bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Control of liquid crystal molecular orientation using ultrasound vibration
Authors: Taniguchi Satoki , Koyama Daisuke , Shimizu Yuki , Emoto Akira , Nakamura Kentaro , Matsukawa Mami
Published: March 2016

We propose a technique to control the orientation of nematic liquid crystals using ultrasound and investigate the optical characteristics of the oriented samples. An ultrasonic liquid crystal cell with a thickness of 5–25 μm and two ultrasonic lead zirconate titanate transducers was fabricated. By exciting the ultrasonic transducers, the flexural vibration modes were generated on the cell. An acoustic radiation force to the liquid crystal layer was generated, changing the molecular orientation and thus the light transmission. By modulating the ultrasonic driving frequency and voltage, the spatial distribution of the molecular orientation of the liquid crystals could be controlled. The distribution of the transmitted light intensity depends on the thickness of the liquid crystal layer because the acoustic field in the liquid crystal layer is changed by the orientational film.
Estimates of genetic parameters and genetic trends for production and reproduction traits in Iranian buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)
Authors: Hossein-Zadeh Navid Ghavi
Published: March 2016

Calving and milk production records from April 1992 to March 2012 comprising 5353 records of age at first calving (AFC), 2972 records of 305-days milk yield (MY) and 2349 records of interval between first and second calving (CI) from the first lactation buffaloes within 785 herds of Iran were analysed using a linear animal model to estimate variance components and heritability for these traits. A linear animal model including direct genetic effect was implemented by Gibbs sampling methodology. A single Gibbs sampling chain with 300 000 rounds was generated by the TM program. Genetic trends were obtained by regressing yearly mean estimates of breeding values on birth year. Posterior mean estimates of direct heritabilities for MY, AFC and CI were 0.46 ± 0.21, 0.20 ± 0.06 and 0.21 ± 0.14, respectively. The posterior means of direct genetic correlation between MY-AFC, MY-CI and AFC-CI were –0.31, 0.01 and –0.17, respectively. Estimates of direct genetic trends for MY, AFC and CI were negative and significant, and their corresponding values were –1.50 ± 0.05 (P < 0.0001), –0.04 ± 0.001 (P < 0.0001) and –0.02 ± 0.005 (P < 0.001), respectively. Medium to high direct heritability estimates for productive and reproductive traits would be due to higher additive genetic variances for these traits and implied that applicable genetic variations observed for productive and reproductive traits could be applied in designing future genetic selection plans for Iranian buffaloes.
Deep Locational Criticism
Authors: Finch Jason
Published: March 2016

A lively series of spatial turns in literary studies since the 1990s give rise to this engaged and practical book, devoted to the question of how to teach and study the relationship between all sorts of literature and all sorts of location. Among the many concrete examples explored are texts created between the early seventeenth and the early twenty-first centuries, in genres ranging from stage drama and lyric poetry to television, by way of several studies of fiction definable in a broad way as realist. Writers and thinkers discussed include Michel de Certeau, Edward Casey, Gwendolyn Brooks, Christina Rossetti, Dickens, J. Hillis Miller, Lynne Reid Banks, Heidegger, Shakespeare, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker, Stephen C. Levinson, Bernard Malamud, E.M. Forster, Thomas Burke and Samuel Beckett. The book is underpinned by the philosophical topology of Jeff Malpas, who insists that human life is necessarily and primarily located. It is aimed at students and teachers of literary place at all university levels.
Chapter 1. A view of “mixed metaphor” within a conceptual metaphor theory framework
Authors: Kövecses Zoltán
Published: March 2016

How does conceptual metaphor theory handle mixed metaphors? Several metaphor scholars argue that mixed metaphor is a phenomenon that conceptual metaphor theory cannot handle. Their argument is that, given the claims of conceptual metaphor theory, mixed metaphors should not occur at all. This is because once a conceptual metaphor is activated in discourse by means of a linguistic metaphor, that conceptual metaphor should lead to and support the use of further linguistic examples of the same conceptual metaphor. However, in real discourse, the argument goes, most metaphors are mixed, which indicates that conceptual metaphors are not activated and thus do not lead to further consistent linguistic metaphors of the same conceptual metaphor. In the paper, I will argue that the idea of the production of consistent and homogeneous linguistic examples does not necessarily follow from conceptual metaphor theory and that, as a matter of fact, the opposite is the case: given conceptual metaphor theory, we should expect the use of mixed metaphors in natural discourse.
Chapter 2. Mixed metaphors from a discourse dynamics perspective
Authors: Cameron Lynne
Published: March 2016

The ‘mixed metaphor problem’ is considered from the discourse dynamics perspective, examining instances from metaphor clusters in dialogue and interaction. Several types of multiple juxtaposed verbal metaphors are found but they rarely demonstrate the semantic dissonance or stylistic undesirability held characteristic of problematic mixed metaphors. Multiple verbal metaphors are not stylistically-tricky additions to the flow of talk but are constitutive of it, discursive resources that contribute to the flow of jointly-constructed meaning. Multiple metaphors are shown to result from and find coherence in: shifting discourse topics; anaphoric reference and lexico-conceptual pacts; being combined in coherent metaphorical scenarios; layering of conventionalised and systematic metaphors.The second part of the chapter demonstrates how multiple metaphors were selected and combined to form the basis of the new model of empathy~dyspathy dynamics in social science research, and reflects on the inevitability of mixing metaphors.
Chapter 4. Tackling mixed metaphors in discourse
Authors: Lonergan Julia E. , Gibbs Raymond W.
Published: March 2016

We offer an analysis of a small corpus of mixed metaphor excerpts taken from “The New Yorker” magazine’s column titled “Block That Metaphor!” (BTM). Our aim was to explore the main hypothesis that people interpret mixed metaphors as being meaningful and coherent because of their abilities to engage in elaborate reasoning about the source domains explicitly mentioned in these texts. A first study investigated the different individual metaphorical expressions in this series of mixed metaphorical narratives. We found that most of these have been employed, and conveyed metaphorical meanings, in other kinds of discourse, and that the metaphors within the BTM vignettes were, indeed, mixed, and done so in a variety of ways. A second study asked university students to write out their interpretations of the different phrases in these excerpts, one-by-one as they read through each vignette. Analysis of participants’ protocols showed tremendous consistency in how people understood the individual metaphors and that the mixed metaphors in these narratives made good sense. The specificity of people’s understandings of verbal metaphors in narratives is aided by their rich social and cultural knowledge of the source domains referred to explicitly in language. Even if the underlying conceptual metaphors for these verbal metaphors appear to clash, people make use of their elaborate source domain information to create specific concepts and images that often make mixed metaphors perfectly coherent and, at times, delightful to hear and read.
Chapter 7. When languages and cultures meet
Authors: MacArthur Fiona
Published: March 2016

This chapter examines the metaphors used by speakers of English as a second language (L2), showing how these are often the result of the mixing of two linguistic and conceptual systems. The resulting “hybrid” metaphors may be unconventional in English and therefore seen as problems in need of remedy. However, the concept of native speaker norms as a model for metaphor production may be unrealistic as a goal for learners. As this chapter shows, hybrid metaphors are an almost inevitable outcome of language contact, and emerge in the speech and writing of even highly proficient users of English as a L2. I illustrate the type of hybrid metaphors that learners produce, and how communicatively successful they may be in different contexts, suggesting that proposed remedies for infelicitous metaphor use by L2 users of English can most usefully be framed from the perspective of discourse.
Chapter 11. Mixing in pictorial and multimodal metaphors?
Authors: Forceville Charles
Published: March 2016

“Mixed metaphors” in language use two or more different source domains to predicate something about the same target domain in a short stretch of discourse. This often leads to unintendedly humorous results and is usually considered bad style. Given that metaphors may be expressed pictorially or multimodally as well as verbally, one may ask whether non-verbal modalities can also give rise to metaphors of the “mixed” kind. If so, would such instances be considered odd, humorous, or stylistically awkward? And what, if anything, would make such “mixed metaphors” different from metaphoric blends with three input spaces (one target and two sources)? The provisional conclusion is: we should, for the time being, not adopt “mixed pictorial/multimodal metaphor” as a technical term; but the discussion provides leads for further research from which both metaphor theory and multimodal discourse analysis will benefit.
Chapter 12. Extended metaphor in the web of discourse
Authors: Naciscione Anita
Published: March 2016

This chapter explores extended metaphor in the cognitive stylistic framework. Extended metaphor defines as an entrenched stylistic pattern of both thought and language, reflecting extended figurative thought. It is a cognitive inference tool, applicable in new figurative thought instantiations. A metaphor can be extended only by extension of its metaphorical image: by creating a metaphorical subimage or a string of sub-images, which relate metonymically by associations of contiguity. Metonymy is invariably present in each instantiation of metaphorical extension. Thus, extended metaphor is “mixed” by definition.Metaphor is not alone in figurative meaning construction. Apart from metonymy, extended metaphor may incorporate other figurative modes (pun, allusion, personification, euphemism, hyperbole, irony), forming figurative networks and representing a process and a result of human thought and a conceptualisation of experience. Only a detailed semantic and stylistic analysis will reveal the interaction and interrelationships of direct and figurative meanings in the web of discourse, which is not a “mix” but a natural flow of figurative thought in natural discourse.
English in the Netherlands
Authors: Edwards Alison
Published: March 2016

This volume provides the first comprehensive investigation of the Netherlands in the World Englishes paradigm. It explores the history of English contact, the present spread of English and attitudes towards English in the Netherlands. It describes the development and analysis of the Corpus of Dutch English, the first Expanding Circle corpus based on the design of the International Corpus of English. In addition, it investigates the applicability of Schneider’s (2003, 2007) Dynamic Model, concluding that this and other such models need to move away from a colonisation-driven approach and towards a globalisation-driven one to explain the continued spread and evolution of English today. The volume will be highly relevant to researchers interested in the status and use of English in the Netherlands. More broadly, it provides a timely contribution to the debate on the relevance of the World Englishes framework for non-native, non-postcolonial settings such as Continental Europe.
Aging effects on discourse production
Authors: Kintz Stephen , Fergadiotis Gerasimos , Wright Heather Harris
Published: March 2016

Discourse is defined as any language “beyond the boundaries of isolated sentences” (Ultowska & Olness, 2004, p. 300), and it allows people to do things together; tease each other, build things, share feelings, and make plans for the future. Yet discourse requires more than simply generating a continuous stream of linguistic elements. Discourse production requires both within-sentence (i.e. microlinguistic) elements and processes that are traditionally associated with the field of linguistics (e.g. phonemes & syntax) as well as between-­sentence elements and processes to produce a coherent message. In this chapter, we focus on how this delicate balance between micro- and macrolinguistic processes change and are maintained within discourse as people age. To do this, we initially review the interactive-construction model of discourse. Next, we review micro- and macrolinguistic processes within aging research. For microlinguistic, we focus on lexical diversity, which can be defined as the range of vocabulary used by a person within a discourse sample. For the macrolinguistic process, we focus on coherence, which can be defined as how discourse is connected and organized beyond the grammar of a sentence. For both lexical diversity and coherence, we review common analysis techniques, what occurs to these processes as we age, and the cognitive and linguistic systems that underpin these aspects of discourse. Finally, we conclude the chapter by highlighting areas of future research within lexical diversity and coherence research that are important to understanding discourse as people age.
Cognitive and linguistic processes among oldest old persons
Authors: Margrett Jennifer A. , Martin Peter , Woodard John L. , Poon Leonard W.
Published: March 2016

Cognitive and linguistic abilities are synergistic, working together to support functioning and quality of life throughout the lifespan, including very old age. Unfortunately, understanding of cognitive development and change amongst the oldest old is lacking due in part to assessment challenges (e.g., sensory impairment and fatigue, measure equivalence) and study paucity. These limitations hamper attempts to distinguish typical age-related decline from non-normative change and identify factors related to impairment and resilience. For individuals in very late life current psychosocial resources and events, as well as conditions of childhood and early life, impact functioning. These psychosocial influences play a role in adaptation and subsequent developmental outcomes. In this chapter, we focus on three later-life themes as they relate to cognitive and linguistic processes including heterogeneity in advanced age and diversity of outcomes, methodological challenges, and role of psychosocial resources and context.
Sociolinguistics, language, and aging
Authors: Davis Boyd , Maclagan Margaret
Published: March 2016

Using a sociopragmatic lens, we highlight recent strands of research focusing on two of the three main areas identified by Hamilton (1999): the use of language for reflecting and creating identities; and how discourse can reflect the norms, values and practices of society. We focus on studies of the areas of gender and the Internet to show how they emphasize the norms, values and practices of aging. We have assumed that the clinical aspects of Hamilton’s third area, the decline, preservation or improvement of abilities in old age, have been incorporated in other sections of this volume, although we note several areas that have stimulated work in sociolinguistics. Growing emphases on identity, particularly as entwined with gender and language abilities, complicate perspectives on aging and language in a discipline with bifurcated if often complementary methodologies of variation and discourse analysis. Illustrations include brief case studies of specific language usage, such as extenders (and all that stuff) and media and the Internet, including the use of corpora in the sociolinguistic study of aging.
Quiet eye predicts goaltender success in deflected ice hockey shots†
Authors: Panchuk Derek , Vickers Joan N. , Hopkins Will G.
Published: March 2016

In interceptive timing tasks, long quiet eye (QE) durations at the release point, along with early tracking on the object, allow performers to couple their actions to the kinematics of their opponent and regulate their movements based on emergent information from the object's trajectory. We used a mobile eye tracker to record the QE of eight university‐level ice hockey goaltenders of an equivalent skill level as they responded to shots that deflected off a board placed to their left or right, resulting in a trajectory with low predictability. QE behaviour was assessed using logistic regression and magnitude‐based inference. We found that when QE onset occurred later in the shot (950 ± 580 ms, mean ± SD) there was an increase in the proportion of goals allowed (41% vs. 22%) compared to when QE onset occurred earlier. A shorter QE duration (1260 ± 630 ms) predicted a large increase in the proportion of goals scored (38% vs. 14%). More saves occurred when QE duration (2074 ± 47 ms) was longer. An earlier QE offset (2004 ± 66 ms) also resulted in a large increase in the number of goals allowed (37% vs. 11%) compared to a later offset (2132 ± 41 ms). Since an early, sustained QE duration contributed to a higher percentage of saves, it is important that coaches develop practice activities that challenge the goaltender's ability to fixate the puck early, as well as sustain a long QE fixation on the puck until after it is released from the stick.
Variability in Fish Tissue Proximate Composition is Consistent with Indirect Effects of Hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay Tributaries
Authors: Tuckey Troy D. , Fabrizio Mary C.
Published: March 2016

The spatial and temporal extent of summer hypoxia (dissolved oxygen [DO] concentration ≤ 2 mg/L) in Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries has been increasing for decades, consequently affecting fish distribution and abundance by shifting biomass to non-hypoxic habitats. Hypoxia in coastal waters impacts food web dynamics, thereby limiting ecosystem productivity and affecting regional fisheries. Additionally, laboratory studies of Atlantic Croakers Micropogonias undulatus have shown that hypoxia serves as an endocrine disruptor, reducing the production of the yolk precursor vitellogenin as well as affecting other biochemical pathways. Reproductive potential is therefore lower in hypoxia-exposed Atlantic Croakers than in fish that are taken from normoxic conditions. We examined field-caught Atlantic Croakers from three Chesapeake Bay tributaries with different DO levels to evaluate patterns in the lipid content of somatic and gonadal tissues. We found that somatic lipid content was not affected by the presence of hypoxia, whereas ovarian lipid content was significantly affected by the severity of hypoxia. Furthermore, Atlantic Croakers that were exposed indirectly to mild hypoxia (lasting hours to days) exhibited greater ovarian lipid content than fish that were captured from normoxic sites. As expected, severe hypoxia reduced the ability of Atlantic Croakers to accumulate lipids in their ovaries, likely affecting reproductive output. Stock assessment models that ignore the effects of hypoxia may yield overly optimistic production estimates for hypoxia-exposed populations, particularly if environmentally invariant fecundity and growth are assumed.

Received December 16, 2014; accepted September 24, 2015
A six-stage framework for evolutionary IS research using path models
Authors: Kock Ned , Moqbel Murad
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to fill a gap in evolutionary theorizing in the field of information systems. Evolutionary theorizing has recently been added as a useful tool to the research repertoire of information systems investigators. However, the literature on evolutionary theorizing and related empirical research lacks a clear framework that explicitly shows how information systems researchers can go, step-by-step, from a generic model of the evolution of traits in our ancestral past to a more specific model depicting the effects of technology facilitation of those traits among modern humans. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap through a framework composed of six stages.

Design/methodology/approach

– To discuss and illustrate the framework, the authors develop an easy-to-understand generic path model explicitly depicting relationships among variables related to events that occurred in our evolutionary past. We then incrementally adapt this generic path model, eventually arriving at a focused path model depicting causal relationships among social networking site use, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance. In doing so, the authors also develop a theoretical model about how social networking site use can affect job performance, where a positive total effect is predicted via positive intermediate effects on job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Findings

– To discuss the final stage in the framework, the authors present an illustrative example where the focused path model is tested based on a study of the effect of Facebook use on job performance among 178 working professionals across the USA. This illustrative example provides general support for the theoretical model.

Research limitations/implications

– The counterintuitive hypothesis that Facebook use is associated with increased job performance is supported.

Practical implications

– Social networking site use by organizational employees is likely to be associated with improved job performance.

Originality/value

– This study provides a clear framework that shows how researchers can go from a generic evolutionary path model in our ancestral past to a more specific model comprising technology effects in modern humans.
Study on industrial macropollutants discharges in Milan sewer system
Authors: Shahvi Shervin , Orsi Enrico , Canziani Roberto , Larcan Enrico , Becciu Gianfranco
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study the transformation of some macropollutants including hydrocarbons, surfactants and metals in Milan west sewer basin. The study is part of a wider research (named SWARMNET and proposed by Politecnico di Milano and Metropolitana Milanese S.p.A and has been classified as fundable by the Ministry of Education, University and Research of Italy), aiming at installing a monitoring system for measurement of accidental discharge of pollutants from industrial activities and real-time protection of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) by avoiding dangerous discharges entering the sewers. Good effluent and waste sludge quality allow safe agricultural reuse of both streams. Other objectives include food safety, lower treatment costs and reduction of pollution of soil, surface and groundwater.

Design/methodology/approach

– The west basin of Milan sewer network, discharging to San Rocco WWTP was considered. Among 700 industries, 16 have been selected for their specific characteristics and/or high industrial pollution load. A quality model was coupled with a hydraulic model to evaluate the effect of pollutants transport in the network.

Findings

– Heavy metals, surfactants and hydrocarbons have different behavior from biodegradable domestic sewage and can be modeled as conservative matter conveyed by advection only. Results show that the concentration values of these macropollutants at the inlet of the WWTP are below the Italian standard values with the exception of Cadmium and Mercury. These heavy metals should be considered in the planned sampling campaign.

Originality/value

– This study will estimate environmental benefits and both methodology and monitoring techniques can be extended to other cities in Italy and Europe.
The integrated model of theory planned behavior, value, and image for explaining public transport passengers’ intention to reuse
Authors: Sumaedi Sik , Yarmen Medi , Bakti I Gede Mahatma Yuda , Rakhmawati Tri , Astrini Nidya J , Widianti Tri
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the simultaneous effect of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control (PBC), perceived value, and image on public transport passengers’ intention to reuse.

Design/methodology/approach

– The empirical data were collected through survey. The respondents of the survey are 293 public transport passengers in Tangerang, Indonesia. Multiple regressions analysis was performed to test the conceptual model and the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

– The findings showed that attitude, subjective norm, and image influence public transport passengers’ intention to reuse. However, this research also found that perceived value and PBC does not influence public transport passengers’ intention to reuse significantly.

Research limitations/implications

– The survey was only conducted at one area in Indonesia. In addition, convenience sampling method was employed. These conditions may cause that the research results cannot be generalized to the other contexts. Therefore, replication research is needed to test the stability of the findings in the other contexts.

Practical/implications

– Public transport service managers need to pay attention to attitude, subjective norm, and image in order to ensure public transport passengers’ intention to reuse public transport services.

Originality/value

– This study is believed to be the first to develop and test public transport passengers’ intention to reuse model that integrated theory of planned behavior with perceived value and image.
Chinese police supervisors’ occupational attitudes
Authors: Sun Ivan Y. , Liu Jianhong , Farmer Ashley K.
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to assess factors that influence Chinese police supervisors’ attitudes toward police roles, community policing, and job satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

– Survey data were collected from police supervisors in a major Chinese city. Multivariate regression was used to assess the effects of officers’ background characteristics and assignments on their occupational attitudes.

Findings

– Ethnic minority supervisors were more likely to have a broader order maintenance orientation, a narrower crime fighting orientation, and supportive attitudes toward quality of life activities. Less experienced supervisors were more inclined to favor the order maintenance role. Supervisors with a stronger order maintenance orientation tended to support problem solving activities and have a greater level of job satisfaction. Officers with military service experience also expressed a higher degree of job satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

– Survey data collected from a single Chinese city may not be generalizable to officers in other regions and departments.

Practical implications

– Police administrators should screen all applicants on attitudes that reflect departmental work priorities and styles of policing during the initial selection process. Desirable attitudes can be further molded into officers during their academic training, field officer training, and in-service training. Police administrators should continue their recruiting efforts targeting former military personnel. With adequate training in fulfilling civilian tasks and displaying proper outlooks, these individuals could become effective members of the forces.

Originality/value

– Despite a growing number of studies on crime and justice in China, empirical research on policing in general and on officers’ occupational attitudes in particular remains very limited. This study represents one of the first attempts to assess factors related to police occupational outlooks in China.
Is bad stronger than good? The impact of police-citizen encounters on public satisfaction with police
Authors: Li Yudu , Ren Ling , Luo Fei
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– Drawing upon the negativity bias theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of positive and negative perceptions of police-initiated or citizen-initiated contacts on three distinctive dimensions of public satisfaction with police (PSWP).

Design/methodology/approach

– The data were obtained from a random-sample telephone survey of 1,143 residents in Houston in 2012. The OLS regressions were conducted with variables derived from the contact model and neighborhood context model that were often employed in the PSWP research. Particularly, five dichotomous variables were created to tap into the nature and quality of the police-citizen encounters.

Findings

– The results confirm the negativity bias theory that “bad is stronger than good,” suggesting that the negative-contact variables have stronger influences on PSWP than the positive-contact variables, net of neighborhood context and demographic background.

Originality/value

– This study expands the scope of the investigation on PSWP by exploring the effects of the nature and quality of the police-citizen contacts on the respondents’ sentiments toward the police.
Plural policing: a State-of-the-Art Review
Authors: Boels Dominique , Verhage Antoinette
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to report on the systematic review on the topic of plural policing. The authors aim to discuss the general characteristics of empirical research into plural policing and describe the way in which police literature deals with the questions related to plural policing.

Design/methodology/approach

– A systematic review, including qualitative research, focused on empirical research results.

Findings

– First of all, plural policing has been subject of study in a diversity of contexts, using multiple methods and treating very diverse research questions. Although the dangers of blurring boundaries between policing actors is a focal issue in contemplative papers, empirical research on plural policing does not focus on this issue but mentions it in the margins of the research results.

Research limitations/implications

– Limitations are that the authors had to set a timeframe for the systematic review and that not all research was accessible. Furthermore, the authors had to limit the studies that could be included in this systematic review.

Social implications

– One of the main research questions relates to the dangers of blurring boundaries between multiple policing actors. This has important implications for citizens in their relations and contacts with police actors (in terms of transparency, equality of rights and so on).

Originality/value

– The paper gives a first insight into a domain that is written on extensively, but less empirically studied and sheds light on the studies that have taken the topic of plural policing as the focal point.
Informal social networks within and between organisations
Authors: Whelan Chad
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the underlying relational properties of security networks by focusing specifically on the relationship between formal and informal ties, and interpersonal and inter-organisational trust.

Design/methodology/approach

– The research is based on 20 qualitative interviews with senior members of police and security agencies across the field of counter-terrorism in Australia.

Findings

– The findings suggest that the underlying relational properties of security networks are highly complex, making it difficult to distinguish between formal and informal ties, interpersonal and inter-organisational trust. The findings also address the importance of informal ties and interpersonal trust for the functioning of organisational security networks.

Research limitations/implications

– The research is exploratory in nature and extends to a number of organisational security networks in the field of counter-terrorism in Australia. While it is anticipated that the findings will be relevant in a variety of contexts, further research is required to advance our knowledge of the implications and properties of informal social networks within defined network boundaries.

Practical implications

– The findings suggest that the functioning of security networks is likely to be highly dependent on the underlying social relationships between network members. This has practical implications for those responsible for designing and managing security networks.

Originality/value

– The paper calls attention to a very understudied topic by focusing on the dynamics of informal ties and interpersonal trust within organisational security networks.
Disentangling the myth about citizen participation in collaborative work with police
Authors: Lee Jae-Seung , Zhao Jihong Solomon
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to expand the research on citizen participation in police work by attempting to disentangle the difference between volunteers and general citizens.

Design/methodology/approach

– Independent variables including the demographic characteristics, victimization experiences, fear of crime, neighborhood disorders, and satisfaction with the police services were used to explain the volunteers’ attitudes toward the police. A random sample of general citizens was used as a comparison group. Using two data sets derived from a survey of 324 citizen volunteers in community policing programs and a random telephone survey of 1,197 general citizens in Houston, TX, two structural equation modeling models for general citizen sample and citizen volunteer sample were tested.

Findings

– The results revealed that satisfaction with the police services was the only factor having a direct impact on attitudes toward the police in volunteer group. In addition, volunteers’ attitudes toward the police and satisfaction with the police services were higher than general citizens even though their victimization experiences, fear of crime, perceived neighborhood disorders were higher than general citizens.

Originality/value

– The authors argue that there is a strong diffused support, first raised by David Easton (1965), among the volunteers. This exploratory study would be a reference for future studies.
Assessing the use of a Traffic Enforcement Unit
Authors: Hepworth Daniel Philip , White David Russell
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the 22-month life of a three-officer specialized Traffic Enforcement Unit (TEU) within one mid-sized municipal police agency. The case study allowed for the examination of the impact of this structural change from a generalist to a specialist approach on the rate of traffic citations. Additionally, officer attitudes related to the change were considered.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study used a mixed method approach, which included both an objective output (traffic citations) and the results of a management survey to consider officers’ attitudes.

Findings

– Despite the fact that most officers reported the introduction of the TEU did not change their commitment to traffic enforcement, the findings indicate citations by non-TEU officers declined sharply over time. Likewise, citations by the three specialized officers also dropped, which, when combined with non-TEU officers, resulted in no real differences between the generalist and specialist approach on the number of citations issued.

Research limitations/implications

– Beyond the natural limitations of a single case study, the use of a management-issued survey concerning attitudes was not ideal.

Practical implications

– The study provides some evidence that generalists approaches – at least as they apply to traffic enforcement – may be just as productive as specialist approaches.

Originality/value

– While there has been a significant amount of rhetoric over the years, it seems scholars have largely ignored real differences between the generalist and specialist approaches on objective organizational outputs. This is an area that needs to be subjected to additional research.
Affective organizational commitment, work engagement and service performance among police officers
Authors: van Gelderen Benjamin R. , Bik Leonie W.
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between police officers’ affective organizational commitment, work engagement, and (perceived) service performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– Participants included 114 police officers who completed a questionnaire that measured their affective commitment, social job resources, supervisor support, work engagement, and extra-role performance (i.e. offering service to colleagues). A dyadic design was used that related police officer commitment to the perceived service performance as rated by 165 crime victims (cross-over effect).

Findings

– Results of structural equation modeling revealed that commitment was positively related to seeking colleague support to increase social job resources. Furthermore, the results indicated that supervisor support mediated the positive relationship between commitment and work engagement/extra-role performance. In contrast, commitment was negatively related to the perceived service performance of police officers as rated by crime victims.

Research limitations/implications

– The results indicate that while affective commitment supports police officers’ work engagement and promotes the seeking and offering of colleague assistance, it also tempers external service performance ratings.

Originality/value

– This paper enhances the understanding of how the affective commitment of police officers can be related differently to internal and external outcomes. The results are discussed in relation to police culture and performance theory.
How can managers promote salespeople’s person-job fit?
Authors: Tseng Lu-Ming , Yu Tsu-Wei
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– This paper aims to examine the impact of salespeople’s subjective person-job fit on the salespeople’s intention to quit. Moreover, this study further investigates how the subjective person

–

job fit could be influenced by the cooperative learning and support in the organization. Person-job fit is an important issue for salespeople’s career development. However, the antecedents of salespeople’s person-job fit seem to have been under-investigated in the management literature.

Design/methodology/approach

– A questionnaire survey is used as a research instrument, and Taiwan’s full-time life insurance salespeople took part in the investigation. The hypotheses were tested by using partial least squares and structural equation modeling tool (SmartPLS 2.0).

Findings

– The results confirmed that poor subjective person-job fit would significantly increase the salespeople’s intention to quit. Yet, the results also suggested that cooperative learning and organizational support are the mechanisms that reduce this problem.

Originality/value

– This study provided the initial discussions about the effect of cooperative learning and organizational support on the salespeople’s subjective person-job fit.
Antecedents of absorptive capacity: a new model for developing learning processes
Authors: Rezaei-Zadeh Mohammad , Darwish Tamer K
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrated framework to indicate which antecedents of absorptive capacity (AC) influence its learning processes, and to propose testing of this model in future work.

Design/methodology/approach

– Relevant literature into the antecedents of AC was critically reviewed and analysed with the objective of categorising and explaining the influence of AC on learning processes, including exploratory, transformative and exploitative learning.

Findings

– By considering the level of learning, the proposed model demonstrates that the antecedents of AC vary, comprising exploratory, transformative and exploitative learning processes. Moreover, this study reveals the complex interplay between the antecedents of AC.

Research limitations/implications

– The proposed model was developed theoretically, thus pending further empirical validation according to environmental turbulence, knowledge characteristics and modes of governance. This study also urges researchers to explore whether or not the antecedents of AC differ based on organisational outcomes.

Practical implications

– The model can be put into a testable template for use by researchers. It further guides managers in developing effective processes for learning to use external knowledge.

Originality/value

– It is the first work to schematically bring together and discuss the antecedents of AC and its influence on learning processes, and further provides a framework capable of facilitating the empirical testing of this nexus.
Competitor relatedness, indirect soil effects and plant coexistence
Authors: Ehlers Bodil K. , David Patrice , Damgaard Christian F. , Lenormand Thomas
Published: March 2016

How species coexist is a central question in ecology. Niche differentiation can prevent two species from excluding each other by competition. However, this interaction can vary in space because of internal factors such as intraspecific genetic variation, or external ones such as the presence of a third species. While these effects have been repeatedly observed, their joint effect on the outcome of competition has rarely been considered.

We experimentally investigated how a dominant ecosystem engineer (the shrub Thymus vulgaris) affects interactions between two co‐occurring and closely related annuals (Medicago minima and M. rigidula). We ask first whether the outcome of their interaction depends on the genetic identity of the competitors, and in particular whether intraspecific interaction differs between genetically related versus unrelated conspecifics. Secondly, we ask whether coexistence of the two species is modified by the presence of thyme plants altering local soil conditions.

We grew genotypes collected in nature of both annual species in inter‐ and intraspecific competition experiments using soil collected directly underneath thyme plant (thyme soil) and soil collected away from thyme plants (no‐thyme soil).

We found that thyme soil affected interactions in a way that shifted the species’ rank. Crucial for this result was the division of intraspecific competition between genetically related and unrelated individuals. Intraspecific competition was significantly less detrimental to kin than to unrelated conspecifics. In highly structured plant populations, such effects could favour local dominance of a patch by one species. However, this kin effect occurred for each species only in its preferred soil (thyme vs. no thyme), promoting a stabilizing coexistence mechanism at the landscape level.

Synthesis. This study shows that the importance of intraspecific competition relative to interspecific competition can be highly dependent on the genotype identity of intraspecific competitors and of the local environment in which the interaction occurs. The local environment can itself be modified by the presence of a third species in the community. These results emphasize how, in order to understand the overall problem of species coexistence, it can be insightful to divide this into smaller local‐scale problems of coexistence.
Oral morphosyntactic competence as a predictor of reading comprehension in children with specific language impairment
Authors: Buil‐Legaz Lucía , Aguilar‐Mediavilla Eva , Rodríguez‐Ferreiro Javier
Published: March 2016

Background

Children with a diagnosis of specific language impairment (SLI) present impaired oral comprehension. According to the simple view of reading, general amodal linguistic capacity accounts for both oral and reading comprehension. Considering this, we should expect SLI children to display a reading comprehension deficit. However, previous research regarding the association between reading disorders and SLI has yielded inconsistent results.

Aims

To study the influence of prior oral comprehension competence over reading comprehension during the first years of reading acquisition of bilingual Catalan–Spanish children with SLI (ages 7–8).

Methods & Procedures

We assessed groups of bilingual Catalan–Spanish SLI and matched control children at ages 7 and 8 with standardized reading comprehension tasks including grammatical structures, sentence and text comprehension. Early oral competence and prior non‐verbal intelligence were also measured and introduced into regression analyses with the participants’ reading results in order to state the relation between the comprehension of oral and written material.

Outcomes & Results

Although we found no significant differences between the scores of our two participant groups in the reading tasks, data regarding their early oral competence, but not non‐verbal intelligence measures, significantly influence their reading outcome.

Conclusions & Implications

The results extend our knowledge regarding the course of literacy acquisition of children with SLI and provide evidence in support of the theories that assume common linguistic processes to be responsible for both oral and reading comprehension.
Stratification of archaeal membrane lipids in the ocean and implications for adaptation and chemotaxonomy of planktonic archaea
Authors: Zhu Chun , Wakeham Stuart G. , Elling Felix J. , Basse Andreas , Mollenhauer Gesine , Versteegh Gerard J. M. , Könneke Martin , Hinrichs Kai‐Uwe
Published: March 2016

Membrane lipids of marine planktonic archaea have provided unique insights into archaeal ecology and paleoceanography. However, past studies of archaeal lipids in suspended particulate matter (SPM) and sediments mainly focused on a small class of fully saturated glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) homologues identified decades ago. The apparent low structural diversity of GDGTs is in strong contrast to the high diversity of metabolism and taxonomy among planktonic archaea. Furthermore, adaptation of archaeal lipids in the deep ocean remains poorly constrained. We report the archaeal lipidome in SPM from diverse oceanic regimes. We extend the known inventory of planktonic archaeal lipids to include numerous unsaturated archaeal ether lipids (uns‐AELs). We further reveal (i) different thermal regulations and polar headgroup compositions of membrane lipids between the epipelagic (≤ 100 m) and deep (>100 m) populations of archaea, (ii) stratification of unsaturated GDGTs with varying redox conditions, and (iii) enrichment of tetra‐unsaturated archaeol and fully saturated GDGTs in epipelagic and deep oxygenated waters, respectively. Such stratified lipid patterns are consistent with the typical distribution of archaeal phylotypes in marine environments. We, thus, provide an ecological context for GDGT‐based paleoclimatology and bring about the potential use of uns‐AELs as biomarkers for planktonic Euryarchaeota.
RNA viruses as major contributors to Antarctic virioplankton
Authors: Miranda Jaclyn A. , Culley Alexander I. , Schvarcz Christopher R. , Steward Grieg F.
Published: March 2016

Early work on marine algal viruses focused exclusively on those having DNA genomes, but recent studies suggest that RNA viruses, especially those with positive‐sense, single‐stranded RNA (+ssRNA) genomes, are abundant in tropical and temperate coastal seawater. To test whether this was also true of polar waters, we estimated the relative abundances of RNA and DNA viruses using a mass ratio approach and conducted shotgun metagenomics on purified viral samples collected from a coastal site near Palmer Station, Antarctica on six occasions throughout a summer phytoplankton bloom (November–March). Our data suggest that RNA viruses contributed up to 65% of the total virioplankton (8–65%), and that, as observed previously in warmer waters, the majority of RNA viruses in these Antarctic RNA virus metagenomes had +ssRNA genomes most closely related to viruses in the order Picornavirales. Assembly of the metagenomic reads resulted in five novel, nearly complete genomes, three of which had features similar to diatom‐infecting viruses. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that RNA viruses influence diatom bloom dynamics in Antarctic waters.