bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Application of High-Speed T1 Sequences for High-Quality Hepatic Arterial Phase Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Authors: Park Yang Shin , Lee Chang Hee , Kim Jeong Woo , Lee Young-Sun , Paek MunYoung , Kim Kyeong Ah
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The aim of this study was to compare intraindividual single and multiple arterial phase acquisitions and evaluate which acquisition method was more advantageous for obtaining high-quality hepatic arterial phase in gadoxetic acid–enhanced liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Materials and Methods

Sixty-seven patients who underwent gadoxetic acid–enhanced liver MRIs and had all 3 kinds of acquisitions (single, dual, and triple arterial phases) were retrospectively included. For hepatic arterial phase imaging, controlled aliasing in parallel imaging results in higher acceleration (CAIPIRINHA) with or without time-resolved imaging with interleaved stochastic trajectories (TWIST) was used. The adequacy of optimal hepatic arterial timing was assessed and respiratory motion artifacts were rated using a 5-point scale, with the highest score indicating the worst image quality. Optimal timing and respiratory motion artifacts among 3 different acquisitions were compared using Fisher exact test and repeated measures one-way analysis of variance with multiple comparisons.

Results

Optimal timing of hepatic arterial phase was observed in 89.6% (60/67) of single arterial phase acquisitions and 98.5% (66/67) of both dual and triple arterial phase acquisitions (P = 0.015). Respiratory motion artifact was significantly lower in single and dual arterial acquisitions than in triple arterial acquisition (mean score, 1.70 vs 1.90 vs 2.49; P < 0.001), although there was no significant difference between single and dual arterial acquisitions (P = 0.091).

Conclusions

A 15-second breath-hold dual arterial phase acquisition during gadoxetic acid–enhanced MRI reliably offers well-timed hepatic arterial phase with less respiratory motion artifact. However, a 13-second breath-hold single arterial phase acquisition was most effective in reducing respiratory motion artifact.
Conservation, development and the management of infectious disease: avian influenza in China, 2004–2012
Authors: Wu Tong , Perrings Charles
Published: April 2017

There is growing evidence that wildlife conservation measures have mixed effects on the emergence and spread of zoonotic disease. Wildlife conservation has been found to have both positive (dilution) and negative (contagion) effects. In the case of avian influenza H5N1 in China, the focus has been on negative effects. Lakes and wetlands attracting migrating waterfowl have been argued to be disease hotspots. We consider the implications of waterfowl conservation for H5N1 infections in both poultry and humans between 2004 and 2012. We model both environmental and economic risk factors. Environmental risk factors comprise the conditions that structure interaction between wild and domesticated birds. Economic risk factors comprise the cost of disease, biosecurity measures and disease risk mitigation. We find that H5N1 outbreaks in poultry populations are indeed sensitive to the existence of wild-domesticated bird mixing zones, but not in the way we would expect from the literature. We find that risk is decreasing in protected migratory bird habitat. Since the number of human cases is increasing in the number of poultry outbreaks, as expected, the implication is that the protection of wetlands important for migratory birds offers unexpected human health benefits.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘Conservation, biodiversity and infectious disease: scientific evidence and policy implications’.
Draft genome sequence of aCandidatusBrocadia bacterium enriched from tropical-climate activated sludge
Authors: Liu Xianghui , Arumugam Krithika , Natarajan Gayathri , Seviour Thomas W. , Drautz-Moses Daniela I. , Wuertz Stefan , Law Yingyu , Williams Rohan B. H.
Published: April 2017

We present the draft genome of an anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) bacterium, cluster IIICandidatusBrocadia, which was enriched in an anammox reactor. A 3.2 Mb genome sequence comprising 168 contigs was assembled, in which 2,765 gene-coding regions, 47 tRNAs, and 5S, 16S and 23S ribosomal RNAs were annotated. No evidence for the presence of a nitric oxide-forming nitrite reductase was found.
Gestational age at birth and risk of intellectual disability without a common genetic cause: findings from the Stockholm Youth Cohort
Authors: Heuvelman Hein , Abel Kathryn , Wicks Susanne , Gardner Renee , Johnstone Edward , Lee Brian , Magnusson Cecilia , Dalman Christina , Rai Dheeraj
Published: April 2017

Background

Preterm birth is linked to intellectual disability and there is evidence to suggest post-term birth may also incur risk. However, these associations have not yet been investigated in the absence of common genetic causes of intellectual disability (where risk associated with late delivery may be preventable) or with methods allowing stronger causal inference from non-experimental data. We aimed to examine risk of intellectual disability without a common genetic cause across the entire range of gestation, using a matched-sibling design to account for unmeasured confounding by shared familial factors.

Methods and Findings

We conducted a population-based retrospective study using data from the Stockholm Youth Cohort (n=499,621) and examined associations in a nested cohort of matched siblings (n=8,034). Children born at non-optimal gestational duration (before/after 40 weeks 3 days) were at greater risk of intellectual disability. Risk was greatest among those born extremely early (adjusted OR24 weeks=14.54 [95% CI 11.46–18.44]), lessening with advancing gestational age toward term (aOR32 weeks=3.59 [3.22–4.01]; aOR37 weeks=1.50 [1.38–1.63]); aOR38 weeks=1.26 [1.16-1.37]; aOR39weeks=1.10 [1.04-1.17]) and increasing with advancing gestational age post-term (aOR42 weeks=1.16 [1.08–1.25]; aOR42 weeks=1.41 [1.21–1.64]; aOR44 weeks=1.71 [1.34–2.18]; aOR45 weeks=2.07 [1.47–2.92]). Associations persisted in a nested cohort of matched outcome-discordant siblings suggesting they were robust against confounding from shared genetic or environmental traits, although there may have been residual confounding by unobserved non-shared characteristics. Risk of intellectual disability was greatest among children showing evidence of fetal growth restriction, especially when birth occurred before or after term.

Conclusions

Birth at non-optimal gestational duration may be linked causally with greater risk of intellectual disability. The mechanisms underlying these associations need to be elucidated as they will be relevant to clinical practice concerning elective delivery within the term period and the mitigation of risk in children who are born post-term.
The neural circuitry of emotion-induced distortions of trust
Authors: Engelmann Jan B. , Meyer Friederike , Ruff Christian C. , Fehr Ernst
Published: April 2017

Aversive emotions are likely to be a key source of irrational human decision-making but still little is known about the neural circuitry underlying emotion-cognition interactions during social behavior. Here, we show that incidental aversive emotions distort trust decisions and cause significant changes in the associated neural circuitry. Experimentally-induced negative affect reduced trust, suppressed trust-specific activity in left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and reduced functional connectivity between TPJ and emotion-related regions such as the amygdala. The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) seems to play a key role in mediating the impact of emotion on behavior: Functional connectivity of this brain area with left TPJ was associated with trust in the absence of negative emotions, but aversive emotions disrupted this association between TPJ-pSTS connectivity and behavioral trust. Our findings may be useful for a better understanding of the neural circuitry of affective distortions and may help identify the neural bases of psychiatric diseases that are associated with emotion-related psychological and behavioral dysfunctions.
Synaptophysin is a β-Amyloid Target that Regulates Synaptic Plasticity and Seizure Susceptibility in an Alzhiemer’s Model
Authors: Adams Daniel J. , Shen Chong , Levenga Josien , Basta Tamara , Eisenberg Stephen P. , Mapes James , Hampton Lukas , Grounds Kelly , Hoeffer Charles A. , Stowell Michael H. B.
Published: April 2017

Intro/abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a condition characterized by cognitive deficits and progressive loss of memory, is causally linked to the short amyloid peptide Aβ42, which disrupts normal neurotransmission1,2. Neurotransmitter (NT) release from synaptic vesicles (SV) requires coordinated binding of the conserved core secretory machinery comprised of the soluble NSF attachment protein receptor (vSNARE) synaptobrevin 2 (VAMP2) on the SV and the cognate tSNAREs on the plasma membrane. Synaptophysin (SYP) is the most abundant SV protein3and the major pre-fusion binding partner of VAMP24. A major challenge in understanding the etiology and prevention of AD is determining the proteins directly targeted by Aβ42 and elucidating if these targets mediate disease phenotypes. Here we demonstrate that Aβ42 binds to SYP with picomolar affinity and disrupts the SYP/VAMP2 complex resulting in inhibition of both neurotransmitter release and synaptic plasticity. While functionally redundant paralogs of SYP have masked its critical activity in knockout studies5,6, we now demonstrate a profound seizure susceptibility phenotype in SYP knockout mice that is recapitulated in an AD model mouse. Our studies imply a subtle yet critical role for SYP in the synaptic vesicle cycle and the etiology of AD.
Disease mechanism, drug-target and biomarker prediction software: Application on prostate cancer and validation
Authors: Altay Gokmen , Nurmemmedov Elmar , Kesari Santosh , Neal David E.
Published: April 2017

We present an R software package that performs at genome-wide level differential network analysis and infers only disease-specific molecular interactions between two different cell conditions. This helps revealing the disease mechanism and predicting most influential genes as potential drug targets or biomarkers of the disease condition of interest. As an exemplary analysis, we performed an application of the software over LNCaP datasets and, out of approximately 25000 genes, predicted CXCR7 and CXCR4 together as drug targets of LNCaP prostate cancer dataset. We further successfully validated them with our initial wet-lab experiments. The introduced software can be applied to all the diseases, especially cancer, with gene expression data of two different conditions (e.g. tumor vs normal) and thus has the potential of a global benefit. As a distinct remark, our software provide the causal disease mechanism with multiple potential drug-targets rather than a single independent target prediction.

Availability

The introduced R software package for the analysis is available in CRAN athttps://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/dc3netand also athttps://github.com/altayg/dc3net
Position Effect Variegation in natural populations not explained by common variation in known modifiers
Authors: Kelsey Keegan J. P. , Clark Andrew G.
Published: April 2017

Changes in chromatin state may drive changes in gene expression, and it is of growing interest to understand the population genetic forces that drive differences in chromatin state. Here, we use the phenomenon of position effect variegation (PEV), a well-studied proxy for chromatin state, to explore the genetic architecture of natural variation in factors that modify chromatin state. While previous mutation screens have identified over 150 suppressors and enhancers of PEV, it remains unknown to what extent allelic variation in these modifiers mediates inter-individual variation in chromatin state. Is natural variation in PEV mediated by segregating variation in known Su(var) and E(var) genes, or is the trait polygenic, with many variants mapping elsewhere in the genome? We designed a mapping study that directly answers this question and suggests that the bulk of the variance in PEV does not map to genes with prior annotated impact to PEV. Instead, we find enrichment of topP-value ranked associations that suggest impact to active promoter and transcription start site proximal regions. This work provides a quantitative view of the role naturally segregating autosomal variants play in modifying PEV, a phenomenon that continues to shape our understanding of chromatin state and epigenetics.
Late Bayesian inference in sensorimotor behavior
Authors: Remington Evan , Jazayeri Mehrdad
Published: April 2017

Sensorimotor skills rely on performing noisy sensorimotor computations on noisy sensory measurements. Bayesian models suggest that humans compensate for measurement noise and reduce behavioral variability by biasing perception toward prior expectations. Whether the same holds for noise in sensorimotor computations is not known. Testing human subjects in tasks with different levels of sensorimotor complexity, we found a similar bias-variance tradeoff associated with increased sensorimotor noise. This result was accurately captured by a model which implements Bayesian inference after – not before – sensorimotor transformation. These results indicate that humans perform “late inference” downstream of sensorimotor computations rather than, or in addition to, “early inference” in the perceptual domain. The brain thus possesses internal models of noise in both sensory measurements and sensorimotor computations.
Protein Structural Disorder Of The Envelope V3 Loop Contributes To The Switch In Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Cell Tropism
Authors: Jiang Xiaowei , Feyertag Felix , Robertson David L.
Published: April 2017

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope gp120 is partly an intrinsically disordered (unstructured/disordered) protein as it contains regions that do not fold into well-defined protein structures. These disordered regions play important roles in HIV's life cycle, particularly, V3 loop-dependent cell entry, which determines how the virus uses two coreceptors on immune cells, the chemokine receptors CCR5 (R5), CXCR4 (X4) or both (R5X4 virus). Most infecting HIV-1 variants utilise CCR5, while a switch to CXCR4-use occurs in the majority of infections. Why does this ‘rewiring’ event occur in HIV-1 infected patients? As changes in the charge of the V3 loop are associated with this receptor switch and it has been suggested that charged residues promote structure disorder, we hypothesise that the intrinsic disorder of the V3 loop plays a role in determining cell tropism. To test this we use three independent data sets of gp120 to analyse V3 loop disorder. We find that the V3 loop of X4 virus has significantly higher intrinsic disorder tendency than R5 and R5X4 virus, while R5X4 virus has the lowest. These results indicate that structural disorder plays an important role in determining HIV-1 cell tropism and CXCR4 binding. We speculate that changes in N-linked glycosylation associated with tropism change (from R5 to X4) are required to stabilise the V3 loop with increased disorder tendency during HIV-1 evolution. We discuss the potential evolutionary mechanisms leading to the fixation of disorder promoting mutations and the adaptive potential of protein structural disorder in viral host adaptation.
Reassessment of lesion-associated gene and variant pathogenicity in focal human epilepsies
Authors: Neupert Lisa M. , Nothnagel Michael , May Patrick , Palotie Aarno , Daly Mark , Nürnberg Peter , Blümcke Ingmar , Lal Dennis
Published: April 2017

Purpose

Increasing availability of surgically resected brain tissue from Focal Cortical Dysplasia and low-grade epilepsy-associated tumor patients fostered large-scale genetic examination. However, assessment of germline and somatic variant pathogenicity remains difficult.

Methods

Here, we critically reevaluated the pathogenicity for all neuropathology-associated variants reported to date in the PubMed and ClinVar databases, including 12 disease-related genes and 88 neuropathology-associated missense variants. We (1) assessed evolutionary gene constraint using thepLIand missensezscores, (2) applied guidelines by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), and (3) predicted pathogenicity by using PolyPhen-2, CADD, and GERP.

Results

Constraint analysis classified only seven out of 12 genes to be likely disease-associated, while 35 (40%) of those 88 variants were classified as being variants of unknown significance (VUS) and 53 (60%) as being likely pathogenic (LPII). Pathogenicity prediction yielded discrimination between neuropathology-associated variants (LPII and VUS) and rare variant scores obtained from individuals present in the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD).

Conclusion

We conclude that several VUS are likely disease-associated and will be reclassified by future molecular evidence. In summary, interpretation of lesion-associated gene variants remains complex while the application of current ACMG guidelines including bioinformatic pathogenicity prediction will help improving interpretation and prediction.
A computational study about the mechanism of action of metformin on hepatic gluconeogenesis, focused on its ability to create stable pseudo-aromatic copper complexes
Authors: Rebecchi Fabio
Published: April 2017

Metformin is the best therapeutic choice for treating type 2 Diabetes.

Despite this, and the fact it has been prescribed worldwide for decades, its mechanism of gluconeogenesis inhibition is still unknown.

In the following work a novel mechanism of inhibition is suggested: that metformin performs its action on the target enzyme not as a pure molecule but, after sequestering endogenous cellular copper, as a copper complex.

This result was obtained using chemoinformatics methods including homology modeling for the creation of the target enzyme’s tridimensional virtual structure, molecular docking for both the determination of the movement of the prosthetic group inside its cavity and for the identification of the best ligand poses for the metformin copper complexes, and eventually pharmacophore modeling and virtual screening to find alternative virtual leads that could achieve similar effects.

The simulations show the complex binding as a non competitive inhibitor to the large exit of the mitochondrial glycerophosphate dehydrogenase enzyme’s FAD cavity, preventing FAD movement inside the cavity and/or quinone interaction and therefore its electron transfer function.

The proposed mechanism seems to be successful at explaining a wide range of existing experimental results, both regarding measurements of metformin non-competitive inhibition of GPD2 and the role of copper and pH in its action.

The virtual screening outcome of at least two similarly active purchasable molecule hints to an easy way to experimentally test the proposed mechanisms.

In fact, the virtual leads are very similar to the copper complex but quite different from metformin alone, and a laboratory confirmation of their activity should plausibly imply that metformin acts in synergy with copper, giving us the ability to design new antidiabetic drugs in a novel and more rational fashion, with significant savings in research costs and efforts.
A minority-ruled population coding of kinematics in the striatum
Authors: Taouali Wahiba , Rueda-Orozco Pavel E. , Robbe David
Published: April 2017

The structure of population activity in the dorsolateral striatum during the performance of motor sequences has not been characterized and it is unclear if striatal ensembles encode (predict) kinematic parameters defining how sequences are executed. Here we analyzed hundreds of striatal spike trains from naive and trained rats performing a running sequence. We found that the population response was composed of a diversity of phasic modulations covering the entire sequence. The accuracy of kinematics encoding by single neurons was around chance level but improved when neuronal ensembles were considered. The distribution of single-neuron contributions to ensemble encoding was highly skewed with a minority of neurons responsible for most of the encoding accuracy. Importantly, running speed ensemble encoding improved after learning. We propose that during motor learning, striatal ensembles adjust their task representation by tuning the activity of a minority of neurons to the kinematic parameters most relevant to motor performance.
The neural representational space of social memory
Authors: Dziura Sarah L. , Thompson James C.
Published: April 2017

Social functioning involves learning about the social networks in which we live and interact; knowing not just our friends, but also who is friends with our friends. Here we utilized a novel incidental learning paradigm and representational similarity analysis (RSA), a functional MRI multivariate pattern analysis technique, to examine the relationship between learning social networks and the brain's response to the faces within the networks. We found that accuracy of learning face pair relationships through observation is correlated with neural similarity patterns to those pairs in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), the left fusiform gyrus, and the subcallosal ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), all areas previously implicated in social cognition. This model was also significant in portions of the cerebellum and thalamus. These results show that the similarity of neural patterns represent how accurately we understand the closeness of any two faces within a network, regardless of their true relationship. Our findings indicate that these areas of the brain not only process knowledge and understanding of others, but also support learning relations between individuals in groups.

Significance Statement

Knowledge of the relationships between people is an important skill that helps us interact in a highly social world. While much is known about how the human brain represents the identity, goals, and intentions of others, less is known about how we represent knowledge about social relationships between others. In this study, we used functional neuroimaging to demonstrate that patterns in human brain activity represent memory for recently learned social connections.
Characterisation of an antimicrobial and phytotoxic ribonuclease secreted by the fungal wheat pathogenZymoseptoria tritici
Authors: Kettles Graeme J. , Bayon Carlos , Sparks Caroline A. , Canning Gail , Kanyuka Kostya , Rudd Jason J.
Published: April 2017

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The fungusZymoseptoria triticiis the causal agent of Septoria Tritici Blotch (STB) disease of wheat leaves.Z. triticisecretes many functionally uncharacterised effector proteins during infection. Here we characterised a secreted ribonuclease (Zt6) with an unusual biphasic expression pattern.

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Transient expression systems were used to characterise Zt6, and mutants thereof, in both host and non-host plants. Cell-free protein expression systems monitored impact of Zt6 protein on functional ribosomes, andin vitroassays of cells treated with recombinant Zt6 determined toxicity against bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi.

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We demonstrated that Zt6 is a functional ribonuclease and that phytotoxicity is dependent on both the presence of a 22-amino acid N-terminal “loop” region and its catalytic activity. Zt6 selectively cleaves both plant and animal rRNA species, and is toxic to wheat, tobacco, bacterial and yeast cells but not toZ. triticiitself.

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Zt6 is the firstZ. triticieffector demonstrated to have a likely dual functionality. The expression pattern of Zt6 and potent toxicity towards microorganisms suggests that whilst it may contribute to the execution of wheat cell death, it is also likely to have an important secondary function in antimicrobial competition and niche protection.
Statistically robust methylation calling for whole-transcriptome bisulfite sequencing reveals distinct methylation patterns for mouse RNAs
Authors: Legrand Carine , Tuorto Francesca , Hartmann Mark , Liebers Reinhard , Jacob Dominik , Helm Mark , Lyko Frank
Published: April 2017

Cytosine-5 RNA methylation plays an important role in several biologically and pathologically relevant processes. However, owing to methodological limitations, the transcriptome-wide distribution of this mark has remained largely unknown. We previously established RNA bisulfite sequencing as a method for the analysis of RNA cytosine-5 methylation patterns at single-base resolution. More recently, next-generation sequencing has provided opportunities to establish transcriptome-wide maps of this modification. Here we present a computational approach that integrates tailored filtering and data-driven statistical modeling to eliminate many of the artifacts that are known to be associated with bisulfite sequencing. Using RNAs from mouse embryonic stem cells we performed a comprehensive methylation analysis of mouse tRNAs, rRNAs and mRNAs. Our approach identified all known methylation marks in tRNA and two previously unknown but evolutionary conserved marks in 28S rRNA. In addition, mRNAs were found to be very sparsely methylated or not methylated at all. Finally, the tRNA-specific activity of the DNMT2 methyltransferase could be resolved at single-base resolution, which provided important further validation. Our approach can be used to profile cytosine-5 RNA methylation patterns in many experimental contexts and will be important for understanding the function of cytosine-5 RNA methylation in RNA biology and in human disease.
Professional quality of life of Florida emergency dispatchers
Authors: Miller Anastasia , Unruh Lynn , Zhang Ning , Liu Xinliang , Wharton Tracy
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine a baseline level of the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL 5) in emergency dispatchers in the state of Florida, as well as to examine the how it is associated with psychological resilience, perceived coworker support, different types of debriefing, and perceived organizational support.

Design/methodology/approach

This was done through a cross-sectional administration of surveys to emergency telecommunicators and dispatchers in the state of Florida.

Findings

In total, 186 surveys were completed by active emergency dispatch personnel across the state of Florida. The study found that psychological resilience, education, and perceived organizational support were statistically related to professional quality of life in Florida Dispatchers.

Research limitations/implications

There are limitations due to the nature of cross-sectional survey design and due to the sample size. There are also possible issues with the accuracy of self-reported survey answers. The lack of participation from all agencies also hinders generalizability.

Practical implications

This study serves as a reference point for a very under studied emergency service population. There are also implications that psychological resilience development in dispatch personnel would assist in multiple aspects of their professional quality of life.

Originality/value

This is the first study to use the ProQOL 5 on dispatch personnel in Florida. It also displays statistical relationships between factors which dispatch agencies could use to increase employee job satisfaction and potentially reduce turnover.
Who is in the center? A case study of a social network in an emergency management organization
Authors: Dahlberg Rasmus
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the social network in an emergency management organization during a large exercise held in Greenland in 2016. Inspired by approaches in business and organizational studies the aim is to investigate the flow of information through formal as well as informal channels.

Design/methodology/approach

Social network analysis is applied to model this flow and the social network is analyzed with regard to core/periphery structure and actor centrality. In order to explore the relationships between actor attributes such as age, years of experience, operational Arctic experience, smoking and personal interests, a regression analysis is employed with membership of the network core as dependent variable.

Findings

The findings show that smoking, rank and ad hoc membership of the emergency management organization influence the odds for being in the core of this particular social network most. Finally, some strengths and weaknesses of the approach are discussed as well as implications for future research in the field.

Originality/value

Emergency management tasks are often performed more through informal coordination than “by the book.” A medium for such informal coordination is the social network that emerges among individual actors who like each other, share interests and experience and communicate directly with each other. Emergency managers use that kind of social network to cut red tape and solve urgent problems and share knowledge in ways not mapped in plans or shown in organigrams. Most practitioners are aware of this, but it is a field not well theorized.
Firefighters and traumatic stress: a review
Authors: Fraess-Phillips Alex , Wagner Shannon , Harris R. Luke
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the literature with respect to traumatic stress in a firefighting context. The goal was to provide a clear and concise review intended for use by both researchers and practitioners. Firefighters are an under-researched group in the academic literature and updated review articles are necessary to advance this body of work.

Design/methodology/approach

Searches of the English language literature on firefighters and traumatic stress were completed and supplemented with a review of clinical information related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The search was comprehensive but was not guided by systematic review guidelines.

Findings

Research regarding firefighters and traumatic stress is limited and inconsistent in outcome. Much of the available literature supports a link between fire service work and increased post-traumatic symptomatology; however, some research has neglected to demonstrate a relationship for these factors. Some efforts such as the training of coping skills and team building may improve firefighters’ resilience to PTSD, while therapeutic and psychopharmacological treatments may be effective in reducing PTSD progression.

Originality/value

To the authors’ knowledge, no previous paper is available that has specifically intended to address firefighters and traumatic stress in a review format for researchers and practitioners. In the authors’ experience, fire service members are eager for literature addressing their profession and presented in a manner accessible for both non-academic and academic audiences.
Disaster relief logistics operation: an insight from Ghana
Authors: Owusu-Kwateng Kwame , Abdul Hamid Munir , Debrah Bernice
Published: April 2017

Purpose

Coordinating logistics in the midst of a relief operation is often an overwhelming job that can jeopardise the human life and assets if not done rapidly and practicably. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of relief logistics in a disaster situation in Ghana with emphasis on the coordination of emergency relief operation and effectiveness of inventory management.

Design/methodology/approach

A stratified sampling method was employed to a sample of 134 respondents from regional, district and municipal offices in the National Disaster Management Organisation in Ghana using a self-administered questionnaire.

Findings

The findings from this study revealed an effective assessment time but late delivery of relief items. They also revealed issues with respect to resource availability, inventory management and coordination with relief actors which resulted in slow response to affected population.

Practical implications

The result from this study reveals an ineffective disaster relief response. The practical implications of this issue have been highlighted. In addition, ways to effectively address this issue have been discussed.

Originality/value

Drawing insight from previous work and study finding, the paper presents a framework for effective relief logistics operation focussing on all relevant actors in each phase of disaster.
Bring it back? An examination of the insourcing decision
Authors: Hartman Paul L. , Ogden Jeffrey A. , Hazen Benjamin T.
Published: April 2017

Purpose

Discussion regarding the implications of and antecedents to the decision to outsource manufacturing functions has dominated both the academic literature and popular press for over 30 years. However, economic and competitive landscapes across the globe have changed such that the tenability of outsourcing is being re-evaluated by many organizations. Using the rich body of literature regarding the decision to outsource as a starting point, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons why firms insource and the associated implications thereof.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study research captures data from 12 firms in the manufacturing industry that have insourced a previously outsourced function. Data were collected via interviews with executives, researcher observations, and archival records over a nine-month period.

Findings

The findings suggest that the primary drivers for insourcing were predominantly the same as those cited for outsourcing. However, insourcing decisions are often made in response to a specific, external trigger event and not necessarily in concert with long-term, strategic goals. This is in contrast to firms’ desires to make more strategic location decisions. The findings also show that insourcing/outsourcing location decisions require continuous evaluation in order to optimize competitiveness and align with long-term firm goals.

Research limitations/implications

This research contributes by not only assimilating and gaining an understanding of key factors affecting insourcing decisions, but also by establishing a baseline for future investigation into this burgeoning area via the presentation of testable propositions.

Practical implications

This paper provides insights for supply chain, logistics, and operations management professionals who seek to better understand the critical factors that should be considered when deciding whether or not to insource.

Originality/value

The benefits of insourcing are being considered to a greater extent across industry, yet there is a dearth of academic or practitioner literature that business leaders and academicians can use as the basis for examining this decision. This research provides both the basis and motivation for developing knowledge in this area of increasing importance.
Spirituality and social responsibility performance
Authors: Barron Katelin , Chou Shih Yung
Published: April 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to discuss how religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals may view the three core workplace spiritual values: transcendence, existence of a higher power and interconnectedness. Additionally, this paper studies how the contrasts between the views of religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals about the three core spiritual values affect their performance of social responsibility initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual analysis was used.

Findings

This paper suggests that religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals view the three core spiritual values differently. Drawing upon the three core spiritual values viewed by religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals, this paper proposes the following. First, religiously affiliated individuals will focus on implementing social responsibility initiatives for a longer time orientation compared to non-religiously affiliated individuals. Second, when engaging in social responsibility, religiously affiliated individuals will focus on implementing a smaller scope of social responsibility initiatives than non-religiously affiliated individuals. Finally, religiously affiliated individuals will focus on implementing a larger scale of social responsibility initiatives than non-religiously affiliated individuals.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the very first studies addressing how religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals view core values of spirituality. Additionally, this paper advances the literature by contrasting how religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals engage in socially responsible initiatives in accordance with how they view spirituality.
Free but authentic mobile dictionaries: pros and cons
Authors: Sawant Sarika
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to find out best free mobile general dictionaries to recommend library users.

Design/methodology/approach

Google Play Store was reviewed to find out free but authentic dictionaries.

Findings

Even though there are more than 100+ free dictionaries available, out of it, two dictionaries, that is, Oxford Dictionary of English & Dictionary by Merriam-Webster, were found to be the best with prominent features such as search and learning tools.

Originality/value

The paper throws light on best free mobile dictionaries with their features which are rarely mentioned in literature.
FDI location choice: the role of locational ambidexterity
Authors: Huang Shengsheng , Cantwell John
Published: April 2017

Purpose

This paper proposes locational ambidexterity as a location-specific factor based on an operation flexibility perspective, and explores why and how multinational corporations (MNCs) proactively deal with uncertainty by valuing locational ambidexterity in making location decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

Location choice data for foreign direct investment (FDI) at a sub-national level in China is used to test the role of locational ambidexterity.

Findings

We find that FDI generally prefers locations with high ambidexterity. Moreover, investments from a heterogeneous country context are more sensitive to locational ambidexterity than those from a similar country context. However, there is no significant evidence that wholly owned investments favor locational ambidexterity more than do international joint ventures.

Research limitations/implications

An alternative operationalization of locational ambidexterity may be needed. Future research could explore the sources of locational ambidexterity, identify other firm- and industry-level factors that could alter the value of ambidexterity, investigate how MNCs integrate locational ambidexterity into organization-specific option creation strategies and test the ambidexterity perspective with micro-level location choice data.

Practical implications

Locational ambidexterity may reduce the overall risk and adjustment cost of future changes. FDI may choose a location with high ambidexterity, i.e. a balanced portfolio of location-specific determinants, under uncertainty about the future.

Originality/value

Drawing on the notion of location flexibility from Buckley and Casson (1998), this study identifies a new location character, locational ambidexterity, and proposes that MNCs address uncertainty by choosing ambidextrous locations that offer more flexibility for MNCs to change or respond to potential volatility. Selecting locations with high ambidexterity is thus an alternative and complement to the organization-specific flexibility creation strategies suggested by the literature on real option and flexibility.
Factors influencing the alignment of technological diversification and firm performance
Authors: Lee Cheng-Yu , Huang Yen-Chih , Chang Chia-Chi
Published: April 2017

Purpose

Although scholars have paid considerable attention to the relationship between technological diversification and firm performance, research on this relationship has produced mixed findings. To reconcile these inconsistent findings, this study, thus, aims to revisit the performance effect of technological diversification by considering two organizational characteristics as crucial moderators, namely, firm size and financial slack.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the research hypotheses, the research sample covers manufacturing firms in the 2008 Standard & Poor (S&P) 500 index. Data regarding the characteristics and patent information of the sample firms were obtained from Compustat and the US Patent and Trademark Office. The hypotheses were tested by using hierarchical regression models.

Findings

In a sample of 168 S&P 500 manufacturing firms, this study finds that technological diversification has a positive effect on firm performance. The relationship between technological diversification and firm performance is also found to be positively moderated by firm size, financial slack and their configuration.

Originality/value

The findings of this study further suggest that firms should be aware that the effect of technological diversification on performance can be enhanced or hindered in specific contexts.
Does economic freedom matter for risk-taking? Evidence from MENA banks
Authors: Ghosh Saibal
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The relevance of economic freedom in influencing bank risk taking has not been adequately addressed in the literature. In this connection, employing bank-level data for 2000-2012, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of economic freedom on risk taking by MENA banks.

Design/methodology/approach

Given the cross-sectional time-series nature of the data, the author employs panel data techniques to explore this issue. In addition, the author examines the robustness of the results using instrumental variable techniques.

Findings

The findings appear to suggest that economic freedom exerts a significant and non-negligible impact on bank risk taking. Among the sub-components of economic freedom, it is observed that higher levels of both business and monetary freedom increase variability of profits and, thereby, raise the risk appetite of banks. Risk taking by banks appears to be reliably lower after the crisis than in the period prior to it, although there was a substantial increase in bank risk taking during the crisis.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the earliest studies to explore the interlinkage between economic freedom and bank risk taking for MENA banks.
Influence of social media marketing communications on young consumers’ attitudes
Authors: Duffett Rodney Graeme
Published: April 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the influence of interactive social media marketing communications on teenagers’ cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude components in South Africa. The study also considers the impact of a number of additional factors such as usage (access, length of usage, log-on frequency, log-on duration and profile update incidence) and demographic (gender, age and population group) variables on young consumers’ attitudes toward social media marketing communications.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was used via three self-administered questionnaires, which were distributed to over 13,000 learners in the age range of 13-18 years (Generation Z cohort) at colleges and high schools in South Africa. A generalized linear model was used for statistical data analysis.

Findings

The study ascertained that social media marketing communications had a positive on each attitude component among adolescents, but on a declining scale, which correlates to the purchase funnel. The results also revealed that teenagers who used social media for long time periods; updated their profiles frequently and were from the Colored and Black population groups, displayed the most favorable attitudinal responses to social media marketing communications.

Research limitations/implications

Social media was collectively analyzed and did not consider the number of different social media types, which could be examined individually. This investigation only considered the Generation Z cohort, but other cohorts to attitudes toward social media marketing communications could also be assessed.

Practical implications

Companies and their brands should consider using and/or adapting their strategies based on the declining impact of social media marketing communications on the hierarchical attitude stages among young consumers and the divergent influence on usage and demographic variables when targeting the lucrative and technologically advanced, but capricious, Generation Z consumers.

Originality/value

This research established that social media marketing communications had a favorable influence on cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude components among young consumers, but on a declining scale, which is in congruence with the purchase funnel model. This investigation also makes an important contribution to attitudinal research in developing countries, where there is a lack of research in social media marketing communications.
Religiousness and digital piracy among young consumers in an emerging market
Authors: Arli Denni , Kubacki Krzysztof , Tjiptono Fandy , Morenodiez Sebastian
Published: April 2017

Purpose

Online digital piracy continues to rise globally. The issue is worsening among young people especially in the context of emerging markets due to lack of laws and regulations. Interestingly, emerging markets are also home to some of the highest religious followers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of young consumer’s religiousness on their attitude and intention towards digital piracy which should negate their tendency to pirate.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from Indonesia (N = 715) by means of questionnaires distributed to business students at two major (one public and one private) Indonesian universities. The sample consists of 289 (40.4 per cent) males and 426 females (59.6 per cent). The student sample contained a majority of people who were aged 18 to 24 years (94.1 per cent).

Findings

The current study shows that intrinsic religiousness is a strong predictor of attitude towards digital piracy, intention to commit digital piracy, perceived benefits of digital piracy, perceived likelihood of punishment and fear of legal consequences. Extrinsic (social) religiousness was found to have a negative impact on perceived likelihood of punishment and fear of legal consequences. The results of this study will have several important implications for managers and especially religious leaders on how to combat digital piracy.

Originality/value

This is one of the first few studies exploring the impact of religiosity among young consumers in Indonesia.
Effect of popularity and peer pressure on attitudes toward luxury among teens
Authors: Gil Luciana A. , Dwivedi Abhishek , Johnson Lester W.
Published: April 2017

Purpose

Peer pressure and popularity are important issues for teenagers, potentially affecting teenagers’ attitudes toward luxury products. In turn, peer pressure and popularity can potentially be affected by self-concept clarity (how clearly teens view themselves). The authors empirically aim to investigate these relationships using data from a sample of Brazilian teens and find that self-concept clarity has a significant effect on peer pressure, popularity and social consumption motivation, which, by itself, directly affects attitudes toward luxury items.

Design/methodology/approach

The total sample consisted of 558 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 19 (grades 7 through 12). Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results of the study suggest that teenagers’ social consumption motivations positively affect attitudes toward luxury.

Originality/value

The paper first explicitly examines the impact of peer pressure and popularity on attitude toward luxury among teenagers.