bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Optimism bias within the project management context
Authors: Prater James , Kirytopoulos Konstantinos , Ma Tony
Published: April 2017

Purpose

One of the major challenges for any project is to prepare and develop an achievable baseline schedule and thus set the project up for success, rather than failure. The purpose of this paper is to explore and investigate research outputs in one of the major causes, optimism bias, to identify problems with developing baseline schedules and analyse mitigation techniques and their effectiveness recommended by research to minimise the impact of this bias.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic quantitative literature review was followed, examining Project Management Journals, documenting the mitigation approaches recommended and then reviewing whether these approaches were validated by research.

Findings

Optimism bias proved to be widely accepted as a major cause of unrealistic scheduling for projects, and there is a common understanding as to what it is and the effects that it has on original baseline schedules. Based upon this review, the most recommended mitigation method is Flyvbjerg’s “Reference class,” which has been developed based upon Kahneman’s “Outside View”. Both of these mitigation techniques are based upon using an independent third party to review the estimate. However, within the papers reviewed, apart from the engineering projects, there has been no experimental and statistically validated research into the effectiveness of this method. The majority of authors who have published on this topic are based in Europe.

Research limitations/implications

The short-listed papers for this review referred mainly to non-engineering projects which included information technology focussed ones. Thus, on one hand, empirical research is needed for engineering projects, while on the other hand, the lack of tangible evidence for the effectiveness of methods related to the alleviation of optimism bias issues calls for greater research into the effectiveness of mitigation techniques for not only engineering projects, but for all projects.

Originality/value

This paper documents the growth within the project management research literature over time on the topic of optimism bias. Specifically, it documents the various methods recommended to mitigate the phenomenon and highlights quantitatively the research undertaken on the subject. Moreover, it introduces paths for further research.
A robust algorithm for project portfolio selection problem using real options valuation
Authors: Montajabiha Mahsa , Arshadi Khamseh Alireza , Afshar-Nadjafi Behrouz
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The principal concern of organization managers in the global rivalry of commerce environment is how to select the project portfolio among available projects. In this matter, organizations should consider the uncertainty intrinsic in the projects regarding an appropriate valuation technique within an optimization framework. In this research, the purpose of this paper is to formulate using a robust optimization algorithm to deal with the complexities and uncertainty inherent in the construction of the project portfolio.

Design/methodology/approach

First, a general mathematical formulation is presented, which in compound real options valuation is highlighted. This formulation gives managerial flexibility by correcting the deficiency of traditional discounted cash flow technique that excludes any form of flexibility. Then, considering a limitation on budget of the organization, an integer programming formulation to maximize the n-fold compound options for project portfolio selection is proposed. Finally, a robust optimization model is developed along with the robust combinatorial optimization algorithm, which is effective for solving problems under uncertainty.

Findings

Sensitivity analysis showed that projects in later phases of development, having survived several phases of pre-clinical and clinical tests, are worth more because they are more likely to pertain to business. However, the investment costs related to each project during development phases limit the number of projects that a company can bring to their final portfolio. Additionally, the analysis of conservatism level represented how project managers can quite easily determine their risk attitude and the corresponding portfolio composition. From a managerial point of view, the proposed framework is very useful because it requires only financial estimates. Hence, the proposed decision support tool can assist research and development (R&D) project managers in the pharmaceutical industry for making decisions.

Originality/value

The first is the application of the n-fold compound options on portfolio of R&D projects and the employment of compound options value of a project portfolio as an objective function. The second one is a mathematical formulation of these concepts and solving it by the robust combinatorial optimization algorithm. The literature is lacking in the application of the robust combinatorial optimization algorithm to R&D project portfolio selection based on the generalized n-fold compound option model of Cassimon et al. (2004). Every framework from calculation of the n-fold compound option to solving robust combinatorial algorithm is programmed in Matlab software, since it can be used as a business support tool.
Occupier responses to sustainable real estate: what’s next?
Authors: Livingstone Nicola , Ferm Jessica
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. Primarily, it examines the relationship between sustainable buildings and occupiers, by summarising the key extant literature. Secondarily, the paper proposes avenues for future research relating to the impact of sustainability on corporate real estate strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews over 90 relevant publications related to sustainability, real estate market responses and corporate real estate, focussing on the role and response of occupiers. The approach concentrates on occupier strategies, specifically considering influences such as corporate social responsibility (CSR), landlord–tenant relationships, the changing occupier role and the “circle of blame”.

Findings

In recent years, literature has increasingly begun to reflect nuances in occupier responses to sustainable, prime, office real estate, with some conflicting findings as to the importance of sustainability. Location remains the dominant consideration in decision-making for occupiers, but sustainability is key to CSR and “value-add” in certain sectors. More effective use of sustainable buildings requires improved communication between landlord and tenant. The authors’ review demonstrates that challenges still remain in relation to the “circle of blame”. More research needs to be done in relation to the emergence of sustainability in the non-prime and retail sectors.

Originality/value

Through collating key literature in this topical research area, the paper provides a critical review of occupier responses to sustainable real estate, and, therefore, a fuller understanding of emerging market practices. Additionally, it suggests future research directions.
Research in global operations management: some highlights and potential future trends
Authors: Demeter Krisztina
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to shortly overview the research in international operations management (OM), to provide background to the papers published in this special section.

Design/methodology/approach

As a literature review, the paper investigates the past, present, and future of international OM. It is not a systematic review; the paper just highlights the most important international operational management research networks, streams and concepts in the field.

Findings

The paper finds that there is a time lag in the field of international OM compared to other research areas within international business and management. It provides some ideas for the future to be researched.

Originality/value

The paper gives a focused review on international research networks which has not been done before. It also identifies two different streams of researches in international OM: the stream investigating OM differences among geographical areas, and the stream dealing with issues of international manufacturing networks.
Green supply chain management practices and performance
Authors: Vijayvargy Lokesh , Thakkar Jitesh , Agarwal Gopal
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organizational size on adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices for the Indian industry. It also evaluates the impact of GSCM practices on organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This study aims to empirically test the GSCM model to investigate the present orientation of the Indian industry toward GSCM practices using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. The statistical inferences were drawn using the data provided by 161 Indian firms. This has compared the GSCM practice implementations among small-sized, medium-sized and large-sized organizations.

Findings

The study reveals that Indian organizations have shown a satisfactory implementation of majority of the environmental practices, except supplier ISO:14001 certification and Tier-II supplier evaluation. Out of 21 practices, medium-sized organizations have adopted GSCM practices at a similar level compared with large organizations, with three exceptions: existing environmental management systems, support from mid-level and top management and supplier evaluation for environmental practice. It was found that GSCM adoption can lead to equal improvements in operational performance for both large-size and medium-size organizations.

Originality/value

This paper makes two major contributions in the domain of green supply chain practices in India. First, it investigates the adoption of GSCM practices in organizations of different sizes (small, medium and large) and the impact of GSCM practices on the performance of organizations of different sizes. Second, it identifies the key areas for improvement and recommends a set of measures for improving the implementation of GSCM practices in Indian organizations.
Imprecise DEA framework for evaluating health-care performance of districts
Authors: Karsak E. Ertugrul , Karadayi Melis Almula
Published: April 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to address performance measurement in the health-care sector, which gains increasing importance for most countries because growing health expenditures and increased quality and competition in the health sector require hospitals to use their resources efficiently. Health policy-makers and health-care managers stress the need for developing a robust performance evaluation methodology for health-care organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents an imprecise data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework for evaluating the health-care performance of 26 districts in Istanbul, a metropolis with nearly 15 million inhabitants. The proposed methodology takes into account both quantitative and qualitative data represented as linguistic variables for performance evaluation. Moreover, this study reckons that weight flexibility in DEA assessments can lead to unrealistic weighting schemes for some inputs and outputs, which are likely to result in overstated efficiency scores for a number of decision-making units (in here, districts). To overcome this problem, a weight restricted imprecise DEA model that constrains weight flexibility in DEA is proposed.

Findings

The proposed imprecise DEA approach sets forth a more realistic decision methodology for evaluating the relative health-care performance and also enables to determine the best district in terms of health-care performance in Istanbul.

Originality/value

This paper includes the quality dimension, which has been overlooked in previous studies, into the health-care performance evaluation of districts. Moreover, it circumvents unrealistic weight flexibility which may distort the relative evaluation of health-care performance.
Organization and usage of information resources at Deeni Madaris libraries in Pakistan
Authors: Habib-ur-Rehman Hafiz , Idrees Haroon , Ullah Ahsan
Published: April 2017

Purpose

Deeni Madaris of Pakistan and their libraries are playing an important role in educating the large fraction of society. They have always been engaged in the development of social and cultural values of the Pakistani society. This study aims to investigate the organization of information resources and their utilization at Deeni Madaris libraries in the central Punjab, Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative research approach was adopted for this study. A questionnaire was developed on the bases of related literature and discussions with experts of librarianship as well as Islamic studies in Pakistan. The questionnaire was sent to 49 Deeni Madaris, of which five did not have libraries and four did not respond. Forty (81.6 per cent) Deeni Madaris responded and provided the relevant data about their libraries. The collected data were analyzed through SPSS 22. Mostly descriptive statistics were applied to calculate the frequencies, percentage, means and standard deviations. A two-tailed t-test was applied to check the impact of cataloguing and automation on the use of information resources.

Findings

It was found that majority of the respondents developed their own classification and cataloguing methods for the organization of information resources and did not have a proper retrieval system. Majority of the respondents were providing lending services to readers. Teachers and final-year students were the key users of the libraries. They mostly referred to books, theses and serials written in Urdu and Arabic language. The situation of library computerization was very weak; only 19 libraries had computers and 11 of them have partially automated the library activities. Library automation and catalogue put positive effects on the use of library resources.

Originality/value

The exploration of the literature showed that libraries of Madaris in Pakistan have always been a priority, but these libraries did not get a position in the library literature as they deserve. This study will fill this gap.
Intellectual capital, absorptive capacity and product innovation
Authors: Engelman Raquel Machado , Fracasso Edi Madalena , Schmidt Serje , Zen Aurora Carneiro
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of intellectual capital on a firm’s absorptive capacity (ACAP), and of ACAP on product innovation. The authors argue that intellectual capital and other sets of intangible assets are mobilized by firms through dynamic capabilities such as ACAP. Product innovation is one of the results of this process.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative study was conducted, including 500 firms of different sizes, industries and technological intensities located in southern Brazil. The validity of constructs and the theoretical model were confirmed by structural equation modeling.

Findings

The authors found that intellectual capital does influence ACAP, albeit differently on each of ACAP’s dimensions. Acquisition, assimilation and exploitation of knowledge are more decisively influenced by structural capital, followed by human capital. The ability of transformation of knowledge is evenly influenced by structural and human capital, and more moderately so by social capital. The results also showed that ACAP influences product innovation, but each of its dimensions demonstrated a different impact.

Practical implications

This study helps practitioners to identify the development of a firm’s intangible resources and its influences on product innovation. This characterization can serve as a benchmark for managers or private and public companies to define strategies and policies to stimulate innovation.

Originality/value

Few studies present a theoretical discussion about the relationship between a firm’s resources and ACAP’s dimensions in broad empirical contexts or in emerging countries.
The role of customer participation for enhancing repurchase intention
Authors: Chen Chih-Cheng Volvic , Chen Chih-Jou
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of customer participation in the service delivery process by designing and testing an empirical model with the customers’ point of view in mind.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are collected from 176 customers in the context of professional financial insurance services. The proposed model is analyzed with partial least squares (PLS) path modeling in SmartPLS 2.0 software.

Findings

The results of the study show that customer participation produces positive effects on customer satisfaction and affective commitment through the customer relational value. Affective commitment is a strong predictor of repurchase intention, but no relationship between customer satisfaction and repurchase intention was found.

Practical implications

This study suggests that customer participation can be a win-win situation for customers and the service firm. Customers who create relational value with their service providers effectively enjoy their services more and are more likely to build and maintain long-term relationships with their service firm.

Originality/value

The findings highlight the roles of the customer and indicate the heuristic value of viewing customer satisfaction and affective commitment as consequences of customer participation. By identifying the effects of customer participation in the service interaction, organizations can determine optimum roles for customers in the service delivery process that will yield a more efficient use of organization resources and improve operational performance.
The bright side and dark side of co-production: a dyadic analysis
Authors: Wu Li-Wei
Published: April 2017

Purpose

Much research has emphasized the importance of service employees as boundary spanners that interact with customers by co-production. Service employees frequently engage in emotional labor in response to co-production requirements. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework that explores the links between co-production, emotional labor, employee satisfaction, value co-creation, co-production intensity, and their effects on customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

This study involved collecting and analyzing 322 questionnaires from the dyads of service employees and customers of the financial service industry in Taiwan. The hypothesized relationships in the model were tested by using a structural equation model.

Findings

The results of this study indicate that co-production influences deep acting, surface acting, value co-creation, and co-production intensity. Deep acting and surface acting have different effects on employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, employee satisfaction and value co-creation increase customer satisfaction, whereas co-production intensity decreases customer satisfaction.

Originality/value

The findings provide interesting theoretical insights and valuable managerial implications regarding the positive and negative aspects of co-production and encourage service employees to perform deep acting while minimizing surface acting.
Revisiting the relationship between corporate social responsibility and national culture
Authors: Halkos George , Skouloudis Antonis
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the macro-level and well-established dimensions of national culture offered by Hofstede’s framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employ a composite index for quantifying CSR proliferation and present new findings on the role of cultural specificity – proxied by Hofstede’s dimensions – on CSR endorsement among national business sectors.

Findings

Results indicate that cultural perspectives pertaining to “long-term vs short-term orientation” as well as “indulgence vs restraint” affect positively the composite CSR index, while “uncertainty avoidance” has a negative impact. In contrast, the effect of “power distance,” “individualism” and “masculinity” is found to be insignificant.

Originality/value

The study offers new insights to institutional theorists as well as political economy researchers for a deeper investigation of informal institutions, such as culture, which shape national or regional specificities of CSR and retain a moderating effect on the voluntary/self-regulation activities of business entities.
Going European from American: does style matter?
Authors: Pathak Rajesh , Kumar Satish , Ranajee Ranajee
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the cross-sectional predictive power and the information content of volatility smirks for future stock returns using single stock options.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses Fama-Macbeth procedure and portfolio approach to investigate the predictability and informativeness in a setup when options settlement style is changed from American to European.

Findings

The study reports that the volatility smirk of European style options, unlike American style options, predict the underlying cross-sectional equity returns. Firms with steepest volatility smirk underperform firms with flatter volatility smirks, by an average of 3.28 and 4.01 per cent annually for American and European options, respectively. The results are robust to the control of idiosyncratic and systematic risk factors.

Practical implications

The results confirm that a trader with negative information prefers to trade out-of-the-money put options. The more pronounced results of European options designate the trader’s preference to less risky European style stock options. Results are robust and signify the delay of equity market in incorporating information impounded in the volatility smirk.

Originality/value

Very few studies examine smirk and returns relationship and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study exists that examine the unique case of change in options style and its role in affecting relationship between smirk and future returns.
The impact of the quality of VC financing and monitoring on the survival of IPO firms
Authors: Pommet Sophie
Published: April 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of venture capital (VC) involvement on the survival rate of French initial public offerings (IPOs) during the period 1996-2006. The paper examines the link between the survival rates of IPO companies, and several proxies for the quality of venture capitalist financing and monitoring.

Design/methodology/approach

To analyze the impact of the involvement of VC on both long and short run post-IPO survival, two methods are used: survival analysis (the Cox proportional hazard), and a logit model.

Findings

This paper shows that the quality of venture capitalist monitoring, measured by the duration of their investment before the IPO, is positively correlated with company survival rates. However, the author does not find the expected result when the author considers the experience of venture capitalists measured by their age.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are limited to a sample of VC-backed companies that went public.

Practical implications

The findings have implications for entrepreneurs. When analyzing the advantages and disadvantages linked to the presence of VC firms in the capital of their companies, entrepreneurs should consider that certain types of venture capitalists might be more or less able to be involved in the monitoring and value adding process.

Originality/value

To date, there is no comprehensive study on the French IPO market analyzing both long and short run post-IPO survival of VC-backed companies. This paper fills this gap.
Adequacy of core knowledge and soft skills in the performance of professional employees of real estate firms in Nigeria
Authors: Oladokun Sunday Olarinre , Gbadegesin Job Taiwo
Published: April 2017

Purpose

Real estate professionals are a vital resource to the property firms and the industry at large. Employees’ skills, knowledge and competence contribute in great measure to organization’s business performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine the adequacy of core knowledge and soft skills possessed by professional employees within the Nigerian real estate practicing firms. It also assesses the performance of the employees and establishes the correlation among the soft skills possessed by employees.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for this study were elicited through the administration of questionnaires on principal partners/branch managers (the employers) of the practicing estate surveying and valuation firms in Lagos metropolis. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-samplet-test and correlation analysis.

Findings

The result indicates that employees of estate firms in Nigeria demonstrate adequate knowledge in ten out of 21 core areas of real estate practice, while real estate agency has the highest mean, and inadequate knowledge in six others with least mean score in environmental impact assessment. The study also revealed that employees possess good listening and communication skills but are deficient in courteousness and writing skill, among others. It was also found that real estate employees were performing the best in inspection functions but below average in report writing and handling of transaction. The study also established a significant relationship among all the soft skills except communication skill and courteousness.

Research limitations/implications

Further study that looks at the performance of real estate graduates working in other sectors/organizations other than estate companies is required to establish their competence level in global employment market. Further study is also needed to cover the views of the employees in Nigerian market as this study focuses on the views of the employers.

Originality/value

This study provides an important feedback for the policy makers in the design/review of curriculum for real estate education towards enhancing employability of the graduates. This study also serves as the research blueprint in giving attention to assessment of soft skills among real estate employees in Nigerian real estate industry.
Determining normal values of urinary phosphorus excretion in 3913 healthy children aged 2–18 to aid early diagnosis and treatment for urolithiasis
Authors: Taranta‐Janusz Katarzyna , Łabieniec Łukasz , Porowski Tadeusz , Szymański Krzysztof , Porowska Halina , Wasilewska Anna
Published: April 2017

Aim

This study determined the specific reference values for urinary phosphorus excretion in healthy children and adolescents aged 2–18 years and evaluated whether they changed with age during growth and were gender dependent.

Methods

We enrolled 3913 healthy children and adolescents aged 2–18 years to this study. The study population was divided into age groups, and the analysis was performed in one‐year periods, separately for boys and girls. Urinary phosphorus excretion was analysed using four categories: P1 in mmol/24 hour units, P2 in mmol/kg/24 hours, P3 in mmol/1.73 m2/24 hours and P4 in mmol/mmol creatinine.

Results

Clear differences in urinary exertion for girls and boys were observed as well as systematic changes with age. The boys presented with significantly higher daily urinary phosphorus excretion independent of its manner of expression (p < 0.001). The median urinary phosphorus (P1) rose with age (p < 0.001). Percentile tables of phosphorous exertion are presented.

Conclusion

This was the largest study of urinary phosphate excretion based on a randomly selected sample of girls and boys aged 2–18 years. It highlights the importance of determining phosphorus reference values for children of different ages to provide early diagnosis and treatment for urolithiasis.
Influence of OATP1B1 Function on the Disposition of Sorafenib‐β‐D‐Glucuronide
Authors: Bins S , van Doorn L , Phelps MA , Gibson AA , Hu S , Li L , Vasilyeva A , Du G , Hamberg P , Eskens FALM , de Bruijn P , Sparreboom A , Mathijssen RHJ , Baker SD
Published: April 2017

The oral multikinase inhibitor sorafenib undergoes extensive UGT1A9‐mediated formation of sorafenib‐β‐D‐glucuronide (SG). Using transporter‐deficient mouse models, it was previously established that SG can be extruded into bile by ABCC2 or follow a liver‐to‐blood shuttling loop via ABCC3‐mediated efflux into the systemic circulation, and subsequent uptake in neighboring hepatocytes by OATP1B‐type transporters. Here we evaluated the possibility that this unusual process, called hepatocyte hopping, is also operational in humans and can be modulated through pharmacological inhibition. We found that SG transport by OATP1B1 or murine Oatp1b2 was effectively inhibited by rifampin, and that this agent can significantly increase plasma levels of SG in wildtype mice, but not in Oatp1b2‐deficient animals. In human subjects receiving sorafenib, rifampin acutely increased the systemic exposure to SG. Our study emphasizes the need to consider hepatic handling of xenobiotic glucuronides in the design of drug–drug interaction studies of agents that undergo extensive phase II conjugation.
Caspases rule the intracellular trafficking cartel
Authors: Duclos Catherine , Lavoie Christine , Denault Jean‐Bernard
Published: April 2017

During apoptosis, caspases feast on several hundreds of cellular proteins to orchestrate rapid cellular demise. Indeed, caspases are known to get a taste of every cellular process in one way or another, activating some, but most often shutting them down. Thus, it is not surprising that caspases proteolyze proteins involved in intracellular trafficking with particularly devastating consequences for this important process. This review article focuses on how caspases target the machinery responsible for smuggling goods within and outside the cell.
In vitro generation of polysialylated cervical mucins by bacterial polysialyltransferases to counteract cytotoxicity of extracellular histones
Authors: Galuska Sebastian P. , Galuska Christina E. , Tharmalingam Tharmala , Zlatina Kristina , Prem Gerlinde , Husejnov Farzali C. O. , Rudd Pauline M. , Vann Willie F. , Reid Colm , Vionnet Justine , Gallagher Mary E. , Carrington Faye A. , Hassett Sarah‐Louise , Carrington Stephen D.
Published: April 2017

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NET) are formed against pathogens. However, various diseases are directly linked to this meshwork of DNA. The cytotoxic properties of extracellular histones especially seem to be an important trigger during these diseases. Furthermore, NET accumulation on implants is discussed to result in an impaired efficiency or failure, depending on the category of implant. Interestingly, mucins have been investigated as surface coatings potentially capable of reducing neutrophil adhesion. Similarly, polysialic acid was shown to inactivate the cytotoxic properties of extracellular histones. We wanted to combine the probability to decrease the adhesion of neutrophils using mucins with the capability of sialic acid polymers to counteract histone‐mediated cytotoxicity. To this end, we elongate cervical mucins using bacterial polysialyltransferases. Subsequent cell‐based experiments demonstrated the activity of elongated mucins against histone‐mediated cytotoxicity. Thus, polysialylated mucins may represent a novel component to coat implants or to combat diseases with exaggerated NET formation.
Early growth response‐1‐mediated down‐regulation of drebrin correlates with loss of dendritic spines
Authors: Cho Chulmin , MacDonald Ryen , Shang Jijun , Cho Moon Jeong , Chalifour Lorraine E. , Paudel Hemant K.
Published: April 2017

Post‐synaptic dendritic spines are structurally composed of actin cytoskeleton, which undergoes dynamic morphological changes to accommodate incoming synaptic activity. Drebrin is an actin‐binding protein highly expressed in dendritic spines that serves an important role in regulating spine morphology. Functionally, loss of drebrin directly correlates with deficits in learning and memory, as is the case observed in Alzheimer's disease. Despite these findings, the regulatory factor responsible for drebrin loss remains unclear. Here, we show that early growth response‐1 (Egr‐1), an inducible zinc finger transcription factor, down‐regulates drebrin expression. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses identified Egr‐1 binding sites upstream of the drebrin start site in neuronal cells. Over‐expression of Egr‐1 in vitro in primary hippocampal neurons or in vivo in homogenates prepared from the hippocampi of an inducible mouse model of Egr‐1 show reduced drebrin mRNA and protein levels. Conversely, increased drebrin was detected in hippocampal samples isolated from Egr‐1‐deficient brain. These data demonstrate that Egr‐1 interacts with the drebrin promoter and negatively regulates drebrin expression. Furthermore, immunocytochemical and Golgi staining analyses revealed reduced drebrin protein and dendritic spine density as well as reduced expression of synaptic markers in in vitro hippocampal neurons over‐expressing Egr‐1 and in vivo inducible mouse model of Egr‐1. In contrast, increased drebrin expression correlated with increased dendritic spine density was detected in samples from Egr‐1‐deficient mice. These data provide evidence that Egr‐1 is a novel regulator of drebrin expression, which is linked to changes in dendritic spine density.

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Recent advances in gut immunology
Authors: Powell N. , MacDonald T. T.
Published: April 2017

In recent years, there have been significant advances in our understanding of the mucosal immune system. In addition to unravelling some of the complexities of this system, including the discovery of completely new cells types, further insights into the three‐way interactions between mucosal immune cells, the intestinal epithelium and the microbial communities colonizing the GI tract promise to redefine our understanding of how intestinal homeostasis is maintained, but also how dysregulation of these highly integrated interactions conspires to cause disease. In this review, we will discuss major recent advances in the role of key immune players in the gut, including innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), mucosa‐associated invariant T cells (MAIT cells) and cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS), including how these cells interact with the intestinal epithelial and their crosstalk with components of the intestinal microbiota, and how these interactions shape host health.
Diverse genome organization following 13 independent mesopolyploid events in Brassicaceae contrasts with convergent patterns of gene retention
Authors: Mandáková Terezie , Li Zheng , Barker Michael S. , Lysak Martin A.
Published: April 2017

Hybridization and polyploidy followed by genome‐wide diploidization had a significant impact on the diversification of land plants. The ancient At‐α whole‐genome duplication (WGD) preceded the diversification of crucifers (Brassicaceae). Some genera and tribes also experienced younger, mesopolyploid WGDs concealed by subsequent genome diploidization. Here we tested if multiple base chromosome numbers originated due to genome diploidization after independent mesopolyploid WGDs and how diploidization affected post‐polyploid gene retention. Sixteen species representing 10 Brassicaceae tribes were analyzed by comparative chromosome painting and/or whole‐transcriptome analysis of gene age distributions and phylogenetic analyses of gene duplications. Overall, we found evidence for at least 13 independent mesopolyploidies followed by different degrees of diploidization across the Brassicaceae. New mesotetraploid events were uncovered for the tribes Anastaticeae, Iberideae and Schizopetaleae, and mesohexaploid WGDs for Cochlearieae and Physarieae. In contrast, we found convergent patterns of gene retention and loss among these independent WGDs. Our combined analyses of genomic data for Brassicaceae indicate that extant chromosome number variation in many plant groups, and especially monophyletic taxa with multiple base chromosome numbers, can result from clade‐specific genome duplications followed by diploidization. Our observation of parallel gene retention and loss across multiple independent WGDs provides one of the first multi‐species tests of the predictability of patterns of post‐polyploid genome evolution.
Source sparsity control of sound field reproduction using the elastic-net and the lasso minimizers
Authors: Gauthier P.-A. , Lecomte P. , Berry A.
Published: April 2017

Sound field reproduction is aimed at the reconstruction of a sound pressure field in an extended area using dense loudspeaker arrays. In some circumstances, sound field reproduction is targeted at the reproduction of a sound field captured using microphone arrays. Although methods and algorithms already exist to convert microphone array recordings to loudspeaker array signals, one remaining research question is how to control the spatial sparsity in the resulting loudspeaker array signals and what would be the resulting practical advantages. Sparsity is an interesting feature for spatial audio since it can drastically reduce the number of concurrently active reproduction sources and, therefore, increase the spatial contrast of the solution at the expense of a difference between the target and reproduced sound fields. In this paper, the application of the elastic-net cost function to sound field reproduction is compared to the lasso cost function. It is shown that the elastic-net can induce solution sparsity and overcomes limitations of the lasso: The elastic-net solves the non-uniqueness of the lasso solution, induces source clustering in the sparse solution, and provides a smoother solution within the activated source clusters.
Inflection point in running kinetic term inflation
Authors: Gao Tie-Jun , Xiu Wu-Tao , Yang Xiu-Yi
Published: April 2017

In this work, we calculate the general form of the scalar potential with polynomial superpotential in the framework of running kinetic term inflation, then focus on a polynomial superpotential with two terms and obtain the inflection point inflationary model. We study the inflationary dynamics and show that the predicted value of the scalar spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio can lie within the [Formula: see text] confidence region allowed by the result of Planck 2015.
Analyses of whole transverse momentum distributions in pp̄ and pp collisions by using a modified version of Hagedorn’s formula
Authors: Mizoguchi Takuya , Biyajima Minoru , Suzuki Naomichi
Published: April 2017

To describe the transverse momentum [Formula: see text] distribution of charged hadrons at 1.96 TeV observed by the CDF collaboration, we propose a formula with two components, namely, hadron gas distributions and inverse power laws inspired by QCD calculus. The new formula based on a formula by Hagedorn in 1983 includes an integration of pseudo-rapidity [Formula: see text]. The data collected at 0.9, 2.76, 7 and 13 TeV by the ALICE, CMS, and ATLAS collaborations are also analyzed using various models including single component models as well as two-component models. The results by the use of the modified version of Hagedorn’s formula are compared with those by the use of the two-component model proposed by Bylinkin, Rostovtsev and Ryskin (BRR). We investigate whether or not there is an interrelation among our modified formula, a formula proposed by ATLAS collaboration, and the BRR formula. Moreover, formulas for the [Formula: see text] distributions in the nonextensive approach are discussed.
THE PERFORMANCE OF SUBSISTENCE ENTREPRENEURS IN TANZANIA’S INFORMAL ECONOMY
Authors: EIJDENBERG EMIEL L. , BORNER KATHRIN
Published: April 2017

Many scholars have found difficulties with the applicability of Western entrepreneurship typologies in non-Western contexts. Hence, this paper “takes a step back” by revealing what does apply as opposed to what does not apply. First, this paper investigates what the performance of subsistence entrepreneurs in Tanzania’s informal economy consists of. Second, it examines which demographic and social factors predict that performance. Based on a literature review and a pre-study, a main study with questionnaires was completed by 152 informal food vendors — that is, “subsistence entrepreneurs”, in southern Tanzania. Next, correlation, factor, reliability and regression analyses were performed to test the hypotheses. Based on a factor analysis, a distinction is made between basic performance and advanced performance. The results show that advanced performance is positively influenced by experience and age; but other factors, such as the subsistence entrepreneur’s gender, education and support from family, have no effect.
ARGININE VASOPRESSIN PROMOTES REDISTRIBUTION OF ADHESION JUNCTION PROTEIN E-CADHERIN IN KIDNEY EPITHELIAL CELLS
Authors: Liu Hung-Ting , Kuo Yu-Wen , Chang Hui-Wen , Lee Ya-Jane , Tsai Pei-Shiue Jason
Published: April 2017

Acute and chronic kidney disease are two of the most commonly diagnosed kidney dysfuctions in both human and companion animals. The characteristics of an injured kidney include an increase of blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine and a decrease of glomerular filtration rate. At the cellular level, infiltration of inflammatory cells, disruption of kidney epithelial cell lining and increased amount of type IV collagen have all been reported. Retrospective studies from human patients revealed a positve correlation between higher level of serum vasopressin and disease progression; however, the actual mechanism underlying vasopressin effect on kidney disease progression remains to be elucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that arginine vasopressin not only stimulates the de-polymerization of F-actin, but also promotes redistribution of adhesion junction protein E-Cadherin which is likely to be respoinsible for the lost of regular epithelial cell polarity in kidney tubules. Our data supported the detrimental effects of vasopressin on kidney epithelial cells and provided evidences on the potential cause and consequence relationship between patients with higer serum vasopressin concentration with the accelerated kidney tubule disruption.
Toward Automated Online Photo Privacy
Authors: Squicciarini Anna , Caragea Cornelia , Balakavi Rahul
Published: April 2017

Online photo sharing is an increasingly popular activity for Internet users. More and more users are now constantly sharing their images in various social media, from social networking sites to online communities, blogs, and content sharing sites. In this article, we present an extensive study exploring privacy and sharing needs of users’ uploaded images. We develop learning models to estimate adequate privacy settings for newly uploaded images, based on carefully selected image-specific features. Our study investigates both visual and textual features of images for privacy classification. We consider both basic image-specific features, commonly used for image processing, as well as more sophisticated and abstract visual features. Additionally, we include a visual representation of the sentiment evoked by images. To our knowledge, sentiment has never been used in the context of image classification for privacy purposes. We identify the smallest set of features, that by themselves or combined together with others, can perform well in properly predicting the degree of sensitivity of users’ images. We consider both the case of binary privacy settings (i.e., public, private), as well as the case of more complex privacy options, characterized by multiple sharing options. Our results show that with few carefully selected features, one may achieve high accuracy, especially when high-quality tags are available.
HoPE
Authors: Park Jaehyun , Baek Seungcheol , Lee Hyung Gyu , Nicopoulos Chrysostomos , Young Vinson , Lee Junghee , Kim Jongman
Published: April 2017

Data compression plays a pivotal role in improving system performance and reducing energy consumption, because it increases the logical effective capacity of a compressed memory system without physically increasing the memory size. However, data compression techniques incur some cost, such as non-negligible compression and decompression overhead. This overhead becomes more severe if compression is used in the cache. In this article, we aim to minimize the read-hit decompression penalty in compressed Last-Level Caches (LLCs) by speculatively decompressing frequently used cachelines. To this end, we propose a Hot-cacheline Prediction and Early decompression (HoPE) mechanism that consists of three synergistic techniques: Hot-cacheline Prediction (HP), Early Decompression (ED), and Hit-history-based Insertion (HBI). HP and HBI efficiently identify the hot compressed cachelines, while ED selectively decompresses hot cachelines, based on their size information. Unlike previous approaches, the HoPE framework considers the performance balance/tradeoff between the increased effective cache capacity and the decompression penalty. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed HoPE mechanism, we run extensive simulations on memory traces obtained from multi-threaded benchmarks running on a full-system simulation framework. We observe significant performance improvements over compressed cache schemes employing the conventional Least-Recently Used (LRU) replacement policy, the Dynamic Re-Reference Interval Prediction (DRRIP) scheme, and the Effective Capacity Maximizer (ECM) compressed cache management mechanism. Specifically, HoPE exhibits system performance improvements of approximately 11%, on average, over LRU, 8% over DRRIP, and 7% over ECM by reducing the read-hit decompression penalty by around 65%, over a wide range of applications.
Application-Specific Residential Microgrid Design Methodology
Authors: Vatanparvar Korosh , Faruque Mohammad Abdullah Al
Published: April 2017

In power systems, the traditional, non-interactive, and manually controlled power grid has been transformed to a cyber-dominated smart grid. This cyber-physical integration has provided the smart grid with communication, monitoring, computation, and controlling capabilities to improve its reliability, energy efficiency, and flexibility. A microgrid is a localized and semi-autonomous group of smart energy systems that utilizes the above-mentioned capabilities to drive modern technologies such as electric vehicle charging, home energy management, and smart appliances. Design, upgrading, test, and verification of these microgrids can get too complicated to handle manually. The complexity is due to the wide range of solutions and components that are intended to address the microgrid problems. This article presents a novel Model-Based Design (MBD) methodology to model, co-simulate, design, and optimize microgrid and its multi-level controllers. This methodology helps in the design, optimization, and validation of a microgrid for a specific application. The application rules, requirements, and design-time constraints are met in the designed/optimized microgrid while the implementation cost is minimized. Based on our novel methodology, a design automation, co-simulation, and analysis tool, called GridMAT, is implemented. Our experiments have illustrated that implementing a hierarchical controller reduces the average power consumption by 8% and shifts the peak load for cost saving. Moreover, optimizing the microgrid design using our MBD methodology considering smart controllers has decreased the total implementation cost. Compared to the conventional methodology, the cost decreases by 14% and compared to the MBD methodology where smart controllers are not considered, it decreases by 5%.