bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Positive coupling between growth and reproduction in young post-fire Aleppo pines depends on climate and site conditions
Authors: Alfaro-Sánchez Raquel , Camarero J. Julio , López-Serrano Francisco R. , Sánchez-Salguero Raúl , Moya Daniel , Heras Jorge De Las
Published: June 2015

In fire- and drought-prone Mediterranean forests tree growth and regeneration depend on the moisture regime between fires. Therefore, post-fire tree regeneration will depend on moisture conditions and how they are altered by fire recurrence and climate warming. Aleppo pine forests are the most abundant Circum-Mediterranean ecosystems subjected to frequent wildfires and summer droughts. Because both stressors constrain their reproduction and growth patterns across diverse ecological conditions, these forests represent a suitable system to test how moisture availability drives post-fire regeneration. Aleppo pine is an obligate seeder species that reproduces at an early age after fire. Such precocious behaviour poses the question as to whether post-fire regeneration depends on moisture conditions and the coupling between female cone production and growth. Here, we evaluate if female cone production and radial growth are linked at the tree level in post-fire Aleppo pines by comparing a dry v. a very dry site and considering stands with three different tree densities in south-eastern Spain. We found that trees with higher basal areas produced more female cones and this positive association intensified as the water balance improved. Aleppo pines from the very dry site were more precocious in reproductive terms than pines of the same age from the dry site, but long-term cone production was lower at the very dry site. Lower tree density enhances the resilience of xeric post-fire Aleppo pine forests, in growth and reproduction terms, but this effect can be reversed by droughts. Overall, a more positive water balance improves post-fire regeneration by enhancing growth and cone production. Thus, silvicultural treatments such as thinning should be applied by taking into account the post-fire water balance to maximise growth and cone production in Aleppo pine stands. Our findings illustrate how climate warming could hamper post-fire tree regeneration by aggravating drought stress.
Hume’s nominalism and the Copy Principle
Authors: Weintraub Ruth
Published: June 2015

I consider some ways in which the Copy Principle (CP) and Hume's nominalism impinge on one another, arguing for the following claims. First, Hume's argument against indeterminate ideas isn't cogent even if the CP is accepted. But this does not vindicate Locke: the imagistic conception of ideas, presupposed by the CP, will force Locke to accept something like Hume's view of the way general terms function, the availability of abstract ideas notwithstanding. Second, Hume's discussion of nominalism provides support for the “old Hume” interpretation, that which takes the CP to be a criterion of meaningfulness, as against the “new Hume” reading, according to which it constrains what we canknow. Finally, nominalism forces Hume to adopt a more complicated theory of ideas.
Hume as a trope nominalist
Authors: Hakkarainen Jani
Published: June 2015

In this paper, I argue that Hume's solution to a problem that contemporary metaphysicians call “the problem of universals” would be rather tropetheoretical than some other type of nominalism. The basic idea in different trope theories is that particular properties, i.e., tropes are postulated to account for the fact that there are particular beings resembling each other. I show that Hume's simple sensible perceptions are tropes: simple qualities. Accordingly, their similarities are explained by these tropes themselves and their resemblance. Reading Hume as a trope nominalist sheds light on his account of general ideas, perceptions, relations and nominalism.
The inertness of reason and Hume’s legacy
Authors: Radcliffe Elizabeth S.
Published: June 2015

Hume argues against the seventeenth-century rationalists that reason is impotent to motivate action and to originate morality. Hume's arguments have standardly been considered the foundation for the Humean theory of motivation in contemporary philosophy. The Humean theory alleges that beliefs require independent desires to motivate action. Recently, however, new commentaries allege that Hume's argument concerning the inertness of reason has no bearing on whether beliefs can motivate. These commentaries maintain that for Hume, beliefs about future pleasurable and painful objects on their own can produce the desires that move us to action. First, I show that this reading putsHumeat odds withHumeans, since the latter are committed, not only to the view that beliefs and desires are both necessary to action, but also to the view that beliefs do not produce desires. Second, I review textual, philosophical and historical grounds for my interpretation of Hume's argument for the inertness of reason. I argue that the new line on Hume, while consistent with a certain reading of theTreatise, is not supported by theDissertation on the Passionsand the secondEnquiry, where Hume argues that all motivation has an origin in “taste”, which I take to be different from belief. Thus, Hume's arguments do support the contemporary Humean theory of motivation.
From Cudworth to Hume: Cambridge Platonism and the Scottish Enlightenment
Authors: Hutton Sarah
Published: June 2015

This paper argues that the Cambridge Platonists had stronger philosophical links to Scottish moral philosophy than the received history allows. Building on the work of Michael Gill who has demonstrated links between ethical thought of More, Cudworth and Smith and moral sentimentalism, I outline some links between the Cambridge Platonists and Scottish thinkers in both the seventeenth century (e.g., James Nairn, Henry Scougal) and the eighteenth century (e.g., Smith, Blair, Stewart). I then discuss Hume's knowledge of Cudworth, inEnquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, The Natural History of ReligionandDialogues concerning Natural Religion.
Hume on presentation and philosophy
Authors: Tleugabulova Maité Cruz
Published: June 2015

Most philosophers agree that an argument's presentation is relevant to its philosophical merit. This paper explains why David Hume considered presentation philosophically important. On Hume's epistemology, presentation is closely connected with two principal aims of philosophical arguments: persuasion and epistemic justification. Hume's views imply that presentation is a factor determining an argument's persuasiveness and that, by philosophical standards of justification, presentation is also a factor determining the extent to which an argument's conclusion is justified.
The ontology of character traits in Hume
Authors: Frykholm Erin
Published: June 2015

This paper argues that Hume can account for character traits as lasting mental qualities without violating his reductionist account of the mind as a changing bundle of ideas and impressions. It argues that a trait is a disposition to act according to certain passions or motivations, explained entirely with reference to the ideas and impressions constituting one's current self. This account is consistent with Hume's view of the mind, and relies solely on his accounts of the association of impressions and ideas, and of the relationship between belief and passion, to establish relations that can properly be called lasting mental qualities.
Motivating Hume’s natural virtues
Authors: Reed Philip A.
Published: June 2015

Many commentators propose that Hume thinks that we are not or should not be motivated to perform naturally virtuous actions from moral sentiments. I take issue with this interpretation in this paper, arguing that Hume fully incorporates the moral sentiments into his understanding of how human beings act when it comes to the natural virtues and that he does not see the moral sentiments as a problematic kind of motivation that threatens or weakens the virtuous status of the action.
Oral Vaccination of Channel Catfish against Enteric Septicemia of Catfish Using a Live Attenuated Edwardsiella ictaluri Isolate
Authors: Wise David J. , Greenway Terrence E. , Byars Todd S. , Griffin Matt J. , Khoo Lester H.
Published: June 2015

Enteric septicemia of catfish (ESC), caused by Edwardsiella ictaluri, is the most problematic bacterial disease affecting catfish aquaculture in the southeastern United States. Efforts to develop an effective ESC vaccine have had limited industrial success. In commercial settings, ESC vaccines are typically administered by immersion when fry are transferred from the hatchery to rearing ponds. While this approach is a practical method of mass delivery, this strategy administers vaccines to very young fish, which lack a fully developed immune system. To circumvent this limitation, an oral vaccination strategy was evaluated as a means of immunizing catfish at the fingerling stage of production, when fish possess a more complete immune arsenal. A virulent E. ictaluri isolate (S97-773) was attenuated by successive passage on media containing increasing concentrations of rifamycin. In laboratory trials, cultured vaccine was diluted and mixed with feed (100 mL diluted vaccine/454 g feed). This mixture was then fed to Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus fingerlings. Two separate dilutions of cultured vaccine (1:10 and 1:100) were used to create the vaccine–feed mixture, equating to estimated doses of 5 × 107 and 5 × 106 CFU/g of feed, respectively. After 30 d, catfish were exposed by immersion (1 × 106 CFU/mL) to the virulent parental strain of E. ictaluri. The target dose (1:100 dilution, ∼5 × 106 CFU/g of feed) offered exceptional protection (relative percent survival = 82.6–100%). In addition, negligible deaths occurred in fish vaccinated at 10 times the target dose (1:10 dilution, ∼5 × 107 CFU/g of feed). In pond trials, antibody production increased 18-fold in orally vaccinated fish. When compared with nonvaccinated controls, vaccination significantly improved survival, feed fed, feed conversion, biomass produced, and total harvest. This research demonstrates Channel Catfish can be successfully immunized in a commercial setting against E. ictaluri with a single dose of an orally delivered, live attenuated, E. ictaluri vaccine.

Received July 31, 2014; accepted March 2, 2015
The critical exponent, the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set and the convex core entropy of a Kleinian group
Authors: Falk Kurt , Matsuzaki Katsuhiko
Published: June 2015

In this paper we study the relationship between three numerical invariants associated to a Kleinian group, namely the critical exponent, the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set and the convex core entropy, which coincides with the upper box-counting dimension of the limit set. The Hausdorff dimension of the limit set is naturally bounded below by the critical exponent and above by the convex core entropy. We investigate when these inequalities become strict and when they are equalities.
ACE: accurate correction of errors using K-mer tries
Authors: Sheikhizadeh Siavash , de Ridder Dick
Published: May 2015

Summary: The quality of high-throughput next-generation sequencing data significantly influences the performance and memory consumption of assembly and mapping algorithms. The most ubiquitous platform, Illumina, mainly suffers from substitution errors. We have developed a tool, ACE, based on K-mer tries to correct such errors. On real MiSeq and HiSeq Illumina archives, ACE yields higher gains in terms of coverage depth, outperforming state-of-the-art competitors in the majority of cases.

Availability and implementation: ACE is licensed under the GPL license and can be freely obtained at https://github.com/sheikhizadeh/ACE/. The program is implemented in C++ and runs on most Unix-derived operating systems.

Contact:  siavash.sheikhizadehanari@wur.nl

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Comparative outcomes of β-lactam antibiotics in outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy: treatment success, readmissions and antibiotic switches
Authors: Lee Boeun , Tam Idy , Weigel Bernard , Breeze Janis L. , Paulus Jessica K. , Nelson Jason , Allison Genève M.
Published: May 2015

Objectives

β-Lactam antibiotics are commonly used in outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT), but data regarding outcomes of long-term therapy are limited. The purpose of this study was to compare treatment success, readmission and antibiotic switch rates in patients treated with β-lactam antibiotics as OPAT.

Methods

We carried out a retrospective review of all patients, discharged from Tufts Medical Center with cefazolin, ceftriaxone, ertapenem or oxacillin, between January 2009 and June 2013. A competing risks analysis was used to compare the cumulative incidence of first occurrence of treatment success, antibiotic switch and 30 day readmission for each drug.

Results

Four hundred patients were identified (cefazolin n = 38, ceftriaxone n = 104, ertapenem n = 128 and oxacillin n = 130). Baseline demographics were similar. Treatment success rates were higher for ceftriaxone and ertapenem (cefazolin 61%, ceftriaxone 81%, ertapenem 73% and oxacillin 58%; P < 0.001). Thirty-day all-cause readmissions were similar (cefazolin 21%, ceftriaxone 14%, ertapenem 20% and oxacillin 15%; P = 0.46). In 400 OPAT courses, 37 out of 50 antibiotic switches were accomplished without readmission. Adverse drug events (ADEs) were the most common reason for outpatient antibiotic switches (31/37, 84%). The ADE rate was higher for the oxacillin group (cefazolin 2.0 versus ceftriaxone 1.5 versus ertapenem 2.9 versus oxacillin 8.4 per 1000 OPAT days; P < 0.001).

Conclusions

OPAT with β-lactam antibiotics is effective, but antibiotic switches for adverse events were more frequent with oxacillin use. Clinicians should be cognizant of the risk of readmissions and ADEs in OPAT patients, as the value of OPAT lies in reducing patient morbidity and readmissions by managing ADEs and preventing clinical failures.
Is This Program Right for You?
Authors: Rothbaum Barbara Olasov , Foa Edna B. , Hembree Elizabeth A.
Published: June 2015

Chapter 2 discusses if the prolonged exposure program is right for you and your symptoms, considering the presence of drug or alcohol abuse and dependence, and if you live or work in a high-risk environment. Processes for enhancing motivation for treatment are also explored.Chapter 2 discusses if the prolonged exposure program is right for you and your symptoms, considering the presence of drug or alcohol abuse and dependence, and if you live or work in a high-risk environment. Processes for enhancing motivation for treatment are also explored.
Session 1
Authors: Rothbaum Barbara Olasov , Foa Edna B. , Hembree Elizabeth A.
Published: June 2015

Chapter 3 outlines the first session of treatment and provides an overview of the program and the procedures that will be used during the course of the treatment (imaginal exposure and in vivo exposure), as well as techniques for breathing retraining and relaxation, and a rationale for treatment by prolonged exposure.
Session 2
Authors: Rothbaum Barbara Olasov , Foa Edna B. , Hembree Elizabeth A.
Published: June 2015

Chapter 4 details the second session of the treatment program, including a discussion about common reactions to trauma (fear and anxiety, reexperiencing the trauma, increased arousal, avoidance, anger, guilt, grief and depression, negative self-image, suffering relationships, and alcohol or drug use), examples of in vivo exposure, an introduction to Subjective Units of Discomfort (SUDS), in vivo hierarchy construction, safety considerations, in vivo assignments, and the model of gradual in vivo exposure.
Session 3
Authors: Rothbaum Barbara Olasov , Foa Edna B. , Hembree Elizabeth A.
Published: June 2015

Chapter 5 explores the third treatment session introducing imaginal exposure (including guidelines for prolonged or multiple incident exposure), and providing a rationale for imaginal exposure, the process of conducting imaginal exposure, and processing the imaginal exposure.
Anticipating and Solving Problems
Authors: Rothbaum Barbara Olasov , Foa Edna B. , Hembree Elizabeth A.
Published: June 2015

Chapter 6 discusses common problems that may interfere with treatment, how to anticipate and solve problems and difficulties that may occur, the importance of the PE treatment model, methods of implementing effective in vivo and imaginal exposure (modifications to in vivo and imaginal exposure, under-engagement, and over-engagement) and other obstacles to successful exposures (avoidance, anger, and negative emotions).
Intermediate Sessions
Authors: Rothbaum Barbara Olasov , Foa Edna B. , Hembree Elizabeth A.
Published: June 2015

Chapter 7 provides a general structure for treatment sessions, including homework reviews, imaginal exposure, identification of and focus on particularly distressing or upsetting 'hot spot' events, how to process feelings and thoughts following imaginal exposure, and progress with in vivo exposures.
Final Session
Authors: Rothbaum Barbara Olasov , Foa Edna B. , Hembree Elizabeth A.
Published: June 2015

Chapter 8 details the final session of the treatment program, considering imaginal exposure, and reflecting upon the progress that has been made, and skills that have been learned throughout the program. Processes for concluding the treatment program are also explored.
Welcome!
Authors: Kennedy Paul
Published: June 2015

Chapter 1 presents introductory information on spinal cord injury (SCI) and this program of group coping effectiveness training (CET). This includes a brief overview of the program, what participants should expect from sessions, and the concept behind the group therapy format.
Session 1: Introduction to Stress and Coping
Authors: Kennedy Paul
Published: June 2015

Chapter 2 outlines the first session of coping effectiveness training (CET) for spinal cord injury (SCI). This session introduces stress, common reactions to stress, and the influencers of stress, as well as the stressful effects of SCI in particular. The cognitive theory of stress and coping is also explored.
Session 5: Changing Negative Thinking
Authors: Kennedy Paul
Published: June 2015

Chapter 6 outlines the fifth session of the CET program for SCI. This session discusses negative thinking, how patterns of negative thinking can be altered, negative beliefs and expectations, and steps to take in order to change negative thoughts.
Specialty Competencies in Group Psychology
Authors: Barlow Sally
Published: June 2015

This online resource provides a comprehensive overview of the foundational and functional competencies related to the field of group psychology. It describes the potential treatment benefits of group work and shows how the wide range of applicability makes this a relevant resource across diverse areas, regardless of the population receiving treatment or the theoretic orientation of the therapist. This volume distils the uniqueness and contributions of the specialty in a way that benefits not only psychologists who specialize in group psychotherapy, but also clinicians who have previously taken a more traditionally individual approach to treatment.
Cohesion, Interpersonal Relationships, and Attachment
Authors: Barlow Sally H.
Published: June 2015

Chapter 5 details cohesion, interpersonal relationships, and attachment. Group therapy that capitalizes on the interpersonally focused, alliance-based, cohesive climate. This chapter discusses therapeutic factors in groups such as cohesion (a feeling of positive bonding between the members and with the leader) as well as factors that strengthen the therapeutic alliance (based on attachment research).
Supervision and Consultation in Group Specialty Practice
Authors: Barlow Sally H.
Published: June 2015

Chapter 8 discusses supervision and consultation in group specialty practice. A group therapist relies upon professional consultation and supervision to remain competent about his or her plan for each group member within the group setting and throughout the group sessions. Group interactions are highly complex given the exponential components of many members (as contrasted to individual therapy). Assuring clear metavision (tracking both process and content of all interactions between member-leader, member-member) is greatly assisted by giving and receiving consultation when necessary.
Teaching and Advocacy in Group Specialty Practice
Authors: Barlow Sally H.
Published: June 2015

Chapter 9 explores teaching and advocacy in group specialty practice. Group leaders who promote advocacy of groups by teaching group skills to interns or colleagues unfamiliar with the requisite skills for successful group specialty practice. This way, graduate students and professional psychologists can attain the requisite group skills necessary to lead successful groups.
SAM/BAM format v1.5 extensions forde novoassemblies
Authors: Cock Peter J. A. , Bonfield James , Chevreux Bastien , Li Heng
Published: May 2015

The plain text Sequence Alignment/Map (SAM) file format and its companion binary form (BAM) are a generic alignment format for storing read alignments against reference sequences (and unmapped reads) together with structured meta-data (Liet al., 2009). Driven by the needs of the 1000 Genomes Project which sequenced many individual human genomes, early SAM/BAM usage focused on pairwise alignments of reads to a reference. However, through the CIGAR P operator multiple sequence alignments can also be preserved. Herein we describe clarifications and additions in version 1.5 of the specification to facilitate storingde novosequence alignments: Padded reference sequences (with gap characters), annotation of reads or regions of the reference, and the option of embedding the reference sequence within the file.

Availability:

The latest public release of the specification is athttp://samtools.sourceforge.net/SAM1.pdf, with in development drafts athttps://github.com/samtools/hts-specs/under version control.

Contact:

peter.cock@hutton.ac.uk
A Bayesian Approach for Detecting Mass-Extinction Events When Rates of Lineage Diversification Vary
Authors: May Michael R. , Höhna Sebastian , Moore Brian R.
Published: June 2015

The paleontological record chronicles numerous episodes of mass extinction that severely culled the Tree of Life. Biologists have long sought to assess the extent to which these events may have impacted particular groups. We present a novel method for detecting mass-extinction events from phylogenies estimated from molecular sequence data. We develop our approach in a Bayesian statistical framework, which enables us to harness prior information on the frequency and magnitude of mass-extinction events. The approach is based on an episodic stochastic-branching process model in which rates of speciation and extinction are constant between rate-shift events. We model three types of events: (1) instantaneous tree-wide shifts in speciation rate; (2) instantaneous tree-wide shifts in extinction rate, and; (3) instantaneous tree-wide mass-extinction events. Each of the events is described by a separate compound Poisson process (CPP) model, where the waiting times between each event are exponentially distributed with event-specific rate parameters. The magnitude of each event is drawn from an event-type specific prior distribution. Parameters of the model are then estimated using a reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (rjMCMC) algorithm. We demonstrate via simulation that this method has substantial power to detect the number of mass-extinction events, provides unbiased estimates of the timing of mass-extinction events, while exhibiting an appropriate (i.e.,below 5%) false discovery rate even in the case of background diversification rate variation. Finally, we provide an empirical application of this approach to conifers, which reveals that this group has experienced two major episodes of mass extinction. This new approach—the CPP on Mass Extinction Times (CoMET) model—provides an effective tool for identifying mass-extinction events from molecular phylogenies, even when the history of those groups includes more prosaic temporal variation in diversification rate.
Learning quantitative sequence-function relationships from high-throughput biological data
Authors: Atwal Gurinder S. , Kinney Justin B.
Published: June 2015

Understanding the transcriptional regulatory code, as well as other types of information encoded within biomolecular sequences, will require learning biophysical models of sequence-function relationships from high-throughput data. Controlling and characterizing the noise in such experiments, however, is notoriously difficult. The unpredictability of such noise creates problems for standard likelihood-based methods in statistical learning, which require that the quantitative form of experimental noise be known precisely. However, when this unpredictability is properly accounted for, important theoretical aspects of statistical learning which remain hidden in standard treatments are revealed. Specifically, one finds a close relationship between the standard inference method, based on likelihood, and an alternative inference method based on mutual information. Here we review and extend this relationship. We also describe its implications for learning sequence-function relationships from real biological data. Finally, we detail an idealized experiment in which these results can be demonstrated analytically.
Impact of service quality, corporate image and customer satisfaction towards customers’ perceived value in the banking sector in Pakistan
Authors: Zameer Hashim , Tara Anam , Kausar Uzma , Mohsin Aisha
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of services quality, customer satisfaction and corporate image on customer perceived value in the banking sector of Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

– A model is developed to show the relationship between dependent and independent variables taken from the existing literature. The data are collected from 200 respondents taken from the five major cities of Pakistan using structured questionnaire. Correlation and regression are applied to estimate the relationship between variables and find out the extent to which the independent variables have impact on the dependent variable.

Findings

– Results show that there is a positive relation between the service quality, customer satisfaction and corporate image. It is also analyzed by the results that service quality and customer satisfaction have high impact on the customer perceived value where corporate image also effect the customer perceived value.

Originality/value

– This paper identified the impact of service quality, customer satisfaction and corporate image on the customer perceived value that helps the services sector especially banks how they can improve the customer perceived value through improving their service quality, customer satisfaction and corporate image.
The impact of Islamic beliefs on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions of life insurance
Authors: Souiden Nizar , Jabeur Yosr
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of Islamic beliefs in moderating consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions of conventional and Islamic life insurance. Second, it investigates the role of Islamic beliefs in moderating the relationship between the attitude toward conventional/Islamic life insurance and purchase intentions of these types of services.

Design/methodology/approach

– A questionnaire was administered online in a Muslim liberal country where both types of insurance are offered. Based on a total sample of 207 responses, ANOVA tests and a structural Equation Modeling were used to test the research hypotheses.

Findings

– Results show that: the higher (lower) the Islamic beliefs of individuals, the less (more) favorable their attitude will be toward conventional life insurance and the more (less) favorable their attitude will be toward Islamic life insurance; the higher (lower) the Islamic beliefs of individuals, the weaker (stronger) their purchase intentions for conventional life insurance will be and the stronger (weaker) their purchase intentions for Islamic life insurance will be; and Islamic beliefs moderate the relationships between attitudes and purchase intentions of life insurance.

Practical implications

– Because they play a significant role in moderating consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions of conventional and Islamic life insurance, Islamic beliefs can be used as a meaningful criterion to segment the life insurance markets in (less conservative) Muslim countries. This would help insurance companies to better target their services. In a case where two segments coexist (i.e. individuals scoring low on Islamic beliefs vs individuals scoring high on Islamic beliefs), insurers should weigh different strategic options by targeting one of the two segments or both of them. Perhaps the main issue occurs when an insurer attempts to target both segments. In this case, managers should be aware of the confusion that they might create in the mind of their clients (or potential clients). Concurrently offering two types of life insurance (conventional and Islamic) may put the insurers’ credibility at stake.

Originality/value

– Earlier studies report that in Muslim countries, the demand for life insurance is weak or negatively correlated with religion. The majority of these studies consider religion as a macro indicator (i.e. at the country level) when explaining the demand for such services. The present study further clarifies the nature of the relationship between religion and the demand for life insurance by: examining the role of Islamic beliefs (as one of the main dimensions of Muslims’ religiosity) at the micro level (i.e. at the consumer level); and investigating the moderating role of Islamic beliefs in explaining attitudes and purchase intentions of conventional and Islamic life insurance in a less conservative Muslim country.
Service quality, service convenience, price and fairness, customer loyalty, and the mediating role of customer satisfaction
Authors: Kaura Vinita , Durga Prasad Ch. S. , Sharma Sourabh
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which service quality, perceived price and fairness and service convenience influence customer satisfaction and customer loyalty for Indian retail banking sector. It further explores the role of customer satisfaction as mediating variable between service quality dimensions, perceived price and fairness, service convenience dimensions and customer loyalty.

Design/methodology/approach

– A cross-sectional research on 445 retail banking customers through questionnaire is conducted. Population of study is valued retail urban customers of banks in Rajasthan, India, who frequently visit bank premises for transactions, have accounts in at least two banks and have availed of at least one information technology-based services. Responses are analyzed using factor analyses and regression analyses.

Findings

– Results reveal that service quality dimensions, perceived price and fairness and service convenience dimensions have positive impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Moreover, customer satisfaction acts as mediating variable between its antecedents and customer loyalty.

Research limitations/implications

– This study has taken into account a specific category of retail banking customers. Thus, it limits generalization of results to other banking population.

Practical implications

– This study explains the importance of customer satisfaction for achieving customer loyalty for Indian retail banking sector.

Originality/value

– The paper underlines the importance of customer satisfaction for achieving customer loyalty. Impact of SERVCON dimensions on customer loyalty is found rare in literature.
The influence of personal values and demographic variables on customer loyalty in the banking industry
Authors: Henrique Jorge Luiz , Matos Celso Augusto de
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– Even though personal values are considered an important variable in consumer studies, rarely has it been related to customer loyalty, especially in the banking context and considering the different loyalty phases. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of personal values on loyalty phases in the private banking industry, taking into account the moderating influence of demographic variables.

Design/methodology/approach

– After developing a theoretical framework based on the relevant literature, a research model is proposed and empirically tested with data from a survey with 891 bank customers from Brazil. Hypotheses of moderation were tested using structural equation modelling technique.

Findings

– Results suggested that customers that place more importance on growth and achievement as personal values are less loyal to their bank, considering all four stages of loyalty. Moreover, this effect was more pronounced for female, older and high-income consumers, supporting the moderating effect of these demographic variables.

Research limitations/implications

– One of the limitations was that the sample was not probabilistic. To compensate this issue, the authors have used the approach of splitting the sample and use one for calibration and other for estimation. Another limitation was the small subgroups of high and low education, which might be responsible for the nonsignificant finding, due to low statistical power in the z-test. Future studies should consider using quota samples in order to have sample size greater than 150 cases in each category of variables such as age, education and income.

Practical implications

– This study emphasizes the relevance of personal values, especially the dimensions of growth/achievement and security/social affiliation, and demographic variables when considering customers’ loyalty in the private banking industry. Managers should give different treatment for customers in distinct loyalty stages and with different demographics, thus increasing the customer orientation and segmentation efficacy.

Originality/value

– The study tests a theoretical model that analyses the influence of two dimensions of personal values on loyalty, with originality on the loyalty phases (from cognitive to action) and the contingent effect of demographic variables, such as gender, age, education and income. Moreover, the model is tested in a sample of private banking customers from an emerging market, i.e., Brazil.
Continuity and change in housing and settlement patterns in post-earthquake Gujarat, India
Authors: Duyne Barenstein Jennifer Erica
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to examine people's strategies to regain control over the socio-spatial organisation of their villages and transform their agency-built houses in culturally meaningful places post-disaster. In the aftermath of a disaster, building processes are often taken over by external agencies whose approach towards reconstruction is governed by considerations such as safety, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and – in some cases – also by an explicit will to trigger social transformations. As a result, reconstruction often entails dramatic changes in settlement location and morphologies, housing designs, building materials and construction processes.

Design/methodology/approach

– Based on an ongoing interdisciplinary empirical research project focusing on communities’ patterns of adaptation to post-disaster relocated settlements in India, the paper examines people’s strategies to regain control over the socio-spatial organisation of their villages and to transform their agency-built houses in culturally meaningful places.

Findings

– The paper shows that people are not passive recipients of external agencies’ often culturally insensitive project and that they have the capacity to transform externally imposed notions of appropriate housing to meet their cultural- and livelihood-specific needs. Based on a micro-level case study of a village in Gujarat, it is argued that underestimating communities’ capacity to rebuild their own houses and villages and the failure to recognise the inherent functionality of local housing and building culture often entail not only missing the opportunity to enhance their resilience but also, in some cases, may lead to increasing their vulnerability.

Originality/value

– This paper presents a rare example of longitudinal research, calling attention to the long-term impacts of post-disaster reconstruction. It is of particular interest to scholars and humanitarian agencies concerned about the social consequences of relocation and reconstruction after natural disasters.
Stopping the tragedy before it occurs
Authors: Naja Mohamad , Baytiyeh Hoda
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to offer an assessment of seismic structural vulnerability of a sample of public schools using Lang survey questionnaire. The structural integrity of public schools in Lebanon is a source of deep concern due to their outdated design and deteriorated status, their apparent lack of compliance with seismic design regulations, the unknown status of their safety and stability, their substandard maintenance and their low construction quality. These schools have not undergone any strengthening improvements to enhance their load-carrying capacity or their resistance to earthquake activity.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper is based on survey questionnaire illustrating the seismic risk exposure of public schools in Lebanon. It offers an assessment of seismic structural vulnerability of a sample of public schools using Lang survey questionnaire. It stresses the needs of retrofitting of public school buildings to enhance their functional capacities against future destructive earthquakes.

Findings

– The findings of the survey emphasize the seismic structural vulnerability of the majority of public schools in Lebanon and call for deeper assessment and investigation that involve government officials for strengthening and retrofitting of public school buildings as part of holistic disaster risk-reduction strategy to prevent the induced serious risk to children in the event of a devastating earthquake.

Originality/value

– This article should alert school administrators, public leaders and government officials regarding the seismic threats and their subsequent effects on the structural safety of public school buildings in Lebanon. The assessment of seismic structural vulnerability has rarely been performed or even discussed in the Lebanese-related literature.
A novel approach to assess resilience of energy systems
Authors: Matzenberger Julian , Hargreaves Nigel , Raha Debadayita , Dias Priyan
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to outline different notions of the term resilience used in scientific disciplines and consequently explore how the concept can be applied to energy systems. The concept of resilience has emerged recently in scientific discourse. The major questions to be addressed are: Which definitions and underlying concepts of resilience are used in the scientific literature? How can resilience be defined with respect to energy systems and which underlying principles can be identified?

Design/methodology/approach

– Building on this understanding, characteristics of the resilience concept used in various contexts are described and a methodology for selection of an indicator set for an energy resilience assessment is presented. The methodology for a resilience assessment outlined in this paper requires definition and clustering of a set of indicators describing a resilient system. It contributes to understanding system properties and supports the theory of how to improve system resilience.

Findings

– It is argued that resilience can be defined as a function of vulnerability and adaptability, therefore increasing adaptability or reducing vulnerability can cause higher system resilience. Further attributes, determinants and properties of resilient systems to guide indicator selection and classification are suggested.

Originality/value

– Definitions of resilience, vulnerability and adaptability are very much interlinked. A novel framework is proposed to foster the understanding of the interlinkage between these three terms and to cluster indicators to assess energy system resilience.
Improving performance in project-based management: synthesizing strategic theories
Authors: Cullen Karessa , Parker David  W.
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore benefits and issues of integrating the theory of constraints (TOC), resource-based view (RBV) and resource-dependence theory (RDT) with conventional project-based management frameworks.

Design/methodology/approach

– Extant literature is used to develop a conceptual framework of an integrated model that will be tested for applied robustness. The model has been applied to published projects to identify its strengths and weaknesses.

Findings

– The work shows important implications for improved success of projects from the use of TOC, RBV and RDT.

Research limitations/implications

– While TOC, RBV and RDT are well established in the context of organization theory, there is limited application in project management. Moreover, the model has yet to be applied in the field. The hypotheses identified in this research are currently being tested using empirical investigation.

Practical implications

– The research falls short in addressing some resources, e.g. innovation, tacit knowledge and decision-making methods in traditional project management context. Therefore, identifying these critical resources in future work and exploiting them as the means of improving project performance would enhance the success of project-based management.

Social implications

– Project management is an emergent discipline and a project is temporary in nature. Therefore, new ideas and development of theories for project management practices are required. This innovative research, for example, may change the way projects are executed in future.

Originality/value

– This paper examines the components of a successful project according to the iron triangle, i.e. scope, quality, time and cost. However, through the application of TOC, RBV and RDT into an integrated project-based management framework gives new insights to resources management.
Dynamics of strategic interventions with firm’s performance
Authors: Yadav Neetu , Taticchi Paolo , Sushil -
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between strategic interventions with firm’s performance using flexible strategy game-card (FSGC) approach in the context of one of the Indian telecom service providers.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper adopts the case research methodology and follows the seven-step mechanism of implementing FSGC for designing performance management system (PMS) for case company.

Findings

– The paper adopts an evolving performance management framework for development of PMS in the context of Indian enterprise, where there is limited work done in this field. It showcases identification of strategic factors from enterprise perspective, and subscribers’ perspective; defining measures, targets, strategic directions; alignment of strategic actions with strategic directions; executing strategic actions; and review and feedback, thus, the process of PMS development covers the entire cycle of strategy formulation and implementation.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings of case analysis is limited to the context of the study, which cannot be generalized, but the mechanism of PMS development can be taken as an exemplary for development of FSGC in the context of any enterprise.

Originality/value

– The paper makes a contribution to the body of knowledge of performance measurement and management in terms showing its linkages with strategic interventions, and thus it leads to develop an effective PMS. The case illustration in context of the Indian enterprise makes a sectoral contribution.
Performance agreement in Thai public sectors
Authors: Srimai Suwit
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine use of the performance agreement (PA) as well as the diagnostic control system that has been implemented at the provincial level of the Thai government.

Design/methodology/approach

– This is a qualitative study. Two qualitative methods – focus group and in-depth individual interviews – were employed. In addition, documents such as performance reports, forms, provincial strategic plans, and work manuals, were examined.

Findings

– Implementation of the PA at the provincial level has encountered some unexpected difficulties. Results of this study indicate that the PA and performance target-setting may contradict the “controllability” principle. In using the diagnostic control system, the two main challenges are: what to monitor and how to report it.

Practical implications

– This study is intended to be used as a guide in the use of the existing PA and diagnostic control system. The study also points to areas in which improvements can be made to increase the effectiveness of the PA in future use.

Originality/value

– This study calls for reconsideration in the implementation of the PA at the provincial level of the Thai government. Results show that the notion that “what gets measured gets done” is only half true at best.
Supply chain practices
Authors: Gorane S. J. , Kant Ravi
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to perform content analysis in empirical research in supply chain practices (SCPs) over the last 16 years. The research also aims to identify implications for future research in the area of SCPs.

Design/methodology/approach

– The review of SCPs research is based on 382 papers published from 1997 to 2012 in the 16 selected journals. The state of research is assessed by examining the empirical research growth of SCPs in selected journals, empirical research growth of SCPs, country of sample industry, sample industry, issues discussed in SCPs literature, purpose/objective of research, research method, response rate and data analysis techniques. The research gap is identified through reviewing the selected practices and framework for future development is proposed.

Findings

– The empirical research in SCPs predominantly performs in the developed countries like USA, UK and Spain. A significant percentage of articles contribute towards the effect of SCPs on organizational performance, but majority of authors employed performance analysis for at firm level only. Hypothesis testing is seemed to be very a common method of defining research question. From the content analysis, it is found that the response rate for the survey research is very low. The trend in survey research is shifting from descriptive statistics’ to framework building and testing.

Research limitations/implications

– This paper focuses only the identifications of SCPs and content analysis in empirical research. Further empirical study can be undertaken to find out the relationship between different SCPs and their effect on the organizational performance.

Practical implications

– The methodological review will provide better understanding of the current state of research in the area of SCPs.

Originality/value

– Many literature reviews aim at critical examination of supply chain management (SCM), but none of them focused the empirical research in SCPs. Another unique feature of this paper is that, it represents 382 articles from 16 selected journals over the past 16 years.