widespread phenomenon.
Polymer dynamics of Alp7A reveals two ‘critical’ concentrations that govern dynamically unstable actin-like proteins
Authors: Petek Natalie A. , Derman Alan I. , Royal Jason A. , Pogliano Joe , Mullins R. Dyche
Published: January 2017

Dynamically unstable polymers capture and move cellular cargos in both bacteria and eukaryotes, but the regulation of their assembly remains poorly understood. Here we describe polymerization of Alp7A, a bacterial Actin-Like Protein (ALP) that segregates the low copy-number plasmid pLS20 inBacillus subtilis.Purified Alp7A forms dynamically unstable polymers with two critical points: an intrinsic critical concentration (0.6 μM), observed when ATP hydrolysis is blocked, and a dynamic critical concentration (10.3 μM), observed when ATP hydrolysis occurs. From biochemical and kinetic analysis, the intrinsic critical concentration reflects a balance between filament elongation and shortening, while the dynamic critical concentration reflects a balance between filament nucleation and catastrophic disassembly. Although Alp7A does not form stable polymers at physiological concentrations, rapid nucleation by an accessory factor, Alp7R, decreases the dynamic critical concentration into the physiological range. Intrinsic and dynamic critical concentrations are fundamental parameters that can be used to describe the behavior of all dynamically unstable polymers.
A quantitative description of the mouse piriform cortex
Authors: Srinivasan Shyam , Stevens Charles F
Published: January 2017

In this report, we provide a quantitative description for 2 aspects of the mouse piriform cortex. First, we give volumetric estimates of regions within the anterior and posterior piriform cortex. Second, we estimate the neuronal densities in each of these regions. From these two estimates, we calculate that the mouse piriform contains around half a million neurons equally distributed over the anterior and posterior piriform cortex. Quantitative descriptions such as these are important because they make it possible to construct realistic models and provide a constraint that theories of the olfactory circuit must fulfil. We show how quantitative descriptions can be useful for modelling by using our data to refine and improve earlier models of piriform cortex activity.
HLA class I binding prediction via convolutional neural networks
Authors: Vang Yeeleng S. , Xie Xiaohui
Published: January 2017

Many biological processes are governed by protein-ligand interactions. One such example is the recognition of self and non-self cells by the immune system. This immune response process is regulated by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) protein which is encoded by the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex. Understanding the binding potential between MHC and peptides can lead to the design of more potent, peptide-based vaccines and immunotherapies for infectious autoimmune diseases.

We apply machine learning techniques from the natural language processing (NLP) domain to address the task of MHC-peptide binding prediction. More specifically, we introduce a new distributed representation of amino acids, name HLA-Vec, that can be used for a variety of downstream proteomic machine learning tasks. We then propose a deep convolutional neural network architecture, name HLA-CNN, for the task of HLA class I-peptide binding prediction. Experimental results show combining the new distributed representation with our HLA-CNN architecture acheives state-of-the-art results in the majority of the latest two Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) weekly automated benchmark datasets. We further apply our model to predict binding on the human genome and identify 15 genes with potential for self binding. Codes are available athttps://github.com/uci-cbcl/HLA-bind.
Two sides of the same coin: monetary incentives concurrently improve and bias confidence judgments
Authors: Lebreton Maël , Langdon Shari , Slieker Matthijs J. , Nooitgedacht Jip S. , Goudriaan Anna E. , Denys Damiaan , Holst Ruth J. van , Luigjes Judy
Published: January 2017

Decisions are accompanied by a feeling of confidence, i.e., a belief about the decision being correct. Confidence accuracy is critical, notably in high-stakes situations such as medical or financial decisionmaking. Here, we investigated how incentive motivation influences confidence accuracy by combining a perceptual task with a confidence incentivization mechanism. Importantly, by varying the magnitude and valence (gains or losses) of monetary incentives, we orthogonalized their motivational and affective components. Corroborating theories of rational decision-making and motivation, our results first reveal that the motivational value of incentives improves aspects of confidence accuracy. However, in line with a value-confidence interaction hypothesis we further show that the affective value of incentives concurrently biases confidence reports, thus degrading confidence accuracy. Finally, we demonstrate that the motivational and affective effects of incentives differentially impact how confidence builds on perceptual evidence. Altogether, these findings may provide new hints about confidence miscalibration in healthy or pathological contexts.
Longitudinal differential abundance analysis of microbial marker-gene surveys using smoothing splines
Authors: Paulson Joseph N. , Talukder Hisham , Corrada Bravo Héctor
Published: January 2017

Background

High-throughput targeted sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA marker gene is often used to profile and characterize the taxonomic composition of microbial communities. This type of big high-through sequencing data is rapidly being applied to various infectious diseases like diarrhea. While many studies are limited to single “snapshots” of these communities, there is increasing recognition that longitudinal profiling of these communities are required to understand community dynamics and the complex relationships between dynamics and phenotypes of interest. Statistical methods that determine microbial features that are differentially expressed are required as an initial step to characterizing phenotypic associations with community dynamics in big data and infectious diseases.

Results

We present a novel method for longitudinal marker-gene surveys based on smoothing splines that allows discovery and inference of time periods where specific microbial features are differentially abundant. We applied our method to three 16S marker-gene surveys, including, groups of gnotobiotic mice on two diets, patients challenged with ETEC (H10407), and a vaginal microbiome of healthy women. Employing our methodology we recover known bacterial differences and highlight a few extra species providing insight into when specific changes occurred. Additionally, in the cohort challenged with ETEC we recover proposed probiotic bacteriaBacteroides xylanisolvens, Collinsella aerofaciens, andFaecalibacterium prausnitziiassociatons with healthy individuals.

Conclusions

The method presented is, to our knowledge, the first flexible method of its kind implemented as a software capable of detecting time periods of differential abundance for microbial features species between two or more sample groups of interest. Our method is available within themetagenomeSeqopen-source software for analysis of metagenomic package available through the Bioconductor project and is termed metaSplines.
Taxonomic identification of airborne pollen from complex environmental samples by DNA metabarcoding: a methodological study for optimizing protocols
Authors: Leontidou Kleopatra , Vernesi Cristiano , De Groeve Johannes , Cristofolini Fabiana , Vokou Despoina , Cristofori Antonella
Published: January 2017

Metabarcoding is a promising DNA-based method for identifying airborne pollen from environmental samples with advantages over microscopic methods. This method requires several preparatory steps of the samples, with the extraction protocol being of fundamental importance to obtain an optimal DNA yield. Currently, there is no consensus in sample preparation and DNA extraction, especially for gravimetric pollen samplers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop protocols to process environmental samples for pollen DNA extraction and further metabarcoding analysis, and to assess the efficacy of these protocols for the taxonomic assignment of airborne pollen, collected by gravimetric (Tauber trap) and volumetric samplers (Burkard spore trap). Protocols were tested across an increasing complexity of samples, from single-species pure pollen to environmental samples. A short fragment (about 150 base pair) of chloroplast DNA was amplified by universal primers for plants (trnL). After PCR amplification, amplicons were Sanger-sequenced and taxonomic assignment was accomplished by comparison to a custom-made reference database including chloroplast DNA sequences of 46 plant families, including most of the anemophilous taxa occurring in the study area (Trentino, Italy, Eastern Italian Alps). Using as a benchmark the classical morphological pollen analysis, it emerged that DNA metabarcoding is applicable efficiently across a complexity of samples, provided that sample preparation, DNA extraction and amplification protocols are specifically optimized.
Deconvolution of multiple infections inPlasmodium falciparumfrom high throughput sequencing data
Authors: Zhu Sha Joe , Almagro-Garcia Jacob , McVean Gil
Published: January 2017

Motivation

The presence of multiple infecting strains of the malarial parasitePlasmodium falciparumaffects key phenotypic traits, including drug resistance and risk of severe disease. Advances in protocols and sequencing technology have made it possible to obtain high-coverage genome-wide sequencing data from blood samples and blood spots taken in the field. However, analysing and interpreting such data is challenging because of the high rate of multiple infections present.

Results

We have developed a statistical method and implementation for deconvolving multiple genome sequences present in an individual with mixed infections. The software packageDEploiduses haplotype structure within a reference panel of clonal isolates as a prior for haplotypes present in a given sample. It estimates the number of strains, their relative proportions and the haplotypes presented in a sample, allowing researchers to study multiple infection in malaria with an unprecedented level of detail.

Availability and implementation

The open source implementationDEploidis freely available athttps://github.com/mcveanlab/DEploidunder the conditions of the GPLv3 license. An R version is available athttps://github.com/mcveanlab/DEploid-r.

Contact

joe.zhu@well.ox.ac.ukormcvean@well.ox.ac.uk
AIFM1 mutation presenting with fatal encephalomyopathy and mitochondrial disease in an infant
Authors: Morton Sarah U. , Prabhu Sanjay P. , Lidov Hart G.W. , Shi Jiahai , Anselm Irina , Brownstein Catherine A. , Bainbridge Matthew N. , Beggs Alan H. , Vargas Sara O. , Agrawal Pankaj B.
Published: January 2017

Apoptosis-inducing factor mitochondrion-associated 1 (AIFM1), encoded by the gene AIFM1, has roles in electron transport, apoptosis, ferredoxin metabolism, reactive oxygen species generation, and immune system regulation. Here we describe a patient with a novel AIFM1 variant presenting unusually early in life with mitochondrial disease, rapid deterioration, and death. Autopsy, at the age of 4 mo, revealed features of mitochondrial encephalopathy, myopathy, and involvement of peripheral nerves with axonal degeneration. In addition, there was microvesicular steatosis in the liver, thymic noninvolution, follicular bronchiolitis, and pulmonary arterial medial hypertrophy. This report adds to the clinical and pathological spectrum of disease related to AIFM1 mutations and provides insights into the role of AIFM1 in cellular function.
Cross-cultural comparison of consumer pre-purchase decision-making
Authors: Assawavichairoj Sutthipat , Taghian Mehdi
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cultural differences in female consumers’ motivation to purchase appearance-enhancing products, particularly anti-aging creams.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a qualitative research design to collect the data. Focus group discussions were used. The participants were selected from Thai and Australian females, 25-45 years old in Melbourne representing the most frequent users of anti-aging products.

Findings

The results indicated variations among participants in their motivation to seek a better appearance. The motivation ranged from a combination of striving to achieve an ideal self and a high level of social acceptability through maintaining youthful appearance and improving on the perceived declining youthful appearance. Using anti-aging products turned out to be a means for taking care of oneself, achieving better social acceptability and improving self-image. These key motivations are inspired by the individual’s social condition and from the reactions they receive from others. These motivations are shared by all participants, but within different cultural perspectives.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation is in relation to the true expression of attitudes by respondents, particularly in regard to the discussion of privately held beliefs about self-image, social acceptability and personal appearance. Additionally, the variations between cultural perceptions are only indicative of real differences between collectivist and individualistic cultures.

Practical implications

Managers can adopt a cultural framework for understanding their consumers’ motivations to enhance their appearance, formulate more accurately their marketing strategy and activate and satisfy their consumers’ demand and better inform their new product developments.

Originality/value

The analysis explains and compares the differences and similarities in female consumers’ motivations for anti-aging product consumption of two fundamentally different cultural value systems.
Agile supply chain management (ASCM): a management decision-making approach
Authors: Malakouti Maryam , Rezaei Sajad , Shahijan Milad Kalantari
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine agile supply chain management (ASCM) among SMEs in manufacturing-related services sector. The study propose that entrepreneurial orientation (EO), participative management style, supplier relations, resource management, just-in-time (JIT) methodology and technology utilization (TU) are several drivers of ASCM – an effective management decision-making approach.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 197 questionnaires were collected among SMEs to empirically test the proposed model. Structural equation modelling was employed using partial least squares approach to assess measurement and structural model for reflective and formative constructs.

Findings

The results reveal that EO, supplier relations, resource management, JIT methodology and TU positively influence ASCM while participative management style is not a predictor towards an effective ASCM. Moreover, EO was found to be a second-order formative construct comprising of innovativeness, risk taking and proactiveness, and ASCM is a first-order formative construct.

Originality/value

Prior literature regarding supply chain management (SCM) has focussed mainly on critical success factors of SCM and green SCM. Limited empirical studies have examined the influence of EO, participative management style, supplier relations, resource management, JIT methodology and TU on ASCM among SMEs in manufacturing-related services sector.
Market segmentation and pricing strategies based on product platform
Authors: Su Qin , Liu Weiyan
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of optimal pricing strategies for two substitutable products from the same product platform and the effects of variations in product architecture.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors design a product line which consists of two substitutable products and use a traditional market segmentation research framework to analyze the pricing and product design strategies.

Findings

It is concluded that profit tends to rise in a centralized supply chain at the expense of market share of the integral product. In a decentralized supply chain, one product will reduce its market share so as to enhance the degree of modularity. Although enhancing the extent of integration of a product will bring in more flexibility during the design of the product line, this will do so at the expense of the market share of the other product.

Originality/value

The authors find that the two products form a product line and share a common module belonging to the platform, so any changes in the modules (changes in product architecture) not only affect the product in question but also the other one in the product line.
Own brand strategy of the Japanese apparel manufacturers
Authors: Urakami Takuya , Wu Xueying
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the own brand strategies undertaken by Japanese apparel manufacturers, and illuminate the characteristics of those apparel manufacturers who adopt the SPA business model.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey was sent to 4,417 apparel manufacturers in Japan of which a total of 1,211 were deemed usable (response rate of 27.47 percent). Logit regression analysis was then employed to identify factors affecting the own brand strategies adopted by Japanese apparel manufacturers.

Findings

The main findings are as follows: apparel manufacturers having access to external designers, and who collect information relating to consumer needs for production planning tend to have their own brands; apparel manufacturers located in Tokyo have added benefits associated with launching their own brands than those located in other cities; the size of the company behind the brand development is insignificant; and therefore, SME apparel manufacturers have equal opportunities in developing their own brands, which could flourish in the future.

Research limitations/implications

The present study is limited in that it focuses solely on exogenous factors. Strategic decision-making processes, typical of the distribution structures of apparel industries, influence the apparel relationship between retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. Thus, the distribution structure and the relationships require further investigation studies.

Originality/value

Because of a lack of published data, no empirical studies investigating the effectiveness of own brand strategies developed by Japanese apparel manufacturers currently exist. The present study aims to address this by conducting questionnaire surveys with all Japanese apparel manufacturers and then using logit regression analysis, identify the primary factors influencing own brand strategy. This study clarifies the situation regarding the survival of SMEs in the apparel market, considering only those apparel manufacturers who intend to launch their own brands.
What does it take to implement open innovation? Towards an integrated capability framework
Authors: Hosseini Sabiölla , Kees Alexandra , Manderscheid Jonas , Röglinger Maximilian , Rosemann Michael
Published: January 2017

Purpose

In a world of ever-changing corporate environments and reduced product life cycles, most organizations cannot afford anymore to innovate on their own. Hence, they open their innovation processes to incorporate knowledge of external sources and to increase their innovation potential. As the shift toward open innovation (OI) is difficult and makes many initiatives fail, the question arises which capabilities organizations should develop to successfully implement OI. As the literature encompasses mature but isolated streams on OI capabilities, there is a need for an integrated capability framework. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes the open innovation capability framework (OICF) that compiles and structures capabilities relevant for implementing OI. The OICF covers the outside-in and coupled processes of OI. To integrate multiple streams of the OI literature, the OICF builds on a structured literature review. The OICF was also validated in a two-step review process with OI experts from academia and industry.

Findings

The OICF comprises 23 capability areas grouped along the factors such as strategic alignment, governance, methods, information technology, people, and culture. To analyze the existing body of knowledge on OI capabilities, the authors compare the OICF with other OI-related capability frameworks and compile a heatmap based on the results of the literature review. The authors also discuss the experts’ feedback on individual factors of the OICF as well as on interdependencies among these factors.

Practical implications

The OICF provides practitioners with a structured overview of the capabilities to consider when implementing OI. Based on the OICF, practitioners can define the scope of their OI initiatives. They can use the OICF as a foundation for prioritizing, selecting, and operationalizing capability areas as well as for deriving implementation roadmaps.

Originality/value

The OICF is the first framework to take a holistic perspective on OI capabilities. It integrates mature but isolated research streams of OI. It helps practitioners define the scope of OI initiatives and academics gain insights into the current state of the art on OI capabilities.
BPM governance: a literature analysis of performance evaluation
Authors: Ensslin Leonardo , Ensslin Sandra Rolim , Dutra Ademar , Nunes Nei Antônio , Reis Cassiano
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to collect data and select a bibliographic portfolio (BP) of the literature on the performance evaluation of business process management (BPM) governance, in order to highlight studies aligned with business process governance, and with scientific recognition and its bibliometric parameters.

Design/methodology/approach

The research method is qualitative and the process of identification, selection, and analysis of the articles in the BP took place through evaluation and interpretation by the authors of this research. Regarding data collection, this research used primary data in the selection of the BP, and secondary data when the authors analyzed the articles.

Findings

The paper selects a set of 19 articles with scientific recognition and aligned with the research topic, which refers to the performance evaluation of BPM governance. This set is called the BP, and highlights and contains the most often present journals, articles, authors, and keywords found in the search performed by the authors.

Originality/value

This research uses thorough procedures for the selection process that differ from traditional procedures: the selection process is structured in a way that allows checking of each research stage; the research topic is fragmented into many areas of study and the search is carried out simultaneously in all these areas; and the researchers interact with the search process and as they expand their learning they adjust the search direction.
Legislation for building back better of horizontal infrastructure
Authors: Bassett Mark , Wilkinson Suzanne , Mannakkara Sandeeka
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine how post-disaster legislation can be used to support building back better (BBB) in the horizontal infrastructure sector (roading, water, wastewater and stormwater networks).

Design/methodology/approach

A case study approach was taken looking at the rebuild following the Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand. Data were collected through document analysis and semi-structured open-ended interviews with members of the organization responsible for implementing the horizontal infrastructure rebuild.

Findings

The results showed that the post-disaster legislative actions taken in Christchurch were comparable to existing findings on post-disaster legislative best practices in developed countries. This study confirmed that post-disaster legislation is an effective mechanism to support BBB through enforcing BBB concepts such as risk reduction and better implementation, and facilitating the recovery process to improve efficiency.

Research limitations/implications

It is recommended that this study is extended to conduct similar case studies in other countries to further explore legislative implications in different sectors as well as different legislative environments.

Originality/value

This paper makes a valuable contribution to existing research on how post-disaster legislation can be used to support BBB in the horizontal infrastructure sector. The findings also add to wider knowledge on the Canterbury earthquakes recovery process.
A multi-dimensional joint confidence limit approach to mixed mode planning for round-the-clock projects
Authors: Shahtaheri Maryam , Haas Carl Thomas , Salimi Tabassom
Published: January 2017

Purpose

Good planning is key to good project performance. However, for the sub-class of round-the-clock projects requiring mixed mode planning a suitable planning approach does not exist. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate such an approach.

Design/methodology/approach

Development of the approach builds on a synthesis and extensions of previous work related to projects with round-the-clock schedules, containing multiple workflows (sequential/cyclical). This approach considers the interdependence among shift-schedule, productivity, calendar duration, and risk registers. It quantifies the confidence in those strategies using a Monte Carlo and a multi-dimensional joint confidence limit (JCL) simulation platform.

Findings

n of workflows and their interdependencies. Also, the platform results show that the deviation between the deterministic outcomes and the simulated ones are a good indicator when dealing with projects with minimal tolerance for possible imposed mitigation strategies (e.g. round-the-clock projects).

Research limitations/implications

The validation of the approach is limited to a multi-billion dollar nuclear refurbishment case study and functional demonstration. The applicable class of projects is limited, and includes those for which failure of cost, schedule, or quality implies project failure.

Originality/value

It is anticipated that the proposed approach will assist with developing a realistic planning strategy by incorporating various factors and constraints under the impact of risks and uncertainty. This may lead to a more reliable determination of outcomes for round-the-clock projects.
Conceptualizing and measuring life priorities of Generation Y: evidences from Indian context
Authors: Khera Shikha N. , Malik Sahil
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the life priorities of Gen Y, the largest cohort of generation in India. Further variations in the life priorities of Gen Y with regard to their demographics have also been analyzed.

Design/methodology/approach

Ten-item Schwartz Value Inventory was subjected to factor analysis to explore defining factors for studying the life priorities of Gen Y in Indian context. Respondents ranking of the factors so revealed will allow us to study their preferred life priorities. The effect of demographics was assessed by employing an independent samplet-test.

Findings

Factor analysis revealed two factors, “materialism” and “altruism,” and Gen Y preferred materialism over altruism as their life priority. Gender and work experience did not show significant differences with regard to the life preferences Gen Y.

Practical implications

Gen Y is increasing its presence at workplaces across the world, and limited research has been done to study their motivations, needs and expectations at work in Indian context. This study could help managers gain insightful information related to the life priorities of Gen Y which could be harnessed to make effective strategies for their recruitment and retention.

Originality/value

The paper provides a valuable contribution by measuring the life priorities of Gen Y in India and adds to the scant literature on this cohort of generation.
The challenges of organizational agility: part 2
Authors: Appelbaum Steven H. , Calla Rafael , Desautels Dany , Hasan Lisa N.
Published: January 2017

Purpose

Planned episodic change programs, rigid processes and traditional structures, optimized for efficiency rather than agility, are no longer appropriate in a context where competitive advantage is fueled by high-speed innovation, supported by a more entrepreneurial mindset. The purpose of this paper is to offer a review of relevant research to provide an informed case for continuous strategic transformation facilitated by enhanced organizational agility. The concept of agility is explored, defined and a framework for categorizing agility-enhancing capabilities is presented. Specific aspects of this agility framework are examined to better understand how these interrelated competencies contribute to overall corporate performance in this fast-paced world.

Design/methodology/approach

A range of published empirical and practitioner research articles were reviewed to study the concepts of organizational agility and transformation as critical factors contributing to sustained competitive advantage, organizational performance and survival in the increasingly competitive global context. This literature review explores how organizations are overcoming the challenges imposed by their traditional structures, cultures and leadership models and identifies dynamic competencies to be developed to achieve a greater level of corporate agility.

Findings

Increased organizational agility increases the ability to respond proactively to unexpected environmental changes. The commitment to continuous transformation and agile strategies implies changes at all levels of the organization from its structure, through its leadership and decision-making dynamics, down to the skills and interpersonal relationships of the individuals implementing the agile mission.

Research limitations/implications

There is a gap in the literature with respect to agility, namely that most research focuses on the characteristics of agile organizations, with little attention given to how to develop agile capabilities and embed the commitment to continuous change deep into the corporate DNA, beyond the process level, into the psyche of the people driving the organization.

Practical implications

Managers should consider agility as an overarching principle guiding strategic and operational activities. Fostering agility-enhancing capabilities will be paramount in ensuring the successful integration of agility as a performance enhancing paradigm.

Social implications

For small- and medium-sized companies with limited resources, this reality makes staying relevant an uphill battle but also opens windows of opportunity. The challenge of the next century for large organizations will be to rekindle their innovative agile beginnings and for start-ups to continue to foster their dynamic capabilities as they grow.

Originality/value

The paper provides practical and empirical evidence of the importance of enterprise agility and specific dynamic capabilities on firm performance.
Tools and techniques to resolve organizational conflicts amicably
Authors: Rao M.S.
Published: January 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer tools and techniques to resolve organizational conflicts amicably.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper explains types, merits and demerits of conflicts. It outlines innovative tools and techniques to resolve conflicts. It unveils five conflict management styles. It draws a blueprint to resolve conflicts amicably.

Findings

It enlightens that conflicts cannot be eliminated in organizations. They can only be minimized if leaders adopt proactive attitude.

Practical implications

The tools and techniques to resolve conflicts can be applied in any industry and in any size of organization.

Social implications

The social implications of this research suggest that leaders can resolve conflicts amicably with people-orientation without compromising their goals and objectives.

Originality/value

It offers appropriate conflict-handling styles and modes as per the conflict and context. It offers practical ideas and innovative tools and techniques to resolve conflicts.