bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
SURPRISING THREATS ACCELERATE EVIDENCE ACCUMULATION FOR CONSCIOUS PERCEPTION
Authors: McFadyen Jessica , Smout Cooper , Tsuchiya Naotsugu , Mattingley Jason B. , Garrido Marta I.
Published: January 2019

Our survival depends on how well we can rapidly detect threats in our environment. To facilitate this, the brain is faster to bring threatening or rewarding visual stimuli into conscious awareness than neutral stimuli. Unexpected events may indicate a potential threat, and yet we tend to respond slower to unexpected than expected stimuli. It is unclear if or how these effects of emotion and expectation interact with one’s conscious experience. To investigate this, we presented neutral and fearful faces with different probabilities of occurance in a breaking continuous flash suppression (bCFS) paradigm. Across two experiments, we discovered that fulfilled prior expectations hastened responses to neutral faces but had either no significant effect (Experiment 1) or the opposite effect (Experiment 2) on fearful faces. Drift diffusion modelling revealed that, while prior expectations accelerated stimulus encoding time (associated with the visual cortex), evidence was accumulated at an especially rapid rate for unexpected fearful faces (associated with activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus). Hence, these findings demonstrate a novel interaction between emotion and expectation during bCFS, driven by a unique influence of surprising fearful stimuli that expedites evidence accumulation in a fronto-occipital network.
Measuring Directed Functional Connectivity Using Non-Parametric Directionality Analysis: Validation and Comparison with Non-Parametric Granger Causality
Authors: West Timothy O. , Halliday David M. , Bressler Steven L. , Farmer Simon F. , Litvak Vladimir
Published: January 2019

Background

‘Non-parametric directionality’ (NPD) is a novel method for estimation of directed functional connectivity (dFC) in neural data. The method has previously been verified in its ability to recover causal interactions in simulated spiking networks in Halliday et al. (2015)

Methods

This work presents a validation of NPD in continuous neural recordings (e.g. local field potentials). Specifically, we use autoregressive model to simulate time delayed correlations between neural signals. We then test for the accurate recovery of networks in the face of several confounds typically encountered in empirical data. We examine the effects of NPD under varying: a) signal-to-noise ratios, b) asymmetries in signal strength, c) instantaneous mixing, d) common drive, e) and parallel/convergent signal routing. We also apply NPD to data from a patient who underwent simultaneous magnetoencephalography and deep brain recording.

Results

We demonstrate that NPD can accurately recover directed functional connectivity from simulations with known patterns of connectivity. The performance of the NPD metric is compared with non-parametric Granger causality (NPG), a well-established methodology for model free estimation of dFC. A series of simulations investigating synthetically imposed confounds demonstrate that NPD provides estimates of connectivity that are equivalent to NPG. However, we provide evidence that: i) NPD is less sensitive than NPG to degradation by noise; ii) NPD is more robust to the generation of false positive identification of connectivity resulting from SNR asymmetries; iii) NPD is more robust to corruption via moderate degrees of instantaneous signal mixing.

Conclusions

The results in this paper highlight that to be practically applied to neural data, connectivity metrics should not only be accurate in their recovery of causal networks but also resistant to the confounding effects often encountered in experimental recordings of multimodal data. Taken together, these findings position NPD at the state-of-the-art with respect to the estimation of directed functional connectivity in neuroimaging.

Highlights

Non-parametric directionality (NPD) is a novel directed connectivity metric.

NPD estimates are equivalent to Granger causality but more robust to signal confounds.

Multivariate extensions of NPD can correctly identify signal routing.

Abbreviations

dFC

Directed functional connectivity

EEG

Electroencephalogram

LFP

Local field potential

MEG

Magnetoencephalogram

MVAR

Multivariate autoregressive (model)

NPD

Non-parametric directionality

NPG

Non-parametric Granger (causality)

SMA

Supplementary motor area

SNR

Signal-to-noise ratio

STN

Subthalamic Nucleus
Identification of frequent activating HER2 mutations in primary canine pulmonary adenocarcinoma
Authors: Lorch Gwendolen , Sivaprakasam Karthigayini , Zismann Victoria , Perdigones Nieves , Contente-Cuomo Tania , Nazareno Alexandra , Facista Salvatore , Wong Shukmei , Drenner Kevin , Liang Winnie S. , Amann Joseph M. , Sinicropi-Yao Sara L. , Koenig Michael J. , Perle Krista La , Whitsett Timothy G. , Murtaza Muhammed , Trent Jeffrey , Carbone David P. , Hendricks William P. D.
Published: January 2019

Naturally occurring primary canine lung cancers are aggressive malignancies that are increasingly common in pet dogs. They share clinicopathologic features with human lung cancers in never-smokers, but their genetic underpinnings are unknown. Through multi-platform sequencing of 88 primary canine lung tumors or cell lines, we discovered somatic, coding HER2 (ERRB2) point mutations in 38% of canine pulmonary adenocarcinomas (cPAC, 28/74), but none in adenosquamous (cPASC, 0/11) or squamous cell (cPSCC, 0/3) carcinomas. In cPASC, PTEN was the most frequently mutated gene (18%) while one case each bore likely pathogenic HRAS, KRAS, EGFR, MET, TP53, or VHL somatic mutations. In cPSCC, no recurrently mutated genes were identified, but individual somatic coding mutations were found in BRAF and PTPN11. In cPAC, we also identified recurrent somatic mutation of TP53 (13.5%), SMAD4 (5.4%), PTEN (4.1%), and VHL (2.7%). cPACs assessed by exome sequencing displayed a low somatic mutation burden (median 64 point mutations, 19 focal copy number variants, and 1 translocation). The majority (93%) of HER2 mutations were hotspot V659E transmembrane domain (TMD) mutations comparable to activating mutations at this same site in human cancer. Other HER2 mutations identified in this study were located in the extracellular domain and TMD. HER2V659E was detected in the plasma of 33% (2/6) of dogs with localized HER2V659E tumors. HER2V659E correlated with constitutive phosphorylation of AKT in cPAC cell lines and HER2V659E lines displayed hypersensitivity to the HER2 inhibitors lapatinib and neratinib relative to HER2-wild-type cell lines. These findings have translational and comparative relevance for lung cancer and HER2 inhibition.
FabriEVEs: A dedicated platform for endogenous viral elements in fishes, amphibians, birds, reptiles and invertebrates
Authors: Zhong Jixing , Zhu Jiacheng , Xu Zaoxu , Zou Geng , Zhao JunWei , Jiang SanJie , Zhang Wei , Xia Jun , Yang Lin , Li Fang , Gao Ya , Chen Fang , Wu Yiquan , Chen Dongsheng
Published: January 2019

Endogenous viral elements (EVEs) are heritable viral deriving elements present in the genomes of other species. As DNA ‘fossils’ left by ancient viruses, EVEs were used to infer the characteristics of extinct viruses. EVEs in mammals have been well classified by several databases, however, EVEs in non-mammalian organisms are poorly documented. Here, we report FabriEVEs (http://tfbsbank.co.uk/FabriEVEs), the first dedicated and comprehensive online platform for the collection, classification and annotation of EVEs in fishes, amphibians, birds, reptiles and invertebrates. In total, nearly 1.5 million EVEs from 82 species deriving from class I (dsDNA), II (ssDNA), III (dsRNA), IV (positive ssRNA), V (negative ssRNA), VI (ssRNA-RT) and VII (dsDNA-RT) viruses were recorded in FabriEVEs, accompanying with comprehensive annotation including the species name, location, genomic features, virus family and associated literature. Flexible and powerful query options were provided to pinpoint desired EVEs. Furthermore, FabriEVEs provides free access to all EVEs data in case users need to download them for further analysis. Taken together, our database provided systematic classification and annotation of EVEs in non-mammal species, which paves the way for comparative analysis of EVEs and throws light upon the co-evolution of EVEs and their hosts.
Fundamental contribution and host range determination of ANP32 protein family in influenza A virus polymerase activity
Authors: Zhang Haili , Zhang Zhenyu , Wang Yujie , Wang Meiyue , Wang Xuefeng , Zhang Xiang , Ji Shuang , Du Cheng , Chen Hualan , Wang Xiaojun
Published: January 2019

The polymerase of the influenza virus is part of the key machinery necessary for viral replication. However, the avian influenza virus polymerase is restricted in mammalian cells. The cellular protein ANP32A has been recently found to interact with viral polymerase, and to both influence polymerase activity and interspecies restriction. Here we report that either ANP32A or ANP32B is indispensable for influenza A virus RNA replication. The contribution of ANP32B is equal to that of ANP32A, and together they play a fundamental role in the activity of mammalian influenza A virus polymerase, while neither human ANP32A nor ANP32B support the activity of avian viral polymerase. Interestingly, we found that avian ANP32B was naturally inactive, leaving ANP32A alone to support viral replication. Two amino acid mutations at sites 129-130 in chicken ANP32B lead to the loss of support of viral replication and weak interaction with the viral polymerase complex, and these amino acids are also crucial in the maintenance of viral polymerase activity in other ANP32 proteins. Our findings strongly support ANP32A&B as key factors for both virus replication and adaption.

IMPORTANCE

The key host factors involved in the influenza A viral the polymerase activity and RNA replication remain largely unknown. Here we provide evidence that ANP32A and ANP32B from different species are powerful factors in the maintenance of viral polymerase activity. Human ANP32A and ANP32B contribute equally to support human influenza virus RNA replication. However, unlike avian ANP32A, the avian ANP32B is evolutionarily non-functional in supporting viral replication because of a 129-130 site mutation. The 129-130 site plays an important role in ANP32A/B and viral polymerase interaction, therefore determine viral replication, suggesting a novel interface as a potential target for the development of anti-influenza strategies.
Nanoparticle Mediated NADPH Regeneration for Enhanced Ethanol Production by EngineeredSynechocystissp. PCC 6803
Authors: Velmurugan Rajendran , Incharoensakdi Aran
Published: January 2019

The ethanol synthesis pathway engineeredSynechocystissp. PCC 6803 was used to investigate the influence of metal oxide mediated NADPH regeneration on ethanol synthesis. Among the metal oxides, Fe2O3and MgO showed considerable improvement in growth, chlorophyllacontent and ethanol synthesis. Thein-vitrostudies proved that the selected metal oxides have the potential to regenerate the NADPH under light illumination. The results clearly indicate that the light energy is the key factor for activation of metal oxides and to a less extent light itself has the possibility for direct regeneration of NADPH. Under optimized light intensity and NADP addition, the maximum MgO mediated ethanol production of 5100mg/L, about a 2-fold increase compared to the control, was obtained after 20 days cultivation at 5L level. This study indicates that the efficient NADPH regeneration aided by metal oxide is crucial to improve ethanol productivity inSynechocystissp. PCC 6803.

IMPORTANCE

Cyanobacteria are efficient ethanol producing organisms from atmospheric CO2upon engineering of pathway. In cyanobacterial ethanol synthesis pathway, NADPH plays an important role acetaldehyde to ethanol conversion. Here we elucidated the NADPH regeneration through extracellular addition of metal oxides. The metal oxide mediated NADPH regeneration study allows us to dissect the importance of metal oxides in enhancing ethanol production through NADPH regeneration while also providing insight into the regulatory functions of metal oxides in growth, photosynthetic apparatus and various carbon metabolisms.
Preliminary evidence for altered interoceptive processing in smokers
Authors: Todd Jennifer , Hina Farah , Aspell Jane E
Published: January 2019

Background

Neuroimaging evidence suggests that interoceptive processing might be altered in nicotine addiction, however this has not yet been confirmed with behavioral measures. Therefore, we investigated the perception of internal bodily states in smokers (49) and people who had never smoked (n=51), by measuring interoceptive sensitivity (IS) and interoceptive awareness (IA).

Methods

IS was measured with a heartbeat tracking task and a heartbeat discrimination task. Performance on the heartbeat tracking task may be influenced by one's ability to estimate an elapsed time interval so this was controlled by a time-estimation (TE) task. IA was measured using two sub-scales from the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). Participants in the ‘addiction’ group completed the Revised Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND-R) to measure addiction severity.

Results

Independent-samples t-tests revealed that non-smokers performed significantly better than smokers on the heartbeat tracking task (p = 0.007, d = 0.22). There were no group differences observed for the remaining variables. Furthermore, none of the variables predicted addiction severity.

Conclusions

This is the first demonstration of behavioral differences in interoception in participants with nicotine addiction. When considered in the context of previous research, these findings support the hypothesis that interoceptive processing may be disturbed in addiction. These data also support the hypothesis that behavioral and self-report measures of interoception assess two separate constructs.
FISIK: Framework for the Inference of in Situ Interaction Kinetics from single-molecule imaging data
Authors: de Oliveira Luciana R. , Jaqaman Khuloud
Published: January 2019

Recent experimental and computational developments have been pushing the limits of live-cell single-molecule imaging, enabling the monitoring of inter-molecular interactions in their native environment with high spatiotemporal resolution. However, interactions are captured only for the labeled subset of molecules, which tends to be a small fraction. As a result, it has remained a challenge to calculate molecular interaction kinetics, in particular association rates, from single-molecule tracking data. To overcome this challenge, we developed a mathematical modeling-based Framework for the Inference of in Situ Interaction Kinetics from single-molecule imaging data (termed “FISIK”). FISIK consists of (1) devising a mathematical model of molecular movement and interactions, mimicking the biological system and data-acquisition setup, and (2) estimating the unknown model parameters, including molecular association and dissociation rates, by fitting the model to experimental single-molecule data. Due to the stochastic nature of the model and data, we adapted the method of indirect inference for model calibration. We validated FISIK using a series of tests, where we simulated trajectories of diffusing molecules that interact with each other, considering a wide range of model parameters, and including resolution limitations and tracking errors. We found that FISIK has the sensitivity to determine association and dissociation rates, where its accuracy depends on the labeled fraction of molecules and the extent of molecule tracking errors. For cases where the labeled fraction is relatively low (e.g. to afford accurate tracking), combining dynamic but sparse single-molecule imaging data with almost whole-population oligomer distribution data improves FISIK’s performance. All in all, FISIK is a promising approach for the derivation of molecular interaction kinetics in their native environment from single-molecule imaging data.
Endogenous insulin contributes to pancreatic cancer development
Authors: Zhang Anni M.Y. , Magrill Jamie , de Winter Twan J.J. , Hu Xiaoke , Skovsø Søs , Schaeffer David F. , Kopp Janel L. , Johnson James D.
Published: January 2019

Obesity and early-stage type 2 diabetes (T2D) increase the risk for many cancers, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The mechanisms linking obesity and T2D to cancer have not been established, preventing targeted interventions. Arguments have been made that hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, or inflammation could drive cancer initiation and/or progression1. Hyperinsulinemia is a cardinal feature of obesity and T2D, and is independently associated with PDAC incidence and mortality2–4, even in non-obese people5. Despite ample human epidemiological evidence linking hyperinsulinemia to PDAC, there is no direct in vivo evidence of a causal role for endogenous insulin in cancer in any system. Using mice with reduced insulin gene dosage6, 7, we show here that a modest reduction in endogenous insulin production leads to a ~50% reduction in pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) pre-cancerous lesions in high fat diet-fed mice expressing the KrasG12D oncogene8. The significant reduction in PanIN lesions occurred in the absence of changes in fasting glucose. Reduced insulin also led to a ~50% reduction in pancreatic fibrosis, suggesting that endogenous insulin drives PanIN development, in part, via its pro-fibrotic effects on the stroma surrounding acinar cells and PanIN. Collectively, our data indicate that endogenous insulin hypersecretion contributes causally to pancreatic cancer development. This suggests a modest reduction in fasting insulin via lifestyle interventions or therapeutics may be useful in cancer prevention.
Erroneous inference based on a lack of preference within one group: autism, mice, and the Social Approach Task
Authors: Nygaard Kayla R. , Maloney Susan E. , Dougherty Joseph D.
Published: January 2019

The Social Approach Task is commonly used to identify sociability deficits when modeling liability factors for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mice. It was developed to expand upon assays available to examine distinct aspects of social behavior in rodents and has become a standard component of mouse ASD-relevant phenotyping pipelines. However, there is variability in the statistical analysis and interpretation of results from this task. A common analytical approach is to conduct within-group comparisons only, and then interpret a difference in significance levels as if it were a group difference, without any direct comparison. As an efficient shorthand, we named this approach EWOCs:Erroneous Within-group Only Comparisons. Here we examined the prevalence of EWOCs and used simulations to test whether it could produce misleading inferences. Our review of Social Approach studies of high-confidence ASD genes revealed 45% of papers sampled used only this analytical approach. Through simulations, we then demonstrate how a lack of significant difference within one group often doesn’t correspond to a significant difference between groups, and show this erroneous interpretation increases the rate of false positives up to 25%. Finally, we define a simple solution: use an index, like a social preference score, with direct statistical comparisons between groups to identify significant differences. We also provide power calculations to guide sample size in future studies. Overall, elimination of EWOCs and adoption of direct comparisons should result in more accurate, reliable, and reproducible data interpretations from the Social Approach Task across ASD liability models.

Lay Summary

The Social Approach Task is widely used to assess social behavior in mice and is frequently used in studies modeling autism. However, reviewing published studies showed nearly half do not use correct comparisons to interpret the data. Using simulated and original data, we argue the correct statistical approach is a direct comparison of scores between groups. This simple solution should reduce false positives and improve consistency of results across studies.
Biomedical Concept Recognition Using Deep Neural Sequence Models
Authors: Hailu Negacy D. , Bada Michael , Hadgu Asmelash Teka , Hunter Lawrence E.
Published: January 2019

Background

the automated identification of mentions of ontological concepts in natural language texts is a central task in biomedical information extraction. Despite more than a decade of effort, performance in this task remains below the level necessary for many applications.

Results

recently, applications of deep learning in natural language processing have demonstrated striking improvements over previously state-of-the-art performance in many related natural language processing tasks. Here we demonstrate similarly striking performance improvements in recognizing biomedical ontology concepts in full text journal articles using deep learning techniques originally developed for machine translation. For example, our best performing system improves the performance of the previous state-of-the-art in recognizing terms in the Gene Ontology Biological Process hierarchy, from a previous best F1 score of 0.40 to an F1 of 0.70, nearly halving the error rate. Nearly all other ontologies show similar performance improvements.

Conclusions

A two-stage concept recognition system, which is a conditional random field model for span detection followed by a deep neural sequence model for normalization, improves the state-of-the-art performance for biomedical concept recognition. Treating the biomedical concept normalization task as a sequence-to-sequence mapping task similar to neural machine translation improves performance.
Spatial and feature-selective attention have distinct effects on population-level tuning
Authors: Goddard Erin , Carlson Thomas A. , Woolgar Alexandra
Published: January 2019

Attention is a fundamental brain process by which we selectively prioritize relevant information in our environment. Cognitively, we can employ different methods for selecting visual information for further processing, but the extent to which these are implemented by similar or different neural processes remains unclear. Spatial and feature-selective attention both change the stimulus related information signaled by single-cells and neural populations, but relatively few studies have directly compared the effects of these distinct types of attention. We scanned participants (n=20) using MEG, while they covertly attended to an object on the left or the right of fixation (spatial attention manipulation) and reported the object’s shape or color (feature-selective attention manipulation). We used multivariate pattern classification to measure population stimulus-coding in occipital and frontal areas, for attended and non-attended stimulus features, at attended and non-attended locations. In occipital cortex, we show that both spatial and feature-selective attention enhanced object representations, and the effects of these two attention types interacted multiplicatively. We also found that spatial and feature-selective attention induced qualitatively different patterns of enhancement in occipital cortex for the encoding of stimulus color. Specifically, feature-based attention primarily enhanced small color differences, while spatial attention produced greater enhancement for larger differences. We demonstrate that principles of response-gain and tuning curve sharpening that have been applied to describe the effects of attention at the level of a single neuron can account for these differences. An information flow analysis suggested that these attentional effects may be driven by feedback from frontal areas.
Quality and Aroma Production of Doyenne du Comice Pears in Relation to Harvest Date and Storage Atmosphere
Authors: López M. L. , Miró R. , Graell J.
Published: January 2019

The effect of harvest date and storage atmosphere on quality and volatiles was investigated in Doyenne du Comice pears grown in the region of Lleida (NE Spain). Fruits were harvested at 2 dates (119 and 126 days after full bloom) and stored in regular air (RA) atmosphere (21% O2: 0.03% CO2) and in low oxygen (LO) atmospheres with two carbon dioxide concentrations: low CO2 (2% O2: 0.7% CO2) and high CO2 (2% O2: 5% CO2); the storage periods were 3, 5 and 7 months. After storage plus a shelf-life period (1 and 4 days at 20 C), flesh firmness, soluble solids content, titratable acidity and skin colour (parameter a* + b*) in the fruits were determined. Furthermore, volatiles production (ethylene and aroma) was determined at 4 days after storage. After 5 months, pears from regular air storage showed poorer quality than fruits held under low oxygen atmospheres. At 3 and 5 months of storage plus 1 and 4 days at 20 C fruit firmness was higher in LO when compared with RA-stored fruit, in both early- and late-harvested fruits. For long-term (7 months) storage high CO2 atmospheres permitted a good retention of fruit firmness and skin colour, but fruits stored in low CO2 achieved a quality more suitable for consumer acceptance (at the end of the shelf life period at 20 C). Differences between LO atmospheres were frequently not significant for soluble solids content and titratable acidity. The highest aroma production was obtained after 3 months of RA storage for early-harvested pears and after 7 months of LO-low CO2 storage for lateharvested fruits. Otherwise, LO-high CO2 had a depressing effect on total aromatic volatile production. Storage conditions and the period of ripening at 20 C influenced the occurrence of individual esters and alcohols.
Review: the Use of Electromyography on Food Texture Assessment
Authors: González R. , Montoya I. , Cárcel J.
Published: January 2019

Sensory evaluation (SE) involves evoking, measuring and interpreting human responses to the properties of foods. Among these properties texture is an important one for food acceptability. Texture is mainly perceived through mastication, a process that changes food characteristics throughout time by comminuting and salivation. Electromyography (EMG) has emerged as a new tool in sensory evaluation mainly for assessing texture characteristics. Thus, it is interesting to analyze the knowledge so far generated and the procedures employed. Bipolar surface electrodes are placed on the four main masticatory muscles (masseter right-left and temporalis right-left) and their electric activity recorded during mastication. The signals need to be amplified and filtered, and afterwards their acquisition by a computer allows conditioning and analysis. The output is a series of bursts corresponding to the chews during mastication. EMG parameters include the area under the curve (linked to masticatory work) and voltage (linked to the force exerted) at different moments of the process. Many other parameters are derived from the recording and related to food texture characteristics. EMG allows the study of changes throughout the masticatory process, these changes in EMG parameters permit a better assessment of sensory characteristics than mechanical measurements. Nevertheless, close-fitting correlations have been found between sensorymechanical-EMG measurements. In the literature, texture assessment by using EMG includes many products like carrots, biscuits, cooked meat, cooked rice, cheese, etc., as well as different texture characteristics like tenderness, hardness, crunchiness, juiciness, among others. Nowadays, texture studies involving EMG are mainly linked to describing changes or differences in the signals, good descriptors of perceived differences. Nevertheless for quantifying purposes, in order to allow comparisons among authors, a first step should be undertaken to standardize EMG parameters definition and procedures used in SE.
Using Mathematica as a platform for crystallographic computing
Authors: Ramsnes Stian , Larsen Helge Bøvik , Thorkildsen Gunnar
Published: January 2019

A comprehensive Mathematica package for crystallographic computations, MaXrd, has been developed. It comprises space-group representations based on International Tables for Crystallography, Vol. A, together with scattering factors from XOP and cross sections from xraylib. Featured functionalities include calculation of structure factors, linear absorption coefficients and crystallographic transformations. The crystal data used by MaXrd are normally generated from external .cif files. The package comes with a dynamic documentation seamlessly integrated with the Mathematica system, including code, examples, details and options. From the onset, minimal Mathematica experience is required to make use of the package. It may be a helpful supplement in research and teaching where crystallography and X-ray diffraction are essential. Although Mathematica is a proprietary software, all the code of this package is open source. It may easily be extended to cover user-specific applications.
O-Benzoyl side-chain conformations in 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzoyl-β-D-galactopyranosyl-(1→4)-1,2,6-tri-O-benzoyl-β-D-glucopyranose (ethyl acetate solvate) and 1,2,4,6-tetra-O-benzoyl-β-D-glucopyranose (acetone solvate)
Authors: Turney Toby , Pan Qingfeng , Zhang Wenhui , Oliver Allen G. , Serianni Anthony S.
Published: January 2019

The crystal structures of 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzoyl-β-D-galactopyranosyl-(1→4)-1,2,6-tri-O-benzoyl-β-D-glucopyranose ethyl acetate hemisolvate, C61H50O18·0.5C4H8O2, and 1,2,4,6-tetra-O-benzoyl-β-D-glucopyranose acetone monosolvate, C34H28O10·C3H6O, were determined and compared to those of methyl β-D-galactopyranosyl-(1→4)-β-D-glucopyranoside (methyl β-lactoside) and methyl β-D-glucopyranoside hemihydrate, C7H14O6·0.5H2O, to evaluate the effects of O-benzoylation on bond lengths, bond angles and torsion angles. In general, O-benzoylation exerts little effect on exo- and endocyclic C—C and endocyclic C—O bond lengths, but exocyclic C—O bonds involved in O-benzoylation are lengthened by 0.02–0.04 Å depending on the site of substitution. The conformation of the O-benzoyl side-chains is highly conserved, with the carbonyl O atom either eclipsing the H atom attached to a 2°-alcoholic C atom or bisecting the H—C—H bond angle of an 1°-alcoholic C atom. Of the three bonds that determine the side-chain geometry, the C—O bond involving the alcoholic C atom exhibits greater rotational variability than the remaining C—O and C—C bonds involving the carbonyl C atom. These findings are in good agreement with recent solution NMR studies of the O-acetyl side-chain conformation in saccharides.
Stress, strain and displacement analysis of geodetic and conventional fuselage structure for future passenger aircraft
Authors: Goraj Zdobyslaw Jan , Kowalski Mariusz , Goliszek Bartlomiej
Published: January 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to present the results of calculations that checked how the longerons and frames arrangement affects the stiffness of a conventional structure. The paper focuses only on first stage of research – analysis of small displacement. Main goal was to compare different structures under static loads. These results are also compared with the results obtained for a geodetic structure fuselage model of the same dimensions subjected to the same internal and external loads.

Design/methodology/approach

The finite element method analysis was carried out for a section of the fuselage with a diameter of 6.3 m and a length equal to 10 m. A conventional and lattice structure – known as geodetic – was used.

Findings

Finite element analyses of the fuselage model with conventional and geodetic structures showed that with comparable stiffness, the weight of the geodetic fuselage is almost 20 per cent lower than that of the conventional one.

Research limitations/implications

This analysis is limited to small displacements, as the linear version of finite element method was used. Research and articles planned for the future will focus on nonlinear finite element method (FEM) analysis such as buckling, structure stability and limit cycles.

Practical implications

The increasing maturity of composite structures manufacturing technology offers great opportunities for aircraft designers. The use of carbon fibers with advanced resin systems and application of the geodetic fuselage concept gives the opportunity to obtain advanced structures with excellent mechanical properties and low weight.

Originality/value

This paper presents very efficient method of assessing and comparison of the stiffness and weight of geodetic and conventional fuselage structure. Geodetic fuselage design in combination with advanced composite materials yields an additional fuselage weight reduction of approximately 10 per cent. The additional weight reduction is achieved by reducing the number of rivets needed for joining the elements. A fuselage with a geodetic structure compared to the classic fuselage with the same outer diameter has a larger inner diameter, which gives a larger usable space in the cabin. The approach applied in this paper consisting in analyzing of main parameters of geodetic structure (hoop ribs, helical ribs and angle between the helical ribs) on fuselage stiffness and weight is original.
Building a theoretical framework of message authenticity in CSR communication
Authors: Pérez Andrea
Published: January 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative theoretical framework that advances the underdeveloped stream of research that analyses how message authenticity influences the persuasiveness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication.

Design/methodology/approach

Theoretical and empirical literature on authenticity is reviewed to provide a comprehensive definition of message authenticity in CSR communication. An integrative theoretical framework is also developed to understand how message authenticity is enhanced through the design of informational content and it improves consumer responses to CSR communication.

Findings

The framework presented in the paper defends that message authenticity can be integrated in communication models based on three streams of research: identity-based brand management model, attribution theory and heuristic-systematic model. Consumer attributions of message authenticity can be notably improved with a message design based on CSR fit, social topic information and specificity. Authenticity improves message and source credibility by reducing consumer scepticism and enhancing their attributions of corporate expertise and trustworthiness. Indirect benefits of CSR message authenticity include increased consumer purchase, loyalty and advocacy behaviours.

Originality/value

The value of the paper resides in making the rather underdeveloped and inconclusive literature on authenticity accessible to CSR and communication researchers and practitioners. A theoretical framework is provided for further research that would contribute to improving the knowledge on the role that message authenticity plays in CSR communication.
The CSR paradox: when a social responsibility campaign can tarnish a brand
Authors: Johnson-Young Elizabeth , Magee Robert G.
Published: January 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the corporate social responsibility (CSR) paradox, when a social campaign hurts the sponsoring brand even while raising concern for the campaign issue.

Design/methodology/approach

A between-subjects experiment tested the effects of regulatory frames, issue involvement and collective efficacy on brand attitude, attitude toward the campaign messages, and concern for the issue.

Findings

A promotion-oriented frame (vs prevention-oriented frame) produced a more unfavorable brand attitude among consumers who had low levels of collective efficacy, even though the promotion-oriented frame generated strong concern for the issue itself. Attitudes toward the campaign messages remained favorable, suggesting that the negative effect of message frames was directly specifically at the brand.

Originality/value

Using real-world campaign materials demonstrated that a firm’s CSR campaign efforts can create important brand risks.
Theories and methods in CSRC research: a systematic literature review
Authors: Tuan Annamaria , Dalli Daniele , Gandolfo Alessandro , Gravina Anastasia
Published: January 2019

Purpose

The authors have systematically reviewed 534 corporate social responsibility communication (CSRC) papers, updating the current debate about the ontological and epistemological paradigms that characterize the field, and providing evidence of the interactions between these paradigms and the related methodological choices. The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical and methodological implications for future research in the CSRC research domain.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used the Scopus database to search for titles, abstracts and related keywords with two queries sets relating to corporate social responsibility (e.g. corporate ethical, corporate environmental, social responsibility, corporate accountability) and CSRC (e.g. reporting, disclosure, dialogue, sensemaking). The authors identified 534 empirical papers (2000–2016), which the authors coded manually to identify the research methods and research designs (Creswell, 2013). The authors then developed an ad hoc dictionary whose keywords relate to the three primary CSRC approaches (instrumental, normative and constitutive). Using the software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, the authors undertook an automated content analysis in order to measure these approaches’ relative popularity and compare the methods employed in empirical research.

Findings

The authors found that the instrumental approach, which belongs to the functionalist paradigm, dominates the CSRC literature with its relative weight being constant over time. The normative approach also belongs to the functionalist paradigm, but plays a minor yet enduring role. The constitutive approach belongs to the interpretive paradigm and grew slightly over time, but still remains largely beyond the instrumental approach. In the instrumental approach, many papers report on descriptive empirical analyses. In the constitutive approach, theory-method relationships are in line with the various paradigmatic traits, while the normative approach presents critical issues. Regarding methodology, according to the findings, the literature review underlines three major limitations that characterize the existing empirical evidence and provides avenues for future research. While multi-paradigmatic research is promoted in the CRSC literature (Crane and Glozer, 2016; Morsing, 2017; Schoeneborn and Trittin, 2013), the authors found no empirical evidence.

Originality/value

This is the first paper to systematically review empirical research in the CSRC field and is also the first to address the relationship between research paradigms, theoretical approaches, and methods. Further, the authors suggest a novel way to develop systematic reviews (i.e. via quantitative, automated content analysis), which can now also be applied in other literature streams and in other contexts.
Inclusion: how an understanding of neuroscience enhances your gender initiatives
Authors: Hills Jan
Published: January 2019

Purpose

The author recently conducted a research with companies about their gender diversity and inclusion initiatives to understand how successfully “lighthouse” organizations were moving the dial on creating inclusive cultures and whether an understanding of neuroscience helped to explain the importance of cultural change.

Design/methodology/approach

For the research, the author used a modeling methodology which had been designed to identify the difference that makes a difference and the things which really work.

Findings

Helping leaders understand the science behind why inclusion is important in business, the definition of inclusion, how the impact of exclusion on productivity, creativity, and engagement reduces resistance to change, and explains why the HR’s advice is beneficial to the success of the business.

Originality/value

The research found that few organizations are using an understanding of the negative impact of exclusion to make a business case for creating an inclusive culture.
Evaluation of gap influence on the dynamic response behavior of pump-turbine runner
Authors: He Lingyan , Zhou Lingjiu , Ahn Soo-Hwang , Wang Zhengwei , Nakahara Yusuke , Kurosawa Sadao
Published: January 2019

Purpose

The gaps between runner and nearby structures play an important role in the dynamic response of runner, especially for pump-turbines. This paper aims to evaluate the gap influence on the added mass and dynamic stress of pump-turbine runner and provide an improved method to predict the resonance of runner.

Design/methodology/approach

Acoustic-structural coupling method was used to evaluate the added mass factors of a reduced scale pump-turbine with different axial and radial gap size between runner and nearby rigid walls. Improved one-way fluid-structural interaction (FSI) simulation was used to calculate the dynamic stress of the runner, which takes into account fluid added mass effect. The time-dependent hydraulic forces on the runner surfaces that were obtained from unsteady CFD simulation were transferred to the runner structure as a boundary condition, by using mesh-matching algorithm at the FSI surfaces.

Findings

The results show that the added mass factors increase as the gap size decreases. The axial gaps have greater influence on the added mass factors for the in-phase (IP) modes than the counter-phase (CP) and crown-dominant (CD) modes, while the CP and CD modes are very sensitive to the radial gaps. The largest added mass factor is observed in (2 + 4)ND-CP mode (resonance mode). The results reveal that the transient structural dynamic stress analysis, with the consideration of gaps and fluid added mass, can accurately predict the resonance phenomenon. Resonance curve of the pump-turbine has been obtained which agrees well with the test result. The gap fluid has great influence on the resonance condition, while for non-resonance operating points, the effect of gaps on the dynamic stress amplitude is quite small.

Originality/value

This paper provides an accurate method to analyze the dynamic response during runner design stage for safety assessment. The resonance curve prediction has more significance than previous methods which predict the resonance of runner by modal or harmonic analysis.
Feminist approaches to teaching about VAW
Authors: Styles-Lightowlers Tara Samantha
Published: January 2019

Purpose

Feminism has provided a sustained challenge to the widespread occurrence of violence against women (VAW). Yet despite the tremendous efforts of feminist activists and academics, it continues to be one of the most tolerated crimes in the world. This paper offers an account of the author’s experiences teaching about VAW in higher education (HE) and an overview of how specific approaches to teaching this subject can provide an empowering space for students who have experienced such violence. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing upon the works of feminists committed to ending VAW, transformative education as envisioned by Paulo Freire and Foucault’s work on knowledge and power, the author proposes a feminist informed teaching practice that facilitates empowerment through: giving voice to women who have experienced violence; exploring and promoting the transformative potential of education and; challenging traditional and dominant forms of knowing.

Findings

A recognition of the social, historical and political context in which violence occurs, and how traditional knowledge about it is accepted, is vital in empowering women who have experienced violence to challenge dominant discourses that do not fit with their own perceived reality.

Originality/value

Whilst there is currently a growing interest in the barriers to HE participation, the author seeks to explore the ways in which some of the barriers can be addressed that students may face whilst on HE courses, particularly in relation to self-awareness, empowerment and healing.
The roles of the psychology, systems and economic theories in human resource development
Authors: Ju Boreum
Published: January 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the foundational theories in human resource development (HRD) by reviewing the literature from an HRD perspective. The following research questions guide the study: What are the core theories related to adult and professional education, organizational development and strategic HRD? What are the conceptual frameworks associated with adult and professional education, organizational development and strategic HRD? How have these theories and conceptual frameworks applied the research and practice of HRD?

Design/methodology/approach

This study reviewed the HRD definitions and core theories. The core theories and conceptual frameworks related to adult and professional education, organizational development and strategic human resource development were described. The application of these theories and conceptual frameworks to the research and practice of HRD was addressed.

Findings

The psychology theories that were explored were the adult learning theories, and that gestalt-psychology, behavioral psychology and cognitive psychology were illustrated. Systems theory was explored and explained in relation to organization development. Economic theory was explored and explained focusing on human capital theory; and it was demonstrated how economic theory is associated with strategic HRD.

Originality/value

The core-theory description and linking to adult and professional education, organizational development and strategic HRD may give understanding of the HRD foundations and ethical perspective that is essential for both scholars and professionals. The conceptual frameworks presented can be used to help facilitate discussions on developing or implementing HRD programs.
The impact of ocean waves on spray stress and surface drag coefficient
Authors: Wan Zhanhong , Li Luping , Wu Zhigen , Chen Jiawang , Lü Xiuyang
Published: January 2019

Purpose

The behaviors of sea surface drag coefficient should be well understood for an accurate hurricane prediction. The speed of wind has been applied to characterize the spray production; however, this could result in inaccurate spray productions compared to the experimental or field data if the influence of wave state is not considered. This paper aims to integrate a new sea spray generation function, described by windsea Reynolds number, into the spray momentum flux formula to calculate the spray momentum.

Design/methodology/approach

On the basis of this spray momentum, this study proposes the new formulas of spray stress and drag coefficient when the wind speed is high.

Findings

Results of the revised formulas show that wave status had significant effects on the spray stress and sea surface drag coefficient. Also, wave age was found to be an important parameter that affects the drag coefficient. The drag coefficient decreased with the increasing wave age. Comparison between this study’s theoretical and observation values of drag coefficient shows that the study results are close to the measured values.

Research limitations/implications

The research findings can enhance the understanding of the behaviors of sea surface drag for an accurate hurricane prediction.

Originality/value

A new sea spray generation function, described by windsea Reynolds number, is integrated into the spray momentum flux formula to calculate the spray momentum. On the basis of this spray momentum, this study proposes the new formulas of spray stress and drag coefficient when the wind speed is high.