bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Activity-dependent competition regulates motor neuron axon pathfinding via PlexinA3
Authors: Plazas Paola V. , Nicol Xavier , Spitzer Nicholas C.
Published: January 2013

The role of electrical activity in axon guidance has been extensively studied in vitro. To better understand its role in the intact nervous system, we imaged intracellular Ca
2+
in zebrafish primary motor neurons (PMN) during axon pathfinding in vivo. We found that PMN generate specific patterns of Ca
2+
spikes at different developmental stages. Spikes arose in the distal axon of PMN and were propagated to the cell body. Suppression of Ca
2+
spiking activity in single PMN led to stereotyped errors, but silencing all electrical activity had no effect on axon guidance, indicating that an activity-based competition rule regulates this process. This competition was not mediated by synaptic transmission. Combination of PlexinA3 knockdown with suppression of Ca
2+
activity in single PMN produced a synergistic increase in the incidence of pathfinding errors. However, expression of PlexinA3 transcripts was not regulated by activity. Our results provide an in vivo demonstration of the intersection of spontaneous electrical activity with the PlexinA3 guidance molecule receptor in regulation of axon pathfinding.
Structure and inhibition of the drug-resistant S31N mutant of the M2 ion channel of influenza A virus
Authors: Wang Jun , Wu Yibing , Ma Chunlong , Fiorin Giacomo , Wang Jizhou , Pinto Lawrence H. , Lamb Robert A. , Klein Michael L. , DeGrado William F.
Published: January 2013

The influenza A virus M2 proton channel (A/M2) is the target of the antiviral drugs amantadine and rimantadine, whose use has been discontinued due to widespread drug resistance. Among the handful of drug-resistant mutants, S31N is found in more than 95% of the currently circulating viruses and shows greatly decreased inhibition by amantadine. The discovery of inhibitors of S31N has been hampered by the limited size, polarity, and dynamic nature of its amantadine-binding site. Nevertheless, we have discovered small-molecule drugs that inhibit S31N with potencies greater than amantadine’s potency against WT M2. Drug binding locks the protein into a well-defined conformation, and the NMR structure of the complex shows the drug bound in the homotetrameric channel, threaded between the side chains of Asn31. Unrestrained molecular dynamics simulations predicted the same binding site. This S31N inhibitor, like other potent M2 inhibitors, contains a charged ammonium group. The ammonium binds as a hydrate to one of three sites aligned along the central cavity that appear to be hotspots for inhibition. These sites might stabilize hydronium-like species formed as protons diffuse through the outer channel to the proton-shuttling residue His37 near the cytoplasmic end of the channel.
The Unintended Consequences of US-led Sanctions on Iranian Industries
Authors: Majidpour Mehdi
Published: January 2013

This paper aims to understand the consequences of US-led sanctions on two important industries in Iran: the oil and gas industry and power plant construction. Using qualitative methods and providing empirical evidence, this paper demonstrates the shortcomings of the pro-sanctions argument in the Iranian context. This paper argues that pro-sanctions literature is more inclined towards American politics; it ignores socially recurring effects such as empowering self-reliance in the target country. In the Iranian context, while sanctions regimes are beyond the control or power of industry managers, they have acted as a double-edged sword. On one hand, the sanctions have imposed extra costs on domestic companies in acquiring technological knowledge. On the other hand, they have stimulated policy-makers' determination and empowered a self-reliance doctrine amongst them.
De-censoring an Iranian-American “Memoir”: Authorship and Synchronicity in Shahriar Mandanipour's Censoring an Iranian Love Story
Authors: Ostby Marie
Published: January 2013

In the literature of the Iranian-American diaspora, the memoir genre has become a predominant lens through which Western audiences “read” contemporary Iran. While many bestselling life narratives have relied on hostage crisis-era tropes of gendered repression and subsequent liberation in exile, new amalgams of style and theme, distortions of perspective, and complicated renderings of the “subject” are now beginning to cross borders. One of these is Shahriar Mandanipour's 2009 novel, Censoring an Iranian Love Story, which this paper examines as an auto-fictional commentary on the memoir genre that both arises from and responds directly to censorship using a self-referential and layered text. Through three central dialectics—ambiguous violence, encoded desire and resistance to diachronic historicization alongside the nation—this paper demonstrates how Mandanipour's auto-fictional and often magical realist attempts elude what Gillian Whitlock terms the transnational “economy of affect” that publicizes, protects and ultimately drives the reception of memoir across borders.
The politics are personal: The Australian vs the Australian curriculum in history
Authors: Taylor Tony , Collins Sue
Published: January 2013

This article reviews the relationship between the conservative newspaper The Australian and the development of a national history curriculum in Australia. The lead author surveyed the major Australian press in the five‐year period between 2007 and 2012 and found clear patterns of difference between The Australian and other press outlets in relation to education in general and history curriculum in particular. Using Jonathan Haidt%s five‐point model of moral values, the article analyses the behaviour of the press in Australia in relation to history education as a feature of moral preferences. Extending from this analysis, it then highlights a number of cases of press campaigns in The Australian targeted against individuals including one academic involved in the development of a national curriculum. The article demonstrates that a culture of aggressive conservatism exercised in this Murdoch press outlet reaches beyond the field of conventional political debate to constitute a serious and concerning influence in the dynamics of curriculum policy development.
Winner of the 2011 ASMI PG essay prize: Popular Italian cinema, the media, and the economic miracle: rethinkingcommedia all'italiana
Authors: Fullwood Natalie
Published: January 2013

This article seeks to reposition the popular cinematic genrecommedia all'italianawithin the context of the rapid expansion of the media industries which accompanied Italy's postwar economic miracle. The article looks at three distinct aspects of the relationship betweencommedia all'italianaand other media. First, it outlines the important role played by the media during the boom in disseminating images of consumer lifestyles, and highlights the way in whichcommedia all'italianaparticipated in this process. Second, through a discussion of media appearances by Vittorio Gassman and Nino Manfredi, the article emphasises the extent to which theircommedia all'italianastar personas were constructed and circulated in a multimedia context. Finally, it examines how the genre represented other media, focusing in particular on the representation of gender in advertising scenes. Through close readings ofcommedia all'italianaadvertising scenes, the article notes points of continuity with and difference from advertising imagery that was circulating at the time. The article argues that in order to further our understanding ofcommedia all'italianaand its relationship to Italian society, it is essential to understand the genre's relationship to other media production of the period, which both influenced the comedies' representations and was influenced by them in turn.
HitWalker: variant prioritization for personalized functional cancer genomics
Authors: Bottomly Daniel , Wilmot Beth , Tyner Jeffrey W. , Eide Christopher A. , Loriaux Marc M. , Druker Brian J. , McWeeney Shannon K.
Published: January 2013

Summary: Determining the functional relevance of identified sequence variants in cancer is a prerequisite to ultimately matching specific therapies with individual patients. This level of mechanistic understanding requires integration of genomic information with complementary functional analyses to identify oncogenic targets and relies on the development of computational frameworks to aid in the prioritization and visualization of these diverse data types. In response to this, we have developed HitWalker, which prioritizes patient variants relative to their weighted proximity to functional assay results in a protein–protein interaction network. It is highly extensible, allowing incorporation of diverse data types to refine prioritization. In addition to a ranked list of variants, we have also devised a simple shortest path-based approach of visualizing the results in an intuitive manner to provide biological interpretation.

Availability and implementation: The program, documentation and example data are available as an R package from www.biodevlab.org/HitWalker.html.

Contact:  bottomly@ohsu.edu

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Escherichia coli O157:H7 Induces Stronger Plant Immunity than Salmonella enterica Typhimurium SL1344
Authors: Roy Debanjana , Panchal Shweta , Rosa Bruce A. , Melotto Maeli
Published: January 2013

Consumption of fresh produce contaminated with bacterial human pathogens has resulted in various, sometimes deadly, disease outbreaks. In this study, we assessed plant defense responses induced by the fully pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium SL1344 in both Arabidopsis thaliana and lettuce (Lactuca sativa). Unlike SL1344, O157:H7 induced strong plant immunity at both pre-invasion and post-invasion steps of infection. For instance, O157:H7 triggered stomatal closure even under high relative humidity, an environmental condition that generally weakens plant defenses against bacteria in the field and laboratory conditions. SL1344 instead induced a transient stomatal immunity. We also observed that PR1 gene expression was significantly higher in Arabidopsis leaves infected with O157:H7 compared with SL1344. These results suggest that plants may recognize and respond to some human pathogens more effectively than others. Furthermore, stomatal immunity can diminish the penetration of human pathogens through the leaf epidermis, resulting in low bacterial titers in the plant apoplast and suggesting that additional control measures can be employed to prevent food contamination. The understanding of how plant responses can diminish bacterial contamination is paramount in preventing outbreaks and improving the safety of food supplies.
Regulation of neurite growth by tumour necrosis superfamily member RANKL
Authors: Gutierrez Humberto , Kisiswa Lilian , O'Keeffe Gerard W. , Smithen Matthew J. , Wyatt Sean , Davies Alun M.
Published: January 2013

RANKL (receptor-activator of NF-κB ligand, TNFSF11) is a member of the TNF superfamily that regulates bone remodelling and the development of the thymus, lymph nodes and mammary glands. While RANKL and its membrane bound receptor RANK (TNFRSF11A) are expressed in the adult central nervous system and have been implicated in thermoregulation, the potential function of RANK signalling in the developing nervous system remains unexplored. Here, we show that RANK is expressed by sympathetic and sensory neurons of the developing mouse peripheral nervous system and that activating RANK signalling in these neurons during perinatal development by either treating cultured neurons with soluble RANKL or overexpressing RANK in the neurons inhibited neurotrophin-promoted neurite growth without affecting neurotrophin-promoted neuronal survival. RANKL is expressed in tissues innervated by these neurons, and studies in compartment cultures demonstrated that RANKL is capable of acting directly on neurites to inhibit growth locally. Enhancing RANK signalling in cultured neurons resulted in NF-κB activation and phosphorylation of the p65 NF-κB subunit on serine 536. Transfecting neurons with a series of mutated signalling proteins showed that NF-κB activation and p65 phosphorylation occurred by an IKKβ-dependent mechanism and that blockade of this signalling pathway prevented neurite growth inhibition by RANKL. These findings reveal that RANKL is a novel negative regulator of neurite growth from developing PNS neurons and that it exerts its effects by IKKβ-dependent activation of NF-κB.
Search result list evaluation versus document evaluation: similarities and differences
Authors: Xie Iris , Benoit Edward
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to compare the evaluation of search result lists and documents, in particular evaluation criteria, elements, association between criteria and elements, pre/post and evaluation activities, and the time spent on evaluation.

Design/methodology/approach

The study analyzed the data collected from 31 general users through prequestionnaires, think aloud protocols and logs, and post questionnaires. Types of evaluation criteria, elements, associations between criteria and elements, evaluation activities and their associated pre/post activities, and time were analyzed based on open coding.

Findings

The study identifies the similarities and differences of list and document evaluation by analyzing 21 evaluation criteria applied, 13 evaluation elements examined, pre/post and evaluation activities performed and time spent. In addition, the authors also explored the time spent in evaluating lists and documents for different types of tasks.

Research limitations/implications

This study helps researchers understand the nature of list and document evaluation. Additionally, this study connects elements that participants examined to criteria they applied, and further reveals problems associated with the lack of integration between list and document evaluation. The findings of this study suggest more elements, especially at list level, be available to support users applying their evaluation criteria. Integration of list and document evaluation and integration of pre, evaluation and post evaluation activities for the interface design is the absolute solution for effective evaluation.

Originality/value

This study fills a gap in current research in relation to the comparison of list and document evaluation.
Task structure and work outcomes
Authors: Billing Tejinder K. , Bhagat Rabi S. , Babakus Emin
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of the emphasis placed by individuals on scheduling of activities on the relationship between task structure and work outcomes (i.e. job satisfaction and job involvement).

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected using surveys from 387 employees working in US‐based organizations. Regression analyses were used to test the hypothesized relationships.

Findings

The results of the study show that for individuals who place high emphasis on scheduling of work and non‐work activities, the negative impact of highly structured tasks was weaker than for individuals who do not emphasize scheduling of activities. The results also provide support for the hypotheses concerning the direct relationships between task structure and work outcomes.

Originality/value

Past research has largely ignored the role of individual differences in examining task structure. By providing empirical support for the moderating role of emphasis on scheduling on the task structure outcome relationships, this study not only paves the way for future studies but also emphasizes the importance of incorporating the role of time in examining task structure.
Exploring the determinants of e‐learning systems continuance intention in academic libraries
Authors: Chang Chiao‐Chen
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships of web quality (system quality, information quality, and service quality), perceived value, and satisfaction to understand how these critical factors influence the continuance intention of using e‐learning systems in academic libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

The study data come from a convenience sample of 302 undergraduate and graduate students who were 18 to 25 years old. A structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was conducted to identify causal relationships.

Findings

The findings demonstrate that web quality has significantly positive influences on perceived value and user satisfaction. Furthermore, perceived value and satisfaction determines users' continuance intentions of e‐learning systems in academic libraries.

Research limitations/implications

This study addresses self‐reported continuance intentions as part of the survey; as a result, it could have introduced inaccuracies. The implications of proposed e‐learning success model are discussed.

Practical implications

Academic librarians should reinforce the efficiency of e‐learning systems to influence users' willingness to continuously use such systems.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the determinants of continuance intentions of e‐learning systems in digital libraries and educates researchers, librarians, and system developers about how e‐learning systems are perceived by end‐users in digital libraries.
Decomposing European NUTS2 regional inequality from 1980 to 2009
Authors: Doran Justin , Jordan Declan
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse income inequality for a sample of 14 European countries and their composite regions using data from the Cambridge Econometrics regional dataset from 1980 to 2009. The purpose of the paper is to provide insight into the dynamics of regional and national cohesion among the EU‐14 countries studied.

Design/methodology/approach

Initially, inequality is decomposed using the Theil coefficient into between and within country inequality to assess the extent to which convergence has occurred. To investigate the underlying causes of the changes in inequality, the Theil coefficient is further decomposed to assess the contribution of productivity and employment‐population ratio differentials to inequality.

Findings

The results indicate that while between‐country inequality has declined, within‐country inequality has increased by approximately 50 percent. Subsequent decomposition indicates that while productivity levels among regions have converged, the employment‐population ratios have diverged substantially driving increasing levels of inequality. This suggests that while EU cohesion policies have reduced productivity inequalities they have had little effect in stimulating convergence of employment‐population ratios across regions.

Research limitations/implications

The paper argues that national priorities, particularly in the context of the current European economic crisis, are likely to hinder European Union level policies to reduce income inequality at a regional level. This may result in further increases in regional inequality among European regions.

Originality/value

This paper's main contribution is to highlight how national convergence can lead to regional divergence being overlooked. The value of the paper is that it provides policy insights, based on empirical evidence, for European cohesion policy.
Financial market reactions to announcements of monetary policy decisions
Authors: Ferreira de Mendonça Helder , Faria Ivando
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to make an analysis of the Brazilian experience after the adoption of inflation targeting concerning the effects caused by the new practices of transparency and communication in the monetary policy.

Design/methodology/approach

Changes in the financial market's expectations due to monetary policy actions are analyzed based on methodologies proposed by Cook and Hahn and Kuttner. Daily data from transactions in the interbank deposit futures market of the Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange (BMF&BOVESPA) are used for the period July 1999‐January 2009. Two sub‐periods are also considered: the “maturation period” – the first phase of the effects caused by an increase in central bank transparency; and the “wisdom period” – the second phase in the financial market's perception regarding an environment with more transparency.

Findings

The findings are in consonance with the idea that an increase in central bank transparency and communication improves the efficiency of expectations hypothesis of the term structure of interest rate and the anticipation of changes in the interest rate target.

Originality/value

This study offers some new insights into how central bank communication improves the efficiency of the monetary policy for developing countries, which have adopted inflation targeting.
Conditional pricing of risks
Authors: Yiu Wah Ho Ron , Strange Roger , Piesse Jenifer
Published: January 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the pricing effects of risks conditional on market situations.

Design/methodology/approach

The model used to test for the conditional pricing effects of risks is a modified version of Pettengill et al.'s cross‐sectional regression model, based on Hong Kong equity data.

Findings

The paper postulates a five‐factor asset pricing model, which hypothesizes that five risk factors are relevant in the pricing of equity stocks, namely beta, size, book‐to‐market equity, market leverage, and share price, but conditional on market situations, i.e. whether the market is up or down.

Practical implications

The findings enrich our understanding of capital market behaviour, and should prove helpful to investors and corporate managers in both their domestic and international financial decisions.

Originality/value

This study yields important results on a Chinese market, which lend support to the conditional risk pricing hypotheses originally developed in the US, implying that conditional risk pricing is applicable not only in the US market but also in other markets around the globe.
“The unreasonable power of creativity”: Robert Senior, CEO, EMEA at Saatchi and Saatchi Fallon Group, on how ideas are crucial to a more positive future
Authors: Bell Gareth
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to provide an interview with Robert Senior, CEO, EMEA of SSF (Saatchi and Saatchi Fallon Group).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides an interview with Robert Senior.

Findings

Senior discusses the importance of creativity and idea generation, and the issues facing the advertising industry.

Originality/value

The interview offers advice for senior professionals working in the creative industries.
Financial distress, earnings management and market pricing of accruals during the global financial crisis
Authors: Habib Ahsan , Uddin Bhuiyan Borhan , Islam Ainul
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to examine empirically the managerial earnings management practices of financially distressed firms, and to consider whether these practices changed during the recent global financial crisis. Although corporate distress has been a topic of research interest for many years, earnings manipulation by distressed firms has received relatively little attention.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses three measures of distress, and discretionary accruals, a popular proxy for earnings management, to investigate the impact of distress on earnings management.

Findings

The paper finds that managers of distressed firms engage more in income‐decreasing earnings management practices compared to their healthy firm counterparts. The paper also finds some evidence of the effect of the global financial crisis on the association between financial distress and earnings management. Finally, the paper shows some evidence of positive market pricing of discretionary accruals in the non‐crisis period, but a substantial reduction in pricing coefficients during the global financial crisis period.

Practical implications

Financial distress experienced by firms provides incentives to managers for earnings manipulation. However, the direction of the earnings management could be income‐increasing or income‐decreasing. The findings from this study will allow investors to make better investment decisions for firms that are experiencing financial difficulties.

Originality/value

This paper is the first in New Zealand to investigate the association between firm distress and managerial earnings management decisions. Recently, New Zealand experienced a spate of finance company collapses that somewhat contributes, indirectly, to financial distress experienced by firms. The New Zealand reporting environment is characterized by concentrated ownership, relaxed monitoring by regulatory authorities, and a very low litigation threat that provides an interesting setting to examine the research question. This paper is also the first to test the market pricing of earnings components in New Zealand.
Global interoperability and linked data in libraries
Authors: Zengenene Dydimus
Published: January 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to provide a report for the seminar on “Global Interoperability and Linked Data” which was held at the University of Florence in Italy from 18‐19 July 2012.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper goes beyond a report by introducing the concept of linked data and how it is beneficial to libraries. It is derived mainly from papers presented at the seminar in English as well as other complementary sources.

Findings

The paper reports that linked data in libraries has become a subject of interdisciplinary interest as evidenced by the diversity of participants and presentations at this conference.

Originality/value

Based on the experiences presented at the conference, this report concludes by encouraging libraries to build from each other in adopting linked data.
The selection of a dean in an academic environment: are we getting what we deserve?
Authors: Harvey Michael , Shaw James B. , McPhail Ruth , Erickson Anthony
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of the development of the paper was due to the seemingly endless searching for deans to replace the former dean of three to four years.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper was developed around the present relevant secondary data.

Findings

The key findings of the paper were that deans were being replaced due to the difference in expectation of the various constituents (e.g. students, faculty, administration, parents) in the performance of the SBA.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations of the study were not providing primary data to support the theory based hypotheses of the study.

Practical implications

Deans need to recognize that there will be conflicting expectations relative to the performance of the dean and that deans have a very short time to effectuate change in academic organizations.

Social implications

Not having such high turnover in dean's positions should provide the stability of management to bring about change need in institutions of higher education.

Originality/value

Identification of key mistakes made by deans as well as the mistakes made by faculty undermine the performance of deans.
Therapeutic communities for drug addicts in Israel: comparing addicts born in the Former Soviet Union and in Israel
Authors: Ranz Rebecca , Dekel Rachel , Itzhaky Haya
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on comparing background characteristics, self‐efficacy, and family support of immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and of veteran Israelis who join therapeutic communities in Israel, and their adjustment to these communities. The aim of this research was to examine whether therapeutic communities are an appropriate rehabilitative setting for immigrants who come from a different cultural background.

Design/methodology/approach

The study sample consisted of 213 people with addictions, who were being treated in therapeutic communities in Israel: 110 were Israeli‐born and 103 were immigrants from the FSU. The data in the present study are based on questionnaires, which the participants completed upon their arrival into the communities: socio‐demographic data; perceived self‐efficacy in resisting the temptation of drugs; and family support. The dropout rates from the therapeutic communities were also examined.

Findings

The findings indicate that the addicts who immigrated from the FSU had lower self‐efficacy in resisting high‐risk drug situations as well as lower levels of family support, whereas the dropout rate from the treatment program was considerably higher among the Israeli‐born participants.

Originality/value

The findings suggest that the therapeutic community is an appropriate setting for addicts from the FSU, and that they had a lower dropout rate than did the Israeli‐born addicts. Thus, the main value of this research is that it suggests that the communities are an appropriate rehabilitative setting for the immigrants.
Consistency, continuity and stability – organizational virtues or not?
Authors: Holmes Peter , Williams Susan
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose that some level of disorder in daily life can be of benefit. The article aims to draw from recent ideas suggesting that chaos in a business setting has the potential to yield rich gains, and consider how these might be applied to a therapeutic community (TC) setting.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors combine sociological approaches with trends in commercial contexts to reflect on the potential implications for TC environments.

Findings

The instinctive quest for stability, control and continuity is suggested to run counter to the need for change at an organisational level. Chaos can be considered as both disorder and hidden order, each creating opportunities for positive change through a chaordic process. It is suggested that TCs are well‐suited to embrace the relational dynamic required, if they are willing to engage in this chaos organisationally.

Practical implications

The article has a very serious and far‐reaching range of implications for TC life, in suggesting that at an organisational level TC processes should be designed to accommodate the chaordic process. Rather than the TC simply being a container in which therapeutic change happens, it is proposed that the TC itself can undergo a dynamic of discontinuous change that brings additional benefit to its members.

Originality/value

This article is intentionally interdisciplinary, embracing thinking from the social sciences, especially sociology, as well as recent examples from business and organisational theory. In bringing some of these ideas into TC life the authors are also drawing on their own research and findings from founding and running a TC, observing on numerous occasions the positive outcomes following times of chaos, disorder and upheaval in the lives of clients and the TC.
From tulip bulbs to sub‐prime mortgages examining the sub‐prime crisis
Authors: Stephens Alan A. , Brian Atwater J. , Kannan Vijay R.
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The collapse of the sub‐prime mortgage market parallels several earlier failures within the financial services sector, begging the question why the lessons of past failures were not learned. Throughout history from the tulip bulb crisis of the 1600s to the most recent economic crisis, decision‐makers keep making the same mistakes. This occurs in part because of a failure to recognize similarities between past and current events. This conceptual paper aims to use systems dynamics tools to examine the crisis and illustrate how seemingly independent events are linked.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides a fundamental review of systems thinking concepts and uses a tool of systems dynamics, causal loop diagrams (CLD), to provide a visualization of the dynamics of the sub‐prime market collapse over time. This approach provides insights that traditional analytic methods do not, which should be beneficial in understanding future cases where speculative demand drives behavior.

Findings

The paper uses the CLD tool to understand the evolution of the recent financial crisis. It finds that the dynamics of the collapse closely mirror many historic financial disasters (the paper cites several) and proposes the fundamental CLD of this phenomenon be elevated to a special category of the “limits to growth” archetype model. The paper makes this recommendation in the hope it will allow investors and policy makers to quickly recognize future speculative events when they happen again.

Originality/value

This paper argues that, despite the surface level uniqueness and complexity of the recent economic collapse, there is an underlying simplicity that links the recent collapse with speculative boom/busts going back over 400 years. The representation that the paper develops applies the language of systems thinking to the most recent financial crisis. A mental model of this system and the corresponding systems structure can be used to not only understand what happened, but also inform decision‐makers when similar speculative behavior occurs in the future.
Discordant retail brand ideology in the House of Barbie
Authors: McGrath Mary Ann , Sherry John F. , Diamond Nina
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to expand the scant literature related to retail branding ideology and the application of mythotypes to flagship stores within the Chinese setting. The study explores the transplantation of a retail brand ideology in the form of complex home‐country cultural content to a host culture whose local retail narratives differ significantly from those of the brand enterprise.

Design/methodology/approach

This is an ethnographic study that spans the two years of the focal store's existence. With the help of native‐speaking graduate assistants, store visits, interviews with Chinese locals and internet mentions and secondary information were collected. Data include fieldnotes, interview transcripts, photographs, news articles, blog comments and website information.

Findings

The paper details the mythotypic mistuning of marketscape and mindscape that contributed to the failure of this flagship store and build theory concerning the implementation of retail brand ideology and retail theatrics. The paper concludes that successful themed flagship brand stores encapsulate ideology in stories composed of mythotypes and encourages the enactment of that ideology through multiple, interrelated brand experiences. Misalignments of these mythotypes can impede the acceptance of retail brand ideology and the diffusion of the retail theatre concept.

Originality/value

While foreign and domestic flagship brand stores have flourished in China, cultural propriety of these stores includes a host of physical design cues that must mesh with the local culture's sensibilities and the brand's provenance. To translate the retail brand ideology into customer‐centric meaning is challenging. The presence or absence of mythotypes comprising the servicescape profoundly affect their success.
Decision making of retail buyers: perspectives from China and India
Authors: Manjeshwar Sonia , Sternquist Brenda , Good Linda K.
Published: January 2013

Purpose

Buying decisions are often viewed as random and therefore not generalizable. Additionally, retail buying is typically conducted by individuals and is impacted by cultural considerations. The aim of this paper is to identify critical incidents from China and India, and use theoretical concepts from buyer‐supplier literature to explain the outcome success or failure.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses the critical incident technique to capture retail buying decisions that resulted in either successful or unsuccessful outcomes. The authors analyze and match each critical incident with theoretical evidence to explain the result.

Findings

A total of ten critical incidents were described by ten senior retail‐buying executives in China and India. Critical incidents were classified under four retailing categories: assortment planning, product promotion, sourcing issues, and supply chain issues, and analyzed under four theoretical themes: opportunism, trust, long‐term orientation and power‐dependence.

Practical implications

Organized retailing is a new phenomenon in China and India. This study bears implications for the training of future retail buyers in both emerging economies, and emphasizes the integration of scientific, modern methods of decision‐making with the cultural values of the local country.

Originality/value

This study is unique because it relies on the voice of the retail buyer to explain real‐world decision making with theoretical evidence from buyer‐supplier literature. Methodologically, this paper is unique as it reports on the first study using critical incident interview techniques to study professional retail‐buying practices.
Surfing the Korean wave
Authors: Hong Soonkwan , Kim Chang‐Ho
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to present a theoretical framework to demythologize Asian consumers' cultural and ideological narratives in relation to the newly emerging popular culture developed in Korea, widely known as “Korean wave.” In addition, methodological considerations for the understudied consumption phenomenon are also discussed.

Design/methodology/approach

From the extant literature on popular culture and globalization, a theoretical overview of Korean popular culture (KPC) is provided. Subsequently, a condensed presentation of netnography employing critical discourse analysis (CDA) is provided.

Findings

A netnography fused with CDA suggests a reflexive process in which a range of sociocultural tensions in the globalization process of KPC dynamically hybridize and transform into new cultural tastes in respective cultures.

Research limitations/implications

Cultural branding can be revisited, as the new discourse generated in Asia envisions new entries into the global brandscape. Moreover, this endeavor helps explicate how a globalized trend is replaced with another through a paradoxical discursive process.

Originality/value

As this article discusses popular culture as a product to be consumed just as are other tangible products, it assists researchers in visualizing and theorizing about the globalization process of incorporeal, cultural products. The application of discursively enriched netnography facilitates pertinent analysis and ultimately theory‐building.
Crystallization and research in Asia
Authors: Polsa Pia
Published: January 2013

Purpose

Crystallization calls for the interaction between mind, body and spirit. While the knowledge of the mind is how we are used to see knowledge creation, the body influences the co‐creation and the embodied experience between the researcher and the participant as a human instrument for understanding. Spirit refers to the sensitivity to ethics in preventing the reaffirmation of the stereotypical narratives. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate how body and spirit in addition to mind can provide alternative insights on a research topic.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study focuses on the body and spirit. Self‐reflective empirical narratives from China and India evidence interpretive findings that suggest that crystallization help us to create an emic understanding of those studied and affirms our commitment to them.

Findings

The interpretive findings demonstrate that with help of body and spirit research can move towards indigenous findings of the research site that can be put into action to improve the life of those studied. Two new quality criteria are established to trustworthiness namely indigenousness and action orientation.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to research methodology by demonstrating how in addition to mind generated findings reflections from body and spirit open new avenues to additional findings. It is proposed that knowledge from body and spirit is particularly important in Asian settings because of the Asian culture's holistic view on life and tolerance for multiple truths.
The uptake of health checks for adults with learning disabilities in England: 2008/9‐2011/12
Authors: Glover Gyles , Emerson Eric , Evison Felicity
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on trends in the provision of health checks for adults with learning disabilities over the period 2008/9‐2011/12.

Design/methodology/approach

Analysis of data collected by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care from Primary Care Trusts in England.

Findings

Over the four years the percentage of eligible adults receiving a health check has consistently increased and now stands at 53 percent. There remain marked variations across both Strategic Health Authority areas and Primary Care Trusts.

Research limitations/implications

There remains considerable distance to travel before minimum standards of satisfactory performance in the provision of health checks are achieved nationally. It is important to consider possible obstacles to provision and how these can be addressed to improve uptake further.

Originality/value

The paper examines consistency of good and poor performance by local areas over time. It is clear that significant improvements are required in a number of strategic health authority and primary care trust areas if minimum standards are to be met.
Exploring university‐industry collaboration in research centres
Authors: Lind Frida , Styhre Alexander , Aaboen Lise
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore university‐industry collaboration in research centres.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper builds on an explorative study of three research centres at a technical university in Sweden, using in‐depth interviews. The three research centres, Alpha, Beta and Gamma, have various degrees of involvement with industry.

Findings

A total of four broad forms of collaboration are suggested: distanced, translational, specified and developed collaboration.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shows that the different institutional logics of academic actors, industry actors and funding agencies can be present in collaborations in (at least) four different ways resulting in four different types of research processes. Since not all actors are likely to be equally satisfied in all types of collaborations, the continued development of the research centres will be at risk.

Practical implications

If the role of the research centre is to be a forum for collaboration, the research centre has to be a good mediator between the actors in order to ensure their satisfaction with the research centre within and between projects. If, in contrast, the role of the research centre is to be a facilitator of collaboration, the research centre needs to enable the actors to learn how to interact with each other in order for the distanced, translational, specified collaboration to evolve into developed collaboration.

Originality/value

Few studies have focused on the collaborationsper sein research centres, taking the different institutional logics of the actors involved in the collaboration into account.
Project temporalities: how frogs can become stakeholders
Authors: Tryggestad Kjell , Justesen Lise , Mouritsen Jan
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how animals can become stakeholders in interaction with project management technologies and what happens with project temporalities when new and surprising stakeholders become part of a project and a recognized matter of concern to be taken into account.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a qualitative case study of a project in the building industry. The authors use actor‐network theory (ANT) to analyze the emergence of animal stakeholders, stakes and temporalities.

Findings

The study shows how project temporalities can multiply in interaction with project management technologies and how conventional linear conceptions of project time may be contested with the emergence of new non‐human stakeholders and temporalities.

Research limitations/implications

The study draws on ANT to show how animals can become stakeholders during the project. Other approaches to animal stakeholders may provide other valuable insights.

Practical implications

Rather than taking the linear time conception for granted, the management challenge and practical implication is to re‐conceptualize time by taking heterogeneous temporalities into account. This may require investments in new project management technologies.

Originality/value

This paper adds to the literatures on project temporalities and stakeholder theory by connecting them to the question of non‐human stakeholders and to project management technologies.
Critical success factors for sustainable improvement in technical education excellence
Authors: Sahu Anil R. , Shrivastava Rashmi R. , Shrivastava R.L.
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify critical factors of total quality management (TQM), for use in a possible framework that addresses sustainable quality improvements in technical institutes as a plausible means of TQM implementation in higher education programs.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature survey of the TQM and related quality methodologies and content analysis of TQM literature in technical institutes provide the theoretical and practical background for this work. The content analysis was carried out following the standard principles of deductive reasoning and subsequently, relevant factors were identified for implementations.

Findings

Unlike the scenario in industry, TQM philosophies have to be adopted differently for a successful implementation in technical institutes. The identified critical factors of TQM and related quality improvement methodologies provide a comprehensive guideline for an effective and efficient implementation of TQM in technical institutes.

Originality/value

This paper identifies the critical factors of quality improvement initiatives that are most comprehensive and have potential to address the quality issues of technical institutes. The critical factors identified in this study, offer a practical guidance for academics to implement TQM in technical institutes and can form the basis for delineating a mathematical model for these institutes.
Back to the future: developing competent residential services for people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour
Authors: Jones Edwin
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a viewpoint on what needs to be done to develop competent residential services for people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

This article draws on previous accounts of the actions required. Whilst these have been available for decades and are still valid, they have not been fully implemented, hence the theme of “Back to the future”.

Findings

The need to continue developing small‐scale, community‐based services that have a clear value base and are committed to taking person‐centred action is highlighted. The paper focuses on the need to enhance service quality through the dissemination and implementation of Positive Behavioural Support and discusses some key issues regarding this with reference to recent work in Wales.

Originality/value

This paper makes a timely contribution to the current debate and highlights some practical actions and tools developed in Wales that may be of wider interest.